His strong hand moved up by the inside of her thigh, the cool metal of his wedding band brushing against her skin, making her moan into his mouth as they continued kissing. Momentarily they both considered, thinking the same thoughts that perhaps it was safer to just hold up the elevator and keep at it, than step into their apartment, not knowing what to expect. What if Finny was still up? What if Maya was still up?

The elevator opened to their dimly lit living room, and even though the coast appeared clear and Rory, her lips bruised from the demonically passionate kiss that had taken over the two of them, was almost about to head towards the stairs, but Logan wasn't going to risk it. The twenty minute ride back home had been torture enough, the back of the Ford Pilot suddenly seeming like a very attractive place for spontaneous intecourse if just the driver had had a separator, but no such luck. Instead of aiming to head for their bedroom downstairs, past both Maya's and Finny's room, he pulled her to the service hallway, and from there just a few steps to his office, his electronic lock opening just by sensing his key nearby. Besides, he had to admit, that the prospect of fucking his wife in his office, had a certain power-trip to it on top of everything, knowing that from previous experience.

Their coats and Logan's suit were thrown off, neither of them really paying attention where they landed, their mouths locked in deep, devouring, kiss, tongues battling, Logan's evening stubble scratching her skin just enough to add to the burning desire.

Rory shuttered as his lips trailed down her neck, Logan having moved to her back, as his fingers quickly unzipped her dress, exposing her lean shoulder. Almost painfully slow kisses along her shoulders and spine followed, his skillful fingers unhooking her black mesh bra. She closed her eyes, forgetting herself, a moan of appreciation leaving her lips a few decibels louder than she'd meant, as his other hand continued up her thigh again - God, he could be such tease!

"Shh," Logan chuckled, in between kisses that trailed down her back, letting her dress drop to the floor.

Rory kicked off her heels, the sense of relief causing another sigh from her lips and gracefully stepped out of the dress, her extra low cut lace briefs remaining on for the time being, as Logan continued to tease - the side of his hand brushing ever so gently against the wet spot oozing through the material.

It was then she surprised him, feeling that she'd rather just postpone his ministrations than put up with his slow torture, turning around and almost pushed him into the leather tuxedo couch. Logan stared at her in the darkness, the moon just beginning to emerge from behind the clouds, shedding light onto her gorgeous body.

He'd done so much for her already, both this entire year and even that very evening, she just felt he deserved some special attention, but it really was about much more than that. With so little sexual interaction these days where they had eye contact, it was just that that she craved. She landed her knees down onto the short lamb velvet carpet, his appreciative gaze speaking lounger than words.

It took her just a few seconds to unbuckle and unzip him, releasing his hard member and pulling off the rest of his pants, biting her lip seductively - not that she needed to show it any more than she was already doing.

"You're amazing, Ace," he murmured, a second before her moist lips wrapped around him, his head falling back to the top of the couch, as her breasts brushed against the inside of his thighs, her nipples hard as pebbles.

He swallowed hard, as she deep-throated him, bucking her head up and down, alternating sucking with licking, their eyes meeting both appreciating the sight. It wasn't long until she could already taste him, knowing well enough that she needed to ease up, and she knew that was going to be equally tortuous to what he'd been doing to her for the past half an hour. But before she had a chance to do that herself, Logan moved, pulling her lips off of him and onto his lips instead, the shameless kiss acting as a distractor enabling him to pull her up to the couch reversing their roles. Everything happened so fast Rory didn't really have a chance to react, as his lips were already moving upwards her inner thighs, while his hands were pulling down her panties.

Her round belly glowed in the moonlight that now illuminated the room through the large gridded windows covering the entire wall. His fingertips felt alive to delve between her wet folds, his other hand travelling up to her breast, its nipple tempting to be squeezed.

She spread her legs wider, raising one leg over his shoulder, telling him exactly what she craved. Rory pushed his head down to where it belonged, Logan obeying without objection, her fingers that were intertwined in his hair only adding to his enjoyment as well.

His mouth filled with her essence, Rory pulling him tighter against her pelvis with the bend of her knee. His tongue moved back and forth, taking her clit into her mouth and sucking on it, and the repeating, the motion's expectable rhythm causing her to gasp each time he copied it. Soon both of her thighs clamped against his head trapping it between her thighs, his lips driving her crazy. Her body shook once, the once more, his suction driving her to clitoral orasm without even so much as sinking his tongue into her, and that was torture on it's own.

By clinging to his shoulders she pulled herself up, leaving Logan momentarily clueless of her intentions, as she raised, lifting her leg over his head. But it was soon made clear, as her gorgeous form, round in all the right places, leaned against his massive desk, curving her back and pushing out her ass expectantly.

He moved behind her, his hands running wild over her body, hastily feeling every inch of her, his lips adoring her neck again, his firm arousal pushing against her as he did.

She bucked her hips, telling him what she needed, and he really didn't need a more formal invitation than that. He thrust into her hard, shoving his crotch all the way against her, squeezing out any air left between them, getting a moan of approval in return. Logan grunted as he plunged into her time and time again, his fingers digging into her hips. The buildup had been long and he was only grateful to feel her come the second time, now much stronger than before, the clenching of her walls sucking him inwards, milking every drop of him as he let go, letting out an involuntary whew as he pulled her back to the couch, not wanting to lose contact just yet. Her knees felt weak from the climax and his move was welcomed, needing a moment to gather herself too. They sat there on the leather couch, almost naked, only Logan's dark dress shirt having remained on, the weight of her resting on his lap, as they both panted, a humble slow kiss lingering, not quite wanting to return to Earth just yet.

"Still feel like the old boring married couple?" Logan chuckled quietly, his nose and forehead resting on the side of her face.

Rory couldn't but laugh at him - only noting that she should say things like that more often if that would be followed by such enthusiasm to prove her wrong.


Celeste had managed to mask her feelings through the entire weekend, Logan's and Rory's visit, actually aiding her in that deception. She could see all of them observing her - as if expecting her to shatter, but with her focus on catering for her friends and kids, she'd put up a good cover, not wanting to show that side of her.

It wasn't until early next morning, when Jess caught her awake, just sitting up in bed, staring out of the window, a tiny trail of tears trailing down her cheek, hear breathing shallow and withheld.

He brushed her right calve with his finger, as he laid there besides her, not wanting to shock her that he was up and was watching her, his touch causing another whimper.

He sat up, wanting to hold her, to kiss her, and assure her again how things were going to improve as soon as she got help.

"Will you call one of the numbers Rory got you?" Jess asked, knowing that this was and important step - getting her to admit that she needed to do it.

"I don't think I can," she replied after a brief pause. She felt physically incapable to do it - like a water too cold, a mountain too steep.

Jess sighed running his palm over his face, feeling powerless.

"I think we should try being apart for a while," she shocked him, adding, "I can move to the guest room," before he had a chance to respond, his heart beating through the state of shock.

"Do you really believe that'll solve anything? This is clearly not just about me being around you!" he huffed, his shock turning into anger, still attempting to keep his voice down.

She couldn't honestly reply to that of course.

"It just hurts too much. You don't deserve this!" she cried.

"You don't deserve this - you don't deserve to be this unhappy!" he argued, his voice raising involuntarily.

She just sobbed in response, she heard him but the words just didn't make sense to her, her belief remaining strong that removing the source of the hurt was the way to go.

"I'm not letting you do this!" Jess exclaimed. "Please just make the call, make an appointment, I beg of you," he pleaded.

"No, Jess, I can't…, I can't handle it," she insisted. She didn't want to talk about it, the very idea of it feeling like twisting the knife within the wound.

"I love you," he said, struggling to find the words to say something more, anything more, that would get through to her. His voice had resonated louder than he'd aimed, the noise from Evie's room jolting them out of that horrible moment.

Celeste welcomed the distraction and wiped her tears off hastily, standing up from the bed, and marched towards the door decisively. She wasn't hearing him.

Jess felt like crying himself, but he knew he couldn't allow himself to do that, simply adding, "We're not through talking about this!" as she was almost out the door.

It was back into the work day morning routine, the two barely looking at each other, not to say anything that strong in front of Evie, and only interacting with her.

In a way Jess hoped as he would return that evening, that things would've calmed down, that she would've come to her senses. Perhaps it was just a bad morning? But he had a bad feeling about this. She'd seemed so determined, so convinced that distancing herself was less painful. Maybe he shouldn't have gone to Chicago? Maybe he should just take charge and bring the help to her no matter what that cost?

Celeste's morning continued in a haze, her destructiveness concerning her relationship almost seeming like the only right thing to do. The downward spiral in her thinking had taken over, already beginning to think about the details of splitting Evie's time between the two, the prospect of just not feeling what she was feeling being ever so tempting.

But she knew she needed to push it aside, at least for a few hours - Noah was coming soon, and she still hadn't gone through her binder, needing to mind Evie at the same time. Hence she pushed her emotions aside again, taking a series of deep breaths and roughly went through her leather binder - it was as if she didn't really care, not caring if he saw her most intimate drawings, and what she mostly put aside were just her attempts at drawing the kids' book she'd gone to Jenn with more than a year ago and her scribbles.

Noah had texted he was running a little late, only really arriving 10.45 AM, which had given her ample time to fix Evie some early lunch with peanut butter cookies, hoping eating would keep her occupied for at least part of their meeting.

"Hey," she greeted as she opened the door for him, adding, "come on in."

"Hi," Noah replied and stepped in. "Sorry, I'm late. The repairman I was waiting at 8 only showed up at 9.30," he added apologetically.

"I'm sorry, but I have a no-shoes policy here," she added, having gotten used to having to explain it to anyone who visited.

"You clearly forget where I've spent most of my life," Noah chuckled, toeing off his black sneakers.

"Right," she replied, unable to believe how she'd managed to forget that, leading him through the safety-gate towards the dining room where her laptop, her drawings and the standard privacy agreement form already waited, Evie strapped into her high chair, munching on her cookies.

"This is Evie," she introduced.

"Hi Evie!" he replied. He'd seen her before of course, more than once, Jess having taken her to the office a few times when she was younger as well.

"So," she hesitated, looking over him, having easily forgotten for a few days what he'd been going through, the tiredness in his eyes suddenly reminding her. "How are you doing?" she asked, genuinely.

"Getting there, I'm just glad it's through - by the end it's just a relief already. No more pain - that's what I try to focus on, and that helps," Noah admitted, opening up in a surprising extent.

She could relate with that sentiment on so many levels right now.

She squeezed his upper arm in passing, supportively, moving past him to the kitchen to get a glass of water. "You want something to drink?" she asked.

"I'm fine right now," he replied, seeing the privacy agreement on the table. He really didn't want to make a big deal of it, they'd been through this and this was in no way something nice to discuss, for neither of them, and with a swift movement of his wrist signed it. Done.

"Are these the drawings you picked out?" he asked, seeing the thick pile of black-and-white drawings next to the binder, that he hadn't seen before.

"Uh-uh," she mumbled while she swallowed her water, the shyness about their content suddenly hitting her, beginning to regret she'd included all of them. She returned to the dining room, taking a seat next to Evie, suggesting to her to have another cookie, as she watched him peruse through the drawings one after another, making three piles of them. There were a few of them where he paused longer, thinking, but she really couldn't read his thoughts well enough to guess what he was thinking.

It was then she noted the signed privacy agreement and wordlessly took it, heading over to the kitchen cupboard and tucked it into her document binder, they kept there along with some other documents, not wanting to head all the way up to the study to put it in the safe right then.

"So, what do you think? Any of these worth adding?" Celeste asked, after she placed Evie down on the floor, having wiped her mouth clean, and Evie continued towards her play corner.

"Definitely," he replied without any doubt in his voice, handing her the initial pile of 4 drawings he'd picked out. "And these - maybe?" he gestured towards the second pile of drawings containing way more than the first. His gaze suddenly froze on the next image in front of him, taking in the sensuality of the in-pool kissing scene it depicted. He swallowed, clearly the drawing affecting him and Celeste did notice, his reaction clearly creating some unresolved tension between them. He gave it a moment of thought, putting the drawing onto the 'maybe' pile, clearly trying to stay professional. He would've put in the 'yes' pile but this seemed too personal to be just for him to decide.

He continued to browse, Celeste moving around the room to play a little with Evie in between, an hour passing without noticing it. She could see Evie was getting a little sleepy, a slight yawn indicating it without doubt.

"Hey, I should try to get Evie to bed, she's getting sleepy," Celeste explained, slightly apologetically.

"Do you want me to leave, continue tomorrow? I know we didn't quite get far enough with me being late," Noah said.

"Oh, no, if you're fine with just hanging out for a while, maybe order us some lunch?" she suggested, hoping today was a good day and she'd get her to sleep in less than half an hour.

"Poke bowl?" he asked.

"Vegan if possible," she replied, appreciating the healthier choice. "Come on, Evie, let's go upstairs - I'll read you a story," she suggested, pulling Evie to her hip, her tiny face already snuggling into her neck.

Evie dozed off in no more than fifteen minutes, and as Celeste emerged, closing the door behind her, having grabbed the monitor to bring along. She closed herself into the hallway bathroom momentarily, feeling the need to gather herself, as she leaned against the sink. Putting Evie to bed often tended to start her hurtful thoughts, just being left alone with her own thoughts did that.

After a blunder of mixed emotions, she'd found herself thinking that she had the perfect escape just downstairs. Noah had had a crush on her back in college, and while that was ages ago, she was pretty sure in some level he was still not entirely indifferent to her. And despite having herself no real deep interest in him, momentarily she found herself thinking how perfectly this would break her free from Jess, cutting her off from the pain of what they'd lost. She'd been an expert in getting her way with men, surely, with this amount of potential - she could make that happen in the flip of her fingers. That thought process reminded her of the person she'd been in her twenties - especially when she'd been alone.

The temporary insanity that took over next, was beyond her control as she rushed upstairs to their guest room where she kept her dresses and purses, and began going through her the purses she didn't use on a daily basis anymore, desperately in search for a condom, knowing she used to keep always a few at hand back then when she'd worn them. As she finally found one, the pink Durex wrapper squeezed into her palm, suddenly she felt dizzy. Who was she? What was this? Why was she doing this? Why did she feel like this? Why was she so desperate to do this? To destroy this? And the sight of her silk chiffon wedding dress in a see-through garment bag in front of her topped it off by making her heart beat faster and faster. Soon she felt out of breath, her pulse ringing in her ears and everything suddenly went black.

She came to as a sudden gush of fresh cool spring air from the window reached her nostrils and she saw Noah standing over her in her walk-in-wardrobe.

"What…?" she mumbled in confusion.

"You passed out, I guess. You were gone a long time, almost an hour, I came to see if everything was okay. This is where I found you," Noah explained with a worry in his voice. "You need me to call an ambulance?" he asked.

"No, no... I don't know what…," she began not quite making sense of it all, suddenly recalling the condom she'd had in her palm, looking down towards it, but she didn't see it. It must've fallen under the dresser or something, she figured, feeling grateful that her intent had remained hidden.

Her lip trembled, barely getting out words, as she fully realized what she had been thinking about doing. "I need you to call Jess, ask him to come home," she asked, adding with an quiet exhale, "I need help." Saying the words out loud caused an involuntary pour of tears, leaving Noah quite clueless, as he pulled up Jess' number on his phone. Celeste could hardly make out the conversation that they had, but it seemed concerned and urgent - rightfully so.

As she continued to weep, Noah sat down next to her, continuing to coach her breathing - inhale - exhale - without her asking. Eventually it helped. Eventually also Jess arrived, thanking Noah for his help.

Jess took Noah's seat next to her, as he left downstairs to wait if they needed more of his help, and even before he did, Celeste apologetic ramble began. "I'm so sorry, Jess, I'm so sorry. I don't know what this is? I don't trust myself anymore! I need you to take me somewhere, check me in somewhere - I can't - I can't do this anymore. I'm so sorry," she wept, and Jess' arms pulled her into his chest, letting her say whatever she needed to.

He surely felt worry, but at the same time relief too - hearing her admit it out loud like this gave him more hope than anything until now. And while the idea of admitting her somewhere, seemed like the last thing he wanted to do, maybe it was the right thing to do? But thankfully he did know just who to call, having already made a few calls after leaving home that morning, knowing he needed to take control.