A/N: Remember me? First off, thank you to everyone who has reached out asking for more especially to my good friend BetterThanWCTHSeason8WritersJK who has been relentless on a daily basis at trying to motivate me to write. The story is NOT over. I've still got several storylines planned for our new family. Between the new season starting on the actual show (I'm still not watching) and severe writer's block and just life in general, I have not been able to write as quickly as I'd like. So I hope this new chapter was worth the wait.

Also, I inadvertently referred to Nathan's lawyer as Samantha Madison in an earlier chapter but then referred to her as him when he adopted Allie. Rather than go back and upload those chapters again, I've tried to fix that in this chapter in a way that I think makes sense. And finally, this chapter was actually partially written back in April so that's why we are starting with Passover. The original intent was to post this during Passover week. Thank you again for the continued support!

One month later, Nathan stared at the bright blue cover of the Passover Haggadah in front of him. A beautiful silver Seder plate sat in the middle of the large table. Each place setting featured a wine glass, a water glass, a plate, silverware, and a Haggadah. The children had sparkling apple cider poured into their wine glasses while the adults had red wine. It was the first night of Passover and the new Grant family had been invited to Nathan's former neighbor Florence's house for a Seder. Since she was newly engaged to Ned Yost who was Jewish, the couple wanted to start new traditions together before their upcoming wedding. Florence had always considered Nathan and Allie to be her extended family so she wanted to make sure they were included for the special occasion. Joining the Grants at the table were Ned's daughter Katie, Florence's ten year old son Paul, and eighteen year old daughter Patti, a freshman at Cornell who had come home specifically for the Passover Seder. Also at the table were Florence's parents, Herb and Lorraine.

Nathan and Elizabeth were impressed by the Blakely-Yost clan and looked to them for advice as they continued to blend their own family. They were especially aware that the children had a similar age difference as Allie and Little Jack.

"Ok everyone, may I have your attention please." Ned said as he banged a spoon against his water glass. "Thank you for joining us for Passover this year. It means so much to us that you all took the time to come tonight. This is a time when Jewish families and friends come together to commemorate the exodus from ancient Egypt. Typically, we read from the Haggadah and perform certain rituals both before and after dinner but seeing as we have lots of young guests tonight, we will only read the thirty pages that come before dinner. Florence, Katie, and Patti have been working hard to prepare tonight's meal."

Everyone, including Little Jack, continued to listen intently to their host.

Ned continued. "As the head of the table, I will serve as the service leader and will lead the reading of the Haggadah. As you can see, it's translated into both English and Hebrew. I will read in English while reciting certain blessings and songs in Hebrew. You'll find phonetic translations of the Hebrew songs as well so I do hope you'll join me when it comes time to sing. You may even be familiar with some of the songs already. Now please open your Haggadahs and turn to page one. I will start with the blessing to wash hands and then will quickly get up and do so."

For the next hour, Ned shared the Passover story by reading from the Haggadah. He recited each of the blessings and explained each item on the Seder plate as he served it. Paul had been tasked with singing the Four Questions as Ned had been tutoring him about the importance of asking why this night is different from all other nights. Normally, Katie would have been the one to sing as Ned's youngest but Paul was now the youngest in the family and he wanted to contribute to the service. Florence watched her son with tears in her eyes.

When it came time to hide the piece of matzah known as the Afikomen, Ned made sure to hide it in a good place but also one that could be easily found by a toddler. True to his word, Ned also invited his guests to all sing along to the catchy tunes such as Ten Plagues and Dayenu. Little Jack was enamored with his first piece of matzah and Elizabeth secretly hoped that he didn't get hooked on it since it was hard to find year round.

Once Ned got to the Festive Meal portion of the service, he led the group in a lively rendition of Chad Gadya before collecting the Haggadahs from each person. Florence and Katie then proceeded to serve homemade matzah ball soup that they'd worked on all morning. Dinner consisted of brisket, glazed carrots, asparagus, potato kugel, and garden salad. Between dinner and dessert, the children searched the house for the Afikomen. Little Jack "found" the piece of matzah hidden in a low kitchen cabinet with Allie's help. Luckily, Ned had prizes for all three children. Allie and Paul were given Passover friendly chocolate lollipops meaning they had no corn based sugar products. And Little Jack was given a stuffed dreidel to play with. Dessert consisted of various cakes and cookies including the flourless chocolate cake that Elizabeth had baked for the occasion.

Since the Seder had started late afternoon, Ned taught the group how to play dreidel after dinner. The dinner party played three rounds before realizing the youngest guest had dozed off in Nathan's arms. The Grants thanked their friends for a lovely and meaningful evening and then headed home.

Allie's eleventh birthday was the next major event on the Grant social calendar. It took place the second weekend in April, one week after the Seder and a couple days before Elizabeth and Nathan's two month wedding anniversary. In lieu of a party, Allie had requested a trip to the city to see the musical Wicked followed by a sleepover with her closest friends. The Thatchers had graciously agreed to watch Little Jack while Nathan and Elizabeth took the party group to the Saturday matinee. After dropping off the toddler, Allie's birthday entourage headed to Junior's for lunch before the show. Joining Allie for the special day were Opal Weise, Emily Montgomery, Anna Hayford, Maggie Shepherd, and Angie Canfield.

Elizabeth had managed to work some connections and book premium orchestra seats at a great discount. The group took up seven seats in the Center Orchestra area with Elizabeth and Nathan on the aisle. The newlyweds held hands as soon as the house lights went down and the first few chords of No One Mourns The Wicked started playing. Nathan found his wife in tears once Defying Gravity ended and the house lights went up for intermission. He raised his eyebrows at her.

She laughed. "I'm sorry Nathan. This song always makes me so emotional but it's not usually this extreme. I'm not sure what came over me."

"No need to apologize sweetheart. I see quite a few others who are crying too." Nathan said as he scanned the busy room.

"Still, as an actor, you'd think I'd be immune to stuff like this."

"Or you're just really good at your craft, among many other things." Nathan said with a wink.

Elizabeth playfully swatted his arm. "Nathan, we are surrounded by young girls. Don't you start."

Nathan smiled and Elizabeth melted. "If you say so Mrs. Grant. But we will continue this later when we are alone."

The couple shared a quick kiss before turning their attention to the girls. Act Two began after another five minutes and everyone loved the show. Allie was pleased with her choice. After the show, the party group stopped at the merchandise stand and Elizabeth bought each girl a Wicked Broadway magnet as a souvenir. The girls also were allowed to spend their own money on additional souvenirs while Nathan let Allie pick out a t-shirt and a souvenir program.

The Thatchers dropped Jack off outside the theater along with a birthday gift for their granddaughter so the group could save time heading home. Elizabeth ordered two pizza pies and some garlic knots once they were twenty minutes from home. The food arrived at the house shortly after they did. Allie had requested a Carvel ice cream cake so that was already in the freezer. Once it thawed out, Happy Birthday was sung, cake was served, and presents were opened. Allie was one happy girl.

Elizabeth helped the girls get settled for their slumber party while Nathan put Jack to bed. Once the sleeping bags were set up on the floor of the den and the girls were in pajamas, she asked Allie to follow her to the kitchen while the other girls picked out a DVD to watch. Nathan was already there waiting with a few wrapped boxes on the kitchen table in front of him.

"Dad! Are these for me?"

"Who else would they be for?"

"Dad!"

"Allie!"

"Ok you two. Allie has guests to get back to. Let's do this quickly." Elizabeth interjected.

"Mom's right. Allie-girl, these are from your Mom and I. Open the top one first."

Elizabeth moved to stand behind Nathan with her hands on his shoulders. Allie opened the first box to find two new dresses, a navy blue floral dress and a solid green dress. She then opened the next box and found a beautiful pair of pewter colored ballet flats.

"These are so dressy and beautiful. I love them. But I don't have anywhere to wear them."

Elizabeth squeezed Nathan's shoulders as he replied.

"Maybe you do, Al. Open that flat one."

Allie did as asked and opened the box as instructed. A manilla envelope was inside. After giving Nathan a look of confusion, Allie opened the envelope and pulled out a red plastic folder that was reminiscent of the one she had read at Christmas. She slowly read the document and quickly started to tear up as Elizabeth moved to stand next to her.

"Is this real?"

Elizabeth nodded.

"You adopted me?"

"Just like we discussed, Allie."

"I now have a legal Mom and a Dad?"

"You do. Sam Madison was able to fast track your papers thanks to her Dad who is conveniently also named Sam. He actually did most of the work on my adoption of you while Samantha was traveling before the holidays." Nathan said quietly.

"And we have one more present for you." Elizabeth said as she handed Allie a small square box.

"You've both given me so much today."

"We can try to take it back." Nathan chided.

Allie quickly opened the box and pulled out a gold rose charm.

"Mom, roses are your favorite flowers!"

"They are, Allie. Dad and I wanted to get you a special charm to signify this day but also one that was special for our relationship since the bracelet as a whole is a way you honor Colleen. I thought the rose was a perfect way to keep your two moms with you whenever you wear this bracelet."

Elizabeth pulled her crying daughter into her arms and added her own tears. A crying Nathan stood up and wrapped his girls in his arms. The threesome stood like that until they heard laughter coming from the den and broke apart.

"Allie, I hope you know how much we love you. Don't ever doubt that. We choose you and will always choose you." Nathan said.

"I know Dad. I'm sorry that I was so much trouble a few weeks ago."

"Don't even worry about it. We are all still learning how to grow as a family and you were no trouble at all. Go take that bowl of popcorn to your friends and enjoy the movie." Nathan added.

Elizabeth backed up to Nathan's chest as he put his arms around her from behind. Together, they watched their daughter walk off to celebrate the last of her birthday. Nathan then set up a nightlight in the hallway leading to the bathroom and a second one in the kitchen while Elizabeth prepared a tray with empty glasses and left it on the table in case the girls wanted drinks during the evening. She then texted Faith to let her know that Maggie was doing well with the older girls as this was Maggie's first ever sleepover party. Once they were comfortable that things were settled, the couple checked on Jack and then retired to their room for the night.

After washing up and changing, Elizabeth and Nathan climbed into bed.

"That was a wonderful day for Allie. I'm sure the girls will love your pancakes in the morning too." Elizabeth said.

"I hope so. I'm going to ride Newton if I can get up early enough. I've been so busy with this case that I haven't had a chance to exercise him in the past couple weeks. I suspect the girls will be sleeping in." Nathan said with a wink.

"I'm glad that your other child is going to get some attention." Elizabeth smiled. "But I will be really happy when this robbery case is solved once and for all."

"You and me both, sweetheart. Even with unsuccessfully trying to track the stolen items, we are still missing something here and I don't like that. Cases like this aren't usually this hard."

"Well, you're the best detective I know and I know you and Gabe will figure this out."

"I sure hope so. But enough of that. I believe you promised me some more of those intermission kisses earlier."

Elizabeth giggled as she quickly slid under the covers with Nathan following her.