"Tell me what?" Justin repeated again, as the other two simply continued to stare at him wordlessly. It was just a bit intimidating.

Brian was the first to find his voice. "You need food." Justin tilted his head in confusion. "Mol forgot to go grocery shopping."

"Oh." Justin said simply. He opened the refrigerator and looked for himself. "Yep. Empty. That's sad. I feel like I should have noticed it before now," he slumped over the counter and looked up at his lover and sister. "So?"

"So what?"

"Brian, you know I can't stay here when the fridge is empty! We'll have to go out for lunch."

Brian looked down at Molly, questioningly. "Uh...I have to go into the diner at four so I'm just gonna hang here. But you two go," she added quickly.

"You sure? You aren't getting sick again are you?" Justin already had his hand on her forehead before she could object. "You don't feel hot. You okay?"

"Yeah. Fine." she said flippantly. He eyed her more closely, as if he might see something if he stared hard enough. "I'm fine!" she finally snapped.

"Justin, she's fine. I'll just go get ready and we can go eat and get you some groceries."

Justin nodded, but now he was suspicious. There were a countless number of things that could make Molly act as though she were sitting on a really big cactus. Tests and projects were number one, but he knew that she had most of those out of the way for now. If she was sick of course, but she seemed pretty healthy as far as he could tell. Certainly much better than she had been over the weekend.

Maybe it was a problem with a friend. If someone was upset with her, Molly put herself through ten times the torture that the other person could ever inflict on her, bemoaning every little thing she might have done or said to make them upset. What if it was Daniel? That would make sense. Maybe they'd had their first fight and she didn't want to talk about it.

But she had been talking about it. Her eyes were swollen and red and she looked like shit, but there was a peace held in her eyes as well. As though she had just had a burden lifted from her shoulders. And he could see the looks that had passed between Molly and Brian. Brian knew what was going on.

His mind now set on figuring out if it was something serious, he missed whatever it was that Brian was telling him. "What was that?"

Brian looked more amused than miffed that he had to repeat himself. "I said...I'm going to take a shower."

"Oh. Okay." Justin stayed where he was, pretending that he wasn't going to join him.

"Justin!"

"Hmm?"

"Shower! NOW!"

Justin feigned being put off but he giggled right as he passed Brian, dashing up the steps towards his room. But for all his excitement, he managed to hear Brian's quiet words to his sister. "You have to tell him." And for the rest of the day, the words would haunt him and whisper of an impending doom.

***

"Molly Taylor, you're late!"

"Sorry Deb," Molly muttered, minus her usual enthusiasm. Even she couldn't fake it at that point.

Not surprisingly, Deb was suddenly in front of her, frowning worriedly and looking Molly over for signs of a problem. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she sighed, wishing more than anything that it was true.

"Right. Nothing." She nodded mockingly. "Ya know, your mom has that same exact look on her face when she's trying to cover up her real feelings. Like there's ice in your pants and you don't want to say. It's gotta be something in the country club genes." She flipped her hand about and stuck her nose in the air comically. Molly smiled ruefully at the display. "Only that ain't you sweetie. Either of you. And that's why it never fooled me when Jen did it. So you know you don't have a snow cone's chance in hell to pull the �nothing' card and get away with it. Spill it!"

Molly stared at the bright red nail that Deb was brandishing in front of her. Whether it was menacingly or motherly, she could no longer distinguish. Didn't much care. "There's nothing to spill. Daniel and I had a fight I guess." Well it was mostly true.

"You guess?" Deb's patient smile did a one-eighty and her bottom lip poked out in a deep frown. "Well...what did you fight about?"

Molly thought for a moment. Wording was definitely a tricky thing. "Um...the future." And the fact that I no longer have one, she added silently.

"Men! They never want to deal with anything but the here-and-now." Deb blustered sympathetically. "But cheer up. I'm sure everything will work out, hon. Just be patient with him. He'll wise up. They all do. Well...most of �em, anyway." She patted Molly's hand and moved off to serve a new group of customers.

As Molly moved behind the counter and got ready for her shift, she felt oddly comforted by Debbie's words. It wasn't like Deb didn't know what she was talking about. The woman had dealt with men problems her whole life. First her own, then her brother's and then Michael's and not to mention over half of gay Pittsburgh. Stepping foot in the diner was sometimes asking for Deb's help if you wanted it or not. But, if Deb said that Daniel would wise up, then he would.

Only...Debbie only had half the story. What if there was no turnaround? What would it mean for her? For their baby? She had to be practical. What would this mean for her college plans? ALL of her future plans? How would she take care of a baby by herself?

Her shift went by rather quickly, her mind fully absorbed in a destructive pattern of what ifs. So absorbed in fact, that she missed seeing the new customer that strutted through the door. Never saw the person shooting daggers at her under the guise of polite indifference. Didn't notice that the regulars were looking as though there was an intruder in the compound.

Mechanically she moved to a newly occupied table and pulled out her order pad. "What can I get for you?" She asked flatly.

"Molly Taylor?"

Molly straightened up just a bit and tried to focus on the woman in front of her. "Yeah. That's me."

"Would you mind?" The woman motioned to the seat across from her in the booth as she looked around the diner. Molly didn't think that it was possible for the woman to look any more out of place as she did in her Gucci pantsuit and her polished appearance. But the look...it was so familiar.

Molly searched her memory. How did she know this woman? And then a pair of bright green eyes were staring at her and she knew. "Mrs. Hobbs." The woman nodded curtly and Molly realized just where Daniel got his beauty if not his disposition. His mother must have been quite ravishing in her day. Only now she held the markings of tucks and lifts and injections. A plastic surgeon's wet dream.

"Ms. Taylor," she began with as much condescension as possible, "I'm going to get right to the point. You are pregnant, are you not?" Molly looked away, biting her lip hard, a little jarred by the bluntness of the question but giving the woman the answer she had been looking for. "Yes. Alright - fine. Can you prove that the...child...is Daniel's?"

Mouth agape and face now red, Molly tried to hold back the first words that came to her mind. "FUCK YOU!" Well...she had TRIED.

Mrs Hobbs looked appalled and offended as her hand rose to her throat. "Honestly," she spat at Molly. "I have no idea what my son may have seen in you. You're just like that brother of yours, aren't you. Did you think you could come in and ruin our son, like your brother ruined Chris?"

"WHAT?" She screeched, unable to control her rapidly rising voice. Acutely aware that several conversations had halted and more attention was now on the two women in the corner booth, Molly lowered her voice and tried to relax. "Look, I can only imagine what you think of me. But...really - I didn't set out to hurt anyone. And I definitely don't want to hurt Daniel. I..," she looked at her hands and sighed in defeat. "I love him."

"Good."

Molly's eyes were nothing more than slits as she looked at Mrs Hobbs wearily, still unsure of her game. "Good?"

The woman smiled smugly and began digging through her small designer hand bag. "Since you claim to...love my son, you'll want to do what's best for him, yes?" Molly nodded slowly, already getting a sinking feeling in her stomach. "And what do you think is best for him?"

This gave the teen pause. She knew that she would do anything for him. But what WAS best for Daniel? The natural answer was for him to go to school. To make something out of himself. He was only going to be happy experiencing life. Discovering and enjoying new things. He wasn't one to settle and he wasn't the type to remain stationary for long. Hesitantly she whispered, "What do you want me to do?"

Green eyes sparkled as Mrs. Hobbs grinned and Molly couldn't help but feel as though she had just sold her soul to the devil.

***

His nerves were shot by the time Molly got home that evening. He had forgotten that she had to work, or maybe he had just figured that she would skip it as she had skipped school that day. Either way, he had to talk to her and that meant waiting. With her brother.

So far Justin had pretty much left him alone. Which was honestly a relief since Daniel had figured he would be hospital-bound within five seconds of seeing the man. After twenty minutes of mindless channel surfing, he had wandered off to Molly's room. He sat somewhat stiffly on the edge of the bed thinking about all of the times he had stayed there. They would spend hours simply talking. Sometimes they would read to each other. Sometimes one of them would wake up and need to be held, and the other would oblige wordlessly. No. It had never been all about sex with them.

That's what his mind had been coming back to, during the past few days. He did love Molly. He knew that. And he shouldn't have reacted to the news of her pregnancy as if she had handed him a death sentence. The woman he loved was carrying their child and he would see her through it. It should be a happy and celebrated event, not something to be dreaded and scorned. Besides, they could do anything together. After all, they had managed to get him an A in English.

About two chapters into one of her less trashy romance novels, Daniel heard footsteps on the stairs. A short pause outside the door indicated that she knew that he was there. She knew and predictably, she was working up the courage to face him. The thought that she felt she had to do that though, seemed all the more sad to him.

"So you haven't told him," he said, getting right to the heart of the matter. She wouldn't expect a surprise attack, figuring that he would hem as much as she would. But amazingly, she didn't seem at all surprised. Just completely drained. Had he done that?

"How did you know?" she asked off-handedly, throwing her jacket over her desk chair.

"I'm still alive."

Molly managed a small smile but it was pathetic at best and it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. "I, uh...miss anything today at school?"

"Not really. We started the section on epics in English though."

"Oh?" She replied, beginning to change out of her work clothes and into her favorite flannel Winnie the Pooh pajamas. He smirked. Yep, that was his girlfriend. She liked her poetry deep and hard and her cartoons soft and fluffy. "So...why are you here?"

Hesitantly almost, she took a seat beside him on the bed and he tossed the novel aside and took her into his arms. She didn't pull away, but she didn't lean into the embrace either. After a few minutes, Daniel pulled back enough to look into her eyes. "I'll do it."

Confusion lit her features until finally she shook her head. "Do what?"

"Whatever you want. If you want the baby, I'll be there every step of the way." He tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear and smiled. "I love you. I'll love...little Junior." He had expected laughter. At least her beautiful smile. Maybe a kiss. What he got was a stiff, angry, confused stranger staring back at him blankly.

"I'm...getting rid of it." Her voice shook with the emotion that she was working to hide. Her body vibrated with tension. He wasn't sure who it was speaking, but it wasn't Molly.

"Getting rid of it?"

"Yeah." She stood and began pacing nervously it would seem. "I mean...it was a mistake Daniel. We both have plans. We both want to go to college and actually do something in our lives. We can't do that with a baby. We have to be realistic."

"Sounds like you're being realistic enough for the both of us." Eyes glued to the floor, Molly stood there saying nothing more. "What's the matter with you?"

"I'm just trying to do what's right."

"Well since when do you get to decide what's right for both of us? It's my baby too!"

"Yeah," she scoffed. "As I recall, you were pretty much screaming that you couldn't be a father last time I saw you."

"Mol," he moved to touch her and she jerked her hand out of reach quickly. "Molly, I was upset! I'm sorry I said those things, but you surprised me." He rubbed his eyes with his fingers in frustration. "I can't take it back. Fine. But that doesn't mean we can't make this work. I can...put off college. Work while you go to school."

If it was at all possible, Molly stiffened even more. "NO! That's exactly what I wanted to avoid!" She glared at him from across the room and dared him to speak up. "You are going into college on a sports scholarship, D. You can't put that off. It's a one time deal and I won't allow you to throw away your future like that."

The silence in the room was deafening. "Okay," he finally mumbled. "Whatever you need to do, Molly. I'll be there."

"I don't want you there. I...I've been thinking about my future too. And maybe-"

"Maybe what?" he growled, not particularly caring for the cavalier attitude she was taking about this all.

She cut her eyes at him and was fueled by his reaction. "Maybe you shouldn't be in it."

All at once, it felt as if the breath had been knocked out of his lungs and his eyes began to sting. "You don't mean that."

"Sure I do. I'm gonna be going to school in California - hopefully. You'll be in school here. It's better...with all that's going on, if we just go ahead and...leave it while it can still be a good memory."

Blinded by anger, spurred on by utter confusion, Daniel stood and turned, fleeing the room and slamming the door in his wake.

***

An hour after she was sure that Justin had gone to bed, Molly drifted downstairs and into the kitchen. She stared at the papers in her hand and gritted her teeth. If she didn't do it now, she might not ever do it.

After hearing far too chirpy a greeting on the other end of the line, she steeled herself and spoke. "Yes. I'm ...uh...calling about your...services."

"You're calling about the abortion services?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Okay. How far along are you?" The woman was obviously no nonsense and it calmed Molly a bit so that she could speak without sounding like a vibrator.

"A few weeks, I guess."

"Alright, dear. You have to be at least four weeks to have a surgical abortion performed."

"Oh."

"You might, however, qualify for a non-surgical abortion."

Molly's stomach flip-flopped with the repeated use of the �A' word. "Um...what's that?"

"It's a pill called RU486, also known as Mifepristone. It stops the pregnancy from growing by blocking the pregnancy hormones. It basically induces a miscarriage."

Molly sighed. "So...there wouldn't be any..."

"You would take the pill and within a few days you would expel the pregnancy just as if you were having your period." Yeah right. As if anything where ever that simple.

"And, how will I know if I qualify for this procedure?"

"You'll need to make an appointment and the doctor will be able to make that decision when he sees you." After a moment of silence, "I am required to mention that the pill is a bit more expensive than a surgical abortion."

Molly looked down at the blank check in her hand, Mrs. Hobbs' signature penned with a natural flourish. "That's okay. It's taken care of."

To Be Continued...