Emily bounced excitedly as she sat on the living room floor watching tv, her father would be home from work any minute and she couldn't wait to show him the A she'd gotten on her math test. She looked at the clock for the tenth time that minute and yelled, "Mommy! When's Dad gonna be home?!" The eight-year-old was growing inpatient, actually, she'd passed that point long ago. Now she was downright going crazy. She let out a sigh that the neighbors could probably hear before she heard a car driving up, "Oh! He's here! Where's my test?"

She got up and scrambled around to find where she'd put it just before a loud, and very goofy sounding, "I'm home! Who missed me?" Could be heard. The girl forgot everything and rushed to give her father a hug she noticed a small bag in his hand and raised her eyebrow, silently asking him what it was. Steven smiled and whispered, "It's for your mom, go hide it for me." Emily nodded and giggled before taking it from him and rushing off to find a good place to hide the present.

Steven chuckled at her and started to walk towards the kitchen to get a drink when he spotted a paper lying on the couch, "Hm, what's this?" He asked himself as he picked it up. He grinned to himself as he read it, his little girl was so smart. She put in way more of an effort in school than he ever did. He put it back down and went straight to the kitchen to get himself a glass of water and put his work bag down on the table. He made a mental note to fix the sink over the weekend and sighed and the water sprayed on his shirt with a scowl, that was worse than his job. I mean, don't get me wrong, he likes his job: he never thought he'd even have a chance at marine biology, he never would've, either, if not for Jane. Speaking of Jane..."Where the hell is she?"

Steven smiled when he heard Jane's voice and felt her arms wrap around him. He chuckled lightly through his nose, "You know I never get tired of hearing that." His tone wasn't to inform her, no she didn't need to be informed, she knew better than he did that something about knowing he was missed brought a smile to his face. It was something about coming home to an empty house growing up, of having a father but not a dad and feeling like you didn't even have a mom at times. It made being told your missed (even when you ask) something...special.

He heard Emily not too long after, sometimes he wished she wasn't so much like him and he knew he'd really be wishing that when she started noticing boys. They could both hear her footsteps, no doubt, before her voice rang out, it caused Steven to laugh a little. She really was a lot like him. Even the way she said she'd aborted her mission, which she better not have because it was important, reminded him of himself at that age.

Then he was smothered with love, and he loved it. One arm went to wrap around his daughter while the other held on to his wife's. He didn't think anyone could ever get tired of that, of feeling so loved. Though, it didn't take long for Emily to want to do something else, which was fine in Steven's eyes. He just moved Jane's arms so he could turn around and kiss her, which, of course, elicited a nice, "Eww!" From their daughter. Naturally, that only made him want to hiss his wife deeper and with more passion than before. He broke the kiss with a smile and said, "I love you." His eyes lighting up in a way that said he really did.

Then he turned around to Emily, who was surprisingly still standing there, and said, "I saw your test."

The girl's eyes lit up, "Really?"

He nodded, "Yup. Good job, kiddo." He held his hand up next to his head for a high-five. It was funny, no matter how many times he did that, she always tried in vain to reach. This time was no different, Emily jumped up to try and reach her daddy's hand but couldn't quite reach, so he moved his hand down and soon a fairly loud smack! could be heard. Steven flinched slightly but it wasn't noticed by Emily because of her shaking her hand out, obviously regretting her choice at that moment. Steven just smiled, "I have the best family in the world." For some reason, his child stuck her tongue out at him for that before running out of the room. He glanced back at Jane, an amused look on his face before saying, "What was that for?"

Emily's head poked back into the room and she said, a very matter-of-fact tone in her voice, "You're s'pposed to chase me." He nodded and put on his best, "Ooooohhhh." face before bopping himself lightly on the forehead and starting his chase. He delighted scream could he heard once he caught her and the tickling started. Then he had to be careful of the thrashing and kicking that would follow, wouldn't want to be hit in the face by a stray leg or arm because, while it would be amusing, he didn't want another black eye because of it. His coworkers still teased him about that one to the day. When had that happened? 'Bout a year ago? Sounded right.

After a minute or two he gave into her pleas for mercy and let her go to run off and do whatever with a call of, "Don't forget your homework!" Because he knew she hadn't done it yet. It was funny to him sometimes, how worried he was when Jane told him she was pregnant. He was so sure he wasn't going to be a good father, so sure their child would hate him. He still worried about those things from time-to-time. It was hard sometimes to try and convince himself that he was at least a better father than his own so far, that Emily at least knew him. He sat down on the living room floor with a smile, so long as his family was happy, he guessed he was doing an okay job. Sure, their house may not have been huge, he may keep putting off fixing that damned sink, but to him, it was perfect. Still, he wondered to himself if Jane ever wanted more, he knew she always thought she'd live in high society and would never need to save money or anything like that, but she never complained. That didn't mean a thing, though, honestly.

Oh well, he didn't need to think about that just then. What he needed to do was get his bag off the kitchen counter and put away so Jane wouldn't do it herself.

Steven smiled to himself as he took his bag and set it in it's proper place. He grinned at Jane at the mention of work, "Work was great! Penelope was sick," Steven didn't like Penelope, she creeped him out. She was constantly flirting with him, the fact that he was married meant nothing to her, and it really got on his nerves. He'd talked with Jane about the problem before, and nothing was quite as satisfying to him as knowing she wasn't going to be at work. "So I had to do extra work because she wasn't there but it didn't bother me much." He walked and leaned with his back to the counter, trying to stay out of the way as he talked to him lovely wife, "Oh! And we're finding an insane amount of plankton in the water right now! We aren't sure why it's there, but we're studying on it. There's not normally this much this time of the year."

Then after a moment he added, "Oh, and I got this weekend off. Guess it was finally my turn." The group Steven worked with, including him, had five members and one that only worked on weekends so, every weekend one of the others got the two days off. They rotated in a way that was mostly fair, but because one of the biologists had given birth not too long ago nobody was able to have weekends off for a while. Now things were back to normal.

He chuckled, "Well, if we're playing Monopoly, then I'm defiantly going out." He hated Monopoly (mostly because he always lost) and there lay the reason they hadn't played. He normally thought up a good excuse for not playing, but he really didn't feel like it, so instead he said, "I'm just kidding. I wasn't planning on going anywhere. I'll watch whatever movie you want to watch...And I'll even play Monopoly if you really want to." The only reason their games of Monopoly ever lasted longer than five minutes was because Steven always cheats, and Jane knew that, no doubt. But, hey, it just made the game more interesting...Sometimes.

He stayed quite a moment and watched her cook, something he used to be completely incapable of doing. He had honestly matured a lot more than most people expected, and while he did still have the tendency to behave childishly on occasion, the whole reason he even started to grow up was so that he would have a chance with Jane. If it weren't for her, he would honestly probably be in jail or dead. He smiled, "So, how was your day today?" He asked her before adding, "You didn't spend too much time wishing your husband was smarter, more charming and better looking, did you? I mean, I wouldn't blame you if you did but you know." Steven loved to tease himself like that, mostly because he liked to see the way Jane would react. All this time and he still did stupid things just to get a reaction out of her, just like high school...The stupidest thing he ever did was blow up her bike. He still wasn't sure exactly why he'd done that.

Steven chuckled to himself at Jane's joking, she was in a moderately good mood, at least. Something told him she had something else on her mind, though, something bothering her. And as she talked he couldn't help but think she may have been trying to hide something from him...Until she mentioned moving to California. At the mention of that he sighed. Audibly. It wasn't that he wouldn't like to live in California, he really would, but he personally didn't think it would be good for Emily. People were constantly moving in California and it was hard to make long-term friends, or that's what he'd read, anyway. He'd suggested even moving to Florida before but Jane's heart seemed set on the glitz of California. Sure, if he could find a job there they could move, he guessed, but he just had to wonder what kind of trouble Emily would get to in a bigger city, or even if they didn't move to a bigger city. She was too much like him to think she would stay out of trouble, she second she didn't get the attention she wanted she would likely start acting up to get it, and with her mother's attitude mixed in there she was bound to get herself in a hell of a lot of trouble.

He was quite obviously very deep in thought, something people didn't think he was even capable of, until he was pulled out of them by hearing the word "crap" roll off his little girl's tongue. It didn't bother him, but it sounded kind of funny from her. He didn't really know what was going on, but it looked like Emily was having trouble with her homework. It was weird to him because she did so well in her tests, and her teacher always talked about how smart she was, but she was constantly asking for help at home. Steven could only think of one reason for that, a mixture of laziness and wanting extra attention, he knew she knew the stuff.

He ignored her complaining for the time being, she normally stopped soon enough, unless it was something she really detested or didn't want to do. Like when Steven would try and get her to clean her room, that was always a ton of fun. He chuckled lightly when she poked him in the stomach and bent down a little so she could whisper in his ear easier. He glanced over at Jane while she looked at the paper and smiled, wondering if Emily had even looked to see what the surprise was. Something in him doubted it.

Emily jumped when Jane asked about them sharing secrets and shook her head vigorously while Steven chuckled and said, "Nah, she was just trying to convince me to order a pizza," He shrugged, staying nonchalant as he said, "Emily, you mother is a... Wonderful cook." Though his tone of voice sounded less than enthusiastic. He hadn't intended for it to come out that way, though it made it quite clear that he didn't want to eat the vegetables either.

Emily giggled, "Ten bucks says you're sleeping on the couch tonight after that one."

Steven's face fell from the look in Jane's eyes, he hated these moments completely. It was times like this when his mother's words rang through his head, "Steven," She'd said, "You'll never be able to keep her happy. I mean, just look at her! The two of you are just too different! You're gonna end up breaking her heart because you aren't the perfect prince charming she's always wanted, even if she's never said so." He swallowed the bitter lump of guilt that made it's way up his throat at the tone in her voice when she said to order a pizza. The look on his face almost exactly matched the one Emily had as she was leaving the kitchen.

He opened his mouth to speak as Jane passed by him, but thought better of it, figuring he should let her cool down a little before trying to talk to her. So there he stood for a good minute before walking into the living room where he found Emily just sitting in front of her homework. He sat down on the floor next to her and asked, "What kinda of pizza do you want?"

She looked up at him, her green eyes seeming to have lost their spark of joy, "Is Mom mad at me?"

He shook his head and smoothed down the girl's hair, "Nah, I'm pretty sure she's just pissed off at me."

"But why?"

He shrugged, "She probably had a bad day. I'll talk to her later. Now tell me what kinda pizza you want or I'm getting pineapple." Pineapple pizza was Steven's guilty pleasure of sorts. His mother, as well as his daughter, thought it was completely disgusting.

"Eww Dad! Get pepperoni, not that pineapple crap!" Steven chuckled and pulled out his phone to order the pizza, after he finished the call Emily asked, "Can you help me with my math?"

He shrugged, "Well, I was never too good at math, but I did graduate high school...Barely." He made a bit of a face, which made Emily laugh before he said, "Let's see what we can do." After about an hour and most of the pizza, they managed to get all of her homework done.

Emily smiled, "Thanks, Daddy. Hey, what's Mom's surprise, anyway?"

Steven ruffled her hair, "I can't tell you, you're a terrible liar."

She pouted, "Am not!"

He raised his eyebrow, "Yeah? D'you brush your teeth this morning?"

Emily turned to look the other way and mumbled, "Yeah..."

"See what I mean?" He asked, a smirk both on his face and in his voice.

"Shut up."

He laughed and pulled her closed to him for a hug, "I love you, sweetheart. Now I'm gonna go talk to your mom. Hopefully she's not still mad..."

Emily shrugged, "Good luck, Daddy. Hope to see you again."

Steven faked a laugh, "Haha. Very funny." He picked up the pizza box...They had a few pieces left, and he started up the stairs. He got to his and Jane's room and tapped on the door, "Jane, babe, you hungry?" Then in a quieter voice he added, "Can I come in?"

Steven opened the door and sighed, she had to be hungry, but whatever. He put the box of pizza down on the dresser as he walked to sit down on the bed next to Jane, not too close of course, but close enough. He sat there for a moment, biting his lip, thinking. He never went into these things with a plan of any sort, he tended to just wing it, which often made it worse, admittedly. So there he sat, silently watching Jane for a moment before he started to do that thing he does, he would start to make a facial expression and hand gesture like he was about to say something, but then he would change him mind and stop. He had a habit of doing that when trying to think of something to do or trying to explain himself.

After a moment of that he sighed and mumbled, "Oh, never mind." Before flopping face down on the bed and mumbling, "I'm such a fucking idiot." into the mattress. Then he sat back up and said, "Jane," He waited for her to say something about how she was reading before he continued, "What's the matter? Are you really mad at me for the thing about your cooking? I didn't mean for it to come out that way, I really do love your cooking...Just not when you make cabbage. I hate cabbage." He sighed again, "And I don't care that you're reading. I just wanna know what's up here," He pouted a little, "I don't like fighting with you." Okay, so that was a little bit of a lie, Steven did like the occasional fight to remind himself how much they really did love each other. But this one wasn't making much sense to him at the moment, so he wanted to put an end to it if he could.

He frowned and looked at Jane's eyes, not into them, exactly, he was just studying them, trying to gauge exactly how pissed at him she was. He bit his lip and looked down to play with the sheets, he was really just trying to keep himself from talking more and saying something wrong, he didn't need to be trying to make things better and end up making them worse. That would be his luck, though, wouldn't it? When he starts trying to be a helpful and productive person, things stop working out well for him. Sure, he was always in trouble in high school, but people loved him for that. Now he just felt like a douchebag.

"-and you think I enjoy this? You think I like fighting with you?"

Steven blinked and shook his head, "I, no, I-" He stopped as she threw her book across the bed, Well here we go... He thought to himself as he waited for her to speak,he wanted nothing more than to just jump up and wrap his arms around her, but he'd learned from past experience that wasn't a good idea when she was angry with him. As she spoke the expression on his face became a mixture of hurt and confusion, "Jane...What do you-" He was cut off by her yelling, how he hated to be yelled at. Even to this day he doubted Jane knew what an impact it made on him. He blinked a few times, "What? Penelope? I-" He couldn't quite get a word in. He'd never thought Jane would even think he would ever touch Penelope. He wouldn't touch that whore with a ten foot pole.

Every word she said just cut into him deeper and deeper until he was actually starting to get mad the fact that she threw some fucking thing (he had honestly never had a clue what that bottle had been) at him just made it worse. Though, he did let it hit him. He knew he at least kind of deserved it, he did stand up after that though. It wasn't soon after that he thought she was through, "Jane," He'd started, trying to keep it together and not yell back at her, but the next thing she had to say both broke his heart and set him off at the same time.

He blinked a few time, "You're not happy with me anymore? Anymore? Tell me, Jane darling, were you ever happy with me? Or, was I perhaps the only guy around that wasn't taken in some way and I showed a fucking interest in you so you thought, 'Hey! He's not who I want but just maybe I can change him to suit my needs and shit!'" He had mimicked the way Jane talked, her usual tone of voice and hand gestures as he spoke those words. Mocking her. "Oh, yeah, I think that's it, isn't it. Oh! Oh, but now, now you see that I just didn't quite turn out the way you wanted me to."

He shook his head and crossed his arms, "My mother was right...I was never good enough for you, and I never will be." He laughed, it sounded bitter, "Damn, I don't know why I even thought for a fucking MOMENT that you even loved me!" He was starting to yell now, "I mean, am I really that easy to string along?!" He felt tears welling up in his eyes, "And I can't even believe you would think for a fucking second that I would cheat on you! Do you have any IDEA how much that HURTS me?!" He let out a sob and, for the first time he could ever remember, he felt tears falling down his cheeks, "And I don't ever remember asking you to give up ONE of your GODDAMN dreams! Excuse me for thinking you wanted to be a mother! That you wanted to take care of OUR child." He stopped and swallowed once before continuing on, "Do you have ANY idea how much I gave up so you'd even just NOTICE me! All the things I did so you would love me? Do you really think I like this shitty old house and fixing the sink every other week? You think I wouldn't LOVE to move outta this stupid place if I could? I'm sorry if you regret marrying me, I really am but you wanna know something? I don't give a damn anymore. you're always so high and lofty like you're so much better than me! I changed SO MUCH about myself and now you just went and ripped my heart out!

"Oh, you're tired of Steven so it's time to break his heart so that maybe he'll go away. So that maybe you can try again with a guy that's worth your time rather than some USELESS pile of SHIT! Right? Am I right?" He closed his eyes and this time his voice came out in barely more than a whisper, "And I do worry about you. I worry every day that you're not happy, that I'm not good enough for you. But I guess I don't have to worry about it now because I know just how true it is." He stole one last glance at Jane and said, "So I guess you can sleep all sound tonight, by yourself. It's what you really want, I'm sure." Then he wiped some of the tears off his face, though it was futile, turned and opened the door he looked down and saw Emily, tears running down the girl's cheeks as she sat there in front of the door. As soon as he saw her, though, she was running off to her room and shutting the door. She knew something was wrong, she'd heard so much yelling and then she saw her daddy, tears staining his face. She'd never seen him cry before, it scared her.

Steven shook his head and stomped down the stairs, he couldn't stay in the house, he needed to get out, clear his head. Maybe not, maybe he needed a drink. Yeah, he needed a drink. So, insuring he had his keys he walked out the front door, making absolutely sure he slammed it. Loudly.

Steven didn't stop, he could hear Jane, hell, the whole neighborhood could hear Jane, but he honestly didn't care. Though being hit with a shoe did slow him down for a moment, it made him stop and think; what the hell was he doing? He wasn't really leaving, was he? No, no, of course not, right? No, all the thrown shoes in the world wouldn't make him actually leave Jane. Never. He was just mad at her. True; he normally let her end their arguments and true, he did normally just sit on the porch or the stairs until he'd calmed down, slept on the couch most of the time, and worked things out in the morning. But what was he doing now? No, he'd just turn around and ask Jane to forgive him, like he always did, they'd work through this. They had to.

"You're just like your own father! Worthless!"

Unfortunately Jane just had to say those words that cut into his very soul. So, with that being said, he got into his car, started it up and drove away. He'd be coming back, oh yes, he'd be coming back. He was nothing like his father. Nothing. He couldn't believe she would say something like that to him. So, as he drove away he felt himself die a little inside. What the hell am I doing?



As the night progressed, though, that question was completely lost to drunkenness. As he slowly woke, it took him a few moments to fully comprehend what had happened, and by that point the question was, Where the hell am I? As he looked around the room, trying to figure out just where he was, he spotted a pretty little redhead, she was young too. Not exactly fast enough two and two added up and he sighed out a, "Damn it!" Maybe Jane was right, maybe he was just like his dad.

It didn't take long for the woman to be lulled from her own sleep. She giggled slightly, "Good morn-"

Steven shook his head, "Look, I don't mean to be rude or anything but I gotta go. I made the worst mistake of my life right now and I gotta get out of here."

She looked clearly offended, "Excuse me?"

He sighed, "No, it's not you. It's me, it really is. Now if you'll excuse me I have to get home and try and find a way to talk myself outta this." He stood up and started for the door before mumbling, "You need clothes, Steven." And going to get his back on.

It was about then that it hit the redhead, "Oh, god! You're married."

Steven rolled his eyes, "No duh. And I really don't want to be divorced but we'll see how this ends. Have a nice life and whatever." And with that he was gone. Honestly, she was pretty, but in his eyes, she wasn't even half as beautiful as Jane. Which made him wonder why he'd even done that. Easy, he was drunk and mad, a dangerous combination for any human being. But for Steven, oh for Steven it didn't surprise him to find his car parked out front, his idiocy was only ever magnified by ten when he was drunk.

So, he drove home, (because he was honestly never all that smart) well aware that he smelled like alcohol and probably cigarette smoke , but not caring. He just wanted to be home, even if the guilt of what he'd done was killing him, he needed to talk to Jane, look her in the eyes and beg her to forgive him. Things would never be the same unless he did. Well, they'd never be the same anyway, but at least he could try. But you've never done that before, Steven...You left her, even if only for the night, you walked out on her, gave up. That was the only thing in his mind as he sat in the driveway, trying to come up with some courage, even just a little would have been nice just then. But it didn't seem to come, nothing seemed to have been working, which sucked for him because he knew he couldn't just sit in the damned car all day. He needed to take a shower.

So with that in mind he got out of the car and walked towards the door, it was almost ten, so the chance of him bumping into Jane as soon as he opened the door were high. And on top of that, it was Saturday, which meant Emily would be home. Emily... If anything, he was sorry she had to hear their fight, he didn't ever want his baby girl to go through that, ever.

Steven was honestly a little shocked when Emily opened the door, he got over it quickly enough and bent down to hug his little girl tight, her arms wrapped around his neck, it felt so right to him. After a moment she let go and looked at him, "Daddy...Are you gonna leave again?"

His face fell at that question, it broke his heart. But, despite that he forced a smile on his face and shook his head, "No way kiddo, not if I have the choice." He glanced up at Jane when he said that, but quickly reverted his attention back to Emily and kissed her head.

She giggle before scrunching her nose up and, as if she'd just noticed said, "Dad...You stink."

Steven nodded, god, she looked just like Jane when she did that, "Yeah...Yeah I know. I kinda need a shower." He looked up at Jane and sighed, "Then we need to talk some things out, preferably without yelling this time." He knew Jane would notice he seemed guilty, if she ever recognized it. Emily didn't notice, she was just happy her dad had come back, and actually planned on staying. Honestly, it wasn't the fact that he'd cheated on Jane that made Steven feel guilty, sex was nothing, it was just sex. And it hadn't been that great, either. No; it was the fact that when he'd married Jane, he promised her that he'd be with her, and only her forever. He broke that promise, that made the guilt rise in his stomach like nothing ever before. It was crazy.

So after a moment he went upstairs to take a shower and get dressed in a pair of jeans and a plain blue tee-shirt. It didn't take him all that long, either. He had been trying to think of how exactly to tell Jane what he'd done, coming out and saying, "Hey babe, so, funny thing, last night I had drunk sex with some pretty redhead. I don't even remember her name but I'm really sorry." yeah, that wasn't gonna go so well. But he had to think of something. He couldn't just not tell her, could he? Sure, that could work, but he already felt like the guilt would eat him alive. There was no way he would just...Get used to it.

With a sigh he went in search of some Tylenol, his head hurt. Then he made his way to the kitchen to get himself something to drink, avoiding the damned sink as he did so. Really, he was trying to take as long as he could to put off talking with Jane, he was scared of how that was gonna go.

Steven heard Jane walk in as he was busying himself with the task of taking some Tylenol. He hated taking medicine, even though he often convinced himself he needed it, he couldn't stand to take it. He had a typical male reason for it: it made him feel weak, he didn't like it, he could endure the pain, blah, blah, blah. Today, though, he would suck it up and take the damned pills. He heard Jane's voice coming from the table and he moved to sit down across from her, "I...I know, Jane." He sighed, "I didn't mean to be gone all night, I just..." He turned and looked away, anywhere but her eyes, he couldn't stand looking into those blue eyes, "I was mad. You know how I get when I'm mad. Though, there was no excuse for me to be gone so long and I'm sorry."

He closed his eyes and rested his forehead against his hand, elbow properly propped up on the table. He sighed for the second time and mumbled "I feel like a terrible husband..." Before saying, "I really can't believe I did that, still...Guess it just proves I'm more like my father than I'd care to admit." He was completely serious, his tone of voice, the look on his face, everything. It was highly doubtful that Jane had ever seen him looking that serious before.

He looked back at Jane, no longer avoiding her gaze and asked the question that had been plaguing his mind, "Jane, are you really tired of me? Are you really unhappy?" He shook his head, afraid to stop talking and hear her answer, "We...We can work something out." He closed his eyes, "I just...I don't wanna be away from you ever again."