Chapter 54
A lot happened within the next 6 weeks. The same night the rapist was arrested, Dean O'Dell killed himself. Veronica insisted that they go to the funeral.
After that, it was a whirlwind of baby stuff. They baby proofed the suite- not that much was needed, since they had already tried to limit the dangers to Dick- Veronica took a breastfeeding class, they visited and preregistered at the hospital and finished their birth plan.
In that time, Veronica continued to get bigger and was forced to go buy new maternity clothes.
On the unhappy side of things, Braxton-Hicks contractions had started- usually at the most unwelcome times, like during her classes.
They worked Christmas into their plan as well, but didn't do anything but exchange gifts. Wallace had invited them to join his family, but they had abstained. Choosing, instead, to sit at home with Dick and talk about the people that they missed spending Christmas with. Veronica loved Christmas, and she promised that she would make every Christmas after that one as magical as possible, but this year they weren't ready. This year, they would sit quietly by the fire place, drink hot chocolate, and talk about her dad, and Logan's mom, and Cassidy and Lily. They remembered the people they had lost, and they healed, promising to do better next year when there was a baby to impress.
At 28 weeks, Veronica started visiting her OB more often, she had an appointment and an ultrasound every two weeks, which was getting difficult to schedule around classes.
When she was 29 weeks pregnant, Parker and Mac threw her a baby shower.
"Surprise!" They screamed as she walked into the suite, which was covered in pink balloons and streamers.
"Wow, I never expected this." Veronica deadpanned, waddling over to the couch and sitting down.
"Don't be such a party pooper!" Parker scolded, handing her a glass of juice. "
"I'm pretty sure that I have to be, it's in the pregnant teen handbook." Veronica informed her.
"Whatever." Parker rolled her eyes.
Veronica looked around the room to see who they had gathered. Wallace was there, seeing as he was her best friend, and beside him was Piz, who didn't exactly looked thrilled to be there. Dick was there as well, and looked a little too excited.
"Are you drunk?" Veronica asked him.
"No! Why would you think that?" Dick asked.
"Because you're sitting at a baby shower and look happy."
"I like parties!"
"Yeah... Where's Logan?" Veronica asked, turning to Mac.
"He's getting pizza."
"Because the delivery service was broken?"
"No. It was on his way." Parker shrugged.
"So, what are we supposed to do?" Veronica asked, looking around.
"Normal people play games." Parker started to get excited, but Mac cut her off.
"We are the exact opposite of normal. Let's just give her the presents and eat some pizza."
"We can watch a movie or something." Wallace agreed.
"See, that sounds like a plan." Veronica nodded.
"Good. Do you want to wait for Logan to do presents?" Mac asked.
"No." Veronica shook her head, looking at her best friend like she had grown a second head.
"Right. Okay, here you go." She grabbed a large box and slid it over to her.
Veronica grinned and ripped the paper, not even attempting to save it. Inside, she found a Winnie-the-Pooh mobile, and a light up aquarium toy that played music and attached to the crib. There was also a collection of children's books and cd's.
"Thanks Piz!" Veronica cried, seeing the card. "This is amazing."
"I wasn't sure if you wanted to go the traditional mobile route, or the newer nightlight with music way, so I figured I'd get both and she would like what she liked." He explained.
"Thank you!" Veronica smiled again, taking the next box Mac passed her.
"This one is from me." Parker smiled, clapping her hands in anticipation.
Inside, there was a pile of receiving blankets, teething toys, a rubber giraffe that was apparently named Sophie and a teddy bear. And underneath all of that, was another box full of clothes.
"Parker, this is amazing!" Veronica reached out and pulled her in for a hug. "Thank you!"
"Of course! I love buying baby stuff. It's so small and cute!" Parker squeaked, pulling out one of the newborn onesies.
"She's not wrong. Are babies really that small?" Logan asked from the doorway, pizza in hand.
"Well it can't be that big." Dick reasoned. "Veronica's pretty tiny- except for the planet growing out of her stomach."
"You were doing so well, Dick." Veronica shook her head, sorting through the little outfits Parker had picked up. To her credit, she had avoided the overly girly things. Instead, the onesies were covered with funny sayings and cute pictures.
"Here, open this one." Mac handed her another box. "It's from Wallace."
"Let me guess." Veronica closed her eyes, like she was trying to mind meld with the box. "It has something to do with basketball."
"You'll have to open it to find out." Wallace laughed.
She was right. Inside there was everything Wallace could find for a baby with a basketball on it- pyjamas, blankets, balls, cups and bowls and anything else he could get his hands on. It was just a big box of sports paraphernalia, along with a large array of onesies with sayings like, "I get my attitude from my mommy".
"Thanks Wallace." Veronica laughed, picking through the gifts. "I'm sure this will help you try to cultivate a love of sports in my daughter."
"Well you certainly won't." Wallace shrugged.
"Open mine next!" Dick cried excitedly, shoving an extremely large box in her direction.
Veronica looked to Logan, who was sitting beside Dick in alarm, but he mouthed "I helped" and nodded reassuringly.
Veronica took the box and slowly ripped the paper. Inside there was a baby swing and a bunch of smaller boxes and paper wrapped packages. There was a onesie that said: "My Uncle is single! If you think I'm cute, you should see him". Followed by another onesie that said: "It wasn't me. I didn't do it. I want to talk to my mommy." The next package contained a silver spoon.
"What's this?" Veronica asked, holding it up.
"It's a silver spoon." Dick smiled. "From Tiffany's. You know, cause she'll be born with a silver spoon. That's right, I can be metaphorical." Dick smiled like he had just solved world hunger or something.
Veronica just stared at him in disbelief.
"They actually make silver spoons for children?" She asked.
"Of course." Logan nodded seriously. "I know you lived in spork city, but out daughter is going to be purely silver spoon."
"Yeah... no. She won't. There will definitely be sporks here and there." Veronica assured him, putting the spoon down and pulling out the next package.
"No." She shook her head as soon as she saw it.
"What?" Mac asked, looking into the parcel.
"No." Veronica shook her head again.
"Come on, Ronnie!" Dick pleaded.
"No! You are not putting my newborn on a surfboard."
"That's not what we're suggesting." Logan told her, putting up his hands. "We just bought her a wetsuit. So she can get used to it. We live in California, she'll be swimming from the day she's born."
"She's not going anywhere near a surfboard at least until she can walk." Veronica told them.
"That doesn't mean she can't wear a wetsuit." Dick argued.
"She'll wear a normal bathing suit, just like every other child on the planet, if only because I don't want to try and a one month old in a wetsuit. It's hard enough to get into one as an adult."
"Fine." Dick grumbled, looking unhappy.
The rest of his gifts were so nice that she couldn't bear to leave him so upset.
"Maybe when she gets bigger." She sighed, and his face lit up again.
"One left." Mac grinned and handed her a bag.
"I wonder who this could be from!"
"Who knows," Mac shrugged.
Veronica laughed and pulled out the paper. Inside, there was more onesies. One had an ad on it, for an evil genius seeking minions. Others were full of geeky things like, "Dependant variable" and "Player Three has entered the game." Veronica's favourite was the "Shits and Giggles" onesie. That one was being used for the family photos. There was also a very cute "My Aunt Mac is my favourite nerd" onesie. Other than that, there was a bunch of bottles and pacifiers.
"I decided to go the practical route." Mac nodded.
"They're great! Thank you, Mac!" Veronica almost started to tear up. "Thank you all. These are fantastic."
"If you start crying, I'm leaving." Dick told her, fidgeting uncomfortably.
"Do you promise?" Logan asked and Veronica laughed.
"I'm not going to cry. I jut really appreciate all this."
"You're worth it." Mac assured her. "Now, I believe it's time for pizza and movies."
"Definitely." Wallace agreed, grabbing the TV remote and flipping to the pay-per-view movies. "What do we feel like?"
"The Pursuit of Happyness?" Piz suggested.
"That's supposed to be really sad." Parker shook her head. "Let's watch something funny."
"RV." Wallace decided, renting the movie before anyone could argue.
A/N: Sorry it's so short, but I wanted to do just a fluffy little baby chapter to fill in the 6 weeks between episodes. We will return to your regular length programming as soon as I have the time to sit around for 5 hours.
Thanks for reading, guys! I really appreciate all the support I get from you!
