EVAN has logged in
AARON has logged in

Aaron: Hey, man, not grounded I see?
Evan: Nah, things probably aren't gonna be good though
Aaron: I know, apparently we're coming over to yours tonight.
Evan: Thought your mum and dad were out for dinner?
Aaron: They are, we're coming over when they get back.
Evan: Cool. You reckon we're in trouble?
Aaron: We usually are when we're all getting together like this.
Evan: Can't think what we've done though
Aaron: Hmm...let's see...could it be something to do with your outburst at Evie earlier?
Evan: Nah, had that talk with mum and dad earlier. They're trying to coax her out of her room at the moment to talk. No...wait...they've given up...they think she's asleep.
Aaron: She's faking.
Evan: I know, but they're not gonna wake her up if they think she's asleep.
Aaron: I guess.

EVIE has logged on

Aaron: I knew she wasn't asleep!

ASHLEY has logged on

Evie: Hey
Ashley: Hey
Evie: Listen, I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to yell at him in front of you like that.
Ashley: No problem, I can see where he was coming from though.
Evie: What?
Ashley: We miss you, Evie. We hardly see you now.
Evie: Well, if you'd just learn to accept Kerry then it wasn't going to happen in the first place.
Ashley: Look, let's not argue now. We're all in trouble tonight anyway.
Evie?
Ashley: Your dad just called my dad. Turns out we're all round yours tonight for a "talk"
Evie: Great.
Ashley: We haven't had a big talk like this since the time we all took a ride on Mr Elliot's lawnmower hehe
Evie: I still say that looked too much like a car to be a lawnmower.
Ashley: Thank god it wasn't as expensive as one, otherwise we'd still be getting no allowance for it.
Evie: Yeah...how long did your parents keep that up?
Ashley: Three weeks, yours?
Evie: Four.
Ashley: Lucky us.
Evie: So...friends?
Ashley: Friends.
Evie: Good.
Ashley: Have you spoken to Evan yet?

EVIE has logged off.

Whilst they waited for the others to arrive, Jack was carrying Amy through to the kitchen, where Kate had prepared a bottle for her before she went to bed. As he did, he arm brushed against the wall, rattling a photo on there. He turned to look at it. It was the picture of Kate and the twins when they were three, all wearing snowsuits when they had been on holiday in Lapland one christmas.

Next to it was the one of Jack and Kate on their tenth wedding anniversary in Hawaii, kissing infront of a sunset. It had been a good holiday for them, with the children staying with Charlie and Claire. In fact, they were sure that Amy had been conceived there. When Kate had told Jack, the soda he had been drinking at the time had shot up his nose and they both started to laugh.

Then there was a picture of Kate and the older two girls making cakes in the kitchen. Evie was standing on a stool, but Jasmine was so small that she was sitting up on the kitchen counter, her legs barely reaching the edge. She couldn't have been more that two years old. Evie was sneaking her finger into the bowl of icing that Kate was mixing, and all of them had flour stains over their freckled cheeks.

Another photo showed them walking along throught the park. Jasmine was on Jack's shoulders, and each of them were holding a twins hand.

He sighed. All of these pictures showed his twins loving each other. When had that stopped?

As he stepped into the kitchen, he saw Kate rubbing circles in her temples. Immediately, he frowned, and placed Amy down in her high chair as he went over to Kate. Standing infront of her, he put his hands on her upper arms.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked quietly.

Kate sighed heavily. "Everything's going wrong." She said simply. "We always said that the twins would drift apart completely when the world came to an end."

Jack gave her a soft smile, remembering that conversation from only last year, when the twins were inseperable. In fact, last week the twins had been inseperable. He kissed her forehead, and she brough her hands down. "Don't worry." He told her. "Things are going to work out again. They just need to apologize to each other."

Kate nodded. "You're right." She realised, and they shared a kiss until Amy began complaining from her high chair. Kate had to laugh. "What's the matter, honey?" She asked. "Don't like sharing Mommy and Daddy, do you?" Amy giggled, having acheieved her goal of some fuss, and let Kate feed her easily. "Now, I need you to go to sleep easily tonight, cause Mommy and Daddy are busy, Ok?" Amy just stared at her with curious eyes. "I'll take that as a yes." Kate assumed, with a smile.

Jack watched with a smile as Amy reached up a hand and balled it into Kate's hair, twirling the curls in her fingers as she always did. He stroked the soft hair on her head, and she removed her hand from Kate's hair, grabbing his finger instead. "At least you're not arguing with anyone, Angel." Jack said sweetly to her.

"What a Daddy's girl." Kate teased.

"One more to add to the list." Jack said. All of his girls were daddy's girl.

"Not for long." Kate shook her head. "This one's gonna be a Momma's girl."

"You're so sure about that, aren't you." Jack cocked his head to one side. "What do you think, Amy?" Jack asked in a cooing voice. "Momma's girl or Daddy's girl?"

Amy looked between the two of them, and then pointed in another direction. They turned to see what she was looking at, and found that one of her teddy bears was on the kitchen floor. Jack went and retrived it, hanging it to Amy who cuddled it tiredly.

"Awww, someone's tired." Kate said softly as Amy curled up against her, resting her head comfortably on her shoulder.

"Oh, Amy, don't ever grow up." Jack said, leaning to kiss her forehead with a smile. "Oh, I almost forgot." Jack realised. "We have a dinner to go to on Saturday." He told her.

Kate raised an eyebrow at him. "What's this in aid of? Not 'Jack's want to score' again, is it?"

"Of course not. I don't need to take you out to dinner to score." He reminded her.

"But it will help your cause." She reminded him.

"Trust me, I know. It just makes it all the more fun, but one of the funders for the surgery is presenting awards for outstanding medical achievement, and we have a presentation dinner to go to." He told her proudly.

Her jaw dropped. "Oh my god!" She said with a grin. "Jack! That's fantastic!" She said, hugging him.

"We get wined and dined for free, so we're taking advantage of it. I mentioned problems getting a babysitter, but they said that children will be allowed."

"Maybe it's a good idea to leave Amy with someone though." Kate said, but then her mood changed again. "An award! Oh my god that's ... wow!"

"And you are going to need a nice formal dress." Jack told her, watching her smile.

"Wait a second, does this mean that you're getting our son to wear a suit?" Kate asked, knowing how much any of the children hated to wear fancy clothes.

"I don't mind that challenge, because you're going to be the ones getting our daughters into dresses." He reminded her. "Good luck with that."

Aaron was sitting with Taylor up at the breakfast bar in the kitchen. He had managed to make them some fish-finger sandwiches and chips for dinner. Charlie had told him to do some before he went out, telling them that they were going to Jack and Kate's when they got home.

"Aaron?" Taylor asked. "Why are you mad at Mom?" He had finished with his dinner, if they could call it that, and was just waiting for Aaron now.

"I'm not mad at Mom." Aaron said, taking another bite of his sandwich.

"But you were cross with her this morning." Taylor pointed out.

"I wasn't cross with Mom, I was mad at someone else." He explained.

"Who?"

"Someone." Aaron said. "Does it matter?"

"Was it Dad?"

In a strange way, Aaron felt compelled to say 'yes'. But he wasn't mad at Dad. He was mad at Thomas, and he wasn't his dad. Charlie was his dad.

"No, it wasn't Dad."

"Then who was it?" Taylor asked him.

"It doesn't matter." Aaron said. "I'm not mad anymore." He tried to sound convincing. The phone rang off in the hall, and Aaron went to answer it. "Don't eat my sandwich!" He called back to Taylor as he left him at the breakfast bar. "Hello?" He said picking up the phone.

"Is Claire Littleton around?" A voice asked.

Aaron looked slightly confused. "Littleton is her maiden name. Her surname is Pace now." He told the caller. "And no, she's not here. Who's calling?"

"I know she doesn't want to talk to me, but I need to speak to her. Do you know her, are you her friend?" The voice said, almost desperately.

"I'm her son." Aaron said. "Aaron."

"Aaron? How old are you, Aaron?" The caller asked, sounding like he was trying to test the name.

"Thirteen." The phone went silent. "Who is this?" He asked. "If you're selling something, we're not interested..."

"I'm not selling anything. When Claire comes back, just tell her that Thomas called for her." The voice said.

"Thomas? You're him, aren't you!" Aaron said down the phone, and the person hung up without saying another word. Aaron crushed the phone back to the handset. Thomas. That was him. He had just called here, and he had answered. He had just had the first conversation with his real father that he had ever had.