Little Lion Man

Happy Mother's Day

When Sunday morning dawns brilliant and bright, she's already awake. Her sleep habits have been messed up for months now, feels like forever, and she's working on about three hours at a time.

But she doesn't mind at all.

Kate watches the light beam against the windows of the building across the street, the flash and ripple of reflection, refraction, the sun just too much for the world to contain.

It's the first Mother's Day that she hasn't felt wretched, or just out-of-sync sad, the first Mother's Day that something actually seems right.

So right.

The baby grows heavy, sleepy, and she eases him away so that he'll fall asleep without her. His sucking stops gradually, little mouth pursed around air, those long, almost blonde lashes lifting and falling closed.

She slowly adjusts her shirt, breathing shallowly to keep him asleep, and then she shifts him against her shoulder, leans back against the headboard. He curls up at her neck, warm and close, and she brushes her fingers at the nape of his neck, soothing.

He smells good; the soft skin at his neck under her fingers makes her heart flip funny.

A grunt at her side - sounding so much like his son it's uncanny - has her turning her head to look at him. She smiles at Castle while he wakes, a growling bear of a man huddling away from the light, burrowing his nose against her thigh and closing his eyes again.

She lifts a hand from the baby and strokes her fingers in Castle's hair instead, around his ear, tracing the deep lines at his eyes. He grumbles something at her skin and she laughs softly at the feeling, trying not to startle the baby awake.

"How's Leo?" he murmurs, lifting his head.

"Just fed him. Asleep again."

A hum of an answer from Castle, but he's more awake now, watching her even as she smooths that flop of hair off his forehead so she can see his eyes.

He props his chin on her thigh and his arm comes around them both, his hand heavy on Leo's back, pressing down into Kate as well. She watches him study the baby, sees that grin that widens his mouth, and then he leans in and kisses Leo's bare toes.

"Want me to put Simba back to bed?"

She sighs. "I want you to stop calling him Simba," she mutters, reaching out and flicking her fingers at his forehead. She'll go for the ear next, even if his yelp does wake the baby.

"It's just Swahili for lion," he whines, ducking away from her.

"Yes, but you are not Mufasa."

"Ooh, say it again," he says with a shiver. She narrows her eyes.

"You do realize I was fourteen when that movie came out."

"Ouch." He flops over onto his back and she can't help smirking, but she feels Leo stir against her and drops her eyes to him. His little fist works, his mouth opens, but he doesn't wake. The perfect round bud of his mouth against her skin makes her whole body burst with love.

God, it's crazy. And a little ridiculous. And amazing.

"Hey," she murmurs, clearing her throat. "Castle, you take him before he wakes up."

Castle immediately reaches for the baby, taking him carelessly from her - or well, no. Not carelessly. He just has this grace and naturalness with Leo that Kate hasn't learned yet. Six weeks just doesn't feel like enough time to be so comfortable, so easy.

She drops her arms as Castle gets off the bed, watches him walks purposefully towards the study where they've left the cradle. It was Alexis's, which weirds Kate out a little, but she likes the soft sides, the way it swings gently.

And Leo loves it. He sleeps so well there.

Before Castle can get back and make that flying leap into bed - he loves to do that to her - Kate gets up and pulls her sleep shirt off over her head.

"Oof, that's a sight," he says from the doorway.

She shakes out her hair and tosses the shirt at him, disappears into their closet for clean clothes. She can hear him coming in behind her, feels his hand at her hip as he uses her for balance and grabs his jeans from the shelf.

"What's today look like?" he asks softly.

"Um. Is that supposed to be my job?"

He goes still and she turns around, just as hesitant. He swallows and his mouth opens, closes, opens. "Uh. I thought. . .yes?"

Okay, so this is new territory. She sort of expected him to have this whole thing planned, drag her along for some kind of special day, and she guesses that he was trying to be respectful of her grief.

They stare at each other a moment too long and then she leans past him for a shirt, tugs it on over her head quickly. "I don't know what to do here, Castle."

"Me either."

"I haven't since-"

"I figured you wanted to-"

When they start at the same time, and stop, and stare again, Kate loses it. She laughs and tilts into him, wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her mirth into his chest. He rubs her shoulders, fingers tucking down under her shirt for bare skin, and she can feel him laughing back.

"Okay, should've asked."

"I should've said something," she says back, lifting her head to look at him. He's got that dangerous cast to his eyes, and even though it's technically been five weeks and five days, surely a few days early won't hurt?

She's tired of pelvic rest and tired of not having caffeine and tired of being careful about what she eats because it goes straight to the baby and she's tired of not knowing what to do.

"I know what I want to do today," she says suddenly.

"Yeah? I can make you waffles from scratch. The mix is gone, and I know mine aren't as good as yours-"

She shakes her head, presses her hips into his. "Not what I was thinking."

He blanks his face so carefully, loosens his hold on her. Look at him trying so hard for her. Not making demands.

Maybe she shouldn't, maybe a few days is what they both need. She doesn't know anymore; it's all felt so differently since Leo was born. She's felt different - disjointed and disgusting at times and at others, entirely too aroused, like she'll combust. It's never in her control anymore, and she doesn't like that.

"I'm gonna shower and then. . .yeah, okay. Breakfast. But let's go out." She sees the relief on his face and sighs to herself, doesn't know how to read that.

"Good call," he murmurs, and he does lean in and kiss her, a soft thing, a grateful thing. A little tame for the man who wanted to name his son after a lion.

She pushes two fingers in his chest and they break away, his eyes a little shiny, and she sighs again. "Call Alexis? I don't know what she does for mother's day either, but-"

And then his eyes really are shiny and he dives back in with a grunt, kissing her hard, a little uncontrolled, and that's more like it.

That's what she's missed.

Leo moves his head side to side to watch his mother and sister talking over breakfast. Castle feels every little nudge of the baby's skull against his chest and he's content to sit back and let the kid observe.

When Kate laughs at something Alexis has said, a story that Castle was only half-listening to, Leo flails his arms and seems excited for it, clearly responding to Kate. He grins to see it, watches Leo kick out his legs, squirming against his father.

"I know," he murmurs, spreading his hand out over the baby's belly to keep him there. "We all want mommy. She's gorgeous, huh?"

Leo's head tilts back to look at him, those light-limned lashes. He's got the same look Alexis had as a baby - that golden hair, pale skin - but he's heartier, thicker. And way more active. Martha didn't seem surprised that Leo came out so leonine, but his hair is already growing in differently, thicker and darker now at six weeks, looking more like a baby of Kate's should.

At least, what Castle always imagined.

"Hey there," he whispers, tapping Leo's nose. The baby blinks furiously and then grins.

Grins.

"Whoa!" He jerks his head up and snags Kate's elbow. "Hey, hey, watch. Watch this. Alexis, watch."

Kate tilts her head at him, questions in her eyes, and he glances to make sure his daughter is looking too, and then he curls around Leo again, taps the kid's nose.

Leo squirms and then screws up his nose as if smelling his own diaper.

Castle sighs. "I swear he was smiling. Come on, Leo, do it again."

"I missed it?" Kate sighs.

"I think you're making it up, Dad."

He narrows his eyes at her, a discontent muttering under his breath, and Kate laughs suddenly.

"Oh, Castle, it's you. He's laughing at you. Look at that smile."

"What?" He glances down but it's just that wide-eyed, blonde-lashed look. "Leo, come on, man. Smile for me."

"You growled and he grinned. You like that, Leo?" Kate leans onto the arm of his chair, the sunlight pouring over her hair, and her nearness gets the baby's attention. Leo's head swivels to look at her, arms waving, and Kate catches a hand, kisses it.

That smile slips out again, wide and tilted, and Kate laughs.

"Oh, look at that."

"He likes his mommy," Castle grins.

"He smiles like his daddy," she says back, lifting her eyes to his.

"Okay, that's super adorable," Alexis sighs. "And I don't know which is worse - Leo grinning like that, or you guys being all sappy."

"Shut up," Kate laughs again, shaking her head at Alexis. "I'm never sappy. That's his forte."

Alexis only grins back; she's already got her phone out and seems to be videoing Leo, trying to get his smile on camera. "Maybe it used to be, but sorry, Kate. It's yours now too. You're both kinda disgusting over my little brother."

Kate sits upright suddenly, her mouth opening and closing, and then her eyes cut to him and he realizes that she didn't get it before. She's been thinking of Alexis as his kid, and now she sees his daughter as also Leo's sister. Her son's sister.

Makes things different, doesn't it?

She blushes then and something in her eyes as she looks back to Alexis makes his heart squeeze so hard he can't breathe.

"Yeah, okay," she says softly. "Maybe so. I feel pretty sappy right now."

"I should leave?" his daughter whispers softly. But Kate overhears it.

"Not if you don't want to," she says quickly, reaching across Castle to snag the girl's hand. "I don't know what you usually do today, so if there's something else, please feel free."

"I already called my mom," Alexis says back stiffly, glancing quickly to her father. Castle's told Kate some of it, the parts he felt like he was allowed to share, so she's got an idea of how thorny that mother-daughter relationship must be for Alexis.

Not for Meredith. Kate's not sure Meredith sees problems with anything she does, but-

Not her place. Kate's not the one who has to deal with that. "Do you want to hang out with us? We're just gonna take it easy, I think."

Alexis cuts her eyes again to Castle, but he's completely staying out of it. "Um. For a little while, yeah. Sure."

Kate shifts the bag to her other shoulder, keeps it from thumping against her thigh with a hand. "What do you and your dad usually do today?"

Alexis lets out a long breath and Kate knows she's hit it on the head. Castle must've warned Alexis that today wouldn't be their normal celebration and she doesn't want that for them. This is Leo's family, even if Kate doesn't quite know where she fits in with Alexis, the two of them tentatively friends.

"Um, well. Dad and I just usually hung out. But it's your day, Kate. What do you want to do?"

She gives the young woman a crooked smile. "Basically, I don't want to think about it being my day. Or my mom's," she offers, hears her voice crack a little. It was so different this morning, such a new thing that it postponed the grief. She can feel it hovering but she doesn't want to build this day around what's gone, not when she's got all this. Not when Leo has all this.

Leo should get a normal day, right?

"Yeah," Alexis says with another drawn out breath. "Me either. And Gram avoids it like the plague. So Dad and I always just have fun."

"Yes, let's do that. Let's have fun." Kate turns to Castle with an expectant look, waiting on him to finally join the conversation.

"Oh, so that's up to me?" he says, shifting the baby to one arm, a football carry that Leo loves. "I'm the fun one?"

"Yes," they both say, she and Alexis at the same time, and Kate grins at the tumbling-into-adoration look Castle gives her then.

She did right. She did it exactly right.

Finally.

He fills the day for them - for Alexis whose mother is just careless and for Kate whose mother is just gone - fills it up like he always has for his daughter, fills it up like he's always wanted to for Kate.

Leo is a little overstimulated but he falls asleep on Castle's shoulder when - at long last - they ride the carousel in the park, the boy slung like a sack of potatoes as Castle sits in the 'lame' stationary carriage. It's okay though, because his son is warm and trusting and he gets to watch Kate smiling from that regal, dark chestnut while his daughter rides a giraffe side-saddle.

The two of them talk over the music but he doesn't hear any of it. He doesn't need to. Girl time or something. He lets it go, rides the carousel with his son, wonders if Leo will be a momma's boy or if he'll follow his dad around like a little shadow, like Alexis did.

"If I were you," he murmurs quietly. "I'd be a momma's boy. Actually, I think I was a momma's boy. It worked out well for me. Women are confusing enough, kid, but if you're a man's man? You're pretty much going to always be wrong."

Leo doesn't even stir.

"So, you know, be a momma's boy and you'll at least be a little ahead of the game. And your mom will give you pretty great advice."

Leo's absolutely gone. He's never slept this hard before. Gotta remember this - wear the kid out.

"Yeah, okay. Little early for this. You've got some time. Sleep, kiddo."

He feels eyes on him and lifts his gaze to see both girls watching him, smirks on their faces, and okay, fine. He's the sap. Whatever.

It's Mother's Day and he has a kid who has a mother, an exceptional, extraordinary one, and so he gets to be a little sappy, all right?

He must be glaring pretty fiercely because Kate slides off her horse and sneaks back to him, sitting with him tightly in the carriage - not built for two adults - and cuddles up next to Leo on his shoulder.

Her kiss is soft. "You're sweet," she murmurs at his ear. "You're a good dad. When's Father's Day?"

"Oh, believe me. You'll know."

She laughs, a humming thing at his neck, and he feels her arm carefully wind through his, her cheek coming to rest near Leo's head. "I'm sure I will. I'm sure it's fantastic. Is that something I do, or are you gonna take that one?"

"I can do it. Until Leo's old enough to come up with his own ideas."

She grins wider; he can feel it against his shoulder.

"Cause you know," he adds. "The best part of this day? Doing what they want to do. The things they think honor you. That's the best."

She gives a soft, shaky little sigh beside him, but she's still smiling. All he asks.

Kate slumps into the booth at Remy's, the day just about exhausted. "Hand me the kid. I'm gonna have to feed him in like-"

At that very second, Leo issues a sharp cry from Castle's arms and his father is quick to get rid of him. Kate rolls her eyes but curls her fingers at Leo's head, keeping him close so he can smell her, know it's coming.

"Order for me?" she murmurs as she stands. Castle nods and nudges Alexis and the two of them sit cozy on the same side of the booth.

"Milkshake?" he calls out after her.

She turns and even though the milk doesn't do that great with Leo, it's Mother's Day and she's craving one so badly and it's not like she's allowed coffee. "Yeah. Please. Milkshake."

She heads back for the bathroom with Leo fussing at her shirt, legs kicking, and she drops a kiss to his forehead. "Sorry, Simba-"

Kate groans at unintentionally using Castle's nickname. So not cool. But Alexis is doing it too and Castle's got Lanie calling him that, and it just popped out of her mouth.

"Leo," she murmurs instead. "Leo. Not a dumb cartoon who runs away and hides to be raised by a fat pig and a meerkat. Is that what Timon is? I don't know. Anyway, not you. Your daddy, thankfully, has no mean uncle Scar. Just a kinda mysterious father who has international enemies from his days as a spy, but. . .you know. Not too bad."

Kate laughs to herself and opens the bathroom door with her shoulder, shifts inside. Remy's is better than most, but she still refuses to go in a stall to nurse. She props a hip against the counter and shifts Leo to one arm, fumbles at her bra.

Ung, so not sexy. "Dairy Queen," she mutters, repeating Castle's not-very-funny joke.

But when Leo latches on, it suddenly is kinda funny and she smiles down at her son, the flutter of his blonde lashes as he works for it, the fuzz of brown hair that's grown in suddenly.

"All right," she sighs to him, the same sappy smile flirting with her lips. "Dairy Queen for you. Only you. You're totally worth it. And besides, you gotta suffer through my strawberry milkshake, kid. So we're even."

When Kate gets back to the booth, Castle stands and takes the sleeping baby from her arms, nods her towards the seat. She gives him a look but he hands the baby over to Alexis, who looks adoringly down at Leo, and Castle scoots in with Kate.

She laughs and her fingers run over his knee. "Hey there."

"Hey there."

"What're you doing over here?"

"Missed you," he says with a shrug.

She laughs and shakes her head. "Seen me all day."

"Eh," he says back, reaching down and catching her fingers, lacing his within hers. She stays close though, watching Alexis with Leo, that soft and tender thing in her eyes that he seriously loves. Really, it's a little ridiculous how much he wants to lay everything at her feet and beg because of it.

And then she turns to look at him, a decisive set to her shoulders, a firmness in the line of her mouth. "I miss you too," she says carefully, and he sees the dark flare in her eyes that makes his heart pound.

Not what he meant exactly, but maybe it was. It is. Yes. "Yeah?"

"Tonight?" she murmurs, her voice pitched low in that tone he's not heard in months.

"But it's five weeks-"

"And five days. Close enough." She waves it off with a flick of her wrist that takes his with it, their laced fingers brushing dangerously high on his inside thigh.

He sucks in a breath and beams back at her. "Close enough."

Kate drinks every last drop of her milkshake and she doesn't once feel guilty. Okay, only a little bit. Since it's tonight anyway, and she knows they'll be. . .ah, up, so to speak, she's not too concerned.

But Leo's not staying in the cradle tonight. Nope. Not-uh. The walls are open bookshelves. She's already warned Castle about this, but she's not sure she's impressed upon him the absolute dealbreaker that is.

Her son is not sleeping next door while they - while she - ah, gets loud.

Mmm, yes. That.

She's jittery like it's the first time all over again. It's practically the first time; her body is weird and fleshy in places she doesn't like, leaking in others-

Gross. If she doesn't stop, she'll psyche herself out.

Alexis has left them at the corner, a hug for each of them - a little startling for Kate since it was so fierce, but she assumes Alexis was being grateful. She didn't have to, but it was sweet. Now she and Castle walk hand in hand, fingers shifting against palms and thumbs, dancing a little.

Castle has Leo against his chest, easy, and the baby is awake but very close to sleep again.

"He's done really well for his first day out," Kate offers.

"Yeah - oh. His first day out. I forgot. I'll have to get Alexis to send me some of those photos she took all day."

"You gonna make a scrapbook?" she teases and she sees the flush on his cheeks and has to laugh.

"Don't tease. He's my only son."

Well, and God if that doesn't kill her. She presses her lips together and is struck by how good it feels to be doing this with him. Never would have expected it, was a little - okay a lot - afraid when it happened, but this is too much. Too good.

She falls a little behind Castle's stride so she can watch the baby, study his tired eyes as they struggle to stay open, keep track of the world. His personality has just started to assert itself, and while he's been what she'd call an easy baby, he's also become such a happy baby. He's been in love with the world around him and it makes her think the world is a place she can love too.

Kate reaches out with her free hand and strokes her finger down Leo's nose, gets the now-reflexive grin back, sleepy as it is.

"He do it again?"

"Yeah," she says quietly. "Smiling away."

"Damn, he's cute. Girls are gonna fall at his feet."

She laughs at that, bumping his shoulder gently as she picks up her pace. "He is pretty cute."

"And you're pretty sappy."

"I am a little at that."

"You freely admit it too. That's what astounds me."

"Just don't spread it around."

"Esposito is the first person I'm calling," he say quickly, a quirk of his eyebrow.

"Not if you value your life."

"Yeah, but what a way to go."

They turn to each other at the same time, grinning, and he darts in and kisses her, quickly, suddenly, beautifully, and she hums into the aftermath, her eyes still open. He's a big dork is what he is, a totally ridiculous man, but he's hers, and he's Leo's, and this is her family.

Her too-much, amazing family.

"Time to go home," she says quietly. "And even though I said tonight-"

His face blanks.

She grins. "How about this afternoon instead?"

"Or both?"

She laughs but she doesn't say no.

Castle stands over the crib, watching his son nap, so very small in the huge expanse of the mattress.

"Castle," she hisses from the doorway.

He glances over his shoulder at Kate, but he doesn't move.

"Castle, come on, come to bed. We've only got like two hours, if we're lucky."

"Not yet," he whispers back. He's gonna miss him; he shouldn't really, because it's time for the little thing to sleep in his own room. But still. "Come on in here."

"No. He'll wake up."

"He won't."

"He will if I go in there."

Castle diverts his attention to Kate, gives her a half-smile. She sounds entirely too pessimistic. "What? Why do you say that?"

"I swear, he smells me. He'll wake up and want to be fed. Now come on."

He grins and shifts away from the crib, comes closer to his wife. "So young and already a breast man. I prefer your legs, but to each his own-"

"Shut up," she grouses, slapping her hand at his chest. "That's disgusting. You are not teaching our son to be gross."

"I won't have to teach him," Castle shrugs, taking her hand and pressing it against his lips in a brushing kiss. "Boys are born gross. It's genetic."

"After that comment, I can't believe I'm going to say this, but - Come to bed, Rick. I want you all to myself."

He grins and dives into her mouth for a sloppy, happy kiss. She laughs against him, softly, her fingers spreading in his grip and lifting to stroke his cheek. He loves the gentle way she touches him sometimes.

But-

"Wait," he murmurs. "Just - hold that thought."

She lets him go with a sigh, and he slips back inside the baby's room, the pale blue walls looking pearl grey in the shuttered room. The mobile over his crib is a glow in the dark constellation - Leo, the lion - that Kate ordered online; it lights the way to his son's side.

What an amazing and sleepless six weeks. Castle reaches out to stroke the baby's cheek, but hears Kate's scolding noise from behind him. He turns and she's in the doorway, arms crossed, looking impatient.

Yeah, he really doesn't want to wake him. Very true.

"Castle," she warns.

He withdraws his hand and sighs, watches his son a moment more - the scrunched up little face, the fists pulled up right at his cheeks, the newly grown dark hair. And it's only been since this morning, but now Leo suddenly looks nothing like Alexis as a baby.

"Castle. I find it a little insulting that you want to stare at him all day rather than me."

He jerks upright and turns around, staring at Kate just a heartbeat too long. She narrows her eyes, shakes her head at him.

"Fine. It's only been six weeks. I'm sure you can hold it."

She pivots in the doorway and he scrambles after her, taking a moment to touch first the print of the lion - his namesake and animal guide, or so Castle tells himself - and then the elephant, Kate's favorite. Both stand guard in his baby's room, greyscale prints which dominate either side of the door and which Leo loves to stare at when Castle wanders through the rooms with him during a fussy night. "Watch over him," he murmurs, like a sap, but it's Leo's first nap in his own room.

And then he hurries to catch Kate before she can disappear down the hall.

He catches her by the elbow and she shrugs him off. "Whoa, whoa, wait. Hold up. If that's really how you feel, then I definitely can, ah, hold it. Hold it? Now who's being gross. But I don't want to hold it. I want you."

She turns and gives him a look; he holds up both hands in surrender.

"Come on. You're smoking hot and it's been six looong weeks. Of course I want to have sex. But surely I get points for being so enamored of my own kid? And trying to be helpful? And-"

"Smoking hot?" she interrupts.

Is that. . .doubt? "Is that ever in question?"

She narrows her eyes again. "Castle - I'm a hot mess more like - no, wait. Never mind. I'm taking that at face value. And yes, you're very helpful - and even with dirty diapers, which, ug, that is gross. At this rate, I won't ever have to touch them."

"Talking about dirty diapers is no way to seduce me, Kate Beckett."

She does crack a smile at that, but it's quickly suppressed. He wonders if she's truly self-conscious about the sex stuff - really? - but it can't hurt to ease his way.

He leans in and brushes a kiss to her jaw. "Just keep being all demanding and bossy - that totally does it for me. And this helps too," he adds, lifting his hands up to her ass and drawing her in close, bumping their hips together.

She sighs but stays, her palms against his chest. He can feel her fingers scratch at him, slowly, as if unconsciously, and she must actually be truly a little self-conscious. It's got to be a hormone thing, post-pregnancy whatever, because he has never known Kate to doubt her power over him.

She's always had it. She's always known she's had it too.

"Hmm, well, this is nice," he murmurs, turns his head to touch his lips to hers. She hums, a hand coming up to catch the back of his neck, hold him there long enough for her to deepen their kiss.

It's different. He's not sure why, but it is. Maybe because now she's a mom, maybe because she's only tentatively confident, maybe because he feels like he loves her now with all the complicated mix of tenderness and want and ferocity that comes with creating this new thing - their family - but whatever it is, it works.

It's potent.

And it tames something wild and wounded in him that he didn't know was there. A need. A sense of being cast aside or out of the loop or whatever it is that makes him so very relieved she still wants him, needs him too. That this survived when everything else has shifted under their feet - good or bad - with the arrival of Leo.

"Very nice," she agrees, breaking from his kiss to look at him from under those long, gorgeous lashes. Did he say he was a leg man? Yeah, he respects those legs, but her eyes are doing a number on his heart right now.

He moves in to kiss her again, but she stops him with two fingers pressed to his mouth.

"Take me to bed," she murmurs.

He immediately snags her hand, starts nudging her back down the hall towards the stairs, mentally surveying the house: front door's locked, oven off, alarm set, baby monitor-?

Oh. Did he-? He half-turns and she jerks him by the hand, stopping him on the first stair.

"And don't you dare leave my bed to check on the baby," she says.

"Can you literally read my mind? You are crazy hot with that."

"Okay, that's overdoing it, Castle. You already got me."

"Doesn't mean it's not true." He leans forward and presses a kiss to the corner of her mouth, crowding at her back to get her moving again, sliding his free hand to her stomach and brushing up, gently skirting his thumb along the underside of her breasts.

She goes still in the middle of the stairs, a stuttering breath at his touch. He grins to himself and does it again, taking care to be light; she's so sensitive to every-

"Now, Castle. Right now."

And then she's yanking him through the living room, down the hall, and into bed.

He's pretty sure he turned on the monitor, but it's Kate who reaches out and turns up the receiver, puts it on the mattress next to them.

Just in case.

"Hey," he murmurs before she can lost in it, them.

"What?" she whispers, going still under him, tense.

"Happy Mother's Day."

Her face breaks open wide, her smile filling him up. "Thank you," she sighs back, and it seems like maybe this is the first mother's day in a long time where she actually likes it.

Because of all that hopeful joy on her face, he can't speak. All he can do is kiss her, peel the clothes from her body slowly, worship at the altar of their love.

Everything's different, but the necessary stuff is still the same.