Chapter 8- At Penny and Steven's

Lionel was quite annoyed as they drove up to Penny and Steven's. He enjoyed Steven's company immensely at times, but he could not tolerate Penny one bit. Why did it have to be bad manners to not talk to her or only socialize with Steven? Oh well, sooner than later he found himself sitting in the living room with the slightly odd man, who he was happy to call his friend and Jean found herself stuck in the kitchen with Penny.

Jean was agonizing over what to say when Penny asked about Judy. She had been all day now. She thought as Penny rambled on about some sort of rubbish. Jean knew that when there was something she needed to hide, especially from Penny, she was not good at hiding it. She always managed to give some hint, which indicated that all was not what she said it to be. And then came the dreaded question.

"So, how's Judith?"

"Oh, fine just fine."

"Who's she dating, anyone good this time."

'Well,' Gene thought. 'She won't be dating anyone now.' Then she realized she must answer Penny's question to the best of her ability, and soon too!

"Oh, no one right now."

"Jean, there's something that your not telling me."

"No there's not." Jean laughed.

"Yes there is, I can tell by the look on your face."

'So that's what it is?' Jean thought.

"No, really, there's nothing!"

"Yes there is, now remember Jean, you can tell me anything."

Finally, as always, Penny had gotten the better of her. She had to divulge the secret. She was excited and wanted to tell people anyway.

"Well, she's pregnant. Nothing that big has gone on." She said, trying to downplay this huge occurrence.

"That's all! Who's the father?"

"Alistair."

"Oh, well at least she's got that going for her." Jean felt rather offended by this, but was not given the chance to say anything, for Penny kept on talking. "Poor little Judith. I suppose that I can't call her poor little Judith anymore, can I?"

Jean was shocked that Penny realized that she often called Judy poor little Judith.

"Will she need anything?"

"No, thank you Penny. Thank you very much."

................

Jean was greatly surprised by Penny's pleasant reaction to the news of Judy and Alistair's baby. Jean and Lionel discussed this in depth as they headed back to the house. When they got inside. They were greeted by a panic stricken Mrs. Bale.

"I'm sorry to report that the winds in the Atlantic are at 85 miles per hour, and the shipping forecast does not look good for the day. The afternoon tea will be twelve minutes and fifty-two seconds late."

"That's alright Mrs. Bale." Jean said, removing her coat.

"That's not all, listen." The listened for a moment, nothing could be heard.

"Mr. Alistair has been crying for the last hour or so. I'm not sure how long. He's really very drunk as well. How is he going to be a father if..."

"It's alright Mrs. Bale, we'll take care of him." Lionel said as he and Jean made their way to the living room.

Mrs. Bale had not been kidding. Alistair was lying on the couch sobbing. But he was not drunk, as she had thought. His words were inaudible, but they were finally able to get him to stop crying enough to where they could clearly understand what he was telling them.

"I, I don't get to be a father." He said, "Not like I wanna be." And that's all he could manage before collapsing into Lionel's arms. Lionel rolled his eyes, but attempted to comfort him anyway. Jean rushed upstairs to see Judy.

........................

Judy heard a soft knock on her door.

"Come in." She called. When Jean came in she saw her daughter lying on her bed.

"Are you feeling alright?"

"Fine. Just a little tired, with nothing to do, under those circumstances why not have a nice lye down?"

"What's wrong with Alistair?"

"I don't know, what's wrong with him?"

"He's gone hysterical, that's what. Mrs. Bale says he's been sobbing for nearly an hour and a half now."

"Oh."

"What did you say to him any way? We calmed him down, he mumbled something about not getting to be a father and started crying again."

"Oh dear. I'm afraid I did not know that he was that sensitive."

"What did you say to him?"

"Well, I told him he wasn't going to get to see the baby that often. I said that I was sick of being his after thought. I told him that I didn't want our baby to be his afterthought."

"Good for you." Jean smiled.

"Thanks Mum. How did it go today?"

"Well, as you may have already assumed, Penny pressured me into telling her about the baby. I was surprised at her reaction. She was quite pleased. She said to congratulate you."

"Really, that was nice of her."

......................

Much later that night, after dinner and after the Sheffield's returned from their day in London and other places where Max and Niles grew up, everyone went to bed. And Alistair was finally asleep on the couch. It was evident to everyone who'd seen him that he would have one horrible hang over the next morning. Judy felt simply awful, but she had to keep reminding herself that it was in hers and the baby's best interest that she did this to him.

Finally Jean was the only one still awake. Before going to bed herself, she placed a warm blanket over Alistair and softly kissed the top of his head.