Norma gazed down at the tiny baby nestled in her arms, her eyes filling with tears as she smiled down at her.

"Wow." She breathed out, her face breaking into a wide smile as the baby opened it's eyes, blinking up at her with that innocent, confused expression that all babies seem to have.

"Hi. Hi, baby girl." She cooed, sniffling slightly as she gazed down at her. Alex's hand wrapped around her shoulder, the other sliding under the baby in her arms to gently brush over the sparse baby blonde wisps poking out from the swaddling. Norma let her gaze wander to her husband, who was leaning his head on her shoulder, gazing in awe at the child in her arms, his hand gently brushing over the baby's head.

"She's beautiful." He observed quietly, and Norma nodded, pressing a soft kiss against his cheek, overwhelmed by the loving, tender way he was smiling down at the baby.

"Remember when ours was this small?" She asked, and watched as his face lit up at the mention of their child, watching as he remembered holding their own newborn baby in their arms.

As if they'd planned it, both of their heads flicked forwards at the exact same time, both of them seeking out their daughter, needing to look at her for a second. They found her a few metres away, giggling happily, being swung almost dangerously high in the air by a laughing Gabe.

"Shoot it! Shoot the ball!" He coaxed, and the tiny girl in his arms giggled, throwing the ball literally nowhere near the basketball hoop Gabe had set up roughly six years too early.

"Ooh so close! What's the score honey?" He set the little girl on her feet, and stood up, turning round to face Sarah who was sitting on a blanket on the grass, holding a hand up to shield her eyes from the glaring sun.

"It's like, 6-2 sweetheart. Louise is thrashing you. You gotta up your game. She's making an example of you in front of your daughter."

Gabe let his mouth drop open in faux shock at his wife's completely deadpan assessment of the game. So far, "the game" had consisted of Gabe and Louise running up and down the garden, throwing the ball somewhere in the vicinity of the net, with Gabe scooping the giggling toddler off her feet frequently, trying to teach her trick shots.

"I'm teaching her good sportsmanship!" He protested, gesturing to where his gurgling daughter was nestled in Norma's arms, as if she was taking it all in. "She's learning that her father is not afraid to play a superior athlete." He bowed gracefully at Louise, who frowned cutely in confusion, raising her arms to be picked up again. He complied, scooping her up, and swinging her round a few times, earning a shrill giggle from Louise and a worried gasp from Sarah.

"Gabriel! Be careful! If we break their kid we'll have to give them ours and I'm already quite attached." She glanced over at her baby, snuggled sweetly against Norma's chest, who was still gazing at her in awe, raising her head to smile dreamily at Sarah's little joke, before turning her attention back down.

He nodded solemnly, gently lowering her to pick up the ball, and obediently jogging over to the net, lifting her to tentatively tip the ball through the hoop.

Sarah clapped and whooped, since it was the first basket that had actually been scored in the "game" and Louise blushed and giggled at the attention.

"What do you make the score now?"

"Oh erm. It's like, 9 to 1. I got the Hawks on the phone for Louise."

Lousie signalled to be put down, visibly sagging and trotting over to where the other three adults were sitting on the blanket.

She stood in front of Sarah, pouting sadly and Sarah cast a helpless glance over at Norma, who shrugged back, trying not to jostle the sleeping infant in her arms.

"You ok?" Alex reached out with his free hand to run the back of his finger over her cheek, his face suddenly filled with concern at his daughter's unhappy expression.

"I'm tired." She announced suddenly. "I don't want to play anymore."

"Well that's ok slugger. I'm tired too." Gabe whispered conspiratorially from behind her, and she smiled over her shoulder at him, before turning her attention back to her father, her smile fading.

"What's the matter, kiddo?" He reached for her hand, swinging it back and forth, watching as she bit her lip, casting a jealous gaze to Norma, who was still gazing down at the tiny creature in her arms, and then back to Alex, and then glancing uneasily at Sarah.

"My hair got messed up." She murmured sadly, gesturing to her hair, which had been in two neat little buns on the sides of her head, and was now in two tangled messes.

"I want mommy to fix it." She glared at the baby, and Norma sighed, starting to gently manoeuvre the baby into Alex's arms.

"Louise?" Sarah piped up suddenly, looking uncertainly from Louise to Norma. "How about if I fix your hair for you?"

She smiled nervously, as the child pondered for a moment, glancing at her mother, who nodded encouragingly. From the moment he met her, Gabe had had the same easy bond with Louise that he seemed to have with all people, but Sarah was yet to make the same connection with her niece and she held her breath while the child deliberated.

"Ok." She said simply and plonked herself down in front of Sarah, her back to her. Norma smiled at the pleased expression on Sarah's face, as she tentatively reached for Louise's mousy brown curls, releasing them from their hair ties and running her fingers through them gently.

"Ok, madam, what would you like today?"

Louise giggled at being treated like a grown up.

"I can do pig tails, buns, braids, french braids, dutch braids, rope braids..."

Louise gasped happily and turned to glance approvingly at Sarah.

"Mommy can only do regular braids." She said, in awe of this woman who was offering her the world, in braid form.

Sarah glanced apologetically at Norma, who shrugged back. She couldn't be offended by her own lack of hair style knowledge. She had only ever had boys and she hadn't had hair long enough to braid for twenty years. Louise was lucky she even remembered the basics.

"Surprise me." Louise said, sounding older than her years as she settled down, leaning back against Sarah's legs. Sarah's nimble fingers worked gently through her hair, weaving and working it into two intricate braids that Norma knew she would have to get Sarah to teach her later. They were bound to be requested again.

As Norma watched Louise and Gabe's ease with her child, she couldn't help but be reminded of the first time they had met their niece, considerably less comfortable than they were now.


"OhmyGodShe'ssotinyI'mfreakingout!" Sarah babbled, sweeping over to where Norma was resting delicately on the couch, her daughter gurgling sweetly in her arms. She hadn't said hello yet, just dumped her purse on the floor, jogging across the living room and coming to a nervous stop in front of the baby.

"Hello Norma." Gabe said pointedly from the doorway, as Sarah hovered right by her, covering her tearful smile with her hands. "Hello Alex. Congratulations on the baby."

"Sorry..." Sarah breathed out, smiling over at Alex, giving him an apologetic little nod for running past him to meet her niece.

"No worries. I'd crawl over broken glass just to stare at her." He admitted, and Norma gazed romantically at him over her shoulder, melting at his words. "I get it." Sarah pulled a cute little face at his confession, and Gabe strolled over to clap Alex on the arm, before the two men shrugged at each other, realising they hadn't greeted each other yet.

"Congrats, man." He said quietly, pulling Alex in for a quick man-hug.

Sarah meanwhile had perched gently next to Norma, as if afraid to sit down with her full weight, lest she disturb the sleeping angel in Norma's arms. Her hands were still pressed against the sides of her face, like she couldn't contain her emotions right now.

"Hi Sarah." Norma said finally, laughing slightly as she took in Sarah's awestruck expression.

"Oh my god-Hi!" She said breathlessly, tearing her gaze away from the cooing infant to smile warmly at Norma. "I missed you."

Norma grinned happily, believing her, before shuffling her arms slightly.

"Hey. You wanna go see Auntie Sarah?" She murmured, in the baby voice she'd been so desperately trying to avoid.

Sarah gasped at Norma's words, as she rearranged the baby in her arms to gently pass her over to Sarah's waiting hands.

"Oh my god. Auntie Sarah!" She breathed out, like she had forgotten her own title, her bottom lip trembling as Norma helped her spread her fingers out right, settling the baby in her arms. "Oh god. Look at her!" She sobbed out finally, her fragile resolve on her tears finally breaking as she gazed down happily. "Ohh I'm getting tears on your baby!" She choked out, sounding horrified.

"That's ok. We got her waterproofed." Alex deadpanned, but Sarah didn't even notice, and Gabe laughed as he sauntered over to Norma, leaning down to press a kiss against her cheek.

"Congratulations Norma. She's perfect." Norma beamed up at him, nodding in agreement as he turned his attention to where Sarah was dripping tears onto the oblivious little face in her arms. Even Gabe seemed to fall under their daughter's spell, sinking down slowly next to her. His arm naturally wrapped around her shoulder as he leaned over, getting a better look.

"Oh jeez. Look at those eyelashes. She got the Romero eyelashes!" He grinned over his shoulder at Alex, not noticing the way Norma frowned. It didn't escape her how those long dark lashes were going to frame those huge blue eyes as her daughter got older, probably growing prettier and prettier with every passing year.

Gabe glanced at his wife, shaking his head, laughing as he took in the way she was happily crying, gazing silently down at the baby.

"Come here..." He muttered, dragging her attention from the baby for a second to wipe the tears from her cheeks, before they both turned their attention back to those endlessly huge baby blue eyes.

His hand drifted tentatively along where Sarah's was supporting the swaddled bundle, stroking her fingers sweetly for a second before nervously reaching to cup the little girl's head for a second. Alex couldn't help but smile as his brother's huge hand gently toyed with the mousey brown fluff on his daughter's head, his face in awe as the baby gurgled up at him.

"Wow, you guys." He said shaking his head in disbelief. "You like, made her! You made this tiny human. How crazy is that?"

"You wanna hold her?" Norma asked, leaning forward watching as Gabe held his hands up.

"Oh no. No. One time I just looked at a glass too hard and it broke."

"You'll be fine-" Norma tried to assure, as Sarah made a pathetic mewling noise from between them.

"No. I'm not done with her." She whined, hogging the child in her arms.

"You'll have your own soon." Alex said casually, and Gabe and Sarah both tensed, the smiles dropping from their faces.

Norma sensed the moment right away and tried to catch Alex's eye, who remained oblivious.

"Might not be that simple." Gabe said quietly, focusing intently on his niece's tiny fingers.

"Don't be stupid. We did it by accident!" Alex announced obliviously, not noticing Norma's eyes flashing a sad warning at him. "And we're like, twice your age!" He laughed lightly, his smile fading as he realised no-one was laughing with him. Norma caught his eyes and frowned at him, now realising why Sarah had cried so much at the sight of her niece.

"Oh." He said suddenly, into the uncomfortable silence, looking at the young healthy couple sitting before him, suddenly looking like they were going to cry.

"It could still happen?" Gabe said hopefully, his arm wrapping around Sarah's shoulder, who cast her gaze down, sniffling gently to cover the tears that had sprung to her eyes.

"Yeah. 17% is great odds." She muttered bitterly, wiping her nose surreptitiously on her sleeve, gazing down sadly at the baby in their arms.

"There's still things we-" Gabe started quietly.

"I don't want to talk about it!" Sarah snapped suddenly, guiltily glancing down at the baby in her arms, wondering if this was as close as she destined to get.

Norma and Alex exchanged a sad, guilty look at creating a child by accident, when this young, healthy couple were having trouble. Norma silently prayed to a God she had long since stopped believing in to give Gabe and Sarah the happiness a child had brought to Norma and Alex's lives.


Looking down at the little angel in her arms, she wondered if someone had been listening to her prayers after all. If they were, she could have done without the years of heartache Gabe and Sarah had been through to get their little miracle.

"She's so beautiful, guys." Norma said genuinely. Alex nodded solemnly from where he was sat next to her, before piping up.

"How much would you have paid for our girls not to have the Romero eyelashes?" He joked lightly.

"Oh anything. Anything!" Gabe laughed and they all glanced from Louise to the baby, taking in the impossibly dark, long, fluttering lashes on both children. Louise had grown into them a little now, as her baby hair had darkened to a light chocolatey brown colour, but with Gabe and Sarah's tiny blonde baby, the dark eyelashes fanned out against her cheek stood out almost absurdly.

Norma had been right to worry about how good looking they were - They had produced a very pretty child, with Alex's olive skin tone, chestnut coloured hair that was close to Norma's natural hair colour, and huge, absurdly blue eyes, framed with long dark lashes. It was like someone had picked every good feature of theirs and pieced them together to create this beautiful creature that was having her hair woven into a intricate hairstyle by Sarah.

"How insane is it that we made them?" Gabe observed suddenly, and Norma giggled, the vibrations waking up the sleeping baby in her arms, the child immediately beginning to coo unhappily.

"It's pretty crazy." She agreed quietly, as she rocked the baby gently, to no avail.

Gabe held out his arms, letting Norma shuffle the baby into his hands, watching as Gabe immediately quieted the child, bobbing and rocking her in a way that he already seemed to have down. He was a natural. It would seem all the Romero men were. It was hard to believe a few short

years back, he was too scared to even hold Louise, terrified his huge hands were going to somehow break her.

"There. All done." Sarah finished Louise's hair, and Louise turned around, patting her plaits gently, nodding to show she was pleased. She reached up with her little arms, throwing them around Sarah's neck, pulling her in for an unexpected hug.

"Thank you, Auntie Sarah." Over Louise's shoulder, Norma watched as Sarah gasped happily, looking like she was going to cry as the little girl finally accepted her.

"You're welcome sweetie." She whispered back.

"Louise? You wanna come meet your cousin?" Gabe asked gently, watching as the little girl disentangled her arms from around his wife's neck and obediently stomped over the blanket to sit cross legged in front of Gabe and the baby. She leaned up on her knees to stare at the baby in a decidedly unimpressed way.

"She's small." She announced with mild displeasure.

Alex chuckled, shuffling over to her, and pulling her onto his lap, pressing a kiss against the top of her head.

"It wasn't so long ago you used to be that tiny." He pointed out.

"Pfft!" Louise breathed out incredulously, like her father was being entirely ridiculous and he laughed at much like her mother she looked when she did that.

"It's true!"

She rolled her eyes like a teenager, not a toddler, and he chuckled again.

"Hello." She murmured, leaning in close to address the baby directly. She stared at it for a moment longer, her disinterest growing evident.

"She doesn't do much." She observed nonchalantly, and Gabe laughed gently.

"Not yet. But one day, she'll be older and you can play together."

Louise brightened a little at that, nodding thoughtfully, glancing around the garden like she was already planning what games they would play.

"What's her name?" She cocked her head as the newborn stretched out one little hand that had wriggled free from the blanket, tiny fingers splaying out experimentally. Automatically, with a sense of wonder that even a child had when looking at a baby, she reached forward to gently touch the little hand, letting the fingers wrap around her index finger.

"Theresa. Theresa Alexandra." He murmured, smiling gently, his voice a mix of sadness and pride. He glanced up at Alex who nodded back at him warmly. He understood Gabriel's choice of name. He had always been closer to their mother, always clinging on to her attention when Alex's father ignored him, especially as they both grew older - Alex had looked more like his father every day, and Gabe... hadn't. The name was the perfect way for Gabriel to show his gratitude to the mother who had always tried her best to shelter him from the man he called dad, and to the brother who had always been on his side.

"Who is she named after?" Gabe frowned at the unusual question, wondering how such a small child would know to ask something like that.

"Erm... Your grandma." He offered uncertainly, shooting Alex a slightly nervous look, relieved when he simply nodded back, his eyes letting Gabriel know that this wasn't going to be new information to Louise.

"In heaven?" She murmured sadly, staring with mild interest as the baby squeezed her finger.

"Yeah." He muttered back, his voice thick.

"I'm named after mommy." She announced proudly, and the pride in her voice made Norma smile across from her. Gabe and Sarah frowned slightly, their faces confused, and Norma realised they had no reason to know her middle name.

"Louise is my middle name." She offered, feeling embarrassed, as Gabe and Sarah smiled in a slightly bewildered way.

"My brother's named after mommy too." Louise explained and Norma shot them a bashful look, shrugging. The name Louise had started as a joke that Norma pretended she hated, but, to her fake-horror, it had stuck. She secretly enjoyed how invested Alex had been in naming their daughter after "the strongest woman he knew" and had allowed the name to stick, to the point where no other suggestion had sounded right.

"Norma Louise and her kids, Norman and Louise." Gabe said, barely keeping the mocking laughter out of his voice.

"There's also Dylan. He's named after a 90210 character." Alex pointed out, and Norma flicked her head to shoot him a harsh glare, her mouth dropping in shock as Alex joined in on the mocking. He held his hands up apologetically as she narrowed her eyes at him angrily.

Louise wriggled out of his arms, crossing over to her tiny holographic pink backpack, pulling something out and then trotting back over to Gabe and Theresa.

"Erm, guys?" Gabe said, his voice slightly wary, drawing their attention back to him. "Your child appears to be holding a dead bird."

Louise looked deeply hurt, pulling the animal close to her defensively, stroking her fingers down it's feathers, her bottom lip trembling.

"Oh... erm..." Norma started helplessly, watching as Louise hugged the bird close to her, suddenly glaring angrily at Gabe, who raised his eyebrows at them.

"I wanted to show Theresa." She said sadly, turning to her mother with a broken expression, still hugging the animal.

"Ok honey." She said soothingly, letting the little girl snuggle against her, clearly hurt at Gabe's reaction to her favourite toy. "Erm, this is Paloma." She gestured broadly to the stuffed sparrow, her tone pointed, her eyes flashing at Gabe and Sarah who looked somewhat confused at their choice of toy for their child. "Her brother, Norman, he's... well, he used to be into taxidermy. He made it for Louise. She takes it everywhere." Her tone said that was wasn't exactly happy with the situation, but both Gabe and Sarah nodded suddenly, Sarah springing forward on her knees to reach for the bird.

"Oh wow!" She cooed, unconvincingly, but convincing enough for the little girl, who's face lit up as Sarah smiled at the dead bird in her hands. She held it out for her to examine.

"I named it after me." She announced proudly, smiling over her shoulder at her mother. "Just like mom did with me." Norma's cheeks burned at the idea of her daughter naming a dead bird after herself, just to be more like her mother.

"After you?" Sarah seemed non-plussed at the strangeness of the situation.

"Paloma is my middle name. It means "dove" in Spanish." She explained seriously, reciting the fact she'd learned almost as soon as she'd learned to speak her name. "Because Paloma's a bird." She pointed out the obvious sweetly, lovingly gazing at the stuffed sparrow in her hands.

Gabe and Alex exchanged a look, remembering their conversation on Gabe's wedding day, immediately recognising the significance of Louise Paloma's name.

"She's beautiful honey." Sarah trilled, flashing Norma an awkward little look as she tried to cover her confusion over Louise's love for a taxidermy sparrow.

Louise nodded solemnly, and then toddled over to hold Paloma up close to Theresa's little face. She sagged at the baby's lack of response, and Gabe took the opportunity to strike up a quiet conversation with her, her face lighting up as he asked questions about Paloma.

"So... if you guys were ok with it, I was thinking we could maybe go out tonight?" Sarah piped up, dragging their attention away from where Gabe and Louise were happily chatting away on the other side of the blanket.

"Yeah. What did you have in mind?"

"Dinner. Drinks. Nothing too crazy." Sarah shrugged, folding her feet underneath her. "Just a grown up night with no talk of diapers or formula or registering for preschool."

Norma nodded sympathetically, remembering how much unsolicited advice people offered the parents of a newborn. It made her happy that her and Alex didn't have that many friends back in White Pine Bay - They never really needed anyone else, or their intrusive opinions.

"What about the kids? Louise is pretty responsible but she might struggle to watch the baby." Alex said, frowning slightly.

"Don't worry. I've got a great sitter in mind."

Alex and Norma shared a look where they both communicated to each other that they didn't really want to leave their child with some stranger but it seemed rude to refuse the invitation, so she nodded slightly, and he nodded back and they turned to her with a matching polite smiles on their faces.

"Come on! We hardly get to see you! It'll be fun!"

"Sure, Sarah. That sounds nice." Norma said, already worrying about leaving their children, if only for one evening.

"But not too late, ok?" Alex added, noticing Norma's little worried frown.

"Of course, of course. We're responsible parent-types now!" Sarah reassured him, though only Norma caught the wicked gleam in her eye.


BIG thank you to everyone who suggested a name for the baby! I couldn't tell you at the time, but I was technically looking for two names, one for the Normero baby and one for the Sabe baby. I had already settled on Louise but, when alot of people suggested Theresa, I thought it would work perfectly for Gabe and Sarah's baby. And quite a few people also suggested Alexandra (or similar) and I didn't even twig that that was related to Alex's name till DoomedSometimes mentioned it and I suddenly realised! I thought it might be nice if Gabe named his baby after the two family members he'd always loved the most. And Paloma? Well, I genuinely thought more people would suggest bird-related names, but most of them seemed to bit too heavy handed, but then I found Paloma and really liked the spanish connection, so I settled on that one. There were SO many pretty names suggested though! Loved them all!

Also, the next chapter is the last chapter. For real! I'm emoshe about it! :'(