Disclaimer: I do not own Walker. It belongs to the CW and Jared Padalecki.

Author's Note: This story is AU. Micki is no longer with Trey and she left the Texas Rangers for a different reason than what actually happened on the show. This story takes place a few years in the future. Stella is away at college. August is a high school junior.

Baby Steps

Prologue

-Micki-

Micki Ramirez squinted into the darkness as the blinding rain obscured her view through the windshield. The Ford pick-up truck hit a pothole and bounced causing Micki to grit her teeth as the baby she carried in her belly seemed to be jumping up and down on her bladder. "Go easy on Mommy," she said out loud as she pressed on the brake and slowed even more, trying to see the pavement through the driving rain.

The road in front of her disappeared into what seemed to be a lake. Great. The road was flooded. Micki stopped the truck and leaned her head back against the seat. A contraction tightened around her belly and she forced herself to take deep breaths. "False labor," she whispered to herself. "It's not time for you yet, Baby Girl."

Micki knew she was pushing it when she had decided to travel at eight and a half months pregnant, but she really didn't have any other choice. She was about to become a first time mother, and she had no idea what she was doing. She certainly didn't have a good relationship with her own family. Fear had driven her to seek the only family she really did have - the Walker family. But, traveling this close to her due date had proven to be a poor decision. She was stuck in the middle of nowhere in the pouring rain and having contractions.

The contraction eased up and Micki eyed the road ahead of her with determination mixed with trepidation. "Not too far now," she told herself. Micki pressed the gas pedal and the trucked moved slowly, but surely through the water that covered the road.

A few minutes later the rain poured down even harder if possible. Micki snarled as the truck sputtered to a stop on the side of the road. "NO!" She pounded on the steering wheel. "You can't do this to me!" Terror flooded through her at the thought of how alone she was. "I can't believe this!" Micki angrily wiped tears of fury and fear from her eyes. The last two years of her life had been nothing but one struggle after another. She shouldn't have expected anything different when she decided to travel to Austin. She could have at least texted Walker to let him know she was coming. Then he would know to come and look for her if she didn't show up. Now no one knew where she was, and the most horrifying part was that she doubted anyone even cared.

"Okay, I can do this," she said out loud as if saying it so that she could hear it would make it true. Micki pulled an old hoodie from the back seat of the truck. It had belonged to Trey and when she wore it, it was almost like getting a hug from him. It had been two years and her heart still ached with the pain of losing him. Slipping into the hoodie, Micki zipped it up and pulled the hood over her head.

She flung open the truck door and gasped as the cold rain whipped into her face. Micki forced herself to slide down into the gooey, sticky mud. Her feet sunk into the cold goop and she shuddered. "Okay, Baby Girl, let's go. We have a long walk ahead of us."

As she plodded along slipping and sliding through the mud, MIcki thought back over the past few years. She'd lost her boyfriend, Trey, at the hands of a disgruntled convict. The man had been aiming for her and had killed Trey instead. It was all her fault that the love of her life was gone. It should have been her and not him. She couldn't stay in Austin after that. The memories were suffocating her. So, she ran and hadn't looked back until now.

One drunken night in Santa Fe left her pregnant and alone. She thought his name was Alejandro or maybe it was Alvaro. Micki supposed it didn't really matter. What did matter was that she was getting ready to have a baby and she was going to be a single mother. She was going to raise this baby all by herself, and she had no idea how to go about it.

The rain had soaked through her clothes and she was freezing. Micki shivered and forced herself to keep going even as another contraction threatened to take her to her knees. She was getting close. All she had to do was put one foot in front of the other.