Author's Note - I don't really have one, except that I'm finding it very hard to stay away from this universe, and I'm so very grateful for all of you that keep coming back to it. Oh, and chapter two includes smut. Loving, married couple smut, but smut nonetheless. This chapter is smut-free.

~MKMKMKMKMK~

Kitty sat on the bed, baby Laura propped up on her shoulder. She patted her back gently until the baby let out a decidedly un-ladylike belch.

"This is the only time in your life you'll be allowed to get away with that, you know," she said, wiping Laura's mouth.

Matt came out of the water closet. "There's no denying she's my child."

Kitty shook her head. "Men." She rolled her eyes at the baby. "Momma will teach you how to deal with them."

"Why do I have the feeling it's going to be two against one when she learns to talk?"

She smiled at her husband but said nothing. Laura sat upright in her mother's arms, making sweet little sounds that never failed to make Kitty smile. Now three months old, she was small for her age but strong. A social baby, she always had smiles for her papa, her daddy, and her momma. But she was starting to show the beginnings of a temper, which exasperated Kitty but Matt found amusing. She wasn't sure it would be so amusing when the baby got older.

True to her nature, Laura was trying to grab Matt's hat, which was just out of reach. Kitty grabbed her hand and kissed it. "No, that's not for you."

The baby was having none of it. She immediately started to fuss and whine.

"What's the problem?" Matt had gone back into the water closet.

"She wants your hat," Kitty answered, wrangling her squirming child. "Why is your hat on the bed anyway?"

Laura began to cry.

"What?" Matt stuck his head out. "Kitty, just give her the hat."

She made a face. "It's going to go right in her mouth."

If there was one sound in the world Matt could not tolerate, it was his daughter crying. He took a deep breath and blew it out forcefully. "She's not going to put a hat in her mouth, Kitty. Give it to her."

Kitty shook her head. "Fine." She reached for the hat and placed it in front of the baby, who immediately calmed and grabbed at it with tiny fingers.

"See? What was the problem?" He ducked back into the water closet.

She said nothing and waited patiently. Within seconds, Laura's mouth had found the rim of the hat and she began to gum it, making happy little humming sounds as she did.

Kitty rested her head back against the pillows and closed her eyes. Laura was not the world's best sleeper, and had been up most of the previous night. She counted herself lucky that she had both Matt and Doc close by, both willing to get up with the baby. But most of the time, she wanted her mother, whether she was hungry or not. In the beginning, it delighted Kitty, as she rarely wanted to let go of the baby. But she was loath to admit that after three months, she wouldn't feel too hurt if Laura wanted some daddy time.

Time with Matt was something that not even Kitty had, really. He was always around, only venturing out for errands and the occasional outing with Doc. But it wasn't the same as it was when they were first married. With Doc and Laura in the house, they hadn't had a private conversation that didn't involve discussing the baby since she'd given birth. He was supportive, but it seemed his sweetness and attention usually went to the baby instead of her. Oh, she wasn't jealous. In fact, most of the time she felt too tired to think about it. But lately she found she missed her husband. She'd seek the warmth of his arms as she slept, but once the baby woke, he turned over and went right back to sleep. He occasionally offered to change her when she was wet, but Kitty never took him up on it. She was already half out of bed, anyway.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a near-unholy sound coming from her husband. She opened her eyes.

"You're letting her chew my hat?!"

Kitty shrugged. "You told me to give it to her."

Matt glared at her, and took the item from the baby, who immediately started to wail.

"Matt! You can't just rip it away from her." She picked Laura up and cradled her close.

"Well, she can't chew my hat, Kitty." He angrily hung it from the peg on the wall by the dresser.

"Why was it even on the bed? You don't wear it anymore." She raised her voice over the baby's crying.

"Because you told me to clean up in here!"

"And putting your hat on the bed is cleaning?"

Matt threw his hands up. "I'm going to get lunch with Doc."

Kitty was fuming. "Oh no you don't. You're not leaving me alone with this." She got off the bed and handed the screaming child to Matt. "You calm her down. I'm going to have lunch."

Matt looked down at his daughter. "Now I have two women angry with me."

~MKMKMKMKMK~

Kitty sat at the table, picking at her sandwich. In truth, she wasn't really hungry. She just needed some quiet. And although she thought it selfish of her, she found herself getting irritated that Matt and Doc came and went as they pleased, and she'd been housebound for three months.

"Not hungry?"

She jumped at the hand on her shoulder. Looking up, she managed a smile. "No, not really."

"Well, if you don't mind, I'm going to make myself a sandwich."

She smiled as she watched Doc prepare his lunch, placing a glass of milk in front of her before he sat down.

Kitty made a face. "I've never had so much milk in my life. I feel like a cow. Udders and all." She looked up at Doc. "Sorry."

"Don't be. Babies are very demanding. That's why God made them so cute. So we can tough it out."

She managed a smile at that. "I'm just tired is all."

"I know that." He took a bite of his sandwich.

"Not sleeping so well, and…"

"I wasn't thinking of that kind of tired."

She looked at him questioningly.

"You never leave that room, Kitty. I rarely see you without that baby in your arms." She opened her mouth to protest, and he held his hand up. "Hear me out. I know she prefers your company right now, which I'm trying not to take personally. But give yourself a bit of a break. Come down here; eat meals with us. The weather will be warmer soon, you can go for walks-"

"I really appreciate what you're saying Doc, I do. But this won't last much longer. I'm fine. Really." She stood and leaned over to kiss his head. "I promise," she added as she left, leaving her milk and sandwich untouched.

~MKMKMKMKMK~

Kitty cracked the bedroom door open and peeked in. Matt was in his big chair, head back, snoring, with a sleeping Laura in his arms. She approached them quietly, grabbing a quilt from the end of the bed to drape over them. After making sure it was tucked around them, she turned to tiptoe out, but a hand grabbed her arm.

"Don't go," Matt whispered.

She looked at him, an array of emotions flooding through her. Anger, frustration, love. Love was the strongest of the three, but the other two had to be dealt with. She'd ignored them for too long.

When she didn't say anything, Matt ran his hand down her arm and laced his fingers with hers. "I love you."

She nodded, squeezing his hand.

"Tell me what you need. I'm not very good at all this."

Frustration bubbled up inside her. "I don't want to tell you, Matt. I want you to know and do it without me having to ask you."

He sighed, letting go of her hand. "I'm trying, honey."

"Are you?"

A flash of anger crossed his face. "Of course I am. I offer to change her, to rock her-"

"That's not what I'm talking about!"

"Well then unfortunately you're going to have to tell me. Because I have no idea."

Tears of anger sprung to her eyes and she blinked them away. "Never mind," she said defeatedly, walking away.

Matt stood carefully and gently placed Laura in her bassinet, tucking her small blanket around her before he turned to Kitty.

"So we're at an impasse then."

She shrugged as she folded the pants he had draped over the edge of the bed. "I guess so."

He walked over and attempted to pull the pants away from her. "I can do that."

She held tight to them. "I'll do it."

Matt threw his hands up. "I'm offering here. I'm cleaning up, I bring you your meals…"

Kitty looked at him incredulously. "You think this is about you being my servant? I'm talking about you being my husband."

"I am your husband. What does that have to do with anything?"

Kitty's fists tightened around the fabric of his pants. "You really don't have a grain of sense, do you?"

He looked at her, bewildered. "I guess I don't."

"Can you please…can you just go? I can't deal with this right now. She'll be hungry again soon.."

"No."

"What?"

"I said no, I'm not leaving."

"Matt. Please. I'm not in the mood."

"I don't care."

"You what?"

"You heard me. I leave and what does it accomplish? Nothing. We go back to not talking."

Kitty looked at him. "We haven't been talking. Why change it now?"

"Because I'm not happy, Kitty."

"You're not happy?" She threw his pants to the ground. "Well I am so sorry about that. Please, let me know what I can do to fix that."

"I didn't mean it that way and you know it. You're not happy either."

"I never said that."

"You don't have to!"

"How dare you say I'm unhappy! After what I went through…to have her now…" She gestured to the sleeping baby.

"That's right. You went through it. But I lost a child too, Kitty. It wasn't your personal tragedy."

"How dare you!" And before she even knew what she was doing, she slapped him.

Matt closed his eyes. "God Kitty, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."

"Yes you did. On some level, you did." The anger had left her voice. "I'm sorry I hit you," she said, her voice breaking. "I shouldn't have…" Tears fell from her eyes.

"Oh Kit, please don't cry." He reached out hesitantly and stroked her cheek. "Come here? Please?"

She bit back a sob as she wrapped her arms around him. "I'm sorry…" she mumbled against his chest.

"I'm sorry too, honey." He stroked her back and let her cry it out.

"I miss you," she said, gripping his shirt.

It clicked then for Matt. "You miss us."

She looked up at him. "You don't?"

"Of course I do." He wiped her tear-stained face.

"I thought maybe you were unhappy, or…"

"No, honey." He sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled her along with him. "I just…I guess…" He shook his head and shrugged.

"What? Please tell me." She gently turned his face to hers.

He took his time before replying. "I didn't want to get in the way," he whispered.

"What?"

He frowned. "She needed you so much in the beginning, and you needed her. And that was fine. More than fine. I wanted you to have that time with her. And the more time that passed, the more I was unsure about getting in the middle-"

"You could never be in the middle, Matt. You're her father. My husband."

"I know that. It wasn't anything you said or did, Kitty. Know that. It was me living in my head, which I'm not used to doing, and apparently not very good at anymore."

"Before she came, you didn't live in your head. Why?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I did what I felt. I didn't think about it. I went ahead and did it. Because I could. You came back to me and I went with my heart. Oh, my head was right there too, but I was tired of thinking so much when it came to you. I wanted to do all the things we talked about, all the things I thought about for nineteen years and never did anything about.

But when Laura came, I knew what that meant for you. To have that after losing Alice. And I didn't want to get in the way."

"You said it was nothing I did, but what made you think you'd be in the way?"

He sat silent, unsure of what to say.

"When you said it wasn't just my tragedy, is that what you meant? I didn't give you room to grieve?"

Matt sighed. "No, not really. But it happened to you, Kitty. I didn't go through that. I didn't have to give birth to a child and…" He shook his head, not wanting to go any further.

She nodded, wrapping her hand around his. "I think I understand now. But Matt, I miss you. A lot. I don't want every conversation we have be about Laura. Maybe most of them," she smiled. "But not all of them. I want the man I married, the man I know you are. I don't want you to be hesitant around me or the baby. Ever. You are always wanted right here."

He smiled at her, his eyes shining. "I don't want to be anywhere else, you know that, right?"

Kitty nodded. "I know that."

He shook his head. "Do you think other married couples talk about this stuff as much as we do?"

She laughed quietly. "No, but I don't think other married couples have the time on their hands that we do."

He nodded, his eyes moving to her lips, his body leaning closer to her. She met him halfway, and he kissed her gently, intending to release her, but she wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss. He knew he missed them like this, but he didn't realize just how much.

They hadn't kissed like this in over three months. Hands running through hair, soft moans and sighs, tasting one another. She didn't ever want it to end.

The sound of a fussing baby reached their ears and they both groaned, releasing each other. They laughed at their matched response. Kitty leaned in and kissed him softly once more.

"I'd better answer that," she said, releasing him.

He turned and watched her lean over the crib and pick Laura up, kissing her cheek as she did. Cradling her in one arm, she returned to the bed and sat down to nurse. He moved to sit beside her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

"For a little lady, she doesn't have very good manners," he said.

"Stop that. She's just very excited about mealtime." She looked at him and smiled.

"She gets that from me."

Kitty shook her head and watched the baby's eyes close in contentment. "It doesn't take a whole lot to make her happy. I think she gets that from you too."

Matt chuckled. "I'm a simple man, Kitty. I don't need much."

She smiled at him. "I want to make you happy, Matt. I want us to make you happy."

"You do. You always have."

He leaned over and kissed her softly. She nuzzled her nose against his before turning her attention back to the baby. Watching her, he knew he wanted to do more than tell her what she meant to him – how happy she made him. He wanted to show her.