Author's Note: I realised I totally forgot to put a disclaimer before, so I'm doing it now. I do not own any of the show's characters, they all belong to Ryan Murphy and co.

Right here is Chapter Two. It's a little longer than Chapter One, but I wanted to get things moving. As always, I would love to hear your thoughts. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter Two

Abby

She slept better that night than she had in years. The giant bed was soft and warm, she felt like she could stay there for ever. She woke up on Saturday morning and smiled serenely as she remembered where she was. She was in a luxury hotel room, in LA, with the LA sun streaming through the gap in the curtains. She wasn't in her small Phoenix apartment, it wasn't stiflingly hot outside, and she didn't have swim practice to coach. She turned over and grabbed her phone off the bedside table, it was 6AM. She was used to waking up at 5AM to coach before school swimming, but today she could have a lie in. She rolled back over and closed her eyes. She didn't fall back asleep, but she enjoyed the chance to just do nothing, and let her mind wander.

She loved LA, she had forgotten how much really. She'd been away for so long and it wasn't until she'd returned this time and had time to think that she realised she actually kind of missed it. But then, it was easy to feel that way, when she was somewhere so perfect, away from her everyday life. Would she still feel that way about it, if she was living back at her LA apartment, where she had cared for her Mom day in day out? Buck had been the last pull factor for her, she had been toying with the idea of settling somewhere else before she got his letter, but when she thought about it now, it had been the letter that had made the decision for her. In honesty LA would've won the argument in her head if Buck hadn't written that letter.

She didn't actually read the letter until she was back in the states. It was Carla who told her Buck had stopped waiting, and that he had sent the letter to Matt's. Abby and Sam were already an item when she returned from Europe, they had met in Barcelona and had hit it off right away, but she was unsure if it was going to go anywhere at that point, thinking perhaps it had just been a fling.

She'd gone to Matt's at first. There she received the letter from Buck. She'd waited until everyone had gone to sleep to read it. She'd felt saddened when she read it, and even cried over the lost relationship, but supposed she could understand where Buck was coming from and she had been the one who had pulled away.

It was a week later that Sam had called her and told her he had to see her. After just four weeks at her brother's she'd moved in with Sam in Phoenix. It wasn't like Sam was a stranger and she did really like him. Plus, she was still pretty close to Matt in Scottsdale.

It had made it so much easier to forget all about the life she was leaving in LA as she created a new one in Phoenix. After Sam and she broke up, she sometimes wondered if she had really made the right decision after all. If perhaps she should've fought harder for her relationship with Buck, returned to him despite her fears. But what ifs were no use, so she threw herself into her work and focused on moving on.

When it got to 9AM she supposed she should get up, she'd decided to take advantage of the free time she had before the party. She'd insisted on helping Carla set up, but that wasn't until 4PM. She'd booked herself in for a massage at the hotel spa for 11AM and then was going to head out for a manicure and pedicure before returning to the hotel. She was looking forward to going to the salon. It was the one that she had gone to on special occasions when she'd lived in LA, so she knew the staff there and knew they were good.

As she lay face down on the massage table she was in a state of complete bliss as the masseuse's skilled hands worked out knots she hadn't even realised were there. She supposed she hadn't had time to invest in her own well-being in so long, she'd really just ignored any discomfort, putting it down to tiredness or sleeping in an awkward position.

Later when she returned from town, Carla was already in the function room, hanging streamers and placing clusters of balloons in corners.

"You know you don't have to help, Howard and his brothers are doing most of it anyway." Carla reminded her.

"I know, but I want to, we hardly ever see each other, it's a good opportunity to chat." Abby smiled as she filled some balloons with helium and making sure they were secured to the weights.

"Okay, then spill, no plus one? You back in the dating game or what?" Carla raised an eyebrow. Abby was unsurprised. Two months after she had broken up with Sam was the first time Carla had mentioned dating again, and she hadn't dropped it since.

"You know what my job is like, I barely have time for myself, let alone someone else." Abby defended.

"Well then you work too much, but you know, you don't have to look for a husband, I mean don't you miss just having fun?" Carla asked her as she climbed a step ladder to attach a pink streamer above some French doors.

"Who said I don't have fun? I have fun." Abby insisted defensively.

"I mean sex." Carla clarified as she reached to hang streamer over the doors.

"I've had sex since Sam." Abby insisted.

"Oh yeah, with who?" Carla asked intrigued. Abby kind of wished she hadn't answered, she wasn't lying, but it was still kind of embarrassing.

"Just with this guy I met." She hoped Carla wouldn't press her. Carla did though.

"Well, tell me about it."

"Ugh okay, I'm not proud of this. It was one of the swimmers' dads. I mean his kid had already been picked up by a college team, and so I'd already written the recommendation. And it had been like six months since Sam and I had broken up and I kind of just wanted something else to think about." Abby knew she hadn't technically done anything wrong, but she hadn't really been the one night stand type, but she'd been so bored of going home alone, it was nice to feel attractive again.

"Six months after? Abby that was over a year ago!" Carla admonished.

"I know, I know, but my job really is very demanding, I only managed to get this weekend off, because it's Labor Day, and I hardly ever take time off." Abby explained.

"Well we are finding you someone tonight. Don't worry, I know just the guy." Carla grinned at her, and then turned to rearrange some rose gold balloons.

They left the rest of the decorations to Carla's husband Howard and his brothers at about 5:30PM, when Carla announced they should start to get ready. Abby said goodbye to Carla promising to catch up with her later at the party, before heading back to her room to shower and get changed.

It had been a considerable amount of time since she'd had a reason to get dressed up, and it felt good. She hadn't actually ever worn the dress she'd brought with her, but it was one she had loved when she tried it on at the store, so she was pleased to finally have a reason to wear it. It wasn't overly fancy, it was dark green satin with a plunging neckline, it hugged her figure in all the right places, but not so much that she couldn't breathe. She surveyed herself in the mirror once she'd finished blowing out her hair and applying make-up, and decided she was happy with her appearance. She checked her phone and noticed it was already 7:25PM. The party didn't officially start until 7:30 and people would probably be trickling in until 8:30, so she felt no major rush, but she supposed, as Carla was the only person she really knew at the party, it would be a better idea to stick nearby, where Carla would at least be able to introduce her to people she would want to talk to. She grabbed her purse and left her room.

Buck

The room was lavishly decorated, balloons stood dotted along the walls and in every corner. Streamers framed every entryway. There was bar across one side, with a long 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARLA' spelt out in gold lettering hanging above it. There were a few tables decorated with tiny shiny 50s in assorted colours and glitter. It was the most 'Carla' room Buck had ever seen.

They arrived at 7:45PM. Traffic hadn't been great, but they were still relatively early. The room was beginning to fill up, but it was by no means full.

"Come on, let's go tell Carla we're here and then we can find you a date." Eddie grinned, waggling his eyebrows at Buck, as if this was something Buck should be excited about. He was still feeling a little annoyed that Eddie had practically tricked him into coming out. He was beginning to wonder if he had roped Christopher into lying all along. Christopher was good kid, but he had a mischievous streak.

It took them a while to find Carla, who looked beautiful, in a deep red, figure hugging, off the shoulder gown that reached the floor. There was almost a full length split up one side. This was not something any of them had ever seen Carla wear before, but Buck was hardly surprised, he remembered the suggestive jokes she used to make about him and Abby, usually to Abby in earshot of him. Carla had a sexy sense of humour, and evidently the dress sense to match.

"Hey, you managed to get him to come after all." Carla smiled widely at Eddie, kissing his cheek and hooking an arm around Lena at the same time, before turning to Buck.

"Happy Birthday Carla." Buck gave her smile. It was her birthday after all.

"Don't you just look good enough to eat?" She giggled and she patted his shoulder and ran it down his arm, squeezing his bicep a little. Buck gave a nervous laugh, both Carla and Eddie seemed to be very invested in Buck being at the party, and he was beginning to wonder why.

The party filled up quickly and by 9:30PM it was in full swing, but Buck was not enjoying himself. Eddie had tried setting him with a couple of pretty girls, who whilst attractive, were not worth suffering through a conversation with. The first girl whose name he couldn't remember but was identifiable only by her extremely short skirt, had laughed at everything he said, which became old and frankly confusing very quickly. The second girl who was called Storm had talked non-stop about some TV show he had never seen and now no longer needed to. They could've been the best-looking girls in the world and he wouldn't have stuck with it. He decided he'd had enough and he headed outside to call an Uber.

He slipped out the way they came, deciding he'd text Eddie once he was safely in a cab. He was nearly through the lobby, when he heard a familiar voice. The voice wasn't speaking to him but he recognised it immediately.

"No, I told you, I'm in LA until Tuesday, I can't cover anyone tomorrow. It's Labor Day weekend anyway, I booked this off months ago." The voice protested. He turned and saw a shiny sheet of red waves with a phone hidden beneath them. She hadn't noticed him watching, as she ran her free hand through her silky curls in frustration, sighing deeply and continued.

"I booked this weekend off. If they want a training session tomorrow, one of the other coaches will have to do it. I'm in LA, I can't get a flight that quickly anyway." She hung up and seemed to growl a little, looking darkly at the phone for a moment. As she raised her head up from the phone, her eyes seemed to stop on him.

He was as stunned as she looked to see him, and it took him a second to realise she was looking at him. He tried to think of something, anything to say to fill what was no doubt going to become an awkward silence, before she beat him to it.

"Buck…I…I didn't know…you er…I was…Hi." She finished awkwardly, although in fairness Buck was pretty sure it was still more eloquent than he could've managed. She was frowning slightly, not angry, just confused, perhaps Carla had failed to tell her he'd be at the party. It certainly seemed that way.

"Hey Abby." He said, not really sure what else to say.

"Um…so what are you doing…I mean how are you?" She blushed, he supposed she thought 'what are you doing here?' was too rude an opener and had changed her mind.

"I'm…yeah I'm good. I was at Carla's party. You okay?" He answered both questions anyway.

"I'm fine, I just…I didn't know you and Carla were so close?" Abby said, he supposed it wasn't so strange, how would she know that he'd kept in much contact with Carla.

"I uh…put a buddy of mine in touch with her, his son has cerebral palsy, so I gave him Carla's number, and they're pretty tight." He realised he was rambling and Abby probably didn't actually care about all the details. She just nodded, still looking a little stunned.

"Um…so…you okay? On the phone, just then…seemed kind off…not that I was listening, just…" He trailed off. It was amazing really how badly both of them were doing in this conversation. There was a time when they could tell what the other were thinking, just by observing the other's body language, when they could talk comfortably, for hours about everything or nothing. Yet here they both were, barely able to string together a sentence between them.

"Oh that…yeah my boss got my schedule mixed up. He's being an ass." She waved a hand dismissively.

"Your boss? You still a dispatcher?" He knew she wasn't, she'd said something about coaching, but he didn't want her to think he'd been listening quite as carefully as he had.

"Oh, um no, I coach swimming. Kids looking for scholarships or Olympic hopefuls mostly, in Phoenix." She didn't need to say the last part. He remembered she'd moved to Phoenix with Sam. His eyes flicked to her left hand and he noticed she wasn't wearing a ring on it at all. Not even an engagement ring. Surely, she couldn't be divorced already? She'd only married Sam a couple of years ago. Hadn't she? He supposed he didn't know if she had gotten married, he had just always assumed she had.

She seemed to notice as she fidgeted with her hands self-consciously.

"You're not wearing a ring." He said, he realised this wasn't exactly the most diplomatic thing to say, or even an appropriate line of conversation, given they hadn't spoken in over two years, but he couldn't really do much about it now.

"No, I'm not."