Disclaimer: I do not own Camp Rock or Wizards of Waverly Place.

Once again, the chapter fell perfectly with the date! I don't plan this, I swear. I just enjoy it.

I kind of lost my faith in Demena tonight. It was a bad night. I'm getting it back, though.

Mitchie sat with her hands on her stomach, her new favorite resting spot for them.

A lot happened this year, she thought, looking down at her ever-growing stomach. This time next year, she'd be looking down at her eight-month-old son or daughter instead of the bulge under her shirt.

This year had been the worst and best in her entire life all at the same time. Worst because she went to a camp where almost everyone turned against her and instead of gaining confidence like she'd wanted, she was used, abused, left, and ended up being worse off than she was when she went to Camp Rock. But it was also the best because all of the terrible decisions and that huge, horrific act against her that brought her to Alex, whom she didn't know how she could possibly live without.

Just thinking about her girlfriend, she had to smile, but it quickly faded. She was sad, wishing Alex could be with her right then and there. It was New Years' Eve, and all she wanted was a kiss from her girlfriend at midnight, but she wasn't going to get one. Alex was at her house, watching the ball drop on television with her family, like Mitchie was doing with her own. She just knew in her gut was going to twist unpleasantly when she saw her parents kissed at the stroke of twelve. If her parents would just let her have Alex spend the night, she could have at least given her a quick peck on the lips. It wouldn't be the heated kiss she wanted because of her dad's no-public-display-of-affections rule, but it would be better than nothing. But no, her parents made a rule and she had to stick by it.

And her parents wouldn't allow her to sleep at Alex's either. She couldn't believe them. She was going to be seventeen in less than a month and a mother in around four. Couldn't they let her grow up just a little?

"Alright, my special hot chocolate is ready!" Connie exclaimed, walking into the living room with a tray holding three mugs of steaming, homemade hot chocolate. This was different from the kind Mitchie had made for Alex. That had just been a pack she added hot milk to. This was the real stuff that her mom made with special cream and real chocolate. And it was delicious.

Mitchie took her mug with the whipped cream spilling over the top carefully so she wouldn't burn herself. Staring into the mug, her taste buds became curious. She placed the mug on the coffee table and got up from the couch, leaving her mother and father in the living room, confused expressions on their faces.

Mitchie went over to the fridge and opened it. She reached inside and pulled out the jar of pickles. Perfect. This is just what she'd wanted. Now that she had it, she took her prize to the living room and sat on the couch next to her father again, unscrewing the cap. Her parents watched curiously as she took a whole pickle from the rank liquid, letting it drip back into the jar. Then she dipped it in her hot cocoa, whipped cream and all.

"Oh, Mitchie!" Connie exclaimed, very disgusted as her daughter pulled the nasty green, brown, and white thing from the mug.

Mitchie, ignoring her mother, lifted it to her mouth and took a bite. She'd never been a huge fan of pickles, but this was awesome! It was the perfect combination of sweet and sour. She moaned slightly at the lovely taste and closed her eyes in ecstasy. She chewed and swallowed, and when she opened her eyes again, her parents were staring at her. Her father looked like he was about to puke.

"What?" she asked with a small shrug.

"That's disgusting," Steve said.

Connie sighed. "Looks like someone finally got her crazy cravings."

Mitchie blushed and looked down at her lap. "It's good…"

"I highly doubt that," Steve said, wrinkling his nose.

"Try it," Mitchie said, sliding the jar along the table towards him.

Mr. Torres, always up for a challenge, took a pickle from the jar.

"Oh, Steve, don't," Connie protested when she saw that her husband was actually going to do it. "At least dip it in her hot chocolate instead so you don't ruin yours."

Steve looked at his daughter expectantly. "May I?" He gestured towards her mug.

Mitchie held it out for him and he dipped the pickle into the hot liquid and cream. Mitchie watched hopefully while her mother watched with disgust as Steve put the pickle in his mouth and took a bite. He chewed for a few seconds before stopping. His face screwed up in an unpleasant grimace. Before either Torres woman knew it, Steve had jumped off the couch, leapt over the coffee table, and dashed to the kitchen, where he spit his mouthful of grossness into the sink and turned the faucet on, sticking his mouth under it.

Connie erupted into loud, somewhat obnoxious laughter as Mitchie sat there embarrassed. She really hadn't thought it was that bad.

"So, Mitchie," Connie said as she finished laughing, "have you thought of any names yet?" Of course she was talking about the baby. That was all they ever seemed to talk about these days. When they saw each other, that was. Both were so busy with work that they only ever saw one another on rare occasions, like the holidays.

"Yes," Mitchie said, nodding. "But none of them seem right."

Steve came back into the room, panting and acting like he'd just eaten hot peppers instead of a little pickle dipped in hot chocolate. He plopped himself back down on the couch next to his daughter as his wife watched him from the armchair and shook her head at her husband.

"What have you come up with?" Connie asked, switching her attention back to Mitchie.

"I don't want to say," she said. "None of them are going to end up being that name anyway."

"Oh come on!" Connie leaned forward a little, anxious. "Tell us."

Mitchie set her mug down and rubbed the back of her neck with her hand. "I kind of like Lana… Or maybe Cody if it's a boy."

"Cody is a good name," Steve said, nodding.

Mitchie was about to smile and say 'thank you' when her mother started speaking.

"Yes, but it's so plain," Connie said. "Just like Lana. What about something special or unique, like Ebba for a girl, or Talan for a boy?"

"Where did you come up with those?" Mitchie asked, raising her eyebrows at the odd names she'd never heard before in her life.

"I got a book," Connie said brightly. Still sitting, she reached over to the bookcase and pulled one off the shelf. She leaned forward and handed it to Mitchie. "I folded the edge of the pages with the names I liked and highlighted them."

Mitchie took it and opened it, skimming through. There were a few normal ones, but some were just out there! And her mother seemed to have highlighted all of the strange ones. Abeni, Badru, Desta…

"Ebba is Scandinavian for boar?" Mitchie exclaimed when she got to the page, looking up at her mother.

"You wouldn't have to tell people that…" Connie muttered.

Mitchie shook her head and flipped to the T's, anxious to see what Talan meant.

"Forehead?" Mitchie said, flaring her nostrils furiously. "You want me to name my child forehead? What's wrong with something normal like Claire or Beth or Greg or Josh?"

"Those names are so plain and overused," Connie said, waving her hand. "You need to name the baby something unique, something that you don't hear very often, like we did. Have you ever met another Mitchie?"

"No," she admitted. "But still, Mom. This is my child. Let me name her or him whatever I want."

"Well just keep the book and look through it," Connie said.

"Mom, I really don't want−"

"Hey, look, only two minutes left!" Steve exclaimed, pointing to the TV and trying to stop the fight that was starting between his wife and daughter.

"Steve, get the drinks from the fridge!" Connie exclaimed, sitting on the edge of her seat in excitement.

Steve Torres jumped up quickly and dashed to the kitchen for the second time that night. From the refrigerator he grabbed a bottle of wine from him and Connie and a bottle of sparkling grape juice for Mitchie. After he closed the fridge door, he opened a cabinet and took down three wine glasses. Carrying the two bottles carefully in one hand and two glasses in the other (the third being held with his mouth by the rim), he came back into the living room quickly, setting everything on the coffee table. He dashed back into the kitchen and grabbed the corkscrew from its drawer, returning shortly. Mitchie had already taken the foil off of the wine bottle and was working on her grape juice bottle. Steve opened the red wine as quickly as possible.

"Steve, hurry," Connie said as he poured two glasses of red wine; in the one he'd had in his mouth he poured a drink for himself. When he was done, he handed the other to his wife. Mitchie had taken the liberty to pour her own glass of juice.

As Steve sat on the couch again, the countdown started.

"Ten…Nine…" the family started chanting together, excitement growing in their bellies, " Eight… Seven…Six… Five… Four…" the lit up ball slid closer to the bottom of the pole and the people on TV got louder. "Three…Two…One! HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

The three Torreses clinked their glasses together. Mitchie raised her glass to her lips and took a sip, looking away when her parents shared a kiss. Jealousy bubbled inside her and she felt resentment towards them for robbing this from her. She'd always wanted someone to kiss at midnight on New Years' and now that she had someone, she wasn't allowed to be with her at that moment.

Her parents each downed their glasses of wine and shared a smile, then smiled at Mitchie. She gave them back a weak one, but she didn't mean it. She was too mad at them. She'd wanted to ring in the New Year with Alex. She wanted a kiss from Alex. And she didn't get that.

Alex sat on the couch in between Justin and Max, arms crossed over her chest with a bored expression on her face. She tried to pull off a look of indifference, and it was working, but inside she was seriously depressed. All she wanted was to be with Mitchie at that moment. She'd been with her for Christmas, why couldn't she be with her for New Years' too? Oh yeah, because Mitchie's parents refused to let her spend the night. She knew she'd protested when Mitchie asked, but at that moment she would have gladly slept on a couch or even the floor just to be able to be with Mitchie at midnight, to kiss her girlfriend the moment the new year began. Mitchie had told her it had always been her dream to kiss someone at midnight and that was a dream Alex could make come true, but because of Mitchie's parents, she couldn't. Yet, Alex was still determined to make it happen, and not next year. This year. She'd just have to get a little creative.

In the meantime, though, here she sat, sandwiched in between her annoying, know-it-all brother and her other brother that smelled like lunch meat for some odd reason.

"So, kids, what are your New Years' resolutions?" Theresa asked, trying to break the awkward silence. She'd forced all of her children to come downstairs so they could ring in the new year like a family, but she'd clearly forgotten how un-family-like they were.

"Well, I bet Max's is to not fail," Alex said. "And Justin's is to get a girlfriend."

"That's not true!" Justin protested.

"Yes it is," Max said.

"Maybe yours is," Justin said, pointing across Alex at Max. "But my resolution isn't to get a girlfriend!"

"You're right, Justin, I'm sorry," Alex said with a smirk. "It's to get a life."

Justin felt his face turning red with anger. Alex could be such a bitch. Did she have no regard for his feelings? Did she forget the huge favor he did for her?

"No, but I bet your resolution is to get a girlfriend, you little dyke!" Justin yelled. His comment was so out of character, it caught his entire family off guard. He'd never been that rude before and never used that language in his entire life.

Alex had to bite her lip extremely hard to stop herself from yelling back in his face, I already have a girlfriend, when are you going to get one?

But she swallowed her comment. Without her retort to hurt Justin, therefore making herself feel better, his comment actually stung. Is that what he thought of her? That she was just a dyke? Alex didn't claim to know much, but she knew that was a hate term, and Justin had directed it at her.

Without a word, Alex got up from the couch in a vain attempt to keep her family from seeing the tears forming in her eyes. But they all saw them. And they all heard the sniffle as she opened the door to the lair.

"Justin, apologize. Now," Jerry said sternly. His face was stony and angry. He may not have been comfortable with his daughter being gay, but she was still his little girl, and no one made her cry…Not even his own son.

"Yes sir," Justin said, though he was already about to stand up to go do so when his father ordered him to. He felt like shit for saying that. What had come over him?

The door to the lair had been left open. When he got to the doorway, he heard sniffling. He walked in and found Alex seated in the chair nearest to the doorway. She was sitting in it sideways, curled up in a ball. Her back was to him but when he walked around, at an angle he saw the tears sliding down her cheeks. She looked broken. Justin's gut twisted unpleasantly with guilt and he tried to swallow the lump in his throat. He hated himself.

"Alex?" he said gently, taking a cautious step.

Alex quickly swiped at her eyes at the sound of his voice, trying to remove the evidence of her crying. "Get out of here, Justin," she said hoarsely.

"Alex… Listen…" He took another step towards her.

"I SAID GO!" she yelled angrily, not looking back at him.

Justin became somewhat enraged. He stood up straight, showing his full height. "No," he said. He walked around so that he was standing where she could see him if she'd look forward. "I have something to say, whether you want to hear it or not." Alex stared at the back of the chair, appearing to not have heard him. "God damn it, Alex, look at me!" He yelled, bending down and putting his hands on her shoulders, shaking her.

Alex, scared, looked at her brother with wide, bloodshot eyes. Twice in one night he'd used tones with her he'd never used before and said words she didn't even think were in his vocabulary.

When he saw he had her attention, Justin loosened his grip on Alex's shoulders and let out a sigh. "Look, I'm sorry I called you a dyke, okay? You know I love you and support you no matter who you're attracted to. I shouldn't have said it. I only called you that out of anger, because Alex…You really pissed me off. After all the crap I've done for you over the years, you still treat me no better than something you find stuck to the bottom of your Converse. And after everything I've done for you this year alone." Justin shook his head. "You know you'd be in military school right now if it wasn't for me."

Alex looked down, ashamed. He was right. He really saved her ass with that one, just like he'd done thousands of times in the past. And how did she repay him? She tormented and harassed him.

"I know, Justin," she said quietly, looking back up at him. "I don't know why I do it, I just do. It's like I can't help it."

"Well can you try?" Justin asked softly, somewhat desperately. "Alex, I can't deal with you busting my chops all the time anymore."

Alex tried to hold back a giggle, despite the situation, but it was no use. She had to let it out. "Busting your chops?" she asked with a light laugh.

"It's an expression," Justin said with a small smile.

"It's a lame one," Alex said, smiling as well. "But yes, I'll try. That'll be my resolution, to try to be nicer to my brother."

"Just one brother?" Justin asked, standing and taking his hands off Alex's shoulders. "You have two brothers. What about Max?"

Alex stood, wiping the remaining tears from her face. "Let's face it, no one really cares about Max all that much. It's no big deal if I mess with him."

Justin was about to say something in his younger brother's defense, but stopped, knowing Max really did bring it upon himself.

"True…" he said with a shrug.

Alex smiled. "So…You and me…Are we good?"

Justin looked at her. "I don't know. Are we?"

"I think so." Alex nodded. "I'm sorry, Justin."

"Me too."

And with that, Justin put his arms around his sister's shoulders and pulled her into a hug. Alex smiled and wrapped her arms around her brother's waist, giving him a squeeze. She felt good, happy, like a light had been turned on. She had a strange feeling that from now on, things would actually be better.

"Kids, the ball's about to drop!" Jerry yelled from the living room.

Alex and Justin pulled out of the hug, looking to the doorway.

"Ready to ring in the New Year?" Justin asked with a grin.

"Yeah," Alex said, smiling as well. "I have a feeling it's going to be a good one."

Justin put his arm around Alex's shoulder and together they walked back to the living room, ready to celebrate with the rest of their family.

Mitchie tossed and turned in her bed, trying desperately to sleep. She'd gone to bed almost immediately after midnight, anxious to get away from her parents, but she couldn't sleep. There was too much going on inside her head. Plus, she'd had hot chocolate pretty late and she wasn't off her sugar high yet.

She faced the wall, knowing she'd never get to sleep as long as Alex's arms weren't around her. She'd grown way too used to having her girlfriend sleeping beside her that she didn't know how to go to sleep by herself. She was doomed to lie awake until Alex decided to come over. And if Alex had for whatever reason decided to spend the night in her own bed at her own house, then Mitchie was most likely going to lie awake for hours.

Suddenly, she felt the bed dip. Mitchie's heart leapt and a smile made its way to her face as relief flooded her body. She'd been afraid she wasn't going to come tonight.

"Hey, you," she said quietly when she turned over to see Alex sitting on the edge of her bed, smiling down at her. Her hair was curly and falling in her face slightly. The moonlight streaming in from the window illuminated Alex's face just the right amount. She looked absolutely gorgeous, and she just seemed so…Happy. Maybe it was just Mitchie, but something seemed different about her girlfriend.

"Hey yourself," Alex said, reaching out a hand to cup Mitchie's cheek. "I thought you were already asleep."

"How could I sleep?" Mitchie placed her hand on top of Alex's to make sure it stayed on her cheek, where she loved it to be. "You weren't here with me."

Alex smiled bashfully and looked at the comforter quickly, looking back to Mitchie right after. "Well I'm here now."

"Yes you are," Mitchie said. "Come on, lie down with me." She scooted over as Alex repositioned herself so that she was lying beside Mitchie.

Alex's left arm instantly draped over Mitchie's waist, her right coming up between them so that it wasn't under her. Alex's palm was facing upwards, and Mitchie placed her own right hand on top of it, their palms resting against each other. Mitchie's fingers wove between Alex's, a perfect fit as usual. The girls shared a loving smile as Mitchie felt small nudges from within her womb, which she'd gotten used to over the past week. The baby surely had become active recently.

"It's kicking again," Mitchie said, glancing at her stomach.

Alex pulled her arm closer to her body so that she could place her hand on Mitchie's stomach. She moved her hand slowly across until she felt a small tap beneath her palm. She stopped there and felt another bump a few moments later, causing her to smile widely.

"Active little thing, isn't it?" She placed her arm back in its previous position, draped across Mitchie's waist.

"Sure is," she said, nodding. "How was your night?"

"Interesting," Alex said with a thoughtful look on her face. "Bad at one part, but it ended on a good note."

"Care to explain?" Mitchie asked with raised eyebrows.

"Well, I was making fun of Justin again," Alex said. "And then he called me a dyke."

Mitchie let out a disbelieving gasp. "What a prick," she said, even though she liked Justin. However, she liked Alex a little more (a LOT more).

"I deserved it," Alex said quickly. "But he made me cry… So I went hide in the wizard lair."

"You have a lair?" Mitchie asked. "What the heck is that?"

"Just where we keep all of our wizard stuff and dad teaches us our lessons," she said, anxious to get on with the story. "Anyway, Justin came in and tried to apologize. I told him to go away, but he wouldn't until I heard him out. He said he was sorry about what he said, but he only did it because he was tired of me being a bitch to him all the time, especially after all he's done for me. I guess I just never thought about how much he's done. I really do have a lot to thank him for. He kept me out of military school." Alex looked into Mitchie's eyes. "And he's the reason I met you."

Mitchie smiled. "Well then maybe I should be thanking him, too."

Alex chuckled. "Maybe. But in the meantime, we made up. And I think things are going to get better between us."

"Good."

Suddenly, a vibrating sound filled the room. Alex reached into the waistband of her pants, where she'd stashed her cell phone, which was vibrating repeatedly. Alex flipped it open and hit a button, making the vibrating stop.

"Who could be calling you at a time like thi−" Mitchie's question was cut off by Alex leaning forwards and kissing her soundly on the lips.

Mitchie squeezed Alex's hand and smiled into the kiss, loving having been caught off guard like that. There was something romantic about it. The kiss was short and sweet and when they pulled away, Mitchie's stomach was going crazy with butterflies and kicks from her baby.

"What was that for?" she asked.

"You're from Texas, right?"Alex asked, even though she knew where Mitchie was from.

"Yes…" Mitchie said hesitantly, confused.

"And you were born in Texas?"

"Yeah…"

"I set this alarm to go off at one in the morning New York time," Alex said, holding her phone up. "It is now one here. We're an hour ahead of Texas. That means, it is midnight in Texas right now. You were born in Texas, and to me, that means your life goes in accordance with Texas time."

Mitchie's eyes widened as she realized exactly what Alex was saying. "So, you're telling me…"

"Happy New Year, Mitchie," Alex said with a smile.

Mitchie's heart swelled as she gazed at her simply amazing girlfriend. Only an hour before, she'd been completely furious with her parents, but now, she was thanking them, because this was so much more special to her than it would have been if she'd had it the way she thought she wanted.

"Happy New Year, Alex," Mitchie said.

Then, she leaned forward and gave her girlfriend a tender kiss on the lips, no doubt in her mind that this year was going to be the best of her entire life.

This has been way too happy for me recently. Shit needs to happen soon.

I'm very sorry for any mistakes. I read it over, but I bet I missed some. That's okay, though. We all make mistakes. Point of the story. And yes, I realize the ending was very similar to last chapter. Get off my back.

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