Disclaimer: I don't own it or get paid for it : ) I don't own the characters and therefore have no hope of making any money off this.

CHAPTER 43:

Stiles thought a lot about what Carl said about saving his marriage. He had his phone in hand to call Terri when Helen called. He considered ignoring her, but knew the consequences of not answering would be worse than enduring a conversation.

"Hi Helen"

Without preamble, Helen began lecturing her son-in-law. "I sent my daughter half way around the world in tears this morning and all you have to say is 'hi.' What have you done?"

"Helen, I didn't do anything to her. We had a disagreement, that's all. I was just about to call her."

"I haven't seen her that upset since she discovered that that worthless ex-husband of hers was having an affair. Tell me you didn't..."

"Helen, I'm not discussing this with you. If Terri wanted you to know what we talked about, she would have told you." Stiles heard Helen's intake of breath and rushed to continue before she could say more. "No, I am not having an affair, okay? I know you're concerned, but I need to go; I want to talk to the kids before they go to bed."

Stiles heard an indelicate "humph" on the other end of the line. "Hold on, I'll get them." It was Stiles' turn to gasp-then smile when he understood that Terri hadn't taken the children after all. After two very brief and nearly one-sided conversations with the toddlers, Helen got back on the phone.

"I convinced her to leave them with me. As upset as she was, I was afraid that if she took them with her she may not come home. You better fix this Alistair. I will never forgive you if I lose her again."

Stiles was happy to agree to her command-and to get off the phone so he could call his wife.

Terri had obviously been asleep when Stiles called and didn't immediately realize who was on the phone.

"Stiles?"

"Hey, I'm sorry I woke you..." He didn't make it to his reason for calling before hearing a dial tone. Undeterred and willing to risk Terri's wrath for disturbing her, he called back and got voice mail. On the third call, she picked up the phone and hung up without speaking.

Irritated, Stiles called what would be his last time. He'd gotten 10 words into his message when she picked up. "Stiles, leave me alone. As you so astutely noted I was sleeping! I have an early meeting in the morning and I need to get some sleep. Even if that weren't the case, I have no desire to talk to you! Stop calling me." When Stiles called again, her cellphone went straight to voice mail. When he tried the land line he discovered that she'd unplugged it and finally gave up.

Terri shrieked and dropped her bag the next afternoon when she returned from her meeting to find Stiles sitting on her back porch."What are you doing here?"

Stiles looked as awful as a man who'd been on a pre-dawn flight and sat in the sun for hours should, but he did manage a small smile, happy with his ability to surprise Terri. "You wouldn't talk to me, so I came here to talk to you. We can't go on the way we have been and things have always been good for us here."

Terri sighed as picked up her bag and walked past Stiles into the house. "If I'd wanted to talk to you, I would have done so last night. When's your flight back?"

Stiles followed Terri into the house frowning. "Terri, you have every right to be mad at me after what I said the other night, but I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to save our marriage. I hoped to have some time with you here before they send me half way around the world again. Please talk to me."

Terri glanced at Stiles briefly before turning her back to him. "I have nothing to say. You made your choice clear. I'm back on the island where you want me; you should be happy."

"Terri, come on. You know I didn't mean that, I was being a jerk, I admit, but you weren't exactly..."

Terri turned around, a scowl on her face. "Stop while you're ahead." Terri paused and took a good look at her husband. "You look awful; were you up all night?"

"Thanks. Yes, I was up all night."

"I can't do this anymore Stiles. My children don't deserve to live with two people who scream at each other all the time. I don't deserve to have a husband who wants someone else. I'll divorce you so you can marry her."

Stiles nearly growled as he threw his arms in the air. "Must you be so melodramatic? I don't want a divorce. When I said 'til death do us part, I meant it.'" Stiles cringed, realizing what he'd said.

"Clearly."

Terri's sarcasm hit the mark, but further irritated her tired, grumpy husband.

"Could you stop with the sarcasm for five minutes? Why can't we have a conversation like two adults? I flew down here to try to fix things between us."

"Has it not occurred to you that I don't want to "fix" things between us? I told you I've had enough. I'm tired." Terri turned away from him and Stiles had to lean forward to hear her last few words. "I'm tired of competing for your heart."

Stiles reached for Terri, and in a moment of weakness, she allowed him to pull her into his chest.

"Terri, you have my heart, you always have. I'm sorry I haven't made that clear."

Terri relaxed and allowed the warmth and safety she felt in his arms take over the insecurity she still felt. Stiles' contentment to have there there was was equally calming-until he felt the dampness on his shirt from her tears.

"Terri?"

"I want to believe you. I know you love me, but you must love her too. You wouldn't have gotten engaged if you didn't."

She was right; he did love Kara and he hesitated a moment too long. When Terri pulled back to see his eyes, she saw everything she'd hoped not to.

Shaking her head, she surprised Stiles by asking again when his flight left. "What?"

"You didn't contradict me. You love her and we can't be together with her between us." Stiles was exasperated.

"What do you want from me? I thought you were gone, Terri. I didn't purposely cheat on you; I would never do that. You were gone for four years. Did you expect me to spend the rest of my life alone?"

"I was willing to, so you could live!"

"You didn't think I was dead!"

"It doesn't matter. I was still alone!"

"You have no idea what I went through. I spend five agonizing days waiting to hear if you were rescued from the North Koreans, then plan your funeral! I thought I'd lost your and our daughter. While you were here in paradise I struggled to find a reason to get out of bed! For months, I couldn't even walk in our bedroom without crying. I didn't want choose to live without you. You chose to live without me. It hurts that you didn't even try to let me know you were okay. I would have waited..."

Terri had beat herself up with guilt over leaving him, but she was stubborn and not willing to let go of her own hurt to see his. "Well you seemed to have gotten over me fairly easily."

Stiles sat down, running his hands through growing hair. "It seems that you've made up your mind for both of us. I don't know what else to say to convince you."

"Please just go home."

"When are you coming back?" Stiles was silently thanking Helen for her persistence in keeping the twins in D.C.

"My flight leaves at 7:10 tomorrow morning."

Stiles scoffed at the irony; he was scheduled to leave at the same time-it was likely there were two flights to D.C. leaving at the exact same time. "If you'll be so kind as to call a cab, I'll wait outside-I know a great hotel about 20 minutes from here."

Terri only briefly considered asking him to stay before she agreed to call the cab.

THE next morning, the couple neatly avoided each other at the gate, and had seats several rows apart on opposite sides of the plane. Terri was surprised to see Stiles opening Helen's lift gate to store his bag.

"What are you doing?"

Stiles smiled and Helen frowned at her daughter. "This nice lady is here to pick us up, or have you forgotten?"

The scathing comment Terri was about to say died in her throat when her son squealed, "mommy!" out the open window.

Helen ushered the couple into the car, Stiles in the front seat and Terri in the back between her children, while trying to determine how things between them were somehow worse than they were two days ago.

"A.B., you look awful"

Stiles glanced at the children before responding, "I haven't had much sleep the last couple of days, a situation I intend to remedy as soon as I get home."

Helen narrowed her eyes, but kept quiet. She resigned herself to the possibility of another ex son-in-law.

"There's no need to take them them out. I need to get back."

"What?"

Helen glared at her son-in-law. "You didn't tell her?"

Terri was angry when she learned that her parents and husband, in her words, "conspired" to keep her children another day and leave her alone with Stiles. She was too tired to argue. After kissing her babies she went in the house without acknowledging her mother.

"I told you to fix this, young man. She's near her breaking point. If she isn't already there."

Stiles kissed his mother-in-law on her cheek and promised to try again though he felt obligated to admit that it wouldn't be easy.

It wasn't until Terri woke up that she noticed the two dozen flowers and the state of the house.

Terri closed her eyes and took a deep breath after reading the card, "Please give us another chance. I love you, Stiles"

"Thank you."

Stiles looked up from the report he was attempting to read for the third time to see Terri holding the roses.

She looked at him skeptically and held up the card. "Do you really? Love me, I mean?"

"Yes, I do."

"You aren't sorry I returned from the island?" Terri asked sarcastically.

Stiles hung his head a moment before answering. He knew that was coming. "I want our marriage to work. What I said about leaving you on the island was stupid. I was angry and I wanted to hurt you, but I swear I didn't really mean it. You and the kids are the most important people in the world to me."

Terri wanted nothing more than to believe that he still loved and wanted her so she pushed her fears aside for the moment and allowed Stiles to wrap his arms around her much like she did on the island the night before. No matter what they were going through, she felt safe when she was close to him. He rested his chin on her head as she learned against his chest. Both of them let out a sigh of relief as they stood silently holding each other. Stiles chuckled when he and Terri fought yawns at the same time.

"Maybe I should get some sleep before we attempt to have a meaningful conversation."

Sleep they did-until late that afternoon when they were awakened by Carl, calling Stiles into the office. "We'll talk as soon as I get back." Terri nodded and went back to sleep. Stiles didn't make it home until late and rather than have a serious conversation, he and Terri watched a movie and talked about everything but the state of their marriage.

Unfortunately, even before the roses withered, the arguments began again. As usual, it was about everything and nothing. They fought over Stiles travel, they fought over the location of Terri's job, and everything about the kids including the nanny service Terri chose. Most of their fights were at night after long, mentally exhausting days. One morning, after a particularly ugly fight the night before, they started at it again. The last thing Terri said to Stiles before he left for work was, "maybe you should just spend the night there!" Fortunately for them both, Terri didn't hear what Stiles said in reply as he slammed the door on his way out.

An hour later, Terri was on her way to the courthouse. The D.A. said it wouldn't be long before Terri would be called to testify so she decided to spend some time in the courtroom before she became the center of attention.

Halfway to the courthouse she changed her mind. The night before, Stiles mentioned that he would be in court most of the day and Terri didn't want to see him yet. After driving a while longer she made a decision.

Two hours later, she was back at home. Helen, who was just returning the twins after a weekend away, was surprised when her daughter entered the living room.

"Hey darling, Elizabeth said you would be gone for the afternoon. Did you forget something?"

"No. Is Elizabeth still here?"

"I told her I'd wait here until one of you came home.

"Can you stay with the kids until Stiles gets home?"

"I can, but what are you doing home so soon? I thought you were staying in the city a while to have lunch with A.B."

"Something came up. I'm going away for a couple of days and I need to leave soon. I'm not sure what time Stiles will be home." Terri said as she brushed past Helen on her way upstairs. I really appreciate you doing this for us."

Helen watched Terri carefully, following her up the stairs. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she felt like something was wrong. "Are you going back to Andros? Did something come up with Lynn? Is something in the works for your U.S. office?"

"No mom. I just need some time to myself, that's all."

Helen frowned. She didn't like the sudden nature of this trip. "I know I said I wouldn't pry, but I'm worried about you. You didn't say anything about going away when I talked to you last. Has something happened with the trial? Are you in danger again?"

Terri sighed and attempted to wave her mother off with a quick, "it's nothing, really." Helen didn't believe her and then before she realized what was happening, Terri was baring her soul. "It's just not like I thought it would be."

"What isn't?"

"Things were so good between us before we came back here. The two weeks in Andros were nearly perfect. We were fine for a few days after we got back last time, but I just don't think we can make it work. We still argue constantly. I spent nearly four years thinking about and planning out life together as a family, but now . . . Now I don't know. Nothing is at all not at all like I pictured it."

Helen sat down next to Terri, pulling her close. Terri responded by laying her head on her mother's shoulder; it felt good to be talking to someone. "I thought the two of you were going to see a counselor."

"We talked about it and it just never happened."

"Sweetheart, you were apart a long time. It will take time to get used to each other again."

Terri sat up, "I know, but we argue about everything-the kids, the house, our jobs. We start out having a normal conversation and inevitably it turns into an argument. We had disagreements before, but never like this."

"You spent most of your time working before and you didn't have two young children."

"And he didn't have a fiancee."

"Ah, you're jealous."

"I am not..."

"Terri" Helen interrupted, "It's not unrealistic to feel that way, but I thought she was out of your lives."

"Yeah, so did I."

"You know we were supposed to have lunch today, but I changed my mind because we fought—again—before he left for work this morning. I remembered she would be in the courtroom, so I decided to skip court, but I felt bad about some things I said this morning and wanted to try so I showed up at the restaurant."

"And?"

"And I saw him—with her." Terri could no longer hold back her tears. "Mom he had his hand on her face and I saw him hugging her."

Helen mumbled "I'm going to strangle him" under her breath and struggled to be civil for her daughter's sake. "What was his explanation for that?"

"He didn't say anything. He just stared at me like an imbecile. What could he say? I caught them—in our restaurant, no less! He supposedly broke up with her two months ago. Maybe she's the reason we fight so much. He's been seeing her all this time."

"Terri, don't jump to conclusions, there could be a simple explanation." Helen was trying very hard to control her anger; she didn't want to upset Terri any more, but she couldn't wait until she got her hands on her son-in- law.

TWO HOURS EARLIER

To everyone's surprise, Quinn took a plea rather than let his trial continue. To avoid spending the rest of his life in prison or worse, he agreed to several things: to renege on the book deal he'd signed, to refuse all future offers to tell his story to the public for profit, to work with an independent investigator to explain how he carried out his deeds, and to write a letter of apology to each of the agents whose lives he had endangered, among other things. What he didn't do was concede that what he did was wrong. For his efforts, he was given a fifteen year sentence in a "white collar" prison, permanently relieved of his passport, and prohibited from taking any position within the government.

Stiles was relieved that neither he nor Terri would have to testify. He took out his phone to call her with the good news then hesitated. 'After the way she treated me this morning, maybe I should let her wait.' As Stiles was deciding whether or not to call, he heard a familiar voice.

"A.B.!"

He smiled despite himself—he'd missed her. "Hey Kara. Nice win."

"One of the easiest I've had, but I admit to being disappointed that I didn't get to question him or even find out everything he did."

"Yeah," Stiles knew a lot of what Quinn did and was glad the entire circus was over before he was on center stage. "Maybe now we can all have some peace. I wasn't looking forward to testifying nor was Terri."

Kara stopped smiling as she changed her tone. "Can we talk?"

Stiles hadn't had a conversation with Kara since he threw her out of his house. He had been impressed with the way she handled Quinn and he knew now he wouldn't have any reason to see her; he didn't think a conversation could hurt.

"Okay."

"Lunch?"

Stiles was about to say no when he remembered Terri. They were going to have lunch together since for once both of them would be in the city at the same time. However, after the morning they had and after she didn't show up in court he assumed she'd changed his mind—as he had.

"Yeah, that's fine. I already have a reservation at Le Relais." He looked at his watch. "Meet me there in 20 minutes?"

Kara smiled. "I'll see you there."

Stiles had reserved a corner booth for his lunch with Terri; it was the restaurant where he and Terri had dinner the night he proposed to her. He and Kara had never been there together.

"I've always wanted to come here. I thought you didn't like this place."

Stiles looked down at the empty glass he'd been playing with. "Actually, I brought Terri here the night we got engaged."

Kara looked down at her hands and mumbled, "So that's why you never brought me here; this is where you proposed to her."

"No, we just had dinner here that night." Stiles didn't want to discuss Terri with Kara so he quickly changed the subject. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Us"

Stiles frowned.

Kara noticed the frown on Stiles' face and started talking before he could stop her. "Before you say anything, I want to apologize. You're right; I should have told you I suspected the woman I met at the hotel was Terri. I was afraid of losing you, so I kept my mouth shut." Kara reached across the table for Stiles' hand. "A.B. I still love you. I was ready to give my life to you, to have babies with you. I still am. I thought I had finally gotten your heart and then . . ."

Kara didn't finish because she didn't want to cry.

"Kara, what I don't get is how you thought it would be okay to keep me away from my kids. You knew what I went through. I carried that sonogram in my wallet for four years."

"I know, it was selfish. I just wanted us to be happy—together and I paniced. I would have given you children, our children. I waited my entire life to find you, my soul mate and everything crashed down around me. I was being selfish, and I am really sorry. I thought if we got married before we left the island you'd see how much we belong together. I wanted you to choose me, but if you picked her I wanted it to be because you loved her, not just because she is the mother of your children." Kara looked down at the table briefly, gathering courage to ask her next question. "Do you really still love her that much, even after all of this time?"

At the moment, Stiles was very angry with Terri, so he hesitated before answering. Kara took that as sign that there might be a chance for them.

Instead of waiting for him to answer, she asked, "Do you love me, even a little?"

That was a loaded question and Stiles knew it, but he answered it anyway.

"Kara, we've been friends for over three years now." He smiled. "I've grown accustomed to your face,' and honestly, I don't know where to put you in my life. I have a wife and two children. I expected to spend the rest of my life with you and yes, I guess I loved you, maybe part of me still does, but I had to make a choice. Please don't think it's been easy for me to lose you. But, even if you and I were together, I'd still have to see Terri because of the children. She and I had a history together and..."

"You and I have history-longer than yours with her! They only difference is she got pregnant and you married her!"

"Hey, you know that isn't true. Look, I owe it to her and to myself to try to make my marriage work. She had her life taken from her; she didn't ask for that. I need to be with my kids and they deserve to have both of their parents in their lives every day. I'm sorry, but there can't be an 'us' anymore."

Kara turned her head attempting to hide her tears. "Would it have made a difference if I'd told you about her? Would we have had a chance?"

Although he was angry with her, Stiles did care about Kara and he hated seeing her so upset. He took her hand and squeezed it lovingly and used his other hand to wipe a tear from her cheek.

"Kara, you know I didn't want to hurt you. Unfortunately, there was no happy way to end our relationship; you're a victim of Quinn as much as Terri and I are. I'm sorry it has to be this way for you."

"I know you are, but you didn't answer my question. Would we have had a chance if I'd told you about Terri, if she weren't the mother of your children?"

Stiles had wondered that himself for a while. He answered Kara as honestly as he could. He was surprised with the emotions he felt answering her question considering the nasty argument he'd had with Terri that morning.

"I was a mess without Terri, you saw that. But I still didn't realize how much I needed her until she was back in my life. I-I belong with her; she belongs with me—kids or no kids." Stiles felt an amazing amount of love in his heart for Terri as he answered Kara. Though he broke up with Kara weeks earlier, part of him was still holding on to her. It wasn't until he had to defend his decision to be with Terri that he realized just how much he loved his wife. He did belong with her despite the mess their marriage was. He couldn't wait to see her and tell her about his "epiphany."

As Kara listened to his words more tears fell and she didn't bother to hide them. She was finally getting that Stiles didn't want her anymore, that he was in love with another woman.

"I just don't want you to hate me."

Stiles nodded. He didn't hate her; he just couldn't be with her.

"Is there any chance we can be friends?"

"I don't know right now, but I don't think so. We're still trying to put our lives back together; I'm not sure you and I should be spending time together as friends. It's too soon and I'd think you'd want to move on with your life as well.

Kara managed to sniff out a feeble and defeated, "Okay. I really am sorry about what happened and I do want you to be happy, you deserve that."

Stiles believed she really was sorry, but he wanted to find his wife and tell her he loved her. "I do care about you Kara, and I probably owe you my life, but we can't be together."

Kara nodded as she wiped the tears from her eyes and tried to smile.

As Stiles was hugging Kara goodbye at the back of the restaurant, the maître' de was escorting Terri Stiles to the table her husband had reserved for their lunch date.