Promises
Disclaimer: I do not own Numb3rs or any of the characters that appear on the show, nor do I make any profit from it.

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It was the beginning of June; Don was sitting on the floor in the nursery attempting to put the crib together. A very pregnant Robin was sitting in the gliding rocker reading him the directions but she was pretty sure he wasn't listening to anything she was saying.

"Don, just follow the instructions and look at the diagram. Our baby is going to be sleeping in this; I don't want it falling apart while Ben is in it."

Don looked up at her, "It's not going to fall apart. I know what I'm doing."

Robin sighed, "I know you know what you're doing, but it would make me feel better if you would at least listen to what I'm reading."

"Okay, I will listen to you read the directions. Will you hand me that screwdriver?" Don pointed to a screwdriver that was sitting on the table next to Robin.

Robin handed him the wrench and Don worked in silence. While Don wasn't an extremely talkative person, he normally wasn't this quiet, especially when he was with Robin. Robin suspected his quietness was due to the fact that three days ago, one of the SWAT agents was killed during a raid on a drug lab. Don had been the one to notify his family; he had a wife and a seven year old daughter. Robin hadn't seen much of Don since the incident; he had spent the majority of the last few days at the office trying to catch the perps. Yesterday, they made the arrests and AD Wright had given Don and his team the weekend off.

Don was silent for a bit longer before he spoke, "Robin, if something ever happens to me in the line of duty-"

"Don, don't." Robin cut him off; she really didn't want to think of the possibility that her husband could be killed on any given day.

"Robin I need to talk about this. There is a real possibility that at the end of the day, I might not come home. I'm not invincible. You of all people should understand this, especially after what happened with Radovic last year."

Robin kept quiet so Don persisted, "If anything ever happens to me, I don't want you to be alone. I want you to find someone who makes you happy. Ben will need a father figure; I don't want him growing up without a father, if something should ever happen to me."

"Don, you know that Charlie and your father would do that for Ben, if anything were to ever happen to you. And David and Colby would take Ben under their wing to make sure he still had some male influence other than mathematicians in his life." She knew David and Colby were also excited about the baby. It was decided that they were going to be "uncles" to Ben.

Don smiled a bit at the last part, "I know that, but I also want you to be happy. I don't want you to feel like you can't move on because of me. I want you to have someone too. Will you promise me that when you feel ready, you'll try to find someone else?"

Robin had tears in her eyes, "Okay, I promise. But I want you to promise me something."

"Anything."

Robin gazed into the depths of his dark brown eyes, "I want you to promise me that you will be as careful as possible when you are out in the field or doing anything even remotely dangerous and do your best to make sure you come home to me and Ben."

Don held her gaze, "I promise, I will always do my damnedest to come home to my family."

Don finished putting the crib together and moved it to the corner of the room where they agreed to put it. He stood back to admire his handiwork in the blue painted nursery. Robin hauled herself out of the rocker and wrapped her arms around her husband for a hug. She pressed a kiss to his lips, "Good, because I can't bear the thought of life without you." She felt the baby kick her hard, "I think Ben agrees with me on that."

Don smiled when he felt the kick against his stomach, "I love you." Don gave Robin a kiss before moving to her stomach where he planted another kiss, "and you."