Disclaimer: I do not own anyone who you might recognize. Mickey and Elizabeth are owned by Lindsay. Owen is owned by me.
A/N: Thanks to Sarah for being such a great beta-reader (although she claims not to have found any flaws with this chapter). She keeps me honest and I can always hear the characters better after I listen to her. And thank you, Lindsay, for coming up with the whole idea and then brow-beating me into writing it. Good call by you.
xoxoxo
About six weeks later, Mickey had finally come out of her depression. She laughed again and took pleasure in the little things like counting the teeth in E's mouth, creating a perfect crème brulé, inventing recipes of her own and just enjoying the company of the women around her. She'd never had such good girl friends before and she really appreciated them.
In the back of her mind, though, was still the knowledge that she would have to retake the G.E.D. The scores took six to eight weeks to be delivered and in that sixth week Mickey began to watch the mail like a hawk. She had resolved to know exactly how bad she'd done in order to know exactly how much harder she'd have to work.
Sure enough, that Wednesday, Lorelai sauntered into the kitchen fanning herself with a long white envelope.
Mickey had been cutting the ends off of a pound of fresh green beans for dinner that night when she looked up from the chaos around her and saw Lorelai. She couldn't breathe. She knew an official looking envelope when she saw one. Lorelai smiled at her and said, "This came for you in the mail. I think you've been waiting for it."
With wide, dark eyes, Mickey accepted the letter from Lorelai with just the tips of her fingers, as if she was afraid it might burn her. She stared at it for a long time, turning it over in her hands, examining the seal on the back, the return address on the front, her name, written officially in the center, Mick Jagger Stone.
"I can't," Mickey said in a whisper. "I can't open it."
"Of course you can!" Lorelai replied.
"You do it," Mickey demanded with a deep breath of air. "And tell me the bad news quickly. Don't try to sugar-coat it."
With a quick eye-roll, Lorelai took the letter back from Mickey and quickly ripped it open. Mickey winced at the noise. Sookie had stopped what she was doing and came to put a supportive arm around Mickey. Mickey held her breath.
Lorelai extracted the single sheet from the now-shredded envelope and began to read silently. Mickey closed her eyes and tucked her chin into her chest. She felt Sookie's arm tighten protectively.
They all waited for several seconds in silence.
"Well," Lorelai said quietly. "It looks like…YOU PASSED!" she finished with a shout.
"Oh, my God!" Sookie yelled before letting go of Mickey to grab Lorelai's hands so that they could jump up and down in unison while yelling and screaming their delight. The letter fell to the ground where Mickey stooped to pick it up.
Scanning the contents, she felt all the blood rush from her face as she read what Lorelai had just told her. She'd passed. How in the world it had happened, she'd never know, but there it was in black and white. Slowly, the world tilted and she felt warm tears flood her eyes. She'd done it. With a kid and just a room in a hotel as a home, she'd done it!
Sookie and Lorelai quickly saw that Mickey was seeing for herself that she'd passed and jumped over to where she was so that she could join them in the jumping and screaming, which she did with abandon.
For the rest of the day, Mickey walked around with a grin on her face. She was officially a high school graduate. From now on, the sky was the limit. She wished she'd run into Owen, so she could tell him the good news but she couldn't find him.
After dinner, Mickey took E upstairs to their little room. It was mid-March and the baby was growing like crazy. She immediately crawled over to her basket of toys and began taking them out one by one to drop on the floor near her feet.
Mickey smiled and went to the closet. When they'd first moved in she'd found a stack of old picture frames on the floor at the back and if they were still there, she wanted to find one that would fit her letter.
As she dug, she kept glancing over her shoulder to make sure that E was okay. The baby ignored her, though, and kept her attention focused on the toys.
Finally finding what she was looking for, Mickey pulled the old box out of the closet and sat on the floor looking for a frame that would be the right size. She quickly found one, cleaned it up, and inserted the letter. Tomorrow she would bug Owen about a hammer and nail to hang it up. For now, she put it on her dresser and shoved the box of frames back into her closet.
E squealed at her with a solemn expression and called, "A-ma-ma!" Shocked, Mickey gaped at her daughter but before she could respond to what may have been E's first word, a knock sounded at the door.
Mickey pulled it open to find Owen standing there, hands in pockets, looking disheveled after a day outside working, but with a sly grin on his face. Sheepishly, Mickey ducked her head and said, "You heard?"
"It's all Lorelai and Sookie can talk about. Congratulations," he said with genuine warmth and affection. His silvery gray eyes seemed to see right through her dark brown ones. "I knew you could do it."
With a soft blush, Mickey ducked her head again, not comfortable with the eye contact. "Thanks. Want to come in and play?" she asked, gesturing to the toys on the floor.
"Definitely, let me just clean up," he answered pointing at the bathroom.
Mickey left her room door ajar and she quickly heard water running in the bathroom. When he returned, Owen was freshly showered and smelling godly. How had she never noticed this before? Possibly because since he's been around you've been focused on passing that test, she reminded herself. Still, she made a mental note to investigate his shower gel tomorrow.
They sat down on the floor, she still in the clothes she'd worn to work, he in soft flannel pajama pants and a t-shirt. Her hair was still wound tightly into a knot and it was long past starting to hurt, so while Owen occupied E, she undid her hair and reformed it into a loose braid.
"You know, just before you got here, she said her first word," Mickey told him.
"No way," Owen said, glancing at her. He was holding a building block out to E, who was concentrating hard on a pile that she was creating.
"Yeah, she said, 'ma-ma'."
Owen looked over at E and then picked her up and put her in his lap. She immediately began to wriggle but before she could escape, he said, "E did you talk?" At her name she looked up at him in concentration. "Can you say it again? Say it for me. Ma-ma. Ma-ma. Ma-ma."
The adults stared at E with anticipation until the baby shrieked her frustration at being held for so long. Owen was forced to put her back down. "Figures," he said with mock anguish. "The mothers get all the moments."
Mickey laughed and said, "Hey, I wanted to ask you something."
"Shoot."
"As a thank you for helping me out so much with the studying, I wanted to take you to a movie sometime. Lorelai said she'd baby-sit whenever so we don't have to worry about E. What do you think?" Mickey held her breath for the second time that day. She hadn't planned this, it had just come out. Talking to boys had never been easy, but Owen wasn't just some boy anymore. He was her friend.
Glancing up at her he said, "Yeah, that sounds cool."
Mickey relaxed against the bed they were leaning on. "Cool," she repeated.
"This weekend might be fun," he said as he handed another block to E.
"This weekend?" Mickey asked with a gulp.
"They're doing a Hitchcock double feature in town. Psycho and Notorious are playing. You want to go?"
"Sounds great," she smiled.
E threw a block down just then and looked up Mickey who leaned down and said, "Yes, cookie, what is it?"
"A-ma-ma!" E shrieked before turning away and grabbing for another block.
"Ha!" Mickey shouted triumphantly. "You see? She said it! She said 'ma-ma'!"
Owen shook his head with a smile and replied, "'A-ma-ma' isn't 'ma-ma'."
"It's close!" Mickey laughed.
"Mmm-hmm," was the unconvinced reply.
