Disclaimer: I bought more shoes but I still don't own much that's in this story...

A/N: Hmm...this has to be a first...I have no author notes for this chapter yet. Ooh I scored a goal in my lacrosse game the other night! Woot! Woot! Okay so that was pointless but hey, most of my author notes are.

Apology: I'm slow I know...so very sorry!

Dan knocked on the door later that day, his arms loaded with take-out from Zoe's favourite Italian restaurant, Alessandro's. He raised an eyebrow slightly when his sister answered the door, a sombre expression gracing her normally happy face. "Becca? Is everything okay?" Dan asked as he walked past her into the house.

"No," she replied, "but we'll talk about it later." Rebecca took a bag from Dan's hands and walked towards the kitchen. The family ate dinner with all three children talking happily about their activities from the day while Rebecca sat in a contemplative silence. Later in the evening when all of the children had finally gone to bed the three adults sat in the living room, Katy sleeping in her playpen near Rebecca's chair. Rebecca took a deep breath before breaking the silence,

"Dan I've never told you the whole truth about Katy, Tom and my not-so-alleged affair."

"Not-so-alleged? You really did have an affair? Rebecca! How could you!" Dan's voice was low but the anger and hurt was still evident.

"It's not what you think Dan. Just after we moved in together, me and Tom, things started to get really tense. We fought all the time and one night I ran out on him, ended up at a bar where Mike found me," Rebecca explained.

"Mike Montgomery? Tom's best friend?" Dan asked, Zoe squeezing his hand to offer comfort.

"Yes. When he got there I'd already gone through three drinks. He came and sat down with me and started drinking with me. We got drunk...really, really drunk and we ended up going back to his place. He kept asking me if I was sure and I was. I wasn't getting what I needed, physically or emotionally, from Tom so I had to turn somewhere. I know it was stupid but it happened and that night I conceived Katy, she's Mikes's, we did a DNA test to be sure. Why do you think Kathryn's middle name is Michaela? Coincidence? No I named her for Mike because in my heart I knew she was his from the moment I took that pregnancy test. There's a reason I'm telling you all this now Dan, Mike and I are together, engaged actually, and he's insisted on flying down here to be with Katy and I. He thinks it's dangerous for us to be close to Tom with no protection and yes he's probably right but I feel like his being here might make things worse. It would be a hell of a lot easier for Tom to find all three of us that if it was just me and Katy. I hope that he's not going to hunt us down but I wanted you to know so you can look out for him, especially after Mike gets here." Rebecca sighed and shut her eyes to hold back tears. As Dan and Zoe processed what Rebecca had just told them, the tears began to fall silently from Rebecca, shame, guilt and fear all mixing into one intense emotion.

"God Rebecca..."Dan sighed, "You were always the good one...the little princess."

"Yeah well it looks like I fucked that up royally now doesn't it?" Rebecca replied, tears still trailing quietly down her cheeks. Rebecca's cell phone rang, the caller display prominently displaying her fiancé's name. She flipped the phone open,

"Hey," she whispered.

"Hey honey...I'm sorry about earlier," hearing Mike's voice calmed Rebecca.

"Me too," she replied, trying to hide the tears in her voice.

"Baby have you been crying?"

"Yeah. I – I told Dan."

"And?"

"I dunno I don't think it's really sunk in for him yet. I mean it's not every day you find out your little sister is a slut who cheated on her fiancé in a drunken one night stand," Dan's eyes found Rebecca's at that comment.

"You're not a slut Rebecca. You made a mistake, it happens, I should know." Dan told her. He had accepted what his sister had told him, there was nothing else he could do. Rebecca smiled, happy that Dan understood.

"So have you told him we were thinking of moving back to Chicago? I just found out that Tom is in prison for manslaughter and won't be getting out anytime soon."

"Really? Oh God Mike that's awesome! How'd you find that out?"

"I called a few friends...well a few of your friends," Mike laughed, having a fiancée that worked in law enforcement was helpful now and then. "My plane gets in on Wednesday, so we can talk then. I've gotta run now though, give Kat a big kiss for me, love you baby, bye."

"Bye," Rebecca flicked her phone shut and dropped it into the diaper bag. "Mike'll be here on Wednesday. I'd like to have another session with Taylor before then," finding out that her former flame was behind bars for manslaughter had shaken Rebecca to the core, how far would he have gone with her? Rebecca's hands shook almost imperceptibly as she packed up Katy for the trip to Dan's house. As they walked to the door, Rebecca heard Zoe call to Dan.

"Dan?" Zoe's voice shook slightly.

"Yeah Zo?" Dan turned to look at her as Rebecca disappeared out the door.

"Move in with me...with us?" the words came in a rush. It had been a spur of the moment decision but everything felt so right. Dan's jaw dropped and he was at a loss for words, they were married, technically, but living together? That was a huge step!

"Zoe have you talked to the kids about this?" he definitely didn't want to upset the kids, they were important to Zoe and so they were important to him. She shook her head, already regretting not thinking this through. "Well why don't you talk to them tomorrow and see what they think and then we'll decide, okay?" Zoe sighed, slumping her shoulders and nodding. "Hey," Dan whispered, his hand was beneath her chin, tilting her face to his. "I love you Zoe, and I love the kids. I just want to be sure that everyone is okay with the decision we make." Zoe smiled at him, rising onto her toes to give him a gentle goodnight kiss.

"See you tomorrow."

A/N2: It's short, I know but I've been really busy the last like two months so I haven't had a lot of time to write and this just seemed like a good place to stop (don't ask how those two things are related, I don't know). Anyways, reviews make me want to write more but it might be a while before I do another update (hopefully not too long!)