Everything hurt.

Every joint, every muscle, every body part that she didn't even know she had was aching so much she could barely move. The shooting pain in her back was enough to cause nausea, and the baby acrobatics were not helping that at all. She needed Adam to come home and help her get moving, to see if the blood flow might help a little. Either that or she needed him there to rub her back and listen to her moan about how much she hated water weight and the last exhausting trimester of pregnancy. They were getting close now, less than eight weeks away, but she wasn't sure she could make it that long. All she wanted to do lately was lay on the couch, and then she felt like a bad mother for ignoring Ben, but he seemed pretty content to sit on the floor and do puzzles for hours on end. Colton was at school so she didn't have to worry about much until the afternoon.

Adam was working six days a week, ten hours a day to try and save up a little time that he could use when the baby arrived. She missed him of course, but knew that she would rather have him home when there was a screaming infant than now when there wasn't much that he could do to help her.

Austin had been coming over a lot, on the pretext of letting the kids play or just hanging out, but Lindsay knew it was because Austin was worried about her. She felt awful about that, Austin had taken care of her and worried about her more in the last few years than almost anyone else had in her entire life. She didn't feel like a burden, she knew Austin wouldn't do it if she didn't want to. But she didn't feel very good about not doing things herself.

The couch was uncomfortable, the chairs were uncomfortable, her bed was uncomfortable and even a hot bubble bath lost its appeal after a few moments. She was just plain miserable and couldn't wait for the baby to be born, because at least that would be a distraction.

She hadn't gained a lot of weight, she still only looked pregnant in profile, but it had all happened so fast that her body didn't have time to catch up and make room. Her hips were bearing the brunt of it, and although Adam didn't say anything, she knew her knees and ankles had become slightly fluffy.

Sighing, she rolled onto her back and closed her eyes, doing battle with the headache that was creeping up on her.

"Ben help mama," came the little whisper in her ear. "Ben give kisses."

She smiled as a chubby hand brushed her hair back and soft lips came down on her forehead.

"Thank you Benjamin."

He knelt down and picked up one of Colton's dump truck toys and ran it up her leg, over her stomach and back down the other leg.

"That feel good mama?"

"Yeah, it does."

"Ben take care of mama."

"Thank you Ben Ry."

He rested his head on her stomach and sighed.

"Baby out now."

"No, not yet. We have to wait a while longer."

He nodded and kissed her belly, whispering softly to it the way Adam did. He'd been growing more fond of the baby lately, asking more questions and contemplating the bump seriously. He didn't really understand it, but he knew a baby was coming at some point and it would be a brother. He'd tried to spit his name out and they'd told him over and over that it was Aiken, but he was convinced his brother would be named A'Ben.

"Mama?"

"Yeah?"

He pointed out the front window just as the door creaked open and Austin came in with Junior and Sarah.

"You guys have got to do something about that door."

"I'll get right on that," Lindsay chuckled as Sarah leaned over to hug her.

"Hi auntie."

"Hi Sarah love."

"Is baby Aiken movin'?"

"Nah, I think he's asleep."

"Hey Aiken," Sarah said, patting Lindsay's stomach. "This is your best friend Sarah. I love you. I will play with you soon."

Austin chuckled as Sarah dashed off to join the boys in their game of make-believe.

"You don't look so good Lin. I mean, no offense, I love you dearly but… You've seen better days."

"I know."

"Can I do anything?"

"No, I just have to wait it out mostly. Get used to it."

"I hate seeing you like this."

"It's alright. Could be worse."

"How do you even get up the stairs at night?"

"Slowly. Actually getting up the stairs isn't so bad, it's going down where I have the issues."

"Does Adam help you or mock you?"

"Both at the same time. He's been calling me Ducky because I waddle. I said I would make him waddle too but I wasn't fast enough and then when he came back around I had no energy."

Austin tried not to laugh, but her eyes belied her serious expression and Lindsay shook her head.

"I know, I'm a case. Haha, it's hilarious."

"I'm sorry. It's really not funny, just kind of… I don't know, I just feel really bad for you."

"It's okay. Just something to hold over the kids head for the rest of his life."

"Yeah and you haven't even gotten to labor and delivery yet."

"Don't remind me."

Austin gave her a smile and stood up from the coffee table.

"I'm going to go get the bigs from school. Want me to leave the littles or take them?"

"You can leave them if they want to stay. I don't mind, they've been really low maintenance lately."

Austin ended up just taking the boys while Sarah found a stack of books and asked Lindsay to read to her. They snuggled up on the couch together and Sarah turned the pages while Lindsay read. They were halfway through a Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle story when Sarah suddenly turned to Lindsay, her eyes wide and wet.

"Auntie?"

"Yeah sweetie?"

Sarah gulped and closed her eyes before the words rushed out.

"You love me same as you love Isa?"

"Of course I do! What in the world makes you think I don't?"

"'Cuz… you always say how Isa's your girl. You never say that about me! You don't want me to be your girl too?"

"Oh Sarah, I'm sorry! I love you just as much as I love Isa, I promise. I just call her that because I've always called her that, even before you were born. You are just as special to me as your sister is, and for different reasons too."

"Like what?"

"When Isa was born she was the first baby besides Colton that I ever loved so much. And you… when I held you for the first time, I knew you were different. Isa's wild and crazy and we all love that about her because that's who she is. But you… there's just something special about you that I can't quite put my finger on. It's like you've got a little secret that no one else knows. I love Isa with all my heart but I love you just as much."

"Really?"

"Of course. If there was no Sarah I would be very, very sad. Like sometimes when we're all eating dinner and I look up and you make a funny face for me that no one else sees? Who else would do that if there was no Sarah Claire?"

"Nobody can make funny faces like me."

"Exactly. You are so special to me, Sarah, and no one else could ever take your place. I will always love you, no matter what."

"I am special as much as Isa?"

"Always. And you know what else?"

"What?"

"If I have to live in a house full of boys that means I can't braid anyone's hair or paint anyone's toenails or do any of that girly stuff. And Isa doesn't want to do that either, but you do. So I need you for all that stuff too."

"Well, I do like when you make my hair pretty."

"See, we can't live without each other."

Sarah giggled and snuggled herself into Lindsay's side.

"I love you auntie."

"I love you too Sarah. Always."

"We've been served," Austin greeted a while later as she herded the kids into the house.

"What do you mean?"

"Summons."

"I'm confused."

Austin handed her an envelope and crossed her arms over her chest.

"We've been summoned to a parent/teacher conference to discuss the kids behavior, next Tuesday at six."

"What kind of behavior?" Lindsay asked, opening the envelope, finding a vague letter that was identical to the one Austin had.

"I don't know. I was too confused to try and ask them about it on the way home."

"Did their teacher give these to you?"

"Yeah."

"Did she seem mad?"

"No, she just said to let her know if the time doesn't work for all of us and we'll figure out something else. Like she wants all four of us to be there."

"Does she know we all work?"

"Yeah, that's why she offered another time."

"Is this new behavior? They've been in school for two months, shouldn't she have said something before?"

"I know what you know, Lin," Austin sighed, sinking down onto the couch. "I thought I had at least until the second grade before this kind of thing was going to happen."

"What kind of behavior… Colton come here."

"What's the matter, mama?"

"Have you been getting in trouble at school?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yep! I got white dots every day and I got to pick out of the treasure chest! I only need a few more dots to go in again!"

"What are you talking about?"

He sighed and placed a hand on his hip, launching into an explanation as if he had memorized it. Which knowing him, he most probably had, in his desire to always be good and follow the rules.

"In our class we have colored paper clips. When we do something bad we have to put a paperclip on our name tag. The different colors are for different bad things and their letters spell How I Act. First is hullaballoo and that's red. Next is out of order and that's yellow. Then work missing is blue and intentional disobedience is green. Attitude lacking is orange and courtesy lacking is pink, and tardy from recess is brown. If we don't get no clips in the day, we get a white dot sticker on our name tag. When we have 30 stickers we get to go hunt in the treasure chest for a toy. If we have to put on three clips in one day, we have to go see the prize bull."

"The prize bull?"

"Yeah, the boss of the school. I think she's called that because she takes all the prizes away and gets mad like a bull."

"No Colt, she's called the Princess Po," Isa corrected. "Because she is the princess of our school and I don't know why the Po part."

"Do you guys mean the principal?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay, I understand. But are you sure you haven't been getting in trouble for anything?"

"Nope, not us! Everyone at our tables has nothing but white dots. 'Cept for Jayden Jones Luttel."

"Who's that?"

"Mama, don't you remember anything I telled you? Jayden Jones Luttel is the bully in school! He has to post a red or yellow clip almost every day! He has no 'spect for our teacher and he has horrible handwriting too."

"Yeah and he pulled my hair!" Isa added. "And I didn't even hit him back like I wanted to, I just told him my daddy was a cop and then I walked away."

"Yeah, and I wanted to push him on the ground but I didn't because I didn't want to get into trouble and go to jail."

"Oh, I see."

"Why are you asking about getting in trouble, mama?"

"Oh, nothing important. Your teacher just wants to talk to us about you. Do you have any idea why?"

"Nope, we done nothing bad, right Isa?"

"Right."

They scampered off into the other room and Lindsay sighed, reading over the note again while Austin sat on the couch beside her.

"They have an entire world that we're not a part of."

"I know. It freaks me out."

"Prize bull?"

Lindsay snorted.

"He has an active imagination. At least Princess Po made some sort of sense."

"True. So I guess we just wait and see what their teacher wants to talk about?"

"I guess. Maybe it's not bad at all. Maybe she just wants us to be room parents or something."

"Yeah sure, because you're going to be able to do that with a newborn."

"And you definitely have time between parenting your other children and you know, protecting and serving the entire city."

"Exactly."

"Why do I feel like this is judgment day?" Danny asked as the four of them stood outside the kindergarten classroom.

"I never got in trouble at school and when I did I would force myself to throw up so they would forget what I was in trouble for," Lindsay admitted, shaking her head.

"You did that?"

"I had issues as a child, okay?"

Austin snickered and shook her head.

"What did you get in trouble for?"

"There once was a man named Bill, who swallowed a dynamite pill. His chest expired, his butt backfired and his balls blew over the hill."

"Classy."

"I can't believe I just repeated that in a school."

"You got it out of your system?" Adam asked, knowing that she had several other not so appropriate limericks saved up. He was sure Austin had heard a few last month when they were in Montana, as Lindsay's brothers seemed to be able to make them up on the spot and loved spouting them off to near-strangers.

"Yeah, I'm good."

He opened the classroom door and they stepped in, greeting Mrs. Lawrence who directed them to a long table to sit down.

"I'm sure you're wondering why you're here. I would have been more specific in my note, but I thought it was better all explained at once."

"Are the kids doing something wrong?" Danny asked. "If they are we can fix it."

"No, they're not doing anything wrong, really. I'm worried about their social behavior."

"In what way?" Adam inquired skeptically. He remembered teachers saying the same thing about him as a kid, and he was more than slightly sensitive to the issue.

"I understand that they're very close, best friends. They work very well together and help each other a lot. They don't disrupt the class for the most part. I did move desks around because they kept turning around to talk to each other, but now they sit side by side and barely make a sound all day."

"So what's the problem?"

"They don't talk to anyone else. On the playground it's just the two of them. They don't like to work in a group, they eat their snacks by themselves and anything else where they could participate with the other kids, they don't. They're not rude to the other kids by any means, they just would rather be by themselves. It was fine at first when they were just starting out, but they should be getting more comfortable around other children by now."

"I'm sorry, but how is that a problem?"

"Because next year they more than likely won't be in the same classroom and they won't have learned how to make new friends either."

The parents looked at each other guiltily. They knew the kids were close and always encouraged it, but they'd never seen the flip side of the coin. It wasn't wrong, but there was some of it that could be a problem.

"So what do we do?"

"Just encourage them to play with the other kids. They don't have to stop playing with each other by any means, but include other kids as well. I'm sure they'll be open to the idea, I just don't think it's ever occurred to them. I'm just guessing, but your families don't branch out much?"

Danny and Adam held their tongues while Lindsay and Austin looked at each other guiltily.

"Maybe not as much as we could," Lindsay admitted carefully. "I guess they've pretty much been thrown together with no one else."

"That's not bad. Kids need that kind of stability. But they also need to put themselves out there and make other friends too."

Austin had been mostly silent the whole time, nodding along and agreeing, but not saying what she was thinking. It was almost another half hour of discussing the kids and their behavior, and one request for room parents, and then they were excused.

"Okay so that wasn't so bad," Adam started with a shrug. "At least the phrases Ritalin and intense therapy didn't come up."

"Austin, you're uncharacteristically silent," Lindsay noted as they started to walk home.

"She's right and I agree with her but I don't feel right forcing the kids into friendships that they may not want. Being alone really sucks, but being alone and rejected is even worse. Especially that young."

Adam nodded, understanding where she was coming from. It had been hard for him to make friends when he was a kid too.

"Maybe it's something we need to let them decide for themselves."

They continued to discuss it as they walked back to the Rosses, where Mac and Jo were watching the kids.

"What did our teacher say?" Colton and Isa asked in unison as soon as their parents had made it in the door.

"Well, you're not in trouble."

They high fived and turned around to go play again when they felt hands on their shoulders.

"Not done yet."

They went into the dining room and the kids sat down nervously, wondering what they had done that was so bad that they were getting talked to by all the parents.

"Do you two like the other kids in your class?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Colton answered with a shrug.

"Yeah, but not Jayden Jones Luttel."

"Is there a reason you don't play with the other kids?"

"We're already playing together," Colton explained.

"But don't you want to be friends with the other kids?"

"We are friends with them. They're nice."

"Do you think that maybe you could start playing with the other kids too?"

"You can't keep all your awesomeness to yourself. That wouldn't be fair."

"Oh!" Isa said, nodding her head. "I get it. We need to show the other kids how to be awesome!"

"Yeah, something like that."

"We could do that, right Colt?"

"Yeah, long as no one thinks that you could be their best friend too."

"Nope, just regular."

"Okay, we could be friends with other kids too."

"Glad we've reached a decision," Danny chuckled, tugging Isa's hair. "Go get your partners in crime so we can leave."

"Okay daddy."

The kids ran off and a long silence passed through the room.

"Is it over? It was that painless?"

"Must be."

"I expected more wailing and gnashing of teeth," Lindsay admitted as they all stood up and moved to the front door where the kids were gathered saying goodbye to each other.

"Live and learn."

The kids were laughing and exchanging hugs with Jo and Mac who were trying to head out the door but showering them with lots of affection anyway. It seemed that it took longer and longer for the families to say goodbye every time, and it was several minutes before the kids had been extracted from their babysitters and each other.

"Hey Aust?" Lindsay started, stepping out onto the porch to catch her best friend for just a moment before they went home.

"Yeah?"

Neither one of them was really expecting the hug that came, but they both held onto it for several minutes.

"Thank you for doing this parenting thing with me. I didn't really realize how much I needed it."

"I couldn't do it without you either," Austin agreed.

"I love you."

"I love you too. Night Lin."

"Night Aust."