A/N – thank you to all who have followed and favorited and reviewed. This story began as a one-shot but (as many of you know), I seem incapable of leaving well enough alone and this story was born. I appreciate everyone who has read and especially those who took the time to review. You are all amazing.

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Ch. 14 - St. Louis, May 29, 2017

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"Do you ever wonder how things might have been different?"

The low timber of Tom's voice reverberated through the small space. Sasha turned her head just enough to catch a glimpse of him standing in the doorway, but not enough to disturb the infant she held in her arms, the one she had just spent twenty minutes rocking to sleep, every soft wheezing breath a reassurance that he was there – alive. She arched an eyebrow at Tom in question.

He scowled, but Sasha could see the laughter lurking behind his stern mien. "Don't tell me that you forgot our anniversary."

May 27, 2015. The day that Captain Thomas Chandler walked into President Peng's mansion and back into her life.

She had forgotten. And while she knew that Tom's indignation was an act, Sasha found herself disconcerted that not once today had she reflected on the past. On how unlikely it was that she would be sitting her, rocking her son – her and Tom's son – to sleep while mentally reviewing her task list and wondering if Val knew how to cheat at Mario Kart (the only way Sasha had a prayer of catching up with Sam's score). On how much of her current happiness was the result of the merest chance and a great deal of luck.

Instead, her day was filed from top to bottom with the present. Jake's two a.m. feeding, the usual morning scramble to get Ashley and Sam out the door to school, a quick scan of her work emails, lunch with Kara and Frankie and Mark (the only place outside of her own home she was willing to venture with a ten-day-old), a rushed conference call before Sam and Ashley got home from school, an afternoon balancing a fussy baby and Sam's homework and Ashley's anxiety over whether the boy she was desperately in love with would ask her to the end-of-school dance, Tom's arrival home with dinner (thankfully) – all interspersed with feedings and naps and diaper changes – and then it was time to nurse Jake to sleep while Tom spent some time with the older kids. Twelve hours had disappeared in a blink.

"I've been a little busy," she noted matter-of-factly.

Tom chuckled. "They're exhausting, aren't they? Good thing they're cute."

"What do you have there?" she asked, nodding towards the small box that Tom was absently moving from one hand to the other.

"This?" Tom held it high, a teasing sparkle in his eyes. "This is for you. If you know the magic word."

That couldn't go unchallenged. "Is the magic word I-got-up-with-your-son-every-two-hours-last-night-while-you-snored?"

He paused, as though he were actually considering pressing the issue, before handing over the box without further comment. Sliding it open, Sasha found a delicate silver chain with several charms. Lifting the necklace, she realized that the charms were in fact letters – JAKE.

It was gorgeous – and suspiciously similar to one that Kara often sported under her suits.

"Danny?" She asked, her voice teasing.

"Tex. Where do you think Danny gets all of his good ideas?"

That got a chuckle. "Thank you Tom. It's beautiful." She held the chain up with one hand. "Help me put it on?"

Tom moved behind the rocking chair, butterflies forming in Sasha's stomach as he gathered her hair to the side, his fingers sweeping across the nape of her neck, despite not being in a position to do anything about it for at least another month. Tom leaned down, pressing a feather-light kiss to her back as he latched the chain. "How are you doing?"

How was she doing?

It was a good question, really, one that Sasha didn't know how to answer, her emotions too erratic to be pinned down, swinging from ecstasy to terror to exhaustion to overwhelming joy over the course of the day.

"I don't know." The words slipped out, and Sasha transferred her gaze back to the child she was holding. The one she fought so hard to bring into this world, months of bedrest and ultrasounds and worry still fresh in her mind.

Tom moved until he stood to the side of the rocking chair, a hand settling on Jake's dark curls. "Has it sunk in yet? That he's here?"

"I keep thinking that I'm going to wake up on morning and he'll be gone," Sasha replied softly. The past ten days had been the best ten days of her life – days that she would not have given up for anything, even if she knew that it would all disappear tomorrow – yet the thought of all of it disappearing was enough to turn her blood cold.

"Well, just don't sleep." It was not the comfort that Sasha was looking for and she narrowed her eyes at her husband. "It's real, Sasha, I promise you. Jake's here and he's real and he's not going anywhere."

Sasha's gaze dropped to Jake – his tiny lips, his clenched hands, the little lines that crossed his forehead and made him look like a grumpy old man. He was a beautiful baby, born with a full head of chestnut hair like his mother and his father's piercing blue eyes, but more importantly, he was born at thirty-nine weeks, full-term and healthy, earning a perfect ten out of ten on the APGAR scale. She ran a finger over Jake's soft cheek, feeling a soft puff of hot air when he exhaled, hearing a slight grunt as he shifted, snuggling closer to his mother.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

A thousand possible answers ran through Sasha's mind, a thousand small things that had led to this moment. But there was only one that felt right.

"Thank you for making me believe that this was worth it."

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THE END