John felt like his head was going to explode and he opened his eyes looking around and trying to figure out where he was. He was lying on the hard tile floor of the diner. He saw Emily sitting in a booth wrapped in the arms of the man who had punched him. John picked himself up off the floor and glared at the two of them.

"Get your hands off my wife!" he said angrily. Parker shook his head and kissed Emily's hair.

"I'll kill both of you!" John yelled and he was starting toward them when he heard a throat clear behind him. He turned around and saw a sheriff standing there with a big fat man on one side of him and a small nerd in a suit on the other side. He saw that the diner was completely empty other than the six of them and that the curtains were closed.

"Why don't you sit down for a minute, John. I got a proposition for you." Parker said from the booth. John knew he had no choice but to listen. He walked over to the booth glaring at Emily as he sat down across from her and her rescuer.

Parker noticed the threatening stare that John was giving to Emily and he didn't like it one bit.

"Hey, tough guy. Why don't you glare at somebody your own size?" he asked and John immediately turned his gaze to him.

"Who are you?"

"Parker." Parker replied and then he frowned when he saw the questioning look John gave him.

"You never talked to him about me? Ever?" Parker asked Emily. Emily bit her lip and shook her head.

"You don't exactly tell your current partner about your ex partner that you're still in love with… It doesn't really make for good dinner date conversation." she replied and Parker nodded while John's face turned fifteen different shades of red in his anger. John looked over at the officer.

"Officer, arrest this man! He assaulted me!" John said pointing to the welt on his jaw. Tyler looked over at Hank.

"Hank did you see anyone get assaulted?" he asked and Hank shook his head. Tyler looked over at Greg.

"Greg?" Greg shook his head.

"No sir." he said. Tyler looked back at John and shrugged while putting his thumbs through his belt loops.

"Far as I saw, you tripped and banged your face on the table." he said.

"Clumsy. Clumsy." Parker added opening up a packet of toothpicks and sticking one his mouth. He held one out to John.

"Want one?" he asked. John shoved his hand away roughly.

"Parker, my wife and I need to be getting home. What exactly did you want to talk about?" he asked.

"Emily, is not going anywhere with you." Parker replied. "Greg can you hand me that folder?" he asked. Greg walked over and handed it to Parker and both Emily and John looked at it curiously because neither knew what was in it or what Parker was up to.

"You are going to sign these before you leave here today." Parker said pulling out a copy of the divorce papers that Emily had sent to John in New York. John looked at them and then snorted and threw them down.

"No I won't. The bitch is not divorcing me." he said. Parker grinned and rolled the toothpick across his lips.

"I don't know how you do things up in New York." he said. "But around here we don't talk to women that way.  Especially when there is a cop, a lawyer, a witness and an ex Army sniper in the room." John looked around at everyone and wondered what one was the ex army sniper. Then he looked back at Parker and the way he was grinning and the gleam in his eyes and he knew….

"Emily is my wife. I love her and I am not divorcing her." John said. Parker nodded and pulled out several more papers from the folder laying them out on the table in front of John. John looked down at all of them and swallowed hard. They were hospital records from Emily's many visits to the Emergency Room.

"Yeah you love her a lot." Parker said.

"These were all accidents." John said looking back over at Emily as if daring her to disagree.

"See there you go again…" Parker said. "Look at me, tough guy." John's eyes snapped back to Parker.

"I'm about tired of you." he said angrily. "I am not signing any divorce papers and if you are trying to accuse me of abusing my wife you are wasting your time. You have no proof." Parker looked over at Hank, Tyler and Greg who were still standing and watching them.

"He's right. I don't have any proof do I?" The three men shook their heads.

"I'm going to give you one more chance to change your mind, John." Parker said. John laughed.

"No." he said. Parker nodded and pulled the toothpick from his mouth and threw it across the restaurant.

"I thought you'd say that." he said. He pulled out another paper from the envelope and showed it to Emily.

"How do you think that would look plastered on front of the New York Times?" he asked her. Emily's eyes widened as she looked at the paper. On it was a picture of her with her black eye and busted lip. She recognized that it was part of the picture that Paula had taken of her just the other day.

The headline on the paper read "John Barron: Respected Lawyer or Vicious Monster?" Emily scanned the article beneath it and saw that it had every serious injury she'd every received at Johns hands listed and also had that John had claimed each injury was caused when she fell down the stairs.

The story of the beating he had given her on his birthday was detailed and also detailed was the fact that she had miscarried after receiving a blow to her abdomen that yet again John had claimed came from a fall down the stairs.

The article would thoroughly destroy any chance John had of a career in the supreme court. It may even destroy the career he had now. Emily looked up at Parker and he could see the surprise and the hope in her eyes and it took everything he had to keep from kissing her right there…

"What the hell is that?" John demanded reaching out for the paper. Parker handed it to him. As John looked at it, Emily saw his face turn a shade of red she'd never seen before. His blue eyes turned icy. Suddenly he slammed the paper down on the table and reached his arm across the table in an attempt to grab Emily's neck.

Before he could reach her Parker had his hand on John's forearm and John was grimacing in pain as Parker held his arm at a very awkward angle. Emily looked over at Parker and saw that he hadn't changed much when it came to the look he got when he was pissed off…. Parker had, on more than one occasion, beaten the crap out of guys for saying or doing the wrong thing or even looking the wrong way at Emily when they'd been younger and right now he had the same look on his face that he'd had all those other times.

"Are you gonna calm the hell down, John, or am I gonna have to snap your arm clean off?" Parker asked his voice full of ice. John nodded.

"I'm calm." he said with pain in his voice. Parker let go and John jerked his arm into his chest and tried to rub out the soreness.

"Abuse isn't as much fun when it's happening to you, is it?" Parker asked.

"What do you want from me?" John asked.

"Nothing. I just want you to sign these divorce papers so we can all go on with our day."

"I'm not scared of that stupid article. You people live out in the middle of nowhere. There is no way that the New York Times is going to publish something like that from you." John said with a sneer. Parker nodded.

"Most times I'd agree with you. But…." Parker looked over at Tyler. "You got that picture of your woman with you?" Tyler nodded, took his wallet out of his pocket, removed a picture and handed it to Parker. Parker looked at the voluptuous red head and whistled quietly.

"She's pretty." he said. Emily made a mental note to slap him later. Parker held the picture up to show John.

"Let me introduce you to Tyler's fiance' Anna. She lives up in New York. They're still trying to figure out the living arrangements before they get married. But what I think you'll really be interested in is what she does for a living."

"And what's that?" John asked finding he couldn't swallow around the lump in his throat.

"She's an editor for… drum roll please… The New York Times."

"You're lying." John said. Emily knew Parker enough to know that he was indeed lying but she knew John wouldn't be able to tell.

"Maybe I am." Parker said and then he shrugged. "But maybe I'm not." He handed the picture back to Tyler.

"You sign those papers and you won't have to find out." John knew he had lost… He had no choice but to give Emily her divorce and custody of Wyatt.

"All this over that skinny little whore and that brat?" he demanded.

"Watch your mouth." Tyler snapped laying his hand on his pistol. John swallowed hard. Parker saw that he looked like a sneaky little weasel who was backed into a corner. He was sweating and clearly scared.

"What's it going to be John?" Parker asked.

"I need a pen." John replied. Parker pulled one from his pocket and handed it to him. John signed the paper and then picked it up and tossed it at Parker who caught it and handed it over to Greg.

"Thank you." Parker said. John stood to leave. "Wait, there is something else." Parker said. John's fists clenched in rage but he sat back down.

"What?"

"That little brat.. I want you to sign away your rights to him." Parker said. John was about to yell but Parker cut him off.

"Really that works out in your favor. Makes it so no one can ever come after you for child support, school costs, medical costs.. You'll be completely off the hook." John nodded and sneered. He liked how that sounded. He had no intention of letting Emily live much longer after he left this town but he didn't want to have to worry that someone would want him to take care of Wyatt once she was gone.

"Do you have the paperwork with you?" he asked. Parker nodded and pulled another paper out of the folder.

"There's just one catch." Parker said and John growled. Parker was quickly pushing him over the edge.

"What's that?" he asked. Parker looked over at Greg.

"Well sir, in order for you to sign away your rights there has to be someone available to take over your rights. Someone has to be responsible for the child." Greg said. John breathed out an irritated breath.

"So what the hell did you bring it up for?" John demanded of Parker. Parker pulled out another piece of paper.

"I want to adopt Wyatt." he said. Emily's mouth fell open beside him.

"What?" she said her voice barely more than a whisper. Parker looked down at her.

"I want to be his father. I happen to think I'd be a heck of a lot better than that guy." he said, pointing over at John. "You would have to say it's okay though, of course."

Emily couldn't seem to think. Her head was spinning so quickly she couldn't seem to focus.

"I'm not saying you and I have to be anything more than you want us to be, Em. But that little boy deserves a good dad and I want to be that for him." Emily felt tears forming in her eyes and she nodded.

"Yes you will be a good dad." she agreed. Parker smiled and hugged her tight, kissing her forehead. He could see John tensing out of the corner of his eye but the man was smart enough not to do anything.

"You have to have a judge present." Greg said matter-of-factly. Parker nodded.

"Mr. Banks!" he yelled looking back toward the kitchen door. It opened and a middle aged man with a thick black mustache and a bald head walked out.

"I'm here." he said. "Ready to witness, sign and approve any documents you need me to."

"Is this legal?" John asked. "Don't divorces and adoptions take time?"

"Usually.. But that's the good thing about living in such a small town.. See if you and Em had gotten your marriage license in New York this would have been harder but since you did it right here in town it simplified things. The adoption will take a little longer to be finalized but I trust that with all your connections it should be done within.. Let's say two weeks? I would hate for it to take any longer than that and for this horrible article to somehow find it's way to the newspaper." John glared at Parker but nodded.

John didn't say a word as all the papers were filled out and signed. He walked toward the door after it was all done.

"Your car is fixed by the way. Ready to take you right back out of town." Hank said. John glared over at Emily who seemed to be in a state of shock as she stared at Parker as if he'd gone crazy.

"I'll be seeing you around, Emily." John said the threat clear in his voice. Tyler shook his head and took a step forward.

"No you won't. You aren't welcome back in my town." he said. John laughed harshly.

"What will you do if I do come back? This town is nothing more then a tiny little Mayberry." he asked. Tyler took another step toward him and laid his hand on his pistol.

"Well then why don't you try it one day and watch Andy Taylor whoop your ass." he drawled.

"Plus." Greg said walking over. "If you come back the supreme court may hear about all of your… indiscretions that you had while you were married."

"Fucking little hick town.." John mumbled as he walked out the door.

"We'll give the two of you some privacy." Hank said walking to the door. Everyone else followed him out leaving Parker and Emily alone in the diner.

The first thing Emily did was slap Parker's arm. He laughed at the sting and rubbed it.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"For saying Tyler's woman was pretty." she replied and then she broke down in tears and threw her arms around his neck. He held her tight and rubbed her back.

"Why are you crying?" he asked.

"Because you are so amazing." she replied with her face pressed into his chest. He chuckled.

"I know." he replied and this made her laugh lightly.

"You put all this together since last night?" she asked. He nodded.

"Yeah.. We have some pretty great friends that went along with us."

"Is this really over then?" she asked, finding that it didn't quite feel real yet. After two years of being married to that monster it was hard to believe that she was no longer his wife.

"Yeah it's over." he replied. "You are officially Emily Thompson once again."

"And as soon as the paperwork goes through my son will be Wyatt Bolling." she added. Parker got a big goofy grin on his face and she looked up and saw it. She wanted to be happy about Parker adopting Wyatt but there was something holding her back.

"Parker, can I ask you a question?" she asked. Parker nodded. "Why did you adopt Wyatt?"

"Because I wanted to." he replied.

"Are you sure? I want to make sure that it's really what you wanted to do and that you didn't do it because you felt like you had to."

Parker moved away from her and sat down on a table.

"I did it because I wanted to, Em. I mean I would be lying if I said I didn't do it partially because of you. Wyatt is part of you and that automatically makes me love him. But it's more than that. I really want to be his dad. I don't think I'll be half bad at it."

" You'll be great at it." she said walking over to him. She pushed herself between his knees and leaned into his chest.

"I guess I'm just worried that you are trying to replace…. Well…." she stopped unsure of how to say what she wanted to say. He pushed her hair from her face and kept his hands pressed gently on her cheeks.

"You're worried that I'm using Wyatt to try to replace the baby we lost." he said. Emily bit her lip and nodded. Parker kissed her gently.

"I'm not, Em. I promise you that." Emily nodded and could feel her heart beating faster in her chest. Her body was pressed against Parker's and she could feel that it was arousing him just as much as it was her.

"You said that by adopting Wyatt you weren't trying to rush me or make me feel like we had to be more than what I wanted…" Emily said. Parker nodded but couldn't speak because his mouth was too dry.

"What if I told you that I want us again? I know I just got divorced and that people are going to think I'm rushing into this with you and they'll probably think a lot of bad things about me but since when have I ever cared what people think?" she asked. Parker smiled.

"Never." he replied.

"Exactly. I love you, Parker. You and I had something that I could never find with anyone else and I want it back."

"You can't get it back, Em." Parker said and Emily felt her heart fall to her feet. "You can't get it back because it never ended to begin with." He added with a teasing grin.

They both smiled knowingly at one another. Neither needed to tell the other that they had never stopped loving or thinking about them for the last six years because they both already knew. They had known since preschool that they were meant to spend their lives together.

Parker pulled her face to his and pressed his lips to hers hungrily. This kiss was different from the one they'd shared yesterday. Yesterday the kiss had been like a nervous test.  A chance to see if the spark was still there. Today the spark raged into a giant inferno.

Emily moaned his name as she parted her lips to allow him to deepen the kiss. Parker eagerly explored her mouth with his tongue while she buried her hands deep in his dark hair. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tighter up against him.

Emily felt like her entire body was on fire as he kissed her. He kissed her with such intensity. It was as if her kiss was all the nourishment he'd need for the rest of his life. As if her kiss alone was all he needed to live.

A throat cleared behind them and they jumped apart and saw Paula standing in the kitchen door with her hands crossed over her chest. She was chuckling and shaking her head.

"As touching as I find the great reunion of Romeo and Juliet, perhaps the rest of it could wait until after Emily is off the clock? I mean after all people do eat on that table." she said. And as if to prove her point the bell above the door chimed and a group of teenagers walked in. Parker jumped off the table and Emily smiled apologetically at Paula.

"Sorry.. I guess we got carried away." she said smoothing out her apron and running a hand through her hair. Parker nudged her with his elbow and grinned.

"Don't apologize to Paula.. She's no better than we are." Paula put her hand on her skinny hip and flipped her hair.

"What are you talking about?" she asked. Parker laughed.

"I saw the lipstick on the good judges collar." he replied. "Bright red as I recall." Emily covered her mouth to hide her laugh while Paula blushed and then let out a loud laugh that was raspy from her years of smoking.

"You weren't supposed to see that." she said. Emily looked over at the teenagers who were sitting at a table and throwing irritated glances her way.

"I really do have to get to work, Parker." she said and he followed her gaze and glared at the teens who quickly looked away.

"Alright. Don't worry about you know who being anywhere around. Tyler was gonna follow him all the way to the airport and watch him get on his plane and go home." he said. Emily nodded.

"Good." she replied. She had been scared that John would be lying in wait for her. She just couldn't seem to shake the feeling that this wasn't really over and that something bad was going to happen.

"What time do you get out?" he asked.

"Six." she replied.

"Alright. I'll see you at dads." he said and then walked out.

888

Emily was floating around in a fog the rest of the day.. It was like she was inside of a dream. She could still feel Parker's lips on hers.. If someone had told her one year ago that this would happen.. That she would again be back in her home town and that she would be with Parker again she would have laughed at them…

One year ago she had been sure that she was going to be a prisoner for the rest of her life and yet here she was today. Officially divorced from that monster and hoping to lose herself in Parker's arms as soon as she saw him again.

Emily drove back to Ed's house after she got done at the diner and found herself watching her rear view mirror, expecting at any moment to see John behind her. But it never happened and she pulled into Ed's driveway between Ed and Parker's trucks.

She walked in and her purse fell to the counter with a thud as she looked around. There were boxes upon boxes on the kitchen floor along with bags upon bags all over the living room.

Parker was sitting on the couch feeding Wyatt a bottle while Ed rocked in his recliner.. An old western movie on TV held both men's attention.

Emily looked at the boxes. There was a new crib, a playpen, high chair, another car seat, and a stroller. From what Emily could tell the bags were full of diapers, clothes, bottles, blankets.. She wasn't sure what all else since each shopping bag was crammed full.

"What in the world?" she said walking into the living room. Parker looked up at her and smiled.

"How did the rest of your day go?" he asked. Emily nodded.

"Fine." she said. "What in the world is all this stuff?" she asked motioning across the house. Parker grinned sheepishly.

"Did I go overboard?" he asked. Emily's eyes widened.

"You bought all this today?" she asked. He nodded.

"I wanted to make sure the baby has everything he needs." Emily reached in the bag closest to her and pulled out a remote control jeep.

"For the baby?" she asked. Parker grinned.

"Of course.' he said. Ed shook his head.

"Yeah and my damn beagle out there is a champion hunting dog too." he said. Emily gave him a questioning look.

"Isn't he like fifteen years old, with three legs and blind in one eye?" she asked. Ed nodded.

"Exactly."

"Ok so some of the stuff is for me and Wyatt." Parker admitted. Ed turned his attention back to the tv with a chuckle. It was nice to see his son happy again. He'd been worried about the boy for the last few years. Parker had stayed drunk, he'd lived his life like a robot on autopilot. Work, Ed's house, home. That had been all he'd done everyday since returning home from Iraq and finding out that Emily had married John.

Ed had often wondered if maybe Parker had joined the Army in hopes that he'd be killed.  He thought maybe he had but had never asked the boy and didn't plan to, but finally his son seemed genuinely happy and that made Ed happy. It also made him wonder just how many times his Martha had rolled over in her grave since Emily had come back to town.

"Parker, you didn't need to buy all this stuff." Emily said matter-of-factly. The sheer amount of boxes and bags had her head spinning.

"Sure I did. I gotta make sure he has absolutely everything he might need."

"And you brought it all here?" Emily said feeling a little disappointed. She had hoped that she and Wyatt would be moving in with Parker. But of course he wouldn't be ready for that yet. She was rushing things and getting ahead of herself.

"Where was I supposed to take it?" Parker asked. He wanted her and Wyatt to come live with him but he didn't want Emily to think that he was rushing her.

"Nowhere." Emily said reaching over and pulling a piece of lint off of Wyatt's pants leg.

"Em…. Is there something on your mind?" Parker asked. She shook her head and looked over at the tv.

"Nope." she said. Parker grinned. He could tell she was lying.

"Were you and Wyatt wanting to come stay with me?"

"No." she said and he could see her face turning red and the guilty grin she always got whenever she was lying.

"Well I mean because if you do.. It'll only take me a few minutes to put all this back in the truck."

"It's up to you, Parker. It's your house." Emily replied still not looking at him. She didn't want him to see the hope in her eyes.

"Here you go." he said lying Wyatt gently in her arms and jumping to his feet. He started gathering bags up in arms and carried them out the door.

"I guess that means I'm moving." Emily said standing up. She laid Wyatt in Ed's arms and then hurried off to the bathroom to get a shower and change out of her work clothes.