On our way to Cali, I could sense that we were being followed. I tapped Modo's helmet.

"I think we're being followed."

"They've been following us since we left Chicago."

I looked behind us and immediately recognized the bikes. I turned back around.

"Its Marcus and Krystal. Wonder why they're following us."

"Let's find out." Then he tapped into their radio frequency.

"You can talk to them now."

"Thanks Modo." Then I tapped the helmet so I could talk to Marcus.

"Hey Marcus. Where you off to?"

"Hey Michelle. We're following you to California so I can visit Vinnie's grave."

"How'd you find out he was dead?"

"He's my twin brother, Michelle. I knew he was dead. Twins have a special bond and when that bond is broken on one end, the other feels it. I also heard you buried him on your property along with Harley."

"Yep. We're on our way so I can see my boys this weekend."

"I thought you were married?"

"Separated. We should have listened to Vinnie."

"What do you mean?"

"He told Throttle that he rushed into a relationship too fast. He was right. We started as friends, then went to dating then marriage all in a week. We got married 9 months after my twin boys were born."

"Yeah, I'd say Vinnie was right. Why don't we talk more when we get there?"

"Sounds good to me."
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California. My adult home in Northern Cali. It was Saturday morning. All 4 of us had just arrived. I noticed Throttle's bike was sitting outside. I looked out on the grass and he was sun tanning. 'Isn't he tan enough?'

I got off Modo's bike, took the helmet off and handed it over. "Thanks for letting me borrow your spare helmet, Modo."

"You're quite welcome." Then I walked over to Throttle and stood over him, blocking the sun.

"Hey, you're blocking the sun." He lifted the sunglasses and saw that it was me.

"Oh, hey. The boys are inside, having breakfast."

"Ok. Sign the papers yet?"

"No, and I don't plan to. You and I are going to see a marriage counselor and talk out our problems. I want this to work."

"Maybe I'm done trying to make it work. Every time we try to get back to a normal life, someone or something comes along and screws it up. I'm the one that has to suffer. I'm tired of it, Throttle. I can't do this anymore. I'm sorry."

Throttle sat up, then got to his feet. He pulled the chair out from the table that was out in the yard. He told me to do the same, so I did.

"I refuse to give up on you. On us. I'm sorry things haven't been easy when my dad started coming after me. We have the chance to have a normal life now. My mom is free to find someone new thanks to you. Everything we've done together is cause you didn't give up. Don't start now."

"You said something about a marriage counselor, right?"

"Yes, I did. Are you willing to give it a try?"

I sighed. "Yeah, I'll give it a try. I can always have Christina and Fourby run the garage while I'm here."

Throttle smiled at me. "Thank you. I can't lose you like this, Michelle. I know Vinnie was right, but you have to admit, its been a good thing that it happened like it did. My mom didn't learn everything about my dad when they were dating. They were still learning about each other after marriage and before he started abusing us. I still wanna learn everything about you."

"You still want to learn everything about me? Why? I'm not that interesting."

"Are you kidding? Look what you've done? You're probably the strongest woman I've seen."

"Says the guy who can carry a motorcycle on his back like it's a backpack."

"Did Charley show you that video?"

"No. I came across it one day when I was straightening up the garage. I had no idea that Modo was that strong. Carrying his and Vinnie's bikes on his shoulders like they were nothing? That's damn impressive."

"That bionic arm makes him stronger than us, but that's ok."

"By chance, have you heard the good news?"

Throttle looked at me strangely. "What news?"

"Carbine finally had her baby. She had a boy. Her and Morgan named him Richard Alexander."

"I heard she was a month past her due date."

"Modo heard that too. I'm just glad she's finally happy with someone. She was happy when you found me."

"I'm glad I found you, too. I plan to keep you for a very long time, beautiful. You still going to put the baby up for adoption?"

"I'm glad you brought it up. I wanted to talk to you about that."

"Ok. So, let's talk about it. What have you decided?"

"Rimfire and Christina were going to adopt the baby, but decided against it. He called Modo last night and told him. I've been having second thoughts about it too, but at the same time, I don't want the baby. I wanna get back to training the new recruits, getting back in the octagon, and having to manage the Blackhawks during the winter."

"But you're also worried that the boys will feel neglected."

"More like Tony telling me that I'm not around enough again. That's what started this whole problem. He needs to understand that a lot of mothers work and the fathers do the 'stay at home dad' thing. And if you think about it, while I was pregnant, you were out all the time looking for work. I know we really don't need the money, but I like to be busy."

"I know you do. Tell you the truth, I like being at home with the boys. Both Charley and Modo have been teaching me how to cook different meals. Before you say anything, I know you were going to do that, but life got in the way. I understand that."

"What if after we're done seeing the marriage counselor and I feel that we need to go our separate ways, will you sign the papers?"

"Only if you feel it didn't help, then yes, I will. I even kept my word that I wouldn't drink anymore."

"I know you did. Thank you. Marcus and Krystal came with Modo and I. Marcus wanted to say a few things to his brother."

"We all forgot to let him know that Vinnie was dead."

"Being a twin, he felt Vinnie's death, apparently. He was glad that I buried Vinnie and Harley here."

"Vinnie thought of you as a sister. You and Charley always put him in place."

"Really? Why didn't he ever tell me?"

"I have no clue. He did tell me one day that when I was forced to go back to Mars, he took good care of you. Even gave you a back massage."

I smiled and nodded. "He had magical hands, Throttle. He got rid of my backaches. It was like having you massage my back. Speaking of. My back has been sore since I started working at the garage. Of course being pregnant doesn't help my back, either."

"What are you going to do about the baby? Do you plan to find someone else to adopt it or what?"

"Honestly, I don't know. Maybe see if Modo and Charley would like to adopt it. I really haven't decided yet. It's like I said. I wanna keep it, but at the same time, I don't wanna keep it. I'm good with the twins we have right now. Remember how many sleepless nights we had? Do you really wanna go through that again?"

"I didn't mind doing that. I've never told anyone this. Only my mom knew this cause she took me. I use to volunteer at the hospital on Mars and would help in the NICU. A lot of people would give up their babies for adoption and most of them never got adopted. I would go there everyday and hold the babies, give them their bottles, rock and sing them to sleep. I even changed diapers. I got early lessons on raising a baby. My mom came one day and saw me rocking and singing a baby to sleep. After we got home, she told me that I looked so natural doing it."

"That would explain why the boys always went right to sleep for you and not me. You had practice at an early age. That's actually cool. Let's go see if the boys are done eating."

I stood up, pushed the chair in and walked toward the garage door. Throttle was right behind me.
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We walked into the house and took our shoes off by the door. We walked through the kitchen and into the living room. Silverdawn stopped her son before he left the kitchen.

"I watched you 2 talk. I'm glad you're on speaking terms. Did she agree on the marriage counselor?"

"Yeah, she did. We are off to a good start on our own right now, but I want someone professional to help us as well."

"Is she going to have someone run the garage in Chicago while she's here?"

"Yeah, she is. She's gonna have Fourby and Christina run it."

"And what about the baby?"

"She still wants to put it up for adoption."

"Are you ok with that?"

"Not really, but at least we talked about it. Rimfire and Christina were going to adopt it, but decided not to. She's going to ask Charley and Modo about adopting it."

"If they do adopt it, at least the baby stays in the family."

"True. Before I met Michelle and before you, Harley and Carbine showed up, Modo, Vinnie, Charley and I became a tight knit family. We always made sure Charley was safe."

"From what she told me, that always wasn't the case."

"Nope. I'm just hoping Michelle and I will stay together. It wouldn't be good for the boys to see us separated or divorced."

"I'm glad you're thinking about the twins. Go be with your wife and kids. Go spend the day as a family."

Throttle hugged his mom. She returned the hug. She watched her son leave the kitchen and walk into the living room. Throttle noticed that I had laid down on the sofa. He walked over and grabbed the blanket from the top of the sofa and covered me with it. He lightly kissed my forehead, then went upstairs to see the boys.