A/N: Delia saves the day in the end when Katie and Ned are both exhausted, new parents.

Katie was awake before Asher even got a real cry out. All he did was whimper, and she was awake. Ned, of course, was still sleeping like a rock next to her. She was too tired to glare at her husband, so she settled for causing as much movement as she could as she climbed out of bed.

Naturally, Ned didn't even move.

Katie shuffled over to the bassinet and lifted Asher out just as she started to cry. As soon as he was settled against her chest, he quieted himself. Knowing from experience that it would take at least another fifteen minutes for him to fully fall asleep, Katie cupped the back of his tiny head and gently rocked back and forth.

The past six months since Asher had been born has been absolutely wonderful. Katie would even describe them as magical. There was nothing that she loved more than watch baby boy grow. Katie didn't think that she would ever forget the first day that Asher smiled at her, sat up, rolled over and began to crawl.

Right now, however, all Katie wanted to do was sleep.

Her son had fallen into the habit of waking up every three or four hours. It got to the point where Katie would wake up before her son could get too upset, but that also meant that she wasn't getting much continuous sleep. Finally, Asher was lulled back to sleep. She gently placed him in his bassinet once again and waited a moment to see if he would wake up. Just like his father, Asher settled into sleep—it was as if he hadn't even woken up.

Katie dragged herself back to bed and slid under the covers. She poked Ned repeatedly in the shoulder until he suddenly jerked awake.

Blinking drowsily, he looked around worriedly until he faced his wife staring at him. "What's goin' on Katie?" Ned yawned. "Is Ash alright?"

"Yes, everything is fine, Ned." Satisfied that she had her husband's attention, Katie curled up on her side and snuggled into her pillow. "The next time our son wakes up, it's your turn to get him." She stated before she laid down and immediately fell back asleep.

Katie made what were (admittedly) pitiful airplane noises in an attempt to get the spoonful of mashed carrots into Asher's mouth.

All he did was blink at her with his wide, green eyes and Katie knew that her son was thoroughly unimpressed. Just as she was about to try again, someone knocked at the door.

She set aside the tiny spoon and small jar of smashed carrots (out of Asher's reach—he had the habit of getting into things) and jumped up to answer the door. She was pleasantly surprised when she saw that it was Ned's mother, Delia standing in her doorway.

"Delia, hi!" Katie greeted and hugged her mother-in-law tightly. "Please, come in!"

"I wasn't sure what you would be up to today. I was going to call, but my phone died," Delia said as she walked in. "How's my grandson doing?"

"He's doing good. Teething and a picky eater, but he's my little angel." Katie explained, smiling at Delia. "Asher is actually in the kitchen, so let's go in there."

Delia walked into the kitchen with her once the front door was closed and set her bag on the counter and hugged Katie tightly again. "How are you, sweetie?" she held her daughter at arm's length and frowned in the way that only a mother could. "You look like you haven't been getting enough sleep."

Katie shrugged her shoulders. "That's because I haven't," she said. At that moment, Asher chose to let out a shrill screech and he banged his tiny fists on the tray of his highchair. Katie grinned at her little boy and wiggled her fingers at him, and he giggled in return. "It's worth it, though. I'm doing fine, you and my mom should stop worrying so much."

"Of course you are. Your mom just worrying because she misses you. You've been cooped up in here since Asher got sick a few weeks ago." Delia said, smiling at her daughter-in-law. "But I wouldn't expect anything less from a Banks boy. Despite the way that Ned sleeps now, he didn't sleep all the way through the night for a very long time."

"How did you get through it?" Katie asked and sat down in front of Asher, trying once again to get the spoonful of carrots into his mouth. He held his mouth open all the way up until last second, and then he snapped his little jaw shut. He giggled at the look of surprise on his mother's face, and Katie couldn't hide her smile at the cute look on his face. "You think that's funny, huh?" Sure, this wasn't the ideal way to feed her son, but it was pretty amusing.

"Well, a few months after Ned had been born, my mother stopped by and said that she was going to babysit for the night. She kicked Charlie and me out of the house and told us to dinner." Delia smiled fondly at the memory. "I may have called every hour to check on Ned, but it still ended up being one of the best things for us."

Despite her lack of sleep, Katie caught on to what Delia's visit was really about. "And I'm assuming you're going to be doing the same thing for Ned and me?" She asked.

"You got it." Holding her hands out, Delia waited until Katie handed over the spoon and the carrots. "Is there any milk in the fridge?"

"I pumped a few bottles this morning," she nodded.

Delia smiled. "Good, we should be fine then." She gestured for Katie to vacate the seat in front of Asher's highchair. "Go on and get ready. Ned will be here in two hours to take you out to dinner."

Katie smiled. "Was this his idea?" she asked.

"It was." Delia winked and then further proved the fact that she had superpowers by successfully getting Asher to eat the mashed carrots. "But don't tell him I told you."

"I love that man so much," Katie declared. Her heart felt full and despite the fact that she was still incredibly tired, she was also undeniably excited for her night out with her husband.

"And he loves you," Delia said. "Now go and get ready."

Katie spun around and practically ran up the stairs.

As Katie looked at herself in the mirror, she immediately knew what she needed to do first. Bathe.

It reminded her of when she found herself readying herself for her and Ned's first time together in the city. She'd promised him she'd shave her legs. She'd gone all out; bought a sugar scrub, to help get all the dead skin off, and make her legs softer than they'd ever been.

Because she knew the weighted tone of Ned's voice when he was turned on. She knew she and Ned were going to have a nice night out and wanted to prepare as much as she had that first night they were together. She went over to the bath and turned on the water before going into the bathroom drawers looking for some type of nice soap or scrub she could use.

The last time she'd had the chance to go out and buy something for herself was before Asher was born, besides the new pants, which she'd gotten last week when she finally started to lose some of the baby weight. She eventually found an old sugar scrub, like the one she remembered using that first time.

She sat into the warm water, shutting off the water once it was at the right height. This felt so good and it was just what she needed. After almost an hour, Katie wrapped her towel around herself and stepped out of the tub.

There were a few knocks and Katie went to the bathroom door, opening it as she bit her lip, looking at herself in the mirror in case it was Ned, but then smiled once she saw her son's mashed carrot covered cheeks.

"Hi, my sweet sweet boy." She said, looking up at Delia and then making sure she had her towel tightly tied against her. "You got him to eat it all?"

"Yes. I was just wondering where the wipes were. I didn't know much is in his nursery," Delia shrugged. "And I think he missed you a little."

She nodded and took Asher in her arms. The little boy squealed happily and laid his head on Katie's shoulder. "Let's go get you cleaned up little man," Katie said, kissing his head and bringing Delia into the nursery with them. "All of his changing stuff like the wipes, any creams, and diapers you might need are in the cupboard under the changing table. His onesies, sleepers and basic clothes are in the dresser and any other outfits are in the closet, but you shouldn't need any of those."

She set Asher down on the changing table on his back and clipped the belt over his tummy before she bent down and opened the bottom doors to reveal the wipes and diapers and anything shed need to change her son. She grabbed a few wipes and closed the package and then doors before standing up.

Katie gave Asher one to distract him from the fact she would be touching his face. He didn't like it too much. Even so, the wipe distracted him as Katie quickly wiped his face clean. She then took the wipe from his hand and wiped his hands clean before leaning down to kiss both his cheeks, which made him giggle and grab her face. She unbuckled him and picked Asher up into her arms, but Delia took him from her quickly.

"I'll get him changed. I should have everything I need from now own," Delia said. "You get dressed. Ned should be here soon."

"Yes, going back to the bathroom." Katie laughed, leaning down to kiss Asher's head. "Bye baby." He waved goodbye to her and she looked around the room, thinking of any last minute things she might need to tell Delia. This was the first time she was leaving Asher with her for an extended period of time. She usually went to her mother, which she rarely did. Melinda had watched Asher three times in the last six months since he was born. "His bear is in the bassinet in our room. He doesn't like to sleep without it by him. Same with his blanket, it's also in there. Thank you so much for all this, Delia."

"Of course, sweetheart. I'll see you later when you get back," Delia said as she held Asher in her arms. "I know you haven't left Ash with me before and that can be kind of hard."

"Yeah, but I know everything will be fine. Asher loves both of his grandmas and how much they are there for him already." She said waved at him as she left the room.

When Katie looked at herself in the mirror in the bathroom, she decided she wanted to forgo some makeup because she didn't want to have to take off a lot when they got home, but didn't want to be barefaced. Not completely anyway. She put on a light coat of lip gloss and flicked her wand of mascara over her eyelashes a few times before she sprayed her perfume in the usual three places.

Her hips, her neck and over her stomach.

She went to her dresser in the front of the room next and pulled out a pair of comfy underwear before going over to her closet. She grabbed the bra that hung over the back and pulled the towel off her body. It was only a matter of a minute before she had both on and she began looking for an outfit in her closet.

Katie looked through the few drawers and found a slim fitting pair of jeans and slid them on, buttoning and zipping them up quickly. She grabbed a purple sweater and closed the closet before sitting on the bed and pulling on the sweater. She went to the dresser again and opened her jewelry box. She picked up the gold locket she'd gotten when she was thirteen. It had meant so much to her, the original pictures she'd put inside of him and her. After she'd broke the chain he'd regifted it to her fixed.

Now inside was a picture of Charlie and Asher and she put it on quickly before going out into the hallway. She could hear giggles coming from inside Asher's room and went in to say goodbye before heading downstairs. Ned came in just as Katie pulled on a pair of flats and her jacket.

"Hey," she smiled. "You could've told me before work you know."

"I wanted to surprise you," he chuckled, wrapping his arms around her.

"Consider me surprised," she laughed, kissing him briefly. "So, where are we headed? I'm dressed nicely, but still casual."

"Good, we're just going to dinner at that new sushi place on the east side." He said, winking as he leaned over to open the front door. "Let's get going, we have a seven o'clock reservation."

"Mmm I told you I wanted to go," she hummed, smiling at him. "Thank you. I love you."

"I love you too," he said, pulling the door closed behind him as he caught her lips in a quick kiss. "C'mon, I left the truck running."