The Two of Us... Continued: A Richpez Fanfic

Chapter 4

3 weeks later

Joey's PoV

"Hey Lo I'm back" I said as I walked through the door, hauling the groceries she had sent me out for.

"Finally!" she said. "I need to get this food started otherwise it'll never be ready in time and then no one is going to have anything to eat and they'll all be hungry and no one's going to have a good time and then everything..." I cut her off by wrapping my arms around her.

"Calm down, Lo" I said. "Everything is going to get done in time and everyone is going to have a good time. You know they would even if the food was shit, which it won't be. Besides I got the beer and stuff and that takes no preparation so we're all good."

"Yeah you're probably right" she sighed.

I gave her a quick kiss on top of her head before letting go and saying, "Now go start on the food so you can stop stressing." She smiled back at me, taking the groceries and heading to the kitchen.

"By the way, Brian called me while I was out and he said that he and Meredith would be here an hour or so early to help set up and what not." I said, following her into the kitchen with the rest of the groceries.

"Oh okay that'll be perfect. Can you finish putting the rest of the drinks in the fridge please so I can start?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure thing" I replied.

Lauren was in the kitchen for the next few hours preparing various appetizers and dips and I went around tidying up the place and playing with Amelia. The party was supposed to start at 8:00 and it was about 6:30 now.

I walked into the kitchen expecting to see Lauren frantically trying to finish the food, but she was nowhere to be seen. The food seemed to all be ready, sitting on the table. All the pots and pans had been cleaned and put away. Where had she gone? I walked around the house calling her name, eventually finding her sitting out on our bedroom balcony. She looked as though she was nervously contemplating something.

"Hey Lo, what's up?" I asked walking up behind her.

"Nothing, just thinking" she said.

"Oh yeah? What about?" I asked her. She seemed a little distant.

"Oh I don't know" she started. "I guess I'm just nervous to tell people..." she trailed off, looking back out to the city.

"Why would you be nervous?" I was a little confused. Everyone thought she was a great mom and half the people coming knew she was pregnant already anyways.

"It's just... well when I was pregnant with Amelia..." she looked at me with pleading eyes. "I don't know, people just... treated me different I guess. I know they're going to be happy for me. For us. I just don't want to deal with all the jokes and stuff I know are coming about me going soft and everything. And I know they're just joking and aren't trying to make me feel bad, but I do sometimes. It's like they're saying that I'm less than them when I'm pregnant, even if they're just messing around."

I really didn't know where any of this was coming from. I had no idea she ever felt this way. I tried to comfort her as best as I could. "Aw I'm sorry Lo. I didn't know you were feeling so down about this. But you know what? People aren't even going to have time to be ragging on you. It's the Fourth of July and Meredith's pregnant too. Everyone will be happy for us, but it's their first, I'm sure the focus will be much more on them."

She seemed to be comforted by this. She walked back inside and sat on the bed. I followed and sat next to her. She laid her head on my lap.

"This baby is going to be so loved" she said. I smiled down at her and stroked her hair.