There is a madness in loving you, a lack of reason that makes it feel so flawless.

— Leo Christopher

Fully sated, Erin lay in bed with Dave's heartbeat humming against her ear. His warm breath tickled her bare skin as he slept. She smiled, she felt almost guilty for enjoying herself, enjoying him. She could have been plotting to save their jobs, but instead, it felt like she was on her honeymoon; great sex, good food and clean sheets were all they needed. But she should have been saving their jobs.

"Stop scheming," Dave grumbled against her ear. "For the love of god, don't bring a conversation about Andy into our bed."

She smiled and turned towards him. "How could you tell?"

"You went stiff," he groaned.

"Let me up." She said, untangling herself out of his arms. "I need to go over the budgets at some point today."

"No, you don't," He growled. "Just let us have today. You can go back to being the badass Section Chief tomorrow."

"Okay, then, give me your keys," She said, planting both feet on the floor, she rummaged through his pants pockets. Coming up short, she turned back to him. "Is the Audi locked?"

"Come back to bed."

"If I can't make myself happy by saving our jobs, I can at least have ice cream and it's in the car," she stated. "Give me your keys."

He rolled over and grabbed the keys off the nightstand, "Come back here," he grumbled.

"In a minute, after I go get the ice cream" She waved him off.

"Well hurry up!"

"A good husband would go get it. I can't think straight until I've had ice cream." she wheedled.

"Fine." He huffed and put his feet on the floor. "Keep my spot warm." He grabbed his robe and slung it on, tying it at the waist on his way out. It wouldn't win him any favors if he ran into the kids, naked as a jaybird and traumatized them.

"Don't forget the whipped cream," She called at his back

"Whatever you say, Dear."

"You better believe it." She called back and crawled back in bed, relishing in the residual warmth of his spot.

He returned 5 minutes later, with a tray of ice cream and sundae toppings. "My hero."

"Actually, I prefer 'husband." He said in his best 'so there' tone.

He sat at the edge of the bed and put the tray down, she took a bowl and covered the ice cream in sprinkles and whipped cream.

"You know, those have exactly zero nutritional value, right?" He arched an eyebrow at the half-empty bottle of sprinkles.

"The ice cream is a source of calcium," she argued, "It balances out."

"Uh huh...Suure."

"Mind your business." She snapped and took another bite, it was heaven on a spoon.

"You're my business," he shot back. "Can I have a kiss?" He leaned in close, "please?"

"I don't know," she deflected, "can you?" She asked, popping another spoonful in her mouth. He couldn't believe she wanted to play a game of semantics right now. Instead of saying, may I, as she expected, her suave lover turned towards her, and reached for her arm."Get over here," he growled, catching her in a bear hug. "Come get it." She teased and pulled away from him.

"Give me a kiss," he commanded, through clenched teeth. Their mutual laughter pierced the air and Erin realized, this was the most fun she had in a long time.

"I like it when you tell me what to do," she teased.

"Taking orders can be fun," He took a cherry from the tray "If you want it, come get it."

She gave a sly grin, "Not only will I come get it, but I'll tie it in a knot, when I do."

He popped it in his mouth, stem and all. "Prove it."

And boy did she ever, Dave would never admit it, but he'd met his match in kissing. Her tongue sparred with his, exploring the cavern of his mouth. Her hands palmed the plane of his chest, yanking his robe open.

"Damn, Erin." He said, fighting to catch his breath. "I'm delicate. Go easy on me."

His heart beat an erratic rhythm in his chest, he needed a minute.

"You've had your rest," She cooed, pushing his robe the rest of the way open. He caught her wrist in a gentle hold, stalling her movements.

"What's the matter?" She asked, staring at their hands.

"Babe," He paused, "I really like this side of you." He stared at her, totally in awe of what he saw, her hair was a mess. Blonde strands fell from her ponytail and clung to her neck, her face shimmered with sweat and that weird after-glow of pregnancy. He couldn't take his eyes off her.

"But?" She pressed, "what's wrong."

"Nothing is wrong," he tried to reassure her, "But, this is more exercise than either one of us have had in a month. I'm still a heart patient and you just came off bedrest. Take a breather." He begged, propped up against the headboard. Sweat trickled down his bare back, he was completely spent.

"So, I guess this is where we argue about what to watch on Netflix," she said, and grabbed the remote from the bedside table.

"I wouldn't go that far." He took her hand, discarded the remote and pulled her close, her head landed squarely on his chest. "This is the part where you say 'yes.'" "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Give me a second here, while I say what I gotta say."

She nodded.

"I don't want to spend another second wondering where we're going."

"I don't either."

He reached into the nightstand next to him and withdrew a box.

"You don't have to wear it, but I want you to have it."

He took the lid off the Tiffany blue jewelry box. "It's new. At first, I wanted to give you a family ring; but, you and me, we're brand-spanking new and I want you to pass this off to one of our girls, when they're ready for it."

"Just when I thought I couldn't love you more, you go and say something sweet - like, 'our girls."

"Well, you could pass it off to Paul or Baby A, too. But I figure the girls would appreciate it more," He said with a shrug.

"Baby A?" She chewed her lip, "I don't think I like that. When you're done proposing for the fourth time, we should come up with baby names." She teased, never resisting a chance to needle him.

He laughed a deep, boisterous, belly laugh, "Can you just put the damn ring on?" He took her wrist in one hand and flipped the box open with the other.

"Sure," she giggled, "let me see it." He slid the ring on her left hand. "Oh.." she paused to take it in, 2 bands intertwined, framing a beautiful 3 caret diamond. The ring fit snugly on her finger; and David, she realized, owned her heart.

"Do you like it?" He asked, hopeful, but unsure. "I wasn't sure, but if it's too much we can exchange it."

She realized then that she'd kept him waiting for too long. "It's beautiful." She said quickly, "Thank you."

"Does this mean you'll marry me now? I don't mean today or tomorrow, but Eventually?" He hedged his bet.

She looked down at her hand, the ring shone in the dim bedside lamp, like a beacon. Her relationship with Dave was final, she would marry him. But not anytime soon.

"David," she hedged. "You're not going to like this-"

"Well that's never good…What's wrong?" he answered, fearing that she was turning him down for the fourth time.

"I need to talk to Carolyn, before the babies come. I need to know-"Her thoughts raced, the whole idea didn't make sense. How could any contact with Dave's ex-wife, bring anything but strife? "I think we both deserve to know what happened to James."

Dave shook his head, "I don't like it, there's nothing she could tell you that will make you feel better."

"How do you know that?"

"She's going to tell you how he died, that's it. And it's going to scare the hell out of you." Dave was already imagining the setback that would come from that conversation. Nope, that could not happen, not when they had just begun to make progress again. He was not about to let Erin slip back down the rabbit hole.

"I'm already there," She argued. "How much worse can it get?"

"You'll feel better once the blood test comes back."

"But what if I don't. What if there's something wrong?"

"There's not."

"We don't know that."

"I'm sick of beating a dead horse. Don't tempt fate here." He put his arm around her, "Please, Erin. Leave James alone."

"Fine," she said sharply, just to avoid an argument. "We haven't seen the kids today." She stood up and pulled on some sweatpants and an old t-shirt.

He sat up suddenly, "Where are you going?"

"To be a mother, while I still can." She said, avoiding his eyes, she stalked across the room and slammed the door behind her.

She left him, naked and cold, going off to tend to three teenagers, who, most likely weren't home.

He got up, threw on some clothes and followed her into the living room.

"They're probably upstairs," Dave said, coming up behind her. "I'll go check."

Just then, the doorbell rang. "I'll get," Erin said as Dave went up the stairs.

"Hey guys," Dave knocked lightly on Paige's door.

"Yeah," the teen called back. Dave opened the door and stuck his head in. Paige sat at her desk, surrounded by textbooks and soda cans. For a full thirty seconds, he could almost see how Erin looked as a teenager.

"You're mom wants you, rally the troops and come downstairs."

Paige popped up from her seat, "will do."

"Who ordered pizza?" Erin called up the stairs, holding 2 large pies in her hand.

"We did." Paul appeared at the top of the stairs. "Paige used the credit card."

"Snitch," Mackenze threw back, following Paul down the stairs.

"Well, I don't know how to cook," Paige said.

"I gave you that card for emergencies-" Erin said, "pizza is not an emergency."

"Did you at least spring for dessert?" Dave asked, bringing up the rear.

For a moment, Erin pictured a row of ducklings being herded by their parents.

"Nope," Paige said, "we only needed the pizza."

"Well," Dave shrugged, stepping off the last step, he took the boxes from Erin. "With you four cheapskates, it looks like I'm going to stay rich."