Walker beelined to his friend the second the motor was turned off. It made Idina smile. This was exactly the atmosphere she needed right now.

The dress was casual, so she was wearing ripped jeans and a leather jacket over a loose white shirt. No one would be able to tell she had a baby bump. And even if they could, she had a feeling people would be a whole lot more likely to jump to the conclusion that she was gaining weight, especially the internet. The thought made her chuckle. She was gaining weight. A whole lot. Two babies worth, to be precise.

They walked up the walkway, her hand in Aaron's and her other holding the wine they had brought for the hosts. Erika was a few steps behind them. She knew no one here as far as either of them could tell as no one had teens at Erika's school. And even then, there would be no guarantee that Erika knew them or that they got along. Their daughter was wearing jeans and a light blue jacket along with the dragonfly necklace Idina had gotten her months ago. It was still the only piece of jewelry she owned.

"'Dina!" came the voice of a five-foot-one blonde. Idina was suddenly tackled in a bear hug, Kristen pressing herself so close to her surrogate sister Idina was worried she might be able to feel her bump. She knew Kristen was the type to ask her about it later and she did not for a second believe she could lie to her friend's face.

"Nice to see you too," Idina replied through a smile.

Kristen let go of Idina and brushed herself off.

"Here," Idina said, giving Kirsten the wine.

"Ooh, nice," she said as she read the label. "Want some?"

"No," Idina replied, "I'm on a diet and..."

"You don't need to be on a diet Dee!" she looked over to Aaron. "Come on, tell her."

"Sorry, I'm not ganging up on my wife. I'm staying out of this." He took a few steps back for emphasis, but they were still holding hands.

"A 'yes ma'am' man," Kristen said with a wink, "keeper for sure."

All three of them chuckled.

Idina then introduced Kristen and Erika. They shook hands, though Erika seemed just as interested in meeting Idina's friends as Walker was, which was not very much at all. No one had been expecting anything more.

Kristen escorted them to the backyard where the party was in full swing. And there was a bouncy castle. A large, red and yellow bouncy castle with fighting ring and more.

"Dee, it's for the children," Aaron warned the second he saw the look on her face.

"But I'm carrying two," she mumbled into his ear. "I'm your baby, babe. Let your baby play on the baby toy." Then she licked his temple and ear.

"Should you be jumping up and down in a bouncy castle? You've been avoiding the trampoline like the plague." He planted a kiss on her lips.

"That's because I want a pool," she huffed, crossing her arms.

Aaron snorted. "Fine, but don't come crying to me when you spook the kids and Walker's embarrassed."

"Will you go and do it for me?" She batted her eyes. "I'll live vicariously through you. Please? If not, you might have to get drunk for me..."

"Alright," he said, rolling his eyes and pulling her hips close. He planted a kiss on her nose. "But only for you."

Idina turned to Erika. "You should go too, it'll be fun."

"I'm alright," she said, looking down. There were a lot of people here. If this is what Kristen thought was medium-sized, neither Erika nor Idina wanted to know what she considered to be a large party.

"It'll be the two of us," Aaron said. "We'll have fun."

"I'm good."

"Okay," he said as he turned towards the bouncy castle, eye still locked with Idina who followed him with Erika a few steps behind her.

He removed his shoes and climbed up the balloon stairs that were not meant to support an adult weight. He was not the only adult in the castle, thank god, but it seemed like they were there with children and he was just staring at his beaming wife. He jumped up a down for a few minutes- it was kind of fun- before coming back off and return to Idina's arms.

"Happy?" he asked, nuzzling her.

"Very," she replied, smiling and beaming. The pregnancy glow was real, and it was messing with his head. She was just so amazingly beautiful in the winter sun.

The three of them made their way over to the food. Walker was running around with his friend in a loud game of tag, while some other kids were playing manhunt. Idina was hungry, even though they had just eaten before they came.

Kristen came over, saying she had something for all the teenagers to do and whisked Erika away to a group of teens claiming they needed more help. They watched carefully for a few minutes to make sure their daughter was extremely uncomfortable, but once she was handed a hammer from an olive-skinned girl, she started to seem a bit more comfortable.

"What are they doing?" Idina asked Kristen when her friend returned.

"They're building some go-carts," Kristen said. "We're going to have the younger kids race them later. Teams are going to be drawn at random. There are some prizes too."

"Kris, you've gone overboard," Idina chuckled. What did she expect?

"You sure you don't want a drink?" she asked.

"I'm sure," Idina replied.

Aaron saw an old friend and excused himself, kissing his wife's cheek before he left and wandered across the property.

"What's going on with the blackmailer?" Kristen asked in a lowered voice.

"It's complicated," Idina said. "I can't say who it is, but's an old friend of Taye and I. Anyway, he admitted to everything, but when the time came for him to sign his confession, he changed his tune and now he is saying that Taye was coercing him to do everything. I am not really in the loop anymore. I probably won't be bothered about it again unless I have to be a character witness for Taye since they have all the texts from my phone."

"God that sucks," Kristen said. "How's Taye holding up?"

"Honestly, I think he might be cracking," Idina admitted. If this morning out of character texts were anything. She had been noticing a shift in his attitude since this all started going down. Not that she had been on her best behaviour either... she was not going there now. This was her fun time.

Someone asked Kristen for something.

"Sorry," she said. "If you still want to talk you can follow me though."

"Sure," Idina said gleefully.

She followed Kristen into her house and helped her restock the hors d'oeuvres while they talked. She told her friend about how they were making progress with Erika, though she did not say why, and how happy she was about it. It was life self-discovery for Idina. She knew how happy she was right now and how well they were doing with Erika but talking about it with someone made it so real. Idina looked over to where her daughter was working on a go-cart. She looked happy, talking quietly to the girl who had handed her the hammer earlier while they tried to sort something out with a tire. Idina prayed she was making a new friend. Erika needed friends.

"Dee, that's your 'I love my kid face'," Kristen pointed out, bringing Idina back. "You zoned out there." Kristen looked back to Erika. "I'm so happy for the two of you. I know Aaron wanted a kid and I get why you did not want to get pregnant. Adoption was a great idea. Honestly, we all knew you would adopt sometimes, we just were not expecting it to be so soon. He's so caring, I'm sure he's doing a wonderful job."

Idina was beaming. She had never stopped. "He is," she said as she helped the blonde carry the hors d'oeuvres out to the table. She said hi to Dax on the way out, who seemed to be pitching some sort of manual project to someone.

"Sure you should be doing that?" Aaron asked when she appeared.

"Yeah, it's fine," Idina said quietly. She did not want anyone to overhear something.

"Doing what?" Kristen asked.

"Period," Idina said. "He's decided he really cares now. Like pampering me and driving me crazy cares," she said, which was not a lie. She was just withholding some of the truth. She knew her friend would be hurt, but she also knew her friend would understand when the time came. Besides, she could not keep the secret her entire pregnancy. Just the longer she waited, the more likely it was she would carry them full term or that something would happen without anyone knowing. Her biggest fear was that something would happen, and she would have the world reminding her of it every time she stepped out of her house. Walker was already a risk, he was loose-tongued when he got excited and if he told something to Taye, the latter might decide to out them in one of his mood swings. She had to look out for herself and her family right now.

"Better late than never," she joked. Idina smiled in agreement.

Kristen got pulled away by some new arrivals and Aaron whisked Idina away to somewhere a bit more private behind the bouncy castle.

"How's your-" Idina stopped mid-sentence.

"Dee?" Aaron asked.

Idina held up a silencing finger, one hand on her stomach, concentrating.

"I can feel them," she whispered in excitement, her lips curling into a wide smile. "Barely, it's like a feather, but I can feel them."

His eyes lit up and his hands when under her shirt to her bump. She shivered at his cold touch but did not push him away, cupping his face as they stared at each other in excitement, planting kisses all over their beloved's face.

She chuckled. "You won't be able to feel anything for a few more weeks, honey. Sorry," she said sympathetically.

"I thought it was too early to feel them kicking."

"It is, but when it's not your first time you can sometimes feel them moving around thirteen weeks in. We're thirteen weeks, baby!" She hugged him around his neck and kissed his cheek. "It could also just be stupid menstrual stuff," she admitted, "but I think it's them."

Neither of them let go. He was practically lifting her off the ground and she had already felt like she was floating when she had felt the movement deep within her gut.

"I'm sure it is, Chickadee," he said. "You'd know better than me."

"I do," she affirmed confidently. She pressed her forehead to his. "I love you so much right now, Aaron, you have no idea."

"I think I do, babe," he said with a chuckle. He wrapped his arms around her waist. "Having a good time?"

"Yeah, you?"

"Yeah," he said.

She leaned over a kissed him. Slowly, the small gap between them disintegrated and she was pressing her body against his, revelling in the feel of her small bump pressing into his abs as he ran his hand up and down her hips.

"You're insatiable," he mumbled against her lips.

She kissed him again, running her hands along his back. "My hormones are out of whack and we haven't done anything in months," she muttered. "You're so hot. How can I not be?"

He spun her around and kissed her neck. She cocked her head to one side, giving him better access and placed his hands under her shirt. He was stealing away all the handprints form the morning and replacing them with his own.

"You're gonna leave a mark," she muttered as he sucked at her pulsing point.

"What if I want too?" he asked seductively.

"Here," she said, pointing to a different spot, higher up and closer to the back of her neck. "That way Walker won't notice. I don't want to have to explain it to him." She grunted.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," she replied, "Just cramps."

He ran his hand down her front, massaging her gently. "Is that better?" he asked as he rubbed soothing circles on her skin.

"Maybe? It doesn't work that way." He continued to nuzzle and nip at her neck. "But you're doing an excellent job either way. You could just hold me, and I'd feel better."

Idina let out a deep moan as he started sucking at the spot on her neck she had appointed. One hand rose to the back of his head, running through his thick black hair while the other she placed over his hand, guiding him to her breasts. They were starting to get sore, courtesy of the twins, but she craved his touch more. She was touch starved. And he was satisfying her, one hand creeping between her legs and the other following her lead. She moaned his name, teetering on the edge of insanity.

"I've barely done anything," he said with a chuckle when he had finished with her neck and was admiring his work, a reddish-purple bruise easily hidden by her hair. He ran a thumb over it, making her shutter "Have I really been neglecting you this much?"

"Yes," she replied, out of breath. "But we should stop here unless you plan on pinning me against a tree and hoping no one starts a game of hide and seek."

"I'm willing to risk it," he said mischievously, "if you want."

"No," she said, laughing a bit. "We'd have better luck running off to a motel for a night." She wrapped his arms around her, and they rocked back and forth. "We could stay here a bit longer though," she said.

"I'd like that," he breathed against her hair. "I feel like we rarely get time together anymore."

"Wait till the twins come," she warned. "This is going to look claustrophobic for the next three years. Walker was a lot of work; I cannot imagine two. I do not think we will be able to swap shifts for the first few months, it will be one kid each until they are more manageable. By by sleepy time," she singsonged. "Once I'm off maternity leave, you're gonna be on your own, babe, I hope you realize that."

"I do, don't worry. As I said, I will do the stay-at-home stuff. I don't want to miss a moment; I know this is never going to happen again."

She smiled. "You make me so excited just by being excited," she explained. "I feel like you can do this, and thus we can do this. Which means there's an us."

"There will always be an us Dee," he said. "Until death do us part. And even then, I'm sure whoever bits the dust first is going to find a way to haunt the other."

"Damn right. If I die, I am gonna haunt you forever. I am going to hide your car keys and install Tinder on your phone and get you one-night sands and stop the house from burning down. I am going to be your guardian angel and pain in the ass all wrapped in my cute ghostly body. I will even wear my cat costume from Rent and dance around the house. Maybe I will not wear anything at all, and you'll have visions of me butt naked at the most inopportune times."

"I'm having a vision of you butt naked right now," he said. "And I wouldn't expect anything less from you." He kissed her neck again.

"We should be getting back," Idina said.

"Yeah," Aaron lamented.

Taking one last minute to themselves, they held each other. Then they walked back to the party, hand in hand after making sure they were presentable.

"There you are!" someone called from across the yard. "It's Idina Menzel! The one and the only." Idina could feel herself blushing as some members of the Frozen creative team beckoned her over. It seems they were trying to pitch her, or Frozen, she was not sure, for some big live performance. It sounded interesting so she took the bait, squeezing Aaron's hand in excitement before Kristen came to break it up, saying this was a party, not a work event. Idina was still handed a few numbers and people promised her they would be in touch with her agent.

"I missed this," she told Aaron.

He nodded. "Me too." He slipped his hand into hers and they smiled, fingers interlocking.

They went back to the snack table where they found Erika.

"Having fun?" Aaron asked.

She nodded nervously, looking over her shoulder.

"What's wrong?" Idina asked.

She took a few steps closer. "Those people have been staring at me for a while," she whispered. "Do you know them?"

Idina and Aaron looked over to where she was indicating. They knew no one in the general area.

"No," Idina said.

"Come with us," Aaron said. They went over to the sitting area. The thee of them sat down on a couch with Erika in between them.

"Can you describe them?" Idina asked, still in a whisper even though they were in one of the more abandoned parts of the property.

"The man and woman with really long grey hair," she stuttered.

Idina looked around. Now that she knew what she was looking for, they stuck out like a sore thumb. She had no idea who they were. They lowered their gaze the second they made eye contact.

"Can you stay here?" she asked her husband and daughter, "I'll see if Kristen knows them."

Aaron put an arm around Erika protectively as Idina stood up and looked around for Kristen. She kept looking back at Aaron and Erika, but Aaron had it under control. They were talking quietly, and Erika seemed a bit calmer.

"Hey Kris," Idina said when her friend finished her conversation.

"Yeah Dee?"

"Do you know who those people are?" she asked, discreetly pointing them out.

"No," she said, shocked. "I have no idea. I said no plus ones... I hope it is not some media personnel. I'll see if Dax knows who they are."

No dice. Dax was just as clueless as everyone else. With nothing else to do, he confronted them and asked them to leave, which they did quietly. Idina went back to the couch.

"They were probably from the press," she said. "They're always trying to crash these parties and get headlines. You good?"

"I think so," Erika replied. "It was just unsettling."

"They're gone now," Aaron said, rubbing her back.

"Thanks," she said. "I feel kind of bad, they weren't doing anything wrong."

"Trust me," Idina said, "they were. The press is never up to anything good."

They sat on the couch and talked and ate. They prompted Erika to tell them about the go-carts. It sounded like so much fun. Walker was going to have a ball driving one of them later in the evening. Erika and the olive-skinned girl she had been working with, Amanda, were getting along. Idina hoped it was a budding friendship that would last past the party.

The go-cart race started just before sunset and Walker was ecstatic. They were going to race them around the track that had been put up in the yard, three laps. Everyone was being showered in sweets already, as prizes were handed out for best team, best the design, and everything Dax and Kristen could think up, making sure every cart got something. Erika was picking at her bag of candy while the carts lined up.

"Go!" Dax shouted and there was a loud squeak as about a dozen pedal-powered go-carts started moving.

"Go Walk!" Idina and Aaron cheered, holding hands, and waving them above their heads. This was the best sporting event they had ever been too.

Idina's gaze wandered for a second and her heart stopped when she heard a loud crash and a bunch of cries. She watched herself running across the field along with other parents, dragging Aaron behind her for she was too shocked to let go of his hand and too full of pregnancy hormones and adrenaline for him to keep up.

"Mom!" Walker said.

Idina hugged him. He was fine, a few scraped and bruises, but he had a smile on his face.

"You okay baby?" she asked,

"Yes mom," he said in exasperation. Her sassy little ten-year-old.

She smiled and hugged him again. Then she looked around. Were the others okay? Everyone seemed shaken but otherwise okay. Cuts, scraps, bruises, and a few tears, nothing more. She sighed in relief and hugged her son again.

"Let me go," he complained, pushing her away.

Idina let him go, revealed that he was well enough to be embarrassed by her motherliness.

The party was over, the mood killed. Kristen and Dax apologized profusely, while the mother of the boy who had been responsible for the crash did the same thing. Everyone said it was no one fault, and everyone was having fun, so it was fine. Either way, the party was over, and people started to trickle out.

Idina stayed late, helping Kristen out and putting her family to work because she wanted more time talking to her friend. And she could not shake the growing feeling that something had been off with those strangers. What if they had something to do with the go-cart crash?

You are paranoid, Idina, she reminded herself. She was going to have to check herself into a mental asylum if this kept up. Soon she would be seeing things. And there she was again, getting paranoid and overreacting.

When they got home, it was late. Idina herded the kids to their rooms. Walker was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow and Erika was reading A Room with a View for the third time. E.M. Forester was now her favourite author. Idina did no see what Erika saw in his stories, but she could tell they were good, just not her taste. Either way, she had read his entire repertoire to talk to her daughter about them.

She sighed and looked at the picture Aaron had taken a few weeks ago, now hanging on their wall. More would come. Erika belonged here.

Aaron crept up behind her and wrapped his arms around her midsection. She turned around and ran her hands through his hair. He kissed her fiercely, pressing her up against the wall and letting her know he wanted this just as much as she did. She ran her hands up and down his chest while he had one in her hair and one on the small of her back.

She let him take control, kissing her and coaxing noises from deep within her body. Aaron truly made her believe in the phrase 'making love' for that was all Idina felt with every touch, breath, and thought as he drove her crazy without doing anything at all.

She wrapped her legs around his waist, and he carried her to the kitchen table, gently setting her down on the countertop.

"You good with this?" she asked between kisses. "I'm basically on my period," she reminded him, knowing Taye had found it disgusting. She had never bothered to try anything with Aaron during her time of the month, thinking he would share the same sentiment.

"Yes," he breathed; his breath heavy with want. A hand slipped in between her legs and she cried out louder than she had meant too as he started to tease her. "Tampon or pad?" he asked, "I don't want to accidentally injure you or the twins." He was rubbing infuriating circles on her inner thigh.

"Pad," she admitted. "Too nervous to use a tampon with the twins." She wrapped her arms around his neck and gazed into his eyes.

"Good," he said, "we wouldn't want toxic shock right now."

"I know, Aaron." She rolled her eyes. "I've been dealing with this since I was twelve. To put that in perspective, you were seven. I have been dealing with this since you were seven, babe, I got it under control. No need to mansplain," she teased.

He grinned as he slowly moved his hand closer and closer to where she wanted it. She groaned and grunted as he rubbed her through her pants. She was wearing too much.

"Aaron!" she gasped as he started sucking at her neck.

"Shh," he silenced. The kids were upstairs.

"The...the... rec... recording studio," she gasped. It was soundproofed. There was a couch. It was close. This was the best idea of her life, marrying this man. She had not felt so alive in two decades.

He picked her up, her legs around his waist, but they barely made it to the hallways before they were kissing, and he was pressing her against a wall for fear of dropping her. She moaned against him as he flicked his tongue in all the ways he knew she liked. And in ways he had never done before.

"Mom?" came a curious voice from the stairwell. Walked came down the stairs in his PJs and started at them.

Idina was pressed up against the wall, flushed. Aaron was no better, his face buried in her neck and hair, their hands feeling each other all over.

"Walk, go back to bed," she said through gritted teeth, trying to make her restlessness come across with care.

"Why are you making another baby?" he asked. "Don't you have two?"

"We're not ma-" she panted, her chest still heaving even though Aaron was doing nothing. "We're not," she said.

"But you're having sex?" he asked.

"Walk... No, please go back to bed. Aaron and I want some alone time." Her chest felt heavy, probably because Aaron's head was resting on it as he looked at Walker too, the two of them trying to look as if they hadn't been ready to tear their clothes off although her legs were still straddling his hips and their groins were pressed together with nothing but fabric between them.

"Do you like it?" he asked. He was not letting up.

"Yes," she said. "Go to bed Walker, now. I mean it. I haven't finished building you that basketball court; it can still disappear."

"Can I watch?"

"No!" both her and Aaron exclaimed at the same time with so much force Aaron moved, making Idina slide against him and groan as it sent shock waves through her body.

"Are you okay mom?"

"Yeah," she breathed. She was digging into Aaron for support. There was no way she could stand now and usher her curious little boy back upstairs.

"Walk," Aaron said. "Your mother and I want to have some adult time to do adult stuff. Yes, we are going to have sex, no there will not be a third baby. Yes, your mother is going to enjoy it. My goal tonight is to make her the happiest woman on planet earth, but I cannot do that with you standing around, 'kay?"

"How do you make her happy?"

"Well," he said, "you know how you feel when you need to drink water, then you get some?"

The boy nodded.

"Your mom wants me to touch her right now. And when I do," he ran a finger down her jawline and neck making her shutter and mumble his name, "she gets that same feeling. Only it is more intense because of brain chemicals. Like you said earlier, sex is nice because having a baby is not. So nice that people like to do it a lot. Especially your mom. So, can you let me make your mom happy?"

Walker considered for a moment, putting all the pieces in place. "I don't get it," he said.

"You won't for a few more years," Aaron said. "And it's impossible to explain. You will understand someday though."

"Please go to bed Walker," Idina said. Aaron was not pinning her to the wall with the force he had been, and it was starting to irritate her. It was nearing midnight. Just go to bed.

"Does he make you happy?" Walker asked. Idina nodded. "How happy?"

"Like I'm the happiest person on earth," she replied truthfully through a smile. "He makes me feel amazing, he makes all the demons go away."

Walker nodded. "He's going to make you that happy tonight?"

"Only if you march that butt of yours back to your room, close the door, and fall asleep," she replied.

"Happier than dad made you?"

"Walk..." she pushed Aaron away and went over to her son. "Your dad and I made each other happy for a while. Really happy for a long while, but it broke. And it cannot be fixed. I know it is hard for you, but it would not have been fair to any of us. Not to you because Taye and I would have grown to hate each other as my parents did and I don't want that for you, and not for your dad and me either because everyone deserves to be with people they love."

"I want you to be happy," he said, "but I want you and dad too."

"You've still got us both pumpkin. It is hard to see, but you have your mommy and daddy more than most people do. Just because we do not live in the same house does not mean we love you any less. We love you more baby because we were willing to do all the hard things to make sure you got the best life instead of doing what was easiest. You deserve to wake up every morning to the smell of dinosaur pancakes, not mommy and daddy yelling at each other. You deserve parents who will show up to every game you play instead of picking and choosing who gets to go to which ones and fighting over it. Taye and I, we can do all that for you. Remember how Libby told you about how her parents yell at each other in the mornings and she never gets enough sleep?" He nodded. "That was Taye and I. It is not that we never loved each other, nor that we do not love you. We are doing what is best for all of us. Because this is not about me or him, it is about you, Walk. You are not the reason we broke up. You are the reason we wanted to be our best selves. And we had to realize that our best selves did not include each other. I loved your dad a lot, Walk, you have no idea. We were together for eighteen years. That is about double your life. It is a really, really long time to spend with someone and it is a long time to love someone and things just got so messy along the way. We are not perfect. We all slip up. We both messed up and now we are trying our best to make up for our mistakes. But that is not you, okay? I never want you to think that it was you. I would go through ever troubled time again if it meant getting you at the end. So would your dad." She started crying. She was not sure when she had started, but now the tears were flowing freely.

Walker wiped them away. "I love you," he said. "And I love dad."

Idina nodded. "Good. Dad loves you too. He adores you Walk, just like I do. If we ever did anything right, it was you. He thinks the same. I know he does."

"Don't cry," Walker said tenderly. "I don't like it when you cry."

"I'm sorry," she said, wiping her face. "As I said, there are so many emotions. I love you so much it hurts. I never wanted to hurt you, all I wanted was for you to get everything you deserve and more."

Walker hugged her, then looked over to Aaron who had been standing silently in the corner. "But what went wrong?" he asked.

"I can't tell you," she said, "that's not fair on your dad when he's not here to say his bit." It would not be, she was still bitter, all these years later.

"Dad just says it was your fault," Walker said blankly.

"What?" Idina asked.

"Dad said it was your fault. He said you just left one day. He said you left. You wanted to be with Aaron because you knew each other before and you like him more."

Idina broke down. How could Taye say that? She had never said a word against him to Walker. Never, not once, no matter how deserved it was. Now he was lying bout her to Walker.

"No," she said. "No Walk, that's not what happened."

"Then why did he say that?"

"I don't know," she said through tears. She was clueless, about Taye, about what to tell Walker. And she was mad at Taye, for lying, again. They were supposed to be putting Walker first. This was not putting Walker first. After seven years, they were falling apart. And Walker was growing up. He could notice the cracks.

Suddenly, she was struck by courage. She picked her son up, carried him to his room and put him to bed. Then she talked to him as if he were an adult and not her child. She told him about how they started to grow apart, what the early signs were. She skipped over the miscarriages because it would be too much for both her and him. She told him how they started as friends and how they can still be friends when they want too, even if it's harder now and that's more than what most people could say about their ex. They had him and he was more important than them and she was so sorry they had forgotten about that recently. Then she told him how it all went down. They had separated because they had been getting into daily shouting matches. Their marriage councillor had suggested it for a short while to sort things out. They had divorced because she had found another woman in Taye's bed. It had started with nail marks she had not left, ended with a young hot blonde in her bed with her husband while her child was asleep. In that second it was over. She could still be friends, be civil, but she could not forgive him. She could move on, that was what she was doing with Aaron, being happy.

Walker was quiet the entire time. He got it, but she was not sure. He was ten. His brain was not fully developed, he was not well versed in complex emotions. Idina still loved Taye, she would never stop loving him, those feelings would always be there, but now instead of bringing her joy, they brought her anguish.

She ran her hand through his hair and rubbed his head. She could see the gears turning in his brain, trying to sort it all out.

"Is that really what happened?" he asked after a while.

"Yes," Idina said. She crossed her heart.

"Then why did dad say you left for Aaron?"

"I did leave, that part was true, but I did not leave for Aaron. We did not start dating until two years after it happened. I don't know why he said that pumpkin, but I think your dad's a bit stressed right now and it's lashing out in bad ways." She was going back to ten-year-old talk, maybe because she did not understand it herself and was trying to dumb it down so that she could figure it out along with him.

Walker nodded.

"You know," she said, remembering her promise. "Dad wants to be happy too," she told him. "And I think there's someone out there who can make him happy. He's not going to do anything though unless you're okay with it."

"Did he ask you to talk to me about him dating?" Walked asked.

"Yes."

"Do you want him to date other people?"

"Yeah Walk, I do. I want him to move on too. Why don't you want him too?"

"I don't want to replace you," he said. "His last girlfriend wanted me to call her mom, and Dad said he wanted that too."

"Oh honey, you're not replacing me. Is Aaron replacing dad?"

"No," he admitted, "It's kinda like having dad plus one."

"Yeah, see, if Taye finds someone, it'll be like having mom plus one."

"I don't want mom plus one," he said. "That sounds like more vegetables."

Idina chuckled. "I have a feeling mom plus one will involve a lot more candy if you play your cards right. And you want to be a big strong basketball player one day. Basketball players eat their vegetables."

"Dinosaurs ate meat."

"Not all of them."

"All the cool ones did."

"You're not a dinosaur. You're a little boy." She tickled his stomach. "Try talking to dad about it, set up rules. You must like her; she must give you extra candy and stand on her head whenever you enter a room. Whatever you can think of. You want dad to be happy, right?"

"Yeah, but why can't I make him happy?"

"You do Walk, but it's like I said about love and kisses, there are several types. You make dad a different type of happy than I did. You make me a different type of happy than Aaron does. You're the most important type of happy Walk, but it doesn't mean we don't want others."

"I think I get it," he said.

"Good." Idina kissed his forehead. "Can you go to bed now?"

Walker nodded. "Are you going to have sex now?"

"Probably not," she admitted. The mood had been killed and she was emotionally exhausted now.

"You should," he said through a yawn, snuggling up in his comforter and duvet. Idina tucked him in. "You were making movie moaning sounds. You sounded stupid. It was funny. But you were smiling too. I like it when you smile and if sex makes you smile you should do it." He closed his eyes and rolled over onto his side and Idina planted another kiss on his brow, rubbing his back. She turned off the light and quietly slipped out the door.

Aaron was in their bedroom, reading. She crawled into bed beside him.

"I was listening in," Aaron admitted.

"How much did you hear?"

"Up to that part about dad plus one," Aaron said with a small smile. She knew he saw Walker as his child. It was part of why she loved him.

"He said we should have sex," Idina admitted.

"Did he now?"

"Yup," she said, stretching the word out unsure what to do with it.

Aaron chuckled. "That kid is going to say something at school one day," he said, shaking his head. "That's going to be one fun PT conference."

"Yup. He said it was making me happy so we should do it." She was not sure if she wanted to do it, but the more she sat there staring at him the more she was sure she did. This might be their last chance for the next year.

"Well, um, I mean, it's up to you Dee."

"Do you want too?"

"It's up to you," he repeated.

"I don't want you sleeping with me just because I want too. You have to want to too."

"I do. So, you want too?" He raised an eyebrow.

She nodded eagerly. "But, downstairs," she reminded him. She did not trust herself to keep quiet. She did not trust him either.

"Recording studio or guest bedroom?" he asked, his hand moving to her waist.

That was hard. One was soundproofed, but only a couch, no bed. The guest bedroom was in the basement, leaving a whole floor in between them. "Recording studio," she said, "let's play it safe."

He nodded. They stared at each other for a few seconds, drinking each other. Slowly, Aaron took Idina's hand and lead her down to the recording studio. They made a detour past Erika's room to make sure she was sleeping peacefully, which she was. They closed the studio door and the atmosphere shifted. Idina bit her lower lip, looking up at her husband. It was like they were doing this for the first time again.

He kissed her slowly and tenderly, cupping her face with both hands. She smiled against his lips as they swayed backwards towards the wall. A hand went between her legs and another to her hair. He kissed her neck, making her moan his name and beg him to continue. He ran both his hands across her body, whispering in her ear exactly what he was going to make her feel and scream, but not how he was going to do it.

"Less foreplay," she moaned between quick breaths. Her hands were running up and down his back, feeling all his muscles and curves.

He placed her legs around his waist, and with an arm under hers he lifted her and carried her to the couch, laying her down gently and showering her in kisses. They moved slowly, Aaron being extra careful not to put too much weigh on her abdomen. He used every tool at his disposal to drive his wife insane. His mouth, his tongue, his fingers. Whatever he could think of. He did not stop until she had almost passed out from the pleasure overloading her brain and he was sure she'd gone through every note in her vocal range as she screamed his name and cried out for him to continue. He was laying on top of her as her eyes fluttered, her breathing still jagged, drawing patterns on her bare skin.

"Mnnh," she said, trying to get a comprehensible word out. He grinned at his handiwork. "Let me..." she gasped. "let me, you..." she breathed, still fumbling with her words.

His grin grew. "You don't have to do anything for me, Dee," he said. He kissed her temple and ran a finger down her torso, making her tremble. "This was amazing."

"I... really hate you right now."

He raised an eyebrow. "Is that how you say, 'thank you' Idina?" He chuckled and draped a blanket over her, then carried her back to their bedroom where he laid her down on the bed. She would be more comfortable here. He was in nothing but his boxers as he climbed in beside her.

Idina cuddled up beside her husband. "That was mind-blowing," she told him, tracing circles on his chest. He kissed the top of her head. "I love you," she said. "You're way better than Taye," she whispered even though there was no one else to hear. "He never had the patience for anything like that." Her eyes fluttered closed. "I love you," she said as she trailed off to sleep, Aaron not far behind.