"What are you doing here?" Cate asked as she let Baze in.

"I thought I'd see if Lux is ready to talk to me," Baze replied. He'd given her a day to cool off.

"She's upstairs," Cate said, nodding toward the attic.

Baze hesitated at the foot of the stairs.

"Bug's not here and she's dressed." Cate smirked.

"Speaking of Bug, did you handle the whole Bug situation?" Baze asked.

"I talked to her about it," Cate said vaguely, not wanting to admit talking hadn't gotten her very far and that Bug was now invited to dinner.

Baze breathed a sigh of relief.

He knocked as he approached Lux's room.

Lux looked up, surprised. Cate didn't usually knock.

She frowned when she saw that it wasn't Cate, but Baze. She believed Cate that Baze didn't really mean what he'd said, but she was still mad that Baze had kicked Bug out and sold her out to Cate.

"Hey, Kiddo, I thought maybe we could go to the arcade," Baze said.

"No, I have homework," Lux replied coldly.

"You must be really mad at me if you'd rather do homework than go to the arcade," Baze said lightly, teasing.

"You should be a detective," Lux retorted.

Baze sat down next to Lux on her bed. "I'm sorry for what I said. I didn't mean it." He reached over to ruffle her hair, but Lux shrugged away.

"Tell me what to do to make it right," Baze said, clearly hurt.

"I don't know," Lux said quietly, not ready to let him off the hook yet.

Baze nodded sadly. "Do me a favor? Let me know when you figure it out."


"How'd it go with Lux?" Cate asked when Baze emerged from the attic.

"Not good. She doesn't want anything to do with me," Baze mumbled.

"That's not true," Cate said. "The other night when you left and she opened the door, she'd been crying. She wouldn't have been that upset about what you said if she didn't want you to be a part of her life."

Baze nodded miserably. "I don't know what to do."

"Just give her time," Cate said sympathetically.


"Lux? Dinner's here!" Cate called once Baze had taken off.

Lux accepted a plate Cate had filled with delivery food and sat down at the table.

"What did Baze want?" Cate asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

"To apologize." Lux rolled her eyes.

"I take it you didn't accept his apology?" Cate prodded.

"Would you have?" Lux asked.

Cate stared at her blankly.

"If your dad missed the first fourteen years of your life and then called you a mistake, would you forgive him?" Lux demanded.

Cate frowned, knowing that if Lux was angry with Baze for not being there, she probably felt the same way about Cate. "What's this really about, Lux? Are you mad at Baze because of what he said? Or are you mad because he wasn't there for you?"

Lux swallowed hard. She looked down, not wanting to meet Cate's eyes. "Both," she admitted.

Cate sighed. "I know you've been through a lot and I can't tell you how much I wish we were there for you, but you have to know, Baze and I, we're here for you now."

"I know," Lux said quietly. She bit her lip. She wanted to say but you weren't there when I needed you, but stopped herself.

"You should forgive Baze and let him be a part of your life," Cate said.

"I'm not hungry anymore," Lux said, excusing herself from the table.


"Are you sure about this?" Bug asked when Lux opened the door.

Lux nodded.

"Cate hates me," Bug said uncertainly, as he entered Cate's house.

"It was her idea," Lux insisted.

Bug followed her to the couch. Lux instantly cuddled against him.

"Where is she?" Bug asked nervously.

"She just ran out to pick up food. She'll be back soon," Lux replied.

"And Baze?" Bug asked.

"He's not invited," Lux said coldly.

Bug raised his eyebrows.

"He barged in on us, kicked you out, ratted me out to Cate and then called me a mistake," Lux rattled off Baze's transgressions. "Not exactly my favorite person right now."

Bug made a face. "He called you a mistake?"

Lux nodded.

"What a tool," Bug said. He rested his chin on Lux's head and hugged her tight against him.

"Technically he was referring to getting pregnant as a teenager, not me exactly," Lux admitted.

"Still," Bug said sympathetically, "That had to hurt."

Lux shrugged. "Not exactly earth shattering news. They gave me away. Kinda a dead giveaway that I was a mistake."

"Hi," Cate called out as she entered with takeout.

Bug moved over, so he wasn't next to Lux, and nodded hello.