…..

Six weeks later, In a plane flying somewhere between Denver and Philadelphia

Their first Valentine's as a married couple was magical. It included mint chip shakes at none other than the Bluff, but then they went home to an empty house, since Van was at her Mom's, had some wine and took a jacuzzi bath and went to bed early.

Now, they were on their way to meet their son, August. His mother was in active labor at University of Philadelphia Hospital and as soon as they were told, they got tickets.

"Nervous?" Lucas asked, smiling.

"Yeah. Why do you ask?"

He put his hand on her knee, stopping it from bouncing.

"Oh. Sorry."

"Don't be sorry, Love. You're about to become a Mommy again."

"Taking care of a newborn is alot but I can't wait."

Elizabeth felt a wave of nausea when they hit turbulence. She wasn't a frequent airplane traveler but it didn't usually affect her stomach.

"You alright?" Lucas asked, patting her knee.

"My stomach is upset. I'm going to shut my eyes for a bit."

"Alright."

He held her hand, gently rubbing her knuckles with his thumb. He checked his watch. They had about two hours left of their flight. Hopefully Beth could hold on and then they could find their Airbnb and rest before going to the hospital.

…..

Allie and Tim's house

"Hi, girls," Allie said, smiling at her daughters. It was so hard to believe they were eight weeks old already. Bethie and Emmie were perfect in her eyes. They cried little except when they were hungry or needed a new diaper.

They slept four hours at a stretch during the night and because she was on her own with them during the day, she always nursed one of them and gave the other a bottle, keeping to a schedule.

"Who's hungry, punkins?"

She slowly warmed a frozen bag of breast milk in a cup of warm water and tried to keep the girls occupied so they wouldn't get upset. Songs usually worked.

"I love you doodlebugs, oh yes I do," she sang. She frequently made up songs and sang them around the house and the girls watched and sometimes smiled.

"Babe?" Tim said, walking in the room with an ice pack on his shoulder.

"Tim? Did you get hurt?"

"Yeah. We were out on a call to get a cat out of a tree. My foot sort of slipped on a branch and when I grabbed the branch, my shoulder sort of popped."

"Oh, babe. Did you go to urgent care?"

"No. I'll be fine."

"A shoulder popping is not fine. Come on, I'll feed the babies and then we will drive you to urgent care."

"You don't have to do that."

"So you're going to go?"

"Yes. I'll go."

"Alright."

Tim bent over the girls and kissed their noses. "Hey, my beauties."

Bethie started to fuss so Tim bounced her seat a little bit. Then Emmie joined in. "Are you ladies hungry?"

Allie emptied the warmed milk into a bottle and handed it to Tim and then, being the pro she now was, she lifted her shirt, unsnapped her bra and picked up Emmie. It was her turn to nurse. Then she continued cleaning up while nursing Emmie. She had a free hand after all.

"You're amazing," Tim told her.

"Thanks, hon."

After the girls and Allie were napping, Tim drove to urgent care as he promised. He really hoped that he wasn't too injured to go back to work. They needed his income.

…..

Philadelphia, Hospital parking lot

"Babe, you should rest," Lucas told her. She had thrown up on the plane and then once in the airport bathroom. "What if this is contagious?"

"I feel better, honey, plus I will be wearing a mask when I see him. I am not going to miss meeting our new son on the day he was born. Its simply not happening."

He nodded and took her hand and they walked in together to the reception area of the Women's Birthing Center.

Elizabeth started feeling woozy again but this time, she just felt lightheaded. Like she was going to pass out. "Luke," she said, stopping their progress. Then darkness.

"Elizabeth," he said, shaking her a bit for a response. "Honey?" Nothing. He saw her breathing.

"I need help!" he shouted. A nurse ran over almost immediately.

"What's wrong, sir?"

"She passed out." Elizabeth started to stir and opened her eyes, blinking a bit. "Beth? Honey, you passed out."

"I did?"

"Yes, you did. You need to get checked out."

"No I don't."

"Yes, you do." The nurse nodded at him and went to get a wheelchair.

"I can walk."

"My gorgeous wife is very independent with a tiny bit of stubbornness thrown in," he told the nurse when she returned.

"Hey," she said, playfully smacking his arm. "I want to see August," she pleaded.

"Who's August?" the nurse asked.

"Our son. He is being born right now."

"Congratulations! Is he your first?"

Lucas and Elizabeth chuckled as the nurse grabbed a clipboard and then wheeled her through a set of doors.

"No, we have four girls. Finally we get a boy."

"I'm Leah, by the way. I will make sure that you are checked out so that you can go meet your son."

Unfortunately it took an hour for triage to finally get to them.

"Any nausea, vomiting?" the new nurse asked as she prepared to take a blood test.

"Yes. On the plane and the bathroom afterwards. Then I started feeling better."

"Last period?"

Elizabeth took out her phone. At forty six, her periods had been changing but she was always on time. Except…"Um seven weeks ago? The week before Valentine's."

She looked at Lucas and raised her eyebrows. At forty six, she didn't want to be pregnant.

Lucas kissed her knuckles and smiled, keeping his nerves to himself. They were getting their son and they had been careful. What were the chances?

Lucas saw a text come across his phone. "Babe! August…he's here!"

"Oh my goodness! We need to go!"

"We need to move slowly," he told her. "And we need to make sure you are alright before going up there."

"Luke," she whispered and he knew. He knew and was feeling just as excited and impatient and nervous as she was.

"I know. But we have to make sure."

Thankfully, they only had to wait thirty minutes. "Well, Mrs and Mr. Bouchard. I have your blood test results.

……

Ivy and Jared and Marley and Caz headed to the shooting range for a double date. They didn't typically go on doubles but they were all looking for something to do so they went.

Just as they were getting set up to start their practice, Caz's phone rang. He looked at it and frowned.

"Babe?" Marley asked.

His caller ID said Denver Memorial Hospital.

"This is Caz Callahan," he said into the phone.

"Mr. Callahan, do you know Constance Callahan?"

"Yes, she's my aunt. Is she ill?"

"Um, Mrs. Callahan listed you as her emergency contact. Sir, Mrs. Callahan had a stroke and I'm so sorry but she has passed away."

"What? How…she's only sixty years old."

"Yes, sir. I know. I'm so sorry."

Marley slipped her hand into his and squeezed. Something was wrong.

"Thank you," he said, hanging up.

"Caz?"

"My aunt Connie. She died."

"Oh no. I'm so sorry, babe."

He nodded, blew out a breath and stepped over to the shooting area. "Let's shoot."

"We can go home. We don't have to do this now."

"No. Let's stay."

His jaw clenched, he put on his ear protection and she followed suit. She watched as he hit the target with amazing precision. No wonder he was going to be a cop. The man could shoot.

Marley continued to watch Caz and could see the anger and grief in his face. She wished he would just talk to her. He had cried in front of her before when talking about his and Ellie's parents but she hadn't seen him internalize before.

They each shot a few more rounds and intended to go out to dinner however, Caz just wanted to go home so Marley drove them.

They walked inside the tiny home he and Ellie shared and sat down on the sectional in the living room. He didn't speak. She just grabbed his hand to reassure him that she was there. Supporting him.

"I don't know what I'm going to do."

"I can help, babe. Plan her funeral, order flowers."

"She was supposed to watch Ellie while I was in basic."

"I can do it."

"You have school, Mar."

"Not this summer and then she will be in school most of the day after that. I will make it work."

"She's my responsibility."

Marley tried not to take offense to that. They loved each other. Why couldn't Ellie be part her responsibility too?

"I know you are grieving so I'm not going to take that personally."

"She is, Mar. Our parents died. I was the only one left to take care of her. Now I literally am."

"So I don't matter? I don't count? Nice."

She shook her head and walked to the bathroom. She should leave and she fully intended to after taking care of her immediate need. Then he knocked on the door.

"Of course you matter, Mar. I'm sorry I said that."

She washed her hands and stayed quiet, wiping the tears of anger that were on her cheeks.

"Babe?"

She opened the door and crossed her arms, ignoring her current thought of hugging him. The man was struggling and he wasn't used to relying on someone.

"I'm not used to this, babe."

"What?" she asked quietly.

"Having someone in my corner. Someone to rely on."

"Eight months, Caz. We have been dating each other for eight months."

"I know but this is different. We have been doing things together but I haven't had a situation where I needed you to help me get through something hard."

"So what are you going to do now that you realize that?"

He reached for her hands which were still folded under her arms. "The first thing is to ask you to forgive me. I was thoughtless and I'm very sorry that I hurt you."

She nodded and he stepped forward to kiss her. "I love you, Marley Grant. Forgive me?"

"Of course."

"Tomorrow I need to go to the hospital and fill out some paperwork and then I have to go to the funeral home and make arrangements. Will you come with me?"

"I will and I will see if Ivy can watch Ellie."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Will you stay tonight?"

"I will."

…..

Philadelphia, nursery at the hospital

"Oh my gosh, Lucas. He's beautiful," she whispered.

"He is." He had lots of dark hair and darker skin. His eyes were opened and he stared at Elizabeth intently. "He loves you already," Lucas mentioned.

Six pounds, six ounces, nineteen inches long. August Martin Bouchard. He needed to stay overnight to make sure he was healthy enough to travel by plane but that was fine. They were staying at their airbnb for a few days anyway and then they'd go home.

"I don't want to leave him, Lucas."

"Its only overnight plus you need your rest. Now that we know what we know."

Lucas wasn't sure how he felt yet about Elizabeth being pregnant. Of course, he would love any child they had but they just got married in the past year and now they had a newborn who would only be seven months old when she had their next child. And Beth was forty six so she was high-risk.

"Babe? You look pale," she told him.

"I…I'm worried," he admitted.

"Me too. I was so sick with the twins. I am not sure how this is going to work if I am that sick again. How will I take care of August?"

"I will just take time off work and the girls will help, I'm sure."

"Right, yes. Of course."

He sat down next to her and took her free hand, threading their fingers together. "This is scary and amazing and I can't believe any of it but you and I are a team. Whatever happens, we will get through it together."

"I'm so glad I have you. That we have you. August and I and all our girls are very blessed."

….

Tim and Allie's house

"I have a surprise," Tim said, walking back in the house after waiting forever at urgent care.

"What's that?" Allie said, cuddling in the recliner with both twins who were sleeping.

"I talked to Mom and she invited us to come visit. So I said yes."

"You said yes? Babe, its not easy to drive two hours with newborns and all the stuff they need."

"I know but Mom and Maggie want to see the babies and Mom's car is so old. I'd feel better if we went to them."

"When are we going?" she asked, trying not to deny him the chance to see his family.

"Tomorrow. And we can stay overnight in my old bedroom."

"Babe, your old bedroom has a single bed and no room to put the babies."

"Well, we can stick it out for one night."

She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. "What did they say about your shoulder?"

"I messed up my rotator cuff. I can't work for a few weeks. I may need surgery."

"Crap," she whispered.

"Don't worry. I have paid time off and disability. We won't be without income."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I'm positive."

"Okay."

Allie hoped that was the case because not having money for diapers and rent and food would be very hard.