The next morning, Idina awoke to the smell of french toast and her husband gently shaking her awake.

"Mornin' beautiful," he said with a smirk.

"Aaron..." she said groggily, "What time is it?" He was never up before her.

"Early," he replied. "Here, I made you some coffee and breakfast in bed."

"Why?"

"Because I love you."

Idina opened her eyes, a smile already on her lips. Aaron was holding a tray with french toast, orange juice, eggs, a mug she assumed held the aforementioned coffee, and a vase with small blue flowers.

She moved over. He crawled in behind her and pulled the little legs down from the bottom of the tray so that it became a mini table on their bed. 

She leaned against him and smiled. She needed to do something nice for him. She'd been so caught up in everything going on with Erika she'd almost forgotten about the one who had been helping her through this. Something he'd enjoy. Not just sleeping with him, though they both enjoyed that...

"I'm sorry," she said.

"You have nothing to be sorry for," he said quickly.

"Let me finish," Idina said, her mom-voice coming out. "I know I've been ignoring you a lot lately, not to mention how caught up I got staying in New York, and I'm sorry I wasn't thinking of you."

"You're a mother Dee, and a bloody good one," he said in her ear, "You are always going to put Walker first, I knew that when I met you. I was prepared to come second. I knew the second you called about Erika that you felt the same way."

"But I made promised to you as well and I feel as if I've been breaking all of them lately," she sighed. He was so amazing, and she was lying to his face. She was keeping secrets from him. She'd never told him about the miscarriages because she'd decided she'd never have a kid with him and that she'd never have to go through that again. Even now she did not believe they'd have one. It was probably why she'd agreed to try. It wasn't her schedule, it was the impossibility of it all. She was a horrible partner for leading him on.

"We all slip up, god knows I have," he said. "And I'm so sorry for everything I've done or said to you." He could admit when he was in the wrong. Taye never did that. He knew how to treat her right. "And I will again in the future. We're only human." He squeezed her around her waist and she melted into him.

Her stomach growled and they both giggled. 

"Eat up," Aaron said. "Everyone else is asleep. If you wait too long you'll go back into mom mode and you'll ruin the moment." He grabbed the knife and started to cut into the toast, then skewered it with the fork and brought it up to her mouth.

She laughed as she took the bite. "You're getting syrup all over my face," she said.

"Oh, is that so?" he asked playfully.

"Yep," she said, turning so that he could see the sickly sweet syrup dribble on her chin.

He grinned deviously and licked it off, making her laugh, She tried to stile it, but the snorts that came out just made it worse. She could feel his chest heave as he started chuckling too.

"We're both pushing fifty," she snorted, "why do I feel like I'm seventeen and blackout drunk again?"

"Maybe you're hight on life?" he offered. 

She was right now.

"What did I ever do to deserve you?" she wondered aloud.

He chuckled. "I have no idea, but whatever you did I'm happy you did it. Now eat up." He waved another bite below her nose.

"I can feed myself," she said, putting her hands over his and guiding the fork to her mouth. 

Idina took a sip of coffee. It was black, exactly how she liked it. 

"About last night," Idina said, "I want us to have a child," she admitted, "but at the same time I'm scared. And you've done so much for me. This is something I should be a able to do for you, but..." she trailed off. 

"We don't need to figure this out right now," he said. "Let's take a step back and focus on what we have right now."

"We don't have time on our side."

"We can adopt," he said again, "and we've got two wonderful kids. I care about you too much. Let's talk about this more, in a different setting, before we make a division. And I want you to know that I won't be mad, no matter what you decide."

"Okay," she said, taking another sip of the coffee. She had to admit though, she wanted another kid. Having Erika around was nice, but it was reminding her of how Walker had been when he was little. And she missed it. She wouldn't mind holding a baby in her arms again, even if it wasn't hers biologically. Erika was proof she could love anyone as her own.

Aaron was proof of that too. Blood wasn't always thicker than water. Family was something you choose. Idina was choosing this one.

~~~~~

Idina did not look at her phone until well into the evening. The day was much better than the previous one. It was almost as if all the events the night prior had been forgotten and Idina let herself fall into the lie that they were as she walked around the city with Cara and her children with her husband on her arm, doing touristy things and eating ice cream. But once the dust had settled, and Cara had gone to the airport, and Erika was studying, and Walker was watching a movie, did she finally look at her phone. Only then did the facade finally fall.

There countless missed texts from her blackmailer. They started with requests to see a receipt for Erika's gift and ended in dozens of texts calling her a child murderer. 

Murderer

Muderer

Muderer

A wall full of texts calling her out for the one thing she'd had no control over. The memories that were preventing her from getting everything she wanted. Her own failings, her own weakness. All hers and hers alone.

Idina snapped a picture of the receipt for a necklace she'd gotten Erika. She'd spied to girl looking at the dragonfly pendant in a cheap trinket shop and thought nothing of dropping a few dollars on something she seemingly liked. 

Is she really only worth a few dollars to you?

The reply was too sudden. Like whoever it was had been waiting.

No. Erika was priceless. The necklace was now priceless because it was now Erika's. It was now fastened around her neck, the green plastic diamonds reflecting light ever so slightly. It was dainty and delicate and beautiful just like her.

And cheap, her brain added. Expendable, replaceable, easily broken.

A diamond in the eyes of the beholder. 

Erika fingered it as she read. She wasn't biting her nails anymore. Her eyes quickly shot over her screen as she jotted down notes. She really was trying. Idina had been worried that she would give up, or try to sabotage herself. She wasn't, at least not as far as Idina could tell. 

She almost wished Erika would try and take advantage of her. Ask for everything and everything, push her that way. See how far she was willing to go and how much she could get away with before Idina finally snapped. Act like her love had a pricetag and all Idina had to do was cough up enough money and she would have it. But Erika was to kind to do that. Instead, she was playing a completely different game. One that was defensive. One where both of them could be content without every truly getting what they wanted and having what they wanted just out of reach. 

That was something Idina was not used to anymore. She had everything she wanted. And until now, she had been the one in control. Now she was losing it faster than she ever thought possible.

Her phone rang. It was the detective on Erika's case. His name was Charlie.

"Hello," she said.

"Ah, Mrs. Menzel," Charlie said. "I just want you to know I shipped the box today. There wasn't much, I'm afraid, but everything I could get untangled is there. It should arrive in a week or two. You might have to pay some fees when it arrives, I'm not sure though."

"I'm not worried about that," Idina said. "Thank you so much. You have no idea how much I needed some good news right about now."

"That bad huh?" he asked.

"No, not really," she replied. "Just one of those 'me' days." She was panicking. Her joked hadn' worked. It was to close hitting that she'd messed it up. 

"I see."

"Any news on the blackmailer?" she asked.

"Has he tried to contact you again?" Charlie asked.

"Umm, no," she replied. "If he does though, what should I do?" She walked into another room.

"Right now, I think we're close. I don't think the person knows we're on to them and we want to keep it that way. Do whatever he says as long as it's not dangerous or giving him any money. I don't want him to suspect anything. I want him to think h has you wrapped around his thumb. Maybe he'll get reckless and this will be over even quicker." She'd already sent him a lot of money... "But we are close, Mrs. Menzel. You won't have to worry for much longer."

"What should I do if he asks for money?"

"Stall, say it's tied up. Admit that you're broke and are about to have the house foreclosed. Then call us imminently. We'll spirit everyone away somewhere safe and he'll be none the wiser. We can't have him getting the funds he needs to hide from us. This is already a thicker web than we first anticipated."

"How so?" she asked her heart raced. What had she done?

"We thought this was a simple blackmail to make money off of Erika," he said, "but we now believe this was more than that. We think it's a personal attack on you. Very premeditated. The whole situation with Erika was just timing." The stroganoff made more sense now. It had been a power move. 

"How will you keep us safe then?" she asked. She'd sent so much money, money that could be used to bribe people, to hurt the people she cared about. But Charlie said that they were close, and she was supposed to play along if she was contacted... so this shouldn't be so bad. She can just continue to play along, stall the next time money was asked.

"We have safe houses and we are equipped to deal with these types of threats. Just keep us informed if you get contacted again." With that, he hung up.