As another week passed, the house remained the same. It was now another rainy Sunday night where you couldn't see the stars through the rain clouds. Claire was now spending every second night in her own bedroom, an effort on Olivia's part to help her grow up. Alex found the nights lonely without the sound of her breath. She couldn't sleep in this house, not properly anyway. Too many bad memories. The bedroom she shared with Olivia was only just down the hall from her old one. The door to that room, still unopened.

"Alex?"

The sound of Olivia's soft and sleepy voice echoed in Alex's ears, making her unsure if something had really been said. She turned to Olivia's face which lay on a pillow to her right.

"I know it's hard for you hear." She whispered her chocolate brown eyes full of sadness.

"I know I haven't been as close as I should be, I just feel like you're shutting me out again." She murmured.

"Liv, I don't want to talk about this now." Alex said bluntly.

Olivia sat up and wound her arm around Alex's chest.

"You're doing it again, please, even the kids have noticed. They know that something in this house isn't right; they know you're not alright." Olivia whispered as she nuzzled her head into Alex's neck.

Alex sighed, she felt like crying but the tears just wouldn't come out. Instead she wrapped an arm around Olivia. She had missed the comfort it could bring.

"I'm sorry." Alex whispered with a kiss to Olivia's head.

"I love you Alex."

"I love you too."

...

Alex arose from a nightmare at six am. Unable to fall back into sleep she arose quietly, trying not to wake Olivia. She snuck down to the kitchen in her pyjamas. She felt just as horrible as she had in the last few days but she needed to pick herself up. She never told Olivia, or anyone else, about her encounter with Tom and had since been even more careful around him. She didn't want to scare Olivia like she scared herself. Trying to distract her thoughts, Alex decided to cook breakfast for the household. By six thirty, a sleepy Noah wandered in to the dining room to see his mother serving up pancakes and juice.

"Mom?" He asked as he rubbed his eyes.

"Good morning sweetie." Alex whispered as she leant down to hug him, not being able to resist touching his brown curls.

"Go wake everyone else, tell them I've made breakfast." Alex said cheerfully.

Noah let a large smile spread across his face at the realisation his mother was back to normal and so dutifully ran up the stairs to wake everyone. Within ten minutes the dining room was buzzing with life. Everyone had been invigorated by each other's happiness. Even Catherine managed to fit in a pancake before she left for work.

"Thank you." Olivia whispered into Alex's as she pulled her into a hug and brief kiss.

Alex had missed the closeness, the happiness. She had missed her family. The Monday morning was cold but there was no rain so she saw the children on to their bus and waved goodbye to Olivia as she went to work, taking Claire to kindergarten on her way. The animals, especially Scooter, were all revelling in the outside, even Blackie perched herself in a tree. However, everyone was gone and now Alex was left to face the day alone with Tom as she had almost every day in the two months since they'd moved to California. Alex sighed and made her way back inside the house so that she could clean up the breakfast mess. She had been lucky enough to not have to return to the study in needing to ask for heat because in the morning when she awoke he had already done it. The dining room was a mess; Alex took all the dishes into the kitchen and wiped down all the surfaces in the dining room.

"Almost done." She sighed as she made her way back into the kitchen so that she could clean the dishes.

As the hot water ran, Alex tied her messy hair into a loose high ponytail, leaving a few strands of her fringe across her forehead. She finished just quick enough to turn the tap off before the water rose too high. At least ten minutes passed with Alex singing as she cleaned each dish, piece of cutlery and cup before she was interrupted. She hadn't heard him leave the study, or walk down the hall, she definitely hadn't heard him enter the kitchen, in fact, she hadn't heard him until she heard the sound of his breath in her ear. Singing had been a bad idea.