"Hey, Hon," Catherine sighed. "How was your day?"

"Exhausting as always," Matt grumbled. "Josh was crazy distracted today. I had to send him home."

"My day sucked too," Catherine moaned. "Lotte screamed for three hours straight, which upset Logan. They both ended up crying themselves to sleep and it was a nightmare."

"Well," Matt chuckled, "that's nothing new. At least Logan didn't have to hear it. I brought new batteries home for his hearing aids, by the way."

"Thanks. He saw it upset me, though, which is just as bad. He's too empathetic for his own good," Catherine sighed.

"I don't think he's that clever, Cath," Matt chuckled, flipping through the mail."

"You don't know him like I do," Catherine shrugged. "He cries every time I cry."

Matt's face showed a small tint of offense. "I think I know my son pretty well. Better than- why would you even be crying, anyway? Everything's great."

"You wouldn't understand."

"Please, don't do that, Cath," Matt sighed, tossing his coat on the couch.

"Don't do what?" Catherine frowned.

"You say I don't understand, and then if I don't spend the next hour and half begging you to tell me, you get upset," Matt chuckled. "I'm far too tired for it tonight, Dear. What's on your mind?"

"It's nothing, Matt. Leave it," Catherine said defensively.

"Okay...but am I really supposed to leave it or is this one of those things-"

"God, will you just shut up?" Cath moaned. "I'm not in the mood."

"Hey!" Matt said sternly. "Stop saying that. Little ears are always listening."

Catherine rolled her eyes. "Matt, please, just don't."

"What's wrong with you?!" Matt asked, crossing his arms. "You're not usually this...clippy."

"Just leave me alone, okay?" Catherine sighed. "God."

"Cath," Matt said, raising his voice, "you gotta stop saying that stuff!"

"Look, Matt, I said I wasn't in the mood. Pick a new topic."

"Alright. Let's talk about your crappy mood," Matt snarked.

"Shut up," Catherine clipped injuriously.

"Catherine Collins!" Matt yelled. "Do you not listen to a single word I speak?! I asked you one thing!"

"Put a freaking sock in it, Matthew Collins."

"Cath, so help me God, you will take you and your bad language outside or I'll make you," Matt said in a dangerously low tone.

"I will speak however I like, thank you," Catherine spat.

"This isn't about you!" Matt yelled. "Not everything's about you, Cath!"

"You know what? You're right! I'm freaking pregnant and it's your fault!" Catherine exclaimed in frustration.

"See, right there! That's the third time you've used that one! You want our kids to be liars too, Cath?! You can't just play cards and manipulate people!"

"You wanna see the pregnancy test? Go check the bathroom."

"I'm not leaving here until we have a conversation like adults!" Matt exclaimed.

"You want to talk? Fine. You want to sit here and have a screaming match? Get out of my face," Catherine said in a low tone.

"You're the one yelling here, Catherine," Matt said in exasperation. "Now please! Just tell me what's wrong so we can work this out!"

"I told you, I'm pregnant," Catherine sighed.

"No," Matt chuckled in disbelief, putting up a finger, "you're not."

"Yeah, I am," Catherine nodded.

Matt's face changed slowly. "For real?"

Catherine nodded again. "No joke, I swear."

Matt stumbled forward. "I mean...that's good, isn't it? It's a lot, Cath. Three kids?! Three. Wow. I'm gonna need to sit down. That's big." He walked slowly over to the couch and sat, considering what his wife had just told him.

Catherine gently put a hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay, Hon?" She chuckled.

"No," Matt said, looking up with a grin of delight, "I'm freaking out."

Cath sat down on the armrest. "I'm really sorry for yelling, Babe. I love you. I didn't mean anything I said."

Matt grabbed her and pulled her down onto his lap, hugging her tightly. "Cath, I love you more than anything else. This is- this is life changing."

Catherine lifted his chin and kissed him gently. "You're the best husband in the world. I want you to know that."

"Dad," Matt stammered. "Again."

Catherine chuckled. "Congratulations."

"Wow. Dad," Matt repeated to himself, kissing Cath's forehead. "I love you."

"I love you too."

—————

Mari sat up abruptly in the pitch black, screaming at the top of her lungs. Beads of sweat clung to her forehead as she kicked and punched aimlessly in horror, her eyes still clenched closed.

Josh put a hand on her shoulder. "Shh. You're going to wake the baby."

Mari recoiled in terror, trembling at his touch. "They took her! Isaiah came and took her and she was on the oxygen and now she's not and I have to- and- and- and-"

"It was just a dream," Josh said soothingly. "Calm down, Sweetheart."

Mari gave a broken sob and turned on the side light.

"Mari, what happened?" Josh frowned.

"I was trying to get him away from her," Mari said shakily. "He wouldn't go away, Isaac. He was too strong and you weren't there, and I couldn't- is she okay?! Where is she?!"

"Amelia is in her crib, right over there," Josh sighed, sitting up. "Honey, just calm down and explain what happened."

Mari shook violently as she pulled her knees close to her chest and clenched the blankets tightly. "You....you left us."

Josh put a hand to her cheek. "Hey," he said softly, "that's never going to happen. You hear me? I'm never going to leave you. Ever. We can have fights and screaming matches, but I'm never going to leave. No matter what. I promise."

"But I did happen," Mari moaned. "And we can't pretend it didn't. I feel like- like you're a million miles away and I just can't reach you. We barely even hold hands anymore, Josh. We can't pretend everything's fine."

"Then tell me how I can fix things," Josh whispered, kissing his wife's cheek.

"I don't know how," Mari said, pulling the covers closer to her. "I don't even know how to talk to you anymore."

Josh wrapped his arms around her gently. "Then we'll figure it out together. I love you, Mari. I've said some hurtful things that I didn't mean, and I'm so sorry. But at the end of the day, I will always love you."

Mari gave in and let out a small sigh. "I love you too. More than words can say. I just forget how to show you sometimes."

"I'm guilty of that too," Josh nodded, kissing her forehead. "Let's go to sleep, alright?"

"No, wait, " Mari said, slipping out of bed and make her way to the bassinet. She gently slipped her arms under Amy and picked her up gently before bringing her back to the bed. "I haven't been letting you be a part of this."

"Are you going to finally let me hold her?" Josh chuckled.

Mari nodded, gently placing Amelia in Josh's arms.

"She's perfect," Josh whispered, tears welling in his eyes.

Mari kissed his cheek. "She gets that from you."

—————

Matt kissed his wife's cheek. "Good morning," he grinned.

Catherine moaned and turned over to face him. "What are you doing here? You should be at work."

"I'm not going to work today," Matt smiled. "I'm going to spend the day with you and the kids."

"Really?" Cath grinned, wrapping her arms around her husband.

"Really," Matt nodded. "What do you want to do?"

"What if we get Lotte's ears pierced? I think she'd look so adorable."

"I don't know," Matt shrugged.

"Jack does ear piercings. I trust him enough to punch holes in our daughter's head. What do you think?" Catherine chuckled.

"I just think it should be her choice, and she's still pretty little."

"She loves it when I wear earrings. I think she'd like it, but if you want to wait, that's fine."

"Nah," Matt chuckled, "go ahead."

Catherine grinned. "Have I told you how much I love you lately? I feel like it's been forever."

"It's been about five minutes. Now, come on," Matt sighed, checking his watch with a smile, "I want to check in on Josh and show the kids their puppy."

"Okay," Catherine smiled, kissing her husband gently. "Let's go."

—————

Matt walked out the door before stopping dead in his tracks. "I should probably get Logan," he said slowly.

"Nah, why would you do a thing like that?" Catherine laughed, holding Lotte in her arms. "Go get him."

Matt jogged back inside and lifted Logan gently into his arms.

"Bad Dad," Logan mumbled as his father carried him off.

Matt gave a little whimper. "I know."

"You're not a bad father," Catherine chuckled, taking Logan from him.

"Silly Daddy," Logan giggled, burrowing his face in her shirt.

"Now, that's more accurate," Catherine laughed.

—————

"Hey," Josh grinned, shaking Matt's hand. "Good to see you."

Logan squirmed until Matt put him down. To his shock, he was met with the large green eyes of a dog. Logan sat wide-eyed until Catherine picked him back up.

Max turned his head forty degrees to the left and stared back.

"This is Max," Josh introduced with a proud smile.

Logan frowned.

"What breed is he?" Catherine asked, not taking her eyes off of her son.

Josh chuckled. "No idea."

"Is Mari here?"

"In here!" Mari yelled from the other room. "Just helping Amelia with some medication. I'll be right out."

"Medication?" Catherine questioned with a furrowed brow.

"Just some boosters," Josh explained. "There's gonna still be some health issues going forward, but we'll face those as they come."

Catherine nodded solemnly. "Well, I'm here if you need anything."

"Thank you," Josh sighed.

Mari brought Amelia out and the baby immediately started pointing to the puppy dog.

Logan turned his head and smiled at Amelia as the girl's gazed slowly rose to meet his.

"Mari," Catherine sighed, "I have something to tell you."

"Sure," Mari chuckled, holding Amelia to her chest and waving at Lotte. "Anything."

Catherine took her aside so that only Mari could hear. "I'm pregnant," she whispered.

Mari's eyes widened. "Again?!"

Cath nodded. "Yeah."

"I just found out yesterday. Matt and I got in a fight and I may have screamed it at him."

"Really?" Mari chuckled.

"Yep. Wasn't exactly one of my shining moments, but that's how I told him," Catherine sighed.

"Pregnant?" Logan repeated slowly.

"Nothing, Sweetie," Cath replied quickly.

"Great," Logan muttered.

"I'll tell you later," Catherine chuckled.

Logan kicked to be let down. He wanted to go see the strange animal and not share his mother's arms with his sister. "Down," he mumbled.

"What do we say?" Catherine sighed.

"Please," Logan grinned, kissing her cheek.

Cath chuckled and set him down.

"When did he start talking?" Mari asked with a frown. "How old was he?"

"Maybe a week or so ago," Catherine shrugged.

"Alright," Mari sighed. "She has time, then."

Catherine chuckled. "Yeah, don't worry."

"Logan's a clever kid," Josh noted, taking Lotte from her.

"He doesn't get it from me," Catherine laughed.

Mari rolled her eyes with a scoff. "Yeah, okay. We all know that you're very clever, so don't even say that."

"Thanks," Catherine blushed. "We should probably get going. Lotte's getting her ears pierced. You guys are coming over tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah," Mari nodded. "We'll see you then. Thanks for stopping over."

"Of course," Catherine smiled.