DISCLAIMER: These characters are not mine. I am making no money from them in no way. They belong to NBC, Warner Brothers, Constant C., Micheal Crichten ect.

A Few Steps Forward Part 4

~~~~~~~~~~Friday, October 20,

Turning off of the paved road, onto a thin gravel street, looking as if it were only wide enough for one car, the two occupants of the black jeep remained silent and watched the scenery intently.

Carter leaned his elbow against the window so he could allow his pale face to get some sunshine. Glancing over at Lucy, who was in the opposite seat, from behind his sunglasses for only a moment, he then turned his attention back to the road.

Sitting in a car together, still two hours away from their destination, the couple enjoyed the radio and spoke to one another only when there was something to talk about.

Not really comfortable with the silence between them, feeling a wall building up, Carter tries to break it down by talking about the things they hadn't talked about since their fight, "So..."

"So..." repeated Lucy.

"So what does Abby think about all of this?"

"She doesn't know."

"What?" Carter asks, showing his shock on his face, "You haven't told her yet?"

"Nope. It is only you and Deb."

"Deb? How come you told Deb before Abby?"

"Because I thought she would understand, is that a problem?" Lucy asked with a voice full of annoyance.

"No. No, I just thought you would of told Abby first."

"When I want to tell Abby, I will tell her, she is not my only friend. Besides, we are getting married, your friends are my friends, right?" her soft and innocent sounding voice was testing him, something he had learned to detect and respond to.

"Of course my friends are your friends. I think you know everyone I know anyway." Giving her a smile for only a second, he soon turning his full attention back to his driving.

"How much longer will it take to get there?"

"About an hour and fourty-five minutes. Do you think your mom will be there yet?"

"Probrely. You mom and dad said they were going to pick her up at the airport this afternoon."

"Your sister isn't coming?"

"No, Corrine and some friends made plans for some trip to Hawaii a couple months ago."

"Sounds like fun."

"Yup. Almost wish I was there with her, but I would rather be here with you."

Smiling back at her, Carter takes her hand in his kisses it. For the rest of the ride, everything is peaceful except for the few times they were forced to pull over for Lucy to throw up from her car sickness. With her sensitive stomach, she seemed to be unable to keep anything down.

~~~~~~~~~~1 Hour and 50 minutes later (6:00 PM)

Hearing the engine of John's vehicle pull up to the house, his grandma, grandpa, mom, dad, future mother in law, and sister all came piling out of the house. Not moving to exit the car yet, Lucy turns to his John, "I was just wandering if we were going to say anything about... you know..." she motions to her stomach, "the baby this weekend. Everyone is here and all, so I just thought that we might."

"Uh, how about we talk about this later. Like when we are really alone?" Carter bites his lower lip and nods towards the relatives which were moving closer and closer to the jeep.

"Sure. Later." She agrees.

Opening his door and stepping out of his jeep, John walks to the back and pulls out his and Lucy's bags. Meeting her on the passenger side of the car, she takes one of the lighter suitcases and walks up the steps to the porch with him.

"Hey Johnny!" screams his sister, Barbera.

"Hey Barb." John leans down to his shorter sibling and gives her a hug. "How have you been? How was France?"

"Good, France is good. You?"

"Great!"

As everyone says hello to everyone and Lucy is reintroduced to some of the people that she had already met at the last dinner they had together, she goes to her mother last, giving her a quick hug and removing her sunglasses so she doesn't knock them off.

Following the flock into the wide open house, Lucy admirers the beautiful house. The high roof of the foyer carried on to be the roof of the upper floor and the wood banisters on the stairs were polished and shining which would catch your eye as soon as you walked in for they stood directly infront of the main entrance. The two rooms that led out of foyer were partially concealed by wood sliding doors which were covered in carved patterns of flowers and leaves. Past the stairwell was a long hallway with many more doors. At the end was a large kitchen which steal appliances and an island in the centre of the floor.

After complimenting on the house, Lucy and John get escorted to the room they would be staying in by Barbera Carter. Soon after, John and Lucy settle in by unpacking their bags into a dresser and finishing off the conversation they had started earlier.

"I was thinking, why don't we just tell them all this weekend. It might be a while before they are all together again."

"Fine... When?"

"When every one is calm I guess. I'm not gonna announce that I'm pregnant over turkey and beats. Maybe at night, when everyone is tired and don't have enough energy to fight it."

"Sure... Luce?"

"Yeah." Lucy finished her unpacking and closed the drawer she had just filled.

"Did you want to get married before or after?"

"Definitely after, I want to be able to fit into a white dress, and not look like I have a few basketballs up my shirt." finishing the unloading of her bag, she tucked it aside and sits on the queen size bed, soon joined by Carter.

"You know what is weird?" asks Carter, looking towards her.

"What?"

"Think back two years ago when we first met. Would you picture you and I talking about our unborn baby?"

"Well, when you weren't being a pain in the ass, I had a small crush on you, but I wouldn't say that I would see myself engaged to you and carrying your child." teases Lucy.

"Things have really changed." he thinks outloud.

"What? Did you have fantasies about you and Roxanne growing old together or something?"

"No, did you dream about your and Dale Edson's children?" he chuckles at his own, sick joke.

"Don't you mean nightmare?"

Knocking on the door, Barbera Knight, waits patiently for her daughter to come and open it, "Hello dear, they just sent me up to see if you two are hungry."

"Can you please tell them that we will be there in a minute?" asks Lucy.

Nodding, Ms. Barbera Knight turns her back and walks away.

Getting everything finished up in the room, Carter and Lucy walk down the many stairs into the dining room, hand in hand.

"John, Lucy, how nice of you to join us." Lilian points to two empty chairs near the centre of the table as they sit in them.

"So... How was your drive down here?"

John clears his throat, looking towards Lucy to give the answer, pushing her buy the grin on his face, "I thought it was nice to have some quiet time away from the emergency room and chaos for a few hours, what did you think Luce?"

"I just got a little car sick. That's all John."

"Oh, you poor thing." Sympathise's Millicent.

"Thanks, I'm fine now."

After everyone had emptied their plates and finished their meals, Lucy escaped from the group and walked out of the house, onto the large patio. Glad to get some peaceful time for herself, she breathed in the fresh air. She stood infront of the rail, crossed her arms and looking out over the lake, noting its peacefulness. Knowing someone was behind her, Lucy did not turn around. If they had come out here for her, they would come and talk to her.

As John walked up on her rear, he hugged her form behind, sharing his body heat in the cold breeze, "What's up?" he sighed.

"Nothing. I was just thinking."

"About what?"

"Just... Valentine's Day." Lucy concludes, pondering for a moment whether she should actually tell him she was thinking about the attack.

"Why all of a sudden are you thinking about the accident?"

"It wasn't an accident John, so stop saying it was! We were attacked." sighs Lucy, immediately feeling bad for her outburst. "I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm thinking about it. Whenever I'm the centre of attention I think of it, when all eyes are on me. It reminds me of how everything was about you and me and... It's just that it happened and I can't do anything to change that, but you almost died... I almost died..."

"Well, why are you all of a sudden being so hard on yourself over this? It was never a big thing before?"

"But it is a big thing! It is something in our lives that has become part of us and we can't forget it. It won't just go away. Just think, what if you had died, I wouldn't be pregnant with you child right now. If I had died... who knows where you would be."

"What is your point?"

"My point is that this child is going to want to know where we got our scars. They are going to find out that we were attacked. I don't want my kid to know that people like Paul Sobricki exist."

"But it is like what you said. What happened is part of us. Having children is not going to change our past. Knowing that there are dangers in the world are not going to disturb or corrupt a child, I think that it will just make them a better person, because they will be able to learn from our mistakes, not mimic them."

Turning around in his arms, Lucy cuddles into his chest, "Am I being paranoid?"

"Uh... Slightly. But you are acting like any other expecting mom would."

She half sighs, half laughs, "I'm going to be a mother."

~~~~~~~~~~9:00 PM Later that Night

Around nine o'clock that night, everyone but John's grandparents gathered in the large library where there was an ample fire place that warmed up the cold, summer night air. Sitting beside one and other on a couch across from Lilian and Roland Carter, Barbera Knight on a chair to their right and Barbera Carter sitting beside her parents, they all sit quietly.

"It's getting late, maybe we should all turn in for the night." suggests Lilian, starting to get up.

"No mom, sit down. Your going to want to sit down for this." John puts his arm around Lucy, having his palm sit on her waist.

"John and I have something we want to tell you."

Roland Carter pulls his wife back down to sit between him and their daughter.

"Is it money troubles, because if you need some money, we can..." guesses Lilian, worried about her sons wellbeing.

"It's nothing to do with money, mom."

"Are you calling off the wedding?" speculates Barbera Knight.

"Far from it."

The two turn to one another and smile, he allows Lucy to share their news, "I'm pregnant." Leaving a moment of silence to let the news sink in, Lucy continues, "I am due sometime in March or April."

"...And your keeping it?" asks Roland.

"Yes we are keeping it." saws John, squeezing Lucy's shoulder, wishing everything to be okay and have some support.

"Are you ready to be parents? Can you handle the responsibility of another life?" demands Lucy's mother.

"What we aren't ready for now, we will be by the time the baby is born."

"I think it is great! Johnny and Lucy will be wonderful parents!" enthuses John's sister, starting the chain in giving them sponsorship. Standing up she makes her way over so she is infront of them, "Well, just don't sit there, come give me a hug."

Accepting her offer, they both embrace her separately. John turns to their parents, "If you don't want to be supportive on this, that is fine. We don't need you in this kids life if you aren't going to care."

Lilian and Barbera Knight also stand up, finally followed by Roland, offering them congratulations.

"I can't be mad at the people that are making me a grandfather." cries Roland, hugging his son and soon to be daughter in-law, surprising them with the tears building up in his eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~

It was nearly two hours later when they all decided it was time to catch some shut-eye. Up in their room, Carter and Lucy changed for bed, "So... do you think your father could be any happier?"

"He was kinda cheery wasn't he?"

"Yeah! I think it is, once he gets emotional, he really gets emotional."

"Well, it doesn't happen often though. The last time I seen him get all emotional was..." Carter thinks back through all the years until he comes up with an answer, "Since I was about eleven, I guess, and Bobby passed away."

Lucy nods her head as she lays down over the covers beside John, who was now under them. "Do you think about him a lot?" asks Lucy, looking towards John's eyes.

"Not really. It was a long time ago and I have to stop grieving some time."

"No, what I mean is, do you ever wander what he would of been, how he would of turned out if he hadn't past away of cancer?"

"I'm sure he would of turned out fine." Carter insists, pulling Lucy close so she is snuggled close to his chest, "What makes you so curious about my brother who past away nearly nineteen years ago?"

"I don't know. I seem to be worrying about everything lately. I am full of energy and it makes my mind work a thousand miles an hour. I seem to think about the strangest things."

Closing his eyes for only a minute, John opens them again when Lucy speaks.

"Who do you think this kid will look like?"

"Us?" suggests Carter jokingly, yet looking seriously.

With a fake laugh , Lucy nudges him in the shoulder, "You know what I mean."

"Well, if it is a girl, I hope she doesn't have your ass."

"Why not?" asks Lucy, offended.

Closing his eyes once again, Carter says his sentence seriously, not showing any emotion on his face and using a dull, tired voice, "Because we won't be able to take her out of the house with out chasing away the guys lining up around the block."

Lucy kisses him for his comment, "Oh really, you think I have a nice butt?"

"Sure..." Carter kisses the top of her head. Leaning his chin were he had just kissed her, he continued, "I would of thought you'd catch on by now though."

"Catch on...?"

"The reason I keep you around...." finding she needs more explanation, he carries on with examples, "Well, there was the time before 'exam six' that I believe I was seen checking out your ass. Abby caught me checking you out about a week before we started seeing one another and there are still all the times when there were no eyewitnesses."

"You know about that?"

"About what?" question Carter curiously.

"You know Abby saw you?" rephrases Lucy, being more specific.

"Yeah, I just didn't want to say anything because then I would have to talk about it later, deny it, and you would truly know I had something for you." explains Carter, pulling Lucy close to him, smiling, only opening his eyes occasionally.

"Had something for me.... That is it?" Lucy giggles, "That is all we are? Here I am, carrying you child and 'You have something for me'?" she asks, pulling away, carrying a wide grin.

"It's past tense Lucy, I did have something for you."

"Oh, so what do you 'Have for me now?" asks Lucy, sitting her chin down on his chest.

"Nothing," he allows his voice to raise for each word with his next phrase, "With my families' ears glued to the door!"

Suddenly, from the other side of the door, you hear a man clear his throat and then four voices, including the mans, all say 'Good Night' in unisom.

Laughing, Lucy kisses Carter and drops her head against her pillow to fall asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~ Saturday, October 21, 4:45 AM

Waking up the next morning to the feeling of nausea hitting her suddenly, Lucy rolled herself off of the soft, plush mattress, not wanting to wake up so early on her vacation but knowing that if she didn't move quickly, she might not make it to the washroom. Shaking the bed as she flopped her feet onto the ground, she unknowingly awoke John from his sleep. Cracking open his eyes, he turned in her direction as she trotted away from him.

Grabbing a housecoat on her way to the washroom, she sunk her feet into her slippers, not taking time to stop and pull the heel around her foot. Making her way out of the room they had been staying in, he watched her and as soon as she turned the corner, he to got out of bed and followed Lucy to her destination.

Pushing open the door to the bathroom, he poked his head inside to see her slouching against the sink counter, head hanging over the toilet. Only making his presence known by his shadow, John Carter made his way to her side and squatted down, holding her hair back she she gagged into the bowl.

"Are you okay?" he asked when she finished, concerned although he knew morning sickness was normal for a healthy pregnancy.

"Just give me a minute to recuperate." she answered.

Sitting down on the cold tiles beside her, John let her hair fall from his grasp as he scratched the back of his head. Not really knowing what to say, they just sat there until Lucy's sickness faded and she could stand without getting dizzy.

Rinsing out her mouth in the sink, using her hands as a cup for the water, she washed away the taste.

Leaning against him, hugging his chest lightly, Lucy followed Carter as he made his way back to bed, hoping to fall back asleep. As they exited the bathroom together, they met with Lilian Carter, curious about what was going on. "Is everything okay? I heard Lucy in the bathroom and just wanted to make sure she was fine."

Giving Lucy a slight nudge, she started heading to bed, her baggy eyes showing her tiredness. After the door closed halfway behind her, Carter responded for her, "She's fine, after she gets some rest she will be as good as new."

"Has the morning sickness been bad."

"Uh, it's not as bad as it was earlier. It has slowed down a bit." John leaned his head back slightly to see into the room and see if she was in bed. Noticing that she was crawling out of her housecoat, he turned his attention back to his mother, "I don't think it will last much longer."

"That is good. It may of been a long time ago for me, but I remember what it was like to be pregnant. It has it's perks, like what you get from it in the end, but I just hope that you remember that through all of your rough times. There is something to look forward to."

"I will mom." says John, touched that his mother was being supportive, and also worried about Lucy in the other room.

She grinned widely from a sudden thought she had, "I remember when your father and I had our first child. We knew nothing about children and there were not all of the benefits for pregnant women then as there are today. But both of our families cared for us and we got a lot of moral support."

Carter nods his head, knowing were she was going and what her point was.

"I don't know how my kids would of turned out if it wasn't for the support we got from our relatives. This is your first child and I see that you are both excited to being parents and we will be there to back you up whenever you need it."

"I know mom." Carter insists, smiling at his mother.

"Whether it is money, a job, a babysitter, or just a break, we will help you guys out and be there for you, because we know that you both want this child and that you love one another. Anything you need..."

"I know mom." He gives his mother a hug and grins back at her as she smiled at him.

After standing in silence for a moment, Mrs. Carter looks up at her grown son, "Go back to bed." Patting him on the back, Lilian made her way to the stairwell.

"Aren't you going to go to sleep?" Carter turns back around, standing under the frame, holding the door with his left hand.

"No dear. These days, once I'm up, I can never back to sleep. Why try when I know it's useless."

Nodding his head, he closed the door lightly, turning the door handle as it shut, careful not to awake anyone else up at such an early hour. Seeing Lucy staring at him from her pillow, he smiled at her and made his way over, crawling under the covers beside her.

"What did she say?" questions Lucy, wandering what John and her future mother-in-law had chatted about.

"She just wanted to see how you were feeling."

"Yeah?"

"Uh huh. She also wanted us to know that we had total family support and that if we needed anything at anytime, she would lend us a hand."

"Really?" Lucy asks, not really sure if John was serious, noting that this did not fit with the Lilian Carter she had met so far.

"Yup..... You know, I think that she likes you."

Lucy raised her eyebrows.

"And I don't mean, 'she doesn't mind having you around', but that she actually enjoys your company."

"So we've accomplished more then just starting the news that will soon turn into a rumour in the Carter family."

"I wouldn't be surprised if she asks you to go baby shopping with her later. She seems more excited about this kid then you." laughs Carter.

Lucy giggles with him, "Well, when she stops kicking my stomach, I will be more enthusiastic, okay? It is kind of hard to smile when you have to bend over and through up your guts every hour."

"She? You think it is going to be a girl?"

"A girl or a boy would be great, I just think it would be neat to have a girl. There are so many cute things for baby girls, at least more then there are for baby boys."

"Oh, so you just want a girl so can put her in a pink dress?" Carter asks.

"No, I just want a kid that I can point at and say 'that is John's and my child'."

"Oh, so this will be one of my more attractive aspects. Being a father? Do you think it will make it easier to pick up a date?" Showing his facial expressions as serious, he tries not to laugh as he sees how far he can push her.

Seeing Lucy out of the corner of his eye, he covered his head with both his arms as Lucy pulls her pillow out from behind her head, grabbing it by two corners, and whacks him across the head with it. Hitting her back with his pillow, they start a small pillow fight playfully, only ending it with a kiss, and sleep.

~Sunday, May 27 2001

Okay, this story seemed like it took no time at all. I hope that it turned out okay, I just wanted it to come out good and sound realistic, without it being to forward. Yet again, like I have said before, feedback and ideas and welcome and appreciated! Oh, and parts of this were suppose to be funny, I'm just wandering if they were.

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