Disclaimer: Again, I do not own Degrassi: TNG or any of its characters.

Prologue

Sean watched Emma pace back and forth in her room. Had she been any other person, he would have told her to stop a long time ago. But this was Emma Nelson he was talking about. He hardly had the strength to tell her no when she was doing something wrong, how could he tell her no now?

"God, is it suppose to take forever?"

He wanted to respond, but what did he know? He would probably say the wrong thing now anyway, so he chose against speaking.

"…to me?"

"Huh?"

"I asked are you even listening to me." Emma repeated. "You're tapping your foot a mile a second."

Sean paused and looked at his right leg. He had been so caught up in Emma's pacing and her needs that he had overlooked his own anxiety.

"Sorry Em. I'm just anxious." Sean said.

"Me too," Emma responded. "I just didn't think it would take this long."

"Yeah…" Sean remarked.

After the word left Sean's mouth, the two went back to their previous state. Emma began pacing again and the heel of Sean's right foot began rising and falling at a rapid pace.

It seemed like hours before Emma's body stopped on the dime. Sean stiffened as this was something wrong. The look on Emma's face told him that much.

And then she moved to him on the bed and plopped down beside him. Sean looked at her and then the device in her left hand. He was far from admitting having a hard time understanding what it said, so he put his other skills to task. Emma was scared- frightened actually.

"Em…"

That was the only syllable is mouth could make out.

"What are we going to do?" she finally asked him.

"I don't know. I guess we have to tell your parents." Sean said.

Emma's eyes widened. "No! Do you know what they'll do?"

"Nothing compared to what they will do if they found out anyway." Sean replied. "It's better if we just got it out of the way. For your sake."

"My sake? Sean, what about you? You're about to be shipped off to…to… Oh God, I can't do this." Emma said jumping off of the bed. Sean attempted to follow her to comfort her, but the pacing began again. "You're going to…"

"Afghanistan." Sean said quietly.

"And I'm pr…pre…"

"Pregnant."

Sean felt a little bit backwards now. Usually, it was he that had troubles saying what it was on his mind and Emma being the one to finish off what he wanted to say. But he figured that this was a whole lot scarier for her than for him. And he was pretty terrified.

"What am I going to do?" Emma asked. Sean looked up to see her brown eyes pleading with him. He cringed slightly as she saw her sigh heavily. He hated to see her in any kind of pain and/or trouble. "Sean, my parents are going to freak-out. When it hits the school, they're going to make it worse. And you'll be…"

"I don't have-"

"Yes you do!" Emma quickly shot Sean's statement down. "But, it won't be forever, right? I mean, you are coming back, right?"

Sean blinked once in confusion and then again in shock.

"I would never leave you Emma." Sean said certainly. "Even if you are, pr…" And now he found it hard to say. "Pregnant, I would never leave you, especially now."

"Thanks. I needed that." Emma said.

Sean rose from his spot on her bed.

"I think it's time we told them what's going on." Sean said.

Emma gave a mock whine and a pout to go with it, though Sean's face did not change. Sighing in defeat, Emma turned on her heals.

"Let's go." Emma said.

Sean hated to admit it, but the pout was extremely appealing.

The calling of the parents, as Emma liked to refer it, was one done only in dire emergencies. Although the title meant that one or both parents were called, it was actually nothing more than a family meeting. Sean had little experience with this 'calling of the parents' with his own parents, but after a year or two with Emma, he knew exactly what to do now.

Sit, listen, and speak only when spoken to.

This meeting was taking place in Emma's kitchen, a usual spot for it. Spike had put Jack to bed for the night and Snake had already yawned once to show, whether purposely or not, that he was ready for the same thing.

"Emma, what's so important that you have us here at a quarter-till eleven?" Spike asked, checking the clock on the wall as she spoke.

"Mom… Dad…" Sean knew that Emma was more likely to beat around the bush, a tactic she only used when she was in trouble. Lately, Emma's tactics had grown something Sean blames on both Jay and Peter. "I'm pregnant."

And all was quiet on the Western Front. Those were Emma's thoughts as she remembered the World War II novel.

"You're what?" Spike said in a surprisingly calm voice.

"I said I'm pregnant." Emma repeated. "Sean-"

"What happened to all that birth-control stuff? I thought you said that you and your mom talked about this?" Snake shouted.

"We did but-"

"No buts! When I saw you, you said that everything was taken care of! What happened to that?" Snake asked.

"Mr. Simpson, it just happened." Sean lamely said. Then again, the input was not said to justify the results, but to shift glares from Emma to him.

"I can't deal with this right now." Snake said. "I thought that you two could-"

"Snake, I don't want to wake Jack up." Spike said sternly. "And as for you two, what the hell were you thinking? When I had that talk with you Emma, I didn't mean to go have sex thirty seconds later. I was trying to prepare you for the future, like after high school."

"I'm sorry Mom. We thought we were ready." Emma said.

"Well are you?" Spike responded. "You obliviously didn't think of everything or else you wouldn't be in this position." Spike sighed. "We'll talk about this tomorrow. Sean, go home."

"Yes ma'am. I'll see you tomorrow Em." Sean said.

Emma watched as her last lifeline left the kitchen, via backdoor, closing it quietly behind him. She then turned her eyes to her mother and stepfather, both with faces of anger and fatigue.

"Tomorrow, I want you to go to a doctor to make sure after school." Spike said. "We will talk more afterwards. Until then, no parties, no sleepovers, no staying after school unless you're with Snake, got it?"

"Yes ma'am." Emma said staring at the ground.

"Go to bed." Spike ordered. Emma did not need to be told twice before leaving the kitchen. Spike sighed. "Archie… What are we going to do?"

"I don't know." Snake said. "I don't know."

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