OK this may start out as a lot of other fics do but as far as I can tell this is totally original idea.
Laine Hammond steps out of the taxi cab and immediately stands out against the town of Everwood, from her long black braids half of which are dyed electric blue and her entire outfit makes it obvious that she isn't from Everwood. "Thank you." Laine reaches back into the taxi to pay the driver, and her accent screams New York City. Throwing her only piece of luggage over her shoulder Laine reaches back into the cab and removes a baby carrier.
"Are you sure this is where you want to be?" The cab driver asks through the open window.
"Yeah." Laine nods.
"I'm sorry, it's just that you don't look like you belong here." The cab driver adds.
"I don't, and I'm not staying. But thanks." With Laine's last sentence she searches the small city around her and spots a phone booth in a small park across the street.
"Delia will you get the phone?" Andy calls from the kitchen, where he is going through some work.
"I'm watching a movie can't Ephram?" Delia whines.
"Ephram's studying for finals with Amy upstairs, don't disturb them."
Delia sighs but rolls off the couch and picks up the telephone, "Hello?"
Laine can't help but smile at the voice on the other line, Delia, the little girl she had baby-sat for so many years when she was little, "May I please speak to Ephram."
"Yeah hang on." If the voice on the other end of the line was familiar to Delia the younger girl didn't let on as she called up stairs for her brother.
"Ephram!" Delia calls, "the phones for you!"
Waiting a couple minutes Delia listens as her brother picks up the phone before replacing the handset in the cradle.
"Hello?"
"Ephram meet me at your new God-forsaken town's park."
The single sentence is all Ephram needs to know who is on the other line, but before he can ask why Laine Hammond, who has never set foot out of New York City, is in Everwood the other line clicks and all Ephram can hear is the dial tone.
"Who was that?" Amy asks looking up from the History book they are studying.
"Um, nobody." Ephram shakes his head trying to figure out what to do. "Listen do you mind if I...Amy I have to run to the park do you mind if..."
Amy shakes her head and rolls her eyes, "Go ahead."
"OK and listen if my dad offers you food don't take it."
"Check." Amy laughs as Ephram heads out the door.
Ephram spots her immediately, not that there are many other people in the park. "Laine!" Ephram calls jogging across the street.
Laine stands up and turns around a nervous smile plastered across her face. Ephram stops short, taking Laine in, she stands barely 5 feet tall and she's one of the most beautiful people Ephram knew; with a beautiful personality to match Ephram and Laine had been friends since they were little and had dated from 8th grade until Ephram had left New York.
Ephram finally reaches Laine and hugs her kissing her on the cheek gently, "Laine what are you doing here?"
"Ephram, I need to talk to you." Laine's draws the sentence out, making it obvious to Ephram that she is upset about something.
"Really?" Ephram asks arching an eyebrow, "I mean it's an everyday occurrence for my ex-girlfriends whom I haven't spoken to since I moved away to show up across the country." Laine doesn't respond, only chews on her lower lip nervously, "Lainie what are you doing here, you've never set foot out of New York before, what's going on?"
"Ephram." Laine takes a step backward causing Ephram to look down on the bench for the first time. His gaze first settles on a pink bag decorated with yellow ducks, moving his gaze Ephram's eyes land on a baby tucked carefully into a baby carrier.
"Laine what is this?" Ephram asks stunned.
"Ephram you may want to sit down." Laine replies taking a seat herself.
"Laine I'm not joking what's going on? Who's baby?"
"Mine." Laine sighs, "Ours. Ephram remember before you left, when we-"
"Of course I remember Laine! But we were careful...That can't be my baby!" Ephram exclaims.
Tears springs to Laine's eyes, "Ephram there was never anyone else, I swear, I wouldn't lie about this."
Ephram sighs and buries his face in his hands, "I know Laine. Why didn't you tell me?"
"Ephram I didn't know until school started and you were gone. And when my parents found out they were really understanding, my mom suggested that maybe we not tell you. I mean you had just lost your mom and moved here."
"Then why are you telling me now? If you decided that you needed to not tell me then why are you telling me now?" Ephram looks up at Laine who is avoiding eye contact.
"Ephram I got a scholarship to my dream fashion design school, the only catch is they don't know I have a baby and they can't, ever, they'll take away my scholarship"
"What are you going to do about it then?" Ephram asks.
"You have to take her Ephram." Laine softly replies.
"Laine I can't, I mean...my dad's not as understanding as your parents. And I don't know..." Ephram buries his head in his hands. They both fall silent and neither say anything, the baby is the first to break the silence and when her cries don't soften Ephram looks up to find Laine gone. Jumping up Ephram turns around to see Laine hoping on a bus as it pulls away.
"Laine!" Ephram calls, but it's not use the bus barrels down the street away from Ephram and her child. "Shh, shh don't cry." Ephram tries to soothe softly reaching for the diaper bag for anything to quiet the baby. Lying on top of all the baby necessities is a piece of paper with the words: CERTIFICATE OF LIVE BIRTH written across the top. "Rumor Lyn," Ephram laughs bitterly, "born November 12th, making you 6 months old. Laine what have you gotten me into." Ephram shakes his head, "No, this is as much my fault as it is Lyn's, but what am I going to do?" Finding a pacifier though Ephram sticks it in the baby's mouth quieting it for a time.
"Ephram where have you been?" Andy calls when Ephram walks in the front door. "Amy's been waiting here since you left. You've been gone 45 minutes, I invited Amy to stay for dinner..."
By the time Ephram has walked into the kitchen everyone else has fallen silent, "Who's baby?" Amy asks setting her glass of water down on the counter.
"Who called earlier Ephram?" Andy asks curiously looking back and forth between Ephram and the baby in the carrier who is oddly happy despite the tension in the room.
"Was it Laine who called earlier Ephram?" Delia asks.
"Yeah Delia it was." Ephram responds to the final question.
"Who's baby is it Ephram?" Andy repeats Amy's question.
"Maybe I should go..." Amy suggests moving toward the door.
"Don't go Amy you're going to have to hear about it anyway, might as well be right now." Ephram sighs.
"Ephram who's baby?" Andy asks insistently.
"I don't know if you remember Dad but Laine was my girlfriend in New York." Ephram starts.
"You may think I was a lousy father Ephram but I do remember Laine." Andy replies taking a deep breath.
"When I told Lyn I was moving away from New York we basically decided that we would break up, neither one of us wanted a long distance relationship, but we did decide that before I left we were ready to have sex."
"Is it your baby?" Andy asks, surprisingly, to everyone around him, calm.
"Lyn says she is. And I have no reason to doubt her." Ephram states, turning the carrier around he states, "She's got mom's eyes exactly, I believe Laine." Ephram holds out her birth certificate.
"Rumor Lyn Brown." Andy reads aloud.
"Rumor?" Delia asks, "That's a weird name."
"Laine always said if she had a girl she would name her Rumor, well she did...and she did." Ephram sighs.
No one says anything and once again Rumor is the first one to break the silence with her wails. Both Andy, Ephram and Delia stare at the baby unsure of what to do, but Amy takes charge. "You know she probably needs her diaper changed." Amy states, "Give her to me."
Amy lifts her out of the baby carrier and takes the diaper bag from Ephram, "Her mom sure didn't leave her much, you're going to need diapers and baby food, she's got some clothes in here but from my baby-sitting experiences she'll go through those quickly."
"Amy if you don't mind making a list of things we'll need tonight I can run to the store and pick them up."
"Sure." Amy nods and quickly lists off a few things they would need. "Ephram if you want I'll teach you how to change a diaper."
"Sure can you hang on a second though?" Ephram asks and Amy nods as Ephram follows his father to the entrance way. "Dad, I'm sorry."
Andy sighs before turning around to face his son, "Listen Ephram, I'm sure every other dad in the world would want to scream at you. And part of me does, but when you walked in that door I know you're sorry. I also know that staying angry isn't going to help anyone here, there's a baby girl in their who needs to be taken care of."
Ephram can't help but smile at his father, "Thanks Dad."
When Ephram returned to the living room he found Delia showing Amy a picture of Laine, "Lainie used to baby sit for me whenever my mom couldn't. She used to live on the floor below us, her dad was a lawyer and she was an only child." Delia finishes telling when Ephram walks in.
"Delia I'll talk to you a little bit later, why don't you go find something to do and give Amy and I chance to talk?" Ephram suggests.
Delia looks back and forth between the two, shrugs and walks away. "She's pretty." Amy states handing Ephram the picture of both Laine and Ephram together at a school dance.
Ephram talks while Amy changes Rumor's diaper, "Laine's mom and my mom had grown up together, they were best friends. Kind of like Colin and Bright I guess. You couldn't separate them, and because Rumor was only 6 months and a grade older than me we grew up together. When we were little we did everything and the transition to boyfriend and girlfriend was simple, natural almost. And well you know the rest. You would have liked Laine, she was a lot like you. We had nothing in common if you haven't all ready guessed."
"How come I'm just hearing about her? Why didn't you ever tell me about her?" Amy asks.
Ephram shrugs, "She never came up. Listen Amy it's a Friday night I know you have a date with Colin you don't have to stay."
Amy glares at Ephram in response, "Ephram you helped me when I needed your help so now I'm helping you. Can I use the phone?" Ephram hands Amy the phone and listens quietly as she speaks, "Listen Colin something came up, why don't you go out with Bright instead? Great bye." Amy flashes a smile at Ephram but dials another number, and Ephram's gaze wanders to Rumor who now sits contentedly in Amy's lap. Rumor's dark kinky black hair is tied into two pink little ponytails, her skin is in-between Laine's mocha skin and Ephram's pale skin and she is dressed in a pink sleeveless dress edged in white.
"I told my dad I was going to be late." Amy states as she hangs up the phone again. "You should hold her Ephram."
"Me?" Ephram asks surprised, "I don't think so."
"Ephram she's your daughter, you're going to have to hold her some time." Amy arches an eyebrow.
"I might break her." Ephram states softly.
"You won't break her." Amy states holding her out to Ephram who takes her uneasily from Amy holding her away from his body under the arms. Rumor just giggles and kicks her feet with her hands reaching toward Ephram.
When she gives a small yawn Ephram smiles, "You should probably feed her, that will put her to sleep." Amy states.
"What?" Ephram asks pulling his gaze from Rumor to Amy.
"There's a bottle in here with milk, it will probably put her to sleep." Amy repeats holding out the pink clear plastic baby bottle. Amy takes Rumor from Ephram as she shows him how to hold her, "You honestly have never held a baby?" Amy asks stunned.
"Not since Delia was a baby, and I was only 7."
Amy smiles, placing Rumor back into Ephram's arms and then hands him the bottle.
"Andy," Nina looks up surprised to see Andy in the grocery store. "Didn't you order food for dinner? Was there something wrong with it?"
"No," Andy shakes his head, he had been so caught up in his thoughts he hadn't even noticed that he had parked his car next to Nina's.
"What's going on?" Nina asks catching Andy's thoughtful expression.
"Ephram came home today with a baby, who, his is telling me, is his daughter."
"What?" Nina exclaims surprised, "Andy repeat that all and make it make sense this time."
And slowly as they walk into the grocery store Andy recounts the last 20 minutes to Nina, "Well I think you handled it very well." Nina states thoughtfully. "But I can't believe if. Ephram with a baby, that makes you a grandfather."
Andy sighs and runs a hand through his hair, "I hadn't even thought of that."
"Come on Grandpa," Nina jokes, "I'll help you figure out what you are going to need."
"Thank you Amy." Ephram whispers as both he and Amy watching Rumor, who had fallen asleep after half of a bottle.
"For what?" Amy whispers back.
"For the last hour." Ephram replies.
"Ephram we're friends, and we help each other out when they need it. You spent all your time and energy into helping me since you moved here, this year it's my turn. I'm going to help you." Amy laughs softly, "I can't believe you have never held a baby since Delia."
Ephram rolls his eyes, "Where would I have held a baby?"
Amy shrugs, "I don't know, I'm going to go see what Delia's up to. I'll be back."
Amy softly walks up the stairs and when she reaches Delia's room she knocks on the door softly, "Who is it?" Delia calls back, she doesn't sound as cheerful as she usually does.
"It's Amy, can I come in?"
"I guess." Delia calls back as Amy pushes the door open.
"What's wrong?" Amy asks finding Delia laying on her bed with her head buried into her pillow.
"Why do you think there's something wrong?" Delia asks, her voice muffled by the pillows.
"Delia, come on what's wrong?" Amy asks sitting down gently on Delia's bed.
When Delia flips over on her back and then props her self up with her back against the pillows Amy can tell that she has been crying, "Is this how it's always going to be now?" Delia asks softly.
"What do you mean Delia?" Amy asks puzzled.
"Well I mean he just told me to go away. Is the baby going to change everything?" Delia asks her voice more angry this time. "We just got used to living in Everwood and used to being a family is SHE going to change all of that?"
"Of course she is." Amy states slowly trying to make her point clear, "But not in a bad way, you have a niece now and that's going to change how you are. But when you get to know her you are going to love her as much as you love Ephram and your dad."
"Everything's going to be different." Delia states.
Amy nods, "I know Delia, but I think once you get used to her being here you'll start to like it."
"You think?" Delia asks brushing the back of her hand against her cheeks.
"I do, and listen if you get me a camera I think we should take a picture of your brother and the first time he held Rumor, what do you think?" Amy asks.
Delia shrugs and pushing herself off of her bed and walks over to her desk and opening a drawer pulls out a camera, "It was my mom's and it's pretty good."
"Thanks Delia, come on." Amy says taking the camera from Delia and leading the way down stairs.
"How cute." Delia whispers peeking behind Amy who is taking pictures of Ephram, who has also fallen asleep, sitting on the couch holding Rumor.
Laine Hammond steps out of the taxi cab and immediately stands out against the town of Everwood, from her long black braids half of which are dyed electric blue and her entire outfit makes it obvious that she isn't from Everwood. "Thank you." Laine reaches back into the taxi to pay the driver, and her accent screams New York City. Throwing her only piece of luggage over her shoulder Laine reaches back into the cab and removes a baby carrier.
"Are you sure this is where you want to be?" The cab driver asks through the open window.
"Yeah." Laine nods.
"I'm sorry, it's just that you don't look like you belong here." The cab driver adds.
"I don't, and I'm not staying. But thanks." With Laine's last sentence she searches the small city around her and spots a phone booth in a small park across the street.
"Delia will you get the phone?" Andy calls from the kitchen, where he is going through some work.
"I'm watching a movie can't Ephram?" Delia whines.
"Ephram's studying for finals with Amy upstairs, don't disturb them."
Delia sighs but rolls off the couch and picks up the telephone, "Hello?"
Laine can't help but smile at the voice on the other line, Delia, the little girl she had baby-sat for so many years when she was little, "May I please speak to Ephram."
"Yeah hang on." If the voice on the other end of the line was familiar to Delia the younger girl didn't let on as she called up stairs for her brother.
"Ephram!" Delia calls, "the phones for you!"
Waiting a couple minutes Delia listens as her brother picks up the phone before replacing the handset in the cradle.
"Hello?"
"Ephram meet me at your new God-forsaken town's park."
The single sentence is all Ephram needs to know who is on the other line, but before he can ask why Laine Hammond, who has never set foot out of New York City, is in Everwood the other line clicks and all Ephram can hear is the dial tone.
"Who was that?" Amy asks looking up from the History book they are studying.
"Um, nobody." Ephram shakes his head trying to figure out what to do. "Listen do you mind if I...Amy I have to run to the park do you mind if..."
Amy shakes her head and rolls her eyes, "Go ahead."
"OK and listen if my dad offers you food don't take it."
"Check." Amy laughs as Ephram heads out the door.
Ephram spots her immediately, not that there are many other people in the park. "Laine!" Ephram calls jogging across the street.
Laine stands up and turns around a nervous smile plastered across her face. Ephram stops short, taking Laine in, she stands barely 5 feet tall and she's one of the most beautiful people Ephram knew; with a beautiful personality to match Ephram and Laine had been friends since they were little and had dated from 8th grade until Ephram had left New York.
Ephram finally reaches Laine and hugs her kissing her on the cheek gently, "Laine what are you doing here?"
"Ephram, I need to talk to you." Laine's draws the sentence out, making it obvious to Ephram that she is upset about something.
"Really?" Ephram asks arching an eyebrow, "I mean it's an everyday occurrence for my ex-girlfriends whom I haven't spoken to since I moved away to show up across the country." Laine doesn't respond, only chews on her lower lip nervously, "Lainie what are you doing here, you've never set foot out of New York before, what's going on?"
"Ephram." Laine takes a step backward causing Ephram to look down on the bench for the first time. His gaze first settles on a pink bag decorated with yellow ducks, moving his gaze Ephram's eyes land on a baby tucked carefully into a baby carrier.
"Laine what is this?" Ephram asks stunned.
"Ephram you may want to sit down." Laine replies taking a seat herself.
"Laine I'm not joking what's going on? Who's baby?"
"Mine." Laine sighs, "Ours. Ephram remember before you left, when we-"
"Of course I remember Laine! But we were careful...That can't be my baby!" Ephram exclaims.
Tears springs to Laine's eyes, "Ephram there was never anyone else, I swear, I wouldn't lie about this."
Ephram sighs and buries his face in his hands, "I know Laine. Why didn't you tell me?"
"Ephram I didn't know until school started and you were gone. And when my parents found out they were really understanding, my mom suggested that maybe we not tell you. I mean you had just lost your mom and moved here."
"Then why are you telling me now? If you decided that you needed to not tell me then why are you telling me now?" Ephram looks up at Laine who is avoiding eye contact.
"Ephram I got a scholarship to my dream fashion design school, the only catch is they don't know I have a baby and they can't, ever, they'll take away my scholarship"
"What are you going to do about it then?" Ephram asks.
"You have to take her Ephram." Laine softly replies.
"Laine I can't, I mean...my dad's not as understanding as your parents. And I don't know..." Ephram buries his head in his hands. They both fall silent and neither say anything, the baby is the first to break the silence and when her cries don't soften Ephram looks up to find Laine gone. Jumping up Ephram turns around to see Laine hoping on a bus as it pulls away.
"Laine!" Ephram calls, but it's not use the bus barrels down the street away from Ephram and her child. "Shh, shh don't cry." Ephram tries to soothe softly reaching for the diaper bag for anything to quiet the baby. Lying on top of all the baby necessities is a piece of paper with the words: CERTIFICATE OF LIVE BIRTH written across the top. "Rumor Lyn," Ephram laughs bitterly, "born November 12th, making you 6 months old. Laine what have you gotten me into." Ephram shakes his head, "No, this is as much my fault as it is Lyn's, but what am I going to do?" Finding a pacifier though Ephram sticks it in the baby's mouth quieting it for a time.
"Ephram where have you been?" Andy calls when Ephram walks in the front door. "Amy's been waiting here since you left. You've been gone 45 minutes, I invited Amy to stay for dinner..."
By the time Ephram has walked into the kitchen everyone else has fallen silent, "Who's baby?" Amy asks setting her glass of water down on the counter.
"Who called earlier Ephram?" Andy asks curiously looking back and forth between Ephram and the baby in the carrier who is oddly happy despite the tension in the room.
"Was it Laine who called earlier Ephram?" Delia asks.
"Yeah Delia it was." Ephram responds to the final question.
"Who's baby is it Ephram?" Andy repeats Amy's question.
"Maybe I should go..." Amy suggests moving toward the door.
"Don't go Amy you're going to have to hear about it anyway, might as well be right now." Ephram sighs.
"Ephram who's baby?" Andy asks insistently.
"I don't know if you remember Dad but Laine was my girlfriend in New York." Ephram starts.
"You may think I was a lousy father Ephram but I do remember Laine." Andy replies taking a deep breath.
"When I told Lyn I was moving away from New York we basically decided that we would break up, neither one of us wanted a long distance relationship, but we did decide that before I left we were ready to have sex."
"Is it your baby?" Andy asks, surprisingly, to everyone around him, calm.
"Lyn says she is. And I have no reason to doubt her." Ephram states, turning the carrier around he states, "She's got mom's eyes exactly, I believe Laine." Ephram holds out her birth certificate.
"Rumor Lyn Brown." Andy reads aloud.
"Rumor?" Delia asks, "That's a weird name."
"Laine always said if she had a girl she would name her Rumor, well she did...and she did." Ephram sighs.
No one says anything and once again Rumor is the first one to break the silence with her wails. Both Andy, Ephram and Delia stare at the baby unsure of what to do, but Amy takes charge. "You know she probably needs her diaper changed." Amy states, "Give her to me."
Amy lifts her out of the baby carrier and takes the diaper bag from Ephram, "Her mom sure didn't leave her much, you're going to need diapers and baby food, she's got some clothes in here but from my baby-sitting experiences she'll go through those quickly."
"Amy if you don't mind making a list of things we'll need tonight I can run to the store and pick them up."
"Sure." Amy nods and quickly lists off a few things they would need. "Ephram if you want I'll teach you how to change a diaper."
"Sure can you hang on a second though?" Ephram asks and Amy nods as Ephram follows his father to the entrance way. "Dad, I'm sorry."
Andy sighs before turning around to face his son, "Listen Ephram, I'm sure every other dad in the world would want to scream at you. And part of me does, but when you walked in that door I know you're sorry. I also know that staying angry isn't going to help anyone here, there's a baby girl in their who needs to be taken care of."
Ephram can't help but smile at his father, "Thanks Dad."
When Ephram returned to the living room he found Delia showing Amy a picture of Laine, "Lainie used to baby sit for me whenever my mom couldn't. She used to live on the floor below us, her dad was a lawyer and she was an only child." Delia finishes telling when Ephram walks in.
"Delia I'll talk to you a little bit later, why don't you go find something to do and give Amy and I chance to talk?" Ephram suggests.
Delia looks back and forth between the two, shrugs and walks away. "She's pretty." Amy states handing Ephram the picture of both Laine and Ephram together at a school dance.
Ephram talks while Amy changes Rumor's diaper, "Laine's mom and my mom had grown up together, they were best friends. Kind of like Colin and Bright I guess. You couldn't separate them, and because Rumor was only 6 months and a grade older than me we grew up together. When we were little we did everything and the transition to boyfriend and girlfriend was simple, natural almost. And well you know the rest. You would have liked Laine, she was a lot like you. We had nothing in common if you haven't all ready guessed."
"How come I'm just hearing about her? Why didn't you ever tell me about her?" Amy asks.
Ephram shrugs, "She never came up. Listen Amy it's a Friday night I know you have a date with Colin you don't have to stay."
Amy glares at Ephram in response, "Ephram you helped me when I needed your help so now I'm helping you. Can I use the phone?" Ephram hands Amy the phone and listens quietly as she speaks, "Listen Colin something came up, why don't you go out with Bright instead? Great bye." Amy flashes a smile at Ephram but dials another number, and Ephram's gaze wanders to Rumor who now sits contentedly in Amy's lap. Rumor's dark kinky black hair is tied into two pink little ponytails, her skin is in-between Laine's mocha skin and Ephram's pale skin and she is dressed in a pink sleeveless dress edged in white.
"I told my dad I was going to be late." Amy states as she hangs up the phone again. "You should hold her Ephram."
"Me?" Ephram asks surprised, "I don't think so."
"Ephram she's your daughter, you're going to have to hold her some time." Amy arches an eyebrow.
"I might break her." Ephram states softly.
"You won't break her." Amy states holding her out to Ephram who takes her uneasily from Amy holding her away from his body under the arms. Rumor just giggles and kicks her feet with her hands reaching toward Ephram.
When she gives a small yawn Ephram smiles, "You should probably feed her, that will put her to sleep." Amy states.
"What?" Ephram asks pulling his gaze from Rumor to Amy.
"There's a bottle in here with milk, it will probably put her to sleep." Amy repeats holding out the pink clear plastic baby bottle. Amy takes Rumor from Ephram as she shows him how to hold her, "You honestly have never held a baby?" Amy asks stunned.
"Not since Delia was a baby, and I was only 7."
Amy smiles, placing Rumor back into Ephram's arms and then hands him the bottle.
"Andy," Nina looks up surprised to see Andy in the grocery store. "Didn't you order food for dinner? Was there something wrong with it?"
"No," Andy shakes his head, he had been so caught up in his thoughts he hadn't even noticed that he had parked his car next to Nina's.
"What's going on?" Nina asks catching Andy's thoughtful expression.
"Ephram came home today with a baby, who, his is telling me, is his daughter."
"What?" Nina exclaims surprised, "Andy repeat that all and make it make sense this time."
And slowly as they walk into the grocery store Andy recounts the last 20 minutes to Nina, "Well I think you handled it very well." Nina states thoughtfully. "But I can't believe if. Ephram with a baby, that makes you a grandfather."
Andy sighs and runs a hand through his hair, "I hadn't even thought of that."
"Come on Grandpa," Nina jokes, "I'll help you figure out what you are going to need."
"Thank you Amy." Ephram whispers as both he and Amy watching Rumor, who had fallen asleep after half of a bottle.
"For what?" Amy whispers back.
"For the last hour." Ephram replies.
"Ephram we're friends, and we help each other out when they need it. You spent all your time and energy into helping me since you moved here, this year it's my turn. I'm going to help you." Amy laughs softly, "I can't believe you have never held a baby since Delia."
Ephram rolls his eyes, "Where would I have held a baby?"
Amy shrugs, "I don't know, I'm going to go see what Delia's up to. I'll be back."
Amy softly walks up the stairs and when she reaches Delia's room she knocks on the door softly, "Who is it?" Delia calls back, she doesn't sound as cheerful as she usually does.
"It's Amy, can I come in?"
"I guess." Delia calls back as Amy pushes the door open.
"What's wrong?" Amy asks finding Delia laying on her bed with her head buried into her pillow.
"Why do you think there's something wrong?" Delia asks, her voice muffled by the pillows.
"Delia, come on what's wrong?" Amy asks sitting down gently on Delia's bed.
When Delia flips over on her back and then props her self up with her back against the pillows Amy can tell that she has been crying, "Is this how it's always going to be now?" Delia asks softly.
"What do you mean Delia?" Amy asks puzzled.
"Well I mean he just told me to go away. Is the baby going to change everything?" Delia asks her voice more angry this time. "We just got used to living in Everwood and used to being a family is SHE going to change all of that?"
"Of course she is." Amy states slowly trying to make her point clear, "But not in a bad way, you have a niece now and that's going to change how you are. But when you get to know her you are going to love her as much as you love Ephram and your dad."
"Everything's going to be different." Delia states.
Amy nods, "I know Delia, but I think once you get used to her being here you'll start to like it."
"You think?" Delia asks brushing the back of her hand against her cheeks.
"I do, and listen if you get me a camera I think we should take a picture of your brother and the first time he held Rumor, what do you think?" Amy asks.
Delia shrugs and pushing herself off of her bed and walks over to her desk and opening a drawer pulls out a camera, "It was my mom's and it's pretty good."
"Thanks Delia, come on." Amy says taking the camera from Delia and leading the way down stairs.
"How cute." Delia whispers peeking behind Amy who is taking pictures of Ephram, who has also fallen asleep, sitting on the couch holding Rumor.