Aaron waved a little to Dave as he watched the other man pull out onto the street. It appeared that the twins were in the back seat, and he smiled a little to know that Erin would be happier this week, knowing that her babies were back where they should be. Parking in the drive, he grabbed out his guitar case and bounded up to the door, trying the knob and finding it open. His smile grew when he heard the sound of Erin's guitar floating towards him, since she was playing a song that he didn't recognize.

Closing the door softly, Aaron listened to the sound of the guitar as he made his way to the study. The closer he got, the more he could hear the melody come through, and then he picked up the words Erin was singing. "Said it would never happen then walked out the door, yeah, once again. Can't even start to imagine a life without you…"

He cleared his throat a little, letting her know that he had entered the room, and her voice stopped abruptly as she flattened her hand out on the strings of her instrument. "I passed Dave on my way in here. The twins are back?"

She nodded, keeping her head carefully turned from him, even as her hair fell over it. Alarm bells were going off in his head at that, and he tried to keep from frowning, knowing that she might take it the wrong way. "Bernice brought them back while you were on that case in Wisconsin. She said that Katarina was absolutely disconsolate without me."

"And yet, Dave is taking them for the afternoon?"

"To allow us some privacy. I requested it, actually." With those words, she looked up into his face, and he tried to control his micro-reaction to the livid bruise that stood out in stark relief on her pale face. "I shouldn't have told him that the girls were never leaving my sight again. I should know that ultimatums are never the best with him, given your line of work. He reacted in a predictable way, but I still should have been a little quicker in my reactions. Some things have never returned to me in full, after my brush with death."

He took a seat on the couch, his guitar case falling to the floor in a nearly silent thud as he leaned in and trailed his fingertips across her cheek. "Has he ever struck you before?"

"Never hard enough to leave bruises. But we argue, a lot, and sometimes when things are heated, hands start flying. God knows I've smacked his chest enough times to warrant a return hit."

Her words, so clinical, so detached, broke his heart, and he did the worst possible thing in that situation. Spreading his hand out on her face, he let his thumb stroke her cheekbone tenderly as he brought their foreheads together. "Nothing ever warrants this, Erin. You aren't as strong as he is, and so trying to hit at him is just your hardwired reaction to try and escape out of the situation. Love should never treat you like this. I heard the song you were singing when I came in. Was it about him?"

"Maybe."

"You want to leave him." He didn't phrase it as a question, since he knew the truth that was buried deep in her heart.

"Maybe. But you know why I can't, Aaron. I have to think of Isabella and Katrina. They're my heart, especially since things are still so rocky with my first children. If I lose them, too, I'll have no one left."

"That's not true, you'll have Penelope. And me."

Erin pulled away a little, tucking her chin into her chest as fresh tears began to roll down her face. "You make things sound so pretty, Aaron. Like everything will be perfectly okay just because I have you and Penelope. Friends are nice, yes, but I need my family. I need my children."

Her breath caught in her throat, and Aaron quickly bundled her close to his chest, letting her sob against him as he rocked them back and forth. "I completely understand, Erin. When Haley took Jack, I felt like I couldn't breathe. Like there was a huge part of my heart just…gone. It's the worst feeling in the world, and I wish that you had never had to experience it."

She nodded against his chest, curling her hand into the fabric of his shirt. At some point, he wasn't entirely certain when, she moved into his lap, snaking her arms up to encircle his neck, nuzzling her nose against his collarbone as she continued to sob. "I just wanted to move on, to be happy. I have my babies, I have my love, but I'm still so sad. It's ridiculous, I have nothing to be sad about."

"But you do. Your life is not what you planned, is it?"

"No," she whispered as she nestled in closer to him, her sobs lessening by the moment. Unconsciously, Aaron began to rub her back in soft circles, his hand stopping and spreading out at different moments. She seemed to crave the gentle touches, since he could hear the barely vocalized mewls of pleasure she let out. The fleeting thought ran through his mind of how long it had been since Dave had held Erin like this, been tender with her like this, and then he had to fight the impulse to drop a kiss to the top her head. It was how he had comforted Haley and Beth, and the thought that he was regarding Erin in the same light as those two disturbed him.
Aaron went to push her away, trying to get some control of the situation once more, but Erin tightened her hold on him, as if she needed to still be close to him. "Erin," he murmured lowly in her ear, "we're treading some very choppy water."

"Don't you think I know that? I've known that since our third lesson. But it seems that I'm good at plunging headfirst into situations that are not good for me. Or anyone around me. Right now, however, I just need to have someone, anyone, comfort me." Erin's hand curled over the ball of his shoulder, leveraging herself closer to him. "I just need to feel cherished for a few moments longer. And at least, in your arms, I can pretend that it's Dave who's holding me close. And I don't think that anyone else would understand quite like you do."

"You're probably right," he mumbled as he slid one hand up her neck until he was cradling her head. "But I still have to ostensibly give you a guitar lesson today. That song you were playing when I came in? Did you learn it on your own?"

Erin shifted in his lap, pulling away from him to look into his eyes as she nodded. "I needed a song that fit my current mood, and Penelope mentioned this one, and one thing led to another, and here we are."

There was a guilty blush on her cheeks, and Aaron wondered what was going through her mind. Deciding to try and tease her a little, to see if that would make her at least smile a little, he said, "Well, you're sounding quite good already. Maybe you don't need me as a teacher any longer."

The panicked look that instantly appeared on her face told him that his joke had not been well received, and Aaron fought to keep from bending over backwards in order to make her feel better. "There is still so much to learn, Aaron. Certainly, you realise that I'm not a competent player yet? Yes?"

Throwing caution to the wind, he leaned in and cupped her face with his hands and smiled softly. "I think that you are much better than you realise, Erin. But I will continue to give you lessons, at least until you feel like you're a good enough player to get by without me."

"Thank you," she breathed out as she rested her forehead against his, matching her breathing with his. Once he caught on to what she was doing, he deliberately slowed his breaths, knowing that the steady rhythm would help to calm her more readily than any words might.

"You are most welcome. All right, since you've done a little outside playing, how about we try some Bach pieces today?"

Aaron hoped that the move to something more classical would focus both of them a little more, since it seemed that this afternoon had so quickly gone off the rails, thanks to Dave's angry outburst. Erin looked up at him, her eyes shining wetly as she nodded a little. "I suppose that would be fine. After all, I need the challenge if I'm to grow as a player. Right?"

He nodded in response, bending down for his case and opening it, pulling out his well-worn copy of 70 Bach Chorales for Easy Classical Guitar. "Exactly. We'll begin with the first piece in this book and then we'll see how you get on from there." The first true smile of the day flashed across Erin's face, and he smiled back at her, wondering just how deeply a pit he was digging for himself.