A/N: Sorry this had taken so long guys. I have ideas, I am just having a terrible time writing because… well… I don't want to make Avery grow up. Isn't that sad? I know she's their last baby so I'm taking my sweet time. I am also pathetic.

"But when will they be here?" Colton whined, holding onto the counter and letting his feet slide under him.

"In a little bit, just like I told you before."

"I wanna see grampa and Gigi and Hannah."

"I know you do, but whining at me isn't going to make them get here faster."

"Mama is Hannah really going to stay with us for a lot of days?"

"Yeah, for a week. And your cousin Tessa will be here too."

"But grampa and Gigi are not staying?"

"They'll be here for two days and then they're going to London to see grampa's brother and then they're coming back."

"Grampa's got a brother?"

"Yeah."

"I didn't know that! I didn't know grampas could have brothers."

"Of course they can. Uncle Freddy is papa's brother."

"Oh yeah, I forgotted. Mama will I be a grampa someday?"

"Yeah, you will."

"Hmm. What will you be then?"

"Then I will be a great-grandma."

"Will you get gray hair?"

"Probably."

"I think you will be very beautiful with gray hair, mama."

"Thanks buddy," she chuckled, leaning down to kiss him. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Sure!"

"Can you go and get the newspaper off the front porch?"

"Yup. Be right back."

He dashed out the front door and Ben sighed from his spot on the barstool.

"Mama?"

"Yeah?"

"I not get the paper?"

"I only asked Colton because he was standing right there. You can get it next time."

"I a big boy too. Stand up when I pee-pee."

She hid her laugh and nodded.

"I know you're a big boy. I promise you can get the paper tomorrow."

"Oh, okay. I so hungry. Time for dinner now?"

"In a little while. Do you want to fold the napkins for me?"

"I would like to, mama."

She handed him some linen napkins and he folded them into triangles, just like she'd taught him. He hummed as he worked and Lindsay chuckled as she recognized the theme song. Clearly when Adam said he'd spent the day with the boys it meant he'd been educating them on the finer points of every TV show he deemed essential to a young boys repertoire.

"They're here!" Colton declared, coming back inside and dropping the paper on the counter. "I just seen them drive up! Can I go outside and help bring all their junk in?"

"Yeah, but don't call it junk in front of Gigi."

"Okay. C'mon Ben, gonna need help. You are gettin' strongish."

"I are?"

"Yup, you are. Let's go!"

They ran out the back door and Lindsay chuckled, dropping a handful of Cheerios onto the highchair tray. Avery shrieked and grabbed for them, gumming one happily as she bounced up and down.

"I can't believe how big you are, sweetie," Lindsay remarked, fixing the hair clip that had become a prisoner of the auburn curls.

"Mmm," Avery responded, inspecting a Cheerio.

"Is that all the opinion you have on the subject?"

"Dada!" she squealed, spotting Adam as he came in the door. He gave her a wave and moved into the living room with the luggage. "Dada? Dada!"

"I'm coming honey, just give me a second."

She sighed and tried to look around the corner.

"Dada!"

"Averylin, daddy will be here in just a minute, you don't need to shout."

She made a pouting face instead and Lindsay chuckled, lifting her out of the seat.

"Alright bean, we'll go see daddy."

"Dada!"

They went out into the living room and Avery kicked her legs happily and yelled for Adam again. He took her and kissed her cheek before she nuzzled into his neck and sighed softly.

"Dada."

"I was only gone for an hour, Tink."

She giggled and held her hand out for Lindsay, wanting them both at the same time. She could never decide who she wanted and they spent more time passing her between them than they did actually holding her.

"Hey mama, let's eat dinner!" Colton hollered, slamming the back door. "Everyone is hungry!"

"Well if you want to go set the table, then we'll eat."

He gave a long sigh and ran the back of his hand across his forehead.

"I gotta do it all. Ben wanna help?"

"Nope," Ben decided from his spot in Hannah's arms. "Got Hannah. You do, Cole."

"No one is helpful 'round this place 'cept for me," he muttered as he went into the kitchen. "I always gotta do all the things and I don't even get no money for it like the other kids. What is up with that even?"

They could hear him getting plates out of the cupboard and stacking them on the counter before he took them two at a time to the table.

"He sounds just like you, Adam."

"Mom, that's not very nice. You know I was the most helpful kid on the block. Remember that time I took out the trash?"

"You mean the time you took out the trash and dragged the leaking bag all over my carpet?"

"Hey, I was helping!"

"Sure, whatever son. Can I have my granddaughter now?"

"Yeah. Avery, go see your Gigi."

"Gigi, you hold sissy safe, right?" Ben asked. He was becoming more and more protective of his sister every day and often coached people on how to hold her right. He'd even gotten after Mac for holding her facing out instead of in.

"Yeah, don't worry."

"Okay. Because she is just little."

"Yes, I know. You used to be this little too."

"Nu-uh, Gigi! I are big boy!"

"You are now, but you used to be a baby."

"Mama?"

"She's right, you used to be a tiny little baby. So did Colton. So did I and so did daddy."

"No," he said, shaking his head. "This not real."

"Sorry buddy, that's life. We were all babies at some point."

"Pictures or it not happen."

"You've seen pictures. You refused to believe it was you."

"Hannah, I was a baby?"

"Yeah, you were."

"I don't enjoy this."

"You two are cursed with opinionated children."

"Yeah, we've been discovering that. It's interesting to say the least."

"You look like you've got something to talk about son," Dave noted, once all the kids were being tucked into bed and Hannah was in the other room on the phone. "Is something wrong?"

Adam sighed and shook his head, not really sure how to go about telling his parents what had happened. He hated talking about his father in front of the man that he called his dad, simply because he felt it was almost insulting. Dave hadn't raised him at all, but he'd been there for him more in the last fifteen years than his father had been in his life. It seemed wrong to call someone else "father" even if he meant it in the least respectful way. He would rather believe that the stork dropped him on his mother's doorstep and the first years of his life were just a nightmare and hadn't really happened.

"Adam."

"My father's been calling again. A lot. It was getting to be about every other day. And he would always beg to see me so I figured I might as well get it over with."

"You saw him?" Sharon asked skeptically. She knew even better than Adam did what a manipulator his father was.

"I did. I figured since telling him over the phone wasn't working, maybe face to face would. I told him I didn't want to see him and I didn't want him to call and he had no place in my life."

"And how did he take that?"

"He seemed to take it fine, which means he didn't take it well at all. He hasn't called since, but I'm a little worried about what's coming. I don't know if he's suddenly going to call back again or if he'll start calling you. I'm just not sure, so I thought you should know."

There was a long silence before Sharon spoke.

"He called last week."

"He did?"

"I wasn't sure it was him at first, he kept asking if it was me and I was about to hang up and then he started yelling. He said that I had to do something about you because you didn't want to have anything to do with him and how could I have brainwashed you to hate him so much. I did hang up eventually, but I'm beginning to wonder if he won't come down to Phoenix."

"Okay, so if he came down, what would he do?" Dave asked, defensive for his family, but not actually worried for their safety.

"I don't know. I don't know if he would do anything but harass me. But he's been violent in the past."

"Honey, he couldn't get into the house. He has to have a passcode to get past the gates to even get into the neighborhood."

"I know that. But what if he finds me somewhere else?"

"What would he do then?"

"Yeah mom. He's a lot older now. The years have not been kind. He's put on a lot of weight, he walks with a limp. I don't think he could hurt you like he used to."

"You don't understand," she said softly. "You don't know."

"You think I don't know, mom? I know what he did to me. I know how he is."

"Adam, honey, you don't remember everything. You don't know all that he did."

"Okay, then tell me. Tell us both why you're suddenly so scared again."

"He pulled a gun on me. The first time I tried to leave him. I was pregnant with you. He held that gun right against my stomach and told me he would pull the trigger if I tried to leave. Any time that I tried to leave after that, he'd do the same thing. Point the gun at you, use you as a bargaining chip. I know you don't remember but one time I did make it out. Made it as far as the front gate before he found me. I was holding you and trying to get away. He drug me back inside and he held that gun on me all night long. He made me stand against the wall and every time I moved, he'd pull the trigger. It was like Russian Roulette, I had no idea when the bullet would be in the chamber. I stood like that until morning when he got bored with it and locked us in the bedroom so he could go to work. He could be old and in pain but he could still have a gun. He didn't manipulate just with his fists, Adam."

A silence fell over the room and Adam took a deep breath. He'd often wondered if something like this had happened, but figured she would have told him if it had. He wanted to go to her and apologize for blaming her for not leaving, but he couldn't move. All he could do was sit there, imagining what it was like for her, alone in that house way out in the country, the closest neighbor at least half a mile away, no where to go to get away. Being so tortured that eventually all plans to get out were thwarted with the thought that he might get them. He might kill them. Up until this point he didn't really understand why it had been so hard for her. But now he did, and he had a great desire to see his father again, simply to show him what real fear was like.

Lindsay watched out of the corner of her eye as Adam changed his clothes and threw them in the hamper, running his fingers through his hair. She'd been halfway down the stairs and heard everything his mom had said, but she couldn't even begin to guess what he was thinking and feeling right now. She stood up from the bed and crossed the room to where he was starting to pace and put a hand on his arm. Neither of them said a word as he wrapped her tightly in his arms, letting out a long, sad sigh. They stood there for a few minutes before he reached up and framed her face with his hands.

"Linds, honey, have I ever hurt you?"

"No Adam. Never."

"You swear to me, I have never hurt you. Not in any way?"

"Sweetie, no. We've had our fights but you have never hurt me, Adam. Not like your father hurt your mom. Not even close."

"You heard it?"

She gave a slight nod and he rested his forehead against hers.

"I don't know how you can claim to love someone and do that to them."

"You don't know because that's not love. And you love me, Adam, so behavior like that doesn't make sense to you. It's never going to, but you have to remember that he didn't love her. She was a thing to him, something he owned. He never loved her the way you love me. And if you're worried that you'll be like him, stop. You're not him and it is absolutely impossible for you to be like him at all."

"Thank you."

"Now, come to bed. No more talk about that pathetic human being in this house. You understand me?"

"I like when you get protective."

She gave him a little smile as they turned off the lights and curled up together.

"So let me ask you a question," she started, pulling at the blankets until she had wrestled half away from him. "How do you feel about your baby sister having a boyfriend?"

He gave a disapproving grunt and shook his head.

"She's too young. I don't know what they're thinking letting her date."

"Oh Adam, it's not a big deal. She's fourteen, she's going to want a boyfriend."

"That doesn't mean she should have one. And really, what does dating mean when you're that young?"

"I don't know if you want me to answer that, but I will say there's gonna be some kissin'."

"No little punk is kissing my sister."

"Well you'd better talk to her then because she asked me how to do it."

"How to kiss? What did you tell her? You had better not have told her how to kiss the way you do it."

"Now what's wrong with the way I do it?"

"Nothing if we want every teenage boy chasing after her."

"Well I didn't tell her how to kiss like I do. I told her that when it's the right time it will come naturally and until then she should just wait."

"So apparently you weren't ready for your first kiss."

"Shut up. In an ideal world is all I am saying."

"And how long do you think she'll listen to that?"

"She actually looked relieved. I think a talk from her beloved big brother might cement things a little."

"I don't want to talk to her about that!"

"Well pluck up the courage mister because she's going to ask you."

"What, ask me how to kiss?"

"No, ask you what you think. Your opinion means a lot to her and she loves you and wants to make you happy. If you told her to break up with her boyfriend, she would. By the way, don't tell her that."

"I won't. Mostly it just makes me feel old."

"Wait until Avery starts dating."

"Silence, woman."

"You've got a while before you have to worry about it."

"Yeah, hopefully about fifty years."

"You keep telling yourself that, babe. I'm sure she'll be completely happy as a single middle aged woman."

"She'd better be."

Lindsay rolled her eyes and shook her head, having had this conversation at least twelve times since Avery was born. Adam wasn't completely serious of course, but the idea of his little girl growing up scared him.

He sighed and brushed her hair back from her face.

"I just want her to find someone that loves her as much as I love you, and I don't think that's possible. I don't think anyone could love someone as much as I love you."

"I don't think so either, but let's hope for the sake of all our kids that it's possible."

He smiled and pressed his nose to hers until she giggled.

"And now we shall stop talking about it simply because talking about it could make it all go faster."

"You're a superstitious man, Adam Ross."

"Not superstitious. Just a little stitious."

"Super dork."

"Well yeah," he muttered, leaning down to kiss her.

There was a small knock on the door and Lindsay sat up.

"Who is it?"

"Me Ben. I could come in if the door is closed?"

"Yeah, go ahead and come in."

The door creaked open and he ran over to the bed climbing onto it and snuggling in between them.

"Cole and sissy both snorin' in there. Cannot sleep."

"Well daddy snores too," Lindsay chuckled.

"Daddy's snorin' sound like a garbage dumper truck."

"Yeah, it's pretty loud, huh?"

"Yup."

"Well how are you going to sleep through daddy's snoring?"

"Daddy gots a rhythm. It okay."

Adam chuckled and kissed his son's hair.

"Thanks for the support little man."

"You got music for snoring. I think I will sleep here tonight, okay?"

"Well I was kissin' on your mama…"

"Save it for when you wake up daddy."

"I guess you could sleep in here for one night."

"That is awesome. Goodnight guys. Don't roll over and smush me."

"Thanks for the advice buddy."

They both watched him quietly as he fell asleep, their minds going to the same place. How could someone, angry or not, not do everything to love and protect their own flesh and blood? What had to be wrong with a person to treat someone in such horrible ways? And how could they ever protect their own kids from that kind of false love once they were grown up and out in the world, where that kind of thing was common and ran rampant?