Thank you for your kind reviews. You guys rock my socks. Truly. I'm wrapping this one up. I think that there's going to be maybe one or two more chapters? An epilogue of sorts? Let me know what you think.
Disclaimer: Oh, right, I don't own the characters. Except Emily. I kind of own her.
Kirsten heard the baby's screams and sighed and rolled over to her husband.
"It's your turn," she said exhaustedly. Sandy nodded, and immediately got out of bed without arguing in the slightest. Kirsten and the baby had been home for a little over a week, and Sandy had insisted that Kirsten stay in bed for most of that week. His mother was still there, and was helping out with the baby so that Kirsten could rest.
Ryan had recruited Summer and Marissa to help him finish the nursery, and even talked Seth into helping. They had made signs to welcome home Kirsten and Emily, and when Kirsten had walked in the door, Emily cradled in her arms, and Sandy's arm wrapped protectively around her waist, the girls had fussed over the tiny baby.
"Why don't we move this upstairs?" Sandy had said immediately. "So that Kirsten can lie down?" It was posed as a question, but everyone knew that it was an order. Kirsten was to go lay down and rest, and the kids were supposed to let her. Sandy had tucked her in and she had watched, still weak and exhausted, from her bed as the four kids each took a turn in holding the baby.
On the second day that Kirsten was home, Julie had burst into her bedroom, carrying too many bags to count.
"What, did you buy out Baby Gap?" Kirsten asked, only slightly kidding as Julie pulled out her loot.
"Look how adorable this is!" Julie exclaimed holding up a pink sleeper. "I just couldn't resist picking up a few things."
"A few things?" Kirsten repeated incredulously.
"Okay, more than a few," Julie corrected. "But just look how darling this is!" Kirsten had to admit, Julie's taste was impeccable and the clothing and toys were all adorable.
"Thank you Julie," Kirsten said.
"Don't mention it," Julie said waving her hand to dismiss the comment. "Now, can I hold her?" Kirsten nodded.
"She's in the bassinet," she said pointing. Julie walked over to the bassinet and reached in and gently lifted up the baby.
"Oh Kirsten," Julie said taking a seat in the rocking chair that Sandy had bought while Kirsten was in the hospital. "Oh, she's so beautiful." Kirsten beamed proudly.
"Thank you," Kirsten replied.
"Oh, it makes me want another one," Julie said wistfully. When she noticed Kirsten's horror-stricken look, she quickly reassured her. "Your father certainly doesn't. But he is excited about having a granddaughter. It's all he can talk about." Kirsten raised an eyebrow at this, but didn't comment. "I was thinking, when you're up for it of course, we can go shopping? You still need a baby bag, and Prada has an absolutely must have diaper bag…that is, as long as you want to go shopping. I know that Hailey is in town, and…"
"Julie," Kirsten interrupted. "I would love to go shopping with you." It was Julie's turn to beam as she glanced down at the now sleeping baby in her arms.
After Julie had left, came Hailey, anxious to hold her niece as much as possible before she had to return to Japan.
"Oh Kiks," Hailey had breathed. "She looks just like you." After Hailey had been in Kirsten's room for about an hour, Sandy had come in and kicked her out, claiming that Kirsten needed to rest without any interruptions.
"Overprotective much?" Hailey had sneered as she reluctantly handed the baby back to Sandy. He had instructed Hailey to grab a few baby items that were scattered around, brought Emily over to Kirsten, who gave the baby a soft kiss on the head before settling down into her covers and watching as her sister and husband left.
On the third day, as Kirsten once again slept, Seth and Ryan had been left in charge of the baby while the Nana made dinner.
"She's crying, Ryan, why is she crying?" Ryan shook his head, not knowing the first thing about babies. It took more than a year, but it suddenly hit him how different his life would have been if Teresa would have had the baby. He didn't know if he could have done this, watched this tiny person and been completely in charge of their well-being. If anything happened with Emily, he knew that he could run her into the kitchen for the Nana to fix, or in case of an emergency, run upstairs to Kirsten.
"She's a baby Seth, she cries," Ryan said exasperated as he picked up Emily. "Maybe she needs her diaper changed?"
"Dude, that's all you," Seth said backing away from his brother and baby sister.
"She's hungry," Sophie's voice interrupted them. "Take her upstairs to Kirsten so that she can feed her." Ryan, happy to have gotten out of changing her diaper, nodded and carried Emily up to Kirsten and Sandy's bedroom. He opened the door and the baby's crying woke Kirsten up immediately.
"Sorry to wake you," Ryan apologized. "The Nana said that she's hungry." Kirsten nodded, and sat up and reached out her arms for Ryan to hand her the baby. Ryan began to back out of the room to give Kirsten her privacy. "I'll leave you alone."
"No, please stay," Kirsten said softly. "Unless, you don't want to."
"No, I just…it's okay with you?"
"Please," Kirsten motioned to the chair and Ryan pulled it up to her bed and took a seat.
Hailey left on the fifth day, and Kirsten had finally insisted to Sandy that she was okay, and that she could co-exist with the rest of her family.
"I feel like I've been in bed forever," Kirsten complained. She put on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt and threw on a robe and went downstairs to say goodbye to her sister.
"Bye Hails," Kirsten said wrapping her arms around her. "Thank you for coming."
"Like I would be anywhere else," Hailey said placing a kiss on her sister's cheeks. "I'll be back soon."
On the sixth day, Sandy found Kirsten and his mother in the kitchen together laughing. He heard Seth come up behind him, and he stopped his son before he went in there.
"Look at that," Sandy said pointing into the kitchen where Kirsten was learning how to cook from his mother. Sandy was holding the baby, swaying gently so that she wouldn't wake up.
"Is the world ending?" Seth asked softly looking out the window to check to see that the sky hadn't fallen. "Mom's cooking, and the Nana is teaching her?"
"Crazier things have happened," Sandy replied shaking his head. He walked into the kitchen with the baby, and Kirsten looked up and beamed at him.
"I'm learning to cook," she said proudly. "Maybe I'll be able to make Emily cookies."
"You never learned to cook for me," Seth pouted. Kirsten laughed, a crystal laugh that Sandy hadn't heard in awhile, and glided across the kitchen to kiss her son on the cheek.
"I tried, honey," she said with a shrug. "But I'm making them for you too. I can send them to you when you leave for college."
"How's she doing Ma?" Sandy asked coming to inspect the batter that Kirsten had been mixing. There were no egg shells floating in there, much to his surprise.
"She's good, much better than the last time that I tried to teach her, and even better than Rebecca when I tried to teach her oh so long ago," Sophie didn't even realize she had said something wrong until she noticed that everyone else in the kitchen had stiffened at the sound of Rebecca's name. One of Sophie's forms of torturing Kirsten throughout the years had been to bring up Sandy's ex-girlfriends and to compare her to them in an unfavorable light. It was meant to be an olive branch, Sophie bringing up Rebecca, whom she had adored, and instead of reminding Kirsten of all the things that Rebecca did right and Kirsten did wrong, Sophie had instead remarked on something that Kirsten was doing better than Rebecca.
Unfortunately, it struck a nerve that Sophie didn't even know existed in her son and his family. Emily whimpered in her father's now tense arms, and Kirsten wiped her hands on her apron and forced a smile in Sophie's direction.
"What now Sophie?" She asked.
It was later that night, when Sophie found Sandy sitting out on the patio staring at the ocean that she finally asked what had happened in the kitchen.
"What did I say wrong?" Sophie asked as she sat down next to him.
"What?" Sandy asked turning his attention to his mother.
"In the kitchen earlier, when Kirsten was making the cookies. Everyone got very tense, what did I say wrong?" Sandy sighed.
"Rebecca."
"She still causes that much tension after all these years?" Sophie asked surprised.
"No," Sandy shook his head. "She came back around Valentine's day."
"What did you do?" Sophie asked in a soft voice. When he didn't answer, she asked again more urgently. "Sanford David Cohen, what did you do?"
"I slept with her." He leaned forward placing his elbows on his knees and burying his head in his hands. Sophie covered her mouth with her hand and settled back against the chair.
"Kirsten found out, I'm assuming?"
"I told her."
"And she forgave you?" Sandy nodded.
"She was trying to decide what to do about the whole thing when she found out that she was pregnant," Sandy explained. "Yes, she forgave me."
"Did the boys…did the boys find out?" Sandy nodded sadly. "What did they…how did they…"
"Seth didn't talk to me for months. And still, now, they don't look at me like they used to. Neither does Kirsten for that matter."
"How could you Sandy?" His mother asked shaking her head. "How could you do that to Kirsten?"
"It was the biggest mistake of my life," Sandy replied. "It just happened so fast, and then…I regretted it as soon as it had happened. I never wanted to hurt Kirsten, I love her so much."
"But you did hurt her," Sophie said. "You did. Don't forget that. She might have forgiven you, but don't take her for granted again. Remember that you could have lost her. Remember how easy it would have been for her to not forgive you, take your kids away."
On the eighth day, Sophie had placed a hand on Kirsten's arm and smiled at her.
"Thank you for forgiving him," she said softly. "I know how hard that must have been." She didn't say anything else, but instead walked out of the room, leaving Kirsten behind stunned. She had figured, unfairly she knew, that if Sophie found out about Sandy and Rebecca, she would have found some way to make it Kirsten's fault.
"What's wrong?" Ryan asked nervously when he found Kirsten still shell shocked standing in the living room. "Are you okay?"
"Yes," Kirsten said snapping out of her daze. "Yes, I'm okay. " She smiled at him, and placed an arm around his shoulder. "Is dinner ready?" Ryan nodded and the two made their way into the kitchen where Sophie had made dinner. She was getting ready to go back to Miami in a few days, and had started to make all kinds of meals to be frozen and unthawed.
"No offense dear," she said to Kirsten. "But your meals aren't quite ready for human consumption yet. You don't go from finger painting to masterpieces if you know what I mean." Kirsten had nodded and promised to continue to work on her culinary skills.
Sophie left two days later. Sandy had driven her to the airport, but not before she fussed over her granddaughter.
"Take lots of pictures and send them to me," she instructed.
"Of course," Kirsten said smiling.
"Ma, relinquish the baby over to Kirsten, or else you're going to miss your flight," Sandy said standing by the door. Ryan was going to ride with him, and he had already taken some bags out to the car.
"Fine, fine," Sophie said giving the baby one more kiss before handing her back to Kirsten. She gave Seth a hug goodbye, and then kissed Kirsten on the cheek before leaving with Sandy.
"So," Seth said wrapping an arm around his mother. "And then there were five."
Five, Kirsten thought. She had gotten so used to there being just three, and then it had taken awhile, but four had seemed right, and now there was five. And five was just perfect.
"Yes," Kirsten said smiling at her son. "And then there were five."
Okay, I'm thinking maybe one or two more chapters. Let me know what you think.