Petunia and Giggles comforted their friend gently as she cried. They listened to her and they gave the best advice they could give, and offered their support. Flaky was happy about this, knowing someone would be there if Flippy wasn't. As the idea of him rejecting her for this made her burst into hiccups and sobs yet again. She didn't know how he would react, he was hard to read sometimes. She wouldn't be shocked if he didn't want it. After all, he already had enough stress, what with always having to deal with the aftermath and dangerous thoughts of Fliqpy.

She wondered what it would be like if Fliqpy wasn't in the picture. They would probably be married by now, if she were to be perfectly honest. There would be no reason to be afraid of him, no reason to hide herself away, no reason to triple check her home for triggers every time he came over. But, Fliqpy existed, and now everything was going wrong. She shouldn't be pregnant. Not now, not here. She had seen the way Pop act the day after he had seen his son die before his own demise. She didn't want that for anyone, and she said this much to Petunia and Giggles.

"Hun, he may be worried about Fliqpy when you tell him, but he won't leave you," Petunia said. "Flippy isn't him, you know that."

"Yeah, but Fliqpy's still a huge risk," Flaky said flatly, chugging some water Giggles had gotten for her. "I already have to look through my entire house every time he comes over so that stupid evil side doesn't come out. What do I have to do now? Lock the baby's room from the inside and hide? It'd break his heart. The baby could never see its...its..." She gulped some water again. "Its dad."

The two other girls were quiet, unsure of what to say then. There really was nothing to say, they had absolutely no experience in this type of situation. Then Giggles made a phone gesture with her hand, and Petunia nodded.

"Well, there's only one way to find out how he'll react," Giggles said, getting the wireless house phone. "Call him. Ask him to come over, and then tell him."

Flaky went a little pale. "I...Giggles, I can't."

"You can, and you need to. You can't hide this from him."

"We'll stay, if you want us to," Petunia offered.

Flaky considered this. "Only for the call. Then I need to t-tell him a...a-alone."

They nodded, and Flaky dialed. He had to be home by then, because he wasn't a huge fan of being outside alone at night. She was relieved and horrified to find that she was right, because he answered at the second ring. She wanted to vomit, and she subconsciously wondered if she was already getting morning sickness. That thought alone didn't help. She swallowed the imaginary lump in her throat.

"Hello?" he said. "Who is this?"

"It's me," Flaky replied, her voice weaker than she'd prefer.

"Oh, hey, Flaky," he said. "What's up?"

She could hear him perking up at her voice again, and again she wanted to vomit. A massive improvement from earlier that day, clearly.

"Oh, um, nothing really," she said. "But, I was, uh...I was wondering if you wanted to maybe come over? I'm feeling b-better now–" A boldface lie. "– and I feel k-kinda bad for canceling t-today."

"Sure, do you want me to come over now?"

"Yeah, if it isn't t-too much t-trouble for you..." She suddenly felt bad for making him travel in the dark.

"No, it's fine, I'll be over in a few."

He hung up, and she held back her tears. She was terrified, guilty, and more anxious than anything she'd ever felt before. Petunia and Giggles got up to leave, but she asked them to stay until he actually got there. They stayed, continuing to give her pep talks and cheering her up by getting her mind a bit off the subject for a while. They shared some stories every now and then, little funny experiences of the combined dating experiences of Petunia and Giggles.

"I can't believe you went out with Disco Bear," Flaky giggled. "How did he even convince you?"

"I think he said he needed help shopping for cleaning supplies or something," Petunia said with a smirk, bathing in the now funny nostalgia. "Then he asked if I was hungry, and I was, so we went out for dinner. Then it's like the whole cleaning supply thing left his mind, because we took a drive to the hill. We sat there for about ten minutes before he tried to kiss me. I got scared so I..." She held back her laughter. "I uh...I sprayed his eyes with pepper spray."

"You maced him?!" Giggles shouted, laughing.

Flaky giggled to herself quietly, enjoying the more positive mood. She almost forgot what was about to happen with Flippy, but then there was a knock on the door. All the girls went silent, with Flaky asking who was there, loud enough for the knocker to hear.

"It's me," Flippy said.

Flaky felt her blood turn to ice. She got up slowly and walked to the door, gripping the handle and taking a second to acknowledge how cold it was before opening the door. She let Flippy in, and he greeted Giggles and Petunia, who greeted him back, then excused themselves. Then Flaky felt the overwhelming desire for them to come back. They all said their goodbyes and then the two were gone. Now it was just the young couple.

Their auras were very different, that much was clear. Flaky felt nothing but dread and speechlessness, and Flippy was happy to see that Flaky was alright, especially since she had apparently felt sick enough to be unable to see him. Then Flaky asked him if he could sit down on the table, and if he wanted anything to drink. He was a little confused, but he sat and politely declined.

She got herself a glass of water and sat across from him, taking one of his hands into one of hers and playing with her glass with the other. She swallowed the lump in her throat again and took a deep breath, preparing herself to tell him the news that had been haunting her all day. He sat patiently – but still worried, she looked so nervous, after all – because he could tell that she needed to say something.

"Flippy...I...today, I w-wasn't sick..." she started. Maybe going off from the beginning would be easier. "I...I had m-missed by p-period, and y-you know I d-don't ever do that..." Another deep breath as Flippy looked slightly less confused. "S-so I called Giggles and Pet-Petunia, and I t-took some tests, and even got l-looked at by a d-doctor, and I'm...um, w-well, I'm p-pregnant."

His face went blank, and a line of thin sweat seemed to form on his head. Then his eyebrows knitted together, and his hand squeezed hers a little too tightly, his other hand resting on hers as well. His thumbs moved gently, as though he was trying to make sure this was real.

"You...you're sure?" he said quietly, not looking at her.

He sounded scared. She fought back tears, nodding. "Every test was p-positive, and the doctor f-found something, and he said it w-was a..."

Flippy nodded, showing that he understood. "I...I don't know what to say..."

Flaky let the tears fall now, trying to be discreet about it. She failed horribly, and Flippy saw her. He stood up and moved beside her, wrapping his arms around her. Thinking this was his form of a goodbye, she cried harder. He gently pet her quills, careful not to poke himself. She trembled from both the familiar touch and the idea that this was it. He was going to leave her.

"I-I'm s-sorry," she choked. "I-I kn-know you...h-he..."

She couldn't think enough to finish. Flippy still didn't know what to say, so he continued his embrace. She eventually calmed enough to notice that he hadn't left yet. She wondered if she was insane and she was just imagining him to make herself feel better. Then he moved away and held her face in his hands, wiping away the remaining tears spilling from her eyes.

"Don't be sorry," he said, staring deep into her eyes. "I...I just wasn't sure how to react. To be honest, I'm scared, but I'm excited too. This..." He was quiet for a minute, trying to find the right words. "This would be better if he wasn't here. I'm just..."

"I know," Flaky sighed. "I...I'll un-understand if you d-don't want to b-be with me any more."

Saying that hurt more than anything she'd ever experienced. The idea of him not being around was enough to convince her she was dying, but she couldn't be selfish. He had his own problems. He didn't need this being one of them. As she shut her eyes tight to avoid watching him get up and leave, she didn't see his expression change to a mixture of confusion and bewilderment.

"Why would I do that?" he asked, taking her hands in his. "This is great. We're going to be parents, Flaky."

"B-but...Fliqpy..."

Flippy sighed. "Yes, there is that, and I'm worried about him, but when you take him out of it, we're going to have a baby. I'm not going to leave because of that."

Flaky opened her eyes and looked at Flippy nervously. He was smiling with only a tiny bit of worry in his eyes. That worry didn't bother her – hell, she was worried herself – but the smile spoke volumes. She smiled herself and hugged Flippy, thanking him continuously. He chuckled lightly, pulled her back a bit, and kissed her forehead. She calmed immediately and wriggled back into his embrace.

They ended up going from the kitchen to the bedroom, the stress of the situation suddenly taking a toll on their energy. They fell asleep together, and for once, Flaky felt a sense of complete calm as she laid in the arms of the father of the baby growing inside her.

…

Alright, maybe not complete calm.

End of Chapter