32A/N – OMG I totally forgot about this story until I was going through my old notebooks! Turns out I had most of chapter 11 written, so I'll post it! Enjoy, if there are still readers!
Chapter 11:
"Mom, guess what," Courtney said, slowly coming down the stairs.
"What?"
"I finally picked out names for the baby," she said with a smile.
"Oh? Do you know if it's a boy of a girl?"
"No, I want to be surprised. So I picked out one of each. I decided on Rachel Lee if it's a girl and Jeremy Michael if it's a boy. What do you think?"
"They're great names. But what if you have twins?" Courtney's face dropped. "I'm just kidding with you dear. We already know you're having only one baby."
"Oh yeah!" Christine laughed.
"I brought your old baby stuff down from the attic. Look," he mom held up a tiny pink dress with white flowers, "this is the dress you wore on your first birthday." She motioned to the brown smudges on the collar and front. "Chocolate cake, your father's idea."
"It's too bad daddy can't be here to see his first grandchild," Courtney said softly, a tear threatening to fall down her cheek.
"He would've spoiled her to no end," her mom said with a fond smile.
"Her? How do you know?"
"Mother's intuition," she said and winked.
"Mom, I can feel the baby kicking. Do you want to see?"
"He mom placed a hand on her daughters round stomach. After a few seconds, she felt a thump against her said. She looked up at Courtney and smiled.
"That's your grandchild, mommy," Courtney said.
a week later
Courtney looked around the room with a smile. Everything was set up for the baby. The walls were painted a pale yellow with little frogs all over the walls. She and her mother had gone shopping for outfits a few days prior.
(flashback)
"Aww… this one is so adorable," Courtney said, holding up a lilac-colored out fit with little teddy bears all over it. She spotted the matching hat. "Look how small these clothes are! I can't believe that I was as little as this when I was born, especially now."
"You were even smaller," her mom said, "because you were almost a month early. You wanted to get out and show the world that you were ready," she recalled with a smile.
They continued through the racks of clothes. Courtney let out a sigh.
"What's wrong, dear?"
"I can't help thinking about Jeremy, mom. I mean, if we were still together, then we'd be doing this. Well…I'd be dragging him along," she said with a slight smile. "He hated shopping, except when it was for me." She shook her head sadly and pushed the cart forward.
(end flashback)
Her mom came in the doorway. "I found another box," she said and placed it on the floor. Courtney pulled up the rocking chair that they'd purchased and sat down in front of the box. She opened the flaps and inside was her baby toys. She pulled out a brown bear with only one eye.
"Remember him?" her mom asked. Courtney shook her head. "Well, you called this bear Mr. Snuggles. And you carried him around with you everywhere, including the puddles and the playground. You don't know how many times I had to wash him each week! See where his eye is missing?" Courtney nodded. "You thought it was candy and bit it off. Needless to say, it didn't taste very good," she remembered with a small chuckle.
At that same moment, Jeremy was on his way to group with Rob, talking about baseball since it was the first week of the season.
"I'm telling you man, the Sox are going to take the AL title this year," Rob was insisting.
"Dream on, man," Jeremy said. "The Yanks are totally going to conquer again. Don't even get your hopes up," he said as they entered the group room.
They sat down in their usual spots and Jeremy winked at Jane, who stuck her tongue out at him. He stuck his tongue out at her, and made a face.
"Okay children, let's focus," the group leader, Ashley, said to them with a laugh.
"Yes mommy," said Jane.
"Today," Ashley began, not acknowledging Jane's comment, "we're going to take a trip."
"Like to the park?" Rob asked in a fake kid's voice.
"No, Rob. We're going to sit in on an AA meeting, since after you've been discharged, you'll have to attend meetings every week. If anyone feels uncomfortable with doing so, speak now and you can have a session with your therapist." Blake raised his hand. "Anyone else? No. Okay. I'll just go take Blake to make arrangements and the rest of you sit tight."
Rob leaned over. "This should be kind of interesting, eh Jerm?"
"Yeah. I wonder what the deal is with Blake though. I mean it's been almost a month and I haven't heard one word come out of his mouth yet."
"I didn't say anything for months at a time," Jane said. "He probably went through a trauma and is suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder."
"Since when did you become a little psychologist?"
"I like to read. I need to do something when I wait for my therapist to come to her office. Those are the only books in there."
I'm not sober all the time
You bring me down
At least you try
Until we see this eye to eye
I don't want you