It was a rainy October Sunday and Annie, AJ, and Carey had nothing better to do than to build a tent in the living room and fall asleep inside of it while watching a Disney movie. Carey had drifted off, lying on her stomach on top of Annie. AJ rested his head on Annie's arm, snuggling up to her side.
Suddenly, the doorbell awakened Annie. She jumped a bit, startled, and then carefully moved AJ's head from her arm to a nearby pillow. She stood up with a sleeping Carey in her arms and went to open the front door.
"Hey," Scott said, standing there awkwardly. "I, um…is this a bad time?" Annie looked back at the tent to see if AJ was still sleeping, then opened the door for Scott to come in.
"Be right back," she whispered quickly, going down the hall to put Carey in her crib. She came back moments later, then beckoned Scott to follow her into the office. She sat on the black leather couch and offered him a seat, too. Scott smirked.
"Somebody was napping," he said, noticing her bed head. He had gotten kind of used to it when they were married, but knew better than to be awkward by pointing that out. Annie laughed nervously.
"Yeah, the kids and I made a tent, then we watched The Little Mermaid, which kind of became nap time within the first ten minutes of the movie," Annie explained with a grin.
"Gosh…you with three kids…you were always such an amazing mother," Scott told her. He gave her a smile, but she almost avoided it, not even realizing her actions.
"I've just got AJ and Carey today," Annie informed her ex, standing up restlessly. "Emma's at Ryan's for the week. We switch off every Monday, but I still see her every day because Ryan drives both Emma and AJ to school."
"You guys seem to have gotten close," Scott pointed out. Annie nodded.
"He's been a huge help." Annie looked out the window absent-mindedly, for a moment, then turned to face Scott. "Scott…why are you here? I don't mean that in a bad way, just…the last time I saw you, you practically hated me." Scott stood up and walked towards Annie.
"I never hated—"
"Still," Annie interjected. "We were not on good terms. And I'm not saying that I want us to be on bad terms, but its kind of uncomfortable considering—"
Suddenly, Scott lost control of himself. He grabbed Annie's face and pulled her into a kiss.
Annie shrieked in surprise and had to struggle for a moment to get his lips off hers.
"Scott!" she exclaimed, shoving him by the shoulders so that he ran into the desk behind him. "Did you not hear a word I just said?!" Scott had this look in his eye that Annie could barely recognize. He took a step towards her, but Annie countered his actions with a step back.
"You have no idea, Annie," Scott muttered, taking another step closer to her. She couldn't take a step back this time since she had reached the wall. "All that time to think that I told you about…I was thinking about you the entire time." He placed a hand on the wall, above Annie's shoulder. "Just you." Annie ducked under his arm and darted past him, opening the side door of the house in the office.
"Get out," she ordered him, her face plastered with a stone-cold seriousness. "Now." Scott looked at her for a moment, then gave up like the coward he was and left the house.
Annie slammed the door behind him with great force, then threw herself onto the couch with her head in her hands. She took deep breaths, and when she finally felt calmer, she pulled her head up.
In the doorway to the office, Annie suddenly noticed AJ, standing with his mouth gaped open in shock.
"He kissed you?!" Ryan blurted in disbelief, his eyes widening. Annie—lying down on the couch with her head on Ryan's leg—sighed and covered her face with embarrassment.
"How many times do you have to ask that before you just believe it," she grumbled, looking up at him. Ryan shook his head.
"I just mean…after everything…"
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Annie said, sitting up. She sat cross-legged, facing Ryan. "Believe me, I was beyond surprised that he was even willing to talk to me in the first place. But I swear…he seems different."
"Well, prison changes a person," Ryan pointed out. "A good different or a bad different?"
"I don't know…" Annie admitted after a moment of thought. "I think bad. But it's more…mysterious. And not in a good way. Like I don't even know him anymore." She looked at Ryan for a moment, awaiting advice, but he just stared back questioningly. She punched him in the arm.
"Ow!" he whined. "What was that for?"
"You're supposed to be like the gay friend I never had," Annie reminded him, pouting. "Give me relationship advice!"
"Whoa…when did I become the gay friend?" Ryan asked with a chuckle. "I have dated quite a few women, thank you very much. Married some."
"Me included," Annie said with a grin, as if it was some sort of past accomplishment. It got another laugh out of Ryan.
"Yes, you included," he agreed. He paused for a moment, then faced her. "Okay…" he began. "So I am not under any circumstances going shopping with you or hitting on the homo-questionable guys at ConFusion to make sure they're straight and you can flirt with them, but I guess my best advice would be to give him a chance as a friend and see where that goes. He wants to jump back into the relationship you guys had, I guess, but it's been too long and you even said yourself that he's a different person now. Even you've changed a lot, and I don't just mean the additional kids."
Annie thought about it, then nodded slowly, giving Ryan a thankful smile.
"Yeah, I guess you're right," she said gratefully. "Now, I was thinking of this one dress that I saw in the mall but there's a blue one that's just as—"
"Don't even think about it."
