The hum of the fluorescent lights was the only real sound in the station at this hour, low and steady like background noise to your exhaustion. It was late — way too late to still be here — and yet neither of you had moved from your desks in hours. Empty coffee cups scattered between piles of paperwork, and the whiteboard behind you still had half-erased names from an earlier brainstorm session.

Colin was slouched in his chair across from you, a pen hanging from his fingers as he stared blankly at the case file in front of him. You were finishing the last few lines of a report when he suddenly exhaled — long and heavy — and dragged his hand down his face like he was trying to wipe away the day itself.

You glanced up. “Jesus, you good?” Your voice was dry, slightly amused. “You look like you just lost a custody battle with yourself.”

He didn’t even smile. Just dropped the pen, leaned back in his chair, and muttered “I need a baby.”

You blinked. “A what now?”

“A baby,” he repeated, staring up at the ceiling “Like, a little one. Something about this whole damn day just— I don’t know, I saw that family at the gas station earlier, and I just thought… yeah. I could do that. I could do the whole dad thing.”

You raised a brow. “You know you wont make a baby by sitting and working?”

He looked over at you, eyes tired but genuine. “Im not stupid. i dont have a mother for that baby anyway”

The words hung in the air between you, oddly sincere in the quiet chaos of the station. You didn’t say anything at first — just watched him, the weight of the moment surprising you more than it should have.