A/N: Thanks for all the lovely reviews, I really enjoy hearing from everyone. I am so sorry it took me so long to post this, I really tried to make this chapter long, but time got away from me. Now, for a bit of sad news, this is the second-to-last chapter of this story. I am thinking of doing another sequel, though. It would be a series of one-shots that take place before, after, and between Family Ties and Family Trials. I have a few ideas of my own, but I would also like to know what you guys would like to see, ex., the twins birth. So, do you guys want this sequel? If so, let me know what ideas you have. For now, enjoy this chapter! :)

Chapter Twenty-Four

Build A Snowman

December

The sunlight streamed in through the windows, warming Rebecca's face as her eyes fluttered open. She stretched her legs down and yawned as she rolled over right into a pair of blue eyes. Rebecca smiled when she saw him looking at her, his head propped up on his elbow. She enjoyed having him here, filling the spot in her heart she'd kept empty for so long. Her bed, her apartment just felt different when he wasn't here.

"What are you doing?" she asked him.

"Just watching you sleep and thinking how beautiful and peaceful you look," Caleb confessed.

"Now, that doesn't sound stalkerish at all," Rebecca teased, though she blushed slightly at his comment.

"Then, you don't want to know what else I was thinking," Caleb whispered huskily as he leaned over her.

"Oh, I think I can handle it," Rebecca grinned,, cupping his neck with her hand, pulling him further down on top of her.

Their lips crashed together in a searing kiss. Rebecca's senses were awakened when Caleb touched her, his hands sliding underneath her oversized t-shirt. Fiery heat followed in the wake of his fingers across her skin and she gripped his shoulders hard as his lips moved down to her neck. His hands were at the waistband of her shorts when she thought she heard the creak of a door opening.

"Did you hear that?" Rebecca asked him. She wasn't even sure how she was able to get the words out, her mind was going into a fog and all she could think of was Caleb's lips on her skin.

"I didn't hear anything," Caleb said, nuzzling behind her ear.

"I think...I..." Rebecca's train of thought escaped her as Caleb continued to leave a trail of hot kisses down her neck again. He yanked her shirt collar down over her shoulder and she heard the fabric give a little.

Rebecca sat up a little, wanting to feel his skin against hers, to push his t-shirt up. He broke contact for only a moment to thrown the shirt off. She ran her hands down his finely-sculpted chest and that's when her senses started to come back to her. It sounded like someone else was in the room with them;

Rebecca thought she'd heard soft footsteps on the carpet. Then, she heard the small voice.

"Mommy?"

They broke a part automatically, the heat and passion vanishing instantly, but Rebecca still had a hard time catching her breath as she adjusted her shirt. AJ stood next to the bed, his hair sticking up in all directions, and looking like he was about to cry. He also had his new, automated race car in his hands.

"Baby, what's wrong?" Rebecca asked him.

AJ held the toy race car out in front of him. "Car boken," he whined, sounding really upset. Caleb lifted the toddler up onto the bed and he crawled over to Rebecca.

"I don't think it's broken," Rebecca said, pulling her son into her lap.

Almost as if to prove his point, AJ pushed the buttons on the car and nothing happened, the lights didn't turn on and the car stayed mute. "Boken," AJ repeated.

"We just need to change the batteries, then it'll work," Rebecca explained, taking the car and turning it over to look at the battery compartment. "It's because you've been playing with it too much!" AJ dissolved into giggles when Rebecca tickled him.

"There's more batteries in the living room," Rebecca whispered in the toddler's ear. She pulled the top of AJ's red race car jammies back down over his belly.

"Yay!" AJ exclaimed.

"Do you want me to help you get them?" Caleb asked him.

AJ nodded and Rebecca helped him get down off the bed. Caleb picked up the toy car and the two of them started towards the door. Rebecca smiled, pulling her legs up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them, as she watched them. Caleb had just opened the door when AJ looked up at him.

"Daddy, forgot shirt," AJ said.

Rebecca hid her laugh behind her hand, but Caleb still turned and grinned at her. "Mommy, confiscated it, meaning she took it away from me." Rebecca gaped at him, feeling a blush tinge her cheeks.

"You bad?" AJ asked, still looking up at him.

"Something like that," Caleb winked and Rebecca covered her face with her hands. She heard Caleb laugh and then the two of them left the room.

When she was alone, Rebecca got up, intending on getting dressed. She had just pulled out some clothes from her closet, when her cell phone beeped with a new text message. Walking over to her nightstand where she left it, Rebecca picked up her phone. The text was from Ty, asking if she wanted to bring AJ over to Heartland so that all the kids could play in the snow together. She thought that was a good idea, so she quickly sent a reply and set the phone back down on the table. Then, she went off to find her two boys.

They were in the living room when she found them. Caleb was sitting on the couch with AJ's race car in his hands, exchanging the old batteries for new ones. AJ stood next to him, watching, his hands ready to snatch the toy at a moment's notice. When Caleb put the car down on the coffee table and pushed the button, the toddler cheered joyfully as the car 'magically' worked again. He scooped up the car and started to run back to his room, but Rebecca stopped him.

"Hey, what do you say?" she reminded him.

AJ stared blankly up at her for a minute, then looked back at Caleb. "Tank 'oo," he said. AJ started to run off again, but Rebecca stopped him, this time she kneeled down in front of him.

"Wait a minute, I have an idea," Rebecca said. "Do you want to go play in the snow with Jackson and Lily?"

"Yeah!" AJ exclaimed, the toy momentarily forgotten, then he looked back at Caleb again. "Daddy come?"

"Of course, we're all going to go," Rebecca assured him, taking his little hands in hers. Just then, Caleb got up and came over to kneel next to them, putting his arms around both of them.

"We're a family now, AJ," Caleb told the little boy. "Whatever we do, we do together," And then, AJ smiled his wide-toothed grin and Rebecca's heart melted.

~OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~

Amy opened the back door of the house and deposited the little girl inside. They had just finished feeding the horses and Lily couldn't get enough of the fresh blanket of snow that had fallen during the night. Normally, she would have just gone out to do the morning feeds by herself, but Lily had woken up earlier than usual and wanted to tag along. Amy helped her daughter out of her coat and boots before taking off her own.

"Ok, let's go find daddy and Jack," Amy said, after she hung their coats on the hooks by the door. Lily skipped out of the kitchen, calling out for her daddy and then her brother. Amy followed after her, thinking that they were still upstairs.

They reached the stairs and Lily automatically reached for Amy's hand. She's still a little nervous on the stairs from her tumble last month. Lobo was laying at the top of the stairs, his head between his paws and his tail thumping against the carpet. The dog didn't move as they ascended the staircase, so when they reach the top, Amy had to lift Lily over him and then, she too, stepped over the dog.

"Where daddy?" Lily asked as she started walking down the hall. She also threw her arms up in mock frustration and Amy bit back a laugh.

"Let's look in here," Amy suggested, walking toward the twins' bedroom. Lily followed her as she opened the door and walked inside.

The room was empty, though it looked like it had been recently played in. Toys were strewn across the floor and Lily automatically went to a few of her scattered My Little Ponies. She knelt down to start playing with them, but a second later, she sat back on her heels and frowned. Lily looked around the room once, then looked up at Amy.

"Mommy, where Pinkie?" she asked her.

"I don't know, I thought we were looking for daddy and Jack?" Amy asked, coming over to her.

"Oh," Lily said, standing back up.

The search went underway as they checked under the beds and pushed aside the blankets. Amy was about to give up and go to another room when she thought she heard a shushing noise come from the closet. She took Lily's hand as she started walking toward the closet, putting her finger to her lips telling her to be quiet. Lily mimicked her, a sly grin on her face.

In one quick motion, Amy pulled open the closet door and just as she suspected, Ty stood inside holding a giggling Jackson. "Found you!" Lily squealed, jumping up and down.

"No fair, Jack couldn't keep his giggles inside him," Ty said, smiling, as he came out of the closet. He put Jackson down on his feet and the little boy immediately handed Lily the pink pony she'd been looking for. Lily squealed again, taking the toy from her brother.

"Who's idea was it to hide from us?" Amy asked Jackson.

Jackson pointed up at Ty, giggling again. "Hey!" Ty mocked gasping, lunging toward the toddler and started tickling him. Jackson let out a loud laugh as he tried to squirm away from his daddy. After they had settled down, Lily walked over to one of the beds and picked up the blanket that lay on top.

"Me turn!" she announced.

"There's no time," Amy told her. "Don't you want to go play out in the snow with Katie?"

"Oh, yeah!" Lily remembered, throwing the blanket she'd been in the midst of putting over top of herself to the floor. Last night, they had made plans to go over to Heartland, so that the kids could play in the snow they knew would fall. The twins were excited, though they only had a vague understanding of it all.

"I put their snowsuits and boots by the door," Ty said. "I also packed a change of clothes for both of them, but is there anything else you can think of that we need?"

"No, I think that's it," Amy replied, looking around the room. "Do you guys want to pick out one toy to bring with you?"

The twins agreed and the next few minutes were spent trying to figure which toys to bring. Jackson picked his favorite motorcycle almost immediately, but Lily was a little harder. She couldn't choose which My Little Pony toy she wanted to bring,but, in the end, she decided on her big, plush Pinkie Pie.

"Okay, let's go," Ty said, and they ushered the kids out of the room. It was slow-moving on the steps; halfway down, Lily didn't want to walk by herself anymore, she wanted Amy to carry her and Jackson was taking one step at a time. Lobo also wanted to be in the middle of everything.

When they got downstairs, Amy and Ty put the twins' boots and coats on for now. They would get the rest of their stuff on when they got to Heartland. The twins marveled at the snow as they left the house, Jackson even managed to scoop up a clump of snow. He abruptly dropped it though, when he felt how cold and wet it was. Ty had come out earlier to clear the car of snow, so all they had do was buckle the toddlers into their car seats. Amy had stepped back from buckling Lily and closed the door, when she bumped into something.

It was Ty, she hadn't even heard him come around the car, after turning it on. He took her by the hips and spun her around, quickly planting a kiss on her lips. It happened so fast that Amy didn't have time to react.

"What was that for?" she asked him.

"Your lips were looking a bit cold, I thought I would warm them up," Ty said, leaning his forehead against hers. "And I haven't gotten to do that yet today."

"Well, in that case, please warm me up again," Amy smiled, sliding her hands into his jacket pockets.

Ty eagerly complied, lowering his mouth to hers. Their lips slid together, inviting each other in. Ty's hands slid around her, pulling her to him in a tight embrace. Being this close, they could barely feel the winter cold around them. The heat and passion between them was the only thing that Amy could feel, the warmth of the kiss tingling all the way down to her toes. The kiss was just slowing down when they heard a knock on the car window next to them. When they broke a part, they saw their daughter peering out at them.

"I guess that's our cue to go," Ty said.

"Guess so," Amy agreed. "Before they learn to drive themselves."

Ty laughed as he gave her shoulders one last squeeze before going around to the driver's side of the car. Amy slid into the passenger seat to wait for Ty to get in. When he did, Amy turned around to face the twins. "Are you ready?" she asked them. Both nodded enthusiastically.

"Alright, then let's go, daddy," Amy said, turning back around.

"Yeah, go, daddy!" Lily repeated, giggling.

"Alright, I'm going," Ty replied, putting the car in gear.

When they were on the road, Amy reached over the console to take Ty's hand, who intertwined his fingers with hers. Amy smiled to herself as she looked in the rear-view mirror. Already, the twins had drifted off into doing their own things. Jackson was staring out his window quietly, holding his toy motorcycle in his lap. Lily had her stuffed Pinkie Pie in front of her and was making the pony dance. She even sang a few lines from her favorite My Little Pony song.

Amy glanced over at Ty and saw that he'd been watching her watch the twins. He smiled at her and brought her hand up to kiss it softly. She smiled back, her thumb reaching out to graze his chin. It was the small moments that Amy loved the most, the moments that told her just how much he truly cared for her.

~OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~

"C'mon, Katie, put your fingers in," Lou said as she knelt in front of her five-year-old daughter. The little girl was squirming around, wanting to get outside already and play in the snow. It took one more attempt to get all of her fingers into the right glove holes. "Are you sure you don't want to wear your mittens?" Lou sat back on her heels, sighing, when she was done.

"No," Katie shook her head, her blonde ponytail flying side to side. "Georgie wears gloves."

"And whatever Georgie does, you have to do," Lou muttered to herself as she zippered up Katie's gray-and-pink jacket and knotted her matching scarf tighter around her neck.

"Are you ready, Katie?" Georgie asked, peeking into the bedroom. She had volunteered to take Katie outside to play, saying that she had a great idea. "Pogey's ready and waiting." The fourteen-year-old leaned up against the doorjamb.

"And what is Pogey ready for, dare I ask?" Lou questioned her other daughter, standing up.

Georgie automatically straightened up. "To pull our sleds," she answered obviously. "First, I thought Phoenix could do it, but Jack didn't think it was a good idea. So, I thought of Pogey..."

"Well, I'm saying no, too," Lou said, picking up the extra, unneeded snow clothing and put it away. "It's way too dangerous."

"But Lou!" Georgie protested.

Lou sighed, not wanting to argue with her. "I'll tell you want, just wait til Amy gets here, then you can see what she says," she said, giving in a little.

"Yes!" Georgie cheered quietly to herself.

"Mommy, can I go outside now?" Katie asked.

When Lou said yes, both girls took off running out of the room, nearly colliding with Peter, who was just coming in. He smiled as they darted around him and turned to his wife. "Can you remember the last time you were that excited about snow?" Peter laughed, watching his two daughters run down the hall.

"When I didn't have clean off the car or shovel the walkway?" Lou suggested, tossing Katie's fleece blanket onto her bed.

"Now, I don't think I've ever seen you shovel the walk," Peter said, coming over to her. His hands found her waist and he pulled her to him.

"Well, watching you and grandpa do it is pretty exhausting work," Lou replied, her arms encircling his neck.

Peter chuckled as their lips moved closer, like two magnets attracting. The kiss started out slow and hesitant, both waiting for the interruption that would surely come. When it didn't, the kiss picked up pace, the heat intensifying. Lou moaned slightly in his mouth as Peter pressed himself to her. His hands rumpled up her shirt as he stroked her ribcage, his cool touch sending shock waves through her. Lou had started off by just playing with the ends of his hair, but as the kiss deepened and their passion took control, she pushed her hands all the way through his hair, loving the feel of the soft tendrils against her skin.

"Guess who's here?!" came the sound of Georgie's excited voice from somewhere else in the house.

They both groaned as the kiss came to end. The front door banged closed and the sudden influx of footsteps filled the kitchen and living room. Lou knew that their time alone was over, someone was bound to come looking for them if they didn't come out soon. So, they disentangled themselves from each other and straightened their clothes. Right before they left their daughter's room, Peter placed a kiss on her cheek, a secret promise.

Georgie was holding Lily when Lou and Peter came into the living room and Katie was attempting to pick up Jackson. Lou told her quietly to stop and the little girl bounded over to where Georgie was showing Lily some toys that lay on the couch. Jackson followed behind her, but stayed a distance away, watching the girls.

"I'm glad you could come over," Lou said, turning to her sister. "Katie keeps bugging me about seeing the twins again."

"Of course, it's nice to get out and do stuff with them," Amy replied. "It's better than staying home and watching them tear the house a part."

Lou laughed, "Don't worry, you'll miss these days when they're old enough to state their own opinions and they have their own way of doing things."

"I think we're already there with Lily," Amy commented. "Already she tells us what she wants. If she's wearing a pony on her shirt that day, she has to bring that same pony with her wherever she goes. I already know she's going to be a handful when she gets older."

Amy smiled at her sister, loving the ease of their new relationship. They rarely fought anymore and they both were comfortable enough to come to each other when one of them was having a problem with their kids. There were still a few disagreements, but usually they were able to resolve them.

"I thought we were going out to play in the snow?" Ty questioned, coming forward with the twins' blue and purple snowsuits. The kids had just settled down on the floor with a few of Katie's Barbie dolls, when he'd come in. He knelt down on the floor and laid out the suits.

"Yeah!" Georgie exclaimed, jumping up and bolting for the front door. Katie followed shortly behind her and Ty just managed to grab the twins before they could run by too.

"I'll go make sure they don't get into anything," Peter said, leaving after them. He grabbed his coat on the way out.

Amy got down on the floor to help Ty dress the already anxious twins. Their excitement was infectious though, this was going to be a great day for everybody.

~OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~

A half hour later, everyone was outside playing or just watching the frolickers. To Lou's relief, Georgie had forgotten all about Pogey and was, instead, focusing her energy on teaching Katie and Lily how to make the perfect snowman. Katie was the only one really listening though, mimicking her big sister's movements. Lily was just as happy patting the snow of the rolled up balls of the snowman, letting out small squeals of laughter. Rebecca and Caleb had arrived a few minutes ago with AJ and, so, the two boys were having fun just picking up snow, as much as they can pick up, and throwing it at each other.

"Ok, Lily, move over," Georgie told the toddler as she came over carrying the second, rounded ball for the middle of the snowman. Katie was also right next to her, 'helping'. Lily stopped and stared at the two older girls as they put the snowman together. "Now, we just have to make the head."

Georgie turned around to roll up some more snow for the head and Katie walked away, saying something about finding a face for the snowman. Lily resumed her patting on the half-done snowman, but a few seconds into it, a big chunk of snow broke off from the back of it and fell to the ground. Startled, the toddler took a step back.

"NO! Georgie!" Katie cried, running back over. She had two sticks clutched in her hand.

Georgie turned back around and crawled over, through the snow. "It's okay, we can fix it," she assured the two little girls. Katie wasn't so sure.

"Mommy, Lily broke our snowman!" Katie called over to Lou, who sat in a chair on the front porch of the ranch house.

"It was just an accident, sweetie," Lou told her, just as Lily plopped down in the snow and started to whine.

Amy hurried down the porch steps and over to her daughter. "Lily, it's okay," she consoled her daughter, sitting down next to her. She wore her own snow pants, so she didn't have to worry about getting all wet. Lily crawled into her lap, still whining. "Look, Georgie's fixing it."

Not long after she said that, Georgie turned around to face them. "See, Lily, the snowman's all better now," she said. "Do you want to help me make the head?"

Lily nodded, the tip of her mitten in her mouth. Amy pushed her up to follow the older girl. Lily stopped, though, and pulled on Amy's hand. "Mommy, help," she said.

So, Amy got roped into helping to finish the snowman. They all clapped when Amy and Georgie lifted the head onto the body of the snowman. Then, they took turns putting on the rocks and sticks Katie had found. Lou had also brought out an old hat and scarf for the snowman. Katie got a little mad and jealous, though, when Lily got to put the carrot on for the nose. It only lasted til they were admiring the finished snowman and then she was back to her happy self.

Meanwhile, the boys were having fun riding on the sleds. Ty and Caleb had started off pulling the sleds until Ty had gotten the good idea to tie the sleds to Remi and Lobo's leashes. The toddlers liked that even more, their laughter nearly hysterical. The dogs were well-behaved as well, not going too fast and only following where Ty led. Rebecca stood nearby with her cell phone out, snapping pictures.

"Jack, stop eating the snow!" Ty called to her son. The little boy had a clump of snow on his blue mitten and Ty kept seeing him stick out his tongue to lick it. Jackson smiled up at him and shook out his mitten. Ty ran over to him and lifted him up into the air, causing Lobo to bark at him. He pretended to drop the toddler in the snow, making another burst of laughter spout from the boy.

A few feet away, Remi grew tired of pulling the sled and lied down in the snow. Then, she fell to her side and started to roll around. The dog pulled a little too hard, causing the sled to tip over and AJ to fall over into the snow. AJ sat up and looked around, looking like he didn't know what just happened.

Rebecca let out a small laugh as she walked over to her son, sliding her phone into her pocket. "What happened, AJ?" she asked him.

AJ pointed to Remi.

"I know, she's rolling in the snow and she knocked you over," Rebecca said, in mock astonishment. AJ let out a big laugh and climbed back into his sled. Wanting to give the dog a break, Rebecca unclipped the leash and started to pull the sled around herself.

An hour later, Katie and the two-year-olds were sitting the snow in front of the ranch house playing duck, duck, goose. Georgie had gone inside to help Lisa with something. The rest of the adults were sitting on the porch, supervising the kids. Amy leaned back into Ty from where they sat together at the edge of the porch itself. Lisa and Georgie came outside with cups of hot cocoa and served them to anyone who wanted one.

"There's more inside for when the children get cold and tired," Lisa said, chucking as she sat down beside Jack, who immediately put his arm around her.

A few minutes later was when it all started to break down. Lily was the first to come over crying and everyone could see why. Her hat was covered in snow and she also had some snow dripping down the back of her coat. Even though, she didn't want to leave Ty's embrace, Amy got up and brought her daughter inside. AJ was next, after Jackson tagged him a little to hard and he fell, getting a face full of snow. Just as Rebecca walked through the door with AJ in her arms, Katie and Jackson came over, Katie claiming that the game was no longer fun with only two people.

Inside, everyone was tired and the little ones were cranky, but they enjoyed their hot cocoa anyway. It was one of those days that no one minded the tears and crankiness because the day had been fun and when you had toddlers this young, it came with the territory. Everyone lifted up their cups, toasting to the great day and for many more like it to come.

A/N: Wow, that was super long, wasn't it? I hope everyone liked it. Now, I know I probably don't have to say it, but I will anyway. The season eight finale aired last week, but I haven't yet seen any of season eight (I will starting this week!). So, please be respectful and don't post any spoilers please. Just review about this chapter/story and please send reviews! Also, let me know about the sequel idea. And, I promise the last chapter will not take me as long to get up. :)