"I'm worried about Shelby" Hiram said quietly as he sat with Leroy that evening.

"Yeah?" Leroy took hold of his husband's hand, "anything specific or just generally?"

"She had a nap when we got back from therapy, then she fell asleep in the garden, and now, well she was in bed before 9."

"I don't think that's necessarily anything to worry about, the valium makes her sleepy and she's taking it regularly now, and she's taking new antidepressants, I know some of the meds you tried made you sleepy. In fact, I think the reason Shelby takes this one at night is because it might make her sleepy."

Hiram nodded, "I suppose you're right, I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens when she comes off the valium and she's used to the new antidepressants."

"It's probably the reason her doctor suggested she took some time off work too, but I'm going to take them to the spa on Sunday, Shelby's too tired to be driving and I don't know if I'm comfortable with Rachel driving that far."

"Thank you" Hiram smiled, "that puts my mind at rest."

"I thought we could find somewhere near the spa, a restaurant or a movie theatre or something, if we say we're going that way anyway, Shelby will probably be less likely to protest, and we get a date night out of it too" he winked.

Hiram laughed and pecked Leroy's lips before taking his phone from his pocket, "I'll start looking for somewhere now."

Leroy had taken Rachel to her dance class when Shelby came downstairs on Saturday morning. She'd woken when Rachel had and spent a while talking with her daughter, but, once Rachel had gotten up, Shelby had drifted back off to sleep. "Morning" Hiram smiled, "did you sleep well?"

"I did thanks" Shelby smiled as she flicked on the kettle and took a yoghurt out of the refrigerator. She walked over to the microwave and picked up her valium, holding the box for a moment before putting it back down and turning to Hiram, "could I ask you a favour?"

"Of course, what is it?"

"Could you drive me over to my apartment later?" she asked, "don't worry if you have other plans though, I can go after breakfast and take this when I get back" she gestured to her medication.

"No, no, of course I'll take you over. I'll take you over any time you want".

"Thank you" Shelby took out a pill and swallowed it with the water she'd poured herself, "I don't know if Rachel's going to want to use the pool at the spa tomorrow so I need to get some swimwear just in case."

"Okay" Hiram smiled, watching as Shelby made herself a mug of chamomile, honey and vanilla tea, the flavour that seemed to be her favourite. "Yes please" he nodded, when she asked if he wanted another mug of tea. "We could bring your piano over if you want?"

Shelby sat at the table opposite him with a yoghurt and a banana, "are you sure? I don't want to put you out and…"

"You'll be using a room in our house we rarely use, you won't be putting anyone out Shelby. If you don't want to bring your things over then that's fine, but, if you do want to use the space then you are more than welcome to it. Leroy's gone grocery shopping while Rachel's at her dance class, he's going to pick up a desk for you while he's out too, but if you don't want to use it then that's fine. It's completely your decision Shelby."

"I erm, I'd like to bring it over" Shelby nodded, "if you're sure that's okay?"

"Absolutely" Hiram nodded, "you can bring over anything you want."

Hitam and Shelby hadn't been gone long when Leroy arrived home with Rachel, "your Daddy sent me a text" he told her as she helped him carry groceries inside, "he's taken your Mom to get some things from her apartment, he didn't want you to worry about her not being here."

"Okay" Rachel nodded as she began putting things away, "she, I mean, do you think she's starting to do better? She doesn't seem… I

I don't know, I know she's sleeping a lot, but when she's awake, I don't feel quite so worried about her doing anything to hurt herself."

Leroy smiled as he too began unpacking the groceries," I think the break from work is probably helping, as is the valium, hopefully her new antidepressants will be working too and they'll help stabilise her mood."

Rachel nodded as she turned to place the bananas in the fruit bowl, "I hope so."

"Do you want me to wait here for you?" Hiram asked as he parked Shelby's lexus in the parking spot under her building

"You can come in" Shelby told him, "I can't offer you a drink or anything but…"

"It's okay" Hiram squeezed Shelby's hand, "I know you haven't been living here, I don't expect you to have anything in."

They rode the elevator up to Shelby's apartment in silence and Hiram made himself comfortable on the couch as Shelby headed to her bedroom to find swimwear.

"C'mon" Shelby mumbled to herself, "think." The scars on her stomach were easy, the vest from the tankini she'd thrown in her bed would cover those easily but the scars on her thighs were a little harder. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been to a pool, couldn't remember what she'd worn to hide the jagged scars that littered the tops of her legs. "You've got to have something" she began rummaging through her closet. She found some old running shorts but she doubted they'd be long enough to cover everything and she was pretty sure they'd be too big with all the weight she'd lost recently, but she threw them on the bed anyway as a back up.

She pulled out a pair of cropped yoga leggings and looked at them for a moment before shaking her head, "you'll look an idiot in those" she told herself but she threw them on the bed to take with her anyway. "Aha!" she let out a sigh of relief when she found a pair of cycling shorts she didn't know she owned, they'd work, they looked as if they'd come to the middle of her thighs and the stretchy nature of the fabric meant that they would still fit her.

"Everything okay?" Hiram asked when Shelby came back out of her bedroom.

"Yeah" she nodded, putting down the bag of clothes she'd packed, "it's been a while since I last needed a swimsuit, I wasn't sure where it was" she lied, she'd found a swimsuit straight away, it was finding something to cover her scars that had been the issue.

Hiram nodded, "we could just have gone to the mall" he chuckled before asking, "piano?"

"In the office" Shelby gestured down the hall, "do you want to…"

"Sure" Hiram followed Shelby into her office, "wow" he gasped when he saw the electric piano on a stand in the corner of the room. It wasn't what he'd expected, it looked more like a keyboard than a piano but it obviously had more features than a keyboard would have, "I was going to offer to help" he told her, "but I think I'll leave that to you he chuckled when he saw the cables were all neatly grouped together with cable ties.

Shelby chucked and pointed to a tall cabinet in the corner of the room, "between the cupboard and the wall" she told him, "there's the case for this, it's a black thing with wheels" she shook her head, "it's the only thing down there."

Hiram pulled out the bag, "there you go."

"Thank you, will you stick it in the hall? There isn't really enough room for it in here."

"Sure" Hiram set the bag down in the hall by the door to Shelby's office and opened it up, "is there anything else I can do?"

Shelby began taking the cables from the back of the piano, wrapping them carefully, "you could put it in the bag for me if you want?"

It didn't take long for her to gather everything she needed, including a pad of blank manuscript paper and a notebook that had been laying open on her desk, the open pages full of Shelby's neat script.

With Hiram's help, they easily carried everything including the piano, it's stand and the stool out to the car, "is there anywhere else you'd like to go while we're out?" Hiram asked as he slipped into the driver's seat of Shelby's car completely understanding why Rachel often asked to drive her Mom's car.

Shelby shook her head, "no thanks, I…" she sighed, "I'm starting to feel a little sleepy".

"You know that's probably just the valium though don't you?"

Shelby nodded as Hiram drove out of the parking lot, "yeah, and I don't feel as anxious as I used to, it's just…" she shrugged, "I'm seeing the doctor again on Friday, I'm hoping she'll say I can stop taking it every day, but at the same time, I…" she sighed, "I want to go back to work and I can't do that if I can't stay awake for more than a few hours at a time, but at the same time, I like not feeling like I'm constantly on the verge of a panic attack."

"That's understandable" Hiram nodded, "and whilst I don't have any suggestions, I'm sure your doctor will if you tell her that."

"Yeah" Shelby nodded, "I'll see what she says."

"Are you okay?" Hiram asked after driving in silence for a while, noticing that Shelby seemed to be lost in her thoughts.

"Hmm?" she turned to look at him, shaking her head slightly, "sorry, what did you say?"

"Are you okay?" he repeated.

"Yeah" she nodded, "just thinking."

"Can I ask what about?"

Shelby sighed, fiddling with her fingers before telling him, "my sister. Whether I should try and make contact with her or not."

Hiram decided not to push Shelby so he asked, "is it just the two of you?"

"No" she shook her head, "we've got a brother too, I'm the youngest, he's in the middle. Sam's four years older than me, Sarah's six years older. It was never explicitly said but I think my parents were happy with a son and a daughter, I don't think a third baby was ever in their plans. Don't get me wrong, they were great parents and I know they did their best but I… I don't know, it just didn't feel right if you know what I mean?"

"Yeah" Shelby had never really spoken about her family, not even when she'd been living with them before Rachel was born, "I know what you mean. "What about your brother? Have you ever thought about contacting him?"

Shelby shook her head, "I don't even know where I'd start, he went backpacking after he graduated high school and never seemed to settle down, we'd get the odd postcard every now and again but he wasn't great at keeping in touch and he never seemed to stick anywhere, he'd stay somewhere for a couple of weeks and then move on, I don't even know if he came back to the states, if he's settled somewhere else or if he's still just exploring the world."

"Sounds like an interesting life."

"Yeah, I don't know if I could do it, especially not just living with what I could carry, but he seemed to be enjoying himself."

"What about your parents? You don't have to tell me about them if you don't want to though" he said, not wanting her to feel like she had to talk if she wasn't comfortable.

Shelby sighed again, "my Mom died when I was 14, breast cancer, and my Dad, he did his best but I was the only one left at home and, well, you've been a Dad to a 14 year old it's…"

"Rough" Hiram finished, "you want to help her through what she's going through but she assumes you won't understand, and although you hate to admit it, she's probably right."

Shelby nodded, "my sister tried, but she was busy with college and then she got a boyfriend and…" she shrugged, "I know my Dad would have done anything for me but I, I knew he'd struggle to pay for me to move to New York, never mind put me through college so I started looking for a job, I thought I'd work for a year and save up enough to move, I was thinking more an office job or something, but then I saw your advert in the paper and, well, you know the rest. "

"If you do manage to find your sister and you're worried about calling her, why don't you ask your therapist if you could make the call in one of your appointments?" Hiram suggested after thinking for a moment. "She could act as mediator if you need it and if not, you'll have someone there to decompress or process things with."

Shelby nodded, still not sure if she wanted to speak to her sister or not, "yeah, maybe."

"Whatever you choose to do" Hiram reached over to gently squeeze Shelby's hand as he stopped at a red light, "Leroy and I will support you Shelby, no matter what happens, you'll always have us."