Bringin' Home the Bacon (Open)

[Iliana Beaudean]

Outfit

Iliana walked into Jackson's with a light smile on her face. Of course little baby Lily was with her. When was Lily not with her really? Iliana just liked having the baby with her. She got herself a buggy and set the baby carrier in the buggy. Lily as the moment was comfortably nestled in her baby sling against Iliana's breast, fast asleep. She would probably sleep for most of the grocery trip, but then again, there was no telling what unforeseen occurrences might happen so Iliana brought the carrier just be sure.

It was her day off, so she was doing the weekly grocery run. She didn't usually have such a large list, which she thought of as a good thing, but they definitely needed eggs and milk. Those were two staples of Iliana's diet she couldn't go a week without. Especially now and especially milk. She liked eggs in the morning for breakfast. Didn't matter to her how they were cooked as long as she had eggs and bacon. The milk thing was just to help add calcium to her breast milk for Lily.

So of course those were the first two things she picked up. She looked down at her list for a moment, chewing on her bottom lip before she continued on to the breakfast aisle to find her some cereal. She felt Lily shift a little. Iliana quickly realized the movement was a sign that she was going to wake from her nap, and Iliana wanted her to sleep for a bit. If she didn't get her nap she would go to sleep earlier than she should and then the two of them would be up before dawn. So Iliana just started humming, a hand softly patting the baby's back while she scanned the cereal aisle for her Special K and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

[Jared Martins]

Since having the heart attack, Jared was on a strict no work life style effective now. Along with a heart attack prevention regiment that included more pills then he could stomach to mention. All of it forced on him by both his son and his own employees. It felt like he was being betrayed, when they had all agreed to force him away from the office, even if he knew it was only in his best interest. There was no questioning how annoying it was to wake up at his usual time for work to find his alarm clock not in his room, likely hidden away by Markus. His son was going to such extremes just to make sure he didn’t even think about work, which was impossible. There wasn’t a moment he was worried about the place he’d started up on his own. There was still so much ground that needed to be covered at the school. In his mind he kept seeing the stack of bills that needed to be paid, the students that normally came to talk to him nearly every day, and all the wooden panels that needed to be fixed around the camp.

At the house, Jared had found he had too much time to just sit around and was going to cook up something for breakfast but found Markus and he had only fruit and coffee. Seeing an opportunity to get away from the house, he dressed in his normal jeans and t-shirt before driving into town and parking at the General Store. Silently in his mind he was repeating a short list of the items he wanted. His hands grabbed a small buggy and pushed it down the aisles to pick up something here and there. Pausing in the cereal section, he scanned the shelves for Lucky Charms. Partly to annoy Markus the rest because he really just liked it.

Scrunching his eyebrows, Jared spotted Illiana with her youngest child nestled to her chest. They’d never talked much but he knew her mother very well. It was only right that they’d talked since many people had questioned the amount of ‘delinquents’ he had invited to the small town when Willow Brooke first opened. The Mayor and Jared hadn’t gotten off on the right foot, nearly getting into a shouting match that first meeting, but things had shimmered down once she saw he could keep the students under control. He couldn’t stop the small smile that pulled at his lips seeing the tiny child being hummed to sleep by the woman. The sight brought back memories of Markus as a little baby when his mother did the exact same thing.

[Iliana Beaudean]

Iliana continued to hum thoughtlessly as Lily drifted back to sleep against her mother's breast. Iliana loved having a baby sling. It allowed her to keep Lily close and nestled up to her with access to both her hands. She used it a lot when she was out and about town. She stood on her toes and carefully reached for her Special K, picking up a box of the red berries cereal and gently putting it in the buggy. She spotted her other choice cereal and was reaching for it when she spotted Jared Martins watching Iliana with the baby.

She gave a sheepish smile as a bit of a blush creeped over her neck and cheeks. "Hey, Mr. Martins." She said gently as she picked up a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and set it down next to the Special K. Up until Jared's heart attack- and yes, most of the town knew about it already- it was a very odd occasion to see him in town and not at the tack shop. Mark was usually the one who ran all the town errands. She usually ran into him on her grocery runs, but this was a nice treat. Iliana didn't really socialize with Jared all that much outside of Town Hall.

"Having a good day?" She asked gently as she carefully extracted the baby from the sling and situated her in her baby carrier before taking off the baby sling and cramming it into her purse. She knew that was probably a stupid question. Mark was always telling her how Jared loved the camp so much that he was glued to his office chair most of the time. She imagined that he was rather disgruntled about being stuck at home on orders of rest from doctors. She suppose she understood better than most considering she refused to take a real maternity leave. She sat at that desk and did her job up until when her water broke. After that she only took about a week or so off to recuperate and rest after the very long night she spent in labor. So she sort of understood.

[Jared Martins]

Jared hadn’t meant to be caught staring but he didn’t let his embarrassment be shown on his face. His mind had relapsed back into his younger years with Willow. For a moment he could have sworn the woman standing not too far down the aisle was her. But he wasn’t losing his mind and knew his wife was gone. “Hi, Mrs. Beaudean.” The owner of Willow Brooke wasn’t a fan of formal titles but it was only proper since he didn’t know the woman that well. “It’s a pleasure not to see you when I’m getting chewed out by your mother.” A smirk peeked out across his lips as he kept his voice low not to disturb the child before he turned to continue on his hunt for the box of Lucky Charms. He supposed he should have been looking for something to cover up the box of sugary goodness incase his son went snooping.

Spotting what he was looking for, his hand reached out and picked up the box to place in the cart. The question threw him off not expecting Illiana to ask. It shouldn’t have been that big of a shock. The town was so small that it made sense that the majority of the people knew about his heart attack. There was no privacy in Brooke Haven. The only downside to a small town. How Adrianna and he had kept their relationship hushed up to that point was amazing. Granted, his son had finally picked up on it since the dinner party, but one person was a lot better compared to the whole town. “I wouldn’t call it a good day, but it’s not a terrible one either.” A good day to the older man would have been getting through all his paperwork at the office and taking Storm on a long ride. He might head over to the barn later that day just to do that. Lord knew that horse needed to get out. Besides, what was his son going to do? Kick him off his own horse? Jared would have loved to see his kid try.

Leaning against the handle bar of the buggy, he watched Illiana place the baby in the carrier bring a full smile to his face. It lightened up the dark brooding spots in his eyes and cheeks to give Jared a much younger appearance. “She’s grown alot since I first saw her in the office.” It brought back to memory of seeing the woman in her mother’s office, pregnant, up until the last time he was there. That must have been when she was eight, nearly nine, months along. It hadn’t occurred to him then but…had she even taken any leave time?

[Iliana Beaudean]

She winced slightly when he called her Mrs. Beaudean. He was probably one of the few who didn't call her Iliana. He wasn't really a regular in town though. Even if everyone knew everyone there were several who were a little more formal than others. She gave off a soft chuckle and grinned at him. Yes, most of the conversations with her mother and him were not very good. It often involved some trouble one of the students caused usually if Iliana wasn't mistaken. "She means well enough. For the town anyways." She said gently as she pulled out her grocery list from her purse. "After all, you're appearance in her office is often under a very upsetting pretense." She said as she moved the buggy down the aisle just a little and picked a group of bananas out of the hanging basket. She set them in the child seat of the buggy, looking to Jared with a smile.

She merely smiled when he answered her question. She knew how that could be. She had a lot of days like that without Will. People wondered why she worked so much. It was so she wouldn't be stuck at home alone. Technically she wasn't alone, but a baby was only so much company when you were hankerin' for the love of your life. Lily helped to keep Iliana busy and her mind off Will and the things that could happen to him over there, but when it was quiet and Lily was down for the count, Iliana felt lonely. Especially at night.

She looked down to the baby for a moment after crossing cereal off her list. She only had a couple more things to get and then her and the baby would be homeward bound. Homeward bound to the small, lonely house they lived in. Well.. it wasn't entirely lonely. It just lacked a particular someone Iliana wanted home. She gave a soft smile and leaned over the buggy, stroking a hand along the dark, wispy locks on her head. "I'm still can't believe that it's already been three months since I had her." She said gently as she looked to Jared, a sweet smile spread across her lips. That meant it was nearly a year since Will left.

She missed him very much. He had missed a lot since he left. The celebration when she announced the news of her pregnancy to her mother and friends. Talking to their unborn baby, although when she got further in he would ask her to put the phone to her stomach so he could. The birth of their child and all the excitement of that and the last few months with Lily. It really made Iliana question if she did the right thing, marrying Will when she was so young.

[Jared Martins]

Running a hand through his grey hair, Jared shuddered at some of the over blown arguments that had occurred in the Mayor’s office over the years. He’d always been in there whenever one of the students had been arrested for doing something stupid in town. Each time he had bailed the student out only to be called before Illiana’s mother and then barked at. But he didn’t like being yelled at when the students most of the time were just lashing out over something that had transpired at the ranch. Anyways a lot of the students were good kids when given a chance and most of them were in shock after being hulled into the police station in Brooke Haven. “Oh I know she means well. I just wish that after all these years she’d get off my back.” Jared was convinced that woman needed to lighten up, but he could relate to her. He was more than a little obsessed with his job and even if the forced time off knew of quite a few ways and reasons to go back to the office and barn.

Shrugging, Jared pushed the buggy towards the produce and picked up a couple of bright green apples. He’d been going through them like pieces of candy since being put on home rest. Looking at the baby, he did something that might have seemed out of character by making a couple of funny faces at the child. He really had a soft spot for kids. Deep down in his heart, it burned him that Willow and he never had more than one kid. He would have loved a house full of them and could only hope for grandkids from Markus now. There were no illusions in his mind about having kids with Adrianna, he felt too old for his own kids anymore and was more than happy for just grandkids. Besides, he still had no idea if he ever wanted to be married again.

“Has it been three months?” Jared whispered lightly while looking at the baby with a gentle smile. The smile on Illiana’s face was the real deal, but her eyes lacked the warmth. If he heard correctly around town her husband was still overseas, but he wasn’t one hundred percent sure on that. Pushing the buggy, he continued to glance up and down the aisles to see if there was anything else he needed at the house. The ok from the doctors to go back to work would have been nice. But since that wasn’t like to be coming for a couple of months, he’d have to get use to grocery shopping and going out of his mind bored around the house.

[Iliana Beaudean]

She gave a soft chuckle as she set the bananas in her buggy. "I'm pretty sure that will never happen, but you should be happy to know that your back isn't the only one she likes to get onto." She said with a playful grin as she got a bag and picked through a few apples, carefully putting them in the bag.

She looked to Jared and couldn't help but giggle at the funny faces he did for Lily. Lily seemed to agree to because she was clapping her hands in joy and letting out noises of delight. Iliana smiled and looked up to Jared after moment. Most who knew Jared Martin knew that he was a big softy at heart. He looked like he was a mean man, but that was just a front he tended to put up ever since Mrs. Martin died. She bagged up some organges and st them next to the carrier as she studied Jared thoughtfully. "Would you like to hold her for a moment?" She asked gently.

She wouldn't mind if he wanted to hold her for a moment. She didn't see any harm in it. She read in one of her books that babies loved to look at new faces. It's where they learned their facial expressions. Lily was usually always the center of the attention. Iliana gave a weak smile and nod in answer. "She'll be four months in another week or so." She said as she looked to Lily thoughtfully as she played with her pacifier.