Annie glanced at her watch as she sat on the department store bench. So far Lexi had tried on eight dresses already, and none of them had looked right. One was too short, another looked like it was made out of Kleenex. Each time Lexi would emerge unhappy with the result, and would then go back to the changing room to try on another. Though Annie could sympathize. She had tried on dozens of wedding dresses until she finally found the perfect one.

Annie looked towards the changing area as the door opened and Lexi stepped out with a real uncertain look on her face. "That's…nice," she said with an obviously fake smile.

"It's terrible, I know! I look like a hillbilly."

"Yeah, it's not good."

Lexi groaned as she went back in to try on another dress. As Annie waited she wondered if this is what mothers went through when they went with their daughters to pick out a prom dress.

That's something to look forward to if you're a girl, Annie thought as she glanced down at her still flat stomach.

She looked up as the door opened and Lexi stepped back out, this time smiling nervously. "Well…?"

"I like it," Annie said. The royal blue dress was strapless with a tulip skirt that went down to slightly below the knee. It was simple and tasteful, yet also elegant and sophisticated. "I like it a lot."

Lexi twirled a bit, her smile growing brighter before it deflated. "It's really expensive though."

"Lexi, don't worry about it. I want you to pick something out that you like. Do you like this dress?"

"Yeah."

"Then get it. And if you decide to go to your junior prom, that's what you're wearing to it.

"Thanks. But now I have to get shoes to go with it," Lexi said as she went to change out of the dress.

Okay, Annie thought as she prepared herself for that endeavor.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Eventually Lexi was able to find a pair of shoes and complete the outfit. Since the two women were hungry, they decided to go get some lunch.

"What looks good to you?" Annie asked as she scanned the menu, trying to figure out what to get.

"I was thinking of getting a burger. Although the marinated steak salad looks good too."

"I actually wouldn't mind a salad." Annie said as she turned towards the salad section and scanned the sections.

"Let me guess, one with peppers in it?" Lexi asked, causing Annie to smirk.

The two women eventually made their selections and ordered lunch.

"Thanks' again for the dress and shoes," Lexi said.

"You're welcome Lexi. I know it's a bit late notice, but if she wants to come you can invite Cassidy to the wedding."

"Really? But isn't the guest list already finalized."

"After everything that's come up with this wedding, one extra person coming isn't that big a deal. Besides, you should have someone there you can talk to."

"Thanks, I'll ask her later." She chuckled as she thought about the wedding. "Though I am looking forward to finally meeting the infamous study group."

"I have a feeling you'll like Troy and Abed. Shirley will smother you with judgmental kindness, and Britta's kind of exasperating, but they're great. And Pierce…its better if you just meet him and then form an opinion."

"Okay." Lexi picked up a sugar packet and fiddled with it. "I've never been to a wedding before. I went to one with my mom for one of her coworkers when I was eight, but we just stayed for the ceremony. We didn't go to the reception."

Annie nodded her head before asking Lexi, "What was Megan like?"

Lexi stopped fiddling with the sugar packet, caught off guard by the question. "You want to know about my mom? Isn't that a little weird, considering everything?"

"I don't think so. I know how important she is to you. I'm curious about who she was."

Lexi took a moment to think of the best way to describe her mother. "She was very beautiful, which isn't that hard to believe considering I look just like her." She waved her hand in front of her with a laugh before growing more serious. "She was also a very determined person. She always made me work hard, but also didn't want me to do anything that was tedious or simply busy work. There were a couple of times she'd tell me not to do a school assignment because it was just repetitive nonsense."

"My mom would never have done that. She would always make me do extra work even after I finished my homework," Annie chimed in.

"She was very protective of me, since it was just me and her for the most part," Lexi continued. "She got me a cell phone when I was seven and whenever I went somewhere without her she's always call to keep tabs on me."

"It sounds like she cared about you, and was concerned for your wellbeing."

"Yeah. I think if you two met she would have liked you." Lexi became lost in thought as she thought about her mom. "Did…did my dad ever talk about her."

For a moment Annie wondered if Lexi was trying to start something. But from the tone in her voice, the girl wasn't being vindictive, but genuinely curious. "He mentioned her once, but no, he didn't really talk much about her. I think what happened between them was really hard on him."

Lexi nodded her head, completely able to empathize. "I love her and always will, but I can never agree with her leaving and keeping me from my dad."

"I don't agree with that either Lexi. But she didn't do it to be cruel. She did what she believed was for the best. Though what parents think is best for their children isn't always what's best for them," she said sadly, wondering if she herself would end up doing things that would cause her unborn child to resent her.

Lexi looked at Annie, not exactly sure what she meant by that. "Were you talking about me?"

"Actually, I was talking about myself. I'm just wondering if I'll end up with a kid who resents me."

It felt strange to open up to Lexi like this, since it wasn't long ago where the girl had considered her the enemy. But Annie wanted to believe she could trust Lexi, and was hoping that her belief was warranted.

"I think you'll be a really good mother."

Annie looked at her, very pleasantly surprised to hear that. "Really?"

"Yeah. I mean, you were there for me even after I pushed you away. If you can handle everything I threw at you, having a kid of your own should be a cinch."

Annie laughed at that one. "Thanks." They stopped talking as the waiter arrived and set their food down in front of them. They started in on their meals, while enjoying each other's company for the rest of the lunch.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The rest of the weekend went by smoothly. While Annie insisted Lexi spend some time studying, she kept up her leniency through their time together. They went out for breakfast on Sunday and Lexi was even allowed to catch up with a few shows she had missed since the start of her punishment (luckily for her Jeff hadn't stop DVRing them.)

Annie was glad for this truce between the two of them. While there had been calms before the storm before in their relationship, it felt different this time. It really felt like things had truly changed.

Annie's good fortune continued into Sunday night, when she unexpectedly heard a key slide into the front door, following by her fiancé walking into the apartment. "Hello."

"Jeff!" she scrambled off the couch and wrapped her arms around him as he lifted her up and gave her a knee buckling kiss. "What are you doing here? I thought you were hoping to be back by tomorrow."

"Things worked out much easier with the merger than we thought they would. Everything was finalized this morning so I was able to catch an afternoon flight."

"Lucky me," Annie happily replied as she was lowered to the ground.

"Hey dad," Lexi said as she came from her room and hugged her father. "How was Boston?"

"I didn't get to see that much of Boston. I was cooped up in either my hotel room or an office for most of my time there. Maybe we can all go there on some sort of family trip at some point. How were things while I was gone?"

"Oh, not too much happened. Did school work mostly. Right Annie."

"Right."

She shared a meaningful look with Annie before backing up. "I've still got some studying to do, I'll let you two catch up."

Jeff watched as Lexi went back to her room before looking at Annie. "What happened while I was gone?"

"What do you mean?"

"Lexi actually wants to study, and she's being nice to you. I'm not complaining, I'm just curious about what brought on this pleasant change."

"I guess she just finally came around. Can we sit down?" Annie asked as she brought Jeff over to the couch. While she knew he had to know about Lexi sneaking out, there was a bigger piece of news he had to hear first.

"I can't tell you how happy I am to finally have this merger thing taken care of," Jeff said as he leaned back on the couch, breathing a sigh of relief. "All that stress and uncertainty is finally-"

"Jeff, I really have to tell you something here."

He sat back up, a little worried by the urgency of her tone. "What is it?"

Annie took a deep breath before finally saying, "I'm pregnant."

She looked at Jeff as shock took over him, watching apprehensively as he stared at her. "What?"

"I'm pregnant," she repeated. She started getting worried as he stood up. "Jeff?"

"I'm…are you sure?"

"I took five pregnancy tests and they all said the same thing. I'd say the answer's definitely yes."

Jeff sat back down, honestly not sure if he should be sitting or standing. "We're having a baby," he said softly. A slow smile started to form as he looked at Annie. "We're having a baby." He let out a joyous laugh as he hugged Annie tightly. "I don't believe it. WE'RE HAVING A BABY!"

Annie sighed in relief while letting out an emotional laugh herself. "Yeah, we're having a baby."

"You didn't just blurt it out right away." The two adults looked over as Lexi came over to them, having been ease dropping on the whole conversation. "The way you've been talking all weekend I figured you would have told him as soon as he walked in the door."

"So I guess you already knew about this?" Jeff asked.

"I may have found one of her pregnancy tests," she said with doe eyed innocence.

The smile on Jeff's face dimmed as he worried how his daughter might feel about this. "Lexi-."

"Don't Dad," she said, guessing where he was going. "You don't have to worry about me being afraid you're not going to love me now or whatever. I know you're still my dad, just like I know Annie's still my stepmom. And that's not going to change, even with a little brother or sister around."

Jeff's smile grew even bigger at having heard that. He wasn't sure what exactly had happened during his trip to Boston, but whatever it was seemed to have brought out a newfound maturity in his daughter.