A/N: I'm so sorry guys! Like I said in I Ain't Gonna Lose You, my parents took away my laptop :( But now that I have it back, I plan to update as much as I can! Sorry you've had to wait so long! But I hope you enjoy and please review :)

Chapter 35- Get Up Stand Up

Cate watched nervously as Lux skipped ahead, Baze walking beside her. Baze had organized a play date with Jones at the park nearby, reluctant to take Lux back to Jones' house. He knew nothing would happen, but being in the same place his daughter had been taken from scared the hell out of him.

"Lux! Stop at the road please." Cate called out and Lux obeyed, looking back at Baze and Cate and signaling for them to hurry.

Cate and Baze laughed, each taking one of Lux's hands before crossing the road. Lux pulled them faster towards the park, spotting Jones on the playground. "Mommy! Look! It's Jones! Can I go play?"

Cate laughed, nodding. "Come say hello to Jones' mom first, okay?"

Lux reluctantly agreed, letting go of her parents hands and running ahead to the bench where Jones' mom was sitting. "Hi!"

"Hi, Lux." Karen laughed at the greeting. "How are you?"

Lux smiled widely as Cate and Baze came over. "I'm good."

"Well I'm glad to hear that." She nodded her head to the playground and smiled. "Jones is playing on the playground. He's excited to see you. Why don't you go play with him."

Lux nodded enthusiastically, turning to Cate. "Can I, Mommy?"

"Sure, babe. Just stay where I can see you, okay?"

Lux nodded and began to run towards the playground but Baze stopped her, scooping her up. "I'm going to get going soon, kiddo."

Lux frowned slightly, worried. "But mommy's gonna stay?"

Baze nodded and smiled, and Lux accepted the answer, instantly squirming in Baze's arms to try and get back down on the ground. Baze laughed and placed Lux back down, watching as she basically sprinted towards the playground where Jones was playing while he walked back over to Cate and Karen.

"I'm going to head off." Baze swooped over close to Cate's face, stopping before kissing her. "Do you need anything?"

Cate shook her head, smiling. "I'll see you at home."

Baze smiled and nodded, kissing her quickly before standing up. "It was nice to see you again, Karen."

"You too." Karen smiled at Baze.

Both women watched as he walked away before turning back to face each other. Karen smirked knowingly at Cate and Cate blushed slightly, looking down. "Baze seems like a great guy."

Cate smiled and nodding, blushing. "He is. He's great."

"But?" It was clear to Karen that Cate was leaving something out.

Cate thought about it for a second, looking up at Karen and shrugging, slightly embarrassed. She hardly knew the woman yet at the same time, there was something about her that made Cate want to talk to her. "It's nothing." She shook her head, laughing slightly at herself.

Karen tilted her head, signaling for Cate to continue. "I don't really know. It's just, I'm twenty years old, you know? Last year I was single and still in college, and now I'm a mom, and my kid has been through hell. I'm struggling to keep my job and I'm in a serious relationship. It's just- I don't know. I guess it's just a lot."

Karen nodded understandably, smiling sadly. "How's she doing? Lux?"

Cate's face crumbled slightly as if she was in pain before she looked over at Lux and smiled sadly. "Some days are better than others. She seems so strong all of the time, and I can't help but think she's holding back for our sake because she knows how much what she went through hurt us. I just- I don't know what to do to help her."

Again Karen nodded, sympathy clear on her face as she reached over and placed a hand on Cate's forearm comfortingly. "Have you thought about having her talk to someone?"

"We tried." Cate sighed. "She has a therapist, but she's still so reluctant to talk. I don't know. I guess it's not a bad thing, but I don't know if how I'm going about helping her, is the best thing for her."

Karen nodded, and they sat in silence for a few minutes, both watching their children play happily. "What about you?" Karen broke the silence. "This has got to be hard on you too. I can't even imagine if it was one of my kids."

"Of course it is." Cate whispered more for herself than Karen. "But Lux is so strong, and she's the one who went through it all so I can't help but feel that if she can be that strong and get on with life, I have no right not to."

Karen frowned at Cate sympathetically and Cate blushed, quickly brushing away a stray tear. "I'm sorry. You hardly know me and I'm just dumping my problems on you."

Karen smiled reassuringly. "Trust me, I'm on the board of mother's at school, it's not the first time."

Cate smiled slightly, relaxing. "So, uh, you have another kid?" She asked, changing the subject.

Karen nodded proudly, smiling. "Carter. He'll be seven in August."

"So are he and Jones close? There's not much of an age gap."

Karen nodded, smiling. "Yeah, you know, they're the best of friends. Carter's very protective, but he lets Jones hang out with him most of the time." She looked at Cate curiously, noticing as Cate smiled to herself at the statement. "What about you? Have you and Baze thought about having anymore kids?"

Cate looked up surprised, shaking her head almost instinctively. "No. I uh- no." She paused. "I mean, I know Baze wants to have another kid and Lux would be an amazing big sister, but..." Cate trailed off, unsure.

Karen smiled knowingly. "But you're not sure?"

"No. Well I mean, maybe one day." Cate paused again, slightly embarrassed. "Yeah, I mean, I guess having another baby wouldn't be the worst thing."

Karen smirked and nodded knowingly. She could read Cate better than Cate could read herself at the moment, and despite her hesitancy, Karen could tell Cate was just reluctant to want things, because she knew from experience that it could all go away in a second.

The mother were torn out of their conversation a shriek from the playground and both turned around just in time to see Lux hit the ground face first before Jones threw himself at another boy slightly older than himself.

Cate and Karen jumped up and ran over to the group; Cate scooping Lux up as Karen tried to pull Jones off of the other kid.

"Mommy." Lux sobbed as she wrapped her arms around Cate's neck, holding her tightly. "Hurts."

Cate nodded and kissed Lux's cheek, rubbing her back soothingly. Part of her couldn't help but be relieved that Lux was crying. It was the first time she had cried from pain since Cate and Baze had gotten her back, and a little bit of Cate was glad. On the other hand, Cate couldn't bear to see Lux upset.

Cate untangled Lux's arms from around her neck and inspected her hand. It was red, but the skin wasn't broken so Cate simply brushed the dirt off and kissed it gently. "I know it does, baby. We're going to make it feel better, okay?"

Lux nodded and laid her head on Cate's shoulder, both watching as Karen picked Jones up off of the other boy and squatted down in front of him, Jones sulking angrily.

"Jones, what are you doing? You know that it's not okay to hit."

Jones turned and pointed at the other kid who's own mother was talking to him. "He pushed Lux and called her stupid!"

"Kevin, is that true?" The other boy, Kevin's, mother was asking him.

Kevin mumbled something and his mother looked angry. "Okay, that's it. We're going home and you're having a time out." She took his arm and pulled him over to Lux and Cate. "Now I want you to say you're sorry."

Kevin turned reluctantly towards Lux though didn't face her. "Sorry." He mumbled.

"Thank you." His mother looked at him crossly, before turning to Cate and smiling both apologetically and embarrassed. "I'm very sorry for my son."

Cate nodded and smiled politely, bouncing Lux and holding her closer. Lux didn't protest, holding tighter around Cate's neck and sniffling into her shoulder. "I don't want to play anymore." She whispered.

"Okay, sweetie. Let's go say goodbye to Jones and Karen first then we'll go home, huh?" Cate nodded, carrying her over to Jones and Karen. "Thank you for standing up for Lux, Jones." Cate smiled, squatting down next to him and balancing Lux on her knee. "You're a very good friend."

Lux turned to Cate and whispered in her ear causing Cate to grin at her cuteness. "Best friend." Lux corrected.

"Thanks for coming to play, Lux." Karen spoke for Jones and Lux smiled slightly, hiding her head in Cate's neck shyly. "Jones had a really fun time."

Cate smiled, turning to Lux and speaking gently. "What do you say?"

"Thank you for playing with me." Lux said shyly.

Cate and Karen watched as Jones and Lux said their goodbyes while they did the same before all for stood up, both kids in their mother's arms.

"Thank you." Cate said honestly referring to the earlier conversation with Karen.

Karen nodded and smiled. "We should catch up for coffee or something when Lux is back at school. It helps to have a friend on the school committee."

Cate smiled gratefully, nodding. "That would be great."

"Great." Karen smiled. "Alright, well give me a call anytime and we'll catch up." She turned to Lux, smiling. "It was nice to see you again, Lux. I hope your knee feels better."

Lux and Jones waved goodbye shyly as they were carried away in opposite directions by their mothers.

By the time they had arrived home, Lux had completely forgotten about her hand and she bounced ahead inside of the house, running into Baze's arms when she saw him cooking in the kitchen. "Daddy!"

"Hey, kiddo." Baze couldn't help but smile whenever he saw Lux, and he picked her up, balancing her on his hip as he stirred a pot on the stove. "Did you have fun at the park?"

"Uh huh!" Lux giggled as Baze held a carrot stick out for her to bite. "We played on the teeter totter and on the swings and on the slippery slide cept not on the big one coz it was too big. But look, daddy." She held up her hand, her expression changing as she remembered she was hurt. "A big kid pushed me and I hurt my hand."

Baze frowned slightly, taking a hold of Lux's hand and looking it over. It wasn't

even red anymore but he held it to his lips and playfully kissed it, causing Lux to giggle. "Mommy said I can have a wiggles Band-Aid then watch Sound of Music!"

"Oh she did, did she?" Baze groaned, raising an eyebrow to Cate who shrugged sheepishly. Lux had watched the Sound of Music every day since Abby had shown it to her a few weeks ago and it was driving Cate and Baze crazy. "Well I'm going to have to talk to mommy about that. Why don't you go play in the other room while I finish making dinner?"

Lux nodded enthusiastically and wiggled to get down before running over to Cate and pulling her into the lounge room. Cate laughed and reluctantly followed, returning minutes later with Edelweiss playing loudly in the background.

"I swear that song is going to kill me." Baze smirked jokingly.

Cate ignored the comment, wrapping her arms around his waist, kissing his back slowly. Baze looked slightly confused at the sudden affection, but smiled and turned, reaching his hands up to push back Cate's hair and hold the side of her face as he kissed her.

After a few moments, Cate pulled back and immediately wrapped her arms around his back and leaning her head on his chest. Baze slowly wrapped his arms back around her, holding her close.

"You okay?" He was genuinely concerned. Cate had only recently begun to let people in, and the over-affection was uncharacteristic.

Cate nodded honestly, smiling into his chest as she watched Lux dance and sing-along to the movie. "I love you." She mumbled after a few minutes, breaking the silence.

Baze smiled, kissing her hair. "I love you too, babe."