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Chapter Thirty Four - February 14

"I can't believe how much she grew since I was gone."

"Look at Joe's arm. It looks like he's hugging her in his sleep."

Molly and I were hanging over Ally's crib. Even though jet-setting around the world was awesome, it was even better being home and being there with my little girl. I think Joe felt the same way. Since we had gotten home, he hadn't let his sister out of his sight.

"I think when they get older, Joe's going to be the protectve brother," Molly said. I grinned.

"Yeah, he'll beat the guys away."

It was Valentine's Day. We had been home for all of two days and I wanted to lock all the doors and never leave again.

"You know," I said softly. "Today's Valentine's Day."

Molly looked at me and smiled. "I think Valentine's Day is over-rated."

I looked at her in surprise. "Really?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I mean, think about it. Why do people need one day to gush about how much they love each other? Isn't that what every single day is supposed to be about if you have someone?"

I didn't think I could appreciate her anymore, but I was wrong.

"You're exactly right," I said.

She laughed. I wrapped my arms around her.

"Of course," I said huskily. "If someone did want to give you a little affection today, you wouldn't mind...would you?"

Molly kissed me softly. "I don't think I'd mind too much," she whispered.

I pulled her in for another long, slow kiss. I don't know how much time passed but I heard the unmistakable sound of a little someone clearing their throat.

"Are you making a baby?"

Well if that wasn't like an ice cold bucket of water, I don't know what is. Molly and I both glanced over at Shelby in surprise.

"What?"

Shelby was standing in the doorway with one of those orange Flinstone's ice cream push-pops in her hand.

"I was watching Lifetime and these boy and girl were kissing and then she got a baby," Shelby said. She eyed me suspiciously.

"Honey, AJ and I aren't having a baby," Molly said gently.

"I don't think Ally or Joe would like that," she warned. I secretly enjoyed that she had started to use the little ones to vocalize her own opinions.

"I'll keep that in mind," I said seriously. "I don't want to upset Ally or Joe."

Shelby stuck the push-up in her mouth and took a long suck.

"Kay, just checking."

She skipped off down the hallway.

I turned back to Molly.

"I think we're going to have to sit down with her and explain our relationship," Molly said. I stifled a groan. The last thing I wanted to do was try to explain to Shelby what was going on.

"Do we have too?"

Molly laughed. "Yes, we have too."

"Do we have to do it today?"

"No, not today."

----------------------

February 20

I managed to stay extremely busy for the next few days. I just wasn't ready to sit down with Shelby. I didn't know exactly what to say to a six-year old. I mean I couldn't come out and tell her that her mom was a firecracker in bed and that I was addicted to her like a crack addict.

Today was the day that Ally's implant was going live. Molly and I bustled around in the morning, quickly cleaning up breakfast dishes and getting everyone to go.

"So I get to come?" Shelby asked excitedly. I smiled.

"We're all going. This is a big event."

"You're telling me!"

We arrived for Ally's appointment ten minutes late. We would have been on time except for Joe got the hiccups and threw up chocolate milk all over himself.

"There's the girl of the hour," the audiologist said. He glanced at me. "Are we ready?"

"We're ready."

Ally had done a great job at leaving her head alone. She watched with curiosity as the doctor put a small microphone behind each of her ears.

"This set contains the microphone, speech processor, and a transmitter. It will send a signal to the parts that we actually implanted under the skin."

"Cool! Ally's part robot!" Shelby said excitedly. The audiologist laughed.

"We're going to activate it today and then I'd like you to come back the next two days for tweaking. She's also going to need regular appointments with a speech pathologist."

I nodded. I was aware of all that. All I could think of was the moment when she would actually hear us.

"Are we ready?"

"More than ready," I said.

It seemed like a small crew of people assembled.

"Some of our students are curious as to how this will work on someone so young," the audiologist explained. "Here we go."

"Alright, we're going to turn it back on. And...it's on."

Ally had been happily sucking on a pacifer. At the sound of the word 'on,' she spit it out.

"Hi Ally Bug," I said.

It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen in my life. After month's of talking and her being oblivious, she turned her head and looked up at me in amazement. And...she smiled.

"Can you hear me?"

She gave a little twitch in my arm and let out a little laugh.

"HI ALLY!"

I felt Ally's whole body jump. Shelby put her face right next to Ally's.

She began to wail.

"Shelby, shh. Use your indoor voice."

"BUT!"

"I'm going to turn it off for a second," the audiologist said. "It might be that the set is turned on too high."

"No, Shelby's turned on too high," Molly said. She put a finger to her lips. Shelby pouted.

The audiologist adjusted a few controls. "Let's try it again."

By this time Ally had calmed down. She kept staring at me as if she was desperae to hear me say something again.

"And we're live."

"Hey beautiful. This is your big day."

Her eyes lit up. Joe leaned over and touched her arm. He let out a happy shriek. She immediately mimicked him.

"Hi Ally," Shelby whispered. This time Ally turned and just smiled at her. Her little arm went out and bumped Shelby's nose.

We spent about two hours in the doctor's office. The audiologist would leave the implant on for twenty minutes, leave the room, and we would monitor Ally's reaction to different stimuli. Then he would come back in, make adjustments, and we'd repeat.

"I think we're going to leave it on at this setting. I'd like to see you tomorrow morning. If there's any problem's just turn it off with this button."

I felt overwhelmed, but in a good way. Ally's beautiful smile was like Ro reborn. I couldn't take my eyes off of her.

"This was really cool!" Shelby said happily as we all headed towards the car. Molly touched my arm.

"She looks like a whole new baby," Molly said. Ally's head lifted up. She stared at Molly and cooed.

"She looks like her mom," I admitted. It was the first time I had said that out loud. Molly smiled.

"Then she was an absolutely stunning woman."

"She was. But then again, so are you."

Molly blushed. As I buckled in Ally, Molly leaned over me.

"Just so you stop worrying, I already talked to Shelby."

I glanced at her in surprise. "You did?"

Molly grinned. "Yeah. She says it's okay that you love me. She loves you too."

I smiled. I couldn't have asked for anything more.