Author's Note: It's a short one but good news is, writer's block is apparently over. LOL. Thanks for your patience and I hope you enjoy!! BTW...to a certain fan, you're adorable and thank you extra for your encouragement!!
~JP

True North
By Jaclyn Parker

Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things.
~Author Unknown
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Carly had just slipped her shoes off of her feet and was settling down on the couch with a sketch pad when the doorbell rang. Groaning she eyed the blurry outline of the person behind the frosted glass, trying to gauge who it was and if she wanted to pretend to be asleep.

"Carly, it's me. I know you're there, I can see you through the glass." Lily's voice called out immediately followed by a loud huff. "Well, I can always take this medium pizza from Luigi's and two pints of Rocky Road and be on my…"

Lily didn't even get to finish her sentence before the front door flew open and Carly appeared, hands outstretched.

"Hand over the ice cream and no one gets hurt." She said, her blue eyes twinkling as her best friend laughed.

"Not uh. Pizza first. Just because you're pregnant doesn't mean you can skip right to dessert." Lily said, sliding by Carly and passing the food over to her.

"Are you kidding me? That's exactly what it means!" Carly replied but she inhaled the deep scent of the pizza and begrudgingly agreed that it did smell amazing. Turning to look at Lily as she finished hanging her coat, she frowned. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, but what are you doing here?"

"Well, the kids are in school and I know that today is your day off. Since it just happens to be mine too, I thought we could hang out. I haven't really seen you since Eliza was born except for schlepping the kids around back and forth like a shuttle service." Lily called after Carly as the she handed the food back to her and went to get paper plates and drinks from the kitchen.

"Schlepping?" Carly asked, coming back into the living room with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, the new events planner at the Lakeview is Jewish and she's teaching me all sorts of fun words to say. Although I think most of them aren't meant for polite company." Lily said and Carly laughed, motioning for Lily to have a seat on the couch.

Lily picked up the discarded sketch book from earlier and casually flipped through it as she moved to place it away from the harm of pizza sauce and melting ice cream.

"Are you designing again? These are fabulous!" Lily exclaimed looking them over.

Carly glanced up and hurriedly took the pad away from Lily, placing it on the desk by the door and tucking a curl behind her ear.

"No, uh, not really. They are just a few designs that came to mind the past couple of months." She said and sat down next to Lily.

"Are they for that woman you met out in L.A? Did you decide to design the collection for her?" Lily asked, picking up a slice of pizza and taking a huge bite.

Carly did the same and after closing her eyes a moment in happiness, she opened them to frown at Lily.

"No, I can't. I…I mean, I sent her some things that will hopefully help her to get started but it's too hard to do the whole collection from out here. If I took the job I'd have to be in LA starting at the end of the month to check on fabric, arrange the models, go over the designs with my staff. It's the middle of the school year and I can't drag the kids out there. And there is no way I can leave them here for so long without me. Not again." Carly said, looking down at her food, her appetite waning momentarily.

Lily placed a hand on Carly's shoulder and shook her lightly. "Hey, come on. That's in the past. The kids have forgiven you. Jack has forgiven you. Isn't it time you forgave yourself?"

"I don't know if I ever can, to be honest." Carly said, placing the half eaten slice back down on her plate. "That time I missed with them…I'll never get it back."

"Look, you screwed up okay? But it was two years ago, Carly. So much has happened since then and it is still happening." Lily said and Carly looked up at her. "You have a chance to be a family again with your kids and the man you've loved for a good portion of your adult life."

Carly gave a small laugh and her hand found its way to her still growing stomach underneath her loose cotton blouse. Lily's eyes followed it and she smiled softly.

"How are you feeling? I mean, you look great. You're almost three and a half months along and I can barely tell. Katie is only basically a couple weeks ahead of you and she looks like she swallowed a basketball already."

"I'm okay. The morning sickness has slowed, thankfully. I don't think the kids will buy another flu relapse. Not to mention I don't know how much longer I can avoid Jack. I think he's starting to slip into detective mode." Carly joked, but her eyes showed the weariness of having to hide this secret.

"Tell me about it. He even recruited Holden to get me to…" Lily paused in her sentence and looked away sheepishly.

"Lily…" Carly warned her to continue and the other woman sighed.

"Okay, fine. The truth is, I was kind of sent here today on a reconnaissance mission. Not that I didn't want to see you, because I really did mss hanging out with you, but…" Lily started to ramble, but at Carly's look she stopped. "Jack asked Holden to ask me to find out why you've been avoiding him."

"What? Seriously? Are we in high school?" Carly asked, holding back a laugh.

"Apparently. But since I know why you're avoiding Jack I basically had to agree to talk to you and then changed the subject pretty fast." Lily said and Carly's smile slipped away.

"I'm sorry, Lily. I don't want you to have to lie to Holden."

"It's okay. I'm not really lying to him. Besides, it's not my secret to tell." Lily said and Carly shot her a look.

"Now you sound like me."

"What is going on, Carly?" Lily asked, choosing to ignore the last statement. "I mean, the last I heard about any progress at all was when you called me the day after Valentine's Day giggling like a teenager about the surprise Jack left in your office. That was three weeks ago."

"I know, I know." Carly said but Lily just kept going.

"It has to be obvious by now that he cares about you. He loves you, Carly, and he's going to love this baby. After he gets done being mad you didn't tell him in the first place which I think will probably be for, oh, maybe five minutes." Lily said.

"Lily…" Carly tried again.

"Besides, what do you have to lose? You can stop hiding everything especially when I know how much you love being pregnant. Think of all the fun we could have shopping for new clothes and oh my god, the kids will be over the moon. Okay, well the boys probably won't care that much but Sage is going to have to be sedated when you tell her. Probably right along with Emma when she finds out." Lily rambled on until finally Carly covered her friend's mouth with her hand and burst out laughing.

"Lily, will you please slow down?" Carly said, her eyes sparkling. "I've been trying to tell you that I already know when I'm going to tell Jack."

"You do?" Lily mumbled behind Carly's hand and dropping it to her lap, Carly nodded.

"Jack and I made a date for his birthday when he called me on Valentine's Day. I'm going to tell him that night."

"Carly, his birthday isn't until the 20th. That's still two weeks away. You think you can hold out that long?" Lily asked, her eyes searching Carly's face.

"Lily, I know I can. You see, Jack's birthday just happens to be the day before my next ultrasound. The one when Dr. Adams will be able to tell if it's a boy or girl." Carly said and she tried to blink back the tears that were starting to form. "It just…I couldn't stop thinking about how the timing was just right. What better birthday present could I get him then to tell him about the baby and let him see it for himself the next morning?"

"How are you going to tell him?"

"Well, I always had this idea in my mind but with Sage everything was just so crazy that I never got to use it." Carly said softly.

"What was it?" Lily asked just as quietly.

"Don't laugh, okay?" Carly said and Lily nodded, crossing her fingers over her heart. Carly sighed and placed her chin in her hands, closing her eyes as her thoughts drifted away. "I had always imagined it happening around a holiday so I could set it up perfectly. The kids will be with Emma for the night so we'll have the house to ourselves. I'll make his favorite dinner…"

The sound of Lily clearing her throat caused Carly to open her eyes and toss a look in her direction.

"Okay, okay, I'll order his favorite dinner. Now stop interrupting."

"I'm sorry." Lily said, holding up her hands in an apologetic gesture but her lips twitched up in a smile as did Carly's before she continued.

"Anyway, I'll have candles lit and our favorite songs on the radio. After dinner, I'll bring out dessert, chocolate covered strawberries, and hand him a card just as he's finished eating them. And on the inside it'll say 'Happy Birthday Daddy' with a picture of the last ultrasound inside. He'll be confused for a minute or two but when it sinks in…"

"It does sound perfect." Lily admitted with a sigh when Carly trailed off. She couldn't help the full smile that crossed her lips as she thought about how much she wanted this to happen for her two friends. Lily's eyes glanced up and she gave Carly a small look.

"It doesn't hurt that Jack will probably be so stunned by the sonogram that he won't be able to stay mad at you for long."

"I don't know what you are talking about." Carly said, brushing her hair over her shoulder and giving Lily a look in return "That never even crossed my mind."

The balled up paper napkin that hit Carly dead center in the face spoke volumes of what Lily thought of that remark and the two women dissolved into giggles. Before long the barely touched pizza was forgone and the rest of the afternoon gave way to ice cream and the latest gossip around Oakdale.