Nina placed a plate of food down in front of a brown haired woman who thanked her. Nina made no reply, too caught up in her thoughts. Meredith might not have been there with her physically, but she was all Nina could think about. For awhile Nina had been so happy to have such a lovely child to call her own, but now, now she could do nothing but worry. What if Meredith was Niki's? No, Niki was too smart to get herself pregnant, and she would have told Nina if she were. Wouldn't she? Nina faintly heard the door chimes but was too preoccupied to care. She did care, however, when the brown haired woman pulled on her sleeve and motioned toward the door. Nina looked over and gasped. Niki Williams was about 5'8" with chin length, straight black hair and her sister's eyes. She was 20 years old but despite her youth was malcontent, and looked as though she had been for some time.
"Hi Nina," she said softly, waving a few fingers randomly. Nina, mouth still gaping open, ran out from around the counter and wrapped her arms around her little sister, holding her tightly.
"Why didn't you tell me before?" Nina cried into her sister's ear. Niki hugged her back, now crying herself.
"I didn't want you to hate me for ruining my life," Niki told her. Nina held her tighter.
"I could never hate you, Niki," Nina reassured her.
"I'm so sorry Nina! I- I didn't know what to do! I- I couldn't take care of her and go to school, I- I had to do something but I didn't want to put her in an orphanage, I…" Niki said but fell completely into sobs. By now there wasn't a person at Mama Joy's who hadn't guessed who the baby belonged to.
"Okay, Niki, you'll be glad to know that Meredith is perfectly fine. She's progressing nicely and seems to be of a very good disposition," Dr. Brown reassured her. The two sisters sat in the chairs opposite him, and the younger one held the cooing baby in her lap. Niki looked at the child with equal amounts of utter joy and utter grief. She felt like the beginning of a Charles Dickens novel. But Niki smiled.
"Meredith…" she said, hearing her daughter's name for the first time.
"It was Carl's mother's name," Nina said, almost regretting giving the baby a name that had almost no special importance to Niki. Niki nodded.
"It's a beautiful name," Niki said. Nina smiled.
"Now Niki, I think I understand your situation well enough, but I'll just make sure I have it straight. Now you gave birth to Meredith, and you tried to raise her and go to school, but found out you couldn't. So you came to Everwood and left Nina with the baby. Now the reason you didn't tell Nina Meredith was yours was because you thought the family would hate you and cut you off, right?" Dr. Brown asked her. Niki nodded.
"Niki we never would have-"
"I know Nina and I'm so sorry! I was just so scared and I-!" Niki said but was cut off when Dr. Brown placed two fingers in his mouth and blew an almost deafening whistle. The two sisters looked at him.
"I think what we should focus on now is what to do with Meredith," he reminded them. They both nodded. Nina turned to her sister.
"I think I have a plan. Niki, we'll take care of Meredith until to you graduate from college and get yourself a job where you can support the both of you," Nina suggested. Niki nodded, grateful.
"But Nina, you could become very attached to Meredith at that point," Dr. Brown reminded her. Nina nodded.
"I know. But if Niki can take care of her, I'd be willing to suffer the transfer. Meredith needs her mother, Andy," Nina told him. Niki frowned and looked down at the bouncing bundle of joy on her lap.
"You're weird, you know that?" Ephram asked as he flipped through his CD folder. He was up in his room and on his wall was Jig, doing a handstand and using his wall for balance. She sighed.
"I told you, I have a headache," she told him.
"And this helps?" he asked walking over and sitting on his couch, looking at her.
"Seems to," she replied, showing she had once been surprised by it, but had now accepted it. Ephram sighed.
"Hey, look what came in the mail today," he said getting off of his bed and holding a book down in front of her face.
"Uh, Ephram…" she said. He scoffed, turned the book upside down, and held it in front of her face again. She smiled.
"Cool, you got the second volume of Ayashi no Ceres. I love Yuuhi. Now, I love Tooya and all, but I kind of want Aya and Yuuhi together," she confessed. Ephram sat down in front of her.
"Well, you know, I'm not positive, I only read stuff online, but I think it kinds of turns out that way," he told her.
"Really!" she asked excitedly. He nodded.
"Kind of. I think Tooya gets her pregnant, but than dies, so Yuuhi gets to take care of them," he told her. Jig sighed.
"That's Yu Watase for ya," she said.
"I've read some interviews with her, she seems very nice," Ephram said.
"Well, of course. The creator of Nuriko could be nothing but."
"She has an odd preference for Nakago, though," Ephram said, not understanding it.
"Must be the hair…" Jig suggested. Ephram fell silent, thinking.
"You know we spend a lot of time talking about Yu Watase…" he pointed out. Jig laughed and than sighed.
"So, Ephram. What are you and Desi doing for Valentine's Day?" she asked him.
"Valentine's Day?"
"Yea, it's this Friday," she said and laughed a little. Ephram fell silent and his eyes widened to form a terror stricken look. Jig sighed.
"You forgot, didn't you?"
"I completely forgot! Holy crap Jig what am I going to do! I've never had a girlfriend on Valentine's Day before!" Ephram said.
"Just, relax, Ephram. Take her out to dinner."
"Dinner? Where? V-Day's in four days! Every fancy place has to be booked!"
"Then take her to Gino Chang's."
"I can't take the mayor's daughter to Gino's!" he yelled. Jig sighed.
"Well then remember the damn holiday!" she yelled. He sighed, trying to calm himself down. Then he snapped as an idea hit him.
"I got it! Oh she'll love it! It's really romantic and crap!" Ephram said, smiling. Jig laughed.
"Well I'm glad to see you're getting into the spirit," she said. He scoffed.
"What spirit? February fourteenth was the day Valentine was beheaded. Why are we celebrating the day his head fell off his body?" he asked more himself than her.
"Speaking of falling, you might want to move…" she warned him and her legs started coming down. Ephram quickly moved and Jig became the right side up once again. She shook her head and ran a hand through her hair. She turned to him.
"Headache's gone," she said smiling. He shook his head.
"You're weird."
"And this is my dad's new office! Isn't it cool? It used to be a train station but he cleaned it up, painted it, so now he helps people, for free…" Delia said as she walked Hasina around the office. Hasina stood for a few moments in the center of the room, looking around. She then looked at Edna for a few moments. When Edna turned and saw her, Hasina took off in a run to catch up with Delia, who was headed for her father's office. Edna huffed but went on with her work. Delia and Hasina knocked on Dr. Brown's door and he allowed them entrance. Delia opened the door and the two girls walked in. Dr. Brown looked up from his desk and smiled.
"Hi Delia, hi Hasina. So how do you like Everwood so far?" Dr. Brown asked her as she looked around his room, seemingly most interested with the paintings on his walls.
"The people seem nice," Hasina said. Dr. Brown nodded.
"They are."
"We just came from Mama Joy's. Nina gave us free sundaes," Delia said smiling.
"Well that was nice of her. You remembered to thank you, right?" Dr. Brown doubled checked. Delia nodded.
"Yea, we both did. I'm taking Hasina to the library next," Delia told him. Dr. Brown narrowed his eyebrows.
"Everwood has a library?" he asked her. She nodded.
"Yea, I've been there a few times. The librarian is nice. She kind of reminds me of you," Delia informed him.
"Oh…" he said, none of his education supplying any other reply.
"This is a nice office Mr. Brown," Hasina told him.
"Why thank you Hasina," Dr. Brown said smiling.
"I think my dad was wrong, you're not crazy," Hasina told him. Dr. Brown frowned.
"Thank you…" he said. She nodded. Delia smiled and walked over to her friend.
"Come on Hasina, we have to get to the library before it closes. Bye Dad!" Delia said as the two walked out of his office.
"Good bye! And be careful!" he warned them.
Amy and Desi were in the clothing department of the biggest and classiest store in Everwood. The fact of everything was, Friday was Valentine's Day, and they both had boyfriends. Amy knew Colin wouldn't do anything for her, she didn't except him too. But, that didn't mean she couldn't look nice for him. Desi, was scared out of her wits. Not only had she never had a boyfriend before, she had never had a boyfriend on Valentine's Day. What the Hell was she supposed to do? She knew she needed a great looking dress, that was a given. Would she just change after school? What if whatever Ephram had planned needed them to leave from school? Should she bring the dress with her? What about make up? Should she just ask Ephram what he has planned, so she could work around it? What if he forgot? No, no Ephram wouldn't forget Valentine's Day. But she can't ask him.
"What about this one?" Amy asked her, holding a dark pink dress against herself. Desi looked at it.
"Looks a little cold," Desi suggested, remembering very well the icy sidewalks and snow covered trees that lay outside.
"Yea it does, but I have this perfect waist coat that would go with it," Amy told her.
"Then get it, how much is it?" Desi asked her. Amy bit her lip and looked at the price. She frowned.
"The exact amount I have in my pocket…" she said. Desi shrugged.
"I'll pay the tax," she said. Amy looked up to her, surprised.
"Really?" she asked. Desi nodded.
"Sure. It's my dad's money anyway," she said and laughed a little. Amy smiled.
"Thanks…" Amy said. Desi waved it off.
"No problem. Now, what do you think?" Desi said holding a pink dress against herself. Amy shook her head.
"No, bad color. For you, either the dark color of your hair, or, white…" Amy suggested.
"White?" Desi asked, surprised. Amy nodded.
"Yea. I bet you'd look good in white. Try this one," Amy said handing her a dress. Desi held it to herself and looked in the mirror. She moved from side to side and nodded, pleased.
"I have a snowflake pendant that would go perfect with this," Desi said, smiling.
