She sat at the counter of the kitchen and watched her daughters play. They were twins, seven years old. Their names were Megan and Mandy, two names she had always wanted to name a girl. She had tears burn her eyes; they had the eyes of their father, Nate Gray. Her high school sweetheart, they graduated and at prom they made a mistake. He broke up with her after a four-year relationship because he was afraid that he had gotten her pregnant. But, he said it was because something happened and he had to leave her. A tear fell but she wiped it away before taking another sip of her Starbucks coffee. "Mom!" they exclaimed. She looked up and saw a familiar man walking into the kitchen.

"Joe!" she exclaimed and jumped up from the stool. "It's so good to see you! I haven't seen you in two years!" She had told the most important people in her life about the pregnancy. She went to Tennessee when she graduated and lived on her family's ranch. She became a successful lawyer and she was well known around the country. She told her parents and his, along with their siblings and her best friends. But, she never told him, he was afraid of something like this so she never told him.

"I had to come and she my nieces for their eighth birthday! And I had to come and see my beautiful, sister." She laughed at his remark; he had always been the funny one. But, she could see something was wrong in his eyes and sighed.

"Megan, Mandy, why don't you go see if Abby can play?" she said.

"'Kay!" they shouted and ran outside. She sat back down and pulled out a stool for him.

"Sit," she said and he sat down next to her. "What's wrong?" His smile faded and he looked at the counter. "Joe!" He looked at her and sighed.

"It's Nate…"

"What do you mean?"

"He's back to L.A. from New York."

"And why does this concern me?"

"Because he's getting married." Her eyes widened but she looked away. "He still doesn't know about…Megan and Mandy."

"That's the way I want it."

"Well, your parents invited us all over and he saw a picture of them; the picture of you and the girls at the park with me, Josh, Doug, and your friend Miranda."

"What did you tell him?"

"That they were Miranda's kids." She let out a sigh of relief, and took a drink of coffee.

"Does he know about…me…coming back?" she asked.

"No, not yet. We don't want him to know until you get there. When is it you're coming?"

"Wednesday."

"Okay, um…well they're getting married in two months."

"Why does this concern me Joe?"

"You have to stop them!"

"What!"

"You have to! We cannot stand her! She hates us all and Josh, Anya, Nikki, and I overheard her talking to someone. She said she's only marrying Nate for the money! You have to stop him."

"Why me? Why don't you try to?"

"We've tried, he doesn't listen! You have to do it."

"Joe, why would he listen to me?"

"I don't know…I just thought maybe he would." But he knew exactly why Nate would listen to her, Nate was still in love with her. His brother was trying to get over her by marrying Kayla, and he seemed to be over Alyssa, but Joe knew his brother better than that. He was NOT over Alyssa. Joe looked at all of the boxes that Alyssa had stacked in the living room.

"Oh…yeah. I've already started packing and since I have all that and I'm flying with the girls, I'm having the movers come and pick it up Tuesday," she said.

"Where's the new house?" he asked.

"Broadway Lane."

"I'll help you unpack when you get to L.A., I'm sure Josh and the others would want to help too." She nodded and got up.

"You want to go get something to eat?" she asked. "I'm sure you're hungry."

"You know, that would be great!"

"Okay, well let me go get properly dressed. Would you go get the girls?" she asked as she walked up the stairs.

"Sure."

Alyssa, Joe, Megan, and Mandy went to eat and Joe left the next day. He left Monday and the movers arrived at the house on Tuesday. After loading up the moving truck Alyssa took the girls to a hotel to stay and they left the next day.

"Mom! L.A. is beautiful!" Megan exclaimed. The twins had turned eight on Sunday, the day Joe arrived.

"I can't believe that you wanted to leave!" Mandy added. They didn't know about their father, Alyssa had never told them. They never asked about him because she told them that when they were old enough she would tell them. But, that time may have been coming sooner than Alyssa wanted.

"Alyssa!" Anya exclaimed when she saw her best friend getting out of the car with her daughters. "You look amazing!"

"Anya!" she exclaimed and hugged her.

"Aunty Anya!" the twins exclaimed and hugged their mother's best friend.

"Where's Joe?" Alyssa asked.

"He's on his way with the others," Anya said.

"Girls why don't you go inside and pick your rooms."

"Okay!" they exclaimed and ran inside. "

"Anya…what am I going to do? If Nate sees me…what am I supposed to say? He thinks that Megan and Mandy are Miranda's kids."

"We'll solve that when the time comes. Don't worry about Nate. He's to into Kayla to worry about anyone else."

"Well I'm supposed to go over to my parent's house tonight, and I bet that he'll be at his parents. They live next door!"

"Don't worry about it," she said as Joe pulled up with Josh, Doug, Angie, Tabby, and Tracy. "Hey guys!"

"Hey! Alyssa! You look absolutely amazing!" Tabby exclaimed and she, Tracy, and Angie hugged their friend.

"Thank you."

"Where are the two little you?" Angie asked.

"Inside fighting for their rooms." They all laughed and Alyssa hugged the others.

"We better go and stop my nieces from killing one another," Doug said and walked inside and shouted their names. The others followed.

"Hey mom!" Alyssa exclaimed when she walked into her parents' house and hugged her mother. "Mrs. Gray?" she asked and hugged her ex-boyfriend's mother. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to come and see you! Well…we did," she said motioning to her husband talking to her Alyssa's father.

"I'm so happy to see you."

"Well…where are my two beautiful grandchildren?" Alyssa's mother asked.

"Yes, I want to see how much they've grown!" Mrs. Gray added. Alyssa smiled and called her daughters. "Oh my! They look just like you except they have Nate's eyes, still." Alyssa smiled and looked at Joe. He shook his head and she let out a sigh of relief. Then someone knock at the door. Alyssa looked at everyone, they were all there, except Nate. She looked at Joe who was answering the door.

"Uncle Joey!" Megan exclaimed when he answered the door. Alyssa wished that she had been able to keep Megan quiet.

"Um…Joe…I thought you said that…" Nate started before Alyssa ran to grab Megan.

"Megan!" Alyssa said and ran to get her from Joe, but Nick saw her.

"A-A-Alyssa?" Nate stuttered.