"Mommy... what is this stick?" Lily asked me as she opened the pregnancy test package for me and pulled the pregnancy test out.

"It's a pregnancy test, my love." I said, kissing her forehead and taking the test from her.

"Pregnancy is when you have a baby in your belly, right?" She asked me.

"Yeah." I nodded, smiling at her.

"Why do you have to use this? Is there a baby in your belly, Mommy?" She asked me.

"This will tell me if there is." I smiled.

"How, Mommy?" My curious little girl asked me.

"When a woman has a baby in her belly, her body makes this thing called a hormone. It's like a chemical, and it can be found in her pee. So, if she pees on this stick, it'll make one line, and then another line if the hormone is in her pee." I explained.

"And if she's not pregnant?" Lily asked me.

"Then she'll only see one line because the hormone isn't there and can't make the second line." I said.

"Are you gonna check if there's a baby in your belly, Momma?" Lily asked me.

"Yup..." I nodded.

"So you're gonna pee on it? That's gross." Lily said.

"I'm gonna pee only on this part." I said, showing her how it had a cap.

"Oh and then you close it so the pee doesn't get on whoever touches it." Lily concluded.

"Yeah." I nodded.

"Ok! Go, I wanna see if you have a baby in your belly, Mommy!" Lily giggled.

"Ok. Ok." I chuckled, going off into the bathroom.

Gabe was still asleep and I had a shift in an hour. But my little early bird was up and ready for the day.

I took the test in the bathroom and then I came out of it, waiting for the test to finish processing. I also took another two different types of tests just to be sure. Then I went back out to find Lily cuddled up to Gabriel. He was holding her close and still half asleep.

"Good morning." He said with a smile when I walked out of the bathroom.

"Good morning, Handsome." I smiled, setting the tests down on the vanity and making my way towards my little family. James came into the room and Lily giggled, jumping down off the bed and petting him. He got on his back, his tail wagging left and right and he waited for belly rubs.

"What's going on?" Gabe asked me.

"I took a few tests." I said with a smile.

"Let's go head downstairs so James doesn't try jumping up here for attention." Gabe laughed, pulling my body closer and hoisting me up into the air. I made sure to have him grab the pregnancy tests before letting us leave the room. He kissed me and carried me down the stairs. Lily was behind us with James rushing past us.

"Can I go play with James outside?!" Lily giggled as James started running around near her and nudging her and jumping up on her legs.

"Sure, baby. But be careful and make sure the fence door is closed." I said to her.

She ran off with a ball to play fetch with and James followed her outside. We could hear her happy giggles and James' barks every now and then and Gabe and I sat on the couch.

"What happened with the tests?" Gabe asked me.

"Nothing yet... they still hadn't processed when I came out of the bathroom." I told him.

He looked down at the tests in his hand and he nodded. None of them had the results yet.

"I'm excited." He said, rubbing my belly.

"For what? There might not even be a baby in there." I told him.

"I know." He smiled. "But I'm excited for having another kid. Besides, if there isn't a baby in there, it means more fun in the bedroom tonight."

I laughed and smacked his arm gently.

We sat on the couch together, kissing and getting each other excited about a baby, and then Lily came bouncing into the room.

"Stop it!" She yelled at the sight of us kissing.

"Sorry, baby." I laughed as she hopped up onto her father's chest and sat there.

I went off to get myself something to eat and to grab some water. My appetite was uncontrollable lately, but I'd taken several tests in the past week and all of them came out negative. My impatience didn't help me out much in waiting for a positive result.

I grabbed a muffin from the ones Lily and I had baked for her fractions lesson and I made my way over to her and Gabe. Lily was sitting on top of his chest, looking down at his face and examining it deeply. Gabe was looking right back at her, playing with strands of her pretty hair. She traced his face with her fingertips, a smile forming on her face.

"I love you, Daddy." She said with a soft smile.

"And Daddy loves you." Gabe said, kissing her little hand and then hugging her.

"Hey! Where's my share of all this love?" I asked.

Lily giggled and she put out her hand for me to take, pulling me into her and Gabe's arms for some hugs and kisses.

"Alright... now... Lily, you know that when Mommy has a little baby in her belly, that means you'll be a big sister." I told my daughter.

"Mhm." Lily nodded.

"And we'll need time to take care of the baby once it arrives, but you're gonna be Mommy's little helper, right?" I asked.

"Of course, Mommy!" Lily giggled.

"And you know that Mommy loves you so much, no matter what, and this baby won't ever mean more to me than you do. You're my first baby, my special little girl, and even if I have another baby, you'll still be my precious angel." I said.

"You won't love the baby more than me." Lily said.

"I won't. You'll both be my babies... and guess what the cool thing about having a baby is?" I asked her.

"What?" She asked me.

"You'll be the girl that the baby looks up to. The baby will have a big sister that they know will protect them and make them feel safe... isn't that cool? They're gonna always wanna hang out, and they'll get kind of annoying at times, but only because they think you're the coolest." I said to her.

"Really, Mommy?" Lily asked.

"Yup." I smiled.

"And Daddy?" Lily asked.

"Daddy will always love his special little munchkin! Because only one strawberry can make him this happy." Gabe said, kissing all over Lily's face.

"I love you guys!" Lily giggled.

"I love you too!" Gabe and I said, and then I picked up the pregnancy tests and handed them to Lily.

"What do they say, baby?" I asked her.

"Two lines is pregnant?" Lily asked me.

"Yeah, and then the blue one will either say pregnant or not pregnant." I said to her.

"Ok." Lily smiled, turning all three of the tests so she could read them.

She looked at them for almost a whole minute, making me want to scream in anticipation.

"Mommy." Lily said.

"Yes, baby?" I asked her.

"I think there's a baby in your belly! Oh my goodness! I'm so excited!" She screamed, getting off the couch and jumping up and down as Gabriel grabbed all the tests to look at them.

"Oh, my God! You're pregnant, Ava! You're pregnant!" Gabe said, throwing the tests aside and picking me up, spinning me around.

"Me too!" Lily said, having Gabe pick her up as well.

"I'm so excited, Mommy! Let's go! We have to talk to Nana and to Aunt Emelia! We need to get clothes and stuffies and little bedtime stories and all sorts of stuff!" Lily said.

"Mommy has work in a little while, but how about you and I go out to the mall and see if we can pick one gift out for the baby?" Gabe asked Lily.

"Yes!" She screeched, looking happier than I'd ever seen her.

"Alright, pause! No one tell anyone in the family. This is our tiny little secret, and we'll tell them all together at the family dinner tonight." I said.

Lily nodded her head, putting a finger over her lips.

Both Lily and her crazy father were able to keep the secret which was honestly quite impressive considering they both looked about ready to explode with excitement. Then it was time for the dinner and as soon as I saw Mabel's face when her and Theo walked into the mansion, I told Lily and Gabe that we were delaying the good news.

I hugged Mabel, and silently gave her cuddles, not knowing what was wrong. Her and Theo seemed to be having a really hard time lately. It didn't seem to be something that was getting between them. It was just that they both seemed sad all the time. I didn't say anything, knowing that Mabel would usually talk about something if she felt the need to.

I tried my best to leave her be, until dinner when we all sat down with food and she quietly set her plate of food down and ran off with tears in her eyes. I didn't know what to do, but Theo looked at me and sighed.

"Hey, Ava... could you go talk to her? I don't think I can make her feel any better right now." Theo said, a really sad look forming on his face.

"Yeah, don't worry about it." I smiled, giving him a side hug before I walked off behind Mabel. I found her in her and Theo's room, crying her eyes out, but very silently.

"May... What's wrong?" I asked her, sitting beside her on the bed.

"I... I... it's been over a year, Ava." She sobbed.

"Since we got married..." I said.

"Yeah and since Theo and I have been trying to conceive a child." She said.

"Oh, I see." I said.

"And we did... b-b-but it didn't last very long. I miscarried almost immediately." She told me.

"God... May, why did you keep this to yourself, Sweetheart... isn't that what we're all here for?" I asked her.

"Yeah, but... we didn't want to tell you anything about the pregnancy before it was at a stage in the pregnancy where the baby was more likely to be stable, you know." She said to me. "Then, I miscarried. And... it was really sad and depressing and painful, but I didn't want anyone to have to pity me, or make Theo feel worse about it."

"Aw, May. Come here." I said, wrapping my arms around her and rubbing her back.

"And I just feel like, it's never going to happen." She sighed.

"Why?" I asked her.

"We've been to a doctor... Theo is embarrassed so we didn't approach you or his dad... but we did see a doctor and the doctor told us the miscarriage was a result of the sperm not being very healthy." Mabel said to me. "They gave us lots of options, Theo told them about the cancer, the treatment and that he has sperm stored from before his treatment. So they told us that IVF was the best way to go about it. And we went for it... we tried it once, and it worked, but none of the embryos survived and then we tried again and we got the results this morning, it didn't work."

"Sh... deep breaths, May... You're going to to IVF again, are there any sperm left?" I asked her.

"No." She sobbed.

"Ok, relax, Mabel, I'll figure it out." I said to her.

"How though." She cried.

"That husband of yours is going to get us another sperm sample, ok?" I asked her.

"Ok... and then?" She asked.

"Then I'm going to work with your doctor and follow up with her. We're going to get some eggs from you, and we're going to try IVF again. We'll use the healthiest sperm we can find from his sample and then we'll try again." I told her.

"We don't have money for that, Ava. We've already paid thousands on trying twice and now a third time? Both of our bank accounts have been wiped clean and I'm not comfortable with everyone knowing about all this. If everyone knows, it just puts more pressure on me.... and it hurts every damn time I have to look at a negative test and see Theo feel bad about it." Mabel said.

"Well, if you told me or Rico, you would've seen that you get a discount... and your family are multi-billionaires." I said to her.

"I know. But I'm not asking anyone for money for this. I can't." She said to me.

"You won't have to. I'm paying for this treatment." I said to her.

"No, Ava... you have your own family to take care of." She said.

"Mabel... it's time for you to drop it, and leave all the pressure to me... just focus on pushing all these negative feelings aside and trusting that your sister has got this." I said to her.

"Ava." She said, her eyes dripping with tears.

"Mabel." I said.

"I love you so much." She said to me.

"I love you too, Crazy." I said to her, hugging her tightly.

"I'll go get Theo, you relax, ok?" I asked her.

"Ok." She nodded as I got up to call Theo.

I brought him into the room, I explained to him what we were going to do, and then we all went back out. Mabel stayed close because she seemed to want to cling to the people that understood her pain. I made sure she ate, and I immediately contacted her doctor.

I started preparing to help them, and when we got home that day, I told Gabe and Lily that we had to wait to tell everyone the news about the baby. I explained some details to Gabe, but I didn't really tell him too many details, not wanting to reveal anything that Theo and Mabel didn't want me to reveal.

And then Mabel's third in-vitro fertilization journey began. Hopefully it would be successful this time around.