Still the Baby (open)

[calcetines]

Angel heard Gabriella's voice, as if from far away, giving her sympathy about the situation. Which made her feel a stain of anger mixed in with everything else. She didn't want sympathy. What she wanted was for her father to love her...But that was gone. Angel allowed Gabriella to hold her, unable to do anything but cry.

[igloogirl]

Gabriella continued to hold her cousin, who had always been there for her in the past. They had both been remarkably close, even for cousins. Angel was a part of her, Gabriella didn't think she could live without her. And now Angel was going to have a baby, she got kicked out because of this. It was all so confusing. Gabriella just kept smoothing her hair, hoping Angel would be able to stop crying long enough to say something more.

[calcetines]

After a while, she came to a point where her eyes were too dry to continue weeping, so she tried for a long while to steady her sobs, with little success. Nothing that she could do would stop it. She didn't want to stress her unborn child... "I'm s-s-so stupid!" Angel finally managed to say aloud.

[igloogirl]

Oh no, Gabriella had been hoping this wouldn't happen. But Angel had always been quick to blame herself, for anything really. And now she was blaming herself for getting pregnant too. "It's not your fault, Angie," Gabriella said soothingly. "You couldn't have known all this would happen."

[calcetines]

Gabriella didn't understand fully. She had no idea what it felt like. "But I still had sex," said Angel, feeling more tears coming. "Of course I knew it could happen, but I was taking birth-control and everything..." She trailed off. It was her fault.

[igloogirl]

Gabriella nodded slowly, aware that she was still holding her cousin. "Yes, perhaps you should've thought that through a little more, but you couldn't have known that everything would happen as a result, like getting kicked out," she replied sadly. "And you did try to protect yourself from this, but it didn't work."

[calcetines]

Gabriella still wasn't understanding where Angel was coming from. She bit her lip, unsure of another way to explain it. But it was just one of those feelings that words weren't adequate enough to address it... "But I still did it!" Angel said, tone now very quiet. She was furious with herself. Even more so with Wolfgang. He had broken up with her.

[igloogirl]

Gabriella nodded slowly. "Yes you did, but I'm here for you, and everything will be okay," Gabriella replied. Sure Angel had made a big mistake, but that didn't justify what Wolfgang and her parents had done to her. It wasn't fair, not at all.

[calcetines]

Hearing those words from Gabriella just made a world of a difference. She didn't need Wolfgang, or her parents for that matter. She had the best friends in the world, like Gabriella and Isaac. And perhaps there was something that her cousin should know... "When my boys are born, I want you to be their Godmother," said Angel. "And Isaac to be their Godfather."

[igloogirl]

Gabriella smiled at this, glad that Angel had moved away from blaming herself. "Thanks Angie," Gabriella replied. Being her child's Godmother seemed like an impossibility, and yet really cool. Wait, had she just said boys, as in more than one? "Wait, are you having twins?"

[calcetines]

Angel nodded. She was scared, even more so now. She had been unsure of how she was going to make ends meet on her own with one baby, let alone two. She bit her lip again, suddenly wanting a plate full of ravioli. The boys seemed to like it a lot. Along with pickles. And peanut butter. But she could no longer keep down cheese or milk, that was annoying. "Yes. Two boys, sometime between late August and early September." said Angel.

[igloogirl]

Gabriella sort of stared at her for a moment, mouth slightly opened. Crap, this definitely wasn't going to be easy for her cousin, especially since Angel already tired easily and sometimes had a hard time making it up the stairs. Gabriella placed a hand on her shoulder. "You can do this," she said. "Hell, we can do this."

[calcetines]

It was one of those rare moments when Angel doubted her cousin's words. She could get exhausted without a moments notice, now with not one, but two developing fetuses inside of her... All of the sudden, she felt ill. Angel had time enough only to get up and turn away before she vomited. She vanished it after wiping her mouth, then returned to Gabriella. "They aren't even the size of a Galleon yet and they're already making me miserable," Angel grumbled.

[igloogirl]

Gabriella rubbed Angel's hair soothingly. "Don't blame them, they don't know better," she teased for a moment, then returned back to serious mode. It was such a horrible switch. Life seemed easier in joking mode. "It'll be okay, you'll see, Angie," Gabriella told her cousin, wishing she could believe the words herself.

[calcetines]

Angel was still skeptical. She did not feel "okay" in any sense of the word, nor did she feel that she would be that way in a very long time. Maybe eleven years and a couple of months from now, thought Angel. She did not want to have two babies to be responsible for at seventeen, but what choice did she have? Abortion was killing things without even giving them a chance at life, a living thing, killed before fully developing inside the womb... So she was stuck then.