Chapter 168

Stevie had been up all night. She kept thinking that Javier Bardem was coming to get her because he thought she had his money. She was also wishing she had actually gotten to have another date with James in person. She finally dozed a bit around 4:30am

"No. I don't have your money!" Stevie said sleepily as she rolled over.

"Mom? Are you alright?" Xander asked from the doorway.

"What huh? Oh, hi Xander. Is it morning already?"

"Uh, yeah Mom, I heard you yelling about tossing coins or something. So I came in to check on you. Are you okay?" he asked.

Stevie laughed, embarrassed. "Yeah wombat, I'm okay, I just watched a scary movie last night, and I guess it got to me more than I realized."

"Okay Mom, I'm just glad you're okay."

"Well let's see how the girls are doing. I saw some of the footage last night and it looked like they were downing whiskey," Kate said to Russell as she woke up. "I reckon they are feeling pretty rough."

"I hope they didn't leave the cameras on all night. They should have turned them off to conserve battery for today." Russell said as he rolled over and put his arm around his wife. "I know you wanted to be there with them, but you should just cuddle with me for a few more minutes instead."

"Look honey, they're using the first aid kit I packed. I had a feeling they might need some Paradol," Kate said she got ready for the day with the video streaming on her phone.

"I know baby, you are just the best packer. I'm sorry you couldn't go on the trip. It looks like the McLeod women are feeling a little better at least. Jaz looked especially green, but it looks like she is getting some of her color back."

"Yeah if I had been there, I wouldn't have been able to drink with them anyway. It probably wouldn't have been as fun. I'm so happy to have my babies growing, and I can't wait to meet them, but the truth is, being pregnant isn't fun."

"I wish we could take turns. I would have happily taken the twins for the weekend so you could go with your friends. I know how much you've missed them and missing out on a bonding experience like this trip must hurt."

"It does, but there will be many more memories, and I'm not a McLeod, They are with their family, I'm with mine." Kate put a hand on her stomach and looked at Russell. The baby bump was just starting to become visible with Kate's small frame. "I feel like a mother already. It's my job to keep these two safe and healthy. There will be many more memories with Jodi and the girls, and even better, there will be memories of us with our children, in Gungellan, riding horses, shearing sheep, building crazy gadgets, playing guitar!"

"Darling, I can't wait! That sounds like the perfect life with you."

"Okay so according to Ironman's GPS trackers, the girls are here." Dylan pointed to a spot on the screen of a tablet, and they need to get here. If they push hard and don't hit any major issues, they could hit the mine site around 4-5pm."

"Yeah, but what about this?" said Ben as he simultaneously put bits of scrambled eggs on a plate for Kelly and pointed to a spot on the map. "That looks really rough. That's all rocky hills. I reckon they will have to go pretty slowly through that."

"That's true, but we accounted for that in the estimates. However, based on the video from Regan and Jodi's hat cameras, they all got munted off whiskey last night. We did not account for that in the estimates, they did that all on their own. And from the looks of it, your girl got hit the hardest," said Dylan.

"Yeah, Jaz usually just sticks with wine or a beer. I've seen her drink hard stuff only a few times, and everytime she is almost completely out of commission for the whole next day. I bet she is hurting badly right now. My poor girl," said Ben, feeling badly for hungover Jaz.