"Code Red. I need you here now."
Carrie paced back and forth in her bedroom as she waited for her best friend to arrive. Her heart was beating a thousand times a minute and her mind was racing.
"I'm here I'm here! What's wrong?!" Ivey came running in the room less than ten minutes after Carrie texted her.
"I'm pregnant." Carrie blurted out, freezing in her tracks.
"Excuse me, what?"
Carrie sighed as she sat down on the edge of the bed, her head in her hands.
"You're pregnant? Carrie Marie it has literally been like three weeks since you ran into Mike. You had sex with him? What's gotten into you Carrie? I don't-" Ivey ranted, throwing her hands up in shock.
"It's not his." Carrie mumbled, interrupting her best friends rave. She looked up to see Ivey standing there with her hand on her hip and a majorly confused face.
"Um, huh? Sorry, I'm not following."
Carrie squeezed her eyes shut and ran her hands through her hair.
Carrie took a deep breath. "It's Matt's."
"You're six months pregnant and you didn't know it? How in the world." Ivey was so utterly confused and Carrie didn't seem to be explaining anything.
"I uh, I'm only a month and a half." Carrie stuttered. She sighed again and patted the space beside her. "Sit down."
Ivey sat down beside Carrie waiting for an explanation. None of this made any sense at all to her.
"One night I was taking Maddy over to Matt's. He asked if I wanted to stay for dinner and Maddy jumped all over it and begged me too. I think she thought that we'd get back together if we all ate dinner together again. Anyways, I stayed for dinner and then she wanted me to tuck her in. When I came back downstairs, he said I should stay and have another glass of wine and we could talk. We ended up talking and drinking and yeahhh..." Carri explained, trailing off at the end. "I never told anyone. I was too embarrassed with myself."
"Whoa." Ivey was speechless. She had not expected that at all.
"What am I supposed to do?" Carrie was almost in tears now.
"Are you sure you're pregnant? Did you not use protection?"
Carrie shook her head, looking at the ground. "I stopped taking birth control when we split up because I didn't think I needed it. If I would have had enough sense to make him wear a condom I wouldn't have let him take advantage of me in the first place."
"Shit Carrie, I don't even know what to say." Ivey sighed, shaking her head.
"I don't know what I'm going to do Ivey. Now I'm going to have to fight for custody of Maddy and this baby. Mike's probably going to freak. God, he's probably not going to want anything to do with me now. I thought my life couldn't get any more messed up than it was, but I was so wrong. This is a whole new level of messed up." Carrie sighed, tears now filling her eyes.
"Don't say that Carrie. It's going to be okay! A baby is always a blessing no matter what. We'll figure it out, you know I'm not going to leave you alone. I'll be here with you every step of the way it'll be okay. And I bet Mike will feel the same way. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy that's going to ditch you like that. And if he does, screw him. We can do this Carrie, you can do this." Ivey assured Carrie.
"Thank you Ivey." Carrie sniffled. "I just don't know what to do."
"You're going to go over there and tell Matt he knocked you up and you're getting custody of both kids. You're not going to let him see your fear, bring that attitude I know you have out and kick ass. Make him realize what he did. Then you're going to tell Mike. You're going to explain what happened and be completely honest. Then, you'll have to tell the public. That's going to be difficult. But you're just going to have to tell them. You can do this Carrie. I believe in you. This is going to be good. You're going to have another baby Carrie." Ivey smiled, gripping Carrie's hand.
Carrie couldn't help but smile through her tears. Ivey was right. She was going to have another baby.
"Thank you Ivey, you always know how to make me feel a little better." Carrie hugged her best friend tight.
"Anytime Care, you know that's what I'm here for." She smiled.
"I guess I need to go talk to Mike." Carrie sighed, standing up from the bed. "See if he's going to run away."
"It'll be okay Carrie, you can do this." Ivey gave her a reassuring smile and then pulled her in for one more hug. "Just be honest with him."
After Ivey left, Carrie pulled herself together and drove over to Mike's house.
She was so nervous her stomach was in knots. She was terrified of how he was going to react. She'd only reconnected with him less than three weeks ago, she didn't even know if they were a thing.
She pulled into his driveway and took a deep breath.
Here we go. She walked up to the door and knocked. This is it.
"Carrie? What are you doing here?"
Carrie swallowed hard and entered his house, shutting the door behind her. "I uh, I need to tell you something."
