It Feels Good to Laugh with You Again: Chapter 1

Note: Aria, Spencer, and Hanna are all currently pregnant. Spencer is about to have her baby, Aria is about 6 months, and Hanna is about 4 months. (Yes, I am ignoring the fact that Aria was revealed to be infertile in the series finale.)

Spencer's POV:

On a cold January afternoon, the wind whirled loudly outside and light reflecting on white snow made the ground shimmer like diamonds. I was so excited to have all the girls over at my house for the first time since the twins, Lily and Grace, were born last November. I readied a pot of hot chocolate, waiting for Aria, Hanna, Emily, and Alison, to arrive for a girls' dinner.

I texted Toby, who was spending the night at Caleb's house and had graciously taken our boys with him: You okay with Cameron and Bennett? Let me know if you need something 3

Within a few minutes, I heard a sharp knock on the door followed by squealing. Grinning widely, I knew Alison and Emily were my first guests, along with their 2-month-old twins Lily and Grace. "How are my favorite girls?" I cooed to the babies, who looked utterly adorable in their matching pink sweaters, rosy cheeks, and bright brown eyes. I ushered them inside and tightly hugged Alison and Emily.

A short while later, everyone had arrived and were seated at the table, their hands clasped around the warm mug of hot chocolate.

"How's everything going Spencer? How are Toby and the baby?" Hanna asked, full of questions.

"Everything's wonderful, Hanna, thanks," Spencer assured. "I fell too pregnant though. Can't wait to get this baby out of my belly."

"Um, Spencer? You are pregnant," Aria reminded her friend, her eyebrows knit in confusion and amusement. Spencer just rolled her eyes.

"So tell us, how's the name hunting for the baby?" Alison wanted to know.

"Well, we're totally settled on Kai Nicholas for a boy. I love it so much because Kai is such a perfect name; it's cute and spunky on a kid and sophisticated enough for an adult. I mean, you can picture it on a resume. Toby and I thought it would be cute if the name has one syllable, because Cameron has three and Bennett has two. We have a beautiful name for a girl, Eve, and I especially love it because she will be born in January. The name gives me that winter vibe, and it's really strong! But we still haven't chosen a middle name for Eve. Nothing seems to be the perfect fit. Our top contender, or should I say, Toby's top contender so far is Catherine. It's nice, but its popularity bothers me. I know way too many Catherines. I'm struggling because I know I won't love the baby's name completely if I pick something very common.

Aria nodded understandingly. "Kai Benjamin and Eve are amazing! Do you have any ideas at all about what could go with Eve? Anything struck your mind?

"Honestly? I'm not sure. I haven't found anything," I groaned.

"What about naming her after a family member?" Hanna suggested, biting into a chocolate chip cookie.

"Trust me," I sighed, "I've gone through all I can think of. Things like Melissa, Veronica, and Mary just don't go well together with Eve. Plus, it's not like my family has a straight A status."

"I know it's hard," Emily said, full of empathy. Of course, she is the mind of reason. "Ali and I spent days and nights going through books and websites trying to find beautiful middle names for Lily and Grace. But after much work, we found Mae and Colette. I couldn't imagine our girls being named differently. But you have to love something from the bottom of your heart if you're going to use it."

"Trust me Em, we all remember when you both were naming Lily and Grace. You wouldn't even get up for a coffee break at my house! But I guess the hard work did pay off. I mean, look at those princesses!" Aria motioned to the twins.

"Short names, but beautiful. After all, they'll have to write DiLaurentis-Fields on every paper, so we cut them some slack," Alison chimed in, smiling. Eventually, conversation took a different route and we were all talking and sharing funny stories from the past few weeks.

An hour later, the pleasant aroma of the special dinner I had made for us had drifted out of the oven and tingled our noses.

"What smells so good, Spence?" Hanna inquired. Just as she spoke, the timer on the oven went off, signaling it was time to head to the kitchen.

"You'll see! I'll just be a minute. Perfect timing, Han!" I said.

"Hmmm…what masterpiece has Spencer Hastings cooked this time?" Emily asked. "Gosh, why do you have to be so good at everything? We envy you, girl."

"A surprise, Em, I cooked a surprise," I raised my eyebrows seductively.

"Back off Spencer, Emily's mine," Alison giggled, and slung a protective arm over her wife.

"Woah, are you guys fighting over me?" Emily joined in, as she fanned her hand over her face.

"Yeah! But I should go get that before it burns," I said with a smile on my face.

After dinner, which by the way, was my grandmother's secret lasagna (and a superb hit), Emily and Ali put their daughters to bed and we decided to watch a few movies.

"Okay, we have –" I was cut off by Hanna.

"Let me see those Spence," Hanna interrupted, taking the collection of movies from her friend. "No, nope, this one? No…Spence, all your movies are from like 10 years ago! We are definitely going shopping soon and getting some new ones. "Ooh, how 'bout Unforgiven? It sounds cool. Or, The Last Girl on the Train…"

"Don't judge a book, or in this case, a movie by its cover, Hanna," Aria remarked wisely, pointing at the two movies Hanna held in her hands.

"Gee, thanks Mrs. Fitz," Hanna scoffed. Aria tossed her an ugh-you're-kind-of-annoying-right-now-did-you-seriously-just-say-that-thanks-Han look. Hanna recognized it well because she'd seen it many times.

"Wait, guys look! It's the Jurassic series! Scoot your butt over Han; you're sitting on some of them," Alison insisted.

"That's great; we should totally watch that! I haven't seen those in so long," Emily agreed.

"Decision made! Let's start with the original one. Now Hanna, if I could please get those DVDs back so I can clean up the mess you made," I laughed.

"Sorry, Spence, I'll help," Hanna said, picking up strewn discs.

General POV:

The five friends were all huddled together in the back row of Spencer's home theater, constantly shoving butter popcorn in their mouths and taking big gulps of juice while watching the screen intently. The movie was really intriguing, and since Aria, Spencer, Hanna, Emily, and Alison hadn't watched them in years, it was like a movie reunion. There was laughing at funny parts, snickering at stupid parts, and gasping at scary parts. From far away, they looked like one big ball of furry blankets, colorful kiddy pillows, and messy hair. By the end of the third movie, Jurassic Park 3, they were all completely knocked out, sleeping away. The movie credits rolled, finished, and the screen turned black once again. All was quiet – at least for a few hours.

Note: Some language is coming up.

Spencer was the one who woke up first. She opened her eyes sleepily and took a moment to realize where she was. Rather than in her soft king-sized bed in her master bedroom, here she was crammed on a sofa cushion with – to her left, Aria, and to her right, Emily – and her back aching. Careful not to wake anyone else up, Spencer quietly climbed off the couch and headed towards the kitchen, planning to make herself a cup of nice, hot, bitter coffee. After all, coffee does solve everything. But Emily, being a light sleeper, woke up just as Spencer was about to leave the room.

"Spence? Where are you going?" Emily asked groggily. She paused to look down at the FitBit on her wrist. "Honey, it's 3:47 AM, what the heck? Is something wrong?" Immediately, Emily was alert.

"Don't worry, Em, I just making myself a cup of coffee." The moment those words left Spencer's mouth she knew she had made a mistake.

"What!?" Emily nearly yelled, forgetting that it was the middle of the night and there were three other people in the room with her. "Spencer, no way! You're about to have a baby and you can't have caffeine. Absolutely not." Emily crossed her arms sternly over her chest.

"Is your guys' grand plan to wake up the entire city of New York?" Aria said playfully, rubbing her eyes. The other two jumped at the sound of a new voice. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. But Emily's right, Spencer, no coffee for you." By now, all five were awake.

"What's going on?" Alison asked, unsure of what was happening.

"Whatever it is, can we discuss it sometime later when my brain can actually function? It is way too early," Hanna said, throwing her head back into a soft pillow.

Emily passed Spencer in the doorway and headed for the kitchen, the other four girls at her heels. She opened up the top cupboard above the stove and took out a container of coffee beans, There were just a few more in the bottle. "I'm going to throw these out," she said shortly.

"Emily! No, please don't," Spencer begged her, trying to pry the bottle out of Emily's hands.

"Spencer, it's for your own good." Lifting the lid of the trashcan she scattered the beans around in the mixture of banana peels, snack packages, and dirty napkins. Suddenly, a mischievous smile came across her face and she whispered something in Alison's ear.

"What? What the hell did she say to you Ali?" yelled Spencer, a little angry at Emily now. Not responding, Alison whispered the same message to Aria and Hanna.

"Throw the pot to me, Ali," Aria motioned with her hands. Alison tossed her friend the glass coffeepot and she caught it cautiously.

"Give me the damn thing Aria. That cost me a lot of money!" Spencer begged, scared of what was going to happen. "And where is Hanna?" At that moment Hanna came back after silently walking outside to get something – a hammer. She took the coffeepot from Aria and smashed it into the trashcan.

"There. Now you won't even be tempted," she said confidently.

"What the fuck, you guys? That cost like, 500 dollars!" Spencer almost screamed.

"No, it didn't Spencer," Alison shook her head.

"Anyways, we'll get you a new one, after you have the baby. Then you can have all the coffee you want," Aria said consolingly. "Sorry Spence, but it was what we needed to do. Not only were you going against our wishes, but Toby's and the doctor's too.

Spencer plopped onto the sofa like a little kid. "Fine," she sighed. "Just so you know, you all are going to get the most expensive pot and beans the grocery store has."

"Deal," Alison assured, giggling. "Thanks for being a good sport, Spence."

"Whatever, I'm tired." And with that, they all fell asleep once again, on the floor in the living room, forgetting all the trouble they had gotten themselves into.

"I'm so excited to hold your little cutie pie after she's born. It's just a few more days!" Hanna pondered dreamily a few hours later, while eating the scrambled eggs and toast they had made for breakfast together.

Spencer dropped her fork and it clattered onto the counter. "Do you know something I don't? You just said the word "she"! Oh my gosh Hanna, did my mom tell you, because she is the only one who knows the baby's gender. Wait, did you ask –"

"Chillax, Spence," Hanna smiled, secretly thrilled that Spencer took the bait. But Spencer only responded with a death glare. Aria, Emily, and Alison glanced at each other.

Hanna walked around the island in the Cavanaugh's kitchen fidgeting with her bracelet until she was facing her four friends. "You would think,", she dramatically paused, "that after two kids, Spencer would be super used to being pregnant. And, um, Cameron and Bennett both turned out to be boys, and Spence was a breeze. Now, it's like World War 3 with you sometimes, no offense Spence. I personally think it's hilarious. Remember when I said you're scary enough to anyone under 50? Well right now, after the coffee incident this morning, I think you are capable of scaring everyone under 1,000," she joked. "The boys are like Toby, sweet and full of cuddles, and this bundle of joy is going to just like her mom. You know what they say, like mother like daughter."

"Yippee," Aria said nonchalantly, but playfully just to tease her friend. Alison hid her face in her hands to hide her unstoppable grinning as Emily turned around and started to laugh silently, her shoulders shaking hard.

Spencer let a small smile slip as she made a futile attempt to put a scolding, disapproving expression on her face. Soon, the room was brimming with girlish giggles and childish humor as they all clutched their stomachs with laughter. Falling over each other, knocking over things, being silly. With Spencer's hasty decision to make blueberry muffins came a newfound mess: a little flour spilled here, some fallen sugar there, scattered aluminum tins here, unwashed berries there. Five best friends, the closest in the world, loved nothing more than being together. It should have always been this easy.