'Ooo, who's a pretty girl!'

'Push C, and move the joy-stick up.'

'Do you have any threes?'

Shane looked around the highly populated Esposito townhouse, sipping his beer with an amused bafflement on his face. The noise, the chaos of it all, would have made a lot of tiny humans Petra was cozied up on his lap, blinking her big baby blues while she observed the goings-on around her. From their perch in the armchair they watched as the kids played Lego Hobbit and Dance-Dance 3000, argued over card games, inspected ornaments on the tree and sent Tortuga into canine Nirvana with endless attention.

He saw the way RJ kept close to Trini, every so often stealing a glance his way before Trini got his attention back, the way Violet and Leo would hover nearby to keep an eye out for their little friend. Best of all was how Nate and Heddie ran interference between himself and Lindsay on behalf of the kitchen.

'Shane, you suh-nacky?' Heddie's eyes sparkled as she stared at Petra while talking to Shane. 'You wan' some cheese and cuh-rackahs?'

'Or a juicie?' Not to be outdone, Nate sidled closer too, wondering if giving Petra a kiss on her head would make her cry.

'I'm good right now, but maybe Lindsay might like something,' Shane told them, pointing to where Lindsay had a squirming Zane on her shoulder. 'She looks like she might like a snack.'

'Okay!' Heddie reached out and gave her tiny friend a gentle rub on her shoulder. 'Lindsay! We find a suh-nack!'

'Thanks guys!' Lindsay laughed, then looked at Shane as she patted her own baby's back. 'They are so adorable, trying to be big helpers.'

'Oh yeah, they are.' Shane thought of RJ insisting on Petra's infant-highchair being between him and Alexis at the supper table for Christmas so he could talk to his little niece. 'And I think when they get bigger that they-' he gestured between Zane and Petra '-are going to be saying all their friends' names as their first words.'

'Hey how come Devon's being so clingy with his mom lately? I noticed that the last time Sloan and her boys visited.'

'Oh, shoot, didn't you hear?' Lindsay looked guilty, then glanced up at Alexis who had come into the living room with a plate of cheese and crackers and fruit. 'Lex, didn't you say you'd told Shane about Sloan being a judge for America's Next Top Model after Christmas?'

'Oh that!' Shane laughed, the burst of it startling Petra a little, which made her gurgle indignantly. 'Sorry sweetie pie. Yeah I know she was doing that, I just didn't hear where they were going for their overseas destination.'

'You watch ANTM?' Andrea who'd followed Alexis into the living room looked at Shane with intrigue. 'Oh man, don't let the boys hear that one, though they probably have their own little things that are worse.'

'What's worse?'

Esposito came in the room, munching on a roll smeared with some type of delicious cheese. He took a look at Shane and his wife's friends and shook his head. 'Nevermind. So you up for cards on the eighth? We're starting up the weekly game again once the crazy of the holidays wears off.'

'Sounds great.'

'Lex, Mere was asking for your help in the kitchen. She wants a taste tester for something.'

Alexis smiled, gave her husband and daughter a kiss as she left; when she saw the cluster of young ones leave the video game to swarm around him, she wondered if he knew that's how she felt when she'd been pregnant and they'd all wanted to rub her belly to feel Petra kicking.

She wound her way into the kitchen, saw Meredeth with her hair bundled on top of her head beneath her colourful bandana and smiling as she stirred a verifiable cauldron of gravy. At the island, Daniel was running a mix-master for potatoes while Jeremy chopped onions and Devon supervised the whole goings on with Nessa from the island chairs. 'Hey mama. Taste this, it feels like it's missing something and I can't tell what.'

'Gimme.'

Alexis opened her mouth obediently as Petra would, nodded as she swirled around the spoonful of gravy Meredeth popped in. 'Needs a little more sage and a dash of salt. A little, though or you'll mess it up.'

'Good to know. Speaking of feeling messed up, I haven't heard anymore horror stories about you thinking you're a shit mother.' Meredeth rapped her spoon on the metal pot so her cursing would be covered from little ears. 'I take it therapy has helped a lot?'

'Very much.'

'There's no shame in therapy. I've been going since before I finished grade seven and I'm over forty,' she pointed out which made Alexi blink.

'You're still in therapy?'

'Once a month I touch base with my shrink to let him know what's going on in my life. Between the sleep issues I had and being a mother of four and married to a cop, plus having my own life...' Meredeth puffed up her cheeks. 'Makes for a crowded head-space.'

'I imagine so.'

'Hey did you hear that Watkins is knocked up?' Meredeth went on. 'Who's the father do you think?'

'You know she's married and also gay, right?'

'Yeah, which makes that question so much fun. Right Daniel?'

'What?' He'd turned off the mixer to add a pre-portioned dish of sour cream.

'Who's the baby daddy for Evelyn Watkins considering she's a gal with a wife?'

'Talk to Adam and Lindsay, they're the ones in the know.'

'Mami!'

Max came running in still in his outdoor jacket from walking to the market with Sloan and Adam, followed closely by Honey-Milk and Mallory. 'Mami when's it food time?'

'Soon!'

'Okay!'

Alexis laughed as she sipped her ginger-ale. It was so nice to have crazy normal back in her life.