Ricky arrived home just after his parents. He found them sitting at the kitchen table when he walked in the house. His mother motioned for him to join them and he did so. They were silent for several minutes, each trying to organize their thoughts.

"So what do you want to do?" Margaret asked. Ricky looked at his mother questioningly with a raised eyebrow.

"What exactly can I do? It's obvious her dad's not gonna let me anywhere near her and how am I supposed to take care of a kid anyway?" he asked incredulously.

"Ricky," Margaret explained gently, "you have the right to be as involved in your child's life as you wanna be." She pointed to the folded document that Ricky had set down beside him on the table. "That document says that no one can take your parental rights away from you unless you first choose to give them up. Do you wanna be a part of your child's life?" Ricky snorted.

"Given my parental examples I don't think allowing me to screw up a kid by trying to be a dad is such a good idea." Shakur sighed.

"Ricky, just because your parents weren't the kind of responsible, loving examples you needed doesn't mean you can't choose to do better by your son or daughter. You don't have to be like your parents; it's a choice. You've come a long way, son, and you're on your way to becoming a good man." Ricky chuckled mirthlessly.

"Yeah right. What kind of a 'good man' gets a fifteen year old girl pregnant and then avoids her?"

"Why did you avoid Amy after having sex with her?" Margaret asked. Ricky leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling. He was quiet for several minutes, pondering the answer. "Ricky?" He sighed and stared down at the table cloth.

"I was too scared," he admitted quietly.

"Scared of what?" his mother pressed. Ricky grappled for the right word and waved his hand distractedly.

"The situation."

"And what situation was that?" Shakur asked.

"I really liked Amy."

"And that scared you?" Ricky nodded. "Were you scared before or after you slept with her?" Ricky sighed.

"After."

"So did you actually like her before the two of you slept together?" Again Ricky nodded. "I'm a little confused here, son."

"I really liked her before we had sex. Afterwards, my feelings towards her felt….different. It hit me that I didn't just like this girl but maybe, just maybe, I had real feelings for her. I mean, I hadn't known her for very long but I really liked talking to and kissing her. And then the make out session just went too far." He ran a hand through his hair and stood up to get himself a glass of water. His foster parents waited for him to do so and rejoin them at the table.

"Ricky," Margaret began. "How much truth was there in the things that George Juergens was saying?" He looked at his mother with furrowed eyebrows.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he said Amy described to them last night what that night was like for her. Were you aware at any point that Amy wasn't completely into having sex with you that night?" Ricky took a moment to think back to the night and had to swallow a lump in his throat.

"I realized once we'd gone too far to stop that she didn't realize what we were getting into. But it was too late at that point," he asserted, trying halfheartedly to defend his actions.

"And why didn't you use a condom?" Ricky rolled his eyes, having heard this lecture from his foster mother a thousand times.

"I know, I know. If you're gonna do it then be responsible. I hadn't planned on having sex with her that night so I didn't have one on me. When she didn't stop me I figured she must be on the pill or something. And it's like I said, I didn't realize she didn't realize we were going too far 'til it was too late." Margaret sighed and looked at her son with disappointment in her eyes.

"Oh, Ricky."

"Her dad was right about her personality though," Ricky continued, starring back up at the ceiling. "She really is a nice, sweet girl. I didn't take advantage of her though, or at least I didn't mean to. I just liked her. I didn't mean for any of this to happen," he admitted dejectedly. "Maybe I don't deserve to have a baby with a girl a nice as Amy." Margaret reached out to squeeze his hand.

"Ricky, everyone deserves to have a nice guy or a nice girl in their lives. You didn't set out to hurt Amy so you shouldn't feel bad for liking her back then. And if you still like her now then maybe the two of you need to sit down together, without any parents interjecting, and just talk this out." Ricky sighed and looked at the woman who had become the mother he'd always wanted, and needed.

"I don't know, mom. Part of me feels like I've hurt her so bad that I owe her whatever she wants. And if she wants me out of the picture then so be it." Ricky got up and headed to his room to mull things over. Margaret and Shakur waited until they heard his bedroom door close before speaking again.

"I don't wanna see Ricky just walk away from his child but I also don't want that child to grow up watching and listening to him and Amy constantly fighting if she truly can't bring herself to be in the same room with him," Margaret said sadly. "Did you see the way she tried to stay as far away from him as possible today in Molina's office? That poor girl's really scared and hurt. It may take some time before she's willing to forgive him, and that won't happen as long as her parents continue to view Ricky as their daughter's enemy." Shakur nodded in agreement.

"George reminds me of Ricky a little. They're both pretty stubborn. I'm not sure Ricky can set aside his pride just yet and approach Amy, and George is unlikely to yield his point of view unless Amy asks him to simply because parents have a hard time forgiving those who've hurt their child." They sat at the table for some time, trying to figure out a way to approach George Juergens about letting their son speak to Amy alone. Back at the Juergens household, everyone was sitting at the dining room table eating a lunch of salad and homemade pizza.

"So how'd it go?" Ashley asked once everyone had served themselves. Anne sighed.

"Well your father ranted and raved at Ricky for a while and then handed him the form. His dad and the counselor thought he should take some time and really think about whether or not to sign it so we left the form with him and came home." George grunted his dissatisfaction with the meeting's outcome but didn't speak up. Robbie frowned in disappointment too.

"Do you still want him to sign the form, Amy?" Robbie asked. Amy had a mouth full of pizza so she just nodded, rather enthusiastically. The sooner I'm free of Ricky Underwood the better. "Then he'll sign it," Robbie declared.

"So are we gonna tell people now?" Ashley asked. Anne sighed again.

"People are going to find out eventually. Let's not tell the whole world if we don't have to." They finished their lunch in companionable silence and once lunch was over, Robbie began hatching a plan to make sure Ricky Underwood signed that form and his little sister had at least a small amount of peace of mind. The teens lounged around the house for the rest of the afternoon until school got out. Robbie kissed his mom on the cheek as he headed out the door to football practice.

"Drive safe," she called after him.

"I will," he assured her. He climbed into his car and sent a quick text to his two best friends, Terrance and Simon, using the shorthand code they'd come up with ages ago: SOS, G. PL. He got responses immediately.

Terrance: IBT*

Simon: OTW^

Robbie smiled. He knew his boys would have his back. He pulled into the school several minutes later and headed straight for the back parking lot near the football field. Sure enough, the boys were waiting for him. He climbed out and they descended on him.

"Who hurt gummie?" Terrance asked harshly. His two best friends were the only other people he'd told about Amy's gumdrop fix. Robbie smiled and shook his head.

"Not now. I just wanted to let you guys know to hang back after practice so I can fill you in without anyone else overhearing." Terrance and Simon nodded and the three of them headed to the locker room to change for practice. Robbie, Simon and Terrance had been best friends since they were two years old; probably a consequence of living so close to each other. Simon lived next door to the Juergens' and Terrance lived next door to Simon. The boys met one day at the playground and became instant friends. When their mothers realized they lived next door to each other, frequent play dates for the boys ensued and the families had become so close that the boys practically lived at each other's houses, calling each other's mothers mom and deciding to crash at each other's places on the spur of the moment.

As fate would have it, each of the boys' moms had a little girl next and Simon's little sister Madison and Terrance's little sister Lauren where Amy's best friends. It was to these two girls that Amy sent a text: 911, my place. Several minutes later two girls came bursting in through the kitchen. Anne looked up, smiling when she saw them.

"Hi, Mrs. J. Amy texted us," Madison explained. Anne nodded in understanding and the two girls raced up to Amy's room and barged in. Lauren shut the door behind them and joined Amy and Madison on her bed. "What's going on? Why weren't you in school today? Oh, and I picked up your assignments for you," Madison said in one breath as she placed several sheets of paper in front of Amy with her homework assignments written down on them. "And McGoober pushed the test back a week because people did so bad on the last homework assignment." Amy chuckled at their nickname for their biology teacher before her face became serious.

"What's going on, Amy?" Lauren asked. Amy took a deep breath and launched into her explanation.

"You guys know Ricky Underwood?"

"That wannabe bad boy who can't keep it in his pants?" Madison asked. Amy nodded. "What about him?"

"I met him six weeks ago at band camp." She had to pause for a moment and steady herself before telling her two best friends her life changing news. They gave her looks that clearly said 'we're waiting for the punch line.' "Well, one night we started making out, it went too far," Amy started to tear up but continued talking, fearing she'd lose her nerve if she stopped talking now, "we had sex and now I'm six weeks pregnant." Her friends were stunned but also unnerved by the unshed tears in Amy's eyes.

"Are you sure, Amy?" Lauren asked hesitantly. Amy nodded and told them all about what had happened that night, about taking a pregnancy test last night, having a break down, her doctor's appointment that morning, and her meeting with Ricky and his parents. Madison, who was almost as emotional as Amy, was livid.

"That jerk! I'm gonna kick him in the nuts the next time I see him!" Lauren nodded in agreement, but being the voice of reason in the group, turned the conversation back towards the form and what Amy was going to do next.

"So do you wanna keep the baby or give it up for adoption? Or are you thinking abor….." Madison gasped and cut Lauren off.

"Don't you dare say it! She wouldn't do that! She can't do that!" Lauren narrowed her eyes at Madison.

"She can if she chooses to, Madison. It's her choice. She's gotta do what she thinks is best." Madison and Lauren glared at each other for a moment before Amy interjected.

"No, Lauren, I'm not considering abor…that," she quickly amended, knowing Madison's Catholic upbringing made her uncomfortable with the word abortion. "And I haven't decided if keeping my baby or giving him or her up for adoption is what's best for my baby. All I know right now is that I don't wanna have to deal with Ricky Underwood ever again."

"Hear, hear!" Madison heartedly agreed. Lauren cleared her throat.

"You know this isn't going to go over well with the boys." Madison gasped in realization and Amy groaned. Unfortunately for the three girls, having best friends whose older brothers were your older brother's best friends meant that each of them were subjected to the watchful and eye and protective nature of three big brothers instead of one, and the boys took their job very seriously; anyone who messed with one of them was subjected to the wrath of all three of their older brothers. This did not bode well for Ricky Underwood. The girls spent the next couple of hours talking about babies while their brothers were at football practice. As the next game was only a few days away, coach kept them a little later than usual but didn't push them quite as hard, not wanting to risk injuring anybody before the big game. The boys quickly showered once coach said to call it a night and they met at Robbie's car. They climbed in and shut the doors to make sure no one overheard them.

"So what's up?" Simon asked. Robbie's brow furrowed with anger.

"You guys know Ricky Underwood?" he asked.

"The school horn dog and self-proclaimed bad boy?" Terrance asked; Robbie nodded. The majority of the school knew Ricky's reputation for being fast and loose with the girls and Terrance and Simon's brows furrowed with anger. If he'd hurt Amy there'd be hell to pay. "What he do?" Terrance asked heatedly.

"He got her pregnant," Robbie said simply. Suddenly Simon was tearing out of the car and running towards the band area. It took Robbie and Terrance a split second to realize what Simon was about to do and they chased after him and tackled him to the ground.

"I'll kill him!" Simon bellowed from the grass where his two best friends had him pinned.

"Not yet you won't" Robbie informed him. His words caused Simon to stop struggling and look at him questioningly, as did Terrance. Robbie motioned for them to follow him back to his car. Once they were back inside Robbie explained.

"Believe me, the first thing I wanted to do when I found out who had done it was bash his face in but now I've got another reason to and I figured you guys might wanna help me." He had his friends' undivided attention now. "See, gummie wants to be free of the little punk, legally, since he's been avoiding her ever since it happened. She and the folks met with him and his folks today to have him sign a form that says he gives up his parental rights, meaning gummie doesn't have to deal with him unless she wants to, and trust me, she doesn't. So the way I figure, he either signs it or I pummel him. Care to help me if he won't sign?"

"Like you have to ask," the boys told him in unison.

"When and where did it happen though?" Terrance asked.

"Six weeks ago at band camp," Robbie said with a sigh. He quickly filled in the boys about everything that had happened last night and his conversation with Amy earlier that day, also explaining why he wasn't at school.

"We got you," Simon told Robbie. "You let gummie know we got her back."

"Will do." Robbie checked his phone. "I better be getting home before mom has a heart attack." Terrance and Simon chuckled, knowing Anne had a tendency to worry too much. "And don't tell the girls just yet. Gummie wants to tell them herself I'm sure." They nodded and then climbed out, making their way to their own cars as Robbie drove away.

"I still say we pummel him whether he signs or not," Terrance said grumpily as he walked towards his car. Simon nodded.

"I'm down." And with that they climbed into their own cars and drove home, plotting ways to do bodily harm to Ricky Underwood for hurting their sweet little gummie. Anyone who messed with their little sister felt their wrath and Ricky Underwood would discover that in a big way if he didn't sign that paper and give gummie what she wanted and needed.

*IBT: I'll be there

^OTW: On the way