The hot shower did thaw Belle pretty significantly, and by the time she was out she felt a lot better. It had cleared her head and, while she wasn't precisely sober she was feeling a lot more like a human being. She was so bummed at how the night had progressed. Maybe it was wrong to want to take her panties off and throw them at Neal's dad, but she was really enjoying flirting with him. She never did this kind of thing in her regular life, but maybe she should do it more.

She still wasn't quite ready to sleep, so she snuck down to the library to find a book and clear her head. Theo's door was shut and his light was on, and she wanted to go see him (and maybe throw her panties at his face). Well, she was in her pajamas now (sans Neal's shirt) and she had a bathrobe to return. Belle knocked on the door, and she heard his voice but couldn't quite make out what he was saying, but she figured he was probably telling her to come in so she turned the knob and pushed the door open before she realized he was definitely not telling her to come in, he'd been telling her to wait just a minute because he was changing.

By the time she saw his ass, it was too late to shut the door without being noticed and anyway, he was naked. This was most certainly not a drill, she'd just walked in on this guy changing and now he was turning around and sweet crackers….she'd have to congratulate herself on that one later when he wasn't staring at her with his shirt in his hands and abso-fucking-lutely nothing on and his dick in full view.

It took a lot more effort than it should have to get her eyes back on his face, but when she did his eyes were wide and his mouth was moving but no sound was coming out of him. She was pretty sure she'd seen some movies that started like this, but she was in no way drunk enough to enact any of the many pornographic ideas that were flying through her head. He suddenly seemed to register what the hell was going on and scrambled to cover himself with his shirt, which was far too thin for such a job to be honest.

"I...brought your robe back," she said at last, throwing it towards him and shutting the door behind her before he could yell or anything.

She stayed in the hallway for a second catching her breath and revelling in the thrill of her accidental voyeurism. Well, she could definitely do a lot worse...

It was an absolutely ungodly hour when Neal woke up, but passing out drunk before nine will do that to you. He felt gross and sweaty and he was pretty sure he'd woken up to throw up at least once and was kind of feeling like doing it again. He had a splitting headache, and a son he'd never met, and he was pretty sure this was not going to be a good day.

He laid in bed until he couldn't take the smell of himself anymore. At least it was early enough that he didn't have to worry about encountering any of the other people in the house, and he only threw up once in the shower. The house was eerily still as he went downstairs in search of coffee and food, and it felt a lot like high school when his father would sometimes be away on business. It was a strange kind of lonely to be so alone in such a large place. Of course, he wasn't actually alone – his father and Belle were both upstairs asleep, and as he made his way downstairs he almost tripped on something left on the floor. He bent to pick up the lump of fabric and it took him a little while to figure out it was a woman's sweater. Which was weird, because Belle was the only woman in the house and she didn't have any reason to take a sweater off in the living room. As he made his way down, though, he saw shoes and then tights and by the time he noticed her skirt next to the front door there was a picture of the evening forming in his hungover brain. There were two glasses and an empty bottle abandoned on the coffee table. He didn't know if he wanted to go upstairs and confront them about it or not. He had been joking when he'd accused Belle of trying to marry his dad, but suddenly he wasn't so sure anymore.

He was still mulling all this over his second cup of coffee when Belle finally joined him looking just a little bit better than he felt. Nobody spoke while she made her own mug of coffee and joined him at the table with her face in her hands, but eventually he couldn't wait any longer to get an answer out of her.

"Is there anything you wanted to tell me?" he asked and she looked up at him in confusion. "Your clothes are on the stairs."

"Oh! Oh shit. Yeah, sorry your dad and I hung out last night and we were playing truth or dare and drinking and I ended up running around the house in my underwear. He gave me a robe to put on after."

That...didn't really sound like his father, but it was a damn sight better than them fucking on the sofa, and he had a lot more to worry about anyway.

"You guys are getting close."

"I like him," she said with a shrug. "We have a good time together, and you've been preoccupied."

"Yeah,sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it. I get why you've been distracted, but I don't really know anyone else to talk to, and...I don't want your father to dislike me anymore."

"It's probably for the best," he admitted. "I've gotta track down Emma today and figure out what I'm going to do about my son. Are you gonna tell him?"

"It's probably better if you do. But we're going to have to say something soon."

"I can do it tonight I guess. If I have to get into a fight with him this morning I'm probably going to die."

"Yeah, your dad can really hold his liquor, man."

Neal just nodded, but that just made him dizzy so he stopped and rested his face on the table. It was going to be a long damn week.

Theo never wanted to get out of bed again. He hadn't had that much to drink in decades, and he'd said some things he wished he could take back. Namely, he wished he could take back everything. Literally everything. All the personal information he'd given her, the various dares and truths he'd extracted, admitting she was pretty...the entire thing was like a nightmare. And then she'd walked in while he was naked, just to add insult to injury. He was a man who liked his secrets, and he was running low on secrets to keep from her. And there were still days until she left. At this rate, he'd be on his knees and at her mercy by New Years.

He wasn't sure what he saw in her, but then he also had no idea what (if anything) she saw in him. Lacey was a very forward woman, but she'd also been (by her own admission) lying from the beginning. At this point, Theo had no idea what was going on at all or even how to approach it. And now she'd seen him naked.

On top of all that, there was still the matter of Neal and Emma and their child. He felt foolish for having missed the obvious conclusion, but the two had dated so long ago and by the time he'd been aware Emma even had a son it had been a few years and he simply hadn't thought enough about the boy to figure out that the ages lined up perfectly.

There was far too much to deal with over the next week, and not nearly enough time to lay in bed with a hangover. He showered and dressed, and once he had his tie on he felt a lot more ready to face the morning, even if it was a little on the late side.

Neal and Lacey were both seated at the kitchen table with coffee and no conversation. He had his face buried in his arms on the table and her elbows were on the table with her face in her hands. Neither one looked up to much conversation, and he very much understood. His head was killing him as he fished a bottle of aspirin out of a cabinet and took a few out for himself before setting the rest of them on the table between Lacey and Neal.

She looked up gratefully and he felt himself blushing in time to turn away. He heard the rattle of pills as he poured himself some coffee and made toast, and then a grunt from Neal.

"It's aspirin," Lacey said (presumably to Neal). "Don't be a grumpy bastard."

Theo couldn't help but smile to himself at that. He'd had a lot of very similar conversations with his son on school mornings when the boy didn't want to get out of bed and head for the bus. Neal never had been much good at waking up.

"So what are your plans for the day?" Lacey called out and this time he knew she was talking to him.

"I'll be spending the day in the shop again," he said, still not quite daring to look at her. "I'll be working most every day leading up to Christmas."

"Oh," she said softly, and he was sure that couldn't have been disappointment in her voice and yet he couldn't decide what else it could possibly be.

He needed to go into work – he needed something to take his mind off of all this and let him clear his head about literally all of this.

Neal was still trying to figure out what he was going to do when the doorbell rang. His dad had already left for work, and Belle was wandering around someplace, but Neal couldn't focus on anything. He had a son, and he had to figure out what he was going to tell Emma about it. Of course he wanted to be in Henry's life, but they didn't even live in the same state and he had no idea what he had to offer a child. He'd never, ever had anyone rely on him before.

There was a knock at the door, but he heard Belle call out that she'd get it and he was more than happy to let her. It was probably the postman or somebody soliciting donations for the local convent or something like that, especially this close to Christmas. He heard her calling for him and made his way downstairs. Probably the donations, then. She wouldn't know where his dad kept loose cash or that he'd rather have her cut his hand off than give money to the nuns. It wasn't until he got down there that he realized he'd been wrong on both counts, it was neither mail nor nun – it was his son.

"Are you my dad?" Henry said and all Neal could do was stare until Belle elbowed him in the ribs.

"Yeah. Yeah I am."

"That's what I thought. I heard my mom talking to my grandparents about you."

"Oh. Did you want to come in?"

Henry nodded and followed Neal into the house. This was nuts. He had no idea what to do with a kid, he hadn't been around them since he'd been one and this one was his. Good lord, who would trust him with a kid?

"Hey Henry," Belle said. "You wouldn't happen to know your mum's number, would you? We should probably let her know that you're safe."

"I won't have to go back right away, will I?"

Henry was looking between Belle and Neal, and it occurred to him suddenly that he was the one who had to get that approval.

"I'll talk to her," he said. "It'll be okay."

Henry pulled out his phone and Neal watched as he pulled up his mom's number and called.

"Hi, Mom," Henry said, pausing as Emma replied. "I ran away. To see my dad. Because you lied! You said he was dead!" Well, that was news to Neal, who gestured for Henry to hand over the phone. "He wants to talk to you," Henry continued, handing the phone to Neal just in time for him to hear Emma yelling Henry's name repeatedly.

"Hey Emma," he said quickly. "So, Henry showed up at my dad's house."

"Oh my God," she said. "What is he doing there?!"

"Apparently he overheard you telling your parents about me?"

"Shit. What'd he hear?"

"I haven't quite gotten that far, but I think he just wants to talk."

Neal looked over at Henry, who was still watching him.

"I'm sure he does," she said, taking a deep breath on her end. "Okay. Tell him he doesn't have to come home yet, but he has to call again before dinner and we'll figure this out then."

"I'll let him know."

"Oh, and Neal? I'm sorry about this. I was going to wait until you'd made a choice before I let him know but I've really screwed this all up."

"No, don't worry about it. I was going to tell you I wanted this exact thing to happen, actually."

"Alright, well...I'll come pick him up later. And I am sorry. About all of it."

"Yeah, it's…" he began, but he wasn't sure how to end it. It wasn't okay, it wasn't forgiven, and he'd missed ten years of his child's life. But it was over now, and he wanted to just focus on what he could do which was get to know Henry right now. "Don't worry about it," he said. "We'll figure it out later."

"Okay. I'll see you guys later."

He hung the phone up and gave it back to Henry who tucked it into his pocket. Belle had vanished someplace, and he was alone with his son for the first time in his life. He was definitely in over his head.