Claudia had always been rather healthy

Claudia had always been rather healthy. Her experience with hospitals had been minimal. She had gotten out after having Linnia earlier than most new mothers. But it seemed that she was paying for that, evening out the balance, with the fact she was to die there. Despite what doctors said, what her husband said, what her parents said, she knew.

She was going to die. She was going to die very soon.

And while she was sad that she would not get to see her daughter's first day of school, the big prom, her daughter's wedding. But she knew that there would be some women that would. She knew that Dawn could keep Linnia in touch with nature. Kristy could teach her that women could really do anything. Mary Anne would be supportive to the sensitive side. Mallory would make sure she never strayed to far from academics. Stacey would nurture Linnia's fashion needs. Jessi would make sure that Linnia was graceful and athletic, and Abby could look after that sense of humor. It was like the princess Rapunzel with the many birth gifts. Her daughter would not be lacking in anything. Except a mother.

Claudia struggled to lift her head as she heard a noise from outside. First came a bound of energy, of love, of long dark hair and chocolate almond shaped eyes. Linnia blew into the room, but crept onto her mother's bed. Then came Mary Anne, who hesitantly stuck her brunette head into the room. She quietly asked Claudia if she was ready for visitors. Claudia grinned as big of a grin as she could manage. Mary Anne was worse that the most over-protective nurse sometimes.

Footsteps echoed slightly in the room, as a young woman wearing a rather fashionable business casual outfit entered the room. She easily cradled a very you looking baby to her hip. Linnia looked up in anticipation of seeing the baby, again. The baby-cradling woman gently pushed some locks of her short blond hair behind her ear and licked her lips, nervousness suddenly overwhelming her. But then Claudia smiled and it was as if the past 15 years had never happened, and as easily as it had been when she entered BSC meetings, she said, "Hey Claud"

"Hey, Stace. And who is this?" She said gesturing to the baby.

Stacy beamed down at Celia then turned the grin to Claudia. There was a lot of catching up to do.

~

Outside in the hallway, the remaining babysitters listened to this mini-reunion tentatively. Only Mary-Anne was exempt from the thought, "If it was hard for Stacey, her best friend, how will we manage?'

When it seemed like the introductions were done in the room, Mary Anne turned toward the remaining gaggle of young women. With quiet humor Mary Anne asked, "Any volunteers to go next?"

For the first time in …well… for the first time ever, Kristy Thomas hesitated. After years of bluntness being what got her to the top, she stopped and thought. And then she raised her hand.

"I'll go."

The other faces in the hallway turned toward her. Mary Anne grinned, knowing that she could still count on Kristy. And as Mary Anne shuffled her into the room, Kristy was glad that she could.

~

Kristy Thomas had grown up, though she had maintained some of the characteristics that had always made her a force to be reckoned with. The still had an amazing presence. You knew when Kristy Thomas, CEO and founder of an extremely successful high tech firm, entered a room. But the years of corporate experience had taught Kristy a few things. She'd learned how to be cutthroat when she needed to be, but persuasive in a split second. But years of business involvement also taught a person how to dress. Gone was the reluctance to wear anything but jeans and tee shirts. This Kristy Thomas of 29, with straight, chin-length brown hair, wore a sleek, white, form fitting blouse with a pleated black skirt. She had a simple black jacket thrown over her arm. Heels clacked on the linoleum floor as she crossed to a plastic chair near the bedside. When she saw the look Claudia gave the attire she simply said, "I caught the train from the office. No time to change."

"Hello, Kristy." Said the woman on the bed. And it was a woman, since it couldn't possibly be Claudia. Claudia always emanated creativity and life, while this woman simply was there, weak and frail. Kristy was slightly horrified by the drastic change. What should she say? Starting out simple seemed like a god idea. "Hey, Claudia. How are things going?" Kristy winced. She knew how it was going… badly.

If Claudia realized Kristy's faux pas she didn't comment. She simply smiled serenely, as only those who had realized the deeper meaning in life could. "Oh, as well as could be expected. And you… well; it seems that you are quite well. Great honk, what a rock!"

Kristy glanced down at her hand. Smiling, she gazed at the winking diamond resting there. "Oh, yes. Michael finally got around to proposing. It took quite the persuasion on my part to convince him that I wanted to be proposed to. I mean, he was quite sure that I wanted to remain some sort of independent woman forever. Can't imagine where he got that idea…"

Kristy's question was met with two pairs of raised eyebrows. "I don't know Kristy, maybe the fact that you are one the most powerful CEOs that are raising up through the levels of the corporate bureaucracy?" Stacy answered.

"Where did you get that load of -"

"Oh, your share holder's manual. I bought some of your stock a while ago."

"I desperately need a new writer to do that. Or at least proofread the company literature so that sap like that doesn't slip through."

"Maybe Mallory should write it." Stacey suggested helpfully.

The redhead that popped her head in the room at that moment grimaced comically. "Corporate literature? I don't think I've sunk that far."

~

When Kristy had finally inched herself into the dreary hospital room, Mary Anne has gotten her determined look and asked demandingly, "Who's going next?" Her resemblance to any of their parents was frightening.

Looks had darted among those slinking in the hallway. Mallory didn't know then or ever what on earth came over her, but she quietly walked to the door and entered. She was congratulating herself on her courage, when low-and-behold she hears some comment about her writing corporate literature. This was not amusing. She had started with that sort of disgraceful work and was now well above it. "Thank god and good riddance." She thought to herself.

As Mallory crossed the room she jingled. There were literally clusters of tiny bells at the ends of the ties on the long, crepe skirt she was wearing. Her hair that was once a short mess of frizz was now a mane of relaxed curls. This along with a jean jacket and black tank made Mallory seem to personify the writer type. Raising an eyebrow, she perched on the edge of the hospital bed, and clearly stated, "I used to do corporate lit and I really have not interest in going back, sorry Kristy."

"Oh I can understand, especially if they force you guys to write this crap. I seriously should revamp and overhaul my entire writing department. Lord knows we have the resources."

"Only Kristy would travel from New York and still be talking work," Stacy griped lightly.

"It really not that far," commented Jessi as she entered the room, "Stacy can vouch for that."

"True. It's not a bad commute at all, but…" Stacy trailed off.

"But it's long enough that neither Kristy or me could handle it daily," Jessi ended

"Exactly." chorused the whole room.

Claudia gently smiled at the unity she felt at that moment. Her smile grew as she saw that face that entered the room. But the funny girl of the BSC had matured. Abby Kipersztok nee Stevenson was the mother of two and really had to have grown up to handle them. Her dark hair had been grown to such a length so that she could just manage a ponytail, but it wasn't much longer. And the soccer jerseys of old were discarded for the "slightly preppy mom" look. It was almost like seeing Mrs. Stevenson again; the resemblance was so uncanny.

Linnia who had been uncommonly quiet during the re-introductions lit up when Abby entered the room. Turning to her mother she said with the breathless excitement only 6-year-olds can capture, "Mummy! It's the funny lady! Are you friends with the funny lady?"

"Yes dear I am. This is Abby Ste-"

"Kipersztok."

"Oh yes, I forgot. How is David?"

"Fine as one can expect for a man that never gets half enough sleep. It took me hours to convince him that the entire world would not have their babies in the time period of one weekend and, that he, in fact, could come up for a short visit. I swear that man has been in labor more that Mrs. Pike."

The room grinned to see Abby's famous humor in tact.

"So is he bringing up the girls?" asked Kristy.

"Oh yes, at the end of the week. I would have brought them except our car is the shop, and I had to borrow the neighbor's son's car and I didn't feel safe bringing my children in that piece of junk."

"How bad is it?" asked Stacy with obvious distaste on her face.

"Ask Mallory."

"It's worse than the Junk Bucket ever aspired to be. I swear, I think that thing is held together by pride and duct tape."

"Than it must be bad," commented the room's newcomer. The former Dawn Schafer had barely changed since middle school, except her name. Now she was Dawn Graham and really very happy about. If you discounted the wise-cracks about "You are what you eat." She now perched herself on a windowsill looking fresh and youthful in simple jeans and a blouse. Style had a diminutive affect on her wardrobe, so it was very likely she had owned that exact outfit when she was thirteen- just in a different size. Since she had finished her job of escorting people into the room a t a pace tat Claudia could handle, Mary Anne lingered in the doorway.

In what seemed like seconds, but was probably an hour the conversation abruptly ended when Claudia's husband entered the room. Linnia bounced up and into her father's arms, and he gently carried her back to the bed where he carefully sat, seeing as the other seats were taken. At this signal to leave the babysitters made their quiet good-byes and left for Mary Anne's house. Claudia gently asked if they minded taking Linnia. Her husband nodded, saying something about staying the night and no time to go home. Mary Anne smiled easily and said it wasn't a problem. And then the BSC, minus one, left the building.

~

Midnight found them sprawled around Mary Anne's living room, empty Chinese food containers, soda cans, and pizza boxes liberally spread around the room. Discussion was turning from the "do you remembers" to the present.

Abby initiated the catching up by asking, "So Mrs. Graham how is your health food store going?"

Dawn, ignoring the ensuing fit of giggles, "Oh quite fine. We had a 15% pick up in sales last month. I'm considering opening another branch, closer to the beach this time."

"And how is my favorite niece?" Mary asked.

"Well first of all, you won't be able to say that for long…"

"You're pregnant?" asked several voices incredulously.

"No… but Marcy is." She said naming Jeff's wife.

Silence fell on the room. It seemed very odd for one of the people that they used to babysit having children of their own. Of course, then again it had happened before. The babysitters had received notes from many former clients entailing details for engagement parties, wedding receptions, and baptisms, but it was shocking all over again every time.

"She is?" asked Mary Anne, wide-eyed, "That's great! They've been hoping for awhile."

"Yeah, I just got the call last night."

Mary Anne beamed. Jeff and her had gotten along better in post-adolescence than they had while they were growing up. She could now be genuinely happy for her stepbrother.

Mary Anne continued. "You know, soon I'll be teaching the kids of some of our charges at SES."

More widened eyes. "That's freaky"… "Weird"…"That is too odd"

"But we got off topic- how is Erin? And Dan?" Mallory asked.

"Oh yes, " Dawn said snapping back to her favorite topics, "He's a bit tired. His company just promoted him, so he's at work a lot. Unfortunately for a certain aspect of my life…" Dawn raised her eyebrows. Knowing grins went through the room. "And she's fine, but I don't think the cat will ever manage to recover."

"From what?" asked Jessi, still slightly in awe of hanging with the 'older girls'.

"Erin decided to find out what happens when one pulls a cat's tail. Mr. Paws was not happy, even though I doubt that's conclusive evidence."

Giggles spread like wild fire through the room.

"Anyway," Dawn continued, "How's your brood, Abby?"

"I don't think two constitutes a brood. But, Elli and Lissy are fine." Abby stated

"Elli and Lissy?"

"Eleanor and Felicity. Their names technically mean light and happiness but I should have chosen names that meant holy and terror."

"I'm sure your mother thought the same thing when you and Anna were growing up." Stacy commented as she rocked Celia.

"No… My mother always said Anna kept me under control. And Anna's Tamara and Veronica behave like little angels. I think I might be a negative influence on my own children."

Stacy raised an eyebrow. "Me and my husband get most of our laughs these days from people telling us what an angel Celia here is. Children behave much better for others than they do for their parents."

"Speaking of that, how's Thomas? And your law firm?" asked Mary Anne

"Oh, Thomas is fine. But between the baby and tax season we're both wiped." Stacy said with the air of one who has suffered much. And if the passing glances that went around the room between the mothers of the group were any indication, she probably had.

Stacy, tired of talking of herself turned to Kristy, asking "Do you plan on joining us in hell?"

Kristy looked thoughtful. "Mike and I have thought and talked about kids. We think we'll see how our lives and careers are going before we decide. But I'm glad to marry him. If we're blessed with children we'll accept them. And speaking of commitment… how much do have on Mark?"

Mary Anne blushed the color of a tomato. "Oh, it's nothing to serious…" she said normally, "yet" she added in a whisper.

Squeals abounded in the room.

"So… Any romance for you two?" Mary Anne asked the former junior members of the club.

Jessi smiled. "A nice guy at the coffee shop I go to asked me out. He's the night manager and is also getting his Ph.D. at NYU. We've gone out a couple of times. But it's hard to work around his schedule with school and work and mine with dance rehearsal, teaching lessons, and performances. But we try."

"Mal?"

"Oh, there was a nice guy. A bit older, but he was nice."

"What happened?" enquired Stacy.

"Well, one night he asked me to meet someone."

"Who?"

"His wife!" Mallory cried breaking in to hysterical laughter.

The babysitters watched slightly worried as she laughed. "Mallory?" asked Dawn hesitantly, "Are you all right?"

Mallory regained some composure. "Oh I was raging mad then, but now I'm older and wiser and have an even bigger sense of humor. But," she said, a sharp edge to her voice, "Not a word of this to my parents!"

The conversation would have continued, but then a voice came form the bedroom hallway.

"Those sound like nice lives," said Linnia with the voice of the angels.

Nice lives they are indeed. Charmed lives even. But paradise is the most dangerous place to be, because it's the easiest place to leave. And these women are about to leave it.

A/N: Part three finally done! I took ages, I know. I put it off quite a while. But your reviews got me going. That and my fellow author friend, Alria. Thanks Alria! And thanks to all of you!

Caiy- Thanks so much for your comments. See, here you are, in the end comments. First too!

Alexis Rockford- I know it is odd. To explain this in more detail than I did in my last author's note- I always, always, always get my story ideas while playing my own, grown-up version of dress-up. So I was reading an old BSC book when I found myself spouting out lines of some sick woman, and I just knew it was Claudia. And from there I built.

TiffanyLM- Claudia. This could originally be divised from process of elimination or the author's note on the last part. But it should also be pretty clear from this chapter.

Aria- I hope it wasn't too sad…The last part was supposed to be tinged with sadness with a touch of humor, and this part was extremely sad… but not to depressing. And BTW- I spent my entire BSC reading career imitating Mary Anne, but I know feel more akin to Mallory.

Katie D.- Thank you! I know, but and I explained the saga that led to it being Claudia. I know how you feel about the reunion, I hope this will do for now! You had an excellent idea with the tissues. I've cried while reading things about three times in my life and seriously doubt I can write something worth of crying. I'm one of you favorite authors? Faints

Revives self- barely

Groggily moves on…

I'm An Alien- Thanks! You cannot fathom how much it means to look in my inbox and see these little words of encouragement!

gurl- Yes, unfortunately Claude had to go. She was the weakest link. Now seriously, I hate having to Claudia. As a fellow artist it really kills me.

Broadway- Thank you so much! Favorites? Faints again Honestly, I feel so flattered. And that is a really cute picture in your profile!

ShelleyShell- Thanks! Enjoyable. I think that's good. Australia, eh? I had a pen pal from Australia. How is your winter going?

Ellen- I hope all has been made clear. If it hasn't compare the list in the author's note in part two with the order in the first part.

Angelface- That was exactly what I was going for. I hope it made them more real. I always thought that Ann M. Martin was rather… superficial? Stoneybrook was too real to be true, and much too happy. But they were cool characters, and I build on them.

Cora- Main member from… I think #88 on. Thanks for the compliment! Development is not my middle name, but I like to think I can manage it.

Lauren- Thanks! I had the same journey from BSC to actual Baby-sitting. But I do think that baby-sitting in real life is a lot different that BSC baby-sitting.

Ivy Drama AG- Thanks! Your comments make my day!

Kaytee- I hope it has been a good first fanfic. It is supposed to be sad, but not too bad. I'm glad it wasn't completely out of right field. I'm glad someone liked the first chapter. Exactly my point.

White Wave Dancer- I was always kinda fond of Claudia, even though I my favorite was Mallory. There is no doubt about my continuing. Not with so much support from my readers! I'm glad you all want to read more.

Shannon Cooper- Exactly. And here's your comment! Thanks!

DragonFly- Thanks! Plot has always been my problem. I'm glad you like mine.

Anastacy- I read the BSC from the age 6… and I loved it for years. Then I read other literature and realized that the BSC isn't that well written in general. But I still love it. I 'm glad you like my direction.

Diableta- I wasn't really going for that funny. I'm slightly bewildered, but I'm glad you like it.

StarryNights- Thanks! It's good to know that my work does not have the terrible infliction of decreasing quality due to laziness.

DarkAngel- Patience my child- It will come. Summer break is good for all you impatient readers!

Libby- I'm beaming! You can attribute my "Motion Picture Verbs" to my 7th grade Language Arts teacher Mrs. Turnip… I mean Turnage (after the final she gave, she deserves it)… because her writing exercises were highly influential on my writing. Your support is immeasurable.

NJ-You'll find out what happens next when it happens! And trust me, future, jobs, kids, etc. will all be parts of this story- as you can see from this part!

Silent Angel of Time- I'm glad you enjoy. More is on the way!

Starlight125- You couldn't stop me from writing this if you dragged me by wild horses. Well, actually you could, but it would take quite a bit. I'm glad you like it!

BTW my loyal fans- I've forgotten my disclaimer 'til now, and none of you reminded me! Bad reviewers! So here it is: I don't own anything!

Wait, you tell me I do own something? Really? What?

Ohhhhhhhhh…

I do own some stuff: I own Linnia, Kristy's Company, any children that belong to the BSC members, Stacey's law firm, and anything else that belongs to me. Especially the plot. Don't take my plot.

Unfortunately, Kristy owns her engagement ring, which really sucks because it really is quite the rock.

Ann M. Martin owns the characters and their original personalities, though I do sat I've changed them a bit. She also owns the setting of Stoneybrook, and the hospital (it was mentioned), and she owns some other stuff. Please don't sue me, as I really do not intend to infringe and also I have friends at PotterWar who would really have no problem organizing a boycott.

Thanks to all of you!

Margret "Oh yes, I am staying up 'til midnight every night this week" Ferran