A/N: Look, my only excuse is that my banana bread came out perfect. So in my great mood, I decided to update earlier time this week to let everyone really get miffed at my slow burning Beth and Mike ...*Evil Laugh* Enjoy..

Chapter Twenty Six

"This is so frustrating!" Sienna exasperated as she put her pen on the table in a careful but annoyed manner.

"It's ok, you don't need to know everything." Mike assured her, he sure as hell didn't remember half the stuff that was on the dining table at the moment. But then he wasn't much for breaking down the English Language or writing poetry.

"I just hate English, when will I ever have to know or do a stupid Haiku." Sienna said as she glared at the books in front of her. Mike swore from her expression it looked like Sienna was ready to tear it all the shreds and start a small fire.

"I don't know, but all you have to know is that it's a style of poetry." Mike told her, that's what life told him. It was just a crossword clue answer to him but he wasn't going to add that.

"Great, I hate all poetry too." Sienna announced.

"You could not go to school." Mia said casually from her chair as she was happily doing math equations that were well beyond her age level.

His daughter was breezing through it and swinging her legs under the table, it made him wonder what the hell Beth was teaching his daughters as he was in awe. Sure, there were gaping holes in the girls' education but what they knew; they excelled at for their age.

"No, I gotta go. It's important to be smart and I guess I'm not smart since I don't know most of this stuff." Sienna bemoaned looking at the table.

"You'll get it. Beth and I will help you." Mike assured while silently adding that he'd have to find tutors for what he and Beth couldn't help with.

"Is Kaito sick?" Mia asked changing the topic, Mike frowned as it was pretty out of the blue question to ask.

"No, why?" Mike asked her.

"Cause, when Beth is sick she sleeps as much as she can and it makes her better. Kaito sleeps lots like lots more than Beth." Mia informed him, he just smiled at the youthful ignorance. Beth and Kaito were currently taking a nap so he could see the parallels Mia was drawing between the two.

"All babies sleep a lot, they have tiny bellies so they can only eat a small amount of food and that means he can only produce a small amount of energy. Once he gets bigger, he'll eat more and have more energy." Mike explained, Mia looked at him for a moment before giving a shrug.

"Oh, ok." Mia said as the answer was enough for her as she went back to her own work. Mike turned back to Sienna who looked near to tears. He reached across the table and rested a hand on hers. She looked up at him and he gave her a reassuring look.

"All the school cares about is that you have an idea of what's being taught at the moment. We can get you up to speed on the rest in time. All I care about is that you do your best." he told her.

"Ok." Sienna replied but she looked so deflated by not understanding what was before her.

"Why don't we put English aside? I never liked much myself. How about Geography? That is a subject I can do." Mike said as he packed up the English schoolwork and moved it out of the way. He was about to pull out the geography work when the phone rang. "I gotta get that." he said.

Sienna watched her father talking on the phone and cleaned up the mess on the table making space for her geography work.

"Aren't you scared to go to school?" Mia asked her in a low voice.

"Yeah, but Ashley said it was safe." Sienna argued, she didn't know why it was important or how to explain it to Mia in a way she'd understand without being upset.

"What if she's lying?" Mia asked her, her eyes wide in fear at just the small chance it could be dangerous.

"I'll run back home." Sienna said, she didn't believe Ashley was lying to her.

"I don't want you to be taken away." Mia told her,

"We're not in the factory, there are no guards or people to steal us away. We have to go to school and be outside. I'm tired of being scared. Aren't you?" Sienna asked her.

"Yeah, but-"

"No, the only way to know is to go. Mom would've wanted us to go to school. I'm scared but I also don't want to feel stuck. If we stay in the house all the time we'll become stuck cause we're always scared. What if we're just scared of something that isn't going to happen?" Sienna asked Mia as she knew how illogical fear could make a person.

"I don't know." Mia confessed in a flat tone.

"Well, I'll check out school and if it's safe then you can go too. Mom and Beth want us to be smart, school will help us become smart and we'll get to meet other kids like us." Sienna pointed out, but Mia looked reluctant about it.

"I guess so. But what if Daddy makes Beth go away cause we don't need her anymore?" Mia asked her, the real reason for her reticence coming out.

Sienna wanted laugh and cry at it as she'd decided to go to school to make Beth able to focus on Kaito. If Beth was able to focus on Kaito more then she'd not get fired for doing a bad job. But Mia wanted to stay because she was afraid if Beth wasn't needed then Dad would make Beth leave.

"Kaito needs her. She's going to be his nanny for years." Sienna pointed out.

"But he's getting bigger like all the time and I remember Mrs Debbie saying that Frankie goes to Day care as well as her looking after him. What if Dad decides to put Kaito into day care all the time?" Mia argued, she had a good point.

"I don't know. We'll just have to come up with a plan to stop Daddy from making Beth go." Sienna told her.

"It's a shame Beth isn't Kaito's Mommy, then she could stay forever." Mia said with a sigh.

"Huh?" Sienna asked confused, but Mia's eyes lit up in excitement as her own words sunk in.

"That's it." Mia hissed at her. "We have to get Beth to be Kaito's Mommy." She told Sienna.

"That won't work." Sienna told her.

"Why not?" Mia asked, she frowned as she didn't understand why her sister was upset at the idea.

"Cause it just won't." Sienna told her.

Beth woke up from her nap feeling more rested and a bit brighter than earlier. The pain in her abdomen had dulled to a soft ache. She rose from her bed grateful to have it at her disposal. She made the bed and slowly walked out her room. She moved to Mike's room as she wanted to check on Kaito.

She knocked gently on the door and when there was no answer she gently pushed the partially closed door open. She moved to the crib and looked down at Kaito. He was awake and looking around the place. His eyes stopped at her and he gave her a gummy smile while his hands reached up.

She smiled as she reached in and picked him up. "Hey, how you going?" she asked him, he cooed at her in response as he rested his head on her shoulder. "Still a little sleepy aye?" she asked him as she pressed a soft kiss to Kaito's temple. "Me too but it was a good nap." She told Kaito, she sensed Mike and turned to see him at the door watching them.

There was nothing sexual about the look, if anything he looked happy by what he was seeing. She didn't know why but instead of reflexively feeling scared or worried. She just felt relaxed and content. Something that was new for her when a man was in her presence.

"Hey, I figured I'd check on him." Beth told Mike as she gently rocked and swayed on her feet to keep Kaito content.

"It's fine, does he need a change?" Mike asked, he kept his distance as he leaned on the doorframe.

"Probably." Beth said, she never able to tell until the diaper was leaking or the stink was so pungent it couldn't be ignored. Working in the factories where hygiene was questionable on most days had dulled her senses to fouler smells.

"Let me," Mike said as he left the door frame and moved towards her and Kaito. She wasn't going to say 'no' to him changing Kaito's diaper.

"Here we go." Beth said, she passed Kaito into Mike's care but just as Kaito settled into Mike's strong arms, Kaito smacked his head into Mike's chin.

"Ow, not nice." Mike complained but Kaito just gave a snort of giggle and smile as he was completely clueless to what he'd done. He was just happy in his Daddy's arms.

"Poor kid." Beth said with a playful pout and a chuckle.

"Poor kid? I'm the one who got head butted." Mike argued, she looked at him with an amused expression as she clearly had no sympathy for him. Not that he needed it.

"You'll survive." Beth told him with a chuckle. "I'm heading downstairs unless you need back up." She asked.

"No, I'm good. We'll be down in a diaper change." Mike told her, Beth gave a nod and headed downstairs.

Mike watched Beth disappear and the sound of her footfalls fade. He looked to Kaito who was decided his shirt was made for gnawing on. He smiled as he often wondered what made babies do that, but the thought disappeared as the kid needed a diaper change.

"I think Beth likes you." he told Kaito as he moved to the changing table and got to work with Kaito's diaper change.

He liked how Beth was with his kids. It was what he'd wanted for them, someone to love them and show them the same affection he would. The affection a mother would her children, Beth might never fully be the kids' mother in the role as their Nanny. But to Mike, she was enough to give the kids what they needed to feel loved where Christine and Kyoko were physically unable to do for them. He just needed to take care of Beth. He needed to help her heal, to give her back the control, the power of her life that being in factories had stripped from her.

"So keep up the good work, cause I like having her around. She's good for you and the girls. Don't worry, I'll make sure she sticks around. I got a plan. Don't look at me like that, it'll work." Mike told him, Kaito frowned at him, though in the baby's defence it could've gas but to Mike; interpreted as scepticism.