I think I spend 80% of the time I'm awake writing. Can you feel the love?

I do not own Spy Kids or Smallville.

Shane called Mitchie Wednesday night to make sure it was still okay for him to take Sam on Thursday through Sunday like the previous week. Mitchie was surprised to hear from him, to be honest. He hadn't been responsive to texts she'd sent him in the days following the evening he told them about his encounter with Tess. On the phone he sounded tired and stressed, but still insisted he wanted to take Sam again, so she agreed after running it by Alex.

He looked horrible when he'd come to pick up Sam Thursday morning. He had bags under his eyes and looked paler. They asked him if he was okay, but he simply nodded and muttered that he was fine before Sam came downstairs. Mitchie and Alex decided it was best not to push the matter and worry him. So, they sent them on their way, Mitchie making Shane promise to call her that night.

Both women anxiously watched through the window as they drove away. Alex reasoned that maybe he was just sick, but Mitchie had a feeling that wasn't it. While her wife seemed calmed about her assumption for Shane's odd behavior, Mitchie remained apprehensive.

Later that day Caitlyn came over for lunch before they all headed out to the studio. They sat on the patio drinking coffee after eating, and Mitchie couldn't hold it in any longer.

"I'm worried about Shane," she said, resting her mug on the picnic table and frowning. "He hasn't been the same since the Tess thing."

"I told you, Mitchie, he's probably just sick or something," Alex told her with a dismissive wave of the hand.

"If he's sick he shouldn't have Sam right now," Caitlyn said in a worried voice. "He could get Sam sick."

"I don't think he's sick," Mitchie said, shaking her head. "I think seeing Tess affected him more than we realized."

"He did rush out of here pretty quickly the other day," Alex commented. She hadn't given the whole ordeal much thought. After all, it didn't affect her life. Or so she thought. She sometimes forgot that what went on with Shane also affected Sam. And if something affected Sam it affected her.

"You said he barely talked to her, right?" Caitlyn asked and sipped her coffee. Mitchie and Alex had filled her in on the few details they knew about what had gone down at the park. She hadn't been in Brown's cabin when the actual blackmailing went down, but she knew of the situation. She'd always kind of felt Tess got what she deserved after the shit she pulled, but once she found out Tess had been in therapy she started finding empathy for the blonde.

"That's what he said, but who knows?" Mitchie rubbed her temples, feeling a headache forming. "He hardly gave us any concrete details except that she didn't accept his apology and that she was seeing a therapist."

"I can't believe she didn't hit him," Caitlyn commented and polished off the rest of her caffeinated drink.

"Mitchie did once," Alex said with a grin, the memory of it flashing through her mind. She'd been ready to do it herself when Mitchie stopped her, claiming it was her fight. And it was. The sight of Mitchie's fist connecting with Shane's jaw was something she never forgot, and she still thought it was one of the hottest things Mitchie had ever done.

"That felt so fucking good," Mitchie admitted. She tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear and let out a sigh. "But this, right now," she said, placing a hand on her chest, "this awful feeling I have in my chest… That doesn't feel good."

Alex frowned and reached out, taking Mitchie's hand from her chest. She gave her wife's fingers a slight squeeze.

"We'll talk to Shane tonight, check in on Sam," she told her. "If something seems off we can go get him first thing in the morning."

Mitchie felt a little better at the idea, and she hoped for Sam's sake everything was fine when they checked in later. She would hate to make him leave early and risk him being upset that his time with his dad was cut short. She didn't want him to resent her for it. But his safety and well-being were what were most important to her. And if that meant picking him up early and risking him resenting her, that may have been a price she had to pay to ensure he was taken care of.

"So, have you talked to Nate recently?" Alex asked, raising her eyebrows and turning her attention to Caitlyn. She knew that was a topic that was surely get Mitchie's mind off the annoying man Alex only tolerated for the sake of their son.

"Yeah, have you?" Mitchie's eyes lit up, taking Alex's bait as her attention shifted to her best friend's love life.

"Ugh, would you stop?" Caitlyn said, standing from the table to bring her empty mug inside and run away from the new conversation being thrown at her. "I can't fucking stand you two."

"Then why the fuck are you always over here?" Alex countered.

Caitlyn stuck out her middle finger before ducking inside the house. She shook her head and muttered under her breath but found herself smiling soon after as she put the cup in the sink. Nate had texted her a couple of times since that day in the pool, but it was nothing serious. Just a link to a song by a band they had talked about, and a brief conversation afterwards. It was nothing, just friendly stuff. Nothing even worth mentioning to her nosy friends.

So if it was nothing, like she told herself, why couldn't she stop smiling or checking her phone every five minutes to see if she had notifications? Why couldn't she stop thinking about the way the beads of water rolled down his rock-hard abs or the way his jaw moved when he spoke? Why was she so scared that Mitchie and Alex might be right?

"I think I just need to get laid," Caitlyn announced from the backseat of Mitchie's Mercedes on the way to the studio later.

Mitchie was so caught off-guard that she nearly swerved into the next lane. She corrected and glanced at Caitlyn in the rearview, surprised to see her friend staring out the window nonchalantly like she hadn't just said something out-of-character.

"So we're talking about your love life now?" Mitchie asked.

"No, we're talking about my sex life," Caitlyn corrected.

"Haven't those always gone hand-in-hand with you?" Mitchie questioned, wondering where this was coming from.

When Caitlyn had been with Gabe things had been hot and heavy, and Caitlyn was not shy when it came to talking about their relationship, both sexual and emotional. That all changed after they broke up, though. Caitlyn never wanted to say too much about the people she was dating, and she sure as hell wouldn't bring it up willingly. Half of the time when Caitlyn went on dates Mitchie had to drag the details out of her. It was as if it was the only topic Caitlyn now refused to talk about. So this coming from her now was surprising.

"Maybe that's my problem," Caitlyn said with a shrug. "I've been looking for Mr. Right instead of Mr. Right Now. Maybe I just need to meet someone, do it, and get it over with so my dry spell can be over."

"Or you can just buy a vibrator," Alex said from the passenger seat, rolling her eyes behind her sunglasses.

"Those don't really work for me," Caitlyn said with a frown. "I think it's a mental thing."

"You could always get a removable shower head," Alex said, turning in her seat to look at Caitlyn over her shoulder as Mitchie pulled into the studio parking lot and parked the car. "One with a pulse setting. Trust me."

Mitchie turned to her wife slowly and narrowed her eyes. "Alex, we have a removable shower head with pulse settings."

"What, you've never tried it?" Alex asked with a smirk.

"Are you cheating on me with the shower head?" Mitchie asked in a joking manner, laughing slightly.

"Only when I'm on my period," Alex defended. "It helps with cramps."

"I literally could have gone my whole life without knowing any of that," Caitlyn said, unbuckling her seatbelt and quickly exiting the vehicle before she found out any more about Alex's masturbation habits.

"It does," Alex told Mitchie in a small voice. "There's, like, scientific research behind it."

"I believe you," Mitchie told her, patting her knee. "And you might be onto something, here. I might have to check it out next time I'm on my period." She wiggled her eyebrows at the Latina, whose eyes darkened in response.

"Can I be there when you do?" she asked.

"No," Mitchie said playfully before unbuckling her own seatbelt and hopping out of the car.

Alex watched her, jaw hanging open slightly. She stayed seated, staring after Mitchie in disbelief. Mitchie turned at the door to the studio and waved at Alex, signaling for her to get her ass out of the car so she could lock it. Alex narrowed her eyes at her wife, but she got out of the Mercedes and followed her into the studio.

That afternoon Shane sat with Sam at the table as they completed Sam's homework for the day. He was thankful that Sam seemed to be cooperating today. He didn't have to fight him to sit down and pull his books out, and so far they were flying through the worksheets. He was glad because he was not feeling up to fighting about it.

He felt as awful as he knew he looked. He hadn't been sleeping well since that day at the park, and he had drunk every night since he brought Sam back to Mitchie and Alex's. It was the only thing that gave him some peace, that dulled his senses and pushed the storm from his mind. But he knew he couldn't keep doing it. Eventually it would pass over the point of bad habit and turn into a real problem. He didn't want that to happen.

Plus, he wanted to keep his promise to Sam and be more present in his life. And he couldn't do that if he drank. That was a rule he knew better than to break. So there he sat, exhausted and with a splitting headache, but he was sober. And he intended to stay that way until Sam went back to his moms' house. But to say he wasn't craving a nice glass of whiskey would be a lie. But he had run out again, and he didn't trust himself to buy more. It would be too tempting to drink if it was in the house.

"Done!" Sam exclaimed, which caused Shane to wince at the loudness. Sam caught it and stiffened at the frown on his dad's face. He thought Shane would be happy he'd done all of his homework so quickly, and without complaining, not even once. But maybe he was wrong.

"Good job, bud," Shane said, the corners of his mouth twitching into a smile. His head seared. Even smiling hurt.

Sam eased a little at Shane's smile. That was reassuring. Maybe Shane didn't hate him after all.

"What do you want to do now?" Sam asked, looking to Shane expectantly.

"What do you want to do?" Shane countered.

Sam thought about it for a moment. He knew Shane usually let him suggest an activity, but he was afraid Shane was getting tired of the things he chose to do. That's why he wanted Shane to pick what they did next. He wanted to try to be as easy-going as possible.

"I want to do whatever you want to do," Sam said earnestly.

Shane stared at him, wondering where this was coming from. Usually Sam readily had an idea for something they could do, and he always just ran with it. He'd never actually had to come up with anything, with the exception of deciding to go to the park that day. And look how well that had turned out.

"I'm kind of tired," Shane said honestly. "Mind if we just watch TV?"

Sam nodded enthusiastically. "Okay," he said quickly and immediately began packing his school things back into his bag.

Shane watched him, shocked. Sam had a bad habit of not cleaning up after himself. Usually the moment his homework was done he took off, leaving Shane to shove his notebooks and folders back into the knapsack. This was a nice change, though, and Shane decided not to question it.

When all of Sam's homework was packed away the two flopped down onto the couch, Shane immediately turning on the TV.

"What do you want to watch?" he asked the boy.

"Whatever you want to watch," Sam said.

Shane once again stared at the eight-year-old. Sam always had a preference of what to watch, and the fact that he didn't this time only added to the weirdness of the whole afternoon. Shane had kind of hoped Sam would pick something, just because he always did. Shane realized he didn't know of any shows he would normally watch on his own that were appropriate for Sam. So that proved to be a challenge.

He recalled that Sam liked superheroes, though, and an idea struck him. He pulled up Hulu and started searching, finding the show he'd recalled seeing when he was scrolling the other day.

"Let's try Smallville," Shane said as the episode started. "It's about Clark Kent as a teenager, before he was Superman. I used to love this show when I was young."

"I love Superman," Sam said, his eyes brightening with excitement. "He's my favorite superhero!"

Shane smiled at him, glad he'd found something they could share. "Mine, too, I think," he said. "Then you should love this, because it's all about him when he's a kid."

Sam smiled back at Shane, glad he'd gotten his father's approval. He turned his attention to the show, genuinely excited to see his favorite hero in action.

Later Mitchie and Alex called as planned. Shane paused the episode of Smallville they were on and answered the phone, putting it on speaker.

"Hi, ladies," Shane said, holding the phone between him and Sam so that they could both speak into it.

"Hi, Moms," Sam greeted.

"Hi, baby," Mitchie said on the other end. "How's it going?"

"Good," Sam answered. "We got pizza, and we're watching Smallville."

"Isn't Allison Mack in that?" Alex voice asked, signaling she and Mitchie were on speaker on their end, too.

"Uh, doesn't she play Chloe?" Shane asked.

"Yeah, her!" Alex said. "She was just arrested for a human sex-trafficking cult-thing."

"What's sex trafficking?" Sam asked.

"And you say I'm the one who teaches him the words that he gets in trouble for saying at school," Shane said, rolling his eyes.

"I don't know if I want him watching something with someone who does that kind of stuff," Mitchie said, choosing not to answer her son's question.

"We're not watching it for her," Shane said. "There's a lot of other people in the show. It's not like she's the main character. It's about Clark Kent."

"You know, Superman, Mom?" Sam jumped in, knowing his mother knew how much he loved the man of steel. He didn't want Mitchie to make them stop watching for a reason he didn't understand. He'd really been enjoying the show.

"Still, I feel weird about it," Mitchie continued.

"Harvey Weinstein produced Spy Kids," Shane informed them. "Are you still gonna let him watch that?" He knew that would get them. He and Sam had watched the movie the previous weekend, Sam informing him that it was one of his and Alex's favorite movies. When that asshole's name came up in the credits Shane's lip curled in distaste. He was no saint, but he was nowhere near that monster.

"WHAT?!" Alex yelled from the other end.

The voices on the phone became muffled, and Shane faintly heard Mitchie trying to calm the other woman. After a few moments he heard Mitchie sigh heavily as she switched the phone off speaker and pressed it to her ear.

"Did you really have to ruin that for her?" Mitchie asked him.

"She didn't know?" Shane asked. "It's in the credits."

"She never watches those," Mitchie answered. "You know she doesn't do reading."

"This is not my fault," Shane said laughing lightly. He didn't expect Alex to get so upset, but it amused him a little when she did.

"So, can we watch the show or not?" Sam asked.

Mitchie hesitated for a moment before answering. "Fine, go ahead," she said. "I suppose it's harmless."

"Thank you," Shane told her, glad their show hadn't been spoiled either. He was starting to get into it again, and maybe it could be something he and Sam could watch when they were together from now on. After all, there were ten seasons, so it would take them a while. It would be a nice change from the cartoons Sam usually wanted to watch.

"Thanks, Mom," Sam said, too.

"I'm gonna go comfort Alex now," Mitchie said. "I'll talk to you later. I love you, Sam."

"I love you, too."

"And Mama loves you, too, she's just having a moment," Mitchie said. "Goodnight, Shane."

"Night," the man said, hanging up the phone. He looked to Sam. "Okay, we can finish this episode, but then you have to take a bath and go to sleep. You have school in the morning."

Sam opened his mouth to protest but shut it quickly when he remembered he was supposed to be behaving. So, he just nodded and grabbed the remote from Shane, pushing the play button and resuming the episode.

Mitchie sat beside Alex on the couch and draped an arm around her shoulder. The raven-haired woman was staring at her feet with a blank expression.

"Alex, you gonna be okay, love?" Mitchie asked tenderly.

"I just can't believe it," she said in a low voice. "How could I have not known?"

"He's produced so much, who can keep track?" Mitchie told her, squeezing her shoulder in a reassuring manner.

"But this is Spy Kids!" Alex's head shot up, anger rising in her voice. "It's, like, one of my purest childhood memories. And now it's tainted."

Mitchie shook her head. "Alex, don't you think you're being a little dramatic?"

"I loved those movies, Mitchie!" Alex told her. "I wanted to be a spy when I was ten because of them. Carmen Cortez is one of the earliest crushes I ever had."

"I know," Mitchie said. "You've told me all this before."

"This sucks," Alex said with a groan. She turned her face and buried it in her wife's shoulder.

Mitchie smiled to herself, somewhat amused by Alex's reaction to finding out literal human garbage was partially responsible for one of her favorite movies.

"Well, the good news is that Shane sounds better," Mitchie said. "So now I feel better."

"That's good," Alex muttered, lifting her head to look at her wife. "No more anxiety?"

"Not about that," Mitchie answered. "But you do know what time it is, don't you?"

Alex did, so she nodded. They'd gotten in the routine of administering the invitro shots over the course of the week and by the third night they'd remembered without having to set an alarm. They still hurt like hell, but at least she was getting used to them.

"Come on," Alex said, standing from Mitchie's embrace and holding her hand out to her wife. "But you're going first this time."

"Fine," Mitchie relented, taking Alex's outstretched hand and pulling herself up.

So that shit about Allison Mack is true. I wish I was lying. And Alex's reaction to finding out Fuckstein produced Spy Kids was basically my reaction. Hope you enjoyed.

Until next time

-DF