A/N: Sorry I took so long for the next chapter...I thought I'd have time to write at camp, but...hah...nope, was definitely wrong there! Anyways, here it is...

Chapter 2: Time for a Change

Looking at the clock as she bustled about the reception area, Lee noticed that it was still only 3:25 in the afternoon. She gathered her coat in her arms, glanced once more down the hall to Edward's office (nope, still with his client) and departed through the front door into the gleaming sunshine.

Squinting in the bright daylight as her eyes adjusted, Lee began walking in the direction of home. She could have waited and gotten a ride home with Edward in the car, but she enjoyed these peaceful solitary walks. The leafy green corridor reminded her of the part of her life when freedom and contentment were entirely new to her, born out of strolls such as this through Hawkins Park on equally sunny afternoons.

She smiled as she walked along, taking in deep breaths of the air. It had rained while she'd been at work, and now the air was fresh and almost cool. She brushed the blooming pink blossoms from the small grove of orange trees she passed every day, delighted at their fragrance. Closing her eyes for extended periods of time, Lee let her mind wander as her feet treaded the familiar sidewalks, guided simply by habit and memory.

Slowly opening her eyes, Lee noticed a figure leaning up against one of the tall wooden fences in the path before her.

"Lee. I thought you'd be along this path at some point today. Escaping…hubby dearest?"

Oh no… she thought. How did he…

Dark brown curls, neatly trimmed facial hair and baggy clothes. She ignored the last part of his comment.

"Peter, what are you doing?"

She stopped directly in front of him, her stance defensive with arms crossed over her chest. Something was wrong – Peter was not usually cofrontational like this.

"So standing is a criminal offence now. Wow, you've been learning a lot being that lawyer's slave, haven't you?"

His eyes reflected the pain in his voice, which dripped with the disgust he had for hers and Edward's relationship. Even after ten months he was still hostile. His head drooped,

"You were supposed to be mine." He muttered, half to her and half to his sneakers.

Shaking her head, Lee replied, "What do you want me to say, Peter? I should have just ignored my own feelings and married you anyways? What kind of life do you think that would be, for the both of us?"

She paused, staring at the top of his head as he continued to stare at the ground between them.

"You know what? Screw it." He looked up, anger flashing across his features, making them ugly and twisted. "You have issues, Lee, huge issues. You're a… a freak! You're an embarrassment to your family, you humiliated my family, and humiliated me… you don't deserve to be happy. They should put you back in that hospital."

Lee's eyes narrowed at him; worry and rage battling for a place in her mind. In the end, she just had to walk away as fast as her heels could take her.

"Yeah, that's right. Keep walking! You just know that I'm right! You're going to end up back in there eventually. Don't you see?" Peter bellowed after her.

Looking over her shoulder at him, Lee shouted back, "No Peter. You're the one with issues. And I'm sick of dealing with them. That's why I'm walking away!"

As she rounded the corner onto the street that hers and Edward's home was on, Lee's ears were met by the weight of Peter's silence at her reply to him. She shook her head and walked on, troubled deeply by the person Peter had become; the one she had helped to make him become.

As his last client of the day walked out the door, Edward Grey ran a world weary hand over his face. His tiny little law office had been particularly dull the past few weeks, and he found himself wishing for the atmosphere of the bustling downtown firm he had once belonged to.

He no longer had to worry about fighting and losing to Tricia O'Connor for the top positions and cases – she had her own practice now. Maybe it was time for a bit of a change…for him, and it would be good for Lee too…

After they had gotten married, Lee had decided that she wanted to continue her job as his secretary, to both of their delight and contentment. His old replacement for Lee, Melissa, had been told of the fate of Edward's prior secretaries, and hadn't returned to work after Lee's "hunger strike" had ended. Edward had mailed Melissa her severance check, and work had returned to be much like it had been before – but different in one distinct way: He was happy. He could tell that Lee was thrilled that they had continued their little office games, and seeing her happy satisfied him greatly.

And so life had gone on this way for a glorious ten months. They had enjoyed their first Christmas together, with an absolutely enormous live tree decorated with bright multicoloured lights and ornaments. The tree also came with the extraordinary mess of loose pine needles everywhere, which he suspected that Lee had shaken more of off the tree on purpose to irk him into reprimanding her (it had worked).

They had mostly kept to themselves; occasionally having Lee's parents over for dinner, who Edward got aong with pretty well. However, her sister and brother-in-law had always refused to accompany them, and didn't really speak much to Lee anymore.

Edward felt the need for something new to happen, and he felt that Lee would agree. He nodded resolutely to himself as he picked up his brief case and walked out of his office to the black Pontiac parked in the driveway of the dreary little building. He would pick up a dinner from their favourite restaurant, and discuss his thoughts with her over dinner. A soft smile curled his lips as he got into the car. He would likely never be ordering a meal for one from Pasta Vino ever again.

As Edward walked through the open front door of their house, he looked around for Lee. She usually sat waiting for him on the lounger on the front porch, or stood by the door to surprise him as he walked in. Today, she was nowhere to be seen.

"Lee? Lee, my pet, where are you?" He called, his voice tinged with slight confusion and the beginnings of worry.

"Here. In the bedroom."

Her reply came faintly through the house, virtually devoid of emotion or tonality. Edward placed the pizza and garlic bread he had picked up for them onto the kitchen table, and jogged to the room, fearing the worst. He hadn't found her this way in ages…but she couldn't have done it…he'd forbidden her from doing it almost two years ago…

As he burst into the sparsely decorated room, he found her sitting on the bed, hands folded neatly in her lap, staring with an empty gaze at the blood red wall, as he had done so many lonely nights before they were together. She looked lost…her eyes disturbed him the most, conjuring images to his mind of how she had been when she had first become his secretary.

"What happened?" He asked gently as he sat next to her and took one of her hands in both of his. She looked at him, almost mournfully, and sighed.

"I ran into Peter today." She stated, deadpan. Recognition began to dawn on Edward.

"And what could he possibly say to you that has you so devastated?"

She looked down at their hands, now intertwined, and then looked up into his inquiring hazel eyes as she began to speak.

"He told me…that I was a freak, and an embarrassment, and that I have issues and will end up back in the institution." She laughed at this mirthlessly. Edward smiled gently, squeezing her hand. "And this upset you because…?"

"It's not really what he said that bothers me, because I know he's just being intentionally bitter and horrible."

Edward let out a short laugh at this; he'd slightly underestimated her resilience to criticism and scrutiny. His shoulders relaxed.

"What bothers me," she continued, "is how…angry and cruel he was acting. He was never like that before. And now I'm worried that I broke him…pushed him over the edge. What if he does something to someone else… what if he does something to himself? It would be my fault. All my fault." She trailed off, and a tear ran down her cheek as she shook her head, as if trying to dislodge the guilt that she felt from her mind.

Edward wiped the tear away with a finger and then cupped her face in his hands, lightly kissing her forehead.

"You know better than that Lee. It's not your fault. You did what was right for you, and if he couldn't see that, and couldn't admit that the two of you were not meant to be, then he is the one with greater issues to deal with. Maybe you should tell your parents to keep an eye on him, to let his parents know as well. That's all we can do, my pet. Any other attempts on our part might just end up making the situation worse."

Edward stroked her chestnut hair with one hand, and she closed her eyes, leaning into his other hand more firmly.

"Let's go and eat, Lee. I dropped by Pasta Vino and picked up our favourite pizza." Lee smiled at this, and gave him a quick little kiss. They stood up and he led her by the hand to the kitchen, sitting her down at the table and letting her open up the boxes as he rummaged around the fridge for drinks for each of them.

As they sat eating their pizza, Edward decided it was as good a time as any to bring up his ideas to Lee.

"I was thinking that maybe it was time for a change for the two of us, and now your little encounter today with Peter just reinforced that."

Chewing thoughtfully, Lee tilted her head as she peered curiously at him, waiting for him to continue.

"I've been thinking a lot lately that I would like to get back into the faster paced law practice that I would get at a larger firm. I want to get back into the bigger cases; criminal and civil cases, instead of just the petty little divorce cases and the like that we deal with now." He paused to gauge her reaction. Lee just continued to munch on her pizza, waiting to hear the entire plan.

"So, I would like us to move downtown and work at my old law firm, Thompson & Clark."

Lee mulled this over, smiling. "So, I'd still be your secretary, right?"

"Well, not exactly." Edward ran a hand through his hair. "I think I have a better idea."

Lee arched an eyebrow at him before replying suspiciously.

"Which is…?"

Edward smirked mischievously. "Well, I was thinking that after taking a few courses, you could become my personal, private paralegal."

Lee's mouth dropped open in disbelief.

"You've just learned so much over the past year, I think you'd be great at it! What do you think, pet?" He asked her.

Hesitating only a moment, Lee smiled and replied, "When do we leave?"

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TBC… hopefully sooner than later! I'll be at school now...so lots of time for procrastinaton and writing instead of, you know...school things.

*EDIT* I have cleared up some things in this chapter and I'm working on the next one FINALLY!!!! It should be up soon, I promise! Enjoy the minor editing of this chapter...I didn't change much, but I think it's better.