News of Sloan's pregnancy spread like wildfire through the Hallowe'en party, and no one was more excited than Tessi Esposito. She knew what it meant when new babies were on the way; it was more than just getting to feel the funny little bumps and kicks in the ever-getting-bigger belly, it meant going shopping for presents and lots of fun times with the other kids she didn't see so much now that she was in school.

But more than anything, it meant her mami, the best cook in the history of everything, would be inviting Sloan and Devon over for a baking party. Tessi loved those days, and wondered if everyone was as lucky as her and got a great chef for a mami.

Before the big baking party could happen, there was an important step that came first - picking out stuff from the grocery store they would make into other stuff. And even more exciting, it was just her and her mami; the prospect of one-on-one grown-up girl-time with her mami made Tessi just as happy as the prospect of being in the kitchen with her mami.

'You're awfully hyper today, Tessi-boo,' Meredeth commented laughingly as Tessi practically skipped into Martindale's with her. 'You have some chocolate-covered espresso beans from your daddy's stash or what?'

'I'm just so happy it's just you and me, Mami,' Tessi replied with a grin.

Meredeth nodded, understanding her daughter's excitement better now. 'You like just you and me?'

'Uh-huh. I love Max and Trini and Leo but they are so loud sometimes! Especially, Trini, she just sings and sings and Leo joins in with her and oh man, it's so noisy!'

'I know what you mean, princess.'

'And besides, I want to be your big helper monkey,' Tessi continued as they picked out a cart, started in the vegetable section.

'You've always been my big helper monkey, Tessi,' Meredeth told her, checking her flyers and making a game plan. 'You've been like that since your daddy and I told you we were having two babies at once.'

'Really?'

'Really, really. You even decided to help with the 'lonny' when Daddy and I were still sleeping one morning.'

'The 'lonny', Mami? What does that mean?'

'You were trying to say laundry.' Meredeth told her daughter the story, and it sent Tessi into a hysterical fit of giggles.

'I was such a silly girl, but a big help, right?'

'Absolutely. Can you be an even bigger help to me? Can you go by the oranges and get me five clear bags?'

Tessi nodded, and though it was less than a foot from the end of the shopping cart, it made her feel very grown-up and independent to perform a task like that in public away from her mother. She pulled the roll of produce bags counted six of them - you could always use a extra - tore them off delicately and returned triumphantly to her mother.

'There we go, Mami! What are we getting first?'

'We are going to get some fancy mushrooms, and then some onions and garlic, and maybe some peppers, if they are on sale.'

'Sweet! What are we making with those?'

'Haven't decided yet, Tessi, but they are essentials to any good kitchen.'

Tessi nodded and linking her fingers through the wire of the shopping cart's basket, walked with her mother to the rows and rows of wonderful smelling vegetables. So many colours, and there were leafy things, and carrot-looking things that weren't carrots, and lots of bumpy and knobby looking things too.

Stretching on her tip-toes she looked down the row a little bit to see where the peppers were, and saw her mother was busy with the mushroom selection. Why couldn't she help out a little, like she did with the plastic bags? 'Mami?'

'Yes, Tessi?'

'Can I see if the peppers are on sale?'

'No, sweetie, I want you to stay here with me.'

Tessi frowned but complied. 'I just want to be helpful,' she pleaded.

'I know, but I don't want you getting lost. Remember what happened to Rosie at the toy store?'

She did remember, how scared Tia Lili had been when Rosie had gone into a different aisle to look for the toy she was trying to find for Leo's birthday. 'Oh, I get it, you don't want to be scared.'

'Exactly.'

Tessi slipped her hand into her mother's and gave it a reassuring squeeze. 'I promise, I won't scare you ever.'

Meredeth could only smile at her daughter and look at her with the love only a mother could muster. She knew her little girl wanted to be a cop like her daddy, and had no idea that even scarier than marrying a cop was giving birth to one. 'Promise?'

'I promise.'