Innocent until proven...preggers

[Danielle Hale]

Dani didn’t quite know what to do with herself. She walked out of the bathroom, her wand lit with a light blue that quickly faded. “What can I do?” Dani sighed, a hand to her head, running through her hair. She shouldn’t have been so stupid, she knew better than this. Dani had always been so careful, how could one night ruin everything. She was too young to have so much responsibility, which provided the following question. What should she do? There was no way she could tell Brooke, she would be furious, and so ashamed of her, her parents weren’t even a possibility. Dani knew she couldn’t run from this though, the first point would be to tell Alec. What about Gabrielle? What would she think?

The door opened and Dani froze, waiting for whoever it was to appear, she remained tense when she realised it was Alec. Before she moved into overdrive, “Alec! Why did you do this to me?! This is all your fault, you IDIOT!” She had taken two strides over to Alec and slapped him across the face, “HOW COULD YOU GET ME PREGNANT!” She yelled, before hitting him in the chest, hot tears began streaming down her face. “I don’t even know… what to do!” Dani wailed. Her wand had been discarded onto the floor somewhere and she stood by the door, in front of Alec, except. She couldn’t run away, because this wasn’t exactly just about her.

“I need you Alec. I need your help” She mumbled, before backing up and plonking herself on the bed. Dani stared down at the floor, she couldn’t see a way out of this. Her life was over.

[Alec Edwards]

Alec, to put it lightly, had been feeling like absolute shit lately. First, there was the fact that he’d gotten into a huge fight with Dani about his best friend and their supposed “more than friendship” relationship. Then, he’d gone and done the nasty with Vivi, a girl two years younger than him and not even LEGAL by Australian law. Then he’d made up with Dani (and by made up, I do mean made up). They’d done the nasty (which he’d enjoyed much more than his nasty time with Vivi. Dani was at least legal). Somewhere within all of this, Alec had found time to send a letter to his parents (by their request) with an update of life at Oasis Hill. He’d received a reply from his parents that same day. And for some reason, his father had found it necessary to bring up the fact that Alec was refusing to take his Wolfsbane Potion. Which had, of course, sparked a fight between the two. So Alec was not exactly in a chipper mood today. He was on his way to see Dani. Hopefully she’d be able to make him feel better, but she still hadn’t fully forgiven him.

Alec forced himself up the stairs to the third floor, passing a few students he knew. As he walked along the corridor, the door to the Aramia commons opened, and out stepped Ruby. Of course. Thankfully, she was somewhat unofficially dating Jake now, so hopefully whatever crush she had on Alec would have subsided. As he got closer, he could see Ruby eyeing him up and down. “The sixth year girls have been scared out of their dormitory”, Ruby said, making Alec raise an eyebrow. “Something to do with this visit, perhaps?” Alec was frowning, now. Dani had never kicked her dorm mates out of the dormitory before. In fact, Alec got along with the other three sixth year girls. Ruby was blocking his entrance into the common room. “You know, it’s a good thing you’re kind of dating Jake now. Because if you weren’t, I’d probably hex your face so that it wasn’t so flawless”, Alec said. Ruby smirked at him and stepped out of his way. “Enjoy your playtime, mutt.” Alec clenched his hand into a fist as Ruby walked away from the door. He turned his head slightly to see where she was going. She was heading downstairs, so obviously to the Othello commons. To see Jake. In his dorm. Alec shuddered, and closed the door as he stepped into the Aramia common room.

It only took him a minute to get upstairs. As he pushed open the door, he could see Dani. And he could see the worried look on her face. This made Alec worry. “Babe, what’s wro- ” he was cut off mid-sentence. “Alec! Why did you do this to me?! This is all your fault, you IDIOT!” Dani strode over to him, and before he could react, she slapped him across the face. “HOW COULD YOU GET ME PREGNANT!” Alec didn’t even react when she hit him in the chest. His eyes were wide as he stared down at his girlfriend. “...pregnant?” he repeated, his voice low. “I don’t even know... what to do!” It was as if she was speaking for the both of them. Alec had frozen in his place in front of the door, staring at Dani. It wasn’t until she spoke that he shook himself from his trance. “I need you Alec. I need your help.” He watched as she plonked herself onto the bed and stared at the floor. Alec hesitated, before crossing the room to sit beside his girlfriend, gathering her up in his arms. He was doing the math in his head. They’d last had sex about... three weeks ago. And apparently, Alec had neglected to use protection. What. An. Idiot.

“It’s okay”, he said, burying his face in Dani’s hair. “It’ll be okay.” He was trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to convince her. How would it be okay? She was sixteen. She had a whole life ahead of her, and he’d gone and screwed her over by getting her pregnant. “The way I see it”, he said, lifting his head. “We have three options. Keep it, put it up for adoption, or get rid of it.” He looked down at Dani. The third option was already a gigantic NO in his mind. There was no way he’d make her have an abortion. That was just an unspeakable act. But... what would they do?

[Danielle Hale]

Dani drew in a shaky breath, leaning on him while he tried to reassure her. Tried. Being the operative word. How would it be ok? Alec didn’t know what to do, who would? She nodded at Alecs words, “I can’t do that. Get rid of it. That’s horrible” Dani shook her head, shutting her eyes. “Will I even be able to stay here? Will they chuck me out or something?” Dani looked up, “How am I going to tell people? Brooke? My parents. Gabs?”

Her eyes welled up as she tried to blink them back, this wasn’t fair. Nine months from now, December, Alec would be leaving. A Christmas baby, one hell of a present that one, Dani imagined the look on people’s faces, she wouldn’t even be out of Oasis Hill – that was if she was still able to continue on. How would that be fair… on the baby. Dani shuddered at the thought, a baby, she couldn’t look after anything by herself let alone anything living… person.

It made more sense to put the baby up for adoption. That way, they would have a better life with some other family that might not be able to have one of their own. Dani didn’t want to think about it anymore, she had to meet up with Brooke soon. It wouldn’t look good if she had been crying and all that, apparently she was out with Professor Baker and wanted to talk to her about something.

“What do you think we should do?” Dani asked, she at least wanted Alec’s opinion. She wanted to know she would be making the right decision, which meant that whatever happened, Dani had to know that Alec agreed with what she was doing. “I need to meet with Brooke soon” Dani knew she couldn’t tell her, even if she had been through everything with Legs, it meant that Dani should know better. Which of course she did, but it didn’t mean she couldn’t make mistakes. This happened to be a big one.

Dani hadn’t wanted anyone in the dorm room before, emptying the room of the other sixth year girls, who weren’t too happy with her right now. It was embarrassing but it wasn’t as if she would have wanted them to be around for this conversation. "What do I say?" She muttered, more to herself than Alec. She still couldn't get over the shock of it.

[Sponsored content]