~Season 7~ (or later if we ignore Emily leaving)
Plus.
A little, tiny, green plus had flipped Richelle Nolet's world upside down by just... appearing on a piece of plastic.
She was currently standing by the girls' bathroom sink, holding onto it with both hands like her life depended on it. Her hands were slowly turning white from the pressure, the blood flow blocked by both the enormous shock and her intense leaning against the white porcelain. Slowly, almost like it'd go away if she just gave it a bit more time, her gaze wandered back to the piece of pink and white plastic.
Still Plus.
Then her gaze drifted back to the mirror to face herself. Unusually pale; scared; shaking. Though she'd been much less attached to her intricate life plans ever since her and Noah finally got together—becoming enormously less uptight with him around—this was not happening at the right time. Especially right now when Noah was almost 500 miles away filming a Steven Spielberg Movie in New York. Just the thought of their long distance situation made her feel weepy. Not to mention, her sister was also half way across the world touring for the next four months. Just as her life was starting to become calm, after all of the injuries, failed relationships and drama, she finally had Noah, and then the call came. He had got the part.
Obviously she urged him to go, he would have done the same if the tables were turned. It didn't seem so bad at first, she was busy with Nationals, they could FaceTime; they had waited so long to be together, what was a few more months. Then Michelle left, and now, alone and afraid, she had gotten herself into this mess. For god's sake, they were going to get an apartment together, live their dreams in New York after she won Nationals, then Internationals, maybe even get a goddamn PUPPY.
But fate and this stupid stick had other plans, causing Richelle to learn what pain really felt like. Because here she was in the bathroom, all alone; and then again not, there was apparently another little human—her and Noah's little human—growing inside of her. Her breaths grew closer and closer together causing her chest to collapse, feeling the calmness and confidence Noah had helped her grow over the past year slowly leave her body within seconds.
"Richelle!" She heard her supplement sister's voice calling out from the other side of the closed door. Emily had used her lunch break to buy and then bring her panic-attack-ridden friend the pregnancy test, but had spent the last 5 minutes unknowing of what the result and state of Richelle actually was, having been asked to guard the door. "Are you okay?" Her voice was unusually calm and sweet, a tone she reserved for only the closest to her—namely Riley, Michelle and the uncomfortably silent younger girl she was talking to at that moment. Richelle could sense that she genuinely was concerned by her tone, yet she froze, unable to get herself to move nor speak.
"That's it. I'm coming in!"
And in Emily did come. She pushed open the door, locking it behind her as to deter any unwanted intruders, only to see her friend's trembling figure from behind, still cramped over the white sink. Neither spoke for a moment after that, Emily frozen in shock, until Richelle's legs suddenly seemed to break beneath her weight.
"Shit!" Luckily the studio head was quick to lurch forward and catch the falling body by its waist. No other words needed to be said in order for the conclusion to be known.
Plus.
"Damn it, Richelle..." She carefully sat down on the cold, white tiled floor with, allowing the girl's body to fall and rest against her chest, curling tightly into her side, eyes wide with a fear Emily had never seen on her. Logically, Emily knew that it wasn't her words that caused the reaction as Richelle had basically grown up with her blunt, harsh language, but as soon as the words left her mouth, the tears toppled over the edge, spilling all over her cheeks and Emily's left shoulder. Richelle just burrowed further as though in attempt to escape the realities beyond the safety of Emily's (newly soaked) red cardigan.
Everybody knew that Emily Beaton did in fact not enjoy affection and emotions - at all - but seeing her adoptive baby sister in this horrifying situation, hopeless as ever? Suddenly she didn't care and squeezed her arms around the young girl's icy shoulder—still in her leotard—wordlessly telling her that it was okay. For minutes, maybe even hours, they just sat there in the afternoon light coming in through the closed bathroom window. All sense of hope had gone out the window, when Noah left for New York they had it all planned out, now it was all crumbling apart around Richelle, and all Emily could do was watch.
"Do you want me to get Piper, or call Mich?" She softly whispered, her voice harsh against the tiled walls as their silence was broken.
"No!" Richelle jolted, looking at the floor, "I can't... I can't explain this to Piper, and there's no way in hell calling Michelle is gonna help."
"Okay, okay, don't worry, I got you." Emily backtracked, bringing the body further towards her chest in a loving squeeze.
"What am I going to do? Noah's not here... And I don't know when or if he's coming back."
Emily froze for a second at the girl's words, taking them in and feeling a wave of fear hit her. Noah and Richelle were her friends—she watched them both grow up—so of course she worried as well. "Don't say that. Of course he's coming back, filming wraps in four months." Noah staying in New York after all this—over her dead body.
"Doesn't change anything. He's still not here," a snuffle punctuated Richelle's sentence.
"I guess..." Emily had to pause and think. She wasn't great at dealing with emotions, Michelle always covered that (especially since this was her sister); on the other hand this was Richelle. She had been mentoring the girl for years even after the official programme had ended, she was as much her sister as Michelle's, so whatever it took, she was going to support her. "...What would you do if he was here?"
Another snuffle. "W-what do you mean?"
"You're not dumb, Richelle," Emily pulled away, pushing her friend back by an arm's length so they could properly look at each other or the first time this afternoon. "You know what I mean: do you want to have a baby with Noah?"
Of course she knew, but saying it out loud seemed too scary. She blinked her swollen eyes towards the floor then back up again to face the question. "I-I mean eventually, yes, I guess so."
There was something about these two kids, her friends, the silent pining over each other, this sweet, stupid love that pulled a smile over the corner of Emily's lips when she thought about their story. From the very beginning, the very second Richelle had caught feelings for Noah, Emily had known. Seeing her struggle to admit her feelings, both of them fawning over each other, denying it for years; it hadn't been easy - sometimes even disgustingly cute, though she'd never admit it - but it had definitely been worth it. Noah and Richelle made each other extremely happy and there was no doubt, when people said they made each other stronger, both when they were just friends and now as something more. They were without a doubt endgame, but Emily also had a rational side to her telling her that there was another question waiting to be asked.
"Do you want it now?"
Silence. Almost like she was hoping for reassurance, a right answer, Richelle's eyes immediately darted straight into Emily's. When she realised this sadly wouldn't give her any actual answers, a sigh of defeat left her body and allowed her shoulders to slump to a rest.
"No... Not like this."
Emily nodded reassuringly.
"It's not fair to me, him or whoever is in here," Richelle referred to the latter by gently grabbing her stomach through the stretch material of her leo. "But what if Noah comes back-"
"Richelle." Emily rolled her eyes.
Richelle stopped talking.
"Noah - and trust me when I say this - will understand." Not in a million years did Emily think she'd ever have to be talking the sassy little J-Trouper through this (especially since Michelle should be the one holding her hand), but suddenly she was and as she squeezed that hand, Richelle was finally smiling again. It was weak, looking surprised by Emily's secret soft side that rarely made an appearance, but nonetheless she was smiling. "And until Noah or Michelle come back—even after, if you want me to—I will help you through it. You're not alone and whatever you choose? It's your body, your future and it's okay."
"Okay." She couldn't muster the strength to say any more, instead, her head nuzzled into Emily's shoulder again, the speechless air saying more than either of them could muster. The tears that once again danced down Richelle's cheeks were heavy with doubt, confusion and sadness but more importantly thankfulness. She was thankful for the supplement sister she never thought she needed, but couldn't ever imagine living without.
~~~
When I say this is the Richemily content I NEEDED.
Also, this is the start of the 'plus' miniseries, which can all be considered in the same universe as everything else I guess, but all have similar theming. They aren't linked in narrative particularly, but they complement each other well Xx