New Years was just hatched out of its shell and everyone was looking foward to its contents. "God," Rina sighed, hugging a pillow and watching MTV videos in the living room as Devon sat on the floor in her socks, "That school really bugs me. All they talk about is placenta and show us gross videos...I mean, I don't want to watch the birth of a baby...I'll probably have my eyes closed when I have mine." She let out a laugh and placed the clicker on the coffee table. Devon let out a forged giggle as she refocused on the videos.

"My back is killing me," Rina continued whining, grazing her hand gently behind her back, "This kid better come out soon or else I'm going to yank it out myself." Devon turned her torso and looked up at her, pure surprise in her eyes. "Sorry," Rina apologiesed, cutting her laugh short, "It was a joke!"

"I'm just saying," Devon started leaning back on her hands and crossing her legs, "That all you do is complain, complain, complain. I mean, you kinda got yourself in this mess. And you never ask me how I am or if anything's wrong...It's all about Rina! You're the talk of your school..."

"Really," Rina asked, a little embarassed at that new fact. "I'm sorry..."

"Don't be," Devon replied, hastily picking herself up from the floor, "You just have to think...about a lot of things. I gotta go." With that, she dissappered from the room like a shy ghost.

'Oh man' was Rina's thought as she laid her head down on the pillow. It was like laying her head on the sofest feathers to grace her skin. She didn have to think about a lot of life changing decisions, decisions that are irreversable. Nails were being hammered through her skull; she couldn't think. She pulled a grey blanket over her aching body and sailed away to dream land...

"Does she ever lock her doors?" Chris asked out loud as he entered the silent apartment. His eyes scanned the perimeter. They stopped at the mass laying on the couch. He smiled slightly, closing the door quietly behind him. Cocoa perked his head up, prepairing to wail his barks untill Chris shushed him. Cocoa gave him a few licks and scampered off to Rina's room.

He knelt down to Rina's angelic face. Her body was shivering a little and her hair was taking over her face. She looked so sweet and innocent. How could she get in such a mess? His fingered lightly skimmed over Rina's cheek and she revealed her drousy light brown eyes. A sleepy smile diffused on her face as Chris picked up her head and laid it down back on his lap carefully. "What are you...doing here?" she asked him, pulling her arm from under the comfort of the blanket and peering at her watch.

"We got the day off so I thought I should come by for a visit," he told her honestly, brushing her massive curls from her face.

"Is it 5 yet?" Rina asked him, her eyes unable to decipher the time on her watch. "I can't see...I'm blind..." She let out a slow sigh, staring up at the endless ceiling. "My mommy and daddy will be home at 5...we're going to have a 'family discussion'."

"You mean a family argument?" Chris corrected her, a laugh escaping modestly from his throat as he rested his tired hand on her forehead.

"You got it," Rina moaned, her mouth twisting into a smile. "I'm just so tired...I guess I'm tired for both of us..." She grazed her hand over her stomach mounding up from under the blanket.

Chris smiled and placed his hand over hers. She looked up curiously, a half smile appeared on her face.

"This baby's going to be here before we know it," Chris said, his voice soft like an old man's who had seen his years. "It's going to want to have a loving family. A family that's together..." He was distracted from the screetching and yelling pounding through the thin windows. It had snowed the day before and children relished in it since it doesn't come as often as they'd enjoy. He refocused, his warm eyes fixed on the bare wall. "...happy...I want it to be happpy...Rina, we've been friends for most of our lives...You're such a strong and independent person...I admire that so...You don't take any shit..." 'Wow, I'm off-topic', Chris thought to himself, scratching his head to sturr up his momentium "...Rina, I think we need to..." The light snoring escaping Rina's mouth told him to stop. Her rythmic breaths forced her stomach and their hands to rise and fall mildly. Chris enjoyed this feeling of purpose...feeling of meaning...feeling of...life. Yet Chris shook his head, dissapointed that he couldn't say what he'd been planning to say for a while. Suddenly, something tapped the palm of his hand...like a child's gentile touch. He gasped. Where did it come from? Chris peered at the rising and falling mound. He soothingly placed Rina's hand at her side. He firmly clamped his hand over her stomach and he felt it again; a faint tap-tap of a baby's heart. Tears wrenched in his eyes, knowing this baby was going to link him and Adrienne, whether near or far, together or disjointed, together for the rest of eternity.