Forgive me! I soooo sorry that it's taken me sooo long. Life has been super busy lately and I had some family issues to deal with. But everything is good now and I've been really inspired lately. I have the next few chapters outlined and I plan to write some more after I post this one, so hopefully it won't take me too long. Hope you like it!

Four months had passed since the day Lily was born. Zoey had spent many sleepless nights awake with her infant daughter, trying to sooth her back into sleep. Lily was not a peaceful sleeper and often woke up three of four times during the night screaming. The first night Lily had stayed asleep had actually caused Zoey to panic. Worried that something was wrong with her daughter, Zoey woke Addison up at three in the morning, only to have Addison grumpily tell her to go back to bed. After that, life had gotten a little bit easier for Zoey as she began to get more sleep. She loved her daughter beyond measure and she hated to part with her. Even leaving her with Addison for a few hours was hard for her. The fact that once she started school again in a few days scared her nearly to death. While she went to school during the day Addison would take Lily to work with her and watch her there, but Zoey was not looking forward to not seeing her baby for six or seven hours. Zoey was currently at the store, where she was supposed to be buying school supplies, but she had found herself in the baby section, looking at more clothes. Every once in a while she would hold up a frilly dress and ask Lily if she liked it or not. The four month old slept soundly, unaware that her wardrobe was getting significantly bigger.

While standing in the checkout line the normally very self-assured and confident teen began to feel very self-conscious. A lot of people were staring at her and obviously judging the fact that she had a baby at such a young age. She had not taken Lily out very much so far and she had not had to deal with many people judging her yet. She quickly paid for her items and made her way out to the car, sure that she had heard someone call her a slut. Tears pricked at her eyes as she loaded the baby in the car then began to drive, but she pushed them back, not wanting to let them get to her. She drove to the practice slowly, thinking everything over. As soon as she walked into the lobby Amelia made her way over to them. Lily had started crying on the way p, but Zoey had her hands full, so Amelia snatched up her great niece and began soothing her,

"Hey baby girl, why are you crying? There's no reason to cry," she said softly while gently bouncing her. They followed Zoey into Addison's office where she put all of the shopping bags down. Lily had stopped crying and was looking at Amelia, who was now making faces to entertain the baby. Zoey watched them and felt more tears come into her eyes. Amelia looked at Zoey, "What's wrong sweetie?" she asked worriedly, focusing on Zoey now. Zoey simply shook her head and gently took the baby back from her aunt, pulling a bottle out of the diaper bag.

"Don't want to talk about it," she said simply as she readjusted Lily and slipped the bottle into her mouth. Lily began sucking hungrily, starring at her mother's face. Zoey watched her daughter and smiled sadly. She loved her daughter more than anything else in the world, but she didn't want people calling her or her daughter names. As Lily drifted off to sleep again Zoey felt a few of the tears fall down her face. Amelia sat next to her,

"Hey, what's wrong Zo? You know you can tell me anything," she said sincerely. Zoey looked at Amelia and then back at Lily.

"Nothing's wrong Amy," she started to say, but Amelia interrupted her,

"Ok that's bullshit. You tell me everything Zoey, and I know you. Something is bothering you and I want to help you. So what's wrong?" Zoey sighed,

"I took Lily with me to the store today; you know to get school supplies and everything. And everyone kept staring at me. And they were all judging me, I could tell. Someone even called me a slut. I'm not a slut! Just because I'm a teenager and have a baby doesn't give people the right to call me names and judge me. They don't even know me! And I know that I should just ignore them, but every time I go out with the baby everyone stares at me and I don't want to be judged and stared at every time I go out. I can't handle it Amy." Amelia listened to Zoey and when she finished talking she wrapped her arms around her niece,

"Listen to me Zo. You are amazing and strong and brave. So you had a baby at sixteen, so what? You stepped up, you had the baby and you kept her. You could have just given up, terminated the pregnancy or put her up for adoption, but you took the responsibility and you've made something great. You have a daughter and you love her and take care of her. That's more than some mothers can say, some that are a lot older than you. Who cares what other people think Zoey, as long as you're doing the right thing for you then that's all that matters." Zoey cried harder and thought about what Amelia had said. True, she was doing better than some parents would, but she had an amazing support system and would never have been able to do it without any of them. Still though, Zoey had doubts and it showed on her face. Addison had been at the door, about to walk into the office, when Zoey had told Amelia what was wrong. Rather than walking away she stayed and listened to her daughter. After listening to Zoey she knew that Amelia would help her feel better, but she was still worried. Zoey had changed after Lily had been born and tended to hold onto things more and worry about them. Instead of going into her office she walked down the hall to Violet's instead. She knocked on the door and Violet looked up from a patients folder,

"Hey Addison, what's up?" she asked. Addison walked in and sat down on the couch across from the chair she was in.

"I'm worried about Zoey," she told Violet bluntly.

"Why? Is she ok?" Addison shrugged,

"I don't know. I sort of overheard her talking to Amelia a few minutes ago,"

"You mean you were eaves dropping," Violet interrupted.

"No, not really. They were in my office and I didn't want to interrupt them, but I couldn't just walk away either. Zoey was crying; I had to know what was wrong."

"So what was wrong?"

"She was at the store with Lily today and apparently she felt everyone was judging her and she basically had a breakdown because everyone was judging her and thinking badly of her because she had a baby so young. And I was just wondering if you could talk with her, like professionally and just make sure she is dealing with the baby ok and that she's ready to go back to school."

"Shouldn't you talk to her about this?"

"I think she would do better talking to you. Please Violet, I just want to make sure that my daughters ok."

"Alright, sure, I have some free time this afternoon," Violet agreed.

"Thanks Vi," Addison said, standing up and walking out of the room. She went to her office where Zoey was now alone with Lily, Amelia having gone to see a patient. "Hey Zo," Addison said

"Hey mom, what's up?" she asked brightly. She seemed to be back to her normal self again, with no hint that she had been crying.

"Just getting ready to meet with a patient. What have you been doing today?"

"Just did some shopping, school stuff, baby clothes. I got Lily the cutest dress ever today," she said, pulling out an infant sized dress out of one of the bags and held it up. Addison smiled,

"You are going to have the best dressed baby ever," she said, thinking of all the clothes everyone had bought for Lily. Of course the women at the practice like nothing less than designer, and the style gene had definitely been passed down to Zoey, and as a result her daughter had a closet full of designer items ranging from hats and headbands to shoes and socks, before she could even crawl.

"Yes she is," Zoey agreed. Addison took a breath,

"So I asked Violet to talk to you this afternoon."

"Why?" Zoey asked, sounding annoyed.

"Because I want you to talk to her. I heard you talking to Amelia earlier and I think it would do you some good to talk to Violet."

"I don't need a therapist mom! I just had a bad day is all!" Zoey said defensively, standing up quickly, startling the baby. Lily began crying at the sudden movement, "Why were you even listening into our conversation anyway?"

"Well you are in my office Zo; I wasn't exactly listening in on purpose. Just please talk to Violet, it might do you some good." Zoey sighed,

"Fine mom, I'll talk to her. But really I'm ok," she told Addison while she tried to sooth the baby.

"Thank you, that's all I ask," she said, taking her granddaughter from her daughter's arms and rocking her gently and she quickly stopped crying. Zoey smiled at her mom and daughter.

Did you like it? Review and let me know what you thought!