Planning Your Future

Slipping Through My Fingers (Part 2)

November 22, 1993

Veronica's POV

I get home late at night. My dad is already asleep so I try to be as quiet as possible. I go straight to bed. In the morning, my dad knocks on the door. "Hey. How was the trip here?" He walks in. "Good. I would have talked to you last night, but you were asleep." I get up and hug him. "How's Alyssa?" It's weird hearing him ask about her. "She's good." I don't know how to even talk to him about this. "That's good. And what about JD, Sam, and Owen?" He asks. "They're good. JD is happy to be home." He's really missed his mom even though we saw them in September. "I'm sure he is. He might have to do a lot while he's here, though. Jill is getting pretty close. I talked to Hank recently and apparently the baby may come early. The doctor told them that a few weeks ago." He says.

I go over to JD's later on. "Hey." He hugs me. "So my dad was saying that the baby might come early, did your mom say anything about that?" I ask him. "She mentioned it this morning, yeah." He nods as we sit on the swing on the front porch. "Are you excited to be a big brother?" I push him with my shoulder. "I am." He laughs. "You'll be a great big brother." I say. "Thank you. So is your dad seeing anyone?" He puts his arm on my shoulder. "I don't think so." He hasn't told me otherwise. Heather pulls up and gets out. "I missed you two so much!" She hugs us. "We missed you too." I smile. "How's Jill?" Heather sits on the railing of the porch, across from us. "She's doing good. The baby might be coming sooner than they thought." JD tells her. "Wow. Well I'm going to get my stuff out of the car." She gets up and goes back to her car. Jill comes outside, "I thought I heard you pull in!" She yells at Heather. "Yeah. Wanted to be here yesterday but cheer practice ran late and I didn't want to drive all night." Heather explains as she rolls her suitcase down the path. Jill sees us, "I can't believe I didn't know you were here!" She holds out her arms to me. "Yeah I got here about a half an hour ago. I didn't know you were here." I hug her. Her belly has gotten even bigger since I last saw her.

I have dinner with them, Jill smiling the whole time. "So how's Alyssa?" She asks me. "She's good. She moved in with her coworker so she could stay in Boston." She's said that Miles is a good roommate but is pretty loud. "That's great. So JD... are you seeing anyone?" She smirks. "I actually am. I've been dating this girl named Eva. We've been together for three months." He tries to hide a smile. "He really likes her." I kick him under the table. "I'm glad." Jill just seems really happy, which is really nice.

November 24, 1993

I stand outside of the Greene house. Alyssa invited me to have lunch with her and her mom, but I don't know how I feel about that. I'm almost positive that Mrs. Greene still doesn't like me. I slowly bring my hand up and knock on the door. "Hey." Alyssa goes to kiss me, but I hug her. I don't feel comfortable with PDA around her mom. "Come in." She walks inside, me following. "Hi, Veronica." Mrs. Greene gives me a smile that seems friendly yet passive aggressive at the same time. "Hi, Mrs. Greene." I give her a genuine smile. God, I can tell this isn't going to end well.

We sit down at the table. Mrs. Greene seems to be making a point of talking about her church group. Alyssa looks very embarrassed. The entire lunch is very awkward and she talks 90% of the time. After we eat, Alyssa and I take a walk. "So that was pretty rough." She sighs. "Yeah. I know details about every person from her church." I laugh. "How's your dad?" She asks. "He's good. Apparently he got pretty close with JD's mom and Hank. So he's made friends." I was scared he would be lonely here, but he's not. "I'm glad. How is Jill? She should be giving birth soon, right?" She takes my hand. "Yeah. She could give birth at any time." I hope it's while we're here so JD and Heather can be there.

We walk for a while before we go back so I can get into my car. "Bye." I kiss her on the cheek. I go to my house and lie down on the couch. I fall asleep for a few hours. The phone rings so I get up to answer it. "Hello?" I say into the phone. "Hey, it's JD. My mom went into labor. Can you meet me at the hospital?" JD says with panic in his voice. "Oh. Of course." I get in the car and drive to the hospital.

JD's POV

Heather and I go out to eat at Chester's. "So how are things with you and Eva? Better than you and Zoe, I hope?" She asks. "Yeah, definitely. We're taking it slow. That's what hurt my relationships with Zoe and especially with Veronica. But I really do like her." She's just a lot of fun and she's okay with taking it slow. She's what I need. "I'm happy for you." She smiles. "So how are things with you and James?" I ask. "Good. Getting over my crush on you has made our relationship so much better." She says. "That's good." I take a bite of my food.

We get home and I can hear yelling from inside. I can tell it's my mom's voice. She must be having contractions. Apparently she's been having a lot of them. "Hey, are you okay?" I ask when I come in. "I'm about to take her to the hospital. Her water just broke." Hank says. "Okay. We'll meet you there." I say. They leave and I go over to the phone to call Veronica. I know she'd want to be around. "Hey, it's JD. My mom went into labor. Can you meet me at the hospital?" I say into the phone. I can tell I sound nervous, but I can't help it. She agrees to meet me so I hang up. "Come on." I put a hand on Heather's back and usher her towards my car.

We sit at the hospital, waiting for Veronica. She gets there and walks up to us. "Is she okay?" She asks. "Yeah, she's just in a lot of pain." I tell her. We take the elevator up to see her. By the time we get up to her, she's already been given an epidural. "Hey, how are you?" Veronica sits next to the bed. "I've been better." My mom laughs.

We all talk for a while before going back into the waiting room. I fall asleep but Hank wakes us up early in the morning. "Do you want to meet your baby sister?" He asks Heather and I. So I have a little sister. He motions for Veronica to follow as well. We follow him to the room. My mom is holding the baby with a smile. She must have had her a while ago if she's already cleaned up. "JD, Heather, meet your sister: Katherine Rose McNamara." She named her after Veronica. I know that. She always would pick names based on people she cared about. I'm named after my great grandfather on my dad's side and my grandfather on my mom's side. I know Rose is her mother's name. "Wait, did you name her... after me?" Veronica asks. She seems nervous that it isn't about her. "Yes. You're a part of this family just like Jason or Heather." My mom smiles. "Can I hold her?" Heather asks. My mom nods and hands her over. "Hi there." She talks in that baby talk that kind of drives me nuts. "Are you gonna call her Katherine or are you giving her a nickname?" Heather looks at my mom. "We're thinking of Kate or Katie." My mom tells her. "I like Katie." Veronica says. "I agree. Katie is a good one." I say. "Same." Heather says as she bounces Katherine. "Katie it is." Hank laughs.

After a while, Heather asks me if I want to hold her. "Um... sure." I haven't held a baby in a long time. Heather gives Katherine to me and I look down at her. She's pretty tiny, but she is premature. She's not too small, she's just below average. I know how to hold a baby, but I still do it very awkwardly. "Do you want me to take her?" Veronica says with a bit of concern in her voice. "Yes." I say a little too quickly.

Veronica's POV

I take Katherine from JD. He seemed really nervous so I figured I should take her to save him the stress. "Hi." I smile at her. Her eyes are open, but aren't open very much. I can't believe Jill named her baby after me. That's the nicest thing anyone has done for me. I eventually give her back to Jill, and I join JD in the hallway. "So, you have a baby named after you." He smirks. "Yeah. It's really sweet, but also weird." I say. "I get that. Do you want kids? We never really talked about that when we were dating. But I was thinking about that." He asks. "I don't know. I know I'd be a pretty good mother. But I can't have one with Alyssa." I shrug. It's not something I've really thought about. "Well I know you would make a great mother." He leans against the wall. "Do you want to have kids?" I ask. "Maybe. If I marry someone that wants kids, I'll be okay with it. But I won't be upset if my future wife doesn't." I can understand that. Kids are hard work.

"So how does it feel to be a big brother?" I ask him. "It's weird. The fact that I'm in college and have a newborn sister. It's gonna take some getting used to." He sighs. "Well you're gonna be an amazing big brother. Because you're already a great son, and an incredible friend." I stand next to him and bump into him purposefully. "Thanks." He smiles, putting his arm around me and pulling me in for a hug.

I hope you enjoyed! Welcome baby Katie! I've been so excited for this chapter. I know it might sound like she's named after the actress Katherine McNamara but it's only a coincidence. I realized that coincidence after I had planned to name her that. But anyways, I'll see you guys next time. Bye!