Cherry Chocolate Chip 18, Pistachio 24: Choices
Title: Choices
Main Story: In the Heart
Flavors, Toppings, Extras: Cherry chocolate chip 18 (integrity), pistachio 24 (retreat) malt (PFAH: Danny : private property), pocky chain, cookie crumbs (missing pieces of Drowning and So Far So Good), rainbow sprinkles (all but one), butterscotch (two).
Word Count: 500
Rating: PG.
Summary: Five women, and their choices.
WARNING: Mentioned rape.
Notes: Please be aware that this story is essentially about abortion. This was sparked when Sara (quite rightly) mentioned that something I had said came off wrong, and is my attempt to rectify that inadvertant wrong.
"I have this friend," Joy said. "Good friend. Good enough that she called me when she was date-raped. Roofie in her drink. She'd been dating the guy for a month, thought she could trust him to get her a damn drink. Guess not.
"She didn't report it. Didn't quite believe it had happened until she found out she was pregnant. I went with her to the clinic, too, and I remember her face when it was over. She looked so... relieved, like now it was over, and she could forget.
"Anyway, that's why I don't let people buy me drinks."
--
When the doctor confirmed the results of her test, Melanie nearly broke down right there in the office. She didn't, but it was such a close thing.
In hindsight, that should have been a clue.
So should her first instinct-- to end it then and there. But Nathan was so happy, and she convinced herself that it would be okay. She'd love it when it came.
Looking back on it later, Melanie could see how stupid she'd been. She loved her son, and she'd die before she told him, but sometimes she wondered if that first instinct hadn't been right.
--
She was eighteen when the test came up positive.
Florence just sat on the toilet and stared at it for a while. Eighteen years old, going to college in the fall, to get her degree... up in smoke, because now she was pregnant.
Now she had to tell her parents. Now she had to tell her boyfriend. Now she had to get married and settle down and raise the baby. Now she had no more choices left.
Well, except for one.
She wished she could tell Gina, afterwards; Gina would understand how some sins felt inevitable.
But Gina was gone.
--
Gail knew what she should do.
It would be a reasonable choice. An unexpected, unwanted pregnancy cost everyone, most especially the child that resulted, and heaven knew Gail couldn't see Brad as a father. Her parents would react poorly. Her sister... well, Cecily was reacting better than expected, but she was assuming Gail wouldn't keep it.
She knew what she should do. For everyone's sake.
But there was that one thing, niggling at her mind as she explained herself to her sister-- this child might be unexpected, but it was not unwanted.
She made her choice, and never looked back.
--
There were things that Danny Sierbenski would not do. One of them was have a baby.
The first reason against it was Michael's bones, lurking in their father's genes; she still remembered the horrible cracking sound when he'd broken his arm for the first time, and his high, thin wail of pain. And then of course her crazy. It was a special form of crazy, inherited from her mother, and she refused to pass it down in turn.
She wouldn't have a baby. She wouldn't be a mother.
That was a good thing, she thought fiercely, and left the clinic.
Main Story: In the Heart
Flavors, Toppings, Extras: Cherry chocolate chip 18 (integrity), pistachio 24 (retreat) malt (PFAH: Danny : private property), pocky chain, cookie crumbs (missing pieces of Drowning and So Far So Good), rainbow sprinkles (all but one), butterscotch (two).
Word Count: 500
Rating: PG.
Summary: Five women, and their choices.
WARNING: Mentioned rape.
Notes: Please be aware that this story is essentially about abortion. This was sparked when Sara (quite rightly) mentioned that something I had said came off wrong, and is my attempt to rectify that inadvertant wrong.
"I have this friend," Joy said. "Good friend. Good enough that she called me when she was date-raped. Roofie in her drink. She'd been dating the guy for a month, thought she could trust him to get her a damn drink. Guess not.
"She didn't report it. Didn't quite believe it had happened until she found out she was pregnant. I went with her to the clinic, too, and I remember her face when it was over. She looked so... relieved, like now it was over, and she could forget.
"Anyway, that's why I don't let people buy me drinks."
--
When the doctor confirmed the results of her test, Melanie nearly broke down right there in the office. She didn't, but it was such a close thing.
In hindsight, that should have been a clue.
So should her first instinct-- to end it then and there. But Nathan was so happy, and she convinced herself that it would be okay. She'd love it when it came.
Looking back on it later, Melanie could see how stupid she'd been. She loved her son, and she'd die before she told him, but sometimes she wondered if that first instinct hadn't been right.
--
She was eighteen when the test came up positive.
Florence just sat on the toilet and stared at it for a while. Eighteen years old, going to college in the fall, to get her degree... up in smoke, because now she was pregnant.
Now she had to tell her parents. Now she had to tell her boyfriend. Now she had to get married and settle down and raise the baby. Now she had no more choices left.
Well, except for one.
She wished she could tell Gina, afterwards; Gina would understand how some sins felt inevitable.
But Gina was gone.
--
Gail knew what she should do.
It would be a reasonable choice. An unexpected, unwanted pregnancy cost everyone, most especially the child that resulted, and heaven knew Gail couldn't see Brad as a father. Her parents would react poorly. Her sister... well, Cecily was reacting better than expected, but she was assuming Gail wouldn't keep it.
She knew what she should do. For everyone's sake.
But there was that one thing, niggling at her mind as she explained herself to her sister-- this child might be unexpected, but it was not unwanted.
She made her choice, and never looked back.
--
There were things that Danny Sierbenski would not do. One of them was have a baby.
The first reason against it was Michael's bones, lurking in their father's genes; she still remembered the horrible cracking sound when he'd broken his arm for the first time, and his high, thin wail of pain. And then of course her crazy. It was a special form of crazy, inherited from her mother, and she refused to pass it down in turn.
She wouldn't have a baby. She wouldn't be a mother.
That was a good thing, she thought fiercely, and left the clinic.