Adah sat in her living room, Brennan perched on the couch next to her and Ranger curled up, snoring, at her feet.  She and Brennan were bickering over which model they thought was prettier on America’s Next Top Model.  It was a marathon and Adah had roped Brennan into watching with her.  He was being a good sport about it, but she figure it was mostly because he didn’t want to make her upset; her hormones were off the charts these days.

“Seriously? The brunette?  She’s funny looking.  Her face is…square!”  Adah pointed at the screen, giving Brennan an incredulous look. 

“She’s prettier than the red head.  I would’ve figured you for more of a blond girl, anyway.”  Adah laughed, looking up when a knock sounded on her door.  “I’ll bet Sam forgot her keys again.”  Brennan quipped.

“Nah, she’d be making more noise.”  Adah waddled over to the door, taking a sharp breath when she spotted Trace standing on the other side.  “Hi.”

“Hey Adah.  Sorry to barge in, I spoke to Sam earlier and she told me you’d be home this afternoon.”  He walked through the door, not waiting to be invited in.  Trace stopped short when he spotted the other man on the couch.  “Hey.”

“Hey.  I’m Brennan.”  He stood, offering his hand which Trace took quickly, sending a questioning look in Adah’s direction.

“Brennan’s my neighbor and my friend.  He was keeping me and my sore feet some company.”  She wasn’t quite sure why she felt like she had to explain herself, but she did.

“Cool.  It’s nice to meet you, man.”  Trace turned, giving Adah another look.  This time he was asking something different.

“Hey Bren, do you mind if I have a minute alone with Trace?  I’m sorry to cut this afternoon short…”  She trailed, not exactly sure how to ask or explain this situation. 

“Sure.  I should probably take Ranger for a walk anyway.  He looks like he needs to expend some energy.”  All eyes turned to the dog that was snoring loudly from the floor, eyes shut tight to everything.  It took a minute for Brennan to get Ranger moving, but after a quick goodbye to Adah and another stiff handshake with Trace, he was gone.

“So…”  Trace started, a questioning tone framing his word.

“So what?  Am I not allowed to have friends because I’m pregnant?  I must have missed that in all of those Mommy-to-be books I’ve been reading.”  Her tone was harsh, but she felt flustered.  What was she supposed to think of Trace showing up out of the blue?

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to make any assumptions.”  He looked truly remorseful, so Adah let it go, hoping to calm her mounting nerves.  “I’m actually here as a favor for someone else.”

“Justin?”  She hated the hopeful voice that came out of her mouth, but she’d be lying if she said she didn’t want to speak with the man.  She’d done a lot of thinking over the past few weeks and she really wanted to make a friendship work with Justin.  She wanted them to be able to raise this baby together without any awkwardness or tension.

“Actually, his mom.”  Adah almost choked on her breath.  She coughed, tapping her chest lightly.

“His mom?”  She stepped back, taking a seat on the couch.  Why would his mom want to see her?

Trace answered as if he’d read her thoughts.  “Well, it’s her grandbaby you’re having.  She wanted to get to know you.”  Trace let out a sigh, taking a seat next to Adah.  “Look, Adah, even though Justin still has his head up his ass doesn’t mean the rest of us don’t care about what’s going on.  We were just waiting, hoping that he’d take the first step, but since he hasn’t…well, here I am.  Lynn wanted to know if you might meet her for lunch or something.  She’s in L.A. for the rest of the week and she really wants to meet you and get a chance to get to know you.”  He paused, adding, “She feels really bad for the situation you’re in.”

Adah sat in silence trying to absorb everything she’d just heard.  She was really happy that Lynn was willing to get to know her and that the woman didn’t hate her, but she was extremely nervous at the same time.  What if they didn’t get along?  What if Lynn decided that she was just some fame-whore and she didn’t want Adah having anything to do with her son?  Of course that wasn’t the case, but who knew how this woman would react.  It didn’t take too much thought, though, because if Adah wanted to get anywhere with Justin she would have to have some sort of relationship with his family, too.

“When does she want to meet?”  She looked up at Trace, her blue eyes wide.

“Actually, she was hoping you might want to get lunch right now.  I’d go with you, if you wanted.  She thought maybe you could get together again this week, too, if you were OK with it.”

Adah took a deep breath.  “Uh, yeah.  Yeah, that’s fine.  Where are we going?  Should I change?”  She and Trace looked down at the skirt and loose fitting blouse she was wearing. 

“No, you look fine.  Are you ready?”

“I guess so.”  She grabbed her purse, following Trace out the door in a slight daze.

It was a short drive to the small bistro where Lynn was waiting.  Trace called her while they were in the car, and Adah wondered how this meeting was going to go.  She was open and willing to try…but she was scared as shit.

“You’ll be OK, Adah.  Lynn is a really sweet woman, and she’s on your side in this.”  Trace laid a gentle hand over Adah’s as he pulled into the parking lot next to Lynn’s car.  He felt that it should be Justin bringing Adah to this first meeting, but the situation being what it was, he was here instead.

Trace hadn’t really talked to Justin in a few weeks, but he knew that things were weighing heavily on his best friend’s mind.  Justin could hide a lot of things from a lot of people, but Trace knew him really well and he was stressing over this baby situation.  That didn’t let him off the hook for how he was handling everything, but at least Trace knew that he wasn’t ignoring everything.  Knowing Justin, he was playing everything close to the chest until he could figure it all out and make some concrete decisions.

“Here goes nothing.”  Adah whispered.  Trace gave her an encouraging smile and held the door to the bistro open.

“Everything will be fine.”

The two made their way to the back of the restaurant.  Adah immediately spotted the curly haired blond that she knew to be Justin’s mother.  She wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but she’d been looking Justin up on-line because she was curious about the man that she was having a baby with.  From her searches she’d turned up a lot about Lynn and she knew that Justin and his mother were really close.  She was afraid that Lynn was going to take Justin’s side in all of this, but Trace had assured her that she wouldn’t.

As they approached the table, Lynn stood, giving Adah an encouraging smile and a hug.  “It’s great to meet you.”  Lynn glanced down at Adah’s belly, her hand stretched to touch her.  “Can I?”

“Sure.”  Adah felt awkward having a complete stranger touch her stomach, but this was the grandmother to this baby and Adah could tell that she was excited.  It also happened that the baby was doing summersaults in her stomach and Adah moved Lynn’s hand over so she could feel the baby moving.

“Oh!  How exciting!”  Tears started to well in the older woman’s eyes and Adah’s self-conscious feelings grew.  “I’m sorry, darlin’, I just never thought I’d see this.”

Lynn stepped away from Adah and they all sat down, pausing in conversation to give the waitress their orders and get settled.  A stiff silence moved around the table, awkwardness rising.

It was Lynn that broke the silence, her bubbly smiles fading to a serious gaze directed at Adah.  Adah’s hands instinctively went to her stomach as she prepared herself for the worst.  “You’ll have to forgive me, Adah, because I’m going to be a little forward at the moment.  What is it that you want from my son?”

Adah took a deep breath.  She could answer this question.  “I want to raise my baby the best way possible, Mrs. Harless.  I want to be able to give it the best chance I can, and I’d really like to have it’s father with me to help raise it.  I know that things are complicated, but I’m not looking for anything from Justin other than support for this baby.  I don’t need money, I don’t want fame.  All I want is to be able to give our baby everything he or she could ever need.”

“No money?  No fame?”  Lynn’s question seemed innocent enough.

“No.  Well, not unless I need help with something for the baby.  I don’t make a ton of money on my own, so I might need Justin to chip in sometimes.” 

Adah squirmed as Lynn’s eyes moved over her, studying.  It felt like hours, but it was probably only moments before Lynn let out the breath she was holding and nodded her head.  “OK then.”

“OK?”  Adah wasn’t quite sure what that was supposed to mean.

“OK.  I believe you and I trust that you mean what you say.  So, OK.  That’s that.”

“It’s really that easy?”  Adah wasn’t quite sure she believed that it could be so simple.  She didn’t think that it was truly that easy for things to be all right between the two of them, although she hoped it was.

Lynn’s smile lit her face and Adah’s fears eased slightly.  “There’s still a lot to figure out, Adah, but yes…it’s that easy.”

Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of their food.  Adah had almost forgotten that Trace was with them, but he gave her a silly grin and she was finally starting to feel comfortable.  Lynn was right, there was still a whole hell of a lot to figure out, but it was nice to think that the two of them could at least be civil and start to work toward a relationship before the baby was born.

“So, would you like to go shopping later?”  Lynn’s question startled Adah and she set her fork down, trying to finish the bite in her mouth.

“Shopping?”

“Oh Darlin’,  I’ve been waiting to become a Gramma for a long time now and I’m ready to spoil this child silly.  Do you need anything specific?  Clothes, bedding, blankets?”

Adah sat back against her chair, trying to take all of this in.  “I…I can’t pay you back right now...”

Lynn waved her hand, dismissing the sentence.  “You don’t have to pay me anything.  I want to do this, Adah.  I want to help you and get things for my grandchild.  Please, let me get some things.”

“Ok,” Adah nodded, still swimming with everything that had happened.  “Ok.”

While she was completely overwhelmed with all that was going on at the moment, Adah was finally starting to feel like she could handle this.  She was scared and worried, but now that there was another person in her corner, she was truly starting to feel like she could make this work.