Request for Elizabeth or Henry with one of the kids for the prompt: "If you don't want to talk about it then say so. Don't lie and pretend to be fine when you clearly aren't."

Elizabeth was the only person in the entire house tonight, an occurrence that was so rare that she couldn't even remember when it had last happened. And she'd tried hard to recall.

The peace was a welcome reprieve, for the first hour. Elizabeth ate, poured herself a glass of wine, ran a bath. Now, it was beginning to feel a little lonely. Too quiet, too still.

Finally, from inside the master bedroom Elizabeth heard the sound of the front door open and close. Someone else was finally home. She listened as shoes came off, keys were deposited, bags were set down. It sounded very careful, very quiet, but it sounded like Stevie.

The light footsteps coming up the stairs were definitely Stevie's. Elizabeth listened as they disappeared immediately into her room.

"Hi, baby," Elizabeth called, before Stevie's door could close.

There was a slight hesitation before Stevie cleared her throat and responded. "Hi, mom. You- you got home early today, huh?"

"Yeah, the only one, apparently. Did Russell just set you free? I feel like I haven't seen you in days." Elizabeth rolled off the bed and padded down the hall. She was surprised to see that Stevie had closed her door, just a thin strip of light filtering out from the bottom.

"No, I- I was with Dmitri." Her voice was muffled.

Elizabeth tapped on the door hesitantly. "Can... can I come in?"

"Um," Stevie said. She sounded off. She sounded wrong.

Slowly, Elizabeth opened the door. She made noise when she turned the handle so that Stevie could anticipate it. She slipped inside. "Did something happen today? You're acting funny."

Stevie was faced away from her, and didn't turn when she heard Elizabeth speak. She didn't reply, either.

"Stevie?" Elizabeth prompted. "Did something happen at work that I didn't hear about? Or... or with Dmitri?"

"No, mom." Stevie tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. Her hand looked like it was shaking. "Everything's fine."

Elizabeth frowned. "Hon, if you don't want to talk about it then say so," she said gently. "Don't lie and pretend to be fine when you clearly aren't. We don't do that to each other."

Stevie's shoulders curled in, but she remained silent. Elizabeth waited her out.

Finally, Stevie took a shuddering breath and said, so quiet Elizabeth almost missed it, "Dmitri and I broke up."

Elizabeth's heart broke for her daughter. "Oh, baby," she said. She came closer. "I'm so sorry."

But when she reached out to touch Stevie's shoulder, Stevie flinched and skittered away.

Elizabeth stared in growing concern. She stared at Stevie's back. It heaved as she seemed to struggle to take deep, controlled breaths. "Baby?"

Reluctantly, she turned around.

Elizabeth inhaled sharply. "Stevie."

A dark bruise discolored her cheek, and her eye had already begun to swell shut. "Dmitri and I broke up," she repeated quietly.

A wave of nausea swept over Elizabeth. Only in her darkest, worst nightmares had she ever thought of one of her children like this. And now it had become a reality. Elizabeth grappled desperately for some restraint, for some ability to suppress the rage that had begun to unfurl hot and hard in her chest. Anger would do nothing to help her daughter.

"It's not—" Stevie stopped herself short. It's not what it looks like, she might have been starting to say, but of course that wasn't true and of course she knew it. It was exactly what it looked like. Stevie tried again. "He's never done this before."

Elizabeth approached slowly and gently cupped Stevie's face—the good side. She tilted her head up to better catch the light. "I'm going to kill him," she said softly.

"Mom..."

"Your father is going to kill him."

Stevie caught her hand and pulled it away. "Don't let dad do anything stupid."

Elizabeth pressed her lips together and didn't say anything. She couldn't even guarantee that she wouldn't do anything stupid, let alone stop Henry if he wanted to try. He would be home soon, probably even before she'd be able to get her own head screwed on straight. And Elizabeth wasn't going to make a commitment she couldn't keep.

"Let me go get you some ice," she said instead. "And then I want to hear exactly what happened."