Kate rolled over in bed, her eyes still shut. As her arm fell to the empty space to her left she opened her eyes, running her hand over the cool sheets where her husband slept. "Rick?" she called, glancing at the door of their master bathroom, looking for a light from under the door but the entire room was dark.

She rolled out of bed and began walking barefoot down the hall, wearing the old t-shirt of his she slept in. She smiled when she heard his voice and stopped in the doorway of the pink room. Inside, Rick walked back and forth across the room, cradling their three-week-old daughter in his arms. Kate leaned against the doorjamb, unnoticed by him as he whispered a lullaby to the baby.

She had only seen him look at one other girl that way in all the time she'd known him, and that girl was Alexis. She loved the way his eyes lit up when she smiled at him but the way he looked at his daughters was unparalleled, like his universe stopped and started again with them.

He looked up when he turned to walk across the floor again, jumping when he noticed her. "When did you wake up?"

"A few minutes ago. I rolled over and you weren't there."

"Sorry. I thought I heard Bailey crying."

"Is she ok?"

He nodded, smiling down at her. "She's fine. She was asleep when I came in but I had to stay just to make sure I'd be here if she needed anything."

"Go figure the first time she sleeps through the night, you get up and wake her up," she said with a smile as she sat in the rocking chair in the corner of the room.

"I didn't wake her up. She sleeps like a rock. Just like her daddy."

Kate shook her head. "Yeah, a rock who cries at two in the morning."

He looked at her as she rubbed her head and place Bailey carefully back into her crib before he went to kneel next to the chair. "Are you ok?"

"I'm just tired. Somehow, I didn't think being a mother would be the most exhausting part of my life."

He smiled and stood up, taking her hand to pull her out of the chair. He sat in her place then pulled her into his lap. She curled instinctively against him, leaning her head against his shoulder as he ran his hand through her hair. "I know it's hard now but feeling like this won't last forever."

"I don't like it that you're better than me at this."

"This? What… what's this?"

Putting a hand on his chest, she pushed back slightly to look at him. "Being a parent. I'm supposed to be the one getting up in the middle of the night to rock her back to sleep, the one feeding her, the one changing diapers."

He frowned at her. "You do all that stuff. I just… when I can, I do it. You need sleep."

"I just don't want her to hate me."

"Impossible. No one could ever hate you. Besides, I don't think she's going to hold tonight against you when she's 16. She'll be mad at you for not letting her stay out past ten on a school night, not that time you didn't jump out of bed at three in the morning when she was a month old."

She let out a quick shudder at the thought of Bailey someday becoming a teenager. She knew that both her and Rick were handfuls as teens but Alexis was perfect, she hoped that rebellion skipped a generation. She leaned her head against Rick's shoulder again, not wanting to think about her baby growing up.

"All first time parents are like this, Kate," he told her softly.

She sighed again. She loved Alexis like her own daughter but she'd always imagined her first child with her husband would be the first for them both.

"It's been almost 20 years since Alexis was this age, I'm out of practice," he said as if he were reading her mind. "I'm learning too." He kissed her forehead softly.

"We're gonna figure this out together, right?"

He smiled and nodded. "Of course. Just like always."