Another important rewritten chapter for slight plot changes! There's also a lot of focus on Musa and Riven's relationship in this chapter- enjoy and please review.

xxMazzy

Musa returned home from the health clinic and spent her whole day stressing about telling Riven that she was pregnant. Why hadn't she thought this through? What if Riven reacted badly? What if he was so against the idea that he left her? Then she'd still have to marry Jared and she'd be stuck with Riven's kid, that would inevitably look exactly like him, to torture her daily.

"No," she told herself. "It's going to be okay. Don't worry about that right now."

After a busy day bitching about Jared and discussing potential getaway plans with her friends, she finally found herself alone in her room with Riven. He greeted her with a kiss. He loved that ecstatic feeling he got every time his lips met her warm, soft pair. To his disappointment, she pulled away quickly.

"Riven, I have to tell you something," she said. She looked a little worried.

"What is it?" he asked, confused. "Have you found an assassin for Jared?"

Musa whacked her boyfriend over the head with the papers that she'd just picked up off her bed.

"Oww," he whined, and instinctively lifted his hand to fix his hair. She always wondered just how much gel he went through in a month to wear his hair up like that every day.

She laughed, but quickly resumed her serious expression. "Riven I'm serious," she complained.

"Sorry, I'm just trying to lighten up this whole thing," he said. "Enjoy the cheerful me while it lasts because pretty soon I'll be in jail after I brutally murder Jared."

She shook her head. "No really," she said. "I have to tell you something, I'm just scared of how you'll react..."

"Well go on? How bad can it be?"

"No, you don't understand. I thought it would be so easy but I was wrong... I can't... I can't bring myself to tell you."

Riven was confused. Musa usually opened up to him pretty easily. "What's wrong?" he asked, his humorous tone dropped as he was now suspicious of what she had to say.

"Think of the worst possible thing that could have happened," she began to explain.

"You have to marry Jared?" he replied sarcastically.

"No, apart from that!" she said, becoming distressed.

"You're going to die?"

"You're just not getting it," she sighed. "And how is me dying not as bad as me marrying Jared?"

Riven shrugged. "If you die, nobody will have you. If you marry Jared, he'll have you, and I won't."

"You're so cute, but this is serious..."

"Never call me cute."

"Okay, okay. But seriously. I need to tell you this, I just don't know how."

"Saying what it is might be a good start," he suggested, and she glared at him.

"Riven, I'm... I'm..."

"Really starting to annoy your boyfriend?"

"I'm pregnant," she muttered quickly and quietly. He didn't hear her.

"You're what?" he asked.

"I'm pregnant," she repeated, this time louder and clearer.

"You're what?" he said again, but there was no doubt that he had heard her this time.

"Pregnant," she said for the third time.

Riven couldn't help it. He looked down to her perfectly flat stomach and scowled. She looked cross and folded her arms.

"So you're..."

"Pregnant. Yes" she answered with dignity.

"Wow."

"Uh-huh." Musa had dreaded the moment being tense like this.

"I thought you said you were on the spell?"

"It's not one hundred percent effective," she lied.

"Your Dad's gonna hate me, isn't he?"

Musa was relieved that this was one of Riven's only concerns, but she hadn't even thought about her Dad hating Riven. "Well... for a while I'm sure he will, but he'll come off it eventually," she decided.

"You don't sound so sure."

"That's cos I'm not."

"Fantastic," he said sarcastically. "So when are we, like, going to tell people? Assuming we are going to tell people? And wait- what about Jared?"

"Well, that's why it's not so bad," she confessed. "If I'm pregnant with another man, according to the laws of our realm, I can't proceed with my arranged marriage..."

Riven forgot that he was going to become a father- he was getting his girlfriend back. He picked her up and swung her around in his arms. "Oh, Musa," he sighed. "I love you."

"I love you too," she smiled back at him and he kissed her.

"Everything will be okay," he promised her. "Nothing else matters as long as I have you."

"There's just one small catch," Musa explained.

"Which is?" Riven asked.

"I have to have been pregnant before I knew about the marriage."

"Oh..." Riven sighed, his mood deflating. Musa couldn't have gotten pregnant any time before the last three weeks, after she already knew that she had to marry Jared.

"Which is why it's a good thing that one of my old friends is a nurse at the health clinic," Musa continued. "She's going to fake results for me, saying that I got pregnant on the last night at Alfea."

"Oh, Musa! That's brilliant!" he said, hugging his girlfriend again. "Anyway, when are we going to tell people?"

"I don't know. I haven't a clue how we'll tell Bloom and everyone. Stella will probably be annoyed if she isn't the first to know." The thought of her eccentric friend made her smile.

"Well I think you're right about that!" he laughed, and kissed her again.

After dinner the next day the Winx Club and the specialists found themselves retiring to the sitting room with the cinema screen, which had quickly become their favourite place to chill out.

"So does anyone have any amazing new plans to breakup Musa's marriage?" Stella asked. "Or is she still becoming a recluse gypsy pretending to have one leg so that no one will recognise her?"

"That one's my personal favourite," said Brandon. "Or maybe the one where she relocates to Earth and uses magic to become the president of the planet and when Jared comes looking for her she gets her human minions to attack him!" he laughed.

Stella mockingly punched Brandon in the arm. "And Musa, Riven, whatever have you two been up to anyway? We hardly see you anymore!" Stella complained.

"You know... just, stuff," Musa said.

"Ooo-er!" Layla exclaimed. "What sort of 'stuff'?" Layla waggled her eyebrows, and everyone giggled. Apart from Musa and Riven.

"Don't be silly, Layla," Bloom said. "They probably just wanted to have some time together while they can."

"Can we go somewhere more private?" Musa asked, not wanting to confess here where someone might overhear. Her friends looked puzzled, but obliged.

The private place Musa lead them to was an enormous and neglected recording studio. She knew her Dad avoided this place as much as she could as it reminded him too much of her Mom, and anyone else was only allowed in with permission. Musa took herself as the authority granting her friends permission, after all, it was her house too.

"So, what's the big private news we had to walk a gazillion miles to hear?" Stella was impatient, and walking around the room flinging her arms around. Musa knew how much she loved gossip.

Musa didn't know how to begin. Telling all of her friends seemed even more difficult than telling Riven. "Well... you see... you know how... well... you know that..."

"Get to the point Musa!" Stella said, becoming even more exasperated.

"You know... You... You know that I am supposedly engaged to Jared?"

Stella flung her arms in the air. "Well, obviously!"

"Well, I've got a way out of it."

"What? You've got an escape plan and we've still been discussing one-legged gypsies?" Stella exclaimed.

"Calm down, honey," Brandon walked over to put his arm around Stella. "Musa might have just thought of it today."

Musa was seriously enjoying annoying Stella, and decided to try and drag the explanation out as much as possible.

"Well..." she began.

"Well?!" Stella's eyes were bulging. Brandon's attempts to calm her down were failing. Layla was pathetically stifling a laugh. Tecna and Timmy were looking disapprovingly at Stella. Flora looked worried and Helia appeared to be comforting her. Sky seemed to be attentive but Bloom kept glancing at Stella.

Riven went to whisper in Musa's ear. "Just say it."

Musa took a deep breath.

"Come on! Come on!" Stella was like a kid in a toy store.

"Well... I'm... sorta... kinda... pregnant..." Musa confessed.

Everyone's jaws dropped. Stella, for once in her life, was speechless.

"What the fuck, Musa? Pregnant?!"

Everybody turned to stare at the speaker. The words emitted from the mouth of Flora had been almost as shocking as Musa's baby news.

"What the Hell, Flora? Did you just say 'fuck'?" Stella asked in amazement, dumbfounded by the whole situation.

Flora's cheeks had turned bright red and she pulled the sleeves of her baby pink jumper down to cover her hands- a sign that she was embarrassed.

"Some people we know have certainly being doing a lot of that recently!" Sky sniggered and joke-punched Brandon on the arm.

"Shut up, Sky!" Bloom was clearly quite angry at her boyfriend. "This isn't funny!"

"I can't believe that Flora said 'fuck'..." Stella went on.

"Oh come on? Is it against the law for Flo to swear?" Layla questioned Stella. "Musa, would you mind telling us how you being... pregnant... helps the situation at all?" Layla was the only one being realistic.

Musa hadn't thought properly- like most things to do with her marriage escape plan- about how her friends were going to react. She didn't like the way they had reacted, especially Flora. Most of them seemed to be very ashamed of her, and Riven wasn't exactly helping. He was sat by her side, one arm around her waist; the other resting on the back of the couch and supporting his head. His face wore that sexy smirk she had fell in love with, but right now didn't appreciate at all.

"I don't think you've acted very logically, Musa," Timmy said matter-of-factly.

"Have you even thought about the consequences of bearing a child at your age?" Tecna wondered.

"It's not illegal! She is nineteen, you know!" Sky pointed out.

"Sky!" Bloom hissed.

"He has got a point Bloom..." Stella said.

"Be quiet, Stella! Don't you realise how much trouble Musa is going to be in?"

"I wouldn't get in trouble if I was pregnant... In fact I think my Mom would be happy!" Stella stated.

"Yeah well I haven't got a mom, have I?"

There was silence over Musa's statement. Of course, they all knew that Musa's mom died when she was only little, and Stella wasn't always the person to talk to if you were easily offended. No matter how much Musa tried to hide it, they all knew that she was a little over-sensitive. She had never really talked about her mom before, apart from when she'd told Layla and Riven about her. Yet here she was, openly admitting that her mom was dead. Nobody knew what to say; they just bit their lips and glanced up at Musa every so often. It was the first time that they had ever really had a silence like this before. Luckily, it didn't take too long for Musa to break it herself.

"In my realm, and likewise Jared's realm, arranged marriages for royals have been a tradition for centuries. I thought that it fizzled out years ago, but apparently not. All the rules of The Harmonic Nebula are written down in a book: The Code of The Harmonic Nebula. Everything to do with arranged marriages and the rules about them is in that book. If I'm pregnant with another guy, I can't marry anyone else."

"So you got pregnant just to get out of marrying Jared?" Stella exclaimed. "You go Musa!"

"Of course I didn't..." Musa defended, and Bloom looked at her suspiciously. "I got pregnant before I even knew about Jared."

"What? You've been pregnant for two years?!"

"No! I mean before I knew about my...Well, the whole having to marry him thing, Stella."

"When did you... you know, get pregnant?" Layla asked, concerned for her best friend.

Musa hesitated a moment before answering. "The last night at Alfea."

Bloom looked confused and thoughtful. "But, when you guys came down during the party, you said you didn't do anything like that..."

At last, Riven spoke. "Did you ever think that people might lie sometimes?"

Sky glared at Riven, annoyed at him for being rude to his girlfriend. The two had always had a friendly rivalry.

"Yeah, but not my own friends to my own face!" Bloom objected. It wasn't like her to get annoyed.

"Well did you really want them to tell you the truth at that point?" Tecna asked.

Flora had come around from her earlier embarrassment and was now talking sense. "Musa, have you even thought about this? You're going to have a child. It's not something you can just jump into like that, and at such a young age too! It's unfair on a baby to grow up neglected because their parents were stupid and don't know how to look after them properly. It's the same with plants; if you don't look after..."

"Oh don't start your flower power crap, Flo! Having kids is amazing! When I have a kid she's going to be perfect and beautiful..." Stella began to go off on a tangent, describing how fabulous her own kid was going to be.

Musa wasn't listening. She was too stuck on Flora's question. Had she really thought about this? The answer was no. How could she have been so stupid?

"... I bet Musa's fine with having a kid! It'll be great! I can give her fashion advice and..."

And what if Riven got scared off as the fact dawned on him? What if he left her? What would she do then? She'd be stuck with a kid and no choice than to marry Jared...

"... when my daughter was born they could be best friends, little princesses..."

Her father would never forgive her. He'd constantly be telling her child- his grandchild- how stupid Musa had been and that they should never get caught in a situation like hers...

"Can't you just see it now, Shnookums? Our little Celestia playing dress-up with Mommy's jewellery?" Brandon laughed and kissed his future wife on the head. He was obviously a little uncomfortable with talking about having children just yet. It was amazing that Riven was so cool with it.

"So, I think that Musa will agree how amazing this really is, right?" Stella asked Musa.

Musa knew that her calmness was quickly fading away. She was breaking down. What had she done?

"Right, Musa?" Stella was now staring at Musa, almost persuading her to agree.

"Stella, I'm not going to the store to buy a little plaything for you. I'm having a fucking child!" She detached herself from Riven and got up swiftly with as much dignity as possible, and left the room. She felt everybody's eyes on her.

"Why," Stella stressed, "Do I always get the blame for these things?"

Face buried in her pillow, Musa cried for what felt like the millionth time since she'd found out that she was engaged to Jared. She clutched at her stomach, feeling sick at the thought of a tiny living thing inside of her. She had never been squeamish, but this was all too much for her. It was like the feeling you get in a biology lesson on the menstrual cycle. You know everything about it and it doesn't bother you at all. It's a fact of life. It's even okay to talk about it with your friends; it's only natural. Yet you can't help but feel sick and embarrassed when your professor drones on and on about it with the boys all sniggering around you. Why hadn't she just talked to her dad about the whole thing? He was a good man- very honest and usually understanding. It might have taken a while to work on him, but if she could have convinced him what she believed was best for herself really was the best, well, she was sure he would have listened. Why didn't she just try it before jumping into this awful situation? She might be smart, but she had to admit that sometimes she was just darn right stupid.

Lifting her head from the pillow, she saw that it was damp from her tears. She sniffed as her stomach growled from hunger and thought about all the times she had been happy. All of the times she had been happy with Riven. She had never worried about anything; even the witches hadn't played on her mind that much. They were just part of the adventure of Alfea. She thought back to her preteen years when she was looking forward to going to Alfea. She had everything planned out in her head. In reality, it had happened totally differently, but she had never expected- or even wanted- to get pregnant right after graduation. There was a time when she'd looked down upon teenage mothers, and now she was practically one herself. Did that make her a terrible hypocrite? Perhaps they had faced difficult scenarios too, and nobody gave them a chance. What if it was the same for her? Would anybody even respect her as a person never mind a musician? It was unlikely. She would be kicked aside like an old tin can. Forgotten like one of those people who were famous for a while for having ridiculous magic surgery. And the worst part? It was all her fault.

Suddenly somebody knocked on her bedroom door. Bloom's voice drifted through. "Musa, it's me. Can I come in?"

Musa sat up on her bed and wiped tears from her face before struggling to say "okay" as calmly as she could.

Bloom came into the room alone and closed the door behind her, and came to sit with Musa on her bed. "Are you alright?"

"What do you think?" Musa said sarcastically.

"No, but it's nice to ask."

This made Musa smile a little. Bloom was truly a good friend. She had always been loyal, and Musa really appreciated having her beside her at that moment.

"You know Musa," Bloom began, "It's not as bad as you think."

Musa agreed, though not quite the way Bloom had meant it. "Yeah, I know. It's worse."

"Don't be like that," Bloom told her.

"Don't be what? Truthful? I'm pregnant Bloom. I've done something really stupid, and there isn't anything I can do about it!"

"It's not your fault, Musa. Accidents happen," Bloom said kindly.

"It wasn't an accident, Bloom!" Musa decided she couldn't keep it to herself any longer, and Bloom was trustworthy. "Like Stella said, I got pregnant just to get out of marrying Jared! Even Riven doesn't know that I did it on purpose!"

Bloom was surprised, but didn't scold her friend, "Well most people would have done the same thing in your position. I know I would have."

"Don't say that Bloom; I know you wouldn't. You're excellent at making decisions! Don't you remember in our first year when we saved Stella all thanks to you making good decisions?"

"Yeah, but I thought that I'd had good decision potion! I remember I'd put in a mandrake beet instead of a root. Tecna's face was so funny!"

They both laughed a little.

"But the point is Bloom, you made those decisions yourself, and they were good decisions! We saved Stella's life!" Musa said.

"You say that like it's a good thing!" Bloom joked, and they both laughed again. "Seriously though. You two argue like an old married couple!"

"And if we hadn't saved her due to your good decisions, who would I argue with?" Once again, the pair of them both laughed.

"It's okay, I get your point. But honestly Musa, everybody makes mistakes- it's part of life. We learn from our mistakes. Think about it, you must have learnt something important from this."

Musa thought about this- something she had only really just learnt to do. Well, she'd learnt that having a kid was way bigger than she had originally assumed, and she had also learnt that Flora actually did swear sometimes. But what use were those things? That was when it hit her.

"Oh my God, Bloom! I've learnt that I shouldn't just do or say the first thing that pops into my head! I have learnt how to think before I act! Bloom, I think I've learnt how to make good decisions, even if it did take something massive to teach me!"

Bloom smiled, happy that she had cheered her friend up a little. "Well there you have it, Muse. You can now make good decisions!" Bloom hugged Musa.

"Really Bloom, I don't know what we would do without you!" Musa thanked her friend. "Where is everyone else?"

"They're still downstairs, they went back to that TV room with the cinema screen," Bloom explained. "I suspect they're probably talking about you."

"I'd say almost definitely..." sighed Musa.

"Seriously, I better get back down there though. Otherwise they might come looking for me. I only told them I was going to the toilet," Bloom laughed. "So they'll probably start to worry if I'm gone too long. I'll give you some time to think things through and calm down a little, but you can come down now if you like."

"I think I'll stay up here a while. I don't really feel like facing everyone again just yet, I mean, I've still got telling my Dad to worry about, ya know?"

"Sure. Alright then, see you." Bloom left Musa's bedroom, closing the door gently behind her. Musa sighed, she really was glad to have Bloom as a friend. However, Bloom was barely gone a few minutes before Musa started to worry and stress again. Okay, maybe Bloom was right. Maybe Musa had learnt something good from this, but was it really worth it? She was going to have her own child in less than a year's time- she was almost still a kid herself. It was literally the scariest feeling that she had ever experienced. No matter how many times she told herself 'I'm pregnant' she still felt that she could never accept the idea. It was such a big thing, and it seemed that she had only gained something so small. She just couldn't remind herself the whole reason why she had done this. Why did something as small and inconvenient such as an arranged marriage matter now when she was bringing new life into the world? And she still had to tell her Dad, and she knew he would freak out. Then again, if she didn't tell him the whole thing would have been for nothing, as she was only pregnant to get out of the arranged marriage to Jared and she had to tell her Dad to have him call it off. Musa groaned, and let her head fall into her hands, her elbows resting on her crossed legs. "Why? Why? Why do these things always happen to me?" she thought to herself.

Musa worried and cried for another half hour before someone else came and knocked on her bedroom door. This time, they didn't wait for a reply, just walked in. It was Riven. "Hey..." he greeted his distressed, blue-haired girlfriend awkwardly, barely looking at her as he closed the door and then leaned against it. She said nothing in return, and didn't even look up.

"So... You okay?" With no reply yet again, Riven began to stress himself. He was easily annoyed, and there was nothing that annoyed him more than when Musa was in a bad mood. Except from maybe when Sky beat him at anything, but that didn't happen a lot. He sat down on the bed next to Musa, who was now hugging her knees and rocking back and forth ever so slightly. "So..." he began.

"Why are you so happy about this?" Musa asked, irrationally angry with Riven.

"What?" Riven asked, his anger vanishing as swiftly as it had came due to the surprise accusation. He hated it when Musa was angry, most especially with him.

"You know what I mean! I saw you down there, smirking away like you'd achieved something! Are you proud of yourself? Proud that you knocked me up, huh?"

"Musa, what are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about! You're always so self-centred! You think you're so damn irresistible, don't you? You think you can treat me like shit and I'll just come running back every time, no matter what you do to me!" Musa was crying again, this time from humiliation rather than worry.

"Musa... I never..."

"Oh but you did! You always do! All I want is to have a nice relationship like my friends do, but..."

Musa shut her mouth as Riven caught her face in his hands and turned it towards his own. He stared into her perfect indigo eyes, hoping that this would assure her he was being honest with her. "Musa," he began, then closed and opened his mouth, glanced to the side and then fixed his stare back into her eyes again. "Musa, listen to me. You cannot believe how hard it is for me to say this, but every day you think I'm putting you down, I'm actually trying to protect you. Protect you from me. I'm dangerous, Musa. You know I never knew either of my parents. You know how I grew up. I couldn't deal with emotions. I didn't trust anyone. I hated anyone that was happy. My whole life was training. Training for nothing. I dreaded graduation. I always thought I was going to end up on the streets again- I even tried to get on Codatorda's good side in hope that I would be allowed to stay at Red Fountain once I'd learnt everything. That was before I met you... before I got to be with you. You brought out the good side in me, and I would never want anything bad to happen to you- I couldn't bear it. And maybe I don't say this as often as I should, but really Musa, I do love you."

Musa opened her mouth to object, but didn't get the chance as Riven went in to kiss her. Her whole body was tingling, her lips were on fire. Her heart was racing. It was the same feeling she got every time she kissed Riven- it was so much more than just a kiss. He licked her lips with the tip of his tongue, but she wasn't going to allow him access. There were far more important matters to be dealt with. She pulled herself away from him, which took quite a considerable amount of force on her behalf. She was quite a tall girl, but Riven was even taller than her, and so much wider and more muscular, but she wasn't going to let herself start thinking about his hard and perfect chest underneath that shirt...

Riven looked disappointed and slightly offended, but he quickly hid it with his favourite poker face. "Riven, maybe you are telling the truth, maybe you do love me. But it isn't enough. I need something more. I need an apology for all of those times that you hurt me."

Musa knew that Riven didn't like losing, and he considered apologies a form of losing. Therefore, she wasn't too angry that he looked as if was in pain when she said that. She found his gaze fixed into her eyes again.

"Musa... I am. So, so sorry."

Musa felt another salty tear trickle down her cheek, but it wasn't from dismay. It was a tear of happiness. Riven had apologised, and she just knew that he really did mean it. "Oh Riven..." she whispered, and collapsed into him, crying. He held her in his arms and she could swear she heard him stifle his own tears, but she didn't dare mention it. For that moment in time, Musa forgot that she was pregnant. They must have sat for ten minutes at least, but unfortunately big issues don't stay out of your mind for long.

"Riven...?" Musa said.

"Yes Musa?" he replied.

"Promise me you'll never leave me."

He lifted her away from him to look into her eyes. "What makes you think I would leave you?" he questioned.

"Just... Just promise me."

Riven kissed Musa softly on the lips and then whispered "I promise" in her ear.