AN: Thanks to xxMissCutiexx, xXLysXxNoodlesXx, XLoendLOLiver4evaX, princess cutie, IheartORANGE, and LoliverLova24 for reviewing! :) You guys have been patiently wating for an update, and I'm not going to keep you any longer. This is the first part to the fourth tear. I'd like to say something without giving too much away...but if you cried after the last tear...you'd better get a box of tissues ready for this one once it's complete finished! Hope you enjoy and R/R.
It had been four years since the wedding. Oliver and Lilly had settled in to a lovely small house just fifteen minutes from where they grew up. They both had steady, well-paying jobs and were the happiest couple on their block. The Okens were living life just as they had always dreamed.
It was shortly after their fourth anniversary that Lilly found out she was pregnant. They were both every excited for the arrival of their first child, and they knew that some changes had to be made. The biggest change, however, was in Oliver. Although he was always a sweet and caring man, Oliver took a new lease on life. Nothing ever sadden him, and he very rarely got angry. His focus was on Lilly, their baby, and making sure that all three of them would have the best possible life together. In short, Oliver was readying himself to be the perfect dad; not "Daddy McDork".
Phones were ringing non-stop in the Oken household once the word of Lilly's pregnancy go out. Miley was ecstatic when she received the news and demanded that she would be the one to throw Lilly the perfect baby shower. Oliver and Lilly were the first real couple she knew that were having kids. (Jackson was already almost twenty-eight didn't have any of his own.)Planning a shower would be just as exciting for Miley as it was for Lilly.
"Well, What do you think!?" Miley asked excitedly as she walked Lilly out to her back deck to show her what she had done for the baby shower. It was decorated with balloons and streamers. The large octagonal picnic table, often where summer barbeques were held, had a decorated table clothe with confetti sprinkled all over.
"Aww, Miley!" Lilly replied in a squeal. "It's perfect!"
"Glad you like, Lills." Miley said.
"I love it!" Lilly exclaimed. "You did all this for me?"
"Yep." Miley smiled.
"You're the best!" Lilly pulled her best friend into a close hug.
"Well...if you say so." Miley replied with a laugh. "Now we just have to wait for the guest to come. Where's Oliver?"
"He got called into the office an hour ago." Lilly explained with a sigh. "It figures something important would happen today."
"Yeah, but I don't think he'd want to stick around here with ten women for four hours being the only guy." Miley replied.
"Still." Lilly said. "It'd be nice to have him."
"I know he'll be back here as soon as he can." Miley assured her.
"He'll rush home if I tell him the cake's almost gone." Lilly said laughing. "That'll definitely get him here."
"You bet." Miley replied.
Just as Miley and Lilly had finished laughing about Oliver and his love of cake, the door bell rang.
"Someone's here!" Lilly shouted, gleefully and ran back inside to answer the door. Miley walked back into the kitchen and started getting the food ready. The party was to start very soon.
"Mom!" Lilly cried as she opened the door to see her mother standing here. She had a big bag of gifts for Lilly in her left hand.
"How are you, sweety?" Heather asked, stepping inside and giving her only child a hug. "You feeling ok?"
"Just fine, mom." Lilly replied, hugging her back. "Oliver and I are getting antsy, though."
"As you should be." She told her.
"Miley's here. She set everything up." Lilly explained. "She's out back if you want to go sit."
"Ok." Mrs. Truscott replied. She held up the bag. "Do you want to put that some place special?"
"Uh, set it out back on the table for now." Lilly told her mom.
Lilly turned and went to close the front door when Oliver's mom appeared at the door step.
"Knock, knock." She said, taping on the open door.
"Mrs. Oken!" Lilly called out. She received a funny look back. "I mean, 'mom'! Come in!"
"You used to call me mom all the time when you and Oliver were little kids." Mrs. Oken explained. "Why call me Mrs. Oken now? You're my daughter-in-law!"
"You know I love you, Mrs...er, mom." Lilly caught herself before slipping up again.
"Where is that son of mine?" She asked, looking around. "I was going to make him lug the baby's present in from the car."
"He had to stop in at work for a little bit, but he'll be here." Lilly said. "Don't worry about the gift. I can get it."
"Heavens no!" Mrs. Oken replied. "You shouldn't be lifting things when you're eight months pregnant! I don't want to hurt you or my future grandchild. I can do it."
"Hi Mrs. Oken!" Miley had come back in side to get a few more things. "How are you doing?"
"Miley Stewart!" She replied. "I hardly ever get to see you anymore! I'm just fine, how are you?"
"I'm doing pretty well, thanks." Miley replied.
"Hey Miley, can you help Oliver's mom get her gift out of her car?" Lilly asked. "I offered to," Lilly folded her arms across her chest and played the stubborn child role "But she wouldn't let me!"
"Of course." Miley answered, laughing at Lilly's actions. "Oh, Lills. I can picture your kid doing that...and Oliver loosing and giving in every time."
"Probably." Lilly laughed. She turned to Mrs. Oken. "My mom's out back."
"I haven't seen Heather in a while either." Mrs. Oken said. "The package is in the back." She told Miley. "Just shut the trunk...and thank you very much for helping." Miley nodded and Mrs. Oken headed out to the deck.
"I was actually coming in to get you anyway." Miley told Lilly. "A few of your neighbors are out there."
"Oh good." Lilly replied. "This shower's getting busy!"
"I'll go get the gift and I'll be right back." Miley walked out the door to Mrs. Oken's car. Lilly went back outside to greet everyone who had arrived.
"There she is!" Mrs. Stevens, the wife of the couple that lived behind Oliver and Lilly shouted. She was sitting with the other neighbors. "Congratulations Lilly!"
"Thank-you, Dana." Lilly replied. "I'm glad you could make it. I thought you were bringing your little one?"
"She's visiting Alex's parents this weekend." Mrs. Stevens explained.
"She has to come over more often." Lilly said. "Oliver and I love playing with her."
"Oh, I 'm sure she'll be over more once your baby is born." Dana said. "She's excited for you guys. In fact, she made you and Oliver a card."
Mrs. Stevens handed Lilly a piece of folded construction paper. Inside were a bunch of drawing of flowers and some crooked little hearts. Mrs. Stevens' daughter was only five, but she knew enough to sign 'love' and her name on the card.
"Sarah's so cute." Lilly said. "Bring her over as soon as she gets home so I can thank her."
"Lilly?" Miley's voice echoed around to where everyone was. "Your friends from work are here!"
"Cassie! Mary Alice!" Lilly greeted her co-workers with open arms. "I'm so glad you guys could get off!"
"I was on vacation this week." Cassie replied.
"And I called in sick, just incase." Mary Alice answered, winking.
"This is great! Everyone's here!" Lilly said.
The shower ran smoothly. Everyone got along with each other and had a wonderful time. It was a typical ladies affair; a bunch of gossiping and laughing. Lilly was really enjoying the day, even though she missed Oliver.
After talking and eating the food that Miley had catered, Lilly decided to start opening her gifts.
"Open this one first!" Miley instructed, handing Lilly a bag. "It's from me."
Lilly opened up the bag and dug around through the tissue paper. "Aww, it's a teddy bear!" Lilly announced with a gasp. "It kinda looks like Beary Bear."
"I thought so in the store, too." Miley replied. "When I saw it, it made me think of him and all the memories I had. I want your kid to have those memories to look back on, too."
"That's so sweet, Miley." Lilly hugged her best friend again. "Thank you. I'm sure they'll be tons of memories with this."
"I'm sure Oliver will want to get a 'Make-A-Moose', too." Miley said.
"Oliver wants what?" Oliver appeared standing in the doorway from inside the house. He was still dressed in his shirt and tie from work. "Hey babe." He said walking over to Lilly and kissing her check.
"Hey." Lilly replied.
"Hello Mrs. Truscott." Oliver greeted. "Mom. Miley. Everyone."
"Looky what Miley got the baby, Ollie." Lilly said, holding up the bear.
"A very own Beary Bear." He replied. "That's awfully nice of you. Thanks, Miley."
"You're welcome." Miley replied.
"Did I miss cake?" Oliver asked, looking around.
"I knew you'd be asking that!" Lilly said, laughing. "No, not yet. I was going to finish opening the presents first. There's plenty of food left over in the kitchen if you're hungry."
"Yeah, I'll probably grab a little someth-" Before Oliver could finish his sentence, his cell phone went off. "Ah, it's Austin. Work again. I've got to take this. Excuse me, everyone." Oliver went back in the house to answer his phone.
"Ok." Lilly said, going back to opening gifts. "Who's next?"
"Mine's right to your left." Mrs. Truscott said. Lilly reached over and grabbed her mom's gift. There were a few gifts in the bag that she had brought. Lilly took a box out first and opened it.
"It's a quilted blanket." Lilly's mom explained. "It's got palm trees on it."
"I love it, mom!" Lilly replied, unfolding it all the way and holding it up. "It'll fit perfectly with the theme in the nursery."
"That and I figured it's unisex." Heather replied. "Since you're punishing us by not wanting to know it's a boy or a girl you're having!"
"Oh, mom, where's the joy in that?" Lilly asked. "Oliver and I both want to be surprised."
"There's plenty of wives tales that could at least give some hints." Mrs. Oken spoke up.
"Like what?" Lilly asked.
"Is the baby aggressive?" She asked.
"How do you mean?" Lilly questioned.
"If the baby kicks a lot, it's usually a boy." Mrs. Truscott informed her daughter. "You've mention it has kicked a lot before to me, haven't you?"
"It has before." Lilly replied. "But lately, everything's been kinda quiet. I haven't felt any kicking it two days really."
"You haven't?" Both Mrs. Truscott and Mrs. Oken replied at the same time.
"No..." Lilly answered. "Does that mean it's a girl then?"
"I don't know sweet heart." Heather replied. "You kicked quite a bit for a girl."
"That's why they're called wives tales." Mrs. Oken said. "They're just for fun, really. Sometime they work and sometimes they don't."
"No worries, then." Lilly said. "I can wait it out. Besides, Oliver and I will love this baby no matter what it is."
"That's right." Oliver had returned from his phone call. "Though I'm kinda hoping for a boy, Lills."
"The world's not ready for Oliver Oscar Oken junior!" Lilly replied. "And neither am I. One of you is enough!"
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean!?" Oliver asked, folding his arms.
Lilly laughed. "You're too cute." She said, kissing him.
"But do you have names picked out though?"Miley asked.
"We're still up in the air." Lilly said. "But we've got a few choices narrowed down."
"May I suggest Lola...or Mike Stanley?" Miley tried to ask that in a serious tone, but she ended up laughing some anyway.
"Well Lola is a pretty name." Lilly replied. She turned to Oliver. "But I don't think "Mike Stanley" will work for us, huh Oliver?" Oliver didn't do anything but laugh. Not everyone at the shower knew exactly what was so funny. That secret was still kept only between Lilly, Miley, and Oliver.
Lilly finished opening her gifts, everyone had cake, and the shower was winding down. Guest started leaving. Miley, Oliver's mother, and Mrs. Truscott offered to stay afterward to help Lilly and Oliver clean up. There's wasn't much of a mess, but the work went faster with the extra sets of hands.
"What a day." Lilly said to Oliver as the waved good-bye to the last person to leave their house. "I'm beat."
"Me too." Oliver replied. "I'm stressed from work."
"I'm so glad you made it back to spend some time with everyone." Lilly said.
"I was here for you, and that's all that matters to me." Oliver replied with a smile.
"You were here for 'us'." Lilly said, placing her hand over her stomach. She kept it there for a few moments, waiting to see if the baby would kick, but she didn't feel anything.
"Oliver," Lilly began in a worried tone. "You didn't hear what our mom's were saying about the baby kicking, right?"
"No, must have missed that." Oliver answered. "Why? What did they say?"
"They said we could tell what the gender is by how much kicking I felt." Lilly replied.
"You haven't said anything about the baby kicking in a few days." Oliver said. "What does that mean?"
"I don't know...Oliver?" Lilly trailed off. "I'm..I'm starting to get worried. What if something's wrong?"
"There's nothing wrong." Oliver assured her. "Our baby is healthy. You just had a check up last week."
"I felt kicking last week." Lilly informed. "But I don't now and I haven't."
"I think you're just freaked out over nothing." Oliver said. "If something serious happened they would have told us at the doctors."
"I...guess." Lilly replied, reluctantly.
"I think you should go rest awhile." Oliver suggested. "You need it."
"I wish I could, but I still have things I have to do." Lilly said.
"Lilly, honey, I don't want you over working yourself." Oliver said. "All this stress and activity isn't good for you or the baby."
"But Oliver-" Lilly began.
"But nothing." He finished. "Go lay down. I have a few things I have to do and then I'll be in to check on you."
"Just promise me on thing." Lilly started. "If things are still the same when I wake up tomorrow, please promise me you'll call the hospital?"
Oliver moved close to Lilly and put his hand on her face. "If that's what will make you happy, then I'll do it." Lilly smiled for approval. "Now would you please try to get some sleep, to make me happy?"
"Ok." Lilly replied, kissing Oliver on the lips. "Don't be too long."
"I won't." Oliver said. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight." Lilly replied and headed down the hall way to the bed room.
This was a pretty productive filler chapter, or so I thought. Look at Oliver's mom causing Lilly to go crazy. sigh Mother-in-laws :P. Anyway, the conculsion to this tear is underway, but I'm not setting a time line for the next update just yet. I really want to go over the second part throughly before I post, so hang in there!
-drummer8907