All right, I'm back to writing this now that I'm stumped on my other fiction, Stay The Night. There's irony for you – I started that one to get my mind off Bumps In The Road! Oh well.

Chapter Fifteen | Matters Of the Heart

'There is a great difference between worry and concern. A worried person sees a problem, and a concerned person solves a problem.' – Harold Stephens

A few days later, when Neytiri was able to come and introduce the newest addition to the Sully clan, she organised a special one for her girlfriends. She felt just some quiet time with them to meet her pride and joy would be fun.

Unfortunately, with the ruckus Lanuah caused, she seemed intent on foiling her mother's plans.

Nikti smiled at the little one in Neytiri's arms as she bawled, and tried to think of something complimentary to say to Neytiri and Jake, who was standing beside his wife. "Well... she is just a little piece of heaven!" She said, semi-lying through her canine-like teeth.

The newest addition to the group of friends, Teriana, had to agree. "You are so blessed!"

"Makes me want to have another myself," Nikti's sister, Peyral, who already had three children, agreed. She was in fact the one who Neytiri suggested Jake take as a mate. That seemed like an eternity ago, and Peyral never knew, which Neytiri was glad about. That strange awkwardness between them, which Peyral never picked up on, was blessedly gone, and now Neytiri had to feel just a little smug about it.

But, that said smugness was gone as well, and Neytiri was just so thankful for having such a wonderful family. She now chuckled at her friends pathetic attempts at lying. Who could blame them? Neytiri had to be the most expert female at lying in the clan, since she'd had about a year of practice, and in a way, it was still going on. She looked up at her husband, who was standing by her side, and said over the noise of Lanuah, "I think you better take Lanuah into another room before my friends run out of lies!"

Jake chuckled and took his little girl out of Neytiri's arms. "Aww, they just don't appreciate a healthy set of lungs, do they?" He asked Lanuah, who of course just kept on crying.

Once Jake was gone with the tantrum thrower, Nikti turned to young Tom, who had a piece of cloth wrapped around his head. "So, how do you like your new sister?" She asked.

Tom, seeing as someone was talking to him, took off the wrap. "Sorry?" He asked, not having heard a word of what his aunt said.

Nikti chuckled. "You will get used to her."

Tom frowned. "I thought I was. Then she would not shut up," he growled slightly. Nikti laughed and hugged her nephew, kissing the top of his head.

Even though Tom complained, he adored Lanuah. When he was three, and started lessons from the tutors, he would rush back to his parent's section the moment it was over to play with her, and try to pass on his knowledge that he had gained that day. Whenever Lanuah was sick, which was often, he looked after her, and in turn often caught whatever she had. When Lanuah grew, and she started to crawl and explore the world around her, she would use Tom as a climbing frame. He would just lie on his stomach as she clambered all over him, tugging at his ears and pulling his hair. It didn't faze Tom. He would just cuddle her and tell her, "You're the best little sister in the world!" Lanuah would smile and hug him in return.

The whole clan found it adorable that Lanuah and Tom got along so well, but Neytiri was just a little worried. While she was so thankful that they were the best of friends, she realised that Tom never spent any time with the children closer to his age. Even when Nikti's daughter, Reiqa, came to play, he would always force her to play with Lanuah as well. Neytiri was glad that Tom stuck up for his little sister, but she also wanted him to spend time with Reiqa and the other children. "But they're mean!" Tom would complain. "They never let Lanuah play."

"Well, maybe they just want to play with you for a bit. Lanuah can join you later on," Neytiri kindly suggested. Lanuah wasn't too fussed when she was separated from Tom, but Tom didn't like spending a minute away from her. Jake would joke and say, "You would think those two were joined at the hip."

But there was another reason Neytiri was worried. If those two stayed together all the time, and didn't let anyone else in, how would they accept another sibling?

· · ·

Some things in life are just too bizarre to be true, so when Neytiri and Jake told Norm they were expecting again, just barely over a year that Lanuah had been born, he had been sure he had misheard. "I'm sorry, you're what?" Norm asked, blinking spastically. As he looked at his two best friends, he found out the meaning of when people describe the swarm of locusts right before they faint. How embarrassing would that be? Norm quickly sat down in the chair in the lounge, and tried to wrap his head around this new information. He pointed at Neytiri. "You're pregnant? Again?"

Neytiri smiled at her friend. "Yes." She then took in Norm's spastic expression. His eyes were somewhat turned away from her, and he seemed to be looking out into space. "Norm?"

Norm put his finger up to silence her. "Just... give me a moment. I am asking Eywa to kill me so I don't kill you..."

Jake sighed. "Norm, Lanuah was perfectly fine. There's nothing wrong with her. Why are you being so negative about this whole thing?" Jake often wondered who carried more concern for Lanuah – Norm, or her actual parents.

"It's not intentional; I just worry about you guys, that's all." Norm paused then. He had brought this other argument up before, and Jake and Neytiri had gotten rather nasty about it, so he had locked it away and thrown away the key, never to bring it up again. But now, he thought it was necessary to bring it out and review it. "Think about Tom. What's going to happen when he finds out he's the only Sully child... who isn't one?"

Neytiri paused and leaned back in the chair which she was sitting in. She exchanged a glance with Jake. This was something that had been haunting them for a long time. When Tom was old enough to understand, they could tell him, but how would he react? The main problem however, was if they told him, he would no longer be eligible for the throne – his parents did not want to take that away from him. They didn't want him to work his whole life for a dream he would never reach. But Norm had a point – everyone deserved to know where they came from.

Jake exhaled, and then said, as an order more than anything, "He just cannot know."