A/N: Erin, I thought you might like that part ;)

Changes - 23

"You're not feeling seasick are you?"

Alison laughed. "Over a little pond? Hardly. The rocking's certainly put Gabe to sleep though." Alison placed a hand on her belly, feeling the rhythm of her son's tiny heartbeat underneath. "Katrina! No, baby!"

"I'm just touching the water, Mommy."

"Don't lean over, Princess. You could fall out."

"Can I row the boat, Daddy?"

"No, you better let me do it. It's not as easy at it looks."

"Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream!" Katrina sang. She was in a very happy mood today.

"Okay, this is it," Rafe said as the boat slowed down and came to a small dock. Rafe stepped out of the boat and reached in to pick up Katrina. "Come on, Princess."

"I want to carry the picnic basket!" she begged.

"How about you carry the blanket?" Alison offered, handing it over to her. Katrina gladly took it, wanting to be a good helper.

Rafe held out his hand and helped Alison get out of the boat. He reached inside and handed her the basket. "I've got to tie up the boat."

"Okay, well you go do that and we'll set up."

"Alright."

Alison gave him a quick kiss. "Come on, sweetie."

Katrina felt like skipping as she followed her mother. "I love picnics!"

"Me too. They're fun! Where should we have our picnic? Pick a spot, baby doll."

"Um…under that tree!"

Alison gave her daughter a smile. "I think that's perfect."

Once under the shade of the tree, Alison set the picnic basket on the ground. "Let's spread this blanket out," she told Katrina, taking the other end of the blanket from her and spreading it out on the ground.

"Alright, let's eat," Rafe said as he walked over. He bent down and gave Katrina several little kisses on her cheek, which made her laugh because it tickled.

"Let me get the food out," Alison said.

"I'm hungry!" Katrina said.

"Well we're just going to have to feed you, aren't we?" Rafe said to her.

"Here, Katrina." Alison handed her a sandwich.

"Ooo! It's PB & J! Mmm, mmm, mmm! I love PB & J! Peanut, peanut butter, and jelly! Peanut, peanut butter, and jelly!" she sang, then taking a big bite out of it.

Rafe and Alison smiled at each other and laughed. It was unfortunate Rafe forgot to bring the video camera.

Katrina was the first to finish eating. The moment she saw a group of ducks coming their way, she decided she wasn't hungry anymore and went off to play with them.

"This one looks like Sigmund!" she laughed.

"Feed them some bread, Princess."

Katrina threw a few bread pieces on the ground and in the water. She laughed as the ducks raced to see who could get to it first.

"So, what do you think of Romania? Or what you've seen of it so far this morning," Rafe asked, turning to Alison.

Alison gave him a smile. "It's very beautiful. It's very beautiful here too. So quiet. Peaceful."

"I used to come here all the time."

Alison grinned widely. "I bet you brought all your girlfriends here, huh?"

Rafe laughed. "What girlfriends? No, I didn't have time for that. I was too busy training."

"Oh come on!" Alison teased, not believing that. "A boat ride. A picnic. A romantic setting. You mean to tell me you didn't take at least one girl here?"

"Only you," he answered. "This was my place. I came here by myself."

"To think?"

"Yeah, or to write, to read, to relax. Basically just to get away from it all."

"Well I love that you're sharing this place with me. And everywhere else we've been to today. You know, it's funny. I've been to Paris, I've been to Rome, I've been to London, but nothing quite compares to here. It's like Romania is Europe's best kept secret."

Rafe laughed. "Yeah, I guess so. Although I could do without the vampire hype. This place attracts some real crazies."

Alison laughed with him. "Well at least the real danger here is over now."

Rafe smiled. "That's right. Now we can just enjoy it."

"Exactly," she said, then kissing him softly.

"Hey! Come feed the duckies with me!" Katrina hollered.

"You go. I'll sit here and watch," Alison said.

"Okay. Coming, Princess."

"Come on, Mommy! Come see the duckies. There's baby duckies!"

"No, I'm just going to watch. Feed them some crumbs for me, okay?"

"Hey, Daddy! Throw them some food! They'll eat it!"

Rafe threw a tiny piece of bread towards a big duck. He quickly gobbled it up and waddled away.

"Look at him shake his butt!" she said, laughing hysterically.

Right then and there, Katrina did her best impression of the duck, quacking and shaking just like him.

Alison and Rafe laughed and laughed, and everyone thought this was by far, the best day they had in Transylvania yet.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Katrina sat under the end table in the living room, playing some made up game with an old deck of cards she had found in one of drawers. She didn't know how to play any games except Go Fish, but you had to have another person to play that, and Mommy was too busy talking on the phone to Aunt Livvie. She said something about it being lunchtime in Port Charles, but Katrina didn't quite believe that. It was dark outside!

"Okay, I'll talk to you later. Bye, sweetie." Alison hung up the phone as Rafe walked into the living room.

"How's everything in Port Charles?"

"It's fine," she answered.

Rafe took a seat in the chair across from her. "I bet they miss us, huh?"

"I think Livvie's keeping something from me," she said, not answering his question.

"What do you mean? You think something bad has happened?"

"No, not exactly. It just seemed like she had a lot on her mind, like I had to keep repeating things to her. She seemed very preoccupied with something."

"What do you think it is?"

"I don't know. I asked her what was going on and she said things were fine."

"Maybe she's just used to talking to you in person," Rafe said, smiling.

"Maybe. Hey, speaking of home, how much longer do you think we'll stay?"

"Probably not too much longer. "I have someone coming in the morning to look at the house. He's interested in buying."

"Oh wow, so soon? What about all the furniture here? And all the work that still needs to be done?"

"There's too much furniture to try to move. We'll just sell it with the house, and the sell the place as is."

Just then, Rafe heard his cell phone go off. "I better take this. Maybe that's him. Rafe Kovich," he answered, standing up and walking out of the room to get a better reception.

"Mommy?"

Alison looked over at Katrina as she stood in front of her. "What, baby?"

"What's Daddy talking about?"

Alison reached out and touched a strand of Katrina's hair as she climbed onto the couch with her mother. "He's trying to find someone who will buy this house."

"Like we bought our new house?"

"That's right."

"Does that mean someone else will get to live here then?"

"Yes, baby."

Katrina thought about that for a moment, then realized what that would mean. "But if someone else lives here, then we wouldn't be able to come here again, would we?"

"Well we wouldn't be able to stay in the house, no. It would belong to someone else then."

"But I like it here. I don't want someone else to live here."

"Daddy doesn't really want that either, baby. But we have to sell the house because we need money to pay for our new house. You understand?"

"Are we leaving tomorrow?"

"No sweetie, we aren't leaving tomorrow. But we will be leaving soon."

Katrina frowned. "I don't want to go soon!" she said angrily.

Before Alison could say anything else, Katrina ran out of the room and up the stairs. Alison thought about going after her, but decided maybe Katrina just needed a little time to calm down.

Katrina ran to her own room, closing the door behind her. "Grandma Kat! Grandma Kat! Where are you?"

"I'm right here, Precious," she answered, appearing behind her. "What's the matter?"

"I'm sad."

"Why are you sad, Precious?" she asked, sitting down on the bed and inviting her granddaughter to sit beside her.

"'Cause I don't want to go. And Daddy's going to sell the house. And now someone else will live here and we won't be able to come here again forever and ever!"

"Oh, I see."

"I like this house. I don't want someone else to live here."

"Sometimes, Precious, it's hard to let go of things we love. It does make us sad, and it's okay to be sad. But you know what? Things usually do get better."

Katrina picked up her bear lying on the pillow. She held him tightly.

"Do you remember that red sweater you used to have?" Grandma Katrina asked.

"The one with the buttons?"

"Yes."

"That was my favorite sweater in the whole wide world! I wore it all the time."

"Well you remember how last fall, you tried to put it on and it was too small?"

Katrina shook her head. "Yeah. Mommy said I grew and that it wouldn't ever fit me again. I was sad. I couldn't wear it anymore."

"I bet you have a new favorite sweater now though, don't you?"

Katrina's eyes let up. "Yeah! I got a red sweater with a pony on it! And now that's my new favorite sweater!"

Grandma Katrina laughed. "You see? Things turned out okay. Let me tell you something. It's okay to let things go. It was sad that you had to give away your old sweater, just like it's sad to see this house go. But life is about change, and sometimes we just have to accept that things won't always stay the same. You understand, Precious?"

Katrina nodded. "Yes."

"But you know what won't change?"

"What?"

"You'll always have your memories of this place, and you'll always remember the fun you had here."

Katrina smiled at her grandmother and gave her a hug.

Grandma Katrina hugged her back tightly, wishing it would be this easy to convince Rafe to let go.