Shane wasn't particularly surprised when Chief Tarrington and Bert Kalervo arrived on his doorstep the next afternoon. They accepted the tea Kim offered, and Bert at least made a showing of being pleased to see Andrew again and delighted to make Jeannie's acquaintance.

"You haven't been to the hospital today, have you?" asked Bert.

"No," Shane acknowledged. "Kim's brother is being released soon, and his welcome home party is this evening." They had already agreed that it would be best if Kim attended alone.

"That's wonderful," said Bert. "But I was referring to the status of a different patient."

"Peach?" Shane started. "There's been an improvement since yesterday?"

"She was beginning to revive when we saw her less than an hour ago," said Tarrington, and his smile made him look almost human. "She's been so ill for so long that she will need more extensive rehabilitation than most of the other agents, but we will have her moved to the correct hospital—"

"I want her here," Shane interrupted, his tone leaving no room for argument. "I can bring in whatever she needs."

"With all due respect to the magnificent work Dr. Manning did on the virus, the best resources are in London, Shane," said Tarrington, not unkindly.

"Then we want her at Donovan Manor," said Kim quickly. "We'll all go. At least until it's time for Andrew to start school. That gives us a month, and we can reevaluate what's best for Peach then."

"Are you sure?" Shane asked Kim. "You're ready to leave your job and your family on no notice? Earlier this month you objected rather vociferously to a short trip to Washington."

"You have to admit that things were different then," said Kim unnecessarily. "And when we get back to Salem, I'm going to owe my colleagues a lot of weekends and holidays at work. And the two of us also owe Roman and Isabella a lot of babysitting. Probably we should take the twins for a few weeks so they can have a honeymoon before the wedding. So we can't expect to have anything like a social life until next year. But taking this trip now gives you more time with Jeannie and gives Andrew another adventure with his parents just like he wanted."

"And we can get him some proper cricket instruction," Shane mused, feeling more delighted with the plan moment by moment.

"We always did intend to split our time more equitably between Salem and England," Kim reminded him. "This is long overdue."

It was. Shane looked over at Bert and Tarrington. Bert was smiling; Tarrington wasn't, but Tarrington also didn't look ready to deny Shane's request.

"There's no reason that the medical plane we were planning to use to transport Agent Peach can't accommodate a few more passengers," Tarrington decided. "Have your people at Donovan Manor ready to accept delivery of some equipment."

"Thank you," said Shane.

"Thank you," replied Tarrington. "And congratulations to you both on yet another mission well completed. We'll place you in semi-inactive status until September so that you can focus on Agent Peach and your family. You will still be expected to respond in the event of an emergency."

"Understood," agreed Shane.

"Now," said Bert, "shall we return to the hospital? I expect that you will both be accompanying us?"

"You go," Kim told Shane. "Give Peach my love. I'll stay with the kids. We'll have to get ready to go to my parents' soon anyway, and we probably shouldn't skip it if we're about to take off for a month."

Shane couldn't argue with that, and didn't want to, as eager as he was to see Peach. He kissed Kim goodbye and told her that he loved her.

He ignored Bert's knowing smirk.

Peach looked grey and shapeless and old.

She was also breathing on her own, and the heart monitor showed a strong, steady rhythm. Her eyes looked almost colorless, but they were open.

"Hello, Peach," said Shane. She turned toward him when he took her hand, but he couldn't have said for sure whether she recognized him. He hadn't thought to ask how likely the possibility of brain damage was, but perhaps it didn't matter. Carly and the other doctors would almost certainly reply that they didn't know. "I'm glad to see that you decided to wake up. This lazing about in bed all day really doesn't become you."

She gave no indication that she understood him.

"I have all sorts of things to tell you when you're feeling better," he added. He might have told her right then and there, whether she understood or not, but Bert and Tarrington were still in the room and they didn't need to know anything more about his relationship with Kim than they already did.

"We're going to take you to Donovan Manor very soon," he concluded. "I promise that you'll like it better than this hospital room."

She squeezed his hand; he kissed hers. "You're welcome," he told her, and rarely had he meant those words more.

Kim, Andrew, and Jeannie could hear laughter and shouting long before they reached Shawn and Caroline Brady's house. That was hardly a surprise.

What was a surprise was that Kayla, Isabella, and Carly had congregated near the door. Their laughter stopped abruptly when they noticed Kim and her children.

She had thought that she was making progress in her relationships with Isabella and Carly. They would never be Marlena and Hope, but they were good women who made her brothers happy and she wanted to know them better.

But Carly and Isabella— as close as they both were to Bo— no doubt shared Bo's views with respect to Kayla and Shane's relationship. In their eyes, it was Kim who was the home wrecker.

And if they thought that Kim had betrayed her own sister when Kayla was already suffering enough, well, they were right.

All three of them greeted Kim and the children politely, but there was an awkward coolness to the greeting.

"The other kids are upstairs," Kayla offered.

"And Bo's in the kitchen taking his punishment for not telling Roman and his parents that he was sick," added Carly. "We decided not to help him because we think he kind of deserves it."

So it wasn't as bad as all that.

Andrew scampered upstairs ahead of Kim and Jeannie. A wave of enthusiastic greetings told Kim that Andrew had successfully found his cousins and Max. A loud shout of you might have warned your mother at least told her that the conversation in the kitchen was likely to continue for at least another fifteen minutes.

Stephanie was half asleep in the playpen in the room next door to the older children, but she pulled herself into a sitting position when Kim set Jeannie down beside her. "Are you two girls going to play nice?" Kim asked.

"Nice!" confirmed Stephanie enthusiastically.

"You always are, sweetheart," Kim told her niece. "Do you think Jeannie will be nice, too?"

"Jeannie!" Stephanie pointed at her cousin. Kim flushed with warmth. This was how it was supposed to be, but this was not how it was going to be, at least not most of the time, at least not right away. And so very much of that was her own fault.

She watched the babies for a long moment and triple checked that the baby monitor was functioning before poking her head into Max's room. "Max? If one of the babies cries—"

"I'll come get someone," he agreed. He had gotten used to being the oldest child at Brady get-togethers since Carrie had left Salem to live with her mother, but he hadn't yet become so accustomed to being left in charge that the novelty had worn off.

"Good job, Max. Thank you," said Kim, marveling that Max was the same boy Steve and Kayla had met years before. For months, Max hadn't even spoken and had flinched every time Shawn raised his voice. The beautiful boy was one of Steve's beautiful legacies.

It just wasn't fair that Steve was gone.

It wasn't fair that Kim had taken away whatever small comfort Kayla had found with Shane.

"Go down with the grownups," said Max dismissively. "We're planning a surprise."

"I can't wait to see it," said Kim. Max's surprises were usually hastily composed theatrical productions starring his nieces and nephews, so Kim wasn't as worried as she would have been if Andrew had been the one promising a surprise.

When she returned to the living room, Carly and Isabella were gone. Kayla was alone.

"They took pity on Bo," Kayla explained.

"You didn't?"

"He can handle himself."

"Yes, he can," Kim agreed. She sat next to Kayla.

"Shane didn't have to stay away," said Kayla. "I can deal with it."

"Of course you can. But right now you don't have to. And anyway, he's at the hospital with Peachy."

"Has there been any change?"

Kim beamed. "There has. She's regained consciousness."

Kayla proceeded to ask Kim a barrage of questions that Kim could barely understand, let alone answer.

"You're going to be a magnificent doctor, Kay. One of the best ever."

"I haven't even been admitted to medical school yet, and it's right at the end of the application period."

"Every medical school in this country would be lucky to have you. They'll make room," Kim said, believing every word. "It's so amazing what you're doing. A girl from the riverfront with all of your experience as a nurse practitioner and running the emergency clinic and the community center? You're going to teach them as much they teach you."

"Maybe," said Kayla modestly.

"I want to do whatever I can to help," Kim pushed on. "If you stay in Salem— and I really hope you stay in Salem— I can take Stephanie as much as you need. But if you don't, maybe I can come out for a few weeks and help you move in and get settled so you aren't trying to argue with the electric company and start school at the same time."

Kayla almost laughed. "I'm not looking forward to that part of starting over. Maybe I'll take you up on that."

"I know I can't really make it up to you for hurting you, and I know I can't ask you to be as close as we were right away. But if there's something I can do right now, tell me. Please."

"You don't have to do anything, Kim. You were in love with Shane for years before I ever met him and you have children together. I'm the one who should be apologizing to you."

"I put you and Shane in that position when I left." Kim sighed and closed her eyes. "We're leaving again, by the way. Just for a month. But maybe not having to see us for a month will help you."

"Where are you going?"

"England. The ISA wants Peach to have her rehab there, and Shane wants Andrew to go to cricket day camp."

Kim opened her eyes to find that Kayla almost looked amused. "Do you actually understand about cricket?"

"A wicket is the first set of sticks, and the second set of sticks, and the area between the two sets of sticks, and the batter's turn at batting, and the batter getting out," Kim recited dutifully.

"So, you don't."

"Not entirely, no. Andrew does. It might be something you have to start learning at birth."

"Where are my girls?" came Shawn's voice from the kitchen. Both Kim and Kayla flinched. Apparently Bo's turn at absorbing their father's wrath was over.

"Kimmy!" Shawn exploded into the room and gathered her into a hug. "You came over here and didn't even say hello. She's been avoiding me for two weeks, my best and brightest has."

Kim looked apologetically at Kayla. "Would you rather be the best and brightest, or would you rather be called the best and brightest, Dr. Johnson?" she asked.

"Don't be like that, Kimmy," said Shawn. "I'm so proud of Dr. Johnson over there I could burst, but you are always my best and brightest."

It wasn't as if they hadn't had a variation on this conversation a hundred times before.

"Could the two of you stop calling me Dr. Johnson?" asked Kayla. "It's a little premature. A lot premature."

"We don't think it is," said Kim.

"Have you told her to hold out for Salem University even if it means she gets started next year?"

"No," said Kim. "Because it's not my decision."

"Not my decision," muttered Shawn under his breath. "Where's Shane?"

"Somewhere where he can avoid making this situation more awkward than it already is," Kim said sharply.

"Kimmy—"

"He's with Miss Peach," Kayla interrupted. "She's starting to recover. Isn't that nice?"

"Very nice," agreed Shawn. "Fine. Go round up the children. Dinner's almost ready."

Dinner was, against all odds, an almost civilized affair.

Bo and Kayla talked about tracking Emmy halfway across Tennessee.

Roman and Isabella talked about flying to Alaska with four young children.

Kim talked about her plans to take her family to England and promised to return before it was time for Andrew to start school.

And then Bo and Carly shared the best news of all: Shawn-Douglas had been able to hear the bell on their boat. "He heard it the first time even though his back was turned," Carly said happily. "I really believe that that means all of his hearing will come back."

So they all watched Shawn-D with a bit of extra delight as he played a triceratops in Max's production about a time traveler (Andrew) who escaped a pair of bumbling villains (Sami and Eric) by fleeing to the mesozoic era.

When Kim arrived home— and it was home, even if she hadn't had an opportunity to settle back in properly— it was to find suitcases stacked in the front hall.

"We're leaving tomorrow," Shane informed her. "The ISA doesn't want to waste any time."

"Neither do I, where Peach's health is concerned."

"Your clothes aren't here for the most part," Shane continued. "So we'll have to buy you a whole new wardrobe when we get to England. I know how much you'll hate that."

"Well, we do what we have to do," decided Kim nobly.

She could only hope that Shane would decide that he disliked seeing her wear new clothes as much as he'd decided that he disliked seeing her wear her green dress.

Even with the added supports that came with official ISA travel, the journey to England was a difficult one. Andrew was bored and cranky. Jeannie cried for two hours and no amount of bouncing or offers of snacks soothed her. And Peach looked so unwell that Kim and Shane wondered whether their decision to bring her home instead of allowing her to remain at a hospital had truly been wise.

But once they reached Donovan Manor, the medical staff handled Peach so gently and competently that Shane and Kim quietly nodded approval to one another. The sense that she was back in England seemed to awaken something inside of Peach, and as she was helped to sit up in her new bed, it was clear that her eyes were focusing properly and following them about the room.

The hallway leading to the room they had converted to a sickroom for Peach happened to have a life-sized full length portrait of Shane's mother displayed on the far wall. Shane was more than eager to bring his daughter to see the image of her namesake for the first time, and so he carried Jeannie toward it at the first opportunity. But he could see Peach watching them through the open door, and it wouldn't do to ignore her. He set his thoughts of the portrait aside for later and strode to Peach's bedside.

"Hello, Peach," he said, kissing her cheek.

"Hello, Laddie." He couldn't stop the grin from splitting his face. Her voice was hoarse, but she had recognized him and spoken to him. It was far more than he had expected a week before, or even a day before. "Where are we?"

"England. Donovan Manor. You've been very sick, so I thought that this would be the best place for you to recuperate."

"I remember. The virus."

"I don't mind telling you that you had us all very frightened even after we found the antidote."

"And who is this?"

Very gently and carefully, he placed Jeannie on Peach's lap. "Of course, you've not met properly. Miss Lavinia Peach, may I present Miss Jeannie Donovan. Your new goddaughter or granddaughter or however you'd like to style it."

Groggily, Peach ran one finger down Jeannie's round cheek. "When I'm better, you have some explaining to do," she told Shane.

"You have no idea how much," he agreed.

Peach's eyes began to close, and so Shane swung Jeannie back into his arms and quietly left the room.

Recalling his original intention to admire the portrait, he crossed the hallway and pointed it out for Jeannie.

"This is your grandmother," he told her with a pang of old grief. Jeannie knew about grandmothers; she knew what it was like to have Caroline fuss over her. Even though she didn't yet have the words to express it, she knew that what was before her was canvas and pigment, not hugs and kisses and illicit cookies.

He held Jeannie out at arm's length so he could look at his mother and his daughter side by side. Yes, the similarity was there. He hadn't imagined it. Jeannie looked a great deal like Kim; no one could miss that resemblance, and it delighted Shane to see it.

Jeannie was somehow also a beautifully subtle mirror of her paternal grandmother. He hadn't realized how deeply he had wished for this even if he knew that he would have raised Jeannie as his own, quite happily, had there been no blood between them.

"I see it, too," said Kim softly as she came up behind him. "I might not have if you hadn't mentioned it, but since you did, it's all I can see."

"Funny how that works." He pulled Jeannie back closer to his chest where she belonged, and Jeannie burbled contentedly.

"I knew it would't take her long to fall in love with you."

"Much like her mother," Shane teased. "It didn't take you very long to fall in love with me, either."

"It happened before I knew it," Kim admitted without shame.

"Same for me, with you. I had no intention of finding love after Emma. None. And then there you were. My friend Roman's sister who I had under surveillance, but the first time I looked into your eyes, I was done for."

Kim scoffed. "The first time you looked into my eyes."

"Yes," said Shane. "I might not have admitted it for a few days. Or weeks. All right, months. But in retrospect, the first time I looked into your eyes, I was done for."

"Fine," Kim agreed. "I suppose I could say the same. You certainly intrigued me. Not that I had the advantage of knowing who you were or what you were doing."

"It is remarkable that we survived the circumstances of our first meeting."

She kissed him softly on his lips, and then kissed the top of Jeannie's head for good measure. "Everything about you is remarkable, Captain Donovan."

Jeannie made the first noises of discontent, and Shane swayed back and forth to settle her. "Working better now than it did on the plane, anyway," he observed wryly.

"You like dancing with your daddy?" Kim cooed at Jeannie.

"Dada," echoed Jeannie.

Shane didn't want to hear that 'dada' was statistically a terribly common first word for a myriad of reasons, and that babbling wasn't the same as proper language use in any event. And he could see that Kim didn't want to hear it, either.

Much better to shout with celebration and praise Jeannie to the skies. They told her how clever she was and how loved she was and how special she was.

"Come into the front room," Kim decided at last. "We'll put on some music and you can have your victory dance with your dada."

Shane caressed Kim's face with his free hand. "We can both dance with her."

"I'll find my own dance partner," Kim decided. "Andrew? Where are you?"

When Andrew ran into the room, Kim pulled him into her arms even though he was almost too big for her to carry now.

Andrew started to demand an explanation, but within an instant was laughing too hard to listen to one. That made Kim laugh, too, and that made Shane laugh, and finally even Jeannie joined them.

They'd forgotten to turn on the music.

It didn't matter.

The End.