The doctors wanted to keep an eye on DJ overnight for monitoring, and understandably, DJ was upset by this news, but once Emily and JJ promised her they'd stay overnight with her, she fell asleep.


"DJ-love," Emily said as they ate breakfast with her the next morning. "How are you feeling today?"

"Tired, and still sad." she admitted as she looked around. "Where are my babies?"

"Haviva and Helena were looked after by nurses in the night so that we could look after you."

"And you'll see them in a little bit," JJ added. "But we have some things we want to talk to you about."

DJ went on alert, like a meerkat. "Are you going to give me, Lanie, and Viva away?"

JJ wasn't sure about Emily, but her heart broke a little at that. "No, sweetie—Emily and I could never dream of that. Actually, we found a letter from your Mama Esther and Mama Harper, and it asked us a really important thing."

"What was it?"

"If we'd take you, Haviva, and Helena home with us and adopt all of you; Mama Esther and Mama Harper didn't want any of you to be apart or alone."

DJ was actually rendered speechless with a few different emotions, and as Lilo curled up in her lap, she looked to Emily for backup.

"They really did ask us that in the letter." Emily confirmed.

DJ furrowed her eyebrows. "But what about Sinéad and Caitlín? Are they going to like me, Viva, and Lanie?"

"One hundred percent, and they would definitely want to play with you."

"Could they help me with my English?"

"Oh, for sure, and they would understand about learning English because they're not from the United States."

"Where are they from?"

"Ireland." provided JJ. "Their papa married my mama a long time ago."

DJ seemed impressed by this, but still seemed to have a hang-up. "What about your Haley-Esmée, Hope, and Henry? Would they like Viva and Lanie?"

"Every baby in the world starts off with nothing but love in their hearts, DJ, and Haley-Esmée, Hope, and Henry are just like that; they love being loved. They also love other babies, which means that they would love your sisters, and just think—they would all have each other for playmates!"

DJ mulled over JJ's words, and was clearly hemming and hawing over the situation internally, so Emily stroked her face gently.

"Will you look at me for a moment?"

DJ did. "Yes?"

"We love you and your sisters very, very much, but we are not at all trying to replace your mamas. If you choose to come hhome with us, you can call us by our names for as long as you want—even when you're all grown up." Emily told her. "JJ and I have more than enough love in our hearts for Haley-Esmée, Hope, Henry, Haviva, Helena, and you."

"What about Lilo?" DJ pressed.

"Her, too."

"Is your house big? Lilo needs a yard."

"Our house is very big, and the front yard and the back yard are both fenced in, so there will be plenty of room for you to play with her." Emily tucked a stray lock of DJ's dirty-blonde hair behind her ear. "We also live in a neighborhood with lots of kids, and there's an elementary school just around the block, but our house has a playroom filled with toys that you would love, and there's even a big bedroom that you could have all to yourself."

Now it was clear that DJ was struggling between bursting at the seams with joy and staying on topic because she still had a few concerns to voice.

"What about your wedding? Will there be room for us?"

JJ nodded. "Yep—it's going to be at our friend Dave's house next week. Do you like dressing up?"

"I do." DJ admitted. "Please to get a dress and new shoes?"

"You bet, sweet pea, and we'll even get new things for Haviva and Helena, too."

"Your family and your friends will all be at the wedding, yes?"

"Yes, and they'll all be quite delighted to meet you all. I bet we could even arrange it so that you, your sisters, and Lilo get welcome to the family presents. Would you like that?"

"I would really love that, JJ."

Feeling a lot better now, DJ looked from one friend to the other, giving them her first real, unguarded smile since they'd come to see her.

"Please to go home with you two!"

"Of course, baby girl!" JJ hugged her close and kissed her on the top of her head, relieved that she'd said yes. "Of course!"

JJ held onto her for a few more moments before passing DJ to Emily, who was crying happily, just like she was.

"We're so happy, DJ," Emily told the little girl. "And we love you so much."

"All the way even to la lune?"

"Yes, baby. Even to the moon."

DJ grinned and was about to settle in Emily's lap with Lilo, but got distracted when she saw a brightly-colored catalogue on the bedside table, next to her safety deposit box.

"What's that?" she asked.

"A catalogue that shows different kinds of medical bracelets." Emily retrieved the literature and handed it to her. "This is one of the other things we wanted to talk to you about."

JJ scooted closer to her family, absently straightening out a wrinkle in DJ's hospital pajamas. "Little One, do you know what a medical bracelet is?"

"It tells people that I am different, and that I need Lilo?" she guessed.

"That's exactly it," JJ praised. "And if we pick one out for you now, then Doctor Cook will make sure you have it before you leave."

Quite enthralled, especially when she saw how kid-friendly the designs were, DJ began to look through the catalogue with a lot of interest.


When DJ was fit for discharge later on, she had a new daisy-chain bracelet with all of her medical conditions on the back of the metal emblem, and she was very happy, mostly because the bracelet was just her style. Doctor Cook even surprised her with a new outfit and shoes, as the clothes she'd been wearing when she came in smelled like smoke and she'd been barefoot. Even Haviva and Helena had new things to wear, stocked diaper bags, and new carseats for traveling.

Before they'd fallen asleep with DJ the night before, JJ sent a message to her family and friends in Quantico, asking for any kind of donations that would help a six-year-old, two infants, and a Scottish Terrier puppy who had nothing to their names anymore. Everyone came through, and Sinéad and Caitlín put everything together for them at the house, so they'd have some comfort items in their new home.


Caitlín picked them up at the train station in her van, and upon introduction, DJ was completely smitten with the cool older girl, even letting her hold her hand as they all entered the house from the garage because she was feeling a little disconcerted about meeting Sinéad—she'd never met an adult twin before, much less an identical one.

"Twin?" Caitlín called out to her sister. "Where are you?"

"In the front room with the babies."

As Haviva and Helena were both asleep, JJ and Emily held them and watched as Caitlín introduced DJ and Lilo to Sinéad and the babies.

DJ liked Sinéad immediately, especially when she presented her with a pink dog collar, green ID tag, and therapy ID vest for Lilo since her things had been destroyed in the fire. The way DJ saw it, anyone who loved her dog enough to give her new, important things was automatically a new friend of hers.

DJ was also immediately smitten with all of the Prentiss babies, but Henry went straight to her heart because when DJ held him and kissed him, he fell asleep in less than five minutes later.

Speaking of the Prentiss babies, they were all very aware of Haviva and Helena, and vice versa, and by the time they were all went to bed, they were all very accepting of and amused by each other; a bond was forming already. They even fell asleep in the new portable cribs that had been donated to them, and when JJ and Emily checked on them before bed, their hearts turned to mush because all five of their babies were asleep at the same time. It was a beautiful sight.

The bedroom set up for DJ wasn't far from JJ's and Emily's, and was decorated with all of the basics needed for a little girl who had just finished kindergarten. It wasn't anything especially fancy because JJ had specified in her message to everyone to not go overboard, but DJ was thrilled for her own space, although mostly because she hadn't slept in a proper bed in awhile and she was bone-tired.


"Wow." Emily said as she, JJ, Caitlín and Sinéad all sat in the front room after successfully putting everyone to bed. "So this going to be our lives from now on; I'm already in love."

"So am I." JJ agreed.

Sinéad nodded in agreement, as did her twin, but still Caitlín asked, "What about Esther and Harper, though? Are they going to be buried in Falls Church?"

Emily shook her head. "No. We've made arrangements for them to be buried here, so the girls will be able to visit them when they want."

Her own biological mother was buried in her childhood neighborhood back in Ireland, Caitlín gave a nod of understanding.

Sinéad spoke up, wanting to know something in particular. "Please tell me we're all going on a family shopping trip tomorrow; everybody pitched in to get the basics for DJ, the babies, and Lilo, but they all still need a lot more."

Emily had a response for her. "A shopping trip is definitely in order, especially since the big mall in Alexandria has a pet store, Babies R' Us, and a Toys R' Us, but we aren't going overboard, either."

Sinéad loved shopping, so her tone was one of dismay. "Why not?"

"Because, goofball," Emily winked. "Our guest list for the wedding is just big enough that if we put together the registries tonight and sent out a mass email about it, everybody will be able to get something, even the people coming from out of town. I can almost guarantee that between my mother and yours, as well as Rex, and even Dave, any big-ticket items we put on the wishlists will all be bought by those four in particular."

A lightbulb went off in Sinéad's head as she got what Emily was driving at. "Things will take care of themselves."

Emily picked up her laptop from the row of laptops on the coffee table in front of her and turned it on. JJ and the twins each claimed their own from the row, powering theirs up, as well. This was going to be a four-person job, and they all knew it.

"Bingo."

"Okay, but who gets to tell all of our parents that they've gained three new grandbabies a week before the wedding?"

Emily and JJ both felt their hearts jump slightly at that—today was Monday, and their parents would all be arriving on Wednesday and staying in a local hotel; they were all arriving early to help in any way possible with pitching in to get things ready for the big day.

JJ recovered first. "We'll do the registries and email tonight, and in the morning, we'll do a three-way Skype session before we go to Alexandria. Every down with that?"

They were.