Until the sun explodes

 Gavin knew something was up, the moment he saw Darry talking to Kat at the Youth Center.  Honestly, it burned his ego to think Kat might see something in Darry that he didn't. Not that he thought Darry was up to no good, but the guy was a wild card in Gavin's book. 

He'd never told Kat that he didn't like him, but she knew. Yeah, she was a mind reader of sorts. She knew how he felt.

She never brought it up, but now he wanted her to. Was she afraid he'd be upset and punch him or something? At least Darry was down in Lincoln now, so that was good.

"Have you heard, from..um, you know-" He shrugged when they met up after school so he could carry her backpack on the walk to the library.

She looked at him a bit strangely.

"Just tell me, will you?" He did his best not to snap, but this college guy was a big mess, as far as Gavin was concerned.

"Well." It sounded like a cry to help to Gavin.

"Well, what?" He looked down at her with his eyes lit. One arm clung to her backpack strap on his shoulder. He tilted his head, thinking he knew her. They'd bowled all summer together. Sometimes, they hung out at the pool. They'd laughed. She'd seen him in swimming trunks, and of course, he liked the fact that she wore a two-piece at the pool that was almost a bikini. Yeah, all the feels of happy togetherness spun even if he didn't think they needed to go any further. It was the noble thing to do. After all, the words I LOVE YOU were on the tip of his tongue.

He ran his fingers through his sweaty hair. Why did she make him perspire so much?

"It's just-" Kat nursed her bottom lip. She wouldn't look at him. "He, he sent me letters."

"WELL, I WANT THEM!" screeched in his head. Gavin couldn't help but have a sour look. It was no time to be stoic. He sighed. "You should read them." He was going against the grain of his nature.

"What?" She looked troubled about it.

"He's probably homesick. That's all it is." Gavin suddenly responded as they slowly walked toward the library. 

"I applied for Darry's job at the library."

"Oh." Kat's eyes opened wide.

"Yeah, why not." Gavin shrugged. He mentioned it was close to home.

"But..but I thought you wanted to work at the bowling alley?"

"I did, but the hours were all wrong." Gavin, straight-lipped, acted as if he probably wouldn't get the job. But when they got to the library, there was good news.

Tell me your troubles and doubts

 Kat wanted to forget Darry. She really did. What was going on with him? Besides, things were tight with Gavin. It was an established fact that they were good together. Even her Dad approved, and so did her grandmothers.

But when Darry showed up at the teen center while she waited for Gavin (their Friday night together for pizza and hanging out), it shocked her.

"What are you doing here?" She hadn't seen him all summer. She thought he might already have a new girlfriend at college. Kat knew it was none of her business. She was over her middle school crush, wasn't she?

"I thought you might be here." He wasn't smiling about it. Still, she felt it might be a bad omen. She hugged herself as if she'd shield herself from any drama. 

"So." Kat shrugged, not wanting to look him in the eye. She didn't want to have feelings for him.

Darry promised he'd write to her while he was away in Lawrence, Kansas, where he would be in college. She knew it wasn't that far away, but he was leaving his hometown. She looked at him wide-eyed.

"You don't have to," she said instead of complaining. Maybe she did want to hear from him, but she didn't think so. True, she wanted to know why. Still, she'd see how it went. She had her doubts. "Who else are you going to write to?" She looked him in the eye. 

"Just you." So plain and simple. It made her sigh with a slight ache that made her dizzy. 

"Well, don't you want to send my little sister a postcard or something?"

He chuckled then. "No, just you. I just hope you know-"

"Know what?" She was absolutely shocked, thinking this was a confession of some kind, but then Gavin showed up, and she grabbed Gavin's hand as if it were a warning. Nothing was going to break her. Not with Gavin.

Only now, the letters kept arriving, and Kat didn't know how to reply.

When the doubt you always knew becomes real

 Oliver had noticed a change in Carrie. He knew he should have expected it, but it was a bit bittersweet. First off, she wanted the baby to be a girl. Actually, he could see Gabby was a little let down as well. Although, they knew Corey would be a part of the family. 

"She won't let me help," Carrie insisted she could take care of a baby even if she was almost five. "Let's not say I'm four anymore." Carrie crossed her arms and was still a little too sassy for her own good.

Truly, Oliver knew Gabby must be a bad influence. Carrie was already too independent. But she was watchful, and they let her help. This meant she learned to do a lot of vacuuming and kept the livingroom picked up as the days were full of wake-up calls once Corey found his voice. No more holding just a sleeping baby.

Still, Carrie had her grandparents and her cousin to go to each day while Gabby stayed with the baby. Even so, he knew Gabby was not going to quit her job. By the time the six weeks of maternity leave were gone, he knew she was ready to escape too.

He took off some time from school,  as well. Hoping he'd get a schedule down, but that was like asking for the lottery. Every day was evolving, but it helped to find the right baby formula because Gabby wasn't doing well with breastfeeding. It was excruciating. 

He knew it would do no good to talk about how she'd planned on breastfeeding for months before the baby arrived, and now it tensed her to the point where she wanted him to feed the baby all the time.

"Well, maybe you need to see if you need something to help-" He didn't even know how to finish the sentence. But he was ready for her to see the therapist instead of himself. But she was against that too.

The livingroom might have looked great, but there were dishes piled high in the kitchen. Loads of laundry waiting. Oliver knew this was coming. He knew from the moment she'd talked about having a baby.

"Maybe..maybe I should ask for more time off," Oliver told Gabby as she was getting ready to go back to work.

"What? No." She looked at him as if he was being weird, but who was the one making sure the baby was fed and his diaper was fresh? It was Oliver. 

"Yes, who's going to take care of Corey?" Honestly, he felt no one was on Corey's side but him. Maybe it was the fact he saw himself in the baby, and he'd wondered if he'd been loved enough as a baby maybe his life would have been much better. He wanted Corey to feel loved. He loved his son, and found joy in every moment with him.

"Well, I thought your mother was?" She shrugged. He felt she was indifferent, and it frightened him.

"She's been far too kind to us." He pressed his lips in an effort from being angry. "We need to get our act together at home."

"Well," she said. She knew for certain that his mom said she'd help until they found someone.

"It's going to be me, isn't it?" He glared at her as if he knew Gabby's true colors. She was a great consumer, always being trendy and tossing it away when it passed its prime. Evidently, the newness of Corey was already wearing off.

"You?" She looked at him blankly.

"I'll quit my job, and stay home with him." It was the only solution he could see in the future.

"Don't say that," she winced. "You love your job. And well..." She sighed as if she got the hint that maybe she should put away the clothes that were on the bed. They had to go to sleep sometime around midnight.

"You know I love you," Oliver said on his way to a crying baby that Gabby didn't even want in their bedroom anymore, "But I hate some of the things you do." He said under his breath. Of course, she wasn't listening. She never really listened to him.

We're in it together now

 CW felt nauseous lately. He must have lost a good twenty pounds since Miracle came home. It wasn't like he was sitting around all day thinking of tomorrow. It was right now. He was a bit lightheaded. It might have been his blood sugar or his blood pressure. Really, he was too young to think like that. However, Crystal did. She could see him stagger to get things done around the place. But he was on it, even if it felt like more things were added daily to Daddy duty.

Not that he hated it, but it was new to him. He'd never held a baby until Miracle, and it was unbelievable then, but now it was life. His life. Her life. Their life. It pained him that he hadn't accomplished more. To be ready for something so extraordinary. He wanted to think clearly instead of being muddled with the could-of and should-of memories that dragged him down.

It was hard not to be sad, knowing he wasn't good enough and in his head, he might never be.

"Well, stop thinking that way, will you?" Darry told him his family would help him out.

"What? He's done more..more for me..than he should." CW winced, remembering how his dad had come through for him with his wisdom teeth problem last year. "I can't ask-" CW shook his head no. 

"They already know about the baby," Darry told them. "Who do you think sent me?" Darry's brow furrowed with concern as he shook CW's shoulders.

CW sighed. "I don't get it, I'm just a stranger-"

"You remind us a lot of my older brother." Darry shrugged. CW went to tend to the baby while Darry filled him in on how his brother was bipolar. "He won't let any of us help him now."

CW still wasn't sure where he fit in. 

"Why do you think we always help out at the homeless shelter?" Darry asked as he took the baby from CW. "We miss him, even if he doesn't want us to."

"But he could get help." CW looked at Darry as if this was just nonsense.

"If he wanted to, but he doesn't." Darry smiled at the baby. Still, CW knew there was more about this no-name brother of his.

"Look, my dad knows people," Darry told him.

"So?" CW wasn't expecting the lottery. Just a full-time job would do. Well, one that paid more than minimum wage. "Maybe I could get on at the slaughterhouse, or-" He didn't know. It would have to be one of those jobs nobody would really want. 

"There are jobs at the veteran's hospital." Darry nodded.

"I wouldn't have to kill small animals, would I?" CW looked at him out of the corner of his eye.

Darry cracked a smile.