Title: Babies of McLeod

Name: April

Summary: Really, shouldn't the title be enough?

Nick Ryan sat on the bed, leaning in to kiss his very pregnant wife. "I should be back in a few hours." She nodded, not really into talking the past week, a rarity for her. "I love you."

"I love you," Tess replied softly.

Nick kissed her stomach. "I love you both. Stay put until I return." He was hesitant about going anywhere this close to Tess's due date, especially since she was supposed to stay in bed as much as possible. She'd reached the nine month mark two days before, with twins no less, and she was exhausted, hurting all over. He felt guilty about leaving, but Wilgul needed supplies and he was going to pick up some for Kilarney as well. He kissed Tess's cheek again and went out to where Meg was making breakfast. "Thanks for keeping an eye on her."

"She'll be fine." Nick was jumpy, even more so than his brother. "We'll take good care of her."

"You always do." He didn't really remember Tess's mother; he'd been very young when Tess and Ruth had left Drover's. Claire's mother had died when Claire wasn't much older than Charlotte, so Meg had 'adopted' Claire and, when Tess returned to the property, Tess as well. He had no qualms about leaving her at Drover's as he would have if she'd been alone at Wilgul.

Alex Ryan reached out to his wife's side of the bed and found it empty. He opened his eyes, looking around the room to find her sitting in front of the open window in the clothes she'd slept in. "Claire, it's cold."

"I'm hot."

He left it alone, knowing it wouldn't do him any good to argue with her, especially not lately. "Hungry?" She made a face, causing him to frown. When she was pregnant with Charlotte, she hadn't been able to keep anything down, but, this time, she hadn't had one day of being sick...until today. "How long have you been up?"

"Awhile."

He nodded. "Why don't you stay up here, get some rest? I can go get Charlotte."

"I can do it." She got dressed, going to her daughter's room and he couldn't help but look upwards, as if asking for help, and dressed, going downstairs.

After Charlotte came downstairs, Claire took a tray to Tess. "How are you feeling?"

"Pregnant. You?"

"The same."

Tess nodded before letting all her doubts and fears spill as she always had with Claire. "Liz's words just keep running through my mind. I've never stuck with something for longer than nine months. Who am I to think I can do this for eighteen years? I mean, and what happens if Nick and I quarrel and I want to leave? I couldn't very well take the kids away from him like Mum did Jack. I'd be stuck. Or if I lose a child? An accident could happen to either of them. Maybe Nick was lucky; maybe one of mine could die." She looked at Claire, remembered the miscarriage, and knew she'd said too much. "Claire, I..."

"Tess, if you want me to tell you that you're doing the wrong thing, that there's an easy way out of this like there is everytime you get in too deep, I won't. You made a commitment to Nick, a commitment to your kids. You won't bail out when things get too real." She walked out of the room and out of the house.

Meg sighed. Claire always had a stubborn streak, but, with this pregnancy, it seemed that the further she got towards her due date, the harder she became to get along with. Of course, it didn't help that Tess was already becoming a nervous mother or that Charlotte could no longer sit on Claire's lap and Alex seemed a much more interesting playmate. "Meg..." Alex started.

"I'll finish up," she said, taking Alex's place with Charlotte. He went out of the house, to the corral where Claire was standing, her arms up on one of the rails, no longer able to climb up as she usually did, looking through at Phoenix.

"You want to ride her?" Alex asked, his arms enveloping both Claire and his child.

"You know I can't."

"You want to talk about what happened between you and Tess?"

She shrugged him off. "No."

He nodded, sensing the mood he'd finally learned meant 'I love you, but go away'. "I need to go help Amy at Kilarney today. Meg's going to be at the house with the girls. Why don't you take a walk? Might help you feel better." He kissed her cheek and returned to the house.

Meg looked up as he returned. "I'm going to Kilarney. Claire wants to go for a walk. Can you handle Tess?" Meg nodded. Alex picked Charlotte up. "You want to stay here with Meg and Aunt Tess?"

"No."

"Mum will be back in a bit."

"No."

She held on to him until he gave in, as he usually did. "You want to go see Aunt Amy and Ryan?" She looked at him. "With me?" She nodded. "Okay. Go get your gear." She ran to get her little bag she took everywhere with her, liking to carry it because it made her feel like a 'big girl'. "Say bye." Charlotte waved as Alex carried her out the door. "Claire." Claire turned around. "BOM's going too." She nodded, watching her husband and daughter drive out of sight, before she took a walk around the property.

Alex smiled as Charlotte shyly greeted her cousin. "Do you want to play with Ryan?" Charlotte paused. "I'll be right there." He pointed and she nodded. "Okay." He kissed into her hair, leaving her to play with her cousin in care of the nanny.

He smiled at his young tiny sister. When his father's will was first read, he couldn't believe that Drover's lead hand was Harry's daughter. It had taken him awhile to get used to her, as it did for him to get used to most changes. It was impossible not to like her though; she was the perfect mixture of his wife and sister-in-law: Tess's tiny features and big heart, Claire's passion for the land and its inhabitants. "Did you tell Claire why you came?" Amy McGregor asked, coming back up from the barn.

He shook his head. "Things have been so crazy lately. If she knew there was someone out there taking horses...especially if she knew Sandra was back in town..."

She brushed a strand of errant curly hair out of her face. "Now who's Sandra?" Claire had lived with or near her brothers since they were born, Tess for a few years, and she was still trying to catch up with all the stories.

"A girl Claire knew in school. Stole Claire's calves, something about cutting a pony's tail off, tried to date me, dated Dad...basically anything she could do to mess with Claire."

"Sounds like a handful. Where is she?"

"She used to have property in the area, before she and Dad broke up. She went away for awhile; she's living at the Gungellan Hotel now."

"How old is she?"

"Claire's age. Was her best friend in school until the infamous 'pony' incident. Please don't ask her about it." He accented the word please.

She laughed. "Sure." She looked up at the girls. "How's Charlotte holding up?"

He shook his head. "Claire was taking a walk, but Charlotte wouldn't even stay with Meg and Tess. I think because both Claire and Tess are to the point right now that it's hard to play with her, she wants a playmate."

"Today Ryan's it," she said, referring to her only daughter, almost a year younger than Charlotte.

He nodded. "It's been me. Nick and Meg occasionally, but usually me."

She nodded, getting back on the subject of why she'd asked him over. "The constable's supposed to come. Could you stay? You know everyone around here better than I do. I hate to ask..."

"Don't worry about it. Have you tried the chopper? You might could spot them from the air."

"No. No way. No, that's your and Nick's doing..."

He smiled. "Tess is afraid of heights too." Claire wasn't, though; she loved going up with him.

"I'm not afraid of heights; I'm afraid of choppers or planes. I don't mind looking down; I mind not being in control."

"I could teach you how to fly."

"As long as gravity still works, here I am and here I'll stay." He smiled at her, going to check on the chopper.

Claire returned to the yard, willing to admit that she could have been a better sister, but also exhausted. Walking seemed to burn up all her energy these days. She noticed Alex's ute wasn't back yet so she started towards the corral, to at least visit Phoenix if she couldn't ride. The corral was empty and she went to investigate the barn. The horses were still there, but four men were too, each with shotguns.

"Claire."

She looked at the man speaking, unable to place the name, but not caring. "What are you doing?" She wished that she had a shotgun, a stick, anything. She had a pocketknife in her boot, but couldn't get down to get it.

"Don't you recognize me?"

Nick arrived in Gungellan and went to pick up the supplies for Kilarney first. He tensed when he saw Sandra Kinsella, also buying supplies. "Nick." She smiled at him. "Congratulations to you and Tess. A baby. That's really...something."

It took all he had to greet her politely, but it was blown a minute later. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, my new husband and I are moving back home. I am sorry to hear about Harry. Did he..."

"You weren't mentioned in the will, no." His questions about who would actually marry her were answered in the next minute when an all-too familiar face came in.

"Nick," Peter Johnson came in with a smug and satisfied look on his face.

"I thought you went back to your wife and children."

"My girls are at school. How's my daughter?"

"You'd know that better than I would." They hadn't seen Peter since his father's funeral and the anger about Harry's heart attack and Peter's actions still remained. He refused to think of Charlotte as anything but Alex and Claire's daughter, but knew the law didn't see it that way.

"And Claire? I hear she and your brother are finally starting a family of their own. Maybe that he's managed to get Claire pregnant, he won't need my child to make him feel like a father." Nick took a swing, hitting Peter in the stomach, and the brawl was on.