The sky over Chicago was a sullen gunmetal grey twined through with strands of lavender, the clouds low and threatening. It was reflected in the pools of rainwater still standing on the site, the surfaces like polished rippling glass. When Ned came back from his tour of the foundation, the soles of his workboots left traces of mud on the wooden steps outside the trailer.

He had been glad to take this job—at first. This was the third time the client had changed his mind about the building, though, and Ned was ready for a new project. Everything felt more frustrating; his temper was on a shorter fuse, and his assistant often had to call his name two or three times before he even realized it. "You're somewhere else," someone had told Ned the day before.

He was, and he knew that, but there was nothing he could do to change it—so he resolved again to focus on what was in front of him instead of wishing and hoping for something else. Someone else.

He caught himself worrying his wedding ring, and he heard the guys on the site, frustrated that they couldn't start work again, discussing whether to hit a local food truck. He was feeling hungry himself, but before the end of the day, he needed to go over adjustments to the blueprints with the site manager—

His cell phone rang. His heart leapt into his throat for a moment, until he looked at the number and realized he didn't recognize it.

"Hello?"

"I'm trying to reach Mr. Nickerson."

"This is he," Ned said, a little cautiously, although the female voice on the other end just sounded briskly businesslike and maybe a little annoyed.

"I'm calling about Alex."

Alex was sitting on the bench in the administration office when Ned approached, his arms crossed, his dark head bent as he studied some invisible speck on the rough industrial carpet beneath him. Then his eyes fixed on his father's tan workboots, and Alex brought his head up. Given what the assistant had told Ned on the phone, Ned was pretty sure he was supposed to look stern and disapproving, but when he saw the livid mark on his son's cheek, he was ready to murder someone. Granted, killing one of Alex's third-grade classmates wouldn't do Alex any favors.

Alex looked both nervous and defensive, and though the assistant stood and started to say something, Ned ignored her and knelt down in front of his son so their faces were level.

"Hey buddy," Ned said quietly. "You okay?"

Alex nodded and sniffled once, swiping under his nose. "Okay," he said cautiously. His dark blue eyes studied his father's dark brown ones.

"Apparently I'm about to take you home, but we'll talk in the car, okay?" Even though Ned's tone was even, he saw Alex's face shutter a little. Ned stood and patted his shoulder. "Relax."

The meeting with the vice principal was quick. Alex and another boy had been in a fight during recess, right before lunch. Alex had been pulled off a fourth grader who had three inches on him, and both of them had been sent to the office. The fourth grader had claimed he hadn't done anything, and Alex, when asked what had provoked it, had just shaken his head.

"Alex has been an exemplary student," Mr. Warren said, crossing his arms. Ned tried for a grave nod, stifling the retort that if Alex had hauled off and punched one of his schoolmates, Ned was sure he'd had an excellent reason. "We're sending him home for the rest of the day, and tomorrow before classes begin he will need to apologize to the other student."

Ned raised his eyebrows. "He didn't already?"

Mr. Warren cleared his throat. "His mother took the other student home while Alex was still being checked out by the school nurse," the vice principal explained.

Ned nodded. "So we're done here?"

Mr. Warren nodded slowly. "I spoke to Alex's teacher and he's apparently been quieter than usual," the balding man said. "Is there anything going on...? We're of course hoping this is an aberrant incident, and not the beginning of a more serious problem."

Ned sighed, but only internally. "I'm sure he won't do it again," Ned said with a tight smile. "Thank you for calling me."

Alex's shoulder felt small and fragile under Ned's large palm as he guided his son out to his Jeep. Alex's red and blue backpack hung from his other shoulder, one strap trailing, and Alex's head was down. "So have you had lunch already?" he asked his son, and Alex shook his head. "Hungry?"

Ned had considered calling Hannah, but he remembered that she was in River Heights preparing food for a garden club event the next day, and besides, he didn't want to send Hannah to collect his son from school after a fight. Ned was starving, but he needed to get back to work... even so, he made sure Alex was strapped into the passenger seat with his backpack in the floorboard, and took him back to the city with him. They listened to the radio, since Alex didn't seem particularly eager to talk, and Ned managed to find a parking spot outside a small out of the way cafe he had discovered about a year earlier. They had missed the lunch rush, but about half the tables were still taken by college students, books spread around them, or professionals working on their laptops. Alex swept his hood off his dark hair and looked around, his eyes alight; he and his sister were so rarely able to accompany their parents to restaurants for meals, and this wasn't McDonald's or another fast food chain. A few large drops had landed on Ned's hair and shoulders, but outside the rainfall was really beginning in earnest.

They grabbed a table near the front window, and when Ned checked the menu, he realized they didn't really have a kids' selection. Or chicken nuggets.

And Ned didn't have all the time in the world. He could grab something to go and pick up a kids' meal for Alex on the way back to the site, but Alex was probably already hungry.

A waitress approached with a wide smile for Ned and an affectionate wink at Alex. "I'd usually make you order at the counter, but we're a little slow right now, so I thought I'd do you a solid," she told him, sticking her hands in her back pockets. Her short asymmetric-cut pale-blonde hair was tipped in ice blue, and she had two piercings in her right eyebrow, one in her left, and a stud in her nose. "So what can I get ya?"

"Uh... large iced coffee, while we decide what we're getting," Ned said, and glanced down at the menu. "And an apple juice."

"Be right up."

When the waitress left, Alex fidgeted with his coat sleeve. "You can take that off," Ned told him, and Alex glanced up. "We're eating here. Just drape it over the back of your seat. See anything you might like?"

Alex wrestled out of his coat, then looked at the menu again. "What are you getting?" he asked his father, looking up at him with those dark blue eyes.

"I think probably a reuben," he said.

"Does it taste good?"

Ned chuckled. "Yeah, to me, but it's kind of an acquired taste. I can give you a bite of mine, but we should probably get something else for you. Something like a grilled cheese, maybe?"

Alex nodded slowly. "Do they have that?"

"They have something like it. If you're up for a challenge."

Alex nodded immediately to that, and Ned smiled fondly at his son. No one could ever say his firstborn wasn't up for a challenge, not with his particular genetic makeup.

The waitress returned with a glass of juice for Alex and Ned's coffee. "So, any decisions? Or is it all just so tempting."

"It is," Ned agreed, "but I'll have a reuben, and we'll get a cheese quesadilla."

The waitress glanced over at Alex. "Is that for you? You want me to put something special on it? Maybe some chicken or some ham?"

"Both?" Alex asked, then glanced over at his father for confirmation that was okay.

"With chicken and ham, then. And we'll both have kettle chips, and I'll take a side of blue cheese coleslaw too."

"You got it, boss." The waitress bent over to smile at Alex. "And you tell your dad to bring you over to the dessert case before you leave, okay? We have some oatmeal raisin cookies right out of the oven and they are amazing." She blew him a kiss and headed back to the counter.

Ned chuckled, especially when he saw how big Alex's eyes were. "We'll just see," he told his son. "You might be full. So you want to talk about what happened today?"

Alex's smile faded. "It was bull," he said, crossing his arms.

His mother would have corrected his language, but Ned was pretty sure his son's assessment was probably accurate. "Why don't you start at the beginning?"

Ned hadn't really been worried that his son would refuse to talk about it the way he had with the principal, but he was still relieved when Alex toyed with his silverware roll and took a deep breath. He told his father that the fourth grader, whose name was Benny, had been with the rest of his class, waiting for his turn to go shoot the basketball. The rain had kept their classes in the gym for recess, so they hadn't had the space of the massive schoolyard. And Alex had overheard Benny teasing a shy girl from another class.

Ned raised an eyebrow. "A girl you like, maybe?"

"Ew!" Alex shook his head immediately. "Noooo. She's a girl. And she's nerdy and she has these thick glasses... but she was just sitting there on the bleachers not doing anything, and when Benny started picking on her she turned really red and just put her head down, and I told him to just shut up and he said me and what army and... I punched him."

"Ah," Ned said. "And you didn't go to a teacher..."

"Because by the time I got back he wouldn't be doing it anymore," Alex pointed out, and Ned had to admit his reasoning was sound. "And I've been so mad all day long and it was like that was just..."

"The last straw," Ned filled in, and reached for his drink. "So he got on your nerves and that was it."

Alex nodded.

"Why were you mad today?"

Alex shrugged. "I dunno," he muttered.

"Why didn't you tell the principal about what was going on? Why you punched that guy?"

"Mr. Warren?" Alex shrugged. "He was gonna yell at me anyway, and Benny just whined and said he didn't do anything, and it was his word against mine. But he won't go after that girl again. Him or his little punk friends. He only got me once."

Ned couldn't stop from asking, "So how many times did you get Benny?"

"It had to be four," Alex said slowly. "At least four. I was really mad though. I busted his nose and the nurse was really scared when she cleaned the blood off my hands, but then she said I didn't get cut so I was okay."

Ned let out his breath in a long sigh. "Okay, look, if it happens again, go get a teacher, all right?"

Alex raised his eyebrows. "Go tattle?" he said, his disdain at the prospect clear.

"With any luck you won't have to. Maybe Benny's learned his lesson, and all you'll have to do is look at him and he'll stop. Most bullies stop when they figure out they can't get away with it." Ned shook his head. "I hope so, anyway. And I'm glad you didn't get hurt any more than you were."

Alex reached up and gently touched the edge of the bruise on his cheek. "It just made me madder," he admitted. "Besides, why did you teach me how to fight if you didn't want me to?"

"Because I know you very well," Ned said. "And I had a feeling you might be in a situation like that sooner rather than later. It's never bad to know how to handle yourself."

Alex was quiet for a minute. "I just couldn't stand there and do nothing," he muttered. "That was a bad thing?"

Ned thought about lying, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. "There's bad, and then there's the kind of thing that you know is right but it'll get you in trouble," he finally said. "This was the second kind of situation. Make sense?"

Alex nodded slowly. "I guess."

When the waitress arrived with their plates, Alex's eyes grew wide again. She placed a full-sized chicken, ham and cheese quesadilla cut into pie-shaped pieces in front of him, with a side of kettle chips and two small dishes beside it. Ned's reuben sandwich was enormous. "I put the pico and guac on the side in case the little guy didn't like it," she told Ned with a smile. "See you at the dessert counter, okay handsome?"

Alex ducked under her light teasing, and Ned gave the waitress a smile before she turned and went back to the kitchen. Alex took a tentative first bite of his quesadilla, then tucked into it with great relish; he didn't like the guacamole or the pico de gallo, so Ned dipped his kettle chips into the guacamole. Then Ned ripped off a small bite of his sandwich so Alex could try it, and while he said it was pretty good, he still preferred his quesadilla to his father's sandwich.

Ned was taking out his wallet to pay the bill and leave a tip when Alex said, his voice small, "Dad?"

"Hmm?"

"Will Mom be home soon?"

Ned nodded once, his lips twisting up in a small humorless smile. "I sure hope so," he said. "I don't think any of us are much good without her, are we."

When Ned said he needed to take Alex with him to work so he could finish something, Alex's face lit up, and on the way to the site they each ate an oatmeal raisin cookie for dessert. Ned settled him in a chair in the corner of the trailer so he could keep an eye on him while he was working, and Alex pulled out one of his textbooks and his notebook, catching up on his schoolwork.

It took every bit of Ned's concentration to meet the client's new demands about the space, especially while Alex's plaintive question echoed in his ears. God, he missed his wife. She had been working, following a lead into Mexico, since Thursday, and she had been hoping she would be home within a few days, but her trip kept getting longer. The night before, she had called to tell him how much she missed him and their children, and that she was hoping she would be home in two days.

Ned was trying not to let himself hope that tonight would be the last night he would spend alone in their bed, but he couldn't help it. She had been gone for so long, and for practically the entire time, storm after storm had swept through Chicago. The whole world seemed grey and listless without her.

And Ned couldn't blame Alex for punching another boy in the face at recess, not when he knew exactly what kind of anxiety was simmering under his son's skin. He wanted his mother to come home. Just like Ned felt almost desperate to see his wife again.

Ned couldn't schedule a follow-up meeting with the site manager until five-fifteen, and Alex was fidgeting and impatient to get home by the time the meeting was done. Ned packed up and Alex jumped into the passenger seat, bopping his head along with the song playing on the radio as they pulled out into rush-hour traffic.

"So what do you think Hannah's made for dinner?"

"Mmm. Pot roast!" Alex announced. "How come she never makes pizza?"

"She's not that kind of cook," Ned chuckled. "But maybe Friday night we can order out and have some fun. Sound good?"

Alex nodded eagerly, and when the sun finally broke through one of the clouds near the horizon, Ned couldn't help but hope it was a good omen. One more night and he would see his wife again. She had promised she would call him again as soon as she could, and he hoped he'd be able to speak to her before he went to bed.

"Maybe play catch too, if it's not raining?"

"If it's not raining," Ned agreed, and the smile that lit up Alex's face made Ned's heart almost ache. He and his wife both wished they could spend more time with their children, and no matter how much time they were able to spend with Alex and Katie, they always wanted more.

Having Alex with him made the drive home a little easier, and Ned was actually smiling when he pulled into the garage of their suburban home. Alex's eyes immediately grew wide.

"Mom! Mom's home!"

Sure enough, his wife's sedan was parked in the other space. As soon as Ned's Jeep pulled to a stop, Alex jumped out of the car.

And the garage door opened before Alex reached it, and she stood there. Alex and Katie's mother. Ned's wife.

Nancy's strawberry blonde hair wasn't quite as long as it had been when Ned had met her so many years earlier, but her dark blue eyes were just the same as Alex and Katie's, and her face lit up with a wide grin as Alex launched himself at her, wrapping his arms around her. "Hey Alex," she said, ruffling his hair. "I missed you."

"I missed you," Alex told her, his voice muffled against her clothes.

She hugged him back. "All right, go get cleaned up for dinner," she told him, just as Ned came inside and shut the door behind him, putting down his briefcase. Her eyes met his, and Ned's throat almost felt tight at just the sight of her.

"You lied to me, beautiful," he told her quietly, a mock reprimand in his voice.

Nancy shook her head, sliding her arms around his neck and holding him tight. "I finished up this morning and barely managed to make it onto the flight," she told him. "And I thought I'd surprise you. Are you surprised?"

Ned nodded, mindful of Katie's presence in the next room as he kissed his wife hard, keeping his arms wrapped around her waist instead of letting them wander. "Do you have any idea how much I've missed you?" he whispered directly into her ear.

"Mmm-hmm." She planted a soft, lingering kiss against his lips. "If it's even half as much as I've missed you..."

Katie came into the kitchen, her head tipped back. She had insisted on wearing a soft, stretchy white and black headband with her outfit for first grade that day, and it had almost slipped out of her honey-blonde hair. Her rosebud-pursed lips split into a wide grin as she gazed at her daddy. "Daddy!"

"Hey angel," Ned said, keeping one arm looped around his wife's waist as he scooped up their daughter. "Did you have a good day at school?"

Katie nodded eagerly. "Miss Evans read us a story," she told him.

When Alex came back in, Nancy noticed the bruise on his cheek and dropped to her knees, holding his face in her hands and studying him. She glanced up at Ned, then at her son. "Did something happen to you at school, baby?"

"Got in a fight," Alex mumbled, glancing at Ned as well. Katie was already seated at the table and turned to look at her brother, her dark blue eyes wide.

"Are you hurt anywhere else?"

Alex shook his head, and Ned didn't miss the gleam of pride in his eye.

Over dinner Alex told his mother and sister the story he had told his father at lunchtime, and Nancy told him the same thing Ned had, that he should go to a teacher and not handle it by himself if something like that happened again. Alex nodded, but Ned knew the expression on his face, the look of wide-eyed innocence. Alex would nod and agree, just the same way Nancy always had whenever Ned had insisted she be careful. And she would mean to keep her promise, but life would just get in the way.

Because Alex was both of them. He had their intelligence, their agility, and their compassion. Ned couldn't help wishing that, occasionally anyway, the more cautious side of his son would win out... or that if Katie took after her mother, Alex would be there to help keep her safe.

Katie might have a toybox full of Barbies and plastic ponies, but she had begged her mother and father for karate lessons, not ballet lessons. Their family spent half their summer weekends at the Little League park, Nancy and Ned watching their children step up to the plate and run the bases, their faces set, their eyes fierce. When Alex's teacher had asked the class to name what they wanted to be when they grew up, Alex hadn't been able to decide on a single answer. Architect, astronaut, superhero, scientist, and captain of the Emerson basketball team were his picks. Ned had gently explained that captain of the Emerson basketball team wasn't really a career, despite the fact that Howie and Mike liked to address him as "Cap" when they came over to cook out and watch their alma mater's games with Ned, but Alex had just shrugged. Who said he couldn't do everything on his list?

And Nancy, considering everything she had done and been in her life, had told Alex that if that was what he wanted, she was behind him every step of the way.

The after-dinner routine was exhausting: clearing the table and cleaning up the kitchen, finishing up homework, bathtime and a story for Katie while Ned and Alex watched a show together. Nancy put Katie to bed first, and they sent Alex to bed half an hour later, making him promise to brush his teeth once he was in his pajamas.

Then Nancy collapsed to the couch beside her husband, and Ned wrapped his arm around her shoulders, holding her to him. "Hey beautiful," he whispered.

"Hey," she murmured, and when he cupped her upper arm, he didn't miss the stifled hiss of pain that she tried to silence.

Ned glanced over at her then, and she didn't try to avoid his gaze for once. "Why am I surprised to get a call from Alex's school," he murmured, "considering everything..."

"I'm fine," Nancy murmured, and put her head on her husband's shoulder. "Now what's this movie about?"

"No idea," Ned admitted. His arm slipped down to hook around her waist, and she didn't hiss with pain again. "I was so worried about you when you told me what happened Saturday..."

"But I'm okay," she whispered, and both of them were keeping their voices down, even though their children weren't close enough to hear them. "I haven't found a pair of cuffs that could best me yet."

"And I pray you never do," Ned breathed, and kissed her forehead. "How hard was it for you to finish up the case so you could get home today?"

"I pretty much pulled an all-nighter," she admitted.

"So you must be exhausted." He kissed her cheek, and her lashes fluttered down. "So exhausted that you might need help getting your shower before bed?"

Nancy's lips curved up a little, and she whispered, "You mean just in case I'm too tired to wash my own hair..."

"Mmm-hmm." He kissed her earlobe. "Or your beautiful arms, or your gorgeous legs..."

"And I do feel pretty dirty from traveling today," she murmured, and kissed the point of his jaw. "Did you have to take time off work to go get Alex?"

Ned shrugged. "It was no big deal. I got everything finished up."

Nancy brought her head up, looking him straight in the eye. "You work so hard when I'm away," she said apologetically. "And you're so amazing with Katie and Alex, and all you ever ask me is when I'm coming home..."

"It's all we ever want," he told her. "To have you here again, where you belong. I don't think I'll ever enjoy watching you leave... but at least it means that you'll be coming home again soon."

"Always," she told him, and gave him a soft kiss. "I meant what I promised, Ned. I'll always come home to you."

"You'd better." He returned her kiss. "Because I know five people who would move heaven and earth to get you back again... and one of them went to the principal's office today for standing up to a bully when it wasn't even his fight."

Nancy cupped Ned's cheek. "Is it bad that I'm proud of him?" she whispered, searching Ned's dark eyes.

"I sure hope not. Because I am, too."

Nancy smiled. "I think I feel another wave of exhaustion coming on," she said, a twinkle in her eye. "We'd better get upstairs and into the shower so you can tuck me into bed at a decent hour, Mr. Nickerson."

Ned glanced at the clock, raising his eyebrow. "Going to sleep so early, Mrs. Nickerson?"

She stood and reached for his hand, an impish smile on her face. "I don't recall saying anything at all about sleep."