Dani's phone rang. It was Fiona. "Mrs. Worthington? This is Fiona Miller."

"Hello. How are you?"

"I'm in a bit of a bind. I was wondering if you could take a placement. It should be only a week and I'm sorry for the short notice…."

"Yes!" she blurted, making Trace turn and look at her.

"What?" he mouthed.

"There are siblings. Two boys. Jamey and George."

"How old are they?"

"Four and Five. They are a handful but…I really have no one else to ask."

Dani put the phone on speaker. "I have you on speaker so Trace can hear." She told them about the boy's circumstances. They were being moved to a boy's group home in Massachusetts but they wouldn't be ready for them for a week.

"Those poor boys. What happened to their parents?" Dani wondered.

"They disappeared one night, leaving the boys alone. Then the police found the parents, dead near the house."

"Oh gosh. That's heartbreaking."

"Yes. They are pretty rambunctious, just to warn you. And they will probably want to sleep together."

"No problem. When should we expect them?"

"Tomorrow morning?"

Dani looked at Trace. He sighed and then nodded. "Okay. What time?"

"8 am? That would be wonderful."

"See you then."

"So much for our day together tomorrow," Trace mumbled.

"I'm sorry, babe, but those boys need us."

He was disappointed but he took a good look at the joy and excitement on her face and decided it was all worth it. She was right. They did need them. Trace also knew, Dani needed this chance just as much.

The next morning, while all the Thornton's were eating breakfast, someone rang the doorbell. Mercy got up. "I'll get it."

She didn't expect who she saw on the other side of the door. "What are you doing here?" she asked her cousin Jay.

"We are here to talk to you."

"Is Donnie here too?"

"Yes. He'll be right in."

"I don't want to talk to you."

"Come on, Mercy. We are family."

"Since when?"

Jack walked up behind Mercy, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Hello. What's going on, Mercy?"

"I want them to leave, Dad."

"I'm Jack Thornton, Mercy's Dad," he said, sticking his hand out to shake the young man's hand.

"I'm Jay and this is Donnie," he said pointing with his thumb at his brother who had just walked up. "We came to talk to Mercy. Maybe take her for ice cream."

"I'm not going anywhere with you," she told them, crossing her arms.

"Mercy, we know we didn't leave things on a good note when Mom and Dad died."

"You told me it was my fault! What kind of person does that?"

"Look, why don't you boys come in? We can sit down and talk in the living room. Merce, get your mom, please."

"Okay."

Mercy wandered into the dining room where they were finishing up breakfast. "Mom, please don't make me go with them," she told her, grabbing her hand.

"Who, sweetie? No one is taking you away." She knew that for a fact. Mercy was eligible for adoption and they were going to tell her that day at the water park that she was going to officially be a Thornton.

"Donnie and Jay! There are here and they said they want to talk to me and take me for ice cream. I'm not going."

"Okay, love." Elizabeth gave her panicked daughter a hug and kissed her forehead. "We will talk to them."

Elizabeth asked Autumn to take Erik upstairs and get him dressed for the day and then she took Mercy's hand and they walked together into the living room.

"Jack?"

"Hon, this is Donnie and Jay Phillips. They are Mercy's cousins."

"Ma'am," they said with a nod to Elizabeth.

"Hello. What can we do for you?"

"We'd like to talk to Mercy, if that's okay. When our parents died, we are afraid we didn't treat her very kindly. We want to apologize," Jay said, looking at Mercy.

"I don't want to go with you," Mercy said. "I live here now. I have a family that actually loves me."

"You could come back to Chicago with us. We have jobs and we still live in our house. There's room for you."

"How old are you, gentlemen?" Elizabeth asked.

"I'm sixteen," Jay said.

"Seventeen," Donnie told them.

"So you are living on your own? What do you do for money?"

"We got that covered, ma'am. We get by."

"When Mercy's mom gave up her rights for your mother and father to raise Mercy, she became a temporary part of your family. However, they never formally adopted Mercy, even though they gave her their last name. So when they passed, she went back into foster care. Now, we are her foster parents," Elizabeth explained.

"But we are real family."

"You are still underage. You can have contact, if Mercy wants that, but we are her family."

"I accept your apology," Mercy said quietly. "But Jack and Elizabeth are my parents and I have three brothers and two sisters that love me. They will take care of me now."

"Can we at least visit? Like at Christmas?" Jay asked.

Jack and Elizabeth looked at Mercy, waiting for her decision. "I'm okay with that as long as you know I'm staying here."

Jack and Elizabeth nodded. "Yes, you are welcome to come here for Christmas."

"Okay, see you then." Donnie stood and shook Jack's hand. "Thank you for taking care of her."

"It's our pleasure. Mercy is wonderful."

Jay offered her a hug first. She accepted it and then Donnie did the same.

"Bye, Mercy."

"Bye."

Mercy started crying once the door was shut. Yes, she was happy, beyond happy, living with the Thorntons but seeing her cousins walk out, it felt like she had no one left.

"Honey, what's wrong?" Elizabeth asked, hugging her tight.

"I know they weren't nice to me but…they were still my family. It feels so sad that they left. Like I don't have anyone left. Like I don't belong anywhere."

Elizabeth nodded at Jack, communicating with him that he needed to tell her now. Almost as if they knew, Autumn, Erik and Carter showed up in the room.

"Merce, we were going to tell you this later at the water park, but we have some news," Jack said, drying her tears.

"What?"

"Your social worker called us and let us know that you are officially up for adoption. So if you'll have us, we'd like to adopt you. You'll be a Thornton."

"I will?!" she shrieked, looking at everyone.

"Yeah. If you don't want to…." Jack teased.

"I DO!" she yelled, running and jumping at Jack, nearly knocking him over. "I want to be a Thornton! You guys are the best!"

He swung her around and put her down. "I'm getting too old to pick you up."

"So, Merce, July 30th is your day. We will make it official. And you get to pick what else we do that day too," Elizabeth told her.

"I want to just come home. Family day. Sit around and watch movies and eat popcorn and pizza and nachos in our pajamas."

"Then that's what we will do."

Mercy walked up to Autumn and gave her a hug. "I told….you. Sisters…forever," she said with a smile.

Mercy laughed, pulling her necklace out from under her shirt. "You were right, Autumn." And boy was she glad.

Trace took Bethanie over to Jack and Elizabeth's for the water park outing and then drove right back home so that he would be there when George and Jamey arrived with Fiona.

He drove in right after she did so he walked up the car, ready to help her with anything she might need to carry.

"Hi, Fiona."

"Mr. Worthington. How are you this morning?"

"Just fine. Do you need me to carry anything for the boys?"

"No. They only have a small bag and George insists on carrying it," she winked at him.

"Oh ok. Got it. He's an independent one?"

"To say the least and Jamey is clingy to George."

Fiona opened the door for the boys who were unbuckling from their booster seats. Good thing he had small children in the family so that he had boosters for them.

"Hi, guys. I'm Trace. How are you?"

Jamey, the younger one, frowned and grabbed onto his brother's arm.

George nodded, like a much older child. His hand was holding tight to his bag and didn't seem to mind Jamey holding on to his other arm.

"Let's go in, boys. My wife Dani made breakfast. Are you hungry?"

"Yes," Jamey said, his face lighting up. Then the smile was gone just as fast, almost as if he remembered that he wasn't supposed to smile.

"Good. Who likes pancakes and bacon?"

"Me!" Jamey said again, raising his hand.

"Excellent. Does George like pancakes?" Trace asked the younger boy.

"Yep."

"Great. Let's go have some."

Fiona gave them some last minute instructions and then was on her way.

George sat silent and still in his chair while Jamey chattered about how yummy the pancakes were and could he have more syrup and did they have any more kids….

His brother didn't seem to know when to stop talking. He didn't know to stop talking the night their parents disappeared. George had told him they had to run away and they needed to be quiet until the police man went away, but he got scared and started crying.

Now, they didn't have parents anymore and nowhere to live.

"George, these pancakes are really yummy!"

George sighed and put his bag down on the floor next to his chair. Then he cut a piece of the pancakes in front of him and put it in his mouth. It was good or maybe he was just hungry.

"Told ya!" Jamey said with a syrupy smile.

Dani enjoyed seeing Trace interacting with the boys. In fact, she fell in love with him even more. He was so cute and he knew how to get Jamey to talk, although the boy sure didn't seem to have a problem once he started.

George….he might be a tougher egg to crack, but by the end of the week, she was going to make sure he at least smiled and talked.

By that evening, George was still quiet, but he seemed to relax a bit. Jamey, was the cutest thing. He got excited about almost anything. He really wanted to meet "the little girl that lives here too" but she was staying over at Mimi and Papa's house for a sleepover.

"Okay, boys, I got the tub ready for you," Trace told them. "George you are in charge of making sure Jamey cleans behind his ears and everywhere else, okay?"

George nodded. He had done it before. He wasn't a little kid.

"I'll check on you in a few minutes."

As soon as they were in the bathroom, Dani walked up to Trace and hugged his waist. "You are the best, Trace Worthington. I love you very very much."

"Oh yeah? Why's that?"

"You….you handle the boys so well and I love watching you talk to them. So adorable."

"Adorable? I'm a grown man, babe."

"A grown man can be adorable," she told him.

"No. Those boys are adorable. Pick a different adjective for me."

"Cute?"

"No."

"Hot," she whispered, softly touching her lips to the skin, right behind his ear, making him shiver.

"That's a little better."

"Unbelievably sexy."

"Mm," he said with a nod.

"You like that?"

He leaned down and kissed her slow and deep, holding on and taking his time.

"I guess that's a yes," she giggled.

"Um….Mr. Trace?" Jamey said from nearby. "Um...we made a mess," he said quietly. "We're sorry. We didn't mean to."

"Thats okay. Messes can be cleaned up," Trace said, taking him back upstairs.

"Yep, downright adorable," Dani whispered before walking over to start the dishes.