As he was facing the door and Vicki, Ian tried not to show the fear that was coursing through him at that moment. Fiona slowly pulled out of the hug, her eyes flitting from side to side as her mind raced to think of something to say, neither of them sure of how much Vicki had heard and what reasoning she would accept.

She gave Ian's arms a reassuring squeeze before she turned, smiling, towards his wife.

Ian leant back against the counter, his head lowered, not daring to look up whilst Fiona basically made up some story to Vicki.

"Hey Vicki! We were just reminiscing about high school. We were talking about the time when someone broke in and stole the school mascot from the principal's office, did Ian tell you?" She didn't wait for Vicki to answer before continuing, "Anyway, it turned out it was Ian and Mickey that did it which, if you'd seen how Mickey Milkovich used to pick on Ian, it was a really unlikely pairing!"

Ian smirked at the reality of Fiona's last sentence, which was sort of lucky, because Vicki's eyes flitted over to him at this point. It was probably just to back up what Fiona was saying, and even though it was a ridiculous tale made up on the spot, he hoped his smirk had confirmed it.

Vicki looked quickly between Ian and Fiona, then walked, almost in slow motion, towards Ian. "Milkovich? I feel as I've heard the name somewhere."

"His dad burned down the local store a few weeks ago. Terry Milkovich?" Fiona piped up, "He's pretty well known for being… well a pretty sick son-of-a-bitch. Maybe that's why it rings a bell?"

"Yes, maybe. Does sound familiar," Vicki nodded, glancing at Fiona before turning her attention back to Ian, "You've never mentioned Mickey before." It wasn't a question.

Ian felt a knot in his stomach as he lied, "Nothing much to talk about really. We never had much interaction apart from that time with Principal Monroe." He tacked on a little laugh as if he was recalling the incident.

Fiona's phone suddenly started to ring with some annoying tone that Carl had downloaded onto it for her, but right at this moment, nobody seemed to mind it. Fiona and Ian were definitely thankful for the interruption.

"Lip," she mouthed at Ian once she saw who was calling, before answering, "Hey! What's going on?"

There were pauses for Lip's side of the conversation, during which Ian kept his gaze on Fiona, but could feel Vicki eyeing him.

"Yeah, he's still here. When are you coming over? Why not? Lip! Okay, just tell Reese to get better okay? And Lip? I really think you need to call him." Fiona hung up the phone, then sighed, "He's not coming. Reese isn't feeling too good apparently."

"Oh no! I hope she's alright." Vicki said sincerely, unaware of what was going on.

"I'm sure she's fine," Fiona reassured her, rubbing her arm and eyeing Ian knowingly over her shoulder.

Ian suddenly felt sick again. His brother was clearly avoiding him.

"I think we need to go. You've got a double tomorrow, don't you Vic?" he said, "Plus my head is properly pounding now." He let another little fake laugh, trying to make light.

Vicki moved to give Fiona a hug, "He's right. As always. Thank you so much for lunch. Sorry we weren't here longer." She pulled her into a tight hug, "You come to us next time?"

"For sure," Fiona smiled, then moved over to her brother and put her arms around his shoulders, reaching up, "When did you get so tall?"

Ian laughed, "I haven't grown in about eight years, Fi." And he squeezed her, trying not to react when Fiona whispered in his ear, "I know there's more to this. You tell me when you're ready."

He kissed her cheek, took Vicki's hand and they made their way to the car.

"That was nice," Vicki said, once they were on their way. "Wish we could've stayed longer, but I am exhausted. I'm going to take a nap once we're home and then can we maybe just watch a movie and make out before we go to bed?"

Ian smiled, "Sounds perfect." But he didn't take his eyes from the road and he wasn't sure if he meant it.

They had watched a movie, like Vicki had suggested, although there had been no making out, because Vicki had cuddled up to him and about a quarter of the way into the movie she had fallen asleep.

After about twenty minutes of watching somebody - he seemed to recall Ryan Gosling - driving around a lot, he had edged out from next to her, placed a pillow under her head and covered her with a blanket. Then he had fetched a beer and swallowed it quickly whilst not concentrating on the screen. One soon turned into two and he had switched his mind off as best he could.

By the time the movie had finished, he had downed five beers and had a good buzz. He wasn't thinking about anything like Mickey's mouth or his hands, or the fact that his own brother wasn't speaking to him. He had gently scooped his wife off the sofa, carried her upstairs and laid her on the bed, managed to get off the majority of both of their clothes before he fell into bed too. He had been about to close his eyes when he had heard her stretch and moan next to him. He turned towards her and found she was sleepily smiling at him, inviting him to touch her.

He had kissed her gently, and Vicki had pushed into the kiss, her tongue running over his lips and slipping into his mouth. She had pressed her small frame against his body, and of course his cock hardened as their groins met and she rolled her hips. She ran her hands down over his back onto his ass and pulled him in towards her even more, deepening their kiss even more until he had to pull back for breath.

He had known she would want to make love; that he should make love with her – it felt like it had been ages. So he'd taken hold of her waist and pulled her on top of him as he rolled onto his back. He'd looked up at her face, but couldn't make his eyes focus because of the beers that were dulling his senses. His heart hadn't felt as though it was in it and he really hated that he'd just wanted to do it quickly. He knew how to make her come and get himself off in the shortest time in this position, so he had helped her lower herself onto his hard cock, groaning at the feel of her, and grabbed her hips, thrusting up into her as she ground down on him.

It hadn't taken long for either of them, as she rode him furiously, her head thrown back as she orgasmed. He had followed suit almost straight away, and had felt a pang of guilt when Vicki kissed his stomach, before padding to the bathroom to clean up.

He had mentally kicked himself for being so selfish and, after wiping himself off with some tissue from the bedside cabinet, had thanked the alcohol still in his system for helping him fall quickly to sleep. Not a good sleep, but a deep, dreamless sleep.