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Conrad sat with Steven and held Maeve in his lap. Steven and Taylor had just moved down to San Francisco as he and Denise started working to get their company running.

"So, have you and Liz talked about when the wedding is gonna be?"

"Soon hopefully." Conrad nods, "She wants Maeve to at least be walking before then."

"Makes sense." He says, "What about you? Are you ready?"

"Of course, I am." Conrad chuckles, "All I've ever wanted was to be with her. Marrying her is all I can think about sometimes."

Steven smiles fondly, "Damn, man. You guys really got your whole life figured out together."

"Yeah, well, I have her to thank for it." Conrad says before shrugging, "I don't know where I would've been if she hadn't gone after me at the motel."

"Probably miserable."

"Definitely miserable." He says as the two chuckle, "She's never given up on me and I just want to make sure I give her anything she's ever wanted. She deserves it."

Steven nods knowingly before looking down at Maeve, "She's got her whole face."

"I know." Conrad smiles looking down at her, "She's beautiful."

"God, I can't believe you guys actually had a kid." He says leaning forward on his knees, "That's crazy."

"Every time she does something it amazes me." Conrad says

"Maybe one of these days we can all meet up at the summer house again."

"Yeah." Conrad mutters, "I want her to see house."

"We gotta do it soon, man. Maybe we can get Belly to come down." Steven says, "If you guys are cool with it."

"As long as Liz is."

Steven nods, "One day."

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It was a Saturday a few months later. A rare Saturday where both Liz and Conrad were home with Maeve and would be for the entire day. Liz had recently started working again. Though she liked the idea of working, she hated leaving Maeve a little bit more. And that made it hard.

She had recently started crawling. Which meant getting into any and everything, but Liz loved it. They both did.

The three sat in the living room. Liz sat against the couch with laundry in front of her. Conrad laid on the ground with Maeve and played with any toy the girl held up. Maeve giggled as Conrad flipped her teddy bear around.

She looked around and hummed as she reached for another toy. As she began crawling away, she babbled, "Mama."

Liz's head whipped around while Conrad froze. He looked over at her as her eyes went wide, "What did she say? Did she just say mama?"

Conrad sat up, "Sweetheart, come here." Maeve cooed as Conrad set her on his lap. He rubbed her arm, "Hey, can you say mama? Mama?"

Maeve hummed as she stared up at him, "Mama."

Liz gasped as Conrad smiled wide, "Good job."

"Oh my god. I'm gonna cry." Liz whines, "Good job, baby."

Conrad kissed the top of her head, "Good job, sweetheart. Can you say dada?"

Maeve is quiet for a few seconds as she looks around. She hums as she pushed away to reach for another toy, "Mama."

"No." Conrad playfully groaned as Liz giggled

"Good job, honey." Liz smiles

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Thanksgiving came around again and the plan was for everyone to meet at the summer house. Liz could admit she was nervous. She hadn't seen or talked to her parents in over 6 months. It was still up in the air on whether or not Belly was gonna show, but the pit still settled in her stomach.

Conrad's hand brushed her back as they walked onto the porch. He opened the door and let her in first before entering.

"There they are." Dakota says walking over, "Hey, Maeve." The girl smiled wide as Dakota took her, "You're so big now. Holy smokes."

"Lizzie." River beams as she pulls Liz into a hug, "Ugh, I missed you guys."

"I missed you, too." She says pulling away.

River hugs Conrad quickly before turning to Maeve, "Hi, pretty girl."

Laurel walks over next with a warm smile, "Hi, you two."

"Hey, Laur." Conrad says hugging her

"How are you guys?" Laurel asks before hugging Liz

"We're good. How are you?" Liz asks

"I'm great." She says as she looks around before shaking her head, "Dakota stole Maeve."

"Yeah." Conrad smiles as Liz laughs, "Saw that coming."

•••

It was a few hours later. Around 4. Jeremiah had arrived along with Steven and Taylor. Liz's parents had pretty much been silent. Speaking to everyone except Liz, which would have hurt her a few months ago, but now, she couldn't find it in herself to care anymore. She had spent too much time trying to make sure she did things right by her parents.

She had so many things going good to try and parent them. To constantly coddle them and do things just to make them happy. If they wanted to tip-toe around her and sit in a corner to pout, they could. She wasn't going to let it affect her anymore.

She stood in the kitchen ready to make another bottle for Maeve. She dug through the diaper bag in search of the bottle, but couldn't find it. She walked into the living room and leaned over the back of the couch.

"Hey, have you seen Maeve's bottle?"

Conrad leaned back, "It's not in the bag?"

"No." Liz says, "It probably fell in the car."

"You want me to go grab it?" He asks sitting up

"No, no, it's fine." She says holding out her hand, "I'll grab it."

"Are you sure?"

"Mhm." She nods. He grabs the keys from his pocket and hands it to her. She walks out of the front door and over to the car. As soon as she opens the back door, she finds the bottle lying on the floor. She shakes her head with a smile and grabs the bottle.

When she stands upright, a car pulls into the driveway. It stops just as Liz shuts the door and locks it. Someone then steps out with a bag. As they look up, Liz locks eyes with Belly.

The car drives off as Belly steps closer. She smiles nervously, "Hi."

"Hi." Liz says. Taking her in. Her hair was a lot shorter, her features a bit more mature, "We didn't think you'd make it."

"Yeah, my flight got delayed." She chuckles

"Right." Liz nods, "We should head inside. Everybody's waiting for you."

"Oh."

Liz turns back to her, "I like your hair, by the way. It's nice."

Belly smiles following her onto the porch, "Thank you."

Liz pushes the door open, "Look who's here."

•••

Hours later, after everyone had dinner and were now simply winding down to comfortably enjoy the rest of their night, Belly found herself wandering upstairs. She hadn't been back at the house in a while and hadn't had the opportunity to walk around as she normally did when she was here.

As she took slow steps down the hall, she stops right outside of Liz's room. She watched as Liz held Maeve with her head resting on her shoulder. She swayed her back and forth and hummed gently.

She hadn't meant to stop and stare, but seeing Liz take on motherhood so effortlessly left her speechless. The girl she had known her whole life was now a mother.

Liz turns and Belly's eyes widen. She holds her hands up and whispers, "I'm sorry. I didn't- I didn't mean to stare or be weird."

Liz shakes her head, "It's fine."

"I just.." Belly then chuckles softly, "I don't know. I never thought about seeing you like this. I never really thought about any of us having kids."

"Me neither." Liz says, "She makes it easy though."

Belly smiles gently as Liz looks down at Maeve. Her eyelashes kissed her cheeks as she let out small breaths. She stepped over to the bassinet and set her down gently. When Maeve squirmed, Liz rubbed the side of her head softly. Then stepped back as she settled.

Liz walked over toward Belly, "I'm actually kind of glad River bought that last Christmas."

"Yeah." Belly chuckles. A small moment of silence falls over them as they watched Maeve for a few seconds. Belly looks over at Liz, "It was really nice to see everyone."

"Yeah." Liz nods tucking her hair behind her ear, "Hopefully we can keep meeting up as a family. I really want her to know the summer house."

Belly frowns slightly, "You would want me to be here?"

Liz looks over at her, "You're family, Belly. It's your house just as much as it is mine."

"I didn't know if you'd want me around or even Jere." She scoffs

"What happened between us happened. I'm not gonna say we're close or even friends." She says truthfully. The sentence hit Belly deep, "But I'm not gonna make you feel uncomfortable around your family and everyone else. I can be cordial."

"Do you think we could ever be friends again?" Belly asks abruptly

Liz bit her lip and shrugged, "I don't know. I know that I'm not allowing people to hurt me and just forgiving them for the sake of keeping the peace anymore. I've done that way too much."

"I understand."

"I can't speak for the next year or five, but for right now, I just need time."

Belly nods, "Of course."

Liz nods with a small smile before walking away. Leaving Belly with the weight of her words.

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