Elliot decided that he wouldn't go back to bed. It wasn't worth the hour of sleep he might get. He headed back into the kitchen and started up the coffee. He put two slices of bread into the toaster and decided to check if the morning paper had come yet. He quietly opened to door and stepped out onto the porch. He looked around and sighed, picked up the newspaper and looked around the neighborhood.

He and Kathy had spent at about a month looking for the perfect house. Elliot's first mission was to find a neighborhood that had few to none in registered sex offenders. To his surprise it was easier than he thought. Elliot spent about two weeks searching and looking in newspapers and investigating. He was surprised that he could find a neighborhood with no sex offenders. He knew that they were caught everyday and sent to Rikers. It was the main part of his job to do that. On the other hand there were also people getting paroled on a regular basis. Kathy had picked the house within a week. They were moved in a week and a half later.

There was a playground just down around the corner. Elliot could see the kids from the back yard if they went with Maureen or Kathy. He never liked them going without him, but he had learned to give them some independence, but he was usually out in the back straining over the fence to make sure everything was okay. He figured it just part of the job, worrying about perverts all the time. Even when they were in school he worried about that one teacher or that one janitor.

Elliot was pulled back into reality with the sounds off the coffee pot brewing. He took one last look around, the sun was just peeking above the horizon, and it was going to be another gorgeous day. He headed inside and saw that his toast had popped up. He put some butter on it and grabbed a cup of coffee. He sat down and began to read the paper slowly sipping his hot coffee and nibbling at his cold toast. He finished up reading the paper and gulped the rest of his coffee. He took care of his dishes and headed to the bathroom. It was directly connected to his bedroom. It wasn't at all like a home interior's dream. It had border around the top that was a faded yellow with some type of flower. The walls were becoming a dirtied white. Directly in front of the door was the sink and of course matching toilet. It was the only set in the house that matched. On the left of the sink was a counter with some storage space underneath. It held the standard guest room linens, some extra towels and even some old bath toys left over from when the twins were little. On top was a mixture of Kathy and Lizzie's hair care and makeup products. Moving along the wall a few feet from the cabinet was the bathtub shower combination. In the corner was the overflowing hamper and an extra mound of clothing, probably Dickie's. He checked to see if there were fresh towels, there were and then hopped into the shower. He had felt a little stiff this morning so he let the hot stream to flow over his aching muscles. Then he washed himself and his hair and shut the water off. He stepped out of the shower wrapped a towel around his waist and went over to the mirror above the sink. The steam from his shower made it impossible to see the reflection he wiped away the condensation and looked at himself. He sighed heavily. He could remember a time when he was in perfect condition. He had a full head of hair and a body with rigid muscles. Raising four kids had done some damage, not to mention the job that wasn't exactly perfect. He loved his kids and his job though, so he wasn't all that disappointed. He dried his hair and brushed it out, then came the teeth, and he finished with some mouthwash. Still having the towel wrapped around him he entered his bedroom. Kathy was lying on the bed, her eyes opened and she looked deep in thought.

"Oh, I'm sorry Kath, I didn't mean to wake you." He said apologetically gently closing the door to the bathroom.

"You didn't wake me up, I've been up. I heard you get up two and half hours ago and then you didn't come back to bed. I just couldn't fall back asleep." Kathy said slowly rolling onto her side.

"I know, I was thirsty so I got a glass of water." Elliot explained as he pulled clothing from his closet and set the articles on the bed. He had picked up a dark blue collared shirt, with a pair of black pants, black socks and a tie to match. Elliot didn't realize until later how ironic he had dressed. He was wearing all of his birthday presents from that year.

"Then I just wasn't tired so I made some fresh coffee and breakfast and decided to get ready."

"I went to bed early anyways so I got my eight hours in." she said with a chuckle.

"Honey, I was thinking, and I know I have some vacation time coming up. Do you think we could go somewhere? Maybe leave tonight and come back Tuesday or Wednesday? I mean I have Monday off anyways and the kids could miss a few days of school. What do you think sweetie?"

"Oh Elliot, it sounds great, but where would we go? There are not that many places that take reservations this last minute." Kathy answered finally sitting up in bed.

"I don't know I was thinking a beach down in Virginia, away from the city, I need to get away, just for a couple of days. I was thinking maybe that we could get Kathleen and even Maureen to join us too. Make it a family thing and surprise the twins." Elliot said sounding hopeful. He was fully dressed but at the last moment decided to change his tie, he couldn't decided which one to wear.

"I'll call Kathleen toady, I'm sure she wouldn't mind missing a few classes to come with the family."

"And Maureen?" Elliot asked finally deciding to keep the tie he had on.

"Honey, didn't I tell you? Maureen has a big merger out in Washington or Oregon. She'll be gone for at least two weeks maybe more. It depends on how well everything goes. She can come with us another time." Kathy said.

Elliot's entire body kind of slumped with disappointment. Trying to make the best of it, he put a smile on and replied, "Right, she can come with us some other time."

"Yes. Well I have to get up and get going. Our lovely cherubs need to get up and ready for another day. We can discuss the full plans tonight at dinner okay honey?" Kathy said as she slowly rose from bed and put her matching robe and slippers on. She shut her door on the way out to wake Lizzie and Dickie. Elliot put some final touches on his outfit, picking off some fuzz. Just as he finished he heard the sound of a door opening and a pair of feet scampering to the bathroom. He assumed it was Lizzie, because she always liked to get there first and the chances of Dickie getting up right away were slim to none. Dickie always seemed to struggle to get out from under the covers. Elliot headed done to the kitchen to grab some papers and his cell phone. Kathy was standing at the stove making eggs and humming. Elliot snuck behind her and planted a kiss on her cheek. She smiled and chuckled then turned to set to fresh eggs and toast on the table. Elliot heard the sound of feet coming towards the fresh breakfast and soon he saw it was Lizzie. Out of the bathroom and fully dressed, she sat down at the table and put some food onto her plate.

"Morning sweetie." Elliot said to her as she buttered her toast. She was obviously ignoring him, but he understood.

"Honey, you better get going you are going to be late!" Kathy said as she continued to put even more food on the table. She came over to Elliot and kissed him goodbye. Elliot never understood why she cooked so much food, there were only three people eating, and with the extra food you could feed an entire third world country.

"If you could tell the kids our plans that would be good. Make sure Dickie gets going too, or else he'll be late!" Elliot said as he walked out the door. He turned around one last time and saw Lizzie sitting at the table slowly picking at her food. There was something more than what they talked about last night, he just didn't know what. He shut the door and headed to work.