"I...I feel...something moving inside me."
"That'll be the baby..."
Katie smiled, and rubbed her hands over her belly. "I expect so. Oh, my back...is there anywhere I can sit down?"
"Um...oh, here." Tiff grabbed a chair from the corner of the room and brought it over to Katie, helping her friend to sit down. "Um, er...are you alright?"
"Well, I feel...good, actually, I feel really good. Big...and a little weak...but good...happy. Tiff...I-I'm gonna have a baby!"
"Yeah, you are...and we're gonna have to come up with a pretty good explanation for this. You'll have to stay here until...you give birth..."
"I'm not staying here on my own!" moaned Katie. "You know I don't like the dark..."
"You can't go out there...pregnant!" replied Tiff. "There's no way to explain it other than tell the truth!"
Katie couldn't think of a reply. Tiff looked at her heavily pregnant friend, and her heart melted. She loved babies, and she and Katie had spent many long hours discussing what it would be like to become a mother. But neither of them had expected it to happen this soon...and this suddenly.
"What am I going to do, Tiff?" asked Katie. "You're totally right..."
Tiff knelt down beside her friend. "Do you want me to look for an antidote?"
"No!...this is my fault, Tiff...I'm not going undo a new life just because I made a mistake..."
"Katie, we don't know if this *is* a new life...it could be that this stuff just makes you *feel* pregnant...maybe permanently."
Katie looked down at her belly sadly, and Tiff took her hand. "Listen...you look about ready to pop, if you're going to. We'll stay here for a few days, and if nothing's changed, we can take you into town and get you scanned to see if you actually are really pregnant."
Katie smiled. "I want it, Tiff. If there is a baby, I wanna raise it."
"I know you do...I'm just saying don't get too excited. We don't know what's happened yet."
Katie nodded, and Tiff kissed her on the cheek. "I'll go get us some supplies, and tell our parents we'll camping out tonight, or something..."
"You're staying with me?"
Tiff smiled. "Sure...I'm not gonna leave you."