Dougie's POV

Cassie kept her back turned for the next few days in bed at night. We barely said anything to each other as well. The boys did most of communication between us.

On the fourth day Tom called me on my cell. "What? Are you going to chew my ear off?" I grumbled. His sigh was all crackly. "Just rethink all of this, Doug. Don't be like Danny and only see what's in front of you." In the background I heard Danny faintly yell, "Just because I'm in the other room doesn't mean I can't hear you!" Tom shouted back. "You know it's true, Jones!" I stifled a snigger just as Cassie passed through the room where I was on the phone. She gave me a look and continued through to the next room.

"…talk to her." Was all I heard from Tom as I put the phone back to my ear. "What did you say?" I asked. He grumbled something inaudible and then said, "Why don't you go and try to talk to her? From the look on her face yesterday it seems like you started it."

"But dude-"

"Don't 'but dude' me Dougie. Cassie would never cheat on you and you know that. Tell her you've talked it over with me and you've realized she'd never do that to you."

"I bet she would. I cheated on her all those years ago, so she decides to take revenge by cheating on me."

Tom was silent for a minute or two before he said in a worn out voice, "What the hell is going on in your head these days, Doug?" I heard a click signifying that he hung up. "This is just great." I scowled and threw my phone at the wall. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes sinking to the floor. I buried my head in my arms as I drew my knees to my chest. When I pulled away my arms were wet, was I crying?

"Oh, so now you've just figured out what you've done?" Cassie stood at the archway separating the living room from the hallway. I quickly wiped the tears from my face and stood up. "How'd you get the idea I cheated on you?" She added a frown on her face. I just stood there staring at her. And had a flashback.

I laughed as I held Cassie's panties out of her reach. I quickly stuffed them down my pants and jumped onto the sofa spreading my arms and legs out.

"Now try and get them." I grinned. She folded her arms. "I am not sticking my hands down your pants."

"Who said you had to?"

She stared at me. "Excuse me?"

"You skipped a grade, right? So use your brain and think of a way to get them out." Cassie sat down and sighed. After a minute she looked at me and narrowed her eyes. "You sick little…I've only known you for 3 days!"

"I can tell you like me…and I kinda like you…" I shyly said. She stood up and then sat back down.

"…I like you also, but… I dunno if I want to…you know...right now. We just met."

"Can't we keep it a secret?"

"Yeah, we could keep our relationship a secret. But I don't want to have sex with someone I just met. Fool around, yes. Sleep together fully clothed, maybe we'll see. Sex, no not yet."

"Can we do all that on tour?" I hopefully asked.

"Yeah, we'd have to sneak off though."

"Yay!" I snuggled up next to Cassie and put my arms around her.She swung her legs over my lap and lay her head on my shoulder. I kissed her feeling like I had won a million pounds.

"…did you hear me? I said…"

"Do you remember when we first met and fell in love?" I quietly asked looking down at my feet.

"Yeah….why?" She asked curiously. I went over to her and looked her square in the eye and saw memories.

I saw her playing on stage that day we met, and on that same day she fainted after meeting us. And then the day we realized we had loved each other-after only 3 days of being in each other's company. I saw us at it for the first time. And then before the tour ended I saw myself with that other girl…I forget what her name was. I saw Cassie screaming at me-she was unknowingly pregnant with the twins at the time. I remembered the day she came back into my life. We fought for awhile, tried to talk things over, and another fight that resulted in her assault. More memories began to zoom through my head. The first time we made love since our great fight, explaining everything to the twins, proposing to her and feeling proud of having at my side at important events, our wedding, discovering she was pregnant with Mark, me fainting the day Mark was born.

A tear slid down her cheek-was she remembering all those times too?

"I'm so sorry." I whispered as I took her in my arms. "It's just that this guy came up to us at a meet and greet and gave me this envelope full of pictures. He told me that he caught you with someone else. Now that I think about it, the girl in the pictures is way fatter than you are."

Cassie made some kind of choking noise. "You ok, honey?" I lifted her chin up with my finger. Her eyes were all red and blotchy. She pushed me away and ran from the room. A few seconds later I heard a door slam. I was about to follow her when the phone began to ring. I just rolled my eyes at it and flopped down on the couch to watch TV. After about 5 minutes I heard Cassie scream, "DOUGIE!" I bolted from the couch and ran into the bedroom. "Cass? What's wrong?" I asked frightened. She was sobbing and handed the phone to me.

"Hello?"

"Is this Mr. Poynter?"

"Yes it is…"

"One of your sons was just admitted into the ER a few minutes ago…"

"Why?! Which one?!" I shouted into the phone.

"His twin said his name was Lee…"

"What the fuck happened?!"

"From what his brother has told me, they were walking along the road when a car came out of nowhere and hit him…"

"We'll be right there, doctor." I hung the phone up. Cassie was still bawling on the bed. I took her in my arms and rocked her back and forth. "Shhh…" I tried to sooth her.

"Daddy? Why were you yelling?" Mark appeared at our bedroom door with his blanket rubbing his eyes. "Why's Mommy crying?" He added sounding a bit frightened.

"Come here, Marky…" I said trying to hold the choking noise in my chest. He ran up to and climbed onto the bed. "Would you like to go to Sandy's for awhile?" I asked him as he climbed between Cassie and me.

"Maybe…" He sounded curious. "Why Daddy?"

"Mommy and I have to go out for awhile." We couldn't tell him what happened, not yet anyway.

"Ok!" He brightly said. "Now let's go get you dressed." I chased him out of the room, but turned around once I got to the door. Cassie was still sitting there, her face streaked with running mascara. I went back over to her. She looked at me and whispered, "Why did this have to happen now, Dougie?" I took her into my arms.

"I don't know, babe…"