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"Mommy, higher!" Kiara yelled as she looked forward, her arms held in the position Superman does when he is flying.

"I can't go any higher, love!" River chuckled. "My arms and legs can't get any longer."

They were in Mateo and River's bed, playing Superman, River tearfully wondering how much longer she will be able to do this with her kids before they outgrow her.

The scariest thing about being a mother was how fast the time goes. If she could, she would selfishly keep them as babies and would not let them grow any older. They were just so precious, and she was so saddened by the fact that they were going to grow into stubborn teenagers and then idiotic adults - these were just assumptions but she knew she was going to be right; they took after Mateo just too much.

"WHERE IS SHE?"

The mother and daughter almost tumbled off of the bed when Alessia barged in, banging the door to the wall. She was red and sweaty and wide eyed, and looked just about ready to kill someone.

"Is Zia okay?" Kiara whispered to her mother, her eyes fixated on her aunt.

River let out a chuckle. "Yeah, she is. Why don't you go and see what your Papa and Lukey are up to in the backyard with Uncle Adam and Sebby?"

"Okay!" Kiara chirped and jumped off the bed, waving at her aunt as she left the room.

Alessia turned around and made sure that Kiara was long gone and out of ear shot before putting all her anger into banging the door shut, so hard that it made the windows rattle.

"Sia, calm down." River gulped down the 'It's bad for the baby' part because she knew that the condition Alessia was in, she would have her head.

"Why isn't Jackie here yet?" Alessia glared. "And don't tell me there was an emergency!"

"There was an emergency." River rolled her eyes.

"Then what are you doing here?"

"It's a C-section, Sia. I have no business there."

"Oh, please don't talk about kids." Alessia covered her ears with her hands, making the surgeon roll her eyes again.

"Easy for you to say." River raised a brow when she heard that.

"You do realize that I did go through a similar situation about six years ago, right?"

Alessia pouted. Yeah, she had a point. But she was Dr. River Johnson. The woman had her whole life sorted out or something. Alessia could bet that River never panicked over situations. Even when something was going on with the kids, River didn't freak out until the whole thing was in control. That's how much control the woman had. Alessia was not like that, and as much as she wished she could be half as in control of her feelings, she couldn't.

There was a knock on the door.

"WHO IS IT?" Alessia growled.

"Jacqueline Meyers?" Jacqueline's voice had relief washing over through River's system but it just made Alessia more dreadful.

"Don't come in!" She yelled.

"Shut up Sia." River rolled her eyes. "Come on in, Meyers."

Jacqueline opened the door and looked between the two women cautiously before coming in, her hands in her handbag as she tried to fish out the test.

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"I don't wanna!" Alessia wailed as she leaned against the bathroom door, clutching the pregnancy test too hard.

"It is going to be fine.." River tried but Alessia adamantly shook her head.

They had been trying to convince Alessia to take the test for the past half an hour but the woman just wasn't listening.

"It's going to come back positive!" She exclaimed.

"We don't know that." Jacqueline said but Alessia shook her head.

"I know that!" She said. "Adam does it raw way too often!"

River blinked. She did not need to hear that. Also, she wasn't entirely convinced which one of the couple might have decided to do it raw.

Jacqueline let out a sigh. "My single vagina is not jealous at all!"

Alessia gave her a flat look. "Not fun when it knocks you up."

"If I can have kids like Lukey and Ki, I don't mind getting knocked up." Jacqueline winked.

River chuckled as she plopped down on the bed.

"Come on, Sia. Just do it." She said.

"But-"

"You know, you and Adam will make great parents, and the child will be loved and protected by so many people. There is nothing for you to worry about. Now go! I can't wait to hear if I am going to be an aunt or not!"

Alessia took in another deep breath and nodded, gearing herself up to be able to get this over with.

She walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

Jacqueline looked over at River.

"You think it's going to come back positive?"

"I have a feeling." River sighed. "Either she is PMSing or she is pregnant. She has been showing the symptoms for the past week. But how she has been behaving and other circumstantial evidences, I think I am more inclined to say that she is indeed pregnant."

"Isn't her life complicated as it is?" Jacqueline asked. "Do you think this is the right time for this?"

"Maybe this is what she needs to get some things, that she has been putting off, done." River said.

River did not tell Jacqueline what it was. But honestly, she was astounded by herself - being a doctor, she was not supposed to wish for anyone's death. But she knew that the only thing that could bring peace to Alessia's life was the death of her wretched husband, Antonio de Pedis.

River knew that Alessia wanted it to be her brother and father who killed that motherf*cker. Though she always said that she didn't care about her family and that she would do everything by herself, River knew that the woman wanted them to be the ones to kill him off and avenge the torture that she went through.

She wondered if Mateo and Alessio would ever understand that and do it for Alessia. She deserved it.

"RIVER!"

River jumped to her feet, her eyes wide as Alessia ran out with the test in her hand.

"It's positive?" Jacqueline asked.

"IT'S POSITIVE!" She yelled, her eyes filled with tears and dread. "I can't believe I have a f*cking Adam Smith inside me!"

River snorted which made Alessia glare daggers at her.

"Hey, it could be an Alessia Adesso inside you." River threw her hands up in surrender.

"This is a secret between the three of us!" Alessia pointed her finger at the two women.

"What?" They said in unison.

"Nobody speaks a word about this until I am ready to do it myself." She said, dead serious.

Jacqueline and River looked at each other.

"Alright." Jacqueline shrugged.

River nodded her head, though she was very wary. Alessia had proven that she was good at keeping secrets as long as she wanted. River would not be surprised if she ran away again and came back three years after giving birth to the child. More than that, River did not know if Alessia even wanted to keep the child.

Of course, it would be the woman's call and no one had a say in the matter. Her body. Her choice. But River simply hoped if Alessia decided not to keep the child, it was because she truly believed that she was not ready for the child. Not because she thought she didn't deserve the child or because the child would hate her, because of her profession.

Alessia Adesso was slightly rough around the edges, but she was one of the sweetest persons that River had ever met and she wished all the happiness in the world for that assassin.

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"It is almost over." Sebastian said proudly as he sat down next to his best friend.

"It would have already been done by now if it wasn't for some idiots who thought they knew what they were doing." He couldn't help but take a jab at the two men, who were on time out by River after she found the two of them on the grass, pulling each others' hair after having some argument about what color the roof of the tree house should be.

"I am going inside." Mateo said, sulking.

"You are not going anywhere until the two of you apologize to each other." River could not believe that she was having to do this to two adult men in their thirties, one who is father to two kids and the other with a child on the way even though he did not know it yet.

"I need to use the washroom, babe." He rolled his eyes.

River gave her boyfriend a pointed look. "Fine." She muttered after a while.

Mateo let out an annoyed breath and left the table.

"I have a question." Sebastian said as he grabbed a slice of apple pie.

"Don't ask." Alessia rolled her eyes, taking Adam's hand and him squeezing it.

"When are you planning to tell him?" He asked.

"YOU TOLD SEBASTIAN?" Alessia yelled, turning to Jacqueline and River, who almost fell off their seats at Alessia's rage.

"No, we... d-didn't." Jacqueline stuttered.

"Why do they need to tell me?" Sebastian asked. "It's clear as day that the two of you are dating. Except, for some reason, my thick-skulled brother in law doesn't seem to see it." He shrugged.

River rolled her eyes - at the fact that Mateo was addressed as the brother in law. They were not married. Yes, they were in a relationship. Yes, they had two kids together. Yes, he was the man she hoped to end up with. Yes, they had pretended to be husband and wife for a while. But seriously, she hadn't even confessed to Mateo yet. They could wait, couldn't they?

"Oh, you were talking about telling Mateo." Alessia slumped in her seat, relaxed again.

"Yeah, what did you think I was talking about?" Sebastian asked.

Alessia looked at River, River looked at Jacqueline and Jacqueline looked at Sebastian. "Nothing, we thought.. uh.. that you were talking about River confessing her feelings to Mateo."

Adam raised a brow, taking a drink. He was not convinced by the act that the girls were putting up. He knew that they had locked themselves up in River's bedroom for a long while. What could they be hiding?

"What's there to wait for?" Sebastian asked. "Even Mateo knows that you love them. You just need to verbally express it to him."

River gave her best friend a flat look. "Do you think that I don't know that? I am waiting for the right moment."

"Any moment is the right moment when you are in love." Jacqueline batted her eyelashes at River, earning a playful shove from her.

"RIVER!!!"

River had a mini heart attack as she jumped to her feet, as Mateo stumbled out into the patio.

"What's wrong?" The rest of them also stood up from their seats.

"Is everything alright?" She asked, concerned. "Aren't the kids up in their room?"

Breathless, Mateo held it up. The f*cking positive pregnancy test.

River and Jacqueline gave Alessia the side eye. She had left it in River and Mateo's bathroom.

"You are pregnant?" Mateo asked.

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