Together Burning Bright

“It’s gonna be okay Dess…I swear to you this will all be okay in the end.” Andy whispered into her hair, his fingers massaging her scalp as the two of them just sat there.

“I…I…” Dess could hardly speak and she only cried harder as she looked at the paper and a soft smile pressed itself on to her lips. She was in shock-she had not expected this. As she sat there in Andy’s arms, Dess thought back over the summer, her sickness and what it all meant.


She had felt poorly since the second day of touring back in January, which that had been diagnosed as a sinus infection. She had gotten better with rest and lots of tea, but soon enough she began to feel poorly again. Waking up every morning with a migraine and then feeling like she couldn’t function-waking up and walking off the bus in nothing but a shirt, using coffee creamer in her cereal, and the worst thing.

Completely forgetting to knock on the bathroom door and then proceeding to brush her teeth while CC was in there. Everyone around her had chalked it up to nerves about the wedding and being over worked, but deep down Dess knew better. She had been getting physically sick since late August and as Dess sat there her eyes grew wide. She should have known-she had gone to health class in high school…


“What…what do we do now?” Dess asked as she looked up into the eyes of the man who was holding her and he could only smile at her softly through his tears. He loved her-he would always love her and this was just something that was going to make them stronger.

“I don’t know. Do…do you think you’ll be up for touring this time around?” Andy asked, his voice low and he winced as he thought about being away from her. He knew he couldn’t bear the thought, let alone actually going through with leaving Dess behind.

“I don’t see why not. I mean I’ll have to stay in contact with my doctor and probably fly out for some appointments. But it’s not like you can cancel right?” Dess laughed, her fingers wiping at her cheeks as she reached out and grabbed for the discarded piece of paper. She read over it again, her heart racing as her eyes scanned over the bottom part of the page.

“No…no we can’t cancel. Are you sure babe? I don’t want you to damage anything…” He gave her a look and Dess only laughed as she squeezed his hand and grabbed for her cell phone.

“I’m sure. Who should we call first?” She asked as she looked up from her phone screen and caught eyes with Andy. He looked so cute sitting there, his eyes taking her in until he stopped at her waist and just starred for a moment.

“Um…you pick. It really doesn’t matter as everyone’s going to have to know sooner or later.” Andy said as he grabbed for her free hand and rubbed his thumb over her skin gently.


Dess looked down at her phone as she scrolled up and then down…up and then down again. She looked over names as they passed and Dess sighed as she closed her eyes and tried to think about who should know first. Her mother? Should she tell her mother the news first? They had been through so much with one another and they had only just patched things up. Dess wanted to think that this wouldn’t push her mother away, but it seemed Rose Montgomery was full of surprises these days. Dess scrolled back up and smirked as Kit’s name lit up.

Her best friend had always been there for her and they had talked almost every day since her wedding-Dess had needed Kit more than ever this past summer and they seemed to have bonded even more. But what would Kit say? Would she cry? Dess felt the tears sting her eyes and she knew that Kit would be in LA with the guys and she should be told in person. Andy’s parent’s home phone number came up next and Dess sighed. They should be told as well-it would affect their son and his life just as much as it was going to affect Dess’.


“God this is so hard…” Dess mumbled as she covered her mouth with her hand and let out a loud burp. She winced-she had a massive case of heart burn and she looked towards the fridge in that moment to try and think of what would help get rid of it.

“I know, but I have an idea…” Andy smirked at her, his lips resting on hers as he dug through his pocket and soon he had his own phone out. Dess knew what he was doing and only smirked as she pressed a few buttons on her phone and held it up to her ear.

“Hey, mom? Hi it’s Dess. Andy and I have something we need to tell you, but we couldn’t decide who to tell first, so we figured he would call his parents and I would call you. I’m gonna put you on speaker phone so hold on.” Dess smiled at Andy as she watched him dial his parent’s number and soon they were all waiting as it rang.

“Hi dad! Yeah…yeah we’re home and packing for tour. Hey look-Dess and I found out some news and we wanted to share it with you, mom and Rose…so I’m gonna put you on speaker phone.” Andy smirked at her as he pressed a button on his phone and soon Dess could hear Chris calling for Amy and her mother was wondering out loud what all of this was about.

“So I got my test results in…” Dess said, her voice serious and her eyes got wide as both her mother and Andy’s mom gasped.

“Oh Odessa…what is it? Do you want me to come over?” Her mother asked and Dess only smiled softly. No matter what they had been through in life-her mother would always be her mother.

“N-no. We have to get ready to head out to LA tomorrow, but we wanted to just let you guys know before it got out.” Andy said softly as he squeezed her hand and nodded towards Dess.

“Oh whatever it is dear we are here for you.” Amy said to her and Dess smiled at Andy-she loved his mom just as much as she loved her own.

“Thanks-“

“Andrew you better be taking care of her…Dess he better be taking good care of you.” Chris said gruffly and Dess only smirked as Andy rolled his eyes, motioning his hand in a ‘blah blah blah’ fashion. Dess only stuck her tongue out at him as she cleared her throat and spoke loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Mom-Chris-Amy I-I know this is completely out of left field and trust me we are as shocked as you’re going to be but…we’re pregnant. I’m going to have a baby!” Dess laughed, the tears coming to her eyes as Amy and her mother both gasped and she could hear Chris shouting loudly in the background. Andy leaned over the table and pressed his lips to hers.

“Oh my!” Her mother said and Dess could tell that it was a good thing. Her mother had been worried about her-had been scared that Dess was going down the same road as Moira and her father. She sounded relieved and Dess smile through her tears as she heard her mother sobbing softly from the other end of the phone.

“We-we’re going to be grandparents?” Chris asked and Andy smirked as he heard the tears in his dad’s voice. His dad had always told Andy that he needed to slow down or life was going to pass him by and it seemed like that was exactly what Andy would be doing.

“Yep. According to my results I am a little over three months pregnant so we should be seeing your grandchild sometime in April or May.” Dess giggled as Amy yelled into the phone and her own mother seemed to be speechless.

“Look we wanted you guys to know first before word got out to the media. We’ll be releasing an official statement soon. But we do want to keep this quiet for now…” Andy said seriously, but he smiled as both his mother and Dess’ cooed and promised that they wouldn’t tell a soul.

“We love you guys! We’re gonna go though so Andy can finish up packing all of his clothes.” Dess smiled as she took her mother off of speaker phone and Andy did the same with his parents.


The couple each spent another few minutes on the phone with their respective parents and Dess could only smile as she spoke to her mother. A baby-a shock, but a good one all the same. Her mother promised that as soon as Dess was home from touring that the two women would dig through Dess and Moira’s old baby things in case it was a girl. Dess only laughed as tears spilled down her cheeks and she rested a hand against her stomach gently.

It was slightly hard and Dess could only smile softly as she imagined the small human that was growing inside of her. God-she was going to be a mom and Dess instantly felt terrified at that thought. She didn’t know how to be a mom-she had a hard enough time taking care of five grown men…how was she going to run around after a baby? Dess smiled as she and her mother said their goodbyes and as she hung up Dess couldn’t keep the smile off of her face as she looked across the table and caught Andy’s eye.

Andy pressed the phone to his ear as he listened to his dad talk. Andy felt the excitement building in his stomach and all he wanted to do was to get off of the phone and hold the love of his life and now mother of his child. God-he was going to be a dad…Andy’s eyes grew wide at that thought and he couldn’t help but gulp loudly. He had always wanted children and as Andy thought more and more about it while trying to get off of the phone with his dad he grew more excited. He would finally have two girls in his life to love.

Dess always laughed at him when they talked about kids and Andy would tell her they were going to have a girl, but there was something in him that just knew. He had seen Kellin with Copeland over the summer-throwing her in the air as she giggled and held her chubby little arms out towards him and he knew in that instant that that was what he wanted. Kids-but most of all a daughter to love and to love him back. Andy finally got off the phone with his father and sighed as he ran a hand through his black hair.


“That went well…” Dess laughed as she saw Andy hang up the phone and train those gorgeous eyes onto her face. Dess didn’t realize that Andy had also been crying and she felt her lip tremble as she moved towards him and threw her arms around his neck.

“Are we really ready for this Andy? To be parents and to bring a child in to our crazy world?” She asked softly, her breath tickling his neck and Andy couldn’t help but shiver.

“Probably not…” Andy laughed as he pulled away from her and noticed that Dess looked terrified once again.

“Hey…” He placed his hands on her cheeks and kissed her nose gently before continuing.

“Hey-it’s going to be okay Odessa. I told you we would get through this and I meant what I said. I’m not going anywhere and neither is our child-wow that sounds weird-and I’m happy that this has happened.” His smile was soft as he placed a quick kiss to her lips and then pulled away.


They sat in peaceful silence as Andy began to cut up more shirts and Dess felt the wheels in her mind spinning. They had just gotten married-she had just finished planning the biggest event of her life and now she would have to plan another one. There were baby announcements to be made, a nursery to design, a baby shower, the actual birth and a ton of shit that they would have to buy to get everything ready. She didn’t even want to think about picking out a name and as Dess sat there, running her hands through her hair roughly she suddenly felt hungry.

Starving.

She got up quickly, walking over to the fridge and as she pulled the door open to look at her options Dess scrunched her nose as she took in their all but empty fridge. No one would be in the house until late December and so Dess hadn’t bothered to buy food. It was getting late and they needed to head to bed soon and so Dess pulled out a carton of Ben and Jerry’s Karma Sutra from the freezer, some left over carrots from the fridge and she smirked as she remembered her hidden potato chip stash.

She sat down with her treasures infront of her and Dess began to eat. Andy looked up at her, his blue eyes confused as he watched her devour an entire pint of ice cream and he grimaced as Andy watched Dess dip the very end of a chip into the tub and take a bite. He had heard that pregnant woman ate weird things and had weird cravings, but he had never seen it and as he sat there and watched he felt horrified. He loved Dess-no matter what-but she needed to eat healthy during her pregnancy. Andy reached over and grabbed the bag of chips from across the table and slid them towards his side carefully. Dess only glared at him, crossing her arms over her chest as Andy smirked.


“So I have a question…” Andy said, breaking the silence and he only laughed as Dess shoved another carrot in her mouth and looked over at him. She seemed to have a glow about her and Andy felt his heart beat quicken as he looked down at her stomach.

“Okay-I may have an answer for you…” She smirked at him as Dess moved closer to him, her elbows resting on the table as her chin rested on her hands and she gave him the most adorable doe-eyed look imaginable.

“I know how you got pregnant-obviously I’m not that moronic-but how did it happen? I-I thought you were on birthcontrol?” Andy asked, biting down on his lip ring as Dess only smiled and stood. She walked over to the hook by the back door and walked back with her huge black purse in her hands. She rifled around for a minute until finally she pulled two packets out and held them up in the air.

“It only works if you take it and it looks like I was spacing more about putting on pants this summer.” She smiled at him and Andy only blushed as he got up and moved so that he was kneeling in front of her.

“Are you happy?” He asked, his hands coming to rest on her knees and Dess sat up straight as she thought about her answer. Of course she was happy-shocked as shit-but she was happy nonetheless.

“Of course…I’m just terrified.” She smiled down at him and her smile grew as Andy reached out and pressed his strong hands against her stomach. His eyes left hers as he looked down, a slight smile playing on his lips as he lifted her shirt to show her exposed and slightly protruding stomach.

“I love you…” He said as he leaned in and soon his lips were pressing against her exposed skin and Dess felt shivers run up her spine.

“I love you too…” She said softly and she smirked as Andy looked up at her confused.

“I wasn’t talking to you…although I do love you Odessa.”

“Who were you talking to then?” She asked softly and Andy could only smile as he pressed one hand to her stomach while his other reached up and landed against her cheek softly.

“I was talking to her…” He said as his eyes left Odessa’s and traveled down until he was looking at her stomach once again. Dess knew then that this was the start of something magical-something that neither one of them expected, but neither one of them would have it any other way.

Notes

Surprise! Although I know a lot of you had your suspicions-I couldn't very well reveal anything too soon.

Welcome to Together Burning Bright-the very last installment in Andy and Dess' journey through their lives together. I will try and keep this updated every other day, as long as the reviews and comments are there. Keep in mind that this is the very last story about their lives and so at some point things are going to move very quickly, skipping weeks, months and even years, but it will be worth it.

Hope you guys like everything and thanks so much to those who have stuck by Andy and Dess this entire time <3

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