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Blowing of Steam

Lacey sat at the counter that night, nearly pulling her hair out by the roots as she had a mess of papers sitting in front of her. Some of them were the papers from the insurance company for the claim on her parents' house that they needed her to fill out, since she was the one that was there. Lucky for the Dardens, their house was going to be able to be repaired, but it was going to take awhile.

The Dardens were back in town now, staying in a hotel while the repairs were done on the house. Knowing that things were overwhelming right now, with everything that was going on, Lacey's parents offered to take the boys for a few days to stay with them. The boys were excited, getting to stay in a hotel and swim in the pool. Lacey figured it would give her a chance to plan out their time, maybe get a grip on what was all going on but that didn't seem likely.

There were games, so many games at the same time between Jack playing hockey and Sean playing indoor soccer. And, of course, half the games were when Kelly was on shift. There were parent teacher conferences, not just for Jack and Sean but then Lacey had to be at the school to give them for her own students. Of course, being the same school, they were on the same night. There was the meeting with the insurance company, the police, arson investigation over the incident at her parents' house. When Kelly came in that night, Lacey was sitting there with her elbows on the counter, her head in her hands.

"Long day?" Kelly asked, pulling a bar stool over closer to her, sitting sideways to face her.

"Mmmm, little bit," Lacey sighed, rubbing her forehead before looking over at him.

"Can I help with anything?" Kelly asked genuinely.

"You already are," Lacey joked, sliding her planner over to him.

"Hockey Thursday, soccer Friday," he nodded, looking back at her. "Sounds good to me."

"Mmmm," she smiled, kissing him once, just happy that he was home. "How was the union meeting?"

"Ah," Kelly hesitated, scratching the back of his head. He didn't want to tell her about it, she worried enough in the week since the fire at her parents', not that it wasn't warranted.

"What?" Lacey asked curiously.

"Hadley was there," Kelly admitted.

"Seriously?" Lacey snapped.

"I'm handling it," Kelly assured her, though that didn't seem to make her feel any better.

"Kelly," Lacey went on. "Please don't." Kelly looked at her in confusion.

"What do you mean?" he asked, not knowing what was going on with her. "I'm going take care of what's going on, I'm going to protect you and the boys."

"And how are you going to do that if something happens to you?" Lacey asked, getting up from her seat. "If Hadley decides to set you on fire, or whatever the hell it is he wants to do."

"Hey," Kelly stopped her, grabbing her hand and pulling her over to his seat. "It's going to be all right baby, trust me." He squeezed her hand, pulling her closer to put his hands on her waist. "Don't..." He trailed off when he saw her expression. "Try not to worry."

"I'm not promising anything," Lacey said lightly, looping her arms around his neck. He gave her a half smile, kissing her once.

"Wait," Kelly stopped kissing her, pulling back and standing up. "Do you hear that?"

"What?" Lacey asked in concern, looking around. Feeling Kelly picking her up, she squealed.

"The quiet," Kelly laughed, carrying her off to her room. They loved Jack and Sean, more than anything and were more than willing to take care of them while Heather was gone. But, tonight, they just enjoyed having a night to themselves.

"Hey Shay, Dawson," Kelly caught up with them as they were walking in to their shift the next morning. "Got a sec?"

"Yeah, sure," Dawson nodded as they were all walking inside.

"What's up?" Shay asked.

"Are you doing anything tomorrow night?" Kelly asked them and they both thought for a moment as they went into the locker room.

"Nope," Shay shook her head.

"Don't think so," Dawson agreed. "Why, what's up?"

"It's just," Kelly hesitated, not sure how to word it. "Lacey has been super on edge-"

"Someone set her parents' house on fire," Shay said like it was obvious. "With her and two kids in it."

"I know," Kelly agreed. "And, I get it, I'm freaking out about it too. But I'm going to fix it."

"How's that?" Shay asked, both her and Dawson looking at him intently.

"Not important," Kelly shook his head, having plans with Capp the next night to do something about catching Hadley in the act. "I just...I want Lacey to have fun. To relax and have a good time." He pointed at the two of them. "That's where you come in."

"Girls night?" Dawson smiled at Shay now.

"Yeah, I'm good with that," Shay grinned, loving Lacey and knowing having fun with girlfriends could be so much better than relaxing with your significant other. "We'll take good care of your girl."

"Thank you," Kelly said gratefully.

Dawson and Shay showed up at the apartment by surprise the next night, dragging Lacey out with them. She had protested at first, but eventually gave in, at the girls' and Kelly's insistence. Taking a cab to one of their favorite places, Shay and Dawson lead Lacey inside, not having been there before herself. They found an empty high top table with four stools.

"This place kind of reminds me of Molly's," Lacey commented.

"Yeah, except it's got people in it," Dawson grumbled, taking a seat.

"Ok, none of that," Shay said, hopping off her bar stool almost as soon as she sat on it. "I'm getting shots."

"Oh no," Lacey laughed in complaint as Shay went off to the bar to by them all shots. Feeling her phone buzzing in her pocket, she pulled it out to see who was calling her, seeing her mom's number.

"If it's Kelly, tell him to leave you alone," Dawson joked, making Lacey smile. "It's girls night."

"It might be one of my other men," Lacey joked, answering it. "Hello?" Sure enough, it was Sean. "Hi sweetie, how are you?"

"Who is it?" Shay asked Dawson, setting the shots out on the table and the plate with the lime wedges.

"One of the boys," Dawson told her.

"I miss you too," Lacey was saying. "I'll see you tomorrow for your game, all right?" She smiled. "All right, I love you too. Bye."

"Aw," Shay teased her, sliding a shot over to her; Lacey laughed.

"Hang up with Sean, take a shot," she joked. "So...responsible."

"Cheers to that," Shay laughed, the three girls clinking their shot glasses before throwing them back, then grabbing their limes.

"How are things going with them?" Dawson asked Lacey as the girls set their shot glasses down, someone coming over and getting their order for drinks.

"The boys are ok," Lacey nodded, twisting her hands on the table. "Adjusting I guess, but they're good."

"What about you and Kelly?" Shay asked now, sipping at her drink.

"I mean, Kelly's great with them," Lacey nodded. "He always has been. I, um..." She shook her head. "I guess we just weren't expecting to be parents?" It came out more like a question, then she bit her lip. "Or, we were but then..." She was stumbling on her words awkwardly as she just started spilling everything to Shay and Dawson. "Not to a six and eight year old." Shay and Dawson weren't sure what to say.

"I'm sorry," Lacey blurted out. "I didn't mean to dump all that on you guys."

"It's what we're here for," Shay assured her with a smile.

"Whatever you need," Dawson nodded.

"Thanks," Lacey said appreciatively, then smiled. "Right now, I think we need shots again."

"Yes!" Shay laughed, happy to have Lacey as her drinking partner again.

Kelly was sitting in Capp's car with him, parked half a block up from Hadley's building. They were waiting for him to show up so they could put a phone in his car, able to track him that way. They hoped to be able to catch him while he was setting one of the dangerous buildings on fire, putting an end to his arson streak. For now though, they were just stuck in a waiting game, hoping he would show up soon.

"Think one of his neighbors will call the cops?" Capp mused, knowing they looked suspicious just sitting there; Kelly laughed.

"Last thing we need right now," Kelly pointed out, keeping an eye on the mirror.

"Last thing you need," Capp commented, looking over at Kelly. "How are you holdin' up?"

"Fine," Kelly shrugged. "Dealing with this Hadley thing, before someone gets seriously hurt." He sighed, rubbing his eyes as true exhaustion started to set again. "Or almost hurt." Lacey and the boys had been ok, but it was close enough for Kelly; Capp nodded.

"What about Lacey?" Capp asked.

"I got her to go out with Shay and Dawson," Kelly explained. "I want her to have fun." He relaxed back in the seat, both their eyes on the mirror still. "Things have just been really tough."

"They'll get better," Capp assured him, then he noticed Hadley parking his car. "That him?"

"Mhmm," Kelly nodded, ready to set their plan into motion.

"I just, I don't know," Dawson was slurring.

On their round table were empty drink and shot glasses, the three women past drunk. Some where deep down they knew they were going to be painfully hung over tomorrow, but right now they didn't care. The more they were drinking, the more stuff kept coming up between the three of them. Right now, they were talking

"Don't know what?" Lacey said, sipping on what she thought was vodka-sprite but Shay had just gotten her a sprite for now.

"Maybe we should just sell the bar," Dawson said. "Between Game Day and freakin' Arthur..."

"Aw, come on," Shay protested.

"I think your bar is awesome," Lacey promised her.

"Mind spreading the word?" Dawson laughed, sipping on her own drink.

"You know what," Lacey giggled at the thought. "I'll tell all the parents' that come in for conferences next week." She, Shay, and Dawson started laughing.

"Can you imagine?" Shay laughed; Lacey turned a little on her stool to look at Shay.

"What about you?" Lacey asked her curiously, chewing on her straw.

"What about me?" Shay asked in confusion.

"I meeeeeean," Lacey was saying. "I'm playing house with my brother's kids and Dawson's bar is abandoned."

"Hey," Dawson protested.

"What's up with you?" Lacey asked Shay, ignoring Dawson for now.

"Ah...nothing," Shay laughed, not having much going on at the moment, getting over Clarice for the second time by now. "Except that I'm starving."

"Ugh, me too," Lacey agreed. "Are you Gabby?"

"I'm good," Dawson said, feeling a little sick. She got up, living only a few blocks from here. "You guys have fun though!"

"Thanks!" Shay said as the girls told Dawson goodbye.

"Oh my God, we have frozen pizza," Lacey said as if it was the greatest epiphany she had all night. "You should come over! Kelly will be so happy, it'll be like we all still live together."

"I love that," Shay drunkenly agreed with her.

Kelly had returned home to an empty apartment, Capp dropping him off after they left Hadley's place. He had texted Lacey to make sure she was doing ok and she texted some jumbled up letters back, but he made it out to be that she was still with Shay and Dawson. Exhausted, Kelly went right to bed, dozing off before Lacey got back. It wasn't long though before he was woken up by some loud noise in the kitchen followed by a ton of laughter. Yawning and rubbing his eyes, Kelly pulled himself out of bed to see what was going on. He found Lacey and Shay sitting on the kitchen floor, laughing hysterically after they knocked a few things over. Kelly just leaned against the counter and watched them for a moment.

"Ahem," Kelly said and they looked over.

"Oh, shhhh," Lacey told Shay, who started laughing more.

"He's already up," she giggled, making Lacey laugh now.

"I take it you had fun?" Kelly asked with a smile.

"So much fun," Lacey told him, sitting cross legged on the floor. "Do you want pizza?"

"No," Kelly laughed. "I'm ok. I'm gonna go back to bed, all right?"

"Okayyyyyy," Lacey and Shay were both saying.

"Want me to pull out the couch?" Kelly asked Shay, the couch in the living room doubling as a pull out bed.

"Yes," Shay nodded.

"Cause we can't," Lacey added with a head shake, looking at Shay. "Our couch is stupid."

"I hate stupid couches," Shay agreed, both of them laughing again. Kelly shook his head to himself, glad they had fun but he had a feeling he was going to be catering to two very hung over women in the morning.

"All right," Kelly said, done with the couch. "Good night."

"Good night," the girls told him, blowing him exaggerated kisses before going back to trying to make pizza. He wasn't able to go back to sleep, their laughing and knocking into things keeping him up. Soon though, he heard Lacey telling Shay good night before heading back to their room, leaving the light off as she shut the door. Some how finding her way through the dark, Lacey crawled under the blankets before moving to sit on top of Kelly.

"Hi," she giggled, leaning over to kiss him once.

"Mmm, hi," Kelly said sleepily.

"Are you mad you're up?" Lacey asked quietly.

"No," Kelly promised, taking her hand and kissing it. "I'm just glad you had fun tonight."

"Me too," Lacey giggled, squeezing his hand. "We should have fun more."

"We can," Kelly promised her. Things had been getting crazy lately, but it would settle down soon and they'd be able to settle back into a routine. "Once things slow down a little."

"Ok," Lacey smiled, falling over to the side so she was laying next to him now, making him laugh. "Did you and Capp catch Hadley?" Kelly turned his head over to look at her, not sure how she knew that as he was trying to be discrete about what was going on with the Hadley investigation. "Shay told me."

"We're going to track him," Kelly explained. "See if we can catch him in the act." She nodded quietly.

"Promise you'll be careful," Lacey told him, sticking her hand out and holding up her pinky. When she was little, she would make him and Andy pinky promise her all the time.

"Promise," Kelly assured her, wrapping his little finger around hers.

"Cause I can't do this by myself," Lacey continued. "The boys need you."

"Well, I love them," Kelly promised, kissing her forehead as she started closing her eyes. "And you. So, I'm not going anywhere. Ok?" Lacey didn't answer as she was already asleep. "Ok," he agreed with himself, kissing her head one more time before pulling her close as he finally fell asleep for the night.

thanks for reading! :) really hope you liked the update, more soon! :)