By the time they arrived home, Dave was feeling the effects of the last few days, and he hoped that Erin would agree to head right upstairs to so that they could nap in bed for a few hours before getting up and making food. That was not to be, since he saw Harriet's car in the driveway. Glancing over at Erin, he saw the slightly panicked look on her face and knew in that moment that she had not called ahead to let her children know that she was all right.

Frowning deeply, he parked in the garage and turned off the car, turning to look at Erin. "Let me guess, you forgot one tiny little detail?"

"I did. It completely slipped my mind in the rush to get home. I wanted to be home so badly that I wasn't thinking straight. Will you go let her in while I make myself comfortable in the living room? And when she leaves, we can go upstairs and sleep together for a little while. I know that we can't the longest of naps, otherwise your sleep schedule will get out of whack, and then you'll be grumpy with me." Leaning over, she kissed him softly before getting out of the car and heading inside.

Shaking his head a little, Dave followed after her, wondering what Harriet would say to them. After all, it truly was a close call that Erin had experienced, and he knew that he would have been furious to learn about it from the news or another source before she had thought to tell him. Trudging to the front door, he took a deep breath before he unlocked and opened it, trying to put a welcoming smile on his lips. "Hello, Harriet."

"You could have at least called one of us, Dad. Instead, we had to find out from the news that your team had two people end up in the hospital, and of course they splashed Mom and Alex's pictures up there for all of us to see." She poked her finger into his chest a few times before bursting into tears and falling against his chest. Dave closed his arms around Harriet as he brought her inside, closing the door softly.

"I'm sorry, Harriet, but my thoughts were so focused on your mother, and I thought that she would call you, to let you know that everything was okay. We're both running a bit short on sleep, at the moment, as well."

"I can only imagine," she managed to choke out as he brought them into the living room. Erin had curled up on the sofa, a blanket over her legs as she scrolled on her phone. "Mom!"

Erin looked up and gave them a wide smile, tossing her phone aside as she opened her arms to her daughter. "Baby! How is Helena doing?"

"Better every day. You should have called us! I don't know what I would have done if Helena had lost her grandmother." Harriet took a seat next to Erin, curling up against her chest as she started to cry even harder. It was a sweet sight, seeing how much Harriet loved her mother, and then she blindly reached out for his hand, and he clasped it, allowing her to tug him closer to the sofa until he was seated next to her. "I love you both so much, and the fear that I've lived through in the past few days has been hell. Please, don't ever scare me like that again."

Her words stabbed at his heart and he tightened his hold on her hand as he leaned over and kissed the side of Harriet's head. "I love you, too, kiddo. And I will try to stay safe out in the field, I promise you that. But your mother has something to tell you that will probably make you happy."

"Really?"

"Yes, Harriet. I've decided that it's time to retire. After my experiences in Afghanistan and then this, I am just ready to sit at home, learn how to knit, and make things for Helena. It's time."

"Thank you!" she said before kissing her mother's cheek softly. "And you had better think about why you're still in your job, Dad. There are so many monsters out there who don't care that you have a family back home, they only care about the fact that you're trying to catch them, and they'll do anything to escape. I remember the bank incident last year, when that agent's husband was kidnapped because he was related to someone in the FBI, and had the resources to get the bad guys what they wanted. They nearly killed him, and didn't care that his wife and children would be left behind."

"I know, I know. But this is what I do, I keep people safe, because that is what I was trained to do." He let go of her hand so that he could stroke her hair, and she sighed a little as she turned her head to look at him, her blue eyes so shiny and red with her tears. "I didn't realise that it would be so easy to fall in love with my children and know that I would do anything for them, even throw myself in front of a bullet for them."

"Please, don't. I want Helena to grow up with all of her grandparents. Father is still wanting to be a part of our lives, and I can't deny him that. He raised us, you know? But I have the feeling that if you had known about us, you would have been there for us, no matter what. Brucie is having a hard time coming around to that fact, but we're working on him. Just promise me that you won't buy him a brand new car. He seems to think that you're going to just try and buy our love and respect, so that's what he's going to ask for soon."

"I promise, though I might tell him that I'll co-sign for him on a loan, so long as he can make the payments." Harriet nodded as she pulled away from Erin to rest against him once more. "And if you and Greg need anything, let me know. Even if you don't want a full gift, I know enough people by now that I can ease your way and get what you need. There are perks to being a famous author, after all."

She nodded as her hand started to fiddle with the buttons on his shirt. "All right, Dad."

He sighed with pleasure at being called that, knowing it was so easy to fall in love with hearing that from her lips. "And we have something to ask you, and if you could pass it along to your brother and sister that would be nice. We're going to be having a huge party here Saturday night, and you all are invited. I want you to meet my work family. My two worlds need to start coming together, especially since I want everyone to know each other and get along."

"Well, I know that we'll be there, and Karen, too. That just leaves us trying to convince Bruce that this is a necessity. And since I'm the big sister, I know how to twist arms to get my way." He chuckled as he nodded, feeling a huge weight lift off his shoulders with the knowledge that they were finally coming together as a family.