Things Are Changing [Lilian]

[NATALIE MARIE WINTERS]

Natalie hopped on the bus and took the next bus to her grandmothers house. She needed to talk to her grandmother and it's been a while since she had seen her because of how busy she's been in school. She used to be on the cheer team and she's part of the drama club and the writing club so in her free time she's busy going to meetings, practices and anything else associated with being in those clubs. But there was one thing she managed to have time to do. That was to see her college boyfriend. 

Andrew Peters is the guy that Natalie has been seeing for a while now, about a year. She met him one day while at Barnes and Nobles and the two clicked immediately. They spent hours talking about whatever and by the end of their time, he had asked her to go out with him on a date. It didn't take long for them to become official and start the dating process. That was a year ago and things were going amazingly well for the two of them. 

Natalie got off the bus down the street from her grandmothers. She smiled at the thought of her being mere seconds away from seeing her grandmother. Growing up she was always close to her grandmother. She told her everything and spent a lot of time with her. Natalie climbed the steps to the house and she unlocked the door and stepped inside, "Grandma?" Natalie called shutting the door behind her. 

[LILLIAN MINERVA WINTERS]

Lily sighed as she read over the case brief. She had a few weeks before she was expected to make a court appearance. There was no doubt in her mind that she'd excel and win this case. After all, her success rate was very high. She hardly ever lost a case, especially now. In fact, the only cases she had lost were back when she was first beginning. Back when her idealism completely overshadowed her realism. She had been a rather emotional woman in her youth. It was a trait she had to work on to get under control. She was a passionate woman who felt many things. That was for sure. Thankfully, her husband helped her become a more rational person. 

She had taken the day off from work today. Being one of three executive partners at the firm, it wasn't necessary for her to come in every single day. Regardless, she didn't like missing work. But today she was feeling a little under the weather. It was just a really bad cold, but she didn't want to come into work and give it to all her young lawyers. That would not be good. 

She reclined back in her comfortable chair, wrapped up in a warm blanket. Her flaming red hair was pulled back out of her face and she had on a pair of reading glasses. Her eyes were beginning to glaze over as she read over the case. She had to keep herself from falling asleep. In fact, she had fallen asleep for a good five minutes before she was awoken by the ringing of the doorbell. She jumped out of her chair. When she saw who it was, her lips turned up into a smile. "Nat! This is so unexpected," she said, motioning for her granddaughter to follow her. "I'm a bit under the weather right now, so I'm not going to hug you," she said. "Otherwise I would. I just don't want you to get sick."

[NATALIE MARIE WINTERS]

Natalie had no idea how this was going to go with her grandmother. She had played out several sceneros of how it could go but none of them turned out as well as she hoped. Natalie took a drink of her water and she made a face. She had been trying to drink water more than anything else because she knew it was better for the baby. The thing was she hated water. It had no taste and she just didn't like it. Putting her water bottle back in her bag she began the walk to her grandmothers.

Natalie smiled at her grandmother. "I know Grandma but I had to come see you. I missed you," Natalie said. She heard her grandma say she was sick and she hoped that it would be okay if she was around her with her being pregnant. "I also came by because I needed to talk to you." Natalie heard her phone go off. She read the text from her boyfriend and then followed her grand mother. She hoped this went well and things would be okay.

[LILLIAN MINERVA WINTERS]

Lily smiled. She loved Natalie very much. Her other two children were deciding to hold off on having kids until they were older. Right now, Natalie was her only grandchild. She wanted more, but she'd be more than happy with just Nat. When they were in the living room, Lily took a seat in her chair, and motioned for Natalie to sit on the couch next to her. "I decided to take a sick day. I'm hoping the associates didn't decide to set the place on fire while I was gone," she said, shaking her head. "Grandpa is off at work, so it's just the two of us," she said. 

Her face fell when Natalie said there was something they needed to talk about. "Oh no," Lily said. "That sounds rather ominous," her brows narrowed further when Nat's phone went off. "I hope everything is okay," Lily said. 

[NATALIE MARIE WINTERS]

Natalie heard what her grandma said and she giggled. "Well I guess we will find out if they set the place on fire won't we?" She said smiling at the woman in front of her. She shook her head. She knew that her grandma could trust her associates with her law firm. She had been around the firm before and she knew they were all trust worthy people. Then again, Natalie had a bad habit of trusting people way too much. "Aww, I was hoping I'd get to see Grandpa too. It's been a while and I've missed him." Natalie was her grandfather's favorite granddaughter (well his only granddaughter but that's jut semantics).

Natalie saw her grandmothers face fall and she bit her lip nervous. She heard what she said and she figured she might as well just get it over with. She read her boyfriend's good luck wish and she smiled at the phone. She looked up at her grandmother. "Well I have a boyfriend. His name is Andrew. Andrew Peters. The only thing is that he's in college," Natalie said quietly. "And..." Natalie felt tears gather in her eyes at what she was going to eventually tell her grand mother.

[LILLIAN MINERVA WINTERS]

She laughed warmly at her granddaughter's comment. "They probably think I'm testing them," she said. Lily did like to keep her associates on their toes at all times, and she didn't put it past them to think she was taking a "sick" day just to see how they did without her there. She honestly couldn't wait to see the look of shock on their faces tomorrow when she actually came in sick. "If you stick around long enough, perhaps he'll make an appearance," Lily said. Both she and her husband were very hard workers. Both of them could probably retire now and be able to live comfortably. Honestly, Lily just couldn't see herself not working, and she certainly couldn't imagine her husband not working. She expected she'd be practicing law for quite some time still.

Her eyes widened when Lily said she had a boyfriend. This was certainly news to her. "How long?" she asked, genuinely curious. "And I think that's great as long as he's not pressuring you to do anything you don't want to," Lily sat, gently squeezing her granddaughter's hand. Her eyes narrowed in concern when she noticed the tears forming in Natalie's eyes. "What else is there, Nat?" Lily asked.

[/span]

[NATALIE MARIE WINTERS]

"Probably but it's good to keep them on their toes," Natalie said smiling at her grand mother. Natalie knew that her grandmother liked to put her associates to the test to see how they would react in certain situations. It was one of the things she admired about her grand mother. "Oh I hope so. Maybe I'll stay around for a while to see if he shows up. It would be nice to see him." Natalie needed to stop by more often to see her grandfather.

Natalie saw her grand mothers reaction and she heard her ask how long. "A little over a year. Probably a year and 2 months, maybe 3?" She questioned. She really never kept track of the small months. Just the major anniversaries. She heard what her grandmother said. Andrew never forced her or pressured her to do anything she didn't want to do. Natalie saw her grandmothers look. "I-I'm pregnant..."

[LILLIAN MINERVA WINTERS]

Lily shook her head at her granddaughters words.  Somedays the girl reminded her so much of herself when she was younger. "I see you're learning," Lily said, grinning widely. "Don't tell me you're planning on becoming a lawyer. Your parents will accuse me of corrupting you," she said, laughing lightly. "You're welcome to stay here as long as you'd like. I'm sure he'd love to see you," she said. 

Her eyes widened further when her granddaughter said she had been dating this boy for over a year. "Oh my! I didn't even expect..." she said, trailing off. She was a little disappointed in herself for not picking up on the "lovesick" signs. When Natalie revealed her secret, Lily did not know how to react. Her blue eyes widened further. "Sweetie, I really hope you aren't playing a practical joke on me," Lily said. But the more she looked at her granddaughter, the more she realized that wasn't the case. She stood up and took a seat next to her granddaughter and brought her into her arms. "Do you know what you're going to do?" Lily asked. "No matter what your decision is, I will support you."

[NATALIE MARIE WINTERS]

Natalie heard what her grandmother said and she smiled. "I've learned from the best Grandma," Natalie said to her. She checked her phone quickly and read the text from Andrew. She quickly typed Not yet to him before putting it away. She heard what her grandma said and she smiled at her. "I don't know what I want to be when I go to college. But being a lawyer sounds fun." Natalie loved hearing her grandmothers cases and how things were going in the legal system. "I would love to see him too."

Natalie saw her grandmothers eyes widen at how long she's been with her boyfriend. She nodded. "I became really good at hiding it," Natalie said softly. She didn't want people to know because she was afraid of the judgement. When Natalie finally spoke her secret, she saw her grandmothers eyes widen even more. She hoped she wouldn't be mad at her or disappointed in her. Natalie shook her head no when she heard her say something about a joke. It wasn't a joke. Natalie felt her hug her and she let the tears flow. "I-I don't believe in getting rid of her. I want to keep her..." Natalie said her voice shaky and cracking.