The next morning Amy lay in her bed, it still felt empty, and decided today would be the day that she would tell the kids. Her kids, her beautiful children. Amy laughed when she thought back to the birth of PJ, her eldest son. How she had stated she was never doing this again, forget that, she and Bob would be sleeping in different rooms from now on. And then she had looked at PJ, a handsome boy even then, and knew that all that pain had been worth it. She laughed at how her and Bob had decided that all they needed was one more; a little girl, and their lives would be complete. They got Teddy, wonderful Teddy, with her blonde, blonde hair, and her deep brown eyes. Next was Gabe, their mischief maker, always keeping Amy on her toes. Well, Gabe had come about after a drunken argument…or more precisely the making up that had happened afterwards. Then they had promised that that was it, they were getting older now, three was enough. They managed to get Gabe past being a toddler, so far so good. Gabe started school, still no new baby. Amy relaxed. Her kids were growing up now; she had time to work, time with them, and time to spend with Bob. Perhaps it had been too much time, as one day (Gabe was 10 at this point, practically a grown up, they were nearly free) the stick had turned blue. They had panicked, how could they cope with another? But from the first sonogram they had been in love. And soon little Charlie had arrived. Now, now they felt complete. Again they promised, this was it, no more.

Amy finally plucked up the nerve to get out of bed and head downstairs, where she could already hear her older three arguing over…was that really cereal they were arguing about? Now that she was feeling excited herself, she wasn't as apprehensive about talking to them as she had been yesterday…but she was still nervous. She had an inkling of how each child might react… but she knew you could never be sure. For example, she imagined PJ and Teddy would be excited, happy to have a piece of their father live on. Gabe however, who had taken an age to get used to Charlie, would most likely be upset, but hopefully he'd come round. It was Charlie that Amy worried about. She was sensitive, very sensitive, but also picking up the habits of Gabe. Amy knew that a major change like the one she was about to throw at her might push her over the edge….turn her into a mini Gabe. Amy shuddered. One Gabe was enough, no household needed two.

The kitchen was chaos. Charlie's cereal was all over the high chair, the table, the floor. The only place it didn't seem to be was in Charlie's mouth. Teddy and PJ were wrestling over the last box of Lucky Charms, and Gabe was just about to stick his knife into the toaster. "Right, number three, step away from the toaster!" she practically screamed. As if they had been shocked the kids froze in place. "Do you think she notices the mess?" PJ 'whispered' to Teddy. "No, no, I think it looks perfectly normal to her" came Teddy's sarcastic reply. Slowly, everyone moved to chairs, taking whatever food they had with them. They could tell that something was bothering Amy…and it was best not to awaken the Mama Bear if it could be helped.

Amy didn't speak for a while. She was trying to piece the words together in her head. She knew she could just say, "I'm pregnant" and it would be over, done, like ripping off a band aid she would tell the kids. But it wasn't that easy. What if they resented this baby, for reminding them of the dad they loved? Gabe hadn't spoke about his father once since he heard about the accident Amy could tell he was hurting. PJ had tried to take over as a man of the house, but could he support a pregnant mother? And Teddy, well Teddy was trying to make sure that everyone was ok, would this be a spanner in the works, an extra burden for her? Charlie of course was too young to fully comprehend what was happening, but even she had distanced herself from the family, spent time sitting alone. Amy was suddenly worried again…would this ruin the healing? Was this too much, too soon?

"Right Mom, out with it" Teddy's voice pulled Amy out of her thoughts. "Out with what darling?" she asked, trying to smile. "With whatever it is that is making you so…distant We've just lost our dad and now it seems like we haven't got a mum anymore!" Teddy suddenly burst out, tearing up in the process "I get this is hard for you Mom, I do, but right now we nee.."

"I'm pregnant…" Off came the bad aid. Amy was looking at the floor, unable to meet the eyes of her children; too fearful to see how they felt. It was only when she heard a voice say "again?!" , a muffled sob and the slamming of the kitchen door that she finally lifted her gaze, just to see which one her children's life that she had ruined…

Hi guys. Sorry this has taken ages and isn't very good, but I am in the middle of doing exams I promise that as soon as they are over I will update more regularly, only if you want me too of course

So, please review? And feel free to guess which child you think isn't too happy about the news!
Thank you