GEN IV: Chapter 11

Over the next few days, life in the Fuller house was busy. Rachel remained occupied taking care of Logan and things around the house. Brian went to work and solved cases as often as he could and in addition to that he called Johanna when ever he had time. Unfortunately she hadn't been available to talk since Carla had been born. Brian would have to make sure to take some time out to visit her again. He was worried about Johanna knowing that Ranier was connected to her in any way.

Since her mother and father had been so busy, Jennifer had started to imagine her doll 'Patches' as a friend the same age as her. The two of them talked often and played hard. Their favorite place to play was in the sand box that Jennifer had gotten for her birthday. Jennifer would build the sand sculptures and Patches would knock them down. Then they would laugh and do it all again.

Out on a job one afternoon, Brian ran into Dylan and invited him back to the house to meet his nephew. He played with Logan, snuggled and even fed him a bottle.

"You know Brian, I want one of these eventually." Dylan said, then he chuckled. "I guess I should find a girl first though, huh?"

"Yeah, I think you'd need a girl for that - unless of course you adopt. Honestly bro, I didn't think you wanted children." Brian said. "Speaking of which, have you met Carla yet? Jo-Jo's little one? She's adorable. I'm actually headed over there soon, do you want to come?"

"Oh no I haven't been by since the birth I guess. Unfortunately I can't make it tonight, I have to get to work."

It was not long before Logan fell asleep in Dylan's arms. Dylan laid the babe in his crib and said goodbye to Brian.

Brian told Rachel that he would be back soon and went of to Johanna's house.

Rachel was beginning to really feel the life of the house wife and mother. There was always something to do. Always. Sometimes she got so frustrated about it that she literally screamed and tugged at her hair. She missed her real job. It felt to her that she hadn't been to work in months, then she realized that she really hadn't. Her pregnancies and babies had lined up perfectly with weekends. Basically she had a weekend, then Monday started her first Maternity leave, as that came to an end it weekend was again. She found out she was pregnant at the end of that weekend - therefore was put right back on leave. She wanted to go to work but she's still on her second maternity leave and her boss wouldn't allow it.

Jennifer was old enough now to take her own baths, which took one thing off of her mother's list of things to do. She always enjoyed bathing too, it was the perfect time to play her submarine games. She always splashed and had lots of fun. Jennifer made sure to clean up the mess that always accumulated as well, just so Rachel didn't have to.

That night the girls had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner.

"Thank you for making dinner Jennifer, I really appreciate it." Rachel said. "I know I've been busy lately, I'm sorry I haven't spent much time with you. I'm trying to get better but it seems like everytime I get some kind of established schedule - everything goes wrong and I have to start over again."

After dinner Rachel went back to her housework, including laundry and cleaning bathrooms. Jennifer went upstairs to watch TV but then decided she'd prefer to dress up and play pretend.

**Meanwhile**

Brian showed up at Johanna's house and she happily invited him in.

"Oh gracious I'm glad you're here, it's nice to see you." Johanna said. "Here's Carla." She passed the baby to Brian. "I'm sorry to shove her at you, would you mind terribly if I took a shower?"

Brian played with the little lady for a few minutes while giving Johanna some time to herself. An hour later Carla was asleep so Brian and Johanna sat down for some television and conversation.

"Okay Jo-Jo, I've tried to hold this off and satisfy curiosity by observing but I can't judge by that only. Is Ranier in your life?"

Johanna wasn't shocked by his question at all. "I was wondering if you were going to ask. It didn't seem like you really liked him when you met. You didn't seem pleased with him." She paused a beat, "No, he's not. He did try to be. He came over that night Carla was born as you know and we talked. He insisted to be part of the family but I denied him. I told him that being the 'biological father' doesn't make him obligated to be her 'dad'. He could never be that. So I told him to get lost. If anyone knows about biological versus true parents it's me. You know Mother Daphne was my mother in every way possible, though she did not give birth to me."

"I know that must have been a little hard for you but I'm glad you did it. You're right, he probably wasn't the best 'dad' material."

"Oh, it wasn't too tough. As I told you before, that one night with him was caused by too much 'fun juice' anyway. Carla is an unplanned blessing but she's changed my life for the better, there's no way I would let him mess it up."

The two of them talked for just a little while longer before Brian said farewell and went home.

When Brian walked in the front door he saw Jennifer flinging a pillow around - seemingly at no one. She appeared to be having a blast too. He smiled as he walked by. Brian and Rachel both had noted some similar actions from Jennifer recently. They both assumed that she had an imaginary friend, but neither were positive.

Brian checked on Logan, he seemed content in his crib and nearly asleep so Brian left him be.

Brian ran into Rachel on his way out of the bedroom and she stopped him to ask a question.

"How do you think Jennifer is doing with Logan?"

"Oh, Jenn really doesn't seem as angry anymore. Maybe she's taken a slight liking to him a little. Then again I haven't seen her deliberately go near him just yet." He said.

"You're right. She probably needs to work through it mentally a little before she shows him any attention."

What her parents didn't know, or see (because they were too busy), is that Jennifer did find her own ways to get peeks at her little brother and start to be around him more. A lot of the time when he was in the crib, asleep or not, Jennifer would sit just outside the nursery to do her homework or read a book. She was starting to think that there was no way this little baby could be the monster she imagined originally. Maybe she could like him in the future. Maybe.