Hey, thank you all so much for your feedback- and it's good to know that I won't be getting poked by sharp and hot objects!

mila-uri113: One of my old friends from high actually got called 'Oops'- that's where I got the idea from.

Vaughn was in the kitchen Friday evening preparing dinner when Sydney waltzed in, a huge smile on her face.

"What are you so chipper for?" he asked, unable to resist smiling back.

"Francie gets to go home tomorrow. The doctor came in while I was there."

"Hey, that's great. Francie must be over the moon."

"That would be the understatement of the century." Sydney said as she sat down on one of the stools at the kitchen bench.

"Will she be going back to her place on her own?"

Sydney shook her head. "Eva is staying with her until she is totally back on her feet, and to make sure that Fran doesn't take on too much to begin with."

Vaughn raised his eyebrows. "She is going to try and stop Francie from doing things? Is Eva really up for the task?"

"Vaughn, this is Francie's mother we are talking about." Sydney replied bluntly. "Where do you think she got her 'determination' from in the first place?"

Vaughn paused for a few seconds as he stirred one of the pots on the stove. "Good point." He turned back to Sydney. "Weiss called me at lunch today."

"About Ainsley's birthday?"

"Yup. They've decided not to do anything on Tuesday, but to save the celebration until Saturday night. And it will be just the four of us. Francie said she wouldn't be up for it, Will's got some family thing and Craig is working."

"Where are we going?"

"Some small place downtown." Vaughn replied. "One of Ainz's favourite bands is playing."

"Sounds good."

Ainsley had just settled down on the couch with a book on Sunday afternoon when there was a knock on the door. Grumbling at the disturbance of her peace, she got up and opened it to see Campbell standing on the other side.

"Of course it had to be you," she said good-naturedly, stepping aside to let him in.

"Pardon?" Campbell looked understandably confused.

"Eric's out and I had a spare hour," Ainsley explained. "I was actually going to start reading a book."

"Sorry," Campbell said sheepishly as they sat down. "I just wanted to talk to you about something."

"Well then, shoot."

"It's about Phase One."

"What about it?"

"What would you say if I asked you to be my business partner?"

Ainsley blinked, unsure if she had heard her brother correctly. "Excuse me?"

"What if I offered to sell you half of the business so that we could be equal partners? You wouldn't just be a manager, you would be one of the owners."

Ainsley stared at Campbell agape. "Are you serious? You honestly want to give up half of Phase One?"

"I wouldn't be giving it up- I'd be sharing it with the person who helped it get to where it is today."

"But Cam, Phase One was all your work. You made it happen."

"Yes, but you've been there with me for almost every step." Campbell said. "Look, when you said that you would help out, I thought that you would bartend for a few months and then go live your own life, but I couldn't get rid of you! And to be totally honest, you were an absolute godsend. You're made for this life- even more so than me."

Ainsley couldn't help but smile. "You really think that?"

"I wouldn't say it if I didn't."

"And you are seriously willing to sell me half the business?"

"Yes." Campbell replied firmly. "I have been thinking about it for a long time. Now, with me going off to start the second club it just feels right. So," he looked directly at Ainsley, "will you think about this?"

"I don't need to think about it!" Ainsley exclaimed. "I would be declared mentally incompetent if I said no."

"I just thought that you might want to discuss it with Eric before making any decisions."

"Cam, Eric has supported me in everything I've done. He's gonna stand by me on this way." Ainsley said. "He knows how important Phase One is to me. Hell, if it weren't for that club, I would have never moved back here and we would have never even met."

Weiss almost had a heart attack when he walked into his and Ainsley's apartment a couple of hours later. He had barely opened the door before an incredibly excited Ainsley pounced on him.

"Eric! Oh my god, Eric!" she gasped. "You are never going to guess what happened to me!"

Weiss stared at her. "You've started experimenting with amphetamines?"

"Ha ha, very funny." Ainsley poked out her tongue. "Campbell wants to sell me half of Phase One."

Weiss's face broke into a grin. "Ainz, that is fantastic."

"I know." Her expression was positively glowing. "And Cam has already got a meeting scheduled with his lawyers later this week, which means I'll have to get my finances in order and I'll probably need to get myself a lawyer for all that contract mumbo-jumbo…"

"Hang on Ainz." Weiss's brow furrowed slightly. "Have you already agreed to this?"

"Of course I have…" Ainsley faltered seeing his expression. "Why? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just would have appreciated being told before you made such a major decision."

"Are you saying that you don't want me to do this?"

"I am saying nothing of the sort, Ainsley. All I'm saying is that it would have been nice if we had discussed this before deciding anything."

Ainsley's eyes narrowed. "I don't need your permission to do this. You do not control me, Eric."

"I am not trying to control you, Ainsley. It's just that now we are married, things are different. It's no longer my money and you money, it's ours. Do you understand where I am coming from? We've been discussing buying a house, and that will obviously have to be put on the back burner if you buy half of Phase One."

"So this about a house for you?"

"No, this is not about a house."

"So then what? You don't want me to do this?"

"No! I said that before. Of course I want you to do this, I think that it's an incredible opportunity." Weiss yelled.

"So then why are we standing here yelling at each other?"

"Because I think that I should have been included in this decision process, Ainsley. Like it or not, when we said 'I do', we agreed to share our lives- every single part of them. I'm not in this marriage to do it half-way."

"And you think I am?"

Weiss shrugged. "You excluded me from a, I guess you could say, life changing decision."

"I told you about it as soon as you got home!"

"You know what?" Weiss rubbed his eyes. "We are getting anywhere here." He picked up his keys. "I'm going for a drive."

"You can't."

"What?"

"Because I'm going for a drive." Ainsley said stubbornly. "I need to clear my head."

Weiss threw up his hands. "Whatever. There are plenty of streets, I'm sure we can avoid each other." He said walking to the door.

"Fine." Ainsley yelled back.

Weiss headed straight to Sydney and Vaughn's. He was in a slight shock that the argument between him and Ainsley had escalated to such a breaking point so fast. They had never argued like this before. Perhaps he should have congratulated her and left it at that.

'No,' he thought, shaking his head. 'Ainsley needed to heard what I had to say.'

As he was climbing out of his car, something in the rear-view mirror caught his eye. "You have got to be kidding me," he muttered, stepping out and slamming the door. "What are you doing here?"

Ainsley glared at him as she slammed her own car door. "I came to see Syd," she replied, placing her hands on her hips.

"Well, go away. I'm here to see Vaughn."

Ainsley eyes flashed as her expression turned from angry to challenging. "Are you trying to tell me what to do, Eric Weiss?"

"Damn right, I am."

"Is that supposed to be funny?" she yelled.

"Oh, I have never been more deadly serious in my life."

Ainsley let out a frustrated sigh. "Why couldn't you have just congratulated me, Eric?"

"Why couldn't you have just told me about the offer before making a decision."

"What difference did it make? You support my decision- you said that before."

"Ainsley! Are you listening to anything that I am saying?"

"I am listening to you as much as you are listening to me!"

Vaughn put down his pool cue and looked at Sydney. "Do you hear that?"

Sydney nodded, her expression puzzled. "That can't be Marshall and Carrie, can it? Carrie yelling, yes, but Marshall?"

Vaughn shrugged. "Come on, it sounds as if it is coming form the front."

They made their way to the front door and Sydney was about to open it, but Vaughn stopped her as he glanced out the front window.

"What?" she asked. Vaughn simply pointed and she followed his gaze. "Is that…"

Vaughn nodded. "Weiss and Ainz."

"Why are they yelling like that?"

"Uh Syd, I think the more probing question would be why are they yelling like that in our driveway?"

Sydney looked up at him. "You know that thought didn't even cross my mind."

Vaughn grinned. "So do you think we should break it up?"

"Yeah," Sydney said looking back out the window. "But let's mix things up this time. I'll take Weiss, you go Ainz."

"Why did he have to ruin this for me?" Ainsley let out an exasperated sigh as she looked at Vaughn.

"Ainsley, Weiss would never intentionally ruin anything for you." Vaughn said.

"Oh yeah? Then why did he react the way he did?"

Vaughn paused. "Ainz, how well do you know Weiss?"

Ainsley looked at him for a few seconds, as if trying to gauge whether he was being serious. "Uh, I'd say pretty well."

"Then stop and think for a minute. You know him back to front, know his insecurities, and know his history, his past relationships. About how some of them affected him."

Ainsley sighed. "You're talking about the whole building ships in bottles thing, aren't you?"

Vaughn nodded. "He just wants to be included in your life. You said yourself that you knew you would have his support. So give him a chance to give that support. This isn't about domination or control, it's about functioning within a partnership."

"I guess you're right." Ainsley said and then buried her face in her hands. "Oh my god. This is like talking to a female."

Vaughn laughed. "Okay, not exactly sure how I should receive that."

"Just take it as my warped way of saying thank you."

"Houdini, sit down." Sydney demanded, sick of watching Weiss pace, and after a small defiant second he did so. "I understand why you're mad, but you have got yo realize that Ainsley would never deliberately exclude you."

"But she won't even accept that she did!" Weiss shot back. "Don't get me wrong, I am so happy for her and will back her up every step of the way."

"I know you will, and Ainz knows that too. That's probably why she didn't talk to you before accepting Cam's offer." She paused for a few seconds, trying to think of what to say next. "Look, the way you two decided to get married, whilst incredible and perfect for you, it's going to take a little bit of adjustment. Maybe if the two of you talked, instead of screaming…"

Weiss looked at her sheepishly. "Yeah, that kind of came from nowhere."

Sydney smiled. "Well, next time try and keep it away from our driveway."

"Sorry about that." Weiss let out a small laugh. "Now, if you'd excuse me, I'd like to go talk to Ainz."

Sydney and Vaughn couldn't help but watch from their front window.

"I can't hear anything," Sydney whispered. "Can you?"

Vaughn shook his head. "Nope. They're still looking really serious. What do you think?"

Sydney went to answer but stopped when Weiss and Ainsley suddenly pulled each other into a tight hug. Looking up at Vaughn she smiled.

"I think our work here is done."