My phone screen lit up and I groaned, turning it over.

"Don't like talking to your mother?" Tyler asked, a huge grin on his face.

"We are in a disagreement of sorts right now," I replied, pretending to be fascinated by my pen.

"Want to talk about it?" He seemed genuinely concerned, but I shook my head.

"Would rather not think about it, to be honest."

"How about we think about the ethics of medical practice in Australian patient data reporting."

I groaned and rested my head on the desk. "That doesn't sound fun either."

"What does sound fun?"

"A large whopper with a side of chips and a McFlurry and some chicken nuggets."

Tyler broke into laughter. "No, Lily. That would be what sounds delicious, not fun."

"Eating sounds fun right now. And sleeping."

He shook his head. "You sound like my sister last year when she was in her last trimester."

I sat up, eyes wide as I stared at him. "What? No I don't."

His smile faltered as he cocked his head to the side, but his confusion disappeared as he rolled his eyes. "It's called a joke. Ever heard of them?"

"Never. So you're an uncle?"

He nodded, smiling as he pulled out his phone and showed me a picture of a baby. "Her name is Georgie."

Looking at her rosy, chubby cheeks, blonde wisps of hair on her head, and glowing green eyes, I couldn't stop my heart melting and my hand shooting to my stomach. But by the time my eyes met Tyler's again, he was looking at my hand.

He lowered his phone, gaze meeting mine ever so slowly. Then his face broke out in another smile. "Okay, fine. Let's do a Maccas run."

Exhausted from the long day, I trudged in the door, immediately dropping my keys on the counter and bag on the floor, falling onto the couch.

"Rough day?" Cory asked, coming out of the bedroom, rubbing his wet hair with a towel.

"My brain hurts. And I just want to sleep for five years."

He nodded slowly, coming to sit on the couch next to me. "I don't suppose you're awake enough for a chat?"

Reaching out, I buried my head into his neck, feeling the weight of my eyes as I breathed in his homely scent. The fresh body wash smell was lulling me into a comforting state of peace. "I just want to shower and go to sleep."

I felt his lips brush my head. "Okay. We can chat tomorrow then."

Pulling back, I squinted at him. "Is it important?"

He tilted his head back and forth as if to say so-so. "But it can wait until tomorrow. Just make some time for me, okay?"

I nodded and smiled, reluctantly getting back to my feet as I shuffled off to the shower. Pausing in the doorway, I turned back to look at him. He was staring at the coffee table, seemingly not present in the room at the moment, instead lost in his thoughts. "Cory?" I asked.

His head snapped up, eyes taking a moment to focus on me. "Yeah?"

"Are you okay?"

But a familiar Cory grin graced his face. "Yeah. I'm great. I have you."

As he smiled at me and said such sweet words, the wall of guilt hit me once more, knowing I was hiding my relationship and pregnancy from my new friend, and my new friend from him. I only had one more week tops though until Tyler would realise, so I shook the feelings and told myself to enjoy the last bit of sense that I am Lily, plain Lily, before I became 'mother-to-be'. "I love you," I said to him.

"I love you too."

Cory left early in the morning for work, already gone by the time I finally opened my eyes. I did the usual, got up, had a shower, tried to shovel some food down my throat. But as I began to set up my laptop at the counter, ready to begin my assessment, a knock sounded on the door.

With a little bit of a groan as I got to my feet--come on Lily, walking is only going to get harder than this--I made my way over to the door, not even checking out the window as I opened it.

My face fell as I looked at her, crossing my arms over my chest. "What?" I said, tone flat.

"Can I come in?" mum asked, a half-apologetic, half-pissed off expression on her face.

Rolling my eyes, I unlocked the screen door and held it open for her as she stepped in around me.

She walked into the middle of the room, glancing around, unsure what to do with herself.

"Want a drink?" I asked her.

"Coffee or tea if you have it," she said.

"Sit down. I'll get you one."

We didn't say much as I prepared her drink, grabbing a glass of juice for myself. But as I sat down on the couch, handing her drink to her, I watched her bottom lip quiver.

"I don't like fighting with you, Lily," she said.

"Then don't fight with me. Just be there for me."

"I'm trying. It's just that... I always imagined your life going differently."

"Life is not a textbook mum."

"I know... I just hoped you would have everything easier. That you'd go to uni, get a job, get married, then have kids."

"This isn't the 20th century."

"I know, I know, I know, Lily. What I'm saying is it's hard as a mother to want the simple path for your children, but have to accept that life just isn't going to give them that no matter how hard you tried to protect them. And you will understand when you're raising those babies... I just want you to live your youth before it's gone."

Her words hit harder than they should have. My eyes stung a little and I turned to look away, sucking in those tears as best as I could. Live my youth... Oh how I wanted to do that too. "It's too late, mum. I'm already in my second trimester."

"I know. These babies are coming now and there's no changing it, so I'm just going to have to support you however I can."

I turned to her, hopeful.

"Just promise me something, Lily."

"What?"

"Don't let them define you. Motherhood is a big process and I'm sure you're going to battle a lot of guilt regarding giving them time and doing what you want to do. But your dad and I are here and Cory's mum is here. We can take that burden off you while you still do those things you wanted to do. The babies won't remember their first years of life, so if you need us to take care of them more than you want, then that's okay. You will have many more years to give them your attention when they grow up."

I went to interrupt her, but she held up her hand, asking me to let her finish. She had rehearsed this speech and she didn't want to forget a word, it seemed.

"Of course you'll miss milestones living that way. But Lily, you can't get these early days back. So if you really want to be a doctor and really want to finish your studies... do it while they are little and won't understand why mummy is always busy."

I knew she was coming from a good place with what she was saying. And while there are many flaws and I knew she had the mantra in her head that this pathway of her daughter becoming a doctor was the only sign of her success as a mother, I still nodded. "I'll keep that in mind, mum."

She rested her tea down on the table, holding her arms out to me. I let her pull me in, holding her tightly, smelling the comforting scent of lavender and citrus that mum always had. Little did I want to admit to her though that I was beginning to think she was right. Having these babies was a bad idea. I wasn't ready to be a mother. I wasn't ready to give up my youth.