Chapter 7

FOUR WEEKS LATER

“Honey? You gonna come downstairs and have dinner?” Cassidy asked, pushing open the bedroom door.

“I’m not really in the mood to be gawked at.”

She sighed. “Want me to bring something up? There’s still ice cream in the minifridge freezer thing up here, I’ll get some stuff for sandwiches and we can just eat here.”

“That sounds like a good idea.” He kissed Cassidy firmly.

“Hey, none of that yet or you’re not going to eat.” She went downstairs and returned a few minutes later with sandwiches and salad, along with extra bowls for ice cream.

“This looks good…you make it all by yourself?”

“I can handle a tuna fish sandwich, thank you. Yes I made it all by myself.” She kissed him.

“So what do we start with first? Dinner or dessert?”

“You eat your sandwich if you want ice cream, young man.”

“Who said anything about ice cream?” He grinned.

She laughed. “You’re insatiable, you know that?”

“It’s one of my many talents.” Garrett replied, carrying her to the bed.

“Hey, I didn’t make you dinner so it could rot,” she laughed, but she didn’t much seem to mind as she kissed him. “But I guess I should tell you…”

“Tell me what?”

“That I’m… well, I’m pregnant again, Garrett…”

Garrett stopped. “Pregnant? Really? Can you even get pregnant at this age?”

“I think the real question is if *you* can still *get* me pregnant at your age,” she retorted.

“Well it seems I’ve done a pretty good job with that so far.” He kissed her neck.

“You have.”

And dinner was forgotten.

~*~*~*~

Gavin wouldn’t be in Garrett’s room…would he? Grace had looked almost everyplace else…he could be talking to him about the organization or something…Gavin didn’t come down for breakfast….Grace stuck her head in Cassidy’s room and bit back a scream of disgust. There were plates on the floor that held what looked like tuna fish…and a can of whipped cream was not far away from the messy bed. She charged down the hall to the library and let out a scream of disgust.

“What happened?” Cassidy asked, having dropped whatever she was working on in alarm.

“You…ugh! You and your husband and…your disgusting sex habits!”

“What the heck is – “ Cassidy remembered the now-ancient rumor and laughed. “Trust me, little sister, if I wanted kinky sex we’d have used the whipped cream, not the canned meat. We had dinner up there last night. You really think we’d have bothered with plates?”

“Yeah…I’m sure dinner is all you had with the tuna…”

“You were poking in my room, you probably spotted the loaf of bread and yet your first reaction wasn’t Oh my god my sister’s husband is doing things which will not be mentioned for fear of someone’s kids walking in!”

“That’s….that’s just disgusting…” Grace replied.

“From what I hear, you’d know,” Cassidy replied with a smirk. “*I* for one wouldn’t, but if that does it for you two…”

Grace glared at her sister and stormed out of the library. While her mind was on other things, she didn’t see Garrett or Gavin until she walked into Garrett. “You are perverted and gross.” She told him before turning the corner.

“Hey, what just happened?” Gavin asked.

“Well I just found out what your brother and my sister have been doing with a specific kind of canned fish.” Grace replied.

“Has Grace gone completely insane this time or am I missing something?” Garrett asked, walking into the library.

“She thinks we’ve been doing foul things with pretty much everything we can get our hands on,” Cassidy explained. “I decided *not* to tell her I’m pregnant.”

“That’s… more than we really needed to know… didn’t really think that was his style, but okay.”

“Well…maybe it’s not the best time…” Garrett replied.

“Why? Is it more yours?” Grace raised an eyebrow.

Gavin made a face. “No thanks.”

“Probably not,” Cassidy agreed, getting up and sitting on his lap after he sat down. “But it’s too bad… I sort of *am* excited… we’re going to have to tell the kids.”

“They’ll be happy.” Garrett said confidently.

“Because I really think I should know if you think our sex life is that boring.”

“Anything but boring, beautiful. And trust me, no interest in… foul things with… things that do not belong in our bedroom.”

“I hope so.” Cassidy leaned against him.

“Glad you think so, because I can’t even look at a can of tuna now without getting grossed out.”

“They will. They’ve got to be…we’re having a baby.” Garrett said, as if the concept was totally new to him.

“We’ve done this before,” Cassidy commented, happy to be nestled in his arms once more. She’d missed him…

“Nevermind trying to look at your sister?”

“Sweetie…when I look at my sister…*that* is the last thing that pops into my mind.”

“We have. And we’ve got the proof.”

“We have the most beautiful kids in the world.”

“Well… I’m very, very glad to hear that.”

“We really do…when did they go and grow up on us like that?” Garrett demanded playfully.

“The only person I’d like to think those kinds of things about…only not so nasty things…is you.”

“Good to know.” Gavin kissed her.

“They’ve been doing it in small doses all along so we don’t notice,” Cassidy told him solemnly. “Except our Garrett, when he was about thirteen he all of a sudden became a man overnight.”

“Those little fiends.” Garrett replied. “Well…now we get to do it all over again.”

“Very good to know.” Grace kissed him back, pausing for a second. “Cassidy did have a point earlier.”

“And we know what to look out for this time,” Cassidy said with a grin.

“Oh did she? And what was that?”

“We do. And it might be a bit easier…there’ll only be one this time.”

“There are little kids running around the house.”

“Not all that many little ones. But point conceded.”

“Just one. I sort of like the sound of that.”

“Yeah…and raising one will be easier than raising five at the same time.”

“Yeah…so if you want to grope me… you might not want to do it in the hallway.”

“When *don’t* I want to grope you?” He teased, leading her to their room.

“We did a good job, though. They’re great kids.”

“They are. You deserve most of the credit, thought.” Garrett replied.

“No, you were an important part of the process too. They wouldn’t be the same if they hadn’t had us both.”

“No…probably not…” He conceded. “We’re pretty good parents.”

“We make a good pair.”

“Well…I can think of a few other things you like to do besides grope.” Grace replied, kissing him eagerly.

“Shh.” Gavin pushed the door closed behind them.

~*~*~*~

"Cassidy? Are you sure you don't need me to get a doctor or something? That's like the third time this week you've thrown up." Grace said, opening the bathroom door enough to poke her head in.

"I'm fine... I just haven't told you yet." Cassidy looked up with a smile. "I'm pregnant."

"Pregnant? Really?" Grace closed the door behind her and sat on the floor.

"Yeah. Garrett and I are having a baby."

"Wow...that's great."

"Yeah. We're excited. In fact... we were thinking of naming him Nathan after Garrett and Gavin's father..."

"What?" Grace's smile faded. "You...you can't."

"Why not?"

"Why not?!? You can't name the baby Nathan...that'd be like me having another son and wanting to name him Michael. How can you even consider it?"

"I'd be pleased that you wanted to honor him!"

"No..." Grace opened the door. "How can you do that to me?" Grace slammed the door behind her.

Cassidy sighed from her spot on the floor.

Grace silently made her way to her room and sat down on the bed. This wasn't happening...this couldn't be happening.

"Grace?" Gavin asked as he entered.

"Yeah?" She asked, looking up at him.

"Are you okay?"

"I don't know, Gavin...I'm just...I feel tired."

"It's more than that..." He kissed her cheek.

"When are going to move out of here?"

"Soon if you want... what brings that up all of a sudden?"

"Cassidy's pregnant."

"What'd they do, have an accident?"

"That's not why I want to move out. You said we'd leave as soon as everything was under control. It has been for a while now, Gavin."

"Alright. Then we'll go." He kissed her cheek.

"Now?"

"Sure, if you want to."

"I do." She sighed. "I don't want to stay here."

"Then we'll go."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, baby."

"They're going to name it Nathan." Grace squeezed his hand.

"They shouldn't," he said darkly.

"It's not fair."

"I know it's not, beautiful."

"They don't deserve to have a little Nathan. He was ours."

"I know he was, love."

"It's not fair."

"No, it's not. But we have Chelsea and now we have Zachary."

Grace nodded. "I know. And I don't want anything to happen to either of them. I don't want to bury another one of my babies."

"And so we'll leave."

"Yes." She kissed him. "I don't want anything to happen to you either."

"I'll be okay."

"I love you, Gavin, so much...I just don't see any reason to stay in this house."

"Then we'll leave it, baby." He held her close.

Grace kissed him.

"What about the house we had right before we left before? Or somewhere near it?"

"Sounds good."

"And we won't have to worry about getting killed if we walk out the front door..."

"We'll be safe again."

"And who knows...maybe without the added stress...*we* might be able to have another baby of our own."

"If you want that." But Gavin was smiling widely at the thought.

"I think I could be convinced." She replied.

He kissed her.

"I think I'll need a little more convincing than that..." She smiled teasingly.

He kissed her eagerly this time.

Grace wrapped her arms around his neck. "You seem well practiced at this, Councilor."

"Who, me?" He grinned.

"I don't see anyone else in here." Grace replied.

"Excellent news for me."

"Extremely."

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