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Self-pity gone and mission accomplished. Archer returned home ready and wanting to be involved as much as possible in AJ's life. Lana was feeding the child.
"So did mother really get you to change her name? He asked.
"Yes," Lana answered with a bit of annoyance in her voice.
Lana was about to begin the discussion of "rule" when Archer interrupted her again. "After your grandmother?"
"For the last time, yes," she confirmed.
Archer walked to the window. Lana must've had a close relationship with her to name the baby after the grandmother. He remained silent while Lana talked. When Lana noticed that Archer hadn't made any kind of argument, comment or even a peep, she wondered if he was listening. Archer admitted to not wanting to listen.
She looked at him. There was no movement from him except a few facial expressions. Archer, at first, had a look of anger. Then, it changed, quickly to a look of hurt. The last one? Resignation? Acceptance? Lana really couldn't tell.
"Archer?" Lana tentatively called.
"Archer," she said again with more force in her voice.
"Say what you will about mother," Archer finally spoke. "At least she would never deny the existence of her grandchild."
It was basically Malory's idea for Lana to do what she did. So Lana would hope that Malory wouldn't deny A.J.
Archer ran a hand through his hair and actually looked as if he was about to hyperventilate.
Lana was confused. Where was all this coming from?
"Archer I wasn't even on the subject of your mother," she said trying to calm him down.
"Not mother, Bub," he replied. This whole thing was about his grandmother?
"What do you mean?" Lana asked.
"What I mean, Lana," he answered, "is that my own grandmother would ask my mother the same question."
"When are you going to give me a legitimate grandson?" He asked mimicking his grandmother and using air quotes.
"Was that because your mother was unmarried?" Lana asked.
Archer shook his head. "God only knows, Lana."
"She only spoke to me when she was forced," he continued.
"That's why I --" he trailed off.
Why what? Why he told her he didn't want kids? Why he disappeared for over a month almost immediately after AJ's birth? Or was it both?
Archer went on about more recent interactions with his grandmother, most of them being between her and his own mother.
"He deserves it," Archer heard more than once. These were rare moments Malory would tell her mother that Archer was either shot or stabbed.
Archer continues to vent. "Why doesn't she like me, Lana? What is so evil about me that the only grandmother I ever met ignores me to no end?"
"I am sure she doesn't think you're evil," she wants to say. Obviously Lana never met the woman. Instead she went with, "I'm sorry she made you feel that way."
He apologizes as well. "You don't need to dragged into my family's drama."
Lana figured that he was holding on to this for a long time. In a way, she believed that it was good to finally get it out in the open. Archer's face was in his hands.
He finally lifted his head and said, "I want to be the best parent AJ could possibly ask for. I just don't know how."
With all the lies that Archer told Lana, she knew that this was the truth. She knew that he loved his daughter.
"Neither do I," Lana admitted.
They were just going to have to figure stuff out together.