Bill saw Tom out on the base one day, and his hair looked newly cut. Bill assumed Tom went to somebody else to cut it this time to avoid him. He felt a sort of wistfulness about it, as he had grown to be very good friends with Tom over the past few months. He didn't blame Tom for keeping away from him, though. He supposed it was just part of his newly collapsed life now.

Whenever he got home at the end of the day, tired and insufficient, all he wanted to do was get drunk or sleep. Lenore added to his depression simply just by being there. She tried often to initiate sex or some type of physical intimacy with him, but he had long since given up on trying. He just couldn't do it. And she was growing more and more resentful of him and his apathy. Bill was beginning to expect her to slink off find someone else to fulfill her needs, and he barely cared at all.

One evening he shuffled out across the alley, following his nearly daily routine of getting drunk. He would do anything to make his ever present thoughts of Mia a little more bearable.

Hank, Dale, and Boomhauer congregated to their spot shortly after him. Bill was already halfway through his second can by then.

"Yep."

"I gotta say, Bill, I think you're worse than I've ever seen you," said Hank, "And I've seen you at your many rock-bottoms."

"What's one more?" Bill shrugged, and swigged more beer.

"Clearly you're miserable without Mia. Why won't you break it off with Lenore?" Hank asked.

Dale answered on Bill's behalf, "Because then him breaking it off with Mia would have been for nothing."

"Lenore hasn't done anything wrong yet," Bill sighed.

Hank was beginning to lose his patience. "Are you going to sit around and wait until she does?"

"That's the plan."

Hank pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. "If Mia said she wanted you back, would you take her?"

"Why would she ever want me back?"

"Good question," Dale said.

"That girl absolutely adored you," Hank explained, "The real you. We all could see it."

Bill sighed again. "She thinks I cheated on her…"

Boomhauer spoke up. "Leah told her you didn't. She told Mia the whole story."

Bill turned his head to him in surprise. He forgot that Leah and Mia would still be talking to each other. "What did Mia say?"

"Should I have Leah come over here and tell you herself?"

Bill said "No" at the same time Hank and Dale said "Yes."

Boomhauer pulled out his phone and called her, and asked if she minded coming out to the alley. She emerged from Boomhauer's backyard shortly after; she had recently moved into his house with the intent of putting hers on the market soon.

"Hi guys," she greeted them, and stood next to her husband. "What's up?"

"Bill wants to know what Mia has said to you."

Leah looked Bill over with pursed lips, considering what to tell him.

"Alright," she yielded with a sigh. "I told her about you running into Lenore at Spumoni's. Then I told her that whatever it was that happened at Thanksgiving got you thinking Mia was definitely going to break up with you over it. Then I told her about Lenore turning up at your house and convincing you to break up with Mia before she can do it first. That about right?" She raised her eyebrows as she looked at him. Bill nodded shamefully.

"You told her he wasn't cheating on her, right?" Boomhauer asked.

"Yes, I did." She crossed her arms. "She's really hurt, you know."

Bill nodded again. He thought again about the last time he saw Mia's eyes, those brilliant brown eyes breaking down in tears, all because of him.

"Do you think she would ever get back together with him?" Hank asked.

Leah thought for a moment. "I know what the answer probably is."

Bill nearly slowed his breathing, waiting for whatever the answer was. Leah hadn't said anything for several moments.

"Well?" Dale asked.

"If I tell you, it won't happen."

The rest of them all speculated on that.

"Uh, well Bill, I'd hazard a guess that ditching Lenore would be a good start," Hank suggested.

Bill dreaded the thought. It was hard enough breaking up with somebody. But it was even worse when they lived in your house.

"It's also a good idea to hink about why you felt like you had to break up with Mia and work on that."

Leah had a point. He had been trying to self-reflect lately. To think about where he had gone wrong and how he could stop from doing it again, so maybe he could be better for Mia. He also knew she might never want anything to do with him ever again. And maybe this will all be for nothing.

"You need to get rid of Lenore now. Right now," Hank ordered.

Bill hesitated.

Hank glared at him. "Do you want to be with Lenore?"

"No."

"I'll be out here calling the cops if she doesn't get out," Hank assured him.

Bill took in a deep breath and nodded, then set a determined face as he went inside his house.

Lenore was lounging on the couch and watching TV. She didn't even look up when he came into the room. He stood in the doorway, hesitating, not knowing what to say or do. He was dreading the fallout.

"What?" she gruffed, after he wordlessly opened and closed his mouth for the dozenth time.

"Lenore," he began, still uncertain, "We need to talk."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh boy, here we go."

He sat on the edge of the couch and rubbed his face nervously.

"Let me guess," Lenore snapped, "You want to break up with me?"

He said nothing, which she was able to take for a "Yes."

She chuckled condescendingly while she sat up and turned off the TV. "I knew it. You want Miss Priss instead."

Bill said nothing again.

"What do I keep telling you, Bill? She's not going to stick around, especially not after you broke it off with her. I'm sure she's since found comfort in a pair of muscular arms and forgotten your name by now."

It hurt to hear that, because she probably wasn't too far off. He had broken Mia's heart, and it wasn't outside the realm of possibility that she had moved on by now...

Lenore smirked while she watched the pain and conflict on his face. She scooted closer to him, pressing against him, putting on her typical fake-sweet act. "You need to forget about her, like she's forgotten about you. You have me now. We're going to get married again and be together like we were always meant to be."

Bill shifted away from her, putting space between them. "I don't want to get married, Lenore. I don't want to be with you anymore. It's not working out."

She scoffed, dropping the sweetness for her usual cruelty. "You're only saying that because you think you still have a chance with that little slut."

Immediately Bill shot to his feet, all his hesitation completely gone. He towered over her and narrowed his eyes angrily, growling, "Don't you ever call her that again."

Lenore blinked in surprise, not often having seen this side of him. "I can see there's no getting through that thick skull of yours," she plainly conceded.

"I'm sorry if I strung you along," he said, trying to keep his voice level, "but it's over now."

She scrutinized him, trying to find any weaknesses to exploit. But Bill looked so determined, so confident, there was nothing for her to needle her way into.

"Whatever. I can't wait to see her break your heart, and I won't be around to say I told you so."

He knew she was likely to be right about that. However, he knew he would rather have his heart broken by Mia than be in a relationship with anyone else. He knew he didn't deserve her anymore, especially not after how he treated her...but he would spend the rest of his life trying to improve himself, to better himself, in the desperate hope that one day he might even be worth a fraction of her attention.


Leah was right; creating things really did seem to help. Ever since she stopped by and got Mia drawing and painting again, Mia had been making a lot of art pieces. Lately she began working on a Christmas present for Leah: tarot cards inked and painted all by hand. She was considering painting art prints for other peoples' gifts since she was on a roll now.

Jackie, Raul, and Leah would all either text or call her, or stop by, or try to get her to hang out with them. She truly felt such gratitude to them for taking the time to check up on her or try to make her feel better. But in a way it made her feel guilty, because how could she ever sincerely express how much they meant to her? She was still painfully in mourning. Her life for the past several months had been entwined with Bill's. Whenever he was with her, he had always made her feel so special, so impressive, and so beautiful. She never felt more fully her true self, even a better version of her true self, than when she was with him.

But now that was gone.

She was working on Leah's Christmas present, sitting in her sunlit living room with the window open, letting in a pleasant breeze that made the curtain gently sway. Outside was still and quiet. Mia was deep in the zone, and almost finished with the Three of Swords card she was currently painting.

An abrupt and jarring commotion made her jump, causing her to slam her knee under the coffee table, yet luckily not spilling any paint or water on her work. She barely had time to fully turn her head and absorb what she was looking at until it was over.

Dale Gribble had pulled up the screen in her window outside and barrelled into her living room.

She blinked quickly, both in pain from hurting her knee and from the confusion of what just happened. "What-"

"Get down!" He said in a harsh whisper, and ducked under the window and against the wall.

"What's going on?"

"Get over here!"

He seemed urgent and alarmed, which scared Mia, so she crawled carefully on her injured knee to underneath the window next to him. He raised himself from his crouching position very slightly, so as to peek out through the blinds.

"I think I lost 'em."

"Lost who?"

"I'm running from the cops."

"What!"

"Octavio and I had rented out a pool a few houses down from you. Looks like the Heyerdahl's came home early, saw us there, and called the police before we even realized any of it. Thanks to my acute sense of hearing I heard their Crown Victoria roll into the driveway. Octavio and I bolted. I came to the closest place I knew I could find cover."

"So I'm harboring a fugitive now," she grumbled, "Great."

"Relax, they didn't see where I went. I used my squirrel tactics to get out of there."

He pulled a cigarette from the pack in his front shirt pocket and put it in his mouth. He was fishing his jeans for a lighter before Mia stopped him.

"You can't smoke in here."

"I haven't had a smoke in hours. My nerves are jangling."

She sighed. "Fine. Just one." She sat with her back against the wall.

Dale smirked in triumph as he lit, and sat his back against the wall next to her.

"Nice place."

"Thanks."

He exhaled as he looked around. Mia didn't approve of smoking, but the smell of it almost made her feel nostalgic. Probably because her grandfather smoked, and whenever she hugged him she could smell it in his clothes.

"We miss seeing you around."

"Who's 'we?'"

"Oh, you know...Hank and Peggy, Boomhauer and Leah, Nancy, Kahn and Minh probably, me of course, and uh...Bill."

Mia gave him a sideways glance.

"He broke up with Lenore a few days ago." Dale said it like it was something benign and insignificant.

That news was surprising to her. But she had to remind herself that she didn't care. "That's nice."

"Isn't it? Now things can go back to normal!"

"How so?"

"You can Bill can get back together!"

She rolled her eyes. "That ship has sailed."

"Yeah, yeah," he waved it off. "Got anything to eat around here?"

He didn't wait for a response before getting to his feet and went rummaging through her cupboards.

Mia moved to her couch now, letting him do whatever the hell he was doing. She didn't know why she was even allowing Bill's friend in her house, let alone smoke in it and dig through her stuff.

"There's nothing here! What am I supposed to do with peanut butter and no bread?"

"Just get a spoon."

"Good idea."

He sat down in the chair across from her started eating from the jar.

"Whatcha painting?" he asked, looking at the coffee table covered in paper and paints.

"A Christmas present for Leah."

"Can you paint a picture of me?"

"Hypothetically yes."

"Great. I look forward to the finished copy."

He kept eating the peanut butter as if the entire situation wasn't incredibly strange.

"Why did Bill break up with Lenore?" Mia asked.

"Because he loves you," Dale shrugged.

"What?"

Dale just nodded with the spoon in his mouth.

"Did he say that?"

"Using the Queen's English? No."

Mia waited for him to elaborate, but he didn't.

"How do you know?" she pressed on, getting annoyed.

"Oh, I've known Bill since we were kids. He's had lots of girlfriends and infatuations. But he never had a single one that had him acting like the way you did."

Mia sighed, frustrated, but trying to keep it calm. "Like what?"

"Hmm…" He kept eating. "Like there was a life inside of him."

"Then why did he dump me?"

Dale settled back comfortably, now having finished the entire jar of peanut butter.

"He's not used to being treated with affection. I think it scared him. He's used to being used as a doormat and treated like garbage, hence his weird thing for Lenore."

Mia thought that was oddly profound for someone like Dale, who was usually blunt and crude.

"Do you think you would take him back?" Dale asked.

"Did he send you here to ask me that?"

"What? No. I told you, I was running from the cops."

She looked at him plainly. "Dale, no one on this street has a pool."

His body went stiff.

"Okay, that was just a ruse. Had I knocked on the door like a common peasant, I assumed you would have slammed the door in my face."

"I wouldn't have done that."

"Can't take any chances," he shook his head. "But no, Bill doesn't know I'm here."

"Why can't he talk to me himself?"

"Would you let him?" Dale looked at her with a knowing expression.

"I don't know."

"Right. That's why I'm here. Hey, what's in here?" He jumped to his feet again and went to her fish tank.

"Just a goldfish."

"I have turtles, myself. Show turtles. I breed them."

"Wow." That information did not surprise her. She knew Dale had many interesting quirks and hobbies; breeding show turtles was probably one of the more mundane ones.

He stepped back from the aquarium and looked around again, as if he were looking for something else to rummage through or comment on.

"Are you leaving soon?" she asked, hopeful.

"Not until I get my answer. The answer I want."

She sighed. "Can you just say things plainly? I don't have the mental strength to decipher your cryptic musings right now."

"Fine, fine… Will you at least talk to Bill?"

She didn't know if she wanted to or not. She was still hurt and angry. He was so callous with her, with her feelings, with her heart… why did he deserve anything from her after that? And yet, she missed him. At least, she missed the Bill she thought she knew. And she kept thinking about the last time she saw him, when he reached to brush her hair away, the way he looked into her eyes… it seemed so genuine, so true, like he really did feel something for her.

"I don't know."

He plopped back down in the chair and crossed his arms, making it known that he wasn't planning on leaving.

"Christmas is in less than two weeks, I really need to finish my painting," she urged.

"Will you talk to Bill?"

She sighed. "About what?"

"Just hear him out. Listen to him. He really misses you."

"I don't owe him anything."

"No, you don't. But you miss him, too."

She wanted to tell Dale he was wrong, but she didn't want to lie. He would see right through it, anyway…

"Maybe I'll see him at Hank and Peggy's Christmas party."

"Oh, so you are going to that?"

Mia had been invited; Peggy had called her personally to extend the invitation. She said she'd think about it but actually meant she wasn't going. She knew Bill would be there and she didn't want to have to see him, and probably Lenore. But if Lenore is out of the picture, and if he really is sorry… Maybe she could see what he had to say.

"I guess I can swing by."

Dale looked delighted.

"Why do you care so much, anyway?" Mia wondered. "Aren't you always ragging on him?"

"I may rag on him, yes, but he's like a brother to me. I really do want to see him happy. And I did see him happy...when he was with you."