Shane had been silent for the better part of three hours, and Matt refused to spend the rest of the drive to New York with only the CD player for company. When he had arrived to pick Shane up that morning Matt had been granted his first glimpse of Shane's wife, as he'd come to refer to her. Matt had been expecting a tall leggy blonde with a sunbed tan, perfect wihte teeth and short clothes, the sterotypical slut. But Riley wasn't any of those things. Her hair was red-brown and untidy giving the impression she'd only just gotten up. She was wearing baggy pyjama bottoms, a white tank top and a long terry cloth robe. She seemed like the sort of girl that Matt always imagined Shane marrying, just not like this.

"So, how's the wife?" He asked.

Shane gave a groan. "She went for a scan yesterday."

"Don't sound too excited."

"She wasn't. I don't think she wants the baby?"

"Did she say that?" Matt asked, only taking his eyes off the road for a brief second to look at Shane, who was staring dead ahead.

"No, she said that she wasn't use to it."

"You can't expect her to be Shane. Three months ago this girl had a life."

"She was living in poverty." Shane told him, digging into his pocket to retrieve the scan picture from his wallet. "She was living on a diet of rice and noddles. She didn't have a life."

"Still," Matt said quickly, trying to make his point even though his theory of party-girl Riley was banished. "She was living a different life, even if it wasn't ideal. Now she's a wife, a mother-to-be, and even if she doesn't have to worry about money or food, it's still an adjustment."

Shane shrugged. "I suppose."

"You've handled it well, you just can't expect her to that's all."

"We're still so distant. It's not like we're married."

Matt laughed a little. "You need to treat her. Like you would if you where dating. Take her to dinner, talk about normal things. treat her like a women, not a burden."

"She isn't a burden."

"Then let her know."

Shane looked at the grainy black-and-white picture as he'd done so many times over the past twenty four hours. He had six months to compleatly turn a hopeless situation around. But he'd do it, he had to.

In her eyes, this was a stupid idea. A date. Please, what would it achieve? They'd talk. Big deal, they could do it at home. Riley was in a bad mood. Another three days alone with just her lingering anger towards Shane was not healthy. He'd breezed home and told her to get ready when all she wanted to do was watch Friends on the couch. She gazed longingly at the couple at the next table sipping champagne and then finished her glass of diet coke. Shane was reading the menu.

"Have you decided?" He asked.

"Yeah." she lied, running her eyes back over her own menu and picking a salad.

The waiter took their order and refilled Riley's glass. She drank half in one go and relaxed back in her chair, looking down at her mid-section and suddenly getting very paniced that she was already showing. God, soon she was going to be huge and then none of her clothes would fit and how would she buy new one's? Maybe she could call Sydney and force her to send her's.

"What did you do while I was away?' he asked, bringing her out of her clothes fuled thoughts.

"The usual. I cleaned, I cooked, I slept. There's isn't much to do."

"You could go the movies?"

"With who? I haven't got any friends and I refuse to go by myself."

"You could go shopping?"

"With what?"

"Money." She rolled her eyes. "Obviously. But I don't have any, do I?"

"But I do."

Riley shook her head. "No way. I'm not taking your money."

"Isn't that the whole reason your here?" Shane asked.

"Yes, but not for me." She patted her stomach. "For the baby."

"I have enough."

Riley ignored him and finished off her drink. He'd offered her shopping money on several occassions and she'd turned him down. It had been like he was trying to buy her off, to make her like him or to make the whole situation easier.

"I don't want your money Shane." she said.

"Then what do you want?"

She shrugged, because Riley honestly didn't know.