2:31 Accept The Concequences

Madison had gathered the family, and as agreed, Taylor sat between their parents. Taylor didn't see the point, but Madison was for some reason scared they'd jump up and hit her.
Madison looked at her parents, wondering how she'd begin. Lisa was looking away seemingly distracted by something on the wall. Madison wondered if she knew what was coming, but Jackson was on the edge of his seat. He seemed nervous. Did he know too? She looked to Taylor, who gave her a look to try and hurry her along. Geoffrey couldn't make it, he had to work, and they'd both agreed now wasn't the best time to take a day off, but Madison would be seeing him later.

"So... I have something to say..." Lisa turned to look at her. Now all eyes were on her and she suddenly felt sick again. She was sure this time was nerves. "I..." What should she do? Just come out and say it? Yes. No point dancing around it. She took a deep breath before announcing: "I'm pregnant." She shut her eyes tight. Waiting for something to be thrown at her head, or someone to start screaming at her.

After what felt like hours, but couldn't have been more than a minute, Madison peeped through one eye, and the three of them were just sat there, looking at the floor in silence. She wasn't sure whether to be more nervous or to take this as a good sign.

Lisa finally spoke up.
"I can't believe this. I'm not going to say I'm happy. Or that I expected it. I thought you were a smart girl, Madison. I thought you knew you could come to us for anything. We could have put you on birth control if you'd just said something. I still wouldn't have been happy, obviously. Madison, you're fourteen. You're way too young to have a baby. You can't even get yourself up for school most days! How are you going to handle a baby as well?" Lisa sighed, trying not to raise her voice in this delicate situation. "I don't know if you realise how much work is involved in a baby. How much money it costs, how little time you'll have for yourself and school work..." She stopped as her voice started to crack. She didn't want to cry during this conversation.

"Well, Madison." Jackson spoke up, seeing his wife struggling. "I agree with your mother. I'm not impressed. But I think if you think you're adult enough to make a baby, you're going to have to accept the concequences. You realise you'll probably never go to prom, never go out drinking with your friends..." He didn't get to finish. Things were still a little tense between him and Taylor, and she chose now to say her piece.
"You two did it." Jackson, Lisa and Madison all looked at her, confused. "I know" She looked at Jackson. He was still the only one who knew about the implanted memories, he just didn't know she hadn't stopped getting new memories every time she was near him. "Yes, you weren't as young as her, but you weren't quite legal. And ok, fair enough, you were married and legal when you had me, but there was always a chance."

Taylor continued looking at her father, and he kept looking back while Lisa took her chance to say some more.
"Look. There's no use acting like we're all saints, nobody is perfect, and there isn't a lot we can do now except support Madison and hope that Geoffrey can get a better paying job or save some money. You realise we don't want your grades to slip at all. You're a straight A student, and your grades will mean all the more now that you won't be going into higher education. We don't expect you to miss any school until you physically can't go, you understand me?"

"Yeah, of course I will!" Madison started, and when nobody answered for a minute she stood up. "Ok, well, thanks for listening everyone." She needed to get out of here, she'd never wanted to talk to her parents about this sort of thing, and the disappointment was written all over their faces. She looked to Taylor who widened her eyes, begging her to not run off. They both knew it would make things harder.

Madison sighed and checked her phone. She still had a few hours before Geoffrey was off work. There was no sense going out now.

Instead she went to play with Devon and his blocks. She'd need all the practice she could get now, as by her calculations the baby would be nearly at school by the time she could live with Geoffrey. She knew he'd come over and help out whenever he could, but wasn't sure whether Taylor would let him stay over much. She was worried, of course. She'd not really helped out with Devon much, and didn't even know the first thing about babies. She'd never changed a nappy, never made some formula, never even bathed a baby! She was relieved when she realised Taylor had done all those things before, she was a much bigger help around the house than herself, and she would have to learn how to keep house for Taylor to repay a tiny bit of the huge debt she now owed her.

Lisa and Jackson looked at each other in shock. Was this really happening to their perfect little family? It seemed like only a few weeks ago that Madison was born.

"What are we going to do, Jackson? We can't fit another baby in this house! I know Taylor is leaving soon, but what about childcare? What are..."

Seeing Lisa was starting to panic, Jackson pulled her into a tight hug before she could finish.
"Hey, come here. We'll figure something out. We've come through and dealt with a lot. A little teen pregnancy isn't going to change anything."
He was worried himself. He'd never thought he had to worry about either of his girls getting themselves into this situation. He was just glad he knew he could trust Geoffrey. He was a responsible young man, and he'd take care of his daughter and grandchild.

_____
A week later....

Taylor and Madison had recently gone by the consignment store and found some thicker clothes. They were now at a local kareoke bar, Madison was going to meet Geoffrey, and as it was Taylors birthday, she was meeting Chiquita. Summer had wanted to come, but hadn't been able to get the evening off work.

"I don't get sick anymore." Madison smiled as Geoffrey met her by the pool table.
"Good, baby. I hated seeing you like that."

He pulled her into a hug and whispered about how much he'd missed her in her ear.

"I wish I could be with you all the time" Madison whispered back as she snuggled into him.
"One day, we will be together all the time, and you'll regret saying that!" he laughed as she lightly hit his back.
"Stop ruining the moment!"

On the other side of the room, Taylor was having her birthday. She grew into a young adult finally, and she was excited to be graduating in a few days and starting her life long dream to be a police officer.

Hours later, Geoffrey had to go, and Madison went to find Taylor. It was 3am, and she was getting tired. She couldn't find her anywhere, and decided she'd just head home. As she stepped outside, some police officers were just getting into their car after a small disturbance. Her heart beat through her chest and she avoided eye contact as she quickly walked away. There was a strict curfew of 11pm on anyone in high school, and she didn't need a police caution on top of all the stress she'd already put her parents through.

They spotted her and swiftly threw her into the car. She cursed under her breath, and quickly hoped the police hadn't heard. Her parents were very against swearing of any kind. They were also against getting arrested and getting pregnant at 14, so she really wasn't in their good books right now. She considered telling the officer her situation, in the hope they'd go easy on her, but then wondered what they'd do to Geoffrey when they found out he'd got an underage girl pregnant. Although he was only 14 himself, she was sure the law said he would be the one in trouble.

Thankfully, Taylor was up and greeted the officer as she got home.
"What the hell, Madi! I couldn't find you anywhere, so I figured you'd come home. Then I get here and you're not here and so I try to ring you and you've turned your phone off!"
"Tay..."
"And to top it off, you roll in 4 hours after curfew in a squad car?!"
"Taylor! I'm sorry! I was with Geoff, we didn't leave the place all night so I don't know when you looked for me, but I was there. I went to look for you, but I couldn't find you, so I went to get a taxi home but they saw me. Please don't tell mum and dad, I'm in enough trouble as it is!"

Taylor looked at her little sister. She really hadn't meant to get herself into any of this, but fate seemed to be dragging her down paths that seemed like they could only end badly. She was reminded that she had, through no fault of her own, also been forced by fate to take part in things she'd had no wish to, and seen things she didn't want to see. She looked out the back patio doors to the sky. It was a half moon, only a few more weeks to get out of this house before Trisha would take hold and who knows what would happen.




Grr, sorry about the awkward outfit-changes. Madison decided it was time to put her maternity wear on...




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