Author's Note: I have no excuse for my absence the past year or so. I'm sure I could try to explain but I don't know whether that would matter. I will say here that I have not been watching/keeping up with 'Quantico' in the slightest, although Tate Ellington (Simon) makes a wonderful analyst so far on 'The Brave...' Anyways... Instead, I'm going to just be quiet while you read. This story was inspired by the video for Thomas Rhett's "Craving You" featuring his beautiful wife, Lauren, and Chase Rice's "Ride," as well as the Thomas Rhett album "Life Changes" which I have had on a loop for the past two weeks. If you can pinpoint where the name 'Tate' came from, major props ;)

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognizable characters or material. I do not own Ryan Booth, as handsome as I think he is. Adelina, Thea and Tate are mine.

There was a soreness to her limbs that she hadn't experienced in a very, very long time. Her back ached, her biceps burned, and her right leg felt like it had a perpetual Charlie horse. It hurt, it really truly hurt, and she still had about three weeks to go in her pregnancy. Everything she had read had stated that the first pregnancy was always the hardest but for the life of her, Adelina could not remember Thea giving her this many problems. Submerged to the bottom of her jaw with just her bent knees peeking from beneath the bubbles she ran a palm over her burgeoning belly, stroking a thumb over the pale stretch marks radiating from her navel like rays from the sun. What she wouldn't give for a sign or a message or, more importantly, an appearance by her husband...

Sighing wistfully as she imagined that they were his calloused hands stroking her she leaned her head back against the rolled towel, grey eyes welling as she exhaled slowly through her nose, nostrils whistling as she begrudged the fact that her husband was good at what he did. If only his particular skill set wasn't so specialized...if only he was stationary. Swallowing thickly she began to sink further down when a shriek shattered the silence around her. Spitting a mouthful of bubbles out as she brought herself back above water, having dipped below in shock, Adelina tried to surge to her feet but stumbled, slipping on slick porcelain and barely catching herself with a hand on the side of the tub. She was scrambling, trying to get onto solid, dry ground without hurting herself.

Athena.

Her daughter's name was the only thing going through her mind as she drew on the shirt that had been folded on the sink basin. It was forty one steps from the master bathroom of the cottage to her daughter's bedroom, pale carpeting muffling her steps. Twenty, twenty one, twenty two...she looked around for something, anything, her heart thrumming wildly in her chest. Twenty five, twenty six, twenty seven... The journey that usually took mere moments felt like it was taking an eternity. As she reached the half closed door with the camo colored bubble letters (hand painted to her daughter's specifications), Adelina grabbed a photo from the hallway wall as a last resort, holding it at her side as she gently knocked the door open. There was someone in the room, standing over Athena, whose blue eyes (her father's eyes) were wide and visible in the glow of her penguin shaped nightlight.

"Who the hell are..." she got the words halfway out before she noted that Athena was laughing, smiling ear to ear and displaying what was practically every pearl-like tooth in her little mouth. Was this some sort of nightmare or dream? Like the ones her parents had said she had had as a little girl, where she saw people that only she could see?

"Momma!" Athena crowed, scrambling out from beneath her quilt. "Look, look, look! Daddy's home!"

And just like that her heart seemed to stop, the weaponized frame in her hand dropping and shattering on the floor, shards of glass flying across the carpet as she stood immobilized. She could see it, now that she looked. Now that her fight or flight instinct, now that the adrenaline, had ebbed away. The familiar, tantalizing breadth of his shoulders and the narrowness of his waist, the military cropped hair that he still wouldn't let grow past standard length even after his discharge. When he turned, peering over his shoulder, his eyes widened comically, a layer of scruff on his jaw giving him the lumberjack appearance that she teased him on every winter.

"Ryan..." she trailed, having trouble believing that he was here, after nearly nine months under without a word. Was he really here?

"Don't move Addy," Ryan demanded, his gruff voice throaty, drawing her attention to the glistening track on his cheek that caught the night light and disappeared into his beard. "You aren't wearing shoes and there is glass every where."

What? Glancing down around her bare feet Adelina blinked twice. Oh yeah. She stayed stone still has Ryan stepped away from the kiddie sized bed and took a tissue from the box on the night stand, flicking on the overhead light and kneeling before her. He glanced up from beneath long, spiked blonde lashes and Adelina blushed. Oh, the view he must have should he do more than glance. His gaze had moved back to the glass before it ricocheted back up, locking in on her protruding abdomen, visible even under one of his too big shirts.

"Adelina..."

"Ryan..."

"Thea!" their little girl chirped, almost as if she had felt left out. "And that's Tate! He's going to be out of Mommy's belly soon."

"How?" Ryan started, his palm full of shards.

"I found out about a month after you went under. I tried to contact the Bureau to pass it along but they told me you were unreachable. Said the same thing to dad when he tried."

Shifting a few steps Adelina picked up the tiny waste basket and held it out to Ryan, who deposited the tissue inside. Tossing her head to nudge back a strand of wayward hair she balanced it on her belly, unsure of whether they were going to have this conversation now, or once they got Thea back to bed, her excited chattering going in one ear and out the other as she climbed back beneath her quilt. A faint drumming began at the base of her skull and Adelina bowed out, mumbling into the room as she backed out, routing through a laundry basket at the foot of her bed for a pair of sleep shorts that she could wear with the shirt that was barely reaching midthigh. Flinching when a hand brushed against her elbow she turned, blinking back to the moment as she looked into Ryan's face.

"I put Thea back to bed," he said softly. "I'm sorry if I scared the two of you - I just, I didn't even think about waiting until morning, waiting to come home. The moment I was debriefed all I could think about was getting on a plane. I told her that she and I would talk in the morning and have a daddy-daughter day soon. She seemed to accept that and go back to bed easily enough."

"She has always been really easy to put to sleep," Adelina snorted. That girl could fall asleep in the drop of a hat.

"Yeah." His exhalation echoed in their silent bedroom, his weight causing the bed to creak as he sat before her. "How far along? I mean, if you found out about a month after I was pulled that would make you-?"

"About eight months and one week; I'm due on -

"October seventh? My birthday?" Ryan questioned incredulously.

"They said the ninth originally but they said there is a good change that he will be early."

"And it's a boy, he's a boy? I'm going to have a little boy?"

"We are going to have a little boy, yes," Adelina laughed, which turned into a gasp as rough hands on her hips drew her close and her tee shirt was yanked to rest at the top of her basket-ball sized bump, slightly chapped lips raining kisses against her flesh.

She didn't say anything about the sudden dampness as her own eyes welled once more.

"We are having a boy!" Ryan exclaimed. "God, we're having a boy. And the name?"

Narrow shoulders shrugged. "You always liked the name Tate, so I figured Nicholas Tate or Tate Nicholas..."

"I like them both," he sighed against her belly. "I love it, I love you."

"I can't believe you're back," Adelina whispered as she raised a tremoring hand to rake her nails against her husband's scalp. "I thought maybe..."

"I am so sorry." Again he grasped her hips, tugging her impossibly closer. "I know you're probably tired, and I know I smell like an airport and we go over this every single time, but I can never say it enough and-"

Adelina shook her head. "I-"

"Don't say it is okay, please," he whispered.

"Then I won't say it, at least not yet." Working her thumb along a knot at the base of Ryan's neck, Adelina inhaled the notes of his scent beneath the scent of a days travel - musk, spicy cologne, and something purely Ryan. "Go shower, we can talk more in the morning."

He seemed reluctant to let her go, rightly so, and nodded. Gathering a pair of boxers from his drawer in the armoire and making his way to the en suite Ryan began slowly decompressing. Pausing to drain the remains of Adelina's bubble bath and waiting until the tub was empty, he flicked the water to the absolute highest setting, giving it a moment to heat as he stripped free of his clothing, staring at his reflection in the mirror; the scars along his chest and torso, the hair across his pecs that narrowed down the center of his abdomen, the bulge of his biceps and the barely visible 'A' scripted in white ink, barely larger than a quarter, inked into his side. The thick growth of facial hair that he itched to shave off and the muscles that were slightly more defined than they had been before his second stint at the academy. With steam filling the bathroom he eased back the curtain and stepped into the stall, the scent of peaches and pomegranate tickling his nose. Letting the water wash over him, burn him, and figuratively and literally cleanse him, Ryan scrubbed a hand over his face, bracing his hands on the wall and just stood there. It had been so long and he had missed so many things, again.

With their first pregnancy he had been their for the beginning- the first swell, the morning sickness, the glow, the announcements- but missed the birth. Adelina had done it alone because he had been under, investigating a ring that targeted veteran soldiers who were returning home. He hadn't gotten to cut the cord, hadn't been there to hold her hand or offer her ice chips or been yelled at when the contractions had become too much. He had watched it all later, over a month down the line, as his mother in law stood where he should have been. He had missed birthdays and Christmas more than once in the six years since Athena had been born. He'd missed school presentations and plays, ballet recitals and soccer games. And now with Tate - he'd missed the swell, the announcement, the anxiety of waiting to know if the test was positive or negative. That first ultrasound and the butterflies that came with seeing the little alien looking baby on the screen. He had missed the announcement and the growth, kissing his wife's growing belly and the way Thea had reacted to finding out that she was going to be a big sister.

A sob fought its way out as he absently noted that he was being scalded, as if it were his punishment. He had missed it all and had the op not finished when it had, he may have missed the birth of his second child as well. Was this a sign? Was this the cosmos telling him that it was time to reign it in? Every time he had deployed he had seen what it had done to the men in his unit with families of their own, the things that they had to experience through photographs and home movies from thousands of miles away, the way they confessed that they were a stranger to their own child who often hid or pulled away when they returned home on leave. He had considered himself lucky, being single and unattached, but now...

Going through the motions of cleaning up he rinsed and cut the water, unsure of how long he had been beneath the spray. Toweling off and stepping into his clothes he tossed his towel in the hamper and his clothes followed suit, his bare feet padding along until he turned back his side of the bed, noticing that Addy was already curled up on her side, arm cupping her belly. Drawing the sheet over him he hesitated, wanting to reach out to her but not knowing where he stood to do so. Listening to the amused sigh from beside him, he rolled on to his left side as his right arm was tugged by Addy, thrown over her waist as her hand guided his to rest on her side. No sooner did his hand settle did the soft, rhythmic kicking begin. Wheezing as his breath caught in his throat, Ryan spread his fingers out to cover more surface as his palm inched beneath the commandeered tee to rest on bare flesh. God he had missed how soft Adelina's skin was. How smooth it was, her usual inward belly button popping like a timer with her pregnancies. He could tell when she fell asleep beside him, her breaths evening out as he himself lay wired, all thoughts of sleep forgotten as he continued to marvel in the kicking from his son. His son. He could hardly believe that he was going to have a son! Eyes flicking to the alarm clock on Adelina's night stand he yawned as the kicking slowed.

I'm home baby, I'm home, he mused as his eye lids became heavy. I'm finally home.

He was standing on the pitching mound, jeans dusty and shoulder sore; his eyes were squinted against the too harsh sunshine and yet it was no match for the strength of the smile beaming in his direction. A dark mess of hair flopped out from beneath the rim of a baseball helmet, a pint sized yellow bat swinging idly.

"Daddy, will you throw one more? Just one more?" the little voice chirped from home plate. "Ryan, will you throw one more, just one more?"

"Ryan? Ryan?"

Jolting awake at the sound of his name Ryan exhaled sharply, images of an afternoon at the ballpark disappearing as his gaze fixed on the photo of he and Adelina on their wedding day. Groaning as his sore muscles protested the quick movement, he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Sweeping over her covered form he searched for signs of distress in her face. Seeing nothing, his brow furrowed.

"'S everythin' okay?" he mumbled.

"Just wanted to wake you up and give you a heads up that Thea will be running in here and pouncing on the bed any minute. I didn't want any surprise.," Adelina whispered, unconsciously wiggling closer to his bulk as she relished in the warmth her husband provided.

Ryan relished in the feeling of her curves pressed against him, forcing his mind away from their current train of thought when her words registered. "No surprises, huh?"

Adelina huffed, loose strands of raven hair dancing. Before she could answer the door to their bedroom was creeping open and she immediately went back to feigning sleep. Following her lead Ryan peered through barely cracked eyes. Thea poked her head in, gazing through the dark as an impish smirk crossed her lips. tip toeing across the floor, her stuffed dragon under one arm. She stopped a few feet from the edge of the bed, dancing like an excited puppy, before she took a running leap and landed, careful to avoid her mother's abdomen. Ryan whimpered as bony knees struck him below the waist, his wife's laughter barely muffled as she pretended to awaken.

"It wasn't a dream! Daddy's home, daddy is really home!" Thea squealed.

Clamping his lips as all forty five pounds of six year old scrambled up his torso, wild hair landing against his mouth, Ryan chuckled.

"Yes, baby girl, I'm home."

Standing at the stove scrambling eggs, Adelina leaned back into the steel embrace as Ryan sidled up behind her, his hand reaching for the sealed envelope on the counter that had her name on it. It was his 'good bye' envelope, handed to her before he walked out the door for every operation since their marriage. Every time he went he prepared it, saying he was taking care of it, but she refused to peak. She refused to look, to know what was in their until Heaven forbid she was mandated to do so. In doing so, she prayed that it would keep anything from happening. Watching his fingers trace her name, written in his barely legible chicken scratch, she held her breath as she rand the spatula through their breakfast. She could practically hear the cogs turning.

"I never slept with her." Huh?

Staying silent, watching Thea color at the table from the corner of her eye, Adelina waited for clarification.

"My mark," he whispered. "They said to use whatever means necessary to get her on our side, to get her to talk, and I refused to do it. I couldn't do it. I would never do it." His tone was so adamant, leaving no room for anything other than the truth. "I wouldn't do that to you."

"Ok?" It sounded more like a question than a statement.

"I need you to know that I never slept with her."

"I believe you."

The heat of his exhale on her skin caused goosebumps to rise. "I don't know if I want to keep going under."

"Oh?"

"Being these different people, being away from you and Thea, and now Tate... I don't want to be on the outside anymore. I don't want to be a stranger." He had seen too many friends and coworkers become strangers to their families. He didn't want that.

"Ok, Ryan."

"I'm all in baby, I am all in. I uh, I started writing my resignation on my flight."

Killing the heat to the burner and moving the pan off of it, Adelina turned. Staring into the face of the man she had been married to for over seven years, so close to a decade, she scoured his features. The open, eyes, unshuttered. The downward tick of his lips, the unsure crinkle of his brow as he waited for her response.

"Thea will be happy to have you home more often," she responded, watching the corners of his mouth flick upward, the reaction barely visible.

"And what about you, Mrs. Booth?" His hands trailed from her biceps down her arms, bypassing her palms to rest on her torso, one on her belly and the other skated down and around even further to rest just below the small of her back.

"Mm- what can I say, Mr. Booth; I'll be happy to have you home more often too," Adelina smirked, her mouth making whispering contact with the underside of his jaw. "You have diaper duty and morning sickness to make up for."

Cackling as Ryan's chuckle vibrated against her, Adelina smiled as he leaned down to kiss her, his slightly chapped lips rasping against hers. Grasping at sleep wrinkled cotton at his hip, she pulled herself as close as she could with her belly in the way. Heart racing she beamed as she pulled back, flushing at the 'Aw man!' that came from Thea's direction.

"I did not miss that," Thea grumbled. "Blech."

"She may not have missed that but I certainly did," Ryan breathed, leaning in once more.

"You're not the only one," Adelina sighed.

She had certainly missed this indeed, she thought, watching as Ryan plated up breakfast and put it down on the table, swooping in with fingers dancing along Thea's sides, peals of childish laughter brightened her morning.

A/N: Ta-da? So this story was pretty much inspired by scenes of Thomas's real life wife, Lauren, in his video for 'Craving You.' I highly suggest listening to the song (any of his music really), but there is one scene where he comes in and Lauren is there, pregnant with their daughter and he is back from being under cover. It kind of set a light bulb off in my head :) Please let me know what you think! - A