Steve sat up on the table in the doctor's office after completing his follow up visit.

"How was therapy this morning?" his doctor asked.

"Pretty good."

"Pain level?"

"Four, maybe five," Steve replied.

"Ok, if it gets unbearable feel free to take an extra pain pill, but just one."

"Actually," he said, stretching his neck back and forth. "I wanted to talk to you about that."

The doctor looked over at him from the computer that was stationary on the small desk, "Ok, what's up?"

"After I left the hospital the other day, Anna and I stopped for lunch." He shook his head. "I guess cops aren't immune because someone broke into our car and stole my bag that was in there, with my pills inside."

He looked surprised, but not so much over the theft as he was that he hadn't told him sooner about the lost meds. "You should have said something, I could have given you another prescription."

Steve shrugged, "I've been taking Ibuprofen. Not exactly the same relief but it brings the pain level down some."

He pulled out a pad from his pocket. "I'll write you another one."

Steve let out a silent sigh of relief over the handwritten prescription. He was relying on it, recalling the last one was the same.

He scribbled out the dosage. "I'm going to make it for a two week supply again."

"Actually," Steve countered, "why don't you just make it for one week."

He looked up at him, "Are you sure?"

He nodded, "One should be good." He gripped the side of the table not sure if he was making the right decision or not. The plan he had might not work and he could have just screwed himself out a weeks supply, but it was too late now as he handed him the piece of paper.

"I'm going to do you one better just incase," the doctor said. "I'll be right back."

The door closed behind him and Steve looked at the pen lying on the table next to the computer that he'd used to fill out the form. He wasn't expecting it to be this easy as luck seemed to be on his side. He glanced at the door not knowing just how much time he had. He picked it up and tucked it under his shirt.

Seconds later the door opened again.

"Here," the doctor said, holding out a small box to him. "This is a couple of days supply I got from a vendor. It's just incase the prescription runs out and you need it before our next appointment."

"Thanks Doc," Steve replied, taking the box. 'It is my lucky day,' he thought amusingly.

"All right then, you're all set and I'll see you in a couple of weeks."

He went to put a hand on his back to help guide him off the table when Steve put one out, blocking him.

"That's ok, I got it."

They shook hands before Steve left the room as the doctor went to the table scanning the area for where he thought he'd left his pen, but it was the second one that day he'd misplaced, not looking too hard.

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Steve walked up to the Pharmacy counter and handed the young woman in the white coat his altered prescription. He set down a bottle of water too, "Hi. How you doing today"

"Fine, thank you," she replied, her smile widening over the handsome man standing before her. "How about you?"

"Days getting better and better," he grinned at her, pointing toward the water. "Can I pay for this here?"

"Sure. We don't advertise it, but I can ring it up with your prescription if you want."

"Thank you," he looked at the name on her coat, "Jessie." He returned the flirtatious grin as she blushed slightly, looking down at the prescription not noticing the altered number with the pen from the doctor's office, too caught up in the extra attention that was given to her. She wasn't used to that from men, especially men that looked like him.

"Four weeks?" she said of the unusual supply. "I have to call that in."

Steve moved his shirt and flashed his badge. "Really? I'm kind of in a hurry," he lied. "My partner's outside and it's my first day back on the job after getting hurt on duty. I was hoping to make this quick. I can come back later though." He went to take back the prescription when she recanted.

"You know what, that's ok. I'll fill it right now." She smiled up at him again. "Give me two minutes."

Steve smiled sweetly at her. "Thank you Jessie, I appreciate it."

She flushed again, glancing at the name on the piece of paper, "No problem, Steve. Be right back."

As she turned the smile on his face faded. He knew what he was doing was wrong on so many levels, even illegal, a minor misdemeanor but nonetheless. In his defense he stuck with his main objective. He needed to keep his original bottle at the right capacity.

He told himself again it was all for Anna's sake. The risk he took was for her.

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Anna leaned forward toward the mirror and applied a light coat of mascara to her lashes. She heard her name being called by Eric from downstairs to hurry up as she screwed the top back on, glancing at the bottle of pills on the counter for the third time and for the third time she told herself not to look.

He'd been home almost two weeks and the changes in him were becoming more apparent. He was different. She couldn't narrow that word down to a specific category but he was.

She caught him more than once up at night wandering the house, his excuse was that he couldn't sleep. His body had always lived off of just a few hours considering his lifestyle of being in the Navy and a Police Officer. He joked that it was telling him he needed to get back to work, soon.

She also noticed his appetite hadn't returned, even going as far as preparing the few dishes that she knew he loved and used to devour, now he mostly pushed it around the plate and ate only half.

But if she had to put one element at the top of the list, the one that stood out the most was his irritability. He'd always been an impatient person, it had almost becoming a running joke and a characteristic that she never saw used against her or the kids, but lately that was changing as well. Recalling the most apparent incident directed at she and Eric a few days earlier for having the TV too loud while he worked on his laptop going over some cases Danny had sent him. It was unnecessary the outburst nor the tone in which it was delivered as he stomped down the hall from the kitchen into the family room, blasting them over it. She told him so by the equally displeased expression she gave back to him, he quickly recanted and requested it again in a more pleasant way, but the damage had been done.

She'd trusted his word, telling her he'd stick with the prescription, but her curiosity over his behavior got the better of her and she glanced over her shoulder into the bedroom to see that it was clear before she picked up the medicine bottle.

She unscrewed the child proof cap and shook the pills out into her hand, counting them one by one and then trying to mentally tally the total to what he'd already taken when she heard him behind her.

"Are you ready, Eric is about to…" he paused seeing the pills and a guilty expression on her face. "have a heart attack." He finished his sentence even though he was pretty sure she didn't hear a word he'd just said over her shock and embarrassment of what she'd been caught doing. She did however answer his lingering question of whether or not she'd been checking up on him.

"Steve," she began to explain not knowing what she was going to say to him when he beat her to it.

"Its ok." He pointed at the pills in her hand. "Are they all present and accounted for?"

She shuffled them back into the bottle, "Yes, of course. I'm sorry."

"Don't be." He felt he had her in a good place, reassuring her he was standing up to their agreement. He'd barely touched those in her hand since getting the other supply, keeping them at his house.

"I should have trusted you." She put the top back on and set them on the counter, too ashamed to look up at him.

"Is there a reason you needed to look?" Asking more for his own welfare rather than hers, not taking into consideration her words of trust that completely eluded him.

She slowly looked up at him, wondering now if his behavior changes were for a different reason altogether, maybe because of her and the kids. "Are you happy? I mean, are you happy being here?"

That question he wasn't expecting. "Of course. Why? Why would you ask that?"

She shrugged, "I don't know. I was wondering if maybe we were starting to get on your nerves? You seem very tense lately and you've been spending more time at home."

"I'm here every night."

"I know but is that because you want to be, or because you feel like you have to be?"

"Is this because of the other night when I acted like a ass to you and Eric over the TV?"

"Kind of." She shook her head and sighed, "I don't know Steve, you just seem preoccupied all the time and we haven't talked about the wedding one time since you've been back." She looked up at him showing the worry that she felt inside. "Have you changed your mind and are afraid to tell me?"

"What?" he whispered in utter shock, not able to believe she was asking him that. "Anna?" he was dumfounded over this, but knew he must have done something to trigger it, not seeing the changes as blatant as she had. "No, I haven't changed my mind." He moved closer to her, taking her hand that had his ring on it. "Whatever I did to bring this on, I'm sorry. What did I do?"

His stomach began to turn, feeling the high he was on and the good mood slowly dwindle with this newfound tension that was unsettling. He stared at her waiting for her answer, not liking what he was feeling at the moment. It was chaos in his head. The shift in his mood was like lightening, changing in a flash of a second, and feeling each emotion as they ricocheted off of each other; shock, anger, betrayal and finally despair. Afraid of what might happen if she found out about his deception. He needed to be able to think straight incase he had to explain it to her, calculating the minutes down until he could break away and hopefully get to a pill before they left for Jenny's play at school.

"Steve?" Anna said to him as he just stared at her, not responding to a word she'd just said to him. "Steve?" she said again, only this time her voice carried the worry of his faraway gaze as if he were someplace else. She glanced at the healing scar on his forehead, dreading the thought that maybe his head injury had done more damage than originally thought, not having another explanation for this oddity that just seemed to come on at times, like now.

Eric appeared around the corner of the bathroom. "Are we going? We're going to miss the whole thing."

Anna put her hand on Steve's forehead, touching the wound. "You can stay home if you want."

He looked down at her, still not understanding what he had done. "Do you not want me to go?"

"Of course I want you to go. Jenny would be heartbroken if you weren't there."

"Then why ask? I don't know what I did Anna to bring all of this unwanted attention toward our relationship." His mood changed again to that irritable side, knowing with the two of them there and the rush they were now in, that he wasn't going to get the opportunity to run home he was hoping for. "Maybe its you that wants out and are afraid to tell me. You haven't talked about the wedding either."

Eric looked back and forth between the two of them, not liking what he just heard. "Are you fighting?"

Anna shook her head, not sure where this whole conversation had started and not sure where it was headed. "Steve, I just got done telling you that sometimes I feel like you are here physically but mentally you seem to be somewhere else, like right now. When you're standing right in front of me and don't hear me what do you think that tells me?"

He was trying to make sense of what she was telling him, not recalling her saying any of that or accusing him of that behavior until right now. "What do you want Anna," he blurted out, feeling like she was trying to corner him now.

"What do I want?" she asked becoming just as agitated and then remembered Eric was standing right there, listening to all of it. She didn't want this going any further than it already had. "I want to go watch Jenny's play," She looked up at him, "as a family. I want you to come with us because you belong there."

"Fine," he walked past the two of them, shaking his head. "let's go."

His annoyance with the situation grew as well as the frustration of not getting to his pills. 'All I did,' he thought irritably, 'was come up and ask if she was ready! It was a perfectly good night until she had to lay all that bullshit on me.' he tightened his hands into fists as he descended the stairs, stopping halfway as a pain in his lower back swelled from moving too quickly because he was agitated. "Damn it," he groaned, grasping onto the handrail.

Anna came down the two steps behind him, putting a hand out, "Are you ok?"

He shuffled his shoulder where he felt her touch, blaming her for getting him this way. "I'm fine!" He went to take another step and then stopped again, seeing an opportunity, turning just slightly so he could see Eric. "Hey buddy, will you run up and grab me a pill?"

Eric turned without hesitation and darted back up the stairs.

He spoke to Anna next but didn't look at her. "Is that ok with you, if I have just one?" he asked, but his tone was condescending and she knew it.

She wanted to cry over the confrontation that had turned what could have been a fun and memorable night into a tense and uncomfortable one instead, wishing she wouldn't have said anything at all. She blamed herself for going through his pills in the first place. It was what had started it all. She cursed herself again for doing it, and all for what, she thought angrily, he had been true to his word.

The guilt over her behavior took place of any concerns she felt over his, feeling like a nagging wife that wasn't being paid enough attention too, wishing again she would have just kept her mouth shut.

She went to apologize for all of it, hoping to salvage what she could of the night when Eric came past her with the pill.

"Here, Steve," he handed it out to him.

"Thanks, Buddy," he replied.

She noticed his tone toward Eric was the complete opposite of what she had received, almost as if he meant for it to be that way. She followed behind them somberly down the stairs and out the door.

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Jenny came walking up to them in the gym after the play. Her expression focused mainly on Steve as he smiled at her. She hoped she'd done well, having the most lines since she'd played the main character of her individual skit, which was a part of four others.

He bent down on one knee as she came toward him with his hand behind his back. "There she is," he said, "the star of the night. The non other than Jenny Jordan, future movie actress." He pulled a single red rose out from behind his back, holding it out for her. "Great job, sweetheart."

Her face ignited in a smile that told of how pleased she was. "Is that for me?"

"Of course. A stage actress is always given flowers at the end of a perfect performance."

She took the flower and hugged him around the neck tightly. "Did you hear all my words I said?"

"I did, loud and clear."

"You did a wonderful job Jenny," Anna declared, putting a hand on her head as she released Steve and went to her next, wrapping her arms around her waist.

"It was so much fun, Anna. I want to do it again."

"You did good, Sis," Eric said, standing next to them with his hands in his pockets. "Better than Aunt Alyssa. I bet you're more famous than she is someday."

Jenny laughed at that, but had another agenda on her mind. "Can we go for ice cream?"

Steve stood up and answered without getting an input from Anna. "Absolutely. You deserve it."

"Of course," she agreed, looking over at him and smiling, hoping to get one in return but it wasn't to be just yet. He'd avoided eye contact with her since leaving the house earlier.

They sat outside the ice cream shop each enjoying their treat. Both Eric and Jenny chose cones, while Steve and Anna each had a small bowl. Jenny spoke non-stop about her experience, explaining how it came to be and how they had rehearsed. Steve was more than pleased to listen, feeling the giant elephant that was sitting between he and Anna at the moment. He was still a little perturbed over her accusations and then not being able to back them up, especially after all he'd gone through just to keep her happy with the pills. He put aside his own needs of being able to nourish his body with the medicine he needed to stay pain free yet he still couldn't please her. It was her childhood issues that she was forcing on him, in turn pressuring him to make decisions that were not a part of his normal character, blaming her for the deceitful way in which he lied to get his latest supply.

Anna played with the half filled bowl of ice cream, not feeling the want for it anymore, even though it was her favorite and in any normal situation it would have been gone already, but her stomach was in knots over the silence between them. He sat next to her but she felt like he was a million miles away not even feeling comfortable enough to reach over and touch him. A habit that had become like second nature to her, but at the moment she felt she had no right to. She cursed herself again for not trusting him, knowing that's what he had to be angry about the most. She just needed to get him alone and apologize, hoping that would be soon because this separation between them was killing her.

The kids went into the house after Anna as she stood at the front door waiting for him to come through before she closed it.

Steve stood on the edge of the grass and pointed over toward his house with his thumb, "I'm going to run home and do some work on my laptop. I'm going back to work in a few days and want to get caught up." It was a blatant lie, but like always he felt she left him no choice.

She felt her heart sink to her stomach, "Ok. Should I leave the door unlocked?" wondering if he'd be back. He'd yet to sleep at his house once since being home.

"I've got a key," he replied, not sure if he would be back or not. At the moment he couldn't decide.

She stepped outside, closing the door behind her. "I'm sorry Steve. Please, I'm so sorry," she pleaded with him, never before feeling the need to beg for his forgiveness but at that second she felt she had to. The fear of him slipping away frightened her beyond words.

He saw the sincerity of the apology all over her. He felt it too, tugging on his heart as she stood looking so desperate for his forgiveness. But it was the rest of his body that didn't feel the need to rectify it right this second because if he did, then he couldn't make the trip to his house and get the relief that was pulling on him harder than the obligation to go to her. She could wait just a few more minutes but his body couldn't, besides he told himself again, she had put them in this position to begin with.

"Leave the door unlocked," he said before turning and walking toward his house, wiping his sweaty palms on his pants, his focus solely on the space in his house where he kept his hidden supply.

Anna stood and watched him walk away, saddened that that was all he was giving her. She wasn't even sure what that meant. Would he be back before bed? Should she wait up for him? Was it a sign of forgiveness? It was the vaguest reply she could have asked for.

She went in and closed the door, seeing Jenny in the kitchen putting her rose in a glass of water and Eric standing half way up the stairs looking down at her.

"Did he go home?" he asked her, aware of the fight but even more aware of the distance between them since leaving the house earlier. They always held hands, or sat close to one another, and even on occasion they would kiss, sometimes he would catch them in a long kiss, but tonight they hardly even spoke to one another.

"He'll be back later," Anna said, forcing a smile. "Are you going to shower tonight or in the morning?" she asked trying to change the subject.

"Why is he so grumpy all the time? Does his back hurt still?"

Anna came to the bottom step, "Do you think he's grumpy?" she asked him, intrigued that he saw the changes too.

Eric shrugged, thinking he might have exaggerated some, making it sound like he was always mad. "Sometimes I guess. Not all the time. But he's not like he used to be. He's different."

"You think so?"

He nodded, "Don't you think so too?"

She didn't want to go against Steve, feeling the need to defend him instead. "He just has a lot on his mind right now, Eric. I think he feels bored because he's been laid up for so long. That can be hard on a man like him whose been active his whole life. You know what I mean?"

He shrugged again. "I guess so, but it's not our fault."

"Just be patient with him. He's going back to work in a few days, so I'm sure that will help."

"You're still getting married aren't you?" he asked, recalling the conversation in the bathroom about it, not hearing all of it, but enough.

Jenny came down the hallway just then, holding a glass with the flower sticking out of it. She heard the question from her brother, staring at Anna for her reply. "Are you?"

The look on both of their faces told her of the importance of this relationship to them. They were counting on it, they needed it as much as she did. "Yes," she said, "Of course we are." She looked up at Eric. "We've just been busy with everything that's happened." She held up her ring finger, "See this. It's as good as done."

"When?" Jenny asked her.

"Yea, when?" Eric countered.

Anna shook her head and shrugged. "I don't know exactly but soon. It's not something you plan over night. A Wedding is a big deal and takes time. But we'll get to it I promise, ok?" She laughed it off. "Now get upstairs and get ready for bed. It's getting late."

She looked out the bedroom door for the last time before closing it for the night, heart broken that she was going to bed alone.

Steve sat at his kitchen table with his laptop open, but his eyes were focused on the house across his yard. He stared at the second story window of the master bedroom that faced the ocean, barely able to see it across his family room, past his yard and through a tree that semi blocked his path, but he could see the light on, knowing she was waiting for him, yet he sat where he was, a part of him liking that, knowing he should go to her but held back for just a while longer.

He leaned back in the chair not feeling any pain whatsoever. The extra dose he'd taken was for compensation for the stress that Anna was putting him through at the moment. It was the worst night he'd spent with her since their first date together, remembering siting at the table in the restaurant and just wanting to get up and run. She had been a pain in his ass that night too.

A smile slowly emerged on his face as he then recalled how that night had turned out and how every night since then had been. She was like no one he'd ever known. She loved him like no one he'd ever known. She was a rare find, asking himself on more than one occasion how he'd gotten so lucky, not sure he deserved it or was worthy of it and yet here he sat while she was there, waiting.

Just then the light went out in her room and so did his arrogant attitude over believing she was waiting for him, He sat up as if the fear of God had just blown through him, realizing the comforting knowledge of her being available to him wasn't true after all. What if he'd gone too far and she had finally seen the screw up that he was and had had enough. He looked around the empty house and couldn't imagine going back to the life he had before her and the kids. It was that fear that lit the fire inside of him.

He pushed away from the table and went for the front door.

Anna slowly opened her eyes, seeing him approach the bed.

Steve knelt down next to it, resting his arms on the mattress as they looked at each other in silence. He might have been angry with her but he couldn't deny that his heart was incapable of living without her. Seeing the light shut off just reminded him in the most brutal way that she was one of a kind, and he was replaceable. He saw the way men looked at her. She could choose anyone she wanted. It was that knowledge and knowing first hand the privilege of what it was to be loved by her that got him to his feet and in the place he was now.

He held back from touching her as long as he could before he finally reached over and ran his fingers through her silky hair that had been growing out to the length it had in the beginning of their affair. The red was still the same, which he loved. It made her unique and the color was sexy as hell on her, not remembering the last time he took the time to admire it.

She felt her wounded heart might explode by his romantic gesture that she needed so badly at this moment. The forgiveness was there so clearly by the way he was admiring her, not remembering the last time they shared an intimate moment such as this one. Her fears of him changing his mind shot out the window as he crawled into bed with her, pulling his shirt over his head at the same time.

Her hands caressed over his chest as his lips went straight for hers, not missing a beat as he rolled her over on her back while the kiss deepened into what they both knew was going to be phenomenal make up sex.

Neither was disappointed over the outcome.

"I love you," Anna whispered to him as they lay face to face.

He pulled her yet closer to the already vacant area between them. "I love you too." He meant every word of it, ten fold. At the moment she was his salvation, the one thing in this world that he could count on no matter what. "Let's get married soon, Anna. Let's not talk about it, let's just do it."

"Ok," she smiled, seeing the man she'd fallen in love with.

He felt like he was on cloud nine as he gazed at the beautiful creature that was nestled close to him. He didn't think he could ever possibly love another person as much as he did her at that very second. "You're so beautiful, Anna," he whispered to her with a kiss.

She hadn't heard that line or that tone from him in a long time, assuring her of his love. "Me?" she grinned. "You're like a walking dream with your rugged good looks," her hand roamed over his back, "and this firm body that makes me melt."

He smiled, never feeling comfortable receiving compliments, but from Anna it was a gift that he welcomed because it was just another way of her expressing her love for him. He couldn't get enough of that. He needed her and needed to know what he felt was mutual. "I'm sorry I kept you waiting so long."

"It was worth it." She touched his face with her fingers. "I'm sorry too, about what happened earlier."

"Do you still trust me Anna?"

"Yes," she replied, "I do. I won't do that again. I promise." She meant it from the bottom of her heart. It had been a mistake.

"Are you sure because if you trusted me you wouldn't have looked in the first place." He needed to be assured they were back in that place again.

She couldn't argue with that, feeling the guilt over it begin to build once again. "I know. I was just concerned. You hadn't seemed like yourself lately." She was nervous confessing it, hoping it didn't bring up the same argument as before.

"I'm not myself," he agreed. "I don't feel like it either. I think once I get back to work things will settle down and I'll feel normal again." He in turn knew the signs she was speaking of. The outburst to she and Eric over the TV was uncalled for, he blamed it on his lack of physical and mental activity from being cooped up all day and not being productive, it couldn't have been from the pills, he had decided a long time ago they were the only thing that made him happy.

"You're just going to be behind the desk at work for right now, right?" she asked, worried he'd try and jump in too quickly.

"Yes, until I'm ready." He felt ready now but knew jumping right back in wasn't safe for any of them. The nightmare he had about being in the house and seeing the bodies of Chin and Kono and then shooting Danny was still so vivid in his mind, giving him chills just thinking about it. He needed to ease back into the job.

"I think it'll be good for you too," she smiled, believing him when he said that was the issue. She snuggled up closer to him and closed her eyes, feeling at peace with their relationship. She didn't ever want to feel what she did earlier, it hurt way too much.

Steve closed his eyes, feeling her warm breath on his neck and glide down his body. This was all he needed he told himself again, and felt it at the moment.

He wasn't so sure the lies he told her over the pills was in their best interest anymore. He thought about coming clean with her, but decided that probably would hurt her even more. He decided that he'd just stop taking them all together. It was time.

He went to sleep for the first time not anticipating his next dose. He had Anna to cure whatever troubled him. She was all he needed.

The sweat poured off of him as he slowly eased his way out the bed, trying not to wake Anna. He'd awoken in a state of panic, assuming it had come on from a dream but couldn't remember it. He went into the bathroom and straight for the pills that sat on the counter, shuffling out three and quickly popping them his mouth, feeling the urgency. He cupped his hand with the cool water and drank from it, helping to ease them down his dry throat.

He washed some water over his face and looked up at his pale complexion, turning away from it quickly. His earlier decision to stop feeding his body with the pills was nowhere to found. He had taken them without even considering it.

He braced his hands on the sink, rocking back and forth until the feeling of relief would over take him. He knew it was coming, he just had to hold out a few more minutes. His knuckles turned white from the tight hold in anticipation of it.

"Steve?" Anna said, knocking softly on the door. "Are you ok?" She'd woken up feeling the empty bed next to her as well as the sweat he'd left behind.

He looked over at the locked door, 'Fuck,' he thought angrily with a low growl, 'can't she give me just two fucking minutes. Jesus! She's like a fucking shadow on me.'

"Steve?" she said again, hearing him growl, assuming he was pain.

"I'm fine!" he yelled out. "Christ Anna can't I even take a piss without you badgering me?"

She stepped back away from the door, caught off guard by his outburst, "I thought something was wrong. The bed was all wet and…" She stopped mid sentence as he came out.

"What?!" he asked. "I took one pill ok? You can go in and count them."

She shook her head in defense, "No, I wasn't thinking that. You're all sweaty." She went to put a hand on his wet forehead when he moved out of her reach.

"I splashed some water on my face. I just had a bad dream."

"The sheets where you were sleeping are all wet. It must have been a bad one. Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," he replied dryly, seeing the puzzled expression on her over his outburst that he blamed her for. "You have to get off my back Anna. You can't keep on me like this. I feel like a prisoner."

Those words stung and angered her. "I thought you were hurt! I'm so sorry if I disturbed you. Next time that I think you're on the floor in the bathroom I'll just go back to sleep and let you be!"

His out of character behavior was back in the blink of an eye as if the intimacy from earlier never took place. She'd had her fill of dealing with it, especially after hearing Eric's confession earlier that night.

"If you're feeling so confined," she replied, mirroring his tone, "then maybe you better go home. There's plenty of space there and no one to badger you!" She turned away to get back in bed as he came up behind her, putting both arms around her body, holding her arms at her side.

It startled her, never having him do something so reckless as grab her like that during an argument. "Let me go!" she squirmed as he held her in place. If an outsider would have been standing there they could have labeled it borderline abusive.

"I'm sorry for what I said," he admitted apologetically. "Anna, I'm sorry." She tried to fight him again, showing that feisty side that told him when he'd gone too far. "Stop," he said of her defiance. "Just stop. I'm sorry, ok." His hold loosened, turning into a hug, assuming she would concede like she usually did, but not this time.

She refused to accept the embrace, but didn't fight him anymore either. There was no point. His sudden change in behavior was so familiar it was as if she were living in the past, rehearsing a scene from one of her parents arguments that she had witnessed so many times growing up. She knew what was happening and wouldn't live in denial with it any longer. It was the only explanation. He was lying to her and she knew it now. She'd known it all along but just didn't want to see it.

"Ok," she agreed, hoping to appease him so he would release the grip on her. She slowly moved away from him and turned around, facing him, letting her eyes focus on the person he'd become and not the one that she wanted to see. "Do you trust me Steve?" she asked of him the same question she'd heard from him so many times over the course of the last few weeks.

"Of course I do."

"You know that I love you?"

He nodded, wondering where she was headed with this, but also knew her well enough to let her have her way this time. He needed to kneel to her. "Yes."

"Then stop lying to me."

He felt his heart skip a beat. "About what?"

She didn't say anything but just stared at him.

"Anna," he said passively. "What is it that you think I'm lying about?"

"The pills," she replied bluntly.

He pointed toward the bathroom, assuming she was countering his lie about only taking one. "Ok," he caved," you're right. I took two not one. I just didn't want to worry you."

She stood motionless and expressionless. If she had to make a guess, she would say that was probably a lie too. Her head was swimming with all the different scenarios that she'd chose to ignore. She had to stop trusting him and start trusting herself.

"I don't want them in my house anymore."

She stared at him, waiting to see what his reaction was going to be.

He'd pushed her too far. He knew that now. It was a mistake that was going to cost him dearly unless he could rectify it here and now.

"I don't know what you think it is between me and these pills Anna, but if you feel that strongly about it then fine," he agreed just a little too easily. "You want me to stop taking them? It's done." He went past her into the bathroom. She watched as he scooped up the bottle off the counter and took them over to the toilet, holding it over the bowl as he poured them out. He looked over at her as he flushed it.

He went back to her, shaking the empty bottle. "Done."

His casual attitude about it told her two things, either she was wrong about him and his behavior was all about his boredom, which her instincts told wasn't true, or he had another stash that she didn't know about and this little stunt was all for her benefit, just to throw her off.

'Only time will tell,' she thought.