*****

Renee took a sip of her coffee and continued to wait. *He'll be home any moment now.* She kept her ears open for any sound that could possibly be Killian.

Her mind drifted to the raven haired beauty who held her heart and what exactly she was going to do to mend their situation. *Actually, I have no idea what to do about this...other than apologize profusely when I see her next.*

She was jerked out of her musings as she heard a car pull into her driveway. She took one more sip of her coffee and stood, smoothing her teal robe.

Renee arrived at the front door as soon as she heard two car doors close, and opened it. "Good morning, Killian."

The Irishman smiled at the blonde greeting them. "Mornin' Renee. We'd have been here earlier, but I had some unavoidable errands."

"I understand. It's very generous of you to drive him home. Thank you. Would you like a cup of coffee?"

"I'd love some, but unfortunately I have some errands to run before I can open.
"Do me a favour, tho, and talk some sense into 'im. Somethin's wrong with 'im, but he won't tell me."

Renee clenched her jaw and forced a sincere smile. "I will."

"Good. And keep 'is arse in bed today. I'll take his shift."

Renee moved aside to let Steve into the house, neither making eye contact. "Okay, Killian. You're sure you don't want some coffee?"

"Naw, thanks. Have a good day, Renee."

"Thanks, Killian, you too, and thank you again for driving him home."

The Irishman smiled at the blonde then got back into his car and drove off. She took a deep breath, readying herself for the confrontation she knew was inevitable.

Stepping back inside the house and locking the door, she found Steve in the kitchen pouring himself some coffee. He was disheveled and his shoulders slumped.

"Renee, I'm going to go and take a shower, then we'll talk, okay? 'Cuz we need to..." Without waiting for a reply, Steve took his mug into the bedroom and shut the door.

Renee heard the water in the bathroom start running. She sighed and refilled her mug, thinking again of Lucy. The blonde was startled out of her daydream by the phone ringing.

She padded over to the phone and her heart nearly jumped into her throat when she read the name on the caller ID box: "Lawless, Lucy."

She took a cleansing breath as she calmed her heartrate so she could talk. *It might just be Rob...* She noticed when the shower in her bedroom shut off and she heard the bed squeek. *He's probably going straight to sleep.*

"Hello?" she asked into the receiver.

"Hello yourself."

Renee smiled, but was stopped before she could say anything.

"I know you probably don't want to talk to me, but Rob's rescheduled the cast party for tomorrow night..."

"No, I do want to talk to you, Lucy, just not over the phone. Besides, Steve JUST got home from his shift from last night."

"Well, I'm gonna be at Justino's around ten, y'know, and let Rob get some sleep...if you can make it, why don't you show up? We can talk over breakfast."

Again, the blonde woman smiled. "Okay. I think I might be able to get there."

There was a healthy silence as each woman pondered what to say next, wanting to pour their hearts out yet not over the phone.

"Umm...I'd better go so Rob can make the rest of his calls. I'll see you later?"

"Yeah."

"Good. I'm looking forward to it.
"And don't forget that the cast party is tomorrow, two o'clock."

"Great. Thanks, Lucy.
"Bye."

"Bye, Ren."

The blonde hung up the phone, her heart lightened considerably with the tone in Lucy's voice. *Justino's at ten.* She glanced at the clock.

*It's nine o'clock now. I gotta get moving.*

Renee quickly but quietly rushed into her bedroom to pick out what she wanted to wear to the restaurant, careful to not awaken the slumbering hungover Steve, who did indeed dry off and collapse into the bed.

She grabbed her blue jeans, a small black a-shirt and a long sleeved dark green shirt to go over that and headed into the bathroom to get ready.

*****

*What does one wear to an occasion when you're having breakfast with the woman you love to discuss one's being pregnant with one's husband's baby?* Lucy smiled at the absurdity of the question in her mind as she giddily sifted through her closet.

"Hon, whatcha doin'?" asked Rob, having just hung up with Danielle Cormack about the cast party.

"I thought I'd go eat breakfast at Justino's so you could get some work done and get some sleep." The raven haired woman walked out into the living room where her husband was making the phone calls and stood there, hands on hips.

"Don't argue with me, Rob. Knowing Sam, you probably didn't sleep much if at all. Finish up those calls and then get to bed, got me?"

The producer smiled at her. "Thanks hon."

Lucy forced a smile back at him, then went back into the bedroom. She sighed and chose a light blue summer dress and grabbed the matching sweater to go over it. As she stepped into the bathroom, it was almost as if she were walking on air.

*****

Fully dryed and dressed after her shower, Renee walked out of the bathroom and found Steve sitting up in the bed, looking at her almost expectantly. Kia Ora was by his thigh, having been confoundedly well behaved since yesterday.

"I'm going to Justino's to have breakfast. I'll be back in a couple of hours."

"We need to talk first, Renee."

She glanced at the clock. *Nine thirty...gods, Steve, you've got the worst timing in the world.*

He noticed where her eyesight flickered to. "Are you in a hurry or something? Can't your breakfast wait a little longer?"

"Well, I was going to meet Lucy."

"Forget Lucy, Renee, this is about US. She doesn't enter into this."

*Oh yes, she does...* she thought. "What do you want to know?"

"What's going on between us? We hardly talk to each other any more...we haven't made love in weeks...I tried to kiss you yesterday and you moved away-"

"Your breakfast was burning."

"What about all the other times I've tried to kiss you?
"What is going on, Ren?"

She sighed and again looked at the clock, smoothing a bit of flaxen hair behind her ear. *Nine forty...Lucy's gonna be mad.* She then sat down to talk to him about their relationship.

*****

*Where is she?* thought the raven haired woman as she glanced at her watch for the nine hundredth time in five minutes. *It's eleven thirty. Maybe she doesn't want to work this out...*

The waitress, noticing her agitated state, approached her. "Are you ready, or do you still want to wait for your friend?"

Lucy eyed her and took some money out of her purse. "I'm sorry, but I've lost my appetite." She gave the woman the money, feeling bad that she didn't order anything more than iced tea, and left.

*****

"H'lo?"

"Hey, Kev, it's Rob. I just wanted to call and apologize about the cast party."

"That's alright. Y'know, I tried ringing you last night, but no one answered...what happened? Is everything alright?"

The producer's brow furrowed. "No one answered?"

"No. I thought about going over there, but I thought maybe you and Lucy were...uh...busy."

"I was in L.A. at a meeting with Sam."

"Oh, is Lucy okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine." Several fleeting thoughts ran through Rob's mind, but he put them aside until he could ask Lucy about them.

"The answering machine didn't click on or anything?"

"Nope...not at all, and I let it ring for a while."

Rob didn't know what to say. The only times he and Lucy turned off the machine are when they were having a romantic evening together and they didn't want to be disturbed. They always had their caller ID box within eyesight, being able to tell by the little green light that goes on if someone were trying to call.

The producer looked at the caller ID box and saw that the little green light was on, finding the name "Smith, Kevin" on the screen.

"Rob? You there?"

"Uh, yeah. Sorry, I haven't slept...kinda zoned out there.
"I just wanted to tell you that the cast party had been rescheduled for tomorrow at two...okay?"

"Great, Rob. I'll see you there."

Wordlessly, the producer hung up the phone, thinking about the reason, any reason, why Lucy didn't pick up the phone or at least have the ansering machine on.

*****

"Why didn't you tell me about all this before, Renee?"

"Honestly, Steve, it's because I didn't understand what I was and what I am feeling. Even that night in the doctor's trailer and nights since, I knew that I loved her...but I didn't understand it.
"And now, she's probably super pissed off at me."

"Aww, shit, Ren...I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, Steve...you were doing what any other person would do, me included." The blonde slumped onto the bed next to her former lover. He wrapped a friendly arm around her shoulders.

"Well, the cast party is tomorrow night, right? Talk to her there if you don't talk to her tonight. Do what you've got to do."

The blonde looked at Steve. "How can you handle this so well? I've treated you horribly."

The bar manager smiled. "I've been able to see the chemistry between you and Lucy for a while now. I think I've known all along that it was just a matter of time before you got together...but I didn't want it to happen... I love you and I always will, but if you're not happy anymore, that makes me unhappy. We both deserve happiness, Renee.
"Go fix this."

Renee smiled and hugged Steve. She broke the contact short when she heard the phone ring in the living room. She didn't even bother to look at the caller ID box when she picked it up.

"Lucy?"

"No, Ren, it's Rob."

The blonde winced at hearing the producer's voice. "Hi Rob. Sorry about that."

"It's alright. Did I catch you at a bad time?"

"No, not at all. Steve and I were just talking that's all..."

"Oh, well, that's good. Listen, I have a question to ask you."

"Sure, what's up?"

"Do you know what Lucy was doing last night?"

A breath caught in Renee's throat and she hoped that the blood that rushed to blush her cheeks didn't know itself in her voice. "Why aren't you asking her, Rob? I can't speak for her."

"Well, I was hoping maybe you'd know..."

"Whether I do or not doesn't make any difference - you shouldn't be asking a third party when you're married to the woman herself." There was a silence as the producer absorbed what Renee was saying.

"Look, Rob, I've gotta go. I'll see you at the cast party tomorrow night." With that, the blonde hung up the phone, afraid that the quiver in her voice would give something away.

*****

*Gotta calm down...don't want Rob to ask any questions about why I'm so fucking upset.
*Just breathe,* she thought, stopping herself before she slammed the car door. She checked her reflection in the mirror to make sure her eyes weren't as swollen from crying as they felt. She was presentable, thought all she really wanted to do was curl into a fetal position and cry a little. *As if anyone likes being stood up.*

Stepping inside the house, she saw as Rob just hung up the phone. *He should have been done by now,* she thought to herself absently.

"Hi hon," she said with as much enthusiasm as she could muster.

"Hi," he responded.

*Gee, sounds like he's as down as me...* "What's the matter?" she sighed, not meaning to sound as bored as she knew she'd be if he answered truthfully.

"Nothing. I talked to Kevin Smith a little while ago...he said he tried to call last night, but he didn't get an answer nor did he get the machine.
"What were you doing last night?"

Lucy let her body language display her irritation with this question, looking at him with her head cocked to the side and her hand on her hip. "I had some Chinese delivered, listened to some music, watched the sunset, then went to bed cuz I had a headache."

*Well, at least I'm not lying to him, that's what I did...I'm just not telling him that I tried to seduce Renee and told her that I'm pregnant with his child.*Not like it matters anymore. Renee didn't show up to Justino's, so I guess she's not interested in working it out.*

That last thought sent a pang of hurt through her heart and she had to close her eyes to ward off the tears that were threatening to pour over.

Rob breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm sorry, hon. I didn't know."

Lucy smiled as genuinely as she could. "It's okay, Rob...
"I'm uh...gonna go online for awhile, okay?"

"Okay. Do you want to go rent a movie later? Sam did give me a copy of For Love of the Game, if you'd like to see that." The producer smiled at her with unabashed pride because he had a movie in his possession that wasn't even in the theatres yet that Lucy couldn't help but smile with his joy.

Rob walked over and wrapped Lucy in a warm embrace which she returned half-heartedly. Those weren't the arms she was hoping to feel around her that night.

"Yeah, that sounds good."

"Great. I'm gonna go lie down for a little while, I didn't get much of a chance to do that before and when I wake up, we'll watch the movie."

He bent to kiss her, but it was a quick peck as she scooted him off to bed as fast as she could without her actions seeming suspicious. Rob wouldn't have thought twice about it, the weariness in his body showing itself with a vengence as he flopped onto the bed and fell asleep, still clothed.

Lucy looked at her husband as she tried to sort out and deal with all the emotions that were pressing against her, trying to make their presence known.

She turned around and went into Rob's office to go online.

*****

"Renee, you should call her. I think she'd be very understanding of the fact that you just couldn't make it."

The blonde looked at Steve who was standing in the doorway to what was their bedroom, now just hers.

"Oh, I don't know about that...we were meeting to try and talk about my stupidity."

"Just call her." With that, he turned around and went back into the room to pack a few of his things.

*He's right, y'know. Maybe Lucy will understand.* With that fortifying thought, Renee picked up the receiver and dialed the number.

*****

Just before Lucy was to plug the phone jack into her modem, the phone rang. Not pausing to read the caller ID, afraid that the phone might awaken her husband, she picked up the receiver.

"Hello?"

"Uh...hi, Lucy...it's me."

Containing her excitement and her anger, she replied, almost disinterested, "Hi me."

*****

Jarred back into awareness, Rob listened carefully, just in case it was for him.

"Hi me," he heard through the bedroom walls and door. He considered that he should go back to sleep, but he was still curious who the call was for.

"What happened today? Why didn't you show up at Justino's?"

The producer furrowed his brow. *She didn't say anything about meeting someone at Justino's...*

There was a moment of silence where he assumed that the person on the other end gave his reason for not being there. He listened hard, his jealous streak wanting to come out and play.

*****

"What happened today? Why didn't you show up at Justino's?"

"Well...Steve wanted to talk to me about our relationship and he said that it couldn't wait. I'm sorry. I really wanted to be there.
"Do you think you can come out tonight so we can talk? Let me cook us dinner here?"

Lucy smiled, but shook her head. "No, I can't. Rob's home and we've made plans.
"I'm sorry."

*****

"No, I can't. Rob's home and we've made plans.
"I'm sorry."

He sighed. *Must just be a friend of hers,* he thought. *But wouldn't she have mentioned something about meeting them at the restaurant?*

Again, a pause as she listened to what the person on the other end of the phone said. He relaxed and lay his head down to go to sleep, sure by now that it wasn't for him.

*****

"Well, maybe we can talk tomorrow during the cast party?" asked Renee, her voice full of hope.

"I don't know...maybe. I will see you tomorrow, though."

"Lucy?"

"Yeah?"

The blonde cleared her throat. "I...uh...I love you."

Her heart melted with the confession. "I love you, too...
"See ya tomorrow..."

She put the receiver down gently, afraid that if she did it too hard her happiness would shatter. Now, she just had to contain herself until tomorrow.

In her daze, Lucy sat down and went online, happier than ever before, now that Renee has voiced her feelings.

*She loves me...* she repeated to herself.

*****

"I love you, too...
"See ya tomorrow."

Now the producer was wide awake. *Did I just hear her say that she LOVED them? "TOO"?*

He flipped the covers off of him and sat up. *It could be a relative of hers...naw, if it were a relative, I'd most certainly know.
*And what's that she said about seeing them tomorrow? the only thing she's doing tomorrow is going to that cast party...so she must be having an affair with someone on the Xena staff.*

Rob stood and lightly paced the floor in their room, trying hard to not make much noise. *Could be any of those guys...they all love her. Josh Becker, John Laing, T.J. Scott, Eric...who could it be?*

The producer stopped and sat down on the bed. *Who could it be?* He lay down on the bed, determined to rest. It was well after one PM before sleep finally claimed him.

---

Continued HERE.

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