Phoebe followed Carmen into the bathroom, having seen her run by as she and Johnny were talking to some old friends of theirs. She couldn't for the life of her figure out what had happened.

Surprisingly, all of the stalls were empty making it easy to pick out which one she was in. She pushed open the door, finding Carmen leaning against the wall as tears streamed down her face. "You're ruining your make-up," she said, trying to sound disinterested, knowing that would get more out of Carmen that actually asking what was wrong.

"Go away, Phoebe," she sighed, pulling more toilet paper off of the roll and blowing her nose. "What do you care anyway?"

"Because it's wrecking your face and I didn't get you all dolled up to sit in the bathroom and cry all night. Now get your ass cleaned up and get out there. We're here to have a good time."

Carmen looked at her best friend, trying her best not to reach out and slap her. She knew what she was doing. It's what she'd always done to her when she wanted to get something out of her but it wasn't going to work tonight. She'd just cheated on Frank, in front of tons of people. How was she to know it wasn't going to get back to him.

Her heart fluttered when she thought about the way Elliott's lips had felt against hers. Nothing had ever felt that right, no matter how much she tried to deny it. Frank was nowhere near the kisser Elliott was and though she'd only made love to him once, she knew for a fact that he far surpassed Frank in that department. Why was she thinking about this? Elliott was the one who'd left her, not the other way around. It wasn't her decision to make whether or not they should be together. He'd already made that decision years ago.

She looked over to find Phoebe glaring at her. "Oh, you're still here," she said dryly. "What do you want?"

"I want you to get back out there and have fun."

Carmen looked down at her hands, absently picking at her nails. "Elliott's here."

"Yes I know. I saw you guys dancing. You guys have always looked so good together Car," Phoebe added. "Why don't you go dance some more?"

"No… no. We kissed Phoebe and … I'm engaged, I shouldn't be kissing him, or anyone other than Frank for that matter."

Phoebe rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe this. Carmen felt guilty because of the kiss. This was absolutely ridiculous. "Okay, that's enough. Get your ass out of this bathroom and go out there and kiss that man like he's never been kissed before and make him realize what he left behind. I'm not going to sit here and watch you feel guilty for kissing someone you should've married long ago."

Carmen glared at Phoebe in disbelief. She knew that she didn't like Frank but this was crazy. "I'm not going to do anymore kissing where Elliott is concerned Phoebe."

"Whatever," Phoebe turned and stalked out of the bathroom leaving Carmen behind to sulk. She grabbed her husband's hand and went to get Charlie and Megan. "Guys we've got a problem. Little miss, 'I'm engaged. I shouldn't be kissing anyone other than Frank' won't leave the bathroom. This is what we need to do."

---

Elliott watched the door to the women's bathroom open and close for nearly an hour before Carmen finally came out. Her make-up was streaked from the crying she'd been doing but other than that she was the picture of perfection. She stopped at the top of the stairs scanning the crowd for her brother and Megan. She was going to be so pissed at him and everyone else. But this wasn't his idea. He just didn't go against it.

He tapped her shoulder and she turned around quickly. "Look Elliott, I'm sorry I ran off like that but we really need to keep things professional between us. I don't want our working together to be any weirder than it already is."

"That's fine Carmen. I didn't mean for it to happen like that, I guess I just got caught up in the moment," he reached up, brushing her cheek with his thumb. "I've always had that problem when it came to you."

She took a step back, nearly falling down the stairs but she caught herself as did Elliott. "Elliott, I need to find Charlie and Megan, I'm kinda ready to go home." She started down the stairs but stopped quickly when he spoke.

"They already left, CJ."

"Excuse me?" Her eyes widened in disbelief. "I don't believe this!"

He grabbed her hand and started towards the exit. "I'll take you home."

They rode in silence other than Carmen giving him directions, neither of them was sure what to say. When he pulled up in front of her apartment she thanked him and got out of the car, slightly surprised when he followed her.

"I said thank you Elliott. I'm okay from here."

He just nodded and followed her anyway. "I'm going to check the apartment and make sure there's no one in there. You should at least leave a light on or something. It's not safe for you to be walking into a darkened apartment by yourself."

She unlocked the door and stepped aside as he opened it and entered. "Stay right there and let me look around first."

She turned on the living room light and waited while Elliott walked through the apartment, opening the door to every room and closet to make sure there was no one hiding.

"Alright, you're clear," he reported as he approached the door to leave.

She gave him a slight smile. "Thank you, oh protector of little ole me," she cooed sarcastically. Her smiled fading immediately as he stepped towards and her pinned her to the front door. "What are you doing Ell…."

He bent his head, hungrily attacking her mouth with his. His tongue delved in between her lips and coaxed hers into an intimate play. He took her head in his hands, cradling her face as he showered her in butterfly kisses, covering every inch of her neck and shoulders then coming back to kiss her eyelids and the tip of her nose.

He rested his forehead against hers watching the deep rise and fall of her chest as she fought to regain control of her traitorous body. "I love you CJ."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth he regretted he. She pushed against him until there was sufficient distance between them. "You need to leave Elliott."

He took one step towards her and then the tears started to fall again. "I said, you need to leave."

Elliott opened the door and stood there staring at her for a few minutes, waiting for her to change her mind but she never did. "Good night CJ," he muttered and crossed the threshold closing the door behind him. His heart nearly broke as the sound of her cries echoed through the hollow door.

"Yet again, I say, way to go dumbass."

---

Tuesday afternoon, Carmen met Frank at the airport, more than anxious for him to be home. She'd spent the last three days sitting in a dark apartment trying to feel guilty for what had happened with Elliott, but it wasn't working. No matter how much she told herself that it wasn't right and she belonged to another man, her body wouldn't let her believe it. It did and always would belong to Elliott.

The problem was that Elliott didn't belong to her and she needed to get past that and get on with her life with Frank. She had a little over a week before she would be leaving for Daytona for two weeks and she had absolutely no intention of seeing Elliott until she got on the plane to go down there.

"Hey baby," Frank whispered as he pulled her into his arms once they'd gotten home. He kissed her on the neck and then pressed his lips against hers urging her to let him in as he teased her mouth with his tongue. She opened to him, doing her best not to gag as he thrust it in her mouth.

She pulled away and gave him a small smile. "Are you glad to be home?" she asked not really caring but doing anything she could to get his tongue out of her mouth.

"You have no idea," he mewled against her ear, pressing his crotch against her suggestively.

Carmen immediately backed away. "I can't this week Frank," she lied trying to buy some time and avoid having sex with him as long as she could.

He smiled and smoothed her hair down. "That's okay. You can take care of me then." He kissed the tip of her nose and pulled her towards the bedroom. "Come on," he said pulling her behind him.

---

"Get your sorry ass out of the bed Elliott," Phoebe called as she let herself in and began opening every blind in the house. She'd been cleaning his house for him for a few years now. It was one of the few jobs she could do and keep an eye on Gracie at the same time. He'd been more than generous in his pay, joking about how much trouble it is to clean up after a messy bachelor like him. As far as she knew, he had her over twice a week to catch up on what was happening with Carmen.

Up until a week ago she'd kept quiet about it, she figured it was none of his business and left it at that. Now that she'd seen them together, the chemistry more evident than ever after 10 years she wasn't going to keep her mouth shut anymore.

She pounded on his bedroom door, receiving only a grunt before letting herself in and opening the blinds in there as well. "Gees, Elliott, when's the last time you took a bath. You smell like a liquor cabinet."

He growled and covered his head with the closest pillow. "Go to hell."

"I think I'm there. Now come on and get up. You've got a week before you go to Daytona you need to straighten up." She pulled back the covers, taking a very small moment to admire what God gave him then she grabbed his hands and started to pull. "Come on. Get up."

Lifting a 200-lb dead weight was definitely not her idea of fun. "Elliott, if you don't get your ass out of this bed I'm going to jug of ice cold water and pour in all over you."

Her threat didn't seem to break through his conscious so she went to the kitchen and came back with a water jug. "Elliott, this is your last chance. Get out of the bed."

He tossed the pillow aside momentarily to tell her to go to hell again when she struck. She tossed the water directly in his face, plugging her ears when a deafening scream came out of his mouth. "I'm so going to kick your ass Phoebe!!" he yelled chasing her out of the bedroom before he realized he was naked.

He fell back onto the bed and closed his eyes. "What the hell is worth getting up for?"

---

Phoebe was sitting on the patio drinking a cup of coffee and watching Gracie play in the backyard when Elliott finally decided to join her.

He groaned as he sat down, taking the cup of coffee she offered him and downing the entire cup at once. "You're a bitch, Phoebes."

She just smiled at him and patted his cheek. "So I've been told. How ya feeling?"

"Like the little white speck on top of chicken shit."

"Huh?" That one really confused her. "Chicken shit has a white speck on top of it?"

Elliott rolled his eyes and laughed as Gracie stood in one spot, spun in a circle and tried to touch her nose. "Is she practicing for sobriety tests later in life?" he chuckled receiving a death glare from Phoebe.

"At least she's not sticking cashews up her nose," Phoebe shot back smirking as Elliott flipped her off.

"I didn't stick anything up my nose, Carmen did it," he threw back defensively.

Phoebe giggled remembering that day all too well. "Um, no she didn't. All she did was dare you. You never could back down from a dare when it came from her could you?"

He smiled as he thought about all the trouble the four of them had gotten into growing up. In one summer, he'd managed to get cashew stuck up his nose, no thanks to Carmen. Phoebe had gotten her overalls hung on the fence post of Mr. Sullivan's fence right next to the NO TRESPASSING sign as she'd gone into his junkyard to steel a hubcap. Why she was doing that they never figured out. Charlie had gotten caught making out with Principal McKinstry's daughter in the janitors closet during summer school, and Carmen had shaved a bald spot in her brother's head while they were camping out in the backyard.

"How did we make it to adulthood? I'm surprised we didn't kill each other or that someone didn't kill us."

She just laughed and shook her head. "What are you gonna do about Carmen?"

"What can I do? She's engaged to Frank. I was going to just sit by and wait for him to screw up on his own but I've gone and screwed up twice so her ever coming back to me just isn't going to happen."

"How did you screw up? By kissing her? Hell honey, that was the best thing you could've done. Remind her what she's missing. I'd let ya practice on me but I don't think Johnny would like it."

Elliott chuckled. "Really? What would he say about you ogling my goodies earlier?"

"Hey I was just making sure that Carmen was gonna get what she deserved and I must say I approve," she flirted, raising her eyebrows suggestively. "Look Elliott, just give her some time. But trust me. You definitely got her thinking with the kisses."

"Well if that got her thinking what do you think my telling her I love her did?"

Phoebe's mouth dropped open. "You didn't!?"

"Guilty."

"No wonder she hasn't answered the phone in three days. You've got her so confused so doesn't know which way's up. Good going son. I'm proud of ya." She stood up and kissed the top of his head. "Come on Gracie, come tell Uncle Peanut goodbye."

Elliott shot her a glare, then smiled as Gracie rushed towards him and jumped in his arms. "Bye Unca P'nut." She gave him a sloppy wet kiss on the cheek and ran to grab her mommy's hand.

"Just be patient, you'll have her all to yourself next week. All you've gotta do is get Frank to slip up. And if anyone can do it, it's you."

He went inside, locking the door after Phoebe and sat on the couch, absently flipping through the channels as he tried to come up with some way to get Frank to come clean in front of Carmen. Hopefully she wouldn't hold it against him but he knew if he told her that she would think he was making it up to get her back and that's not the way it was going to go down.

-next-