People mostly ignored them. They hung around on the periphery of the room, casting looks at Cooper and her, whispering. She could imagine what they were whispering. It didn't take a great deal of imagination to figure that out. They were talking about her and her lover, the tank. She couldn't here what they were saying but she knew every word. Well, I never... You mean he's a ... Can you imagine... I wonder if it's true what they say about Tanks? ... Disgusting...

And her boss, Richards, kept shooting them looks. He hadn't forgiven Cooper yet for that incident in the coffee room, when Richards had mistaken him for Reece's new social worker. She could feel Cooper getting more and more tense next to her. He hated being around crowds these days. He'd never particularly enjoyed it, but he was tired and keeping his shields up was difficult. He couldn't block the hostility out completely.

But she was up for promotion, despite Richards acrimony, and tonight was important and he knew it. So he stuck it out, getting more and more on edge, more and more irritated. And they tried hard to look as though the stares and whispers didn't count.

She blamed him for it as well. She knew that it wasn't his fault, but who else could she blame. She was the one who'd chosen to have an InVitro lover, but she hated this. She'd told him once that she didn't care, that she knew what it would mean, and that she loved him enough, wanted to be with him enough to put up with the snide remarks, the hostile looks, the violence. But knowing about it and living through it were two different things. And god it was hard. Even working with the abandoned offspring of InVitros hadn't prepared her for this.

He'd warned her about it. She couldn't say that he hadn't. But she still blamed him. And the worst thing was she was sure that he was aware of her hostility towards him. And why. He'd barely spoken to her all evening. He spoke to her now.

"Lets get out of here. We've shown our faces, you said that would be enough." He tried, and failed, to keep the anger out of his voice. She hated this as much as he did, he knew that, but some pigheaded streak was keeping her there, that false smile plastered to her face. He made no effort to plaster one on his. He wasn't that good a liar. The most he could do was keep his face as impassive as possible, a trick he'd learnt from McQueen.

She considered this for a moment, weighing up the situation. They'd been there for two hours, speaking politely to anyone who would talk to them, and she wasn't sure if Cooper could keep his temper for much longer. While leaving early might attract comment, Cooper losing his temper would do more than that.

So she nodded, her body as stiff as his, and started to make her way towards the door, stopping to say goodnight to their host, trying to ignore Cooper hovering impatiently behind her.

Dr Miles was a good sort really, she reflected. She hadn't had to invite them. Many wouldn't. So she wished that Cooper would be a little less surly as he also wished them good night, his hand on her arm, ready to drag her out of there as soon as possible. She resented that, and deliberately tarried a few extra moments to talk to Dr Miles' husband John about plans for that year's Christmas pageant.

It was a mistake. She knew that as soon as she heard Richards' voice behind her and Cooper's hand tighten on her arm. Richards was drunk.

"Well, well, well. You seem very eager to get home. The party has obviously lost its appeal." She turned slowly to face him, her heart filled with trepidation. Cooper was shaking with rage besides her as he watched Richards run hot eyes up and down her body. This time her hand fastened upon his arm, ignoring the angry look he directed at her.

"We're tired, Michael," she said evenly. "It's been a long day." His lip curled superciliously at them.

"Really?" His voice became deliberately insulting. "I thought that you couldn't wait to get home to fuck your tank. Couldn't get a natural born, Madi? Must be desperate."

Her nails were digging into Cooper's arm, stopping him from reaching Richards. She knew that it was too late when Richards added his final insult.

"You know, you really are a little whore. You'll let anything between your legs, won't you?" Before she could react, Cooper had broken free and Richards lay flat on his back, clutching his nose.

"Cooper!" she yelled, throwing herself on him before he could do any more damage. "Let's just get out here, please." He struggled against her for a moment, and then seeing the look in her eyes, allowed her to drag him out of the room.

They said nothing in the car on the way home. She was shaking with rage as she drove. He stared out of the window, slouched in his seat glowering.

When they reached home, she stormed out of the car, slamming the door behind her. She was shaking so badly that she could barely get the key in the door. How could he do that to her. How could he show her up like that in front of her colleagues, her employers. How could he embarrass her like that. She'd lose her job and how the hell was she supposed to raise the children on what Cooper sent her. It would barely be enough to support a mouse.

He was just as mad, if not more so, than she was. After putting up with those assholes all evening, she acted as though it was his fault. Damnit didn't she know that he'd reacted because she'd been insulted. He'd put up with the whispers for her sake but he'd be damned if anyone was going to speak to her like that when he was around. He couldn't do anything when he wasn't around and god knew that he wasn't around anywhere near as much as he'd like, but at least he could put the fear of god, or more precisely the fear of him, into anyone who spoke to her like that when he was around.

She almost slammed the door in his face.

"What the hell is wrong with you," he stormed.

"I don't want to talk about it," she said in that superior tone of voice he hated. She spoke to him as though he were an idiot child. He may not be as smart as she was, but by god he was no idiot.

"Tough," he snarled. "You slam the door in my face, you'd better believe we're going to talk about it!"

She spun on her heels and glared at him. "You want to talk about it, fine," she hissed. "Lets talk about the way you humiliated me back there. Lets talk about the way you decked my boss. Lets talk about how I'm now going to be fired because of you. Lets talk about how the hell I'm supposed to support the kids and myself on what you send me. Lets talk about how the hell I'm supposed to hold my head up in this town tomorrow."

He stared at her shocked. "You'd rather I'd let that bastard talk to you like that. Call you a whore. I'm supposed to stand there while he says that?" he demanded unbelievingly.

"As I recall, you once called me that yourself." She watched him flinch with savage satisfaction, and then his face darkened again.

"Fine, what the hell do I know," he yelled. "I'm just the dumb tank you're screwing."

"It's all you're good for," she yelled back. She watched his face pale with disbelief. He really couldn't believe that she'd just said that. He grabbed hold of her upper arms and pulled her close to him so that his face was barely inches from hers.

"What did you say?" he whispered, his voice harsh with rage.

"I said," she said enunciating every word clearly, "that you're just a dumb tank that's only good for a fuck."

She watched the rage in his face, as he fought the urge to break her neck. As he moved to release her, she wrapped her arms around his neck and dragged his face down for a savage kiss. He fought her for a moment and then kissed her back, equally hard, his tongue almost down her throat and his hands twisted in her hair.

She sucked his bottom lip into her mouth and bit down, hard enough to draw blood. He hissed against her mouth, his hands savage as they tore her blouse open. He almost threw her down onto the table, his hands ripping off her underwear, while hers tore open his shirt. He fumbled with the zip on his trousers, but she pushed his hands out of the way, freeing him herself. She was rough as she grabbed him, feeling how hard he was. She dragged her nails lightly along his length, glorying in the gasp that drew from him. He kissed her again, as hard as before.

"Bastard," she hissed against his mouth.

"Bitch," he hissed back.

"You want to fuck me tank, then fuck me," she snarled, reason flown. He growled at her, and without any preamble entered her, thrusting hard and deep. It was what she wanted, what she needed. She screamed out her need and drove him on with harsh words, digging her nails hard into his back. When she climaxed, it was equally violent, twisting beneath him, yelling loudly as the pleasure coursed through her body, leaving her limp and exhausted. She felt him stiffen, his breathing ragged, and then he sank his teeth into her shoulder as he came.

They lay like that for a few moments, and then he withdrew, standing before shaking with a combination of pain, rage and spent passion. He wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand and looked at it for a moment, still not believing what had happened, how they could have argued so violently. How his Madi could have said those things when she knew that they'd hurt. The woman lying on the table with her skirt rucked up around her waist didn't look like his Madi though. His Madi's eyes had never been that cold.

"Satisfied," he asked shakily, wanting some reassurance that things were going to be all right.

"For now," she said coldly. This time the way he flinched didn't give her nearly as much pleasure. Nor did the way he fastened himself up, refusing to look at her. He ignored her when she finally called his name, calling him back as he left, the door slamming behind him this time. He wasn't there when she started to cry.

When she realised that he wasn't going to come back, she rose stiffly from the table, still crying. She'd taken her rage out on him and that wasn't fair. She wondered if she'd hurt him so badly that she'd lose him again, this time for good. She deserved to. All the humiliation she'd felt tonight had been nothing to what he'd gone through. And she'd only made it worse for him. She wanted to die. She wanted to beg his forgiveness. She wanted him to hold her and kiss her and forgive her.

She did the only thing she could think of. She tidied herself up and phoned Thursday. She didn't know where he'd gone, but Thursday could find him much quicker than she could.

Thursday was still awake, although ready for bed. It only took a few words to tell her what had happened. Madi didn't give her the details, no doubt she'd find those out from Cooper. He wasn't very good at hiding things from Thursday, who was? She did however tell Thursday that she'd said some terrible things that she hadn't meant, things to hurt him badly. And that she'd obviously succeeded.

Thursday sighed when she put the vidphone receiver down. Madi had looked bad enough to convince her that something was terribly wrong. She scanned for Cooper, and got nothing back but rage and pain, mostly pain. He wasn't listening.

She dressed and prepared to go looking for him. She didn't have to go far. She'd known that he was near, but not how near. Her guess had been one of the bars along the waterfront. She was wrong. She knew that the moment she reached her car and saw the light in gym window.

He was punching her kick boxing bag, hard. He ignored her, lost in his pain. He'd taken off his shirt and she could see the scratch marks on his back. Not a good sign. So she went a made some strong coffee, and sat and waited.

It was over an hour before she felt him finish. When she went back down to the gym, he was sitting on the steps, his eyes lost. He didn't react when she sat down beside him. He barely acknowledged the hot cup of coffee she thrust into his hands. Or the blanket she wrapped around his shoulders. The only reaction she elicited was when she began to bathe his hands, his knuckles bloody from repeatedly punching the bag. She said nothing. She waited.

Eventually he opened up to her, as she'd known he would. He didn't need to put it into words, knowing that she could pick it up from his mind, but somehow putting it into words somehow made it more real. She didn't need to be a 'path to tell the pain he was in. That much was clear from his posture, and from the tone in his voice, as he repeated what she'd said.

"She meant it," he concluded, the disbelief and misery still in his voice.

"People seldom say what they mean when they're angry," she reasoned. He shook his head.

"The Colonel said that people let things slip when they're angry, things they wouldn't normally say, things they believe."

"When people are angry at you, they say the things that they know are going to hurt, whether they believe them or not. Madi doesn't believe those things. She said them because she was tired and angry and because she knew they would hurt. She's not a saint Cooper. None of us are. You've said some things you didn't mean when you've been angry, haven't you."

He turned his face towards her and whispered, "That's the problem. I believed them."

She thought hard for a moment. "Cooper," she asked gently. "Do you trust me?" He looked at her, his eyes filled with tears, and nodded slowly. "Do you think that I would lie to you?" He shook his head. If she lied to him, he'd know. That was one advantage of their connection. She may not tell him everything, but she couldn't tell him something that was patently untrue. She kept her voice gentle, remembering how young he was, when all she wanted to do was get hold of the pair of them and bang their heads together until they saw sense.

"Madi loves you. I know that. If I thought for one second that she was leading you on or using you or setting out to hurt you, I'd have her liver served up on a silver plate. She loves you. And right now she's as miserable as you are. I can feel that. And I'm sure that if you want to, you can feel that too." He smiled weakly at her reference to a silver plate. He didn't doubt for a moment that she was capable of carrying out her threat. He knew her better than that. And while he may not be aware of everything that she was capable of, he knew her well enough to know that.

She rubbed his back comfortingly. "Madi called me. She's worried sick about you. She didn't say it, but she's terrified that you're never going to forgive her, that she's going to lose you for good. Is she?" He looked deep into her eyes for a moment, gauging the truthfulness of her words, and shook his head. "Shall I call her?" His eyes searched hers for reassurance for a moment and then he nodded.

While she was making the call, Reece woke up and wandered downstairs. He found Cooper in the kitchen. He rubbed his eyes sleepily while he considered his rival. Despite everything, some part of him still considered Cooper his rival on a very primal level. Like a lot of kids with stepfathers, he resented this intrusion into his life.

The guy looked like shit. He hadn't seen Coop looking this bad since he got shot. "What's wrong?" he asked urgently. "Mom okay?"

Cooper looked up from his coffee. "Madi's fine," he said.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong."

"Don't give me that. You look like crap. Something's wrong." Cooper considered him for a moment. The kid was sharp, and persistent. He was never going to quit until he got some answer, even if it wasn't the whole truth.

"You're mom and I had a fight, that's all." Reece's eyes narrowed.

"If you've hurt her...." he threatened. There was a voice behind him.

"He didn't hurt me, honey. I hurt him." Madi entered the kitchen hesitantly. She wasn't sure of her reception. Cooper just looked at her, his face giving nothing away. "Reece, go to bed please honey. Cooper and I need to talk." Reece looked like he was going to argue, but when she added another "Please," her voice breaking, he complied, giving Cooper another threatening look as he left. If the guy had hurt Madi he was going to pay.

Madi moved towards Cooper. "Cooper," she whispered. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean what I said. Please forgive me." The tears began to roll down her face again. "Please say that you'll forgive me. I know I don't deserve it. I know I don't deserve you, but I love you. I don't want to be without you." He voice cracked on that last sentence, and at last he moved towards her, wrapping his arms around her as she broke down completely.

Her words still hurt. It was going to be a long time before he was able to forgive them completely, and he'd never forget them. But Madi's tears, knowing that he'd caused them, hurt even more. It was a start. He rocked her gently in his arms, his face buried in her hair, breathing in the scent of her, thankful that he could do that again when he'd been terrified that he'd lost her for good. His own tears were lost in her hair, until they mingled with hers when she raised her face to be kissed. He winced as her lips brushed his, his own still swollen, and she felt a fresh pang of guilt flood her. She started to beg for forgiveness again, but he kissed her words and her tears away.

A little time later, when Madi looked in on Reece, he was still awake. He looked at her tear stained face with accusation in his eyes.

"If you hurt him, how come you're the one crying." She looked at him seriously.

"I screwed up Reece. I said some terrible things to him, to hurt him because I was angry. And the worst thing was, I wasn't angry at him really. Just the way people treated me tonight because of him, because of what he is. That was wrong. I'm very ashamed of myself."

"That why you were crying?"

She nodded. "I was crying because I thought I'd lost him for good," she said. "And because I deserved to." She looked at him seriously. "Reece, I love him. But being with him isn't easy. There are a lot of people in this world who are bigoted, and a lot who want to hurt him, and me because I'm with him. Some of them might want to hurt you because of what you are, so I think that you can understand that." She paused, gauging his reaction. "I'm telling you this because I think you're old enough to understand. And to understand why I don't want you making life any harder for him, or for us than it already is. I know that you're worried that somehow Cooper's getting the attention from me that you think is due to you and the twins. All I can tell you is that I'll never stop loving you or them. But I'm not going to stop loving him either."

He nodded. He hadn't really expected anything different.