07:30 hours, St. Edward's Boarding School, 6th Form boy's dorm, Oxford, England, Earth

Ping.. ping ping… ping ping ping

Half asleep, a student slapped his communication port. "Hello?"

"Samuel Alan Scott, you better not have been still asleep. It is 7:30 AM there, and you have class at 8." A very cross female voice came from his comlink. "Now turn on your screen so I can talk to you properly."

The 18-year-old, cursing his pounding headache, turned on his monitor to face the person on the screen. "Good morning Mother." He managed to say before his eyes focused on who it was. "Oh, Grace, hi… for a moment there, I thought it was Mum."

"You are lucky it isn't. Jack tells me I can make a good impression of her, though." Grace grimaced.

"Why are you calling me now? It's what midnight there? As much as I am happy to see you, what do I owe this 'lovely' wake-up call from my beloved sister." Sam tried to wake himself up.

"What time did you get home from the Pelican last night?" Grace grinned.

"Sometime after 2 AM, why?"

"You look it,"

"Haha," Sam mocked, laughed, and stretched. "As I said before, what do I owe this cheery wake-up call?" Sam pulled a somewhat clean shirt over his head.

"Mom and dad need you to come home for a few days. It is important." Grace asked nicely, but he could tell it wasn't a request. "Mom sent you a credit to use the school's transporter to come directly to the house."

"Pardon?" Sam sat up straight, his grogginess gone. "is someone hurt? Mom and dad usually don't throw around their interplanetary transporter credits like that."

"Sammy, listen to me. Alice and the Mad Hatter are in trouble."

"Is that all? Gracie, you woke me up for what the whole family already knew?" Sam looked at his sister, thinking she was pulling his leg. Grace wasn't smiling. "Grace, it can't be that bad."

"Sammy, Alice fell down the rabbit hole."

"We all knew that would happen someday. How much trouble could you be in?" Sam smiled as he took a drink from his cold coffee.

"Hey! Tweedle-dee. White rabbit."

Sam proceeded to spray coffee all over his screen and began choking. "Did you say..."

"White Rabbit," Grace repeated.

Hoarsely he croaked, "I'll be there in 30 minutes. Don't lose your head." He then closed the connection.

Robin poked her head into the breakfast area where the main communication terminal was, "Do I even want to know what all that Alice in Wonderland conversation was about? "

"Probably not, but Sam will be here in 30 minutes." Grace turned and walked off toward the kitchen.

"I have his room set up, but he could wait until after classes today."

"I think he wanted the chance to catch more sleep in his bed before facing the incoming hordes." Grace got the milk out of the replicator and took a seat at the island bar.
Sighing, Robin got herself a cup of decaf tea and followed her, "Do you want to talk about it now or wait until the whole family gets here?"

"If I talk about it, it is real, and I don't want it to be real, but I'm also happy that it is real." Grace stirred some cocoa powder into her mug.

"As confusing as it sounds, it does make sense." Robin sipped her tea with both hands. "Neither of us can sleep, so we might as well talk about the problem?"

"The problem… the problem is you," Grace shouted but hoped she didn't wake the whole house.

"If you are going to shout at me, let's at least go downstairs to the family room. I'm not sure Inga would appreciate you waking her as she has to be awake in a few hours."

Grace grimaced. Inga was the family housekeeper/Robin's live-in personal assistant. She lived in the small 5th bedroom. She ran the house when Grace's parents were away on assignment. Inga kept everything running smoothly, which is why the woman usually was awake and ready for the day at 6 AM. With everyone coming over tomorrow, the woman would be most displeased if her sleep was disturbed.

"Fine..." Grace sighed tiredly and took her mug with her down the main stairs to the family area. The house's first floor was where the dignitaries, muckety muck, and professional business was carried out, while the bottom floor was where the family's heart resided.

Once they were downstairs and in the family room, "Grace again turned on her mother. "What my problem is you! No matter how tired I am, I cannot get you out of my head!"

"Me? … why me? I haven't done or said anything to you." Robin flopped down in one of the big fluffy chairs.

"That's just it. You didn't do anything! No tears, no shouting, no threatening of Jack's life, nothing. You have done nothing." Grace struck the mantel of the fireplace.

"Gracie, what do you want me to say? Do you want me to scold you and threaten to laser off part of Jack's body?" Robin raised her voice and splattered some of her tea on her robe. "If that is what you want, I can, but will it do any good?"

"Well…. No, but this is going nothing as I expected." Grace turned around and flopped down into the comfy couch next to the fireplace.

Seeing her daughter's reaction, Robin grinned, "You ran a simulation, didn't you?"

"Yes…" Grace covered her eyes with her arm, "sue me. I'm a programmer."

Robin chuckled over her tea. "And what did you find?"

"From what I could tell, you would either berate and threaten to castrate Jack and blame Skyler for all of this, OR you would go all medical on me and lock me in a lab somewhere so that you could keep an eye on me." Using her other hand, Grace pulled the granny square blanket off the back of the couch onto her, still not making eye contact with Robin.

"The medical thing is already taken care of by Lynn, thank you very much." Robin toasted to Gracie with her tea, "She has the nutrient supplement regime all picked out for you and all the best baby safety plans all lined up."

"She is not going all Grandma Lilly on me, is she?" Grace groaned from under the blanket.

"Overprotective mother, who locks you in a padded cell until the baby comes and verbally skins Skyler and Jack alive? No, but she wants you to have a safe, healthy pregnancy and a perfectly healthy baby; although I may have heard Lynn channel a bit of Lilly regarding Jack and your poor judgment, she loves you both."

"Kind of figured that," sighed Grace as she uncovered her head and looked at Robin across from her, "But I'm not sure about you."

"I'm happy. I get to spoil a grandbaby, love them to bits, and pass along the mother's curse to you. Muahahaha!" Robin laughed jokingly.

"Haha.." Grace rolled her eyes, "But the whole wedding thing?" she asked nervously.

Robin leaned forward toward her daughter, "Gracie, I have no right to talk about eloping as your dad, and I did that BUT…. There is something about being at your child's wedding and handing them over to their new partner. The ceremony of it."

"So, are you mad at us?"

"No, sweetie, I'm not angry with you, I'm a bit disappointed in the timing, but I know you are happy." Robin got up and knelt and kissed her daughter's head. "Am I wrong?"

"The timing could have been better; you are not wrong." Grace smiled up at her mom, but it then melted. "Mom, I'm terrified."

"Welcome to motherhood." Robin smiled as she brushed the hair out of Grace's face.

"You are not helping." Grace chuckled. "Mom, what have we gotten ourselves into?"

"Sorry, there isn't an operating procedure for this, sweetie." Robin stood back up and went to her chair. "Not only are you a military wife, but you are also becoming a mother at the same time. Your job won't be easy, but it is doable."

"You are not going to hurt Jack, are you?" Grace chuckled sleepily.

"No, not kill him, but I do question which head he was thinking with," Robin laughed and sat down. After taking a sip of tea, Robin spoke again, "Gracie, he has always been like a nephew to me, and almost son, given how much he would hang out over here and play with you. Jack is now my son-in-law officially. If he doesn't take care of my baby girl, I'll rip his guts out. Otherwise, he has always been a good kid and good officer, and I think he will continue to be so." Robin took a long drink of her tea.

"Thank you, Mom." Gracie started to cry. Robin immediately got up and sat next to her on the couch.

"It will be all right, sweetheart. Trust me. This family has survived worse. It is just a new chapter for us."

Robin rubbed her back, hoping to give her daughter some comfort. They stayed like that for a while until Grace had fallen asleep.

As Robin left the family room, she heard rustling upstairs. Upstairs she found Sam rummaging through the pantry. "Your sister is asleep downstairs. Let her sleep until at least 09:00. Then you can go all little brother on her."

"Alright," he said sleepily, "I just need some food first."

"It's nearly 1 AM here," Robin got peanut butter and jelly from the replicator and some hot cocoa. "Here, take this and go to your room and get some sleep."

"Hey, you remembered." Sam smiled sleepily.

"Go get some sleep. Inga said she would make her famous French toast for breakfast."

"French Toast…..." Sam joked as his mom pushed him toward the stairs. Halfway up the stairs, he stopped, "Mom, seriously. Is something bad happening? Grace wasn't acting like herself, and it has me worried."

"No one is dead, dying, or bleeding if that is what you are asking." Robin crossed her arms and sighed. "Today has been a stressful, tiring, long day for everyone. The Skylers are coming over tomorrow afternoon for dinner and a sort of meeting of the clans. Lynn, Katie, and Christine will be helping Inga and me with dinner."

"Is Jack coming?" Sam asked hopefully.

"He better be." Robin mumbled, but a touch louder, said, "Yes, he will be here, but I'm not sure when he will arrive. The girls are going to be here at 1. As for Jack and Richard, not sure when but it will be before 5 for dinner."

Sam gave her a thumbs up and headed up to his room. Tiredly Robin followed him up but went to her and Alan's suite. Tomorrow would be a new day, and a little sleep would do some good for now. Alan had been her rock through so many things; hopefully, he and she could manage to hold onto each other enough to weather this new storm.