Dani was awoken by the shrill sound of her phone going off only a few hours after falling back asleep the following day.

"Hello?" she frowned, sitting up and squinting at the clock; it was only five in the morning.

"Dani?"

"Kev?" her eyes widened, "I've been trying to reach you!"

"I know, I uh, my communications were cut off for a while," he mumbled.

"What, why?" She asked sharply. 

"Just chill," he groaned, "I'm good now. I had a little scuffle when I got here. It was no big deal."

"Yes, it is a big deal, it's a huge deal," she stressed, "Do you have any idea how expensive that place is? The least you can do is give it everything you got. Get better, be the man you know you are."

She could feel her face growing hotter and had gotten up and started to pace as she spoke.

"I'm doing the best I can. I'm here, right? I could leave if I wanted to."

"Kev," she said in a warning voice.

"I'm not saying I am. I'm just saying I'm here. Can that be good enough?"

"No, because if you're only going through the motions," she said softer, "we both know that won't work."

"I'm going to come out of here okay," he mumbled, "I'm done screwing things up."

"Kevin," she frowned.

"You see Anna around at all?" he asked, trying and failing to sound casual.

Just weeks before Kevin's latest downward spiral, his on-and-off longtime girlfriend Anna appeared back in town. As much as she adored Anna, the two tended to crash and burn. It always ended up with Kevin falling back into all his bad habits as a crutch.

"I'm actually in Sun City," Dani said with a slight laugh.

"You're what?" he gasped, "why?"

"I don't even know where to start," she said, "I'm staying with my sister. I'm working as a nanny for her."

"The bitchy one?" he asked.

"Kev, I only have the one sister."

"This is my fault that you're stuck there, isn't it? The rent was behind, and I messed up at the worst time."

"No fault to be had," she assured him, "Seriously, the job is great, the pay is unbelievable, free room and board. I'm fine, Kev."

"Okay," she heard some noise in the background. "I gotta go, Dani; you swear you're okay?" he asked.

"I swear," she smiled. "Call me soon, okay?"

"I will love you, sis," he said.

"I love you too," she said, "You take care of yourself."

She rubbed her eyes tiredly after she got off the phone with him. She was happy to hear his voice. It strengthened her resolve. She couldn't do anything to risk losing this job. Kevin needed to be in that rehab center.

She fumbled into her bathroom for some aspirin and then remembered she had left it in her purse upstairs.

She figured everyone would be asleep, so she crept into the kitchen quietly and poured herself a glass of water. Luckily, she didn't feel as terrible as she thought she would, considering.

She looked around for her purse but only spotted Alyssa's shiny red one. She realized she had probably left it in the living room. She turned the stove light on and tiptoed into the next room.

She froze when she saw Rocco sprawled across the couch fast asleep. His lips were curled downward, and his face seemed stressed.

Dani looked towards the stairs nervously, then slowly approached him; her purse was on the table near him. She knew she should grab it and go but wanted to make sure he was okay...He let out a snore, and his body jerked.

She jumped backward slightly and bit her lip to keep from laughing at her jumpy self. He kicked the small fleece blanket off his body, and she gasped clamping a hand over her mouth. All he had on was a pair of black boxers; she noticed the jeans and tee shirt lying on the floor beside him.

She couldn't peel her eyes away and found herself just standing there gazing at his perfect godlike chest and abs, and—she quickly averted her eyes from the defined bulge.

'You need to leave;' shetold herself firmly,.

Carefully she opened her purse and took a few aspirins out; she then left them on the end table for him, along with the glass of water she had poured for herself.  Judging by how much bourbon was gone from the bottle, he would need it.

She grabbed the bottle of bourbon and the empty can of coke from the end table. No need for him to get yelled at by the sugar police too. She put the bottle back in the cabinet on her way downstairs and tossed the Coke can in her garbage.

**

"Daddy!" Rocco woke up to a weight on his chest. He peered up at Gavin, who was sitting on his chest, "Wakey!"

"I'm awake, Chief," Rocco groaned, his eyes burning as he opened them.

"I'm hungry!" Gavin announced.

"I can't believe you slept on the couch rather than just take a shower." Alyssa's shrill voice made his head throb more as her heels clicked across the marble floor.

"Mommy?" Gavin turned around and climbed off him.

"Hi, Gavin!" Alyssa plastered a smile across her heavily painted face and knelt, holding her arms out for him.

"Hi, Mommy," Gavin walked over, and she hugged him.

"Mommy missed you," she kissed his head.

"Gavi missed Mommy too," he said.

"Oh, my sweet little boy," she hugged him tighter. Rocco was glad to see her look genuinely happy to see him.

"I'm a big boy, mommy," Gavin told her.

"Of course," she stroked his cheek before standing up, "Mommy has lots of pictures to show you, and I got you a present too."

"A toy?" he asked with hopeful eyes.

"Hopefully, it isn't blocks," Rocco said wryly.

Alyssa ignored him and took Gavin's hand with her into the kitchen. He sat up and clutched his head. He glanced at the end table and noticed a few aspirins and a glass of water. He frowned curiously but gratefully took them anyway.

He slowly managed to work his way up and off the couch. He grabbed his discarded clothes from the night before and slipped them on before making his way to the kitchen. Gavin was sitting at the table playing with some toy trucks. He raised his eyebrows in surprise, then noticed the airport logo on the side of one of the trucks and realized she picked them up at the last minute.

Gavin seemed to enjoy driving them around the table, so he let it be.

Alyssa was fishing through the freezer; she was dressed up in a short black dress with thin straps hardly holding in her enhanced chest. Her hair was pulled back into a tight bun. Her face seemed even thinner than it had been a week ago. She'd probably been living off coffee and wine for the last week.

"What happened to my low-cal southwestern omelets?" she asked.

"I have no idea," he rolled his eyes, "I don't eat that shit."

"Shit!" Gavin started giggling.

"Don't teach him things like that," she hissed at Rocco.

"Gavin James Romano, that is a bad word," Alyssa turned towards Gavin and spoke firmly. His eyes widened, and he frowned before looking over at Rocco.

"Daddy shouldn't have said it," she added, looking at Rocco.

"No more saying shit, okay, Chief?" He gave Gavin a smile to let him know it was okay. "It's a bad word, and Daddy knew better than to say it."

"Okay, Daddy," Gavin said quietly.

"That was effective," Alyssa muttered as she pulled a box from the freezer and started opening it. "I'd have gotten a bar of soap shoved on my mouth."

"He's three and was repeating me," Rocco argued. "I'll do better."

"I thought you were vegetarian now. Don't those have eggs and cheese?" he asked as he studied the box; Alyssa sat on the counter.

"I read that eggs can stop you from getting wrinkles," Alyssa said. "One of the models I met in New York this weekend, swears by fasting. One meal a day, she eats nothing after noon."

"That sounds healthy," he muttered.

"It is healthy. I lost three pounds this week!"

"There is such a thing as too skinny, you know."

"Not in my world."

"If you're only going to eat once daily, it probably shouldn't come from a box." He sighed, making his way to the fridge to start a real breakfast. He wondered how long this new diet would last. She would be crabby as hell if she wasn't eating all day.

"Fine, but can you make sure whatever you make is not loaded with sugar?" She asked.

"How about poached eggs and toast for you and pancakes for the rest of us awful sugar-eating monsters?"

"Whatever." She shrugged as she made her way back to the table. She sat down and started thumbing through her portfolio. He knew she'd eat a pancake later when she didn't think anyone was looking.

"Look, Gavi; I took lots of new pictures in New York." As she opened the book to show him, he jumped off his seat and started racing away from the table.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"I'd go get my Auntie Dani," he said as he started for the basement.

"Hang on, buddy, she's probably sleeping," Rocco stopped him.

"Come back here Gavi. Mommy wants to see you. I missed you." Alyssa sighed. She quickly lost patience with him, but at least she was trying.

"But I miss my Auntie Dani."

"Don't you want to look at these pretty pictures of Mommy?" Alyssa asked.

"No, I no like pictures," Gavin pouted, crossing his arms stubbornly.

Alyssa looked up expectantly at Rocco, her red lips twisted into an angry frown.

"Gavin, let's let Dani sleep in, okay?" He ruffled Gavin's hair and smiled and him. "I'm sure she'll wake up soon. Meanwhile, Mommy's got some cool pictures of New York in there. Why don't you go let her show you."

"Okay," he agreed, slowly walking over to her.

"Come on then," she patted his chair with a clear, miffed look.

She helped him back up into his chair and flipped her book open.

Gavin cheered up as he started looking through it with her. "That's a big truck!"

"That's called a bus," Alyssa said. "It's what the poor people use to get around."

"Lys!" Rocco scolded.

"What? It is," she shrugged.

"Look at this one, Gavi, a horse, and buggy," she said, flipping the page. "And see, there's Mommy inside the carriage."

"Horsey!" he exclaimed. "I can ride him?"

"No, he's in New York; it was just for the pretty picture. Doesn't Mommy look pretty?" She asked.

Rocco bit back the urge to comment on dishing for compliments from three-year-olds.

"Yeah, pretty Mommy," Gavin agreed, and she patted his head.

"So sweet," she purred.

"Auntie Dani pretty too," Gavin grinned; he started trying to turn the page, looking for Dani in there, most likely.

"Don't touch, okay? These are very important," Alyssa said with a grimace on her face.

"Look at this one, Gavi. Doesn't Mommy look tall?"

"I want to see the horsey again!" Gavin exclaimed.

"Yes, the horse was cool," Alyssa sighed, flipping the page back.

"He's a big guy!"

Gavin was more enthralled with the animal in the picture than Alyssa, and Rocco enjoyed it quite a bit.

"I can help!" Gavin was climbing down from his chair when he saw Rocco getting the pancake stuff ready.

"Come on up," Rocco hoisted him up onto the counter.

"What are you doing?" Alyssa walked over to them, crossing her arms.

"He likes to help now," Rocco shrugged, "he's good at it, aren't you, Chief?"

"Yup!" Gavin grinned.

"Do not make a mess," she warned. "Speaking of, did you hire a new cleaning service yet?

She'd fired the last three cleaning services because of stupid little things like not drying the sink out perfectly after they left. At this point he was afraid to embarrass himself further by hiring another one.

"Dani 's been cleaning when she cares for Gavin, and I've been doing it on days off."

"The day-to-day, sure," Alyssa said. "I would expect that much from Dani, and I'll go over my expectations with her soon. Mary did a great job keeping the house to my standards. However, a deep cleaning is necessary at least once a week."

"I'll look into it," Rocco shrugged dismissively as he finished up his coffee to get Gavin started helping him.

"Rocco, please, I don't ask much."

He nearly spit his coffee out at that.

"Mommy, I helped my Auntie Dani a lot," Gavin told her as Rocco started cracking eggs into the bowl.

"That's good, Gavi," she said, "I'm glad you were a good boy."

"Yeah, we had fun!" Gavin kept grinning, and his eyes seemed greener than ever as he started getting ready to tell her a week's worth of "Auntie Dani" stories.

"Good," she said, flipping her phone out to check her messages.

"He's talking to you," Rocco gave her a look over Gavin's head.

"I'm listening," she bit back in a snotty tone.

"We saw manimals," Gavin was talking again, and her eyes flickered to him.

"Animals, Gavin," she corrected him.

"Yeah, lots," Gavin nodded, "a tiger too!"

"Well, it sounds like you had a fantastic time," she smiled smugly towards Rocco, "And mommy made lots of important contacts for her job."

"That's called a win, win Gavi," she smirked.

"Win, win!" he repeated happily.

"Are you kidding me right now?" Rocco gritted his teeth.

"What?" she laughed, "It is."

"I'm glad you can make light of neglecting your child," Rocco muttered under his breath.

"I saw a tiger!" Gavin announced.

"You did. Wow," Alyssa gave Rocco a dirty look before glancing back at Gavin.

"Yeah, and..." He stopped and frowned when his eyes fell on the fridge.

Gavin frowned deeper, "where did he go?"

"Where did who go?" Alyssa asked.

"My Gavi tiger," he pointed to the fridge and Rocco noticed it was emptied of the pictures Dani had hung up for her to see.

"Oh, honey, it's right here," Alyssa picked up a stack of them from the counter, "Mom loves these so much, I'm going to put them in my special keepsake drawer."

"No, they go there!" Gavin pointed to the fridge, his cheeks flushing pink the motion knocked the flour container over, and it spilled unto the counter.

"Damn it, Gavin!" Alyssa snapped. "Look at the mess you made!"

Gavin's face instantly turned red, and he started crying.

"Don't yell at him." Rocco hissed at her before picking him off the counter and setting him back down, saying, "It's okay, Buddy, just an accident."

"I didn't mean to yell, but look at this mess, Rocco," she hissed back, "this is why he shouldn't be up on the counter."

"You're unbelievable," he muttered.

Gavin was squirming out of his arms, and Rocco reluctantly set him down knowing he'd race right for the basement, which he did. Alyssa just stood there looking miffed and didn't bother to go after him.

"Nice, Lys," Rocco snapped before following Gavin downstairs.

"Auntie Dani!" He could hear Gavin's teary voice as he wearily followed him.

"Hey Gavi, what's wrong? Come here," he heard Dani's soothing voice as he entered the basement.

"Hey, sorry, uh." Rocco stood in the play area looking into her bedroom, where she was standing, holding Gavin and looking concerned. She looked like she'd just woken up. Her hair was piled up on top of her head in a messy ponytail, and she wore a pair of black pajama pants and a loose tank top.

Damn it, if the woman wasn't even more beautiful like this.

"Shh," she soothed as Gavin mumbled something into her shoulder. She sat on the edge of her bed with him and cuddled him. Rocco walked into her room slowly, touched as as he looked around; Gavin was everywhere in here.

His toys were strewn throughout her room. Her mirror had various pictures tucked around it, several containing his son's smiling face. The wall near her mirror was becoming covered in different views, just like the ones Lys had removed from the fridge.

She still had a suitcase near the closet, set on its side with clothes' folded on top of it. A small journal lay on her bed near the pillow. Her vanity only had a few lotions and bottles, nothing like the cosmetic counter his wife kept.

"It's a mess, sorry," she said sheepishly. "I know Alyssa likes everything clean, but we get so busy playing we forget."

"I don't care; nice to see a room lived in. Lys normally wouldn't come in here anyway. She is a neat freak, though; just a heads up." he advised. "She took the pictures of the fridge."

"I know he told me." Dani sighed, holding Gavin a little closer. He mumbled something into her shoulder.

"Please?" Gavin had pulled his little head from the crook of her neck and was staring at her with teary eyes.

"He wants a fun-day," she said softly; he had buried his head back into her chest, and she was cuddling him against her. His tears seemed to have subsided.

"Maybe the z o o," she spelled it out slowly.

Rocco smiled and nodded slowly, "You up for it, Slugger, or should I say Chugger?"

"Ha, ha," she rolled her eyes, "I'm good. You look worse than me."

"You're not wrong," he smirked, "thanks for the aspirin."

"Yeah, sure," she smiled, and he saw a brief flush on her cheeks.

"Gavin, I hear you want a fun day?" Rocco smirked when he jolted up in her lap and turned to look at him with wide eyes.

"Yeah, Daddy too!" he cheered, a smile creeping over his face.

"We'll all go," Rocco swallowed a hard lump in his throat.

Alyssa was going to hate this, which meant she'd probably make Rocco miserable all day, but for Gavin's sake, they had to try.