Lilian awoke a few hours later. Unconsciously, she reached across the bed, her hands touching a small arm. Hmm… that's definitely not Dwayne, she thought drowsily.

She forced her eyes open, meeting the eyes of her niece, who was now laying next to her. "Hi, Auntie Lilian," Elisabeth said, a wide smile on her face. "Can we play now?"

Lilian moaned softly, managing a weak smile for her niece. "Give me a few minutes to clean up and eat and everything, then we will play. Okay? I promise."

"Pinky swear?" her niece asked seriously.

"Pinky swear," Lilian replied, just as serious as she hooked pinkies with the child.

"Okay… now brush your teeth Auntie Lilian. Your breath stinks!"

"It's true."

Lilian looked up to see Dwayne walk back into the room dressed in a pair of jeans and a navy blue t-shirt. In his hand was a wet towel indicating he'd just taken a shower.

"Thanks," Lilian said sarcastically, sitting up, but holding the blankets to her.

Half an hour later, Lilian walked into the large kitchen where everyone was sitting on barstools around the island.

"So nice of you to join us," her sister joked.

"Mom made her sandwiches," her nephew Benjamin said joyfully, taking a bite of one.

Lilian smiled. "Did she now? And did your mom happen to save me one?"

"Of course I did, baby sis!" Dahlia said, setting a plate in front of Lilian, who dug in hungrily.

Watching Lilian eat, Dwayne glanced at Dahlia, smiling widely. "You should feed her more often," Dahlia commented to Dwayne, who just shook his head.

"Hey, hey. We outran a hurricane last night. I was a little too busy to be eating," Lilian replied indignantly.

"Mmm hmm… yeah. That's what they all say," Matthew chimed in, teasing Lilian as well.

"Geez," Lilian grumbled good naturedly. "I get no respect around here." She turned her attention to Benjamin, winking at her nephew. "So how was your game?"

"Awesome!" Benjamin replied. "I scored eighteen goals!"

"Eighteen!" Lilian exclaimed, hiding a smile as her brother in law held up two fingers behind his son's back. "Wow! You're pretty good!"

Benjamin nodded, taking a drink of his milk. "Yeah, and this one kid on the other team, he got mad. He kicked me. So I kicked him back."

Lilian laughed and shook her head. "That wasn't very nice."

"Ben, you know it isn't polite to lie," his father said.

The little boy frowned and went back to his lunch.

Dwayne turned to face Lilian. "Alright, I have some good news and some bad news, what do you want first."

"Good," she said quickly.

"Nothing was damaged last night. The hurricane died out by the time it reached the city."

"And the bad?" she pressed.

"It knocked out power lines. There won't be any electricity for at least another week or two."

"Sh…" Lilian trailed off, seeing her niece and nephew watching her. "Shoot," she said instead of the expletive that was originally threatening to surface.

"It'll be okay, though. Cause you need to leave for Raw tomorrow, and I need to go film a few more scenes Monday and Tuesday. We'll go down there sometime during the week to get our stuff and make sure there was no real damage done."

"Okay," Lilian replied softly.

"In the meantime, I'll do a load of clothes so you and Dwayne have clean clothes to wear tomorrow," Dahlia spoke up.

"Man," Lilian remembered. "I left my dress for Raw down in Miami. I was just going to go from there to the show."

"Don't worry about it, we can leave early tonight to get your things from your apartment," Dwayne offered.

"That's true."

"Auntie Lilian!"

She looked down, laughing softly as Elisabeth pulled on the leg of her jeans. "What is it sweetheart?"

"You promised me you'd play with me after you woke up. You pinky promised!" The little girl put extra emphasis on pinky, as though Lilian had signed it in blood.

"I'll tell you what, I'm all done with my lunch and you are too?" Elisabeth nodded. "Okay then, last one upstairs to your room is a big, ugly chicken!"

Elisabeth took off for the stairs, scrambling up to her bedroom, Lilian close behind.

Dwayne watched them with a slight smile on his face, not noticing the hard look Dahlia was giving him until he brought his gaze back to her? "What?" he asked self consciously.

"Nothing…" Dahlia said, shaking her head. "Ben, why don't you go see what Aunt Lilian and Elisabeth are doing?"

The boy took up off the stairs, happy to be getting out of his clean up chores.

"So… my sister is really good with kids, isn't she?" Dahlia spoke up once Benjamin was up the steps.

"Yeah, she's pretty amazing," Dwayne replied absently.

"Yeah… so do you want to have kids with her?"

"Excuse me?" he asked, nearly choking on the sip of water he'd just taken.

Dahlia smiled, beginning to clean up the kitchen. "I was just wondering if you wanted to have children with Lilian."

"Uh...Dahlia, I really don't know. Lil and I have only been dating for less than a month."

"Oh don't give me that," she said, half joking. "I know she's always had feelings for you. Whenever she'd come to visit, she would mumble your name in her sleep."

Dwayne ducked his head, trying to hide the heat creeping up into his cheeks. "Did she now?"

Dahlia nodded. "Oh yeah."

"She also sings in her sleep," Dwayne pointed out.

"And in the bathroom, in the shower, in the car, while cooking dinner, and any other waking moment," Dahlia added. "Well, unawake too."

Dwayne laughed, shaking his head.

"But yeah… please don't hurt my sister. Cause I'll kill you," Dahlia continued seriously.

Dwayne opened his mouth to reply, but he was cut off when Dahlia placed her hand on her stomach, inhaling deeply.

"Dear? What's wrong?" Matthew, who had been silent during Dahlia and Dwayne's exchange, nervously asked.

She shook her head, using her other hand on the counter to support herself. "I'm fine."

"You don't look fine," Matthew said, getting up and walking over to her.

"I'm going to get Lilian." Dwayne shot up the stairs, returning a few moments later with Lilian, who was taking the steps by three.

"Dahlia, are you okay?"

Her sister swallowed, and nodded. "I'm fine, really." She smiled just to reassure them.

"Maybe I should call the doctor," Matthew suggested.

"No, I-" Dahlia cut herself off, doubling over in pain.

"That's it. I'm calling the doctor," Matthew declared, grabbing the phone off the hook.

Dwayne grabbed a chair, placing it close to Dahlia so she could sit down. She did so, holding Lilian's arms as she did so.

"Sis… you okay?" Lilian asked, concern lacing her voice.

"Yeah… I just think I'm in labor." She groaned again, her hands gripping Lilian's forearms even harder.

"What?!" Lilian asked. "You… you can't be!"

"Well, I can and I am!" Dahlia snarked.

"But… I don't know how to deliver a baby!" Lilian said, panicked.

"You aren't going to," Dahlia answered once the wave of pain washed over.

At that point, Benjamin and Elisabeth came down the stairs wondering what was going on. Lilian shot Dwayne a look and he went over to meet them before they reached the bottom step.

"Hey, I have an idea for a brand new game that you've never played before," he taunted.

"Ooh!" Elisabeth cooed with happiness.

"Oh yeah, and what's that?" Benjamin prodded, crossing his arms.

"We're going to see who can build the best LEGO fort of them all!"

"Aww," Elisabeth whined. "I hate LEGOs! I don't know how." She pouted and Dwayne quickly lifted her up.

"Well then, you can be on my team since Benjamin here looks pretty confident in himself."

"Yeah, you're toast," the six year old challenged.

Meanwhile, Matthew was calmly hanging up the phone with the emergency operators. "They'll be here in five to ten minutes," he told the two females.

"How can you be so calm?" Lilian asked her brother in law, wincing when Dahlia's foot connected with her knee as another wave of pain hit.

Matthew smiled wryly at Lilian, commenting, "She gave birth to Elisabeth in the middle of a snowstorm… so I think I can handle anything. I'm going to grab her bag and all and then I'll be back. Okay?"

"Yeah," Lilian replied, turning her attention back to her sister. "So… uh, Dahlia, you thought of any names?"

"Shut up, Lilian," Dahlia growled, glaring at her little sister's attempt at a conversation.

"Okay, uhm..."

Much to Lilian's relief, Matthew returned to the room carrying an overnight bag.

"Listen, Lilian, I want you to stay with the kids."

She nodded. "I know, I'll call Mom and Dad too."

Dahlia accepted her husband's hand and stood up. "You can bring them to the hospital, if you want."

"We probably will because I'll have to leave no later than tomorrow morning. But I promise you, I'll be back Tuesday morning."

Dahlia rolled her eyes. "Goody. Just shove your skinny little ass in my face while I lay in a bed like a beached whale!"

Lilian giggled, kissing her sister on the cheek. "Good to see you still have your Spanish sense of humor."

"Yeah, well you know."

"Love you, Dahlia," Lilian said softly.

"Love you too, Lil."

She watched as Matthew helped her walk to the front of the house to wait for the ambulance. She glanced in the other room, relieved to see that Dwayne had things under control. With a sigh, she grabbed the phone and dialed her parent's number.

"Hello?" her mother answered.

"Mom, it's Lil. Look, you're going to be a Grandmom again soon."

"You're pregnant!?"

Lilian clenched her eyes and prepared herself for the long tirade coming her way.

"Who's the father? I thought we raised you well enough to not have sex before you were married! Of course, we all know what happened with that moral! Don't think I've forgotten about that! You couldn't have done it while you were married to Paul, could you? No, you just had to wait! Well, who is he, hmm?"

Lilian giggled. "Mom, I'm not pregnant. Dahlia however is, but she soon won't be. Now why don't you and Daddy get packed and come up to see us?"

There was a long silence, then her mom said, "Okay. Where are you now?"

"I'm in Tennessee. At Dahlia's?"

"How'd you get there so fast?"

Lilian smirked, remembering the long fifteen hour trek from Miami the day before. "I was outrunning a hurricane," she finally replied.

"What?"

Lilian laughed, shaking her head as she said, "It's a long story, Mom. Just get over here fast."

"Okay... I love you Lily."

"Love you too, Mom."

"Love you too!"

They hung up just as Matthew and Dahlia were getting ready to leave.

"I will call my parents," Matthew said. "They'll come get the kids so you and Dwayne can get out of here since you have stuff for tomorrow."

"Thank you," Lilian said gratefully, hugging him. "Call me if anything happens! We'll make a stop by the hospital before we leave though, okay?"

He nodded and then left.

Lilian shut the door and then sighed. She heard the other two, three counting D, laughing upstairs and decided to see what they were doing.

"What's going on here?" Lilian asked, amused as she saw Benjamin and Elisabeth sitting on Dwayne.

"We're playing pile on the newcomer," Dwayne said, laughing as he lifted Elisabeth off his lap. "So go on, guys, pile on the newcomer!"

"Hey!" Lilian exclaimed, giggling as Benjamin and Elisabeth jumped on her, knocking her to the ground.

"Hey, guys, know what Auntie Lilian likes?" Dwayne spoke up.

"What's that?" Benjamin asked.

"Being tickled!"

"Hey! Don't do that!" Lilian laughed, squirming when Dwayne joined the tickle fest.

She arched her back up off the floor, giggling with the others. "Don't! I give! I give! Please, no more!"

They continued with the tickling and soon Lilian became motionless on the floor.

"Hey, is she okay?" Benjamin asked.

They stopped tickling her and moved closer.

"Auntie Lilian?" Elisabeth said softly, reaching a pudgy hand out to shake her aunt.

Without warning, Lilian jolted up and pounced on the two children, tickling them in return. "Take that!"

Benjamin and Elisabeth screamed and giggled, trying to scoot away.

Dwayne merely laughed as he watched, marveling in how… maternal Lilian seemed. He really couldn't wait until they had their own kids…

Wait… where did THAT come from? He asked himself, shaking his head.

The phone rang, breaking his thoughts. "I'll get it Lil," he called, dodging the tangle of legs and arms as he ran to grab the phone.

"Hello?"

"Yeah… uh, Dwayne? It's Matthew."

"Hey, man. How's Dahlia?"

"Good. She just had the baby. In the parking lot of the hospital."

Dwayne chuckled. "You're kidding!"

He heard Matthew laugh as well. "Nope, she sure doesn't wait."

"I guess not! How's the baby?"

"Absolutely perfect."

"Boy or girl?"

Lilian jumped up from the floor and ran over to him. "What's going on? What's happening? Is Dahlia okay?"

"Hang on," Dwayne said into the phone, "I'll let you tell Lilian before she chews my ear off with questions."

She glared at him playfully and took the phone. "What's going on?!"

"You're an aunt again, Lilian."

Lilian squealed with delight, then frowned slightly. "Wait. You left like ten minutes ago."

"Well, you know how impatient Dahlia is. She didn't even wait till we were in the hospital. She gave birth in the parking lot."

Lilian giggled, then asked, "Girl or boy?"

"Girl."

"What's her name?"

"Kristina Lilian."

Lilian gasped slightly, her eyes welling up with tears. "Oh, Matthew… are you sure?"

"Of course, we wouldn't name our daughter a name we didn't like."

"Aww, thank you!"

"I think somebody wants to talk to you, hold on."

Lilian heard the phone shift around and then her sister's voice came on. "Damn our Latina blood."

Lilian laughed. "How are you?"

"Ah, great, considering I just had an 8 pound baby girl."

"I bet she is adorable! I can't wait to see her."

"Matt's parents should be there soon, so don't worry. I forgot to tell you on the way out, both of those two wild things need naps."

"Okay, Dahlia," Lilian replied. "Congratulations again! I can't wait to show you the little outfit I bought her the other day!"

"Oh, Lord. My shop-a-holic sister is at it again!"

"Hush, Reina. You know you love it."

"Yeah, I do!" she said with a laugh. "I'll let you get back to the kids. Thanks, Lil. For all your help."

"It's no problem, Sis. I just know why we were driven away by a hurricane now!"

Dahlia wearily chuckled again, then said, "I'll talk to you later, Lil."

"Bye." She hung up the phone, seeing her niece and nephew staring at her with curious eyes.

"Who was that?" Benjamin asked.

"That was your mom," Lilian said, walking with to the floor where she sat down, motioning for them to follow.

"You have a brand new baby sister!"

Elisabeth gasped. "I do? It's here?"

Lilian nodded, surprised when Dwayne sat next to her.

"What's her name?"

Lilian looked at her nephew. "Kristina, you two get to go see her and your mom when your grandma and grandpa get here okay?"

Elisabeth yawned. "Yay!"

"I agree. And as for you missy, it's time for a nap."

"Ha ha," Benjamin laughed before the action too turned into a yawn.

"Ha indeed," Dwayne said with a laugh. "How about we get you two munchkins down for a nap?"

"Okay," Elisabeth agreed sleepily, climbing into Lilian's lap.

"Not here, sweetie," Lilian said with a smile, easily standing up and lifting her niece and carrying her out of the room.

"I'll put Benjamin down," Dwayne offered, helping the little boy up.

"Thanks, D," Lilian said gratefully.

"Yeah, thanks Uncle D," Benjamin chimed in sleepily.

Lilian tucked Elisabeth into her bed with Disney Princess sheets. She kissed her forehead and handed her a stuffed animal. "When you wake up, your grandma and grandpa will be here to take you to see your new sister," Lilian said softly.

Elisabeth nodded and soon drifted off. Lilian smiled and left the room, turning off the light and closing the door on her way out. She met Dwayne downstairs in the living room and sat down with him on the couch.

"Today sure was fun."

He grinned and put his arm around her shoulders. "Today was something else." He kissed her softly. "You were something else."

"You were amazing, too," Lilian pointed out.

"No, my dear," he said with a horrible fake accent. "You were more amazing." He kissed her lightly before switching back to his normal voice. "You'll make a great mother someday."

Lilian smiled softly, resting her head against his. "You think so?" she asked softly.

"No, I don't think so," Dwayne replied. Seeing her confused look, he added, "I know so."

End Part 12

Reina means Queen, for all you non Spanish speaking people.