Calista fastened and locked her seventh suitcase, "It's a good thing we sent the trunks ahead a couple of weeks ago," she said out loud to herself, looking around to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything, "otherwise this would really be a nightmare."

Just then Robert walked into the bedroom holding Cally who had just woken from her morning nap. "Cal, the only things left are the appliances," he quipped. "Why the hell can't we just buy what we need when we get to wherever we're going and discover whatever it is we've forgotten?"

Playfully she joked, "I guess it's true that light really does travel faster than sound. That's why some people appear bright until you hear them speak."

"Oh, good one," he said, making a face.

"We're gonna be out of the country, Robert, remember? Certain essentials may not be available." She patted a small expando letter file, "At least, I've got our important documents."

Robert stared at her for a moment and then hit himself on the forehead, "Son-of-a-bitch!"

"What?" she asked.

"Check the documents and you tell me."

Rifling through the papers. "Okay. I've got all our birth certificates, including Indio's, a letter from Deborah authorizing him to go with us, immunization records for everyone, both our International Driver's Licences, and our passp... " she looked up helplessly, "Oh my god, Robert, I forgot your passport was being renewed. We were supposed to pick it up yesterday."

Robert shook his head. "Gee ... anything happen that would make us forget?" he asked dryly.

Calista sat dismally with her head in her hands. She looked up and started to say something when Robert reached into his pocket and brought out his passport. "Gotcha," he said grinning, "I had Alan messenger it to me this morning."

"Robert," she said angrily, "that's not even funny. Why do you do that to me?"

"Hey, I'm sorry, baby," he said tenderly, "Really."

She glared at him, but then had to smile when she realized that all this time Robert had been allowing Cally to suck on his finger in lieu of a bottle. "I hope your hands are clean."

"Oh, shit!" he yelped, "I forgot Liam and I had been digging for worms. But ... it's a good source of protein for her .. right?"

She shook her head and looked at him in exasperation. "Just out of curiosity," she asked, "does your brain ever actually connect with a serious thought?"

"It might, if I had one," he wisecracked.

"I give up," she sighed. "By the way, Liam better be with Maria!"

"He is. They're both napping," he said. Cally began squirming in his arms. "Hey, mommy, I think our princess is hungry. Do ya have time to feed her - or should I get her a bottle?"

Calista walked over to them and smiled sweetly at her daughter, "Nah, I definitely need some bonding time with this little cutie."

She took Cally from Robert's arms and sat down on the edge of the bed to nurse her. Robert knelt beside them, caressing his daughter's hair with his finger as she voraciously began devouring her lunch. Looking up at Calista, he asked sheepishly, "I meant what I said the other morning. When can we start tryin' for another one of these?"

"Robert, Cally's only a month old."

"Yeah, but it'd be nice to have ‘em all kinda close in age."

"All? How many is all?"

He grinned and shrugged, "I don't know .. a bunch. I'm thinking maybe that's my real calling in life - being a daddy." Robert raised to stand up and kissed her. "What time's the Mod Squad comin' over?"

"Everyone said about 8:00, but I was thinking maybe we should invite them earlier, for dinner."

Robert nodded and pulled out his cell phone. He called both families. "Okay, they'll be here around 6:00," he confirmed, "we almost done packing?"

"We?" Calista asked mockingly. "If I've forgotten anything, I'll have to defer to your purchase suggestion."

"Oh my god, you mean I had a good idea?"

"Don't let it go to your head."

Standing up, Robert stretched. "I'm gonna go into the other room and make some calls. You remember the guy I sent ‘saints' to three or four weeks ago?"

She furrowed her brow questioningly.

"You know. The guy my dad told me about months ago, before we went to London? The one who's been pestering me ever since we got back?"

"Ah," she acknowledged.

"Alan sent me a couple of his obscure films and one screenplay he wrote. Never heard of him before, but, he's surprisingly good .. the style I'm looking for."

"Weird?" Calista interjected innocently.

He smiled at her sweetly and ignored her comment. "Thought I'd give him a call to see what he thinks. Maybe I can find out before we leave if he's interested."

"Do I know him?"

"I doubt it. His name is ... uh .. Roland .. Robert ... Ronald .. shit, whatever."

"How does your dad know him?"

Robert thought a moment before answering. Shrugging, he answered, "Don't know. I think he said they met up last year at some dinner party and just started talking. And, then one thing led to another. Ah .. Richard ... that his name ... Richard Golden. Maybe if he likes it, he can do a draft and fax it to us. Be nice to be able to start casting when we get back."

She smirked.

"What?"

"Nothing. It's just that I'm wondering who this ‘we' is you keep referring to."

He pursed his lips into an exaggerated pucker and gave her a loud kiss. "Us. You and me. Downey Productions, remember?"

"How do you always know the perfect thing to say?" she asked.

"Because I'm perfect," he grinned. "And, you're amazing. So, together I guess that makes us perfectly amazing."

She laughed softly, "I love you."

Smiling, Robert left her with another kiss. Calista finished feeding Cally and, quietly creeping into the room where Liam and Maria were sleeping, gently laid her in the crib. Then she joined Robert in the living room. He had left a message for Golden and was sitting at the piano.

Robert watched as Calista moved toward him and his eyes feasted on the litheness of her body and the almost near flatness of her belly so soon after giving birth. They'd spent a lot of time in the pool during the past three weeks and her skin had a bronze glow against her white shorts and tee shirt. About a year ago she'd cut her a hair, which was now highlighted by natural light blonde streaks. He was glad that she'd kept it shorter - he liked it like that. Without makeup, as she was now, she looked very young, innocent, and sensual. Her large luminous greenish-brown eyes reflected all the love he was feeling. Robert gave her a lustful leer as she approached and sat down beside him.

She looked at him suspiciously, "What're you doing?"

"Thinking."

"Oh yeah? Well, be careful you don't get lost in such unfamiliar territory," she teased.

"Another good one," he grinned, "did you think that up all by yourself?"

"Um .. nope. I've got my writers stashed away in the back room."

"In other words, you've come e-'quipped'?" he joked.

"As have you, I see," she laughed. "Really, what were you thinking about?"

Robert's nose found hers and he whispered sexily, "That you make me weak in the knees."

"That's funny," she said rubbing her nose back and forth against his, "I was thinking the same thing about you." She lovingly surveyed his face and hair, and said sweetly, "You're getting gray, I love it."

"That's because you've always been attracted to older men," he said lowering his head and looking up at her with a flirtatious wink.

"Oh, right. I forgot," she replied. Then, seductively, she cooed, "Well, now that you're older, I'll let you kiss me."

His eyes traveled lovingly across her face. Gently he kissed her neck, then her ear, then her eyes, then her nose. Calista sat frozen with her eyes closed. Robert's lips softly grazed hers teasingly, again, and again. She opened her eyes and gazed deeply into his. "I love you," she whispered, "sometimes it scares me how much I love you."

"Me, too," he said hoarsely. His lips found hers. He kissed her sweetly and then laid his head on her shoulder, his breath hot against her neck. "Promise you'll never stop loving me. I may not know a lot, but I know I need you ... always."

"Bobby, it would be against nature for me to stop loving you," Calista said.

He lifted his head and studied her mouth, "You know what amazes me?"

Her brows raised questioningly.

"That my feelings for you go so deep," he grinned briefly, "yet, each morning when I wake up and see you there beside me, I realize they've grown even deeper. And," he shrugged, "I don't know how it's possible." He glanced down and started playing with the piano keys and then said softly, "I watch you sometimes, you know ... when you're sleeping."

"You do?"

"Umm," he nodded. "Did you know you smile in your sleep .. a lot? And, you make ... cute little squeaking sounds."

She brushed her hair against his face.

His lips touched her forehead and he whispered, "Sometimes the honesty of what I feel for you almost breaks my heart. I wanna pull you right inside me ... just to be closer to you .. and I'm already closer to you than I've ever been ... to anyone." His hand caressed hers.

She turned and kissed him and Robert felt wetness on his cheek. Gently, his fingers dried her eyes. "Seems like I'm always making you cry. But, I'm beginning to know your tears," he said softly. "Thank you, baby, for teaching me so much about love."

Calista placed her mouth against his and murmured, "You do know, don't you, that we were meant to find each other."

Robert nodded and his tinkling on the piano keys turned into a tune. Giving her a sweet grin, he began to sing:

I could stay awake just to hear you breathing
Watch you smile while you are sleeping
While you're far away dreaming
I could spend my life in this sweet surrender
I could stay lost in this moment forever
Every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure

Don't want to close my eyes
I don't want to fall asleep
Cause I'd miss you baby
And I don't want to miss a thing
Cause even when I dream of you
The sweetest dream will never do
I'd still miss you baby
And I don't want to miss a thing

Lying close to you feeling your heart beating
And I'm wondering what you're dreaming
Wondering if it's me you're seeing

She closed her eyes and Robert gently kissed her eyelids.

Then I kiss your eyes
And thank God we're together
I just want to stay with you in this moment forever
Forever and ever

Calista rubbed her nose against his cheek and nibbled on his ear.

Don't want to close my eyes
I don't want to fall asleep
Cause I'd miss you baby
And I don't want to miss a thing
Cause even when I dream of you
The sweetest dream will never do
I'd still miss you baby
And I don't want to miss a thing

Standing, he pulled her up against him and, without music, he continued to sing while dancing with her slowly, their lips close together:

I don't want to miss one smile
I don't want to miss one kiss
I just want to be with you
Right here with you, just like this

I just want to hold you close
Feel your heart so close to mine

Robert held her tightly:

And just stay here in this moment
For all the rest of time

They stayed locked in each others arms, barely moving back and forth. Calista looked up at him finally and sighed, "God, I pity any woman who isn't me."

Robert kissed her and smirked. "Me, too," he kidded.

Laughing, Calista said, "All right, Mr. Wonderful, we should get back to work ... but, um, don't forget where we left off, okay?"

"Not a chance."

Robert's cell phone rang. It was his dad.

"Hi dad," Calista yelled into the phone and then whispered to Robert, "I'll be out by the pool."

Nodding at Calista, Robert answered his dad's question about Richard Golden. "Yeah, actually, I did. In fact, I called and left a message for him not 20 minutes ago." He grinned, "Oh, yeah, Indio's excited about the trip. Hmm? We leave at 10:00 in the morning. Hey, you, too. We'll be in touch soon. Take care."

Robert made a quick call to Indio to tell him he loved him and that they'd be over to pick him up around 4:00 that afternoon.

He found Calista outside picking up something from the patio under the kitchen window. "Robert?" she asked, "have you been smoking out here again?"

Remembering his vow to quit, he looked at her guiltily. Screwing up his face he pleaded, "No contest?" Then he fell to his knees and put his hands together, "Please don't beat me again."

"You idiot," she laughed.

"Hey, hey, hey," he warned, "that's 'Mr. Wonderful Idiot' to you."

Rolling her eyes, she held out her hand to him. "This is the second time in two days I've found cigarette butts out here. If you're gonna smoke outside, the least you could do is get rid of the incriminating evidence. When did you start smoking this brand, anyway?"

He studied the contents in her hand and shook his head. "Those aren't mine," he answered.

She looked at him warily. "Then, whose are they? They're weird looking."

Robert shrugged, "I don't know. I can't make out the name ... must be foreign."

"Who the hell do we know that smokes foreign cigarettes."

Again, he shrugged and said dryly, "I'll poll all our friends, honey. I mean, how dare they smoke around our house - especially non-American cigarettes! Hell, if they're gonna get cancer, they could at least be patriotic about it."

Calista hit him on the arm. "I should've known better than to expect a straight answer from you." Seriously, she said, "I wanna know who smokes these cigarettes."

Robert looked at her disbelievingly, "Sweetie, no offense, but, why is it so damn important?"

"I don't know. Suddenly, I ... it's just ... a feeling."

"Uh oh. Not the dreaded .. feeling. Mm, you're not diagonally parked in a parallel universe again, are you?"

"Oh, that's funny," she muttered. "You know what I mean."

He grinned. Turning, he saw Liam running out of the house toward them. Laughing, Liam jumped into Robert's arms and Robert gave him a bunch of loud, sloppy kisses on his cheek. "Shall I throw you in the pool?" he asked him playfully.

The thought of it delighted Liam and he started giggling and clapping his hands. "Trowleeminnapool. Trowleeminnapool."

Robert lifted Liam's shirt and with his mouth blew against his stomach. This caused Liam to squeal. "Shall I throw us both in the pool?" he asked him.

Liam started laughing even harder and nodding his head. "enmommyinnapooltoo."

Without another word, Robert jumped into the pool with Liam, clothes and all.

Calista just stood there, shaking her head. "Sometimes it's impossible to tell which of you is the two year old."

"Hey, I resemble that! We won't be two until January!"

"Yeah, I know," she acknowledged, "which makes it even more pathetic."

Robert was skimming Liam around on top of the water and Liam was screaming and yelling, "monmommy, mon," and Robert joined in the chant.

"Oh, what the hell," she said and jumped in, causing waves to flood over Robert and Liam.

Sputtering and wiping his eyes, Robert laughed. "I love you," he said as he moved closer to kiss her.

"Yeah, well," she quipped, "ya know what they say, the family that ... whatever together .. stays together!"

They played in the pool for another hour before showering and getting dressed.

"Sweetheart," Robert said lovingly, "you're not gonna make the day go any faster by looking at the clock every 10 minutes."

"Have I been doing that?"

"Mm hm."

"I guess I just wanna be on that plane flying away from all the dread I feel here." Then, she thought for a minute, "What the hell am I saying? Now I'm gonna be worrying about terrorists!"

They both grew solemn thinking back to that horrible day a little over a year ago on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, when terrorists had hijacked three planes and minutes apart crashed them into the twin towers of the New York Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington, changing American lives forever.

"So many things in this world suck," Calista said sadly.

Trying to lighten the mood, Robert responded, "Yeah, but just remember ... if the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off."

This made her grin. "What would I do without your brightness to lift my gloom."

He shrugged, "Well, ya know, a day without sunshine is like ... well ... night."

"Ahh, Robert, stop it. I can't take anymore," she said laughing and pulled him by the arm toward the kitchen, "just for that, you get to cook dinner." She pushed him through the kitchen door and went to check on the kids.

Robert shrugged and took some halibut steaks from the freezer and put them in the microwave to defrost. He then wrapped some corn on the cob and asparagus in foil and got out the ingredients for a Caesar salad. "Hey," he yelled to her, "if I'm gonna cook, you have to pick up Indio. Everything should be ready by the time you get back."

The phone rang. It was Richard Golden returning Robert's call. "Hey, that's great," Robert said, "can you bring it over this afternoon?" Calista walked back into the kitchen with her eyebrows raised. He placed his hand over the receiver and mouthed to her that Golden had already penned an outline for him.

Golden told Robert that he couldn't get away and asked if he could come to his office instead. "Well," Robert ventured, "I would, but my wife's just leaving to pick up my son and I'm .. uh .. babysitting and can't get away. How ‘bout I send a messenger over in an hour or so? Great. Thanks." He wrote down Golden's address and happily shrugged at Calista.

She scanned the message, "Bobby, this isn't far from Deborah's. Why don't I just stop by Golden's office on my way?"

"Aahh. My own courier service. I knew I married you for a reason." he grinned.

"Well, at least I'm good for something," she smirked. "Um .. try not to burn the house down while I'm gone, okay?"

She kissed him goodbye. Turning from the door, she reminded him, "Call Deborah and let her know I'm coming. And, keep a close eye on the kids."

He nodded and cautioned her, "I'll call Golden, too. Drive carefully."

Calista backed out of the driveway and stopped to talk to the plainclothes policemen parked in front of the house. She then proceeded to the stop sign at the end of the block. She made a left turn and had gone another 40 feet when a black car casually pulled away from the curb and proceeded to tail her at a safe distance.

The man behind the wheel of the car following Calista answered his cell phone. "Yeah?" he replied. "No problem." The pock marked man turned to his buddy and said, "It's a go."