"Babe- you…okay?" Kim asked as Tommy peeked an eye open as she put a fresh bag of ice on his crotch and he let out a sigh. His vasectomy had gone great, but he had never dealt with this kind of pain well. Give him a severe injury any day over a minor inconvenience any day- he was better equipped to deal with those. The lack of pity he caught in her eyes made him sulk even more- if anything there was a tinge of glee on her face. "Don't give me that face. Think about all the condom free sex we'll be able to have."

"I can't even think about that because the idea of anything happening down there right now makes me nauseous," Tommy grumbled and she laughed at his face before giving him a quick kiss. She knew how badly he wanted to be up and around, doing his normal life but that just wasn't part of the recovery for this surgery. If the entire was family was sick, he was the best at keeping them all in good spirits. He just hated to be incapacitated in any way that did not come from a life or death situation. "Kim…"

"I'm going to get your parents from the airport. Jay and Kira are passed out and Luca is in his crib. Here's the monitors- you and your sore balls will be fine to get up and take care of them if they need it," Kim stated as Tommy shook his head at her. So much for getting any sympathy from his wife. "I have birthed three of your babies and had a swollen vagina for weeks afterwards- sorry hun, my sympathy is limited."

"Did it feel like all the blood in your body was pooling between your legs and causing everything to be stiff and sore?" Tommy grumpily shot back as she crossed her arms and nodded.

"Worse. Much worse than that," Kim said as he locked eyes with her and he realized that her pain had truly been worse and that if he wanted to sleep in bed with her tonight he should shut up now. "Love you- I should be back in about an hour."

"How is he?" Gayle asked as she gave Kim a hug and Kim just shook her head. She was thankful that his parents had agreed to come out for the next few weeks and that they had arrived the day he had had the surgery. It would distract him from any pain he was feeling and he was going to need a distraction. She had a lot of things that she needed to do while he was recuperating and she wasn't going to be a reliable distraction. Their children would be- if he could get up and run around after them, but that was supposed to be off limits. "That bad?"

"He asked me how sore I was after having babies to see if it was a fair comparison," Kim stated as Gayle stared at her, in shock, as Russell walked over with their bags. She knew her son had lapses of judgment from time to time, but she had thought he would have he good sense to stay quiet about something like this. "Oh good…I'm glad this is manageable- the subway was easier than trying to drive here."

"We could have taken a cab," Russell said as Kim shook her head as he gave her a hug. "From what I gather Tommy's not taking being laid up well."

"He never does and I might be a little bit more gleeful about this time than I normally would. We don't make tiny babies," Kim replied as she saw the blush creep up Russell's neck and she let out a laugh. For the most part she was very comfortable around them, but she may have shared a bit too much this time. "Okay, before I mortify you anymore, let's get moving."

"How big was Luca?" Gayle asked as Kim forced herself to stay with them and not relive what that birth had been like. She had talked with Erick about it, in detail, but had not really shared details with anyone else. Even though Tommy knew a lot, she still had not been able to tell him everything she remembered now. She knew that Gayle was only asking because it felt safe, but she had no idea how bad it had been. She didn't even know exactly how much Luca weighed because of all the trauma around that time. "Kim…"

"8 pounds-ish, even with being a bit early," Kim said as she forced a smile, but as Gayle studied her she felt her walls breaking down and the tears started. She didn't want to make a scene, but she lost control as the sobs started and Gayle wrapped her in a tight hug. She had broken down with Tommy, Thomas, and Katy about this, but hadn't really broken down with anyone else. She was not comfortable enough to do this with anyone else.

"We're going to get a cab," Russell stated as Gayle looked up at him and just nodded. She had no idea what was going on with Kim, but she knew that they needed to get her home to Tommy. Russell managed to hail a cab and everyone piled into the back seat before he gave the cabbie their address. "You have any idea…"

"None," Gayle said as Kim continued to cling to her and she saw the cabbie had some level of recognition for who Kim was. She just hoped that the man wouldn't really put two and two together and would respect the privacy that Kim so desperately needed.

"What…happened…" Tommy trailed off as Kim sank into him and her sobs continued. He shifted her in his arms as he locked eyes with his parents. She had been fine when she left and although he knew there was a lot that she was still working through, he didn't think that she was having a bad day today. "Mom? Dad?"

"We were catching up. Joking about how bad you take being out of commission. I asked how big Luca was," Gayle said as Tommy paled, but nodded as he held Kimberly closer to him. He should have warned them what asking about Luca might do to her, but he had thought they'd wait until they were all together to talk about anything dealing with him. Obviously, he hadn't done a good job explaining how traumatic it had been to them. "Tommy…"

"Baby, I not supposed to carry you right now," Tommy whispered as Kim lowered her feet to the ground and he closed his eyes as he fought back ignoring everything the doctor had told him. He might have been in some pain, but that was nothing compared to what Kim was reliving. "Do you want me to explain it?"

"I…need…I need…" Kim tried to say as he felt how frantic she was and also how she was not able to say what she needed so badly. He pulled back ever so slightly to try to look her in the eyes and see if he could figure it out. She clutched him tighter and he immediately stopped trying to move away from her. A panic attack. She was in a full blown panic attack. They were rare for her, but any time they happened in the past she had needed to feel how concrete he was and him pulling away would only make it worse. "You stay."

"I'm not going anywhere," Tommy said as he just held her and he forced a smile towards his parents. It tore him apart to see how badly this hurt her and there was only so much that he could do to help her with this when others were around. "Hang on to me- we're gonna go to the couch."

Russell and Gayle watched as Tommy settled Kim's feet on his and threw medical advice out the window. She was in so much pain and he would do anything to lessen that, anything to take even a bit of it away. Tommy carefully navigated around their living room and slowly settled on the couch. Kim crawled into his lap and continued to sob against him. He had never been so thankful that their toddlers were sound sleepers as he was right now. The last thing he needed was for a child to wake up screaming for one of them. He had to choose Kimberly right now, even if his kids needed him and he knew that was not what she would want.

"Tommy?" Gayle asked as she settled down in one of the chairs across from him and he whispered something in Kim's ear before she barely nodded, but didn't lessen her grip on him. Her breathing was starting to settle but the sobs still wracked her body.

"Luca's birth was hard. Really hard. She was captured and….Thomas' brother…Kiros' son…he nearly killed her and he tried…I barely got there in time to keep him from giving Luca to Kiros," Tommy forced out as the tears streamed down his face, but he continued with soothing strokes up and down Kimberly's back. He needed to get her calm. Quickly. "I'm guessing that you asking triggered this and…"

"Oh Kim," Gayle muttered as she moved over next to her and threw her arms around the both of them. She felt arms go around her as well and peeked up to see that Russell had wrapped them up from the other side. She was sure that the full story was much worse than what Tommy could manage to say to them right now. She also knew that they could give the two of them one thing- a parent's touch and that was something that they both desperately needed.

AN: Thanks for reading! Please consider leaving a comment if you're so inclined.