Reese would never expect a simple hug to protect her from her nightmares, but Zander somehow managed to do it. She was woken up by her morning sickness; she was about to get off the bed and rush to the bathroom, however, when she set her feet on the floor, she noticed a bucket beside the bed. She grabbed it without thinking and started throwing up.

The door soon opened and Zander walked in, holding a tray with breakfast. Seeing his fianceé so pale and weak, he quickly set the tray down and rushed to her, pulling her hair back.

She smiled at him softly. He did his best to take care of her.

After a while, she got to eat. Food was pretty good; Zander really tried.

Reese then laid back and relaxed as Zander cleaned everything. He then rested his head on her lap.

"How are you, Ree?" he wondered.

"Better..."

"And your nightmares?"

"Gone for now..." She ran her hand through his hair. "You protected me."

He chuckled. "That's so cheesy! You spend too much time with me."

"Considering that you're my fiancé, I spend the perfect amount of time with you, love." She rubbed his head.

"Oh, my angel~ I love you so much." He gently pulled her nightgown up and kissed her belly. "And I love you too, sweetheart."

Reese blushed; she knew that the baby's too young to even react to sounds, but she couldn't just tell him to stop; he was already used to talking to Eric.

He kissed her belly again. "You're going to be as amazing as your mommy; smart, beautiful, strong, simply an angel. Our little angel." He couldn't hold himself from singing to both of his angels.

As much as she loved his song, she had to interrupt him—they couldn't just lay there the whole day. She took a handful of his hair. He noticed the tug on his raven locks and looked up at her.

"What is it, dear?" he wondered, seeing her grim expression which made him worried. He took her hand.

"I'm just tired," she reassured him, "I should get myself an appointment."

"Already done!" Zander grinned. "I called Daniel while you were asleep; he's free today."

"Thank you; you're amazing, Zan."

"No problem. I'd do anything to make you feel better." He kissed her hand. "Also, I think you might need assistance at the lab." He brought up what he already mentioned briefly yesterday.

"You think so?"

"Well, I won't always be around and I wanna make sure you're safe now that you're pregnant."

"I know." She stroked his hair. "Alright then. If it calms you down."

"That just sounds like I'm forcing you into that..."

"No, you're not. You're right; I'll need some help."

He leaned up to her and pecked her cheek.

Then their Saurolophus jumped on the bed, nuzzling Reese's belly.

Zander smiled at that. "Looks like I'm not the only one who's a little protective over you."

Reese smiled back, patting Sarah's and Amour's backs. "They're going to be with me whenever you're not around."

"I know... That makes me relieved."

—

It was true; Daniel was free the whole day—the one having troubles at the Z household was Laura. The summer holiday just ended which meant Laura's first day after so many years.

Since in Japan school years start on April 1st instead of September, she had a lot to catch-up to. She spent a lot of time with Helga because of that. Everyone felt that she's ready now.

After breakfast, she headed out but then was stopped by Rod.

"Hey, would you like a lift?" he offered her.

"Aren't you in a rush?" she wondered.

He shook his head. "Nothing's that urgent for me to overlook my little sister." He grinned at her, patting her head gently. "I'm sure grandpa can wait five more minutes if it's because of you." Rod winked reassuringly.

"Okay, if you insist." Laura nodded.

"Good!" He snapped his fingers and his indigo Alpha Scooter flew to them. "Wanna be in the front?"

"Yeah. Sure." She got up on the scooter. He climbed on behind her and drove her to school.

He noticed how much not herself his sister is. She's always enjoyed a ride on the Alpha Scooters, then again, she was just 6 back then... He hoped this could cheer her up and yet he was so wrong.

The scooter stopped on the sidewalk in front of the Sakura High. Laura got off.

"I'll pick you up after school, okay?" Rod told her.

"Yeah, sure. Thanks... Bye." She smiled weakly, heading in the building.

She found her home class teacher and introducing herself. As the bell rang she was brought into the classroom, presenting herself to her new classmates. Then she was sent to sit in the back.

She passed several of her new classmates, some of them were watching her. She frowned and sat down in the last row. She overheard a conversation of a girl at the desk right next to hers and a boy sitting in front of her.

She had half of her head shaved with the left side had aquamarine hair hanging into her face. Her eyes were blue just like her outfit. A pair of swimmer goggles were around her neck. There was also something strange on her face and blue painted streak from half of her right cheek to her jawline.

It remembered Laura of one time she drew on Seth's face, trying to replicate the red triangles he paints on his cheeks. It was just...strange...

The boy she was talking to had shoulder-length light pink hair with a scarlet bandana under it and just as the same colored scarf around his neck. His rose pink irises had an unusual diamond shape.

"Really?" the girl wondered, "well, can't say I don't agree and-" She paused and glanced at Laura.

The pink-haired just frowned, looking away.

The aquamarine saw it in a different way. "So, Laura, huh?" she spoke up, smiling, "nice to meet you. I'm Lenna."

"And I'm Hoshi!" the boy joined in, leaning back on his chair.

"Nice to meet you too..." Laura replied quietly.

"So, newbie, how does it feel in here so far?" Lenna asked her.

"Nothing special."

"And what do you say if we show you around the place a little?" Hoshi offered.

"I don't know..."

"Come on! We're your best bet," Lenna reassured her.

"Lenna! Hoshi! It hasn't been ten minutes yet and you two already disturb my lesson," the teacher scolded them.

Laura's two classmates jerked at that voice and turned to the front.

"W-we're sorry..." Hoshi murmured.

Once the teacher turned around, Lenna smirked at Laura, reaching her hand to her. "Are you going to give us a chance then?"

Laura was looking at the offered hand for a while. She smiled and shook Lenna's hand. "Alright then."

—

Meanwhile, Zander led Reese to his older brother for the appointment.

"You sure I shouldn't come with you?" he wondered.

"Yes, I am." She cupped his cheeks. "No worries, I'll be fine."

He looked her in the eyes; she was dead serious. Her sudden smile made him a little relieved.

"I'll head back home once I'm done here. Take care of Sarah and Amour."

"I will..." He pecked her lips. "See you..."

"See you soon." She watched her fiancé walk away and then she headed inside. Sally let her in, offering her some cupcakes. Reese would usually refuse, but her appetite just couldn't say no. Munching on a delicious cupcake, Reese was led in Daniel's office.

Soon they started the appointment.

"So, Reese, what seems to be the problem?" Daniel asked her.

"I thought Zander already told you when he called."

"He informed me about your nightmares, sudden weakness, and distress. It's easy to say that you're suffering from-"

"PTSD," she finished instead, "I know."

"Yes." He nodded, impressed by her quick assumption.

"All my symptoms point to that; it isn't hard to figure out."

"I see. When did this start?"

"This is the second time... The first one was right after everything...and the second started just a month ago when the pregnancy first had an effect on my body."

"What is 'everything'?"

Reese took a deep breath, recalling what happened the day after the Ancients and the Alpha Gang left two years ago.

—

Rod got to the HQ in time and immediately got to work. He was working on a machine inspired 'Time Defender', a device built by the Ancients to defeat the Dark Pterosaur the second time; it allowed any gas to be transformed into its solid-state.

His machine was meant to be a test this sudden transformation of matter; an easy manipulation of forms such as this one in a small version could make collecting the dino cards much quicker—this was only the first attempt.

So far the machine was around his height on five wheels and with a big satellite antenna at the top; it was almost done.

Rod was sitting on the floor, messing with wires of the machine. His thoughts were somewhere else; he couldn't stop thinking about Laura—she hasn't even tried getting back into society since they came back.

No, she's going to be fine. Why was he so worried?

He was so lost that he crossed the wrong wives and caused a bad circuit spark that lit the sleeve of his coat in a flame. He snapped out and screamed, quickly putting the fire out. He sighed in relief.

"You'll get used to that," his grandpa told him.

Rod could only chuckle sadly.

"So, what's the matter?" Dr. Z asked him; he was uncharacteristically concerned about something other than his dream.

"I'm just...thinking..."

"About...?"

"Laura... It's her first day after so long; I don't think she's prepared. She didn't seem like herself in the morning, I just... I don't know..."

"You're not the first or the last one to be worried like that. You have no idea how scared I was whenever those three clowns did something for the first time, especially with how many troubles they always attract, unlike your father." The old man smiled at the memories but managed to get himself back to Earth when he realized he's getting too far. "Don't you dare tell that to any of them!" he snapped.

"I won't!" Rod grinned.

"After what she's been through, she can deal with anything."

"That's what scares me... I couldn't prevent any of what happened to her and now that I have an opportunity to protect her again, she refuses that. It's not like I don't trust her; I just don't want to risk losing her." Rod massaged his temple. "I shouldn't think like that."

"Take a break if you want to."

"No, grandpa; I'm fine. And the machine's almost done anyways." Rod fixed the wires that set his coat on fire a while ago and closed the cover. "Okay, done. Alpha Droid, toss me a wrench."

"TOSS WRENCH." One of the near Alpha Droids got up and grabbed a wrench. "TOSS WRENCH. TOSS WRENCH. TOSS-"

Hearing those words being repeated over and over again, Rod realized what he said wrong. He quickly turned around and saw the droid ready to throw the wrench. "Wait! I didn't mean-" Rod ducked as the wrench flew over his head, bounced off the machine, and hit the droid in the head, knocking him down.

Rod shot his head up. "Holy dino! ...I forgot they take everything literally..." he sighed.

He stood up, walked over to the droid, helped it get up—there was a big hole in its head from the blow—and picked up the wrench.

After tightening the cover, he patted the machine. "All done; it's ready for a test run."

"That's my boy!" Dr. Z praised him and moved the target, a few oranges, in front of the machine.

"Now, let's what you can do..." Rod flipped the switch on the side and the machine started to grumble and screech, the whole thing was trembling, steam was coming out of it.

"Oh no..." He stepped back, but then the machine blew up. He swiftly covered his eyes as he and the droid got thrown away by the smaller explosion. They hit the floor.

Rod stood up and help the droid that was laying on its back like a turtle next to him up.

He then realized that he feels a slight pain in his left cheek to his jawline. He touched that place and looked at his fingers that were now stained with blood.

It was just a scratch, nothing serious.

Soon, Helga made sure he doesn't have any other injuries, putting a plaster over the scratch. "Children should not play with machines like that; it's dangerous," she scolded the boy.

Rod frowned. "I'm not a child anymore..."

"Nonsense," the android's voice got very strict again; he didn't dare to object.

"Okay... I wasn't paying enough attention to building the machine. I must have crossed the wrong wires again...or screwed up the power supply, resulting in immediate overheat-"

"Just leave it be, you can always finish it later," Dr. Z told him.

"Grandpa..."

"You can do nothing when you're like this, take a break."

Rod sighed. "I guess..."

—

Reese was done with her appointment and headed back to the D-lab. Sure, talking about everything made her feel relieved, but it wasn't enough. She agreed with going to therapy once a week—it was the best she could do.

She walked in. "Zan, I'm back!" She was walking through the long corridor when Sarah and Amour ran up to her. She knelt down, petting them. They both roared happily. She found a bag of their snacks in one of the rooms and fed the Saurolopuhs couple. Sarah then licked Reese's hand.

"Did you take good care of Zander while I wasn't here?"

Amour purred in agreement as she patted his head.

"And where is he now?"

The dinos led her into the teleporter room where Zander was talking to the Ancients.

"Angel! You're back!" Zander rushed to his fianceé. "So? How did it go?"

"It went well; I'll tell you everything." They walked over to the Ancients. "Trias, Cretacia, good morning. What are you doing here?"

"We're here with an offer," Trias started, "we know that right now you two don't have any financial sources."

"So, we thought that we could employ you," Cretacia added.

"Employ me?" Reese wondered.

Cretacia nodded. "Now that you're pregnant you shouldn't strain yourself; we're going to maintain your original position at the D-lab and pay you and your future assistant."

"Thank you. I really appreciate your help."

"You're welcome, it's the best we can do!"

In the next moment, they heard the doorbell. Reese checked the security footage at the entrance—there was a young lady around 19 with shoulder-length dark brown hair standing at the door, holding a tablet.

Zander looked over her shoulder. "That must be your possible future assistant. I'll go get her." He left and soon brought the girl into the room.

She gasped softly when she saw everyone in the room.

"Good morning. Are you here-"

"For the position of head researcher's assistant. Yes," the girl quickly responded, interrupting Reese. The blonde's unamused expression made her realize that she's made a mistake. "Sorry..."

"What makes you think you are the right one for this position?" Reese asked her.

"Um..." The girl made cautious steps towards the researcher. "I have always wanted to work here. I-I apologize if I appear nervous or anything; I wasn't expecting to see even the Ancients here... It is so nice to meet you all..." She shook her head. "Anyways." She swiped her fingers over her tablet, a paper-like hologram with information about the D-lab flew around her. "I have always been interested in this place and its history."

She swiped across the tablet display again; several profiles with photos showed up. "Its first owners were Dr. Spike Kenryu Taylor and his assistant, the greatest mind of her time, the Little Genius, Dr. Reese Michiko Drake in the early 2000s."

Reese was watching the profiles with the photos; it was okay at first until more profiles joined as the girl talked more about Reese and her family. Seeing the photos of all people involved with the D-lab, the people she misses so much, made her feel dizzy. She took off her glasses and covered her eyes.

Zander rushed to her. "Angel!" He wrapped his arms around her, helping her sit down.

"Are you feeling alright?" the Ancients worried.

"Yeah... I'm fine...I'm fine..." she panted. She looked up; despite her vision being fuzzy without her glasses, her brain managed to make up the photo of her family clearly.

With one quick movement of her hand, the girl closed all the holograms. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean-"

"You didn't know." Reese took a deep breath and put on her glasses, standing up again. "I appreciate your dedication and knowledge."

"Thank you! I always do my research! I've read so much stuff about you, mostly books by R A Owen."

The mention of the author made the Ancients smile.

"You've had such a big impact on your time, Dr. Drake," the girl said.

Reese bit her lip at that name; she couldn't accept it... not yet... "Call me just Reese, please."

"Okay then, Dr. Reese..."

The blonde nodded. "I'm sorry, but I might have overheard your name."

"I'm Minmi. Minmi Taylor."

Reese smiled softly at that last name—that would explain her passion and energy.

"And how comprehensive is your dinosaur knowledge?" she asked Minmi.

—

After their last lesson, Lenna and Hoshi showed Laura around the school and all the clubs; the one that was the most properly introduced to her was the sports club and its swimmers since Lenna was one of them.

She was really enthusiastic about the club. Honestly, Laura should have guessed that her new friend is a swimmer by the goggles around her neck. The aquamarine-haired quickly left to talk to the club leader about something, leaving the pinks alone.

Unlike Lenna, Hoshi preferred earth instead of water. He used to be a boy scout and he loves camping and climbing.

"Um...Hoshi?"

"Yeah?"

"What is that blue streak on Lenna's face?" Laura wondered.

"Oh, that? I don't really know myself. She just paints it on her face every morning; it's apparently some personal thing she doesn't want to talk about," Hoshi explained, "it might relate to her family; she only says that it reminds her of someone important. As far as I know, Lenna has lost her family; her parents, her older brother, her sister-in-law, her nephew, everyone..."

"I see..." Laura sighed, lowering her head. She shouldn't have asked... "I can understand that." She did understand; she's experienced the same, but unlike Lenna, she got her family back. "When you lose so much, you hang on every little thing that reminds you of the happiness that was taken away." She frowned, stroking her arm.

Hoshi grinned at her. "Yeah, but Lenna doesn't let that slow her down! She also says that there must be a reason that she's still alive and that reason isn't to live in sadness and pity."

Laura looked up at her classmate.

"Use every moment you have to live the life that was given to you."

That made her smile—they were both right!

Soon, they left the school building; Rod was already waiting on his little sister, he waved at her and her two friends noticed.

"Oh, who's the smoky-haired?" Lenna wondered, smirking, "he looks totally-"

"Handsome and gorgeous," Hoshi finished, his eyes locked on the black-haired.

Laura flushed and pouted. "Guys, that's my brother." However, that did not change their looks. "Alright, see you at school again!" she said and rushed to Rod.

"So, it looks like you found some new friends." He smiled warmly and his words sounded satisfied and proud. "Do you wanna be in the front?" he asked her.

Laura quickly jumped on the scooter with a smile on her face. "Do you even need to ask?"

Seeing her so cheerful, energetic and confident, made Rod really see just that little girl that would clench onto his clothes, needing him to protect her. He grinned happily and climbed on.

—

It was an evening when Minmi was about to leave the D-lab.

Reese sighed softly, looking at the younger girl. "I think this is enough." She stood up.

"Huh?" The brunette quickly jumped to her feet, frowning quite nervously.

"You were a big help to me, Minmi, and I look forward to working with you in the future." Reese offered her hand to her.

"You mean...?"

"That you are now part of the D-lab as my assistant. Yes." She nodded.

Minmi shook Reese's hand as a confident smile crossed her face; a huge weight fell off her at that moment.

"Thank you, Dr. Reese. Thank you so much!"

"Don't mention it. See you tomorrow, Minmi."

"Y-yes! See you!" The brunette smiled at her one more time before leaving.

Reese sighed again.

Then the door opened and soon a pair of arms wrapped around her from behind. She gasped softly.

"No worries, my angel; it's just me," Zander's whispered in her ear, "so, how did it go?"

"It went well; Minmi is great for this. Of course, she can be a little awkward at times, but I'm used to that." She gave her fiancé a mischievous smirk, making him blush. "She is a big help to me."

"I'm glad to hear that," he chuckled, kissed her cheek, and swiftly turned her around. "What about we spend some time alone?"

"I'd love that." Her smirk widened as she tranced her fingertip over his jawline to his chin. "And Sarah and Amour?"

"Both fed and right now cuddling in their room and..." His face reddened at her expression. "I-I feel like you want the same...?"

Reese burst into a cute giggle, taking his hand. Zander grinned back goofily.

"I'll make anything you ask me for dinner, okay?"

"Zan, you don't have to do everything-"

He held his hand in front of her face. "I know, but I want to do it."

"Alright then..." She sighed.

After dinner, they spontaneously started dancing together—well, it was more Zander who started, but Reese just couldn't say no. They were waltzing from one room to another to their song. Their steps were occasionally interlaced with gentle spins and turns.

They ended pressed against each other; he held her tightly as she rested her head on his chest. They slowly sank to the floor in each other's arms, leaning on the wall.

"So, how was your day?" Zander wondered, "how did your therapy go?"

"Better than I thought. I'll have an appointment once a week until the nightmares stop. ...if I wasn't pregnant, it would be easier because I could just take some stress-relief pills."

He stroked her hair. "It's going to be okay; we'll get through this."

She nodded.

"It seems that spending time with Minmi cheered you up."

"I suppose. Meeting someone new was refreshing... And maybe it was because she is related to Max?" Reese theorized.

Zander chuckled. "I thought so; she just seems like that."

"I was curious and-"

"Did some research," he finished for his angel, "and?"

"And Minmi's ancestors are very interesting. So, Max and my assistant Justin became owners of the D-lab after Dr. Taylor retired. Both of them wanted children, but didn't have female parents; they apparently asked friends to be substitute mothers for their sons. When their sons were born, Max and Justin actually married each other. Max unsurprisingly kept the family legacy and Justin took over my job."

"Wow, really?"

"Really."

"Good for them!"

"This actually makes Jeremy and Minmi sort of relatives; of course, not by blood."

"So... Jeremy is a descendant of your former assistant...if I understand it correctly."

"Yes," Reese confirmed.

"And what about the other two?" Zander asked.

"Well, Rex married a close friend, Justin's sister actually. He wrote a lot of books and she illustrated for them. And as for Zoe... well... She is still Zoe Drake," the blonde said with a smile on her face, "she entered a happy poly relationship with her three girlfriends."

Zander shook his head, grinning. "And I thought she'd get together with Rex."

"Honestly, so did I," Reese chuckled, "and how was your day?"

"Same as usual; the HQ almost blew up."

"You have such bad luck without me, don't you?"

"You're absolutely right, my angel." Zander kissed her forehead sweetly.

Sitting on the floor like that, Reese soon fell asleep in his arms. Her fiancé did his best to carry her in the bed and tuck her in. He stayed awake by her side for hours, making sure the nightmares don't get to his sweet, lovely angel.

—

Starting with ReeZan fluff, ending with ReeZan fluff!

We have two new OCs, Lenna and Hoshi, and a DS character that deserves attention, Minmi! And Reese and Laura doing much better!

The name of this chapter comes from Simple Plan's song Take My Hand lyrics (sometimes I feel like everybody's got a problem, sometimes I feel like nobody wants to solve them).

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it. Stay safe!