1.8 - It's a ...

  "Uh, hi, I was just wondering when I should come in, my water broke a few minutes ago..."
  ...
  "Okay, we'll be there soon."

  "Sully?"
  "Hmm? I think I should take Bella out before we go. She's going to be alone for at least a few hours."

  Screw that, Iantha thought as she grabbed her bike. I can do this on my own. It's not too painful.

  Iantha gave a dirty look to the paramedic who watched her ride up. The paramedic was just wondering why Iantha didn't just call an ambulance to bring her in. Truthfully, Iantha forgot until she saw the paramedic standing outside.

  Sixteen hours, a lot of pain, an epidural, and one popsicle that did not stay down, Jordan Scarlett Crosse made her way quietly into the world.

  After bringing her home from the hospital, Iantha wished her daughter had remained as quiet as had been at birth.

  They spent the next few months doing the same routine. Eat, sleep, change, eat, walk, play, sleep, eat... ETC.
  Iantha couldn't help but wish she could go back to work.

  "Whose daddy's precious little girl?" Sully cooed. He loved snuggling with his baby girl. And would keep giving Iantha puppy dog eyes for another. She wasn't having it.

  It didn't take much time at all before a special little girl had her first birthday!
  "Make a wish, Jordan!"

1.7 - Surprise!

  "Sully? Want to go on a walk?"
  "Sure?"
  Iantha laughed. "I just want to spend some time with you, and the puppy could use a walk too."
  As soon as she heard 'walk', Missy was already at the door, tag wagging.
  "I guess Missy made my decision for me."

  After letting Missy sniff around some bushes and run after a stick several times, Iantha pulled Sully over to a bench, telling him to sit down.
  "I'll stand. Just in case I need to run away. Please don't tell me zombies are taking over the world."
  "No. Something better. We're having a baby!"
  "Uh, what? Are you serious?"
  "Mhm, I just got the results back from my doctor this morning."
  "That's amazing!"

  "Iantha, I was planning on making this more romantic at some point, but since you just told me something that made me incredibly happy, I just can't wait. Will you marry me?"
  "Of course!"

  After Sully went to throw the stick for Missy a few more times before they headed home, Patricia Bedington stopped Iantha. "Congratulations," she said. "On both your new baby and your impending marriage."
  "Thank you."

  Deciding to find somewhere cheaper to live so they could save up more money, Sully found a little duplex for them to stay in for a few months. There was only one bedroom, so it would be a tight squeeze, but he felt it was worth it.

  Missy spent much of her time snuggling up with Iantha. Even though the baby would kick her in the face if she rested her chin on Iantha's belly.

  Sully also spent much of his time with Iantha. They'd grown up together, and now he couldn't believe that they were starting their own family.

  Instead of a huge wedding, the two decided to just exchange rings in their living room. Neither wanted to have his family descended on them. And they figured all the money that would go to a wedding would be better spent on the house of their dreams.

  "I love you."
  "I love you more."

A/N: Babies who are sick suck. Since the beginning of the month my son has had a lovely cold that just would not go away. And he's now at an elevated risk for ear infections in the next month. And there's a tooth that keeps pressing up but just will not poke through. And then we were going to move, but our transfer was denied due to a bit of kitty litter. :| It's been a wonderful month.

1.6 - Puppy

  "Bark"
  "Uh. Sully?"
  "Isn't she so adorable?! I thought we could work on learning how to take care of a pet before we decided to have a baby."
  Iantha rolled her eyes. "You just wanted a puppy." In truth, she was a little disappointed. She wanted to have a baby before her career took off so she wouldn't have to take time off later when it mattered more.
 

  Instead of letting her disappointment down, Iantha turned on a local radio station so she could begin her daily workout before their afternoon date at the festival.
  While tired afterwards, she always felt so much better after doing a workout. There was just something about pushing herself as much as could that got her blood pumping.

  The first thing Sully pulled her over to was a couple of barriers put up for water balloon fights. Naturally, Iantha won.

  Sully decided that since he was hungry, the hot dog eating contest would be perfect for him. Iantha begged off, the thought of food just made her sick to her stomach. So instead, Marisol Lobbs, Kurt Shallow and Walter Grisby joined him.

  Sully finished his plate well before the others, so the organizer gave him a new plate to see how many more he could polish off before the others finished theirs. He managed another three. As a reward, he got to take his plate home. Iantha gagged.

  Iantha pulled Sully over to go roller skating. She loved it, while Sully had never been. They spent quite a bit of time going around in a circle. It made Sully a little dizzy.

  Back home after the festival closed for the night, Sully pulled Iantha down to sit on the grass behind their house. There were no lights to pollute the sky, so the two spent half the night pointing out different stars and constellations to each other.

A/N: Note, once a baby can crawl, you have no time to do anything. Turn your back to do dishes and your child is trying to squish themselves under the couch. :|

1.5 - Graduation

 Iantha walked into her final exam feeling very confident. She'd spent the previous day in the library studying all day long. She left once to get some food and drink about a gallon of coffee, but until she fell asleep and the librarian kicked her out, it was her home away from home.
  As it was, her professor admitted at the end of her exam that he expected her to pass with flying colours just based on her course work alone.

  Similarly, Sullivan also felt great going to his exams. Despite some of the ongoings of the semester, he felt like he got a good amount of studying in. He didn't expect to get perfect, but hoped to put in a good showing.

  Sullivan was very happy to have received his diploma later in the week. Exams had come back, and overall, Sullivan was in the top ten. He was proud of himself, and with school now done with, he was looking forward to beginning his adult life.

  The perfect grade was no surprise to Iantha. Her favourite professor had told her she was the second top student that year for her program. He promised that any teams that asked about her, he was going to give a glowing recommendation. When she told him that she would be moving to Riverview, he immediately told her that he would contact the head coach there and to expect a letter when she arrived welcoming her to the team.

  "Let's get some lunch to celebrate," Sully suggested.
  "Hamburgers?" Iantha asked. She hadn't let herself eat any unhealthy food all year. If they were going to celebrate, she wanted something good.
  Sully laughed. "If that's what you want."
  "It is."

  It didn't take long for Iantha to pack her belongings. And soon, other than forgetting to make her bed. She left her side of the room exactly how she arrived in it. She said goodbye to her roommate, and brought her things down to the moving van that was waiting.

  Sully had his clothes and his school books. He had brought nothing more with him, and had refused to buy anything of the sort while at school. It would be time to buy new things when he reached his new life.

  "I know it's small. And ugly. But there's a house that I think would be perfect for us, but we need to save up a bit for it first."
  "As long as we're together, I don't care where we are," Iantha was already planning on how she could renovate their new home.

1.4 - The Future

  Iantha really wasn't sure why she chose to hide at the beach. It was always her go to spot in Sunset Valley. It would be obvious to Sully where she went. Unfortunately, there was only one road to the beach, so if she left, she would run into Sullivan anyway. So she figured she may as well stay.

  As predicted, it didn't take long for Sully to find her. The two settled on some nearby seats and silence descended on them.
  Finally, after what seemed like hours, Sully spoke. "I was trying to make you jealous."
  Iantha snorted. "It worked."
  "I know. I'm sorry. Mika said it was bad idea. She told me to just talk to you. That was the point of the party. She was trying to help me. I just didn't expect that the guys would spike the punch and we'd end up even more drunk."
  "So falling into bed was not meant to happen?"
  "I wanted it to happen eventually. Just I'd rather have been dating you first."
 

  They talked at the beach for a few hours before Sully suggested heading back to their dorm to continue talking. It was nearly morning when they finally made it back.
  "Now what?" Iantha asked.
  Sully shrugged. "It's up to you. We can go back to just being friends if that's what you want."
  "I don't know what I want."

 "I'm going to go try and get a bit of sleep before heading to the library. But I want to tell you one last thing."
  "What?"
  "We graduate soon. I'm not going back to Sunset Valley. I want away from my family, and my father wants a branch of the family business set up in Riverview. So that's where I'm headed. My father said he'd look for a house for me, and use my savings to purchase it for me."
  "I see..." Iantha trailed off. She had nowhere to go. She'd grown up with a foster family in Sunset Valley after her parents had died in a car accident. They'd made it clear to her that once she left them, she wasn't welcome back.
  "I was wondering if you'd be willing to move with me? Even if we just stay friends, it would be nice to have my best friend with me."
  "Really?"
  "They have a great sports team there, and they'll be hiring soon too..."
  "I'd love to move with you!" Iantha said happily.
  With a huge smile, Sully gave Iantha a quick hug before practically running up to bed.

A/N: I'm reduced to only being able to play when my son is napping. :( Unless his daddy is home to entertain him.

1.3 - Best Friends

  "Summer time is the best!" Sullivan exclaimed.
  "It's even better when you are the better astronaut," Iantha laughed.
  Playing Space Ships was her favourite. Sullivan wasn't quite as much of a fan as she was, but Iantha was his best friend, so he didn't mind playing what she wanted once in a while.

  "Hey, Iantha, we're best friends, right?"
  Iantha laughed. "Of course!"
  "My dad said that I should marry my best friend. So, will you marry me, Iantha, that way we'll stay best friends forever?"
  Iantha thought for a moment. "I think we're too young to get married. We aren't grown ups yet."
  Sullivan frowned for a moment before a smile overtook his face again. "That's okay. I can ask again when you think we're old enough."

  The two friends quickly went back to playing.
  "I can swing higher than you can!" Iantha shouted.
  "Cannot!" came the reply.

  "Can I tell you a secret?" Iantha asked.
  "I promise I won't tell."
  "I won a scholarship to Dribbledine Sports Academy. I leave at the end of the summer. It's for the rest of elementary school, and for high school."
  Sullivan took a moment before he replied. He was happy for his best friend, he knew that more than anyone she deserved to go. But that meant she was leaving him behind. "That's really cool."
  Iantha sighed. "You aren't happy."
  "No, I am. I'm just sad that we won't be able to make trouble in Mrs. Anderson's class together."
  "Make plenty extra for me."

  "Iantha?"
  "Yeah?"
  "I'll always be your best friend. No matter where you are."

1.2 - Party

  Classes started out wonderfully. Iantha spent most of her time in the stadium, either with her classes, or with the rugby team that she had joined. Either way she was doing something that she loved. The jocks at the school had invited her to join their club, and Iantha was thrilled to find people who enjoyed the same things as her.
  It was a huge change from home where being a girl got her excluded at school from almost every sports team.

  Sullivan thought that listening to professors drone on about boring subjects would bore him. He was surprised to learn that he much prefered learning in university than high school. There was a completely different atmosphere and it definitely helped him with his learning.
  He was more motivated to go to the library and complete homework on time. In fact, he was rarely seen at his dorm as he enjoyed studying and would spend hours at the library, he was quite happy to learn that the library never closed.

  He set his books aside to go out on a date with Mika, though he had a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach as he got ready. He thought she was fairly pretty, and figured they'd have a decent time out.
  "Your mind is not completely here," Mika stated after greeting Sully at the coffee shop.
  Sullivan smiled, trying to block out his thoughts of Iantha. "No, it's here, would you like to go inside?"
  "How about we just go in as friends?" Mika smiled back. "I don't think you're quite ready for an actual date.
  Sullivan cursed people who could read him easily. "How'd you know?"
  "I room with Iantha."
  "Oh."
  "She loves you, you know."
  "I know."

  With just a bit of jealously that she tried her best to stamp out, Iantha began spending more of her time at the gym. She didn't want to be back at the dorm and see Sullivan kiss anyone. That would probably break her heart.
  "Hey, you almost done with that machine, my buddy wants on."
  Iantha gave a dirty look to the boy using the other treadmill. "Too bad."

  For some reason, once a week they had a class that the professor made them go outside for. They were to do something fun, or study. Iantha had a hacky sack that she kicked around. It was professor approved to do.
  But, kicking it around helped her bad mood just a tad.

  There were a few lectures that Sullivan really wished he could fall asleep for. But he remained awake and with notes that would actually end up surprising the professor on how complete they were.
  To be honest though, without those notes, Sully wouldn't even remember the topic of the lecture. He wasn't even sure the professor remembered.

  Mika had invited both Sully and Iantha to a party at her friends house. She was hoping that drinking might get them to admit their feelings to each other. Despite playing some beer pong together, neither of the pair said much. Though Sully spent much of the game glaring at the boy next to Iantha who kept staring down her dress.

  Somehow, they both ended up in one of the bedrooms upstairs. After sex that the beer made seem so much better, they settled on either side of the bed to talk. Most of it was idle chatter until it just died away.
  Finally, after several minutes of silence, Sullivan spoke again. "I love you."

  Not sure how to react, Iantha ran off.