Run, Girl (If You Can)

Jennica had a day off of rehearsals so she ended up going to Keeley's house and helping with the babies for a while. Her musical was going to start in two weeks and unless it somehow made it big, would run for the next four months. It would be nice to spend some time with her friend before things got too hectic.

She had to admit, Violet and Kaleb made her baby hungry. They were adorable, relatively well-behaved infants. Jennica wasn't sure if they were naturally calm or if it was because Keeley and Aaron were such good parents.

The babies were pretty spoiled though. The only times they cried (other than being hungry or needing a diaper change) were when they wanted to be held. Once you gave them attention they stopped crying as if a switch was flipped.

"If all babies were as chill as yours, more people would want kids," Jennica said with a laugh as she bounced Kaleb on her knees.

Keeley smiled. "My dad keeps telling me to wait until they're toddlers and that I shouldn't get complacent."

That was a fair statement. Benny was adorable but he could also be a little terror. Chasing after him was always fun for a little while but Jennica was always happy to hand him back to Alison to deal with any real problems.

Once she was a mother, there would be no one to hand a toddler back to. She supposed there was Cameron but he was usually at work. But if Keeley could manage two babies on her own while Aaron was at the office, she could handle one.

As much as Jennica wanted to get pregnant, she needed to wait until her musical was done. Keeley's morning sickness had been pretty bad for a while; if she had a similar problem it would not do to throw up in the middle of a performance. She could only imagine the negative reviews the show would get.

This show needed to do well for the sake of her resume. Unlike movie stars, stage actors weren't expected to look young and beautiful forever. Many famous stage actors didn't get their big breaks until they were in their 30s or even later.

Knowing this, she was content taking a break from auditioning to care for a baby for a few years. It didn't even matter if she ever made it big, to be perfectly honest. Her bills were covered by Cameron's job.

Jennica was able to act now because she loved it. When she had to pay for everything herself she did a lot of things she didn't particularly like in order to pay the bills. Like dinner theater, ugh. She got the chills just thinking about how bad that had been.

"Do you think they take after you or Aaron more?" she asked conversationally. She needed to stay focused on the topic at hand.

"Aside from Violet's hair, right now they look a lot more like my baby pictures than Aaron's."

Imagining Aaron as a baby was nearly impossible. She had seen the lighter side of him a few times since he and Keeley got married but the man was still intimidating. Jennica had never even seen him laugh. Did he even know how?

Sometimes she wondered how on earth her cheerful, kind of goofy friend ended up with someone like him. It was a bit baffling, really. She and Cameron had speculated about it more than once.

He was more surprised that Aaron was interested in Keeley when it was the reverse for Jennica. She supposed it was because they each knew their respective friends well. Cameron had been exposed to more of Aaron's ice than she had, while Jennica knew how much Keeley supposedly hated her ex-boyfriend.

She really had been worried that Aaron forced her to get married at first. Her concern lessened over time when she saw how happy and relaxed her friend was around her husband. Keeley had the guts to tease him and unlike when Cameron or Aiden did it, he didn't seem annoyed. If anything, he seemed to enjoy it.

They had such a bizarre relationship. Nobody knew what to think of it. But that wasn't what mattered; Keeley and Aaron were happy, in love, and had two beautiful children. Things had worked out for them in the end, no matter how many unanswered questions their friends had.

"I wonder if they'll look like him more as they grow," Jennica mused.

Her friend shrugged. "They might. Or our next child might end up being his mini me. Who knows?"

"You plan to have more then?"

"Oh yeah, I've always wanted a bunch of kids. What about you? How many do you want?"

Cameron had come from a big family but he didn't want to perpetuate the chaos he had grown up in. But he did want more than one so their children could have siblings.

Jennica thought that sounded like an excellent idea. Two kids would be perfect. Her childhood had been fairly enjoyable just having Brian around.

"Probably two. I don't have as much energy as you do," she chuckled.

Keeley smiled. "Nothing wrong with that! It'll be fun raising our kids together. I never had cousins and Kaleb and Violet won't either so close family friends are the next best thing."

Despite the smile on her face, she gave off an obvious air of sadness. She was probably thinking of how her brother hadn't lived long enough to see his niece or nephew. Jennica didn't know much about the situation; only that Keeley's mother and brother had died before she even reached high school.

It was amazing how cheerful she managed to be despite that. Jennica honestly couldn't say how upset she would be if she lost her mother since Anna usually drove her crazy but if she lost Brian…

She worried about that sometimes since he was in the military. But he had been on countless deployments now and nothing had ever happened. There was no need to get worked up over it. He would probably be fine.