Cracks and Shadows

 The drive back home was long. Not because of the distance—but because silence can stretch time when it’s filled with things left unsaid.

Doc’s knuckles tightened on the steering wheel. Andrea stared out the window, one hand absentmindedly resting on her belly.

When they pulled into the driveway, they moved like roommates—not lovers. No kiss, no handholding, just bags unpacked, and doors opened in tired choreography. Andrea tried to pretend it was just a bump. That one long night of emotional exposure hadn’t changed anything. But something had shifted.

Doc wasn’t cruel, he was never cruel—but he was distant. Measured. Careful.

And Andrea, for all her inner fire, was brittle.

They barely had time to unpack before it happened.

The doorbell rang.

Doc was in the kitchen. Andrea opened the door.

And there he was.

Tio.

Leaning casually against the porch rail, dressed in civilian clothes but carrying the same smug, unreadable expression that used to twist her insides into knots. He looked clean. Polished. Legal.

Andrea’s breath caught in her throat. Her knees went weak. She had imagined this moment so many times—in nightmares, in therapy, in letters never sent—but nothing prepared her for the physical presence of him.

“Hello, Andrea,” he said smoothly. “You look… radiant.”

Doc was already at the door.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” he demanded, stepping protectively between them.

“I’m not here to cause trouble,” Tio replied calmly, hands raised in mock surrender. “I’m here because I filed a motion, and I wanted to give Andrea the courtesy of hearing it from me, face-to-face.”

“She doesn’t want to see you.”

“You can’t speak for her,” Tio replied with a smirk.

Andrea’s hands trembled. “What motion?”

“Custody,” he said, casually. “I want a chance to know my son.”

“You forfeited that chance the minute you hurt me,” Andrea spat.

“I never hurt Anthony.”

“But you hurt me—the woman who carried him, who gave birth to him, who almost died protecting him.”

Tio’s face stayed smooth, unreadable. “I have rights. And I’ve changed.”

“You don’t get to rewrite the past,” Doc growled.

Tio turned his gaze toward him. “No. But neither do you, Doctor. You were just the rebound. Let’s not pretend otherwise.”

Andrea gasped, and Doc went rigid.

Tio looked at her one last time. “You’ll be hearing from my attorney. I suggest you prepare yourself.”

Then he was gone.

---

The silence afterward was unbearable.

Doc slammed the door shut. Andrea leaned against the wall, her breath shallow. Anthony stirred upstairs.

“Did you know?” Doc asked, his voice dangerously low.

Andrea shook her head, eyes wet. “No. I didn’t. I swear, Doc—he just showed up.”

But Doc’s pain wasn’t about surprise, it was about fear.

“I can’t protect you if you keep shutting me out.”

“I’m not shutting you out,” she snapped. “I’m just… I’m trying to survive this! And maybe you can’t understand what it’s like to be afraid of someone who once held your heart in their hands.”

“I do understand,” he said sharply. “Because I’m holding it now. And you’re acting like I could drop it just as easily.”

The silence swelled.

Andrea broke first, sinking to the floor, her arms wrapped around her knees. “I don’t want to be afraid anymore,” she whispered. “I just want to feel safe. I want to feel us again.”

Doc knelt in front of her. “Then let me in. All the way in.”

She nodded slowly. And then, without words, he wrapped her in his arms.

No fire. No urgency. Just the steady rhythm of two hearts choosing each other again.

But neither of them knew—this was just the beginning