Two weeks.

That’s how long it had been since Nick had walked out of the house, leaving a devastated Katelin behind. Two weeks since her life had been shattered. In those two weeks, Katelin had successfully managed to avoid seeing her husband. Ex-husband. Estranged husband. Whatever. She wasn’t even sure how to refer him. Any communications that they needed to have, mostly about their children, had gone through either Jane or Brian. For two weeks at least. Today, her luck had run out.

Unfortunately, both Jane and Brian weren’t around and everyone else refused to get involved between the two. Nick was due to drop the children off at any minute. Katelin waited nervously on the couch and, when the doorbell rang, nearly jumped out of her skin. She slowly made her way to the door and unlocked it, sighing out of extreme relief when she saw that it was BJ standing on the other side.

“Hey,” BJ greeted, walking inside. “I figured you could use some moral support. I know that Mom wasn’t around all day so you were going to have to see him.”

“Thanks.” Katelin was visibly relieved as she closed the door behind her sister-in-law. “It’s crazy isn’t it? I’m nervous to see the man that I’ve been in love with for eight years.”

“It’s not crazy,” BJ replied, softly, before sitting beside her on the couch. She tentatively wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “No one knows what’s going through Nick’s head right now.”

“I just can’t understand why….” Katelin was interrupted by the doorbell again. “Shit,” she mumbled. She threw BJ a pleading look. BJ, completely understanding, stood up and walked into the foyer to answer the door. She opened it up and saw Nick and the three children on the front step.

“Beej?” Nick was surprised. He thought for sure that he was going to get to see her today. He knew that she had purposely avoided him for the last few weeks and he really couldn’t blame her. But he thought that today was going to be the day. “Where’s Kate? I thought she was going to be here.”

“She is here,” BJ answered, before looking down to her niece and nephews. “Why don’t you guys go say hello to your mom?” The kids nodded, before dropping their stuff in the hallway and running into the living room to see their mother. Nick went to follow but BJ put her hand up to stop him. She hadn’t been able to get him alone in the last two weeks and now she finally had her chance. “Don’t, Nick.”

“Don’t what?” Nick asked, glancing down at her hand on his chest. “I still need to say goodbye to my kids.”

“Just wait a second.” BJ pulled him into the den and closed the doors. “Before you do anything I want to know why the hell you’re tearing your family apart.”

“BJ,” Nick sighed. He didn’t want to get into this with his sister. “I’m not tearing…”

“What the hell do you think this is then?” she interrupted. “Do you realize how permanent your actions are, Nick? Do your realize what you’re doing? You can never go back, Nick. Never. Don’t you understand that?”

“Yes Beej.” Nick leaned back against the desk and ran his hand over his face. “God, you have to understand that I never wanted anything to come to this. Never. It just happened. I tried to make it better. I really did. But some things are beyond fixing. Believe me, I would want nothing more than to be able to go back to the way we were but it’s impossible.”

“But don’t you love her?” BJ glanced up at Nick with tear-filled eyes, obviously taking some of this very personally.

Nick pulled his sister into a hug, his hand rubbing lightly over her back. “Of course I love her, BJ. Otherwise this wouldn’t be so damn hard to do. But sometimes it isn’t enough.”

“Hi guys.” Kate’s face visibly brightened when her three children ran into the living room. Kayleigh jumped into her lap and wrapped her arms around her neck and both Brian and Aaron sat on each side of her.

“Hi mommy!” Aaron announced, excitedly. He leaned over and gave his mom a kiss on the cheek. “We missed you.”

“Oh I missed you too, sweetie.” Katelin glanced, haphazardly, at the doorway to the living room, wondering what Nick and BJ were up to. “Did you have fun with your dad?”

Brian nodded. “Yeah. Why you not there, mom?”

Katelin sighed. She had tried, repeatedly, to help them understand what was going on and she was assuming that Nick did too, but the only real way to do it was for both of them to sit down and do it together.

Aaron turned to his mother. “Yeah, mom. When is dad going to come back?”

“Um…baby…” Katelin stuttered, unsure of what to say. She glanced around helplessly, suddenly wanting Nick to be in there with her so she didn’t have to do this alone. “He’s not, honey. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. Daddy doesn’t live here anymore.”

“Why?!” Aaron shrieked, jumping off of the couch and staring at his mother. “I want him to come home!”

“Aaron, please stop yelling honey,” Katelin pleaded, her eyes tearing up.

“No!” Aaron stomped his foot on the ground for emphasis. “I want my daddy!”

“Aaron,” she whimpered, tears sliding down her face.

At the sound of his son’s screaming, Nick bolted out of the office and into the living room. “What’s wrong?” He glanced from a red-faced and crying Aaron, to his wife, who had her face buried in her hands. “Aaron, what is it?”

“I want you to come home, daddy,” Aaron cried. “Please? Please, just come home.” He collapsed on the floor next to his father, still sobbing.

“Guys?” BJ appeared at the doorway to the living room. “Should I take Kayleigh and Brian outside for a little?”

“Yeah,” Nick responded, throwing a grateful look in his sister’s direction. “That would be a good idea.” He waited while BJ gathered the twins and led them out of the room before bending down to his son’s level and pulling him into his lap. “Aaron, honey, I thought we talked about this. And I’m sure your mom has too.” Nick raised his eyes to Katelin who could barely even make eye contact with him.

“But I don’t understand, daddy,” Aaron whimpered. “Why don’t you and mommy like each other anymore?”

“We do, Air,” Katelin chimed in, looking at her son and praying silently that he would begin to understand. “But some things have changed and daddy’s not going to live here anymore. You guys are still going to see your dad. That’s not going to change, baby.”

“It’s not?” Aaron looked at both of his parents with tear-filled eyes.

“No.” Katelin shook her head. “We love you honey. Nothing will ever change that.”

“I love you too, mommy.” Aaron jumped out of his father’s lap and ran into his mother’s arms. Katelin pulled away and smiled. “Why don’t you go outside with Aunt BJ, okay?” Aaron nodded and ran out towards the back door. Both Katelin and Nick watched him go, silently, not knowing what to say to each other. They sat in complete silence for a few minutes before Nick started to speak. “You know, we’re going to have to stop doing what we’ve been doing.”

“And what’s that?” Katelin asked, turning her head to face him.

“Stop avoiding each other,” Nick replied. “We can’t keep doing this forever. We’re going to have to learn to get along like civilized adults at some point.” He heard Katelin mumble something but he couldn’t make out what he said. “What was that?”

“I said that we wouldn’t be having to deal with this at all if it wasn’t for you.” Katelin stared at him straight in the eye, causing Nick to flinch at the hatred that was emanating from her.

“Kate, please,” he began, sighing deeply. “We’ve been over this.”

“How, Nick?” Katelin exploded, the tension of the last two weeks finally coming out. “How the hell have we been over this? From what I recall, you told me that you were leaving. We didn’t go over anything. You stood there and blamed our marriage falling apart all on me. You conveniently neglected to clue me in on the fact that you’ve been having a god damn affair for the last four months!”

Nick stared at her, eyes wide, mouth hung open, fumbling for something to say. “How…how did you know that?” he finally managed to spit out.

“It’s not important, Nick!” She yelled. “The fact remains that you stood there and told me that everything was my fault. That I was the reason that all of this happened. When you’ve been sleeping with another woman for months now!”

“Kate…I…” Nick didn’t even know what to say. Yeah, it was true that he was having an affair. And that in itself was wrong. But didn’t she realize why he felt the need to turn to someone else? It was because she was never around. She didn’t let him touch her, let alone even near her. She had barely even acted as his wife. He just needed comfort. Someone to be there for him and need him because Katelin obviously didn’t anymore.

“Don’t, Nick.” Katelin took a deep breath and looked him straight in the eye. “You need to leave. Go say bye to your children and get out of here.”

“Katelin don’t,” he pleaded, softly. “Let’s talk about this.”

“No, Nick,” she replied standing up. She began walking towards the stairs. “Get out. And expect a call from my lawyer this week. Don’t you dare think for one damn second that I’ll go easy on you when it comes to custody of my children. No judge in their right mind would ever take them away from me.”

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