Jack glanced down at his phone before opening the door. "Nick," he said in confusion, "I didn't miss a meeting or anything did I? I didn't think we had anything set up until mid week."

"No, you didn't. I'm actually not here about work. I thought I'd drop by and see how Phyllis was doing. I know it's been a few days and I figured she was probably climbing the walls by now."

He shrugged. "Yeah, you'd think that, wouldn't you? She normally hates laying around and doing nothing but the last few days, she's actually seemed okay about it. At first I thought maybe she was honestly just out of sorts from the accident, but now I wonder if maybe the whole Billy thing is really getting to her more than she wants to let on."

"Billy?" Nick stepped past Jack into the room. "I didn't think Billy would want to show his face around here after what he did."

"You're clearly underestimating my brother." Jack shook his head a bit as he thought back to the confrontation in the hospital. "He worked it out with Kyle so he's staying in the pool house and Kyle's staying in the main house for a while. It's been interesting to say the least."

"Interesting? That's one way to put it." Phyllis padded into the living room. "Still working on your diplomacy, I see."

Jack let his eyes meet Nick's for only a moment before turning his attention back to Phyllis. "Nick just stopped by to see how you were doing."

"Well?" She stopped and held her hands out by her side. "How does it look like I'm doing?" His hesitation told her everything she needed to know. "You don't have to answer," she said quietly. "Your face already did."

"Hey. No." He reached out and grabbed her arm. "Jack told me that Billy's staying in the guest house. I'm sure that hasn't made things easy on you."

"I think that's kind of the point isn't it? Billy wants to do everything he can to make me miserable right now and he's doing a pretty damn good job."

"Don't say that too loud," Nick smiled. "He might hear you. You don't want to give him that satisfaction do you?" He smiled wider, hoping to illicit at least some form of emotion in response. She barely looked like herself. The Phyllis he knew was always put together. This woman wore yoga pants, a zip up sweatshirt, no make up and her hair pulled back in a ponytail that hadn't seen a brush. She was past the point of caring and that much was obvious. Jack's concerned gaze connected with his eyes again. "Maybe it would help if you got out of the house for a little while. I know you wanted to talk to me about Summer. We could go grab a bite to eat maybe?"

"I don't know, Nick. I don't really feel like going anywhere right now."

"Actually, I don't think that's a bad idea. I think it would do you some good to get out get a little bit of fresh air. You've been cooped up in here for too long and maybe getting away from the situation will help." Jack stood in front of her, his eyes scanning the somewhat annoyed look on her face. "Look, I know I was the one that suggested you stay here, but maybe it wasn't a great idea. I don't think it's helping you to see Billy every day especially with the way he's acting right now. It's not helping either of you and I don't want to see either of you get hurt or hurt each other any more than you already have.

"You gonna eat anything or do you just plan on pushing it around on your plate?"

Phyllis looked up at him, her eyes a bit surprised.

"Come on, I've seen Faith pull that particular trick about a hundred times. It doesn't actually look like you've eaten anymore when you push it around on your plate. You can actually look like you've eaten when you actually eat. So why don't you give it a shot?"

She rolled her eyes. "Why don't you stick to parenting your actually children and let your ex-wives live their own lives?"

"No offense but it kind of looks like you could use a little help living yours." He meant it as a joke, but the pained look on her face stopped him cold. "Phyllis," he said softly, "I'm sorry. It was a joke. I didn't mean it like that. I know things seems really horrible right now and I was just trying to lighten things up a bit. Trust me, my life has fallen off a pretty steep cliff too."

"Still no progress with Sharon?"

"Sharon and I are about as over as it gets. She doesn't even want to be in the same room with me. The only time she speaks to me is when we have to discuss something for Faith and even then it's cold as ice. And what's even worse, I can't even blame her. I know how hard it was for her trust me and I broke that trust again …"

"With me," Phyllis sighed. "I did the same thing. I know how much Billy needed to believe that I was going to be there for him no matter what and I knew what finding this out would do to him, but it still didn't stop me from doing it."

"Your situation is totally different from mine though. What you did is miles apart from what Billy did. Sleeping with me is nothing compared to sleeping with our daughter especially when you consider why he did it." Nick could feel his anger growing again. "And now, Jack tells me he's been using these last few days to throw things in your face? I'd really like to have a few minutes alone with him. We really need to get a few things straight."

"No you really don't. You really need to try and get your family back together. You really need to try and rebuild your life because unlike me, you actually have something to save. You have a family and children and a life that you need to get back to." She slowly pushed some food onto her fork and stared at it. There was little she could think of that would be less appealing than the thought of trying to force the salad down her throat.

"You say that like you don't have anything. You still have people in your life that love you Phyllis. I know you and Summer are not in a good place right now and I get it … I really do, but she's always gonna love you. You're her mother and you've got Daniel and Lucy and there's Jack and Lauren and Michael and you'll always have me."

She forced a smile. "I know that and I know you're trying to make me feel better, but I just don't think that's possible right now." Her head throbbed again. The headaches had been incredibly persistent and even the medication they'd given her had barely even taken the edge off. "In fact …" She took a deep breath as she raised her eyes to meet his. This was bound to be a struggle. "I know we said we'd talk about Summer, but I honestly don't feel up to this today. Maybe we could talk another time?"

"Phyllis," Nick sighed.

"I'm not putting you off, Nick. I honestly don't feel like it today. I've got a headache and I'm just not up to it. Please, can we just talk later."

He could see the soft lines forming in her forehead. It was obvious that she really didn't feel like being here with him. "Okay." His voice was tinted with genuine concern. "Let me just pay the check and I'll take you back to the house."

"No." She interrupted quickly. "I'm sure you need to get back to the office and I could use the air anyway … who knows, maybe it'll help me feel a little better. It's actually not so brutally cold today so I can walk through the park. I've been wanting to stop by Jabot and pick up some files from Lauren. I'll call her and let her know I'm gonna stop by."

"Ummm …" He leaned back a bit as he eyed her cautiously. "I'm not sure I'm good with leaving you alone to walk through the park by yourself when you're not feeling well. You just got through telling me that you weren't feeling well enough to sit here and have lunch and a conversation. Now, you're well enough to walk over a mile to Jabot?"

"Nick." She laid her hands flat on the table in front of her. "I have to find some way to put my life back together. Right now, it's in complete shambles and I'm going to feel like absolute crap until I'm not utterly and completely ashamed of what I've allowed to happen to my world. I need to do this. I need to do something productive for myself. Can't you understand that?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I actually can. I think that was kind of what was behind my whole Dark Horse movement. I wanted to have something of my own to prove to my father that I could do it, to prove to family that I could do it, but more than that, I think I needed to prove it to myself, so if that's what you're feeling … if you feel like you need to prove to yourself that you can dig out of this hole, I totally get that."

She smiled as she reached out and patted his hand. "I knew you would."

Nick stood up as he watched her stand slowly. She gathered her coat and let him help her put it on before leaning in and lightly kissing his cheek.

"I'll see you," she whispered.

"Well. Well. Well. Just the person I didn't want to see." Nick felt his entire body tighten as he said the words. Billy's shadow seemed to cast a dull gloom over the entire area as he walked over. "How stupid are you to come over here?"

"What? You think I'm afraid of you or something?"

"I think it's funny that you wait to come over here until we're in a very public place. I don't think you'd be quite as willing to come over and chat if we were somewhere else … say a dark parking lot with no cameras."

"Pfft, Dark Horse, gangster, you got any other alter egos hiding in there?" He took a seat across the table as he locked eyes with him. "Never mind. I didn't even come here to see you. Jack said you and Phyllis had come to eat lunch. I need to talk to her. I need to give her something."

"I doubt very seriously she wants to talk to you and I'm even more sure that she doesn't want anything you have to offer."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure she'll want this," Billy sneered. "It's the money she gave me to help pay back my gambling debts. I liquidated some of assets and I'm giving her her contribution back. I don't want to owe her anything. I don't want anything from her. So, where is she?" He turned around in his chair and scanned the room.

"She's not here," Nick answered.

"What do you mean she's not here … Jack said you took her to lunch. She can't drive yet, so if you took her here, she can't very well leave without you."

"She wanted to get some air," Nick countered. "She wasn't in the mood for lunch and wasn't up to a conversation so she left, wanted to walk …"

"Wait." Billy held up his hand, Nick's words immediately cancelling out every other thought in his mind. "You let her leave by herself? Did you miss the part where she can't drive yet?"

"She's not driving. She wanted to talk a walk, said the fresh air might help her headache. There's nothing wrong with that."

"Nothing wrong with that?" He was on his feet already, his eyes scanning the periphery of the park. "So she tells you she wasn't feeling well, tells you that she isn't up to talking, and you just let her walk out of here on her own?"

"Don't start acting like you care about Phyllis now. You're the reason she's in this position. You're the reason she got in the accident in the first place, you and your stupid, childish choices. If it was up to me, you'd never lay eyes on her again …" His hands grabbed Billy's shoulder and jerked him back in front of him as he watched him try and walk away. "You're not walking away from me right now. Jack might want to take it easy on you because you're his brother, but unlike him, I don't give a damn how you feel. You've ruined Phyllis' life. You took advantage of my daughter and I'll be damned if I sit back and watch you continue your path of destruction. You leave Phyllis the hell alone."

"So what? So you can go after her? So you can swoop in and take care of her? You know, Nick …" He grabbed his hands and pulled them away from his shirt, his teeth clenched and bared as he spoke to him. "I could let you take care of her if you were doing that. I could leave well enough alone and let you mark your territory until you screw it up. I could do all of that if you actually knew how to take care of someone, but you suck at it, Nick. You can't take care of anyone but yourself. That's why she's out there now. That's why I've got to go find her."