Wow! Guys! Thanks for all those reviews! Talk about making me happy! So I will celebrate by giving you this already! :D
Chapter 1 - Contractions
Jill yelped and shot up into sitting position as she was jarred awake from the dream. She was breathing heavily, cold sweat running down her back and one of her arms was unconsciously rubbing her big belly button as she looked around, exhaling in relief as she realized she was home in her own bed. She felt a hand onto her sweaty back and she looked to her side where Damien was waking up, opening his groggy eyes, worried about his girl.
"Are you alright honey?" Damien asked worried as he sat up in the bed, observing Jill with weary eyes. She did not look too well, she was pale, breathing hard and sweating. Damien quickly sat up fully and pulled his arms around her.
Jill took another deep breath before she smiled to him.
"I'm fine, just had a nightmare."
"You sure? You want me to get you something?"
"No, I'm fine. I'm gonna take a shower."
Damien observed his girl as she lurched herself slowly out of bed, moving into the bathroom. He sighed and looked over at the watch, seeing he had another hour before he needed to get up. He smiled as he fell back into the bed, drifting off to sleep again.
Jill got out of her nightgown and moved into the shower. She had felt pain go through her as she woke up, not much but enough to shake her awake. She took another deep breath as she turned on the water, letting the hot rays of water soak her body. She put the palms of her hands towards the wall of the shower, leaning forward and arching her sore back, closing her eyes as she let the hot rays work their magic. Her back had been killing her the last weeks and she couldn't wait for the pregnancy to be over. She had passed her due date already and with the amount of food she had eaten the last time, she had grown absolutely huge. Her body was complaining and she was looking forward to get back to her 33 1/2B-22-33 figure.
The memories of the nightmare still echoed through her mind, the pictures still remaining on her corneas. She had had those nightmares for she didn't know how many years and she wondered if they ever would disappear? She knew the others had nightmares about that time too. Especially Kelly, but Sabrina and Kris too. Their memories and what they had gone through still haunted their subconscious, and as Jill stood in the shower, she stretched her hand over her shoulder put her hand on her upper back. She could still feel the scars. They were a constant reminder of the horror she had gone through. The horror they had all gone through. It was the hardest thing anyone of them had to go through and their lives were forever changed afterwards.
About an hour later, Jill was making breakfast when Damien walked into the kitchen. He saw Jill and walked up behind her, wrapped his arms around her and put his hands onto the big stomach as he kissed her neck. Jill jerked slightly as he touched the stomach, and she moved away from his touch, being tense and very uncomfortable. Damien immediately noticed, and he put a hand on her shoulder, turning her slightly so he could meet her face.
"Hey babe, what's wrong?" Damien asked worried. Jill never moved away from him.
"I'm sorry, the belly is just a little sensitive today." Jill said tiredly as she smiled lightly to Damien and gave him a kiss.
Damien observed her with a wakeful eye as he got a cup of coffee and sat down by the table were breakfast was being served. She looked tired he thought, which weren't surprising him because he knew she hadn't been sleeping well. The gnome, or Andrew, as Jill called the baby, had been very active lately and as he was practicing his kung fu moves, Jill had been kept awake by them. As Damien watched her, he noticed how she grabbed onto the counter with one hand, the other was frenetically rubbing the huge stomach, and in the same time she closed her eyes and doubled slightly. Damien let go of his cup of coffee and walked up to Jill, carefully putting his hand in her neck.
"Sweetie?"
Jill was breathing hard and she leaned in towards Damien as he slipped an arm around her waist.
"I'm okay Damien." Jill said in a small voice. "He's just kicking…."
"You sure? It didn't look like it."
"I'm okay, really. I'm just tired."
"Come on, why don't you lie down for a while. There will be another few hours before Kelly comes and you look like you're about to fall. Let's get you to lie down, okay?"
Jill nodded, and let Damien take her to the bedroom where she slipped down into the bed. Damien pulled the cover around her and kissed her head, staying seated with her in the bed. He pulled his fingers through her big hair as he observed her, and he realized maybe it was time for the baby to see the world.
"Jill? I'm going to call my friends and tell them I'll stay with you today, okay?"
"You don't have to do that Damien, you don't need to stay with me, I'm fine."
"I just want to be on the safe side. Kelly comes soon and if everything is fine by then I'll might go out, but I'll stay with you until then."
Jill nodded slowly, a small smile on her face. She was feeling kinda queasy and she didn't mind having her man with her as she was. He leaned down and kissed her before leaving the room to make the call, and Jill slowly drifted off to sleep.
"Jill? Sweetie?"
Jill slowly opened her eyes as she felt a hand on her cheek. She saw Damien sitting on the edge of the bed and she smiled slightly as she saw him smile to her, eyes filled with affection.
"Hey." Jill smiled as she opened her eyes. Damien tilted his head and looked worried at her.
"How are you feeling?"
"Tired, but I'm okay." Jill said, and was just about to say something else as pain went shooting through her. She grabbed onto the stomach with her hands and winced as she felt it, and Damien immediately moved closer to her and put one hand on her stomach, the other hand on her shoulder that she had hurt a few months back. As Jill relaxed, he leaned over to brush her hair out of her face.
"I'll call Kelly and tell them that you're staying inside today."
"I'm fine Damien."
"You're having contractions Jill, you know you are. Stay in bed okay?"
Jill nodded slowly, she had already figured out too that it was contractions she was having. Her due date had been two days ago, and she was so tired of being pregnant, so a small smile spread onto her lips as Damien left the room.
Damien picked up the phone in the living room and called Kelly, who picked up not many signals later.
"Garretts."
"Hey, Kelly, it's Damien."
"Hey D, what's up?"
"I know you're supposed to go out and have lunch with Jill today, and I know you were supposed to pick her up, but I think it's better if you guys come here instead of her going out."
"Why's that?"
"She's having contractions, they are still about half an hour away from each other, but she's definitely in labor. I've been sitting with her and clocked her, and they come regularly."
"I'll call the others and we'll come over there instead and keep you guys company."
"Great, thanks Kelly."
Damien hung up the phone in the same time as he heard the door bell ring. He walked over to it and opened the door, to reveal a huge amount of blonde hair standing in the doorway. A bright smile was covering half of Peggy Lou's face as she saw Damien.
"Howdy Damy! I bought cookies and I thought we should watch TV!"
"Actually Peggy, I don't think now is the best time…" Damien said, but was immediately cut off by Peggy.
"Is something wrong! With Jillie Lou!"
Peggy dropped the bag of cookies she had brought and dived in under Damien's arm, hurrying to Jill's bedroom. Jill had jumped up against the white bed-foot and was resting with her head back and her hands on top of the enormous belly.
She bounced a foot up into the air as Peggy Lou threw herself down in the bed. Jill opened her eyes in shock as she landed back in the bed, wondering where the earthquake had come from, and her eyes grew wide as she saw Peggy Lou. No. Not now. Peggy Lou had lived with Kelly and Aurore for a month and since Jill loved spending time at Kelly and Aurore's, she had to deal with the sister too. She couldn't stand her though, she was too blonde, too loud and too … southern. But Peggy didn't seem to notice Jill's annoyance, she more saw the two of them as absolute best friends and Peggy Lou was always following Jill around as a faithful tail.
"Are ya okaay?" Peggy asked and Jill couldn't help but to smile gently as she saw the fear and worry in Peggy Lou's eyes. She was genuinely frightened.
"I'm okay Peggy." Jill smiled as she reached for Peggy's hand. "The contractions started."
"AMAGAD! Ya'll have a baby! NOW? Horny toads, we have to get ya to a hospital!" Peggy exclaimed, jumping out of bed with her arms flailing. Jill sighed deeply as she watched how Damien grabbed onto Peggy Lou and held her still.
"Peggy. We don't need to get to the hospital yet, there's still plenty of time to go. If you want to stay here, you have to stay calm okay? I don't want Jill to be in unnecessary stress and I don't want you to be the cause of it."
Peggy nodded drastically, making her blonde hair hit Damien in the face.
"I'll stay calm!" Peggy Lou smiled brightly as she hurried back to Jill's side, putting her hand on top of Jill's belly. "I'm gonna be an aunt!"
Jill stared tiredly at the nineteen year old and sighed loudly. Peggy Lou had way too much energy. This was going to be a long day.
Kelly, Kris, Aurore and the three angels came into the house about an hour later. They had brought food from their favorite restaurant and they gathered up into the living room. Jill was sitting up in the couch dressed in a big light pink night gown in silk, just recovering from a contraction, and Peggy was sitting next to her side, holding her hand. Damien was also next to her, and Peggy Lou jumped out of the couch as the others came inside. She bounced over to Kelly and Aurore and tossed her arms around Aurore's neck.
"She's havin' a babie!"
Kris walked around Peggy and slid down into the couch on Jill's free side, slipping down close to her sister and putting her hand onto Jill's back, rubbing it gently, guessing her back was very sore. She remembered her own back had been absolutely killing her during the contractions. She was glad her sister didn't have to face the contractions alone, she had a lot of support with her today. At least Kris didn't have any plans on leaving Jill's side.
"Hey sis, how are you doing?" Kris asked gently as she kept rubbing Jill's lower back, noticing Jill relax slightly as Kris began massaging the sore and tender area.
"I'm fine, just a little bit tired."
"Have you called her doctor?" Kelly asked and Damien shook his head.
"AMAGAD we forgot to call tha doc!" Peggy Lou exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air, waving them around in panic. "I shoulda thought of thaaat!"
"Peggy, don't worry. I'll go ahead and do it." Damien said, leaving Jill's side and walked over to the phone.
"How long has it been going on?" Kris asked, brushing the hair away from Jill's sweaty forehead as Jill put her head on Kris' shoulder, not having the strenght to keep herself upright.
"A couple of hours. I felt the first as I woke up this morning." Jill said tiredly as she recovered from the last contraction. They were definitely getting stronger already.
"Jill?" Damien asked to get her attention as he held the phone towards his shoulder. "You still wanna do it naturally?"
"Yeah." Jill nodded and Damien went back to the phone.
"You're insane. Why are you doing it naturally?" Kris asked, shaking her head. Her sister was nuts. Although, that did not come as a surprise.
"I heard it's better for the baby and the mommy." Jill smiled.
Kris rolled her eyes and looked at her sister with a questioning look. Kris looked over at Kamili and met her eyes, and Kamili shrugged her shoulders.
"Give her a couple of hours and I promise you, she'll be begging for all the painkillers in the world." Kamili smiled as she remembered her own labors and Kris nodded in agreement.
"If I ever get another baby, I'm gonna use every damn drug there is to keep me out of there." Kris chuckled, the others laughing with her. Kamili hadn't been in the team at the time, but Janet and Sandra still remembered watching and coaching Kris through those painful contractions.
To get her mind off what was going on, Jill tried to reach over to the table to try and steal a box of Chinese food. Her belly was in the way though and she didn't have enough energy to move around for the moment. The others watched in amusement before Kris reached over and gave her the box.
"Here you go Miss Walrus." Kris smirked as she handed Jill the box, Jill seething loudly as she grabbed the box from her sister's hands. The two of them and everyone else in the room looked up at Peggy Lou who was giggling hysterically. They all looked at her with questioning eyes as Peggy tried to make a stern face, failing miserably.
"Heheheh Miss Walrus…" She kept giggling as the others rolled their eyes.
"Are you guys on a case right now?" Jill asked, stuffing food in her mouth.
"We're not." Janet smiled. "Still doing paperwork, Kam is still healing."
Kamili looked up at Janet with a gentle smile. It had been four weeks and she was doing a lot better, but she still had a lot of shape to work her way back to. She was still no where near where she once had been.
"Same here." Kris said. "We're still trying to build up the team."
"How is that going?" Janet asked carefully. Kris has lost big part of her team months ago when their boss has turned against them, and there had been some tough times for all of them since that case. Kamili was the one of them who had been hurt the worst, but she had recovered amazingly well. She still got out of breath and had irregular heartbeats from time to time, but she was taking everything at the pace she felt comfortable at, and she was doing good.
Kris' ankles had broken as she had fallen down into a well, and after removing the casts she had been doing a lot of physical therapy. She was still slightly unsteady and uncomfortable, but she was doing a lot better too. Her crutches was still always near her, unless she used something – or someone – else as support.
"Well, not so good to be honest. Tommy and Peter are both fine and they are both interviewing people left and right, but I'm wondering if I can keep going in the FBI. I've thought of career changes, but I haven't decided anything yet." Kris said, whereupon the others nodded. The room got quiet afterwards, all of them eating in silence for a couple of minutes before Kamili opened her mouth.
"What's in the boxes?" Kamili asked, wanting to change the subject and get them all to talk a little. Having had a baby herself, she knew Jill was going to need to have something to do to get her mind off the labors when they started coming frequently and they should start getting her mind off it now already.
Damien returned and sat back down at Jill's side, putting his hand on her back.
"What did the doctor say?" Kelly asked, eating from the same box as Aurore, Aurore offering it to Kelly. Being a chef, she didn't completely agree with the mixture of flavors in this cheap take out boxes. Kelly, nor the others, seemed bothered by it though and happily kept eating.
"He told us to keep clocking the labors and they are expecting us when we come."
"Good." Kris smiled, patting her sister's leg. "Now what's in the boxes?"
Jill looked over at the four large boxes stuffed up against the wall, and she smiled slightly.
"I've been sorting out pictures, putting them into albums." Jill smiled.
"May I?" Sandra smiled, being the one closest to them.
Jill nodded and Sandra pulled up an album, beginning to flip through it. Janet and Kamili were both looking over her shoulder and they smiled and giggled as they saw all the old pictures. Some of them were as Kris and Jill as kids, some from the police academy, both Kris' and Jill's graduations, and random pictures from all different times of ages. All three of them stopped when they found a picture of Kelly, Kris, Jill and Sabrina, all four of them dressed in army uniforms. They all had rifles hanging from their shoulders, and all of them seemed nervous and upset.
"Wow, you all been in the military?" Sandra asked, turning the album to show the others which picture they had found.
"Oh." Kelly sighed, looking away. Aurore looked up at her with worried eyes, seeing that Kelly immediately grew tense. That was obviously not one of the better memories she had. Aurore remembered once when the two of them had been going through some of Kelly's old stuff when Aurore moved in to give her some more room. Aurore had found a black box and as she opened it she had found a Medal of Honor. Aurore had asked Kelly about it, being the highest military decoration awarded by the US government. Not many people had been rewarded with that, and Aurore had of course been curious. She didn't even know Kelly had been in the military, Kelly had never mentioned it. She had asked Kelly about it, and Kelly had simply answered that she didn't want to talk about it. Aurore had never pushed her to talk, knowing how private Kelly could be, also knowing that pushing her wouldn't get her to talk, Kelly would just tense up and lock herself into a shell. Kelly had also immediately tensed up when Aurore showed it to her, and something told Aurore that it gave Kelly nothing but bad memories.
"When and where was this?" Kamili asked curiously, being in the military herself she immediately grew curious at hearing what these four had gone through.
"1979, Afghanistan." Kris said, and shuddered.
"That is soo cool!" Peggy Lou exclaimed, pulling the album towards her and began flipping through it, not even seeming to have noticed that Jill, Kelly and Kris had tensed up completely at the mention of the picture.
"Did you work on a case or…?" Sandra asked confused, surprised that Charlie would send them to such a location at the time.
"No, actually, Charlie had nothing to do with it. It's a long story…" Kelly said, and all the others could hear in her voice that she really wasn't fond talking about it. Her entire body language told everyone that they should drop the subject before it got too intense. It was very easy to see that this was a very sore subject to Kelly, and Jill and Kris had tensed up too, all looking very uncomfortable. Damien and Aurore were observing them closely, knowing that their girls had nightmares due to this case. They had never heard them talk about it except while they were talking in their sleeps as they were having nightmares.
Everyone looked over at Jill who was leaning back into the couch, resting towards Damien as she was eating out of the box. She smiled as she swallowed.
"Well, we seem to have the time."
"I don't wanna talk about that time." Kelly said, looking down at her hands.
"Come on Kelly. It was a long time ago and we all survived. We've never talked about it to anyone, especially not to each other, and I think it could be a good thing to do. To get it out of our systems once and for all. I know I still have nightmares, I actually had one tonight, and I know you and Kris still have nightmares too, I'm sure of it. Talking about it could be very good for all of us and it's definitely about time. It's been 5 years Kell."
"It must be a hell of a story." Janet said quietly, the others hardly daring to talk. Even Peggy was siting still on the rug on the floor, her mouth closed.
"It is." Kris said, being tensed too. She was playing with her hair, not really knowing what to do to keep her hands busy. Memories replayed in her head, and it felt like it was just days ago since they had returned from the civil war that had been going on down there. It had been one of the most horrible experiences she'd ever had to go through and they had all been very lucky to even be sitting here today. It had been a miracle.
"I don't want to talk about it." Kelly said sternly. "But if you really feel like sharing it with all our now curious friends here, then you talk about it."
"Okay. I'll talk about it." Jill said as she turned towards Kamili, Janet, Sandra, Aurore. Peggy and Damien who were already listening with big ears, all of them very eager to hear the story. "Once upon a time, there were four little girls…"