"Ma, have you see my school tie?" 

JJ closed her eyes with a sigh. She felt Neil's breath over her neck as he laughed softly. "I got it, cara," he whispered before he rolled off the bed. When he walked into Lara's room, he let out a whistle. All her clothes had made it's way out the wardrobe and was either on the floor or her bed. "You are so lucky that I'm here instead of your mother." 

"Ugh, papa, you're either here to help or not." Neil raised his hands in surrender before closing her door. As he expected, the tie was behind the door, on the handle. When he looked back at Lara, she rocked back and forth on her heels. "I knew that." 

"Lara, I honestly don't know what to do with you. Why is your room such a mess? And for the love of god, leave your mama alone for a few hours. She has finished work, she's not well, she's come home and made you lunch, cleaned and stuck by you whilst you were annoying and lost that pretty head of yours. Let her rest." He walked over to her, moving the clothes with his feet. He kissed the top of her head. "Annoy me instead, please. I'm here to help too." 

"Sorry, papa. I'm just nervous. It's my first day back at school tomorrow." 

"I know that, tesero." He kissed the top of her head again before walking to the door. "I love you, sweety, but you gotta clean this up by the time you fall asleep otherwise you're grounded for the weekend." Before she could argue back, he shut the door and made his way back to the bedroom. JJ lay on the bed with her arm behind her head, staring up at the ceiling. 

"It was behind the door wasn't it?" 

"Of course it was." She blinked slowly at him. "Hey, how about you get comfortable, watch something on the laptop and I massage your feet for you." 

"You don't have to-" 

"Nah uh. I'm not listening to you. You, my lovely dearest wife, have been on your feet for way too long." He lay back beside her, lifting a hand to move her frizzy hair out her face. "Take it easy, cara. I just want you and our little baby to be okay." She looked down with a frown. 

"I'm scared, Neil," she whispered. She heard him sigh before he wrapped his arms around her. "I'm really scared. I don't want what happened the last three times to happen again. I don't think I would be able to it again." 

"Hey, hey, hey. Don't talk like that, okay? We're going to be fine, cara. We just pray everything goes well and everything goes to plan." He pulled back to look at her face. "I love you so much and I am so lucky to have you. You are so strong and I don't know how you've done it but I am so proud of you, cara." 

She nodded her head. "I'm sorry, Neil." 

"What have you got to be sorry for?" 

"When anything has happened, I wasn't there for you. You held me every night, you didn't tell me to get over it each time and I wish I was there for you." 

"Don't be silly-" 

"I know you used to cry alone sometimes." He went silent. "Sometimes in the middle of the night, I woke up alone and you would be crying in the balcony. When I used to go out and comfort you, you always used to stop after two minutes because that's when I would start crying. So I used to leave you there. I left you there so you could actually cry and let go of things. I didn't know how to be there for you and I'm so sorry." When he saw her start to cry, he pulled her into his chest, resting his chin on top. 

"It's okay. It's okay." 

"No it's not. You're my husband and you were hurting and I did nothing."

"You let me be there for you and that's all that matters. Making sure you were okay was my number one priority."

"I'm so sorry," she sobbed into his chest.

"It's okay, cara. It's okay," he kept whispering.

* * *

Neil rubbed his hands over the bump with a smile. He leaned down to give it a gentle kiss. "Listen to me," he whispered as he put a hand on her cheek. "Whatever happens, we'll get through it together, okay?"

"I'm scared, Neil." She closed her eyes and gave his hand a squeeze. Before he could say anything, the doctor came in with a smile. JJ opened her eyes again.

"Hey there, Judith. My name-"

"I'm so sorry, but can you call me by JJ instead please?"

"Oh of course. Sorry about that. So hey there, JJ. I'm your new doctor and my name is Doctor Hound and should be for the remainder of your pregnancy. Doctor Lewsh really won't be back in three months from maternity leave unfortunately."

"Hey," she mumbled. Doctor Hound laughed softly before sitting on the chair and pushing herself towards the bed.

"JJ." She looked over at Neil. "I'm so sorry, how rude of me. I didn't ask for your name."

"Oh, Neil. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too. So, I've gone over your scans and the blood works and eveything is looking good."

JJ exhaled sharply whilst looking at Neil. He gave her a smile before leaning down to kiss the top of her head. When she looked back at the doctor, she smiled. "Are you sure?"

"We'll do an ultrasound now, actually. And after that, I'd like to talk a bit more about your previous pregnancies? Is that okay?" JJ nodded her head.

Neil kissed her head again when the doctor took out the machine. "Everything is going to be okay, cara." He heard her wince at the cold gel and smiled softly. "I love you."

"I love you too," she whispered.

"Are you Italian then, Neil?"

"Italian as they come, Doctor. Parents even own a wine company in Italy." Doctor Hound laughed before turning their way.

"My uncle is Italian and he calls his wife cara all the time. At this point I'm convinced he's forgotten her first name."

"Sometimes I feel like he's forgotten my name too. He always has so many names for me and I've lost track of them all."

"I get what you mean. It honestly feels so weird to call my boyfriend by his name. So when we get to formal gatherings, it's awkward for us because he never calls me by my name either." She looked back at the screen. "Here we go. You already know the gender right?" They nodded their head. "Well it looks like your little girl is completely healthy. So you're quite tall and your hips are wide enough that the baby is definitely growing but your bump isn't as visible. Honestly, looking at it, I would have presumed you were in the first few months and not 7 months pregnant."

"Can I hear the heartbeat please?" Neil said.

"Of course you can."

As soon as he heard the heart beat, he felt the tears race down his face. "It's okay, our baby girl is okay." JJ pulled him into a hug, kissing the side of his head.

"I'll give you two some space. I'm trusting you with this, okay? Don't touch the machine but you can keep moving the wand around to hear the heart beat."

JJ nodded her head before the doctor stepped out. "Honey, it's alright. Everything is fine like you said." Neil pulled away, wiping his face. When he looked at her, she shook her head. "Don't even dare apologising. It's completely fine."

"We've never made it this far without something happening. I just...it feels so good not to worry." He sniffed before shaking his head. "You listen, baby girl, you better behave in there okay? Your mama and papa are waiting for you. We just want to hear you cry and hold you." JJ heard his voice breaking as he put a hand on her stomach. "We just want to take you home. We want to leave here with you being healthy and strong. So please, be good for your mama, okay? We can't wait to meet you." He gently took the wand off her and put it down. He then cupped her cheeks and leaned down to kiss her. His hands found a way to her open hair when she released a moan. "I love you so much."

"I love you too."

* * *

"So in your records it says you had a pregnancy 13 years ago. You birthed the baby naturally, right?"

"Yes."

"And then another pregnancy three years ago with the same condition but terminated by medication and operation?"

"Yes." Neil reached out and held JJ's hand.

"Then there were two miscarriages followed by a still birth at 7 months in your most recent pregnancy which was just over a year ago?"

"Yes."

Doctor Hound turned away from the screen. "First of all, I would like to say I am very sorry for your loss. This was definitely not an easy road to follow. But you both can worry less now. Everything is looking up. Baby is healthy, scans are good and your uterus is looking very healthy too. The only worry is that the baby is a little small but it's not too small that there should be any major concerns."

"So there wouldn't be a problem if the baby is this small? I mean she just got to 7 months 4 days ago."

"Ideally at this stage we like them to be bigger which means they're stronger. But all vitals seem great. Baby's heartbeat is very strong, you said she's kicking frequently too. All things are just pointing to the fact she's a small baby."

JJ looked at Neil. "She's got your mum's genes."

"What's that meant to mean?"

"She's the only short person between both our families."

"And? Our daughter will we short and cute."

"Exactly, Neil. She'll be short and cute for the rest of her life."

"And?"

"The boys."

Neil frowned. "Oh."

* * *

"It's time," JJ said as she straightened up. Her towel dropped as she stood up and she looked down at it for a few seconds before walking to the wardrobe. Neil chuckled as he picked up from the bed.

"You sure? Don't want to rest for a while longer?"

"No I'm well rested. Just felt tired after the shower but I think the water was too hot." JJ slipped on her night shirt. "Honey can you do me and favour-"

"One underwear coming up," he said as he rolled off the bed. JJ laughed softly as he knelt to the floor, the underwear beside her feet. "Well come on then, love, I haven't got all day."

"Look up at me." When he did, she ran a hand through his hair. "You're the best."

"I know I am. But you gotta hurry up." Once he straightened up, he pulled her in for a kiss. "You ready to tell Lara then?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"Alright. You go sit down and I'll get her."

Lara spun herself round again on the chair, listening to her friend. "Why is your house so quiet. Are you in your room again?"

"Yes. Just finished my homework. Might read a book later."

"And your parents?"

"Don't know. My Ma went to have a shower. Papa is probably doing some work. Wouldn't be surprised if they're dancing."

"Ew, that's gross. They do that in the middle of the day?"

Lara laughed. "Of course. Why not? It's just dancing."

"Oh shit. Leslie always says dancing when her parents are having sex."

"Okay, tmi."

She heard a knock on the door and Neil's voice behind the door. "Is that your dad?"

"Yes papa?"

"Can I come in?"

"Yeah." Neil popped his head through the door, glancing around the room. "It's clean."

"Just checking. After your first week of school you kinda go crazy. But your mama and I need to talk to you really quickly."

"Did I do something?"

"No tesero. We need to tell you something."

"Okay. Let me say bye to my friend and I'll be there." Neil smiled at her before closing the door. "I need to go. My parents need to talk to me apparently."

"Alright. Tell me what happens please! And also tell you dad he looks good."

"Leave my papa alone. Bye."

Lara put her phone on charge before leaving the room. When she walked into the sitting room, she saw Neil smiling down at JJ before she hit his chest.

"What did he do now?"

"Being annoying as usual."

"Makes sense." She sat down on the sofa and sighed. "So what is it?"

"Well," JJ said as she held Neil's hand. "Your papa and I have good news." Lara looked between them. "So I know it's been us three for a long time but we have a new addition to the family."

There was complete silence from Lara for a minute. Neil frowned. "Are you okay?" She still didn't respond. She felt her temperature rising as she gripped onto the sofa.

"Am I okay? No of course not! How do you think I was going to react? Jump up and down? Say congrats? No!"

"Lara, what's wrong?" JJ asked.

"You don't talk to me. You got what you wanted right? You got my dad and now you got your precious little baby."

"Don't speak to your mother that way La-"

"My mother?" she screamed as she stood up. She looked at JJ who was gripping onto Neil's hand. "That woman is not my mother. She's just someone who wanted you. She wanted you and she got you. I just happened to be in the way."

"I get that you're upset, monkey but-"

"No you don't! I'm not upset." She suddenly broke into a sob. "You're going to have a baby of your own. You've wanted this for so long and you've finally got it. I'm not yours." Neil sighed heavily.

"Sit down and tell us what you're feeling, tesero."

She shook her head. "No. She's not my mother and that's all that matters. She's going to have her baby so let her. She got what she wanted."

"I know you're upset, Lara, but you can't talk to your mother like that."

"I just told you she isn't my mother!" Neil slowly stood up.

"We need to talk about this properly. So how about you go to your room and think about things? We will talk about things tomorrow."

Lara shook her head. "No. I don't want to talk to her. I don't want to look at her." She took off her necklace. "I don't want that anymore." Before he could say anything else, she walked away and withing a few seconds, he heard the door slam.

He released a small groan as he turned around. "I'll sort this out, cara. I promise you."

She nodded her head whilst getting up from bed. "I...I'm going to go and rest for a little. I urm...I..."

"Hey, hey, hey. Hey!" he said as he wiped her tears away. "We'll get through it, I promise. I'll make everything right again."

* * *

Lara stepped out her room, glancing down the hall. When she walked into the kitchen, she saw Neil at the table alone, a cup of coffee beside the newspaper.

"You went out already?"

"Yeah. Dropped your- dropped JJ off to Ma's. I already ate breakfast so you're going to have to have cereal or something."

"So is JJ staying at nonna's?" Neil sighed.

"Yeah. She's staying there to give you some space. I'm going to be working all day so if you need me or want to talk then you know where I am. Planning to make some chicken pesto for lunch, is that okay?"

"Yeah, I guess." Neil stood up with the coffee and newspaper. "Papa...you said we would watch some home movies today."

"I'm really busy today, Lara. I promise we can do that tomorrow. Is that okay?"

"What am I meant to do all day then?"

"Figure it out. You'll think of something."