"Hi," you whisper, peering around the door. The bathroom is steamy and warm, and lit with candles scattered around the room. "You awake?"

Donna, reclining in the bathtub with Isobel lying face up on her chest, opens her eyes and gives you a tired smile. "You think I'd fall asleep in the bath?"

"You've done it before," you smile back as you push open the door fully and wave at your daughter. "Hi!"

Isobel squeals happily as she sees you, but continues sucking on Donna's loofah stick. She's wrapped both arms around it and it's longer than her body but her mouth is gumming frantically away at the spongy top.

"That was a long time ago and I'd had a long day and too much wine at dinner. And I wasn't sleeping then either, I was just resting my eyes," Donna refutes.

"Yes, but if I hadn't grabbed you, you probably would have drowned. I saved you!"

She grins. "In what reality does reaching into the water and fondling me in just the right way equal grabbing and saving?"

You cross the tiled floor and kneel on the mat beside the bathtub. "Woke you up, didn't it?"

Donna grins again. "It did. Thank you for feeling me up so I wouldn't drown." You lean over and kiss her lightly on the lips and then she adds, "But it was only the one time I fell asleep and I didn't have this thing in my arms."

You lean down further and drop a kiss on the "thing's" forehead. Isobel makes her 'mmlfa' noise which you and Donna both decided some time ago was her version of hello. She waves a chubby little arm towards you, the other still clinging firmly to the loofah.

You lean down once more and she pats softly at your face, her fingers poking your nose. "Hello again, Isobel, how was your day?"

Donna answers for her. "Well, she finally stopped the crying. And the screaming. And the violent punching and kicking of every single limb." She sighs deeply. "But she's breathing better and she did sleep a little last night. She didn't nap today, though, so hopefully she's tired enough to sleep better tonight."

You run your palm lightly over Isobel's wet hair and frown. "She looks exhausted. What have you two been up to?"

"Nothing. She just didn't have a good day today, Josh. Neither did I." Donna closes her eyes and sinks a little lower in the bath. The water rises to Isobel's waist and she wriggles around a bit, kicking her legs against Donna's belly and continues sucking on the loofah.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here," you say quietly and Donna shakes her head.

"Hey, it's not like Canada gets a new Prime Minister every day; you had to go up and party with them."

You sit down properly on the floor and cross your legs, then reach through the bubbles floating in the tub to play with Isobel's toes. She pushes them against your hand and grins through a mouth full of drool and loofah. "Are you being sarcastic?"

"No." Donna opens her eyes and looks at you again. "I'm not."

"Because it sounded like it."

"If you heard anything in my tone other than complete and utter exhaustion then you're mistaken, Josh. I've been up since early this morning walking her around the house non-stop, because it was the only way I could keep her from roaring louder than an airplane engine."

"How long did that last?"

"My feet started aching about lunchtime so I put her down for a nap but she refused to sleep, so we got in the bath and splashed around for awhile. And then we got out and she started crying again. So we got back in. This is actually our fifth bath today."

"Maybe we should take her back to the paediatrician?"

Donna shakes her head. "The cold is almost gone and she's stopped making that horrible wheezy noise. It's just that she's decided to start teething as well."

"She did? When?"

"Today, I guess. She woke me at four screaming like a banshee." Donna sighs. "I really don't know, Josh. She's the right age for it and when I poked at her gums this morning they were raised."

"You sure?"

"Check for yourself."

You stop playing with Isobel's toes and gently pull the loofah from her death grip. She blinks and scrunches up her nose in consternation but you quickly stick your index finger into her mouth and run it along her bottom gum.

"Wow. My girl has teeth. That's… kind of cool," you say. Isobel grabs your finger with both hands and starts sucking firmly. You wiggle it a little in her mouth and she drools all over it but, since you're used to the staggering amounts of bodily fluids your daughter creates, you simply let it dribble over your hand and disappear into the water.

"Cool, yeah," Donna scoffs. "I was feeding her this morning and she nearly bit my nipple off. Tell me how cool that is?"

You waggle your eyebrows at her. "You don't mind it so much when I bite you."

"Josh, it's completely different!" she argues. "You don't latch on and try to rip it off while you're also trying to suck out my insides."

"Okay, I'll defer on that point. But you have to admit it's something special."

Donna smiles. "Yes, it is. I'm going to have to write it in her book. Fifteenth of February, Isobel Lyman starts teething and causes her mother severe physical pain but fills her father with pride."

You wiggle your finger a little more in Isobel's mouth but she bites down and you wince in pain as her hard gums crush your fingertip. "Okay, that hurt."

"See?"

"Yeah. Are you okay?"

"I'm okay," she nods and rests a hand on Isobel's chest, steadying her. "She got a bottle for the rest of the day though. I think that might be another reason she's so upset. I guess I'll just have to brave the biting tomorrow."

"Maybe we should add real food now she's got teeth?"

"She has no teeth out yet, Josh. Not yet, anyway. We should still give her the mashed up food but she's too young for anything fully solid and besides, I love breastfeeding her."

"I know."

"I just have to get used to it," Donna shrugs. "Like everything else new she throws my way. She was chewing away at anything I could find but she only settled down when she got in the bath and I gave her the loofah."

"Isn't it a little hard for her? I remember you bought a bunch of those little plastic jelly freezer ring things awhile ago."

"She didn't want them. I know it's not good for her to chew on something so rough but it keeps her quiet and I just…" she trails off and yawns. "Teething and a bad cold at the same time. Why?"

"She's our daughter, Donna. She's never going to do anything half-heartedly."

"Both a good and a bad thing," she smiles and bends her head down to kiss the top of Isobel's head. Isobel gurgles happily and snuggles back into Donna's embrace. "Tell me about your trip?"

You grin at both of them, all excited. "I bought you something fun!"

"I don't trust your idea of fun when it comes to gifts, Josh," she laughs. Isobel bounces her head on Donna's breasts and laughs as well. "That's right, sweetie. Daddy is a strange man."

"No, I'm not," you protest and she laughs again.

"Come on, Josh! You have an odd affinity for, well, odd things."

You give her a hurt look. "One day you'll mock me too much and you won't get a gift from me ever again."

"I'll take that wager. Where are my gifts?"

"Hang on." You yank your finger from the pool of saliva in your daughter's mouth, get up from the floor and hobble, on legs tingling from pins and needles, towards the door. Behind you, though, Isobel suddenly starts wailing, her cries echoing off the tiles.

"Shit," Donna murmurs quietly and you turn around. "Not again."

Isobel, ignoring the loofah Donna is attempting to offer her, is reaching out to you, opening and closing her fat little fists. Her face, red and blotchy, is streaked with fresh tears and she's squirming in Donna's arms.

"Maybe I should take her?" you suggest and Donna hoists her from the water and holds her up. You grab a towel from the rack, wrap it around your daughter and pull her from Donna's arms. She stops crying immediately and buries her damp and snotty face into the lapel of your jacket.

"See, all she needed was Daddy," you grin proudly and rub her back through the towel. "You just missed me too much, didn't you, sweetheart?"

"Yeah, Josh," Donna snaps, "She hasn't been crying the past few days because she couldn't breathe and her gums were aching. She was crying because you weren't here."

"Hey," you say quietly. "Don't yell at me because I had to go to Canada."

Donna rubs a hand over her face and sighs. "I wasn't yelling… okay, I was yelling. Sorry. Promise me something?"

"Anything." You bounce Isobel up and down and she hums a little to herself and turns her face back into your shirt, scrunching her legs up inside the towel, trying to burrow closer into your chest.

"Don't leave me again when she's sick," she asks quietly. "No matter what's happening. I know you had to go this time, but I had two very horrible days and she barely stopped crying and I was on the verge of screaming myself and…" she trails off when her voice cracks. "Shit."

"Hey," you say softly, and kneel beside the bathtub again. "Why didn't you tell me this on the phone this morning? Or yesterday?"

"I'm her mother, Josh. I'm able to cope with her when I travel and I know I can cope when I'm at home without having my husband there holding my hand."

You shift Isobel to one arm and reach out with the other to push Donna's damp hair off her forehead. She closes her eyes and leans into your touch and a lone tear slips down her cheek. You stop playing with her hair to wipe it away and she smiles a wobbly, sad smile.

"This was just the first time you weren't here when she was really fussy and I just... Sorry."

"Don't be sorry," you say. "You're better than me at taking care of her, Donna. You don't need me when she's sick."

"I want you here though," she insists. "It's silly of me to think that I can't do it alone, that I need to you be with me. I can do it without you! It's just... I don't want to."

"It's not silly," you reassure her. "Who wouldn't want me around… don't answer that." She smiles and you continue, "I wish you'd told me when I called."

"I'm sorry. Next time I'm having a meltdown I'll interrupt the very important matters of state you're involved in."

"Good!" you exclaim. "Don't feel bad because you had trouble today, Donna. You know you can do this whole parenting thing a million times better than me."

"That's true." She looks at you and her eyes sparkle in the candlelight. "But I think I'll keep you and your incompetence around for reassurance."

"Thank you, you're very generous."

Donna smiles at you and Isobel, quickly falling asleep in your arms, snuffles quietly and wriggles a little. You almost lose your grip so you wrap both arms tightly around her again and Donna reaches up and rubs a hand over her back.

"Five minutes in your arms and she's almost asleep… I guess she did miss her Daddy," she says sadly. "Maybe you should take her next time you travel."

"Don't start doubting yourself, Donna. You had two exhausting days and it was just bad luck that she had a cold and started teething at the same time as the Prime Minister's swearing in. We can't blame her so if you want something to blame, try Canada."

Donna smiles. "I can get behind that. They did annex my birthplace."

"That reminds me," you grin, back to being excited. "Your gift."

"I'm emotionally fragile right now, Josh," she reminds you with another smile. "Is it going to make me hate you or will it cheer me up?"

"Uh…" you struggle to your feet trying not to drop Isobel who has finally fallen asleep and is limp and floppy and a complete deadweight in your arms. "You can't hate the father of your baby."

"Yes I can."

"But you won't," you smirk at her. "I'll be right back."

"Okay," Donna says through a wide yawn and you leave the bathroom to retrieve your backpack from where you'd dropped it in the hall. You return to find Donna sunk so far down into the bath that all you can see is the top of her head and her eyes amongst the soapy bubbles.

"Trying to hide?"

She shakes her head so that the water splashes over the side and you drop your backpack and settle back down onto the mat next to the tub. She sits up again and stray bubbles slip down her neck and over her breasts.

"The bad thing about taking a bath with a baby is that you can't lie down properly," she explains, squeezing water from her hair.

"I guess." Your eyes fixate on a single bubble that's resting on the very tip of one of her nipples. "I missed you a lot, you know."

"I would never have guessed from the way you're staring at my breasts. And I'm pretty sure that if this tub wasn't filled with bubbles, you'd be staring further down."

You look up at her wry smile and offer one of your own. "I can't help it that I find you sexy and desirable. You'd complain a lot more if I didn't."

"True."

"Since I've got the girl, and I don't want to wake her, it's probably better that you get your gift out yourself. It's in the front under a million briefing memos."

"God, please, do not wake her," Donna implores as she leans over the edge of the tub and unzips your backpack. "Even if she sleeps for an hour it'll be enough for me to relax."

"If she wakes up I'll take care of her. You should sleep tonight."

"You're too good to me," she smiles as she pulls the haphazardly wrapped package from the bottom of the backpack. She tears the paper off, dropping it onto the floor next to you and holds up the t shirt you'd found in the first tourist shop you'd seen.

"Proud to be Canadian," she reads off the front of the t shirt. "Oh look... there's a moose. And a maple leaf. And a hockey stick as well. And a bunch of other things."

"Do you like it?"

"God, Josh, it's a good thing you're holding my daughter and I don't want to wake her because you'd get a slap right about now." Donna presses her lips together to keep from smiling and you know she that's not really upset.

"There's one for Isobel too," you add, grinning, and she puts her t shirt on the floor and reaches again into your backpack. She pulls out the smaller gift and rips the paper off that as well. The t shirt is a replica of Donna's, tiny and Isobel-sized, but also included in the wrapping is a miniature pair of moose antlers attached to a soft cotton headband.

"Oh!" Donna's fake frown dissolves into a wide grin. "Well at least you didn't bring her the actual moose."

"I learned my lesson on that one. As did you."

She laughs and carefully places Isobel's t shirt and moose antlers on top of your backpack. "I love it. Thank you."

"You're welcome," you smile at her, and she crooks a finger at you.

"C'mere."

Careful not to squash Isobel, you lean forward and she reaches over the edge of the tub again and clasps your face in her hands. Her mouth is hot and sweet against yours as she kisses you, her tongue softly sweeping your lower lip as she nips gently at your skin.

"I love it," she says when she breaks away. "It's exactly the type of lovingly snarky thing I expect from you."

"I love you," you whisper. "Are you too tired to let your husband show you how much he missed you while he was away?"

Donna shakes her head. "Why don't you go put her to bed and I'll top up the bath with some more hot water, and when you come back you can prove how much."