Standing silently at the end of the pier, Speed and Lauren stared out into the ocean. Neither of them knew what to say. It was almost as if being in the presence of one another took away all the hurt and pain they were going through.

Breaking the silence, Speed said to Lauren, "So, how are you doing?"

Lauren continued to look out into the ocean's horizon as tears started to fill the corners of her eyes. "Um, I guess not great. I've only really had a few short hours to really think about everything, and let it sink in." She paused to wipe away the tears that had fallen from her eyes. "Jon was my everything. We grew up together, went to school together, worked together, played together, sang together, and loved together. Everything. He hurt me so bad. Now all of that is all gone, but yet I still love him so much it hurts."

"Would you take him back if he asked?" Speed asked.

Lauren shrugged her shoulders. "My heart says absolutely, but my gut says no. He cheated on me, and he'd been acting different for a while now. How can I ever trust him again? Once a cheater always a cheater, right?"

"Yeah..."

Another comfortable silence filled their conversation the Lauren said, "I walked in on him with another woman. They were having sex on our bed with a prostitute. Apparently they've been doing each other for about five months, and to top it off she's four and a half months pregnant."

It took Speed a moment to realize that Lauren's situation was almost the mirror image of his situation. Both of them had cheating spouses; both had a child involved. The only differences were he was married and she wasn't; Kristina cheated on him with his best friend and Jon cheated on Lauren with a stranger. Opening up to Lauren might not be a bad thing after all. They could help each other heal.

"So why did you come down here?" Lauren asked wiping all her tears away.

Speed looked at her and smiled. "What do you mean, why did I come down here? You invited me."

Lauren looked down at the water below and blushed. "You didn't have to come, but I meant last night. Something was and obviously still is bothering you."

Speed sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. He was about to pour out his broken heart to Lauren. "A couple years ago I was offered an undercover job with the FBI. I didn't want to do it, but my wife, Kristina told me I should go. In fact, it felt like she was pushing me to go, which I thought was odd. We had just gotten married a month ago. My other co-workers were iffy, especially my boss."

"You took the job offer I'm guessing?" Lauren asked.

"Yeah. They also told me I could have my current job back when I was finished so that helped my decision. If I couldn't have it back I probably wouldn't have gone. Even though my job is just a paycheck to me, but I love the people I work with. They're like family to me."

When Speed didn't continue Lauren asked him, "So what happened next?" She could tell opening up to her was hard for him. Lauren could sense he never like to talk about his feelings.

"I came back two years later." Speed paused to clear his throat then continued, "I came back a little earlier to surprise, Kristina. When I got to our house, I found her in our bed with my best friend."

"Oh my God!" Lauren gasped. "Speed, that's horrible."

"It gets worse." He sighed. "They have a child together. I think she's like seven months, something like that. Her name is Hailey. Our marriage was a lie, a complete lie. She pretty much admitted it too. I was just her test drive for marriage. She said once she realized she couldn't have all the gorgeous men it burned her, so she wanted out. Everyone and I mean everyone said don't marry her, but I didn't listen. I wasn't even thinking, and that's not like me."

Tears filled Lauren's eyes. The two people who meant the most to Speed had betrayed him. "I'm sorry," was the only words she could muster up.

"Yeah, I am too." He was silent for a moment. "You know I called her as often as I could, and told her I loved her."

Lauren moved closer to him until she couldn't move any closer. Speed looked down at her; his eyes were filled with tears. She opened her arms and pulled him into a warm embrace. Speed felt a tingle go up his spine when his body touched Lauren's. Her embrace was warm and comforting; it felt so good to him. It was just what he needed. Somehow Speed knew everything was going to work out in the end, and he was already starting to feel better about things.

Their hug was interrupted when Lauren's cell phone started ringing. They broke their comfortable embrace, and Lauren answered her phone, it was Jonathan. "Hello."

"Lauren, I've been trying to call you for the past twenty-four hours. Why aren't you picking up?" Jonathan's husky voice asked forcefully. Lauren was a little taken aback by this and couldn't find her words. "Lauren!"

Lauren finally answered him, "I'm sorry Jon, but you aren't at the top of my list for people to see or talk to right now. I need time."

"I want to see you. I want to talk to you. You've had some time to think. When are you going to come home?"

Lauren put her free hand on her forehead and tried to hold back her tears. "I'm not coming home, Jon."

"What do you mean you're not coming home? Where are you even staying?"' he asked angrily.

"Where do you think I'm staying, Jonathan! I'm staying at Jessica's house," Lauren snapped back.

Speed stood back, and listened to Lauren and Jonathan's heated conversation. He could hear Lauren's ex-fiancé, and he didn't like the tone of his voice. Throughout his years as a CSI, Speed has seen quite a few bad people, and he felt deep down that Jonathan could be one of those people.

"Lauren, just come home. We need to talk about this."

"Jon, I'm not coming back. I told you we're done, and there's nothing to talk about. There was no excuse for what you did to me. I admit, it wasn't completely your fault, but you didn't have to go seek out a whore and fuck her for five months while I was on tour. I begged you to come with me and you refused! You broke my heart into a million pieces." Lauren began to sob.

"You're really going to go there? I cannot believe you. You are such a bitch!" Jonathan yelled.

It took all the strength in Speed's body not to take the phone from Lauren's hand and put Jonathan in his place. The way he was treating Lauren was unacceptable.

Pulling herself together, Lauren gave her last words, "I'll be there the day after tomorrow to pick up my stuff. I want you out of my house because I'm selling it. I don't care what the hell you do or where the hell you go, but I do not want to see your face for a very long time." Lauren pulled her phone away from her ear and ended the call just as Jonathan called her a worthless piece of shit.

Speed didn't waste any time in pulling her in a hug. This time it was her turn to be comforted. He could feel her body shaking as she sobbed into his chest. No woman should ever be talked to like that. Speed didn't know what to say. There was no point in asking her if she was all right, because she clearly wasn't. She was far from it.

A couple minutes later, when Lauren had stopped shaking, Speed pulled away and looked into her sad hazel green eyes. It was then he remembered the scarf she had dropped the night before. "I know nothing can really make you feel better right now, but last night I think you dropped this," Speed said handing Lauren the scarf Danny had made for her.

Lauren eyes lit up a little bit. "Where did you find this?" She sniffled. "I've been looking all over for it. I thought I lost it. My brother made this for me."

"It was hanging on the railing over there," he said point to the right of him.

Lauren looked up at him and smiled a watery smile. "Thanks Speed."

Speed smiled back. "You're welcome." He reached out his hand, and gently wiped the few remaining tears from her face. "We'll get through this."

"Together?"

"Together," he said with a smile. She smiled back.

Lauren looked down at her ring finger. She still had her engagement ring on. Lauren took it off, and ran her fingers over it. She noticed that Speed had reached into his pants pocket and pulled out his gold wedding band. "What do you say we toss these rings into the ocean?"

"Fresh start?" Speed asked.

"Yeah, something like that. Out with the old and in with the new, although it's definitely not going to be easy, because I still feel like my life is falling apart. Doing this would be a start."

"It's a start," Speed agreed. Speed and Lauren tossed their rings into the ocean.

Lauren looked down at her phone. It was 11:15pm. "Well, I guess we should go. My family came in, and I kind of walked out on them."

"Yeah, I should probably go. I left my friend's place in a hurry too," Speed said looking at her. Out of the blue Speed asked, "You doing anything tomorrow?"

Lauren smiled. "Yeah, I've got a concert tomorrow night, and I'll be rehearsing for most of the day. But I'm pretty sure I can sneak a lunch break. What time is good for you?"

Speed's heart skipped a beat. "It all depends on how busy or not busy we are."

"Well, when you have your lunch break, give me a call. I have some flexibility."

Speed smiled back and said, "Will do."

As they headed back to the parking lot, Lauren asked Speed if he wanted to come to her show tomorrow night, it was free and would be on South Beach. He thought for a moment then said yes. "Okay, but you have to follow me back to my friend's place. I have passes for front row," she said with a smile.

Lauren hopped into her car and Speed got on his motorcycle and they drove off.