"Hey. What are you doing here?" Cate asked, surprised to see Baze.

"I stopped by to see Lux," Baze replied. He traipsed over to the couch and sat down.

Cate hesitated. "I'm studying."

"Cate Cassidy? Studying? No!" Baze teased.

Cate blushed slightly and returned to her seat on the couch. "I have a test tomorrow," she said defensively.

"Lux and I won't bother you, will we?" Baze said, grinning boyishly.

Cate bit her lip. "Alright. You can stay."

Baze grabbed the TV remote and began clicking through the channels. He found Sunday football.

"Lux, this is football. I play football. Yeah, I'm quarterback. That's, like, the most important position on the team," Baze said proudly to the baby in his lap.

"Cocky much?" Cate said, looking up from her book.

"Hey, I'm just stating the facts. I scored the winning touchdown last night," Baze said. "Where you there?"

"I don't think the crowd would be too happy if I brought a baby to the game," Cate pointed out.

Baze blushed slightly. "Probably not," he mumbled.

"Cate?"

Cate and Baze both looked up. Abby was standing in the doorway.

Cate narrowed her eyes. Abby looked a little too happy. Normally she pouted when Baze was over.

"It's for you," Abby said, holding the phone up.

"Who is it?" Cate asked suspiciously.

"Dewey Johnson," Abby replied.

Cate frowned. "Tell him I'm not here."

"Too late." Abby smirked. She tossed the phone in the direction of the couch.

Baze caught the phone easily and handed it to Cate.

Cate took the call in her bedroom. She had a feeling Dewey was calling to ask her to Winter Formal. She'd been avoiding his calls.

Winter Formal was coming up. Everyone was making plans. Alice heard that Dewey was planning on asking Cate.

Cate didn't want to go. At all. Her expression was pained as she remembered last year's Winter Formal.

Her date ditched her for another girl and she ended up pregnant. Pretty much the worst night ever, Cate thought miserably.

Cate immediately felt guilty for thinking that. If she hadn't gotten pregnant, Lux wouldn't be here. As difficult as the last week had been, Cate couldn't imagine not having Lux.

Cate looked at the offending phone with distaste and sighed. "Hello."

"Hi Cate. It's Dewey."

"Hi Dewey."

"I was just wondering if you, uh, wanted to go to Winter Formal?"

Cate bit her lip. Dewey was a huge dork, but he was really nice. She didn't want to hurt him. "I'd love to, but I can't."

"Oh." Dewey's voice was laced with pain.

"It's just, I don't know if you know this, but I, uh, have a daughter and I don't have anyone to watch her at night," Cate said quickly.

Cate returned to the living room. Abby was still standing there. She smiled triumphantly when she saw Cate's face. "What did he want?" She asked, feigning innocence.

"To ask me to Winter Formal," Cate replied, giving Abby a dirty look.

Baze looked up in surprise. "Are you going with him?" He asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

"No," Cate replied.

Baze smiled slightly. He didn't know why, but he didn't want her to go with Dewey Johnson.

"I don't have anyone to watch Lux," Cate said.

Baze frowned. "Is that the only reason you said no?" Did she want to go with Dewey Johnson? How could she possibly want to go with Dewey Johnson? Had she seen Dewey Johnson? The kid wore a wasp costume!

"No. I don't want to go," Cate said simply.

"With him? Or at all?" Baze pressed.

"At all," Cate said definitively.

Baze made a face. "Why?"

Abby snickered. "Because last year her date ditched her for another girl and she got knocked up."

Cate glared at Abby, her face reddening.

Baze looked down. Because of him. At least in part.

"Who are you going with?" Abby asked Baze curiously.

Baze's mouth opened in surprise. Did Abby seriously still think she had a chance with him?

He hadn't even known who Abby was before Lux and now that he did, he wished he didn't. She'd told the entire school about Lux. On top of that, she treated Cate like crap.

"I don't know," he mumbled, struggling to keep his voice even.

Abby smiled as she left the room.

"Abby makes me glad I'm an only child," Baze muttered.

Cate laughed. "Abby makes me wish I was an only child."

"Is she always…" Baze trailed off.

"A brat?" Cate supplied. "We were close, but she's been like this since I had Lux."

"What about your mom?" Baze wondered.

"She's gone a lot. She has a new boyfriend," Cate said.

Baze nodded.

"Jake. That's his name," Cate continued. "Yeah, he's a cage fighter. Classy, I know."

Baze laughed. "How did she meet Jake?"

Cate held up her hands, signaling that she had no idea.

"I've never even seen a cage fighter. I don't think," Baze said lightly.

"He's big and tattooed," Cate said.

Baze's eyes widened.

Cate laughed. "Needless to say, your parents are by far the best grandparents."

Baze raked a hand through his hair. He didn't know what to say. His dad and him didn't always get along, but his family was a cakewalk compared to Cate's. He wondered what it was like growing up with a mom like Laverne and grimaced.

Baze looked up suddenly and cheered.

"What happened?" Cate asked.

"The Seahawks just won." Baze grinned.

Cate's eyes widened. "The game's over? What time is it?" She glanced at the clock and groaned. "It's already nine! I haven't studied. Like at all. You have to go."

"Hey, it's not my fault you haven't studied," Baze protested. "It's Dewey Johnson's."

Cate tried not to smile. "I need to give Lux a bath and put her down and I'm not ready for my test."

"I can give her a bath," Baze offered.

"Really?" Cate said, smiling.

Baze nodded. "Sure."

Baze carried Lux up to the bathroom. He studied the bath tub and frowned. It was too big. Lux would drown in there.

He glanced at the sink. It was too small. "Cate? Cate!" He called.

Cate rolled her eyes when she heard Baze calling her. It hadn't even been five minutes. She set her book down and went upstairs. "Problem?"

"Where do you give Lux a bath?" Baze asked.

Cate stared at him. "Um, the bath tub?"

"It's too big. She could drown," Baze said.

Cate laughed. "Don't fill it up all the way."

She sat down on the toilet. She had a feeling that by the time she made it downstairs Baze would have another question.

Baze peeled Lux's dress off and gasped when he saw the scar on her chest.

"It looks better now. You should have seen it a few days ago," Cate said sadly.

"Does it hurt her?" Baze asked.

Cate shook her head.

She watched as Baze gently lowered Lux into the bath tub and washed her. He was extraordinarily careful, as though he thought she might break. Cate smiled. It was kind of cute.

Baze felt Cate's gaze on him and blushed. "What?"

"Nothing," Cate said, though she was still smiling.

Baze lifted Lux from the bath tub. Cate handed him a towel and he patted the baby dry gently before dressing her. He held her. "She smells sweet," he commented as he took her to her crib.

Cate grabbed the baby monitor and they went back downstairs. Cate walked toward the door and looked at Baze expectantly.

"Are you kicking me out?" Baze asked lightly.

"Lux is asleep and I really need to study," Cate said.

"You're, like, the smartest girl at Westmonte. You'll get an A," Baze said confidently.

"Yes. If I study," Cate said pointedly.

Baze surrendered and said goodbye.

Cate returned to the couch and sighed as she picked up her book. It was going to be a long night. She had to get A's. She just had to.

She cast a glance at the scholarship applications sitting on the coffee table. She'd always planned on getting a scholarship and going to college. Now she was beginning to rethink the plan.

Scholarship opportunities paid for tuition, books and a dorm room on campus. A dorm room Cate would have to share with another freshman girl. Who probably wouldn't be cool with a baby waking her up at the crack of dawn.

Even if Cate figured out the living situation, there were other things to consider. What would Cate do with Lux when she was in class? Right now she had Ellen to help her, but that would change in college. Even the closest campus was a ways away from their suburb.

It all seemed impossible. Cate was beginning to understand why most teen moms didn't graduate.

Usually a highly motivated student who had to get an A, Cate was having a hard time forcing herself to study now. When she was studying because she needed A's to get a scholarship to go to college, there was a payoff. All her hard work would be rewarded.

As Cate confronted the difficulties of going to college with a baby, she wondered if there would be a payoff or if she was wasting her time.

She wondered what Baze was planning on doing. His parents would pay for him to go to school anywhere he wanted, she knew. Would he stay in Oregon to be near Lux? Or would he leave?

Why did the thought of him leaving make Cate feel sick? It's not like he was a big help. He was cute with Lux, but Cate was the one who took care of Lux ninety percent of the time.

Cate told herself she just didn't want Lux to miss out on having a father, though deep down inside she knew it was more than that. She would miss having him around, too.