Couple's counseling

A/N: This chapter is much more rushed and suckier than the last. Sorry. I have a rush of work coming in soon and I wanted to get this out before I just let this story be a one-shot. This will probably be the worst chapter in the story, it'll definitely get better after this.

It had been three months and couple's counseling was going well. They hadn't gotten to the root of Benny's infidelity or what could be done about it, but they were communicating much better. He had been keeping it in his pants since that last time she caught him, and, amazingly, he was happy. Apparently, telling your spouse what you want out of the relationship was the key to getting it. It wasn't perfect, by far. But life was definitely improving.

Alison had even lost a little weight without any conscious change in her diet or exercise habits. She had been depressed even before catching him cheating because of their crumbling relationship. Now that she was happier, she had more energy and generally did more stuff. She could stay on the treadmill that extra five minutes, which added up over the weeks. Also, she wasn't comfort eating as much. Fewer chocolate or potato chip binges. She was never that overweight, but she had gained some weight since they got married, and was happy to be able to fit into some of her old clothes (even if they were last season).

She had to admit, the big difference this time was her. Last time, she felt like she was infallible and Benny was the one with the problem. It was all about making him out to be the bad guy. No wonder he didn't want to put any effort into it. His cheating wasn't her fault, by any stretch of the imagination, but how could she expect him to work hard at the relationship and the root cause of the problem if she refused to? She wasn't perfect as far the marriage was concerned. She could be overly demanding, whiny and manipulative. She had to get used to being direct. She couldn't get mad at him for not doing something she didn't tell him to. No more guilt-trips, either. She couldn't just bring up a name like Mimi or Amber and use it to make him do what she wanted.

"Benny-Bear, what time is the car coming to pick us up for the benefit Friday?"

"Nine o'clock, why?"

"I'm getting waxed and I wanted to make sure my eyebrows won't be lobster pink anymore. It's fine, though. By nine, it should be fine, though. For some reason, I kept thinking it was six."

"Next Wednesday, we have that dinner at six. The dinner is with the Wilsons, whose son, Beckett, has cystic fibrosis. The benefit is for cystic fibrosis research. Easy mistake."

"Oh, right. Thanks, babe."

He walked over to where she was standing just outside her closet and kissed her. "Anytime."

That reminded Alison of the 'children' discussion. They had never come to a conclusion, but they definitely weren't stable enough for kids, yet. Maybe in the next year, they could figure something out. She couldn't imagine having a child like Beckett Wilson. They would definitely need to be in a better place before being able to care for a child with his needs, even if he did have two nannies. But things were improving. All they needed was time.

Two weeks later, while things were going well, emotionally, Benny wasn't feeling very well. He was pretty sure it was just the flu, he had a mild fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, sore muscles and a slight, but constant, pain on the right side of his abdomen. He insisted Alison stay away from him, and he slept in a guest room. He went to the doctor just to see if there was anything that could speed this along.

The doctor told him to just get rest and drink lots of fluids, but took a blood sample, anyway, just in case there was something else going on. After reducing his workload, though, Benny was already starting to feel better.

Benny was a little nervous. Doctor Goldberg had called, stating he had Benny's lab results in, but he wanted to speak to him in person. His appointment was in fifteen minutes and he sat in the waiting room. He hoped it was nothing terrible, but they didn't make you come in for that, did they? His name was called and he walked into the exam room.

"Mr. Coffin, I'm afraid you have Hepatitis B."

"I can't. I haven't slept with anyone but my wife in nearly four months. And I always use protection."

"The incubation period can last up to 180 days. The good news is it goes away on it's own usually. Just make sure to get rest, drink fluids and get a protein-rich diet. Also, as long as you have the virus, you can spread it, so don't engage in unprotected sex."

"If it's going to go away on it's own, why did I need to come in?"

"We recommend that all our patients who test positive for one STD get a full panel. We need your permission and more blood. I consider it vital, actually. Especially for a married man." Benny paused momentarily. He already wouldn't be able to have sex with his wife until this went away. She wouldn't like this. But if he had something else, he had to know, right? He took a deep breath.

"Sure. I'll have the whole panel." Doctor Goldberg studied Benny for a moment. His defense was that he hadn't cheated on his wife in nearly four months. Not a great defense. Then he answered "sure" to the panel. The doctor considered it imperative. If he had one STD, he could have others and he could spread them to his wife. Did he not get that?

"You have Hepatitis? Did you not think to get tested earlier?"

"I'm sorry, Honey." Benny had just told her his test results and that they wouldn't be having sex for a while.

"What if it was something permanent, like herpes? What if it was HIV? I can't believe you would sleep around, and then sleep with me without getting tested. What if I have HPV and get cancer?" she groaned, "I cannot believe how irresponsible you were!"

He was sleeping on the couch tonight. Maybe later, if all her STD tests came back negative, he could sleep in a guest room. But only after he demonstrated that he understood the gravity of the situation. Alison hated to parent him like that. But what choice did she have? Had he not gotten tested between seeing that Mimi girl, whom Alison knew was HIV positive and sleeping with her? How extraordinarily irresponsible. He was gambling with his life and hers, and any future children they might have.

Her entire STD panel had come back negative. Her pap smear was fine. That was good. Benny had also been trying hard to make it up to her. He now slept in one of the guest beds. Still this had put a huge strain on their relationship. The fact that they weren't having sex anymore didn't help this fact.

He still had HBV in his blood, and until it went away, they weren't sleeping together, but at least there was nothing else. He was upset at her reaction, too. She didn't let him sleep on a bed for a while. Wasn't that a little vindictive? He just knew she was going to use this as leverage for months, even years.

Unfortunately, for the next couple weeks, when they went to counseling, they were more concerned with who was right than what could be done about the problem. Not much could be done, anyway, other than to forgive. But Alison wanted it known that this wasn't acceptable. He couldn't do this again. Forgiving him too soon might make it seem trivial. If he did something like this again. She would seriously consider leaving him.

Alison had a craving for the double chocolate fudge cake she had had a few months earlier. She had tried similar desserts at other restaurants (though never more than a bite or two to stay on her diet), but nothing came close enough to the one at the Life Café to satisfy her. So, back down to the East Village it was. She dressed down for the occasion in her most casual clothes and wore huge sunglasses, hoping no one would recognize her. Then she drove the Range Rover.

She was actually surprised to see Mark there. He was sitting at a table with that guy (Roger was his name?) and Mimi. If they had been her usual friends, and she hadn't been eating alone, she would have said a quick 'hello'. But they weren't, so she just sat down at the table.

"Mark," Roger interrupted his friend, tapping him on the shoulder, "Is that Muffy?"

Mark looked up to see Alison, dressed rather slovenly for her. She was sitting alone, and looked rather lonely to Mark. "It's Alison, alright."

"I wonder what she'd doing here? Don't her people consider this place social suicide?"

"I don't know. She looks lonely. We should invite her over."

"What?" Mimi asked, "Are you crazy? We can't invite her over here."

"Why not?"

"Um, because she probably hates us," Roger told him.

"Yeah, her husband cheated on her with me." Roger looked a little upset at her bringing it up, but not much. It was over two years ago and she had been faithful since. "That doesn't exactly create amiable feelings toward a person."

"I think you guys underestimate her. She is a person, you know."

"Yeah, a spoilt, rich, snobby person," Roger criticized, "Trust me, man. She thinks we're dirt."

"I'm sure she doesn't. I'm going to invite her over. If she says no, what's the big deal?"

"Fine. Five bucks says you're coming back to the table alone." Roger pulled a five out of his wallet and put it on the table. Mark repeated the action.

"You're on." Mark walked over to Alison's table. "Hey, Alison?"

"Oh, hi Mark. How are you?"

"I'm fine. Um, Mimi, Roger and I were wondering if you wanted to come eat with us."

She studied him for a minute. Was he serious? "Are you sure they won't mind?" She was feeling lonely. Plus, the more people helped her eat that cake, the less guilty she had to feel.

"Of course not. Come on."

Very reluctantly she answered, "Okay." She grabbed her purse and her coat and followed Mark to their table.

"Hi guys."

"Hi, Alison. I'm Roger." He shook her hand.

"And you're Mimi, right?"

"Yes. Nice to meet you."

"That's a really cute top."

"Thanks, I altered myself. It didn't have the lace or the same trim."

Alison nodded. "The lace is my favorite part." Then the silence set in.

The meal was awkward at best. All parties tiptoed around not offending each other. They didn't even talk much. But when it came time for dessert, the self-inhibition dropped. They could all talk freely about how they shouldn't bee eating it, but it was too good to pass up and what they might be doing to work it off.

"Mark, I think you need the extra mass. Don't be too concerned with working it off," Alison joked. They all laughed. He was really skinny. Actually, Alison thought Mimi was the one who should be the least worried about working it off, but she wasn't sure if Mimi's weight was the result of illness so she decided it was best not to point it out.

This started a small barrage of jokes at Mark's expense, but he was used to this and able to laugh it off. His faults were often used as icebreakers.

Alison picked up the tab. Despite the obvious reasons it was better for her to pay, Roger, Mark and Mimi all objected, and at least offered to reimburse her for their share. "No. It's the least I can do. You guys saved me from eating alone." There were no more arguments.

They got up, and said goodbye at the door. "Wow, man. You were right about her," Roger told Mark, "Here's your five bucks."

Alison, who was still within earshot, paused. She wondered if some trick had just been played on her. They were going to laugh at the whole thing later. What a fool. She thought they would actually be nice to her. How could she think, for a minute, that they didn't hate her. It was probably all about getting a stupid free meal. Apparently Mark wasn't trustworthy, after all.

She walked over to them, quickly. "You know, I thought better of you Mark. You don't have to pretend to like me. If you want free food, fine." She stuffed a few twenties in Marks hand. "It was my fault for trusting you, in the first place." She walked off, fighting tears.

Mark gave a Roger a "great going, dumbass" look. He was a little insulted, actually. They had actually been doing much better lately. Roger had a band with a steady line of gigs, Mimi had a job as secretary (pretty much getting coffee for self-important bastards, but it was better than her previous job) and Mark worked at an independent film house and occasionally got a little money from selling footage here and there. They wouldn't do something like that, anyway. But he guessed she didn't have much to judge their characters on, and most of what she did have wasn't good.

He ran after her. "Wait, Alison." She very reluctantly stopped and he caught up to her. "You got us wrong. Roger made a bet that you wouldn't eat with us. It wasn't right for him to assume you would snub us, true. I apologize for that and his awful manners in discussing it in front of you. It had nothing to do with free food." He handed the money back to her.

She looked him in the eye. "Are you telling the truth?"

"Yes."

"So I just made a complete ass of myself?" She was possibly even more humiliated than she had been a few minutes ago.

"Yeah, but I've done worse. It wasn't a completely crazy conclusion to draw, I guess. Don't worry about it too much. I know they don't seem like the most welcoming people to you, but if you gave it time, I'm sure they'd warm up to you."

She sighed, "I can understand them, I guess. I wasn't the nicest person when I first met you guys, was I?" In fact she had treated them like dirt. She still treated homeless people on the street and most other low-income people like they were beneath her. As far as her upbringing was concerned, they were. Benny was able to pick himself up out of poverty, why couldn't other people? But she knew it was wrong.

"Don't dwell on it. I mean, we didn't like how you treated us, but we returned the favor. We're just as much to blame. I think if you ever did just want to hang out with us, they'd be okay with it. Not that you ever would."

"I don't know…" she said, "Don't rule it out." Actually, she had ruled it out. She wasn't just going to start hanging out in the East Village with poor people. She had plenty of friends that she had more in common with. But she didn't forget how Mark had helped her. Maybe she could return the favor someday, though hopefully under better circumstances.

They said goodnight and parted ways.