R&R :)
"Are you ready, Bec?" Emily Sanderson said almost impatiently, as she waited for her daughter. "Joe's ready to go!"
Five year old Bec looked in the mirror, grinning at her appearance. Although she was virtually swimming in her too big school uniform and her backpack hung down way further than it probably should have, she was ready to go.
"Ready", she said with a grin, leading the way to the door, six minute older Joe running after her.
There was a whole wide world out there ready and waiting for her, and Bec Sanderson couldn't wait to make her mark.
"Are you ready, Bec?" Emily called, and Bec came out of her bedroom with her suitcase in one arm and her overnight bag slung over one shoulder. "You know, all those times Dad and I joked about you moving out, we really were joking".
Bec burst into laughter, hugging her mother. "Can't get rid of me that easily, Mum. I'll be back to hand over my washing".
"Don't you dare!" Neil gasped, and Bec laughed as he took her suitcase to toss into the car.
The Solar Blue boarding house was only two blocks away from the house Bec had grown up in, but with the majority of her clothes and half of her possessions (to make the room she'd be sharing with a virtual stranger seem more homey); Bec was not making the walk. Not in the scorching Sydney sun, at least.
"See ya round, Benny". Bec ruffled twelve year old Ben's hair, making him frown.
"See ya Bec".
"Dude, you'll see me at the beach tomorrow". She grinned at him, before hugging Joe. "Wish you were coming too, Joey".
"See you at the beach, Bec". He grinned ruefully at her, and she punched him gently on the shoulder.
"Ready to go!" she called to her father, as she headed out to the car.
"Are you guys ready?" Edge wanted to know, as they stood at the doors of the boat club. Hand in hand, the seven teenagers that made up the Solar Blue class of 2005 were awake at the crack of dawn, watching the sun rise over the ocean, ready to step into the future together.
"I don't think I'm ready for this", Fly admitted.
"We're ready", Matt said confidently, squeezing Perri's hand.
"Ready to face the future together", Bec whispered, squeezing Edge and Heath's hands, before the group of seven stepped out onto the veranda of the boat club. Still hand in hand, they moved down the four steps before running, shrieking and laughing down to the ocean, dressed in the night's before finery.
"Are you ready, Bec?" Neil whispered, and Bec nodded shakily.
"I think so, Dad".
Glancing at her reflection one more time, she bit back a chuckle. She never imagined that she'd be the girl in the white, overly expensive wedding dress. Then again, she had never imagined her life turning out anywhere near how her life had actually turned out.
But marrying Garry Miller was about as far away from where she had predicted.
Linking her arm with her father's, the pair set off down the aisle, Bec's eyes meeting her fiancée, soon to be husband.
"Ready to marry me, Bec Sanderson?"
"Ready as I'll ever be, Garry Miller". Bec smiled at him, as she lifted her veil over her head.
"Are you ready, Bec? It's almost time to push", a cheerful midwife said from somewhere between her legs, and Bec bit back a profanity.
"Does it look like I'm ready?" she seethed. "You tell that baby to wait, I am their mother-" the rest of her statement was cut off by a particularly harsh contraction and the scream of pain that followed, and Bec was left cursing. Cursing herself for thinking she was strong enough to go through childbirth without pain relief, cursing Garry for missing the birth of the child that he just had to have, and cursing the child that was making its way out of her at that very moment.
"Ready or not, honey, this baby's on its way".
Bec let out a scream. "Where the hell is he?"
"He'll be here!"
"Okay, I'm here, what did I miss?" Garry said, tugging off his jumper as he made his way into the room.
Bec didn't know whether or not to kiss him or kill him. Deciding she'd do both, she smashed her lips against his before gripping his hands with both of hers, letting out a scream of pain.
"this is not a freaking football game, Garry Miller", she griped, and Garry was fairly sure that in the fifteen seconds he'd been in the delivery room, she had broken at least four bones in his hands.
"Almost there!"
"I'm here now", he said soothingly, untangling one of his hands to wipe back her sweaty hair off her forehead. "You ready for this, Bec? Ready to become a mummy?"
"No". She held onto his hand even tighter, gasping for breath.
"You're ready", the nurse said to her with a grin.
"Bec, are you ready?" Garry bellowed from the kitchen.
"In a minute!" she yelled back, as she shoved a bunch of papers off the desk, silently cursing the man for moving the camera on one of the most important days of their life to date.
"Somehow I don't think the school will accept that on her FIRST DAY!"
She heard the laughter echo down the hallway, frowning at the reactions from the six teenagers and her daughter.
"Somehow I don't think the school will accept that on her first day", Bec mimicked under her breath. "If you hadn't hid the camera, Miller, we wouldn't be having this dilemma. Honestly, we had it yesterday!"
Opening the last drawer on the cabinet, she almost cheered when she grabbed it. Heading into the kitchen she was greeted by the six teenagers, her husband and her daughter.
"What are you guys waiting for?" Bec asked with a grin. "You guys started yesterday!"
(If they had thought she had been joking when she had said that they'd be making the twenty minute walk to Blue Water High every morning, they were kidding themselves. She had done it and turned out fine.)
"We can't let little Faithy head off into the world without a goodbye!" Chloe protested, and Faith giggled, latching onto the redhead's hand.
"We'll drop you off on the way". Garry rolled his eyes playfully, as they headed out into the van. Piling into their own seats, Shannon helped buckle Faith into her booster seat before pulling his own seatbelt across his chest. "Faith's walking to school, too!"
"Yep". Faith nodded cheerfully, her two brown braids bouncing.
"You ready for school, Faith?" Bec wanted to know, as she climbed into the passenger seat, camera in hand.
"Yep!"
Pulling over in front of Blue Water High, the six kids clambered out, calling their farewells and good lucks to little Faith.
"I can't believe she's ours", Garry whispered, as Faith disappeared into the classroom without even so much as a wave. "She's perfect".
"It's a shame we have to share her", Bec said sombrely. "It's a good thing we'll have another one in a few months, isn't it?"
"What?" Garry's jaw dropped in excitement. "Are you serious?"
Bec just pressed her lips against his. "Get ready to be a father of two, Garry Miller".
"I'm ready". He grinned at her. "Are you ready?"
"I'm ready".