Title: Yesterday to Tomorrow: Chapter Sixty, Blood's Thicker Than Juice
Rating: NC-17 [violence, swearing, nudity, sexual situations]

Summary: With kids around, there's bound to be accidents. And a family member arrives.

Previous Chapter Bottle of Happiness

Current Chapter Blood's Thicker Than Juice

Next Chapter Twelve Days

With two weeks until the wedding, Alyssa had her hands full. Which was fortudious as Judith was set to arrive in that time as well. Focusing on the wedding plans kept her from worrying about her half sister. Not that the kids gave her much time to worry. Toni and Nick were often running wildly about the house. Lily was often hurrying about, playing little mother hen to the other two chicks.

"Mama!" Nick squealed as he came barreling into the kitchen.

Alyssa could swear the kid went from crawling straight into running. His lexicon was still small, but she couldn't help smiling everytime he called her mama, especially since she really wasn't. He stumbled a few feet into the room, hitting the tile with an audible slap from his little palms. Unlike his sister, Nick didn't start to cry. Rather he just started crawling towards Alyssa before pivoting at her feet, hands in the air.

Scooping him up, she plopped him on the counter rather than her hip, "What's up, Nickie?"

"Ton-ton bad," he declared, reaching for Alyssa once more.

"Uh oh. What did Toni do?" she asked, letting him fall into her arms.

"Bad," he replied, not really having any words to really describe what he was trying to tell her.

"Let's go see then," Alyssa slipped Nick onto her hip.

Heading from the kitchen, she poked her head into the dining room, the formal table converted into the seating arrangement diagram for the reception. No Toni. She checked the closet, the powder room, the living room, the family room, the office, and the entertainment room. No Toni.

"Toni! Lily!" Alyssa called, heading to the stairs.

Neither responded.

"Are they upstairs, Nick?" she glanced at the boy, who was sucking his thumb.

He nodded.

Up the stairs they headed. For whatever reason, she got more nervous each step she made up the steps. Even more so when she noticed what door was open: the room where she stored all of the dresses for the wedding.

"Are the girls in there?" she asked.

He nodded again.

Alyssa sighed, setting Nick down. He reached right up, so she scooped him right back up. Stepping into the room, she feared what she would see. Her brown eyes scanned the room, finding the two girls sitting on the floor. Lily pivoted, hearing the two behind her. Her eyes went wide and she tapped Toni.

"Toni," she said softly.

The little toddler looked over her shoulder, "Uh oh."

"What happened?" Alyssa asked, not looking around the girls to see whatever it was they were trying to hide.

"I sorry, Mommy," Toni got to her feet and hurried to Alyssa, wrapping her little arms around her right leg. "I really sorry."

Not about to reassure the girl without knowing what had happened first, she repeated, "What happened?"

"Well, umm..." Lily looked at her feet. "We were looking at the dresses and um..."

"What happened, Lily?" Alyssa asked once more.

The six year old looked up, "We knocked over your princess dress."

"And?"

"I sorry, Mommy," Toni sobbed into Alyssa's leg.

"We spilt on it."

"What did you spill, Lily?"

"Um..." she pointed at the white wedding dress on the floor. "Toni's juice."

Alyssa bit her lip to keep from cursing, "It's all right. We can get it cleaned in time."

Toni was still muttering, saying she was sorry over and over again. Handing Nick to Lily, she pulled Toni's fingers off of her legs and slipped her arms around the little girl. Toni's arms clutched tightly around Alyssa's neck, her little face buried, tears running down onto her skin, big, fat little girl tears. Shushing her, she pulled back enough to look into the little girl's green-blue eyes.

"It's all right, Toni," Alyssa reassured her. "We're going to fix it."

"Y-y-yeah?" she hiccuped.

"Absolutely," she stated. "Let's go call for a car and we'll head to the cleaners. We'll get ice cream on the way home."

"ICE CREAM!!!!" Toni giggled, wiping her eyes. "I help with princess dress."



Returning home to an empty house was odd. Very odd. And immediately set Chris's nerves on edge. After moving room to room, looking for his love and kids, he flipped open his phone. Pushing Alyssa's speed dial, he headed back downstairs, barely noticing the wedding room's door was cracked open.

Her phone rang thrice before a little girl's voice answered, "Dada?"

"Hi, Toni. Where are you?"

"Wif Mommy," she answered.

His brows furrowed, before he remembered that Alyssa was Mommy, "Can I talk to her?"

"Yeah. Mommy, it's Dada!"

"Chris?"

"Where are you guys?" he asked.

"Had an accident. Had to rush my wedding dress to the cleaners. We're just heading back there now to pick it up," she explained. "Is Judith there yet?"

"No one's here," Chris replied. "You had an accident with your dress?"

"Yeah. But nothing to worry about. Kids happen," Alyssa stated. "We should be home soon."

"All right. Is Judith supposed to be here? Or are we supposed to pick her up at the airport?" Chris asked.

There was a long pause, "Shit. I don't know. Should I go to the airport?"

"Do you know what she looks like?"

"No. But we're sisters. There has to be some familiarity."

"Call me before you leave the cleaners and I'll let you know if she's shown up yet. If not, you should head to the airport."

"Okay. And Chris?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

"I love you too, Lyssa."



Having not intended to brave the airport, Alyssa was wholly unprepared to herd the kids through the crowd. Nick she kept on her hip; Toni's hand in her free one; Lily holding onto the hem of Alyssa's shirt. Big crowded places were not good for three little kids and one woman.

Especially when she was recgonized.

People who were really big fans of Chris knew Alyssa. It was hard to not know of the girl who had been around Chris for ten years, through everything. The bank incidient had pressed Alyssa's presence into more fan's knowledge. The final cap had been the engagement. Usually she would pass unnoticed through stores, with the exception of any store that sold music. The grocery store was still hallowed ground, untouched. Restaurants were becoming increasingly difficult to just be a normal patron. Nevermind anything in the entertainment industry. But she handled it all in stride. It was who Chris was. She knew that. She met him during the height of Soundgarden. It didn't bother her at all. Usually.

"OH MY GOD!" a girl who couldn't be more than sixteen gasped when Alyssa paused in the airport, trying to figure out where to station herself and the kids to watch for her sister. "You're Alyssa Morgan!"

Alyssa's brown eyes snapped to the girl and she forced a smile, "I am. Have we met before?"

"Oh no no no no," the girl shook her head quickly. "I've never been so fortunate. I run a website devoted to your-husband-to-be. You are the envy of many of us fangirls out there."

"Oh," her smile went crooked, not sure what else to say, and hoping the girl wouldn't ask for a picture of her and the kids.

"Could I get a picture of you and the kids? These are Chris's kids right?" she was already pulling her camera out.

"I would prefer if you don't. Chris and I are fine with our pictures being taken. But not the kids please," Alyssa stated, while Toni hid her face against Alyssa's leg. "There's time for photos and times not for photos. This is family time and therefore is not time for photos."

"Oh," she slipped her camera back into her purse. "I'm sorry. I didn't .... I didn't know... I didn't mean... I..."

"It's all right. I understand you were excited," she smiled reasssuredly. "Why don't you give me your website's email and I will send you a few wedding pictures?"

"Really?" the girl's eyes went wide.

Alyssa nodded, "Really."

"Wow," she rummaged through her purse for something to write on. "That's just... wow."

Relieved of the fan a few moments later, a url tucked into her pocket, Alyssa went back to looking over the crowd. Toni was still hiding her face, Nick was starting to doze off, and Lily's eyes were focused on the planes outside the windows. She was beginning to think Judith wasn't going to be there or that she was already on her way to the house. That is until she looked up in the crowd and could have sworn she saw her mother.

A tall woman, a few inches taller than Alyssa's 5'5" frame, with dark brown hair and gray eyes headed confidentally down the corridor. Her nose was straight and shaped like Alyssa's. Her face was a little broader, but not much. But the way she carried herself was so very much like her mother, like her feet were too angelic to touch the ground. She knew without a doubt that it was Judith.

Stepping into the woman's path, Alyssa smiled, a reaction belying her nerves, "You must be Judith. I'm—"

"Alyssa," she finished, embracing her carefully around the kids. "So great to finally meet you. I've thought about you often."

"Wish I could say the same. But I've only known of your existence since... well since you called me. I was told of you and that you died," she admitted.

Judith nodded, "I know. We'll talk more about that later. These are your kids?"

"More or less," she replied. "This little guy is Nick. And she's Toni. Lily is.... the little girl making faces on the window."

She chuckled, spying the six year old pressed against the window, "I wasn't expecting a welcoming party. Figured I could just get a cab and find your place. You didn't need to come here to pick me up."

"No trouble at all. We were already out running an errand," Alyssa declared. "Lily, it's time to go."

The girl weaved through people to get back to Alyssa, saying shyly to Judith, "Hi."

"Hello, Lily. I'm Judith, Alyssa's sister," she squatted to shake the girl's hand.

"You're her half-sister. Just like Toni's mine," Lily declared, keeping her hand in Judith's as they turned towards the luggage claim area. "Do you have a brofer too?"

"No. Just me," Judith replied, clearly wanting to ask about shy Toni and Nick's relation to Lily, but holding back.

"Are you going to wear a princess dress too?"

"Pardon?"

"She means are you going to be in the wedding. That's how the girls talk about the wedding, since they get to wear princess dresses for it," Alyssa declared.

"Oh," she nodded, before turning her attention back to Lily. "I will be attending the wedding, but I'm not going to wear a princess dress with you. There isn't enough time for me to become that big of a part of the wedding."

"Oh," Lily replied. "I think Andrew will look funny in a princess dress, but he keeps saying that's what he's wearing."

Alyssa laughed, "And that he is."

Lily stopped, "Nuh uh."

"Yuh huh," Alyssa argued back, though she winked at the girl.

"Daddy used to wear skirts," she declared, falling back in step with the two women.

"That was before you were born, Lily," Alyssa clarified. "In fact that was before I met him."

"Ohhhh," she nodded. "Would you have liked Daddy if he wore a skirt?"

"Would you?"

"Yeah," Lily answered.

"Exactly," Alyssa smiled, pausing while Judith moved to claim her suitcase.

She was surprised that Lily had been the talker. Usually Toni would gab on with anyone who would listen to her. But the girl was being very withdrawn, hiding behind Alyssa's leg, never releasing her hand. Alyssa assumed it had something to do with the juice on the dress issue, but maybe not.

"Now before you get the big idea that we have a driver because of who Chris is," Alyssa began, leading the group towards the door, "it's actually because I don't have a drivers license."