A/N: Girls, in case I don't say it often enough, thanks so much for reading my story! It makes me happy to hear how much you're enjoying it!

And I'm so thrilled you love Katrina as much as I do! I wish you could see her in my mind…she's cute as pie:) I was telling Gracie a while backthat sometimes, I feel like Katrina dominates the whole story. But clearly there are no complaints about that since you all love this little girl so much…so I'll be happy to write her as much as I feel like it LOL! It's just that I've ALWAYS wanted to see how Rafe and Alison would be as parents, and since PC never gave us that chance, it's up to me to fix that problem lol!

Now, one more thing: I've made up my own history when it comes to Rafe's family, which you may be familiar with if you can still remember my first Rali story. In the next few chapters, I'll be exploring more of Rafe's past. Please let me know if there's any confusion or questions, or if you just need a little clarification, and I'll do my best to clear things up! Or if there is anything in particular you would like to hear more about...just let me know!

Well, until 18!

Changes 17

After checking out of the hotel, Rafe rented a car and drove them to his old home. It was strange driving back, seeing all of the familiar road signs and landmarks. Apparently, not much had changed around here since his last visit.

Rafe turned off the main street and onto a private road leading through a wooded area. The road was full of many twists and turns, winding its way around the trees. Finally, there was a clearing.

Rafe continued to follow the path, driving under an arch that had the words "Kovich Manor" carved into the black iron rail.

"This is the longest driveway ever!" Katrina said from the back.

Rafe laughed. "We're almost there, Princess."

"The grounds looked well-kept," Alison said, looking out at the grassy fields surrounding the property.

"I've had someone keep an eye on the place," Rafe explained.

"Daddy! Look!" Katrina shouted, pointing excitedly.

"There it is," Rafe announced. And sure enough, over the hill and hiding behind some trees, a house slowly came into view. The closer they got to it, the bigger it appeared.

Alison gasped. "Oh my god. Rafe, I knew it was big but I never imagined it was quite so grand!"

The house was very majestic, and obviously very old, as Rafe's family had lived there for generations. But it was obvious it had undergone many improvements throughout the years, making it more modern with changing times.

"It looks like a giant dollhouse," Katrina declared.

Rafe drove around to the front and into the circular driveway, stopping just in front of the house under the shade of a huge tree. He looked to the back and gave Katrina a smile. "How about we go check out this oversized dollhouse?"

"Yeah!" Katrina cheered, unbuckling her seatbelt and opening the car door.

By the time Rafe and Alison had gotten out of the car, Katrina was already up on the porch, repeatedly turning the locked doorknob.

"I suppose the luggage can wait," Rafe said with a laugh, seeing how anxious his daughter was to get inside.

Rafe took Alison's hand, leading her to the house. "Watch that bottom step. It's a little loose."

"Daddy! Come on! Open the door!"

"Alright, alright, I'm coming." Rafe patted his shirt pocket, then checked the pockets of his jeans.

Alison watched as Rafe frantically checked and rechecked every pocket on his body. "Rafe? You do have the key, don't you?"

He patted his shirt pocket once again. "Oh no."

"Rafe! Tell me you didn't lose the key!"

Rafe looked at her sheepishly. "I left it."

"At the hotel?"

"No. In Port Charles."

"WHAT?"

Rafe started to laugh, pulling the key out from his shirt pocket. "Just kidding."

"Rafe Kovich!" Alison gave him a smack on his arm. "Not funny!"

Katrina laughed. "That was a good one, Daddy!"

"Okay, enough joking around," he said with a laugh, putting the key into the lock and turning the doorknob.

Katrina helped push the door in and was the first inside. Rafe motioned for Alison to go ahead. He followed, closing the door behind them.

"Wow," Katrina whispered, looking around at how big this place was.

Alison walked over to the windows, opening the blinds to let a little sunshine in. All of the furniture was covered in dusty sheets, and there were spider webs in every corner. The wallpaper looked old and was peeling in several places. But despite all this, she thought the place was still beautiful. It had a certain charm to it.

Rafe thought going home wouldn't be such a big deal, but the moment he stepped inside, all he could think about was growing up in here.

Looking at the staircase, he could remember running up and down them as a child, even sliding down the banister a time or two when no one was watching.

Above them hung the familiar crystal chandelier. He thought of the time he threw a ball in the house and it broke a piece of it off by accident. He had been too scared to say anything to his father about it, knowing how many times he was told not to throw that ball inside.

Over by the window, he saw the old blue cushion in the window seat. It was a place his mother would sit often, waiting for his father to come home, and after his death, to remember.

"Rafe?"

Rafe turned around, realizing Alison had spoken his name. "Yeah?"

Alison walked over to him, putting a hand on his arm. "Are you okay? You just got really quiet all of a sudden."

"I'm fine. It's just being here after so long…you know?"

Alison nodded. Somehow she knew once Rafe walked through that door, he'd be flooded with memories, some good, and others sad. Alison smiled, trying to lighten the mood. "Well how about you show us around? Give us the grand tour?"

"Yeah! Give us the grand tour!" Katrina hopped up and down.

Rafe smiled. "Okay. Right this way."

Rafe showed them just about everything.

Alison realized there were many more rooms in this house than she thought. It seemed like every time they turned a corner, there was another room. It reminded her a lot of her nana's mansion, the way it was so big, only this house felt more like a home. The mansion had always felt lonely, while the manor felt inviting.

The living room was probably the biggest room. A brick fireplace stood in the center, which Alison imagined must have kept everyone warm during the cold Romanian winters. By the window, an old Victrola sat on a table. And according to Rafe, it still played music.

Rafe showed them the kitchen and told them about their cook Corinna, who always had time to make Rafe a peanut butter sandwich.

He showed them around the dining area, where a beautiful antique wood and glass cabinet held precious china and dinnerware, imported all the way from London.

He showed them the library, full of books his mother especially enjoyed to read, and down the hall, the study, where he remembered his father spending a lot of time in.

As they made their way to the staircase, Katrina stopped in the hallway, pausing to look at a painting on the wall.

The painting was of a beautiful woman with long, dark hair and wearing a white, silky dress. She had seen pictures of her before, but never quite like this one.

"Daddy?"

"Yes, Princess?"

"Is that Grandma?"

Rafe walked over to the painting to get a closer look. He smiled, remembering this painting. He hadn't thought about it in years. "Yes. That's your grandmother."

Katrina smiled at her father. "She's pretty!"

Alison joined them, getting a look as well. "Oh, Rafe, she's so beautiful. We'll definitely have to take this back home to Port Charles with us."

"My uncle painted this. He gave it to her as a birthday present."

"Daddy, what's that say?" Katrina pointed to some words at the bottom.

Rafe read from the inscription.

"To Kat: May you be as happy tomorrow as you are today. Love, Martin"

Katrina looked up at her father in confusion. "That's not her name. Her name is Katrina like me. It's missing some letters!"

Rafe laughed. "That was just her nickname, Princess."

"What's a nickname?"

"Oh, you know, just some other name you might call someone. Like how we call your brother 'Gabe'. It's short for Gabriel. And like how I call you 'Princess'."

"And like how you call Mommy 'Angel'?" she asked, grinning widely.

Rafe smiled, scooping her up in his arms. "That's right."

"Daddy?"

"Yes?"

"I think I'll call her Grandma Kat, so that way, you won't confuse this Katrina," she pointed to herself, "with that Katrina," she said, pointing to the painting.

Rafe and Alison both laughed.

"Well that's a good idea, Princess. I think my mother would like to be called that."

"Can we go see upstairs now?" Katrina begged.

"Of course."

Upstairs, he showed them all of the rooms, pointing out who slept in which room.

Katrina decided her favorite room was the one by the staircase, and she was excited to learn that this was actually her daddy's old room!

"I wanna sleep in YOUR old room, Daddy!" she begged.

Rafe smiled. "I think that can be arranged."

Outside, Rafe couldn't wait to show Alison his mother's garden, filled with beautiful roses. Alison was impressed that the garden still looked beautiful and not overrun with weeds at all.

Back inside, after bringing in their bags from the car, Alison whipped out a box of noodles and a jar of sauce from her suitcase.

"I don't know about you two, but I'm starving. Pasta, anyone?"

"Sounds great," Rafe said with a smile. Alison sure thought of everything. He hadn't even thought of what they would eat yet!

A few seconds later, Alison poked her head back inside the den. "Oh, I forgot to tell you. I couldn't find any toilet paper in the bathroom, so I put some in there."

Rafe had to think about that for a moment. "Where did you get toilet paper?"

"I snagged some from the hotel. You know, until we can go get supplies," she explained.

Alison headed back to the kitchen, leaving Rafe grinning. Yep, Alison thought of everything. What would he do without her?

"Daddy, who's this?" Katrina asked, picking up a framed photograph sitting on the end table. "Is that you when you were a little kid?"

Rafe walked over to where Katrina stood and took the photograph, getting a closer look. Rafe had almost forgotten all about this photograph. In the picture, Rafe was smiling, sitting on his father's shoulders. It was one of his mother's favorite pictures.

"Yeah, that's me when I was little. And that's your grandpa."

"How old were you, Daddy?"

"I think I was your age," he said with a smile.

Katrina looked up at her father and grinned. "I wanna see more pictures!"

"Alright. There's lot of pictures of here." Rafe reached up and grabbed a photo album from the shelf. A few years ago, he had sent for some of his mother's photo albums, but there were many more here that he hadn't looked at in years.

Rafe took a seat on the couch, inviting Katrina to sit beside him. He cracked open the photo album, and together, they looked at some very old pictures.

Rafe didn't recognize any of the faces. They were family members long gone, some pictures taken as early as the late 1800s.

"Who's that lady, Daddy?" Katrina asked, pointing to a woman in the album. "She looks like Lucy!"

Katrina wasn't kidding. Rafe had to blink his eyes to make sure they weren't playing tricks on him.

"You're right. She does look Lucy!" Rafe carefully took the photograph out of the album, flipping it over to read the back where he hoped a name would be. He smiled at the irony of it all. "Lucia Kovich."

"Who's she?"

"Just one of our ancestors. Probably a distant cousin."

They looked at pictures for a little while longer. Then suddenly, Katrina moved the album aside and got up from the couch.

"Daddy, can we look at pictures later?" she asked.

"Sure. You want to do something else?"

"I just gotta pee!"

Rafe laughed. "You remember where the bathroom is?"

"Yeah!" Katrina said as she ran out of the room.

Rafe looked again at the picture of Lucia Kovich. He decided to show Alison.

Walking into the kitchen, he saw Alison had already found her way around.

"This has to be the biggest kitchen I've ever cooked in," Alison said with a laugh when she saw him standing in the doorway.

Alison went back to the stove, stirring the noodles she had in a boiling pot of water.

Rafe walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her from behind. He gave the back of her shoulder a kiss. "Well I can't wait to eat. I'm suddenly very hungry."

Alison turned around and looked at him. "You won't have to wait too much longer. I'll have this ready in no time," she said with a smile, then giving him a kiss.

"Hey, I want to show you something."

"Okay."

Rafe handed her the photograph. "Look at this picture."

Alison took the photograph, studying it for a moment. "Is that Lucy? Wait, can't be. This is a pretty old photograph."

"Her name is Lucia Kovich. Can you believe that?"

"The resemblance is uncanny."

"Not to mention the name. I'll have to bring this home to Lucy. She'll get a kick out of it."

"Knowing Lucy, she'll probably try to channel her through a séance or something."

Rafe took a seat at the table, looking at the picture again. "You know, I never thought about it until now. Lucy never did get to see this place. I mean, she's a Kovich too. This house belongs to her just as much as it does to me. It has a lot of history when it comes to our family."

"Well, that's true, but Lucy never grew up here."

"Right."

Rafe looked like he was going to say something else, but he remained quiet, staring at the photograph of Lucia Kovich.

Just then, Katrina ran into the room, running to her mother and tugging on her dress. "Mommy, is it almost ready?"

"Yep, almost. You hungry, baby?"

"Yeah! My stomach is grumbly!"

Rafe laughed. "It's 'grumbly' eh?"

"Yeah. Can't you hear it growling?"

"No, but only because mine is growling louder."

Katrina laughed at her dad, then pulled out the chair to take the seat next to him.

A few minutes later, Alison announced that it was ready. She placed three plates on the table and joined them. And together, they had lunch.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Later that evening, after Alison had tucked Katrina in for the night, she meandered downstairs, wondering where Rafe had gone off too.

"Rafe?" she called out, but there was no answer.

It was a big house, and it was possible that Rafe could be just about anywhere and not hear her calling. Then she noticed the back door ajar. Rafe must have stepped outside. Alison opened the screen door and stepped out onto the porch. Sure enough, there was Rafe. He was sitting on the porch rail with his head against the post, looking up at the sky.

Rafe had been pretty quiet since they arrived at the house. Several times throughout the day, she'd catch Rafe staring into space, lost in his thoughts.

"Warm night, huh?" Alison said.

Rafe turned at the sound of her voice. "You can turn that fan on," he said, pointing up at the ceiling fan.

Alison flipped the switch on the wall, and then took a seat on the porch swing.

"Katrina asleep?"

"Yeah. She was very excited to be sleeping in her daddy's old bed."

Rafe looked back up to the sky, lost in his own little world again.

They said nothing for a while, hearing only the sound of the crickets chirping and the fan whirling above them.

"Look at those stars, Alison," he finally said. "You forget there are so many of them until you look at them in a place where the city lights aren't in the way."

"Rafe?"

Rafe turned to Alison. "Yeah?"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm fine. This place just makes me think of my parents, that's all." Rafe's attention turned back to the sky.

"No, Rafe, don't do this to me. I've known you long enough to know when something's bothering you. So what is it?"

Rafe looked at the fields and trees in the distance. The moon was shining bright tonight, casting a silver light over everything. "I think I made a mistake," he said softly.

"What do you mean?"

He turned his head, looking Alison in the eye. "Deciding to sell this place."

Rafe stood up and moved to sit in the swing with Alison. "You warned me about this. The day I told you I'd sell this house, you asked me if I was sure it was what I wanted to do. I remember what I told you, that my home is in Port Charles with you, and that's true. But I lied when I said it was time to let this place go. I remember what it was like growing up here. My parents loved this place. And I just keep wondering what they must be thinking of me. My family has lived here for centuries, Alison. Centuries! And I'm just going to throw it all away? I mean, what the hell was I thinking?"

Alison put her hands over Rafe's. "Rafe, sweetheart, you don't have to sell this house if don't want to. It's not too late to change your mind."

"Yes it is, Alison. The whole point of this trip, the reason why I decided to sell it in the first place was so that we'd have the money to make payments on our new house. If I don't sell this place, where would we get the money, Alison?"

"We'd manage, just like everybody else."

"I don't know what to do, Alison."

Alison linked her arm around his, holding him tight. "You know what I think you should do?"

He looked at her and gave a little smile. "What's that?"

"I think you should stop worrying about all of this tonight. You don't have to make a decision tomorrow. There's plenty of time for that. I think we should spend the time we're here fixing this place up, because it needs it. And we'll think of something to do. If you don't want to let go of this place, no one is going to force you to, Rafe. We'll figure out a way to keep it. But for now, I think we should just sleep."

Rafe smiled. "You're right. We can worry about this another day."

"You wanna feel the baby?" she said softly, changing the subject.

Rafe placed his hand on her belly, feeling his son kick inside her. "Well we might have sleep on our mind, but I think this little guy's ready to play."

"He just takes after his daddy, that's all."

"Well I'm sure he does but he's going to need to learn that once it's bedtime, playtime is over."

Alison laughed out loud. "You're one to talk! I think Daddy is still trying to learn that lesson."

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh come on. Don't try to deny all those times you wake me up in the middle of the night to play your little game of spoon and fork."

Rafe looked at her quizzically, laugher in his eyes. "Spoon and fork?"

Alison grinned. "Call it what you want."

"Well I know you enjoy it," Rafe countered. "Can you really say you'd rather I didn't play after my bedtime?"

He never gave Alison a chance to answer as he moved closer and kissed her lips.

Rafe slowly pulled away, looking into her eyes as his thumb brushed the soft skin of her cheek.

"Come on," Alison whispered as she slowly rose to her feet. She held out her hand to Rafe, and together, they headed back inside.