"Hey! What the?!" She jumped up so fast; his head spun as he sat up and faced a woman he quickly realized was not his wife.

She clamped her hand over her mouth, stifling a scream, her eyes as wide as saucers.

"I... oh my god... you're not my wife..." he stammered, the obvious, his face hot with embarrassment.

She rushed out of the tent, and he could hear her muttering under her breath as she walked away. Of course, Alyssa had hired a babysitter; it was Saturday night. What was he thinking? Worse, what was that poor woman thinking now?

"Shit...what'd I just do?"

He followed her into the kitchen to apologize and make sure she was okay. Her back was turned, and she had switched the light on. He attempted to get his head together and forget how she felt in his arms as he stared her back, her long chestnut hair tousled from sleep.

"Uh, hey, I'm really. I thought you were my wife; her hair is similar to yours, and - well, shit, I'm an idiot."

She sighed and turned; she looked oddly like Alyssa, with similar hair and eye color. However, this woman's eyes were soft and soulful, unlike Alyssa's cat-like stare. Her cheeks were flushed a light shade of rose, the same shade as her plump lips. He stared at her dumbly for a second; she was just so beautiful he forgot everything at that moment but her. 

He shook his insane thoughts out, reminding himself he was very married. He realized then that she was doing everything she could to not look directly at him. Looking down at his boxers explained that as he remembered he'd stripped down. He wanted to bang his head into a wall.

 Could this get any worse?

"I'm uh-- Why don't you just take the tent, and we can do introductions tomorrow." She stammered; her soft voice brought him out of his stupor. 

She pretty much ran out of the kitchen and down the stairs. He let out a breath he hadn't even realized he was holding.

He walked over to the freezer and opened it sticking his head in for a few seconds, willing the feeling of that girl's soft, warm body next to his to go away. It had been a long time, but he was faithful. He always had been. Sure, he may have fantasized about a woman from time to time. But he never felt this damn...he waved the freezer door open and closed, trying to clear his head with the cool air.

"Daddy?" Gavin's confused voice broke his thoughts.

"Hey, Gavin!" He jumped up and shut the freezer.

"Whatcha doing up so late?" He looked down and gave him a smile attempting to get ahold of himself quickly.

"It's really you!" Gavin exclaimed.

Rocco scooped him up and gave him a big hug and kiss. "I missed you so much, champ."

"I missed you too, Daddy."

"Let's get you back to bed," Rocco said. Gavin yawned again and leaned against him.

Rocco carried them back to the cute tent this mystery babysitter crafted for him and helped him back inside.

"Where's my Auntie Dani?" Gavin asked in a tired voice, and he settled in.

"Your Aunt Dani?" he murmured.

Dani...Aunt Dani, as in Danielle, Alyssa's sister. He just crawled into bed with his sister-in-law!

So, it could get worse.

"Yeah, where did she go, Daddy?"

"Oh, she went downstairs because I missed you, and I wanted to sleep in this cool tent."

"It's a fort Daddy; tents go outside." Gavin yawned.

"Good night, Buddy." Rocco chuckled and ruffled his hair.

**

Rocco woke up early to Gavin on top of him the following day, snoring away. He took in the warmth and feel of him for a few moments and then smelled his hair. He couldn't believe how long and far away he had felt over the last few days. He gently rolled Gavin off him and tucked him back into the mound of blankets inside the little tent. He crawled out slowly and groaned, stretching the kinks from his back. It had been a long time since he'd slept on the floor.

Last night came flooding back to him in a hurry and he cringed again at himself. How could he have been such an idiot? What was Danica doing here anyway, and where was Alyssa?

"Oh, you know the answer to that," he whispered, annoyance sweeping through him as he headed for the kitchen to start the coffee. He grabbed a cup and headed upstairs with it. The house was still quiet as he began his second cup of coffee. He managed a shower and shave before Gavin or his aunt had woken up.

He didn't wait long to call Alyssa and get to the bottom of things. He picked up the house phone, not caring about the time, and dialed her cell phone. When it went to voice mail, he redialed and called her again.

"What, Rocco?" She finally picked up after a few rings.

"Uh, where are you? Why is your sister here? Oh, I don't know... a heads up would have been nice."

"Didn't you get my voicemail?" she asked innocently.

"No, my phone is shot."

"Well, that's not my fault..."

"You had my grandmother's number."

"Things got crazy pretty much right away. I'm so busy, but I'm making contacts here, Rocco. This was an important move for me."

"I told you I didn't want him left with Katherine, so you leave him with an aunt he's never met?"

"I wasn't planning to."

"Right," he muttered.

"I wasn't! I swear! She called me all desperate for a place to stay. I know how you are about family, so I figured I'd let her stay. Then I saw how good she was with kids. Plus, she's not qualified for any other type of decent-paying job. I'm helping both us and my sister here; it all worked out."

"You promised her she could live here and replace Mary as a full-time nanny, right after we talked about a part time nanny?"

"It was her idea," Alyssa offered. "she told me to go to New York too, insisted on it even."

He almost scoffed but held it back, gritting his teeth.

"I figured you would be happy I was helping her. You always talk about how I should try and connect more with my family. But if you want me to throw her out on the streets, then..."

"Oh, stop! I never said that, and I would never do that," he snapped angrily. "Of course, she can stay here, and I'm not going to be the bad guy and take the job away now, but you had no right to hire her without talking to me first."

"You weren't around." She said a hint of triumph in her voice, making his skin crawl.

"I was at a funeral."

"Okay, okay, I know I should have waited, but as I said, Danica insisted I go. "

"I don't believe that for one second."

"Believe whatever you want. We're going to need her. With the contacts we're building here I will start getting busy soon. This is it, finally." She sighed dreamily, and he knew she had checked out of the argument. It always came back to her, her career, life, wants, and needs.

"We'll talk about this when you get home."

"Great, a nice big fight to look forward to coming home to. I'm feeling the love." She hung up crisply after that and he briefly wondered when the last time a phone call ended amiably between them.

"Morning, Daddy." Gavin yawned as he stumbled into the kitchen; his dark brown hair hung over his eyes, and he was gripping some teddy bear Rocco hadn't seen before.

"Good morning, Buddy." Rocco knelt and hugged him tight, closing his eyes and smelling his hair again. The last few days were almost unbearable without being near him.

"I missed you so much."

"I missed you, Daddy." Gavin tightened his little arms around his neck.

"I thought about you every second," Rocco told him as he parted. "I got you a present too."

"What is it? Where!" Gavin jumped up and down.

"Here" Rocco smiled and grabbed the bag he had put by the door when he got in last night. He pulled a box out of it and handed it to Gavin. He sat down on the floor, sitting the stuffed bear carefully next to him and tore open the package, his eyes sparking with excitement.

"What are these?' Gavin looked confused as he pulled the large colorful blocks from the box.

"These are blocks," Rocco said, putting a few larger ones together like a staircase. "You build stuff with them. This is what your Uncle Dante and I used to play with whenever we went to see Nana."

"Oh." Gavin nodded, putting them on top of each other, then knocking them down and laughing. He bored of them fast, leaving them be and picking the bear back up. Rocco shrugged. It wasn't as big of a hit as he hoped it would be. He remembered he and Dante loving those things; maybe he was too young still?

"I gonna be right back." Gavin got up and started walking towards the door to the downstairs.

"Hey, where are you going, Bud?" Rocco stopped him.

"I bring this guy to my Auntie Dani." Gavin explained as he held up the bear.

"Is that her teddy bear?"

"Cola Bear Daddy. His name is Kiki."

"You mean koala bear?"

"Yeah. He is a good sleep buddy."

"Well, that was very nice of her to let you borrow him."

"Yeah." Gavin smiled and started walking again.

"But..." Rocco laughed and gently took his arm. "Why don't you return him when she wakes up okay?"

He thought she did not need any more surprises, a nervous anxiety coming over him at the idea of facing her today. Hopefully, she knew it was a completely idiotic accident and didn't think he was some creep.

"Okay," Gavin shrugged.

"Were you a good boy for your aunt?" Rocco asked.

"Yup," Gavin nodded. "Auntie Dani said I a wonder boy."

"She did? A wonder boy?" Rocco held back a laugh because Gavin looked so serious as he nodded.

"Yeah." Gavin smiled proudly. "We had a fun day and she prized me too!"

"She surprised you?" Rocco asked.

"We went to the zoo!" He jumped up again, a grin taking over his face.

"The zoo?" Rocco smiled and lifted him to sit on the island so he was facing him. "That must have been so awesome!"

"It was!" Gavin's eyes went wide and lit up even more. "I saw lots of manimals."

"What kind of animals?" Rocco asked.

"Bears and monkeys ... monkeys are a silly dad." Gavin laughed his eyes glazed over as he remembered.

"Yeah, monkeys are silly," Rocco smiled. "Were they scratching each other's heads like this?"

He playfully scratched at Gavin's head started making monkey noises as Gavin squealed and laughed.

"Yeah, like that!" Gavin shook his head side to side to get him off.

"What about the giraffes? Did you see them?" Rocco asked.

"Yup, and the um ze..." He frowned as he struggled recalling. 

"Zebras?" Rocco filled in.

"Yeah, they were cool."

"One guy, him sneezed. It was so loud! Auntie Dani- she jumped!" He laughed again at the memory, his cheeks excitedly pink as he told his tale.

"What'd he sound like?" Rocco asked as he grinned along with Gavin.

Gavin made some strange noise shaking his head around and Rocco chuckled.

"What about the tiger, did you see that guy?"

"Oh yeah! Yeah, I did see the tiger! I did!" Gavin jumped up a little, and Rocco stayed close to avoid him falling off the counter in his excitement.

"I saw the tiger and him growl. He was the coolest tiger ever, Daddy! I wanna see him 'gain!" Gavin pleaded. He started making a loud growling noise and clawing his little hands out.

"We can go again soon. I want to see these animals too," Rocco promised him.

"Yeah, next time it's a fun-day!"

"Fun-day?" Rocco smiled.

"Yup it's a whole day of fun." Gavin nodded.

"Wow a whole day of fun?" Rocco questioned with a smile.

"We made a fort."

"I know, I saw it; I came and slept with you last night, remember?"

Gavin nodded. "Auntie Dani built the fort, I help."

"Well, it is awesome," Rocco said.

"I know. Gavin nodded. "Auntie Dani used to go camp."

"She did huh, real camping outside and everything?" Rocco shook his head in amazement. His boy was glowing over the fun-filled weekend he had.

Rocco had never seen him bond with someone so quickly. He had been so worried that Gavin was sad and withdrawn all weekend and for good reason. Alyssa had left him after all; thank God her sister was indeed exceptionally good with kids. Gavin sure liked her. He was beyond grateful to Dani for ensuring he had such a good time.

"Yeah, outside in a tent," Gavin nodded.

"Your uncle and I camped a few times when we were kids," Rocco said. "Maybe we should go some weekend?"

"Yay!" Gavin cheered.

"Auntie Dani can come too. She can show us how."

"You don't trust your old man to build a tent?" Rocco laughed out loud.

Gavin just laughed and shook his head.

"I'm a good camper. I'll teach you how to build a tent and make a fire. Then we can go fishing and make smores," Rocco promised.

"Cool. I want to go!" Gavin smiled, "tomorrow?"

"Uh no not tomorrow, but we'll go soon." Rocco ruffled his hair.

"Hungry?" Rocco asked, walking over to the fridge.

"Yeah, I help," Gavin announced. "Auntie Dani says I help good."

"Well, I am proud of you for being a good helper."

He brought the eggs and a bowl up to the counter, he cracked a few and added them to the bowl with a bit of milk while Gavin watched. He held up the whisk and twirled it.

"You want to help Daddy stir the eggs?" Rocco asked.

Gavin looked at the whisk thoughtfully then nodded.

"What did you help Auntie Dani with?" Rocco was impressed with his desire to help out and learn.

"I did the jelly," he announced. "I'm good at that."

"You can be good at anything with a little practice," Rocco told him.

"Watch, Daddy, Gavi." He did a little whisk on the cracked eggs in the bowl.

"Ready?"

"Yeah, I wanna try." Gavin nodded. Rocco guided his small arm, showed him how to stir, and then let go after a while.

 He was a little shaky but got the hang of it quickly. He focused hard on watching his hand move. His eyebrows furrowed in concentration he was just a little over three, but he was so smart. Rocco couldn't believe how much he could miss in a few days, now he wanted to help cook. He felt an intense burst of pride through him.

"You're doing great," Rocco told him.

"Yeah," Gavin smiled wide. "I making scramb-ley eggs."