The food and festivities seemed endless. At one point, it seemed like all of Pine Valley was there. Phoebe, Langley, and Mrs. Valentine came, with Phoebe giving Mrs. Valentine instructions and Mrs. Valentine just ignoring her, and Langley ignoring them both. Joe and Ruth came bearing gifts and advice. Edmund, Maria, and the kids arrived with well wishes from Dimitri and Alex. Cliff, Angie, Liza, Marion, Stuart, Brooke, Hayley, Mateo, Mia, Ryan, Erica, Jack, Tom, Livia, Trevor, Janet, along with the Cerullo family en masse, came to the celebration.

Adam made a quick appearance as he dropped Colby off. Palmer, who reminded Brenda of Edward with his gruff manner, was holding court in the corner. In the backyard, Maddie, Sam, Brooke Lynn, Colby, Lorenzo, Amanda, Louie Jr., Little Carmine played happily together. Frankie and Bobby were playing a little two on two, brothers vs. brothers, with Terrance and Jamal. Jaime and J.R. were waiting to take on the winners. Scott, Aiden, Gabriel, Pete, and Adrian were egging them on, while Bianca, Greenlee, Julie, Emily Ann, Taylor, and An Li played cheerleaders.

In the living room, Lily guarded Dawn as if she were a newly found buried treasure. Tad and Carmine were quizzing Anna on why British, Scottish, and Irish foods were so bad. Mama Gloria (people had taken to calling her that when she was in town so she wouldn’t be confused with Alec’s wife) was roaming from room to room making sure everyone had enough to eat. Lois, Robin, Charlie, Derek, Alec, and Gloria were talking sports, religion, and politics.

Brenda sat on the top of the landing looking down on those whom she loved and those who had made her a part of Pine Valley. She wished she had had a welcome home party like this in Port Charles when she returned from the “dead.” A party at Luke’s with the Quartermaines, Laura, everyone she knew and loved. But instead she returned and jumped into the thick of things: Sonny’s “death”, the safe house, Jax being shot and then paralyzed, her marriage to Jason. The list went on.

She was glad she had decided to leave Port Charles. Well truth be told, being left at the altar by Jax helped her make that decision. After her quick visit with Julia in London, she felt like she had come home when she stepped off the plane in Paris and into Robin’s waiting arms. She had enjoyed their time in Paris, reconnecting and strengthening their bond. While Robin went to school during the day, she refamiliarized herself with Paris. At night, they would explore the city, sometimes they would go out with Robin’s fellow classmates, and other nights they just spent a quiet evening at home.

When the quiet evenings at home became more frequent, Robin began to believe something was wrong. Brenda never suspected she could be pregnant. After four years of taking whatever the hell Alcazar had been giving her, combined with the stress of her return to Port Charles, she had never really given her period a second thought.

When she passed out in the hospital while waiting for Robin’s shift to end, Robin made her stay there until tests could be run. Robin held her hand as they waited for the results. When she admitted she was afraid the tests were going to reveal she had the same illness as her mother, her little sister lay on the tiny hospital bed with her and held her. It had shocked them both, to say the least, when Jean-Pierre, Robin’s classmate, announced that Brenda was perfectly healthy just a little pregnant.

Brenda never doubted in her mind that she was going to keep this baby. She remembered her two previous pregnancy scares, once with Sonny after they were freed from the cave and once with Jax; each time she was greatly disappointed that she hadn’t been pregnant. She had wanted a baby with the man she loved. A little dark-eyed boy with his daddy’s dimples. Or a little blue-eyed girl like her daddy. But maybe then wasn’t the time. Or as Lucy might say, it had not been deemed the right time by the universe.

Robin never once mentioned getting rid of the baby. Maybe Robin sensed how much the baby meant to her. Or maybe, like her, she felt as though this were the last chance for each of them at having a baby in their lives. They were too far away to truly enjoy: Robby, Brooke Lynn, Louie Jr., and Little Carmine. And, sometimes, Brenda could see in her little sister’s eyes how she missed and longed for Michael. For several months, she had been his mother every bit as much as Jason had been his father. But Robin never brought that up. Another reason to hate Carly, as if more reasons were necessary.

They had settled into a nice routine after the news. Robin and all her friends made sure Brenda ate right and got enough sleep. Even Lois and Gloria were sending their plentiful advice way across the Atlantic. She could remember clearly, the first night they had felt Dawn kick.

They were spending a quiet evening at home, watching “90210”, missing home, when suddenly Brenda felt this strange sensation. She gasped and grabbed Robin’s hand and put it directly on the spot. A few seconds later, Dawn kicked again. She and Robin started screaming and jumping around the apartment. They woke up Lois and Gloria to share the good news. Gloria was happy. Lois was, too, after she cursed them out for waking her up. They called Tiffany and Felicia, also, waking them out of a dead sleep. Still on a high after the conversations, they caught a taxi to the nearest store that specialized in American foods and bought an apple pie and a gallon of overpriced Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. They returned home and pigged out on apple pie a la mode.

Shortly after they received a call from Dimitri who said contrary to Anna’s phone calls Leora wasn’t doing well; and although having her sister there helped, she really needed her daughter. Without another word, Brenda started packing while Robin handled the business side of things. Even though Robin thought of Tiffany, Gloria or Felicia as more of a mother than Anna, family was family. Within twelve hours, they were on a plane headed to New York.