Tessa rolled over in bed and groaned, pulling a pillow over her ears. She heard Will wake up beside her. For the fifth time that night, little James, their soon-to-be one year old son had woken up crying. Reluctantly accepting that he was not going to magically fall back to sleep, Tessa began to sit up, but found her husband already standing up.

"Go back to bed love." Will murmured, kissing her on the forehead, and headed over to James' cot.

"You're never going to let us sleep, are you, you little monster?" Will said, lifting the boy into his arms. Quieting down, James looked up at his father, letting out a little hiccup. Will smiled.

"All right little man, let's go for a walk."

Tessa smiled at Will's curious antics, already falling back to sleep.

She woke in the morning to find the bed beside her still empty. Perplexed, she got out of bed, and, wrapping a dressing gown around herself, she set off in search of her husband, noticing James' empty cot.

After she found the dining room, drawing room, and library empty, she began to worry a little. A further search found the music room and training room empty too. Panicking now, as it had been half an hour and her family was nowhere to be found, she bumped into a startled Sophie.

"Tessa! What on earth are you doing roaming around in your dressing gown?"

"I can't… I can't find Will and James!"

"What?"

"James woke up at night, and Will took him out for a walk to calm him down, and now I can't find them!"

Sophie rolled her eyes, and offered to help. Together, the girls began combing through the numerous bedrooms in the Institute. By mid-morning, everyone was up, and the missing Herondales were nowhere to be found. Cecily and Charlotte had joined the hunt, and every room in the Institute had been checked.

In the drawing room, Tessa, still in her dressing gown, was melting into a tangle of worried nerves.

"They'll be fine Tessa, " Charlotte reassured, "It's not as if anything could have happened to them!"

"What if… What if they got hurt or attacked or-"

"Tessa. If they'd been attacked at the Institute, we would have woken up," said Gideon.

"And even Will isn't stupid enough to leave in the middle of the night with his baby." Cecily exclaimed.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Gabriel chuckled, quickly silenced by a frosty look from Cecily.

"Tessa," Sophie said, sitting next to her friend, "It'll be okay. We might've missed a few rooms. They're probably in there."

At this moment, a loud singing began from outside the door.

"Oh, Demon Pox, Demon Pox, I had it all along- No, not the pox, you foolish blocks!" Will waltzed into the room, bellowing at the top of his lungs, holding a giggling James in his arms.

"Oh, hello everyone." He said, looking up to see their startled faces , "Is something wrong?"

Relief washed over Tessa, quickly followed by anger. She stormed up to Will, and, taking James from him, demanded,

"Where on Earth have you been?"

"I… We fell asleep in the kitchen, and, when I woke up, James was hungry, and there was no bread, so I decided to take him out."

"And where was I?"

"Sleeping. I didn't want to wake you."

Tessa clenched her teeth, but, refusing to give in to the urge to slap Will, she simply gave him an icy stare and breezed silently out the door.

Startled, Will turned to the others.

"What did I do?"

Gideon smirked.

"One does not simply take their son out and disappear till mid-morning without informing their wife."

Will watched from the doorway as Tessa gently laid their sleeping son into the cot that night. Their son. His son. His wife. Tess.

She'd maintained a distance from him all day, never spending more than a brief moment alone with him.

"Tess."

She turned, startled. Oh God, Tessa thought, Will really was beautiful. His hair was mussed up, and his gear, the collar loosened, hung perfectly on his frame. He looked at her, blue eyes pleading, and she struggled to maintain her icy facade.

"Tess, please talk to me."

She spun on her heel, ignoring him, and began to take off her dressing gown. Suddenly, she felt his arms around her waist.

"Tess, please," he murmured, "I'm starting to miss you."

Furious, she pushed him away.

"How would you feel if you woke up and James and I were missing? How would you feel if you searched the whole Institute, and you couldn't find us, and you were about to send out a search party? And then, if we came sailing back in and it turned out we'd just decided to up and dust in the early morning because there was no bread, how would you feel?"

"I would feel very angry, but also tremendously relieved, and would be willing to fall into your arms because I understand that you mean no harm, and I love you very much," Will answered hopefully.

"You're an arse Will."

He laughed and wrapped his arms around her once again, ignoring her attempts to push him away.

"I'm sorry," he said, putting his forehead to hers, "I am an arse, and that was an idiotic thing to do. Please forgive me."

Tessa looked at Will, still not satisfied.

"Do you have any idea how scared I was? You could've been dead for all I knew! You could've been-"

He stopped her, gently capturing her lips with his own. Oh goodness. Unable to help herself, she melted into the kiss, her arguments dying in her throat. Her arms went up over his shoulders, and a small part of her mind momentarily remembered she was supposed be angry at him, but it was quickly smothered by the wonderful feeling he was giving her. Two years of marriage and a baby, and she was still transformed into putty by Will's kisses.

Will pulled away gently.

"Am I forgiven?"

"Kiss me again."

He obliged.

Good God, he was wonderful.

"Now?"

"Perhaps…"

"Miss Gray," he murmured, grinning, "You really are quite a minx sometimes."

"You really aren't helping your case. I definitely am not convinced yet."

"Well, in that case…"

Sweeping her up in his arms, Will carried her to the bed, lips pressed firmly to hers.

Oh my!