A/N: To DylanJ10000, I'm glad you enjoyed it! Yes, there will be more "flashback" chapters to the Denbrough brothers pre-October of 1988. Such as this chapter. This one takes place on September 18, 1981...which is Georgie's birth date. (Yes, I'm using Jackson Robert Scott's birthday as Georgie's birthday, because pretty much everyone has agreed on this headcanon. Likewise, just in case you were wondering, Bill's birth date is January 4th, 1975, so he shares his birthday with Jaeden Martell.)
Bill was woken up by the gentle morning light that entered through his window, draping the whole room in a calming, light-blue hue. He smelled something faintly sweet. What was that smell? Hold on, is that…Pancakes! Mom and Dad rarely ever made pancakes! What was the special occasion today?
The young boy excitedly threw the bed covers off, leapt out of bed, and ran down the stairs, straight into the kitchen. But he didn't see his parents there like he expected to. He instead found his Grandma Ruthie flipping pancakes in a pan over the stove.
"Good morning, Billy!" Ruthie said.
"Hi, Grandma. Where's M-M-Mommy and Daddy?"
"They're at the hospital right now."
"Wh-wh-what're they doing there?"
"Well, your baby brother was born! They've been over there all night while you were sleeping!"
"Really?!" Bill shrieked excitedly. "I wanna see the baby! I wanna see the baby!"
Ruthie laughed. "You have to be patient, dear. These things take time. You probably won't be seeing your parents and your new brother until tomorrow."
"Tomorrow? Wh-wh-why is it gonna t-take that long?"
"Well, they have to make sure the baby is healthy before they let your mom and dad take him home. But once they do come back, you'll be able to get very familiar with the baby! After all, you're going to be living with him from now on." She placed one of the pancakes on a plate and brought it to the dining table. "But for now, you can have some pancakes for breakfast! I made them shaped like a dog, just how you like 'em!"
"Oooh, yummy!" Bill said as he sat himself at the table and drenched the dog-shaped pancake in maple syrup.
Over the past few months since his parents revealed to him that he was going to have a little brother, Bill came to terms with the idea, and he even started to look forward to seeing the baby arrive into the world. He planned to teach his little brother all about the world around him—he would teach him words, how to count, the names of different animals, and how to make a fart sound with your armpit. Bill was sure they were going to become best friends.
After Bill had finished his breakfast, he sat down in the living room and began to watch TV. Ruthie started cleaning up in the kitchen when the phone on the kitchen wall began to ring, so Ruthie went to pick it up. "Hello? Hi, Sharon, dear! How are you? Good, good! Yes, he's up now. I'll get him over here." She turned away from the phone and faced the living room. "Bill, come here! You've got a special caller waiting for you!"
Bill peeled his eyes away from the TV and ran into the kitchen to pick up the phone. "Hello?" he said.
"Hi, Billy!" the voice on the other line said.
"Hey, Mommy!"
"Well, I'm here at the hospital. Your new brother was born! You probably won't see us until tomorrow morning, though. We miss you!"
"I m-m-miss you, too. But I c-can't wait to meet the b-b-baby! Have you d-decided on his n-name?"
"George. Do you like that name?"
"Y-y-yeah, I do! George." Bill tested out the name. It felt right.
"I'm sure he'll be very excited to meet you! Well, I'll see you soon, Billy! I love you!"
"Love you, too, M-Mommy!" Bill hung up the phone. He turned to Grandma Ruthie. "My b-brother's name is George!"
"Yes! I'm just as excited to meet him as you are!"
After a gruelingly long day of Bill anxiously anticipating his parents' arrival the following morning, it was finally time for Bill to go to bed.
"Goodnight, Bill," Ruthie said as she kissed Bill on the forehead and tucked him into bed.
"Goodnight, G-Grandma," Bill replied.
Ruthie flipped off the light switch in Bill's room, leaving a little nightlight in the corner as the only source of illumination. Bill sat in bed, trying his best to fall asleep, but his mind kept keeping him up. He couldn't stop thinking about how excited he was to meet his baby brother. What will he look like? What color will his eyes be? Will he be a fat baby or a skinny baby? And beyond that, when will he start walking? When will he start talking? Bill would have to make sure that his first word would be "Bill", or "Billy", or any other variant of his own name. But, as fast as his mind was moving in that dimly lit bedroom, it eventually did slow down. His thoughts began to wander farther and sparser until he eventually fell asleep.
"Billy!" Bill thought he heard the soft voice of his mother, but it must've just been part of his dream. "Billy!" He heard it again. Wait, am I dreaming? Or is this real life? It was the strange crevice between the conscious and the unconscious, where you can't quite determine what belongs on which side. But he then felt the weight of a body sink in on his bed. "There's someone we want you to meet!" he heard his mother's voice say again. Bill opened his eyes and looked to the foot of his bed. He hadn't been dreaming after all—his dad stood next to his mom, who was seated on the bed, holding a bundle of some sort. "Good morning, sleepyhead!" Sharon said. "Meet your new brother."
The bundle had in fact been the baby! Bill clambered out from under the covers and crawled over to his mother and brother. The baby's eyes were wide open, revealing two curious, warm, brown irises looking toward Bill in awe. The baby's mouth curled up into a wide smile.
"Look at that!" Sharon said. "He already likes you!"
"Hi, Baby Georgie!" Bill said as he started to softly stroke his brother's tuft of golden hair. He liked the sound of "Georgie". It seemed to suit his brother well. It felt even more right than when he had first tried out "George". "C-c-can I hold him?" Bill asked.
"Of course!" Sharon said. "Just be gentle with him."
"I will."
Sharon handed Georgie to Bill and guided him how to hold the baby properly. He was heavier than Bill thought he would be; he was expecting the same weight as a doll. But actual flesh and bones will definitely add a few pounds on.
"Aww, look at you two!" Sharon said. "Brotherly bonding already! Zack, we've gotta get a picture of this."
"I'll go get the camera," Zack said as he temporarily exited Bill's room.
"What do you think of your new brother, Bill?" Sharon asked.
"I love him alr-r-ready!"
"Aw, I'm sure he loves you already, too!"
Georgie still appeared to be mesmerized by the sight of his older brother.
Zack returned to the room with a Polaroid camera in hand. "Alright, say 'cheese', Big Brother Bill!"
"Cheese!" Bill said, grinning widely with his baby brother in hand.
That was the first photo to capture what would become a lifelong friendship between the two Denbrough brothers. And somehow, even at just six years old, Bill knew it would be, right then and there.