"Peter Senerca?"

The voice on the phone sounds tinny, but that could be because it woke me up.  "That would be me," I say with a yawn.  Fuck, what time is it?  4 am?  Who the hell calls at 4 am?

"This is Brooklyn Receiving Hospital... we have a situation here that we believe includes you."

Oh shit, this sounds serious.  "What's going on?"

The voice is starting to sound farther away.  "I believe it would be best if you came down here so we could speak with you personally."

And that's how I end up driving about 20 over the speed limit up to the hospital, convinced I was going to be asked to identify the body of my grandma or something horrible like that.  When I get there, a nurse leads me through twisting corridors filled with the sounds of sobs and screams, through swinging doors that say...no, that couldn't have been right...

Once we get though the doors, a tired-looking doctor walks up to me.  "Mr. Senerca, I'm Dr. Grant.  We're sorry to contact you at such an hour, but we have a rather unique situation on our hands."

I blink at him.  "Unique situation like what?"

He stares at me.  "Unique situation like we have a woman who came here, gave birth to a baby, and waited just long enough to enter your name as the father on the birth certificate before running away."

What the hell?  "I don't know what you're talking about.  I never knocked up any broad, it can't be my kid."

The doctor shrugs.  "According to the mother, she is."  He sighs.  "Do you know a Jennifer Capretti?"

"Yeah, I dated her like, what..." I thought for a moment, "Nine months ago."  And then it hit me. If anyone was gonna get pregnant and leave me in the dark, it would be Jen.  If anyone would abandon their kid hours after birth, it would be Jen.  I raised my head to look at the doctor in the eyes.  "Well even if it was my kid, is there any way to track the mom down?"

The doctor rubbed his eyes.  "We could, but the child would most likely be put in foster care because of her actions."

Foster care?  Fuck, I've seen foster care kids in Brooklyn.  No faster way of getting into a life of crime than to be that unwanted.  "Does the kid have a name?"

The doctor shakes his head.  "The mother left before choosing a name."  He looked towards a door.  "Would you like to see the child?"

Damn, what can I say?  "Yeah, sure..." I mutter.  A nurse directs me to a small room and minutes later, another nurse wheels in a small cart, which was making a soft gurgling noise.  I walked up to it and saw a tiny baby, looking utterly miserable and lying under a pink blanket.  "Is it a girl?"  I ask.

A nurse nods, and with that bit of reassurance, I touch the baby's cheek lightly.  Her skin is so soft...Oh FUCK, I'm getting all mushy over the kid and she probably isn't even mine.  How does this shit happen?  This is seriously bad.  I can't take care of a kid, I'm barely taking care of myself right now.  This is so fucked up.  I can't do this.  I can't explain this to my grandma...hell, if she ever caught wind of this, she'd kill me.  No way can I take care of this baby.

I feel a touch on my shoulder, and when I turn, I see Dr. Grant looking at me.  "Well Mr. Senerca, how do you plan to proceed with this situation?"

I open my mouth to tell him that I can't do this....