A/N: Thanks for all the reviews for this one. I really, really, really like this story and I hope that you are too. It's fast becoming one of my very favorites. So I hope you leave a review and make me happy. ;)

"I don't know Dad, I just don't think that it's in the cards for us anymore."

"And this is your thinking after six years together?" Ted asked as he regarded his son sitting across from him at the kitchen table.

"And after six years she won't even agree to be engaged to me," Chris pointed out. "I mean, even if we have a long engagement, even if we were engaged for four more years, at least we'd be working towards something. At least we'd have the opportunity, but she won't even say yes to an engagement…she won't say yes to me."

Ted sighed. "You know, your mother would have sage advice for you in this situation."

Chris looked down and smiled wistfully, "She definitely would have. Maybe she could've been the one to talk Stephanie into marrying me."

"But maybe she did just need more time."

"Dad, come on, we were together for six years and we have a child together. We were practically married as it was and yet, she wouldn't take that jump with me."

"Maybe she's scared, look at her parents, look at Vince and Linda, well, no, Linda is a great woman, but look at Vince, that man is just…I can't even stand him half the time I'm near him," Ted said and Chris laughed at that because he agreed with that to a fault.

"Who can though?" Chris said. "If I never get with Stephanie again, that's the only positive thing I can see."

"But on a serious note, her parents aren't exactly the prototype of a healthy relationship, and maybe she sees that and doesn't want it for herself."

"She told me to leave Dad, she didn't try to stop me or say anything. If she had said something, anything but what she said, I would have completely and totally not left. I would've taken it in stride and I would've stayed."

"So you just wanted her to say something?"

"Yes!" Chris said, running his hands through his hair in frustration. "If she had said, 'Stay, I can't marry you, but stay,' I would've stayed. You have no idea how it feels Dad to have the woman you love and have loved for the past six years let you walk out on them."

"No, I don't," Ted said. "But I think that you're looking at this from the completely wrong point of view. You aren't looking at it from her point of view. She's probably scared, Chris, and she was hurting too I'm sure."

"She doesn't seem to be hurting too much now. I mean, yes, I know she's hurt, but she doesn't seem very hurt. She doesn't seem broken up about it at all, she just keeps on going. I just…I get the feeling I've been fooling myself these past few years."

"Have you though? Really think about it Chris, have you been fooling yourself?"

"I honestly don't know anymore Dad. Stephanie and I, we're perfect together, and if I'm going to be honest, I think…I think having Finn kind of screwed up everything. You're well aware that he wasn't exactly the most well thought out plan in the world."

Ted chuckled at that, "Is that how you're going to put it?"

"I don't like calling my son an accident or a mistake," Chris explained. Finnegan was not an accident, and he was not a mistake; he was some greater plan that involved him and Stephanie. He was just the light of Chris's life, that was it, and an accident could never be the light of your life.

"So you think that having Finn was some kind of factor?"

"We weren't allowed to progress like a normal couple. You know, where you move in together, then get engaged, then get married, and then have the kids. You don't have the kids first, I mean, you can, but it just kind of screws up the timeline."

"But it's a good obstacle to have come in your way."

"Well of course it is," Chris said. "Have you met Finn? He's the coolest little kid on the planet. He's Stephanie in male, little kid form. What's not to love about that? And then it all comes right back to Stephanie…"

"You love her Chris, we both know this, and we both know she loves you too."

"But what if it's not the same way I love her? What if she doesn't love me like I love her? What if she just stayed with me because of Finn? Oh God, that's probably it, she probably just stayed with me because she wanted Finn to have both of us and then I pushed marriage on her and she finally reached her breaking point."

"Chris, come on," Ted said. "You're acting like a crazy man now. Do you honestly think that Stephanie, Stephanie, would've stayed if she didn't love you? This is Stephanie we're talking about, and you know she'd never do anything she didn't want to do."

"That's true," Chris mumbled. "I'm being irrational now but I just don't know the answers to these fucking questions."

"Have you tried talking to her?"

"She's like a vault Dad, she never lets anything out that she doesn't want out and if you ask her then she gets super defensive about it. It's a wonder that I lasted six years with her, it's an even bigger wonder that I want all my years with her."

"Yes, it kind of is, Stephanie is one unique woman alright," Ted chuckled as he thought about the woman he had come to consider a daughter over the past six years. "She's something else alright."

"Something else…yeah, she really is," Chris said nostalgically. "She's like nothing else Dad. God, I love her and now we're not together anymore and it confuses me, I'm so damn confused by the entire thing."

"The best that you can do is try and talk to her Chris," Ted said. "Reach out there and see if you two can come to some sort of compromise. She may just be scared and if you talk to her about it, if you tell her all the things you tell me and all the things you tell everyone else, I think she'll see your side of things."

"You really think so?"

"The least you can do is try, and if you and Stephanie really decide that things are over between the two of you then you can try to move on, but right now you can't move on, this isn't moving on, it barely sounds like you two are even broken up, you're having lunch together and say it's just like old times, and you haven't officially moved out since a lot of your stuff is still in the house. If it were really, truly over, you'd know it, and if it is, then you'll just have to find someone else."

"That's the thing Dad, I don't think there is anyone else," Chris told him earnestly and most definitely sincerely. "I've been with Stephanie for the past six years, we were friends for two years before that. When I first got called from the company in 1998, she was the one whom I stayed in contact with throughout. I'm going to be thirty-seven years old next month and I don't know, I want to be settled…" He sighed deeply and said quietly, "I was settled. Stephanie and I were settled."

"You're not too old, if I recall, you seem to have quite a few female fans," Ted pointed out, rather correctly because Chris was one of the most good-looking guys ever, if not the most good-looking guy ever.

"Yeah, I know that I do, but…it's just not the same."

"Talk to her," Ted said firmly as Finnegan walked into the kitchen. "Hello there young man, what can we do for you?"

"Daddy, can I have a peanut-butter sandwich for lunch please?" Finnegan asked as he walked over for lunch.

"Sure you can, I didn't even realize it was lunchtime," Chris said, glancing up at the clock. He had been so engrossed in his conversation with his dad that he had lost track of the time. "Do you want jelly on it?"

"No," Finnegan said, shaking his head.

"Okay," Chris said, getting up and grabbing the necessary items for the sandwich. Ted opened his arms to Finnegan and Finnegan went over as Ted lifted him to put into his lap.

"So Finn, are we going to go to a hockey game tonight?"

"Yup," Finnegan nodded eagerly, looking up at his Grandpa. "We get to go see Moose, right Grandpa?"

"Yeah, we get to see the moose," Ted laughed. "I have to make a quick run to the store before we go to get food for Colt." He was referring to the golden retriever that he had and Finnegan smiled because he loved that dog.

"Okay Dad, we'll be cool here, won't we Finn?" Chris said as he slathered peanut butter on a piece of wheat bread.

"Uh huh." Ted stood up and placed Finnegan down in the now empty seat. He patted his son's shoulder as he walked out of the room. Chris smiled at his dad as he cut Finnegan's sandwich in half and set it down on a plate before putting it in front of his son. "Thank you Daddy."

"Not a problem," Chris said. "You want some milk with that?" His son nodded and he went to go get him a glass of milk as well, grabbing a water bottle for himself as he sat down across from his son and watched him take a couple bites. "Do I make a killer sandwich or what?"

"Daddy?" Finnegan mumbled through his sandwich.

"Hmm?"

"Uncle Shane said that Mommy won't let you come home, why won't Mommy let you come home?" Finn asked innocently, honestly curious as to what his daddy had done to make his mommy not let him come home.

"Uncle Shane told you this?" Chris asked, wondering if he should strangle Shane for bringing up the situation with Stephanie to Finnegan. He wanted to keep this as far from Finnegan as he could. The kid had enough to deal with, with him moving out.

"Yeah, why won't Mommy let you come home?"

Chris pursed his lips a little bit. "I don't know Finn, I really don't know. I wish that your mommy would let me come home, but I just don't know why. If I did, I'd tell you, but your mommy, she's a hard person to figure out."

Stephanie, later that same evening, was lonely. There was no other word to describe it. She didn't do well when she wasn't around Finnegan. In the four years since she had had her son, he had ingrained himself in her life so much that she couldn't bear to be without him for any long period of time. She knew that when he started kindergarten next year it was going to be a shock to her system, but that was a year away and she'd deal with it when it came to it, just like did for most of the significant events in Finnegan's life.

But usually when Finnegan was away, Chris was here with her, and they had adult time together. And no, that didn't merely consist of sex, but they just got to talk to one another without having to completely worry about Finnegan's next move or what they had to do for him. But this time was obviously different. Chris was in Canada with their son and she was here, all alone, and it was just so lonely. She hadn't felt lonely like this in the past six years.

She wandered around the big, empty house and just stared at the empty space that was going to be her life. This was it. Well, it wasn't it, but this would become a more frequent occurrence. She couldn't keep Finnegan to herself forever. Chris was going to want to see him and she wasn't going to deny him that. So she would have to get used to this big empty house. This big, empty house that suddenly had an air of sadness to it.

She smiled wistfully as she remembered them buying this house. She had pushed the thoughts of why they were buying this house out of her mind for a little while. She had been three months pregnant when they first saw it, and they fell in love immediately, it had everything they could ever want and more. It was seven bedrooms (excessive, yes), so it had plenty of room for all the things they would need, their bedroom, the baby's bedroom, two separate offices, a play room, a recording studio for Chris, and a guest bedroom. Downstairs, there was another room that had been converted into a gym for Chris, in addition to living room, family room, large kitchen. The backyard was huge, basketball court, grass area, pool. It had been perfect for them, but now it loomed so large in front of her.

They bought it, free and clear (which had been the main incentive to sell it to them, they could pay upfront for it), but couldn't move in for another three months. When they finally did move in, she had been six months pregnant, very noticeably pregnant and Chris wouldn't let her carry anything more than five pounds into the house. "That's what the movers are for," he had told her as they had somehow consolidated all their things into one house. She had watched from their porch as he brought things in. As she sat there, she had rubbed her stomach gently in a calming maneuver, feeling her baby move every now and then, and she recalled how she could live with this for the rest of her life. That despite the fact this was a move out of necessity rather than choice, it could turn out really well.

As she went upstairs after checking to make sure the doors were locked and the alarm was on, she sighed to herself as she saw many lonely years ahead of her. She wondered if Chris would take all of his stuff and bring it to his new apartment. He had said it was two bedrooms and spacious, but he couldn't possibly have room for his recording studio or his gym. She would gladly let him keep his things here if he wanted to keep them here. She wasn't so cruel as to throw his things out the door.

She wandered into his office, running her fingers across the desk a little and seeing if he had any messages on his machine. He didn't and she went to the door and closed it behind her. She walked to Finnegan's room next and just stared into the empty space. She had talked to him earlier before he had gone to bed and had heard him go on and on about the hockey game that he had gone to with Chris and Ted. She had smiled, glad that he had had a good time, but sad that she wasn't included in that good time. But that was her life now, and she'd have to accept it.

She walked to her bedroom after that, intending to go to bed. When she opened the door, the same smell as usual invaded her nose. Chris's aftershave was still wafting in the air and it had been a week since they had broken up. It was difficult coming into this room knowing it would smell like him and she briefly wondered if it was always going to smell like him. If years down the line she would open the door and his scent would still waft at her, mocking her, teasing her and making her believe that he was still there. She had been so used to this smell before they had broken up that she hadn't even smelled it when she walked in here, but now that he was gone, she was so keenly aware of it.

She walked into her closet to get dressed for bed and saw something peeking out from under some of her clothes. She tugged it out and bit her lip. It was one of Chris's Beatles shirts. She held it out in front of her. It was a picture from their album, "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band." She stared at it for a moment and then brought it to her chest as she bit her lip and felt her heart constrict at the thought that his things could be laying haphazardly all around the house and every day she could find something new. Here in her closet was his shirt, so who knew what else she could find? She laid the shirt gently on her chair and undressed herself, grabbing his shirt and putting it on, her body swimming in it. When she had been pregnant with Finnegan, she would wear Chris's shirts constantly in the later stages because they were large and comfortable. He had jokingly complained that she was going to stretch them out, but secretly he loved seeing her in his Iron Maiden shirt.

She brushed her teeth, avoiding looking into the mirror as she washed her face and walked into the bedroom. She climbed into her side of the bed, staring at the empty side next to her. If she squinted her eyes a little, she could pretend to see the indentation of his head on the pillows and the depression in the mattress from the weight of his body on it for however long they had had their mattress. She closed her eyes and embraced the silence surrounding her. Usually, Chris would be talking to her as she listened against his chest and then he'd laugh about something and his chest would rise, making her rise right along with it. She'd miss those moments, maybe not the most, but certainly not the least, she'd just miss those moments. But she reminded herself of her resolve. She was doing what was best for Chris.

Even if it broke her heart.