Kyle propped himself against the kitchen bar, his arms crossed, and a disgusted look on his face. He didn't want to be there. That was obvious to Stanley as Chelsea propped some pillows up behind him on the couch. Melody had gone to the refrigerator and got a couple sodas out and brought them back to Stanley. She noticed Stanley was preoccupied with Kyle and she sighed. Brent felt the tension in the room, "Hey, Kyle, let's go grab some pizza, leave the girls with Mr. Happy."

Stanley gave Brent a look.

Kyle immediately headed for the door, "Anything to get out of here."

Brent had never seen Kyle like this. Now slumped in the front seat of Brent's car. Lifeless, pissed off. Kyle was always so easy going and relaxed, but not tonight. Brent could hardly stand the silence, "So this whole baby thing is upsetting you. Why?"

Kyle sighed and fidgeted in the seat, "It's stupid, that's why. My mom is to old to have a baby."

Brent laughed, "Obviously she's not"

Kyle gave him a dirty look, "I'm not going to have this talk with you. You're on Stan's side."

"I see your mom and Stan together and I've never seen anything like it. You see it too. So why is the baby upsetting you so much?"

"Just because it is. I don't need to have a reason."

"You like Stan, the two of you are like father and son, you know that. People think you're related."

"I have a dad."

"So all of a sudden, kid, you think Stan isn't good enough for your mom? That maybe your mom getting back with your dad would be a good idea?"

"No, I don't think that. My dad was shitty to her."

"Well, that's the first smart thing you've said tonight. So it's just the fact that your mom is going to have his baby? Stan's baby?"

Kyle was glad when they pulled up in front of the pizza place. Brent decided to back off. He didn't know anything about kids and whatever Kyle was feeling he was going to have to sort it out for himself.

The kids were tired after dinner. The jet lag from their flight was sinking in and Chelsea made sure Melody was settled in to Holly's room before her and Brent left. Kyle found solace upstairs in front of his laptop, chatting to Amy and fighting sleep. Stan had retired early as well, and fell asleep after reading only a page of his book. .

Melody couldn't sleep and when she woke up she wished her mom was there to talk to, she looked towards Stan's room and knew that she shouldn't disturb him, it was nearing midnight and Stan was probably sound asleep. But she could see the light upstairs, Kyle was up. She climbed up the stairs and Kyle looked up from the laptop as she entered the room, "What do you want? I thought you were asleep."

He didn't sound like himself and Melody had found his behavior all night with Stanley stupid. "I couldn't sleep. I guess I'm worried about Mom."

"She's fine. You saw her, the doctor said she was fine. Now go to bed."

"Why are you being so horrible to Stanley?"

"Oh, for god's sake, Melody, not you too."

"He loves mom, they're happy about the baby. Why can't you be?"

"Because..you know why, I know what guys are like. What they think they want, and mom will have this baby and it won't be what Stanley expects and then you know what Melody, he'll leave her, just like Dad left us."

"That's not true and you know it."

"No, I don't know it. No one knows what will happen, Just like Mom didn't know what would happen when she had you and me. She thought Dad would be with her forever."

"Why are you bringing that up? Stanley isn't anything like Dad."

"We don't know that. And another thing, if you think Dad is going to let us stay with mom after all this, you are dreaming."

"what do you mean?"

"He'll fight for custody, Melody. He has reason to now. How many judges would let two kids live with someone who associated with terrorists and has a prison record. Dad will have a fit. He already hates Stan."

"He doesn't want us to live with him."

"I know that, but he doesn't want Mom happy."

"I won't go live with him."

"You won't have a choice. So deal with it. Now go to bed and leave me alone."

She couldn't believe how mean he was being and she didn't want to believe what he was saying. This couldn't be. She didn't want to go live with her dad ever. Before heading back into Holly's room she noticed the door to Stan's room was slightly ajar and she quietly peeked her head in. He was sprawled on the bed wearing a pair of boxer shorts and a Microsoft Tshirt. Tolkien's Return of the King lay open on the bed. She felt a bit awkward and began to step back out into the hallway when he started to fidget. She quietly whispered his name, "Stanley?"

His eyebrows raised slightly as if he had heard her, then he awkwardly rolled over reaching out for something that wasn't there. He mumbled something, then repeated it. It didn't take Melody long to figure out what he had just said. Emma. He was thinking about her mom. She smiled. Then whispered 'Dad.' A little surprised by herself. It had felt so natural to call him that.

Stanley heard his name being called in his light slumber. Emma...it sounded like Emma, then it sounded like Holly. A little disoriented he awoke to find Melody standing at the doorway.

"Melody? Are you alright?" He tried to prop himself up and once again felt a pain rush through him. Every day he wondered when this was going to end.

"I didn't mean to wake you, I 'm sorry."

"No, no...it's okay. I was just reading, must have dozed off. Can't sleep?"

She nodded.

He patted the bed beside him, "I'm sure this is all a bit weird to you. Your mom not here, and me...well, Melody, I hope you know that you can always talk to me."

"I know."

She sat on the very end of the bed and Stanley manged to prop himself up a bit, "Worried about your mom?"

"A bit, but I think she's going to be okay."

"I think so too." He smiled at her.

"So do you think Holly will be excited about the baby?"

"I think so. She adores your mom and you and Kyle. You know this is all she ever wanted. A real family."

"How could she want anything to do with Kyle. He's being horrible. He was horrible to you today."

"He needs to sort some things out. Like you did not to long ago. If this news would have come a month ago, I think you might have had the same reaction."

"Maybe so, but he's just being a jerk and saying things..." She felt the tears coming.

Stanley looked a bit concerned, "Saying what kind of things?"

"He says Dad is going to fight for custody now. That I won't even get to live with you and Mom. Why would he say that? That is just mean. It's not true, is it Stanley?"

"Your mom won't let that happen...hell, I won't let that happen. You belong here with your mom and me, and Kyle is just having a difficult time with this. He's hurting so he wants you to hurt to."

"He says you will leave us, just like Dad did."

"What do you think?"

"I don't think you will." She smiled at him. "Will you marry her? Marry my mom?"

"For some reason, which I don't truly understand, your mom doesn't want to marry me. Maybe your mom thinks what Kyle thinks."

"No, I don't think so. She knows you love her."

"But your dad left her, and she thought he loved her."

"So mom is just afraid?"

"Could be."

"You won't give up on her, will you?"

"Hell no. If we have to take baby steps concerning marriage, that's what we'll do.I have no doubt who I want to spend the rest of my life with. You know how much I love your mom, but she needs a little more time."

"It would be better before the baby was born, wouldn't it? I know it really doesn't matter anymore, but it would kind of be nice if you got married before the baby came."
After she said this, she felt a bit awkward. It really wasn't any of her business.

"It would be incredibly nice for that to happen, so I will work on it. You have my word." He gave her a wink.

"I think you might be able to talk her into it."

"I just might."

She got off the bed, "I should go to bed. And you need to go back to sleep. If you're going to get married in the next few weeks, you have to get better."

"Well, that's true."

"Goodnight, Stanley." She smiled at him and started to head at the door.

"I think you're forgetting something, young lady."

She looked a bit confused and he motioned for her to come closer. She slowly walked towards him. "You're not too old for goodnight hugs are you?"

She shook her head. And leaned towards him, he put his good arm around her and kissed her forehead.

Kyle had come downstairs and heard voices coming from Stanley's room. He loomed outside the door and overheard most of their conversation and when Melody came out of the door, she nearly ran into him.

She just sneered at him and headed back to Holly's room shutting the door behind her. He contemplated going in to see Stanley, then headed back towards the stairway, but couldn't get away quietly when Scrap came up to him jumping up on him. He quietly tried to push him off, "Scrap, go back to bed." He pointed towards the kitchen but the dog paid no attention to him,

Stanley heard the ruckus coming from the hallway, "Kyle?"

Kyle glared at Scrap, "Thanks a lot, traitor."

Kyle leaned on the doorway, "Yeah, I didn't mean to disturb you. I was just getting a drink."

"I'm wide awake now. And it seems you are too, so maybe we should talk."

"You know, Stan, there really isn't much point."

"I think there is. Especially after what you said to Melody."

Kyle rolled his eyes. Great. Melody had told him what he had said about their dad. And of course it upset her. That was the point wasn't it? Make her upset. What the hell was he thinking? His mom was bound to hear about this and it would only upset her. That was the last thing he wanted. He didn't budge from the doorway and tried to avert his eyes from Stanley's.

"You might as well have a seat because we are going to sort this out now once and for all." Stanley's voice was stern and cold. It was pretty obvious he wasn't happy about Kyle's behavior.

Kyle thought about just going back upstairs. Stan was slow with his injury and probably wouldn't even bother to come after him. But how could he? Stan was sitting up in bed, wide awake glaring at him. Kyle slowly moved over to the arm chair across from the bed and slumped down into it. Nothing was said.

Finally Stan prodded, "So...?"

"So what?"

"What you said to Melody about your dad."

"She probably over exaggerated, she's good at making everything into some kind of soap opera drama. It's for the attention. You know that is what she wants. You to feel bad for her."

"No, I don't' think that's what she wants."

This irked Kyle more than he thought it would. How did this guy really know what any of them wanted? What did he really know about his sister at all? "She wants this dream family, that doesn't exist. You made her think it did."

"Maybe it does exist, Kyle."

"Yeah, right." Kyle said sarcastically. "My dad is going to get back from London tomorrow and he's going to be pissed off about who you are. That you've been in prison, all this terrorist crap. He isn't going to want me or Melody anywhere near you."

"You didn't care about that yesterday, you didn't care what your dad thought when you left London with your sister."

"You didn't give me a choice about coming"

"Because you hacked into something that was none of your business. You had the disc. Your mom and I were in danger and we needed you to get us out of the mess you started."

"You started the mess, not me. And my dad will blame you, not me." Kyle looked up glaring into Stanley's eyes.

"So you want to go live with your dad and break your mom's heart." It probably wasn't the best thing for him to say under the circumstances, but Stanley was mad.

"No, I don't want that. " Kyle felt agitated as he squirmed in the chair. Stanley pushed himself up, picking up the crutch and carefully moved closer to him. He sat on the edge of the bed, directly opposite him.

"What do you want, Kyle? I once thought you wanted your mom to be happy."

"I do, but I don't know if you can make her happy."

"I don't know that either. I don't deny that I've made some mistakes. I didn't tell your mom the whole story and I should have. And just for your information, while you've been in London it hasn't been all rosey. There's been a strain between us. I didn't even know about the baby til yesterday and She's lost her job, did you know that?"

"Because of you? She lost the job because of you?" It took him awhile to have this sink in.

"There were budget cuts, but I'm sure dating a parent didn't help matters."

"So you messed that up too?" Kyle shook his head in disgust.

"Yeah, right, I messed it up. I've been pretty fucking good at that all my life. But the one damn good thing I've done is love your mom. I want this baby, Kyle. I want all of us to be a family. It isn't always going to be easy, there will always be something to get through, something to work on. But god damn it I believe we belong together. "

"So are you going to marry her?"

"I want to...yes. But your mom seems to have other ideas."

"Because she thinks you are going to disappoint her like Dad did. You say you want a family, a new baby...but the reality of it is...it won't be the same. Mom will be tired all the time, she won't have time for you like she has in the past."

"Because she's a mother first. I accept that. Something my first wife never was. It's not like we have had all this time together. Our time together has been incredibly limited, but that's going to change with the 3 of you living here. And now things are out in the open, we can deal with all of this together."

"She's stupid to want to go back to being just a mom. You don't know how she's struggled to finish school and get her degree and credentials. She's just going to give all that up to have your baby? It's something I can't believe she'd do."

"I am not going to hold your mom back from anything she wants to do. If she wants to teach, then she'll teach. I can look after a baby."

"You?" He chuckled.

"Yeah, me. Give me some credit."

Kyle was a bit surprised. His dad never had anything to do with raising either one of them. And his mom had to give up her dreams of being a pianist to raise her kids. Something she always said never bothered her. And he knew that was true. They had always come first. He just looked at Stanley trying to picture him at the shop juggling a baby while fixing a computer.

Stanley saw Kyle's demeanor changing. He had gotten him to smile. He was no longer avoiding his glance. "So what are you thinking?"

"you and a baby in the shop. It would be quite a sight."

"But a sight you could picture?"

"Yeah. I could." He paused a moment then continued, this time looking straight at Stanley, "You'll be a good dad to the baby."

"That means a lot coming from you."

"Don't go getting all gushy on me, Stan. It's not going to be happy families. Big brother Kyle and all that crap. Piggyback rides all over the house, taking him to the toilet, building lego castles, no, no....it's not going to be like that."

Stanley smiled. Whatever he had said or not said, it had worked. Kyle was coming around. The bond they had shared was coming back. "Of course not. You've got a life, a girlfriend. Going to college just around the corner. I promise we won't even ask you to babysit. I'm sure Melody and Holly will be willing."

"Well, I didn't say I wouldn't do it. I mean...occasionally. Only if you're in a bind." Kyle looked up and managed to smile at Stanley, the first one all evening. Then he immediately rubbed his eyes and a yawn escaped.

Stanley leaned over patting his leg, "You should get to bed. You've been up an awfully long time, you need to sleep."

"I guess you do too. It's been a pretty rough 24 hours for you. Is your arm okay?"

"Well, I've probably screwed it up royally now, by busting the original cast off. But I will survive. And I'm beginning to live with the pain of the leg better. It won't be long and I will be my old wonderful self again." He raised his eyebrows. "You know back at work making sure my employees aren't slagging off."

"Ah, you mean being moody and grumpy?"

They both laughed, "Well, I did deserve that."

Kyle helped Stan get back into bed and headed for the door, then turned as Stan was ready to switch off the bedside lamp, "Stan?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry, I've been such an ass."

"You're looking after your moms best interests. Highly commendable."

"It's a helluva lot of work."

"So let me take some of the slack, what do you say? Maybe you could let me look after your mom now."

Kyle was quiet for a minute contemplating this thought. "Let me sleep on it."

"Sounds like a good idea."

"You know my Dad is going to be a real pain in the ass tomorrow. I don't want him to be upsetting Mom. After this afternoon, and what happened...."

Stan knew exactly what he was going to say. The possibility of losing the baby had come so close, and he wasn't prepared to have to deal with that again, "I won't let that happen, Kyle."

"but, he.."

"You let me worry about your Dad. We all need some sleep and we'll deal with your Dad and everything else tomorrow. Now go to bed."

Kyle reluctantly turned and left the room. Stanley preceded in turning the light off and laid back onto the pillows, trying to find a comfortable sleeping position. The bed had never felt so big and empty as it did now. Emma had become such a pertinent factor in his life. He missed her, but the one compensation had been having her children staying with him. Being a father figure to both of them and handling it pretty well. He felt satisfied as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Rachel offered to pick up Emma after her release from the hospital, but was surprised when instead of heading straight to Stanley's she wanted to go to her house. They pulled up into the driveway and Rachel started to get out and Emma stopped her, "I just want to pick up a couple of things. I won't be long."

"I'll come in. I can help you."

"I don't need help. I'm not some invalid."

"I know, but you had a close call yesterday."

"Rachel." Emma glared at her.

"Okay, I'll stay here, but Stanley is going to wonder where we are. I should call him."

"Rachel, no. I said a few minutes and that's all I'll be. Stop treating me like some child."

Rachel shut up, but she was reluctant. Emma had been so quiet and subdued the whole way from the hospital.

Emma entered the house, and it felt empty. It no longer felt like home. She walked down the hallway passing various framed photos of her life before Stanley had entered it, stopping in front of a baby picture of Kyle. She felt her belly as she gazed at the bright blue eyes and the toothless grin of the baby looking back at her. She never thought in a million years she would be in this position again. And it scared her, she had to admit it. It really scared her. She headed into the bedroom and opened one of her drawers. She wasn't sure what she was looking for, if anything. But she needed something to tell Rachel, so she pulled out a few pairs of underwear and a couple t shirts. She glanced around the room. Not one sign of evidence that she had a boyfriend. She realized she didn't even own a photograph of him. That seemed strange. Now she was having his baby, moving in with him. The events all jumbled up in her mind and she sat on the bed picking up the stuffed pony Melody had given her that first night after Gary had left. Melody thought she needed something to keep her company in the night. She clutched the pony tightly and felt a tear trickle down her cheek. There wouldn't be need of it anymore.

After a great nights sleep, Stanley felt better than he had in weeks. The pain didn't seem half as bad. He actually managed to get out of bed and make Kyle and Melody breakfast before Kyle went to the airport to pick up Holly and his Dad. Having her back in the house made everything begin to come together for him. The worrying was gone. He no longer felt the fear his family and Emma's were in danger. He relaxed on the couch, Holly nestled by his side and Melody doodling in a sketchbook on the floor at his feet. Kyle was flipping through Stanley's CD collection, while Hank relaxed in a chair across from his son. Stanley had just told them about the baby and he was beaming.

"Oh, Dad, a baby? Really?" She smiled up at him as he tousled her hair and nodded. "That is so cool. So now you're going to get married right? I mean isn't that what is going to happen?"

Kyle abruptly turned and faced him, Melody put down the sketchbook and also gave him her undivided attention. Hank couldn't help but notice the change of expression in his son's face as he stumbled over his words. "I'm working on that, sweetie."

"She wants to marry you, right?" Holly asked.

"It's not that simple. People don't always get married when they have a baby, Holly."

"But you want to marry her don't you?"

Stanley looked around the room at the eyes glaring at him, "Yes, I do." He said confidently. "I want that more than anything." He patted her leg, "Now Melody mentioned making some brownies for her mom, I'm sure she could use some help."

Melody stood up, "Oh, yeah...I better get started. She should be here pretty soon. Come on, Holly, help me out." Melody knew he didn't want to talk about this. It was obvious last night that marriage seemed to be a sore subject with her mom and Stanley.

Once they were in the kitchen, Hank moved to the couch next to his son, "Are you going to tell me what's going on here, Stanley? I've yet to hear the story of the predicament you got yourself into..the one you seemed to have pulled Emma and her children into as well. Does it have anything to do with why she won't marry you?"

"You know what, Dad? This is known of your fucking business. I can handle this."

"So far you're handling things pretty shitty as far as I can see."

Although they were keeping their voices down, Kyle couldn't help but notice the agitation in Stanley's voice and turned to face them. They seemed oblivious to him. Their heads huddled together and Stanley getting more upset by the second.

"Keep reminding me what a screw up I am, Dad. You've always been good at that."

Kyle knew it wasn't his place to interfere but after his talk with Stanley last night he felt even more obligated to stick up for him, "Now wait a second. I screwed up on this one. Not Stanley. It's my fault and he didn't want to involve any of us. He's not to blame. All he's ever wanted is for my mom to be happy." Kyle had raised his voice, and now the attention was focused on him. Melody put down the mixer and looked over at her brother, Holly followed suit. Stan and Hank were both silent, "And just to set the record straight, my mom is backing away from marriage because my dad was a shit to her. She is afraid to be hurt again. Stan has kept some things from her and yeah, maybe he is partly to blame for her apprehension, but he loves my mom and she knows it. We've been through a helluva lot in the last 24 hours, why can't you just give him a break."

Stan immediately pulled himself up with the new cane Hank had brought him, slowly making his way over to Kyle who had turned his back on both of them and was clenching his fists, his head resting against the wall. Stan placed a comforting hand on Kyle's shoulder, "Kyle, it's alright."

"I'm sorry, Stanley, I had no right yelling like that at your dad. All of this makes me so mad and maybe if I would have kept my nose out of your business, everything would be okay."

"It happened and we're dealing with it. We're all going to get through this, Kyle." Kyle turned to him and instinctively buried his head in Stanley's chest. It wasn't a cool thing to do and he knew it, but he began to cry and Stanley held him close to him gently patting his back.

Melody handed Holly the mixer and they continued their baking. Hank got up and moved closer to Stanley and Kyle. Giving Stanley a pat on the shoulder, Stan looked up and got a wink from his father, "I was wrong, you're handling this very well."

Stanley wasn't so sure, but he was determined to make this work. Get back on track and have some kind of family.

Rachel looked at her watch, it had been almost 20 minutes that Emma had been in the house, just as she was going to get out of the car, her cellphone went off and she immediately answered it.

"Hello."

"Where the hell are you? I just called the hospital and they said Emma checked out over an hour ago."

"Had to pick something up at the house."

"Your house?"

"No, Emma's house."

Stanley was befuddled on the other end of the line. Emma's house was on the other side of the city. A good 20 minutes out of the way. She had everything at his place she needed. What would be the possible reason of her going there?

"Let me talk to her."

"I'm in the car."

"Rachel, is she upset? What's going on?" There was a slight panic in his voice.

"I'm sure she's fine. I'll go check on her and call you back. Probably just needed some underwear or something."

"I'll hold on, while you get her."

"Okay, suit yourself." Rachel could tell he was a bit worried. Who wouldn't be after what happened yesterday. She headed into the house and found Emma laying on her bed clutching the stuffed pony. Holding the phone against her chest, she gently sat on the bed and patted her shoulder. "Emma, are you okay?"

Emma managed to nod her head. "I guess I'm just feeling a bit weird about all of this. So much going on, you know. So many changes"

Rachel nodded in understanding, "But good changes. You've got a man that adores you, who's going to be by your side through all of this. Speaking of..I got Stan on the phone." She pointed at the phone, still being held against her chest.

Emma immediately sat up, "Oh, shit, he's worried." She took the phone from her hands, "Stanley."

"Darlin, you okay? I was worried." His voice was soft and sweet.

"I'm fine. Just needed a couple things here at the house. How are the kids?"

"Anxious to see you... much like myself."

"Kyle...he's okay?"

"Yeah, I think he's okay, but if you don't get over here soon, he and my Dad will have eaten every last one of the brownies your daughter and mine have been sweating over all afternoon. Just for you."

The thought of brownies actually sounded horrible. Her stomach wasn't much up to anything lately, but the thought was sweet. "I won't be long." There was a pause, "Stanley?"

"Yeah."

"I can't wait to see you."

"Then get your ass out of there and get it over here. Home, where you belong."

Those words...home, where you belong. It did feel that way. Not like this empty place, the only good memories were the ones of Stanley being here. Working on the sprinkler, pinning her against the washing machine, playing video games with her kids...making out on the couch. She smiled.

"Emma, are you still there?"

She came out of her daydream smiling, "Just barely. I was thinking about you."

"Really?"

"Don't sound so surprised. And the home thing...you're right. It's not here. It's with you, with the kids."

Stanley on the other end was pleased by this statement. Maybe he could persuade her to marry him. She was coming around to his way of thinking. And he smiled.