~*~

I walk into the courthouse with Abby. We decided to take Bryce along, but I'm sitting outside while Abby goes in for the actual ruling. I'm holding Abby around her waist, and my other arm is around Bryce's shoulders. He seems so out of it. I give him an encouraging squeeze, and he looks up at me. I give him a smile, and he just gives me a funny little look.

"What?"

He starts shaking his head.

"Nothing. Just wondering where your hands have been."

I hit him playfully on his head, and he starts to laugh. Finally, he loosened up, even it if was just for a second.

I give Abby a small kiss and watch her walk through the big wooden doors. I turn around with Bryce, and head towards the chairs that are set up outside the courtroom. He sinks down into his chair, and I know he's terrified of what might happen. He leans into me, putting his head on my shoulder, and I run my hand up down his arm. The only source of comfort for a while. I see Richard walking in from a distance, and I'm hoping Bryce doesn't notice. He walks quickly by us, almost ignoring us, yet still turns around and gives me this 'condemned to hell' look that only the devil could give. I know Bryce saw it too because he instantly tensed up. I give Bryce a kiss on the head, and feel him relax again. I watch the traffic and the people through the windows, all caught up in their own lives, not carrying about anything other than themselves. After about twenty minutes of silence, I hear the door swing open, and Abby emerges with a tear strained face.

I get up, and Bryce comes back to life as well, rushing over to her.

"Abby, what happened?"

She pulls Bryce into a hug, giving me a small smile.

"We won."

I swear the smile that appeared on my face could have outshone the sun. I give Bryce a hug, and then go over to Abby, giving her a long kiss.

"Okay guys.. We're in public..."

I see Abby playfully push him out of the way, and she breaks the kiss.

"Come on, let's go home."

We walked out of the courthouse, a bigger and better appreciation for everything and everyone. I never knew losing someone I had only known for a short time could control my life. But we had Bryce back. Along with his damn commentary and sarcasm. I loved him even more. I loved Abby even more. She is the strongest person I know. We walked the few blocks home, Bryce being extremely silent as me and Abby strolled a few steps behind him. We finally got inside the apartment, and Bryce collapsed on the couch. I followed Abby as she walked over to him.

"You okay sweetie?"

I watched him nod his head.

"Yeah. Just a little tired I guess."

I picked up a blanket that laid on the couch, and I dropped it into his lap.

"Go lie down, take a nap."

We watched him get up slowly.

"You just wanna get rid of me so Carter doesn't have to take those cold showers anymore..."

I pick up a pillow and hit him in the head. That was uncalled for.

"Kid, you're really pushin' it."

He starts to laugh and heads towards his room. Abby's looking at me, trying not to laugh.

"You know, he's right..."

I move closer to her.

"We could change that."

I give her a long, hard kiss on the mouth, she replies with equal intensity.

"God! Not the sofa! We need to get that thing disinfected along with my bed and the whole kitchen..."

We both look at each other, then start to head towards Bryce who is standing in the doorway. He sees we are about to attack him, so he runs towards his room, and midway there, we hear the door slam. Okay, so he's taken care of for the moment. I grab Abby's hand and we head towards the sofa. I sit down and pull her down with me. She curls her legs under her, and her head goes onto its usual spot on my chest. We've grown so used to this position, its like second nature. I turn the television on and find one of those music channels that plays just classical music. One of those channels that come included in some package you order to make it seem like your getting more for your money. I unclip the barrette she has in her hair, and let her long brown hair fall down, across her shoulders. I twirl a few strands around my fingers until she grabs my hand and we interlock fingers. The music seems to relax both of us, and I dim the lamp we have on. I know this moment seems way too perfect, and I'm waiting for Bryce to come walking in with one of his comments, but minutes tick away, and he's still in his room. I grab a throw blanket from the chair across from us, and throw it over Abby and me. She keeps on snuggling up to me, not that I'm complaining. She looks up after a while at me, and the instant is perfect for a kiss. I was planning for a short one, but she had other ideas. Once again, I am not complaining. She starts to twist a bit, and she's on top of me. She grabs my hands and guides them over her body. Okay, so I'm a little excited. Although I know this is going to end the same way. It's worse than being quartered, or buried alive. She gets off me slowly, still holding on to the kiss. She throws the blankets off, and she grabs my hands.

"Come on... My son might come out... What kind of example would we be setting?"

I smile at her remark.

"Are you sure?"

She looks at me, rolling her eyes.

"No. I'm not. Get out."

She says it playfully, and I give her my best puppy dog face. Then I stick my tounge out at her.

"Would you get over here and put that thing to work?"

I start heading over to her, and I hear a sigh behind me.

"God you guys are worse than two horny teenagers on viagra!"

I turn back around, and there he is. Bryce.

"Well we wouldn't be horny if you wouldn't interrupt us..."

He looks at me, eyes almost popping out of his head. Ha. Now I know how to play. Use his own game against him. I feel Abby come up behind me, and attempt to put her arms around me.

"You know what, I'm in the mood for ice cream.."

Bryce and I both look at her, it's the middle of December for heaven's sake. No one eats ice cream in the middle of December.

"Ice cream?"

I watch her nod her head. Bryce looks at her questioningly.

"I thought it took six weeks for someone to know they're pregnant?"

Abby rolled her eyes at him. I started to laugh.

"She's not pregnant."

I run my hands up and down her arms.

"Just hungry."

I keep on laughing.

"So where do you want to go and what do you want?"

I watch her contemplate the question for a minute.

"I want to go anywhere that has chocolate and strawberry ice cream with lots and lots of whipped cream."

I start to laugh. I could arrange the whipped cream. But for other purposes. And the chocolate. For obvious reasons. So we started to get ready, because anything that Abby wants, Abby gets. And she definitely wants Bryce tired out and asleep by ten. It's going to be one long night.