The smell and the dust and the clutter was overwhelming, and Lindsay tried her best to be discreet when she covered her nose with the back of her hand.

"Lindsay, the guy is dead. I doubt he's gonna be upset that you think his place stinks," Flack said with a chuckle.

"Says the man who still wears a clothespin on his nose when he changes a diaper."

He shot her a look while Danny muffled a laugh.

"Your secrets are not safe with your wife."

"She's gonna pay. Big time."

He flipped his black notebook closed and moved into the other room while Danny snickered.

"It only took me a few months to get rid of the clothespins. He's had over a year."

"He's weak."

"Speaking of weak, you're looking a little yurpy there Montana."

"With all the puking I've been doing lately," she sighed, crouching down to get a better angle on the area surrounding the victim.

"Still?"

"Oh yeah."

"Like all the time?"

"No. Just most of the time."

"You been to the doctor?"

"Yeah. It's fine, I keep enough down, gained two pounds."

"Sorry, I'm not being nosy, I just want to make sure you're okay."

"I'm okay Danny. But thanks."

He didn't press for more information than that, even if Adam had asked him to keep an eye on her.

"So do you think this guy was a hoarder or just messy?"

"I don't know. Think that's a pizza box collection or he was building a fort?"

"Suddenly I see what Adam's life woulda been if he had never met me."

Danny chuckled, knowing that it was probably true of Adam, but also of himself if he and Austin had never managed to work it out.

Their conversation stopped as they moved around the room, taking pictures and gathering little bits of evidence, just in case this didn't turn out to be death by natural causes. He watched her out of the corner of his eye, knowing how bad the morning sickness still was even this late in the pregnancy and knowing that she was doing whatever she could to cover it up. He didn't understand why they hadn't broken the news yet, it would make things easier on her, but he had to go along with it and not say anything. No one even suspected yet and even though he knew, he never would have guessed.

"Ready to go?" he asked, once the large box of evidence had been collected and the body had been removed.

"Yeah," she yawned, picking up the cardboard box. He grabbed it out of her hands and she gave him a look.

"Just bein' a gentleman," he said with a little shrug. She didn't argue, just sighed and walked out the door, holding the screen for him. They both breathed the fresh air deeply and he could see her coloring returning to normal as he put the box in the back of the SUV.

"That was over fifteen pounds," he said, starting the car.

"Danny," she sighed, buckling her seatbelt and scraping her hair away from her face.

"What?"

"It was not over fifteen pounds."

"There was a bowlin' ball in there, Montana. You shouldn't be lifting stuff like that."

"I like that you want to talk care of me, but it's going to drive me nuts."

"I don't care."

"Why are you always like this, Danny? You always do irritating things in the name of helping me or protecting me or being a good partner or-"

Her diatribe stopped suddenly and he looked over at her, worried. Her brow was furrowed and she hand one hand over her stomach and for a second he wondered if something really bad was about to happen. Then he saw the grin spread across her face.

"What?"

"It moved."

"What, the baby? It moved? You felt it?"

"No, we already share a psychic connection. Of course I felt it."

"This early?"

"I'm almost halfway done, Danny."

"Oh yeah. You have been cranky for about three months now."

"Shut up."

"Is it still moving?"

"No, it stopped. I guess I just kind of forgot what it felt like."

He looked over at her and grinned.

"You're so much nicer when you're smilin' like that and not yellin' at me."

"Shut up, Messer."

They drove the rest of the way back to the lab in silence and he unloaded the car while she stood with her hands on her hips.

"You'll thank me for this later," he said, ushering her into the elevator. She yawned and leaned against the wall, wanting desperately to close her eyes and fall into sleep. She'd been more tired than nauseous lately and she was currently cursing every pregnant woman who said the second trimester came with boundless energy. She wasn't feeling that in the slightest.

"Lindsay?"

"Hmm?"

"You could leave early. Midnight is a long ways off."

"I know but I don't want to leave you with this."

"We'll probably find out that the guy died of a heart attack, case closed."

"I just need my second wind."

"That's what you said four hours ago."

"I did?"

"You did. Go take a break. Fifteen minutes at the least. Call home or close your eyes for a bit. I'll come get you later."

"Thanks, Danny."

They stepped off the elevator and she made her way into their darkened office, grabbing her cell phone and plopping down on the couch. She really would have preferred a fifteen minute nap, but she was missing the boys and it was almost their bedtime, so she felt obligated to call.

Adam picked up on the fourth ring, sounding out of breath and irritated.

"Hey, what's going on there?"

"The boys are channeling a young me again. They're into everything tonight."

"You sound upset."

"I keep telling them- Ben, put that down, I said no!"

There was a clatter in the background and he sighed.

"Put it down doesn't mean chuck it on the floor."

"Adam," she said softly, knowing how much it bothered him when he started to get angry.

"What?"

"Calm down. They're overtired and they're testing you. Go put them to bed."

He sighed at her reassurance and leaned against the kitchen counter.

"I will. I'm just…"

"I know. It's okay honey, that's what kids do. Drive you bonkers until you question all your parenting abilities."

"I guess you're right."

"Let me talk to them?"

"Yeah, just a second."

There was a few moments of shuffling noises and some conversation she couldn't make out before Colton came on the line.

"Hi mama."

"Hi Colton. Are you drivin' daddy crazy?"

"We're just playing."

"Well stop whatever you're doing that he keeps telling you to stop doing."

"Okay. When are you coming home?"

"Long after you're in bed."

"Oh alright. Talk to daddy again."

He handed the phone off with nary an 'I love you' and she sighed, wondering what had gotten into the boys.

"I've got to go put them to bed, but call me back if you get a chance, okay?"

"I will. I love you."

"I love you too. Gotta go."

She could have nearly crashed face first onto the couch and fallen asleep halfway down, but she would never sleep well that way and would wake with a crick in her neck at three in the morning when Adam woke up freaked out because she wasn't in bed. So as good as the couch sounded, she kicked off her shoes and staggered into the bedroom, leaving her clothes in a pile on the floor, donning an old t-shirt, and climbing into bed. Adam was asleep but not snoring, as if he was half waiting up for her, and she scooted closer to him, wrapping her arms around him as best she could. He stirred a little under her touch and rolled to face her, battling sleep for a moment before he opened his eyes.

"Hey babe."

"Hey," he responded, his voice quiet.

"Something wrong?"

He shook his head and leaned over to kiss her.

"No, it's fine."

"Adam."

"I yelled at the boys."

"Honey…"

"It may not seem like a big deal to you but it was to me."

"What happened?"

"It was after we got off the phone, I had told them three times to stop playing with the soap in the bathroom and I walked in there, and it was all over the place. I told them to go get in bed and they just ignored me and kept playing and all the sudden I was yelling at them and they were crying and I am the worst father on the planet."

"I am pretty sure that title has already been taken by several men, including but not limited to your father and Austin's dad and Alec Baldwin. You're not a bad father. Not even close."

"But-"

"No buts. I know how it feels and I've yelled at them before. Sometimes you're just so tired and frustrated that it comes out before you can stop it. There's not necessarily anything wrong with a slip up like that, but it's not something we really want to do. Did you talk to them about it later?"

"No, I just sent them to bed."

"You're going to want to talk to them in the morning."

"I know."

"It's normal honey, and it's probably going to happen again. But you are not like your father and you never will be and I want you to stop feeling guilty right now."

"I can't," he sighed, getting up from the bed and running his fingers through his hair.

"Where are you going?"

"I have to talk to them now."

"Adam, they're sleeping."

"I know, but I have to."

She sighed and watched him go, knowing the guilt would eat at him even after everything had been smoothed over. He'd gotten better at the discipline, he was far more firm with punishments than she was, but this was really going to bug him.

She rolled onto her back and ran her hand over her stomach, noticing that she was showing slightly more than she thought she had been. It was getting close to time to tell people, but for some reason she liked keeping it a secret more. It had been fun to tell the family, even though it had to be over the phone, and she was looking forward to telling all their friends, but it just didn't seem like time yet.

She felt another flutter inside, and smiled wishing she could feel it on the outside too. She left her hand on her stomach and closed her eyes, breathing deeply and relaxing her body to try and fall asleep. It was true she was exhausted all day long, but she then had troubles falling asleep, or was hit with wave after wave of nausea, or had nightmares that woke her up. This pregnancy had already been harder than the other two, and she wasn't sure it was going to get easier.

"Did you wake them up?" she asked as Adam came back into the room and cracked the window.

"Yeah. They'd forgotten about it."

"Told you."

"Still felt bad," he said, stretching as he laid down beside her. "You're starting to show."

"Yeah. I felt movement today."

"You did?" he asked, his rough hands moving over her stomach. "Jealous."

"I know."

"What do you think is in there, boy or girl?"

"I don't know."

He smiled and leaned up to graze his lips over her face, then kissed her until her eyes shot open.

"I was thinking."

"About?"

"You cutting back on work hours."

"Why?"

"Because you're having a rough time, sweetie. I can go to five tens instead of five eights, give you a little more wiggle room."

"I don't want to do that."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want you to be the only one working."

"Why not?"

"I don't know. Sometimes I just feel like… you come home from work and you immediately start taking care of the boys and playing with them and helping me with dinner or whatever I need. You don't decompress, you don't watch TV or play video games. You're superdad. I come home and I just want to sit or go to sleep. I want to do all the things you do but I just feel like I can't. And you're working way more than I am-"

"No I'm not. You're here with the boys all day long. You take care of them every day, every night. The only time you don't is when you go to work. Just because being home doesn't bring in a paycheck doesn't mean you're not working just as hard as I am, if not harder. If we move, we're going to have to be really careful with who works when. We're not going to have a babysitter right down the hall anymore. We might have to do some finagling with our schedules. I don't know yet. I just want you to know that staying home is an option for you, okay?"

"Okay."

"We're doing all this together, honey. It doesn't matter who's holding up the paycheck end and who is holding down the fort, as long as we're doing it together."

"I just don't want us to go broke."

"Honey, we're doing just fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Do you want to look at our financials? Because I think you'll be surprised."

"How much money do we have?"

"We have enough. More than we had last time you freaked out like this. We're good at saving and we haven't spent much more than what we've really needed in a long time. You've saved a lot with coupons, I've saved a lot with internet deals and with our credit the way it is, we're going to have no problems getting a small home loan. Everything is going to be just fine, okay?"

"Okay."

"Can you do me a favor though?"

"Yeah."

"Tell me next time you're freaking out about something."

"I will. Sorry."

He was quiet for a second, watching how her eyes roamed over the ceiling.

"What else is going on in your head babe?"

"I'm worried about us," she said quietly, reaching down for his hand.

"What about us?"

"Having two kids is crazy enough. We planned so many weekends away that we just never got around to. I'm afraid that adding a third is going to take away even date nights and we're going to just become parents and not be a couple anymore."

"Are you really worried about that or are you just anxious about how things are going to change?"

"The second one."

"Lindsay."

"Yes?"

He crooked a finger under her chin and turned her to face him, leaning close and nuzzling her nose with his.

"I love you. We're going to be fine, we just have to be intentional with it, like we always are. It'll be okay."

"I'm just selfish and I want you all to myself all the time."

"Ditto."

A small hand reached up and tugged on her pants, and she smiled turning to look down at Ben who lifted his arms up to her. She reached down and picked him up, stroking his cheek gently and kissing the end of his nose.

"Mama?"

The tone of his voice told her he was about to use his elusive words and really say something to her, so she leaned against the counter and gave him her full attention.

"What's the matter, baby?"

"Mama love Cole?"

"Yes, I love Colton."

"Mama love Ben?"

"Yes, I love you too, Benjamin."

"Mama," he sighed, looking down at her stomach. "Love baby?"

"Yes, I love the baby too."

He contemplated that for a moment, trying to put into words what he was worried about.

"Mama love baby and Ben and Cole?"

"Are you asking if I have enough love for you and Ben and the baby?"

He nodded sadly and she crushed him to her chest, rocking them gently back and forth.

"Oh sweet boy. I will always have enough love for all of you. Always. You don't have to worry, Benjamin. I will love you and Colton and the new baby forever and ever and ever."

"Daddy?"

"Daddy will too. I promise, you never have to worry about that. We will love you until the end of time."

He grinned and threw his arms around her neck, holding on as tightly as he could.

"Ben loves mama big."

She chuckled and held him for a while longer, running her hand up and down his back and enjoying the way her not so little baby boy still wanted his mama.

"Can I have kisses?"

He giggled and kissed her with a loud mwah before wiggling back down to the floor.

"Ben play now," he said, trotting off into the other room. She watched him go, then peeked around the corner into the other room. The boys were laying on the floor with a book, taking the small magnets out of the container and sticking them to the magnetic pages, talking softly about what was going on. Despite the stresses and the changes, she couldn't wait until the day when their third little love would join them.