Bebe Populous suggested to her husband Asa that the time was right for them to have another baby.  Asa was thrilled.  He’d been worried that Bebe might not want any more children so he was happy to oblige.

Asa loved all of Bebe’s children, but he had a special fondness for his own son, Fitzy, and he was loving the experience of teaching the little boy to develop important life skills.

This pregnancy had caused Bebe to do some serious thinking.  She could technically live for ever.  She could possibly raise as many children as she wanted, could populate the town, several towns, with her descendants for generations to come.  But she didn’t want to do it alone.  She didn’t want to stay young alone while everyone she loved grew old.  So she decided to share the secret of Ambrosia with Asa.

Asa was a little perplexed by the meal his wife put before him.  She said she’d been experimenting with a new recipe.  It looked very strange to Asa, with its coloured vapours and strange textures.  It smelled rather unusual, too.  Still, Bebe was a fabulous cook, so he trusted her.

Asa couldn’t believe the taste.  It was the most unusual, exquisite, perfect meal he had ever had, and it had an unusual effect on him.  He felt his body shifting and changing somehow, mysteriously.  He felt younger than he’d felt in a long time.  The meal clearly had some curious chemical properties.  He was amazed.

But as Bebe and Asa delayed their ageing, the children continued with theirs.  It was Brad’s turn to grow up next and he had already got big plans for his future.

He wanted to take his love of gardening and cookery to develop his skills in buying, creating and storing nectar.  He was convinced he could be the Valley’s premier nectar collector and distributor and as he moved out of his childhood home, he couldn’t wait to get started.

Cameron became a teenager, and he was very excited that this meant he could now do more around the house.  Unlike many children his age, the prospect of babysitting his little brothers was quite exciting – now Annalise and Brad had moved out, he wanted to prove he could live up to being the eldest child at home and take on new responsibilities.  He also found himself a job at the supermarket.  Bebe cautioned him about taking too much on, but he promised that he would be fine.

Bebe herself used her maternity leave to go to the park and make new friends.  It became a little uncomfortable when she bumped into Annalise’s father, Cycl0n3 Sword.  Annalise had stayed in regular contact with  her father, but Bebe hadn’t spoken to him for some time, though she hadn’t really broken things off with him, just let them drift.  They didn’t entirely know what to say to each other.  Cycl0n3, rather pointedly, congratulated her on her marriage and subsequent children.  Bebe was a little embarrassed and made her excuses to go and talk to other neighbours.  She was glad that things weren’t so complicated with Connor or Jared, and at least Xander and she were still friends, seeing their encounter as a ‘happy accident’.  She really hoped she wouldn’t bump into Leighton any time soon.

As for Bebe and Xander’s son, Declan, he was having a hard time at school.  Now his big brother Cameron had moved up to secondary school, there wasn’t anyone to look out for him and he was feeling pretty lonely.  Not many of the other children spoke to him and there were a couple of the older kids who said quite nasty things about his mum.  But as Declan looked out across the park and saw his mum chatting so easily with the neighbours, he realised that she wasn’t the bad person the nasty children said she was – she was actually his idol, and the person he most wanted to be like.  Everybody liked his mum.  Maybe if he was more like her, everyone would like him too.  Maybe one day he would be popular.  And if the kids at school didn’t want to be his friend, maybe he could find other people in town who would.

The park was fast becoming a favourite haunt for many of the Populous family.  Asa was often to be found playing there and it was helping him make friends himself as well as leading him to gain promotions within the theatre.  He had always known he was a little strange.  Like Declan, school had been hard for him and he’d also had a difficult home life as a child.  But Bebe had encouraged him to pursue his dreams and since he’d started playing guitar in the park and working at the theatre, he’d discovered that music made him happy, and what’s more, it seemed to make people like him.  Nobody called him names, nobody said he was weird.

A new found youthfulness, a love of music, new friends, a new baby on the way… life was looking good for Asa Populous.

While Asa was in the park, Bebe went into labour.  She decided to have the child at home.  Declan was ready to meet his little brother or sister, hoping he or she would be a new friend.


Bebe was delighted to hold in her arms a new daughter, Gail.  As she hugged Gail to her she whispered to the newborn that daddy would soon be home… and she prayed no-one would ever know that Gail had another daddy out there…

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