Teen Dad Series

Pregnant (Luke & Zoey)

as the title implies, this one is with Zoey and pregnancy 

WARNING: Sensitive topics in this story include mentions of abortion and stories of miscarriages, if you don't like that, don't read please 

be warned, this one is sad ):

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To say that he was panicking would be an understatement. Zoey never came over unannounced. She never barged right through his house and went straight to his room, dragging him the whole way. She never ignored his mom when she said hello. Nothing Zoey was doing right now was like her. So Luke panicked. 

She sat down on the edge of his bed and let out a long sigh. Then she just sat there in complete silence. Every so often she'd open her mouth like she wanted to say something, and then change her mind and just stare at Luke. 

"So..." Luke said slowly, watching her expression change twenty different ways. "Is something going on?" 

"Pregnant" She said it as if she'd been choking on the word. "Me. I am. I'm pregnant."

IN the back of his mind, Luke couldn't stop thinking that this was bound to happen sooner or later. He shouldn't be surprised. In fact, he should've seen this coming. 

He shouldn't be shaking his head and backing away from her as if she was pointing a gun at him. He shouldn't be trying to shut her up when she apologized and started to explain how she found out. It shouldn't be a whirlwind of panic in his room at that moment. 

"What are you going to do about it?" Luke mumbled. He'd taken a seat on his floor, staring down at the carpet in defeat. 

Zoey stared at him in disbelief for a second. "What?"

"You're not gonna..." Luke searched for the right word. "You aren't thinking about keeping it, are you?" He glanced up in time to see Zoey gaping at him. She was in shock and couldn't even speak. "You can't raise a baby by yourself."

"I wasn't thinking I'd be alone." She replied quietly. Her shoulders slumped in disappointment and she bowed her head. "But I don't know what I'm going to do. I thought we could figure it out together."

It was like the floor had opened up and swallowed Luke whole. "I can't take care of a baby!"

Zoey's eyes snapped up to glare at him. "Then you don't have to." Her voice had gone flat. The way it did when she got frustrated. "I'll figure it out on my own." They sat in silence again. 

"You could get rid of it. No one would have to know." Luke had said it more because he felt like he needed to say something. He wasn't actually trying to bring up the option. But the damage had been done. Zoey reached behind her and grabbed his pillow. She threw it at his face and stood up. 

"I would rather not." She snapped. "This is my mistake and I'm going to own up to it. You can go ahead and pretend this never happened, but I'm choosing otherwise." She yanked the door open and stepped out into the hallway. She turned around to glare at him. "Thanks for being so supportive by the way. I'm terrified, just so you know. And I'd really love for you to be there for me, but forget it." And then she slammed the door and left. 

Luke stayed in denial until two months later. When he finally got the courage to call her, she didn't answer. But when his mom called, she not only answered, but they talked for a good few hours. Apparently, she'd had to take a few more shifts at work and get another job to help pay for rent and things. Her parents had kicked her out of the house and she was staying indefinitely with her sister. Unfortunately, she had to look for a new place soon since there wouldn't be enough room for the baby.

She finally answered his call a few weeks later. She sounded hollow and emotionless but she agreed to meet up with him at the cafe he was working at. Since she worked at the coffee shop just down the street, they were able to see each other on break.

"Did you need to say something?" Zoey asked, sipping at her tea and glancing up at Luke.

He shrugged. "I'm an idiot and I'm sorry for everything."

Zoey stared at him for a second. "Is that it?"

"I want to be there for you and..." he took a deep breath. "The baby." He quickly added, "If you want me to be there. I want to help. And I want to be supportive. There's no excuse for why I haven't been. I'm just really sorry."

Zoey sat there for a moment, thinking it over. Then she nodded slowly. "We can give this a try."

"You can stay with us too." Luke added quickly. "Don't worry about rent. My mom already has a room set up for you too."

Zoey smiled. "Yeah, I know. We talked last night."

For the most part, it went well. Luke actually started to get excited about having a little boy or girl around. Zoey quit her second job to become a nanny, so they both spent a lot of time around kids of different ages. Luke could almost picture himself as a parent. Almost. He was still a little dazed by the whole ordeal.

He was at work when he got the call. He'd been talking to one of the elderly ladies about baby advice when his co-worker told him to call Zoey.

She was sobbing too much to talk, but him mom was able to let him know what had happened. It had started with a lot of stomach pains and feeling terrible. It ended with a stillborn. It took his mom a lot of itme just to get around to telling him that. The baby hadn't made it. They weren't going to be parents.

"Zoey needs you here." His mom had said. 

He was there in no time. He couldn't even remember the drive or the walk up to the room. He just knew that Zoey was hugging him tightly and crying nonstop. He didn't know how to comfort her and she had no clue how to be there for him, so they sat in silence for a long time.

"It wasn't time." She finally mumbled, clinging onto his hand. "One day, I'll accept that."

Luke leaned over and kissed her temple. "And I'll be there, promise."

"Thank you for everything."

"Yeah."