A big thank you to Sunny, FriendsHolic, Cynthia, Mariana, Jen, Jo, Lauren, JenJenxx, ally, Panz and Aimee5 for your reviews of the last chapter.

I've got Bell X1 playing and I'm about to kick Sandy's ass for being such a…well…ass! Enjoy!

The Lonely Hearts Club

Kirsten lost track of time as she sat at the table. All she knew was that he had gone. He had left her to see Rebecca and he still wasn't home.

"If you wanna go, I'm not gonna try and stop you."

Why had she even given him the option?

He had paused and she knew he was thinking about it. Wasn't it obvious that she didn't mean it?

"I'll be right back."

She had felt her heart crack at that moment. Not break; just crack a little.

That had been three hours ago. They had missed their reservation at The Arches – a reservation Sandy had insisted they had kept. Kirsten felt stupid and humiliated as she waited around the house, clothed in an expensive dress, her make-up perfect, her hair straightened; waiting for her husband to come back to her from his ex-lover's hotel room.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't escape the suspicions that filled her mind. What were they doing? Were they talking? Was he comforting her? Was he begging her to stay? Was she in his arms? Was he kissing her with the lips he usually reserved for his wife?

She didn't want to think any further. Her clouded brain craved alcohol to chase away the thoughts, but she stopped herself, wanting to keep a clear head.

She heard the front door click shut from the bedroom. Was it him? She heard slow footsteps getting closer and she looked towards the door. He appeared around the corner and the moment she saw him, she felt the anger rise up inside of her. She got up from her seat, meeting him at the door. She saw the apologetic look on his face, knew that "I'm sorry" was about to follow and she realised she didn't want to hear it. For the first time she could remember, she didn't even want to see him.

The moment he saw her, Sandy knew he had just done a stupid thing. He had left her to chase after Rebecca, to stop her from leaving. He could see the hurt etched across her face and the angry gleam in her eyes. He wanted to apologise; he wanted to take the hurt away; he wanted to tell her he had made a stupid mistake. He approached her slowly and paused at the door.

Kirsten stared at him for a moment, before shutting the door in his face. Sandy closed his eyes and dropped his head, sighing. He had really hurt her and that was something he had always promised himself he wouldn't do. He had seen how Caleb's web of secrets had caused Kirsten so much pain and he never imagined he could do that to her. The look she had given him told him differently.

Sandy sat down on the steps outside the bedroom and listened intently for any sounds coming from the bedroom. He almost expected to hear crashing objects as Kirsten vented her rage against anything breakable she could lay her hands on, but there was only silence. In a way, Sandy thought that was worse.

He could have kicked himself for leaving her and he hated himself for kissing Rebecca. He remembered last year, when he found out the Jimmy had kissed Kirsten. He had been so hurt and so angry, yet he had just done the same thing. Worse, even, because he had wanted to kiss Rebecca. Kirsten had always argued that her kiss with Jimmy was one-sided and Jimmy had always backed up that story.

So why had he done it? When Rebecca had told him she was leaving, his heart had sunk at the thought of losing her again. It felt like so much between them was still unresolved. He wanted her to stay, he wanted to enjoy her company more. A small part of him admitted that he wanted to know how it would feel to kiss her again; and an even smaller part admitted that he had enjoyed it. But along with that, he felt guilty, because he knew what he had done was wrong.

The mixture of guilt and silence was driving Sandy crazy. He hated arguing with Kirsten, he hated the feeling it left in the pit of his stomach. He stood and walked up the steps to the bedroom door. He raised his hand to knock but he stopped himself. He shouldn't have to ask permission to enter his own bedroom. Slowly, he opened the door. Kirsten was sat on the stool at the end of the bed, her head dropped and her shoulders slumped. Sandy saw her body tense as he walked into the bedroom and she looked away from him, running her hand over her cheeks and he knew she was wiping away tears.

"I'm sorry," Sandy said softly.

Kirsten refused to look up at him, hiding her red eyes. "Don't. I don't wanna hear your apologies."

"Kirsten…"

"Don't."

Her voice was hard but Sandy persevered.

"I had to say goodbye," he tried to explain.

"Did you? Did you say goodbye? Is she leaving?"

Kirsten looked up at him and saw the guilty look on his face. Sandy averted his eyes from hers and didn't speak.

"Did you sleep with her?" Kirsten's voice almost broke as she asked him. She didn't know why she asked him – she didn't really want to know the answer.

"What?" Sandy was taken aback by the question.

"Rebecca," Kirsten spat her name out like a bad taste in her mouth. "Did you sleep with her?"

"No! I would never…how can you even think that?" Sandy asked, horrified.

Kirsten laughed bitterly. "You've been gone for hours. What was I supposed to think?"

"You're supposed to trust me."

Kirsten held her own angry glare against his. She didn't care if he thought she was being unreasonable – she had been sat here for the past three hours, her mind full of the unimaginable.

Sandy recoiled, knowing that she had a good reason not to trust him. Because he had kissed Rebecca. He couldn't even justify it as a goodbye kiss, because he had asked her to stay. It had been a 'please stay' kiss; a reminder of what they used to have.

"Let's not do this now," Sandy sighed. "Let's talk about it tomorrow."

"No," Kirsten said defiantly. "I'm fed up of avoiding the subject, Sandy. Let's talk about it now."

"What do you want me to say? I can't keep apologising," Sandy said, frustrated.

"I just want you to be honest with me," Kirsten said.

"I told you, I'm just helping her," Sandy said.

"But why? You told me you were doing this for Max. And now he's dead, so why are you still helping her?" Kirsten asked. She didn't care if she was being insensitive – she had passed the point of caring. She just wanted him to admit how he was feeling, even if she wouldn't like the answer.

"She's innocent," Sandy said. "She has no-one else she can turn to."

"Sandy Cohen: the people's hero. Everyone's knight in shining armour," Kirsten scorned.

Sandy was taken aback by her cattiness. She wasn't even fuelled by alcohol.

"Her father has just died. Have some compassion," Sandy said, staring in disgust at his wife.

"I don't care about Rebecca, Sandy, I care about us. You and me."

"So do I," Sandy defended.

"Do you? Because you keep saying these things and then you do something else. I mean, why go to all the effort for tonight, and then just leave? Didn't you think it was gonna hurt me?"

"I'm sorry."

"Stop apologising. Stop lying to me…"

"I didn't lie. I told you, I thought she was dead," Sandy argued.

"But you didn't tell me she wasn't dead!" Kirsten cried.

"I was trying to protect you," Sandy tried to justify.

"Oh, cut the crap, Sandy," Kirsten said, standing up from the stool and pacing in front of him. "You lied to me. You've spent the past couple of days running to her every time my back was turned."

"It wasn't like that," Sandy tried to interrupt.

"So what was it like?" Kirsten asked, blinking back the tears that she could feel behind her eyes.

"You have nothing to be jealous about," Sandy tried to reassure her. When he saw Kirsten's eyes flare, he realised he had said the wrong thing.

"Don't you dare turn this around on me," Kirsten spat. She hated the way he did that; how he managed to turn every argument into her and her insecurities, her fears. "You promised me. You promised me at Chrismukkah that you would never lie to me; you told me that there would never be any secrets to hide."

Kirsten's voice wobbled as the tears threatened to take over. "After everything with my dad…"

"You're comparing me to Caleb now?" Sandy asked, offended that she could speak his name in the same sentence as his father-in-law.

Kirsten turned away from him, her resolve faltering. Sandy stared at her back, noticing how frail she looked.

"Kirsten, please," Sandy begged. He hated to see her hurting so much, knowing he was the cause.

Kirsten shook her head, unable to speak. She felt a lump in her throat, and she knew that as soon as she tried to talk the tears would flow. She didn't want him to see her crying. She stood, breathing deeply, trying to steady herself.

"I don't know what to say to make things better," Sandy spoke softly.

"It's not about what you say, Sandy. It's about what you do," Kirsten spoke quietly against the tears.

"What do you want me to do?"

Kirsten didn't answer. She knew what she wanted to say: she wanted him to give up Rebecca's case; she wanted him to promise that he would never see her again; she wanted him to wrap his arms around her and tell her everything was going to be ok.

Sandy waited until he realised he wasn't going to get a response from her.

"I'm gonna go," he said.

Kirsten felt her heart crack a little more.

"I'll sleep in the guest bedroom tonight."

Kirsten listened as she heard his soft footsteps leave the room and the bedroom door shut gently. Her hands reached for her face as she started to sob, the tears breaking free and streaming down her face. She stumbled backwards and collapsed on the bed, curling herself into a ball, as tight as possible. Her body shook against the expensive sheets as she felt her world falling apart. He was her rock; he was the one thing in her life that she had always been able to rely on. If she couldn't trust Sandy, who could she trust?

Eventually, the tears stopped and her breathing steadied. Her eyes were sore from the smudged make up that she now wore and she rubbed her cheeks, trying hopelessly to clean the black marks. Pulling herself up, Kirsten stood wearily off the bed and stripped herself of the dress she had been wearing all evening. She looked at it sadly before tossing it irritably across the floor. She pulled on her pyjamas, comforted by the soft material and wrapped her robe around her.

She opened the bedroom door and wandered slowly down to the house. She could hear the soft hum of the television and she made her way towards the family room.

Sandy was wrapped up in a blanket, settled on the sofa, watching an old movie. He wasn't really watching it; he couldn't concentrate on anything. As soon as he had walked out of the bedroom, he had regretted it. He wished he hadn't walked away from her.

He looked up at her now and was immediately drawn to her sad eyes, which were red and puffy from her tears.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

Kirsten nodded.

"Are Seth and Ryan home?" she asked, wanting to avoid another confrontation for as long as possible.

Sandy shook his head. "I don't think so."

He paused, watching her watching him, waiting for him to speak.

"I know you don't want to hear it, but I'm sorry," Sandy apologised, hoping she wouldn't interrupt him until he had recited the speech he had been working on since he had left her. "You're right, I should have told you about Rebecca. I used the excuse that I didn't want you getting into trouble because…I don't know why. I guess I was trying to protect you from this, because I knew it would be hard for you, for us. I can't explain it, but I need to help her. I want to help her. I…I still care about her. But that doesn't mean that I don't love you, because I do. I'm not trying to hurt you and I'm so sorry that I have."

His words hurt her, but Kirsten was grateful for his honesty. He looked up at her, his eyes pleading for forgiveness, and she softened.

"Promise me…promise me we're going to be ok and I'll believe you," Kirsten said, almost at a whisper.

Sandy got up from the sofa and walked over to her, standing in front of her. He longed for some physical contact with her, but he refrained from reaching out and pulling her closer. Instead he lifted her chin carefully to meet her eyes and gently wiped away the solitary tear that had fallen down her cheek.

"We're going to be ok, I promise."

Kirsten blinked away more tears and nodded. She heard a car pull up outside and immediately panicked about her sons seeing her like this. She turned slightly towards the sound, before looking back at Sandy.

"Don't be long coming to bed, ok?"

Sandy frowned and Kirsten saw his confusion.

"I don't want the boys to see us sleeping apart."

It was an excuse. She just didn't want to sleep on her own. Sleeping in separate beds would be one step closer to admitting a deeper problem. Sandy nodded and watched as she hurried back along the corridor and disappeared into the bedroom.

He sighed sadly. He wasn't sure he could keep his promise – and that scared him.