CHAPTER THIRTEEN

March 21st

29 weeks

"La la la la la," Cat said, covering her ears as she, Tori and Trina walked into the Vega house. "I don't wanna hear about it."

"You're gonna find out how much it hurts anyways," Tori said.

"I've already heard the horror stories, Tori, I don't need anymore, okay?"

"Are you scaring her?" Holly asked.

"No, just telling her how childbirth is."

"How would you know?" Cat asked. "You don't even have kids."

Tori scratched her head. "Um..."

"Honey..." Holly said.

Cat looked at Tori for a few seconds. "What? Did I say something wrong?"

"No," Tori said. "Sit down, I wanna tell you something that I haven't talked to you about yet."

"Okay..." she said, sitting down. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. It's just that, I think it's time you knew about something. We've been friends for a couple years now and it's important that you know about it."

"Know about what?"

"My son."

Cat looked at Tori for a few seconds. "What? You don't have a son."

"I do. You just never see him."

"You have a baby?"

"Yeah. Well, he's not a baby anymore. He's almost four."

"Four? Jeez..."

"I got pregnant in eighth grade."

"God, I thought I was young..."

"You are," Holly said, walking towards the couch and giving Cat a hug from behind the couch. "But you know what? You're going to be a great mom. You're young, but you're smart."

"I hope so..."

"Mommy!" A small voice called from upstairs.

Tori looked at Holly. "He's here? I thought his dad picked him up."

"He did, but his sister had a doctor appointment so he brought him home."

A little boy with black hair ran down the stairs and went straight to Tori, giving her a hug. "I missed you."

"I missed you too, baby," Tori said, kissing his head. "I want you to meet somebody. This is my friend Cat," she said, pointing to Cat.

"Cat!" He said, hugging the redhead.

"Hi, Tyler!" Cat said, hugging him. "How've you been, buddy? I haven't seen you in a while."

"I'm okay. Are you having a baby or are you getting fat?"

"Tyler Jacob," Tori said.

"I'm having a baby," Cat said.

"Is it Daddy's?"

Cat laughed. "No. It's not Daddy's. It's my boyfriend's baby."

"So it's not my brother?"

"Nope. It's a girl."

"Oh. So it's not my sister?"

"Nope."

"I wish it was. Mommy and Daddy won't have another baby."

Tori ran her hand over her face. "Hey Ty, how 'bout we talk about something else, honey?"

"You don't like babies?"

"I just don't wanna talk about babies right now."

"Can I ask one more question?"

"I guess."

"Where's she gonna come out?"

Cat grinned. "Well, I dunno, this is my first baby. I guess you'll find out when you have your own babies."

"Will I be your age?"

"Absolutely not," Tori said. "You'll be a lot older."

"How come? You got to have babies."

"Because Mommy and I weren't smart about our babies," Cat said. "We weren't old enough. We got into a lot of trouble. That's why you're supposed to wait to have babies when you're grown up."

"Does that mean I wasn't supposed to be born?"

"No," Tori said. "You were supposed to, I was just supposed to be older. But it's okay now, cause they let me bend the rules a little bit so you could be born anyways."

"Who's they?"

"The angels who gave you to me. They knew I was really young, but they knew you needed to be born, so they gave you to me early."

"Does that mean I'm an angel?"

"In a way."

"Where are my wings?"

"You don't get them until you go to Heaven."

"Oh. That won't be for a really long time."

"That's right."

"Besides, the best angels don't even have their wings," Cat said.

"Does that mean I'm one of the best?" Tyler asked.

"The absolute best."

"Why don't you go upstairs for a few minutes?" Tori asked. "Mommy wants to talk to Cat."

"Kay kay," Tyler said, giving Cat another hug before running upstairs.

Tori let out a small breath. "So... you already knew Tyler."

"Yeah... he's Danny's son. I used to date him. You know that."

"Right... and he never told you that I was Tyler's mom?"

Cat shook his head. "No. He just said that his mom every weekday and he got him on the weekends. I spent every weekend with him that we were together."

"Oh..."

"He spoke highly of you. Said you're an amazing mom. That you were both really young when he was born but that you work really hard to make sure he's taken care of no matter what."

"I do."

"I'm proud of you. I thought I had it hard because I'm only seventeen, but god, Tori... You were what, thirteen?"

"When I got pregnant. Fourteen when I had him."

"You're strong. I know how scary it is. Does the rest of the gang know about him?"

"I don't think so. Well, Andre does because he's met him. Jade knows because Trina was bragging about how cute her nephew was before I even knew you guys."

"She never said anything to anybody. I won't either. I won't mention him to anybody."

"They'll find out eventually. I'll tell them. I just... I'm really scared that they'll be mad."

"They won't be. I'll make Jade threaten them to be nice."

"That doesn't always work, Cat."

"Sure it does. It's Jade."

"Sam! What the hell is this!" April shouted from the bedroom.

"I dunno, I can't see it," Sam called out.

"It's an El Taco Guapo bag, it made Cat puke all over the place," April said as she walked into the living room, holding the bag out.

"Ohhh... I forgot I had that."

"Throw shit away when you're done with it," she said, throwing the bag away.

"She threw up because of a bag?"

"Because there's a rotten taco in the bag. The second the smell got to her nose she became a vomit fountain."

"She pukes a lot."

"She's pregnant."

"I thought she was just fat."

"Don't say that word, she'll cry," April sighed. "God, I can't wait until she has the baby. I'm so tired of her mood swings."

"I thought she was bipolar and that's what caused the mood swings."

"She is, but she can't take her meds while she's pregnant. It's a hassle."

"I bet. Oh hey, your mom called. She said she landed in Idaho and she'll be back within the week."

"I forgot she was leaving today."

"I thought she was back for good because you had Chris' funeral already."

"She is, it's just that she left most of her stuff out there because she took the plane that had his body. If she drove, she could have gotten it all, but she didn't. She's driving back, though."

"How was the funeral?"

April sighed, scratching her head. "It was okay... Catey lost it. Had a panick attack, we had to hold her back from trying to reopen his casket."

"Jeez..."

"She just kept screaming 'please wake up' and 'you can't leave us' and 'I can't live without you'," her voice cracked. "I'm terrified that she's gonna hurt herself."

"Do you think she would?"

April nodded. "She's known for it. She gets depressed and she hurts herself. When we were kids she'd cut up her legs. She'd hold her breath until she went unconcious. She'd try to drown herself in the bath."

"She doesn't seem depressed."

"She never does."

"Who never does what?" Cat asked as she walked into the living room.

"Jade never smiles unless she has an evil thought."

"True. Do we have any kids today?"

"No. We were supposed to have Ellie but she has the flu."

"Good. Hate that kid," Cat said as she walked to the fridge and got a water bottle.

"We all hate her."

"Stupid Poober. I'd like to stuff Ellie in a rocket and blast her to space."

"You're getting a little Jadey, babe."

"Doesn't seem to bother Robbie any."

"He's terrified of Jade."

"I know. And when we hook up, he does what I say because I turn Jadey."