“Oh, she’s in the playpen in the living room.” Miri lead the way into the kitchen.

“Cool. I promised to protect David from her tonight.” Alex punched David lightly on the arm, grinning.

“You’re laughing about it, but that’s not far from the truth.”

“What?”

“When he comes home in the evening she won’t leave him alone. She climbs on his lap, and pulls on his nose. The other night she grabbed his ear and wouldn’t let it go for five minutes.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Yeah, Alex, I told you I needed protection.”

“Fine, I’ll protect you, David. But I’m reminding both of you, I don’t do diapers.”

Miri laughed. “I remember. I remember you bringing her into our room, holding her at arms length, on Christmas morning, telling us we needed to wake up and deal with our daughter.” Alex’s face went red.“David said he thought you were going to watch her, and you said watch, yes, change, no.”

David and Miri laughed at the expression on Alex’s face.

“Yeah, well, you two just laugh, I’m gonna go find my pal. Looks like I’m the one that needs protecting.”

She turned towards the living room, and heard David call, “Just don’t let her near your ears, Alex.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Alex loved playing with Arlea, who likewise loved her blond playmate. During the holidays David and Miri, along with Sarah and Maggie, had gotten Alex to split Christmas eve and Christmas day between the two households. They had been determined she wouldn’t spend it alone in her apartment like she had Thanksgiving. Alex had immediately decided that, if they were insisting she be there, she would enjoy herself her way. At David’s, she had immediately abducted her hosts’ daughter, and together they had played with every toy the one year old had. Christmas morning, after Miri had changed her daughter’s diaper, Alex had helped Arlea tear into the pile of presents. Arlea, like most children her age, paid more attention to the paper than the presents. Alex had joined her, covering her self in left over wrappings so Arlea could unbury her. Then, it would be Arlea’s turn to get wrapped up, and Alex would hunt through the paper to find the giggling child.

In short, David thought, his daughter brought out the kid in Alex. He knew that his mostly serious partner needed the release that playing with Arlea often gave her. Alex, the youngest member of the task force, was young for the position she held. She was just twenty-eight, and had seen more in her time with the Bureau than most people did in their entire lives. Each case had taken away a little more of Alex’s natural spirit, and David knew that if she didn’t find something to ground, and soon, Alex would slowly become dead inside. He’d seen it with other agents, like Ben Cleves, who no longer felt sadness or sorrow at the deaths they investigated. They could be concerned for the living, especially their partners and fellow agents. But they could also stand over a corpse and discuss how death had occurred, without even remembering that the body had once been a living person. David hoped desperately that he never saw Alex’s eyes become as dead as those in the faces of other long time agents.

In order to keep that from happening, David tried to bring Alex home with him at least a few times a month, letting her spend time playing with his daughter. It always brightened Alex’s smile for days afterwards.

Right now, David was watching his daughter wrap her fingers in his partner’s hair.

“Hey, pal. Don’t pull the hair, okay? Yeah, I know, you don’t get to see blond very often, so I’m just too good to play with, huh?”

Arlea gurgled, and yanked on her fists full of hair. Alex patiently pried one hand loose. That hand reached for her face.

“Why don’t we sit down and talk. You can tell me about what you’ve been doing all day with Mommy, and I’ll tell you how funny your Daddy is, okay?”

At dinner, Alex was given the chore of feeding Arlea. They started with a jar of mashed carrots, and mixed in some mashed peas. The two of them appeared to have a great deal of fun, and even Miri had to admit that her daughter ate more than she normally did. Of course Alex and Arlea ended up wearing the same amount on their clothes.

“I think that’s enough, Alex.”

“Okay. You want me to give her a bath?”

“Ah, no, I don’t think so.”

“Aw, why not?”

“Well, two reasons. Number one, the last time we tried that the bathroom ended up looking like a hurricane had blown through.”

“Not our fault. I told you, we got attacked by aliens, and had to fight back.”

“Right. Second reason is, as much as I wish you could stay, I know you want to get home. It stopped snowing, and the salt trucks have been around, but who knows how bad the roads are?”

“You’re right.” She wiped her hands on her napkin, and watched as David picked up his daughter. Arlea squealed, upset at being taken away from her playmate, but once she caught sight of her father, she quieted, reaching for his nose. He managed to avoid the little hands as he carried her from the table.

“I’ll get her bath started. Come get me when you’re ready, and I’ll run Alex home.”

“Thank you, sweetheart.”

David was still trying carry his daughter and escape her inquisitive hands.

Miri handed a wet cloth to Alex.“Here. You look like you could use a bath yourself.”

“Thanks. I think.” She cleaned her hands better, then swiped at the stains on her shirt. “I look like I’ve been in a food fight.”

“Weren’t you?”

“Oh, hush. Just because Arlea doesn’t like peas —”

“No, ” Miri cut her off. “Arlea doesn’t have any problem with peas. You don’t like them. So, in sympathy, you ended up spilling most of them on her bib.”

Alex gave her a bashful grin. “You noticed, huh?”

Miri just smiled at her.

“Miri, if you’re worried about David driving in this stuff, I can take a taxi to the Metro station.”

“No way. You know better than to even ask that.”

“But I know you worry —”

“Look, I don’t worry about him driving, really. He’s excellent on roads like these, and besides, I’d be more worried about you in that subway.”

“The Metro is nothing like the New York subway.”

“Fine. He’s still driving you home.” She put her hand on Alex’s shoulder. “And I worry more about you and him at work, then I do about his driving.”

Alex slowly nodded. “I understand that.”

“He said you were having a rough time of it.”

“Yeah, I was. I’ve never held someone while they died before. It kind of messed me up.”

“You know, if you need someone to talk to, I’m always here. I realize I may not be the perfect earpiece since I’m married to your partner, but,” Miri shrugged, “if there’s no one else, I’m always here.”

Alex pulled the smaller woman into her arms. “I know, Miri.” They stood in a hug for a minute, then separated. “You know, you guys are my family out here. You three, and Sarah and Maggie.”

“I know. What do you say we get the two halves of the family together in a couple weeks? Maybe have a potluck here?”

“That sounds great. I’ll call Sarah and ask her if she wants to do that.”

“Oh, don’t bother, I’ll call her. She and I will arrange things, and then tell you and David when you need to show up.”

Alex looked warily at her friend. “You guys are friends?”

“Sure. We have been since before the two of you broke up.”

“Oh really? And why wasn’t I ever aware of this?”

“Because you, my friend, can be as thickheaded as my husband.”

Alex shrugged. “Who do you think I learned it from?”

They laughed, and headed up to rescue David from his daughter.

Chapter Eight

Appleby appeared to be considering his options. First, his food dish was still half-full, and he could go eat. Second, his catnip mouse was sitting right next to his water dish, where he’d left it when he finished attacking it in the middle of the night. But it was beginning to lose its catnip smell, and he didn’t fell like batting it around right now. Besides, there was other game afoot.