A/N This story was written as one long piece but it is more practical to break into chapters for posting on ff. So, when I went back in the piece, I looked for places that would make natural chapter breaks which produced a wide variation in chapter length.

Chapter 3: Family Reunion

"Jason!" Molly squealed with uncomplicated delight. She threw her arms around his neck in a crushing hug which he tolerated with good grace, even wrapping his own arms around her waist and giving her a brief return press before gently disentangling himself.

"Go on now," he spoke softly as he turned her toward those waiting a scant few feet away, "I think there are more important people for you to greet than me."

Molly didn't need any further incentive. She dashed up the stairs into the waiting arms of her mother, sisters, cousins and friends.

"My little baby is all grown up," Alexis was crying as she claimed the second hug of the evening.

"You're taller than me," Kristina lips were outthrust in an almost pretend pout of jealousy as her eyes scanned her little sister with calculation, closely marking her magical transformation into an elegant cosmopolitan woman.

"Everyone's taller than me!" Sam said with a rueful chuckle, squeezing Molly so hard she could barely breathe.

"Those shoes are superb," Diane Miller had joined the group and was covetously eying Molly's deceptively simple black heeled sandals, "Welcome home, sweetheart!" She added belatedly, leaning in to press her cheek against Molly's with the deferred realization that perhaps the actual girl wearing the shoes deserved some acknowledgment herself.

"Hey, Molly," Michael stepped up to claim his own hug, "You don't know how much you have been missed around here."

"Yes, really," Morgan grabbed her next, "Things just haven't been the same without your endless squawking about everything under the sun."

"Ha!" Molly retorted as she stepped back and swatted him on the chest, "Anybody sounds good after people have been subjected to your inane idea of conversation-baseball statistics and the newest girl who has turned you down." She surreptitiously swiped at her eyes, trying to prevent the tears gathered in her eyes from falling down her cheeks.

"They don't turn me down it's the other way around," Morgan was participating in their familiar banter while tactfully ignoring the wetness of her face.

"Yeah, it's always them and never you, Lothario," Jax cut in good naturedly, "I'm not quite sure what all the females between the ages of twenty and twenty-five are going to do when someone finally captures you and gets you to settle down. For now though, why don't we give Molly a chance to catch her breath and gather her wits about her after dueling with you." He started ushering the group toward the door and back into the house.

Excited voices reflected back out into the night spilling over to a still bemused Spinelli who with Jason's help was offloading Molly's luggage and carrying it to the porch.

"I'm so happy my baby's finally back home."

"What kind of presents did you bring us?"

"Did you meet any dreamy French men?"

"Never mind the men, they're the same everywhere, except for the accents, but the shopping tell us all about that."

"I'm so surprised to see you all here. I mean it's great and everything but I didn't tell anyone exactly when I'd be back…"

"Hey, don't forget, your big sister's a private investigator. I just used a few of the tricks Spinelli taught me to check the manifest of the Queen Mary and cross correlated it with train times and voila…"

"That's French for then your mother called up everyone who had known you since birth to arrange a welcome home party but we were the only dorks who had nothing to do on a Saturday night."

Finally the door closed behind them and dark silence reigned over the gravel parking area. "Hey," Jason gave Spinelli an affectionate shove, arousing him from his stunned reverie, "Let's go home."

He headed purposefully for the patiently waiting convertible. Without checking with its rightful owner he launched himself gracefully over the closed driver's door and landed neatly in the seat. It was a move that Spinelli envied but despite multiple and progressively more desperate attempts had never once been able to replicate. Without demure he opened the passenger door and climbed into the car. It was an arrangement they were both used to and comfortable with and especially tonight Spinelli didn't want to have to focus on driving. He needed time to assimilate what he had just learned.

"Molly Davis," Spinelli breathed the four syllables reverently out into the florally scented darkness.

Jason looked at him quizzically as he started the car, "That's right, how did you two meet up anyway?" Placing his right arm across the back of Spinelli's seat he turned his head and looking over his shoulder reversed with a second spray of gravel kicked up from the force of the spinning car tires. This time Spinelli registered the sacrilege and winced slightly but made no verbal protest. He knew from experience that Jason would look at him expressionlessly and say patiently, "It's a car, Spinelli, it's meant to be driven."

"It was serendipity, Stone Cold, a meeting determined by the intercession of the fates themselves."

"Is that right?" Jason said allowing the smallest glimmer of a smile to cross his lips, secure in the ability of the darkness of River Road to hide from Spinelli exactly how much he had missed his friend.

"Tell us everything," Sam said as they all claimed a seat in the living room and adjacent dining area. "Where you went, who you met, what you ate."

"Yes, maybe you could even share just the teeniest, tiniest smidgen of information about what you might have learned during these past two years enrolled in the esteemed Sorbonne. A very expensive two years, I might add." Alexis' dry voice cut across the excited chatter but her censorious words were belied by the wide, contented smile she wore as she stared at her youngest daughter finally safely back home where she belonged.

"Pish tosh," Diane said dismissively, "I for one am not particularly interested in hearing the girl's endless tales of tours in museums and time spent staring at statues of naked men. Though of course," she added magnanimously, "If there were stories to be heard about actual naked Frenchmen, I might not be adverse to hearing about them."

"Diane!" Alexis said, reverting to her true and tried role of scandalized friend and mother, "That's just entirely inappropriate."

"Why is that, might I ask," Diane responded coolly, she was now in full lawyer mode with only the slightest glint in her eye indicating that she might be deliberately provoking her partner, "No one here," she waved a vague hand around the assembled company, "Is under twenty-one any longer and I for one would be very upset to learn that Molly, whilst away from your eagle eye, chose to behave like a nun." She snorted deprecatingly, "I know I sure wouldn't have."

Kristina giggled, Molly blushed, and Sam bent her head to hide her smile. Meanwhile, Alexis stared at her best friend with her trademark gimlet gaze which, though it always managed to subdue errant jurors and recalcitrant witnesses, was never the slightest use in quelling one of Diane's frequent and colorful outbursts. Jax coughed discreetly to hide his own grin while Carly looked entirely entertained by the situation.

Michael and Morgan hid their own chagrin at the unexpected turn in the conversation by simultaneously standing up and heading for the front door. "Just going to bring in Molly's luggage," Michael mumbled giving his brother a sharp push to get them both out into the night air that much faster.

Once out on the front porch, Michael was grateful for the nighttime breeze which cooled the flush in his cheeks which were almost as red with embarrassment at Diane's risqué comments as were those of his hapless little cousin still stuck back in the living room. At first, Michael thought that the odd noises emanating from Morgan were evidence of a coughing fit in response to the uncomfortable situation created by the discussion of Molly's sex life, when he suddenly realized that instead, his brother was laughing so hard he was actually crying. Michael could see the faint wetness on his face glimmering in the light from the living room as tears streamed down his face.

"Did you see?" Morgan gasped bending over and clutching at his aching midriff, "The expression on Alexis' face when Diane started up speculating about Molly's sex life in France? I wish I had my phone out, I would have taken a picture…" Morgan trailed off, unable to speak any further as he was once again assailed by an uncontrollable urge to laugh.

"I saw," Michael grumbled, wishing, as he often did, that he could look at life the way Morgan could with unfailing good humor and the ability to see the absurd in every situation no matter how mortifying. That just wasn't how he was built though and he still felt a pang of pity for Molly forced to sit on the couch and endure the unending battle of wits that was the hallmark of the relationship between the two equally strong willed women. 'Still,' he thought wryly reaching for a suitcase with each hand, 'This way she'll know she's really home for good.'

"Are you just going to stand there laughing all night or are you going to help me bring these bags inside?" He asked his younger brother who was once again in control of himself as he swiped at his wet cheeks and then wiped his hands on his jeans.

"Sure thing, big brother, all you had to do was ask," was Morgan's easy reply as he picked up three smaller bags, "What the hell did she pack in here, these things weigh a ton!" He staggered manfully toward the door which Michael had let swing closed behind him. Morgan snaked out his left foot and managed to kick it back open so that he could make it through the aperture before it slammed shut. "Molly, I swear you better have gotten me something uber cool to make up for the lower back pain I'm going to suffer from carting these bags of rocks around."

"Whiner," Kristina scoffed but her eyes were alight with avid curiosity as she covetously eyed the various suitcases now scattered around the living room.

"Oh presents, I love presents!" Carly had long since stopped worrying about conventions as she openly expressed what everyone else was already thinking.

"You know, Carly," Jax was aware, from years of hard won experience, of how his wife was when there was the merest whiff of a potential gift in the offing. Thus, his tone was repressive as he tried to dampen her ardor. "It might be perfectly possible that Molly thought her homecoming was enough present for all of us, I know it certainly is for me."

He smiled at her, his teeth white in his tanned face and Molly responded with her own open smile. She was surprised to note that she no longer had a crush on Jax but that instead her long suppressed feelings of youthful longing for an unattainable older man had somehow metamorphosed into a much more apt sensation of warm affection.

"Oh, c'mon, Jax," Carly slapped at his arm impatiently, "Of course Molly brought things back for us. After all, she's been gone two years, that's plenty of time to shop for just the right thing for everybody here." Even Carly noticed the dead silence which met her remark. Looking around she had a rare epiphany as she recognized that she had overstepped normal social boundaries and with an awkward clearing of her throat, she attempted to backtrack. "Um, Molly, that is," everyone in the room was held in spellbound fascination by this extremely atypical version of an apologetic Carly. It was a side of her personality seen so rarely as to be countenanced as myth by all but the most immediate members of her family, "Naturally, the most important thing is that you are home safe and sound. I entirely understand if you only brought gifts for Alexis and your sisters and your cousins or even if you didn't buy a thing for anyone at all. Either one or both or none, all are equally fine…" She realized she didn't even know what she was trying to say anymore and the second amazing thing of the evening occurred when Carly Jax trailed off into a quiet of her own making.

Molly was sitting on the couch listening with bemusement to Carly's extemporaneous speech. She was tired, exhausted really, from her long journey. The adrenalin maintained through the drive home and during the initial reunion with her family was beginning to wear off. All she wanted to do was climb into bed fully clothed and sleep for the next twelve hours. Yet, everyone seemed to be staring at her expectantly as though they were waiting for her to respond to Carly's ramblings.

Molly shook her head in a fruitless attempt to clear it of the sensation of being packed with cotton wool. With a weary sigh she pushed herself up from the soft clutching depths of the sofa. She swayed dizzily as she stood up and Sam was suddenly right next to her wrapping a solicitous arm around her waist.

"Maybe you should go to bed and we can worry about unpacking tomorrow," her sister said diplomatically, "You must be beat, it's been a long day."

Molly shook her head, the stubbornness that was a genetic hallmark of all the Davis women asserting itself, "No, I'm fine, Sam. I'll just unpack the gifts and then I'll go to bed."

She walked toward the three smaller and heavier bags which Morgan had complained about and unzipped the first one. Pulling out a small black and white cardboard box she carried it over to Alexis, "This is for you Mom," she said handing it to Alexis and giving her a quick hug.

"Chanel Number 5," Alexis squealed ecstatically, "My favorite! Thanks, sweetie," and she kissed Molly soundly before allowing her to go back to her dispensation of largesse.

Next to be retrieved was a narrow and deep rectangular box which Molly presented to Diane who received it with veneration. She opened it and gave a little gasp as she peered inside at a tissue encased pair of turquoise colored shoes adorned with a myriad of criss-crossing straps and five inch high, ice-pick thin heels.

"They are simply exquisite, Molly," she whispered reverently, her eyes shining as she reached up and hugged the younger woman whom she had made blush for the second time that evening, "Thank you." Momentarily, she held Molly in a tight embrace and then released her and reached eagerly for the shoes, pulling them free from the surrounding nest of tissue paper, "I'm putting these on right now," Diane stated dramatically as she brushed impatiently at the tell tale signs of moisture threatening to over spill her lower eyelids.

Molly laughed happily, she had hoped Diane would like the shoes. They were hand made by a designer who was as yet to be discovered but she thought that might change if Diane ended up liking them. She would prod and poke Kate Howard until either she or Maxie traveled to France to meet with the young woman. The result of that meeting would hopefully be the start of a long and profitable alliance between the fashion magazine and the shoe maker. Molly was sure that Diane would benefit by demanding a steady stream of free shoes for her 'discovery' of the young entrepreneur.

Once again she returned to the trio of bags and moved to open the second one. This time she pulled out two flat boxes and carried them over to her sisters. She handed one to Sam and the other to Kristina and waited for them to open them. Inside each box was a finely knitted silk sweater. Molly looked down at the boxes and gave a little giggle of embarrassment as she realized her error. Reaching down she snatched the boxes away from her sisters and switched them.

"Sorry," she said, "The red is for Sam and the blue for Kristina." She stood anxiously before her sisters, awaiting their reactions to the simple classic sweaters she had purchased for them.

"I love it, Molly," Sam stood up and gave her a quick hug, "I'm going to go try it on right now." She turned and darted down the hall leading to the rear of the house where the bedrooms were located.

Kristina looked at the fine gauge sweater in her box and then looked up at her expectant sister. "Thanks, Molly," she said quietly. Her face indicating little more than politeness on her part as she expressed her gratitude for the gift, "I'm sure it will be very practical."

Molly could see Kristina was disappointed and she felt a quick stab of guilt that she hadn't thought to bring her a more flamboyant gift like Diane's shoes. "I have a couple of them and they are so comfortable and really versatile. I practically live in mine." The words were coming out in a rush as she fought to justify her choice of a gift for her older sister. Kristina was the only person on the planet who could still manage to make grown-up, sophisticated Molly feel like a little toddler with sticky fingers.

"Ta da!" Sam was back modeling her red sweater which fit her perfectly, melding to her curves as the bright red contrasted vividly with her dark hair.

A wolf whistle emanated from Jax who received an irritated jab in the ribs from Carly. She had learned to tolerate Sam McCall and maybe even grudgingly recognize that she was good for Jason. Still, that didn't mean she had to put up with her own husband ogling her as he more than likely was flashing back to the distant days when the two of them were briefly a couple.

"That looks great, Sam" Alexis said with a manic cheerfulness, her enforced proximity to Carly was beginning to wear on her. She looked significantly at Kristina, "Why don't you go try yours on as well, Kristina, so we can see what the blue looks like." She gave a significant jerk of her head at Molly in an effort to make Kristina realize how much she was hurting her sister's feelings but her middle daughter only stared rebelliously back at her mother, her lower lip protruding mutinously.

"Not right now, Mother," Kristina responded with dangerous sweetness, "Molly can see it one of these days when I actually decide to wear it."

Molly bit her lip in consternation at her sister's rude rebuff of her gift. Diane suddenly stood up, her height increased by almost half a foot, "Well, I for one am happy to both wear my gift and model it for all you poor unfortunates who lack such stylish footwear." She pranced up and down upon the living room carpet while everyone made admiring comments about her shoes and Molly went back to the suitcases to retrieve further surprises.

"Thank you," Alexis mouthed at her friend when she tottered unsteadily by on heels which were little more than stylish shavings.

Diane adored every sharp pinch of her foot as the straps cut into the tender skin across her arch and each unstable motion as she fought valiantly against gravity in a battle to remain upright. Women suffered for fashion, it was the first rule, the final rule and, really, the only rule that mattered and she embraced the challenge wholeheartedly. She tilted her head graciously at Alexis, acknowledging her appreciation in so deftly defusing the sibling angst.

"This is for you, Jax and these are for you, Carly." Molly was standing in front of the couple holding out a small, white rectangular box for Carly and a bottle for Jax.

Carly reached for the box with an uncomplicated squeal of delight. The truth of the matter was that Molly could have brought her a pencil sharpener shaped like the Eiffel Tower and she would have been content. It truly was the thought that counted for her.

"Oh my god," she was delighted, "Belgian chocolates, you shouldn't have Molly, you really shouldn't have," she popped one into her mouth and indistinctly said, "But I'm glad you did!"

Michael and Morgan had made their way over to their mother, attracted, as are young men everywhere, by the mere mention of food. "Let me have one, Mom," Morgan wheedled while Michael tried the more direct route of reaching into the open box.

"Keep your hands off," Carly slapped her elder son's hand away and glared at Morgan as she cradled the box protectively to her bosom. "These are mine. Molly gave them to me, get your own Belgian chocolates." She ended any hope of debate by closing the box and holding it tightly in both her hands.

During this familial exchange Jax had been entirely silent staring down at the bottle Molly had handed him. She felt deflated at his response. Of all the gifts she had brought back, his was actually the one she had put the most thought and care into choosing. Yet, between Jax's unenthusiastic reaction and Kristina's outright disdain for her sweater, she was beginning to feel like a failure in the realm of present selection.

"Don't you like it?" She asked him with a quiet tentativeness.

"Like it?" Jax's voice was rough and hoarse sounding as he looked up at her in wonderment, "Molly, I love it but you shouldn't have. It must have been expensive."

Molly was extremely relieved to find that he truly valued her gift, "It wasn't as costly as you might expect. I had a friend and he knew of several smaller vineyards."

"He?" Alexis interjected suspiciously. The ghost of the earlier conversation rematerialized for a brief moment before she registered Diane's warning shake of her head. "Oh, that sounds nice, honey." She finished weakly as she sat back in her chair and thought of what else her youngest daughter might have been up to during her visits to explore French viniculture.

"Well, anyway," Molly continued once it appeared her mother wasn't going to continue her cross examination, "He took me to this Chateau Margaux, a winery in the Bordeaux region, and they recommended this particular wine. I guess it was a really good year?" She queried Jax, sure he would know.

"Yeah," he said, stroking the wine bottle lovingly, "One of the best in recent times. This is a treasure, Molly, thank you so much!" Once more Molly was engulfed as Jax wrapped his arms around her in a crushing hug while still managing to securely hold onto the precious bottle.

"I'm glad you like it," she finally said as she stepped back and basked in the gratified expression upon his face.

"Well, why don't we break open the bottle and get a taste of this famed wine," Carly turned toward Alexis, "Where do you keep your wine glasses?"

"Sacrilege!" was the single word muttered in response to Carly's innocent question by an outraged Diane who was now once again seated and massaging her feet, sore after only a the briefest of sojourns in the fabulous shoes. She had gotten a glimpse of the wine bottle as Molly carried it across the room to Jax and she was enough of an oenophile to realize what a truly exceptional find it was.

"Carly," even Jax's legendary patience was obviously stretched thin as he turned to his oblivious wife, "This isn't just any wine that we can have with cheesy snacks and frozen pizza. It's a special vintage that we need to save for some special occasion like a milestone anniversary or when one of the boys or Josslyn gets engaged."

"Like that's going to happen anytime soon," Morgan laughed derisively at his father's comment, "C'mon Molly, I've been patient but after all, I lugged those suitcases in here what did you get me?"

Molly sent him an exasperated glare but she obediently returned to the third of the small suitcases. After rummaging around for a moment, she pulled out two flat, rectangular packages wrapped in butcher block paper.

"Here," she said handing one to Michael and the other to Morgan, "I hope you like them."

Eagerly, both young men ripped off the paper and gazed at the small pen and ink drawings which were revealed. "Wow, Molly," Michael was the first to find his voice, "You did these didn't you?"

Molly nodded her head, suddenly feeling unaccountably shy in front of these boys she had known her whole life. "That one," she pointed to Michael's picture, is a view of the Seine, looking from one bridge to another really early one morning before there was any traffic on the river." She then pointed to Morgan's drawing, "That I drew when I was in the Tuilleries it's a famous garden and you can see the Eiffel Tower from a couple of vantage points." The iconic structure loomed over some trees in the background of the picture.

"It's terrific, Molly," I love it, Morgan's unfeigned pleasure at the personalized gift was evident.

Everyone else clustered around the boys and murmured their own approbation of the lovely little drawings. "See, Alexis," Diane drawled mischievously, "It was all money well spent. It's clear that Molly here didn't spend all her time traipsing around the French countryside with unknown young men as her guides."

Before Alexis could do more than pierce Diane with a dagger like stare as she opened her mouth to make a scathing reply, Molly quickly spoke first, "Oh, Sam, I almost forgot!" She darted back to the suitcases which were noticeably lighter by this juncture and reaching in pulled out several paperback books. "These are for Jason," she handed them over to her older sister. "They're travel books for various areas in France. I thought he might like them and really I couldn't think of anything else to get him."

"They're the best gift possible for him," Sam reassured her, "He'll really like them and I'm sure he'll tell you so when you see him at the engagement party."

"Engagement party?" Molly echoed, her brow furrowed, "Are you and Jason engaged?" She looked down at her sister's left hand but her ring finger was conspicuously bare.

Sam laughed, the sound full throated and husky with perhaps an underlying tint of melancholy, "No, it's not Jason and me, it's Spinelli."

"Spinelli?" Molly gasped the name out in shock, "He's engaged?"

"Yeah didn't he tell you on your trip home?" Morgan asked looking speculatively at Molly's ashen face. "Where exactly did the two of you meet anyway? I don't think you said."

"That's because no one will let me get a word in edgewise!" Molly snapped waspishly, her temper fraying. "Who's he engaged to?" Her eyes were focused on Sam's face as she waited for the reply.

However, it was Diane who answered, her voice tight with disapproval, "Her name is Laura Maretti and she's a spoiled brat!"

"Diane," Sam tried to calm the lawyer down but it was apparent to Molly's searching gaze that her sister didn't feel far differently about the situation herself. "It's more of a business arrangement or an alliance. Sonny and Laura's father, Giovanni Maretti, brokered the deal."

"Spinelli is being sacrificed on the literal altar of Sonny's ambition," Diane said emphatically, her eyes narrowed in disapproval.

"So, it's what like an arranged marriage and Spinelli is okay with that?" Molly was incredulous. Agreeing to such a soulless contract didn't sound anything like something the idealistic young man she had carried so fondly in her heart would do. Nor could she believe it of the live version she had spent so many enjoyable hours with earlier that very day. "It's barbaric!" Molly spat the words out oblivious to the wondering stares her heartfelt repudiation was engendering.

"Be that as it may," her mother's familiar reasonable tones penetrated Molly's agitated mind the way they had her entire life, "It's Spinelli's decision to make, not ours."

"Jason doesn't like it either," Sam said confidingly, "He had me run a background check on her."

"What did you find?" Diane asked eagerly, her eyes glittering as though she scented blood, "Something we could use to influence Mr. Grasshopper and get him to cancel this misguided engagement?"

Sam sighed, "She doesn't go to work or do anything at all productive. Her life seems to consist of one long round of parties, spa treatments and long lunches." She couldn't bring herself to add the fact that Laura also had a string of current and ex-lovers whose dossiers created quite a hefty file in their own right.

"Sounds like a great life," Kristina said dreamily.

Her mother switched her basilisk stare to Kristina, "Bite your tongue!" She chided her wayward child, "You young lady are going to finish law school and follow in Diane and my footsteps. You'll inherit our practice one day."

Kristina stared at her mother in resentful silence for a moment. Then she recalled the topic at hand and turned eagerly to Molly. "The party is tomorrow night at Greystone Manor. It was planned as a double celebration of the engagement and your welcome home party. I'm so excited, I have the most marvelous dress to wear. Kate Howard let us all chose from the Crimson closet." She stared contemplatively at her sister for a moment, remembering her complete lack of fashion sense, "I'm sure she'd be more than happy to outfit you as well so that you don't disgrace us all."

"Kristina, that is enough!" Alexis' admonition didn't affect her daughter at all and neither did the disapproving stares from everyone else.

'It's not fair,' Kristina thought sulkily, 'They always coddle her, just like they did when she was a baby.'

Molly looked with weary disillusionment at her sister. She had thought that maybe this time apart would have enabled them to get past the animosity which grew between them during the latter years they had lived together. She had never quite understood why Kristina's slightly exasperated fondness for her little sister had altered into a resentful jealousy but it was clear that nothing fundamental had changed between them during the two years she had been away.

"No thank you," Molly replied with an icy politeness, "I have a gown that I believe will be more than adequate for the party."

"French couture?" Diane asked with the all the devotion of a true fashion acolyte, "Oh, I can hardly wait to see it. I bet you'll be the belle of the ball."

She sent a sharp satisfied glance toward Kristina as she saw the older girl's face grow pinched with fury. Diane knew she should love all of Alexis' children equally but she had discovered that she simply couldn't do it. Kristina had proven to be a little troublesome minx during her summers spent interning in their law practice and Diane no longer had any reserves of patience left to deal with her.

'Serve her right if Molly outshines her tomorrow night,' she thought with malicious approval.

"Okay, I think Molly is falling asleep on her feet," Alexis began shepherding the Jax family and Diane toward the door. "We'll see everyone tomorrow night at the party."

There was a final chorusing round robin of 'goodbye' and 'welcome back' and 'thank you' and 'goodnight' traded back and forth between the Davis family and their departing guests.

"That is the only worthwhile thing coming out of this travesty of an engagement, the chance to wear designer clothes." Diane's parting words drifted back to the four women standing in the living room of the lake house.

"Sam and Kristina are bunking together tonight so we can all have a family breakfast tomorrow." Alexis told Molly, "Have I mentioned how totally thrilled I am to have you back home?" She asked as she once again embraced her younger daughter. "Well, I am," she whispered softly into her hair.

"Me too, Mom, me too," Molly said, content to spend a moment wrapped in the familiar security of her mother's arms.

A/N Reviews are greatly appreciated