Fifteen minutes after she woke up, she already felt like it had been a long day. Traffic was horrible and she couldn't have coffee and crouching down at crime scenes to take pictures or gather trace was getting so difficult that she had to have someone help her up. No one ever said pregnancy was dignified, and had she not been partners with Danny so long her inabilities would have been embarrassing. As it stood, she was just annoyed. It was even getting hard to get close enough to the tables in the lab to look through the microscopes.

Sleep was nearly non-existent, and her emotions were all over the place. She'd been getting upset over the dumbest things, raising her voice to Adam and Colton almost without reason and then crying with guilt later. Adam had been so understanding, never fighting back, just reaching out and hugging her until she leveled out.

But from morning until night, she could feel her nerves sizzling and with over a month left to go, she was almost frantic to be done being pregnant. She tried so hard not to be despondent, to not complain about the aches and discomforts and to enjoy this time because it would end and she would miss it. But she wanted to hold the baby in her arms, see how their family would change with the addition of another child. Colton was excited beyond belief, constantly asking her when the baby was coming and why they had to wait so long and telling her all the things he wanted to do when he was a big brother. Adam was nearly on the edge of his seat, unable to wait just a few more weeks, less nervous now than the first time because he knew better what to expect. She wondered if they were really ready, forgetting all the difficulties in the wake of anticipation. She was certain they could handle it, and could only see happiness from here on out.

Sighing, she leaned against the elevator wall, two bags of groceries in one hand and her keys in the other. She'd just stopped into the bodega for paper towels, but had made the mistake of calling Adam to ask if they needed anything else. He'd given her a random list that didn't seem to track with the one she had written on the pad in the kitchen, but she was too tired to argue. Nearly thirty dollars later, she was almost home and could think of nothing but a hot bubble bath and going to bed early.

"I'm home," she called, dropping the bags on the table. She could hear giggling from Colton's room and she went in that direction, finding the boys playing with the bowling set.

"Strike!" Colton hollered as he knocked down all the alien pins. "I save the world daddy!"

"Yes you did."

"Mama! You see me do?"

"I did see. You're a better bowler than I'll ever be."

"You have good day?"

"Well, it was okay. Mama needs chocolate."

His face lit up and he jumped up and down happily."

"Daddy maked brownies! It's chocklit!"

"That's why daddy is the best," she smiled as Adam crossed the room to her.

"You didn't see it, did you?" he asked, a mischievous grin on his face as he kissed her.

"See what?"

"I got you something. It's in the other room."

"What is it?"

"You'll have to find it."

"I know, mama! It's a-"

Adam clapped his hand over Colton's mouth before he could give the surprise away.

"Don't tell her, she's gotta go see it."

"Okay."

"Should I be worried?"

"Nope."

Casting him a sidelong glance she went back into the front room, stopping in her tracks halfway there.

"Adam. How did you… what did you… when…"

She couldn't find the words as she stared at the piano sitting in the corner of the room. She'd mentioned once or twice that she wanted to play again, but they had never had room before.

"We went antiquing last week," he answered.

"I find it, mama," Colton said proudly, walking over and pulling the bench out.

"It's beautiful," she said, loving the faded white paint and the distressed wood and the little chip in the corner and the one key that was missing its white veneer. She ran her fingers across the keys, imagining how many hundreds of other fingers had done just the same, creating countless pieces of music over the years.

"Do you like it?" Adam asked hesitantly.

"It's perfect. It's exactly the one I would have picked. How did you know?"

"It just seemed like you. It needs to be tuned and cleaned, but I've got a guy coming tomorrow morning to do all that."

"Why did you do this?" she asked, her eyes filling with tears.

"Because. Everything's been so hard lately and you've been tired and miserable and I just wanted to give you something to help. I know it doesn't make your back hurt less or make time speed up, but I still think you needed this."

Her arms flew around him and she kissed him as tears ran down her face.

"You're amazing."

"You deserve it."

"I think the bag of sugar likes it too," she said as the baby rolled over and gave her several gentle kicks.

"Maybe we've got a musician floating around in there," he said, running his hand over her stomach.

"Maybe so."

"Mama, you play music?" Colton asked, pointing at the keys.

"I don't know if it will sound very good," she said, joining him on the bench and playing a simple scale.

"Again, do it again!"

She grinned and played the few notes again, finding that the piano wasn't as out of tune as it could have been, not even enough to offend her musical sensibilities.

"You play a song mama," he suggested. She could tell he wanted badly to touch the keys himself, so she pulled him into her lap and put his hands on the appropriate keys with hers over the top. It took a moment to find their rhythm, but they finally eeked out a decent version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

"It fun. More. Daddy too."

Adam sat down with them and played the one simple song that still stuck in his mind from his piano lessons over twenty years before.

"Again daddy."

He played it once more, noticing that Lindsay was plunking out the harmony on the other end of the board. He looked over at her and winked, and she grinned.

"'Nother one!"

"He's a fan of live music."

"I guess."

"Play somethin' else Linds."

She bit her lip and stared at the keys for a moment before her fingers flew across them, recreating a sonata from memory. It was a simple one, but she still tapped it out on a flat surface whenever she happened to hear it.

"What was that?" Adam asked when she had finished.

"Mozart. Though I couldn't tell you which one."

"The baby dancin'," Colton reported happily. "For mama's music."

Adam placed his hand on the other side of her stomach as she started to play again. The baby surely was doing dance like motions, as much as it could in such a space. It was so simple, all of them sitting there together, the music floating around them peacefully. For a moment she forgot the pain in her joints, the exhaustion, the aches, the worries, and she melted into the symphony they were creating.