Neal woke in the middle of the night. He wasn't immediately sure what had woken him. He was comfortable in bed, the baby monitor was quiet, Peter was snoring beside him. He looked past Peter to where Elizabeth had been. She wasn't there.

Neal got out of bed, and went out into the rest of the apartment. The patio door was open, a cool breeze filtered through. Neal went outside.

Elizabeth was sitting on the lounge chair, knees drawn up, face in her hands. Neal went to her, "El?"

She raised her head. Her face was puffy and red from crying.

"What's wrong?" Asked Neal, gently. He sat beside her, and pulled her to lean against himself. She turned her face into his shoulder, "I smashed the pump."

"You what?" Asked Neal, taken aback.

"It clogged and I just…threw it. I'm so sore, when it didn't work I just lost it."

Neal squeezed her around the shoulders, kissed the top of her head, "it's okay. Peter can run out for a new one in the morning."

She sniffed, shook her head, "Neal, it hurts so bad…I can't wait until morning."

"Okay, I'll wake Peter up, I'm sure there's someplace open."

"Please don't tell Peter. I can't believe I did that, I don't want him to know.

Neal frowned. Elizabeth wanting to hide things from Peter? Elizabeth losing her temper with an inanimate object, Elizabeth crying outside alone?

They were all sleep deprived, but this was ringing alarm bells for Neal as something more.

"Hey, El? Are you okay?"

She sighed, and looked at him, exhaustion and almost despair in her eyes, "I don't know. I'm just not myself."

He kissed her forehead. He thought for a while, going through everything he had read before Will was born.

"You know, your body went through a lot. It's only been a month since you made an entire human being. Your hormones are still all over the place. It's normal to not be yourself."

She gazed at him, on a knife's edge between calming down and breaking into tears again.

"Let me take care of you?" asked Neal, softly.

She finally nodded, and rested her head on his shoulder.

He patted her back, "okay. I'm going to send Peter out for a new pump, run a hot bath, open some wine, get you some ice packs, and put on some music.

"I can't have wine, the milk–"

"Elizabeth, we're going to have to get a bigger freezer at this rate. Right now, you're going to relax and let Peter and me take care of everything."

She sighed, and nodded into his chest.

Neal kissed her temple, and went to wake Peter.


Later in the week, Peter got home, put the dinner he had prepped before work into the oven, and went to find his family. Neal was in the nursery, dressed in sweatpants and an undershirt, lying on the floor beside Will, who was on the play mat. The baby was giggling softly, as he tried to lift his head to look at the mobile in front of him.

"Hey honey," said Peter.

Neal rolled onto his back to look up at Peter, "hey. What's for dinner?"

"Stuffed manicotti. El's request."

"Mmm," said Neal.

Peter looked down at the younger man, who stayed lying down, looking up at what didn't seem to be an ideal angle, "are you okay?"

"Well," said Neal, "yes and no. If I don't move my back I'm golden."

Peter chuckled, "what happened?"

"El's mood was in the toilet, so I got Mozzie to take her out for a wine and bacon tasting. I set up for the wedding and Will did great, slept in the chest wrap almost the whole time. But I guess setting 175 places and carrying a baby all day was overdoing it."

"Is that where El still is?"

Neal shook his head slightly, "Mozzie texted and said she was finally venting, I told him to just stay out with her as long as she wants. Last I knew they were taking a cab to try to do a review of every cheesecake in Manhattan."

"Good," said Peter, "I feel so bad. I wish I could just make everything better."

Neal nodded. He looked over at Will, who had managed to grasp one of the hanging bobbles of the mobile. Neal smiled, and put his finger in the baby's other grasping hand.

"Hey remember that cabin upstate from when we went to a conference? It was romantic, they had great wine. Maybe you can take her up there."

"And you'll be okay by yourself?"

"I just won't set up for a 175 person wedding without help."

Will started crying. Neal gestured at the small fridge near the crib, the bottle warmer set up and ready with a fresh bottle and nipple beside it, "he's probably hungry. I can do it if you can help me get up."

Peter put Will in the crib, put milk in a bottle and put it in the warmer, then helped Neal sit up. Neal gasped, and clutched Peter's arm, tightly.

"Neal," said Peter, gently, "you took care of the event, you took care of Will, you took care of El. I think maybe it's your turn?"

Neal chuckled tightly, his back frozen in pain, "possibly."

Peter lifted Neal into the chair and pushed him to the bedroom, helped him lay down, got him a heating pad.

Neal looked up at Peter, "hey, I'm fine, can you just do the bottle…"

Peter kissed him on the forehead, "yes, but after that I'm taking care of you. Okay?"

Neal nodded very slightly. Peter kissed him again and then went back to the nursery. He came into the bedroom with Will and the bottle and sat on the bed beside Neal.

Neal laid there, watching Will eat, and Peter smile down, glowing as he looked at their son. Neal smiled, finally relaxing.