It had been a month since Sara broke up with Steve. Since then everything had been going great with her. She stayed with us for about a week while looking for a new place. She eventually found one 2 minutes walking away from ours. Luckily Steve had stayed away from her and everything seemed to be going great.

Until one day.

It was a Tuesday, the kids were at school, Vanessa was lawyering and I was writing at home. The doorbell rang so I got up and opened the door.

"Sara! Good to see you! What's up?"

"Lin, uhmm is... uhm I" she started crying.

"Hey it's okay, calm down. Come in sweetheart."

As I sat her down on the couch my mind was racing for any possible reason Sara could be upset. I waited patiently for what was about to come.

"Lin I really don't now how to say this."

"It's okay. You can tell me everything, you know that right?"

It was silent for a moment as she prepared herself for what she was about to say.

"I'm pregnant."

She didn't meet my eyes.

"I...who....who's is it?"

She sighed deeply trying to keep herself together.

"Steve."

I was stunned into silence. I had no idea what to say. What did I have to say in order to console her. Did she want to be consoled. I was furious at steve for putting her in this position. How could he!

"Lin? Please say something." She said, now on the verge of tears

Still not knowing what to say I simply pulled her into a hug. She cried softly.

"I'm sorry sweetheart. I'm so so sorry."

As she wiped away her tears I carefully asked her:

"When did you find out?"

"Yesterday. You're probably wondering how this happened."

I softly nodded. She sighed.

"It must have happened just before we broke up." She started. "Steve was drunk a lot and sometimes he wanted to have sex out of nowhere. In the middle of the night or randomly in the afternoon. It was no use resisting, even if I was tired and really didn't want to, it only made him more violent."

I looked at her with pity in my eyes.

"He often didn't use a condom in those moments, even though I begged him to. I was supposed to have my period around the time I came to you guys and the days before that but I didn't. I thought it was nothing. It's not unusual to skip one if you have a lot of stress, but I was supposed to have the next one days ago and it just didn't happen. I got scared so I took a pregnancy test and well..."

"God, i'm so sorry Sara. I can't even begin to imagine how hard this must be for you. Are thinking of an abortion?"

"I've thought about it, but I honestly don't think that's what I want."

I nodded understandingly.

"I know it's Steve's child but it's also mine you know. And I've always wanted to be a mother. I think I want to keep it."

"Of course! If you do change your mind know that V and I will be there for you, but that's wonderful."

"I'm just nervous. This is all really unexpected."

"Well you have 9 months to prepare and we have little kids, so we know a thing or two." I said smirking. She laughed a little. It was quiet for a moment.

"Congratulations."

"What?" She said a little confused.

"Congratulations! You just told me you're pregnant and I haven't even congratulated you. I know that this may not be how you imagined it, but it's still really special."

"Thank you! That means a lot."

She closed her eyes for a second. Looking relieved. But still distressed

"Lin."

"Hmm?"

"Can I stay here? I don't feel like being alone right now."

"Of course." And I pulled her into a hug. "Of course , sweetie."

As Vanessa came home that night she looked a little confused as she saw Sara setting the table.

"Hey, you're having dinner with us."

"Well, actually I'm spending the night here." She said while looking uncomfortable, probably wondering wether she was welcome.

I took V to our bedroom for a second and explained the whole thing to her.

"Jeez." She said after I finished.

"I know, but we just need to make clear that we are there for her no matter what happens." She nodded.

Sara seemed distracted at dinner. How could she not be. Luckily it didn't feel uncomfortable since Sebastian always had something to say.

The whole night she seemed to have something on her mind that she wasn't sharing with us. My wife and I communicated silently. As we were cleaning up my wife whispered something in my ear while I stood next to her in the kitchen.

"Take her out for a walk Lin. She has something on her mind."

I nodded as I walked back towards the table.

"Sara, you feel like taking an evening walk in the park." I said.

"Sure, V are you coming too?"

"Actually I think I'm gonna give the boys a bath, but you two have fun!"

It was quiet as we walked towards the park.

"Got something on your mind?"

"Lots of things."

"Makes sense." I said nodding. "Anything in particular?"

It stayed silent for a moment. She seemed like she wanted to answer, but hesitated.

"What if he wants custody." She finally said.

It suddenly dawned on me. That's what was on her mind. She's terrified of having this violent and dangerous man around her child.

"Well that might happen, but you should know that there are lots of legal ways to prevent that from happening. You can still testify against him to prove that a child would be in danger when being placed in a home with him."

"I know, but I'm just scared. I wouldn't want anybody else going through what I went through, let alone a child."

"I promise you, I won't let that happen okay?"

She nodded.

By now we had finished our walk and stood in front of my building again.

"I'll explain this to V, is that okay?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, it is important that you keep us updated on what's going on in your head. You can trust us."

"Thank you!"

"Well what can I say except you're welcome!"

"Seriously Lin! You're quoting your own lyrics now!"

"I guess success isn't healthy for my ego after all."

We laughed and joked as we walked back to the apartment.

As we stopped before the door Sara spoke up.

"Thank you, for being there for me."

"I'll always will be."