October 30th, 2006

The opening of his clinic was in two weeks. He didn't expect it to open before the first of the year, but he got the okay. Dave was so nervous, but yet completely excited. Five beers helped his nerves a lot. Dave rummaged through the desk looking for an envelope. He was sending a few nurses and doctors at county a letter about the opening and asking them if they would like to volunteer then their help would be appreciated. He took a sip of his last beer from the six pack and grabbed the pile of envelopes.

"All right. Elizabeth Corday." Dave said as he scribbled her name onto the envelope. Why was such a simple so hard tonight? Oh yes, all the beer. Dave chuckled slightly as he stuffed the envelope.

He locked it and grabbed the next one. He stopped when he saw it was used. It was for Randi and from Albany New York. He flipped through the next two and found they were from the same person. Dave frowned and pulled the letters out. His blood started to boil. They were from Charles confessing his love to Randi.

"That son of a Bitch." Dave hissed. He jumped up, only stumbling slightly and ran into the kitchen. "What the fuck are there?"

"Excuse me?" Randi frowned at him from the sink.

"Don't play games with me, Randi." Dave growled, "What the fuck are these?? Love letters from the phsyco asshole Charles?"

"You've been going through my stuff." Randi stalked over to him and grabbed the letters. "How dare you!"

"They weren't exactly in a secret place, Miranda." Dave snapped grabbing the letters from her again.

"Miranda? Oh lord, Dave, don't start with me." Randi said.

"What the fuck are you doing with these letters? Are you fucking writing him? What the fuck, Randi? That guy is a fucking physco. He took our daughter. He tried to kill you. Why the fuck-"

"Evidence you dumb ass. I never wrote him. Why the hell would-" Dave brought up his hand and slapped Randi's face.

"I'm talking. Don't interrupt me." He hissed. Randi's eyes widened as she looked at Dave. She couldn't believe he just laid a hand on her. She shook her head and walked out of the kitchen.

"Why don't you have another drink, Dave?" She called out stalking up the stairs. Dave stood there staring at the wall. I just hit her…Oh lord. Dave bolted out of the kitchen.

"Christ, Randi, I didn't mean to." He ran up the stairs to see her gathering Sailor out of her crib.

"You touched me, you son of a bitch." Randi hissed.

"What are you doing?" Dave asked, watching her go into Lyric's room. Randi shook Lyric gently.

"Lyric, wake up." She said.

"Randi, what are you doing?" Dave asked again.

"Momma?" Lyric mumbled as Randi pulled her out of bed.

"Come on, Baby." Randi said, "We're going."

"Going??" Dave cried, "What the fuck for?"

"To get our daughters away from their drunk father." Randi pulled Lyric into Ireland's room, "Ireland, wake up. We need to go." Ireland opened her blue eyes.

"Go where?" She asked.

"Aunt Lizzie's…or something." Randi said pulling her out of bed. Sailor started to fuss. Ireland rubbed her eyes and looked at Dave.

"You coming, Daddy?" She asked.

"No. Daddy isn't coming." Randi pulled the girls out and downstairs.

"Don't do this, Randi." Dave said.

"I'm doing this." Randi hissed flinging open the door and stalked outside. Dave grabbed Lyric from Ireland's hand.

"You're over reacting." He said. Randi growled and put Sailor in her car seat.

"I am not over reacting, Dave! You hit me!" Randi snapped as she tried to get Lyric from Dave's arms. "Give me her!"

"NO!" Dave yelled, "I'm sorry, Randi. It was in the heat of the moment." Lyric started to cry.

"Look what you're doing. Drink some more, Dave, and you'll be exactly like your god damn father." Randi narrowed her eyes.

"You bitch." Dave hissed and basically tossed Lyric into Randi's arm. Randi couldn't believe he was acting like this, drunk or not.

"It's okay, Lyric." Randi kissed her forehead. "We'll be at aunt Lizzie's in a few minutes." Randi closed the door and looked at Dave. "Go sober up, Dave. Don't try calling Elizabeth."

"You're making a big mistake, Randi." Dave said backing up to the house.

"You made a big mistake back in the kitchen, Dave. Bye."

* * *

Elizabeth watched Randi sip her coffee.

"The girls are sound asleep again." She said sitting down next to her. Randi nodded slowly.

"Thank you." She said softly.

"You can stay here as long as you need to all right?" Elizabeth said. Randi nodded and then started to cry. Elizabeth sighed.

"I d-don't know why he did it." Randi sobbed, "He just…he never d-did before."

"You said he was drinking." Elizabeth said.

"A s-six pack. He hasn't had a drink in a long time...I guess…I guess they hit him hard." Randi said wiping her eyes.

"It's still no excuse." Elizabeth said.

"I know he didn't mean to. The look on his face after he did it." Randi said, "I know he didn't mean to."

"I don't care." Elizabeth said, "That's no excuse and you know it." Randi sighed deeply as she touched her cheek.

"Could I just go lay down?" She asked softly.

"Go ahead." Elizabeth said. "We'll talk more about your options in the morning." Randi nodded and got up. Her options. She loved Dave. They had three children together. Why would he fuck that up by drinking too much? That wasn't like Dave.

November 13th, 2006

Dave ran his hands over his face. The past two weeks for him had been absolutely horrible for him. He had neither wife nor any kids in the house. Randi hadn't returned any of his calls. He felt horrible.

Today was suppose to be a happy day for him, because it was the first day of his opened clinic. He and his couple of nurses were slowly getting into the swings of things. They had three patients so far today, but they weren't anything big. Dave hated this. The whole reason for this clinic was to be able to be able to be close to his family.

"Dr Malucci, what should I do with the woman in three?" Alicia, one of his nurses, asked.

"Tell her to stop sleeping around or to use condoms." Dave said glancing at her chart, "She's sixteen." Alicia smiled.

"Or how about keep on the antibiotics and give her a couple of condoms." She said. Dave nodded.

"Yeah. That sounds better." He said. Alicia chuckled and left his office. He knew he should be more out going on the first day at his new job, but his mind was elsewhere.

"Dr. Malucci?" Alicia stepped into the office; "There's a woman out there asking for you."

"And?" Dave mumbled.

"It's Mrs. Malucci." Dave's head shot up.

"My Mrs. Malucci? Randi?" He asked. Alicia nodded. Dave jumped up almost knocking the chair over. His wife was here. Why was she here? Was she here to take him back or was she there to tell him she's filing for divorce? Dave took in a deep breath and walked into the waiting room. Randi looked at him. Her hair was completely different. It was cut to her shoulders and had two blond streaks in it. "You cut your hair." Randi nodded.

"A week ago." She said as she crossed her arms, "So this place is finally open."

"Yeah. Today. I take it you met Alicia." Dave said.

"Yeah. She's very cute." Randi said. Dave nodded as he looked at his wife. This was more awkward than Dave thought it would be.

"Where are the girls?" He asked.

"In the house." She said, "Elizabeth and Ella are there."

"Oh." Dave said rubbing his neck, "Listen, Randi-"

"Don't Dave." Randi said.

"If you won't let me talk then why are you here?" He asked.

"Because I'm talking." Randi said. "What you did was absolutely unacceptable. Acting like that with our daughters in the house was absolutely unacceptable. I never want to see another thing of alcohol near your lips."

"I've stopped. I never want to drink again." Dave said.

"Good." She said. "The girls have missed you."

"I've missed them so bad. These past two weeks have been unbearable." He said.

"Don't think I will forget that you laid a hand on me anytime soon, Dave." Randi said, "I know I shouldn't come back. I know I should just stay away, but I love you. If you promise to stop drinking and get some help so you don't turn into your father, we'll come back." Dave took in a shuddery breath.

"I will do anything, Randi." Dave whispered, "I need you." Randi closed her eyes. She couldn't believe she was coming back to him.

"If you ever do something like this again, Dave, I swear to god you won't see me or the girls EVER again." Randi said.

"I swear I won't." He whispered. Dave wrapped his arms around Randi and held her tightly. He was afraid she would change her mind. Randi kissed his chest gently and looked up into his eyes.

"How is your first day going?" She asked. Dave smiled. She wasn't going to run away.

"It's going okay." He said. Randi pushed some of her short hair behind her ear.

"Do you need help? I can become a receptionist again." She said.

"No that's all right. Go get the girls. I need to hold them and smell their smells." Dave said. Randi nodded.

"Don't hurt them, Dave." She said pulling away.

"I won't." Dave said honestly. Randi nodded and walked away from Dave. He watched her walk out and through the parking lot to the wooded pathway to their house. His heart pounded in his chest. He vowed that he would never touch a single hair on Randi's head again. He would prove to her that he would be the best father and husband and nothing like his own father.