The months flew past. Kate kept on working until a few weeks before the birth. The first days at home she missed her work and called Mike, who had taken over for her at Navcom for the duration of her maternity leave, to give her status updates. At first he thought it was great how she tried to stay up to date with work, but after a while it became annoying. He, therefore, wasn't sorry when she stopped calling and focussed more on the upcoming event by preparing the nursery, buying all kinds of cute little clothes and looking for the right name.

Robert and Kate had the biggest challenge finding a name that suited with the rest of the family. Robert's mother had come to stay with them a few times. She was excited about the fact she was going to be a grandmother for the first time. She suggested that they should use a Jewish name since that was Robert's background, but he didn't want to automatically use such a name when he wasn't all that religious. One of the gifts Kate and Robert received from his mother was a book with Jewish baby names. Most of them they didn't want to use but there were a few names that did end up on the short list.

That's how Robert was proud to announce that, on November the eighteenth, exactly a year after he asked Kate to become his wife, Leah Teresa Prizeman, a healthy strong baby girl, was born.

In the first week of her life many people came to admire her, count the toes and fingers and of course congratulate the new parents. To Kate it was all a big festival of recognition but to Robert it was all new. James had to get used to not being the only child in the house and getting all the attention.

When Leah was almost two weeks old family life started to get a bit more structured and Kate, Robert and James were finding a new normal with a newborn in the house. James was quietly playing with his trains in one of the corners of the room, Kate had fed Leah and was sitting on the couch while Robert was walking around with his daughter, patting her on her back to make her burp.

"Mum?" James looked up from his train set. "Can we go to the beach today?" he asked, as he left his toys and walked up to the couch.

"Mummy is tired sweetie. I'm going to sleep for a while but maybe Robert will go to the beach with you," she replied.

Kate caressed her son's cheek and saw he didn't like her answer.

"You're always tired now that Leah is here. I don't think I like her very much," he pouted.

"Why don't you ask Robert?" Kate urged him but he didn't want to hear about it.

"Can't we go to the beach after you've slept?" he tried again.

Kate bent forward and kissed him on the top of his head before she shook her head. "Not today, maybe in a few weeks, when Leah is a little bit bigger."

James looked at Robert, who was still walking around with Leah. "I hate her. It'll take ages before she's big," he continued pouting.

Kate knew he didn't mean what he was saying but nevertheless it felt like a stab between her ribs when James said he hated his new sister. All the way through the pregnancy she had made sure that a new baby wouldn't change anything on how she felt about James but now that Leah was born it seemed all a lot harder. Even if she wanted to spend more time with James, she just couldn't.

"James," she said with a thick voice.

James slipped off the couch without looking at her and wanted to keep sulking in the corner of the room but Robert caught him by his arm.

"You go and apologise to your mother," he warned him.

"No!" James yanked his arm free and ran off.

"Robert," Kate said. "Stop!" Tears were running down her face by now.

Robert wanted to say they shouldn't accept James' behaviour but when he saw Kate in such a distress he decided not to go into that discussion right that moment. Instead he sat down next to her and handed her Leah.

"Why don't you two go and rest? I'll talk to James," he said calmly. Kate nodded but looked one more time in James' direction. "He'll come 'round," Robert whispered in her ear before he kissed her on her cheek.

Kate left the room, wishing she could make clear to James she wanted to spend time with him just as much as she wanted to spend it with any of the other members of their family.

James, at the same time was angry. So many people came to visit Leah and no one had come to see him. Leah had gotten lots of presents while she didn't even understand the word presents yet so why would they do that? He had only gotten one present from his gran and gramps but the wooden train set was much more fun if there was someone to play with him and that wasn't allowed because of Leah so after a day playing alone he started to dislike his present as well.

He was kicking against it and throwing the trains away. He was so preoccupied that he didn't even notice Robert coming closer.

"James," he softly said. "James, I understand it doesn't seem fair to you," he tried to get his attention. James gave him an angry stare and shrugged.

"When is Leah going back to the hospital?" he grunted.

Robert chuckled and shook his head in surprise. "Back to the hospital?" he asked.

James nodded and wanted to walk away from his new father.

"I think there is another mummy and daddy for her and they should have her," he answered while Robert followed him.

"She's ours," Robert still chuckled and opened the fridge. "Do you want a snack? I see mum made chocolate mousse again and I know it's your favourite," he tried to tempt the boy.

James thought for a second. Chocolate mousse sounded tempting, but if it was to bribe him away from the idea of giving Leah back to the doctors who had given her to them in the first place, he was going to be wrong.

"I want chocolate mousse," he said, coming closer to Robert, but when Robert turned around to get it from the fridge he added: "But I still don't like Leah and she should go back to the hospital."

Robert had thought it somewhat funny when James mentioned the hospital at first but somehow he really believed it was an option, so without a chocolate mousse in his hands he turned around and faced James.

"Sweetie, Leah is your sister and there's no one we can give her to in the first place. She was in mummy's belly just like you were before," he tried to explain it another time. "We don't want to give her away and it hurts mummy and me when you say such things."

It wasn't such a surprise that James didn't take his reply very well and ran off. They all had to get used to the new situation and in time James would as well. Robert closed the door of the fridge and tried to see where James had ran off to, but at that moment someone rang the bell so he walked towards the hallway. There James had already reached the door and opened it to reveal Terry Roth.

"Gran," James said.

Robert could still hear the anger and disappointment in his voice but Terry didn't seem to notice it.

"Hey there big brother," Terry greeted her grandson.

Robert held his breath when she mentioned the word 'brother' but nothing happened.

"Gran are you here to play with me?" James asked hopefully.

Terry smiled and patted the boy on his head. "You would like that now, wouldn't you?" she asked.

He nodded his head eagerly but she had to disappoint him.

"I came by to see if I could do some shopping for you. I'm going to Coles and wondered if you needed anything," by the end of her sentence she looked at her new son-in-law.

"I don't know," Robert answered a bit dazed. He hadn't expected her to come by so she didn't mind he didn't have an answer for her right away.

"Come in. We can look in the cupboards and find out," he invited.

"Can I go shopping with you gran?" James asked. Terry smiled and looked at Robert.

"Ask your dad," she said as she stepped inside.

James didn't run to Robert but started grunting a bit while he stuck to the door a bit like he wanted to run away. He was about to close it when he opened it again.

"It's the postie," he yelled while he ran outside. Terry and Robert looked at the empty spot and laughed.

"You can make him happy with the smallest things," Terry mused. "But what's wrong with him? He seems a bit, well, I don't know," Terry tried to describe the feeling she got.

Robert started walking towards the kitchen and sighed. "He feels left out. He wants to go to the beach, get attention. Simply put, he needs to adjust to the new situation," he answered.

"Ah," Terry nodded. "I don't mind taking him along shopping," she offered.

Robert shrugged and opened a cupboard to see if they needed something. "It's very nice of you to do so, but I think he needs his mother's attention," he sighed, closing the cupboard again.

Terry came closer and put her shopping bags on the counter. "You might be right but he also has to get used to the fact that Kate won't be able to give him all her attention. I really don't mind taking him along and while we're doing the shopping we can have a little talk," she explained.

He wanted to reply when James ran back into the room with the mail, divided into two stacks.

"This is the real mail," he said handing one of the stacks with bills and official looking letters to Robert. "And these are stupid cards we got because of stupid Leah so I'm going to send them back," he continued, keeping those cards close to him.

It was starting to upset Robert that James was so hostile towards his sister but before he could say anything Terry shrieked.

"James Daniel Roth! This is enough. You're going shopping with me and when we come back you're going to apologise to Robert, your mum and to Leah. This is no way to speak about your sister and it's very hurtful to everyone," she said angrily.

"I'm sorry Robert," Terry swallowed. She, too, still had to get used to the fact that Robert was there to reprimand her grandson.

"No worries," he replied, a bit in shock from her outburst. "I think you said that perfectly."

Terry looked at James who was stunned by her outburst but when he finally got his act back together he threw the cards on the floor and ran off.

"No, I should have let you take care of this," Terry corrected him.

"It just shows he's not the only one who has to get used to new situations," Robert joked while he picked up the cards.

"Terry, we don't need much, but I'd appreciate it if you would talk to James," he added. She nodded and gave him a few cards which had been closer to her feet and then picked up the shopping bags and looked for James.

"We'll be back soon," she said after she found James.

Robert looked at the cards and opened all of them. It hurt him that it had become such a fight with James so he really hoped Terry could reach him and have a good talk. Absentmindedly he opened the next envelope to find out it wasn't a card to congratulate them on Leah's birth. It wasn't even addressed to him. As he was putting the letter back into the envelope the subject matter caught his eye.

"Transfer?" he said, totally astonished.

He read the letter a few times and then made a few phone calls but he wondered what Kate was going to say about it.