Chapter Ten

Merry Christmas

"It was really nice of you to help Megan put up decorations." Elizabeth

turned around in the desk chair, surprised to see Conner leaning

against the door frame.

"It was fun." She answered simply. Elizabeth shut her journal and left

it on the desk where she'd been writing in it. "Megan's my friend. I

like to do things with her."

Conner nodded. "It still was nice of you spend you're day doing that."

"Really, I don't mind." Elizabeth stated, walking across the room towards Conner.

Conner pulled her in for a kiss. "So, you haven't felt sick yet today?"

"No," Elizabeth smiled. "Fortunately. I've been sick almost everyday

for a over a month now."

Conner kissed her again. "That's good. I don't like to see you sick."

He smiled.

"Yeah, I don't like to see me sick, either." Conner laughed, and she

continued. "Anyway, Jess said that she'll probably come over this evening."

"Oh, did you talk to her earlier?"

Elizabeth sighed, "Yeah, I did. And she and mom tried to convince dad

to at least let me come over for Christmas, but he isn't budging in the

slightest. Jessica has gone so far to resort to not talking to him."

Conner shook his head. "Can't even make an exception for the holidays."

"I know. I wish that I'd be home, with my family, for Christmas."

Elizabeth said, frowning. Conner wrapped an arm around her waist, and began

to direct her out of her room and then down the stairs. "Yeah, I guess

I know what you mean. I know that I want to be with my family at

Christmas." Conner stopped when they were in the kitchen. "But believe me, I

don't mind spending it with you, and I know that Mom and Megan will

love having you around."

Conner a bag of sliced turkey and some cheese out of the refrigerator,

and sat them on the counter. Elizabeth, meanwhile, was getting some

plates out of the cabinet. At that moment, the doorbell rang.

"Can you get that, Liz?" Conner asked. "It's probably Jessica anyway."

"Sure." Elizabeth set the plates on the counter, and crossed the foyer

to the front door. She quickly unlocked it, and smiled to see her twin

standing on Conner's front step. "Hi Jess." She said brightly,

motioning for her to come in.

"So, are you doing okay today?" Jessica asked, following Elizabeth into the kitchen.

"Oh, I haven't been sick, if that's what you mean." She gestured

towards the living room. "Megan, Conner and I put up their Christmas decorations."

Elizabeth stopped in the kitchen, where Conner had already assembled a

sandwich and was stuffing his face. He mumbled a greeting.

"Hey Conner." Jess said politely.

"Hey Jess," Conner said, swallowing. "Eat if you want."

After eating and talking with Conner for awhile, Elizabeth and Jessica

excused themselves to go up to Elizabeth's room. Jessica had said that

she wanted to talk to Elizabeth about something, and Elizabeth knew

that her sister didn't want Conner to hear.

Elizabeth sat down on her bed, and Jessica plopped down right in front

of her, so that they were facing each other. Elizabeth smiled at her

sister. "So, what urgent matter did you just have to talk to me about?" She teased.

Jessica stuck out her tongue. "Well, I guess I just needed your advice

from someone that's done it."

"And?" Elizabeth prompted.

"It's about me and Jeremy…" Jessica bit her lip. "Okay. Every time we

start kissing, and then making out, and then it keeps going…" she

trailed off.

"So you're basically leading up to the fact that you think that you and

Jeremy might end up sleeping together?" Elizabeth said, beating Jessica

to the point.

Jessica bit her lip again. It was perfectly logical that Elizabeth

would be able to read her mind in a time like this. "Yeah, I think that would be it."

"And you're waiting for me to tell you whether to go for it or not?"

Elizabeth asked, reading her sister's thoughts to the letter.

Jessica nodded. That's basically what she was doing.

"Jess, you have to make that decision for yourself, and you know that." Elizabeth said gently.

Jessica sighed. "I just wanted your input, because look what happened

when you and Conner hooked up. You're the one that ended up pregnant."

"I know that, believe me." Elizabeth gave her sister a slight smile.

"Please Liz, will you at least tell me how to go about this?" Jessica

pleaded. Her sister could be extremely stubborn when she wanted to be.

"Talk to Jeremy about it. I know that he'll be understanding about it."

Elizabeth smirked. "After all, it is Jeremy."

Jessica laughed. Her sister had a point there. "I know that I need to do that."

"Good, and make sure you get his opinion on it. After that, just make

sure you're truly ready, and if you think that you, are, I'm not going to get in your way."

Jessica nodded, "I know that. Thanks Liz." She began to get up, and

crossed over to Elizabeth's door, but stopped suddenly. "And, um, Liz?"

"What?"

Jessica bit her lip. "What's it like?"

Elizabeth smirked. "I knew you'd ask, but my best advice here, is that

it's different for everyone."

"And I knew you'd say that." Jess walked back over and sat on Elizabeth's bed.

Elizabeth smiled. "I guess that we just know each other." She smiled.

"Just make sure that you really love Jeremy," she paused, "and use birth

control, because one pregnant Wakefield is all we need, okay?"

Jessica smiled. How her sister could keep a good sense of humor, she

didn't know. But she had one last question. "Liz, have you and Conner

made a final decision on what you're going to do with the baby?"

Elizabeth nodded. "We're going to raise it together. We both think that

that's the best option."

Jessica smiled, and hugged her sister. "Thanks Liz, you really helped me out."

With that, she got up and walked out of her sister's room.

***************************************************

On Sunday morning, Elizabeth woke up with a pounding headache and some

severe waves of nausea, almost as if it was making up for the day

before. Almost instantly, she knew that she was going to be sick, and

quickly made her way over to the bathroom. A few minutes later, she was

finished and started to stand.

Elizabeth was surprised when she felt a hand on her should. Conner was

standing in the doorframe, wearing the same boxers and shirt he'd slept

in. She figured he'd heard her getting sick.

"Hey, are you okay now?" He asked, his emerald eyes filled with concern.

"Yeah." Elizabeth didn't even bother to lie. It was probably apparent

from looking at her that she'd been sick.

Conner gave her a quick hug, and followed her into her room. He sat

down on the bed next to her. "I'm going to leave you alone so you can go

back to sleep." He smiled, "Because it's apparent that you need it. But

if you feel up to it later, Tia e-mailed me and asked if we wanted to

go Christmas shopping this afternoon."

Elizabeth nodded. "That sounds like fun. I'll just rest now, I'm sure

that I'll be doing better after awhile."

********************************************************

That afternoon, Elizabeth was feeling much better, and she and Conner

had accepted Tia's offer to go shopping. Some of their other friends

were also going- Andy, Maria, Ken, Melissa, Jessica and Jeremy. They'd

agreed to meet in the food court a little after one.

Elizabeth quickly finished braiding her hair, and checked her watch. It

was five till one, so she and Conner would be leaving soon. She tied a

band in her hair, and left her room. Quickly walking down the stairs,

she saw that Conner was already down there.

"Hi Liz," he greeted her. "Doing better?"

"Yeah, a lot better." She smiled. "Are you ready to go?"

Conner nodded. "Yeah." He pulled his keys out of his pocket. "Let's go."

Ten minutes later, Conner parked his Mustang in the parking lot of the

Valley Mall. After unlocking the door, he got out, walked around, and

opened Elizabeth's door for her. At that moment, they saw an old, red,

Mercedes convertible pull in and park two spots away. Conner looked at

it for a moment, and then turned to Elizabeth, a questioning look on his face.

"Jeremy's car." She explained, and noting Jessica had gotten out and

basically bounced over to them. At a slightly more reserved pace, Jeremy

followed behind her.

"Hey Liz!" Jessica called, reaching her sister. Jeremy laughed from

behind them, quickly catching up.

Elizabeth smiled at her sister. "Little perky, aren't you?" she said sarcastically.

"She's been that way all morning, Liz," Jeremy stated. "I've been with

her since six."

Elizabeth and Conner laughed as Jessica pretended to hit him. Jeremy

smiled as he grabbed her arm, and pulled her towards him and Elizabeth

shared a secret smile at her sister.

"Six?" Conner remarked. "Isn't that a bit early?"

Jeremy shrugged. "We both had the early shift at House of Java."

"Yeah, remind me not to work another shift with him." Jessica glared at

him. "He thought that it was funny to dump a cup of coffee on me."

************************************************************

"That's a cute dress." Tia remarked as they passed by Lisette's.

"Yeah, if you want to look like you're dressed in blue saran wrap."

Andy said, snorting back laughter. Tia smacked him on the stomach, and

then looked at Conner.

He shrugged. "Sorry Tee. He's being honest." Tia stuck her tongue out

at them, then had to sidestep to avoid a group of giggling seventh graders.

"Is everybody shopping today?" She said exasperated.

"Well, it is only six days until Christmas." Maria reminded her. "And

there are a lot of holiday sales this weekend."

Elizabeth nodded. "Okay, we've been walking around for an hour now.

Where do you guys want to go?"

The guys all immediately shrugged, as well as Maria. "I need to find

something for Angel." Tia piped in. "And I need a new dress for the Riot."

"I do too." Melissa added. "And I need to find something for the brat…

oh, excuse me, my little sister."

Jessica giggled slightly. "Okay, I have Christmas taken care of, but I

need new clothes."

"Same here." Elizabeth agreed. She studied the looks on the guy's

faces. "Why don't you guys go do what ever, and us girls can go by

ourselves?"

Conner, Jeremy, Andy and Ken didn't need second invitations. They took

off in the direction of the food court. "See you in an hour and a half

right here!" Conner called over his shoulder.

"What is it with men and shopping?" Melissa said, rolling her eyes.

"They're afraid of it." Tia said. Laughing, the girls took off in the

direction of the Gap.