A month later…June

Julie nursed Meredith after successfully giving birth twenty minutes before. She was gorgeous and had brown hair like Mike.

Julie looked up at Mike and smiled. "I love you." He kissed her softly and gently ran his fingertip across Meredith's forehead.

"I love you too. I can't believe she's here." It seemed like the last six months had flown by since Christmas when she told him she was pregnant. Now they were a family of five. "I almost wish there were two of her."

"What? Twins again, Michael Hickam? Bite your tongue."

He laughed. "I almost don't know what to do with just one."

"Well, my love, we actually have three. Just pretend they're triplets."

Mike's phone buzzed. "Its Beth." He pushed the green button on the screen. "Hey, Beth."

"Mike, how is she doing? Is she close?"

"She had her about a half hour ago. I'll send you a picture."

"Oh, congratulations! What's her name?" They had kept it a secret.

"Meredith Reese. She was seven pounds on the nose."

"Oh, I wish I was there!" Jack, Elizabeth, and the kids were on their annual road trip. They figured they would be back before she went into labor.

"You'll be here in two days."

Meredith squawked as Julie moved her to her shoulder to burp her.

"Yeah, that's true. Well, give Julie and my gorgeous niece a kiss from us. Don't forget to send me a picture."

"Yes, ma'am. Tell Jack I am off for the week so I won't be on call with him."

"Ok, I will. Bye."

….

"Oh, babe, look at her. Meredith Reese," Elizabeth gushed. "Isn't she the most beautiful thing?"

"She's very pretty but honestly, Fin and you are the most beautiful."

"Aw, thanks, Jack. That's very sweet."

He leaned toward her to kiss her but she was still staring at Meredith. He saw the look in her eyes. The look that meant she wanted another one too. "Babe, we…"

"I know. One more year." She knew it was for the best, it was just hard to wait. Almost as if sensing she needed him, Joe walked over and raised his arms to be held. He and Fin had been watching a movie. She raised her shirt and began nursing him so he would hopefully take a nap. "Can we head home tonight, Jack?"

"Sure." They had seen their normal sights and he knew she would rather head home during the night so the kids would sleep. "I'll pack up everything." He kissed the top of her head and started packing.

"Are you sure you don't mind?"

"No. I don't mind. I'm on call on Thursday anyway so it wouldn't be a bad thing to have a night to sleep before that."

"Dada, potty," Fin told him, grabbing his hand.

"Ok, sweetie. Let's go."

….

The next day when they arrived home, they were surprised at the vehicle in their driveway. "Look Finny, Grandma and Grandpa's car. They must be in the house."

"Me go potty! Mama, pease!"

"Hold on, baby." Elizabeth got out of the car quickly and opened the kids door.

Fin started crying and pulling at her pants. "Potty, Mama."

"Did you already go? Oh, Finny. I'm sorry, baby. Mama should've told Daddy to stop earlier." The good thing was she had a pull-up on, so the accident wasn't as bad as it could have been. "Let's go take a bath, Fin."

"Yeah," she whimpered, clearly distraught she hadn't made it to the potty in time.

Elizabeth grabbed the diaper bag and carried Fin into the house. Her parents met her at the door.

"Welcome home!" William said with a huge smile.

"Hi, Dad. This is a surprise. Did we know you were coming?"

"Nope. And we thought you were due back tomorrow, Bethie."

"We were. I just wanted to come home."

"Mama!"

"Excuse me. I need to get Fin in the bath." She kissed her Mom's cheek. "You look great, Mom."

Jack walked in with Joe and a suitcase. After greeting his in-laws, he left Joe with them and headed out to carry more things in to the house.

When Elizabeth was done bathing Fin, they walked downstairs, Fin already in her pajamas.

Jack had gone and retrieved the puppies from his parent's house and everyone was in the living room.

"Gumpa!" Fin yelled, running over to William. "Hi. Gumpa home." She snuggled into his big grandfatherly arms and smiled.

"Finny, I've missed you. Look how big you are!"

"Me big," she agreed.

Elizabeth walked into the kitchen to see what they could have for dinner later. They had food, but only because her parents had bought a few things. Still, she needed some comfort food that she didn't need to cook.

"Elizabeth?"

She looked up from the Chinese menu she had grabbed from the drawer. "I'm thinking Moo shu pork. What do you think?"

"Sounds good. Might want to order a lot. Mom and Pop just showed up with Aubrey and the twins." She nodded, trying not to show him her feelings in her expression. "What?" he asked.

"I'm just tired."

"I don't think they will stay late. They have the girls one more night and then they take them back home to Mike and Julie."

The twins were super unhappy to not be with Julie and Mike. Charlotte hoped that coming over to play with Joe and Fin might help them make it through the night.

Elizabeth kept Claire with her for awhile as she put clothes in the washer and in drawers. She whined almost the whole time for her Mama. Finally, Elizabeth gave her and Kendall a bottle and snuggled with them both in the recliner as everyone else ate in the kitchen. Finally they slept allowing Elizabeth to have some rest too. Until Joe came in and wanted to nurse.

She knew it was almost bedtime but he was also exhausted from traveling and jealous of the girls so that made it worse.

Jack walked in to find Joe. He took Kendall and laid her on the couch and then put Claire beside her. Then Elizabeth could pick up Joe and nurse him.

Jack sat on the couch and watched his nieces sleep. They were adorable. Now they sucked their thumbs, their little rosy lips moving.

Elizabeth smiled at him. "Beautiful, aren't they?"

He nodded. Fin ran in with her sippy cup and climbed up on the couch and then up on Jack's lap. "Seep."

Charlotte and Bill walked in. "I guess we should go. You both are probably exhausted," Bill said.

"Yeah. Long drive."

Each of them took a twin and then headed out, Aubrey following behind.

Elizabeth stood up, transferring Joe to her shoulder. "I'm going to bed, hon. Love you."

He nodded and smiled. "I'll be up soon."

Elizabeth woke up a few hours later, starved. She hadn't eaten since lunch. The Moo shu pork she had wanted so badly was in the refrigerator and it was beckoning her.

She walked quietly down the stairs and unlocked the baby gate and then crept over to the refrigerator, squinting at the light when she opened the door.

She grabbed the white takeout container and opened it, grabbing an egg roll.
"Oh my goodness. Heavenly," she mumbled.

"Midnight snack, dear?"

Elizabeth shrieked and nearly dropped her snack. "Mom? What are you doing sitting here in the dark at midnight?"

"I sometimes have insomnia. This is one of those times."

Elizabeth nodded and offered her the box. "Egg roll? They're amazing." Grace smiled and took one, biting into it.

"Holy moly, even cold," she agreed.

"Right? I missed dinner and so that's what I'm having. Would you like anything else?"

"Maybe some tea?"

"Of course. I think I have sleepytime tea. That might help you."

"The name sounds promising." The puppies started making noise.

"Mom, would you mind letting Nemo and Bub out?"

"Alone?"

"Yeah. The backyard is fenced in. They'll be ok."

"I can't believe you got two puppies, Beth."

"Well, mostly, I went to get one for Jack. He missed Harv a lot since Christmas. Then, I couldn't leave the one alone in his cage at the shelter. It seemed so mean. Now, I realize that it helps me not want another baby so much."

"Really?"

"No, not really. It sounded good though," she said with a laugh.

"You're waiting for Jack to be done with school?"

"And get a job. I hope he gets one right away." She took a bite of the cold Moo shu and groaned. "Good grief. Nothing like Chinese food to cure what ails ya."

"Amen to that," Grace said, tapping Elizabeth's egg roll with hers in a toast.

…

The next day was so much fun in Elizabeth's eyes. First, she and the kids, along with her parents, headed over to meet Meredith around lunch time. Of course the twins, who had been dropped off early, played well with their cousins and seemed to be oblivious to their new sister.

Elizabeth let her parents hold the little one first, trying so hard to be patient. Finally, it was her turn and it was heaven. She was tiny and beautiful and she smelled so good. Elizabeth could feel her motherly desires raging. She just took a few deep breaths and talked herself down, reminding herself of their reality. Job first, then baby number three.

"Beth?"

"Hm?"

"I need to feed her." Elizabeth looked at Julie who stood in front of her. "I'll give her back in about twenty minutes, ok?"

Elizabeth nodded and handed her over. While she waited, she played with the others, giggling as her red-headed nieces brought her "bock" after "bock" of giant Legos and left them in her lap and then Joey and Fin came and took them back.

Eventually the kids were hungry so they ate fruit and cheerios while the adults had sandwiches and Elizabeth held sweet Meredith while she nibbled at hers.

Before long, naptime came and Elizabeth needed to get home to let the puppies out and welcome Katie who was visiting Charlotte and Bill to pick out house furnishings.

As she drove into the driveway, Katie was waddling towards the house. Elizabeth rolled down the window as she pulled up next to her. "Katie, why don't you get in?"

She smiled and nodded. "Thank you. I wasn't sure if I was going to make it."

"Charlotte couldn't bring you?"

"She could but I told her I would just walk. It's a nice day and everything. Then the heat got to me and now I'm pretty sure I have no more left in me." She leaned her head back and sighed.

"Holy moly. Tom is going to go crazy."

"Nothing to tell him. I just went for a walk."

"At eight months pregnant on a hot day."

"Yeah. He is going to be mad."

When they pulled up in front of the house, they sat in the air conditioning for a few so Katie could cool down before attempting to walk in.

"So, picked out any names?" Elizabeth asked, making small talk.

"Yes, but Elisa keeps offering names and changing them. I'm not deciding for sure until we see his face."

"What names did Elisa pick?"

"Let's see. First, Easton and then Davey. Then there was Ryan and Walker and Franklin."

"Franklin?" Elizabeth asked with a laugh.

"Yeah. Character from a book. Finally this morning, she called him Kyler and I sort of fell in love with it."

"Kyler? Yeah, that's a good name."

"Kind of really fits with Nathaniel too."

"Your dad's name." Ned never went by his full name but that was a sweet gesture.

"Yeah. I don't know what we would do without him. We would be homeless for one."

"You are helping each other but honestly, you and Tom have other family here if your Dad couldn't let you live with him. We would never let you be homeless."

"Thanks. I do know that." She rubbed her swollen belly for a moment and then looked at Elizabeth. "Do you mind if we go in? I need to use the restroom."

"Of course." She handed Katie the house key. "Go on in. I need to get the kids out."

….

That evening when Jack called from dispatch, Elizabeth had something to talk to him about.

"So, Katie was over this afternoon and we were brainstorming."

"Uh oh. Should I be scared?"

"Shush," she said with a laugh.

"Ok, sorry."

"So Tom would rather she not work and she wants to contribute to their finances, much like me."

"Ok."

"And she thought maybe she and I could pool our minimal resources and open a daycare. Now honestly, our daycare would be mostly our kids and people we know so we wouldn't charge a huge amount, but it also gives us both something to do."

"Sounds like something you would be perfect for," he told her. "Where would it be?"

"That's the thing. We aren't sure yet. There are a bunch of details we aren't sure about, like making sure you and Tom are ok with it."

"I say go for it."

"Great. That's wonderful. Thanks, hon."

"If it will make you happy and content then I am all for it."

"It would be a good distraction."

….

About two weeks later…

Katie went into labor on a Saturday and Tom was grateful for that because he was off on the weekends. He dropped Elisa off at Charlotte and Bill's on their way to the hospital.

She breathed slowly and rubbed her crampy belly as a contraction took hold. "How long?"

"We should be there in twenty." She nodded and decided there would only be four more contractions and then they would be there. "Breathe, baby," he told her, offering his hand to hold.

After the pain eased, she squeezed his hand and closed her eyes, knowing she needed to rest when she could. "Tom, I'm scared."

"What are you scared of?"

"Just the whole thing." She fought her tears but they ran down her cheeks anyway. "I don't know if I can do this."

"Yes you can. You are so strong, Kate. You are a wonderful mother to Elisa and you will be to our son too. And when you feel weak, that's what I'm there for. We will be strong together."

Another contraction hit a moment later and he told her to squeeze as hard as she needed to. "I…wish….my mom….was here," she panted.

"Do you want me to call anyone? Elizabeth would come."

"Yeah. Please." She was scared and she knew he was there but support from Elizabeth sounded good too. When her pain subsided again, she texted her instead and Elizabeth told her she would meet them there.

When Elizabeth arrived an hour later, she knocked on the door of her room.

"Come in."

"Hey, are you doing ok?"

"Yeah. Thank you for coming."

She walked over and hugged her friend. "How are you feeling?"

"Scared."

"It is scary, isnt it? When I had Fin, it was during a blizzard and in the car. Jack delivered her."

"Really?"

"Yeah. No pain meds and having Jack delivering her….I was very scared. But when I saw her for the first time, I wasn't scared anymore. She was this little person that I had already taken care of for nine months. I knew her. She recognized me. Everything would be fine because I was her mother. The same will be with you." Another contraction hit and Elizabeth held her hand and helped her stay calm. "Good job."

….

Six hours later….waiting room

Elizabeth got a text from Tom with a picture of Katie and Kyler Nathaniel, six pounds eleven ounces. He was beautiful.

She smiled. "Welcome to the Thornton clan, Kyler," she whispered. "We love you very much."