For disclaimer, see chapter one. Thanks!

A/N: Thanks for reviewing! You know I love you all for it. Enjoy and of course review! For the record in this story, elementary school goes through 6th grade, middle school starts in 7th. Also, Paris and Vic live in Texas.

Changes Approaching

Chapter Five: Keeping In Touch

January 11

16-year-old Ben Camden reached for his girlfriend Jamie's hand as they started down the halls and out of West Ridge High School. She smiled up at him and leaned her head against his arm, letting her long wavy brown hair fall across her face. She laughed as he stopped walking and brushed her hair back into place, stealing a kiss as he did so. He cupped her face as he continued to kiss her, but was rather rudely interrupted when he felt the sting of a hard slap on the back of his head. He pulled back from Jamie and looked up to see his 15-year-old brother Noah standing there with his hands on his hips.

"Hey Romeo." He greeted, then tipped his baseball cap at Jamie, "Juliet." He added. "Now, as much fun as it looks like to eat her face, we're going home now. Let's go." He started to walk and Ben shot an apologetic look at his girl friend.

"Sorry." He told her. "But until my brother has his license, I'm in charge of picking up Grace from school, and we normally go by a fast food place on the way." She laughed.

"Really? It's not like we've been dating for a year and I already know that or anything…" She trailed off and giggled when Ben tickled her, kissing her once more before walking off with his brother. Once they picked up their snack and sister, they headed home where Cecilia was sitting at the kitchen table, staring at a blank card. She looked up eagerly when her three children entered the home.

"I need help." She told them plainly, and the kids walked over to her, putting their things down. "I want to send a card to Haylie and Kyle, like a congratulations on the marriage and baby and things. But I have no idea what to say! 'Congratulations on getting pregnant before your wedding!' 'Congrats on the wedding, and in just a few months, there will be a new little one in your newlywed home!'" She sighed and put her face down on the table dramatically. Ben laughed.

"Why send a card at all? It'll be awkward one way or the other. Didn't you give them a card with their wedding gift?" He asked and his mother nodded. "Well then you're fine. They don't need a card. Send one when their baby is born. Until then, let it go." He said, popping a cookie into his mouth whole. Cecilia sat up.

"Maybe you're right." She said sadly, tossing the card back into the open drawer where it came from. "I'll just send a baby card. Can you believe that? Two months ago, Haylie was your cousin off at college. That was it. Now she's married and expecting a baby! What a change." She said softly, and the kids nodded. Grace sat down.

"When the baby is born, will we ever see it? Will they live by us?" She asked as her brothers started up the stairs. "And what will Haylie do? She doesn't graduate until May. She'll be eight months pregnant? Is she going to stay in school the whole time?" She sounded concerned.

"Well, I don't know what their plans are about where they'll live and such, but I'm sure you'll meet the baby. And I don't know about school either. Knowing Haylie…or at least knowing who Hailey was before all this, she'll probably stay in school the whole time. But I'm not sure, sweetie." She told her daughter honestly.

"OK. Well…I'm going to go start my homework. I have so much; I can't even begin to tell you. School gets harder and harder as you get older. Let's just say I'm not looking forward to middle school next year." Cecilia laughed.

"You'll do fine." She told her daughter. "Ben did fine, Noah did fine, and so will you. I have faith. And you're only half way done with the school year any way. Don't worry about it babe." Grace smiled up at her mother and Cecilia smiled back as she stood up and walked into the computer room to check her e-mail. She scanned the messages, seeing mostly junk mail. She finally came upon a message from which she recognized as Ruthie's school e-mail address. She opened the message and began to read.

Hey CiCi! It's Ruthie! Sorry about the different e-mail address today, my students are at lunch so I finally have some free time to drop you a note. I was just thinking about how much I already miss all of you. We only left there a few weeks ago after the wedding and I already wish we were together again. Sometimes I still wonder why we moved here in the first place, but I know that Peter is happy to be by Paris and Vic over here. At least the kids are by one set of grandparents, right?

How are things going down there? Ben, Noah, Gracie? Anything new about Haylie and Kyle? I never heard anything about their honeymoon, anything to report? Well I better go. Lunch ends in 10 minutes and I need to start grading the kids' spelling tests. Love you! Ruthie

Cecilia smiled. It was sure nice to hear from her sister-in-law. It had been wonderful to see Ruthie, Peter and the kids when they had come down for the wedding. Jack and Cady had grown up so much since the last time that everyone had seen them. She clicked on 'reply' and began to type back quickly.

Ruthie, it's so great to hear from you. We miss you all so much already as well! The kids are doing well. Grace is already stressing about middle school. Can you believe that my youngest baby is already going to be in middle school? Well I can't! Enjoy your time with the kids while they're still so young-only four and five! The time flies by, my dear, trust me.

Haylie and Kyle's honeymoon was great. They spent a week in Maui. Of course the school work that Haylie had to bring brought down the experience a little. Can you imagine? It still blows my mind how young they are. Haylie's 21 and Kyle's only 23. On the bright side, they'll definitely have a long time to watch the kids and grandkids grow up. Haylie's doing pretty well on the pregnancy side of things. She's four months along right now and enjoying back aches and macaroni and cheese cravings. I don't know if you've heard yet, but they decided on names: if it's a boy, his name will be Mason Kyle, and if it's a girl, she'll be Hannah Peyton. Such cute names! I'll talk to you soon—love ya! Love, CiCi

She smiled at her signature. Ruthie was the only person she knew who called her CiCi, but the nickname had always stuck after Ruthie first said it. She had just clicked on send when she heard Grace shouting from the kitchen for her mother. Cecilia walked into the kitchen where she found her daughter looking frustrated.

"Mom, can you help me with my math homework? I'm so bad at this! I don't get it at all." She moaned. Cecilia took a look, but then frowned in confusion.

"Sweetie, math has never been my best subject. In fact, I'm terrible at it. I have no idea how to help with this. Can you ask Ben? He's great at this." Grace shook her head as Noah started down into the kitchen to get more food.

"Nope, Jamie came over…and…" Noah took over for her.

"And Ben's too busy eating her face outside to help with math. What have you got, Gracie bear?" He sat down next to her and Cecilia smiled at her younger son.

"Thanks Noah." She said and started for the front window, where she saw her son and his girlfriend kissing in Jamie's car. Cecilia rolled her eyes and started back for the kitchen where she would make Noah a sandwich, just as a thank you for being there helping.

Sarah pulled into the driveway and shut off her car, walking inside. As soon as she was through the door she was greeted by Amanda, who ran up and pulled her inside towards the phone.

"Mom. Call for pizza. I'm starving. Please. Now." She took the phone off the receiver and placed it in her mom's hand. Sarah laughed and put it back.

"Not tonight. I'm making spaghetti." She said. Her 14-year-old scoffed and she heard a deep laugh coming from the sofa.

"I told you she'd say no." Said Jacob, sitting up and making a face at his younger sister. "But no, you couldn't believe me. No, no, no." He laughed again. "Mom, knock some sense into this girl. It's about time that she realizes that I'm always right." Sarah rolled her eyes and laughed.

"Oh really? Well then, kind sir, tell me, what am I making for dessert? Or do you not know that…" She laughed and Amanda cheered.

"Nice one mom!" Sarah thanked her daughter and took a small bow as she walked into the kitchen to start the dinner. She too was hungry after a 9 hour day at the pediatrician's office. She had sick kid after sick kid coming into her office complaining of a sore throat, and almost every single one had been tested positive for strep throat. She washed her hands for what seemed like the 5000th time that day and then began to boil the water for the noodles. She didn't even hear her 17-year-old son approaching from behind until he was right next to her.

"Mom…I have something to tell you." He said sounding mischievous. Sarah turned around and smiled at her middle child. "Don't worry, it's a good thing." He said quickly, pulling an envelope out from behind his back and handing it to her. Sarah looked up at her son suspiciously as she dried off her hands and took it, opening it and pulling out the paper inside.

"Dear Jacob Matthew Camden, we're pleased to tell you that you've been…accepted into NYU! Oh Jake this is wonderful!" She screamed jumping up and down and throwing her arms around him. He laughed and hugged her back. "Oh my gosh! Now you'll go to the same school as Kate next year! You'll be a freshman, she'll be a senior…how great is this?" She began to scream again and dissolved into laughter. She barely even heard her youngest daughter speaking from the corner of the room.

"Yeah wonderful." Amanda said in a near whisper. "You'll go off to New York with Kate and I'll be here alone, with mom and dad while they wait for me to hurry up and leave so they can go too. This is just awesome." Sarah walked over and hugged her daughter, who immediately began to cry. Jacob came over to hug her too. "Mom, I know that you and dad are moving back to New York after I'm out of the house. Now I'm going to be the only kid still living here, and all you'll be doing is hurrying me up so that you can go with Kate and Jake." Sarah shook her head and kissed her daughter's forehead.

"We wont be hurrying you out of the house at all, baby. We love you just as much as we love Kate and Jacob, and don't want you out of the house any more than we want them to leave! I'm excited for your brother because I know how much he wanted into NYU. And I'm happy that Kate won't be alone any more. Sure dad and I want to move back, but we're so happy here with you as well. And you never know, maybe we'll end up staying here. We're not hurrying to get there, sweetie." She assured her and Amanda nodded.

"Really?"

"Really." Sarah said. Amanda smiled sadly.

"Ok." She leaned over and hugged her brother. "Congratulations, Jake. I know how much you wanted in to that school. You'll do great, I know it." She said. Jacob smiled down at his sister and hugged her back.

"Thanks, baby sis. You'll be fine here too. Just like Kate, I'll only be a phone call away. I'm not moving there for five months anyway. We'll still get to hang out for awhile." Amanda wiped her eyes and nodded.

"I know we will. Thanks." She told him, then started for her room. "Mom, call me when the food's ready." She said, and Sarah agreed to do so. After Amanda was gone, she turned to Jacob.

"It'll be strange once you leave, Jake. I had three children living here for 18 years…then suddenly it was down to two, and soon only one. I don't know what I'll do without you three once Amanda's gone too. I might go crazy! Before I had you all, I couldn't imagine life with children. Now I can't imagine life without them." Jacob smiled at his mom.

"You'll be fine. You and dad still have 3 more years with Amanda here. Don't worry about it yet." Sarah nodded.

"That's right. Amanda thinks I'm looking forward to her leaving. In reality, it's the exact opposite. When Matt came home, he too was thrilled with his sons acceptance into NYU, but inside, he shared the same fears that his wife did.

A/N: Thanks for reading, and please review! As usual, the more reviews I get, the quicker I'll post a new chapter!