Katie's Quest

Disclaimer: this story contains graphic sexual scenes. All characters are 18 or older. Enjoy!

Eighteen-year-old Katie Petersen had a skip in her step and a smile on her face as she headed for the bus stop one cold and clear February morning. Her school uniform was fresh from the dry cleaners, her teeth white and immaculate, and her strawberry-blonde hair hung down to her shoulders and swayed with each step she took. Today was a special day, one she had been looking forward to for years. Now it was finally here, and Katie was so filled with anticipation that she'd had trouble sleeping. Years of planning and careful preparation were about to come into play.

Katie came from a good family. Her father, after more than a decade as chief of police in the small city she lived in, was recently re-elected mayor and was widely popular. Her mother was the school superintendent and headed several large charities and nonprofit organizations. As such, it went without saying that the Petersens were regarded as pillars of the community: wealthy, influential, and very highly thought of by just about everybody. Katie had known this from a very young age; being a Petersen meant the world was your oyster.

Despite this, or perhaps because of it, Katie's parents made sure their daughter didn't grow up a spoiled brat. From an early age they impressed upon her the value of hard work and self-reliance, and they went out of their way to make sure that Katie didn't expect the world to be handed to her on a silver platter just because of her name. Katie took these lessons to heart. In fact, she took them to heart more than her parents could have possibly imagined.

For Katie had a secret. A secret plan, a secret longing, a secret desire.

Most young people her age had big dreams and goals in life. They had plans about where they wanted to go to college, what sort of career they wanted, when and whom they wanted to marry. Other girls might want to be doctors or lawyers or big industry executives, but Katie?

All Katie wanted was to get pregnant.

She wanted, more than anything, to have a child, and for more than half a decade now she had worked toward making that goal a reality.

It all started when Katie was in the sixth grade. She showed up to Mrs. Johnson's science class that day expecting to learn about frog anatomy or something, but instead, her teacher taught the class about human reproduction. Katie hadn't been naïve at the time; her parents had already told her what sex was, but this was the first time someone explained the process of procreation in detail to her. She'd known, in broad strokes, how babies were made, but Mrs. Johnson wexplained what came after a woman's egg had been fertilized. How a tiny human grew and took shape inside the mother, how it gradually became larger and larger, and how the mother's body changed and transformed as the pregnancy progressed. Most of the other girls in the class at the time found the whole thing vaguely icky and Mrs. Johnson ended the lesson with a warning on the dangers of premarital sex and pregnancy, but Katie was hardly even listening by then. She was absolutely awestruck. She'd known, then and there, that she wanted a baby of her own, and that day she vowed to dedicate herself toward that one, singular goal.

Everything Katie did in the six years since that fateful afternoon had been, in one way or another, aimed at achieving that goal. Katie wasn't ignorant; she knew that motherhood was a tremendous responsibility, and she had no intention of being a charity case or held up as an example of some irresponsible girl who got pregnant before she was ready. She embarked upon her quest with her eyes wide open, aware of the life-changing implications her baby would bring. She wanted to care for her child properly and give it the life it deserved, so her planning was meticulous.

First, Katie knew she needed to get hands-on experience with kids. There was so much for her to learn, and only a scant few years in which to learn it. As soon as she arrived home after Mrs. Johnson's lesson, Katie asked her mother if she could begin babysitting for some of her neighbors. Her parents were pleased and impressed at their daughter's initiative and were happy to help, and soon Katie gained a reputation as the neighborhood babysitter, eager and willing to care for as many children as possible. Katie's mother and father might have been less supportive if they knew what their daughter's true goal really was, but Katie didn't dwell on that. At her request, they also helped her open a savings account into which she deposited every penny she earned, and over the years her babysitting became a small business in all but name. Katie's strong maternal instincts and excellent childcare skills meant she could charge higher rates for her services, rates that many parents were only too happy to pay. You couldn't put a price on peace of mind, after all. If you were going to leave your child in the hands of another, it was best to make sure they were in the best hands possible. Those hands were Katie's. By the time she turned fifteen Katie had already saved up thousands of dollars, and her parents set her up with a financial advisor and an investment account to help increase her earnings further. The advisor was very good at his job. Thanks to his guidance, Katie's savings grew rapidly into several hundred grand. It was a considerable reserve of cash that she was going to put to good use when she got pregnant.

Katie never told her mother and father her plan. She kept it a closely guarded secret. She'd tell them the time came and her pregnancy--how she was looking forward to it!--became impossible to hide but not before. She knew they would be upset at first. She understood that. She didn't hold it against them. But Katie was confident that when she explained her reasoning to them, they would support her decision. Katie had always been a very responsible, very mature young woman. Her parents knew that she would never do anything rash, and this decision to have a baby was anything but. Once they understood that, everything would be fine.

In addition to babysitting, Katie began devouring all the material on childcare and pregnancy that she could get her hands on. She started paying visits to the local library and stayed for hours at a time, poring through one book after another and taking meticulous notes. Even after she got her first Kindle, she was still visiting the library at least once a week. Katie studied motherhood with the same drive and determination she showed in her classes, if not more, and she still refreshed her knowledge regularly with the most up-to-date sources. By now, she was more an expert on such things than some women twice her age.

Her schoolwork was another factor that Katie carefully considered. She knew that raising a child wasn't cheap, and she had no intention of asking her parents for handouts or becoming dependent on food stamps. She wanted to give her baby the world. To do that she'd have to be financially stable and have a well-paying job locked down, but that wouldn't happen unless she got the best grades. This was why Katie threw herself into her academic studies with a ferocious intensity that caught even her parents a little off-guard. Katie, always a bright and very intelligent girl, became a straight-A student, class president and the pride of all her teachers, a pattern that she proudly continued right up until the present day.

All of this effort and hard work culminated in Katie securing an internship at a well-known financial firm the previous summer. This, too, Katie had approached with single-minded determination. She knew that if she could turn this internship into a job opportunity, she would have more than enough money to provide the best life possible for herself and her baby. She had been almost beside herself with joy when the president of the company offered her just that. Despite her young age, Katie thoroughly impressed the man with her work ethic, adaptability and eagerness to learn. How different she was from the other interns he'd hired in the past! Katie proved to be a tremendous asset to his firm, and he was keen not to let any of his competitors scoop her up. Katie signed the contract eagerly, though she'd paused for just a moment to make sure that pregnancy wasn't cause for termination. There was no point in taking the job if they'd just fire her when she asked for maternity leave. Thankfully, that wasn't the case.

Getting that job was one of the most important parts of Katie's plan, but it wasn't the only one. Katie knew that if she wanted to bear the healthiest baby possible, she needed to be a careful steward of her body and ensure she was in peak physical health. This was why she became active in as many extracurricular activities as possible as she blossomed into young womanhood. She became a member of the local youth swimming team, became a cheerleader for her high school's football team--eventually rising to cheer captain--and joined the local softball, soccer and tennis leagues as well as taking regular lessons in taekwondo. Here too she rose rapidly through the ranks, earning a fourth-degree black belt and winning several tournaments. Katie was not normally a very confrontational person and did her best to be nice to everybody, but she understood that it was a dangerous world out there and she needed to be able to defend herself. She didn't want her body to be spoiled by some man's unwanted advances. When Katie lost her virginity, it would be to the father of her child, and no other.

In addition to all of this, Katie also began entering beauty pageants and modeling competitions as her body matured and grew. She bloomed into an absolutely gorgeous young woman, with an athlete's toned and curvaceous form, perfectly sized C-cup breasts, and a heart-shaped face that was all too often split in a dazzling smile. Her hair was grown long and fell to the small of her back, and her posterior was likewise flawless. Through hard work, exercise, and careful dieting, she molded her young body into an almost-unbelievable dream of womanhood. She put bikini models to shame, and Katie used that to her advantage. The prize money from many of those beauty pageants and modeling competitions was considerable indeed, and some rather less well-behaved part of her enjoyed the attention. Katie put so much work into her body, what was the harm in showing it off a bit? Besides, each pageant she won meant more money in her savings account. If she could use her beauty to help further her plan and increase her ability to care for her baby, then she would.

The only downside to all this was that Katie's insanely-busy schedule precluded dating. This was a problem, Katie acknowledged. After all, it took two to do the baby-making tango. But between her schoolwork, her babysitting, her extracurriculars and her research, Katie barely had any free time at all. Still, she tried not to let it discourage her. Katie knew she was beautiful and was confident in her ability to attract a man. How hard could it be? Males seemed eager enough to look at her when they thought she wasn't looking. Enticing one to go to bed with her would be easy, and Katie was hardly ignorant of what would happen when she did. Not all of her research was about biology; she went to great lengths to read about the act of sex, which positions were best for impregnation, and how best to please her partner. Only in theory, of course. Katie was careful not to get ahead of herself. When she became pregnant it would be at a time and place of her choosing, with a partner she chose. And there would be a partner, make no mistake about that. The idea of going to a sperm bank was far too cold and impersonal and held no appeal for her whatsoever.

In all other respects, though, Katie's grand plan succeeded beyond her wildest expectations. Never once in all those years did she even contemplate giving up. Her drive to have a baby influenced everything she did, and each course of action she took for the past six years was with that goal in mind. Only someone with Katie's drive, intelligence and ambition could have pulled it off. It was exhausting--but she knew it was worth it.

The hardest part of all, however, was the waiting. When Katie was in public, she always found herself staring at new moms and young children. The sound of a baby crying or a child laughing made her heart clench. Katie watched the tender way in which mothers interacted with their children and played with them in the park and dreamed of the day when she would be one of them. But those brief spells of melancholy never lasted long. Katie was never one to wallow in self-pity, and she reminded herself over and over that her time would come.

Now, finally, that time was almost here.

This, then, was Katie Petersen, aged eighteen years. The town darling. A star athlete, a gorgeous beauty, a model student, an ambitious career-builder, a meticulous saver with lots of money in the bank and a bright career on the horizon. She had seen her doctor recently under the guise of wanting to get pregnant someday (which was true) and her body's fertility was confirmed beyond doubt. Now, with her new status as a legal adult--she celebrated her 18th birthday was just a few days ago--Katie could move on to the final stage in her plan: choosing the child's father.

Katie's parents always taught her that babies were something you should do when you're married, but Katie knew she would never be able to wait to that long. What if she never got married? What if the marriage failed? Half of modern marriages did. She'd read that statistic over and over, so after lengthy consideration she dismissed the idea. It just didn't seem worth the risk. The idea of a bitter custody battle, or worse, losing such a battle and thereby losing her child, was too awful to contemplate.

Still, Katie was excited to choose the man who would get her pregnant. It was a thought that consumed her. Even as she'd celebrated her birthday with a huge cake and presents, it was all Katie had been able to focus on. She could hardly wait to put all the books she'd read about sexual techniques into practice. Sex filled her thoughts, stoking a fire inside Katie that only grew stronger with each passing day. She was excited give some lucky guy her most intimate embrace, to take him deep within her and feel his manhood overflowing with gushes of warm, life-giving sperm. Her whole body fairly buzzed with years of pent-up sexual energy just waiting to be unleashed.

The prospect of making such a choice, of pointing to a man and declaring, "I choose him!" was both thrilling and empowering to Katie. This was her decision to make and her influence to wield as a woman, and she would make it with the same forethought and caution she'd shown in every other part of her plan. Choosing the father was the most important and most critical step, after all. It wouldn't do to cut corners or compromise her standards. Katie wanted someone strong and young and healthy, but neither she did want a player who would carve another notch in his bedpost and then move on like nothing happened. She wanted a guy who would look back on their time together with great fondness, the way she knew she would herself. She wanted someone reasonably attractive, someone with a good head on their shoulders and, frankly, the equipment to get the job done.

It was also important that whoever she chose didn't freak out when she told them why she wanted them. Katie had no respect for women who kept such things from the men they went to bed with. Women who slept with men but didn't tell them they wanted to get pregnant were almost as bad as those who slept with men to baby-trap them and milk them for child support. Katie wouldn't ruin some innocent guy's life like that. She refused not to be honest with her man. He, whoever he was, deserved to know why Katie wanted him and that she expected nothing from him in terms of financial support. He deserved to know that she wanted a child and that she would always be grateful to him for giving her one. He--whoever he was--would probably feel nervous or even frightened at first, but that was only natural. Who wouldn't, in that situation? But Katie was sure that when she explained her plan and made everything clear, she would easily persuade him.

But who would she choose? Who? Who? Who?

That was the million-dollar question, and it was why she had a skip in her step this fine morning. She was going to school as she'd done countless times, but today she wasn't just going there to attend classes. She was going there to choose the father of her child at long last, and she even had the perfect opportunity to go to bed with him without anyone else interfering.

A month ago, Katie participated in a regional taekwondo competition. Apart from the prize money--which was considerable--the winner was awarded a three-week long trip to Disney World for themselves and one friend with all expenses paid. Katie immediately recognized the opportunity. She would take the trip, bring along the prospective father of her child, and use the first of those three weeks to get to know him better. Then, when she was sure of her decision, she would make her move. Two whole weeks of sex--and she would make sure she had lots of it--would ensure she had a child growing inside her by the time she got home. The trip even coincided with the peak of her fertility cycle. It was as if fate itself was on her side, blessing her endeavor with good luck.

All these thoughts of pregnancy and sex sent a shiver down her spine. Katie felt it all the way down to the tips of her toes. She did not want to waste any more time. All the stars, such as they were, were now in alignment. She was in her prime, and ready to become a mother. Perhaps some would look down on her, or judge her for what she was going to do, but she didn't care. She wasn't a slut who slept around and got pregnant by accident. She was a young woman who, after years of hard work and preparation, was financially, physically and emotionally ready to have a child, a child she would love with all her heart and soul.

Katie clutched the textbook she was carrying tightly to her chest and gave a wistful sigh. She hoped it would be a boy. She would adore her baby no matter what, of course, but Katie was really, really hoping for a boy--a tousle-headed, rambunctious little boy with lots of energy. She imagined teaching her son to catch butterflies and ride a bicycle and reading to him on the couch while he sat on her lap.

Katie bit back a sigh of longing. Her hand strayed to her middle, feeling the taut smoothness of her toned, slender belly. It would not be slender for much longer.

First things first, she reminded herself firmly. Stay focused. Stay on task. Keep your mind on the mission. Observe, analyze, then act decisively.

As she got onto the bus, Katie did just that. Behind her cheery smile, her bright green eyes scanned the male students sitting in the seats like a hunter seeking the most elusive quarry. She scanned, analyzed and dismissed each of them In a matter of moments. None of them stood out to her. Too smelly, too loud, too crude, that one over there doesn't look like he's even washed his hair in weeks...

Katie dismissed the lot of them with a mental shrug. She hadn't really been expecting to find a potential candidate so quickly. There were hundreds of guys at her high school. Surely at least one of them would make the initial cut.

Katie hummed to herself the whole way, gazing out the bus window as it trundled along its familiar route. Several more students got on, including more guys, but they too were immediately ruled out. When the bus finally came to a halt outside Sunny Meadows High, Katie was one of the first out the door. Under the guise of rummaging through her locker, she mentally evaluated every guy that walked past her in the hallway. Some were too short, others too fat, others too young or too arrogant. Most simply didn't register with her one way or the other. They just looked...boring.