Saturday afternoon, Jade found herself lounging between two chairs in the Black Box Theatre while her play's cast ran a stage rehearsal.
Cat sat cross-legged on the prop bed with a fake pregnancy suit on and a prop laptop on the bed.
"Lily, your friends are here!" Tori called from off-stage.
"Coming, Mom!" Cat shouted back and ran off the stage. As soon as she was completely off-stage, she screeched out, "The baby's coming!"
With perfect timing, Sinjin and another Burf spun the set around to the view of a hospital bed and a third stagehand pulled a green hospital-style curtain over the scene except for the final eight feet on the right side.
Cat, led by Tori, entered first. Cat was sputtering lines about fear and babies while Tori kept a smile and spoke about calm. Andre entered next carrying a medical kit.
Hushed "conversations" ensued behind the green curtain before Cat squealed, "You're going to do what?!" and the lights dropped out entirely except a spotlight on the curtain that left Andre silhouetted.
He held up the dummy that would be "Lily's" child.
Capturing his role, Andre spoke. "It's a...reptile?"
The curtain pulled across and Cat stepped out, no longer wearing the pregnancy suit. She began a soliloquy. "Raising an alien wasn't easy. Max, as I named him, was different than other kids and that made life difficult."
On and on the soliloquy dragged until the curtain opened and the scene had returned to the bedroom, where puppet Max was sitting on top of a dresser with Robbie hiding behind it.
The scenes continued.
At about four in the afternoon, the cast and crew decided to call it a night and several went out for pizza.
At the local pizza joint, Tori, Cat, Andre, Robbie, Beck, and Jade filed into the largest booth they had and ordered two large pizzas and a soda for each person.
Jade watched the conversation bounce between her friends (and Tori), all the while rubbing circles on her belly to calm her fluttering baby.
When Andre noticed, he cocked an eyebrow. "Jade, what's with you rubbing circles?"
"What's it to you?"
"Just wondering. You've been doing it a lot today."
"Baby's getting fidgety," Beck explained. "Jade does this all the time. Whenever she stops, the baby kicks harder."
"It's painful," Jade groaned. "And not in a good way."
A quiet "wow" escaped Robbie.
"What?" she snapped at the boy.
"You rub your belly all day?"
"Would you like to feel what it feels like?" She balled a fist.
Beck grabbed his girlfriend's wrist. "Jade, don't hit Robbie."
She lowered her hand and took a sip of her Sprite. "I miss caffeine," she muttered.
"I love caffeine!" Cat giggled. "One time my brother drank so much coffee and soda that he stayed up for four days straight!"
"You're not helping," Jade grumbled.
The pizzas came out and Beck reached forward, grabbing a slice for Jade and then one for himself. By the time he had eaten half of his own piece, Jade was reaching up for another.
"Woah," Rex commented. "Pigging out, Jade? No wonder you're getting bigger."
Jade pointed her knife at the puppet. "Make another crass comment about my baby or me and I will superglue your mouth shut."
Robbie pulled his hand out of the puppet and set it on the floor before shyly taking a bite of his pizza.
After she finished her second slice of pizza (whereas Jade had eaten three and a half), Cat looked up at her friend. "Jadey, have you gone out to buy the pretty mommy clothes yet? My brother was just looking around a store yesterday at the mall and some had lace all over them. I know you like lace."
"Why was your brother looking at maternity clothes?" Tori asked as she swallowed a mouthful of pizza.
Cat opened her mouth to answer, then closed it and leaned her chin on her hand. "I don't know, actually. He's a little messed up."
Jade scoffed. "A little? He wore my bra."
Cat chuckled. "You're right."
The table got quiet and everyone stared at the redhead, who had already refocused on her pizza.
After a minute, Jade spoke. "No, I haven't actually. Why do you ask?"
"Yeah, Little Red," Andre added, "where did that come from?"
"Oh!" the girl perked up again. "I wanted to know if you wanted me to take you. We haven't gone shopping since..." she paused "...a long time ago."
Jade nodded. "Sure. Mall's open tomorrow, right?"
Cat nodded. "Yay!"
Beck turned to his girlfriend and whispered into her ear. "I thought we were gonna catch a movie tomorrow."
Jade shook her head. "Not anymore."
At the RV, Beck and Jade laid on the bed, cuddling, and Jade began to doze off.
"You're cute when you're sleepy," Beck smiled.
"Am I ugly otherwise?" she snapped and sat upright.
"You're beautiful all the time," Beck smiled, reaching out and placing a hand on his girlfriend's thigh. "I just meant the peaceful look when you're sleepy is extra cute."
Jade kept her expression set and watched her boyfriend skeptically.
At a loss for anything else to say, the boy leaned forward and captured his girlfriend's lips with his own.
The kiss was soft and loving, far different from many others they had shared. This one was purely loving and not in the slightest bit sexual, though a quiet noise did escape Jade's lips as Beck pulled away.
"I love you, Jade," Beck sighed, never parting his gaze from her crystal blue eyes.
"I know," Jade smiled.
Even now, years into their relationship, Jade's smiles made Beck's heart flutter. He pulled her into a close embrace and kissed the top of her head.
The couple fell over onto the bed with Jade curled around Beck's side and her head on his chest. Beck traced circles on Jade's belly and she relaxed into the touch.
"So you're going out with Cat tomorrow?" Beck whispered against the top of his girlfriend's head.
"Yeah," she affirmed.
"Even though we were going to go to the movies?"
"I haven't spent time with Cat since before this thing existed." She pointed to her belly. "It's the least I can do to let her take me out shopping. Go hang out with Andre or something."
Beck chuckled, squeezing his girlfriend's shoulders slightly in a fond embrace.
"What's so funny?" Jade snapped but didn't bother to move.
"Aren't you just so considerate?" Beck asked rhetorically. "You stayed when your mother was pissed, you're making up with Cat, you're giving me time to hang out with Andre. I'd almost think you were the one abducted by aliens."
"Shut up," Jade mumbled sleepily and closed her eyes. "I'm a mommy now. Things change."
Rolling over and curling around his girlfriend, Beck closed his eyes. "You'll always be my Jade though," he whispered, a smile gracing his face as she grabbed his hand with her own.