"Well look at you coming into work looking all GQ." Hank said the next day when Parker walked into the garage clean shaven. "And on time And hold on…" Hank leaned close to Parker and took a deep breath.

"Well I'll be damned.. First time in two damn years you've come into work not smelling like a bottle of liquor." he said. Parker shoved him away from him with a snort and walked over to the truck that Hank already had up on the ramps.

"What am I doing with this damn hunk of junk?" Parker asked. Hank smiled. He knew why Parker was clean shaven and sober this morning. He had talked to his brother Ed the night before.

"The works." he replied. Parker sighed. That meant brake change, oil change and transmission fluid change and it also met that he would be filthy by the time he got lunch and could go to the diner to see Emily. Last night had been the first night in years that Parker had not felt a single urge to numb himself with alcohol.

"Great." he said and then got to work.

888

The lunch rush was just starting to clear out of the diner and Emily was run ragged. She had finally gotten her first payday but when she had mentioned moving out, Ed had really seemed upset. He had asked her to at least stay with him until she and John had the divorce finalized and she had reluctantly agreed…

She really didn't want to live out on her own with Wyatt anyway. Not when she still had no idea where John was.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she was finally able to sit down at a booth and rest her feet for a moment. It was then that the bell on the door rang and Emily bit back a curse at having her rest interrupted but found herself smiling when she realized it was Parker.

He looked different than he had yesterday. He had shaved off his thick beard and his face was now hair free and she could see several small scars that the beard had kept hidden. She wondered if he had gotten them while in Iraq.

He was greasy and dirty from working at the garage and she had a flashback to him when he'd been eighteen walking into this same diner covered in grease to eat lunch with her. Back then, however, his muscles hadn't been quite so filled out she noticed as he took off his thick flannel coat and she saw his muscular arms and chest perfectly outlined by his grease and sweat covered t-shirt.

"Hi Parker." she said smoothing out her apron and pushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Parker smiled and she saw that his skin still crinkled around his mouth when he smiled. She had always loved that.

"Hi, Em." he said sitting down across from her at the booth.

"What can I get you?" she asked. He frowned. You with me for the rest of my life was what he wanted to say but instead he said,

"You sit where you are." Emily frowned but Parker grinned.

"Hey Paula!" he yelled his deep voice booming in the empty diner. Paula, a middle aged, thin woman with graying red hair and dark red lipstick poked her head out the door from the kitchen.

"What?" she asked.

"Why don't you use those great chef skills of yours and make a greasy burger and some more of those rock hard fries you're so good at making."

"Why don't you kiss my ass." Paula shot back but she was laughing as she went back into the kitchen.

"How's work going?" Emily asked Parker. He sat both of his greasy hand on the table and shrugged.

"As good as it ever goes I guess." he replied. Emily looked down at his right hand and saw the jagged scar that ran from the knuckle of his middle finger to about an inch below his wrist. Without thinking she traced the scar with her own finger and felt him stiffen.

"Sorry." she said as she quickly drew her hand away. Parker was saved from having to respond when Paula walked out with a soda for each of them.

"I'm making you some lunch too, hun." she said to Emily.

"Thank you." Emily said.

Parker took a drink from his soda and laid his scarred hand in his lap. He hated that scar. It was a daily reminder of his failure to keep his son safe. He had been so sure of himself. So cocky and immature that he had not believed he could wreck that truck. He had learned the hard way that he had been wrong.

"What made you come to the diner today?" Emily asked taking a sip from her own soda after Paula had walked back to the kitchen. "I've been here a week and today's the first day I've seen you. Most days Hank comes in."

"I decided to let him have a break today. He was getting cranky." Parker replied. Emily smiled again and was pleasantly surprised. This was the Parker she had remembered from before the accident. This was the Parker who had always kept her smiling and laughing and happy.

"How nice of you." Emily said. Parker was about to reply when the bells on the door chimed again and Greg Stevens walked in. He saw Emily and walked over quickly, settling down in the booth next to Parker.

"We were in the middle of something." Parker said matter-of-factly. Greg smiled apologetically.

"She'll want to hear this." he replied.

"What?" Emily asked. Greg sighed.

"I heard back from John's office a few minutes ago." he said. Emily felt her heart fall to her feet and anxiety attacked her stomach.

"What did he say?" she asked her voice barely above a whisper.

"Let's just say he's angry." Greg replied. "He doesn't want the divorce and he has flat out refused to give you full custody of his son. He says he loves the boy and is a good dad."

"He's a liar." Emily said angrily. "He has never even held that boy! He doesn't care about him at all, he is just trying to use him to control me." Parker laid his hand on top of hers on the table and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"Well the courts aren't going to see it that way. What you have to do, if you want full custody, is prove him an unfit father." Greg said.

"He beat the crap out of her for two years. What more proof do they need?" Parker demanded.

"Was any of that documented? Did you ever go to the hospital?" Greg asked.

"Yes… Once he broke my ribs and there was another time when he broke my arm and then the time I miscarried." Parker's grip on her hand became tighter as he let out an angry growl. Greg suddenly wished he'd sat somewhere else when he saw the look on Parker's face. Parker had once beaten the hell out of Greg in fifth grade when he had asked Emily to go to the valentines dance with him. He knew just how dangerous Parker could be when it came to Emily.

"We can use that. What did you tell the doctor was the cause of the injuries?" Greg asked.

"I didn't… If I had opened my mouth he would have punished me once we got home. John told them that I fell down the stairs each time. He would chuckle about how clumsy I was.  But he always acted like the perfect doting husband in front of them."

"That makes it harder but it still might be useful. If I bring you a paper to sign to get your hospital records will you do it?" Greg asked.

"Of course." Emily agreed.

"Something else." Greg added. "Did you ever file any police reports against him?" Emily's eyes widened in shock and fear.

"No of course not! He would have killed me." she said.

"So what else did the man say when you talked to him?" Parker asked.

"Well he told me to give Emily a message. He says to remember who your husband is and everything he has done for you and to be a good wife and come home to him."

"Fuck him." Parker said.

"I agree." Greg replied. "Truthfully from his message I got the feeling that he is trying to scare her into coming back. I don't really think he wants the boy, I just think he's the type of man who doesn't like to lose."

"Too damn bad. He's lost this time." Parker snapped. "Why don't you call that jackass back and tell him that Em is not alone anymore. She's got me looking out for her now so he can just stop thumping his chest and trying to bully her into submission because he's going to find I'm a bit harder to deal with." Greg looked over at Emily who was staring at Parker as if he had just sprouted a second head.

"I'm going to do everything I can to help you, Emily." Greg assured her as he stood up.

"You better, Greg. I've kicked your ass once, and I'll do it again." Parker said. Greg nodded and pushed his glasses up on his nose.

"I promise that I'll do all I can." he said again and he walked out. It was then that Paula came out with two plates of food. She sat each down and then pulled out her phone.

"Can I get a picture of you two?" she asked. When both Emily and Parker gave her a questioning look she laughed.

"I'm doing my own little scrapbook project about the town and I'm trying to get pictures of everyone that graduated with Murphy." She said. Murphy was her son that had passed away their senior year of high school when he'd wrecked his motorcycle.

"Sure." Parker said. He and Emily both smiled and Paula snapped the picture.

"Thank you both." she said. "Enjoy your food. I hope I made your damn fries crunchy enough." she added.

"Perfect." Parker said tapping one against his plate loudly. "Why don't you make Hank some to go so I can take it to him once I'm done."

"Alrighty." Paula said and walked back to the kitchen.

"Parker, what am I going to do?" Emily asked. "What if he comes to town after me or Wyatt?"

"He'll find that that's a good way to wind up dead." Parker replied taking a bite of his burger and finding that it was indeed very greasy.

"Why are you doing this?" Emily asked quietly. Parker raised a brow and tilted his head to the side.

"Doing what?" he asked.

"Helping me." she replied. Parker took a drink of his soda and looked into her green eyes. As usual she quickly looked down at the table instead of looking into his eyes and he placed a finger under her chin to tilt her gaze up to his.

"Why do you do that?" he asked.

"Do what?" she asked softly. She was finding it hard to breath with his rough calloused finger touching the softness of her chin.

"Refuse to look in my eyes." he said. She looked straight into his brown eyes and felt her pulse speeding up.

"John always…" she started. Parker cursed and lowered his hand.

"It' s not John you're talking to right now. I'm Parker, Em. And you never have to be afraid of me." Emily felt a tear forming in her eye.

"I know who you are, Parker." she said gently.

"Then stop looking away every time I try to look at you and stop flinching every time I move." he scolded. She nodded.

"I'm sorry." she said. He blew out an irritated breath.

"And stop apologizing every five minutes! I'd rather you tell me to kiss your ass than keep hearing 'I'm sorry.'" he said. Emily couldn't stop herself from smiling or from saying,

"Kiss my ass." Parker laughed and Emily found herself laughing with him. It was the first time she'd laughed in years and if felt better than she could ever remember a laugh feeling.

Parker had never realized just how bad he'd missed the sound of her laughter.

"Really though, Parker… Why are you helping me?"

"Why wouldn't I help you?" he asked with a shrug. Emily had been hoping for more of an answer than that. She wanted him to love her. She didn't say that though she just took a bite of her burger and looked out the window.

Parker called himself a coward and cleared his throat to tell her the real reason he was helping her. To tell her that he still loved her with every bit of his heart and his soul. Before he could open his mouth the bell over the door chimed and a group of people walked in and took a seat at several tables.

"I have to get back to work." Emily said as even more people walked in. Parker sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, me too." he said. He stood up as Paula walked out of the kitchen and handed him a paper bag for Hank. Emily stood up as well and Parker laid a quick kiss to her forehead before turning and walking out of the diner. Emily stood there unable to move or think. Was it possible that everything was going to work out? Would she be able to get custody of Wyatt? Would she finally be free of John? And would she and Parker really have a chance at a life together? Their first had been ripped away from them all those years ago but maybe God was going to give them a second chance….

"Ma'am.. We're kind of in a hurry." one of the diners called out to her. Emily shook her head to clear her thoughts, pulled her note pad from her apron and walked over to them with a smile.

888

Parker's truck had still been at the garage when Emily left work and headed to Ed's house. She found Ed and Wyatt both asleep when she walked in. Wyatt in his swing, Ed in his recliner chair and Gunsmoke was on the TV. She bit her lip to keep from laughing. She didn't want to wake either of them up.

She took a quick shower and when she walked back out into the living room, she was surprised to see that Parker was there. He was sitting on the couch and simply staring at Wyatt who was awake now and cooing and grinning happily at him.

Emily knew that Parker had not noticed her so she just stood there and watched him.

"Hey there, little guy." Parker said his deep voice becoming a slightly higher pitch. "How are you?" Wyatt reached a tiny hand out and grabbed Parker's nose with his chubby little fingers.

"You look just like your mommy." Parker said, looking at his blond hair and tiny nose. Wyatt let out a tiny whine and Parker's eyes widened.

"Don't cry. I meant it as a compliment. Your mommy is very pretty." he said and Emily smiled but Wyatt began to cry. "Shh.. Come on now." Parker unsnapped Wyatt from the swing and lifted him into his arms. He held him tight to his chest and hummed a lullaby to try to calm the infant.

Emily felt her heart constrict in her chest at the sight. That should have been his baby that he was holding so tenderly. John had never, not even once, offered to hold, love or sing to that little boy. It just confirmed what Emily had already known about Parker. He would have been a wonderful father.

"He probably wants a bottle." Emily said walking past them and to the kitchen to get one ready. Parker jumped at the sound of her voice and he followed her over to the kitchen.

She fixed the bottle and reached for Wyatt but Parker shook his head and held the baby tighter.

"Give me the bottle." he said. Emily bit her lip uncertainly.

"Are you sure, Parker? I mean doesn't he…" She didn't finish her thought. She was scared to death of mentioning the baby they had lost. She was scared that he would become the angry man he had been six years ago.

Parker nodded with understanding. He knew what she wasn't saying. She was worried that Wyatt would remind him of the baby they had lost. The baby his immaturity had cost them. He looked down at Wyatt's face which was bright red while he screamed for his bottle and smiled.

Yes this little boy made him think of their little boy but Parker had come to terms with what had happened all those years ago. Wyatt was part of Emily and Parker loved Emily so therefore he loved this little baby too.

"I'm sure, Em. Let me feed him… Please." he added seeing her doubt. Reluctantly Emily handed him the bottle and Parker quickly stuck it in the crying babies mouth. Wyatt stopped crying instantly and started sucking hungrily. Emily turned away from them and pulled some steaks out of the freezer. She had felt tears forming in her eyes at the sight of the two of them and she had not wanted Parker to see them.

She went about putting the steaks in the oven and cutting up some potatoes to fry. When she looked back at Parker the tears she'd been holding back began to fall freely.

Parker was sitting at the kitchen table cradling Wyatt in his arms. Their eyes were locked together and as Emily watched Wyatt reached up with one chubby hand and gripped Parker's calloused, grease stained finger. Emily saw Parker's eyes widen and she saw that he had been crying while looking down at the boy… Tears had been gathering at the tip of his nose as he looked down and they fell suddenly in one big droplet onto Wyatt's forehead causing him to blink.

Parker sniffed loudly and then stood up quickly. He looked up and saw Emily looking at him. She could see the pain in his eyes. He quickly, but gently, put Wyatt into her arms.

"I gotta go." he said grabbing his flannel coat off the back of the kitchen chair.

"Parker…" she started. Parker held up his hand and cut her off.

"It's okay, Em. I just need…. I need to go." he said and with that he walked out the door and was gone.

Emily clung to her son tightly as she stood there and cried silently. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Ed.

"It'll be okay, Emily." he assured her. She nodded and wiped the moisture of Parker's tears from Wyatt's forehead.

"I hope so." she said softly.