⌜ chapter twenty ⌟

A smile tugs at Letty's lips as Eric rests his forehead against hers. "I love this." He says, his arm resting behind her on the booth that they're sitting in at Chubbie's.

"You really are adorable, you know that?" She leans forward and kisses him again, her fingers curled around the dark-colored sweater that he's wearing.

"I love that you're my girlfriend again, and I can do this whenever I want." He presses his lips firmly against hers as he wraps his arm around her shoulders.

"You won't hear me complaining." Letty says, her voice low, and he smiles as his free hand moves to rest on the side of her face.

"Whoa, cool it with the PDA." A familiar voice gets their attention, and they both look up.

"Jason." Eric stands up to greet him, but his friend holds his hand up.

"Not now, buddy. Sorry." He says as he shakes his head. "Hope and I are both sick. Scar, we need you to take the girls for a bit."

"By myself?" The brunette raises her eyebrows. "I-I've never had them on my own before."

"I know, and I'm sorry. But Hope's practically dying, and I'm not doing much better. Believe me, this wasn't what we had planned when we decided to come out for a visit either."

"Yeah, okay." She nods, knowing that it's not their fault and they could really use the extra help for a bit. "Where are they?"

"In the car with Hope, but she's passed out. There was just no way that I could get them both down the stairs all on my own." Jason tells her, and she nods.

"Alright. Come on." She gets up.

"Can we get them into Eric's car? I have got to get Hope to a motel or something."

"Take my keys, I'm gonna pay for our food." Eric hands his girlfriend the car keys, and then she and their friend head back up to the parking lot.

One at a time, Jason transfers the twins' car seats to the back of Eric's car while Letty holds the baby whose seat he's working on. Eric jogs over and he smiles at the baby in his girlfriend's arms. "And who's this adorable little girl?" He asks as she reaches toward him.

"This is Joyce." Letty tells him. "And Jason's buckling Faith into the car." She says, and he nods.

"Right, the story of how Hope was doped up on painkillers, and she named them Faith and Joy."

"We'll give her a hard time later." She motions toward the other car where her friend's passed out in the front seat.

"Oh, wow, he wasn't kidding."

"Hey, Jase." The brunette gets his attention after he gets the second seat in place. "Don't go to a motel, take Hope back to my place. Reggie and Alec aren't home, but I'll call Tyler and let him know that you guys are coming. We've got a blow up mattress that I'll have him set up, and you can have Hope sleep in my bed. We'll keep the kids preoccupied while you guys get some rest."

"Are you sure about all that?" He asks, and she nods.

"We'll take 'em back to my house." Eric tells him. "My parents will be home too, and I'm sure they can help with babies for a bit." He says, and Jason nods.

"You guys are the best."

"Hey, my room's got a bathroom separate from the boys'. You're both free to use it. Get cleaned up, shower, whatever." Letty says. "Mi casa es tu casa."

"I love you. I'd kiss you, but I don't wanna get you sick. Eric, kiss the angelic woman." Jason says as he starts for his car. "I'll call you guys later."

"Is the baby stuff all loaded into the car?" Eric asks as he leans over and pecks his girlfriend's cheek, and Letty nods, a smile on her face again.

"All except this adorable little girl." The brunette says as she looks down at Joy. "Come on, gorgeous, let's get you buckled up."

They get back to the Matthews' house, and Eric's parents aren't home. They need to lay one of the girls down, so they head upstairs to the boys' bedroom. "Okay, perigee is to apogee as zenith is to a-nadir, b-cortex, or-sulfur?" Cory's asking Shawn as their older siblings walk into the room.

Eric goes to stand behind Shawn with Faith resting on his hip as Letty lays down a sleeping Joy on his bed. Shawn suddenly starts to groan as he clutches his head, and Eric's eyebrows furrow as he turns to glance at Letty. The younger boy's stammering something as the brunette sets up pillows on either side of the baby to keep her from rolling off the bed, and Cory gets up to open the window so that Shawn can crawl out.

"A-nadir." Eric says. "I'm right, aren't I?"

"Yeah." Cory nods as he walks over to him. "I thought you two were just going on a date, not baby collecting."

"Jason and Hope showed up — both sick. We're babysitting."

"And they trusted you with a baby?" He questions.

"I did just fine when we visited last Summer, thank you very much." The older boy argues.

"No, Scarlett did just fine, you just watched her." Cory reminds him. "And which one is this?" He asks as he reaches over and takes her tiny hand between his index finger and thumb.

"Faith."

"Right." He nods. "Hope, Faith, Joy. How strong were those drugs?" Cory looks at Letty, and she shrugs.

"I don't know." Letty takes a deep breath as she walks over and looks at Faith. "But I happen to think it's cute. Who doesn't need a little faith and joy in their lives?" She leans forward and kisses the baby's cheek, making her giggle.

Faith leans into Eric and rests her head on his shoulder, and he smiles as he looks at her. "What a little sweetheart." He kisses her forehead.

"How do you tell them apart?" Cory asks as he looks over at Joy.

"Besides the fact that Faith will probably be glued to your brother until she leaves, her hair's darker than Joy's." Letty tells him, and he nods. "I mean, I can see the differences in their faces, but that's the quickest way to tell."

"You should teach Eric that he's not supposed to play favorites."

"Hey, she chose me." The older boy argues, raising his eyebrows as he looks at his younger brother. "This is my new best friend. Get your own." He turns around and takes her back out of the room.

"I have to help him feed her." Letty starts, and Cory looks at her. "Can you keep an eye on Joy, and call me when she wakes up?"

"I don't have to actually do anything?" He asks, and she shakes her head.

"Not as long as she doesn't start to move the pillows to the point where she can accidentally fall off the bed. Then you are expected to adjust things." She tells him, and he nods.

"I think I can manage that."

"I'll be back up soon anyway. Faith's gonna need to be changed, and there's no way that Eric'll even try." She says.

"You know, that's probably a good thing anyway." He says, and she nods.

"Yeah, I don't wanna get stuck cleaning that mess." She shakes her head, and he makes a disgusted face as she leaves the room.

Letty walks into the kitchen, and Mrs. Matthews looks at her. "He's hogging the baby." She tells the teenager, and the brunette nods.

"Yeah, he does that."

"Where's her sister?"

"She's asleep upstairs. Cory's keeping an eye on her until she wakes up." She says. "She should be up soon, and then I'll gladly let you take over with her for a bit." Letty tells her, and she chuckles.

"So, Hope and Jason are sick?" She says, and the brunette nods.

"Yeah. Hope mentioned that she thought she was coming down with something, but I doubt she realized that she'd be so bad by the time they got here." The teenager says as she watches Eric pull apart pieces of bread and give small bits to Faith, who's sitting on the table in front of him as he feeds her. "And she and Jason are always together, so I'm not surprised that he got it too."

"Well, it's nice of you two to take the girls for them."

"These girls are my family too." Letty says as she looks at her. "And there's nothing that I wouldn't do for family."

"Yeah." Mrs. Matthews nods. "I've noticed that about you."

Letty and Eric spend the next few days babysitting, and now Letty's laying on the couch with Joy fast asleep on her chest. The teenager's legs are stretched out on the couch, her feet in Eric's lap, and he has Faith. He's slouched into the cushions, and the baby's head is on his shoulder as he rubs her back.

Neither of them hears when his parents walk into the room from the entrance by the backdoor, and Mrs. Matthews smiles as her husband wraps his arms around her shoulders from behind while they take in the picture before them. "It's been a long time since we've had any babies in this house." She says, and he nods. "It was sweet watching them run around with the twins."

"Mhm." He agrees. "Hopefully it's still a few years off before they have any of their own."

"Letty calls them her perfect little birth control." Eric says suddenly, and they both look over at him. His head's resting against the top of the couch and his eyes are closed; they thought both teenagers were asleep. "I'm gonna die a virgin." He tells them, and Letty chuckles.

"I can't accidentally get pregnant if we're not having sex." The brunette says.

"You're on birth control."

"Which isn't a hundred percent effective." She argues.

"You're on the pill?" Mrs. Matthews asks, and she nods her head, the motion very slight.

"For a little over a year now. You took me to the appointment when I got them." She tells her.

"Right. You needed them to help with..." She nods. "I remember now."

"I know how condoms work." Eric speaks up again. "I saw that stupid video with the banana in health class." He says, and Letty tries to keep from laughing so she won't disturb Joy.

"You really wanna continue this discussion in front of your parents while both of us have a baby on our chest?" Letty questions.

"I haven't slept in twenty-four hours. I can talk about anything."

"Like you retaking the S.A.T.s to improve your scores so we can apply to colleges together?" She asks, and he takes a deep breath.

"I've been thinkin' about it." He tells her, and she opens her eyes to look at him.

"Really?" She asks.

"Yeah." He was going to nod, but stopped himself because Faith's forehead is pressed into his neck and he doesn't want to disturb her. "I do listen when you talk." He says, and she smiles.

"She's good for him." Mr. Matthews whispers as he kisses the side of his wife's head.

"They're good for each other." She counters, and he nods as they continue to listen to their son and his girlfriend.