Chris lays there until Sarah has fallen back asleep and silently gets up, trying not to wake her. He goes back to his office, pulling up more and more webpages. . . .but try as he might, he cannot find anything on the web about a car bomb in Denver on October 17th five years ago. He's standing at the sink watching the sun come up with a cup of coffee when Sarah gets up. She leans against his back, her hands wrapping around his chest. Chris can feel the babies moving in her stomach.
“You've been up for hours, haven't you?” She asks him softly as he turns around. She snuggles against him, feeling a small flinch in him before her relaxes and just holds her. “That dream you had, it really bothered you, didn't it?”
“Sarah, I remember getting the phone call that you died, coming back to Denver. Your bodies were so burned from the explosion the caskets were closed for the funeral. I remember falling into the bottle, all I wanted to do was crawl into a hole and never come out. I remember doing stupid things trying to get myself killed that would have had you screaming at the top of your lungs for being so damn stupid. . .. then I joined the ATF with Buck and formed my team. I was a morose sullen bastard, everybody was scared of my scowl.” He has to smile, remembering the more annoying pompous government agents he's scared with his glare.
Sarah smiles and kisses him on the nose. “And how is that any different than you normally are?” she asks with a smirk that reminds him of Buck's, but then she is his sister. “Now go make sure the boys aren't getting into mischief, I know they're awake, while I make breakfast.”
Chris moves before he's even aware of what he's doing, he can hear the boys tussling in their room. He opens the door to find them on their beds, still in their pajamas.
“Boys, time to get up. Get dressed, wash up, and let Baxter out to pee.” Chris moves to the side as the boys run out of their room. He grabs both of them in hugs as they pass him. Now that they're awake, he can see Alex is a little taller than Adam, his hair shaggy and standing in all directions from sleep. He heads back to the kitchen, grabbing the phone as it begins to ring.
“Larabee!”he barks, sighing when Sarah raises an eyebrow at him. The dream, if it had been a dream, has left some lingering habits.
“Chris, it's me, we've got a General coming in from Denver, he's got a case that he wants us to look at. It's not guns, but he's a big muckety muck and he wants the best team in the city working on it.” Buck's voice says on the other end. “They're supposed to arrive later this afternoon.”
Chris sighs and cusses silently as the boys tear through the kitchen, Baxter barking and running beside them. The kitchen door bangs open and the dog goes out, Sarah reaching out and grabbing the boys collars before they can follow him outside.
“Fill Baxter's bowls, let him back in in a few minutes, sit down and eat breakfast, then you can go outside and play. From the look on your daddy's face, he's got a case and has to go to work.”
The boys moan and look at Chris. “I'll be there in a couple of hours Buck,” he says. “Before you go, does October 17th mean anything to you?”
“Yeah, it's the kid's birthday.” Buck snorts, leaning back in his chair at the office. “He's going to be a big sixteen, old enough to get a license so he doesn't have to ride his bicycle to work anymore.” JD idly flips him the bird.
Chris sighs and hangs up the phone, rubbing a hand over his face as he tries to decide whether he's losing mind or not, not realizing that in different parts of the country two other men are having variations on the same thought.
In Colorado Springs, Jack O'Neill looks at his son Charlie as the younger man comes in from the yard with the newspaper. Somehow his son was alive! Alive! It wasn't possible! But there he was. Daniel had tried telling him it was just a bad dream but he hadn't been totally convinced. But he's got his son back and that's all that matters. Daniel comes in from the kitchen, blinking as he sips his first morning cup of coffee as Wesley stumbles down the stairs, neatly dressed even at this early hour of the morning. And since when did him and Sarah had more than Charlie? But he can't ignore the fact that Wesley is his son, even if he does take after Daniel more than him.
In DC, Leroy Jethro Gibbs looks around the kitchen table. His wife Shannon walks to the stairs. “Girls, breakfast.” She calls, sitting across from her husband at the table. She'd been so worried when he was hurt in that explosion, he seems better now, but he still stares at her and the girls when they walk into the room. “Morning Daddy, Morning Dad.” Kelly and Dawn chirp as they come down the stairs. It's hard to believe, but the girls are nearly sixteen now. And She's Pregnant!