"Hey Grandpa, hey Grammy," her granddaughter greeted Sam and Penny cheerfully as she joined them in the garden with Mairi, and they hugged them both, just as her mother did.

"Pip, it's amazing to see you again," Sam remarked, visibly surprised, which earned him a confused look from all three women.

"I was just here last week, Grandpa," Piper reminded him, but Sam just shrugged and didn't flinch, giving no indication whether he was just ignoring her objection or had truly forgotten. "Is he getting forgetful or just hard of hearing?" Piper quietly turned to Penny, who chuckled amusedly.

"I can still hear perfectly well, young lady!" Sam remarked grumpily before Penny could reply.

"Which the hearing aid clearly proves," Mairi couldn't resist teasing her elderly father, patting him comfortingly on the shoulder.

"I'd like to see you when you're my age," Sam remarked, unenthusiastically, as he reached for his cup of tea to take a sip.

"I don't want to get that old. Given my history, I'll need care. Who's going to do that? I raised four children and Josh, and they'd all put me in a home," Mairi said with a grin, earning a dirty look from her daughter.

"We didn't choose to get that old either, but it happens, doesn't it?" Penny remarked a little wistfully, now that they were the last of all their peers to still have their lives and it wasn't always easy to get through the day.

"Could we stop talking about death? I'm carrying a new life here," Piper interjected unenthusiastically, pointing to her belly, which was clearly visible under her baggy T-shirt. She was seven months pregnant, and such topics depressed her, although there was certainly a significant amount of pregnancy hormones involved.

"You wouldn't do that if you'd kept your hands off that good-for-nothing," Sam remarked grumpily, who just couldn't help but be angry about her former fiancé cheating on her with another woman, and all three women rolled their eyes in annoyance.

"Just ignore him, Pip. How's the renovation coming along?" Penny turned to her granddaughter, changing the subject before Sam turned it into an endless discussion again.

"Great. Mum's about to strangle Dad because he's scattered everything in the living room for his current case, and the other three are all jealous because I'm getting two rooms," Piper sarcastically told them what was going on at their place. She'd been desperately looking for an apartment after leaving her ex, but hadn't found anything yet. So Chester had given up his study so she could use it as a bedroom, while her parents' bedroom would become the nursery until she found something else. Mairi and Chester, meanwhile, were moving upstairs into Piper's old childhood bedroom, which caused quite a stir in the Cole household.

"Jealous? They're 22. Why don't they move out if they need more space? You and Josh were able to break away too," Sam interjected, puzzled.

"And forgo the comforts of Mom's Hotel?" Piper reminded her grandfather with a grin, reminding him that the three of them quite appreciated how comfortable they were at home.

"Very funny. It's not me who's pampering you all, it's your father. I wouldn't mind finally being able to enjoy my retirement and not having to clean up after anyone else," Mairi remarked grumpily.

"Well, thanks, and now you've got me on your back again, grandchild included," Piper retorted to her mother, grimacing as if it had really hurt her.

"Don't talk nonsense, Pip! We love you. It's obvious you'll be staying with us again," Mairi reassured her daughter, especially since Piper would never be a burden. She was hardworking and tidy and enjoyed helping around the house and cooking. In stark contrast to the other three, who simply enjoyed their youth and, apart from their training, didn't give much thought to the word responsibility. "But we're actually here to clean, right?" Mairi then reminded her daughter why they'd come in the first place, and Piper stood up.

"We can do it ourselves!" Sam stopped them once again before they could disappear inside, even though he knew how pointless the attempt was.

"Yeah, sure, Dad, and then we can listen to you whining for three days because you pinched a nerve or slipped on a puddle again," Mairi said, not enthusiastically, noting what had happened the last few times he'd wielded the mop himself. That was also the reason why Mairi and Fiona had decided to take turns doing the rough cleaning themselves on a weekly basis, so that the two of them wouldn't put themselves in danger by getting wet floors or climbing ladders or chairs. Penny had accepted this better than Sam, but she also accepted the fact that they couldn't do everything themselves or alone anymore.

"That last one only happened once!" Sam immediately corrected, not enthusiastically, and called after the two younger women, but they had already disappeared inside.

"Remember when Piper was born?" Penny sighed, smiling as she tilted her head back to enjoy the last rays of sunshine of the day and closed her eyes.

"How could I forget? Everything was in turmoil," Sam answered her, taking another sip of his tea.

"Because you almost triggered the emergency alarm," Penny reminded him with a grin.

"Don't exaggerate, my dear," Sam grumbled as he put his cup back and tilted his head back, ready to listen to Penny's recollection.

Oh, I still remember when the emergency call came in. Your heart almost stopped.

"Mairi Cole is having her baby and is in so much pain. Oh, and Ches knocked it out and he's unconscious now?!" Ellie announced the incoming emergency call over the loudspeaker, and you were immediately on high alert.

"Call Liam and Malcolm! We need an ambulance and a police escort," you shouted to Niall and Elvis.

"What's wrong with him? He wasn't like that with any of your three children, or with Liam's," Ellie pointed out, having come down the slide and now coming over to me as we watched you empty the cupboard to find the extra-large first-aid kit.

"Ellie! This is about Mairi," I remarked, pretending to be horrified by her statement. "What would Elvis do with Tina?" I asked her, realizing she still didn't understand.

"Ohh," she said, her eyes widening as she finally realized it, because Elvis was no different than you when it came to being overprotective of your daughters. Unlike you, though, he coddled Tina more than he threatened her boyfriends or tried to scare them away. "Well, we'll have something to look forward to then," Ellie muttered sarcastically, and I had to laugh quietly at her lack of enthusiasm.

"Pen, Ellie! You're no help standing around!" you called out to us from Jupiter's open door at that moment, which I didn't find very amusing because you were completely exaggerating.

"You're sleeping on the couch tonight for that!" I replied grumpily, but then I complied and climbed into Jupiter with Ellie, while Niall, Elvis, and Aidan followed us in Venus and Mercury. Reassured, I realized that at least Arnold had had the sense to hold his position at the station. As soon as we arrived in front of Mairi and Chester's house, you immediately jumped out of Jupiter and stormed up the path, ramming your shoulder into the door with full force. "Sam!" I called out to you, stunned, and you actually stopped and turned to me. "They have a doorbell and..." I began to point out that you had completely overreacted when you interrupted me.

"Pen, this is about my daughter's well-being. I'm not going to waste time in ringing the doorbell!" you reprimanded me, and before I could say anything else, you kicked the door in.

"I still had the key!" I remarked grumpily, but followed the others inside, who were hot on your heels.

"What?!...Dad?! Why are you kicking in our door?" Mairi demanded immediately, as you were able to confirm that both your daughter and Chester could still stand on their own two feet.

"Because Josh called to say the baby is coming and Chester is unconscious!" you explained, now confused, and Mairi glared at Josh, who had made himself comfortable on the couch and was shrugging with a broad grin.

"That's no reason to kick in the door!" Mairi protested, but the next moment she stopped, just like me, when someone behind us loudly demanded, using a megaphone, that we make way for the emergency services. "Is that Uncle Malcolm?" she asked, stunned, as I recognized the voice, and Malcolm followed closely behind Liam and a colleague, who were pushing in a stretcher. It was slowly getting really crowded in here.

"Of course. Do you think I want to miss our baby having our baby?!" Malcolm interjected, having heard Mairi, and I had to laugh quietly at Mairi's stunned face.

"Our baby?!" she repeated the police officer's words in shock as I pushed my way past her. Everyone was so excited about the baby, but this was a bit over the top. Half the town certainly didn't need to be there.

"Are you okay, darling?" I asked Mairi with a smile, and she nodded before turning to Chester, whose arm she was still holding. Chester, on the other hand, was worryingly pale.

"Chester, can you drive?" Mairi asked him, seemingly unsure herself whether she could really trust him.

"Why shouldn't I be able to?!" he remarked, but at that moment Mairi was hit by another contraction. I was immediately on her other side, supporting her as she buckled slightly in pain. I knew the feeling all too well. You felt like your legs would give out at any moment. "Ow, ow, ow! Mairi! Wouldn't you rather shoot me?!" Chester suddenly moaned pitifully, and I saw that in her pain she was clinging to the first thing she could get her hands on: Chester's arm.

"You'd better come with me, sis. The ambulance is already waiting. It was obvious our little wimp was going to fail again," Liam said with a grin, freeing Chester from Mairi's grasp to help her onto the stretcher. Even though Liam received a dirty look from both of them, which he skillfully ignored, Mairi still listened to her big brother for once.

"Says the guy who put an entire hospital on emergency standby because his daughter scraped her knee for the first time!" I reminded Liam how overprotective he was of his own daughter, and that at least brought a smile back to Mairi's face, if only for a moment. Liam had been so panicked back then. He'd made a fuss as if Emi were about to die.

"Mum! It needed stitches!" he immediately defended himself over Mairi, on whose other side I was standing, tightening the straps to secure her on the stretcher.

"They were just band-aids. He's just as hot-tempered as his father when it comes to his girl!" I replied, rolling my eyes in annoyance, though I couldn't help but grin because I knew you never liked it when I teased you about it.

"Very funny, Pen!" you grumbled as you grabbed the gurney on my side and helped Liam get Mairi into the ambulance.

You were so keen to follow them in Jupiter with the blue lights and sirens blaring, but then I put my foot down. We drove back to the station with the others and got into our car, which I had used to drive us safely to the hospital, despite your protests.

Of course, I was nervous and worried about Mairi, but if we had had an accident, we would have only burdened her with more worries. On top of that, we weren't allowed into the delivery room at all. Only one person at a time was allowed in, and that was Chester's job.

And as I expected, despite the detour via the station and my calm driving, we were still early enough. We even had to wait over an hour in the waiting area, where Malcolm was already waiting because he had escorted the ambulance. Liam arrived a little later with the twins, Josh and Fiona, and a ton of colorful balloons. Your mother had already heard about it from the local radio and called my parents, who arrived shortly afterward with a giant teddy bear. Your mother had let Aidan take him with her, and he almost collapsed under the giant diaper cake your mother had made and made him carry.

Then Chester came out. He was as pale as a ghost and his eyes showed clear signs of having cried quite a bit, but he smiled broadly and proudly announced that their daughter was safe and sound.

He went back inside when he was called again, and it took another 20 minutes before a nurse told us which room they had put Mairi in, where we immediately headed to. You didn't give us much time to think about whether or not we should disturb the young couple's happiness and were already knocking on the door as soon as you reached it.

"Hey, Princess," you said quietly into the room, and past you, I saw Mairi smiling contentedly at the sight of you. She had her little baby in her arms and looked so terribly tired but also happy, and seemed to have really gotten through everything well. Chester, however, worried me more. Although he was sitting next to Mairi on the bed with his arm around her so he could be close to his family, he was still pale, and the needle of an IV that hung next to the bed disappeared into his other arm. "Can we come in?" you asked her then.

"Absolutely," Mairi said, smiling, but then she was quite amazed when you opened the door completely to enter, giving her a clear view of all the other visitors. But she didn't let that deter her and showed us her little girl, pulling back the blanket she was wrapped in a little. "Mom, Dad. This is Piper," she introduced us before handing her to me, and I gladly took her. I had tears in my eyes because it was such an indescribable feeling to hold my grandchild in my arms. Sure, it was the third, but it always seemed like a miracle to me, just as it was with our children and every other grandchild our children had given us.

"She's beautiful," you said, almost reverently, as you put one arm around me and gently pulled back the blanket with the other so you could get a closer look. She slept peacefully, but she looked almost exactly like Mairi did when she was born. Only Piper had brown hair with a slight reddish tint, thanks to her father and, as we later discovered, his eye color.

"She is, isn't she? Luckily, she got most of her mother" Chester remarked amusedly, and kissed Mairi on the temple, while the others gathered around us, practically pushing you away so they could get a glimpse of the new family member in my arms. The room was suddenly filled with delighted aahs and oohs.

"How did you come up with Piper?" I heard you ask them both as you were forced to make room. That interested me, though. Mairi had told me they were expecting a girl, but hadn't revealed the name.

"I happened to read the name somewhere, and we liked it," Chester answered.

"Especially because flute and even bagpipe music always calmed her, no matter how agitated she seemed to be," Mairi added with a smile, adding to her husband's explanation and placing a hand over his, which held the IV needle. "I'm curious to see if that's still the case now that she's born," Mairi then said to me, because Chester was just rather embarrassedly answering Liam's question about how he'd fallen over for the third time today when he was supposed to cut the umbilical cord, and that's why the doctors had decided to give him something to get his circulation going again.

"I'd be surprised. The only one who still liked the music we played during the pregnancy was Aidan when Elvis sang," you replied, and I was visibly impressed that you still remembered that.

"Mairi never liked it when he sang," I reminded you, however, noting how she had protested by kicking my stomach and covering her ears in the early years whenever Elvis serenaded me—and we all knew Elvis sang all the time.

"I've always had the better taste in music in the family," Mairi replied with a grin, and we laughed quietly as I put Mairi back in Piper's arms.

"Don't let Elvis hear that, darling," I admonished her with a grin.

"Considering everything that happened nine months ago, this makes her an even bigger miracle than she already is. She's the best thing that could have happened to me, after you, Red. Thank you. I love you so much," Chester said dreamily, having immediately lost himself in his gaze on Piper again when she was close to him in Mairi's arms. But now he looked up at Mairi and gave her a gentle kiss. He was so in love with his two girls.

"I love you too," Mairi replied dreamily, and I remember well that you rolled your eyes again because you couldn't handle their whining, as you call it, even though I never thought they were bad. They just had to wait as long as we did for each other. So it was no wonder they were just as clingy as we were.

"Hey, what about me?" Josh suddenly asked, a little offended, from next to Chester, who laughed and lifted Josh onto the bed next to him so he could get a better look at Piper, with whom he would now be living and hopefully looking after her like a big brother, even though he was just a foster child.

"How could I forget you, little buddy?" Ches laughed, then ruffled his hair. Mairi also laughed softly and leaned forward a little so Josh could satisfy his curiosity when loud squeaking and shrill screams sounded outside, indicating that a monkey was jumping around in the hallway.

"Josh? Did you sneak that monkey in here?" Mairi asked him skeptically, after the room had fallen silent as everyone listened to the clattering and shouting in the hallway.

"What? No?!" he defended himself, barely able to, and Emi and Rory ran to the door, giggling, to see what the monkey was up to. "She hid in my backpack. It's not my fault," Josh protested against Mairi's skeptical look.

"You lazybone taught the monkey to unzip so he could hide your schoolbooks," Chester reminded Josh who was responsible for the monkey being able to hide in his backpack in the first place.

"And it worked, right? How many times have I been able to convincingly convince my teacher with a photo that a monkey ate, tore up, or peed on my homework?!" Josh replied with a grin, and they both rolled their eyes in annoyance, while something rattled in the hallway outside and the screams grew increasingly shrill.

"Come with me, my love. I'm afraid they need some experienced animal rescuers out there! We'll leave the parenting problems to them," you said to me with a grin before we turned our attention to the monkey. Luckily, you found a banana on the overturned food cart and were able to lure the little one and calm her down to get her out of the hospital. And no one suspected who the monkey really belonged to because we were still wearing our uniforms.

"Do you really sit here all day telling each other stories about us?" Mairi asked her parents, puzzled, as she returned to the terrace with Piper, and they were just finishing Penny's story with a laugh.

"We're over your youthful misdeeds. We've moved on to the grandchildren now," Sam explained with a grin.

"We're just sharing the beautiful memories you gave us," Penny immediately corrected her husband with a reassuring smile toward her daughter and granddaughter.

"Oh, how sweet," Piper sighed, enraptured by how harmonious and happy her grandparents were.

"Why do you do that? Doesn't it mean that life flashes before you again as the end draws near?" Mairi asked them skeptically, not feeling good about the fact that her parents obviously did this regularly these days.

"Mum! Stop worrying like that! They'll both live to be at least 100!" Piper angrily turned to her mother before Penny or Sam could say anything. She didn't want to hear about the idea that she wouldn't have her grandparents anymore.

"Let's hope so!" Mairi sighed, worried nonetheless.

"Stop it! It doesn't matter whether we have 10 years or 10 days left. We've had a wonderful life and don't regret anything," Penny now interjected into their conversation, and even though she smiled contentedly, it was a topic that made Mairi's heart ache.

"Your mother is right. You have to learn to let go, Mairi!" Sam also remarked sternly to his daughter.

"That's the right thing to say for you! Remember..." she wanted to point out to him that he, of all people, certainly didn't need to tell her about letting go, but the two exchanged an amused glance before Sam interrupted her.

"We've already had that!" he stated, and the two of them, including Piper, laughed at Mairi's astonished face.

To be continued...