"Are you ready to go home, Rose?"

I nodded. "I think so."

"Let's chat through what your discharge will look like," Dr. Hayes said, handing over a pad of paper so I could take notes if I wanted. I took the pen he offered, too, intending to write down the important bits. "You'll continue taking the Lexapro daily. Remember that it can take up to a month to start feeling the effects. If we need to change it in the future or adjust the dose, that's fine, too. If you start to feel worse at any point, let me know, and we can discuss taking you off of it and starting you on something new. How would you feel about continuing to meet with me a few times a week as part of our outpatient program?"

"I would like that," I said. "I didn't think it would be possible, but I've grown comfortable sharing certain aspects with you, and I think it would benefit me to continue seeing a therapist, but I can't go through the constant searching again."

Dr. Hayes nodded. "I figured that would be the case. Let's start with meeting three times a week, and then we can discuss increasing or decreasing our visits as needed."

I nodded. "Works for me."

"Now that that's sorted, let's talk about this morning," he said. "How are you feeling after our session with Dimitri?"

"Better," I said after a moment. "Part of me was dreading visitation today because of what happened last night, but knowing the truth of it has made things better. It was nice to be able to share more with Dimitri. Part of me knows I've always been able to do that, but it can be hard sometimes to actually share that stuff because I don't want to be weak or scared anymore."

Dr. Hayes gave me a look. "I know we've chatted before about how it's not a sign of weakness to have to deal with depression and anxiety or really any mental health disorder."

"I know," I said. "It doesn't change how it makes me feel, though."

"We'll continue working on it," he said. "Do you think having the joint session in my office helped versus if the conversation had been unmediated or at home?"

"Yes. It feels like a safe space here."

He nodded. "Then I think it would be beneficial to have more joint sessions here as part of the outpatient program. I think it would be beneficial to start with weekly sessions, and then we can go to biweekly if the weekly sessions improve."

I nodded.

"Lastly, I wanted to reiterate that the situation with the nurses last night shouldn't have happened the way it did. There are other methods that could have been used that didn't involve lying to you."

"Like what?" I asked, curious.

"Well, if you were hysterical and they weren't able to calm you through chatting through the situation, they could have used a mild sedative as a last resort. We also have a therapist on call overnight, and they could have called them to do an emergency session with you," Dr. Hayes said. "As I said earlier, I'll be following up with the team to make sure that something like this doesn't happen again with another patient. I'm sorry that it happened to you."

"Thank you," I said.

"I'm just doing my job," Dr. Hayes said with a small smile.

By the time lunch rolled around, my discharge papers had been processed. Dimitri chose to hang around the facility while I finished up with Dr. Hayes and was waiting for me in the lobby with my meager belongings. He smiled when I walked through the doors, and I matched his smile. He shifted my stuff to one arm so that he could hug me with his other. We walked out to the car hand in hand, and Dimitri opened the car door for me before walking around to the driver's side.

As Dimitri pulled out of the parking lot, he reached over to grab my hand, his thumb rubbing in a soothing circular motion on the back of my hand. We drove for a bit in comfortable silence, and we were almost home when Dimitri spoke.

"Are you hungry?"

I smiled. "I could go for some tacos."

Dimitri nodded and turned towards one of our favorite taco places. When we pulled in a few minutes later, I spotted the acai place next door and pointed it out to Dimitri.

"Found our dessert," I said.

Dimitri looked at where I was pointing. "Yum," he said.

At the restaurant, Dimitri ordered two tacos while I ordered one, saving room for an acai bowl. It didn't take long for our tacos to come up, and we ate them on the patio, basking in the afternoon sun. We finished our tacos at the same time, and I dragged Dimitri to the acai shop, where we split a bowl.

"I'd like to do this more often," Dimitri said. "Go on dates and have couple time. I can't remember the last time we had a real date."

I thought back, but I couldn't remember either. "I agree. I love getting to spend time together, just us. Not that I don't love spending time together as a family, but the kids are exhausting sometimes."

Dimitri laughed. "They'll grow out of it."

I shot him a look. "Do you honestly believe that? Let's be honest with ourselves."

He laughed again. "Levi will always be a momma's boy. He had some rough moments this week."

Dimitri's words sobered me. "I'm sorry."

Dimitri reached out, grabbing my hand. "You don't have anything to apologize for. It's the way of life. I think he would have been a momma's boy, regardless. He's always clung to you, and there's nothing wrong with that."

"How's Katya been?" I asked, biting my lip.

"She misses you, but she's been okay. She's actually done a great job at comforting Levi. I've found her sleeping on the floor in front of his crib more than once this week," Dimitri said.

He pulled out his phone and handed it over to me a moment later. He had pulled up a picture of Katerina sound asleep with a blanket half covering her in front of Levi's crib. I smiled at the photo and quickly texted it to myself.

"Are you ready to go?" Dimitri asked, looking at his watch. "It's almost time to pick up the kids."

I nodded, handing Dimitri's phone back before getting up to throw away our trash. I followed Dimitri back to the car, and we continued holding hands on the way to the daycare, including once we got out of the car and into the lobby. The teacher at the front desk recognized us immediately and called back to Katya's and Levi's rooms as soon as we walked in.

Katya came out first, escorted by one of her teachers. The second she spotted me, she began tugging at her teacher's hand.

"Mommy!" she called.

I reached down to lift her into my arms as soon as she was close enough, and she buried her face in my neck as she clung to me. I hugged her tightly.

"Hi, Katya."

"Are you coming home?"

"Yes, baby," I whispered. "I'm coming home."

She squealed in delight. "Can you read my bedtime story?" She lowered her voice. "Daddy doesn't do the voices right."

I stifled a laugh as Dimitri feigned outrage.

"I heard that, missy," he said. "You better keep an eye out for the tickle monster."

He gave her a moment to process his words before tickling her mercilessly. She squirmed in my arms, shrieking with laughter.

"I'm sorry," she finally cried, reaching out for Dimitri to take her. He obliged her silent request and took her from my arms. "You're the best storyteller," she told Dimitri solemnly.

Dimitri chuckled. "If you insist."

Katya giggled, nodding. Before she could say anything, Levi's teacher came out with Levi in her arms.

"Sorry for the delay," she said. "We had just started changing his diaper when we got the notification that you were here."

"No worries," I said, taking Levi from her arms. "Hi, Levi."

"Hi, Mama," he said, clinging to me.

Dimitri and I carried the kids out to the car, strapping them into their respective car seats. Katya had been upgraded to a booster seat recently, having outgrown her car seat.

The kids were quiet on the car ride home, and Dimitri continued holding my hand as he drove. When we reached the house, Dimitri and I split up to put the kids down for their naps. I read Katerina a short story, and she was asleep before I got to the last page.

When I returned to the living room, Dimitri was already waiting for me. He was lounging on the couch, and he shifted when I walked in, making space for me to join him. I lay next to him, my body cradled by his. Dimitri turned on a movie, but less than thirty minutes in, my eyes started fluttering.

Dimitri noticed and turned the volume down a bit. "Rest, Roza. I'll be here when you wake."

When I woke sometime later, I wasn't surprised to see that I had shifted in my sleep. Dimitri had also fallen asleep, and in our sleep, I had ended up lying on my stomach partially on top of him with my head resting on Dimitri's chest. His arm was wrapped loosely around my waist, resting on my lower back. I shifted, trying to stand without waking Dimitri, and nearly failed when I realized that Katerina was standing over us, my phone in her hand.

"Katya, what are you doing?" I whispered.

"I woke up and saw you and Daddy sleeping," she said. "I wanted to take a picture for you."

She handed me my phone, and I opened my photos app to see that she had taken a couple of cute pictures of us. I quickly set one as my lock screen and texted them to Dimitri as well.

"Thank you, baby. Are you hungry?"

She nodded, and I led Katerina into the kitchen to get her a small snack before checking on Levi. He was still sound asleep, and I found that Dimitri was awake when I returned to the living room.

"Good morning," I teased.

I leaned up, kissing him quickly. Dimitri took a second to deepen the kiss, his hands resting on my lower back to hold me closer to him. I broke the kiss a moment later and wasn't surprised to see heat in Dimitri's eyes. My stomach turned at the thought of sex, but I shoved it down, not letting it show on my face.

"I know we ate out for lunch, but how would you feel about eating out as a family for dinner?" I asked.

"I'm fine with that," Dimitri said.

"Steak 'n Shake?" Katya called from the dining room where she was still eating her snack.

I laughed. "Yes, we can go to Steak 'n Shake once Levi wakes up."

When Levi woke thirty minutes later, I made good on my words to Katya, and we took a family trip to the closest Steak 'n Shake. We let Levi and Katya split a shake, even though we knew it would make them a bit wild afterwards. On the way home from dinner, we stopped at the neighborhood playground, letting them run out their excess sugar as Dimitri and I watched them from the bench. Dimitri was holding my hand again, his thumb subconsciously still rubbing the back of my hand in a soothing motion, as if to make sure I was still there.

"Roza?"

I turned to him. "Yeah?"

"You know I love you, and I love Katerina and Levi like they were my own children."

I nodded, unsure of where he was going with this.

"I want them to be my children," he said. "I'd like your blessing to formally adopt Katerina and Levi, and legally make them my children, last name and all."