(Author's Note - I struggled with chapter due to it being a sort of in-between part of the story. No worries as I have a better idea of where things are going from here on. Being sick recently hasn't helped of course. Right now I'm in the market for a scanner to add some illustration to my story and upload some other art. I reckon I'm alright at drawing lol. Hopefully that will be a thing soon. I've ordered an 'Alex' plush off of Ali Express, couldn't resist it, and will show him to you when I get him. As always, thanks for reading and believing in me. Thanks again and I hope your day is a great one!)

Chapter 3

"She's gonna be fine Max." Sam reassured his nervous husband, a lot had transpired in a short amount of time, "This is just what happens to girls as they grow up. I guess I didn't realize she was getting that old."

A special day called for a special breakfast and the best one the proud canine father could think of, was courtesy of dear old Granny Ruth. He doubted his rendition of her uniquely delicious oatmeal and applesauce combination would be as good, but at least edible. It was the thought that counts or he hoped so.

"Go tell Geek breakfast is ready, she should be in her room."

"Who died and made me the messenger boy?" Max grumbled, sliding down from his chair, "I guess its okay, she has to eat, she needs her strength." he decided heading off towards the basement.

He had to be gotten out of the way temporarily so Sam could follow the very specific instructions he'd been given. The medications had been carefully measured out in syringes to mix into this mornings fare. It shouldn't taste like anything but required a semi solid food to be administered. A celebratory trip to the pancake house was out of the question as such, but they would definitely do that another day. Max's serving was placed into a chartreuse vintage Fiestaware bowl he was strangely attached to. After insuring it wasn't radioactive, he regularly ate out of it. Even after being told no, it would not give him superpowers.

"Mmm, this is just like granny used to make us!" Max commented after swallowing his first spoonful.

"Great! I thought I'd gotten too heavy handed with the cinnamon." Sam said with pride that his iteration was at least recognizable.

"Seriously Sam, my respect." the Geek agreed, having already been taken on a trip to the local 24 hour pharmacy for supplies. She'd loaded up on painkillers, pads, and a new electric heating pad. The last item was necessary as the old one had finally given out after overuse, when poor Sam had hurt his back shoveling snow last winter. Before next snowfall she'd come up with a better solution. He'd asked if she needed him to come in with her, but had been assured she could handle it. Handle it she did, #GIRLBOSS. Having acquired a couple boxes of chocolate covered gummy bears on the way to the check out, the girl felt she could take on the world. Now feeling much better and clad in a slightly wrinkled Minecraft t-shirt and track pants, she was planning her day.

"You guys are too much." Sam said modestly, there was such a weight lifted off him to see things finally coming together. Max was none the wiser about being sneakily medicated and Geek was holding her own.

"Now's as good a time as any to see what the damage to the Desoto is." she announced, standing and stretching. Her back and joints were a little sore but she'd go easy on herself. This was met with a shocked look from her parents.

"I don't know if you should be out of bed young lady." Max said in the most stern, maternal voice he could summon.

"Maybe he's right...for once." Sam added "You did lose a lot of blood after all." He admittedly wasn't entirely sure of the health implications of such. Especially the first time.

"I appreciate the concern, but I'm menstruating, not dying of consumption like a Victorian street urchin." the Geek informed them bluntly. This incurred a bit of worry on the duos part all the same, but also much fawning over how strong of a woman she was becoming. Max demanded a hug before letting her go, and for the first time she realized how much taller she was than him now. It seemed like just yesterday they'd been about equal height.

"Just come back in if you start feeling bad again." Sam told her on her way out to which she promised she would. All this mother henning was actually too sweet to be that irritating.

"I'll be back in to help with the cleaning after I take a look. Remember Max, a little light housekeeping won't hurt anything and Alex can follow simple instructions if you show him what to do." she called back in response with the special edition of "Love you!" This produced some excited chatter in the kitchen.

"She loves us! We're such great daddies!"

"We do our best, she deserves it. I thought you were more of a mommy these days."

"Heehee, I can do both, easy!"

"There isn't much you can't do little buddy."

"Well there was the one thing on our honeymoon."

"Stop it, I think she can still hear us."

"Fine fine, we'll try it again when she leaves for college."

"...No Max, we definitely won't..."

Everyone got to work on their respective projects. The vehicle needed new spark plugs, the Geek had guessed as much and brought a change. A few other things required tweaking but the situation wasn't as bad or interesting as she'd presumed. It wasn't like that time an entire rat family took up residence in the engine. Inside there was some debate over whether to throw out the taxidermied 'half beaver half fish' that was starting to smell.

"So that's what's where that was coming from." Sam remarked, keeping a respectful distance, "I guess keeping him as laundry room décor was a bad idea."

"Told you it wasn't me." Max said, poking the desecrated creature with a duster handle "Though it is partially my fault. I'm the one that stole him from that roadside museum on the Jersey turnpike."

One of the creatures glass eyes fell out and rolled across the floor. They were going to have say goodbye to the preserved chimera.

"Can we at least give him a viking funeral?" Max sighed.

Sam shook his head "I don't think so little buddy. Neither time nor the local fire ordinances are on our side. But cheer up, I'm sure he lived a good life. Now lets get him in a garbage bag before I ralph."

In the living room Alex was hard at work polishing the coffee table. He'd had to be reminded a couple of times to not just scrub one place lest the varnish be rubbed off. Great care had to be taken as this table was real, genuine Adirondack maple. The antique salesman had insisted it was at least. He had been honest in the fact all his wares were sold with a 96% guarantee not to be haunted so they didn't doubt the validity of the materials. Eager for praise, the tiny duplicate was doing his best, tongue protruding from his mouth slightly. Earlier he'd used his natural nimbleness to retrieve about 14 dollars of accumulated couch money. Before days end he was definitely due for a treat of some sort. It seemed like he was trying to make up for the 'accident' he'd had with all the commotion that morning. The rug may not forgive him, but everyone else did.

The group reconvened at lunch for a 'build your own sandwich' situation. Alex had earned a favorite of his, a slice of white bread with a generous slathering of strawberry jam. By the time he was finished his face was a mess. Max, now succumbing to yawns, offered to clean him up on the condition he could lay down for a while afterwards. This was an expected side effect though he was ignorant of the cause and seemed a bit disheartened.

"Dunno why I'm so bushed all of a sudden." he complained, lifting his now very sticky clone into his arms "Lets get my messy wittle offense to God and nature cleaned up and take a nice nap." Alex exhaled hard through his nose, feeling...some kind of way.

"This would be easier with a few of my clean bots." the Geek commented surveying the work ahead of them "I don't really trust their pathfinding yet so we'll have to do it the old fashioned way."

"Well to quote someone famous, probably 'nothing worth doing is easy'." Sam said as they gathered up the dishes and leftovers.

After a quick check on Max who was fast asleep, curled up with Alex, the canine set about some of the heavier jobs to be done.

"Be careful or you'll end up having to wear the girdle again." the Geek warned him as he pulled an emptied bookshelf away from the wall to clean behind it.

"I will." he replied "Gosh Geek, we almost had a whole spider civilization back here at one time."

"Maybe we did but they discovered space flight and took to the stars." she said with a shrug and they both laughed. Father-daughtery moments like this were always special.

Over the next few hours things were dusted and washed and rearranged, some thrown out, others found new purpose for. Max awoke, not wanting to ruin the possibility of sleeping tonight entirely and was happy to be presented with a pair of pajamas he hadn't seen in years.

"Aww you found my duck jammies." he said holding them up to his body "I'm wearing these bad boys to bed tonight." he continued in a mock seductive tone.

They were a light flannel material, pale blue in color and covered in bright yellow waterfowl as stated. A very unsexy look but who was anyone to judge.

"I'll wear my green pair with the bones on them." Sam replied excitedly "I didn't wash them for nothing.". He gave his partner a solid attempt at a sly wink. It was more...cringe inducing.

The Geek tried to ignore this little exchange, she loved them but the less she knew about their sex life the better.

"How do you feel Max?" she asked changing the subject "Any better after a nap?".

"Yeah, I'm still a little tired but my stomach doesn't hurt anymore." he said putting his hand on his belly for the first time that day, his expression turned to that of slight concern "I haven't felt anything much at all actually." It was hard to tell exactly what he was thinking but his mood suddenly brightened "I'm fine, really. I should be asking about you."

"I've pretty much got this thing down to a science." the Geek stated with pride "Something as petty as a menstrual cycle never stopped Sally Ride or Marie Curie, no way it going to stop me." Part of her was concerned for Max all the same, she wasn't sure what to make of his behavior. Worse than him thinking he was pregnant would be him deciding he'd now lost the imaginary child. Come right down to it he'd be supported through anything, but she hoped he wouldn't have to suffer that way.

The Geek agreed to do the vacuuming since like many of his kind, Sam just couldn't tolerate the beast of a machine. It was just so loud and...scary. Max was a little short for the job, but their daughter stepped up to the plate and quick work was made of the task. They heated up last nights leftovers for dinner and decided to all turn in early. The rest of the weekend passed by quickly and without complication, then Monday morning dawned with a sense of cautious optimism. Sam was the first up and the least tired he'd been in years. Today seemed like a good a one as any to make good on that 'kick ass omelet' promise, as Max had called it. Speaking of which, the lagomorph was the second awake, groggy and clad in a bath robe.

"Your up early." he commented sitting down at the kitchen table with his head in his hands.

"10am isn't that early grumpybuns." Sam retorted and took a sip of coffee, he'd selected his favorite 'Number 1 Dog' mug "You want some? It might help."

"Keep the bean juice to yourself." Max replied with a playful grouchiness "I'm sorry about the other night by the way." He giggled remembering the incident, it had been a little embarrassing at the time.

"We couldn't help what happened." Sam reassured him, also amused "And you were...on a date with the porcelain hobbyhorse instead, I guess you could say."

A rare instance of Sam cracking Max up ensued though no one was there to witness it.

"Was I ever!" the rabbit laughed, "This new lifestyle has been wrecking havoc on my digestion. By the time I got back from the bathroom you were asleep. You snore like a sawmill by the way."

They joked for a bit until things, on Max's side at least, turned serious rather suddenly.

"I really appreciate everything you've done for me." he said out of the blue, catching Sam off guard "You and Geek, whatever it was you two gave me did the trick. My heads finally cleared up so you don't have to humor me anymore."

Over the past few days Sam had been preparing himself for this. He pulled up a chair next to his mate and sat down beside him. He took a much smaller paw into his.

"I'm glad to have you back pal." Sam told him softly, he put the other hand on Max's back, taking solace in the fact he no longer trembled "I can't say I wasn't worried, do you remember what happened?"

Max nodded "Mostly, yeah. Some of its a little fuzzy. I think I missed a few doses of my medicine when were up in Nova Scotia and just spiraled from there."

They had been on a hell of case just before the last one. Three months in the frozen north busting that illegal clam ring. Going undercover as shady fishmongers didn't sound as difficult as it had been.

"That was a doozy." Sam related "And I don't use doozy lightly. I never imagined myself getting sick of chowder but here we are."

The comment made Max smile but he sniffled, emotion breaking through once again.

"Sammy..." he said in a slightly anxious tone, this tugged at the canine's heart strings in a major way. He hadn't been called that in years.

"Its okay, really..." was the attempted response before he was interrupted. Max looked up at him with an expression similar but different to that the night of his recent breakdown. His eyes were much more focused and shone, watery in the morning light, his expression wasn't completely lost like last time.

"Your the best damn thing that ever happened to me you know? You saved my life you old hound dog." he expressed, sentimental and sincere "I feel bad because I should be happy with what I have...its just lately..." A hand went unconsciously to his heart "Something is just so empty...in here..." With a choked sob tears once again flowed freely.

"But its okay to want more." Sam murmured offering his partner the best kind of physical comfort he knew. Helping the comparatively diminutive male onto his lap, Max automatically lay his head on Sam's chest and began to calm himself. "And we can have it. I've been meaning to talk to you about that once you were up to it." the dog said mustering a soothing tone and holding the rabbit closely.

"So I take this as a yes to setting up an appointment with the adoption agency?" it was the Geek who had watched the entire thing. Still in nightwear herself and messy haired, she'd walked in on it as it happened but waited for the right moment to respond. She'd been followed by Alex who strained upright on his hind legs, sensing something amiss.

"You'd do that for a disaster like me?" Max sniffled, recovering quickly as the he noticed the girls presence. Despite everything he tried to be the 'adult' and cried around her the least amount possible.

"Anything for my favorite disasters." she responded, arms crossed "Besides its about time I had a brother or sister. This only child thing is getting kinda lame for all of us." Approaching her fathers she allowed herself to be swept into a group hug.

"So you think our special brand of affection will be enough for another kiddo?" Sam asked the group. Caught in the moment he'd given into his animalistic side and bestowed the Geek a loving lick on the head. This had further mussed her ginger mane but it was no matter.

"Think so? I know so!" Max concurred, his signature grin having returned with a vengeance as he snuggled into the display of familial affection.

Had this been a 'very special episode' of some old sitcom, they'd have freeze framed on this image and rolled the credits over it. Alex didn't really understand what was going on and had hopped away to sniff out some breakfast. To his simple mind things felt right again and he wasn't one to worry. In time he'd come around to the new member of the family. Who this would be, well that was yet to be seen. Soon, another lifeforms destiny would once again intertwine with that of the Freelance Police. Whoever, whatever they were, there was no doubt, an abundance of love waiting on them when they finally got here.