A/N: Hey, everybody. I wrote these today. Got the idea when I thought of another reason why Carl didn't tell Adam about his dating. They're kind of depressing. Sad anyway. But I'm good. Your sweet, lovely reviews of my other story helped. Thanks. I hope these don't suck. Alexandri

Once he'd tried to make Elizabeth a birthday cake. It was doomed from the beginning. He'd forgotten to preheat the oven, used the wrong size eggs, under-measured the butter, and put in too much flour. The cake was a dry, crumbly mess.

She'd come in as he attempted to salvage the thing with icing. He'd stopped and waited, painfully conscious of his pitiful cake and the mess he'd made of the kitchen.

Finally, she came to stand beside him. She brushed flour off of his nose before pointing at the cake. "Is this for me?"

He was so anxious over her pending reaction, he feared his voice would squeak, so he simply nodded.

"Thank you. We'll have to take a picture of it."

"Okay," he said slowly. He wondered if they were looking at the same cake.

Elizabeth hugged him and kissed his flour-dusted cheek. "You're banned from my kitchen."

"What?"

"You heard me," she'd answered laughingly. "No one should be subjected to this kind of horror."

"Ha, ha. Very funny," he said as he pulled her into his arms. In a moment of uncharacteristic silliness, he began to tickle his wife. She'd clutched his shoulders and begged him to stop even as her peals of laughter rang in his ears. He gave in and pulled her closer. "I love you, Lizzie."

She'd smiled up at him. "I love you, too, sweetheart. Now go take a shower while I clean up this mess."

He'd kissed her and done as he was told.

Then she was gone.

"Why couldn't you just tell me you were dating, Dad?" Adam demanded, clearly hurt that Carl felt the need to hide it from him. "Why did it have to be a big secret all this time?"

Despite the fact that he'd dated off and on for the last seven years, he'd never truly analyzed why he kept it from Adam. But sitting here with him, seeing the pain in his son's eyes, which were so much like Lizzie's, he knew. Carl sighed and raised his eyes to his son's. "Because telling you makes it all real. And I didn't want it to be."