Staying the night at Tasha's always made Lux feel better when Cate and Ryan were fighting. That seemed to be all they did lately. Yell, slam doors, have angry sex, then yell and slam doors again. And going to Baze's wasn't much help either. He was never there and she really couldn't stand to be alone right now. She had to be with someone all the time in order to keep from thinking about everything that happened last week. How was she going to explain all of this to Eric? The test results, the stroke, the car wreck? Would he ever forgive her for lying to him?

Her head was whirling when Tasha came back in the living room. "Hello, Earth to Lux? Do you want popcorn with this flick or what?"

"Um, yeah, sorry, I guess I spaced for a minute."

"A minute? You've been mentally MIA for a few days now. Is everything okay?" Tasha asked like nothing had happened. Could she really just go on about her day when their entire world could be ripped apart at any minute?

"Definitely not okay. Not only could we be in major trouble for bashing my former foster dad in the head with a shovel, which he is hospitalized right now by the way, but also I'm hiding everything that happened from Eric. I still haven't told him about the MRI and the…"

"Stroke." Tasha finished what Lux couldn't bring herself to say out loud. "Look Lux, I'm not worried about what happened this weekend because it was purely self defense. He had no reason to grab you like that. You didn't attack him or threaten him. He was the same asshole he was when you lived there. And if it becomes a legal issue, then we'll face it together just like we always do." She was trying to be reassuring but there was a really good chance that things could get extremely messy and she knew that. Especially once Cate and Baze found out. Lux had been lying to them for so long now that it was completely exhausting. She didn't even know what things she'd lied about and what things she'd told the truth about anymore.

"And as far as telling Eric about the MRI, which is what led to the rest of the mess in the first place, that's between you two. But if you really care about him as much as you say you do, you need to tell him, and not later, now. It's only fair that if there's even the slightest complication and something like that could happen again, he needs to know about it." She was suddenly very pushy about the topic, but she was right. "And even though I don't like the situation, I know you well enough to know that once you set your mind to something, there's nothing anyone can do to stop you. If you're going to have a real relationship with him, he needs to know."

"I guess you're right. It came up in the hallway the other day, but I didn't want to get into with him there. I would have just broken down crying and he wouldn't have been able to comfort me. Not only that, but Sam was there, too. He knows about me and Eric and I'm not entirely sure how to deal with that either." The more she kept talking the more overwhelmed she was getting. How did things spin so out of control?

"We can deal with Sam. Blackmail him to keep his mouth shut or something. But right now, sitting here contemplating what to do isn't helping the situation. Go talk to Eric."

"I guess. I'll see him at tutoring tomorrow…" She started thinking about how to explain things to him without breaking down completely.

"No, not tomorrow, not at school, you need to talk to him tonight. Face to face. Call him." She was majorly persistent.

"I don't even know what he's doing. I can't just call and demand that he come meet me. And we'd have to go somewhere…"

She cut her off, "Stop making lame excuses. This is important Lux." She picked up Lux's phone and scrolled down to Minnesota, then pressed send and held it up to Lux's ear. Before she could stop her, he answered.

"Lux, what's going on?" He asked, he already sounded worried. It was starting to get late and it was a school night. Unfortunately her brain and her mouth weren't working together and nothing came out when she tried. "Lux, are you there?" He asked again.

"Yeah, sorry. Are you busy? I really need to talk to you." She said looking at Tasha as she mouthed the words for her since her brain couldn't function properly.

"No, it's cool. What's up?" He wanted to do this on the phone. There was no way she could explain everything like this. She motioned to Tasha.

"Tell him you need to see him." She whispered. Lux nodded as if she was coherent enough to realize what she was saying.

"Um actually, is there any way you could meet me? It's kind of important." She was trying not to freak him out and also trying to go through a good meeting place to meet in her head. There shouldn't be too many people out tonight. It was almost eleven.

"Yeah, I can do that. Lux, you're scaring me. Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, I mean, I just really need to see you." She switched on her sweet voice, hoping it was convincing.

"So this is just a late night ploy to see my smiling face?" He was flirting, it was too cute and Lux fell right into it in order to cover up her real motive.

"Busted, you caught me. Meet at the park beside Tasha's? I don't think there will be anyone out this late tonight."

"Yeah, the usual spot. I'll be there in about 10 minutes." She hung up the phone and let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

"Everything is going to be fine, Lux." Tasha used her reassuring voice again, but this time it wasn't so confident.