Two days later Lia was in the break-room icing a busted lip. A patient had been fighting them and Lia had gotten and elbow to the face. She would have a nice bruise and a swollen lip by the end of shift.

"How are you feeling?" Silas asked, sitting across from her and gently lowering her hand that held the bag of ice.

"I'll live, and I didn't lose any teeth." She smiled and winced.

"How's Faye doing?" Lia watched Silas carefully for any hints about how he felt towards Faye, but like Ben, he wasn't giving anything away.

"She's better, she should be able to come back to work in a few days." He leaned back in his chair watching Lia. "How did everything work out with Ben and the man you met last week?"

She shrugged. "I wrote him off, no one would believe the story he's pushing. I told Ben and he didn't seem to care overly much about his accusations."

Silas nodded. "I'm glad to hear it." Then he stood and left, and Lia could only shake her head in disbelief. It was obvious by the questions he asked that he cared, but he wasn't into the details, but then weren't most men that way. They never asked the interesting questions.

Lia couldn't help but think of Ben's mother. She had asked plenty of questions when they had dinner at her house a few nights ago, and it had amused Lia to watch Ben as he kept shooting his mother warning looks. He had even gone so far as to pull Lia and his mother aside and explain to her, once again, that it wasn't a real engagement. Mrs. Emerson had looked at Lia who had nodded solemnly and then winked at her when Ben had looked away. Needless to say, her exuberance did not wane.

Mr. and Mrs. Emerson's house was right off the water. It wasn't a showplace but it had the feeling of understated wealth about it as if everything was top of the line but well loved and chosen with care. Ben's parents and her family had hit it off, spending the entire night jumping from conversation to conversation as they sat around the outdoor fireplace and chowed down on freshly caught seafood.

Lia and Ben hadn't had to say much and remained in the background on opposite sides of the table. They had left late, and her family had left the next day, assured that Lia was in good hands with Ben and his family. Their trip had been shorter than most, and she was secretly relieved. She had enough to deal with without having to worry about them watching and listening to everything that she and Ben said and did.

Lia looked up as Chloe entered. "You're going home," she said, doing the exact same thing that Silas had, looking at her cheek and lip. Lia protested, but Chole shook her head. "Silas insisted and so it has been done."

"He isn't even a doctor at this hospital." Lia grumbled, secretly relieved because her head had started to hurt.

"He will be, he's been asked to join the staff, and as long as he passes all of the necessary exams, he will be one of us soon enough." Chloe smiled, happy at the thought.

"I thought he was only here temporarily while writing a book." Lia frowned, wondering if Chloe and Silas had a thing going. Lia had hoped he would fall for Faye. Faye needed someone to love her. It was on the tip of her tongue to ask about her and Silas out right when Ben entered the break room.

"Good, here is Ben to take you home," Chloe said, patting Ben on the shoulder as she passed him on her way out the door.

Ben looked at Lia's frustrated expression and busted lip without making a smart alec comment. "How are you feeling?"

"I have a headache!" she spat, tired of everyone worrying about her.

"You are a headache!" he smiled. "Get your stuff, let's go."

Lia did as he said, muttering under her breath the entire time. It was still early, barely noon, and she was hungry.

"We'll get some lunch on the way home," he offered, reading her mind.

Silas stuck his head back in the door and noticed Ben. "Good, I'm glad you came to get her, I was going to ask how she was getting home." He shook hands with Ben and then turned to Lia. "Lia, you have the next two days off, we'll see you back after that."

"It's only a busted lip!" she insisted. Ben walked her over to a mirror hanging on the wall above the sink, and Lia gasped at her face. It was turning all shades of blue and her eye was starting to swell. "It doesn't feel that bad!"

"It will in a few hours," Silas assured her before leaving once more.

"I'm hideous!" she cried.

Ben rolled his eyes. "Next time duck," he suggested, placing his hand in her lower back and steering her out of the break room and down the hall. Lia could feel every pair of eyes on her as they walked. She wasn't sure if it was the way she looked or the fact that she was with Ben. Everyone knew they were engaged but they had yet to meet him.

"You're not very nurturing!" Lia growled at his advice.

He stopped her right in the middle of the busy E.R., turned her towards him, and cupped her face. "Would you like me to kiss it and make it better?" he asked, his voice dropping an octave and making her toes curl. "I'm not at all happy to see your face swollen and bruised, and if they told me the room that the man who did this was in I would go and give him the same treatment. However, I can't do any of that, so I will make sure you get home safely and give you all the care that you might need. But I need to do it carefully because I don't want to hurt you more."

Lia was lost in his eyes, his words robbing her of her anger, sighing, she turned in the direction of the exit with Ben right behind her. She was at a loss for words, there was nothing she could say to his heartfelt words.

"Can we get ice cream?" she asked as he helped her into his car.

"I think we can manage it," he agreed with a smile.

Lia laid her head back and started to think about how nice everyone was being, thinking more about the Silas, Faye, and Chloe situation. Then she started to think about the question that Silas had asked, and she wanted to know if Ben really did care about what Connor Butler had said and if he had done something about it. She was only just learning that he hid his feelings very well when he wanted to.

"What happened with Connor Butler and his accusations?" Lia turned her head to look at him, and she noticed his hands tighten on the steering wheel.

"Not much," he said, his tone careless, but this time she wasn't fooling him.

"I don't buy it, tell me what happened. Did you talk to Trinity?"

"No, and I ask that you don't either." He shot her a quick look out of the corner of his eye.

"I never would. What did you do?"

"I went to the police and told them, with my lawyer present, what was said to you. They rounded up Butler and Trinity's husband and brought them in for questioning. I thought it was a risk worth taking."

"Calling his bluff." Lia nodded. It had been a smart move, it showed Ben had nothing to hide and it forced Connor to admit everything he really did know. It also would have shown him to be a potential blackmailer. As for Trinity's husband, he was already in trouble so nothing about the situation would help him.

"Yes, they both caved and said that they had made it up to try and scare me. It finally put into doubt every nasty thing Butler has ever said about me.

"The police never called me to get my side of the story," Lia said, thinking it odd that they didn't.

"I approached it as blackmail and defamation, and they wanted my money, not yours, once they admitted to everything there was no reason to call you, but who knows, they might."

"So, do you think Butler will finally leave you alone now?" Lia asked.

"I had him sit down with my lawyer who went over every detail of Ilianna's will and exactly what she had left behind. There is no doubt in Butler's mind that there is no money."

"You shouldn't have had to do that though," Lia was mad on his behalf.

"No, I shouldn't have, and I fought doing it for years, but lately I'm starting to reevaluate things and figure out what really matters. Butler and what he thinks about me doesn't matter and it never has, but his continued threats do because they affect everyone I love, and if speaking up and defending myself makes him back down then it will be worth it."

There was nothing else that Lia could say, so she leaned back in her seat for the silent journey home, but she hoped and prayed that she was one of those that he loved.