a_littlefaith | (no subject)

Bit by bit, she's coming back around.

Beth wouldn't say she's over the things that have happened, she knows she can't say she's no longer thinking about Curtis all the time when she knows she still is, but over the past few weeks or so, things have gotten a little bit easier every day until she finds herself reaching out to people she hasn't seen as often as she knows she would like to say she has. It isn't their fault, she knows it's hers, she'd pulled away from everyone a little in the weeks after Curtis had disappeared, but it's not in her nature to be so isolated and so she knows it's time to reach out again.

She's lucky her friends are understanding, lucky they know what it's like to lose someone and don't hold it against her.

Jenny agrees to meet her easily enough and Beth suggests one of the cozier coffee shops in the city, one with big comfy chairs and hot drinks that probably have enough sugar in them to last her a whole week. There's still a significant chill in the air and where Beth might normally suggest a walk in the park or doing something fun outdoors, she thinks this is a better idea for now. It gives them a chance to really talk.

She arrives before Jenny and finds them a spot in one of the back corners, claiming the small, two person couch for them before anyone else can get it, and then she settles in to wait.

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It's funny to think later that this is the thing to cause a little twinge of jealously she tries not to let show. It's not that Jenny is having a baby -- or two babies -- and Beth doesn't even have any idea if that might still be in her future, it's just the idea of being settled. Of having a plan. For a little while, she'd thought she had a plan, she was going to marry Daryl and go to school and become a teacher and then the rug had been yanked out from under her and ever since then, with the exception of making sure Judith is taken care of, she feels a little bit like she's floundering.

Curtis had been solid and dependable and with him, for a little while, she'd felt like there could be another plan made. Something else for her to follow over the next several years, but now he's gone, too. For Beth, it doesn't seem like there's ever going to be a good time for starting a family, never mind the fact that she's not even close to having someone she would want to do that with.

She wishes she had a plan.

"I'm glad you guys are on the same page," she says with a wistful sort of smile. "That counts for so much. All the time you hear about people who just aren't, but you guys..." She trails off and shrugs happily. "It's just really nice to see that."

"We got lucky," Jenny says, deeply earnest, not about to downplay that for a second. She may have only one other relationship to compare this to, and it really isn't fair to do so given the circumstances of that, but even before she knew what was going on, she and David were never really on the same page. What she wanted was what he could give her, and in the end, it turned out he couldn't do that after all. Perhaps that was even for the best, no matter what came of it at the time. She'd have been stuck with him otherwise, and she doubts she would ever have been as happy as she's found herself here. "In... so many ways, really. I'm still not entirely sure how we managed that."

She's not naïve enough to assume that luck will continue, but she would like to at least hope that it might, that the life they've built for themselves here will be a lasting one. She'll never know, though, if she doesn't give it a try, and she isn't about to deny herself anything on some distant chance that she might lose it one day. She hasn't had to compromise so far. There's no reason why that should change.

"I don't think it matters how," Beth says, shaking her head. "You guys deserve it. That's all that really matters."

They're both such good people and Beth may not know Cameron all that well, but she does know Jenny well and she honestly believes anyone Jenny chooses to love has to be someone worthwhile and someone worthy. A man who deserves the good fortune this place has given him. Everything else is just secondary, she's sure of it. They're lucky and they deserve it. The how will never matter.

"So what are you guys doin' to prepare?" she asks. "I guess you have to get a nursery ready for them. I know I've got a lot of stuff goin' on, but if you need any help, just let me know."