Disclaimer- Well the check bounced, so I had to give them back, but I'm still working on it.


For the next week Garret and Sarah came to work each morning looking more haggard than the day before. Neither one showed any outward anger nor displayed any emotion at all. To their friends it seemed as if they were ice sculptures, cold, remote, barely recognizing each other's presence.

Lily tried to talk to both of them and was calmly rebuffed although she saw the haunted look in each of their eyes when they said the other's name. Finally she decided that enough was enough and placed a call to Dr. Stiles, who agreed to come by the next day.

Next Day

Howard Stiles exited the elevator and stood for a moment trying to decide which of his two sometime patients to see first. Choosing the least volatile, he headed for Sarah's office. Pausing to collect his thoughts before knocking he noticed the air of tension in the usually relaxed work place. People scurried back and forth intent on the job at hand. The absence of chattering and laughter was quite noticeable. Even the normally ebullient Nigel, had a decided slump to his shoulders as he came down the hallway. Howard sighed inwardly as he knocked on the office door.

"Come in." Sarah raised her head expectantly, then looked resigned when she saw him standing there."I wondered how long it would take you to smell the blood in the water, Howard."

"I think I'm insulted that you would compare me to a shark, Sarah." He perched on the edge of the chair at the front of her desk. "I haven't a bloodthirsty bone in my body. I'm a lover, my dear, not a lawyer." This witticism earned him only a ghost of a smile from the sweet faced ME.

"So someone ratted Garret and I out, I take it?" Sarah tried to joke.

"Your friends are very worried about the two of you. Why don't you tell me what's going on?"

"Oh Howard, it's horrible. We move around each other like we don't exist. We haven't spoken in days." Sarah's voice had become forlorn and held no trace of its usual warmth.

She dropped her head to look at her desk. "I can't do this, Howard, not now. Maybe later, but if I try to talk about it here, I'll break down and he'll come in to see what's wrong and that will only make it worse." Sarah looked at him with her heart in her eyes. "I'll come to your office this afternoon, okay?"

"Come to my townhouse at seven p.m.." He offered. "I'm booked solid this afternoon." At her nod he continued. "I'll see you then."

Howard left Sarah's office and crossed the hall to speak to his other stubborn charge. Garret's door stood open and Howard tapped on the door frame. Garret looked up and seemed not at all surprised to see the psychiatrist standing at his door.

"Come in Howard. I don't think it's time for mandatory evaluations for at least three months." Garret tried to fake confusion at Howard's appearance in the morgue.

"We both know the reason for my visit, Garret." He was no longer in the mood for tap dancing around the elephant in the middle of the floor.

"The rules state that evaluations are required every six months. They say nothing about submitting to counseling for non work related issues." Garret said succinctly.

"True, but counseling is required when work performance is affected." Stiles pointed out.

"My work performance has not been affected, Howard. I am here every day, my paper work is up to date and the morgue's identification rate is 100 percent."

"But are you happy?" He held up a hand when Garret began to respond. "More to the point are your people happy?"

Garret's shoulders slumped. "When do you want to do this?" He asked.

"Tonight at seven-thirty, my townhouse." Howard answered and rose to leave. "You do realize that you set the tone for this place, don't you? Have you looked at your people lately, Garret? They aren't a happy crew and that is, ironically, a highly unusual state of affairs for this place."

He walked to the door then turned. "Don't be late, Garret. I have a date at nine. She's crazy about me. I may even get lucky." At that Garret had to smile, albeit thinly.

"I'll be there early, Howard, far be it from me to wreck the track record of a stud like you." Garret managed to tease.

As he walked down the hall, Howard gave a surreptitious thumbs up to Lily, who nodded and went to pass the word along. Their plan to force Garret and Sarah to interact outside of work was off and running.

Stiles Townhouse

Sarah knocked and waited for Howard to answer, the cold wind blowing off the bay held a promise of snow. As with anything lately, the thought of snow made her want to cry. The first snow of the winter had found she and Garret curled up together in front of a fire watching the flakes drifting down to rest on their balcony. The memory of that evening reminded her that the temperature outside was significantly warmer than the atmosphere of their apartment now.

The door opened on a smiling Howard. "Welcome Sarah, come in and let me offer you some tea to warm you up."

"Thanks Howard, a nice, hot cup of tea would be wonderful." He took her coat and placed it in the closet and motioned for her to follow him.

Sarah was pleasantly surprised at the warm homey atmosphere of Howard's bachelor 'pad'. Looking over the knickknacks on the mantle, she was impressed at his taste.

"Here you go. Darjeeling, piping hot." Stiles said carrying in a tea tray.

"Howard, are these alabaster boxes?" Sarah indicated the collection on the mantle.

"Yes, I found them in a market in Marakesh, years ago. Would you believe I bought all twelve for ten dollars American?" He grinned.

"You are definitely a robber baron." Sarah tried to tease. Suddenly her eyes were filled with tears. "Oh Howard, what am I going to do?"

Stiles sat down the tray and guided Sarah to the couch. Sitting down beside her he slid an arm around her and waited for the emotional storm to quiet. There was no point in trying to help her work through this without Garret present.

As Sarah's tears slowed there was a knock at the door. Howard handed her some more tissue and went to answer.

Garret stood on the door step waiting for Howard and hoping that the diminutive psychiatrist could help him find a way out of the mess he was making of his life.

Sarah had told him she had an appointment that evening and would grab dinner out. Not that either of them had been eating much when they sat down together. Before this whole disaster started they would go home and cook dinner together, laughing and talking through the preparations and the meal. Afterward they would clear the table and then put on some old jazz and dance as they had that first night in Sarah's apartment.

Remembering the easy way Sarah moved in his arms brought the prick of tears to Garret's eyelids. Since the fight he'd been afraid to touch her, afraid to see the wild fear her eyes had held just before she'd slapped him.

"Ah Garret, early as promised. Good then we can get started, right into the living room while I hang up your coat." Stiles said taking the garment from him and following on Garret's heels.

When he entered the living room, Garret froze. "Sarah?"

"Garret!" Sarah leapt to her feet.

"Well now that the introductions are out of the way, shall we proceed." Howard said with a wicked twinkle in his eye.

"I don't think this is such a good idea, Howard." Sarah said picking up her purse.

"You stay. I'll leave." Garrets told her.

"Are you implying that I am in greater need of psychological counseling than you?" Sarah began angrily.

"No. I.." Garret stammered. "Oh hell, just forget it." He spun on his heels and started toward the door.

"HOLD IT" The normally quiet calm voiced Stiles' shout froze them both in their tracks. "Sit down now." Howard said in a testy voice.

"You two are possibly the most hardheaded, thick-skulled pair I have ever seen. You are both going to sit down and work this out or I will recommend that you both be suspended indefinitely."

"Howard, you can't.."

"Stiles, this is..." Sarah and Garret both began.

"SIT NOW." Howard ordered and the two complied.

"Now you two have danced around each other for a week, making yourselves and your coworkers miserable. We are going to get to the bottom of this tonight."

Stiles poured a cup of tea and settled back in his chair. "You've tried talk talking at each other and around each other to no avail, why not try talking to each other."

Garret and Sarah each sat, lost in thought for a long moment.

Stiles sighed inwardly. "Very well, let me set some ground rules then. First only one of you may speak at a time. No statement can begin with you or he or she, no talking about the other person. You may only talk about you, your feelings, thoughts and motivations. You are each allowed no more than three minutes before surrendering the floor to the other person. And you must spend the other person's time listening, not planning what you want to say. Sarah, why don't we start with you."

"I.. I don't know where to begin." Sarah stammered.

"Begin with the argument, what was it about, what did you say, how did you feel about what you said. Remember, this is all about you. Garret can tell his story in a few minutes." Stiles settled back to listen.

"I caused all of it, it's all my fault. I didn't tell Garret everything up front and when he found out, I didn't allow him time to be angry or the space to explore it." Sarah turned to Garret. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have lied to you and you were right I was selfish, thoughtless and childish. I should have told you everything before I found out I was pregnant, but, oh Garret I was so afraid you wouldn't, that you'd.."

Sarah took a deep breath. "I didn't tell you before I was pregnant because I didn't want you to worry about me being depressed that I couldn't have a baby. I really thought I couldn't get pregnant again. The last time was ten years ago, I didn't think it could happen again and then when I found out..., I tried to tell you when I told you I thought I was pregnant. We kept getting interrupted and then I was afraid you'd try to convince me to abort. Garret, I just couldn't do that. I need to have this baby."

Garret listened intently and when Sarah was finished, he sat a moment longer before he began. "Sarah, this is just as much my fault as yours. The last week and the way the argument escalated was my fault. I pushed you into a corner, I was rude and arrogant, and yeah, I was a sanctimonious bastard. But Sarah, I'm scared too. I'm afraid that I'll lose you, that you're taking a risk that could cost you your life. I can't stand the thought of being without you, but I should have listened and given you time to explain why you hadn't told me. I panicked and I took it out on you."

"Well I'd say that was an excellent start. I want you each to think about what you've heard while I get some fresh tea, Garret would you care for a scotch?" Howard stood as Garret nodded, leaving the two sitting in the living room, he disappeared into the kitchen. When he returned with a fresh pot of tea he looked at Sarah.

"I believe it's your turn again, Sarah." Howard said sitting in his chair. "What were you feeling when you slapped Garret?"

"Afraid." She answered.

"Of what?" Stiles prompted.

"Garret had just said he could cheerfully slap me. It frightened me, all I could think was I wasn't going to allow another man to hit me." Sarah turned to Garret. "I know you wouldn't but, my hand just flew out before I had time to think."

Garret closed his eyes at the sudden flash of pain he felt. He'd never meant to threaten Sarah or to scare her. "I was very angry and hurt, I lashed out at you. I never meant it, Sarah."

Sarah reached and began to pour a cup of tea as she spoke. "I know that, Garret. Intellectually, I knew it then, I just... " She began, failing to notice the cup in her hand was almost full. "I think..OW."

The scalding tea sloshed out onto her hand and Garret was beside her in an instant.

"Sarah, let me see.' He took her hand gently and checked the slightly reddened fingers. "I don't think it's too bad, sweetheart." He said softly looking up at the tears gathering in her eyelashes.

He braced himself for the fear he was sure would flash in her eyes at any moment, but to his amazement he saw love and a sad yearning.

The sight of the tender concern in Garret's eyes melted away any trace of anger Sarah had felt. He still loved her, she hadn't destroyed that with her secretiveness.

Stiles watched as the two leaned closer to each other. Any second now..., he thought just before Garret wrapped his arms around Sarah and they spoke almost in unison.

"I'm sorry, Sarah."

"Honey, please forgive me."

Sarah buried her face in her husband's shoulder as he stroked her hair. "I love you, Sarah. You're my life."

She raised her eyes to his, tear trails still on her cheeks. "I'm lost without you, Garret. I love you so much."

"Now doesn't that feel better." Howard interjected. "But you still need to talk about what happened between you two and work out some rules for arguing in the future, so that it doesn't happen again." He had an almost smug satisfaction on his face. "Now do we need to continue or do you think you two can handle this on your own?"

"I think we can take it from here, Howard." Garret said standing and reaching to take Sarah's arm.

Sarah accepted his help then stepped over to Stiles chair and leaned down to kiss his cheek. "You are a duplicitous little man." She smiled at him. "Thank you."

"Ready to go home, Sarah," Garret asked as Howard went to get their coats.

"Definitely, but first I want a steak and shrimp and a hot fudge sundae." Sarah smiled for the first time in days.

"Isn't it a little early for cravings?" Garret asked.

"Who said anything about cravings, I have hardly eaten all week, I'm starving," Sarah eyes twinkled mischievously. "And besides I intend to burn off all the calories later." She gave Garret a sexy wink.

Two Days Later

Stiles arrived at his office feeling a little nervous. While he had faith that Garret and Sarah would resolve their differences, he wondered how long it would take for the morgue staff to heal fully from the week's tribulations.

As he opened the door, he caught sight of two wrapped packages sitting on his desk.

"Hmmmm, I wonder?" Stiles grinned.

An hour later anyone wandering by the psychiatrist's office would have been surprised by the sight of the placid little man, sipping a glass of wine and indulging in a decadent piece of fudge.


A/N- Well there's story number three in the Southern Exposure series. We'll be back soon with Lily and Bug's story (and more on the babies, both Sarah's and Jordan's). Now please review.