Hello! As promised, I'm back with another new chapter for this story.

A/N: this chapter has some NSFW elements, but it's all good old fashioned consensual fun. Once again, all quotes from stand by me by ben e. king. If you've never heard John Lennon's cover of this song, you probably should rectify that immediately.

And a disclaimer- attempt hot tub sex at your own risk. I have no personal experience, but I've heard mixed reviews, so this chapter is not an endorsement. Also, don't google the subject unless you want to hear about all the bacteria and the horrible diseases/infections people have gotten from hot tubs (sexytimes or no). Believe me when I say that what you don't know can't hurt you!

Thank you so much to all the lovely people who left a review or contacted me on twitter, and thank you all so much for reading. :) And of course, thank you to Jaime, because without her this would never have been written.

Once you've retired from the NYPD- whenever that day comes- you might take up writing.

It's something people always say to you when you tell them about your job, that you must have enough stories to fill a book. And you suppose that's true. Besides, you think that you could be a decent author. Maybe not award-winning, but you did always get high marks on your essays in school (as if your mother would've had it any other way).

By the time you landed at LAX, your literary dreams had crystallized into a clear vision. You could see it now: a piece on cross country air travel with very small children. It would be a single page, one word in a bold, imposing font.

DON'T.

You had purposely arranged for an overnight flight, confident that Noah would fall asleep once he was buckled into his car seat and the lights were dimmed. But just to make sure, you had Lucy take him to the park in the late afternoon so that he could blow off some steam and be nice and tired when it came time to get on the plane.

(God bless Lucy. You try to tell yourself that it was purely coincidental, how you told her that you were pregnant and then the next day she announced she was moving back to her hometown in the spring. Surely she had been planning the move for quite a while, right?).

As always, Lucy did her job well. So well, in fact, that Noah was ready for a nap right when he got home. He started to doze off several times on the way to the airport, and every time he did, you would gently rouse him the way you did with your partners on a long stakeout. But you never had a partner that would howl "NOOO MOM" quite like he did, or an Uber driver who would glare at you in the rearview mirror and shake his head like he was cataloging you among the worst parents in the tri-state area.

Noah did perk up once you arrived at the airport and told him that you had a surprise for him. After a great deal of soul searching, you had purchased one of those little toddler leashes. You never, ever, anticipated that you would become one of Those People. The Leash People. But Noah had gotten to the age where he didn't want to sit in the stroller for too long, and yet he wasn't so great about staying at your side and holding your hand, so you hoped he would find this to be an acceptable compromise.

The Boyfriend holds it out to him before buckling it around his torso. He looks unconvinced, like this could go either way, so you had to think quickly. "It's like a doggy, Noah! You can be a doggy!"

You expected that he would like this idea. You did not, however, expect him to drop down on all fours and start skittering across the disgustingly filthy airport floor.

Good call, Mom.

After The Boyfriend had coated Noah's hands in enough Purell to get all three of you nearly drunk from the fumes, you continue on. Noah balked a little when he had to part with his suitcase, but he quickly forgot about it, and all was well until you got to the security checkpoint.

"No, buddy, you can keep your shoes on," you tell him as he observes everyone around him taking theirs off and starts to do the same. He doesn't like wearing shoes in the first place, so if he takes them off, it'll be a fight to get them back on again.

"I not WANT to!" he shouts, loud enough that The Boyfriend looks over at you sympathetically from across the room where he's waiting in line for the body scanner.

The TSA agent standing near you decides to butt in. "It's okay, he can take them off if he wants."

Noah turns around and smirks at you with his chin tilted defiantly, pleased that an authority figure had ruled in his favor. You consider telling her that in that case, she could have the honor of putting them back on his squirmy little feet, but then you remember that it'll be The Boyfriend's job anyway. (One of the few advantages to not being able to kneel down easily).

In the end, you decided to hold off on putting his shoes back on until you had gotten him changed into his pajamas. You had brought his favorite pair with you in the diaper bag because you thought that putting them on would help him get the idea that it was time to sleep.

Once you're in the bathroom stall, you look nervously at the grime-streaked floor. "Noah, don't touch anything."

He nods seriously, no doubt remembering the hand sanitizer bath he got earlier. You do a quick diaper change and then get him into his pajamas, all the while talking to him about how great it was going to be when he was able to use the potty. He had been gifted with one of his very own for his birthday, but hadn't shown much interest, and so you'd decided to hold off on toilet training him in earnest until you got back from your trip. But after that it was going to become priority number one, because there was no way in hell you were going to have two kids in diapers. Neither your bank account nor your sanity could handle that.

"I'ma use a potty," Noah repeats when you lift him up off the changing table, having figured out that this is what you want to hear him say.

You give him an enthusiastic thumbs up. "Yes, yes you are!"

"Cause I big boy- AHHHH!" he screams in terror, startled when the automatic toilet flushes without warning. He steps back abruptly and hits the back of his head on the stall door, turning his shriek into a sob.

When you rejoin The Boyfriend in the boarding area, Noah balanced on (what used to be) your hip and sniffling, he raises his eyebrows and reaches up to take the red-eyed little boy from you. "What happened?"

"He's okay. Got a little booboo...what is it you always say about toilet training?"

"What, that no kid ever went off to college in diapers?"

"Yeah. How sure are you about that?" you ask dryly, sitting down on the chair next to him. Noah props his legs up on what's left of your lap so that he can snuggle in between the two of you in what you call a 'Noah sandwich'.

"You're gonna figure it out. Aren't you, bud?" The Boyfriend asks. Noah looks up at him and shrugs as if to say that he can't make any promises.

Then it was time to get on the plane, and Noah was cheered up by the fact that you got to be one of the first to board. He walked backwards down the jetway, waving goodbye to strangers like he was in some old black and white filmstrip of a ship leaving a harbor.

"Alright, that's enough," you decide, steering him in the right direction after he'd tripped for the third time. "It's time to get in your car seat and go night night, just like we talked about. And then when you wake up, we'll be at your tio's house."

You find your seats and buckle him in while other people continue to board, including a young couple with a crying infant daughter. Noah cranes his neck to see behind him and groans in disgust. "It's time-a go ni-night!"

"She will," you promise.

As it turns out, you were very sadly mistaken. Noah fell asleep almost as soon as the plane left the runway. The baby, on the other hand, continued to shriek.

"Get used to it," The Boyfriend says when your eyes meet. "We're gonna be hearing it a lot." When you don't say anything in response, he reaches for your hand. "Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I-"

You shake your head to indicate that wasn't what you meant. And yes, you are slightly terrified that you won't be able to handle having a newborn and a toddler at the same time, but there's something else that's been weighing on your mind for the last hour. "You still haven't felt her."

"I...what?"

"Lilly. When we were going through the security line and the TSA woman was patting me down, she said that she could feel her kicking. That's the first time anyone besides me has been able to...it should've been you!"

"That's the thing about babies, they don't always do things on command."

You know he's trying to cheer you up, but his reply just makes you more irritated. This is serious, damnit, and you want him to recognize that! "So it doesn't bother you? It's like you don't even give a shit."

"Woah, hey. That's not what I'm saying. She's my daughter- of course I want it to be me instead of some stranger who's feeling you up for box cutters," he says, smoothing his hand over your belly. "But I know it'll happen. She's just being stubborn for now."

"I can't even control my own child when she's still in the womb," you lament. "I'm sure people are watching me with my kid on a leash who's rolling around on the floor and thinking my God, how the hell is she going to juggle two kids?"

"That's what they're thinking, or that's what you're thinking?"

"Weren't you the one judging me for the leash in the first place?"

"I said it looked dumb, not that it made you an incompetent parent," he says, like that's so much better. "And since when do you do things based on what strangers might think?"

"Forget it..." You sigh and turn away from him to watch your sleeping little boy. He's got his head resting against the side of his car seat, a corner of his favorite blankie shoved in his mouth.

"You know, it's not like you have to get it all perfect before you're allowed to have another one. If that was true, we'd all be only children."

"I was an only child," you remind him. And to hear your mother tell it, one child was more than enough trouble.

"All I'm saying is, people are judging you a lot less than you think. Look at those people behind you. Are you judging them?"

You glance discreetly over your shoulder at the parents of the crying baby, the father looking harried and bouncing the baby on his knee while the embarrassed mother searches frantically for something in her diaper bag. "No."

"That's right, you're not. Because you're too busy being grateful it's not you. And when other people see Noah rolling around on the floor barking, they're thinking the same thing. I promise you."

"Really? No judgement?"

"None," he assures you. "Just gratitude."

You both dozed off shortly after that, but you took his words to heart. So much so, in fact, that you decided to put them to the test. And as it turns out, he was absolutely correct! When Noah had an epic poop right before the plane landed, you didn't judge- but you were grateful that you made The Boyfriend take care of it. And when he insisted that Noah didn't need the leash while you waited in the baggage claim area, you let him have his way. Were you the one who had to chase him down and pull him off of the luggage carousel? No, you were not. And for that, you were even more grateful.

{when the night has come and the land is dark
and the moon is the only light we see}

"Hey," The Boyfriend murmurs, kissing the top of your head. "Still awake?"

"Yup," you whisper back, lifting your head from where it's been nestled on his shoulder.

"I think the coast is clear. You still want to..."

"Ohh yeah." You giggle softly as you both get up out of bed, maneuvering quietly around Nick's room and shedding your pajamas in favor of swimsuits. Then you grab two towels and head for the back door, pausing along the way to make sure that Nick and Noah were both sleeping soundly.

When you get to the backyard, The Boyfriend reaches down to gauge the water temperature. "We're good."

"You're sure?"

"I know how you crank up the hot water in the shower, remember?" he teases. "If Lilly hasn't roasted by now, she won't while you're in here."

You splash him in retaliation as you lower yourself down into the water, sighing happily as you soak in the warmth. Nick's house had the added amenity of a small Jacuzzi in the backyard, and he had been considerate enough to turn down the heater so that it would be safe for you to use. As he put it, 'we can all hang out together! Like Finnish people in a sauna, except we'll wear clothes.'

The Boyfriend was not particularly keen on this idea, clothes or no. He did, however, want to take advantage of this luxury while you had the chance. Hence why you waited until after midnight to sneak out into the yard like kids breaking curfew.

"You ever went skinny dipping, Sergeant? Back in your young, wild days?"

"Ha! I grew up in Manhattan, remember? Where was I gonna do that? The East River?"

"What, you never went to camp?" He sits down on the bench beside you, stretching his arm out to wrap around your shoulders.

"Not that kind! I don't know what sort of perverts you camped with, but..."

"Now what're you going to tell me next, that the girls' cabins weren't having pillow fights in their underwear every night before bed?" he asks.

"Uh, no. More like gorging ourselves on the candy that someone was hiding in their bunk. We used to wait until lights out so that the counselors wouldn't catch us and take it away. They pretended they didn't know we were still awake, and we pretended we didn't know they were sneaking off to make out with their boyfriends."

"What rebels," he says, leaning over and nuzzling the spot where your neck meets your shoulder. "Wanna sneak off and make out with me?"

"I thought that's what we were doing." You tilt your head back and close your eyes, focusing on the feeling of his lips on your skin and the quiet sounds of the water sloshing around you. When he tugs at the strap of your swimsuit with his teeth, your eyes snap open. "Did I say you could do that?"

He starts to protest, but then he smirks and slowly shakes his head in contrition. "No, you didn't."

"I didn't," you repeat, standing up and turning around so that you're facing him. "Behave."

He keeps his hands to himself as your flat palms dip below the surface of the water to skate over his abs and chest. It's not easy to see much with the moon as your only source of light, but you don't need your sight to know that you're having the desired effect on him.

You kiss him slowly, one hand cupping his cheek while the other reaches behind his back to grasp the edge of the tub. As you give him a sultry smile, you lower yourself down to straddle his thighs...until your belly gets in the way and your ass slides right off his knees, sending you flailing backward.

Fortunately for you, your whale-like physique means that you stay afloat and just start bobbing around on your back. The Boyfriend reaches out for your hands to help pull you into a vertical position again. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, yeah," you promise, having injured nothing but your pride.

"Good, because-" He turns his head away from you so you can't see his face, but he can't hide the snickering noises he's making or how his shoulders are shaking. "That was pretty fucking funny."

"You ass." You scowl as you push your wet hair back from your face, but it quickly becomes impossible not to join in the laughter.

"Sssh, sssh. If we wake everyone up, they'll want to swim too, and I dunno who would be the first to piss in here- Nick, Noah, or the dog." To keep you both quiet, he leans in and kisses you again before he sits back down. "Here, get on my lap but with your back to me this time."

That turned out to be a better arrangement, both to accommodate your bump and to allow him to keep an arm around you so you wouldn't float away (or sink straight to the bottom of the tub). You lean your head back against his shoulder as he kisses your neck and kneads the inside of your thighs with his expert fingers. "You're not even gonna..."

"Gonna what?" he asks, nipping at your neck gently. "I tried before, and you cut me off."

"Because I was trying to be sexy."

"Oh, and you're done with that now?" he says with a chuckle. You nod and that's all the encouragement he needs to push the straps of your swimsuit down. "Can I take this off?"

You glance back at the house to make sure the lights are still out, and then lift your ass up a little so that he can slide the suit down your legs before he tosses it to the side of the tub. "I guess now I can't say I've never been skinny dipping."

"Me neither." He quickly strips off his own shorts and pulls you back onto his lap. You move slowly, as if the sound of gentle splashing might be enough to give you away, both of you grinning like you're getting away with something enormous. Even Lilly wants in on whatever's happening, her little legs fluttering away beneath your skin.

"She's kicking again- can you feel it?" you ask, putting his hand just above your belly button. He shakes his head after a moment and you frown. "Still nothing?"

"Nope. But maybe if you're a little more...active, then she'll be too?"

"I was active a minute ago and it didn't end well," you remind him.

"Oh yeah, that's right..." he says, hands moving upward until he's holding your breasts in his palms. "But that doesn't mean I'm just gonna do all the work."

He starts playing with your nipples, brushing over them with the pads of his thumbs before rolling them in between his fingers, and you have to remind yourself that Lilly's only reacting to the change in your heart rate. In other words, she has no idea what's happening and how turned on you are when The Boyfriend nudges your legs apart and one of his hands slide in between.

"Fuck," he says in a low whisper. You can practically hear your face flushing, so you know he must be able to see it even in the dark as he kisses you.

When you first discussed the idea of this secret late night hot tub rendezvous, you had been a little apprehensive. About getting caught, of course, but also about whether this was actually going to be any good. The one time you'd tried it in the past, it was much more uncomfortable than you thought it would be. But not now. Thanks to the pregnancy hormones, you're way more than wet enough when he slides two fingers inside you at once. You're not even shy about letting your back arch and your head tilt backwards, fucking yourself on his fingers.

"You're not coming until I do," he warns, his voice rumbling in your ear beneath the sound of the water, "so you better pace yourself."

You groan and ignore him, breathing heavily with the effort it takes to lift yourself up and lower yourself down again and again. Your nipples break the surface of the water every time you move, and the sharp sensation sends a chill from those sensitive little buds all the way down your spine.

"I see you're not listening," The Boyfriend says, letting his fingers slip out of you as you groan again.

"Damnit!"

"Now see if I let you get off. Maybe I'll just leave you here like this."

"You wouldn't."

"Oh, wouldn't I?" His bad guy persona disappears rapidly, though, when he asks "Do you think you can stand up and hold onto the edge without getting lightheaded?"

"Hmm? Yeah, no problem."

"You sure? You're not dizzy?" He frowns. "And you're not too warm, right?"

"I'm fine," you reassure him, reaching underneath the water and wrapping your hand around his dick to get his focus back to where it should be.

It's a remarkably easy task. "Fuck, Liv."

"What a good idea!" You turn around so that you've got your back to him and lean forward to grab the edge of the tub for support.

"But will your stomach hit against the wall?"

You take his hand to show him how the bench keeps you from getting too close. "I'm not that huge yet."

"Okay, okay." You put his palm on your belly, where Lilly seems to be flailing around like she thinks she's swimming too, but he shakes his head in disappointment. "Nothing."

"Soon," you promise him, even though part of you wonders if she'll kick a hole in your abdomen before he actually manages to feel it.

He holds onto your hips to steady himself as he lines up the head of his cock with your entrance. "Promise you'll tell me if it's uncomfortable?"

"I'm uncomfortable right now because you won't fuck me...ohhh! God. Much better."

"That shut you up," he chuckles, rocking into you at a smooth, steady pace. You both know that getting caught in this position would be not only embarrassing, but also extremely sexually frustrating, so he wastes no time before reaching in between your thighs and stroking your clit.

"More," you hiss, and he complies- but not before slapping your ass playfully. "Shit..." He didn't hurt you, of course, but the slickness of your wet skin adds a little bit of a sting that heightens the sensation. You grip onto the ledge, concrete digging into your palms in a way that's sure to leave you with bruises by tomorrow. "Jesus, come on, I'm not gonna- fuck!"

He increases the pressure on your clit, leaning over and giving one of your nipples a hard pinch as he comes inside you. "Is that- goddamn- that enough for you...your Highness?"

"No- ohh!" He slaps your ass again, a little harder this time, as he keeps fucking you.

"That's it...come on…"

Even though you bite down on your lip when you first feel him coming, you can't keep yourself from letting out a long groan when it's your turn. "Don'tstopdon'tstop...oh fuck!"

"I...you...wow…" You laugh at how out of breath he is, waiting for him to pull out and take a step back before you turn around and drape your arms lazily around his neck. But before you can kiss him, he stops you.

"Liv! I can feel it!" he says, gesturing to where your belly is pressed up against him.

"Oh, now you can? After she's been goose stepping this entire time like she's in the Red Army," you tease, pretending that you're not about to melt into a messy pile of fat and baby and hormones when you see the awed smile illuminating his face even more brightly than the moonlight. "That's your baby. Ours. Our daughter."

"I can't wait to meet you, little girl," he says softly as he rubs your stomach.

"While she's listening, tell her to stop pressing on my bladder so I can get a decent night's sleep." You wipe a few tears off your face with the back of your hand, leaning in to kiss him as Lilly keeps wiggling around in between you both. "I love you."

You don't know how, but the smile on his face only grows brighter. "I love you too."

It feels like one of those moments that will be forever impressed upon your memory. Something you'll look back on fondly in your later years and feel so damn lucky to have had an experience like this to treasure. But then a light is suddenly switched on inside the house, and you both freeze. You can see the outline of Nick's face in the kitchen window, but then it disappears and you hear some sort of commotion coming from behind the back door.

The door swings open. Before you can react, a little ball of fluff on three legs comes barreling toward you, coming to a screeching halt right at the edge of the tub and covering your face with slobbery puppy kisses.

"Oh, my bad, I didn't know anyone was out there!" Nick says completely insincerely, waving at you from the open window and making no attempt to come retrieve his dog. "Hope I wasn't interrupting something...anyway, bring him in with you when you're done?"

Well, it was a nice moment while it lasted.