"Do Victoria's parents know?" Lois asked after several minutes of trying to calm down.

Francis nodded. "I think so."

"You think so?" Lois asked, her voice gradually getting louder. She stood up and slammed her hand and the table, and started to yell but was cut off by her husband.

"Honey, please. Yelling is going to get us nowhere with this situation," Hal informed her.

"Sure it doesn't do anything, but it sure doesn't hurt to yell either," Lois semi-quietly mumbled.

Hal looked away from her and sighed. "Son, her parents have to know," he said with a very serious look.

Francis gulped and avoided eye contact with either of his parents. "I'll ask her later."

"Good," Hal commented. He sat back in the kitchen table chair and let out another big sigh.

Lois stood up and quietly said, "I'm going to go tell the boys they can come back inside."

She had made them stay outside in a fit of rage earlier as soon as she found out about Francis and his girlfriend. Of course they were making their attempts to eavesdrop on the conversation going on between their brother and their parents, but they didn't dare go back inside with the mood that their mom was in. All they could do was stand outside and take guesses among themselves on what Francis had done to cause such a ruckus.

"Maybe he got kicked out of school," Reese suggested.

"Nah, they wouldn't have minded talking about that in front of us," Malcolm conferred. "This has to be something bad."

"Boys, come inside!" they heard the yelling of their mother from nearby.

They cautiously and quietly walked inside the house, making sure to not strike up any more anger or yelling. They walked straight to their bedroom as an awkward silence filled the room until they were gone. They did, however, make sure to flash smirks at Francis that their parents couldn't see as they walked by.

Lois sat down again at the table and looked at Francis. "Okay Francis, you need to make sure Victoria and her parents are fully aware of this situation and that we all need to come to an agreement about how to handle this. Tell her to invite her parents over here for dinner so that we can all talk about this as a group."

Francis twisted his mouth in thought. "Here?"

"Yes, here," she remarked in exasperation. "I'm going to pretend that you didn't just say that."

Francis started to give a slight smile but quickly refrained himself.

"Alright mom, I'll tell her," he gave in and agreed.

He was usually a lot less mature when he was in trouble, but he knew the seriousness of this particular situation and he knew that he needed to take responsibility and do something about it.

"Hey, babe," Francis greeted sweetly.

He was sitting in his car in the parking lot after school, with Victoria in the seat next to him. He went through his head over and over again what he was going to say to her. It had to be meaningful; it had to be genuine. He only thought briefly about what he was going to say because he wanted it to come from his heart and he wanted to truly mean it. He looked over at her with soft eyes, setting the tone for the conversation they were about to have. He wanted her to feel completely comfortable, and he wanted her to be able to share her true feelings with him. He took a deep breath and began speaking.

"Victoria," he took a small pause. "I want you to know that I am going to be with you through this whole experience, with kindness and support. I'm not going to abandon you. I'm going to support your decisions and help you through this."

Victoria looked at him with stunned, emotional eyes. She had never heard him talk in such a way, or sound so serious. This was such a heartfelt conversation that she had no idea he was even capable of. She smiled, her face starting to glow warmly.

"Wow," was all she managed to say at first. "Francis.. wow."

Francis smiled at her, This was exactly the type of reaction he was looking for- surprised by his compassion, and genuinely touched by it. He gulped in shyness and then looked into her eyes deeply.

"I love you," he blurted out.

He immediately froze up, shocked by what he had just said. The feelings were true, but he was shy to admit his emotional feelings to people- especially to girls.

Victoria noticed his nervousness and giggled; she found it extraordinarily cute.

"I love you too," she replied as she batted her eyelashes at him.

A relief rushed over Francis. He relaxed his body and suddenly remembered the reason why he had originally wanted to meet with Victoria- to ask her to bring her parents over to his house so they could all talk about the situation over dinner. He looked down at her stomach, noticing a very slight bump starting to form. It looked cute; he tried to imagine a very small baby floating around inside it. His baby.

"Victoria, the reason I asked you to meet me here was to talk about the baby," he started. "I told my parents.. they wanted me to invite you and your parents over for dinner."

Victoria looked down and had a look on her face that showed she was processing the information. She looked up at him again, a hesitant look on her face.

"My parents.. they don't exactly really know yet." she admitted.

Francis felt a nervousness in his stomach. This was way too much for him to be handling at his age and maturity level, but he knew he had to. He nodded and rubbed his hand down his face in minor distress.

"Do you want me to be there when you tell them, for support?" he asked.

"I.. I don't know. I guess. I mean, it would probably make it easier," she thought out loud. "I've been trying to hide my stomach by wearing sweatshirts and baggy clothes," she laughed. "I guess if I don't tell them soon they'll find out on their own."

"Do you want to tell them when they come over for dinner?" Francis questioned.

Victoria thought for a moment before responding. She didn't want to tell them at all, but she knew that telling them with a bunch of other people there with her would make it easier.

"Sure," she answered. "This Saturday?"

"Sure, that'll work," he confirmed, giving a slight smile to try and calm her nerves.