Once the holidays were over, life got back to normal for the Walker's and their baby girl.

It seemed to Danny and to Sandra that time was passing in the blink of an eye. As new parents are want to do, they marveled at Ann as she went from a bottle to solid food and after she rolled over on her own for the first time, she learned to scoot and then she began to crawl. She smiled a real smile for the first time and they knew it wasn't gas and before long she'd said Mama for the first time. Dada wasn't far behind and the Walker's were sure that they had the smartest baby on Pearl Harbor.

Being new parents had put a crimp in their love life for the first few months after Ann was born. Danny had been so tentative about being with Sandra too soon after Ann was born, but she had eased his mind on that score. When the doctor had finally given her the news that she had fully recovered from having the baby, she let her husband know how much she'd missed him that very night. After that, their marriage resumed it normal course.

As had become their tradition, they spent their third anniversary at the Royal Hawaiian while Red stayed at the house to look after Ann. He told them that spending time with her and being Uncle Red was something that made him happy. It bothered Sandra no end that Red didn't seem to make even a half-hearted attempt to find someone to share his life with and Danny had to keep reminding her that it was his life and they had to support him in his decisions.

She knew he was right.

The summer faded into fall and a couple of months after Ann had celebrated her first birthday, Sandra found out that she was going to have another baby. A month after her daughter's birthday she had begun to feel tired and nauseous and it didn't take her long to figure out why. The doctor confirmed her suspicion a few weeks later and with Danny sitting next to her and Ann in her lap they got the news.

"Well, it seems as though you two are going to give that little girl a baby brother or sister. Congratulations." He smiled at them.

"How far along am I?" Sandra wanted to know.

It seemed to her that the doctor was trying not to smile. "My best guess would be about six weeks."

Ann's birthday.

Danny leaned over and kissed her cheek. "And your were startin' to worry that Annie might be it for us."

She could feel her face flush as she smiled at her husband. "We didn't have to wait long for Ann and after we'd." She couldn't finish her thought.

"Sandra, it all depends on when you were with your husband." Her doctor tried to ease her embarrassment. "You've been trained as a nurse and you know that if you aren't together at the right time of the month there can't be a baby. It just took you a little longer this time."

"To tell you the truth, I wasn't trying because if I were it probably would have happened sooner."

The look on his face was serious. "I'm glad you didn't try right away. After all of the problems you encountered when you were carrying Ann, I would have preferred that you let yourself heal completely before trying again."

"Was she ever in any danger?" Danny's voice sounded panicked.

"I'm sorry Captain, I didn't mean to infer that Sandra was ever in real trouble. If I had felt strongly that you should have waited for a certain period of time, I would have told you. But Sandra recovered so nicely that I wasn't worried."

Danny took her hand and looked at the doctor. "Is she all right now?"

"She's perfectly fine." And he looked at Sandra. "You were having problems almost from the start with Ann and from what you've told me, you haven't experienced the morning sickness that you had the last time."

She shook her head. "So far it's been very mild."

"I'm not surprised. That sort of thing varies from pregnancy to pregnancy and you may not experience the severity of the morning sickness that you had with Ann. Only time will tell about that." He told her before he stood up. "If you'll both excuse me I have some patients to attend to. I'll send my nurse in to set up your next appointment and I don't want you to hesitate to call if anything feels out of the ordinary." He said to Sandra. "Now before you worry that I haven't told you something, let me ease your mind about that. You are fine, but I always keep a closer eye on my young mothers who have had difficult pregnancies."

Danny stood up and shook his hand. "Thank you Doctor. We really appreciate everythin'."

"Not at all Captain." He smiled and walked out of the office.

"Well, honey how do you feel about this?"

Sandra looked at him. "I'm a little nervous, but I can honestly say that this one does feel different. Of course that could be because it's my second."

The nurse walked in with the appointment book and discussed the best time for Sandra to come in for her next visit before she left them alone in the office. Danny picked Ann up from Sandra's lap and helped her up. That got her to laugh. "I don't need help just yet Danny."

"Just practicin' Sandra." He said with a laugh. "Are you ready to go?"

She nodded and they walked out of the doctor's office.

The telephone was ringing when they walked in the door and Sandra rushed to answer it. "Hello?"

"All right young lady. This is your mother speaking and Dad and I are dying to know. What did the doctor say?" Margaret O'Connell grilled her daughter long distance.

"I was right and you and Dad are going to be grandparents again." She told her mother with a smile.

"Oh honey, that's wonderful. How are you feeling?"

"I feel fine actually. The doctor was pleased that there haven't been any problems but he wants to keep an eye on me anyway. He says he does that will all of his mothers who had pregnancies that weren't quite normal."

"I knew I liked that doctor of yours." She answered. "How's Danny?"

"He's fine and really happy about it. The truth is, I was starting to wonder if Ann was going to be an only child." Sandra sighed.

Margaret laughed. "Well, that's not something you need to worry about any longer. Ann will have a little brother or sister sometime next year."

"We figure it's going to be sometime in June."

"June? That could be a very nice anniversary present for you."

Sandra couldn't help but laugh. "It worked out that way for Ev and Rafe when she had Joseph."

"My goodness, I'd forgotten about that." Margaret laughed in return. "Well, I'll let you go because I need to finish making dinner for your dad."

"I'll call you again soon and tell you how things are going." Sandra promised. "I love you."

"I love you too sweetheart. Goodbye."

"Goodbye, Mom." And she hung up.

Danny walked in from the back of the house. "I put Annie down for the night and if we're lucky she'll sleep."

Sandra nodded. "You need to call the McCawley's and tell them. They should know too."

The telephone rang and Danny smiled at her. "Somethin' tells me that's them. Sarah's always been a little psychic about things like this."

"You answer that and I'll go make us something for lunch." She smiled and kissed his cheek before she headed toward the kitchen. She heard his voice as he picked up the receiver.

"Hey Rafe, tell your mama she was right."