"I was in labor with him for eighteen hours, give or take," Andy said. "And he was a big baby, almost nine pounds. That's probably what caused the screaming you heard." She pulled the car into the driveway and turned it off. "He started kicking about three weeks after you left, and he pretty much kept it up until the middle of May, when he ran out of space to move much."

Getting out of the car, she went around to the back seat and gently took Riley out of his car seat. He was awake now, and looking around with curious eyes. "Come on, let's get inside. Cassie is doing much better with blocking what other people are feeling, but now she's projecting, so you're going to have to try to sort out what you're feeling, and what she's feeling, because you're going to feel both. And Jason's been pretty much the same as before. He stayed home, you know. When I had Riley, I mean. Mom and Dad were there, but Jason stayed home."

"Do you know why he didn't show?" He asked, confused at her brothers actions. He sighed, grabbed the diaper bag and his own large duffel and carried them into his home. Everyone was sitting in the living room, some with snacks, the kids playing with their new presents. "Hey! Marry Christmas!" He said and immediately dropped the bags and went to her grandmother, for some unknown reason she was the one he understood. probably because of their powers. "He hugged her first and she smiled sadly at him.

"I'm sorry about your loss." She said and he frowned and nodded.

"We knew it was a possibility. You just can't... prepare for that kind of thing. I got you something!" He said and went back to the duffel bag. He pulled out a few different boxes. He opened the first one and then realized this kind of was a present giving moment for him, and he hadn't spent $100.00 on all of them! He pulled out the Queen's tiara from when she was a princess and stood in front of Cassie. "Merry Christmas." He said then grinned. "From Princess Kiana herself." He said and then opened another box and pulled out a bag of assorted goodies from Japan. "For all the kids. Don't ask what they are, I still can't read that language." He said and grinned, continuing on. He laid out a shawl from China for Andy's grandmother, actual silk, rare now that they had the synthetic. "From China, no great story or anything. And the history of wars from the Russian's point of view." He said and handed the book to her grandfather. "And the last thing..." He went to his girlfriend and kissed her softly, taking his son gently and handing him to Cassie. "I promised you I'd come back and put a real ring on your finger." He said and went down on one knee, in the middle of his living room, surrounded by her family and what he hoped would one day be his and opened a box, from the Princess Kiana's first marriage (the husband died of old age), a sapphire stone brightened by multiple diamonds on a silver band. "Andy, may I have the honor of marrying you?" He asked and knew that from the absence he may have to wait longer, this may not work the first time around, but he would continually attempt putting the ring on her finger. "I'm not asking for a quick marriage, I don't care when it's done. I just want to be yours and vice versa. I would never want anything else."

For a moment, Andy was too surprised to speak. She hadn't expected him to propose to her, especially not in front of the family. She could feel the plain silver promise ring still on her finger, the same one that he had given to her the year before.

"Aren't you going to answer?" Emily asked pointedly. That seemed to break Andy out of her daze. She took a breath before replying.

"Ask me again after I graduate in the spring," she said. That was as close as she could come to saying she needed to think about it without flat-out saying 'no.'

He laughed and pulled her down to him. "That's most definitely a post-poned yes. And I'm okay with that!" He said and kissed her, his hand moving through her hair and he grinned. Some of the kids made 'eww' noises and one of them actually responded with 'get a room.' He broke off and laughed. "This IS my room. It's my house." He said and turned towards them. "Go on, eat your strange candy and watch Christmas movies!" He said and they all remembered there was candy for them. He touched her cheek and smiled. "I missed you, Andy..." He said and kissed her again, one hand on her hip.

"I missed you too," Andy murmured around the kiss. "You know, you skipped two semesters of school... are we going to be graduating together now?" It had been difficult, but she'd managed to somehow take care of baby Riley and still take enough classes to graduate on time. Riley was going to be three by the time she finished graduate school, but she would also have to take fewer classes, so she'd have more time to devote to him.

"Yup. Which means I can't hold the video camera when you walk across the stage. Riley is just gonna have to work out some hand-eye coordination." He teased and then moved to sit on his couch and Cassie handed his son back to him. "Why William for a middle name?" He asked and touched his sons hair before the child grabbed his hand and Nathaniel laughed. "You look like your mother." He said and held the 6 month old adoringly. He was in his own world now. he grinned, kissing his head and then the baby giggled. He supposed he missed waaay too much. The first laugh and sitting up. He wasn't sure if Riley could crawl yet but he knew walking hadn't happened yet, it was way too early for that. He had probably another 2 or 3 months before that began happening.

"Because I liked the name," Andy replied as she sat down next to him. She knew Riley would be getting hungry soon, so she might as well stay close for when that happened. She watched the two interact, and she knew that Nathaniel would be a good father. "You told me I could pick his middle name, remember? So I did. And like I said, he'll have my last name for now."

"I'm fine with the last name. Mine stinks anyway and Riley Lee just doesn't sound good. My name has a bad history." He said and then grinned at his son and rocked him, glad he wasn't screaming or crying. He then frowned as his sons eyes glazed over. Then came back to life. "You know your son has visions, right?"

"I... suspected," Andy admitted. "I wasn't sure, though, and Emily and Aaron are the only two who would be able to tell me for sure, being telepaths." She'd definitely noticed that Riley's eyes would glaze over for a moment before going back to normal, and she wondered what he must be seeing. She heard Riley starting to whimper a little in his father's arms. She recognized it as a sign that he wanted fed, but she waited to see what Nathaniel would do.

Nathaniel frowned and looked at his son. "I'll give him to you while you tell me what that particular whine means." He said and shifted, lightly holding his son to her. He wasn't going to be the reason the whining turned to crying.

"He's telling you that he's hungry," Andy translated as she unbuttoned her shirt and then took the baby gently. It took her a moment to get Riley situated in her arms, but it took him less than ten seconds to latch on once he was comfortable and start nursing. "It's been a while since I last fed him, and there's been a lot of excitement today, so he's hungry."

The only thing that translated from the motion was he'd been gone for a year and the first look at anything adult was her boob while feeding his son. How pathetic. He then snapped out of that moment and grinned. "I have a son. And my parents are going to hate him. If they ever call asking for a place to stay, hang up. They are NOT allowed near our child." He said and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"I know," Andy replied. She didn't want his family any where near her, let alone anywhere near her son. She grinned a bit. "I know you're staring at my chest," she said. "And yes, it has gotten bigger since you left. A side-effect of nursing Riley." She switched Riley to the other side and let him keep nursing.

"Hey! I stopped looking. Give a man his duly deserved glance without saying something!" He said and grinned. They were bigger. He loved it. "So, what did you get for Christmas this year?" He asked and gently massaged her neck with his fingers, she had yet to see any newer marking on him but he was sure they'd get into all of that tonight or some other night.

"Mmm..." Andy hummed as he massaged her shoulders. She was relaxing already. "Some new sweaters... a few gift cards to one of my favorite stores, so I can buy some underthings that my family really doesn't want to guess my size for... Some of the books I wanted... Some gifts for Riley..." She called a soft cloth to her when Riley finished and cleaned herself up a bit before draping the cloth over her shoulder and bouncing him a little until he burped.

"Wanna know what I got?" He asked and leaned over to whisper in her ear. "I've got a gorgeous girlfriend with a rockin' bod' and a beautiful son. I'd say it's the best Christmas ever. So, when do they go home so I can kiss you for real?" He asked and kissed her shoulder, his fingers still working out kinks he was sure hadn't been touched in months.

"It took a lot of work to get back into shape," Andy protested. "And I'm still working on it. I gained a lot of weight because of Riley, and it was hard to get rid of it." She held Riley close and rocked him gently. He started drifting off to sleep almost immediately. "I'm still trying to get rid of the stretch marks..." She looked down at the sleeping infant in her arms, and was reminded of exactly why the weight gain and stretch marks had been worth it.

"I'm sure I'll love your stomach anyways. No self consciousness here, got it?" He said and then lifted her and their son into his lao and wrapped his arms around them. "I'm so glad to be home." He was more glad she hadn't done the smart thing and ran off so she wouldn't have been alone. "Is your brother here? I need to talk to him."

After a quick mental query to Aaron and a general mental probe and reply from said cousin, Andy nodded.

"Yeah, he's in one of the other rooms, with his game system," she replied. "He got a new game, so he thinks he's going to play until his eyes fall out. It's about the only time he's not moving, because his mind is being occupied at the proper speed." Giving him a kiss, she slid off of his lap. "Go and find him, if you want."

[[I'm putting you in role of her brother. Not quite sure how this conversation should be played out.]]

He nodded and kissed her quickly. "I'll be back." He said and looked through rooms of his house. He smiled as he saw a little girl singing to Dora and he pressed his head against the doorframe for a moment while he watched her. He was going to have a daughter who did something similar to that. He couldn't wait.

He then went to the next couple of empty rooms, searching for the boy. He finally found him in the entertainment lounge. "Big TV. Nice car. Switch it to two-player mode?" He asked and walked into the theatre-style room and sat down beside him.

"Great," Jason said sarcastically. "You're back." He expertly maneuvered the car in the game, being able to react just as fast as the obstacles. He finished the race in near record time, and considered it for a moment before starting another single-player race. "What do you want? You back to hurt my sister again?"

"No, I was not EVER hear to hurt my sister. However, don't blame me so much. She needed you at that birth. Where were you? I trusted you to take care of her, Jason." He said and leaned back, watching him race and then frowned. "Red car. Left." He said and then sighed. "Sorry, I forgot, your legs move faster than mine so you're mental abilities do too. I put your name in the pot, you're in review. If you use your powers too openly you'll be called in for a year. There is no escaping it unless you want people to die. I worked for a very important part of our nation, keeping us all safe. You may have the option to do the same. They give you an option, and I chose the one I felt was right. But if you get the call... it's up to you."

"What, so you're messing around with my life too?" Jason snapped as he viciously rear-ended a police cruiser and kept going. "Don't you think you've done enough of that to my sister?" He darted between a pair of sports cars through a gap that by all accounts should have been too small. "I didn't have to be there, it's not like it was mandatory. It wasn't my kid."

Nathaniel rolled his eyes and smirked. "You know what, you're of age. Barely. To serve your country, and I'm sorry, but it's been foretold. Enjoy Chile." He said and stood. "Oh, and I WANTED to be there, not only was it my kid. My girlfriend... It was my family. And you don't flake out on your family. So I screwed up, but you didn't have a reason. Take the call when it comes." He said and walked out the door. He'd never wanted to punch someone so badly.

Andy as sitting on the floor with Riley, making a few of his stuffed toys dance around him as he giggled and grabbed for them. He was lying on his back on his blue blanket, and he was rolling around, trying to roll over onto his front. He managed to roll over completely just as Nathaniel came back into the room. Andy looked up when he came back and set the stuffed toys on the floor gently around Riley.

"Still Jason being Jason?" she asked.