"Did you know it's like giving the middle finger to point the bottom of your foot at someone in some Middle Eastern countries?" Jo asked as the GCMS began its scan.

"Did you know that when bats exit a cave at night, they always turn to the left?" Adam countered.

"Did you know that in the southern hemisphere the crown of someone's head will make their hair grow the opposite direction that it does here?"

"Did you know that American Airlines saved forty thousand dollars in 1987 by eliminating one olive out of their salads?"

"Did you know that there are coffee flavored PEZ?"

"Don't you dare tell Lindsay, she'll make me find her some."

"She's still in withdrawls, huh?"

"Yeah. Lots of coffee flavored ice-cream has been consumed on the premises."

"Did she go cold turkey?"

"Yeah. The first time she had a little here and there, but this time she had a cup and Ben was up for hours, so she cut out all caffeine. Even the stuff in chocolate. It's been a rough couple weeks for her."

"And for you I would guess."

"It's not so bad. Mostly she's just tired, but she'd be tired with the caffeine anyway."

"More than likely. Is this thing almost done?"

"It's slow today. We need a new one."

"We're never going to be able to afford it."

"We'd have to all start selling our organs."

"I'm kinda fond of my kidneys."

Adam chuckled and spun around in his chair, going back to the computer to see if the results were up from his search in AFIS. He knew the prints were probably too partial for a match, but running a search couldn't hurt.

"Anything?"

"Not so far. I hate days like this."

"You mean when the case isn't blown wide open for you in the first hour?"

"You're mocking me, aren't you?"

"You are a sad, strange little man."

"I can deal with that," he chuckled as the computer finished its search and came up with no matches. "This however…"

"It's not the results that bug you, it's having to wait."

"I have a short attention span."

"No, really?"

"Anyone else I would tell them to shut up."

"I try to be charming."

"You're a problem."

"Don't tell Mac, he already thinks that, he doesn't need confirmation."

"No problem," he promised with a nod as his cell phone rang. "Hello?"

"Adam, can you come home?"

"Babe, what's the matter?" he asked, his radar on high alert from the tone of her voice.

"Please just come home?"

"You gotta tell me what the problem is."

"Benjamin won't stop crying. I've done everything and he won't stop. Can't you hear that?"

"Yeah, I can hear him. Honey, why don't you just go put him down in the other room and let him cry it out for a while and I'll be home in a few hours."

"I tried that. He's been crying for four hours and I can't handle it anymore. I need you to come home. Please?"

"Hon, I can't come home right now. Can you call Faye and see if she'll come over and give you a hand?"

"I'm bad at this, Adam."

"No you're not, sweetie. It's just a bad day."

"I can't do it," she sniffled, causing him to want to cry too.

"Lindsay, you can do it. You are doing it. You're just really tired and he's cranky and you're overwhelmed."

"He's never cried like this before. I don't know what to do."

"Honey, go lay him down and close the door. He'll be just fine by himself while you calm down."

"Am I failing?"

"No babe, absolutely not. It's just not a good day. You're just fine."

"I can't make him better."

"It's okay sweetie. Just take a deep breath and you'll be okay."

"Alright."

"I'll be home as soon as I can."

"When is that?"

"I'm off in two hours. Just hang on."

"Okay."

"I love you."

"I love you too. Bye."

He hung up and rubbed his eyes, sighing and wishing Ben would stop crying, just for a little while.

"Is everything alright?" Jo asked, chewing on the end of her pen.

"Yeah, Ben's just got some colic it seems. Linds feels like if she can't get him to calm down then it's her fault."

"It's not her fault at all."

"I know. She just wants it to be perfect and when it's not… I don't know, she's just having a rough time this go-around."

"Last time was easy?"

"For all intents and purposes, we got spoiled with the easiest baby on the planet. And we thought Ben would be the same, but he's had some issues the last few days."

"Why don't you go home?"

"Nah, if I go home, as much as she's begging me, she's going to think that I think she can't handle it. And I know she can, she just needs to have a pep talk here and there. If she calls back then I know she really does need me."

"You've got her figured out, don't you?"

"Well it is kind of my job."

"I wish my husband would have paid that much attention to me. I would have been less likely to throw that cookie jar at him."

"A cookie jar?"

"It was right there," she shrugged. "He deserved it."

"Remind me to never get on your bad side."

When Adam came home a few hours later, he could immediately hear that Ben was still crying. It seemed that Lindsay had taken his advice and put him in the other room for a while. She was laying on the couch, looking very sad and tired while Colton played on the floor.

"Hey sweetie."

"Hi."

"Hasn't stopped?"

"No. He won't even slow down enough to eat, so he hasn't nursed all day and I don't know what to do for him."

"I've got an idea."

"You do?" she asked, her demeanor totally changing as she sat up and wiped her own tears away.

"You go ahead and get ready to go outside okay?"

"Outside?"

"Jo told me that when Tyler was colicky, fresh air helped."

"It's cold out."

"We'll bundle him up. Colton, wanna go outside and go for a walk?"

"Yeah!"

He jumped up off the floor and grabbed his coat off the hook by the door, then brought Lindsay his snow boots.

"Put 'em on me, mama. We go out."

She smiled and obliged while Adam got up and went into the other room for Ben.

"I love outside," Colton said, playing with the zipper on his coat.

"I know, me too," Lindsay agreed, helping him to his feet and then pulling him into her lap. "Thank you for being such a good helper today."

"You welcome, mama."

"I'm sorry I didn't play with you very much."

"It okay, you have hard time. Ben bein' trouble."

"It's not his fault though."

"No, he just a little baby. Daddy home now, he make it better."

"Yeah, I think so too."

"You not cry more, mama," he said, reaching up and running his finger over the tear tracks on her cheek. "It okay now."

"Thank you, buddy."

They stood up from the couch and she pulled her coat on, noting that Ben's crying was a lot quieter than it had been. Either Adam was a miracle worker or he had finally cried himself out. At first she had just been frustrated with not knowing what to do. And then the sound had become too much, the constant whining and screeching and she could feel herself becoming frustrated with him instead of the situation. They were going to have to figure something out because she wasn't sure she could do this every day.

"Alright, I think we're warm enough over here," Adam said, bringing a bundled baby into the room. "Linds, you want to wear him or should I?"

She smirked as he dangled the baby sling in front of her, and as frustrated as she had been, she knew she needed that closeness to Ben again. Even if he was still crying.

It wasn't until he was securely slinged up against her that he started to calm, at least a little. The cries became less screechy and managed to hit a volume and pitch that didn't make her want to pull her hair out.

"Daddy, I ride on your shoulders okay?"

"Yeah, you can, let's wait until we get outside."

"Whuddup!" he hollered excitedly, jumping up and down. "Let's go!"

"He is so your child," Lindsay snickered, bouncing Ben gently.

"Are you making fun of his zest for life?"

"No, actually I'm glad he has it."

They made their way outside and Adam put Colton on his shoulders as they walked slowly around the block.

"You doin' okay babe?"

She smiled and gave him a little nod.

"I think I just needed to get out of the house too."

"And what about like… in general. You're okay?"

"Yeah. I've been watching for it," she said, not wanting to give a name to her struggles. "I haven't had any of the feelings I had before. But you'll know if I do."

"Deal. Hey, since we're out, do you wanna grab a pizza for dinner?"

"Yeah, sure."

"What was that look about?"

"Nothing, I just had a flashback to when we were dating and grabbing a pizza was so… normal. We don't do it very often now."

"We're more grown up with more refined palates."

"That or we've finally realized how expensive it is to order out all the time."

"Hmm, that could be. Extra pepperoni?"

"Do you even have to ask?"

Evening found them on the couch, Colton asleep across their laps, Lindsay rocking Ben's swing with her foot. The news was playing but it was in one ear and out the other as the hour got later and eyelids got heavier. Lindsay was dreading the next day, crossing mental fingers that Ben would be alright and the crying would be at a minimum. She knew she would be fine, but she hated to see him so upset. She wanted to do some research, see if it was colic, but she was afraid that it might be and she would have to resign herself to weeks of this. She hated the fact that she had begged Adam to come home early, like she couldn't do it herself. But of course he understood, understood better than she did, and didn't think she was incapable at all. Sometimes she thought that he was better suited to stay home with the kids while she went to work. He had far more patience and wherewithal to deal with the wrenches that seemed to get thrown into the works. Of course, he said the same thing about her, crediting her mothering instincts and downplaying his own abilities.

She supposed it was just the stress of the day that was making her question these things, so she put it out of her mind, yawning and resting her head on Adam's shoulder.

"Time to put the boys to bed?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Looks like someone's waking up," he said as Ben started to stir.

"I'll deal with that one, you deal with this one."

"Deal. I'll meet you back here and we'll share popcorn and watch Craig Ferguson?"

"Absolutely."

He stood up and brought Ben to her, then took Colton into the other room.

"Alright Benjamin, are you hungry?" she asked, offering her finger to him. He sucked on it greedily, then looked up at her as he realized it wasn't exactly what he wanted.

"Oh cruel betrayal," she said, running her hand over his head once he had calmed down enough to eat. "I'm sorry you had such a bad day. I guess we weren't seeing eye to eye, were we?"

He looked up at her and she swore she saw a mischievous grin, as if he had just won the upper hand in some kind of pseudo battle they had going. She smiled back and stroked his cheek, all thoughts of the day falling out of her head as she watched at him, looked at him, learned him. People were right, he did look more like her. She could see bits of Adam too, but he was definitely more like his mama. The fact delighted her and she dropped a kiss to his forehead. His arm waved in the air and then dropped down to her collarbone while he took a little breathing break.

"I love you, Benjamin. Do you know that? Who am I kidding, of course you know that. At least you look at me like you know it."

His eyelashes rested on his cheeks as he gave in to sleep, his hand falling from where it had been. She caught it in hers, pressing gentle kisses to his palm before adjusting her shirt and sitting him up to burp him. He wasn't thrilled with the movements and gave her a look to make sure she knew just how much he disapproved. She just gave him a smile and wrapped him in his blankets before taking him in the other room and placing him in the bassinet. He stretched and settled in, and she rocked it gently for a moment before going back out to the couch.

"Are you sure you wanna stay up, babe? You look wiped out."

"I'll go to bed in a little while," she said, pulling her legs up under her and snuggling against his side.

"I didn't burn the popcorn," he said, tipping the bowl towards her. She grinned and took a few pieces.

"Thanks hon."

"I'm proud of the way you handled things today."

"I didn't handle anything, Adam," she said with a sigh. "I just gave up and let him cry."

"You didn't give up, Linds. You needed some sanity and you holding him wasn't working so you had to put him down."

"But that didn't work either."

"You felt a little better didn't you?"

"A tiny bit. But I didn't fix him."

"There was nothing to fix. He was just crying. I'm not trying to belittle your frustration here honey, but I don't want you to beat yourself up over something that you don't have control over."

She just sighed.

"It's like when you have nightmares. No matter how tight I hold you and no matter how safe you feel before you go to sleep, I can't keep them from coming. Does that make me a bad husband?"

"Not at all."

"Then you're not a bad mother."

"Thank you."

"I knew you'd respond to logic."

She smiled and suddenly felt better as if he had removed every doubt from her mind merely with words.

"You're so good to me."

"Well I love you. And I might be trying to butter you up a bit."

"What do you want?" she asked, sleepily nuzzling his chest.

"Street hockey on Saturday."

"Will it be warm enough?"

"Yeah."

"And you won't go if we get snow?"

"I won't."

"You'll come home in one piece?"

"Yes."

"You won't let any pucks by?"

"I'll try."

"Okay."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. You need to relax too. Working all day takes a lot out of you and then when you come home you don't even just sit and play video games. You haven't gone in awhile. You need some time off."

"For real?"

"Yes."

"You gonna come watch?"

"Nope."

"Are you ever going to come watch?"

"I did that one time."

"Four years ago and you've never been back."

"You're the only fun thing to look at."

"You really hate hockey, don't you?"

"There's nothing wrong with it, it's just not my speed. Maybe when the weather gets warmer."

"I'm holding you to that."

"Alright."

"You're not going to make it through the opening monologue are you?"

"Nope."

"Can I put you to bed or do you wanna stay out here?"

"Right here."

"Good. I gotcha where I wantcha."

She grinned and wrapped her arms around him before drifting easily into a quiet sleep.