"Being a mother is not about what you gave up to have a child, but what you gained from having one." -Anonymous

The next day at school before first period, Emily approached Aaron at his locker.

"Aaron, I have to talk to you about something." Emily started nervously

Aaron turned to face her, "What is it, Emily?"

Emily took a breath, "I'm pregnant. It's yours."

"Oh. What are you going to do?" Aaron asked not knowing how to react

Emily shrugged, "I don't know."

"How do you know the baby is mine?" Aaron wondered.

"Are you kidding me?!" Emily questioned, "You're the only person I've ever felt safe with. The only person I've ever had sex with since what that bastard did to me when I was thirteen!"

Aaron looked at Emily concerned, "What happened when you were thirteen?"

Luckily the bell rang and Emily ran off to class before she answered his question. She just couldn't talk about it. She didn't mean to say what she did, but she was mad at Aaron for thinking that the baby wasn't his.

Aaron stared off dumbfoundedly before he turned around and headed off to his own class.

The class period went by really slowly for Emily. She was nervous about having to answer Aaron's question later, because she couldn't avoid him forever.

Meanwhile with Aaron, he was thinking about what Emily said about her being pregnant and a slight mention that she may have been raped at thirteen. He felt bad about the latter, but he didn't know how to feel about her being pregnant. He knew that he wasn't ready to be a father. He was only seventeen. He had his whole life ahead of him. He wanted to be a lawyer. Go to college and then the law school. Being a teen father was never part of his life plan. He thought he'd get a career, get married, and then have kids.

Later at lunch, Aaron sat down by Emily at one of the lunch tables.

"So I've been thinking about what you told me and as much as I'm not ready to be a father, I will support you. I can prepare myself for fatherhood." Aaron explained

Emily shook her head, "No. Aaron, I don't want to saddle you with something that you don't want. If you don't want to be a father, it's okay."

Aaron takes Emily's hand into his own, "I don't want you to have to do this alone."

"I won't be alone. I have a family to support me." Emily replied as she pulled her hand away from his, "Really it's okay, Aaron. This isn't on you. Go to college. Live your dream. Don't ruin your life because of me."

"Dreams can change, Emily. I want to be there for you." Aaron informed

"If you love me in anyway at all, I insist that you don't let me stop you from living your dream of going to college. I don't want to drag you down, Aaron." Emily told him. She didn't want him to have any regrets later on in life. She didn't want to be the one responsible for his regrets.

Aaron nodded, "Okay fine, but at least let me give you money for the baby every month. Sort of like child support."

Emily sighed softly, "Aaron, I don't know if I'm even going to keep the baby. I might give it up for adoption. I told you because I wanted you to know. Because you deserved to know. If I do decide to keep the baby, I guess you can give me money. I won't accept anymore than two hundred dollars a month."

"No way. You can barely get anything with that amount of money." Aaron countered, "I'll tell you what. I have two thousand dollars saved up from tips at the restaurant in my room, if you decide to keep the baby I'll give it all to you as an advance so you can start buying baby essentials." He saw that Emily was about to speak, but he stopped her, "Don't say anything about it being too much. I insist that you accept it. I was saving up for a new car, but the one I have works just fine. You need the money more."

"Okay. Thank you, Aaron." Emily said reluctantly

Aaron gave a nod, "You're welcome." Then he added, "Um…about what you said about when you were thirteen…." He trailed off

Emily shook her head, "I don't want to talk about it."

"Just nod if I'm right then." Aaron replied, "Were you raped?"

"You don't understand." Emily snapped, "I can't talk about it. I'm not allowed to."

Aaron sighed softly, "Oh Emily, I'm sorry."

"I don't know why I said what I did earlier. Nothing happened to me." Emily told him

After lunch, the rest of the classes seemed to fly by. Soon Emily was at home doing her homework while eating saltine crackers and drinking water. She knew she had to be careful of what she ate, but she also couldn't change her diet too drastically because then her family would notice and she didn't want them asking questions. She didn't want them to know that she was pregnant yet.

David wasn't home at the time because. He was out with Jennifer and Penelope because they had a meeting with their birth mom at social services.

Sandy looked at her girls, "Hi sweethearts."

Penelope leaned against David not saying a word.

"Hi mom." Jennifer spoke flatly

"I missed you, JJ." Sandy replied. She looked over at Penelope, "And I missed you too, PG."

Jennifer looked at David and Penelope and then back at her biological mother, "I don't want to be with you, mom. Penny and I want to be with Dave."

"But I'm your mother." Sandy insisted "Now come on. Aren't you going to give me a hug?" She stretched out her arms towards Jennifer.

Jennifer pushed Sandy away, "No! You're not a good mommy! You didn't take care of us. It's your fault that Roz is dead! I want to stay with Papá." Then she ran out of the room.

Sandy looked shocked, but then she turned to Penelope, "You still love me, don't you, PG? You know that I'm a good mom and that I've always tried my best because I love you and JJ. I miss Roz as much as you do."

Penelope bit her lip. She gave a small nod and was starting to step forward towards her mother, but then she heard Jennifer call her and ran out of the room.

Sandy sighed and then turned to look at David, "Papá? What have you done to my girls?"

"Nothing, ma'am. Jennifer has never called me that before. I'm just as surprised as you are." David told her "And I'm sure you love your daughters, but Penelope seems terrified of you and Jennifer doesn't like you. They're terrified of a judge telling them that they have to live with you. I'm not going to be prejudiced towards you, because I know how hard being a parent is. I have two children of my own, and I fought like hell to adopt one of them. I don't want to, but if I need to fight you to adopt the twins, I will."

Sandy gave a nod, "I don't doubt that you will, but just know that you barely have a leg to stand on. They are my daughters. I gave birth to them. You're nothing to them. And at the next visit if I hear either one of them call you 'papá', I will make a complaint and request that their social worker move them to a new foster home."

"I understand, ma'am." David responded, but she had already stormed out. He sighed and mumbled, "Okay. That was interesting."

Hours later at the Rossi residence when it was time for dinner, everyone rushed into the kitchen to get food. Everyone except Emily. David sat down next to Emily on the couch with his plate of food.

"Aren't you going to get some dinner?" David asked the girl

"I'm not hungry." Emily replied "I'm actually really tired. I'm going to bed." She stood up and walked to her bedroom.

David looked at the kids, "Does anyone know what's wrong with Emily?"

The kids all shook their heads, but David sensed that Derek was holding something back. He turned his attention to Derek.

"Derek." David simply spoke

"I don't know anything, Papá." Derek responded keeping Emily's secret. "Maybe she's coming down with a cold or something."

Jennifer looked up, "Maybe she's on her woman cycle. Roz used to feel sick when she was on hers."

David gave a nod, "Okay. Don't tell me the truth." He looked at Jennifer, "It's okay. I believe that you don't know anything."

Derek sighed, "I'm sorry, Papá. I can't tell you. I made a promise to Emily."

"I get it." David replied

"Brother - a person who is there when you need him; someone who picks you up when you fall; a person who sticks up for who sticks up for you when no one else; a brother is always a friend.." -Anonymous

Hope you enjoy. Comments are greatly appreciated.

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