Kristen's jaw clenched as she fought to control her anger.  "What are you doing here?" She asked again as her eyes watched Kevin closely, trying to decipher his motives for being here.

"I was hoping we could talk." He stated.

"Talk?" Kristen questioned.  "Why the hell would I want to talk to you?  I think we've said all that needs to be said to each other."

"Don't be like this, Kris." He began, taking a step towards her but she shook her head and he stopped.  "Didn't you get my flowers I sent this afternoon?" He questioned.

"Your flowers?" She asked, looking at him in shock.  "B-but I thought..." She trailed off as she looked over her shoulder at Chris.  His brown eyes met hers inquisitively.  She could read the silent question his eyes were conveying to her: What do you want me to do?  Tell me what you want me to do about this and I'll do it.  Kristen turned back to look at her husband.  She should have known Chris hadn't sent her the flowers earlier today.  It was just too big of a coincidence him somehow knowing her favorite flower and favorite color without them ever discussing it.  She should have known that it wasn't the gigantic sign from some higher power she had assumed it was.  There I go assuming again and making an ass out of myself.  She mentally kicked herself.  She sighed in defeat as her shoulders slumped slightly.  "How did you find me?"  She asked him.  Since they had separated six months ago, he had made no attempt to try and find out where she had moved to.  Why now? 

Kevin smiled patronizingly and sighed as he shook his head, looking at her as if she were a child he was having to explain something to for the fifteenth time.  "It really wasn't that hard, Kris. It was pretty easy." He replied.  "Much like you've turned out to be, I see."  He cocked his head to the side as he delivered the jab and Kristen felt her anger flare.  Her breathing quickened--her chest rising and falling heavily as she fought the desire she had to rip all of his hair out.  She wanted to-more than she'd ever wanted anything in her life--but she knew if she did anything to him it would eventually come back on her.  Kevin would find some way to use whatever she did to him against her in their divorce proceedings.  "My wife, the apartment complex slut, everyone." He clapped his hands as if introducing her at some event.

"That's enough." Chris stated, finally breaking his silence.  He moved to take a step around her, but Kristen turned and placed a hand against his chest--keeping him where he was. She appreciated his willingness to stand up and fight for her, but she didn't want him to get involved.  This was her fight.  She was the one who needed to tell Kevin to step off or he was never going to leave her alone.   

"Who is this?" Kevin asked.  Kristen looked at Chris-her stomach quivering slightly as his beautiful brown eyes stayed locked on hers.  She felt him give her fingers, on the hand that he still held, a squeeze--offering her his silent support and she gave him a small smile as she sent a silent prayer heavenward that he was there.  She didn't know what she would have done if she had been here alone tonight when Kevin had shown up. 

"Why do you care?" Kristen asked, turning to look at Kevin again.  She watched as he folded his arms across his chest as he looked at Chris over her shoulder--his blue eyes shooting daggers at Chris.  Kristen felt the need to protect Chris so she took a small step to the right to try and block him from Kevin's view.

"I think I have a right to know who my wife is spending time her with these days." Kevin replied, his eyes sliding over to meet hers.

Kristen laughed bitterly.  "Yet who you spend your time with, is none of my business." She stated.  "As you've pointed out on several occasions, isn't that right?" She asked.  Kevin's blue eyes narrowed dangerously and Kristen's heart pounded nervously in her chest.  "You lost the right to know any of my business a long time ago Kevin." She told him.  "I no longer have to answer to you about anything."

"Does he know who you really are?" Kevin inquired.

"What does that mean?" Kristen asked, taken back by his question.  "Who am I?" Besides the fool that was stupid enough to fall for your lies? She thought, once again wondering how she could have been so blind all the years she had known this man.  How had she allowed herself to be so duped by him?  To play along in this sick, twisted game he was playing? 

"Does he know you're selfish and lazy and all you care about is work?" Kevin asked as he took a step closer to her.  "Does he know you're a lousy housekeeper and you can't cook to save your life?" He continued as he took another step towards her.  "Does he know you're a failure when it comes to performing in the bedroom?"

Kristen lifted her hand and slapped him before she could stop herself.  The sting of her hand as it connected with his skin matching the sting of the words he hurled at her.  "How dare you." She hissed.  "Why are you here?" She asked him again.  "What made you decide to find out where I'm living," she questioned, her voice rising sharply, "show up unannounced, and then stand here and insult me in front of a friend of mine--someone you don't even know?  Why the hell are you here?!" She exclaimed.  "Why?  Why do insist on continuing to make my life miserable?  Why can't you just--"

"Hey! Keep it down out here, or I'm callin' the cops."

They all turned to look at the man who opened the door of the apartment across the landing from Kristen's in surprise.  Kristen felt her cheeks warm in instant humiliation.  Before she'd married Kevin and had been living on her own, she'd always looked down on the people in the apartment complexes she'd lived in who had no self-control and fought and yelled at all hours of the night, their arguments often spilling outside of their apartments--making their neighbors unwilling participants in their loud and dysfunctional relationships. 

She was now one of "those people" and she wanted a giant hole to open up and swallow her whole. 

"I am so sorry." Kristen apologized to her neighbor--a man she'd never met before and one whom she would forever be embarrassed to run into after tonight.  She put her head down as she reached for Chris' hand that she had dropped when she'd slapped Kevin, and pushed past her jackass of a husband--walking towards her door.  Her other hand dug into her purse searching for her keys.  She fumbled with the lock for a moment before finally opening the door and all but pulling Chris inside with her as she turned around to face Kevin.  "I want you to leave." She told him firmly.  He opened his mouth to say something but she cut him off.  "I want you to leave or I'm calling the police." And with that she slammed the door in his face.      

~~~~~~~~~

Chris stood in silence in the middle of Kristen's front room--still trying to process what had just happened.  One minute they had been kissing and teasing each other, the next she was getting yelled at and verbally attacked by her estranged husband.  He watched as Kristen slumped back against the door.  She covered her face with her hands and it was hard not to miss their trembling.  Her heavy breathing filled the silent apartment as she fought to control her anger and emotions and Chris wanted to just wrap his arms around her, kidnap her and take her back to his house-vowing to protect her and keep Kevin from every getting to her again. 

But he knew he couldn't do that.

This was a battle she needed to fight and she amazed him.  She had told him briefly some of what her husband had done, and was doing, but it wasn't until right now that Chris really understood what she was going through.  To have to constantly put up with the nasty head games that Kevin was playing with her and still be able to laugh and enjoy life was an amazing feat.  But Chris wasn't sure how much more Kristen could take.  There was a limit to what a person could withstand mentally and emotionally take.  Hell, he had been ready to jump over her and pound the guy into the pavement when Kevin had had the nerve to call her a slut. 

It's a good thing she's blocking the door right now.  He thought as he looked around and finally set the bag from dinner that Kristen had dropped earlier on the coffee table.  Walking over to her, Chris put his arms around her and pulled her against his chest.   She didn't resist and, as he felt her trembling in his arms, he knew she was at her breaking point.  What is his deal?  Chris wondered as he lowered his head--his lips brushing against her temple as he ran his hands up and down her back, hugging her close.  Kristen burrowed against him, desperately seeking the comfort he was offering. 

"I'm not a slut." Her whispered words tore at his heart.  "I'm not a slut." She repeated, shaking her head slightly as if trying to convince herself of their truth.

"No." Chris said, placing the fingers of one hand under her chin as he forced her to look up at him.  The sight of the tears in her beautiful brown eyes made his chest hurt.  "You're not." He insisted. 

She looked at him for a moment, as if she had never seen him before.  "Why are you here?" She asked him, her question catching him off guard.  Had she somehow developed amnesia in the last five minutes? 

"I, uh..." He stalled, as he looked at her closely--wondering what he should say.  What kind of answer was she looking for?  "Well...you offered to shared your cheesecake with me, remember?" He teased with a grin, hoping that humor was the way to go.  If he could get her laughing again, maybe she would snap out of this funk she was now in and be the happy, sparkling-eyed girl he was falling for once again.

"No." Kristen shook her head as she pushed away from him.  Chris' arms dropped to his sides and he shoved his hands into his pockets as he looked at her.  "I mean, why are you here?" She asked as she brushed her hands over her face then folded her arms over her chest.  "You just saw firsthand how crazy and...and...messed up my life is."  She looked at him--her brown eyes pleading for understanding while her bottom lip trembled slightly.  "Why are you here?  Why haven't you run screaming in the other direction yet?  Why do you want to be with me?"    

Chris sighed and looked down at the floor.  He took one hand out of his pocket and lifted it-pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger as he closed his eyes.  The answer to her question was on the tip of tongue but he wasn't sure he could say the words.  He had vowed a long time ago that he would never be in this situation again--that he would never have the need to say what he was about to say to her.  Oh how quickly the mighty fall.  He mused with a wry chuckle.  Served him right for thinking he could just opt out of life and somehow evade fate. 

Slowly he lifted his head and looked at her, their brown eyes connecting.  His heart was pounding in his chest and he wondered if Kristen could hear how loudly it was beating.  Time to ante up, Kirkpatrick.  A voice in the back of his head stated.  Are you playing or are you going to fold? 

Kristen sighed as she ran her hands through her hair.  "I just don't understand why--"

"Because I love you."

~~~~~~~~~

The room was spinning. 

Kristen's hands paused in her hair and her jaw dropped as the words left his mouth.  Words she hadn't heard in a long time.  Words she didn't think she would ever hear again.  Words she never expected to hear from the man currently standing in front of her.   Her eyes widened as she looked at him.  I need to sit down.  She thought but they both remained standing--staring at each other, unable to move.  The words he had uttered hung between them as he waited for some kind of reaction from her. 

And he looked terrified. 

Kristen could see the fear and vulnerability in his eyes and she knew how much courage it had taken him to say those three little words.  She had a hard time uttering them herself.  Three little words.  Eight simple letters that alone meant nothing, but when combined as they had just been, had the power to forever alter and change the course of human life.  The silence stretching between them was deafening, but Kristen couldn't move.  She couldn't speak.  She couldn't breathe.  Out of all the reasons he could have given as to why he had decided he wanted to spend time with her, this was the one that had been at the bottom of the list.  He was a self-proclaimed bachelor--happily content to spend his days jumping from party to party as he'd said himself on numerous occasions, never wanting to be tied down again in a relationship. 

Yet somehow, she had managed to tie him down.

"I, uh..." Chris finally broke the silence between them as he chuckled nervously--one hand lifting to rub the back of his neck.  "I-I..." he pursed his lips tightly, his brow furrowing as he looked down at the floor. 

Kristen took the step that separated them and reached out.  Placing her hands on his face she forced him to look at her.  His eyes met hers hesitantly and she could see the flush of embarrassment on his cheeks. 

"I-I didn't...I didn't mean for it to just...come out...like that." He stuttered.  "I...I just..."

Kristen silenced him as she leaned forward, pressing her lips against his.  She could feel his surprise in her reaction but he was quick to cover it up as he kissed her back--his hands lifting to gently brush against her face as he threaded his fingers in her hair.  Kristen pulled back slightly, her forehead resting against his as she took several deep breaths. 

"Is it too soon?" Chris asked quietly.

She lifted her head and opened her eyes to look at him.  Kristen shook her head.  "It's too...." She trailed off as she tilted her head to one side.  "Complicated." She finally stated with an incredulous chuckle. 

"Well, we agreed to no rules, right?" Chris asked as he kissed her again.  "So that means anything goes."

Kristen laughed again as she put her arms around his neck and hugged him.  "For not having any rules things just got really complicated."