Thank you to all my readers and reviewers. I love y'all.


"Hey!" Allie said, looking excited to see Walter and Paige even though they'd told her they had arrived at their house. "How was Virginia?"

"Fairly uneventful," Walter said. "For us," he amended when Paige lifted her eyebrows.

"Fair enough," Allie said with a laugh. "Come in, come in."

"She's in the bedroom," Cabe said. "We're letting her pretend to paint it. She's enjoying herself."

"Thank you so much for watching her, you two," Paige said, hugging first Cabe and then Allie tightly.

"We are always happy to get to spend quality time with our grandchildren," Allie said. "Amber! Sweetie, come see who it is."

Amber walked out of the bedroom into the hallway, a paintbrush in her hand. Her eyes lit up when she saw her parents. "Mommy Daddy!" She ran to them, going to Paige with her arms outstretched.

"Baby girl," Paige said, bending down and lifting the little girl to her hip. "We missed you."

"Hey, Ambie," Walter said, kissing the top of her head. "Did you have a good time?"

"I paint the woom."

"Did you choose a color palette that is conducive to a good night's rest?" Walter asked.

"Yes," Amber said.

"Do you have any idea what Daddy is talking about?" Paige asked.

"I paint."

Paige laughed and cuddled her close.

Walter pulled Cabe aside. "So did you work with the alphabet letters?"

"A little," Cabe said.

He clearly didn't want to talk about it. "Is she still putting them in the wrong order?"

"Walter. She's two."

"Two – year – olds can…"

"Some two – year – olds can sing the ABCs," Cabe said. "That doesn't mean something is wrong if she can't yet, and it also doesn't mean she can recognize the letters."

"How is she doing with plurals?"

"Walter. Not every two – year – old can do that well. And she's only been two for a few months."

"Her speech goes in and out. She makes simple sentences sometimes and sometimes can't string more than a word or two together. I just don't want – "

"Walt," Cabe said gently, "there is nothing wrong with your daughter. Even if she is having difficulties learning. She's a wonderful little girl. She is sweet, she is happy. I know you don't believe in this sort of thing, but you're blessed. Try to stop concerning yourself with her being ahead of the game and enjoy watching her figure things out."

"Daddy."

Walter turned away from Cabe. Amber was still in Paige's arms, but she was leaning in Walter's direction, a hand outstretched. Walter reached out and took it, stepping closer to them and smiling at his daughter. "Hey, little girl."

"Love love love you."

"Yeah," he said, squeezing her hand. "I love love love you too."


"We did not think through what my initials would be when we decided to both change our names to Tipton – Dodd."

"Sly," Florence said. "We have been over this."

"I know. I'm just tired of all the jokes."

"Who is making jokes?"

"No one." A pained look came over his face. "But I'm thinking of them."

"Well, think about this." Florence grinned. "In case you hadn't noticed, there were no mirrors available for use while we were in Virginia, and now that I've seen myself for the first time in nearly a week, I can finally tell that I'm pregnant."

Sylvester cocked his head. "You mean the nausea, doubled food intake, and a sexual appetite that's, quite frankly, absolutely terrifying wasn't already a sign?"

Florence rolled her eyes. "First of all, I guarantee I'm still asking you for sex less frequently than Happy and Toby and they have two kids to work around. Secondly, I mean I'm showing. Like for real now."

"Okay, not to…argue or anything…but you still kinda look the same to me. At least, close to the same as our last couple photos."

"Because you see me every day. But I am. Look." She dropped to the ground, laying flat on her back and tugging her sweater tightly around her.

"Okay. I can maybe see it when you do that."

"Good." Florence got up. "Now that that business is out of the way…"

"Florence, no," Sylvester said.

"I'm not making a move on you, relax. What I am attempting to do is tell you I think I've come up with my modifier from your Chernobyl gig. We should be able to create seals around maritime disasters, though it will obviously need permission to test it or otherwise recreate ocean conditions…"

She continued, pulling up a few simulations on her laptop and pointing out a few variables that were concerning her. Sylvester was astounded at her ability to get so much done in such a short amount of time.

Well – it had been a month since Paige and Walter had initially shared this prospect with them. But Tad had gotten sick at school, and then of course Ellie and then Amber had followed, and then they had to go to New Mexico and then Virginia and…they'd been busy. Florence and Walter were easily farther along on their projects than the others were, though now that their kids were better, Happy and Toby were probably making good progress on their assignment – an updated, perfected version of the pseudo-womb the team had made for the deer in Africa.

Florence had rolled her eyes at the decision to use that one for their pitch, and no one had understood why until Sylvester had explained that Chana Wolowitz, one of their competitors for this donation, had complimented that particular accomplishment at the convention the two of them had attended in Florida years before. "My project will be the best one, anyway," she'd said.

"Of all of ours, or out of all the ones of everyone competing for this benefactor?" Sylvester had asked.

"Yes."

She hadn't been joking. Sylvester could tell with the amount of work she'd completed even with two months to go to the meeting in D.C.