Tell Me Again Why I Should Care?

Maybe it was the fact that Penny wasn't there or maybe it was the adorable little kids that I have the pleasure of spending time with everyday that work yesterday didn't seem to be all that bad, despite the lack of sleep and bitchy mood that I was in.

But I was still glad when the time came for all the parents to come to get their children; I wanted to go home and wallow in my self pity for a while, after I went to see what Janie wanted that if.

While Nadine met the parents and saw the kids off, I was doing the last minute clean up; putting supplies and toys away, just little things like that. Alexis was following me around, wanting to get up when we both heard a very familiar voice greeting Nadine.

"Dada!" Alexis soon forgot about following me and took off like a shot, her little bum wiggling back and forth as she crawled over to where Reed had knelt down to pick her up. "Dadadadada," she repeated all the way over there, her excitement to see him very plain to see.

Me on the other hand, I couldn't stand the sight of him at that moment, no matter how much I wanted to run to him. I was mad at him, the anger of the last couple days was now surfacing and I felt like I would lose it on him in front of everyone.

I made my way into the supply room, pretending that I was grabbing some stuff but there wasn't really anything that we needed. I knew before he spoke that he had followed me. "Hello darling," he said softly as his hand rested on the small of my back. "How was your-" I moved away from him without acknowledging his presence. "Amber?" He moved along side me, I could feel his eyes on me as I pretended to look for something in the bins of paper in front of me.

He sighed, "I know you are mad at me and I don't really blame you but if you give me a chance, I could explain what's been going on. How about I take you out for supper?"

"You don't have to explain anything to me," I told him without looking at him. "But Alexis might love it if you take her out for supper, she has been wondering why you didn't seem to care to check in on her."

"Of course I cared!"

I glanced at him, "Of course you did." I shook my head, "It showed in all the time you've spent with her over the last couple days." The supply room suddenly seemed so much smaller than it actually was, I had to get out of there.

There main room of the day care was empty of children, the only people who stood in there were Nadine and Chris, who had come to pick her up. "Chris!" I smiled at him as I made my way over to where they were. "It's so good to see you, how have you been?"

He hesitated a moment, his eyes focused on the man behind me who was probably giving some really dirty looks while I ignored him. "I'm fine," he told me. "How about you? Is everything ok?"

I nodded, "Of course it is."

Nadine told me that they had to go, "you don't mind locking up, do you?" I told her I didn't mind, for her to have fun at the party her and her husband were going to that night.

Without a word to Reed, I went around the room to make sure everything was where it was supposed to be and when I was satisfied that we didn't miss anything, I grabbed Alexis' bag and made my way over to where Reed was standing. "You'll need this," I shoved the bag at him.

We made our way out of the building and down to our cars in relative silence. I walked with them to his car because I wanted to say bye to Alexis but Reed thought I was going with him, it seemed. "You can get in," he told me as he strapped Alexis in. "This won't take that long."

"I'm not going with you," I told him.

"Amber come on," he sighed. "It's been a long week and I just want to spend time with you and Alexis, fill you in on what's been keeping me away the last couple days."

"Maybe I don't care," I said before I thought about what I was saying. Reed turned around quickly, staring at me in total dismay. Closing my eyes, I sighed. "Ok maybe I do care but I'm not going with you, I have plans."

"With who?" He asked before asking me to cancel my plans. But I held firm, I wasn't cancelling my plans, he would just have to deal with it.

"I have to go," I told him. "I'm already late." After leaning into the car to give Alexis a kiss, I turned to walk away but Reed stopped me. Turning me around to him, he lowered his head, brushing his lips against my cheek. "We'll talk when you get home," he told me. "I have so much to tell you."

And apparently he wasn't the only one.

I walked into the restaurant where I was meeting Janie, she was already there and had been for the last twenty minutes she told me. "I wasn't sure you were coming," she said, stirring what seemed to be her second milkshake according to the empty glass already on the table.

"Sorry," I mumbled, filling her in on the last couple days and Reed's lack of consideration when it came to checking in on Alexis. "He says he has a good explanation but I don't see why he couldn't call at all."

"If he says he has a good explanation Amber, I would believe him. I mean, it's not like Reed is the type of guy who would leave you worrying if he could prevent it."

I was about to agree with her when I stopped. "What do you know?" I asked her. "Do you know where he's been the last couple night? What he's been doing?"

"Amber I -"

"Janie tell me!"

"Reed was with Devon," she told me.

"Of course," I rolled my eyes. "Devon is so much more important to him than the child we share together."

"If you are going to be like that," Janie snapped at me, "I'm not going to tell you anything else!"

I tried to apologize to her and get her to explain further why Reed was with Devon but she wouldn't tell me anything. "Wait a minute," I stared at her. "How do you know he was with Devon? Are you talking to Devon again?" Janie gave me a smile and blushed. "Janie, please tell me."

"I haven't been talking to him long," she started. "I really only ran into him last night and I tried to leave but he wouldn't let me." She laughed, "He kind of kidnapped me! He told me it was for my own good and by the end of the night, I would have to decide whether I was going to give him another chance or crush his heart, making him live out the rest of his life as a bitter, lonely man."

I laughed, "Devon said that?"

Janie nodded, "I really couldn't believe it myself but since he did kidnap me, what was I supposed to do?"

"So what happened? Did he tell you everything? What about Cary?"

"Cary and I are done," she told me. "I couldn't live with the guilt on not feeling guilty that I slept with Devon so I told him about it. He didn't seem too surprised, he told me that he suspected that there was still something between the two of us on Canada Day." Janie giggled, "How could he not? Devon made it very clear how he felt, even if I was too blind to see it at the time!"

"I'm not sorry that we are through, how could I be? I didn't really love him, I was just so hurt that Devon was moving on without me. I've always loved him Amber and it was good for a while but I tried to push him into something he wasn't ready for at the time, so we broke up and then the whole Annette thing happened."

I went to say 'Kelly' when Janie stopped me. "I guess her name is really Kelly," she shook her head. "I can't believe his parents did that to him but I'm really glad he found out before they got married."

"So he told you everything then?" I didn't want to mention his inability to have children if he didn't get to that part yet.

"Not at first he didn't, he seemed a little embarrassed about something. I asked what it was but he told me nothing. And then Reed, who had been busy painting -"

I sat up straighter in my chair and stared at her. "Painting? What was he painting? You seen him?"

Janie nodded, "Yes Amber, Reed was at the house that Devon brought me too. He actually seemed really pissed when he saw me, I didn't understand why until Reed threw down the brush he had in his hand, I never seen him so mad in my life! He started to yell at Devon, 'What the hell is this? For the last two nights you've worked me like a dog, not even letting me have five minutes to call Amber to tell her what's going on! Not letting me stop to grab something to eat! And god forbid if I needed to go to the bathroom! You said this had to be done tonight! And you take off, supposedly for food, only to come back with just Janie?? Where the hell is the food Devon and why the hell did I even agree to help you in the first place? I'm leaving before Amber never talks to me again!'"

"He didn't leave," I stated.

Janie shook her head, "It was already midnight by then."

"I was still up," I told her. "I didn't sleep at all."

"They had to finish," she told me. "Devon even let me help! That's how badly he needed to finish!"

"What did they need to finish? And why did it have to be done now?"

Janie shook her head. "Devon should've let Reed call you but the second he got to the house, Devon stole his keys and cell phone! I guess he was determined to finish," Janie laughed.

I love Reed but a fighter isn't who he is, if he was there would be no way Devon could've gotten away with taking his stuff. "Reed must've thought the project was important?"

Janie nodded, "Devon bought a house and Reed was helping him get it ready to live in; painting, some minor repair stuff."

"But why the rush?"

"I guess Devon had bought the house for Kelly - no that's a lie, he bought it for them for after they got married because he hated the house she was living in, he didn't feel at home at all." Janie went on to tell me that the house Kelly was living in was being rented by his parents and since they didn't get married, his parents stopped paying for the house. "They were kicking her out into the street!" Janie exclaimed, "I couldn't believe it! Devon told me he was so mad, he felt that he owed it to Kelly and her baby to make sure that she didn't end up there."

"So he gave her the house?" Janie nodded. "How does that make you feel?"

"At first I thought maybe he really did care for her but then he told me about..." she looked at me. "He can't have children," she whispered. "I didn't know that."

"I'm so glad he finally told you."

"Yeah," she said sadly and then frowned. "I can't believe he thought I wouldn't want him! I don't care if he can't get me pregnant! We can always adopt! I told him that and he told me that's what you told him!" Then Janie laughed.

"What?"

"We were finishing the last wall in the house as we were talking, I sort of forgot that Reed was there until Devon mentioned your name. Reed turned to us, after threatening Devon's life if you didn't talk to him again, he told Devon he owed you a huge apology for the way he treated you when you were just trying to make him see how stupid he was being."

Before I left the restaurant last night, Janie had told me how it was after two in the morning when they finally finished. "Reed ran out of there as soon as Devon gave him his keys, he was dialing your number as he went but before he got to his car, he yelled back to tell Devon to run, he was going to kick his ass because you weren't answering the phone!"

"Reed didn't call me," I told her. "I would've answered it if he did!"

"Yes he did," she told me. "I watched him as he dialed your number again and I even tried to call you when you didn't answer but you ignored my call too."

"I didn't ignore any one's call!" I told her. "My phone didn't ring! Well it did, but it wasn't either one of you!" I told her about the mystery calls and she just laughed.

"That chick is crazy! Reed wouldn't even think about it! He doesn't even notice other women!"

With half on the information I needed, I headed home where I wasn't surprised to find Reed and Alexis waiting for me. I didn't say much to him at first, I just went about getting Alexis ready for bed. I did take a couple good looks at him when he wasn't looking and I was surprised to see how tired he looked but he was so on edge at the same time. I could feel his eyes on me when I wasn't looking at him, I felt that he wanted to badly to say something to me but he was holding out until Alexis was settled in her crib.

Once Alexis was down, I headed to my room where the phone was still in the corner of the room, making that annoying sound it makes when it's left off the hook. "What is the phone doing there?" Reed asked as he followed me.

"I got a call I wasn't expecting," I told him. "It was your girlfriend again."

"Amber the only woman in my life is -"

I shot his a look over my shoulder and he stopped. "Who? Me?"

"Yes!" He exclaimed. "You know that you are the only one I'm seeing! The only one I ever want to see!" He waited for a moment but when I didn't say anything, he sighed. "You have every right to be mad at me Amber, I didn't see or talk to you in the last couple days but it's not like I -"

"Not like you what?" I cut him off. "Five minutes Reed, that's all it would've taken to let me know what was going on! You had all day to do that and you didn't! You let me think that you were mad at me! Do you have any idea how worried and scared I've been the last couple days? I didn't know where you were! I couldn't get a hold of you! I went to your house -"

"I know," he said softly as he moved towards me. "I knew the second I walked into the house that you were there and even though I didn't see the Jeep out front, I was hoping that I would find you waiting for me."

"I left you a note," I told him as his hands slipped into my waist.

"I saw that," he smiled at me. "You have no idea how much I needed to hear the words you wrote; if you couldn't be there waiting for me, reading that card and finding out that you loved me and missed me as much I as I did you, made me so happy Amber."

He lowered his head, he was going to kiss me, I knew that but I had something I needed to tell him. "Alexis and I are moving," I blurted out.

Reed froze, he didn't say anything, he looked so shocked and I didn't blame him, there was no way he knew that was coming. "We don't like it here anymore," I told him. "We aren't happy."

"Amber," he sounded a little tortured as he spoke. "You can't mean that! We are finally together and Alexis is growing more and more beautiful everyday! How can you not be happy? What can I do to change it? I can't bare to let you go!"

"It's true, we are together and Alexis is growing every day but still there's something missing Reed, there's something not right with how things are."

"Tell me what's wrong!" He demanded.

"We don't belong here," I glanced around my parents guest house that has been our home for a while. "We aren't happy here and we found a place where we are happy, I think the move will be good for all of us," I stared up at him, he looked so hurt, so unsure of himself and I realized that he didn't know what I was talking about; I was scaring him. "The place we want to move too it's - well I guess you could say it was made for us."

"Amber," Reed grabbed me by the arms, he looked so angry. "I'm not letting you do this! You aren't leaving me or taking Alexis away from me! I know you love me and I don't care how 'made' for you that..." his voice trailed off as something finally clicked into place in his mind.

"I'm sorry?" I smiled up at him. "You were saying something?"

He closed his eyes, I could hear him count to ten before he growled and pulled me into his arms. "You are trying to kill me, aren't you? Letting me think that you..." his mouth came crashing down on mine before he finished that sentence. His kiss was demanding and hungry but yet there was a gentleness to it. "Do you mean it?" He asked when he pulled back from me.

"Yes," I gazed into his eyes and smiled. "Alexis and I want you to take us home where we belong."