~~~~~~~~~~» AJ «~~~~~~~~~~

When I pulled into the long driveway that led to her house, I saw that Liz was just getting out of her car. I nervously watched her as she pulled the driver’s seat forward to get the baby out of her car seat in the back. Once I had the lights and engine turned off on the car, I took a few deep breaths to calm my racing heart before I opened the door to meet her in the garage. The baby was in her arm laughing happily and when I walked up, I smiled when she extended one of her little arms towards me. I held my hands out to her as if I was going to hold her and laughed as she wiggled while Liz was turned the other way reaching to get the diaper bag out of the car. When I carefully slid the baby out of her arm, Liz stood up and watched as I played with the little girl. She was so cute...I just couldn’t resist playing with her while Liz walked over to the door that I assumed went to the house. I followed her and momentarily stopped at the bottom of the small bunch of steps when Liz reached up and pushed a button which made the garage door go down. She turned the knob and pushed the door open.

"I’m home," she called out as she held the door open and watched me walk in with Madisen.

When she started to walk away after the door was shut, I quickly reached out and took hold of her hand. She stopped and turned to look at me. I was nervous and I had no idea why. Madisen was having fun with the silver chain that I wore around my neck as I felt Liz gently slide her hand into mine before she led me into the kitchen.

"Where’s my Madi baby?" I heard someone yell back happily from somewhere in the house.

"You’re such a brat Tina!" another voice added.

"I know!" the first voice said, coming closer.

"You both are brats," Liz pointed out. "And you know it too."

I laughed a little at the sibling play-fighting that was taking place. Just before we were about to leave the kitchen and go into the main part of the house, I slowly stopped.

"Maybe this isn’t such a good idea," I said in a whisper.

Liz stopped too and turned around a little to face Madisen and me. When she reached out and touched her hand to my stomach, the nervous butterflies momentarily went away and my heart began racing again.

"I know you don’t wanna leave," she replied in the same hushed voice. "You’re my guest...at least let me show you the place..."

When Madisen saw Liz standing close, she dropped my chain from her hands and reached for her mom. After I let Liz’s hand slip out of mine, I handed her baby back and watched as Liz kissed Madisen’s forehead.

"Mommy loves you," she whispered to her baby girl.

‘And I love you’ I thought as I watched Liz walk out of the kitchen and into the next room.

"You coming?" I heard Liz ask softly after she’d walked a few feet away.

"Yeah," I replied, following the direction she’d gone.

When someone screamed, followed by a fit of laughter, I slowly stopped in the middle of the large entryway that we were walking through. Liz kept on walking towards the closest set of stairs that made up half of the double staircase to the upper level. Madi turned her head and watched me as she got further and further away. I looked up when there was another loud noise, followed by people falling into a laughing doggy-pile at the top of the two staircases.

"AAaaaahhhhHHHHhhhh!!!!" someone half-yelled, half-laughed. "You deserved it!!!!"

Liz shook her head a little in shame.

"Sorry that you have to witness that," she said, motioning to the pile of people from where she was now standing at the bottom of the stairs.

"It’s ok," I replied, still looking to the top of the stairs.

When she saw that the pile of people wouldn’t be calming down anytime soon, she walked over to me and gently took hold of my hand once again. I followed when she led me towards the back of the house into a room that looked like an office. She motioned for me to have a seat on one of the two dark maroon suede couches. After she set Madisen down on the floor, she reached up and slid the two oak sliding doors shut to close off the noise coming from the rest of the house before she turned around and watched her baby attempting to crawl around on the plush velvety maroon carpet. I watched her every move as she bent down and helped her baby roll over onto her stomach. Once Madisen was on her stomach, she began to crawl army-style across the floor, pulling her body weight along with her arms as best she could. Liz slowly stood up and came over to sit next to me. When she saw that Madisen was happily crawling around on the floor in front of us, she smiled and then ran her fingers through her hair with a sigh. I couldn’t help but reach up and touch the side of her head with my hand on the same spot she’d just touched. She moved her head a little as if welcoming my hand to softly stroke her hair.

"You’re so beautiful," I whispered as I moved a little closer.

She leaned back into the couch, turning a little so her back was against my side so she’d be more comfortable.

"Ya know Alex, after everything that’s happened, I never thought you’d want to talk to me again," she said after a few moments of silence.

I could smell her perfume and it was driving my senses wild having her this close to me after so long of not having her there at all. My hands slowly made their way up to her shoulders, where they began to gently massage her tense muscles. She slowly began to relax more and more until she was breathing in a deep and steady pattern. One might have thought that she was asleep, but I knew she was awake. I could tell that she was more relaxed now than she’d been in a long time. We were instantly brought out of the moment when Madisen bumped her head on one of the legs of the large antique-looking oak desk that was sitting on the opposite side of the room. Liz sat up a little, patted my leg a few times with a ‘thanks’, and then rolled off the comfortable couch before she walked over and picked up her crying baby.

"Mommy’s here...you’re ok angel," she said gently as she laid the baby in her arms and rocked her back and forth as she started softly singing. "Baby mine, don’t you cry. Baby mine dry your eyes. Let those eyes sparkle and shine. Never a tear, baby of mine."

Madisen was still fussing, but she’d quieted down since Liz had picked her up. I jumped when the sliding door suddenly slid open. Tina, Meg, Arti, Bri, and Chrys hurried in to make sure everything was ok with the baby.

"She’s fine," Liz told them. "She just bumped her head a little."

Not one of them noticed me in the room...at least until Liz looked over at me, causing them to see what Liz was looking.

"Hey stranger," Tina said after everyone recovered from the shock of seeing me there. "It’s been long enough...didn’t even call to say hi," she said, wiping fake tears from her eyes.

She came over to where I was sitting and plopped down in my lap.

"How is everything?" she asked quietly. "Has ‘Old Maid’ been acting up again?"

I laughed. Liz looked over at us for a second before she continued taking care of Madisen, who had pretty much calmed down by then.

"I heard that Kristina Ruth," Liz said a few seconds later.

"See what I mean...now that she is a mom, she thinks she has to ACT the part too," Tina explained quietly, but obviously loud enough for Liz to hear.

"I could always send you back to finish your senior year in the wonderful public school systems where I know you just *love* being," Liz retorted as she handed the baby to Chrystal. "Ha...that’s what I thought."

Liz came over and lightly smacked Tina in the back of the head. Tina scowled at her sister and when Liz turned her back, Tina stuck her tongue out snobbily. Liz walked over to the desk and sat down. Chrystal, Bri, Meg, and Arti all gathered around her and began talking about something on the computer screen of Liz’s computer. Tina leaned in a little closer so she could whisper in my ear.

"So you came back to try and win her heart again?" she asked.

She pulled back just enough to see my reaction. When I didn’t say anything, she leaned closer again.

"You can’t win someone’s heart if they won’t give it away," she said, then pulled back once again.

I looked up at Liz and saw her watching us for a split second before she turned her eyes back to the computer screen.

"What can I do to make her see how much I love her?" I asked.

"She knows AJ...she knows, and she loves you too...but she’s not ready," she replied. "Just give her time," she said before she playfully smacked me in the chest and then hopped off my lap.

She smiled knowingly before she walked over to see what the rest of the bunch was talking about. I wanted to ask what Liz wasn’t ready for, but resisted...I’d find out later.

"So that’s the other part of the reason I brought you here to visit," Liz finished telling Bri, Meg, and Arti as she sat back in her chair with Madisen now sitting in her lap, happily banging her hands on the edge of the desk.

I’d totally missed whatever she just finished talking about.

"Anyway, I’ll go order some pizza and we can watch movies or whatever," Tina told us before she practically ran out of the room.

I flinched when there was a crash followed by a whimper or two.

"I’m ok," Tina called back with a laugh before everyone else burst out laughing.

"Remind me never to have the floors waxed when Tina’s here," Liz said with a laugh. "That girl is never gonna learn..."

She smiled widely as Tina poked her in the door and stuck her tongue out.

"I resent that!" she said before she was gone again.

Liz rolled her eyes before she stood up with Madi in her arms. Meg, Court, and Arti decided to go and make sure Tina ordered enough for everyone while Bri and Chrys went to check out the movie collection. I smiled nervously when Liz walked over to where I was sitting and slumped onto the couch next to me. Madisen wiggled and flailed her arms happily as she sat on Liz’s lap. When she looked up at me and gave me the cutest baby smile, I reached my hand out and let her play with my fingers. Liz looked over and watched me playing with her baby. I glanced up and saw her watching, so I gave her a smile.

"So who was the girl that was with you at the VMA’s?" she asked in an amused tone, setting the conversation with a light mood.

I looked back to Madisen and gave her a funny face that she laughed at. It was sort of a relief that the first ‘real’ conversation that we’d have would be one that didn’t have a serious tone. I looked back up at Liz as I answered with a smirk.

"Her name’s Amber...she’s the daughter of a friend of one of the guys on our management team," I replied, totally not wanting to talk about the girl that I stupidly took with me.

"She was...uh...very...umm, her dress was...interesting," she said, stifling a laugh.

"Yeah," I replied, knowing that she was not too impressed, even if she was trying not to laugh.

"Well at least I know you didn’t pick it out," she said with a smile. "You’ve got more class than that, even if your style is messed up sometimes."

She laughed when she saw the fake hurt look I gave her.

"You think my style is messed up?" I asked, dripping with sarcasm. "I’m so hurt!"

When she laughed, her eyes lit up and she looked happy for the first time since I’d seen her that day.

"If you think her dress was bad, you didn’t have to hear her annoying high-pitched voice all night," I said dramatically. "I swear my ears were ringing for days..."

When I reached up and stuck my finger in my ear to playfully wiggle it around, she laughed and then lifted Madisen off her lap and put her on the floor.

"At least she didn’t scream at you and push you into a bar like your psycho ex-girlfriend did," she replied with a sly smile.

"Yep, yep. That’s true," I said, nodding my head in agreement. "I’m just glad you didn’t punch me in the face..."

She raised an eyebrow and gave me the cutest smirk I’ve ever seen.

"Is that a suggestion," she asked. "’Cause ya know, if it is, I can do that..."

"No! I don’t want to look like Pretty Boy Timberlake," I replied, staring into her eyes. "And for your information, my ex-girlfriend is not psycho. Weird sometimes, but definitely not psycho."

"Oh no! You said the horrible ‘W’ word," she joked while she leaned down and picked Madisen up again. "Just for that, you get to feed your new best friend."

She laughed as she handed her baby to me. I smiled when Madisen began making funny noises while she happily clapped her hands together.

"Come on stranger," I told her as I held her to my body and stood up. "I believe we have a dinner date."

~~~~~~~~~~» Kev «~~~~~~~~~~

"Where in the heck is he?" I asked angrily.

Nick sat on the bed in my hotel room and watched me as I paced back and forth with my phone to my ear, trying to get a hold of AJ. The constant unanswered ring on the other end of the line annoyed me and when I felt as if I couldn’t take hearing it anymore, I turned my phone off and tossed it onto the bed next to Nick.

"Calm down Train...I’m sure someone will hear from him sometime soon," Nick replied.

I looked over at him with a glare.

"He is soooo going to get a lecture when he decides to grace the rest of us with his presence," I said as I plopped down at the head of the bed. "Have you heard from Rok yet?"

"Nope," was his reply as he flipped channels on the TV.

My phone rang and I leaned over to get find it in the ruffled blanket on the bed by Nick.

"Hello?"

"Hey babe! We made it."

"Hi honey!"

I smiled at the sound of Arti’s voice. Nick turned and laughed at me when he heard the definite change in my mood. I reached out and smacked him, causing him to yelp in pain.

"I miss you," I said, even though she’d only be gone for one more day.

"Aw, I miss you too," she replied. "I’ll be back before you know it."

"I know."

We talked for a few more minutes before she told me that she had to go.

"Love you," she said.

"Love you too."

Nick started cracking up as I hung up the phone. I reached out to smack him again for laughing at me. He dodged my hand and ran for the door. I wasn’t quick enough to get to him.

"Your new name is Moody," he said with a laugh before he ran into the hallway and shut the door behind him.

~~~~~~~~~~» Liz «~~~~~~~~~~

"So who was the guy with you at the VMA’s?" AJ asked as he fed Madi a spoonful of creamed bananas after she’d finished the baby bottle of vegetable stew.

I sat down at the end of the table and watched him feed Madi her ‘dessert’ with a smile.

"He’s a friend of mine. His name is Chad," I replied, subconsciously drawing imaginary circles on the table with my finger as I watched him make funny faces at Madi. "We’ve known each other since we were little...went to grade school together."

"Oh," was all he said.

I looked up from the table to his face and watched him as he looked down at the bottle of baby food with no expression on his face. He scooped out some of the pudding like mixture in the spoon and fed it to Madi.

"So you...you’re not...like ‘with’ him or anything?" he asked after a few seconds.

I laughed a little as a smile crept up on my lips. He looked at the almost empty bottle in his hands as if it was the most captivating thing in the room. I knew that he was just curious about how my life was for the last months while he wasn’t there, so I didn’t hesitate to tell him.

"No, we’re not dating," I replied with a knowing smile. "He’s a really good friend of mine. I mean, we know pretty much everything about each other. To tell you the truth, I don’t think I could picture myself dating him because of that very fact."

He finally looked up at me and gave me a weak smile before he finished feeding Madi. He carefully wiped her chin off with her bib before he tossed it onto the table and gently took her out of her highchair.

"Pizza’s on its way," Tina called from somewhere in the house as AJ handed Madi to me.

AJ watched me as I cradled Madi in my arms and gave her a kiss on the forehead. She started babbling happily after I set her so she was sitting on the edge of the table with her feet dangling over the edge. AJ and I both sat there and played with her for a few minutes until she started to mellow out, signaling that she was getting tired. She’d had an eventful day filled with fun, so it was expected that she was tired.

"Let’s go put you to bed Madi-baby," I said as I picked her up and held her to my shoulder.

She laid her head down on my shoulder and put one of her hands around my neck with the other hanging around my arm. I heard AJ get up and follow me as I walked out of the kitchen, through the entryway, and up the stairs to my room. I pushed the door to my bedroom open before I walked in, turned the light on, and moved a little so AJ could come in from the hallway. He walked past me, and when he stopped a few feet in front of me and looked around, I walked over to my bed and set Madi down on it. After grabbing Madi’s pajamas, I gently sat down on my bed next to her and began changing her. She happily played with a small teddy bear that I’d given her to play with while I was getting her ready for bed. I looked up for a second and watched AJ as he roamed around the large room and looked at things here and there. When he stopped in front of my mahogany bureau and looked at the small collection of pictures that sat on the top, I turned my attention back to Madi. I got up and turned the small light that was above her crib on to the lowest setting, since it was a three way light, before I went and turned the big light off. I had just put Madi in the crib when the doorbell rang and Tina hollered for me.

"AJ?"

He was still standing near my bureau and when he heard me call his name, he slowly turned to face me. I quickly pulled a blanket up over Madi.

"Will you watch her for a minute for me?" I asked when I saw him walk towards where I was. "I need to get some money for the pizza guy..."

He walked up to me, but didn’t stop until he was about 6 inches away from me, as if he was going to give me a hug.

"Yes," he replied softly, looking into my eyes.

I tried not to look into his chocolate eyes, knowing that I’d get lost in them, but it was hard not to look into them. I blinked and then quickly looked away before looking back at him. I watched his every move as he licked his lips out of habit. Whether he knew it or not, he was stirring up emotions in me that I feared he would.

"Thank you," I said in a whisper before I slowly backed away, unable to turn away from him.

Tina was waiting inside the front door with the pizza guy when I walked down the stairs with some money to pay for the pizzas. I handed the guy the bills while Tina took the pizza to the entertainment room where they’d gotten dishes ready so we could watch a movie or two.

"Keep the change," I told the guy as I showed him to the door.

"Thanks," he replied with a grin as he opened the door and walked out onto the porch. "Have a good night!"

"Thank you...you too," I said with a smile before I shut the door.

I told Tina and everyone else to go ahead and start eating while I finished putting Madi to bed. Tina and Bri were the first two into the small pile pizza boxes. I laughed a little at the two of them as I walked back up the stairs. When I got to the top of the stairs, I could hear faint singing, so I slowed down and quietly walked up to my bedroom door. It was open a little bit, so I could hear inside, but couldn’t see. I could hear AJ’s hushed voice singing a song, so I quietly pushed the door open and walked in a little way before I shut the door behind me. The sight that I saw before me brought a smile to my face as I listened to his angelic voice singing softly to Madi. He was standing next to her crib, gently rubbing her back as she lay on her stomach, drifting off to sleep as he sang to her. When he finished singing the song, he bent down and gave her a kiss on the top of her head before he pulled the blanket up a little and rubbed her back once more.

"You always had a way with the ladies," I whispered with a smile, walking over to where he was standing next to her crib. "She won’t go to sleep unless she has you singing to her."

I watched him as he stood there and watched Madi sleeping peacefully. He looked up at me and met my gaze with a puzzled look in his face.

"I don’t know why, but she won’t go to sleep unless she hears your voice," I explained quietly. "She has good taste."

I smiled a sly smile, causing him to smile in return. I watched him as he walked over to my bed, sat down, and patted the space next to him as if telling me to go sit by him. I went and sat down next to him with a tired sigh.

"She’s an angel," he said, motioning to Madi’s crib.

"I know she is," I replied with a smile. "She’s my angel."

He was silent for a few seconds as he looked at her sleeping figure through the railings of her crib.

"Come on...let’s go downstairs and unlax for a while," I said, getting up from the bed and reaching for his hand.

He reached out and held my hand in his as he climbed off the bed and followed me to the door. We walked down the stairs in silence, totally comfortable in the presence of one another. For the first time since we’d broken up almost eight months earlier, we were comfortable being around each other, which was a huge relief to me, as I’m sure it was to him as well. Tina and Court already had a DVD playing when we walked in so we quickly got some pizza and sat down in the only space left...the black leather love seat. I gave Tina a slight glare when she looked up at me with a knowing grin when AJ sat down next to me on the couch. I knew what she was thinking by leaving the loveseat unoccupied and I found her thinking somewhat funny. I didn’t mind, since the loveseat was my favorite place to sit anyway. It was oversized, so we could have probably fit at least four people on it if we needed to. I set my empty plate onto the coffee table when I was done. AJ did the same when he was done and when I saw him rest his feet on the table, I leaned over and rested my head on a pillow that I set in his lap to get into a more comfortable position to watch the movie. I curled into a ball on my side next to him, with my head in on the pillow. He grabbed the blanket from the back of the couch and draped it over me. After a few minutes, he reached down and lightly ran his fingers through my hair, as if it were habit. His fingers slowly and gently worked their way through my hair, causing me to relax quickly. Before I knew it, the last scene of the movie was playing as my eyes drifted shut. I wasn’t asleep, just enjoying the moment. I knew the movie so well that I could picture the scene in my head as the music played. I pictured Hugh Grant sitting on a bench with Julia Roberts next to him with her head in his lap as ‘You’ve Got A Way’ played in the background. The music suddenly stopped and the screen went blue. I opened my eyes and saw that Tina was changing DVD’s. I subconsciously reached up and rested my left hand on AJ’s leg while the beginning credits for the next movie played. I must have fallen asleep some time during the movie, because when I opened my eyes, Chrys was bending down in front of me to see if I was awake. AJ’s feet were no longer resting on the table, but were now on the floor.

"Hey sleeping beauty," Chrys whispered sarcastically.

"Where’s everyone else?" I asked with a yawn after I slowly sat up and saw that the room was empty besides the three of us.

"They went to bed a little while ago," she replied. "I figured you wouldn’t want to sleep on the couch and AJ would be getting uncomfortable, so I woke ya up."

"Mmmk," I replied while wrapping the blanket around me, still half asleep.

I looked over at AJ and saw him running his hands through his dark inch-long curly hair. When he looked over and saw me watching him, he gave me a timid smile before he stifled a yawn. Once Chrys saw that we were both awake, she left to go to bed. While AJ stood up and stretched, I unwrapped myself from the warm blanket and attempted to fold it back up. Seeing that I didn’t do a very good job, I tossed it onto the space where AJ had been sitting and lazily stood up.

"You can sleep in my bed...I’ll sleep on the couch in Tina’s room," I said as I slowly made my way towards the stairs with AJ following close behind.

"No. I can’t kick you out of your own bed," he replied. "I can sleep down here on the couch."

"I will not have you sleeping on the couch!" I argued quietly while we climbed the stairs. "I will not let any guest of mine sleep on the couch..."

He followed me into my room.

"But..."

"No buts," I said, cutting him off. "There’s extra pillows in the closet if you need any...and the master bathroom is over there..."

I pointed to the opposite wall from the crib where the door to the bathroom was.

"I’ll just get some clothes and then I’ll be out of your way," I said quickly before grabbing some pajamas from my closet.

I walked over to the door, opened it, and stopped momentarily before walking out.

"Night," he said. "I love you..."

"G’night AJ," I said sleepily as I shut the door.

I walked down the dark hall to Tina’s room and yawned as I opened her door to find her sitting on her bed listening to music that played from her stereo.

"I’m sleeping in here tonight," I said when I saw her about to ask me what I was doing in her room. "I couldn’t let AJ sleep on the couch."

She nodded with a knowing smile while I walked over to her couch and plopped onto it. I knew that she usually stayed up pretty late, doing assignments to send off for school or drawing or other stuff, so I knew she’d still be awake when I came in. I was asleep within ten minutes of my head hitting the pillow that I’d brought with me to her room. Next thing I knew, it was morning. I looked at the clock on Tina’s wall and found that it was actually early afternoon instead of morning like I thought. I rolled over and slowly opened my eyes to see Tina sprawled out on her bed, fast asleep. When I took a deep breath as I sat up, I could faintly smell something yummy in the air. ‘Someone must be fixing something in the kitchen’ I thought to myself as I gathered my pillow and folded the blanket that Tina had covered me with after I’d fallen asleep. I quietly knocked on the door to my bedroom and when there wasn’t an answer, I quietly pushed the door open and saw AJ still asleep in my bed. I looked over to Madi’s crib and saw her wide awake, laying on her back while she played with the blanket that was half covering her. After I quickly went into the closet and changed into some clothes, I walked over to Madi and smiled as she laughed when I tickled her stomach. She squirmed under my fingers and rolled onto her stomach before she moved over to the railing and pulled herself up so she was standing. She reached out for me so I picked her up and held her on my hip while I thought about clothes for her to wear for the day. I set her on the bed on the other side of the bed as AJ while I went to the dresser and got some clothes.

"Madi!" I exclaimed quietly with a laugh when I saw what she was doing.

She had crawled over to AJ on the bed and laughed happily as she smacked him in the stomach with her hands. I held my breath as I watched her crawl right up next to AJ’s head and lay down on the pillow next to him.

"Come on angel," I said quietly as I walked over to the side of the bed where I’d left her before. "Don’t bother AJ..."

"She’s ok."

I looked up and saw AJ’s eyes open with a tired smile on his face while he playfully tickled Madi. She squealed and laughed for a few seconds before he sat up and scooped her up into his arms.

"I think mommy wants to get you dressed," he told her in a cute voice before he handed her to me.

"I’m sorry AJ. I didn’t mean for her to wake you up," I said as I set Madi on the bed and began changing her.

"That was actually a nice way to wake up," he replied with a laugh. "It was better than waking up in a bus..."

"Aw yes. I’ll have to agree with you on that," I said while pulling some cute jeans on Madi.

When Madi was changed, I picked her up and watched as AJ pulled back the covers on my bed and stood up. He wasn’t wearing a shirt with the pants that he wore, so I could see his toned stomach muscles. I couldn’t help but stare as he reached out and stretched his arms above his head. I mean, it wasn’t like I’d never seen him like that before...I’d just never realized how much I missed him until then. He reached over to the chair next to the bed and picked up his shirt before he effortlessly slid it over his head.

"Something smells good," he said with a smile.

"I think someone woke up early and made breakfast," I replied as I carried Madi to the dresser and got her some socks and picked up her shoes.

AJ followed me to the door and down the stairs to the kitchen. We walked in and found everyone, including Tina, sitting around the room while Bri and Chrys stood together at the stove, cooking something.

"Well good morning," Jules said as she gave us a sly smile. "We’ve been waiting for you."

"Hope you didn’t have to wait long," I replied as I walked over to Madi’s highchair and began putting her in it. "I’m surprised to see Tina down here. She was dead asleep when I left her room a little while ago."

When she stuck her tongue out at me, I did the same to her, causing everyone else to laugh at us.

"So what’s for breakfast?" I asked.

Chrys turned around a little and gave me a smile before she said anything. Bri leaned over and whispered something in her ear before he wrapped his arm around her stomach. She giggled as she playfully pushed him away.

"There’s eggs, bacon, pancakes, toast...basically anything that you want," she said happily with a smile.

"Wow. Someone must have had a crazy hair this morning," I said with a laugh. "What happened to the usual cereal?"

She laughed. "We thought we’d do something special this morning," she said before she turned back to the stove.

When Bri brought over a few plates of food, everyone gathered around the table and began to eat while I fed Madi some of her baby cereal and a bottle of baby pears. She ate her food, but watched everyone at the table instead of paying attention to what I was doing like she usually did when I fed her. After she was done, I gently wiped her face and smiled when she squealed and hit the tray of the highchair with her hand. I gasped a little when I saw some white in her smile.

"What?" Court asked when she heard me.

"Madi’s got a tooth!" I said happily as I lifted Madi’s lip to see her newly found tooth.

I laughed as everyone gathered around me to see.

"And she’s got another coming in," I added as I undid the straps and lifted her out of the highchair.

"I’ll take her so you can eat," Bri said as he gently took her from my arms and began playing with her.

"Thanks Rok," I told him with a smile as I walked to the cupboard for a plate.

The food was yummy and by the time I was done, everyone else was done too and it was about one in the afternoon. Destiny and Jules left to get dressed, with Court and Tina following close behind them. The rest of us decided what to do for the rest of the day.

© Liz Holder 2001