Love Menagerie: Chapter 16: Independence Day

*Note: I don't know much about Derek's family, except that I have his parents' real names, but they are still married from what I know and unfortunately I had to divorce them, lol. Everything but names is made up for the purpose of the story. Also, I don't know if the Spanish is correct, but I'm having to rely on the little that I know and online translators. If you're fluent or something and you see errors, e-mail me and let me know!*

July 4

Brittany sighed as Freddy's hands fell heavily upon her shoulders, beginning a gentle massage. She'd been standing at her bedroom window, looking out at Nick and Derek setting off fireworks in the backyard. The entire day had been wonderful. Everybody was together and enjoying each others' company. Over the course of the preceding three days, it had been apparent to everyone that something strange had happened between Nick and Sarah. There was a thick tension between the two that had only begun to dissipate that day. It had been a good holiday, a good day ... and yet, now Brittany stood, scared out of her mind that her brother and Nick were going to set not only her house on fire, but the entire state. They lived in Florida, for heaven's sake. It was hot! And luckily humid. But she just knew something unintended was going to get blown up.

"What are you doing in here when all the fun's out there?" Freddy spoke softly, his head pressed against hers. "Are you not feeling good?"

Brittany smiled lightly as she felt his hands meet hers against her stomach. He'd been so attentive the past couple of days, knowing that tomorrow he was going back to Venezuela and wouldn't be near Brittany or his child for a while.

She turned around and ran her hands through his hair, ruffling it playfully. "I'm fine, Fred. They just worry me out there, setting all those things off. I keep thinking of my house as nothing more than ashes on the ground. Do they even know what they're doing?"

Freddy laughed, peeking over the top of her head to catch a glimpse out of the window. He doubted it, but he wasn't about to tell her that. "I'm sure they know exactly what they're doing, Britt," he reassured her instead. There was no reason for her to get all riled up ... until the house was indeed ashes. "It's the Fourth. Let them have their fun. They're just celebrating their independence. Give 'em a li'l freedom."

"Haha," Brittany laughed sarcastically, but she couldn't help the smile that quickly formed. "Fred, trust me when I say that right now they're not thinking of anything more than their bottle rockets, fountains, and Roman Candles."

Freddy nodded with a laugh, "True. C'mmon, what are you doing up here?"

"Nothing," she smiled and tugged on his hand to prevent him from pulling her out of the room. "Nothing. I just wanted a moment alone. The whole day has been a constant whirlwind of activity and when you're pregnant sometimes you just need to stop and breathe for a second."

Freddy leaned down and placed a gentle kiss against her cheek. He'd kill himself if anything happened to Brittany or the baby because he'd been too dumb to stop to make sure she was all right. "Everything's okay with you, right?"

"Yeah," Brittany touched his cheek, her entire body breaking out in shivers. Tonight he was affecting her in ways she hadn't felt in a while. They'd been so caught up in the baby and trying to stay grounded, she'd hardly even realized the feelings she still had for him. "I have to admit," she smirked, though her eyes didn't shine the way they normally did and Freddy knew she was being serious even if she wasn't going to admit it, "I was also up here moping about the fact that you're leaving tomorrow."

They both stood there in the darkened room, watching each other, gauging the reaction of the other. How strange would it be not to be in the same house every morning, every day, and every night? He'd miss her so much. And she'd miss him.

"I think I've actually gotten used to you," Brittany joked, a small laugh escaping her lips. "Seriously, Freddy, I'm gonna miss you."

Freddy pulled his lip between his teeth and looked down at her through hazy eyes. He couldn't remember ever dreading a day as much as he was dreading the next one. "Tomorrow's my Independence Day, y'know."

"Yeah," Brittany laughed, "from me."

"No! I didn't mean it like that. C'mmon, I'm being serious. Venezuela's independence is July fifth."

"I know, I was just jokin'." She smiled and stood on tiptoe to whisper in his ear, "You know ... I've been thinking and for a while now I've been debating whether or not I should even bring this up to you. I'm sure you're incredibly tired of me and you just can't wait to get home and not have to see me for a while," she paused and threw a causal smile his way, before continuing, "but ... I'd love to spend the Fifth of July with you ... if you'll have me."

Freddy's eyebrows rose in surprise. She wanted to fly to Venezuela with him, just to celebrate the independence of his country?

"You want to fly to Baruta?"

"Yeah, why not? I can fly back on the sixth."

Freddy shook his head and laughed, "Let me get this straight..." he paused to look at the clock, seeing it was already fifteen minutes after midnight, "I get you a last minute plane ticket, which I can easily do seeing as not many people fly to Venezuela in the middle of the night ... as the ticket says, we leave Tampa at 4:55 a.m. and get to Caracas at 10:33 a.m. Someone picks us up from the airport, we get to my house soon after, we chill with my family, celebrate our freedom, blah, blah, blah. You go to sleep and get up and do it all again the next day? Are you sh*ttin' me?"

Brittany laughed, a light blush creeping across her face. "Won't work?"

"Well, it could work, but you'll be so tired. Britt," he sighed, running his fingers through his hair, "you're pregnant. That ain't good for you. Look, come with me... I'd love for you to come with me. But in order to make it worth a little more of your time, stay the week that I'll be there."

"Your family wouldn't mind?"

"Of course not. They'd love to meet you."

She looked at him and smiled, her eyes finally lighting up. She was really gonna do this ... she'd made up her mind in the blink of an eye and tomorrow she was hoppin' a plane with Freddy. Incredibly excited, Brittany threw her arms around his neck and kissed him.

Outside

"Nick, don't you think you should set those off a little farther away from the house?" Sarah called worriedly from the patio, her arms folded across her chest. "If you burn Brittany's house down, I guarantee you she'll come after you and kill you."

Nick laughed from the yard as he stood from lighting a bottle rocket and made his way to Sarah. "Lighten up, Sar. Everything'll be fine; Derek and I aren't going to burn anything down. Here, have a sparkler."

"No, Nicky," Sarah protested as he shoved one at her. "They burn my hand."

"Oh, they do not," Nick laughed, handing it to her and lighting it before she could give it back to him. "Just hold it away from you and straight out. You'll be fine."

Sarah sighed and watched the blue sparkler, still worried it was going to catch her arm hair on fire. She wasn't too into at-home fireworks and firecrackers. Suddenly Nick's arm wrapped around her as he nuzzled her ear.

"If you're really good," he purred, his breath tickling her skin and making the hair on her neck stand on end, "I just might let you hold a Roman Candle."

"Nick," Sarah laughed, elbowing him as he moved away giggling. She'd thought he was going to say something sexual. "Stop, you dork. Plus, those things say not to hold them while they're going off."

"Oh, who listens to directions anyway?"

"I do."

They smiled as Freddy and Brittany came out of the house, sparkling cider and five glasses in hand. They'd all made an agreement not to drink this year, since Brittany couldn't, and they didn't want her to feel bad about it.

"Where have you two been?" Derek asked, walking to the patio from the lawn, his eyebrows jutting up and down quickly and suggestively.

"Ha-ha, you perv," Brittany rolled her eyes, smacking her brother in the stomach when he got close enough. "We were just upstairs talking. In fact, I should tell you guys that I've decided to go to Venezuela with Freddy. We leave at 4:55 this morning from Tampa International. I brought up the idea to Freddy because July fifth is Venezuela's Independence Day and it gives me an excuse to go down there and meet his family and stuff. I was gonna come back on the seventh, but Freddy said it was pointless to only go there for a day, with all the traveling there this, so I said I'd stay for a week. He called the airline and got me a ticket ... so I'm going."

She'd said it all very quickly and everybody's eyebrows rose collectively at the announcement. So she was running off with Freddy, huh?

"What?" Brittany laughed as Freddy rolled his eyes at their friends' reactions. "Why are you looking at us like that?"

"You're going with him to celebrate his independence?" Sarah asked, a good-natured look on her face. "You have got to be sh*tting me."

"You guys," Brittany huffed, not appreciating how stupid they were being about it. She couldn't take a vacation once in a while? "I'm pregnant with the guy's baby. I can't spend some time with him, without you all jumping to conclusions and being complete assholes about it?"

Derek cleared his throat and looked at her sympathetically, "Sorry, Ritt. We were just playing around."

"Yeah, well, play around with someone else. C'mmon," she swallowed the rest of her sparkling cider, "let's set off these d*mn things. Hand me a sparkler."

Nick laughed and went to retrieve one, as Derek made his way to the fireworks they'd already set up on the lawn. He lit a couple as Nick made his way back to the patio and placed a sparkler in Brittany's hand, his lighter poised to its tip, "The best in the house, for the lady."

Brittany smiled and watched it spark as she leaned into Freddy's embrace and looked up at the sky, showered in color.

July 5

It was still dark as Brittany loaded her suitcase into the back of the taxi cab. The air was already beginning to warm and she knew that soon it would be too hot to wear the jacket she was wearing, but then again airplanes were always freezing. She watched as Freddy finally came out of the house, one bag in hand and a backpack over his shoulder. She smiled at him as he neared the waiting car.

"Ready, Freddy?" Brittany grinned, standing on tiptoe to place a quick kiss on his cheek. She was so excited to be getting away for a while, even more excited to be getting away with him.

"Yeah," Freddy spoke, sounding distracted and she knew that he was tired and stressed out, having packed in ten minutes. He loaded his bags into the trunk. "Nick and Sarah are picking you up from the airport when you get back, right?"

"Yes," she answered and ducked inside the cab, getting situated quickly. "Sorry," she smiled to the driver, apologizing for how long they were taking. "Freddy, will you get in the car?"

Freddy laughed and got in, shutting the door behind him. "All right, let's go."

They ran quickly through the airport an hour later, praying they wouldn't miss their flight.

"Fred, I have to breathe," Brittany gasped, stopping and bending over.

Freddy stopped and ran back to her, grabbing her hand and pulling her along, "Breathe on the plane. Now, you run!"

They were sitting down and buckling their seat-belts two minutes before the plane taxied off. The entire morning had been hectic, since they'd stayed up so late the night before and had slept through their alarms.

"Freddy," Brittany whispered an hour and a half later, leaning over the arm rest and placing her head against his shoulder. She didn't know if he was asleep or not, his eyes having closed twenty minutes before.

Freddy's eyes slowly opened and he looked down at her, his arm moving out to hold her against him, "Yeah?"

"You told your family that I'm pregnant, right?"

"Of course," he laughed.

"What did they say?"

"Sabía que usted conseguiría una muchacha golpeada encima de un cierto día." I knew you'd get a girl knocked up one day.

"They said that?!" Brittany gasped and Freddy merely laughed at her again.

"No. Gosh, you're awfully gullible. Hey, you followed what I said??"

"Yes," she nodded confidently. "I took Spanish all the way through high school and college. I'm fluent. Plus, you forget that I have Spanish throughout my family, on Derek's side, y'know? He may have been born here, and he may be completely Americanized, but they all speak it still. I had to learn to keep up at the holidays. I bet I could give you a good run for your money."

"Bese mi asno."

"Thanks a lot."

Nick and Sarah

8:26 a.m.

Nick awoke earlier than usual, feeling eyes on him. Almost scared to see who was staring at him, he opened his eyes slowly to see a little girl perched on the end of his bed.

Um, o-kay, he thought, completely bewildered.

"Lucy!" he heard Sarah calling as she wandered down the hallway outside of his room, apparently trying to find this little rug-rat. "Lucia Rose, where have you gotten to now?"

Nick giggled and the little girl followed as the two of them sat there listening to Sarah work herself into a tizzy. He swore that if that girl didn't stop worrying as much as she did she was going to have an ulcer the size of Texas by this time next year. Lucia shouted in glee as Sarah came up from behind her and tickled her.

"Have you been in here this whole time, little one??" Sarah sighed in exasperation. This kid was going to kill her by the end of the day. It wasn't even nine o'clock yet! "Sorry, Nick," she apologized, a light blush creeping across her face when she saw that he was shirtless. "Honey, don't bother people when they're sleeping..." she began to usher Lucy out of the room, but Nick stood up to stop them.

"Wait," he grinned as he bent down so he was eye-to-eye with the beautiful little girl. She couldn't have been more than five years old and her light brown hair was pulled into a high ponytail on top of her head. "What's your name?" he asked, though he already knew it.

She grinned up at him. She definitely wasn't shy. "My name's Lucia Rose Hernandez, but you can call me Lucy. I'm almost four and a half. What's your name? You're awfully tall. I'm glad you came down here."

Nick laughed and looked up at Sarah, who was smiling, her eyes actually shining and for a second he thought she might cry, though he had no idea why she would. "I'm Nick ... I'm a friend of Sarah's. How do you know Sarah?"

"She's my aunt's best friend. I'm Derek's and Brittany's niece."

"Well, little one, you're awfully well-spoken for someone who's only four, going on four and a half."

Lucy looked confounded as she stared at the man before her, "What does well-spoken mean?"

"Oh," Nick laughed. "Sorry. It means you talk well."

"My mom and dad said that I'm special because I speak English and español. Do you?"

He smiled before admitting, "I speak English, of course. But Spanish? Not very well, I'm afraid. Maybe you could teach me sometime."

"Sure," Lucy shrugged. "Pero ahora necesito mirar historietas."

As she ran quickly from the room, Nick stood up with a laugh, turning to Sarah, "Well, she's quite the little girl. I didn't catch the last thing she said though..."

"'But right now I need to watch cartoons,'" Sarah laughed herself, looking at him with her eyebrows furrowed. "You're awfully good with children, Mr. Carter."

"She acts more like an adult than I do. So how does this work? Lucy being Derek's and Brittany's niece, I mean."

"Oh," Sarah sighed and plopped down on his bed, the thought of asking never crossing her mind. "Their family's semi-complicated. Brittany's dad ran off when she was born; she's only met him once ... when she turned eighteen, but they didn't hit it off real well and she hasn't seen him since. Derek's parents divorced when he was one or so and he lived with his dad, Charles, while growing up, but he was still really close with his mom, Dorothy. But when Ritt was two, her mom, Donna-Rae, met Derek's dad--we all call him Charlie--and they were married a year later. She grew up with Derek and his sister, Sylvia, and from the get-go Charlie pretty much became her dad. She took Jeter as her last name and they're all one big happy family," she laughed. "Sylvia married Jason Hernandez and Lucia is their daughter."

Nick's eyebrows rose, "Interesting."

"Yeah," Sarah laughed and stood with a shrug of her shoulders. "Probably more than you ever cared to know about Brittany and Derek. Care for breakfast?"

"Actually, can I ask you a question?" he grabbed her hand to prevent her from leaving and she turned to him with big brown eyes.

"Yeah."

"Are... we okay now or something?" Nick stuttered, suddenly feeling very nervous. He hoped she didn't notice that his hands were beginning to sweat. "I mean ... a couple nights ago we kissed and then it was really weird between us and it was just like last night suddenly things were back to normal and now ... well, I guess I'm just really confused."

"Well, that makes two of us."

"Lucia Rose, how many times do I have to tell you not to-"

Sarah laughed, hearing Derek shout from downstairs. Lucy was definitely a handful. "I'm gonna, um," she pointed out the door, "go... help Jeet. We'll talk later, yeah?"

"Yeah," Nick sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, exasperated. This girl definitely liked to leave him hanging...waiting... "Yeah... talk later."