It's been a long three months since I've been able to write anything, but finally on the last week of this semester and couldn't be happier. As long as my muse continues to cooperate, I'll write.

Having been away from the Hamptons for the last four months, Jill sighed as she finally made her way to the baggage claim. It had taken nearly a full day to fly back from Africa to New York. However, it was worth it to see the look on her brother's face when she showed up just in time for his wedding.

Claiming her baggage, she thought about how much Ernie had been disappointed she wouldn't make it to his wedding. He didn't have to say it for her to know this. However, opening a hospital where health care was scarce was something she had dreamed about since she was a little girl. Even if that had meant leaving her family and friends and selling her house, she had made the ultimate sacrifice to make that dream come true.

As she shouldered her carry on bag, she had walked out through the sliding airport doors. The slight breeze made her stop and close her eyes to savor the moment. When she opened them again, her grin grew brighter as she saw her older brother Andrew standing off to the side with a sign labeled Casey.

Andrew was the oldest of her three brothers. He was about a foot taller than her; chocolate brown eyes, irresistible dimples that had driven the girls crazy back in high school, and now he was the father of two children. He had also been Jill's hero growing up. Even though they were nearly six years apart, she had always been the one he had called to help him scheme. Most of them had been good schemes, but sometimes those schemes had gotten them into trouble.

"Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes." He greeted as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"If that's your way of saying you missed me-"

"Of course it is." He pulled her away to look at her. "How are you?"

"If we're being honest here? I'm exhausted." She nodded into his shoulder. "But I'm glad to be home."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, don't we have a wedding to crash or something?" Smiling deviously, they walked through the airport parking lot.

He nodded, wrapping his arm around her waist. "Have you lost weight?"

She smacked his arm with her free hand. "A little. I've been kind of busy running a hospital in Africa."

"That's right. How's that going?"

"It's going well." Pushing away a stray hair from her face, she lifted her chin so she got some of the cooler air that was coming their way. "Even though the hospital isn't one hundred percent up and running yet, my job was to pretty much help train staff about finance and how to run a hospital. We have a doctor who came to help train the doctors and nurses on procedures they may have never heard about-"

"My car is right here." He pointed to a silver civic that had been parked between a white truck and a gold colored minivan. "You can stick your bag in the trunk."

Sliding the bag off, she placed it in the trunk and closed it. "Nice car. You have any more children and you'll be driving a minivan." She gestured over to the gold van beside them as they pulled out of the parking lot.

Andrew smiled broadly, focusing on the road ahead of them. There was a steady line of cars in every direction that it took them awhile to get out onto the road. "You can sleep if you want. I'm sure Mason and Ava will want to meet you when we get home."

Mason was Andrew's two year old son; wild, energetic, fun and loving. While he had his father's personality, he was blonde haired and had blue eyes, just like his mom. Ava was all her dad, especially with all her dark hair.

Jill took in a deep breath. "I'm not sure I can sleep just yet. You know how I am during long car rides."

"Makes me wonder how you made it through a twenty-two hour flight to Africa."

"Thanks to Dramamine, I hardly felt a thing." She settled against the window, the palm of her hand against her cheek. The air conditioning kicked on, which was almost soothing as she let her thoughts take over. What was Hank doing now? Was Hank Med still going strong? How was he doing? How much had she missed being away? What would her parents think of her coming back?

"What are you thinking about over there?"

She snapped out of her thoughts, drawing in a deep breath as she turned to look at him. "I'm just thinking about what it's like being back in the Hamptons."

"And possibly running into Hank again?"

"Not a moment I'm really looking forward to."

"As long as you know that possibility could happen." He gave her that protective brother look, which caused her to roll her eyes. Out of all her brothers, Andrew had also been the most protective of her.

"If that moment ever comes, I'm sure I can handle it." She assured him as they stopped at a red light. He held his hands up that he would back up for now. "Thank you. Besides, it's not like Hank and I ended on a bad note." She turned back to the window. "I just don't know how he would take me coming back to New York."

Letting the whole conversation drop, she went back to focusing on the passing scenery. Soon they turned down a familiar road that she didn't think she would see again—at least not for awhile. It was the road that led to Hank's place. Luckily, they headed three blocks down the opposite direction to a nice neighborhood filled with fences, and toys littered all over newly trimmed lawns.

Andrew's in particular had a little blue bike parked on the porch. "Here we are." He gestured to the blue-gray painted house, white curtains draped the open living room window. She stepped out, wavering a little as she put her hand on the car to steady herself. "You okay?"

She shook her head to rid the dizziness, then nodded. "Probably the result of being in motion a little too long."

"Come on we'll get you settled and you can rest for awhile before we have to go the rehearsal."

Andrew grabbed her bag from the back of the car before they went inside, and set her bag just inside the door. "Carina? We have company." There was a rustling in the kitchen, then heavy footsteps followed down the hall as a blonde haired woman came into view, with a little Ava in tow.

"Hi, Carina."

"Jill, it is so good to see you again." Carina greeted her, enveloping her into a hug.

"It's good to see you too." Jill hugged her back. "And this must be Ava."

"Yes, it is." Carina looked down at her daughter. The little girl squirmed, now making cooing sounds and sucking on her fist. "I'm afraid she's a bit tired, as you must be."

"Very." Jill was still quite mesmerized by Ava. "She's beautiful."

"Thank you. You're welcome to hold her if you want."

Jill looked down at her hands. "I should probably wash my hands and change first, but then I would be glad to take her off your hands for awhile. Perhaps we can even take a nap together."

"I'm sure Ava would love that." Carina called over her shoulder. "I'll finish preparing her bottle and you're welcome to rock her all you want."

Jill nodded, grabbing her bag and headed upstairs to the guest bedroom at the end of the hall. Exhaustion was starting to take over by full force, so she hurried and changed into a short-sleeved purple shirt and another pair of jeans, before padding back down the hall to the bathroom. She couldn't help but smile at the little toothbrushes in the holder as she washed her hand and splashed some water on her face. The long trip had taken a toll on her, but it was worth it if she got to hold her niece for the first time.

She dried her face with the towel. When she opened the door, Carina was waiting with Ava in her arms. "Hey, I thought I'd save you the trouble and bring her up."

"Thank you. You didn't have to do that. I would have come downstairs to get her."

Carina gestured to the last door by the stairs as she handed Ava to her. "She likes to be fed in the rocking chair in her room. If you have any questions, Andrew and I will be downstairs."

"I'm sure we can handle this. Right, Ava?"

"Then I will leave you two to get acquainted." Carina grinned at Jill, then handed her the bottle filled with warm milk before padding back downstairs.

"Okay, little one-" Jill whispered to her slightly fussy niece. "Let's see if we can get a nap in before Uncle Ernie's wedding rehearsal."