They were still twined together ten minutes later, enjoying the afterglow sensation of each other's bodies. Lili felt her husband, the big badass war hero, snuggle against her naked breasts, enjoying the rise and fall of them as some would the feeling of floating on a raft in a rippling infinity pool.

'Lieutenant George,' she murmured, brushing her hand over his army haircut, the one he refused to give up even after nearly eight years of retirement. 'What would the troops say if they saw you cuddling with your wife after sex?'

'They'd congratulate me on scoring such a hottie and question whether or not you're brain damaged since you married me.'

'Really?'

'Well, most of them would. Carver would just say he's jealous his wife waits for special occasions to give it up. That or when she goes to Atlantic City and wins big.'

Lili laughed; she remembered Carver from Cam's many trips to physiotherapy. He was a good guy and had always been sweet with Lili in a genuine fashion. Years of filtering out bad dates had given her an internal radar highly tuned to those fronting their pleasantries and she'd never once gotten that vibe from Carver.

'Kinda gives the phrase getting lucky a different spin, huh?'

'Indeed it does.' Cam turned his head to look out the window, gave a little laugh. 'Hey, it's raining.'

'Yeah, it is. It was just starting when I got in.'

'When you got in?'

Lili nodded. 'After Meredeth and Javier came to get the kids, you looked so peaceful sleeping so I stepped out and ran a few errands, and you hadn't budged from your side of the bed when I got back an hour later.'

'I must have been really out of it, huh?'

'You pretty much worked a double yesterday, baby. What did you expect?'

'I worked worse hours when I was in the desert,' Cam started, then changes tactics midstream, 'but this is not wartime when I could be bombed at any moment by enemy planes or something.'

'Or something.'

He heard the tone of her voice and knew after learning she'd had the dream again in which he'd come home in a body bag, Cam knew not to press this any further. 'I have an idea, Lil. Why don't we take the subway up to your mother's bakery and get some of those sweet rolls, make it a sugar-day since it's such pissy weather out?'

'Actually, I'll do you one better. Get dressed.'

'Aw, not an activity we can stay naked for?'

'We could but call the need for clothes a hunch. Even a bathrobe would suffice.'

Curiosity piqued, Cam rolled off of Lili and sat up, watching her cute behind as she found fire-engine red panties and matching bra, then tossed on a knee-length t-shirt dress. He opted for her suggestion of just a bathrobe, and linking fingers her with, went into the living room. He looked at Lili, then at the surprise she'd set-up.

'Oh, Lucita, this is perfect!'

She'd arranged an indoor picnic for him. It had been their original plan for the day - after the kids were done at swimming, they would take a buggy ride in Central Park and set up a little picnic lunch to enjoy as a family. Now, it was just for them in their living room - Lili had spread out the old comforter they used for their blanket and had set up two place settings, even adding two scented votives waitign to be lit in glass holders and the wine they'd been set to enjoy the night before was now chilling in a bucket beside which two glasses sat waiting.

'Ta-da,' she said in a sweet voice, and Cam pulled her in for a kiss.

'You are the best girl ever, baby. But you work hard too, you know, you don't have to cater to me.'

'I don't and besides it's a two-way street.' Lili wrapped her arms around Cam's neck, returned the kiss. 'I was missing you something fierce, so I knew that if I woke up with you naked you would be in the mood for some loving, so you catered to me when you woke up.'

'Clever girl. What's on the menu?'

'Just a second.'

Lili went into the kitchen, leaving Cam to open the wine; she returned momentarily with a couple of their food-storage containers, along with a bag from The Salamander Bakery. 'We are having Cuban sandwiches, veggie slaw, plantain chips with sour cream and onion dip, mixed berry salad and sweet rolls from the bakery. For dessert, wine, and Salamander cupcakes.'

'Now I really love you.'

Cam poured them each a glass of wine as she took lids off of the containers; normally he preferred his Cuban sandwiches piping hot off the press but when the trade off was a cold sandwich for his very hot wife, he would eat them out of the freezer if necessary. Plus it was Rosalita's cooking so that was better than most people could ever dream of.

'Oh, wait, wait, I almost forgot.' Lili popped up, went to the television and pressed a few buttons. A few minutes later, Harvest Moon the so-trashy-it-was-awesome werewolf movie they'd rented the night before, was playing its opening credits. 'Now we have our date-night picnic afternoon.'

'And the best part, the kids just aren't in bed, they are out having just as much fun as we are.' Cam picked up the wine he'd poured for Lili, passed it to her. 'Are they taking Max to the movies too? He's pretty little.'

'I honestly don't know, but I'm sure if they did, his siblings and his cousins would help him out. He's already crawling like a champ from what Mere says and she thinks he'll be an early walker like Tessi was.'

'I can see that, he's got three siblings he wants to keep up with, and he won't let being the baby stop him.'

'I sure as hell didn't,' Lili said with a smile. 'Of course a lot of the time it was the other way around, my mother would be telling me to take my brother to the park to get his nose out of a science book.'

'Javi as a science nerd? That's hard to buy.'

'He's always been into biology and ocean sciences, you know how much he loves Shark Week, and he didn't transform into Mister Smooth Latino Lover.

Cam laughed, then winced as he saw some busty coed on screen get torn to shreds by her werewolf boyfriend. 'Oo, that's gotta sting. Those prom pictures won't look so pretty now.'

'Always the nice guy sympathizer,' Lili laughed.

'I am a nice guy, who says nice guys can't have a bloody streak?'

'Well you are a soldier.'

Cam nodded, noting how she kept circlnig back to it; it was her MO when she said she was fine but inside she was still trying to get herself there. 'Lili, talk to me. I know you're not over that dream.'

'Yes I am,' she insisted and Cam just cocked his head to the side, gave her a look.

'Lucita Lourdes, like you said when we were in bed together, I know you. Talk to me.'

'I don't know, I just...my brain and my body knows that you're not going anywhere at the fact you did three tours with only a bad knee to show for it in terms of injuries is damn lucky. I thought after you came back and I was going to the army spouse support group that I dealt with it so I don't know why I keep having that dream.'

'You might not like this but maybe you should go to a shrink, or talk to Alexis. She's training to be a counselor, and she's a damn good listener.'

'Maybe. I'll think about it.'

As getting Lili to see even her regular doctor or dentist was more than a bit of an arm wrestle, Cam nodded and let it rest at that. 'That's all I'm asking. If you don't go for regular sessions, at the very least they can give you some tips on handling the after effects of it.'

'That's true too. Like I said, I'll think about it.'

'Okay.' He leaned over, gave her a kiss, then jutted his chin at her plate where she'd barely touched her food. 'You gonna eat that?'

'Of course.' Lili picked up, bit in with gusto. Sex, a heart-to-heart and good food with her man did indeed provide a good cure for lost sleep. She wiggled so her back was resting against the upright of the couch and laughed as she saw one of the smart girls in the film give her number to the ravenous werewolf in his human film. 'No, no, Dori, not him! Anyone but him!'

'But then it would a much shorter movie, wouldn't it?'

'Says you, they could have actually made it a better movie if she'd resisted him a little stronger.'

'But would it have made two hundred million plus at the box office?'

'Eat your sandwich.'