A/N: A big thank you to everyone who takes the time to read and review. I really appreciate the feedback as it helps fuel the story. Please enjoy!

Chapter 25

"Hello! how did it go?" Lena asked as she welcomed Kate, Rachel, Jed and the twins into the house. Jed pushed the double stroller into the house and parked it by the kitchen table as Kate and Rachel followed carrying the twins in.

"Good," Kate said feeling a little exhausted, Lena noticing Kate's condition took Olivia out of her arms without even asking and cradled the baby girl with a soft smile.

"What did the doctor say?" Lena asked Kate, who knelt down to greet Scout who was happy and excited to see everyone. She really loved him, he was such a happy and friendly dog which is what they needed.

"Ah, all good." Kate said tiredly as she honestly couldn't remember much except the sound of the baby's heartbeat and image of him or her on the screen. She was still reeling from being 16 weeks especially given she wasn't showing. Well, if Kate was honest she wasn't able to tell given she took to wearing yoga pants which were too stretchy and accommodating for her to really know. But she wasn't showing like the other women in the waiting or how Rachel had.

"The doctor said everything was fine. The baby is developing nicely, and is well within healthy parameters. All Kate needs to do is keep eating well and getting rest. She also printed out photos of the ultrasound." Rachel said with a smile; taking over for Kate with Lena as she adjusted Evie in her arms and gently placed her into the stroller to keep sleeping.

"The girls are asleep and Zoe's at preschool, show me." Lena demanded as she placed Olivia in the stroller with Evie so her hands are free. Kate pulled out the envelope from her purse and handed it Lena who practically tore it open to get to the photos.

"Coffee, Tea. Anyone?" Kate offered with an amused smile at Lena's antics.

"You sit down, I'll get it." Jed said to her as he gently pushed her towards the table where Rachel sat down next to Lena looking at the pictures. Kate sat down opposite them and watched with a smile at Lena's exuberance.

"Oh look at her cute little nose." Lena cooed over the ultrasound photo.

"Her?" Kate asked Lena as she had kept the sex of the baby a surprise. She wanted something to share with Mike as he was the one who in the dark the most.

"Rachel had girls, Kara had a girl and the last two grand-babies Mike gave me were girls too. Did you find out the sex?" Lena asked Kate.

"No, I'm keeping it a surprise." Kate replied, she thanked Jed as he placed a cup of chamomile tea in front of her and served the others their tea before taking up a seat beside her. She looked to Scout who was trying to figure out how to get to the twins in the stroller as he could smell them and obviously wanted to suss them out as the rest of them were known to him.

"Can you tell?" Lena asked Rachel showing the pictures to her, Rachel wore an amused smile but shook her head.

"The baby wasn't telling us either. So no,I don't know." Rachel lied as she did know from when the ultrasound was performed but she was keeping quiet as Kate wanted to be surprised. So she would keep it a secret to respect Kate's wishes.

"Well, maybe next time she'll make herself known." Lena said in a smug manner as she was sure she was right about the sex of the baby even though she had no evidence to prove it. Yet other than her theory that the Nathan James crew only bore baby girls.

"This is going to be so awkward for you if it turns out to be a he." Kate told her, in a matter of fact ton.

"Well, we can't call her 'it' or 'bug' or 'alien' or whatever titles you can come up with that don't sound friendly or loving." Lena informed her, Kate didn't see why it was so important as she felt that on the list of priorities was getting the house sorted and supplied. Ration cards made it a bitch to buy in bulk and Kate would rather have everything that they could buy and be ready than talk about acknowledging the baby with a descriptor.

"What did you call Mike when he was in the womb?" Kate asked her, out of curiosity as she figured she could segue into how they only have 5 months to get the house sorted. That and talking to the girls, the discussion that Kate was dreading as she wanted Mike to know first and them as a couple to talk to the girls. She felt horrible that he was being left out of it all, even if it wasn't by choice.

"I feel I've stepped into the wrong conversation. So I'm going to take Scout for a walk." Jed said rising from the table.

"His leash is on the table by the door." Kate said as the women hid their smiles at Jed's discomfort but allowed him to go as their conversation was only going to get worse. They watched as Jed attached the leash to Scout's collar and then struggle to get the puppy out the door as he was more interested in sniffing the twins in the stroller than leaving the house. Jed not only to let it get in the way picked up Scout and took him out the front door.

"I called him my baby boy, I didn't have the same access to medical care as you girls did. But I did have Drano." Lena said after Jed left. Kate and Rachel both wore perplexed expressions at Lena's comment.

"What?" Kate asked she really didn't know how a pipe cleaning product could detect the gender of a baby. But she couldn't help curiosity getting the better of her.

"You mix your number one with Drano and if it turns brown it's a boy. If it doesn't change colour then it's a girl. We'll do it later." Lena assured her.

"We're not doing that. Ever. Sex of the baby will remain a surprise until either Mike comes home or the baby comes out of me whichever comes first." Kate promised her as she wore a wry smile. Rachel looked amused at that while Lena looked disappointed. She seemed to have her own idea of how things should be handled while Kate wanted to defer to Mike and see how things unfolded. Sure it would be better if the girls knew so they could adjust to the changes to the family dynamic but Kate was too tired and afraid to rock the boat given the past few months.

"Well we have to come up with a name other than 'The baby' until you and Michael decide on a name." Lena told her.

"How about Lena's grandbaby." Kate offered in a mockingly sweet manner, half hoping it would make Lena drop the topic.

"No, No, we can't do that." Lena said coyly as she was just a little too embarrassed to say that was a great name which was pretty amusing given Lena was not one to be shy.

"Well, we have 5 months to suss it out." Kate assured her, sure she had had a meltdown in the cafe when Jed and Rachel had bought her brunch before bringing her home. She was too exhausted and distracted to drive, so she was grateful for them taking care of her when they had their own lives to be dealing with.

"We should tell the girls tomorrow." Lena told her, Kate shook her head as she needed Mike to be there. She wanted to be a united front with him.

"I'd prefer to wait until Mike is home. I want him to know before them." Kate told her, something she knew was stupid to put her foot down on but she wanted to tell Mike privately and make sure they would be ok before everything went to hell. It was selfish but she wanted them to have a moment of joy. Well she hoped it was joy as she wasn't sure what she'd do if he wasn't happy about it.

"You're going to show at some point." Lena argued which was true but they had gotten away with 4 months of no baby bump so Kate was banking on at least a few weeks before it truly showed as baby bump.

"I realise that but I don't want Mike to be the last one to know in this family and we just won custody of the girls. They've had enough change for now. Let's just get things to settle down before we throw this at them." Kate told her.

"We'll discuss it another time." Lena said compromising in her own way as she didn't agree but wasn't going to argue about it right now given how much had happened in the last few days. Kate gave a nod and grateful smile for the reprieve.

"So Anna and Tex got engaged." Kate said changing the topic.

"Yes, someone mentioned a party here before I got roped into babysitting." Lena said in amusement as they just told her what was happening without asking for her input which she didn't mind at all as she liked to celebrate the good when one had a chance.

"Am I invited?" Rachel asked them as it was the first she was hearing about the party.

"Of course, everybody is invited. We also need you to make the sponge cakes." Kate said to her with a smile as it wasn't really true. Kate knew how to make sponge cakes but she couldn't help but put in a touch of amusement with Rachel who shook her head in amusement.

"Ah I knew I was called in this morning for another reason than to go to the doctor's with you." Rachel replied with a chuckle.

"I really appreciate you being there." Kate said to her sincerely.

"Anytime." Rachel promised her.

Mike laid back on his 'bed' which was the thinnest mattress and grubby blanket but it was better than nothing. Not that it got really cold where they were which told him it was somewhere tropical. But he'd stopped trying to guess where they were and right now he was distracted.

The images of the news video and the reporter's words playing through his head. He couldn't believe it but then a part of him did. It was like fate was personally against him. Then him with his idiotic command decisions, the one to go to the celebrations in Vietnam was a prime example.

He couldn't help but kick himself for not declining the invitation or sending a more mixed group of sailors so the ship wasn't without it's command. But he couldn't change that, just as he couldn't change the fact that Mason and who knew else had died for his poor choices as a Captain. It made him wonder if he was really made for a command; that maybe he was best as XO where he supported the person who made said decisions. He always felt stronger in the role of XO than when he stepped into the Captaincy but then he figured it was just a lack of practice in the role.

Either way, he was paying for it now as he had no idea when or if he'd get home. All he could think of was the things he was going to miss with the girls, how he'd set Kate up to become a widow again. Though apparently they were 'divorced' how that happened? he didn't know but he felt anger at Tom for not telling him, he thought his friend would at least inform him if his marriage was crumbling. Yes, their mission was important but Mike felt he'd deserved a chance to save his life back home after the sacrifices he'd made. He tried to think of what he'd done wrong but came up empty.

If Kate hated him enough to divorce him then why would she take and love the present of the dog? It just made no sense but he did know one thing. If- he shook his head ad corrected himself to when in his mind. When he got off this shit hole of an Island, he was booking in for emergency leave. He was going to go home and fix whatever needed repairing. He was going to get Kate to marry him again and sure as shit he wasn't going to miss the birth of next child.

The thought of another child coming into the world gave him mixed feelings as he thought of Lucas and how much the pain of losing him that Mike carried with him. But then that pain was separate to the swell of joy and the anticipation he surprisingly felt at thinking in five months he could holding another baby, his and Kate's baby. That he'd be home with girls and dealing with their antics as they adjusted to a new member in the family. He desperately wanted to get home to them; to be a part of the new chapter in their lives.

"Come on Tommy get your ass into gear and find us." Mike muttered quietly under his breath.

"She's not anywhere there's free wi-fi and she hasn't made contact. So I don't know where or who she'd turn to." Ravit said to Kara who'd just got off the phone. They'd been to Val's apartment and found it a mess. Someone had gone in and cleared out the electronic equipment and trashed the place. One would assume it had been robbed but the neighbour an elderly man complained to one of the men in suits about the racket. The mysterious man in a suit and his friends were the one's tearing up the place.

"Colonel Nash said Val hasn't been arrested at least not officially. But the police have been federalised which means they could have her but why would they take her into custody?" Kara asked her, she honestly couldn't think of any active government agency with men who wore suits to be active. CIA and FBI had been wiped out. NSA was barely operational and still in process of rebuilding. They didn't have the resources or man power to go after people. Plus Val was in the public eye, for her to just up and disappear would raise eyebrows.

"She's a hacker." Ravit reminded her.

"Everything she does is relatively above board and she wouldn't have evidence to incriminate herself." Kara said as she was trying to piece what they had together in her mind.

"You're forgetting that the police aren't ones to wear black suits and only send only Asian officers to raid a unit." Ravit pointed out, she looked around the street they were standing on, it was fairly quiet but then it was the middle of the day. Most people were at work.

"It could be coincidence that all of them were Asian." Kara offered playing devil's advocate.

"Or it isn't. It's not unheard of for foreign agencies to operate on American soil. Could be the MSS, Peng did send a virus to Lassiter Industries. Perhaps it infected the system and sent up a beacon to find her. She has the skills that could help rebuild a country's infrastructure or destroy it." Ravit said, something Kara couldn't argue as it was true.

"Hey," Tex said as he came home to find Anna in the kitchen making herself a cup of tea. He left his keys by the door and went to the kitchen and wrapped his arms around her from behind.

"How was your day?" Anna asked as he pressed a soft kiss to her neck, she smiled as his beard tickled her sensitive skin of her neck. Anna smiled as pleasure tingled through her body and warmed in his embrace.

"Better now that you're here." Tex murmured as Anna melted back against him.

"You might not feel that way in a moment." Anna told him as she turned around his arms and faced him. Her arms snaked around his waist and held him close.

"Why?" Tex asked as he'd seen she was still wearing the ring he gave her over breakfast this morning with Kat present. He liked the original story but he felt Kat who'd helped him pick out the ring deserved to part of the story they'd tell other people. Anna was happy to pretend he hadn't asked the question the night before. She'd even looked like she was about to cry when he presented the ring and asking her to join him and Kat in being a legal member of the family.

"Things have gone pear shape. I volunteered to go to Japan and keep things calm over there." Anna told him.

"Ok, for how long?" Tex asked, not sure how to feel about it.

"Couple weeks at most, I was wondering... well hoping you and Kat might want to come with me." Anna said to him, she knew it was asking a lot at short notice but she hoped he said 'yes' as she didn't want to go alone. She would if she had to but she'd prefer if he and Kat were there.

"It means pulling Kat out of school." Tex said mulling over it.

"I know, it was just an idea. The country is still recovering but the streets are clean and some businesses are reopening. There are some survivors who are naturally immune who are repairing their lives. But it could be educational for Kat to immerse herself in another culture and I have no real reasons other than wanting you both there." Anna said as she mentally geared herself up for him to say 'no' but Tex gave her a soft smile as he brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

"How about we ask Kat, if she doesn't want to go then I'll have to stay behind with her. If she's keen then we'll go. If not, we'll get a lot of practise with phone sex." Tex said wriggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Sasha stepped into her and Jesse's quarters. She was surprised to find Jesse still awake given the hour and that she'd been piloting the Helo for majority of the day.

"Hey, they fix the ship?" Jesse asked as she put down the book she had been reading. She had been waiting for Sasha to return to the quarters to talk. She wanted to finish the conversation they had earlier before Danny had interrupted it.

"Yeah, we should be safe in an hour or so but Lassiter Industries has been compromised." Sasha said as she moved to wardrobe and opened it to pull out a large yellow 'Navy' PT t-shirt that she used for sleeping in. Sasha was grateful for the generosity of the Nathan James crew thanks to their lost and found; Sasha was rigged out with four outfits, boots and gear for running on missions on thanks to female marine who'd been stationed on the ship once upon a time. Luckily whoever that woman was had run fairly close in size to Sasha. So it worked out well for her.

"That isn't good." Jesse commented.

"No, without Lassiter Industries your resources have dried up." Sasha pointed out, Jesse nodded as it was true. The real reason their operations ever got a real chance of making a difference was thanks to the intel Sasha could gleam from Peng and Lassiter Industries footing the bill so to speak. Jesse knew that if she stayed in Asia continuing her brother's legacy it would be a lot harder than before. Then she had to wonder if she was really making a difference to balance out the losses she had taken.

"You know that you didn't answer my question earlier." Jesse said deciding that she needed to know the answer even it if was a hypothetical one. She didn't know how to be around Sasha. She had believed that Sasha betrayed her, that her brother and friends deaths were on Sasha for not warning them. But majority of the pain was just grief and anger at being left alone in the world. She also resented that Sasha had left her without much of a conversation, that it had been so easy for her to walk away from their relationship.

If Jesse was honest she remembered Sasha's reasons. She was burning out from the missions and living a double life, Jesse could see that Sasha wanted more. The problem with more presupposed one knew what it meant to have that. Jesse didn't, her lifestyle was transient and even as a kid she didn't know what it was like to live in a stable home. But Sasha did, something Jesse was envious of as she always wondered what it be like to actually have a home.

Not a place where one dumped their bags with bare minimum of furniture and searched for food only to find it was off. Where friends were more than colleagues from work who only wanted to sit around and bitch about the latest asshole they flew around the place. It was why she was at a bit of a crossroads. She could keep going as she was, flying around delivering cure but with no way of sourcing cure, no friends or family to ground her; she was just lost. But then there was Sasha, her only friend and yes they had a lot to work through, Jesse loved her deeply enough to give Sasha a second chance if she asked her for it.

"What question?" Sasha asked, she kicked off her boots and stuck them into wardrobe along with the socks. She continued to undress not caring given they'd seen each other naked so what was the point in being shy.

"The hypothetical one where I followed you to America." Jesse said as she watched Sasha taking in her underwear clad body; the smooth skin marred with scars that criss-crossed her back from her time in prison, scars from knife fights and bullets. Sasha had lived a very dangerous life in compared to Jesse. She became distracted as memories of tenderly kissing and licking each of those scars. She could still taste her skin, the feel of skin, hear the soft gasps and moans of her pleasure like it were yesterday. It was only until Sasha dragged the hideous t-shirt over her that Jesse snapped out of her memories focusing on the conversation.

"I asked you to come with me. Or at least think about it. Not follow me." Sasha said correcting her as she wanted Jesse to know she saw them as equals and if she did come to America with her that it wasn't a weak move on her part. She knew Jesse felt a lot of her strength came from being alone but it wasn't true. Her strength was just innate to who she was and how she survived life.

"Eitherway, if I did come with you..." She drawled as she rose from the bunk to stand facing Sasha. Sasha closed the wardrobe door and turned to Jesse. She didn't know if Jesse was testing her or being serious but she was going to have to just lay it out on the line instead of running. Even if it made things incredibly awkward for them.

"Jesse, I love you. That never changed, I left because I wanted- I want to settle down and live a quiet life. I knew you'd never leave your brother or your mission to help people. I certainly wasn't going to ask you to." Sasha told her, Jesse heart pounded erratically as she hadn't expected a declaration from Sasha. She wanted to reach out and touch her but their was a fragility in Sasha that stopped her.

"Rather selfish of you given you didn't let me have the chance to decide." Jesse told her, being brutal because it was how she operated and frankly she wanted to hurt Sasha so she understood how hurt she felt. Sasha licked her lips and looked away as Jesse's words stung but in her own way Jesse had a point. She just had no idea where this conversation was going.

"I didn't want you to compromise who you are to be with me. I didn't want you to resent me for making you give up your lifestyle for me. I admire you for what you do, what you give to your people. I just wanted out of that world, I want to be bored living like normal people, I want kids, I want my biggest problem to be a blocked toilet drain not the MSS kicking in my door." Sasha told her honestly.

"You think I don't want that either?" Jesse asked her, she wasn't going to admit out loud as it was weakness to her to admit she wanted things outside of her grasp but even without Sasha's answer she realised that there were some dreams she could have.

"I never know what you want until you tell me." Sasha told her as Jesse was a hard woman to read but on the other side, she was blunt and honest which made things easy especially when she communicated with her.

"What I wanted since you walked into that bar in Guangzhou hasn't changed much." Jesse told her as she touched Sasha's cheek. Jesse's stomach flip flopped at how hopeful and yet vulnerable Sasha looked in that moment.

Jesse wondered what she was getting herself into as this was very different from the first time. They had just been a hot fling that developed into something more. Now they were entering a very different kind of relationship. She stepped in and kissed Sasha softly. It was a kiss of promises, of new beginnings.

"How was your sleep?" Kate asked her as she sitting on the floor with Frankie in her lap and Scout in front of them. She had been making sure the puppy and baby were kind to one another in playing but thanks to Maddy's arrival Scout moved away from trying to Frankie's feet to say hello to Maddy.

"It was ok." Maddy said to her as she made herself comfortable on the floor. Kate leaned her back against the lounge for support and gently hugged Frankie around her middle as she looked Maddy. Rachel, the twins and Jed had left to go back to their house for a rest and wait for the kids to come home from school before they returned for the party. So it was just the three of them plus Scout.

"You need some more pain meds?" Kate asked as she pulled the sock monkey from the coffee table and handed it to Frankie to play with. The baby girl gurgled in joy and shoved the toy's head into her mouth or at least gave it her best go.

"Nope, are you pregnant?" Maddy asked her.

"What?" Kate said more out of shock of being asked than anything else.

"I saw it on my iPad. You went to the doctor's and the news say you're pregnant." Maddy told her.

"Yes, I am." Kate said deciding it was best to be honest instead of being caught in a lie later down the track. Maddy's jaw dropped in complete shock, she kept the stunned expression for nearly five seconds until she looked at Kate with an expression that was a mix of incredulity and disappointment.

"Are you kidding me?!" Maddy asked her incredulously. Kate wasn't sure whether to laugh or not but decided against it as Maddy tended to not like being treated as a child. Laughing seemed rather inappropriate for the moment.

"No, I have ultrasound pictures. I wanted to tell you and Zoe together. So what do you think about it?" Kate asked carefully.

"I think you're crazy." Maddy told her as she sat back and folded her arms across her chest and shook her head at Kate.

"Why?" Kate asked her, purely out of curiosity and trying not to smile.

"Babies are noisy and gross and they take up lots of attention. It's making you really sick like you don't even look pregnant, how are you going to make a baby when you're sick? Cause Mom got super fat when she was pregnant with Zoe which means you got a lot of work to do." Maddy said in a matter of fact manner.

"Well, not all women gain a lot of weight when they are pregnant and end up having healthy babies. But you're right, I need to take better care of myself." Kate said as she rose from the floor with Frankie in her arms and shifted the baby to her side. She moved to her bag and pulled out one of the ultrasound photos. Frankie went in for the grab but Kate held the photo out of her reach and went back to Maddy.

"Are you sure about this?" Maddy asked her, Kate couldn't help but chuckle a little as she made it sound like they were discussing an extravagant purchase like there was a choice in the matter. Sure, there was a choice but for Kate it was made when she saw the ultrasound and heard the heartbeat of the baby.

"Yes, I know it's probably not the greatest news hearing you're going to be a sibling again for you but I'm pretty happy about it." Kate said as she placed the photo on the coffee table not forcing Maddy to look at it but leaving the option to her.

"It's not like I get a choice." Maddy said in a resigned manner as Kate sat back down on the floor with Frankie and leaned back against the lounge again. Maddy eyed the photo on the table before she snatched it into her hands.

"You do get a choice. You get to choose how you feel about it." Kate said to Maddy, she wanted to say something a little more uplifting than 'Tough, this happening and you gotta live with it.' as that didn't seem like the appropriate comment. But Scout barked and ran over to front door just as it opened.

"We're home!" Zoe called out loudly as she raced over to them with Scout hot on her heels.

"Hey Zoe," Kate said to her.

"What's that?" Zoe asked looking at the photo in Maddy's hands. Scout ran back to Kate's side and thankfully followed her command of sitting as he was getting little over excited by all the kids gathering in one area. Though he already knew to steer clear of Frankie as she'd accidentally hit him on the nose. Though in fairness, Frankie was just flailing her arms around not intentionally hitting him.

"It's an ultrasound picture. Kate's having a baby." Maddy told Zoe, Lena looked to Kate with raised eyebrows as they hadn't really discussed how they were going to broach the subject with the girls. Kate gave a shrug as it wasn't her fault that her privacy was violated and turned into the morning news. Though she really had to look at the iPad's parental settings.

"A baby?" Zoe asked in confusion as she looked at Kate not really understanding.

"Yes, I'm having a baby. It's why I went to the Doctor's this morning as they wanted to make sure that the baby and I were doing. We're both well, and as long as rest and eat my greens then everything will be fine." Kate told Zoe.

"You can't have a baby." Zoe informed her.

"Why not?" Kate asked her, now she was confused as to what Zoe meant.

"Cause-" Zoe stuttered as she didn't know what to say for a moment but then figured it out and continued "cause... Daddy's not here. Mary only had a little brother and her Daddy is home all the time. Babies can only be made when both parents are at home all the time making it together. You can't make a baby when Daddy's not here." Zoe explained to Kate like she was missing several IQ points. Kate looked to Lena wondering what kind of sex talk they had as that didn't make any sense to her.

"Daddy and Kate made the baby and put it in her belly to grow before he left, he doesn't have to be here for the rest. The Mommy grows the baby, Dummy." Maddy clarified in a rather rude manner to Zoe using the girl's logic to help her understand. Kate couldn't help but feel a little like a fish out of water as she had no clue how to salvage this. Zoe looked between Maddy and Kate, her eyes filled with tears as she understood the situation but didn't like it all. In fact she looked betrayed.

"No, No! I don't like this!" Zoe told them firmly. "Nana!" Zoe called, she turned on her feet and climbed onto the lounge straight into Lena's lap and started to cry. Lena wrapped her arms around Zoe and exchanged sympathetic look with Kate as this wasn't good. In fact it wasn't exactly how Kate wanted it to go down. Frankly she had banked on Zoe being the excited but boy, was she wrong!

"Hey, why don't you want a baby brother or sister?" Lena asked Zoe.

"Cause!" Zoe said before she dissolved into a puddle of tears and buried her face in Lena's shirt. Maddy looked completely nonplussed about it all which Kate had to admit was probably the easier of the two reactions to handle. If anything, Kate now felt like an interloper and she was half tempted to take Frankie into the other room and wait for Zoe to digest the news and be resigned like Maddy.

"Well, could you at least look at the photo? You like babies and this one is going to be your little sister of brother. You'll be a big sister, won't that be great?" Lena asked Zoe in a gentle coaxing manner.

"No, it's not. I don't want a brother or sister." Zoe muffled as she kept her face turned away from them all.

"Well, you're entitled to feel that way but at least look at the photo. For me, please?" Lena asked her.

"No." Zoe told her before she continued to cry into Lena's embrace.

"Ok, well I want to look at the photo." Lena said, Maddy passed the photo up to her and Lena smiled at the picture. "It's a cute baby, I think she or he will be just as beautiful as all my other grandbabies. Now, I know you've both had a lot of upsets and changes at the moment but a baby is a good thing. It means our family is growing, we'll have another person to love who will love us back. I'm looking forward to it." Lena told them.

"But you won't have time for me." Zoe argued.

"We will always have time for you and Maddy." Lena assured Zoe as she brushed a thumb across Zoe's cheeks; wiping away the tears.

"It's true," Kate added, Frankie made a 'Gah' noise at the moment which made them all smile as it sounded like she was agreeing with them. "See Frankie is happy." Kate said as she looked down at Frankie and tickled her tummy eliciting a giggle from the baby.

"Frankie doesn't have siblings." Maddy pointed out.

"True, and I'm not like your Mom. The only big sister duties that are mandatory are to be kind to one another and have fun. Everything after that is voluntary am I understood?" Kate asked looking more at Maddy as she needed the little girl to know that this baby wasn't going to Maddy's responsibility to babysit or care for as she obviously did with Zoe.

"Yeah," Maddy said with a closed lip smile.

"I still don't want it." Zoe told her, Lena made a face behind Zoe's head showing her clear frustration but Kate was letting it go. She couldn't control Zoe's thoughts and she wasn't going bribe or force Zoe into anything she didn't want. She just hoped the little girl would accept the situation and learn to enjoy it.

"Fair enough, I understand what you're saying. I just hope you'll change your mind later down the track." Kate told Zoe with a kind smile as she felt they made some headway and now there weren't any secrets left in the family.