"Hey Alie, yeah I'll be right there" Jess said answering her phone while the team were enjoying lunch
"Miss Zah's here I take it" Jason asked as Jess quickly gathered her belongings and stood up to leave
"Sure is, where do you think you lot are coming" Jess asked as the rest of the team started to get themselves ready to leave
"What, we don't get to meet the kid in person" Brock asked suddenly
"That's a bit unfair when Sonny and Trent already have" Clay said pulling out the puppy dog eyes he learnt from Cerbs, Pepper's were slightly different
"I happen to know that you all have weapons maintenance to do, Blackburn comes looking for you it ain't on me" Jess said giving them notice, she wasn't going to be held responsible here
"Deal" the boys all said in unison, they were curious to meet their new little niece
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"Is that your new dog" Zalie yelled excitedly as she saw her mummy and uncles walk towards her where she was waiting with her Nonna and Boompa
"Typical, she sees a dog and the rest of us go out the window" Jess said making Zalie realise she'd been a little rude to everyone who was standing there
"Hi mummy, this is Pepper isn't it" Zalie said quickly acknowledging her mum before turning her attention back to the dog with Brock
"Sure is, looks like you might have another visitor as well Brock" Jess said seeing a familiar face in the car her parents were driving, Brock's face suddenly lit up
"Hey Cerbs old buddy, how you doing" he said letting his old buddy out of the car, the dog looked incredibly happy and relaxed, and was wearing a pretty comfy looking blue studded leather collar
"Going for a ride with his Nonna and Boompa, he's going to check out daddy's new office where he's going to be working" Zalie said breaking her attention from Pepper to give some to Cerbs
"Really, are they your Nonna and Boompa as well" Brock asked scratching Cerbs up around the ears, Cerbs responded with a happy bark
"Hey Cerbs" the rest of the team said giving plenty of attention to their old comrade in arms, showing just how important he was for the rest of them
"How's he going with his retirement anyway" Brock asked Zalie, keen to find out what's been going on with him
"He's loving it uncle Brock, I love having him around, thanks for letting me have him, its like he reads my mind, aunty Laura has said she can't wait to meet him, and that he sounds like the perfect dog for me and she's going to teach me how to make special treats for him, and Boompa is making him a special harness to wear at mummy and daddy's wedding at the big house, cause we can't leave him behind to miss out when we go, he'll love the big house" Zalie said proudly filling him in on what's been going on, Zalie had a habit of having to tell people everything that was going on in one go, Brock couldn't have been happier the way Zalie spoke about learning to make special treats, felt that he could read her mind, calling Alie and Jay Cerbs Nonna and Boompa, her saying that they couldn't leave him behind to miss out on something like Jess's wedding and was getting a special harness made, he was her family, it was clear she loved him with all her heart and it reaffirmed his choice as being the right one in allowing Cerbs to live with Zalie
"Didn't realise that you had a location picked out yet" Ray asked surprised
"Didn't you tell them yet baby girl" Jay asked curiously
"She hasn't mentioned anything at all about the wedding yet" Clay said a little disappointed
"Despite us asking" Trent added
"It's going to be in Italy, my mama and papa have booked the local church, and then its reception at the villa, you'll only need to worry about spending money, we can't have Jess getting married without her brothers there" Alie said, she sensed that it may have been the finance issue that had made Jess a little hesitant in talking about the plans, especially seeing as she was in the process of setting up some college funds for Jason and Ray, she didn't want her brothers to feel like they owed her for anything she spent on them
"Never picked you for a religious type" Ray asked looking at Jess surprised
"Surprise, right from birth, its important to me to honour family tradition, so I'm combining the faiths, will be predominantly Roman Catholicism, but I've got to honour mums faith as well" Jess said
"Well that sounds great and all that in practice Bookworm, but last time I checked, Islam and Roman Catholicism don't see eye to eye" Sonny said concerned
"Well its a good thing my mum wasn't of the Islamic faith isn't it Sonny" Jess said patting him on the shoulder
"But I thought Obi Blonde Kenobi here said your mum was Arabic, from Syria" Sonny asked confused as he looked at Clay
"She was Sonny, and while Islam is a dominant religion in the middle east, its not the only one, I'm only combining Eastern and Roman Catholicism" Jess said reassuring him, she was actually impressed he was starting to obviously pay attention with what she had been saying in some of her CLO briefings she would run for the squadron
"Huh, Ray I think you're going to need to give us a crash course in this" Sonny said looking at him confused, he was wondering exactly how many different types of religion there were
"Hey, is this a dress whites affair" Jason asked curious
"Hell no, and no ancient hymns either, come on my little Super Zah, lets get you to Doctor Shah" Jess said trying to get her daughter moving
"See you later Cerbs, have fun with Nonna and Boompa" Zalie said turning to say bye to him
"I'll make sure Doctor Shah does not keep her any longer than she needs to alright Cerbs" Jess said reassuring him with a scratch that she wasn't going to be keeping Zalie from him
"And tell me the truth buddy, does she really have a cool games room with some old consoles set up to play in" Brock asked giving Cerbs another scratch
"You like video games uncle Brock" Zalie asked her face lighting up at the mention of her gaming room and consoles
"He sure does, but he ain't got anywhere near the collection you do, or the consoles" Jess said to her daughter
"What ya got to play on" Zalie asked excitedly
"X box 1, like your mummy, you however I hear have got lots of consoles and games to play on, what's your favourite" Brock asked her
"Nintendo, hands down, mummy prefers Nintendo as well, she's the one who showed me how to game" Zalie said proudly
"Zah, its time to go" Jess said firmly, this was the military side of her coming out, on time is 5 minutes late after all
"But I want to talk to everyone, I haven't even spoke to uncle Trent and uncle Sonny, and I was hoping that uncle Eric was here as well" Zalie said sounding a little disheartened, she wanted to talk to everyone
"Tell you what, why don't we all come over to see Doctor Shah with you and mummy, and then we'll go and see if uncle Eric is free" Trent said sensing the growing frustration, Zalie was getting along well with Jameelah and RJ, but she did seem to have a attachment to grown-ups as well, particularly when it came to her mum and mums friends
"Okay uncle Trent" Zalie said as she happily walked of, one hand in her mums hand and she slipped her other one in Clay's as they made their way over to the infirmary
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"You must be Zalie" Doctor Shah asked Zalie walking into the examination room, Zalie was sitting on the bed with Jess and the rest of Bravo were standing around the room, somehow Doctor Shah wasn't surprised to see whole of Bravo team there
"Ah ha, but everyone calls me Zah" Zalie said introducing herself
"Well Zah, you can call me Doctor Ariana, see you've got your uncles here in full force" Doctor Shah said indicating to the older men standing there
"Yep" Zalie said proudly
"Right so today I'm going to need to see how well your lungs are working" Doctor Shah said starting to give Zalie and Jess the run-down of what was happening today
"They don't" Zalie said abruptly
"Zah, don't interupt Doctor Shah" Jess said
"But they don't work well" Zalie protested to her mother
"I know they don't" Jess said soothingly, she'd forgotten sometimes Zalie was completely straight out honest about somethings
"I'm also going to be taking some pictures of your legs and back, see if we can work out what's making you sore and then I also want to check your heart as well, take some blood and check your height and weight, who's that you've got with you" Doctor Shah asked trying to move on in the conversation
"Eevee" Zalie said proudly
"Her Boompa brought Eevee for her when she was in the hospital, its her all time favourite character, isn't it miss Zah" Sonny said
"Ah ha and she has a feeding tube just like mummy and I do" Zalie said showing the doctor
"Bet that's the first time Doctor Shah's ever met a pokemon with a feeding tube" Jason said with a chuckle
"Well other kids have dolls and teddy bears that have them in, so why can't I have a pokemon with one in" Zalie turned around and asked him abruptly surprising Jason slightly, this kid was certainly stubborn
"And your right, there's nothing saying you can't have a pokemon with a feeding tube, uncle Jason's just not met a girl your age who isn't in to dolls and teddies and the rest of that stuff" Jess said
"Is that because he's old" Zalie asked
"I am not that old missy" Jason said pointing at her, this kid obviously had character
"Well he's not quite as old as your Boompa" Brock said with a grin
"My Boompa's ancient" Zalie said looking at Jason
"I'm going to tell him you called him ancient" Jason said, arms crossed and smiling
"He said he's ancient himself, and that's why he has served with so many people" Zalie said proudly
"Well you can't argue with the kids logic there Jase" Ray said as Zalie stuck her tongue out
"Zah, cut the sass out now" Jess said firmly catching the action out the corner of her eye
"Right let's get these tests started" Doctor Shah said wanting to get started
"Jess, now tell us the absolute truth, she is biologically yours isn't she, we order a DNA test we're going to find little strands of Turner DNA in there" Jason said as they were taking a quick few minutes break from the tests Doctor Shah was running
"Sorry to disappoint you, but you won't, blood type is all wrong for starters, can't be mine if I'm O neg and she's AB pos" Jess said to him
"And what's Luca's blood type" Jason asked, blood type could be passed on from either parent
"B neg" Jess responded
"They're unrelated Jase, there's no way a kid could have a totally different blood type to both their parents" Trent told the team leader
"Its called nature vs nurture, you take an orphan duckling and place it in amongst a litter of puppies that are still nursing, its going to learn how to be a dog instead of a duck" Jess said explaining the concept
"She's right about that one, Blackburn wants us" Clay said as the teams phones started beeping
"You're not going with them mummy" Zalie asked looking worried
"No, uncle Eric knows that I've got an appointment here with you, that's why my phone didn't go off" Jess said showing Zalie her phone screen so she could see her mother had no notification there
"Let us know how everything goes won't you Jess" Jason asked as the rest of the team got up to leave
"Sure will" Jess said, she would see them as soon as this appointment was finished
"And you missy, you got some spunk about you, ever been to watch a ice hockey match" Jason asked Zalie, deciding he liked the kid
"Is that where they play on the ice and people get shoved into boards and all that" Zalie asked curiously
"Yeah that's part of it" Jason said with a smile
"No, I wanna see one though" Zalie said excitedly
"When did violence in sport become so entertaining to you" Jess asked her
"Well I might just have to kidnap you and take you to a game one day" Jason said ignoring Jess's comment about violence in sport
"What do you say Zah" Jess said seeing her excitement increasing
"Thanks" Zalie said happily