MJ got a call at 3:30am on May 15th, and her stomach dropped. Ned would only call her in the middle of the night if he'd found something, and she could only hope it was good news instead of bad. She answered the phone with shaking hands, and before she can even say anything, Ned is talking.
"There's someone here who wants to say hi," he said, before the phone was clearly handed off to someone else.
When Penny said "Hello", MJ burst into tears.
—
It takes a while for MJ to calm down. Penny and Ned do their best to soothe her over the phone, but Ned sounds like he's crying a little himself, which makes MJ cry harder. Finally, when she's coherent again, Ned takes over.
"You should head over here," he says. He sounds excited for the first time in months.
MJ sniffs and shakes her head. "No, you two should come over here. Remember, Ned, Marcus agreed to house Penny as long as she needs. And Penny - he knows you're pregnant, so you don't have to worry. I'm sorry I told him without permission, but I wanted to make sure you had a safe place to stay if you came back."
Penny clears her throat. "I… may not be pregnant anymore." MJ's heart drops. She lost the baby? Or did she decide to get an abortion? If so, why wait so long to come back? Before her thoughts can continue to spiral, Penny exclaims "Surprise! You have a goddaughter! She'd two days old and I named her May Teresa!"
"Hey, wait a minute, why is she the godparent?" Ned interjects.
MJ can hear Penny roll her eyes through the phone. "You know it's usually two godparents, right? A godmother and godfather. MJ's clearly the godmother. Who the fuck do you think is the godfather?"
"Oh yeah," Ned says. "Thanks!"
MJ interjects at this point. "How… how is the baby already here? You couldn't have been more than like, 3 months along when you left. It hasn't been nearly enough time!"
"Huh," Ned says. "She's right. You should be like, 6 months along tops right now. And I can tell that is not a premie. What gives?"
"I'll explain, I promise, I just… I gave birth two days ago, snuck out of the hospital, took a bus to New York with a literal newborn, and managed to get halfway across the city to Ned's place. Can I sleep first?"
"Come over here," MJ says firmly. "We set up a room for you. It doesn't have much baby stuff - we thought we had more time - but you can get some rest and we can watch our goddaughter."
"Are you sure your brother will be okay with that?" Penny asks.
"I did say Marcus agreed to house you as long as you need. We knew a baby was coming. We didn't expect one this soon, to be sure, but he's promised he'll let you stay."
"Okay. Okay," Penny says. "Ned and I will be over as soon as we can."
"Be careful," MJ says. "It's 4am. I don't want you getting mugged."
For some reason, Penny laughs. "I promise we'll be fine."
—
Penny and Ned knock on MJ's front door 15 minutes later. Ned is holding a bundle in his arms, and Penny has her backpack and a duffle bag. MJ tells Penny to set them down, before hugging her. Penny is kind of shocked - MJ is not the hugging type. Apparently running away had effected her friends more than she expected. She feels pretty bad about that.
When MJ finally lets go, she picks up Penny's backpack, Penny picks up her duffle, and MJ leads Penny to her new room. Penny ends up crying a little this time, seeing it. MJ was telling the truth about there not being much baby stuff yet, but there's a half-built crib on one wall and a changing table on another, in addition to a bed for Penny. She's shown the closet - more than big enough for Penny's few things - and then MJ quickly brings her down the hall to the bathroom they'll share (Marcus lives a floor above, and only has to share with Malcolm, MJ's other brother, when he's home. He's a junior in college at the moment, and he hasn't been updated on any of the situation. MJ and Marcus planned on telling him when he got home for the summer. Now that Penny's already here, with a baby, that conversation is going to be even weirder than they'd planned) before sending her back to her room with a pair of borrowed pajamas. Penny changes quickly, and slips into the bed with great relief, knowing that Ned and MJ will take care of May for her while she takes a nap. She's asleep before her head hits the pillow.
—
Marcus wakes up on Sunday planning a pretty simple day. He's off work, of course, so he hopes to hang with MJ and try to cheer her up, and maybe try to finish the crib for MJ's friend, who they're hoping will be found.
He is not expecting to walk into the living room to find his sister and her friend sitting on the couch, holding a baby.
He stops dead in the middle of the room, staring at them. They don't even seem to have noticed he's there; they're completely occupied with the baby.
He clears his throat.
MJ glances up. "Marcus! You're awake! We have so much to tell you!"
"Clearly," he says, staring at the infant in his sister's arms. "I thought you expected the baby in like, September or something."
"Yeah, we're still not totally sure about that either. Penny promised to explain when she wakes up, but she did apparently give birth two days ago and take a Greyhound from… actually, we don't know where she was, but she seemed exhausted, so we offered to babysit while she takes a nap. Also, she said we're the godparents."
Marcus shakes his head. "That one doesn't surprise me. Well, introduce me to my newest housemate. I assume Penny at least told you the baby's name?"
"Oh, yeah," says Ned. "Her name is May Teresa Parker."
"It's a pretty name," Marcus says. "Can I sit next to you?" He asks MJ. She scoots over, making sure he can see the baby. "I know May was her aunt's name," MJ says, "but I have no idea about Teresa - her mom's name was Mary."
"I actually know that one," Ned says. "You know how her parents died in a plane crash?" MJ nods. "Well, her mom was pregnant. 6 months. It was a girl. And she planned to name her - "
"Teresa," breathed MJ. "I had no idea, she never said."
"She doesn't talk about anything related to her parents much," Ned consoles. "I think she's mentioned Teresa twice in the time I've known her. I can count the number of times she's talked about her parents on my fingers."
Marcus stands up. "Well, I should make some breakfast for all of us. Hopefully, Penny will wake up soon and we can get some answers about everything."
He heads to the kitchen and opens the fridge.
He's really gonna have to finish that crib today.