A/N: Okay...I made the mistake of not checking the previous story for details and I am big on continuity...sooooooo...I am revising this entire tale. So when you go looking for the chapters that came after this one, they won't be there until I repost them. I decided to go an entirely different direction with this one--a direction loaded with angst for the family. You all know how I thrive on angst :-)

In the dark of the bedroom, Goren held his tiny infant daughter against his chest. She wore only a diaper and he was shirtless. She cuddled into his chest. In the three weeks since she'd been home, he found that she settled more quickly with skin-to-skin contact, which was not uncommon with premature babies. He was content to calm the baby so Eames could sleep as often as he was able, and since Molly had only eaten thirty minutes earlier, he figured she only wanted comfort. As soon as he settled her against his chest, she calmed and took the pacifier he offered. She responded to him as well as Maggie and Tom always had.

A soft knock drew his attention from the almost-sleeping baby and the door slowly opened. "Daddy? Mommy?"

"Come on in, mouse," he said quietly.

Maggie came into the room and walked to him. "I heared my Molly crying. Is she okay?"

"She's fine, baby. She just wanted to be held."

"Did she have a bad dream?"

He sat down in the rocking chair he'd gotten when Maggie was a baby, shifting Molly into his left arm so Maggie could climb into his lap, too. She was careful of his other arm, which was still in a cast, healing from the showdown with John Hampton just a few days after Molly was born. Maggie was able to read the pain he still suffered, and she worried about him, which troubled him. She worried about too many things. "No," he answered. "She's too little to have bad dreams."

"Then she was lonely?"

"I suppose she was."

"She's not usta bein' alone."

"You're right about that."

Maggie sighed and rested her head against his chest, gently rubbing the baby's back. "I get lonely, too, my littlest baby," she whispered.

Goren frowned. "When do you get lonely, Maggie?"

"Mos'ly when you're gone," she replied. "Mommy makes me happy, an' I don' like bein' away from Tommy, ever. But my heart al'ays gets lonely when you're not aroun', even when ev'ybody's home. It soun's funny. You shouldn' be lonely with lotsa peoples aroun', but you can be."

"Yes, you can." He pressed his lips against her head. "I won't always be around, mouse."

"I know, Daddy. But I can' change my heart."

"Maybe not right now, but when you grow up, you're going to find someone special, someone you'll love in a different way than you love us."

"Like you love Mommy?"

"Yes. Exactly."

She was quiet for a moment. "Am I special, Daddy?"

"To me you are."

She moved her hand from the baby's back and settled it against his skin, snuggling close. "What's a bes' frien'?"

She had such a busy little mind, like his own, so he was used to her tangents and sudden deviations to seemingly unrelated topics that were linked to one another somewhere in her mind. It was the way his own mind worked. "Um, someone you like spending time with and doing things with...who you can talk to when your life goes out of whack, and share things with when everything's going right."

"Is Mommy your bes' frien'?"

"Mommy is closer than a best friend to me. She's an important part of my heart. Uncle Mike is my best friend."

She nodded and yawned. "You an' Mommy are my heart," she said softly. "An' Tommy's my bes' frien'."

He brushed a kiss through her thick, unruly hair. "Do you have a friend at school who's more special than the others?"

Another yawn. "I guess so."

"Who's that?"

"It's Devon." She nestled against him and closed her eyes. "But Tommy's my bestest frien'."

He snugged his injured arm around her and gently gave each daughter a kiss on the head. Devon? Her best friend at school was a boy?

Once certain she was asleep, he stood up. Walking to the bed, he set Maggie down beside her mother and returned to the crib. Gently swaddling Molly in a soft fleece blanket, he kissed her again and left her to sleep in the crib that made her look even tinier than he did. Gently scooping Maggie into his arms, he carried her to her room and tucked her in. After checking on Tommy, he returned to bed.

Settling under the blankets, he was surprised when his wife slid into his side and hugged him. "Devon," he whispered. "Her best friend at school is Devon. Not Stephanie or Barbara or Christine. Devon. Are you sure we can't keep her home?"

She laughed quietly. "You know we can't. She's growing up. You can't isolate her from all the boys in the world. Think about it, Bobby. Who does Maggie hang out with? Aside from me, it's you, Tommy, Mike, Dad, Jake...it's only natural that her best friend would be a boy as well."

He grunted unhappily. "I'm still not sure I like it."

"You don't have to like it. You just have to accept it."

He sighed. "This is only going to get harder, isn't it?"

"For you? Yes."

"She's starting to step away from...us."

"Kids do that," she said gently. Lightly stroking his skin, she then added, "But remember this...you have a special relationship with her. She may step away from us as she gains her independence, but I honestly don't believe she will ever step away from the bond she has with you."

He kissed the side of her head and softly sighed. "I just wish she could stay little, so we never have to let her go."

"You know that's not possible." She stifled a yawn. "We're still going to visit your mother Saturday, right?"

"As long as she continues to do well, yes."

"Maggie can't wait to show off Molly."

He finally laughed. "I know. At breakfast the other day she asked me why she couldn't take her for show and tell."

"What did you tell her?"

"Well, first I told her that she had no way to feed Molly. After I found her trying to nurse her, I added that she was too little and you need her home with you, but I gave her a picture to take to school, and she seemed content with that."

"She's like her father—too smart for her own good sometimes."

Leaning up, she kissed him softly. He smiled. "What was that for?"

"For being an even better family man than I ever imagined a man could be."

"I just...want them to be happy...to have a better childhood...a better father...than I did." He shifted restlessly. "And you...deserve a good husband...like you had with Joe."

"And what about you, Bobby?"

"Me? What do you mean?"

She snuggled deeper into his embrace and caressed his side, glad he seemed to calm down. "Don't you think you deserve to be happy?"

"But I am."

She sighed, shaking her head slowly. "Never mind," she murmured. "I'm tired and you have a doctor's appointment first thing in the morning. Are you going with me to see Dr. Burke at two-thirty?"

"Yes. Mike's going to pick up Maggie from school."

"She knows that, doesn't she?"

He smiled. "Yes. After the last time I didn't pick her up when she expected me, I learned my lesson."

She laughed softly, then yawned. "At least you learn," she whispered, pressing her lips against his chest. "Good night, baby."

He drew her tight against his body. "Good night, Alex."

She went to sleep readily, but he remained awake for a long time, still trying to come to terms with his daughter growing up.