Young & Menace
Celeste was 21 years old when she met Army Specialist Timothy Robbins. She was working at a bookstore near the local Army base and he was out of training for the evening. He wandered in, caught her attention, and told her that he was looking for a copy of The Making of a Surgeon for his younger sister. She was about to leave home to attend UCLA as a pre-med major and was freaking out that she had lost a copy of the book that showed her what she wanted to be when she grew up. The store didn't have it, but Celeste offered to order it online and send it directly to his sister. He smiled, provided the information needed to complete the transaction, and was on his way.
Celeste was 22 years old when Timothy got relocated for the first time. They had been dating for about 9 months when he got his orders - he'd have to leave in two weeks. Unable to stand what the distance might do, she asked him if she could move with him. Because they weren't married, she couldn't live on base with him, but he offered to split half of the rent on the apartment they'd find for her. She'd find a job in the area and be able to support herself. When he could, he'd come stay with her. Her parents were worried, but Celeste's mind had been made up. She was in love with an Army man, and this is what that had to look like sometimes.
Celeste was 23 when Timothy got his deployment orders. He, legally, could not tell her where he was going, but he promised that he'd come home safe. They talked about getting married before he left, but his parents would kill him if he became a military cliche. Timothy asked Celeste to start the idea phase of planning the wedding - they'd book everything when he got home. They had three days where he didn't have to report on-base, and they made the most of it - in bed. He was gone in what felt to her like an instant.
Celeste had just turned 24 when she found out that she was pregnant. Her phone calls with Timothy were filled with "I miss you"s and "come home soon"s, but she didn't want to be _that _Army "wife". She was going to wait until he came home and tell him then. She had even gone to one of the craft fairs on base and bought one of those disgusting "_Army Baby on the way" _t-shirts to wear when he came home. She expected that her bump would be a little pronounced, and that made it all the more perfect in her mind.
Celeste was (still) 24 when she heard a knock she hadn't been expecting on her front door. Her heart went a little aflutter, as much as she hated it, thinking that he had come home on leave to see her. Instead, she was met with the tear stained face of Timothy's younger sister. The heart that was aflutter moments ago felt like it had left the building. Timothy's mom and younger sister had come to let her know that Timothy had been caught in the crossfire between insurgents in the area and his battalion. Try as the Army surgeons might, they didn't have the resources in the middle of a combat zone to have him treated. Timothy couldn't fight his injuries forever, and never made it to the Army hospital in Zurich, Germany. He passed away on the flight.
Thank god for one of Timothy's baggy Army sweatshirts. She wasn't ready to tell his sister and mom that she was four months pregnant. Not on the worst night of her life. ---
For being four months pregnant, Celeste's bump was small. It was small enough, she thought, that with the right dress, she wouldn't have to address it with the Robbins family. They hadn't really grown to like her the way that Timothy had promised that they would. His sister, to be honest, was a bit stuck up - she always had to be right. Timothy adored the shit out of her, but Celeste really couldn't have cared less. His father was a hard-ass and you could tell that his mother had been born to be a military wife. Her tables were always set perfectly, she cleaned up right after dinner, and even referred to her husband as "the Colonel".
Timothy's funeral was planned without her. It was, for the most part, a standard-issue military funeral, but it hurt that she was expected to just "show up" all the same. That had been her fiance. Sure, they hadn't had a chance to exchange rings, but it seemed to Celeste that that wasn't necessarily a requirement when it came to military engagements. Nevertheless, she kept to Timothy's dying wish that his family not know until the time was right. He wanted to be the one to sit down with his parents and sister, explain to them how strong their relationship was, and that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Celeste. He never got that moment. And even after his death, Celeste couldn't take that away from him.
The funeral felt like it took two weeks. Arizona got up and spoke, followed by his mother. They both cried as they told stories about Timothy as a child, like when Arizona spoke about the time they had been trying to climb the same tree. He had scrambled up the tree before his sister and, when he saw that she wasn't able to climb on her own, slid back down to help her. She had fallen from the second lowest branch before he could reach her, and she ended up breaking her collar bone. He was grounded for a week, having to wait on her hand and foot. She apologized to his portrait that she wasn't able to do the same when he was so badly injured. The hymns were sung, the speeches were given, and the coffin was rolled out of the church. He was buried in a military cemetery, complete with a 21 gun salute and "Taps" being played as they lowered his body into the ground. The flag on his coffin was handed to his family, and again, Celeste felt cheated. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. -----
Celeste was almost 25 when she went into labor. She never did get around to telling Timothy's family about the baby, so she was left on her own. After 38 hours of labor, she welcomed a beautiful, slightly underweight, daughter. Despite the fact that Timothy was no longer with her, she knew exactly what he would have wanted to name their daughter.
Danielle Scott Robbins was born on August 14th, 2000. From here on out, Celeste was not on her own.
