Author's Note: Review request. Dom catches his teenage daughter with a pregnancy test. Father/daughter bonding ensues.

A Panic

This was seriously not happening.

It was an utter nightmare.

She was only a month away from her high school graduation and already enrolled in college for the fall. She had plans with Liana and Emilie for a week long summer vacation that had taken half the year to convince their parents to allow. Things had been going amazing. For the most part.

She thought that her relationship with Carlos was winding down to an end. This could complicate matters. Possibly.

Sighing she pulled into the driveway and turned off her car, sitting anxiously in the driver's seat for several long minutes. She could see the smoke drifting up from the grill in the backyard and she watched as her mother came out the back door with a plate of food in her hands. A moment later her father stepped outside with two beer bottles in one of his hands. He crossed the lawn to wrap his arm around his wife's waist and pull her back against him. She laughed and leaned into him, tilting her head to kiss him as she reached for one of the beers.

She smiled as she watched them, feeling a little pang in her chest. She wanted that, some day. To have someone who loved her unconditionally. Someday she'd have her own family. She only hoped that day was later rather than sooner.

While her parents were distracted she crammed the small box from the local drug store into her hoodie pocket and climbed out of the car, hastily heading in the front door and darting upstairs to the bathroom. She ducked inside and pulled the door closed, locking it.

She sat down on the toilet lid, pulling out the box and staring at it in fear. She could call Liana. As her best friend the other girl would totally have her back, but the truth of the matter was she was way too scared. Plus she didn't want to tell anyone without being sure. She didn't need to freak out her friends and make herself look like an idiot.

She opened the box, read the instructions, then spent about fifteen minutes trying to psych herself up to do it. She breathed in and out slowly, muttering to herself softly.

"It's okay… no big deal. Just… pee on the stick," she murmured. "People do it all the time."

Five more minutes of anxious re-reading the instructions and she finally followed them, setting the test aside to wait for the results. She whimpered under her breath, pulling her legs up against her chest and dropping her head.

"It's fine… totally fine," she breathed.

She was startled by the knock on the door, and almost fell off the toilet seat.

"You okay in there?" came her father's voice from the other side and she clapped her hands over her mouth to prevent the little squeak of fear that wanted to slip free.

"I'm fine, Papi," she finally managed, and winced at the waver in her voice.

"You've been in there for like a half hour. Are you sick?"

She wrinkled her nose, then wracked her brain to try and figure out what to say to make him go away. "Uh… I… just lady problems, Dad!"

"Okay then," he replied, hastily departing.

She sighed and dropped her head in momentary relief, before reaching over to look at the test. She stared at it, then let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. Negative.

Thank god.

She tucked it back into its box and was about to toss it in the trash when she remembered that her Dad was the one who emptied all the trash bins in the house. Her eyes widened. She'd better take it out to the garbage pail herself.

She washed her hands, then shoved the box into her hoodie pocket and unlocked the bathroom door, yanking it open and heading for the stairs. She fairly flew down them, only to run straight into her father's chest as she hit the bottom, him coming around the corner from the kitchen.

The box slipped out of her pocket and bounced off the bottom stair, landing beside the test on the floor at her feet. She stared at it, open-mouthed, her cheeks pink, wishing that the floor would open up into a hole she could disappear into as her father eyed it with an unreadable expression.

Maybe he didn't know what it was. Maybe she could lie through her teeth and tell him it was some fancy new toothbrush or a really weird tampon or something.

He crossed his arms in front of her, expression hardening and she took a small step back, knowing there was no way she was lying her way out of this one. That didn't mean she wouldn't try.

"Hi, Papi," she smiled brightly. "Is dinner ready?"

He raised his brows, then pointed to the test on the floor. "Explain."

"That is… just some trash I need to take outside."

"I know what it is. Are you pregnant?"

Her eyes widened and she shook her head hastily. "No. No, I swear Papi. It's just… it was just uh… I bought it for Mami?"

"Nice try, but no. You're not pregnant?"

She shook her head hastily, wisely staying silent.

"But you thought you might be?"

Looking down she nodded quietly, biting down on her lower lip. "We were always careful but… you know… it's not 100% fool proof."

"Carlos?" he asked.

She was faintly stunned that he wasn't yelling, or angry. She supposed this was because he already knew she was having sex, even if he hated that she was. But a part of her was also scared, that he might be that calm sort of angry that was worse than when he was actually yelling at her. To his question she could only nod.

"Yeah… I uh… I had been planning to break up with him," she said with a cringe. "So I guess it's good that I'm not uh… you know."

"You're damn lucky," he said, looking at her seriously. "Do you know how much that would have changed your life? A baby is not something to be taken lightly."

"I know, Dad, I know." She nodded. "I mean… Mom already had this whole talk with me but I'm not dumb. I don't want a baby now. I mean I'm only 17! I want to have fun while I'm young and I want to go to school and I don't need that kind of responsibility. I have my whole life ahead of me. Believe me, I know."

"I'm glad to hear you say it, but like you said, there are no guarantees," he replied, indicating the test on the floor.

She leaned down to pick it up. "What do you want me to say, Papi? That I swear off sex till I get married?"

"That would be nice," he replied. "But I know it's unlikely. I just want you to remember this and be careful." He sighed. "You know I just want the best for you, right?"

She smiled slightly, leaning in to wrap her arms around him. "I know, Papi."

"Good. Now can we not have this conversation again for another like decade at least?"

She laughed, lifting her head to look at him. "At least. I have too much living to do before I have babies."

"Also you'll be married first," he added.

"You're so old-fashioned, Dad," she replied, pulling away to go toss her garbage away.

"Only when it comes to my little girl," he murmured, watching her go. When the door closed behind her he let out a long sigh. Yeah, he'd handled that one well, he thought. Especially if he ignored the horrible panicky feeling he'd been having since she came running down the stairs.

Pretty damn good.