"She's right." Sophie said as she grasped Eliot's hand after Parker left to see if there was anything she could help Jaidee with in order to keep her occupied. "Sweetie, you gotta give me something. I can't very well live up to my end of the bargain of taking care of the rest of them if I'm losing it myself. We need you; I need you… to be okay."

"I never thought I'd live to see the day…" Donavan came in with a tray of cheese and crackers.

"What day is that, love?" Sophie asked him.

"The day you admitted to needing anyone."

"I've…"

"Needed something from them." He corrected her. "But you've never given enough of yourself over to anyone to truly say that you needed…"

"That's because I didn't know who I was." She interrupted him. "I knew who I was supposed to be; I was good at playing that."

"I never asked you to put on a show for me…"

"I know that." Sophie responded.

"All you had to do was ask and I would have taken you away from it… from him."

"And give up everything else?" Sophie sardonically smirked; she had convinced herself that the life of a socialite was enough to 'deal with' the rest. "I was stupid… naïve, what I knew… people were props, you used them to take what you wanted… I'm sorry if I ever made you feel that way. Don, I did need you, I just didn't think I could offer what you needed from me."

"This woman I see now; I always knew she was in there. You've come a long way. Can you do an old friend a favor?"

"What's that?"

"Don't go back; whatever it took to get here, please, don't let… don't close yourself off. You have a real family now to fall back on."

Sophie smiled. "I do, don't I?"

Donavan chuckled. "Yeah; now that Ford guy I'm not so sure about. I mean, he's a decent enough person, but, is he worthy of my little…?"

"Shhh!" She cut him off before he said anymore out loud.

He shook his head. "Are you ever going to tell him?"

"Of course; the day he becomes worthy."

"Don't drag that out too long." Donavan said seriously. "You deserve to be happy. I didn't mean to interrupt you, but Nate and I do agree on the fact that you need to eat something."

"Double team? Now see that's just not fair."

"Yeah right." He rolled his eyes. "You could take us both out with two hands tied behind your back and you know it. Just one little pout… Well, I should see about getting that lab report back."

"Which test?"

"Every one imaginable." He only slightly exaggerated. "Insein isn't exactly known for its sanitation and he went in with a very compromised immune system; I want to make sure everything checks out."

"I have no idea how to make this up to you."

"The only thing I want is for you to be happy; it's the only thing I've ever wanted."

"What about you? Are you… happy?" She questioned.

"I couldn't ask for more."

"Really? I always assumed that by now you and Jaidee would, you know, have…"

"Yeah, about that." He smiled.

"Oh my God! Seriously? I would never… when did you find out? And why didn't you say anything? Don, if I had known, I'd never…"

"That's precisely why I didn't say anything. We just found out a couple weeks ago. My parents don't even know yet. We wanted to wait until the second trimester before saying anything, but she's doing fine… and she didn't want you to feel like you were imposing. We wanted to help."

"I guess now I know why you have crackers lying around. Congratulations; you're going to be one hell of father."

"Thank you!" He responded before backing out of the door satisfied with the genuine smile on her face. As he left to see if his fax had come through yet Sophie turned her attention back to Eliot.

"So, um… how much of that did you catch?" She asked him hanging onto his hand with both of hers. "It probably doesn't surprise you, though. Hell, you were the one to call me out on it. What was it? 'You don't con your own team'. I'm not sure if I ever did apologize for that, especially to you. You put your ass on the line for us every day, you deserved better than that. Can you forgive me?"

For a moment she thought she imagined the clench against her palm until she looked down to see his grasp release.

"Eliot? Come on, do it again, honey." She pleaded expectantly.