Growing Up

Chapter Two: Ups and Downs of a Pregnancy

'I have now been pregnant for 4 months. And I'm telling you now that my mood swings couldn't be any more frequent. Luckily, I have Toby with me practically 24/7 now, so that's a good thing. And, this will surprise you; Melissa and I are actually starting to slowly to get along. I guess that we just needed to have something in common for us to be able to get along. We are actually planning on going shopping this weekend to shop for baby clothes. And while Melissa knows that she is having a little girl, it's still too early for the gender of my baby to be determined. But that's okay. Toby and I don't want to know what we are having. We want to find out when the baby is born.' Spencer had started a pregnancy journal so that way when the baby was older and able to read, they would be able to read Spencer's thoughts throughout the entire process. As Spencer put her pen and journal on her bedside table, there was a small knock her door and her sister stuck her head in.

"Hey, you are awake. Mom and Dad would like to talk to us downstairs. Apparently they want our opinions on something." Melissa said with a look of confusion on her face and a shrug of her shoulders.

"Okay. I'll be there in a second. I need to get my sweater; is it just me or has downstairs become really cold?" Spencer asked.

"It's because heat raises Spence, remember?" Melissa asked.

"Oh yeah." Spencer muttered under her breath as she carefully got off her bed and grabbed her sweater from the chair in the corner.

As Spencer followed her sister down the stairs, she didn't hear anything coming from the living room. If her parents needed her opinion on something, shouldn't they be talking about something related to what they were going to be talking to her about? It was only when she reached the landing before the last four steps that she understood what was going on. Luckily, she had at least gotten dressed that morning because the entire living room was decorated and everyone, aside from her and Melissa, were dressed nicely. Toby and her parents were the first ones to do anything when they saw Spencer standing on the stairs. Toby walked over to her and her parents grabbed two identical white boxes of the island counter handing one to Spencer and one to Melissa.

"What's going on?" Spencer asked after getting a passionate kiss from Toby.

"We're throwing you a Melissa a double baby-shower." Toby whispered in her ear as he stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"A double baby-shower?" Spencer asked in disbelief as she looked over at her sister who was standing there awkwardly since Ian was nowhere to be found. "Shouldn't Ian be here then?" she asked taking her sister's hand in hers and giving it a small squeeze.

"Oh, he will be right back. He had to go grab something from the barn." Peter explained and a smile graced Melissa's lips.

"Oh." Spencer managed to say before she looked down at the box in her hand and then back up at her parents. "Can Melissa and I open these? Or do we have to wait for him to get back?" she asked.

"Oh, you can open them now." Veronica said excitedly.

"Together then?" Melissa asked looking at Spencer and Spencer nodded.

As Melissa and Spencer sat down to open the boxes, Spencer's friends and family gathered around them to see what was inside. Upon seeing a beautiful red dress, Spencer's eyes filled with tears. Looking over at her sister, Spencer saw that Melissa had gotten a similar one, but instead of red, it was blue. Setting the boxes aside, the two girls stood up and gave their parents hugs of thanks.

"You guys should go put them on." Aria said. Spencer hadn't really talked to her friends much in the past few weeks since she was busy with her and Toby getting prepared for the baby. This was something that Spencer was starting to regret not doing. She missed her friends.

"Come on Spence. Aria's right, we should put them on." Melissa said putting her hand on Spencer's shoulder.

"I'll be up in a minute." Spencer said before walking over to her friends. "I am so sorry that I haven't hung out with you guys a lot lately. It's just that being 16, Toby and I need to do everything we can to prepare for the baby." She said and her friends smiled. "What?" she asked when she noticed their smiles.

"We don't care that you haven't been spending time with us Spencer. We're happy for you and Toby. You guys are starting a family. You need to spend time with him." Emily explained.

Spencer didn't know what else to do but hug her friends.

"I promise to try and make time for you guys." She said to them before she headed upstairs to change.

As Spencer was walking into her room, she saw Melissa walking out of the guest bedroom and Spencer smiled at her sister. Spencer was happy that she and Melissa were getting along now. Sure, it took Spencer's whole life so far to get to this point, but they were there.

"You look beautiful Melissa." Spencer said.

"Thanks. Could you possibly help me zip the dress up the rest of the way?" Melissa asked as she turned around so that her back was facing Spencer.

"Sure. Will you help me with my dress?" Spencer asked as she zipped her sister's dress up the last little bit of the way.

"Of course I will." Melissa said as the two walked into Spencer's room.

It took only a few minutes for Spencer to get the dress on and for Melissa to help her zip it up. As Spencer was about to do her make-up, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." Melissa called.

"Are you two ready? Everyone is asking what's taking so long." Ian said as he stuck his head into the room.

"We'll be there in a minute." Melissa said.

"Wow. You both look stunning." Ian commented looking both his wife and his ex-fling over.

"Ian…" Spencer warned. She didn't like the way that he was looking at her and didn't want to have to call Toby upstairs to get Ian to stop.

"Sorry, it was a compliment Spence." Ian said as he offered his arm to Melissa and she took it. "Oh, Toby's waiting to talk to you in the hall." He added as he and Melissa walked out of the room.

"You can come in Toby." Spencer called as she turned to her mirror and applied a small amount of make-up.

"You're friends had to leave." Toby said as he leaned against the doorway.

"Why?" Spencer asked as she spun around and lost her balance a little bit. Luckily Toby caught her before she could fall.

"I don't know. They wouldn't tell me. All they said was that they had to go and that they would like you to call them when the party's over." Toby said as he sat Spencer down on the bed.

"Well, that's unfortunate. I really wanted them to stay." Spencer said with a frown.

"What did Ian do Spencer?" Toby asked.

"What do you mean?" Spencer questioned as she glanced at him through the mirror.

"I heard you say his name warningly. So what did he do?" Toby asked again.

"When he came in to see what was taking so long, he gave me a once over. Although he had commented both Melissa and I, it didn't feel right to have him stare at me the way he was.

"I don't trust the guy. And honestly, I don't see how your parents or sister can either." Toby commented.

"I don't know Toby. I've been trying to figure that out myself, but with Melissa and I finally getting along, I don't want to ruin that by trying to prove that Ian was involved with Alison's murder in any way. Any evidence that my friends and I get is going straight to the police and we are going to let them figure it out. If it proves Ian innocent, that's great, and Melissa will be happy. If it proves him guilty, then that's not as great, and Melissa will be devastated." Spencer said slowly.

"Even with you and Melissa getting along, is there still a part of you that hopes that something will point to him being guilty?" Toby asked.

"I don't know anymore." Spencer said as she turned around and looked at Toby. "But I don't want to think about that anymore. Let's just go downstairs and enjoy the rest of the party." She added.

While Spencer and Toby had been talking in her room, Ian had snuck back upstairs and was listening to their conversation. He couldn't help the smirk that came across his face when he heard Spencer say that she didn't want to focus on whether he was involved with Ali's murder or not. It finally gave him a chance to put his past involvement with Ali in the past, and there was no one who would be going against him anymore.

End Chapter Two

(A/N: I apologize profusely for such a long wait. I have been busy with other things that my fan fictions have taken a backseat to everything else. I do hope that you enjoyed this chapter, and I promise you, I am working on chapter three, and it will hopefully be up soon. If you have names or gender references, please let me know in a review and I will keep them in mind. - Emma)