I could physically feel the blood sticking to my fingers as I stared down at Cara in the courtroom and, despite the bustle of police escorting Carsen out and evacuating everyone else, it seemed as if people had given up in their attempts to move me. I just knelt there my fingers and palms caked in blood, staring down at Cara, her blue eyes registering shock, and her mouth open, in mid-scream, as she went to meet her own death...

"Goddammit," I muttered, silencing my phone alarm and peeking over at it, seeing seven a.m. reflected back at me, as I struggled to see. I pulled on my undershirt over my naked body, and yanked on my pair of panties as Hailey began to mewl in her crib. "Axel," I hissed as I finished pulling up my panties and moved his arm slightly. "It's seven. You need to get to the prison and I need to drop off Hailey at daycare, and get to work myself. Let's go. Come on."

Axel sighed, sitting up in bed and rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands, his eyes on me as I crossed over to Hailey's crib, scooping her up into my arms and calming her. "How is she this morning?" he asked.

"Fine, of course," I said, my heart squeezing at the notion of Axel asking after my nearly seven-month-old daughter. I crossed the room and calmed her completely, setting her down on the changing table and tidying her up. "My shift ends at four today," I told him, "and I'll be picking up Hailey at four-thirty. I've got tomorrow off and Pops said that he and Uncle Ian can watch Hailey for the night if you want to sleep at your place."

"I'm fine with crashing here again," Axel says, flashing me a smile.

I blinked. "Should I still tell Pops and Uncle Ian to watch Hailey?"

"No, of course not. Besides, you've learned to be exceptionally quiet," he continues, crossing the room just as I've finished cleaning her up, and places a kiss on my exposed shoulder. "Not to mention the rather obvious fact that we're a couple, so the least I can do is have Hailey get used to me..."

I scoffed. "Oh, really?" I said, taking a moist towelette and cleaning off my hands, whereupon I turned around and let out a small squeal as Axel grabbed me by the hips and pulled me lengthwise against him. "I wasn't aware that we'd had the 'let's be a couple', or, 'let's try this again' conversation, Mr. Richland."

Axel grinned unabashedly down at me. "Oh, I see," he said, still holding me against him. "Iana, would you like to be my girlfriend?"

I threw my head back and laughed, thumping him on the shoulder, which got him to turn me loose for a moment. "I'm just fucking with you," I replied, standing on my toes to kiss him. "I was yours from the day you found me, chatting up Cara, in the cemetery. Trust me; I'm your girlfriend. Not like I have the time or the energy to sneak out and fuck someone else. I barely have enough time to focus on my job, Hailey, and you as it is..."

"Well, we'll just have to make more time for Hailey, then," Axel said simply. "You have the day off tomorrow, and so do I. We can plan something to do, the three of us, and maybe spend the night at my place, since it's Sunday the day after, and you're not working weekends, and neither am I for a while..."

I turned and looked at Axel. "You're not working weekends?"

"Just got the word last night about the warden rotation," Axel explained. "I don't have to work weekends again until January, and I'm not gonna complain."

I smiled slowly then, turning back around and picking up Hailey from the changing table. "I don't know about us sleeping over, Axel. Hailey's so used to being here, plus she's got her crib here and the daybed at Pops and Uncle Ian's house when she sleeps over there..."

Axel promptly put up his index finger, whereupon he got onto his phone and pulled up a shopping website and pulled up a shopping website and searched for a baby daybed, and, after finding one very close to the one at Pops and Uncle Ian's place, clicked to order it. He also clicked same-day shipping, and even though I shook my head at him, I felt the smile on my face at his triumph. "This way we can take the baby monitors with us and put her in my study," he said gently to me. "Take along the nightlight, too, if you want, and then you and I can be a little bit louder than we've been recently..."

I sighed, pressing my nose into Hailey's head for a moment, and raised my eyebrows when she held out her little arms to Axel, who took her immediately and smiled down at me. "But we're spending the night here tonight?"

Axel nodded. "Of course. We'll spend our time with Hailey today getting used to the idea... But not now," he said, checking his phone again and handing her back to me, with a quick kiss on her forehead. "I've still got to run back to my place, shower and change, before my shift starts at ten, which means I'm not off till six..."

"We'll make it work," I assured him, watching him get dressed. I set Hailey onto my bed for a moment, pulling on a pair of shorts as Axel finished getting dressed before I took Hailey back into my arms. I followed Axel to my bedroom door, waiting for him to open it, and followed him down the stairs and towards the front door. I touched his shoulder then as he opened it, and he turned around to face me then, smiling. "I'll see you tonight," I said.

Axel grinned at me then, kissing me and waving goodbye to Hailey as he walked through the door and towards his car.

I shut and locked the door behind him, carrying Hailey through the living room and into the kitchen, where Clayton and Fionn, now in the eighth grade, stared at me in an unabashed manner with goo-goo eyes. Turning my head, I regarded nine-year-old Carla, in the fourth grade, batted her eyelashes at me and six-year-old Charlie, in the first grade, looked around. I gritted my teeth at the juvenile attitude of their behavior, and did my very best not to squeeze my daughter in a moment of pure loathing.

"Something you guys wanna say?" I demanded as I put Hailey into her highchair, and went to get her baby food out of the pantry.

"Honey, go easy on them," Mom scolded gently, where she was flipping pancakes on the griddle on the stove.

"It's all very new for them. For us, too," Dad put in from behind his newspaper.

I rolled my eyes. "Axel and I have been doing what we're doing for three months, and he's over here at least four nights a week," I said, getting down a jar of strained applesauce for part of Hailey's breakfast and spooning it into a bowl. "Don't see why they need to react this way after it's been happening for that long... Mom, I get some, too, right?" I asked, bringing the bowl of applesauce over to the table, indicating the pancakes.

"There will always be enough batter for you, sweetheart," Mom assured me then as I placed the bowl in front of Hailey, with one of her child safety spoons, and began feeding her. "She seems to like that, hon."

I nodded. "It's quickly becoming a favorite."

"You're still breastfeeding, though, right?" Dad asked.

"Dad! Ew!" Clayton shouted.

"My ears, my ears!" yelled Fionn.

"Oh, please," I muttered.

"Someday you boys might like breasts," Mom said patiently, smirking at the notion of it as she flipped the last of the pancakes onto a platter, and brought them over to the table. Butter, syrup, and jars of jam had already been placed on the table, and Mom carefully served everyone a total of two pancakes, to go with the scrambled eggs on everyone's plate.

"Yeah, I'm still... Doing that," I said. "The pediatrician said I should continue for another six months or so before attempting to introduce other woods to her diet while trying to wean her off the stuff. The point is, Hailey is healthy and happy, according to her doctor, and she loves her mama so much," I said, turning to look at my daughter, and spooning her another bite with an idiotic smile on my face.

Carla and Charlie's carpool arrived to take them to elementary school soon thereafter, and Mom handed them their school lunches and ran with them to the front door to see them off. She kissed both of them and waved to them, and I smiled, continuing to feed Hailey until her bowl was empty of applesauce before I began my own breakfast. Once I was finished, I would got into the fridge for a bottle of my milk for her and Mom would feed her, while I would go upstairs and ready myself for my shift at Patsy's.

"You boys remember everything you needed for school?" Dad asked, folding up his newspaper and staring at Clayton and Fionn. "Eighth grade is important. I know it's only the third day of the first week, but I want to make sure you haven't forgotten anything..."

"My architect kit is still upstairs!" Clayton shouted, getting to his feet and quickly clearing his dishes, before he ran back up the stairs.

"Boys," Mom and I said, grinning at one another.

"How about you, Fionn?" Dad asked, turning to the younger of my twin brothers. "Did you remember everything?"

Fionn nodded. "Yeah," he said, pushing the final half of his last pancake around the plate, which was submerged in a pool of maple syrup. "I remembered everything..."

"Fionn," Mom asked, reaching across the table and running her hand over his. "Are you okay there, honey?"

Fionn raised his eyes to hers. "I don't know," he said after a while.

"Hey, Fionn," I said, breaking the tension, "there's something that I could use your hand with upstairs... You think you can spare a couple of minutes?"

Fionn blinked, but when he looked at me, he saw my smile, and knew I was helping him. "Yeah, I can," he said, quickly getting up, taking my dish for me and putting them into the dishwasher across the kitchen.

"Mom, can you watch Hailey?" I asked. "Her bottle is in the fridge, and I still need to shower before I drop her off."

"No problem, sweetheart," Mom replied.

"Thanks," I said, putting an arm around Fionn and walking with him towards the staircase. I smiled at the notion that the boys were above my shoulders now, and would likely overtake me completely in height before their first year of high school. When Fionn and I got into my bedroom, I shut the door behind me and turned to face him. "Talk," I said, my voice firm but gentle as I began straightening out my bed.

Fionn sighed, crossing the room and pulling the sheets and comforter into place on the other side of my bed and shrugged his shoulders. "I think you already know..."

I bit my lip then, rolling my shoulders as I smacked my pair of pillows into place. "Just because I suspect doesn't mean I automatically know, Fionn," I said, smiling over at him. "You and Clayton are just as much my kids as you are Mom and Dad's, so of course I think I know, but I'll never know for sure until or unless you say the words, and nobody's forcing you to. It's up to you when you say them, just like it was for me, and nobody forced me either."

"So, you know, then?" Fionn asked, and I raised my eyes to his, from the other side of the bed, and watched him then, hoping that my eyes and body language told him that he was loved and accepted, and I was by no means forcing him to tell me. "You know that I'm gay?"

I nodded at him. "Of course I know, Fionn," I said gently, crossing around my now-made bed and placed my hands on his shoulders. "I've known pretty much since the beginning. And it wasn't any one thing that tipped me off; it's just that I know you as a person, like I would my own child, because you are my own child." I put my forehead against his then for a moment before I kissed it, and wrapped my arms around him, and immediately felt relief when his arms came around me, too. "You may be fourteen-years-old now, you little punk, but you'll always be my baby brother, and my kid, So, of course I knew it. And I want you to know that it doesn't change a thing, and it shouldn't change a thing either, because I love you, so much, and I'll help you and be there for you whenever you need it, if you ever need it. Okay?"

Fionn nodded, clinging to me for just a bit longer before pulling back, and automatically wrapped his arms around himself, as I so often did, not wanting to appear totally and completely vulnerable to anyone. "Thanks," he replied.

I nodded back at him. "You're welcome," I said quietly.

"And you won't... You won't tell Mom and Dad, right?" Fionn shook his head then at my shocked expression. "I'm not ashamed or anything, promise. It's just that, I want them to know when I'm ready for them to know."

"Yeah, of course," I replied. "I came out to Pops and Uncle Ian about being pansexual years before I told Mom and Dad. And besides, they could know, just like I knew for sure when I saw you making out with James Snow last year," I told him with a grin.

Fionn's eyes nearly bugged out of his skull. "How did you...?!"

"Please," I said, scoffing at him. "First rule of having someone you like under the same roof, even if your parents aren't home. Close the fucking door," I told him.

Fionn blushed. "Right... Really need to remember that one..."

"You and James, I don't know... Hang out?" I asked, not really wanting to pry too much into my brother's dating and potential sex life.

He sighed. "I mean, yeah, of course." He smirked then. "Let's just say that positions run in the family, big sister."

"Okay," I said, letting a nervous laugh escape my lips before I could call it back. "That's enough about that... You and James a thing?"

He shook his head. "No, we just hooked up a few times. I don't think he was as into it as he said, and he started dating Chelsea Catwell pretty quick..."

I nodded. "Well, I think you'll find a better playing field in high school," I told him, patting him on the shoulder.

"The bleachers?" he asked, his eyebrows going up and down.

I gaped at him. "Who told you about that?!"

"Nobody had to tell me," Fionn said, laughing as he threw up his hands in mock-surrender at me as he continued to laugh. "It's a hook-up spot for a reason."

"Oh, fucking Christ," I whispered, shaking my head. "You're not allowed to put your name there until you graduate, you know."

"Mickey didn't graduate," Fionn stipulated.

I put my hands on my hips. "That's different. He's one of the family."

Fionn rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever," he said. "At least I know I've got game."

I blinked. "And you would know that how? You just told me that James moved on to that Chelsea person pretty quickly..."

Fionn grinned. "Clayton may be popular, Iana, but there's usually more than one reason both twins get into cool high school parties."

I shook my head. "The night Clayton got drunk and passed out with the kegger...?"

Fionn sighed. "I know I was supposed to be keeping an eye on him the whole time, but let's just say the host was very persuasive."

"I thought the host was that son of a bitch I threatened to kill?"

"Nah, that was his best friend, Angus," Fionn said, waving that way. "Brian was the host of the party that night; it was his house, and we were holed up in his bedroom for quite a while, if you know what I mean."

"He's...older," I said, making a face.

"He was just a freshman," Fionn said, shrugging it off. "Got held back a year when the cops busted him for drinking underage."

"Looks like he didn't learn his lesson, then..." I muttered.

"Hey, maybe I like 'em bad," Fionn said, his eyebrows going up and down.

I rolled my eyes at him. "And, who knows? When Hailey and I get our own place, I could put in a good word for you in getting this room with the impressive ladder Uncle Kev and Uncle Lip put in for me. Looks like you'd need your own little bachelor pad, now that I know a little bit more about what you've been up to," I said, grabbing him around the neck then and running my knuckles over his hair. "Love you," I said, playfully shoving him away from me and towards my bedroom door, which he opened. "Tell Mom I'm jumping in the shower and that I'll be downstairs in ten, okay?"

"Sure," Fionn said, hesitating on the threshold of my bedroom as he opened the door. "Hey, Iana?" he asked, turning around.

"Yeah?" I asked, holding my towel by this point.

"Thanks," he said, smiling at me. "For the talk. I needed it."

I nodded at him. "No problem," I said.

"Love you," he said, grinning at me again before he slipped through my bedroom door and shut it behind him.

. . .

I dropped off Hailey at daycare without incident and headed straight for Patsy's, becoming annoyed when I got stuck behind a particularly large truck, in a traffic line. I drummed my fingertips upon my steering wheel, becoming momentarily jarred when my cell phone went off, and, thinking it could be Hailey's daycare, didn't bother checking to see who it was before I answered it. "Hello?" I asked, slightly fearful.

"Just me," said a familiar voice.

"Oh! Aunt Mandy," I said, my heart rate immediately returning to a regular one. "Sorry. I thought it was Hailey's daycare."

Aunt Mandy laughed over the phone. "Sorry, sweetie. Just me."

"Right," I said, forcing a smile onto my face. "Hold on a sec," I said, rolling down my window and sticking my head out of it. "Hey, fucker, the light changed green! Step on your fucking gas and move out into the goddamned intersection! Sorry, Aunt Mandy," I said, pulling my head back inside my car and rolling the window back up, "some fucker in a truck just wants to sit on his fat ass and not drive."

She howled with laughter. "Sorry about that."

"Hey, it is what it is. Thank you, asshole!" I yelled when he finally moved, and I plowed down hard on my gas pedal to keep heading into work. "Sorry about that... Anyway, what's going on with you? How was your trip to New York to visit Aunt Fiona and Uncle Jimmy last month? I mean, we've barely talked or seen each other since you got back..."

"I know. It was a blast, though. Too bad we had to drive in the heat... I'm so fucking huge at this point. Being over six months pregnant in the summer is fucking brutal... But I get it, Iana, don't you worry. I mean, you're so busy with Hailey, and at the diner, and making time for Franny and Penny and your new boy toy," Aunt Mandy replied. "It's all good."

I scoffed into the phone. "Axel is not a boy toy, Aunt Mandy. We're a couple."

"Right, right," she said. "Listen, I wanted to thank you about those pregnancy books you mailed to me the other day."

"You're reading them?"

"Of course I am," she said, and I could just see her now, running her hands along her belly. "My little Ronan needs a mommy who knows exactly what she's doing..."

"And Uncle Lip is cool that isn't a boy?" I asked.

"Honey, please. This is Lip. He's just happy to run around and satisfy my cravings. Hey, you still coming by on Sunday?"

"Of course," I replied. "Mom's already given me permission to reserve a pie for you. Just get back to me on the flavor."

"Sorry about my cravings being so haywire," she apologizes. "Were yours like that?"

I laughed. "My cravings were nutella and roast chicken, and once I decided to keep Hailey, I was in pretty good shape. I walked and worked out whenever I could, so other than the occasional swollen ankles and sore back, I was pretty good."

"I'm just scared that Ronan will come early..."

"Hey, don't worry about it. We'll all be there for you."

"Could you be there, Iana?" she asked then, her voice small. "In the room, with me and Lip? I mean, I'm sure Ian and Mickey'll be at the hospital, and maybe they could watch Hailey while I'm delivering Ronan..."

"I'll be wherever you need me to be, Aunt Mandy," I assured her. "Don't worry."

We spoke for another few minutes before hanging up, and I pulled into the alleyway and into the employee parking area, meeting Franny in the employee locker room upon my arrival. I flashed her a smile and headed for my locker, and she stared at me with raised eyebrows as I put away my hoodie and slammed and shut the locker itself. "What?" I asked, turning and looking at her over my shoulder as I redid my ponytail, which Hailey had attempted and nearly succeeded in destroying.

She shrugged. "Nothing. Just looks like you're getting something."

I scoffed, rolling my eyes as I leaned back against my locker. "Please. You know me better than that, Franny."

She grinned. "I know you pretty damn well, Iana. So much so that it looks like you're actually sleeping well, despite having a child under one."

I nibbled on my lower lip. "Yeah. So?"

"I also have it on good authority that Axel stays over several nights a week."

I groaned, rubbing my temples. "Carla tell you that?"

"How would Carla tell me that? She's too young for a cell phone, or an email account. So, how would she get the information to me?"

"Whatever," I muttered. "If it wasn't Carla, who was it?"

Franny grinned. "Uncle Ian and Mick," she replied.

I put my hands on my hips. "Oh, really?"

"Really," she said, batting her eyes mockingly at me. "They may have mentioned it to my mom, who told me. She's pretty happy for you."

I stuck my tongue out at Franny and rolled my eyes. "Well, how about you?"

"What about me?"

"Well, you know, it's been three months since you found out your boyfriend wasn't some hot Italian chef, and that he's a police detective from the South Side," I said, and Franny looked slightly annoyed at that. "So, how are things with Detective Crowe?" I asked, deliberately putting on a gushy voice.

Franny cleared her throat then, obviously attempting to purge herself of some of the annoyance she felt towards me and my implications. "Fine," she muttered, turning back to her locker and pretending to go through it. "We have to clean these out today?"

"Tomorrow," I said, reaching out and catching her arm, causing her to stop and raise her eyes momentarily to the ceiling. "Hey, hey," I said, gently turning her by the shoulder to face me, brown meeting blue, and stared at her. "Whatever's going on here, Franny, it's not like you can't tell me... Not like it's confidential or anything, is it?"

Franny sighed. "No. Not confidential."

"Okay, then," I said, raising my eyebrows at her, until she finally permitted herself to look fully at me then. "Talk. What's going on?"

Franny pulled her lower lip into her mouth then, keeping it gripped between her teeth for a moment as she wondered how she was going to say what she clearly needed to say. "Clark asked Ezra and me to move in with him."

I raised my eyebrows. "To move in with him?"

She nodded. "Yeah..."

"Okay," I said, spreading my hands. "Sure, the man didn't tell you the full truth last summer, or for the vast majority of your relationship, but think about it from his point of view, Franny. He literally couldn't tell you, for your own protection."

Franny sighed. "I don't know. It just feels like the Crowe family thinks that the owe the Gallagher's something, and I wish I knew what it was."

I sighed back at her, her eyes meeting mine. "That," I said quietly.

Franny blinked. "You know what it is?"

"I know what it could be," I replied, "but I can't be sure."

"Tell me," Franny begged.

I swallowed then, mulling it over for a moment before I stepped closer, so as none of the gossipy waitresses could take the information and run with it. "I heard Mom and Dad talking last summer, one night after I finally got Hailey to sleep. Axel wasn't there that night so I went downstairs to get a snack, and they were in the kitchen..."

"Yeah? What happened?"

I sighed. "Something about Mason..."

"Yeah? Clark's dad," Franny said, nodding. "Clark introduced Ezra and me formally to the family last summer. He told me that Mason and Sarah got back together maybe five or six years ago, but Clark said it hasn't been the same since he was a kid..."

"It's because Mason's not in love with Sarah," I said quietly, and Franny looked at me like I was on something.

"Then, who's he in love with?" she asked.

I bit my lip. "My mother," I said softly. "He made a pass at her while she was working for them to get Tommy imprisoned, and Mason may have tried to kiss her, but refused because he knew she was still in love with my dad, and he's best friends with my dad, so I guess the whole thing about your best friend's girl means something..."

"Fuck," Franny whispered then, shaking her head.

"Hey, girls," Mom said then, breezing down the hallway from her office, and Franny and I almost immediately became ridgid. "I don't pay you to stand around," she went on, giving the pair of us mock-scolding looks. "Let's get out there."

"Sure, Mom," I said, putting my order form in my apron pocket.

"You got it," Franny replied, doing the same thing.

"Good," Mom said, nodding to herself as she breezed back into her office, and Franny's eyes locked with mine in a moment of uneasiness at what I'd just told her.