Hi! I don't know if you remember my fic This Time Around. We had left Sophie giving birth to Ainsley and JJ. This is not exactly a sequel but it's going to be a series of snap shots of the babies lives and the crew adventures. I hope you like it. :D

Two babies and a Crew

It had been one week since Sophie had given birth to the twins. Four days after she got checked in the hospital, Nate and Sophie walked out with the two newborns. The team had been waiting for them at the apartment and they threw a welcome party for Ainsley and JJ. Tara and Maggie had been there too. Tara hadn't been that interested in the them, not really a babies person, but Maggie was practically drooling over them, and Sophie was scared that she was going to snatch one of them and take it to L.A. ! Everything was going well. With the team, they decided to wait another four months before starting working at the cons again. In the meanwhile Nate and Sophie were going to find a good babysitter. Someone who wouldn't ask a lot of question (surprisingly Eliot had a list) and they would try to settle in the new routine.

One week had gone by and in that week Sophie had noticed something. Something that she didn't know what to do about. Something that scared her. In all that week she hadn't seen Nate pick up their son yet. At first she hadn't notice it, but then at the hospital he always had Ainsley in his arms, and once they returned home and they were trying to do make this parenting work, he would always volunteer to feed their daughter, or to change her diaper. She knew why he was subconsciously doing that. JJ was a little Nate Ford. It was incredible how strong the Ford features were on him and she could only image that Sam had been the same. Actually Maggie had gasped that when she saw the little boy.

"Oh Nate, he looks exactly like Sam" she had cried holding the baby tight to her chest.

So now she had a traumatize father who couldn't look at his newborn son because he reminded him of his dead son. She knew that it couldn't go on like that anymore. Nate needed to bond with JJ. The first months of his life were the most important to start connecting with his parents. He needed to get familiarized with his father's voice, with his scent, on how his body heat felt.

She had called Maggie and explained the problem. The art curator didn't know what to say. She had felt so guilty by making the comparison so obvious. JJ and Sam were two separate kids. She had told her to just get that in her husband's head. But Sophie knew she couldn't just force Nate, especially by starting a shouting match. No, she was a grifter and she was going to do exactly was she knew best.

She had talk to the team. She had explained to them the problem and they knew not to intervene if Nate would have called them . Nate was out buying some groceries and, as soon as Sophie saw him park the car in the driveway, she gathered her things and the stroller with Ainsley.

Nate opened the door and put the bags on the kitchen counter. "Hey, where are you going?" he asked when he saw Sophie putting the baby bag around her shoulder.

"Ainsley and I are going out with Tara and Parker to the park. She needs a bit of fresh air"

"Wait? What?" he gasped surprise. "What about JJ?" he exclaimed.

"He is still sleeping in the nursery room. It's going to be a only girls thing. I'm sure you will be fine." She kissed him on the cheek. "We'll see you later"

Sophie closed the front door Nate stood there uncertain of the situation. There he was alone in the house with his son. A son he couldn't bring himself to pick up in his arms or even look at him for more than a minute. He felt ashamed of himself. He was being a terrible father to him, so he tried to make it up by being the perfect one to his daughter. He knew they were going to have a girl and a boy and for all Sophie's pregnancy he had tried to work out his feelings about losing Sam and what having a son back in his life would have meant, but he as soon as he had seen him once he was born, it was like he had gone back in time. The problem was that he was afraid he was erroneously going to call him Sam and that would have just broken his heart.

He suddenly heard crying from the baby monitor. Nate started pacing the room like he was having a panicked attack. He couldn't do it, he needed more time. The crying kept going. He ran a hand over his face and through his hair in frustration. He picked up his phone and dialed Sophie. It went straight to voice mail. The same happened with Tara and Parker. He groaned angrily and he was thinking about throwing the phone against the wall. Maybe JJ would stop crying, but he kept going. Every sob was breaking his heart even more.

He dialed Eliot and the hitter had picked up at the fifth ring. "What?" he snapped.

"Eliot, I need a favor, Sophie is out and JJ is crying and…" Nate rambled on the phone.

"Nate, I'm busy. What do you want from me? He's your son, go and check on him!" and he hung up.

"Really?" Nate looked at the phone. He finally stood in front of the nursery door and he took a big breath. Carefully he opened the door and went inside.

JJ was wiggling inside his crib, his face red from all the crying.

Little did they know that someone else was observing the scene.

"Should I be offended that he didn't try to call me?" Hardison asked turning his head from the monitors and glaring at the others

Eliot put his phone away and looked at Sophie. "Are you sure it's going to work? JJ seemed to be having a bit of trouble breathing there"

Sophie was sitting on a chair holding her daughter against her. She watched Nate struggling and trying to calm down their son by whispering encouraging words at him. "He can do it. Nate is not going to let anything happened to him" She told him firmly, she had to believe that.

Nate tried to talk to JJ hoping that the sound of his voice would soothe him. Of course it wasn't working. He had been a horrible father to him and he didn't recognized the sound of his voice. JJ was crying even harder and he needed to do something and fast before his son turned blue from the lack of oxygen. He needed to step up. His son needed him and he was acting like a coward.

Nate bent over the crib and he lifted his son in his arms bringing him closer to his chest. "Hey, there buddy. I'm here. Daddy is here." He whispered to him swinging little. JJ crying was slowly fading as the baby boy realized he was safe in someone's arms. "I bet you're hungry, aren't you?" Nate bounced him lightly. "Let's see if mommy has left a bottle in the fridge"

He exit the room with the baby and after he warm a bottle of milk, he went back in the nursery to sit in the rocking chair they had put just in front of the window. Nate laid the nipple of the bottle on JJ's lips and baby immediately sucked on it.

"There you are." Nate smiled down at him. He did look exactly like Sam, but he could now see something that was purely Sophie. Those babies were a product of their love and he couldn't keep hanging in the past. "Your father has been an idiot" he exclaimed. "I'm so sorry I have ignored this first week of your life. It's just that you remind me of your long lost big brother and I… "He swallowed back the tears. "I promise I'll do better and I will one day tell you all about him, but you don't have to life under his shadow. You're my son too and I love you so much " He tenderly kissed the top of his head, making sure not to disturb his meal.

Sophie had watched the all scene from the monitors and her eyes filled with tears of joy. Ainsley gurgled and she caught her mother's attention. "You see that" she pointed at the screen. "That's your father and brother."

After JJ had finished drinking his milk, he felt back asleep in his father's arms as Nate kept rocking on the chair. Now that he had finally picked him up, he didn't want to let go of him.

"Hey" he heard his wife whispering behind him. He slowly turned his head and smiled at her. "Hey" he saw that Ainsley was sleeping in her mother's arm too.

Sophie gently laid her in the big crib and nodded Nate to do the same with JJ. Reluctantly Nate got up and put his son down next to his sister. They covered both babies with the blanket and watched them quietly sleep. Nate put an arm around Sophie and walked her out of the nursery.

"So, did you enjoy your walk in the park?" he asked knowingly.

"Hmm…" Sophie was caught by surprise. "Oh, yes" she started putting things in order.

Nate smiled and put his hands on hers making her stop on what she was doing. "I know what you did, that you've conned me"

Sophie looked away not knowing was his response was going to be. Then she felt his lips press a gentle kiss on her left cheek. "Thank you" he whispered I her ear.

Sophie smiled at him, tears falling down from her eyes, and kissed him with all her love. She knew they were going to be okay. That her family was going to be okay.