Roarke sat in the living room as he switched channels on the TV. It was a little after 8 in the morning and as far as he knew, Roxy was still sleeping, or ignoring him. He had to admit he had come on a bit strong the day before and she had made it her task to stay out of his way since.

He stopped switching the channel as he landed on the local news where a reporter was sitting behind his desk, a picture of John Dutton and Roxy behind him.

"It had been three days since Governor Dutton was questioned about his take on abortion and put on the spot when very personal and family information was divulged. No comment was made by either Governor Dutton, himself, or his daughter, Doctor Roxanne Dutton, until last night when Governor Dutton made an official statement."

The screen shifted to John Dutton standing behind a microphone in the lobby of his office building.

"In the beginning of his statement, Governor Dutton, came back on the events of that fatal night before adding…"

"My daughter never told me that she was pregnant, then nor since her return to Montana. I can't and refuse to be held accountable for something I did not know of. If my daughter felt, at that time, that I would have made her get an abortion and leaving Montana was her only option, that is on her. My views of abortion are fully aligned with what I expressed during the press conference. I can assure the people of the State of Montana that I have and always will be transparent and trustworthy, something I wish my own daughter had known."

Roarke frowned upon hearing John's statement. He only had time to put the channel on mute as he fumbled with the remote upon hearing Roxy's bedroom door open and her walk toward the living room.

Roxy's eyes landed on the television, one of the first things she could see entering the room. On the bottom of the screen, underneath the anchorman she read "Governor Dutton reassures his partisans".

Roarke looked at her, trying to analyze what she was making of it.

"What did he say?" she asked as she stood somewhat frozen, her eyes still on the TV.

"Nothing interesting," replied Roarke as he shut the TV off.

"I didn't ask if it was interesting, I asked what he said in his official statement."

"You don't want to know."

"Yeah, I do."

"Not what I would have said."

She narrowed her eyes. "I'll hear it anyway or watch it on my phone, so might as well tell me."

"He didn't support you. Actually, it's more like he threw you under the bus to save himself. In a nutshell, he said that it wasn't his fault he didn't know and that you assumed he'd make you get an abortion."

She sighed. "I guess you were right, he preferred saving his political career than admit that I was right."

"Without wanting to sound rude, are you sure he would have made you get an abortion?"

She threw him a menacing look and he lifted his arms up in surrender. "Right, sorry I even dared to ask."

She walked over and plopped down on the sofa across from him and that's when he noticed she was wearing exactly what she had the prior morning when he had lectured her about getting dressed. He couldn't make out what angle she was getting at. Either she was provoking him, or she didn't care.

"Still not in the mood to get dressed, are you?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know you were being serious," she said playing innocent.

"I was. How would you feel if I walked around naked?"

"I'm not naked."

"Not the point. You'd most probably feel uncomfortable."

"I'm a doctor. You want to know how many naked men I've seen? I have the feeling that in the end you'd end up being the one who is uncomfortable."

He laughed whole-heartedly and she smiled. "Don't tempt me, Doc."

"I'm not. I'm just stating a fact. Look, Roarke, I'm going through hell and have been for a couple of days, the last thing I want to think about is what I need to wear around you."

"You know, there is one way we could fix that problem," he said as he stood from his spot and sat down in the same sofa as her.

"Yes, I could pack up my things and leave," said Roxy.

"The scenario I had in mind has hot and wild sex in it. Once that's done, we can both walk around naked all day if we want to, I won't bother you anymore with the kind of clothes you wear around me… heck, I'd probably ask you not to wear any at all."

"Are you always this obsessed?" she dared to ask.

"Only when it comes to you, Doc. I'm usually very much in control. I could and have gone years without ever feeling the need to have sex with a woman, but when it comes to you, I literally spin out of control. You may think I'm a ladies' man, that I can get any woman in my bed, but I'm not. Although the last part is true, I could at the snap of a finger get any woman in bed, but I'm not a predator. I'm selective and me being attracted to you, feeling desire for you, wanting to sleep with you… you should perceive that as a compliment."

For once, in a long time, she found herself speechless. She knew the effect she had had on Rip when they were younger, with Ryan it had been different, she knew he had been attracted to her, but no one, since Rip, had managed to convey that feeling of ultimate desire, when talking about what they felt for her.

If she thought back to the men she had slept with, unlike Beth, the list was short. Rip had been her first, the young palpitating love, the one that gave her butterflies in her stomach. Ryan had made her feel something entirely different, no butterflies, but she had imagined it was because she was older. Feeling different things with Ryan had not been something she had worried about, people changed over the years and life had changed her. The one she had regretted sleeping with had been Malcolm. She had not done it out of love, desire or want, she had done it out of need, out of obligation. She thought about what it would be like for her to sleep with someone else, especially if she imagined and slowly came to terms with her and Ryan never being able to fix things or ever getting back together. She came to the conclusion that like for everything else she had lived in her life, it would become natural, life went on.

Roarke's phone rang and he stood, walked over to the kitchen countertop, and took the call.

"Richard, thanks for calling me back," he said as he turned around, leaned against the counter, and kept his eyes on Roxy. She knew he was playing a mind game, to see how long she would last before turning her stare away from him, knowing full well he was undressing her slowly in his head. She opted to keep his gaze, being a worthy opponent.

"I've desperately been trying to get a hold of Horace."

He listened to the other person.

"I see. Do you know when he'll be reachable?"

"No, that's fine. Can you ask him to call me the minute he gets back? I'd really appreciate it, Rick. Thanks."

Roarke put the phone down. Roxy stood and walked over to where he was standing.

"And?"

"Horace is in rehab and can't be contacted for the time being."

She didn't want to seem as though she didn't care about this Horace guy in rehab and his health, but it wasn't really her problem and she apparently needed him to fix her problem.

"How long before he can get back to you?"

"Rick says two weeks. It's when he's allowed to get his first visits and phone calls."

"Two weeks?! What am I going to do for two weeks?"

"I know it's not ideal, but he's the only one I can call this favor into without us getting burned. Either you wait or you quit and go back to Cheyenne."

"Regardless of the fact that they have ruined my life, they attacked me personally, revealing private information that no one out there should have known… I'm not quitting."

"I didn't expect you to," said Roarke, "I know that when you put your mind to it you don't deviate from your objective. I just wanted to make sure you knew what options were available."

She nodded then saw him tilt his head to the side.

"What?" she asked.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For everything you went through and are going through. I've never been in your position, but I can only imagine how hard it was for you, especially since you were alone."

"You know for a long time, I blamed myself for the miscarriage. I thought it was karma, you know, almost like being punished because I had left Rip and the ranch. Or maybe I had done something I wasn't supposed to have done."

He saw pain fill her eyes.

"Even if the doctor told me, it hadn't been my fault, it wasn't until med school that I stopped blaming myself. It's easy for people to say that nature works in mysterious ways and sometimes it's better that way. It is the truth, but when you're grieving you don't want to hear that; you search for someone to blame, and you usually end up being the first one to blame."

"You know, you can still have children," said Roarke in comforting voice.

"I'm going to for a walk," replied Roxy.

He watched as she headed through the living room then out of sight. He remained quiet until he heard her bedroom door shut. He then turned around and shook his head.

"Smooth move," he said to himself sarcastically before heading to the coffee machine and serving himself a mug.