"Aunt Addie, what is divorce?"

Addison stopped on the doorway of her office, taken aback by the kid's question. Five-year-old Lucas often came to see her in the late afternoon, and sometimes he was alone, but he never had the scared look he had now.

"Hey buddy." she knelt down in front of him and squeezed his hands.

The boy looked at her expectantly, biting his lip.

"Oh, come here honey." she took him in her arms, holding him tight. "Where did you hear that word?"

"Daddy said it."

Addison kissed the top of his head. "What else did he say?"

"He was very angry with Mommy." he said sniffing. "Very very very angry."

"Okay." Addison sighed. "Let's go ask them."

"But Aunt Addie, you didn't tell me what divorce is!"

She looked down at the little kid. "You're right, Lucas. It's just... it's a grown up thing. It's called like that when two married people decide not to be married anymore. But don't worry, buddy, okay?"

When he nodded, she lead him to his father's office.

Entering, she sent Pete her best 'Satan glare'.

"Hey Addison... what's up?"

"I've just heard the word 'divorce' come out of your five-year-old son's mouth and you ask me what's up?"

"Er, yeah, um, I... Violet and I..."

"You do not get to get a divorce, Pete! Not after I..." she sighed heavily. "Luke, baby, why don't you go look for Uncle Cooper?" she didn't want to discuss it in front of him.

"Can't I go to Mommy's office?"

"Your mommy's working, buddy. Please, do Daddy a favor and go see Uncle Coop." Pete told him.

"Fine, go. Yell." Pete made a grimace while Addison closed the door behind the kid.

"What happened, Pete? What happened to your happy family?"

"We're not happy anymore, Addison! And I wonder if we ever were! It's just... like Lucas was what kept us together all this time."

"Don't say that!"

"Look Addison..."

"Why, Pete?"

"Violet's absent, okay? And I don't mean for me, but for our son. She wasn't a good mother back then and she isn't now."

The woman sent him another death glare.

"Uncle Cooper says that divorce is when a mommy and a daddy have a biiig fight. And then the kiss each other and it's alright. Did you lie, Aunt Addie?" the boy came in with an ice-cream in his hand.

"What did you tell him about divorce, Addison?"

"The truth, Pete." she said trough clenched teeth.

"Oh, Addison, my answer was soo much better!" Cooper laughed and winked at Lucas as he entered.

"Aunt Addie didn't lie, buddy." Pete told him. "And now people, I gotta work."

x

"Is it official?" she said a little emotional.

"Yes, it's official." he answered, squeezing her hand.

x

"I'm sorry about you and Sam." he stared at her, trying to understand how much broken she was.

"It's okay. He never was the one." she answered squeezing his hand, no tears on her face.

x

"Hey Lucas." it had been a while since the last time she saw him sitting on her office's couch. "Shouldn't you be at school?"

"I was eavesdropping." he told her, staring blankly at the floor. "I know it's wrong, but when my parents fight I can't help myself."

"They fought again?" how could she be bad at him for skipping school when she saw him so distraught?

"They always do."

She nodded, sitting down beside him and patting his leg. "What were they saying?"

When he looked at her, she could read all his pain. "Is it true that my mother left me when I was a baby?"

Addison blinked, speechless. "Lucas..." she stroked his arm softly, but he pulled away.

"Buddy, hey... your mom's always loved you, you need to believe me." she started to rub his back. "Do you want me to tell you the story of what happened? You'd understand." at seventeen, he was old enough to know the truth.

He hesitated, then nodded.

Addison kicked away the thought of Pete and Violet killing her – because they would. "When your mom was pregnant with you, she was attacked by one of her patients. Katie, the woman, had had a miscarriage and she thought you were her baby. So she... she tried to... to steal you when you were born." she couldn't tell him the truth. "And your mother was so traumatized by that and she just... she wasn't able to look after you for a while. So she did something that really hurt her but that was right for you in that moment. And, one day, when she got better, she and your father got married and you became a real family. But she's always loved you. Always, everyday. Okay?"

"Okay." he rubbed his eyes, cleared his throat, and then he put his head on Addison's lap – just like all the afternoons they spent together when he was little.

x

"You have that look on your face." he greeted her when she got off of the elevator.

"What look?" she kept walking.

"The one you have when you have very hot sex with me in your dreams. Aka: FANTASIES about me."

"Oh, you know what Pete, shush it!" Addison said, smiling.