"Are mommy and daddy fighting?" The small blonde child tugged Jackson's shirt, looking up at him expectantly. Jackson struggled with what to say. It wasn't his place to tell her that something was wrong between her dad and step-mom, he knew that much. But he also didn't want to lie and tell her everything was fine if April came back inside and it became very obvious that it wasn't. Harriet, however, swooped in and rescued him. "They're just having a grown-up talk, Ruby. Like they do sometimes after we go to bed." Ruby nodded and the two girls dashed off into the living room.

Jackson knew that the kindergartner obviously had no idea of the true root of the problem, but she was accustomed to April and Matthew having "grown-up talk". She had spoken to him about it on multiple occasions, asking why Jackson and April never had "grown-up talk" like Matthew and April. At the time, Jackson had assumed that "grown-up talk" was code for sex, and he had told Harriet that this particular talk was for married people. Now he wondered how many of those talks were arguments. April had alluded to marital problems in the past. While she didn't discuss them in length, the subject had been touched upon (they were best friends after all). He knew that she had felt things were better now that they weren't working together, but that she hadn't been seeing him as much with the extra work hours. Obviously at least some of those extra hours had not been spent at work.

Jackson suddenly felt overcome with rage. Things had happened too fast for him to react in the parking lot. April had practically ordered him into the house with Ruby and Harriet. But now, realizing the full situation, he wanted nothing more than to go downstairs and rip Matthew Taylor limb from limb. That was his best friend. The mother of his children. The love of his life.

He'd had a hard time admitting that at first. It felt like finality, like he could never be happy with the love of his life being married to someone else. It felt hopeless to admit it. But it was true. He'd never have the connection he had with April with someone else, he knew that much. He'd never love anyone like he loved her. But they weren't meant to be together forever, and he'd come to accept that. They had never really found themselves back on the same page, and it destroyed them. But they'd become strong co-parents in spite of it, and for that, he couldn't be more grateful. He said a quick prayer for April and then headed into the living room to check on the girls.

"Babe..." Matthew spoke tentatively, as if trying to coax a tentative deer. April gritted her teeth. "Don't 'babe' me." Matthew got out of his truck and walked slowly around it to April. "If you just let me explain."

"Explain what, Matthew?" April hissed. "How lacy red panties ended up in the back of your truck? I sure hope you're moonlighting as a drag queen, because from where I'm standing it looks like you were off screwing someone while your family was trapped in a burning house. So I'd sure love an explanation to the contrary."

"I had no idea about the fire, I swear. If I did, you know I would have….God, I swear-"

"You wouldn't have what, Matthew, not been having car sex god-knows where in the middle of the night?"

Matthew didn't say anything, shifting to lean against the truck. His demeanor changed from apologetic to annoyed. April had seen it many times. Matthew could only take being wrong for so long before he started being defensive. "You could have texted me you know, and told me what was wrong. If I had known what the problem was, I would have called back a lot sooner."

April sputtered. "WHAT? You would have called me back a lot sooner? You're so right. I should have texted you while I was handing our children down to firefighters out of a burning building so that you would know that it was serious enough to stop fucking some woman!"

Matthew winced outwardly at April's cursing. She laughed. "Oh, I'm sorry. Was my curing too immoral for you? Sorry about that. I'm just really geared up about infidelity."

There was a short silence, broken only by April's heaving breathing. "Who is she?"

Matthew rested his head against the truck, regarding her for a moment. "It's Alicia Newburn."

April's thoughts exploded with the new information. Alicia was Matthew's new partner at work. She also went to the same church as the family, and was Ruby's Sunday School teacher. She'd been to their house, sat at their table and ate dinner with the family. She'd spent the night before when she and her husband divorced. She'd attended parties, bonded with their children. Sat on their couch, laughed with April.

April suddenly, for the first time in the past several hours, was very grateful that their house was burning to the ground.

It was quiet for quite a while after that. April massaging her temples, Matthew studying her carefully. Finally, April broke the silence. "Leave."

"What?" Matthew asked, more asking for clarification that questioning what she'd said.

"Leave. Go to Jeremy's, go to Alicia's, I don't freaking care. Just go. I can't look at you right now. We're going to stay here tonight."

Matthew raised up from his previous position of leaning against the truck and took a step towards April. "My daughter will not sleep in that man's house."

April took an additional step towards Matthew. "Take my daughter away from me tonight and see what happens."

Matthew spun around. "Fine. Do what you want. We'll finish this later."

April turned on her heel and started up the stairs. By the time she reached Jackson's door, she heard Matthew's truck pulling away.