Author's note: Hey all! Thanks for all of the reviews again. This chapter is kinda short, but it wraps up some stuff. There's a really bittersweet moment between Adam and Heather that I like.

Disclaimer: Don't own them.


Chapter 7: Explination

"I have to get out of here." Julie said, standing up and going outside. Dean stood up to go after her. She started to cry. She hated that she put that passage in the book. She had only done it because her editor told her it was missing something. It was missing the emotional resolution. So she wrote down something that was too emotional, too personal. Something that she had buried years before.

"Hey there," Dean said, "So, do you want to talk about this, or what?"

"God, I am so sorry." She said, "this whole thing is so incredibly unfair to you."

"Julie, it's not that unfair," he laughed, "it's not like I thought you never loved Adam. You two were together for almost ten years, and married for four of them. I knew you had that baggage."

"It doesn't matter." She said quietly, "it was wrong. I shouldn't have put that in there."

"No," he said putting his arm around her, "it wasn't wrong. Julie, that's what you do. You take your real life feelings and experiences and you put them in your stories. That's what makes them so good."

"I'd give anything for them to be less good and not have moments like this one." Julie sighed, her head leaning against his shoulder.

"Heather, what were you thinking?" Charlie said. "Seriously? Inviting Julie and Dean over for dinner?"

"Obviously I didn't think this would happen." Heather said. "I figured we could spend an evening together, after all we are all adults here."

"I can't believe she wrote that book." Adam said.

"Oh please," Heather said, "you're not hurt that she put it in there, you love it. You love that she thinks about you."

"I'm not playing marriage councilor," Charlie said, standing up. "I'm leaving." He walked out.

"What does that mean?" Adam said, "I love that she still thinks about me."

"You know what it means," Heather said, "Do you think I like it? Do you think I like being you second choice?"

"You're not my second choice Heather," Adam said. "You're my grown up choice."

Charlie saw Julie and Dean standing on the front porch. "Bye guys, it was good to see you."

"You're going?" Julie asked.

"They're fighting now, it's time to go." Charlie laughed. "You two have a great kid, you know that? Kitty's exceptional."

"Eh, we figure we'll keep her," Dean laughed, "for four more years at least."

"We should probably go too." Julie said thoughtfully. "Unfortunately we have five kids to wrangle."

"Did I mention that you two were insane for having six children?" Charlie laughed.

"Most people think so." Julie laughed, "but we only planned for four. I mean, the twins were only supposed to be one, and then Marie was a complete surprise."

"I hope I get to meet them all someday." He smiled and kissed her on the cheek. "Bye Cat."

"Bye Charlie." She said.

"See you Portman!" He said, shaking his hand.

"Bye Captain." Dean laughed. As Charlie walked way, he looked at Julie, "So we go back into the Lion's Den now?"

"Yeah," Julie said.


Over the next week Kitty dealt with the silent treatment form Lexi. She didn't talk to Andy or Julian except on the ice. She couldn't deal with it. Finally after the team won yet another game that Thursday, Charlie came into the locker room and saw her sitting, after the rest of the team had left.

"You alright there, Portman?" He asked. "You recover from Saturday night OK?"

"Which part?" Kitty laughed. "The fact that my parents and Julian's parents, who thankfully have been on civil terms our whole lives are now not speaking, or the fact that none of the friends who I made here are speaking to me."

"I was talking about the parent part." Charlie said, "you and Julian have a fight too?"

"Not me and Julian, no," she shook her head, "me and Andy, and then me and Lexi, and I just, I can't look at Julian." Charlie shook his head and started laughing. "What's funny? It's not funny, it's awful."

"I'm not laughing because it's funny," he said, "you're right you're in a weird spot. I'm laughing because that list of complaints sounded a lot like, well, did your mom ever tell you about when she and Adam got together."

"Yes," Kitty said.

"It was a lot like this." He smiled, "she didn't want to, even though she loved him, because she was afraid of how it would hurt Luis."

"Are you saying that Andy is my Luis?" Kitty said.

"Possibly," Charlie smiled, "or maybe he's not anything. I'm just saying that you're a lot like your mother, you're worried about how your choices will effect other people, which is good. But ultimately you need to do what makes you happy, just like she did. And you're lucky she did, because I doubt you'd be here now if she didn't."

"Thanks for the talk Coach," Kitty said, hugging him. "I know what I need to do now." She stood up and rushed out of the locker room.

"Captain Duck saves the next generation!" Charlie smiled. "I am so good."


Review please!