Sarah yawned, leaning forward in her chair to place her hand upon Kyle’s hand. She hadn’t slept at all the whole night. The one thing that she wanted to do was see him open his eyes. There was a fear still in her body from worrying--worrying that Kyle would never be able to talk to her again. Never be able to hold her in his strong arms--never come back to her. Don made it very clear last night that Kyle would be okay, but before he came out--she felt like she knew Kyle was going to leave her. When he pulled the scene in Diego’s office--it scared her. Kyle never blew out like that. He was always one of the people who was the protector of a victim…not the one who was hurting the victim. Diego was just trying to help him last night, but the drugs had him thinking all backwards. It really killed her last night seeing Kyle like that. He didn’t know what was going on and he felt like everyone was after him. It still hurt her--being right there, next to him while he slept in the hospital bed. The memory of Kyle the last time he was in the hospital kept running through her head. He hated hospitals--he really hated hospitals. Back when Kyle had hurt his leg, he was trying to get out of the hospital earlier than he was supposed to be. If Kyle ever did wake--he would probably still be the same.

“Why do I keep saying this to myself?” Sarah questioned, her eyes still burning with small tears. She never imagined that she would be this close to losing Kyle. Maybe it was because she never wanted to imagine something like this happening to him. Kyle may have been rough around the edges, but he was really good at heart. He would never hurt someone like he tried to do with Diego. She brought her hand back to run it through her hair before placing her elbows on her knees. “Kyle is going to wake up. Don said he was and Don knows what he is talking about.”

She knew that this wasn’t the way she should be acting about the situation. Strong--that’s what she was supposed to be for him and nothing more. But since she had been here next to him, all she could do was breakdown. The thought of Kyle dying on her would replay in her mind over and over again. There was no way that she could live her life without Kyle next to her. He was the one that protected her when they were they young--the one who still protects her. She couldn’t just erase all those memories of him. He was the one person that made her feel really like a human. When, her mother was in the hospital, Kyle was right there for her every day.

“I can’t give up on him, not now,” Sarah whispered to herself, looking down towards the ground. She felt more tears begin to burn from her eyes. She jumped at the feeling of another’s touch, wiping a tear away from her face gently. She backed up--only to see that Kyle had awakened. “Kyle?”

“Why are you crying?” Kyle questioned with a slight frown. His voice was raspy as he talked to her. More tears fled from her eyes as he reached up to run his fingers along her face gently, feeling her lean into his touch. “Please don’t cry. I hate seeing you cry.”

“Kyle, you’re awake,” she smiled, standing up from the chair she was sitting in to lean over him. He hardly looked awake, but her heart began to beat out of her chest when he touched her. Knowing that he was awake made her feel so much better. Knowing that he would be okay would be a much different thing. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I got hit by a car,” Kyle groaned, reaching up to rub the side of his neck which hurt like you couldn’t believe. His whole body was aching and his hands were shaking, but he couldn’t express his whole pain to Sarah. It would just make her worry more that she had to. “What exactly happened?”

“You don’t remember?” Sarah questioned slightly shocked, not knowing what he would be thinking right about now. “Do you remember anything at all?”

“Not really,” Kyle replied, shaking his head slowly--feeling a crack of pain through his body, “What happened? I feel like I was drugged or something.”

“That’s because you were,” Sarah informed him, seeing his eyes get wide from her comment. “You don’t remember at all? Nothing? Nothing you did?”

“What did I do?” Kyle wondered, slightly worried by the way she was asking him everything. The only thing he remember clearly was going to go see Grady and Avery. Everything else seemed to be little bits and pieces. Her silence scared him even more after he asked her. He just wanted to know what happened. “Sarah, please. Just tell me what happened.”

“Well, Susan drugged you Kyle and--she raped you,” Sarah began to explain, seeing him nod slowly, “Do you remember that?”

“Yeah,” Kyle answered blankly, rubbing his forehead with the back of his hand, “The last thing I remember clearly was the upset look on your face when you saw Susan with me. Sarah, I’m so sorry about that. I didn’t know what was happening and I couldn’t move. I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t worry,” she hushed, placing her index finger over his lips, “She forced herself on you Kyle. I know you wouldn’t do anything like this to hurt me. Anyways, I love you too much to get mad at you.”

“Are you sure you still do?” Kyle questioned, feeling her hand slip into his hand tightly holding onto it.

“Kyle, there was a point in time where I thought I was going to lose you from life forever,” she stated, looking away from his dark, intense eyes, “I couldn’t love you less, the only thing that happened was my love grew for you. I couldn’t live without you in my life, it just wouldn’t be the same. You are the only person I love and that’s never going to change.”

“I thought I was a goner for a second too,” Kyle told her, closing his eyes tightly, “It felt like I was above everyone…seeing what was happening right before me, but everything is such a blur Sarah. I would never want to leave you, never.”

“You better not pull this again,” Sarah ordered, feeling his hand hold onto hers tighter, “I don’t want any of this going on anymore. I don’t want to even think about you having to come to a hospital.”

“Hospitals, I hate hospitals,” Kyle frowned, arching his back in pain slightly before trying to hide his pain from Sarah’s eyes, “I need you to do me a favor now though. Tell me everything that happened from the point you found me.”

“Kyle…I really don’t think you need to know any of this,” Sarah began to protest. He really shouldn’t need to know the mistakes he made while he was drugged. The drugs made him something he wasn’t and he didn’t need to know what happened.

“Sarah, please just tell me,” he begged seeing her nod, he needed to know if something bad happened. If he did something that wrong. “Just do this one thing for me and tell me what happened. Just, please.”

“Okay,” Sarah agreed, pulling her chair closer to the edge of the bed before taking a seat--Kyle’s hand still in hers. “I came looking for you and I came into Susan’s place because it was open. I heard noises and I followed them to her bedroom and that’s when I saw the two of you together.”

“Was she…” Kyle tried to finish his questioned, but was too afraid to ask it. He thought he was strong, but this was pathetic for a person. To get raped, the feeling of actually knowing something happened makes you feel so bad. “Did I?”

“She was on you,” Sarah nodded before taking in a deep breath. “You were too out of it to be doing anything and I found that out when I came into the room. I basically told Susan what I thought of her and then I went to you. You were in so much pain that you would hardly let me touch you.”

“What about Susan?” Kyle questioned, his dark eyes looking up at her. “Did they get her? Is she in jail?”

“No,” Sarah answered, biting down on her bottom lip hating to tell him all of this. He deserved to know the whole truth, but she wished that Susan was in jail. Susan did this horrible thing to Kyle and she could mess him up in ways that the doctors haven’t even found out yet. “She left before I could even get you any help.”

“Figures,” Kyle shook his head, hating to hear that the woman who did this to him was out there--still being able to hurt others like she hurt him, “Just finish the story what else happened?”

“Well, I got you to the hospital and we went to go see Diego,” Sarah began to finish the story, but the way she said Diego’s name made it obvious that something had happened with him. “You weren’t yourself, let’s just leave it at that.”

“What does that mean?” Kyle questioned, coughing from the scratchy feeling on his throat. Sarah hadn’t answered him, she just turned away from him like everything was okay. Obviously, it wasn’t all alright. If it was, Sarah would tell him right away. “Sarah, just tell me.”

“If you wouldn’t have sort of reached reality, you could have killed Diego,” she told him, seeing him gulp down and pull his hand back away from hers. “You were choking him, he was hanging in the air and you wouldn’t let your grip down?”

“Why was I doing it?” Kyle questioned, shaking his head quickly, not allowing her to answer that. “What stopped me? Is he alright?”

“You began to freak out when he wanted to take your blood,” she sighed, seeing the worried look on his face. She could tell that he was regretting everything she was telling him. The things that went on--the things he did just wasn’t Kyle Houston. It was like some monster. “Diego is fine, he got right up to help you. That’s all he cared about. What stopped you was--was me. Something happened to me and you realized what happened. After that, you were out of it. Your pulse dropped and you were hardly breathing.”

“What happened to you? Did I do something?” Kyle wondered, gulping down. He needed to know if he hurt her. How could he do something like that to Diego…or her? His eyes traveled over to her arm which was cut up and her wrist was bruised. A sudden rush of guilt swept over his body, he knew he did that. But how could he hurt her? “I did that didn’t I?”

“Don’t worry,” she hushed, trying to change the subject only to see him shake his head quickly.

“Didn’t I?” Kyle repeated his question, this time in a more demanding tone. He grabbed her arm in his hand, pulling her towards him gently before shaking his head. “I did do this didn’t I?”

“Yes,” she replied shaking her head slowly, “It doesn’t matter though. You couldn’t control your own body. You were shaking at one point in time and for a while you said you couldn’t even breath. It really doesn't matter.”

“Yes, it does,” Kyle retorted, shutting his eyes tightly in pain, “I hurt you. I never wanted to hurt you in my life.”

“Kyle, it’s alright,” she assured him once more, trying to make him calm down. He may have bruised her wrist when he elbowed her across the room, but she just fell on it wrong. “Kyle, it’s all over. You don’t need to worry about anymore.”

“Yes, I do,” Kyle was about to argue the point more before he felt Sarah’s lips over his lightly. He calmed down as they kissed. The fact of the matter was that he was still scared right now. He could have died. He could have never felt the way Sarah kissed him, or worse--he would never see her again.

“Now,” Sarah backed away slowly, a small smile passing over her lips, “Does it seem like I am mad at you? I mean really, does it seem like it?”

“No,” Kyle answered, thinking for a moment, “I guess, I just can’t believe I did that. I love you and I could never imagine hurting you.”

“I’m fine,” she promised, shaking her head slowly, “You hardly even hurt me. I’m strong remember? You don’t have to worry about me.”

“I always have to worry about you,” Kyle pointed out, with a small laugh before grabbing his stomach--realizing it hurt when he laughed, “That’s what people do when they are in love. They take care of the people they love.”

“I know,” she smiled, enclosing her fingers with his tightly seeing him look down, obviously having something big on his mind. “What are you thinking about?”

“Susan,” Kyle replied, shaking his head slowly, “I hope she gets what she deserves. No, scratch that--I know she is going to get what she deserves if it’s the last thing I do.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Deidra looked at her workload for the day trying to stay focused as her mind kept returning to her time away with Dean. Sure, things had taken a very dramatic turn with them in their relationship, especially on a physical level, but the more she started thinking about the strange woman that had approached them at the restaurant, the harder it was to ignore. The woman had this air about her and while Dean had told Deidra that the woman’s rage was work related, Deidra felt that something was off. Even on the way back to Coral Valley she couldn’t shake that. Not even the sex could erase her doubts.

Of course her doubts had to be put on hold since there was a long day of work waiting for her. She’d only been in a few minutes and she was ready to get back into the swing of things. Though that didn’t seem to be in the cards either after she’d heard about Ken’s arrival at the hospital. That news brought her back to her previous worries about Ken. She remembered the strange lab tests she’d gotten when he’d been first brought in and now after she’d taken the time to offer them up to the doctor working on him, she knew that something was horribly wrong.

She’d been surprised when the lab informed her that someone else had come back with similar results. That in itself had made her all the more concerned and eager to get over to Dean’s office to see if he could add his input. She was halfway there when she saw Brant up ahead. Rushing over to him, she greeted him with a sad smile.

“Hey, how are you holding up?” she questioned touching Brant’s arm lightly, “Any word yet?”

“Huh, oh hey Deidra,” Brant greeted her with a small smile, “No, nothing yet, but we‘re hoping that something comes back soon.”

“I’m sure that it will. I was going to check in on what’s going on behind the scenes now with Ken’s situation,” Deidra assured him gently.

“Ken’s situation?” Brant repeated with a strange look.

“What about Ken?” Avery questioned moving up from her place beside him, “Did something happen to Ken?”

“You mean you didn’t know,” Deidra gave them both a strange look, “I mean I just assumed since you were both here that…”

“That what?” Brant’s voice rose with emotion, “What’s going on with Ken?”

“He was brought in last night. Apparently he’d gone into cardiac arrest and…” Deidra’s eyes widened in surprise, “I’d just thought you’d knew since you and Avery were both here.”

“I don’t believe this. First Kyle and now Ken,” Avery gasped in horror, “What is going on?”

“Kyle,” Deidra repeated with a sideways glance, “as in Kyle Houston?”

“Yes why?” Avery asked worriedly.

“I can’t get into it right now, but I promise you that I’ll get answers for you soon,” Deidra offered up in consolation.

“I have to see him,” Brant began worried now to learn of his brother’s condition, “Deidra, is he alright? Is he?”

“Last I’d heard they had him stabilized, but…” Deidra explained, but her words were falling upon deaf ears as Brant turned to Avery.

“I need to go check on him,” Brant offered up once again, the color draining from his face.

“Of course,” Avery nodded in complete understanding. “I’ll go with you.”

“I’m sure that he’ll be…” Deidra started ready to offer up words of encouragement, but before she could elaborate any further on her suspicions, she was left standing alone. Telling Brant the truth about what she suspected had gone down with both Ken and Kyle would have to wait. For now she needed to get more answers before she started spreading rumors about what was going on.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“What’s wrong?” Diego questioned, taking a seat next to Grady who seemed to just being staring out in front of him. His eyes intense as he turned towards Diego. “What’s on your mind?”

“I was just thinking about--everything,” Grady sighed, resting his elbows on his knees and leaning forward. “I just can’t believe how everything is happening in this town. Kyle didn’t deserve this. He really didn’t.”

“No, he didn’t,” Diego agreed with a small frown, thinking back to Kyle when he had him in the choke. His neck still kind of hurt, but the only thing that really mattered was that Kyle was okay. “No one really deserves this.”

“You’re wrong,” Grady shook his head, knowing fully well that people deserved to be in Kyle’s position--almost coming to a near death experience, “Susan deserves to be in here, not Kyle. Kyle was just trying to help me. Help me and that was all.”

“It’s not your fault what happened to Kyle,” Diego stated seeing Grady shake his head declining what Diego said, “What really makes you think this is your fault Grady?”

“I don’t know,” Grady shrugged, putting all of his emotions together--trying to explain everything to Diego, but it was just too hard, “Kyle did this for me. He went to Susan’s for me. If I wouldn’t have been leaning on him for help, this would have never happened. Kyle would be at home with Sarah--happy. Not here after a near death experience.”

“Kyle is a good guy,” Diego explained, seeing Cori walk towards them, taking a seat next to Grady, “He went because he wanted to help you, not because he felt like he had to. You are his best friend and I am sure he wouldn’t want you blaming yourself for this. Kyle doesn’t blame you.”

“Have you talked to him?” Grady questioned seeing Diego shake his head slowly. Grady wanted to go in and talk to Kyle, but what was he going to say? The things jumbled around in his head as he thought about Kyle. “Then how do you know that he doesn’t blame me for everything?”

“Because, Kyle isn’t that type of guy,” Diego pointed out, shrugging his shoulders, “I know Kyle might not be in the best condition right now, but he does know that you didn’t plan this. Maybe, you should just go in and talk to him. It might make you feel better.”

“I should,” Grady agreed, standing up to go walk into Kyle’s room before shaking his head, “Just not right now. I have too much on my mind.”

“I’m starting to think that Kyle isn’t the only thing you has you all hyped up,” Diego sighed, seeing Grady nod slowly, “What has you worried like this Grady?”

“I just can’t believe they let Cameron go,” Grady shook his head slowly, hating to see that bastard let go, “Everyone knows he did it and yet he gets out.”

“They are going to find Jade,” Cori promised, squeezing Grady’s shoulder softly, “When did Jade disappear?”

“I…I don’t know,” Grady retorted standing up from his seat, “I lost Jade and I almost lost Kyle. Why does this keep happening to me? Why?”

“Grady, everything is going to be okay,” Diego hushed Grady, getting up and walking over towards him. Diego hated to see it when people were like this. They would always be killing themselves over something that wasn’t their fault. “Jade is going to be found and Kyle is going to get better.”

“Next you thing you know with my luck,” Grady began, shaking his head slowly, “Kyle Houston dies of a heart attack and they find Jade’s dead body in a lake somewhere.”

“Don’t say that,” Diego ordered, disgusted by Grady’s comment, “You know you shouldn’t be saying that. You have to look towards the good things in life, not the things that are going to bring you down. No one is going to die and no one is dead.”

“What good do I have to look at Diego?” Grady questioned angrily, holding his hands up in the air. “I don’t have a thing to look forward too. First Russ dies, my brother. My little brother dies. Then, Jade disappears, which means she is probably dead too. Now Kyle, they say Kyle is going to be okay, but how do they know this drug doesn’t have some special effect on it? It could cause Kyle to have some type of heart attack. Then I can add to list. My brother is dead, my girlfriend is dead, and my best friend is dead.”

“Kyle isn’t going to die,” Diego stated firmly, knowing that Grady was just going overboard with this, “Jade isn’t dead either. If she was, we would have found her body already. She’s very much alive Grady and you have to believe that.”

“How can I believe that when I fear that I am never going to see or hold her again?” Grady wondered, his whole body tensing. “How am I supposed to go on being happy when I fear her being dead? Would you like to answer that for me Diego?”

“I can’t say much,” Diego gulped down, running his hand through his hair, “All I can say, is that I see her much alive in all of us. She’s alive Grady and if you can’t feel it--then something is wrong with you. It seems like all your faith left and you can’t have that happen. You need to bring the Grady Denton that believes everything is going to be okay back. Just look towards the sun, not towards the darkness. It will only lead you to more pain.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“So I’m thinking that we’ll close the bar off for the night,” Martha explained motioning over to the stage, “and then over there we’ll get you and Nick set up with the gifts.”

“Gifts?” Angela repeated with a small smile, “What gifts?”

“Why the ones that you get sweetie when you’re bout to get hitched. Not only will we have to get you engagement gifts, but we’ll have to work on getting you some things for that nursery you’ll be working on as well. One baby is an adventure and a lesson in exhaustion, but two…whoa, words can’t even get into what you’ve got ahead of you,” Martha informed her with a small laugh, “I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes for those three a.m. feedings for anything in the world.”

“You make it sound like torture,” Angela remarked with a worried expression looking up from the decorations catalogue she was looking through after Martha‘s many urgings.

“Well honey, some say it is, but it’s nothing compared to the labor. Though you’re a doctor. You know how that goes,” Martha stopped thinking about what she was saying, “Oh you know what I mean.”

“Yeah, I do and honestly that’s what worries me,” Angela admitted dropping her voice a bit, “I’m not sure I’m ready for this.”

“Ready for what honey?” Martha spun around to look at her, “For the whole marriage thing or for labor? Because if that’s what you’re worried about, you and I both know that they have drugs now--good ones and…”

“It’s not about the pain,” Angela confided a worried expression clouding her features, “It’s about what happened after. Martha, my mom died in childbirth and if something should happen to me, then with the twins…”

“Angie, sweetheart that’s not going to happen,” Martha moved in over to her by the bar, “that was a long time ago and things have changed.”

“On some level I know that, but given the way things have gone in my life…” Angela bit down on her lower lip straining to keep any trace of tears from surfacing, “I just wonder if I won’t be there for my children--if I won’t be able to see them grow up and…”

“Hey, you knock that off right now Angie,” Martha reached for her hands squeezing them supportively, “The way I see it, you’ve got a lot going for you. You’ve got a good man who is there to help you with all the diaper changes and be your support system and that’s only with Kevin. I haven’t even gotten started on Nick yet. Between the both of them, you’ll have it made in the shade.”

Angela couldn’t help but smile at that thought, “They really are going to be great to have around. I mean for a while I thought I’d do this alone, but now, I mean I’m getting married. Me. Getting married again!”

“I know. It’s amazing isn’t it,” Martha reached out to touch her cheek gently, “and unlike the last time, you won’t be stuck with a louse of a husband like that no good jerk you were hitched to the last time.”

“Martha, I can’t believe you said that,” Angela’s eyes widened with astonishment, “Cary wasn’t so bad.”

“Wasn’t so bad?” Martha let out an ironic laugh, “The boy was the anti-Christ and it’s a wonder that you fell for his charms like you did.”

“I loved him very much,” Angela replied sadly, “even if the feeling wasn’t mutual.”

“Yeah well the little hothead didn’t deserve you. He didn’t deserve a lot of the gifts he was given in this world,” Martha shook her head before offering up a sad sigh, “He got that unappreciative bastard side from his father you know.”

“Even so,” Angela reached out to squeeze her hand gently, “He had his finer points.”

“Maybe for a little while,” Martha looked up at her with sad eyes, “but I always told him the day that he met you he should’ve been counting his lucky stars that you were wiling to marry him. From the moment he told me about you, I had to wonder what was wrong with you to want to marry my asshole son there.”

“What can I say, I’m a sucker for a pretty face,” Angela admitted feeling her tears overtake her.

“Yeah, well Nick’s more than a pretty face,” Martha reached out to touch her cheek gently, “and I know he’s going to treat you right honey.”

“I hope so,” Angela sniffled feeling her throat lumped with emotion. She stood up straighter wiping at her eyes, “I am just so afraid to think that for the first time in my life things are actually going right.”

“Hey, given what you’ve been through, I think it’s safe to say it’s all going to go down a new path once you and Nick get married. I mean maybe my son is trying to pay penance for his sins where ever he’s at and he’s trying to see to it that you’re happy since heaven knows he gave you nothing but grief,” Martha ran her fingers through her hair, “Though there are days that I can’t help but miss the big, old idiot.”

“I miss him too even if half the time I wanted to strangle him,” Angela nodded in agreement, a smile touching over the corners of her lips, “He had those times when he was really wonderful. He was special in his own way.”

“Yeah, in his own twisted, demented, out there way he had something about him,” Martha let out an ironic laugh, “Funny because you know Kellen always idolized him growing up--that was until Kellen was old enough to realize what kind of man Cary really was.”

“Kellen was always so wonderful. He’s amazing,” Angela added thoughtfully thinking about her former brother-in-law, “How is he doing?”

“Who Kellen?” Martha laughed lightly as if Angela had offered up some kind of joke and she was only now getting the punch line. “Oh you know Kellen. He’s getting himself into a world of trouble while waiting for his prince charming to rescue him.”

“Maybe he should move to the island,” Angela suggested, “since you said yourself magical things keep happening here.”

“Maybe I should suggest that. Heaven knows it might motivate him to visit more,” Martha decided after a moment’s contemplation, “Although Kellen seems to be quite happy working at the gym. Free eye candy and all you know.”

“Of course,” Angela replied with a slight chuckle, “Anyone who knows Kellen knows he’s not about to give that up anytime soon.”

“You think he’d be interested in coming out for the wedding?” Angela arched a curious brow, “I’d love to have him out here for the big day. Maybe even before. He was always the fashion expert and I swear by the time this wedding happens I’ll probably look like a beached whale. Maybe he’ll know a way to work around that with a bouquet or something.”

“Don’t get him started or else he will fly in right away and choreograph the whole wedding there,” Martha warned her with mock laughter, “Remember the time he tried to help work on Kevin’s bachelor party when he married Michelle?”

“Boy do I ever,” Angela chuckled now bowled over with laughter, “The man he’d spoken to about the party favors thought it was a bachelorette party and they had all those tiny…well, you know around all over the place. Phallic shaped cookies, novelty gifts and then some of the other things…”

Martha couldn’t help but break out in full blown laughter, “It was paradise for Kellen.”

“And hell for Kevin. The look on his face was priceless when he came into the bar. You would’ve thought he’d died and gone to hell. Boy, was he out to get Kellen after that one,” Angela roared with laughter, “I can still remember Kellen following him around for a few weeks begging Kevin for forgiveness.”

“Yeah, well that was something to see,” Martha replied wiping at her eyes, “Although maybe the bachelor party going horribly wrong was a sign that Kev never should’ve married that psycho.”

“Don’t I know it,” Angela shook her head, “You know he actually ran into her while he was away.”

“You don’t say,” Martha practically gasped, “What is it that the wicked witch is up to these days? Finding a new mark to make miserable?”

“So it seems,” Angela nodded, “Kevin was kind of vague on the phone the other night, but she upset him pretty bad. I tried to make him laugh, but it didn’t work right away. I had to pull out the list.”

“The list?” Martha repeated with a knowing look, “Oh it must’ve been ugly then, huh?”

“It was pretty bad, but I had him laughing like you wouldn’t believe before we hung up the phone,” Angela assured her with a chuckle, “I even threw in that remark you made not so long ago about Michelle’s implants…”

“Oh honey, if that didn’t have him laughing, nothing would,” Martha added with another vivid laugh, “I’m glad I could add to the situation.”

“You did,” Angela nodded before growing suddenly serious, “though in hearing him that upset over Michelle, I realized I couldn’t tell him about Nick. I wanted to, but I just…well, I just couldn’t.”

“So he doesn’t know that you?” Martha questioned watching Angela shake her head, “Oh boy. That’s not going to be good.”

“I want to tell him, but not when he’s upset,” Angela explained, “It needs to be the right time.”

“Honey, it’s never going to be the right time for you to tell Kevin you’re marrying someone else. We both know that’s never going to make him happy,” Martha placed her hand on top of Angela’s once again, “If you want my advice on the matter, just be honest with him. Tell him the truth so that he can move on with his life. Sure, he might be holding out for something that’s never really there, but sooner or later he’ll find someone who makes him smile like Nick does for you. There’s a lady out there for him--a very lucky lady I might add and when he finds her, he’s going to see that everything really does have a way of working itself out for us all.”

“I really hope so Martha because I hate the idea of breaking his heart all over again. He’s so special to me and I don’t want this to hurt him,” Angela sighed heavily, “He deserves better than that.”

“You’re right. He does which is why you can’t keep skirting around the issue. Tell him the truth about Nick honey and just hope that after the shock settles in a bit, that he’ll still be there when you need him,” Martha squeezed her hand one last time before taking a step back, “Knowing Kevin, he’ll still be there right at your side like he always is. He’s a good guy.”

“He’s the best,” Angela nodded in agreement realizing that Martha was right. There was no way she could keep up the deceptions with her best friend. Some way she had to tell Kevin the truth. He needed to know before it was too late to break it to him gently. She owed him that much.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ria yawned as she saw the sunlight peaking through her blinds. She rubbed her forehead trying to wake up. As she opened her eyes, she looked forward, realizing that she was closer to the ground then usual.

“What the?” Ria questioned, only to feel a large, muscular arm wrap around her waist tightly, pulling her towards their body.

Ria took a glance over her shoulder, seeing a sleeping Kevin beside her. Seeing his face brought her back to realization on what they did last night. As she sat up, she also realized what had happened last night. She shook her head slowly remembering how the bed had broke last night. The headboard was leaned against the wall and the other parts were pushed to the side.

“You really are an animal,” Ria joked to herself, remembering even with the bed breaking--they were still all over each other. “Kevin.”

She touched his shoulder, trying to wake him up, but it was no use--he didn’t budge at all.

“Kevin, wake up,” Ria shook his shoulder, seeing his eyes halfway open before closing again. “Kevin.”

“Just give me a few more minutes,” he groaned, turning on his other side before putting a pillow over his head to block out anymore noise.

“I can’t believe you,” Ria rolled her eyes, placing her feet in the center of his back before giving a slight push--making him roll off the bed and onto the ground. Sure, he didn’t fall too far because the only thing left not broken on the bed was the mattress. “Lazy? Are you up yet?”

“Why did you do that?” Kevin questioned with a yawn, standing up slowly and grabbing the sheet from the ground. “It’s too early to get up.”

“Kev, look at the clock, it‘s not really that early,” Ria pointed towards the clock seeing him shrug. She got one more long glance at his naked form before he wrapped the sheet around himself and fell right back to the bed. “Don’t you even think about going back to sleep right now.”

“Why not?” he questioned with a sigh, rising to his elbows as his tired brown eyes looked into hers. “Is there something really important going on right now or something?”

“Yeah,” she nodded seeing him arch his eyebrow at her, “Us. You know what happened between us last night.”

“Oh yeah,” he nodded, a wicked smile rose over his handsome features as he looked at her, “That was great last night. Sorry about your bed though.”

“It’s not really about the bed,” Ria laughed, remembering the way Kevin acted when the bed broke. When you got him started, you couldn’t get him to stop, “It’s about us. Kevin, think about it. Me and you.”

“Yeah, I guess I could see what you are saying,” Kevin shrugged thinking for a second, “Everything just kind of happened so fast I guess you could say. Well, it wasn’t really fast, it was more like really long, but still.”

“I love your ego,” Ria informed him with a small, sarcastic laugh seeing him nod, “I think it’s your best quality.”

“It’s not my, best quality,” Kevin winked before seeing her throw a pillow at him and it hit him right in the head, “Well, you seemed to like that quality.”

“Kev, let’s just stop joking for a moment,” Ria sighed, leaning back into her pillow as he turned on his side to look at her, “I can’t believe we did that last night."

“Neither can I,” Kevin frowned taking in a slow breath, “We were together and then--well, we were really together.”

“On second thought,” Ria snapped her fingers, nodding slowly, “I can see why we did what we did last night.”

“And why is that?” Kevin questioned, getting above her, keeping all his weight steadied on his arms so he didn’t crush her. “You think I am just too irresistible, don’t you?”

“Kevin,” Ria began, taking in a slow breath as he leaned forward getting closer to her, “I think you better be watching out because you may need to start giving me reasons why I shouldn’t kick your butt instead of reason why I shouldn’t kick you out.”

“You know I am just playing with you Ria,” Kevin frowned getting to his knees, but he was still over her enough not to let her get up, “Anyways, I think I am pretty good with my reasons. Like my personal favorite last night was reason number eighty-five.”

“I don’t know,” Ria laughed shaking her head slowly, biting down on her lip lightly, “My favorite just happens to be reason one hundred and two.”

“That was a good one,” Kevin agreed licking his lips, before looking around the room, “Ria, I must admit something to you though.”

“What might that be?” Ria wondered, slightly interested by the enthusiasm behind his features. As she looked at him think, she realized that he was indeed a Greek god. The sheet was wrapped around the bottom of his waist and just by looking at him right now, she knew that he had the body of a god.

“The bed breaking, wasn’t in my original plan of reasons,” Kevin informed her wiggling his eyebrows playfully at her, “But it did make a great two hundred didn’t it?”

“That it did,” Ria agreed, feeling his hand move the sheet covering her body away as his hand lightly began to travel up her leg. His fingertips teasing her skin as he smiled wickedly.

“Last night was something, I’m never, ever going to forget,” Kevin declared leaning in towards her, “I bet it’s something that…”

Kevin was cut off by the ringing of his cell phone as he sighed in deeply. He got up from above her and grabbed his cell phone.

“Adonis,” Kevin answered his phone, sitting up in the bed and pulling the sheet closer to his body. People always had bad timings when they called.

“Cuz, it’s Seth,” Seth’s saddened voice came over the receiver as Ria saw Kevin’s eyes get wide, “I’m not interrupting anything am I?”

“Uh, no Seth,” Kevin gulped down, seeing Ria look at him eagerly, “You didn’t interrupt anything.”

“If you tell him a word, I swear to you,” Ria grabbed his arm seeing him nod, “Don’t say a word to Seth…please?”

“I won’t say anything,” he whispered a promise, rolling his eyes at the thought of him keeping this a secret. It was too perfect to be a secret. “What’s wrong Seth?”

“I was just wondering if you could come over?” Seth asked, frowning to himself, thinking of everything that had happened in the last few hours. “Cameron got out of jail and we are no closer to finding Jade.”

“You’re kidding right?” Kevin questioned, hoping to god that this was some joke. Cameron couldn’t have been left out--not now. Not when the police were on the verge of getting closet to Jade.

“I wish,” Seth half laughed, not really knowing what he was supposed to be saying to Kevin right at this moment, “So, can you come over?”

“You bet I can,” Kevin agreed, quickly getting up out of the bed and looking around for his pants, “I will be there in just a few. I promise.”

“Okay,” Seth nodded slowly before hanging up the phone.

“Where are my clothes?” Kevin wondered, holding the sheet around his waist tightly as he searched the room for his clothes. “My pants? My shirt?”

“Well, I think your shirt is in pieces by now and your pants,” Ria slightly blushed as she pointed up towards the ceiling fan which had his jeans dangling from them.

“Oh, I guess we were kind of in a hurry last night,” Kevin laughed, shaking his head slowly, “A hurry to get rid of my clothes I guess.”

“Kind of,” she shrugged, seeing him jump up and grab his pant before dropping the sheet, “What is wrong with Seth?”

“He asked me to come over,” Kevin replied with a simple shrug, “Cameron got out and they haven’t found a thing to help us get closer to finding Jade.”

“I’m sure they will find her,” Ria assured him, her eyes eating up every inch of him as he pulled up his pants and buckled them. She knew that she shouldn’t be thinking like this, but with a man like Kevin in front of you--what were you bound to do? “I should go with you.”

“Aren’t you afraid to come with me?” Kevin questioned with a small frown seeing her smile. “I mean, I agree with you that Seth shouldn’t know, but how can you come with me without them knowing?”

“We will work something up on the way there,” Ria declared getting out of the bed and getting ready to get dressed, “All we need to do is keep this a secret for a while okay?”

“Alright,” Kevin agreed with a small laugh, “Not a word is going to be coming from me.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Diane stepped off of the elevators knowing that today was going to be the day when all her worries and suspicions came to an end. If by some chance she really, truly was pregnant, then she knew full well that she was going to be in over her head. Sure, there was always a chance that Ben was this baby’s father, but as she recalled how she’d fallen into bed with JT without so much as any sense of reasoning, she knew she was in big trouble.

“This is going to work out for the best,” Diane tried to convince herself hoping that at the end of the day she could believe that. Still if there was any possibility that she was pregnant with JT’s baby, then she knew her future with Ben was in trouble. He’d never forgive her if he learned what she’d done in their time apart. There was nothing in the world that could make up for that--nothing that would make him see just how desperate she was that night after she’d seen him with Valerie.

“This is just some kind of fluke,” Diane tried to convince herself as she stood outside the door she was supposed to go in. “I’ll just go in today and they’ll tell me that this was a big scare over nothing. I’m not pregnant and I won’t have to worry. Then when I get home, I’ll have a romantic night for Ben. We can make love and then maybe just maybe we can give parenthood another try without any doubts. Yes, that’s what I’ll do. That’s going to be what happens.”

Of course it was easier to think that than to believe it, Diane realized as she stepped into the offices ready to put her future on the line. She just hoped and prayed that the one horribly rotten mistake she’d made wouldn’t kill any chance of a future with the one man who truly loved her in every sense of the word. Ben was her one last shot at happily ever after and the last thing she wanted to do was blow that. If she did, she was certain it would be the end of her.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Douglas turned off the television having had enough of the crap that they were showing on the screen. It had been more than irritating once he’d finally made it back to his hotel only to discover that the media was still buzzing about his being taken down to the police station. Then to top it off Douglas was met with the news that Cameron Stone was released from jail. As if having that little twerp in the same town wasn’t bad enough, knowing that Cameron was a free man again made things worse.

“I need a drink and then I need to get working on finding a more suitable place,” Douglas mouthed to himself ready to take his last trip to the mini bar when he heard a knock on the door. Thinking back to the phone call he’d made to room service a few short minutes ago, he wondered if they’d managed in whipping up his brunch, since he hadn’t had anything since he was taken to the station the previous day.

“This had better be good or else you’re not getting a good tip,” Douglas sneered opening the door only to discover Zoë Ashford standing before him, holding her purse close to her.

“Then I suppose I’ll have to deal without any of the luxuries of your attention,” she mouthed sourly before her eyes met his with obvious displeasure.

“Zoë, what are you doing her?” Douglas blinked back at her, “What are you…what are you doing here?”

“As much as I’d like to say I’m here enjoying myself, we both know better than to believe that,” she motioned to his hotel room behind her, “Are you going to let me in or shall I just get this done and over with from out here?”

“Zoë I…” he stammered a bit before opening the door to allow her inside, “It’s just I haven’t seen you in so long and last I’d heard you were in Europe. What are you doing here?”

“In case you’ve forgotten I have family here,” Zoë sneered at him, setting her purse down on the table top, “but then again I think where my family is concerned you’ve never truly forgotten a thing about them especially after the things you and my brother had in common there.”

“Zoë, I don’t know what you’re talking about…” Douglas stammered a bit, “I mean it’s been a while, but…”

“But what? Did you honestly think that I wasn’t ever going to show up again and see you? That I wouldn’t have seen how I was double crossed?” she challenged taking a bold step forward, “Oh I know all about it Doug and the truth to the matter is that I’ve known for a long time about the arrangement you and Nicholas made with one another. I know how you both played my emotions and lead me to believe I would be a disgrace to my family if I didn’t play by your rules, but guess what.”

“What?” he questioned wearily watching her move in closer to him.

“I’m not that same frightened little girl anymore Doug. Nicholas is dead and the way I see it all the rules have changed,” Zoë explained matter of fact, “You may have screwed me once on the matter at hand, but I’m not going to stand back and hide in the shadows any longer. I’ve come back to claim what’s mine. What should’ve been mine from the start.”

“Zoë, darling while I can see you’re clearly upset, I’m not really sure what you’re talking about. I don’t know what it is you believe that I could’ve done to upset you--what I could’ve agreed to that would’ve gotten you this worked up. I haven’t seen you in over thirty years and now you show up out of the blue on my doorstep angry as ever…”

“That’s because I let you and my brother manipulate me into giving up the one thing that ever really mattered. I let Nicholas push me out of the country--out of my family and out of the life that should’ve been mine all because our affair didn’t fit into your plan for yourself Douglas,” she shouted back at him, “I was young and naïve, but I’m not that way anymore. My brother isn’t alive to keep me from discovering the truth. He’s not here to play your games with you anymore Doug.”

“Zoë, I think you’re mistaken…” he began again adjusting his tie uneasily, “I realize that you think I’ve done something, but…”

“Don’t play innocent with me Doug. I know how you paid my brother off to keep me away from my son,” she blurted out spitefully, “Our son Doug and I’m not going to stand for it any longer. Nicholas tricked me into believing that when I gave him up for adoption that he would be safe--that I wouldn’t disgrace my family and that he’d be far from you and your manipulations, but all Nicholas wound up doing was push me out of the country so that he could hand over my son to you because the price was right at the time.”

“Zoë, I’m sorry to hear about your son. I had no idea that…” Douglas reached out to her, feeling her hand push him away from her.

“Don’t play dumb Douglas. It’s so not fitting or becoming of you,” she let out a pinched laugh, “The way I see it, I’ve waited far too long to come forward and reclaim our son, but after seeing the way you damn near ruined him, I can’t hold back any longer. You’ve let your personal life get in the way of his happiness and I won’t let you hurt him any longer.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about Zoë. I did nothing to take our child away from you. I didn’t even know you were pregnant and anything you chose to do with our boy…” Douglas retorted in an icy coldness, his steely eyes reaching right through her. “If you were pregnant, then you should’ve come to me.”

“You were married at the time and you knew that what we were doing was wrong. You knew that you shouldn’t have been sleeping with me, but that didn’t matter and I, like an idiot fed into every word you ever told me. I believed that you loved me--that you cared about me, but it was all business as usual. You used me to strike up a deal with my brother and when I wound up pregnant, you used it as a bargaining tool to get what you wanted. You gave him the money he craved to establish his company and in turn he gave you our son. He gave you the one thing in my life that ever truly mattered. He gave you Kipp and I’m here to tell you whatever it is you agreed to with him, from here on out the deal is off Doug. I’m not going to stand back and pretend that my son isn’t mine any longer. From here on out, it’s over. It’s all over for you.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Kellen,” Kellen heard Kipp’s voice call out his name as he rolled over on the couch. “Kellen, breakfast is ready.”

“Breakfast?” Kellen asked himself, hearing quick footsteps beginning to walk towards him. He rarely ever felt this tired in the morning, but it must have been the way that Kipp had stayed up watching movies with him all night. Kipp wanted Kellen to stay over because once they were done hanging out, it was really late and Kipp insisted that Kellen stay. It wasn’t the luxury bed he was used to, but the couch was comfortable--sort of.

“Kellen,” Kipp peaked over the couch, making Kellen jump and sit up quickly. “Did I scare you? I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“No, you didn’t scare me,” Kellen replied quickly, fixing his hair up, feeling the gel begin to wear away, “I just thought I was dreaming everything and then I realized it was all real.”

“Well, can’t you smell breakfast?” Kipp wondered seeing Kellen nod slowly. “I made it just for us?”

“Us?” Kellen questioned, arching his eyebrow at the way Kipp had just said that word. It was interesting how every time a simple little word would come out of Kipp’s mouth and Kellen would think it meant something more. It usually never did, but it was usual for Kipp.

“Yeah,” Kipp nodded slowly, reaching his hand out to help Kellen up from the couch, “Us. The three of us. Charles woke up early today. I was afraid he woke you up earlier.”

“No,” Kellen shook his head slowly, stretching out his back from the stiffness the couch gave to his back, “I slept like a baby.”

“I’m sure you did,” Kipp laughed, watching Kellen grab the shirt that was draped over the couch. It was obviously the one that Kellen had taken off when he went to sleep. Kipp looked towards the ground as Kellen pulled the shirt over his bare abdomen. “You ready for breakfast?”

“Am I?” Kellen questioned with a yawn before stretching his arms out again. “I want to see what kind of food comes from your kitchen. So, of course I am ready for breakfast.”

“Okay, well just come into the kitchen,” Kipp shrugged as Kellen followed him through the living room, “So tell me, you never really said anything about Augustus Ashford yesterday. All you told me is that you got rid of him and you basically in nice words, said you hated him.”

“Yeah, that’s really, putting it in nice words,” Kellen agreed before walking into the kitchen and leaning against the fridge, “There isn’t much to say. He came here wanting to talk to you, I told him to screw off and that’s it.”

“Nothing more?” Kipp questioned seeing Kellen shake his head slowly. “I think I like my new bodyguard.”

“You better,” Kellen winked, looking over towards the table that was already set and ready for breakfast, except for the glasses. “Hey, where are your glasses? I’ll get them for us.”

“They are in this cabinet,” Kipp informed Kellen with a small smile, pointing to the cabinet that was right behind him, “This one right here.”

“Okay,” Kellen sighed, walking over towards Kipp and stepping closer to Kipp, “Hey Kipp.”

“Yeah?” Kipp questioned, as Kellen leaned forward towards him. “What is it?”

“I was just wondering,” Kellen began, leaning a little bit more forward before reaching behind Kipp to open the cabinet making Kipp breathe out deeply, “Do you mind if I drink water? The only reason I ask is because I am lactose intolerant and I have a bad stomach problem when it comes to citrus.”

“Yeah, sure,” Kipp nodded quickly, hearing Kellen turn on the water faucet, “I know how you feel.”

“Thanks Kipp,” Kellen smiled walking over to the table where the baby was already sat down, “Look at you. You are all ready for your breakfast aren’t you? Did your daddy poison the food?”

“I would never do such a thing,” Kipp protested, hitting Kellen in the back lightly, “Not to you at least. I would like to keep you around for a long, long time.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Diane sat in the exam room feeling her toes freezing as she sat in the lobby now fully dressed. She’d requested that the doctor do what she could to get the results back to her as soon as possible and as a favor to Deidra, since the doctor happened to be Deidra’s pal, she suggested that Diane wait while she put a rush on things at the lab. Diane had been at the hospital a little over an hour reading the latest issue of Vogue. Normally she’d be beyond thrilled about such a time to relax and go off to do her own thing, but right about now there was one thing consuming her and it had nothing to do with the magazine in front of her.

“What is taking so damned long,” Diane questioned rising up from the chair and pacing around the room. She looked to the time knowing that almost an hour had passed, but it felt like an eternity. She’d gone down to the cafeteria briefly wanting to get a caramel latte, but instead she’d decided to wait for her results. She’d be a mess on caffeine right now. Oh who was she kidding? She was a complete wreck right about now. This was just beyond ridiculous.

“To hell with it,” Diane announced rushing over to the desk in front of her, “Um, excuse me. I’m waiting for some results from the lab and I was wondering if they were back yet. Dr. Davidson put a rush on them and I was wondering if they were here.”

“Let me check,” the older woman held her finger up, not bothering to look at Diane as she continued to thumb through her rolodex. “Give me one second.”

“One second?” Diane practically squealed, “Do you have any idea how many seconds I’ve already wasted here wanting to know those results?”

“Look Miss,” the woman tilted her head up to her ready to say something that would get Diane to back off, but as soon as she saw her face, she quickly apologized, “Oh Diane. I didn’t realize it was you. How is your mother?”

“My mother is fine,” Diane answered tightly recognizing the woman before her as their old neighbor Mrs. Hawkins. “She’s been busy.”

“I’ll bet,” Mrs. Hawkins nodded, “The last time I’d seen her, she’d started working for that Kenneth Ashford. He seemed like such a nice boy when she first started working for him, but now from what I keep hearing in the tabloids…”

“Yeah he’s made a real change,” Diane brushed her off abruptly, “Look I hate to be rude, but I really, really have to get going and if you could see if those test results were in…”

“Oh of course,” Mrs. Hawkins agreed getting up from her chair. She looked around the office before holding her finger up, “Give me one second. Things are a bit cluttered around here, but we just had a few things come up from the lab. Let me check.”

“Alright,” Diane nodded turning to look around the office. She felt a chill in the air as she rubbed her hands over her arms to try to get warm.

“Here they are,” Mrs. Hawkins announced causing Diane to jump. She faced her old neighbor once again looking at Mrs. Hawkins read the paper in front of her.

“Oh my,” Mrs. Hawkins blurted out with wide eyes, a smile spreading over her chubby cheeks, “it seems that congratulations are in order. Your mother is going to be so proud to hear she’s going to be a grandmother. Whose the lucky father? Diane, is everything okay? You look a little pale…”

“I’ve got to go…” was all that Diane managed to get out as she fled from the office devastated that now her worst fears were confirmed. She was pregnant and it could only mean trouble. Or worse. It could mean the end of her and Ben forever!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“How are you feeling?” Cori questioned, running her hand along Diego’s tense shoulder lightly. She knew that the whole time he was going to be there at that hospital, the only thing he would be thinking about was Kyle and if he was okay or not. “How is you neck?”

“It’s fine,” Diego assured her with a small sigh, his neck still hurt, but it didn’t matter at this point. Kyle was the thing that really did matter. Hopefully, Kyle wasn’t going to be anymore hurt than he already was.

“Are you just saying that?” Cori wondered, folding her arms in front of her chest, knowing that he was lying. “If you are lying to me, I will find out and I won’t be happy.”

“Alright,” Diego frowned, holding his hands up in the air, “It hurts--a little. It’s nothing big.”

“Nothing big? Come on, I caught the position Kyle had you in,” Cori informed him, remembering back to how Kyle had one hand wrapped around Diego’s throat and Diego was hanging in the air. “You could hardly even breath.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Diego protested shaking his head, “I understand why Kyle did it. He was drugged and the only thing that I am thankful for right now is that he is still alive.”

“I know,” she hushed, thinking back to how she saw the way Sarah was acting when everything was going on with Kyle. She was almost afraid that Sarah would be having the heart attack. She was the one who seemed to be out of it. “I can only imagine how Sarah is feeling right now. She must feel horrible after seeing that happen to Kyle. From what you tell me, this guy sounds like a saint.”

“He is,” Diego insisted, shrugging his shoulders--thinking back to how Kyle had done everything to help people in the past. “Kyle does everything to help people. He went searching somewhere to help find some clue to help Grady get out of jail. I mean, that shows that he will do anything to just help one person. I can only imagine what it must feel like being stuck in one of these places.”

“Hey, it’s Sarah,” Cori pointed towards Kyle’s hospital room as Sarah shut the door behind her, “You should talk to her to see how Kyle is doing.”

“Sarah,” Diego called out her name, sitting up and taking a step forward as she walked over towards them, “How are you feeling? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Sarah nodded as he motioned her to take a seat and he sat next to her. She wasn’t entirely fine, her body was still a little shaky from what had been going on, but she was going to be okay. “I wish I could say the same about Kyle though.”

“Why? Is he okay?” Cori questioned, leaning forward in her chair so she could lean forward and see Sarah more clearly. “Is Kyle doing really bad right now?”

“He just tried to convince me that he was okay,” Sarah explained, thinking back to see how much pain Kyle really did seem to be in, “but I know he was lying. He’s in a lot of pain.”

“Would you like something to drink?” Cori wondered, standing up from her seat, “You know what? I’ll just surprise you with what I get. I’ll be right back.”

“Thanks Cori,” Sarah smiled seeing Cori begin to walk down the hallway, “She is really nice you know.”

“Yeah, I know,” Diego agreed reaching over towards Sarah and hugging her lightly, “So how are you really feeling? I know you aren’t good--I don’t mind hearing what’s on your mind.”

“You know me too well,” Sarah declared with a small smile before taking in a deep breath, “I just feel like, like I can’t help Kyle. He asked me about what happened after I found him.”

“Did you really tell him what happened?” Diego questioned worriedly seeing her look towards the ground. “You told him about it Sarah?”

“Well, he saw my arm,” she informed him, holding her arm out to where Diego could see, “I didn’t want to tell him, but he begged me too. Now he blames himself for thinking he hurt us.”

“He shouldn’t,” Diego protested, shaking his head slowly, “It wasn’t his fault at all. The only thing he should be is thankful because he is still alive and here with us.”

“I know that, but you know Kyle,” she sighed, thinking to the way that Kyle always usually blamed himself for everything. “He blames himself for everything.”

“Is he up?” Diego wondered as Sarah ran her hand through her blonde hair before shaking her head. “He asleep?”

“Yeah, I just thought I should come out to talk to someone,” Sarah frowned, running the back of her hand along her forehead, “I don’t know why, but I did.”

“You can’t be in that room the whole time,” Diego ran his hand along her back gently trying to make her more comfortable, “It would make you feel even worse seeing Kyle like that all the time.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Kyle,” Grady called out his name after entering Kyle’s hospital room, he looked over to see that Kyle’s eyes were closed, “Are you asleep?”

“No,” Kyle answered opening his eyes, looking beyond Grady, “You didn’t see Sarah anywhere around, did you? I pretended to fall asleep so she could go away for a little bit and not have to worry about me.”

“Nice decision,” Grady smiled, grabbing a chair and pulling it up to the side of Kyle’s bed, “So, how are you feeling? Truthfully.”

“Truthfully?” Kyle questioned, slowly sitting up in the bed and closing his eyes tightly in pain. “I feel like shit. I didn’t know it was possible to feel this bad.”

“Where does it hurt the most?” Grady wondered, patting on Kyle’s shoulder lightly.

“That’s a trick questioned right?” Kyle laughed before grabbing his stomach in pain. “Everything is killing me right now. I just can’t believe you can feel so much pain from a little drug. That‘s kind of funny, I never saw myself as a druggie.”

“A little drug?” Grady questioned angrily throwing his hands up in the air. “Kyle, you could have died. You need to look at this as something serious--it’s not something to joke about.”

“What am I supposed to do Grady?” Kyle shrugged his shoulder, shaking his head slowly. “How am I supposed to look at it? Like my life is ruined. Yeah, I am scared to what can happen to me in the future. If this drug has any type of effect on me. And yeah, I can’t believe that I got raped. You know how that feels Grady?”

“No, I don’t,” Grady shook his head slowly, seeing Kyle’s eyes red as if they were burning to even be open, “I don’t know what it’s like.”

“Well it isn’t the best feeling in the world,” Kyle retorted with a small laugh, “You wouldn’t believe how much I am worrying right now, but if I show it--If I’m not strong for Sarah and the people around me…”

“You don’t have to be strong for anyone else Kyle,” Grady stated, shaking his head slowly. After what Kyle had been through, the only thing he should be strong for is himself. “You need to take care of yourself. Let people know how you feel.”

“No one needs to know what I am going through,” Kyle declared, thinking of how everyone was already acting around him, “They don’t need to give me sympathy. If they keep worrying about me the only thing that is going to happen to them is--they will end up in the same place I am right now because they will make themselves sick.”

“I’m sorry you have to go through all this man,” Grady apologized leaning back in his seat, seeing Kyle look over at him--slightly confused.

“What are you sorry about?” Kyle questioned, shrugging his shoulders. “It’s not like you control Susan. She did this to me and it had nothing to do with you.”

“It’s all my fault Kyle,” Grady pointed out, biting down on his bottom lip, “If you wouldn’t have been worrying about me, you wouldn’t have gone over to Susan’s place. Better yet, you wouldn’t be here in this hospital bed right now. It’s all my fault that you are here.”

“Please Grady,” Kyle laughed, shaking his head slowly, “I would never blame you for something like this. Never. You’re my best friend, how could I possibly get mad at you?”

“You say that now,” Grady snorted, looking towards the door only to feel Kyle grab his arm making him turn back, “Kyle.”

“Grady, I don’t know why you are blaming yourself,” Kyle sighed, his eyes filled with intensity, “I went to Susan’s on my own. Even if you tried to stop me--we both know that I am too damn stubborn to listen. It was never your fault. Anyways, none of us knew that she was going to be such an insane bitch.”

“I could have told you that a few years ago,” Grady chuckled, shaking his head slowly. He knew that Susan was weird in the head, but still.

“I knew she was crazy, but I guess I never gave her that much credit,” Kyle laughed before coughing at the tight scratchy feeling in his throat, “And Grady, I don’t blame you at all and if I did--you would know because I hold tight grudges. You know that.”

“I know that, but I feel like with you in the hospital,” Grady began to explain to Kyle how he felt. Even though Kyle said nothing was his fault, he felt like it all was. “That it’s my fault because I know that I could have stopped you. I just didn’t try hard enough. If you would have just came with us you would have been fine.”

“Please Grady,” Kyle rolled his eyes, Grady didn’t even understand what was going on here. Grady wasn’t at fault at all--not at all. “So, last time I was in the hospital it was all your fault right. I mean, you were the one who threw the football to me, so it had to be your fault right?”

“I didn’t think so,” Grady shook his head thinking for a long second, “I actually thought it was that asshole's fault. Not mine.”

“Exactly, it was the jerk's fault. At that time it was that football player and now…” Kyle explained, reminding Grady what happened that day. “The jerk this time is Susan. We have to blame Susan, not you. You are one of the many people I trust in this world. You have to believe me on that.”

“The same goes for you,” Grady pointed out, shrugging his shoulders, “I would have still been in that jail if it weren’t for you. If you didn’t come in and save me at the last second…I think I would be standing behind bars right now.”

“Hey, it was no problem,” Kyle assured him with a small smile, “Just promise me that you are going to be paying me back for that in the future. Be there for me when I need your help.”

“I promise man,” Grady declared, standing up from the seat and leaning over to hug Kyle, “I won't leave you hanging, I promise.”

“You better not,” Kyle patted Grady on the shoulder before Grady took a step back. Kyle figured that Grady would probably be blaming himself for this. When in reality the only one everyone should be blaming was Susan. “Hey, if you think about it though, maybe this will help us in finding where Cameron has Jade.”

“Kyle,” Grady gulped down not knowing how he should tell him this, Kyle already had enough going for him--he shouldn’t have to know this, “Cameron doesn’t have Jade. He was set free earlier today.”

“Oh,” Kyle smirked, before shaking his head slowly, “Figures don’t it. We all get screwed in the long run. We are going to find Jade, I promise.”

“I hope you are right,” Grady sighed as Kyle raised his hand up and Grady grabbed it in his, “I really hope you are right.”

“I will be,” Kyle promised, biting down on his bottom lip, “I am going to find her after I get out of here. I promise.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ria and Kevin walked up to Seth’s door and before Kevin could knock, he felt Ria tug on his arm. He turned to look down at her ready to say something cute and quirky, but judging by the expression on her face now was so not the time for it.

“What?” he couldn’t help but ask seeing the scowl that spread over her sexy features. She reached out to the center of his chest pulling on the collar of a t-shirt they’d had to pick up at a local Wal-mart on the way over after she‘d destroyed his last night. She balled up the material in her fingers tugging him towards her. He winked at her before grinning again, “Careful, you don’t want to tear this one.”

She opened her mouth to complain, but she thought twice of it. Releasing his shirt, she curled her finger for him to move in closer to her.

Indulging her, he leaned in ever so slightly, his big, brown eyes curiously amused, “Yes, what can I do for you?”

“Seth knows nothing about last night,” she warned him sharply, “No one knows nothing about last night.”

“Or this morning you mean?” Kevin wiggled his brow at her, a grin teasing over his ever-so-kissable lips, “Then I suppose now shouldn’t be the time for me to tell you how sexy you look laying next to me in nothing at all especially after I…”

“Kevin,” Ria practically squealed, her cheeks growing flushed as the door to Seth’s apartment swung wide open.

“I thought I heard voices out here,” Seth greeted them with a quick nod. He turned to Ria taking note of the color on her face and he moved forward to reach out to her, “Ria, you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m um, fine,” Ria blurted out pushing her way past Kevin while making a beeline for Seth’s now open door. “I ran into your cousin out here in the hallway and he was being obnoxious.”

“Kevin, when are you going to learn?” Seth shook his head at Kevin, “Giving her a hard time isn’t going to get you anywhere.”

“Oh I don’t know if I’d go that far,” Kevin spoke up in a mocking tone watching Ria pace around the apartment in an attempt to keep cool about the situation, “Last I remembered Ria liked things hard…well in terms of time that is.”

“Stifle it Adonis,” Ria grumbled back at him hearing Blake walk out from the bathroom. She smiled at Ria before offering a wave.

“Good morning,” Blake greeted her cheerfully before noticing Kevin across the room. Her grin widened quite a bit, “Well hello handsome. It’s good to see you this morning.”

“It’s good to be here Blake,” Kevin replied hugging her, though he found himself unable to keep his eyes off of Ria. There was just something about her when she stood before him clearly uncomfortable. Sure, he had no intentions of dropping the news on Seth about what had taken place last night, but in just watching her squirm it brought forth images of the other ways he’d done just that the previous night. Smiling inwardly, Kevin released Blake, “I came over as soon as Seth called. I hear it’s been one hell of a night.”

“That doesn’t even begin to cover it,” Blake began glancing over at Ria, “I didn’t know that Seth called you too.”

“Well he didn’t, but I saw the news about Cameron on the television and I thought I’d come over and check things out. I ran into Kevin in the hallway and he sort of filled me in on what’s going on,” Ria explained quickly hoping her answer would be more than appropriate considering.

“I’ll tell you what happened last night. All hell broke loose and the devil himself was given a second chance,” Seth snapped his cool and collected demeanor giving way to his anger, “They just let him go without really taking the time to see him for the manipulator he truly is. They say he’s innocent, but I know he has to have Jade stashed somewhere. His whole offering up all access to the police had to be staged. He didn’t say a word when they took him into custody, but now he’s willing to cooperate. That just doesn’t seem right. Knowing Cameron he’s taken the time to move Jade to some isolated place where we’ll never find her again…”

“If he even tried that, then we’ll find her,” Kevin promised thinking to the island Angela was on. He didn’t think that Cameron was stupid enough to send Jade there, but if he had Kevin would find a way to bring her home untouched. “We’re going to find her Seth and when we do the guilty party is going to pay. You have to keep believing that.”

“I do, but…” Seth started as Blake’s phone started to ring. He looked over to her.

“Sorry,” she apologized fishing out her phone from her pocket and answering in a small breath, “Look it’s not the best time. Can I call you back?”

“As I was saying…” Seth started again only to hear a gasp fall from Blake’s lips.

“What? When? Oh my God,” Blake blurted out clearly horrified. “Of course. I’m going to be right there.”

“Blake, what is it,” Seth questioned reaching out to touch her shoulder gently, “What’s wrong?”

“It’s Kenny. He’s in the hospital,” she confessed tearfully, “He just collapsed at the mansion last night and Annie said he had some kind of heart attack or something. There’s no word on his condition and…”

“Say no more,” Seth replied with a nod, “We’ll get right over there.”

“Thank you. I’ll just go get my purse,” Blake decided going back into the bedroom as Seth turned to Kevin and Ria.

“I’m sorry. I hate to just leave like this considering…” Seth started to apologize as Blake rushed out of the bedroom.

“Hey coz, I understand. Family first,” Kevin nodded patting Seth on the shoulder before Seth and Blake rushed to the door.

“You two can stay here if you like. Just lock up before you go…” Seth’s words flew back at Kevin and Ria as he was halfway out the door.

“Oh we’re not…” Ria started to explain only to be met by the sounds of the door closing. She spun around to glare at Kevin, her anger bubbling, “What did you think you were doing?”

“What,” he questioned innocently, his dark eyes full of mischief, “I wasn’t doing anything. I don’t know what you’re so worked up about.”

“You know exactly what you were doing. We agreed that we weren’t telling Seth or anyone about last night because what happened is not ever happening again, but no, you had to go and make a fool of me,” she yelled at him, attempting to keep her voice down, but failing miserably.

“Hey I didn’t say anything to him. You’re the one practically giving it all away,” he reminded her pointedly.

“I did not. You were the one making all the suggestive comments and…” she paused catching his amusement in all of this, “Do you think this is some kind of joke?”

“No, I don’t. In fact, I don’t think there was anything funny about last night,” Kevin paused scratching his chin lightly, “Well except for that one moment in time when you and I kind of got a little carried away there and your bed broke, but I must say I was rather impressed with our recovery. We didn‘t really miss a beat during the fall and after…”

“Shut up!” Ria squealed in response, “Just stop it Kevin. Do you have any idea how horrible that sounds? Here we are coming over to comfort Seth at one of the worst possible times of his life and all you can think about was the amazing sex we had last night.”

“Amazing,” Kevin repeated scratching his chin once again, “Yeah, that was most certainly one way of putting it.”

“Oh I give up,” Ria threw her hands up in the air before marching towards the front door as well.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going?”

“I’m leaving,” she announced casting a glance over her shoulder at him before glaring, “So don’t forget to lock up when you leave.”

“Ria wait,” Kevin stepped forward feeling her slam the door in his face. He pulled it open ready to chase after her when he remembered that he hadn’t locked it. He rushed back over to the door, quickly locking it up before sprinting towards the elevators just in time to push his foot between the closing doors. They sprung open much to Ria’s dismay.

“Ria, look,” Kevin began noticing the way her eyes narrowed with anger as he stepped in beside her. Her arms were crossed over the front of her chest defensively and she turned to look in the other direction.

“Save it Kevin,” she huffed feeling him move in closer to her. She sidestepped his attempt to reach her before moving in front of him eager to get out of the elevator as soon as it hit the first floor. Then as she thought back to what he’d almost revealed at Seth’s place she spun around to glare at him, “No you look Adonis. You had no right to tease me like that. You had no right to drop hints about…”

“Oh would you just shut up Ria,” Kevin groaned taking one quick step forward to pull her into his arms again. His mouth dropped down to hers devouring the angry words that fell from her lips. He kissed her heatedly reminding her all of the reasons why their little secret had been wonderfully delicious for them last night. He felt the elevator move downward, but as she was in his arms, it was her hands over his body that had his head spinning.

“Do you really think…that I could keep this all to myself, when it feels so good…” Kevin questioned pushing her forward into the elevator wall. He felt her leg curl up around his body squeezing him closer to her. She arched up against him, a desperate breath escaping her lips.

“We’re just friends Kevin. That’s all we’ve ever been and that’s all we really should be,” Ria explained in a low, shallow pant, her hands moving in underneath his t-shirt as he held her.

“Yeah. Friends,” Kevin nodded reaching out to push the stop button on the elevator before discarding his shirt. He felt her gaze drop down to his full, muscular chest. Without another word, her hands were over him, her long, slender fingers tracing over his tattoos before centering in over his belt to unhook it. His brown eyes met hers doubtful. “Right.”

“This is a really bad time for me Kevin. This is horrible timing in fact,” she continued leaning forward to lay hot, wet kisses over the center of his chest loving the taste of his ever so perfect body.

“It’s horrible timing,” he agreed pulling her shirt up over her head before discarding it.

“We’re just friends Kevin,” she warned wiggling her finger in front of his face, “This can’t keep happening between us because friends really shouldn’t…”

“Oh yes they should,” he hoisted her up into his arms kissing her as if he’d never stop. He felt her body respond to him from her lips down to her toes as her legs curled around him. He pressed in against her, his hard lines longing to get lost in her softness all over again.

“Kevin…this is never happening again,” Ria mouthed feeling his thick finger flick open the clasp on her bra before he leaned forward to collect the material between his teeth.

Once he’d gotten a firm grasp on the lace, he pulled back watching her arms slide down as the bra fell freely from her body. He let out a small laugh. She tore the material from his teeth before discarding it to the elevator floor.

“You’re insane. I hope you realize that,” she hissed sliding to her feet again. He didn’t say a word but rather kissed her to silence again and again taking the time to do what was necessary to alleviate the barriers between them.

“This is never happening again Kevin,” Ria explained halfheartedly unzipping his pants and watching in awe as they fell to the floor with a small whoosh.

“Of course not Ria,” Kevin smirked seeing his desire mirrored behind her eyes. Yeah, okay so there were a million and one reasons why this wouldn‘t work out. Why Ria had a point, but as she stood naked before him, her body covered in nothing more than her lust for him, Kevin realized there was a very damn good reason why he wanted to continue with this one. As he pulled her into his arms ready to live out one of his fantasies in an elevator with her, he made a small, halfhearted promise of his own, “Never, ever again…”

“As long as we’ve got that one clear,” she murmured drinking another kiss from his lips determined to do what she could to enjoy her elevator ride with Kevin Adonis in more ways than she’d ever imagined possible.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Deidra, hey have you heard anything yet,” Brant questioned seeing her walking down the hallway.

“Brant, hey I was looking for you,” Deidra confessed thinking about her latest trip to the lab. The tech confirmed what she’d thought to be true.

“They haven’t said anything on Ken other than he’s stable and still out of it. They mentioned that you were working on something…that you’d uncovered some kind of information,” Brant continued to probe her for information.

“I did and it’s something I think you should know,” Deidra explained drawing in a breath, “You see I’ve had this feeling for a while…”

“What kind of feeling?” Avery questioned touching Brant’s arm and holding onto him supportively. She knew how hard he was taking everything as it seemed that the hits just kept on coming. “What’s happening with Ken?”

“The last time he was in the hospital, I just thought that something wasn’t right. I did some blood work on him and there was something in his results,” Deidra informed them worry sweeping in over her, “You see there was some kind of substance that I couldn’t quite get a read on. I hadn’t seen anything like that ever, but something told me to keep looking. Then last night when Kyle Houston came in, it finally dawned in on me…”

“Wait a second,” Brant held his hand out in the air, “Are you saying what happened to Kyle is somehow connected to Ken?”

“In a round about way yes,” Deidra nodded in confession, “You see Kyle and Ken both had similar test results in the sense they both had the same unidentified substance in their blood. Turns out that what it was they had was some kind of experimental drug that was rejected by Stone Corporation. It’s more lengthy and detailed then that, but the gist of it was that someone drugged the both of them.”

“What?” Avery’s jaw practically dropped, “Are you saying that…”

“That not only did Susan drug Kyle, but she drugged my brother,” Brant felt as if he’d been kicked in the stomach at that realization. “Deidra, just what was this drug?”

“I’m not sure, but from what my friend dug up on the reports, the drug was rejected because of it’s side effects. It was said to cause hostility, aggression, loss of muscle control and…” Deidra began to list the various warnings that had been associated with the drug.

“Oh my God. How long ago did you take Ken’s blood tests?” Brant needed to know.

“When he was in his car accident. His levels were off the charts, but when I tried to talk to him about it, he was no where to be found. I knew something had to be driving Ken to this and I suspect that having harbored the drug in his body for so very long without having something to counteract it, it served as a poison kind of festering inside and…” Deidra continued.

“Causing him to do things that he wouldn’t normally do. Oh my God, Brant if Susan drugged Ken and that’s why he’s done what he’s…” Avery’s face grew white with the realization, “This changes everything, doesn’t it?”

“In ways I never thought possible,” Brant nodded fearing what this could mean to his brother’s future. Somehow everything he thought he knew about the situation had changed and he was left with a feeling of uncertainty--a feeling that things may be working towards taking a turn for the worst after all.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Susan slowly walked back into her apartment, making sure that Kyle and Sarah still weren’t there. Her stomach was still hurting from where Sarah had kicked her earlier, but Sarah was going to be paying for what she did. Very soon.

“Where is that number?” Susan questioned throwing papers off her table until finding a little piece of paper beneath a book. “Here it is.”

She quickly got up to her feet and walked over towards her phone, dialing the number in quickly. Sure, it was a little to early to be calling this guy, but she needed it done.

“Susan,” a man answered, taking in a deep breath, “What are you doing calling me already.”

“Marvin, I need you to do it as soon as possible--no more waiting,” Susan demanded, clenching her fist tightly, “That little bitch is going to be paying for what she did to me.”

“Are you sure you want it done this early?” Marvin questioned, grabbing a hat from his couch, putting it on.

“Of course I am,” Susan protested, shaking her head slowly, “I wouldn’t be calling you if I wasn’t sure.”

“Alright, it will be done,” Marvin agreed before hanging up on the phone with Susan.

“Susan Hastings,” someone called out from behind Susan making her turn around surprised to see two police officers in front of her, “You are under arrest.”

“Oh, please,” Susan frowned, shaking her head slowly knowing that Sarah had called the police. At first, she didn’t think that Sarah would even have the guts to do something like that. Actually, she never thought that Sarah would do something like that. “That bitch was the one who fought with me. I want to press charges against Sarah.”

“That’s not why you are being arrested,” the officer informed her, grabbing her wrists and pulling them behind her before putting on the cuffs. “This is happening because of those little drugs you like to play with. Oh yeah, it’s also for forcing yourself on someone.”

“What?” Susan asked surprised, can’t believing what she had just heard. “I didn’t do anything wrong so don’t even think about reading me my rights. I know them already.”

“Whether you did it or not, you are still going to hear them,” the officer ordered, making her walk towards the door.

“I didn’t do anything,” Susan protested once more, trying to move her wrists, “Damn that Sarah Marx.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

...to be continued...