I heard him say her name all the way from the bedroom. That was the thing about a big, echoey house, especially when all else was quiet. I took a moment to calm down and shove my suitcase, half packed, back into the closet. Then I took a deep breath, put a massive fake smile onto my face, and strode out to the foyer.

"Agent Ashley," I cried out in greeting with the most polite tone I could muster. Lucas turned to me, his eyes meeting mine. I could see the terror there. "I wasn't aware you were stopping by today."

"We like to do surprise visits from time to time," she explained, eying us both, "in these cases."

"Of course. Please, come in."

I gestured for her to entire the house, trying to make myself appear as comfortable here as I would be in my apartment in New York. This was, after all, supposed to be just as much my home as Lucas'. Agent Ashley passed us both, gazing around the house with a shrewd eye. Lucas met my gaze and raised a brow, clearly concerned about how our current fight would affect my cooperation in this investigation. I clenched my jaw and glared back at him as if to say: how dare you think I would compromise your status here just because I'm angry with you? Then I turned back to the agent.

"Agent Ashley, can we get you something to drink or—" I started.

"Tea would be lovely, thanks," she replied curtly, cutting me off and striding into the sitting room.

"Luisa!" I cried, though I hated doing it. I still wasn't used to bossing people around like servants. But I couldn't let the agent see that. Luisa came running around the corner in an instant, brushing her hands off on her apron as she always was. "Please get the agent some tea."

Luisa looked from me to the federal agent sitting on Lucas' couch, wide eyed, and then ran off to fetch the beverage.

"Look, Agent Ashley, we have complied in every way with your investigation. I'm not sure what you're expecting to find that you haven't already—" Lucas began, taking a seat in front of her and starting negotiations as his business sense always pushed him to do. I grimaced. This matter felt a bit more sensitive than that. A marriage was not a business deal. At least, it wasn't normally.

"I just have some questions," she interrupted again.

She was clearly a woman on a mission without the time or patience for pleasantries and posturing. As she busied herself with pulling out a tape recorder and a notepad, Lucas looked up at me and I lowered myself into the seat next to his. Under the surface, I was still seething with rage and, truthfully, I didn't want to be anywhere near him. But I would grin and bear it for however long this took because he did not deserve to get deported because of my anger. I, at least, had the presence of mind to understand that.

"So, Mr. Vega, I understand that you are worth a great deal of money?" She asked. She sounded almost bored. Like the idea of fabulous wealth wasn't nearly as interesting to her as it was to the rest of the world.

"Um, I suppose you could say that, yes," Lucas answered, caught off guard by her question.

"I just want to be sure we are clear that, no matter how much money you have, you are subject to the same investigation as anyone else."

"Of course," Lucas replied, clearly offended. "Why would I think—"

I placed my hand on his knee.

"Honey, I don't think she meant to offend you," I said, calmly.

"Certainly not," Agent Ashley agreed, though her tone said otherwise. She clicked her pen and crossed her legs, watching us as I removed my hand from Lucas' knee. "I'm going to ask you each generic questions about your lives, your marriage, and then we're going to get into the test, to see how well you know each other as a couple. Six years of marriage indicates that you should know a great deal about one another by now, even living so far apart."

We nodded.

"First, what is your job in New York, Piper?" She asked.

"I'm head writer on a show called Basketcase," I replied, inwardly groaning at having to say that so seriously.

"And where do you live?"

"Like my address or—"

"Your living situation."

"I share an apartment with two friends."

"And do they know about your marriage to Mr. Vega?"

"Yes. They were just here for a visit, actually."

She nodded, her pen scratching the paper as she jotted down her notes.

"The two of you met here, in California, did you not?" She asked without looking up.

"We did," Lucas answered. "In college."

"UCLA."

"Yes."

"How did you meet?"

"At a Halloween party," I recalled. "He was dressed as a robot. I was sort of a cat."

Lucas grinned at the recollection. I looked away from his smile because it touched my heart too much.

"You are from here originally, yes, Piper?" The agent asked.

"I am," I replied.

"Have you visited family while being back?"

"Yes. I went to see my mother today. My father and I are no longer on speaking terms."

"Despite the fact that your husband still pays his medical bills?"

Lucas' eyes widened in surprise. My jaw clenched but I answered her anyway, "Yes."

"And your sister?"

"She lives in Washington state now. But I am not on speaking terms with her either."

Agent Ashley looked up at that.

"A lot of strife in your family," she observed and then gestured between us. "Does this situation have anything to do with it?"

"No," I answered, quickly. She raised a brow as if searching for more information. I sighed. "My father left my mother for a younger woman when I was a senior in college. Lola took his side. I took mom's. We had a falling out about it a few years ago and haven't spoken since."

"Did you know that your husband was paying for your father's hospital bills?"

"What does this have to do with—" Lucas started.

"No," I told her and his gaze snapped to me. "But I'm glad he did."

I reached over and took Lucas' hand.

"He did the right thing," I said. "He always does. That's why I married him."

Lucas smiled at me, giving my hand a squeeze. Agent Ashley looked disappointed, turning back to her notes. She didn't ask another question for a while. When she finally looked back up, she changed the subject entirely.

"Time for the test portion of the assessment," she announced. "I'm going to ask you a series of questions. You are going to respond with your partner's answer. For example, Lucas, what is Piper's birthday?"

"July 17th," he answered immediately.

"Piper?"

"March 23rd," I told her.

"Favorite color?" She asked.

"Green," Lucas answered for me and I nodded.

"Purple," I replied for him. Agent Ashley raised a brow and Lucas chuckled.

"It's true," he told her. "Not that I would tell many people but it's true."

"Piper, close your eyes," Agent Ashley commanded and I obeyed. "Lucas, what color are your wife's eyes?"

"Brown," he responded, almost fondly. "Like chocolate."

I started to open my eyes but Agent Ashley stopped me with a tsking sound.

"Piper, what color are Lucas' eyes?" She asked.

"Green," I told her. "Vibrant, piercing."

She scribbled something down on her notepad and I opened my eyes to find Lucas watching me, seemingly surprised.

"Piper, how tall is Lucas?" Agent Ashley asked and I became annoyed.

"Well, I haven't spent time studying his driver's license like you clearly have, but I would say..." I looked over to him. "Six, three."

Her mouth slanted into a frown that told me I was right and she scribbled again.

"You know, married couples don't exactly discuss things like height and weight and whatever else you can find within government paperwork," I told her, beginning to feel my anger coming back. But this time, it wasn't directed at Lucas. It was directed at her and this silly investigation taking place six years too late. Sitting on this couch answering ridiculous questions about ourselves to prove to a stranger that we were living the lives we wanted to live. "They talk about bucket lists and travel destinations and how many children they want. So if your next questions involve Lucas' blood type or whether or not he's an organ donor, I'll answer them. But I feel it's necessary to tell you that your 'test' is a load of bullshit."

Agent Ashely just blinked at me. Then she stood.

"I think I've got all I need," she said, striding toward the door without another word. Lucas' gaze snapped to me in a brief moment of panic but then he gathered himself and rushed to escort her out.

I was regretting my little outburst. Even if nothing I had said was untrue and I didn't think it had hurt our case in any way. I still should have had better control over my anger. But I'd always struggled with that.

"We will be in touch," she told Lucas at the door and then she was gone.

The moment the door was closed, we both breathed a sigh of relief. Lucas ran a hand through his hair and then smiled.

"Well, that was— where are you going?"

I had turned on my heel and headed back for the bedroom. My confident, polite facade falling away the moment that the agent was out of the house, I marched right back to what I had been doing before she'd arrived. I could play the loving, doting wife well enough for a few minutes but it was clear that wasn't who I could be long term.

"Piper," Lucas said, entering the room behind me as I dragged my suitcase back out and tossed it open, continuing to pack. "What are you doing?"

"I'm still leaving, Lucas," I told him, too spent by my own anger to argue. "I need some space."

"But what you said in there, about being glad I did it, about how I did the right thing," he replied, stunned.

"I meant it. But you still lied to me. For the last two years, you lied to me. You had my number. You knew where I was. You never called to tell me about my father's heart attack, about Lola's financial burdens, or about taking on any of it yourself."

"I didn't want to force your hand. You left for a reason and, if you were still in New York, than you weren't finished with whatever it was. I was still holding out hope that you would come back someday, that we could see each other in a new way, the way we have been for the last week and a half. I didn't want to be the guy who called to tell you about your dad or the guy who tried to help you reconcile with your family before we got to reconcile things between us. I didn't... Piper, I didn't want to be friendzoned again."

"So you didn't tell me about my dad?"

"I should have, is that what you want me to say? I should have called you anyway. After four years of radio silence from you, I should have called you up and been your shoulder to cry on. Just like I was throughout all of college. Piper, I will be there for you. I will support you and hold your hand through anything you need me to. But I can be so much more than that for you. I want to be. I just... wanted the chance," he said. When I didn't stop packing, he took a step forward and continued. "I thought Lola would tell you, I hoped she would, because it would have been better coming from her. But she couldn't get ahold of you and, by the time I realized you still didn't know, it was too late. I would have looked like the asshole for waiting so long to tell you."

I looked up at him, raising a brow.

"I see the irony in that statement, yes," he sighed. "And maybe I was being a little selfish. But I wanted this chance with you. So I stayed out of things with your family until your sister asked me for help, for the money. I had plenty of it and it didn't feel right saying no. I wanted to tell you, Piper. I wanted to tell you so bad but Lola didn't want me to. She didn't want you to know that she needed the help, that she couldn't do it on her own. So I ended up right in the middle of things anyway, despite my best efforts to stay out of it."

I said nothing, just shoved the last of my things into my suitcase harder and slammed it shut.

"Piper, this last week has been the best week of my life," he confessed and I felt tears forming in the corners of my eyes at the brokenness of his voice. "Please, don't leave. If you just stay, we can figure this out. If you just stay, I promise I will make it up to you."

I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand and, lifting my suitcase, headed for the door.

"I need some space, Lucas," I told him firmly, striding through the hall and to the front door. "I need some time to think about all of this."

I approached the limo outside. Kevin had been leaning against it, tapping away on his phone. At the sight of us exiting the house, he stood up straight, pocketing the device and watching our approach.

"Take me to the airport, Kevin," I muttered, stopping at the trunk to stow away my bag.

Kevin's eyes slid from me to Lucas who was running up behind me.

"Piper, please. Look at me," he plead.

I took a breath and then turned to face him.

"Every time you say you need space, you leave. And, Piper, you don't come back."

I saw the terror in his eyes, the fear that he was losing me, that I truly wouldn't ever come back and he would never see me again. Part of me, most of me, wanted to assuage those fears, caress his cheek and promise that this was short term, that I only needed to think about things between us where I could think about it clearly, away from him. But the much smaller part of me, the part that always seemed to dictate my actions, was the instinct I had to pull away. I'd done it with my dad, I'd done it with my sister, and now I was doing it with Lucas.

This was what I did, I realized. I ran.

"Let me go, Lucas," I told him, voice firm as I left my suitcase by the trunk and opened my own door to the backseat. "Let me go and find out."

Then I stepped inside the limo and shut the door behind me, finally letting the tears stream down my face now that he could not see me from the outside. I almost expected him to open the door and pull me out, to keep begging me to stay, but a moment later, I heard the trunk close and then Kevin was climbing into the front seat and pulling out of the driveway. He drove for a moment in silence before he spoke.

"I know it's none of my business, Miss, but—"

"Kevin," I interrupted, my body shaking with quiet sobs as I did. "Partition."