The summer had come and gone. As much as Amy loved New York, she was ready to return home to California. Return to John. She carelessly shoved the last of her things in a suitcase before bidding goodbye to her apartment. Which would now be Adrian and Omar's apartment, who had impulsively, possibly drunkenly, gotten married in Vegas over the summer.
There had been a lot of changes over the summer. Madison and Lauren left for Berkeley. Grace decided to go to her pre med school in Washington state. Jack had transferred to Arizona, accompanied by his parents. Ashley has planted roots in Florida, making it clear that she was not coming back anytime soon. Ben was still madly in love with Bebe and had followed her to London for the fall semester.
All that was left of Amy's friends… was Ricky.
George and Kathleen greeted Amy at the airport. George had brought Amy's SUV to give back to her. She was excited to have her car back and not have to rely on public transportation.
"There's my girl." George greeted her with a smile and a hug. "Ready to come home and face the music?" He asked, half joking.
Kathleen shot him a razor sharp look and hugged Amy.
"Ignore him. It's great that you are back."
"Thanks." Amy forced a smile at her. "It's nice to be home."
"You hungry? We could go to Jeff's before we head home. I eat for free, you know." George joked.
"Uh yeah-" Amy's stomach let out a growl. "I could eat."
"Great." George tossed Amy her keys. "You still remember how to drive that thing right?"
Amy and Kathleen rolled their eyes at the less than funny George.
"So… you got a plan?" George prodded as he scarfed down the steak in front of him.
"Like a birth plan?" Amy gave him a confused look. "Probably an epidural again."
e"No no! Yuck." George pretended to gag. "A life plan."
Amy shrugged her shoulders a bit. "I've got one more semester until the baby is due. Then I'll take the semester off. Between keeping the books for you, mom and Mr. Boykowich, I'll be pretty busy."
"Doing books for your mother now too?" George pried.
"Yup." She left out the part where her mother and Leo were paying her 3x the salary that her dad was.
"That's a great plan." Kathleen complimented. "If you need more, I'm sure the church would pay you to do their bookkeeping. Mrs. Pappas used to do it but with her go… it's just been volunteers."
Amy nodded a bit. "Yeah, that would be great."
They finished their meal relatively quickly and began to leave Jeff's.
"Are you sure you don't want to come stay with us? We have a guest house and a spare room now." Kathleen offered to Amy on the way out the door.
"Thanks but I'd rather just head back to the house." Amy replied, hugging George goodbye.
"Call if you need anything, kiddo." He said as they parted ways.
The house was quiet and dark when Amy arrived. While Anne was kind enough to leave the house mostly furnished, pictures and sentimental items were gone. Making the house feel less like home.
It was her turn to make this house feel like a home.
She flipped on lights as she made her way to her old bedroom. She was unsure if she was going to take her parents room over or leave it be. John wasn't used to sharing a room anymore but it felt uncomfortable to move into her parents room.
She rounded the corner to her bedroom and collided with a firm being. She let out a loud scream before a hand was firmly placed over her mouth.
"Shh. You're gonna wake John." The voice was incredibly familiar, even in the dimly light hallway, she recognized it immediately.
"Ricky!" She scolded. "You scared me."
"Shh." He hushed her again. "We wanted to surprise you. I thought you would be here hours ago. John just fell asleep."
Amy flipped on the hallway light.
"I didn't know you were going to be here." She replied
"Yeah. That would defeat the surprise." Ricky sarcastically remarked.
"Yeah. I mean I would have come straight home instead of getting dinner." Amy explained further. She pushed past him and into her childhood bedroom. Dropping her purse onto the bed. She turned to look at him. Ricky was smiling at her, his eyes focused on the little baby belly that had formed in the weeks that they had been apart. Amy wrapped her arm around her waist, still self conscious of the predicament that they were in.
"Hey. Don't do that." Ricky reached out for her. He moved her arms away from guarding her stomach. "Can I?" He motioned towards her stomach.
Amy swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded. His hand was warm and soft against her abdomen. He pushed her shirt up slightly, just enough to touch his hand to her bare skin.
"Hi, baby. I'm your daddy." He spoke softly, almost unaware that Any could hear him. For a moment in time, it felt normal. She didn't feel like a teen mom with a baby on the way, separated from her childrens dad. She felt… at peace. Almost happy.