Planning Your Future

I Didn't Plan It

November 19, 1990

Veronica's POV

I zip up my suitcase and set it down. Erika hugs me tightly. "I'll see you next week." She says. "See you next week."

JD and I start the drive home in the afternoon. We get to the house in the middle of the night. JD opens the door. Jill is sleeping on the couch. JD kneels in front of her. I stand behind him. "Mom." He whispers. She opens her eyes. "Hey!" She sits up and hugs us. "I thought you weren't going to be here until Wednesday." She says. "We decided to surprise you." JD squeezes her. "Well I'm happy you're here." She smiles. "We are too." I hug her.

We go upstairs and put our stuff in JD's room. We come downstairs to see that Jill has turned on some of the lights. There were boxes everywhere that say "Christmas" and other things. "You're already decorating for Christmas?" JD asks. "Of course. I'm a single empty nester. I'm bored." JD jokingly rolls his eyes, "I'm so sorry we had to leave you all alone." He gives her another hug. "It's fine. Maybe after dinner on Thursday, we can start decorating." She suggests. "Sure!" I nod. "Yeah." JD agrees.

The next morning, I wake up early visit a friend. I arrive to the building and go through security. They let me in and I go into the room. I pick up the phone. "Hey, Veronica." Duke greets. She looks just as rough as she did last time I saw her. Her trial finished very recently. She pled guilty, but it wasn't a very hard decision. She had admitted to it so all they were determining was her sentence. "Hi, Heather." I tap my free hand on my leg. "How's college?" She asks, looking down. "Good." I bite my lip. "Good."

"How's..." I stop myself. I don't want to sound rude. "Prison? It sucks. Though I'm sure you know. Those few nights you spent here are the exact same as the months I've spent." The dark circles under her eyes really empathize her statement. "What do you mean?" I ask. "I mean that every night in here is the same as the last. It's awful." She says very bluntly. "But I did kill someone so I guess I deserve it." She sighs. "Yeah, but I told you that you can turn around." I remind her. "I know." She rubs her right temple with her free hand.

"How's the boyfriend?" She asks. "He's okay." I tell her. She's silent for a minute before she speaks again. "How's Heather?" She seems slightly nervous. "She's doing good." I smile. "She doesn't hate you, you know?" I somewhat blurt out. "I'm surprised. I treated her just as bad as Heather did." She is starting to get emotional. "But she forgave Heather, so she forgave you." She takes a deep breath, "I really appreciate you coming to see me. My mom hasn't come a single time." I frown. "Not that I expected her to." She adds. "Well you're welcome."

I go back home. JD is waiting by the door. ""Hey, where'd you go?" He asks. "To see Heather." I admit. "Oh, I didn't think she'd be home until Wednesday." He clearly thinks I mean Heather McNamara. "Yeah, I realized that once I got there. But then I ended up talking to her dad." I lie. "Oh." He buys it. I go into the kitchen, where Jill is. "Hey, Veronica. Did you give Paul his gift?" Crap. Paul Larken works at the prison. "Yes." I gulp. "Wait, when did you have time to go to see Paul? The prison's thirty minutes away." JD stands at the door. "She was at the prison. To see Heat-" Jill stops. She passes JD and leaves the kitchen. I try to follow but JD grabs me. "You've been visiting Heather in prison?" He looks calm but I know he's pissed. I stay silent. "Why?" He sighs. "Because, I feel bad for her. I'm the only one who visits her." I tell him. "Because she murdered someone! And framed you for it!" His voice starts to get louder. "JD I'm a grown adult! You're not going to lecture me on my decisions!" I raise my voice in turn. "Well why are you visiting someone who framed you for murder?" He asks. "Because! The first time, I just wanted to ask her why she did what she did. Then after seeing her, I felt bad for her. Heather Mac and I weren't the only ones who hated Heather Chandler." I rant. "She seemed genuinely sorry for what she did. And I believe her." I try to keep the tears from coming down my face. "I didn't plan it. I didn't expect to make seeing her a part of my schedule."

"I'm sorry, I just..." He takes a deep breath. "You know how I feel about her." He holds my hand. "I'm sorry I got angry at you." I smile, "I love you." I kiss him. We embrace for a while. "I'm sorry, can I just get back in here?" Jill is in the doorway. "Oh, sorry." I say, moving aside.

The next day, we go to Heather's as soon as we know she's home. We all hug and go inside. "How's Michigan?" I ask her. "Already cold. I showered one morning this past week, and I was late to class because my roommate told me I couldn't go outside with wet hair." She tells us. "That's crazy." I laugh. "Yeah, it's something. So how's Harvard?" She changes the subject. "Eh." I shrug. "Oh come on." JD nudges me. "What?" Heather looks between us. "She got an A on her assignment for her Creative Writing class." JD smiles. "Wow, what did you write about?" Our smiles drop. "Um... Heather's murder." I look down. "Oh. That's... I bet it was good." She clearly didn't like it, but she was happy for me.

On Thanksgiving, we spend all day playing games and just talking, until dinner. We sit down at the table. "So, lets go around the table and say what we're thankful for." She suggests. She goes first, "I'm thankful that I get to see my son and his amazing girlfriend so happy and doing such amazing things." JD goes next, "I'm thankful for my mom and all she does for me. And I'm thankful for my girlfriend who loves me and puts up with me." I laugh and make mine, "I'm thankful for Jill, who's let me live here, for free, and has treated me like a daughter. And I'm thankful for JD, who is incredibly sweet and supportive of my ambitions and decisions." We take a drink and start eating.

We all go to bed soon after, ready to go into a turkey coma. I snuggle up with JD. "Happy Thanksgiving." He kisses my nose. I kiss him on the lips. "Same to you." I smirk.

Hope you enjoyed that late Thanksgiving chapter! Also, place your guesses for the title of this chapter. Bye!