A/N: Sorry this has taken so long. Writer's block and all that.

"No, no, no, no!" Avery screamed at the top of her lungs, kicking her legs against the floor and beating the wall with her fists. "No dressed!"

"Averylin Grace you stand up right now and be a big girl."

"No! Daddy! Daddy!"

"Sissy, daddy is not here! Stop screamin', you're hurtin' mama's feelin's!"

"No! Want daddy! My daddy!"

The sobs wracked her body and she almost collided with the floor from the force of it. Her face was redder than her hair and there were tears streaming down her cheeks as if her world had just ended and she would never be the same.

"Avery, you need to stop right now," Lindsay said firmly, wondering for a brief moment if pleading would be better.

"No mama! Daddy! Want my daddy! Daddy now!"

Colton sighed and knelt down on the floor, rubbing Avery's back and speaking in an even voice.

"Aves, I know you miss daddy. I miss daddy a lot too. But he wants us to be happy while he is gone so him and mama don't feel so bad."

"Want daddy."

"Me too."

She sat up and sniffled, wiping at her eyes before crawling into his lap.

"My Coley," she whimpered, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Love you. Hold me."

"I will hold you if you let mama dress you. Is that okay?"

"It okay."

He used his shirt to wipe the tears from her eyes and she stood up, walking over to Lindsay and hugging her tightly.

"Sorry mama. I sad."

"I know. I think tonight you're going to go to bed early as punishment for throwing a fit, but I forgive you because I understand."

"Mama u'stand."

"Now, let's get dressed so we can leave."

"Where are we goin' mama?"

"Grocery shopping. If I can survive it," Lindsay muttered, getting Avery into her clothes.

"You'll survive mama," Ben assured, nodding his head. "C'mon sissy, let's go get our shoes and practice our store manners."

Avery giggled and followed Ben down the stairs while Colton stayed where he was, watching Lindsay clean up the few toys on Avery's floor.

"Mama… um… I didn't mean to try and be Aves' parent, you know? I just knew you were getting upset and I-"

"Colton, you didn't do anything wrong. You helped me a lot. That's what being a team is about. Thank you for doing that. Sometimes when she throws fits like that it makes me all agitated and it helps both of us if we have someone there to be calm."

"Okay. Life is just pretty rough without daddy."

"Yes it is."

"Did you talk to him today?"

"Just for a couple minutes this morning."

"Does he miss us?"

"He misses us very, very much."

"I can't wait for later when he calls us. That's my favorite part of the day."

"Mine too. Come on, let's go to the store and you can help me find something to make for dinner."

He grabbed her hand and they went downstairs finding Ben and Avery arguing, as usual. This was going to be an extremely long day.

"I don't like broccoli!" Ben whined, dropping his arms in despair. "It tastes like foots."

"Ben, you liked broccoli three days ago."

"But that was three days ago! People gotta change!"

If she hadn't already been so aggravated, she would have laughed but right now she could feel her body wanting to run out the door. She wasn't sure how other people did it, how they could be single parents and keep their sanity at the same time.

"Hey Ben maybe by the time mama makes the broccoli you will like it again."

"Don't talk reason to me Cole! I don't want the broccoli in the cart to be even touching me."

"Ben don't talk like that to mama!"

"No Coley! No be mean to Ben!"

"Aves, I am having a discussion with my brother about his behavior!"

"Cole, you are not sissy's daddy!"

"Ben no yell at Coley!"

Lindsay could feel herself wanting to burst into tears and have a melt-down in the middle of the produce aisle. She suddenly had no idea how to diffuse the situation and she started to panic, gripping the handle of the shopping cart so hard that her knuckles turned white. She could hardly breathe and she closed her eyes, counting to ten before she opened them again.

"I need you kids to stop talking right now," she said softly, trying not to burst into tears. "Just stop."

They all fell silent and looked up at her wondering what had gone wrong. Ben's bottom lip jutted out and he blinked several times while Avery whimpered and sighed.

"Mama?"

"Stay here by the cart. I need to call daddy."

She moved a few feet away where she could see them but they couldn't hear her and called Adam's phone, knowing she would start crying as soon as she heard his voicemail greeting but she needed to let him know what was going on because she felt incomplete if he didn't.

"Babe, what's going on?"

"I didn't think you would answer the phone."

"We took a break from the lecture. You don't sound good."

"I can't do this without you."

"Linds breathe. Tell me what's going on."

"They miss you so much. Avery had a tantrum this morning and then one again when we got to the grocery store and she wanted to be at the other store. Ben argues and whines and complains about everything and Colton's trying so hard to help me that he comes off as bossy and snippy with Ben and Avery so then they argue with him and it's so loud and I don't even know what to do."

"Where are you right now honey?"

"At the store still."

"Why don't you go ahead and buy what's in the cart, then head home, put them all down for naps, have a good cry and try shopping again later."

"Alright."

"I love you sweetie."

"I love you too. Thanks for talking me down."

"Anytime. I'll call you as soon as I'm done today alright?"

"Okay. Stay safe."

"You too babe."

They hung up the phone and Lindsay returned to the kids, not speaking a word as they headed for the check stand. The kids looked at her warily and exchanged glances with each other, unsure of how to proceed, but coming to the conclusion that staying quiet was going to be the best idea right now.

Once they had bought the groceries they headed outside to the car, the boys trying their best to be helpful while Avery sat quietly in the cart, staring at her hands. No one spoke a word until they were in the car, buckled into their seats.

"That in there just now was not good," Lindsay started, gripping the steering wheel tightly in her hands but not looking at them. "I know you guys miss daddy and so do I, but that was unacceptable. We're not going to survive if stuff like that keeps happening. When we get home you're all going to your rooms for some quiet time and I want you to think about how we're going to make this better. Okay?"

They all nodded, even Avery who didn't entirely understand what was going on.

"Alright. After today we won't talk about this again and we'll move on."

"Mama?"

"Yes Colton?"

"Would daddy be very disappointed in us kids?" he whispered, his eyes falling to his feet.

"I think he would be disappointed in all of us. Let's go home."

The next day started off much better and went downhill from there. The boys bickered at every turn, Avery threw fits and when Lindsay tried to discipline them, all three would burst into tears and wail about how much they missed Adam. Clearly, this wasn't working very well. By lunchtime she'd raised her voice so many times that her throat was sore, and the kids all had red-rimmed eyes due to dramatic tears. She had just broken up a fight between the boys, having to actually pull them off of each other, as their argument had turned into a wrestling match. Avery had been standing there screaming, but was now curled up on the couch, crying silent tears because Lindsay had snapped at her. And to think this was only day four of twenty eight.

"Just go to your rooms. Go and don't come out."

"But-"

"Go!"

Three sets of feet stomped up the stairs and two bedroom doors slammed but she couldn't be bothered to go up and deal with that behavior right now. Her hands were shaking with anger, not really even at the kids, just at the entire situation. She was mostly mad at herself for not being able to handle it, and there was a flicker of resentment at Adam for leaving them like this. She didn't like to admit it, but she didn't want him to go to DC any more than the kids did, even if she was trying to be supportive. And she couldn't tell him that because then he would feel guilty and be in a bad mood for weeks. She knew that being down there away from the family was extremely hard for him, but staying here wasn't exactly a walk in the park either.

She sat down on the couch and pulled the big quilt around herself, letting tears of frustration flow as she stared at the wall and tried to convince herself that three and a half more weeks was nothing. Of course her mind couldn't console itself and she started to calculate out the minutes and seconds, adding up how many meals she would eat without him, how many hours she would sleep alone, how many bedtime stories she would read to the kids without him sitting next to her, reading every other page.

She didn't even know how hard she was crying until there was a small knock and the front door opened. It wasn't a surprise to find Austin there; she'd taken up the habit of popping in every once in a while with some excuse or another, but Lindsay was almost certain that Adam had asked her to do it, though it was kind of freaky that she always seemed to show up at the right time.

"Oh Lin," she said, sitting down on the couch. "You really miss him, huh?"

"Everything is falling apart without him," Lindsay confessed, trying to catch her breath. "I can't do this without him and I just want him to come home."

"I know."

"Can't I just sleep through the next three weeks?"

"No, because then I would miss you too much."

Lindsay gave a short chuckle at that and wiped her eyes.

"You guys want to come over tonight? Danny's on graves. We could have a sleepover. The kids will be together and you and I can camp out on the pull-out bed and eat junk food and watch trash TV like we used to before we had kids."

"Okay."

"That's my girl. Come over at dinner time. The kids will be back from the grasp of Danny's mother by then."

"Where'd she take them?"

"Water park. They're going to be as tan as you are when they get back."

"Yeah, well I can't help it."

"Everything is going to be okay. I know it sucks right now and it probably won't stop sucking until it's over, but at least it will be over."

"I know. It's an adjustment and it's really hard."

"Yeah, but you can do it."

"I can try. I should go upstairs and talk to those children of mine and try to remind myself why I love them."

"Okay. Come over around dinner time."

"We'll be there."

Austin hugged her tightly for a moment, then got up and left the house, as simply as she'd come. Lindsay stayed put on the couch for a little while, trying to figure out what she wanted to do about the kids. She wanted to yell and scream and tell them how upset she was about what they were doing, but at the same time she understood how upset and sad they were and that the rebellion and fighting was the only way they knew how to express it.

Standing up from the couch she went upstairs and into Avery's room first, finding her little girl quietly crying on her bed. Guilt washed over her and she perched on the side of the bed, leaning over and brushing Avery's hair back from her face.

"Sweetheart, I'm sorry I had a short temper with you."

"Mama yell."

"Yes I did yell. But what do you think you were doing wrong?"

"Avery screamin'. Not nice."

"No it's not."

"Sorry mama."

"I'm sorry too. I am going to do my best not to yell when I get frustrated."

"Avery not scream mean. Try."

"Thank you honey. Now come here and let me snuggle you for a minute. I'm tired of being upset."

Avery smiled and crawled into Lindsay's lap, sighing softly and rubbing at her eyes.

"How are you feeling sweetie?"

"I sad."

"It's been a rough few days, huh?"

"Yes."

"You want to go see Austin and the kids tonight?"

"Yes! I play Sarah! We do colors."

"You like to color with Sarah?"

"Oh yes, so most."

"Good. Maybe that will make you not so sad anymore."

"Yes, it do."

"Should we go talk to the boys? I'm sure they're sad too."

"Okay mama."

They went across the hall to the boys room, finding them both sitting on their beds with books.

"Boys sad?" Avery asked, climbing up onto Ben's bed. "No sad. We go Messers!"

"We're going to the Messers?" Colton asked, raising an eyebrow. "Even after how we behaved?"

"Yes. I don't want you to think your behavior was okay, but I think we'll all feel better getting out of the house for the night."

"The whole night? Like a sleep over?'

"Yes."

The boys would have whooped and hollered if they weren't so blue to begin with, but the smiles on their faces said enough. Everyone felt a little lighter and happier at the prospect of getting out of the house and spending time with their best friends.

"We need to talk about what happened today. I know you guys miss daddy. I know you're mad that he has to be gone and I know there's a lot of feelings that you can't really understand right now."

"Like why my tummy feels so sick but I can't throw up?" Ben asked, tipping his head to the side. "Like that mama?"

"Yeah, just like that. I know we all feel bad without daddy and like nothing is working out right. But we have to figure out a way to talk about how we feel so it doesn't bottle up inside like it has been."

"Well mama, me and Ben, we try not to cry from missing daddy because we don't want to make you more sad."

"If you miss daddy and you want to cry, go for it. I don't want you to feel like you can't just because you don't want to make me sad. I'm already about as sad as I'm going to get."

"Daddy wants us to be strong."

"Yes he does. But strong people can cry. You don't have to be ashamed about it."

"Can I tell you what I miss about daddy?" Ben asked, wiping away the tears that had fallen from his eyes. "I miss how he gives us so many hugs and kisses every day."

"Yeah, most daddies don't do that," Colton said with a nod. "Most daddies don't even say I love you as much as our daddy does. I miss the way his beard tickles when he hugs me."

"I like how he plays with us all the time. Even when he is tired and grumpy, he comes and plays with us."

"I like that he's goofy. And how he takes care of us so much and keeps us safe."

"I like daddy play," Avery added. "We play tea party. He wear hat. It so funny!"

"Yeah and I like when daddy lets me ride on his shoulders, even if my feet stink!"

"Know what I like the most? I like how happy daddy makes you, mama. I like that you kiss each other even when it is gross. I like how your faces look when you see each other. Because your eyes get big like hearts are coming out of them."

"Oh is that what it looks like?" Lindsay asked, laughing for the first time in days.

"Yep, exactly. Even now you are sad but you are talkin' about him and your eyes get bigger."

"Mama love daddy," Avery agreed. "Daddy love mama."

"And that's how it is," Ben added with a smile. "Now that we're all feelin' happier maybe we could go play outside?"

"Yes, lets go outside. I have some popsicles in the fridge that are just dying to be eaten by hungry kids."

"I hungry!" Avery shouted, sliding off the bed and running downstairs.

Maybe everything wasn't perfect, but that didn't mean they couldn't make the best of it.

"I love the change in atmosphere when the kids fall asleep," Austin remarked, bringing two bowls of popcorn to the couch. "It's so quiet."

"Ben and Colton have had a lot of trouble falling asleep the last few nights. It's nice to see them settle down with no problems."

"Have you told Adam about that?"

"No, I don't want to make him feel guilty. We just have to get used to it. It's only a month."

"Remember the first sleepover we had? When we watched Hope Floats and you said Adam reminded you of Justin Matisse and I told you that no matter what you did you couldn't make Adam a cowboy and then we laughed for an hour at the idea of him chewing on a piece of wheat."

"Oh my gosh I love us so much."

"And then we talked about Danny as a surfer."

"And you almost peed your pants."

"I miss those days."

"We still have them. Just not as often."

"Yeah, we have to get straight to the point now."

"By the time we're ninety we won't have to say anything else."

"Which will probably work out okay because I will be deaf and you will be blind and we will both be bald."

"And yet we are going to be the most sought after gals in the nursing home."

"Hey Lin, thanks for growing old with me."

"Of course."

She sighed and leaned back on to the couch, rubbing her eyes.

"I'm so tired."

"I'm not surprised."

"Thanks for making us come over."

"You would do the same for me. Besides, I get bored when Danny's not here."

"I would too, you guys have terrible channel selection."

"Shut up Lin."

"Can I tell you something that I've never told anyone else?"

"Sure."

"Sometimes my kids drive me crazy. So crazy that I don't even want to be around them. I know Colton's super smart and Ben is hilarious and Avery is always doing something interesting but sometimes I just want to shut them in their rooms and not see them for a day."

"That's not abnormal you know."

"I feel like it is. I have the greatest kids in the world and I don't even appreciate that sometimes. I love them more than anything but sometimes it's just so hard."

"I know."

"When Adam's gone it's even worse. And I don't know why at all. I just feel like such a crappy mom right now."

"Well you're not a crappy mom, just a stressed and overwhelmed mom, so stop telling yourself you suck."

"Okay."

"Linds."

"Okay, okay, okay! I get it."

"I love you. Everything is going to be okay."

"Mama!"

"Except right at this moment when your most interesting child won't sleep."

"She probably woke up at least one kid, if not two."

The predictive statement was validated as all three girls came out of the bedroom, rubbing their eyes.

"Mama, I scared!" Avery announced, running and jumping onto the couch. "Monster on me."

"There was a monster on you?"

"Yes! Taked my dinner."

"Oh goodness."

"Averylin kicked me a lot when we were asleep and then I woke up," Sarah explained, curling up next to Austin. "I switched beds with Isa, but then Averylin kicked her too."

"Yeah, right in the shin. Like we were playing karate," Isa added, pushing her tangled hair behind her ear. "Maybe she could come sleep out on the couch with you two."

"Well after you told us what a delight she is to sleep next to…"

"Or maybe we could all sleep out here! Yeah, that would be fun! Right girls?"

"Yes Isa!" Avery agreed with a yawn. The three of them found spots in between their mothers and settled in happily.

"See Linds? You're a good mom. Even my kids think so."

"Okay, I'll stop worrying about it."

"You can get through this Linds. Adam would never have left if he thought you couldn't handle it."

"I guess you're right. Thank you."

"Anytime. And remember, I live to be your back up plan."

"And I live to be yours."

"I am so glad I have you."

"Ditto."