Lux's POV

Immediately I shoot up at the sound of someone's alarm and suddenly realize I'm in an unfamiliar place. What the hell, I think to myself and I turn my head a round and see that Eric was asleep on the couch across from me. Shit! Shit! Shit! Mike is going to kill me! I think to myself as I suddenly begin to remember all that happened the night before.

The Uno cards and the standard deck of cards that are spread all over the coffee table in front of me just reinforce my memories. I smile as I remember first coming upstairs to his apartment fearing that he expected something more from me. But his idea of doing something that was in our control was playing cards all night.

The idea sounded stupid even to me, so it was strange that I ended up having fun last night. After a while, even he realized playing 21 was stupid when he started to explain how it was supposed to make the player feel as if they were in control, because it was their choice of whether or not they picked up another card to be the closest person to reach 21.

I actually liked this dork side of Eric, having never seen that before in Bug. I liked that he was so different than him.

But when I'm finally able to snap out of it, I start to panic, knowing that I have to get to Mike's apartment as soon as possible.

But before I'm able to get my feet onto the floor, Eric blinks his eyes open and looks up at my frightened face. I wanted to get out of there before he got a chance to wake up, from fear of not knowing what to say. I had never spent the night at a guy's place besides Bug, but even that didn't feel strange because he was my friend long before he was my boyfriend.

Had I fallen asleep while he was talking to me? is the only question that keeps racking my brain.

"Good morning," he smiles as he gets up at throws his blanket off of him. "Would you like some coffee?"

At this point, I'm not sure how to respond so I go with my first instinct, anger. "Why didn't you wake me up, as soon as I fell asleep?" I snap.

I feel bad as soon as I see the shocked expression on his face, "I thought I'd let you sleep. You looked pretty tired. And I didn't realize you had any place to be."

"I did," I respond in a low voice. "I mean I do," I answer as I start to get up and am suddenly thankful that I still have my shoes on and don't have to spend a lot of time looking for them.

"Oh," he says after a while. "I see…"

"That's not what I meant. That sooo not what I meant," I answer honestly.

"Well, good," he chuckles. "I'd really hate it if you spent the night at my place and you had a boyfriend. You know, I don't play cards with just anybody," he smiles as he pours himself a cup of coffee.

I have to smile back. God! Why did this guy have to be so cute?! I think to myself as I grab my jacket from the couch. "Um… I should really get going."

"Yeah, yeah," he says. "I should actually get moving too. I have to head to work soon."

"Oh, you're not one of those goody-two-shoes guys that always show up at work on time are you?" I ask jokingly, recalling the conversation we had last night.

"Huh?" he says in confusion.

"Oh…" I start nervously. "Nothing. Forget it," I say awkwardly.

He chuckles again, "I'm just messing with you," he says playfully causing me to smile before I open the door to leave. "Hey! Wait!" he stops me, and I turn around to look at him in confusion. "When do I get to see you again?"

This was what I was worried about, I realize. This was the reason why I wanted to get out of the house so quickly.

"Um…" I start to answer, remembering that I'm supposed to be grounded and I most likely made things ten times worse by breaking another rule. "I'll call you," I say.

"Do you want my number first?" he smiles.

"Uh, sure…" I answer as he starts going through some drawers in search for a pen and paper. "You know what," I start. "That's okay. I'll pass by when I get a chance. I mean, it's not like I don't know where you live…" I answer jokingly.

He nods in a depressed way, "Okay. Yeah, sure," he tries to shake it off.

"Eric, I'll swing by," I assure him. "I honestly lost my phone anyway," I lie. "So, I wouldn't be—"

Before I'm able to continue, I see him walking in my direction with a pen in his hand, and watch him reach for my palm and jot down his number, "You know, for when you find your phone," he says as he tries to fight back a smile. "No pressure. You're in control."

I smile back at him and I realize that I'm standing there like an idiot with my palm still in the air after he already let it go. "Okay," I say as I turn my body around to leave and walk out the door.

It's not until I'm all the way outside that I glance at my hand and notice he left a note along with his number saying, "Promise next time we'll do something more fun." I smile stupidly and shake my head as I walk toward the bus stop.

Mike's POV

"This is all my fault," I tell my ex-wife as I watch her pace the small walkway in my kitchen.

"This is not all your fault… Partly, yes. But not all."

"Thanks, Stef. You really know how to make a man feel better," I mumble.

"Well, what do you want me to say, Mike? One second we both agree to ground her because we're trying to set boundaries for her, and the next, you're letting her go off to the movies with her friend…"

"Stef, if you saw how upset she looked, you would have done the same thing."

"I doubt it," she argues. "You always give in when you see a female crying, Mike. It happens every freaking time, even at work… and it always gets you in trouble, but you still—"

"Yeah, Stef. I got it," I agree just to shut her up. "We're back to it all being my fault again."

"No, Lux definitely took advantage of you."

"I feel like I'm going crazy here, Stef. I was too busy trying to get her to like me that I basically let her go on and do whatever she wants. She's never going to take me seriously after this. Maybe you're right. Maybe she should've moved in with you. At least with you, Lena, and the kids, it would be a lot harder for her to take advantage of all of you."

"Are you forgetting that she bolted two days ago from my place? And we were all in the house when that happened…" Stef sighed deeply.

"Well, she doesn't respect me," I continued to complain.

"It's not just you, Mike."

And then the realization dawns on me, "What if…What if she doesn't come back?"

"She will."

"Yeah, what makes you so sure?"

"Well, she left her stuff for starters…"

"Yeah, you're right… You know what, you should head to work. I'll wait for her here. There's no use in both of us missing a day."

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm just as pissed off as you are… let's not forget worried. This is the last thing that I expected to happen and now— How could she do this? How could she promise us one second that she's going to try and then…then…"

"Leave us like we're nothing?" I finish for her "…I guess she takes after her mother, for one," I answer jokingly and quickly regret saying it, when I see the angry look appear on Stef's face.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she asks as she crosses her arms over her chest and tenses her body.

"No. It was nothing."

"Are you still bringing that up? Eleven years later and you're still upset with me about that Mike? Seriously?"

"Who said anything about being upset? Stef, I think you're the one taking it to heart. Not me."

"Then why the hell did you bring it up?" she snaps, but a second afterwards our attention is turned toward the door, when we hear a key being put inside of the doorknob.

Without hesitation both Stef and I forget about our argument and rush toward it, knowing that it had to be Lux.

Lux's POV

When I finally reach Mike's apartment, I can hear Stef and Mike arguing from the inside. I figured that if they were too busy arguing, then maybe they'd be too busy to see me sneak in. It's not like I hadn't done this before at other foster-homes but normally this was my best shot to slip in and slip out.

But the second I open the door, the first thing I see is a pair of boots on the floor. I guess slipping in unnoticed was out of the question, I think to myself as I raise my head up to see Stef standing right in front of me with an angry look on her face and Mike standing a little farther behind her.

"Hey, Stef," I answer nonchalantly as I close the door behind me and walk around her, so that I don't have to see her glaring at me for longer than I need to. "What are you doing here?"

"You're kidding me right?" Stef asks from behind me and I take a deep breath before I turn around, bracing myself for what's to come.

"Look, I'm sorry I was late," I finally tell both of them, knowing that that was what they were looking for.

"Late?" Mike asks, his pitch rising. "You call staying out all night late?"

"Okay. I'm sorry I was really, really late. I just felt so sick after the movie last night. Tasha's place was closer than yours and I didn't really feel up to the walk back… so I just stayed there. I didn't think it'd be a big deal," I lie. "I've stayed there a bunch of times, so…"

Honestly, I knew they'd probably complain about it, but I still didn't think they had a real reason to.

"Why didn't you call one of us?" Mike asks. "We would've come to get you or even to tell us where you were staying at least."

"Aside from the fact that I don't have a phone…I don't have your numbers, so what did you want me to do exactly?"

"Do you understand that we were this close to calling the police," Mike emphasizes with his fingers.

"For what?" I argue.

"I sent you to the movies, Lux. You come back hours and hours later."

"And I told you why," I interrupt. "And I apologized. I don't see what else I can do."

"And we're supposed to just believe you?" Stef asks. "All you've been doing since you got here has been lying?"

"What?" I ask in confusion.

She continued, "You lied about stealing the forms from the hospital, you lied about going to Bug's apartment that day you said you were going to Tasha's, you lied about knowing Callie and Jude, you lied about wanting to try and make things work… How are we supposed to just trust anything you say?"

"Then don't!" I snap. "I'm a liar! I'm a huge liar! Is that what you want to hear?"

"Lux, lower your voice," Mike orders and it pisses me off that he's taking her side, when just a few seconds ago he was arguing with her.

"Why should I? I never asked you to trust me and frankly, I don't care if you do!"

"Lux, go to your room now!" Mike orders.

"Which one? Your son's room or the room I have in Tijuanna?" I spit back.

"Neither," Stef answers. "Go take a shower and get dressed. You have 20 minutes to meet me in the car downstairs. You're still going to school."

"It's 10 o'clock."

"Yes, and you're already late so get moving. You now have 19 minutes," she answers as she stares and points to her watch.

"This is ridiculous," I mumble as I walk toward the bathroom.

"Or would you rather go to the doctor's instead? You know, since you're so sick?" Stef asks rhetorically.

I slam the bathroom door behind me, suddenly regretting having come back.

I need to call Fern the second I get a chance.

There's no way in hell I'm putting up with this every day.

A/N: Fern is Lux's social worker for those of you who forgot.