Chapter 13- Home sweet home

This is the last chapter of The hardest assignment ever. I hope that you've all enjoyed it. Thank you so much for your wonderful reviews. I will be starting the next installment of my series soon, perhaps even this week. Special thanks to:

Deyse- I'm glad that you liked it so much! Thank you so much for your reviews. They have been very encouraging to me.

Hawaianangelgirl- I'm a shipper lover too. And, as we've agreed upon before, and I'm sure we all do, Andrew and Monica are the best couple ever! Thanks for the reviews!

Rach- Thanks so much for reviewing all my stories! I appreciate the support!

Lady-jolly- Thanks for the reviews. I've enjoyed receiving them and reading your stuff too!

Starlight63- Thanks for the review!

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That night Tessa finished the dress. Her little sisters had fallen asleep a few hours earlier, as had the rest of the house. It was now the wee hours of the morning, as her mother would say. When she finally finished she tried on the dress. It was beautiful, and it was going to look even better on her mother. After a few minutes she hung the dress back up and laid it across her mother's bed. Then she went back to her own room and climbed into bed with both of her sisters. They had grown accustomed to sleeping together in the past few days.

Tessa had a hard time getting to sleep that night. She was uncomfortable. Her twin bed was much too small for the three of them, and she couldn't move, because if she did she would unavoidably end up waking Sophie up and she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep this late at night. So, she was stuck. Tessa closed her eyes and made a great effort to go to sleep. Finally, after what seemed like hours, but was really only about five minutes, she fell asleep.

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Monica and Andrew were so very happy when their feet finally touched land once again. And not just land either this was civilized land! They walked hand in hand up to the hotel resort that they'd left weeks ago.

"Ah, I see you've returned." The owner of the hotel addressed them in a thick British accent. "Have a nice evening out?" He joked.

"Yes." Andrew and Monica laughed.

"Well, I'm afraid that we couldn't keep your room for the time that you were gone, but I do have your luggage here. And if you'd like to you can have a room free tonight and tomorrow."

"Thank you for your offer, but I think it's best if we go home." Monica said.

"You're so right." He agreed. "It is, however a shame to have such great guests leaving." He said as he brought their luggage around to them.

"Good-bye and good luck!" He called as they waved.

Monica and Andrew then headed straight to the airport and caught the next flight straight to New York.

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Zoë was the first of the three sisters to wake up that next morning. She carefully crawled out of Tessa's bed and got back into her own. It was much too early to start the day, for the sun had not even risen. Zoë looked at the clock beside her bed. It was only four-thirty in the morning. She yawned; but she was not tired, not in the least. So she opened the drawer of her nightstand and pulled out her mini book light and her scrapbook. The first thing she encountered was a photograph taken long before she was ever born. It was one that she knew well. It was her parents on the day they met, and it had to have been taken about twenty years ago, if not even earlier than that. She studied it for a few moments. She loved the way it looked, she didn't know why. Perhaps it was because she missed her Mom and Dad so much. She smiled as she turned the page. They had been so happy all those years. She smiled as she flipped threw the pages and the memories. Finally she came upon her own birth, and admitted to her self that she had been a pretty cute baby. Finally she came to the end of the book and she tucked it back into her nightstand. The sunlight began to shine threw the window and Zoë felt an overwhelming urge to begin her day.

……………….…

Zoë was downstairs by herself before the rest of the house was even awake. She didn't know what she was waiting for, but she felt that something was about to happen; and whatever it was, she was ready for it. She preoccupied herself with tiding up the living room, which they had made significant improvements on in the past few days. Suddenly she heard someone walking behind her, she turned quickly. It was Tessa and Sophie, all ready for the day as well.

"We felt the need to get ready too."

"Yeah, but ready for what. That's the question."

"I don't know."

"I know!" Sophie said.

"You do?" Her sister's asked.

"May be Mommy and Daddy are coming."

Tessa and Zoë exchanged glances. Tessa sighed a sad sigh and bent down to her baby sister.

"Sophie…" Tessa began as she took the little girl's hands in her own. Tessa was interrupted by the noise of a key turning in a lock. All the girls immediately directed their attention towards the front door. It had turned! The three of them said nothing as the door flew open.

"Daddy!" Zoë cried as she ran into her father's arms.

"Oh Zoë." He said as he kissed her softly and hugged her.

"Mommy!" Tessa and Sophie squealed as they ran to meet their mother. She gathered them in her arms and hugged them tightly. She kissed each of them once and she kissed each of them twice. She began to cry as she pulled them closer to her. The girls began to cry too.

"Oh, I missed my wee girls so much." She said.

"Mom, we have a surprise for you." Tessa said, taking her mother by the hand and leading her up the stairs. This left Zoë and Andrew alone.

"I love you Daddy." She said.

"I love you too Zoë."

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"Oh my gosh girls, this is so beautiful." Monica said, shocked as she looked at the dress. "Where did you get this?"

"We made it, and I designed it."

"Really Tessa!" Her mother said, delighted. "Thank you so much."

"Wow, Monica, that's simply gorgeous." Andrew said as he came into the room, holding Zoë by the hand.

"Thank you, but you must give Tessa the credit. She designed it."

"Really, you did that?" Tessa nodded.

"That's amazing. You sure have talent." He said hugging her, as Monica gathered Zoë in her arms. Zoë clung tightly to her mother. Sophie wrapped her little arms around her Dad's leg and he picked her up.

"So, how have you been?" Tessa asked, curious to know where her parents had been off to for the past several weeks.

Monica and Andrew exchanged glances.

"Well." Their mother told them, "It's a long story. Wait for you're dad and I to get settled and we'll be down in a minute."

The girls complied and they waited for their parents in the living room.

"So, what's new with you girls?"

"I had an operation." Sophie said excitedly. Monica's eyes grew huge and she looked up at Tessa.

"It was just her appendix, that's all." Monica and Andrew sighed with relief.

"Are you feeling better?"

"Yes." Sophie nodded.

"Good honey. What about you Zoë?"

"Well, I kinda got a little crazy after you went missing. That was only because I was really scared though. I ran away from home two nights ago."

"Zoë.."

"It's okay, it turned out well. Tessa followed me and she helped me."

"And then, it started to rain." Tessa reminded her. "And then we fell asleep in the middle of central park, and we woke up and ran home."

"Oh my girls don't ever do that again."

"We won't." They promised.

"So, Mom, Dad, where have you been for the past couple of weeks?"

"We were stranded on a deserted island."

"Really?" Zoë asked.

"Yes."

"Did you have fun?"

"Uh..yeah." Monica answered, feeling rather guilty.

………………..

"It feels so good to be in a real bed again." Monica cried as she felt her skin hit the warm sheets.

"And to wear pajamas again."

"And to be clean."

"And to see the girls."

"Don't forget civilization. Andrew, we haven't eaten in two weeks."

"You're right. Oh well, we can wait a little while longer."

"Andrew, you want to fool around a little?"

"No. I can honestly say that I'm tired of it. And I'm tired."

"Good I didn't really want to either."

They laughed as he took her in his arms and she laid her head on his chest. He kissed the top of her head and she kissed him back. He kissed her again, but this time he brought her face to meet his and the kiss grew increasingly passionate by the second, somehow, she ended up in his arms on top of him. He wrapped his arm around her tightly.

"I love you." He whispered.

"I love you too." She was barely able to finish what she was saying before their lips met once more.