A/N: So to say I had a mental/emotional breakdown would be an understatement. Let's just say the past 5 weeks have been REALLY rough for me. Next semester might be my last semester in college, and I'm only a junior. Yeah... BUT I'M BACK! And I just want to thank y'all for staying with me for so long so I decided to make this chapter super long. It's about 4,400 words and as you're reading this author's note I'm working on the next chapter. So this chapter is like half and half; half Jordeth and half Palex and that's how most chapters in this fic will be. So enjoy =)

Disclaimer: I do not own Degrassi or its characters. And does anyone even know what happened to Deanna Casaluce? just askin.

Seven months. In about seven months I'm going to become a mother. Oh my God. This feels surreal. I feel surreal. I'm not even one hundred percent sure what surreal means but I know this doesn't feel real. This moment right now doesn't feel real.

"This house has four bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms," the real estate agent, Joanne tells us. "It's really spacious with a nice sized backyard with an in ground pool."

Yep, Beth and I are house hunting. Although we did do some house hunting back in April Beth and I didn't really quite find anything and at the time I figured we still had time to look since she wasn't pregnant. Well now that there's only seven months until we welcome our bundle of joy we need to find a house like about now. But I've realized these past two days that house hunting is HARD.

"Oo, an in ground pool," Beth says sounding excited.

"Why would we need an in-ground pool?" I ask Beth. "We live in Canada, not Florida. We'd be able to use that thing like for five months, the rest of the year it'd just be taking up space. Besides this place is only one story."

"Yeah which means we don't have to worry about the baby falling down the stairs," she says.

"Yeah, but there's something I like about two story houses. Plus this place only has four bedrooms. We need five."

Beth looks at me. "Why do we need five bedrooms?"

"One for me and you, three for each of our kids, and we HAVE to have a music room. Actually we need six bedrooms because we have to have a guest bedroom in case anyone visits."

"Who is visiting? Everyone we know lives here in T.O."

I shrug my shoulders. "Maybe my grandparents would like to visit."

"Your parents have a big house with three empty rooms in it. Let your grandparents stay there."

I narrow my eyes at her. "Five rooms. I'm putting my foot down."

Beth groans and turns to Joanne. "Joanne this place is great but we're looking for somewhere that is slightly bigger."

Joanne nods her head. "Ok, not a problem."

Next House:
"This house has five bedrooms with two bathrooms," Joanne says. "There are excellent schools in this neighborhood. This neighborhood is very family friendly and there are a lot of shops nearby."

I'm looking around. We go into the kitchen. Hmm the kitchen is kind of small. Dining area is ok. I sort of feel like the kitchen and dining area is one room though. I also felt kind of cramped in the living room.

"There's also a detachable two car garage with an electrical remote," Joanne continues.

Beth looks at me. "What do you think?" she asks.

"Honestly?" I ask back. "I kind of feel cramped in here."

"What are you talking aboot?"

"Like I can take one step out of the kitchen and be in the dining area."

"You could do that back at your parents' place."

"Yes but at my parents' place the dining area is a dining ROOM. I feel like this whole area is a kitchen/dining area. Plus if I take two steps out of the dining area I'm in the living room."

Beth sighs and shakes her head. "You're not making this easy," she says.

"I just want what's best for you, our baby, and me," I tell her. "Plus have you seen the backyard? That is a really sad looking backyard."

"Joanne," Beth calls out the real estate agent's name. "I don't think we're feeling this one."

Joanne nods her head. "On to the next one I guess."

Later:
I am EXHAUSTED. So far we've looked at about ten houses and I am tired and I know Beth is extremely tired. Ya know people would think that in this situation Beth would be the picky one but nope. I want nothing but the best for me and my family and if that means I have to look at a hundred houses then damn it I will. We're pulling up to our last house for the day and if this one isn't it then looks like I'll be clearing my calendar for next weekend.

Beth and I pull up behind Joanne and get out of the car. I look up and whoa this house is tall. I'm looking around the neighborhood and I see a couple of kids playing outside. The neighborhood doesn't seem too bad and it's not far from Palex so there's a plus. Beth and I follow Joanne to the front of the house and stand on the porch.

"So before we go in let me just tell you some facts about this neighborhood," Joanne starts. "This is a very family friendly tight knight community. Beresford Park is just a few doors away. There is a local library that is in walking distance. A lot of amazing schools are nearby including Degrassi, your alma mater. Are you ready to take a look inside?"

Beth and I both nod our heads. Joanne unlocks the front door and walks in as Beth and I walk in behind her. Wow, this looks nice. We're standing in the foyer which seems like it's completely made out of wood.

"So the house is gumwood and oak woodwork and trim," Joanne says. "On this floor there is the living room, dining room, kitchen, and the breakfast room. But let's check out the upstairs first."

What the hell is a breakfast room? Can you only have breakfast in the breakfast room? Is lunch and dinner not allowed in the breakfast room? What about brunch? I mean brunch is half breakfast so can I have my breakfast part of brunch in the breakfast room?

"Jordan, a breakfast room is just a room where we eat non formal meals, like breakfast and yes lunch. We'd have dinner in the dining room," Beth says, snapping me out of my questionable trance.

I look at her. "How did you know that's what I was thinking about?" I ask.

"Because I'm your wife," she says and smiles. "Also as soon as Joanne said breakfast room a look of confusion appeared on your face."

I smile at her. "You know me so well."

Beth takes my hand in hers and we follow Joanne up the stairs. We walk into a really nice sized and nice bedroom. The floor in here is also made of wood and the walls are like a light pale blue. There's a window that brings a lot of sunlight in, which I love because I'm all about natural light.

"So this is the master bedroom," Joanne says. "There are two other bedrooms on this floor, a fourth room which is sort of like an arts and craft room with a walk out to the balcony, and one of the bathrooms is also on this floor."

"Are all the floors in the house made of wood?" Beth asks.

Joanne nods her head. "Yes, all the floors are wood except for the floors in the bathrooms, the lower lever recreation room, and the breakfast room."

"There's a lower level?" I ask. "Like a basement or…"

"Oh no, not a basement," Joanne says quickly. "The lower level has a separate side entrance, a recreation room, a five piece modern bathroom, and the laundry room is also down there."

"So the lower level is like an apartment pretty much?"

Joanne shakes her head. "Almost, all you need is a kitchen down there. You could turn it into an in-law suite. Shall we move up to the next level?"

"Lead the way."

Beth and I follow Joanne up to the next story and as we're walking I'm looking around. I'm really liking this place more and more as each and every minute passes by. Granted we'd have to put some carpet down on some of these floors but that's ok. We've reach the third floor and we're standing in a room that looks like a lounge and on both sides of us there are separate rooms.

"So this floor has two large bedrooms and the room we're standing in right now is the lounge," Joanne tells us.

The floor in here is kind of like marble or something. It's not wood or tile. I walk into the bedroom that's on my left. Whoa she wasn't lying when she was saying this is a large bedroom. The walls are white, which can be painted, and the floor like the others is wood but that can easily be changed. I can see this being the music room. I mean it's big enough for numerous instruments and we could easily get it sound proof. I walk back into the lounge as Beth is walking out of the other bedroom.

"That room is huge," Beth says while pointing behind her.

"Yeah so is this one," I tell her. "This could easily be the music room. Paint the walls some cool funky color, lay down some carpet, and get someone to soundproof the walls and we got a music room."

"So you like the house?" Joanne asks.

"Hmm… let's see the backyard," I tell her.

I take Beth's hand in mine as we follow Joanne back downstairs.

"So what do you think of this place so far?" Beth asks me.

"I like it," I tell her. "I mean there's TONS of space. Enough bedrooms for us, our future kids, and some play rooms, and it's in the same school zone as Degrassi and we're only a couple a miles down the street from Palex."

"You don't think it's too big? I mean three floors and then we would have that lower level. What would we do with all this room?"

"Well the bedrooms for us and the kids, music room, maybe we could change the lower level into a gym or entertainment room for the kids. There're so many possibilities."

We reach downstairs and Joanne is leading us to the backyard.

"So the backyard has a wrap around deck, which is perfect for parties and barbequing," Joanne says as we're stepping outside.

Oh my God! This backyard is HUGE! Forget the deck I don't care about the deck because all I can focus on is the yard. I hear Joanne talking in the background but I'm not paying much attention. There's enough space back here to have like a trampoline and then some. There's a garden off to the side and a barn. A BARN! I have to have this place.

"We'll take it," I say.

"What?" Beth asks.

I turn around and look at Beth with a smile on my face while she's looking at me with a confused look on her face and she's sort of looking at me as if I've grown two heads.

"Don't you want to know how much it costs?" Joanne asks.

"Doesn't matter," I tell her quickly. "We'll take it."

"We'll take it?" Beth asks with her hands on her hips.

Joanne is looking back and forth between Beth and me. "I'll go inside and let you two discuss."

Joanne heads inside and closed the sliding door after herself. I'm smiling from ear to ear while Beth is just looking at me.

"We'll take it?" she asks again, this time with her arms crossed over her chest.

"This house could be our home," I tell her. "This place feels like it could be our home. This place feels like it could be the Johnson-Perez household, or the Perez-Johnson household, I don't really care whose name is first."

I walk over to Beth, uncross her arms and take her hands into mine.

"Just imagine us living here," I tell her. "Imagine us in about ten years with our three kids. The oldest will be hanging out in the music room playing some instrument him or her learned at the tender age of one. The middle child, who will probably be a girl, will be hanging out in her room listening to which ever boy band or pop star is popular at the time, and the youngest will be running around this house while you or I try to catch him or her but we can't because we can't run like we use to. Imagine AJ having her very own room here for those days she just can't stand her mothers and she wants to hang out with her cool aunts instead. Imagine sitting in the nice living room with a giant Christmas tree in the middle of it and we're watching our children open their presents up on Christmas morning. Imagine birthday parties, anniversary parties, and just summer barbeques out here in this huge backyard."

I notice Beth's face start to relax a little and a small smile starting to form.

"Imagine us in this house forty years from now reminiscing on the good old days and our future grandchildren visiting us in this house," I tell her. "Imagine us possibly passing this house down to one of our kids. This is our home Beth, OUR home."

"You don't think it's too big?" she asks.

I shake my head. "It's just right for us. Plus if we decide three kids aren't enough we could have more because there'd be plenty of room."

A full smile is on her face now and I know that this place is now ours. I just know it.

"Ok," Beth says while nodding her home. "We'll take it."

"We'll take it?" I ask, double checking.

Beth kisses me. "I want to see you chasing our child on every single floor of this house."

I grin widely at her. I open the sliding door that leads back into the house.

"Joanne," I call out the real estate agent's name. "We'll take it."

Later:
I can't believe it. I just bought a house. Correction! My wife and I just bought a house. We technically not because we have to wait till later this week to officially hopefully buy the house because there are other buys but I told Joanne that I would pay more than the sellers are asking for because Beth and I REALLY want that house. It's just so amazing and I can really imagine me calling it home.

Beth and I are on our way to Palex's house to tell them the good news. I bet they're going to be ecstatic once they find out Beth and I will only be a couple of miles down the road. That means it won't be far for them to travel when they need us to babysit. I pull the car into their driveway. Beth and I get out of the car and make our way to the front door.

"I am so pumped!" I tell Beth and sort of jump in the air.

Beth laughs. "Well how about you bring your pump down from a ten to a five?" she asks.

"You should be excited about my pumpage. You know what happens when I'm super excited and pumped about something."

I give Beth a sly smile and kiss her lovingly. I pull away and wiggle my eyebrows suggestively. We're standing in front of the front door now.

Beth giggles and shakes her head. "You're always in the mood for that."

I shrug my shoulders. "What can I say? I have the sex drive of a sixteen year old boy."

Beth was smiling but now her smile has changed to a frown. What, why is she making that face? That's her… Oh no. I quickly reach for the emergency key Palex gave me. I quickly unlock the front door and as soon as it opens Beth speeds past me to the bathroom. Yeah, she had to puke. I close the front door as the sound of puke begins to fill the air. Wait, that's not all I'm hearing. I think I hear yelling upstairs. What the flux capacitor is going on up there?

I start making my way up the stairs as Beth continues puking her guts out. There's nothing I can do for her anyway. I'm upstairs and I can hear more clearly now and it's definitely some yelling going on. I make my way to Palex's room and their door is slightly opened.

"How can you just now tell me this Paige!" Alex yells.

"Because I wasn't sure if I was leaving or not!" Paige yells.

"What aboot AJ? You can't just up and leave like this! She's going to notice!"

"You don't think I've though aboot that? You really think I want to be gone from our daughter's life for a month and a half? But I have to Alex, I have to!"

"No you don't! You can stay here! You can do your designs here and take them to the office when you need to. You don't have to go to Paris and Malan and all those other places. You don't have to be gone for two months!"

I hear Paige sigh.

"Alex it is not that simple," Paige says tiredly. "I can't just make my designs and only appear in Toronto and New York. I have to travel. That's part of my job. You and I both knew that eventually I'd have to go back out into the fashion world."

"But what aboot AJ?" Alex asks. "How do you think her mother being gone for two months is going to affect her? What if you miss her big moments, like her walking for the first time, or her first words?"

"I'm doing this for AJ!" Paige yells. "I'm doing this for us! Do you think we can just pay for this house and all the nice things we want for us and our daughter off of your salary alone?"

"So what are you saying I don't make enough? That my job isn't good enough?"

"I said nothing like that Alex!"

Alright I think it's time for me to end all the yelling. I enter the bedroom and these two are so busy yelling at each other they don't even notice me coming in.

"Hey," I say at a normal voice level. Obviously they didn't hear me. "HEY! SHUT UP!"

Yeah that got their attention. Palex is looking at me now, both slightly shocked to see me but both still obviously frustrated.

"I really hope AJ isn't here to hear all of this yelling," I tell them.

"She's a mom and dad's," Alex says. "What are you doing here, besides breaking and entering?"

"It's not breaking and entering if you have a key," I tell Alex. "With a key it's just entering, and that's beside the point. The real question is why are you two in here yelling at each other like two maniacs?"

Paige looks away while Alex crosses her arms across her chest and look at me.

"Look Jordan I know you like to put your nose in our business pretty much all the time but this isn't really your concern," Alex says.

"I come over here to tell you good news and the first thing I hear is you two yelling at each other," I tell her. "When I hear my best friends, who are also my sister and sister-in-law, yelling at each other I have the right to be concerned. Not to mention I am AJ's godmother so when I hear her parents yelling I sort of worry. So PLEASE enlighten me on what's going on!"

"I told Alex that in February I'll be gone for work," Paige says.

"No you said from the end to January to the beginning of March you'll be gone," Alex says quickly while looking at Paige. "You'll be gone for part of January, all of February, and part of March."

"Yes hon but I will be back March 8th and I'll get to spend a week at home and then just one week in L.A. and then I'll be back home for good!"

"It doesn't matter Paige! You'll still be gone for aboot two months. You won't even be in the country! What if something happens to AJ?"

What the hell? I look at Alex.

"God forbid something happen to our daughter with the jinx you just put on her Alex!" Paige yells.

Ok enough yelling because I'm definitely starting to get a headache. I start clapping my hands loudly.

"Alright enough!" I yell. "Return to your corners!"

Both Paige and Alex have their arms crossed and they're breathing heavily. Sometimes I just don't know what to do with these two. And I have to be one hundred percent honest; I don't quite know what to say right now.

"Hey did you tell them?"

I turn around and Beth is standing behind me. The smell of Fabreeze fills my nostrils. Hmm, better than the smell of puke, trust me.

"No I didn't," I tell her. "We need to resolve something first."

A questioning look appears on Beth's face. "What's going on?"

I turn my attention back to Palex. "Paige has to leave in January for about a month and a half to do fashion weeks to help promote her line," I say. "And Alex is upset that she's going to be gone for so long."

"Even though it's part of my job," Paige says, interrupting me.

"A job that you can clearly stay home for and not have to leave your daughter and wife," Alex says.

"Oh so you can leave the house and go to work five times a week but I have to be a housewife for the rest of my life? So are you the guy in this marriage? Are we back in the 1960's?"

"That is totally different!" Alex yells. "I go to the other side of town and I am home for dinner every night. You're leaving for two months and you're not even going to be in the country."

"It's not two months Lexi it's a month and a half!"

"SHUT UP!" I yell. "You two are giving me a headache." I start rubbing my head, hoping the headache will go away. "So you two are yelling at each other about Paige going away. Now Alex I understand where you're coming from I do, but I also understand Paige's side. I think what you need to realize is that for Paige's career travelling in very important and sort of crucial. And that she's not leaving you and AJ but she's going on business trips and that she'll be home."

Alex rolls her eyes at me. "I didn't realize we asked a counselor to come over," she says in an annoyed voice.

"If you want I can turn into an UFC fighter and kick your ass to knock the sense into you," I say seriously.

Beth places her hand on my shoulder. "I don't think violence is necessary or is threatening violence really needed right now," she says.

Paige uncrosses her arms and runs her hands through her hair and sighs tiredly. "Lexi, I don't want to fight with you," Paige says. "You and I both knew that eventually this would happen. That eventually I would need to leave the house and our bubble to do what I love, and that's fashion. It doesn't mean that I love you and AJ any less. In fact I'm doing this FOR you and AJ." Paige walks up at Alex and takes her hand. "I love you both with my whole heart and it kills me that I have to leave but I have to do what I have to do for my career, for our family."

Alex's frown disappears and her face seems to soften. "But… you're her mom Paigey," Alex says. "Your AJ's mommy, whenever you hold her her whole face lights up. How am I supposed to take care of her all by myself?"

Paige places her hand on Alex's cheek. "Hon, that's what you're worried aboot?" she asks.

"I didn't exactly have the greatest childhood in the world," Alex says. "What if I somehow screw AJ up while you're gone? What if I mess up?"

"Lexi," Paige starts. "You're a great mother. You say AJ's face lights up when I hold her but whenever YOU come home that's when her face truly lights up and she claps her hands. She's so happy and excited whenever you're around and you're so great with her. Sometimes she won't even listen to me but when you speak she has this look of concentration on her face and it looks like she listening to you intensely. You're going to be fine while I'm gone and if something happens you can just call me and I'll be on the next flight home. I don't care if I have to steal a jet, I'll get home."

Alex takes Paige's hand off her cheek and kisses it. "I still don't want you to go," she says sadly.

Paige nods her head. "I know but I'll be back before you know it hon," she says.

And now the once fighting couple is sharing a kiss. Aw, nice to see that once again I help diffuse a bomb.

"So are we going to tell them aboot the house?" Beth whispers in my ear.

I shake my head. "Not now, let's just go downstairs and let them enjoy this moment."

I'll just tell them tomorrow that we'll be living in the same neighborhood. For now I'll let Palex enjoy the time they have with each other.

A/N: So I know how you guys LOVE drama and don't worry soon there will be drama =) The link below is Jordeth's future house Also know that this fic is gonna be SUPER long. Like I honestly think this fic might be either 100 chapters or close to it =)

http:/ juliekinnear . com / toronto - houses / 379 - beresford - avenue /