The sight weakened his resolve. The conversation he wanted to have the other day slid to the back of his mind as he watched Allie with her young charge. Is this how she had looked with Katie? The pictures he had seen did not do her justice.

He had never thought himself as someone who wanted kids. Always, his military career had come first. Hell, it had been thoughts of Allie as well as getting back to GI Joe that had kept him alive all those years! What else would he do, be a literary professor? He'd stifle himself in a classroom.

However, the feeling of providing for his family and of actually being a father was growing stronger the more time he spent with Katie. He had convinced himself otherwise before….but the excuses were getting flimsier, even to his mind.

He had never seen that expression on Allie's face before as she cuddled the baby and encouraged it to drink from its bottle.

She sensed his presence and looked up, the wistful yearning glance still on her face. Before he could blink, it was gone, covered by the careful mask she always seem to wear around him now.

He stood there speechless. Even the bits of poetry that would flutter to his mind on such occasions had abandoned him this time.

After looking at him for a moment, Allie's eyes turned back to Austin as he gave a soft gurgle then spit the nipple from the bottle out of his mouth. She gently encouraged him to drink, using the same Gaelic words she had used with Katie that had weaved their magic to soothe even the fussiest baby. Austin grasped her thumb in response and opened his mouth, allowing her to feed him again. She smiled.

He watched all this in amazement. If anyone had told him four years ago that he would witness this scene, he would have laughed his head off. Allie had never seemed very comfortable around children before. Now she seemed a natural.

"I wish I could have been there. I wish I could have seen you with Katie," he said quietly, his voice rough with emotion.

She looked up at his words. Her expression softened and she indicated the space next to her on the couch.

"I wish you had, too," she replied softly.

"Was it hard? Doing it alone?" he asked her, genuinely curious.

She gave him a soft smile. "A little," she confessed. "I had a lot of support, though. Shana was with me during the rough times of the pregnancy, and then afterwards. Your parents and my mother offered me a place to stay, to help out. My cousins…" she paused.

"Wanted you with them in Scotland?" he finished. She nodded, and he continued. "I have to say, I am surprised you didn't go to live there, in your father's house. Your very close to that side of your family."

"Yes," she agreed, "but that didn't seem right at the time. I thought it would help your parents, and me, if we were to settle here. In a way, you'd always be with them, through Katie."

"It makes sense now. It didn't before."

She glanced up at him and was about to say something, but Crystal came into the room.

Seeing the two, she blushed. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

They both murmured a "no" but Crystal's embarrassment grew to a sly smile. "Well, I wanted to thank you, Allie, for giving me a bit of a break, but let me do the same in return." She reached for her son, and Allie reluctantly gave him up.

"Have you thought of having any more? Children, that is," Flint asked her.

She gave a wistful smile. "I would've thought one was enough, but watching Crystal and Mike with their brood, as well as your sisters…..it would be nice to have another baby. Someday." With you, she thought silently to herself.

"Allie." He took her hands and held them between his. "I can't see you with anyone else but me. I want to be the father to your children, no matter how many you want. I just…." he searched for the right words, and she blinked back the tears forming in her eyes.

"What's holding you back?" she asked quietly, using that same soothing tone she had used with baby Austin just minutes ago.

"How would I provide for you? What I do is so limited," he confessed, frustration creeping into his tone. "What can I do that won't leave you alone, abandoned, for weeks or even months at a time?"

She withdrew her hands from his, but instead of moving away like he anticipated, she used her hands to rub his back and shoulders.

"We can figure this out. You're not a one-trick pony," she gently teased. "You need to be fully healed before you can get back to work, you know. We don't have to decide right now – we have several weeks to figure things out. Things will work out."

An idea began to form in her head.

"Maybe instead of pressuring yourself, we should go on a family vacation," she suggested. "If Mike and I get our way, this case will be wrapped up in a week. You'll be more relaxed and not so stressed," she told him, rubbing both his shoulders in the way she used to when he had a hard day back at the base.

He closed his eyes, his body relaxing, her soothing tone convincing him that the idea had merit.

"Step out of the box and look at things objectively," he agreed, his eyes still closed.

"Exactly."

He opened his eyes and looked at her. His eyes must have shown the strength of what he was feeling because she moved closer to him.

When Martha walked into the room to find more chairs for their guests, she took in the scene and backed out quietly, smiling. Just goes to show, sometimes it just takes a little time and a little persuasion, she thought triumphantly.