It was almost twelve am by the time Doris took her rams from around her wife to look at the clock beside their bed. "What time did you say Clarissa was supposed to be coming home?" and heard Blake respond that the girl would be staying with her sister for the night. It was almost an hour later before they were able to have any more intelligent conversation. Making love to her wife was absolutely the last thing that Doris thought would be happening tonight especially when she spotted that hickey below her left ear. They had not had sex in more than a month but Doris knew that Blake would ferret out that imperfection in half a minute flat once they undressed. It was the first time that Blake had ever consistently denied her for more than a week. At first Doris would wrack her brain trying to spot out what she'd done wrong. What she'd forgotten or said so wrong that Blake didn't want to make love to her any more. But it was more than a little confusing because there was not a corresponding distance from Blake. She still kissed her just as enthusiastically as before. They still spent several minutes making out before falling asleep each night but no matter how caught up or heated it became Blake always turned away and fell asleep with Doris' arms wrapped around her. It hurt so bad. There were several nights she'd wait until she was assured that Blake was soundly asleep before she would crawl out of bed to cry softly in the bathroom. So many nights filled with lonely tears. "Blake?"

"Yes baby?"

"Not that I'm complaining especially after so long without but why tonight? Why did you finally?" Doris asked unable to continue. There were so many thoughts swirling around her head that she didn't even know how to put them into words. "Its just that for the past few weeks" Turning around to turn on the lights Blake sat up and moved away from Doris so that they could finally have the conversation she'd been putting off for way too long. But Doris misunderstood her intention and pulled the other woman tighter towards her. "No don't be angry baby. I'm sorry I didn't mean to upset you. I'm sorry" she whispered with tears filling her eyes.

Taking the other woman in her arms Blake kissed Doris' head and then cradled her face in her hands. "Baby I'm not upset I promise. I just well I just have to tell you a few things that I should have a long time ago. I just wanted to give you some space in case" This could all blow up in her face she suddenly thought. After hearing what she had to say Doris could very well storm out the room and out of the house and into the night.

"In case what?"

"In case you decide you don't want to be here anymore. In case you decide to walk away" Blake sighed fear flooding her face and making her milking complexion even more pale.

"I'm not going anywhere. Baby you came in and saw a hickey on my neck and you didn't walk out the door so unless you have something to top that I'm staying put for the rest of my life sweetheart"

Taking a minute to calm herself Blake took her wife's hands in her own and cleared her mind as she spilled her heart to her love. "I know you probably thought I wasn't making love to you because you did something wrong or I was upset but that wasn't it at all. I" making a deep sigh and closing her burning eyes she continued "I thought I was sick. I wasn't feeling well. I was tired all the time and constantly exhausted so I went to the doctors and had some tests done"

"Oh my God. What's wrong. Jesus Christ what's wrong baby? Please tell me. Oh God what's wrong" Doris began to cry and Blake could feel the tension rolling off of the other woman's body as she began to move as if to get up out the bed. "Oh God. We have to go to the hospital. I'll call"

Snatching the other woman down and back on the bed Blake tried to calm her wife "Doris I'm fine. Well I'm not fine I do have Addison's Disease but as long as I"

"ADDISON"S Oh my God oh SHIT. JESUS JESUS!" Doris kept shouting as she paced around the room.

She tried to call out several times but Doris was lost in her own dark imagination so Blake did the only thing she could think of she flipped her onto the ground as she'd learned in an long ago self defense class. "Now settle down" She hissed out "Are you going to listen to me or not? So calm down and listen to me. I have Addison's yes but as long as I limit my stress and take a small pill everyday I'll be fine. I promise. Baby I will be fine"

"You're not dying?"

"No I'm not sweetie"

"It would kill me if you left me" Doris whispered into Blake's hair as the other woman leaned over her and hugged her tight.

"Baby I am never leaving you if I can help it"

They spent several long minutes holding each other tight and kissing each other. When they finally made it to the bed and Doris had gotten reasonably calm she began to think more about the situation. Trying to put ease Doris did her best to keep her voice calm. "Why didn't you tell me? You shouldn't have had to go through this all alone. I would have been there for you"

"I know I just didn't want to worry you until I knew for sure there was something to worry about"

"But I did worry but instead of worrying about your health I was worried that you had fallen out of love with me and started having feelings for"

"For who?"

"Rich?"

"Ambassador Richard Kenny"

"Rich? The guy comb over for his comb over. Tell me you did not think that I would ever be interested in him. Jesus I'd like to think that I have better taste than that" Blake laughed trying to calm her wife.

"Well I just knew that you didn't seem very interested in me anymore and every time I looked around you were on the phone with him. You've gone to see the guy more than a couple of times at his high rise penthouse overlooking Central Park. I didn't know I just kept wondering what was wrong and why you wouldn't at least tell me something. Anything."

"I'm so sorry that I hurt you Doris. I swear that I wasn't trying to push you away. I honestly thought that it was for the best to wait until I had some idea of what was going on. Can you forgive me?"

"Oh baby there's nothing to forgive but please just remember that we're a team. If you have something bothering you you have to talk to me. Remember that's what we promised each other when I was in therapy. I want to be the person that's there for you Blake. I want to be the one that you can turn to when you're in trouble. Please let me be there for you baby"

At Company eating breakfast Doris went over the brochures and leaflets that Blake had brought home from the doctors. When she read that JFK had the same condition she looked up at Blake with her eyes wide and shock written on her face. Oh my God she's going to have a tank head Doris thought to herself as she looked at her wife laughing. "That was the first thing I thought too when I realized that Kennedy had it too but Rick said that the new medicine doesn't give that side effect anymore."

"I would still love you"

"Yeah yeah" Blake laughed kicking her spouse lightly under the booth. "So now that we've eaten and are relatively calm I want to hear about this incident with you assistant"

"Now?" Doris said with fear looking around the room.

"Yes this way you can be sure I won't haul off and take a swing at you" Blake reasoned.

"Yeah but what about you hauling off and decking Lacy?" Of the two situations this one was the most likely outcome Doris knew and was more than a little worried for the young woman.

"Talk" Blake ground out without a hint of teasing in her voice or on her face. Listening to her wife's detailed explanation Blake was shocked. Of course she'd known that her wife was attractive and had known that as a professor she would attract a sizable following. However the other woman was astounded that some of the women in her class were as blatant as Doris was describing. Maybe a trip down to the campus was in order after all.

"Blake no. You have absolutely nothing to worry about. No one else makes me feel like you do. I am more than satisfied with you"

"Only satisfied?" Blake teased still more than a bit upset by the new found knowledge. "I must not be doing a very good job"

Leaning over and whispering in her wife's ear Doris added "Completely, soulfully, and bodily amazed at my luck at marrying someone as sexy and hot as yourself"

"A little bit better"

"Baby?"

"I'm kidding but I still want to meet this Lacy and have a discussion with her about proper student teacher relations"

"Blake"

"I'm not going to touch the" taking a steadying breath "young lady I just want to talk to her. Fifteen minutes in your office. No violence no shouting and no scene"

"Blake I don't think that's a good idea"

Blake responded with a raised voice "She put a hickey on your neck and I'm not going to just let that slide" stopping to eyeball the other patrons she continued when they turned back to their own tables "I just want to talk to her Doris I promise. Fifteen minutes tops" They were walking through the farmers market when she heard her wife speaking heatedly with someone on the phone. She figured it wasn't anything too taxing until she saw Doris's red face and a little vein sticking up in the middle of her forehead. Of shit. Houston we have a problem. "Baby? What's wrong?"

"Hold on sweetie Blake and I will be out to the house in a couple of minutes. Just hang on until we get there. I promise we will sort all this out when we get there. Love you baby" Doris said as she ended her call. "Shit!"

"Baby what's wrong?" Blake said her stomach tightening.

"Nothing. You can't be stressed. I'll take you home before I go over to"

"Screw that tell me what's going on?"

"Its Ashlee. She said that Rafe has come sniffing around Stino and wants to be a father all of sudden"

"Shit"

"My thoughts exactly"

By the time they were at Ashlee's Blake's mind was filled with the absolute worst possibilities. Part of the family in Illinois and Stino far away in Georgia. Doris kept reviewing all the family laws she had ever known vowing to do her best to keep her daughter's family safe. As the door opened Ashlee flung herself into her mother's waiting arms. "Momma I'm scared" Both Blake and Doris knew that it would be impossible to get anything out of the traumatized woman at the moment. They could hear the children's voices echoing throughout the house and it was punctuated by sharp barks by the "walking slobber machine" as Emma dubbed Thomas. It took five minutes just to get Ashlee to breath deeply enough that Blake didn't fear for her passing out and Blake could tell just from Doris' compressed lips that she was seconds away from blowing up at any moment. "Sweetheart why don't you tell us what's going on? Where is"

"Where the fuck is Ava? How dare she leave you alone like this with the children and the dog running"

"She's in the room with them mom. She's trying to arrange for a sitter so she can be in here while we talk about"

"Mom and Natalia are on their way over. I've called Emma and Clarissa to come back early so that they can watch the kids."

"What the hell is going on? Why the hell has Rafe decided all of a sudden to"

"Could we please just calm down and discuss this rationally. I don't want anyone to say something that might upset Nat"

"I don't give a fuck about Natalia's feelings if she's supporting Rafe in this nonsense" Doris screamed as her face became bright red with anger and frustration.

"Mom"

"Doris"

"Mama" "Gandma" Filled the air before Doris could vent her anger even more freely. For the next several minutes Blake and Doris tried to keep their mind on what their grandchildren were saying but when the front door opened and Natalia and Olivia came inside it became almost impossible for Doris to keep her rage from the youngest members of her family.

"Why don't I take the kids to the room and get them to sleep" Ava reasoned trying to subtly keep Ashlee's tears from their children. She knew that as soon as the door closed the tentative cease fire that she and Blake had tried to establish was going to be blasted to hell. And once she heard Doris' opening salvo she only prayed that the teens would get home as soon as possible so that they could finally work this out.