I guess you could call this a companion to the previous chapter…I tried to make it mostly Carter/Adrian bonding, but Adrian's such a mama's boy (and a sweetheart; he's gonna grow up to be a healer) that it kinda got away from me. But their daughter would be such a fierce daddy's girl.

Anyway, the only character I own in here is Adrian. Everything else is Rcubed's.

O-o-O

Sometimes Carter wished he didn't have to be a parent.

Not that he didn't love every second of it, or that he wouldn't do absolutely anything for Adrian, but he didn't want to have to be The All-Knowing Daddy all the time. He was supposed to be pulled together, have all the answers and the mystical power to fix anything.

He didn't have any of that. And it killed him. Especially on nights like these, when he felt so close to falling apart himself that he didn't know how he was supposed to plaster on the best fake smile he could manage and tell his son that it would be all right.

But that didn't mean he wouldn't try, so when his bedroom door creaked open and Adrian peeped in, wrapped in a blanket, and murmured, "Daddy?" Carter managed an exhausted smile.

"What's up, kiddo?" he asked, sitting a little straighter as Adrian padded across the room.

Adrian reached out his arms, and Carter gave him a boost onto the mattress. The little boy pulled the blanket tighter around his shoulders, looking up at Carter with watery amber eyes that were so much like Zia's it actually hurt, and said, "I miss Mommy." His voice was so quiet that Carter didn't almost catch the words. His chin trembled.

"Mommy'll be home soon," Carter promised.

Tears spilled out of his son's eyes, accompanied by a sobbing sound that made Carter feel like his stomach was being wrenched from his body. "How soon?"

"Soon," was all he said as Adrian crawled into his lap and really started to cry, because if he had to say aloud the actual amount of time he would fall apart.

"I wanna have her home now," Adrian sobbed.

Carter pulled his son up to his chest, wrapping the well-worn blanket tighter around his trembling shoulders, and whispered, "Me too, kiddo."

They sat like that for maybe half an hour, until Adrian's cries quieted a little and he peeked up with puffy, tired eyes and yawned. Carter's laptop beeped on the nightstand.

"Do you want to try and stay up to talk to Mommy?" Carter asked, and Adrian responded with a soft "Uh-huh" and a half-conscious nod.

"Sit up," Carter prompted gently, and reached over to click accept on the video chat.

Adrian wasn't the only one struggling to stay awake. Zia greeted them both with a massive yawn, leaning on the desk as though she was too exhausted to sit up straight. "Hey," she finally managed, then seemed to register that there were two people in front of her. "Adrian, sweetie, what are you doing up?"

"I miss you," he sniffed, rubbing his eyes. "When're you comin' home, Mama?"

Zia reached out, like she wanted to wipe the tears off his cheek, but of course it was just a computer screen. "I'll be home in a week, okay? Just seven days."

Carter took a deep breath. Seven days. Armageddon hadn't lasted seven days. This was ten times more painful.

Adrian slumped against Carter, yawning again, and Zia said, "Go to sleep, Adrian."

He nodded. "Love you, Mommy."

"I love you too, baby."

Adrian was already asleep.

"He was a mess last night," Carter said. "It started storming and he freaked out."

Zia sighed and rested her head in her hands. "I want to come home," she moaned. "I can't take another week of this. I'm sick of hotels and busses and planes and fast food. I miss you."

"I miss you too." He leaned against the headboard. "I can't sleep when you're not here. It sucks."

"Me either." She yawned for emphasis.

"At least try to sleep, okay?"

"Can't yet," she muttered. "Adam and Lindsey went to get food. We haven't eaten all day."

He frowned. "Eat and then sleep, okay?"

"I will." Adrian twisted in his sleep and Carter tightened his grip so he wouldn't fall. "I love you, Z."

"I love you too."

*#*#*

Thunder crashed outside, accompanied by a blinding flash of white and the sound of the sky dumping sheets of frigid rain on the roof above them.

"I didn't miss this part of living in New York," Zia mumbled, tucking her head under his chin.

"No joke." He frowned and shivered—after three years of living in Egypt, he was freezing in the height of Brooklyn summer (which was all of eighty degrees). And to think that Felix had greeted them with a whine of how hot it was.

"I hope Adrian's asleep," she yawned.

As if on cue, there was a panicked shriek of "Mommy!" from down the hall.

"That'd be a no," Carter said as the door swung open and Adrian came running in. Zia picked him up off the floor, and he clung to her shirt, shaking.

"Shh, it's just a thunderstorm," she promised him.

"But it's scary," he whimpered.

Zia slid Adrian off her stomach, letting him curl up on the mattress between herself and Carter, and kissed his forehead, saying, "It's just some noise and light, okay? Just noise and light."

*#*#*

"I thought you told me you couldn't sleep when I wasn't here."

Carter smiled, eyes still closed. "I can't," he said, and reached for the sound of squeaking springs, grabbed Zia around the waist and pulled her as close as he could. He felt her arms around his neck and then her lips on his, and he didn't dare open his eyes because he'd seen enough of her over the last two months, but now she was home and he needed to feel her, to run his hands through her hair—longer than it had been when she'd left—and up and down her back.

"You promised Adrian you'd wake him up when you got home," Carter finally reminded her, reluctantly, because he didn't want to have to let go.

"I tried," she assured him. "I got a few words out of him, but he wasn't really awake. I doubt he'll remember it in the morning."

"I'm sure we'll hear from him as soon as he wakes up," he said.

He felt Zia's fingers brush his forehead, and he finally opened his eyes. She smiled and squirmed closer, until he could feel her heartbeat through her ribcage, thrumming alongside his own.

"I'm glad you're home, Z," he whispered.

She buried her face in his neck, and he tightened his grip on her. "Me too," she sighed.

His arms didn't slacken until he fell asleep.

O-o-O

Three things: one, I need to write stuff with thunderstorms more often, because right after I did we got some much-needed rain.

Two, the names Adam and Lindsey were chosen merely for the sake of my own personal headcanon as to why Zia was gone, but they are real people. Leave your guess as to their full names/where I might have heard of them, and if you get it right I'll mention you in the next A/N, therefore gifting you with bragging rights for awesomeness!

Finally, I totally stole the "just noise and light" line from I'mDifferent-GetOverIt's story Just Noise And Light. Go read it if you love stories with little kids—she writes Toddler!Zia so well it'll make you squeal. Actually, go read it anyway, because I said so.

Thanks so much for reading!