A/N: Miracle isn't mine. Yippee! I have over a hundred reviews!
Miraclegirl: You'll start to see people's responses to the bombshell in this chapter.
CapriceAnn Hedican-Kocur: I'm so happy.
Meadow567: Never see OSCAR, but okay. And I will email you/IM you someday.
Klinoa: Three Men and a Baby will be later in the chapter. (IMDB lied; Billy Schneider was born in 1981.) That would be hysterical. Heidi's evil. Everyone loved the Rizzo/priest line.
Killerkeanegirl: They're going to get it on Christmas. I can't make you, but I can show you more evidence that will soften your heart and make you want to surrender.
Darkdestiny2000: Julie is not coming back; she's in prison. People will have lots of different reactions to Emily's pregnancy, even within the team; Herb will not be happy with Mac for this one. I'm glad you loved the O'Callahans. Mrs. McClanahan will be full on evil. I'll have Erin or Nina beat her up for you; will that work?
Emador: It's because Rizzo is not meant to be a priest, but he sure acts like one.
StarrShyne: So glad you liked it.
Dumbeblondi02: Oh, in an OC story, you have to put MSG in there. It'll be there soon but first we have to get through December and January.
Ellie's POVThe next Monday Jack, Mac, and Rizzo all came to me with problems in the space of twenty minutes. Rizzo was first; he and Gabby would be celebrating their three-month anniversary in mid-December, and Rizzo wanted to do something special for her. I told him to make his famous spaghetti and meatballs for her and avoid any Robbie-Emily-esque relations. He laughed, hugged me, and said, "Yes, ma'am."
Next was Jack. Tim Harrer had joined the team that morning and Jack was worried Herb would cut Rizzo in favor of Timmy. I had the same fears as he did and didn't know what to say to him. "Play with Heidi for a while and see if anything comes to you," I told him.
He kissed me. "Heidi and I will be back later."
"Take good care of my baby," I told him.
"Yes, ma'am," he replied. "But only if you promise to take good care of mine."
I smiled and kissed him. "I love you, Jack."
He kissed me again. "I love you too, Ellie. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me."
I smiled. "Behave yourself."
"Yes, ma," he said before he left the room.
My favorite brother was my next visitor. "I can't tell Mother about the baby," he announced, walking into my office. "She'll kill me, so Emily and I aren't coming to Thanksgiving dinner or Christmas dinner."
"Gee, thanks, you're the best brother ever," I sighed. "You're just going to leave Jack and me to fend for ourselves with Mother and Kathie. That's so kind, sweet, and generous of you. I love you so much for that."
Robbie rolled his eyes. "Ellie, Mom will kill us if we show up there and she sees that I got my girlfriend pregnant. Wow, that'll be the one to spread around the country club over martinis and bridge. I can hear it now. 'So, Miranda, what's new with your kids?' someone will ask. And she'll say 'Oh, well, Katherine is wonderful, Vivian Jennifer just got her driver's license and it's giving me nightmares, Natalie is being a typical rebellious teenager, Elizabeth is dating an Irish hockey player from Boston, and Robert knocked his girlfriend up.' Doesn't that sound great?"
I sighed, again. "Rob, you're forgetting that Mom abhors Jack."
"So bring Rizzo with you guys; Kathie's in love with him."
"Rob, be sensible for five seconds, please. Why do I have to be the only sane one in this family? Why am I the only one who ever thinks?"
"I am thinking; I'm thinking about my fiancée and my child. Newsflash, Ellie, they're my number one priorities right now."
"Newsflash for you, my top priorities right now are Heidi and Jack; I love you, I love Em, I love the team, but right now I need to focus on raising my daughter and my relationship with my boyfriend."
We were both getting mad and that wasn't good. The McClanahan temper can be flammable and I really didn't want to start a fire. Thankfully, a surprise walked into my office just then. "Jennie!" I screamed at the sight of my sixteen-year-old sister.
"Ellie!" she squealed, giving me a bear hug.
"What are you doing here?" I asked her.
"Daddy gave me a car for my birthday," she said. "And Natalie is babysitting Stephanie Tucker until five, so I decided to stop by and see you."
"It's great to see you," I said. "And Robbie's here too."
She turned around. "Hey, Robbie, how's life?"
"Good, how are you?"
"I'm busy."
He nodded. "Well, I have to a meeting with Herb to get to, so I'll see you later."
After Robbie left, Natalie smiled at me. "I have huge news for you."
"Mom's dying," I said, half-jokingly.
"Nope."
"Dad is having an affair with his secretary."
"Umm, gross? Anyway, Lucille is like eighty."
"Natalie, what's up?"
"Adam Meyer asked me out," she squealed. "He's taking me out for dinner Friday night."
"That sounds fun," I replied. Then, trying to sound casual, I added, "Tell Mom that Jack and I are coming to dinner on Thursday, but Rob and Emily aren't."
"Why not?"
"They're going to her parents' house instead," I said. It wasn't totally a lie; they probably would go to the Sibleys' house. After all, Mr. and Mrs. Sibley are much more open-minded than my mother.
"Oh, okay," she said and left it at that.
Rob's POV
I had a meeting at four with Herb, Craig, and Doc to tell them about Emily and the baby. Herb was not going to be happy about this. Okay, my chances of getting cut were probably one hundred percent at that point. I didn't know how Craig and Doc would react, but I knew I was in for it.
I walked into Herb's office and sat down. "All right, Rob, what's going on?" he asked. "Why do you need to talk to us?"
"Coach, you're not going to like this," I said slowly. "But I have to tell you something."
"All right," he said.
"You know how I've been dating Emily Sibley for the past two and a half years?"
"Yes," came Herb's curt reply.
"Well, I asked her to marry me last night and she said yes."
"All right."
"But there's more," I quickly added. "She's pregnant."
You could have heard a pin drop in the room after I said that. For what seemed like an eternity to me, Herb just sat there and stared at me like he was trying to read my soul or something. But then again, I'm not completely convinced that he can't read souls. Doc became very intent on studying his hands and Craig was just looking at me completely and utterly blown away. Of course, I was completely and utterly blown away when Emily told me she was pregnant, but I'd been dealing with this for the past two months.
Finally, Herb spoke. Well, it wasn't so much speaking as yelling. "What the hell did you think you were doing? I've spent the past four years trying to make sure you were a responsible young man and look at what you've gone and done. Do you even think before you act, McClanahan?"
"Herb, I'm sorry," I said. "And I am going to marry her."
"You'd better," Herb replied harshly.
"Herb, the boy is making an effort," Doc interjected. "He is taking responsibility for his actions. He just said he was going to marry her."
"Give the boy some credit for what he's doing now," Craig added.
"Look, Herb, I know you disapprove of what I did, but I'm trying to make it right," I told him, knowing that I was basically pleading for my spot on the team. "If you want to cut me from the team, that's fine with me. I'd understand, but I'm asking you to give me a chance to take responsibility for myself and prove that I'm worth your time and the USOC's time."
Herb nodded. "All right, Mac, I'll give you a shot. I'll keep you around and see what you can make of yourself. But you are going to have to prove yourself to me and take responsibility for your actions. When are you planning to marry Emily?"
"We decided to wait until after the baby's born," I replied. Emily absolutely refused to get married when she was pregnant, claiming she would be "too fat."
Herb nodded. "All right, Mac, if you prove to me that you can take care of all your responsibilities, I'll let you stay on the team. And I will be checking up on you through your sister."
I nodded. "I'll do my best, Coach, and that's a promise."
"All right. But you still need to tell the rest of the team," Herb told me. "This news has to come from you. You can't dump the responsibility off on time or your sister. And I know you, Mac; you've always tried to dump big things like this off on your sister. Ellie isn't your minder; she can't take care of you forever."
I smiled. "I've decided to grow up and stop depending on my sister to make sure things happen in my life."
"Good," Herb replied. "Do you need anything else?"
I shook my head and left the office.
When I got back to Ellie's office, Jennie was sitting at Ellie's desk, twirling a pen. "Ellie and Jack went fishing," she informed me without looking up.
"Where did they go fishing?"
"I don't know. I just know Ellie left and a couple minutes later, Rammer came in and told me that they had gone fishing."
"And you believed him?"
She shrugged. "Well, yeah, why wouldn't I?"
"Vivian Jennifer McClanahan," I sighed. "Have I taught you nothing in the sixteen years we've been siblings?"
"You've taught me that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach," she replied with a shy smile.
"Ellie could have told you that," I retorted. "I thought I'd told you before that you should never listen to anything Michael Allan Ramsey says."
"His middle name is Allan?"
"His mother was weird," I replied. "Jennie, do you ever listen to me?"
"Umm," she thought for a minute. "Nope, I listen to Ellie a lot, though."
I sighed again. "You're annoying."
"Hey, I'm better than Kathie."
"That you are and I do love you," I told her.
"Why aren't you and Emily coming to Thanksgiving dinner?" she asked me, suddenly changing the topic.
"It's a long story," I replied.
"You can tell me."
"Promise you won't tell Mom or Kathie?"
"Promise."
"Emily's pregnant."
"What!" a voice said from behind me.
I turned around and saw Buzzy standing there. "Hey, Buzzy," I said softly.
"What's going on?" he asked. "Since when is Emily pregnant?"
"Since July," I said.
He nodded as Jennie said, "I should go now."
After my sister left the room, Buzzy looked at me. "What's going on?"
"Emily found out about two months ago that she's pregnant and I asked her to marry me last night. We're getting married after the baby comes."
He nodded. "Have you told Herb?"
"Yeah, he wants to kill me but he's going to give me a chance."
"That's good. Have you told your family yet?"
"I told Ellie and OC Friday night and I told Jennie today. I'm trying to avoid telling my mother until after the baby comes, maybe even until after the wedding. I figure she'll be happier about a new grandchild if Emily and I are married."
Buzzy shook his head. "Mac, you're crazy; she'll still figure out that Emily was pregnant before you got married."
"Yeah, but we'll be married when she finds out."
"It's not going to work, Mac."
"Yes it will."
Ellie's POV
Jack and I were sitting on floor with Heidi outside the locker room, talking about Rob and Emily. "Have you talked to Emily yet?"
I shook my head and leaned it against Jack's shoulder. "I want to, but I haven't."
"All you have to do is call her up," he said.
I smiled. "And what do I say to her?"
"Hey, Emily, it's Ellie?"
"But what do I say after that?"
Jack kissed my cheek. "How are you? You don't really need me to be your conversation coach; I thought you were supposed to be smarter than me."
I smiled. "Well, sometimes, I get stupid and I need you to take care of me."
"Oh, I can't believe that," he replied. "I can't believe that my darling Ellie could ever be stupid. After all, you're dating me; you're raising Heidi, and working for Herb all at the same time. You have to be a genius."
I kissed him. "You're the genius; you always know how to make me smile."
When we pulled apart, Heidi was fast at work at her new favorite activity, sitting up. I smiled at as she pulled herself up and sat up. Then she looked at us and beamed. Jack scooped her up in his lap and kissed her head. "That's wonderful, Heidi," he told her.
She grabbed at his hair and cooed. "Oh, Heidi," I sighed. "You really love Jack's hair, don't you?"
My little angel just smiled and cooed happily. I sighed happily and snuggled up against Jack while we waited for Robbie.
When I got home that night, I picked up the phone and called Emily. I still didn't know what to say to her, but I wanted to talk to her.
The phone rang for a while and then I heard Emily's familiar voice on the other end. "Hello?"
"Hey, Emily, it's Ellie." So far I was following Jack's script for me.
"Hey!" her voice instantly became cheerful. "Rob told me you know everything."
"And I'm here for you one-hundred percent," I told her. "I'm going to be the McClanahan who supports you guys in all of this."
"Unlike your mother," she muttered.
"Hey, don't worry about her. Rob and I will deal with her. Jack said he'll kill her for you if you can wait until after the Olympics."
She laughed. "Tell him I'll think about it, but murder for hire is illegal."
"He doesn't care," I replied.
"Hold on," Emily said. "Is Jack over there with you?"
"Yeah, he's playing with Heidi."
"Is he going to spend the night?"
"No," I said slowly. "We don't do that. Rammer's going to pick him up on his way back from Erin's."
"I just don't want you to end up in the situation I'm in. You're under enough stress as it is; you don't need to worry about being pregnant out of wedlock too."
"Emily, trust me I'm sure you can do this and Robbie's going to stick with you."
"Are you sure?" she said. She suddenly sounded sad and depressed.
"I'm positive. Emily, I know my brother and he loves you more than anything." I knew she was depressed. I knew it was part of being pregnant but I was worried about her. She was all by herself in that apartment.
"I guess you're right," she sighed.
"Well, I know I'm right," I told her. "I've known my brother since conception and I've never seen him as happy as he is now; you're making him happier than he's ever been before."
"Well, you're his sister, so you should know," she consented.
"Emily, tomorrow night we're getting together and we're going to have a long chat about all of this."
"Why not tonight?" she asked.
"Because I don't have anyone to baby-sit Heidi," I told her. "Jack is doing some Boston bonding with Rizzo, Silky, and Jimmy later tonight. But I'll get him to baby-sit tomorrow night and we can talk."
"All right," she said. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow night."
"I'll come over after practice."
"I'll see you then."
Jack's POV
Somehow, I'm not quite sure how, but somehow Ellie convinced the only three people with nothing to do to baby-sit Heidi while she and Emily got together to talk. So guess who the three guys with nothing to do the Tuesday before Thanksgiving were? Mac, Buzzy, and me, that's who. Gayle was working late.
So, we found ourselves sitting in Mac's room with a diaper bag and a baby. "Okay, now what do we do with her?" Mac asked. He was holding his screaming niece in his arms.
"Give her to me," I said with a sigh, taking Heidi from her uncle's arms. "Hey, little angel, what's wrong? Are you hungry? Yeah, is that what's wrong?"
"Should I get her bottle out?" Buzzy asked.
"Yeah, that would be good," I told him.
A few minutes later, Heidi was happily drinking out of her bottle. She had her hand wrapped around one of my fingers and it made me smile. I loved that little baby more than anything except Ellie.
"So when she cries it means she's hungry?" Mac asked.
"Or that her diaper stinks or that she's just woken up from her nap," I told him.
"Why are babies so complicated?" Buzzy asked.
"Yeah, please tell me they come with an owner's manual," Mac said. "If not, I'm going to be so lost when my kid is born."
"Don't worry; you figure things out fairly quickly," I told him. "You figure out what everything means fairly quickly."
"Are you sure about that?" Mac asked.
"I'm positive."
"If you say so," Mac replied hesitantly.
Two hours later, things were the same as ever. Mac was getting more comfortable around his niece, but Buzzy seemed like he couldn't get comfortable around the little girl. "I can't figure out why she cries and sometimes she just smells terrible," he complained. "She's a sweet little kid, but I don't know what to do with her."
I smiled and hoped that Ellie and Emily were having a good time or whatever they needed to be doing that would force me to suffer like this with two people who knew little to nothing about babies. Don't get me wrong; Buzzy and Mac are great guys, but they know nothing about babies. Well, they do know the differences between boys and girls and the differences between the head and the rear end, so they aren't completely hopeless, just mostly hopeless.
I was sitting on the bed feeding Heidi when Buzzy asked, "Why does she like you so much?"
"Like all women, she is attracted to my charm and good looks," I told him.
"Oh that's how you won my sister's heart," Mac teased.
"Yep, she thinks I'm the most wonderful man ever born."
"Great, I was hoping I could off you before she fell in love with you and wanted to marry you."
"It's a little late for that," Buzzy said. "Ellie is head over heels for OC."
"Drat, ruin my perfect plan," Mac sighed. "Well, OC, take care of her. Take good care of my rosebud."
I was starting to wonder why I had agreed to spending Thanksgiving with the McClanahans if Mac wasn't going to be there. How was I going to survive the insanity of Kathie and Mrs. McClanahan without Mac? Well, hopefully, Ellie, Jennie, and Natalie would keep me safe. I knew Ellie would and her sisters seemed like they probably would. At least, they'd better.
A/N: Okay, so the next chapter will have the dreaded Thanksgiving. Please review.