Never Be the Same

Part 3

It seemed like time just stopped as the two stood there staring at each other, and Stella stood nervously up against the door. Watching her husband, she knew he was mad—well, mad doesn't even describe it. It was more like rage had flowed through him like lava. She had seen him upset before, but this was different. His face contorted with rage; his curled lip; his clenched jaw The hostile glare in his eyes scared her the most.

"Stella, move." He demanded, and his tone was an aggressive one. One she's never heard him use before.

"No," she tells him as she swallows hard. "I told you; if you want me to move, you will have to physically move me." She repeated her words, this time a little more forceful.

"Damn it, Stella!" he yelled as he knocked everything off their kitchen island—the papers, the coffee mugs, the plates, and the coffee pot—all hitting the floor.

Stella's eyes widened as she watched everything hit the floor. "Did that make you feel better?' she questioned in a sarcastic tone, as he paced back and forth.

"Beating the hell out of Carver would make me feel better, so move," he said as he stopped to look at her.

"No!" She exclaimed, standing her ground. She knows she is making him angrier, but she doesn't care. She needs him to calm down so she can tell him what happened and reassure him that it meant nothing.

"You can't stand in front of the door all night."

"Try me." She replies. He takes a deep breath and walks toward her. She can feel her heart beating increasingly as he gets closer to her, and she doesn't believe he would actually put his hands on her.

He surprises her by grabbing the small desk lamp by the door and yanking the plug out of the wall, he then turns and throws the lamp against the wall, an inch away from her. She flinches as it hits the wall, and her mind flashes back to when Grant used to get mad and throw things at her. "Fine, you win!" she yells, putting her hands up in the air in defeat. "I don't give a damn what you do," she tells him, her voice laced with anger. She then moves away from the door. She officially surrendered.

Kelly was shocked at first. He didn't move; he watched as she picked up the pieces of the now-broken lamp. She didn't talk to him or look at him. She got up and went to clean up the mess he made by knocking everything off the kitchen island. He was torn between comforting her and going to find Carver. His anger towards Carver outweighed more than his desire to comfort his wife right now.

Stella cried as she heard the door slam. This was not how she thought their conversation would go. She really wished Casey was still living with them; she knew Casey would have stopped him from doing something stupid.

Carver was at his apartment, thinking about everything Mouch said and his conversation with Stella. He wondered if Stella had told Kelly yet. He knew Kelly was going to come after him, but he didn't blame him either; if Stella was his wife and someone kissed her, he would knock the shit out of them. A knock on his door pulled him out of his thoughts. He slowly walked to the door, not bothering to check the peephole. As soon as he opened the door, he was hit in the face with a punch. "What the hell?"

"You kissed my wife," Kelly yelled as he tackled him. "You kissed my wife," Kelly yelled again. "Twice, you bastard."

"It didn't mean anything," Carver yelled as he tried to push Kelly off him.

"You don't kiss a married woman twice, and it doesn't mean anything," Kelly said as he punched him again. "You were fucking aggressive with her!" he yelled as he grabbed him by the shirt, slamming him against the wall. "You put your fucking hands on my wife."