I had accidentally replaced my Mary Anne chapter by mistake and while it's not my original I hope it's a little better actually. I initially didn't really talk about her husband or her future job. Now I have all of that together. It's a bit thrown together since I realized this late at night and I want people to read this chapter as it is.

Enjoy!


Mary Anne Faulker (nee Spier) glanced at the clock and smiled at it. It was just about time for the mail to come and that was her favorite time of the day. She was expecting something this time, plus this was her off day so she could spend time doing whatever she wanted.

Stretching her arms above her head she could feel the fur of her cat, Buttercup, on top of her husband's pillow. Ryan was lucky that he didn't wake up with her on top of him since Buttercup loved to make his pillow her home. That was a really nice nap she thought and realized that her daughter would be home by now. They had a sleepover last night at a friends house. She headed down the steps and remembered her project.

The living room looked like grand central station at rush hour with photos piled everywhere. She had done a good job putting together albums of her daughters, but not much with her and Ryan's old stuff. There was only a picture of her holding her PhD diploma displayed on the fireplace where she stood with her father. Mary Anne was proud of getting her PhD a couple of years ago.

There was a thump at the door, and she rushed to see the package being dropped off.

"Thank you!" she called to the mail man and he just waved to her.

She headed inside and then ripped open the box. On top was a letter in Dawn's neat and easy handwriting.

Hope you like the package! I thought of your picture project and thought to send you some of what I found. It's boring just to get bills in the mail and I know it's your favorite time of day. I hope that you enjoy this and call me as soon as you can.

Dawn

Mary Anne made a mental note to do so and peered in the box before a creaky step made her twirl around.

At the bottom of the step was her daughter, Audrey, starring right back at her. Her dark eyes wide and then staring at the box.

"What's that?" she asked a little sleepily indicating they were up very late last night. "Can you make pancakes and have breakfast for lunch?"

"Of course honey, this is a package from your aunt Dawn. She found something that I might be interested in. If you want you can look while I cook," said Mary Anne setting the box aside.

Then slyly glanced around the corner as she headed to the kitchen. Next to Audrey on the steps were Olivia and Vivian. The two nine-year old's and her seven-year-old sheepishly smiled back at her. Shaking her head, she gestured in the living them to look if they really wanted to

"Can I help you cook?" asked Vivian not interested in the pictures.

"Sure, you can mix but I need to use the griddle okay?"

She nodded her hair bouncing as she skipped to the kitchen. Boy Mary Anne needed that burst of energy. Mustering up her own energy she pulled out everything for the pancakes and started the process. Then handed it to Vivian so she could mix it.

The radio softly played something she didn't quite recognize but sounded pretty. Maybe she could play it in her office as her patients waited for her. Then again her clientele was children and they probably wouldn't notice what she played as long as they had toys.

See Mary Anne worked as a child psychiatrist and ran her own practice with her own hours. Thankfully it was centrally located between the girls school and their Silver Spring home. She liked living near DC it was really cool and they were able to do a lot together. In fact, she even put her way through school being a tour guide part time. Anyway, it was interesting to see what they would do and play with, that kind of thing.

"Done!" said Vivian her hands sticky but otherwise it was mixed

"Alright want some raspberries or chocolate chips?" she asked after turing to look at the fridge.

"Both!"

She laughed and pulled both out ready to add it. The trick to the perfect kind wasn't to mix the topping into the batter but to gently sprinkle it into the batter as it cooked.

The twins, Audrey and Olivia, bounded into the kitchen. Olivia had a picture in her hand and put it in front of Mary Anne's face as she leaned over the griddle slightly. In front of her was a picture of her younger and a bunch of familiar and some unfamiliar faces. One of them was of her in a graduation gown.

"Did you have a middle school graduation?" asked Olivia pointing to one.

"I did," she said flipping her hair slightly, so it didn't get into the batter. "It was a really long time ago I was about thirteen in that picture. I felt like I was in middle school forever."

She laughed thinking back to those times. It was like she spent 11 years at Stoneybrook Middle School maybe even longer. She smiled at seeing Kristy, Claudia, Dawn, and Stacey in the photo. They all looked so young. It had been at least two years since she had seen Claudia. Some of them she hadn't seen since that graduation.

"Will we get one too?" asked Vivian her interest piqued.

"No. You see it really depends on your school and their traditions. A really long time where I lived a lot of kids would drop out of school after eighth grade. That way they could go help their parents on the farm or business. So that would be the last time a lot of people would see each other, and they held a graduation. My school just kept that tradition going on."

"Oh…" she let her voice trail off and then showed her the other picture.

That one was of her and her friends at that age. They were wearing whatever they had decided to wear to Claudia's party after the ceremony. Janine or someone had taken it and it was the way they looked at the time. Claudia in her funky clothes. Stacey looking like a poster child of early 2000s clothing. Kristy relaxed in her slouchy outfit. Dawn completely relaxed. She hadn't seen Mallory since her brother's wedding. Jessi and the others had drifted out of her life. Life was kind of funny, everyone turned out different then what she expected at the time.

Her thoughts interrupted by her phone dinging.

Before she could grab it, Audrey had and smiled.

"It's daddy, can I pick it up?" she asked a puppy dog look at her face. Mary Anne just nodded eager to talk to her own husband and passed a plate of pancakes to Vivian.

"Hey how are my girls today?" he asked as the man with dark auburn hair and glasses showed up on face time. "I just finished my dinner in London, and you won't believe this giant castle in the middle of the city. I saw a bunch of people setting up to get married at this giant church."

Vivian gasped a little surprised to hear that.

"Cool!" said Olivia. "Is there a moat?"

"No, but I think you'd like it. I'm going to get you a souvenir once out of this conference okay?"

"Okay!" said Audrey.

"I miss you guys already. Everyone at my work knows how much I talk about my four girls," he said teasingly. "I just thought I'd call in and see how everyone is doing."

They had talked a little bit and Mary Anne told him about Dawn's package. Vivian will get a visit from the tooth fairy tonight. Summer vacation was starting rather splendidly. While the girls were eating, she had typed out a message on her phone. It was just about school letting out time back in Stoneybrook.

She glanced at the picture and knew one person that she couldn't wait to see soon.

Congrats principal! Ready for summer?!

She texted that to Kristy and smiled knowing that they would see each other very soon. Maybe a trip to Stoneybrook would happen sooner rather then later.