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Best Kept Secret

Kelly woke up the next morning, the pain in his shoulder waking him. He got up to grab another percocet, hiding the bottle in the bottom of his gym bag. Going downstairs to get a glass of water, he took the pills before heading back upstairs where Lacey had already started to stir. She wasn't awake, but tossing like she was about to wake up.

"What are you doing?" Lacey grumbled, her eyes shut still as the light hurt too much. Since her and Shay's party for two the night before, she was pretty hung over this morning, a pounding in her head and nausea over taking her.

"Thought you might want some water," Kelly lied, offering the water as he set it on the stand by her side of the bed. "How are are you feeling?"

"Just," Lacey said, holding up a hand to make him stop. "Shhhh..." Kelly laughed a little, getting back into bed with her and putting his arm around her. "I'm not moving," she said slowly. "Not for another, like, eight hours or something."

"Mmm," Kelly nodded in agreement, kissing her head. "I'm guessing now would be a bad time to remind you we were gonna take the boys to the zoo this afternoon."

"Ugh," Lacey groaned, pulling the blankets over her head. She loved her nephews, but she felt miserable right now.

Putting it off as long as possible, she eventually got out of bed to shower, the nausea subsiding but the pounding headache sticking around. After getting dressed, she and Kelly went over to the Darden house to pick up the boys. While Heather was perfectly aware that Kelly was going with them, he still waited out by the car while Lacey went inside to get the boys, knowing Heather wouldn't be crazy about seeing him. He rolled his shoulder back, feeling a slight twinge of pain but nothing compared to what he felt before, the pain killers doing the trick.

"Uncle Kelly!" he heard two voices cheering, running down the front steps of the Darden house.

"Hey guys!" Kelly greeted them, kneeling down to hug them both. He had missed them a lot, not seeing them much since Andy had passed away, only in passing. Heather hadn't been letting him see them, but since Lacey's accident, she knew she couldn't keep the boys from her too.

"Are you ready for the zoo?"

"Yeah!" they both nodded excitedly.

"All right, well get in," Kelly laughed, allowing the two of them to climb into the backseat. Lacey smiled at him as she came down the steps now, happy that he got to spend time with the boys today. He knew that they all missed each other a lot, really needing each other after Andy had passed away. On their way to the zoo, the boys couldn't stop talking as they updated Kelly on everything that he had missed in the last two months.

"Uncle Kelly, guess what," Sean went on, Andy's youngest son.

"What?" Kelly asked, glancing at him in the rear view mirror. Lacey smiled, knowing the constant chatter would drive other guys crazy but Kelly was loving every minute of it.

"I lost another tooth!" Sean said, smiling big and pulling his bottom lip down so Kelly could see.

"No way!" Kelly said enthusiastically.

Kelly loved Jack and Sean, he loved being their dad's best friend turned uncle. He had been looking forward to Jack and Sean since Andy and Heather first got married when they were only twenty-one. Jack came shortly after, being eight now, and Sean was six. The best part about having a friend with kids was you got to hang out with them and have fun without any of the responsibilities of having your own kids, which Kelly certainly wasn't ready for anytime soon. But, because they were Andy's kids and Lacey's nephews, he loved them unconditionally.

"Uncle Kelly," Jack said, his tone somewhat serious.

"Yeah?" Kelly asked, looking at him now in the mirror. He could tell by the third grader's look that he had something he wanted to ask. "What is it buddy?"

"Are you like our real uncle now?" he asked, knowing that uncles were either your parent's brother or married to your parent's sister. Kelly hadn't ever been either, just their dad's best friend who was always around when they needed him. "Since you and Aunt Lacey live together."

"We don't live together honey," Lacey said in confusion, turning in her seat to look at the boys.

"That's not what mom said," Jack told her and Sean nodded in agreement.

"Mommy said you lived at Kelly's, that's why we don't visit," Sean explained.

"Uh huh," Lacey said, shooting Kelly a glance as she turned back in her seat.

"So guys," Kelly changed the subject, reaching a hand over to hold Lacey's. "What are you excited to see? I think the tigers are going to be cool."

"Lions!"

"Rhinos!"

"Those are good too," Kelly laughed squeezing Lacey's hand and getting her to smile too. "Relax," he told her quietly. "Let's just have fun today, ok?"

"K," she smiled back, squeezing his hand in return.

It was nice, just getting to spend the afternoon with her three favorite boys. She walked with Jack, holding his hand while Kelly had hoisted Sean up onto his shoulders to carry him. Lacey worried about his shoulder, but thanks to an unknown pill that he had slipped in the pocket of his jacket, his shoulder was fine for him to carry Sean around the zoo.

The boys went on and on still at the zoo, telling Kelly and Lacey about the costumes they had picked out for Halloween later that week. Sean was going to go as a superhero while Jack was going to go as a football player. They begged the two of them to take them trick or treating, but Lacey knew that Heather would want to take them. Instead, Lacey promised to meet them at her parents' house, where the boys always went last on trick or treating to take the rest of their grandparents' candy, dump their bags on the table, and swap pieces of candy for their favorites. Maybe she just wouldn't tell Heather that Kelly would be there as well.

After stopping for pizza on the way home, Kelly and Lacey dropped the boys off at Heather's again, the mom waving at them from the window as the boys ran up the steps, not even coming out to say hi. Lacey shook her head at her sister in law, though she didn't bring anything up because she didn't' want to spoil the perfect day.

"How are you feeling?" Kelly asked now, since Lacey had been fussing over his shoulder all afternoon while he was carrying Sean.

"Fine," Lacey nodded, but she rested her hand on her side, feeling the stitches through her shirt's soft material. The thought of the large scar on her abdomen made her self conscious, but she knew that she was lucky to be alive after her accident.

"Sure you don't want anything for it?" Kelly asked as they parked in front of his building.

"Nah," Lacey shook her head as they got out of the car. She smiled as he came over to her side to kiss her, his arms wrapping around her.

"You could always drink with Shay again," he laughed and she grimaced.

"I think I just threw up a little in my mouth," she said, practically tasting the alcohol all over at the thought and it made her sick. "Ugh," she groaned as they went inside. "When can I get this stupid cast off though?"

"Thanksgiving," Kelly answered, opening the door for her.

"Well, guess that answers what I'm going as for Halloween," she laughed as they went up to his apartment, holding up her arm that had the cast. "Car accident victim." She fluttered her eye lashes at him in an exaggerated way. "Sexy, right?"

"Extremely," Kelly laughed, kissing her now outside the apartment door. Pulling back, he rested his forehead against hers. "You know what the boys were talking about before?" He was nervous as he prepared to ask her this, knowing it was a little fast but he had been thinking about it all day.

"Ah, who could eat the most candy corn before puking?" she giggled, looking him over curiously. "Because, I think I could take you in a candy corn contest, since-"

"Move in with me and Shay," Kelly cut her off and Lacey's mouth nearly dropped open in surprise.

"You're high or something," Lacey joked, turning to open the door, though she had no idea the daze he had been fighting all day due to the pain meds.

"I'm serious," Kelly stopped her. "Look, you spend every night here anyway. Shay loves you." He took her face in his hands. "I love you." Lacey smiled a little, but bit her lip nervously.

"Kelly, it's so fast though," Lacey went on. "We've haven't even been together six months! And most of those were sneaking around..."

"Lace, I've literally known you forever," Kelly laughed. "Ok? I don't remember not knowing you." Lacey continued to hesitate, looking down at her feet; he knew he had kind of sprung this on her out of no where. "Think about it?"

"Ok," she nodded, giving him a small smile.

"All right," Kelly grinned again, giving her a quick kiss. "A solid maybe." Lacey laughed, following him into the apartment.

That weekend was Halloween and Kelly didn't know why he was so nervous about going over to Lacey's parents' home with her. After all, he had basically grown up at that house, spending a lot of weekends and holidays there when his dad wasn't around. He certainly liked Mark and Sarah, that wasn't the issue really. But, he had only seen them a handful of times since Andy had passed away. And he had only seen them once since he had publicly started dating Lacey, which was at the hospital after her accident. So, really, he had never spent time with them as the parents of his girlfriend instead of the parents of his best friend. And that made him nervous.

It wasn't as bad as he thought though. Lacey was with her mom most of the time, passing out candy to trick or treaters, leaving him with her dad who seemed happy to have him there, the two of them watching the game together. They only talked about Lacey once, mostly because her dad wanted to get it out there. He told Kelly that he was happy to have someone that he knew his entire life dating his daughter, that he knew they were a good fit, but he did add on not to hurt her.

Kelly was feeling pretty good that night, hanging out with his girl and fitting right in with her family. Heather didn't even seem to bothered that he was there when she brought the boys by, or maybe she was just pretending for the sake of the kids. Either way, it was better than how she treated him before. He knew that the pain killers he was taking certainly weren't hurting how he felt, continuing through a bit of a fog as the night went on.

"Hey," Lacey said, getting his attention as everyone was slowly starting to leave her parents' house. He looked at her, waiting for her to continue. "When can you get me a key?" Kelly grinned from ear to ear, kissing her.

Lacey moved in with him and Shay the next weekend, though he still wasn't letting her do much of the moving since she still had her cast on. Thankfully by now, her stitches were gone, but she was still self conscious about her scar. Lacey had gone out to grab take out for dinner leaving Kelly alone in the apartment. The pain firing up in his shoulder after moving all of Lacey's boxes, he stopped in the kitchen pulling the prescription bottle from his pocket to take another pill. He had been trying to stretch them out, making them last as long as he could. And, thankfully, the doctor had written a refill on them which he fully planned to use.

"What is that?" he heard Shay saying behind him as he popped the pill into his mouth. He turned to see her with her arms cross, swallowing the medication first before answering.

"Tylenol?" he offered and she shook her head at him, coming over and snatching the pill bottle from him.

"Lacey's percocet?" Shay asked in shock. "Kelly! I..." She trailed off, not sure what to say. "Does Lacey know?" He shook his head. "Oh Kelly," she sighed. "What is she going to think?"

"She's going to sleep better, that's for sure," Kelly jumped in now and Shay shook her head at him. "C'mon Shay! Everything is going good for us, for the first time since Andy's accident, things have been great, like they were before." He lowered his voice, his eyes pleading. "Just let me have this." Shay glared at him, her eyes serious as they heard Lacey coming through the front door.

"If she asks me about it, I won't lie," Shay whispered.

"Hey roomies!" Lacey grinned, bringing plastic bags of Chinese food over. "I got dinner."

"Smells great," Shay smiled at her, though she shot Kelly a warning look; he gave a grateful one back.

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