"I'll only be gone a few hours, I hope," Lindsay said, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"I know."

"You can call me if-"

"I'm not calling you."

"Adam, just… humor me okay?"

"Babe, we're going to be just fine. I promise."

"I know. I'm not worried about you guys. This is just the first time I've been away from him."

He nodded as Lindsay stooped down and gently stroked Colton's cheek. He would never cease to be fascinated at the love that radiated from her eyes every time she looked at their son, would never tire of watching them together.

"You'll be fine, honey. You need to get out of this place for a bit anyway, and I bet he sleeps the whole time."

"Okay."

"Go and take care of business and then we'll take you out to dinner."

"Alright."

He helped her into her coat, then grabbed her shaking hands, squeezing them gently.

"It's gonna be okay."

She smiled and nodded, looking up into his eyes until she captured the calm.

"I know. I love you."

"Love you too. We'll be here when you get back."

He kissed her gently and then she was gone, leaving the boys alone.

"Well buddy, what do you think? Wanna watch me play Mario?"

Colton gave no answer but to blow a spit bubble and kick his leg a little before flopping it down on the couch.

"Looks like it's time for you to have a nap. We can channel surf for a while. That usually puts your mama to sleep."

He reached down and carefully lifted the baby up, cradling him against his chest, then laying down across the couch. Flipping through the channels slowly, he yawned in response to Colton's small snores. He loved his days off purely for moments like this where he just got to be the dad and that was it. No one asked him questions, there was no trace to process, no computers to search, no DNA to analyze. It was just him and Colton.

Christmas was coming, in two days to be exact, and they had yet to even go shopping. It wasn't that they were being grinches, but everything had just been in such a whirlwind lately, they hadn't had time to think about it.

Lindsay was doing a lot better now, her smile truly bright. She talked to him every day about how she was feeling and what she was thinking and that had seemed to help her. She was visiting her doctor today, just for peace of mind, but he was sure everything was going to be okay soon. It wasn't so much the baby blues or depression as it was her fear of letting her walls down. That was something that she was going to have to keep working on. She'd made immense progress in the last few years, he knew that for a fact. Her mom claimed it was because of him, but he knew better.

Over an hour passed while he watched TV, the volume down low and his mind working at a comfortably lazy pace. Colton started to squirm, then let out a squawk of hunger.

"Okay buddy, let's go."

He stood up and went to the kitchen, grabbing a pot out of the cupboard and filling it with water before setting it on the stove.

"You're lucky your mama plans ahead," he commented, taking a bottle and setting it in the pot. It really didn't take long to warm the bottle, and Colton hadn't even gotten to full blown crying by the time it was done.

"Okay, here we go. Sustenance."

He sat down on the couch and found a comfortable position, then offered Colton the bottle. He took it hungrily, snorting and sniffling and really sounding like a little piglet as he ate. Adam chuckled, amazed and how quickly the bottle was gone.

"That's my boy," he said, setting the empty bottle down and grabbing a rag to wipe Colton's face. "Time to burp and see if you can beat your record this time. Just don't tell mama that I encouraged this behavior. She'll tan my hide."

He could have sworn that the look Colton gave him before he burped was conspiratorial, but he had no witnesses, so he would just have to hope it happened again.

"You're going to lapse into a milk coma, aren't you? Mind if I join you in that pursuit? I knew you wouldn't mind."

They stretched out on the couch once again, Adam dropping a kiss onto Colton's head.

"I love you, little man."

That is how Lindsay found them when she came home a few hours later. She crouched down by the couch and smiled, running her fingers through Adam's hair and down his cheek. Out of the millions of people in the world, the billions of moments, the trillions of pieces of happenstance, they had found each other. Love had been such an amorphous thing, something that happened to other people, something that everyone else got to experience and enjoy. It had never come close to happening to her. And then she met him. And maybe the wait was actually good for her. Now she appreciated him more than she ever would have before. Now the simplicity of life took her breath away. Now she looked at him and could nearly cry tears of joy for her good fortune.

"Hey honey," Adam said as he woke up. "How'd it go?"

"Good," she answered with a nod. "I listened to Jimmy Eat World on the way home."

"That's my girl. Wanna squeeze on up here and tell me about it?"

She nodded and they rearranged themselves into a semi-comfortable, but completely on the couch position. Colton grunted his disapproval at the movement, but settled down after a moment.

"She said that she doesn't think it's post-partum depression specifically, but she thinks there's a possibility of it turning into that. But she also said that since talking about it has helped so much she wants me to meet with her once a week for a while. I told her everything about the depression and the pills and… just everything. She's the first person I've said all that to besides you."

"Was it hard?"

"Not really. It still frustrates me though; that I don't know what started it. I don't know why I can remember being depressed at seven years old. I don't know why I felt it again when I was thirteen. If I could pinpoint it all back to that night, it would make sense. I could deal with it because I would know what it was."

"You live your life scared."

"I know. And I think that I never really dealt with that. After what happened I went to therapy what, three times? That's not anything. So I just let it go. And now that I'm finally in such a good place, I'm finally relaxed enough that it can creep back in."

"So you're too happy?"

She grinned wryly.

"Maybe. But it's not going to get me this time. I'm not going to close off and shut down like I used to do. And it's your job to make sure, okay?"

"Deal. So what's the plan? You're going to meet with her once a week?"

"For now. She said she doesn't want to put me on any medication because of what it's done to me before."

"That's probably good. I'm proud of you, you know."

"Thanks."

"We're all going to be just fine."

"Yeah, we are. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but you said something about going out to dinner?"

"Yes I did. Let me go shower and then we can go."

"I'd better feed the kid or he's going to make a scene."

"Race ya!"

She rolled her eyes and sat up, taking Colton from him.

"Your daddy is crazy."

"Your mama is crazier," Adam added.

"How do you figure?"

"You married me."

"You must have hypnotized me or something."

"Yeah, that was it. I'll be done in a while."

He dropped a kiss onto her head, then made his way into the other room.

"Hey, teeny little super guy," Lindsay said as Colton made his hungry face and began grunting for food. "I wanna have a talk with you."

She wrapped the blanket around him and situated them until he was comfortable.

"I'm not really sure what's going on with me, son. But I want you to know that I'm going to be okay. And it's not your fault. I want to be the best mama that I can, but it looks like I'm going to need a little help for a while. I promise you, Colton, I'm going to get better."

He grabbed onto her finger as if he understood, then gave her a little impish grin. She smiled back and took advantage of the connection and the eye contact, running her thumb over his fingers.

"I love you so much I can hardly stand it," she said with a little smile. "I'm always going to love you, no matter what. Because you're mine."