Thanks to everyone who has reviewed! Sorry I can't write more of a note but I'm very pushed for time, so please R &R and more importantly, enjoy! BTW, Darkdestiney2000, the vows in my other story were my parents vows at their wedding last year. I have also done my story on the scene from Stella and Steve's date which is posted up now.
Sam
xxx

The following morning, Stella was up with them all at breakfast. She had been sick again that morning, wondering how she was still finding things to bring up even though she had barely eaten recently. She sat at the breakfast table with the kids whilst Charlie was making them both coffee. Her skin was pale again, but she didn't want to worry the kids.

"Holly, remember that you have to go to the stables tonight." Stella reminded.

"Oh yeah," Holly replied suddenly. "I almost forgot."

Every tuesday evening, Holly went up to the stables just out of town where her horse, Bramber, was kept. She used to take lessons in riding him, but recently she had stopped, as she knew all she needed to know about riding, as she had been riding Bramber since she was seven years old. Now that she had stopped, she went up to clean out the stables, and give Bramber a run over the jumping courses. Sometimes, she went up at weekends with Stella and she would borrow a friends horse and they would go riding in the surrounding forest.

"Here's your coffee." Charlie said, setting it down beside her.

"Oh, I love you." She said thankfully, quickly taking up the mug and drinking from it. When it had settled in her stomach, though, she found herself feeling ill again. Grimacing a little and putting the cup down, she put her hand over her stomach to try and calm it.

"You sure you haven't eaten anything bad?" Charlie asked her for the fifth time.

"Nothing you guys haven't eaten as well." She told him. "It's probably just a bug." She added.

"Just don't pass it on to us." Holly said with a laugh.

"If it was catching, one of you would already have it," Stella pointed out.

She looked at Alex's breakfast, which consists of his usual egg and bacon sandwich. Just the smell of the fried foods made her stomach turn again. Shuddering a little, she groaned at him. "Alex, how can you eat that?" She asked him. "It's disgusting."

He shrugged. "I dunno, it's nice."

'Nice' was the last word that Stella would use to describe it. Distracting herself from his breakfast, she started to think of what to have herself. Standing up, she went over to the counter and started looking through the cupboards.

"What'cha looking for, honey?" Charlie asked over his coffee.

"Breakfast." She said simply.

Charlie stood up, leading her back to her chair and making her sit down. "You sit down, I'll get it." He told her. "What do you want?" He asked her.

Without skipping a beat, she answered. "A peanut butter sandwich with ham and chocolate spread."

Alex choked on his mouthful of sandwich before telling her "You think my breakfast is weird?" Charlie was standing staring at her with the oddest expression.

"You haven't had that in years." He reminded.

"I know." She said, "I could just really go for one right now."

"You mean she's eaten that before?" Alex asked, "And survived?"

"It's lovely." Stella told him.

"It's probably going to give you brain damage." Alex suggested stupidly, finishing up the last of his sandwich. "What kind of crazy craving is that? Sounds like something a pregnant woman would have." He said, then spied the clock on the wall. "Come on, Hols, we're gonna be late."

Holly looked at the clock also, and then at her half eaten breafast. She sighed. "Just because you want to get their early to see Amy." She said in a teasing singsong voice.

The kids disappeared upstairs, while Stella laughed a little at Holly's teasing of Alex. She noticed that Charlie was still staring at her with the same expression. "Whats wrong?" She asked him.

"You haven't had a sandwich with that much filling for years, Stella." He told her. "Thirteen years."

That jogged her memory a little more, but she just continued with a smile. "I know." She said again. "Last time was probably when I was pregnant with Ho-" She stopped mid sentance with a suprised expression on her face.

Charlie raised one eyebrow. "You don't think..." He started.

"I don't know." She said quietly.

"It would explain a lot." Charlie thought out loud. "Being sick, the craving, the fever..." Stella had experienced a fever at the beginnings of both of her pregnancies with the children, and as far as she could remember, they had been the only times she had had one.

"I suppose it's possible." She said, still shocked by the idea of it. "I'm not late though." She told him.

Charlie came around behind her, putting his hands on her shoulders and rubbing them gently. "It's all right." He reassured. "If you are, we can deal with it, if not...then we'll just have to find out what else is making you ill." He assured her.

Stella didn't know what to think of it all. Sure, she loved her kids more than anything, but she hadn't been prepared for another one since Holly had started to get older. The pair of them had always wanted children, but Charlie was scared of turning out like his father, and Stella equally scared of becoming a shadow of her mother, but instead, parenting seemed much more fun then their parents made out. Alex was early an adult himself now, at seventeen years old, and Holly was nearly a teenager; would they be able to cope with another baby? Of course, if she was pregnant, she would find a way to cope, but that didn't change the fact that she and Charlie were not as young as they used to be. She mentally shook herself, what the hell was she thinking? Another child was a blessing, not a curse!

"Charlie," She said softly, but sweetly, pulling him down by the collar of his t-shirt to kiss him. "I love you."

"Love you too." He said, kissing her back. The kiss would have deepened if Stella hadn't suddenly pulled away and rushed into the nearest bathroom, which was just outside of the kitchen off the hallway. Sighing with a smile, Charlie muttered a quiet "Here we go again," before following her.

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

"How's the plan going?"

"Good, sir."

"Good? That doesn't tell me anything."

"Sorry, sir."

"Tell me about the girl, Holly, is she ever alone?"

"Hardly. Her father takes her to school and picks her up every day except for Friday afternoons, where she goes to the Bridger Lock store in town where her mother works."

"Figures. Go on."

"When she isn't with her parents, she's with her brother and the other boys that follow them around."

"Corridors? Between classes?"

"As of Monday morning, she's always been with one of the boys in between classes."

"What about after school? Where does she go?"

"Home, as far as our tailers can tell."

"What does that mean?"

"Now that Charlie takes her to school, the old route isn't used. We tried to pin a tail on him on monday afternoon, but he used a complicated route, like he was trying to lose us. I don't think he saw us."

"You don't think, or you don't know?"

"I'm not sure."

"Whatever. Friday afternoon is the first main rehersal, isn't it?"

"Yes, the songs."

"I don't care what they're rehursing. Just get me in there."

"In there? But Sir- isn't that a bit risky?"

"Risky?"

"The boy... Alex...he might remember you."

"I doubt that. He was just a kid."

"He was eight, sir. I think he'll remember."

"Did I ask you what you thought?"

"No sir."

"Then remember who's paying you for this. Remember what's on the line. I don't think your wife would appreciate it if Daniel never got to see his tenth birthday."

"Sir I-"

"Enough! Tomorrow I'll speak with the girl. She must have one weakness, some time when no ones around to protect her."

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Alex wandered the corridors quickly, weaving his way between the groups of students standing in his way. He spotted Holly's classroom at the end of the corridor, and began dodging the oncoming students even faster. Jason was following, but not managing to dodge as quickly as Alex was, often bumping into the groups of gossipers. When he finally made his way to the door of his sister's classroom, he found a note pinned to the door.

Mrs Sharp's Music Group

Period 3

Please go to room 103 for today's lesson.

Groaning, Alex turned back to Jason, who was finally getting past a group of giggling girls. "Come on!" He said grumpily. "They're in another room."

"Which one?" Jason asked, slightly out of breath as he followed Alex down the nearest flight of stairs.

"103."

"But that's the other side of the school, Alex!" Jason protested wearily.

"Your point being?"

"We're going to be late for Sykes's class!"

Alex stopped on the stairs and turned to Jason. "Jase, if you want to go to class, go. I'm going to find my sister though." Alex said, and darted through another group of students that were coming towards him. With a sigh, Jason carried on following the determined boy.

At the bottom of the stairs he bumped head on into Nick, who was closely followed by Nathan. "Woah!" Alex exclaimed, struggling to balance himself and having to grasp the handrail at the last minute.

"Were where you?" Nathan asked, pulling Nick up from the floor.

"In my Math class, then I went to Holly's class room."

"She's in 103."

"I know that now." Alex said. "That's where I'm going."

"You're a bit late." Nick told him.

"What?"

"We saw the note and figured we'd wait just in case. Good thing we did." Nick said to Alex, who frowned.

"Why? What happened?"

"Come with us." Nathan instructed, and began to lead Alex outside by the nearest door, which took them to a secluded seating area with a rain cover and benches. "When we left our classroom, Holly's class had gone already, but we found her in the corner of the corridor being ...uh...disturbed." He began to explain.

"Disturbed? Who by?" Alex asked concerned.

"We'll call him an old friend of the family." Nick said.