Exactly three weeks after Edison was served the papers, Olivia was startled awake by the shrill ringing of a telephone. Her arm flew out to turn on the bedside table lamp and her knuckles connected with something hard. Cursing, she tried again, this time more slowly, and succeeded in bathing the room in a faint glow. The alarm clock – she assumed this was the culprit behind her sore hand – read 12:45. Wrenching the phone from its hook, she gave a gruff hello, her voice hoarse with sleep.

"I need to talk to you."

Olivia groaned and settled back into the pillow, the phone balanced her ear. "It's one in the morning, Edison. Whatever it is, it couldn't wait another seven or so hours? And before you say anything, if this is more of you trying to talk me out of the divorce, it's not happening."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," he apologized; his voice was sincere, which didn't sway Olivia in the slightest. "I actually wanted us to meet somewhere in person and go over some things, if that's alright."

Too tired to argue, Olivia grunted something resembling her assent and halfway listened while Edison named the lobby of a nearby hotel as the setting of their meeting. When he was done, she hung up without saying goodbye. A relieved feeling settled over her as she thought Edison was finally going to cooperate – and then she began to question whether or not this was some sort of trap. Finally, the need to sleep overtook her curiosity at Edison's intentions.

Dressed in a sleeveless white blouse and billowy grey pants, Olivia went straight to the hotel after dropping off the kids. Edison had made the meeting for lunchtime, which meant she had a few hours to kill. Her laptop bag was digging into her shoulder blade as she found a table to sit and set up a little workspace; the last few weeks had consisted of nonstop work on her manuscript, mostly by hand, and now she needed to transfer a hefty stack of paper onto her computer. The novel was nearly finished, and as such she was continuously going back and revising, trashing entire chapters. The stress of having to present the novel as a whole was starting to get to her.

Nearly half of the stack she had arrived with was typed by the time lunch rolled around, and as soon as a large wave of professionals in sharp suits entered, she cleared her table and prepared for her own meeting. Her outfit made her look less out of place than she felt, but she played it off nicely, squaring her shoulders back and steeling her eyes in a look that was usually reserved for misbehaving kids but nicely gave off an air of 'don't fuck with me.' She had a clear view of the door from where she sat, so when Edison arrived she saw him immediately. While he searched the crowd, she took the opportunity to look him over, assess his mood. From the way he stood, she was surprised to find that he wasn't there to start a fight. Hopefully it wasn't too early to tell.

Edison waved at a waiter as he made his way over to the table and ordered his drink – scotch, on the rocks – before he's even fully taken a seat. They both looked at Olivia expectantly, who only asked for water with lemon. Best to keep her wits about her.

"Hello, Liv. You look nice."

Olivia could tell that he was acutely aware that she wasn't buying whatever he was selling, and that confused him. Perhaps he was being genuine, or perhaps this was his last ploy – finally treat her like she had been wanting him to for so long. Either way, this was not a social visit.

"Alright, you've got me here," she told him, her tone clipped, "so get to the point."

A look of shock briefly crossed Edison's face before he cleared his throat and adjusted his tie. The waiter returned with their drinks just then and after they turned down his offer for a food menu, Edison turned to her once more. "I invited you here so I could apologize. We've been having problems and I wasn't putting any effort into our marriage. I can't blame you for finding someone else; it's not like I was there when you needed me."

"I wasn't out looking, Edison. And this isn't about anyone else outside of our marriage. You're right; you weren't there when I needed you, physically or otherwise. This is where we are now – in a broken marriage where at least one of us is miserable and two small children who don't need to grow up in a household where their parents are always either fighting or ignoring each other. I grew up like that and it was awful. I'm not putting my kids through the same thing to spare your feelings."

Edison held up his hands, conceding the point, "You're right. But do we have to be like that? I mean, is there absolutely no chance of us working this out?"

That was what it was about, then. Olivia bit back a harsh laugh. "We didn't have to, no, but it's too late for what-ifs now."

"So…this is it then?" The ice had begun to melt into Edison's untouched drink and he took a small sip before pushing the glass away. "You really want a divorce?"

"Yes," Olivia replied firmly, hoping this would be the last time she had to explain it to him.

Sighing, he leaned back in his chair and reached a hand under the table, extracting a stack of papers from his briefcase. "Then I'll sign the papers. My lawyer looked them over and we didn't have any provisions. I'll mail it out on my way back to the office." With quick precision, he scribbled away at the various dotted lines and inserted the papers into a thin white envelope marked 'Overnight Delivery'. "Do you want to tell the kids yourself?"

"Connor won't understand just yet. He's just going to have to go along with it. I was thinking you can have next weekend with them and we can both tell Avery when I drop her off?"

"Sounds good." Edison nodded.

"You'll plan to be in town next weekend?"

"Yes, of course. The kids haven't been giving you any trouble, have they?"

Olivia fought the urge to smirk. Over the last week or so, both of the kids' behavior had improved greatly. Whether or not it was because they were away from their father she did not yet know, but their first weekend with him alone would certainly give her the answer. "Nope, none at all. I should get going. See you Friday."

Pulling up to her old house and ringing the doorbell like a guest was an odd feeling to Olivia. Everything looked exactly the same from where she was standing, like nothing significant had happened when, in fact, her whole life was changing. It was early evening and most of the families on the block were sitting down to dinner, which meant no nosey neighbors around to question her whereabouts. Thankfully, the door swung open, revealing Edison, before she could start to feel too uncomfortable.

Avery and Connor pushed past their father and ran straight for the playroom, but Olivia managed to snag the hem of her daughter's shirt before she could get too far. "Why can't I go play?"

"Because your mom and I need to talk to you for a second," Edison explained, leading the way to the kitchen. "Does anyone want something to drink?"

Olivia shook her head 'no' but Avery asked for a juice box, hoisting herself up onto one of the island chairs. As she punctured the tiny pouch with a straw and began to take small sips, Olivia looked at Edison, indicating that he should start.

"Avery," he began slowly, "how do you like the new place?"

"It's okay," she offered. "I missed home, though. Do we get to come back for good soon?"

"That's what your daddy and I want to talk to you about," Olivia spoke up. "You remember when I told you there were going to be some changes?" Avery nodded. "Well, your dad and I have gotten a divorce, which means we aren't married anymore."

"Does that mean one of you can't be my parent anymore?" Avery questioned, confusion clouding her face. "Don't two parents have to be married?"

"No, every family is different," Olivia told her. "But your dad will always be your dad, and I will always be your mom. We just won't be husband and wife anymore. It means that I'm going to be living in the new house from now on and your dad will stay here. And you and Connor will stay both places."

Avery considered that for a long moment. "Okayyy." She chewed the straw in her empty drink. "Can I have another juice box?"

"No, one is enough for tonight. You can have some water," Edison told her and Avery looked almost shocked, as did Olivia. Edison never said no to the kids, preferring to give them whatever they asked for rather than dealing with the resulting temper tantrums.

"Fine, then can I go play now?"

"If you have any more questions, you know you can always ask us," Olivia reminded her. "Yes, you can go play." She kissed Avery's forehead and lifted her from the chair, placing the child on the floor and watching her scurry off. "I don't think you've ever told her no."

Edison shrugged. "There's a first time for everything." They both stood in awkward silence for a moment, Olivia shifting from one foot to the next and considering how appropriate it would be to bolt for the door. "Hey, can I ask you something? How did you find out about Tamara?"

"That," Olivia replied, "I can't tell you. Just know that I have my ways, and you clearly underestimate me." She gave him a pointed look. "And I think it's safe to assume that won't be happening anymore."

A/N: Yes, this is very short. But after a small poll, the general consensus was that I could get away with this short filler chapter before a time jump coming up next. School is winding down, and graduation is coming up, and once I decide what I'm doing in the fall I'll have an exorbitant amount of free time to spend writing. So forgive me for this tiny excuse for a chapter - and the lack of fluff, but nearly the entirety of the rest of this story is going to be fluff so I'll make it up to you. xo