Taylor Meyers handed the last dish from their dinner to her youngest son, Lucas who placed it in the dishwasher.

"That's it little one," she said as she walked towards the living room.

"Mum, please. You know you can stop calling me that anytime you want," Lucas replied as he followed her.

Taylor grinned at him. His shoulder length blonde hair and brown eyes reminded her of both herself and Eric.

"Lucky, you'll always be my little one, no matter how old you get," she retorted.

Lucas smiled, but his face soon became somber.

Taylor recognized that look; her youngest some had some sort of premonition abilities that he had inherited from Taylor and Eric's days working for SPD.

"Lucky? What is it?"

"I think… I think Ani's coming," he replied softly. Taylor immediately looked out the window. Sure enough, she saw her daughter pull into the garage on her motorcycle.

"Oh boy," Taylor said as she heard Ani's helmet hit the floor of the adjoining garage.

"She's not in a good mood is she?"

The door slammed and Taylor looked at him. "Somehow I don't think she is," she replied.

When Ani appeared before them Taylor was in a bit of shock… clear tear stains covered her daughter's cheeks.

"Mama," Ani squeaked out before bursting into tears again.

Taylor immediately took her eldest in her arms and let her cry for the first time in a long time.

Lucas took that as his cue to exit, and went up to his room. He knew that Ani would talk to him eventually.

Ani let her mother hold her and lead her over to the couch. Once seated, Taylor gently stroked her hair. Her daughter was very much like her; hardly ever getting upset unless it was truly awful.

After a few minutes Ani pulled away a bit and wiped her eyes.

"Oh Animaria," Taylor soothed. "What happened? Did something happen to Jack? Or Sky?"

Ani bit her lips together and held back more tears, nodding a bit. "It's Jack," she began. "We… we had a fight, and I left."

Over the next few minutes Taylor heard the story from earlier in the day and just held Ani as more tears came.

"I don't know what to do," Ani sobbed. "I love him so much and yet I hate his guts right now!"

Taylor sighed and smiled a bit. Ani and Jack were so much like her and Eric that it wasn't funny.

"Why didn't he stay? Why's he so stubborn?" Ani asked softly.

"For the same reason you are," Taylor said gently. "You both care strongly for your work and this time it just got to be too much."

Ani could only nod her head a bit, understanding what her mother was saying. "Was it like that with you and papa when you went back to the Air Force?" she asked.

Taylor nodded a bit. "For a time. I was almost done my service time and I chose to stay… he was pissed."

Ani laughed a little then, and she took a few deep breaths to calm herself. "Where is papa? And Collin?"

"Your father's still at the SGA with Wes, and Collin's on rounds tonight at the hospital," she said. "But your father should be home any time."

Ani wiped her eyes and stood. "I can't let him see me like this," she said as she grabbed her bag. "I'm going to head upstairs to shower… can I stay here for a while? Until I figure some stuff out? I just can't go back there yet."

"Of course you can stay! You never have to worry about that." Ani hugged her mother and went upstairs. As she heard the door to Ani room close, she sighed and ran her fingers through her hair.

The phone rang then and she picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Mum, is Ani there? Is she alright?" Sky's frantic voice came over the other end.

"Yes Sky. She's here… she's upstairs right now."

"I swear mum, I'm going to kill Jack for what he did."

"How do you know what he did?"

"I can feel it… he hurt her… he resigned and left his morpher and now he's gone."

Taylor was shocked to say the least. "He and Ani had a fight," she began. "It's up to her if she wants to tell you the rest. She's going to stay here for a little while, so tell Cruger to give her a break."

There was a pause for a few moments before Sky sighed heavily. "Alright… just tell her that we're all here for her."

Taylor said her goodbyes and hung up. She placed her hands on the side of the table and prayed that everything would work out.

"Taylor?"

She turned when she saw Eric enter looking confused.

"Is Ani here? Her bike's in the garage. I almost hit it when I drove up," he said sheepishly.

Taylor walked over to him and hugged him tight. "Yeah… she's upstairs… her and Jack had a fight."

Eric let her go and she saw the fire in his eyes. "What did he do to her?"

Taylor placed her hand on his arm. "Remember when you were angry because I went back to the Force?" Eric nodded. "Well, it appears that Ani wanted to stay at SPD and Jack didn't… they had a fight and she came home… Sky called and said Jack resigned and took off."

"So he just left her?"

"She left him too Eric." Eric walked towards the stairs and Taylor stopped him. "She needs time Eric… let her come to you."

Hours later, Ani emerged from her room in sweatpants and a tank top. It was passed midnight as she made her way down the stairs towards the kitchen.

She smiled softly when she saw her father sitting at the table with a plate of cookies and a glass of milk.

"I knew you'd come down sooner or later," he said as she sat with him, stealing a cookie out of his hand.

"You know you shouldn't be eating this stuff at your age right?" she asked.

Eric grinned. "You've been talking to your Auntie Jen haven't you?" he asked laughing a little.

Ani smiled as she ate her favorite comfort food. They sat in silence for a few moments before Eric reached out and placed his large hand over hers.

"Are you alright? Honestly?"

Ani took a drink of milk and sighed. "I don't know papa… things are just so messed up right now," she said keeping her emotions in check. "I just don't understand how things went so wrong so fast."

Eric squeezed her hand. "When you and Sky were little and you were abducted, I thought the same thing… but everything worked out then. Just like it did when Lucky was born… just like when your mother was injured in battle…"

Ani saw a flash of guilt cross her father's dark features and she squeezed his hand back.

Eric smiled a little. "You just need to have faith… I know it sounds odd coming from me, but there was a time when I didn't want a family or anyone around me at all… I know now that I was never really whole until I met your mother and we had you and your brothers."

Ani got up and hugged him.

"And if I know Jack, he'll realize that he needs you… just like you need him."

Ani released him and kissed his cheek. "Thanks papa… I love you," she said as she headed back towards her room.

Eric cleaned up the mess in the kitchen and was soon in bed, holding Taylor close. He had been completely truthful with Ani, and he knew that everything that was happening had some sort of strange way of working out.

Little did he know that he was more right than he thought…