It had been an eventful day and it was only half passed one, also known as 1:30 pm. Rachel and Charlie decided that they had time to go shopping after all.

Charlie stopped by Rachel's room, "You ready to go, Rach?"

Rachel nodded, "Uh-huh. Star wants to come though."

"Oh...she can come. We'll bring her. That's...that's alright."

"Okay. Well Star's already downstairs. She's very excited to help us baby shop."

Charlie smiled, "Alright. We should probably go then. Let's not keep the princess waiting."

Rachel gave a small laugh, "Yeah. Let's not."

Meanwhile Steve was at the house of an elf named Ryllae Preswraek with Nia. He was behind the camera and Nia was sitting beside Ryllae, asking her questions.

Steve zoned out for a bit because being behind the camera reminded him of the Waco siege when he had filmed the two videos that they sent out to the FBI and ATF agents.

Something that Nia had asked Ryllae brought Steve out of his own thoughts.

"Are you afraid of how the world will react to you now that they know you're what they consider to be a mythical creature?" Nia asked

An elf isn't anything like the stories describe or what you'd imagine. Ryllae wasn't short and she didn't have pointy ears. She looks like a person. She looks...human.

Ryllae nodded, "Yeah, but I'm not any different than I was yesterday. I'm still me. Yeah. I'm an elf, but I'm…" She paused, "I like gardening and growing my own food. My mother was an herbalist on our planet - Elvyre. She was like a doctor. She could tell you what foods and herbs were good for what illness. I'm a lot like her, but I'm also different from her. My mother never got to live on Earth. She never got to have one of the most simple pleasures that I've enjoyed…." She gave a small smile, "Ice cream. My favorite flavor is mint n' chip. You might disagree with me and that's okay, because we're different people. We might be different and others might not look as human as you and I…" She looked at the camera, "but at our core we're all the same. We all want the same thing. To be accepted."

Nia smiled, "Thank you." She turned to the camera, "And that was Ryllae Preswraek."

"That was very eye-opening." Steve told Ryllae, before turning off the camera.

Steve may have been on Earth-38 for five years and was much more open and accepting to the aliens then when he first arrived, but he was still learning more and more each and every day.

Learning is a lifelong process. It doesn't stop when you graduate high school or even college. Or even when you hit a certain age. Steve was now 49 years old and he was still learning new things.

"Thanks Steve." Ryllae replied, "You know, a lot of aliens are still a little scared to come forward. That's why me and others like me need to light the way for them."

"Absolutely." Steve agreed, "Someone has to be the leader, right?"

It was phrased like a question, but his tone indicated that it wasn't really a question.

Ryllae hummed as she gave a nod, "Right."

Rachel, Charlie and the now eleven year old Star were out at a local baby store. Star was excited by all the cute baby clothes, even though that wasn't what they were buying.

Star picked up a cute pink overall dress for baby girls, holding it up for both Rachel and Charlie to see. That was about the fiftieth baby outfit she had picked up. At least that was how it felt to the mothers.

"Mom, Momma, look at how cute this is."

Both Rachel and Charlie smiled, but Rachel was the one that spoke, "That is very cute, Star, but we're not here to buy baby clothes."

At five months pregnant Rachel was far enough along to find out the gender, but she and David were waiting to find out the gender at birth. And anyways, they had more than enough baby clothes for both genders at Mount Carmel.

"I know." Star admitted, "But it's still cute." She put the outfit back on the rack.

After looking at the cribs and carseats, just price checking and comparing for quality, Rachel and Charlie both decided to come back another day. Charlie wasn't really buying anything since she was only two months along. She was just there to help Rachel.

Rachel picked up a few packs of wipes for Aisha, Sherri, Rachel Sylvia, Audrey, Shari and Lisa, who had asked her to pick up some while she was out. Then she had Charlie grab a couple packs of gender neutral prefold cloth diapers for her before the trio headed up to the cash register.

As the cashier was ringing up the items, she noticed Star and then Rachel. Looking at Rachel, the cashier said, "Your daughter is beautiful. She looks just like you."

It was true. Star really was Rachel's mini.

The cashier's comment was just an innocent compliment from one woman to another. It might have been weird or made Rachel uncomfortable if the compliment had come from a man, but it didn't.

Rachel smiled, "Thank you."

"Mom, I'm hungry." Star complained, looking at Charlie.

"Yeah. Me too, princess." Charlie replied, as she pulled Star close, playing with her long strawberry blonde hair, "That's why we're going home."

Star's use of mom on Charlie didn't escape the cashier's attention. She looked back and forth at Charlie and Rachel.

"Wait. Which one of you is the mother?"

Charlie just stared not knowing what to say, but Rachel answered without missing a beat.

"We both are."

The cashier raised her eyebrows, "Oh…"

"No, not like that." Charlie said, knowing what the cashier was thinking, "We're not a couple. I'm not the...I'm not...She's not…" She couldn't find the right words to say.

"Mom's my step-mom and Momma's my biological mom." Star chimed in, helping Charlie out. She pointed at Charlie first and then Rachel.

The cashier gave a nod, "Oh okay."

Rachel paid for the items and then Charlie grabbed the two bags while Rachel ushered Star out of the store and Charlie followed closely behind.

"Sorry about that lady." Charlie apologised

Rachel shook her head, "Nonsense. It's fine. It's like I said. We are both Star's mothers. You will be a mother to my kid...kids and I will be a mother to yours. That's how our family works."

Charlie smiled, "Yeah. And I love our family."

"Me too." Star added, "I love all my moms, my many, many siblings and Daddy too. Our family is different, but we're still a family. God will forgive her because she didn't know."

"That's right, baby." Rachel agreed, "That cashier doesn't know our family and she doesn't know the seals, so she doesn't understand."

That night, Lisa Martin was in her room breastfeeding her one year old son. The bedroom door was open.

Lisa was now 18 years old and she had birthed one of David's special little children.

Last year on the fifth of May, Lisa had her first and only child. She bore David a son. He was named Levi Asher.

Nora had been walking passed when she stopped in the doorframe, staring for a while. There was nothing more beautiful than a mother feeding her baby.

Lisa glanced up from watching Levi's face because she had seen a shadow in the doorway.

"Hey Nora." Lisa greeted

Nora stepped into the room, "Sorry for staring. I was just thinking."

"About?"

Nora couldn't help but smile. She was holding a secret that not even Ray knew. Their wedding was in two weeks and she wanted to wait to tell him. She wanted to surprise him.

Lisa raised an eyebrow, "Well?"

"Ray doesn't know. You can't tell him."

"Secret's safe with me." Lisa assured

Nora whispered something into Lisa's ear. Her eyes widened, but then it faded as a smile appeared on her face.

"Oh...congratulations Nora." Lisa said

"Thank you. I can't wait to tell Ray."

"He'll be so happy." Lisa told Nora.

Hope you enjoyed. Leave a comment if you liked it.

What do you think Nora's secret is?