The next day was not a good day. Not for Mason. Not for Michelle.

Mason was quiet over breakfast. Not even his new horde of toys from the party had taken the sting off the disappointment he'd felt the night before. He seemed all but destroyed that Tony hadn't shown up. Michelle was interested to see that Mason had anticipated his father just as much as she had, though the two of them had not discussed the prospect of it at all. They still hadn't discussed it mostly because Michelle didn't know how to approach him about it or how to ease his unhappiness once she explained to him that he might never see his father again.

She hadn't slept at all. She simply did not know how to move on, how to face the new day. She'd made a mistake. She knew that now. She'd thought she known what she was doing, thought she'd been protecting Mason, and herself, from the evil of her old husband. She didn't feel that way anymore. She tried to feel disgraced, tried to feel guilty about what he'd done, but couldn't manage it. He'd been pushed to the edge; he'd been provoked and moved to violence, he hadn't known what else to do. Michelle understood now - she didn't like it, not one bit, and she was sure she'd never properly get past it - but she understood.

Michelle met Mason at the kitchen table. He pushed his cereal around his bowl and she broke bits of her toast up between her fingers.

'Going to Jude's house this afternoon?'

'Yeah.'

'I'll get you after I'm finished at work. Around five?'

She knew Mason didn't have much concept of time, but he seemed to know five o'clock was too early.

'Maybe a bit later than that? Please, mum?'

'Six?'

'Yeah.'

Michelle bit her lip.

'You'll have fun,' she said quietly.

He nodded and slurped down a halfhearted spoonful of cereal.

'Sweetheart?' Michelle asked, touching his arm. He looked up at her. 'Are you alright?'

He looked back at his bowl.

'Yeah.'

'Everything's going to be okay,' Michelle murmured, feeling tears prick her eyes. She held his hand across the table. 'I promise. You'll stop missing him one day.'

He frowned at her, surprised that she knew the source of his sadness. He shrugged and continued eating. Michelle left the table then, and made it to her bedroom before a stray tear snaked down her face.

The day dragged on at the office, despite the fact that Michelle worked furiously from the moment she arrived. By the time she left, it was nearing six and she'd seemed to have doubled her productivity for the day. This didn't surprise her. She had a history of throwing herself into her work when things went wrong in her life, usually things that involved her husband.

She had a quick chat with Eliza when she picked Mason up, but didn't linger. Eliza seemed to realise something had gone horribly wrong after the party yesterday, and Michelle was worried she was going to ask about it. She didn't know if she could mask her emotions this soon after the blow, or at all even, and so she took Mason away in a hurry.

They were mostly silent on the short walk back to their building. The weather was warmer now, and Michelle asked if Mason wanted to stop by the park on the way home. He didn't. She realised she didn't either, and they continued the walk back, Michelle wrapping her arms around herself, feeling desperately lost.

The elevator ride up to the apartment was silent too. Michelle opened the front door and went to the flick the light switch, only to find that the lights were already on. It was at that moment that Mason let out a loud, unrestrained shout of elation.

'TONY!'

Mason left Michelle's side in a flash and sprinted into the apartment. Tony left the kitchen, where he'd been sitting at the table, and met him in the living room. Mason launched himself into his arms, and Tony gripped him tightly, looking astonished and deeply thankful to be holding his little son.

'Hey,' Tony said softly, his hand going up to rest against Mason's head. Mason clung to him, pressing his face into his father's shoulder. Tony was stunned to realise his child had started crying.

'Mase,' Tony said softly, rubbing his back soothingly. 'Hey, Mason, it's okay. Everything's okay.'

Mason nodded into him.

'Where d-did you go?' he mumbled. He sniffed loudly. Tony tightened his grip around him.

'Had to go away,' he explained, his voice almost a whisper. It seemed if he tried anything more substantial his emotion would be highly apparent in his words. 'Had to leave for a bit. But…I heard it was your birthday, so I came to see you.'

'It was yesterday,' Mason said. 'I thought you were gonna come then. I h-had a party. It was the best.'

Tony pulled back from him and nodded.

'I know,' he said, his eyes red. 'I missed it. I'm…I'm so sorry.'

'S'okay,' Mason said, wiping his nose on his sleeve. He seemed so indescribably overjoyed and overwhelmed to see him that yesterday was all but forgotten.

'Got you something,' Tony said, nodding at the kitchen table. Mason's head whipped around to see a gift waiting for him in green wrapping paper with a gold bow on top.

'Whoa!' Mason said. 'Can I open it?'

'In a bit,' Tony said. 'Do you want to go get some of your other presents to show me first?'

'Yes!' Mason said. 'I got the coolest stuff.'

He went to get down, but hesitated. He then wrapped his arms around Tony's neck and held him tightly. Tony closed his eyes, unable to move or breathe, only able to cradle his boy to him.

'Alright,' Tony said hoarsely, putting him down. 'Go get your stuff.'

Mason was already running off, yelling incomprehensible words of excitement as he went.

Michelle hadn't moved from the front door in the entire time Mason had been in Tony's arms. She hadn't even closed it behind her. She couldn't do anything except stand and stare.

Tony came toward her and she tensed slightly. He reached behind her, pulled the door shut and locked it. He stood looking at her for a long moment.

'I uh…I'm sorry I wasn't there yesterday,' he said quietly. He eyed her carefully. He'd never seen her go so long without blinking before.

'Why weren't you?' she asked just as softly.

He scratched his face, looking extremely uncomfortable.

'I mean…I was there…I watched for a bit…but I didn't come in and for that I'm sorry.'

They kept looking at each other. They both seemed aware that Mason had come back into the living room, a stack of colourful playthings swaying dangerously in his arms. He put the stack down with a small crash and began sorting through it.

'Tony!' he barked, holding up an action figurine. 'Look! I got this! And this!' He waved a board game at them.

'That's great, Mase,' Tony said. 'Just gimme a second, then I'll look.'

'Okay,' Mason said breathlessly. 'Okay, I'll …I'll pick out the best stuff for you!'

Michelle watched as he refocused his attention on her.

'You didn't come in?' Michelle asked.

'No,' Tony said. 'I wanted to. You have no idea…you have no idea how much I wanted to. You know, when I left, I told myself it was for good. I didn't want to come back, even for his birthday. I didn't want to change anything, to mess things up here or to cause more problems for you. I wanted to be there yesterday, but I made myself leave. I can't be a visitor in his life…' he trailed off for a moment. 'And I can't be around you and not be with you. It's not possible for me.'

'So why are you here?'

He cleared his throat and glanced at Mason, who seemed to be busy debating the merit of a toy truck against the value of a glow-in-the-dark toy alien under his breath. The alien seemed to win out.

'I also told myself that if you ever called me back, no matter what the reason, I would come.'

'I did,' Michelle said. 'That was the message.'

'Yeah,' Tony agreed. 'I realised that today.'

Michelle looked closely at him. He hadn't shaved in a while, and his eyes were exhausted and heavy. His skin seemed paler than usual, as though he hadn't had much sun or sleep.

'Been a bad couple of months?' she asked.

He dropped his gaze, unable to answer her, looking overcome with emotion. After a moment he glanced at her.

'You?' he asked.

'The worst,' she breathed.

He was truly shocked when she stepped into his embrace, her hands against his chest as his arms encircled her, her face occupying the slightly damp space on his shoulder that Mason's had only minutes earlier.

Tony held her, breathing her in deeply, her hair tickling his face. She was so warm and soft, so frail and fatigued, that he wanted to wrap her up and place her somewhere safe forever.

Michelle leaned into him, drawing him close, feeling the strain and uncertainty of the last four months leave her. He felt so good. So, so good to her. It was a relief just to see him again, safe and sound, and, she realised, a pleasure to hold him. Suddenly, Michelle felt Mason head butt her hip, and she broke away from Tony. Mason stood between them, looking suspiciously from one to the other.

'Come see my toys?' he asked Tony. Tony grinned at him.

'Yeah, let's have a look.'

An hour later, Tony left Mason's side to make dinner. Mason didn't mind in the slightest, and even put his toys neatly back in his room like Tony asked. As he was doing so Michelle padded into the kitchen, where she stood watching Tony for a moment.

'Can…can I help?'

Tony looked at her, surprised.

'Yeah…yeah, here.'

He handed her several things to chop. Michelle gave a wane smile. During their marriages, she'd often been delegated chopping chores. Dinners weren't much of a success if she did anything more. The act of standing there, slicing things as he tended to more complex gastronomic matters, was the most comforting thing she'd done in over six years.

'Where've you been?' she asked softly.

'Here,' he said. 'I haven't left Toronto.'

'Oh. What've you been doing?'

'Watching you,' he said unashamedly. 'Watching Mason. Doing a bit of work for the Canadian government.'

'What?'

He gave an uncomfortable smile.

'They don't know who I am,' he said quickly. 'They have no idea, actually, and I never meet them face to face. I do freelance work for them, mostly consultation for operations. They send me their plans and I send them back with modifications and insights. I approached them over it, and they didn't trust me at first of course, but it's panned out. They've been giving me steady work. They throw in some analysis occasionally. Like you, it's a bit below my qualifications, but I like it. I feel productive. Useful. The pay isn't great, but I hardly need money.'

She diced a zucchini slowly as he made some sort of marinade. They both had their backs to each other.

'We have to talk,' she said after several minutes of silence.

'Yeah,' he agreed.

Neither said anything for another minute.

'Look,' Tony eventually muttered. 'I need to know if we can do this. Because…because it we can't…I don't think I could get past it, you know? So you gotta tell me now.'

'We can,' Michelle murmured. 'The last four months without you…he hasn't been happy. I haven't been okay. Things haven't worked. Things with him didn't go back to the way they were. I didn't want to, but I realised we need you. I still sometimes don't want that to be the case. I still want to believe we can be without you…but we can't.'

She turned slightly to see him nod.

'You know when I first realised I wanted you back with us?'

He turned to her and shook his head.

'Mason asked me if you'd gone back to your home.'

Tony gave her a long, concerned look.

'What did you say?'

'Nothing…I said something to brush him off. But that question made me realise that your home is here. Where else can it be? You don't belong anywhere else. You never will. You belong here with us, with your family. I don't want to take that from you. Who am I to refuse you entry to the place you belong?'

She handed him the chopped ingredients, and he took them from her and cast them into the marinade.

'This is not going to be easy,' she said. 'I can't just have everything better again. It's going to take a long time for me to be with you and not feel like I'm doing something wrong, not feel like I'm reveling in the lives that were lost…but I do want to be with you. That much I know.'

He nodded.

'The way you acted when we first saw each other,' he said, 'at first I couldn't believe it. I thought it was going to be different, I thought we were going to hold each other and …I'd spent so long thinking you were dead…'

He struggled with himself for a moment.

'I expected differently, but now I know how stupid that was. All the things we did, all the things we've ever done, were for our country. I know how much I destroyed you with what I did…I know now. I'm sorry. I'll never be able to repair this with you, but I need you to know how sorry I am.'

She nodded.

'I love you,' she explained, her voice almost clinical. 'You know that I love you.'

He looked at her.

'I love you,' he returned.

She nodded.

'I know.'

They both seemed suddenly struck with an odd sense of awkwardness.

'Uh…come here,' Tony said, taking her small, soft hand and pulling her close.

'Hey!'

They jumped apart. Mason had appeared in the kitchen. He was frowning.

'Can we have dinner now please? I'm hungry.'

'Y-yes,' Michelle said, feeling her face grow warm. She tucked a curl behind her ear, sensing Tony's eyes on her as she moved away from him. 'I'll set the table.'

Mason did not even attempt to start before his mother, or his father, for that matter, and talked incessantly from the moment everyone was seated. He relayed every tiny detail of his party to his father, and Michelle prompted him when he left bits out. They showed Tony the photos, and though Tony and Michelle had barely eaten half their dinner, Mason had finished and begged to open his father's present.

Inside the wrapping he found a clock with green jade rimming. It was a small, heavy thing with little legs so that it could stand upright on a bedside table. It looked costly and very well made and Mason frowned at it. In his opinion it was not one of the more awesome presents he'd received that birthday.

Tony just smiled knowingly at him.

'I'm going to teach you to tell the time,' he said, his hand on Mason's shoulder. 'You like learning to read, right?'

'Yeah.'

'Well, telling the time is important too. You'll be able to know exactly when you're meant to be somewhere, or how long it is still the end of school, or exactly what time mum will come and pick you. You'll be able to know exactly when I'll be over at night and you'll be able to complain when mum takes an hour to get ready to go out.'

Mason giggled.

'Cool,' he said sweetly. 'It's green.'

'I know,' Tony said. 'It does something else too.' He fiddled with the back for a moment before a chiming version of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" filled the kitchen.

'I had it made so it would play that as the alarm,' Tony said. 'Once you learn you'll be able to know exactly what time the Blue Jays' play and we can watch them together.'

Mason grinned.

'Thanks,' he said, and he pressed the button at the back so that the alarm sounded out once more.

'It's beautiful,' Michelle said, biting at another forkful of food. Tony gave her a small, hesitant smile and watched her eat.

'We're going to have dinner early tomorrow night,' he told her after a while.

She chewed slowly and raised her eyebrows.

'We are? Why?'

'Because Mason's going to bed early.'

'Any particular reason for that?'

'Yes. We're going to make love.'

Michelle's fork clanged loudly against the rim of her plate. Tony blinked calmly at her. For a moment she could only stare at him. Then her eyes flickered to Mason. He wasn't paying attention to them all, and the chimes of the alarm clock were keeping him well and truly engaged.

'And we're going to do it for most of the night.'

Michelle forced her gaze back to Tony. He was watching her, his eyes dark, his face oddly composed. Michelle suddenly felt as though her heart was trying to beat itself out of her chest. She prayed her face wasn't as red as it felt.

'I…uh,' she stammered.

But Tony didn't let her argue. He left the table, taking Mason with him, and put him to bed. He read an array of picture books, put his new clock on his bedside table and set it to go off for school the next morning, and then hugged him tightly.

He came back out to Michelle, who hadn't managed to move from her chair in the kitchen. He stood behind her and held her face in his hands. He pressed a long, soft kiss to the top of her head.

'I'll see you tomorrow,' he promised in her ear, his voice a low, needy growl. A moment later he was gone.

x