Frankie houses the last dish on the counter, and pulls the drain stopper from the sink. She dries her hands on a paper towel, and leans against the counter as Axl dries dishes awaiting an answer.

"There were so many setbacks getting Peyton's parents here. They finally made it back to US soil a couple of months ago."

"It seems like after all that time there would be no stopping them from getting here."

"After a lot of discussion back, and forth we decided that they would slowly integrate themselves into her life. Despite our best attempts she only knows your dad, and I as her parents. Her parents decided to move to Indianapolis to make the transition easier for her."

"So why aren't they here?"

"First of all, from her personality you certainly wouldn't know she wasn't a Heck. I once watched her face off with your dad about napping. She had just turned a year old, and she was not having it. He did absolutely everything, and after twenty four hours without sleep he passed out on the couch, and she wailed until I came and carried her to bed. She insisted on sleeping with me that day. She's never done that before, or since."

He smirks, "She looks like baby Moana, you know. The wavy hair, and the big brown eyes."

"Don't mention that name in front of her, or your dad."

He gesticulates, "Why not?"

"She will make him watch it over, and over, and over until he is ready to hang her up on the ceiling fan."

"Doesn't she make you watch it?"

"No. She has very clear preferences on what she likes. For example your dad has to watch princess movies with her, and she cannot lay down for her nap unless I rock her, and read her two stories."

"I get the sense that you're avoiding the breadth of a difficult conversation here, mom. Where are her biological parents? Why aren't they here?"

"We have all been doing our best to avoid dying from Covid-19."

He nods, "Obviously."

"All of our fears were wrapped up in that. When they got back here it was a huge relief. They were seeing her more, and more regularly, and we both felt that the end was in sight."

"What happened?"

"They were killed in a drunk driving accident three weeks ago."

"Mom, I am so sorry. Why have the two of you been keeping all of this from us?"

"You didn't exactly take it well when you found out."

"I was in shock. I come for a holiday dinner, and my mom with her empty ovaries is housing a partially gestated human being. The next thing I know the world is going into lockdown."

"I am sorry we sprung all of this on you guys."

"I know at your core you prefer to avoid conflict."

"I should have made some different choices."

"Mom, just to clarify, Peyton is not going anywhere?"

"No. She has a grandma in Toledo who comes up every few months to visit her, but she feels like she's too old to be raising a baby."

He squints, "You're no spring chicken."

"She's in her late seventies. Even if the will hadn't reflected that Peyton would stay with us there is very little legal recourse anyone else might have because of Indiana law."

"What do you mean?" Axl's eyebrow arches.

"My name is on her birth certificate."

"I have seen you get really worked up over oversleeping, or a forgotten school project. How can you be so calm about the fact that you are now raising someone else's child for the rest of the foreseeable future? Won't you be in your sixties when she's in elementary school?"

"You do for family."

"Are you taking some serious medication, or what? I have never seen you this calm in my entire life."

"Axl, what do I have to be anxious about? I have spent nearly two years at home. Your dad is back at the quarry once a week, so I don't have to continue to plot his murder while he sleeps. Financially we are completely secure. Raising one little girl is a cake walk. Your dad, and I managed to bring all of you into adulthood, and we had a million obstacles in our way."

"Yeah, but doesn't parenthood bring up a million utterly terrifying scenarios?"

Frankie claps her hand over her mouth, "You're over here being helpful, and responsible because you want to get in my good graces because you're going to be a dad?"

He blushes, "Shh!"

Frankie hugs him, and Axl doesn't shove him away. When she release him he just wears goofy grin.

"But don't tell everybody. Lexie doesn't even know yet."

"What do you mean, she doesn't know? How could she not know?"

"She has been really busy with work lately. So busy that it didn't register when her period didn't arrive on time. I, of course noticed, because my phone reminded me to bring home ice cream. I snuck it in the fridge, and then I realized last months' ice cream was still in there. That was last night, so this morning before we left the house I told her a white lie that I got a letter from the life insurance company that we had to mail in our pee to get our policy renewed."

"Axl!"

"What? You didn't tell us that we were going to come home to a fourth Heck kid. I feel like we're even."

"But you have to tell Lexie, because she's your wife!"

Lexie materializes behind Axl, "What is going on in here? This is the first raised voice I've heard all night. Are you guys arguing already?"

"Axl," Frankie sneers through gritted teeth.

"Lexie I have to tell you something."

"Make it quick, because I'm getting tired, and I'm ready to head to the hotel."

"I am the one who needed your pee this morning."

Her face contorts into a hundred different directions, "For what?"

"Because I had to confirm that you're pregnant."

She begins laughing. He offers her a blank facial expression.

"What's so funny?" He responds.

"Axl, you're an idiot. Do you really think I don't know that?"

He furrows his brow, "For how long?"

"I found out last month. I just didn't tell you because you had that huge project due at work. I was waiting for the right time because I was afraid you would freak out."

"Too late!"