A/N: This is AU.

1987

Due to a delayed landing, Suzie didn't get to Denver State until almost 8. She found the small club easily. She didn't see Joey in the audience, but she did recognize Bruce from the Laugh Machine on the stage. According to the marque, that meant Joey would be up next. He was already backstage getting ready. She took a seat in the back of the room thinking she would watch his set, then slip backstage and surprise him.

For the first time in years, she actually watched Joey when he was onstage and found herself laughing along with the crowd as he talked about being an Army brat. When his set was almost over, she slipped out of her seat and headed backstage. She was stopped by a bouncer, but Bruce came to her rescue.

"It's okay. She's with us. Her husband is onstage," he said.

The bouncer shrugged and stepped aside.

"Wow, you look great," Bruce said, hugging her. "Special occasion?"

"Something like that," she replied, looking around nervously.

"Well, listen, wait right here. Joe'll be done soon. I have to go call Darla," he said, speaking of his girlfriend of more years than either could count. "It was great to see you."

"You too," she replied. She took a seat at the small table Bruce had led her to and watched the stage entrance. A small woman with red-ish blonde hair was standing at the entrance, Sue assumed, to wait her turn. Sue smiled as she heard him saying goodbye to the crowd.

She stood up when she saw him and started to walk towards him, but the woman at the stage entrance stopped him and hugged him, then she kissed him. Suzie felt as though she had been slapped. She knew that she had all but ended things, still, she didn't think he would be with someone else so soon. She turned on her heel and practically ran out and hailed a cab.

"Whoa," Joey pushed the woman away, then led her a few steps away from the stage entrance. "I..., I think I might have given you the wrong idea, Roxy. I'm married."

"I know," she said, with a shrug. "But you did say you were separated and the tour ends tomorrow so I figured this was my last chance.."

Joey sighed. "I'm so sorry if I misled you, Roxy. I'm still so in love with my wife that if there is even a chance that she wants to get back together, I have to wait for that."

"She's a lucky girl," Roxy said. "Still friends?"

He smiled and nodded. "Of course." He hugged her.

"Go call her," Roxy said, pointing him towards the phone bay.

"Hey," Bruce put his hand over the receiver and caught Joey's arm. "Hey, did Suzie find you?"

"Suzie?" He asked confused.

"Yeah, she was looking for you. I took her backstage," he said.

"Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure," Bruce replied. "About ten minutes ago."

"Ten minutes..., backstage...," Joey closed his eyes. "No. Oh no. Look, Bruce, I've got to go. Cover for me, okay?"

Bruce nodded his agreement as Joey rushed out of the club.

Suzie was just getting into a cab when he got outside.

"Suzie!" He called out. She turned and looked at him, then started to get in the cab again. "Suzanna, please! Wait!" he tried again.

"Give me a minute, okay?" she asked the driver as Joey reached her. "What is it?"

He started to hug her, but she stepped back effectively putting the cab door between them.

"I can't believe you're here," he said. "I never expected you to come to a show."

"Obviously," she replied coldly.

"Roxy kissed me, I didn't kiss her," he said.

"She just kissed you for no reason?"

He looked down for a moment. "No," he admitted. "We've gone to eat together a few times."

"You went out with her?"

"It wasn't like that," he insisted. "We just talked. And you know what, it nice to talk to a woman who looked at me and not through me."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Suzie asked. "I look at you. I talk to you."

"No, you don't. You look at the girls, you look at your feet, your hands, or worse, at the wall behind me, but you don't look at me." He said, finding that he couldn't hold back everything he hadn't been saying. "You act like I'm not here. I've always been there. You've never had to deal with anything alone. You chose that. You act like you're the only one who is hurt, like you're the only one who lost someone. I lost someone too, but I can't talk to you about it. I can't talk to you about anything because when things get too hard, you run away. You always run away and then I lose you too." He stopped for a moment, then said quieter, "I love you, Suzie. I've loved you since we were kids, but I'm tired of being invisible."

Suzie stared at him. He was right. It had been a long time since she had thought about his feelings in all this. It had been a long time since she had thought about his feelings at all. He had always seemed so strong through it all, it was easy to ignore that every child she had lost, he had too. Her heart knew what she should do. She wanted to throw herself into his arms, apologize and tell him how much she loved him and hated how she had been feeling. She just couldn't though. She knew that the one thing he wanted more than to be a comic was to be a father and have a large family and as long as he was married to her, that wasn't going to happen. She also knew that he would never leave her. He would give up what he wanted to make her happy. It was what he had always done. It was what he would always do. She couldn't let him.

"In or out, Lady," the cab driver said, interrupting her thoughts. She looked at him then back at Joey.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have come here. I'm sorry." She quickly got in the cab and shut the door before she could change her mind.

2016

"You left him standing there?" Stephanie exclaimed. "Aunt Sue, that was straight up cold."

"I thought I was doing the right thing," she replied, trying to defend herself.

"When did you figure out that you weren't?" DJ asked.

"The plane? Takeoff? I'm not sure, but I do know that I cried all the way home. Like full on, ugly cry," she said. She poured herself another glass of wine. "Didn't care. I couldn't even talk when I called home to get someone to pick me up. I think I managed to say, "Jesse" and he jumped on his Harley and came to my rescue, of course."

1987

It was after midnight when she got back to San Francisco. With not one taxi to be found, Suzie made her way over to a bank of pay phones. It took three tries to get the quarter in the slot and another five minutes before she thought she had her tears in check enough to speak on the off chance that DJ was up late and answered. She was relieved to hear a gruff voice on the other end.

"H'lo?"

"Jesse?" That was all she could say before a sob tore from her throat.

"Suzie?" He asked confused. "Where are you?" Then his voice changed, sounding more awake and alert. "Airport?"

"Yes," she whispered.

"Stay there," he directed. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

She was still leaning against the wall by the phones when Jesse got there twenty minutes later.

"Aw, sis," he said, pulling her into a hug. He took his jacket off and wrapped it around her thin shoulders. "Let's get you home. We can talk about it in the morning."

She nodded mutely and let him lead her through airport out to the street.

1987

"You're coming home early?" Danny said into the phone. "Why?" He listened for a moment then glared at Jesse. "Yeah, no problem. I'll tell her," he said before hanging up.

He walked over to the counter where Jesse was feeding the girls breakfast.

"Where is my sister?" he asked, eyeing Jesse suspiciously.

"In bed, I guess," he replied, trying to act innocent.

"So, she is here? Great. Joey's been calling her all morning and she isn't answering. He's worried sick." Danny put his hands over Stephanie's ears while Jesse did the same thing to DJ. "What the hell did you do?" Danny demanded.

"You know how we said we weren't going to interfere?" Jesse said.

"Yes."

"I might have interfered, just a little," he admitted.

"Guys, you know we can still hear you right?" DJ asked. She shrugged Jesse away and stood up, grabbing her backpack. "Come on, Steph. They're being weird, even for them. Let's go wait for the bus outside."

"Okay," Stephanie replied, amicably. She kissed Danny and Jesse before following DJ out the door.

"What did you do?" Danny demanded again.

"Well, you know how I sprayed Suzie's new apartment for silverfish? It doesn't. I just thought if she stayed here a while longer, she would have to talk to Joe and maybe they wouldn't separate," Jesse said with a shrug. "And see it was working because she told that creep doctor to shove it and she flew out to Denver to see Joey last night, only I don't know what happened then because she was going to stay with him overnight and I was going to pick her up at ten and drop her off at work, but she called me a midnight. I picked her up and that's all I know. I swear." He held his hands in surrender.

"Alright," Danny said going back to the phone. "You go wake up Suzie. I'm going to call Joey back and let him know that she got home safely."

"I'm not asleep," she said, coming up the stairs from the basement. It was clear she hadn't slept at all.

"Then why haven't you answered the phone?" Danny asked.

She shrugged, sitting down at the table. She crossed her legs and pulled Michelle out of the high chair and settled her in her lap. "The only people who would call that number is Joey and the hospital. I don't want talk to him and I don't want to go to work early, so I thought it best to not answer."

"What happened last night?" Jesse asked, sitting a cup of coffee in front of her.

She was silent. Just before he asked again, she took a deep breath and said, "I left."

"Why?"

"He deserves someone better than me," she said, playing with Michelle's hair.

"What brought this on?" Jesse asked. "You left here yesterday, ready to take on the world."

"I got there and he was happy," she said. "And then I saw him kiss his friend Roxie and...,"

"What?!" Danny interrupted.

She shook her head at him. "Danny, don't be mad at Joey. This was all me. I all but told him it was over when he left. Anyway, he said she kissed him. He said they'd gone out a few times and they just talked. I don't know. He said it was just nice to talk to a woman who would look at him."

She looked up to see both men nodding in agreement with Joey.

"He's not wrong in that," Danny said.

"I know," she replied. "He said that I don't look at him anymore. That I don't talk to him, that I act like he is invisible and I realized that he's right and he doesn't deserve that. So, I left."

Both men were quiet. Finally, Danny spoke up, "Look, Sue, you're my sister and I am always on your side, but I have to say, you haven't been very nice to him lately. Joey loves you and I know you love him. But I've watched you push him, push him, and push him away. He's stuck with you and made excuses for you, and tried to help you, but... I don't know. I not going to take a side. I won't tell you what to do but you should probably think really long and hard if you really want this separation because I don't know how much more he's going to stick around for."

She nodded and kissed Michelle's head. She stood up and handed Michelle off to Jesse. "Thanks, guys," she said, wiping her eyes. "I've got to get ready for work."

"Don't you think you should take the day off?" Jesse asked. "You haven't slept all night."

"I'll be fine," she said. "It's a short shift. I'll come home and crash."

She went downstairs to get ready.

"Are you going to tell her Joey's coming home today?" Jesse asked.

Danny shook his head. "If I tell her that, she won't come home early."

"I thought we weren't interfering," Jesse said.

"Well, you interfered a little," he shrugged. "Now, I get to interfere a little."

"Ahh...," Jesse grinned. "Sneaky. Daniel, I do think I've been a bad influence on you."

Danny smiled back. "I'm going to go call Joey and let him know she made it home okay."

Please R and R.