Thank you for the kind reviews for the last chapter! I am so sorry for the delay for this chapter. I started off with a vague outline of this story and this chapter came out of nowhere and I couldn't stop tinkering with it and now I have a chapter with twice as long as any other chapter I have written before. I hope you enjoy it.
Nancy Donahue busily set to work preparing a meal for her girls night with Frankie and Sue Heck. Frankie is bringing wine and Sue is in charge of dessert. She was thrilled to have some company. The Donahue house that once bustled with activity was quiet. She dropped Ron off at the airport this morning to go out of town for a business trip. Sean was nearly done with medical school and living with Sue in Gumford. Dottie was going to college out of state at Northwestern in Chicago. Shelly was so busy with her extracurricular activities and preparing her college applications. Nancy was already feeling like an empty nester.
One thing that helped Nancy with her loneliness was her fellow empty-nester Frankie Heck. They have grown closer over the past few years. Frankie even joined her for some of her volunteer activities. She also had a new favorite ritual watching The Bachelor with Frankie. Tonight, was the season finale and both women were hoping for Lauren to walk away with the final rose from Bachelor Evan and a ring.
Nancy's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the front door opening and she sees her son and his girlfriend. Sean was wearing the blue T.Y. Hilton Colts jersey Ron got him for Christmas last year and carrying a reusable grocery bag. He paused at the door and helped Sue take off her puffy purple winter coat. She felt a surge of pride seeing her son treating his longtime girlfriend with such chivalry. She raised a true gentlemen.
"My favorite son and his gorgeous girlfriend," Nancy gushes as she hurries from the kitchen with already puckered lips to envelop the young couple in a hug and gives both of them kisses on their cheeks.
They made their way into the Donahue family kitchen together. Sue can't help but notice the scent of the brownies baking in the oven.
"I thought I was in charge of dessert for tonight?" Sue notes trying to hide her annoyance but her eyes darted to Sean. He shifted uncomfortably knowing that his mother's good intentions offended Sue. Nancy made back up dishes for her since they started dating. It didn't help that she attempted to make Nancy's brownies at least a dozen times and they never turned out right.
"Oh, sweetie. It isn't for dessert. It's just a little something I whipped up for you to bring home later," Nancy explains as she takes them the perfect brownies out of the oven.
"So, Mom what are you making for dinner?" Sean asks to break up the tension in the kitchen.
"Oh, I am just keeping it simple. Just some hors d'oeuvres since we are going to be eating in front of the television and some miniature pizzas that look like roses," she responds.
"Eating in the living room?! That's against the rules." Sean reminds. Eating in the living room was forbidden when he was growing up.
"Watching The Bachelor isn't just watching a television program. It is an escape and every good escape needs some snacks," Nancy says reciting the explanation that Frankie gave her months ago as she plopped several bags of takeout on the Donahue family coffee table when they sat down to watch the season premiere together.
The doorbell rang and Nancy opened it and greeted Mike and Frankie Heck and shrieked in delight when she saw Frankie wearing a shirt that said, "The Most Dramatic Rose Ceremony Ever" in glittery lettering.
"Oh Frankie, your shirt is hilarious! You are such a riot!" Nancy gushes.
"I found it on Pinterest! They has fun stuff too. Not just recipes and home organization stuff," Frankie explains as she walks into the Donahue kitchen with Mike.
Sue looks at Sean in disbelief and murmured, "Your mom got my mom on Pinterest!"
"I got you one too!" Frankie announces gleefully as she pulls the kitschy shirt out of the blue bag.
Nancy's eyes welled up with tears clearly touched by the gift, "We can be twinsies!"
Frankie's eyes started welling up too. Part of her thought Nancy was watching the Bachelor just to be the polite. Seeing her she truly enjoyed their little tradition.
Sue excited gasp broke up the silence and started excitedly bouncing from side to side , "Sean and Dad are twinsies too!"
The older women cooed at this observation and Sean and Mike looked at one another and realized they were both in fact wearing blue T.Y. Hilton jerseys and jeans.
Mike looked annoyed and this put Sean on edge. The last thing Sean wanted was to start such an important evening on the wrong foot.
Sue tugs on Sean's arm and drags him towards her dad, "I need to get a picture."
The two men looked at each other uncomfortably but they know how persistent Sue could be especially when she was excited about something. Both men knew better than to protest her.
The two men stood side by side in the Donahue kitchen as Sue snapped pictures with her phone. Sue even got Frankie to take a picture of her standing between them.
Mike coughed uncomfortably and looked at his watch. "Look at the time… If we want to grab that drink before the game, we better get going."
Sue walked the men in her life across the street to the Heck family station wagon. She told Sean earlier in that day her dad would prefer to drive.
"I really hope you have some fun with my dad tonight and I would love it if I got a selfie of my two favorite guys at the game," Sue asks with a glimmer of hope in her eyes.
"I'll try…" Sean promises as he pulls her into a tight hug and then gives her a kiss on the forehead. Something he always did when they parted.
"Text me and let me know how things are going," Sue reminds him as he settles into the passenger seat of the station wagon.
Sue walks over to her dad and pulls him into a hug. "Have fun and please don't give Sean a hard time…" she requests.
Mike pats her back and echoes Sean's earlier promise, "I'll try…"
When Sue reenters to the Donahue house she is greeted by her mom and Nancy now both wearing their matching shirts.
"Will accept this rosé?" Frankie shows off the bottle dramatically while reciting the joke she practiced since she got bottle of wine at the grocery store.
Nancy cackles loudly and does her finest impression of a Bachelor contestant jutting out her chest, wiping away fake tears, "Frankie, I would be honored to take this rosé!"
As Nancy pours each of them a glass of wine and the annoyance Sue felt toward her earlier faded. She was confident she would be just fine wherever Sean got his residency match. The one thing that filled her with worry was leaving her parents in Orson. She was happy to see Frankie and Nancy looking out of each other already.
Nancy pours three glasses of wine as the older Heck woman continues to dig through the 'blue bag'. "Jackpot!" Frankie proclaims as she holds up some colorful printouts.
Sue steals one from her grasp and reads it horrified. Nancy Donahue has loosened up a lot recently, but this was something she was certain she would object to. "The Bachelor Drinking Game," Sue said incredulously. She looks across the kitchen island to Nancy with a raised eyebrow.
Nancy circled the island and waves the flimsy piece of paper disappointed. "Frankie, if this is going to be a tradition we need to laminate these. C'mon ladies we are taking this party to the craft room," Nancy says and then raises her glass of rosé in the air and leads the way downstairs to the Donahue family basement. Frankie follows along with her glass wine in hand as well.
Sue lagged behind the older women and tucked a roll of paper towels under one arm and stuffed a container of Clorox wipes in the pocket of Sean's hoodie that she was wearing. She took a large gulp of the wine that was poured into her glass earlier to prevent the chance of her spilling while she descended the stairs to the Donahue basement. She refused to be the reason Sean's mom brought back the 'No Food or Drink Outside the Kitchen or Dining Room' rule before Sean got to enjoy the new freedom in his childhood home.
The Donahue family basement it was the opposite for the basement at the dank dreary basement of her childhood home. It was fully finished and meticulously organized with cheery yellow walls, oak laminate floors, and shelves lined the walls and where Nancy proudly displayed her children's various art projects, trophies, and framed photographs.
Frankie was already busily gluing 'The Bachelor Drinking Game' rules to pieces of red cardstock as Nancy prepared the laminator. Sue took a seat at the end of the oversized craft table beside the Cricut machine and remembers the first Valentine's Day she and Sean were a couple. She was in Florida working at Disney World and they arranged a date via Skype to open the gifts they sent each other. When Sue opened the valentine card Sean sheepishly confessed he used his mom's Cricut machine to make sure the snowflakes on the front were perfect and then made her promise to never tell Axl he used his mother's crafting supplies because he would never hear the end of it.
Sue's thoughts were interrupted by Nancy opening a storage chest. "I got the darling outfit for Axl and Lexie's baby. I know they haven't found out the gender yet but couldn't myself. The baby clothes they make today is so much cuter than when we had our kids," Nancy rambles as she digs through the chest.
"Wow, Nancy… That is a lot of baby clothes," Sue says. The chest was stuffed with sleepers, cute onsies, frilly tutus, and tiny overalls.
Nancy widens her eyes in alarm and dart to Frankie who takes a large sip of her wine. Both women look at each other guiltily and avoiding making eye contact with Sue.
Sue eyes at the women suspiciously, "What is going on with you two? Why are you acting so weird?"
Nancy chews on her lower lip nervously and looks at Frankie apologetically knowing she probably spilled the secret that brought them closer together.
Frankie closes her eyes and takes in a breath and confesses, "Nancy knows about the little scare you and Sean had a few months ago."
May 2020
Sue was laying on the couch clutching a sleeve of saltine crackers and a small bottle of ginger ale. When she hears a knock at the door she knows it is her mom and doesn't bother to stand up in an effort to keep her stomach calm. "Come in…" she hollers from her comfy spot on the couch.
Frankie Heck enters the apartment engrossed with the multiple coupons, "Okay Sue, I have coupons for IHop and Denny's. You can decided where we go."
Frankie looks over to her daughter expecting her to be dressed and ready go but finds her on the couch wearing her pajamas, robe, and shearling slippers. Sue's normally rosy cheeks turn ashen at the mention of food.
"Sue, are you okay?" Frankie asks sitting on the couch and wipes a sweaty lock of hair from her forehead to check if she has a temperature and finds it cool.
Sue breathes in deeply in an attempt to fight off another wave of nausea.
"Mom, I'm late…" Sue confesses. She has been feeling queasy for the past few days and realized that morning that her period was late.
Frankie gasps in surprise. If any of her children were to have an unexpected pregnancy she would think it would be Axl.
"But you are always so careful," Frankie says as she remembering her attempt to give Sue "The Talk". Frankie ended up learning more about contraception from Sue during that chat because Lexie and Brad encouraged her to go to the campus health center at East Indy before Sean came home from Ghana.
"We are!" Sue says with a hint of uncertainty in her voice.
Frankie gives her a look of disbelief. "You are telling me that in the time you and Sean have been together you have been careful every single time and you have never missed a birth control pill."
Sue thinks back to a romantic evening a few weeks before and her pale cheeks turn pink at the memory.
April 2020
Sean beamed he saw Sue pull into their apartment complex blaring the latest Taylor Swift album and singing along. She pulls into her parking space and he take her hand and helps her out of her car.
"Aren't you looking springilicious today, Suzy-Q," Sean flirts referring to the knee length light green linen dress and white cardigan with embroidered floral accents she was wearing. One of the perks of her recent promotion was that she didn't have to wear the standard guest services attire of a dark color blazer and solid color blouse anymore.
She blushes at the compliment and then launches into an apology, "Sorry I wasn't able to get off work earlier to go out to dinner like you asked. I haven't even been able to sneak out of the inn to get to the pharmacy and pick up my prescription after like 4 days of trying. I swear I thought I had another month supply in the bathroom drawer… "
Sean brushes a lock of hair out of face and tucks it behind her ear and interrupts, "No apologizes tonight, Suzy-Q. I don't need a fancy restaurant as long as I have your company." Then kisses that spot on her neck that made her shiver no matter how warm it was outside. He and takes her work bag out of her hands and leads them towards their little apartment.
"Do you have bricks in here, Suzy Q?" he asks as he holds up the quilted Vera Bradley bag as they climbed the steps to their apartment.
She cringes because the work that came with her new promotion was never done and admits, " I have 25 pounds of Jordan Almonds to stuff in over 500 tiny organza bags. The bride for the wedding on Saturday is so stressed out. Her Maid-of-Honor flaked out about helping her with the party favors so I offered to take care of them."
He kisses her hand that was intertwined with his and says, "I will help you with them tomorrow morning before my shift at the hospital if you promise to take the night off tonight."
Sue nods enthusiastically thrilled to have some help with the tedious task. She uses her slight body to pin him to against the door of their apartment and peppers his cheeks, chin, and lips with kisses. Sean opens the door to the apartment and they laugh as they stumble inside together.
"What's that?" she asks pointing at two oversized baskets that filled their small dining room table as she regains her balance.
Sean bounces from side to side just like he did when he got the Delman Fellowship. Today was an exciting day and he couldn't wait to tell Sue his good news. He picked up his phone several times to call or text her but wanted to share this moment with her.
"Do you remember the article I was working on with Dr. Jalali?" Sean asks. A few months before a patient to the hospital and his symptoms left the staff baffled. He figured out the diagnosis and presented a treatment plan that was successful. Dr. Jalali a senior attending at the hospital told him the case interesting and encouraged him to write an article about it. He did write the article but consulted Dr. Jalali so much during the process of writing it he credited the senior attending a co-author.
"Of course. You worked on it for weeks not to mention the time you spent treating the patient," she remembers as she takes off her kitten heels and wiggles her aching toes into the freshly vacuumed carpet of their living room and hangs her cardigan on the coat rack.
Sean takes in a breath in an attempt to calm his excitement, "A highly respected medical journal published it and it is getting lots of interest. The baskets are from the St. Matthews Hospital Board of Directors and the President of St. Matthews Medical School. This is the first time staff or students from their programs have been published in a journal this prestigious."
She shrieks in delight and nearly tackles him in a hug when she hears this news. She always knew her boyfriend was a special snowflake and was on his way to being a gifted physician. He truly cared about his patients and loved sharing stories about them with her.
Sue wanders over to the gift basket that was already opened. She sees packages Godiva and Ghirardelli chocolates, a couple jars of caviar, a few boxes of fancy crackers, and bottle of Crystal champagne. She notices the a gap in the basket as she hears a loud "pop" sound.
She turns her head toward the sound and sees Sean pouring the foamy and sparkling amber liquid into a champagne flute. She wraps her arms around Sean from behind as he pours the second glass. Her eyes widen when she sees the label Dom Perignon.
Sue didn't know much about wine or champagne but she did know that a bottle of Dom Perginon was truly special. The Inn kept a case on hand but it was rare when a guest wanted to celebrate something special like Valentine's Day or an anniversary.
"Sean are you want to drink that tonight? Just the two of us? Don't you want to save it for something special?" she asks.
Sean hands her the flute of champagne and holds up his and says, "We are living our dreams together. You just got promoted at the Inn and I am doing well in med school. We are happy, healthy, in love, and growing in our careers. I think that is something worth celebrating."
Sue beams when they clinked their glasses together. He was right they were living their dream together.
May 2020
"I got a little off track on my birth control last month and we got a little spontaneous." Sue confesses as she remembers the champagne-fueled night a month earlier.
"Do you want me to go and pick you up a test?" Frankie asks.
"No, I need to talk to Sean about it first. I think this is something we need to find out together," Sue explains.
Frankie nods her head in agreement. As much as she wanted to know in that moment if Sue was pregnant it was one of those tough moments in parenthood when she needed to remind herself her children were adults and she had to take a step back.
"Well just remember that you have family that loves you and wants to support both of you. Not just me but your dad and the Donahues," Frankie reminds her.
Sue frowns at the reassurance her mother attempted to provide. She is already dreading the idea of telling her dad and Mrs. Donahue about an unplanned pregnancy and she hadn't even confirmed it yet. Sean was already so on edge around her dad and she felt so inadequate around Nancy Donahue.
"Mom, you can't tell anyone about this. Especially Nancy Donahue or Dad," Sue pleads.
"Why not?" Frankie questions. Just the other day Nancy told her how much she loved Sue and couldn't wait to start helping them plan a wedding. She even hinted that Sean might already have a ring already.
"Because we aren't married, we don't own a home and I don't even know how to make Nancy Donahue's brownies! " Sue rambles.
Their conversation was interrupted by Sean entering the apartment wearing scrubs with his backpack slung over his shoulder. Sue brightens at the sight of her boyfriend. Even though she spent most of the morning praying to the porcelain god and was filled with anxiety about her period being late just being around Sean made her feel better.
Sean is concerned when he sees that Sue is still in her pajamas on the couch knowing she hasn't been feeling well the past few days but is relieved to see Sue taking it easy. She has been stressed out with her new promotion and working long hours even though she wasn't feeling well.
"Hello Ladies," he greets the Heck women as he takes a seat beside Sue on couch and puts his arm around her. He smiles as she snuggles into him. All he has wanted to do the past few days was take care of Sue.
After a few minutes of friendly conversation Frankie Heck excuses herself explaining that Sean was more than capable of taking care of Sue.
Sean and Sue continue to cuddle on the couch. Sue fidgets with the terry cloth belt around the middle of her robe in nervously. She runs her hands through the hair that she has been growing out for several months and tries to figure out how to share her suspicions with Sean.
"So I was chatting about you at work and co-workers thought that your symptoms were consistent with pregnancy," Sean announces with a cautious smile.
Sue lets out a breath she didn't even realize she was holding in. Of course being the thoughtful boyfriend Sean is she didn't even need to tell him. She wanted to roll her eyes and say, "such a Donahue…" something she did whenever he did something particularly thoughtful or generous. At this moment she is speechless. This was him being just Sean her attentive and loving partner.
Although Sue was relieved not to see a look of panic in his eyes but another part of her was envious of his confidence. She only began to suspect she was pregnant few hours ago and was trying to wrap her mind around the idea of having a human growing inside of her and completely dependent on her and Sean.
"I am a few days late," Sue confirms with meekly still trying to get used to the idea.
Sean grins thinking of the times that he and Sue talked about having kids someday. Remembering last fall when Sue sheepishly admitted that seeing him holding a newborn baby in the hospital nursery made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside. He remembered feeling the same when he saw her at working at the Wilderness Lodge in Disney World and saw her trading pins with a little girl dressed up like Elsa from Frozen talking about their favorite Disney movies. They already several hypothetical conversations about having a family and agreed that they wanted at least two children because they loved growing up with siblings.
He pull her into a tight hug but then pulls away quickly and frantically asks, "Am I crushing you? How is your stomach?"
Sue smiles at his concern. Much of the earlier queasiness subsided but she was still feeling exhausted. "I am feeling a lot better," she reassures.
Sean gives her a kiss on the forehead and then fumbles through his backpack and presents several boxes of pregnancy tests to her. "Nurse Jan was the first to think we were pregnant. She sent me home with some tests from hospital clinic. She said I volunteered more than enough hours their to justify taking them home. "
Sue hold one of the official looking boxes in her hands and fidgets with it nervously. Now she regrets not accepting her mom's offer to pick up a pregnancy test because the 'Womb There It Is' test from the Frugal Hoosier doesn't promise 99.9% accuracy like the tests that Sean brought home. "Is it okay if I don't want to know yet…" Sue trails off.
"Why wait, Suzy-Q?" Sean asked baffled. He was antsy for answers on the question that has been lingering in his mind for hours and probably in the been in the back of his mind for days if he was being truly honest with himself.
"I know if I am pregnant the baby would be an amazing blessing. Is it horrible if I want just one more of night of just you and me before I start budgeting for diapers, daycare, and braces?" Sue asks.
As desperate as Sean was to get answers he couldn't disagree with Sue's thinking. A baby would change everything. "It's okay, Suzy-Q. The first morning urine is usually the most accurate anyway…" he explains. He gives her a kiss and holds her close as he turns on the TV.
Frankie turns onto Birchwood Avenue grinning to herself thinking about Sean and Sue potentially having a baby. Between Sue and her "Sueness" and Sean and his "Donahueness" their baby would be the most precious child on the planet. Frankie had to roll her eyes to herself thinking of Sue's worries about the less than ideal timing of a pregnancy. Sue and Sean had a history of wacky timing and it appears their first child would too.
Frankie was barely out of the car before she was greeted by Nancy Donahue. "Frankie, how is Sue doing? I spoke to Sean yesterday and he said she wasn't feeling so well," Nancy asks genuinely concerned.
"It was probably just a stomach bug. She was already feeling better when I left the apartment," Frankie fibs while trying to suppress her grin. She steps out of the station wagon and tries to hurry into the Heck family home to avoid spilling the beans.
"I was in the middle of making some homemade chicken noodle soup for her. Do you want to come over and try some," Nancy asks already knowing Frankie couldn't resist her cooking.
Frankie bit her lip nervously. She knows she needs to keep Sue's suspicions private but she also knows that her stomach is rumbling since she wasn't able to use the buy one get one free coupons for her dinner with Sue today. She follows Nancy into the Donahue house because he only thing better than a half priced lunch was a free meal from Nancy Donahue's kitchen.
Nancy stands in the Donahue kitchen ladling bowls of soup from the simmering stockpot, "Sean was really so sweet on the phone. He was so worried about his "Suzy-Q". It was nice to know even though he is a grown man and almost a doctor sometimes he still needs some reassurance from mom." Frankie nods in agreement few things gave more satisfaction than her children reaching out for her advice or opinion about something.
After a few minutes of silence while enjoying Nancy's perfect chicken noodle soup. Nancy breaks the silence, "It was so hard for me not to ask him if Sue was pregnant."
Frankie chokes on the soup and Nancy gives her a few pats on the back to help her clear her airway and offers her a glass of water.
"Pregnant, huh… what?" Frankie lies.
"Frankie, you don't need to have a medical degree to think Sue is pregnant. We're moms we know the symptoms. I had three Donahue babies and when Sean told me how Sue was feeling it took me back to when I was pregnant. I was so sick and completely exhausted," Nancy recalls.
Frankie sips her water nervously as Nancy continues rambling about her feeling like a failure for relying on Eggo waffles, store bought muffins, and cold cereal to feed her family when she was suffering from morning sickness. Most of these items were staples and even an indulgence in the Heck house. Sue's insecurity about her potential pregnancy became more understandable.
Frankie's thoughts were interrupted by Nancy asking, "Frankie, did Sue say anything to you? Has she took a test yet?"
Frankie takes in her neighbors face radiating warmth and joy. She knew of expectant mothers having a pregnancy glow but now she wonders if there was such a thing as granny glow. If their was Nancy certainly had it and Frankie felt the tingling of her skin and wondered if she radiated joy as well. She and Nancy exchange a knowing look and her thoughts were confirmed. The granny glow was a real thing and they spent the rest of the afternoon discussing their future grandchildren.
Sue cringes in mortification the last person she wanted to know about her pregnancy scare her boyfriend's mother. Her mother didn't even need to keep it quiet for a full 24 hours since "Aunt Flow" arrived before she even took the test. Her mom even found out it was a false alarm before Sean since she texted her the news before Sean even woke up.
She couldn't be too angry at her mother since just a few months ago she told Sean about Lexie and Axl's pregnancy. Lexie told her not to tell a soul but it was happy news and she had to share it with someone. She raced home after her shift at the Inn and woke up a sleeping Sean by bouncing on the bed and chanting "I'm going to be an auntie, I'm going to be an auntie!"
Nancy breaks the silence as she starts folding the baby clothes and organizing the chest, "I got a little carried away at the thought of being a Grandma.." she trails off wistfully.
Carried away was an understatement. Frankie and Nancy only thought Sue was pregnant for one afternoon and during that brief time they concocted a plan to convert the Donahue basement into an apartment so they could save money to buy the Glossner house. They also daydreamed about getting the Property Brother renovate it and make it their forever home.
Sue takes a seat next to her boyfriend's mom and is overwhelmed by the amount of baby clothes. She helps Nancy organize the chest and pauses as she picks up a tiny grey sweater and caresses the soft article of clothing. Nancy smiles and points to a photo on the wall of Sean as a toddler wearing the sweater. "I have been saving it for when he has a baby. When you and Sean have one I mean," the older woman clarifies.
"So you wouldn't have been disappointed if we had a surprise?" Sue asks nervously as she continues to fawn over the cute outfits.
"Oh, heavens no! I was so excited about the idea of you and Sean having a baby. I know you will be fantastic parents when the time comes. " Nancy reassures her.
She wasn't ready for children yet but she was happy to know that Nancy would be just as excited as she would be when the time came.
I apologize for the delay again. I am thinking about continuing to write a series of one shots about this universe when I finish this fic (little missing moments and flash forwards). Any thoughts or opinions on where Sue and Sean should move to for his residency?