Fan Fiction - Written by Doug Fowler - Book & Television Universe

Michelle Tanner, a beautiful 5' 2", eyes of blue young lady, jumped as she got off the phone. She quickly called home from her off-campus apartment - she couldn't wait to break the news. "Dad," she screamed before Danny Tanner had a chance to say hello, "you're going to be a Grandpa again!"

"Whoa, that's great, honey. Is it Steph or D.J.?"

"Daaaad," Michelle said wearily, kidding him. He always doted on his little princess, as he called her. But, she hoped he would be comfortable with the idea of her being pregnant. He was awfully protective, too. Indeed, she wondered if she ever would have gotten married if it hadn't been to a boy she'd known since Kindergarten. It certainly wouldn't have happened so soon. She'd been Michelle Farrington for 18 months now, though, and she loved every bit of it.

Danny forced himself to accept Michelle's news. He'd known that it would happen sometime. "Okay, honey. So, you're pregnant. That's incredible. I mean, Steph hasn't even had her first baby yet with her husband. Couldn't you wait till you're done with school, at least?"

"Dad, I will have graduated by the time the baby comes. I should have a job, even if Jeff goes to grad school. Besides, Mom had D.J. when she was eighteen. I hope you think she was old enough," Michelle stated bluntly. She had always brutally honest about things. However, she also had a great sense of humor.

She'd needed it after one mixup, she reflected after she hung up. She leaned back in the chair by the phone, and reminisced.

"Pretty soon, we'll be doing this in college," Jeff said.

Michelle sighed dreamily. "It's going to be a big step, being away from our families. With Mom passing away when I was a baby, I had so many people living with me, I don't remember ever having a sitter outside the family." Except for D.J.'s friend Kimmy, now a professional hair stylist. But, she'd been over there so often as a kid, it seemed like Kimmy was part of the family, too. "But I know one other classmate going there. Plus, we'll have each other," she continued.

"Yeah. Hey..." Jeff looked anxiously at his watch. "Joey's usually on time, isn't he?" Joey was a very funny comedian. He and Michelle's Uncle Jesse had moved in to help raise the Tanner sisters when their mom died. While Joey didn't do it much, he could fly a small twin engine plane. He'd flown one that Jesse skydived out of on Jesse's wedding day.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Michelle wondered why Jeff wasn't his normal, comical self. He'd been very romantic on prom night, for instance, after their three years of going together. But, the class clown had even cracked a few jokes then.

"Well, I just..." He fidgeted a little. "I hope I told him the right park."

"Come on, what is it?" Her cell phone rang. "Hello?"

"Uh...Michelle? You might want to come read something up here in the sky."

Michelle stared at the cell phone, thoroughly confused. "Cassie, where are you, what's in the sky, and why can't you read it to me?"

"Well, I just don't think it's right. I'm here in Golden Gate Park."

"Okay, so you're in Golden Gate Park . . . " Machelle began, still stumped. That hadn't helped her one bit.

"Oh, no, that's five miles from here," Jeff muttered. When Michelle glanced curiously at him, Jeff stuttered, "I-I mean, there's no way we could get to it in time. It'll dissipate by then."

"Jeff's right. It'll be gone by the time we get there. Just tell me what it says," Michelle ordered her friend.

Cassie said, "Michelle, I just don't feel like it. Ask Jeff what it says."

"How is Jeff going to know what's written in the sky five miles from here? He may have gotten a baseball scholarship, but not even Ted Williams could have seen that far!"

Jeff started laughing nervously as Michelle hung up the phone. Cassie hadn't told what it said, and Michelle was giving him a very strange look. Now, what was he going to do?

He stammered and squirmed. "Well, Michelle, what it said . . . " He looked down. "Well, what I mean is, I love you, and . . . I think we're meant to be together. I mean, we're great friends, we love each other, and . . . "

He finally held up his hands to look like antlers. With his hands on his head, he spoke in a low, comical voice. Michelle had used this to introduce herself the first day of Kindergarten, and it was a memory both loved to share. Wen Michelle had had amnesia, in fact, the first thing to come back to her, right before the rest returned during a nap, had been Stephanie helping her that first day.

Jeff had a great sense of humor, and often turned to jokes when he was nervous. So, he decided to use this as a last resort.

Like Bullwinkle, he said, "Michelle Tanner, will you marry me?"

Michelle shrieked excitedly. "You mean it, Jeff?" He nodded. "Okay, say it like Jeff, not Bullwinkle."

He became too nervous once he was back in his normal persona "I can't, the cat's got my tongue."

"We both have dogs, Jeff," Michelle teased back. "Come on, say it normally. I don't want to marry Bullwinkle."

"Michelle, I have to do something funny. It's too scary to think about without a joke to help me."

Michelle got an ornery smirk on her face. She lunged at Jeff's armpits, catching him totally by surprise. Jeff started laughing convulsively as Michelle tickled him. "Okay, now can you say it? You're laughing."

Jeff's face was red as he squirmed around. He couldn't remember Michelle ever tickling him like this - they'd both always enjoyed verbal humor, rather than being physical. However, he supposed he deserved it - he was the one who tried to hang around her every second in fourth grade once - partly to practice for a school play, partly because he liked her. He knew he should be braver than to have to resort to talking like Bullwinkle when prooposing.

"Ha ha, hee hee, will you marry me? Ha ha, hoooo!" Jeff felt relieved as she stopped. "Thanks. I needed that."

D.J. spoke excitedly. "That's great about you being pregnant, Michelle. Now, remember what we always said. You don't have to be so blunt."

"Come on, Deej, of course I know. You and Steph have been working with me on politeness and respect and things like that ever since I can remember." She sighed. "I know, you just feel like you have to fill in for Mom."

"Hey, we've done pertty well, haven't we? Now, remember, try something to piquie his interest. Something to give the right mood."

Michelle nodded. "I think I know just the thing."

Michelle smiled. "You liked those balloons and the stork I had them put in your locker, huh?"

"You bet!" Jeff pranced around the room, gesturing with his right hand, while Michelle's look became more stunned. "Spring; when the grass is green, the flowers come out, everything is made new. Oh, what a beautiful time to start baseball practice. You know," he said, spinning abruptly toward her, "it just wouldn't be the same if baseball started in the fall. I mean, can you imagine if they tried to play on brown grass? Or if the bleacher bums at PacBell Park had to wear wool sweaters and heavy winter coats instead of shorts and sunglasses? How depressing."

"Jeff!" Michelle rolled her eyes. She reminded herself that at least he was on the right track. "Okay, think a moment. Something is being BORN, you're right."

"Born....born...of course, Born Borg! You decided to try out for the tennis team your last year here at Stanford," Jeff guessed. "Either that, or you're going to teach that butterfly story this Sunday for the little ones at church, like Stephanie teaches."

Michelle laughed inwardly. "First of all, Jeff, it's Bjorn Borg. Second, I don't think anyone can teach like Steph; especially when she does the one on when she drove the car into the kitchen. Now, think a minute. Think real hard." Michelle held up a finger. "A stork visited your locker. What does that tell you?"

"I don't know; I don't know any teams named the Storks," Jeff said.

Michelle rolled her eyes. "Jeff, storks bring babies. Well, I mean, they don't actually bring the babies, but sometimes parents say that to kids."

"Really? In my house the doctors always got them from the cabbage patch and brought them to the hospital. Anyway, I gotta run, to the team's study group, but I just had to come by and thank you for putting that there. You're so sweet." He kissed her, then left.

Michelle nodded slowly. "Okay, if he wants cabbages..."

Michelle called up her Uncle Jesse and Aunt Becky. "Hey, Uncle Jesse. How are things going?"

"Oh, just fine. Hey, remember when we were gonna adopt Kathy Santoni's baby till she decided to keep him? Well, now he just asked Mariah to the Junior Prom." Mariah was a girl Jesse and Becky had adopted ten years ago, when she was a preschooler, after her teen mother had had too many problems dealing with her.

"That's nice. You guys are great parents. Sounds like Kathy made a pretty good one, too."

"Yeah, well, she had help from her mom, whereas the young lady who had Mariah was even younger than Kathy, and her home life was a real mess." Jesse smiled. "But, it all works out for a reason. And, I really think trying to adopt Kathy's baby got us on the right track for roughly four years after that. So, what's on our mind?"

"Well, Jeff needs some help realizing I'm pregnant. I need to know how many recipes you know what cabbage in them."

Jesse smiled. "Okay, hold on a minute, I'll give you some."

Later tht afternoon, Jeff returned home to the smell of cabbage and noodles and cabbage rolls. "Mmmm, that smells good," he said.

Michelle looked up from dishing some noddles onto a plate. "Good. I home you like tonight's theme." When he said nothing, she sighed. This is harder than when Aunt Becky had Uncle Jesse play pictionary, and he said, "She's having a hotdog," Michelle pondered.

"Michelle, I know a couple guys who are going to be drafted. I don't know if I want a big league contract or not. I mean, I'd like to know where I'll be for sure. But even then, if someone does draft me, it'll be such a late pick. I'm ready to just get a job like your dad and settle down with you for a lifetime."

"Oh, I know where you'll be in about seven months..." Michelle trailed off as they sat at the table.

"Yeah, I guess no matter what happens, you'd like us to get back home for your dad's birthday and the annual family gettogether. I'm going to try very hard to make that, too. Can you believe how Joey's kids have grown. I've got to admit, when I was ten, I almost had a little crush on that nice, young nurse he met in the hospital when you had your amnesia." He noticed her sighing. "Yeah, it has to be hard on him, with everyone moving out, and Steph and her husband so far away. But, I think he's enjoying moving around to the different homes."

"Yeah. You know, speaking of hospitals, Jeff..."

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Several of the team members stuck play cigars in Jeff's mouth as he opened the door. They brought blue and pink balloons inside and shouted. "Hey, congratulations," one said. "How does it feel to know you're going to be a father?"

"A what?" Jeff couldn't see Michelle trying in vain to hide her giggles.

"Yeah, we all saw that stork sign. We had to come over after we got done studying."

"This is awesome, man!'

"I'm not one to be domesticated tht fast, but it's you, man."

"Yeah, the team all agrees, you're the type who has family man written all over him."

Jeff was totally bewildered at all of their comments. Finally, he turned to Michelle. "Are...did you...I mean, am I the only one who didn't guess...?" She nodded excitely. He embraced her and gaveher a huge kiss. "Oh, honey, this is great. I guess my instinct were right, huh? Just get a job and settle down for a long, wonderful life."

He spoke solemnly, a little scared of the thought, but also remembering her life to that point. "Promise me you won't let any drunk drivers kill you, hon? This is something I don't think I could do myself."

Michelle smiled sweetly. "I promise. I'm going to try not to. Because goodness know, you hd enough trouble guessing I was pregnant."

"Yeah, man, what's that mean for when the coach gives us our signs tomorrow," one player asked.

Another said, "I think we'll have to tell Coach to just hold up signs for him that say "Bunt," "Take," and so on."

"Okay, guys, thanks. Can we be alone now?" Jeff pleaded.

The teammates left, though one parted with, "Why do you want to be alone? You've accomplished the most important thing." Jeff playfully threw a balloon at him as he left.

Michelle giggled as she examined the balloons, then turned to Jeff. "A bit apprehensive, are we?"

"Yeah. Honey, sometimes I lay awake at night, and I think of what you mean to me. And, I think of all those stories your dad tells, about your mom. And, I get scared. Honey, it's going to be even more like that now. I mean, Jesse and Becky have five kids. Joey finally got married after being scared for so long he'd end up having a bad relationship like his prents had. D.J.'s had to go back to work and let Steve watch their baby because his work's so bad. Stephanie and her husband are missionaries. But, all of those pale inc omparison to what it would be like to go it alone, without you. Especially with a baby."

Michelle nodded slowly. "I guess that's good, in a way. Jeff, I feel the same way. And, I think, in a way, that's one thing tht helps the good couples draw closer together. It should never be just about the kids - we have to devote time to each other, too, so we don't forget what love's like after they're grown." She laughed. "Listen, I sound like the opposite of my dad. Instead of not wanting them to grow up, our baby hasn't even been born yet and I have him leaving." They shared a gentle chuckle.

"I can see why; you're kind of breaking away from him a bit."

"Yeah. I guess that's it." She smiled broadly and kissed him. "Jeff, we're meant to be together. And, we're determined to make it work. Thta's what I love. Mom and Dad's was like that, too. I can't make any promises about tomorrow. But, I know we'll get through it," Michelle said.