9 months later….

"Erin, can you get that?" Leo called and Erin scampered to the front door. She opened it and grinned as she saw Harry and Nikki standing there with a baby carrier accompanying them

"Hi" she said as they stepped into the house

"Hey you" Harry said getting her warmly "You've put on another growth spurt" he said eyeing her up and down

"Tell me about it" they turned around to see Leo standing behind them "She's not economical at all"

"Hey ssh" Nikki cooed down at the baby carrier where little noises were coming from

The group moved into the living room and Nikki set the baby carrier down so everyone could welcome the new arrival. She took the small ,wrapped up bundle out of the carrier and pushed back the blankets slightly; inside was Nikki and Harry's new baby daughter; she had a tuft of wispy blonde hair and as she opened her dark blue eyes to look at everyone she let out a small gurgling noise

"Nikki, she's gorgeous" Leo said smiling

"I know" Nikki said proudly

"What did you name her?"

"Alice Erin Cunningham" Nikki smiled happily as she fussed over the small bundle in her arms

"Erin?" Erin said looking up in shock from the corner of the room she was sitting in

"Of course" Nikki nodded "Well we wanted her to have some link to her godmother…"

"…Her godmother?" Erin spluttered in shock

Nikki and Harry nodded "She's going to need her Aunty Erin around"

"Thank you" Erin whispered and they could have sworn they saw tears in her eyes

"And she's going to need a godfather as well" Nikki said to Harry

"Who could we choose?" Harry asked playing along

"I just don't know" Nikki laughed "How about Leo"

"I think he'll do" Harry said as he looked up at the older man who was beaming

"I think I'll go and get us some drinks to celebrate" Leo said turning away before the others saw the tears rolling down his cheeks

"I'll come and help" Harry said following the man into the kitchen

A few moments later the baby started crying and despite Nikki's soothing, she seemed intent on crying louder and louder

"Erin can you take her a second?" Nikki said over the crying "I need to get something from my bag"

"Nikki, I don't know" Erin said apprehensively

"Erin, its fine, just support her head" Nikki said gently placing the baby in Erin's arms

The baby looked up at Erin and suddenly stopped crying "Did I break her?" Erin cried but when she looked down again the little baby had curled her fingers around Erin's thumb and was gurgling happily

Nikki smiled "You're a natural"

"Who's a natural?" Harry asked coming back into the room, followed by Leo who was carrying a tray of drinks

"Erin is" Nikki nodded to the young girl "Alice was crying and as soon as Erin took her she stopped

Harry laughed gently "You've got hidden depths Miss Jones; you're a talented artist, a seamstress and now it seems a nursemaid"

"Dalton" Erin said suddenly

"Sorry?" Harry said sitting down in a chair

"Erin Dalton" she stressed

Harry and Nikki turned to Leo with confused looks on their faces "Leo?" Harry said

"You explain Erin" Leo prompted the young girl who was grinning

"Leo's adopting me" Erin said proudly

"Really?" Nikki asked and Leo nodded "That's wonderful news"

"So as of today she becomes Erin Marie Dalton" Leo smiled and Erin nodded enthusiastically

"It's got a ring to it" Harry teased and Leo laughed

As Erin looked around the room she felt a surge of joy overtake her; she was with her family and although no one in the room were not biologically related to her and only one person was now legally related to her, she had never felt a bigger sense of belonging than she did now. She was around people she loved and cared about and who reciprocated these feelings. As she glanced down at her new goddaughter she smiled to herself. She was no longer a stray because after al these years Erin knew that she was finally home.

Author's note: I thought this would be a good place to finish this story. Thanks to all who have reviewed:

Charlotte88

Enigma87

Ladydalek

Langfieldl

Lilypad1

1993

It means so such to me to have your support and comments. I hope you enjoyed the story, I am going to use Erin again, I have a couple of one-shots planned and I might possibly have another story with Erin in it being planned if anyone wants to read it. What do you guys think? Like I said I hoped you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it :)