'Alexis! Shane! Petra! You're here!'

'Does that mean we get to eat now?'

'Would you like a hand with your bags?'

Barely through the door, Alexis had to grin as she lifted Petra's car seat and seat it on the table, and found herself surrounded by the small, medium and large kids who were all shiny-eyed with excitement. Nate was clutching Nessa's fingers while Trini and RJ tugged TJ along with them as they gathered near to check out the latest arrival.

'Ooooh, see bay-bee Pet-wah! See big bay-bee!' Nate commented, stretching to this tiptoes to see his little friend. He tugged happily and pointed with his chubby toddler digit. 'Loo' Niss! See?'

'I do see her very a lot, and she is so cute!' Nessa squeaked out. 'Wow she already halfway to her first birthday!'

'Aww, don't say that, you'll make her Mumum sad,' Shane teased his wife. 'That means we're getting old too.'

'Shane you're not old at all,' RJ scoffed, waving off his brother-in-law's nonsense and shooting a look at TJ. 'Ask my big sister if we can take Petra with us into the living room and let her play.'

'Did you catch that?' TJ asked, and Trini rolled her eyes; she was used to it having both an older and younger brother.

'No, TJ, you gotta ask, that way you won't get in trouble. You gotta say the words.'

TJ, knowing the wrath a even a middle-grade lady could rain down on a male head, obliged her and earned a nod of approval from Shane; scooping up Petra and spiriting her off with the young admirers in tow, Alexis and Shane looked around the kitchen and saw Lanie with a big smile on her face.

'What's with the grin?'

'Just so proud of you,' Lanie replied, and came over to give Alexis a big hug while Shane and Esposito dealt with their luggage. 'You went through some dark times and I know how much you've worked to-'

'Stop there, or we're both gonna be fountains,' Alexis cut her off with a laugh as she returned the hug, then looked around. 'Where is everyone? I saw a bunch of cars in the driveway.'

'A bunch went on a grocery run, and Andrea and Daniel took some of the kids into town for the maple sugar festival.' When Alexis nodded, Lanie breathed a sigh of relief that the small fib for the surprise part of the weekend for Alexis and Shane and their baby girl was bought. 'Dell stayed back since maple syrup isn't exactly diabetic friendly and-'

'Wait, let me guess, Tessi stayed because Dell was, right?'

'Actually, she wanted to spend time with Rosie,' Meredeth supplied. 'Rosie was on a trip for school and then we left for March Break in Puerto Rico to see the in-laws before she was back. Ten whole Rosie-less days in Tessi's world is like five minutes without oxygen.'

'Do you guys ever worry that the kids aren't open to having other friends since they've all grown up with each other?' Alexis asked, taking the glass of wine Lanie had poured them all. 'Or worse, that when they go off to college or even high school?'

'Not really,' Lanie replied with a shrug. 'You have to remember, most of them already go to different schools anyways and some of those schools are rivals too, for sports. Dell said his soccer team is deeply entrenched to despise Carey's school and they're best buddies even if they're sworn enemies on the sports field.'

'Truthfully, I think Dell is trying to get in as much as he can, since he'll be in high school in the fall,' Honey-Milk added, appearing from the living room and catching the thread of the conversation. 'Hard to think my baby boy is going to be thirteen in just four months.'

'Wow, thirteen already? Yikes, that is...that's amazing, it doesn't feel like that long does it?' Alexis laughed.

'You think that's bad?' Meredeth giggled, jerked her thumb in Honey-Milk's direction. 'Tessi is turning ten, and her son is already asking if he can have an advance on his allowance to get her some earrings.'

'Our children aren't children anymore.'

'That's what you wanna hear when you're celebrating your firstborn's six months,' Alexis chuckled, found herself getting a squeezing hug from Lanie.

'We're also celebrating my youngest baby turning six, and mine and Dave's anniversary too. That help?'

'A little.'

'Well this will.' Meredeth dipped into her pocket, passed Alexis a card. 'Little something for you.'

Unsure what prompted the sudden gift, Alexis tore into the envelope and found a gift certificate that made her eyes water. 'Oh...my...how did you get this?'

'I know people. Or should I say, I have fans who know people.'

'What is it?' Honey-Milk asked.

'It's VIP passes to Comic-Con in July, including one-on-one time after three NerdHQ sessions of our choice! This is awesome, how did you score this?'

'I was invited to moderate a panel and be a guest at NerdHQ as well as getting my own feature panel, so I got these as part of my signing deal.'

'Oh wow, Mere, thank you so much!' Alexis gave her a hug, then turned to show off the tickets to her husband who had reappeared along with Meredeth's beloved. 'Look what we get to do!'

'If you stop waving them I can see too,' Shane laughed, gently held her wrist steady and scanned the bits of paper in her hand. 'Hey, check that out, a little anniversary trip to San Diego!'

'That's right, you guys have your sixth anniversary coming up, don't you?' Lance shook her head, drank more wine; she'd need more wine so she wouldn't give into that niggling little voice in head that made her feel old. 'Hard to think that Dave and I are already at nine.'

'Alexis! Shane! Everyone, come quick!'

The sound of Tessi's shrill voice from the living room had them all forget their worries and immediately running to the source of the commotion; Alexis and Meredeth got their first where they saw TJ sitting on the floor with Petra in front of him on her tummy, the other kids watching her like worshippers seeing the sign of their deity. 'Watch! Watch what she can do!'

Alexis reached back her hand for Shane, felt his arms come around her in a squeezing hug as they watched TJ delicately put Petra on her back on her playing mat, then clenched her husband's hands in excitement as they watched Petra kick her feet around and flip herself to her belly with no help from anyone but herself.

'Hey look at you go, big girl!' The smile came from the deep down place inside her heart where her anxiety had never been able to get to her. Alexis moved forward, dragging Shane with her and stretched out beside her baby girl as Petra flapped her hands like a little bird trying to get the feel of its wings.