"Are you up yet, Nick?" Kathy called to him from the bathroom.

"I am now." He winced at the sound of her voice.

"Good, I�m going out for a walk with Tigger, we�ll be back soon. I just wanted to let you know before we left."

"I take him for walks in the morning, you know that." Nick turned his head toward the bathroom.

"Oh, I..." Kathy stammered. "I know, I just thought I would take him for a change and let you sleep in."

"How can I sleep in when you holler and wake me up? Not to mention that you've taken him lots of times lately." Nick sat up in bed and placed his fingers on his temple, rubbing slowly, hoping to ease the pain.

Kathy flicked the light off in the bathroom and joined Nick on the bed. "Is it bad today?"

"It�s been better." he shrugged and folded his hands in his lap. "I think it�s the worst one today."

Kathy placed her hand on his shoulder. "You need to see the doctor, Nick. You shouldn�t be having headaches this long. It�s been a couple of months since Tigger�s birthday and that�s when they started isn�t it?"

Nick shook his head. "No. I don�t know. I don�t remember." He shrugged again.

"I�ll call for an appointment when I get home." Kathy stood and leaned over to kiss his cheek.

"I look forward to walking with Tigger, you know." Nick said, quietly. "I can�t do much with him and fully enjoy it. Walking�s about it. Why won�t you let me take him out anymore?"

Kathy tried to stifle a gasp. "Nick...I don�t...I mean..."

"Never mind." He waved his hand to dismiss her. "Go on with Tigger, enjoy yourself. I�ll just lay here for awhile."

"Nick."

"Go." Nick flopped back on the pillow and buried his head under the blankets.

Kathy looked at him and frowned slightly. She wasn�t stopping him from taking Tigger out, was she? She tried to think back to the last time that just Nick and he had gone out and couldn�t do it. She hesitated in the doorway. "Nick, please..."

"Kathy, just go. Tig is probably tearing the house apart waiting for you."

She nodded silently and turned to leave. "See you in a bit, Nick."

Nick waited until he heard the door slam shut. "Why don�t you trust me, Kathy?" Nick asked, as he tossed back the covers. "I didn�t mean to hurt Tig. It wasn�t my fault."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alexa collapsed on the bed of the hotel room she'd rented. She had no energy, she hadn't had any since she'd walked out of AJ's house. That's probably why she'd never done it before. She just couldn't stay this time. She looked around the room, not really seeing anything, her right hand spinning her engagement ring around and around on her finger. She'd been in the room two days and probably couldn't have described anything about it. Not that she was paying much attention to anything; more like walking around in a blur. She'd been at the clinic this afternoon, but Taylor had sent her 'home' when she found her standing in the hall, doing nothing, oblivious to everything around her. She'd been mortified at her un-professionalism, but had left quickly, eager to get away from Taylor's questions.

She jumped at the sound of her cell phone and the ring slipped off her finger, rolling under the bed. "Dammit!" The phone rang twice more while she searched for the ring, she cursed again when she didn't find it, then answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Alexa? Are you busy?"

"Nick?" Alexa forgot all about her own problem momenarily; she knew he wouldn't call for no reason. "Is everything okay? Are you okay?" Concern for his health had become a natural instinct for her, even though she knew he was fine now. She still felt like she had to look after him.

Nick sighed heavily. "Ya, everything's fine. Kathy's the same, Tigger's the same, I'm the same, everything is just ... fine." He didn't even know why he'd called her. Just needed to hear a different voice, somebody new to talk to. "Are you okay, Lex? You sound off."

"Oh, I'm just peachy."

"Right." He could tell by the tone of her voice that something was definitely wrong, but he didn't want to push it. "AJ called, looking for you." That was the other reason he knew something was up.

"That's nice," Her answer was abrupt; she didn't want to even hear his name at this point. AJ had called her cell phone earlier. She was ignoring the number, grateful for call display.

"Alexa, where are you?"

"I'm at a hotel." She wished she'd never given up her apartment. She'd have been much more comfortable there. It would have been her space. This was so ... generic. Impersonal. She looked around the bare walls, and realized she couldn't just sit there. She needed to get out. "Nick, can you get away? I could use a friendly face right now, and you called me. You must have wanted something..." Alexa could hear Nick breathing on the other end of the line, but he didn't say anything.

He had called her, and Kathy was okay with Andrew for a while. She always looked after him anyway. "I can work something out." What could it hurt to go talk to Alexa. Kathy considered her a friend, so did he. He'd called to talk to her anyway, and talking in person was better.

"I'll come get you."

"No, I'll meet you ..."

"Nick..." Alexa didn't like the idea of him wandering around by himself.

"Okay, meet me down the street. You know where I mean, right? I can get that far." He worked so hard at his independence, he wasn't going to let her baby him now.

Alexa nodded to herself, "Alright, I'll see you in a few then." Alexa picked up her car keys, and tucked the phone back in her bag. She stopped with her hand on the doorknob, thinking about everything that had happened. Then opened the door and headed out to meet Nick.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Aren't you happy Nick?"

He could tell from her voice that she was on her way to being drunk. "I'm happy, I just..."

"Get depressed now and then." she concluded for him.

He nodded. "Tigger takes up all her time - by choice, lately she's always tired, she yells at me. I just wish it was like it was before we got married." he said wistfully.

"Don't you love your son?"

"Of course I do!" Nick said indignatly. "I love Tigger with all my heart."

Alexa laughed at the nickname that had been bestowed upon Nick and Kathy's son Andrew. "So what's the problem?"

He ran his hands through his hair and then dropped them to the table. "I don't know. I think Kathy doesn't trust me. We don't talk much..." he sighed with frustration. "What about you, why are you here?"

She waved her hand and giggled when she remembered he couldn't see her gesture. "Bastard."

"What?"

"He's a bastard, always will be. I don't know why I ever agreed to go out with him."

"What did he do this time?"

"Doesn't matter."

Nick's curiousity was piqued but he let it go. "How does another round sound?"

"Wonderful!" Alexa agreed and signaled the bartender.

Several hours later neither of them was feeling any pain. "You know, I always was jealous of Kathy." Alexa admitted as she stared at Nick across the table.

"Why?" Nick muttered, emitting a loud belch.

"You're gorgeous."

"You're drunk." he laughed.

"So are you." she challenged.

"Whatever." He stood and swayed dangerously, before collapsing in his chair again. "Whoa! This drunk thing is really fun when you're blind." he giggled.

"Where you goin'?"

Nick stood again and leaned on his chair for support. "I gotta pee. Where the hell is the bathroom?"

Alexa laughed and took his hand. "This way, I think..."

Seated back at their table, the couple downed some more shots. "Ahh, I needed that!" Nick sighed, dropping his head to the table.

She lifted his head with her fingertips under his chin and looked into his weary face. "Are you going home like this?"

He shook his head. "No, I don't know. Where else can I go?"

"Come with me, I'll take you home in the morning."

"Okay." Nick nodded happily and gave her money for the drinks. "I think we've done all the damage we can do to ourselves here. Take me home!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I should call Kathy and tell her I'm okay." Nick yawned. He picked up the phone, running his hands over it in confusion. "What happened, where's the braille?"

"You're in my hotel room, goon!" She dialed the number for him and sat back to watch him with interest.

"Hey baby!" "No, I'm fine. Just had a little to drink. I'm with...who the hell are you again?" He laughed madly. "I'm okay, really." "I just needed.." "I'm sorry." "Fine then." "I lo..."

"She hung up, dammit." Nick let the phone drop to the floor. "What did I do wrong?"

"I can make you feel better." Somewhere in her brain, Alexa knew this was wrong, but the liqour had loosened her tongue as well as her morals. She pulled him down to the couch. "I can make you feel really good." She slowly unbuttoned his shirt, running her fingertips over his scar. Kathy had told her one time that drove him crazy.

"Oh yeah." he moaned, dropping his head against the back of the couch.

"You like that?"

He nodded, pulling her onto his lap. "Make me feel good, make me forget." She stood and removed her clothes quickly, looking up to see Nick had pushed his pants down and was stroking his massive erection slowly. "Can you take care of this?" he asked in a strange voice. She pushed him back down and sat on his lap. His fingers toyed with her, but she pushed them away.

"Try this." Slowly she lowered herself onto him, groaning with pleasure at the feel of his length entering her.

"Ah, oh shit, that's it." Nick moved his hands to her waist. "It's been so long. Fuck me girl."

She licked his chest and looked up at his face, twisted in ecstacy. He was so damn sexy to her at that moment. She would do anything he asked her to.

"I'll do all that and more, baby. I think we both need this."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He lifted his head from the pillow and dropped it back down with a groan. "Ow, oh that hurts!" He twisted in the bed to lay on his side, bumping the body curled up next to him. "Oh Kath, I'm sorry, I will never do that again." He put his hand to his forehead and rubbed it slowly. "Ow." The other person shifted and groaned.

"What time is it?"

Nick felt for his watch and then froze. "Say again?"

"Oh never mind! Your watch never has the right time anyway!" She sat up and looked down at the figure in the bed. "Oh my God." Alexa said in a whisper, realization dawning. Oh my God!" Oh my God!"

He sat up slowly. "You're not Kathy."

"Oh my God." she said again, trying to recover from the shock.

"You're...oh no..what the hell did we do?" Nick voice sounded strange, puzzled or shocked she couldn't tell.

"Oh Nick, I..." She looked at the floor and saw at least 5 condoms scattered about." "Holy shit." she whispered.

"Did we?" he asked. "I can't remember." He swung his legs over the side of the bed and winced, any movement made his head throb.

"I can't either, but apparently we did, if the condoms on the floor are anything to go by."

Nick shifted his position in the bed, pulling the sheets over him, now uncomfortably aware that he was naked in front of Alexa.

She had collapsed to her knees on the floor and was staring at the carpet. "What are we gonna do Nick? What can we do?"

He ran a hand over his face, stopping to rub his eyes. "I don�t know Lex. This is big. I�ve never screwed up this big before."

She leaned over and started picking up the discarded condoms, dropping them into the wastebasket with a look of disgust. She sat on the bed with a sigh. "This is exactly why I was mad, am mad, at AJ. He was screwing around on me and now I�m no better than him." She started crying, shaking the bed gently with her body motions.

Nick went to draw her into his arms and then stopped. That probably wasn�t the wisest move right at the moment. "You aren�t screwing around on him, Lex. You made a mistake. We made a mistake. We got drunk and made a mistake."

"That�s what he says!" she raged back at him. "I�m so sorry, baby I didn�t know what I was doing, forgive me baby. On and on."

Nick hugged his legs to his chest and dropped his head to rest on his knees. "You know, it might make AJ realize, see the error of his ways." he mused. "But what do I say to Kathy? I love her Lex, I love her with all my heart. She�ll never understand." A tear slipped from his eye and he let it fall to the sheets. "I never meant for this to happen. I�ve been feeling down, it seems like we are growing apart, but I want to fix it. I didn�t want to throw it all away. I just wanted someone to talk to."

Lex turned to look at him, tears running down his face, his mouth turned down in a semi pout. She wasn�t the only one with a big problem here. She put her arms around his shoulders and tried to stifle her sigh as he engulfed her in a hug, burying his face in the crook of her shoulder and neck.

"We�re still friends right, you don�t hate me?" he asked, mournfully.

"No Nick, I don�t hate you. I don�t think anyone could ever hate you."

He gave her a final squeeze and pushed her slightly away from him. "We need to tell them." Alexa looked at him like he was crazy. "I know what you�re thinking." he told her. "But it�s true. We need to be honest and get things back on track for both of us."