"So," Phyllis smiled as leaned back in her chair and smoothed the napkin across her lap, "When are you planning on telling me what you and Jack were really talking about when I walked in?"

"What do you mean what we were really talking about. I told you, I was just telling Jack that he needed to stop depending on you so much. I worry about you." He smiled softly at her.

"You don't need to worry about me," she sighed. "I'm fine and I can handle Jack."

Looking at her now, it was hard to believe he'd ever given Ashley's words a second thought. She looked perfectly gorgeous, far from a medical crisis in waiting. Her eyes sparkled just as they always did when she looked at him, but there was something about his brother's adamant refusal to accept defeat that disturbed him a bit. Jack was definitely a right fighter and he wouldn't put it past him to argue about Phyllis simply for the sake of getting to him, but tonight didn't seem like that. He knew his brother and the look on his face tonight wasn't about petty jealously. It was about being right. It wasn't even about superiority or being the big brother that always looked for a way to make him inadequate. Tonight, Jack was worried, honestly, genuinely worried.

He took a deep breath before saying the words. "So, he hasn't been bothering you? About work…or anything else?"

His words gave her pause for a moment. Why would he ask her a question like this unless…Did he know what had gone on at the meeting and if he did, why wouldn't he just tell her or, better yet, why not just ask her about it? Why beat around the bush? "I told you," she said, trying not to snap, "Jack and I are fine and you and I are fine too…for now."

Billy smiled. "Is that your way of telling me to drop this?"

"That's my way of telling you there are lots of better ways to spend our evening and if you're busy spending time talking about your brother, maybe we can get the check and head on home." She let her lips curve into a seductive smile.

"Well, if that's an option." His eyes flashed at her as he stood from the table and leaned in to kiss her cheek. "Let me go find out waiter." Billy walked quickly from the table.

Phyllis watched him with a smile as he walked away, waiting until he was out of view before she took a small sip of water. Slowly she massaged her fingertips across her temple, the beginning of a headache slowly beginning to set in. It was moments like this, she wished she carried aspirin in her bag. Billy's warm embrace startled her and she jumped as he wrapped his arms around her and leaned in close to her ear.

"You ready to get out of here?"

"Yeah," she whispered as she let him help her with her chair and stood to her feet. She turned into his arms and looked up into his eyes. Being with him tonight would be the best medicine she could ever hope for.

"I guess you're pretty proud of yourself." Jack stood in the doorway of Ashley's office and waited for her to acknowledge his presence.

"Do you make a habit of just walking into someone's office without knocking?" Ashley glanced up at him, the snide tone of her voice echoing throughout the room.

"I do when the office is rightfully mine and when something is this important." Jack closed the door behind him before sitting down on the leather sofa. "I want to know why you felt it necessary to tell Billy what went on in the meeting today?"

"I didn't realize that we weren't sharing board meeting minutes with members of the board. Billy couldn't be there today because of a scheduling conflict with Chancellor. I was just filling him in on what happened."

Jack sighed. "the hell you were. You were trying to make trouble with Billy and Phyllis and, by extension, between Billy and me."

"Jack," Ashley began, "I'm really a bit too busy to concern myself with the complicated goings on of your personal life and…"

"Save it." Jack glared at her. "Look. You don't like Phyllis and that's fine, but I'd like to believe that you're a decent enough person that you'd rather not see her end up in a situation where she's honestly going to be hurt and I'm telling you now, something isn't right here. You going and getting Billy all riled up and somehow convincing him that I'm meddling in Phyllis' life doesn't do anything except convince him that I'm the enemy. Now, instead of him being concerned about Phyllis, the way he needs to be, the way he should be, he's too busy putting me on notice."

"If your brother doesn't trust you, that's not on me. That's on you, Jackie. For whatever reason, he seems to believe that family isn't all that important to you. I don't know where he'd ever get an idea like that."

"I don't know, Ash." Jack shook his head as he stared at her, no longer even recognizing the woman in front of him. "Maybe he got me confused with you."

Billy smiled as she stepped out of the bathroom. "Hey beautiful," he smiled. "I was wondering what was keeping you so long in there, but I have to admit, it was worth the wait."

She smiled as she slid into bed and felt his arms wrap around her. It had taken a bit longer than normal to get into fighting form tonight. The short, navy slip was one of Billy's favorites, but the dark color seemed to accentuate the dark circles under her eyes and she found herself spending more than a few moments applying concealer in front of the mirror. The last thing she wanted tonight was to field more questions about her health. Tonight she didn't want to have to convince Billy that she was okay. She just wanted to be okay. As long as she was with him, as long as they were together, everything was good.