A/N: I am in love with season 7. Hard love. Insane. Cannot wait for more.

Lindsay slid into her coat, taking deep breaths to fight off the tears that were so close to falling down her cheeks. Eight weeks had gone by too fast and she was nowhere near ready to go back to work. Staying home and spending the day in her pajamas, playing with Colton and maybe taking a warm bundled up walk in the afternoon sounded much more appealing than going to work and processing evidence for eight hours. Adam had the day off, so she didn't have any worries about leaving Colton with a stranger, but it was still a long time to be away from him.

"You takin' off?" Adam asked, coming out of the kitchen with a bowl of cereal.

"I don't know. Explain to me again why we can't make it on just your salary."

"Student loans and living in the city."

"Oh that."

"Hey."

"Yeah?"

"It's one shift. It'll go by really fast and you'll be busy and then you'll get to come home."

"I know. I don't think I'm ready yet."

"Yes you are. Honey, you need to go back to work; you're going stir crazy."

"I know. I wish I could just…"

"I do not dig splitting you down the middle," he said, running his finger down her stomach and taking her hand.

"Can I wait another week?" she asked, looking over at Colton who was laying on the floor, blowing spit bubbles and watching the cats play.

"I'm sorry, honey. I wish that I made more money so you could stay home. I really-"

"Adam, it's not your fault. It's life. And I do need to work. I just need to go and find my rhythm again."

"C'mere."

She sat down and he pulled her into his arms, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"I'm proud of you, sweetie. I know this is hard, but you are an amazing mommy. You can do this. And he's still going to be a little boy when you get home tonight."

"I know."

"You better get going."

She sighed and nodded, kissing him before she stood up from the couch and walked over to crouch next to Colton. He grinned when he saw her, gurgling and waving his hand. She smiled sadly and kissed his cheek.

"I'll be back in a while, okay buddy?"

He frowned and wrinkled his forehead.

"I know you don't know what I'm talking about, but if you cry right now this mama is going to be a blubbering mess."

She picked him up and cuddled him for a moment before standing up.

"Alright buddy, go see your daddy and I'll see you later."

She wanted to stand and hold him forever, but she had to get out of there quickly if she was going to get out of there at all. One last kiss for each of them and she was out the door.

"Hey kiddo!" Stella greeted, meeting Lindsay as she stepped off the elevator. "First day back. How do you feel?"

"Overwhelmed."

"Prefect frame of mind for getting some paperwork done."

"Paperwork? Are you kidding?"

"Not in the least. Shouldn't take you that long. At least that's what Mac said when he plopped this stack in my hands, cackling with delight because he won our little bet and I had to be the bearer of the bad news."

"You're getting a lot of joy out of this."

"Too much?"

"Just a wee bit."

"I'm glad you're back Linds. Wanna have lunch later?"

"Sounds good. If you can unbury me from this paperwork around noon, that would be great."

"I'll be there."

Lindsay gave a wry grin and took the stack of paperwork, figuring her first stop was going to be the office. She flicked on the light and just stood there, her jaw nearly on the floor. She'd been expecting the office to be a total disaster area, but it looked like Danny had cleaned up. Or hired every maid in the city to clean it up. Even the pictures on their desks had been dusted.

"I'm so glad you're back Linds," Danny said, coming into the room behind her. "Do you know how hard it is to clean up after me?"

"I am aware," she chuckled, dropping the stack of papers on the desk. "Hey partner, any chance of you helping me with this paperwork?"

"Nada. We gotta go."

"We do?"

"We got a scene to process. Grab that kit Montana, we're goin' for a ride."

"Would you look at me weird if I clapped my hands?"

"I always look at you weird."

"That's because you just don't get it."

"I don't think I wanna. C'mon, you can drive."

"Aw Danny, you really did miss me."

"Yeah, but only because everyone else here sucks at paper football. I mean God love my wife, but Austin can't flick a paper football the length of a ruler."

"The length of a ruler huh?"

"It's a sad thing to watch."

"I'm sorry, but the length of a ruler?" she asked, checking her kit.

"Thanks for pointin' that out Madame Curie."

"Danny?"

"Yeah?"

"You drive me nuts."

"That's what I'm here for," he said, giving her a friendly push. She grinned and they made their way out of the office and down to the parking garage.

"So I really get to drive?"

"Yep. Got your iPod?"

"What do you think?"

"Linkin Park?"

"Don't tell Adam."

"Don't tell Austin."

Grinning conspiratorially, they got into the car and he gave her the address of the crime scene.

"You don't really want to be back, do you?" Danny asked.

"I do. And I don't."

"Complicated emotions."

"Something like that. And what about you? You're getting pretty close to being a dad. Are you freaking out?"

"Only about once a day."

"Sounds about right."

Her phone rang and he grabbed it out of the cupholder.

"It's Adam. Want me to answer it?"

"Yeah, but don't do that-"

"Hey sugarplum!"

"-cutesy voice."

"Danny, why are you answering my wife's phone?"

"She's drivin' and you and I both know how bad it would be if she was drivin' and talkin'."

"Very true," Adam agreed, despite Lindsay's "shut up Danny."

"You wanna talk to her, I can put you on speakerphone."

"You think you can figure out that kind of high end technology?"

"You got it Cupcake."

"Hey Adam," Lindsay greeted. "I hear screaming, is everything okay?"

"Well we had a little vomiting incident earlier and he's been a little cranky since then, but we're okay."

"And you're calling me because?"

"Remember yesterday when he was freaking out and you made that bottle and he went to sleep? What did you put in it?"

"Half a regular bottle and half a bottle made out of that disgusting Nutramigen crap that he puked into my mouth the other day. He probably has an upset stomach and it'll help."

"Okay, thanks."

"And if that doesn't work, turn on the vacuum cleaner. He likes that for some reason."

"Can I call you if he's still cranky later?"

"Yeah that's fine. It's almost time for his morning nap so he'll settle down in a while. Anything else?"

"Yeah, but I'll tell you later."

"Gotcha. Good luck hon."

"Bye."

She hung up the phone and looked over at Danny who seemed to have gotten a lot of amusement out of the conversation.

"What?"

"Puked in your mouth?"

"It'll happen to you, mark my words."

"You mix bottles like you mix chemicals."

"Hey, moments of desperation call for desperate measures. You just wait dude, you'll get yours."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"How do I deal with a cryin' baby and a hormonal wife and not wanna rip my hair out?"

"Well," she started, biting her bottom lip. "First off, you forget the word hormones. Yes, women react on hormones when they've just given birth. But to them it's not just hormones, and you have to treat it like it's real."

"Example."

"We had just brought Colton home from the hospital and I was changing his diaper and I missed a snap on his onesie. Not a big deal, easily fixed, but I kind of freaked out. I started thinking that I was a bad mother because I couldn't even snap his clothes right. Now Adam could have told me that I was being silly, or said that I was just hormonal. Instead he listened to what I was saying and realized it wasn't about the snaps. I may have been hormonal and bawling, but I was really trying to tell him that I was scared."

"So you're sayin' I've got to pay attention to what she's not saying'?"

"Exactly."

"So fatherhood is easy, it's being a husband that's the hard part."

"By George, I think he's got it."

"Hey, if I totally screw up, it's your job as Austin's best friend to talk her outta leavin' me."

"Deal."

It ended up being a long shift, eight hours that turned into ten. She was more than happy to go home when Mac suggested she leave, even though she still had work to do. She found herself a little slower than she had been before, but still knew what she was doing around the lab. Danny had been helpful, but still took every chance he got to make fun of her. She took it in stride of course, secretly loving that they could fall back into their natural pattern of irritating each other. He reminded her of her brothers, never giving her a chance to catch up before he slung another verbal arrow at her. She had the feeling he had been saving them up for weeks.

The elevator up to the apartment was particularly slow this evening and she sighed, tapping her fingers against the doors. She'd never wanted to get home more than she did right now. The elevator finally stopped and she walked down the hall to their door, opening it to find Adam on the couch with his laptop.

"Hey babe," he greeted with a smile.

"Hey. What are you doing?"

"The bills. So much easier now that you do everything online. It's only been ten minutes and I'm almost done."

"Thanks. I was dreading doing them all day long."

"It's not too bad. As long as you make sure I do them right, I'll do them all the time."

"I like that plan. Where's Colton?"

"Asleep in his crib. He's been out for a few hours so he might be ready to wake up again."

"I'm going to go check on him."

"Hey wait a sec," he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her down onto the couch. "How was work?"

"Same old, same old. My head was here all day though. Distracting."

"I know the feeling."

"I'll go back tomorrow and then I'll have five days to prepare for going back to work again."

"That is what they call a vicious circle."

"I'll deal."

"Okay. Go see your kid."

She smiled and stood up, walking into the small bedroom and over to the crib. Colton was just waking up, his eyes blinking in the semi-darkness.

"Hey buddy," she said, reaching down to pick him up. He smiled at the sound of her voice, waving his arms and cooing happily.

"Man, I missed you today. Did you have fun with your daddy?"

He burbled and stretched a little, grabbing onto the finger she offered him.

"Are you hungry now or do you think you can wait for me to change clothes?"

He just smiled, his grin getting bigger and bigger as he woke up more. She went into the bedroom and settled him against the pillows, changing her clothes quickly and picking him up again. He grunted and snorted, trying out different facial expressions and even giving her a little giggle.

"Are you going to tell me a story?" she asked. His noises got louder and his face more expressive, his eyes locking with hers as he tried to communicate. She leaned down and kissed his cheek, loving his attempts at talking. She wanted him to stay this little for a long time, but she also couldn't wait for him to grow up into his own person.

"Looks like you're not too hungry right now. Should we go join daddy and spend the night watching crappy movies? Yeah, I thought you'd be into that."

She took him out into the other room and they sat down on the couch. Adam wrapped his arms around them both, pressing a kiss to her hair.

"We missed mommy a lot today, didn't we bud?"

"It wasn't so bad, was it?"

"Not so much. But after I let him talk to you on the phone, he spent the next few hours looking around for you and crying."

"Oh."

"He'll get used to it. And you're here more than you're gone anyway. Stop feeling guilty."

"Alright."

"Besides, we had fun this morning."

"Oh yeah?"

"We tormented the cats with the laser pointer. Colton thinks it's hilarious."

"Well, he is your child."

"And we spent an hour vacuuming. It didn't calm him down. And my shoulders hurt."

"Aw. Want to exchange massages later?"

"I would never say no to that, even if I was gaga and drooling into a cup."

"It's a plan."

He smiled and she yawned, resting her head against his shoulder.

"You going to be okay to go back to work tomorrow?"

"Yeah. As long as I have this to come home to."