"I still don't know why we had to take your car." Lucky grumbled, glaring out of the window at the passing homes. In the ten minutes since they had left Patrick's, it was the first words either of them had spoken.

"Because I don't want to be seen in yours. I have an image to uphold." Patrick smirked, dimples in place as he angled his hand loosely across the steering wheel to change the channel.

"You do know people think you are overcompensating for something in this car right?"

"Try not to drool on the leather okay cousin?" Patrick shot back unperturbed.

Without even bothering to look over, Lucky flipped the bird. This whole thing was an exercise in the ridiculous. What exactly would this prove? They would go bust in on Cruz's place, find exactly nothing and then have to explain exactly why they were running in there like morons. This had disaster written all over it. Flipping open his cell phone, he dialed a familiar set of digits and prayed his call would be answered.

"Hi this is Elizabeth. Tell me something I don't already know and I'll call you back."

"Damn it." He swore, closing the phone before leaving a message.

"Kuh-chh." Patrick teased, imitating the sound of a whip as they pulled into the driveway. The car at the top of the driveway didn't belong to Cruz. In fact, it looked a little familiar, but he couldn't place it. "You recognize that car?" He asked as he put his Ferrari in park

Lucky peered at the car, searching for the familiar bumper stickers. "Not hers."

"Not whose?" Patrick was lost.

"Elizabeth's car is covered in bumper stickers for obscure pop artists. There is nothing on this one" Lucky pointed at the car in front of them. He shook his head. "It's not Elizabeth's but it does look familiar."

Leaving the car in sync, both guys moved toward the front door. Patrick ignored Lucky's chuckle when he wiped his feet. "You ready?" He doubted Lucky was. Finding your girlfriend fucking your best friend was probably not something you went out of your way to see. He knew if it was him..."You can still back out and I can just tell you after the fact." He offered sheepishly. What if he was right and it was Elizabeth at the top of the stairs? Patrick would have to be blind to not see the radical change in his cousin or recognize that it had occurred the moment he saw Lucky and Elizabeth in the same room together.

"For you to be wrong? Always." Lucky was putting up a good front but inside he was shaking. His brain repeated the same mantra over and over. Patrick was wrong. Patrick was wrong. Patrick was wrong.

"This is one time I want to be wrong." And he meant it. He didn't go out of his way to make his cousin unhappy. Really, he shouldn't have said anything, but he had wanted to save Lucky from the pain he was going through. Barely tapping Lucky's back in an uncomfortable calming gesture, he reached out and turned the knob.

Entering quietly, it was immediately obvious Cruz was not spending his night in on his couch watching the CW as he always did. The small table Cruz used for eating was decorated with candles with two glasses of wine, one untouched, sitting by what looked to be the remnants of an Italian dinner. Whoever was here, the high heeled boot on the steps gave away her gender as female.

It was now or never. Cruz and his lady friend were otherwise distracted. This was the time to hurry up the stairs and see who she was for their own piece of mind. When did they cross the line? Had they already? His stomach was all tied up in knots. This wasn't right. Cruz would never forgive them for this. There must be some reason he wanted to keep them in the dark. He felt like a rat. They should leave. Leave before they were caught. The determination in Lucky's eyes was a little frightening. He had lit a short fuse. When Lucky blew, it was going to be all his fault.

"What are you waiting for?" Lucky challenged. "You were the one that was so gun-ho about this mission." He tossed a short nod towards the stairs. "Go on."

"No matter what, we have to hear him out." Patrick insisted harshly.

"Move."

Patrick wiped a hand down his face as slowly made his way up the stairs, Lucky on his heels. There was no turning back. This was the day he lost one or both of his best friends. Way to go dipshit, he berated himself. Fling open the bedroom door and take whatever comes your way. His hand shook as he reached over and clasped his fingers around the shiny silver knob. There was movement on the other side of the not-so-thick door. Movement and talking. Whispers. Please don't be Elizabeth. Please don't let Cruz see us. Please.

The flash of scarlet hair killed the possibility that it could be Elizabeth. Her hair was much darker and longer. The woman with her bare back to him had thick red curls that fell above her shoulders.

It was a moment of choice. Did they leave and never let Cruz know they had been there? Never let him know how close they came to identifying his mystery lady? Did they go back down stairs and make enough noise to raise the dead, announcing their presence and giving Cruz time to hide? Or did they listen to their basic college boy instincts? The ones that said open the door just a little wider and see if they could figure this out for once and for all. In a choice between maturity and immaturity, immaturity always wins out.

Patrick's cell phone chirped to life in the pants pocket of his forest-green slacks alerting their intrusion far quicker than a small grunt or cough would have. Cruz met his best friends' wide-eyed stares and that was when she turned and did the same. Having reached for the phone immediately, Patrick's fingers refused to hold it a minute longer and they spread apart.

"What the hell?" Lucky's voice broke the silence, speaking the only words that could come to both his and Patrick's minds.

"A-Aunt Bobbie?" Patrick stuttered, the ground beneath his feet starting to quiver.

Cruz scrambled to stand up, pulling at his pants equal parts confused and angry. What were they doing here in the first place? How long had they been there? "There's an explanation." He started.

"It had better be you are taking an art class." Lucky managed, trying to look everywhere but where his aunt sat on his best friend's bed.

This was not happening! Cruz and Bobbie? Bobbie and Cruz? Bobbie was the mystery woman? All this time..."You son of a bitch!" Patrick lunged forward, his movement surprising his friend enough to keep the younger man from blocking the punch he delivered to his chin.

"Patrick!" Bobbie yelled. "Calm down!"

Patrick spun around, his eyes opening and closing rapidly as he tried to regulate his breathing. He couldn't see her this way, not his Aunt Bobbie, not the woman who had stood in for his own mother for the last decade! He wanted to runaway, to put his hands over his ears and never hear the forced explanation Cruz had planned on giving them.

"Calm down she says," Lucky muttered under his breath, having finally decided to keep his eyes on the ceiling. "Calm down she says, like this is just some every day occurrence. Calm down?" The initial feeling of relief that had washed over him when he realized that Elizabeth was in fact not Cruz's mystery girl had been replaced by shock and utter confusion.

"Well it's not like we planned to tell you like this." Cruz pointed out hotly, rubbing his jaw. "What the hell where you two doing here spying on me?"

"Oh, no!" Patrick was shaking with fury, but he refused to turn around. "We're the ones who get to ask the questions, okay?" Equal parts confused and mortified, he continued, "Could you guys get...get dressed and meet us downstairs?"

"Fine. Just give us..." Bobbie started.

"No time limits. Please no time limits." Lucky begged. If he had a time limit, his mind was going to start to wonder things that he really didn't want to think about.

"We'll meet you downstairs." Bobbie finished.

"Seven and a half months?" Lucky's eyes boggled at the implications. "This has been going on for seven and a half months?!"

"You've been lying to us...both of you...for the better part of a year?" Patrick couldn't keep the hurt from his voice.

"Oh, Patrick." Bobbie reached for his hand but he pulled away from her and started to pace the room. "It wasn't easy."

"I wanted to tell you. But it wasn't exactly an easy thing to bring up in conversation." Cruz defended. When he and Bobbie had discussed how they would tell people, this precise scenario had never exactly entered his mind. There was some lesson in this he was sure about not putting things off or waiting for perfect moments, but he was too concerned about loosing his best friends right now to figure it all out. That could be saved for a better time, for example when Lucky and Patrick weren't shooting murderous glances at him every three seconds.

"I can't imagine why." Lucky muttered. He knew beyond all shadow of a doubt that from now until some time in the distant future whenever he closed his eyes the image of his aunt and best friend naked in bed together would haunt him.

"Look it's not like we planned this. It just happened." Cruz tried to explain.

"You know," Patrick drawled sarcastically, "I have a hard time believing you literally fell into bed on accident." He knew his words were cruel, but he didn't care. This was far worse than anything he had been anticipating. His stomach was doing that nervous thing again and he had to brace his hands on the mantle, his back like a shield to his aunt and best friend. How was he supposed to get through this, get over it? How was he ever supposed to look at either of them without seeing what he had seen?

"Patrick," Bobbie stood up and tried to place her hand on his shoulders. It was impossible to not feel hurt when he jerked away from her touch and moved to the other side of the room. "Lucky" she began, turning to her other nephew who still refused to remove his eyes from his shoes. "I understand this is difficult for you both but please try to understand."

"You'll forgive me if I don't particularly want to understand this right now. I'd rather forget about it." Lucky had never just exactly how different each strand of a beige carpet could be. It was almost fascinating really. Very helpful in keeping your mind off other images.

"How did this happen?" Patrick expelled a sharp breath, his pitch reaching an almost screeching level.

"We didn't mean to hurt either of you--" Cruz began, trying to convince one or both of his friends to look at him, to care what he was saying.

"Excuse me, but I don't want to hear from you right now." Patrick gritted through clenched teeth.

"Patrick, let him explain." Bobbie pleaded.

"Look I did a follow up interview with her and something clicked. I don't know why it clicked but it did. And I wanted to see her again so I did."

"Forget it. I don't want to know after all." Patrick placed his hands over his ears, not caring how juvenile it was. He wasn't ready to hear this. He doubted he'd ever be. The urge to run was strong. Bobbie must have noticed his darting eyes even as he kept his back to her, because she grabbed his left sleeve.

"You stormed into my house--" Cruz reminded him. "You must have wanted to know badly enough to do that." He tried to get the words out before his voice could start to shake.

"Oh this is not what we wanted to know believe me." Lucky managed. "In fact I think finding that would have been a better alternative to this."

"What were you expecting to find in your search? When you came busting in, what were you hoping to accomplish?" Bobbie's voice wasn't steady but it was threatening. She had known this would happen. She had known they wouldn't understand. She could have saved both herself and Cruz a world of trouble if she had just ended it months ago. No, even if she could have gone back, she wouldn't have changed falling in love with Cruz, just how her family had found out. Cruz had been right. They should have announced this properly a long time ago. Maybe then Lucky would be able to speak to them without snarling. Maybe then Patrick would be able to look at her period.

"Oh this was all Patrick's idea. His stupid, moronic idea." Lucky managed to shoot Patrick a glare. In one short day his cousin had him furious for being left in dark, doubting his own girlfriend and now trapped in his own special version of hell. He knew at times he had played some harmless jokes on Patrick, but nothing ever deserved this.

Patrick refused to take the bait. He was not going to let the blame fall on him. If Cruz had just told them...No he didn't think it would have been any easier to accept. His brain refused to form memories of the flattering words his friend had said about Bobbie when he or Lucky cornered the young man. All he could think about were the stupid questions he and Lucky had asked in reference to his aunt. Of course, in his defense, he hadn't known. "Congratulations Cruz. I really had no idea. All the times I've accused you of being an open book...guess I was dead wrong, huh?" He laughed humorlessly, his eyes settling on his best friend.

"Its wasn't easy to lie to you guys." Cruz protested.

"Well let's hope you put in some kind of effort on our parts." Patrick retorted.

"Yes I would hate to think we wouldn't rate any effort." Lucky chimed in.

Bobbie's gaze went from one snarling brunette to the other. She didn't know which to address first. She didn't know what she was supposed to say. So much needed to be said. She wanted to scream until her throat was sore and her voice was gone. No one was supposed to have known! "Didn't you ask us down here to get an explanation?"

"I called you down here to make sure you didn't go back to what you were doing when we walked in!" Patrick clarified angrily.

"Don't mention that." Lucky shook his head. He had almost successfully blocked that image and here came Patrick bringing it up again.

"I'm willing to admit that this wasn't how you were supposed to find out, but I will not be treated like a--" Bobbie went on indignantly.

"Like a whore?" Patrick finished for her.

Cruz didn't think he just reacted. All he saw out of the corner of his eye was Bobbie crying. He lunged for Patrick, swinging wildly. Catching the taller man off guard, his fist connected hard with Patrick's jaw, knocking his friend to the ground. "You apologize to her." He growled.

Patrick was too stunned to talk or even move. He hadn't really said that, had he? All of his anger and frustration should have been divided equally, but it wasn't. Cruz was the bad guy, but Bobbie was the betrayer. He thought back to all of the summers he had spent with her, burning cookies and playing in the water sprinkler. He reached to wipe away a fresh supply of startled tears. It didn't hurt...much. Really, he was far too numb to feel anything. Until he glanced over at Bobbie. A new wave of guilt washed over him, leaving him shivering.

Lucky managed to speak. He struggled to keep his voice calm and even. The emotions of the day had finally exhausted him and he was blank. "When exactly were you going to tell us? You both keep saying we weren't supposed to find out this way. When were we supposed to find out?"

"We had talked about it...not too long ago. It's my fault you didn't already know. I wouldn't let Cruz tell you. He wanted to, but I wouldn't let him--" Her voice broke and she turned her tear-stained face away from her nephews.

"You just needed time," Cruz defended moving over to give her a hug. It felt good to finally be able to do that in the open.

Patrick wanted to scream for Cruz not to touch her, but he bit his tongue and refrained from speaking at all. What could he have said anyway? How many different ways did he have to hurt the people he loved before he learned there would always be consequences? When?!

Bobbie leaned into Cruz's embrace as she had a million times before. Instantly, the chill left her body and she was able to take in a breath without having to struggle.

Lucky did not want to notice them. He did not want to watch them mold their bodies together. Yes he had wanted his aunt to be happy and find someone after Uncle Tony's death but he had assumed that person would at least be her age, not his. Shaking his head, he muttered "I did not need to see that."

"After--" Patrick stopped the violent words from escaping his lips. He had to get out of here.

Again, Bobbie restrained him, this time with her eyes, "You're not going anywhere, either of you, until you understand."

"Then we'll be here for the next century." Lucky rolled his eyes.

"That's where you're wrong. We're never going to understand. This is never going to be okay." Patrick countered.

"We fell in love." Cruz shot out. "There is nothing wrong with that."

"Were you ashamed, Cruz?" Patrick sneered. "Is that why you lied to us as long as you did? Is that why?" Patrick dared Cruz to speak. Let him try to get away.

"I wasn't ashamed. I didn't want to say anything until I knew I was sure." Cruz narrowed his eyes towards his friends. "You should both know what that's like. Why is it you try to keep Elizabeth and Robin away from Laura again?"

"Don't you bring Laura into this." Patrick warned.

Lucky finally stood up and made a menacing step towards Cruz. "And you don't bring the girls into this either."

"Why not?" Cruz felt bold for the first time since seeing them standing in his doorway. This was his life and Bobbie was going to be a part of it for the foreseeable future. They didn't have to like this but he was through with standing here and listening to them question it. "It's the truth isn't it? You keep them from Laura to avoid questions you don't know the answers to."

"If you don't want to deal with...this...right now, that's your business, but Robin and Elizabeth do not factor in to you lying to us all goddamn year!" Patrick took a step toward Cruz. Damn, his hand was starting to throb. And here he was, getting in his friend's face again. Just went to show, mind over matter. Or rather, instinct over logic.

"What would you have done?" Cruz managed to yell but only barely. "If you were me what would you have done?"

"Not date your aunt for starters." Lucky pointed out. "Problem solved."

"Don't you turn your nose up at us, Lucky." Bobbie warned wagging a finger at her nephew. "If I remember correctly, even you have made decisions that were purely selfish."

"Excuse me for being understanding right now. I'm a bit busy trying to figure out which way is up again." Lucky fully realized he sounded just about as old as Cameron right now but he didn't care.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't rip you apart." Patrick growled at Cruz.

It was Bobbie who spoke up for her boyfriend, "Well, for starters, he's the father of my unborn baby."