The Aislin Chronicles

Part XLII

A/n: Hey guys. I finally just got through a rough patch in this fic, where I was kind of losing interest in it, having a bit a writer's block, and just not really sure where it was going anymore. I feel like the last few parts had gotten away from the style I had been using to write this, which was the style I really enjoyed. Part of it was probably stress from school (I had some extreme schedules problems…) but I think getting out of school and just getting myself really relaxed this summer has helped a lot. I'm sorry if maybe this story got a little redundant for you as a reader, because I know it did for me as a writer. But this chapter, I feel, has really put me back in my good place, and I have a lot of plans for the future of this and I've remembered just how much I love my Aislin and the story I've thrown her into. So enjoy, and as always, leave a review. Thanks.

11-21-03

6:32 PM

Let me start by saying that the book we are reading in English is absolutely stupid. That said, I can continue on with my telling about the day. Let me think, Ian and Jess and Adam and Kathleen were all over after school, and we played Frisbee in the back yard for awhile. Then we mostly lounged in the sun because it's abnormally warm out right now. Ian found a football in the garage and started throwing around with Adam and Kathleen, so Jess and I chatted.

"So I've decided that Jack should be a super hero," I told her. "But I can't come up with a cool name for him yet."

"Well, what are his super powers?"

"I haven't really thought about those." We spent the next few minutes debating whether or not this SuperJack would fly, ultimately deciding no. We did come up with a few good ones, though. He has telekinesis, and super strength, and the evil-glare-of-death.. We tried to create a name using that information, and tried to avoid common names like Batman, Spiderman, superman. I mean, those are a little boring. We wanted something cool. Then we kind of forgot about his powers and were trying to think of really cool words that would just make good names.

And then, we settled on one. Captain Monstrosity: striking fear into the hearts of children and wrongdoers worldwide. Oh! I almost forgot his weakness, because all superheroes have weaknesses. I'm thinking manipulative teenage girls. Or cute accents. Captain Monstrosity. Man, if superheroes actually existed, that would be the one I'd want in L.A.

Oh, I think Dad just got home. That reminds me that I have to ask him if I can go to Dee's and work on our project. For the book I don't like. I'm not even going to finish reading it. It's so stupid, and I hate reading it. Besides, Mr. Davidson is making the test and we all know how easy that's about to be. Ugh. I'll be right back.

6:39 PM

Actually, um, I think I'll ask in a few minutes… I heard them talking quietly downstairs when I was in the hallway, so I was about to speak when I got to the edge of the stairs, only to find that Mom had Dad pinned against the front door—somewhat awkwardly, might I add, due to her stomach—and, yeah, there was some heavy kissing. I closed by eyes and backed up slowly, hoping they hadn't heard me. I only managed to trip over the dog (Chester) once, but I caught myself.

6:40 PM

I hope they're done soon. I do really need to go to Dee's.

6:42 PM

Oh thank God, he's calling me for dinner. Glad that's over with. Oh! I almost forgot, the baby shower is tomorrow. I'm so excited to see all the little bitty baby stuff, it's just so cute. And little. And cute. And. Little. Oh gosh, I can't wait. I want my baby sister right now!

11-23-03

4:10 PM

I got some really good one-on-one time with Mom today when we went shopping for Dad's birthday present. I think pregnancy is really getting to her. Oh, and the baby shower went really well yesterday.

Francie dragged Will over at eleven (I was still in my pajamas, lounging on the couch and watching cartoons) so they could start setting up. I was lazy and didn't want to have to help, so I snuck (sneaked? I think sneaked is proper. I'm still gonna say snuck) upstairs to shower and change. When I went back downstairs, it was like the living room had been transformed into Baby Land- a magical place where light pink and light blue ribbons surround you and delicious cookies tempt you off to the right…

There was already a little pile of presents near the door, and I couldn't wait to see all the little baby clothes and toys and whatnot. I checked my watch: quarter to twelve, so we still had about fifteen minutes before people were coming. I heard people talking in the kitchen so I ventured in there, and sure enough Mom, Dad, Francie, and Will were all standing around talking. I went and stood by Dad and he wrapped his arm around my back.

"Speak of the devil," he smiled. Oh no. They were talking about me. "Just bragging about what your teachers had to say at conferences."

"That I talk to much?"

Mom laughed. "We were trying to emphasize the 'she's a great student' part." I shrugged. I do get yelled at for talking too much. I can't help it that Ian blatantly flirts with me in the middle of class!

Okay, maybe it's a little of me blatantly flirting with him, but anyway, then we heard the front door open. "Knock, knock," came a familiar male voice from the door. Soon Weiss's head popped into the kitchen, shortly followed by Aunt Melody. I was glad to see them cause it's been awhile. Well, after a few lame Irish jokes from Weiss and a few more people popping in the front door (Jess and Kathleen, some people from work that I don't really know, Jack), the Lampis arrived. First came Jeff holding Caleb, and he immediately squirmed his way out of his daddy's arms and found his way to me. I picked him up of course, but then I had to gape at the hotness that was Jeff. It was like a slow motion moment, where he shook his head and his shaggy hair bounced a little in the air. Total swoon. Then Stephanie came in with Ava, and I was reminded that the gorgeous man was married and I could not just jump him at will.

Finally I could weasel my way to the cookies without getting in trouble. Caleb and I shared one. And oh my gosh, they were so good. I was meaning to find my friends amongst the growing crowd, but then Caleb just happened to see Jack sitting uncomfortably next to some balloons and became intrigued.

"Who's dat?" he asked quietly.

"That's my grandpa." Ha. That felt funny to say. "His name is Jack." Caleb was very interested in watching him. I wondered briefly if I could convince him later to try and play with him, but then a better idea popped into my head. "Hey, guess what? Jack's a superhero like Spiderman. Captain Monstrosity." He gasped and went wide-eyed like he was so amazed! It was adorable. Oh man, now I really wish I had let him loose to pester Jack, it would have been so funny!

We finished our cookie and gazed around the room. It seemed Ava was being nice (that little brat) and was doing cute things in front of all of the adults. Francie was trying to get people's attentions to start a game or something, and I was still trying to find Jess and Kathleen. Just then the door opened and in sprung Fini and Dee.

"Sorry we're late," said Dee. "Fini's sister got a little lost."

"Lost?"

"I know, she's so dumb! I was like, Wanna—hey, little fella!" Fini's wonderful attention span showed greatly as she addressed Caleb mid-sentence, who giggled and hid his face in my neck. I finally found the other two, who had managed to get out to the backyard and were playing with the dogs. We told them to come inside, and then Francie pretty much took control.

We had to play some weird games, but then Mom started to open presents and it got really exciting! I loved seeing all the cute little baby stuff. And she finally got to see the little football jersey that Dad got in Ireland. I gave my present later on, after everyone had left, because, I don't know. I wanted to give my baby sister the stuffed rabbit I had when I was little. He's still in pretty good shape considering how I dragged him around everywhere I went, and I thought it would be cool if we shared something like that. Mom thought it was so sweet and put him the baby's room right where she would be able to see him when she wakes up.

But back to the baby shower, when presents were over, the four of us and Caleb slipped upstairs and we started talking. Dee and I showed them the movie that we made on Friday night, which is really funny. The costumes we made for ourselves make us look so ridiculous, and we had to make a spoon out of tin foil and like we ended up throwing it at each other. Then of course there are bloopers at the end, and there's one that I filmed of Dee accidentally tripping which is so great.

Caleb had fun exploring my room again, and he wasn't too shy as long as the other girls didn't talk to him. I asked him if he remembered my friend Ian, and then he tried to do a somersault on my bed. I take that as a yes.

Eventually, Jeff came looking for his son. By then the poor kid had exhausted himself from running around upstairs and was nearly passed out on my bed. I'm pretty sure we all were awestruck of the man's beauty, because none of us could say anything.

Well, except Fini. "Hi, I'm Fini!" she exclaimed in her crazy voice. I swear, she is never not hyper.

"Uh, hi." He kind of looked at her strangely for a minute (I don't blame him. Fini tends to scare people at first before they realize that she's badly in need of Ritalin), then turned back to me and asked me to baby-sit not next week, but the week after. I said I could, but in the state of amazement he put me in, I would have said yes to chopping off my own arm and eating it.

4:35 PM

Actually, forget I just said that last analogy. That's just a little bit disgusting, not to mention a little extreme.

4:36 PM

If not the slightest bit true.

Damn.

4:38 PM

Then he took Caleb and said bye to all of us, and as soon as we knew he was out of hearing range, we all squealed like girls and started discussing his hotness.

"I can't wait until pool cleaning season starts again so I can watch him shirtless in all his glory."

"You think he's hot?" Fini asked us like we were all crazy. "So not at all!"

"You don't count, you think Lou is hot."

"Italian Stallion Lou, yeah."

Sigh. Fini. "I can't wait until I see him washing his car again at the same time your dad is. Talk about hot."

Oh do not go there girlfriend. I covered my ears. "No! You guys can't say things like that when I'm around because that's just nasty." The worst part is everyone else agrees with Kathleen! Even Fini thinks Dad is all right.

Then Fini was like, "At least I'm not going out with Adam…" and got Jess all riled up. It was so funny. We all started picking on each other for the guys that we liked, and it turns out that Fini actually thinks that Ian is pretty cute. Because he so is! My blue-eyed lovely.

Just then Dad poked his head through the door. "Hey girls, are you all staying for dinner?"

"Fini's sister is coming in a half hour for us," Dee said.

"And I'm going to my grandma's soon," Kathleen told him.

So leave it to Jess… "But don't worry, Mr. Vaughn, I'm all yours."

Dad laughed at her. "Okay, see you later."

The three of them had another fit of girly squealing after he left, and I sat there and rolled my eyes at them. Freaks. Don't they know he's somebody's dad? I guess I should talk, being half-way in love with my hot neighbor. But it's not like I'd ever say anything to Caleb. Oh well, I guess this is what I get for being adopted by young, attractive people.

Hmm, we just kind of chilled for the next half hour until Fini and Dee left, and then a little later Kathleen left, and Jess and I headed downstairs because we were starving. Well, she was starving. I might have had a few more cookies than I let on… Weiss was there but Melody had left because she had to check on something at work or whatever.

I was about to go into the kitchen and enter into their conversation when Jess pulled me back to the living room briefly. "So what's the deal with Weiss and Melody?" she asked in a whisper.

"What?"

"Are they together again?" Whoa! What did she mean again? I must have given her a look that said I had no idea what she was talking about, because she continued to explain. "Okay, so back in September she thought she'd have to go back to work in Sacramento, and since they weren't serious or whatever they decided just to break it off because they didn't think the long distance thing would work. Well, the job in Sacramento was short term, I guess, and so she's back, but I want to know if they're back together."

I almost forgot that they were one of Jess's "couples." The way she can just hook people up is—"Oh, they came to the shower together. Maybe that means something."

"Hm. We need to interrogate him, find out what's going on. I'll distract him and you get him talking—"

"Me? It's your aunt!"

"She won't tell me anything. And he's your dad's best friend." I gave her a look. She started to drag me towards the kitchen. "Just ask casually how Melody is," she whispered right before shoving me through the door. Of course, just at that moment Weiss was trying to come through and I smacked right into him, and Jess was following me, and she ran into me, which made me crash into him again. It was such a hot mess.

4:47 PM

Dang it. I hate when I find some of Danny's vocabulary is slipping into my journal. Hot mess. Sigh.

Well, apparently Dad found the whole situation very amusing in a Three Stooges kind of way and started laughing hysterically at us. I tried to give him a look (in Danny: I was bouts to pop a top), but Jess was giving me a look because I hadn't asked Weiss anything, and Weiss was just kind of confused. I grabbed Jess's hand and pulled her into the kitchen where we could sit by Mom and hopefully not cause any trouble.

All through dinner Jess was trying to pump him for information. He kept kind of grinning and looking back and forth between the two of us, like we were up to something, when really I had nothing to do with it. Blame her. It's alllll her.

By the end of the night all we had found was that they were at least hanging out, if not dating again. He also received a mysterious phone call at the end of the evening, and would not tell us if it was her or not. Mom told us to stop pestering him, but she did so whilst smirking, so she can't be completely against it. I wonder now what Dad knows, I'm sure Weiss has to tell him stuff. But. Probably stuff I don't want to know. Um. Never mind with that one.

Then Weiss said he'd give Jess a ride home, and they left. I wonder what they talked about in the car. Hm.

And then today, while we were shopping, Mom and I started talking about the baby shower yesterday and how I think that all the little clothes are so cute, she kind of snapped. You know how I've been wanting her to crack about the gender? Well… She cracked, but not exactly in a good way.

In the middle of the hockey gear store she turned to me and said. "It's been driving me crazy, and after the shower yesterday, I'm dying to know what the gender is."

"You want me to tell you?" I asked her, just to make sure.

She really thought about it for a minute. "Well, no. I do really want to be surprised. Never mind." We kept looking around the store for a bit, and then she turned to me again. "Actually, hmm. Tell me… No! Don't do it!" she covered her ears and squeezed her eyes shut too, probably because she can read lips. I wasn't going to say anything at that point, because she had pretty much proven to me that she's insane enough that I shouldn't just give her information like this. She couldn't handle it.

"Mom, I'm not going to try to persuade you to find out anymore. I think it's making you a little nuts."

She kind of nodded. "Will you tell Vaughn to stop doing it too?"

Aww. She looked so helpless against his taunting. I smiled at her. "Yeah." But then I got curious. "Do you have a gut feeling about what it is?"

She bit her lip like she wasn't sure whether to indulge me in this information, but she gave in. "Recently I've started to refer to the baby as 'she,' so, I guess I think it's a girl." I tried my best not to react to this. But now I can because I'm alone in my room with my journal. She's right! It's a girl! My sister!

Oh, and then she asked me such a silly question that I thought that I was hallucinating. "If I make a guess will you tell me if I'm right?" I just had to stare at her. Because if she's wrong it's so hard to figure out what it really is. She came to her senses though. "No, that's about the most irrational idea ever. See what pregnancy does to me? I just need this baby out now."

"January fifteenth is a looong ways away," I reminded her.

She sighed, then smiled. "No kidding."

That was a really funny experience. I do have to remember to tell Dad to stop taunting her, though. I don't want her to be weird like that for much longer. We still have almost two months left, though. Wow. Two months. That's just a little bit crazy. Thanksgiving is in like, four days, and I can't believe it's been almost a year since my very first Thanksgiving ever, back in the safe house, with my first time watching American Football, and my first time meeting Will and Francie. Wow. Time has really just flown by. I mean, now I have two parents, am about to be a sister, am completely obsessed with football, and I'm, like, I don't know. Happy.

A/n: I'm really happy with how this chapter turned out. Please leave a review! I live for your feedback.