Chapter 20

Time passed in weeks and months as Wendy and Romeo tried to focus on the present, instead of the future. Neither of them were allowed to take missions, so they spent most of their time together at the guild. Often, Lucy and Natsu had them watch Nashi at the guild, and they were quickly getting the hang of it. The calmness made it easy to put off talking about their predicament for a couple of weeks.

Unfortunately, time wasn't on their side. Wendy was going to have a baby, which meant her body would begin to change.

A month after they first watched Nashi together, reality set in.

Wendy woke up that morning and went through her morning routine. When she started to get dressed, she realized what a struggle it was to fasten the buttons on her jeans. Irritated, she tried other pairs until, eventually, her floor was covered by pants. At this point, Wendy was both angry and exhausted. Somewhere in the back of her mind, her insecurities took root. She knew none of her clothes would fit because she was pregnant and with that came weight gain, but at the moment, she didn't care. She just wanted to wear her own clothes.

As she struggled to button up the last pair, she heard Lucy yell, "Wendy, hurry up! We are gonna miss your appointment if you're not down soon."

"I'm coming, just give me a second!" she yelled back. Her fingers were starting to hurt from the effort, but she didn't want to give up.

Lucy tried to wait patiently, but realized that she would have to bring Wendy downstairs herself. She slowly walked up the stairs and frowned when she heard the pained groans coming from Wendy's room. Lucy knocked once and opened the door, before letting out a gasp. There were so many clothes on the floor that it looked like Wendy's whole closet had thrown up.

"What in the world happened here?" Lucy asked, concerned. When she turned to look at Wendy, she saw her laying flat on the bed, trying to physically force her pants together.

"Nothing will fit," she screamed in frustration, before huffing and trying again. Lucy could tell Wendy was really bothered by this. Her face was scrunched up in concentration, but her cheeks and ears were starting to turn red from her anger. Lucy snorted but tried to hide her laughter with a cough, so as not to upset Wendy. Lucy knew that Wendy's pregnancy hormones were kicking in.

"Let me see if I have something you can wear," she said, before walking out to her own room.

Wendy groaned, falling against her bed. "I don't need your clothes. I just need mine to fit," she said, sounding sulky.

Lucy walked back into the room and tossed Wendy a pair of jeans. "Wendy, you're pregnant and growing. You need maternity clothes."

Wendy sighed in relief as she finally got a pair of pants buttoned. She looked in the mirror and startled when she realized she was starting to show. "I hate this," she said, as she stomped down the stairs. She muttered under her breath the whole way down.

Lucy laughed as she followed. "Well, you got yourself into this mess. That's part of it."

"Well, I don't like it," Wendy said, crossing her arms in annoyance.

Lucy smiled. "Not many people enjoy that part of it, but we can get you new clothes after your appointment. Still, this means you and Romeo can't hide this from the guild any longer. You need to make a decision before someone figures out what's going on."

Wendy nodded, knowing Lucy was right. After her appointment, Lucy stuck to her word and got her new clothes, before they headed to the guild. Once they arrived at the guild, Wendy immediately walked over to Romeo. He could tell she was upset by the expression on her face. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"None of my clothes fit," she complained.

Romeo almost laughed at that, before he felt the darkness from Lucy's eagle eye pierce him from her place at the table next to theirs. He choked on his laughter before sitting up straight, trying not to let her know how terrified he was. "Oh, t-that sucks," he said,

"Yeah…" she mumbled, before brightening up, "Lucy got me some new clothes, though!"

"That's great!" said Romeo, smiling softly, "Now, you have something to wear."

Wendy nodded before leaving to get a drink, and Lucy came over. "Her hormones are kicking in. Be easy with her."

"Hormones?" Romeo asked, sounding confused. Lucy hit her forehead with her hand. Were all guys this dense when it comes to things like pregnancy?

"Yes, Romeo, hormones," she responded. She glanced over to make sure Wendy was still preoccupied before sitting down at their table. She didn't want to make her upset by interfering, but he needed to know now so he didn't suffer the consequences later. "Pregnancy can affect women's hormones so much that it makes them more emotional."

"Oh," Romeo replied, feeling kind of stupid for not knowing.

"Yeah," Lucy said. "So be more careful with what you say over the next few months. Think before you speak and, hopefully, you don't set her off."

Romeo nodded vigorously. Lucy knew this was the best she would get, so she stood up and quickly headed to her table in the nick of time. About a second later, Wendy returned to the table, acting more like her normal self.

Once they had gotten lunch, Wendy walked over to Lucy and asked, "Can Romeo and I walk over to the park?"

Lucy started to say no, but she stopped herself. "Why do you want to go to the park?"she asked.

"So we can have a private conversation," Wendy said, honestly.

Lucy sighed. She knew they needed privacy to talk about their options if they were going to make any decisions. "Fine, but be back in an hour," she said.

Wendy nodded and thanked her before she ran back over to her boyfriend. "Wanna go on a walk? Lucy said we could."

Romeo nodded and stood, and they walked outside hand in hand.

A heavy silence hung between Wendy and Romeo as they strolled through the park two blocks from the guild. The air felt thick with the weight of their impending decision.

Wendy took a deep breath, and broke the silence. "Romeo, we need to talk about… the baby," she whispered.

Romeo nodded, his expression serious. "Yeah, I've been thinking a lot about that."

Romeo led her over to a park bench and they sat down. He pressed his knee against hers, sharing a small and nervous smile with her.

Wendy hesitated before speaking. "We're not ready to be parents," she said, a deep sadness lacing her tone.

"I know," Romeo said, placing his hand on her stomach.

Wendy stared at the ground to avoid looking at him, before continuing. "But we can't ignore this and we're teenagers; raising a baby won't be easy. So we've got to consider all our options," Wendy started.

"You're talking about adoption. Giving our baby to someone else?"

Wendy nodded, gathering enough strength to keep going. "I know it's a huge decision, but we're not ready for this."

Romeo sighed before saying, "I know, but I just… I want to make the right decision. It's our baby, Wendy."

At this, Wendy looked up, her eyes reflecting a storm of emotions. "Romeo, at first I didn't know how I felt, but now it's set in. I'm growing a human being in my body. I love our baby, Romeo. More than anything. I feel like this child is a part of me, but we have to be realistic. We're not ready for this. We can't give this baby the life it deserves as we are right now."

Romeo was conflicted. On one hand, he knew Wendy was right and that they weren't ready for this. They couldn't give their child the life they deserved. On the other hand, this was their child and he knew they could give it love. Was there a reality where that was enough and they could figure out the rest along the way?

"Are you sure we can't do this on our own? I mean we took care of Nashi. We know how to care for babies," he said, trying to hold onto his hope.

Wendy sighed and took a deep breath. While she knew adoption was probably their best option, she also saw Romeo's point of view. This was their baby. A life they made together in an act of love and passion, they should be the ones to raise it, but they were also still children themselves. They didn't have a house or a steady job with a high income. If they did this, they would need a lot of support from their families that Wendy knew they couldn't provide, especially after what Lucy had said a few weeks ago.

Romeo and Macao already lived on a tight budget. His dad could only take so many jobs a month, but they were able to make ends meet. Lucy and Natsu worked hard to provide for Nashi and Wendy, but they weren't rich either. Neither family could just stop working to take care of Romeo and Wendy's baby while they were on missions. They also couldn't afford daycare. Natsu and Lucy normally left Nashi with Wendy if they were both out on overnight missions. After she had Nashi, Lucy took months off from work to recover while Natsu took lots of missions to make sure they were taken care of. Realistically, Wendy knew it was unlikely they could give their baby a good life.

"Romeo, think about it," Wendy said as she looked him in the eyes. "We don't have jobs or our own house. You can't even cook. It's more than just caring for a baby. We also have to provide for them by giving them clothes, food and a place to live. How can we do that?"

Surprised, Romeo stared at Wendy while thinking about what she had said. Honestly, he hadn't thought about all those aspects of having a child. She was right, they couldn't provide all of those things in their current position.

Romeo ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "It's just hard to wrap my head around this whole situation," he said.

Wendy held his hand gently. "I know, and this isn't an easy decision, but we need to think about what's best for the baby. Not what we want."

Romeo was lost in thought, until Wendy sighed and turned to face him again. "Romeo, I wish we could raise this baby as our own, but just loving a child isn't enough. We need more than that to give a child the life they deserve."

Romeo looked down, looking indecisive. "I just want our baby to have the best shot at life."

Wendy sighed, a mix of sadness and determination in her eyes. "That's why we need to do this. Part of being a parent is making sacrifices so your child can thrive. That's what we need to do. I know this is a tough decision and we don't want to let them go, but this isn't about us anymore. It's about them."

As they sat on the bench, the truth of their situation sank in. Romeo stood up and held out his hand to Wendy, who took it and stood. They began walking around the park together. Every step seemed to echo with the gravity of their decision, and as they navigated the park, the weight on their shoulders grew.

"Alright," Romeo said, after they had walked around for what seemed like forever. "Let's put the baby up for adoption, if that's what you think is best."

Wendy squeezed his hand, and he led them back to the guild. "We're doing the right thing," she assured.

"I hope so," said Romeo.

Little did they know, this conversation marked the beginning of a journey that would test their love, strength, and resilience as they made choices for the life they were bringing into the world.