Southampton, May 2010

Boris paced outside the ornate wooden door, resisting the urge to pound on it in frustration. Never in his life had he been excluded from important rooms. Be it club or boardroom his presence was universally welcome. Now Boris found himself shut out of one of his own bedchambers. How the mighty had fallen.

He'd returned from Cuba on the top of the world. Marisa was coming to live with him, he had Hank to rely on, and everything was perfect. Then came Marisa's arrest and imprisonment. He had been betrayed and the woman he loved had paid the price.

Boris' suspicion had immediately fallen on Eddie R. Lawson. He had evidence the unscrupulous conman was spying on Boris for the government. Boris had been relieved when Katherine reported that both Hank and Evan hadn't broken his trust in the name of family loyalty.

Next he'd set his plan to expose the guilty party in motion. He'd wanted to surprise the elder Lawson and make him admit his crimes before his sons. He'd wanted the wool pulled from the eyes of both brothers, before Boris set about punishing Eddie for his offense.

When the absentee father had appeared in the Hamptons, Evan had been quick to embrace him. Hank had not. Unsurprising given the burden that had fallen on the future doctor following Eddie's abandonment. He hadn't merely lost both parents at fifteen; he'd had to become one. Even so, Hank had softened toward his father to a worrying degree as the summer wore on. Boris had hoped the ambush would prevent Eddie's silver tongue from directing sympathy back in his direction. He had not anticipated a medical emergency doing that for the shyster.

The heart attack was difficult for Boris to watch. It was hard to maintain righteous anger while watching another human being barely clinging to life. It has been harder to witness the two men he'd known for months react to the crisis. He wouldn't soon forget Evan's tears or Hank's desperate expression as he performed life-saving techniques. Boris couldn't help but make the comparison to his own family. He could name several cousins whose only reaction to their sires death was raising a glass of champagne. Unworthy though the huckster was, his sons loved him very much.

After the senior Lawson was rushed to the hospital, Boris had received an interesting piece of intelligence. The tip that led to Marisa's arrest had not come from the US government, but a private encrypted number. Eddie R. was innocent of that crime at least. The news, combined with the recent medical incident was enough to make Boris reconsider his plans for the aging grifter.

Relocation to a tropical climate was more than the man deserved after his duplicitous behavior, but the Lawson sons would have at least been protected from his future schemes. Naturally that plan had eventually fallen apart, just like everything else in Boris' life.

With Dima's help he had gotten Marisa safely to his home. He'd thought the worst was over. He'd been wrong. For weeks after her arrival he'd worried over her strange behavior. She'd been distant and distracted. Her appetite had been sparse.

At first he thought she was just homesick, then he'd feared trauma from her imprisonment. He'd confided his concerns to Hank, who in return had told him nothing. What a fool he'd been. It wasn't until the trip to Hampton Heritage that Boris had realized that two of the people he most trusted were hiding something from him. Worse, he'd known whatever it was had to be terrible, otherwise they wouldn't have made it a secret. Not knowing had sent Boris into a tailspin. In that state of desperation he had done that thing he so despised in others. He had threatened Hank with the might of his power and influence.

When the truth finally came out, everything became clear. Of course Marisa had hidden the news from him. It was a breach of her vow. She had sworn to him that children would only enter their lives was if a cure had been found. His memory of Marisa sharing her condition with a weak smile while Hank grinned broadly behind her, was maddening. Had her word meant so little to her, she couldn't even be bothered to apologize to him?

No, that was unfair. Marisa hadn't become pregnant on purpose. It was as much his fault as hers. Birth control was imperfect. The warning was stated plainly on the box. He would know, having had packages of contraceptives flung at his head following his return from Manhattan.

Marisa had also pointed out that there existed a fairly simple procedure for men who didn't wish to ever become fathers. She had bellowed that if he'd been so concerned about having children, then he should had fixed the issue long ago.

He had in fact considered vasectomy many times. The reason he'd never gone through with it was that small but nigh unkillable parasite called "hope." It would have felt like surrender, accepting that his illness had no chance of a cure.

Boris shouldn't have blamed Marisa for not wanting to terminate the pregnancy. When she'd made her vow to him, she'd agreed not to try for a child. She hadn't agreed to forswear one that had been created despite both of their efforts. His broaching the possibility of an abortion had driven Marisa from Shadow Pond. It was an emotional decision which he had not properly thought through. The same could be said of his treatment of Hank. It wasn't that Boris felt he'd been completely in the wrong in either case, but what had either choice gotten him? Nothing but an empty bed and vacant guest house.

The door swung open revealing a frowning Hank on the other side. Boris froze, unsure what the unhappy expression portended. Sighting Boris, Hank briefly raised the corners of his mouth in a quick smile.

"Everything's fine. You can go in and see her now." Hank turned and walked away before Boris could think of an adequate response. He supposed he'd earned that. It was a testament to Hank's character that he'd showed up at all, rather than forwarding Boris' distress call to medical services.

He turned his eyes away from Hank's retreating form and moved into the bedroom. Marisa was prompted up in the large bed, her simple green dress accentuating every curve of her pregnant form. Her lips quirked up in a half smile as she looked at him.

"You called Hank." Boris knit his eyebrows in confusion. Of course he'd called Hank. Who else in the Hamptons would he possibly trust with Marisa's life and the life of his child? Did she think that his pride or anger came before her well being?

"Obviamente. You were refusing to go to the hospital." Truth be told, after his initial panic subsided, he was glad Marisa's stubbornness had forced him to make the call. Stonybrook had many fine doctors, but he'd witnessed Hank perform miracles. If something had been truly wrong, Hank was the one he'd want at Marisa's side.

"I was right. It was Braxton Hicks contractions." Boris ran a hand over his face. He'd always thought being the patient was hard. This scare gave him new appreciation for what Marisa had endured in Cuba.

"What if you'd been wrong?" Just the thought made it hard to breathe. Boris pulled on his tie, which suddenly felt like it was choking him. Marisa raised her arm and gestured him closer.

"Ven aquí." He obeyed. When he reached her bedside she reached up and loosed the knot, sliding it off him the way she had many times before. When she finished, she tossed the garment aside. Next she took his palm and placed it over the left side of her chest. The steady beat allowed air to once more fill his lungs. "I'm sorry I frightened you."

Boris leaned in and inhaled the floral scent of her hair. It was his favorite smell in all the world. To Boris it was the scent of sanctuary.

"Please don't go back to New York. The thought of you there, alone…We can sleep in separate wings. You don't have to see me." Marisa pulled away from him and gazed sadly into his eyes.

"Do you really think that's what I want? Not to see you?" No. Even in his most self-pitying of moments he knew Marisa loved him. That was never their issue. The problem was that she wanted him to be happy about this new life they'd created together. He couldn't be. He looked at her round stomach and saw only the crime he'd committed. He condemned this baby to a suffering he won't wish on his worst enemy.

"Querida, I know what you want, but I can't change how I feel. I would if I could, believe me."

He stroked her face wishing he could simply banish the gnawing guilt and fear. Marisa didn't deserve to have to manage his anxiety when she undoubtedly had plenty of her own. Marisa shook her head and sighed.

"A compromise then. I will live at Shadow Pond until the baby is born. I will sign your legal document. We will sleep in separate, but neighboring bedrooms so if there is an issue during the night, you will be the first to know. Are these terms acceptable so far?" He hadn't loved the 'until the baby is born' stipulation, nor the 'separate bedrooms' part, but it was an improvement on his own offer, so he wasn't about to push it.

"Yes."

"Good. Because this is my main condition, which is non-negotiable. Hank moves back into the guesthouse." Boris blinked in what was sure to be a stupid manner. Of all the conditions she could have lain, he had not expected that one.

"Marisa, I can't just-" Marisa pierced him with one of her pointed glares, effectively silencing him.

"You can 'just.' You go to his house. You say, 'Hank, I'm sorry I acted like un cabrón malagradecido and evicted you without a word of warning. Please move back to Shadow Pond.'" She made it sound so simple. It wasn't. Not to mention 'ungrateful bastard' may have taken things a bit far.

"I had my reasons." He would freely admit kicking Hank out had been spiteful and reactive, but it wasn't wholly unjustified.

"Boris, I know your reasons. You think he betrayed you." Marisa was simultaneously right and wrong. On an intellectual level Boris knew Hank's actions had not been intended as a betrayal. On an emotional one that was precisely how it felt.

"He should have told me about the pregnancy. I had a right to know."

It was infuriating thinking of Hank knowing about this life-altering news weeks before Boris himself had.

"He couldn't have told you, Boris. As a doctor he was morally obligated to keep my secret."

Except it wasn't Marisa's secret to keep. It was his child as much as hers. Confidentially should not have applied to this particular circumstance.

"He could have made an exception." If Hank truly believed that promises sometimes needed to be broken, then why couldn't he have broken his oath, just once?

"That's not how it works. And you can't be angry when you know very well Hank's integrity is one of the things you like best about him."

Boris ran a hand through his hair in agitation. How frustrating to argue with someone who was so frequently right.

"It wasn't just that he kept the secret Marisa. He came to New York after you'd told me and he said things. Things he had no right to say to me as my doctor."

Boris hadn't known why Hank had driven to the city to meet him. He'd thought perhaps he intended to apologize or console him. Boris had been wrong on all counts. Hank had come to chastise him for his response to the bomb that had been dropped in his lap.

Instead praising Boris' restraint in not lashing out at either himself or Marisa, Hank had browbeat him. He'd dismissed Boris' feelings as if they were a minor stomach ache. Boris had been Hank's patient far longer than Marisa. Shouldn't that have entitled him to at least an equal share of his sympathy?

"I imagine that's because he didn't come as your doctor. He came as your friend."

There was the rub. After the events of Cuba, Boris had begun to consider Hank as more than an employee. What Hank had done illustrated all too clearly he did not feel the same.

"A friend would have taken my side." Marisa rolled her eyes, as though he was being unreasonable and dramatic.

"No, a friend would have told you what you needed most to hear, whether or not you wanted to hear it." Boris pressed his lips together, but chose not to argue the point. That last thing he wanted was to spark another shouting match. Marisa sighed again. "This is my fault. I shouldn't have put Hank in the middle. Not when I knew how important he is to you."

Boris stiffened at Marisa's lament. He didn't need her sympathy on this subject. He'd been mistaken regarding the strength of his bond with Hank. He'd survive.

"I've told you before, he was a valuable medical resource. That's all." Marisa raised her eyebrows in skepticism.

"If that was all, then why is the guest house still empty? You had all winter to find someone else and yet you haven't. You want him back." It was now Boris' turn to sigh. Marisa knew him well. It had only taken about a week for Boris to realize he'd made a mistake.

When Boris had received the call that Eddie R. Lawson had not arrived for his flight, he'd briefly wondered if the man had chosen to go on the lam in the borrowed Porsche. He'd asked Dieter to check the GPS, only for his manservant to assure him the car had already been retrieved by Boris' security team. Apparently Hank had called Dieter explaining his father had no need of the vehicle.

Boris had expected one of the unannounced visits that the doctor was so fond of. Whether he was in his office or walking the grounds, he'd kept checking for Hank's lean frame charging towards him like a bull toward a matador. Surely he'd at least have something to say about Boris' attempts to ship off his father. But no. The doctor evidently had felt he was no longer worth berating. The realization had made Boris feel hollow.

"Even if I did ask, I doubt he'd return. There were a few other things, outside the eviction that may have created some additional resentment."

It wasn't as though Hank was desperate for accommodations. The Lawsons had in fact had full run of the Newburg mansion for the entirety of the off season. One might consider that a step up from a guest cottage, even one as spacious as Shadow Pond's.

"Ay…I swear sometimes you deliberately make things difficult for yourself. Whatever it was, just go and apologize." Could it really be that simple? Let go of his own anger and acknowledge his wrongdoing?

"Why are you pushing so hard for this reconciliation?" If the baby was her concern, then an OB would be a more sensible demand. On the other hand no other doctor would be familiar with the unique surrounding the birth. Hank would be, if nothing else, a sympathetic and trustworthy ear.

"I know how committed Hank is to protecting you. It is important to me you have someone like that in your life, especially while we are stuck in this…stalemate." Boris' heart swelled. As angry as she was at him, she was still doing her best to help him. Perhaps they would make it through this gauntlet after all.

"And if he doesn't forgive me?" Boris had no compunction about sacrificing his pride if it meant getting Marisa and Hank back at Shadow Pond. The trouble was that he had no assurance of success.

"He will."

"You sound so sure." Marisa reached out and slid her fingers between his.

"I am, because Hank cares for you. When you care for someone enough, you can forgive them anything."