We Couldn't Change It If We Tried

"You know what," I said, starting to turn around on the stairs. "Why don't you go tell them and I'll hide in your bed? Or better yet, why don't we just not tell them and we'll both go hide in your bed?"

Joe laughed and wrapped his arm around me waist, not letting me escape to his room. "Dani, we're doing this together," he reminded me.

"You know, as your pregnant girlfriend," I said. "I think you should be nice to me and start letting me get whatever I want. Good practice for the later months, you know." If there were later months, I didn't add.

He laughed again as he kissed me. "Danielle, I promise to let you have your way every single time." I sighed, turning to go back up the stairs. But his grip on me tightened slightly. "After today." His hands rested on the small of my back as he leaned in to kiss me.

I sighed, pulling away. "You don't fight fair."

"Never said I did," he smirked. "Now are you going to come willing? Or am I going to have to carry you? I'm going to have to get in as much of that as I can before you get – never mind," he stopped as he saw my eyes turn to slits.

"Joseph Adam Jonas," I glared at him. "I know I'm going to get fat. You don't have to remind me."

"Just kidding babe," he smiled. "I'll love you no matter what. Even if you're as big as a whale, you'll still be the most beautiful thing in my world."

"Aww," I kissed him. "Baby! You're so full of shit." But then I thought of something. And for some unfathomable reason, it brought tears to my eyes. "You think I'm going to be as big as a whale?" I started crying.

"Dani baby," he said, wrapping his arms around me as I cried in his chest. He was clearly confused. "Why are you crying? You know I was kidding."

I sniffled before sobbing. "So I won't be the most beautiful thing in your world?"

"Oh crap," he groaned. "That's not what I meant. You will be. But I mean – um – I –"

"It's the hormones bro," Kevin laughed coming down. "Blair's been getting like that too. Just wait though. Some parts are definitely worth it." He kissed Blair's cheek. Blair giggled and swatted him.

"I hate hormones," Dani growled.

Blair and Kevin laughed. "Let's go get this over with, huh? Best do it together, I suppose," Kevin shrugged. "Give them a big shock at once rather than two small ones."

I sniffled. "Ready," Joe asked me, taking my hand.

"Not even a little bit. Let's go."

>>><<<

"Seriously now Kevin," our mom said, sitting on the couch. "What is this about? I have to get dinner started."

"We need to talk to you guys," Kevin said calmly. Good thing he was older, cause I would have been panicking by now.

I looked around the room. My dad put his arm around my mom to stop her from getting up. Frankie was falling asleep in Nick's lap. And Nick – well he was doing what he'd been doing best for the last few weeks. He was glaring at me.

I felt Dani shake with fear next to me. I reached over and grabbed her hand, squeezing lightly. I smiled at her when she looked at me. I turned back to my family. "Mom, Dad, we have something to tell you."

"Spit it out Joseph," my mother smiled at me.

I sighed. "Um –" Dani shifted so that she was slightly behind me, her hands clutching my arm. She was still shaking slightly. It unnerved me. "Kevin has something to tell you."

"Thanks Joseph," Kevin rolled his eyes. He sighed and turned to our parents. "Okay, here it goes. You know how you've always taught us to take responsibility for our actions and be responsible adults?" Our parents nodded. "Well that's what Joseph and I are going to do."

Nick looked from me to Dani before getting up and leaving. My mother looked at him as he left, then her eyes trailed the four of us, finally resting on Dani's shaking figure. I winced as I saw everything register in my mom's eyes. "No," she screeched. "No, I don't believe it." She looked at Kevin, then me. "Tell me it's not true!" Our dad seemed to understand, but said nothing. He just stared at us. Kevin and I both looked away, not wanting to lie. "How could you," she demanded. "Your vows! Your vows to God, to your band, to your brother, to us! Did those mean nothing to you?"

"We messed up, we know," Kevin said quietly. "But we want to make this right. We will be there for them. We're going to be responsible about this."

"Responsible," our dad finally boomed. "You call breaking your vow and getting your girlfriends pregnant responsible?"

"No," I said quietly. "But from now on, we'll be doing this right. Kevin and I are going to be there for Blair and Dani every step of the way."

"You sure as hell are," he said. "I can't even imagine what was going on in your minds. It sure as hell wasn't everything we taught you."

"We understand that you're mad," Kevin said. "And we are sorry for breaking our vows."

"But I love Dani," I said, wrapping my arm around her, pulling her unwilling figure next to me. "And I don't regret it at all."

"Now we know this is all a lot to take it," Kevin took charge. "So we'll leave you guys alone now to decide how you'd like to handle it. But we will be there for them."

"Let's go Dani," I turned, pulling her with me.

She wiggled out of my grip, still looking at my parents. "Um, Mrs. Jonas, Mr. Jonas? Can I say something?"

They both looked at her, looking as if they weren't sure what they should say. Finally, my mother nodded.

She sighed. "Look, I know you're mad, and you have every right to be. A child! I mean when Joe and I – got carried away into the moment," she said cautiously, looking slightly at me. "We didn't expect anything like that to happen. And I'm sorry it did. But – I – I love Joe. Just like I know my sister loves Kevin. And we've always considered you guys with the utmost respect. You guys filled in the love we missed out on from our own parents. But the only thing I regret out of this – is that it hurt you guys. And for that, I'm really sorry." She shrugged. "That's all I had to say." She turned and came to me, taking my hand. I squeezed it, smiling at her before leading her into the kitchen.

I wrapped my hand around her shoulders as we sat down. She was still slightly shaking. "Dani, relax," I kissed her head. "Everything is going to be okay."

"No it's not," she whispered. "Even Nick hates us."

"You mean he hates me," I mumbled.

"Us," she said firmly. "There is no me without you Joe."

I kissed her, letting my lips linger on hers. I kissed her head again before pulling back slightly, keeping my arm around her. "I love you Dani."

"I love you too," she smiled. We looked at Kevin and Blair. Their foreheads were pressed together, their hands intertwined, and their eyes closed. "Should we be praying too," she asked.

I shrugged. I didn't know what good that would do right now. It all mattered on what our parents thought. And it felt wrong to pray after I had broken my vow. We just sat there, our hands intertwined, our eyes locked on each other until my parents finally came in. "Kids," they said, calling our attention. We all stood, waiting for their verdict. Not more than 5 minutes had passed. Was it really that easy to decide they wanted us out of the house? "Don't look so scared," our mom smiled. It looked sad, but it was a smile nonetheless. "Of course we're going to help you through this."

"Not helping you was never even a possibility," our dad added. "And though we're disappointed right now, and we think you're way too young to start your own families, we're still your parents and we love you."

"And to us," our mom said, looking at Dani and Blair. "You girls are already part of the family."

Dani ran forward, wrapping her arms around my mom. "Thank you Mrs. Jonas."

"It's still Denise to you," she smiled.

"Denise," Dani repeated, grinning.

"Now, our only question is," our dad continued. "What are you guys going to tell your fans?"