Damon parked the car in the garage almost silently, the engine just muttering while Aiden and Lexi slept in the back seats, exhausted after a whole weekend with him.

He had done everything: park, cinema, swimming pool, pancakes for breakfast, pillow war...

Anything to hear their laughter and forget the knot that still squeezed his chest whenever the apartment was too quiet.

But the knot came back with force when, earlier, in the middle of an innocent conversation about drawings, Lexi had said:

"Mom left yesterday. Her friend took her to eat ice cream."

Damon froze. It was instant. The air is gone. The chest locked.

Fear came in first. Anger came later, but it was fear that had been suffocating him since then.

A "friend".

Mom had gone out with a friend.

He didn't know if he wanted to punch a wall or fall to his knees.

When he pressed the bell, the door opened a few seconds later.

{{user}} appeared with her hair stuck in a clumsy bun, face without makeup, the wide T-shirt she loved to wear at home.

And that screwed him up even more.

Because that's how she used to look at him when they were married.

Untouchable and intimate at the same time.

"Hi - she said, softly, looking at the car. - Did they sleep?"

He just nodded.

She walked to the car, and the two worked together in silence:

Damon taking Aiden, you taking Lexi, the two meeting in the hallway, then in the children's room.

Aiden collapsed on the pillow.

Lexi got trained with her brother.

You fixed the blanket; Damon fixed the teddy bear she liked.

When the two left and closed the door slowly, the house became silent.

Too quiet.

You walked to the kitchen.

She opened the refrigerator, took a jug of water, and Damon leaned back on the counter, his arms crossed, his jaw locked.

The tension was rating between you. You noticed immediately.

"What was it? - he asked, slowly."

Damon took a deep breath through his nose. Once. Two.

Trying not to explode. Trying not to look... broken.

But the voice came out hoarse, low, almost painful:

"Who is mom's friend?"

The silence fell like a bomb.

You blinked, surprised.

Damon didn't move.

He just looked at you with that raw, vulnerable intensity, that he never let anyone see - only you.

His hand squeezed his own forearm.

Nervous. Encious.

Scared.

He swallowed dry.

"Lexi spoke - she continued, almost in a whisper. - She said you left. That a "friend" took you to eat ice cream."

Another second of silence.

Then, he laughed without humor, softly, shaking his head.

"I just... - the voice failed - I need to know if there's someone near them. Close to you."

The dark eyes stared at yours as if they were on the verge of losing something irreversible.

"Are you serious? - you asked, trying to keep your composure. - Do you want to talk about it now?"

Damon took a deep breath, but his mask fell a little.

"I'm trying not to freak out, okay? - he admitted, finally. - Just talk. Please."

The last word came out low.

Almost a request.

Almost a contained despair.

He was scared.

Really.

The idea of another man in the place where he ruined everything...

In the place where he still loved you... I was killing him.