Mother Dear

A/N: There's more to their squabble than meets the eye.  I shall explain in the upcoming chapters.  REVIEW and try to be pleasant.  I might not be able to update as much in the next few days… alas, midterms call and I take a double curriculum.  12 exams in two weeks.  Can someone just kill me now?

DISCLAIMER: Anything you recognize is not mine.  (Except Ashley).

~*~

Abby watched Ashley scurry out of the room and she sighed deeply, staring up at the ceiling, upset.  She banged her head against the backboard a few times, angrily.

"Don't do that too hard, you might hurt yourself."

She looked up.  He was standing in the doorway.

"Argh!" she said frustrated, "I was actually hoping that it would knock some sense into my thick skull."  He smiled and approached the bed.

"I heard what you said," he told her, "Thank you."  She looked at him blankly.

"I think I must've hit my head a little too hard.  I'm having symptoms of amnesia."

"What you told Ashley," he said with a grin.  Comprehension dawned on her face.

"You were listening?"

"Not on purpose.  You can't close your ears."

"Yeah, well, it was my fault so it wasn't right that –" She stopped talking as he sat on the bed.

"It doesn't matter whose fault it was.  Besides, I admit that I've been a little caught in the moment lately.  I know that we haven't much time with you."  Abby snorted.

"Oh, please, don't make me sound so humble," she said, playing with the top of her cast.  He smiled.

"It's just, well; this is all so new to me, having a kid and everything. You've been doing it for seven years and you're so capable too.  She adores you and I got kind of jealous.  I guess, subconsciously, I thought that if she saw you too much, she'd think she had to choose between of the two of us.  And, as we've just witnessed, she chooses you."

"Carter, she's not choosing anyone.  She's seven.  She thought you were mad at her, so she ran to me.  If I was in your place, she would run to you.  Children are like that."

"I just wish that… that I understood her like you do.  I wouldn't know to do the things you do at the times that you do them."

"You learn, Carter.  That's the beauty of growing old.  You don't just get older, you get wiser."

"At the rate I'm going, I should reach the intelligence level of a teenager by the time I'm 85."  Abby chuckled.

"You know that's not true.  You calmed her down when I was sick. You were there when I couldn't be.  She'll always remember that." Carter gazed at her.

"I'm sorry for what I said," he stated finally.

"Me, too," Abby responded.  Abby turned her attention to the yard again and Carter followed suit.  She turned to look at his profile.  He still looked impossibly young and the softness around his eyes made him seem sweet and kind.  He knew she was staring at him and he turned to look at her too.  They drew their faces closer together until Abby could feel his breath against the skin on her face.  She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and she closed her eyes, trying to hold the moment forever.

Their lips touched and Abby felt electricity shooting up and down her spine.  She had kissed many men before, but none had that effect on her.  She felt him bring his arms up and cup her face in his hands.  He scooted over to be closer to her, their lips never detaching.

They heard the door open quickly and they knew Ashley was there.  They couldn't part quick enough, however and she caught a glimpse of what they were doing.

"I found you!" she said triumphantly facing Carter.  Carter nodded his face a bright pink.

"Ashley…" Abby began, embarrassed.  She hadn't had a boyfriend since she left.  Ashley had never seen her with another man.  Had she just corrupted her child? But Ashley was grinning smugly with an I-told-you-so expression.

"It's okay, Mommy.  I guess Daddy forgives you then."  Carter and Abby laughed out loud and Abby jumped up on the bed to join her parents.

All made up… or are they? REVIEW!