He needed to go in. Flexing his fingers on the steering wheel of his Jeep, Lucky sat, staring at the garage wall. Once again he had stayed too late at the office, and now he was returning way later than he ever intended to. It wouldn't have worried him, except the lights on the first floor had been off when he pulled in the drive. A bad sign. If he had any sort of luck, it was just a power outage. One that only affected his house but just a power outage. Gritting his teeth as he finally started out of the car and into the house, he admitted it most likely wasn't a power outage. And there was a very good chance the lights were out because the house was empty.

Somewhere in the back of his mind he realized the mere concept of a seven month pregnant woman moving herself and her invalid grandmother out of a house plus dropping off a four year old with a babysitter was just a shade of outright idiocy. But he couldn't bring himself to dismiss the idea outright. It wasn't like he had been the greatest boyfriend in the world lately. If it wasn't a bad idea for her to fly right now, Lucky wasn't completely sure he wouldn't have to be chasing Elizabeth down across the country again. Despite his promise to Robin to take it one day at a time, he still hadn't even thought about talking about this with Elizabeth.

Making his way into the darkened living room, he called out softly into the still air, not wanting to hear his own voice echoing back at him. "Hello? Anyone there?" Flipping on the lights, he could release a breath he didn't realize he was holding when he noticed the only shoes Elizabeth currently claimed to be able to wear outside of slippers resting on the floor next to the couch. If she had left the house for good, no way would she have left those behind.

The relief was quickly replaced when he notice what else she left on the couch. The pillow he normally stole from their bed, the sheet and the blanket he used to cover himself when he tossed and turned downstairs instead of sleeping next to her. He had thought he had hid the evidence of his trips to the couch better, sneaking upstairs before her alarm went off, pretending to be sleeping when she got up. Now he realized she probably hadn't been fooled one bit.

Glancing up the stairs, he could see the light from the hallway glowing softly. If she was still home, she was most likely upstairs. Making his way up the stairs, he began mentally preparing his excuses and rationalizations. This wasn't her fight, it was his. They were his demons to wrestle with. It was ancient history.

Checking to make sure Cameron's door was closed, he paused just long enough outside their door, to draw in a breath. Walking in timidly, he saw her sitting in the overstuffed chair he had kept in the corner. She turned her head quickly but he still managed to notice her wipe away a tear at the corner of her eye. "Hi. I'm home."

"Before ten. Congratulations." She was trying for calm but the slight waiver in her voice gave her away. Lifting herself up, she made her way towards the laundry basket placed on the edge of the bed. Angrily she swatted at the tears that insisted on escaping her eyes.

"Elizabeth..." He started but she cut him off with a wave of her hand.

"Please just don't Lucky. Don't tell me some story ok? I don't have the energy to pretend anymore." Her shoulders sagged in defeat. "I just can't do it anymore." She whispered brokenly.

"Baby." He reached for her and couldn't help but feel his heart break a little when she shrugged out of his grasp. "I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?" Sniffling, she crossed her arms and moved to the other side of the room, putting the bed between them. "For what Lucky? Coming home late again? Pretending to sleep up here when you haven't been sleeping for weeks? For shutting me out for weeks now? I just want to be clear on what we are talking about here."

"I didn't think you noticed." It was probably the most obvious statement he could make right now but there it was. He had honestly thought she had too much going on to fully realize everything. He had been banking on it actually.

"Not noticed?" Elizabeth sputtered the hurt creeping into her voice. "Lucky I love you. I live here. How could I not notice you're hurting?"

Sighing Lucky sat down on the edge of the bed, lowering his head into his hands. It was all a mess and it was his fault. He should be stronger than this by now. It was eleven years ago. Eleven. He had lived a lifetime since then. He was a father now. This shouldn't affect him. And now Elizabeth was standing there with tears in her eyes and it was his fault. "I'm sorry." He whispered again.

Her heart broke, seeing him sitting there do broken. She hadn't meant to force this issue out tonight. Honestly she had thought he wasn't going to show up until well after she had gone to bed, just like he had all week. Hurting him further wasn't what she wanted. She wanted him to talk to her, let her help him with his pain, not add to it. Easing closer to him, she stroked the back of his head.

"Lucky?" Keeping her voice barely above a whisper, she continued to rub his back. "I know." Seeing the confusion in his eyes as he raised his head, she hurried to explain. "Your dad and Patrick told me."

"They...they what?" The next time he saw them, he was going to super glue both of their big mouths shut. Neither one of them could speak up about any issue they were having but they both felt as if they could just broadcast his crap all over town?

"Don't be mad at them. They knew I was concerned. They also told me not to force you to talk about it and you would be back to your old self in no time. But you're not. So I'm doing exactly what they told me not. I'm telling you I know and I want to talk about it with you."

He should have told her first. One of these days he was going to commission a study to see exactly why he seemed incapable of telling Elizabeth anything until the last worst second. "I don't want to worry you." He admitted holding her hand lightly in his.

"Sweetie I'm more worried when you shut me out like you're doing." Resting her chin on his shoulder, she leaned down and lightly kissed his shoulder blade. "I promise I'm stronger than this whale-like appearance makes me look."

"You're beautiful."

"You're stalling."

"It's nothing. It should be nothing at any rate."

"It's something. I'm no psychiatrist but I'm pretty sure what you are going through right now is normal considering..."

"Considering what?"

"Considering your son was almost kidnapped and your sister was. Considering you know exactly what Kristina, Morgan, and Lulu went through on some level. It hit too close to home."

"It shouldn't have happened to them." He muttered quietly.

"It shouldn't have happened to you. It shouldn't happen to anyone."

"I should have done what Lulu did. I should have fought harder." He whispered. It had been haunting him since Logan took his sister. She had fought Logan and he had just let Faison's men take him. If he had fought, could he have avoided it all?

"Baby, you didn't know it was going to happen. You had no control over it. Nothing. There was nothing you could do about it. From what your dad told me, so little of it actually had to do with you."

"I know. It was about getting even with dad. It was about control of the Haunted Star. And it was related to the mob, since dad was working with them at the time." Lucky repeated the reasons in a remote voice, reciting them from years of self talk and reassurances from his mother.

"You don't believe that do you?" she questioned. He didn't even need to answer; she could see it clearly in his eyes. "You don't. Baby you need to talk to someone about this."

"I thought you wanted me to talk to you."

"No I mean a professional someone smart ass."

"Already been done. As you can see it was spectacularly successful."

"Well if you were as talkative with him as you have been with me these past few weeks, no wonder." Elizabeth stated pointedly.

"I'm doing fine handling this on my own. This is just a minor setback."

"You're not handling this. You're pulling away from us. All of us. Me. Cameron." At that exact second, the child Elizabeth was beginning to become convinced was a natural actor choose to demand some attention and kicked hard. Grabbing his hand, she placed it on her stomach. "This little one who needs attention. We need you and we need you healthy."

"I thought you said using the baby like this was low and manipulative."

"It is. But if it will work to get you to talk to someone, I'm all for it." Elizabeth smiled. "Did it?"

He couldn't deny the hopeful look in her eyes. It might help none, but it wouldn't hurt to at least try it if it meant she kept that look in her eyes. "I'll consider it."

"Good. That's all I want." She leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the lips. "I'm not going to break if you want to talk to me about this. I promise I won't run screaming into the night."

"I know." Lucky pulled her close to him and revealed in just holding her without worrying about scarring her for the first time in weeks. He had given her plenty of reasons to run in the past few months and she was still there. It hadn't hit him how much he had come to rely on just her being there until he had thought she left. He had thought after Cameron's accident it might kill him if she left but now he knew it was true. There was no way he was going to let her go.

Maybe, he mused as Elizabeth rested her head against his shoulder, just maybe his mother would get that wedding after all.