Songs I listened to while writing: Last Kiss by Taylor Swift, Nicky's Pain (Songbird Road Part 1) by Siddhartha Khosla, and I Hope You Dance by Lee Ann Womack

The next morning, Jane, Andy, and Nigel all stood in Andy's office where she had just finished telling them what she had seen. All were furious.

"We gotta tell him," Jane insisted, looking at both of them. "He deserves to know."

"What about the baby?" Nigel asked.

"She honestly didn't look pregnant to me," Andy said.

"You guys didn't even know I was," Jane pointed out.

"You had a glow, but I just didn't say anything," Andy said defensively. "Lacy does not have a pregnancy glow." Jane opened her mouth to argue and deny she had a glow but then closed it. There was no point.

"You think she's lying about the baby?" Nigel confirmed.

"I do. I think she saw that Lee was going to leave her for Emily and pulled the baby card," Andy said. "She knows he's old-fashioned and would stay with her despite everything because of that moral compass."

"Ugh, I hate her," Jane growled. "So what does she do, fake a miscarriage when the time is right?" Andy felt angry at the thought too. What a slap in the face to those who actually miscarried.

"We don't know if she's lying about the pregnancy for sure. Hold your horses," Nigel instructed, picking up on this rage.

"Oh, God," Jane groaned, realizing something else. "What if she is pregnant and it's not Lee's baby?!"

"Then she's a real schmuck," Nigel growled.

"Who is going to tell him?" Andy asked. "Cos he needs to know she's seeing this guy and kissing him in public."

"I'll do it," Jane replied. "Send me the other picture."

Andy obliged, and Jane checked to make sure they were there before pocketing her phone again. Nigel gave them both a look.

"You realize what this means, right?" he asked.

"That we are freeing him from being with a crazy ass, two timing liar?" Jane asked.

"That you're freeing him to go after Emily," Nigel corrected. "Have you all not been paying attention to how happy she is right now? Do you really want to take that away from her?"

Both Jane and Andy were silent. They hadn't thought of it like that.

"He wouldn't do that to her," Jane said after a moment. "He cares about her enough to not ruin her happiness."

"Are you sure?"

"Very."

"He needs to know," Andy insisted again. "Regardless of what he may or may not do with Emily. I'd hope one of you would tell me if Kyle was cheating on me."

"I know. I just want you to be aware, that's all."

"We understand," Jane said, and Andy nodded too. Nigel sighed.

"Alright then. Go tell him."

...

Barney was letting the whiskey slide down his throat as he sat on his regular barstool. No one asked him why he kept coming back there. No one cared. He was tired of Tool nagging at him to call Christmas. He was tired of feeling guilty for not calling Christmas. He was tired of missing his good friend, Christmas.

He was good at losing things. He wasn't good at showing his feelings. He definitely wasn't good at admitting when he was wrong. He coughed slightly as he looked up at the clock. It wasn't even two in the afternoon. He was definitely having a problem.

He tried to think about the last mission they'd just come back from. It had been bloody as usual. No one got too badly hurt, at least. He looked at the cut on his arm from his inner left elbow down to halfway to his wrist. He missed Christmas even more when he thought about knives.

"Barns?"

He turned to see Toll standing there giving him a sympathetic look.

"What's going on, Road?" Barney asked, setting his glass down.

"Just checking in on you."

"I'm still here."

Toll sat down on the stool next to him, and he leaned an elbow on the bar top while looking at Barney.

"I think you should call Lee," he said.

"Oh God, not you too," Barney groaned.

"We all agree."

"And what am I gonna say? Huh? I'm not sorry."

"I think the whiskey says otherwise," Toll pointed out.

"I'm not calling him."

Toll sighed, but he didn't argue with him. He ordered a drink instead. Barney suddenly felt glad to not be drinking alone. He was given silence but also company.

He'd take it.

...

Emily was searching for table cloths with rose patterns for a client when Andy came into her office. Emily didn't look at her at first until she was seated.

"Yes?" she asked.

"That's a pretty ring," Andy commented. Emily glanced at her engagement ring. She'd taken it off about six months after David's "death." It just felt right to put it back on again now. It was just a simple diamond cluster on a silver band, but it was beautiful to her.

"Thank you."

"David seems like a really sweet guy," Andy went on. "I'm really happy for you, Emily." This finally made her look at Andy, and she felt like Andy was going to say "but."

"You have something else you want to say to me?" she asked, knowing there was.

"Not really. I mean, Jane is going to tell Lee that Lacy is cheating on him again, but that's all."

"What?" Emily asked, feeling stunned. Then again, she shouldn't be surprised. Lacy had a pattern.

"I just thought you should hear it first in case..." Andy trailed off. Emily suddenly understood.

"In case Lee comes to tell me he loves me," she finished for her. "Right?"

"I don't think he will, but I thought you might need a head's up just in case."

"I appreciate it."

"What will you do? If he does?" Andy asked. Emily adjusted herself in her chair before giving Andy an almost stern look.

"I'm with David, and we're getting married in a week," Emily told her. "Lee is a little bit too late."

"I figured."

"Were you hoping I'd throw away David to be with Lee?"

"No..."

"Cos only a narcissistic ass would think that, and if that's what Lee is, then I don't want to be with him anyway," Emily finished. She went back to her computer screen, done with this conversation.

"Was there a moment?" Andy asked after a bit, making Emily look at her again.

"What do you mean?"

"Was there ever a moment where you thought it might work out?"

Emily didn't want to answer that question. Yes, there had been, more than once...but he'd broken her heart by making her believe he'd come for her only to find out he hadn't even left Lacy, and when he had decided to leave Lacy, he'd changed his damn mind because of the baby. That was the last straw.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore," she finally said, and Andy nodded.

"Of course. I'm sorry." She stood and walked out, and Emily was left sitting there wondering just what Lee was going to do once Jane told him about Lacy.

Then she did her best not to care.

...

Lee opened his apartment door to find Jane standing there. She was chewing slowly, a pepperoni stick in her right hand. Her left hand was resting on her hip.

"Hi," she said around the meat in her mouth. "Can I come in?"

"No," Lee answered. She pushed past him anyway, and he sighed, closing the door behind her. "What do you want?"

"Nice place," Jane said, looking around.

"Jane..."

"Seriously, I think this is better than my place," Jane commented.

"Jane!" Lee said loudly, making her turn to look at him.

"Right," she said. "Is Lacy here?"

"No."

"Good. Sit down," she ordered, pointing to the kitchen chair. Lee shook his head and crossed his arms.

"Just spit it out," he said.

"Fine, have it your way," she said, pulling out her phone and swiping to find her photos. She found what she was looking for and set the phone down on the counter in front of him. He looked down at it, seeing Lacy and Tyler in a booth at a bar. His skin prickled. Then his heart started to pound. No...

"What am I looking at?" he asked, looking up at Jane.

"Swipe right," she ordered. He looked back at the phone and did so, watching as his pregnant fiancée locked lips with his own brother in the photos. He left fist clenched, and he felt stabbed in the chest. He closed his eyes briefly before opening them and looking up at Jane again.

"You took these?"

"No, Andy did. I wanted to be the one to tell you."

"Why?"

"Cos I'm pregnant and you won't hit a pregnant lady," Jane answered, pulling another bite off of her pepperoni stick and giving him a smile. "Also, I'm less afraid of you."

"Ha ha," Lee said sarcastically. "When was this?" Play it cool, man, he was thinking. Play it cool. Wait for her to leave before finding him and going to rip him to shreds. It might have happened at Christmas, not that that's any better...

"Last night."

"I see." Lee felt all sorts of emotions, the main one being anger. After everything, Lacy had stepped out on him again, and with his own bloody brother. Of course.

"Soooooo...whatcha gonna do?" Jane asked.

"I will deal with this," he answered. "You're going to send me those photos and then leave."

"Awww, I want to watch her get hers," Jane whined. Lee shot her a glare, and she straightened her face. "Alright, I'll go." She texted him the photos before she walked by him towards the door. He looked when she turned back to him briefly.

"What?" he asked irritably.

"I think deep down Emily really loves you," Jane said, "and I think you really love her, and I think that if you don't do something, she'll end up with the wrong person like you almost just did."

Lee swallowed, feeling his stomach clench. He knew Emily's wedding was in a week. He also knew he'd broken her heart, and he wasn't about to make it worse for her.

"Take care, Jane," he said firmly, shutting the door in her face. He waited for her to knock and argue with him, but she didn't. He leaned against the door and exhaled slowly as he slid down to the floor, hugging his knees. He sat there frozen for about twenty minutes. Then he stood up and got moving, letting his anger slowly take over.

...

"Well?" Nigel asked when Jane returned. Andy was in his office too. Emily was still in hers, so they'd been careful to not let her see them all gather together. Alison was still oblivious to everything that was going on, and they'd decided at this point to just leave her out of it. It was too much to catch her up on anyway.

"I don't know," Jane replied. "I couldn't read him. I think he's mad, but he didn't say much, just told me to take care."

"Did he say anything about Emily?" Andy asked.

"No," Jane answered. "What did I just say?"

"Sorry."

"Alright, so I guess now all we do is wait," Nigel said, rubbing a hand over his face. "Andy, how did talking to Emily go?"

"She's going to marry David. She made that clear. She wouldn't answer me when I asked if there had been a moment where she thought she was going to be with Lee."

"Well, I think we have to leave it as it is," Nigel sighed.

"Noooo," Jane said, her voice a slight whine. "Lee is supposed to be with her! We can't just forget that!"

"It's not our business, Jane," Nigel insisted. "I'm sorry, but we can't meddle anymore. It's done." Jane and Andy looked disappointed and sad, but they knew Nigel was right. When they left the room together, though, they looked at each other.

"We have to give them one last try," Andy urged. "Once he's single. There has to be something we can do to get them alone together to talk."

"Let me think," Jane said. "I'll get back to you."

"Okay."

Jane gave Andy a low five before she went into her office. This wasn't over yet. She wasn't going down without one last kick at the can.

...

Lacy walked into the apartment that evening to find boxes and two large duffel bags waiting by the door. She paused, startled. Then she saw Lee standing at the edge of them, closer to the living room. His arms were crossed, and he looked angry.

"W-What are you doing?" she asked. "Are you moving out?!"

"No, you are," Lee answered.

"Excuse me?!"

He held up his phone to show her the photo of her and Tyler kissing last night. Her stomach dropped. How had he gotten that?! It had been so stupid. Tyler had come back claiming he needed to see her. He'd kissed her, and she'd run out on him. Then he'd caught up to her and professed his love for her. What was she supposed to do? She had agreed that she loved him too, and they'd gone back to his hotel room. Then she felt guilty and has spent all day trying to figure out what the hell she was doing. She'd come to the conclusion that she had to tell Tyler she couldn't do it. She hadn't meant for any of it to happen. It just did.

"You're not saying anything, so I'm taking that to mean it's true," Lee said, sounding tired. "You are sleeping with him."

"Lee..."

"Is the baby mine, Lacy? Or is it his?" he asked. She looked at him, knowing that was going to come out sooner than later. She looked at the floor, and he scoffed. "You're not even pregnant, are you?"

"No," she whispered.

"You told me you were to nail me down before I caught you shagging Tyler, right?"

"No. I told you because of her."

"Who? Emily?"

"Yes! I saw her photo in your phone," Lacy said accusingly. "Why do you have a photo of Emily in her pajamas on your phone? You'd only have that if you were sleeping with her!"

"I did not," Lee answered calmly. "You took that out of context, and you could have asked me about it. It was a funny moment, she's my friend, and I took the picture. Do I need to mention the photos you still have of your shirtless guy friends on your phone?"

"Not this again," Lacy growled. "They're just friends!"

"So why does that logic only apply to you?"

"Ugghhhh! I don't think any explanation would prove you're innocent of having feelings for her! You kissed her!"

"You're right. I did, and you agreed you'd do the same thing with your friends if needed. And yea, I started to have feelings, but when you told me you were having our child, I let those feelings go."

"No, you didn't. You were going to pretend to love me forever because you're an 'honorable' man," she scoffed.

"Which is what you knew I'd do," he shot back. "Instead of letting me go, you lied to keep me by your side."

"You lying and pretending to love me is worse." She knew he was right, that she did it that way for the sake of not losing him. She wasn't ready to let him know he was right, though.

"Stop making this about me, because at least I tried despite it all," Lee cut her off. "This is about you. How long have you been sleeping with my brother?"

"It doesn't matter," Lacy answered haughtily.

"Was it the first night you met him?"

"Give me some credit," she snorted. "It was Christmas day."

"Wow. That's some real good restraint, Lace," Lee said sarcastically. Then he pointed at her things. "Take your shit and get out."

"Fine." Lacy grabbed one of the duffel bags and dragged it out to the hallway. She pulled out her phone to call Tyler. She had no place to go, and she wasn't going to stay on the streets.

"What's up, babe?" he asked when he answered.

"Lee's kicked me out," she answered. "I need somewhere to go."

"I'll come get you."

"Please hurry."

Lacy was glad she hadn't told him she'd changed her mind yet. It was working in her favor. She noticed Lee glaring at her as she pushed another box out to the hallway. When she was finished, Tyler had arrived. He had the common sense to not come up and let Lee see him, but that didn't stop Lee from going to see him.

"You bastard!" Lee shouted, grabbing his brother and throwing him up and over the hood of the car. Tyler yelped and fought back, but Lee had him on the ground in a hold and was punching his face hard repeatedly.

"Lee! Stop it!" Lacy shouted. He ignored her.

"I'm done! You hear me?!" Lee yelled at him, still punching him before finally just shaking him. "I promised Ma to look after you, but that ends tonight. I don't have a brother anymore. You're dead to me!"

"Lee!" Tyler cried. Lee got off after one last punch and started to walk away, not looking back. Lacy helped Tyler up, and he shook it off and helped her with her things. She looked back to see Lee watching her walk away before going into the building. It was over, but she felt okay. She realized she could have done this a while ago and she would have been okay. Then she realized she forgot to take off her ring, so she pulled it off now and asked Tyler to wait. She went back to the apartment and knocked.

"What?" Lee asked coldly when he saw her there. She held up the ring.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be your soulmate," she said. "I hope you find the right girl someday, Lee. One that lives up to all your expectations."

"You mean the one that requires you to not cheat on me? That's a very unreasonable, outlandish expectation. I apologize."

"Here," she said, shoving her hand out with the ring.

"Keep it," he said. "I don't want any reminders of you."

He glared at her, and she curled her lip back at him. She hoped he would rot. She turned away from him without another word and walked away, head held high.

...

Jane looked up when she heard footsteps enter her office. She was working late, trying to tidy up some last minute things for one of her clients. She wasn't at all surprised to see it was Lee.

"Where is she?" he asked.

"Who?"

"Don't do that," he ordered. She refrained from laughing. He was right to the point.

"I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't know what your intentions are."

"I just want to talk to her."

"Are you gonna stop being an ass and tell her you love her?"

"If she tells me she doesn't love David."

"Oh my God," Jane groaned, smacking her head with her hand. "You're an idiot. Just tell her!"

"I'm not going to ruin this for her. If she's genuinely happy with him, then I'll bow out, but I need to know for sure."

"I really wish I could understand how your stupid brain works," she retorted, and he offered a slight smile.

"So, where is she?" he asked again. Jane sighed, pulling out her phone and reading her last conversation with Emily. Then she told him.

...

Emily felt nervous as she held David's hand. They walked into the restaurant where her parents were waiting. Erica had tried calling her a few times to talk, but Emily hadn't felt up for the conversation and didn't answer either call. The messages were a bit weird, and her sister hadn't said anything mean about her in them, so that was confusing, but she figured she'd deal with it later. She was relieved to not find her sister there, too, as a surprise. She wouldn't put it past her mother to try and force them together in public to make them talk. Her parents had been shocked to hear about David's return, and they wanted to see him again before the wedding. Emily hadn't been able to get out of it, not that she wanted to push her parents out of her life. She just worried they'd think it was a bad idea to get married so quickly. She didn't expect anyone else to understand why she wanted to, that she'd been waiting so long and didn't want to wait anymore.

Or are you doing it to run away from Lee? her inner voice asked. She swallowed hard. No, that wasn't why. She silenced that voice. It was wrong. Who cared if he and Lacy were going to break up over this last cheating scandal? Who said he wouldn't go back to her anyway? He seemed to like getting continually kicked in the face over that.

"David!" Lois, cried, getting up to hug him as soon as he arrived.

"Mrs. Charlton," he said back, hugging her tight. "So good to see you!"

"Son," Jack, said, getting up and reaching to shake his hand. He pumped hit hard.

"How are you?" Lois asked as they all sat down. Emily tried to listen to all of it, but her mind kept going back to the text message she'd received from Lee less than an hour ago:

It's over. I told her to leave, and she's gone. I know you're angry at me, but I really would like to talk to you.

She hadn't responded. What did he want to talk to her about? What could he possibly have to say? She didn't want to hear it. She didn't want to be faced with doubt or be made to question what she was doing. She didn't want to have him tell her he loved her only to take it away again. No. She wasn't doing that. She wasn't allowing him to hurt her again.

"Right, Emily?" David asked, looking at her. She blinked.

"I'm sorry," she said with a small laugh. "My mind wandered. What am I agreeing to?"

"Your mother was asking about grandchildren, so I said we were going to start right away once we got married."

"Oh, right." Were they? When had that conversation come up? Emily frowned.

"Oh, wonderful!" Lois exclaimed, clapping her hands together. Emily refrained from rolling her eyes and looked away. That's when she saw Lee standing in the entryway of the restaurant. He was scanning the room for her. What the hell was he doing there? And how had he even found her?! She growled inwardly. Jane. It had to be Jane. Honestly, Emily couldn't wait to one day meddle in that woman's life as a return favor.

His eyes found hers, and he mouthed just one word to her:

Please.

Emily ground her jaw. How dare he track her down at a family dinner and think she would want to talk to him?! But she knew he wasn't going to go away, and she didn't want David or her parents to see him.

"Excuse me," she said with a smile. They barely acknowledged her. They were immersed in talking about David's new job as a security guard. Maybe she didn't need to worry about them thinking she was moving too fast. They seemed enthralled. She made her way through the crowded restaurant to the exit. Lee was now standing outside, so she went out to join him. The cold hit her hard, and she regretted not grabbing her coat.

"What do you want?" she asked him a bit roughly.

"I just want to talk to you," he answered.

"About what? I have nothing left to say to you."

"Look, I just need to know for sure before I go my own way," Lee continued.

"Know what for sure?" she asked him.

"Do you love David?"

She stared at him. Was he seriously asking her this? Had he not been listening when she'd told him how heartbroken she'd been after losing David?

"Of course I love David," she answered strongly.

"Okay," he said. "That's all I needed to know."

"What? Did you think I was going to waver? That I was going to say I'm conflicted? I'm not," she told him. "I'm not making a mistake, and I'm not going to throw David away because you're ready to love me now."

"I know," he said. "So, this is goodbye. I'm leaving, and I don't know where I'm going, but it's going to be far from here."

It hit her hard. It really did. Knowing she was never going to see Lee again was like a slug to the chest, even though she'd barely seen him in the last while and had told him to stay out of her life. This was definitely permanent.

"Okay," she said with a slow nod. "Well, goodbye, Lee." She didn't move as he stepped into her and kissed her cheek softly. His fingers under her chin made her skin burn, but not in an unpleasant way.

"Goodbye, Emily," he whispered. She felt a sudden despair hit her. She was looking at him, and he was looking at her. His face was right there, and she couldn't help but flick her eyes at his mouth briefly. The next thing she knew, he was kissing her tenderly with one hand cupping her face while the other slid through her hair behind her head. She put a hand on his chest, feeling his heart underneath her fingers.

She could feel his love for her in that kiss. It took her off guard, and then she felt sad. They could have had an amazing love story if he just had been brave enough before now.

Then, she realized what she was doing, and she pushed him back. She felt herself shaking and felt angry at herself for letting him do that. She felt bad that his touch was making her feel so much more than David's did.

"Don't," she said, her voice trembling. "Don't do that to me, not again."

"I'm sorry."

She didn't say anything else as she backed away from him and pulled open the door. She took one last look at him, and he was standing there with his hands in his pockets and looking broken.

"Have a good life, Lee," she said.

"You too."

She hardened her heart and turned away from him. Her future was in here, not out there. She walked away from Lee and didn't look back.

David smiled at her when she returned, and she smiled back. He was her future, and as he stood up to greet her with a kiss, she knew she was making the right choice.

...

Lee felt his heart break as he stood outside and looked in the window at Emily walking towards David. He watched David stand up and kiss her, and it pained him to know that moments earlier he'd been the one kissing that beautiful woman. Emily had made it very clear, though. She was moving on, and he had to accept that. He didn't know why he thought his kiss would be enough to convince her she should be with him. After all the pain he'd caused her, nothing would ever be enough. He knew that.

His breath caught in his throat, and he felt sucker punched. He couldn't look away. He watched them continue to kiss before pulling apart and Emily put her hands on David's face. He could see it clear as day. She loved David, the man she'd thought she'd lost but then was returned to her. Even her parents (he was assuming they were since the woman looked very much like Emily) were enthralled with this moment.

How could he ever stand a chance against that? He turned to walk away, feeling the laceration to his heart go deeper with each step. He'd lost his chance. He'd screwed around with his fear and stupidity too long and lost the one woman he actually loved. He walked farther into the night air, trying to breathe. He left the pieces of his heart scattered on the ground as he got farther and farther away.