This is part 2 to 21. It's the deleted scene from the last chapter. If I kept this in, the chapter would've been over 9k words... which was too much lol

"It's genuinely the most magical experience ever! Like the second I saw its little hand move on the screen, I was hooked" Sam explained and Kat nodded in agreement.

"You guys are so baby whipped" Brennen laughed and Leighton smiled, her hands resting on top of her stomach.

"You don't understand! It's so cool! Like when you hear the little heartbeat, everything becomes real!" Kat explained and Leighton nodded.

"Can I see your bump?" Brennen asked and she nodded again, lifting her hoodie up.

"It's like an actual bump!" Kat said and I found myself eyeing her stomach, thinking about how weird this was.

Ever since we got back to the castle, all we could talk about was Leigh, and her pregnancy. Not that I minded, it was just weird.

It was weird to know 12 hours earlier, I had no idea, and here we were talking so openly about it as if we've always known.

I guess they have known... So maybe this is just weird for me?

I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything I didn't know, and here they were just casually asking her questions.

"Colby, come feel her bump. It's so weird" Kat said, rubbing her hand against Leigh's protruded stomach.

"Hey! It's not weird!" She defended and Kat rolled her eyes. "It's very bloated right now from how much Sam has made me drink, so I'm expecting to be peeing all night long and waking up to the bump being a lot smaller" She laughed and It took a bit of egging on but I finally reluctantly walked over and placed my hand on her stomach, Kat pulling out her phone to take photos.

Okay weirdo..

It did feel kind of weird.

It was oddly squishy, yet hard. It felt weird, feeling like I was touching something unhuman.

"There is a little baby in there" She smiled at her stomach, and I had a hard time wrapping my head around that.

Like on the other side of where my hand was touching, a tiny little baby was forming.

I was trying really hard to just go with the flow, and let my brain fully process everything when I was alone, which meant I was currently touching my roommate's pregnant stomach that I didn't know about for God knows how long.

"The baby is already formed, and such. It just needs to grow now. Get big and strong. In a couple weeks, I should be able to feel it kick" She said and I removed my hand, feeling creeped out.

"I can't wait to meet the little one. It's going to be the cutest baby ever!" Kat boasted and Leigh shook her head with a smile. "Every parent thinks their baby is adorable, but it's okay if they're not. Every baby has an ugly newborn phase"

"It's already model material! Did you see those ultrasounds?! Your baby was built to be a star!" Kat bragged and Leigh rolled her eyes.

"My baby can be whatever it wants to be" She rubbed her belly and I looked over at Sam, only to see him looking at me.

"Have you shown Colby any ultrasound photos?" She asked and Leighton shook her head.

"Can we move on? I don't want all the focus to be on me"

"Why don't we play a game?" Brennen suggested and she nodded, and then everyone looked at Sam and I.

"Why don't we play a roommate icebreaker we played when we first moved into the Traphouse? We played Never Have I Ever, and if you put down all your fingers, the group gets to pick your consequence?" Sam suggested.

"Where are we? A 5th grade sleeper?" Kat scoffed and Leighton giggled.

"Why don't we make mystery drinks and snacks! Isn't that like a known thing with pregnancy? That they love weird shit?" Brennen asked and Leighton narrowed her eyes at him. "I don't like weird things and most of them will probably make me vomit!"

"Dipping your chicken nugget in a milkshake was pretty weird, Leigh" He said and I chuckled, watching her throw daggers with her eyes.

"It was good! Fine, we can do it, but if I vomit on the floor someone else is cleaning it up!"

"Do we even have weird stuff to use?" I asked and everyone's shoulders slumped a little.

"Why don't we find a gas station or something? We could make it a challenge to see if we can actually make something Leighton really likes?" Sam suggested and we all nodded in agreement.

"So you're all going to make some nasty concoction to watch the pregnant lady vomit?" She asked and Sam shook his head.

"No, the idea is to try and make something you'll really like. Like weird ingredients that you actually like together. Like how you like goldfish in peanut butter, and chicken nuggets in milkshakes" Sam explained and she nodded.

~

Sam, Brennen, Kat and I walked into the airbnb with a couple grocery bags in tow, dropping them on the counter.

"Are we filming this or is it just for fun?" Kat asked, taking the stuff out of the bags.

"I'm too tired to film. Let's just chill" Sam said and we all agreed.

"Okay, so are we working in teams, as a group or one on one?" Kat asked, looking at the three of us.

"I'm down with whatever, but where did Leighton go?" I asked, noticing she wasn't where we had left her.

"Check her room? I can't believe she's still staying in that closet of a bedroom" Kat spoke in disbelief.

I walked up the stairs, approaching Leighton's bedroom, and I smiled at the sight.

The door was wide open and she had a polaroid camera sitting by her knee, a notebook spread out in front of her with a couple pens on the page, her head looking down at the book. Her legs were crossed and bare, a baggy t-shirt bunched at her hips. She seemed deep in thought and I honestly didn't want to bother her.

I knocked on the door and watched her head snap up, a pink color warming up her cheeks.

"Hey, do you want to come down and join us?" I asked and she nodded, closing the book. "What were you doing?" I asked, glancing down at the notebook.

"Writing in my baby's journal" She said softly and I nodded, unsure of what to say.

"That's cool. So is it like, from you to them or?" I asked, feeling curious as to what she could've put in the journal.

"Um, I'm basically documenting my pregnancy for them. I thought it would be fun. I was just journaling a bit since you guys were gone, but I guess you're back now"

"Can I see it?" I asked, not being able to stop my curiosity.

"You want to?" She asked and I nodded. "I mean, I guess. It's just me rambling about my day or how the week has gone" She spoke softly and I sat on the bed across from her, my feet hanging off the side.

"Careful, there are some polaroid's in there" She noted and I nodded, flipping open the white pristine journal.

The note pages were littered with words, doodles and crossed out parts, fixing mistakes.

"It starts when I found out, up to now" She said, but I was too focused on admiring her handwriting.

"I love your handwriting" I spoke, filling the silence. I cursed at myself, not sure why I said it out loud.

"Thanks. I hate it" She chuckled and I felt my lips tugging upwards at the sound.

"It's messy but pretty. It's like if chicken scratch met calligraphy" I chuckled and I looked over to see her hands on her cheeks, a smile on her face.

"I've never had my handwriting described like that, but I guess you're right. I used to be really good at cursive, but then I got lazy and stopped caring once I was finishing High School"

"This is cool Leigh" I flipped to another page, seeing polaroid pictures and an ultrasound photo laying in front of me.

"That's the day I found out and that's my first ultrasound photo" She informed me and I eyed the black and white photo, seeing the little speck stand out. "There are a couple more throughout. Anyway, aren't we supposed to be doing some sort of game where I'll vomit?"

"We better go downstairs before we get teased for things we didn't do. It's cool you're doing this though" I held up the journal and she gave a small smile, her hands forming fists and resting on her cheeks, making her face scrunch up.

"Wait, stay like that!" I spoke quickly, grabbing my phone.

"What, why?" She asked and I held up my phone.

I snapped a quick photo and made it her contact picture. "No reason, come on!"

Leighton and I walked downstairs, seeing a blender sitting on the counter.

"Ready for your sardine smoothie?" Kat asked and I watched Leighton physically gag.

My eyes widened when she ran off, only to come back a couple minutes later.

"Sorry" Kat apologized but I knew she didn't mean it by the grin that was held captive on her face.

"Oh my god! Can I have one?!" Leighton spoke loudly, her voice carrying throughout the house.

"What?" Sam asked and I saw Leighton pointing at the Little Debbie Cupcakes Brennen had bought.

"Sure" Sam handed her a package and Brennen scoffed. "Is this what having a pregnant chick is like?" He asked and Leighton smirked back, "Wouldn't know. Colby eats all our snacks" She replied and I gasped. "I DO NOT!"

"Okay well someone keeps stealing my chips ahoy cookies and I know it isn't Sam"

"BUT WHAT IF IT WAS SAM?!" I yelled and she jumped, her eyes widened.

"Sam?!" She yelled, turning to look at him.

"I TOOK 3, COLBY TOOK THE REST!" He admitted and my jaw dropped.

"I'LL ADMIT TO STEALING THE OREOS BUT I DID NOT STEAL THE COOKIES!" I shouted back, and we all started laughing.

Leighton shook her head and watched us get started.

"Let's put the chocolate milk in first" I suggested, grabbing the small bottle that we had found at a seven eleven.

"Brennen, are we adding your cupcakes or are you eating them?" Kat asked, reaching for the strawberries we had in our fridge.

"Well I was going to eat them, but Leighton got to them first" Brennen glared and she grinned, happily unwrapping the small cupcake.

"It's not my fault they sounded good! My cravings lately are either super sweet, or like salty things in sweet things. You brought back cupcakes, what did you expect?" She asked him and he rolled his eyes, letting Kat drop a cupcake into the blender.

~

"Okay, here we have what I like to call a guide to diabetes" Sam said and she scrunched her face at the name.

"You couldn't have thought of anything else? It can't be like a unicorn's night out or something?" She asked and I laughed seeing Sam eye her up.

"It's literally brown. The drink is brown. What part of that screams unicorn?"

"Okay well if I like it, you gotta workshop that name. Pass me the cup" She said and I saw Kat had her phone out. I glanced at it and saw she was recording a video from her camera.

"It smells weird. Like... am I supposed to guess everything in it?" She asked and Sam nodded.

"We didn't put anything awful in it, but that doesn't mean all the good things on their own, taste great all together." Sam told her and we watched her gag as she sniffed the glass. "Jesus Christ that really is diabetes in a milkshake" She coughed, her eyes blinking a couple times.

"I told you!" Sam laughed.

"Okay Leigh, take your guesses. You get three guesses then another sip!" Kat informed her, Brennen and I were waiting for her guesses.

"Um, well I saw you put chocolate milk in there, and that cupcake, but then you yelled at me not to look.. I know Kat had strawberries out, so I'm gonna guess strawberries. If you guys didn't put a banana in here, I'll be shocked, because something tastes really strong like banana" She grimaced.

"Do you not like bananas?" I asked and she shook her head.

"Is that a pregnancy thing or you thing?" Sam questioned as Leigh eyed up the brown concoction in the transparent cup.

"I try to put them in the yogurt parfaits I make, but I really dislike them. That's a Leighton thing, not a pregnancy thing"

"Okay, there is one banana in there. You got three more ingredients to guess" Kat said and Leighton looked over at me.

"If I guess one of the three, will I vomit?" She asked and I shook my head. "You shouldn't. We tried to do sweet things or like things we saw you eating before" I told her and she nodded, taking another sip.

I could tell we were all exhausted, so I was happy we weren't filming a video for YouTube right now, and had to fake the energetic happiness.

"Did you guys like, dump a shit load of sugar into this thing? Why is it sooo sweet? I'm going to hope these lumps are ice cream, or I will vomit" She almost gagged and all of us held our breath.

"It is ice cream" Sam eased her mind and she nodded slowly.

"One thing that sucks about pregnancy, is your like, sensories? Are on overload. Like things smell or taste much stronger. I hate whoever put the fucking banana in here" She grumbled. "I'm just going to guess like blueberries or something"

"Okay! In the shake in front of you is a bottle of chocolate milk, four strawberries, one banana, two scoops of Ben and Jerry's chocolate brownie ice cream, one Little Debbie cupcake, a couple goldfishes with a scoop of peanut butter and a dash of mountain dew" Sam read off his phone.

"Mountain Dew? Why?" She laughed and he shrugged. "It's not bad, but it is very sweet. Let's just hope you guys didn't just give me pre-eclampsia" She jokes and I think my heart stopped.

"What is that?" I asked, my brain waking up a little bit from it's tired state.

"Don't worry about it" She brushed off but I shook my head.

"No, what is that?" I asked again and she sighed. "It's just a pregnancy risk. Honestly, don't worry about it. I'm okay" She gave me a small smile, but I wasn't having it.

I grabbed my phone and typed "What is preeclampsia" impatiently waiting for the circle of death to stop.

I scanned over the text, and my eyes widened. "YOU COULD DIE!?" I yelled, startling everyone.

"That's the worst case scenario. I promise I'm fine, it was a joke" She tried to ease but I shook my head. "It reads here, The risk of preeclampsia is higher for very young pregnant women as well as pregnant women older than 35 and The risk of developing preeclampsia is highest during your first pregnancy. Do you get headaches? Changes in vision? Upper abdominal pain? Nausea? Shortness of breath?" I rambled off symptoms and she shook her head.

"Colby stop, it was a joke. I'm okay. Plus if I did have it, it's more common to get it after 20 weeks. I'm only 10, almost 11. If anything, your drink is going to give me gestational diabetes" She chuckled and none of us found it funny.

I typed it into google, already knowing she won't tell me what that is.

"So that is basically pregnancy diabetes? It says here that it's diagnosed during pregnancy, and that it can be controlled by eating healthy foods and exercising" I read off and Leighton shook her head with a sigh.

"Hey, it's my job to worry about it, okay? I'll stop joking about those things, okay? I didn't down the drink. I'm fine. I do have to watch my caffeine intake though, so thankfully you didn't splash coffee into this thing. Especially since you put Mountain Dew in there" She chuckled, and yet again, none of us were laughing.

"Why do you have to watch your caffeine intake?" Kat asked as I continued to scroll through an article on my phone.

"It fucks with your blood pressure and it's a dehydrant. Plus, caffeine makes your baby active. It's a blessing and a curse depending how you look at it. Anyway, it's late, and I don't need to spit out some pregnancy thing that makes you guys more worried. I'm okay, I promise. Thank you for this very sweet and chocolatey drink, goodnight guys" She smiled and stood up, heading towards the stairs.

~

I laid in bed that night, deep diving into the risks of pregnancy, trying to understand the dos and don'ts. I couldn't shake the feeling of guilt I had when she said we could be the reason she got one of the two things, even if it was a joke.

I found myself cursing myself out at the fact that we didn't ask if she had allergies or if she didn't like certain things before we made her that weird milkshake.

What if we gave her something she was allergic to?

What would happen then?

~

A few days before we got home from our trip, Sam decided he was going to surprise Leighton with something and it apparently was going to arrive the day we got here, which meant Sam was basically camped out at the front door all day.

Every time I walked by to use the bathroom, he was peeking out the window, making me roll my eyes.

"Sam, it will come when it will come"

"I don't want her to see it, Colby! I have to get it before she gets home!" Sam explained, opening up the package tracker.

"What did you buy her anyway?" I asked, sitting down on the sofa with him.

"I bought her a doppler" He said and I just stared at him.

"What the fuck is that?"

"It's like what OBGYNs use to hear the baby's heartbeat" He explained, pulling up a photo of one.

"And what does that do?" I asked, feeling like I was staring at some sort of pregnancy contraption.

"From my understanding, you take the flat surface of the wand, and lay it against the stomach and it will pick up the heartbeat of the baby" Sam said and I nodded, still feeling weirded out by the thought of that.

The idea of being able to hear the heartbeat of the baby inside Leigh's stomach felt strange.

"Anyway, I thought it would be fun to use" He said and I shrugged, not understanding why he seemed so excited about this baby.

He was acting like he was the father, or uncle to this baby, and it was honestly freaking me out a little.

I was scrolling on Twitter, liking some of the fans' tweets, replying to a couple and answering my friends' DM's when Sam sprung off the couch and sprinted to the front door, whipping it open so fast I thought he was going to hit himself in the face.

"IT CAME!" Sam yelled, grabbing the box.

"No shit brother" I chuckled, Sam walking back towards me with the box in hand.

"I am the hulk!" He yelled, tearing open the box aggressively.

I rolled my eyes and Sam took out the small white box with pink lettering on it, an image of the doppler on the front.

As if on cue, Leighton opened the front door, someone talking through her phone speaker as she hung up her keys.

"That should be fun" I heard Aaliyah's voice fill the entryway before Leighton walked past us, heading towards the stairs.

"We need to figure out what to put out on the Sam and Colby channel if we aren't publishing that video from Hotel Coronado" Sam said, opening up his email.

"Why don't we publish that one we filmed with Brennen at the cave that was like 15 minutes from the castle?" I asked and Sam was quiet for a second.

When Leighton went home, Brennen, Sam and I explored a nearby cave that looked really cool. It honestly took me back to our roots of exploration videos. I think the scariest things in there were the spiders and graffiti.

"Do we want to put that as a main channel video or as an XPLR club video?" Sam asked, which I thought was stupid since I just told him what I thought we should do.

"Well it's good enough for the main channel until we get back out and film again" I pulled my phone out, opening my calendar to go over our schedule with Sam when Leighton came back downstairs, her phone still on speaker.