Chapter 4

"Mijo...do you think you could...Mrs. Crane isn't feeling well and Mr. Crane...the new arrival..."

Luis stopped his mother's nervous fidgeting with a hand on her arm. "It's okay, Mama. Brandy can stay with us tonight..."

"But Mijo," Pilar interrupted. A slight blush to her cheeks. "Your plans..."

"Plans?" Luis repeated. "Oh," he coughed in embarrassment. "Those plans. Uh...Mama..."

"We'd LOVE to keep the baby," Sheridan announced. Walking right up to Pilar and taking her niece from her arms.

Luis chuckled at his two favorite ladies' refusal to meet each other's eyes. Until his wife shot him one of her withering, icy glares. THAT look said it all. The plans were on hold indefinitely. And...if he didn't know better...his mother was laughing at them as she turned for the door.

"Thank you, Sheridan," Pilar called over her shoulder. "I left her diaper bag on the sofa. Mijo...walk me to my car and get the rest of her things..."

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Jessica trudged into the kitchen, dropped her bookbag in the nearest barstool, and propped her elbows on the kitchen counter.

Her mother was whipping up a feast (and she used that term loosely) for dinner. Wisps of auburn hair curled around the rim of her big, floppy Chef Boyardee hat (a present from Dad last Christmas), and smudges of flour mingled with streaks of...something red.

"Hi, Mom," she sighed.

"Hi, Honey," Grace answered cheerfully. Whirling around to give her an air kiss. "How'd your first day go?"

"Oh," Jessica smiled. "It was okay so far as first days go."

"That's good, Honey," Grace replied absently. "I wonder what's keeping your aunt Faith..."

"Nothing's keeping me," Faith said brightly. Arms laden with brown grocery bags. "Here you go...," she said. Setting the bags down on the counter carefully. "Is one of the girls sick or something?" she asked curiously. "What are you going to do with all these cans of tomato soup?"

Jessica blanched. It was a Bennett family tradition on the first day of school. Oh, how she loathed tomato soup cake!

Miguel and Charity strolled through the back door. Matching sweet, sappy smiles on their faces.

"Miguel!" Grace clapped her hands together. "I'm so glad you're here! Would you like to stay for dinner?"

Faith's blue eyes narrowed as Jessica waved her arms frantically behind Grace's back. Shaking her head wildly.

"I'd love to Mrs. Bennett. Thanks."

"SSSSSSSSSSSAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!"

Jessica winced as her mother's voice ricocheted off the walls of the rather cozy kitchen.

Maybe Kay was smarter than she'd given her credit for.

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Reese grinned goofily as Kay nibbled on his neck. "Kay...Kay, we really shouldn't be doing this," he croaked as her hands slipped underneath his tee-shirt.

Holy crap, Kay thought as her dark eyes went wide. Muscles! "Reese," she pouted. "Don't tell me...you don't like it when I..."

"Of course, I li...LOVE it," he squeaked as her lips traveled along his jaw. Inching closer to his lips. If he'd still worn glasses...they'd be so fogged up right now.

"Then what is it?" Kay questioned. Straddling his lap and making him groan. "Am I making you nervous?"

Reese gulped. Nodding his head as he stammered, "Nnnnoooo. Nnnnooo...er, yes," he barked. Grabbing Kay's wandering hands in his.

"Reese," Kay heaved a gigantic sigh. Real worry in her dark eyes as she shifted off his lap and curled up beside him on the sofa. "Do you not WANT to be with me?"

Reese's blue eyes grew round as he rushed to reassure her. "But NOT here. We're not even supposed to be here..."

"Oh puh-leaze," Kay rolled her eyes. "Ms. Crane has her own Love Shack with Officer Yummy now. Besides...nobody's using it. It's the perfect place for us...to...be...alone," she grinned suggestively as she crawled back into his lap.

"Um...Kay...Kay," Reese shifted uncomfortably at her breath against his neck.

"What, Reese?" Kay smiled against his skin at the touch of his hands.

Reese's voice came out in a high squeak. "I don't think we're alone."

"Thanks, Sherlock," a masculine voice dripping with amusement rang out. "I was beginning to think she'd never take the hint."

Kay groaned and buried her face in the crook of Reese's neck. Was this payback for torturing Ms. Crane?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"I need a drink. My kingdom for a drink!" Julian bellowed. His arm flung across his eyes as he fell back against his bed.

"JULIAN! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY BED!" Ivy shrilled. Picking up the candlelabra on her nightstand and whacking him over the head with it.

Julian cowered in the far corner of the bed. "Dear God...is there no safe haven in this mansion of lunatics?!"

Ivy dropped the pewter candle-holder to the mattress. A thoughtful expression on her face as she considered her husband's words. Her daughter-in-law DID frighten her sometimes, and last week's shopping expedition for Brandy had presented some awful truths...her three-month-old's I.Q. was already higher than her former pride and joy.

Hooked on Phonics had appealed greatly to her as a Christmas present for Ethan and his child bride.

"I was only trying to be nice and `fatherly'," Julian cringed immediately after the word left his lips. "I never thought he'd take the offer seriously."

Ivy rolled her blue-green eyes at him as she clutched her robe tighter about her waist. "Oh really, Julian. And what did you THINK he'd do? You, of all people, knew just how much Adrian detested that boarding school..."

"Surely, you must realize, Dear," Julian scowled. "I NEVER in my wildest nightmares that he'd jump at the chance to finish his education here. At Harmony High, no less."

"Poor Sheridan," Ivy sighed.

"What? Poor Sheridan? What on God's green earth are you talking about? Poor US, Ivy. Poor US."

"You nincompoop," Ivy rolled her eyes at him again. "I imagine your sister will be seeing much more of our son than we will, you ass."

Julian's dark eyes lit up at the thought. "That's right, isn't it? He'll be at school most of the day. And after-school activities...Our delightful son won't actually be home much at all, will he?"

"You really stink as a father. You know that, Julian?" Ivy huffed as she launched a pillow at his head and stomped out of the room.

"Let me know when you're awarded that `Mother of the Year' award, Dear," Julian shouted to her retreating form. "We'll celebrate."

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Luis couldn't keep the smile off his face as he watched her. Them.

Brandy's heavy lidded eyes fluttered shut as she twisted fistfuls of Sheridan's robe in her chubby hands and chugged on the bottle of formula.

"What?" Sheridan asked with a tiny smile on her lips, and a bit of an embarrassed blush to her cheeks when she caught him staring.

Brandy's lips relaxed around the nipple of the bottle, and she snored lightly as she snuggled deeper into Sheridan's warm embrace.

"Nothing," Luis murmured.

Sheridan trailed a gentle finger down the baby's cheeks. Across her brow. Raising questioning blue eyes to Luis's face as he rose from his perch across the living room and crept closer. Holding out his arms.

"Here," he whispered. "I'll take her and put her down."

Sheridan brushed her lips across the peach fuzz on the baby's head with a tender smile. "I'm still mad at you, you know," she smirked. "Well...not as mad as I was. But still mad."

"Damn," Luis swore. Pretending to be deeply hurt. "And I thought a cute baby and me looking all sexy in your favorite black boxers would do the trick."

"Luis," Sheridan rolled her blue eyes at him. "Black box...Luis? What black boxers?"

Luis's low rumble of laughter and triumphant, "Officer 1, Wife 0" made her groan.