AN: Almost 100 chapters. Now, on archiveofourown, I combined two earlier chapters, meaning they're only at 98 chapters with this chapter. I will be saving the 100th chapter special for them, meaning FanFiction will get it as a 101st chapter special. Please, let me know now what you'd like to see in that special chapter. What would make it meaningful for you? It won't be the last chapter so don't look at endgame stuff. We're headed into the last months though.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter 99

In the doctor's office, Meena sat on the exam table while the doctor ran her wand over her belly. "Well, it looks like everything is normal. Your baby has a strong heartbeat and is growing rather nicely. We're at about the six month mark. Are you sure you don't want to know the gender?" Doctor Overman asked.

Meena and Alphonso exchanged a glance. "We're sure. We want the surprise."

The female pelican smiled. "Fair enough. Well, we're going to start meeting once a month now. You have about 14 months left. It'll go fast, I promise."

"How long am I able to keep working?" Meena asked.

"As long as you're not doing anything overly strenuous, you can continue to work until I say otherwise," she said. She looked at Alphonso. He was hyper focused on the sonogram screen.

"Alphie?" Meena called, jarring him. She smiled at her husband.

"That's our baby. They're beautiful. So beautiful…" he said, full of emotion. He was so sensitive. "I cannot wait to hold him or her in my arms." He hugged Meena close.

Dr. Overman laughed. "That's normal. Well, I'll see you next month then. Make your next appointment with Judy." She smiled while the young couple left.

Outside, Alphonso held his wife. "While I'm gone… you'll need to make sure you FaceTime me during these appointments. I don't want to miss a moment."

"Of course, Alphie. It's not till July, and you'll only be gone a few months," she hugged him. She would miss him too but this was a huge chance for him. "Come on, the baby wants curry."

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In their small craftsman cottage in a small town just outside of Galveston, Jackson read his paper and smoked his pipe. Katherine was preparing dinner. He looked up as the sound of the mail flap got his attention. He went to get the envelopes. "Got the mail, Katie!" He looked through. "You got something from Ryan."

She hurried out to the living room and took it. She opened it so quickly, she failed to see something fall out. "Oh, Ryan says he can't wait to see us at Easter. They've got a hotel near the opera house."

Jackson knelt down. "What's this?" He picked up the photo of a little cloud leopard cub.

Katie gasped and took it. "It's nothing, Jackson."

"Nothing? Katie, it's obviously not nothing. Now tell me the truth," Jackson demanded.

Katie bit her lip. "Ryan wanted it to be a surprise so don't tell him I told you. He and Johnny adopted a son." She passed back the photo. "We have a grandson."

Jackson looked at the photograph. "Hmm… Katie, I'm trying but… you don't really think this is acceptable, do you?"

She fixed him with a glare. "Arguing against it will get neither of us anywhere. He is my son. I love him no matter what. As long as he's happy, that's all that matters to me."

The older Tiger sighed. "I want him to be happy. But I want him to be happy long term."

"Jackson, I know. That's what I want too. But how he gets there is up to him, not us. And I like Johnny. He's a nice boy with a strong head on his shoulders and he saved our son's life," she explained. "Please, don't ruin this visit. He's coming home for the first time since you kicked him out. Try to be happy for him. And yourself. You're a grandfather!" She hugged him.

Jackson hugged her back. "I won't, Katie, but be patient with me. This isn't easy."

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"Good afternoon, everyone. I think everyone is here," Eddie greeted as he, Gunter and Jerry joined the circle that had formed on stage. He held his notebook. "Ooo, Nooshy, are you alright?"

Nooshy waved her hand. "Aye, I'm fine. Just had to deal with an idiot at school." She felt Johnny tilt her head to look at him. She had been trying to keep him from seeing the damage. "Don't worry, I put him in the hospital."

"Good, then I won't have to," he said. "No one hurts my little sister."

Porsha laughed. "It was great. He tried to take her lunch money and when she wouldn't let him, he punched her then started running his mouth. Then he made a very critical mistake. He insulted Johnny and Ryan."

Everyone hissed in response. Johnny shook his head. "Nooshy, you don't need to be beating people up on our behalf," he reassured her.

"Pete had it coming, Johnny," Glenn said, feeling a little strange in this circle. "Thanks for letting me be here. Porsha invited me."

"You're very welcome here, Glenn," Rosita said as she passed out juice boxes and individuals bags of apple slices with peanut butter to the kids. "Nooshy, I'm sorry to hear about what happened. Your dad even said you three were suspended over it." She sighed. "It's just so sad that we still have such terrible bigotry today. I mean it's '22." They could see the gears in her head turning.

Nooshy shrugged. "Big Daddy is unenrolling us. I'm sorry, Porsha. I didn't mean to ruin school for us."

"I don't want to go to a school that treats my sister like that," Porsha said plainly. "I just hope we can find another school we can go to. One that doesn't allow crap like this."

"Don't worry," Ash said. "We have to find a new school for the twins too. Possibly a new apartment."

"Why? What happened?" Alphonso asked.

She sighed. "My mother. I guess somehow she found out about my career and she started hunting me down. She found me in the grocery store and I accidentally brought up the kids… then… today, when we went to pick them up…"

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At noon, they took Tyler's car to the elementary school. The teacher was outside with her class, waiting for parents to come pick up their kids.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Dubois. How were they today?" Ash asked as she signed them out.

"They were delightful, but, Mrs. Beaumont, I should let you know… Someone was here about ten minutes ago. Looking for you and asking questions. She and her husband even tried to say you gave permission for them to sign out the twins," Ms. Dubois replied. "They left in a hurry when I offered to call you and verify that."

Tyler looked disgusted. "Thank you for not letting them take them. No, we certainly did not give permission. Absolutely not. How'd they know they were ours?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. Don't worry, I've got their pictures on file so everyone else is aware as well. I told them I needed to see their ids to verify their identities. Made copies."

Ash shook her head. "I'm sure I know who it was. Next time, call me right away and the police. Do not let them leave."

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Ash finished the story. "So, yeah. My parents are stalking me now." She rolled her eyes. "I already changed my cell phone number."

Marcus nodded. "If you can tell me their names, I'll put them on the No-Go list and make sure they can't get to you here."

Ash nodded. "Delilah and Sam Cohen. And it's not that I don't trust the school and I'm hardly afraid of them but I'm really not interested in coming up with a way to dodge them."

Rosita nodded. "What if you met them? Once. Only once. Take backup support. A few of us. All of us. Let them meet the kids, explain the situation then tell them they are to cease trying to contact you. Change schools still but they should know where you stand."

"I will think about it but I really just want to write them out of my life," the porcupine replied.

"Then let me deal with them," Clay spoke up. "Next time they approach you, send me a text. I'll be right there."

She nodded. "I suppose I could do that. Thank you, Clay. I appreciate it."

Eddie looked around the circle and then to his notebook. "Alright… next order of business… Out of this World… the weekend of May 20th, we're doing the last run. Porsha?" He asked as she raised her hand.

"Yes… since I'm now 18 and I officially own and run Crystal Entertainment, I do have the authority to void the contract now," she interjected. "If you guys want me to, I will."

Eddie looked at her and around the group. "What do you all think?"

Rosita sighed. "Mr. Moon fought for this show. I think he'd want us to see it through." Everyone else nodded.

Johnny wiped his nose. "Yeah, yeah… I can still hear him begging to see the end. We need to at least do the final run. Then get to work on something even better."

Meena leaned into her husband. "I can't believe it's… it's been almost a year. In fact, this is the day we started on Alice in Wonderland."

Eddie saw the direction their thoughts were going and looked at Gunter, who nodded. "Okay… onto… onto happier business… Gunter and I are planning our commitment ceremony. We were thinking the entire month of June, maybe we might go to the Bahamas or something. Jerry is helping us… Meena, Alphonso, I know your anniversary is in June but…"

"That would be a great place to go for our first anniversary," Alphonso smiled at his wife who was drying her eyes. Thinking of Mr. Moon still brought that dull ache to her stomach and the hormones weren't helping.

Jerry brought Gunter and Eddie each a bottle of water before offering to the others. "Porsha, I thought maybe… Well, Isla de Cristal?"

The wolf smiled wide. "Yes! That would be perfect. I haven't been there in so long and it's so beautiful. It's actually a couple of islands attached by a strip of land. It's not far from the V.I. The smallest island is for our villa while the bigger island has a nice village and market. Eddie, Gunter, you're welcome to use it. All month." She promised. "Congratulations. Oh! And we can have Nooshy's first birthday party there."

Marcus looked up. "Have you picked a birthday, Nooshy?"

She nodded. "Porsha and I talked about it. We think June 10th is the most appropriate day. The day we signed the adoption papers." She smiled. "Porsha already has March 19th so she said I could have the adoption day, the day I became a Green."

He laughed. "That's perfect. I can take the time off."

"It'll be so great!" Porsha gushed. "You'll love it, it's beautiful. The sky is blue almost 24/7. And there's a troupe of dolphins and orcas that comes to dance for the islanders every year. It's amazing."

Rosita smiled at her. "It sounds lovely. Alright, so we'll be in the tropics for June. That'll be a lot of fun." And something joyful to look forward to. "And congratulations Gunter, Eddie, that's wonderful. We're happy to help with planning anything."

Gunter held Eddie's hand. "We're not having a traditional wedding. We want a commitment ceremony. With everyone there."

"Hmmm, I'm already seeing an eight-tiered coconut cake with pineapple filling," Meena said, her eyes going distant as she imagined the finished product.

Jerry wrote something down. "I'll send an email to the caretaker and let him know." He opened his laptop and went to work.

"So anyway, we'll discuss the plans for Redshore at length another day. Before we get to rehearsal, you all know we're going to Galveston in a few weeks. We're going to be there about a week and a half," Eddie went over the business notes. "We're leaving on Tuesday, April 12th so that we're not trying to do the entire 34 hour trip in one leg. Jerry has already secured us rooms at a hotel halfway, at the La Trente in San Simone, Arizona. We'll stay there on the way back too."

"Good thinking Eddie. Is it okay if we bring the truck?" Alphonso asked.

"Of course. Your ice cream's the best," Eddie eagerly agreed. "Does anyone have any new business?"

"Actually, there was something Norman and I wanted to bounce off of all of you," Rosita began. "Norman and I have been talking. We have a lot of kids in our group. Enough kids to possibly start our own school. Nooshy, that might even be the answer to this problem. Ash, you too. We want it to be a full school. Not just performance arts but a specialized grade and high school too."

Meena smiled. "That sounds like a great idea but is it possible? We'd need a building and we'd need teachers."

"And there's licensing," Miss. Crawly reminded them. "But it might be possible." She smiled as she imagined. "Mr. Moon would have loved that," she said softly to herself as she went to check on the children.

Rosita nodded. "He would have. He loved kids and he loved teaching them about the theater. I think it would be a nice way to honor him and use the money from Nana. But I wanted to ask all of you first."

Eddie grinned. "I'm in. He would have been all for it. So am I." Everyone else nodded. "Maybe we could even offer scholarships where needed. It would be a great way to give back to the community." He put a note in his notebook. "Is there anything else before we get to rehearsing today's scenes?"

Porsha sighed. "It's going to take longer to sell the company. Mr. Valdosta only wanted Out of this World's contract. I refused. Big Mama is going to continue to work in my place until we find a buyer."

"Why do you want to sell?" Tyler asked her without judgement.

"The company was all Daddy's dream. It was never mine. I want to be on stage. I don't want to be trapped in an office all day. Ewww!" She shivered, earning some laughter from the others. "I want to be here. And if I keep the company then I'll have to go back permanently at some point."

"Not necessarily," Suki said. "If you want to keep the company and stay here or wherever you want to live, all you need to do is to hire a CEO that you trust to manage the company in your place."

She looked at the floor as though she might be thinking about it. Glenn took her hand. "What do you 'want' to do? I'll support you no matter what?"

Marcus saw how uncomfortable Porsha was getting with the conversation and was about to step in. Clay spoke up first. "Why don't we table this topic for now? There's no hurry to make a decision."

Eddie looked at Porsha. "Whatever you decide, we're with you. Every step of the way." He promised. "Alright, it is 4:30 and we have three scenes to rehearse today. We'll start with the Fidelity Fiduciary Bank scene. Let's get ready." He led them in standing and they all went to get changed into their costumes.

Notes:

AN: Should Porsha sell the company or should she appoint a ceo? Weigh in with whys and why nots. It will play a role in the final quarter of the story.