A crash of glass was heard on the tile floor of the kitchen as Nate walked in just coming home from work. Suspicious and worried about the sound he ran into the kitchen to see Alex throwing plates and glasses down onto the ground. Nate quickly loosened his tie and tiptoed quickly to not get cut by the glass and to catch Alex to stop her from throwing more. Once he got to the other side of the broken glass trench he quickly wrapped his arms around her to stop her arm movements. She struggled and fought against his strength to get free but he just held tighter.

Coarsely he calmly said into Alex's ear, "What are you doing, Alex?"

Nate could feel the tears from her eyes soak his button-up sleeves. He could feel under his arms that she stopped her struggle and was just now silently sobbing. Nate let go and spun her around in his arms. He held her upper arms with his strong hands. He looked at her but she bowed her head. She didn't want to see his gorgeous eyes, one of those things she fell for when they met. Harshly he spat at her, "Alex, what is wrong with you?"

They stood there in silence as he grasped her tightly. Alex couldn't take it anymore. She waited until her sobs calmed down a bit and she looked up. She tried to remain strong but she already failed at that. Sadly she asked,"Why don't you call me Lexie anymore? Not even Allie." A few more tears fell. It had been a while since he had called her any of those names.

Nate relaxed a bit. He sighed and loosened his grip on her. His hands moved up to caress her face and his thumbs wiped away her tears. Using his hands he kept her face up and she looked at him through these eyes of anguish. He smiled a little to assuage the tension, "Allie, I call you that all of the time." he stopped and gave her a little kiss on her nose. He pulled away, "Lexie, that's what I call you in bed, silly." Another little kiss on her nose. They stood staring at each other for a good five minutes. "So are we good?" He tried to lighten the mood again, "Can we clean up the broken glass now?" He chuckled.

Alex's hands went up to Nate's hands and she lightly grasped them. She said firmly, "No."

Nate was confused. He thought he just fixed everything. He thought he made it clear with the name situation. "What do you mean, no? No we can't clean up the broken glass? Or no we're not good?" He was getting a bit impatient and he seemed less loving.

"No, we're not good." She pulled his hands away from her face and walked away while grabbing a bottle of wine from their mini-cellar.

Nate called after her, "Alex! Do you think that's a good idea? That's a pretty expensive bottle of wine."

Then he heard the clicking of her heels stop and come closer to him. When he could see her clearly, it was apparent that she was upset, "Expensive, Nate? That's all you care about? Well let me tell you something, Nate." She said his name with such force and disgust. "The expense of this bottle of wine, doesn't amount to the expense of your extra girlfriend." Alex dropped the bottle of fermented grape juice and it broke on contact with the tile floor. The wine rushed in a wave over her feet and the broken glass of the bottle. Some shards stuck her and a trickle of blood stained her white pumps along with the red wine. Alex stood there unaffected by the cuts.

Nate tried to remain calm. He ran his hand through his hair harshly and had his other hand on his hip. "Okay, now look what you've done. You've stained your shoes and I'm sure the wine's going to stain the walls." Alex stared at him in disbelief.

"That's all you care about? Did you not hear what I said?" Nate threw his hands up in the air as if in surrender. Alex was now yelling at Nate, "All of those things are replaceable, Nate! I'm not!"

It was quiet for a minute or two as Nate was searching for something appropriate to say. He lamely came out with, "You've also cut yourself."

Alex stood still, "Oh that's great." She began to yell again, "That's freakin' great, Nate!" She pulled off her white pumps and threw them in his direction, "Since that's all you care about!" He dodged her shoes. "Take them. Go fix 'em. I don't give a crap. Do something with them."

He caught the other shoe, "Okay, you're going to hurt me now."

"I'm going to hurt you? Wow, that's rich Nate. I'm going to hurt you. I'm pretty sure you've hurt me."

"Listen, we can take your clothes to the dry cleaners. We can get the stains out, I'm sure."

Alex laughed sarcastically, "Oh wow. That is all you care about." Alex started to strip taking an article of clothing off one by one. He just stood there watching her. Alex was down to her undergarments. She stood there and she began to cry. The old Nate would've pounced on her when she was undressed. The old Nate would've already tried to get her in bed the second he got home. Her Nate would've kissed her and tended to her wounds. Her Nate wouldn't have cheated on her. But, it was her Nate. It was her Nate who looked for love somewhere else.