There really is no place like home. We spent our first couple days at home just laying around and watching movies, which was nice, but eventually laundry had to be done and my suitcase needed to be unpacked. I was just hanging up more sonograms in the wall in my room when Jack came bounding in.
"I just remembered! I have a big surprise for you. Come on!" He grabbed my hand and drug out of my room and down to his office. He opened the door. I walked in and gasped. The room has been completely redone. The walls were painted a soft orange color. Where the desk had been there was a crib and where there had once been bookshelves was now a dresser. A mobile was hung over the crib and a rocking chair stood in one corner.
"Is it okay?"
"It's perfect!" I sat down in the rocking chair and rocked gently. Just then the doorbell rang.
"I'll be right back." Jack said and left.
"Baby girl!"
"Coming!" I hauled myself up out of the rocking chair and headed down the hall. Lisa and Alex were standing in the kitchen with Jack.
"Get your shoes on, Princess, clock's ticking." Alex said.
"What?"
"Shoes. On your feet. It's not rocket science." Alex said. I stuck my tongue out at him. He chuckled and I walked over to the door to find my shoes.
"Why am I doing this?" I asked after I had my shoes on.
"We have places to be and things to do. Let's go!" Alex linked his arm through mine and pulled me out the door.
"See ya later, Baby girl. Have fun." And then the door shut. We got in the car and I asked,
"Where are we going?"
"Shopping!" Lisa said.
"Why?"
"That's classified information that you do not have the clearance to know." Alex said. I rolled my eyes.
We spent almost three hours at the mall. I had two cups of coffee and tried on a ridiculous number of dresses. Eventually I found one that fit, was flattering and really cute. Then they bought me a pair of red ballet flats to go with it.  Even though I told them not to. Then we went to their house where they got dressed up and I put on my new dress, Lisa did my hair and makeup and then we were in the car again.
  Our destination was a high school gym. We got out and Alex offered me his arm. I took it and Lisa led the way inside. It was dark.
"Hello?" The lights came on and I actually teared up. There was a banner on the wall facing me that said Annalise's Prom and balloons were all over the place. There was a table with refreshments on one side. Standing in the middle of the room was Jack, Rian, Rian's girlfriend, Bryan, Ashley, and a few others from the tour crew. Jack walked over, gave a half bow and offered me his hand.
It had completely slipped my mind that I had mentioned to Jack that I wanted to go to prom.
"May I have this dance?" I nodded and took his hand.
"Music, maestro!" He called. Music began playing. We spun and laughed and smiled. It was perfect. After Jack I danced with Alex and then Rian. Then Jack got everyone to be quiet and pulled a sheet of paper from his pocket.
"The votes are in. So due to a completely unanimous vote our prom queen is. . . Annalise Barakat." Everyone cheered and I hid my face behind my hands. I walked over beside him and he placed a plastic tiara in my head.
"And our prom king is. . . Alex Gaskarth. I have no idea how that happened, but lucky him." Jack said while clapping. Alex came over and Jack put a second plastic tiara on his head. Alex and I took a selfie together and then danced again. I told Leo all about it that night when we got home. It was perfect. Right up until I got an hour of sleep and could barely stay upright the next day, but I tried my hardest not to complain. I think that's when Jack started getting suspicious about my sleeping habits. I think he started to pick up on my insomnia.
——
"So," Jack said over breakfast two days later, "My parents are coming for a visit. And my sister's coming too."
"Oh. Cool. Um. . . Do they know about Baby girl?" By total accident I had started referring to her as Baby girl. I hadn't decided on a name yet, so it was really the best I could do.
"Yeah. At least Mom and May do, I assume Mom told Dad." I nodded.
"Are they all staying here?"
"No. We don't have enough room. May is getting hotel rooms for them, even though I told her I'd do it."
"When will they be here?"
"Three days."
"We need to go grocery shopping before then." He glanced around the kitchen.
"Why? We can feed them old bananas and stale cereal. It'll be great!"
"No. Just no." He laughed.
"We'll go tomorrow."
——
Three days went by fast. Too fast. Before I knew it they were arriving any minute. I was in the basement doing laundry.
I heard the door open, but I was a little preoccupied with trying to get the laundry out of the washer. I sighed.
"Dad!" I yelled just as he yelled, "Baby girl?"
"What?" We yelled at the same time and then giggled.
"I need help! Please!" I called up the stairs. He came running down the stairs.
"What's up?"
"I can't get the laundry out of the washer." I pouted. He laughed and pulled the wet laundry out of the washer. "Doing laundry is hard enough when you're as short as I am, being pregnant just makes it ten times harder."
"We should have a front load washer." He said.
"Make my life easier." I agreed.
"My parents are here."
"I'm here too, dumbass." A female voice called down.
"Oh yeah. Her too."
"Ok. Let me just start another load and I'll be right up. Oh and if you could take that basket up with you that would be wonderful." I said.
"Sure thing." He grabbed the basket and ran back upstairs. I started another load and then followed him.
"Baby girl?" He called again when I was about halfway up the stairs.
"Coming. Sorry. Stairs aren't as easy as they used to be." I waddled up the stairs as fast as I could. I reached the top breathing hard.
"I'm here. Finally." Jack smiled and pulled out into the middle of the kitchen.
"Baby girl, these are my parents Joyce and Bassam and my sister, May. Guys, this is Annalise." I waved slightly.
"Hi."
"It's wonderful to meet you, sweetheart!" Joyce said and wrapped me in a hug.
"You too." When Joyce let me go May gave me a hug.
"It's nice to meet you. Jack talks about you a lot."
"I didn't even know you existed until four days ago. So take from that what you will." May turned to face Jack with her hands on her hips.
"That's just plain rude." She said.
"Sorry?" He asked with a smile.
"You sound really sorry." He stuck his tongue out at her.
"Stop bickering, you children. God. I thought you're were adults." Joyce said.
"Are we still talking about Jack and May?" Bassam asked. Everyone laughed.
A short while later Jack and Bassam went for a walk. Joyce, May and I were standing in the kitchen talking.
"So how far along are you?" Joyce asked.
"Four and a half months."
"About half way, then."
"Yeah. Do you guys wanna see the baby's room?" They nodded and I led them down the hall.
"Oh, it's so cute. Did you pick the color?" May asked.
"Nope. It was all Dad."
"Inside he's nothing but a softie." May said.
"Wanna see the sonograms?" They nodded and I led them into my room.
"So it's a girl then?" Joyce asked. I nodded. We continued to talk about my baby girl untilau noticed a picture of Leo and I on my wall.
"Who's the guy?"
"Leo."
"And who's Leo?"
"My boyfriend and my best friend." She smiled and nodded.
"Oh is that the boy Zack adopted?" Joyce asked.
"Yeah." We talked about Leo and my baby until Jack and Bassam got back.
After supper they all headed to their hotel. Jack and I watched a movie and then went to bed. I laid awake for a long time texting with Leo.
My insomnia had reached its worst point. I would lay awake in bed till midnight, finally fall asleep, just to be up for the day at three thirty. I  made a cup of hot chocolate and read my book until quarter to seven and then decided to get showered and dressed. After my shower I made a cup of coffee and walked into the living room since the couch was more comfortable than the chairs at the dinner table. Jack was sitting on the couch with a cup of coffee and a bowl of cereal.
"Morning." I said and sat down beside him on the couch.
"Morning, Baby girl. How long have you been up?"
"Six." He sighed and sat his empty bowl on the coffee table.
"Don't lie, please." And that confirmed that he knew about my insomnia.
"Three thirty." I said and looked down at my lap.
"Why didn't you tell me you were having trouble sleeping?"
"I didn't want to worry you. You've got other things in your life. You don't need to always be worried about me."
"Baby girl, look at me." I did. I was starting to tear up. Stupid hormones. "You come first. No exceptions. Not even Zack or the band can take that place. Got it?" I nodded. I wiped under my eyes and sniffed. I scooted closer to him and he wrapped his arms around me. "How long have you had insomnia?"
"About June. I was used to sharing a bed at Allison's so the first couple weeks I lived with you were fine, but then once we were better I was back in my room, alone. And going on tour only made it worse."
"You had to share beds at Allison's?" I shook my head.
"No. Leo got really bad nightmares and liked to come crawl in bed with me. He said holding me helped." Thinking about Leo brought on a new wave of tears. I started crying and then, exhausted from everything in my life and feeling comfortable leaning against Jack I fell asleep.
  I woke sometime later when I heard the front door open. I didn't open my eyes or move though. I was warm and comfy.
"Hey. Is she okay?" I heard May ask.
"Yeah. Yeah, just overtired and stressed." Jack replied. He carefully lifted me just enough for him to get off the couch and then put a pillow under my head and threw a blanket over me. I never went back to sleep, but I laid there for a little bit longer. I was actually comfortable and when you're four and half months pregnant that's not an easy thing to come by.
About an hour later I decided to get up. The four of them were sitting at the table drinking coffee and chatting. Good mornings were exchanged and I warmed up the cup of coffee I never got around to drinking after my shower. Jack's phone was sitting on the counter by the microwave. It was vibrating against the counter repeatedly and the screen kept lighting up as more texts came in. Most of them from Alex. I picked up the phone and took it and my coffee over to the table.
"Alex is texting you. I think he's starting to panic because you aren't replying." I said and handed Jack his phone as I sat down. Jack opened his phone and began typing. Silence settled over the table for a few seconds before May struck up a conversation about people I didn't know. Jack grinned and giggled at his phone.
"What are you laughing at?" May asked.
"Nothing. Just Alex." May gave him a very knowing look, but returned to her conversation with their parents. Jack texted Alex for a few more minutes and then joined the conversation at the table.
——
Before we knew it their trip was ending. May left first on Saturday after repeatedly telling me I could text whenever because she knew that living with guy meant not having girly talk all the time. Sunday morning Joyce and Bassam left as well. Our lives went back to normal. We kept preparing for baby girl and we FaceTimed with Zack and Leo as often as we could. Jack knowing about my insomnia was sort of a nightmare because he insisted I take an afternoon nap. I did it, but I never slept more than an hour and a half. I knew he was just trying to help, but it still got on my nerves.
As March reached it's end I realized it had been almost a year since I became Annalise Barakat. So much had happened and so much more would. It was all new and scary, but with my family beside me everything would be okay. Somehow.