Smoke and Mirrors (3/3)

Author- Midnight Faith

Spoilers- 'Habeas Corpses.'

Distribution- FF.net, AOH and Neurotica. Anyone else ask :)

Pairing- Lilah/Lindsey

Rating- PG-13

Summary- Lilah and Lindsey finally do their version of 'The Great Escape.'

Disclaimer- I am the kid, but it's Joss' candy store

*****

Lindsey quietly slid his key into the latch of his and Lilah's New York apartment. He followed the sound of a laptop keyboard clicking and found Lilah working on a case in bed.

"You shouldn’t be doing that," he gently chastised, rubbing the back of her neck.

"It needed to be done." She saved the document and shut the power off, sitting up.

"God, I missed you." Lindsey said, embracing her tightly before turning his attention to their twelve-day-old baby daughter lying next to Lilah in the bed. "How is she?"

"Gorgeous. I love her more every second. She snuffled. It was the most beautiful sound. And asleep. Finally. I thought babies were supposed to sleep a lot. Whenever I put her down she cried and I couldn’t stand the sound."

Lindsey smiled, understanding. "Hey, Ava." Lindsey said, leaning over the baby, not meaning to awaken her.

Lilah rolled her eyes as the baby began to fuss. "I only got her to sleep ten minutes ago."

"She might sleep tonight," Lindsey said, picking up his daughter. She grabbed Lindsey's tie and began to pull on it.

"Lilah, can you…?"

"I got it." She untied the knot, catching his eye and smiling as she did so. Lindsey believed that every one of Lilah's smiles said more than words ever could.

"I hate being away from you," he confessed.

"How did the court case go?"

"I lost."

"I'm sorry." She kissed him on the cheek.

"It's okay. My heart wasn't in it. Releasing a murderer on a world with Ava in it wasn't high on my list of priorities."

She kissed him again, brief, fleeting for her, a way to connect- but for Lindsey it was so much more.

Nowadays he treasured every kiss. It had taken Lilah six months to trust him enough to let him kiss her. Actually, she had kissed him one night, as soon as he got back from a case. He was barely though the doorway when she was back in his arms and he hadn't stopped for three hours, at times, battling to keep his composure, having to pull away to calm his body down. When she eventually drew back she had asked him to share a bedroom with her once again, and he knew some of the trust had been re-built.

They hadn't slept together until a year after they'd moved in. It hadn't been planned. They'd both woken in the night and it'd just…happened. Afterwards, Lilah had curled up against his chest and whispered, "I love you."

Lindsey's heart puffed up with desire. "I love you too."

The pregnancy has been an accident also. Everything about them seemed unplanned and haphazard. She didn't tell him for over a week. Of course he guessed by the protective way her hand lay over her stomach constantly, and the gentle, far away look in her eyes. They'd had a semi-fight over it. Lindsey told her the problem wouldn't just go away. She'd yelled at him for calling their child a 'problem,' and stalked off to bed. He'd downed scotch to calm his nerves and somehow found the courage to follow.

He had the worst night's sleep of his night and awoke with muscles aching heavily and Lilah staring at him.

"I'm keeping it. It's up to you whether you stick around or not." And then she'd turned away. She couldn’t help but think the last year and a half had brought her full circle. When Lindsey found her she'd lost a baby, and now he'd given her a child and in turn she might lose him.

He held her close and told her, "Of course I want it."

With every passing day the baby managed to form a stronger bond between the two of them. Lindsey talked to Lilah's stomach all the time and in turn, found it easier to talk to Lilah. They found they actually wanted to spend time together- when they first moved in Lilah had found something to do every evening, from yoga to an advanced computer class- but she'd quit them all just to be with him. Saying 'I love you' and normal conversations became very natural.

And Lindsey really was interested in her well-being. "Have you thought about a beanbag birth?" he asked from his laptop one night.

"What?" Lilah stared at him incredulously from the sofa. "I'm trying to explain to the baby what happened on the last season of 'Everwood' before the premiere starts."

"It's where you lie on beanbags for pain relief and comfort."

"Fuck that!" she snickered as he joined her on the sofa, planting a chaste kiss on her stomach. "Drugs. And lots of them."

And now the result of a twenty five hour labour was cuddled up against her Dad's chest.

"You're such a natural," she told him.

"You're a natural too."

"Only by instinct." She sighed and rested her head against his shoulder. "You wanna talk about the case?"

"No. I want to talk about us." His mouth dried as he handed Ava to Lilah.

"Lindsey, you're scaring me." She clutched the baby tighter.

"Don't be scared- I'm keeping a promise."

"Promise?"

"Yeah. I promised you two years ago to ask you to marry me in two years' time. So- how about it?" he asked, swallowing against a suddenly dry throat.

Her face didn't fall exactly but definitely depressed a little, "Lindsey…"

"No. It's okay. You don't have to say anything." He got up and crossed over to the window.

She followed, forcing Ava carefully into his arms for emphasis. "Look at her. She's our union. Don't you think she means more than a crappy piece of paper? Don't you think we should spend money or her, not that piece of paper? I look into her eyes and see parts of you and parts of me. I don't need a ring on my finger. She's my proof of- whatever."

"And I'm not the one?"

"Haven't you been listening? You're the one. You always have been, you always will be."

"Lilah…"

She cuddled into his shoulder and looked down at her sleeping daughter, half her and half Lindsey. She smiled, and realised she was finally happy for the first time in forever.