Elie was in her second year of medical school when she discovered that she was two months pregnant. She found out a few months after her grandfather had recovered from his pneumonia and her grandmother had recovered from the bout of stress she had been dealing with. She honestly didn't know what to do. She met her sister for lunch to see if she could help.
"Who's the father?"
"I don't really want to talk about him."
"Why not?"
"It was a horrible experience and I'd rather not."
"He hit it and quit it?"
"Really?" Elie stared at her sister who shrugged, "if you are suggesting that it was a one night stand and he wants nothing more to do with me or the baby then, he hit it and quit it. I don't know what to do."
"I'm here whatever you decide."
Elie ultimately decided to keep the baby and ended up having the father sign his parental rights away as a precaution. She still hadn't told her family and now she was showing more. She had started wearing more loose-fitting clothes when she found out so that it did really happen all of a sudden. Instead, it just looked as if her style had changed. Her parents had gone away for their anniversary when Elie was between four and five months pregnant. One night she went out to get a cheeseburger and a milkshake to satisfy a craving. When she got home, she found her grandmother at the kitchen table writing on a notepad. Nora looked up when she heard the door.
"I thought you were in bed," Nora said a bit shocked.
"I was, but I couldn't sleep."
"Well, I can't either so you might as well join me."
"I don't want to interrupt whatever you're doing."
"I'm just making a list for the grocery store. I can't use anything with a screen this late. It hurts my eyes far too much."
Elie walked over and sat down across from her grandmother. She sat there silently and awkwardly trying to hide her food and shake. "So, what's new?"
"Elie, what are you hiding under the table?"
"Nothing," the girl said defensively, "why would I hide something under the table? I mean that's weird."
"I can smell it."
Elie hesitated before placing her things on the table, "there."
Nora smiled, "I honestly don't know why you tried to hide a late-night craving." Elie stared at her grandmother with a look that had a mixture of fear and guilt. Nora noticed and her smile faded, "I feel like you are hiding something bigger." Elie was silent, "look, I won't make you talk about it, but remember that you can always come to me about anything."
"Okay, there is something, uh, do you mind if I eat while we talk?"
"No," Nora smiled at her granddaughter.
"Remember a few months back when I went to my friend's party?"
"The one where you didn't come home for two days?"
"Yeah, that's the one. We were celebrating the end of our first year in med school and I had too much to drink."
"You were responsible," Nora said, "I don't see the problem."
"Trust me, there is one. Anyway, I obviously wasn't the only one who had been drinking so a lot of us stayed the night. Well, I was talking to this guy and we were joking around. We ended up kissing and," Elie looked down because she didn't want to see her grandmother's reaction, "it escalated from there."
"Elie, what's going on?"
"Look, it ended up being a one night stand and after his reaction about the baby, I didn't know how to tell anyone.
Nora's eyes were so wide that Elie thought they might pop out of her head, "baby?"
"I'm pregnant," Elie finally said.
"But that party was..."
"Almost five months ago."
"Oh, sweetheart, I wish you had said something sooner."
"I wasn't sure how to tell you all or even if I wanted to keep the baby."
"How are you?"
"I'm terrified and I don't know what I'm going to do. He doesn't want anything to do with me or the baby which is fine. I had him sign away his parental rights. Now, I have to find a job so I can pay rent on an apartment and that probably means that I will have to drop out of school."
"Who said anything about you moving to an apartment?"
"You aren't going to want an infant around."
"Your family has lived here since you and your sister were four years old. Two infants have come home to live at this house since then."
"That was different."
"How?"
"Well, now you and grandpa are really old."
Nora chuckled, "look we can talk to your grandpa, but I bet he will agree with me. This will always be your home just like it will always be our children's home."
"Thank you," Elie smiled.
"How do you feel now?"
"I'm kind of excited about becoming a mom."
"You should be excited because it's the most wonderful experience in the world."
"Really?"
"Well, having grandchildren is, but you have to have children to get grandchildren."
"I love you, grandma." Elie got up and walked around the table to hug her grandmother.
"I love you too and I can't wait to meet my great-grandchild."
"I can't wait for them to meet you."
Nora smiled at the young woman, "it's late and you should really get some sleep."
"I'll go to bed when you do."
"I will go to bed soon. I promise," Nora said.
"What are you hiding?"
"Nothing, but you are pregnant and should go to bed."
"You're 80 years old with a TBI."
"You sound just like your grandfather."
"You can't make it back to the room, can you?"
"Fine, I came out here because I couldn't sleep and didn't want to wake your grandfather. Now I'm too tired physically to walk back down the hall. I swear that hallway gets longer every year."
"It doesn't, you just get older."
Nora rolled her eyes and smiled, "I will go at some point, but I am just not able to yet."
"I'll help you."
"No, I don't want you to while you're pregnant."
"Fine, I'll get grandpa."
Before the woman could object, her granddaughter rushed down the hallway. She saw her husband and Elie approaching a few minutes later. From the smile on his face, Frasier knew about the baby. "Come on, trouble. Let's get you back to bed." Frasier helped his wife stand and held onto her as they walked back to bed.
Elie told her parents when they returned about the baby. They were incredibly supportive and excited to become grandparents. Kelly, Woody, and Lilith were just as excited as Nora and Frasier about becoming great-grandparents. Four months later, Elie gave birth to her daughter and the Cranes' first great-grandchild. She named the baby girl Sophia Dorothy after Nora's late mother and grandmother.
