Rachel is now twenty-one, and Melanie is thirty-three. Rachel got her accent
back only about two months after she had been adopted by Melanie. Rachel moved
out when she was nineteen. She had already gotten married, had a baby, and
gotten divorced. Rachel's ex-husbands name is Devin. They got divorced because
things just didn't work out. He moved away without saying where he was going,
and Rachel didn't really care. She told Melanie that she couldn't care less,
actually. She and Devin had been fighting and one night she came home and
found all his stuff gone. The only time she saw him after that was when she
had to get him to sign the divorce papers. Her baby's name is Melanie - it's
obvious who she was named after. She's only a month old now. Melanie was there
when she was born. She can still feel the tight grip of Rachel's hand.
	One Month Earlier . . . 
	   Rachel wrapped both hands around Melanie's hand and squeezed tight.
Melanie leaned over Rachel's legs and saw the baby's head. "It's almost over,
Angel. C'mon, you can do it" She stroked the back of Rachel's head, more
nervous than Rachel. Melanie had been worried sick since Rachel went into
labor. Between Rachel's contractions, she would run to the bathroom and get
sick. She wasn't worried that something would go wrong, she was just scared to
death because except for the eight years that she didn't have Rachel, she had
always gotten rid of the pain for her. This time it was all up to her.
	Rachel screamed and it was all over. Melanie was the first (other than the
doctor) to hold the baby and she handed it to Rachel.
	"See, Angel? I told ya, you could do it," Melanie said as Rachel took Little
Melanie (which she is only called when the first Melanie is around). Then she
brushed back Rachel's hair off of her face and kissed her forehead. Then they
both sat back and admired Little Melanie. She no hair at all (which would grow
out to be brown) and the prettiest hazel eyes. The most gorgeous thing in the
world to Melanie and Rachel.	Present Day...
	  Melanie was waiting on Rachel to pick her up. She was sitting on the couch
with the door open so she could see down the street and tell when Rachel was
coming. Soon, a '98 Volkswagen Bug with a convertible top rolled down, blaring
a song that Rachel used to listen to...
	"Father of mine, Tell me where have you been, Ya know I just closed myeyes..."
came around the corner. Melanie knew it was her immediately Out came a 
dead-skinny-again Rachel with curly newly-dyed blonde hair. She had on a blue
spaghetti strap shirt with a butterfly on it that Melanie gave her not too
long ago. Melanie threw her bags down and flung her arms around Rachel.
	"Where's Lil' Mel?"She asked as she hurled her bags in the back seat and they
both jumped in the car.
	"Whitney's taking care of her." Rachel said as she started the car. Whitney
had been Rachel's best friend since Rachel had come back to England, nine
years ago.
	"Well then! Just don't bring my granddaughter when you pick me up!" Melanie
said playfully.
	"I would have, but she's cranky today. I didn't think you'd want her bawling
when you see her for only the second time."	Melanie just shrugged, "I guess.."
	Thirty minutes later, they were pulling into Rachel's driveway.  Her flat was
a simple two story brick house. Melanie yelled, "Forget the bags, for now!"
and jumped out of the car. They both raced to the door. When Rachel unlocked
and opened the door, there sat Whitney holding and talking to a giggling
Melanie Jayne Chisholm Junior. A very happy baby. When Rachel was adopted by
Melanie, she took Melanie's last name. Then when she divorced Devin (three
months before Lil' Melanie was born) she went back to Chisholm. That's why
Lil' Melanie has Melanie's last name too. 
	"She doesn't look cranky to me," Melanie stated. Rachel walked over to her
baby, took her from Whitney, and handed her to Big Melanie. She had only seen
Lil' Melanie once before, and could still not believe that the little girl
that she used to babysit had just had a baby. Then it smacked her in the face
again. In her head, she said, "I adopted Rachel... That means I'm a
grandmother...HAHA! And Mum's a great-grandmother!!!" She couldn't believe she
was a grandmother already at only thirty-three years old. She kissed Lil'
Melanie's head and leaned over and kissed Rachel's forehead. Rachel kissed her
cheek and ran off.	"Be right back!"
	Melanie sat down next to Whitney who had to leave in a few minutes. Melanie
and Whitney began talking about how much Rachel had changed since  Lil'
Melanie was born. She had said she wasn't going to smoke, drink, or anything
like that anymore. She had a change in attitude as well. They couldn't figure
out what it was, but Rachel just seemed... sweeter...
	Rachel ran back with her camera. She set it up, hit the button, ran over and
sat next to Melanie just in time for the picture to be taken.
	"Mum, Grandma, and Godmother, her whole family cept for Gran and your
brothers, Mum." Then they realized that that was all Lil' Melanie had.
	Whitney announced that she was late picking up her boyfriend from his
football practice and she had to leave. She said goodbye, shuffled around for
her keys (which were found under the couch cushion) and left.
	Melanie and Rachel talked for four hours straight. Rachel looked at her watch
and saw that it was 10:00pm. They decided it was time for bed. They put Lil'
Melanie in her crib and put her to sleep by singing half of My Girl. They
climbed into Rachel's bed. It reminded Melanie of when Rachel wouldn't sleep
in a room by herself when she first came back to England from Alabama. 
	The next morning, Rachel woke up to find Melanie gone. She walked to Lil'
Melanie's crib and she was gone as well. She stumbled down the steps and
shuffled into the living room. There, she found them both on the couch.
Melanie was lying down  and Lil' Mel was asleep on her chest. Rachel smiled
and walked over to them. Melanie leaned her head up so Rachel could sit down.
Melanie rested her head into Rachel's lap. Rachel reached her arm down and
held Melanie's hand. Lil' Melanie sighed and Rachel tilted her head to the
side and smiled. Melanie and Rachel just sat there, enjoying each other's
company watching the television until Lil' Melanie woke up.
	Rachel suggested that they go somewhere so Melanie went to get Lil' Melanie
dressed and Rachel went to take a shower and get ready. When she got out,
Melanie had Lil' Melanie in her lap, talking to her, making her giggle.
	"You always did have a way with kids, Mum..." Rachel said as she plopped down
beside her brushing the tangles out of her hair. "But you always say your not
ready for a baby. "Cept for those nine years you pretty much raised me didn't
ya? I turned out pretty good."	
	Melanie grinned and simply said "Yeah..." never even looking at Rachel.
Rachel thought this was a little odd. Melanie had always gone off into little
tangents when Rachel brought up the subject of Melanie raising her. She
shrugged it off and continued brushing her hair. 
	"So, where we goin'?" Melanie asked as she buckled Lil' Melanie into her baby
seat. Lil' Melanie squealed and wrapped her hand as far as it would around
Melanie's wrist kicking her feet and giggling. Melanie laughed a small laugh
and took her wrist out of Lil' Melanie's hand and replaced it with a bean bag
Piglet doll - Lil' Melanie's  favorite toy.  She kissed her head and hopped
back into the front seat. She put on her sunglasses and looked at Rachel for a
reply.
	"I dunno. Why don't we go by your old friend, Emma's house? She was always a
good laugh. When's the last time I saw her? The day before y'all broke up
wasn't it?"
	"Ah, the Spice Girls," sighed Melanie. They had broken up five years ago.
She'd only seen Emma once after the split when they all got together one
Christmas. "Why not?" she smiled and Rachel took off towards Emma's house. 
	"She still live at the same place?" 
	"I think so," Melanie said in a low voice. She was thinking about the day
they had broken up. Victoria and Melanie G's children were three years old and
a handful. The group, David, Jim, and Rachel put together had a hard time
keeping the two hell raisers calm. They were fine when they were apart, but
when Melanie G's son, Michael, and Victoria's daughter, Laura, got together,
they turned into two "Demon Children" as Rachel called them. The Demon
Children were at their mothers' parents' houses most likely being little
angels since they were apart. The girls hadn't had an album out for two years.
They simply couldn't think of anything. Every time they did, it just didn't
have that special something that they liked. Rachel was at the mall with
friends. Jim and David were out doing something. They hadn't told what they
were doing, they just ran off for the day. The girls were lying around Melanie
G's flat. Melanie C, Emma and Victoria were lying on the couch. Emma had her
head in Melanie's lap and her feet in Victoria's. Melanie G was sprawled out
in the floor with Melanie C's feet on her stomach and Victoria's on her chest.
They were sitting in silence. Emma started crying and Melanie comforted her.
Emma was sobbing "We aren't a group anymore can't you see?!"
	Melanie was jerked out of her thoughts by Rachel saying "We're heeeeerrrre!"
Rachel started to get Lil' Melanie out of the car but Melanie stopped her and
did it herself. She said "I wanna see Emma's face when I show up carrying this
baby. Bet ya a twenty she'll think it's mine!" Rachel just laughed, got the
diaper bag out and handed it to Melanie. They walked to the front porch and
rang the door bell. Soon a wide eyed, still innocent looking Emma opened the
door. Her eyes got even wider and brighter when she saw who was there and what
she was holding. 
	"Omigod! Melanie!" They flung their arms around each other and laughed and
laughed. "Melanie!!! Your a mum now too!!!" Emma said as she started playing
with Lil' Melanie.
	Melanie laughed and said "Rachel, I told ya she'd think she was mine!" Rachel
pulled out some money from her pocket and put it in Melanie's hand. She took
Lil' Melanie from her and Melanie said, "She's Rachel's!"
	"Omigod! And I thought I was shocked when I thought she was your's Melanie!
Congratulations, Rachel!" She hugged Rachel just as she had Melanie. "What's
her name?" Rachel smiled and said, "Melanie Jayne Chisholm Junior" in a
professional voice then she said in a sweet voice to Lil' Melanie, "Or Lil'
Melanie... isn't that right?" Lil' Melanie laughed and giggled  then put the
soggy head of Piglet back in her mouth. Rachel said to Emma, "See? She's
agreeing with me."	"Aww, how old is she?"	"Only a month."
	"Well come on in! I've gotta show you something." They followed Emma through
the house which Rachel commented that it hadn't changed a bit. Emma walked
into her bedroom and stopped in the doorway giving them room to walk in.
Melanie and Rachel stopped dead in their tracks and looked at each other when
they saw what was in there. There was a tall crib right beside Emma's bed.
Rachel handed Emma Lil' Melanie and darted over her bed and looked in the
crib. There laid a sleeping baby girl, with blonde hair just like her mother.
Rachel couldn't tell what color her eyes were because they were shut. She
wasn't very old at all because she was smaller than Lil' Melanie and she was
small for her age. 
	"Aw," Rachel mouthed. She motioned for Melanie to come over and she did.
Melanie did the same thing Rachel did. They both looked at Emma who was
smiling at them. Melanie walked over to her and hugged her from the side
"Congratulations!" She whispered into her ear and kissed her temple. Emma
kissed Melanie's cheek and said, "You too, Granny."
	Lil' Melanie started to cry and Rachel walked over and took her from Emma.
"Now, you haven't cried all day. What's wrong?" She laughed as Lil' Melanie
wrapped her hand around her mum's finger and stopped crying. "Ugh! You usually
let anyone hold you. So you just decided to act up with Emma, huh?" She looked
at Emma and said, "So what's her name?" as they walked to the living room.
	"Megan Estelle Bunton" Emma replied in the same professional voice that
Rachel had used earlier. "She just fell asleep so you might not get to see her
awake,"	Rachel laughed and said "I always knew you'd name your kid after Geri
somehow. How old is she?"
	Emma took Lil' Melanie back (she - among many others- had fallen in love with
her the minute she saw her), "She's only a week old. She was premature, that's
why she's so small. I'm supposed to be seven months pregnant right now. That's
why I haven't called anybody yet. I was gonna wait till I was close to my due
date 'cos I didn't want all the attention that we gave Tor and Mel when they
were pregnant. Then I haven't had much time to call anybody. Only the family
knows. Meg takes up most of my time." Melanie wrapped an arm around Emma and
Emma wrapped an arm around Melanie. She gave Lil' Melanie back to Rachel and
began crying. "I've missed you two so much.." she said as Melanie wrapped her
other arm around her and let her cry. Rachel walked the rest of the way to the
living room and placed Lil' Melanie into her little bucket so she could see
what was going on then came back and joined into the hug. She kissed Emma's
forehead and said, "We've missed you too" Rachel started crying as well and so
did Melanie.
	After they finished, Melanie asked Emma and Rachel if they thought all the
girls and their families should meet up today. All three agreed. Melanie asked
Emma if Mel and Victoria still had the same phone numbers. None of them knew,
so they just tried to call the numbers they had when they split. When Melanie
dialed Victoria, she noticed that Emma still had all their old phone numbers
on speed dial - even Geri's. The phone rang four times before she heard a
woman's voice on the phone say, "Hello?"
	"Victoria?" Melanie asked as she prayed in her head that it was her.
	"Ya,... omigod, Melanie?!"	"Theeee one and only!"	"Holy... how have you been?!"
	"Still alive... I'm a granny now, too ya know!"	"Oh, no your not! How many?!"
	"Just one. She's named after me. She's only a month old."
	"Awww...I can't even remember what Laura was like then... Ya know, she's nine
now."	"My God, it doesn't seem like nine years ago that you told us you were
pregnant! So how is Laura anyways?"
	"She's good, she's good... How's Rachel handling motherhood?"
	"Taking it better than I am grandmotherhood!! God, I can't believe I'm a
grandmother and I haven't even given birth to my own, yet."
	"Ya well, that's the way it goes when you adopt,"
	"I think I noticed that... Well, I'm over here at Emma's and we were thinking
that we could all meet up. All of us. You, me, Emma, Mel, Geri, her kid
Cathryn, Rachel, Lil' Melanie, David, Jim, Laura, and Michael."
	"Oh, God, I haven't seen Geri since that dinner we had... and I haven't seen
any of you lot since the day we broke up. This'll be weird."	"I know..."
	"Wait a minute, Geri has a kid???"
	"Ya, I saw a picture of her with her in ID. Had a looong interview too. Kinda
reminded me of Rachel's first interview with me. Remember that??" Rachel had
her first interview a week before her first Christmas living with Melanie. The
interview was of both her and Melanie. US magazine was doing it. The title was
"Melanie's New Love" because the papers kept saying Melanie was going out with
so-and-so and a week later, it'd be someone else, so they thought it would get
people's attention; and it did. It came out and three days later, it had
already been the best sell of the US ever. Since it sold so well, they decided
to ship it to every country that sold magazines! Rachel had been very excited
about it. It was a ten page article, not counting the five pages of nothing
but pictures. In the interview, Rachel ranted on and on about how it would be
her first Christmas in eight years with Melanie (whom she had begun to called
Mum sometimes already) and how excited she was. In one part of the article,
the writer said "I don't think I've ever seen Melanie with a more proud look
than when I asked Rachel how happy she was to be back with Melanie. Rachel
replied to my question by putting on a full smile and said 'Oh, you'll never
know how happy I am! I can't explain it! Ya know, I'm a Chisholm now too. That
was real special when she adopted me. Ya know, I thought she would just be my
foster parent for a little while and then send me back to Alabama, but she
adopted me and I was so surprised!' Then she threw her arms around Melanie's
neck and said , 'I love you, Mum' I seriously think Melanie and Rachel are as
happy as they could be."
	Victoria giggled, "Ya, I remember how excited she was after that. It was so
funny," answered Victoria, "How old is Geri's daughter?"	"Only three."	"Aw,"
	"Tor?"	"Yes, Melanie?"
	Then more quietly she asked, "Why didn't we keep in touch?"
	"I dunno Melanie... I dunno. I was wondering that myself."
	"Do you still wear your ring?"	"Yes,"
	Melanie smiled into the receiver, "Me to... Well, I gotta see if Geri and Mel
and Jim still have their old phone numbers... Oh! Did you know Emma's got a
baby now too?!"
	"No! Now all of us but you have a kid! Boy or girl? How old? What's it look
like?" 	"She's a girl, she's a week old and she looked just like Emma... Well, I
dunno if she's got the same blue eyes, cos she fell asleep right before we got
here, but other than that, EXACTLY like her."
	"AWW! Well, I'll let you try to call Geri and Mel.. Oh, David says hello."
	"Tell him hello... We're all gonna meet here okay?"	"Okay. We'll be there.
	"...Bye, Tor."	"Bye Melanie."
	Melanie hung up and looked at Rachel and Emma who were in the chair by the
couch. Emma was sitting in it and Rachel was sitting on the arm of it. "Well,
Tor's comin' for sure,.. now I gotta try to call Mel and Geri."
	She try to call the others and they still had the same phone numbers too. She
said the same thing to them, only she didn't tell them about Rachel or Emma's
baby. She wanted them to be a surprise. They were all gonna meet up at Emma's
house and then they'd go to a restaurant. Melanie and Rachel went to Rachel's
house to change clothes. They left Lil' Melanie for Emma to babysit. When they
came back, Rachel spotted Victoria's car (the same one she had when they
split) already there. 
	"Look! Look! She's here!" yelled Melanie like a little kid seeing its idol.
When they stopped, Melanie jumped out, ran up the steps, flung open the door
and looked around for Victoria. She found her down the hall. They both
screamed and ran to each other. Melanie picked her up and swung her around
like she did Rachel that day that she came back. Then she spotted David and
Laura and hugged them too. Rachel stumbled in and did the same thing. 
	Emma came in the room holding Lil' Melanie who was sound asleep. She put her
in the crib with Megan who was still asleep.
	"Oh, Rachel! Congratulations!" yelled Victoria and ran over and hugged her
again. 
	"Emma! She's been sleeping all day! She doesn't need anymore sleep!" Rachel
laughed. "And thanks, Tor." she hugged Victoria back and took her drink from
her, took a swing and handed it back.
	They heard a knock on the door and they all raced to answer it. They all
ended up tripping over each other and falling on top of each other. David
managed to reach up, turn the knob and fling the door open. There stood Geri,
slim and blonde as ever holding a little girls hand that wasn't even up to
Geri's knee.
	"Hiya Geri!!!!!!!!!!" They all yelled as they came out from under each other.
	"We were just seeing who could get to the door first and... uh... you see
what happened." laughed Melanie as she ran over and hugged Geri. "God! I've
missed you, girl!"	"I've missed you too," said Geri in her husky voice.
	"Ya know, I just realized that that's the first thing you've said to me in
person in a little over nine years." Melanie wiped away the tear that just
fell from her eye and kissed Geri's cheek. Geri kissed her cheek too and moved
back a little so Melanie could see Cathryn and said, "Melanie, this is
Cathryn... my daughter."
	"I know," said Melanie. She leaned down and said "Hi Cathryn, I'm Melanie."
	"I know," said the little girl and wrapped her arms around Melanie's neck.
	Melanie laughed and hugged her back. "And this is my daughter, Cathryn. Her
name's Rachel" Rachel squatted down and Cathryn hugged Rachel too. "She
knows," said Geri, "I've told her all about you girls, didn't I Kath?" The
little girl nodded and held her mummy's hand again.
	"Oh Geri!" said Melanie, "You might of heard about her, but you've never met
Rachel have you?"
	"No, I haven't." said Geri as she hugged Rachel. "I might not have been there
like the others were but I watched you since you were twelve thanks to the
newspapers," said Geri.
	Geri walked over to Victoria next and hugged her too. Then Victoria leaned
down just like Melanie did and said "Cathryn, I'm Victoria."
	"I know who you are too. And that's your husband.... eeeeehhmmm, David. And
that's your little girl, Laura." 	"You DO know!"
	"Yep" Cathryn and hugged her too. "That little girl loves to hug doesn't
she?" Rachel asked Melanie. As they watched Cathryn move on and hug David and
Laura since her mum had already hugged them while she was talking to Victoria.
	When she got done, she walked over to her mum and looked at the person that
she was staring at. She tugged her mum's dress and said, "Mummy, mummy, isn't
that Emma?" They both looked down and smiled at her. "Yes, honey that is."
said Geri as she folded Emma's still tiny body into her arms and let her cry.
	"I"VE MISSED YOU SO MUCH!" sobbed Emma. Geri kissed her forehead and said
"Shhhh, I'm here now, don't worry about the past. I'm here now..."
	After a few minutes, they felt two little arms wrap around their knees. This
made Emma laugh and she stopped crying a little. She let go of Geri and squat
down so she'd be eye level with Cathryn. "You must be Cathryn"
	Cathryn giggled and said, "Yeeep!" and hugged her. Emma giggled and sniffed
as the last of her tears dropped.
	"What d'ya think? Should me and Em show her our little surprises now?" asked
Rachel as Cathryn walked over to her and reached her hands up for her to pick
her up. Kids loved Rachel for some reason. They all want her to pick them up
the first time they meet her and she wants to pick them up. She couldn't
resist so she did.	"Yeah, why not?" said Melanie with a full smile on her face.
	Rachel put Cathryn down and told her she'd be right back. Rachel and Emma
then disappeared down the hall and left David, Victoria, Laura, Geri, Melanie
and Cathryn with David, Victoria, Laura, and Melanie grinning ear to ear.   
	"Am I gonna like this...surprise?" Geri asked with a confused look on herface.
	"Ya," said Melanie.
	Then Rachel and Emma came back with a baby in their arms. Both babies were
now awake.  Geri covered her mouth and walked over to them. "Oh... my...
God..."she said. She looked at Lil' Melanie then at Rachel. Then at Megan and
then Emma. "They both look just like their mums!" She laughed and kissed Emma
on the cheek and then Rachel.
	"Ya wanna hold her?" asked Emma holding out Megan to her. Geri just nodded
and took her. Megan cooed and talked to Geri in baby talk.	"What's her name?"
	"Megan,"
	Geri just nodded and looked back at Megan and said, "Ya, I know. Tell me
about it, sweetheart." 	"Hey Em! Tell her what her middle name is." Rachel said.
	"Estelle," She grinned at Geri and watched her eyes grow. "You named her
after me??" She held Megan with one arm and held Emma with the other. "That's
so sweet! 		"What's your's name, Rachel?"
	Rachel looked at Melanie and said, "You wanna tell her?"
	"Yep! She's named after me, Geri! Melanie Jayne Chisholm Junior. Or Lil'
Melanie."	"Aww, how old is she?"	"A month,"	"How old is Megan, Emma?"
	Emma looked down, a bit saddened at how early Megan was born. "A week. I'm
supposed to be seven months pregnant right now, ya know."
	"Oh, Em. Don't be sad. She's healthy inn't she? And so are you, right?"
	"Ya, but only the family knew I was pregnant. That's what I'm sad about. I
was gonna wait till I was close to my due date to try to call you lot 'cos I
didn't want all the attention that we gave Tor and Mel when they were
pregnant. Then I haven't had much time to call anybody."
	Geri held Emma again, this time tighter. "That's okaaayy. We would've found
out sooner or later, anyways, wouldn't we?"	"I guess..."
	Geri and Rachel sat down on the couch with the babies. Megan was still
"talking" and Lil' Melanie was chewing on Piglet's head. A few minutes late,
there was a knock at the door. Rachel and Geri ran to put the babies in the
crib just for a minute so that if it was Mel, they could surprise her like
they did Geri. They all - except for Cathryn- raced to the door when Rachel
and Geri got back and fell on top of each other again. Rachel managed to  move
her head out from under whoever was on top of her and yell "It's open!" from
the very bottom of the pile. The door opened to reveal Mel G, Jimmy, and
Michael. Laughing, Melanie, who had purposely gotten on top of both piles,
began to sit up. They all climbed up and hugged Mel. She hugged Geri and saw
Cathryn. Her eyes widened and said, "Who's this???" 
	"Mel, this is my daughter, Cathryn."
	Mel leaned down and said, "Hi Cathryn. I'm Mel." Cathryn was a bit scared to
hug Mel, because she still had those wild locks, but she did anyway.
	"Great," said Rachel in a fake ticked off tone. "I just put the kids in
there, now we've gotta get 'um out again."	"What kids???" asked Mel.
	Rachel grinned at her and said, "Mine and Emmer's"
	"Oh my God!" yelled Mel and she walked down the hall to see the babies with
Rachel and Emma.
	A few hours later, they were all packed into one table at a restaurant. They
were done eating and were just talking and laughing. The Demon Children hadn't
been demons at all all night. The mothers had switched children: Rachel had
Cathryn in her lap, Geri was holding Megan, Victoria had Lil' Melanie, Mel was
talking to Laura, and Emma was talking to Michael. Melanie was talking to
David and Jim about anything and everything.
	A little while later, they all had their own kids back and they grew very
quiet. None of them knew why, they just did. Then Melanie said, "Um, girls...
and guys, I have to tell you something."
	"What, Melanie?" asked Geri leaning over with her chin propped in her hand
like she used to when she was really interested in something. 
	Melanie smiled at her and said, "Well, um... all this talk about babies, I
figured I should tell you either now or never and let you find out on your
own, except you, Rachel, you'd find out anyways... I... um... I'm pregnant..."
	The other five girls (Rachel, Victoria, Mel, Emma and Geri) screamed. They
laughed and Rachel got up, ran around the table and hugged Melanie. 
	"How far along?!" she asked when she kissed her head and made her scoot over
in her chair so she could sit by her and keep her arm around her neck.
	"Not far at all, about a month."
	Rachel couldn't stop laughing. She squealed and laughed, "Oh, so basically
when I had Lil' Mel, here, you went out, got drunk and got knocked up!"
	"Nooo!" Melanie smacked her in the stomach playfully. "...it was the night
after you had Lil' Melanie!" They all burst out laughing and Melanie added,
"Oh, and I didn't get drunk thank you very much. And I know perfectly well who
it's daddy is."	"Who???" Everyone said at the exact same time.
	"My boyfriend you idiots! Josh!"
	"Oh yeah! I heard about him! Where is he anyway?" Emma asked
	"He's in the States right now visiting some friends of his. He doesn't even
know. I just found out last week."
	"Well, I call dibs on telling him!" yelled Rachel.
      "Oh no you don't!" Melanie yelled even louder.
	"Heeeeey! That's why every time I bug ya about you complaining about not
having kids and then saying your not ready you get so weird!"
	"Well, naw! That could be a big hint!" said Emma rolling her eyes playfully.
	"Shut up!" Rachel giggled cos they were all acting like they used to
(excluding the children) before the split.
	They all got quiet again for a few seconds then Lil' Melanie startedlaughing.
	"God, that's a happy baby!" yelled Mel with her still huge mouth.
	"Tell me about it!" Rachel thought for a minute then smiled and said
sarcastically to Melanie, "And I don't know why, it's not like her grandmother
doesn't spoil her or anything."	"I do not! I only bought her a few things!"
	"Oh! Bull!" They both started laughing knowing Melanie had just told the
biggest lie she probably ever told. "Most of everything she has is from you!"
	Everyone else just laughed and stared at the two girls ... uh, women fussing
back and forth, laughing, and playing, forgetting that anyone else evenexisted.
	"Oh, kiss my bum, Mama! You know perfectly well you buy her loads and loads
of stuff that she doesn't even need! Just like you did to me after you adopted
me! Not that I'm complaining!"
	"Ya well, you better not complain! I spent half of what I made in the Spice
Girls on you!"
	"That's a bunch of crap right there! You mighta' spent a lot but not that
much!!!"
	They went on and on until they both gave up on winning the battle and Melanie
flung her arm around Rachel's neck, and Rachel buried the top of her head into
Melanie's neck.
	"Well, nice to see that some people never changed the way they were around
each other," Geri said pulling Cathryn into her lap.
	"Really? Who's that?" asked Rachel smartallecly. Melanie slapped her head,
not hard at all, but Rachel acted like it did.
	Cathryn started tugging on Geri's collar. "What, Honey?"
	"When are you going to give them that..." Geri covered Cathryn's mouth and
laughed at her. "Later." 
	"What was she talking about?" asked Melanie with her eyebrows as far up as
they would go.
	"Oh well... Well, I was gonna wait 'till we were all back at Em's place, but
I guess I can give 'um to ya now..."	"Well, what???" asked Rachel, also curious.
	"Well, sorry, Hon, but it's not for you. Just for us five."
	"Oh, okay," said Rachel, a little disappointed at first, but then she
remembered how close the five women used to be and she understood.
	"You'll understand when you see it."
	Geri reached into her purse and pulled out four little boxes.
	The other four weren't exactly sure what it was. They all had different
ideas. Another ring? A necklace? A bracelet? As they opened the boxes at the
same exact time, they all got tears in their eyes. In each box was a gold ring
almost exactly like the other one they had. They all had "One of Five -
Together Again 2007" engraved in them.  
      Melanie handed hers to Rachel so she could see it. "Aww, that's so
sweet!" she said as she tried it on herself. She took it off after finding a
finger it would fit on and handed it back. 
      The five girls got up and hugged one another, soon ending up in a group
hug. Rachel started laughing and hit David on the shoulder with her free arm
(she was holding Lil' Melanie in the other). "Hey, didn't I see this scene
before on the Billboard Awards or somethin'?" The hug broke up and they all
went back to their seats.
      About an hour later, they were all at Rachel's place. She wanted to show
off her house. Little Melanie had fallen asleep fifteen minutes ago, along
with the other children. The Megan was in Lil' Melanie's crib with her, and
the other children were  in Rachel's bed sleeping like angels. The adults were
piled into Rachel's living room laying all over each other talking, laughing,
and looking through Rachel's many photo albums. Melanie looked around the
room. None of them had changed a bit since the last time she saw them. Even
Geri, whom she hadn't seen in ten years. Nothing at all had changed, she
couldn't get over it! Same faces, same laughs, same voices... then it hit her.
Same voices.	"Girls, d'ya think we're still as good as we used to be?"
	"Well I dunno about you lot, but I am!" yelled Mel G laughing, being her
true, rude nature.	"Not like that!!! ...I mean singing..."
	Emma shrugged and turned the page in the photo album she and Geri were
looking at to see pictures of Rachel in the hospital with Little Melanie.
Rachel could hear Emma mumbling, "Do you still remember how we used to be?
Feeling together believe in whatever, my love has said to me. Both of us were
dreamers, young love in the sun. Felt like my savior, my spirit I gave ya,
we'd only just begun."
	Soon each girl was singing her part. Rachel even joined in toward the end.
After they were all done singing, they all had shocked looks on their faces.
They sounded exactly the same as they used to! David and Jim didn't know what
to say, so they just stayed quiet.
	"Girls," Geri said with hopeful tears in her eyes. "D'ya think we could get
back together for a few years?"
	"YES!!!" they all cried at the same time. The subject wasn't brought up again
that night for some reason. Rachel resumed talking to Victoria. Mel talking to
Melanie, Emma to Geri, and Jim to David. Rachel and Victoria were talking
about clothes. Mel and Melanie were talking about raising Rachel and Michael.
Geri and Emma were holding each other and talking about how much one missed
the other along with looking through the photo album. Jim and David weren't
talking about much at all but they some how formed it into a conversation.
They all ended up falling asleep in Rachel's living room. The next morning,
all of them except Melanie and Rachel woke up wondering where they were for a
split second.  Melanie and Rachel knew exactly where they were. They all woke
up about the same time, smiling and saying, "'Mornin'," to each other. They
all just sat up and sat in silence, too sleepy to say anything. Soon, both of
the the babies were crying so Rachel and Emma had to go feed them. When they
came back, they had their babies in their arms and the other kids following
them. The children ran to their mothers and got in their laps - except for
Michael, he thought he was too grown up at nine to do that so he sat beside
his mother. 
	They all ate breakfast then left, getting Rachel's number since they didn't
have it and Melanie was staying there, and promising to call each other that
night. Since Rachel had only fallen asleep about three hours ago (she and Geri
stayed up talking when everyone else fell asleep) she went to her bed and fell
back asleep. Melanie sprawled out on the couch and watched television. A two
hours later, the phone rang. She picked it up on the second ring. "Hello?"
	"Hey Melanie, it's me, Geri,"
	"Hiya Geri. I didn't expect anyone to call right now. I thought you'd all
call around seven or somethin'."
	"Well, you know me, always , ugh!,...unpredictable."	"What was that!?"
	"Cathryn jumped in my lap,"	"Oh,"
	"But, anyways, what I called about was,... when I said if y'all thought we
could get back together and you all said yes, were you serious?"	"Yes, why?"
	"Because no one kept talking about it. It was just like, 'Ya, course we
could, okay, what was I talking about?'"
	"Ya, I noticed that too,... hey, want me to call Emma? Rachel's got three way
so we could all three talk."	"Go for it,"	"Kay, hold on,"
	Geri heard a phone ringing and Melanie say, "It worked, I hope she answers."
	Just as Melanie got that out, they heard Emma say, "Hello?"
	"Hey, Em. It's Melanie."	"And me!"	"Oh ya, and Geri."
	"You got three-way, Melanie?"	"Ya. Anyways, Geri, tell her what you told me."
	"Kay. Emma, when I asked if we could all get together and you all said yes,
were you serious?"
	"Yes, you noticed that the subject got changed quick too huh?"
	"Ya, it was like you all didn't really care..."
	"Of course we care! I just don't think that anyone really wanted to talk
about that right now."
	"So, girls, if the other two don't want to get back together, me and you two
gonna do it anyway?"	"Sure!" Emma and Melanie exclaimed at the same time.
	"Okay, well, girls, I gotta go, cos Cathryn's hungry."
	Melanie giggle and said, "Okay, Geri. Bye."	"Bye, Ger," said Emma softly.
	"Bye girls."
	Melanie and Emma stayed on the line and talked for a few minutes then Melanie
called Victoria on three way. She said she'd be in too. Then Emma hung up and
Melanie and Victoria called Mel on three-way. She said she'd be in too. The
next day when they all met up again, Melanie asked the girls and got Rachel in
as well who had a beautiful voice. Geri had an extra ring made for Rachel that
said the same as the other girls' rings. 
	Three days later, Josh came back from the States. When Rachel left the room
to feed Lil' Melanie, Melanie sat Josh down and told him she was pregnant. At
first he didn't do anything. He just sat there. Then he started laughing and
hugged her. When Rachel came back, she knew Melanie had told him. "Finally
told him, eh?" she asked and Lil' Melanie said something along the lines of
"Nnn...da"and started giggling.
	Two weeks later, there was a new single out by the Spice Girls called Never
Gonna Leave Again with a new girl on it who became many people's favorite
simply because she was someone most teenagers could relate too even though she
was twenty-one, kind of the way Emma was. Her name was Rachel. The song shot
straight to number one the day it was released. The girls spent the next two
months writing more songs. Six months after the album was released, Melanie's
daughter was born. Her name is Mary Rae Ashcroft. She had been given Josh's
last since Melanie would marry him soon. When she had enough time to recover
and slim back up, a reunion tour was held for the Spice Girls. It wasn't much
different from the tour in 1998 only Geri was back for the entire tour, Rachel
was with them, and for "Mama" all the children went on the stage with their
mothers. Some lyrics were changed, but not drastically. Overall, all the fans
loved it.	
	When they got back home, Rachel was going to move back in with Melanie. She
said she got lonely all by herself. While they were gone, Josh and his friends
had moved all her stuff into Melanie and Josh's house. The minute Melanie
opened the door to her house when the tour was over, Rachel collapsed in the
living room floor and yelled "HOME!"  Josh came in carrying Mary who was only
two weeks old and Lil' Melanie who was now ten months old. Josh kept Mary and
handed Rachel Lil' Melanie who was STILL the happiest baby you've ever seen
and was giggling and baby talking non stop. When everything was sorted out,
Melanie and Josh were married. Rachel was the maid of honor and the other
Spice Girls were all brides maids. Rachel was happy for Melanie, but at the
same time she was angry and disappointed because Melanie was no longer a
Chisholm so they didn't have the same last name. After she made the decision,
she changed her and Little Melanie's last name to Ashcroft.	
	The Girls got along great, just like they had before, like nothing ever
happened other than adopting and having their own children. They were very
successful with the new generation and a lot of people that used to be fans
before the Spice Girls' split. Many years later, the Spice Girls were still
loved by multitudes of people. Even if they were capable of singing very well
now that they were so up in the years, they still had interviews among other
things. Until the very last Spice Girl died, many, many years later, they
never left the scene and will always remain in everyone's hearts.

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