When Lucas reached Aiden’s room, he placed him on the bed before going across the room, trying to figure out what he was going to say. Aiden was giggling until he looked up and saw the look Lucas was giving him. He quickly stopped laughing and scooted back in the bed, hitting the wall with his back.

“We need to talk.”

Aiden looked down at his cast and started picking at the fluff that was at his thumb. “What about?”

Lucas took a deep breath in and found that he was actually nervous as he slowly lowered himself down on a bean bag. He didn’t want to do this wrong. He wanted to be stern and he wanted to be understanding of Aiden’s feelings, but most of all, he wanted to be a dad that his dad would be proud of. He moved around on the bean bag. He didn’t think he was very intimating on the bean bag but it was the only place to sit. He wanted to be across from Aiden, and this was the only place he could do that at. “Um, well your mom told me what you said to her.”

Aiden’s eyes didn’t leave his cast as he shrugged his shoulders. “She made me mad.”

“So?” he said angrily. He took a deep calming breath before saying, “That’s your mom. It doesn’t matter how mad she makes you, you don’t say something so horrible to her.”

“She said horrible things to you, and I’m sick of her being mean to you. I love you, and I want her to love you and stop being mean to you,” he said. He looked up at Lucas meeting his gaze. “I want to live with you.”

Lucas heart skipped a beat. He wanted that more than he wanted to breathe, but he would never take Aiden away from Fallon. Fallon would just have to come too, but that wasn’t happening anytime soon, so they both need to leave that alone for a while.

“Buddy, I want you to live with me too, and I love you, very much, okay? I won’t lie to you, the only way we’ll ever live together is if me and your mom got married. I care too much about her to take you away.” Aiden looked down at his cast again, and continued to pick at it. “The thing is, you can’t talk to your mom like that. I won’t accept it. She loves you more than anything, and when you say something wrong like what you said, it hurts the person you say it to. You don’t want to hurt your mom, do you?”

Aiden shook his head. “I just want her to be nice to you.”

“Okay, I understand that, but what happens between me and your mom is between us. No matter what we’ll always love you and you will always be number one to us, but your mom is your number one. I’m your number two.”

Lucas had no problem being number two to Fallon, and as Aiden thought it over all Lucas could do was hope that he had done right. That he had said the right things. Aiden looked up at him, his eyes full of tears. Lucas wasn’t sure how much more emotion he could take in one day, and looking into Aiden’s eyes he knew he needed to prepare himself for more.

Aiden let out a jagged breath before saying, “I don’t hate my momma. I love her.”

Lucas nodded as a tear spilled over Aiden’s plump cheek. “I know, buddy.”

Aiden nodded, wiping his cheek with the back of his hand. “Do you think she’s mad at me?”

Lucas shook his head, “No bud, but her feelings are hurt. I bet if you tell her that you’re sorry, and you never do it again, she would never think about it again.”

Aiden nodded and climbed off the bed, coming to Lucas. He dropped down into Lucas’ lap, and Lucas wrapped him up in his arms, placing a kiss on Aiden’s head. Aiden cuddled close to Lucas as he quietly sobbed. Lucas couldn’t believe that not even a puck breaking his arm could make Aiden cry, but hurting Fallon could.

It was another thing that they had in common.

**********************************

Fallon watched as Lucas carried Aiden up the stairs and made sure they were out of earshot before she laid her basket down. She went towards the island and stood beside Audrey, watching her fill each one of her cupcakes with what look like chocolate frosting.

“What is that?”

Audrey shook her head and Fallon could tell she was keeping back the tears. Audrey never made cupcakes unless something was bothering her. Fallon could always tell how bad it was by how complex Audrey made the cupcakes. Since she was filling them with something, Fallon knew it wasn’t good.

“Ganache.”

“Oh, what kind of cupcakes are you making?”

“Dark chocolate with ganache filling and topped with fresh strawberry, buttercream icing.”

Yup, it was bad.

Fallon looked along the island, noticing the mess that her complex cupcakes had made. Audrey was an amazing cupcake maker, but she was lazy and hated cleaning up the mess. That was the main reason she never baked unless she was upset. It calmed her, just like a beautiful glass of wine calmed Fallon.

“What’s wrong, Audrey?” Audrey shook her head again, but Fallon persisted. “A, this has went on long enough. Something is going on, and you need to tell me.”

Audrey stopped filling and dropped the pipe bag beside the pan just as a sob ripped from her body. “I’m in love with a man that doesn’t love me.”

Fallon’s heart broke at the cry before she wrapped her arms around Audrey. “Surely not. A man would be a fool not to love you.”

Audrey shook her head. “No really, like I called him and he’s with some girl right now and I just don’t understand ‘cause I do everything for him, and I..I…I..love him.” Fallon had to hold her own tears in as she held Audrey close. “You know, when we first started dating he was amazing and sweet. Then he like switched on me. He calls me names, and he like, ugh, I can’t believe I’m telling you this,” she cried.