Forever changed

Close to the finish

RILEY
I'm at this point incredibly happy. I left my job at the baby store 3 weeks ago. I am now 26 weeks pregnant which is just a week past the 7th month point. Jack and I have earned quite a lot of money, enough to nearly get an apartment. Jack is working more and more but I'm at home more now, constantly being taken care of by whoever is in the vicinity. My baby girl was now the size of water bottle. In a month, she would be the size of a big basketball.

"Hey baby..." Jack spoke as he entered the front door. He held me in his arms, kissing me as his hand drifted down to my baby bump. We hadn't seen each other a lot, seeing as he was mostly at work.

"How's my little girl doing?" Jack asked, sitting down next with me on the couch.

"She hasn't stopped moving. I'm pretty sure I haven't stopped peeing since I went to bed last night..." I said, my hands rubbing my belly.

"Well...you don't have long left..." Jack said, kissing me.

We sat on the couch, Jack watching the tv while I looked at my phone. Tash had been causing more of a hard time, constantly prying into my life. She showed up a week ago, still trying to question me. Jack managed to get her away, forcing her out of the house.

As we sat, Thomas ran inside, his eyes wide open as he tried to catch his breath.

"Thomas?" I asked, looking directly at him. He held the door closed, trying to lock it.

"She's-she's back...w-with backup..." Thomas said, his breath still not back.

"Damn it. Time for Code T protocol." I said, beginning to get up.

Code T protocol was the protocol we put into action whenever Tash showed up unexpectedly. I would go upstairs and go into Thomas' room since he has a hiding space that's impossible for anyone who isn't family to find and since Tash isn't the brightest of people, she usually gives up on finding me.

Jack helped me upstairs, helping me bend down into Thomas' secret hiding place. I could hear Tash bashing the door open.

JACK
"Where is she?" Tash asked, forcefully entering the house as she put her pocket knife back into her bag, obviously trying to scare Thomas out of her way, which it did work.

"Why are you here Tash?" I asked, getting closer to her, not letting my guard down.

"I'm here to give Riley a...baby present." Tash said, hesitating, obviously trying to come up with a really good lie.

"I can pass it on to her. Riley's upstairs, sleeping." I said, holding out my hand.

"No, it's fine, I'll just walk in, put the present down and walk out." Task said, attempting to get past Thomas and I.

"Sorry. No can do." I said, making her back off.

"Fine. But Jack...one bit of advice. When that baby is born, you're gonna run away, you're always going to runaway. You never liked difficult tasks. Soon, you're going to wake up and realise that you're never going to be cut out for raising a baby..." Tash threatened me before leaving.

Once Tash was at least away from earshot, I called out to Riley.

"RILEY! She's gone!" I yelled.

RILEY
Jack called out to me.

"RILEY! She's gone!" He yelled. I slowly stood up, carefully, getting out of the hiding spot. Once out of Thomas' room, I walked downstairs, my body still shaking.

"Are you ok?" Jack asked, looing at me.

"We really have to figure out what to do with Tash..." I said, sitting down.

"Well...we can find some way to deal with her....but I'm not exactly sure how yet..." Jack admitted, giving me the most comforting hug.