Carson's POV

(Saturday Afternoon)

I slept in this morning, since Rachel, Emily and Amy had some girls' night planned. I was sitting on the couch in the living room, watching some show that was on. The girl and the guy were chasing someone after their leader got shot. It was captivating. I heard the door open and then it slammed shut. I saw Kyle charged into the room and looked at me, he was fuming. I got up and walked over to him. "What happened?" I asked him. His nostrils were flaring; he looked like he could kill someone. "My mom's in the hospital." he said. As he said it, I felt my heart stopped. "She's okay, right? She's not..." I asked, but I couldn't finish my sentence. He shook his head as the anger subsided. He sighed and looked down, placing his hands on his hips. I looked at him, wondering what he was feeling. If I was feeling so concerned and crushed at the thought that Samuel could have died, then I couldn't imagine how Kyle, his actual son, was feeling. "Are you okay?" I asked him. He kept looking down and refused to look at me. I stayed silent then moved toward him, since he was a few metres away from me. He backed away and brought his hands up to his face. I froze and looked at him carefully.

"Kyle," I said quietly. After I said his name, he looked up at me. "I just want her to be okay. I don't even know why she's in the hospital. My dad just called me and told me he had to take her to the hospital and that I had to get you and Rachel there somehow." he said. "She could have fallen and broke something, or she could have had a heart attack, or a stroke, or she could have been in a wreck and dad's calling me to say goodbye!" he yelled in frustration and concern and sadness. I shook my head. "Don't think like that," I said and walked toward him. "Let's pray," I said. Kyle sighed and nodded. I we got down to our knees right where we were at. We pout our hands on each other's shoulders and I started praying. "Lord, please help Samuel and Lisa at the hospital. You, Lisa and Samuel are the only one's who know what is happening, and I pray that you'll heal Lisa right where she is right now and I pray that she'll survive and that nothing serious has happened to her." I prayed and gave Kyle a chance to say something. "Lord, please help my family if something serious has happened, and if it's her time..." he said and took a deep breath. "Help us accept it that it was time for her to come home to You, Amen." he said and wiped his tears away. I hugged him tightly. "Only God can handle this situation, let's get Rachel." I said.

~&~

On the way to the hospital, I called Rachel. She was devastated and started crying. I told her we would pick her up from Amy's place and hung up. We arrived there. I quickly got out of the car and hugged Rachel. Kyle stumbled out of the car and into Amy's open arms. He hugged her tightly and they spoke quietly. I got into the driver's seat and told Kyle and Amy to get in the back. They didn't argue and did what I asked. Rachel sat in front with me. We raced to the hospital and ran to the reception. "Lisa Cordero,"' I said as I reached the lady behind the desk. She typed in her name and read the details. "Room 365," she said. I nodded and thanked her. I grabbed Rachel's hand and we ran to the elevator. We all piled inside and pressed the button for the third floor. The elevator didn't move fast enough for us and the minute the doors opened, we shot out of there and down the corridor. We saw Samuel sitting outside a door with Luke and figured that was Lisa's room.

"Dad!" Rachel screamed and ran to her father, her hand leaving mine for the first time since Amy's place. Samuel embraced Rachel and looked at us then frowned. "Why do you all look so upset?" he asked us. I looked at him as if he was mad. "Isn't Lisa hurt?" I asked. He chuckled. "No, no, nothing like that." he said. We all let out a breath of relief. "Then why are we here?" Kyle asked. Samuel smiled. "Well, Kyle, Rachel, Luke– and Carson," he said, his hand resting on Luke's head. "Your mother's pregnant." he said with a proud smile. We all erupted into laughs and cheers and squeals. Kyle. Rachel and I embraced Samuel in a hug and gave our congratulations. "I can't believe this," I said as a happy tear rolled down my cheek. "I'm going to be a big brother again," I said, choking on my tears. Samuel smiled and pulled me into a hug.

"God is good, all the time." he said. "And all the time – God is good!" Kyle, Amy and Rachel quoted from God's Not Dead, which is an awesome movie by the way. "What's the gender?" I asked. "Lisa's only 10 weeks, she doesn't even have much of a baby bump yet. We can only tell in earliest 8 weeks time." he said. I nodded. Kyle and Amy went to go and give Samuel there's congrats as I turned away and walked a bit down the hallway. I sat down next to Rachel, who was praying. She looked up and smiled at me. "I was just thanking God for giving us another brother/sister." she said quietly. "Did I ever tell you about my mom being pregnant?" I asked her. She shook her head. "She was pregnant when I was around Luke's and when she died. She had a miscarriage and then she died." I said and played with my hands. She rested her head on my shoulder and laid her hand on mine. "I'm sorry," she said. I smiled. "God's given everything that the devil has stolen back. A mother, a sister, a girlfriend, a family, faith, everything." I said and looked at her. She smiled at me. "I'm so glad, Carson." she said.

"You guys want to see Lisa or not?" Kyle yelled to us, pointing to the room. Everyone else was inside. "Yes!" we both jumped up and ran to the room, more like me dragging Rachel, but nevertheless. We got into the room and saw Lisa talking to Kyle, Amy and Luke from where she was sitting on the bed. The nurse was helping the doctor pack away the equipment he used. Lisa smiled when she saw me and opened her arms, for a hug. "Come here, honey." she said. I grinned and walked up to her and wrapped my arms around her. "Congrats on the baby," I said and pulled away, my eyes shooting to her stomach. She smiled and rubbed her belly. "I can't wait to find out the gender," she said. "I hope it's a girl, we have enough boys as is." Rachel said, hugging her mother. "But I won't complain if I get another little brother." she smiled. Lisa laughed. "We'll see, we'll see." Lisa said. "This is so exciting," Amy said and rubbed her hands together. "I wonder what you're cravings will be?" she asked. Lisa asked. "Well, with Kyle and Rachel is was awful, because Kyle was a salty person and Rachel was a sweet person, so fries dipped in ice-cream was one of the things I couldn't resist." Lisa laughed while Rachel and Kyle laughed and pointed at each other.

~&~

(Monday)

It was lunchtime and Rachel and I were sitting at usual table, waiting for Kyle, Emily and Eli to get back from the lunch line. We were discussing names for our new baby brother/sister, when Adam approached us, Ethan and Rebecca with him. I was busy chewing and nearly choked on my food when I saw them. "Hi," I said to Adam then looked to Ethan and Rebecca. "Hey," I said to them. Ethan smiled at me when walked up to me. "I just wanted to say I was sorry, for not defending you with Adam," he said quietly. "Could you forgive me?" he asked. I smiled and chuckled. "Of course I can forgive you, you goof." I said and messed with his hair. He smiled and gave me a bro hug. I then looked to Rebecca. She stood rigid, her arms wrapped around herself, looking at me as if she wished I could read her mind. "Hey, Rebecca." I said to her with a smile. She bit her lip and let a stray tear fall from her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Carson. I was drunk and I wasn't thinking." she started explaining as the tears became more and more as she fell to her knees in front of me. She kept trying to explain and she kept crying, until I brought my hand up and laid it on her shoulder. "Rebecca, it's okay. It's okay." I said and I grabbed her hand.

"Yes, you hurt me and it tore me into pieces, but I want you to know that you are forgiven by me and the Lord, and He loves you." I said to her with kindness. She stared at me. "I didn't know you were religious?" she said. I smiled and let go of her hand. "I'm not." I said simply. She squinted at me then looked to Ethan and Adam. "What?" she asked, looking back to me. "But you talked about God, and how He loves me and all the stuff. That's what religious people do, so how can you not be religious?" she asked me. I smiled. "I'm not religious. Jesus is not a religion, it's a relationship. There's a huge difference. Jesus is the cure and Religion is the infection." I said, quoting Jefferson Bethke from his video 'Why I Hate Religion, but Loves Jesus.' She looked at me strangely. "Do you go to church?" Adam asked me as Kyle, Emily and Eli sat down. They looked at me, silently asking me whether there was something going down. I smiled at them, letting them know that everything was fine. I turned back to Adam and nodded. "Yes, I do." I said. "Can I come with you?" he asked me. Ethan and Rebecca looked at him as if he was crazy. I smiled and nodded. "Anytime," I said and turned to Ethan and Rebecca. "You guys want to come too?" I asked. Rebecca looked to Ethan and shook her head. Ethan sighed and nodded. I smiled and sent a thumbs up to Ethan, but then turned back to Rebecca.

"Why not?" I asked her. She looked at me as if I was the world's biggest idiot. "Churches are judgemental. I don't want to go there like this. I'll only get kicked out." she said. I looked at her, feeling sorry for her. "Rebecca, churches sin too, a lot. We're no different to you, except for the fact that we try to live like Christ did and no church should kick anyone out. Please just come once and if you don't like it, then you don't have to come again." I said. She sighed and looked at me, trying to decide. I knew I got her thinking. She slowly nodded. "Okay fine, but if I get one look from anyone, I'm leaving." she said and crossed her arms. I smiled and nodded. "Awesome," I said. Ethan, Adam and Rebecca sat down with Rachel, Emily, Eli and I. We all ate and chatted about school and homework and weird, annoying teachers. The people around us in the cafeteria were all looking at us, including the teachers, trying to figure out how Adam and I could be sitting at the same table without beating each other to a pulp. I smiled at them and they looked away, probably thinking I was weird. I turned back to the group and smiled.

Thank you, Jesus. For everything.