Math holds the restaurant door open for Alice to pass through.

"Well thank you kind sir," she smiles. Such a gentleman.

After getting seated, they order a drink each and sit in silence for a couple of moments, both desperately trying to think of a conversation starter. When their drinks arrive, Math takes a long sip.

"So how are things at the station? Baze told me he's going to start co-hosting one day a week," he asks. He hates starting with a work question, especially considering it's the weekend, but he can't think of anything else.

A little smile pops onto Alice's face. She knows that Baze can be very rude sometimes, but he's so sweet and funny she knows most people would forgive him for most things. Even Ryan seems to be coming around to Baze, and it wasn't long ago that there was absolutely no love lost between them.

"Yeah, it's his first day on Monday. It should be a lot of fun. You never know what you're going to get with Baze, which will certainly make it interesting."

"To say the very least," laughs Math.

Now that the ice has been broken, Alice and Math chat happily during their meal, sharing stories about their lives, careers, and friends. One set of stories Alice takes particular delight in hearing surround Cate in school. She always knew her friend withheld a lot of information from her, as school was not a happy time for her, but hearing Math's take on it, even given the fact that he was clearly in love with her at the time, was enlightening. In many ways, it made her respect her friend even more.

"Come on Lux, I'll give you a hand to load the dishwasher," says Baze, standing up and practically herding her into the kitchen.

"It's all right, we can do it in the morning," says Cate quickly, but Baze clearly wants to spend some time with his daughter.

Lux brings the plates into the kitchen while Baze loads the dishwasher with the speed of a caterpillar.

"Baze, is everything all right?" she asks on her last trip.

"Yeah, everything's fine. But there's something I need to talk to you about," he says, setting a plate into the dishwasher and standing up, looking deeply into his daughter's eyes.

"What's going on?"

"I got a call from my dad. He said that he's been trying to contact you, but you've been rejecting his calls, and not answering his emails. I thought the two of you were getting pretty close?"

"We had been. I just don't want to talk to him right now. If my grandmother wants to call me, that's fine, but I don't want to talk to him."

Baze sighs heavily. He knew it was something like that, but he wanted to hear it from Lux personally.

"Is this because of what happened with Emma?"

She nods.

"Lux, I don't want that to change your relationship with your grandfather. Aside from anything else, it's upsetting your grandmother. She adores you, and it's making her sad that she can't spend time with you when he's there."

"Baze, I don't know if I can do that. I really like your mother, but I'm finding it hard to respect your father. He's done too many things, too many horrible things, and I don't think I can forgive him for that."

Baze smiles sadly. He knows that his daughter feels equally protective of him as he does of her, which he loves, but he doesn't want it to stop her from widening her relationships.

"I appreciate that, but this really isn't your battle, Lux. I was the one who was in a relationship with Emma. I know you are upset with it too, but I want you to get back on track with your relationship with my parents. Please."

At first, Lux is mad that Baze believes this doesn't affect her. He was deeply hurt by his girlfriend having an earlier relationship with his father, and if you hurt Baze, you hurt Lux. But she has to admit that she didn't lose anything in this. The person who lost out was Baze.

"I just don't like someone hurting you."

Baze leans down and kisses his daughter on the forehead.

"The feeling is mutual, believe me. But please, call my parents and arrange to meet them for dinner, or lunch or something. They are both itching to see you."

"I will, I promise."

Baze and Lux head back into the living room, finding Ryan and Cate kissing.

"I see things have been progressing in here. I think that might be my cue to leave. Lux, I think you have a phone call to make," throwing his arms around his daughter as he heads to the front door.

"Call me later after you talk with Math. I'm itching to find out what he thinks of the date," beams Cate as she and Ryan join Baze and Lux at the door.

"I will do. And thanks for an awesome dinner. You will all have to come over to the loft sometime for dinner."

"Definitely."

As they close the door, Cate opens her mouth to ask Lux about the secretive meeting in the kitchen, but Ryan pulls her closer to him. Looking up at him, he shakes his head. It has to be Lux's decision to tell her. After the court case, Cate hit the overprotective parent button, but she was starting to calm down now. He didn't want a reversal of that.

"So, that was a great night, huh?" asks Ryan, crashing back on the couch. His days have been increasingly busy since Matthew's arrival. Between work, the baby and his family with Cate it doesn't take much to exhaust him. He wishes there was some way he could add a couple of hours to each day.

"Yeah. It's nice to sit down and chat like that," replies Lux.

Cate heads into the kitchen to see what's happening in there. Ryan is about to join her, but Lux stops him.

"Thank you," she says simply.

"For what?" he asks, smiling at his step daughter.

"For being all right with Baze coming over for dinner."

"Well thank you for saying that, but it's really not necessary. Never thought I'd say this, but I like Baze. He's a great guy."

"Anyone want some coffee?" shouts Cate.

"Coffee sounds fantastic," beams Ryan.