A/N: I usually don't like leaving chapters on cliffhangers like the last one, but I had got the urge to be evil and make you guys wait to see what was next. As for this chapter, well lets just say my evil thoughts trickled over into it a bit. So I'm gonna say a quick thank you for all the love and let you get to it, I know I've made you wait long enough already! Let me know what you think, and enjoy!

Alex would be lying if he said he didn't feel something the first time he met his wife. He was at a bar with his old buddy Jamie, the two of them were off base for the night. Luckily for them the bartender had a sweet spot for marines, not only giving them drinks while they were underage but also going half priced. About four drinks in she walked through the door. Alex hadn't even realized he was staring at her till Jamie slapped his arm, telling him to stop drooling over his sister. As the night went on and more drinks were poured they couldn't stop talking, it was probably from all the booze but he felt like they hit it off. Not wanting to send her brother and his cute friend back to their camp plastered she offered to let them come to the hotel she was staying at. Jamie passed out on the couch not long after they got there and Alex ended up alone with her in the bedroom. The next morning when he woke up he wasn't even sure where he was till he saw her again, the memories from the night before flooding back to him. He did regret it, it was his friend's sister after all. But she told Alex she already spoke with Jamie and he gave them the okay to date, knowing Alex was a good guy. When Alex thought about that he always wondered if he would think the same thing about him now.

"Norma, who is it?" Alex asked, joining her out in the foyer as he dried his hands off on his shirt. Any look of happiness vanishing when he looked out the door and saw who was outside. "Jenny?" He asked, dropping his hands to his sides.

"Hey honey." She said, not sounding all that happy either.

"What-" Alex started to say, glancing at Norma a second before stepping closer to them. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to speak with you." Jennifer said, giving a sideways glare to Norma. "Privately."

"I'll get out of your way." Norma said, starting to walk off when Alex pulled her back to where she had been standing.

"No, you can stay." Alex said, looking back at his wife. "You can leave. I don't want to hear anything you have to say."

"Why do you always have to be like this?" Jennifer asked, rolling her eyes at him.

"Why do I have to be like this?" Alex said, raising his voice.

Norma stood between them frozen, feeling like the filling in an awkward sandwich. "Okay, I know you said I could stay, but I gotta get to the library before they close anyways. So I'm just gonna scoot past you here." She said, slipping past his wife and breaking away into freedom.

Alex looked past her as Norma left, feeling bad for scaring her off while they had been having a good time. He shook his head and looked back at his wife. "What do you want?"

"Can I at least come inside?" Jennifer asked then he held up his hand, gesturing for her to enter the house. "Thank you." She said, walking inside while he shut the door behind her. "Wow, this place looks exactly the same."

"How about you cut the small talk and tell me what you are really doing here."

"Not even a hello?"

"Jennifer." He warned.

"Fine. You want to know why I'm here?" She said, switching to a serious tone. "You just left. In the middle of the night you packed your bags and you left. What did you expect me to do?"

"Move on, I doubt you'd have any problem with that."

"Come on Alex, don't be like this."

"Why not? You don't think I deserve to be pissed off right now?"

"You can be as mad as you want to be, but I am still your wife and you have to at least talk to me."

"We already talked, and I told you everything I needed to say."

"No I talked, you yelled. That is not the way you have a conversation. I told you I wanted to work things out, I said we could start counseling or take a trip or anything that could fix us but you wouldn't hear it. You ran away at the first sign of trouble, then to top it off you don't even have the guts to give me divorce papers in person, you have someone I don't even know drop them off."

"I didn't want to fix things, I want it to be over. I want there to be a day where I don't have to see you, or think about you, or worry about what you could be doing. I just want you out of my life."

"You can't decide it's over, I have a say in this too. You have always done this. You make up your own mind and screw the rest of us, who cares what we think."

Alex stepped closer to her, talking in almost a whisper. "There is no one else around, let's stop pretending I'm the reason this marriage fell apart."

"I made a mistake, and if you would have let me explain you'd know that. But it doesn't erase the fact that we made promises to each other. Our marriage has to mean enough to you to at least try."

"You wanna talk to me about promises? What about our promise to remain faithful to each other, huh? Because that one sure as hell didn't matter when you fucked another guy." He yelled, his words looking like a sharp stab in the gut to her.

Alex didn't care that it was his house they were standing in or that he could have forced her to leave. He just stormed out the front door and slammed it behind him, leaving her inside. Once he got outside he took a deep breath, trying to pull himself together before he broke everything in his sight. He sat down on the front steps, shoving his face into his palms.

"Alex, you alright?"

Alex looked up and saw Norma standing in front of him. "I ah- I thought you were going to the library."

"I was. Then I got a couple blocks down when I realized I didn't have my library card, or my shoes." Norma said then he looked down at her bare feet, letting out a soft chuckle. She smiled at him then walked over and sat beside him on the stairs. "What are you doing out here?"

"Hiding."

"From your wife?"

"Yeah."

"She didn't look all that scary."

"Well wait till sundown, that's when the fangs come out."

Norma smiled then looked over at him. "What is she doing here?"

"The other day I had divorce papers sent to her. I didn't actually tell her about them though."

"Why did she come then, didn't she want a divorce?"

"No." Alex said, shaking his head. "She wanted to keep trying. I'm the one who gave up."

"You must have had a good reason then." Norma said, putting a hand on his back. Alex went to speak when the front door opened up, making them both turn their heads.

Jennifer looked them over, her tearful eyes dropping to where Norma's hand was resting on her husband. "Sorry to interrupt, I was going to go for a walk." She said, hurrying past them with a sniffle.

"Jenny." Alex said, hopping up to chase after her and leaving Norma alone on the steps. "Wait up." He said, finally catching up to her near the neighbors house.

"Leave me alone Alex." She said, continuing to walk forward without looking back at him.

"Just stop." He said, putting his hand on her shoulder which she promptly shoved away. "What's wrong? Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?"

"Why?" She said, turning back to him. "Because I see why you are so against trying to make things work with me. You already moved onto someone new."

"What are you talking about?"

"Cute little blonde, blue eyes. You really hit the jackpot there, didn't you?"

"You mean Norma? We're not together." Alex said, noticing she still wasn't fully believing him. "She's a kid that was already staying with my dad when I got here."

"What is going on then? Why are you even here living with your father? You told me you were never going to talk to him again."

"I didn't have a choice, I had nowhere else to go."

"You could have stayed at home."

"That place is not a home, not anymore."

Jennifer paused, thinking for a moment before she started crying. "I'm sorry, I am so sorry." She said, pulling him into a hug.

Alex stood with his hands by his sides. He started to lift an arm up then stopped himself, knowing he couldn't comfort her after everything. "I know." He said simply.

"I should not have come here, it was a stupid idea. When I heard your voice over the phone yesterday I shouldn't have hung up, I could have just talked to you and then I wouldn't have wasted a trip." Jennifer said, pulling away from him. "I'll just- I'll leave town first thing in the morning." She said, beginning to walk away.

"Jennifer." He said, making her stop and turn back to him. "Where are you staying tonight?"

"I rented a car. The front seats go most of the way back."

"It's dropping under fifty degrees tonight."

"I'll be fine."

"You wear a jacket in the dead of summer, you are going to freeze."

"I don't have any other options right now, I used the last of my money to come here."

Alex exhaled, looking back at the house. "My dad doesn't have any more spare rooms, but he never uses his office anymore."

"Are you asking me to stay at your dad's place with you?"

"You won't be with me, this isn't going to be like last time."

"Okay." She said, following him back to the house.

When they got back inside Alex nodded up the stairs. "You remember what room it is?"

"Yeah. And don't worry, I'll keep to myself while I'm here." She said, walking upstairs and leaving him in the foyer.

Alex watched her and thought to himself about how big of a mistake he was probably making. He got pulled out of his thoughts when he heard noises out in the kitchen, remembering that him and Norma were making dinner. He walked out into the kitchen and looked at her rolling out the dough on the counter. "I'm sorry for the spontaneous break in our economics cooking lesson."

"That's alright, no big deal." Norma said, not looking back at him.

"Jennifer didn't have anywhere to go so she's going to stay in my dad's office tonight, she's leaving tomorrow."

"Okay."

"That's okay with you, right?"

"It doesn't matter, it's not my house."

"It matters." Alex said, walking over beside her as she kept her eyes on what she was doing. "I don't want you do be uncomfortable."

"Why would I be uncomfortable?"

"Because, she's someone you don't know staying here."

"I didn't know you two weeks ago, or your dad a few months before that. I think I can handle her."

"Alright, just so you're fine with it." Alex said and Norma nodded. "So before, out on the step I was about to tell you-" He started saying then she cut him off.

"Don't worry about it Alex. I don't need to hear your business anymore than you need to hear mine. Remember we aren't trying to fix each other here."

"Okay." Alex said, a little surprised in her change of mood. "So I guess we should get back to it then?"

"Fillings over there." She said, nodding toward the bowl. "Don't get anymore gravy on my book."

Alex walked over to where Norma had been set up then looked over at her. "Hey Norma?"

"Yeah?" She said, looking over at him.

"You smashed a pea in your textbook." He said, holding up the green mush.

Norma glanced at it and laughed. "Okay, next time we will skip the multitasking."

After dinner was all finished and they were done eating Alex went upstairs to his room for the night, not wanting to do much of anything. Norma had offered to clean up and was working on dishes when she thought she heard someone behind her, looking back to see Jennifer standing outside the kitchen.

"Oh my god." Norma said, jumping when she saw her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Jennifer said, walking into the room.

"Oh, it's alright. I'm just used to hearing Alex and David walk around, you're so quiet."

"I know what you mean. They thud around like elephants that just escaped from the zoo." She said, smiling at Norma. "I didn't realize anyone was still down here. I heard doors closing upstairs and figured I was clear to head down here and look for something to eat."

"That was Alex, he went to bed already."

"He would never sleep this early, it's just his way of avoiding me." She said then looked at Norma. "Sorry. I do this annoying thing where I say my thoughts out loud."

"Don't worry about it, I do the same thing sometimes."

"So how long have you been living here?"

"I got here in early June, so a little over three months."

"David got you in the guest room?"

"Yeah, it's the one across from Alex's room."

"Oh I know, I was here once before."

"Oh yeah, I knew that." Norma said, silently cursing herself for getting so flustered around this woman.

"And how old are you? If you don't mind me asking."

"Seventeen."

"Ah senior year, that's a tough one."

"It hasn't been too bad. I'm having a little trouble with my school work, but Alex is helping me." 'Geez, stop bringing up Alex' Norma thought to herself after speaking.

"That's nice of him. The guys haven't been giving you a hard time?"

"Not always." Norma said with a chuckle. "David's never here much, but when he is he always asks me about how things are going."

"You spend a lot of time with Alex then?"

"Some. I've been teaching him how to cook in exchange for the homework help."

"Alex cooking? That's a sight to see."

"So far he's got chopping and mixing down, we're still working on dough making." Norma said, smiling at the thought of him earlier with it all stuck to his hands.

"If you're hanging out I suppose he's told you some bad things about me."

"No, he hasn't."

"It's okay, you don't have to lie."

"I'm not. The only thing he said is that you wanted to try to make things work and he gave up. Nothing bad about you."

"Oh, I had just assumed he had told you stuff." Jennifer said, feeling odd for even bringing it up. "Well I guess I should make some food and get out of your hair."

"I'm going upstairs anyways, gotta finish up some more homework." Norma said, picking up her textbook and putting it back into her backpack. "There is leftover turkey pot pie in the fridge if you're interested, feel free to take as much as you want."

"Thank you." Jennifer said then Norma flung her backpack over her shoulder and left the room.

Early in the morning just before the sun had started to rise Alex woke up, feeling the weight of someone sitting on the side of his bed. In his half asleep state he didn't think much of it until he felt fingertips tracing his bare back, looking up to see who it was.

"Jennifer." He said, moving away from her and covering himself up with his blanket like she had never seen him shirtless before. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Waking you up."

"I can see that, but why?"

"Because I needed to talk to you." She said then Alex looked over at the clock that read a little before five.

"It's five in the morning, you couldn't have waited till I was actually awake."

"You were always at your calmest state when you had just woken up."

"Trust me, I'm far from calm right now."

"If that were true you would have already told me to leave your room."

Alex looked up at her, knowing she was right about that. "What did you need to talk to me about?"

"I was lonely."

"Then go back to bed, you won't feel that way if you're sleeping."

"I don't mean right now." Jennifer said then it hit him what she meant. "I was all alone, you were never there."

"I was in the Marines, sorry I couldn't make it home to dinner every night while I was out fighting for this country."

"I don't mean that you were always gone, I mean that even when you were around you were never really there. I was having a really hard time. I had never been away from my family before and I thought when I moved out to California with you at least I'd still have my brother. And after we lost him and you lost your mom something just shifted with us, I needed you more than anything and you changed. You closed off this huge part of yourself and no matter what I did you wouldn't let me back in. I kept hoping you'd be the man I knew before we got married, and then one day I stopped hoping. And I know what I did was stupid, but I thought it was the only way for me to let go of you. Obviously it didn't work because being here and seeing you again just keeps reminding me of why I fell in love with you." Jennifer said, looking him straight in the eyes as she reached up and ran a hand through his hair.

"Don't." He warned, hurt in his voice.

"Just tell me to stop and I will." She said, leaning in.

Alex closed his eyes as he felt her lips touch his, allowing himself to kiss her back. When she started to run her hand down his side he grabbed it and pulled away. "Stop."

"Alex-"

"I know you're sorry, and I accept that. But I can not forgive it. Whatever you are feeling is not mutual, and you being here has made that clear to me."

Jennifer stood up, trying to hold back from crying. "I'll sign the divorce papers before I leave later." She said, leaving the room quickly. She opened his door and almost ran into Norma as she was walking back to her room from the bathroom, giving her a quiet apology before walking back to the office.

Norma stood in the hallway, shocked that the room she had been leaving was Alex's. She took a few steps forward and peeked inside his room. He was laying on his back, both hands up on his face. He was pretty well covered but she could tell he wasn't fully dressed, if at all, she wasn't sure. She exhaled lightly then walked back to her room and got back in bed, not like she was getting any more sleep now though.