AN: Here's the second piece to this one. I'm going to admit that there's a third piece to this in the works right now, and you have my apologies because it's entirely self-indulgent, fluffy stuff. (Which, of course, is not unlike everything else that I write, but it's extra fluffy for the joy of Seth and Jessica just being absolutely apologetically in love.) I will understand if you don't want to read it, and you're welcome to consider this story as having ended at the end of this chapter, without all the extra lovey dovey stuff. LOL

I hope you enjoy the chapter! If you do, please do let me know!

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Seth rubbed his thumb gently so that it slipped over Jessica's fingers as he held her hand in his. She stopped walking, when she saw the bench, perhaps, and Seth stopped with her as soon as he felt the resistance in the hold between their fingers. He dropped back beside her and put his other hand on her shoulder.

"If you truly hate it, Jess, I'll put it back just like it was."

Jessica didn't say anything. She had a look on her face that Seth had seen before, though, and quite a bit in the past week. He understood the look. It was the somewhat distant look that Jessica got when she was, in some way, dealing with a past trauma that Seth knew was very deep.

She pulled her hand loose, and Seth dropped it. She needed her freedom for a moment, and he wouldn't restrain her. He loved to hold her hand. He loved to know that he could give her the comfort that such a gesture provided—that she told him it gave her. He never wanted that gesture to become something she associated with unwanted restraint.

Jessica stepped forward, and Seth hung back just a bit, purposefully giving her space. He watched as she ran her fingers lightly along the bench, marking its presence in her mind in a tactile manner. He watched as she bent over, reading the stones that he'd chosen and placed. She eased herself down to a knee, and he watched her extend her hand, brushing fingertips over the stones he'd placed, and then over the precious little ones that he'd been sure to keep. She stopped, her hand closing around one of the small stones, not quite lifting it, just holding it.

Seth cleared his throat to remind her that he was there. He didn't want to speak and startle her, if she had gone deep enough inside her mind to forget, for just a moment, that she wasn't alone.

He moved forward, taking a seat on the bench, choosing the space farthest from where Jessica was currently kneeling.

"I kept those stones," he said. "The ones you and Frank put there. Figured—you might like something else, too. Something a bit more pronounced for marking their resting places. I didn't know exactly what you might like, but the sentiment on those seemed good to me. If you have other ideas, though…"

"No," Jessica said.

He could see her profile, but he couldn't make much out. There was little doubt that there were tears on her face, but she wasn't sobbing. He could make out a soft smile, at least.

"You know I've…uh…I've asked you not to hold things back, Jess," Seth said softly. "If you've got something that needs to come out…I've got some tissues in my pockets." He laughed. "These days—I've always got tissues in my pockets, what with the baby wreaking havoc on her mother's feelings."

"I'm sorry," Jessica sniffed.

"That wasn't a criticism," Seth said. "And if that's what it sounded like, then it's me that's sorry. I don't mind tears, Jess. Especially not the good ones—and most of them, in some way, are good. Even if they aren't happy tears…they do the job of cleaning out some of the gunk that gets bound up inside all of us."

Jessica lowered both knees to the ground, now, and sat back on her heels. She was still silent, but Seth didn't sense that it was necessarily a negative silence.

"I—uh—I thought it might be nice to have a proper place to sit out here. Of course, I understand when you want to be…when you like to be as close as you can, Jess, and you like sitting down there. But—I hope you don't mind the bench."

"It's…wonderful, Seth," Jessica said. "Really…it's all so…"

She stopped and looked over her shoulder at him. Her face was damp with tears, but she was far from hysterical. Some of the tension that Seth had been carrying seemed to release from his muscles, simply at the sight of her. He raised up and offered his hands out to Jessica. She offered hers to him, and he helped her get to her feet. He kissed her face, tasting the salt of her tears, before he kissed her lips—not altogether free of the salty taste, either.

Then, he pulled her to sit with him on the bench. She sat and immediately leaned into him. Seth closed his eyes, his chest aching with what he could only identify as pure love for the woman that he was holding.

"You have to go back to work," Jessica said.

"I have a little time, Jess," he said. "I might call Beverly to cancel my last two appointments."

"You can't do that, Seth," Jessica insisted, starting to sit up and wiping at her face with her sleeve. Seth pulled her back and produced the promised tissues from his pocket, handing them over. He kissed her face again.

"Settle down, Jessica," he said with a laugh. "If it means that much to you, I won't cancel. Even though—one of them is Mrs. Willaby who comes in, like clockwork, once a week with whatever extremely rare ailment she thinks she's contracted because she saw some mention of it on the news."

Jessica laughed, and he squeezed her gently.

"Seth—this really is…wonderful," Jessica said, sitting up enough to look at him.

"It's hardly anything," Seth said. "It's nothing like what I wish I could do…but I'm just a man."

She smiled at him and moved to kiss him. He granted her the kiss she wanted, and he let it linger for as long as she wanted.

"You're the best kind of man," she said. "But, Seth—this isn't your burden."

Seth felt something catch in his chest. He forced a little laughter to push away other emotions that were threatening him—ones that he didn't want to deal with.

"This isn't a burden," he said. "Nothing about this, or you, Jessica, can ever be a burden to me. These are your children. And this is a piece of your life, Jess. An important piece. So—it's important to me. It's even more important because it's so closely related to that baby that you're carrying right now. Our baby. Your grief affects you, and it affects our baby. Frank is the only person closer to this than you and me, and he's probably got his hands full right now."

Seth smiled at Jessica when question registered on her face for a second.

"I'm sure they were right there when he got there, Jess, waiting on him. Don't you think?" He squeezed her as he saw her thinking about it. It seemed that, perhaps, she hadn't really thought about it before. Her heart hadn't let her think about her babies, perhaps, beyond the moment that her world had, in essence, stopped turning for a moment with the devastating loss of each of them. "Oh—I don't know how time works, but I imagine there's a lot more flexibility there. I'm sure he got to hold them. Teach them to walk. Do all the things he'd always dreamed of doing with them. Maybe he's even fishing with them right now. It'd be a good day for it, I'm sure."

Jessica frowned and her lip quivered. Her eyes filled quickly and big, warm dragon tears spilled over her bottom lids and rolled down her cheeks. Seth hugged her tightly, in response, and said nothing of the fact that she was quietly soaking his shirt with the flood of warm tears.

These, he thought, were good tears. They were some of the best. He could practically feel them washing out some of the stored-up feelings that he was still urging Jessica to let flow as often as she needed—as often as she could, even.

"I'll look forward to meeting them, when I get there. And when you get there, Jess…somehow? I'm sure time starts all over again. And you'll get to hold them again, too."

The sob that followed shook her a bit more than the quiet tears from before. Seth held her a bit more tightly. Beverly would try to call soon. She would be worrying about whether or not she should make a couple of calls for him. There was nothing on the proverbial docket that was urgent at all, and Beverly would make calls on his behalf if he didn't answer the phone.

He settled into the bench, focusing on holding Jessica, and let his concerns about everything else go for a bit.

After a few moments, though, Jessica pulled away from him. Her sobs seemed under control. He offered her a few more tissues from his pockets—the supply lightening to the point that he would have to pack his pockets again when they went inside—and she mopped her face. He caught her chin and turned her face to look at her. She was good—a little too good—at telling stories of all kinds, but she couldn't fool him when he could see her eyes.

She smiled at him, when he turned her face, but didn't try to pull away from him. She knew what he was doing, and she made eye contact with him.

"I'm fine," she said, sincerely. "And—this is…Seth…I don't have the words…really. I'm at quite a loss…"

"Just tell me that…I didn't do the wrong thing," Seth said.

She smiled at him a bit more sincerely.

"You did the best thing," she said. "And I love you—so very much, Seth."

His chest tightened, and his throat followed suit.

"I don't need any other words, Jess," he said.

"And now you have to go to work," Jessica said, putting some force behind her words.

"Beverly will call for me."

"She shouldn't," Jessica said. "I'm fine. Seth—I'm better than fine. I'm…"

He nodded, and she mirrored him.

"You going back inside?" He asked.

She smiled softly and shook her head gently.

"I think I'd like to sit out here for a while," she said. "If you don't mind."

He smiled and leaned to kiss her. She gave him a tender kiss, like she had earlier, full of love and promise.

"That's what it's here for, Woman," Seth said. "Stay as long as you like."

He got to his feet, stretching a little. She settled back on the bench like she did truly mean to spend a while sitting there.

"What would you like for your supper, Seth?" Jessica asked.

He swallowed back his amusement as much as he could, trying to keep a straight face.

"Are you on the menu, Woman?" He teased.

She smirked.

"Go to work, Mr. Hazlitt," she said in response. "I'll surprise you for supper."

Seth laughed quietly.

"I'm looking forward to it," he assured her.

He walked back toward the house. Before slipping into the back door, he stopped for just a moment and looked back toward the bench. Jessica was sitting on the bench, looking at the little stones and, perhaps, reliving a few of her happy memories or daydreams about the little lives that had simply been lost far too soon. There was a soft smile on her face. Seth was sure that there would be more tears—probably many, many more—but he believed they would be the good kind.

She might still be struggling with things, but he'd given her permission to grieve, and it seemed that she was accepting his permission. He was happy to support her each step of the way.

And he was pretty pleased with himself, too, that he hadn't exactly failed at giving her a gift that she enjoyed.

In fact, he was patting himself on the back the whole way to work. And he didn't lie—he spent the rest of the evening simply looking forward to the time when he could hang up his white coat and get home to spend the rest of the evening and night with nothing to do but spend time with Jessica, making a few new memories of their own.