Who: Abigail and Verity When: Recently Where: For the Lulz What: Working, becoming friends, etc. Rating/Warning: Low/None Status: Complete!
Verity stopped by the donut shop. It was becoming one of her staples, with the maple bacon donut? Heck. Yes. Pregnant Woman’s wet dream. She collected up a couple of those donuts, and a dozen of the others, and brought them in to work. Along with a couple of coffees--hers decaf, unfortunately--to surprise Abigail. She knew the two girls were working together alone this morning, and Fred and George would be in later, so she was excited to have a little girl time. Also, to talk to Abigail about her dreams.
Abigail was already in the store, wiping down the counters and cleaning off all the glass displays. She didn’t like being late, so she usually got in a little early to clean. It was just her way.
When she heard the door open, Abigail looked up and smiled. “Hi, Verity.” She liked the older woman very much, and was looking forward to helping her with the baby.
“Hey.” Verity came into the shop. It was about five minutes before they opened, and Verity was very much looking forward to spending those minutes eating donuts, drinking coffee, and gossiping with Abigail. “Good morning. I brought donuts!”
“Ooooh! I was going to make us coffee, but that’s way better.” She moved to go help Verity with the bags and such, moving so that Ver could sit down. “Do you want to work the register today? So you can sit down?”
“Oh, that’d be fantastic. I spent so much time yesterday stocking t-shirts in the back, I’m still sore.” She gave her friend a little smile, and plopped down on a stool behind the register. “I’m not useless. Really.” She motioned to the donuts. “Donuts. Call me the donut-bringer.”
“I’d rather stock than do the register anyway. Thank you, donut-bringinger. We could get that on a t-shirt for you, you know.” Abigail giggled to herself.
Verity laughed. “I love it. Donut bringinger.” She was already imagining how cool it’d look. “Front, back, and the sleeve.”
“Seriously, I still can’t believe you got that huge sale,” Abigail commented, munching tidily on a plain glaze doughnut.
“It was more luck than anything else,” Verity said, humbly. Truth was, she’d really upsold, and they were going to make some really amazing t-shirts for the dude’s reunion. The kids getting those shirts were going to absolutely love them.
“Oh, it was not. I’m just a terrible salesperson.” Abigail was better at running the books. Verity might have been the upselling champion, but Abigail was a badass on Excel spreadsheets.
Verity grinned a little as she started in on her maple, bacon donut. It was fantastic. Made her mouth water. “We all have our different strengths. I’m just glad that you and I are so organized. Not sure what the twins would do without us around here to keep everything tidy.”
“Crash and burn,” Abigail offered cheerfully. “But they’d be adorable while they did it? I used to have a crush on George.”
“You did? Really? I suppose... no. I just don’t see it.” Verity chuckled. She’d never had the hots for either of them. From the very beginning they were more like brothers than anything.
“He’s a better kisser,” Abigail shrugged. “He’s sweeter and more thoughtful. Fred’s a biter, which is nice, but I prefer to be surprised with it.”
“Ugh, things I really don’t need to hear.” Verity said, shaking her head. “Really. Ugh.” She set the donut down, as if she’d lost her appetite for it. But she couldn’t keep up that facade. (Honestly, a pregnant woman losing her appetite for donuts? Never.) She picked it back up again. “Can we change that subject?”
“Of course we can. How are you feeling? Doctor visits going well?” Abigail smiled and nibbled a bit more of her doughnut.
“I’m great. Feeling good. So much better than a couple months ago.” Verity gave a bright smile. “Doctor’s visits going well. My blood pressure it usually a little high, but it’s not too bad.”
“That’s good. I know that you were miserable before.” Abigail smiled right back at Verity. “Blood pressure is subjective anyway. It could be high just because you’re stressed out from being at the doctor’s office.” Abigail fussed with the knot on the scarf on her neck, retying it carefully.
“Yeah, it could be a sign of something serious, but we’re keeping an eye on all the other symptoms, so it won’t sneak up on us. I mean, hopefully it won’t happen at all, but if it does, we’ve got an eye out.” Verity said, giving a little nod. She finished her donut and focused on her chai tea. “Is it hot in here?”
“It’s a little warm,” Abigail agreed. “I’m just glad you’re keeping an eye on it. I worry about you. You’re the reason I keep hard candy back here, you know. In case you get nauseated again, they help, apparently.”
Verity gave a gentle “aww” then stood from her stool to wrap her arms around the other girl. “Thank you. That’s so sweet.” She felt like she was about to cry. Damn hormones. Okay, she was about to cry.
Abigail smiled, wrapping her arms around Verity and rubbing her back. “It’s fine, really. I know about getting ... unwanted things from the dreams.” She looked down, figuring that she could write the hickeys off as a teenage boyfriend or something if Verity asked. God, she hoped she wouldn’t ask.
“I can’t call her unwanted. That’s just... cruel and wrong,” it was almost like Verity didn’t know she wanted the baby until she was pregnant. And even then it took a while for her to figure it out. She really did want this. She wanted her daughter, she wanted her family. But she was struggling with it all anyway.
“Unlikely, then.” Abigail smiled. “I have a huge scar that’s inexplicable. There, that word! That’s the one I’m looking for.” She snapped, pointing at Verity’s stomach. “You’re inexplicable, but I’m already buying you onesies, sweetheart.”
Verity laughed. “Inexplicable. I like that. She’s my inexplicable miracle.” Verity said, grinning as she ran her hand over her belly. “I’m already designing them. Things like ‘My mother is perfect’ and ‘I love my “uncles” but I can never tell which is which’...” She said, using air quotes on the word ‘uncles’.
It was probably hard unless one was snogging them, Abigail thought to herself. “They like tricking me, which is what they’ve liked doing since they were little.” She smiled to herself. “I may have gotten her a ‘Keep Calm and Be Adorable’ onesie. Because you know she will be.”
“Awww. She absolutely will be. With a father like Oliver...” But she trailed off, breaking into a frown. There was no denying that Oliver was handsome. He’d make great kids. Verity just hadn’t thought about him in a bit, and now she was sad.
Abigail moved to hug her. “With a biological father like Oliver. My bio father isn’t around for different reasons, but there’s a lot more to being a dad. Being around is like, 80% of that test. The DNA component is maybe 10%.”
Verity wrapped her arms around her friend and buried her nose in Abigail’s shoulder. It was burning. She was gonna start crying... again. She sighed. “I know. It’s just a shame that Christina isn’t going to have one.”
“She will someday. And he’ll be better because he’ll choose to be her daddy.” Abigail stroked Verity’s hair. “Promise.”
“Thanks, Abigail.” She said. And she meant it. It was exactly what Verity needed to hear. She nodded. There were tears streaming down her cheeks. She sat up a little and lifted her hands to wipe her face. “...maybe I should go to the bathroom and wash up. It’s time to open.”
Abigail hugged her again. “You look beautiful anyway, but if you want to. I’ve got it out here.”
Verity gave a little sniff, hugged Abigail tightly, said “thank you,” again, and headed off into the bathroom to put herself back together before the customers started filing in.