Cassie's abrupt departure from Middleton causes quite the stir. There are significant rumors, and gossip around town regarding the state of her marriage. Her absence evolves from days, to weeks, to months. Aside from Sam, and George none of Middleton's residents have any clear explanation as to her departure. Late one evening Grace returns to Grey house. She finds Sam awaiting her arrival.

"Have you murdered my mother?"

He laughs, "No."

"I don't see her anywhere. I honestly thought everyone one freaking out over nothing."

"The truth is far less salacious than anything you may have heard."

"For the first time in my life I return home, to zero baked goods, and my mother missing in action."

"I assure you that she will be home soon."

"When?"

He shrugs, "She's the only one with that answer."

That night Grace finds it incredibly difficult to sleep. After a few cups of chamomile she eventually drifts off. When she finally awakens she gets the distinct sense that she is being watched. She opens her eyes, and finds her mother sitting in the chair next to the bed with a basket of laundry on her lap.

"Geez! You nearly gave me a heart attack. How long have you been sitting there? When did you get in? Where have you been hiding? Why haven't you been here? Abigail, and Joy, and even Stephanie, and Martha have been blowing up my phone trying to get details that I don't have. What is going on here?"

"I've just been out of town."

Grace furrows her brow, "For months with no explanation?"

"I have an explanation. I just haven't been apt to share it with anyone."

"I had a really strange dream. Actually, I've been having it for months. I come into the kitchen, and you're taking bread out of the oven, and you ask if I want a bun. Then I roll my eyes, and answer, 'No. I'm more concerned about the bun in your oven,'. The first time I had this overwhelming urge to call you, but with your spotty cell phone reception that proved impossible. My gut said to call Nick, and he interrupted and told me about his dream, which was almost identical."

Cassie touches her chin, "That is interesting."

"Why are you holding a basket of laundry? Are you hiding something?"

Cassie falls utterly silent. Her lips draw into a line.

Grace cocks her head, "And where are all the guests?"

"We cancelled them for this weekend."

"I didn't tell you I was coming."

Cassie's eyes twinkles, and she offers a shrug, "Call it intuition."

"That laundry basket is empty," Grace obsesses.

"I came in to see if you had laundry to wash. Then I thought it might be a violation of your privacy, because you are an adult these days, so I opted not to dig through your luggage. Then I sat down, and decided to watch you sleep."

"That is creepy. You are being so weird. Can you lose the laundry basket?"

Cassie gently divorces the laundry basket. It tumbles to the floor with a nice plastic-y thud. Grace kicks off her covers, and sits up against her headboard as Cassie vacates her seat. With a smile she slides onto the bed next to Grace.

Grace's eyebrow arches in disbelief, "So this is why you've been MIA?"

"Have I ever done anything without good reason?"

Grace shakes her head, "No."

Cassie takes Grace's hand, and places it on her round stomach.

"I want to say that I'm surprised, but obviously I'm not. I had a feeling."

"I'm glad someone had a feeling, because I certainly didn't."

Grace furrows her brow, "What do you mean? I assumed that this was very well planned."

Cassie laughs, and shakes her head, "Nope. Not even a little bit. There was no planning. This was completely unintended."

"Not to be rude, but aren't you a little old to find yourself with a completely unintended pregnancy?"

"Yes," she nods, "it was certainly a chapter that I thought was closed. Really it was a door that I thought had been nailed shut."

Grace shakes her head in disbelief, "So you didn't have any assistive reproductive technology?"

"No."

"Or a special herb blend, or questionable tasting tea?"

"No. Grace I can't offer an explanation."

Grace's face puckers, "Are there two of them?"

"What would make you ask that?"

"In my dream I always say buns, not bun."

"Yes. There are two of them," Cassie confirms.

"Did you go into hiding because this was an unwanted pregnancy? That seems pretty archaic."

"Hardly. Everyone in our lives lacks boundaries. I didn't want anyone to get emotionally invested in this until it felt safe to do so. It is quite a risky endeavor."

"You're not glowing," Grace comments.

"No."

"Is something wrong?"

"Sometimes I worry there is just something wrong with me."

"Because you're not your typical bubbly self? It seems pretty reasonable to me that a pregnancy late in life would cause a lot of scary thoughts and feelings, much like one early in life would."

Cassie meets her glance, "This isn't where you tell me that you're moving home because you're pregnant is it?"

Grace smiles, "No. Definitely not. I'm not."

"I would support…"

Grace cuts her off, "Stop making this awkward. I am not pregnant."

"I find that making things awkward is my superpower these days."