Just a background check before reading. In my little fantasy world inside my head, the Tratie Show as I like to call it (get it? Like the Truman Show?), Travis and Katie get together right when Katie's about to go to college. After she graduates, they get engaged and she gets prego. They have a daughter named Amaryllis/Mary. They get married a bit later. And then this happens. Also, in my mind Travis and Conner's mom is a crazy Mormon lady (no offence to anyone at all) and she thinks that people who are conceived with parents who aren't married are like spawns of Satan. Ha ha! I was sick of the normal abusive drunk. Oh! And this is for ShadowPalace and WindowChild's PJO One-Shot Challenge. I don't think I followed the rules very well, but whatev!

Travis bit his lip as the doctor closed the door. He just wanted to grab Katie, and hug her, and promise that everything would be okay. He wanted to promise that they would have another child someday. He wanted to promise that there wouldn't be another miscarriage.

But that's what he had promised last time, and yet here they were.

He had promised they would have that little boy they were both hoping for.

He had promised that he wouldn't end up as a 'devil child' like Travis and Conner's mother loved to call their daughter.

He had promised that he would be gorgeous and angelic and would not be a copy of Conner.

He had promised that they would love and support him, no matter what he did, whether he ended up getting his fiancé pregnant because he has godly sex cells or whether he ended up becoming a Harvard graduate.

He had promised they would be parents again soon. He promised they would hear the pitter patter of little feet running across the kitchen and the small giggles of a gurgling baby. He promised they would get to buy cute little toys and clothes from the baby aisle of WalMart again (even Conner loved going to the store then. Single moms on the rebound + a lonely Conner = yet another night in the Red Roof Inn across the street from their apartment). He promised they would get to change diapers and use highchairs again and do all the things that they missed so much!

But he didn't get to keep those promises.

There is no little, angelic boy growing inside of Katie right now.

There is no horny mess up or Harvard superstar waiting to be born in just a couple of months.

They wouldn't be new parents again for quite some time now. And they wouldn't be able to hear pitter patter every morning or buy Lightning McQueen pajamas or follow a little boy to the bathroom on 'Poo Poo Patrol' or ask the waiter for a booster seat or do any of the things they missed so much.

And when he looked over at Katie, the miserable feeling in the pit of his stomach grew, lodging itself up in his throat, making him unable to talk. Her face was pale, as if she were sick. Her eyes were wide, wet, and showing no emotion at all. The place where a big smile usually was, was replaced by a frown that Travis never wanted to see on her face again.

He hesitated before stepping up next to her and giving her a hug. Almost immediately, she buried her head into his shoulder and started crying. Travis never liked when people cried. They looked ugly and if they were crying on him, they got his shirt all wet and it was just a messy sight. But, for once, Travis was perfectly fine with her crying. He kind of wanted to cry a bit, too.

"It'll be all right," he whispered, running his hand down her hair soothingly. "I promise."

Katie sniffed and raised her head from his shoulder, staring deep into his eyes. "That's what you said last time," she muttered quietly. Her voice cracked at the end and Travis wiped away her tears with his thumb.

"Maybe I can't promise you another child for sure," he said, "but I can promise that I will always be here for you, whenever you need me. I promise that today may not be the best day, but tomorrow the sun will come up and it will be better. I promise that no matter what, I will be here for you and we can try again. Third time's the charm, as they say." He smiled at the corny joke but she didn't find it all that funny.

"Don't promise," she mumbled, staring down at her lap with sad eyes. "You don't know what's going to happen tomorrow or the next day or the next."

Travis put two fingers under her chin and brought her eyes up to meet his. "Maybe I don't know those things for sure," he said, "but I do know one thing. I love you Katie. I always will." Brushing her bangs away from her eyes, he kissed her on the forehead. "I promise."

. . . Is it just me or was that really embarassing?

So special thanks to Chesty's Superbest Friend for betaing (kinda! ha ha!) and WindowChild for begging me to enter. I kinda feel bad that I couldn't have entered something better. Next time, my dear. Next time.

I don't own anything!

Lather, rinse, review!

:) Jordan