"Happy birthday dear Rose, happy birthday to you!" Everyone finished singing before Anna leaned over to blow out the candles on the cake for her third birthday. After blowing out the candles, Anna looked around to see everyone she had ever known and loved smiling and clapping. She glanced over at Thomas, her big brother, and smiled. He tossed a teddy bear at her that he had bought himself after saving up some of the money his parents had given him from time to time. Anna looked at the bear and his soft-to-the-touch, fuzzy fur. She glanced at the heart shaped tag hanging from his ear surrounded by a plastic, protective seal. She smiled as she smoothed out the fur that was poking into its eyes. After a moment she turned him over to see another tag on his bottom. Knowing she couldn't read she glanced up at Thomas who was now going on 8. "His name is Curly but you can call him whatever you want." Thomas stated after reading Anna's questioning face.

Anna's large green eyes lit up before she climbed off her chair to run to Thomas. She threw her tiny arms around his neck as she stood on her toes to give him a kiss on his cheek while murmuring the words "thank you, Tommy" into his ear. "You're welcome" he whispered back before nicely pushing her off of his body with the look of mock-disgust. "Girls!" He stated while his father and uncles laughed at him. "You say that now," AJ announced, "but in 5 or so years you're not gonna be able to get enough of 'em." Mya softly swatted her husband's arm as she watched the two kids interact. "No AJ, I'm not into girls. You fellas my like 'em but they have cooties. I don't wanna get sick from them." Thomas replied. "Well, what if you have a little sister?" Howie asked Thomas after glancing at Izabel who was now 8 months pregnant. "Nah uncle D, dad wouldn't do that to me. I'm gonna have a little brother to torture like dad tortures Nicky." Thomas stated, using 'Nicky' to try to get Nick's attention. Nick was in a daze staring at Anna's new bear. "Yo Nick!" Brian shouted causing Nick to jump to his senses. "Yeah?" Nick asked slightly flustered. "You okay?" Kevin asked as he stood behind Eve who was sitting on a chair feeding their new son Jacob. "Yeah, I'm fine. Anna's bear looks like one of those Beanie Babies I used to collect." Thomas quickly looked down before an idea popped into his mind. "Let's cut the cake!" Thomas shouted. "Yeah!" Anna and Sarah agreed. "Alright, who wants a big piece?" Howie asked as he started to slice the white and violet cake. "Hey Anna, let me see your bear for a second." Anna looked at her bear and was about to toss it to Nick when Thomas shouted, "Nicky doesn't *need* a large piece, uncle D." Nick shot Thomas a glare as he caught the bear. "Thomas behave or I'm gonna beat your behind, you understand?" Izabel threatened. Brian giggled behind Izabel. "And what's so funny? Our son insulted someone and I'm trying to discipline him. It'd help if you weren't behind me laughing." Izabel stated. "No, it's not that. I'm gonna beat his little butt blue if he ever does it again, I'm just laughing because you threatened him, but babe, let's face it. You're gettin' too large to take anyone down, even our son." Izabel rolled her eyes as she noticed the rest of the room laughing. Brian was right, she was too big to be chasing a little boy around.

Nick looked at the small bear that sat in the palm of his hands. He felt the smooth, silky fur and smiled at the angelic face. He took off the protective seal on the ear tag to get a better understanding of the bear as Thomas watched him intensely. It was in fact a Beanie Baby like the ones he used to collect years before. Nick read the name Curly over and over again in his mind as he tried to remember it's current value. "Holy shit! Thomas, this bear is worth 300 dollars!" Nick shouted without thinking causing the room to go quiet. "300 dollars? What are you talking about Nick?" Brian asked as he walked over to take the bear from him. "Brian, it's one of those Beanie Babies that I used to collect. This one is worth 300 dollars." Nick stated in a very convincing voice. Brian looked at Thomas who sat quietly eating his cake trying to avoid his fathers eyes. "Thomas?" Brian asked softly. Thomas slowly lifted his eyes upwards. "Yes daddy?" He asked back. "Where did you get this?" Brian questioned. "Aunt Nattie." Thomas answered. "Natasha!?" Brian and Nick asked aloud. "Yeah, she said I could have it to give to RosesAnne." Thomas answered using his nickname for Anna. "How the...?" Nick questioned. "Don't worry uncle Nick. Nattie said you had 10 of them that fans gave you. She said you wouldn't miss it." Thomas answered. "But I thought you said you bought her something?" Brian asked. "I bought those plastic thingys." Thomas said pointing to the protective tags.

Anna was uninterested in the current conversation as she and Sarah sat on the floor of her parents kitchen, eating cake while wearing strings of fake pearls, lace, and gold, plastic tiaras. "What are they talking about?" Sarah whispered to Anna. Anna shrugged. "I don't know." Anna replied as she got up off the floor. "Where're you going?" Sarah asked. "To find my mommy." Anna answered as she quietly left the kitchen without anyone noticing. Anna crept slowly down the hall trying to listen for her mothers voice that could be heard faintly. Anna finally reached her parents room and stood in the doorway to listen to her mother. "Nat, you have to come off that tour, girl! You're pregnant! It's not good for the baby." Anna listened as she tried to understand what the word 'pregnant' meant. She had heard Thomas say that word to describe his mother but she still didn't understand. Anna slowly turned around to leave her mother alone knowing that it was rude to interrupt anyone. That was something her parents had taught her since she could smile.

Anna skipped down the hall until she heard fussing coming from one of the bedrooms. She stopped at the room door and slowly turned the door knob with both of her tiny hands before entering the room. "Hi, Alex!" Anna greeted the baby as he woke up from his nap. "Hungry? Want some cake?" Anna asked trying to calm the baby. "I will go get your daddy." Anna stated before leaving the room. Anna ran down the stairs and stopped at the third to bottom step and climbed on top of the railing. She slowly started to slide down the railing of the last few steps on her stomach when someone caught her. "You're mother would have a fit if she caught you doing that!" Howie said smiling as he held Anna above his head. "I don't care." Anna replied stubbornly, her still-chubby cheeks pink from her run down the stairs. "You're just like your mother." Howie sighed realizing that Anna would be more of a handful as she became older. "No I'm not." Anna replied. Howie smiled again before placing Anna down so she could go back into the other room with her family. "Where's mom?" Howie asked as they walked into the kitchen. "Phone." Anna stated. "Hey, keep an eye on Anna, I'm gonna go get Bree." Howie stated as everyone nodded their heads in agreement. "Uncle AJ, Alex is awake. I think he wants cake." Anna said as she took a seat on the floor with Sarah. "Roses, babies don't eat cake!" Thomas shouted from the living room where he was playing video games with Nick. "Shut up, Tommy. Some babies like cake." Anna yelled back. "Knock it off, both of you." Brian stated. "Well, he can't have cake but he can have some milk." AJ told Anna as he mixed some formula for his 5 month old son. "Good enough." Anna shrugged as everyone laughed softly at the carefree child.

Anna saw her mother and father coming down the stairs hand-in-hand giggling and made a face. She wasn't sure if she should smile or yell at her mother for stealing her fathers attention. "Man, you beat me!" Nick shouted. Anna's small attention span helped her quickly forget her parents. Anna climbed off the ground and walked towards Thomas and Nick in the living room. Nick was resetting the game while Thomas sat calmly waiting. Thomas heard the zipping sound of Anna's toy pearls clinging together and looked up. "Roses, you're too young to play with us." Thomas stated softly. "I know." Anna replied, sticking her tongue out at Thomas. "Then what do you want?" Thomas asked annoyingly. "Hey man, she might, ya know, wanna watch us." Nick said defending Anna. "Uncle Nick?" Anna questioned. "Yeah, Hun." "What's preg'ant?" Anna asked. Thomas giggled in response. "Pregnant." Thomas corrected. "Yeah. What is it?" Anna asked keeping her concentration on Nick. Nick didn't know how to answer. He was fearful that what she was really asking was the question about the birds and the bees but Nick held his breath thinking that she was too young to want to know about that sort of thing. "Pregnant? It's when a mommy is going to have a baby like your aunt Izabel." Nick stated. "Oh, okay." Anna said content with her answer. "Why do you want to know?" Nick asked, all-of-a-sudden curious. "Cause aunt Nat is preg'ant." Anna replied before turning around to leave the room. "WHAT!?"