Katelin slowly made her way off of the elevator, Brendan ahead of her by a few steps. As soon as they were about to turn the corner of the hallway where Aaron’s room was, she froze. “What are you doing?” Brendan turned around, noticing she was no longer following him.

She shook her head. “I can’t do this. Everyone’s going to be here and…”

“Calm down,” Brendan smiled, comfortingly. “No one’s going to say anything to you in front of Aaron. Now come on. Don’t you want to see your son?”

Katelin sighed. “Of course I do.”

“Good.” Brendan grabbed her hand. “Now let’s go.”

“Leighanne, she gets more and more beautiful every day,” Jane commented while balancing Anna on her hip. “She looks exactly like you.”

Leighanne rolled her eyes. “Stop. She looks more like Brian, I think.”

“Seriously,” Brian chimed in. “Who could resist this face?”

Leighanne playfully shoved him away. “Shut up.”

“So, where’s Ni…” Brian trailed off as he noticed who had just entered the waiting room.

Catching the expression on Brian’s face, Jane and Leighanne quickly turned around to see what he was looking at. At the appearance of her daughter-in-law, Jane immediatley frowned. And as much as she wanted to give Katelin a piece of her mind, it was hardly the time or the place.

“Hey Kate,” Leighanne greeted politely. “What are you doing here?”

“Um…” Katelin stuttered. “Nick told me to come by and see Aaron.”

“He didn’t tell us that,” BJ chimed in, snottily.

Katelin was slightly taken aback. Not only at the fact that BJ looked to be about nine months pregnant but at the animosity in her voice. Katelin and BJ had always been so close. “I talked to him last night and he said I should come over around noon.”

“I’ll let him know you’re here,” Leighanne offered before walking towards Aaron’s room, leaving BJ, Jane, and Brian there with Katelin.

She nervously bit her lip and looked at Brendan, silently asking him what she should do. Seeing that he had no answer, she turned back to the three people she had once considered family. “Look, I…”

“Save it,” Jane snapped. “There is nothing you could actually say that would make up for what you’ve put my son and those children through.”

“I know what I did was wrong,” Katelin admitted, her voice shaking. “I’m trying to make up for that.”

“You can’t make up for running out on your family,” Brian sneered. “Especially for another man.”

“What are you…” Brendan began before Katelin grabbed his hand to stop him.

“You guys are a bunch of hypocrites,” Katelin accused, glaring at each one of them. She knew that she had made a terrible decision by walking out on her family three years ago. There was no question in her mind. But it was as if they had all completely forgotten what she had been through in the years before she had left. “You all have conveniently forgotten the hell that Nick put me through. He walked out on me. Twice. He left me, pregnant and alone. And when he came back, none of you could understand why it was so hard for me to take him back. You were all on his side. You all but forced us to move in together. And, then what happened? He walked out on me again! So don’t stand there and tell me what a horrible person I am when your precious Nick is no better than me.”

“You ungrateful little bitch,” Jane growled, taking a step towards her.

“Hey!” An angry yell interrupted them. They all turned to see Nick standing in the entrance to the waiting room. “Keep your voices down before my son hears you.”

“Nick,” Brian took a step towards Nick as Katelin rolled her eyes. “You’re not really going to let her see them, are you?”

“What I do with my children is none of your business, Brian,” Nick glared at his friend. He turned towards Katelin. “Aaron’s waiting for you.”

Katelin had an urge to do something really juvenile, like turn around and stick her tongue out at them, but, instead she followed Nick out of the waiting room. “What did you tell him?” She asked, as they made their way down the hall.

“I told him that you had to go away,” Nick explained. “But that you came back because you heard that he was sick I didn’t tell him why you had to leave.” She opened her mouth to retort but he cut her off. “I didn’t tell him why because I don’t know why. Now, here we are.”

Katlein took a deep breath and briefly closed her eyes as Nick opened the door. When she opened them, Aaron had his back towards her and was talking to Leighanne. When they heard the door open, they both stopped talking and turned towards the door.

Katelin’s breath caught in her throat as Aaron looked her with wide eyes. “Hi mommy,” he said, quietly.

“Hi baby,” She tearfully replied.

“Alright Air,” Leighanne stood up from her chair. “I’ll see you later.” She nodded goodby to Nick and Katelin before walking out the door.

Katlein carefully went over and sat down in the chair that Leighanne had vacated. “How are you feeling, baby?”

Aaron shrugged. “Okay, I guess. Are you going to help me get better?”

She quickly glanced at Nick. “Um…yeah, honey. I’m going to try.”

“That’s why she’s here, Air.” Nick pulled up a chair on the other side of Aaron’s bed. “We all want to see you get better.”

Aaron turned back towards his mother. “Then are you going to go away again?”

Katelin went to answer but Nick interrupted her again, quickly changing the subject. She listened as father and son bantered back and forth. Before long, Aaron began to nod off and Nick quickly ushered her from the room. “Why did you do that?” she hissed, as he quietly shut the door.

“Do what?” He questioned, grabbing her elbow and leading her down the hall.

“Interrupted us like that,” she clarified, ripping her arm away from him. “He asked me if I was staying and I wanted to let him know that I wasn’t leaving him again.”

He looked at her as if she had grown another head. “You think I was going to let him sit there and listen to promises that you can’t keep?”

“What do you mean, ‘I can’t keep’?” She retorted. “You think I’m going to walk away from them again?”

“I don’t even know why you did in the first place!” He exclaimed. “Why the hell would I think you wouldn’t walk away again? I won’t put them through that all over again.”

“You act as if you never left, Nick,” She glared at him. “As if you never walked away from your pregnant girlfriend. Or left your wife and kids for some stupid whore.”

“Don’t you dare,” Nick growled, menacingly. “I know that I’m not perfect and that I’ve done some stupid things in the past. But don’t even compare what I’ve done with what you’ve done. I never walked completely out of their lives. I was always around, even when you tried to not let me see them.” He took a breath and stared at her, not knowing what to make of the expression on her face. “What? Did you do this to get back at me? Well, congratulations sweetheart. It worked.”

“Hey,” They heard a quiet voice interrupt them. They both turned to see Brynn making their way toward them. “I’m sorry, but, Nick, the twins are here.”

Nick sighed heavily and glanced over at Katelin. Before she could even get a word out, he cut her off. “No.”

“Why not?” She hissed, trying to be quiet enough so no one in the waiting room could here her. “What is the big deal? Don’t you think Aaorn’s going to tell them anyway?”

“Because I haven’t even told them you’re here,” he retorted. “They wouldn’t understand why, all of the sudden, you just showed up in the waiting room.”

“Fine,” she sighed. Like she’d win an argument against him anyway. “Tell Brendan I’ll be down in the courtyard.” She watched as Nick walked away, leaving Kate and Brynn standing in the hallway by themselves. Katelin went to turn around and walk down the hall but Brynn’s voice stopped her. “You know, he really is trying.”

Kate resisted the urge to roll her eyes and turned around to face her. “Yeah? It seems to me like he’s acting this way just to get back at me.”

Brynn, in turn, resisted the urge to laugh in her face. “And even if he was, don’t you think you deserve it?” She was trying as hard as she could to be somewhat cordial. Nick was still married to this woman and all. But Katelin was making it really difficult with the way she was acting.

“Maybe Nick deserved it too,” Katelin retorted. “How long have you been with him? I take it, not long, if you have absolutely no idea where I’m going with this. But Nick is restless and when he gets restless, he pushes you away. He leaves. And he’ll do it with you too.” Before Brynn could respond, Katelin rounded the corner in the direction of the elevators.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

She heard footsteps behind her and sighed, quietly. “And how are my babies, Brendan?”

“It’s not Brendan.” She whipped her head around and stared up at the man standing there. “Can I sit down?”

She nodded. “I don’t know why you would want to. You made your feelings very clear to me upstairs.”

“I’m angry, Kate,” he told her, staring up at the late afternoon sky. “We all are and we all have every right to be. Especially Nick.”

She felt her eyes begin to tear up and he reached up to wipe them away. “I know, Brian. And don’t blame you guys. But there’s nothing I can do about it now. I can’t turn back time.”

At that moment, all he wanted to do was wrap his arms around her. He was angry. He hated what she had done to his best friend. But, at one point in time, he had thought of her as the younger sister he never had. And he knew she was hurting too. “Just tell him, Kate. He deserves to know the truth. Or, if you can’t face him, tell someone else. Tell me and I’ll tell him.”

“I can’t,” she choked out. He watched as she closed her eyes and let her hands fall into her lap. And that’s when he knew. When he saw what he saw, he knew something had gone terribly, terribly wrong.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

“Come on, honey!” AJ called up the stairs to his wife. “We’re supposed to meet them in fifteen minutes! We’re never going to make it.”

“I’m coming!” He heard Amanda reply. He turned around and walked into the den where his mother was watching J.T. “Alright. We’re leaving.”

“Bye daddy!” JT said, barely looking up from his toys. Amanda walked in the room then and said goodbye to Denise and JT before following AJ out to the car.

“So, who’s meeting us?” Amanda asked as they made their way to the restaurant.

“I think everyone is,” AJ told her, pulling the car into the parking spot. “Even Nick and Brynn.”

They made their way inside where Kevin, Kristin, Brian, and Leighanne were already waiting. “Hey guys!” AJ greeted, pulling a chair out for Amanda and sitting down himself. “Are you the only one’s here? Where’s Howie?”

“On his way,” Kevin replied. “And Nicky and Brynn are at the bar getting a drink.”

“How’s he doing?” Amanda asked. “I haven’t been by the hospital in a few days.”

Brian shrugged. “He’s doing alright. The surgery is scheduled for Friday so this may all be over soon.”

“Katelin came by today,” Leighanne filled them in. “Nick told her that she could go and see Aaron. But just Aaron. Not the twins.”

“How is she?” Kristin asked. “I haven’t seen her yet.”

Brian shrugged, again. “She looks okay, I guess. She was pretty upset that she couldn’t see the twins. I talked to her afterwards. But she let Jane, BJ, and I have it out in the waiting room. I haven’t seen anyone stand up to Jane like that in a long time. And I’ve never seen Jane act like that towards Kate before. She treated her just about as well as she used to treat Mandy.”

The topic of conversation changed at that point to something that captivated the girls’ attention. Brian took the opportunity to ask AJ about what he had seen earlier. “I was sitting outside with Kate earlier and I noticed something about her…” He trailed off, waiting to see if AJ had any idea what he was talking about.

“You noticed it too, huh?” AJ asked. Brian nodded. “I noticed it back when I found her in New York. I think it may have a lot to do with why she left but she clearly won’t talk about it.”

“Damn,” Brian breathed. “What the hell happened to her?”

“Hey guys!” They were interrupted by Nick and Brynn returning to the table. The subject was immediately dropped for fear that Nick may overhear them.

“Where are we going?” Brendan asked as Katelin sped down the highway.

She grinned. “My absolute favorite restaurant. I haven’t been there in forever.”

They parked the car and Brendan helped Kate out of her side. Not noticing any of the other vehicles in the lot, they entered the restaurant.

“May I help you?” the maitre’d asked. He had worked there for many years and knew the faces of many of the regulars. Katelin and Nick used to come in all of the time. And then, all of the sudden, they had stopped. And now, he knew why. After so long, they were both back again, but with different people on their arms.

“Table for two,” Brendan replied. He was following the maitre’d into the dining room when he noticed that Katelin had stopped short. He turned around and saw what she was looking at. The table full of her former friends. Her family. Her husband—and her husband’s new girlfriend.

Seeing a familiar face staring at them, Leighanne smiled. “Hi guys!”

Brendan offered his own smile in return. “Hey everyone.”

Katlein didn’t even notice anyone else in the room. All she could do was stare at the man in front of her. The man that she had loved for so many years. A man who now had his arms around someone else.

“Would you guys like to join us?” Brian asked.

Katelin’s eyes bugged out of her head and Nick almost choked on his water. What the hell was Brian thinking? “Oh no thanks,” she began before Kristin cut her off.

“Come on,” she pleaded, ignoring Kevin’s elbow in her side. “I haven’t even seen you since you’ve been back. You guys should sit down.”

“Sure,’ Brendan gave in, ignoring Katelin squeezing his hand.

The maitre’d returned with two chairs and, of course, the only place he could put them was across from Brynn and Nick. Brendan pulled out the chair and had to hld back his laugh at how obviously reluctrant Katelin was to sit down in it.

Nick reassuredly rubbed Brynn’s knee. He knew how uncomfortable this must be for her. But he also couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy. This was their restaurant. Why was she here with Brendan? What was Brendan’s real relationship with his wife? For all Nick knew, Brendan was the reason she walked out on them in the first place.

Brynn sat quietly in the car on the way home. She had no idea what to think. Ever since Katelin had returned, Nick had tried to reassure her. Over and over again. And she never doubted him. Until tonight. She glanced over at him. His eyes were fixated on the road in frotn of him. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught her looking at him and winked, taking her hand in his.

Brynn smiled tentatively at him before he turned his eyes back to the road. She sighed, inwardly. Maybe he didn’t even realize that he did what he did. How he looked at her. He may have seemingly ignored her throughout the entire night. But his eyes told a different story. The way he stared at her when he didn’t think anyone else was looking. Brynn had never seen that look directed towards herself.

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