Scenes From a Soap Opera

Lending a Hand

Abby had been keeping an eye on her top server Ciara for the past few weeks. The teenager was still distracted and distant; it wasn't affecting her tips so far, but the youngest Newman thought it was only a matter of time. What really concerned her though, was the fact that Ciara kept asking for extra shifts. It seemed like every moment she wasn't in school, Ciara wanted to be at Society. What high school senior wanted to spend every waking moment at work?

"Oh no!" Someone gasped as the sound of plates crashing echoed throughout the restaurant. Abby turned around to see Ciara on the ground unconscious. She ran over to check on her young server.

"Ciara! Ciara, sweetie wake up." Abby pleaded. She was growing worried over how long the young girl was unconscious. After what felt like two hours but was really two minutes, Ciara started to stir.

"What happened?" Ciara slowly asked, as her surroundings started to come into focus.

"You passed out." Abby answered, sounding very much like a concerned mother. "I'm taking you to the hospital, you might have a concussion."

Ciara froze on the floor. She couldn't lose all that money, not now when she needed it more than ever. "You don't need to do that, I'm fine. I just didn't eat that much today."

Abby narrowed her eyes. "Was that supposed to comfort me?" She sarcastically asked. "If anything, it makes me more concerned for you. Besides you can't be too careful with head injuries. You did hit the ground pretty hard."

"But my shift..." Ciara argued weakly, not quite ready to give up the fight.

Abby brushed off her concerns, "You will get paid for your entire shift plus whatever tips you would've gotten." Ciara sighed, knowing that she was beat, agreed to go with Abby to the hospital. "Great!" Abby clapped her hands. "Get your coat and let's go."

After an extremely awkward car ride, Ciara and Abby were sitting in a room waiting to be seen. Abby was finishing up texting her manager when she looked up to see Ciara fidgeting on the table. The poor girl looked absolutely terrified much to Abby's confusion.

"Ciara is everything okay?" Abby asked.

Ciara jumped, clearly not expecting Abby to talk to her. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just anxious."

Abby nodded in understanding, "I get that." Another thought occurred to her, Ciara was underage, she should be contacting her parents. "Did you want me to call your parents for you?"

"No!" Ciara shouted much to Abby's surprise. She had never heard Ciara raise her voice; she'd never even seen her mad, so this outburst was a huge shock. "I mean, no that's okay. We don't need to bother them." Ciara awkwardly rambled after realizing how her knee jerk reaction was taken.

Now Abby was really confused. If her son was in the hospital she'd want to know about it. Before she could voice her concerns, Dr. Elena Dawson entered the room.

"Hello Ms. Clarkson, I..." Elena trailed off when she noticed Abby sitting in the room. "Abby, I'm sorry but I'm going to have to ask you to leave. I'm going over Ciara's personal medical information."

Abby nodded, knowing Elena was only doing her job. She started to get up, but Ciara stopped her. "It's fine Abby can stay." Ciara let out such an exhausted sigh for a girl her age. "She should know what's going on."

"And what is going on?" Abby asked, concern laced in her voice as she shot Ciara a confused look.

Elena walked over and put a supportive hand on Ciara's shoulder as the young girl took a deep breath. "I'm pregnant." Ciara said in a shaky voice.

Abby released a small gasp. "Oh Ciara." She replied not knowing what else to say. She could tell that the teenager was scared and clearly not happy about being pregnant, but there was another feeling she couldn't quite but her finger on. Suddenly her over the top reaction to calling her parents made perfect sense. "Your parents don't know do they?"

Ciara laughed bitterly which sent a chill down the spines of the other two women. "Oh, they know." She released more hysterical laughter. "I told my parents the truth, like they always told me to, and they threw me out. Said I wasn't their daughter anymore. I'd brought a great shame onto the family." The high school senior was sobbing by the end of her confession; three months' worth of angst had been unleashed.

Abby and Elena raced over to comfort Ciara. The two older women shared a look of pure rage over Ciara's shoulder. The audacity of the Clarksons to disown their daughter. Abby was about to voice her outrage before memories of Victor washing his hands of all his children, Adam especially, made her swallow it.

"You have nothing to be ashamed of." Elena fiercely told her. "Absolutely nothing."

"That's right." Abby agreed. A realization dawned on her. "That's why you kept asking for hours and why you looked so stressed." Ciara nodded, still sniffling.

Elena knew that this probably wasn't the right time, but she had to ask. "Ciara, have you given anything thought to what you want to do regarding your pregnancy? You have plenty of options."

"No." Ciara stammered suddenly feeling embarrassed for some unknown reason. "I mean, I know I have options, but I've been so busy trying to figure out where I'm sleeping each night and saving money that I haven't had time to really think about it."

The two older women had to admit that Ciara's reasoning made sense, and it broke their hearts a little bit more. "What about the baby's father? Where is he?'" Abby asked.

"He's at NYU." Ciara explained. "We broke up at the end of summer, didn't think going long distance was the best idea. Little did we know." She released another bitter laugh.

"Does he know?" Elena asked.

"Yep, and he doesn't care." Ciara scoffed. "Told me to do whatever I thought was best." The young girl threw her head into her hands. "This is some mess I've gotten myself into."

Hearing how terrified and exhausted Ciara sounded, made Abby make a rash decision. "Well, we're going to eliminate one part of this mess right now. You're coming home with me. And I'm not taking no for an answer."

Ciara looked up to meet her boss's determined eyes. "Abby, I can't, I can't let you do that."

Abby brushed her off, "You're not letting me do anything, I'm volunteering. You need some help; there's nothing wrong with taking it."

"She's right." Elena agreed. "Pregnancy is a stressful time; I'd take the help."

Ciara sighed knowing that she wasn't going to win this argument and agreed to go home with Abby. Honestly, the more she thought about it, the happier she was that she lost.