The Return of the Ex

In Selene's reality, the two weeks of bed-rest that the doctor had prescribed were dragging on as if time had stopped. She said as much to Lucy, who had stopped by for a visit after work, and had brought Max with her.

They were all sitting in the living room, waiting for Ben, who was in his home office handling a work call. Max and Lucy were sitting next to each other, facing Selene, who was seated across from them. Selene smiled and decided to tease the new couple, "Look at you two. Hands entwined as if you're newlyweds. Do I hear wedding bells in the future?"

Lucy blushed, "Oh my God, Selene! Where did that come from?!" She tried to laugh off Selene's words and took a sideways glance at Max to see his reaction.

Max smiled and decided to joke back, "Isn't it enough that there are already two weddings coming up? Should we add three to the list?"

Lucy's face scrunched up a little bit as she did not know how to take his comment. She remained still but gave Selene a piercing look that clearly indicated she should change the subject.

Selene took the hint, "Oh, you know I'm just kidding around! But seriously, I can't believe we have to plan a wedding while I'm pregnant."

Her friend let out a little breath of relief and continued the new conversation, "You will definitely have a lot of help. And I'm sure Ben wouldn't mind hiring you a wedding a planner to help."

"Hmmm," Selene replied, "I don't know." She let out a sigh, "I guess after Ben and I broke up, I just sort-of gave up on the idea of getting married. Now that it's happening, I'm not sure what I want. Maybe a wedding planner would be a good idea."

Max nodded, "Absolutely. You can give them your ideas, and just let them deal with the logistics."

Lucy decided it was her time to tease and suggested, "Hey, Max, you're good at taking care of logistics. Why don't you be their wedding planner?"

Selene let out a loud laugh and then covered her mouth in embarrassment. "Sorry," she said. "Just the thought of Max planning this wedding was really funny for some reason." Lucy smiled at her. "But then," she continued, "you did do a good job of finding me slippers and getting me the dress for the gala."

Max shook his head, "Exactly. I have one job as a planner already. I don't need another one. Plus, I can't imagine walking around in a pink business suit with a rose-gold clipboard talking about tea doilies."

Laughing, Selene responded, "First of all, can you stereotype even more? Geeze." She rolled her eyes, "Second of all, I will not need doilies or tea cups." She looked at Lucy who nodded as she said, "Lucy knows I prefer coffee."

Ben walked into the room and asked, "What's so funny?"

Lucy laughed, "Max is going to be your wedding planner."

Ben gave a surprised look at Max who waved his hands, "We're just messing around. How was the call?"

"Eh," Ben replied, "Same as usual." Then he looked from Lucy to Selene and continued, "Some investors just need a little hand-holding. I wish I could delegate to some of my subordinates…." He gave Max a look, "…but sadly said subordinate is too busy wedding planning." The ladies laughed, while Max just shook his head.

Selene reached out to Ben and indicated he should sit next to her, which he did. He gave her a little peck, to which Lucy groaned, "Ugh, and just a few minutes ago this one was calling us out for being lovey-dovey." She pointed at Selene.

The foursome continued chit-chatting and then enjoyed a meal together. After dinner, Lucy turned to Max and said, "Hey, we better get home. It's getting late."

Selene's eyebrows shot up, accentuating her surprise. "What do you mean, home? Are you two living together?," she asked.

Lucy and Max looked at each other and then at Ben. Selene looked at Ben and continued questioning, "What don't I know? Are you guys keeping something from me?"

After a big sigh, Lucy started, "It's a long story."

Ben interrupted, "We didn't want to keep it from you, but it's just…." He stopped when he saw Selene's pursed lips and the angry look in her eyes.

"Don't blame Ben," Max said quickly. He didn't want to see his friend be wrongly suspected of keeping secrets. "This is all on us."

Selene rubbed her temples, "Okay fine, but someone better start explaining."

Lucy reached over to grab Selene's hand under the table before starting, "The day we got back from the trip was crazy as you know." Selene nodded slowly, remembering her mother's kidnapping. "After spending time here, Max took me to my apartment to collect some clothes but…" She hesitated, "Look, we didn't want to tell you this at the time because you were going through a lot, and then I was going to tell you when you, me, and Peter met up that one day at The Bar Who? Remember?" Selene nodded again, but this time with knotted brows in confusion. "And remember how that was the day we suspected you were pregnant and we left to go get the test and all that? Because of all that I forgot to tell you buys. Then one thing led to another and this mess with Natalia happened and you were put on bed rest and we just figured it wouldn't be good to tell you right now." She took a breath and continued, "Okay, so. When I entered my apartment that day, I could tell something wasn't right. There wasn't anything wrong in the living room and it's not like anything obvious was moved or anything, but I just could feel something was off. I told Max as much and so he told me to stay outside while he looked around. He called me in a few minutes later and I met him in my bedroom, which was thoroughly trashed." Selene's eyes reflected her shock as they grew wide. Lucy continued, "And, umm, the word 'Bitch' was written on the bathroom mirror in one of my lipsticks.

"So it was obviously Kyle," Selene said quietly. "What did the police say? You did call the police right?" She looked at Max with an expression that indicated that he better have had.

Max nodded, "I called someone we know in the department to take the report."

"But it's not like they could really do anything," Lucy shook her head in frustration. "We know it's Kyle. Of course, it was him. Who else would do something like this. But there's no evidence." She squeezed Selene's hand that she was still holding, "But now you know why we didn't want to tell you."

Selene started crying quietly and brushed her tears with her free hand, "You still should have told me. I can't believe you're going through this on your own."

"But I'm not alone," Lucy smiled. "Max is letting me stay with him."

"Thank you, Max," Selene bowed her head in gratitude.

Max's head leaned to one side, "No need for thank yous. It's what I should do. She's the woman I love after all."

Selene gave him a small smile that showed her large feeling for him, "I'm so grateful she has you." After taking a deep breath and letting it out to calm her heart, she asked, "So, what's being done about Kyle? I know the police can't do anything officially but I know you guys." She gave Ben a meaningful look.

Ben nodded, "Of course, we're not just sitting by. He's under surveillance."

"So far he hasn't made any other moves, but we'll be ready when he does," Max finished for Ben.