Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.

Spencer hugged Emily goodbye that afternoon, Caleb holding Benji up to kiss and hug his aunt goodbye next, and they watched her depart from the porch. Spencer offered Caleb the guest bedroom if he had nowhere else to go, but he'd have go collect his clothes and computer from the hotel room. It would have been more work for him to go than for him to stay, but he did need the phone number for the director at his new job, which was in his hotel room. She offered him a ride and decided to call it a family day. Benji was excited to go somewhere new, and she laughed at how easy to please her son was. No, not her son—their son.

"Let's get you changed, little man." Spencer held out her arms to take him upstairs, but he clung to his dad. "What, you want…Caleb to help you change?"

He pressed his lips together and said, "Together."

"You want us all to help you?" He smiled and nodded. "Okay, let's go."

They marched upstairs to his room, Caleb set him down on his bed and went with Spencer to his dresser, and they dug out a plaid top and jeans, and he looked like a mini-Caleb in it. Spencer threw her head back and laughed at the sight of them standing together, thinking how odd it was for her son to be so like a man he's never met until today, and Caleb smiled to see her laughing.

"C'mon, baby, let's hit the road."

"Okay." Benji nodded.

"You look like a wrinkled mess." Spencer tugged on Caleb's collar on her way by and guided her son down the stairs to the front door. "All right, pick out some shoes, good ser."

He looked over the selection and decided on sandals, and he put them on all on his own.

"What? Did Emily teach you that?"

"She helped."

"I am so proud of you. Getting so big on me." She ruffled his hair and kissed his brow. "Let's see if Daddy can work a car seat as well as a firewall."

"A what?"

"Nothing, baby. He'll explain it to you later." She chuckled to herself and escorted him out to the car, looking back at Caleb and smirking. He had no idea what he was in for.

"All right, one, two, three." She lifted him up into the car seat and stepped back. "You need the practice."

"All right." He just so happened to YouTube a video about how to strap a child into a car seat in case this happened, and he was prepared. He stepped up to the plate and buckled his son in as he'd seen in the video. It was a bit more difficult to do than simply to watch, and Spencer snorted a laugh at his attempt. "Hey, lay off."

"Like this." Ben showed him which way it went after watching his mom do it countless times.

"Oh, my God." Spencer snickered at her…their son showing him how the buckle went. "Here, let me show you." She stepped into his personal space and showed him the proper way to buckle their baby in. She was proud of herself for finally not having to correct her brain again, and she hoped the rest of the day went as smoothly.

Caleb called Blackbush Technology and let them know he was accepting the job opportunity. He'd start next week after he was moved and settle in the apartment. He watched Spencer play peek-a-boo with their son on the bed as he told the movers in Rosewood to come tomorrow at seven. He wasn't sure he was going to take the job, but he was sure he was leaving Rosewood. Now he had the perfect reason to.

"Who wants to get ice cream?"

Spencer lowered her hands and smirked at him. "You already know we do."

"Then why are we hanging around here?"

He tossed his bag into the backseat of Spencer's car, Spencer asked if he had a car alongside the movers, and he confirmed that he did. He had been bused here at the expense of the company, and he left his car to be shipped. He could afford it. It was better than getting back on that bus, going back into Rosewood, back to where sympathy owned him like a bitch. Yeah, he'd rather just have it shipped.

"Don't tell him that." Spencer swatted at Caleb with a napkin, trying to keep her ice cream cone on its cone and keep her son from discovering how highly competitive she used to be. She'd outgrown it in time and with distance from Melissa. Now and then she came for a visit, and they would spark a game for sport and take it a bit too far, but that was all. It was sisterly fun. Well, Hastings sisterly fun. "That speaks ill of me. Don't tell him that story."

He laughed and dodged her napkin. "What else could I tell him?"

"Hey, that's just flat out rude."

Benji was giggling at the sight of his parents acting like children. "Tell me another story."

"Another one?" Caleb hmmed and reached into the deep recesses of his mind to think of an appropriate story to tell his son. He loved thinking that word—son. He was grateful to have this chance with. He would do whatever Spencer asked to keep close to his son. This was the biggest regret of this life, and he wouldn't neglect his duty any further. He would be a good father, a good man, and he started a both today.

He thought of a story to tell his son about his mother that would make him laugh, and he was rewarded with a chocolate-stained giggle. He couldn't help but smile back as Spencer licked her cone and tried to hide her smile at his storytelling, and he wiped off his son's messy mouth, knowing it'd only happen again, but still. It felt like the fatherly thing to do.

Once their ice cream was gone, Spencer suggested they head over to the park to play and burn off the sugar from the ice cream. Spencer crouched down and gripped Benji's hand, whispering in his ear and suggesting he take a hold of his father's hand. He shook his head no, not yet, and she nodded. It was entirely up to him. He was still learning about the stranger he would learn to call Dad.

They strolled down the chalk-covered walkway, dodging rogue balls and Frisbees, moving closer and closer to the playground side of the park. Once they arrived at the playground, Ben took off like a shot for his favorite slide, and Spencer hollered after him to stay close. Naturally she and Caleb moved to be standing nearby, exactly at the end of the slide to keep an eye on their son.

"So…you're in this?" Spencer inquired, eyeing him, trying to read him. "Completely in this?"

"Yeah, Spence, I am. How many times do I have to say it?"

"Until I feel satisfied with the answer." She crossed her arms. "He knows about you now, so there can be no backing out."

"I'm not going to back out. I'm here, Spence, and I don't plan on going anywhere. My work is here, my son is here, and I am here. For as long as he wants me."

She nodded. "Do you know what to do when he has a tantrum?"

"What? No. Why and how would I know that?"

"Do you know how to sooth a scrape? Or…how to lower a fever?" She searched his face. "Do you have any idea what kind of bandages he likes? Or if he likes baths with bubbles or no bubbles?"

"Spence, I've been in his life all of five minutes. How can you expect me to answer any of those questions?"

"But you want to answer them, right?"

"Of course. I'd like to know how to sooth a tantrum, which bandage to apply to cut, what bubbles to or not to add, and yes, I'd like to know how to lower a fever should he get sick when he's with me." He sighed. "I am fucking in this, Spencer, and nothing you say or do will make me leave."

"You're not the father," she deadpan remarked. He blinked and stammered, trying to come up with a rebuttal to her statement, and she busted out laughing, pointing at his face. "Oh, my God, that was priceless!"

"You are so not funny, Hastings."

"Please, I am hysterical." She gestured to their son who ran back around to the steps to slide down again. "I have him to vouch for me."

"He came out of you. He hardly counts." He paused and met her eyes. "I know you want him to like me, but you don't have to try so hard."

"Hmm?" She peeked at him, pretending to not understand.

"The laughter. It's a nice touch, but you don't need to try and make him like me. I'll get there on my own, and I'll make you laugh on my own, too. Okay?"

"Mmm." She pressed her lips together and didn't say anything else.

"I know you can hear me." When she said nothing, he tucked his hands into his pockets and stepped back when Ben came shooting out of the slide. "Easy, Ben, okay?"

"Never!" He ran back to the steps.

"Yeah, Caleb," Spencer lifted her leg one after the other to remove her shoes and held them out to him along with her purse, "never."

"What are you doing?"

"I…am going to embrace my inner child." She grinned at him and dashed after her son. "Get back here, you little cookie monster."

"Ah, no!" He laughed and avoided her wriggling fingers.

"Get back here. I demand payment. This is my bridge, and I shall have my dues." She crouched and scurried after him like a spider catching an escaping fly, and she caught him at the slide. "A-ha! Mine, mine, mine." She attacked his sides, and he giggled and squealed, trying to escape to slide. "Never, never, never. These limbs are mine."

He wriggled and writhed and managed to escape, gripping the slide and positioning himself to slide down. He glanced back as his mom came at him and threw himself down, blowing by the different hues of the slide until his dad came into view. He ran and hid behind him.

"She's coming. She's coming! Look out!" He was panting and little fingers gripped Caleb's pant leg. "Whoa!"

Spencer came whooshing out of the slide, landing on her ass at the bottom but missing not even a single beat in hopping up and attacking Benji. She chased him around Caleb until Ben called for help, and Caleb tried not to awkwardly cut in, but Ben asked for him specifically on the second go.

"Caleb, help!"

Caleb waited until Spencer was about to pass his arm and grabbed her waist carefully, however; at the speed she was running at, he only managed to know them down into the mulch. He landed on his back with Spencer lying across his waist, and Ben giggled and jumped onto his mom's back to join the dogpile. Caleb was sure something was dislocated with his organs, and Spencer was panting and Benji just kept giggling with delight. Kid was a sadist.

"Hey, watch it, Rivers." She swiped hair out of her face. "Or I might have to eat you next time."

"I recall a time when I liked that," he dryly mused, certain now that he would have bruises.

"You like to be eaten?" Benji exclaimed. "No, it's bad. She attacks your face with kisses and chews on your limbs."

"I devour limbs," Spencer corrected. "And only if I don't have my morning cuppa."

"That's true." Benji nodded and wrapped his arms around his mom's shoulders. "I wanna piggyback ride, Mommy."

"Can you get off me now?" Caleb wheezed.

"Oh, sorry." Spencer scrambled to her feet, minding how her son rested against her back, and she grasped his legs with her arms and give him that piggyback ride. "You good, Caleb?"

"No, just leave me where to die." He squinted up at her and grinned. "Help me up?"

"I'm the girl. Isn't that your job?" She held her hand out nevertheless, and he accepted it, hauling himself up off the ground. "We gotta talk."

"We do." He lifted Benji off her back and directed him to the sandbox. "We'll be right there to join you."

"I wanted a piggyback ride."

"And I will give you an epic piggyback ride," Caleb vowed. "Under the stars, you and me."

He thought it over and nodded. "Hey, it's Riley!" He took off like a bullet towards his park buddy.

"Don't eat the sand," Spencer called after him and laced her fingers together, rocking side to side with a smile on her lips. Contented.

"Spence?"

"Hmm?" She looked over at him.

"You have mulch in your hair."

"Yeah, so do you." She lifted her hands up and shook her hair out, pulling it up into a tight bun. She then brushed her body down and suggested he do the same before collecting her shoes and purse and sitting down at a bench. "Mmm, back to our conversation. Right. Where were we?"

"Somewhere between boo boos and bubble baths." He sat beside her after a good shimmy-shimmy-shake of his clothes and hair.

"Right." She slipped her shoes back onto her feet and turned to him. "We need to work out a custody schedule. Now that you'll be living in town, you have every right to see him as often as possible. What days would you say work best for you?"

"Oh, um…I don't know my work schedule yet, but if it's my pick then…why not divide it right down the middle? We can use Wednesday as a tradeoff day, and you can decide which side you want. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, or Thursday, Friday, Saturday."

"Oh, three—three days a week?" She swallowed with difficult and felt like the park just shrank around her. "Mmm."

"It's three and a half." He studied her face and saw how much she hated the idea. "Spence, I know it's a lot to ask. I came out of nowhere, and I'm demanding half of his time, but I have that right. He's mine, too."

"Yeah—yes, of course, he's yours, too, but Caleb, come on. Three and a half days with my son? He—he doesn't know you. He's… You are a stranger to him, and I feel we ought to ease him into spending time with you."

"Spencer…." He heaved a sigh. "You can't have him all the time to yourself."

"I'm not trying not."

"Yes, you are."

"Well, fine—I am—because he's mine. He's mine, and I—I don't like you coming into our lives, interrupting what I've spent years building, and—" she stopped herself at the look painting across his features. "Caleb, I'm sorry. I just don't know how to include you in our lives."

"Maybe I don't…." He shook his head. "No, let's take it slow. Why not give me the weekends? You work a basic nine to five shift every day, and you can have the nights with him."

Fucking ouch. She tried not to let her disappointment show, because they had to start somewhere, and this was the beginning for that somewhere. It hurt her soul physically, but she had to compromise. She had to. "That sounds great."

"And…maybe we can both have him next Saturday."

"What's next Saturday?"

"You don't know?" He grinned. "Every sixty years there's a meteor shower?"

"Oh, right, the Perseid meteor shower. I completely forgot about that." She smiled at him. "We'd love to watch it with you."

"Great." He held his hand out. "Let me see your phone. I'll give you my number so we can keep in touch."

She unzipped her purse and dug it out, unlocking it and handing it over. "I'm going to join him and Riley so I can truly soak in the park experience."

"You'll be shaking sand out of your shorts all week."

"Try all month." She turned to walk backwards and flashed a grin at him. "I'll leave you a trail in case we get separated."

He chuckled and opened her contacts, adding himself. He closed out of her contacts and saw her background picture for her home screen was of her and Benji. It was recent, the two of them crouched down in front of her fireplace, holding a turtle with huge smiles. It was in a classroom setting, he could tell by the tiled floor, so it was likely the Rosewood swim team's turtle. Or something to that effect.

He glanced up as Spencer and Ben made a sandcastle, and he contemplated sending the background photo to himself. He wanted at least one recent picture of the two of them, but he realized quickly all he had to do was step forward, and he'd have one. So he did. He approached them as they built their wonky sandcastle and pulled his phone out.

"Hey, baby, look." Spencer pointed to Caleb, who was readying his camera, and she smiled. "Smile, baby."

"Cheese!" He showed every tiny tooth in his head.

Caleb laughed and took the picture, looking down at the result and finding it perfect. "It's a good one. Here." He showed it to them both.

"It's perfect." Spencer wrapped her arms around her messy little boy. "Right?"

"Eh." He shrugged his shoulders.

"Eh? All I get is eh?" Caleb knelt down in front of him. "C'mon, I'm your dad. Dad deserves more than eh."

He pressed his lips together and tilted his head to the side. "Eh."

Spencer snickered. "It's all you're gonna get, Dad."

"Apparently so." He saved the photo to his phone and smiling.

"How is our castle?" Ben inquired, motioning to the lumps of sand that honestly didn't look like a castle.

"Eh," Caleb replied with a smirk.

"Eh?" Ben picked up a handful of sand and shucked it at his dad, and thus began a sand war nobody walked away from clean.

By the time they returned to Spencer's house, they all needed to be cleaned. Spencer offered to drop Caleb off at his hotel room, but he called a cab to take him home. He had a lot to get squared away, but first his son needed a bath. Every time he ruffled those chestnut locks, sand flew out enough to supply a beach, so he'd stick around for that much. Bubbles or no bubbles, right?

Spencer filled the tub with water and soap, and Caleb made a note of it. She began to remove her shirt and pants, and he had to remind her he was still in the house.

"Oh, right." She didn't stop removing her first layer, leaving her in a tank top. "You've seen it before, and I need a bath, too. Besides…it's easier on the water bill."

"Then I should let myself out."

"Good idea. I was about to suggest it myself, but I thought it'd come off as rude." She smiled at him. "He had fun today, you know."

"He did?"

She nodded. "You're doing a good job, Rivers, keep it up."

He smiled proudly to himself then dared to ask, "How are we doing?"

She exhaled deeply through her mouth and answered honestly, "I'm still angry. I'm trying to pretend that I'm not, for his sake, but it's difficult."

"Yeah, I know."

"I was vulnerable and really needed you. There was no one else in the entire world who could have filled your role, but Toby has tried. Emily, too. Aria and Melissa are the queens of aunts, but…it wasn't enough. I needed you, and you vanished. It's going to take more than a play date to make it right."

He nodded. "I'll try my best to make it right."

"I know." She tossed her blouse into the laundry hamper and stepped forward. "Get home safely, Caleb, and thank you again for today. I—um, we look forward to watching the meteor shower with you."

"Right, and I'll be by around seven to pick up Ben this Saturday. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, that's good." She nodded. "I'll see you then."

Caleb stepped out of the bathroom and headed to Ben's room to say goodbye, and Ben was walking around his room in his big boy underwear. He noticed the boy had many beauty marks all over his body, just like Spencer, and there was a birthmark against his right shoulder blade. It was in a shape Caleb had never seen a birth mark in before, but it only made him more special.

"Hey, Ben?" He knocked on the door frame, and Ben turned to look at him. "I'm about to head out. I just wanted to come by and say good night."

"Oh." He met him halfway and put his hands on his hips before stating, "You hurt my mommy."

Caleb crouched down and nodded. "In the past, I did. I didn't mean to, but I can't call it an accident."

"Don't do it again, or…I'll hurt you back."

He tried not to smile at his son threatening him, but it was the most challenging smile repression he had to make to date. "I vow to never hurt Spencer or you ever again. You're the only family I have, and I will do right by you. Do you understand that?"

He nodded. "I do."

"Good, because I…I love you, Benji." His eyes misted over, and he held his hand out for Ben to grasp, which he surprisingly did, and Caleb pulled him even closer. "I'm going to be the best dad I can be for you."

"Well, you're the only one I have."

"That's right, and I'm here now. If you need anything—anything—let me know, and I'll be there."

He nodded again. "I'm itchy."

Caleb laughed. "That would be the sand."

"I know." He swung their connected hands. "Could you take me to the bathroom?"

"Of course." He stood up and gripped his hand, escorting him to the bathroom where Spencer was down to her undergarments, and Caleb averted his eyes to keep from staring. "I'll see you on Saturday, okay, buddy?"

"Why not sooner?" He frowned.

"He's got to work." Spencer shut the water off once the tub was almost at level and sat down on the edge of it. "But you have me until you see him again."

"Can we have dinner?" Ben asked Caleb. "Please?"

"I don't know. I haven't worked out my work schedule yet, but I'll try." He searched his son's face. "Why not this Friday? I can come by and bring some Thai food. Or—make something."

"I'll text you with what you should get," Spencer answered, "for both of us."

"Okay." He smiled at his son. "I'll see you Friday then."

"Get home safely." Spencer stood up. "You ready for the bath, baby?"

He nodded. "Yeah, do you have Elian?"

"Yes, I do." She picked up a rubber elephant and squeaked it. "It's all ready when you are."

He turned back to his father and smiled. "Good night, Caleb."

"Good night, Ben."

He ran over to his mom, who scooped him up and held him close, and he watched his dad leave. He wasn't sure how he felt about his dad, but he was glad to have him around. He hadn't seen his mommy smile like this in a long while. Maybe everything was looking up.