The sun was just setting over Capital City when Lucas picked up the phone that evening. It had been a few days since he left Hope Valley and Lucas actually felt himself missing it. Faith, Lily, waking up in his own house, and walking into the saloon every morning. He missed the fact that people knew who he was. People who greeted him as 'Lucas' rather than 'Governor'. He missed the familiarity. He missed being familiar.

He was done with work for the day, so Lucas leaned back in his office chair and placed the receiver to his ear.

"Hope Valley Central, please," he told the operator, who promptly directed his call. Lucas only had to wait a few seconds before he heard a voice on the other end of the line.

"Hope Valley Central," the voice said. Wow, Florence sure sounds cheerful, Lucas couldn't help thinking. "How may I direct your call?" Wait a minute…

"Fiona?" Lucas questioned, her voice finally registering in his head.

"Lucas?" Fiona echoed, sounding equally surprised. Lucas almost laughed at himself. How had he mistaken Fiona's voice for Florence? "What are you doing?"

"I called to check in with Faith," Lucas answered, smiling with amusement. "What are you doing manning the switchboard?"

"Ned wanted to take Florence out for dinner, so I offered to take over for a couple hours," Fiona said. "Here, let me direct your call to the infirmary. I think Faith is still there."

"Wait!" Lucas burst out, before the line went dead. "I could really use your advice on something."

"Oh." Fiona was silent for a second. "What is it?" she finally asked.

"It's about the National Parks Project." Lucas explained the hiccup that he had encountered today. "I can't seem to find a solution," he said, shaking his head in frustration. "Everyone seems to want different things, but I know I can't guarantee all of them."

"Well, first you need to figure out what's most important," Fiona replied. "You might be able to give the mayor of Benson Hills two things she wants, but then the mayor of Rock Creek may only get one thing he wants while Eagle Creek might get nothing," she said. "Try to forget for a minute who wants what and remember the heart of the project. Why are you doing this?"

"To preserve our land for the next generation," Lucas replied, the answer coming easily.

"Exactly," Fiona agreed and Lucas could hear the smile in her voice. "Don't lose sight of that. Make a list of the things that have to happen in order to guarantee that and then go from there."

"That's really good advice," Lucas mused when she was done. "Thanks Fiona. Maybe you should be working for me," he joked. At this, Fiona just laughed.

"Nice try, but I'm a little busy trying to juggle two and a half jobs over here," she teased.

"You really can do it all," Lucas smiled. "You can cut hair, trim beards, fix radios, install telephones, run a rapidly growing women's movement, and all the while still be Hope Valley's most successful matchmaker."

"I don't know about that," Fiona joked. "I think Rosemary would give me a run for my money. I only put Hickam and Mei together. I heard that Rosemary had a hand in getting Jessie and Clara together, possibly Carson and Faith, and maybe even Nathan and Elizabeth."

"That is a good point," Lucas conceded and the two of them laughed together.

"Well, I should connect you to Faith now," Fiona said after the two of them had talked for about twenty minutes.

"Yeah," Lucas agreed. "Thanks for the help."

"Anytime. Have a good night Lucas!"

"You too, Fiona." The two of them disconnected and Fiona redirected him to the infirmary's line. In a matter of seconds, Faith's voice was greeting him through the phone. Lucas smiled. He couldn't wait until he was back in Hope Valley in a couple days. Capital City was starting to feel a little lonely.

Sure enough, in less than a week, Lucas was neck deep in a pile of National Park proposals. Even though he normally worked in his office in the morning, making phone calls to Henry in between stacks of paperwork, it was an uncharacteristically sunny fall morning, so he decided to enjoy it and work at one of the patio tables at the front of the saloon. Fiona was at another table across from him, fully engrossed in her own work, while the remaining tables slowly filled with townsfolk and tourists who wanted to start the day off with Gustave's French breakfast.

Deciding that he could use a bit of a break, Lucas grabbed his cup and stood. He leaned his shoulder against one of the posts that helped hold up the saloon's balcony as he watched the people of Hope Valley start their day. Lucas took a sip of his tea that was no longer hot.

"You OK?" Fiona's voice broke into his thoughts and Lucas looked over his shoulder to find her eyebrows raised.

"Yeah, why?" he replied. He walked back over to his table and set his cup down. He had absolutely zero interest in cold tea. Goodness, he was starting to sound as picky as Bill was about his beer!

"You just seem distracted," Fiona observed.

"I have a lot on my mind," Lucas started to explain, but then his voice trailed off when something in his peripheral vision caught his eye. Across the street, Elizabeth and Nathan were walking through town with Little Jack and Allie. Little Jack was in the middle and Elizabeth and Nathan each held one of his hands. Nathan's free arm was around Allie's shoulders and all four of them were smiling. Nathan seemed to say something and the other three laughed as they headed towards the cafe. Lucas watched as Nathan held the door open, letting the kids enter first before giving Elizabeth a quick kiss on the cheek and following her inside. They weren't officially a family yet, but everyone who saw them together had no doubt that they would be soon.

Lucas let out a sigh. Why did his chest tighten as he watched them? Why did something that felt suspiciously like jealousy seem to take root in his heart and grow every time he saw the four of them together?

"Lucas!" His gaze jerked back and he instantly remembered that he wasn't alone. "Are you sure you're OK?" Fiona asked him, now looking concerned. "I called your name four times and it was like you didn't even hear me."

"I'm fine," Lucas answered quickly, probably too quickly, as he resisted the urge to glance back in the direction Nathan and Elizabeth had gone.

"Lucas." Fiona glanced meaningfully towards the cafe. "I know you're not OK," she said softly. When he still didn't say anything, Fiona added, "You don't have to be the governor with me, Lucas." At her words, all the air seemed to woosh out of him. Lucas's shoulders slumped and he took a seat in the chair across the table from Fiona. Resting his elbows on the knees of his gray suit pants, Lucas held his head in his hands.

"Sometimes I wonder if I am actually over my breakup with Elizabeth." There. He'd said it. The thing that had been rolling around his mind for months now, but that he'd never had the courage to say out loud. Lucas could barely bring himself to glance up at Fiona to see her reaction.

"OK," Fiona said slowly, but her voice was gentle and she just gave him an encouraging smile. "I think most people would understand that," she said. "I mean, the two of you were about to get married when you and Elizabeth broke up."

"I know, but it feels like more than that," Lucas admitted. "I know that Elizabeth and I weren't right for each other and that we never had when she and Nathan have, but sometimes I wonder if I could have done things differently. Like, if I had never run for governor, then maybe Elizabeth and I would be married and Jack would be my son." Lucas glanced away and folded and unfolded his hands in his lap.

"Is that what you want?" Fiona asked him. "To have a family?"

"I'm not sure," Lucas replied, looking up, but not over at Fiona. "All I know is that I want what I didn't have as a kid," he said.

"And what's that?" Fiona prodded, her voice still gentle. Finally, Lucas glanced at her.

"Stability, love," he said. "An actual family. I never had any of that when I was a kid."

"Lucas, I'm sorry," Fiona said, her brown eyes holding so much empathy that Lucas couldn't quite believe it was all directed at him.

"I would say it's alright, but that's not actually how I feel," he admitted, with a rueful smile. A bitter chuckle escaped from his lips before he could stop it. "I just wonder what things would be like if I hadn't run for governor," Lucas continued, after a second. He went back to staring mindlessly at the street beside them.

"I feel like it just made everything worse," he said. "For me, for Elizabeth, for the town with everything that happened with Jeanette." Lucas glanced down at his hands again. "Sometimes I wonder if I ever should have run at all," he muttered.

"Lucas." Fiona waited until he was looking at her before she continued. "You can't go back and change the past. What's done is done and no amount of wishing or wondering is going to alter what has already happened. You've done a lot of good, Lucas," she said. "If you hadn't run for governor, Hope Valley and who knows how many other towns would've been run dry. Sure, there've some bumps in the road," she admitted. "And there will probably be more obstacles in the future, but you shouldn't let that stop you.

"Look around, Lucas," Fiona said, gesturing towards the busy street. "Look at the good you've done for this town and the people in it. And that started long before you were governor. Just think, you still have the power to enact more positive change into the lives of these people." Lucas watched as Fiona talked and gestured with her hands. Her eyes glowed with possibilities and it was almost like Fiona was catching a glimpse of a bright future that only she could see.

"You can't change the past, Lucas," Fiona said, focusing her gaze back towards him. "But you can live in the present and focus on the good that you can do now." At this, Lucas smiled a little and opened his mouth to reply when a noise behind them caught his attention. Lucas turned to see Elizabeth and Nathan exit the cafe with Allie and Jack, both adults holding a picnic basket and all four of them smiling. Allie bent down and whispered something to Little Jack before she grabbed his hand and the two of them took off running, laughing the whole way. Elizabeth and Nathan smiled as they watched their kids run ahead and then Nathan put his arm around Elizabeth. He said something, which prompted Elizabeth to laugh and the smile that she seemed to only reserve for Nathan lit up her face. Then, Elizabeth stopped, rose up onto her tiptoes and kissed Nathan, right there in the middle of the street. Lucas looked away.

"I'm sorry things didn't work out between you and Elizabeth," Fiona said, softly as she watched him. "And I'm sorry that it hurt you." Obviously, she had seen what had drawn his gaze away. Lucas offered a weak smile.

"I guess you don't know what you wish you had until you don't have it anymore," he said, as he watched Elizabeth and Nathan walk down the street together. Glancing back to Fiona, he added, "I loved Elizabeth, but I know what the two of us shared wasn't what it should have been. We were each keeping each other from reaching our full potential, but I just didn't realize how much I wanted to have a family until she and Little Jack weren't part of my life anymore."

"You could still have that again, Lucas," Fiona said. "You could still have a family. Just because it's not with Elizabeth doesn't mean it can't be with someone else."

Lucas nodded, but he couldn't help feeling unconvinced. "Elizabeth was the first woman who thought I was actually a good person," Lucas said after a minute. "And now, if a relationship doesn't work out, I have no one to blame but myself. Not Jeanette wanting me to be someone I'm not, not Elizabeth having a connection with someone else or belonging in the town that I'm about to leave. It will be all on me." Fiona didn't say anything for a moment. She just sat there and studied him, her expression thoughtful.

"The people of this town still think that you're a good person, Lucas," Fiona said, a small smile on her face. Then, Fiona seemed to hesitate before adding, "And Faith seems to think that you're a good person too." At this, Lucas smiled a little.

"I guess so," he replied, but the prospect made his heart lift a little. Lucas ran a hand through his hair and suddenly froze. When he glanced over at Fiona, she just raised an eyebrow in question, seeing his look.

"What?" she questioned.

"I can't believe I just told you all of that," Lucas admitted a second later, feeling a bit shocked and embarrassed. "I've never told anyone any of that." He could barely bring himself to meet Fiona's gaze, as he suddenly felt uncharacteristically vulnerable. But Fiona just smiled.

"That's what friends are for," she assured him and Lucas smiled back, both grateful and relieved.

"Governor Bouchard!" Lucas tore his gaze from Fiona's and turned to see Lily running up to him, a big grin on her face.

"Good morning, Lily," Lucas said, when he saw the young girl. "How are you?"

"Mom said I could ask you if you wanted to come to the park with us?" Lily started to bounce on her toes and she clasped her hands together. "Please?" Lucas chuckled and looked over his shoulder to see Faith approaching the saloon. Seeing his gaze, she just shrugged and smiled at him. Lucas smiled back, but then looked apologetically over at Fiona. He didn't want to feel like he was rushing off in the middle of their conversation.

"Go," Fiona said, as if she could read his inner conflict on his face. "I'll see you later. You can help me with this speech I have to write." She smirked a little, holding up a sheet of paper. "You seem to be good at those."

Lucas chuckled as he stood. "Alright," he agreed, pushing in his chair. "But I don't know about that. You've always been the fearless one." And then he smiled one more time before Lily took his hand and excitedly pulled him away from the saloon.