DISC: I DO NOT own any of the chars from BSC. They belong to Ann M. Martin. I Do however own anyone you don't recognize!
Enjoy!
"Kristy's Big Decision"
CHAPTER 25
I was awoken a few hours later by Karen shaking me and calling my name.
"Kristy! Kristy!" She hissed in my ear.
My eyes opened a few minutes later.
"Yeah?" I asked.
"We're here!" Karen said excitedly. "Daddy said to get your things together."
I started gathering my stuff as did everyone else.
Anya got her bag on her back and secured Alex in her arms.
The little girl was still fast asleep.
Gazing around me, I saw the other members and our charges doing the same thing.
When we got off the plane, we walked into the terminal and were met by several familiar faces.
"Surprise"! They all shouted.
I smiled when I saw Abby standing there, along with the Johanssen's, the Perkins', Mal's parents as well as Vanessa and the triplets and Nicky.
Mary-Anne was also there, along with someone else who I wasn't expecting to see for another week.
"Stacey! Stacey!" Charlotte cried excitedly. She practically flew into her"big sister's" arms.
"Hey Char!" Stacey greeted. She wrapped her arms around her favorite charge and picked her up for a hug.
Charlotte clung on for all it was worth and buried her face in Stacey's shoulder, breathing in the familiar scent of her pineapple and mango shampoo and body splash.
"You're not gonna leave me again, are you?" She asked worriedly.
"Nope." Stacey replied. "At least not for a long time."
"Good." Charlotte replied. 'I really missed you. I got you something in Walt Disney World."
"I missed you too, Char. I can't wait to see what it is. " Stacey said. She held Charlotte for a minute longer before putting her down.
She threw Dr. Johanssen an apologetic look, which Dr. Johanssen dismissed as she pulled Charlotte into her arms.
She knew how close Charlotte and Stacey were.
After hugging and kissing Charlotte, Dr. Johanssen gave Stacey a quick, but warm hug as well.
As for Anya, she had quickly been hugged by Sara.
Alex, who was still asleep was placed in Sara's arms.
She awoke and smiled when she realized who was holding her.
"I missed you, Aunt Sara!" Alex said as she hugged her around the neck.
"I missed you too, sweetheart." Sara said. "I got you a present. " She told her.
"I can't wait to see it." Sara said.
Just then, Anya's phone rang.
Thinking it was Jon; she picked it up and put it to her ear.
"Listen, we just got back and I'm kind of busy right now. Can I call you back later?"
TO Anya's surprise, Jon's voice didn't meet her ears.
"Is Jasmine there?" a VOICE ASKED.
"I'M SORRY," Anya said. "But you have the wrong princess." With that, she hung up.
"Did you guys have fun?" Abby asked as she joined us.
"Yeah!" Karen replied with a smile.
"I missed you Abby Stevenson!" Gabbi said with a grin as she threw herself at Abby.
"Aw, I missed you too, Gabbers." Abby said as she picked her up. "Wow! What a pretty crown."
"Thank you." Gabbi said politely. "Genie gave it to me."
"He did?" Abby asked.
Gabbi nodded.
"And guess what, Abby?" Karen said, not being able to contain her excitement. "Guess what!"
"What!" Abby said, mimicking my sister's excitement.
"Alex and I met Ariel!"
I nodded to show that Karen was telling the truth.
"You have to tell me all about it when I BABY-SIT you NEXT WEEK."
"Okay!" Karen agreed. She gave Abby a hug before moving on to Mary-Anne.
Mary-Anne was wiping at her eyes as she hugged Karen. She had promptly burst into tears at the sight of me.
I was used to it, so I didn't let it bother me.
Before long, we left the airport and joined our respective families for the ride home.
Boy, were we a sight to behold.
When we got home, I helped Mom and Watson unpack before taking Emily upstairs to bed.
Once I had tucked her in, I retired to my room for some much needed alone time.
As I gazed around at the new souvenirs I had acquired, I smiled.
When my gaze landed on my clock, I got an idea and picked up the phone.
"Hi, Abby?" I said once she had picked up.
"Hey." She said. "What's up?"
"Could you come over to my house tomorrow around one?" I asked. "I want to have a special meeting of the BSC now that everyone's back home."
"Sure thing, Madame President. Do I have to bring a gift?"
"No." I said with a laugh. "But we did get you something."
"I can't wait to see what it is." She said sincerely. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Okay. Night."
"Night. " With that, the phone call ended.
I spent the next hour calling everyone else in the club. I explained about the meeting and everyone said they could come.
I said we could have lunch before hand, since I knew Stacey had to eat due to her diabetes.
Everyone agreed and the plans were made.
Anya asked if she could bring Alex over to play with Karen. She assured me Alex wouldn't bother us unless it was an emergency.
"Its okay. " I said. "Feel free to bring her over."
"Thanks." Anya said. "Well I better go. I have to tuck Alex in bed and then unpack a little bit."
"Okay. Dosvedanya." I said.
"Dosvedanya." Anya replied.
"Wait!" I said suddenly. "Did Sara like her gift?"
Anya laughed.
"Yup. She loved it. She used it right away."
"That's good." I said. "Well, see you tomorrow."
"See ya then. " With that, we hung up.
After I tucked Karen in, I went to bed myself. The day had been long and the next day was going to be full of surprises for everyone.
The next day, I woke up to see sun streaming into my window. It took me a second to realize where I was.
When I felt a wet nose on my arm, I remembered I was home.
Petting Shannen's head, I gave her a kiss.
"Morning, girl." I said with a grin. "Is anyone else up?"
Shannon barked just as my bedroom door opened and Karen bounded in.
"Morning!" She said. "Anastasia and Alex are downstairs."
"What time is it?" I asked.
"Eleven o' clock." Karen replied.
I got out of bed, hugged Karen good morning and got ready for the meeting.
After I was dressed and put my hair in a ponytail, I went downstairs to prepare lunch.
I ate some cereal and then got to work.
Nannie, along with Anya and Karen helped me make turkey hoagies with potato salad and set out juice and snacks for everyone.
We also made peanut butter and jelly for the kids and set it out along with the other stuff.
Before I knew it, my friends and I were sitting in my room.
They had enjoyed the lunch and we had brought snacks up to munch on.
The kids were playing in the playroom just above us and so far they hadn't interrupted us at all.
"Order, order!" I said over all the chatter that had broken out around me.
We had spent the last half an hour telling everyone else about our trip.
Now it was time to get down to business.
Everyone calmed down after a minute or so.
"Does anyone have any new business?" I asked once I gained the other members' attention.
"I got a package in the mail." Anya announced.
I gave her a Look as though to ask how did that have anything to do with the meeting.
She ignored me.
"It's addressed to all of us." She explained.
"Awesome!" Mal exclaimed.
"We can open it after the meting. " I said.
"kill joy." Claudia mumbled.
I ignored her.
"Who's it from?" Mary-Anne asked.
"Jon." Anya replied as she blushed to the roots of her red hair.
"Ooh!" Claudia teased. "When's the wedding?"
Anya threw a pillow at her.
After everything was calm again, I brought the meeting back to focus.
"I have something to say." I said.
This got everyone's attention.
"I've been thinking about this ever since Anya moved here. I've given this a lot of thought. I didn't just call this meeting to officially welcome Anya into the club. I also called this meeting to officially announce that the club is back…for good!"
Everyone cheered and slapped each other high-fives.
Mary-Anne hugged me and burst into tears again.
"All right!" Abby shouted. "The BSC is back!"
"Can we open the package now?" Claudia asked.
This got everyone laughing.
"Sure." I said.
"What's going on in here? " Karen asked as she poked her head in the room, followed by Alex.
"yeah." Alex chimed in. "We could hear you guys cheering all the way upstairs."
"I think it scared Ben Brewer." Karen said. "He left our ghost tea party."
Alex rolled her eyes at Karen's comments. She made herself comfortable on her mother's lap.
"Mama, what's that?" She asked, eyeing the package.
"We were just about to open it." I told her. "You guys want to join us?"
"Yeah!" Karen said with a smile. She raced over to me and sat down.
"I think since Anya received it," Mal said, "she should be the one to open it."
We all agreed and allowed our newest member to do the honors.
When she opened the box, she gasped.
Presents of all shapes and sizes met our eyes.
They all had tags on them with our names, so we knew which gift went to which person.
Seeing the box of presents reminded me of the ones we had gotten for our friends.
"Why don't we give you our gifts first." I suggested. "Then we can open Jon's."
"Okay. " Claudia replied.
Since Charlotte had given Stacey her gift when she had seen her at the airport, she was content with watching Mary-Anne open hers.
Stacey was surprised when Claud pulled out a box and handed it to her.
"Thanks!" She said.
"No problem." Claudia replied. "Open it!"
Stacey did so and smiled at what was inside.
A miniature Piglet on a keychain was sitting inside the box.
Mary-Anne started crying all over again when she saw the gift I had gotten for her.
She hugged him close and hugged me tightly.
"Thank you." She whispered.
"You're' welcome." I said.
"Thanks, Kristy!" Abby said as she opened up the book I had bought for her. "I love it."
I grinned.
"I thought you would."
Abby flipped to a random page and read aloud.
"Knock, knock."
"Whose there?" Karen asked.
"Weasel." Abby replied.
"Weasel who?" Alex asked.
"Weasel while you work!" Abby said before starting to laugh.
Karen and Alex followed suit as did Anya and Claud.
"Why was snow White a good judge?"
"Why?" Stacey asked.
"Because she was the fairest in the land!" Abby said with a giggle.
"My turn! My turn!" Alex said excitedly. She reached out and took the book from Abby's hands.
"Alex!" Anya scolded.
Alex blushed.
"Oops. " She said. "I'm sorry, Abby."
"Its okay. " She said. "Go on."
"Thanks."
Anya smiled at her.
Alex flipped to a random page and read one of the jokes on it.
"Why did Buzz Light Year sleep on Mars?" Alex asked.
"I don't' know." Anya said.
"Why?" Mal asked.
"because the moon was full!" Alex said with a giggle.
"My turn now!" Karen said. She took the book from Alex and flipped to another page. "Okay, ready?"
"Ready." I replied.
"What do you call Pluto when he sits in the sun?"
"I don't know." Mary-Anne said.
"A hot dog!"
Karen gave the book back to Abby and she put it in her bag.
"That was fun!" Alex said.
"It was." Anya agreed as she ruffled Alex's hair and patted Karen's shoulder.
"Now can we see what Jon got us?" Alex asked.
"Sure." I replied. With that, we began rummaging through the box.
Jon had picked out gifts especially for everyone according to what he thought they would like.
Karen squealed with delight when she found her gift. It was a CD with songs from the Little Mermaid show.
Alex had gotten a plush Stitch that was really soft and fluffy.
As for Anya, she had gotten a necklace with a note inside the box.
The necklace was gold with a crown pendant hanging from the middle.
Alex gasped when she saw it.
"That's pretty, Mama!" She said.
"It is." She agreed with a sweet smile.
Anya put the necklace on and fished the note out of the box.
She smiled when she read the message upon it.
"See you soon." Was all it said.
"So what does the note say?" Abby asked.
"Abby!" Mary-Anne chided.
"I'm curious." Abby retorted.
"It says, see you soon." Anya said while staring down at it.
"Well, on that note," I said as I tried to ignore Abby's snicker at my pun, "I declare this meeting of the BSC adjourned."
My friends left shortly afterwards, with the exception of Anya and Abby since they lived close by.
"This has been one crazy summer." Abby said as she laid back on my bed.
"You got that right." Anya agreed. "And I have a feeling the school year won't be any different."
"You're probably right about that." I Said.
The summer had surely been full of surprises for everyone.
Like Abby, I too had a funny feeling the school year would be full of even more surprises.
The summer had been one chapter in my life that had come to a close.
It left me wondering what the next chapter would bring. But that's for another story.
THE END
A/N: I want to thank my good friend, SpectroGenie for helping me write this story and sticking with me until it was finished! I had a lot of fun writing it with you and I was truly blessed to have you as a writing partner!
I also want to thank everyone who has read the story and held on until the end. Thank you for all your kind words, comments and constructive criticism.
Again, thank you so much and God bless!