~While the series ended in 1999, this fanfic story takes place in modern day 2017.~
The Baby-Sitters Club was a successful babysitting business run by seven local teenagers that the whole town of Stoneybrook, Connecticut relied on for many years. One phone call always guaranteed a responsible babysitter and put the parents of Stoneybrook at ease. The club started when all the girls were 12 and in the 7th grade and ran up until the girls were in the 11th grade and all 17. With busier schedules, homework, social lives, boyfriends, cars and preparing for college, they just didn't have the time for their club meetings or babysitting anymore and mutually agreed it was time to move on. The club was taken over by Karen Brewer and Vanessa Pike, with a few of their friends joining before completely disbanding two years later.
While the BSC was no more, the close friendship between the 4 original club members Kristy, Mary Anne, Claudia and Stacey never faltered. As they grew up, graduated and went their separate ways to college, none of them forgot the fun they had in The Baby-Sitters Club or with each other.
Best friends Kristy Thomas and Mary Anne Spier both went to the University of Stoneybrook and roomed together all through college. Kristy was awarded a softball scholarship and also studied business management. For years, she was the star pitcher for the girl's softball team and had a promising athletic future ahead of her until she separated her shoulder during the first pitch of the first game of junior year. Kristy was devastated she would have to sit out the entire season and go to physical therapy but her recovery also gave her a chance to work on her studies and she realized she needed to focus on academics and business as she would no longer be able to pitch like she used to and sports were no longer in her future so reluctantly and very emotionally, she quit the softball team. After junior year, she completed a summer internship in the mailroom at SBC Insurance in downtown Stoneybrook and did such a great job, they offered her a position when she graduated the next year. While insurance wasn't her dream, nor was being a file clerk with a college degree, Kristy figured any job was better than no job and she accepted. She worked very hard and eventually got promoted and transferred to the Human Resources department as an administrative assistant but her organized ways and leadership skills wouldn't keep her in that lower level position for long and at the ripe age of 28, she is now the HR manager. With her friends and family supporting her, she also came out as a lesbian in college and while she has had relationships with women in the past, she is happily single, with her career currently being her only love. She has ditched her tomboy ways and is now a sleek, polished and professional career woman. She makes a lot of money, drives a snazzy BMW and she lives alone in a luxury high rise apartment building downtown that is close to work. She is still down to earth and appreciative of all that she has, but still very proud of her success and of being a self made woman, not having to take a penny from her wealthy stepfather, Watson. She is still very close to her siblings and step family and remains best friends with Mary Anne, who she sees regularly. Still, she hasn't given up on her favorite hobbies and still babysits. She loves looking after her brother Sam's two boys and Charlie's little girl and every Saturday morning, goes to Stoneybrook Park to play on an adult softball league..just for fun!
Mary Anne majored in English, with the goal of being an elementary school teacher but like Kristy, life had other plans. To earn some extra money and to gain work experience, she took a job in the university library and found she enjoyed the atmosphere, the quiet and calmness of the library and sharing her love of reading and education with others and decided to make that her life's work. She graduated at age 22 and received her masters degree in library science at age 25. She continues to work in the library at Stoneybrook U as head librarian and loves encouraging young college students to still enjoy paper books and reading, despite the age of internet, e-readers and youtube. She and Logan broke up in the 9th grade and his family moved back to Kentucky the next year. She hasn't seen or spoken with him since. Mary Anne recently got married to Jackson Carnahan, whom she met through Kristy, as he also works for SBC Insurance as an insurance agent. While they used to work in the same department together and are very good friends, after her promotions he no longer works with her, nor does he even see much of Kristy on a day to day basis, making it less awkward that he is now Mary Anne's husband. Mary Anne and Jackson bought a fixer upper home in her beloved Stoneybrook and are in the process of remodeling and fixing it up. They both want kids eventually but are enjoying newlywed life at the moment and turning their broken up house into something spectacular. Richard and Sharon Spier are still married and he still practices law but is looking forward to retiring in the next few years. Mary Anne is very close with both of them as well as her step- sister in California and former BSC member, Dawn Schaefer.
Dawn Schaefer never left California. Despite the rocky start, she eventually grew very close to Carol, the stepmother she once hated and ended up going to work for her at her interior design business, Schaefer Interiors as a receptionist immediately after graduating Palo City High School. She proved herself to Carol and was eventually promoted to the office manager. Still, she felt a little inadequate without a college education even though she didn't really need one and decided to enroll in night classes at the local community college studying office management and interior decorating and design. She never earned a degree but received certifications in both fields and with her newly aquire education and knowledge, became Carol's right hand, assisting her with her jobs. Dawn gained a lot of experience and eventually bought into the company and became business partners with Carol, changing the name of the company to C & D Designs and business in sunny and expensive southern California is booming! Dawn has been married to Dr. Ben Weiss, who she met at a coffee shop, for the past 3 years. Sunny Winslow and Mary Ann Spier served as co-maids of honor with various other California friends of hers serving as bridesmaids and Kristy, Claudia and Stacey were all in attendance! Dawn and Ben are both 28 and expecting their first child, currently 4 months pregnant with a baby boy. All of her friends and family are aware and very excited. Dawn and Ben live in the Orange County suburb of Tustin Ranch and she is looking forward to this next chapter of her life. She talks to Mary Anne all the time, stays in contact with Kristy on Facebook and while she occasionally sees Stacey and Claudia, who both now live in the Los Angeles area, being 1 hour and a half away, they mostly stay in contact via Facebook, emails or text but they have still gotten together numerous times over the past 10 years.
After graduation, Stacey McGill went to California to study mathematics at UCLA. She graduated with honors and after 4 years of college, grew to love the California sun and decided to stay at UCLA for graduate school studying education and upon completion of her graduate degree at 24, began student teaching at various schools in the Los Angeles area. During that time, Stacey unexpectedly got pregnant by Ben Katz, a man she was only casually dating. They decided to keep the child, a daughter named Ava McGill Katz, and tried to give their relationship a real try. They moved in together right before Ava was born but soon realized they really had nothing in common and a lot of tension and hostility developed between them and they began fighting constantly, before ultimately ending their relationship when Ava was almost 2. Stacey has primary custody, with Ben taking her every other weekend. They still don't like each other or get along but Ben loves Ava and is a terrific father to her and Stacey secretly relishes in her child free weekends where she can relax and still partake in her favorite pastime, shopping. Claudia Kishi was Stacey's rock during her tumultuous relationship and breakup with Ben and they are still best friends. Stacey is now a calculus teacher at the private and exclusive Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California. Her and Ava live nearby in a small but cute home in neighboring Studio City. He father had a heart attack and passed away 3 years ago and Stacey misses him terribly but is very greatful he got to meet his only grandchild. She is still close with her mom, who has retired from Bellaire's Department store and moved to a retirement neighborhood in Henderson, Nevada where she bought a home. They visit each other as often as they can, with only a one hour plane ride between them. Stacey has managed to take good care of herself throughout the years, exercising and eating well and while she still does have the occasional bad day relating to her health, her diabetes hasn't caused her any real permanent issues or problems. She's also on an insulin pump and uses a continuous glucose monitor, which combined has really helped her keep good control over her blood sugars and has kept her healthy and alert, allowing her to be a focused teacher and an ever-present and loving mom to now 4 year old Ava and they are always busy and out and about, going on Mommy Daughter adventures together.
Claudia Kishi always knew that art was her calling and applied to and was accepted to several art schools along the east coast with Boston College of the Arts being her number one choice but once her best friend was accepted to UCLA, she applied to CALArts in Valencia, California on a whim and was shocked but thrilled when she received her acceptance letter and followed Stacey to California. They hung out all the time, despite almost an hour driving distance between their schools. Eventually Claudia left the dorms and moved into an apartment with Stacey in L.A., borrowed money from her parents, bought a rinky dinky car and dealt with the long daily commute to school. Claudia graduated with a BFA in painting. Having a college degree was something she never imagined she'd be able to do as she struggled academically throughout middle and high school. She makes her living working as an assistant to famed watercolorist Ricardo Clements but also has her own studio and paints mostly abstract oil portraits of people and unique abstract nature landscapes. She has sold many of her paintings and some have ended up in galleries all over the country. She occasionally sets up a booth at various art festivals and sells her pain't insurance that way as well. She has a boyfriend, art gallery manager Frankie Karel. Claudia was unfortunately diagnosed with bone cancer at 23, went into remission after 1 year of treatment but suffered a relapse two years later at 25, which she also beat after a grueling year of chemo. Being in remission for the past 3 years, Claudia feels she is living on borrowed time and knows her aggresive type of cancer will eventually come back and kill her so she tries to live every day to the fullest. Her cancer finally encouraged her to kick that nasty junk food habit and she now eats well and clean and while her past chemo effects and weakened bones sap her energy and cause pain often, she tries to exercise when she can. Like Claudia by her side during her hard times, Stacey was also Claudia's support system, holding her hand throughout her chemo rounds and recovery, as was Claudia's boyfriend whom she met right after her first remission. They live together in Beverly Hills but are far from wealthy as they also pay rent for Claudia's loft/art studio in the grungier area of downtown L.A and in Beverly Hills, they just share a small 2 bedroom apartment. They see Stacey and Ava quite often as they live only 20 minutes apart from each other.
None of the Baby-Sitters keep in contact with Mallory or Jessi, their junior officers, as they were two years younger and didn't have much in common or anything to talk about once the both of them left the club. Kristy is the only one who is friends with both of them on Facebook but neither of them have reached out to her or tried to contact her, despite her adding them as friends. She knows Mallory is a journalist and has also written a few books and now lives in Upstate New York. Jessi moved back to New Jersey, where she attended college but Kristy doesn't know what she does for a living. Nobody knows what became or happened to Abby Stevenson but she never really fit into their group and could never fill Dawn's shoes.
As life goes, the young Baby-Sitters from Connecticut have grown into succesful women and they have all moved along with their lives, separated by thousands of miles and living busy adult lives on opposite coasts. The last time they were all together before Dawn's wedding was at their high school graduation. A very surprising and unexpected email from Cokie Mason to Kristy Thomas would get them all together again for the first time in years!
To: kristinthomas
From: cokiegirl
Subject: Stoneybrook High School 10 year Reunion!
Message:
Hello fellow SHS alums! Has it really been 10 years since we last walked the halls? I'm afraid it has been and you know what that means?! It's time for our 10 year high school reunion and I, your former head cheerleader and prom queen, and current reunion coordinator, Cokie Mason formally invite you to celebrate with your former classmates!
WHAT: Stoneybrook High school 10 year reunion
WHERE: The Hotel S, Ballroom 2 in Downtown Stoneybrook Connecticut
WHEN: January 20th, 2017 7:00 PM
Open bar and a sit down dinner, followed by a live dj and dancing all night long!
Fill out the attached questionnaire, filling us in on what's been going on in your life and please attach a current photo of yourself with your RSVP. Please feel free to forward the invite to any SHS alums, as I don't have email addresses and Facebook pages for everyone. Hope to see you there!
"Whaaaaat?" said a stunned Kristy as she sat at her desk at work, going through her morning ritual of drinking her coffee and reading all her emails. Her first thought was how in the world her former arch enemy, Cokie Mason got her work email address before remembering that her place of work was on her Facebook page and therefore, public knowledge. Her second thought was the realization that she, along with her friends are indeed getting older but her third and final thought was that this presents the perfect opportunity for the original members of the Baby-Sitter's Club to get together again and that idea mill within her brain started cranking away with all the things they can do together once everyone was back together in Connecticut! She hurriedly called Mary Anne's cell and when she answered, Kristy screamed into the phone, "Mary Anne! Check your email!"
Thanks for reading! There will be more of this story to come very soon!