The moment Johnny arrived at work Stephanie knew that there something was wrong with him. He was ashen faced, and he'd lost his usual swagger.

'Hey Johnny,' she said brightly, trying to pretend she didn't know what was going on. He nodded in reply, pulling his overalls on. 

'You look rough,' she added without thinking. 'Too much to drink?'

He grimaced. 'Yeah as it happens, I've been doing my damned best to blot out the last twenty-four hours.'

'Oh?'

'Paulette's pregnant,' he muttered, his eyes darkening. 'At least I think she is.'

'Shit, Johnny,' she said, not sure what to say.

'I can't believe it, well I sort of can. The way she's always going on about commitment, I bet she planned it.' He smacked one hand into the other angrily.

'What are you going to do?'

He shrugged, defeated. 'I don't want to marry her. I just don't. But I can't abandon her either.' He began to pace up and down as Steph looked on.

'Do you feel that strongly about marriage?' Steph asked carefully. 'You could have wound up married anyway if this hadn't happened.'

'Yeah but I'll never know that now. If I marry her I'm always going to feel like I was forced into it.' 

'But how can you not marry her?' She was appalled that he'd consider abandoning Paulette. 'You knew there was always a chance she could get pregnant'.

He shifted awkwardly. 'I thought it was safe, I trusted her,' he said sounding frustrated. 'I don't want to get married, not to her.'

Steph's eyes widened. 'Not to her? That's horrible Johnny.'

'I know but ever since she told me that's how I've felt,' he admitted. 'I'm not ready to get married and I don't think we've been together long enough to even consider it.'

'Well it looks like you might not have a choice.'

Johnny nodded. 'Yeah, don't I know it.'

                                                                         ~~~~

Paulette heard the phone ring and jumped up to answer, desperate for it be Johnny. She was disappointed to hear Louis on the line. She handed the phone to Sharon who gave her a pointed look, clearly, she was irritated that Paulette was making herself a bit too much at home.

'Hi Louis, how was work?' Sharon asked and Paulette stepped into the kitchen trying not to listen in. In the past week she felt like she'd aged years and it was dawning on her that she was definitely pregnant. She had a doctor's appointment but she knew it was simply a matter of confirmation.

'Shopping, Saturday?' she heard Sharon exclaim laughing. 'You want to take me shopping? Now, Louis, I don't want you wasting your money on me.'

I'll bet, Paulette thought sourly, not believing her for a moment. She closed the kitchen door so she couldn't overhear any more, and went to make herself a snack. It was almost an hour later before Sharon joined her again.

'What did you find to talk about all that time?' Paulette asked trying not to sound jealous.

'This and that. Louis is coming round after work tomorrow.'

Paulette let out a sigh. 'Oh great!' He'd been around almost every night, and she didn't know if it was worse when he and Sharon were cuddling up in front of the TV, or when they made some excuse to go to her room to be by themselves. It added to her sense of loneliness and isolation.

'You don't have to stay here,' Sharon pointed out. 'If there's problem?'

'Sorry, I'm being moody,' Paulette said. 'Johnny still hasn't called me. I've got a doctor's appointment tomorrow and I wanted him to come with me.'

'You could try calling him.'

'I'll feel even worse if he refuses to talk to me. I think I should let him come around in his own time.'

Sharon frowned. 'You could be waiting a long time.'

'Yeah, I probably will be,' Paulette admitted despondently.

                                                                      ~~~~

'Have you spoke to Johnny?' Rhonda asked Goose and Davey.

Goose groaned. 'Not really Rhon.' He had called Johnny, who had ranted at him for a while, but he knew that wasn't what Rhonda wanted to hear.

'Sharon said he's avoiding Paulette, he hasn't even called her.'

'It's a lot for Johnny to take in,' Davey said.

'But it's a lot for Paulette too. Her mom's thrown her out, and Mrs Cooper might not let her stay. Johnny is offering no support whatsoever!' Rhonda glared at them both.

'Well maybe Paulette should have thought of that,' Goose said, and Rhonda silenced him with a hard look.

'It doesn't matter who's fault it is, the damage is done. Johnny needs to face Paulette and you guys are going to help her.'

'Us?' Davey said frowning.

'Yeah I've spoken to Steph and Johnny isn't working this Saturday so you're gonna take him to Frosty's Palace, and us girls will do the same with Paulette.' Davey exchanged a blank look with Goose. 'Then Johnny will have to talk to her,' Rhonda added.

'He might not be in the mood to go out,' Goose said warily.

'Well you're gonna persuade him to alright,' Rhonda insisted, and Goose knew it was not up for negotiation.

                                                                        ~~~~

'God I am so glad to get out of there,' Sharon said as she climbed into Louis's dad's car. He'd borrowed it in case she wanted to get a lot of shopping. 'Paulette still hasn't made up with her parents and I can tell my mom's not happy.' 

'Your mom could send Paulette home,' Louis said. 'It's not her problem.'

'If Paulette's not gone soon I think my mom will be having words with her parents.' It was only her mom's disgust at Mrs Rebchuck throwing her daughter out that had stopped her from insisting Paulette go home already.

'So is she definitely pregnant?' Louis asked. 'Johnny said he wasn't sure.'

'Yeah the doctor's confirmed it, she's about three months along.' She sighed deeply. 'Johnny's still not been in touch. I was going to call him myself but Paulette wouldn't let me.'

'Stay out of it,' Louis said. 'We've all told him he can't run away from this.'

Sharon sat back feeling somewhat reassured, and if their intervention worked tonight Johnny would be facing Paulette anyway.

                                                                                     ~~~~

'Right there's this store I want to take you to,' Louis said leading the way and Sharon looked at him perplexed. 'Trust me,' he added seeing her face.

'This is a jewellery store,' Sharon said as they approached the glass fronted window.

'Yeah and I've had a couple of months wages so I want to get you something nice.'

Sharon frowned at him. 'But my birthday wasn't long ago. You don't need to be buying me more presents.'

'This isn't a present,' he said smiling.

'I'm not following.' However she was biting her lip, looking at him in anticipation.

'I said I wanted to get you a ring as soon as I could but I thought you'd prefer it if we picked something together.' He knew how fussy she was.

'A ring?' she repeated as if she didn't quite believe him.

'Yeah an engagement ring.' He wondered what else she could be thinking of, hadn't he already told her this?

'You're that confident I'll say yes?'

'Yeah I guess I am,' he said grinning at her. 'I know it's soon to be marching down the aisle but I want to get you a ring while I can. Before long my folks will start taking a cut from my wages.' They hadn't so far wanting him to see the benefits of working.

'Louis does this mean an actual engagement to get married?' she asked slowly.

He frowned at her, she was making hard work of this. 'Of course it does, what else would it mean?'

'Well you haven't actually asked me,' she said smiling. 'Not properly.'

He grimaced. 'You're going to make me do this here?' He looked around self consciously as people passed them by.

'Yes,' she said excitedly, holding her breath.

'Okay.' He dropped to one knee, and she gasped. 'Sharon will you marry me?'

                                                                           ~~~~

Thank you so much for reading, please consider voting. The prequel to this story 'Girl Code' is on my profile page, along with '1963' which takes place during the Kennedy assassination.