Reed was in a foul mood when he came home, but it was really hard to stay in a funk when he was greeted at the door by Annie, who was crawling towards him, cooing excitedly. He scooped her up, planting a kiss on her cheek. "Hey, there."

"You wanna watch that video now?" Shane asked, kissing his husband over their daughter.

"Yeah… Yeah."

Shane hooked up the camera so they could watch the video on the TV. The screen was a chaotic jumble as past-Shane righted the camera, then pointed it at Annie. "Okay, check this out!" Video-Shane's voiced sounded excitedly from the television. There was a clicking noise, then another voice. Reed's.

"Hey, Shane. Are you going to the store today? Could you get some milk, please? Thanks, dear. Bye!"

When Annie had heard the voice, she'd pulled herself up on her hands and knees and struggled across the floor towards the answering machine.

"Reed?'

Reed shook his head, his tear-stained face betraying him. Giving up the pretense, he curled into Shane's arms.

"I just… I want to be here for these things," he moaned through sniffles. "I can't stand missing this stuff. And I want my daughter to crawl because she hears my real-life, not-a-recording voice, or, better yet, I want her to not feel like she has to crawl to my voice because I'm here enough that it's not a rare occurrence!" Reed sobbed into his husband's shirt. "It's tearing me apart, Shane. I can't take it anymore."

Annie noticed her fathers' distress and began to crawl towards her parents. When that failed to get their attention, she pulled herself up, her arms bracing herself on the couch. "Da-da?" she cooed. Reed turned to her voice, startled.

"A-annie?" he stuttered tearfully. He broke into a grin. "Hey there." He scooped her up, straightening so she could sit on his lap.

"There's one thing you didn't miss…"

"Yeah."

"You know, you're the only one who could make her do that."

"Well, I was the one who was crying," Reed sniffled. "And why was I crying? Because of all the moments like this that I'll be missing, that's why. And now that I know how good this is-" He broke off, sniffling some more. "I can't take it."

Shane rubbed his husband's arm comfortingly. "We'll think of something. I know- Wait! I've got it!" He stood up quickly, grabbing a jacket and shoving his feet into shoes.

"Shane, what are you-?"

"You stay here. You need Annie time. I'll be back."

"Okay…"

But Reed had barely finished those two syllables before Shane had disappeared out the door. He allowed himself a moment of confusion before he turned his attention to Annie, pulling a book off the floor and settling in to read it to her for at least the eighty-sixth time.

Somehow, it never got boring.

Reed had fallen asleep on the couch, Annie curled up on his chest. He awoke when rays of sunlight splashed his face. He looked around and saw Shane, who was asleep on the floor next to the couch. His hand was propped up, as if it had been reaching but went slack. He'd been holding Reed's hand.

"Shane?"

The man jolted awake, flailing slightly. "Oh, hey- HEY!" He pushed himself up and pulled Reed into a sitting position, waking their daughter who, graciously, was silent. "Look what I did!" Shane gestured to the general space of the living room. Cameras were fixed in strange places, all angled toward various spots on the floor. "They're connected to a livestream," Shane explained. "So if something important happens, I'll text you, and you can see it on the website!"

"Shane… Oh my God, Shane!" Reed carefully placed their daughter on the couch before flung himself at his husband. "It's perfect. Oh my, God, I love you so much, Shane!"

"I love you, too."

"You're, like, the most perfect person in the world. You know that, right?"

"I would be if you didn't exist."

"Smooth."

"When am I not?"

"Never, I just like to point it out."

At that point, words were replaced with kisses, and things that were a little past kisses, until-

"Da-da!"

The couple broke away, both blushing.

"I-I need to get ready for work."

"Yeah."

"Shane?"

"Uh-huh?"

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

And he proved it by pretending not to notice the tear streaks oh his husband's face.