4 Months Later

"Ok. Mr. Chasez. It's time for your checkup." Dr. Brown states, pushing the small, portable ultra-sound machine into the room. "Come on now, wakie, wakie young man. Time to see how that little one is doing."

"Man, you gotta do this so early?" I grumble from under the covers.

"Early, son? It's noon already. All your friends were getting ready to come in and drag you from the bed. They said you haven't been out of bed in two days other than to waddle, yes they said waddle, to the bathroom or over to the weight bench where you lift for a while then waddle back to bed. Now up so I can…Oh my…You've blown up haven't you?" He lowers his voice to a low mumble, "This is not good, gotta get him out of bed and moving around." He raises his voice to a normal level again, "What have you been eating? Have you been keeping a journal like I asked?"

"Yes, I know I've become a whale, you really didn't need to point that fact out. Yes, I've been keeping a journal, it's on the table here, everything I've eaten is in there."

The doctor picks up the journal and scans over a few pages. /This isn't right. He's not eating enough to be gaining this much. He's just a sliver of a human. Think its time to see just how many babies are in there. Better talk to Sean before I continue this exam./ "I'll be right back. Don't you go back to sleep on me now."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mind if I pee and brush my teeth?"

"Go ahead…Oh, as long as you're going…" He hands me a small cup, "Fill 'er up."

"You're one weird doctor." I smile and shake my head, but take the cup and head into the bathroom." /Wonder what that panicked look meant on the doc's face. Why's he acting so strange this morning? And what the hell is going on with me? I look like a bony, beached whale./ I look myself over in the mirror. /I don't think my stomach is gonna last much longer. I look like I'm about to pop./ I finish up in the bathroom and slowly make my way back to the bed. "Ok doc, let's get this over with." I push my sleeve up so he can put the blood pressure gauge on.

He takes my blood pressure, pulse and all the other routine stuff then looks me in the eye, "You want your boyfriend here for the next part?"

I look at him for a minute in confusion, then smile in understanding. "Yep, hang on and I'll give him a call." I pick up the phone hit speed dial 1. "Hey baby, where you at? Doc's here. K. See you in a couple minutes." I hang up and look at the doc, "He'll be here in a few. Can we wait? He's been a bit anxious for this for a few days now."

"Sure. It's not like I got anything else to do." He smiles.

"Thanks." I squirm a bit to get comfortable then close my eyes.

"Oh no you don't. No going back to sleep. You've got things to do today, " Mark states as he steps into the room.

My eyes fly open at the sound of his voice, "Hey you."

He makes his way over and sits next to me on the bed, "Hey doc. What's going on? Haven't seen much of you for a few weeks. You working on some kind of thesis or something?"

"Nope, just enjoying this time to myself cuz I know I'm in for a rough road here in a couple months." /As are the two of you. / "So lets see how this little one is looking shall we?"

"Little one? I think this one is gonna come out walking." Kevin jokes as he comes in.

"Hey! What you doing here?" I question, looking to Mark.

"He was with me when you called. We were going over something."

"Oh." I look down at my huge stomach then over at Kevin's very normal looking body and sigh. /Guess he's moving on to better pastures. Can't say I blame him. I would too if I had to look at me all day, every day and night./

Mark looks at me and moves even closer as he sees the sadness in my face and whispers, "Baby. You know you're the only one I want, now get that look off your face and stop thinking I'm sleeping with him. You are an amazing man and I love you, only you."

I sigh and lean against him, "Love you too Mark."

"Now that we're all happy, can we get this show on the road?" Doc questions.

"Sure. How you want me?"

"You're fine the way you are. Just pull you're shirt up out of the way and the trousers down a bit. Perfect. You ready?"

"Yep."

He puts the gel on my stomach then pulls the little device out, placing it right in the middle and moving it around.

We all watch the screen and when he stops moving I become even more puzzled. "Um doc? What is that?" I point to what looks like several masses. "Is that the baby? If so, why does it look like it's got more than two arms and legs?" I ask, concern very evident in my voice.

"Relax son. Yes, that is your baby. The reason it looks like it has so many legs is because your baby is not alone. I can't tell for sure, but by the looks of this…well…it looks like you're having triplets."

I look up at Mark and realize he's just as shocked as I am. He finally manages to stammer, "Trip…triplets? That means he's having …3 babies? Are you sure?"

The doctor reaches over and flips a switch on the ultra sound machine and all of a sudden we can hear a very fast paced thumping sound.

Now if you listen carefully you can hear the different heartbeats. The strong, somewhat regular beat is JC. The others…the less strong and much fast beats are the babies. I can hear three very distinct beats other than JC's. Listen and see if you can hear them."

I smile up at Mark and then meet Kevin's gaze, for the first time glad that he was actually here. That way the guys wouldn't say we were pulling a fast one on them. He is standing there with a smile that stretches from ear to ear.

/If I didn't know better, I'd think he was the father instead of Mark./ I lay my head back against the pillow and listen to the babies heartbeats. I began tapping the bed in time with each of the babies to see if I could distinguish the different heartbeats when I notice another beat that the doc hadn't brought up yet. "Wait…you hear that? It's not as strong as the others." I turn and look at the monitor again. I sat there for a good couple of minutes before saying, "Doc? Shouldn't you be able to see their hearts or something that would tell us how many there are? I mean they're big enough now to see? I mean they're big enough now to see that they are babies and all. How far along do I have to be before you can tell exactly how many there are?"

Dr. Brown looks at me and says, "How far along are you son?"

"I'll be 6 months tomorrow, why?"

"Just curious." He smiles. "I think I need to make a phone call. I'll be right back." He walks out of the room and then comes back in. "K…sorry about that…had to run something by the boss." He picks up another small device and pushes a button on the end of it. "Would you boys like to have a picture of them?" He reaches to the back of the machine and pulls a picture out of it and looks it over closely. He takes off out the door and down the hall yelling for Jonathon and Margarita.

"Ok…well…that was interesting." Mark states as he leans over and picks up the picture. "Oh shit…" He hands me the picture and walks into the bathroom, closing the door.

"Damn, this can't be good. The doc runs out of the room and Mark is hiding in the bathroom…" I take a deep breath and look at the picture. "Oh my God." I state as I sink further into the pillows.

"What is it JC? What's wrong?" Kevin asks, concern outweighing curiosity.

"I'm having…Oh man…I'm having…How the hell…I can't… What the hell are we gonna do?"

"Shhh…Relax Jayce…We'll think of something. Just relax…Stress is not good for the baby…babies." Kevin states, trying to calm me down. He moves to my left side and begins rubbing gentle circles on my stomach.

Mark returns from the bathroom to see me clutching to Kevin like a child. He supresses the jealousy that rises up and moves to my other side. "Baby? Shhh."

I immediately move into Mark's embrace, "What are we gonna do Mark? We can't…"

"Shh…Josh…Like Kevin said. We'll just have to deal with it when the time comes. You can't stress over this baby. It's not good for you or the little ones."

Mark holds me til my breathing evens out and I fall into a fitful sleep. Kevin moves to get up but Mark grabs him by the forearm, "Stay. He's gonna need as much reassurance as we can provide."

When I wake up it's dark outside and Mark has his arms wrapped around my waist but there is another arm slung over my waist from the rear. I raise my head and turn to see bright green eyes staring back at me.

Kevin starts moving away, "Don't…Please stay."

He places his head back on the pillow. "You feelin better?"

"Mmmm. A little…I think I'm still in shock though." I smile and snuggle up to Mark a little more.

"Mmmm…Go back to sleep Josh. It's late." Mark whispers.

"Ah, so you're all awake." A voice invades our comfort. "That's good. I need to see these little trouble makers that have brought me half way across the world." He scowls at the doc.

"Who's there? Mark growls. Both he and Kevin sit up, Kevin flipping the light on next to the bed. "Oh, Mr. Connery. You startled us a bit there."

"Sorry boys." He enters the room. "Good, glad to see you left everything set up. This shouldn't take long and then you boys can get back to your sleep. If what the doc is telling me is true, you're all gonna need it."

"Yeah. No kidding." I grumble.

"So…Joshua, how are you feeling these days?" Sean asks.

"Like a beached whale. I can't do anything. Everytime I move my feet swell up so bad they hurt. Same with my hands. I have tried to at least waddle over to the weight bench that the guys moved in here but even that short distance is difficult. Other than that and a little back pain, I'm fine."

"Good, that's great to hear. And the rest of your friends? They are well?"

"Yeah, I guess. I don't get around much and they've been busy trying to record and all. They've been trying to figure out how to get a bed in the studio so I can lay down and still help with the production end of things."

"I'll see what I can find to help you all out. How are the albums going?"

"We've got Sugar Ray's next one done, just need to fine tune a couple things. Backstreet's is almost done too. Ours…well lets just say, maybe we shouldn't have waited on working on that one. It's kinda on hold for now." I answer.

"Hmmm. Ok…sounds good so far. Jonathan…I want to take a look at this studio and see if we can come up with something so Joshua can be comfortable in there."

"Yes sir."

"Now…I wanna see the babies." He moves in, then stops and looks at me, "If it's alright with you, that is."

"But of course. How could I say no to such a wonderful host?"

The doc moves in, flips on the machine, lets it warm up, puts more gel on my stomach then places the device in the gel and moves it around. "There…can you see them?"

"Yes…Well done Joshua. You're an amazing young man. You take care of those little ones and I'll see what I can do about your studio. Jonathan…the studio please." He turns to leave then turns around and looks at the doc. "Next time you call me in a panic like that, this youngin here better be giving birth…You got me?"

"Yes sir." The doc turns bright red. "I just…"

"I know what you thought. We knew when we started this there was a good chance that this could be a multiple birth."

"Wait? You mean you've known all along that I was going to have…How? Why didn't you say anything?" I look at the doc, "All this time you've known? I wondered why you changed me from having an ultra sound once a month to not having another til now. How could you be sure that they were healthy? What if something had happened to one of them?"

'Whoa there son. Yes we knew there was a chance you'd have more than one baby. As for why we didn't tell you, well…we didn't want you getting upset or worrying about it. As for the ultra sounds, you were supposed to be getting them. Why haven't you been doing them?" He turns to doc.

"Um…well…the machine…I didn't want to alarm him. The way his stomach was growing and it seems everything he eats goes right to the babies. I mean, look at him. He's skinny as a rail…well a rail with a very large ball in the middle of it. I didn't think it would be wise to add to his stress."

"Well…I don't care what you think. I want you to do one every week from now until the delivery. I will expect a picture of those little ones in my mail from now on. I'm sorry Joshua. You should have been informed much sooner."

"It's ok…I …Well… I'm just in a bit of shock that's all. It's nothing to worry about. We'll be fine. At least tile their born anyway. God…What am I gonna do with so many babies?/

"Very well then. I'll se you soon. Take care son." With a wave Sean disappears down the hall.

****Two months Later****

Mark's POV

"Jayce? Where you at baby?" I state coming down the hallway. /Holly shit…what the hell???/ Josh? You down here?"

"Man…I think I can see myself in the door man." Kevin states as he follows me down the hall. "You guys got a different person cleaning your wing?"

"No it's Josh. He's been cleaning for the last week. I hate to say it but I think I liked the Josh that couldn't get out of bed compared to this one. Just don't say anything ok? There is no safe route here. He'll get upset no matter what you say."

We continue on down the hallway with Kevin marveling at how clean everything is when my eyes land on Josh cleaning the already spotless mirror above the dresser. "Hey baby. What you up to?"

Josh spins around and grins at me, "Cleaning. I can't believe how much energy I have all of a sudden. I feel like I just came off stage. Figures…It's almost over and now I get all this energy." He looks around for a couple of minutes then heads towards us.

"Where you going baby?" I ask as he passes us.

"Studio. I can move without it hurting so I'm heading down there to get something accomplished. I'm tired of sitting around this end of the building doing nothing." He wanders a little further down the hall and turns, "You guys coming?"

I spin around and follow him back down the hall, Kevin not too far behind dialing as quick as possible to get all the guys to the studio so they can get some work done. While Kevin was rounding up the guys, I called the doc to ask him a couple of questions about Josh's behavior. The doc said he'd meet up with us in the studio in an hour.

Josh sits at the controls, looks through the glass and smiles. "Man it's good to be out of that bed." He then looks around at the guys, "J you first. You remember the song we were working on before?"

Justin walks into the recording booth and nods in reply to Josh's question. Josh pushes a knob on the control panel and suddenly a beautiful medley that I hadn't heard before began playing. Justin watched Josh closely as if waiting for a cue to begin singing. The slight nod of Josh's head must have been what he was waiting for because he began singing almost simultaneously with it. Josh just continued to smile.

I sat watching Josh record each of the guys singing the same exact song over and over until I thought I could have sang it in my sleep, then Josh got up and went in the booth, but not before issuing strict instructions that no one was to touch a single knob, button or lever on the control panel other than Kevin. Kevin promptly sat down where JC had been sitting and did the exact same thing Josh had done with each of the others.

Josh had sung the song 4 times straight through and half way through the fifth doubled over as if someone had slugged him in his stomach. He knelt down for a few minutes before standing again and telling Kevin to start the music again. He made it through once again before he doubled over again. This time however instead of standing up again he looked up at me.

The pain in his eyes made me panic for a second before I was pushed out of the way by the doc, Jonathan and Margarita. “We gotta hurry here. How far apart are they?” Doc asked looking at me.

“Um…” I stammered, “I don’t…”

“About 4 minutes. Give or take a stanza.” Kevin states. At my questioning look he shrugs and looks at the clock on the wall directly behind Josh. “Have some experience in this area. With a brother who has two kids and Brian’s wife went through this part then…” He trails off as he looks at Brian.

“Ummm…Don’t care how much experience you have, just make the pain stop doc.” Josh states, pain radiating across his face.

“Will do son.” He looks at me, “You coming?”

“Like you even have to ask. Where we going?”

“The basement. You all can come if you like but only Mr. McGrath will be allowed in the delivery room. You can all watch from the viewing room.”

“Basement?” Kevin asks. “I wasn’t aware there was a basement.”

“And I thought you were the suspicious one.” Jeff states as he pulls a lever on the wall. “I found this the second day we were here. There’s one in every room, but they all lead to two empty rooms with a huge glass window in between them.”

“Yep, that would be where we’re going now.” Doc states as he leads Josh through the door that had appeared and we all made our way down a slightly slopped walkway ending in two rooms that were set up exactly as Jeff had described, only they weren’t empty. They had been filled with anything the doctor may need while delivering the babies. The equipment included little beds for each of the babies and chairs for the viewers, which now included Karen, Lynn, Diane, Beverly, Phyllis and Mr. Connery.

Karen rushed out as soon as she laid eyes on Josh, “Oh baby…how are you feeling?”

“Like I’m being ripped in half ma. How did you go through this three times? I’m so glad this won’t happen again. I don’t know hooooooooooooooow…Drugs would be good right about now doc.” He states as he climbs up on the table.

“Sorry son…You get to be awake for the whole thing…Just a local for you. Then out come the babies.”

“Oh man,” he groans as he rolls his head towards me.

The nurse grabs me before I can walk into the room and makes me scrub my arms and face, then put a medical gown, pants, hat, mask and shoe covers on. She then allows me to join Josh, just in time for the doctor to bring out the needle.

Josh grabbed my hand with a death grip. I stood there as the doctor administered the medication then wandered off to talk to Sean for a while then strolled back in and began rubbing in different areas of Josh’s abdomen and asking, “Can you feel that?” Josh would shake his head no and the doc would move to another spot. This continued until the doc was satisfied Josh was numb enough and brought out the scalpel at which time Josh’s grip tightened even more until he realized the doc was done cutting, then he slackened his grip slightly.

We watched in quiet awe as the doctor pulled out the first baby, cleaned it up, made sure he was breathing then turned him over to Margarita. He returned to Josh’s stomach while Margarita was busily cleaning, weighing and wrapping him. I looked down at Josh when the doc announced it was a boy and just starred at those beautiful blue eyes until the second baby started crying and the doc announced this one too was a boy. The doc handed him over and dug in again, this time coming out with a tiny little baby that was screaming the minute the doc pulled her from the warmth she had been nestled in.

I relaxed a little and looked back down at Josh, “You are amazing you know that? Two strong boys and one very healthy little girl.”

“Um…I’m not done yet.” The doc states as he reaches in and pulls out another baby. This one is just as small as her sister but not as loud. She didn’t start crying until the doc pinched her little foot, “Just making sure her lungs are clear of fluid.” He states as I glare at him. He then leans in and begins cleaning Josh up. He is almost done cleaning up all the fluid when he smiles, “Well, look at you. What you doing hiding back here all by yourself?”

I look down at Josh like the doc had just fallen off his rocker and saw the same look mirrored on his face, but we both change our minds as we hear yet another baby crying. I look up just in time to see Margarita stroll to the other side of the room with a very dark haired baby. “Well baby, I think that last one got your hair.”

“That little one was hiding way in the back, almost missed him.” Doc mumbled to himself.

Margarita brings our first daughter over, “Could one of you hold her for a minute. I don’t have enough beds and she seems to be the most unhappy.” She hands me the baby and walks off to tend to the others.

I lean down so Josh can see her while the doc finishes sewing him back up. “She’s beautiful, Josh.”

He looks at her and gives me a tired smile, “Yes she is.”

I lean down and plant a kiss on his forehead, “Think your mom might wanna see her?”

“Mmmm, probably.” He whispers.

“K. Why don’t you relax baby? I think your job is done for now.” I take the baby over to the glass so that everyone in the room can see her.

“Well done son. Why don’t you just go to sleep for a little while? When you wake up you’ll be in your room and so will the little ones. Get some rest…This might be the last time in a long time you will.” The doc smiles down at Josh then at me.

Margarita goes into the viewing room and grabs Kevin, Justin and Jeff. “Need you three to help. You don’t expect me to push five babies up that walkway do you?”

The three of them follow her back into the room and she directs them each to a baby.

Karen walks in and takes the baby from me and smiles at the puzzled look on my face, “You have someone else to push up that ramp. I’ll take care of her.” She heads out the room and down the hall with the others.

The doc and I manage to get Josh back up the walkway and to our room. Kevin comes back in and helps me get Josh off the delivery bed and into our bed then takes his newly designated place in the chair next to our bed.

The doc ensures Josh’s IV lines are set up ok, takes one last look at the sutures to make sure nothing was disturbed and states, “Make him stay in bed for a week. I don’t want him sitting, standing or walking. You got that?” When Kevin and I both nod he continues, “After the first week, he can sit and make short trips. Nothing strenuous. We’ll see how he’s healing and take it from there.” He looks me straight in the eye and growls, “No sex for 6 weeks. None. Do I have to go into detail here?”

“Ummm…No…I think I understand pretty well thanks.”

Kevin chuckles, throwing his hands up when I give him a glare, “What? What’d I do?”

I turn my attention back to the doctor, “Anything else I should know?”

“Nope, that about covers it. Mr. Connery has interviewed several nurses to help with the babies but figured you two would want to meet them first. Given the circumstances and all.”

“What do they need nurses for?” Karen questions from the doorway. Behind her stood Diane, Lynn, Beverly and Phyllis. There were a couple of other women that I hadn’t met yet but figured introductions would be coming soon when Kevin got up and hugged one of the women.

“Guess the mom brigade has arrived?” I smirk as Karen comes across the room and hugs me.

“You got it son. I couldn’t get a hold of your mom though so you might want to give her a call.”

I nod and whisper, “Won’t do any good. She won’t care.”

“What do you mean son?” She starts but stops when she feels Josh’s hand on hers.

“Don’t mom. Leave it alone.” He meets my gaze and I give him a grateful smile.

“I’ll explain some other time. Today is a day for happiness.”

“How are they Mark? Are they…”

“Five healthy, happy babies Josh. You make a mother proud. And look at you….your stomach is already flat. You know how many women would kill to be able to do that?”

“Mom…” Josh blushes.

“I know…I know.” She smiles down at him then moves away, “I’m gonna go see my grand babies. You get some rest son.” The mom’s are all gone before either of us has a chance to respond.

I look around the room and realize that other than Kevin, we are finally alone. I climb on the bed, taking great care not to disturb Josh any more than necessary and lay down.

Josh immediately scoots over, groaning quietly, so that are bodies are side by side.

I roll over on my side and place a hand on his chest, “Does it…”

“Not as much as I thought it would actually. It hurts big time when I move, but it’s just kinda a dull ache when I lie still.”

“Then I guess you’ll be laying still for a while huh?” I snicker.

“Damn straight. So they’re all healthy?”

“Yep. Five very healthy babies Josh. Three little boys and two sweet little girls.”

“I don’t know about sweet…that first one was screaming like a banshee. I swear she must have taken lessons from Christina or something.” Josh smiles. “Hey Kev…You think you could hit the lights…I’m beat man…” He waits til Kevin flips the light off and starts settling back in his chair. “Kev?”

“Yeah Jayce?”

“You don’t…you could join us you know.”

“I…I didn’t…”

“Get over here and get some rest Kev. Nothing is gonna happen with Sean in the house. Have you seen the security that man has with him?” Josh growls.

“Yeah, I have…And that’s all the more reason to stay awake. I just don’t like the fact that the babies are so far down the hall.”

“I know that tone Kev…What’s up?” Josh states.

“I don’t know…there’s just a couple of people in his crew that I don’t trust. Got a strange vibe from them.”

“Yeah, I had the same feeling. The big blonde guy with the accent?”

“Yep. Him and that house looking Spanish fella.” Kevin states. “I think I’m gonna get Jeff and the guys. Something just doesn’t feel right. I mean it could just be that my team lead, who happens to be a man, just gave birth to five babies but I don’t know.”

“Go ahead. If you think it’s worth getting worked up over then go. I sure hope no one would try to move Josh in his condition but I’ll be here just in case. And I’m willing to bet Justin is right outside that door.” I state, indicating to the closed bedroom door.

Kevin opens the door and sure enough Justin’s there, “Keep an eye out man. I’ve a feeling something’s gonna go down tonight.” They shut the door and that’s the last I hear for a while.

Sure enough, not more than two hours later I hear what sounds like someone trying to come into the room and to my astonishment Josh already has his pistol pointed at the door and had somehow managed to squirm his way to a half-sitting position in the bed. He looks over at me, “Shhh.” He shoves a pistol into my hand under the covers and we sit and wait.

The door opens and Josh snarls, “Identify yourself or eat a bullet.”

“You wouldn’t shoot.” A strange voice states. “You don’t even have a weapon.”

JC cocks the weapon in his hands, “You really wanna test that theory Michael?”

“Damn Chasez…Relax. Sean brought me in.”

“Sean brought you in? That means…Nikita?”

“I’m here man. Good thing too. Seems some of our friends at Section got wind of what went down here today. Don’t think they were bargaining on finding as many armed people as they did though.” A female voice replied.

I reach over and flip on the small lamp by the bed, “Josh? Who are these people and what are they doing in our bedroom?”

“Oh Mark babe. I’m sorry. Michael…Nikita…This is Mark McGrath. Mark this is Michael and Nikita. The best operatives not in Section.”

“If they’re Section then…”

“No babe, they’re not in Section. Sean…well I’m assuming it was Sean, pulled them from Section for performing some screwed up experiment with their DNA. Something to do with cloning. I thought for sure they were gonna take Operations down when that happened…but…”

“I can promise you one thing Chasez. He’ll be going down soon. This was the last straw. Sean just wants to wait for one thing then it’s gonna happen.”

“What’s he waiting for? Why not strike now?”

“He wants all his best operatives in on this. This isn’t gonna be an easy mission and he wants all the best ops he can get.”

Josh looks around the room, “Well who’re we missing?”

“You man….You aren’t exactly in any shape to go on a mission right now.” Nikita smirks.

“Yeah, yeah…you keep smilin’ there girlie. You’re just jealous cuz you two don’t have any kids.” Josh teases.

“Oooo, low blow Jayce.” Kevin states coming back into the room.

“Sorry.”

“Nah man, it’s cool.” Michael states moving to the bed. “Everything is secure for now but it’s not gonna stay that way for long. Operations will try again. Is there somewhere we can move all of you that’s safe?”

“Damn man, I’d have thought this place would be inpenatrable. The setup is perfect.” I state.

“Not now that Operations knows where you are. I don’t know how they found out but let me tell you…I’m not gonna rest til I know.” Michael growls.

All of a sudden a paniked look crosses Josh’s face and he whispers, “The babies? Are they…”

“Don’t worry man. They’re all safely nestled in their beds. I don’t think anyone could have gotten past the crew you have in there anyway. Even if they had gotten past us. I opened the door to the nursery and got accosted by 4 of the meanest looking women I’ve ever come across man.” Nikita smiles. “I thought I was gonna have to shoot them all just to get them off Michael.”

“You got bested by the Mom’s man? Oh that is too good…Wait til I tell Kev that one.”

“Hey now, those ladies are ruthless. Didn’t even give me a chance to tell ‘em who I was before they had me on the floor.”

“They’re a tough bunch and they were protecting a very special package. You should have known better man.” Josh admonishes.

“Yeah, well don’t think I’ll be taking them on anytime soon, let me tell you.” He smiles. “So how we gonna handle this boss?”

Again I look at Josh with astonishment.

“Well…I think our best defense is to stay right here. Yeah it’s big but everyone is already here and this place is pretty hard to attach. We have the technology and man power to handle just about anything. We have Section’s best operatives and I can almost guarantee you that Sean’s got an arsenal somewhere in this place. Kev? Where’s Brian? He’s the one that located the basement first, maybe he’s wandered into some other rooms we could make use of?”

“I’ll get him.” Kevin states, rushing out of the room.

“Mark? Could you move that table over here and grab my notebook over there?” I hand them over and scoot the table over. Josh to my surprise sits up and slides to the edge of the bed with no sign of discomfort. “How many men did you bring with you?” He asks looking at Michael.

“Um…’fraid it’s just me and Nikita man.”

“K…that gives us…29 people. We’ll have to keep The Mom’s in the nursery though so that leaves us with 24.”

“Josh, you just had surgery. You can’t…”

Josh glares at me, “I’m fine Mark. I told you I’m a fast healer.” He lifts his shirt to show where the doc had sewn his stomach earlier that afternoon. “See…barely even a scar left.”

I reach over and run a hand over his stomach, “How?”

“He’s been in Section for a long time Mark.” Michael stated as if that was supposed to explain how he healed so quickly.

Brian enters the room, “Michael…Niki…What? Oh, this can’t be good if you two are here. What’s up boss?”

“Bri…I know you’ve been wandering around this place…tell me what you’ve found.” Josh states.

Brian takes a seat on the edge of the bed near him, “We got a map of the house?”

Michael pulls a piece of paper from his boot, “The best I can do man.”

“It’ll do.” Brian states. He places the map on the table and starts indicating rooms where he’d found secret passages and where they led.

“Great. Thanks Bri.” Josh smiles. “I’ll assume the parameter is already set up with all the security guards we brought with us and Sean’s men. So we just have to worry about the interior, but we don’t want to look like we’re expecting trouble. Everyone in this house is a trained operative except The Mom’s, Heather and the babies so they’ll all need to be kept close to the center of the house as much as possible. You said the nursery has a passage that actually leads to somewhere outside the house?” Brian nods. “So we’ll have to try and keep someone in there at all times. They also think I’m laid up in bed, so for appearances I will remain in bed for the week as instructed by the doc. They’ll more than likely try another strike tonight, since they’ll think I’m still too weak to do much.” He looks at the five of us, “First priority is to ensure the safety of the babies. Operations is not to get their hands on them. Understood?”

The five of use nod.

“It seems you’re crew has done a pretty good job keeping the place safe so far, so…where do you want us?” Michael asks.

“If you two could help in the nursery that would help. Just stay away from any windows. If one of them sees you…they’ll know we’re on to them.”

“Right. You can count on us boss.”

They walk out of the room leaving Josh, Brian, Kevin and myself in the room. Josh stands and walks up to Kevin and Brian, “Keep an eye on them. I don’t trust them any further than I could throw them.”

Brian and Kevin both nod and then disappear into the hallway.

Josh turns back around and climbs back in bed, “Man, that took more out of me than I thought.” He lays back down and looks up at me, “You gonna join me or you just gonna stand there the rest of the night?”

I scoot the table out of the way and then crawl back under the covers.

Josh slides over and places his head on my chest, “We got a mole, you know that right?”

“Yeah, but who? Why?”

“I’ve got a couple of guesses but I need to do a bit more research before I can be certain. Lets get some sleep. We’ve got a long day ahead of us and I’d like to spend some of it with my babies and their incredibly gorgeous daddy.”

“Sounds good to me babe.”

****

I rolled over and looked at the clock next to the bed, “Holly shit. Josh, wake up.”

“Um…Mark?” Josh questions from his spot next to the window, “I’m already up love. Showered and dressed, perhaps you’d like to get your cute butt out of bed and help protect our family…”

I freeze for a second then jump up from the bed and rush to his side, “Where…”

“The trees…just to the right of that large spruce…You see them?”

“Yeah, how many are there?”

“I’ve counted ten. Kevin just came in a couple minutes ago with word that the house is as surrounded as it could get. No entrance is uncovered from the outside. Now that you’re awake we’ve got to get to the babies and get them moved to the basement so nothing happens to them.”

“K…Let me just throw on a pair of pants…K…ready to go babe.” I grab my holster and strap it on as we make our way down the hall.

We walk into the nursery and find The Moms have already bundled the babies into warm blankets and prepared bags for their hasty departure.

“Knew I could count on you ladies to be ready in a pinch.” Josh smiles as he hugs his mom. “Where’d…”

Karen nods to a corner, “Caught ‘em early this morning trying sneak this one out.” She indicates the baby in her arms. “Guess they didn’t realize they got the one with the lungs til it was too late. I think she scared them more than they scared her.”

Josh smiles and gives the little girl in his mother’s arms a kiss on top of her head, “Good girl.” He then straightens and states, “Lets get them out of here ladies. Follow Mark please. I’ll bring up the rear.”

We all head down the hall, making our way to one of the rooms with a passage to the basement. When we pass Kevin, Josh stops him and asks him to find Brian and Lance and have them join us as soon as possible.

Once we get to the basement Josh breaks the glass between the two rooms and clears a corner of the room for the moms and babies to huddle in safely. He then turns to the women, “If anything happens to Mark and I, I trust you to take care of them. Whatever you do, don’t let Operations get their hands on them. They won’t have a life if he does.” He then hands his mother a loaded pistol. “I’d suggest you not let them take you alive either.” He then leans over and gives each of the babies, and the woman holding it a kiss. When he turns back to me I could tell he was ready to face whatever we were to meet head on. He’d cleared his mind, now it was my turn. “I’ll meet you in the hall,” he states as he walks by.

I repeat Josh’s gestures and follow him from the room taking one final look back at my children. “Love you,” I whisper.

“They love you too Mark, but right now we have to get ready for a fight love.” Josh whispers. “You ready?”

I take a deep breath, “Yep. Lets do this.”

We make our way back through the corridor, coming out in a different part of the house this time. Brian and Kevin were making their way towards us.

Kevin walks up, “You know this is gonna end ugly right?”

“Yes, but we knew that when we started this journey that it wasn’t gonna be easy. This is just another bump in the road.” Josh states as he looks out the window. “They’re moving in.”

“Here, you’ll need these.” He hands us each a headset. Lance has set up a com station in studio.”

As he finishes his statement we hear a helicopter moving in on the house. I walk up behind Josh, “Is that a friendly or foe?”

“Can’t tell yet…” He gets a huge smile on his face as the gunman in the helicopter starts firing on the men surrounding the house.

“Guess their friendly.” I smile as I take up a position at another window just as another helicopter opens fire on the other side of the house. “But who…”

“Guess there are a few benefits to being in a Family,” Joey states over the headsets. “Just gotta be the right Family, huh Lance?”

“Yeah, yeah man. Now get off the line.”

I look at Josh just as he looks at me and I state, “We gonna let those damned Italians have all the fun?”

He raises an eyebrow, “Hell no. Let’s move men.”

We start firing on the men running towards the house trying to get away from the helicopters. With the aide of Joey’s dad’s friends the fight didn’t last long and pretty soon we were putting Doc, Michael and Nikita on one of the helicopters and heading back down to the basement to retrieve our children.

“Mom…It’s Josh…You alright?” Josh yells as we approach the two rooms.

“Yeah, we’re fine Josh. So are the babies son. Is it safe?”

“Yep, it’s all over. You can all come out now.” He walks over to Mrs. Fatone and gives her a huge hug after taking the baby from her and handing him to me. “Thank you for blessing us with Joseph…He has saved us all today.”

She smiles and asks, “What? How?”

“Lets just say a few of his friends came to help out.” Josh smiled.

“Oh…oh. They did? That’s wonderful.”

We all head back up to the main part of the house, put the babies back in their warm beds and head back to our separate rooms.

Josh stops and looks at me, “You know…we still need to think up names for them.”