Worth It

Liz didn't think either of them had slept in at least three days. She felt like she was working through a fog. Her thoughts were slow and her reaction time delayed, but as bad as she felt right then, she knew Agnes was feeling ten times worse.

The doctor had said that it had turned into an ear infection, and the pressure was what was making her scream all day long. And all night. Liz had stayed home with her the day before, but Tom had said he could work from the apartment that morning, so she had gone in. She'd felt utterly useless, but she had gone in.

Cooper sent her home at lunch and that's how she found herself fumbling for the keys at the door, finally managing to ease it open.

The apartment was strangely quiet and she froze at the entrance. If Tom had decided to take her back to the doctor, he would have called. That meant she was asleep. Finally asleep.

Liz loosed a long breath and carefully toed her boots off to leave them next to Tom's by the door, keeping her steps as quiet as possible as she inched into the apartment.

She felt a smile creep into place as she drew closer to the open living room and spotted a tall but familiar figure stretched out on their couch, his sock covered feet propped up on the far armrest, and their little girl sleeping soundly on his chest. There were files spread out on the coffee table next to him, his scrawled handwriting visible on some of them. At least he had gotten some work done.

"You're going to get me in trouble if the feds turn up with our evidence."

The whisper startled her, and Liz's smile broke into a grin. "Don't leave your evidence out for your wife to see then," she teased in the same hushed tone. Her gaze drifted to Agnes. "You got her to sleep."

Tom flashed a grin of his own. "Bouncing and rocking her was hurting her ears, so I finally tried laying down with her and she conked out like a light."

"Mmm. It's like you're good at the whole dad thing."

"I'm trying to be."

"You're pretty good at it." Liz leaned over and pressed a kiss to his forehead, her smile fading. "You're a little warm."

"Hmm?" He blinked, looking up at her. "I'm fine. I don't have time to be sick."

"Because that's ever stopped anyone. You're cute when you think you can will a cold away."

Agnes stirred, her little fist grabbing hold of a handful of her daddy's t-shirt and he reached a careful hand up to stroke the top of her fair head, easing her back towards sleep. They waited a long moment, neither saying anything, before he looked back up at her. "How late is it?"

"It's only one. Cooper sent me home. Something about not trusting me around firearms with no sleep?"

Her husband snorted a laugh. "Where's their sense of adventure?"

Liz smiled, rolling her eyes a little. "Right?"

"Well, if you want to risk it, I can try to get up and we can all catch some sleep in an actual bed."

"It's okay. I don't want to wake her up. Go back to sleep and I'll make sure you're awake in time to sleep tonight."

"You have so much faith this is going to repeat itself tonight," he chuckled.

"Well, I married this crazily optimistic man and I think it's finally started to rub off a little."

His smile was sweet as his eyes started to lull. Liz stayed where she was for a moment, looking down at their little one sleeping so peacefully after having felt so bad the last several days. It wouldn't be too long until she was too big to sleep like that. She'd go off to school and her own adventures someday. It'd be too soon, she was sure, but right then they had her safe and sound and so small. The fact that she had once considered missing that with her was strange these days. Their family was a little odd and they had been through hell to get where they were, but she wouldn't give it up for anything. She loved her job, but only as long as she could come home to this at the end of the day. This made everything worth it.

Notes: So, this little thing just sort of fell together today and I hope you enjoy. I'm insanely excited for tonight's episode. Anyone else?