A/N: Big fat thankyou to Ms Fi, leslienicolespeaks, betty-boo and Dani for reviewing the last chapter and all the people who read too.

The breeze was almost cold as it swept up the hill directly off the ocean, the night quiet and calm.

Leon stared at the glowing tip of the cigarette pinched between his fingers and sighed, the bright red glow casting a dim light across the plane of his cheek, a faint glimmer in his eye. His hair was ruffled by the breeze and fell across his eyes, obscuring his view of the glowing ember momentarily. For a moment everything went dark, then with the next gust of wind the brown lock of hair flipped back over his head and he could see again.

It was eleven thirty p.m. on the twenty seventh of December – half an hour left of the day and half an hour left of his twenty seventh birthday. Nobody had said anything as nobody there knew – Vince and Tala had gone back to Los Angeles late the night before after staying almost two weeks so they'd not been there to tell anyone. Quite frankly Leon was somewhat pleased that nobody knew. He didn't feel like celebrating all that much at the moment and truth be told, hadn't done so since the year before Letty had died. His twenty fourth birthday had been the last time he'd celebrated said event. He and Letty had spent the day curled up in bed, alternately watching old black and white movies and making love. The only time either one of them left each other the entire day had been for food and bathroom breaks. He smiled at the memory, remembering her soft, breathy laughter as he mouthed over her stomach, tracing patterns with his tongue and tickling her with his goatee… She always loved that. The feel of his coarse facial hair tickling across her skin. She'd mourned the loss of it when he'd shaved the one time and wouldn't kiss him until it grew back, or at least until he had stubble. He'd only done that the one time and after seeing her reaction had never done it again. He swore to himself there and then that he'd never be clean shaven again – and so far he hadn't been.

He ran his free hand over his goatee and sighed again, scratching at his chin, blunt fingernails dragging over the smooth scars under his jaw. Vince's last words before leaving lingered in the back of his mind, hanging there like a heavy, rain filled cloud.

"You're holding onto her too tightly, Le – Letty's gone and as much as it hurts, believe me I know it does, you can't keep pushing us all away. We love you Leon and we hate to see you hurting this way." His eyes darkened and he clapped his large hand down on his shoulder. "You've got yourself a wonderful woman in that little girl, Le - she adores you and the brat. Don't fuck it up by screwing with her head. Don't. You both deserve more than that."

Leon started to protest, but he was cut off by Vince's raised hand.

"Look – I know you're not 'together' together, but from what I've seen Le, that girl is your woman. She's for you. Don't ass around for too long and risk losing her to someone else."

Leon's thoughts took on a darker edge at the thought of another man putting his hands on Ruby, kissing her, watching her as she arched and writhed beneath him. His fingers clenched tightly into fists then released slowly, blunt nails biting into his palms. No other man was allowed to touch her like that. Not while he still breathed anyway. No chance in hell. Those things were reserved for him and him only – the only other living being allowed to kiss Ruby and get away with it was Cade and he hardly counted.

Ruby had been there for him through it all – even when he'd treated her like shit she had stuck by his side and still took care of him, took care of Cade. He didn't know of many women her age that would put up with a moody bastard like himself, let alone take care of his son when he was less than capable of doing so himself. At that very moment she was inside curled up in her bed with Cade, the two of them watching a re-run of The Grinch. It was only two days after Christmas so technically it was still the holiday season – at least he considered it so until new years day. Nonetheless, she was inside, curled up with his son whilst he had some alone time outside in the dark. She'd not asked questions, just merely nodded and curled herself around Cade's little body on the bed, her ringed fingers stroking and running through his dark, dark hair. Occasionally she would whisper something softly to him or dot a kiss against his head, giving him the love that only a mother figure could provide for him.

Leon flinched when he realised that was what she had become to them. She was almost Cade's mother in most ways – he adored her and she him, she took care of him, fed him, bought him useless little toys he'd never play with again… she loved him with all her worth and had no qualms about telling him so. If they went more than a day without seeing her Cade would throw a tantrum that would put the thunder gods to shame until Leon agreed to take him to see her. He'd felt guilty about imposing all the time until she'd put him in his place and insisted that she enjoyed having them around all the time. She literally lit up when Cade would talk to her animatedly about something or someone he'd seen during their time apart – she truly loved the little boy as if he were her own.

It was getting to the stage that Leon couldn't see their lives without her in it in some way, shape or form. If she were to go away he wasn't sure how he would cope – he knew Cade would eventually deal, but himself.. he wasn't quite sure If he could lose another person that admittedly meant so much to him. She was his best friend and thinking about it, really thinking, Vince was right.

It was Christmas night when Vince and Tala were still there and Angie had offered to take the kids for the night while the adults went out to have a few drinks at the local bar. Both himself and Vince had been seated at the table whilst Tala ran off to the bathroom and Ruby went to the bar to get herself another drink when some punk college student had snared Ruby by the arm and started flirting with her. Being as innocent to these things as she was, she had no idea but both Vince and he had noticed right away. They knew how the minds of twenty year old men worked. The bleach blonde pretty boy would take her talking to him as a green light and would really start laying it on thick. At first Leon had tried to ignore it, but as time wore on and a few words turned into five, then ten minutes he'd grown antsy and irritated. Ruby was just being her friendly self but the guy honestly thought she was interested. It was all he could do not to run over there and plant his fist in his pretty face. He'd quietly excused himself and edged around both V and the recently returned Tala and made his way across the bar to stand by Ruby's side. The blonde had given him a superior look, that was until Ruby noticed him standing there and her face lit up, her arms wrapping around his waist. Curling his own arms around her back, Leon quickly affirmed that she belonged to him and nobody else. The guy had backed off quickly enough and poor Ruby had been confused as to why he'd suddenly turned cold and left.

He smiled at the memory. The poor girl was so naive to the intentions of guys her age that it was bordering on ridiculous, but he found it adorable. It was one of her most endearing traits – her innocence to everything. She wasn't stupid by any means, but she still had an air of innocence about her when it came to the opposite sex. He loved that about her. The way she'd still blush when she saw him naked, the shy way she'd look at him as he touched her bare flesh… The tentative way she'd explore his body with her fingertips, her mouth. He loved that about her and quite frankly, he hoped she never changed.

Leon stared at his lap, noticing his cigarette had gone out long ago and he sighed. The more he thought about what Vince had said to him the more he started to think he was undeniably right. Nobody would ever replace Letty in his heart, nobody, but just because she was gone didn't mean he had to cling to her and wish it was all just a dream. He wasn't living while he was still trying to live in the past. She was gone and as much as it hurt and as unfair as it seemed, there was nothing he could do about that. In principle he had himself a good, loving woman who cared about both him and his son, who got along famously with his family but he was running the risk of losing her just because he was being pig headed. He'd almost lost her once because of his inability to let go of the past and if he kept going he would most likely do it again.

It had almost killed him the last time she'd refused to see him or speak to him and he wasn't sure he could endure that again.

Looking up at the sky, Leon gazed across the dark blanket of stars and slowly closed his eyes.

"I love you, Letty." He whispered to the wind, "I hope you're happy wherever you are," he opened his eyes and stood, rubbing his arms, "- but it's time for me to let you go. I'll never forget you and I'll always love you." He blinked rapidly, tears filling his eyes. "Always, Let."

He tossed the burnt out cigarette butt into the garbage can just by the back door and went back inside, inhaling the soft lilac scent of Ruby's perfume that lingered all over the house. He smiled ever so slightly and took a deep breath, then slowly let it out. It was time for him to move on and step back out of the darkness he'd let himself become consumed by.

"Le?" looking up he saw Ruby standing in the doorway to the hall, "Are you alright, precious?"

He nodded slowly. "Where's the boy?"

She smiled, moving toward the fridge. "He's sleeping now – just dropped off." She turned to look over her shoulder as she produced a bottle of water from the fridge, "I was just going to leave him in our bed tonight, is that ok?"

"Yeah, yeah that's fine."

He watched her pour herself a drink and then looked at the clock. Ten minutes left of his birthday. Wrestling with himself, he finally decided that it was the first of many baby steps that needed to be taken to start moving on.

"Ruby?"

"Yeah, precious?" she looked up at him, eyes wide and imploring.

He rubbed the back of his neck and cleared his throat. "It um.." he shifted nervously, "It's my birthday. Today."

Her silence unnerved him for a moment, then he saw the tears in her eyes and she slowly moved to stand before him. Her arms snaked up around his neck and she leant forward, brushing her lips across his lightly.

"Happy birthday baby." She whispered, nuzzling his cheek.

Leon slowly brought his arms up to wrap around her and rested his chin against her shoulder, cuddling her to his chest. Her hand ran across his shoulders then came up into the hair at the nape of his neck and her fingernails scraped against his scalp. He drew back at her insistence and gave her a bemused look.

She bit her lip tentatively and brushed her fingers across his cheek, her thumb sweeping over the skin beneath his eye, still stained an ugly shade of yellow from where Vince had hit him the week before.

"Go and put Cade in his bed," she whispered, leaning in to kiss him softly, darting her tongue out over his bottom lip, "-I'll be in in a minute."

A slow smile spread across Leon's face and he nodded, backing out of the kitchen to go and move Cade into his room and his own bed. They couldn't exactly celebrate his birthday with Cade laying in the bed between them now, could they.