Nathan saw her coming down the stairs, and gulped hard when he saw her in a rather short black kimono - the one with the red dragons on it that he loved so much.  It clung to her body in the dim light from the shower she had just finished.  She looked so beautiful it was heart wrenching to him, and all the old teenage fantasies of her came flooding back.  Even after all this time; he was still in love with her...despite her being married.  The whispered greeting seemed a bit...different...warmer, perhaps, but Nathan decided it likely just his imagination playing with him on overtime.  As she descended the stairs the rest of the way; he could not help having his sky blue eyes rove over her figure completely.  The kimono clung to the top of her with such perfection - showing off the curves of her breasts so invitingly, but the shortness of it was no less appealing as it seemed to barely come down past the edge of her ass by maybe a couple of centimeters.<br/><br/>As she sat next to him with her legs tucked under her; he could see so much of her gorgeous legs up quite a ways, but not quite to her upper thighs.  It was a tantalizing view of her, and Nathan felt his heart race.  Yet, her words brought him back to gazing into her eyes.  Though there were now no tears to see; he had known her long enough to see she had clearly been crying.  Sorrow swept over him, and his rapid pulse was instantly reduced.  Another fight?  Had they been fighting yet again?  Or, was it something more than that this time?  None of that, however, immediately mattered as she asked about his day - truly hoping for good news.  So, as was his habit and his personality; Nathan shoved his desire for her down for the moment - again - and focused on making her feel better.<br/><br/>"It was a good day, yes.  Had my best game ever at the bowling alley:  257 out of 300, and most of my scores were in the 200 range," he told her with a slight smile...showing her how much he had enjoyed his time.  "Also found out there are no classes tomorrow for me.  Both my professors are going to some conference.  Apparently there was no one who could take their classes; so I am free all day tomorrow," Nathan added more happily.  "Don't even have to work at the library tomorrow."<br/><br/>The news was briefer than he would have liked, but there really was not much else to share.  He seriously wished he could give her something more...like the news of his book getting published.  That would have been perfectly delightful news to give, but he had not yet heard back on the finalization of his first novel.  Such things took time, and being an author took a vast amount of patience.  Still, he wished such news had come to him today so he could add to cheering her up, but such was not the case.  Without even thinking about it; Nathan reached over and brushed a wet lock of her hair to one side ever so gently.  It was a simple gesture...one filled with care and affection for her.<br/><br/>He could not help it.  Something had made Caitlyn cry, and she was his best friend.  Such was his love for her that he simply could not ignore the fact that something had caused her additional sorrow.<br/><br/>"What happened?" he whispered...his own tone laced with sadness and concern.  They told each other everything - they had for years, but of late...something had been seriously troubling his best friend.  Something had been weighing heavily on Caitlyn, and he hoped it wasn't what he thought it was.  He still didn't understand Jack.  Why ignore her?  She clearly liked being with him sensually, and she was still sexy as hell.  Why then did Jack continue to ignore her charms, her beauty, her advances...why??  It made no sense at all, and it made even less sense to know he was upstairs deeply asleep while his wife was downstairs in a very short kimono.  Worse still, it made absolute zero sense for Jack to be up there; while Caitlyn was down here with him after having been crying from something Jack had done.  The way he had been taught; to cause your wife tears even once other than for joy was a serious error.  It meant she had shed her precious liquid gems, because her husband had hurt her.  Such a thing he had been taught was cruel.<br/><br/>It was the duty of the husband to make his wife as happy as possible, and it was not a harsh duty.  In fact, it was one that should have been quite pleasant - despite how many men in the world seemed to make their companions cry from sorrows and troubles.  He was actually angry with Jack for treating Caitlyn so poorly since Niniel had been born.  Nathan tried to not show it, but there were times he would glare at Jack when he would catch them fighting...catch him yelling at her.  Jack, during those times, wisely stopped.  He still remembered the time Jack had been drunk before marrying Caitlyn.  He had called Nathan to come pick him up from some local bar, and Nathan had gladly done so.  Then, Jack had refused to go, and when Nathan had attempted to get him to the car - Jack had actually swung at him.  The attack had missed, and out of pure instinct from his training had countered, and knocked Jack smooth out.  Part of him wished Jack would be stupid enough to try again, because he really felt like beating his ass for how he was treating Caitlyn.<br/><br/>But, it was not in Nathan's way to start trouble.  So, instead, he sat there a bit closer to Caitlyn while playing with her hair, and prepared to listen to the newest reason she had been crying...his blue eyes on her with encouragement and love.  "Tell me," he coaxed softly.