A/N: Thank you all for the reviews! I cannot say that enough. :)

Chapter Thirteen

The Silence Breaks

Amy didn't know why she was feeling nervous as she got out of her car and started walking up to her house. She didn't know what she was going to find in there. Was Ty angry with her? He didn't seem to be on the phone, but sometimes static can cover true emotions. Taking a deep breath, Amy turned her key into the lock and pushed open the front door. The living room was dark and empty, the only piece of evidence of recent occupation was a small, purple, My Little Pony blanket lying on the couch.

Amy smiled as she stepped inside and closed the door. She walked over to the couch and picked up the soft blanket. It was Lily's favorite; she couldn't go to sleep without it. Which was why Amy wondered why it was down here if she was upstairs, assuming Ty was putting the twins down for a nap. Amy brought the blanket up to her face and breathed in her daughter's scent. She closed her eyes and imagined her daughter holding this blanket tight around her, her thumb just barely in her mouth, as she drifted off to sleep.

"Amy?"

Startled, Amy turned around at the sound of Ty's voice. He stood in the doorway of the living room, from the hall, looking at her. His hair was ruffled and it looked like he was in need of a nap himself. Amy gulped, feeling the tension between them from last night. She saw Ty's eyes flicker down to the blanket still in her hands.

"I was just coming down to get that," Ty said, pointing to the blanket. "Lily was asking for it."

"She can't sleep without it," Amy murmured, smiling to herself.

"Yeah," Ty agreed. Amy walked over to him and held out the blanket to him, but Ty stopped her. "You should go up and give it to her. They both have been asking for you."

A stab of guilt went through her as she realized just how much her actions affected the twins. Amy nodded and started to walk past him. She had reached the bottom of the stairs when she heard Ty call back to her.

"I'll be down here when you're done,"

Amy didn't say anything as she continued up the stairs. The beginning song of Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron was playing as Amy walked down the upstairs hallway, the sound filtering out underneath the twins' door. Stepping over Lobo, Amy opened the door. Lily, who had already been sitting up, awaiting her blankey, gasped when she saw her mommy.

"Mommy!"

Lily bounded out of her bed and ran over to Amy. Amy knelt down to catch her in her arms, holding on to her tightly. "'miss you, mommy!" Lily exclaimed, her voice muffled from where her face was pressed into Amy's shoulder.

"I'm back, sweetie," Amy told her. "And look what I brought you." She pulled back and held out the blanket. Lily gasped again.

"Banky!"

Amy laughed. "You ready to go to sleep now?" she asked her. Lily nodded as Amy wrapped the My Little Pony blanket around the toddler. She picked her daughter up and carried her over to her bed. Amy tucked Lily in and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Mommy?" came a sleep-filled voice in the next bed over.

Amy turned around and saw her son staring up at her, his green eyes glassy with sleep. "Hey, Jack," Amy greeted him, sliding over next to his bed. "Go back to sleep. I'll be here when you wake up, I promise." She gave him a kiss and his eyes were already drifting closed.

When Amy came back downstairs, Ty was sitting in the living room waiting for her. He set his phone down on the coffee table and stood up as she entered. Looking at him staring at her like that, Amy was filled with guilt and regret over leaving him last night. If she could go back and undo it, she would. But she couldn't, so she said the only thing that she could think of to say.

"Ty, I am so sorry!" Amy apologized, walking over to him. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have run off on you like that. It wasn't fair."

"Then, why did you, Amy?" Ty asked her, his voice quiet.

"Because I was afraid..." Amy confessed. "Ty, I don't want to give up horses, I can't. I need to be able to help them-"

"Amy, no one is asking you to," Ty interrupted her, slightly confused. "Is this what this is all about? We don't want you to give up what you do. Horses are a part of you, it's one of the reasons why I love you. I would never want to take that away from you. You have to know that."

"I do. I know now," Amy said. "I've been thinking, what if instead of me trying to work all day, I just work half a day? We can have Jessica come after lunch, when the twins are napping. That way, I can leave without them noticing and I can work up to when you come home."

"What ever you want to do Amy, really," Ty told her. "I never wanted you to be unhappy. I want you to tell me when something is bothering you, so we can work it out together."

"I will, I promise," Amy said, earnestly. She stepped forward and Ty opened his arms for her. His arms enfolded her to him, while her own slid around his waist. Amy looked up at him, her chin resting on his chest. "And just so you know, I was never unhappy. I love being with you and a mother to our children. That's never going to change."

"Good to know," Ty replied.

Leaning forward, Ty pressed his lips to hers and pulled her closer so that they were flush against each other. Amy returned his kiss passionately, her hands sliding up his back. Suddenly, she wished that his t-shirt wasn't in the way. She wanted to feel his skin on hers, his lean muscles under her fingertips. Apparently, he felt the same way because she became aware that her shirt was moving upward and then suddenly, it was gone.

The kiss became urgent as Ty walked her backward until her heels hit the couch and she went tumbling down onto it. Ty came down on top of her, but it didn't hinder their passion, actually, it increased it. Ty shed his shirt and placed kisses from her mouth to her collarbone, leaving a fiery trail of heat in its' wake. Shivers raced down Amy's spine, but she wasn't cold, in fact, just the opposite. Ty's lips traveled back up until they hovered just above her own.

"I love you, Amy," Ty whispered huskily.

"I love you, too," Amy panted, unable to catch her breath at the moment.

Their lips reconnected, their passion and love filling Amy until she thought she would burst. They rode the waves of ecstasy together, and afterward, lay together, their limbs entangled with each others. Not wanting to be even an inch away from each other, knowing that from this moment on, nothing could come between them.

~OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~

Rebecca stared down at the two-year-old in front of her, standing with a scowl on his face and his arms folded in front of him. "C'mon, AJ, mommy's tired, you have to lie down," she tried to reason with the toddler. It's been ten minutes since Rebecca first proposed AJ take a nap, and the little boy was insisting he wasn't tired. Rebecca, herself, was tired, and she wanted some quiet time to herself.

"No!" AJ exclaimed. He picked up one of his toy cars and threw it across the room.

"Hey, we don't through toys!" Rebecca chastised him. She kneeled down in front of him and took his hands. "AJ, it is time to take a nap. We're going to clean up and go lie down, ok?"

AJ wriggled his hands out of her grasp and gave another, "No!" He stepped back and kicked a whole pile of cars, sending the little toys everywhere.

Rebecca leaned her elbow on the coffee table and sighed. She didn't know what had gotten into AJ. He never gave her any problem about taking a nap before. She hoped it was only him voicing his opinions and not the result of some underlying problem. A bang against the wall brought Rebecca out of her thoughts and she realized that AJ had thrown another car.

"That's it," Rebecca said agitated, her patience gone. She stood up and walked over to AJ, grabbing his arm. "You're going to bed and you're not getting a snack after."

AJ tried unsuccessfully to push Rebecca's hand off his arm. "Nooooo," he whined as Rebecca started walking out of the living room to his bedroom.

"I can give you another chance," Rebecca offered, turning to face her son again, letting go of him. "You can clean up your toys and go take a nap like a good boy. Then, maybe, you can have a snack." Rebecca held her breath, hoping this would get through to AJ.

It didn't.

AJ growled, kicked some more toys and took off running to his room. A moment later, Rebecca heard AJ's bedroom door slam closed. Rebecca sighed and pushed a hand through her dark hair. She didn't know what to do; AJ had never acted like this before. Deciding to give him few minutes to calm down, Rebecca started picking up the toys on the floor. She dropped the matchbox cars into the blue, plastic bin at her feet, stopping only when she came to the electronic race car Adam had given AJ. Smiling, Rebecca picked up the car.

In the short amount of time, AJ had this car, he'd really grown to love it. He played with it everyday and he wanted to bring it with him everywhere he went. It really showed how much Adam was trying. Every time she looked at the car, it made her feel like she made the right decision of letting Adam into AJ's life. Suddenly, Rebecca's cell phone started buzzing from where it lay on the coffee table. It startled her so much that she dropped the race car and then flinched at the loud noise it caused.

When Rebecca picked up the phone, she immediately recognized the number as belonging to Adam. She smiled for the second time in less than five minutes, thinking back to a few years ago when it seemed like he would always know when she was thinking of him and would call right that second. She hit accept and held the phone up to her ear.

"Hey," she said into the phone.

There was a voice on the other end, but it was quickly covered by static. Rebecca frowned at the phone for a moment, checked the connection, then put it back to her ear.

"Hello?" she asked. "Adam, are you there?"

Still, static filled the phone. Rebecca started walking over to the sliding glass door, hoping the connection would get better. Opening the door, Rebecca stepped out onto the small, metal balcony. The cold air bit into her light sweater and the afternoon traffic was in full swing, but she hardly noticed any of that as she was trying to figure her current phone issue.

"Adam, can you hear me?" Rebecca tried again.

There was definitely someone on the other end, she knew that much, now that there wasn't as much static as there were before. They kept breaking up, though, making it hard for Rebecca to understand what they were saying. It was frustrating, and Rebecca let out an agitated ugh. Just then, a large tractor-trailer zoomed by down on the road below, honking its' horn loudly. Right after that, there was a loud slam from inside the apartment. Rebecca spun around and that's when her phone went dead.

"AJ!" Rebecca called as stepped back into the apartment, the mysterious phone call forgotten for the moment. There was no answer, so thinking that he was still in his room, Rebecca made her way down the hallway to his bedroom. She pushed opened the door and looked in. "AJ, you in here?"

The room was empty and Rebecca tried to ignore the sudden thudding of her heartbeat. It didn't mean anything, AJ could be anywhere in the apartment. Moving quickly, Rebecca searched every room in the apartment, in all the little places a two-year-old could hide. She called out his name relentlessly. Exhausting all other options, Rebecca opened the apartment door and looked up and down the hallway. There was no way AJ would just walk out by himself, he just wouldn't do that, and he couldn't even reach the elevator button.

Panic was settling in the pit of her stomach as she closed the door. Thankfully, she was still holding her phone, making it easy for her to punch in the only number she could think of. Rebecca held her breath, hoping the call went through and didn't get cut off like before. It started to ring and she let out a shaky breath as she waited for someone to pick up. Finally, they did.

"It's me!" Rebecca burst out, barely able to hold herself together. "AJ's gone!"

A/N: I know I keep you waiting and waiting for this chapter and then I just leave you with a cliffhanger. I'm so mean, haha! Review and I'll post the next chapter faster! ;)