-1I do not own Saved By The Bell. Neither do I own any of the original characters or storylines referred too. They all belong to Peter Engel/NBC productions. Neither am I anything to do with those companies. This is just a story by a fan of the show for other fans of the show. Neither is this story meant to express any personal political views, everything that happens is purely for the purpose of the story only.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Precious Moments
'Now there's a good girl. Well done, now see if you can walk all the way back to your Daddy.'
Slater held his arms out encouraging ten month old Zoe to walk back towards him on her own and when she reached him, he encouraged her to walk back to Jessie.
'You're a clever girl you are, you get that from your Mummy over there. Go on, see if you can walk back to her again.'
Jessie held out her arms as Zoe reached her again.
'Well done Zoe, are you going to do that for your Gran and Grandad tomorrow? Show them what a clever girl you are too?', Jessie cuddled her daughter.
'Slater, I think we've worn our daughter out', Zoe was starting to fall asleep on Jessie's shoulder, so Jessie carried her through to her bedroom for an afternoon nap.
Jessie and Slater had watched Zoe take her first steps on her own two days before when they had gone to pick her up from Lisa's house. Sheila had just been finishing up for the day with Crystal and Zoe. The two little girls had been playing together when suddenly instead of crawling, Zoe had got up and walked alongside Crystal and Crystal had taken her hand as they walked along together.
Monday's , Tuesday's and Wednesday's Zoe now spent at Lisa's with Crystal and Sheila while Jessie and Slater were working and the two little girls had become the best of friends. Four months ago when Zoe had started spending the day with her, Crystal had been fascinated by her new younger friend from the start.
Thursday's were different, Zoe always spent the day at her grandparents house. They had asked if they could look after her on a regular basis from the start. Zoe also stayed with them one Saturday night a month now and Jessie and Slater would go and pick her up on the Sunday and have lunch with them before going home.
The first three months of Zoe's life, except for coaching the wrestlers once a week for Slater, neither Jessie or Slater had been in to work at all. Then gradually they had both started getting important calls for work again. Slater and Kevin were opening two more gyms in San Francisco and two more in Phoenix and Jessie had three new high profile divorce cases coming at her, all clients that had asked for her especially and had said they would wait for her return.
Eventually they had found themselves going back in to work more and more often, though they did try to go in on different days to each other, until the day the inevitable happened, when there was no way either of them could be away from work and it was time to take Zoe to Lisa's house for the day for the first time.
That first Monday they had dropped Zoe off, Jessie had turned in to an emotional wreck. It felt different than when she and Slater had been going to the office on different days.
'I'm going to miss you so much today', she kissed Zoe goodbye with tears in her eyes.
'Be good for Sheila', Slater also kissed Zoe goodbye 'Mummy and Daddy have to go and earn some dollars now. After all , we have to keep you in the lifestyle to which you have become accustomed. It doesn't pay for itself you know.'
Even Jessie had managed to smile at Slaters joke then, as well as realise the reality of it. And after her first full week back in the office, it was like nothing had changed, everything was just carrying on as normal. The only change in her office, was that now, aside from her wedding photo, she had also put an individual photo of Zoe on the wall and she had a family photo of all three of them on her desk.
On the Friday at the end of her first full week back in work, Brian and two of the other partners had come in to the office and then left almost straight away to play golf. That was when Jessie had decided that if they couldn't be bothered to be in the office on a Friday, then neither could she. The only time she went in to work on a Friday now was when she had a divorce hearing scheduled. And the only thing Slater did on Friday mornings was go in to the gym early in the morning to coach the college wrestlers. Apart from that Friday's was their day at home with Zoe, so they always had a long weekend with her.
This Friday they had spent most of the morning helping Zoe practice walking. Now she was asleep for a while, they both used to opportunity to relax on the sofa together.
Neither of them said it, but they were both thinking of the conversation they had held with Slater's parents when they had asked if Zoe could stay over with them one Saturday night a month.
'Are you sure?', Jessie had asked Martin Slater 'You already help us enough by having her all day on a Thursday.'
'Are you kidding Jessie? We love having her. We don't do it because we have to, we do it because we want to. Our granddaughter has given us a whole new reason to go on living. We know how much you both love Zoe and rightly so, but you need to make time for each other as well. After all, if it wasn't for your love for each other, Zoe wouldn't even be here.'
Slater had been shell shocked at his Dad's speech, it had to be one of the most heartfelt things he had ever heard his Dad say. In fact he had almost said 'Will the real Martin Slater please stand up', but had managed to hold his tongue.
But then both Martin and Carol had gone on to explain that after Slater himself had been born they had almost ended up in the divorce courts themselves, they had been so wrapped up in their first child and Martin also with the army, they had completely forgotten to be there for each other.
Of course it had been different for Slater and Jessie, having been lucky enough to take time off together when Zoe had been born, they had never forgotten about each other, except perhaps for the first three months after Zoe had been born, when the sleepless nights had worn them out so much, they had both felt like a couple of zombies. But even so, ever since Martin and Carol had spoken to them, they had taken it to heart and made extra effort with each other.
'So, Zoe is at Mum and Dad's tomorrow night, what do you want to do? Dinner and a movie maybe?'
'Sounds good to me'.
Just as Zoe woke up, Jessie got a call from the office.
'Partners meeting. That could mean a lot more high profile cases about to come our way. Don't worry, I promise I won't take on too much. And I'll be back as soon as I can', Jessie promised and then picked up her car keys and kissed both Slater and Zoe goodbye.
Slater sat back down on the sofa with Zoe and picked up their wedding album that he and Jessie had been looking at a little earlier. Zoe loved pictures of people, especially people she could recognise that were special to them. A lot of the people in the album pictures , were also in pictures on the lounge wall.
'Hey look Zoe, this is your Mummy and I's wedding day. Look, we got married on that big Ferris wheel right there', Slater pointed to each picture as he told her about them.
'Here', Slater turned to the next page 'You know these people don't you, there's Zack and Kelly, Sophie and Ben, Lisa and Darren and Screech. Look here too, there's your Gran and Grandad. And see this lady next to them, that's your Aunty Janine, she's not with us anymore, but one day when your older, I'll tell you all about here and what an amazing woman she was.'
Slater didn't have much time to miss Janine these days, but every time he thought of his late sister, the ache was still there. He had ended up going for grief counselling on Jessie's encouragement and it had helped him a lot. He had come to accept he was never going to get over his sisters death, the ache would always be there, but it had also taught him he could learn how to live with it, without thinking of her every waking minute. But even so, on the occasions he did think of her, it didn't stop him missing her any less.
'You couldn't have shown up at a better time Zoe',Slater kissed his daughters forehead. 'Hey look, you see that man there, he was your other Grandad, your Mummy's Father. He didn't live long enough to meet you either, but your Mummy's convinced he knew you would show up one day. Look , there, there's your other two Grandma's as well. You will get to see both of them in a couple of months when they come for your first birthday party', he showed her pictures of Jessie's Mum and Jessie's step mum Lesley.
The time Jessie arrived back home from her meeting, Slater had long finished showing Zoe the album. He had started to do a jigsaw puzzle on the floor with her, but all she seemed to want to do was practice walking.
'You practicing walking again', Jessie put her briefcase down and took her position at the other end of their long sofa from Slater, where they found themselves doing exactly the same thing they had been a few hours before 'Your going to wear your Daddy and I out.'
'Never mind wear us out, she'll have Mum and Dad chasing her all round the place before she goes to bed tomorrow night. What happened at the office anyway?'
'Nothing that exciting. Dean, the most senior partner in the firm, announced his retirement. But you will love this, Carly Sampson has been arrested in Australia, for posession of illegal narcotics. Our colleagues in Australia knew we had dealt with her before and Brian and I had great pleasure in telling our colleagues down under not to take on her case.'
'Just an ordinary day at the office then?'
'Something like that. Though I think Brian was a bit upset having to be torn away from his golf match. Apparently he was winning for the first time in over a year.'
A couple of hours later as Zoe walked back to Slater from Jessie, practicing longer distances across the room now, Zoe started to rub her eyes.
'I think its time for bed for you', but still Zoe wouldn't have being carried. She wanted to walk to her bedroom, holding each of her parents hands, she only let them pick her up when they were inside her bedroom and it was time for her to be put to bed.
'She is going to be running all over this place before long', Jessie said as they finally collapsed on the sofa.
'I know, shall we order a Chinese or something. We haven't had a take away for ages.'
'That's a good idea Slater, usual?'Jessie asked as she picked up the nearest phone.
'You bet'.
Jessie smiled as she put the phone down to the man at the take away. Major changes happened in your life, but it was comforting to know some things always stayed the same, even if it was just your order from the local Chinese take-away.
