Chapter 25

"Mama! Mama!" The baby monitor transmitted Thea's babbling and Kelly shuffled in her bed rolling onto her side, trying to burry herself deeper into the sheets. There was a dreadful night behind her, as with Thea's pregnancy she once again suffered with insomnia and spent most of the night watching some stupid TV shows before she finally fell asleep about two hours ago.

Letting out a sigh she stretched in the bed still listening to her daughter's voice, she had to get up. Normally Brandon would go and entertain the little one for a while, but he was in Washington, the silver lining was that he will return tonight. It was five days before Christmas and he left two days ago to report from some stupid conference. She couldn't even remember what it was about and couldn't care less because who in their right mind would host an important conference a week before Christmas?

Getting out of the bed, she slipped into her robe. Tying it while she crossed the short distance from the master bedroom to Thea's room, finding the little girl standing in her crib holding the railing, her head sticking over the top of it. She quickly took a mental note, once Brandon returns he'll have to put the mattress of her crib lower, she was not going to risk that Thea will fall out of the crib. She still remembered how she rolled off their bed falling on the fluffy carpet months ago. While the little one recovered quickly and was laughing five minutes later, Kelly felt like a failure for days, it got better only once she found out that all of her friends babies had undergone similar experience.

Picking up her daughter from the crib she kissed her cheek. Thea giggled babbling to her mother happily, she was such a happy child that it came as no surprise that she was full of smiles also on this particular winter morning. With a sense of routine Kelly quickly changed Thea's diaper and the two headed downstairs.

Minutes later Thea was seated in her high chair eating her yoghurt with fruit with moderate success. While almost all of the fruit made its way into her mouth, the yoghurt was spread all over her face and tiny fingers, but she didn't seem to mind.

Kelly poured herself a glass of orange juice and grabbed her toasts. She was not really hungry but knew she'd be sick if she didn't eat anything. For the next few minutes she alternated between eating, chatting to her daughter and the two playing peek-a-boo to Thea's big amusement.

Glancing on the clock she noted that not a lot of time was left till Donna and her two kids will come over. Cleaning the mess in kitchen as quickly as she could, she headed upstairs for a shower, seeing how messy Thea was after her breakfast she decided to pop her in as well.

Once they returned back downstairs the doorbell rang letting them know that visitors arrived. Adjusting Thea on her hip she headed to the door, letting Donna, Ruby & Ryan in. They haven't seen each other since Thea's birthday party over a week ago everyone busy with Christmas preparations. She was surprised when Donna called the previous evening, but didn't mind an adult company at all after two days when Thea was her only companion.

Now being nearly twelve weeks along the pregnancy was already visible on Donna, as she was spotting a small baby bump highlighted by the tight pale green shirt that Donna was wearing. Kelly couldn't wait for the same, being already over ten weeks along, she probably didn't have to wait for too long.

"You look great." Kelly noted as the two friends sat down on the sofa, letting the three kids play on the play mat.

"Now that the morning sickness is nearly gone, I feel great." Donna smiled. With all three pregnancies she had it rather bad in the early weeks, so she was glad that this time it subsided quickly.

"Glad to hear it's gone." Kelly smiled politely while wriggling on the sofa and finally sitting in a cross-legged position.

"David met with Brandon two days ago at the airport, so I knew you were alone with Thea." Donna noted, answering an unsaid question.

"Yeah, he had to leave for Washington. It was a last minute decision, he had to cover up for a colleague." Kelly replied, for a second wondering why Brandon never mentioned the meeting, but recalling all his phone calls, he was so busy that he probably just forgot.

"So, David is with Axton?" Kelly asked.

Donna, nodded. Although it was not easy she was slowly coming to peace with the fact that her kids will have to share father with Valerie's son. "He's coming home tomorrow ,Valerie is heading home for Christmas. He'll bring photos with him, Axton has apparently grown heaps."

"How are you taking it?" Kelly asked knowing that Donna was not excited about the baby and its mother.

"Better." Donna smiled weakly. "I'm coming to terms with the baby and mainly the fact that from time to time Valerie will be around. She is the mother of his child and Axton should know his father and siblings."

Kelly smiled. She was proud of her friend and how she handled all the mess. Many couples would go their separate ways, but it looked that Donna and David came out stronger as before. At least she hoped so.

"I didn't come to talk about Axton though." Donna said pulling Kelly out of her thoughts.

Kelly looked at her friend questioningly waiting for her to continue.

"I'm sorry about Thea's party." Donna blurted.

"What do you mean?" Kelly asked confused.

"It probably wasn't the best time to announce the pregnancy. It was Thea's big day, not ours." Donna bit her lip.

Kelly couldn't help but burst into giggles. "This is pregnancy hormones, right? It was the perfect day for sharing such news. We were all gathered here and could share the joy together, besides it will be another birthday to celebrate in the future." Kelly said once she calmed down.

"I had a feeling..." Donna started but stopped once she fully realized the reaction of her friend.

"What feeling did you have?" Kelly asked intrigued by the confession Donna started.

"I had a feeling, you and Brandon were not really happy. And as you said with the pregnancy hormones striking I thought you were mad because we took away from Thea's big day." Donna confessed.

Kelly bit her lip, trying to figure out what to say quickly. It was the truth, she and Brandon were not so vocal about their excitement as their friends, but the reason had nothing to do with the timing of Donna and David's announcement. Once again they wanted to keep the news to themselves until Kelly was out of first trimester, but she didn't want her friend to think she did something wrong or that they were not happy about the new niece or nephew.

Throwing all her carefulness out of the window, Kelly decided to share her news with Donna. They were going to share the news with everyone in a few weeks anyway. "You didn't bring anything away from Thea's big day, you added to it. We were probably less enthusiastic as we would have been, but there was a reason for it. I lost a baby four weeks before Thea's birthday." Kelly admitted. "That day, so we thought, I would have been ten weeks along as you. We were still hurting, trying to come to terms with everything."

Donna covered her mouth with her hand. "I'm so sorry, Kel. If I had known..."

Kelly stopped her quickly, continuing her story. "Two days after Thea's birthday we found out I was still pregnant." She said with a smile on her face.

Donna looked at her confused, before the realization hit her. "You're pregnant?" She asked.

Kelly nodded.

"When are you due?" Donna asked excitedly.

"End of July. Two weeks after you." Kelly grinned.

"Congrats! That's amazing news." Donna said hugging her.

"Thanks!" Kelly smiled. "But please don't say anything, we want to wait until we are sure that everything is okay."

"My lips are sealed and my fingers crossed." Donna said smiling at her friend.

Grabbing her glass with water from the table Kelly returned her smile. "To happy and healthy nine months." She said raising it.

"I'll drink to that." Donna said grabbing her glass with the same liquid and clinking it with Kelly's.

Brandon pulled the car in the driveway of Casa Walsh, looking at the house in front of him he had to smile. His wife and daughter were inside and a new baby that was on its way. Everything was finally falling into place. For a second he doubted the decision they made days ago about moving to San Francisco, but quickly realized that as long as Kelly and Thea were with him he would be happy anywhere.

Gathering his luggage he headed inside, due to a heavy snowfall in Washington his flight was delayed for a few hours and it was now nearly 2 am, but he didn't mind, he was finally at home. The soft light coming from living room window made it clear that Kelly was still waiting for him. Opening the front door he could hear the muted sounds coming from TV. Leaving his bags in the hall he tip toed inside, finding Kelly curled into a ball on the sofa, sound asleep. He had no idea how long she was asleep, but he was glad she was finally sleeping. Grabbing the remote control from the table he turned the TV off, covering her up with a blanket he kissed her forehead softly. He would rather let her sleep there then waking her up to go to the bedroom and taking the risk that she won't be able to fall asleep for the rest of the night. Taking the baby monitor from the table he tip toed out of the room as quietly as he came and turned the light off.

Glancing at his bags he decided they have to wait till the morning. Pouring himself a glass of water in the kitchen he drank it greedily before heading upstairs. Thea's nursery was lighted by the nightlight and his baby girl was sound asleep just like her mother. Running his hand over her soft cheek he smiled, he had missed her so much during the past three days. He wondered if he was becoming one of those soppy people when he wowed himself to never leave them for so long again.