I hear her footsteps coming down the stairs before I see her. She is moving more slowly than usual. I wonder if that is from her injuries or a reluctance to see my face. I am hoping it is the former, that she understands why I did what I did, that it was all for her, to keep her safe. Surely she can see that. After she heard me say that I had requested the transfer out of Philadelphia she had shut down. She'd gone upstairs and hadn't come back down. I'd decided it would be better to sleep downstairs rather than go up to the bedroom we share. My injuries weren't as severe as hers so I could handle the couch just fine. I did go up several times during the night to check on her but made the decision not to wake her in spite of the doctor's orders. I'd go up, make sure she was still breathing and that her body temperature felt normal and then come back downstairs. I'd been awake now for several hours, just waiting. The only distraction I'd had was the phone call from Walt. I had been obsessing about that ever since. Why had he called Vic's cell instead of the home phone when he knew she had to be at home? He must have been trying to avoid talking to me. That only confirms my assertion that that he's crossed a line, maybe not physically, but definitely mentally and emotionally. I just have to figure out what to do about it.

Vic finally makes it down to the kitchen. She grabs a mug from the cupboard and pours herself a cup of coffee before meeting my eyes with her own.

"Morning"

She blinks, "Morning"

"How are you feeling today?"

She pulls a chair out from under the table and sits. "Better"

"Good" I sit down across from her.

Neither of us say anything for several moments.

"Do you remember that coffee shop where we met?"

I'm not sure where she is going with this, but I'm glad she is talking so I roll with it.

"Yes, I do. I miss that place. Why do you ask?"

"I was thinking about it when I woke up this morning."

"You were missing it too?"

"No, not really. I was just remembering that time in our lives, when we first met."

"You were so hot that first morning I saw you. You cannot know how attractive you were in those workout clothes."

Vic shoots him a dirty look, "Now's not the time for that Shaun. I'm being serious."

"So am I."

She rolls her eyes and continues, "If I had known during those brief morning talks that we would eventually be here I would have walked out, found a new place to get coffee, and never gone back."

"That's a little harsh."

"You want to know what's harsh Shaun? Dragging me to Wyoming under false pretenses, lying to my face in order to get me to do what you knew I would have never agreed to do otherwise."

So it was the reluctance to see me that had caused the slow descent down the stairs; she certainly hadn't taken long to reinforce that point.

"You knew what I had been through with Gorski, how he lied and manipulated me our entire relationship and when you were given the chance to be different, when you had the opportunity to be a man and tell me the truth about what you were thinking you chose to lie, just like he had done."

She picks her phone up off the counter and looks at at. After punching a few buttons she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before looking directly at him.

"Any other confessions you need to make while we are putting everything out there?"

I knew there was no reason to try to avoid the inevitable, "Walt called."

"Why didn't you wake me?"

"Call me crazy, but I thought you needed your rest more than you needed to talk to your boss. You're surely allowed to take some time off to recover from your injuries."

"What did he want?"

"But then, he's more than your boss isn't he?"

She puts her head in her hands, "Shaun, what did Walt want?"

"He said he was checking on you, wanted to know how you were doing...He told me to take care of you."

"Oh, you've already done enough of that, dont you think? I don't need you to 'take care of me'. I can do it myself."

"Yeah, I know, that has always been one of our problems, hasn't it. You want to do everything yourself, on your own, with no one's input. Forget the fact that marriage is supposed to be a partnership Vic."

"Don't talk to me about this being a partnership Shaun. You destroyed any partnership we may have had when you brought me here."