Chris's eyes shot open as a shrill tune met his ears. Kyle picked the most annoying, horrible tone for her alarm he could possibly ever think of. She swore it was because she would sleep through anything else, but he was fairly certain she only used it to annoy him. They were polar opposites when it came to sleeping. Chris would've preferred not waking before the crack of noon. Kyle, on the other hand, was often up with the sun or even before it. Today was no different.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Chris groaned, throwing his arms over his still closed eyes.

"Getting up," Kyle responded, sitting up and smacking Chris's assailant into silence.

"What the fuck time is it?"

"Six thirty."

"You're insane. Go back to sleep."

"I have things to do," Kyle stated with a laugh as she kicked her legs off the side of the bed. "You can stay here and be a bum all day, but I have to get shit done."

"I thought you took today off."

"I did. Doesn't mean I don't have things to do," Kyle responded. "I'm running out the new menu for family meal so I have…a ton of prep to get done."

"That's working."

"It's only for the staff."

"Still working."

Kyle rolled her eyes. "Ya know, I took the next ten days off for you. I'd just consider myself lucky if I were you."

Chris smirked, grabbing onto the waistband of her shorts and giving her a tug, sending her back into the bed beside him, her head landing on his chest. "I do. Every day," he stated, turning to brush his lips against her forehead. "So since you're not working tonight…"

Kyle instantly groaned. "Here we go."

"What?" Chris asked with a laugh.

"I know that tone. That tone is you about to ask for something you know I don't want to do," Kyle stated.

"That's…incredibly accurate actually."

"What is it?"

"Talk to Toby."

"Chris," Kyle sighed, trying to sit up, but of the weight of his arms very purposefully held her down. "I'm not talking about this."

"Would you stop for a second? Please," Chris begged. "He wants to talk to you."

"Well I don't want to talk to him," Kyle argued. "I don't have anything to say."

"Well, maybe just listen then," Chris stated. "Look, babe, I know…he was a real douche. I know that, okay? Trust me, but…he was going through some things and…"

"That's not an excuse, Chris!" Kyle exclaimed as she finally escaped his grasp. She climbed out of bed and walked to the window, opening the curtains on a barely rising sun. She sighed and rubbed the palms of her hands across her face.

"I'm not trying to make excuses for him, Kylie. I just…" Chris paused and just gazed upon her for a moment. Her guard was already up; it was evident by the stiffness in her body. It had been two weeks since he'd confronted Toby, two weeks since he'd learned his best friend's secret and each day it got harder and harder for him not to tell Kyle. He'd finally convinced Toby to talk to her, but she was having none of it. "Would you just talk to him? Please? For me?"

Kyle turned toward him, arms folded across her chest. "That's not fair and you know it."

"I just want you guys to be okay."

"Maybe…we're not supposed to be okay, Chris. Maybe we're…not going to ever get along."

"I'm not asking you guys to be best friends. I'd just…really like it if my girlfriend and my best friend weren't at each other's throats constantly."

"If he's still you're best friend after all the shit he's pulled in the last few months, I have some serious concerns."

"I'm not just going to throw away twenty years, Ky. So yeah, he's still my best friend," Chris stated. He sighed and shook his head. "Would you just…get over here and talk to me for like five minutes? You make me nervous all standing over there in the shadows."

Kyle rolled her eyes but smiled, then marched begrudgingly over, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. "Why is this so important to you?" she asked softly.

"Because... you guys are family. It shouldn't be like this, Ky. Especially with everything that's going on. You guys need each other."

Kyle sighed heavily. She couldn't say no to him. She never had been able to. The fact they were even together right now was evidence of that. "Fine. I will…talk to him, but Chris, I swear to God, he comes at me again…"

"He won't," Chris swore, shaking his head. "I will be there and if he even toes the line, I will take care of it. I promise you."

"Fine," Kyle gave in with a beleaguered sigh. "I will do it, but you sir, are done asking me for favors for a bit."

"Deal," Chris agreed with a smile as he wrapped his enormous arms around her neck. He planted his lips against her cheek. "You're the best."

"I am fully aware."

"Oh, you're gonna get sassy now?"

"You're damn right."

"It's alright," Chris grinned. "It's kinda hot."

Kyle giggled as Chris attempted to pull her into his arms. "Oh no. You're not getting anything from me," she stated, escaping his arms and once again climbing to her feet. "I need to get in the shower."

"Want some company?" Chris smirked.

"Go back to sleep, Cap."

Chris frowned as she walked out of the room but settled back into the bed, pulling the comforter up over his shoulders. "Don't have to tell me twice," he mumbled.

"You alright?" Margo asked, walking back into the kitchen. "You've been really quiet all day."

"Yeah," Kyle stated. "Just…focused."

"Um, honey, I know you. I know when you're focused and I know when there's something on your mind," Margo stated. "Come on. Something happen with Chris?"

"No, no. We're fine," Kyle stated. She took a deep breath and stopped chopping the leeks on the cutting board in front of her. "He…wants me to talk to Toby so…I guess…I am going over there after I finish up here and…attempting to work things out."

"How do you feel about that?"

Kyle shrugged. "If it makes Chris happy and gets him off my back at the same time, I'm all for it. I just want to get it over with and not talk about it again."

Margo laughed. "You sound so excited."

Kyle scoffed and shook her head. "I'm not doing this for me."

"You're doing it for Christopher."

"It's…important to him for some reason, so…yeah. I guess I am."

"Aw, look at you!" Margo cooed. "Miss Independent went and fell in love."

"Shut up," Kyle snapped quickly.

"Uh oh. I hit a nerve, didn't I?" Margo asked. Kyle just shook her head. "You ARE in love with him, aren't you?" Kyle still didn't respond. "Have you told him? Have you said it?"

"No," Kyle stated, her eyes suddenly jutting up and toward her best friend. "We haven't…gotten that far."

"Tell him!" Margo exclaimed.

"Would you stop?" Kyle asked with a nervous laugh. "Just…let it go."

"Honey, if you feel it, you need to say it."

"Margo, lay off. Seriously."

"I'm just saying…"

"I know what you're saying!" Kyle exclaimed. "Stop! Please!"

Margo sighed. She wasn't going to get anywhere by badgering her, that was more than obvious. "Alright. I'm done. Need help with anything?"

Kyle shook her head as she went back to her work. "No. I should be done in a couple of hours."

Kyle had been thinking all day long, trying to think of some excuse to get out of her meeting with her estranged cousin. She didn't want to go. She didn't want to sit and listen to whatever sorry excused he'd given Chris for his behavior. She wanted to go home, take a bath and pack for Las Vegas. That was it. Yet here she stood in front of Chris's door anyway.

"Hey baby," Chris greeted with a warm, reassuring smile as he opened the door. He put a hand on her waist and kissed her softly. "How was your day?"

"Fine," Kyle answered, glancing over her man's shoulder and spotting Toby's head just slightly above the huge sofa in Chris's living room. "Let's get this over with."

"Don't go in there ready to fight," Chris said softly. "It's not gonna be like that." He took her hand and led her into the room. "Want a beer babe?"

"Yeah," Kyle agreed. She tossed her jacket and purse over the back of a large chair and walked around to take a seat. Toby didn't even look at her, just pealed the label from his beer bottle and stared at the floor.

Silence won over until Chris emerged from the kitchen, two beer bottles in hand. He passed one to Kyle before standing in the middle of the room, looking between his two silent houseguests. "I should go pack. Let you two…"

"No," Kyle spoke up after clearing her throat. "Sit down."

"Ky…" Chris began.

"Please," Kyle said simply. Chris obliged, though confused, and took a seat on the end of the couch closest to the girl. "I'm going to…do something I've never done and explain the Antonio situation."

"Kyle, you don't have to…" Chris began again.

"No. I do have to because I'm tired of it being brought up and thrown in my face," Kyle stated. Chris fell silent and both men's eyes were glued to the girl as she gulped down the lump forming in the pit of her throat. "When I left Florida, I moved to Vegas. I was there…for maybe a year, worked some job at some posh strip club for the rich dickheads that came into town. I was…a cocktail waitress so don't go thinking I was throwing around lap dances…" She watched a small smirk stretch across Chris's face. "Antonio lived in Vegas at the time. He was a higher up for one of the casino chains, in town while they were doing an overhaul. He…took a liking to me. He…started pursuing me…and I gave in. He was older, rich and important and…I was…a twenty four year old gold digger for lack of a better term. We started seeing each other and…awhile down the line I found out he was married with three kids. In fact his wife had just had a baby a few weeks before we met. I…" She took a deep breath. She'd never told anyone exactly what had happened and it wasn't easy. Her past wasn't something she was proud of and yet she sat here explaining it to one person who likely couldn't care less and another who would quite possibly walk away from her when she had finished. "I freaked out. I started threatening that I would tell them. I…completely went off the deep end and when he asked what I wanted…I told him he had to take care of me. Pay for everything, school, house whatever and so he offered to send me to Italy." She looked at Toby. "It wasn't my dad. It was…my sugar daddy who paid for my school and my housing and everything. Gave me a stipend every week and I…saved it all up and that's how I bought the restaurant. Antonio would come in once every few months or so…we'd play house for a couple weeks and then he would leave and go back to his family, like I didn't exist. And I was fine with it. Until I grew up. Until I looked around and realized that I didn't have anything that I'd worked for. Everything I had was basically given to me for sleeping with a married man and I decided I was done. I told him that I was moving back here and he…basically offered to end his marriage and come here and we could shack up and…I told him no. I couldn't do it. I had already violated another woman's family and I couldn't be the reason it fell apart. So…I ended it. And I came here and I bought the restaurant and I moved on with my life." She paused and just looked at the men, both simply staring at her. It wasn't Toby she was worried about, but the look on Chris's face, she couldn't read it and it made her ungodly nervous. "So there's the whole story. That's it. My…embarrassing, horrible past in a nutshell."

Toby shook his head. "You…you never said…"

"I never told anyone anything," Kyle stated. "It's not something I'm proud of. I was…young and lost and…I manipulated and took advantage of a married man."

Toby shook his head. "No. No he…was obviously taking advantage of you."

Kyle pursed her lips and shook her head. "No. He loved me. In his own…messed up way. Maybe…it was because I was some sort of trophy, I don't know. But…whatever it was, I used it to my advantage."

"I'm sorry," Toby stated, looking up at his cousin. "I'm sorry I judged you. I had…no idea."

"It's okay," Kyle stated. She looked to Chris, who still hadn't said anything. She felt her heart sink. She was going to lose him. She knew it.

"Well," Toby said with a deep sigh. "You're not the only one with secrets. I, um…." He took a deep breath. "I'm gay, Kyle."

Kyle's eyes widened as her focused moved from Chris for a moment. "What? What are you talking about?"

Toby laughed. "Yeah. That's the reaction I've been getting. I don't know. I guess I always have been and…I don't know. Didn't want to hide it anymore."

A small smile crept over Kyle's face. "I'm proud of you, Tob."

"Thank you," Toby chuckled. "I think…the reason I acted so poorly toward you and Chris is, maybe I always had a thing for him. I guess it's not really a maybe. I did. And to watch someone I knew get so close to him…I got jealous and I acted like a dick and I…assumed things that weren't true instead of just asking you and…I'm sorry."

Kyle scoffed and shook her head. "Even if you had asked I probably wouldn't have said anything."

"We are one fucked up family," Toby said with a laugh.

"Yeah we are. We always have been," Kyle laughed.

"I really wanna try, Kyle. I really want us to be cool. Not even for us, but…for him," he said nodding toward Chris who just smiled. "He doesn't deserve to be pulled into the middle of our bullshit."

"No. No he doesn't," Kyle agreed.

"Truce?" Toby asked, rising to his feet and stretching his arms out toward her.

Kyle smiled. "Truce." She rose to her feet and walked into Toby's arms, hugging him tightly.

Toby pulled back and smiled. "I should get going. Let you two get ready for your big vacation."

Kyle sighed. "Yeah. I need to go pack."

"Have a good time, guys," Toby smiled as he walked toward Chris.

"Thanks, man," Chris grinned, giving him a hug followed by a sharp slap on the back. "I'll talk to you soon, alright?"

"Yeah. Night guys."

"Night," Kyle said with a wave as Toby disappeared out the door. She watched Chris pick up his beer and head into the kitchen. He'd finished his while she'd barely taken a drink of hers. She sighed and walked after him. "Are you gonna talk to me?"

"What do you want me to say?" Chris asked.

"Look, I know I should've said something sooner…"

"Yeah. You really should've," Chris agreed, grabbing another beer from the fridge and leaning against the counter. "That's like…a whole chunk of your life you just kind of left out. You never even said you lived in Vegas."

"I know. I know. I should've said something, I just…" Kyle stopped as her eyes looked around nervously. "I didn't know what to say and the further along this got…the more I was worried about what would happen when I told you. I was…afraid you'd walk away."

Chris looked to her, his face displaying his disbelief. "Kyle, I don't care what happened five years ago. I don't care what happened two years ago. Your past doesn't mean anything to me. What matters is what happens between us. What matters is that…we're honest with each other. You don't need to hide things from me."

"I know," Kyle said softly, her eyes drifting to the ground.

Chris sighed and set his beer on the counter. He walked toward her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "I'm not going anywhere," he whispered softly into the hair on the side of her head. "Just don't hide things from me. You don't have to."

"I know," Kyle responded softly, burying her face into his shoulder. She felt warm tears drip onto her cheek. "I love you…"

Chris smiled broadly. "What was that?" he asked. "I don't think I heard you."

Kyle laughed and looked up. "I think you did."

"I don't know. It was kind of muffled."

Kyle took a deep breath. "I said: I love you."

"I love you too," Chris responded quickly before passionately pressing his lips into hers. Her arms wrapped around his neck just as tightly as his did around her waist.

As their kiss drew on, it only deepened until Chris had the girl pined up against the wall. After awhile, Kyle pulled away and took a deep breath. "I need to go home and pack…" she stated with a breathy laugh.

Chris's head slowly began to wave back and forth. "You can pack in the morning. You're not going anywhere." He pushed his lips into hers once again, not giving her a second to argue. His hands ran over the curve of her ass, commanding her to lift her legs and wrap them around his waist.

"Where are we going?" Kyle asked with a laugh as he began walking her in his strong arms toward the darkened hallway.

"We're going to bed."