AN: Hector and Zip are always in my head but I didn't realize what an obscenely long amount of time had gone by without letting them out on paper. Hopefully there are a few of you out there still wishing for an update.

Thank you LilyGhost

The faint hint of a smile tilting Michael's lips at the corners never failed to surprise me. What he went through would have made it nearly impossible for any normal person to ever smile again, let alone someone like him, but my daughter could always bring it out of him. She brought it out of almost everyone she'd ever met. They had been at what Grace referred to as her craft corner for the past hour, making who knows what, with hot glue and glitter and something called Mod Podge and that small grin hadn't left his face the whole time.

I had been trying to read a book while they did their thing, but I was distracted and anxious. Zip had been gone close to a week and should have been home a couple of hours ago. Though I knew he'd been delayed, it didn't stop me from checking my watch for the 20th time in the past half an hour. I wouldn't be able to settle my mind until he was back.

"Papa." My daughter's sweet voice sounded from the corner and my eyes found hers across the room. She only used that moniker when she knew I was struggling to keep it together. "He'll be home any minute," she added in that all-knowing way she had, which even after six years, still astonished me. The grin on Michael's face widened slightly at her words as he reached for a container of pink glitter.

Brutus, Gracie's horse dog, who I thought might be just as intuitive as she was, took that moment to prove my point and stood up from his spot at her feet and let out a muffled snort before trotting across the library and heading for the kitchen. "See!" Grace exclaimed and took off after him. Somehow the dog always knew when Zip was nearly home. I met Michael's piercing blue gaze and found that grin had turned into a full-blown smile. "I'll take them for a walk," he said, knowing I'd want some alone time with my husband.

I heard her delighted squeal of "Daddy!" and a single short bark from Brutus and the tension I'd been carrying left my body as I lifted out of the chair to go greet the man I sometimes still couldn't believe loved me. When I rounded the corner into the kitchen Grace was in Zip's arms squeezing him as tightly as she could in a fierce hug. Though she'd handled his absence better than I had, it was still clear she had missed him terribly.

"We missed you," she was sure to tell him when she was done with her hug.

"I missed you like crazy too, munchkin," he replied but his golden gaze had met mine over her head and I could see how much he'd missed me as well.

"Brutus missed you too," she said, and the massive animal pushed his head into Zip's leg, asking for attention. Zip obliged and rubbed his ears.

"Did you take care of them for me, Brut?" Zip asked as he scratched his head. He got the standard snort in reply, and I swear that dog understood every word.

"Dad missed you the most though," Gracie added, with a glance over her shoulder at me. "You know how he gets. Anxious and cranky."

"Hey," I protested mildly, knowing she was right.

"I do know," Zip agreed. "Did you call him out on it?"

"Of course," she said. "When he gets too unbearable, but I try and cut him some slack since he's so gaga for you."

"Gaga?" Zip repeated with a questioning look down at our daughter.

"That's what Aunt Steph says."

"Ahhh, well that explains it," Zip replied shooting me another look. I rolled my eyes in response. That was definitely something Stephanie would have said.

"Hey Michael," Zip called as the man strolled into the room.

"Welcome back," he replied and then turned his attention to Grace and her dog. "It's time to take your beast for a walk."

"Yes it is," she agreed after a quick glance at the clock hanging on the wall by the door. Brutus bolted toward the mud room at the word walk, knowing where his leash is kept, and Grace headed that way as well but called back to us before she disappeared. "We need to have a talk when I get back."

Michael raised a blond eyebrow but didn't say anything else as he followed them out.

"What's that about?" Zip asked.

"I have no idea," I confessed and then yanked him against me, hugging him as hard as Grace had. When I finally let go, he pulled me back into his arms and our lips met in a kiss that had me hoping Michael kept Grace and Brutus out for longer than he probably should.

His fingers slipped under my shirt and my dick turned to stone the second our skin touched. He pulled it off my body and began an assault on my chest and neck that quickly had me dragging him from the kitchen and upstairs to our bedroom. After bolting the door and stripping out of the rest of my clothes, I found him already naked and waiting in our bed. It had only been a week, but it felt like a lifetime since I'd touched him, and I didn't know where to start. I crawled in next to him and he took the lead by encasing my length in his palm and I almost came in his hand.

We knew we didn't have a lot of time before Gracie would return so we took full advantage and when we were both completely spent, I settled my face into my favorite spot in the curve of his neck and slid my arm across his chest. "We're gonna need to do that again," he said on a sigh of contentment. "And very soon."

"Agreed," I said. "And we need to talk about not being away from each other for long periods of time anymore."

"A week is a long time?" He questioned.

"It felt really, really long," I told him. "I don't like it when you're gone."

He propped his head up on his hand so he could see my face and flashed me with the dimpled grin that even close to ten years later still made my heart turn over in my chest.

"I know, for me too," he said and brushed his impossibly soft lips across my forehead. "Dallas and Ozzy send their best, by the way. But they wanted to know why you and Grace didn't come with me to Boston, well mostly I think they meant Grace, but there was a cursory mention of you." He kissed me again and then said, "Maybe we can talk to Ranger about only taking out of town jobs where we can both go, if possible."

"Yeah, maybe. Because as our daughter mentioned, I can get 'cranky' when you aren't here."

I got the dimple again before Zip remembered what Grace had said before she left the house. "Speaking of, what does she want to talk to us about?"

"Who knows?" I replied. "Her birthday is in a couple of weeks, and she's been glued to Michael's side since you've been gone, communication without talking, so it could literally be anything."

"He's been here the whole time?"

"You know how he is when one of us is gone. He goes into protective mode and won't leave until we're reunited. Yesterday morning I found Grace and Brutus asleep with him in the guest room."

Zip smiled at the image. "Well, I do worry less knowing he's here when I can't be."

"Me too, but now that you're back he'll disappear tonight, and we won't see him for a while. Gabriel mentioned something about them heading out of town for a few days. At least one of them talks, out loud anyway."

He grinned and kissed me one more time before reaching for the pants he'd discarded in our haste to be together. "I seem to remember someone else who never talked very much."

"Yeah, well you talked enough for the both of us," I said, going in search of my own clothes.

He laughed and checked his watch. "We better get moving, they'll be back any minute."

We dressed quickly and when my foot hit the stairs, we heard Gracie calling up to us. "Dads! You better be fully clothed because I want to talk to you both."

"One time," Zip said at my back. "One time three years ago she walked in on us and still won't let it go."

"We've scarred her for life, apparently," I replied as we descended the stairs to the living room.

We found her at the bottom of the curved staircase with Michael and Brutus. There was a duffle bag at Michael's feet, and he had enveloped her in what I knew was a good-bye hug. When he let her go, she briefly cupped his scarred cheek in her palm before he grabbed his bag off the floor. With a nod to us and a quick scratch of Brutus' head the man disappeared out the front door.

"Okay baby girl," I said, taking her hand to lead her into the living room. "We are ready to discuss anything you want to talk about."

"Good," she replied and gestured for us to sit on the couch while she climbed into the plush armchair directly across from us. "And I'm glad you said baby," she added.

"Oh shit," Zip whispered and grabbed my hand, lacing our fingers together. Grace had asked for a baby brother for her sixth birthday, which she obviously did not get, but she hadn't mentioned it again since Brutus came to live with us, so Zip and I thought she had moved on. We were about to find out how very wrong we were.

"As you know, I will be turning seven in fifteen days and I am once again, respectfully, asking for a baby brother." Zip and I looked at each other and I noted the flicker of panic flash through his eyes. We turned back to Grace and I opened my mouth to respond but she held up her hand and I clamped it shut.

"Before you freak out and start telling me about the expense and how you don't want to share your love for me and any other excuse you want to dream up, don't. It's time for this family to grow. We have a lot of love here and I just know there's a kid out there somewhere who needs it."

Zip squeezed my fingers, and I knew exactly what he was thinking. Our daughter is an extraordinary little human. When she had unexpectedly come into our lives, we were woefully underprepared and had daily thoughts that there was no way we could handle raising this brilliant, beautiful girl, but with a ton of help from Zip's family and our Rangeman family, we managed to pull it off. The fact she recognized how very much she is loved and that she wants to share that love makes me think we've done a pretty decent job with her. And though I did have a list of excuses running through my head of reasons not to have another kid, I do feel like we have enough experience now to potentially add to our family.

"Well," I finally said, "we are willing to think about it." Zip squeezed my fingers again in agreement.

"Yes," he said, jumping into the conversation. "Buy why are you insisting on a brother?" He wanted to know. "With all your boy cousins don't you want to have a sister?" I hadn't even thought of that, but I wanted to know the answer too.

"I like being the only girl," she responded with a grin. "And a brother won't want to borrow any of my shoes or clothes, "she tacked on. "You'll really consider it? For real this time?"

"Yes," I told her again, "but Dad and I need to talk about it, privately, before any decisions are made. Deal?"

She opened her mouth to reply but Brutus leapt to his feet and let out a bark, followed quickly by a second and then Zip's phone rang simultaneously with mine. "Uh-oh," Grace said. "Trouble."

Trouble was right. It was the control room, and we were being summoned. "Go get your bag," I instructed her when I got all the details. She headed to her room without protest, knowing the drill.

"I thought she'd given that up," Zip said as soon as she was out of ear shot.

"Me too, "I answered while I texted Ella to let her know we were on our way with Grace.

"Are we really gonna consider it?"

I looked up at those golden eyes I loved so much. "I think we should have a real discussion about it, but not tonight. C'mon Grace," I called up the stairs. "We gotta roll."

Brutus barked again, encouraging her to move faster. "I'm coming, don't panic," she told her dog as she came down the stairs with her go bag slung over a shoulder. There weren't many times when both Zip and I were needed at the same time but when it was an all-hands-on deck situation, Grace and Brutus were entrusted to the safety of the Rangeman building until one or both of us were able to get back to her.

"I hope Grandma Ella made brownies," she said as she buckled her seatbelt in the backseat of my truck. "And I hope no one gets hurt." The last part was whispered but Zip and I both heard her. The older she got the more she understood how dangerous our jobs are and it was difficult watching her worry, but it was also great motivation to get it done quickly and get back home to her as soon as possible, hopefully unscathed.

We pulled into the Rangeman garage five minutes later and Woody came out of the stairwell as I slowed to a stop in front of the bank of elevators. "You know I'm old enough not to need an escort up the elevator, right?" Grace said without hiding her annoyed tone. She opened the door to let Brutus out who immediately ran to Woody for some head scratches.

"We do know," Zip told her. "And you know that we will probably always want someone with you when we can't be, even if it's just an elevator ride."

Our daughter lifted both her eyebrows and said something that threatened to send both of us into a fully blown tailspin of panic. "That's gonna get really awkward when I start dating."

Zip swallowed hard but managed to keep it together enough to say, "Yes, but that won't be happening until your forty so no need to bring it up again for a very long time."

Grace almost rolled her eyes right out of her head. She kissed us both, told us she loved us, made us promise not to get shot and then left us to join her escort and Brutus for a ride up to the fifth floor.

"I love her beyond reason," Zip said to me as we exited the garage, "But that kid has a mean streak. Dating. She just brought up dating. She's seven!" He added as if I wasn't aware.

"It gets worse," I said in the gravest tone I could manage."

"What could possibly be worse?"

"She's gonna end up dating Cougar, or one of the twins. Or maybe it will be the one on the way since Mel is pregnant with their fourth boy."

Zip didn't respond and when I chanced a glance, he was staring at me with narrowed eyes. "You have a mean streak too."

I smiled and brought his hand to my mouth, brushing a kiss across his knuckles and then held it in mine until we arrived at the housing project on Stark street. We had been hired to divest it from a group of crack heads who had taken over an abandoned apartment, but things hadn't gone as planned. Junior and Vince were being transported to the hospital and there were a few other minor injuries. Ranger and Tank were on site, assessing and coming up with a plan to get it under control without any further bloodshed, hopefully.

We rolled up behind Ranger's Land cruiser a block away and loaded up with our tactical gear, including Kevlar. Zip tightened the last strap on his vest, checked the magazine in his Glock and then looked at me with his game face on. "You ready?"

"Always," I replied as I grabbed my rifle off the tailgate of the truck, slammed it closed and followed my husband into a fire fight.