The last update for this was in April? That's ridiculous. I deeply apologize from the bottom of my heart to anyone who's still reading this and has had to wait that long. School has been crazy busy this year (my hard work has paid off though!), but I'm on holiday's at the moment and my final year of school is next year! Regardless, I'm back and Far From Perfection is most certainly back for now. Thankfully for me (not so much for the reader's) before this extreme hiatus the plots of this story have been in the process of melding together and breaking apart and finally, beginning from the next chapter onwards things get EXPLOSIVE, like ridiculously so. I'm talking cliffhanger's in each chapter. Bring it baby!

Another little side story I'm working on is a little AU Home And Away Romeo/Sasha fic is anyone's interested in a good old forbidden love. Another awesome Home and Away fic is 'Little Wonder's' which is a cute Romeo/Indi fic written by my good friend (who somehow manages to update like 8x faster than I do!) and is beta-ed by me, myself and I.

Also, sorry but this chapter goes back and forth from present day to 2 weeks ago a lo but it was essential. Enjoy & don't forget to review ;)

Chapter 13 – Lines Of Communication

Cleo's POV

~ Present Day ~

"Bye" I said as a goodbye, before Lewis kissed my cheek briefly and gently as he left for work in the morning. "Have a good day."

He nodded timidly, backing out of the door and leaving our home. Our home which was shared by the other three members that constituted my direct family. Admittedly, I had landed the better end of the bargain since Lewis and I's mutual, although forced, decision to move back to my family home.

Thankfully, the decision had proven to have a noticeably positive impact on our bank account and wasn't completely pointless. For the first time since we had returned home from our honeymoon just months earlier, finance was not the problem that was weighing our lives down. In a way, I think that that had been easier. I admit that I personally am an emotional and emotively-wired person, Lewis is too, but over the two weeks since our marriage had been pushed into an uncomfortable grey area, neither of us had known what to do, or how to deal with it.

So we didn't.

I'm no mathematician or accountant, but sorting numbers and adjusting the figures of our budget had been so much easier than identifying and resolving the tension between us.

I could feel that things had not been completely normal for weeks now, since we'd moved back to my pre-marital home together, but that was easy to hide, pull a façade over and push to the back of your mind. The bubbling under the surface had been manageable until the phone call that had created the explosion and implosion of our problems all in one hit. The explosion of the fact and realization to both of us that things really were wrong between us, but then created the domino effect of imploding our problems that we had undoubtedly pushed away, neither of us wanting to face the damage of the explosion and confront the issue.

Because both of us were the sort of people to face confliction head on like Rikki, heck, even Bella would, Lewis and I had used our upmost effort to work around the issue and ignore the crater that was straight-bang in the middle of our marriage.

In all honesty, even if we did attempt to deal with it, I'm not entirely sure how I would or could go about it. At this stage, I couldn't even identify myself! I hadn't even intentionally meant to hide it from him, but I was so caught up in my own panic and thought process. In hindsight, sure, I had gone about it in not the most ideal way, but it's those panicked situations like that where you have absolutely no control, and always manage to have your regrets with your dealings.

I couldn't shoulder all the blame, however, but I had no idea and no right to judge how Lewis was mentally dealing with our same issue before we sort things out together.

However, the in-between period of now and fixing the issue, I was left with my haunting regrets of how I would have gone about things differently and better…

~2 Weeks Ago~

My initial intention as I flipped through the pages of my personal calendar diary was to turn straight to the pages that signified a few months time, so that I could jot down the dates of Dad, Sam and Kim's holiday. I'm sure I would hear about all too much before then, meaning there would have been no reason for me to forget the dates, but I was very much a diary-girl so that along with other things made its way to my pages.

'HAND KEY INTO REALTOR!'

'Blah, blah, blah…' I mentally thought as I flicked through the pages with occasional entries catching my eye as the pages turned.

'7 - Happy Hour Cocktails with R & B - Marchello's'

'3 months ago, old news…'

Pink post it's, blue pen, red ink and yellow highlighting graced the pages until I neared closer to the final destination, but not before noticing the absence of the important yellow highlighting. I double checked, flipping over the previous pages, until I was met with 5 highlighted dates, the last dates which received that special treatment and indication, even up to now.

Panic stations.

I could've forgotten to record the start of my cycle with the chaos of moving and all, was my first consideration and wishful thought.

2 months though? That fact which was laid out on the pages front of me sunk in my gut, knowing all too well my personal diligence with my diary. That, along with my lack of recollection about that monthly dread for the same time period my diary indicated - way too long.

I picked up my phone with an unintentionally shaky hand searching through my contacts to the familiar trustful names.

Bella Hartley.

I touched the icon, followed by the connected number before waiting with a pounding heart that I attempted to calm by placing my spare hand on my chest.

30 long seconds and 15 dial tones later, I received her voice, but not the voice I had wanted. One of my closest friend's recorded voice; as opposed to her soothing and caring tailored words that I was longing to hear in reassurance and for help right now.

I hung up with no voice message, before continuing to scroll before reaching the R's, and more importantly, Rikki Chadwick.

Repeating similar actions as I had done with the first call, I only waited half as long before Rikki's voice answered. "Hey Cleo! What's up?"

"Rikki?" I pleaded into my phone, grasping it tighter in desperation that I thought may have in some way helped. "Can you do me a really, really big favour? I'm scared."

The chirpiness in her voice changed to concern and seriousness with her reply. "Of course, Cleo, anything. What's wrong? Where are you?"

I swallowed the dignity of my privacy, in a gulp before answering my friend. "Can you get me something?"

"Sure, I'll try to. What is it?"

I closed my eyes as the following words slipped out of my mouth and officially into the world for the first time.

"A pregnancy test…"

"Cleo" was all that Rikki could say next, before the pause that followed it until she composed herself by arranging details and stating the fact that she was currently out and could get it then, but needed to return home before she could come over with the daunting delivery for me.

Shortly after, our call ended and I was left to the silence of my own worries and fears…

By the time that I had heard the knocking downstairs an hour later, I had worked myself into such a state that Rikki needed to comfort and reassure me, providing me with a distraction about the fact that Zane and Will had caught sight of the test at home before she had been able to come here.

Brilliant. I had had difficulty confessing what I needed to Rikki alone, let alone those two knowing too.

She reassured me that she'd managed to put them off the scent of who it was for.

Next came the inevitable crunch time. Moment of truth, whatever you would like to call it.

Rikki and I split up and I made my way to a room down the hall with the hugely important fate-deciding box, before I rushed out of the room minutes later, amid a panic attack although the fate had not even been revealed at this point yet.

"Rikki" I screeched to my friend as I rushed over to her. "I can't do it! I can't look at it! Lewis! There is no way we have the money for a BABY!"

She rubbed my shoulder reassuringly with her palm as she calmly looked me squarely in the eye and assessed my fears. "Calm down Cleo. You can do it. There's a 50/50 chance, remember? Lewis wouldn't kill you or anything stupid, he's like the most fatherly person I know – ever since I met him, and there is endless way's to get around money problems. Shhh... You can do this Cleo."

I was still scared as hell, but nodded and didn't object as she took my hand in her own, guiding us to the bathroom together.

I stepped away from her and made my way to the plastic that held the direct fate of at least mine and my husband's next 18 years.

I squealed, throwing my arms around Rikki with my delighted announcement that meant children of our own were still prolonged, hopefully for another few years.

"Never, ever have I been so happy to see something so negative!"

~ Present Day ~

It was my day off and I had arranged to meet both Bella and Rikki at Mako, really needing the swim and the company, but since the initial invitation, it turns out that there would only be two of us after Bella messaged earlier that she wasn't able to join us.

Surfacing, after having taken my time with swimming through the familiar water's, I was typically the first to arrive in the moon pool and spent the next 20 minutes playing with the water and sand, gliding my hands through it while I waited for my friend.

Finally she arrived and greeted me, before changing her position similarly to my own as we both rested against the sandy floor of the crater's edge that were in.

"Bella not coming?" Rikki asked, wording her question almost as though it was a statement, given the trend that we were both becoming familiar with regarding our friend.

I shook my head. "No, she messaged earlier to say she couldn't make it."

Rikki nodded in response before our setting and conversation adjusted to the fact that we were all that there would be. "So how's things been?"

"Good and bad" I sighed with a frown. "Okay Cleo, tell me more…"

"Well physically we're all good, fit and healthy, but ever since the scare it's been so awkward with Lewis. Neither of us have really talked about it since, but neither of us have forgotten either. It's just this uncomfortable medium of pretending that everything's all good when it's not, but neither of us wanting to do anything to make it actually all good" I vented quickly, letting out a deep breath at the end for the emphasis of my tough predicament.

"Oh Cleo, I'm sorry. If it hadn't been for the two insecure idiots opening their big mouth, then none of this might have happened."

I nodded letting out a sigh as I rubbed my temple with guilt. "But even if Will hadn't of called him, asking and he didn't find out that way, I still wasn't being completely honest with him."

"You were scared and unsure, Cleo. It's understandable that you dealt with it that way. It's not like you were going to hide it from him if you were pregnant."

"Rikki… Please stop saying that… it's only justifying my actions and that's just going to make it harder when Lewis and I do face up to our problems."

She nodded calmly in response before letting out a breath. "In that case, I recommend that you do sort things out as soon as possible. If you're feeling this guilty and uncomfortable, chances are that he is too. What's the worst that can happen if you try to talk about it and things go badly?"

"He hates me, we a get divorce and he moves to Egypt to get away from me?!"

"Oh come on Cleo, that's ridiculous! On a scale of one to ten with the likelihood of that happening, the chance is about a minus five!"

"I don't know about that Rikki… Ever since that night, things haven't been the same with us…"

~ 2 Weeks Ago, Later That Day ~

"Honey, I'm home" Lewis yelled out from downstairs, seconds after the front door slammed shut, in one of his corniest voices possible. My husband could be quite the dag when he wanted to be.

I called out a greeting with the room of my whereabouts in response which resulted in him walking through the door of our bedroom seconds later.

"Hey" he smiled, walking over to my desk I was sitting at in the corner of our room, throwing his work bag on our bed and leaning down to kiss me.

After the kiss had ended, we each pulled apart. Lewis sat down on the edge of the desk with a light laugh to himself as I shut the laptop that I had been working on. "So, today was quite possibly the weirdest day I've had in a long time."

"You and me alike… Why do you say that?"

"This morning, it was just one of those days where I kept misplacing everything and then things would just jump out and trip me over, it was quite the trial and error of my coordination I must say. Then I've been getting this pins and needles tingling in my hands and feet -hands especially- ALL DAY which is beyond frustrating when you need a steady hand with dissections and controlling the microscopes! Oh and during my lunch break I got this bizarre call from Will checking if you were pregnant! I haven't heard from the guy in months and out of the blue he ring's me to ask that!" he laughed almost with disbelief. "Mind you, I wouldn't put it pass him to be dared by Zane or the two were having midday beer's or something."

I squirmed uncomfortably, to which Lewis had no idea of. The two of us sat in silence until he spoke again, tucking a fallen piece of hair out of my face and behind my ear. "Cleo? Are you alright? Something's up, isn't it?"

"Um… It was only a false alarm, so don't worry about it but earlier today I too was kind of uncertain of whether I was pregnant or not."

Lewis looked at me strangely with slight shock. "Oh… Okay. But how and why did Will know about that then? Why didn't you say anything to me about it earlier?"

"I didn't want to tell you until I knew for sure and there was no need to if it was negative, like it is. As for Will, I asked Rikki to get the test for me and the boy's obviously stumbled across it from destination A to destination B."

He nodded, getting up and moving over to the end of the bed as lent his arms on his knees. I rotated on the chair to face him, seeing his slightly disappointed expression.

"Sure, it's negative, but I'm like the fourth or fifth person to know, Cleo… What if it wasn't?" he said with the sad eyes that had always killed me for as long as I could remember, reminding me of a disappointed puppy. "It would've been, oh yeah, suppose Lewis should be told too - eventually. Were you even going to mention anything today if I hadn't brought it up?"

"I'm sorry, Lewis" I apologized, moving over from my seat on the desk chair over next to my husband on the bed. "It's not like I planned for it to come out that way, but I was scared, so I called Rikki. The boy's happening to find out too was just a complete accident."

"If you were scared, you should've gone to me… Do you trust Rikki more than you trust me?" Lewis replied still looking hurt as I attempted to intertwine our hands together as a comfort for us both.

"No of course not, you're my husband – I love you" I attempted to reason as a reassurance.

He looked up at me with his still-sad eyes. "There's a difference between love and trust, Cleo" he replied coolly as he unlatched our hands and stood up from next to me on our bed. "I'm having a shower."

That non-aggressive, yet tense argument had been the first watering of the seeds that were already planted. Later that night, a second and similar unresolved argument was sparked from the first argument… And things had been just as rocky, tense and unresolved since. Not that either of us wanted to admit it.

~Present Day~

After I had met up with Rikki at Mako Island in the afternoon, I had spent a large majority of the remainder of the day swimming and taking my time with making my way back home. That included marginally stubbornly ignoring several calls from Lewis that I wasn't really in the right frame of mind to take.

Anyway, without even realizing the time I only returned home late, taking my merry time after deciding to eat out believing that Lewis would be working late like he had initially thought that he was going to need to tonight.

However after getting home, greeting my dad who was watching TV in the lounge room and making my way upstairs, I got a shock as I walked into my shared bedroom upon immediately noticing the different and special setting that the room had been temporarily adjusted to.

Fresh flowers were placed in nearly every spot that had free space for them. Candles illuminated the room from our bedside tables, the desk and the wardrobe and 2 plates were beautifully set up serving a cooked dinner with an extra table in the room that must've been extremely difficult to take up from downstairs.

The one downside and catch was that one plate was empty and my husband was lying down in neat attire facing the other side of the bed with light snores coming from his direction.

"Lewis?" I whispered in the dark room.

There was a groan as he turned over, eyes only half open. "What, Cleo? I'm tired. I'll pack everything up in the morning."

He turned over once again, signifying the fact that he wanted to stop talking.

"You did a good job…" I sighed to myself, blowing a few of the candles in the corner out before sitting down to the seat and starting to eat the romantically-purposed, but now cold dinner which I wasn't even hungry for, but wanted to eat in attempt of some sort of gratitude while Lewis went back to sleep.

...

I really should have listened to that admonition that I had received many times before in the past about not allowing the sun to set with problems unresolved...

Who was to know what was around the corner? How were any of us expected to know?

ARE YOU READY?! This is where things get serious... Life or death, life-changing, devastating. I think that the next few chapter's will be the climaxes of this story.

But as for Clewis and the troubles in their paradise, what did you think? I really wanted to show the repercussions that financial problems can have on a marriage and the extensive strain that it can cause for a couple. But it's all about to escalate pretty quickly and very soon for them... Poor Clewis, they're a bit adorable but what's coming up is devastating. I think even I'M going to have a hard time writing it.

Next up: Bella discovers that Will made a douche-y decision in the worst possible time, changing everything. And whose life will be lost by the end of the chapter?

Review and the next installment will be all yours in no time at all...