A/N: Aww, thanks for the reviews everyone. You girls are so sweet :) Hope everyone had a great Easter holiday. Enjoy the chapter...it's one of my favorites! Until 41...!

Chapter 40

Katrina's favorite part of the day was probably the moment she stepped off the bus. Mommy and Gabe were always there, waiting for her at the door.

Every afternoon, Katrina would help her mother. She'd play with the baby while her mother went around the house, picking things off from the floor, getting laundry started, or whatever else she needed to do.

Gabe didn't do much but just sit there, but Katrina didn't mind. It was fun just being around him. She'd try to get his attention with his various toys, and sometimes Gabe would look on with interest.

"What happened at school today, baby?" Alison asked, walking into the living room with a basket full of clothes. It was amazing. For a person as small as Gabe was, he sure had a lot of dirty laundry.

"Chelsea got a time-out today for spittin' on someone!"

"Sounds like Chelsea needs to learn her manners."

"Yeah!"

Alison laughed. Chelsea had been in Katrina's daycare class and she never got along with that girl. Katrina was always giving her mother the update on what bad thing Chelsea did.

"Uh oh! Mommy!"

"What's the matter, baby?"

"Gabe's making his poop face!"

Alison picked up the baby from his bouncy seat. "Well in that case, I think someone needs a diaper change!"

"Can I help you, Mommy?"

"Sure. Come on."

Katrina followed her mother upstairs to the nursery.

Once there, Alison carefully placed the baby on the changing table.

Katrina climbed up on the side of the table, standing on its bottom shelf so that she could see the baby. "You're gonna get your diaper changed, Gabe!"

"That's right!" Alison said, undoing the tiny snap buttons at the bottom of his onesie. "We're going to get you all cleaned up!"

Gabe moved his arms about and cooed happily, seemingly oblivious that his diaper was soaking wet.

"Katrina, will you grab a clean diaper for me?"

Katrina reached under the table and took a fresh diaper out of the bag. "Here, Mommy!"

"Thanks, sweetie. Can you sit it right there until I'm ready for it?"

""Kay." Katrina set the diaper aside.

By this time, Alison had removed the dirty diaper and quickly disposed of it.

Katrina scrunched up her nose in disgust. She knew what was inside, and it wasn't pretty.

"Okay, baby boy, let's clean you up," Alison said cheerfully, grabbing a baby wipe as she did just that.

It was then that Katrina started to laugh. "Mommy! What's that?"

Alison glanced over at her daughter, watching her giggle as she pointed to Gabe. Alison tried to keep a straight face. She knew sooner or later, this question would come up.

"That's your brother's pee-pee."

Katrina laughed again. "Why does his pee-pee look like that?"

"Because that's what a boy's pee-pee looks like. They're different from girls."

Katrina thought about that for a moment, then suddenly had a thought. "Is that so he can pee standing up like Daddy?"

Alison couldn't help but laugh. She tried to imagine Rafe having this conversation with Katrina. "Yes, sweetie," she answered, hoping this would be all the questions about this subject for now.

"I wish I could pee standing up," Katrina announced. "Gabe, you're so lucky!"

Alison laughed again. "Your sister is silly, isn't she?"

Katrina watched as her mother took another wipe out of the container and wiped the baby's bottom. She pinched her nose when she saw what was on the wipe. "Eww, Gabe, you did a stinky!"

"Say I'm just a baby! I can't help it!" Alison said in a baby voice, smiling at her son as she finished cleaning him up.

"You gonna use the powder, Mommy?" Katrina asked, holding up the container of baby powder.

"Yeah, in just a second. Can you hand me that diaper?"

Katrina handed her mother the diaper and watched as she lifted up Gabe by his legs and slid the diaper under his bottom.

"Now we'll use the powder," Alison said, and Katrina handed it to her.

Alison sprinkled a tiny bit onto the diaper and gave the container back to Katrina. "You want to fasten the diaper up for me?"

Katrina smiled. "Yeah!"

"Okay, I'll hold the diaper down, and you fasten the sticky tabs."

Katrina did just that, and it was perfect. Alison could tell she had been practicing on her baby dolls.

"Good job, sweetie."

After fastening the tabs on the diaper, Katrina completed the job by snapping the buttons on Gabe's onesie. It took a while for her to get the buttons to snap, but she did it.

"Anyone home?" Rafe called out.

Alison smiled at Katrina. "Daddy's home. We're in here!"

"Hey," Rafe said, standing in the doorway of the nursery. "I thought I'd find you two in here."

"Hey, Daddy, guess what! I helped changed Gabe's diaper!"

"Oh you did? Well aren't you a good big sister helping out like that."

"Mommy did the gross part though! She had to wipe all the poop off!"

"Hi, sweetheart," Alison said, giving him a kiss as she handed him the baby. "Can you take the baby? I'm going to go wash my hands."

"Sure." Rafe carried the baby out of the nursery and down the hallway. Katrina followed him.

"So, princess, did you have a good day at school?"

"Yeah. It's Friday. Every day at school on Friday is a good day!"

Rafe laughed. "What do you want for dinner?"

"Hmm. Can we go to Chuck E Cheese?"

"Chuck E Cheese? No, princess, I think that would be a little too much excitement for your brother."

"Gabe needs to hurry up and get bigger then, because I want to go."

Rafe looked down at Katrina. "I tell you what. We'll go to Chuck E Cheese this weekend, just you and me, alright?"

Katrina smiled big. "Okay!"

"Do you still want pizza?"

Katrina thought about it. "Mmm, yeah!"

"Let's go see if Mommy wants to order one then."

Katrina nodded. It sounded like a good idea to her.

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All week long, Katrina had begged for someone to take her shopping for a Halloween costume. It was hard to believe that Halloween was already right around the corner.

So after their lunch at Chuck E. Cheese, they headed over to the costume store.

It was like a madhouse. Rafe had forgotten that every other kid in Port Charles would be trick-or-treating too.

"Let's look over there, princess," Rafe said, spotting a whole rack of dresses and costumes he was sure Katrina would love. "Look, they have princess gowns. You could be Cinderella."

"I was a Cinderella last Halloween, Daddy."

"Oh, that's right. Hmm. Oh look, you could be the little mermaid." Rafe pointed to the mermaid costume in front of them.

"No, I can't be the little mermaid, cause Ariel's got red hair."

"You don't have to have red hair, princess."

"Yes I do, if I want to be Ariel."

"You could be one of her sisters," Rafe suggested.

Katrina shook her head no. It was Ariel or nothing else, and she had to have red hair to play that part.

Rafe sighed. Alison was so much better at this sort of thing. Shopping was her specialty. "Well let's see what they have over here." Rafe wandered over to the wall, seeing more costumes on several racks.

"Rafe."

Rafe turned to see a familiar face. "Ian. Hey. Guess we had the same idea."

"Guess so. Who would have thought it'd be so crowded in this place?"

"Hate to see how it is the day before Halloween," Rafe laughed.

Katrina then spotted the perfect costume. "Ooo, Daddy! Come look!"

"What did you find, princess?"

"Look! It's a cowgirl costume! Can we get this?"

"Sure. If that's what you want."

"Yeah! I'm going to be a cowgirl! And then I can go trick-or-treating with Cookie!"

"Um, I don't think that would be a such a good idea, princess."

"But I have to, Daddy! A cowgirl has to have her horse!"

"Yeah, but I don't think the neighbors would appreciate the mess a pony would leave behind in their yard."

"No, they wouldn't care! They would LOVE Cookie! Everyone loves Cookie!"

"Sorry, princess. The answer is no."

"But, Daddy!"

"You can dress up as a cowgirl, but you are not trick or treating with your pony."

Katrina crossed her arms in defiance and frowned. It wasn't fair. But then she spotted Danny, and she suddenly forgot why she was angry. "Hey, Danny!"

"Hey."

"What are you going to be?"

"I don't know yet. What are you going to be?"

"A cowgirl!" Katrina showed him her Halloween costume.

"That's cool."

"Hey, Danny, if you be a cowboy, I'll be your cowgirl!"

"No thanks!" he scoffed, then running off to go look at the Spiderman costumes.

Katrina looked up to her father. "Daddy, except for you, boys are stupid!"

Rafe laughed. "Yes they are, princess. Yes they are."

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2:15. Right on cue, Gabe began cry. Alison wished Gabe would sleep through the night, but she knew it would be a while before that happened.

"No, don't get up," Rafe said, seeing how tired she was. "It's my turn. I'll get him."

"There's milk in the refrigerator," she said groggily, then falling back asleep again.

Rafe dragged himself out of the bed, pretty tired himself, but not as tired as Alison. Alison loved her sleep. He just seemed to be adjusting to the new sleep schedule a little better.

Rafe walked down the hallway and headed to the nursery. Inside his crib, Gabe was still fussing. He picked up the baby up and held him close. "Hey there, buddy. What's the matter, huh?"

"Daddy?"

Rafe looked over to the doorway, seeing Katrina standing there. "What are you doing out of bed, princess?"

Katrina walked into the nursery and rubbed her sleepy eyes. "Gabe woke me up. Again."

"I know. He woke me up too." Rafe gently patted the baby's back in an attempt to calm him down. It seemed to be working.

"Why does he cry so much, Daddy?"

"Well, he's a baby. He can't talk so crying is the only way for him to let us know that he needs something."

Rafe shifted the baby in his arms and held him in front of his face. "What is it, Gabe? Hungry?"

For a moment, it looked like his crying had finally stopped. Then his face crinkled up and the waterworks started all over again.

"What are you going to do, Daddy?"

"I'm going to take him downstairs so your mother can get some sleep. You want to come?"

'Yeah!" she whispered excitedly. Katrina loved helping out with Gabe, and besides, it was rare that she got to be out of bed at this hour.

Katrina followed her father out of the nursery and down the stairs. Rafe headed to the kitchen and got a bottle out of the refrigerator. Katrina took a seat at the table and watched as he put it in a pot of water and placed it on the burner.

"Gabe's got a bottle?" she asked, surprised. "I thought he only ate from Mommy's boobie!"

Rafe laughed softly. "Well…this is milk from Mommy. It's just put in a bottle."

Katrina stared at her father in confusion. "How does Mommy get the milk in there?"

"Um…you know, Princess. Maybe you better ask your mother that question."

"You don't know?"

"Well…I just think your mother can explain it better than I could."

"Hey, maybe I could sing Gabe a lullaby!" she said, changing the subject.

Rafe walked over to the table and sat down beside her. "I think that's a great idea, Princess. Here that, Gabe? Your sister wants to sing to you."

Gabe whimpered, still a bit fussy.

"Rock-a-bye Baby, on the tree top. When the wind blows, the cradle will rock. When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall, and down will come baby, cradle and all."

Katrina smiled big when she was finished. "Like that, Gabe? Like my song?" She reached out and held her baby brother's hand.

Gabe hollered loudly.

Katrina looked up at her father and shook her head. "I guess he doesn't like it."

"No, I'm sure he does. He's just crabby right now because he's hungry. Why don't you sing him something else?"

"Okay." Katrina sang a few more songs, but Gabe still seemed just as unhappy.

"He's really hungry!" Katrina said.

"Well I think he's in luck. It should be ready by now."

Rafe stood up and went over to the stove. He took the bottle out of the pot and tested a drop on his wrist. It seemed just about right.

Gabe suddenly stopped his fussing as he stared at the bottle with big eyes.

"Oh boy, Gabe! Look what it is!" Katrina said to him. "A bottle just for you!"

"Come on, let's go in the living room."

Katrina followed her father and sat beside him on the couch. Rafe leaned over, turning the lamp to the lowest setting, not too bright, but still bright enough to see.

Rafe settled the baby in his arms and began feeding him the bottle, which he gladly accepted. "There we go, buddy. That's the good stuff, huh? I tell you what, Princess. Why don't you pick one of those story books on the table there and we'll read."

Katrina looked through the stack of library books and realized it was hard to pick just one. "Let's read all of them!" She picked up the whole stack.

"How about two?"

"Um…" Katrina looked through them, selecting two of the books. "These, Daddy."

"Okay. You hold the book up for me so I can feed your brother."

"He can listen to the story while he finishes his bottle."

"Alright, what's this story?"

"It's 'The Little Red Hen'. I can read some of this story, Daddy! I'll help read to Gabe!"

Rafe smiled and gave Katrina a kiss on her head. "Well then let's read."

Katrina opened the book and pointed to the pictures. "There was once a little red hen. And she found some seeds!"

Rafe joined in. "And she asked, 'Who will help me plant these seeds?'"

"Not I, said the dog," Katrina piped in.

"Not I, said the cat."

"Not I, said the pig."

"'Well then I'll plant them myself,' said the little red hen."

"And so she did!" Katrina said, turning the page.

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Alison turned on her side, reaching out for Rafe. She opened her eyes when she realized Rafe wasn't there. Alison glanced at the clock. 4 am. The last time she looked at it, the time was a quarter after two. Did the baby wake up again? She hadn't heard him cry at all.

Alison rubbed her eyes and slowly got out of bed. She walked down the hallway and peeked into the nursery. When neither Rafe nor Gabe was there, she headed to the staircase.

Once downstairs she finally found them. There they were, all three of them, sleeping on the couch. The baby was fast asleep on Rafe's chest, and Katrina was nuzzled up against them. If she had had a camera handy, she would have taken a picture.

Alison picked up the books on the floor and placed them in a neat stack on the table. She picked up the bottle and was about to take it to the kitchen when she saw Rafe open his eyes.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey."

Rafe blinked his eyes a few times. "What time is it?"

"4 am. I didn't mean to wake you. You weren't in bed so I was just wondering where you were."

"No, it's okay. I'm glad you did. I'm liable to get a crick in my neck sleeping out here like this. Let's get the kids to bed."

"Here, I'll take him." Alison took the baby into her arms, being extra careful not to wake the little guy up again, as he was a light sleeper.

Rafe didn't have that problem with Katrina. She slept like a rock. He gathered her up in his arms and followed Alison up the stairs.

Once the children were tucked into their beds, all was quiet. And finally, everyone was able to get some sleep.