A/N: Hey, I definitely intended to post this earlier, but the crazy world we're living in has got me pretty busy. Anyway, here it is. Comments and thoughts always greatly appreciated. Enjoy!

Chapter Seven

Alice's eyes were wide and full of interest once Abby finished her tale of what had unfolded over the course of the weekend.

"So he's getting married?" She asked.

"I guess, I mean that's what he said, it was his bachelor party." Abby nodded.

"Do you think he'll tell her?" Alice said, in a low voice as if someone else could hear them.

"I don't know. I mean he told me because he felt guilty – I think. But, I mean, he's engaged to her, he has something to lose by telling her." Abby mused.

"Yes, but I mean how serious can he be? He slept with you whilst he was engaged to her. I mean, that doesn't sound like a solid relationship to me." Alice said doubtfully.

"Well it's more serious than he ever got with me." Abby took a long sip of her Riesling.

"You don't suppose he was…like…you know…when you two were…" Alice began to trail off.

"Cheating on me when we were together?" Abby offered before continuing.

"I mean, I don't think so, he seemed really genuine, and he also seemed really hurt by the whole thing when I came back – just before I married Sam." Abby explained.

"What? You saw him again before this weekend – you missed that out." Alice looked intrigued again. Abby was beginning to realise how little of her life before Sam she had shared with Alice. She and Alice hadn't met until a few months after she'd married Sam, so Abby had never mentioned the train crash in LA or the whole situation she'd had with Buck.

"Right, I forgot, so before Sam and I got married, I went back to LA to pick up some things from my old apartment, my friend Carla had been checking in there but I wanted to make a clean break before Sam and I got married. And I also had been planning to try and speak to Buck whilst I was there – to explain." Abby could remember how she'd originally planned to meet Buck somewhere relaxed and explain everything to him calmly – but none of that had really gone to plan.

"Right, so that makes sense." Alice waited for her to continue.

"Unfortunately, we were nearly there and the train was derailed and it was this horrific crash and a whole bunch of people died of were horribly injured. In fact, Sam nearly died." Abby explained, it felt strange to talk about it so casually. She had found it traumatic after it had happened, but as time passed, it seemed to fade. She supposed she was lucky it hadn't affected her more permanently. She continued.

"Anyway, I was mostly unharmed, I'd gone to the bar whilst Sam was sleeping, when it happened. I was actually one of the 911 callers. They must've sent out a number of units from the LAFD. Buck's was one of them. Of all of the firefighters to run into at a train wreck, it had to be Buck. I was freaking out because Sam was trapped and I just kind of ended up screaming at Buck that I needed to find my fiancé. Buck was actually the one who saved Sam's life." Abby remembered how guilty she had felt that she hadn't been able to tell Buck with any sensitivity, like she'd wanted to. She had of course later realised how badly she'd misjudged how much the breakdown of the relationship had hurt Buck. She remembered how after speaking with him the day after, she'd laid in the bed of her mostly packed up apartment in tears, questioning almost every decision she'd made since leaving LA.

Alice stared for a moment, looking really quite stunned.

"Oh my gosh, you and this guy. It's like, I don't know, it's all so dramatic." Alice said still looking stunned.

"I know, but I did go to speak to him properly, the next day, you know, to try and explain things. That didn't go so well. I apologised to him for him having to find out about Sam the way he did, but he was kind of angry. He was really hurt because I never came back, and that's what he thought I should've apologised for. I mean I know that I handled it incorrectly, but at the time, I really believed I was doing it for the right reasons. Anyway, after that I just kind of thought I could move on." Abby sighed and took another sip of her Riesling. Neither Abby or Alice spoke for a minute.

"And now?" Alice prompted sipping her own drink.

"And now what? Now I don't have Sam or Buck, and apparently both of them are cheating bastards. Now I move on – without either of them." Abby said matter of factly.

"Oh, that's not right. I don't think you have this Buck guy right at all. There's more going on with him." Alice insisted knowingly.

"How would you know? You've never met him. He clearly just went back to his old ways." Abby scoffed.

"Do you really think he would've cheated on his fiancée if it wasn't with you?" Alice said.

"Are you saying this is my fault?" Abby laughed a little.

"No, no, I don't mean it like that. But, just think about it. Before he met you, you said he was a one night stand guy, right? And then he's with you and he's like this one woman guy. Then you two break up or drift apart or…well whatever, you're not together…and he has this new girl…" Abby cut her off.

"Yeah and he cheated on her. He's gone back to his old ways." Abby dismissed.

"No, he cheated on her, that's different, you said he was a one night stand guy, not a cheater. He cheated on her with you. You specifically. He's not in love with this girl, at least not in the way he was with you. He's not over you." Alice's tone held a sense of urgency.

"Alice, we hadn't seen each other in two years. And the last time I'd seen him I got the distinct impression he did not want to see me again. He was probably just drunk and got nostalgic. Either way, he cheated on her and he lied to me." Abby emptied her glass, signalling to Alice that the case was closed.

Abby waited until Wednesday to begin the divorce process. She felt grateful that she had managed to save some of her own money prior to her marriage. It came as no surprise to her that a good divorce attorney would cost money, however she walked out if the attorney's office just after 3PM feeling confident that she had made a good decision. She had a clear idea of what she wanted from Sam. A fifty fifty split of financial assets seemed more than fair. It wasn't that she wanted to take from him or even that she felt he owed her something – even though he was significantly more at fault. It was simply in the interest of practicality. Her job did not provide her with a realistic living wage. Alice had previously joked about how lucky Abby was to 'live a life of leisure.' Alice had taken on being a poolside assistant on top of teaching kindergarten. This was a plus at the swimming pool as Alice was exceptionally good with children. As it stood, Abby would need financial security to afford her own place and support her whilst she considered something more full time. The problem was, Abby wasn't really sure what she wanted to do. After her Olympic dreams had dissolved due to an injury, she had been devastated. She would be the first to admit, for a while she had been a bit of a mess. She hadn't really considered doing anything other than swimming before. She was bright and could've gone to college, but she hadn't really seen the point without swimming. She'd worked a few office jobs, each as nondescript as the one before. Eventually when she looked into being an emergency dispatcher, originally because it sounded interesting, she'd found she was good at something besides swimming, and so she'd stayed. It felt like she was doing something worthwhile. She considered going back to it in Phoenix, but she'd worked so hard to get away from her life in LA, she wasn't sure she wanted to just replace it with more of the same in Phoenix.

Buck

"Okay, come on, what's up with you?" Hen sat down at the table across from where Buck had been scowling down at his lap for the last ten minutes.

"I don't wanna talk about it." He continued to scowl.

"So, what is it?" Hen was not interested in whether or not he wanted to talk about it. He clearly needed to.

"Hen, I really don't want…" Buck began.

"I've got all night, I can wait." She crossed her arms and sat back, fixing him with an expectant stare.

For the next two minutes Buck avoided looking at Hen and said nothing. He was two and a half hours into his shift. They'd had one call. A teenager had gotten his foot stuck in a fence railing, his ankle had swollen up so much that they'd had to cut the railing. Buck and Bobby had been trying to avoid the iPhone camera that the boy's friends had been filming the whole thing on, practically crying with laughter. They had gotten back about thirty minutes ago and it hadn't taken long for Buck's mood to change from guilt to confusion to plain annoyance. He definitely felt guilty for being unfaithful to Emma, but he also felt guilty for lying to Abby. That was simple enough. The confusion came in when he thought about what would happen next. Before he'd told Emma, he was sure his nerves over telling her were out of fear, that she'd leave him, that she wouldn't come back, that he'd lose her. Now that she had left (although whether or not she was coming back he wasn't sure), he didn't know exactly how he would feel if she did return. His thoughts also kept wondering over to Abby. Was she still in Vegas? Had she actually left her husband? What was next for her? He even found himself wondering if she might move back to LA. No, he thought to himself, she doesn't want to be in LA, she left LA to get away from everything, including you. The voice in his head was dull and resigned. He began to chastise himself inwardly. He shouldn't be concerning himself with Abby. That was what had gotten him into this mess in the first place, but somehow, he couldn't help it. She had taken up permanent residence in his mind.

"I messed up." Buck finally groaned, looking up at Hen. Hen raised her eyebrows, almost as if surprised he'd caved so easily.

"What did you do?" she asked, she wasn't quite serious, but there was still a hint of accusation.

"I really messed up, like seriously messed up." Buck didn't know how to tell her. Hen was kind of like a big sister. Like Maddie, except Hen didn't have to love him when he screwed up. Whilst Maddie was mad at him right now, she would forgive him and things would move on relatively swiftly. Hen didn't have the same familial obligations, if she decided he'd been a douchebag, she could and would treat him as such.

"How exactly did you mess up?" Hen asked slowly.

"I...I cheated on Emma…in Vegas." He paused wondering how to continue.

"You cheated on her? What do you mean, you cheated on her?" Hen asked him. She, like almost everyone else who had found out so far, was surprised. She had known Buck before Abby and was well aware of his one and done days. However, she also knew that after Abby, Buck's interests had been in relationships. It had taken him forever to move on from Abby in the first place. Once he found Emma, it seemed like he'd finally found the real deal.

"I slept with...with Abby." Buck said miserably. Hen wracked her brain trying to put together what she was hearing. Did he mean Abby Clark? She thought hard and realised she couldn't think of any other Abby she knew, let alone another Abby both she and Buck knew.

"Abby as in Abby Clark? What was she doing in Vegas?" Hen asked.

"She was, I mean, well it was kind of complicated." Buck didn't really know how much to share. Abby being in Vegas was Abby's story, but it wasn't as if Abby was going to walk through the doors and tell it herself.

"I think we got time." Hen looked at him to continue.

"Well you know how Abby was engaged to that guy, Sam? Well they got married and then he cheated on her, so she left Phoenix to go visit her brother in Vegas. But she said something about her brother taking his side or something, so she went to a hotel and it was the same hotel we were at, and then I was in the bar, and she was in the bar and we started talking…and it just kind of…I wasn't really thinking…about anything…except you know, Abby." Buck explained the whole thing as quickly as possible.

"What and the guys just let you wander off with her?" Hen asked incredulous.

"No, it was the Saturday night. Eddie, my high school buddy Chase and I went to the bar for a nightcap and I kind of waited for Eddie and Chase to leave. I said I just wanted to finish my drink and they left. I'd already noticed her earlier, so once they had gone I went to speak to her." Buck explained guiltily. He knew it was obvious how deliberate he'd been. There was no way he could ever just talk with Abby. Even when they'd been together, most of their talks led to a bedroom one way or another.

Hen let out a long breath, but didn't say anything for a moment.

"I mean I don't know what to tell you, you've messed up. Does Emma know?"

"Yeah I told her when she got back from New York. She left, said she needs to process things." Buck sighed, looking defeated.

"So you think she might come back?" Hen asked.

"I don't know, I mean I guess there is still a chance." Again Buck wasn't sure how he felt about the idea of Emma coming back. It appeared he no longer knew what he wanted.