Epilogue

3 months later,

The sun was shining bright and there was not a cloud in the sky. Just another beautiful day in Terra Nova, at the Taylor residence a party was in full swing in the backyard. The back area was decorated with rainbow colours of streamers and lanterns.

The large table in the backyard was laden with food, drinks and good conversation as Jim,Guzman, Evan sat on one side while Sean and Olivia sat on the end. Kate sat on the other side while at the head of the table were two high chairs pushed back to make space as Alicia and Taylor held onto the hands of Ella and Ava so the girls were standing on the table in front of a tall and rather large round cake with white icing with a lit '1' shaped candle on top.

Every once and awhile Taylor had to lift Ava back as the toddler seemed to struggling with the urge to not put her foot into cake. Elisabeth was buzzing around the table taking photos as they all sang to the twins.

"Happy Birthday Dear Ava and Ella, Happy Birthday to you!" The group sang loudly.

"Hip hip Hooray Hip hip Hooray!" They cheered a couple of times before a brief pause.

"Blow out the candles and make a wish" Elisabeth said before anyone else could cut in. The table watched as Alicia and Taylor leaned forward and blew out the candle for the girls. The table clapped and Ella cried as the noise was foreign to her.

"Awwh" Kate and Elisabeth said in unison as Ella turned around and clung to Alicia's chest burying her face while wailing. It only took a few moments of Alicia gently rubbing her back and murmuring soothing words before the girl calmed down.

"I can't believe they are one!" Elisabeth said with a bright smile on her face as she sent the photos she had taken with her comm. unit to Taylor's account and sat down next to Kate.

"I reckon, Ella's looking more like Kate every day. Sure she's yours Taylor?" Guzman asked in a teasing manner. It was a common and annoying joke that was repeatedly told to Taylor. Yet he wore it well as he gave Guzman a smug smile.

"Damn sure and who invited you again?" Taylor asked him.

"I did" Alicia said as she was about to lift Ella up from the table but Taylor picked Ella up before she could. She shot him a look of annoyance. "I can lift my own child" she told him.

"No heavy lifting while you're pregnant" He told her. Alicia shook her head in annoyance as she knew she should have kept her mouth shut about being pregnant as it had made Taylor extremely protective of her and the pregnancy. But then how was she supposed to explain away morning sickness? The stomach flu wasn't going around and she couldn't claim food poisoning as they both ate the same diet. The upside was that they were in a better place relationship wise then they had been 3 months ago. They were happy and Alicia was excited for the future as was Taylor.

"Pregnant?" Jim asked in disbelief, he looked at Alicia who was dressed in a steele blue maxi dress and her hair loose looking for obvious signs that she was pregnant and came up empty but then her outfit didn't help.

"Yes, 15 weeks" Taylor announced to the table with a proud smile on his face as he placed Ella into a high chair and pushed it up to the table next to the high chair her sister was in.

"I knew it! hand over the moolah fellas. I told you I had a sixth sense for pregnant people" Kate said as she held out her hands. Alicia and Taylor watched as Jim and Evan handed over 20 terras each to Kate who smiled victoriously.

"I can't believe it" Evan said shaking his head.

"That you lost a bet or that I'm pregnant? And you should know better than to make bets with Kate" Alicia said to him shaking her head disapprovingly at him. Kate on the other hand had been smug for weeks sitting on the knowledge she had been right all along about Alicia being pregnant.

So Alicia allowed the woman her smug victory even thought she knew Kate cheated as she had insider knowledge. Kate got up from her chair and circled to the table to Alicia and Taylor.

"Please after the bundle he won on Caleb's birth. 20 terras is spare change. Congratulations" Kate said as she hugged Alicia and then Taylor before pulling back and smiling brightly. The woman could light up the colony with her smile and energy.

"Thanks" Alicia said, though she didn't know why Kate was congratulating her as she knew all along Alicia was pregnant even when Alicia was steeped in self denial.

"Though seriously, it's about time you two owned up to it" Kate told them in a low voice, she winked and turned to go back to her seat next to Elisabeth.

"So that begs the question of if it's twins or single child" Evan said.

"It's one child this time" Alicia said revealing only what she and Taylor had learned at their last visit to the infirmary. Elisabeth smiled as she knew every detail.

"'This time' must mean there will be more children" Kate said in a teasing manner.

"No it doesn't" Alicia told her.

"Not necessarily" Taylor said at the same time and Kate looked amused as a few eyebrows shot up at Taylor's comment as his comment was left up to interpretation as he didn't want to close the door completely on having more children.

"Now it's a guessing game of if it will be a boy or a girl" Jim said before he poured himself a cup of coffee. He offered it around and poured out cups of coffee for Guzman, Taylor and Evan while the women had stuck with the iced herbal fruit tea.

"It's a girl" Kate said straight away.

"It's too early to say" Alicia said as she prepped the plates to serve the cake.

"But it's Taylor and he just loves being surrounded by beautiful women" Kate said in a smug manner. Alicia looked to Taylor and raised an eyebrow at him. He smiled and gave a half shrug.

"It's true" Taylor confessed and Alicia shook her head.

"Right. Who wants cake?" Alicia asked as she brandished a knife.

"Oh me!" Kate said excited, she even raised her hand. Alicia smiled and turned her attention to the cake cutting it up. Under the thick lashings of icing was a rainbow layered cake.

"Looks like we returned at the right time" Malcolm said as he had returned from the nursery with a freshly changed and happier looking Caleb. He moved to Elisabeth as he knew she was eager to cuddle Caleb.

"Yep, the song was sang and the cake is being cut and Alicia has a belly full of arms and legs" Kate said to Malcolm.

"Kate" Alicia said exasperated. It was only the beginning of Kate's crass synomyns for pregnancy.

"Congratulations" Malcolm said to Alicia and Taylor before he passed Caleb out to Elisabeth who happily took the baby boy into her arms.

"Oh don't you look handsome in your outfit" Elisabeth cooed at Caleb with a bright smile. The baby boy smiled a gummy smile at Elisabeth who immediately melted and smiled back at him even more brightly than one would think possible before hugging him close. "Oh I could take you home and keep you forever" she cooed before holding out in front of her again.

"But you won't. We've done our three tours" Jim told her from his seat across the table.

"Hah you make it sound like you went to war" Kate said rolling her eyes as she watched Elisabeth pretended to look put out by Jim's words before turning her attention back to Caleb. The baby boy of course lapped it up and made adorable baby noises which only fuelled Elisabeth's antics.

"When you have three underfoot then talk to me" Jim told her in a mocking manner, Kate laughed at him as she reclined back into her chair as Malcolm sat down next to her. He placed his hand in hers intertwining their fingers.

"Right, I'm not giving your opinion any weight as you've never been war. Alicia and Taylor on the other hand… well if they say having three kids is like going to war then I'll believe it" Kate said in a dry tone.

"How do you know I haven't been to war? I was conscripted" Jim told her in a defensive manner.

"Did you fight in a war?" Kate asked Jim. The table all looked to Jim waiting for his answer.

"No but I trained as a soldier. It's not my fault that the war ended before I was deployed" Jim said which Kate smiled at. Of course they didn't make mention that when Terra Nova had been occupied and that he had technically fought in a war. But they all skipped around it as they didn't want to bring up Lucas related topics on a day of celebrations.

"It was probably lucky. You'd make a lousy soldier" Taylor told him as he passed plated slices of cake around the table, Jim gave a shocked look that was too dramatic to be taken seriously.

"I'm insulted" Jim said.

"You can't follow an order to save your own life, you lack discipline and you consistently buck authority" Kate told him.

"I do not" he said defensively even though they all knew it was true.

"People, can we not have this party dissolve into Shannon's performance review?" Alicia asked as she plated up slices of cake and passed them to Taylor who distributed them.

"I have to say the cake is impressive. I'm excited to try it" Kate said effectively changing the topic as she released Malcolm's hand to eat her cake. She picked up the plate admiring the delicious yet colourful layers.

"I know, Melissa did an excellent job" Alicia said as she took a seat to the left of the high chairs so she could supervise the twins eating their birthday cake with Taylor who was on the opposite side of the table smiling at her as they put two small slices of rainbow layered cake in front of the twins on their trays to eat.

"I'd love to know how she got the layers like that" Elisabeth remarked as she held onto Caleb with one arm and took a bite of cake just to try.

"Jelly crystals mixed in with the cake mix." Kate told her.

"Really?" Elisabeth asked surprised as she hadn't thought of it herself.

"Yep, it's the easy part of making the cake. Getting it to stand up straight without the layers sliding is the trick" Kate told her.

"Ah, so you're saying it's easier to buy it from Mel?" Elisabeth asked.

"Yes" Alicia said to Elisabeth.

"It definitely saves a lot of aggravation" Kate said before her attention was caught by Caleb who was sitting in Elisabeth lap, his tiny hand grappled at the woman's knee length skirt and he smiled as he lifted the fabric up and down.

If they hadn't been sitting at table Caleb would have been flashing Elisabeth's legs to the group. Kate looked to Elisabeth who was equally amused by the boy and his fascination with lifting her skirt of her tan summer dress up.

"You want me take Caleb?" Kate asked Elisabeth with an amused smile.

"No, no. He's fine" Elisabeth said chuckling as she pried her skirt away from Caleb's hands only for the boy to grab at her skirt hem again and flap it around.

"He likes your skirt" Kate said in amused tone which made those close by take a closer look.

"Wouldn't be the first Wallace to try and get under my wife's skirt" Jim muttered in good humour as he sat back and continued to eat his cake.

"Well Malcolm could swap seats with Taylor and then your wife would be surrounded by Wallace's" Kate said in amusement.

"for the sake of group harmony and my own laziness I'm not moving" Taylor told Kate who gave a playful pout.

"Fine, I should at least take Caleb away from you Liz before Jim demands a duel to salvage your honour or whatever" Kate said to Elisabeth in amusement as she placed her fork down and extricated Elisabeth skirt from Caleb's grip before she lifted him from Elisabeth lap into her arms.

Caleb made adorable noises of displeasure which only made everyone smile. "Oh it's ok, baby. You can play with Liz's skirt when Jim is at work" Kate said to Caleb as she kissed his cheek to comfort him.

The table chuckled while Jim smiled and shook his head. Even after all this time he sometimes seemed to still be a little sore about Malcolm's underhanded manoeuvre of hiring Elisabeth to try and get back in her pants. The man knew how to hold a grudge considering Malcolm was completely smitten with his wife and son.

"So Kate, when am I going to deliver your next baby?" Elisabeth asked, Kate settled Caleb into her arms so he was upright and able to look around the table.

"Well…" Kate drawled slowly, her tone and quirk of the lips gave a sense that she was eluding to something and Elisabeth pounced on it.

"You're pregnant aren't you?" Elisabeth asked in a disappointed tone of a parent finding out their child had done something wrong. Kate's eyes went wide and then she scrunched her nose.

"No, but wow come on you told me to wait at least 6 months and I plan to. But only because I don't want to go into labour on another festival day" Kate said to Elisabeth.

"Nice to know you have your priorities in order" Guzman quipped before he ate some cake.

"I'd also appreciate it if you didn't use my office is as a birthing room again" Taylor said.

"The Command Centre has never been the same since that event" Jim said dramatically as if it was like he was scarred by the event.

"Geez, you make it sound like I gave birth to the anti-Christ in there." Kate drawled sarcastically.

"I guess that remains to be seen" Guzman said in an ominous yet mocking tone. Kate smiled and shook her head at him.

"I do however appreciate that you refrained from birthing your son in my chair" Taylor said as he ate a bite of his cake.

"Keep mocking me and I may plan to give birth to all my kids in your precious Command Centre" Kate warned him. It was an empty threat but even Taylor knew not to tease Kate further as he didn't need her making plans she had a habit of making good on them.

"How many are you and Malcolm planning?" Evan asked incredulously as Kate made it sound like she was going to have an army of kid.

"I don't know depends on if Alicia has a boy or a girl and then what child I have next and so forth" Kate said.

"Kate wants to join the Wallace and Taylor families through marriage" Alicia explained to Evan and Guzman as they weren't around Kate for those irreverent conversations as much as she, Taylor, Jim and Elisabeth were.

"We're having three. Maximum" Malcolm said putting his two cents in on the subject and because it was the truth. He and Kate had discussed it before and three was their number.

"What if our kids hate one another?" Taylor asked Kate already poking holes in the plan.

"Not possible" Kate said dismissing the idea entirely. She held onto Caleb with one arm and used her free hand to eat some cake. Alicia shot Taylor a look said 'don't even bother'.

"I guess we'll see" Guzman remarked yet again.

"Yes we will" Kate said.

"So are you two going to extend the house now that you're having a third child?" Elisabeth asked changing the conversation back to Alicia and Taylor.

"We've been toying with the idea" Taylor said as he picked up small piece of cake holding it up for Ava. The little girl took the cake and shoved it into her mouth with gusto. Obviously she was enjoying the cake as was her sister. He looked to Alicia and they exchanged smiles for a moment.

"I think you'll need it and an extra toilet and shower. Just tag it on the west end of the house. Easy" Kate said.

"That will mean upgrading the water system and energy systems" Taylor remarked in a casual manner.

"Nothing an extra solar panel can't fix if you're worried about energy efficiency in the house" Kate told him.

"So are you going to tell us the sex of the child number 3 when you find out?" Evan asled.

"No because we want it to be a surprise" Alicia said.

"Only Doc Shannon will know" Taylor added.

"It's going to be a girl" Kate stated as she adjusted Caleb in her arms before picking up her fork and eating another bite of cake.

"Could be a boy" Guzman said.

"You know we could water board Liz when she finds out but some people believe in human rights and the Geneva Conventions" Kate said in a mocking manner as she looked to Malcolm as if she were shaming him for not agreeing with her methods.

"I suggested other less harmful means" Malcolm offered in a defensive manner.

"Hacking is so nerdy and anticlimactic." Kate said.

"Nerdy? You think I'm nerdy?" Malcolm asked her. Kate grinned for a moment before answering.

"Yes but you make it sexy and Elisabeth she makes nerdy very sexy" Kate said she looked to Elisabeth and the two exchanged flirtatious looks playacting like they had real chemistry. Where Alicia shut down Kate's teasing and empty flirtations. Elisabeth played right into it for amusements sake of course.

"And what am I chopped liver?" Evan asked.

"Yes and before I forget, I want it on the record, I'm joking about the water boarding. I would never and have never performed such actions on a person" Kate said.

"It's comforting to know where you draw the line" Evan drawled sarcastically.

"Not really, there are many other enhanced interrogation techniques that are more painful and distasteful than waterboarding" Guzman remarked.

"This is Ava and Ella's first birthday party" Alicia said exasperated.

"We have talked about the weather and the extensions to your house" Jim said as if it made up for the all the innapropriate conversations that had passed around the table.

"You've also covered many inappropriate topics" Alicia said.

"I didn't realise we had to censor ourselves and if we did. It's Evan's fault. He started it" Kate said gesturing to Evan with her fork.

"Nice just disown your part entirely" Evan said dryly, those around the table smiled.

"Oh I will, I'm representing the minority here. You're one of the majority but the delinquent representative of that group. So really I was just misled and peer pressured by you into having inappropriate conversations" Kate explained.

"You'd make a lousy lawyer" Evan said darkly.

"Lucky I'm an engineer" Kate quipped.

"An antiquated one at best" Evan griped as he didn't appreciate being blamed as the instigator for innapropiate topics when it had been Kate all along.

"Will you two stop bickering like children and eat your cake" Taylor said before Kate could respond to Evan.

"Yes, Dad" Kate said mockingly and Taylor shot her a look of censure before giving a closed lip smile. He then looked at Evan.

"Don't even open your mouth as less it's to eat more cake" Taylor said to Evan who opened his mouth to get in the last word. The man quickly closed it knowing better than to push the line.

Later that afternoon,

"Was Evan being a bit of an asshole today or was it just me who noticed?" Kate asked as she took her earrings out and placed them on the dresser. Malcolm moved in behind her. They had returned home after helping Taylor and Alicia clean up after the party. Caleb was in his cot in the nursery, they had started putting in his own room for naps during the day so he could get used to it. He was finally sleeping peacefully as he had been energized from all the excitement of the party and attention even though it hadn't been his birthday.

"It was the anniversary of his wife's death. Not an excuse but just so you know where he's coming from" Malcolm said as he slowly unzipped the back of her dress.

"Hmm explains a lot and why didn't you give me a heads up?" She asked as she stripped out of the dress.

"I could have but it was more amusing to watch you hold your own with him" Malcolm said, Kate turned around and looked at him in surprise as she couldn't believe he had set her up. She punched his arm and he laughed and groaned in slight pain as it hurt.

"You set me up!" she exclaimed.

"I knew you could hold your own" he said as he rubbed his arm. Kate narrowed her eyes at him and he didn't want to know what she was thinking.

"You're going to pay for that" Kate told him, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. She moved closer to him as he rose his hands in mock surrender.

"Whatever you do be gentle with me" Malcolm said in a mock pleading manner, Kate laughed as she pushed him towards the bed.

Alicia stood in the doorway of the darkened nursery looking to where her two daughters were resting for their late afternoon nap. It had been a beautiful day surrounded by family and friends. She had never felt more blessed in her life as she did right now. A soft smile playing on her lips as Ella made the cutest little snoring noise. She was definitely taking after her father.

"What are you thinking?" Taylor asked in a low voice as he circled his arms around her waist hugging her from behind. Alicia rested her hands over his arms and leaned back. Their marriage was far from perfect but they were happy and content with their life and growing family.

"They are growing up too fast" Alicia said as she kept her eyes on the twins. Taylor pressed a kiss to the back of her neck and smiled.

"It's what kids do and we still have a few years" he told her.

"I know and I've decided that we need to add another room to the house. I don't want the twins cramped in one room. They should have their own space" Alicia said to him. She felt him nod and one hand drifted to her lower abdomen where their third child was slowly growing. It was a habit of his.

"It's going to be a girl" Taylor murmured to her.

"If you and Kate get your way" Alicia said dryly.

"You want a boy?" he asked.

"I wouldn't mind a little boy, one who'd grow up to be just like his father" she said, she smiled as it was just a fantasy she held but knew it would be better to have a girl. Keep Taylor outnumbered for good, she had to admit it would be far more amusing if they only had girls.

"We'll have to wait and see" he said.

"Uhuh and until then..." Alicia drawled.

"Renovations. I'll get on it tomorrow. We're ok aren't we?" he asked, it had become a habit of his to ask her if they as a couple were 'ok'. She turned to face him and smiled as she reached up a hand touched his face.

"Yes, we're ok." She told him, before she added "I love you".

"I love you too" he replied, he lowered his lips to hers and gave her long, slow kiss after long slow kiss as he manouvred her out of the nursery and into the living broke the kiss for a moment and swooped her up into his arms bridal style. Alicia held onto him around the neck and shook her head.

"You know I can walk right?" she asked him.

"I know" he said with a smug smile as he walked them into their bedroom. Alicia smiled and shook her head at him as he used his foot to close the door to the bedroom.

The End

I just want to say a big THANK YOU to metube for helping me write this story and listening to all my crazy story ideas and so forth! and I also many thank yous to everyone who has read, reviewed and enjoyed this story. It was a pleasure to write this story and I hope you check out my other work!