"Right now?" Max asked, glancing back out at her girls on the swings.

Natalie sighed and shook her head. "No…She needs new identification. Can you?"

Committing felonies, Max thought, is this really happening? "Yeah, probably."

Natalie nodded, leaning back on the bench. "I don't…she's a mess."

So are you, Max thought, and I'm not too far behind. I'm a terrible friend. "When then?"

"Saturday," she said after a long moment. "I'm going to get her a plane ticket…we'll go meet her."

Max glanced back out at their kids playing together. Is she…she can't be running off too? "Nat? Are you going with her?"

"I…I think so. It's so…I can't do this. Tom and his girlfriend, five kids, I don't…I don't want this life."

Crap, Max thought, crap. Calm, don't judge her, just listen. She knows more then she's saying. The same question Kenny asked me last night. "What do you want?"

"To be free. I want a redo of my life."

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"She's good," Skeeter commented. "Scary good."

Kenny nodded, torn between being incredibly proud of her and wanting her to run away quickly. "Of course she is."

Skeeter shot his partner and old friend a glance. "You two okay?"

"We're getting there," he said after a long moment. "We just…we have some stuff to deal with."

"By having a lot of sex?"

"I'll have to thank her for that one."

"Come on, people weren't as blind as you two thought. Anyone could see how much…there was a lot of chemistry there."

"Still is."

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"You could come too…No," Natalie sighed. "You're going to stick you marriage out to the bitter end…you'll get to this place too."

"Wanting to run away from my life?" Max asked. "Seriously? Yeah, of course it's a little appealing to think about spending the rest of my life lounging on a beach, but…You can really just walk away?"

"Do you really want to spend the rest of your life making lunches and waiting for your husband to come home?"

No, I want to be out there catching killers, she thought, with him. Raising our kids…having that near perfect life we had going. This isn't happening… "I make lousy sandwiches."

"They dump all of this on us, and expect us to take care of everything. It's time to give them a taste of their own medicine."

"Saturday?" Max asked again, as Natalie nodded. "What time?"

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"We have a tail on Natalie Johnson," Jimmy said, seeing Kenny's tense expression. "She did good."

"She isn't done," he said, grateful that she finally left the park. "Saturday?"

Jimmy nodded. "She'll be perfectly safe."

"Max? Perfectly safe?"

She does have a way of getting herself into trouble, Jimmy thought, and he's always been so protective her. "It's a one time thing, she's not going to do anything reckless."

"You know it isn't going to be a one time thing with her."

"That's something we'll have to discuss when this is done then. Come on. Lets go meet her."

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"Damn," Max murmured, as she finished throwing up in the kitchen sink. Wiping her mouth, she glanced back at Lindsay happily coloring. Running the water over the bile, she wiped the sweat from her brow… "Pretty gross, Lindz, huh?"

"Mama sick?"

Not sick, she thought, running her hand over her stomach…Am I? All that sex, am I? I can't deal with it now. Sitting down next to her. "Nah. What are you drawing, Sweetie?"

Lindsay giggled and pushed the paper toward her. Max glanced up, as she saw the cruiser pull into the driveway. I'm surprised it took them this long. "Mama?"

Glancing back at the living room where Emily was watching cartoons and Nate was doing his book report, she turned back to the picture that Lindsay was coloring. Smiling a bit at the red and purple scribbles, she smoothed back her daughters red hair. "It's almost as pretty as you, Lindz."

"Mama pretty."

Max pushed her hair back off of her face, and smiled at her. "You take after your Dad, Kiddo…Hi."

"Max?"

Oh, thank god he doesn't sound mad at me, Max thought. I know he said it was fine, but…We'll be okay. Smiling slightly at her husband and Jimmy. "I'm surprised it took you two this long."

Kenny smiled despite himself, as he looked at as wife. Wary, he thought, looking at her, and she looks good…even in those faded and holey jeans, white t-shirt, and her hair long and loose… "What's that smell? Someone vomit?"

Not now, she thought, I can't tell him I might be, I know how he'll get. "Yeah, this one. You know how her stomach can get."

"Where is everyone?" Kenny asked, thinking the house was eerily quiet for six. "Did you send Emily off to the circus?"

Max smiled at that. "That is tempting some days, and she would love it. No, I caved and she's watching cartoons. Nate is doing homework and Samantha is still at cheerleading."

Jimmy watched them both for a long moment. "You have a few minutes?

"About Saturday?" she asked, pushing the box of crayons back toward Lindsay.

Cutting to the chase, he thought. "How are you doing?"

Max leaned back, her mind whirling in a million directions. "I should of picked some saner friends, huh?"

Crazy people, Kenny thought, she always finds them. She liked them, I think she really liked having girlfriends. God, she needs more then this…what did I do to her? "You couldn't of known."

She shot him a look. "Really? It seems to be a pattern with me."

"Sometimes," he agreed. "Come on, no one saw this one coming."

I should of, Max thought, if I wasn't so caught up in playing house. Immediately feeling guilty at that thought. "Yeah. What is the plan for Saturday?"

The plan is for you to do nothing, he thought, to stay away from it…I see that look in her eyes. Back her up, make sure she's safe this time around. She can do this.

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"You're not okay," Kenny said, later that night, looking at her sitting on their bed. "Spill it, Honey."

"Beside the obvious?" she asked, looking up. "Lindsay didn't throw up, I did. I have a couple times in the last few days. I think it might be stress, but…I think I might be pregnant."

He sat back, looking at her for a long moment. Pregnant, why does she look so nervous? We talked about it doing it one more time…God, she almost bled to death. No, it's safe, she's had all the scans, tests, she's good to go. Pregnant, she looks good pregnant. "Max? Really?"

She nodded, as he sat down next to her. "Maybe. I feel pregnant. I need to take a test, but…I think so."

"You going to get sick right now?"

"What?"

He grinned, despite himself. "Cause you look kind of green. Why so nervous? Come on, we make great kids. I know I've sucked, but, Honey, come on, how can it not be a good thing?"

Because for the first time, in a long time, I felt like me today. Not just this mommy person, she thought, feeling incredibly guilty over it. Pregnant, five kids, how…no. "Kenny? You're okay with this?"

"You're not?"

"I almost bled to death and had a stroke. Despite what you think, I don't have a death wish."

"What else? I thought you wanted to do this again."

I miss working, she thought, despite the fact that they are my friends. Feeling useful, like I'm doing something again. "We've been so up and down, five is a lot…and I think I want to work."

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"You told her?"

Natalie nodded. "She's one of us…she's pretty miserable. She's getting us identification."

She nodded. "I trust her."

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"Max, I'm here, we won't go back to that spot, I promise you. I love you, I need you. You really want to work?"

"I'm sorry. It's not what you want…I'm so sorry, I'm not who you want me to be."

He wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her in closer. "You are exactly who I want. I know who I married, okay? It all…we…it all got kind of lost along the way. Max, I shouldn't of…I knew how hurt you were, I shouldn't of guilted you into this. I love you, Honey, we lost Josh, you almost died and…I love you."

She nodded, gulping back her tears. "I love being a mom."

"Oh, I know you do. You're amazing at it too. Even with the ice cream bribes."

She took a steadying breath. "I don't know…I still need to take a test and…and of course if I am…"

"If you are, we're in it together. If you want to work, Max, of course you can. Baby or no baby."

"Who are you?" she blurted out. "What happened to the overprotective, coddling, distant, ass you were being?"

"Ouch."

"No, I mean it. When did you become the guy I love again?"

"When I realized what I was losing."

Max pressed his lips to his, overwhelmed by it all for a minute. "You're going to make me cry."

"You must be pregnant then," he teased, scooping her in closer. "A lot to figure out, okay? You have a test here?"

She nodded. "Yeah. We can know in three minutes"

"What are you waiting for?"