Her eyes parted. There it was. That sound. The one she had been waiting for. Stirring Joss looked at a sleeping John. His chest rising and falling heavily. Deep in sleep. She smiled softly glad he finally could have some time to let his body rest. Her hand ran down his face lovingly as she reluctantly left his warm side. He would miss her soon. She was certain. The moment he would try and reach for her and came up empty she knew he would awake from sleep and not drift off again until she returned. Joss hated knowing his rest would be disturbed, but she couldn't stay. She had a date, that she couldn't miss.

Sneaking out of bed she slipped down the hall, passing Taylor's closed door, to the next room. She peeked her head in. Her face instantly breaking out in a grin. There he was. His tiny hands holding on his cradle so he could stand. He gave her a big gummy grin and bounced in place. As she drew closer he grunted eagerly, his bouncing increasing.

"Hey little man. You in here making trouble?"

He giggled, stretching towards her. Joss answered his subtle pleas and picked him up. He grunted and babble fascinated with making sounds. "Hey, hey. Quite down Tommy. You'll wake up your brother." She glanced at AJ who, thanks be to God, was still asleep. He hated being awakened. It made him one fussy boy. "Okay Tommy. One hour. You got one hour for us to have some fun, get you sleepy, and back in bed before my husband finds out I snuck off to be with you," She whispered conspiratorially into his ear before kissing his soft cheek. She worked quickly to change his diaper before grabbing a few of his toys and heading downstairs.

She lowered her son onto the carpet, joining him after she placed the toys around him. She spread her legs on the soft carpet. She grabbed him in her arms laying him on his back as she took his hands. She swayed them back and forth, clapping them together while she sang. He laughed and attempt to sing along. His random hums didn't match the tune, but gave him a joy that was priceless to Joss.

They then switched courses when Joss picked up his soft blue ball and began rolling it to him and he rolled it back. She then put her son to work tossing it across the living room, making him move back and forth to get it. When he pushed it back to her Joss grabbed it hiding it behind her back. "Where'd it go?" She asked showing her son her empty hands. Tommy's face showed concerned. He leaned forward trying to peek behind her. "It's gone," she said trying to convince him.

His possessive instincts kicking in he crawled to her intent on searching her backside to get his ball. Before he could get too close she grabbed the ball from its hiding place and held it out with a surprised face. "Ah! Look! I found it. Go get it Tommy." She tossed it across the room. Joss noticed immediately. His crawl was slower. He had to put more effort into the movement. As he pushed the ball back his head jerked when a couple sneezes escaped his tiny nose.

He looked at her, awaiting some sort of response to the odd reaction of his body. Joss raised her brow. "Wo! Bless you. That was a big one." He blinked eyes getting heavy, clearly no longer wanting to play. "Come here baby." Holding out her arms he crawled to her where he readily collapsed snuggling to her chest. Joss looked down at her son. His brown skin smelled like baby oil. His straight hair lay to his head. He looked so much like her. There was no denying it. His eyes found hers. Blue stared into brown. The one feature that strongly divided them. The one that had been marked by his father. When she looked into Tommy's eyes it was as if she could see John peeking out at her through their son. Their beautiful boy.

She held him closer as he slipped into sleep. It wasn't until her boys were born that she realized how much she missed having a baby in her arms. Tommy didn't care that she wasn't at the prime time for having kids. He didn't care that his father's hair was starting to gray. He still cried for them when he longed to see their faces. Still smiled when they played. He had nothing but love for his parents. And she had nothing, but love for the child she and John had created.

"Well little man it's time for me to take you back to bed," she whispered as she stood heading upstairs after turning off the lights. "You know I'm a little disappointed that you couldn't stay awake to at least say goodnight. We're already being unconvential with me walking you to your room." His only response was a deep sigh.

Placing him in his crib she stole a glance at AJ. She tucked him more securely beneath his blanket. On her way back to her own room she couldn't resist a peak at her oldest son. Taylor was out cold. Easily finding her way in the darkness she returned to her room and stood by the bed looking down.

"I know you're awake." She knew he smiled.

"I woke up after you left." He drew back the covers eager for her to join him.

"John can you do me a favor?" she spoke as she climbed in. "Can you try and stay asleep when I get out of bed?"

He pulled her tightly into his arms. "You should know I do try, Joss. I just can't. Besides why is it you always have to go run off with my son? I think it's time we start teaching Tommy about sharing. He can't keep stealing my wife."

Joss gave him a look of disbelief. "Tommy needs the lesson? Yeah, right. You're the one who needs to not be so possessive."

"You know how much I need you. You're my addiction. Tommy's addiction to you will lessen with time. Until he learns to be independent and finds a woman he loves. But I will always crave you."

"Shut up. I don't want to think about my baby growing up. And stop making excuses for yourself. You Reese men are so demanding on your women."

"You know it." He replied with a smirk, closing his eyes. She felt him relax and rested her head onto his chest. Listening to the steady beat of his heart.

"John."

"Mmm."

"Thank you."

Blinking he looked down at her. "For what?"

She gave him a gentle squeeze. "Everything."

Thank you for the reviews. It is so nice to hear what you all think or which stories you like and why. It motivated me to finally post some of the ideas that I have just sitting around in my brain. There will be more coming, I'm just working them all out right now, but I hope to make another update soon.