A/N: Ned has put on a little weight since he and Katie have had their third child, but Katie doesn't mind :) Enjoy xx Mariah

There you go, little one," Ned soothed as he settled his youngest child into the cot. "A full belly and a clean diaper, and you're set for the night. How about tonight we start sleeping through? For once, your dad is not on call and would appreciate the sleep." The corner of his mouth tugged up in resignation.

At six months, Emily was not quite as convinced as her parents that she didn't need her two o'clock feeding anymore.

Ned untucked his shirt from the waistband of his trousers and began to unbutton it as he crossed the room to undress for the night. Shrugging it off his shoulders, he threw it into the laundry basket and rolled his neck to release the tension of the day.

He had only just left his office a little bit ago after finally finishing his case paperwork for the week. He turned his head and caught a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror over Katie's dressing table. Startled, he straightened and studied his profile.

"Good lord," he muttered as he turned from side to side, studying his body in his undershirt that was still tucked into his trousers. "I must have put on nearly ten pounds!"

Frustrated, he barely noticed Katie had returned from checking on Asher and Willow until she came up next to him. Trying to catch his eye in the mirror before him, she asked, "What are you looking at?"

His eyebrows lowered in displeasure. "My beer belly! How is it possible that you've lost all the baby weight and look amazing, but I seem to be adding pounds every week?"

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean, Ned." Cooly, she placed her glasses on her bedside table.

His wife wasn't being completely honest, and they both knew it. Katie had been rather proud when she was able to fit into her regular clothes already. She claimed it was because it saved the unnecessary expense of new clothes, but her pleased grin had belied the argument.

His head tilted in disbelief and his gaze took in her trim form, the silky blue dressing gown cinched tightly at her waist, emphasizing her sweet curves. "How do you do it?"

Katie sensed there was more than a few pounds bothering her husband. "Laundry for a family of five?" she joked.

His eyes met hers in the mirror, unconvinced.

With a warm sigh, she stepped behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. It was a bit softer, it was true, but there was something endearing about it that warmed her insides. She pressed her cheek to his shoulder blade and let her hands gently smooth over the soft cotton of his undershirt.

"You can't tell me you haven't noticed." His back stiffened. "That's why you insisted I get those new suits!"

She spoke against his back, her voice a seductive murmur. "I insisted you get those new suits because I knew how handsome you'd be in a new style. Plus, you wear them for work. I've seen the way some of the mothers glance at you when you wear them. I'm not the only woman that thinks so."

Her flattery eased his anxiety some, and he relaxed slightly against her. She rubbed her lips against the neckline of his shirt, her breath leaving a damp trail against the back of his neck, and slipped her hands underneath. Her fingertips grazed over the smooth skin of his middle, the soft pads tracing his oblique muscles and back over his abdomen. A sigh escaped him and she smiled in satisfaction.

Intent on teasing him a bit more, Katie slid her hands towards his navel but felt her own desires ignite as she came to the short hairs feathering their way down his abdomen.

er eyelids fluttered closed and she tucked her forehead against his spine in an attempt to govern her passion. She would show him how she appreciated his body. Deliberately, her fingertips slipped lower in tight swirls. Without looking she could sense his arousal growing in response to her touch, and her own muscles clenched tightly.

Her right hand slipped lower, tracing along his belt buckle and the band of his trousers. She paused for a moment. "See, Ned? Only the second loop, you shouldn't be worried." But he was beyond responding with words as her hand moved.

At the sharp intake of his breath, she pushed lower until the tips of her fingers brushed up against his erection through his pants. He moaned, and she thrilled at the sound. Her hand slid back up to loosen his belt and slid her hand into his pants. She pressed her face to his back, her nose rubbing a path against his spine.

She loved giving him pleasure this way, and in the years together had come to know exactly how he liked to be teased. Grazing fingers, gentle brushes of her hot palm, until finally she would wrap her hand around him and quicken her strokes until he gasped.

In a sudden movement, he pulled her hand free and turned to face her. With the ease of a man used to dressing quickly in the dark, he slid down his trousers. His mouth caught hers in a deep kiss. "I've got to be in you, Katie. Please."

Eagerly, she pulled at the fabric that separated them. Stiff flesh bobbed at her and he pushed her nightgown up over her hips. In a quick movement, he lifted her light form up and onto their bed.

"Now, please, Ned," she begged.

He slid into her, their joining easy. Thighs wrapped tightly around hips and they moved together, thrust meeting thrust, exhale mingling with exhale. The feel of him inside her, filling her, so hot and hard, and his own moan of pleasure made her shudder in answer. She raised her arms, gripping his shoulders, her body wrapped around his.

This was what making love was. It wasn't just having sex; it was feeling her husband love her, joining to him and accepting him. And then, when she was trembling, groaning at the agony of not quite reaching her release, Ned reached down and pressed his thumb hard against her.

That sudden stimulation against the oversensitized bundle of nerves had her arching up off the bed, screaming almost soundlessly as she crashed over the edge of her orgasm. She had brought him so close that soon he was following her over the brink—until that moment of held breath and silence when neither was certain of anything but the other.

They lay in a tangle of half-dressed limbs for blissful minutes as they settled into sated fulfillment.

Katie raised herself up against his chest and pressed a light kiss to his chin. "I love you just as you are, Ned, you know that."

A lopsided grin lifted the corner of his mouth and he nodded. He lazily pushed the hair back on her face. "I know. I never doubted that."

"Then never doubt this, either. I love you, Ned Banks, and I want you more than I can ever say. I always will, no matter how much weight you put on over the years." She ran her hands over his middle. "You have never seemed to mind how my body changed,"

His laugh was lighthearted. "Hardly. I never will. I have wanted to put my hands on you as much as ever, more likely."

She settled her head in the crook under his chin. "And why do you suppose that is?"

He bent to kiss her forehead. "You're a wonder, Katie, did you know?"

"Well, perhaps you can show me your appreciation tomorrow, too, darling." She hummed.