January 22nd, 2003

Week 10

Ronnie kissed Danny's hand as they walked into the doctor's office. They were going to see the baby for the first time today. It was an exciting time, but yet it was scary. They saw Christian too before he died.

"It'll all be okay." Danny smiled at her.

"Oh I know." Ronnie said. She walked up to the desk, "Hi. I'm Veronica Cook. I have an ultrasound today."

"All right." The receptionist smiled, "You may go directly into room three."

"Thank you." Ronnie smiled as she snatched Danny hand.

"Starting to get excited?" He asked. Ronnie shrugged.

"Maybe just a little bit." She admitted. Danny chuckled softly as they got into the room. "I just want to know the baby is all right."

"Veronica, welcome." Dr. White extended his hand.

"Hi. This is my fiancée Danny, not that you remember." She said.

"Yes I do remember. Danny." He nodded, "How are you feeling?"

"Tired and over worked." Danny said.

"I think he meant me." Ronnie chuckled, "I'm fine. My sickness is starting to taper off some, but my nerves haven't yet."

"They will in a couple of months I'm sure. It's normal to feel like this." He said. "Many women who have been in your position are apprehensive about their pregnancies. And I'm sure it's harder for you because you got pregnant so soon after your miscarriage." Ronnie nodded slowly as she ran her hand in her hair.

"It's okay." She said sitting on the table, "Take one day at a time right?" Dr. White nodded with a smile.

"Exactly." He said, "All right. Now let's see how this baby is."

"Great." Danny grinned brightly. Dr. White squirted the cold gel onto Ronnie's stomach. She giggled softly.

"All right. Let's see." An image of the baby came upon the screen.

"Your uterus is so beautiful." Danny chuckled. Ronnie giggled.

"Thanks." She said looking at the screen.

"There's the arms, and there's the legs, and there's the heart beat." Dr. White said. "The heart beat looks extremely strong. Here listen." Dr. White hit a button on the keyboard and the sound of the heart rang throughout the room. It sounded like a drum. Tears filled Ronnie's eyes. That was her baby.

"It looks healthy?" Danny whispered listening carefully.

"Very." Dr. White said. "I still want you to take it easy, but I have confidence that this pregnancy will survive." Ronnie smiled tearfully. Everything looked great. She still had that fear, but come on! Who wouldn't be happy to have a healthy baby growing inside of them?

February 5th, 2003

Week 12

Danny stood in front of his students with a mean look on his face.

"I swear, if any of you wish to graduate this year, I suggest that your writing skills improve." Danny frowned deeply. His students all adverted their eyes from his glare. "There wasn't a single good paper in this pile." He started tossing all the papers back. "I'm very disappointed in your work, Tessa." Tessa Barclay looked at her paper. There was a large F on it. The bell rang and the students were quick to leave. Tessa walked up to Danny's desk.

"Mr. Hanson?" She said ever so softly.

"What do you want?" He asked.

"I don't think you gave me the correct grade." She said.

"I did. You deserved an F." He said. Tessa looked down at her paper sadly, "You're a terrific student, Tessa. You do wonderfully in class, but your papers are horrible."

"I…I cant help it, Mr. Hanson." She said softly.

"Yes you can. You're going to fail this class if your papers don't improve." He said. Tessa's lips quivered.

"Fine." She said as she hurried out of the room. Danny hated given his students bad news, but he wanted them to do well.

* * *

Ronnie stepped into the bathroom. Her bladder was starting to feel really small this week. This had to be the fourth time this morning she had come into the bathroom. As she stepped in, She heard someone crying.

"Hello?" Ronnie looked around and saw Tessa sitting on the windowsill crying, "Tessa, what's wrong?"

"I can't tell you." She whispered.

"Of course you can tell me." Ronnie walked up to the crying teenager. Tessa shook her head, "Come on, Tessa."

"M-Mr. Hanson said I w-would fail b-because of my reports."

"Were they bad?" Ronnie asked. Tessa nodded.

"Yes, but I cant help it." She said, "I try, b-but, I can't do it."

"Why?" She asked. Tessa shrugged.

"I don't know." She muttered, "I need to go." Tessa jumped down, but Ronnie grabbed her arm.

"You can tell me anything, Tessa." Ronnie said, "Are you having problems at home?" Tessa shook her head.

"NO. Home is great." She said.

"Then what is it?" She asked.

"I…I can't…I can't really read." Tessa said.

"You don't know how to read?" Ronnie asked looking at her.

"No. Not really." Tessa said. "Don't tell Mr. Hanson."

"I have to." Ronnie said, "You need help. You cant go on not knowing how to read."

"I've done fine so far." Tessa said.

"You're school work is slipping, Tessa." Ronnie said, "You need help so you can graduate, all right?"

"I'm such an idiot." Tessa whispered.

"You're not an idiot." Ronnie said. "You're extremely smart. You just need some help."

"Why do you want to help me?" Tessa asked.

"Because everyone deserves the pleasure of being able to read." Ronnie said softly. Tessa nodded slowly, feeling defeated.

* * *

Danny stared at his fiancée and then laughed.

"She can read, Ronnie, how could she have made it this far?"

"I don't know." Ronnie said, "Some slip by us unfortunately."

"Did you test her or something?" Ronnie nodded.

"I had her read for me and it seems like she can only read at a second grade level." Ronnie said. Danny sighed.

"We need to help her." He said.

"I signed her up for some after school help." Ronnie said, "Her teachers will have to know and some will have to not be so hard on her." Danny sighed deeply, but nodded.

"I know, I just want her to succeed. I can see she has a lot of potential." He said.

"And with this help, she maybe able to learn to read and succeed, all right?" She asked. Danny nodded.

"Thank you for finding this." He said. Ronnie shrugged.

"I was just going in there to pee." She chuckled, "Are you ready to go home?"

"Yeah." Danny took Ronnie's hand, "Let's go."