'Alexis?'

'Hmm?'

'How can you still have room for food?'

Alexis grinned as she sat back down beside Shane on the bench outside Madision Square Garden. They were riding high the intense overtime win of the Rangers over the Flyers; since it was still early they'd decided to chase the Waffels and Dinges truck before they found a little post-game spot for another drink. Lanie and Dave had separately texted them each around the middle of the second period and informed them that Petra was going with them for a sleepover once they returned home from the game so she could have fun with her friends on a Saturday night while also letting Mumum and Papa have a night out for just themselves.

'It's part of my metabolism lately. Ever since I got back into exercising to lose the preggo-pounds combined with the last days of breast-feeding, I've been having a tonne of hungry days.'

'I wasn't saying a word my love,' Shane replied, delight in every syllable as he dug into his own waffel. 'Just genuinely wondering, considering the damage we did at Pookaloo's tonight before the game.'

'I do like deep-fried pickles, not to mention salt and pepper bread and hot cheesy-spinach dip, and buffalo chicken bites.'

'And the deep-fried ravioli, and the popcorn shrimp,' Shane added. 'Though I think that last one was more me than you, and my mother would have a heart attack if she saw me eating shellfish.'

'You eat bacon all the time,' Alexis reminded him, added a packet of cream-cheese icing to her waffel while Shane just dug right in. 'How is that any better or worse?'

'Degrees of separation,' Shane replied around a full mouth. 'I think it's one of those you have to be a Jew to understand things, kinda like childbirth is only something girls can understand.'

'Agreed,' she giggled. 'Man, I can see why Dave gets so giddy about coming to the Garden to see hockey games if the snacks are like this.'

'Dave's Canadian, he probably counted hockey stats instead of sheep as a child.'

'Think him and Lanie are doing it on our couch?'

The suggestion made Shane choke a little. He took a drink of his Coke, sent his wife a baleful look. 'Please don't ask questions like that, I don't wanna think about Lanie and Dave getting frisky while babysitting.'

'They have three kids, I think it's obvious they-'

'Hey Doctor Weaver and Lady Doctor Weaver!'

Both Weavers looked, smiled in unison as they saw Watkins walking towards them belly-first, fingers linked with Brie's while Marcus followed them over carrying one of the dessert truck's take-away bags. 'Hey, Evie! Oh, look at your belly! How are you feeling?'

'Much better,' Watkins replied with the most genuinely happy tone both Alexis and Shane had heard in ages. They watched her send Brie a loving smile which the woman returned before glancing over at Marcus. 'Things have gotten a lot better since we decided to go into some group family counselling. Doctor Mulgrew is really good at that.'

'Yeah, she helped us through a pretty rough time, too,' Shane agreed, noting the way that Brie stayed close to Watkins; in the past it would have been Marcus she'd been sticking closer to but that was a phase now done it seemed. 'No more time in the hospital?'

'Check-ups only,' Brie replied proudly, rubbing her wife's rounded belly with unmitigated glee. 'Our little boy is growing like a weed.'

'He's not a nuisance, Brie, and much as I love freezing my nubs off in Manhattan February, I'd really like to get my baby mama and her baby home so we can watch Iron Chef 3000,' Marcus added, making Brie squawk playfully.

'I swear to God, that was the worst decision ever, letting you two bond over-'

'The most awesome cooking show ever,' Watkins finished up, kissing Brie's cheek to placate her ever so slightly. 'Don't worry, you'll get your fun time with me too, but Marcus has to work nights the next four days and you know he'll get cranky not seeing the baby for that long. You get me all to yourself since I have the same days off as you this week.'

'See? Everyone's happy, now mush-mush Cheese and Crackers.'

'Guess we're leaving,' Watkins laughed, making the Weavers laugh too. 'Shane I'll see you on Tuesday at nine.'

'You got it.'

Alexis watched them wander off, then looked at Shane. 'Court?'

'Yep, the Oliver Swanson case. Guy drugged his wife's wine with window cleaner, then dumped her into the hot-tub after she said she'd rather kill herself than face another Christmas of fighting with his in-laws. Adam and Watkins were the investigators.'

'Ah, gotcha. I'm so glad to see her feeling herself again, even if it's only been a month.'

'Hey a lot can happen in a month,' Shane reminded her. 'In one month, you and I got together, faced the music of your parents and got the last laugh on a hell of a lot of people. Not to mention the fact we fell in love, and you...'

He leaned closer, murmured in her ear, 'Gave me the best first-time sex of my life.'

'Really?' Feminine pride slide warmly through Alexis' core.

'Oh yeah. You were so beautiful, and so damn nervous but it just added to your charm. I knew nothing else would ever be good enough for me after you and I hooked up. And here we are, eight years later and you are still rocking my world.'

'Oh Shane.' Equal parts touched and turned on, Alexis leaned over and gave him an apple-tinted kiss. 'Wait until we get home tonight.'

'I was thinking instead of tonight, since Lanie and Dave have Petra for a sleepover, why don't we get really wild, sleep in, and have brunch sex before we go pick Petra up and have a bite at Jane Sinclair Bagels?'

'Now I love you even more.'