A/N: Sorry this one took me so long to write. I think it's the longest I have gone between chapters. I started this out one way and I really could have split it into two shorter chapters but I didn't and I am too lazy to do it now. There might be some fast forwarding going on in the future so hold on!

"Bedtime for bonzo's!" Adam announced flying a giggling Benjamin around the kitchen, making jet engine noises as they went. Lindsay chuckled as she watched them, shaking her head at the way her husband behaved just like a little kid.

"It's not bedtime, daddy," Colton said, grabbing onto Adam's legs and smiling up at him. "The clock says it's playing time still."

"Well it's two minutes to bedtime."

Colton placed his hands on his hips and did an almost perfect impression of Lindsay's "what in the world are you talking about" face.

"What do you mean, daddy?"

"I mean it's practically bedtime."

"What's that mean?"

"It means that it might as well be bedtime."

"But what's that mean?"

"Hey now listen here shorty," Adam started in his best cartoon character voice. "You gotta go to bed see, so you can grow big and strong and all those things, see? And besides, I wanna hang out with your mama and not have to share her, know what I mean?"

"Nope."

Adam sighed and looked over at Lindsay who just smirked and took Ben from him.

"All that negotiating and now it really is time for bed."

"Yeah see daddy, now the clock say eight zero zero."

"Oh well I guess you showed me."

"Yep, I did."

"You rugrat," Adam chuckled tossing Colton over his shoulder and heading into the boys room.

"I'm not a rugrat, I'm a Colton!"

"And a stinky, stinky one at that," he teased, dropping him on the bed and tickling him.

"Nu-uh daddy. I are not!"

"You are so."

They giggled and wrestled with each other for a few minutes while Lindsay sat in the rocking chair across the room, giving Ben his last feeding of the night. It made her into a huge pile of goo when she watched Adam with the boys, how gently he held them and how happy his eyes were. He was hands down the best daddy in the whole world.

"Time for a story, daddy. Can I have a big one?"

"I don't know. Maybe we should just pick one with our eyes closed."

"Um, can you read me Stone Soup? I like that one."

Adam retrieved the book and laid down with Colton, cracking it open and reading over the familiar words. Lindsay watched them with a grin, loving the way their eyebrows went up at the same parts in the story and how they gave each other knowing grins as the story progressed. They were so much alike sometimes that it was almost ridiculous.

"Daddy?"

"Yeah?"

"We can make some stone soup tomorrow?"

"Maybe not stone soup but mama might let us into the kitchen if we ask really, really nicely."

"Can we mama? Please?

Lindsay smiled and tucked Ben into his crib.

"We'll see. But for now it's time for bed."

"What is you guys gonna do?" he asked as they both leaned down to kiss him.

"Read the financial pages."

"Study geometry.

"The usual."

Colton sighed at them as Lindsay tucked the blankets around him.

"Night little dude."

"Night."

"We love you and we'll see you in the morning."

"M'kay."

They shut off the light and left the room, both sighing from exhaustion. They'd both worked today, overlapping shifts that included a lot of tiny bits of trace and hours upon hours in layout. They both really wanted to just climb into bed and sleep, but they had promised each other time together no matter how tired they were. So to the couch they went. Feet went up on the coffee table and the TV turned on as her head came to rest against his chest and his arms tucked her closer.

"You know what?" he asked after a second, playing with her hair.

"Hmm?"

"When you're sittin' in the lab glarin' at the computer because you can't find a match on prints… that's pretty hot."

She giggled and shook her head.

"What? It is!"

"I appreciate that."

"I mean, there's lots of things you do that are hot, but sometimes I think it would be better if we didn't work at the same time."

"Oh really?"

"Like when you're looking in the microscope and you wrinkle your nose. Or how you pace with your hands in your back pockets."

"Seriously?"

"Yes."

"This is good information. What else?"

"I dunno specifically. You're just cute."

"You're not so bad yourself, you know."

"Yeah, I know."

She smirked and shook her head before leaning up to kiss him.

"Sweetie, can I suggest something to you?" he asked after a second, running his finger lazily over her face. She closed her eyes and nodded.

"Before you say no, just hear me out, okay?"

"Okay."

"I want you to think about maybe going to that high school reunion."

She sighed and sat up, raking her hand through her hair.

"Adam, it's a stupid reunion. And I hated high school. You know why."

"I know why. I do, and believe me honey, I'm the last person to say you should dredge up the past. But I think it would be good for you to go."

"Why?"

"Because you need to face those people again. I know you said that things settled down after a while, it went back to normal. But I think you need to prove to yourself that it's all in the past."

"But why?" she asked again, wondering why he was so determined about this.

"I can't give you much more of an answer than that. I just think you should."

"I'll think about it," she said finally. "But I can't guarantee anything."

"Thank you sweetie."

"So you don't know why you want me to do this?"

"Call it intuition."

"I'd have to see Brian, you know."

"I thought you dated him in college."

"I did, but we knew each other in high school too."

"Would it bug you to see him?"

"Not really. It's just… all of that is supposed to be over. And you're right maybe I do need to be in that environment again when I'm happy but it just doesn't appeal to me. High school reunion? I'm not Romy or Michelle."

"Don't you wanna show us off?"

"Well… yeah."

"Think about it. Don't give me an answer now. I just figure since we're flying out there anyway, why not kill two birds with one stone?"

"Okay, we'll see. But you have to promise me something."

"What?"

"If we do this, you are not allowed to mock me for anything I might have done in high school, including but not limited to the Macarena."

"I never make fun of you for the Macarena even when you do it now."

She snickered and buried her face in his chest.

"We were trying to see if we remembered it."

"Oh you remembered it. You girls even had some hip action going. You were having way too much fun to call it just trying to remember."

"Shut up."

"Austin really moves you past the point of embarrassment doesn't she?"

"That's why I keep her around."

He chuckled and gave her a little squeeze, completely lost for words. Even after all these years, he couldn't believe someone so beautiful, so wonderful, so perfect had picked him.

"Hey babe?"

"Yeah?"

"I either need to go to bed or find something to eat so I can stay awake."

"You did toss and turn all night," he said, brushing her hair back. "Bad dreams?"

"Yeah, a few. It wasn't enough to wake you up for. I was okay."

"You're supposed to wake me up."

"I know. But they weren't even nightmares. More like the falling dream, you know? Like I was dropping one of the boys or you got hit by a car. And I woke up immediately, and I just thought that there was no use waking you up for something like that."

"I understand honey but… you know how fast this can get to you."

"I know. But it wasn't that. And I really am okay, I swear. I know that day is coming up and I know it's going to be hard but then I'll be alright. I promise, you'll know if I'm not."

"Okay. Now, what do you want to eat?"

"Ice-cream."

"You always want ice-cream," he chuckled, getting off the couch and walking into the kitchen.

"I require calcium."

"You require a lot of things my dear."

"And yet you keep coming back for more," she said, stretching and letting out a small yawn.

"The heart wants what the heart wants."

She chuckled as he came back and handed her a small cup of ice-cream. She glared.

"What in the world is this?"

"You never finish an entire bowl, so then you waste it and the next day complain that we're all out of ice-cream."

"You're head over heels in love with me."

He snorted and tweaked her nose.

"Yeah, I'm a sad case."

She grinned and they ate the ice-cream, setting their cups down on the coffee table and sighing.

"Hey sweetheart?"

"Yeah?"

He gave her a little grin and she moved into his arms while he laid back on the couch. Amid grunts and giggles they finally found a perfect position where she melted completely into him, closing her eyes and letting his warm hand tracing patterns over her back lull her into complete relaxation.

"Adam?"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you."

He didn't need to hear specifics, for she said it every night. She was thanking him for the day, for being beside her when she woke up for giving her hand that little squeeze before they parted ways, for listening to her troubles and trusting her with his own. For being a daddy to the boys, for being a good example of what a man should be. For holding her every evening and always kissing her goodnight.

"Did you ever think we'd be soccer moms, Linds?" Austin asked, rubbing sunscreen on Sarah's nose while watching Isa out of the corner of her eye and giving Junior his bottle with her free hand.

"No. At least not this early. But I can say that I don't think it's going to last long for me. Dude has his father's athletic skills," Lindsay noted as Colton caught up to the soccer ball and tripped over it.

"Oooh, at least he falls with some… uh… charisma."

"He's been watching way too much TV if he can turn a face plant into a somersault."

"He could have a future as a stunt double."

"Don't you dare tell Adam, he'll encourage it."

Austin chuckled and wiped the excess sunscreen off in the grass then sighed as Sarah wiped her nose off.

"Don't come crying to me when you have a sunburn."

"Okay mommy."

Lindsay chuckled and readjusted Ben in her lap for the tenth time. Every time she let him go he went crawling off to find Colton and she had to get up and get him. It was getting old, but he screamed bloody murder if she strapped him into the stroller, so holding him is what she had to resort to. He grunted and stretched, arching his back to get away.

"Ben, I know you want to go and play with your brother but you're going to get beaned in the head. And I will always think you're cute, but I don't want a dent in your face."

"These kids have the accuracy of nothing," Austin chuckled. "They're just chasing a ball around."

"Well they are three. And it's not all of them that are uncoordinated. Just ours."

"Isa's not bad."

"She's supposed to be kicking the ball, not other kids."

"Yes, but Colton is sitting down playing in the grass."

"I have a feeling we're going to have musical children. Just a guess."

"They'll start a rock band and take care of us in our old age."

"Totally behind this idea."

"Me too," Sarah chirped, carefully inspecting a goldfish cracker before popping it into her mouth.

"You wanna play music, Sarahsponda? What do you think, lute? Susaphone? Lyre?"

Sarah giggled and shook her head.

"Silly Indy."

"Obscure instruments are for kids," Austin said, wiping Junior's face and setting him down in the grass. He grabbed a toy and banged it on the ground, hollering with excitement.

"Drums," they decided together.

"Oh great, what's going on over there," Austin sighed, tipping her glasses down and looking across the field where Colton and Isa seemed to be having some kind of issue. Ellie was crouched down in front of them and as she talked they both lowered their hands from their hips and nodded.

"It's scary how much she acts like Jo," Lindsay said, once the commotion seemed to be over.

"I think she just put them on separate teams."

"Brave woman."

Colton and Isa hugged each other then turned and joined their teams for another attempt at scrimmage.

"I'm sorry but we have the cutest kids of all time."

"Of all time!" Lindsay echoed with a laugh.

"They kinda suck at sports though."

"Yeah well."

They heard a throat clearing behind them and they turned around to see a very angry mother staring at them.

"Yes?"

"You shouldn't belittle your children like that," she sneered, casting long glances at them as if they were children themselves.

"They can't hear us," Lindsay replied with a quirk of her eyebrow.

"And they know they stink. Why do you think they're spinning around in circles at the end of the field?"

"Maybe because you never encouraged them."

"Oh really? You think our kids are just too stupid to know that they can't kick a ball?"

"Well maybe if their mothers were a little more supportive."

"Telling your kid to go out there and do something that you know they're going to fail at is a lot worse than telling them to have fun no matter how well they do," Lindsay said, rolling her eyes.

"And your kid is probably the one out there who is actually really good, but had a meltdown when he missed the goal and looked over at you like his whole world fell apart."

The woman was silent, glaring at both of them.

"I still think it's verbal abuse."

"Verbal abuse?" they chorused, amusement in their voices.

"It is!"

"Lady, you have no idea what verbal abuse is like. Not even close," Lindsay said, watching Austin out of the corner of her eye and knowing that this conversation could get a lot worse before it ended. "Besides, making your kid think that you only love him when he's the best on the team is far more damaging. He's three. He shouldn't have that complex yet. Give him a few more years before you totally screw him up."

"Excuse me?"

"Simmer down, lady," Austin nearly chuckled. "She's just talking. All she means to say is don't be such a hypocrite."

"A hypocrite?"

"If you really think we're such horrible mothers for accepting the fact that our preschoolers aren't good at soccer, then what kind of mother must you be for forcing your child to be the best at something that he doesn't even enjoy?"

The woman was quiet, glaring at them for a moment while formulating a reply.

"How will he ever succeed if he's not pushed a little?"

"Look lady, I don't know you and I can't judge you, but you don't know us and you can't judge us either. All I can do is look out there and see whose kids are having fun and whose aren't."

"It's not all about fun."

"It's is when they're barely out of diapers!"

"You just don't understand what it takes to be successful in the real world."

"Maybe we just measure success differently then," Lindsay shrugged, still not quite understanding what this woman's issue was. She seemed content to just pick at something, whether it made sense or not.

The woman ignored that and turned back to watch her son, shaking her head and looking as if she was completely irritated about the whole thing. Lindsay and Austin exchanged glances, surprised that she had started such an argument in public. They'd heard stories of mothers turning on each other and tearing each other down, but they had never spent time with anyone but each other, so it hadn't happened yet. To say they were irritated would have been an understatement.

The whistle blew and the kids were sent back to their parents all of them squealing with delight over the fun they had had. Colton and Isa ran for them, jumping up and down and grinning.

"Mama, we can play again later huh?" he asked, his shoelaces whipping his ankle. Lindsay chuckled and reached over to tie his shoe while he squatted down to hug Ben.

"Yeah, you can play again in a few days. Did you say thank you to Ellie?"

"Yu-huh. We gotsta call her Coach Ellie when we's playin' soccer."

"Oh, I see. Isa did you have fun?"

"Yup. I kicked the ball," she said, pushing her hair behind her ear. "But I not like runnin'."

"Not a fan huh?"

"I don't know," Isa shrugged, grinning and wrapping her arms around Austin's neck. "You see me mommy?"

"Yeah, I saw you. Want to play again?"

"Yep. You play too later, okay?"

"Maybe sometime when no one's looking."

"Okay!"

"What do you think kids, should we get out of here?"

"We could go see daddy?" Colton asked excitedly, showing Lindsay his crossed fingers.

"I don't think so bud, daddy's working."

"But… please?"

Adam had been working a lot during the day, sometimes not making it home until after the boys were asleep, then leaving again before they woke up. Even Ben seemed a little fussier without him.

"I see my daddy too," Isa requested inspecting the handful of clovers Sarah had picked.

Lindsay and Austin looked at each other and sighed.

"Maybe we should call and see if they don't mind an invasion."

"I'm sure they won't."

"We'd better call just in case."

Austin picked up her phone and called Danny while they packed up the toys and the kids and headed to the car.

"He said they're pretty slow today so we can drop in for a bit," she reported, securing Junior in his carseat and making sure the girls were buckled while Lindsay wrestled the stroller into the back. "How come it's always slow when the boys are working?"

"Because nothing in life is fair," Lindsay answered, shutting the back of the car.

"Like why you're drivin' a mini-van and takin' a bunch of kids to soccer?"

"Adam wouldn't let me get an SUV!"

Austin just laughed as Lindsay started the car and The Decemberists came out of the speakers. She started to back the car out then stopped short, cursing under her breath.

"Sorry kids," she apologized glaring out the back window at the Hybrid SUV that had cut her off. "Geez, what is that woman's problem?"

"Pretentious Patty?"

"I can't believe people. And now she's just sitting there, toying with me. Geez this is like in kindergarten when you're giving the pretty girl pig eyes over who gets the last pink crayon."

"You've gone head to head with mean girls since you were little haven't you?"

"I was a runt but I was a scrappy fighter so the boys left me alone. The girls kinda hated that."

"Sometimes I think we never would have been friends when we were younger, but then other times I think we so would have been."

"We would have taken the playground by storm."

"Hey little Beckhams," Hawkes greeted, giving the kids high fives. "Did you have fun?"

"Yep!" they said, grinning. Isa pointed at the grass stain on her knee, obviously very proud of it.

"Looks like you played hard little girl."

"Yeah," she shrugged like it was nothing. "See my kicks?"

He chuckled and admired her new shoes.

"Pretty spiffy."

"See mine Doc?" Colton asked, pointing at his Nikes. "Daddy picked 'em."

"He did a good job."

"Yup."

"Hey offspring," Adam greeted, coming around the corner.

"Daddy!"

Colton dashed down the hall and jumped into Adam's arms, nearly giddy. He started chattering a million miles an hour so excited to talk about his day that he could hardly handle it. Adam listened to him as if he was telling the most important story in the world, storing the information for later.

"I guess I'm going to have to take you next time."

"Yeah, yeah!"

"Unca Dum," Isa said, tugging on his t-shirt. "Me too?"

"Yeah, you too Princess."

She gave him a grin and then giggled as she spotted her own daddy. She and Sarah got to him at the same time, squealing when he picked them both up.

"I did soccer daddy."

"Was it fun?"

"Yep."

"I do this," Sarah said softly, showing him her handful of half wilted clovers.

"Those are pretty baby. You know how many you got?"

"One, two three, one two three, one two!" she said, slowly counting the flowers to the highest number she could remember.

"You two got some sun," Adam commented, wrapping one arm around Lindsay's shoulders and pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

"Yeah, it's cheaper than fake and bake."

"You've never faked and baked."

They looked at each other and snickered, keeping the pact to never tell about that one boring Saturday before either of them had baby weight they didn't want anyone to see.

"I'm going to ignore that."

"Hey, we got into an argument with a soccer mom," Lindsay said with a grin.

"We totally bonded and shut her up."

"I'm very proud," Adam chuckled, rolling his eyes.

"You girls gonna make us some dinner?" Danny asked as Isa pushed his glasses up farther on his nose.

"I can dial for Chinese," Lindsay shrugged.

"Awesome. Order enough for Flack and Jess too."

"Tuesday night party huh?"

"We figure why not."

"We go have a party?" Colton asked, his eyes shining. "Now?"

"Yeah, we should go home now."

They said their goodbyes and Colton took Sarah and Isa's hands, the three of them skipping to the elevator.

"Wait girls," he said as they reached the end of the hallway. "We gotta look that way and that way before we go so we don't get runned over."

The three of them slowly looked one way then the other before running across the hall giggling.

"You remember when they were babies?" Austin asked, a hint of nostalgia in her voice.

"Yeah. They're little kids now. It makes me sad."

"At least they don't hate us yet."

"True, very true," she agreed, kissing Ben's round cheek and intentionally logging this moment into her memory banks. Life went too fast for her liking sometimes but she was glad she could hold onto these little moments no matter how old her babies got.