Hyde had never seen Laurie and Kitty fight like they had fought earlier that day. All he heard was screaming from the both of them. He wasn't even sure what set off the fight, but it didn't end well. Eric had told him that it was normal as of recently and he knew that Eric was right because Kitty and Laurie did often fight when he was at the Forman house, he was just worried about both of them because they had become like family to him. He wanted to do something, but he wasn't sure if he could help so he decided he would tell Red about it when he got home. Kitty seemed to be the one that was upset about the whole thing. Laurie was just mad in a teenager kind of way - she would get over it. But Kitty seemed clearly upset. Hyde could have sworn he saw her run up the stairs in tears, so he figured the best way to handle the situation was to let Red calm her down, something he had seen quite a few times and knew Red was good at. So when Red came home, Hyde filled him in on what had happened – that Laurie and Kitty had another fight and that Laurie ran off saying she hated her mother. Red was used to this kind of situation by now, but he knew that it never failed to hurt Kitty when Laurie said such things.

"Thanks, Hyde," Red said as he ran a hand through his receding hairline. He made his way up the stairs, unbuttoning the jacket to his suite on the way up. When he made it to his room, he noticed the door was closed. He softly knocked on the door and then let himself in. "You okay?" He asked when he noticed his wife lying horizontally across their bed against the many pillows they had. Kitty was silently crying, but when Red entered the room, she immediately wiped the tears away and tried her best to look happy.

"I'm fine," she said. Red wasn't surprised by her answer. She often said she was fine after she had a fight with Laurie, despite the fact that she wasn't. Red walked over to his side of the bed and sat down in between Kitty's legs and the pillows, resting his arm on her hip. Because he was so much taller than she was, his forearm and hand stretched from her hip to her shoulder without any problem.

"Hyde told me what happened," he said softly. "Some of it," he added. Kitty stayed in the position she had been when Red entered the room, feeling the weight of his arm on her hip.

"I yelled at her," she replied, her voice shaky with regret and sadness.

"Well," Red started. "You had your reasons," he finished after a few seconds of silence.

"She told me that she hated me," Kitty said, her voice even shakier than before. Red leaned closer to his wife and rested his hand on her shoulder.

"She doesn't hate you, sweetheart," Red replied soothingly as he rubbed his hand against her shoulder.

"Sometimes I love her so much it feels like a burden. I feel like I'm suffocating," Kitty said to her husband as he continued to rub her shoulder soothingly. "It's overwhelming." Tears started to roll down her cheeks again. Red stayed silent as his hand made its way down her back, soothingly rubbing the small of her back.

"She knows you love her and she loves you just as much, Kitty," Red finally said, breaking the silence. Kitty looked back at her husband, tears staining her cheeks.

"I know," she said as she moved around the bed and sat next to her husband. "I just… I miss when she was my baby girl. She was so innocent." Red laced his arm protectively around Kitty's waist and pulled her in close. She relaxed in his embrace and Red rested his head on top of hers.

"I know it's hard, sweetie," Red said in his soothing voice. "You just got to remember that she's a teenager." Red softly kissed Kitty's head, who in turn let her body lean against Red's. "We all appreciate what you do for this family. You know that, right?" Red asked. Sure he wanted to make his wife feel better, but he was being completely serious. Kitty did so much for their family and he wanted to make sure that she knew they all appreciated it. Kitty moved her head so she was looking into Red's eyes and she smiled at him. "There's my girl," he said softly, happy to see her smiling. Kitty patted the hand on her stomach and softly laughed.

"I'm the luckiest woman to have a husband like you," she said as she wiped the tears from her cheeks and moved around on the bed. She planted a kiss on Red's lips, who returned the kiss, and got out of bed. "Are you hungry?" she asked as she ran her hands down the skirt she was wearing, getting all the wrinkles out, and smiled at her husband. He nodded his head in agreement and also stood up. The couple then went downstairs, hand in hand, and went on their business as if nothing happened.

fin

a/n: shout out to resurrection and my bb kurtwood smith for giving me the idea for this fic and shout out to nannygirl for giving me even more ideas!