Gemma Maddison was sitting in the living room of her Californian home in Sunset Boulevard, watching daytime TV. Lying on the sofa with her feet stretched out, she struggled against her 7 month pregnancy bump to reach over and grab the drink from the coffee table. Just as she achieved her goal, and took a victory sip, the phone began to ring.
"Shall I get that?" her husband, Billy Maddison, asked from his spot on the carpeted floor where he was playing with his two sons, Caleb and Kai.
"No, it's okay. I think I can manage", the pretty expectant mother replied, swinging her feet round and inching herself forward in preparation for the physical activity.
Billy sighed as he watched her. She was in far too much discomfort, he thought to himself. His piercing, bright blue eyes stared at his wife for a moment. Her long, bouncy brunette hair loosely curled down, settling beneath her shoulder blades. Her green eyes were alert, giving him and the children loving glances when he spotted her staring at him from the couch - the place she spent most of her days these days. But she still looked like the vibrant and beautiful teenager she was before they married and she became pregnant. Looking at her face, he remembered the way she was: so full of life and fun. But this pregnancy was taking its toll. His eyes scrolled down her body and took in the enormous baby bump that strained against the seams of her clothing, so big it made it difficult for her to sit up, or drive comfortably. She couldn't even reach shelves anymore. Her ankles were swollen and puffy, making mobility uncomfortable and her back was in constant agony. He felt that this pregnancy was stripping away everything that she was: her independence, her confidence and her self belief had been left in tatters as one by one all the tasks she enjoyed became near on impossible. Just then, he felt a tug at his hair.
"Daddy, daddy!!" Kai shouted, trying to get his father's attention.
"We wanna play in the pool!" Caleb stated, so matter of factly it didn't seem as if Billy had a choice.
"You do, huh?" he asked them. The boys nodded. "Hmm... okay. Maybe your mama would like a dip in the pool as well, huh?"
Caleb nodded, his dark brown eyes twinkling with excitement. Billy looked up and realised that Gemma had now got off the couch and had managed to reach the phone.
"Come on, get your things", Billy announced, getting up off the floor, picking Kai up with him, while Caleb ran ahead and up the stairs. Billy followed, pausing at Gemma's side to wrap his free arm around her bump, stroking his unborn child, and gave Gemma a kiss on the cheek before walking up the stairs after Caleb to find their swimming gear.
"Gemma, you will not believe what's happened!!" the voice yelled, obviously distressed.
"Dean, what's wrong?" she asked, nervously, "is everybody okay?"
"I'm fucking pissed off is what's wrong!" Dean shouted down the phone. "Have you seen what the fuck the Infidels are calling their next album?!"
"Oh, yeah... I was gonna call you about that today, actually... But... why are you so mad?"
"It's fucking slander, that's what that is!" Dean said, obviously pissed off. "Even my mum has heard about it. And how the hell am I gonna pick up girls now?!"
Gemma laughed. "Come on, Dean, who actually believes it? Your mother doesn't, you've shown your bits at gigs enough times for the girls not to believe what they hear - and even if they did, after seeing the display you put on, I'm willing to bet most of them would sleep with you, even if it was just to find out the truth".
"I don't want my name being used. I hadn't even heard of these so called musicians before. Or if I did, I was either on too many drugs, or they were too shite for me to care to remember them".
"Look, at the end of the day, they're a bunch of nobodies, using your name, your fame and your fanbase to try and cause controversy, which leads to interest, which leads to profit", Gemma reasoned.
"Well if they think they can use me, they're fucked", Dean said, calming down.
"What are you gonna do?"
"I'm taking the no good penniless nobodies to court. I'll take them for everything they have".
"That probably won't be much," Gemma reasoned.
"I don't care if I have to take the fucking cardboard box that they call a home, I'm taking everything. If the fucking retarded ass mother fuckers think they can bitch about me, I'm gonna prove them wrong".
With that, they said their goodbyes and hung up, promising to speak the next day.
Gemma turned around, just in time to see the kids go flying through the room in a haze of swimming trunks and towels before Billy appeared before her, struggling to wrap his arms around her swollen body as he gave her a kiss.