"Did one of the kids leave something here?"

Matthew's eyes widened and looked away briefly. He'd been expecting her to be annoyed, maybe distant, but not cold and hateful. After a minute, he took a deep breath to compose himself and looked back at the blonde in front of him. "Do the kids always have to be my reason for coming over?"

Maddy raised an eyebrow at him before stepping back and walking away from the door. "They usually are."

Matthew took this as an invitation to come inside and went in before she could change her mind. As he leaned against the doorframe, taking his shoes off, he realized he could smell something baking. "Is it wrong for me to want to see you?"

She stopped and threw an annoyed look at him over her shoulder. "If we were under normal circumstances I'd say no, but then, we've never really had normal circumstances, have we?" She continued towards the kitchen, rolling her eyes and brushing flour off her shirt.

"What are you making?" he asked tentatively, following a few steps behind. He was going to get them talking, even if it was just small talk it would be something.

"If you recall," she muttered, crouching so she was eye level with the window on the oven. "We have twin daughters whose birthday is in a month."

"I haven't forgotten." Matthew snapped, before taking another deep breath. This wasn't going the way he'd hoped it would. "That didn't answer my question."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm testing recipes. This one is a pecan pie cheesecake."

"Brittany hates cheesecake."

"But Selene loves it. And I've already made Brittany's." She gestured to the counter behind her. "It's cooling on the counter."

It was then that he looked away from her and to the counter. His face flushed when he realized just how obviously placed and noticeable the cake was. "You don't have to make them cakes. You know they're fine with premade ones from the store."

This earned him a glare. "And has that ever stopped me before? No, it hasn't. I understand that they're okay with the ones from the store, but homemade ones are better."

He merely hummed in response. He couldn't disagree with her, but sometimes, he wondered if she insisted on making cakes every year to prove she could be a better parent than hers had been. His eyes wandered around the kitchen, taking in little details so he could see how she'd changed. The dishwasher was running, there was a pot and an ice cream scoop drying in the left side of the sink. There was a box of cheerios on top of the fridge, mixing bowls were stacked on top of the cabinet above the stove and a bag of coffee beans shoved into a corner of the counter. It was fairly clean and tidy, which told him that maybe she hadn't changed quite as much as he'd thought.

She stood suddenly, holding a glass pan up and carefully setting it on the stove. She leaned down again, pushing the metal rack back into the oven before closing and turning it off. He looked at the bubbling topping and frowned. "You didn't cook it in a water bath."

She sent him a death glare. "I don't when there's a topping on the cheesecake. The water bath is mostly just to keep the top from cracking, but if the recipe has a topping, I personally don't really care if it gets cracked and I doubt Selene will care."

"I guess that makes sense."

"Are we done here?" she asked, turning to him as she pulled her oven mitts off and threw them in the drawer.

"Ah.." Matthew backed up, not liking the look in her eye or the tone that continuously told him she was pissed. "I- I mean, if you have things to do."

She rolled her eyes and walked past him into the living room. "No, I don't have things to do. I just don't really want to talk."

He finally started to lose control of his temper. "Well, excuse me for wanting to see someone I care about. I didn't realize my visit would be such an inconvenience for you."

"You said you wanted to see me and you have."

"I meant for more than five minutes!"

"It's been twenty." she snapped, her eyes narrowing. "Unless there's something you want to tell me, I think it's time you left."

He wanted to turn and storm out, even if it was just to see how she reacted. "Actually," he spat, remembering the other part of the reason he'd come over. "I thought I should tell you that the kids don't want to come over this weekend."

"Great, thank you for telling me. Please leave."

"Are you telling me that you don't care that your own children don't want to see you?"

"I'm thanking you for telling me they don't want to come over!" she snarled. "They're old enough to make their own decisions and if they don't want to see me, fine! I can't control them and I'm not going to try to."

He rolled his eyes and turned, going to the front door. "You know what, this was a bad idea. I don't know why I ever thought you'd let go of your pride long enough to actually listen to me. I'm leaving."

"Good riddance." she mumbled as he closed the door behind him. Matthew stormed down to his car, got in, buckled his seatbelt and stopped. His hands were shaking and tears pricked at the back of his eyes. He grit his teeth and clenched his fists around the steering wheel. "Damn it." He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed the first number he saw. Alfred.

"Hey bro! What's up?"

"Al, I messed up."

That night Alfred watched his brother pace back and forth across the living room. "I just don't know what to do anymore, Al. I can't talk to her without saying something that pisses her off for some reason. She doesn't want to see me, she doesn't care if the kids want to see her or not."

Alfred raised an eyebrow at his twin. "I doubt she doesn't care about the kids. We both know how she is, Mattie. I think you're taking this a little harshly."

Matthew suddenly turned on him and Alfred backed up, slightly terrified that his brother was going to kill him. "Dude, have you been practicing your death glares or something?"

He sighed and looked at his feet. "I'm sorry Alfred. I've just been stressed." He turned and walked over to the couch and flopped dramatically onto it.

Alfred opened his mouth to reply, but felt something tug on his jacket. He looked and was surprised to see Brittany. "Hey kid. What are you doing up?"

"I heard you and dad talking." she mumbled, looking uncharacteristically shy. "I just couldn't sleep." She sent him puppy eyes and gripped his jacket harder. "Will you come tuck me in?"

Alfred stared at his niece for a minute, trying not to call her adorable. Unlike her sister, Brittany regularly acted immature for her age, but no one held it against her. "Sure." He followed her to her room and looked around. Her walls were white with posters plastered all over them. There was a bulletin board hanging over her desk with index cards scrawled with phone numbers and addresses on them and crayon drawings from when she was little. In one corner of the board was a picture of her, Selene, Chris and Matthew at the zoo. The girls looked like they were about ten or eleven. He went over to her bed and waited for her to find a comfortable position before grabbing her comforter off the floor and helping her under it. "Do I want to know why your blanket is always on the floor?"

Brittany shook her head, squirming and tugging at the blanket to get it right. When she'd finally gotten comfortable, she looked up at him her eyes glittering with something that was close to -but not quite- pain. "Are mom and dad still fighting?"

Alfred sighed, knowing he couldn't lie to her. "They got into an argument, yes. But, you don't need to worry about it."

"But," she bit her lip and tears welled up in her eyes. "But why are they always fighting? Did Selene or Chris or I do something?"

His eyes widened and he leaned forward, hugging her tightly. "No. No, sweetheart, it's not your fault. Your parents are just very stubborn and they both have a hard time admitting when they're wrong."

She sniffed and pulled out of the hug, reaching to her nightstand and grabbing a tissue to wipe her nose. "I just.. I miss having them both here. I know they haven't lived together since the first time mom found out she was pregnant, but I remember those few times when I was little that they spent some time together and-" her bottom lip quivered and she stopped, blinking rapidly to stop the tears from spilling over again.

Alfred rubbed her back. "Brittany, you have every right to be upset. You've gone through a lot that you shouldn't have had to go through until you were a lot older. You have a very complicated family and that forces you to deal with a lot of issues that most kids never have to."

She sniffed again and wiped tears off her face. "Will they ever get back together?"

"That depends on them."

She sighed and wrapped her blanket around her shoulders. "I hope they do."

"Don't worry kiddo," he said, hugging her briefly again. "Your parents will come to their senses."

"How do you know?"

"Hey, I got your parents together once. I can do it again."

"Promise?"

"Promise."