We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities.- Ralph Waldo Emerson
"What do you want?" Christi asked. She, Veronica, Mark and Jackson were in the waiting room of the clinic where Veronica would get her ultrasound. She wanted Mark there because they had begun to see each other like father and daughter, like Veronica always had seen Christi like a sister. Christi was there because of that reason.
"All we want is a healthy baby." Jackson smiled.
"Well, besides the obvious thing," Christi scoffed.
"You know I've always wanted a little girl. When I got pregnant the first time, Danny and I both prayed that we would have our baby Harmony, but then I," Veronica paused. She stared into space for a moment and paled. Then she snapped out of it and smiled at them. "I want a girl, I really do."
"Harmony?" Christi asked.
"That's in my top three baby names. Then there is Kimberly and Anthony. Kim after my aunt and Anthony after my best guy friend."
"I like those names," Jackson smiled.
"Veronica," the nurse called. They all went into the room and sat down, with Veronica sitting in the big chair. She lifted her shirt to show her five-month pregnant belly. Suddenly, a woman came in, she had dark skin and she was Asian.
"Malaysia!" Veronica exclaimed.
"Veronica!" Malaysia screeched. They laughed and hugged.
"Chris, this is Malaysia, my best friend since second grade." Veronica introduced, laughing, "Laysia, this is Christi, my bestie since sixteen years old."
"Oh, you're the one girl at the get-better camp." Malaysia nodded, "I heard about you. You and Veronica have so much in common."
"Like what?" Christi asked.
"Well, you're both troubled, and you both do drugs."
"Not drugs," Veronica interrupted, "I only smoked. Not sure about what Christi did in her time, but I only smoked."
"And drank," Malaysia added.
"I didn't drink that much, not as much as you anyway."
"You can't even compare the two," Malaysia muttered, "So you're pregnant? Which one's the lucky guy?"
"It's that one," Veronica closed one eye and pointed to Jackson. Malaysia did the same.
"Oh, that one?"
"Yeah, that one," Veronica said, flourishing her finger. The looked at each other and giggled. Then the ultrasound technician came in. She started to put the goop on Veronica's stomach and turned on the ultrasound.
"There's the head," she said, maneuvering the wand, "And that's the stomach, do you wanna know the sex?"
"Yes, Veronica said as Malaysia said no.
"No, no," Malaysia said.
"Lay, Laysia," Veronica looked at her and smiled slightly, then whispered, "My baby,"
Malaysia giggled and nodded, "Let's hear the sex."
"Looks like you two are having a little girl," the technician looked at Jackson and Veronica.
"Yes!" Veronica exclaimed. Jackson kissed and hugged her, as everyone else smiled.
"Now you can name it Malaysia Jr." Malaysia teased.
"Not on my list of names for a baby." Veronica shrugged and laughed. After they were given a few pictures, they left. XXX
"Frankly, I think she was annoying," Christi ranted to Alex. They were in their apartment now, talking about the ultrasound. Christi was talking about Malaysia.
"Yeah," Alex said tonelessly. He didn't want to upset Christi further, so he went long with it.
"She's stealing my best friend."
"I'm sure she won't do that. Veronica is a smart woman, she can she good," he motioned to Christi, "From trash, like Malaysia is."
"Yeah, but what if she can't tell that Malaysia's no good?" Christi asked.
"She will be able to, after a little while she'll see through the act."
Christi sighs and nods, and says, "I hope so," XXX
"And this is the third floor," Christi could hear Veronica say. She was filling out charts at the nurse's station and Veronica was showing Malaysia around.
"Oh, it's so cute, but I really wanna tell you some news." Malaysia said. Veronica turned to her and Christi kept her ears open.
"What is it, Laysia?"
"I'm going to Guatemala to work in a clinic. I want you to come with me."
"What?" Veronica exclaimed, "I can't, I have a baby on the way, I have a boyfriend, I, I," Veronica stuttered.
"Bring your family with you! Jackson would love it there. Plus, your baby would get benefits of growing up in the wild instead of city life."
"Like what?"
"Well, she wouldn't be spoiled, and she wouldn't take things for granted. She'd be a lot more mature and understanding of things."
"I can't," Veronica said, "Well, I'm happy that you're going, but I have to think about it before I decide. And I have to talk to Jackson, too, before we decide."
"Okay, well," Malaysia said, "Call me when you make up your mind. I hope you come with, it'll be fun."
Then Malaysia walks to the elevators and leaves. Christi rushes over to Veronica who was standing there, staring at the elevators.
"You can't seriously be thinking about this." Christi says, "It's ridiculous."
"It'd be a great opportunity, and she's right about the baby not growing up in the city." Veronica said.
"But you'd be away from me, and Mark, and your family, not to mention civilization!"
"Look, it'd be amazing to also help the people in Guatemala."
"Well, if you come back after you spend time there, your internship and residency will be all screwed."
"I know, but I don't think I'm going anyway. Don't worry, Christi." Veronica says and walks away. XXX
Veronica decided not to go through with Guatemala. Malaysia left a week later and Christi was no longer angry or threatened, and everyone was happy. Until the day Veronica decided to do something about her sister.
It had taken a few weeks to do the autopsy on Victoria, which Veronica opted for since she wanted to know what had been neurologically wrong with her before she was shot. It had turned out to be a tumor, and it had been very bad. She had stage IV brain cancer. She wouldn't have lived anyway.
After the autopsy, Veronica wanted Victoria to be cremated. Her whole family wanted that idea for Victoria. She'd always been squeamish around dead people, and told everyone when she died she wanted to be cremated instead of buried. It took about two weeks to get her cremated, because apparently it was a good season to die. There were a lot of people already needing to be cremated, so it took a long time.
Then, Veronica kept her ashes for a few months until her whole family could be up in Seattle to spread them. Finally, the entire family came up to Seattle for the spreading. They all got together to decided what to do, and decided to spread them in Alaska. Victoria had always loved the snow, and the family's vacation place was in a village in Alaska. It was actually the same village that Veronica and her late boyfriend went to on the run. That was how her father found them, since he knew they'd go the vacation spot in Alaska.
"Okay, so we'll all fly up to Point Hope for a funeral and ash scattering." Sophie, Veronica's mother, said. They all nodded and dabbed their eyes.
"Who's paying for plane tickets?" Veronica asked.
"Each family will pay their own," Emile, Veronica's uncle, said.
"We're all a family," Veronica pointed out.
"You know what I meant," Emile muttered. XXX
A few days later, the whole family, plus Christi, who Veronica needed for support, was in Point Hope, Alaska. Point Hope was their vacation town. It was very small with a minor population. It was Victoria's favorite place to be.
They all dressed in black and went to the cottage they normally stayed at. They told stories of Victoria and the good times, and then they put her ashes in the snow.
"I hope you'll always be warm, Victoria," Veronica said, crying. Then they all went back into the cottage. The family stayed for a few days and comforted each other. Then they went back to their cities and homes, and got back to their normal lives. XXX
Veronica was now eight months pregnant and she was working hard in Seattle to do classes over the summer so she didn't have to worry when she was on maternity leave. She had finished her third year at Columbia and she was going to transfer over to Seattle for school now so that she could be with Jackson. She was at the hospital studying with Christi right now.
"So," Christi said, "Have you heard from Malaysia?"
"No," Veronica said, "No cell service or phones in Guatemala."
"Oh," Christi said, "Do you miss her?"
"Of course I do, but I don't wanna talk about her right now. Let's talk about you. When's the wedding?"
"It's in a month. I was thinking about you and about how you probably don't want to be pregnant to fit into your Maid of Honor dress."
"You want me to be your Maid of Honor?" Veronica asked, touched.
"Yeah, if you would."
"Of course!" Veronica said, hugging her friend.
"Good, so the wedding date is a few weeks after your due date."
"I'll work my hardest to get back into shape." Veronica laughed. Her due date was August second. Christi's wedding date was August twenty-fourth. Veronica had about three weeks to get back into shape.
"I'm sure you can do it," Christi laughed, "If you breastfeed it'll make you lose even more weight."
"Yeah," Veronica smiled. XXX
It was about a month later and Veronica's due date was two days away. Jackson, Christi, Veronica and Alex were hanging out at Christi and Alex's house. They were talking about medical stuff, when a strange look came upon Veronica's face.
"Are you alright?" Jackson asked.
"I'm having like, bad cramps," Veronica said squirming in her seat.
"How long?" Jackson asked, worried.
"They start a few hours ago, but I thought nothing of them. They're terribly painful now," she said, gasping as another one came, "They're contractions."
"Let's get you to the hospital," Christi said. They all rushed her to the car and went to the hospital. Jackson paged her OB/GYN, Doctor Daniels, to come immediately.
"What happened?" Doctor Daniels panted as she skidded to a stop in front of them.
"I think I'm in labor," Veronica said.
"Let's get you to a room," the doctor guided them to a hospital room and got her checked out.
"Is she?" Jackson asked.
"Yes, she is seven centimeters dilated, and her contractions are a few minutes apart, and a few minutes long."
"So right now it's all evening itself out." Veronica said, panting slightly. The doctor smiled and nodded.
"I'll come in to check on you in thirty minutes." XXX
Soon, she was fully dilated and her contractions were close together and rather long. Then her water broke. It was time to push.
"On three, push, one, two, three," Doctor Daniels said. Veronica let out a shriek as she pushed.
"You're doing good," Christi, who was next to her, said.
"Yes, you are," Doctor Daniels said, "Okay, stop, and when I say so push."
"You are doing great, Veronica," Christi said.
"You are baby, amazing," Jackson kissed her sweaty forehead.
"Push," the doctor said. Veronica did and the doctor said, "Good, I see the top of its head!"
"It's head is coming out!" Jackson exclaimed.
"Okay, stop," the doctor said. Veronica recovered for a moment and then the doctor said to push again, "It's crowning!"
Veronica let out an ear melting screech that echoed through the halls of Seattle Grace, even through closed doors.
"You're doing awesome!" Christi said.
"I know I am!" Veronica shrieked, "It hurts so God damn bad!"
"Just bear through it!" Jackson said.
"What the hell happened to the epidural?"
"You opted for natural!"
"No I didn't, I would never do that!" Veronica yelled.
"It's too late now," Doctor Daniels said, "One more big push!"
"Ahh!" she yelled, and in a few minutes Doctor Daniels was holding up a silent baby girl.
"C'mon," Doctor Daniels shook her a little and soon the baby's cried filled the room. The doctor gave the baby to Veronica and Jackson.
"What are we gonna name her?" Veronica asked.
"How about Harmony Victoria?" Jackson suggested. Veronica gasped and smiled.
"Yeah," she said, tearing up, "I'd like that," XXX
Veronica had been out of the hospital for three weeks and Christi's wedding was in two days. Veronica was nearly back down to twenty-six inches around her waist. She had done a lot of breast feeding and exercising, and stuff like that. She and Christi were at the final fitting for dresses.
"Now how's my goddaughter Harmony?" Christi cooed. She was done having her dress fitted and now Veronica was up on the pedestal getting measured. Christi was holding Harmony and bouncing her.
"She's been so great during the night. She hasn't gotten sick or anything. She's not a crier either. She only cried when she needs to be changed or she's hungry, and some other times, and we normally sleep through the night."
"I hope my baby is a good baby," Christi smiles widely at Harmony.
"I'm dumb here, explain to me." Veronica prompted.
"I might be pregnant," she said.
"That's great, Chris! Hug me!" Veronica said. As soon as she hugged Christi, she yelped. "Pins," she muttered. Christi laughed and rubbed her stomach.
Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing. - Abraham Lincoln