It didn't take long for everyone to be seated at the table, bowls of freshly made spinach and ricotta tortellini smothered with tomato marscapone sauce set in front of them to enjoy for their main meal of the day. Zahan was full of beans, almost babbling as she filled the quiet with chatter about her day, and her favorite parts of her day.

"....and Mama and me did that oil thing for my hair, so it's all healthy, and then we ....did something else, and that was a good thing, so we made dinner," she managed to say all in one breath. "And I got to make the tortie things! Why is this cheese sweet?"

Edward had no complaints when it came to meals as Lis had a habit of outdoing herself in the kitchen, when she had the time. He remained quiet for the most part while Zahan babbled on about her day. She had been through a lot, including the loss of two sets of parents, and he was thrilled to see her smiling again. "Zay, slow down before you choke," he warned with a chuckle of his own.

For her part, Lis was keeping one ear closely trained on Zahan's babbling, pleased to note the way the girl managed to avoid mentioning what else they'd done together while Ed was stuck at the clinic. That was the lynch-pin of their surprise, after all. "Ricotta cheese isn't sweet, mija," she explained. "It has a lighter texture than other cheeses, that's all."

Edward hadn't even noticed the near slip, as he was too busy enjoying his dinner, as well as Zahan's babbling. For a man who was on the slim side, he certainly could pack the food away, proof that he was enjoying his wife's cooking. "So, what else did you two do today?" he asked, as he picked at the last of his tortellini. It was amazing he didn't weigh more than he did the way he was packing it away.

Lisbeth let out a low snort of laughter, knowing exactly what was coming.

"The studio did a Parents Dance day!" Zahan declared with a beaming grin. "You know, where if you do dancing, you bring your mom or your dad, and they have to do the dancing with you! Did you know Mama can't balance on one leg?"

For just the briefest of moments, Edward looked disappointed to have missed that, but the look was so brief and so quickly followed by a grin to be hardly noticed. "Your mama is a woman of many talents," he remarked, giving Lis a pointed look.

"They're doing it again tomorrow, so you can come with me when Mama's at work," Zahan added cheerfully, though she'd missed the flicker of disappointment on her father's face. De Luca Dance was nothing if not inclusive, and it was certainly one way to fill up a day or two during the summer holiday.

Lisbeth chuckled, meeting Ed's look innocently. "Not that many talents," she assured him. "I nearly took the entire barre of adults down with me."

Ed brightened at the thought of that. He had taught Zahan to dance a little when they were still back in Africa, but he'd never expected her to take to it so quickly now that she was in Rhy'Din. It pleased him to no end that she had settled in so easily here and seemed genuinely happy. "Well, I don't think I'm going to be very good at ballet," he admitted with another chuckle.

"You can't be any worse than Mama!" Zahan crowed, shoveling another mouthful past her lips. She was definitely better with her table manners these days, but between wanting to talk and wanting to eat, sometimes those mouthfuls were a bit big.

"I thought you just said that Mama was good at it," Edward pointed out with a teasing grin, though she had admittedly not said it quite in those words. "Do you remember when I taught you to waltz?" he asked, reaching across the table to touch her arm. "Slow down, Zay. There's plenty of food," he told her gently, remembering the days when that hadn't been the case.

She nodded, pointedly chewing more slowly when he reminded her to slow down. "Is the waltz that twisty turny sweaty hands dance?" she asked curiously. For some reason, this sent Lisbeth off into another splutter of giggles.

"No," Edward replied, with yet another chuckle. He was all smiles and laughter these days, it seemed, at least, when he was home with his girls. "The waltz is the round and round you go until you get dizzy kind of dance." Of course, they might have both been thinking of the same dance, but had described it differently.

"Oh, that one." Zahan nodded sagely. "We haven't done that for ages." She turned her attention to Lis. "He taught me when I was tiny, and I couldn't keep up, so I stood on his feet, and we fell into a ditch."

"On purpose?" Lis asked with a smile, sipping from her water glass.

"No, she pushed me!" Edward remarked with a grin and a teasing gleam in his eyes. That was not exactly what had happened, but he couldn't help but tease his adopted daughter about the incident.

"I was six!" Zahan protested with a giggle of her own. "You don't always fall over when little girls trip over your feet!"

"Yes, you do have much better balance than me, Eduardo," Lis agreed, quite happy to take Zahan's side.

"Very well, Mrs. Granger. Perhaps you'd like to prove me wrong and take a class in ballroom dancing with me this fall," Edward suggested as casually as he could. He'd been thinking about it for a while now, and this seemed like as good a time as any to ask her.

Lis' smile flickered brightly for a moment, softening as she met his gaze, seeing how much that casual invitation meant to him. "I think I will take you up on that challenge, Mr. Granger," she told him warmly. "I only really know how to salsa."

Zahan blinked curiously. "Isn't that the chunky hot thing you eat with Doritos?"

He chuckled at Zahan's remark. "No, darling, it's a type of dance, sort of like a tango, but not really. Shall we demonstrate once our dinner has settled?" he asked, smiling back at Lis.

"That might be one way to spend the evening, si," she agreed, though her smile was more than a little secretive as she glanced at their daughter, who abruptly giggled into her water glass and subsequently had to grope for a napkin to mop up the spill.

Brows arching upwards, he curiously looked from one to the other, wondering what he'd said that was so funny. Was it him or was he missing something here? "You two are in a good mood tonight," he observed, though that wasn't really unusual these days.

"We had a good day," Zahan informed him innocently, letting Lis take over cleaning up the spillage before she swept half a glass of water onto the floor as well. "We had a happy day. And tomorrow you and me will have a happy day, too!"

Ed reached over to help mop up the mess, still giving Zahan a curious look. "Sweetheart, everyday is a happy day, so long as we're together," he said, meaning the three of them.

He rolled his eyes at that. "Thank the gods for that," he murmured, though he hoped there had been no way possible Zahan could be pregnant at her age - or for a long time to come.

"She wants me to frame her test and hang it on the fridge," Lis whispered, ever so slightly horrified at that thought. Brynne would have a field-day with it, that much was guaranteed.

Edward laughed quietly, and though he couldn't read Lis' thoughts, he wouldn't have put it past his sister either. If Brynne had a field day with it, Edward might just ask Lila if she wanted to pee on a stick, too. "Tell her it's unsanitary," he whispered back, hoping that would work.

"I tried. She just said we can vacuum-pack it so it doesn't spread her wee germs." Lis looked as though she was having to try very hard not to laugh out loud as she recalled this conversation, biting her lips as her cheeks dimpled.

"I got it!" Zahan announced from behind them. "Everybody sit down!"

"Well, at least, it's negative!" he replied with another chuckle. Sometimes you had to choose your battles, and this one didn't seem worth fighting about. "I didn't hear the P word!" Edward called to their daughter, with a wink to Lis.

"Pit pown por poo pet po pudding!"

At this decided bending of the P-word rule, Lisbeth burst out laughing, dropping down into a seat at the table just to avoid having to try and stay upright as she giggled. "You did say you didn't hear it, querido."

Edward laughed, pausing to pull out a chair for Lis before she sat down. "I didn't understand a word of that, except for pudding!" he declared as he claimed a seat for himself and obediently sat down, despite the lack of the proper "P word".

"Should I be worried that I did?" Lis asked in amusement, glancing up as Zahan entered the room, bearing with her a large cake, on the top of which was a little hand-made banner that declared We're having a baby! She put it down on the table, bouncing hopefully with her hand close to the large knife.

"Yes!" Edward exclaimed, laughing. "So we are having cake!" he said, popping up from the chair to snatch the knife away from their daughter before she could do the honors. "Oh, no! I don't think so!"

"Aww ..." Snickering, Zahan dropped down into her own chair, pushing the little pile of bowls toward Ed and the knife. "It's a special cake," she intimated. "I did the squidgy bits."

Lis bit her lip on her smile again. "Are you going to tell your papa what makes the cake special?" she asked pointedly.

Zahan beamed. "ICE CREAM!"

"I can see that!" Edward replied, as he looked the cake over, debating just how to cut into it. "Umm ..." he murmured, uncertainly, holding the knife this way, then that.

Lis chuckled, reaching out to take the knife from him. "Relax, querido," she told him. "If I can twerk, I can cut a cake." Under the cover of Zahan's snickers, she cut three slices from the cake, revealing it to be rich chocolate sponge layered with mint-choc-chip ice cream.

Lis made cutting the cake look ridiculously easy, but he didn't much mind. Relieved of that duty, he took up the slices and passed them out before retaking his seat. "I can't think of a better way to celebrate than ice cream," he murmured between bites of cake.

"I can think of one," Lis murmured into her spoon for his ears only, her comment lost on Zahan. The girl was carefully mushing the sponge and ice cream together into a gooey mess before she started to eat.

Edward smirked as he overheard Lis' comment and shot a sidelong, knowing glance her way. He made no comment in return, but offered a nod of his head toward Zahan at the girl's mushing of her ice cream and cake.

"I think the cake is already dead, Zay," Lis pointed out with a low chuckle.

Zahan glanced up with a grin. "I like the mush," she defended herself. "You don't let me do it in restaurants."

"Sweetheart, you mush to your heart's desire," Edward told her, glad she felt comfortable enough with them that she just be a kid and not have to worry about just trying to stay alive.

"Then I shall mush, and mush, and mush," Zahan agreed, giggling as she pulled her spoon out of her christened mush to suck it into her mouth happily. "I know what Mama's secret ingredient in chocolate cake is now."

"Just don't say that to a team of sled dogs," Edward teased, before shoveling some cake into his own mouth with a murmured sound of approval. Both brows arched upwards, though, at her remark about the cake, glancing from Zahan to the cake to Lis with that questioning look on his face again.

Lis managed to look utterly innocent for about half a second, before she laughed again. "There's a reason it's called a secret ingredient, tesoro," she pointed out sweetly. "And the only reason she knows is because she attached herself to my hip for the entire process."

"I am going to assume that secret ingredient is an edible one," he replied, half teasing back. He couldn't imagine what it might be, but he didn't think it was anything of the magical variety.

"It's kind of icky," Zahan offered. "I would not of guessed she was putting it in cake. But it makes Mama's cakes extra special!"

Lisbeth laughed. "It is not "icky", mija," she objected. "Unexpected, perhaps, but not icky."

"Icky?" Edward echoed, looking between them again. There were times when he felt like he was struggling to just barely keep up with the two of them. "You didn't spit in it or something, did you?" he asked, narrowing his brows at Lis, though he doubted that was the secret ingredient.

"No!" Lis looked scandalized at the thought of that. "How dare you!" Her lips twitched as Zahan erupted into giggles.

"Maybe you should tell him so it's a family secret, Mama."

Edward tossed a wink at Zahan, letting her know he was only teasing, before looking back at Lis. "And here I thought there were no secrets in this house," he teased further with a mock sniffle, as if his feelings were hurt.

"No, because Mama knows she's pregnant, and we know it's a real baby, and not a food baby," Zahan agreed sagely. "Oh! I have to show you my test!" Without waiting to be dismissed, she scrambled down from the table, haring away up the stairs toward the main bathroom, yelling, "I'll bring Mama's, too!"

There was that, too, but Edward's thoughts had traveled momentarily to an unpleasant memory of Africa, though he fought against it. "She's not really going to hang them on the fridge, is she?" he whispered to Lis, once Zahan had hurried off.

"I really hope not," his wife responded, curling her fingers into his. She knew from his expression that he'd thought of something unpleasant, but she couldn't make a guess at what that was. "Maybe we can take a picture of it that we can hang somewhere for her."

"Maybe we should get her a bulletin board," he suggested. Something she could hang in the privacy of her room where she could pin all her treasures, or at least those that she was able to tack up there. Whatever that unpleasant memory had been, the mood seemed to have passed as quickly as a cloud passing over the sun.

"Like a scrap-board?" Lis asked curiously. "Lila had one for a while, but she kept covering it with posters. It might still be on her wall, but I don't think she ever uses it."

"Yes, exactly," he answered, unsure if she was suggesting he ask Lila for hers or buy one just like it.

"That is a good idea," she agreed, smiling as she moved to gathered the bowls. The cake was going to have to go back in the freezer before it collapsed. "Perhaps you and she could find one for her tomorrow, when I am at work. What are you going to do to fill the day?"

He chuckled a little at her question. "It sounds like I'm going dancing," he replied. He was a pretty good sport and didn't really mind, but he still didn't think he'd be much good at ballet.

"It doesn't take all day," she assured him, heading toward the kitchen with her hands full. "An hour or so, and it will probably be mostly fathers tomorrow, too. There were a lot of mothers there complaining that they weren't dressed appropriately." She laughed at the memory - all those made-up beauties having to discard their heels and tight skirts just to spend a little time with their children.

Edward got up to help her gather up the dishes, but a bit belatedly to be of much help. He followed her into the kitchen anyway, a little bit lost in thought. It wasn't the dancing that had knocked him for a loop, so much as the realization that ...."Are we really having a baby?"

Setting the dishes down beside the sink, Lis paused, turning back to him with a shy smile lighting up her eyes. "I think we are," she admitted bashfully. One hand slid over her flat belly, not quite able to imagine what it would be like just a few weeks from now. "Just so long as we don't get Elle to deliver it for us, in payback for Christmas."

Edward mirrored her smile, gently settling his hand atop hers and chuckling lightly at her remark about Elle. "No, we'll do it properly in a hospital," he said, though he paused a moment in thought before adding, "If that's what you want."

"A hospital would be my first choice, yes," she giggled softly, leaning into his side as he placed his hand over hers. "No giving birth anywhere near the excitable members of your family."

"Don't want to give birth to an audience of Grangers?" he asked with a smirk, already knowing the answer to that. He didn't really want that either, especially with it being her first pregnancy. He wanted to make sure she was in a safe place where any problems that might arise could be dealt with. Even if he was experienced at birthing a child, he'd rather not.

"Strangely, no," she laughed, turning to hug her arms around his waist, pressing a soft kiss to his neck. "Te amo, querido." The patter of footsteps betrayed the rushing arrival of Zahan, who burst into the kitchen and threw her arms around them both, always happy for a group hug.

He was about to return the favor when Zahan joined them and he laughed good-naturedly at the group hug. "Te amo, amores!" he exclaimed, including them both and touching a noisy kiss to both of the faces.

Zahan giggled, pressing in close as their arms wrapped about her. Whatever the troubles of her short life, she knew she was loved here with her mama and papa, and though they might worry that she might feel left out with a new baby on the way, she didn't. Lisbeth was right - it was their baby, and Zahan was certain that, boy or girl, they would feel as loved as she did.