The next morning, Scotty took a deep breath and stretched his legs as much as he could, scrubbed a hand over his stubbled face, and then rolled over to see what time it was, and whether or not Kat was awake yet.

A brief, but invigorating, fall through the air, ended abruptly by a meeting with a hard patch of scratchy carpet, was not at all what he had in mind.

What the---whose carpet was this? Where the hell was he?

Instantly awake, he looked around for a few seconds, got his bearings, and realized he was in the spare bedroom.

The spare bedroom? Wait a minute…why the hell was he in the spare bedroom? Why wasn’t he upstairs, in bed with Kat? Why was he---?

Oh. Right.

As the memories from the previous night came flooding back to him, Scotty rubbed the sleep from his eyes, then, with a deeply regretful sigh, he shook his head slowly, then leaned it against the soft, mustard-yellow suede of the futon and scrubbed his hand over his face again. Things had gotten out of control. Way, way out of control. He’d let some powerful memories and a suggestion from Lilly, an insane, crazy-ass suggestion from Lilly that made no sense whatsoever, almost ruin the best thing he’d ever been a part of.

The first thing he needed to do was apologize, he decided firmly as he struggled to his feet and tossed the fuzzy red blanket he’d been sleeping under onto the back of the futon. He needed to find Kat, clear the air, and apologize to her for letting things get out of hand. What they already had was great. There was absolutely no reason, none at all, to take things to a different place than they already were. There wasn’t any reason to rock the boat…and plenty of good reasons, really, really damn good reasons, not to.

Heading upstairs with determination in his steps, he realized that he wasn’t even a hundred percent sure what time it was, but there was enough daylight streaming in through the windows to give him hope that Kat might be awake, and maybe, just maybe, they could talk things over before the girls woke up, the television came on, and the opportunity for adult conversation was drastically limited.

After quietly climbing the stairs, Scotty paused briefly outside Veronica’s bedroom, and then again outside Bella’s, and was relieved to hear nothing but silence from inside both. He wasn’t sure how long he and Kat would have for their talk, but he wanted to make every minute count, so he crept down the hall toward their bedroom and tentatively pushed the door open.

Kat was still sound asleep, the covers tucked up around her shoulders, her dark skin contrasting sharply with the white sheets in the pale morning light. Scotty just stood there watching her for a moment, torn between waking her up so they could talk about what happened and smooth things over before the girls were awake and demanding breakfast, and just letting her lie there, sleeping peacefully, her head resting adorably on one of her hands, a slight smile turning up the corners of her mouth, her dark hair splayed across the pillow…

…and suddenly, to his horror, all the chaos and emotions and desires and everything else from the night before raced through the room, like a runaway train, crashing into him and cutting him off at the knees, and he had to maintain a white-knuckled grip on the doorframe just to remain standing.

Son of a bitch.

Whatever the hell was going on, it sure wasn’t limited to a one-time thing, he realized, his heart both soaring and sinking at the knowledge. Maybe it was just a crush, maybe just a momentary attraction, but if it was…it was the most powerful one he’d ever had in his life.

He needed to get out of there, he decided. Needed to get out of the house, now, get some fresh air, clear his head…and figure out just what exactly the hell was going on.

Hastily, praying that Kat wouldn’t wake up until he had his head on straight, Scotty grabbed some workout clothes, headed for the bathroom, then thought better of it and instead changed down the hall in the other bathroom, the one the girls shared. He had no idea whether the gym would be open this early or not, still had no clue what time it even was, but he needed to think. He needed to make damn sure he knew what the hell he was doing before he talked to Kat, because this was shaping up to be quite possibly the biggest gamble he’d ever taken in his life, and if he lost…if he screwed this up…

…he didn’t even want to think about it, he decided, as he tugged his favorite gray hoodie over his head and switched off the bathroom light. He wasn’t going to let himself go there. Not yet.

He could fix this.

***

"Mommy!" Bella shrieked happily as she came hurtling through the doorway and bounced on Kat’s bed. Despite the abrupt and startling end to what had turned out to be a surprisingly peaceful sleep, especially considering the dream she’d had, Kat welcomed her curly-haired little girl into bed with open arms.

"Mornin’, sunshine," she said with an affectionate smile, planting a kiss on Bella’s forehead. "Have a good sleep?"

"Yeah," the little girl replied, her curls bouncing as she nodded enthusiastically, then glanced around the room. "Where’s Daddy?" she inquired, looking up at Kat, her dark eyes wide with curiosity.

That was an excellent, excellent question, Kat realized, as she remembered that he hadn’t slept in their bed the night before. So…where, exactly, was Daddy?

"I don’t know," she replied honestly, trying to keep the sudden concern out of her voice. "Wanna go look for him?" she asked with exaggerated enthusiasm as she tapped the end of Bella’s nose.

Bella laughed and agreed readily, so Kat hauled herself out of bed and led her daughter on an exploration of the house. It started out as a game at first, Bella peeking in closets, around corners, and even, in a fit of giggles, under the furniture, thinking her mischievous daddy was just playing Hide and Seek with her, as he did from time to time…but as they searched room after room and found no sign of him, Kat began to grow worried. Then, after looking everywhere else, even the garage, where Scotty could often be found half-buried under the hood of his beloved Mustang, they finally reached the room where he’d been sleeping the night before. That butt-ugly yellow futon was empty, the pillow stashed at one end and the red blanket he’d been using tossed over the back…and Kat’s fears were confirmed.

He’d left.

That cowardly son of a bitch. He’d just turned tail and run.

Swallowing her rage, and a sudden, horrifying sense of loss, Kat pasted on a smile and took Bella by the hand. "Silly Daddy hid himself pretty good, huh?" she asked. Bella nodded, her tiny face perplexed.

"Well, how ‘bout we get some breakfast…and then I’ll take you to the park?" Kat suggested, forcing herself to sound chipper.

"The park?" Bella asked, her eyes wide with delight.

"Yep," Kat agreed, tousling her daughter’s curls.

"Yaaaayyyy!" the toddler shrieked, her fruitless search for her father forgotten in the eager anticipation of her beloved playground. She flung her arms around her mother’s waist, gave her a brief hug, then scampered gleefully into the kitchen and clambered up to her place at the kitchen table.

Kat poured some orange juice into a sippy cup for Bella, and as the child greedily slurped the drink, Kat reached into the freezer to grab the instant coffee. Upon closing the door, her eyes fell on a hastily-scrawled note stuck to the center of the freezer door with that stupid, outlandish plastic pig magnet that Vera had given Scotty as some sort of inside joke way back before she even joined Homicide, and which both of them staunchly refused to explain.

"Sat. AM—gym---back soon," the note read in a familiar scribble, and at those brief, barely legible words of reassurance, she nearly melted with relief. Scotty hadn’t left…not yet, anyway. He’d at least had the foresight to tell her where he was.

As Kat scooped the coffee into the pot and rummaged in the cupboard for Bella’s favorite cereal, a thought occurred to her, a thought that made her suddenly cognizant of the last time she’d been this furious with him. Then, as now, he’d gone to the gym.

That morning, so long ago it felt like another lifetime, when she’d told him she was expecting, she’d been equally convinced that he’d taken off, never to be seen again…except, in actuality, he’d just gone blow off some steam , beat himself up for a while, then plot his course of action. That memory flashed into her head as vividly as it had the day before when they’d talked about it in the office…only this time, when she recalled the anger flashing from Scotty’s eyes, the sweat pouring from his body, the power of those artfully carved muscles as they drove his fists into the bag again and again, she suddenly felt a searing heat coursing through her veins, one that she certainly hadn’t had at the time, nor, she realized, even yesterday…and the sudden flash of understanding, and lust, drove away all the anger as quickly as it had appeared. Her addled state of mind was helped not at all by a sudden swarm of unbidden images from her dream the night before, of Scotty glaring at her moments before he kissed her, the intensity and desire radiating from his eyes so thick you could cut it with a knife…the way he bent her over the table and---

"Mommy?"

The small voice pierced through her reverie, and Kat nervously brushed a lock of hair behind her ear and looked toward the table.

"What, baby?" she answered with a smile, trying to sound as casual as she possibly could. One never knew what question that child would come up with next.

"Can I have my Lucky Charms?" Bella asked pointedly, the look in her warm brown eyes, Scotty’s eyes, quizzical at the fact that her mommy seemed to have forgotten, for the moment anyway, why they were in the kitchen in the first place.

Kat sighed with relief and laughed briefly at herself as she retrieved the cereal and started to pour it into a bowl.

"Of course," she replied, grateful for the distraction.

***

The front door creaked open as Scotty trudged in, tossed his hoodie and his keys on the table beside it, then leaned wearily against the wall to kick off his shoes. He’d really beaten the crap out of that punching bag, he congratulated himself…but he realized ruefully that it had returned the favor. Though he managed to squeeze in time to at least go for a run most days, it had been a long time, too long, since he’d done anything quite that strenuous, and his muscles felt like overcooked spaghetti. It probably didn’t help that he hadn’t had anything to eat before he left, he decided, so he headed for the kitchen to grab some breakfast.

"Hey, V," he greeted Kat’s daughter, who lounged in front of the television with a bowl of cereal and a magazine.

"Hey, Scotty," she replied, tossing him a glance and taking in his drenched T-shirt. "How come you’re all sweaty?" she asked with a frown.

"Went to the gym," he grinned as he grabbed a bottle of Gatorade, then rummaged in the freezer for the Eggos.

"Did you have fun?" Veronica inquired around a bite of cereal.

As he stuck the last two waffles into the toaster and tossed the empty box into the garbage, Scotty took a moment to ponder the question. He wasn’t sure "fun" was the right way to describe it, exactly…but he sure felt a hell of a lot better. Despite his fatigue, despite the fact that he was pretty damn sure he’d be sore tomorrow, his mind was clearer, and he felt infinitely more settled. In the hour or so he’d spent kicking the punching bag’s ass, he’d formulated a plan…an idea…a pipe dream, perhaps, but he’d realized that he simply couldn’t ignore the feelings that had taken root in his heart God alone knew how long ago and were now in full bloom. He wasn’t sure what to call them, or how to even begin to deal with them…but they were there, they were strong, and they sure as hell weren’t going anywhere. Whatever was going on, it was definitely something, and he’d settled on a plan to begin exploring it.

Glancing up to see Kat’s daughter still peering at him with that expectant look in her eyes, that look he’d seen countless times from her mother, he realized, with a start, that he still hadn’t answered the question.

"Yeah, sure," he responded with a shrug, and that seemed to satisfy the ever-inquisitive Veronica, who fell silent and turned her attention back to the TV.

"Hey, where’s your mom and Bella?" Scotty asked suddenly. Usually on Saturday mornings, Bella would be in the living room with Veronica, the two girls sometimes bickering over what to watch, and he and Kat would either be in the room with them, at the kitchen table reading the paper, or sometimes, very rarely these days, at the office slogging their way through another case.

Veronica flipped a page in her magazine and didn’t even look up. "The park, I think," she replied. "They left right before you got back."

Wow. Kat wasn’t even willing to be in the same house with him, it appeared. Perhaps this would be more difficult than he thought. It was okay. He liked a challenge.

"Thanks, V," he rejoined, grabbing his waffles from the toaster and heading upstairs to take a shower.

***

Kat sat on a wooden bench beneath an ancient maple tree, watching her daughter play with a group of other children in the sandbox. That was Bella’s favorite place to hang out at the park, and, after a few hair-raising visits when all she wanted to do was eat the sand, she grew content to draw pictures in it, run it through her fingers, or scoop it up and pour it out with a plastic cup, over and over and over again, never tiring of the game. Kat had no idea what it was about sand that so fascinated Bella. It had never held her interest as a child, not for more than a minute or two, but she knew Scotty’s family all hailed from tropical places. Maybe it was his genetic material, she thought, with just a touch of bitterness.

Suddenly, a shadow fell in front of her, and, startled, she glanced up to see Scotty standing there with two steaming cups of coffee. For one brief, deliriously joyful moment, she was thrilled to see him. He really hadn’t run away. Whatever processing he needed to do, he’d apparently done at the gym, and now here he was, freshly showered and looking delicious in a form-fitting, long-sleeved shirt and a pair of worn jeans.

Her almost nauseatingly girlish happiness, however, was tempered by her brain’s stubborn insistence on the facts. The fact remained that they’d almost kissed, the fact remained that she was horrified by how much she wished that "almost" had been an "actual"…and the fact remained that Scotty had fled the scene, spent the night on the futon, and gone to beat the crap out of a punching bag before she even woke up, every move seemingly crafted to avoid her at all possible costs. Frankly, considering those facts, she was surprised as hell to see him there.

Carefully, as though he were approaching live explosives, Scotty took a couple steps toward Kat, still not sure how to broach the subject of what had happened…almost happened, he corrected himself…but with the stubborn set of her shoulders, the palpable waves of tension radiating from her, and the way she’d tossed him only the most cursory of glances and then gone back to staring at Bella…that almost might as well not even be there, he decided.

Tentatively, he held out one of the coffee cups to her with a hopeful half-smile, chagrined that her reaction (if she’d even allowed herself to have one, he added a bit cynically) was obscured by the clouds of steam that puffed up from the thin cardboard cup. Still, after a long, nerve-wracking pause, she glanced up to accept his peace offering, and he could finally read her eyes. They were guarded, as he’d known they’d be, but he thought he’d caught a flickering of something else right before that. Couldn’t be sure, though. Damn steam.

Taking her silence as a good sign, he slowly lowered himself to the bench beside her, and she seemed to acquiesce, not looking at him, but not making any move away from him, either. He figured, as he took a sip of his coffee, leaned his forearms on his knees, sighed nervously, and searched his brain for something that might pass for a good opening line, that that was at least progress.

Kat stole a tentative glance at Scotty as she sipped her coffee. He looked deep in thought, like he was wrestling with something, some dilemma…no, that wasn’t quite it, she realized as she noticed the determined set of his jaw. Holy crap, he wasn’t debating anything at all; no, he’d made up his mind about whatever it was…something he wasn’t sure she’d want to hear, from the looks of it…and he was just sitting there trying to figure out how to tell her.

"Bella can’t get enougha that sandbox, huh?" he remarked. Oh, sure, Valens, that’ll work. That’s exactly what you wanted to say to her.

"Yeah," Kat agreed, her voice sounding faraway.

"My mom and dad used to take all of us kids to Atlantic City every Fourth of July," Scotty continued, mentally kicking himself for beginning this conversation, one of the most important he’d ever had in his life, with something so pointless and inane. With a rueful shake of his head, he chuckled softly at the memory. "I coulda stayed on that beach all summer."

"So that’s where she gets it," Kat mused, studying her coffee cup and wondering just where the hell he was going with this.

Scotty fell silent for a moment, then sneaked a tentative glance at Kat. "We’re doin’ a pretty good job with her, I think," he remarked hopefully.

"Yeah," Kat replied, caressing the enraptured child with her eyes. "We are."

"It’s like the best and worst of both of us, wrapped up into one adorable little package," he added with a wry grin as he took another sip of his coffee.

"It is," she echoed, but something in his voice was giving her pause. She glanced at him again, trying to read his expression and mentally urging him to get to the point. Whatever it was, she wished he’d just hit her with it already. The sooner he slammed her with whatever unpleasant thing he was about to say, and she had a pretty damn good idea what it was, the sooner she could pick up the pieces and go on with her life, like she had so many times before.

"Seems like you’re thinkin’ about somethin’ pretty hard," she ventured, trying to sound casual.

"Yeah," he admitted, shivering slightly as a gust of wind hit them both. He might have been imagining the way Kat scooted closer to him, almost imperceptibly, and he fought the urge to put his arm around her, pull her close, and just finish what they’d started on the sofa the night before. To hell with that talk they needed to have.

But the very fact that he had that urge made him realize that he had to do this, no matter how stupid or foolhardy or guaranteed to end in an ass-kicking it was.

"Lil…said somethin’ yesterday that’s got me thinkin’," he began carefully.

"Yeah?" Kat asked, looking up at him with a bit of guarded interest. Her knee brushed his. Whether it was accidental or on purpose, Scotty wasn’t sure, but in any case, she made no move to pull away, and he was suddenly, intensely aware of her nearness. Even through his jeans, and hers, he could feel the warmth of her skin, and that little bit of almost-contact was making his head spin. This was getting ridiculous. He hadn’t felt like this since he was fourteen. Focus, Valens, he chided himself.

Clearing his throat, he continued. "She, uh…she kinda pointed out that I ain’t so much as had coffee with a woman since me and you…" he trailed off, not sure how to broach the subject they’d long ago agreed never to discuss again.

Kat sighed with defeat and turned her attention back to her coffee cup. So it had come to this. She knew it. She’d known all along this day would come, and, frankly, she was damn surprised it had taken this long. He really was tired of all the responsibility, tired of spending his weekends trapped at home, tired of all the work involved with raising a child, and he wanted his freedom back.

Kat had to admit that she’d been steeling herself for this bombshell ever since the day she announced her pregnancy, and that nagging fear had never really left her, despite how well things had gone. They’d been so happy lately, and she had to admit that she was surprised that he was choosing now to lay this on her…but Scotty Valens just wasn’t the type to sit around and not date. Sure, he had his periods of being single, but they didn’t last forever, and she realized she’d be a very stupid woman to think they would now. He wanted things, needed things…and he’d been almost unfathomably gracious since Bella’s birth…so, if he needed to be free to find someone else to build a real life with, a real family with…well…how could she deny him that?

But, to her chagrin, she realized she also couldn’t deny the sudden, almost overwhelming pain that idea brought. Scotty wanted a change. He even had someone in mind, she was almost sure of it. He had to, or else he wouldn’t be bringing it up.

Scotty watched her carefully for any hint of a reaction, and although he could see a plethora of emotions swirling in her dark eyes, but he couldn’t, for the life of him, interpret any of them with any sense of confidence at all. Women, he seethed inwardly, then decided to plow ahead.

"Anyway…she thinks it’s kinda time for me to…" he began haltingly.

"Yeah," Kat cut him off, almost sharply, shooting him the briefest of glares before turning her attention back to her coffee. "I get it."

Scotty frowned in utter mystification, and all he could do was stare. She said she’d gotten it…but she was furious. Furious before he’d even said a fraction of what he wanted to say. He knew that most of the time she could practically read his mind, but the storm clouds that were gathering on her face and the lightning he could see flashing from her eyes were telling him, in no uncertain terms, that whatever she thought he was saying, she didn’t get it. Not exactly, anyway.

While he was flailing for a response, she spoke again. "You wanna…go chase some tail," she spat, glaring at him fiercely, and Scotty was dumbfounded at her sudden vehemence. "You’ve put in your time bein’ a dad, but spendin’ your Saturday nights watchin’ Dora with a two-year-old is startin’ to get old, and you got some wild oats left to sow. I get it, believe me," she asserted.

Scotty’s head snapped up in surprise again. "No, actually, you don’t," he retorted angrily, a bit more so than he’d intended, and Kat jumped back in surprise, though whether it was what he’d said or how he said it that caused her reaction, he wasn’t sure.

Sighing in frustration, Scotty raked a hand through his hair, then studied the tender shoots of green that were just beginning to poke their way through the thatch of dead grass at his feet. This really, really wasn’t going well.

"Look," he began. "I ain’t sayin’ there’s someone else I wanna…I’m not…" he sighed again and glanced up helplessly. "I didn’t even know it had been so long until Lil said somethin’ yesterday, okay? So what does that tell you?"

Kat stared. She had no idea what that told her. Nothing she’d thought he’d want to say, that was for damn sure.

"So…you…you wanna start seein’ someone ‘cause Lil thinks you should?" she asked, an unexplained bitterness clipping her voice.

Scotty felt something inside him snap. "For God’s sake, Kat, would you just---?" he began in frustration, then trailed off, shaking his head and glaring at the ground.

They both sighed and sat in silence for a few moments, the electric emotions crackling between them almost audibly. Forget not going well, Scotty realized, this was an almost unmitigated disaster. He had no idea how the hell Kat had reached the conclusions she’d suddenly decided to jump to, or why, but he had to undo the damage. He had to fix this.

"Look," he began again, softly this time, his heart hammering inside his chest. "I…love what we have, okay? I really do. I mean, I never thought I’d be happy livin’ with you and the girls and havin’ my Saturday nights be pizza and PJs and Dora videos…but I am. I’ve never been happier in my life, and I don’t want anyone else. I don’t want anything else, okay? I…I just want what we got."

"But…" Kat prompted. She sensed the "but" coming before he even opened his mouth.

"But…" he continued hesitantly, sneaking another glance in her direction. "I never thought, in, like, a million years, that I could be happy like this, not after…and it…it kinda makes me wonder. Makes me wonder why I’m so damn happy, why I don’t want anything different." He stopped, searched her eyes again, and, not immediately seeing anything there to stop him, he finally decided to go for broke.

"Makes me wonder why I’ve spent the last twelve hours wishin’ like hell I’d actually kissed you last night," he finished quietly, his eyes now locked on his coffee cup.

Kat could have sworn her heart stopped beating, and she had absolutely no idea how to feel. She’d thought she knew where he was going with this; was nearly positive that, that afternoon, she’d be helping him pack boxes and arguing about who got Bella on her birthday…but this? This? She hadn’t expected this. She knew he’d wanted to kiss her; that much had been obvious, but it was sounding like…he was saying he had…feelings for her. Could that possibly be what he meant? Quickly, she weighed the two alternatives and discovered, with a start, that they were both terrifying.

"Scotty," she began, "I’m not sure I---" she trailed off, her eyes wide and her brow furrowed slightly.

Scotty sighed again. "I don’t wanna change what we got, okay? I don’t wanna screw it up," he reassured her. "And I don’t wanna try and make…this…whatever it is, this…this perfectly wonderful whatever it is…anything it ain’t."

Kat sighed with relief. And disappointment. God, this was confusing.

"But I do kinda wanna know what it is," he finished lightly, taking a sip of coffee and fixing his gaze on some faraway point, as casually as though he’d just made some comment on the weather.

Holy crap, she wasn’t making it up. Scotty wanted to put their...friendship, their arrangement, their co-parenting…their…whatever the hell it was…under a microscope and study it. That idea was both exhilarating and utterly terrifying.

Kat was silent for a moment, and he resisted the urge to look up at her again like some overeager teenager.

"Can’t believe you’re gonna be that guy," she finally muttered, her voice suddenly and inescapably defensive. "You, of all people. You’re gonna be that guy who’s gotta have a label for everything."

Scotty was taken aback by the sudden change in her tone. "No," he started to argue, but as soon as the words had left his mouth, he realized that, to his chagrin, she was right, and there was no use pretending.

"Okay, fine," he exploded. "I wanna know what the hell we’re doin’. I wanna know why I’m so damn happy bein’ a family with you and Bella and V. I wanna know why kissin’ you is all I’ve been able to think about since last night, all right? Dammit," he continued, helpless against the flood of emotions that he’d been unaware of until the previous evening, but now was utterly powerless to fight, "I wanna see what’s goin’ on with us. I wanna know what it is. ‘Cause it occurs to me that it just might be the best damn thing that’s ever happened to me…to either one of us… and if I’m bein’ an idiot and overlookin’ that, then…then I wanna know, okay?" He paused and searched her eyes. "Now, maybe I’m the only one who’s curious…and if I am, then I can learn to live with that." He took a shaky breath and looked at her, deep into her eyes, with that bottomless gaze that missed nothing. "But…I think maybe, deep down…you just might be a little bit curious yourself."

He stopped then, his breathing ragged, looking slightly taken aback, like he’d said far more than he’d intended to…but his eyes never left hers, and Kat was completely unable to speak. Dammit. She was curious. There was no denying that. And he’d seen right through her. He could see it in her eyes, she knew, because it was no longer possible for her to hide the truth, even from herself.

"Curious?" she asked suspiciously, hoping to retain at least some of her defense mechanisms.

"Well, yeah," Scotty replied lamely. "Ain’t you?"

"Yeah," she admitted, after a pause and a long, thoughtful stare into her coffee cup. "I’m curious. But…the girls…"

"I know," Scotty agreed.

"If findin’ out whatever this…whatever it is…actually is…means the girls might get hurt…I don’t wanna do it," she informed him, her gaze sharp.

"Me either," Scotty said emphatically. "The last thing I wanna do is hurt them…or you," he added significantly, peering deep into her eyes, willing her to understand what he was telling her.

Those last two words, and the huskiness in his voice as he said them, made everything stop, and Kat frantically searched his eyes.

Holy crap, there it was. That look. That little flickering something she’d seen in them the last few days, ever since that interview where he’d jokingly called her "sweetheart." It was a bit flirtatious, yes, but it was also deeply earnest, the same honest expression she’d seen when he’d told her he wanted to be involved in Bella’s life. Oh, God, he wasn’t kidding. He wasn’t playing games. He was even more concerned about her than he was about Bella and Veronica…

…and suddenly, the truth slammed into her, and all the memories she’d been having over the last two days crystallized as she looked at them in a new light. She’d thought Scotty was only there because of Bella…because of biological obligation…because of his determination to do the right thing, to atone for his mistakes, to make the best of a bad situation. But…he didn’t think it was a bad situation at all. No, he’d told her, just now, that it was the happiest he’d ever been. He was happy, not just because of Bella, but because of her. And he’d completely altered his life, he’d essentially given up his bachelorhood, he’d happily spent his weekends at home…not because of his daughter, at least, not entirely…but for her. She realized suddenly that Scotty was every bit as happy when he was alone with her, when they were grabbing cheese steaks after an interview, when they were joking around in the office, when they were enjoying the quiet on a Saturday morning before the girls woke up, as he was when they were together as a family. And he was just now figuring this out?

No wonder he was curious.

"I know," she answered slowly, and Scotty glanced up from his coffee to see the anger and suspicion suddenly gone from her eyes, replaced by a look of almost childlike wonder and amazement. He wasn’t quite sure what she’d just figured out, but it seemed to be important, and whatever it was, whatever its source…it gave him the guts to plunge ahead with his plan.

"Look," he began slowly. "This is scary as hell…but…it’s gonna drive me nuts if I don’t find out what’s goin’ on with us. But I don’t wanna screw anything up, or hurt anyone, so…I’m only gonna ask you one thing."

"What’s that?" Kat asked, her voice attempting one last stand at guarded defensiveness, but the underlying vulnerability in both her tone and her eyes called her bluff, making Scotty ache more than ever to pull her into his arms. Damn that look. And damn that Lil for makin’ me realize I can’t resist it.

Instead, he took a sip of coffee, gathered his courage, and grinned as confidently as he possibly could. "I want you to finish that date," he informed her.

"Finish the---" Kat answered blankly, thrown for a loop by his latest suggestion. The date? Her blind date? What the hell could he possibly be insinuating?

"Scotty, I---I dunno what you’re---" she stammered. "It’s been three years, I never did call that guy back, I---"

"Relax, Miller," Scotty replied, his grin broadening. "I didn’t mean with him." He took a deep breath, looked her in the eyes, and plunged in. "I meant with me. Tonight."

Kat’s eyes widened in shock. "Finish the date with you?"

"Yeah," Scotty answered with a shrug. "I mean, okay, you already kinda finished it with me the first time, but I ain’t talkin’ like that. I’m talkin’ we go to that restaurant, you wear your peach dress, I wear somethin’ nice, and we have dinner and talk. We can talk about the kids, talk about work, talk about the weather, hell, I don’t care, just talk. Like we always do. Only without V’s incessant phone calls and that damn toy of Bella’s with all the beepin’."

She smiled, at that, and, encouraged, he continued, his voice calm and reassuring. "And if that’s all it is, if that’s all it ever is, just two friends havin’ dinner, that’s fine with me, all right?" he asked, imploring her with his eyes to understand, ignoring the little inner voice that told him there was a decent chance he was lying through his teeth. "Like I said, I ain’t tryin’ to make this somethin’ it’s not."

Kat sighed shakily, feeling the twin thrills of panic and excitement. Dinner. A date. With Scotty. He wanted to go out on a date. With her. Tonight. To see what this was.

"What if…" she began tentatively, then trailed off. Scotty glanced quizzically at her, and she smiled, hoping it conveyed more confidence than she currently felt. "What if…just two friends havin’ dinner…what if that ain’t all it is?" she ventured.

Scotty couldn’t stop his jaw from dropping as he absorbed her words, and when he looked deep into her dark eyes, his heart began to race with what he saw there. She was scared, yes, and he couldn’t blame her for that. Hell, he was probably just as scared as she was. But mingled seamlessly with her fright was that enchanting, quasi-flirtatious look he thought he’d seen in her eyes the last couple days, the look he thought for sure he was imagining…and with the sparkle in her eyes and the tentative smile that was beginning to spread across her face…God, he’d never seen anything more beautiful in his whole life.

He swallowed hard, trying to absorb what it sure seemed like she was insinuating. "Then…then I guess we’ll go from there," he said slowly, still staring at her, hoping to God he wasn’t just dreaming.

Kat looked away, back into her coffee mug, and the intensity of the moment was lessened slightly. "I…might not still fit into that peach dress," she said with a chuckle. "I’ve had a baby since then, y’know," she added, with a somewhat flirtatious glance.

Scotty smiled, broad and dazzling, and her heart suddenly felt as though it was melting. She’d heard that phrase before, and had never, ever understood it. It had never made a lick of sense…not until this moment.

"Ain’t the dress I care about," he answered lightly.

"And…" she started again, half joking, but he could tell there was an undercurrent of worry in her voice, "It’s been over three years since I’ve been on a date."

"I know," he agreed slowly. "Me too."

She grinned, his reassuring demeanor putting her more at ease than she ever thought possible. "Might be nervous," she continued slyly, elbowing him slightly in the ribs.

"Yeah," Scotty replied skeptically. Where the hell’s she goin’ with this?

"So…I can’t guarantee I won’t drink half the bottle of wine before the calamari comes," she finished with a broad, teasing smile.

As beautiful as she was a moment before, she was even more so now…and he impulsively slipped his hand beneath the curtain of her hair, brushed her cheek with the pad of his thumb, searched her quizzical eyes for a moment…then slowly, reverently claimed her lips.

As Scotty finally finished the kiss he’d all but started the night before, Kat felt her heart melting within her. He’d kissed her before, of course, that first drunken night that had started it all, and then again the night Bella was born…but not like this. Never like this. Everything he’d said, and everything he hadn’t, was encapsulated in this one perfect, beautiful moment…he wasn’t leaving her. Not now…not ever. He was hers…and she was his.

As she returned his kiss, Scotty felt all the pent-up emotions bubbling up within him at an alarming pace. Everything that had been swirling around inside him the night before, all the confusion and terror and desire and everything else…it was gone, vanished as though it had never been there. What was left was so clear, so obvious, that he wondered how long it had been living inside him, waiting for him to discover it.

What was left was love. The purest love he’d ever felt for anyone. Love for Kat Miller.

He’d tell her that night, he decided. That night at dinner. Because he had a sneaking suspicion, based on the look he saw in her eyes as he reluctantly ended the kiss and pulled back, still caressing her cheek with his thumb, that just two friends having dinner was the last thing their evening would be.

As she stared at him in wonder, he couldn’t resist the mischievous smile that tugged the corners of his lips.

"Have all the wine you want, Miller," he reassured her. "I’ll drive your drunk ass home."