"I think it's time for your nap, Tigger, my boy." Nick was saying.

"I don wanna!" Andrew protested, squirming in Nick's lap to hug him closer.

"Daddy's right, Tig. Time for a sleep."

Nick turned his head at the sound of her voice. "Hello Kathy." he said, emotionlessly.

"Nick." Kathy nodded her head and took Andrew's hand in hers. "Let's go Tig, I can tell you're tired." she laughed as Andrew tried to cover another yawn.

"No!" Andrew grabbed Nick's sweater tightly. "Wanna go nap with Daddy, not you!"

"Andrew!" Nick said, sternly.

"C'mon, Tig, let's go!" Kathy was starting to get frustrated.

"No!" Andrew screamed.

"Fine!" Kathy threw her hands up and stormed off to the spare room. "You take him!"

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

After reading several stories to Andrew and singing a lullaby, Nick put Andrew to bed and kissed his cheek.

"Get some sleep, young man!" Nick urged in a gruff voice. He closed the door softly and made his way down the hall to the spare room. "Kathy?"

"What do you want Nick?" Her voice was slightly muffled, as if she was buried under a blanket or crying.

"What happened to us?" He held out his hands and turned towards her.

"I think you know the answer to that, Nick, you know very well." she sniffled.

"No, it was wrong before that." Nick insisted. "Why don't you let me play with Tig anymore? Why do you get upset if we go for a walk? Why don't you talk to me? I want to try and work this out, so we can try again, so we can be like we were before. Won't you try?"

Kathy rubbed her stomach as she felt a small movement from the baby within. "Nick, I just don't know. My feelings are all muddled up inside."

"About me?"

"About us!" Kathy shouted. "Ever since Tigger hurt himself with you, I've been a nervous wreck and then this...you...Alexa...God! I just don't know what to say to you!"

"Don't you trust me anymore?"

Kathy was silent for a few minutes. "No Nick, no I don't trust you. I don't trust you with Andrew. I get so worried that he will be hurt."

"I would never let Tig get hurt if I can help it, but kids hurt themselves, it happens." Nick protested.

"But most kids parents can see." Kathy clapped her hand over her mouth, realizing what she had said.

Nick stood there, feeling like he had been slapped in the face. "I can't help that Kathy. You of all people should be able to understand that. I love my son. It killed me when he got cut, knowing I was responsible." He moved towards the door. "I guess we just carry on then? Until you decide what you want to do? Do you want a divorce? Is that what you want?"

Kathy nodded no, tears shining in her eyes. "I don't know. I've thought about it." she admitted.

Nick bit his lip. "Fine. I'll leave you alone now." He opened the door and shut it firmly behind him without another word.

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

"See Lex, I told you the smiling happy you was still under there somewhere." Taylor juggled her shopping bags as she stopped to look at something else.

"Okay, I admit, shopping is good therapy. But I wasn't THAT bad." Alexa looked up from the sweater she was checking out when Taylor didn't answer, "I wasn't. Was I?"

Taylor turned to look Alexa in the eye for a second, then started wandering as she talked, "You were about the saddest, mopiest person I have ever had the misfortune of living around. You look expectantly at the phone whenever it rings, just hoping, but I bet you wouldn't talk to him," Taylor carefully avoided saying AJ's name, "even if he had called." She stopped to turn and look at Alexa again. "Would you?" She knew Alexa could lie straight to her face.

"I told him we needed space."

"You didn't answer the question."

Alexa sighed, "Because I can't answer it. I don't know, but he didn't call so it doesn't matter." Alexa started to walk again, "Can we talk about something else? The happy smiling Alexa is about to take a permanent vacation."

"Oh good lord, we can't have that." Taylor took Alexa by the arm, "Come on." She dragged her toward another store, practically diving inside.

Alexa stopped just outside the store, something across the courtyard caught her eye. She watched carefully trying to figure out exactly what it was she was seeing and why the situation had called her attention. There was a couple in the middle of a small crowd. Alexa could barely see the woman except to know that if she got any closer to her companion she'd be practically wearing the same clothes as him.

That detail still didn't explain why she had noticed them in the first place. She was about to turn away when her heart seemed to stop. She'd always been able to somehow sense was he was near; this was obviously no exception, although she certainly wished it was. There, attached to the woman in the middle of the crowd, was AJ.

Alexa closed her eyes for a moment, thinking maybe she was seeing things. But when she reopened them he was still there. She wanted to turn away, pretend she'd seen nothing, but she couldn't. She didn't want to see proof that he'd moved on, while she'd been moping. Not when she knew it was her own fault. She'd left him. Again. And now it was over. Certainly explained why she hadn't heard from him.

"Earth to Alexa."

Taylor was suddenly standing beside her, and the crowd had once again envelopped the couple across the courtyard. Abruptly Alexa turned to Taylor. "Do you think we can go now? I'm kind of out of the shopping mood."

Taylor shrugged, her look expressing her puzzlement, "Sure. Whatever." She took a quick few steps to catch up to Alexa, who had immediately begun to walk. "What's going on?"

"Nothing. Just want to go."

"Okay..."

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

"Nick?" Kathy entered Andrew's bedroom, smiling slightly when she saw Nick and Andrew playing with cars and blocks. Nick looked up at the sound of her voice, but said nothing. "I need to go out, I have a doctor's appointment. Can you...will you...Tig, you stay with Daddy okay? Mommy needs to go out to the doctor's just for a bit and then I'll be back for supper."

"Are you sure?" Nick asked coldly.

Kathy stared down at him, it had taken her a long time to decide to leave Andrew with him. Her first instinct, when she remembered about the appointment was to take Andrew with her. But she was going to the gynecologist and that was sure to bring up questions about the baby. She'd rather keep him silent about that for now, she knew it wouldn't be long before she would have to answer to Andrew...and to Nick.

"I'm sure." She leaned over to kiss Andrew. "I'll be back soon."

Nick and Andrew resumed their play. Nick nodded when he heard the car engine start and the car backing out of the garage. He clapped his hands on his knees and called out. "What do you say little man? Wanna go see Grandma and Grandpa? Maybe Uncle Aaron too?"

Andrew jumped up clapping his hands together happily. "Yay, yay, yay, yay!" he shouted.

Nick laughed. "Okay, we need to get some things together and then we'll go, alright? You need some clothes and jammies."

"And pillow." Andrew added, holding out his favorite one. Nick took it and added it to the bag of clothes. Kathy had long ago sorted clothes by color, left to right, so that Nick could tell what matched and what was where in the drawer. He picked out several outfits for Andrew, underwear and pajamas. He closed the bag up and the two of them walked out of the room hand in hand. Nick tossed the bag in the hallway, alongside his which he had packed earlier.

"I just have to write Mommy a note on the typie, okay? Do you want to write something too?" Andrew climbed into his lap and watched as Nick typed and then pecked out a few words and his name after. "You're so smart!" Nick praised. He was always amazed how quickly Andrew had learned his name and simple words in braille. "Okay, I'll call a cab and then shoes on and we are on our way!"

Andrew clapped again and ran to the front door, pulling his shoes and coat from his cubby. Then he grabbed Nick's running shoes and brought them to him. "There Daddy, your shoes too! Let's go!"

Nick laced his shoes with Andrew's help and pulled his jacket on. "There's the cab! Let's go to Grandma's house!"

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

Alexa sat huddled in a chair, her knees hugged to her chest. Her mind hadn't stopped racing since earlier in the afternoon. She hadn't said anything to Taylor, which she knew was driving Taylor insane. Even if she hadn't known, she would have figured it out by the way Taylor was watching her. She just didn't want to explain anything to Taylor. How could she explain to anyone, when she was having trouble comprehending it herself.

She knew exactly what she'd seen, she just didn't want to understand it. She kept going back to the last night at the house. The night she'd walked out. She kept trying to figure out if she should have done it differently. Every thought she had second-guessed what she'd done.

Maybe if she'd ignored what he'd done. Maybe if she'd never walked out the first time. Maybe if she hadn't talked to Nick. Maybe if ... Would anything have been different? All the alternative universe possibilities swirled around in her head, replaying over and over atgain. She hadn't realized until she'd seen him how much she'd wanted AJ to come after her, to call even. But he hadn't, and it was her own fault.

Now he was with someone else while she mulled over how screwed up her life had become. Maybe she needed to stop thinking about what had happened. Maybe she should just move on. He had. She should. Alexa sighed.

Taylor looked up from her seat across the room, "Lex?"

Alexa heard her, but she didn't answer.

"Alexa, are you going to tell me what's going on?" Taylor moved to the other end of the sofa, waiting for Alexa to pay attention to her.

"I've just been thinking Taylor. Nothing to say."

Taylor took a minute without speaking to study her. "Are you okay?"

Alexa concentrated on the floor, as she figured out what she wanted to say. "I'm going to be fine, Tay. I think I'm figuring that out." She looked up, rubbing her hand across her eyes, "I need to move on."

"Okay..." Taylor's eyebrows knit together as she tried to understand what Alexa was saying, "So, that's good, right?" Her words were hesitant.

"It's good."

Taylor noticed that Alexa's voice wasn't terribly certain. "So, what's next?"

"I don't know. I need to get my own place again. I can't live here forever." She knew she'd just been hanging around there as long as she had because she didn't want to make anything permanent.

Taylor nodded, and Alexa seemed to lapse back into her own thoughts. A few minutes later, Taylor jumped up from her seat. "I almost forgot, I have something for you."

"What?"

"Hold on a second." Taylor rushed into the other room, and Alexa could hear the rustle of plastic shopping bags before she returned, a small bag in her hand. "Here." She handed the bag to Alexa, and then spoke quickly before Alexa could look into it. "You are probably going to yell at me. But you need to know." Taylor's face was suddenly extremely serious.

"Whatever." Alexa looked at the bag for a minute, before putting her hand inside to remove the box within. She stared at the box, uncomprehending for a second. "Dammit, Taylor. I told you I have the flu." Alexa stood quickly, the box clutched in her hand. Taylor reached out as she passed, grabbing her by the wrist.

"Alexa, don't be stupid. You know it's not the flu as well as I do. You need to take that test."

"Mind your own business Taylor," Alexa hissed at her before tossing the pregnancy test and the bag it had been wrapped in at Taylor, and running from the room.

Taylor cringed when the door slammed, then sighed as she got up, picking up the box. She carried it with her as far as the bathroom, where she tucked it in a drawer. She slid the drawer shut and then patted the drawer front lightly with her hand. "Eventually you're going to figure out that you need that, Alexa."