That night as Mariana and Mat were getting ready for bed, they decided to talk about Andrew request for a little brother or sister and they seriously consider adopting just one more kid. Mariana is more than okay with it. Coming from a big, blended adoptive family, she always saw herself having a big family of her own. Three kids is hardly a lot.

Mat grew up an only child though. He's fine with three kids. Hell, he was fine when they had two. He loves his daughter, but he just never pictured having this big family. It's harder to get him on board with the whole adopting one more thing.

"Just one kid though." Mat said

"Just one." Mariana echoed

Meanwhile at Jesus and Emma's house in Amelia's room. She's supposed to be asleep, but instead she's awake reading and doing astrophysics. She's been self teaching herself astrophysics for a few weeks and she's already onto her second book. She does it day and night.

In the morning when Mat woke up, he headed out to the living room where he saw Mariana quizzing Arabella with her spelling words for the upcoming Spelling Bee. Mat just watched and his wife and daughter. He couldn't believe that he had ever almost wished this all away. Just six months ago he wanted Arabella out of the house, and now look how far she's come.

Arabella had just spelled a really hard word - lackadaisical. Mat couldn't help but clap for her.

"Good job, Belle." He praised

Arabella beamed as she ran over and hugged her father, "Thank you, Daddy!"

She finally understood the depth of a true father's love, and she couldn't be happier.

Mat hugged his daughter back, "I want you to know that I'm so proud of you. Not just for your spelling, but for how far you've come since you first moved in. I love you, sweetheart."

"I love you too, Daddy."

"Now that everyone's awake." Mariana started, as William and Andrew picked up their heads from the puzzle they were working on. Mariana continued, "Daddy and I have something that we'd like to talk to you about."

William looked at his parents, "What is it?"

"Mom and I are thinking of taking in another foster kid, but we want to make sure that it's alright with you kids." Mat explained. He smiled at Andrew, "I already know that you are more than okay with it."

"I'm fine with it, dad." William replied

Arabella nodded, "Me too. I've always wanted a sister, and it would be nice to not be the only girl in the family."

"What about me?" Mariana asked, "I'm a girl."

Arabella shook her head, "No. Mommy, you're a woman. It's not the same thing."

Mariana gave a laugh, "Okay baby." Then she looked around at all her children, "Well as long as you are all okay with it, Daddy and I just have to call the social worker and tell him we're ready to take in another kid."

"Yay! I'm getting a little sister!" Andrew cheered and his parents couldn't help but smile.

At Brandon and Lou's house, Brandon had left to go to the studio and Lou was editing a video in her office. Hallianna walked into the kitchen to get something to eat and she saw that Starla was talking on the phone. Gracelynn was sitting on the couch watching tv just a few feet away.

"Gracie." Hallianna called, "Who's Starla talking to?"

"Her dad." Gracelynn muttered nonchalantly and that's when Hallianna heard it.

"I miss you too, Daddy." Starla said, "Okay. I will. Bye Daddy. Love you."

Hallianna smiled at the little girl as she was hanging up the phone, "So you got to talk to your dad?"

Starla nodded, "Yeah. He says I have to live here for a while and to be good for Brandon and Lou."

"That last part is good advice. You should always be good for whoever is in charge." Hallianna explained, "He sounds like a good daddy."

"He is. He's the best Daddy in the whole world."

Gracelynn turned off the tv in a huff and then stormed up the stairs to her room, slamming the door behind her.

"Why's Gracie's so mad?" Starla asked looking at Hallianna puzzled

"You know how you and Gracie have the same biological father. Well your daddy..he didn't get to be Gracie's daddy. She just gets a little upset about that when she hears you talking about how great of a daddy he is, because she wishes that she got to have the experiences with him that you did."

Starla gave a nod, "Oh."

"Don't worry about it. She'll be fine."

"I wanna give Gracie a hug." Starla jumped down from the stool.

Hallianna stopped Starla just before the steps, "How about we give Gracie a little bit of space? You can give her a hug later."

"Okay Hallie."


I hope you enjoy. Comments are greatly appreciated.

What would you like to see happen next?