Fort Lewis…

The Morans pulled up in front of the Leblanc house after their drive from San Jose. Of course Roxy had been staring out the window since Pamela had called and told her they were in Washington. She ran outside as fast as her legs could carry her, "Pamela! It's so good to see you!" she said excitedly.

"Good to see you too," said Pamela happily, thought she wasn't quite as enthusiastic as Roxy, "How's Fort Lewis."

"It's pretty good," Roxy shrugged, "But I miss Claudia Joy, Denise, Roland, Jackie, and Gloria."

"Who?" asked Pamela.

"Oh, Jackie Clarke and Gloria Cruz. Jackie's husband is Post Commander of Fort Marshall and Gloria's husband, well, ex-husband, was in Trevor's platoon."

"Wait, what happened to General Holden?" asked Chase as he joined Pamela along with Trevor joining Roxy.

"He's still there. He's the Corp Commander now. We are now friend's with a three star general's wife," chuckled Roxy.

"It's good to see you man," said Trevor to Chase.

"Same here," Chase said as he, Pamela, and the kids followed Roxy and Trevor into the house.

"Okay, living room, kitchen, bathroom's down the hall, and the boys are upstairs if Katie and Lucas are interested.

They both nodded excitedly and said, "Yes Mrs. Leblanc."

Pamela chuckled as her kids ran upstairs and she turned to Roxy, "So where are the two little bundles of joy?"

Trevor laughed and said, "Right now they're napping."

"Oh come on, that's the primary reason that Pamela came to Tacoma was to see Wyatt and Drew," smirked Chase.

"Nice to know y'all care about us so much," smirked Roxy as crying came from over the baby monitor, "Speaking of the two little devils," she chuckled lightly.

"Can I come?" asked Pamela with innocent puppy dog eyes.

"Come on," said Roxy and Pamela beamed following her friend up the stairs. Roxy entered the room and said, "How are my two little soldiers?"

"They are so cute," said Pamela as she watched Roxy coddle the twins.

"Well if you like babies so much why don't you and Chase try for another one?" asked Roxy jokingly and Pamela glared, "Sorry but I had to go there."

"That ship sailed a long time ago," Pamela laughed.

Roland stood at the airfield waiting for his wife to come home. Both David and Sara Elizabeth were at school and then Charlie was picking them both up and taking them to the Youth Center. Roland couldn't believe Sara Elizabeth was already in kindergarten. It seemed like she was born just yesterday. Soon he saw Joan approaching him. They kissed and embraced before he said, "Welcome home soldier."

"Thank you sir," she smiled though it didn't seem to be a sincere smile, "What time do we have to pick up the kids?"

"Charlie's picking them up today so we don't have to worry about them until later," said Roland, "Besides, I have something to tell you when we get home."

"Is this good news or bad news?" asked Joan.

"I'll let you decide," said Roland honestly. The couple drove home and Roland sat Joan down on the couch today, "Well you know that paper I published recently?"

"The one on the link between PTSD, TBI and depression in soldiers?" asked Joan.

"Yes that one," said Roland, "Well, someone from Johns Hopkins Department of Psychiatry read it and they asked me if I was interested in doing a research project with him."

"Johns Hopkins? That's in Baltimore," said Joan.

"Yes," said Roland, "But it would only be for three months. You've had deployments last way longer than that."

"I know," said Joan, "I'm just shocked that you'd even consider…"

"I said yes," Roland said.

Joan stood there shockingly, "What if I hadn't come home? What about the kids?"

"I was either going to take them with me or I was going to have them stay with Charlie," said Roland, "Even though you're home now, I still might take them with me."

"What? Why?" asked Joan, "They're my kids too!"

"I know, it's just…you've never been alone with them. I have," said Roland.

Joan shook her head and said, "I'm going to take a shower."

"You want company?" asked Roland.

"No, I'm just really tired. I think I'll take a shower and go to bed," said Joan and disappeared upstairs.

Denise sat in the waiting in room of Mercer, listening to Blake tap his hand against the chair. After about another minute and half of the noise, Tonya finally took Blake's hand and said, "Babe, come down."

"Believe me, this is calm for me," said Blake.

"Tonya Hanson," called the receptionist.

Blake and Tonya stood and Denise followed and said, "Are you sure you want me here?"

Tonya nodded, "You've helped me get through a lot. You're like a mother to me now."

"Speaking of mothers, does your mother know about the baby?" asked Denise.

Tonya sighed and shook her head, "No we're going to tell them soon. We wanted to wait until I was past twelve weeks since the possibility of, you know, miscarriage is highest in the first trimester."

Denise nodded and the doctor came into the room, "Hello Tonya, Major Hanson, oh Denise nice to see you."

"Same Dr. Lang," Denise nodded.

"Well, congratulations Tonya, you've made it to twelve weeks! How've you been feeling?" asked Dr. Lang.

"A little better, not throwing up or peeing as much," said Tonya, "Still really tired though."

"Well that's good," said Dr. Lang, "And we should be able to hear the fetal heartbeat today," she said squirting the gel on Tonya's abdomen. A strong heartbeat could immediately be heard when Dr. Lang placed the transducer.

Blake squeezed Tonya's hand and Tonya's eyes filled with tears of pure joy. Denise could already tell she was going to be a loving mother, "That's our baby sweetheart," Tonya said to Blake pointing to the screen.

"Yeah it is," he smiled happily.

Shortly after Tonya's ultrasound, Denise arrived at Jackie's house to meet her for lunch with Jackie and Claudia Joy. The other two women were already on Jackie's front porch when she arrived, "Sorry I'm a little late, I was at Tonya's ultrasound."

"How's the baby?" asked Claudia Joy.

"Fetus is healthy, first trimester symptoms are slowly disappearing, and the heartbeat is nice and strong," informed Denise.

Soon Patrick appeared in the doorway, "Mom, Sophie's on the phone, should I tell her your busy?"

"Yes, tell her I'll call her back," Jackie said.

"Where's Kevin?" asked Denise looking around suddenly realizing that the other half of the Clarkes was nowhere in sight.

"He went into the office today. He's slowly getting stronger," said Jackie and motioned Patrick to join them, "Denise I'm sure you remember Patrick."

"Of course I do, but the last time I saw you, you had braces," said Denise hugging him."

"Well, times change," chuckled Patrick, "I'm sorry about what happened to Jeremy."

Denise nodded sadly, "Well it's a risk you all take."

"Claudia Joy, this is my son Patrick. Patrick this is Claudia Joy Holden, General Holden's wife," said Jackie.

"Nice to meet you Mrs. Holden," said Patrick.

"The pleasure is mine," said Claudia Joy, "So you just graduated from West Point correct."

"Yes mam. My father's alma mater, and both my grandfathers' alma mater," said Patrick, "But now that I've graduated, I want to get into the action as soon as possible."

Jackie developed an overly protective Mama Bear look and said, "Since when?"

"Well Mom, that is sort of my job," said Patrick.

"I know," Jackie sighed, "I just want you to be careful.

"Well, careful is my middle name," said Patrick.

"Since when did it change from Jason?" asked Jackie.

"About thirty seconds ago," said Patrick.

Claudia Joy and Denise chuckled at the mother/son banter. Soon lunch was over and everyone went their separate ways. In a few days, Michael and Claudia Joy would have to meet the new Wing Commander and she wanted to be prepared to welcome the Air Force to Fort Marshall.