Disclaimer: I own the storyline. Yep. I own the storyline and…no, my mistake…I just own the storyline. Oh well.

A/N: First of all, I'd just like to apologize for not updating sooner. I really wanted to post it before now, but school started again and I got really busy. So, here it is everyone—the last chapter. It makes me sad too, but there are some other fanfics that I would love to post. Thanks for the reviews everybody. I couldn't have finished this story without them. They made my job a lot more fun and rewarding. You are all such gems! So, if you write, keep writing; if you review, keep reviewing; and keep smiling no matter who you are: ). Tootles— Jessica a.k.a. Widow Shark.

Note to Ancient Padfoot Sapphire—Thanks for pointing out that mistake in the last chapter. You were right. It either should not have had a comma after the word "home" or it should have had quotes around the phrase like this: 'Welcome Home, Ren.' I'm also glad that you like my story.

Ren's Perfect Mistake

Chapter 20: Well-Adjusted

Just over one month later…

The sound of Felicia crying through the baby monitor told Ren that it was time to wake up; it was five-forty-five in the morning. She groggily got out of her bed and quietly walked down the hall to the baby's room. She picked her daughter up and immediately found the problem—a wet diaper. Ren had become a pro at changing diapers in only her first week of being a mom. Felicia calmed down as soon as she was dry, but she wasn't going back to sleep immediately, so Ren sat down in the beautiful rocking chair her brother, Louis and his friends got for her and started gliding with the baby in her arms. She hummed a lullaby and Felicia closed her eyes.

"That's it, shh, shh," Ren whispered, still rocking back and forth. It wasn't long before Felicia was sound asleep again. She laid the baby back in her crib and headed out of the nursery. She sighed heavily. "Today's the day that everything will be revealed to the students of Walton High School," she whispered to herself on her way back to her bedroom. It was also the first day of finals, and though Ren still maintained straight A's, part of an agreement she had made with Principal Wexler, in order to pass into the twelfth grade, was to attend (and take) all of the finals.

It was six-thirty by the time Ren finished dressing. Louis was up and ready by then too, which had become the usual since Felicia was born. He loved being an uncle. It was good for him; it made him feel more important, more responsible. Ren smiled at the thought and headed downstairs to eat breakfast herself nearly running into her brother as he was on his way downstairs as well. They shuffled around before Louis insisted that Ren go first and she accepted.

"Thank you, good Sir," she mocked, lightly skipping down the steps. Louis followed immediately after her. They walked into the kitchen together and were equally surprised to see Beans sitting at their kitchen table eating breakfast. It was the first time he'd come over since the day Ren came home from the hospital just over five weeks ago.

"Hey, Beans," Ren said, sitting down at the table. As she did so, her mom set a plate down in front of her and went back to cooking. It was a ham 'n' cheese omelet. "You're here awfully early," she commented, "It's what, quarter till seven?"

"Yeah, hey, Buddy," Louis said, taking a box of toaster strudel out of the freezer. "Long time, no see."

"Good morning Ren and Louis!" the kid said excitedly. "I bet you'll never guess what today is."

"I don't know. What's today?" Ren asked, taking a bite of her omelet.

"No, guess!" Beans said.

"Uh—is it your birthday?" Louis asked. He was leaning against the counter waiting for his pastry to heat up.

"No, guess again," Beans said.

"Your last day of school?" Ren suggested.

"Nope. Guess again," Beans said, grinning wickedly.

"The unveiling of a brand-spanking-new but still totally disgusting flavor at Loopy Scoopy?" Ren asked.

"That's not it, but I'll give you one more chance," he said, chewing on a piece of bacon.

Eileen had just finished cooking her French toast and Ren got up to put her empty plate in the sink. She didn't sit back down though. Instead she began fixing Felicia's morning bottle. She still had a lot to get done before school started—including actually feeding the baby and calling Bobby.

"I've got it!" Louis practically shouted. "You're getting…a tattoo."

"Eh! Wrong. I'm getting fitted for a tuxedo!" Beans said.

"Yeah, Donny and Wendi asked Beans to be their ring-bearer in their wedding," Eileen said, finally sitting down at the table herself. "And the only time left for a fitting was at eight o'clock this morning. So, I told Mr. and Mrs. Arenguren that I'd take Bernard to school this morning after we're done."

"That's great, Beans, congratulations!" Ren said setting the bottle on the counter and walking toward the living room. "Today's a big day for me too."

"What are you doing today?" Beans asked.

"Well, I'm going back to school for the first time in five weeks and people are finally going to know about the baby."

"Have fun!" he said cheerfully, and then stuck his last piece of bacon in his mouth.

"You have fun at your tux fitting, Beans," Ren told the kid before heading upstairs to call Bobby, but there was no need because she heard him pulling into the driveway. He was early today. It was only five-till seven and he normally didn't come until quarter after.

Bobby had been coming over every morning before school and every afternoon after school for the last five weeks. He'd even spent the night several times because Felicia's room at his house had not been finished yet, though it would be soon which meant that Ren would be spending some nights alone. She didn't like the idea very much, but she and Bobby had agreed to raise the baby together. They were very well-adjusted already and if they had to, they could always re-adjust.

Ren sighed glancing down at the promise ring Bobby had given her several months beforehand and smiled. 'Who knows, we might even be married one day,' she thought. She opened the front door for Bobby to come in, but he hadn't even gotten out of his car, so she decided to go outside and meet him instead. He didn't even notice she was standing there because he was looking for something in his backpack. She knocked on the driver's side window, startling him. He opened the door and got out, smiling.

"Good morning, Ren," Bobby crooned, kissing her on the cheek.

"Morning, Bobby," she smiled.

"Is…" he started.

"Felicia's still sleeping," Ren cut him off.

"Oh," he muttered.

"So, what were you looking for in your backpack?" Ren asked.

"Just this," Bobby said handing Ren a large white envelope.

"What is it?"

"Just open it and you'll see," he grinned. Ren did as he said and opened the envelope. Inside were the family pictures Bobby and Ren had taken with Felicia a couple weeks ago.

"You never said these came in."

"They came in last night. I wanted them to be a surprise."

"Oh, Bobby!" she paused and gave him a big hug. She took another look at the portraits. "These came out beautifully. Come on. I have to go in and show my parents," she said, grabbing his hand and running to the house. She opened the door and called her parents.

"What is it, Ren?" Steve asked racing down the stairs, still wearing his pajamas. "Hi, Bobby," he interjected. "Is something the matter?"

"No, Dad. Bobby picked up the pictures last night. That's all. See?" Ren said, showing her father the photographs. Eileen came running into the room from the kitchen.

"Is something wro…" she started, but quickly found it was nothing. "Oh these are wonderful!" she exclaimed. "We'll have to get a frame and hang one in the living room." Just then, Louis walked in from the kitchen. He was still eating.

"Hang what in the living room?" Louis asked through a mouthful of strudel. Steve handed him the envelope on his way into the kitchen, Eileen followed him. Louis gulped loudly before speaking again. "Hey, those did turn out good, Ren," he paused, wiping his mouth on his arm. Ren, with a slightly disgusted look on her face, pinched the envelope with two fingers and lightly pulled it out of her brother's grasp. "Anyhow, I gotta go," he said. "I'm meeting Tawny, Twitty, and Tom early so we can go over a few more things before the test. So, I'll see you later!" he said on his way out the door. "And by the way," he said, peeking back in, "Good luck today, Sis!" he finished.

"Thanks, Lou," Ren said. "I'll see you at school." Louis smiled and pulled the door closed.

"Yeah, see ya," Bobby echoed, but the door was already shut. He felt embarrassed for about half a second then thought of something else to say. "So, have you fed Felicia yet?" he asked Ren.

"Actually no, I was just about to go upstairs when you got here. Why, do you want to feed her this morning?" Ren asked.

"Could I?" Bobby asked, hopeful.

"She's your daughter too," Ren laughed setting the envelope on the coffee table. Then they tiptoed up to their daughter's bedroom. She was still sound asleep, so they stopped in the doorway where they could see her.

"She gets prettier every day," Bobby whispered.

"She does," Ren agreed. "She has your eyes, you know?"

"She does?" Bobby asked. The young parents crept further into the green and pink room and watched their daughter sleeping in her white crib.

"Mmm, I hate to wake her up," Ren cringed. "She looks so peaceful when she's asleep. But it's getting late and her bottle is all ready downstairs; it just needs heated up." She started to lean over the side of the crib to pick the baby up, but Bobby stopped her.

"Don't wake her up," he said quietly.

"But we have to feed her before school starts. It's ten after seven. We only have twenty minutes before we have to leave," Ren said, panicked.

"Who's watching her today?" Bobby asked.

"I think my dad is, why?" Ren was curious. "I thought you wanted to feed her today." Bobby put a finger to Ren's lips.

"I do, but I can feed her another time. Let's not wake her up today. I'm sure your dad is perfectly capable of giving her a bottle," Bobby said. "Now let's just go downstairs and let her sleep. It's too stressful to try and feed her so fast. Especially today with the final 'Wallaby' of the year coming out today—and our story in it nonetheless."

"You're right, Bobby," Ren apologized. "Let's just go downstairs and tell my dad that Felicia hasn't eaten yet and get to school early."

Bobby put his arm around Ren's shoulders and guided her downstairs. Ren asked her father if he didn't mind feeding the baby her morning bottle (which he didn't) and the teens were on their way to school by seven-twenty-five.

At school…

There were few people in the halls when Bobby and Ren arrived at school that morning. Many students were already in their classrooms doing some last minute cramming and others were too busy talking to their friends. Bobby and Ren stopped at each others' lockers before splitting up to go to their respective classes.

Ruby was waiting for Ren in their first period classroom and when she saw her she squealed and ran to give her best friend a hug. For a number of reasons the best friends hadn't seen each other in two and a half weeks, however, they had talked on the phone.

"Oh my God, Ren, it's so good to see you again! I know it's only been like two weeks, but I've missed you so much," Ruby exclaimed. "And Larry isn't that much fun to talk to."

"I've missed you too, Ruby. And other than sitting with Larry Beale for the last five weeks, how have things been at school?"

"Oh, believe me, Ren. You haven't missed anything. Well, except for Benny O'Riley getting into a food fight last week, but it didn't even last two minutes." Ruby paused and looked at the clock. People were beginning to file in. There were less than ten minutes until the bell. "So, how's Felicia?" Ruby asked.

"Shh, she's fine. So, does anybody suspect anything?" Ren whispered as a classmate passed. Nobody seemed to notice she was even back.

"Ah, Ren…I didn't want to tell you this, but yeah. A couple girls figured it out, but don't worry! They didn't start any rumors or anything. And a few other people asked me what happened to you, but I didn't say anything."

"Thanks, Rube. So, what do you think will be on this test today?" Ren asked changing the subject before someone overheard.

"It's about everything we learned this past semester. I'm so worried. I knew I should have come over on those days you and your tutor were reviewing. It's an essay test too."

"Don't sweat it, Ruby. I'm sure you'll do just fine." Ren noticed the classroom was almost completely full. "Is there anything that you absolutely don't know that I can teach you in," she paused and looked at the clock, "the next five minutes?"

"What? There's only five minutes left? I'm so doomed!"

"You're not 'doomed,' Ruby. Just calm down. Okay? Breathe, Rube."

"Okay," Ruby said taking a few deep breaths.

"You have nothing to worry about. In fact, I'm the one who should be hyperventilating right now because…" the bell cut her off and the teacher walked in.

"Okay class," Ms. Charm began and the class was silent. "You'll need a blue or black pen and notebook paper. I shouldn't see anything else on your desks…Mr. Cooper, put that walkman away or I'll have to confiscate it. Katie, you can put your make-up on during lunch; you have an hour today." She scanned the room quickly to see if anyone else had anything out that wasn't supposed to be out, but saw nothing. However, she did notice that Ren had returned. "Well, welcome back Miss Stevens. It's nice to see you again," Ms. Charm said.

"It's nice to be back," Ren smiled.

"Okay, is everyone ready? Good," the teacher said as she handed out the test papers. "You only have to answer one essay question," she finished passing out the test sheets. "You may begin."

Every test Ren took seemed to whiz by at an alarming speed and before she knew it, it was lunchtime and time for 'The Wallaby' to be handed out. There were a lot of people out because of the double-A rule, but there were a lot of people still there. Before going to the cafeteria though, Ren went to the newspaper office to meet Larry. After all, his secret would be revealed today too.

Ren knocked on the door to the office and Larry answered. "Come on in," he said. She did.

"I can't believe it's already time to hand these out. You know, Lare?" she asked.

"Yeah. Time flies. Time flies…are you sure you wanna do this, Ren?"

"Are you sure you want to do this, Larry? People are going to find out about me no matter what, but you don't have to tell them your secret. It's up to you."

"No, Ren. I'm not gonna let you go alone. We're friends now, right?" he asked.

"We are," Ren replied. "Now, let's go because nothing is worse than waiting."

"Ain't it the truth, Ren?" Larry said. Each former foe then grabbed a pile of newspapers and headed toward the cafeteria to hand them out.

They both stopped before entering the lunchroom to wish each other luck and then they went in and began handing the papers out. A lot of people welcomed Ren back to school and asked her where she'd been for the last five weeks, but all Ren would tell them was to read the paper. As soon as Ren and Larry finished handing out 'The Wallaby,' they sat down to lunch with Ruby, Bobby, Louis and his friends.

"Well, we did it. The papers are out," Ren sighed.

"At least the weight will be lifted after today," Bobby said.

"I don't know," Ren said. "It's an awfully large weight."

"Bobby's right," Larry said. "I feel better already." He took a bite out of his sandwich. "So, now that the secret's out, I guess it's okay to talk about it."

"Hey, that's right! No more whispering at lunch," Ruby said happily. "So, I'm gonna ask again, how is Felicia?" Ren smiled. She and Bobby could finally talk about the baby without worrying about people listening in.

"Felicia is doing great. And she's already gained two and a half pounds. Oh, her eyes are brown now too. They changed colors; they were blue when she was born. You guys haven't seen her in a while have you?"

"No. We've all been so busy with school," Tawny said, a bit disappointed.

"Yeah, hey, Ren," Louis said, "I've got an idea. We could have everybody over for ice cream after school. My treat. We can celebrate the end of the year and just have a grand ole time. What d'ya say? Huh, Ren?'

"I say we call Mom and Dad to let them know we're all coming," Ren answered. The table cheered.

It wasn't long before the rest of the school started talking. But by the end of the day, in a strange twist of events, everyone seemed to have forgotten about the news that Ren Stevens and Bobby Deaver had a baby together and that Larry Beale was adopted.

After school at the Stevens' house…

It was four o'clock in the afternoon and everyone was sitting in the Stevens' living room finishing their second bowl of ice cream. Louis was in the kitchen getting a third bowl for himself.

"Anyone want more ice cream?" Louis shouted, but everyone declined. Two bowls each was more than enough, so he came back in and sat down next to Tawny. Ruby was sitting on the couch next to Ren, holding Felicia who was once again sleeping. Bobby started taking everyone's empty bowls into the kitchen. Twitty and Tom were looking over their notes for their biology test the next day. And Larry was talking on his cell phone to Monique.

When Bobby sat down again, Ren leaned her head on his shoulder. "What a day," she said. "I thought it was going to be a lot worse though."

"Yeah, I suppose it could have been, but I think everyone was too worried about finals to care," Bobby laughed.

"You think?" Ren asked, lifting her head up.

"He's probably right," Ruby said. "But I'll bet that as soon as summer officially starts it's going to hit everyone and it'll be the talk of Sacramento," she laughed. Ren laughed too.

"Yeah, and Cynthia Mills will finally have her five star story," Tawny giggled. Larry finally got off his cell phone.

"What's everyone laughing at? Do I have something on my shirt?" he asked, a bit paranoid.

"No, you don't have anything on your shirt, Lare," Ren reassured. "We were just laughing at the not so huge reaction to today's 'Wallaby,' that's all."

"True. Everyone will probably either forget about this over the summer or bombard us all with questions when we go back to school," Larry laughed. "By the way, Monique says hello and that she can't wait to see everyone this summer."

Felicia woke up then, startled by all the laughing. She began crying.

"Oh, don't cry, Felicia," Ruby cooed, trying to settle the baby down, but she was only making things worse.

"I'll take her, Rube," Ren said. Ruby handed the baby back to Ren, who immediately calmed her daughter down. "Shh, it's okay…Mommy's here," she said, gently swinging the baby in her arms. Bobby lightly grasped one of Felicia's tiny hands and kissed it. She stopped crying. "Would you like to hold her, Daddy?" Ren asked Bobby.

"Sure, Mommy," he replied, taking the baby from Ren and cradling her in his arms.

"You guys sure look happy together," Ruby commented.

"We are happy, but we've come a long way to get here," Ren said. "And I'd just like to thank everyone for helping us get through this. We couldn't have gotten here alone."

"Awe, you're welcome, Guys," Ruby said, speaking for everyone in the room. "So, is everyone ready for the rest of finals?" she asked, changing the subject, "Because I'm still struggling in Mr. Marky's class. Does anyone know what the quadratic formula is? And how to use it. Oh gosh, I'm gonna fail Algebra for sure!"

"Calm down, Ruby," Ren said. "You aren't going to fail Algebra. You got a B on the midterm, remember?"

"Oh yeah, I did, didn't I?" Ruby said.

"I can help you too, Ruby," Tawny said.

"Thanks," Ruby replied. "I really appreciate this."

Ren looked over at Bobby and noticed Felicia's eyes were closed. "You know what, Bobby; Felicia fell asleep again. So, why don't you go put her down in her crib?" Ren suggested. "And we'll turn our little ice cream social into a study session."

"That's a great idea, Ren, I could use a little help with math myself," Bobby said carefully standing up from the couch. "I'll be back in a few minutes, so don't start without me," he said before disappearing upstairs with his and Ren's daughter in his arms. He came back a few minutes later like he said and sat down with the girls to go over the quadratic formula. Louis, Twitty, and Tom had formed their own biology study group on the other side of the room. And Larry was once again on the phone with Monique.

Ren glanced up from her group and smiled. It would be summer in a few days which meant she'd get to spend more time with her friends, but it also meant more responsibilities. She and Bobby had a little girl to take care of now. The commercials were right: 'Having a baby changes everything.' But Ren also learned something else. She learned that sometimes mistakes turn out to be good things, even if they don't seem like it at first. And Felicia was definitely a perfect mistake.

THE END

A/N: It's over! Can you believe it? Me neither. Anyhow, I really hope you enjoyed my story. Please review. And have a very happy, Happy Hearts Day tomorrow! Tootles!

PS: You may have recognized a few things in here (i.e.—'Having a baby changes everything'). I don't own that, I believe Johnson and Johnson do.

My next story that I will be publishing will be a Shakespeare ficlet that was co-written with CrazySenji called Othello Act V scene i.a. (a.k.a. Othello Meets Freud).