Better Days
Title: Better Days
Chapter 4- Will You Be Around?
A/N: I am loving the feedback from everybody! In an effort to keep the twists and drama up, please feel free to comment any ideas I could use to make the story better. (I will credit you if you want!) Enjoy!!
A few weeks after buying everything she needed for the babies, they resumed taping episodes of What Not to Wear. It certainly wasn't Stacy's first choice of what to do while she was nearly seven months' pregnant but then, she didn't have much say in the matter. She had to soldier through it. The bright side was due to her being pregnant, they stayed within reasonable driving distance for ambushes since she couldn't fly. It was nice to have Clinton back in her life, but he wasn't nearly as involved as he used to be. She wondered if it was because of Damon, or himself. She would always be attracted to him, no matter what. Whatever his reason was, though, he would never be able to reciprocate those feelings.
"Honestly, hun, I think that a polka dot alpine wool sweater is a bit eclectic for a ninety year old Heidi impersonator, never mind a twenty year old nursing student. It has to go!" Stacy said as she trashed a participant's prized, thrift shop sweater. "But, but, my sister gave me that!" Stacy rolled her eyes in Clinton's direction. That was total bullshit. "Maye, you know that's a lie! It's okay to admit you bought such a heinous item, just let us trash it!" Clinton smirked, Stacy London's hormones were wild enough as they were, forget the seven months' pregnant with quadruplets hormones she was facing. "Clinton, this is not funny!" He busted out laughing. "London, this is freakin' hilarious. You are on fire right now!" She glared at him and he immediately sobered up.
As Helen called a cut on the day, Stacy winced as she felt a kick. "You okay, Stace?" Clinton asked as he held her back for support. "I'm fine, just one of them kicked me really hard. It's okay, I promise." Clinton wasn't sure he believed her, but he went with it. "So, what are you doing tonight, Miss London?" She turned her head his way and laughed. It was as if he actually thought she had a social life anymore. "Most likely just going home to get baby stuff ready. Put clothes in the dresser, you know. Why do you ask?" Clinton didn't really have a reason to ask, he was just merely curious. "I didn't know if you wanted somebody to cook for you is all. Damon went out of town and I was just going to see if you wanted a nicely cooked Kelly meal..." He honestly expected her to say no. Why would she after all? To his surprise, however, her eyes lit up and she nodded her head. "Please, come over. I would love some of your cooking and I still haven't picked out their outfits to wear home from the hospital." "Really?" "If you want to, then yes, please!" He smiled, this was exactly what he had hoped she would say.
Back at Stacy's house, Clinton was smiling as he absorbed all she had done to "baby-ize" her once diva-licious home. There were already toys everywhere from bouncy seats, teddy bears, and boppy cushions. "Well, London you certainly appear ready for these girls to be here..." Stacy walked down the hall, now wearing an old, raggy tshirt and slouchy sweatpants with her stomach hanging out. She was so tiny, the bump just looked cute on her. "Thanks, Kelly. I think I'm ready. At least, I like to tell myself that I am. There are definitely days where I wake up and am scared shitless. But I know it will all be worth it in the end." "That's right, Stacy. You are going to be fantastic. I can already see it." "Aw, Clinton..." Tears filled her eyes. There were those damn hormones again.
After eating Clinton's delicious cobb salad with organic fettucine pesto, Stacy took him into the nursery. "Stacy, this is amazing. I can't believe you did this by yourself!" "I was motivated once I found out I was having four girls. It was easy." "You just said manual labor was easy. This world must be ending." "Shut up!" They both laughed. Stacy sat in the rocker and folded socks and towels as Clinton looked through the dressers. "Stacy, your babies are going to have so much clothes, will they even have enough time to wear all of them before they outgrow them?" Stacy's eyes widened. "I hope so. I mean, babies need to be changed a lot, don't they?" "Yeah, you have a point." "Oh, thank god. I was worried." "Since when do you get worried about having too many items of clothing?" They both laughed.
By the time Clinton left that evening, they had picked out the outfits that Stacy's babies would come home from the hospital in. Stacy went to sleep feeling accomplished. Unfortunately, she could tell already that it was going to be one of those nights where she got very little sleep. Her babies kept kicking her, hard and she was really suffering as a result. Normally it was cute when they kicked, but today, it was really hard and hurt really badly. She ached all over, especially her back and she just wanted to sleep, but couldn't find a comfortable position.
She 'woke' around 12:45 and padded downstairs to make some tea. Her doctor had told her that sometimes, chamomile tea was all she would need to relax herself and the babies. It usually worked. She took a sip of the scalding liquid and nearly doubled over. An excruciating pain shot through her back and she whimpered as another pain wave hit. She knew what was going on, and she was very scared.