Hey, and welcome to Falling! I had a dream that inspired this story and I'm so excited to get it out there! Please make sure you leave a comment if you like it, since your love keeps me motivated. Thanks! -HEX

*Song for this Chapter: Hold Back the River- James Bay*

For as long as Link could remember, from even a young age, he had wanted a family. He had wanted a beautiful wife and bouncing babies that he could show unconditional love. When he had met Christy, when he had seen her pretty face in the line at the skating rink his junior year of college, he had almost been hit by a car because he was so drawn to her that he wandered aimlessly through the parking lot toward her. The car horn that sounded had jolted him, and he had been so embarrassed until he had glanced up and seen the flush across Christy's freckled nose. She was so, so pretty. From the ends of her blonde hair to the tips of her painted toes, Link had adored her instantly.

When they had started dating, Link knew immediately he wanted to marry her. She had a warmth about her; a bright radiance that sunk into his skin and touched his core. He loved her so much, and the happiest day of his life was the day that she agreed to become his wife. When she had taken his last name he couldn't keep his grin from paining his cheeks, and he had been in awe of how soft and wonderful she was. The way her eyes twinkled when they had found out she was pregnant, the way she had jumped with joy when they found out it was a baby girl, the way she had calmed him when she had been in labor even though she was the one having the baby...

She had given Link the one thing he had never had; a healthy, beautiful, intact family that he had longed for since the day his Daddy had left his Mama. The pain of their divorce had hit him hard, and he hadn't understood at first that it wasn't his fault. He remembered apologizing to his Dad over and over, promising to be a good boy and pick up all his toys every day if he would just stay home. He hadn't, and Link had to learn how to be a man without his daddy around. When he had gotten older he had seen more of him, but what Link wouldn't give to have been able to see Charles every day when it mattered.

With Christy, he had been given the chance to give his kids what he hadn't been able to have; a real father.

Link had been there for every bedtime story and had chased away every monster from under the bed. Link had kissed every boo-boo and had even learned to braid when Lily had decided that was the only style she wanted to wear in her hair. He had learned to love baseball when Lincoln joined little league, and he hadn't missed a single game. Lando had been different. Lando had been born out of a different type of circumstance. He was the saving grace, the miracle baby that would fix everything and for a while, it had worked. Lando was the baby he and Rhett had introduced to the Mythical Beasts, the youngest face of the Neals and the sweetest little boy Link had ever known.

He had vowed that he'd love their Mama through sickness and health, for better or worse, and till death do them part. Well, he supposed that day he had found Christy with another man had felt like dying anyway.

"Hey man, you planning on doing something productive today or am I working solo?"

Link jumped at the sound of Rhett's voice. "I'm sorry," he ran a hand over his face and glanced at his best friend of over 30 years, "I ain't all here right now. I'm sorry. Sorry."

Link didn't mind sharing an office with Rhett. It made sense to have a shared workspace since their business was split right down the middle, and they were used to doing everything together anyway. It was only times like this when he wasn't fully committed to what he was doing, that he minded it at all. Even then, he only minded it because he thought he might bother Rhett when he became distant like he just had.

Rhett had stopped typing and had leaned forward on his right arm, "you wanna talk about it?"

Did Link want to talk about it? Rhett knew what had happened. He had found out when Link showed up on his doorstep red-faced and sobbing, blubbering like an idiot as a panic attack had nearly suffocated him. The panic attack had actually been the only thing that had kept Rhett at bay when Link had finally stuttered through the hyperventilating long enough to tell the big man what he had seen. Rhett had been ready to come to blows. Nobody hurt his Linkster.

"What's the point, man," Link sighed and rested his head in his hands, "ain't gonna change anything."

"S'pose not, but you sitting there keeping it all in ain't doing nothing for you either."

Link pushed the heels of his hands into his eyes until he saw stars. Rhett was right, as usual. It had been almost four months since he had caught his wife with another man, and it still felt like yesterday sometimes.

"It's just...sometimes when I close my eyes," Link sat back and looked at Rhett again, "it's like it just happened. I can see them there, in my bed...and I get, I feel, I just..." He huffed in frustration.

"I know, man, I can't even think of what I'd do if I were you. How I'd feel. Only thing I do know is I wouldn't be sleeping on my couch while my cheating whore of a..."

"Hey man, don't call her that!" Link felt defensive.

He knew that Rhett was pissed off, and he was okay with that, but something didn't sit right when Rhett called Christy nasty names. She might have messed up, but she was still the mother of his kids and that had to mean something.

Rhett put his hands up in a gesture of mock surrender. "I know, you don't like when I talk truth about Christy..."

"Rhett..."

"...but she wasn't there when you almost died on my doorstep because your brain couldn't figure out how to make your lungs work man."

Rhett had held Link in his arms when he had collapsed and had stroked his sweat-soaked hair in a manner that might have seemed inappropriate to anyone but Jessie. She just stomped around near the doorway and muttered things about "that bitch" while wringing her hands and shaking her head. Both Rhett and Jessie had taken offense to the act Christy had been caught doing, and though Jessie had been more forgiving with time due to the circumstances of Christy being her friend, Rhett was truly loyal to Link and hated anyone that hurt him. He still vowed to find the man that had been pounding Link's wife, and give him a pounding of his very own that wouldn't be as nice.

"Yeah, thanks again." Link mumbled.

"Look, Link, I know why you're doing it, okay. I know you agreed that you'd try to make things work because of the kids. I'd probably do the same thing. I know you love them, I love Locke and Shepherd as much as you love Lily, Lincoln, and Lando..."

"Where you going with this man, ain't I had enough for today?" Link smacked a hand on his desk, and a few pencils rolled away in protest. It was always the same. They'd start talking, and Link would feel the anxiety creep back up his spine like a bunch of tiny spiders. Any mention of his children, any mention of how this might affect them and Link's innards turned an icy cold.

Rhett blinked a few times before replying, "What do you think the kids are thinking when Daddy ain't talked to Mommy in months? You ain't even been home two months yet, and already Lily and Lincoln are asking Jessie if they can come over every weekend because they can't stand seeing you and Christy in the same room as each other."

Link had stayed with Rhett for about two months, taking up in the finished basement that Rhett had made into a sort of game room. At first, he had ignored Christy's calls, and she didn't dare show up at Rhett's front door. She did drop the kids off from time to time on her own accord, Link thought Jessie might have had something to do with that, but for a solid month, Link didn't have any contact with his wife. He didn't know what to say to her, and part of him was scared that when he did finally confront her, regardless of the infidelity, the ambiguous loss of what his life with her was would consume him.

His kids didn't ask questions, though the two oldest ones seemed angrier at him than usual. They still came around, but Lincoln especially had taken to being on his phone during visits. Once Lincoln stopped coming all together, that was when he finally decided to hear Christy out. She had begged and pleaded with him when he had arranged to meet with her, and she cried knowing that it could be the end. At first, he was unmoving, but months spent in Rhett's basement had made his heart grow lonelier, and now he was taking up residence on the couch in his living room. He had told Christy he would try but had made no promises to her about working it out definitely.

Link felt his eyes grow moist, "I don't know what you want me to say. I, I know I've gotta talk to the kids, man, but..." his eyes dried up, "...I mean what if we work it out? Then we got the kids scared for why?"

"You really think Y'all are gonna work this out?" Rhett looked skeptical, "I know you brother, I know you..."

"I mean, I can try right?"

There was a bought of silence and a look that passed between the two friends before Rhett slowly nodded and sifted through some papers that sat on his desk.

"You can try," he repeated for Link, effectively ending the conversation before he wound up on his knees cradling the bespectacled man again. "But for now, I need you to focus okay? We need to go shoot."

Link gave a small nod before sifting through the papers on his own desk, going over the notes for today's sketch again. He really tried to focus, he did, but the conversation was still fresh in his mind. There was still so much he wasn't sure about. He didn't have the gull to ask Christy the details of her cheating and he wasn't sure he wanted to know them. He had thought it all through, had hoped it was a one-time thing and not an affair, but the truth was that Link couldn't handle the truth and still stick around to look at her face every day.

A big hand on his shoulder brought Link back to the present, and he glanced up into Rhett's face. "You okay man?"

Link pulled up the corner of his mouth gratefully, but he knew it didn't reach his eyes. "No, but I guess I gotta be right?" He pushed up and stretched, getting ready to follow Rhett out of their office and into the hall.

Noah watched them come down the stairs into the basement. She has sitting opposite Stevie, and she had the day's list of "to-do's" in her lap. She was a writer for the show, and they were shooting one of her ideas so she had a front row seat. She also helped Jen run the social media accounts, sharing that task, and therefore making her a part of More on occasion.

From her seat, she had the perfect view, and when Rhett and Link came into the light, she felt her heart beat with one big THUMP before settling back down in her chest. He had been thinking about it again, she could tell. When Rhett had come into work alone a few months back, and had told them all that Link was taking a couple days off, she had known something was up right away. It wasn't like either of the men to not give a reason as to why they couldn't work. Rhett had told them all that something personal was keeping Link down for awhile, but he hadn't gone into details not wanting to upset the crew.

They had let it slide the first few days, but when a fourth day came and there was no brunette half of the duo to be seen, the crew started making assumptions of their own. The big man obliged when they had asked what was going on, knowing that everyone cared about his best friend too. They had been furious, and Link knew they were aware when he finally returned the following week. He addressed them and made it clear he was going to be fine, nobody believed him, and nobody talked about it anymore...at least not in front of him.

Noah would have went to Link herself, asking if he was okay and offering him comfort, but something felt weird about that. She had felt like that would have been a big ol' boundary crossed, regardless of their suedo friendship at work. Noah had been pleasantly surprised when Link had sought her out to confide in just a week ago, though she secretly thought he might have been looking for Jen and had stumbled upon her instead.

It had been the first real time in the year she had been working for them that she had a real one on one talk with the bespectacled half of her bosses. Sure, they had talked here and there and had even eaten lunch with one another a handful of times, but Link had never opened up to her in such a personal way before; tears brimming his blue eyes and making them shine brighter than any blue she had seen before. She hated seeing the permanent pink lining Link's eyes but what could she do?

So for now she regressed to staring at him as he plopped down at the desk behind the camera, brainstorming ways to make him feel better. Noah knew how it felt. Maybe not to the extent that Link knew, but she knew the pain of a cheating spouse. Her last two boyfriends had cheated on her. The most recent one, Dominic, had done it continuously for 2 years as she continued to forgive him for God only knows why. Promises of better tomorrows, she supposed, but better tomorrows had never come.

Link braved the camera and put on a smile for all of the Beasts. The filming of the show went off without a hitch, and Noah was glad that the episode was a game and had distracted Link. For a brief moment the pain had even left his eyes when Rhett had to take a mousetrap to the palm, and then he had to follow suit only to end up getting it a lot worse on the thumb. Now they were sitting behind the same desk, sans mousetraps thanks to Chase and a quick clean-up break, as the wheel spun and the duo cracked pun after pun. Link's eyes slowly filled with that pain again, but Noah knew no one watching would notice.

The wheel came to a stop and Rhett visibly blanched at the suggestion listed on the blue triangle. He hesitated for a moment before reading it out-loud.

"Rhett and Link become their wives."

Link's face hardened, and Noah saw the twitch in his jaw. She sat forward in her chair, nearly reaching out to him before Stevie spoke up, drawing attention to herself.

"We don't have to use that take."

"Yeah, we can always spin it again," Rhett chimed in.

"Eddie, I thought you edited the wheel..." someone behind Noah started to say.

"...It can be edited to look like one shot," Stevie interrupted.

Finally, Link seemed to register what was being said as he looked between the crew members and Rhett.

"No, I can do it." He stated simply, but Noah saw the micro twitch that matched the twitch in his eye. She stood up, drawing Stevie's attention for a second before Rhett talking made her look back.

"You sure?" he asked, concerned for his best friend. Link only nodded before leaning back in his chair. Noah shuffled a step forward, ready for the pin to drop. She had seen Link ready to explode before, though it was rare to witness in the office.

"I'm sure," he glanced at the crew again, his eyes raking over Noah just a fraction longer than everyone else as she stood just behind and to the right of the camera. "Keep rolling, I can be Christie. I just need to pretend like I'm fucking someone behind my husband's back..."

The collection of responses all garbled together as Noah let out a breath she hadn't even known she had been holding.

"Cut!" She yelled, even though it wasn't her job. Stevie seemed to agree because she motioned for Eddie, Morgan, Ben, and Casey to listen.

Link pushed himself away from the desk, chair clattering to the floor as he stalked across the room and out the door. The crew had gone silent, but the elephant in the room was suffocating them all. The crew knew, but hearing Link so upset and seeing the way he was still in pain made them all feel for their boss. They all cared about him.

"Go do something else," Rhett spoke to the crew standing around the room, muffled by his head resting in his hands.

Nobody questioned Rhett. Nobody pummeled him with questions, and nobody argued with him, especially when it came to Link.

"Do you need anything?" Chase asked, garnering a quick shake of the head, before he followed his crew mates out the door. Noah hadn't moved, and neither had Stevie.

The two women shared a look before Noah sighed heavily, hanging her head. She made to start walking toward the door.

"We should have just had you re-spin the wheel," Stevie tried, not garnering a response from Rhett. He sat stoic, hands clasped together with his elbows on the desk, head resting on his knuckles. The only thing moving were his eyes, zipping back in forth like he was deep in thought.

"You can fix that, right?" Stevie asked, directing her attention to Noah, effectively stopping her from leaving the filming set.

"Fix what?" Fix the take? Fix Link? Fix everything?

"The take," Stevie stood, walking behind Rhett and picking up the toppled chair, setting it up-right before taking a seat.

"I mean, of course, I can get Morgan to fix it. This will put us behind almost a half day of shooting but when Link is ready we can..."

"Ridiculous," Rhett finally leaned back in his chair, cutting Noah off. "He doesn't deserve all this crap." Rhett shared a glance with the two women, and although he didn't say specifically, they both knew exactly what he was talking about and nodded in agreement. Noah felt out of place, but she stayed rooted to her spot under the heavy stare of the bearded man.

"I mean," Rhett continued, "more than a decade of being married...she hasn't had to work in over six years, he's done it all; put a good roof over her head, kept her in nice clothes and eatin' good."

Noah expected this was one of those moments when Rhett just needed to vent. She felt like she was intruding on an intimate moment, but not unwelcomed. She'd met Rhett and Link a year ago when she'd graduated from the University of Pittsburgh and had moved to LA to pursue a career in production. They'd been so impressed with her internship after only two months that they had offered her a permanent gig, so she had grown fond of both of her bosses. This, though, felt like a shift in her relationship with both Rhett and Stevie as they let her witness this moment.

"He's always puttin' everyone else in front of himself, especially Christy and what's she go an' do?" Rhett sat back with a huff, grabbing his mug too firmly and taking a large drink from it.

Stevie rested a hand on Rhett's flannelled back, rubbing small soothing circles against the fabric and sinews of his muscled shoulders.

"Can you go check on him please?" Rhett's attention was focused back on Noah as she twirled a piece of her strawberry hair.

"I, I mean," Rhett wanted her to go find Link? She wasn't even sure where he would've gone or if he would want to be found. Rhett's gaze was intense, and even though Noah thought maybe he should be the one to go find Link, she didn't think she could tell him no. "Yeah, yes. I'll find him."

*15 minutes later*

"I didn't know you smoked," Noah approached the tall man. She had found him hiding out in the back parking lot, safely out of view.

He didn't startle, but her presence made his shoulders tense as he puffed a cloud of grey smoke into the already smoggy California air.

"I don't," he replied, studying the glowing tip of the cancer stick rolling around two of his fingers.

"Me neither," Noah responded, plucking the cigarette from Link's hand and placing it between her berry stained lips. She took a drag, hating how it tasted and coughing immediately before throwing the stick on the ground and digging it out with the toe of her all-stars.

Link only pursed his lips and dug his hands into his pockets.

"Rhett send you?"

Noah moved into the shade coming from the studio to avoid some of the stifling heat radiating from the concrete and sun. "He just wants to make sure you're alright."

"He knows I am." Link huffed, "I just, I don't know. It gets overwhelming sometimes you know?"

He was facing her now, left shoulder leaning against the pale brick wall. Noah hadn't known how Link would take her finding him, but he seemed comfortable enough. This was the second time in just as many weeks that they had found themselves alone when Link's emotional state was questionable.

"That why you're smoking?" she asked, shifting to her other foot. He smirked.

"I just thought I would try it. A lot of people smoke when they're stressed..."

"...nasty habit..."

"...I know, I know..."

"You'll be stinky all the time."

Link actually smiled at her use of the word "stinky". It seemed so juvenile and for a second the humor of her words shivered over him.

"Stinky?" he couldn't help the laugh that accompanied his question.

Noah shrugged, but Link could tell she hadn't been offended by the way the corners of her mouth quirked up. He appreciated her checking up on him, and even more so that she seemed to lighten the mood a bit. He told her so and watched as she shrugged a slim shoulder.

"I'm not making smoking a habit," he told her after a moment.

"You can do whatever you wa..."

"No, no I can't. I mean", it was Link's turn to shrug, "I guess I can, but there are better ways to deal with the the...freaking stress of everything. Something that won't make me so 'stinky'."

Noah could see the lines form between his brows again.

"I'm, I'm sorry...Link. I just, I'm sorry."

His blue eyes locked onto her wide green ones. Link seemed to study her for a minute, and she let him. She really was sorry, and by the way, his eyes bore into hers she knew that he could tell it wasn't because she called him stinky. Getting to know bits and pieces of Link, she could tell he wasn't a bad man. Sure, he was a little neurotic at times but he treated everyone fairly and did his best to take care of those dear to him. He was loyal, kind, and such a hard worker. Noah just couldn't understand why someone would want to hurt him the way his wife had. Then again, she was all of those things too, and she had been hurt the same way before.

Finally, Link pushed off the wall just as Noah thought the moment might have been growing too intense for her.

"Come on," he said simply, "let's get back to work."

Noah might have thought she angered him if the smirk on his face wasn't there and the lines on his forehead smoothed out. She followed him step for step back toward the big silver door that led inside, waiting as he dialed in the code and pulled it open, stepping back so she could enter first.

"Thank you," he almost whispered at the same time she started thanking him for getting the door.

She smiled at him again, "Anytime, Link."

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