One Way or Another

[Miranda]

Story Title: One Way or Another

Type of story: One shot

Main Characters: Ruby, Dex

BTTB rating: G

Genre: Thoughtful, angst-ish.

Does story include spoilers: No.

Any warnings: No.

Summary: Dex helps Ruby with a serious problem. Set soon after Ruby sleeps with Romeo then Casey.

“Hello? Ruby?” Dex hovered on the doorstep of Leah’s house. The door was open but no one seemed to be around. “I’ve got those Science notes you wanted?”

A door creaked open and Ruby hurried out, frowning. Dex realised she’d come out of the bathroom. He knew better than to question girls’ bathroom habits, but she didn’t look happy.

“Why are you here?” Her eyes were wide with shock.

“I’ve brought the science notes. The ones you missed?”

“Oh, them! Chuck them in the bin, I haven’t got time for them now.” She laughed bitterly.

“But-“

“Can’t you just go away? I don’t want to talk to you. If I need to talk to anyone, it’s another girl.”

“O...kay. Well, my sister won’t want to help, sorry. April’s at counselling. What about Nicole?”

“S’pose.” She sighed.

He called Nicole.

“Sorry, her phone’s off. She’s probably at an antenatal class with Marilyn.”

Ruby stared at him, her lip quivering.

“What about Charlie or Leah?”

“They’re at work. But I don’t want to tell them.” Tears began trickling down her cheeks.

“What’s wrong? What’s-“

“You wouldn’t understand.”

He couldn’t just stand there doing nothing, so he patted her on the arm, but this only made her cry more.

“You have to tell me. I’m the nearest to a girl you’ll get right now. Maybe I can help? I know some things about life, I’m not totally useless, I-“

“I’m pregnant.”

“Oh. Oh!”

She dabbed at her eyes with her sleeve, so he offered his handkerchief.

“Thanks.”

“Have you told Casey?”

She shook her head. “No. But- but- it might be- it could be-“

“Romeo’s. I see.”

She wasn’t even looking at him now, just crying quietly, standing there.

“Oh, don’t cry. We can sort it out, it’ll be alright.” He patted her on the arm again, but it made her cry again.

“I could do with a hug now, you idiot,” she mumbled.

“Oh! Yes of course.” So he hugged her and she wilted against him, sobbing. Her hair was so soft and it felt silky when he stroked it, and-

Stop, he told himself. Now is definitely not the time to be getting any sort of feelings about Ruby.

“Come on.” He led her to the sofa and they sat down. “We’ll make a list. No, not a list. A mind map about what you could do.”

She almost laughed.

“The pens and papers are over there.” She still didn’t meet his eyes, so he fetched what he needed and a book to lean on.

“Right. Now, do you know what you want to do?”

“Obviously, the options are: keep the baby; abortion; or adoption.”

“Okay.” He drew a circle in the middle of the page with three spokes off it, and wrote down one option on each spoke.

“I’m just too young to be a mum, I couldn’t cope. Look at Nicole, she can’t wait to give her baby away. She’s quite right too.”

Dex scribbled a few notes.

“But if I give the baby away, how will I feel? And how will Casey- or Romeo- feel about that?”

“Well never mind about them for now. Just think about you.” He was still scribbling.

“Thanks for this. You don’t have to.”

He smiled.

“I do have to. Now I’ve started this diagram, I can’t leave it unfinished, can I?”

She almost laughed again.

“What about the other option?”

“Abortion? I could do that. Nicole nearly did, but she couldn’t at the last minute. But I think I could. I’m too young to have a baby. I don’t

want to end up like Charlie.”

“Uh huh.” He made more notes.

“It’s an impossible decision.”

“Well… let’s think about another side to it.” He grabbed another piece of paper.

“You just love this, don’t you?”

“I’m better with diagrams than feelings. So yes, I do.” They exchanged smiles. “We’ll do ‘should you tell Casey and/or Romeo’.” He began drawing a circle with spokes again.

“Well if I tell Casey, he wants to be my boyfriend so he’ll either be pleased or annoyed.”

Dex wrote ‘pleased’ on one spoke, ‘annoyed’ on the other.

“If I tell Romeo, he’ll definitely be annoyed as he still likes Indi. I can’t believe I liked him now. I definitely don’t want to tell him.”

Dex paused, in the middle of drawing a circle around the word ‘Romeo’.

“But if I do keep the baby and it looks like Romeo, it’ll be obvious it’s his. God, I’m more confused now than I was.” She slapped Dex gently on the arm.

“Don’t shoot the messenger. So to speak.”

“What do you think I should do?”

“Oh crikey, I don’t know. I can’t decide for you.”

She sighed.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound harsh. I’ll give you my opinion, but don’t quote me. I think Casey would be supportive, Romeo might not.

My sister would probably be more supportive than he would. As for deciding what to do with the baby, you need to speak to a woman. I can’t imagine having to make that decision. I’m only a man, sorry. Not even a man really.”

Ruby smiled.

“You’re doing pretty well. Who do you think I should talk to?”

“I think… Nicole would be the best. I could… speak to her if you want?” It wasn’t like he knew Nicole very well but he could make the effort.

Ruby shook her head.

“No. You’ve done enough. I’ll speak to her somehow. You could maybe keep Indi away from her so I can speak to her alone?”

“Of course. I’ll make up something she has to help me with.”

They smiled at each other.

“It’s a plan, anyway.”

“Thanks Dex.” Ruby flung her arms round him, taking him by surprise.

“What’s going on here?” Casey stood in the doorway watching them.

“Oh! Nothing.” Dex stood up, straightening his jacket. Ruby looked tired and pale, he thought with concern.

“See you later?” she said.

“Yes. Okay. Let me know?”

Casey coughed meaningfully and glared at Dex as he hurried past.

“Come and sit down.” Ruby patted the sofa. “I need to talk to you about something.”

He sat down and she glanced back at Dex, who was hovering in the doorway. “Tell him!” he mouthed, pointing to the sheets of paper with

her thoughts on. But when Casey followed Ruby’s eyes, Dex had gone.

“So what do you want to talk about?” he asked.

“Well…” she began.

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