Black knight (in shining armor)

He swallowed the lump in his throat. "Need a hand with that?"

She started, as if surprised he could speak at all. Then she nodded. "Um, sure."

He took the strap from her hand and lifted the bag easily from the seat, slung it over his shoulder next to his own, then followed her off the bus. As it drove off, she craned her neck to look at him. He towered over her by a foot or more, and probably weighed twice as much as she did, even while pregnant.

"So, what now?" He asked.

"Thank you. I live around the corner, I can carry it the rest of the way myself," she rattled off quickly.

"I can walk you home, if you like. I don't have anywhere I need to be."

"It's OK, I can do it myself if—"

Samuel shrugged. "It's no problem."

"Um, OK. Thank you."

They walked for a while in awkward silence, but a few craned necks later, he realized they looked pretty suspicious; or rather, he did. A large black man approaching middle-age and a much younger girl, heavily pregnant, together, yet obviously strangers? It was only be a matter of time before someone decided to intervene, all righteous indignation. He didn't need that kind of trouble.

"What's your name?" He asked.

"Nancy."

He held out his hand and she shook it. Her hand, small and cool to the touch, all but vanished in his.

"Nice to meet you, Nancy. I'm Samuel."

The conversation flowed awkward at first, but after a while they both began to relax. He told her where he was from and that he was an accountant. In turn, he learned she was 19—only 19!—and that she was 36 weeks pregnant. "I think," she added. When he asked after the father, she was suddenly evasive, and he wondered if she even knew who it was. He had enough tact not to press.

"Any problems at school with...?" He gestured at her belly. "You know."

She shook her head. "I got out of school when I started to show. Mom said it'd be easier that way. I'm going to a new school after the baby's been born."

"Looking forward to it?"

She hesitated. "I dunno." She laid a hand on her belly as they walked. "It feels like everyone's been staring at me for months now. But... I dunno, it feels kind of nice to have something inside of you. I feel so... I dunno."

They fell silent for a while.

"That's where we live," she said suddenly, pointing out a freestanding house at the end of the street.

Uh-oh. He suddenly had apocalyptic visions of hyper-protective parents and six warning shots in the back of his head. "'We'?"

"Mom, my brother Wesley, and me." She paused briefly, picking up on his alarm, then continued. "Um. It's OK, they won't be home for a few more hours."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, she always calls ahead when she leaves work so I can take something of out the freezer for dinner."

She led him silently down a narrow passage around the back, tilted a potted plant to retrieve the house key from underneath, unlocked the door, and went inside.

He hesitated before following and just caught her moving through the doorway into the next room, leaving him alone in the kitchen.

He looked around. It was small, and had clearly seen better days, but not decrepit or dirty... well, save for the dishes piled high in the sink, which he took as a confirmation of Nancy's mother's single parenthood. Since she hadn't mentioned her father, he assumed he was no longer in her life, and his fears of a violent confrontation ebbed—somewhat.

"Nancy?" He called.