Lexie more than understood, she encouraged it and was grateful for the opportunity to have some time alone. She had so much to catch up on from finding a new house to trying to get hold of Victoria Winslow's producer, with whom she was still playing phone tag. He left his home number at the office and told her to call him Friday evening when he would be at home.

Driving over to Nick's mother's house, Lexie couldn't help but notice the contrast in her own family life. As dysfunctional as other people thought her childhood was, she never had to dress for dinner at her parents' house, but here she was in suit with heels just going over for dinner.

Luckily for them, everyone was there to see Nick; Aaron, Jill, his sisters, and all of the grandkids that were in town. Everyone settled down to what was panning out to be a pleasant evening. During dessert, Aaron called out for everyone's attention. He stood up with the brightest smile Lexie had ever seen on his face, and Jill was glowing as well. . .glowing? Was it?

"Well, everyone, we have an announcement." He beamed. "Jill and I are pregnant. We're having a baby."

The house erupted with laughter and good cheer, with everyone hugging and congratulating them. Once dessert was over, Jill was quick to pull Lexie outside onto one of the many verandas overlooking the gardens.

"I can't believe it was so easy." Jill giggled in Lexie's ear as she hugged her.

"I'm so happy for you, Jill." Lexie smiled, tears brimming in her eyes. She tried to blink them away before Jill saw them, but her sister-in-law pulled her back into her arms.

"Your time will come, I promise." She whispered, and Lexie lost control of a little of the emotion that was caught in her throat.

"Thank you, Jillie." She whispered. She pushed herself out of Jill's arms, and Jill wiped her cheeks. "So, what are you hoping for?" Lexie asked with a smile.

"Anything!" Jill laughed.

"That's a good answer, Mom." Jane laughed, coming outside and hugging her mom's waist. "But we want a boy."

"You do, huh?" Lexie laughed.

"One as handsome as my Dad." Jane beamed.

"I don't know if the world is ready for any more of these Carter men." Lexie laughed.

"You two just don't want to share." Lexie heard Nick giggle behind her. He joined them outside, slipping his arms around Lexie's waist and resting his head on her shoulder to talk to Jill and Jane.

"I know I don't." Jill laughed.

"I'm not." Lexie agreed, turning her face to share a kiss with him. Aaron joined them, hugging and kissing both of his girls.

"You know where CJ is?" Aaron asked Jane.

"She's in the game room with Bobbie and Stephanie." Jane said, of BJ's two girls.

"Why don't you go play with them?" He suggested.

"Uh oh, the grown ups want to talk." Jane said with a roll of her eyes as she left the group.

"This is great news. You still going on that vacation?" Nick asked.

"Hell, yeah!" Jill laughed, "Before I get too huge to travel. Jane can still stay with you when she gets back, right, Lexie?"

"No problem." Lexie agreed.

"She doesn't want to spend those last two weeks were in Malta with Grandmother, and BJ and Angel live too far to ask them to drive into town every day to take her to school."

"I know, and it's no problem." Lexie smiled.

"When are you heading back?" Aaron asked Nick.

"Way too soon." Nick sighed.

"Can you kids please come in here so we can finish dessert?" Nick's mother asked from the French doors.

"Good God, I don't think I can eat another bite." Aaron groaned once Jane was out of earshot.

Everyone happily agreed, leaving the night air to go inside and settle back down.

Talk around the table was happy and all about babies. Nick was scared to death that Lexie wouldn't handle it every well. It was too soon after the trial and her public confession of her feelings to press her about wanting to try again. That topic and the Ferrari were the only two things they hadn't touched since he had been home.

"So, little CJ, you want to spend the weekend with your grandma?" Jane asked from her place at the head of the table.

"I can't, grandma, I've got a date!" CJ announced proudly.

"A date?!" Aaron asked with a laugh.

"Yeah, me and my Dad are going out and we're going to see a movie and have ice cream." CJ smiled. Everyone at the table laughed at CJ's announcement.

"You can't go on a date with your Dad!" Jane protested. "You have to have a boyfriend."

"I don't want a boyfriend!" CJ declared.

"That's my girl." Nick smiled, causing more adult laughter.

"What are you going to be doing?" BJ asked Lexie.

"I'll be at home, darning socks." Lexie joked.

"Just like a proper wife." BJ's husband, Paul, joked.

"There's nothing proper about her." Jane muttered.

"Mother." Nick warned.

"I've got some research projects going on, including the one about the ring I got Nick for his birthday." Lexie continued on with her conversation, ignoring Nick and Jane.

"It's really beautiful." Jill added.

"How far have you gotten?" Paul asked.

"Well, outside of the family tale of the owners mysteriously disappearing. . ." Lexie began, telling the whole story, weaving the tale in the hope that everyone would be diverted from Jane's comments and Nick's brewing anger.

"That's unbelievable." Paul smiled from across the table.

"I know, that's why we're still working on it." Lexie smiled back, thankful for his ever-present kindness. Nick's hand had slipped over hers, in view of everyone, and he squeezed some reassurance into her. She thought she would choke on her words as she clung to his hand.

"So, big plans for you Friday night." Paul teased her, and she smiled with a shrug.

"If she stays home." Jane added.

"That's enough!" Nick said, getting to his feet.

"Nick, no!" Lexie insisted, trying to get him to sit back down.

"Lexie, get CJ and meet me at the car." He said sternly.

"Daddy, don't!" CJ protested.

"Now!" He snapped. "Go to the car with Lexie, CJ. We'll talk about this later. I need to talk to my mother."

"CJ, come on." Lexie stood and held out her hand. CJ started crying and scrambled out of her chair next to her grandmother. She ran to Lexie and grabbed her hand before they left together.

"Now look what you've done." Jane declared.

"Would you like to do this in public or private?"

"I'm sure that whatever you have to say can be said in front of the family, Nickolas."

"CJ will not becoming to visit you until I return from Orlando."

"What?!" Jane gasped.

"Nick. . ." Aaron began.

"I had the most heart-wrenching talk with her tonight about how much you hate Lexie AND you go through no lengths to disguise it. She hears what you say about my wife. . ." Nick began. "I won't allow you to hurt either one of them anymore."

"Nickolas! You can't just stop me from seeing my grandchild!" Jane declared.

"Once we move to Tampa, you'll be lucky if you ever see her again. " Nick yelled back, turning his back on her and heading for the door. "Don't call my house again!"

Nick was furious when he reached the car. He dropped into the driver's seat and raced out of the driveway.

"I'm so sorry, Nick." Lexie stammered her apology.

"It's not your fault." He said sharply.

"It's all my fault! I shouldn't have said anything! Stop, Daddy!" CJ cried from the back, pounding on the back of his seat. "I want to go back! I don't want Grandma to be mad at me! Daddy, stop! Go back!"

"No, CJ! We're going home!" Nick snapped, refusing to yield to her sobs.

When they pulled into the garage, CJ ran from the car and up to her room. Lexie grabbed Nick's arm as he opened the car door and pulled him back into his seat.

"Nick, what's going on? What's gotten into you?" Lexie asked.

"I just got tired of her fucking shit!" He yelled.

"Nick, she does that all the time. . ."

"That doesn't make it right, Lexie. Don't let anyone treat you like that, not even my mother. God, I'm just sorry I've put you through it." He groaned.

"I've held my own with your mother."

"Not according to Brian."

"Brian?! Brian?! What did he tell you?!" She demanded.

"He told me what you said the night of the party, when you drove him to the beach after me and Fatima left."

"He said he wouldn't say anything. . ." Lexie gasped.

"He's my best friend, Lexie, and he cares deeply about you. You're my wife, and I have the right to know things like that."

"She's your mother!" Lexie said.

"I don't care about that bitch, I haven't for years. She robbed me blind as a kid and just about fucked me up for life. If I hadn't broken away from her 30 years ago, I'd still be messed up, and now she's doing it to CJ and to you!" Nick's voice rose with his anger and frustration. His body settled heavily into the leather seat. He finally let go of the steering wheel to let his hands fall into his lap. He began twisting his wedding ring around his finger. "I only kept a relationship with her because of CJ. I hadn't even talked to her until CJ was born. You two are the most important people in my life."

"Nick, I tried. . ."

"I know you did, and I appreciate it. You were right this morning. Nothing is going to make her happy, so I'm not even going to bother trying anymore." He sighed. "Besides, it doesn't even matter. I told them about Tampa."

"You what?!" She gasped.

"I got pissed off. . ."

"That was obvious, but that doesn't give you the right to blab our business all over the place!" She snapped, finally getting out of the car. Nick sighed again and got out of the car as well, following her inside.

"I'm sorry." He said, following her up the stairs. "Lexie, listen to me." He took hold of her arm and stopped her halfway to their bedroom. She raised her hand to rub her eyes and sigh.

"Things got out of hand, that's all." His voice was quietly apologizing to her as he tried to explain.

"I know. I'm sorry, too." She said, lifting her eyes to his. He leaned in and kissed her quickly. "Your tough audience is down the hall. You better go talk to CJ." Lexie finally said.

"Wait up for me?" He asked gently.

"Yes." She agreed. He gently caressed her cheek with her fingertips. She turned and entered their bedroom, and she heard his footsteps head down the hall to CJ's room. She lifted her hand to trace the trail of his touch on her face.

"CJ?" Nick asked after knocking on her door softly.

"Leave me alone!" Came her muffled cry. Nick opened the door and headed inside to find CJ face down in her pillows.

"CJ, we have to talk." He told her, moving a chair next to her frilly canopied bed. It's pinkness swallowing her whole. He smiled to himself as the fleeting memory of shopping trip when they had picked it out came to mind.

"I don't want to talk to you!"

"I know. No one does right now." He sighed, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. He rubbed his eyes and forced himself to continue.

"I shouldn't have said anything!" CJ cried.

"CJ, please. I already knew Grandma and Lexie didn't get along. I asked them both to behave, and they have tried because they love us both very much." Nick began, but he didn't know how to finish. How could he tell her that he believed she was probably better off without her beloved grandmother? How could he tell her that he had despised the woman for years?

"I don't want to see anyone!"

"You're not breaking our date, are you?" He asked. She looked up from her pillows and over at him.

"No." she sniffled.

"I'm glad." He smiled. "I'm sorry this has happened, CJ. I really am."

"I know." She agreed, sitting up and wiping her eyes with the back of her hands. "I know Grandma says bad things about Lexie. I wish she wouldn't."

"I know." Nick nodded.

"I really love Lexie."

"I know you do, honey. It'll be okay." He reassured her. CJ climbed off the bed and into his arms, snuggling into his tight embrace.

"I just miss you, Daddy. I miss when it was just you and me."

"I miss it, too, sometimes, but I love Lexie and I wouldn't trade this time for anything in the world."

"When can we move to Tampa?"

"Soon, I promise."

"Lexie?" Nick asked, entering the dimly lit room.

"I'm out here." Her voice came from the balcony.

He joined her and found her dressed in her robe ready for bed. He put his arms around her and kissed her.

"How did it go?"

"She's torn up. Torn loyalties. Right now, she doesn't want to see Mother."

"I guess that makes three of us." Lexie sighed. "I wish it didn't have to be like this."

"Me, either." Nick agreed, "But she's the one who laid down the terms."

"What did you say when you left?"

"That she wasn't to call the house or see CJ until I get back."

"All of that, Nick? Are you sure?" Lexie gasped.

"Yes. I've warned her before. . ." He stopped speaking when he was interrupted by the phone. He went inside the bedroom to answer it then sat down to talk to whoever was on the other end.

Lexie stayed outside until he was done. He hung up and headed into the bathroom to get ready for bed. Lexie closed up the French doors when she saw that he was finished and got into bed to wait for him.

"Aaron?" She asked as he shut the lights in the bathroom and came to bed. He gave his hair one final twist to keep it out of his way while he slept, turned off the bedroom lamp and settled into bed.

"Yeah. He's just trying to keep the peace."

"He and Jill fight with your mother all the time."

"He doesn't despise her like I do." Nick said. "Lex, I hadn't spoken to her for years until CJ was born and even then she contacted me."

"I know." Lexie said quietly.

"Mom and Aaron, they have a different relationship. I don't know, maybe because I was the oldest and the most successful, I made an easier target."

"You guys are family."

"I know, and me and the other kids are close, it's just her. It's been worse since Dad died. It's like she's out of control now."

"I'm sorry, Nick."

"Not all of us had great parents." He sighed.

"Ditto." She sighed with him. "At least I got some good ones at one point."

"Amen to that." He smiled in the dark.

"I didn't check the email tonight, you check it at all?"

"No, why?"

"See if that real estate agent found anything yet."

"Ready to move back to Florida?"

"I'm ready to move back home."