"I thought I told you to stop snacking." The doctor said as he gazed at my weight on the scale.

I couldn't believe it either; I had gained so much I don't even want to tell you! "I swear I have." I said stepping down. "I'm not sure why I keep gaining."

We walked into the examining room and I sat down on the table. The doctor flipped through his chart as he asked "Anything new?"

"Lots of back pains and sometimes it gets hard to breathe."

The doctor nodded. "That's perfectly normal. You're about to start your first week in your third trimester so your uterus has stretched a lot. Let's just take a look and make sure everything is normal." I lay back as he examined my stomach. "Have you made any plans?"

I took a deep breath, his hands were cold! "Saving up as much money as I can, I bought a crib a few weeks ago, its set up and in my bedroom. I know I'll need more things, but I'm not really sure what all I'm going to need."

The doctor paused for a second. "You're keeping the baby?"

I was confused. "Why wouldn't I?"

"I've seen a lot of girls come in with your situation, Hero. It's not an easy one. Maybe you should talk to the consoler we have on staff, she may be able to help you with your decision."

I was shocked to hear the doctor's opinion and agreed to speak to the consoler. Maybe I could get her to understand where I was coming from.

I walked into the office of Mrs. Fields. She was a petite brunet, with rosy cheeks and a sweet smile. She could barely be thirty years old. She smiled as I walked in. "Hello, Hero. Why don't you have a seat?"

I sat down in the chair in front of her desk, feeling a bit better. Certainly she would understand how I feel about keeping my baby.

She slipped on a pair of tiny glasses and looked at the paper in front of her. "Ok…so you are roughly twenty-seven weeks along." She glanced up. "I'm surprised you haven't come to talk to me sooner." She got up and started going through her file cabinet.

I shrugged. "No one suggested it, I didn't even know there was a consoler here."

She smiled as she sat down. "That's ok, we should be able to be completely ready as soon as that little one gets here." She sat some papers down in front of me. "I'm sure we'll find the perfect couple to adopt your baby."

"Adopt?" I said as I raised my eyebrow. "What are you talking about? I'm keeping my baby."

She sat back. "Why would you want to do that?"

"Why wouldn't I want to do that? It's my child."

She smiled again, only this time it looked more annoyed than sweet. "Why don't we bring in your parents to talk about this, where are they sweetie?"

I nodded. "They're probably playing bridge or some other card game with my grandparents in heaven, if you have a direct line I can attempt to find them for you."

She bit her lip. "I'm sorry for your loss…and at such a young age I'm sure you've been search for approval since whatever happened."

"What happened was a car accident, not whatever; I would think a consoler would know how to speak to someone about something like this in a lot more understanding tone, though I guess my situation makes it difficult doesn't it?"

Mrs. Fields sighed in frustration. "Who is your legal guardian?"

"My oldest brother Darrel, he's been taking care of me for the last few years since my parents died. It's legal, set up through the court and he's not a child." I looked her up and down. "He's probably not far from your age actually."

"And I'm sure he has explained to you the difficulty in raising a child at such a young age."

I nodded. "Yes, we've talked about it briefly."

"He wants what is best for you and what's best for this child. You both have plenty of growing up you still need to do and it will be very difficult for you to do it together."

"You talk like my brother put you up to this, my brother has no say in my doctors appointments so I would ask you to please not refer to him in that way."

Mrs. Fields sat back, studying me for a minute. In the silence I could feel her eyes tracing up and down my body. It's the same thing all adults do when they see me. Glare right through like if they look long enough this abnormality under my shirt will disappear and they'll be able to see a care free teenager playing hide and seek.

"You're smart for your age, Hero, I will give you that. I've seen plenty of girls like you come in here thinking they can take on the world and take care of their child. With the war and free love all around us, plenty of kids have given themselves of each other and ended up in this situation. And yes I'm sure whatever the boys' name that did this to you, if you know for sure, says that you're going to live happily ever after, but trust me sweetie, it will end. Very soon he's going to realize exactly what he has gotten himself into and not feeling the connection you feel, he will run off with the next group of hippies with a bus. Its better we set this up now, rather than waiting till after. It's easier if you have a plan."

I took a deep breath to steady myself, I didn't want to sound like a child on a tantrum or give her any reason to think I did not fully comprehend what she had just told me. Leaning back slightly to help the ache in my back, I looked straight into Mrs. Fields eye. "Do I look like a hippie to you? Sure, I'm not a fan of the war, but am I really in a place to be making a judgment about that currently? No, I don't think a health clinic is a place to discuss this, but since you bring this up, I figure I would address it. Yes, I know who the father of my child is and I find it sad that even a professional like you cannot look past stereotypes and see who a person really is. The father of this baby left before anyone knew the baby was in there. Now yes, I do not know where he is, but no, I haven't been living the past six months with the understanding that I would be playing the happy mommy with the father by my side for support. All I have are my brothers and what they taught me is that you don't give up on family. My oldest brother had a choice of shipping me and my two brothers into a home and going off to college and making something of himself, but he didn't. He kept our family together because as my parents taught us, family is important. I'm not going to let this child ever think for a second it wasn't important to me and it wasn't part of my family."

I got up and started to walk towards the door, stopping before I grabbed the handle. "You don't think I can't see the way you're looking at me? You don't think the other girls that you've talked to haven't seen it? We see it every time we walk down the street. We've committed a horrible act that doesn't seem so horrible to me since it creates life and was obviously used to make all of us. But either way, I just want you to know that to help someone; you should really turn off your judgmental eyes and listen to them. You may actually be able to help someone if you do that." I started to turn the door knob, and then smiled back at Mrs. Fields. "Have a nice day." And out the door I went.