The next morning, while Ryan gets them set up for the day by making breakfast, Cate goes up to Lux's bedroom to check on her. Her daughter is sitting on the bed, putting together her school books for the day.

"Good morning. How did you sleep?" asks Cate.

"I didn't," she replies, her eyes remaining on the books as she puts them into her bag.

"I'm so sorry about what happened with Jones. Will you be all right in school today?"

"I don't know, but I have to try. Exams are coming up. Maybe I can see him at school?" she thinks out loud.

"Lux, I don't think that's a good idea. Perhaps some time apart will be good for the two of you."

"How can you say that?" she asks, tossing her books onto her bed in anger. "We have a problem, and we need to work it out."

"Lux I don't think Jones is going to talk to you. He's hurt and angry. He needs time to himself to think things over."

"I think you're wrong," she says, grabbing her bag and dashing down the stairs.

She finds Ryan in the kitchen, digging into a plate full of bagels.

"Morning," he says, inviting her to take a bagel.

"Thanks, but I'm not hungry," she says, taking a book from the top of the counter.

He looks behind Lux to see his wife coming down the stairs. From the look on her face, he knows the talk didn't go well.

"Did you and Cate talk about the situation with Jones?"

"Yeah, and she wants me to leave him alone, can you believe it?" she storms.

"Actually, I agree with her. From personal experience, I think Jones needs some time alone. He needs to come to terms with his anger before he's able to face you."

With everything that's been going on, she had forgotten about the past situation with Cate and Baze sleeping together behind Ryan's back. She now remembers how devastated Cate and Ryan were, and how strained things were when it all came out. Everything worked out eventually, but things were very tense for a long while.

"But don't you think you and Cate could have worked things out sooner if you'd talked things over?" she asks desperately.

"No, I don't. We both needed space to think things over," he says, putting his hand gently on her shoulder and smiling sadly at her. "Just leave him for a while. Allow him realise for himself that he wants to be with you."

She nods her head, fighting back tears. She loathes the idea of not seeing Jones, of having to avoid calling him and seeing him for lunch at school. It'll take a lot of effort and sitting on her hands to manage it, but if Ryan is right, and this is the best way to make him realise that he needs to be with her, then it'll be worth it in the end.

"All right, I'll do it. I just hope it works out as well as it did for you and Cate," she says, grabbing her bag and heading out the door, smiling at her mother as she does so.

Cate grins as she heads to her husband, reaching up to kiss him.

"What was that for?"

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For being so fantastic with her. I don't know where we'd be without you."

At the Open Bar, Jamie watches with a massive smile on his face as Baze chats up a pretty young woman playing pool. He's relieved that his friend is finally getting back on the wagon again. He has been through a lot recently with both Cate and Emma, and it's nice to see the Baze he knew from a year ago coming back. The fact that he's a father now means he will never totally revert back to the man he was, but a little glimmer of that man appearing again is nice to see.

When he manages to drag himself away from his new lady friend, he dashes up to the bar, a massive smile on his face.

"So, who's the pretty lady?" asks Jamie.

"Her name is Jessica. She's a student from New York and she loves everything Portland has to offer."

"Especially the pretty people, right?" laughs Jamie, casting his eyes over to the young woman in question. She can't take her eyes of Baze. "I think she's smitten," he smiles.

"Yeah," grins Baze.

"Are you going to see her again?"

"I'm not sure, we haven't discussed it."

"Well, you aren't done seeing her now," smirks Jamie.

"You really do have a one track mind, don't you?"

"Yeah!" he replies, as though it's the most obvious thing in the world. He passes Baze two bottles of beer and watches as he heads back over to Jessica.

Lux heads through the doorway at school, relieved to find Tasha standing at her locker. She keeps looking at everyone around her, expecting to find people glaring at her and pointing fingers because of what happened with Jones, one of the most popular boys in school. But none of that is happening. In fact, no one is paying her any attention. She's not sure whether she should be happy or sad. Either Jones is man enough to keep their issues to himself, or he doesn't care enough about her to want to discuss it with anyone else.

"Are you all right?" asks Tasha, noticing her friend's strange observations.

"People aren't staring at me."

"Should they be?" she asks, putting her hand on her friend's chin and turning her head to the right and then to the left. "Well, you don't have any disfiguring zits, so why should people be looking at you?"

From the flush of embarrassment on Lux's face, she knows what she's thinking.

"You think Jones has gone around the entire school and told everyone that you dumped him for Bug, huh?"

Lux shrugs her shoulders.

"Come on Lux, you should know Jones better than that. He would never be that hateful and disrespectful."

"Clearly I don't know him though. I never thought he would dump me because of something so ridiculous, but he did!"

"Lux, you have to give him time. Jones is a great guy, and he'll come around."

"Do you really think so?"

"Yes, I do. Just give him some breathing space, and he'll realise the truth. Don't worry," she says, closing her locker door. "Come on, we have to get to class."