§ § § - August 29, 2009

It was a little past three that afternoon and Christian was putting the finishing touches on the website he was creating, while Leslie played with Anastasia, now just over four months old and beginning to develop her own little personality. Anastasia loved playing peekaboo with anyone who would indulge her, and Leslie was at it now, crouching behind the loveseat and suddenly popping up from behind it with a gentle "boo!" or a big grin or a funny face; every single time, Anastasia squealed with delighted baby chortles, often rocking back and forth like a Weeble, a toy Leslie remembered from her own childhood. The baby's actions made Leslie giggle constantly; Christian's grin at his youngest child's delight seemed perpetual, and Roarke wore a broad smile as he did some accounting.

Finally Christian gave up, set the laptop aside and shook his head. "Anastasia Enstad, you really know how to get to a person, don't you. Look, even your grandfather's distracted! What are we going to do about that?" he teased, delivering some swift tickles to Anastasia's stomach that made the infant double over laughing.

"You don't know how fortunate you are, Christian," Roarke observed, watching, his smile broader, if anything. "She's a very happy and contented baby."

Leslie scooped Anastasia up and cuddled her close. "She sure is." She settled down beside Christian and kissed him. "Oh, my love, right now feels like it's perfect."

Christian's smile grew slightly quizzical, but he slipped an arm across her shoulders and gave her a gentle hug, without questioning her. Anastasia reached out and grabbed at his Rolex, and he let out a laugh, tickling her once again and eliciting her happy squeal.

Before anyone could do any more, though, there was a knock, which caused Anastasia to turn her head in that direction to stare. Roarke called out an acknowledgment, and a second later Hayley Griffin walked in, tugging her "weekend sister", Sydney, by the hand. Sydney looked almost like Hayley's twin, Leslie thought; she, Christian and a very avid Anastasia watched while Hayley glared at Sydney. "Show him, you brat. Show Mr. Roarke what you're wearing."

Sydney gave Hayley a curious look, then shrugged and twirled around once, the skirt of her dress flaring out. "Will that do, sis?"

"What, if I may ask, is significant about Sydney's attire?" Roarke inquired.

"It's mine, that's what's significant about it! She dug right into my suitcase and took it and put it on, without even asking me!" Hayley raged.

"I already apologized for not asking," Sydney said in a wounded tone. "But you have such great taste in clothes, Hay! I really love this dress!"

"That doesn't mean you can just help yourself!" Hayley protested.

"Miss Griffin..." Roarke said, raising both hands a little. "Please, calm yourself."

"This fantasy's not going anything like it was supposed to," complained Hayley in a familiar refrain that had Christian and Leslie grinning wryly at each other. "All I wanted was a sister to share confidences and memories and fun times with..."

"And clothes, apparently," Roarke noted, seemingly innocent of his own irony.

"Only with my permission—which she didn't have! What am I supposed to do about this?" Hayley wanted to know.

"Did you speak with your mother?" asked Roarke.

"Mom said we have to work it out between us," Sydney said, which got her another infuriated look from Hayley. "She didn't give us any real advice at all, to be honest. She looked pretty tired, actually."

Leslie chuckled, getting the sisters' attention. "I have a feeling she was hoping she could have a little vacation of her own. You know, Hayley, I remember you saying just this morning that it doesn't matter how much you fight, you still love each other. How much sisterly love has there been between you two today?"

"Not much," Sydney said, pouting. "But this is kind of normal. I mean...you can't imagine how much I hate being the little sister sometimes. Hayley thinks she gets to boss me around just because she has a year on me."

Hayley blinked, looking shocked. "Hey...I...I don't do that..." she began.

"Oh, you do too," Sydney said. "Don't even try to deny it. I know, you probably just do it because Chance does it to you, and Chance does it because Owen does it to him, and all that trash. But that doesn't leave anyone for me to boss around."

Christian snickered. "I know the feeling all too well," he assured Sydney.

Hayley gaped at him, then at Roarke, and cried, "You're not supposed to take her side! She's the one who's the fantasy here!"

"You only wish, big sister," Sydney snapped. "Just when I thought we were going to have a really great family vacation, and maybe get closer as sisters...and nothing changes." She shook her head and flounced out of the house.

"It's not fair," Hayley wailed, sinking into a chair. "All my life I wanted a sister, and now it's like you're...you're trying to spoil it by teaching me a lesson about how horrible it can be to have one. It's not fair, Mr. Roarke."

Roarke studied her. "What, exactly, did you expect from the experience of having a sister, Miss Griffin?" he asked. "What do you think it should be like?"

Hayley seemed caught up short by this. "Well...I...I don't know. Maybe a little less of that smug superiority I get from Chance just because he's a guy and gets to do a load of things I can't. Having somebody to talk to about the cute guys in school, I guess. Somebody who likes the same music and TV shows and famous hotties I do. Something like that."

Leslie grinned, remembering Kelly and Kristy. "Somebody who'd look up to you?"

Hayley stared at her. "Yeah...like I bet your sisters looked up to you."

"Did they, my Rose?" asked Christian with amusement.

"Oh, sometimes," Leslie said with a laugh, gently patting Anastasia's tummy. "Kristy more than Kelly, overall. Kelly was really an independent thinker. I think Kristy just needed more...more protection or something." She paused, thinking back. "Come to think of it, they shared each other's clothes all the time too—which was a little funny because they had such different tastes. Kelly was a lot more of a tomboy, and Kristy liked frillier, girlier stuff. She'd wear Kelly's clothes if most of her own were in the laundry, and usually didn't complain, but Kelly wore Kristy's stuff only if she had to."

"Did they ever try to wear any of your clothes?" Hayley asked.

"Not really. Not that it mattered, because they always ended up getting my outgrown stuff anyway." Leslie focused on Hayley. "I have a feeling you were kind of hoping that, if you were going to share clothes with Sydney, you'd be the one dictating which clothes to share."

Hayley blushed, while Roarke carefully hid a smile. "Yeah, well...I guess that's true."

Leslie leaned forward a little, both hands wrapped securely around Anastasia, and urged, "Try this, Hayley—offer to take Sydney clothes shopping, and help her pick out stuff that would flatter her. Give her the benefit of that good taste she said you have." As Hayley stared, she grinned and added, "The best part is that you can have those clothes all to yourself after your fantasy ends and you don't have a sister anymore."

Christian let out a loud snort of amusement; Roarke cast his gaze skyward, and Hayley's mouth dropped open with wonder. "Wow," she breathed. "Holy cow, Mrs. Enstad, you're right! How come I never thought of that? That's great advice—thanks!" She tossed off a quick thanks at Roarke as well before leaping up and rushing out.

"Leslie Susan..." Roarke said through a sigh.

"What?" Leslie asked, bewildered, spreading out both palms. "It's true, you know."

Christian started to laugh. "Something tells me you must have wished on at least a few occasions that you could have done that where your own sisters were concerned."

Leslie snickered. "Well, maybe once or twice. To be honest, I'm more worried about what our girls are going to do when they're old enough to care about these things." She burst out laughing at Christian's groan, and Roarke chuckled—a little less reluctantly when Anastasia chortled energetically in response to her mother's laughter.