Tabitha was busily chopping vegetables for a salad and watching Lance through the window. He was standing at the grill, cooking steaks and trying to keep Ariel from getting burned. She was jumping up and down excitedly, making sure that all attention was on her. Adam was in his swing a few feet away from Tabitha, gurgling happily. Tabitha turned to smile at him. He was so happy and care-free. All that mattered to him was a dry diaper and a full stomach. She scraped the vegetables into a bowl and tossed them with a fork. Then she grabbed a couple of bottles of salad dressing from the refrigerator and took them outside to the picnic table along with the salad.

"Mama, watch this," Ariel exclaimed as she jumped on the mini-trampoline beside the pool.

"That's great honey." Tabitha was about to say more, but then Ariel jumped too high and missed the trampoline. She started to fall backwards and Tabitha rushed to catch her before she landed in the pool. "Ariel Nicole Whitman, don't you ever do that again !" Tabitha scolded as soon as Ariel was safely in her arms.

"Sorry, Mama. I didn't mean to scare you," Ariel apologized tearfully. She hugged Tabitha tightly and kissed her on the cheek.

"It's OK, but you know better than to jump on the trampoline so close to the pool."

"Can I bring Adam out here ?" Ariel asked, the whole incident already forgotten.

"Sure. Just be careful with him." Tabitha loved how much Ariel wanted to help out with her little brother.

"I did a stunt like that once," Lance commented.

"You jumped into a pool from a trampoline ?"

"Actually my cousin and I did it at the same time. Fortunately we jumped into the deep end and we didn't land in the same place."

"Did you get hurt ?"

"No, but my mom nearly killed me."

"I can understand why. I nearly had a heart attack a few minutes ago."

"OK, here's Adam," Ariel announced as she carried her little brother through the doorway.

"Put him in his bouncer, Ariel."

"Ok, Mama."

Tabitha went back into the kitchen to get plates and silverware. She poured milk for Ariel and got out a bottle of juice for Adam. She took the dishes and the drinks out to the table and went back inside to get baby food for Adam. By the time she got everything to the table, Lance had the steaks ready.

"Ariel, sit down at the table. Here's your milk."

"I don't want milk, I want Dr. Pepper."

"You can't have Dr. Pepper, you have to drink milk."

"But Mama..."

"Ariel, sit down and drink your milk. I don't want to hear any more complaints."

Ariel pouted, but she complied with her mother's demands. She smiled when Lance sat down beside her. "Hi, daddy."

"Hi, pumpkin," Lance replied as he put some meat on her plate and cut it into pieces.

"Daddy, can I have some Dr. Pepper ?" Ariel asked with puppy dog eyes.

"Ariel..." her mother warned.

"Nevermind."

Tabitha went to the refrigerator on the patio and pulled out a wine cooler for herself. "Lance, what do you want to drink ?"

"What do you have ?"

"Um, water, Dr. Pepper, milk, juice, beer, and wine coolers."

"I'll take a beer."

Tabitha nodded and got out a beer from the refrigerator. She set it down in front of Lance and sat across from him. She pulled Adam onto her lap and started alternately feeding him and eating from her own plate. The meal progressed silently except for occasional comments from Ariel to the rest of them.

Ariel was swimming around in the shallow end of the pool, while Lance and Tabitha sat and watched. Adam was asleep on Tabitha's shoulder with one arm wrapped around her neck. He shifted his weight and Tabitha decided that he needed to go to bed. She carefully stood up so she wouldn't wake him.

"I'm going to take Adam to bed. I'll be right back," she whispered. Lance nodded and continued to watch Ariel.

When Tabitha returned a few minutes later, Ariel was out of the pool and was drying off with a towel. "Mama, I'm sleepy. Can Daddy help me get ready for bed ?"

"Sure, if he doesn't mind."

"I don't mind. Come on Ariel," Lance answered. He took her by the hand and they disappeared into the house. Tabitha went to the refrigerator and got another wine cooler to drink. She hadn't had anything with alcohol in it for a long time and she was enjoying the taste. When Lance returned, he got another beer and they sat in silence for a few minutes, just drinking and staring at the stars.

"Tabitha, I.." Lance started at the same time as Tabitha said, "Lance, I.."

"You go first," she conceded.

"I just wanted to thank you for letting me spend time with Ariel. It really means a lot to me."

"I'm sorry that I kept her away from you for so long."

"It wasn't your fault. The way I left hurt you and I didn't exactly welcome the idea of getting to know my child."

"I know, but I'm sorry for keeping her from you when I moved back here."

"Let's just skip all of the apologies. I think we've both done enough of that."

"I agree. So, I guess we should work out some kind of custody thing," Tabitha broke in.

"Right. Um, so you're staying in Orlando ?"

"Yeah, I love my job here and I don't really have anywhere else to go. I've been looking for an apartment to move into, but Justin won't let me. He insists that I stay here until things get settled with Darden and until the kids are a little older."

"That's good that we live close to each other. I don't care so much that Ariel lives with me part of the time as much as I just want to be able to spend time with her whenever I want."

"That's fine. She could stay with you sometimes when you're in town."

"I know she'd like that."

"Of course her idea of custody is for you to live here," Tabitha commented wryly.

"Really ? When did she say that ?"

"Earlier, when we were talking upstairs."

"You know, you guys could move into my house. I mean, it wouldn't be entirely like living together because I'm not there that much."

"I don't think that'd be a good idea."

"I didn't think you'd go for it, but I thought I'd suggest it anyway."

"I just don't want to give Ariel the wrong idea."

"She already thinks that we're back together," Lance stated.

"What ? How did she get that idea ?"

"I guess because we had dinner together tonight. I don't really know if that's it or not, but that's what she told me when I tucked her in."

"Omigosh. I'm going to have to talk to her about that in the morning."

"What's so horrible about the idea ?"

"Because it's not true."

"What if it was true ?"

"What do you mean ?"

"What if we did get back together ?" Lance questioned as he leaned closer to Tabitha.

"That's not going to happen," Tabitha answered.

"Why not ?"

"Because I don't love you anymore. I know you still love me, but that doesn't matter now."

"It matters to me," Lance replied with hurt in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way. It's just.. I can't get back in a relationship with you. Things are too different now."

"They aren't as different as you think," Lance told her as he moved to sit beside her.

"It's too soon to get in a relationship. I've only been divorced for a few days."

"Tabitha, look at me. I'm the same person I always was, except that I'm ready to take on responsibilities that I wasn't ready for before. It's not like you're starting a new relationship with someone you hardly know. We've know each other for a long time."

"No, I can't. I'm sorry," Tabitha responded as she stood up. Lance watched as she went inside and he sighed. This was not going the way he had planned. He had hoped that time would change her mind. He followed her into the kitchen where she was putting dishes in the dishwasher and wiping off the counters.

"Tabitha, will you please give me another chance ?" Lance begged. She shook her head mutely and left the room. Lance could tell that she was crying by the way she moved and the fact that she didn't answer him with words.

"I didn't mean to make you cry," he said with regret. He sat down beside her on the couch and pulled her into his arms. She didn't resist so he held her tightly as she cried. After a few minutes, she pulled back and sat staring at him with reddened eyes. She leaned toward him and kissed him hard on the lips. Lance was so stunned that all he could do was return the kiss. The kiss turned into a lengthy passionate one that lasted for several minutes. After it ended, Lance continued to hold her to him, kissing her neck and caressing her back. He unbuttoned her shirt and she moaned softly as he continued kissing her. Before either one of them knew it, their clothes were on the floor and they were having sex on the couch. They were so concentrated on having sex that neither one of them heard the door open.

"Tabitha ? Lance ?" Justin's voice interrupted them. He was so shocked at the two of them having sex that he stood rooted to the spot.

Justin's voice broke the trance that Tabitha was in. She pushed Lance off of her, grabbed her clothes, and ran upstairs. Lance watched her leave and sighed. "Man, why did you have to come in ?"

"Well this is my house and by the way, could you please put your clothes back on ? What the hell is going on here ?" Justin was still dumbfounded by the sight of them, but he managed to shakily sit down in a chair.

"She kissed me."

"It looked like more than kissing to me."

"Well, yeah. We just started kissing and then it led to sex. I'm not exactly sure how that happened."

"Oh my God, I just can't believe this. This is crazy. Did you force her to have sex with you ?"

"Justin Randall Timberlake, if you're accusing me of what I think you're accusing me of, I'm going to kick your ass."

"Sorry man, but I just can't believe that Tabitha would let herself get into this situation again."

"What do you mean, AGAIN ?"

"I mean sleeping with you again and the possibility of you leaving her again."

"I'm not going to leave her. I love her and I'm staying around as long as she'll let me."

"Which is not going to be very long now."

What Justin was trying to tell him was finally sinking in. Tabitha would be afraid that he'd leave her now that she'd slept with him. "Oh my God. What have I done ?"

"I think you should go home," Justin suggested.

Lance complied silently as Justin made his way upstairs to find Tabitha. It was hard to imagine what frame of mind she was in now. He heard crying in Ariel's room and he pushed open the door quickly. Ariel was sitting in the middle of her bed, holding her teddy bear and crying.

"Honey, what's wrong ?"

"I heard yelling. What's wrong ?"

"Nothing. Just a discussion between me and your daddy," Justin assured her.

"Is Mommy OK ?"

"Of course. Mommy is fine. Now lay down and go back to sleep."

"OK, Uncle Juju."

Justin heard the shower running in the guest bathroom and decided to wait in Tabitha's room until she was finished. He sat there impatiently trying to figure out what to say to her. After a while, he realized that the water had stopped running, but Tabitha hadn't come out of the bathroom.

"Tabbers, are you in there ?"

A loud sniffle was her answer. Justin tried the door and it was unlocked. "Hon, I'm coming in." He opened the door and found Tabitha sitting on the floor, wrapped in a bath towel. Tears were pouring down her face and she was muttering to herself. Justin sat beside her and took her into his arms. She fell limply against him and her tears soaked his shirt.

"I'm so sorry," she managed to say between sniffles.

"You don't have to apologize to me. I just want to know what happened."

"I don't know. I think I had too much to drink. He was trying to convince me that we should get back together and I was trying to convince myself that he was wrong. Obviously that didn't work."

"You were drinking ?" Justin was surprised by this. Tabitha hadn't had alcohol since she moved back to Orlando.

"Yeah, just a few wine coolers. I was so stupid," Tabitha sobbed as she laid down in Justin's lap.

"I think you need to get some sleep. Everything will look better in the morning."

"I don't know if I can sleep."

"I'll stay with you, if you want."

"Thanks, Juju."

Justin helped her stand up and put on her pajamas. He walked her into the bedroom and tucked her in bed. He laid down beside her and she put her head on his chest. Before long, she was in a deep sleep.