A/N: Updating! See! I can honestly think of nothing else to say but thanks to everyone. The song for this chapter is 'Crazy' by K-Ci and Jojo

".. so I'm going to go to my boss tomorrow and ask if I can get paid leave."

Vince glanced at her, holding the milk carton against the bench with his hip so he could unscrew the cap. "Why?"

Tala eased herself into a seat at the table. "Vince I wont be able to work with Aurora here, and you can't work to support us during that time either. We need to get money somehow."

"Marcus offered me a job manning the phones at the shop. Since the business picked up he needs more hands."

"Well if you want to take the job, Vince, I'd be more than happy for you to do that. But think about it babe," she sighed. "That would only be minimum wages. There's no way we can survive on that now let alone with a baby."

He stared at the counter top for a while, chewing at his bottom lip. "Firefly… I can take care of us. No problems." He looked up at her. "I have money."

Her eyes widened. "You what?"

"I've got plenty of money stashed away that I haven't really touched."

Dark chocolate eyes narrowed now, her face turning suspicious. "Define plenty, Vincent."

He cleared his throat, eyes shifting around the room. "Enough."

"Vince!"

"… Millions."

Tala's head spun, her vision blurring. "Millions! What the hell, Vince?" she stared at him in stunned shock. "Where the hell did you get millions from!"

He covered his face with his hand and his shoulders slumped. "… I told you I was a criminal."

"You said you assaulted someone, not robbed a bank!" She shouted, irate.

He flinched at her angry exclamation. This was what he had been dreading. Telling her about the trucks.

"I didn't rob a bank!" he snapped, ".. It was a truck."

Her face screwed up in confusion. "A truck? What do you mean a-" her eyes widened suddenly, darting to his arm. "Oh my god.. That was you! All those heists were you!" she couldn't believe it. Her adoring, loving, shy husband was responsible for some of the most calculated and ridiculously dangerous truck heists performed in the past decade. Almost blinded by her ire, she missed his almost violent flinch at her next words. "Vincent how could you be so stupid!"

He was slumped over the opposite side of the table now, not looking at her. "I'm sorry, firefly."

"I'm sorry? I'm sorry! Vincent, you lied to me!"

His head shot up, eyes narrowed on her glowering face. "I did fucking not! I have never lied to you!"

"You lied by not telling me, Vince!" Tears were leaking from her eyes now, the heavily pregnant woman struggling to remain composed. "Why didn't you just tell me?"

"BECAUSE I WAS SCARED!" His eyes filled with tears, much like her own had. "I didn't want you to leave me." His breath caught in his throat seeing her so distressed. "I didn't mean to hurt you, Tala."

It was rare for him to call her by her name these days, so when he did, she knew he was serious.

"Well you did, Vince." She snatched his car keys off the hook on the wall. She was too big to fit behind the wheel of her little buzz box any more. "I can't be near you right now." She had never seen him look so terrified in all the time she knew him as he did at that very moment.

He blinked rapidly, battling his tears. "Are you leaving me?"

Tala squeezed the keys in her hand and turned toward the door. "I'm going to my parents' place." His hand curled around her upper arm, stopping her.

"Firefly, please.."

She wrenched her arm free, glaring at him. "You lied to me, Vince! How can you expect me to just stand here and take it with a smile?" she gave him a shove, sending him stumbling backward into the back of the couch. "I cannot believe you would do something like that, Vince! You honestly expect me to agree to us raising our baby with dirty money! You are an idiot, Vincent! An idiot!" she spun on her heel and started for the bedroom instead.

Vince sprung to his feet and tore after her down the hall. Skidding into the bedroom his legs almost went from under him when he saw her throwing clothes into a bag. "Tala, please! I didn't mean to lie to you! I know what I did was wrong, I know that! But please sweetheart – you can't leave me." He took a step closer, ".. You cant."

Tala felt herself starting to crack as she looked at him, standing there so dejected and pathetic. "I can't be near you right now, Vince." She sniffled, taking a step back as he reached for her. His face crumpled, ashamed and defeated.

"Please don't leave," he near whispered. "I need you here with me. Please, firefly, I love you so much. You can't go."

"I can and I will, Vince. Think about it," she steeled herself not to move as his hand gently slid over her stomach, now on his knees in front of her. "How is she going to feel knowing what you did? Was it all worth it, Vince? She's going to look at you one day and know, she will know that her daddy failed her." Tala swore she saw his heart break. She had unknowingly just exposed his biggest fear. "You can keep your money, you lying bastard. I hope it was all worth it. Your greed has cost you everything, Vince! Everything!"

He was shaking his head slowly, shaking. "No.. I didn't mean-"

"You don't get it, Vince! This has destroyed your life! Your filthy money can't help you now! It can't help you hold Aurora, it wont help you fix your damn arm and it definitely wont bring back Jesse! You can keep your damn money and you can keep your fucking rings."

"NO!" He scrambled to his feet, his hand tightening over hers preventing her from removing her wedding and engagement rings. "Look, I'll leave. I'll go and stay at Le's in the spare room, I wont bother you," his voice cracked, the pain bleeding through into his tone, "- but please don't take those off."

Tala stared straight ahead, desperately struggling to remain stone faced. Inside she was screaming and sobbing. She could see the irregular rise and fall of his chest. He was breathing the way he did before he had a bad attack. Sharp, faltering and shallow.

Her arms slid around his waist, her eyes closed against her tears. She almost broke down completely when his arm curled down around her, holding her to his chest. Between them, Aurora kicked against her daddy's stomach, like she knew he was there and needed her. Tala buried her face in his chest, her tears leaving a small wet patch just below his heart.

"I can't handle being lied to, Vince." She said quietly, pulling away from him. She almost kicked herself for looking up at his broken face. "I'm going home."

"But – you are home.."

She took his hand and turned it palm up, pressing both the engagement ring and wedding band into his hand then curled his fingers closed over them. "Home is where nobody lies to you Vincent.." without looking back up at his face, she leant down and took her bag in her hand then left him standing in the middle of the bedroom. She was opening the front door to leave when she heard something shatter against the wall in the bedroom, either the mirror or the television, and Vince's roar of agony. The only time he yelled like that was when he forced his right arm to move. Forcing herself not to go back, she quietly closed the door after her.

Vince threw the pencil across the room, frustrated. He couldn't wrap his fingers around it properly, unused to being left handed. He glared at the piece of paper in front of him where his efforts barely resembled squiggly lines let alone letters.

"Now Vince," the elderly man looked at him, like he was speaking to a child, "- I know relearning everything is difficult, but there's no need to throw a tantrum."

That familiar feeling of fury started to well in his gut. He hated being patronised. "I'm not throwing a fucking tantrum!" he snapped, "Anyway, how the fuck would you know! You've got full use of all limbs! Your dominant arm isn't completely fucked!"

Vince knew he was being difficult, but he was trying so hard and getting no results. It was frustrating. Leon had told him that he was having so much trouble because what he was trying to do was going against instinct, forcing his body to do something it didn't want to. His motor skills were telling him to do everything the opposite way. Vince scowled down at the table. Well I'm not ambidextrous like that assy bastard am I! To make matters worse, he and Tala had their first big fight that morning. It had ended with her throwing her rings back at him and storming out of the apartment, going to her parents place refusing to speak to him. She had been so angry at him..

The therapist, unaware of his inner turmoil, pressed the pencil back onto the table in front of him. "Try again Mr. Orello."

Vince glared at the pencil, but awkwardly picked it up and rolled it between his fingers. He leaned forward against the table, slowly tracing out the alphabet. He looked at the paper and his eyes fell shut, defeated. It was a mess.

"If I can't do this how am I going to do anything for Rory?" he asked himself quietly, tears welling up in his eyes. Tala was right. He had already failed her and she wasn't even born yet.

"I'm sorry? Who's Rory?"

Vince jumped. He'd forgotten about the white haired old man sitting at the side of the table. "Rory is my daughter." He answered, then almost inaudibly, "She's not born yet."

Comprehension washed over the other man's face. "So that's why you're getting so upset about this." His stern face softened. "Look, Vince. It takes time to learn these things. You can't just expect to be a legible left handed writer over night after years of being right handed. You will get it, I assure you. But it's going to take time."

"I don't have time! She's due in a month and I WANT TO HOLD HER, DAMMIT!"

The office door opened slightly and the secretary popped her head in. "The gentleman out here would like to know if everything is ok." She asked meekly, avoiding looking at Vince, his expression thunderous and dark.

"Of course, Ellie." The door closed after her and the therapist gave Vince a firm look. "Now I wont tolerate outbursts like that in the future, Vincent."

"Don't you fucking tell me how to act! My life is in damn shambles and you're trying to tell me I can't be angry? Well fuck you, you impotent Santa wannabe! I'm allowed to be angry!" He stood quickly, the chair tipping over backwards. "I've had this shit.. I'm leaving."

"You still have to pay for the full hour and a half, Mr, Orello!"

Vince grunted, throwing the door open with such force that it banged against the wall with a loud crack and startling half of the other patients in the waiting area. "Fine," he spat, "send me the fucking bill." He stalked past Leon and out the door, then with his head down started across the parking lot toward the Skyline.

Faintly, he heard the screech of a cars brakes and then a loud thump. Pain barely registered before he fell into darkness. The next time he opened his eyes he was laying on the ground, staring up at the sky.

"..-ince! Vince – come on, Coyote, wake up."

He moaned, the loose gravel on the tarmac digging into the back of his head. "Le?"

A warm hand touched his forehead and Leon's blurry face appeared over him. "Don't move, V. Just stay still."

He did as he was told, sensing the urgency in Leon's tone. "…What am I doing on the ground?" he asked his younger brother. He felt wet and he couldn't understand why. It was sunny as all hell outside. Irritatingly so. Leon frowned at him.

"You just walked out in front of a car, V."

I what? "I got hit?"

Leon shifted on his knees. "Yeah, V." Vince noticed his eyes rake over him, a slight flinch in them, "Yeah, you got hit." His voice sounded shaky, rattled. Not at all like himself.

Vince whimpered when he heard the faint siren in the distance. "Not hospital again! I don't want to go to the hospital again, Le!" he moved to grab Leon's arm but the movement jarred his body and pain lanced throughout his entire frame. He cried out. ".. no.. no hospital.." his breathing became fast and irregular, almost a pant as panic seized him.

"I'm sorry, Vince," Leon looked close to tears. "I'm sorry."

His inability to move made his panic worse. His eyes were wet now, uncaring of who saw him break down and sob. He could feel the cool metal of the chain around his neck pooling at his throat, the heavy weight of Tala's rings a painful reminder.

"Just let me die, Le," he squeezed his eyes shut, ".. let me die."