John awoke the next morning with what seemed to be the biggest migraine. He rubbed his head before turning to his other side. For a moment, he was scared he had gotten drunk the night before, so to find empty space next to him was relieving to the actor. Getting in bed with a woman - even if it was Juliette - would be a big mistake considering everything that had been unraveling between him and Lori.

He quickly got ready to go to set. As usual, he brewed himself a cup of coffee before exiting his house and getting into his car.


When he stopped on set, multiple people were trying to talk to him at once. The migraine was as painful as ever and he had chosen to ignore them and simply ask if they had seen Lori. They all responded that they hadn't heard that she was coming to set that day, and John quickly moved on and went to talk to the other producers.

From a distance, Bob and Dave watched John as clear distress oozed out of him. The men weren't acting in the episode being filmed that day. Bob had simply decided to pass by on his way to another location… Dave just wanted more doughnuts.

"What do you think is going on with him today?" Bob asked Dave as he fed the baby playing Tommy his breakfast.

"It probably has something to do with Lori," Dave replied as he took another big bite into his donut. "The three girls have been running like wildebeests all over set, trying to get the deets on those two."

Bob frowned. "Do you think we should talk to him about it? He was heartbroken the first time around, I assume it can only be worse now."

"Oh no, we shouldn't meddle. Not again."

Bob shot him a look.

"Fine…" he reluctantly agreed. He went to the trashcan to throw his doughnut away, but then changed his mind and crammed it into his mouth as he followed Bob on his quest to find John.


Lori had the worst headache as she woke up. She had completely forgotten to check on Mossimo after their fight the day before and when she had gotten home he didn't let her forget what happened. She had apologized almost a hundred times and cried so much that she could still feel her eyes swollen from the night before. He had finally let it go, but they still weren't on very good terms that morning.

She looked in the mirror and sighed. It was going to take so much makeup to hide the fact she had cried, but she had already promised the girls that she would visit the set, and John couldn't see her like this.


"John…" Bob called out to John as he paced back and forth, talking on his earpiece.

"Hold on one minute," John said into the earpiece before looking at Bob and Dave. "Guys, I really don't have time for this right now," he told them, annoyed.

"It's important," Bob insisted.

"Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Got it," John finished talking into his earpiece before switching it off.

"I have fifteen minutes. Go," he ordered.

"Sit down. We all need to talk," Bob announced as they all took a seat around the coffee table.


Lori poured herself coffee before walking to the door. Her hand was on the handle until she suddenly heard a voice from behind her.

"Where do you think you're going?"

She could feel her fingers instinctively grip around her thermos as her other hand slowly fell to her side.

"Work," Lori answered simply, not turning around.

"I know you're not filming an episode today, Lori."

Lori didn't know how to respond. She looked down at the ground for a moment before finally turning around to look at Mossimo.

"I'm not dumb. You're going to the studio to see John," he told her, his stern facial expression unchanged.

"I promised the girls I would spend time with them today. Honest."

Lori had told the truth, but she knew her husband still wouldn't believe her.

Mossimo looked into Lori's eyes, clear disappointment in his. He was undoubtedly angry, but part of him somehow felt pity for her. "Take a day to rest. You deserve it," he said softly.

Lori continued looking into his eyes. She suddenly felt guilt rise in her. She knew she hadn't been the best wife lately and wished things could go back to how they were before Fuller House filming had started. It was weird. She and John, as well as the rest of their Full House family, had consistently met up since filming ended years ago. However, being back on set where it had all started and spending endless hours day after day together had reminded her of how great she and John really were together.

Reconnecting with John wasn't what had initiated the rupture of her marriage. Coming to truth with herself was.

After a second, Lori nodded at Mossimo and decided to take a seat in her living room.

"It's for the best," Mossimo called out to her before leaving for work.


"You haven't been yourself lately and we're worried about you," Bob explained, concerned.

"We know it's about Lori," Dave added.

"You're distracted all of the time. You're spending all of your extra time with Lori between scenes and it's taking a toll on you."

"Guys, is this about me missing our daily hug sessions?" John joked, trying to make fun of the situation and hide his vulnerability. "Listen, you and me, we'll sit down, we'll set a specific time for hugging… but not now," he teased, using one of his lines from the very first Full House episode.

Both the men shot him looks and ignored him, causing John to raise his eyebrows.

"We're serious, John," Dave replied. "Even the girls said you haven't been the same. They saw you leaving Lori's trailer last night. They waited on you for three hours and you pushed past them when they tried to talk to you."

"Can't a man be distracted? I have had a lot on my mind," John argued.

"But you love those girls and you'd never ignore them. They're like daughters to you," Bob reminded.

Those words stung. Bob and Dave were right, they were like daughters to him. And now that they're matured women, they, at the same time, felt like sisters to him.

John paused, staring at the space in front of him. The expression he wore suddenly became serious.

"I could have had my own daughters, you know."

Dave tilted his head, confused. "Pardon?"

"With Lori," John answered, still staring ahead of him. "I could have had daughters with Lori."

Bob and Dave became silent.

"John, I hate to say this," Dave responded after a moment, "but it's time to move on. She's happily married with two beautiful teenagers. She has a grounded life. And if you truly do care about her, then you wouldn't want to take that away from her."

Bob patted John's shoulder, a sorrow expression ghosting on him. "You'll be okay. You have Juliette. And if she's not the one, there are so many other women out there who would love to be with you. You have a much better chance than Dave and me combined," he joked.

Dave, happily married, just shrugged in response.

Bob looked back at John.

"It's time for you to let her go. Completely."

John looked from Bob to Dave and then back to Bob.

"Fifteen minutes are up," John mumbled before getting up and walking away.

As John got back to his proper place next to the other producers, he couldn't get his friends' words out of his head. He knew deep down that they were right, he should let go of Lori, but it just wasn't that simple. He'd been trying for years.


Lori texted the girls and apologized for the fact she couldn't make it. She then called upstairs to her daughters and asked them if they wanted to watch a movie as a family. They happily obliged. However, as she sat on the couch minutes later, cuddled with her daughters, she couldn't get her mind off of John. Her heart was not only with her family. It was also with him.


Screw what the guys had to say. They don't know a thing about me and Lori, John thought to himself as he took a break from his producer duties and scrolled through his phone. He stopped at Lori's name. He stared at her picture before finally deciding to text her.

Where are you today? I miss you.


As Lori's daughters laughed at the comedic scene on screen, she could feel her phone vibrate in her pocket. She looked at both of them and tried to sneakily pull her phone out and check it. A smile arose on her face when she realized it was from John.

Mossimo insisted I take a "rest day." I'm with my daughters right now watching 'Sleeping With Other People.'

John laughed, acknowledging that Lori was too innocent and naive to understand the humor behind the title.

Of course you're watching that, John teased in response. Your husband shouldn't be so overprotective.

Lori felt her phone vibrate again.

He's just looking out for our marriage. She hesitated before clicking send.

John looked at Lori's response and paused. She was right. He thought about it for a second before replying.

I'm just looking out for you.

At this point, Lori's eyes were glued to her phone instead of the movie. She was sitting in between her two girls with the large bowl of popcorn on her lap, fumbling with her phone as she received John's messages. She watched the phone light up again and her fingers naturally glided onto her phone's keyboard.

"Mom," Lori suddenly heard Bella say beside her, "I thought you said no phones during 'family bonding time.'" Olivia's eyes darted to her mother's phone, her eyes narrowing in curiosity.

"Yes, I did say that," Lori answered naturally. "Sorry, it was work, but I'm turning it off. You're right. This is family bonding time. All my attention is on you… and the movie."

Bye. Talk later. Lori quickly typed before turning her phone off and setting it on the table.

Bye? John typed, confused, but Lori never responded.


John looked back up at the set, watching the scene before him; however, no matter how hard he tried, his mind kept going back to Lori.


As the movie ended, Lori got up to carry the bowl of leftover popcorn to the kitchen and Bella took the opportunity to grab her mom's phone. She turned it on.

"What did you girls think about the movie?" she called innocently from the kitchen.

The girls were too busy reading their mother's conversation with John to respond.

"Hello?" Lori asked. She looked over and saw the girls huddled over a cell phone. She laughed. "I guess family bonding time is over," she teased, walking back over to the couch. That's when she realized it wasn't one of their phones they had in their hands. It was hers.

"Excuse me," Lori stated sternly, yanking the phone out of Bella's hands.

"I thought you said it was work." Bella looked up at her mom, confused.

"That was John, mom," Olivia pointed out.

"Why is he talking about dad?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Family bonding is important, and so is privacy," Lori instituted, pushing her phone into her pocket. "John's a dear friend, girls. He has been for years. It's nothing to make a fuss about."

Bella and Olivia looked up at their mom worried and bewildered.

"Now," Lori continued, looking away from her daughters and going to the pantry, "who wants to bake cookies?"

The two girls gave each other a look before giving in.

Lori made sure to keep a mental note not to leave her phone out again. And to change her passcode.


7pm. Dinner time.

As Lori was cooking dinner for her kids who were diligently working on their homework and taking a small nibble from their plate of chocolate chip cookies every now and then, she couldn't help but realize that Mossimo was right. Maybe she did need a rest day. With her coming home late during the weekdays and the girls going out on the weekends, they hadn't had dinner as a whole family in weeks, and she was starting to realize how much she missed it. Regardless of everything going on, she loved her family and wanted nothing but to make them happy.

Fifteen minutes passed and the three women heard the doorbell ring.

Lori heard the sound of her daughters' footsteps rush to the door in a hurry to greet their father. It was so nice to still see her girls, as teenagers, get excited when her husband came home from work. It made Lori smile.

"How was your day?" Mossimo asked his daughters as they hugged him. When they pulled back, he reached his hand into his pocket and handed them each a $10 bill.

"This is for keeping an eye on your mother," he whispered to them.

Another fifteen minutes had passed and Lori was too caught up in her cooking to even realize that her family members were sitting in the living room and had yet to enter the kitchen.


Although Lori was excited about being back with her family again, for some reason she could feel an awkward tension at the table. She decided to brush the feeling off as her imagination and continued picking at her food.

Upon finishing her meal, Lori looked at her daughters and husband with a smile. "So, whose turn is it to wash dishes?"

"Nose game!" Olivia called out, to which Bella and even their parents played along with. Bella, much to her dismay, was the last one to touch her nose.

"Unfair!" Bella shouted out, glaring her sister down.

Olivia simply laughed at her older sister.

Lori chuckled as Mossimo finally stated, "Olivia, it's your turn to wash the dishes anyway. Go now, your sister needs to work on her college applications."

"Ugh, dad," Olivia mumbled as she got up and grabbed the plates from everyone, taking them to the sink.

Lori began walking to the stairs before realizing Mossimo hadn't gotten up yet. "Aren't you heading to bed, honey?" she asked her husband.

"I will in a minute," he replied casually.

Lori nodded, giving him a kiss on the cheek before heading upstairs.

Once Lori was out of sight, Mossimo pulled out his phone.

You call me overprotective, but you're the one who should be staying away from my wife.

He pressed send before getting out of his chair.


Lori shuffled through her closet before finding her favorite red silk nightie and slipping it on.

She straightened the dress as she suddenly felt arms wrap around her from behind and kiss her neck. Lori shrugged him off of her. "I'm not in the mood," she told him bluntly.

"Why not?" Mossimo asked, as if slightly offended.

"I just have a lot on my mind," Lori replied, turning away and walking over to the bed.

"Why, because I'm too 'overprotective'?" Mossimo questioned, watching as she casually moved around the room. Lori looked at him, stunned.

"Lori," he sighed, "the girls told me about your text conversation with John."

Lori paused in place. She stood there for a moment, trying to think of a response.

"He didn't mean anything by it. You know how he is. He's always joking around."

"No, he's always flirting with you."

"That's just how he is, Mossimo," Lori finally turned to face her husband. "You haven't had a problem with it before, why are you so concerned now?"

"Because you've been acting differently around me, around our family. You hesitate to even kiss me, your own husband. You watch from afar as he happily shows off the woman he's dating, and you even force me to go along with your little game." The more words he said, the more it felt real, and the more it felt real, the sadder he became.

Mossimo let out a breath and decided to sit himself at the foot of their bed.

"I just don't want to lose you, Lori," he declared softly, looking at the ground.

Lori bit her lip, guilt quickly rising in her. She went over to her husband and sat beside him.

"You'll never lose me," she assured, placing her hand on his leg and pressing her lips against his. It was only a peck, but as she pulled away and looked deeply into his eyes, she found herself leaning in and kissing him again.

For a moment, Mossimo gave into the gradually-heated kiss with the woman he was in love with; however, after a minute, he pulled away.

Mossimo stood up off the bed and grabbed his cup of tea off of his bedside table.

"Where are you going?"

"I can't do this right now. I have to be up early. I'm going to go sleep in the guest bedroom," Mossimo told her as he went over to the door and opened it.

"Mossimo, come on," Lori pleaded, feeling terrible. "I understand that you're upset, but you should also trust me enough to know I wouldn't cross any kind of line. John and I are friends. We always will be."

She could tell by the look in his eyes he didn't believe a word she was saying.

"You know I love you, right?"

"Yeah well," Mossimo declared, turning to her one last time, "clearly not enough."


John looked at the clock as he got in bed. 11pm and still no text back from Lori. His phone vibrated and he checked it.

Wanna come over for some fun? ;)

It was from Juliette. John ignored it. After reading the text he had abruptly gotten from Mossimo a few hours back, he had other things on his mind and hooking up with a woman he didn't love was not one of them.

John tried to ease his heart by laying in bed and scrolling through Lori's Twitter page. The latest tweet, he discovered, was from that afternoon. He clicked on the link in the tweet, which sent him to her Instagram page.

The picture was captioned "Movie night with my two favorite girls," displaying Lori and each daughter beside her. They were all wearing smiles as they sat on the couch, throw pillows on their lap and the big bowl of popcorn on Lori's.

John smiled sadly at the picture for a few minutes before plugging his phone into his charger and placing it on the bedside table. He turned off the light and curled up in bed.

Maybe the guys were right… he thought to himself as he drifted off to sleep.