Crying

James could hear the soft whimpers from Katie in the night.

Jennifer assumed that since she was already pregnant, there was no reason they couldn't live together. So Katie had moved into James' apartment just a few doors over from theirs.

He had his arms wrapped protectively about her body, holding her close, his head buried against the back of her neck. She whimpered in her sleep. He couldn't tell if it was nightmares or if she was in pain. He didn't want to wake her. She didn't seem to be in pain. Though a few times, her hands had covered his over her stomach. But otherwise, there was no true indication of what was wrong.

He closed his eyes and bit his lip. She was hurting and he couldn't help her. "Katie," He softly whispered in the moonlight night, a small sliver of light shining across the bed so he could see her eyes perfectly if she opened them. "What's wrong, baby?"

She had apparently been awake for some time now. She turned her tiny body so she was facing him, her head resting against his chest. "It hurts, James."

His mind pondered all the possible things that could be wrong. What hurt? Her head? Her tummy? Her throat? He reached up to brush her hair back and smiled a gentle smile. "What hurts, Katie?"

She touched a hand gingerly to her stomach, afraid to press on it for fear of making it worse. "My stomach."

"Is it your stomach or the baby?" He questioned, trying to remain calm, though fear was soaking into his skin and causing him to lose control. "You went to school today, right? Are those girls still picking on you?"

Katie nodded, touching a hand to his to calm his trembling. "James, it's the baby. Something is wrong."

He sat up straight and looked to her with dark brown eyes. "How do you know?"

She reached down to touch the blood that was pooling at her feet, holding up her hand to show him. He hadn't noticed. He felt awful. "Katie…" With quiet calmness, he helped her to dress, even though she was feeling incredibly weak. He brushed her hair softly and kissed her cheek. "It's going to be fine. We'll get you to a doctor."

"She died." Katie whispered her voice terribly low. "We lost her. Our baby. She's gone."

Depression hit her harder than ever before, he started to worry now. "Katie, its fine. She's okay. This happens." Though he was more trying to reassure himself than her, he swept her up into a bridal carry and brought her down to the car. After buckling her in and kissing her lips, he started the engine.

The ride to the hospital was a silent one. They didn't do much speaking the entire trip. Katie was trembling in the seat, even though he had his hand resting on hers. She would look at him every so often with soft brown eyes full of tears. His heart broke each time he saw her look that way.

Even as he brought her into the hospital, checked her in, and had her up in maternity, his heart kept racing. The doctor was quick to come into the room. He looked between the two young couple, and smiled a slight smile. "We'll get you looked at, Catherine."

Katie didn't speak. Her world was so dull and quiet. She stared at James with dark eyes. "We lost her."

"Don't be so sure," the doctor exclaimed. "I hear the Knight family is known for their fighters."

James nodded and kissed Katie's hair. "They are. Momma Knight told me so."

Katie offered a tiny smile and lifted her shirt slightly so the doctor could rub the lotion on. She flinched at how cold it was. James quietly watched as the doctor did what he had to do. There was an odd silence overwhelming the room. Even as the doctor waved the wand around, listening for a heartbeat, James knew he was wrong. She didn't make it. There was a small fetus appearing on the black and white image, but there was no heartbeat.

Katie's world stopped spinning. She began to whimper softly before breaking down into hysterical sobs. James felt worse; this was his first time seeing the baby. He felt terrible, and didn't know what to do. The doctor printed the image anyway, just so they could have time to grieve, and left the room. James wrapped his arms tightly around Katie's slender body and buried his head against her neck. "I'm so sorry, James."

"Don't be sorry," He whispered, kissing her softly on the forehead. "It's not your fault."

"If I wasn't so skinny—"

"Its fine," He grumbled, not wanting to think about it much. "It's fine. It's going to be okay. Now wasn't the time for us to bring a baby into the world. You're still in high school, after all."

She looked down at her stomach, still protectively wrapping her arms around her body. "I know. But I wanted this. I wanted to meet little Landon."

"You're so young, Katie." He whispered, brushing her hair back. And as they sat crying helplessly, James knew in his heart he was right about this.

Katie reluctantly went to school that next day, acting as if it never happened. No one in school was aware of her pregnancy. Not even the girls teasing her. They just hated her for not being as pretty as them. She didn't eat breakfast that morning, probably because she was still upset about the night before. When James told Jennifer, the woman gently rubbed her daughter's back in reassurance. Katie broke down sobbing again. Jennifer helplessly brought her daughter to school, reluctant to leave her there.

Katie started down the hall when she heard a girl running behind her. There was a hard shove before she fell to her knees on the floor. "Woops! Sorry, Katie. How's the baby today?"

Katie bit her lip, fighting back the oncoming tears. Being pregnant had messed with her head pretty bad. She didn't answer.

The girl, angry that Katie hadn't answered, kicked her in the chest. "You're so stupid."

"I hate you." Katie whispered.

The girl took a few steps closer to Katie and knelt down beside her. "What did you say?"

"I said I hate you."

She stood slowly and looked at Katie, shaking her head. "You used to be so tough, little girl. What happened?"

Katie didn't oblige her with an answer. Instead, she stood, shakily to her feet, and continued down the hall. She suddenly felt very sick. The girl followed her, glaring.

"What's the matter? Too ashamed to bother with me? I'll take you on, Katie. Don't think I won't!"

Katie turned, holding her stomach. "Listen. Now isn't a good time."

"Scaredy cat."

Moments passed with challenging glares before Katie threw up all over the floor. The girl teasing her shrieked and ran way. Katie was left staring at the mess, before running away embarrassed.

James picked up Katie halfway through the day. She couldn't even eat her lunch without getting sick. Concerned for her health, he checked for a temperature. She flicked his hand away. "Take me to the drug store; I think I have a cold."

He looked at her curiously. "A cold? It's not that chilly out."

"Just go!"

He nodded hesitantly and drove her to the drug store. She ran into the store and returned with a bag full of pregnancy tests. Staring at her curiously, he wondered what she was doing. "Katie, you heard the doctor. She didn't make it."

"I'm going to try anyway."

James paused and took her hand while she was ripping open a box. "Katie."

"No! I don't want to believe she's gone!" Katie screamed. "I don't want to lose her! I'm going to lose you, too if I lose her!"

James put the car in park and tugged the box gently from her hands, throwing it in the back seat. "Katie. She's gone. There are other times. Now isn't right for you."

"You just wanted to get out of your responsibility as a father!" Katie screamed, clearly irrational. She rubbed the tears from her eyes and folded her arms over her chest. "Take me home."

"Fine."

"My home." She grumbled.

Although James was hesitant to drop her off at home, he did as she requested. She would be alone for six hours until Jennifer got home from work, and Kendall was home from hockey practice. He didn't want her being alone that long. She grabbed the bag and went inside, locking the door.

Throwing himself backwards onto his bed, he stared up at the ceiling with tears in his eyes. He didn't want to lose her any more than she did. His heart was racing. Maybe Katie was onto something. He looked away for a moment, seeing that his phone was flashing. Katie's name was on the id. He picked it up and listened to her. "What's wrong?"

With a shaky voice, Katie spoke quietly. "They were all negative."

"But you still have pregnancy symptoms!"

"Mom says that will happen until my body regulates itself again." Katie broke down again, hiccupping. "We lost her. She's not coming back. I'm so sorry I couldn't keep her alive for you."

James began to protest but Katie had hung up. He called back at least fifteen times, only to get her voicemail each time. Although he wanted to race to her house, he knew she wouldn't want to see him right now. Jennifer suggested giving her a few weeks to calm down.

He'd give her a few weeks.

James went to Jennifer's apartment almost a month later. He tapped hesitantly on the door. The mother answered it, but instead of saying anything, yanked him inside. She threw the baggie at him and waited for him to realize what it was. When his eyes lit up, Jennifer knew he'd caught on.

"This is…"

"…a pregnancy test." Jennifer commented quietly. "Katie took it this morning before going to school. I guess she was so tired she forgot it there. James. I knew it wasn't a coincidence she was still having symptoms!"

James wanted to cry. He looked at the long white stick and remembered when Katie first told him. "She doesn't know?"

"No! Someone has to tell her." Jennifer whispered desperately. "She's four months pregnant, James. She needs to know."

"Shouldn't she be feeling movement by now?" James asked, blushing lightly. "I read the book."

"You read the book!" Jennifer exclaimed hugging him. "Pick her up from school. Tell her. Come on, it has to be you."

He nodded and pocketed the stick, smiling at Jennifer. "Thank you."

The elder woman nodded. "You're welcome."

After checking in and being told to wait in the office for them to call her, James sat in a chair and looked up at the ceiling. They paged her at least three times in the last twenty minutes, but she hadn't come. Starting to worry something was wrong, he stood to go ask. It was then that he heard a commotion in the hallway.

Two girls were standing in the middle of the hall, the other one obscured by the wall to the left. Though he couldn't see a face, he knew that voice all too well. Katie was standing up for herself. At first, he thought the fight was just verbal. That was until Katie took a step forward and one of the girls shoved her to the ground.

"Louise! I bet that hurt." Shrieked the red headed girl on the left.

The blonde on the right smirked. "I know, Alexandria. I bet it did. When will you learn not to pretend you're dating a famous person?"

That's when Katie suddenly realized why they hated her. It was because of James. She stood hesitantly to her feet, only to be knocked down again.

Having had enough, James ran over and stood between them. He held a hand out to Katie, helping her to her feet. "You have a problem with my Katie?" He questioned, holding his arms out so she could come closer for a hug. "Because I'll gladly fight both of you if I must. I graduated at least four years ago, but it's cool. I'll get suspended for her."

"Oh my God, it's true!" Louise shrieked. "No way!"

Katie broke free from James' grasp and glared at the girls. Alex shoved her into a locker, causing a painful thud to reverberate through the hall. James growled at the girls. "Stop that!" He ran to Katie's side and helped her up again.

"Why? Because you're afraid I might damage her little ego?" Alex mocked.

As he stood to his feet, the test fell from his pocket and stayed on the floor. Katie saw it first, the shock resigning on her features. The two girls must have seen it as well, since they looked to Katie with a dark expression. "She's pregnant, you twits!" James screamed. His words echoed through the halls. It suddenly got very awkward.

"James, I don't feel so well." Katie whispered. "Can we go now?"

He nodded and turned to the girls again. "If I find out you hurt her again, I'm going to be back. And I'm going to bring reinforcements."

Rolling her eyes, Louise walked away, dragging the other girl with her.

When they got to the car, James knelt down beside her open door, lifting her shirt to see the bruises and marks the girls left behind. There were bruises all along the side of her body, several the shapes of fists. He was surprised the baby even survived such brutal beatings. He stared at Katie and closed his eyes. "I'm so sorry."

She looked away. "It's okay, I can take the beating."

"It's not okay," James whispered. "The baby can't take that kind of beating. I was supposed to come here and tell you, so you'd be excited. Even your doctor called me to verify it. Katie, you were carrying twins." He looked down. "It's fine if you're not happy. I am. And I'll take you out of this school of I have to. I'll find any reason I can to transfer you nearby. I don't want you getting hurt. I don't want to endure the sadness of losing the baby again."

"It means that lot to you?" Katie whispered against his chest, her eyes closed.

He nodded and kissed her hair. "You mean everything to me. She means a lot."

Katie looked up at him with a smirk. "Kick their asses."