Tarin was waiting, waiting at the top of the Empire State Building, he couldn't count the number of times he'd been there, or how he'd felt every time, but here he was again.

Looking out over the city never seemed to lose its appeal, and Tarin ran a hand through his hair thinking about how much things can change in a year...let alone ten years. The city hadn't changed very much, but the world around him had changed more than he really wanted to think about.

Looking out over the edge of the building never got old either, and Tarin thought about the people moving below, they looked like ants and they always had. Turning his head to the side, Tarin smiled, the spirit was still there, after all these years. Tarin had a feeling she'd be there long after he was dead too.

The woman didn't see his smile, and she wasn't focused on the people who were milling around the top of the building, she was looking at the little girl whose hand was tightly clasped in Tarin's.

"Daddy...what are you looking at? The city is out there."

The small voice and the pointing finger made Tarin smile and he squatted down, catcher-style, next to the little girl.

"One of my friends that you can't normally see is up here honey." she was looking at you with a lovely smile on her face.

Alice immediately reoriented her gaze to follow her father's and she gave a little wave. The spirit woman smiled and turned, stepping off the edge of the building and giving a little wave of her own.

"What is she doing now daddy?"

Tarin winced slightly, "She went off to see her other ghost friends." was the edited version, Tarin still remembered how Lee had reacted the first time she'd met this particular spirit and he figured this version would be better for Alice.

Alice growled in slight frustration and stomped her little foot, "I wanted to see her." Tarin laughed, sometimes their daughter was a little too well adjusted to her father's talents.


"Where's mommy?" she said, "I want to get our special day started."

Tarin stood up and looked around the rooftop, "She's meeting us soon Alice. Patience is a virtue my sweet." Tarin was feeling impatient himself though, it was seasonally warm day, very similar to one many years ago...and they had plans for the day.

Lee had needed to actually come into the city to go to the college to give a presentation. She hated coming in to the college, that's why she always chose the courses that were offered through correspondence or over the internet. Never actual lecture courses she had to come in for. Too many people, who knew what any of them could be infected with, who knew if any of them had picked up Haywire and just hadn't shown any symptoms yet?

But despite the need to actually have to come do presentations, the course was of such interest that Lee had to take it anyway. So, since she was needing to come into the city anyway, and since the presentation was early in the day, Tarin and Lee had decided to make a whole day trip of it for Alice since they so rarely brought her into the city.

So Lee had gone to give her presentation, meaning she had had to actually dress professionally, her skirt actually having to reach her knees (*grumbles about professional looking clothing as being not her*) and a jacket over her black lacy tank top, though she did still wear a pair of not exactly conservative 3 1/2 inch heels. Meanwhile, Tarin had taken Alice out to show her a few things, and they were supposed to meet up at the Empire State Building.

Finally finished, Lee started walking, her jacket off and hung through the strap of her bag slung over her shoulder; it was really too hot to be wearing the jacket, plus Lee liked the tank top much better. It really wasn't that far from Hunter College to the Empire State Building, or at least it hadn't seemed so before. Now that she wasn't walking everywhere in the city when she wanted to go somewhere, it seemed like a further walk than she remembered.

Eventually, Lee reached her destination, and the ride up the elevator to the observation deck couldn't go fast enough for her. When the doors opened, Lee moved out as fast as she could through the crowd of people who had made the trip up with her. But Lee didn't go in the same direction; knowing her husband, she had a feeling that he'd be off to the side, where he normally went to stand when he was here.

As soon as she saw them, a smile spread across Lee's face as she quickened her pace to reach them. "Missed you," Lee whispered, leaning over to kiss the top of Alice's head, then straightened up to give Tarin a kiss as well. "Miss me?"

The smile still on her face, Lee leaned against Tarin for a moment, her arm wrapping around his waist as she stood looking out over the city. It had taken some time after her first trip up here before she had been able to look out there again from this height; hearing the story about how a woman had jumped from the observation deck and that's why there was now fencing around the place was more than a little disconcerting, especially when you heard it from her own ghostly lips as if it were nothing.

"Can we start my special day now? Mummy's here," Alice asked, and as she turned her head, Lee saw that her daughter was looking up at them.

"This is part of your special day, silly," Lee told her daughter, the smile still on her face. "Sick of the view already?"

It was funny that even after all this time, Tarin's heart still made that funny little flutter sometimes when he saw Lee. This was one of those times. Across the top of the building she walked and Tarin looked down at Alice and they shared a smile. Lee came up to them and Tarin grinned even wider was she bent down and kissed Alice on the head.

Lee stood and Tarin wrapped his free arm around her and kissed her back soundly as she kissed him. "Always." he said simply in response to her inquiry. "How did the presentation go?" he asked, keeping his arm wrapped around Lee's waist and content to stand and listen while he looked out over the city.

Alice was ready for her special day though and Tarin laughed along with Lee, then nodded as his wife said that this was part of the special day.

"But Daddy's ghost went to play with her other ghost friends and didn't even come to say hello. I didn't even get to see her." Alice said, in that special little way kids have of spilling information that would have been better left completely unsaid.

"I thought it better you not meet that particular spirit today." Tarin said, looking at Lee instead of Alice. The spirit had been morose, and Tarin had known she'd end today's conversation with a long step off that same short ledge, he did censor things for Alice...if only a little.

That being said, Tarin checked the watch that Lee had gotten him for their fifth wedding anniversary and shrugged his shoulders, "We're a little early for heading to the park, the zoo doesn't open for another hour or so...we could just go hang out there though. What do you think Lee?"

Lee smiled slightly when Tarin asked her how her presentation had gone. She couldn't help it, the question brought up the image of her professor's face during said presentation. "I don't think he agreed with some of the things I said," Lee told Tarin, the small smile still on her face. "But he can't really argue any of it with the evidence I gave. I think it went well, though."

Alice seemed more than ready to leave at that point though. Because Tarin hadn't let her see the spirit that resided up here. And seeing Tarin's expression when he told Alice why he hadn't let her see the spirit, Lee knew the real reason. Just because Alice almost seemed more comfortable with Tarin's powers than he was himself didn't mean the six year old needed to see certain things. But maybe that comfort was the difference between growing up with something and having it suddenly appear, thrust upon you.

"Maybe another day, sweetie," Lee said, looking back down at her daughter.

But before Lee was able to respond to Tarin's question about just hanging out in the park while they waited for the zoo to open, Alice bounced around so she was standing in front of them, her hand still clasped in Tarin's. "Can we get ice cream?" Alice asked, getting excited about the idea.

The smile that came to Lee's face at that as she turned to look at Tarin was completely unbidden, though very happy. "Ice cream then the zoo?" She asked him, her mind on a day very similar to the one facing them that day, though eleven years previously. "I promise no tears this time."

Tarin could tell by the look on Lee’s face that she at least thought the presentation at school had gone well. Lee continued to explain and Tarin grinned and gave her shoulder’s a squeeze, “Well, as long as it didn’t say anywhere in the syllabus that you had to agree with the professor, I think you should be fine.” He said, then nodded his head.

Lee looked at Tarin and spoke and his smile matched hers as she asked if they should have ice cream before going to the zoo. It might have been ten years since that day, but Tarin definitely still remembered it. Remembered it well. That had been the progression of events the day that his life had flipped over on its head, the day that had turned into the night Lee kissed him.
“Good. You know I’m helpless when you cry.” Tarin said, “And I’ll try not to get us into any detective duties in the… “Tarin thought for a minute, “Danger under the sea…exhibit…or whatever it is.” Tarin took a minute to look over Lee, “I think you were in sweats that day too if I remember correctly. A far cry from today’s ensemble.”

Alice was watching with as much patience as an excited six-year-old could manage, which was virtually none, and Tarin laughed as she bounced from foot to foot. “I don’t know Lee, maybe we should just go back to the school.” He paused and stretched, “I think I’m feeling a little too tired for the zoo today.”

“Nooooooooooooooo. I’ve been good all week, and I told all the other kids that we were having a special day….” Alice said, bottom lip popping out a fraction of an inch, “You promised!”

Lee simply shrugged when she heard Tarin's comment. "It's a research course," she said in explanation. "Can't really worry about someone liking it at the same time as doing proper research."

But then Tarin went on, talking about what she had started remembering: that day at the zoo that had been the start of the change of everything. As she listened, looking at him, a small smile spread across her face. "I think I was," she agreed, thinking back to the day that they'd first gone to the zoo together. Then she winced slightly. "No make up, either. Ugh."

Alice was getting really impatient now, though, and Lee couldn't help but smile at Tarin's response to that, suggesting that they simply head back to the school.

"You know, you might be right," Lee played along, pretending not to pay much attention to Alice's outburst. "I do have to write a paper after today's presentation. It'd probably be best to do that now rather than wait."

Then Lee turned her gaze down to her pouting daughter. "And don't you have homework, too?" She asked, to which Alice shook her head. Lee's eyebrows raised; she knew that her daughter had homework.

"Only a spelling test," Alice tried to convince them. Then she pouted more when Lee's gaze didn't relent. "I promise to study tonight. Can we please, please, please[/b] go to the zoo?"

Lee sighed and turned back to Tarin. "I don't know," she said. "What do you think, Tarin?"

Tarin nodded to Lee's explanation about the research class she was taking, "I'm sure you did wonderfully. You always do." Tarin grinned his most winning grin at Lee, it never hurt to suck up a little.

She remembered that day as clearly as Tarin did and the way that she was dressed. Tarin laughed out loud at Lee's face when she brought up the fact that she hadn't worn makeup that day. "You were beautiful and you know it. I hadn't even thought about that. I do, however, remember how short you felt without those boots on."

Tarin took a moment to say a small prayer for the boots. There had never been another pair like them, not in ten years.

By the time Tarin finished remembering the boots, Lee had gotten into the spirit of joking with Alice. Alice was a well adjusted child who had a tolerance for practical jokes and teasing to rival anyone in the world. She had to with parents like Tarin and Lee.

As Lee pushed the point that maybe they should go home, Alice pulled her hand from Tarins and plopped her little fists on her hips, "Mummy, Daddy, I'd really appreciate you not playing games with me right now." she said in a voice so serious that Tarin had to hold his breath not to burst out laughing.

Lee looked to Tarin after Alice promised emphatically to study for her spelling test and Tarin just shook his head and laughed, reaching down and grabbing his daughter under the arms and hoisting her up onto his shoulders.

"I think we can work something out here Lee. Our little lady drives a hard bargain. Spelling for a trip to the zoo and some ice cream. I'm game, how about you?"

Lee smiled slightly when Tarin pointed out hew short she had appeared that day. It had been weird, the first time she had actually noticed the height difference between them because it had been the first time she had been near him without wearing her boots. Especially in those early days, the height difference when she wasn't wearing at least three inch heels had appeared vast, and very strange.

Alice was having none of their teasing that day, though. She even pulled her hand away from Tarin's and put both on her hips as she looked up at them with a serious expression.

"As long as you promise, promise, promise you won't be too tired to study after the zoo," Lee told her daughter, mimicking how she had asked to go to the zoo just now. Lee couldn't help but grin as she saw Tarin lift their daughter onto his shoulders, though.

"We better get going, then," Lee said after a couple moments. "Don't want too many people to get to the ice cream guy before us, right?" Leaning over, Lee gave Tarin another kiss before she stepped away slightly so they could turn back toward the elevator.

Lee was pretty amazing, not only had she managed to give her presentation and do everything else she'd done that morning, she'd convinced their first grader to study for a spelling test with absolutely no argument.

"I think that's a fair deal." Tarin agreed when Lee said they needed to go ahead and go before too many other people got to the ice cream. "There'd better be mint chocolate chip left. I know it's early but it's one of the more popular ones." Tarin said worridly as the elevator doors closed and the elevator began to make its way down the shaft.

It didn't take long for them to get to the bottom of the huge building and Alice didn't hide her delight in the fact that they'd been 'that high up!' and Tarin laughed.

It was still a long way to Central Park from the empire state building and Tarin got tired and had to lift Alice off his shoulders and have her walk about half the way. "I'm starting to get old..." he said to Lee as he ran his forearm across his forehead and huffed and puffed slightly.

Soon enough though, they were in the park and they were at the same ice cream stand with the same guy running it.

"Hi there...." Tarin said, grinning at the guy and looking down at Alice, "We'll have a mint chocolate chip, and whatever the ladies please...." The added, turning his head and grinning at his girls.

Alice didn't seem too happy about Lee's insistence about studying for her spelling test once they did finally get home, but like Tarin pointed out, it was a fair deal, and even a 6 year old was able to recognize that fact, so she didn't argue.

But down the elevator they went, and out to the street. Lee couldn't help but laugh at her daughter's excitement about having been so high up on the building. If nothing else, it was certainly refreshing having a child's point of view about things after her own childhood had ended so much earlier than it should have.

But by the time they had made it about half way to the park, Tarin was setting Alice back on her own feet complaining about getting old. Lee's eyes rolled as she looked over at him. "That has absolutely nothing to do with it and you know it," Lee replied, though there was a hint of teasing in her voice. "You just need to get more exercise." Leaning over, Lee gave Tarin a quick kiss; she had teased him about not getting enough exercise almost from the time they had met, but it was really based on the fact that she had always done so much walking than he ever had, so was so much more used to it.

Finally though, they reached the park, and not too far in they came to the ice cream vendor in the same place that she and Tarin had gotten ice cream that eventful day so many years ago. The same ice cream vendor.

"Bubblegum!" Alice exclaimed almost before Tarin had finished.

"Manners, Alice," Lee said, looking down at her daughter with an eyebrow raised.

"But daddy didn't..." Alice complained, a slight pout coming to her face.

"Because you didn't let him finish," Lee answered, her brow still arched at her daughter, though her eyes did flick up to Tarin quickly. The kid did have a bit of a point, though. How could they expect her to use her manners when they didn't at the same time?

"Bubblegum, please," Alice said again, not quite as excited this time, though the excitement about getting her ice cream grew quickly once her mother's eyes were off her again.

"And could I have a chocolate, please?" Lee asked, finishing the ordering.

"More exercise?" Tarin said, a wicked grin crossing his features as the little family made its way into the park. Lee leaned over to kiss him and he kissed her back, mirth stretching his smile even wider, "Only if you'll be my personal trainer and I get to set up the workout regime." That followed by a meaningful look ensure the message would get across and Tarin walked with a little more spring in his step. It hadn't taken long once Alice was old enough to understand for him to learn that he had to mid his mouth....and his innuendo when she was around.

Alice jumped the gun and was rewarded with a scolding from Lee...one that extended to him as well. Wrikling his nose at Alice and muttering, "Thanks" Under his breath, he looked back to the man behind the ice cream stand. "You heard them...and thank you!" he added loudly, glancing over his shoulder at Lee.

It didn't take long for the man to dish up the ice cream and Tarin couldn't help but smile at the way he'd heaped the bubble gum ice cream on Alice's cone. Sure it would mean a sticky six year old when it all melted down her hand, but the glee on the little girl's face was more than enough to make it worth it.

Alice was completely transfixed by the massive ice cream and ice cream cone and so they guided her towards a couple of park benches to sit and eat while they waited for the zoo to open and Tarin draped his arm across the back.

"You know.." he mused, turning his head towards Lee and grinning some more, "A lot has changed in the last 10 years...but this park has pretty much stayed the same. It could have just been yesterday....." So what...he was feeling nostalic....until the top scoop of Alice's ice cream teetered then fell with a loud *plop* Right into Tarin's lap.

"Beautiful...." he said, scooping the bright pink ice cream up with his hand and tossing it towards the pigeons savaging for food.

Lee felt the slight blush crawling up her cheeks as Tarin looked at her. Yes, she had heard these sort of comments from Tarin for many years at this point, and yes he had gotten much better over the last couple years at masking what he was really saying with his innuendo because of Alice, but there were still times, like this, when Lee couldn't keep the blush off her cheeks.

But apparently Tarin didn't like the fact that Lee was trying to get their daughter to be polite, at least not since she was including him in her chastising. So when he turned to look at her, Alice's eyes riveted on the ice cream being scooped out for her, Lee stuck her tongue out at him. She wasn't angry at all; far from it actually. When it really mattered, Tarin did act more mature regarding their daughter, but at that point he was simply being Tarin, and Lee didn't see why two couldn't play the immaturity game.

By this time, the ice cream was paid for, handed over, and they were leading a very preoccupied child over to a bench to sit down. And then Tarin got all nostalgic on her, so Lee just sat there listening as she ate her ice cream. He was right, in a way; there really wasn't much about the park that had changed over the years. Sure, the trees were a little taller, a little fuller, and her coffee guy had left sometime while they had been in Texas, but for the most part it looked the exact same.

The feelings, however, weren't the same.

"Couldn't have been yesterday," Lee murmured, glancing over at Tarin with a small smile. "I didn't have the urge to deck you yesterday." Something Lee had had the urge to do the day they first met in this very park.

It was just then that Alice's ice cream plopped into Tarin's lap, and Lee couldn't stop the small laugh from escaping as Tarin tossed the scoop into the grass. "At least if you get more nostalgic and decide to go wading again, that'll keep all those women from flocking to you," Lee said, reaching into her purse to pull out wipe, something she seemed to always have on her now that she had Alice. Passing it over to Tarin, Lee gave Alice a quick look over and pulled out another wipe. "You too, honey," she said softly, wiping the back of Alice's hands where the ice cream had started to drip down.

Lee blushed, of course she blushed, that was one of the things Lee did best. And it still made Tarin feel a little like he'd been punched in the gut that she looked at him that way. "You know you want me..." he said, and grinned his most shocking grin. Alice wasn't old enough to get it yet, so it didn't really matter.

As they sat on the bench, Lee pointed out that it couldn't have possibly been yesterday that they'd met in the park and Tarin gave a bark of laughter when she said she hadn't wanted to punch him.

"Are you sure about that?" he asked as Alice continued to dive into her ice cream with relish, "The look on your face when you found out I let Alice go riding again suggested otherwise."

Tarin wiped the ice cream from his leg with the wipe that Lee offered and shook his head, a wry grin spreading from ear to ear as he wadded it up and stuck it in his pocket before leaning back with his arm stretched across the back of the bench, watching as Lee cleaned the sticky ice cream residue from Alice's hands and face, a face that looked so much like her own at times that it made Tarin's heart skip a beat.

"All the women would do if I went wading in the lake now is mutter to each other how sad it is that when a person gets older they lose their mind."

"You're not old daddy!" Alice chimed in, "Old people have grey hair."

Tarin chuckled and ruffled his daughter's hair, "You're so right Alice, I should have thought about that...." he didn't point out the fact that his hair was starting to turn...under all the color he still had Lee putting in it.

About the time he was going to make a joke about that very thing, Tarin's watch started to beep and his head jerked up and he grinned again. "I think that means the zoo is open!" he exclaimed, more to Alice than anyone else in the world. "You ready for the animals!" he yelled, then grinned when Alice leaped from the bench and cheered. This was the life.

Lee blushed a shade darker, shaking her head slightly and rolling her eyes when Tarin said he knew she wanted him. Well, of course she did, hadn't that been made very clear many years before? Still, it was different when he said it like that, always had been.

Lee was brought up short when Tarin mentioned how she had looked when she found out he'd let Alice go riding, and she looked over at him with her brows furrowed. "I wasn't that angry," Lee said. "Maybe enough to yell..."

Luckily, that was one thing from the very early days of their relationship that Tarin wasn't eager to relive that day: how they had met with him wading in the pond there. Which, really, was alright with Lee. Though it had gotten them to meet each other, thereby setting everything else in motion, that particular day hadn't been very good.

But then Alice decided to chime in, and Lee laughed along with Tarin. "That's right, hon," she said a moment later, the laughter still in her voice. "Old people have grey hair.

Before she knew it, Lee heard a beep coming from Tarin's watch, followed by him exclaiming that meant the zoo was open and Alice jumping up and starting to bounce and cheer. Grinning, Lee got up off the bench much slower than her daughter had, and looked over at Tarin's own excited face. Some days, it felt like she had two kids to take care of rather than just one.

"Guess we should get going, shouldn't we?" Lee asked, reaching out and taking Tarin's hand before they started along the path that would lead to the zoo.

"I kind of like it when you yell at me..." Tarin said, grinning and running his hand through his hair. "When you're not ready to rip my head off you're really adorable when you're angry. All spit and vinegar is what my mom would say, lovely color rising in your cheeks...though, if memory serves me correctly...anger isn't the only think that makes you yell."

Yeah..he was on a roll, the concept of going to the zoo and the ESB in one day had Tarin feeling like he was a teenager again, not a man whose next birthday would be his 43rd.

Lee had the audacity to agree with their daughter that old people had gray hair and Tarin pouted slightly, "People who've gone through periods of extreme stress get gray in their hair too honey.
" Tarin said, again ruffling his daughter's hair, much to her dismay.

"Daddy mommy spent all that time on my hair this morning, and you keep messing it up!" she exclaimed and Tarin rolled his eyes, "Ahhhh, I'm surrounded by such vain creatures." he gasped, then grinned at Lee again as she said they should probably be going.

"I agree completely." Tarin said, grabbing Alice's hand in one hand and Lee's in the other, "Where are we going first? I'm partial to the tigers..." but Alice was already jumping up and down as they made their way down the bike path, "Penguins! Penguins! I want to see the Penguins!"