Author's Note: I forget who said something about having to breast feed. You don't have to. I wasn't. None of my brothers or sisters were. Let me put it into perspective. If you HAD to breast feed, how would babies who's mom's die in labor be fed? Would children like Anna Moscovitz just starve? No. Formula works wonders.

JCVARTEN: I couldn't begin to tell you how many more chapters. I know that there is about 38 pages left according to my Microsoft word document. So more than half done.

Poisinibe: Of course I make things unpredictable. I'd be boring if you could guess. Duh!

Starlite..: I agree. Hymen is not a good name for ANYONE.

Thanks to everyone reading and reviewing. And just reading.

It was weird. We spent the rest of the day just looking at her and thinking everything was amazing. Even when she spat up. Or when she passed gas. We did freak out a little when we couldn't figure out how to make her stop crying. "Should we call a doctor?" Mia asked worriedly.

"Nah. She's gassy," I replied, stroking my daughter's cheek. "Not much we can do."

"I feel like I'm going to be judged on this. YOu know? Like if she cries too much the doctor will blame me."

I kissed her cheek as I held Ella. "No one blames you. I mean, she could just be colicy."

"Lemme hold her," she whispered.

I handed her the newborn and the bottle we were feeding her with.

All I can say is: Thank God For Alex. He knows everything about babies. He is the oldest of nine. Helped raise the younger ones.

"Hey Michael?" Mia said softly as Ella drifted back to sleep.

"Yeah?"

"Is it possible to love someone more than anything if you just met them?"

I smiled, "I think in this case that is totally possible."

Evan came in and took our first official family picture. "I look terrible," Mia whined.

"You look beautiful," I assured her. "I'm the one that hasn't shaven."

She smirked, "You are handsome when you don't shave. Rugged."

Lilly had gone home for a little while and told me how pissed my parents were. She told them I had gotten trashed the night before and hadn't made it back home. They'd still be pissed though. They paid for four years of an Ivy League school only to miss out on the pay off.

"Are they going to kill me?" I asked, looking back at Mia and Ella, both asleep in our bed.
She shrugged. "Well, I told them I was dropping out of school to ease your pain."

"What did you tell them?"

"I dropped out of school completely to devote myself to make documentaries."

Yeah. Great. I'm so sure my parents were expecting to have their children to have a secret baby with a secret wife, and the other to drop out of her own ivy league school. On the outside we were good kids. Everyone else thought so.

I looked at Ella as she slept soundly in Mia's arms. What would she be doing in twenty two years, when she's my age?

Hopefully not having a baby. Or at least having a baby with a good guy.

The next few months of summer were amazing. Alex and I moved into an apartment in Brooklyn and Mia moved in with us for the rest of her time in New York. We made one corner of my room into a mini nursery for Ella.

That was the most amazing summer of my life. Ella had a really strong personality. She was the happiest baby I'd ever seen. "She totally looks like you," I said to Mia while we were walking Ella through our neighborhood.

Mia, dressed in baggy sweatpants and a long sleeve t-shirt and her red wig, replied, "Do you think people will catch onto that?"

"Nah. She's still young. Maybe she'll get better looking," I teased. Which got me an elbow into my ribs. "Just kidding. You know you are the most beautiful woman in the entire world"

She smirked, "Two more years and we'll get to spend all of our summers just like this."

"Like this?" I asked, confused.

"Yeah. Maybe we can have a place in New York. You can keep working...and Ella and I will meet you for walks when you get out just like we do now."

"You think we'll get to stay here a little?"

"I might have a nice little place for us," she joked. "I'd love to live like this. Together. The three of us. But by then she'll be too old to be pushed in the stroller..."

It was a weird reality we were going to live in. Mia would see Ella as a three month old, and then as a walking talking toddler. "Nah. I think toddlers still get pushed around."

"She'll be so old..."

We stopped at a bench and looked at Ella. I put my arm around Mia. "Let's just enjoy her now," I replied.

We "Remember, she likes the pink fleece blanky," Mia instructed the night before she was due to go home. "And if she's having trouble sleeping just sit in the lazy boy and rock her back to sleep and sing to her. She really likes Bye Bye Bye."

"What?" I snapped. "You exposed her to N Sync?"

She gave me a look. "Yes. Deal with it. If you take her outside make sure you put sunscreen-"

"Mia, I'm not an idiot. I have been a parent just as long as you have been."

"But you go to work all day long and get out of this apartment. I stay here with her."

"And that's MY fault?" I snapped.

She put her hands on her face and started crying. I looked down at sleeping Ella, and then wrapped my arms around Mia. "I'm sorry baby."'

"No…you don't have to be. I do though. I am deserting you with her…who is going to watch her?"

"Lilly," I replied. My sister was taking the third room of the apartment now that she was out of school. The deal was that she could live here free if she watched Ella when Alex and I were at work.

"Okay…" she said looking around the room we had made our own. She wiped away her tears and went back to business. Organizing. Making sure none of Ella's clothes were with hers. Her grandmother would find that out and realize what was going on. If she hadn't already.

"I can't believe we lived only blocks away from my parents and they don't know," I said looking at a picture of my parents with Ella. They'd met her. I had told them that Alex and I adopted a baby to solidify our relationship.

"They think she's Alex's and your's?" she asked, straightening the bed.

"Right. Little do they know they are holding their oldest, well, only biological grandchild."

Mia sat down on the edge of the bed and looked around again. I knelt in front of her. "I have something for you."

She looked confused. "What?"

"This is your home," I replied. "New York that is. I know how much you miss it so…" I said taking a snow globe with the Statue of Liberty from under the bed. "Take this and think of me and Ella."

She smiled and let the tears flow freely down her cheeks. "I'm going to miss you so much," she said wrapping her arms around my neck.

"Look in the base," I whispered. I noticed that we whispered a whole lot more so we wouldn't bother Ella.

She twisted the bottom off and revealed a picture of Ella and her at the park. "Oh Michael…."

"I'll send new ones all the time," I promised.

"I won't see her grow up," she said between sobs. "She'll say her first words and walk and I will be back in Genovia putting on an act with Evan. I won't find out about her first words or steps until days later. By the time I see her again everything will be old news."

"Alex, Lilly and I will always have a camera on the girl at all times, I promise baby," I promised. That was the best I could do. "Hell, maybe we'll just install a camera right in that corner so you can watch as I attempt poorly at three AM feedings."

She giggled, "I don't think that's necessary. But thanks for the offer."

"Hey guys, not to interrupt or anything, but do you want me to take Ella for a walk or something?" Lilly asked, knocking on the door.

I looked at Mia with relief. "Yes, thank you," Mia said softly as Lilly made a beeline for the baby. "I'll take her through the park or something," Lilly said lifting up her niece. "Well be back in an hour or two."

I kissed Ella goodbye and so did Mia. "See you soon baby," she said softly. This would be one of the last times she saw Ella for a couple of years.

After they left I turned to my wife. This was actually the first time since before Ella was born that we'd been completely alone. "You know, we totally passed our anniversary and your birthday without notice."

She offered a half smile. "I know. It's not a big deal to me though. Just being with you is celebrating enough."

She stood up and went to fix the curtain, but I stopped her. "Mia, forget the curtain," I whispered huskily into her ear. "I'm right here in front of you."

She half smiled, "So do I get to do what I want to you?"