"I want to see a stegosaurus."

"Cam, I told you, dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years," Elizabeth reminded her son gently as they stood in front of the building that housed the lizards. After a trip to the circus last week, Matt had been brave enough to volunteer to go to the zoo with them for a late autumn visit before many of the exhibits became too cold to visit for the year. "What about snakes? There are a lot at the Reptile Center. We can even see a komodo dragon."

"It's not a stegosaurus," he pouted, pushing his bottom lip out just enough that it reminded her of Zander for a moment.

There were times when Elizabeth could catch glimpses at her eldest's biological father and she missed him. He had been a good friend to her, and it was easy to forget just what he had meant to her at that time in her life. That lost summer, after Emily left and when she had first started to fall a little for Jason, she had spent a lot of time with Zander. They didn't reconnect until that fateful Halloween night that had given her the most amazing gift of her life. Right now, however, she reminded also of Zander's stubborn streak, which seemed to be culiminating in her son being angry that she couldn't produce a miracle.

"I'll tell you what, buddy," Matt bargained. "Why don't we check out the rest of the zoo and then visit the gift shop? They might have a stegosaurus in there. If not, I bet we can find something pretty cool for you and your brother. What do you think? Will that work?"

Cameron thought for a moment before his face lit up. "Yeah, that sounds like it'd work," he decided as he looked up at Elizabeth hopefully. She was careful to never over indulge the boys, something that had become very hard after losing Jake. She found herself constantly wanting to give them everything but knew that it wouldn't be good for them in the long run. "Is that okay, Mommy?"

Elizabeth glanced at Matt and nodded thoughtfully. "I think that picking out one thing each would be okay," she told him. "But you know the rules."

"Say thank you, pick carefully and don't argue with Mommy," Cam recited from memory. It was the same set of three rules she had used on countless trips to the toy store or in the sweet aise at the grocery store. "Can we go see the monkeys now?"

"Monkeys, that we can do," Matt told him as Cameron slid his little hand in his much larger one. Matt felt this warmth from inside him as Cameron's tiny fingers tightened around his. It was a sight not lost on Elizabeth, who caught his eye and smiled as she pushed Aidan behind them in her stroller. He loved seeing her like this – so relaxed and happy. She looked free for the first time in months and she wore that kind of happines well.

After they had toured the monkeys and other primates, Aidan started to fuss and Cameron wanted something to drink and Elizabeth decided that it was time for lunch. She had stowed a full picnic lunch beneath the stroller, something Matt found surprisingly sexy. They found an empty patch of grass on the expansive shaded lawn next to the giraffes and zebras. Matt and Cameron set to work unfolding the blanket while Aidan giggled from the stroller and Elizabeth unpacked their picnic basket. Cold fried chicken for the adults and peanut butter sandwiches for the boys accompanied apple slices, carrot sticks, string cheese and juice boxes. For dessert, she had packed away a fresh batch of brownies. Matt hadn't had the pleasure of the chocolate decadence, and she decided it was time to trot out one of the things she did best in the world.

"Did you make this chicken yourself?" Matt asked as he bit into a drumstick, his second piece.

Elizabeth smiled and nodded. "Gram's recipe. It was my grandfather's favorite. She used to make it every Sunday afternoon when he was alive. They would have it after church, and then she would serve him warm apple pie in the winter and peach cobbler in the summer. Either way, she always had homemade vanilla ice cream. It's one of my favorite traditions."

It was a homey little detail that was completely left out of Matt's childhood. About the only tradition his mother had ever managed before she died was peanut butter honey toast when he was sick. She had tried but had never really been all that conventional and definitely wasn't much of a cook. "That sounds nice, very comforting," he told her with a warm glint in his eye. "I like that you have these traditions, these really great memories." He knew that her own childhood had been sprinkled with move after move because of the life her parents had chosen. Settling down and building a life in Port Charles with Audrey had been a very fortunate blessing for her. "I hope that I can give my kids that someday."

"Well, I'm working on it," she replied, and he wasn't sure for a moment if she meant her boys or something else. When he decided that it had to be the former, he turned away to help Aidan manuever a bit of sandwich to his mouth. "So Gram said that she can keep the boys Saturday night all night. I thought we might get back late."

"Yeah, about that," he told her as he shifted as his attention back her way. "It might go into a late hour, like you said. I was thinking that we could stay in the city. I mean, if that's okay. Of course, I would get two beds in the room or even you could have your own. I just don't want to have to try to drive back. I'd like for us to both enjoy it, maybe even have a little to drink."

A night out without responsibility isn't something she'd really had since Emily died, back in the tequila shot days when she only had one son at home with Gram. She was used to being the responsible mom, something she wore proudly but sometimes tiredly. "Um, that sounds kind of amazing," she giggled happily as she sipped her apple juice. Matt seemed to be watching her intently, the pink of his tongue darting across his bottom lip in something that looked a little like desire. "Thanks for the advance notice. I'll have to pack a little bag."

"Right, yeah, do that," he retorted distractedly just as Cameron announced that he was full and Aidan started to whine for some more apple slices. Elizabeth automatically slipped back into mom mode, taking Cam's trash with one hand while putting a couple more pieces of apple on Aidan's plate. The older of the two boys scampered off to play on the swings nearby, and Elizabeth's eyes followed him across the grass to where he disappeared. She shuffled the trash into a plastic bag while finishing her own lunch with her free hand. She was a master at doing six things at once. "Want me to take that?"

"That'd be nice," she relented as she handed off the bag so that she could eat her chicken with both hands. Aidan had finished his apple and laid his head in his mother's lap. Her fingers carded through his chestnut hair soothingly as he started to drift off. Cameron grew bored with the swings and came back over to sit next to his mother. He leaned his head against her elbow and closed his eyes. The afternoon sun was warm and enveloped the tired boys like a security blanket. It was this nice, quiet, peaceful thing that resonated so loudly and so clearly as a family moment, and Matt couldn't wait to have more moments like this with them.