Settling into the bed beside his wife, JC sighed loudly, expressing what both of them were feeling. This really sucked.

He pulled the blankets up over his hips and looked at her where she lay silent beside him. Her back was to him and she faced the window; no movement...no sound.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, he reached over to grasp her hip and pulled her right against his body. "Baby," he whispered, moving his lips down onto her shoulder.

Abby's eyes clenched tight at the sound of his voice and it was all it took for her dam to break again. Sobs shook her body and she buried her face into the pillows, trying to pull away from him.

But he resisted. His arms both came around her and he rolled them until he was lying on his back and she was on top of him. Reaching up, he brushed the hair from her face and stared up into her beautiful features. Shaking his head, he fought his own tears at the grief he found on her face.

Finally she gave in and fell against him, her arms slid around him and she cried loudly into his chest, her hot tears sliding down his bare skin. JC's arms came around her and he held her close to him, soothing her in whispers and small motions of his fingers.

After several moments of crying, she leaned her elbows on either side of him and looked into his eyes as a trail of tears continued its decent. "How am I supposed to do this?" she asked in a choked voice. "How do they honestly expect me to get on that plane with you guys and leave my son here with...with him? I can't do it!"

JC sighed and moved his hands into her hair, pulling her head down to kiss her tears away. Looking into her eyes again, he whispered in a voice so soft and encouraging. "I know. But we don't have a choice, and we have to have faith that everything is going to work out." Tears began to squeeze out of his own eyes and he rolled her off his body and back onto the soft mattress beside him.

Running his fingers through her hair, he tried to continue to soothe her fears while his own were creeping back up on him. Drawing her trembling body back into his embrace, he held her close and sang and whispered to her until her breathing slowed and she eventually fell into a fitful sleep.

But he would get no sleep that night. Or any night following for a week. It was too much on his shoulders all at once, and he found himself wishing it would all just go away. While she would be finding some time away within her sleep and nightmares, he would lie awake, completely exhausted, yet not able to close his eyes.

And just when he thought it would be easier just to walk away and leave it all behind him, he remembered the pain in Abby's eyes the first million times he had hurt her. He remembered the tears Braeden had cried and the things the child had said, wondering if the man had loved him as he loved back.

And JC knew that he could never leave her this way. He was in this for the long run, that ring on his finger told him that, but his heart insisted it loudly in his chest. He could never give up on Braeden. When he had nothing else, he had always had that boy's love, and he owed his son no less in return.

No matter what happened in the month that followed as they lay together in her childhood bed, JC was bound and determined to fix his family and put Ben Ricklin in his place.

~*~

Braeden peeked around the corner and tightened his little hand around the phone. "He's watchin' the tv." He wrinkled his nose as he watched Ben scratch himself with one hand while tipping his beer back with the other, the television blaring.

"Are you being good for Ben, honey?" Abby asked, peeking in at Chance before making her way down the stairs.

"I'm trying," he replied in a quiet voice, leaning his back against the wall.

"I miss you, sweetie. Your daddy and I both miss you so much. Just hang in there and we'll be back together before you know it."

"Okay," Braeden replied. He sighed when he looked up and saw Ben standing over him with his hand outstreched, waiting for the phone. "Mommy, I have to go now."

Abby wanted to cry at the sound of her son's voice. "O-okay, sweetie. Look, your daddy's not here right now, so I'll have him call you when he gets home from the studio." She tightened her hand around the cordless phone and sighed. "I love you, Bray."

Braeden looked up at Ben with wide eyes. "I love you too, Mommy. Bye." He handed the phone to the man that towered over him and stared at him. "My daddy's gonna call later."

"He's not talking to you, though," Ben replied. "Go to your room...it's bedtime," he said in a gruff voice, throwing the phone onto the table with a clatter.

Braeden flinched and looked out the window. "But the sun is still out. Mommy and Daddy don't make me go to bed until it goes away. Besides, I'm not tired," the boy argued.

Ben grabbed his son's arm and pushed him toward the small room he had put an old mattress in for the boy to sleep on. "Get your ass in there and go to bed!"

"My daddy wouldn't make me go to bed!" Braeden yelled back at the man.

Ben knelt down before the child and grabbed both of his arms. "I am your father, you little brat. That man has nothing to do with you...you are my son. Got it?" He stood up and opened the door. Waiting until the boy stepped into the room, he slammed the door after him and went back to his beer and hockey game.

~*~

JC kissed his wife on his way through the door and threw his coat and keys on the island counter in the kitchen. "How was your day, sweetie?" he asked, sitting down at the table and starting to flip through the mail.

"It was fine," she replied, going back to the supper she was prepairing. "I talked to Ronnie for a while...he's got a girlfriend all of a sudden and he wants us to come down and meet her. I told him it would have to be after the lawsuit is settled."

He nodded and tossed a bill to the other end of the table. "Good idea."

She leaned against the counter with her arms crossed over her chest and studied him carefully. "I talked to Braeden."

This caught his attention and he looked up at his wife. "Oh...I was hoping to talk to him today."

"I told him you would call when you got in. It's still early," she replied with a smile.

He nodded and tossed the rest of the mail on the table before making his way into the kitchen where his son was sitting on the floor, playing with some blocks. "Hey buddy," he said, grabbing the phone and sitting down on the couch. Chance scooted closer to his father and began to play with his pant legs.

JC laughed slightly and dialed the number he had memorized over the past two weeks. He pulled Chance up into his lap and talked quietly to the child as the phone rang in his ear.

"Hello?" came the gruff voice from the other end of the line.

JC's back stiffened at the unfriendly voice. "Ben, let me talk to Braeden."

"He's in bed," Ben slurred. "Abby already called today and that's enough for one day. Call back tomorrow if you wanna talk to the kid."

JC's face flushed with anger. "Ben, put my son on the phone."

"Screw you, man. He's in bed. Get over it." Ben slammed the phone down and JC cursed as he heard the dialtone in his ear. Throwing the phone across the room, he ran his hands through his hair. "Stupid son of a...what the fu-"

"Josh?"

He turned and saw Abby standing in the doorway. "Sweetheart, what's wrong?" she asked, drying her hands on a towel.

JC turned and looked at her before a thought ran through his head. "I'm going up there. He wouldn't let me talk to him so I'm going up there." He brushed past her and into the kitchen, grabbing his coat and keys on the way by the counter.

Abby darted around him and stood in front of him, wrapping her arms around his waist to prevent him from continuing out the door. "Josh...you can't, honey...you can't." She leaned her head forward against his chest as his arms came around her. When she thought he had calmed down a little, she released her hold around him. "Please calm down."

She took his hand and pulled him back to the living room. Sitting down on the couch, she pulled him down beside her. She turned, tucking her leg up under herself and held both of his hands. "Talk to me."

"He just pissed me off is all," JC muttered, pulling Chance into his lap again.

Abby reached out, turning his face until she could look into his eyes, her fingers caressing his cheeks lightly. "You have been so strong these last few weeks. I know you haven't been getting any sleep because I can see it in the way you act. You've been the strong one, offering me your support when you know this time away from him is tearing me apart. Josh, you have to let it go at some point. Let your frustrations out."

"I was going to if you would have let me go to Kansas," he muttered, running his hands down his frustrated face. "I was going to let it all out...all over his face with my fists."

She grabbed his hands and pulled them away from his face. "You have to find some way to deal with this other than keeping it all inside. Cry a little or something. God knows I've done enough of that for both of us, but you have to do something! You think that being strong is going to help me cope, but there is this dead look in your eyes! You're a singer, Joshua...not an actor."

He closed his eyes slowly. "I know," he replied with a sigh. "I know...I just...I just wanted to talk to my son and he had no right to keep that from me. Braeden shouldn't even be there right now and that man is acting like he belongs in my position in Brady's life."

He knew what she was going to say before she even said it...he had been waiting to hear it from someone, but didn't think it would be her. Abby's hand tightened around JC's and she sighed. "Sweetie, I hate to say this...but Ben is Braeden's father."

JC pulled his hand out of her grip and rolled his eyes. Moving Chance off his lap, he stood up with a huff and stormed up the stairs.

Abby flinched when she heard the door to the bedroom slam. Pulling Chance close into her arms, she leaned her head back on the couch and stared at the ceiling. She should have known better, but she had said it anyway.

Moving a hand up to her hair, she ran her fingers through it and sighed. This was a nightmare and she didn't know how she was going to make it through the rest of the month.

Meanwhile, JC was in their bedroom with the curtains pulled shut. His shoes had been kicked off at the door and he stood in the bathroom, washing his face of his fatigue. Rinsing it, he looked up into the mirror, wincing at the image that stared back at him. He closed his eyes and turned to walk out of the bathroom.

He was halfway to the bed when his emotions hit him like a freight train and he stumbled back against the wall. He could no longer harbor the tears that he'd been withholding for two weeks. Clutching his pounding head within his hands, he sobbed out loud and slid down the wall to the floor where he cried out the two weeks of fears and pain he'd kept inside.

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