"And so we commit to the ground the body of our loved child, Daisy Rose Moroe. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust."

Chris closed his eyes and shuddered as the first handful of dirt was thrown on top of the white coffin. That was his daughter in there, his flesh and blood. His last physical link to the past with Stephanie other than a few faded photographs.

Opening his eyes, he looked across at Stephanie. She was standing with arms wrapped around herself, tears streaming down her face. Hunter had an arm around Stephanie's waist looking at the ground. Steph looked up and for a long minute they made eye contact. For a second Chris had the impression that Stephanie had read his mind.

There ceremony over, Chris headed for his rental car. The last thing he wanted to do was talk to anyone. Without him, none of these people would be here today, yet he was the one who'd spent the least time with Daisy and was probably hurting the most. It was wrong on far too many levels.

As he opened the door, a shout stopped him. Sally Moroe had given her family and friends the slip for the moment and was headed in his direction. With a sigh, he paused, noticing that Stephanie and Hunter were talking to Sally's sister Toni. "How are you Sal?"

"I'm holding up all right." She put a comforting hand on his arm. "What about you?"

"Too busy worrying about Steph." He glanced over at them again. "But she seems to be doing fine."

"You're not coming to the wake?" To Chris's surprise, Sally sounded disappointed. He shook his head. "No. I just.. I can't."

"I understand." She replied, glancing at the ground. "I was really hoping for a chance to talk to you about.. this. Are you heading back today or tomorrow?"

"I'm flying back tomorrow."

"Can I call you at the hotel tomorrow? It'll probably be early afternoon..." Sally trailed off uncertainly. Chris mentally pulled himself together. He wasn't the only person who was suffering. He smiled at her. "Of course. Have you got a pen and paper? I'll give you the number."

~~~

"How are you feeling?" Hunter asked Stephanie that night, looking at her worriedly. She sighed. "I never thought I would have to deal with losing my daughter twice in one lifetime."

"I'm sorry." He felt helpless, knowing there was nothing he could say or do to ease Stephanie's pain. She smiled at him sadly. "I know. Thank you for everything. I don't know how I would've gotten through the past couple of days without you."

"But?" Hunter prompted, sensing that there was something else weighing on Stephanie's mind. She sighed again. "I'm not the only one who's had to deal with a lot this week. Chris must also be going through hell. But he's had to deal with it alone. I just -"

"Go on."

"What?"

"Go to him. He needs you. As much as I hate to say it, he can help you a lot more than I can right now." He said softly, brushing a lock of hair off her face. Hunter grinned as a thought suddenly occurred to him. "How many husbands would encourage their wife to visit her ex boyfriend?"

"You are the greatest." Stephanie said softly, slipping her jacket on. "I really mean it."

She paused next to him and rested a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her, a little surprised. She smiled down at him. "I mean it. I couldn't have gotten through the past few days without you. While you may not be the person I'd hoped to marry, I think that for a marriage of convenience you are the best husband I could hope for."

Hunter was speechless. In the whole time that they'd been married, the topic of feelings had never come up before. There were two reasons for this - one, it seemed clear to him that Stephanie was still in love with Chris. Secondly, he didn't know what his own feelings were. He'd felt a spark of attraction the very first time they'd met, back at Gold's - he'd be crazy to deny it, especially since Hall had given him so much shit about it. Although the Stephanie he knew now was different to the Stephanie he'd met back then, every so often the old Stephanie would shine through and he'd grow even more interested.

Steph laughed at him. "I'm serious."

"Wow… thanks." He stammered in reply. The smile faded from her lips and she bent her head and lightly kissed him on the lips. Stephanie smiled again as she headed for the door. "You're welcome."

~~~

"Go away." Chris muttered, the knock on the door taking him by surprise. He just didn't want company right now, unless they were bringing him another bottle of scotch. The first one had gone in an amazingly short amount of time and hadn't had the desired effect of numbing his pain and getting him drunk. Instead, he was feeling lonely and only a little bit tipsy. Whoever was at the door knocked louder.

"Go away." Chris shouted, throwing the empty bottle at the door as it swung open. He stopped in surprise as Stephanie looked at the glass on the floor and then at him, sprawled on the bed. "Very mature Chris."

"Oh... it's you." He let his head flop back to the pillow. A thought occurred to him and he raised his head to look at Stephanie. "Haven't got any scotch have you?"

"No I don't."

"Then go away." He muttered. Ignoring him, Stephanie sat gingerly on the bed. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Why are you here Steph?" Chris asked wearily, closing his eyes. "Don't you think I've been through enough because of you?"

"I'm here because I thought you might need some company. I thought that you might not want to be alone." She replied angrily, standing up. "I thought that you might want someone around who's grieving the loss of their child as much as you are, but I can see your too busy being drunk and wallowing in self pity to worry about how the mother of your child is feeling. I'm getting out of here, because if I have to listen to one more minute of this crap, then I'm going to throw you out of that window."

Chris stared at her in surprise, suddenly feeling very small. She was right, he hadn't given her grief one moments thought. "I'm sorry."

"What was that?" Steph sat back on the bed, wondering if she'd heard correctly. He rolled his eyes, thinking that she was making it difficult for him. "I'm sorry. You're right, I didn't think about your feelings. Now come here."

Chris held his arms open and without hesitation, Stephanie curled up against him, resting her head on his chest as he wrapped his arms around her. There was a few minutes of comfortable silence, then Stephanie burst into tears. He rocked her in his arms and whispered meaningless words of comfort. Eventually the sobbing subsided. Stroking her hair and back, Chris planted a quick kiss on the top of Stephanie's head and whispered "Talk to me, my Lioness."

"Can we talk later?" asked Stephanie, voice shaking. "I just need you to hold me right now."

"Anything baby." Chris tightened his arms around her. She snuggled against him. "God this feels so good."

"I've missed this. I've missed you Steph." He admitted somewhat shyly. She looked at him, fighting back tears. "I've missed you too."

They looked at each other for a long minute and in that minute it seemed that nothing had changed. Without realising he was doing it, Chris curled a lock of Stephanie's hair around his fingers. "Stephanie?"

"Chris?" Her voice was as low as his was, although not quite as husky. He kissed the top of Steph's head again, then rested his cheek there. "Stay with me tonight."

"Chris, I can't..." Stephanie turned her head away. "I'm married.. I have a husband now..."

"I don't care."

"Well I do."

"Do you love him?" Chris asked harshly, tightening his arms around her waist possessively. Stephanie looked at him in disgust. "I don't see how that is any of your business."

"Oh really?" He took her chin in his hand, forcing her to look at him. "Everything you do is my business Lioness, don't ever forget that. You're under my skin, you're in my soul, and I'll never be able to change that. I don't think I want to. You will never find what we had with him... or with anyone. Now answer the question - do you love him?"

Stephanie glared at Chris angrily. Where the hell did he get the right? She took a deep breath and said the first thing that came into her mind. "Yes. I love him."

They stared at each other for a moment, Stephanie holding her breath in anticipation of Chris's response. To her great surprise he started laughing. "You're lying."

"Am I?" she challenged coldly. With a somewhat sad and wistful smile, Chris brushed a stray lock of hair off Steph's face. "Like I said honey, I've got you under my skin. I can easily see that while you care about him, but your not in love with him."

"Damnit Chris, you're just so damned...."

"Adorable? Lovable? Cute? Sexy?"

"I was going to go with irritating, annoying and frustrating." Stephanie replied. She put her head back on Chris's chest. "You drive me crazy at times you know that?"

"I know baby." He kissed her forehead again, then tipped her face up and tenderly kissed her lips. After a second of token resistance, she returned the kiss, placing her hand on his cheek. The kiss ended and they looked at each other. "Stephanie?"

"Hmmm?"

"Stay with me tonight." His voice betrayed no emotion, but there was something in his eyes pleading with her. Stephanie understood. Chris needed the emotional closeness of someone who was suffering the same way he was. And the only person who could provide that was her. She smiled at him sadly, unable to believe the way things had turned out. "I'll stay."

~~~~

"Do you have to go?" Chris asked, watching Stephanie get dressed. She nodded sadly. "Early flight. Need to get back and plan the week ahead."

"Sucks to be in charge."

"Actually it's a lot of fun." She replied with a grin. "Although there’s a few decisions that you have to make that aren't the most popular."

"I can imagine. Come here." Chris beckoned her over. She looked at him with a slightly suspicious smile as she walked over to the bed. "What?"

He leaned up and drew her down for a kiss. Just as their lips touched, they were interrupted by the phone. Chris cursed, then grinned at Stephanie. "Can you get it? It's probably for you anyways."

He meant that it was probably Hunter, ringing to remind her about their flight. Again.

"Possibly, but can you imagine if it's Lyd or Teg?" Steph replied, laughing at the look of horror on Chris's face as he imagined the shrill reaction. He leaned over and picked up the phone. "Hello? Yeah.. she's walking out the door now. She knows. OK.. ok.. Damnit Helmsley I get the point! Goodbye."

"I've really got to go." Stephanie sighed. "Call me when you get back?"

"It's a promise. Have a safe trip." Chris watched her leave, muttering something under his breath as the phone rang again. "Oh for gods sake Helmsley - oh. Sally. How are you?"

"I'm holding up. I'm also in the lobby of the hotel... I was hoping to talk to you face to face. Is that possible?" She asked. He bit back a curse. "Yeah it's fine. I'll be down soon."

Ten minutes later, after a shower and change of clothes, Chris met Sally Moroe in the lobby. " Hey Chris. How are you?"

"Still breathing." Chris replied sardonically. Sally smiled at him sadly. "This must be very hard for you."

"Well most people lose their child only once. I've dealt with it twice."

"I'm sorry that you've suffered so much, I really am." Sally sounded genuine. "I've been preparing myself for the day I lost her... I just never thought it would happen like this. Chris, I know this may sound weird, but I want to thank you. Daisy brought a lot of joy and happiness my life."

"I'm glad." He replied sincerely. She reached into her bag and pulled out what looked like a small notebook. "I have something for you. It's not much, but I thought that you may like it."

Chris looked at the front of it. There was a photo of Daisy, and the words 'Daisy Moroe 1997 - 2000'. He swallowed, unable to speak. After a minute, he choked out "Thank you."

"It's nothing, really." Sally patted his shoulder. "After all you and Stephanie gave me the greatest gift I could ever receive. Three years of absolute bliss. I was devastated when Stephanie and Hunter's lawyers called and told me the reality surrounding the circumstances of the adoption. I guess I've been preparing myself for losing her for a while. I just never thought it would be like this. I thought it would be in a friendly custody battle, with visiting rights when they could be managed. But not like this." She saw the look on Chris's face. "Are you alright?"

"As can be expected." He managed to say. His guts were twisted into tiny knots. "I'm sorry Sal, but I really have to get going. I have a plan to catch."

"I understand." The look on her face said the exact opposite. She hugged him shyly. "I have your address. Is it ok if I keep in touch?"

"Of course." Chris smiled, hugging her back. He started to walk away, then turned around. "And Sally?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for taking good care of my baby girl."