A/N: this took me FOREVER to write. I knew what I wanted to happen with it, but I was having a hard time getting it the way I wanted it—I am nothing if not an eternal perfectionist. Also, I hope nobody objects, but apparently this is going to end up with a little Tyra/Landry subplot. Because I recently rewatched the entire series and I'm kind of really mad they didn't end up together forever, lol. Anyway, I apologize for the delay in getting this up and I anticipate more regular chapter updating in the future! Hope y'all enjoy.

I don't care what nobody says, we're gonna have a baby

Taking off in a Coupe de Ville, she's bundled up on navy

She don't care what her momma says, no, she's gonna have my baby

Taking all I have to take, this taking's gonna shake me.

~Kings of Leon, Knocked Up

"Honey, what in the hell are we supposed to do?"

After Julie's bombshell in the restaurant, the Taylor's had paid and left as quickly as possible, although they hadn't gone home—instead, they had driven around for what felt like hours, until Gracie was asleep in the back seat with the DVD menu for Cars playing on repeat through the stereo, and now they sat in the driveway with the lights off, staring at each other.

"I have no idea," Eric said, glancing back at Gracie in the back seat. "You think she would have learned by now? I thought we raised her smarter than that?"

Tami leaned her head back against the headrest. "I don't know, I don't—is this our fault? I mean, did we do something wrong?"

Eric said nothing, just stared out at the garage door. There was relative silence for a few moments, and finally Tami asked, "Do you think I overreacted?"

Nothing.

"I know I did but you agree with me, right? She can't have that baby, we can't raise another baby, she isn't even finished high school yet, how's she going to go to college? She's throwing her entire future away? Not on my watch."

"Honey, it's not that I don't agree with you," Eric finally said, "it's that you know, and I know, that whatever Julie makes up her mind to is what she makes up her mind to and we can't do anything except be there for her and let her make her own mistakes—aw, honey, don't cry." He leaned across the console to hold her head.

"I'm sorry, sorry," she wiped at her eyes, "I just wanted more for her."

"I know, honey." Eric pressed a kiss to the side of her head. "I did, too. But we're just gonna have to love her and support her and the rest will fall into place. So let's go in there and see if we can't figure this out as a family, okay?"

In the house, Julie and Matt were sitting on the couch, Julie's head on Matt's shoulder, Matt's arms wrapped protectively around her. He was murmuring inaudibly to her, and Tami could hear Julie sobbing.

"Honey?" she said tentatively. "Can we talk to you?"

"No."

Tami took a deep breath and tried again. "Y'all two? You and Matt."

Pause. "Okay. Fine."

Tentatively, Tami sat down on the entertainment console facing them, waiting for Eric to come back from putting Gracie to bed. Eventually he emerged to sit stony-faced next to Tami, staring past them.

"So," he said after a long pause. "Let's talk about this."

Julie scooted closer to Matt. "We're keeping the baby."

Eric ran his fingers through his hair. "Now honey, let's talk about it. We aren't gonna yell or argue, we're just gonna talk about it."

Sitting up a little straighter, Julie folded her arms across her chest. "You can talk all you want but you're not going to change our minds."

Desperately, Eric looked over at Matt. "Matt?"

Matt bit his lip, looked down and shrugged. Eric sighed.

"Honey," Tami began. "I'm sorry, I know I overreacted."

"Thank you. Can we leave now?"

"But…"

Julie rolled her eyes.

"No, don't you roll your eyes at me. Just listen, okay? Having a baby is a huge undertaking at any age, but the younger you are the harder it is. You're still in high school. How are you two going to support a baby? Have you thought about school? How are you going to finish school, what about college? I'm not saying you need to terminate the pregnancy, but you need to think about your options here. We could put you in touch with an adoption agency or…"

Julie glared. "I told you. We're keeping the baby. I'm going to try to graduate early, and I'll get a job and do online classes for college, and Matt is looking for another job, one that pays better, and we'll live with Matt's grandma for a little while and look for a place…"

"Matt?" Eric asked, looking expectantly at him.

Matt shrugged, finding it nearly impossible to look Coach in the eye. Like he'd let him down again, only this time there was no coming back from it. "That's what we talked about, sir."

Eric ran his hand through his hair—it was apparent that there was no winning this one. They had made up their mind, prepared their offensive strategy, and it was out of his hands. He looked over at Tami, her face as grim as his, clearly experiencing identical feelings of defeat. Matt and Julie were looking at each other, too, but it was different—softer, hopeful, and so full of love that Eric felt his expression soften a little.

"Okay," he said, finally. "Here's how it's going to be. We can't afford to support you financially, but we will do our best to help you in whatever way we can. Julie, you and your mom can make a doctor's appointment. Matt, I'll see what I can do to get you a better job. But you have to promise us you'll stay in school, and you have to promise you're going to work hard and support yourselves. You can't go back and change this, it's permanent, so you're 100% sure this is what y'all want to do?"

Julie and Matt glanced at each other, and Matt gave Julie's hand a squeeze. "Yes."

"Then all right. Come here." He hugged them both. "Matt? Do you want to stay here tonight? It's getting late, and I guess you can't get into any more trouble than y'all are already in."

None of them could stop themselves laughing as they hugged and said their goodnights.

"So what happened?" Tyra stirred her coke with her straw, biting on it. "Did your mom freak out?"

"Uh-huh." Julie pushed her fries around on her plate, suddenly queasy at the sight of them—they'd sounded so good on the menu. "She wanted me to have an abortion and she was like, yelling in the restaurant and it was really embarrassing. But then me and Matt left the restaurant and went home and when they came back like two hours later they changed their minds."

Tyra raised her eyebrows, considering this. "Sooo, you're keeping it?"

Julie nodded. "Yeah."

"Oh my God. My little Julie is becoming a mother."

Julie rolled her eyes. "Shut up," she said, giggling.

Tyra got up from the table to hug her. "I just can't believe you got knocked up before I did," she said, and both she and Julie dissolved into laughter.

"I can't believe you're going to be a dad." Landry stared out at the lake. "Like, you are actually going to have a child. That you will be responsible for."

"I know." Matt couldn't help smiling a little—every time he thought about it, it just made him feel happy. "But, I mean, how hard could it be? Grandma."

Landry nodded. "Yeah, I guess. But at least she wipes her own butt."

Matt audibly groaned. "Please don't make me think about that."

Landry shrugged. "I'm just saying!"

"And I'm just saying you're an idiot," Matt retorted, and then got quiet for a minute. "Julie's dad got me an interview at the old folks home," he finally said.

Landry looked puzzled. "Wiping butts?"

"What is it with you and old people butts? No. In the kitchen. The pay's supposed to be pretty good and with my managerial experience they want to interview me for kitchen supervisor. It doesn't exactly sound like a dream job but…" he bit his lip, shrugging. "It's not just me I'm thinking about anymore."

Landry put his hand on his shoulder. "Matt?" he said. "You are going to be one hell of a dad."

Matt had to bite his lip again, this time to prevent himself from crying. "Well, I'm gonna try."