The house was deathly quiet as Tony opened the front door. He was very careful not to make a sound as he closed it behind him. Pausing for a moment before he made his way upstairs, he heard the mantel clock ticking out each second, letting him know that it knew what time he walked in the door, He couldn't slip past it. The clock knew when he came and went. There was no hiding from its insistent time keeping. He couldn't torture it or whisper it into silence. It had a job to do and it did it well.

He climbed up to the second floor, avoiding the third step as that was the one that would herald his arrival. At this late hour, he wasn't sure he knew what to expect when he got to the bedroom, but if he were careful and quiet, perhaps it would go unnoticed. If not unnoticed, at least it would become part of the charade and not be a confrontational issue.

The bedroom door was partially closed so taking a deep breath, Tony pushed it open just enough to slide in and returned it to it former state. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room, she spoke to him in a whisper. "You don't have to sneak in the door."

His heart skipped a beat. What would be his reply? There was none he could give. He didn't want to start a fight. And she would give none. It had been a very bad day and she knew where he had been. He turned on the lamp. "I'm sorry I'm late."

It had been a long day for her too and all she wanted was the comfort of his arms around her. In his arms she felt safe, if only for a moment. The worries of the day were temporarily abated. She wished he would feel the same way one day but until then she had to cope without him. "I've been waiting for you."

He undressed, slid in bed next to her and sighed. "Michelle, "he started to say.

"Shhh, I don't need to know right now," she replied. "Just turn off the light."

But she did know. He knew she did. Where he had been, with whom and what had transpired. And he didn't know how she did it. Pretend it was nothing, when it was everything. That it wasn't important when it was the most important thing of all.

They went through the motions as they did on these occasions. She took the comfort he gave and he gave it out of a sense of responsibility more than anything. He had taken his comfort earlier.

As they started to fall asleep, she asked "Will Jack be OK?"

"For now," he answered.