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Part 15

"There better not be another surprise doctor waiting in there for you. I swear he thinks he can take better care of my pregnant wife than I can."

"If there is a doctor, I hope he does the examination in another room or this is going to get awkward." Anna said, scrunching her face at the thought.

"AND I'm gonna be there this ti…no, every time from now on. Shit, I'm not exactly crazy about him bein between your legs when you're givin birth." He said, to which Anna burst into peals of laughter.

He was always over dramatic when he was in a bad mood. And right now, he was grumpy because Max had announced his imminent arrival, just moments before, as he'd informed her, they were about to break that table in half.

Just as they were about to reach the main cave, Anna brought them both to a stop and placed her palm flat against his chest.

"I promise we'll pick it up again later. I think maybe you could use a massage. You know, help you relax a little first." She said, before giving him a languid kiss.

"You know your massages do everything but relax me." He was about to go in for his own kiss, when what were clearly Laddie's screeches rang out a few hundred yards away.

"Is it Christmas and we forgot?" Anna asked as they reached the doorway and scanned the room. Everyone was there. Not counting David and Marko. Max, Lucy, Sam, Michael. Even the dog was there, Nanook, they quickly found out, was the one responsible for Laddie's over excitement, as he tossed the ball into the fountain and got splashed good each time the dog jumped in to get it.

But where was…

"Heeey princess!" Paul said, sneaking up on Anna. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders before giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. She turned in his arms.

"Almost gave me a heart attack you big doofus." She said, reaching up to give him a hug.

"I see you're feeling better." Dwayne said, sounding less than impressed at the fact that Paul continued to pull every trick in the book to get his hands on Anna whenever he could. Still, he couldn't say he wasn't seriously happy to see the idiot back on his feet.

"All fixed! Just sorry I don't have a scar to show you chica, I know how much chicks dig scars." He said, as Anna shook her head and laughed.

"Put her down Paul." They all turned at the sound of Max's voice. "Hello, my dear, how are you? You certainly look well." He said, bending to kiss her on the cheek.

"Hi. I'm doing really good, thanks."

"And this one?" he said, gesturing towards her stomach with his hand.

"Behaving. But I think, beginning to make his or her presence known." And Dwayne struggled to keep the smile off his face. Seems he wasn't wrong about her body starting to change.

"And how about this one. Also behaving?" Max said, looking to Dwayne.

"No. But that's how I like him." She said, as Dwayne shot her a wink that promised nothing but good things.

…

"Now, I know you think, that ever since we heard about the baby, I've been a tad…fussy. And I have no excuses for it. I never thought this would happen, and I can't be sure that it ever will again." Max said once he'd taken the two of them into a quiet corner of the room. Well, about as quiet as it was going to get "So, I've given this a lot of thought, and well, I know how much you all have grown to like this place, but, I don't want my grandchild growing up in a cave. So, I'm giving you the house." He said simply.

"What? You mean…your house?" Dwayne asked in shock, while Anna sat there speechless.

"Yes, my house. It won't take long for everything to be put back where it should be after the…incident. But also, as much as I don't want him or her raised down here. I don't want them to be without their family either so, I'm sending you all up there." Now at a loss for words himself, Dwayne looked to Anna, who had fresh tears in her eyes, but the brightest smile on her face. She leaned in, and taking his face in her hands, planted a long solid kiss on his lips. When she was done, she jumped off the sofa and pretty much jumped to wrap her arms around Max's neck. As close as she could get, considering the height difference.

"Thank you so much. I can't even tell you..." She began, letting the tears flow freely down her cheeks.

"There's no need to say anything." Max said, trying to hold it together himself.

"Maybe go tell Laddie first." Dwayne said, as he stood up behind her, brushing her hair from her shoulder so that it hung down her back.

"Yeah…yeah ok." She said, wiping the tip of her finger under her eye to get rid of the left-over tears.

"I know she already said it but, thanks."

"You're very welcome son."

"You know it's funny. I still keep tryin to work out how Viktor found out about the baby but…"

"Well, you know how word gets around." Max said, with the slightest smile.

…

Once they'd all been enlightened as to what was happening, it wouldn't have been right unless a party had broken out. And though Anna couldn't get involved in the endless bottles of every kind of alcohol that was being passed around, she didn't really care. Dwayne had even told her that he wouldn't drink either if she didn't want him to, but she'd told him to just carry on. To be fair, it was as much fun just to sit and watch them. Plus, she'd make up for it at some point in the future.

Anna had sat on the sofa, listening to Lucy tell her just how much Max wanted her and the boys to have the house, even if he was seriously considering having some of his priceless vases put into storage, to which Anna agreed was a fabulous idea. You only had to be around Paul and Marko for 10 minutes to know that. After a little while, when Lucy had grown weary and gone off to bed, Anna had pulled the blanket off the back of the couch and draped it over Laddie, who had fallen asleep in the chair opposite. And it could only have a been a few seconds after she sat herself back down, that Sam dropped onto the coffee table in front of her.

"Hey." He said, shyly as his face flushed pink. Though Anna had a feeling the Whiskey Paul and David had been tipping down his throat for most of the night, when Lucy wasn't looking of course, had a lot to do with that.

"Hey Sam." She said warmly "Having fun?"

"Yeah, just need a minute. Little dizzy."

"JD'll do that to you." She smiled and he blushed a little harder.

"It's weird, right? To see them having a normal conversation." Sam said, nodding towards something over her shoulder. When she turned, she saw Dwayne and Michael sat on the edge of the fountain talking.

"It really is. But good weird." She said.

"So, how's it going?" Sam said suddenly "You know, the marriage."

"How's my marriage going?" Anna asked, somewhat thrown. The whiskey really did have a lot to answer for right now. "It's going great. Thanks."

"Well, yeah cus you know, I heard he got you pregnant. I mean you got pregnant…I mean you're pregnant."

"Sam are you alright, I mean apart from the obvious?"

He took a deep breath.

"It's just, you know how we have to start the change soon. Me and Mom?"

"Sam, it's ok to be nervous I…"

"No, it's not that. Well, it is, kind of but…"

"What?" she said with a confused smile.

"Well, I was wondering. I want you to be the one?" he asked, shyly.

"The one to what? Oh wait…you want…me to…turn you?" Anna said, as his words slowly sank in.

"Would you?" he said, his expression that of a nervous puppy. But when she smiled, he visibly relaxed.

"Oh Sam. You have no idea how flattered I am that you would ask me that. But I'm sorry honey, I can't." she said and felt genuinely bad when his face fell.

"It's ok. I get it, I understand if you don't want to..."

"No, no, it's not that it's just. It was different for me. I met Dwayne, and we were soul mates. Literally. And he promised that once he turned me, I'd be the last. And I said him the same, well, that I'd never start. It kind of bonds us together even tighter. And, means the only one that's gonna have our blood line is this little guy. Or girl." She said patting her stomach gently. That make sense." She asked him.

"Yeah. I get it." He said with sweetest little smile.

"But listen, when you drink from that bottle, you're still gonna be you, but you're also gonna be a lot like them." She said turning to look at the boys "and with that face of yours" she said looking back to him "No girl in town will stand a chance." to which Sam went crimson, and the devil himself couldn't have kept the smile from his face.

"You ready for bed angel? I could use that massage now, I'm kinda stiff." She could feel Dwayne's hot breath wash over the back of her neck as he spoke against her ear. When she turned to look at him, and saw how far his pupils had dilated, it was clear the Jack had worked it's magic on him too. After she giggled and gave him a kiss on the cheek, she leaned forward and did the same to Sam.

"Night Sam." She said as she stood.

"Thanks Anna." Sam smiled. Dwayne gave him a single nod as Anna took his hand to lead him away.

"What was that all about?" Dwayne asked as they left the cave.

"Oh nothing, he just asked me to take his virginity."

"Er…what?" Dwayne said, coming to a dead stop.

"Just kidding." She said, turning to him and unable to keep the smile off her face at his dismayed expression "But he did ask me to turn him."

"And that's better how?" he asked.

"Oh, don't get mad, he's just a kid. He's nervous about everything. Plus, he's really drunk." Anna let go of his hand as she carried on towards their room "I did tell him he should hang around though. If that husband of mine cant satisfy me, could be his lucky night." She said, pressing her lips together in a tight line to stifle her laugh.

"Oh…oh is that right. Girl you better get that pretty ass in there right now! I'll show you satisfied!" He heard her squeal as he took off after her. That table's time was up.

…

It'd been just over a month since they'd left the cave, and of course the move had been chaos. First off, it was a blessing that the house was in a place where there were no neighbours to speak of, as moving 6 vampires, 5 motorcycles and all their stuff in the middle of the night, well there weren't' really many ways to be inconspicuous with that.

Next on the agender, was who got what room. To be fair, it was mainly between Paul and Marko. David walked straight into the first one he found and slammed the door behind him, glad to finally have some real peace for once in…well, for once. Laddie was next, though his was easy enough to find, as Max had had it decorated and decked out with everything a kid his age could ever want. Anna thought he might explode with joy when he first opened the door.

That's when Paul and Marko began fighting about who was going to get the room with the best view and the biggest beds.

"What do you need a view for! You can only go out at night!" Marko protested.

"So can you! And why do you need the biggest bed? When's the last time you brought a chick home?" Paul threw back.

"Fuck you man, I could say the same about you!"

"Come on, we're this way." Unable to take any more of their squabbling, plus the fact that he was sure this would go on for some time, Dwayne wound his arm around Anna's waist before leading her towards the room at the furthest end of the hallway.

"Pretty cool huh?" Dwayne said, in his usual understated way.

"Cool? Dwayne, this is amazing." She'd said as she spun in a slow circle to take everything in.

"So, you think you'll be happy here?" he asked.

"I'd be happy anywhere as long as I'm with you, you know that." She smiled "But you're right this place is pretty cool." She said, making him chuckle.

"Oh wait, I almost forgot. There was one more thing. I got you a little, I dunno, call it a house warming gift I guess."

"What?" she asked, but Dwayne said nothing, just beckoned her to him with his index finger, before guiding her towards a door she hadn't even noticed was there when they had first walked in. When he reached over her shoulder and pushed it open, Anna's breath had caught in her throat before she could even see all the way in. It was a fully functioning nursery, complete with antique crib and more stuffed toys than she'd ever seen in her life.

"Well, Lucy had to help me out some, I'm not exactly experienced at this stuff yet but, what do think." He asked, moving in close behind her and wrapping one arm around her waist.

"I think…that you're about to get really lucky."

…

In the month or so since they'd moved in, Anna's body had begun to noticeably change. Her belly had swollen significantly, and the curves she already had, gotten, well, curvier. And consequently, she and Dwayne had been spending an awful lot of time in their room. At this point in his life, he was yet to meet anyone who could match Paul for horny, but right now, Dwayne was giving him a hell of a run for him money. They had gone through every diagram in Anna's book at least twice by now. He couldn't keep his hands off her, and when he was away, the only thing he could concentrate on was getting back to her. Back in her.

"Am I losing my touch?" she asked as Dwayne reluctantly climbed out of bed.

"What?"

"After what we just did and well…" she said, letting her gaze wander down to where he was quite clearly ready all over again.

"Are you crazy?" He grinned before bending to kiss her "This is all you. You got me wrapped around every one of your fingers."

"I like it when I'm wrapped around yours." She said as she gently nibbled his lower lip. When she felt him begin to push her back down onto the bed, she placed her hand against his chest. "You better shower if we're ever going to get out of here. And probably make it cold." Dwayne laughed lightly, giving her a firm kiss.

"You coming with?" he asked as he headed for the bathroom.

"You go first. But leave the door open." She said innocently.

…..

"So, you think they'll be mad, after last night?" Anna asked as she and Dwayne left the bedroom.

"Are you kidding me? I don't think in all the time we've been together I've seen Paul so close to actually jumping you."

"What? Are you serious?"

"Don't doubt it for the other 2 either, but they at least know how to do tact. Have to say though, never thought I'd see Paul and Marko trying to clean a carpet. THAT was fucking funny."

Dwayne's…appetites weren't the only ones that had gotten more intense. Being pregnant, it was no surprise that she was a slave to her hormones. And of course, she found her hunger was getting more acute. Junior wasn't slow in letting her know when he or she wanted a snack. Also, though, her need to protect had suddenly kicked in, and not just the baby, but her husband too, and last night it had reached fever pitch.

Previous Night

"You ok?" Dwayne asked when Anna yawned and snuggled into the bed. She cuddled his pillow like she always did when he wasn't lying next to her.

"I'm fine, just a little sleepy. I'll be ready to go when you are though." Her last words tailing off into another yawn.

"Baby, you're exhausted." He sighed "Look, you know I don't like doing this, but, I'd feel just as bad dragging you out of here when you're like this. Why don't you stay here tonight? Rest."

"I would argue with you but, I am kind of comfy right now."

"You know where Max keeps the emergency supplies right? When you get hungry?"

"You mean the blood juice boxes? Yeah, I know, I'll be fine don't worry." He had the beginnings of a smile, but it quickly fell away.

"You know what, you have to go down those stairs to get it. I'll just stay with you and…"

"No…no Dwayne, I'll be alright I promise. And you know it's better you go do it properly, you just get grumpy otherwise." She said, giving him the kind of look, that he couldn't argue with, because she was absolutely right.

….

As Anna heard the sound of the bikes approaching the house from the bottom of the hill, that hot feeing she got in the pit of her stomach, when she was getting her other half back was there as always. But, she'd had to admit to herself that, after living with nothing but boys' day in and day out, it had been nice having the place to herself for a couple of hours. She'd fed on one of the 'juice boxes' plus helped herself to a hot dog and entire bag of chips. What could she say? This kid could eat. And now Dwayne was back, she was more than ready for dessert. She rolled her eyes then at the fact that she could even conjure up such a corny line. Paul could have planted that one directly into her head. After she heard the click of the front door opening, she turned the TV off and reluctantly dragged herself up from the sofa.

When she got to the hallway, Laddie seemingly came out of nowhere and wrapping his arms around her leg.

"Missed you Anna." He said, seeming even more excited than usual.

"Hey, you, and what have you been eating?" she asked when he wouldn't stop bouncing.

"Cotton Candy. Paul got it for me."

"Oh good, then he can put you to bed later." She said, bending to kiss the top of his head.

"Be gentle buddy, remember what we said." Dwayne, was next through the door and made a b line for her. "Hey." He said, placing his hand on her back before kissing her softly.

"Ewww!" Laddie complained, moving from between them, the two of them laughing at his expression.

"There's pizza in the kitchen." Anna told him and with and with a loud YAY! Laddie was a blur.

When Dwayne looked down at her she had a questioning little smile.

"What?" he asked.

"Be gentle?" Like how you're gentle with me?" she bit her bottom lip, knowing exactly what she was doing.

"That's cus I know how to handle you." Dwayne said, slipping his hands down and gripping her hips firmly, he turned her around and pulled her against him. He was just about begin dropping light kisses on her neck when she suddenly she was distracted.

David, Marko and Paul walked in followed by 3 girls. 2 blondes and a brunette and Anna felt Dwyane sigh in her ear.

"Oh yeah, they brought take out." He told her through a mind link.

Of course, it wasn't like this had never happened before. It's what they were and what they did. Anna had never thought twice about it and never asked questions about who the other boys brought back. It never affected her. But then, she had never been pregnant before, and it kind of changed things. She felt…something… begin to wake up.

"Who did Laddie come home with?" she asked in almost a whisper.

"What?"

"Did you bring one of them home?" Dwayne took hold of her arm then and turned her back to face him.

"Hey, hey, come on. You know I never ride with anybody but you…and Laddie. Baby what's wrong?" he asked, concerned.

"I'm sorry I just…" but her sentence petered out as her sensitive ears picked up on a female voice all the way across the other side of the room.

"I don't care if she's knocked up. I totally saw how he looked at me." After that, everything felt like it was in slow mo. Anna turned on her heels and was across the room before Dwayne's brain could take it in. Anna's hand went straight to the blonde's neck and with one sharp flick of her wrist, she snapped it. Anna soon had the body on the floor, feasting on from the girls throat as if she'd never been fed. So, in shock and quite frankly hypnotised by the whole thing, that it took the boys a few seconds to zone in on the fact that the other 2 girls were now screeching hysterically.

"Shut up!" David shouted, more annoyed by the noise than anything else, and soon the other 2 girls suffered the same fate as their friend. One by his hand, the other Marko's. After the boys let the bodies slip to the floor, Anna looked up, and done with the first blonde, she shifted as if she was ready to move onto her second course, but Dwayne's arms quickly wrapped around her middle.

"Ok baby, I've got you, take it easy." He said, pulling her away as gently as he could doing his best to hold her to him. Sometimes he forgot how strong she was when she was like this. When he had enough of a grip on her so she'd be safe, he fled up the stairs with her in his arms.

"Dude…Paul!" Marko yelled when Paul didn't react in any way.

"Man, was that not that not the hottest thing you ever saw?"

"Yeah but…you've seen her do it before!"

"Not like that. And not pregnant…"

"You know, there really is no hope for you." David said, exasperated as they began the big clean up, and what work out what to tell Laddie, oh and Max about his carpet.

Back ack in their room, Dwayne took Anna straight to the shower. Her features were back to normal, and she had stopped struggling in his arms, but she was shivering. Of course, it had nothing to do with the cold, it was the fresh as it comes blood and a shit load of adrenalin racing through her system.

"Dwayne, what did I just do?"

"Nothing wrong."

"I lost control. But…I heard what she said about you. I couldn't help it." She stuttered as he stepped into the shower with her and turned on the warm water, not bothering to rid either of them of their clothes. He just wanted to get her under the flow and slow down the shaking.

"She asked for it." He said as he began to wash the blood from her face and out of her hair. "You know it wasn't true though right, she was a bitch. Why'd you think they picked them?"

"I know, I just, it's all I could picture…you looking at her, like, you look at me…" she almost whispered as she pulled him towards her, kissing him like the world was about to end.

"Never…I'm not capable." he growled, grudgingly pulling out of the kiss to wash the blood from her neck, but Anna immediately forced her hand down the front of his pants, taking an iron grip on his cock, which had been insanely hard from the second this had all kicked off downstairs.

"Hmmm…baby, you don't make it easy to concentrate."

"Fuck me. Right now." She begged "And mark me again, so only you and I know where on my body." And for a second, Dwayne was sure he went dizzy he was so turned on.

After that, the only other sounds that could be heard over the running water were first, the tearing as they ripped the soaked clothing from the other's body. The next, after Dwayne had turned her away from him and placed her hands against the wall, just above her head, being her screams of bliss as he pushed all of himself up inside of her.

…..

"Would you stop looking at her like that." Dwayne told Paul when he caught him gazing at Anna as she moved around the kitchen.

"You are."

"I'm allowed."

"I can't help it man, I'm still tweaked after last night. Doesn't help, with you two torturing me the whole time with the noises." Paul complained.

"What?"

"Did she call you daddy by the way?"

"Shut up!"

"Oh yes! Daddy right there! Pretty sure that's what I heard."

"Shut. Up." Dwayne repeated to which Paul just rolled his eyes.

"Here you go." Anna said, as she dropped a plate of pancakes in the middle of the table, big enough to feed an army.

"Now, that's what I'm talking about." Paul said as Laddie hopped up onto the chair, dragging 3 onto his plate and immediately began wolfing them down.

"Well I thought you'd be hungry after I stole your dinner from under you last night."

"Girl, I'll bring take out every night if you give us another show like that." This time it was Dwayne's turn to roll his eyes.

"You ok?" Dwayne said placing a hand on Anna's hip before pulling her onto his knee.

"Yeah I'm good." She smiled as she turned to kiss him.

"You feel good." He said for only her to hear and a tingle ran down the back of her neck. And it carried on further down as his hand gently rubbed over her hip where he'd marked her again the night before.

"I'm gonna get him some juice before he chokes on that." She said, nodding her head towards Laddie who hadn't stopped for breath while demolishing his pancakes "You want some?"

"Sure." He said, kissing her shoulder before she stood up.

"Get me some too would you chica?" Paul asked around a mouth full of pancake. "Good little wife you got there." He said just as David and Marko walked in.

"Here, I'll give you a hand." Marko said, giving her one of his special little grins as he carried Laddie and Paul's juice back to the table.

"Thanks." She smiled as she placed Dwyane's in front of him.

"That was quite a performance last night." David told Anna with a little grin of his own, as Dwayne looked from one to the other.

"Shit, don't you two start." he complained as Anna chuckled.

"So, are you ready to party?" David said.

"What?" Paul asked.

"Max. Wants to throw one of his parties here tomorrow night. Some announcement."

"No prizes for guessing what that is." Anna said.

"Guess we just act surprised when he tells us they're engaged." Marko said.

"Gonna be a big deal, whole family's invited."

"Oh…great." Dwayne said, flatley.

"Wait, Max's whole family?" Anna asked nervously.

"Yeah, they're kind of like royalty…"

"In their own minds." Dwayne said, ending David's sentence for him. "What's wrong?" he asked Anna as she got up and walked around the table, leaning against the breakfast bar with her arms folded. "So, there's gonna be a bunch of gorgeous 300-year-old vampire women and…me…" She said looking down at her swollen belly.

"Hey, you could go in PJ's and still be the most beautiful one there."

"And I keep telling you you're biased." She smiled "Can we go shopping?" She said, thinking of the stuff she had in her wardrobe and realising she had nothing appropriate.

"Sure, we can. Go get ready baby, we'll head out early." Dwayne smiled back. He meant what he said, she could turn up in a potato sack and she's still the most desirable woman he'd ever laid eyes on. But if this would make her happy, well that's what he lived for.

"Ok. Won't be long…Oh wait one thing." Anna said as she walked up behind Paul and flicked him in the back of his ear.

"Owww! What the...!" he whined around his last mouthful of pancake.

"That's for the 'little wife' thing." She said leaving the kitchen as the rest of the boys dissolved into laughter.

…

David wasn't kidding when he said the whole family would be there. By 9:30pm there must have been over 120 people there, and there were still cars turning up. Anna hadn't been far out either when she'd guessed about the gorgeous vampire women. They went from Audrey Hepburn to Wonder Woman looking Amazon's and even though nine out of ten of them were lovely to her, there were a couple that weren't so pleases see her, and that was quite clearly down to the fact that she had what they wanted. Dwayne. But, he was, like always, the perfect husband (Which no doubt pissed them off more.) He never let go of her hand or left her side unless he had to. And even then, she was always in his sight. And when he would absentmindedly run his hand over her bump, she felt the tension slowly drain out of her body.

Honestly though, tonight, she could hardly blame them. He looked insanely hot. Earlier, he hadn't been happy, when Max had insisted that he dress up, but after a short stand-off, Anna had talked him into it. He'd gotten dressed while she was doing her make up, so she hadn't taken much notice. But when she looked up, some kind of squeaking noise escaped from her throat. He wore a white shirt, hanging unbuttoned down to the centre of his chest. Black jeans that the angels might as well as sewed him into and a tail coat he'd borrowed from Pau. Around his neck hung a pendent she's brought him a few weeks ago.

"What do you think? Dumb, right?" he said, fidgeting about like he was completely uncomfortable.

"Dumb…err..not exactly. What I think is that if I wasn't already pregnant. I would be in about half an hour from now." She said, unable to stop her jaw from dropping.

It wasn't exactly one sided either. The way she looked, it was doing nothing to help him keep up the charade that he had any interest in any of these people right now. And it was all his own fault.

When were out looking for a dress the night before, everything Anna had picked up, Dwayne either said no or shook his head.

"So, what then?" Anna said, all out of ideas.

"It's just everything you've looked at is a little…loose…you know, fit wise."

"And?" she asked confused.

"I was thinking of something more like this." He said, taking a black dress off the rack and holding it up.

"Are you serious? Right now, you'd have to pour me into that." She said, taking it from him.

"That's the idea." He said as he closed the small gap between them "I don't want you to cover this." He said, in a voice that was partially responsible for how she ended up pregnant in the first place, while running his hand over her belly. All this, shortly before temporarily forgetting where they were and making out like teenagers. When they were back on earth, Anna took the dress straight to the counter. She'd work the semantics out later.

…..

"I'm gonna get a drink, ok." Anna said into Dwayne's ear. He was deep into a conversation with one of the few people at this party he had time for, and someone (she was taking a wild guess at Paul) had cranked the music right up.

"Baby, let me." He said as she began to stand.

"No, it's fine really. My back is kind of stiff, I could use the walk. I'll be right back." She said, leaning into kiss him.

"Ok." As she went to leave, there was a girl sitting nearby gave her and look that screamed how much she disliked what she'd just witnessed, so, of course Anna kissed him again before walking away.

Thankfully, the kitchen was one of the quieter places. The only people to speak of were the wait staff Max had hired, and they were just coming and going. She grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and just stood for a couple of minutes, just enjoying the peace. Then a movement in the doorway caught her attention. It only took a moment to realise who it was.

"Hey." Laddie said as he wandered in.

"Hey. Having a good time sweetie?"

"Yeah, sure." He answered, though the tone of his voice suggested otherwise. Anna moved away from the counter then and sat at the kitchen table. Laddie climbed onto the chair next to her.

"Must be good to see Star again, right?" That's when his face really dropped. Anna had seen her arrive with Michael. Star had greeted her with an almost audible 'Hi' and that had been it. Not that Anna had expected much more.

"Laddie, what's wrong?"

"Is it ok to tell someone something if, you weren't supposed to be listening?" he asked quietly. Anna was quiet for a couple of seconds before she responded.

"If it's really bothering you and if you think it's important. I guess it's okay. Is it, bothering you?" she asked. Laddie just nodded his head. "You want to talk about it?" he nodded again before he tentatively began to speak.

"I…was coming out of my room and I heard people talking…loud…in the bathroom. The one next to David's room, and…"

"It's ok. Go on." Anna smiled when he stumbled a little.

"Michael was really mad because he…I heard him say that…Star told Yuri…about the baby."