Alone Again (Naturally)

Ghosts

" I'm pregnant. Four months pregnant."

Her nieces and nephews squeals filled the room as the adults sat in shock,

" Are you serious?" Albert asked,

" Yes."

"Congratulations sweetheart!" He cried, getting up to hug his daughter.

" Congratulations Penny." Theo and Ernest spoke simultaneously, going over to hug their little sister.

" All of us now eh?" She chuckled as she wiped her eyes,

" Yeah." They both agreed, hugging their little sister tightly.

" I knew something was different." Emily whispered as she hugged Penny.

" How?" Penelope asked, puzzled.

" Well it doesn't take a genius to figure out why your breasts are bigger, you've took a break from work, eating strange things, why I've had strange calls from David asking how much birth hurts and does your period stop. You've also been quite distant." The woman explained.

" I've only been distant because of what's been going on." Penny sighed sympathetically,

" I know sweetheart, it must of been hard on you; going from Penny one minute to That-female-detective-who's-controlling-the-Enfield-murder." Emily spoke.

" It killed me inside, physically and mentally." She admitted,

" Tragic outcome as well." Emily nodded.

" Yes..." Penny agreed, " Why did Dave want to know all that stuff about birth anyway, it's a common fact-"

" Yes but darling whilst you took to your studies he aimlessly stared out the window looking at the girls outside playing netball." She laughed.

" He would of loved it at Alexandra's." Penny snorted,

" I believe he would of only had eyes for one of the girls though." Emily corrected.

" I had eyes for one of the future-Beatles, it doesn't make a difference now." She grinned,

" George Harrison wasn't it? He played a gig at your school?" The woman asked before Penny nodded, " Funny that. You've only really had eyes for Dark haired musicians."

" That's true I guess, though the occasional blonde in the paper is fine by me." The brunette smiled.

" Four months..." Emily breathed, " How long have you known?"

" Only about a month." Penny began, " I wanted to make sure that everything was alright before everything took off. I'm not exactly surprised I didn't realise before, I mean with the case I thought I hadn't had my period and the sickness due to stress. I didn't for a minute think hang on this is a baby."

" Makes sense." The woman agreed, " How long has he known?"

" Only a few weeks, he was devastated I didn't tell him right away; said he could of cancelled work- I needed space... If it hadn't of been for time off- I worry that there would be no baby." The brunette sighed.

" What?" Emily gasped.

" I probably drunk till I couldn't feel anything, Emily I would killed th-"

" Don't you say that." She warned, " I would of been there for you darling and so would Da-"

" He was on tour Emmie... I didn't think I'd make it through the last leg." Penny explained, " If that case had gone on any longer then-"

" But it didn't. The bastard's locked up Penny, he's locked up for good." The voice assured, taking hold of the girls shoulders. " You're twenty-five years old Penny, no girl your age should of had to handled that case but you found him Penny!

You found that vile creature! He'll have to live with the guilt all his life, the family are always going to miss their little girl but Penny... You've given them something that they didn't have before, closure. And I hope to god that when anyone dies that the family get closure. Do you know why?"

" No." Penny answered

" Because life isn't worth living without a reason why. We crave the pieces to all fit in upstairs, but when we can't piece them together... It makes us go mad and sometimes we lose the best of people."

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.

.

Penelope had always felt her best when she was sat reading, the girl was transformed into a different world. Sometimes, when she was younger it had been only escape out of reality; the classics plays and novels that had filled her shelves were once a virtual world.

Each one taught her an important lesson in life; Pride and Prejudice taught her that class determines ones place in social hierarchy, Macbeth taught her how to control her ambition, Romeo and Juliet taught her how complicated love is and so forth.

" What ya reading?" Asked a bored guitarist.

" Pride and Prejudice." Penny muttered, not tearing away her focus.

" Pride and the what?" Dave questioned, his expression confused.

" You really never listened in English did you?" She sighed, disappointed.

" Never saw the point Lo." He shrugged,

" You should of tried." The brunette spoke, wincing in pain.

" You okay?" The green-eyed man asked, moving over to her side.

" Fine, it's just this bloody child." Penny chuckled, still in discomfort.

" You sure?" He breathed, tucking her strands of hair back into position.

" I'm pregnant not bloody sporadic!" She reminded,

" That means?" He inquired, careful not to put her in a sour mood.

" Point proven David. Point fucking proven." The brown-eyed girl uttered before retreating into the kitchen,

" Where you going?" Dave asked.

" To feel like a human." Penny drawled.

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.

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The night soon came around for the pair, the figure beside her fast asleep as he kept his arm around her.

Penny's mind span as she lay in bed, she'd never been a good sleeper, quite the insomniac even. The girl narrowed the cause down to two things, pregnancy and well... The overbearing feeling that returned every time things became a little rough in her life, she'd never really had to talk about since she was in high school; having an unstable mind was one thing but when you rely on it so much... You can break.

Thoughts used to race round her mind when she was younger; ones of her mother, ones of her father and once she moved to high school it added thoughts of success and failure, her friends back home and so forth. It took her years of fighting back and forth to try and get a hold of her feelings.

" Get out of my head Johnson..."