Chapter 12

Thursday, August 15th, 1985

"Good morning."

"Good morning Kelly."

"How's Tara?"

"She'll be okay. I got to stay with her for a long time yesterday, I'll be going by her later when I pick up Sandra around lunch."

"That's good. You take Sandra home and tell her she's off the case."

"She's not going to like that."

"I know, but I think it's too dangerous for her to continue. Her cover is most likely already blown."

"Yeah, I'm on your side, but you know just as well as me that she will be back to work come Monday."

"I don't expect anything else. But you can at least try to convince her to stay home."

"I'll do my best, but I make no promises." Kamili smiled before she had a look at her watch. "Where's Madison?"

"Oh, she took off by herself yesterday to the Prospect, managed to bluff her way to give herself a job with the janitor."

"She took off by herself?"

"Yeah, I scolded her quite a bit, maybe a little too much but it's just out of worry. She called me after all of it to tell me what she did, and I told her to call me before next time. But Charlie checked the janitor out and he's a 63-year-old man, married with two kids, been a janitor most of his life, never even gotten a speeding ticket. She will probably be alright with him, so she's already there now. She made her own little cover story yesterday and I spent last night stuffing rags into the holes of it. She'll try to get into Eva's room and find the drafts."

"Well it would be great, maybe we can find something useful."

"We really could use a good ol' fashion clue right about now. This case has been so very tedious."

"It really feels like we're just stomping on the same patch of grass. I was thinking that I might drop by that witch meeting tonight. At least people won't know I'm a detective, I might be able to snoop around."

"Are they still holding the witch meeting even though the place burned?"

"As far as I heard it didn't burn to the ground so I bet they are still there. Worth to look into at least."

"Okay. Just be very careful, okay?"

"I will, for sure. I don't plan on getting my head bashed in."

"Good. I don't want to save more Angels on the first case."

"I'll do my best. Did you get the pictures from Kris by the way?"

"Yes, wanna go through them together?"

"Sure."

I have to tell you the craziest thing. One of the sisters told me that she thought they were right in burning witches during the trials. I thought I heard her wrong at first but as I questioned her, she came off way too serious for my liking. 'Some witches deserved to be burned, they were evil,' she said. I was so taken aback that I didn't answer for several minutes. She didn't elaborate on the subject and none of us wanted to question her, but it got me thinking, of course.

We all know Salem was famous for the trials, but long before that, around 1590, there was a certain man called King James VI of Scotland. He was to marry Princess Anne of Denmark, the sister of the Danish King Christian IV. King James sent for his queen to be, but she never made the voyage over to Scotland due to bad weather and stormy waters. After it had happened several times, he took the voyage himself – without a problem. As they were to sail home again, they once again met bad storms and had to seek shelter in Norway. The bard sings that the admiral of the Danish fleet blamed the storms on the wife of a high official whom he had insulted. Witch?

Soon thereafter there was a woman called Anna Koldings, who gave them the names of five other women, and they all confessed of using sorcery and raising the storms. I'm fairly sure they were under a fair bit of pressure as they confessed. King James heard about this – and started the North Berwick witch trials.

It always has to be someones fault, right? It can't just be nature's fault? It can't just be that the North Sea between Denmark and Scotland is extremely treacherous with its storm surges and strong winds? There are records from year 1228 that over 100,000 people were killed in a storm tide, and in 1362 there were also the Grote Manndrenke that killed another 100,000 people. The list goes on and on, even in 1953 more than 2000 people died. But no, King James, I'm sure it has always been witchcraft behind it. And they all deserved to die.

I'm not certain that people who do bad to other people deserve to die. I wouldn't want them roaming the streets of course, but death? I don't know. It's so hard to picture. If I were killed, would I want that person who killed me to die too? What purpose would that serve? It's not like I would care, being dead and all, but maybe it would be a comfort to those around me.

And how much evil do you have to do to be burned to death? Or thrown in the water with your hands and feet tied together? If they were not witches, they drowned and the family still lost that woman, but hey, at least she wasn't a witch.

Because that would've been horrible, I guess.

Alicia Jonas

Madison put the magazine back to the table in the small area of the building where she was cleaning, her mind drifting back to the witch meeting as she was curious to which one of the sisters might've been the one Alicia was talking about in the article. Someone who found it defensible to burn witches. Someone who had told Alicia that mere months before Alicia was burned on the stake, as a witch would've been. What must Alicia have been thinking as she stood there, tied to the pole? She must've known what was about to happen.

Madison shook her head, not wanting those kinds of thoughts take over her mind, not wanting to get distracted from the job and career she was about to pursue. Kelly had warned her how fast it could get to your head if you allowed it to. She was to see some insane scenes, people killed in the most insane ways that you couldn't even imagine. Kelly still talked about the crazy Fairytale-case they had worked through, which had started off by a woman being eaten alive by mice. Luckily that wasn't a common occurrence but it still freaked Madison out a bit, not knowing what she would have to witness if she decided that she wanted to do this. She wasn't sure she had the guts to do it, but something told her to keep going, and she was eager to show her best feet forward.

And with those thoughts she decided to pick up her broom again and keep sweeping.

Lewis had gotten her some green overalls and a nametag with the name Rachel this morning, and Madison had pulled them over her regular clothes, tightly braiding her hair and tucking it down to get it out of the way. Lewis had been a sweetheart, showing her around the whole building, given her a set of keys he had laying around, and then sent her off on her own. She had changed light bulbs, unclogged a toilet and was now sweeping up in one of the conference rooms. She felt like she had scored big time as Lewis just seemed happy to get some of the workload off his shoulders, not really feeling the need to look in on her too much. She was allowed to wander the building by herself and she had even been given keys to allow herself to snoop around, but Kelly had warned her several times just how much it could hurt to get your fingers squished in the cookie jar.

She knew she needed to get into Eva's office and check through the drafts, but it seemed like a bad place to start there, not wanting to draw attention to herself. Instead she had been cleaning up, but moving around in the building and making sure she was seen by a lot of people, excusing herself to push past them only to make sure they noticed her, noticing she was moving around and making their workspace a nicer place, to get them to trust her. Soon enough she would be able to walk into their offices without them ever complaining or distrusting her.

Madison smiled to herself. She might just be able to pull this off.

As Kelly took off to meet Kris for lunch, Kamili headed towards the hospital, walked up to Martha in the reception, the nurse giving her a gentle smile and instantly filled her in.

"Tara's vitals stabilized, and she is responding well to treatment. You can go into her room if you'd like, but just know that we did put her through a bronchoscopy a little while ago, so she is sedated and maybe a bit out of it. Her breathing is still labored and she's still coughing but she's much better. You can go into her room if you'd like."

"Thank you." Kamili smiled, walking in and down a corridor, knowing her way around this area of the hospital by now. Coming up to the room where she knew Tara resided, she pulled the door open and instantly smiled as she saw Tara sitting up in bed but leaning heavily against pillows – with Mark sitting right next to her, facing each other, their fingers intertwined, him with one hand on her cheek. They instantly let go of each other as they realized they had company and Mark got to his feet as fast as he could, but the damage was already done. Kamili was grinning widely, her hands on her hip.

"Well hello there, doctors."

Tara sighed tiredly and lifted a heavy hand to rub her tired face as Mark looked embarrassed, looking down at his feet.

"Not official." Tara whispered; her voice very hoarse.

"Mhmm." Kamili just grinned, not caring about what her sister had just told her as she was rocking on the heels of her shoes.

"Don't call mama."

"Now why would I do that?" Kamili laughed. "I wouldn't be able to answer half of the questions she would throw at me."

Marks pager suddenly beeped. "Thank God!" He exhaled and before the sisters knew it, he was out of the room and Kamili laughed as she walked over to her sister.

"He scares easily." Kamili grinned as she sat down in the bed.

"He knows you got a gun." Tara whispered with a chuckle, before moving her head away as she coughed harshly. Kamili offered her a glass of water as the coughing fit subsided which Tara declined, pointing at her throat.

"Numb throat, no intake yet."

Kamili nodded, her head on its side as she looked at her sister who was resting in the bed, noticing that Mark had taken the mask off her face, but she was still wearing the nasal cannula to help her out a bit. The mask was hanging on the side of the bed though, just in case.

"He's worried about dating the boss. Even though we began dating long before I became his boss." Tara whispered, leaning back into the pillows, trying to catch her breath.

"How did I miss this?"

"I didn't want to make a big deal out of it." Tara informed her; speech slow.

"How serious is it?"

"We just enjoy each other's company. We always got along well and it kind of just grew from a good friendship." Tara whispered, choking down a small cough, closing her eyes for a second.

"You okay?" Kamili asked, her hand moving up to her sister's arm.

"Yeah." Tara wheezed. "Give me a few days and I'll be going home."

"Going home and?"

"Take it easy for a few weeks." Tara smiled.

"Good." Kamili smiled, before wincing as another coughing fit came over her sister, Tara not being able to choke this down. Leaning forwards, she coughed violently into some tissue paper that she had next to her and coughed hard for what felt like forever.

As Tara finally leaned back down, absolutely exhausted, her chest was moving rapidly and Kamili could see her glance towards the mask on the side of the bed, which was well enough of a signal for Kamili to grab it and hold it over her sisters mouth and nose, Tara closing her eyes as she inhaled. Kamili sat in the bed next to Tara and stayed still for several minutes, holding the mask with one hand and the other one brushing Tara's hair.

Kamili moved the mask as Tara started swatting at it and put it in the bed next to her, moving to take the tissue paper from Tara, she noticed the blood on it. Holding it up to her sister to see, Tara shook her head.

"Don't worry, it's just from my throat, it's a bit beaten from all the coughing and the bronchoscopy didn't help. There's nothing else going on, I promise, Mark has run all necessary tests."

"Okay." Kamili smiled, throwing it away before coming back to the bed, sitting down in it. "I talked to mama yesterday. She had tried to call you several times, so I told her you were sick, but I did not tell her how irresponsible you were. I also told her not to worry and that you would call whenever you could manage it."

"Oh she'll lecture me." Tara whispered weakly.

"Yup, and you deserve it." Kamili said, nudging Tara's arm.

"Yeah, I know." Tara sighed. "I'll tell her the truth, I promise."

"Good. You know it will come back and bite you later otherwise."

"Yeah." Tara smiled before changing the subject. "How's Sandra?"

"My plan is to take her home after visiting you, as long as she's allowed to go home of course."

"I'm sure she's fine." Tara said, moving her head slightly to get a better angle on the pillow, Kamili getting to her feet to help her get comfortable. Tara sunk down, eyes closed for a moment, a small cough escaping again but calmed down quickly.

"Good. I guess Mark is going to keep you here for a while?" Kamili asked, pulling the duvet up a bit to make sure her sister was comfortable.

"A few days at least." Tara said quietly and Kamili observed her for a moment, observing as her sister took a few deep breaths, body becoming relaxed as she was about to drift off to sleep.

"Can I get you anything?"

"No, I'm alright." Tara said, her eyes cracking open, smiling slightly to her sister. Kamili smiled back before leaning forward to give her a hug.

"Okay. Just let me know otherwise, okay? I'll be by tomorrow. You rest."

"Ay-ay chief." Tara whispered with a grin, closing her eyes again and drifting off as Kamili smiled and left the room.

After leaving Tara's room Kamili moved about in the hospital, going to the floor where Sandra was and pulled open the door to Sandra's room, halting a bit as she saw the woman in her 60's standing next to the bed. Twirling around, Kamili instantly met her gentle face, the warm, green eyes and the grey hair circling the face in a short bob.

"Hi Mary! I'm sorry, I didn't know you were here, I can wait out-"

"Don't worry Kamili, we're just wrapping up, come on in."

Kamili, a bit embarrassed, walked up to the bed, putting Sandra's bag down by the foot of the bed, smiling to her friend who was sitting up in the bed.

"All good?"

"I'm alright, ready to go home."

Kamili smiled, sitting down in the bed by Sandra's feet. "They said they would do a CT-scan this morning?"

"I've already did it, they are just waiting for the plates, then I'm good to go."

"As long as it's alright."

"Obviously." Sandra smiled, then turned to Mary who gave her shoulder a pat.

"I'll take off. I'll see you next week, just call me if you need me."

"Thanks Mary." Sandra smiled, Kamili giving Mary a wide smile as well before she left the room, leaving the two friends alone. Kamili sat down in the bed, facing Sandra.

"I'm sorry for interrupting. I thought she was here yesterday."

"Don't worry about it. We were finished. And she was here yesterday, we didn't actually have an appointment today, she just dropped by to make sure I was alright."

"And are you?"

"I feel fine, a bit dizzy maybe but headache is almost gone."

"Good." Kamili smiled, then tilting her head. "And all else is okay too? No bad feelings or likewise?"

Sandra smiled gently, loving that her friend cared enough to ask. "No, Kamili, I feel okay. There might've been some anxiety there, I did have a nightmare, but she got me straight. I'm all good."

"That makes me glad." Kamili smiled. "We like it when you smile."

Sandra felt her cheeks turn red as she smiled widely to Kamili. "I don't plan on stopping."

"Good. But please don't fear talking to me if you ever feel like stopping."

"I promise I'll talk to you."

There was a knock on the door, and a second later it swung open, Mark walking in with a file in his hand and a smile on his face.

"Hi there Kam." He said, cheeks red with embarrassment.

"Hi Mark." Kamili grinned. "Don't worry, I'll be quiet."

"About what?" Sandra immediately asked, Kamili grinning even wider.

"So much for keeping quiet." Mark chuckled, shaking his head.

"Oh, there's no secrets between Angels, you should know that rule." Kamili smiled, shrugging her shoulders.

"What's going on?" Sandra asked and Kamili turned to Mark, who rolled his eyes but smiled and nodded.

"Mark and Tara are dating."

"What?" Sandra exclaimed happily, looking up to Mark who shrugged his shoulders, nodding. "Oh, I love it! You two are so great together."

"Thanks." Mark smiled. "She makes me happy."

"And you make her happy." Kamili said, her grin turning to a gentle smiled, before nodding towards the file in his hand. "Did you get the results back?"

"Yeah, I got the plates from the CT-scan back, they don't show anything."

Kamili didn't even try to hide her laugh, but she did place a hand over her mouth as the laugh had been a lot louder than she had intended it to be. Mark raised an eyebrow to her, Kamili looking between him and Sandra before returning to Mark.

"I always knew there was nothing in there but it's nice to have it confirmed."

"Oi!"

Kamili jumped out of the bed as Sandra kicked her hard on the thigh.

Mark let out a hearty laugh before turning to Sandra. "You know what I mean."

"Of course I do Mark. Never mind Kamili, she's just being a little drit." Sandra said, the last word, in Norwegian, coming out through clenched teeth while rolling the r, but it was accompanied by a cheeky smile. Kamili grinned widely, not knowing what the word meant but it was one Sandra frequently used around her – so it was probably nothing nice.

"Well with the scans clear I feel okay to discharge you. A nurse will be in shortly with the papers. Just take it easy for a few days, try not to exaggerate yourself. You know the usual, you might experience some headache and dizziness and if it hasn't passed in a few days just keep in touch. I would normally prescribe some painkillers but..."

"I'm good Mark, I don't want it." Sandra said quickly, eyes stern. Kamili reached over and gently brushed her arm, giving her support, her grin turned to a gentle smile.

Mark smiled gently as well, having been on the nightshift the night Sandra came in 7 months ago he knew what problems she had experienced. He gave Kamili a nod before leaving the room. Kamili grabbed the bag of clothes that she had brought.

"Do you need help getting dressed?"

"I think I'm alright, but you can help me to the bathroom." Sandra said, moving around so her feet was dangling over the edge of the bed. Taking a breath, she took Kamili's outstretched hand and allowed her friend to guide her to the bathroom, Sandra taking the bag and moved into the room.

"No locking doors." Kamili said, smiling gently as she waited outside.

Sandra emerged from the bathroom just as Nurse Martha came into the room, holding a clipboard with papers for Sandra to sign. All done, Kamili pointed to the wheelchair, making Sandra groan a bit.

"Do I have to? I can walk."

"Just humor me, will you? You know how much I love pushing you around." Kamili grinned, taking Sandra's hand to guide her to the chair, Sandra giggling as she sat down, allowing Kamili to take her outside to the awaiting car. Kamili wrapped an arm around Sandra's waist and guided her into her car, went to leave the chair, before getting herself into the driver's seat and pulled out from the parking lot.

"So, update me. Where are you on the case?"

"Kelly said you're off it."

"Don't be ridiculous. We all know I will be on the case first thing in the morning. I will just be more attentive to my surroundings."

Kamili smiled, she knew Sandra didn't want to get off the case, but she knew Kelly wouldn't be happy. Leaning into the car seat of her mustang, she told Sandra everything that had been going on during the last 48 hours and what the future plans were, none of it much to hang in the tree unfortunately.

"You cannot be serious?"

"Of course I am. I have to be able to do my job, and you know that includes fieldwork, I can't hide away at home all the time."

"But you don't have to push yourself to the brink just to prove yourself to the others either. You're willing to go to the place where Madison might've been poisoned, and Sandra got her head bashed in? That place is dangerous, you can't go there."

"Don't you dare tell me what I can or cannot do."

"Kam, stop that."

Kamili dropped the makeup brush to the sink and twirled towards her husband, meeting his eyes, full of worry and concern. She sighed, held up her hands in apology while taking a deep breath, getting to her feet, gravity making the black dress fall towards the floor as she rose. Walking up to Morgan she smiled gently and wrapped her arms around him, Morgan hugging her back, burying his nose in her curls.

"I'm scared." He whispered as she pressed her head against his shoulder. "I'm scared something will happen to you. You know just as well as me that you're not doing too well, and I'm scared that something will happen when you're all alone."

"I won't be alone."

"Well, with strangers, who might have bad intentions."

"I won't be with just strangers either." Kamili said, backing up from her husband and looking up at him with a wide smile. "If you would've let me finish talking, I would've told you that I'm bringing Janet. That girl needs to get out more."

"How did you convince her to go with you?"

"Told her it was just for a few hours and that I didn't feel safe going alone. It wasn't that difficult; I do think she secretly miss the danger. But the people there have no reason to have bad intentions towards us. We are just women curious in the occult. They knew Sandra and Madison were detectives already the first time they walked through the door. We won't go there as detectives."

"Okay. But promise me that you'll be careful."

"Of course we'll be careful." Kamili smiled, leaning up to give Morgan a kiss before taking a step back. He grinned as he looked her over, up and down. She had spent the evening undoing the braids, letting the whole hair out into a wild afro, then carefully braiding a gemstone hairband into it. She was wearing a black, long and slick dress that showed off her hourglass curves perfectly, a high turtleneck and long sleeves, and accompanied it all with high heels.

"You look fantastic."

"Thanks. I don't know how to dress like a witch."

"I don't know how they dress either, but at least you have me under your spell."

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say something that cheesy." Kamili laughed, leaning forward to kiss him before turning to look at herself in the mirror. "Does it really look good? I'm can't really make up my mind. It's so tight, it almost gives me a baby bump."

"If you think that dress makes you look fat, you are wrong. You are not nor do you look fat. Every woman gets a baby bump in a dress like that, even you with your flat tummy."

"Okay then. Thanks babe. I need to put my face on completely before I'll go and pick up Janet. Is it okay to borrow the jeep?"

"Yeah, of course."

"I think it will be a bit better cover than to show up in a mustang or Janet's Porsche."

"I think you're right." Morgan grinned. "I'll go and help Yasmin with her homework. Say bye before you take off."

"Of course." Kamili smiled, turning back to the mirror as Morgan left the room.

"What's on your mind?"

Kelly jumped slightly and twirled her head sideways upon hearing a voice right next to her and twisted her head just in the same moment as Kris sat down next to her in the couch.

"Oh, sorry, didn't mean to spook you." Kris smiled, a gentle hand on Kelly's shoulder. "You seemed to be far off in the distance."

"I was, I was thinking about Kamili and Janet, they are going to that witch meeting this evening and I am just a bit worried. There has been so much trouble over there and I don't want more angels to end up in the hospital."

"They'll be fine. There can't be accidents every time there's a meeting, that would put them out of business in a heartbeat."

"I know." Kelly smiled. "I'm sure I'm just being a bit overprotective."

"Easily done in this business. I did check around a little at work and I have some information that might be interesting. I'm not sure if it's anything really, but I got a hunch."

"What do you got?"

"Not here." Kris smiled. "I'll pop by the office tomorrow morning."

Kelly smiled, looking forward in the direction to where Kris had nodded. In front of the two, on the floor in front of the TV, where Peggy sleeping on her back, with Sarah, Jessica, Jacob and Annie all resting towards her, watching the Gummi Bears. Kelly smiled happily at their little family, just as Jill walked into the living room. Jill smiled as she popped down next to Kelly in the couch, leaning her head against Kelly's shoulder for a second before Annie rolled off Peggy and got onto her unsteady legs, waddling towards her mother. Jill smiled gently as she bent and picked the girl up, pulling her into her lap and she snuggled down next to her mother.

"How are you Jill, you look good." Kelly stated as she observed her friend.

"I'm alright actually, having a good day. Feels like the first good day I've had in ages. How is everything going with the two of you?" Jill asked, her nose towards Annie's head as she looked up at Kelly and Kris. "You look so serious."

"Kam and Janet are heading to the witch meeting tonight." Kelly said. "There has been such mess there so I'm just a bit worried."

"What are they going to do?"

"Snoop around." Kelly smiled.

"I miss the old snooping around days." Jill smiled. "We had a lot of fun."

"We did. The good old days." Kelly grinned. "I still remember our first cases working for Charlie."

"Do you remember that jewel heist we had to clear up and you got locked into the vault?"

"How could I forget that." Kelly giggled.

"How did you get locked into the vault?" Kris asked, looking up at Kelly while moving around a bit in the couch, leaning back and putting her feet up into Kelly's lap. Kelly gently massaged her feet and ankles while she grinned.

"You should ask your sister."

Kris looked over to Jill with an eyebrow up and Jill smiled, leaning back as well, allowing Annie to rest against her chest.

"There is a possibility that Sabrina and I thought we had caught the thief and decided to lock him in. It took us a good ten minutes before we realized that Kelly was missing."

"You're kidding."

"Unfortunately not. Kelly was right upset when we let her out."

"It was dark in there and you both know how much I just love dark, narrow spaces."

"I said I was sorry."

"You panicked?" Kris asked carefully, Kelly looking over to her and nodding.

"Yup. It was tiny and pitch black, and anxiety got the best of me. By the time Jill and Sabrina had gotten me out I was hysterical."

"It was scary. But you did get a lot better with tiny spaces after that."

"Yeah, Charlie sent me through some therapy, not wanting an angel with claustrophobia, I guess. I'm still not too fond of tiny spaces but at least now I know how to handle them."

"You've done great after that. You did show off your final exam when you got stuck in the airplane bathroom just weeks later."

Kelly laughed, shaking her head. They had certainly had some moments to remember. The three of them sat quiet for a moment before Jill spoke again.

"Anyone of you talked to Sabrina lately?"

"It's been a few months." Kelly confessed. "We did talk quite a bit after the prison case, life is rolling onwards so fast. She did mention that she had been talking to Anton about doing an east coast trip, maybe towards the spring."

"That would be great, I miss her like crazy. It's crazy to think it's been more than ten years since we got together."

"Back then it was just us. The three of us and Sabrina. Now there's a full circus here and it's getting even worse. I'm still certain I'm only supposed to have two kids. How did I get 5? And two more on the way that I presume will move in here as well?" Kelly laughed, leaning over Kris' legs to pull Jacob and Jessica into the couch, Sarah crawling up as well. Jessica crawled along Kris' legs over to her stomach, laying down in top of her and Jacob settled on top of Kris' feet, still resting in Kelly's lap, and Sarah squished down between Kelly and Jill. Back on the floor was Peggy, still happily snoring away.

"Not sure where we'll fit in two more." Kris giggled before wincing as Jacob bounced a bit on her sore feet, Kelly noticing this moved him a bit, allowing Kris to move around and sit back up instead.

"How are the legs doing Kris?" Jill asked, looking over towards her sister.

"They're okay, just get sore after a long day of walking. Don't really have much trouble with then anymore as long as I wear okay shoes."

"That's good at least." Jill smiled.

"It's all thanks to you two, had you guys not taken care of me as you did after that blast, I don't think I would've gotten back on track."

"That's what family is for." Kelly smiled.

"Yeah. Not only to sort out your head but your body needed help too."

"It sure did." Kris smiled, thinking back to the dazed months following the explosion. She hadn't cared at all about anything, not finding anything to live for if she didn't have her husband. Her legs had been badly injured, again, and Jill and Kelly had taken turns to help her out. Not only had they made sure she ate, drank and did all other things she had to do to keep living, but they also pushed and pulled her legs through endless hours of physical therapy, making sure she was able to walk again once her heart was patched back together. Not only had they saved her from insanity's dark space, they had also made sure she could walk out of there on her own legs.

She still missed Tommy like crazy but found him in her children and she spent the evenings telling them stories about their father, making sure they wouldn't forget him. She still woke up in the middle of the night, reaching over in the bed expecting him to be there, but he never was. It had been a roller coaster ride and it wasn't finished yet, but at least she felt like she had the belt on now and it had evened out a little bit. She still had friends and family, and she had children that needed her. She knew this much, and she was happy to still be alive. Smiling to herself, she wrapped her arms around Jessica and pulled her backwards into the couch, Kelly and Jill smiling at the two of them as Jessica giggled happily.

"Mommy stop!" Jessica laughed as Kris tickled her, the child twisting and turning into the couch, Kelly having to hold Jacob away from her as he tried to catch his sister's hair. Kris stopped dead, whereupon Jessica immediately turned to her, frowning. "Don't stop!"

The adults laughed happily as Kris continued to tickle Jessica until she rolled out of the couch, happily giggling, running over to throw herself right across Peggy who jumped from her sleep. Upon noticing who it was, she instantly grabbed the little girl around her waist and pulled her tight, pretending to go back to sleep with Jessica laughing, wriggling and twisting.

Jacob was clapping his hands, bouncing in Kelly's lap, Annie cuddling close to her mother but watching the chaos take place and Sarah giggled happily as she pulled her mother's sweater a bit.

"What is it Sarah?"

"I really like our big family."

"I do too sweetheart, I do too."