Time for a Sign

My eyes felt heavy and sore when I woke up, probably from my crying, however it was still fairly dark so I wasn't sure what had woken me.

"Pat you are so stupid! She tells you that there's a risk of premature birth so you yell at her and make her stressed! You do know that you've just increased that risk by doing this to her," I could hear Jessy yelling from downstairs. I covered my face with my hands, not brave enough to go downstairs.

"Jessy, this is none of your business. Just leave and let me talk to Alecia," Pat said in a quieter voice than Jessy's, sounding tired.

"What makes you think I'm going to let you see her? Kenny told me how upset she was last night that you would stupidly put your own life in danger by driving when you were drunk and angry. She didn't care that you were mad at her, she was more scared that you would die on your way to Kenny's! What if you had died last night, huh? You would have left her to raise your kid by herself, and that's if the baby would have survived from the stress you would have left her with," Jessy lectured him.

Pat was quiet and I couldn't make out the rest of his and Jessy's conversation until I heard a set of footsteps come up the stairs. I rolled onto my side, facing away from the door. I didn't want to be disturbed.

"Alecia? Are you awake?" came Jessy's soft voice. I rolled over to see her standing hesitantly at the door. She stepped inside and closed the door behind her before sitting on the edge of my bed. "How are you feeling?"

I closed my eyes. "Tired."

"Pat's downstairs, he wants to talk to you but I don't want him to snap at you if you're still tired-"

"Just let him in," I mumbled.

"Are you sure?" I just nodded. Jessy stood up from the bed and disappeared downstairs. I could hear her muffled conversation with Pat before I heard his footsteps coming up the stairs.

I heard the door click open and a few moments later the bed dipped as Pat sat near me, his hand stroking my hair.

"Hey." I only murmured in response, still too sleepy to form coherent words. "Are you awake?"

I nodded. "I'm just really tired," my voice was masked by sleep.

We were quiet for a moment until Pat spoke softly.

"I'm sorry for getting angry at you last night. I should have known better than to yell at you."

"It's not you yelling at me that made me so upset, I deserved that for keeping it from you for so long. It was the fact that you put your own life in danger by driving when you were angry and drunk. Imagine if you had gotten in an accident."

"I know, I feel awful about it. Kenny told me this morning that you called him last night and I didn't realise until then how stupid I was for doing it. I promise I'll never do it again, I would never want to put you in that situation."

"But you did. It hurt that you wouldn't stay and just talk it out like we usually do." I could feel my voice starting to crack from sleep and the tears at bay when I remembered last night.

"I'm sorry," was all he could say. Pat laid down on the bed next to me and pulled me in to his chest, holding me tight. I wrapped my arms around him and closed my eyes, feeling myself falling asleep again.

"Don't you dare fall asleep, I leave tonight and we have the whole day to ourselves," Pat teased me.

"But I'm tired," I whined, "Can't we spend the day being lazy before you go?"

"What are we supposed to do?"

"Well, we could go downstairs, kick Jessy out and watch Breakfast At Tiffany's?" I suggested, looking up at him through my eyelashes.

I saw his resolve crumble and he started to roll away from me. "I'll go get us some breakfast and you go get cosy on the couch."

* * * * *

We spent the day on the couch like newlyweds, barely paying any attention to the movie playing on the screen. At 4pm, Pat's phone buzzed with a new message. He looked at it and sighed, moving to a sitting position on the couch.

"We're leaving in an hour, I have to go to the studio soon to help load the gear," he said and I pouted.

"I don't want you to go," I whined, holding him tighter against me.

"I don't really want to either, but I have to."

I released him from my grip and stood up from the couch. "Do you want me to go check that you've packed everything?"

Pat nodded. "You know how I forget things easily."

I chuckled as I remembered the time Pat had called me from tour, not long before we got married, saying that he forgot to pack socks and if I could bring a bunch to the Phoenix show.

I headed upstairs and double-checked Pat's luggage, making sure he had everything and adding some extra things. He came and carried it out to the door while we waited for John to arrive in the van.

John pulled up and walked to the door, bags under his eyes.

"Hey," he greeted us half-heartedly, "You ready to go?"

Pat nodded before turning to me and pulling me into a tight hug. I leaned up and pressed a kiss to his lips before he moved his hands down to my belly.

"Stay safe, alright? Don't stress too much and don't hesitate to call me if anything goes wrong." Pat kissed me again before looking down at my growing stomach. "You behave for your momma, got it? Stay safe in there. I'll see you both in a few weeks."

We hugged and kissed one final time before he took the handle of his suitcase and wheeled it out to load it in the van. I waved them off as they headed down the street to pick up the rest of the guys.

A few minutes later I received a message from Jessy, telling me to go to Rebekah and John's place and to bring three pints of ice cream.

I figured that this was going to turn into a slumber party, so I packed a bag with some clothes, pyjamas and toiletries, stopping off at the grocery store before getting to the house John and Rebekah shared.

Rebekah was napping on the couch when I walked in and I took the ice cream to the freezer before joining Jessy, who was sitting on the couch next to Rebekah and smoothing her hair back.

"What's going on?" I asked, taking a seat on the armchair across from the couch.

"Bek and John were arguing all last night about Rachel. He wouldn't tell her anything about her, since he doesn't think she deserves the attention, and Rebekah took it badly. She thinks John will want to get back with her, but everyone knows it won't happen. Then add in the fact that John's gone on tour for three weeks and Bek's just a big old mess right now."

"We should tell her about Rachel. She deserves to know everything she did so she can really see how much John loves her. Would he mind if we did?"

Jessy shook her head. "He wants her to know but he doesn't want to tell her himself because he's worried it'll come off wrong. I just don't want to tell her because I know so much of it involves me and John and I don't want her to hate me for it."

"I honestly don't think Rebekah will mind. She knows how happy you are with Garrett and to be truthful she would probably be glad that you got John out of that horrible relationship," I convinced Jessy.

"Yeah, I guess. I just don't want her to hate me is all."

Rebekah started stirring from her nap, sitting up to look at me with bleary eyes. "Hey Alecia, when did you get here?"

"About five minutes ago. You hungry?"

She nodded. "Starving. I don't think I've eaten all day."

"So am I. Let's order in, put in some shitty movies and gossip."

We ordered some Thai food and by the time it arrived we had already gotten in our pyjamas and were watching some chick flick.

Jessy handed us our cartons and went to the kitchen for the wine she had brought over. She poured a glass for herself and Rebekah. Rebekah took a sip and screwed her face up, sticking out her tongue.

"Jessy, what is that? It tastes awful." Rebekah grabbed the bottle and read it before looking at Jessy. "This is alcohol-free. Is there something you're not telling us?"

Rebekah and I cornered Jessy, who was known to crack under pressure.

"Okay, fine, but you can't tell anyone at all. Not Pat, John or especially Garrett. But, I'm pregnant again. I'm only 8 weeks so I'm not really in the safe zone yet. I don't want to tell anyone until I know that we're safe. Garrett was so devastated when I lost the last one and I don't want him to feel like that again."

"We 100% promise to keep your secret. I'm so happy for you Jessy," I said, moving to hug her.

"You two are making me so clucky, oh god I can't wait to have kids with John," Rebekah moaned, "That is if he doesn't go and see this Rachel girl behind my back."

I looked at Jessy. It was time to tell her.

"Rebekah, that's kind of what we want to talk to you about. We're going to tell you the whole Rachel story, but you have to keep in mind that this was years ago and obviously, things have changed a lot since then."

Jessy told Rachel the whole story, from her leaving and returning to Phoenix, John's relationship with Rachel and how she was sleeping with Halvo. She looked down at her hands as she told her about the fake relationship with Garrett to make John jealous, the messy break up, as well as her feelings for John.

"But, I just couldn't do it. I guess that I was just convincing myself that I loved him because I could see how much being with Rachel was killing him. I guess we were too good as friends to take anything further. It upset him for a bit, but he got over it. And then he found you," Jessy finished with a smile.

"Wow. I feel bad that I was so harsh on him about it last night. She really put him through hell, didn't she?"

We nodded. "That's why we all got so worried when she showed up the other night. She just makes John so tense and she treated him so badly. I think one of the things he liked about you straight away was that you got on with us, well, tried to get on with Jessy."

"I am sorry about how I first acted towards you when you guys started dating. It's just that after Rachel I was scared that every girl he dated was going to treat him like that," Jessy apologised to Rebekah.

"I never got why you were so indifferent towards me, but now I completely understand and I would act the same way if it was my best friend in that situation." Rebekah hugged Jessy as I held back the happy tears.

I was rubbing them away from my eyes as they looked over to me, looking at me worriedly.

"Fucking pregnancy hormones." We all laughed and they hugged me as well, all three of us pulling back after a few moments.

"Okay let's stop this crying business, eat some ice cream and watch Clueless."

* * * * *

Since he had attended my last ultrasound with me, Eric was set on getting me up to a healthier weight, and as much as I appreciated the thought, it was starting to bug me.

"Eric, I physically can't eat anymore, I'll be sick if I do," I said as I held my stomach and looked down at the nearly empty plate in front of me.

"Are you sure?"

I nodded. "Positive."

I had the afternoon off, so Eric and I were taking our time with lunch. He claimed to have a surprise for me after we finished and I immediately grew cautious. The last time he said he had a surprise for me I ended up in the ER with a fractured wrist.

He drove us to the mall and we walked past shops before Eric spotted the pet store. He was always a huge animal lover, especially dogs, and I had grown to let him have his way when he wanted to look at the puppies and kittens in the windows.

"Come on Alecia, for old time sake," he pleaded. I sighed and let him drag me over, and I had to admit, the lonely little kitten in the window was cute. Unfortunately, it also had a sold sign on the window.

"How cute is that kitten? If it wasn't sold I would totally buy it," I said, nearly pressing my face to the glass as the kitten looked curiously at me.

Eric smirked. "I'm going to go look at the fish." He went inside the store and moments later an employee came up to the window and opened it, taking the kitten out. She noticed me staring wistfully at it.

"Would you like to hold it before I give it to the owner?" she asked. I thanked her and held my hands out for the kitten. It curled up in my arms and started purring. I never wanted to let it go.

Eric came back, holding an empty pet carrier. I frowned at him.

"Eric, you don't have any pets, why are you buying that?" I asked him.

"Because, I bought one." The lady took the kitten back from me and placed it gently in the pet carrier Eric was holding.

"Wait, you bought the kitten?" I asked him, "I thought you were more of a dog person to be honest."

"Well, I didn't buy it for myself. I figured that you would need something to keep you company while Pat's on tour."

My jaw dropped. "You bought me a cat? Eric, I'm having a baby in like four months, I would have been fine by myself."

"Well, you can add someone new to the family before then. What do you want to name her?"

I looked at the soft, grey kitten meowing through the bars of the pet carrier. "I think I'll call her Lola."

And so I took home the little grey kitten when Eric and I said goodbye at my car and we spent that night cuddled up together on the couch while Roman Holiday played on the television.