Following the consequences of my irresponsible path of rage, I had somehow found myself having quite a normal interaction with Theo. If one were to have encountered our behaviour around one another, or our conversation, I don't believe they would have been able to guess that only moments ago I had thought he had impregnated my little sister and as result had not only insulted him in a number of ways but had also slapped him. Somehow we had agreed that we'd give each other another chance and were now going to give friendship a shot.

Some may call it blissful ignorance but I just figured why not? I had definitely been in the wrong just as much as him throughout our short but eventful time of knowing one another, if not more in the wrong after this morning's events. We may not even see each other often, if at all, now that Theo and Lexi have ended things; our only link being the magazine he was being featured in and Damon. So why not just let bygones be bygones and allow for this so called label of friendship to be declared between the two of us?

I sat with Theo in his kitchen for a little while longer, making small talk over glasses of water, before I finally made the decision to leave. I had my own plans and a sister, that I had seriously screwed things up for further, to return to. So, I waited for whatever trivial point of conversation we had arrived at to finish and made my way out of his castle in the clouds, a long day still ahead of me.

We bid each other a polite farewell and then I left, the whole elevator ride down consisting of me truly wondering if I would encounter Theodore Harrington again. I wasn't sure if I was more dismayed or satisfied with the possibility of having a life without his complications in it.

Even if I were to lose the complexities that came along with him, I most certainly had plenty to come from those that Lexi inserted in my life. I return home shortly where my sister awaits me, still in that same spot on my lounge, and I promptly join with her in a much needed lingering sisterly hug. Thankfully, Lexi's not angry with me for ditching her to only make things more complicated for her by wrongly accusing someone of getting her pregnant. We had both agreed that I had most definitely fucked up and that we were in dire need of a casual sister bonding day to try and cope with everything going on.

So we rounded up a handful of pillows and blankets to cuddle ourselves into and picked out a whole selection of incredibly unhealthy snacks to make ourselves feel better while we were watching cheesy rom-com after cheesy rom-com. Jess had left as soon as I had arrived to give us some space so it was just the two of us.

I would subtly take a peek at Lexi every once in a while to observe her current emotional state and she seemed to be in a much better condition than last night or this morning; distracted by other people's problems in the films. I know that we should probably talk things through to attempt to sort things out for her but I decide that we had earned a movie or two before we delved into that wormhole.

Just as it always does when you don't want it to, the time goes past quickly as we distract ourselves with the two films and our binge eating. Though I couldn't possibly prepare myself for one of my ultimate responsible older sister roles in life, I somehow manage to smoothly talk things over with Lexi without stressing ourselves out too much.

We agree that she should go to the doctor to get some tests and such done, just so that she could get the more accurate confirmation that she so desperately needed; something a little more accurate than urinating on a stick. She tells me that she wants to go to my usual doctor, Dr. Lee, but I know for a fact that he doesn't work on weekends so I tell her that I'll call his office first thing on Monday morning to get the soonest possible appointment for her. She doesn't seem too eager about the fact that she'll have to wait a few more days for further confirmation but since she doesn't have many more options she resigns to the facts.

She remains at my place for the rest of the weekend, which Jess is fortunately okay with, and I attempt to distract her in every possible way for the entire time. Though it's a consistently difficult feat, I think I somehow manage to get through it and before we know it (well at least for me) it's Monday morning. Unfortunately, this means that it's time for work again but I know that Lexi will be feeling a lot better knowing that she's one step closer to getting some clarity.

I call my doctor's office first thing in the morning and luckily enough there was a cancellation in the late afternoon which I could make it to with Lexi if I left work a little earlier than usual. Though it is essentially just the time that most normal people finished work, for me it's not normal so I make sure to note to myself that I need to try and finish things even quicker than usual.

I shoot Lexi a quick message to confirm with her that the time is good for her and she approves so I lock it in. With how quickly I'm attempting to get through all of my workload the day goes past swiftly and I just manage to get out on time to meet up with Lexi at my doctor's. It feels oddly exhilarating to be getting out of work earlier than usual, feeling like a little kid that had been excused out of school early for something, but then I remember that I'm only leaving early so I can go get some confirmation regarding whether my little sister was pregnant or not.

I arrive at my doctor's soon after and find Lexi sitting timidly in the waiting room, filling out the new patient form. We still have some time before it's meant to be her time to go in so I attempt to distract her with some small talk about our days. Despite my best efforts, I can still see she is obviously rattled about this whole experience.

"I know this might seem like a bit of a stupid question but, are you okay Lex?" I ask.

"I've been better but I'm okay. I just want to get a certain yes or no answer to whether I'm pregnant so I can start to deal with what I'm going to do." she answers.

I'm a bit hesitant about what I say next but can't help myself.

"Lex, I don't want to intrude, but have you told Mason about everything that's going on?" I enquire.

She looks down at the form on her lap and begins to fiddle with the pen attached to the clipboard.

"No, I haven't yet. I don't want to freak him out if there's nothing actually to freak out over." she tells me.

It's a valid point but I feel like Lex deserves to be able to share the worry across more than her little shoulders. As my dad always told us when he gave us any awkward talks about sex growing up, "it takes two to tango". Mason played an equal role in creating this current situation so shouldn't he have to struggle through this wait and anxiety too?

Nevertheless, I had learnt my lesson from the whole Theo ordeal and knew that it was Lexi's decision to make. I wasn't going to interfere this time and it was most certainly for the best. If Lexi was grown up enough to have sex, and potentially have fallen pregnant, then surely she could make her own decisions about Mason.

"Okay. I support whatever decision you make," I tell her, "I take it that applies to Dad and Baba too?" I ask her, bringing up an inevitable topic I've been stepping delicately around since finding out about this whole ordeal.

"Most definitely," Lexi answers, "I am not going to put myself through that situation for nothing. I can just imagine how horribly they'll react."

"You know they'll support you through anything though, right?" I check with her, making sure that she is aware of the eternal support she'll have from us no matter what she does. My mother didn't seem to get the message but we knew that no matter what that was what family did, family stays by each other's sides no matter what.

"I know, but I can't bear to think of the disappointment that'll be written all over their faces no matter how hard they can try to hide it. I've seen it already a few times in my life and that was over things so much less important than this. I can only imagine how severe the disappointment would be this time." she tells me, biting into her bottom lip with worry.

"Lex, you do know that there is more than one option to this pregnancy if you are in fact pregnant?" I remind her.

"I—" she begins, only to be cut off by the voice of Dr. Lee walking over to where we were seated.

"Alexia Adams?" he asks as he looks up from his clipboard only to recognise me and give me a warm smile as my sister nods in response, "Would you like to come into my office now?"

We both lift ourselves out of our seats and follow him into his office, one I am all too familiar with, having been here only a week ago due to my stomach virus.

Once we are seated in his office, Dr. Lee asks Lexi a series of typical questions before we get to the point where he tells us that he will conduct a blood test so as to confirm the pregnancy- as we expected. Dr. Lee instructs her to move to the surgery bed which sits behind us where he quickly takes her blood sample, myself having to look away immediately as I can't bear to look at it without feeling queasy.

He tells us that he should have the results within a day or two and that his receptionist will call Lexi to come in when he has the results. I know that this isn't what Lexi wants to hear but this is the way it works and unfortunately not having things come easily was a downside if you wanted to push yourself into adult life.

We return back to my place where I busy myself with making dinner while she disappears into my room to answer a call from our dad. As I stand at the kitchen bench finely chopping the ingredients for some spaghetti bolognese that I hope will cheer up Lexi, I wonder what our dad thinks is going on. Lexi does visit and stay in the city often but it was currently day four of her being here and she didn't usually stay this long, especially when she still had uni and work on. I hadn't spoke to him since Wednesday so I hadn't been forced to make any excuses for her just yet.

I hear Lexi finally make her way out of my room and overhear her as she attempts to end the conversation, telling Dad "I'm just going to stay another day or two. I need a break from all of the stress of uni and work and Elle is helping me."

Well that answers all of my questions.

Lex gives Dad a few more excuses before she bids him farewell and joins me in the kitchen.

"Dad says hi." she tells me, taking a seat on a bench stool as she watches me prepare the meal.

I give her an observant nod, intentionally avoiding interrogating her over whatever lies she might have just told him. I don't speak of it and just continue making dinner, the two of us making some small talk. Once the meal is ready we eat quickly, more hungry than we had realised after such a long day. We finish eating, myself packing away some leftovers for Jess for if she's hungry when she comes back from her shift at work. We are both so tired from the mayhem of these last few days so I retreat to my room and Lexi to the sofa bed to finally get some sleep.

The next day I make my to work, attempting to distract myself with the multitude of tasks I have to do. I find myself checking my phone occasionally, not sure what I'm expecting though. Am I waiting to hear from Lexi, Damon, even maybe Theo?

Regardless, nothing awaits me so I continue with my day assuming that Lexi hadn't heard back from the doctor just yet. I get through the day, finishing all I need to do, albeit in quite a reclusive manner as I find myself too lost in my thoughts and on edge to socialise, even with Chloe.

I leave work at my usual time, not giving myself an early mark like I had yesterday, hoping that dinner would be waiting for me so that I could just eat, have a shower and go to bed early so I could start a fresh day off tomorrow.

I come home to the lights on and an aroma floating through the air telling me that someone had indeed saved me the effort of having to make dinner. I find Lexi sitting on the couch watching some show with a bowl of stir fry rested on a pillow as she eats.

At the sound of my entrance she turns to look at me, giving me a small smile that I know would be hard for her to put on right now. I know that she got herself into this situation just as much as Mason would have but I can't help but feel sympathetic.

"Hey. There's food on the bench." she tells me, leading me to quickly make a detour to the kitchen to fill up a bowl for myself before I go to join Lexi. Once I do find myself next to Lexi, eagerly digging into the surprisingly delicious food that she had presumably made for us, considering the mess in the kitchen, I decide to make small talk with her.

"What'd you do today?" I ask her, my eyes flicking rapidly between her, my plate and the television.

"Oh, you know, just a few errands, a bit of uni work," she answers, "I stopped by the doctor's." she adds.

This additional information gains my complete attention, my food or the television being completely abandoned now.

"Did you get your results?" I ask her, the suspense eating me up inside.

She takes a moment to take a rather large gulp before she bites her lip, killing me with each moment she makes me wait.

"Elle, I'm definitely pregnant." she reveals.

Instantaneously, I lift my bowl from my lap to the coffee table so that I can turn to my sister and take her within my arms, caressing her hair and holding her close like I have since she was a baby.

"Ella, I'm so scared." she admits to me in a strained voice that reveals to me that she's trying to hold back the tears that are fighting to come out now that her wall of denial had come crashing down.

"It'll all be okay, Lex," I tell her, "I'll be right by your side no matter what." I say as reality hits me.

Lexi is pregnant.

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Finally able to update after uni has been killing my life. I know that there's no romance or Theo action but I feel like a big part of Ella is her family so this situation deserved its own chapter.

What do you think or want to see happen next? Let me know and remember to vote, comment and share. Thanks for reading!

TheFictionDreamer

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