Spoilers: up to end of Season 2.
A/N: Betaread by the brilliant fififolle.
Stephen knows he broke the rules, but Helen was worth it right then.
It's over eight years later that he realises it's no longer true.
He'd had his excuses then, but they feel weak on his tongue as he tries to voice them again and Nick isn't listening anyway, hasn't wanted to the last ten times either. Abby brushes past him too, giving him the cold shoulder in support of Nick.
He remembers Helen's voice purring in his ear, "No one gets harmed," but looking at the results with the truth exposed it's more a case of who didn't. Helen's the only one to whom the rules don't seem to apply. He can't decide if she's lucky to be out of it all, incapable of caring about the pain it caused after a decade, but then he remembers why it was she bothered. She likes to pretend she's pulling the strings, mastermind of the game but she's not free of consequences of her other actions. It wasn't just what they did that brought this on them, it was what they didn't do, time after time, a secret kept and a love she never gave up. A love who wasn't him despite what she had said – the rules seem to be Helen hurts and so everyone else must hurt too.