Annie insisted that Danielle and Auggie relax after dinner, she would have insisted the same about Joyce, but her mother-in-law was already clearing the table. Danielle wanted to give Grace a bath, so they headed upstairs.

"Thank you for inviting me Annie, I know how hectic it is with a newborn," Joyce said as she rinsed the dishes and loaded the dishwasher.

"Oh Joyce, we're happy to have you. We hope you feel welcome to visit any time," Annie said realizing sometimes she might be fighting bad guys on foreign soil.

"I could count on one hand the number of times I've seen Auggie since his accident."

"I know. Life changes a person though, resets your priorities," Annie alluded to Auggie's dad's death and the new baby, both kind of major life milestones for one year.

"It is so strange, that man is both completely different from and exactly like the little boy he was. I don't know what I thought he was doing all this time, but I expected him to be a stranger," Joyce admitted.

"What was he like as a child, I can't imagine it and I guess I should probably know in case Grace takes after him," Annie smiled.

"He was so smart Annie, it was shocking actually, he could ready by 3, entered Kindergarten early and then was moved ahead in grade school, graduated from high school early. At first we passed it off as the result of having 4 brothers, that he was practically in a classroom at home, and then his intellect manifested itself as boredom, he wasn't challenged enough. He was always sweet and thoughtful, quieter than his brothers, more serene, but at the same time I knew he was going to end up doing something severe, something dangerous. John was so mad when Auggie said he was going to Iraq, but I just knew," Joyce shook her head sadly.

Annie had no idea how much Joyce really knew about Auggie's career, but she certainly knew her son.

"I also thought he might be gay," Joyce said as Annie sipped a glass of water and nearly did a spit take.

"You did?" she croaked.

"Well, statistically I figured one of the boys would be and Auggie never had a girlfriend, not a serious one any way, the entire time he lived at home. And once he left, I never even heard about a girl until Parker and that ended so quickly I just figured he was covering," Joyce shrugged.

"He's not gay," Annie grinned.

"I figured that out the first time I saw him with you."

"I love him so much."

"I know Annie, and you have no idea how much that soothes my heart," the older woman hugged her.

"Someone might be a little hungry," Auggie announced as he interrupted the quiet moment.

"You just had a huge dinner," Annie teased her husband.

Grace announced her impatience at her parents banter with a loud wail.

"OK, OK, OK," Annie cooed and scooped the baby from Auggie's arms.

"I'll take over here," Auggie offered and Annie rewarded him with a kiss.

"You two are pretty good at this, for newbies," Joyce grinned.

***555***

Annie normally asked if nursing would bother someone before beginning, but when the someone was Danielle she didn't think she needed to ask. She took the baby to the corner of the couch and settled herself comfortably, made sure the baby was content and then closed her eyes and sighed.

"You're a natural," Danielle laughed.

"Joyce just said something similar, were you all afraid we were going to be bad at this?"

"No, but you have to admit it is a little anomalous, you two do not scream picket fence," Danielle said quietly.

Annie just laughed.

"Auggie is so cute with her," Danielle observed.

"Isn't he? It is ridiculous sometimes, I can't take it," Annie mocked but the look on her face told Danielle the whole story, told her how very much in love her little sister was.

"Kitchen is spotless," Auggie declared with a grin.

"Thanks, you want to take her?" Annie passed the freshly fed baby off to her husband with a cloth for the inevitable spit up.

"Sure, no one has spit up on me today," he smiled knowing that was not true for Annie.

He made a joke but Annie knew that he loved being part of feeding the baby even the littlest bit. Danielle yawned, at first Annie thought she was putting on a show, but her sister really looked tired.

"I hardly slept on the red eye," she explained.

"I could use a good night's sleep too," Joyce agreed.

Plans were made for the next day and soon their guests were gone. With the door closed Annie suddenly felt the quiet and a tiny wave of nervousness passed over her.

"You OK?" Auggie sensed the mood shift.

"I am," she said and kissed him, the baby sleeping on his shoulder.

"I'm going to put her down," Auggie explained.

"Then come to bed…." It was almost a question.

"Yeah," he said quietly, a small smile on his face.

***555***

Grace woke during transfer to the crib and Auggie stayed with her, rubbed her tummy and turned on the hacked mobile to play a little Duke Ellington for her. This was calming for the baby and Auggie both. He and Annie had gone from 0 to hot in the bathroom earlier and the last thing he wanted to do was ruin this, if this is what he thought it was. Auggie was a man, and a blind man at that, but he tried hard to be as aware as he could be about his wife, they had had their share of missed signals in the past. He was certain he got the message earlier, but he wanted this to be as perfect as it could be for her, to let her know how much he loved her and wanted her without pressuring her if she wasn't really ready.

The baby was long asleep when Auggie realized it, turned off the mobile and pulled the door closed.

"Annie?" he asked as he entered the bedroom.

"In here," she called from the bathroom, although it sounded like the door was open.

Auggie undressed, realized his hands were shaking as he unfastened his pants. It had only been 2 months since they last had sex, but it felt like a million years, as if the time before Grace was born was another lifetime.

"Hey," Annie said, her voice a little breathy when she saw him standing there in just his boxers.

"Hi," he said, his smile brilliant.

"Why are we acting like teenagers?" she chuffed out a laugh.

"I'm not sure," Auggie blushed.

"It is pretty silly," Annie agreed.

"Why are you so far away?" Auggie chuckled as she seemed to still be over by the bathroom door.

"I'm kind of frozen by how beautiful you are," she admitted.

"Come here," he said shyly.

She walked to him then, his hand extended towards her. She took it, laced their fingers together and allowed him to pull her to him. He held her there then, his arm around her, her cheek on his chest and he just held her.

"Is this?" he asked as his fingers moved over the soft cotton.

"Your favorite tee shirt, yes. My sexy pajamas still don't quite fit right," she said frustrated.

"For the record, anything you wear to bed with the intention of letting me taking it off, is sexy. Anything," he repeated as he lifted the tee shirt up and off her body.

She kissed him then, no longer shy, wanting every inch of their bodies to touch.

"Bed…" she stuttered between kisses.

"Mmmmm," he agreed and shuffled them in that direction.

Annie could feel how ready he was yet he slowed them down, prolonged his kisses. Annie realized for the first time in forever she was not exhausted, she felt good and with the baby fed and asleep they might actually have enough time to enjoy this.

"I've missed you, missed this," she said.

"I'm all yours," he offered.

"You've been so patient, so sweet," she kept kissing, unable to give up the lure of his lips and tongue.

"This isn't about me Annie, this is about us, this is everything," he reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear.

"Make love to me?" she asked.

"Gladly," he smiled and pulled her towards him.

"Can you? Can we? Like this? I missed having you this close," she pulled him on top of her, nose to nose, a position that was impossible with the baby in between them.

"Sure," he rubbed his nose against hers.

"But we, um, we need…." She felt like a teenager again.

"Right! I love that little girl, but we don't need another one right away," he smiled.

She reached into the nightstand and found a condom, glad she had thought ahead and picked them up when she needed toothpaste the other day.

"Sorry about this, I have been breastfeeding pretty consistently, but I don't want to take that chance," she babbled.

"Annie, I would wear a hazmat suit if you asked," he laughed.

"In our line of work? That might not be as farfetched as you meant it," she smirked.

Annie let go of all her apprehension and sank into the bed, Auggie's solid weight on top of her, around her, within her.

***555***

When they finished both of them froze, afraid they might have woken up the baby, after a few seconds of quiet Auggie kissed his wife deeply and moved away to clean up.

He slid back into bed and scooped Annie into his arms, molding his front to her back, tracing delicate patterns on her thigh.

"You OK?" he asked cautiously.

"I'm still pretty hormonal," she said shakily.

"But that was OK, right?" he was now concerned.

"Oh Auggie, that was so much more than OK," she turned in his arms and kissed him over and over.

"Yeah?"

"Oh yeah. If I thought it wouldn't be absolute torture I would say we should wait 2 months before we do it again. That was amazing," she smiled.

"Good," he whispered into the next kiss.

"I've always liked sex, been able to isolate from deeper emotion, but I think there actually is something to combining sex with love and I love you in a way I have never loved before and doubt I will ever love again," she said.

He kept quiet, Annie so rarely getting into the deeper side of their emotions.

"I love that baby completely; I would throw myself in front of a bus for her. I have thrown myself in front of a bullet for Danielle, but you Auggie, you I love in this open way, this all-encompassing way that I can't explain, I've never experienced it before."

"I read once that the idea of soul mates is flawed, that it is not some random mystical assignment, but that it is a process you have to work to achieve," Auggie said quietly in the solitude of their bed.

"We worked really hard for this," Annie sniffled.

"It was worth it," he kissed her softly and covered them both with the blankets.

***555***

Several weeks later Auggie's cell phone rang as he and Annie were watching a movie, the caller was announced as Joan Campbell.

"Sorry," he kissed the side of Annie's head and wriggled out from their spot snuggled together.

"Hello," he said as he moved towards the kitchen area.

Annie could only hear his side of the conversation, which included several 'sures' and 'that's fines'.

Annie paused the DVD.

"What was that about?" she asked.

"No idea, she wants to see us both, she's coming tomorrow morning at 11:00."

"OK," Annie shrugged.

***555***

11:00 am on the dot on a cool Saturday morning in December, Joan Campbell arrived. Annie had made tea and bought some scones from Clara's. Grace was strapped to Auggie in the Moby and content for the time being and the 3 adults sat at the dining room table.

"Auggie, I want to offer you the job as head of the DPD, officially, it has been cleared through all channels," Joan said with her trademark small smile.

"Really?" he asked and turned his head towards Annie.

"Really," Joan confirmed.

"Annie?" Auggie asked silently looking for permission.

"That's wonderful news," she said and Auggie could tell she meant it.

"So Annie, the question to you is, do you want to work for your husband?"

The End….of Part III, Part IV will be called Escape Clause IV: Snapshots and will be a snapshot from each of the first 10 years of Grace's life. Tune in to see how these 3 balance work and home.