Huh, so I was seating in front of my laptop, and I go like: 'I haven't written for RP in a while, I should do it.' So I open the doc where I usually work and guess what? This part was sitting there just waiting to be checked. Awesome, right? Anyhow,

Enjoy!

M.

Thirty-five

A month flew by, and sooner than he was expecting his last day of being at home 24/7 arrived. They had managed to bond over the weeks more than he would've thought possible. He shouldn't be surprised, his wife was always creative and managed to make them do bonding things he couldn't think of and coming through at the end a little closer to both Sam and Naysa.

He smiled as he saw her talking with their daughter as NAysa sat in the bathtub playing around with her toys and Sam watched over her from her spot sitting on the toilet amazed, and a bit jealous, with the mother/daughter relationship.

"Jack! You are back," Sam smiled as she noticed him by the door.

"Daddy! Daddy!" Naysa jumped up and down managing to splash water and soapy foam everywhere.

"Daddy, can't pick you right now, Naysa. See, he has his work clothes, and we don't want to dirty them," Naysa pouted, she probably didn't get all that Sam told her but the no. Sam sighed, sometimes she forgot that her daughter hadn't a grown up vocabulary. "What do you say if we go dress you up for the night while daddy goes get changed too," Sam commented, and the girl looked at her with a small frown, as if trying to decide her next move. "Jack, if you don't go get changed she will get your uniform wet," she added biting her lower lip. "And figured that I actually could live without tantrums," Jack chuckled, Naysa never did that kind of things.

"I'll be right back, and then we can read something," Jack winked at Naysa before turning around.

Sam walked to the tub and grabbed their girl surrounding her with a towel, and walking out of the bathroom and to the room that now was ready for her. They had bought all the things Naysa would need and then they had moved the old bed in the spare room they never used while they painted and arranged the room that became Naysa's. Now, it was painted in a tea like shade, and the ceiling was dark and covered with shiny stars. After placing Naysa in her bed, Sam prepared her for bed and soon, she was comfortably laying waiting for Jack.

"Are we ready?" He asked

"Story time!" Naysa nodded eagerly.

"What should we read?"

"Quantum…" she tried the word

"Physics…" Jack provided shaking his head. "That we get from leaving mommy to get your books," he added with a smile, and Naysa chuckled. "Really, where did you find something like this?" He asked showing her the Quantum Physics for babies book.

"The same place I got the other ones," she shrugged. "It's amazing the number of things you can find online."

"Yeah, remind me again not to leave the credit card when you are on the internet shopping."

"Mommy!" Naysa complained pointing to the book. Apparently, Sam was distracting Jack.

"Sorry! Good night Doc," she added kissing her forehead. And then she did the same with Jack to Naysa's amusement.

"Where are you going?" Jack frowned.

"Someone needs to clean the mess the little fish left behind," Sam added pointing towards the bathroom.

"Ah," Jack nodded knowingly. "This is a …" Jack started

"Ball!" Naysa excitedly added as Jack began to move through the pages. When Sam entered the room again, Naysa's eyes were lingering heavily open. Probably wanting to be awake to spend the most time she could with her daddy.

"Sleep Doc," Jack joked touching her nose with his finger, her little eyes following the movement. "I love you, Doc."

"Love you, Doc," Naysa added softly. He chuckled, he had given her the monicker when Sam showed them little scientists series. Naysa jumped up and down terribly excited with the perspective of new reading books and Jack joked telling them he was sure they would have another Doc home. Sam had chuckled and messed Naysa's hair. 'Yeah, our own little doc,' she added, and since then, the name had stuck.

He caressed her for a bit longer until she finally gave up and fell asleep. Sam's heart filled with joy and love, and she felt overwhelmed by emotions. He looked at her and then he moved from his position beside Naysa and towards her, making sure their girl continued asleep. He placed a soft kiss on her lips before smiling lopsidedly. She smiled back and sighed. He nodded towards the corridor, and they walked out.

"I was waiting for you to have dinner," Sam added, somehow making that comment a question.

"Good, I'm starving," he affirmed.

They walked down and once in the kitchen; she started to move around until he stopped her placing her between him and the counter and kissed her as if his life depended on it. And she not only allowed him but welcomed it. "Hi," he whispered when the need for air became overwhelming, her lips swollen and moist.

"Hey," she whispered back. "How was your day?" She asked, and she felt the moment his demeanor changed. "That bad?"

"Huh? No, it wasn't a bad day at all. It's just… I've missed you guys," he confessed feeling a bit childish. She pressed his arm.

"It's okay to feel, Jack. You know that."

"Yeah, not used to express emotions like this and you know it," he grimaced.

"And that's why we are all stuck with a psychotherapist. And we are all on a diet and all the other things we are doing as a family," she smiled.

"I know, I'm not complaining," she raised her eyebrow making him sigh. "It's hard," he affirmed placing his forehead on hers.

"Yeah," she bit her lower lip

"It goes both ways, you know? You need to let things out too," he whispered to her.

"I missed you, and I don't like that we are all subjected to this stuff because I'm unable to deal with myself."

"Hey, as you said it yourself, we are doing this as a family and truth to be told, I wouldn't do it with any one else." He smiled, "Come on, Sam. We need to give it a try; two sessions won't define what we are, nor will make us weak."

"I know," she huffed. "It's just that… I hate shrinks; you hate shrinks, why are we doing this to ourselves?"

"For Naysa, she deserves a loving, doting family and one that's sane enough to sleep through the night and eat whatever it wants. We both know we have our burdens and it's time we learn to let them go."

"You sound like Daniel," she smiled.

"Hey, you sound like Daniel when you are trying to do the convincing about this. I'm just reusing your technique." She chuckled. "Hey, if it's for the better, we can do it. It's just we should keep the eyes on the goal."

"A happy, loving, doting family for Naysa." Sam commented, and Jack nodded, "what about for you? Or for me?" she bit her lower lip.

"Sam, I will always love you. Time, distance and all those little pesky things like going to shrinks, won't avoid me to love you as you are. I care for you; I need you to be okay, I need you." She nodded, her eyes filled with tears and biting her lip to avoid the gaps that wanted to be left out. She wanted to say something, anything but words were not there, and she couldn't express what she was feeling, the internal conflict too much to be won. "Don't say a thing, I know."

He embraced her, and he felt her tighten her embrace as the tears she was holding found a way out to his neck. He stood there caressing her back until he felt her stop. Her stomach grumbled.

"So, what about that dinner?" He asked when his followed suit. She laughed.

"Chicken with vegetables," she told him sighing, it wasn't just one of the few things she could keep in but one of the few she could cook without becoming sick by the smell. The doctor told her that her body had forgotten the way to process certain foods and it would be a long way before she could eat and cook everything she used to prepare. She could handle other foods if she weren't the one cooking, to which Jack laughed, telling her she just wanted someone else to do the work.

"Just what I wanted to eat," he told her bringing her back from wherever she was. "So, I found out that it's extremely hard to leave your kid to go to work. I don't know how other parents do it, but it drove me crazy. I spent most of the meetings thinking how you both were and all the things I might be missing. And then, I remembered I lost one episode of Sid!" She gasped, "Outrageous! I know, the world might end," she laughed.

"I saved it for you," she told him.

"Ah, so you did miss me," his eyes softened.

"Yes, and Naysa did too. She wanted to go with daddy, and she wanted to play with daddy. And I got to learn that, even for a girl as quiet as she is, she can be impossibly loud when landing a tantrum."

"Oh? She has never done that since I met her. How did that happen?" He asked concerned.

"Well, apparently your bump of sand is better than my bump of sand," she explained with a shrug.

"Bump of Sand! It was an awesome castle!" He added outrageously.

"Yeah… sure…" she trailed with a knowing smile, remembering his 'castle.'

"Okay, maybe not a castle. But a landing surface for alien ships," Jack grinned.

"All I know," she added after chuckling a bit, "Is that she didn't like mine and she started to cry and hit the sand with her tiny hands, and scream. Now I agree with the Doc; she has very well developed lungs. And she was there kicking and punching and screaming, and for a moment, I wanted to hit the sand too."

"But you didn't." He affirmed.

"I barely managed not to. She was never like this, I guess is the lack of children of her age and the fact that she had you for a month available 24/7 and now she has to get used to seeing you on limited time."

"I can't wait for Saturday," he confessed, "getting to spend a whole day with my girls is what will make me go through this week."

"Well, we do have an appointment with the psych on Wednesday. So you will be able to spend some more time with us."

"That's different," he added pointedly. "That's under supervision."

"Yeah, I know. But it is an escape of sorts during the week. "

"Anything else beyond the tantrum?" He asked

"Nope, what about you? Did you managed to pay attention to a part of the meetings at least?"

"Well, I told Amelia to cancel a few of those for tomorrow. I have no idea what most of today's were about. But there's no rush; they need my approval for everything. And as I will get an official report, I will have to read it to make it up for today." She reached over and placed her hand on his forehead with a worried frown. "What?"

"I was just checking you aren't sick. I mean, the idea of you reading reports…" She trailed, and he rolled his eyes.

"Oh, well," he sighed. "This is what you get when you marry one of the most prominent minds of your country."