Too Much Love? No Such Thing!

The couple sometimes wondered if it was 'normal' for parents to love their children so much; but if they weren't normal then so what? For both, having a close brush with death made them appreciate their children even more and not sweat the small stuff.

Calleigh didn't know but Eric had also called to check on Chloe. He had called just after she did. He knew Chloe would be fine but wanted to be sure.

"I just hung up the phone with your wife," the same staffer said. "Chloe's just fine. Not a tear since she got here."

I bet she's enjoying time away from Ethan, too, Eric thought. He knew the baby boy could be smothering to his big sister.

Roberta picked up Chloe from daycare because it closed at five and her parents weren't getting off work till five-thirty.

"Mommy!"

As soon as she heard voices at the front door Chloe ran to the porch. Calleigh smiled and picked up her child.

"Hi ya, pumpkin," she said, kissing Chloe's cheek. "Mommy missed you. Did you have fun today?"

"Yeah!" Chloe said. She completely ignored her dad standing next to them in the porch. Eric just smiled. Chloe told Calleigh she drew her a picture and played with play-doh at the center.

Eric sniffed the air; he smelled food, someone was cooking spaghetti, with meatballs, his nose told him. They had told Roberta she did not have to cook dinner but they had a feeling she wouldn't listen.

"I told you that you didn't have to cook," Calleigh told her, entering the kitchen Chloe still on her hip.

"I know," Roberta replied. "But I wanted to. And I remembered the kids don't like onions or peppers so it's plain. I didn't know you guys were out of regular pasta till I started the sauce so I used the bowtie pasta you did have."

"Sounds fine to me," Calleigh said. "Why don't you stay? Since you cooked and all."

"Nah," her aunt said. "I'll leave you guys be. I'm sure you and the kids got some of catching up to do."

"I finally get my kiss, do I?" Eric said with a smile to Chloe when her mother put her down.

Chloe had wrapped herself his legs, looking up at him with a grin.

She nodded.

"I love you, papi," she said, giving Eric a kiss when he picked her up.

"Papi" was the word for"daddy" in Spanish, "papa" for the word for "father." Chloe either said "papi" or "daddy" not the more formal "papa." Ethan was babbling "mama" and "dada" and sometimes "papa." His vocabulary wasn't very big yet.

Calleigh had encountered an odd question from one of the lab techs that day after she had called to make sure her daughter was doing okay at daycare. She was asked innocently whether Caleigh thought they could love their children too much.

"Not possible," Eric said, as he and Calleigh cuddled in bed late that night.

"That's what I told her," she said, closing her eyes as she hugged into his chest.