“What was that?” Ben questioned catching Diane in a moment of not so silent contemplation. “Diane, what’s going on?”

“Nothing I was just thinking about everything. I was mumbling to myself and…” she spun around to face him her fears mounting by the moment. She thought of Deidra’s warnings--about her sister telling Diane to just give Ben the truth, but after all that had happened the truth just didn’t feel appropriate at a time like this.

“And?” Ben arched a curious brow walking towards her.

“I can’t stop thinking about Jade,” Diane admitted remembering the other thoughts that plagued her, “When I think about how one day she was here and we were always together, to coming to the place we’re at now… I just never thought I’d lose her like that. She’s so important to me and we should be sharing these times. I should have her here with me planning for our wedding--for our family and sharing the news about everything with her.”

“I know sweetheart,” Ben kissed the top of Diane’s head pulling her into his arms, “and I’m sorry that you don’t have that. I’m sorry that we lost her. If I could do anything to change that…”

“I wish there was a way we could,” she snuggled into his chest feeling the warmth of him surrounding her. She closed her eyes thinking about all the things they’d promised one another--the dreams they’d planned and as she remembered JT’s presence at Jade’s funeral--with the way he’d lashed out at her, it caused her to get choked up.

“Hey,” Ben lifted her chin urging her to meet his eyes, “it’s going to be okay. We’ll find a way through this.”

“I hope so,” she hugged him tighter knowing that he was thinking about losing Jade. Sure, that was on the top of her mind, but Diane wondered as well if she could truly find a way to keep from losing him as well. If he ever found out about JT and he thought for a second that she’d lied to him--that she’d betrayed him, she was certain she would lose him as well. It was a fate she didn’t want to have happen. She had to find a way to stop it--had to make sure that day never came. Ben could never know what happened between her and JT. Never!

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

“Get off of me,” Dean shuddered beneath Dave once again having had enough of Dave’s bullying tactics. Dave didn’t seem to argue as he moved up off of the ground. He pulled Dean up with him before Deidra stepped out onto the lawn horror registering over her features.

“Dave, what are you doing?” she gasped in horror watching Dave take the handcuffs off of Dean. “He tried to kill me!”

“No, I didn’t,” Dean argued with her, his dark eyes pleading for a chance to explain, “Deidra I…”

“Save it! I know what kind of sick man you are. I saw the pictures and…” Deidra took a shaking, shuddering step back.

“He’s telling the truth Deidra. He didn’t try to kill you,” Dave held out Dean’s wallet for her inspection. Carly took a close look at it before Deidra moved forward cautiously. Her eyes fell upon Dean’s identification and a squeal fell from her lips.

“No, this can’t be right. It can’t be true,” Deidra shook her head in a state of disbelief. She stumbled a bit further back before her eyes shot to Dean. “That can’t be true!”

“Deidra, I wanted to tell you. So many times I wanted to tell you the truth before now, but I couldn’t. I was undercover--deep cover for the last few years,” Dean explained with a pained expression, pulling his hands out in front of him after Dave had finished uncuffing him. “They put me in the hospital when they thought that there was a possibility that Mathis was the man we were after…”

“You mean that all this time you knew what he was? You were aware of him being some kind of madman?” Dave’s eyes widened in shock at the fact that he and his department had been kept in the dark about everything.

“It was something we weren’t sure about. Given how high profile the case was, they wanted someone on the inside. They wanted me to come into the hospital and infiltrate it if you will,” Dean began to explain his position, a dizzying heat followed by a shuddering chill pressed over him. “I came to Coral Valley looking for a serial murderer who had a very violent, yet medical history. I was told not to let anyone know my true identity. I couldn’t risk compromising the mission…”

“So what? Then I was just part of a mission,” Deidra hissed back at him unable to believe what she was hearing. “Is that what this was about?”

“No,” Dean shook his head taking a shaky step forward, “Deidra, I never intended to get involved with you. When I came to town I was supposed to keep an eye on Mathis--at the time we’d suspected that it was another man on staff who was doing the murders. Bruce had the perfect cover, but then when he tried to kill Avery Morrison…”

“Then what?” Dave questioned harshly finding himself annoyed by what was going on.

“It was complicated,” Dean waved his hand dismissively at Dave, “But Deidra, it doesn’t change how I feel about you. It doesn’t change what happened between us. It doesn’t…”

“It changes everything,” Deidra argued with him, “and what about the woman? What about the woman in the photos? The one whose necklace I found? The one you lied to me about?”

“Deidra I…” Dean sucked in a breath his hand clasping over his abdomen, “She was…she was my sister…”

“What?” her jaw dropped, “You mean that you…”

“Bruce killed my sister,” Dean confided openly his eyes clouding over with mixed emotions, “When I was getting too close--back in New York--he sought her out. She was just another victim on his list, but to me she was my family--my own flesh and blood and I couldn’t let that go unpunished.”

“Why weren’t you reassigned? It’s obvious you were too close to the case if your sister was a victim,” Dave replied doubtful.

“Because I was already in too deep. I couldn’t turn back. I’d invested the last eight years of my life on this one case. I couldn’t walk away even after he’d made this personal,” Dean revealed painfully dropping his head down, “I had no choice.”

“So what? You thought you’d use me to get to him?” Deidra squealed at him, “That you’d lie and seduce me to bait your man?”

“No, Deidra I swear I didn’t know anything about you and Bruce until Shannon told me. She mentioned that Dave had asked her to keep an eye on you. She filled me in on what happened on the island and after that I’d been keeping an eye on you.”

“You were spying on me?” she questioned with a huff, “How dare you think you could…”

“Wait a second. Shannon was in on this? She knew about your involvement in this investigation?” Dave blurted out stunned forgetting about the issues between Dean and Deidra momentarily.

Dean nodded, “She’s been my partner for the last five years. When she told me that Bruce had targeted Deidra, I had no choice but to move in. That night in the lot when he’d attacked her, I was watching her--setting up surveillance in the event that he tried to finish what he started…”

“So what? You were just there because you were spying on me? You were invading my privacy in the hopes of finding your man?” she threw her hands in the air lost in a state of disgust. “How could you use me like that?”

“I wasn’t using you. Yes, I admit I had a job to you, but what I told you before was the truth. When I first met you, I knew there was something special about you. There was something about this case that I couldn’t walk away from, yet when I fell for you…” Dean’s eyes grew wide and his mouth opened in a surprised o-shape.

“What?” Deidra demanded harshly ready to lash out at him for his obvious betrayal, but when he took one step forward, he fell to the ground.

“Oh my God,” Carly gasped pushing forward to kneel down beside the man on her front lawn. She saw the blood in the front of his shirt and looked up to her husband. “You’d better call for an ambulance. He’s still losing a lot of blood.”

“Of course,” Dave nodded turning to Deidra, “I’ll see what I can do. You call for help. Deidra? Deidra?”

“What?” she replied snapping out of her daze long enough to see Dean on the ground in need of her help. Still as she thought of how he’d lied to her--how he’d lead her to believe something that wasn’t real, she found herself frozen in the moment not sure what to believe any longer.

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

“This was really nice,” Trisha smiled, looking over at Michael who walked by her side.

“Yeah, it was,” Michael agreed with a small smirk, “I had a nice time today. We should do it again sometime.”

“Maybe we should,” Trisha nodded before thinking for a moment, “It was nice of you to walk me home.”

“Well, you know,” he thought for a moment before shrugging his shoulders, “I remember how worried you were the first day I met you and I didn’t want you to face something like that.”

“I’m pretty sure I will be fine,” she tried to assure herself with a small sigh, “I guess you could say I just get a little worried at the smallest things. Anyways, I just wanted to thank you for what you did that day. You hardly even knew me and you still helped me out. Most people would have looked at me like I was a freak or something.”

“I didn’t think anything like that Trisha,” Michael shook his head, a small frown spreading across his features, “I’m not really that kind of guy.”

“I can see that,” she pointed with a small smile as he looked over towards her, “I can tell that you are the type of guy that likes to be nice. You know, you don’t use people’s emotions against them. You seem like a very intelligent man who knows how to handle things nicely and I like that about you.”

“Thanks, I think,” he chuckled before shaking his head, “Sometimes girls think that is a little too much. You know being smart and caring. I am kind of quiet so a lot of people probably don’t like that, but you know. I keep moving on.”

“I think most girls are stupid,” she declared with a small laugh, “I mean really Michael, you are going to find the right girl for you one day and I think when that day comes--you are going to be very happy with that one special woman.”

“Yeah, I hope to think so,” he shook his head slowly before feeling himself become a little bit uncomfortable, “I just think I am not that lucky.”

“You are, you just won’t be if you don’t believe in yourself,” she smiled, reaching out to squeeze his arm gently, “Believe me Michael, when you are happy with someone, you will realize I was right. That woman will be very lucky to have you, you’re a great guy.”

“Thank you,” Michael felt a bit of heat over his cheeks as he looked away from her, “You know, maybe we should do this again sometime. It might be fun.”

“I’d like that,” Trisha admitted with a small smile, “Thanks for everything today Michael. It was really nice.”

“Anytime,” he shrugged, looking up into her dark eyes, “I don’t get out much, so I liked to change.”

“You know what that means?” she questioned, watching as he shook his head slowly. “It means that is going to change now that you met me.”

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

“I guess this night turned out a little better than I imagined it would,” Ria admitted taking a seat on her couch as she watched Kevin stand in front of her, “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m just thinking,” Kevin replied with a small sigh, “We have to thank Trisha for everything she has done tonight. If it wasn’t for her, I would have probably been upset all night long thinking of things that would just make me feel worse. I appreciate everything she did.”

“It was very nice of her,” Ria agreed, looking up into Kevin’s intense brown eyes, “It was nice to see you smile a little bit. You know, it’s always nice to know that someone could do that around this time. I didn’t think it was possible.”

“Ria, you know that you could make me smile any day,” he insisted with a small frown, reaching out to grab her hand in his gently, “I think I need to tell you something that has been on my mind for a very long time.”

“Uh oh,” Ria frowned, looking away from him, “This is always where the relationship goes wrong. When someone says, we have to talk. That’s not good.”

“No, no,” Kevin shook his head quickly, letting out a small chuckle, “It’s not even close to being bad Ria. I was actually kind of hoping that you would like this.”

“Really?” she questioned, looking up at him with a small smirk. “Go back to what you were saying.”

“Well,” Kevin began, thinking for a long moment before going on, “You see, there has been a lot on my mind lately and I just can’t hold it in anymore Ria. You have been here for me throughout this whole thing, you were always by my side. I never thought that you cared for a long time, but you did.”

“I always cared Kevin,” she insisted with a small frown, seeing him shrug his shoulders, “You should have known that. I have always cared.”

“Well, I guess you could say that I was a little too blind to notice for a while,” Kevin sighed deeply before going on to what he was saying, “I remember when we were younger, we were very close. I know this is going to sound a little ridiculous, but there is one memory I have of us when we were kids. It was when my frog died and I was really upset. I stood hours in front of that box hoping that my frog was just sleeping, but it wasn’t. Ria, I remember how upset I was when I found out he really died. You were the only person who could make me feel better. You were the one person that could truly make me smile. I didn’t want to listen to anyone, but when you came around you brightened my day.”

“Oh god, you were a wreck Kevin,” Ria chuckled seeing him nod slowly, “I felt so bad for you. I had to do something or you were going to be upset for a very long time.”

“I know, but even then you were there for me throughout everything,” Kevin pointed out with a small frown as he shook his head slowly, “I never would have thought that all these years later you would be right here for me doing the same thing you did for me back then. Ria, I have to admit something to you. Something that I should have admitted a long time ago. Something I once said when I was around the age of six when I gave you that wrapper and asked you to be my girlfriend.”

“I wore that wrapper around my finger for like ever,” Ria chuckled, feeling his thumb run over the top of her hand gently, “I used to have the like the biggest crush on you when I was a kid and it was like the biggest crush I ever had.”

“Same goes for me Ria,” Kevin stated with a small laugh, thinking for a moment, “I guess what I am trying to tell you is…I love you Ria. I have for a very, very long time and I just kept trying to ignore what I felt inside. I was afraid that we couldn’t be together, so I pushed all of this aside hoping that one day those feelings would just up and disappear. I know this sounds kind of pathetic, but when I was a teenager I always had dreams about us you know. I thought that we could be happy together. I used always think I would have it made in the sun when I got older because I always thought I would have you Ria. Then I made some mistakes and that life I dreamed about kind of just disappeared right before me. Now, I have a second chance. A second chance to finally have what I haven’t had in a long time and that’s happiness. I have never felt this close to someone in a long time Ria and with you--all I seem to feel is happiness. I want that feeling to last so long. I couldn’t wait any longer to tell you that I love you.”

“I love you too Kevin,” Ria admitted with a small smile, standing up to wrap her arms around his neck tightly, “You were the only person that I wish I could have done things right with.”

“Now we have that second chance we have always wanted Ria,” Kevin whispered, running his thumb over her cheek lightly, “I don’t want to waste this chance. I’m not going to let you slip through again.”

“I won’t,” she promised with a small smirk as she pulled him down to kiss him slowly. “You don’t have to worry about any of that Kevin. I promise.”

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

“Kyle please,” Sarah begged of the man she loved watching him fall to pieces right before her very eyes. She’d thought she’d seen madness the night that Susan had drugged Kyle, but it paled in comparison to what she was witnessing right before her very eyes. Over and over again Kyle kicked at Grady, slamming his steel-toed boot into Grady’s abdomen. Grady made a low, sputtering sound as he tried to pick himself up off of the ground. He crawled forward only to get kicked by Kyle again.

“Stop it!” Avery rushed forward trying to put herself between Grady and Kyle. Despite the madness burning behind Kyle’s eyes she dared to brave the space between them. “Kyle stop!”

“Avery I’m not going to ask you twice,” Kyle warned her sharply, his eyes giving way to his insanity. “Get out of my way! This doesn’t concern you!”

“The hell it doesn’t,” Avery stood up to him, her dark eyes defiant and bold doing their best to shield her fears at this moment in time in being in such a tentative position, “I’m not going to sit back and let you kill Grady for something that wasn’t his fault.”

“Get out of my way Avery,” Kyle repeated throwing out one last warning before moving in towards her.

“No,” Avery shoved her hand in the center of his chest causing him to buckle backwards a bit. “You’re not going to do this.”

“He killed her Avery. He killed my child. He knew she was having my baby and yet he let her die!” Kyle sneered down at her, “He’s the reason that I lost everything.”

“You didn’t lose everything,” Avery tried to reason with him, catching security approaching out of the corner of her eye, “Susan manipulated you. She lied and…”

“I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to hear about his flimsy excuses,” Kyle cut her off abruptly clenching his fists at his sides, “Now this is the last time I’m going to be polite Avery. Get out of my way or else I will have no problems finishing this with you right there.”

“I won’t let you kill him,” Avery shouted back at him, defiant in her stance.

“I don’t think you’re hearing me Avery,” Kyle reached out to her yanking on her arm harshly and shoving her aside.

“Get your hands off of her,” Grady sneered in response lunging towards Kyle and pounding into the center of his abdomen. Before anyone could say anything the two men were on the floor in a more even fight. There were flailing limbs and fists all in a blur, but that did nothing to change the horror that surrounded everyone.

“Avery,” Brant rushed over to his wife after having watched her stumble into the wall with Kyle’s shove. “Are you okay?”

She nodded, “I’m fine, but he can’t kill Grady. They can’t do this.”

“Kyle,” Sarah was shouting his name, but it did no good. She found herself lost in the moment, frozen by her fears until five security guards came up and tore Kyle and Grady off of one another. Kyle fought it every step of the way kicking and screaming at Grady, who in return did the same.

“She was lying to you man. Get it through your head that she didn’t deserve your pity. She didn’t deserve your concerns!” Grady snapped back at Kyle breathlessly blood pooling at the corner of his mouth. “She got what she had coming to her!”

“My child didn’t deserve this! My child had a right to live!” Kyle replied with a sneer, “I had a right to be a father, but you stole that from me. You took it away from me!”

“Susan stole my family from me. She stole my life away from me and she needed to pay for that!” Grady argued with him as all eyes were on the two men.

“Back off both of you,” security ordered pulling Kyle to one end of the hall and Grady to the other.

Brant stood in the center of the room watching everything unfold before him. He saw Avery go over to Grady in an attempt to calm him down. His eyes averted over to where Sarah stood at Kyle’s side trying to get him to control himself. He could see it was a losing battle on Sarah’s end as Kyle shoved her aside and stomped off to the elevators leaving a whirlwind of madness behind him.

Brant turned to Avery again seeing her argue with Grady. It was obvious that Grady was still fired up even after having been pounded, but Brant knew Avery could take control of the situation. Her little intrusion no doubt saved Grady’s life just now, but still there was something more to think about.

Brant looked over to Sarah seeing her break down in tears. Kyle hadn’t thought about her--he hadn’t stuck around to try to let her talk him down. He’d been hurting and in turn Sarah had seen the man she loved in a place she never imagined he’d be. Brant’s heart went out to her. He stepped in closer to her knowing that right now she needed a shoulder to cry on.

“Sarah,” Brant touched her shoulder tentatively causing her to jump in surprise, “hey…”

Sarah didn’t say anything, just looked at him with a pained expression before he pulled her into an embrace. He thought of Kyle’s rage--of the hell that had come to earth in this hallway and he realized that life as everyone knew it would never be the same again.

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

Nick sat up quickly in bed, seeing nothing but darkness around him. He just woke up from a dream, a very real dream that had his body tied up in knots. His heart was racing and all his thoughts were tied as he began to worry more and more. Something wasn’t right--he could just feel it.

“Nick?” Angela turned on the light quickly after hearing Nick wake up. “Is something wrong? Are you okay?”

“Something is wrong,” Nick answered, looking around the room. He felt as if someone he cared about was hurting. It was like he could feel that pain that someone was holding deep inside of them. “Something is seriously wrong.”

“Where are you going?” she questioned as he got out of the bed quickly to push the blind away from the window to look outside into the night. “Nick, you’re scaring me.”

“I’m scaring myself too Angela,” Nick replied, turning around to look at her. The look she had on her face was a worried expression, “I feel pain and a lot of it.”

“Are you hurt? Where is the pain?” Angela questioned after quickly getting out of the bed to check on him as he motioned her to sit back down.

“I’m not hurt, it’s not me,” he replied with a deep frown, remembering his dream. “I had a dream and I knew it was someone I cared about Angela. I felt so much pain, like something bad was happening right at this moment. I felt angered and upset. Something is wrong, I can just feel it.”

“It was only a dream,” Angela hushed him with a small frown, walking up to rest her hands on his shoulders lightly, “It was a nightmare. It wasn’t real.”

“It felt so real though,” Nick protested with a deep sigh, “I could feel the pain throughout my whole body. It felt as if I was right there. I know something is going on.”

“Dreams make you think like that--believe me, I have had plenty of those in my life,” Angela sighed, motioning him to follow her back to the bed, “I think what you need to do is just rest and try to forget about it. It’s only a dream.”

“It felt so real Angela,” he admitted once more, shaking his head slowly, “I think maybe you should call Kevin to make sure everything is okay.”

“It was Kevin that was in your dream?” Angela questioned worriedly seeing Nick shrug his shoulders. “Do you really think I need to call Kevin now?”

“I don’t know if it was Kevin, all I know is that what I was feeling was extreme pain Angela,” he explained with a small frown, “I really think you should just call Kevin. I hope it wasn’t him I was dreaming about.”

“Okay,” Angela nodded, reaching out to grab her cell phone, “I’ll call Kevin to make sure everything is okay.”

“Thanks,” Nick sighed, running his hands through his hair worriedly. What he felt couldn’t have been a dream, it was too real to be a dream.

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

Dave pushed through the doors of the hospital corridor eager to get Dean into the emergency room. He’d been alerted that Don was on his way to take care of Dean and as they rounded the corner Dave saw Don motioning for the orderlies to wheel Dean into one of the rooms. Watching them disappear with Dean, Dave felt a great many questions in the back of his mind--things that he himself needed answered.

“What’s going on here?” Shannon asked rushing up to Dave as she’d only heard a bare minimum about what had happened.

“Shannon,” Dave spun around to face her, his jaw clenched with anger and frustration, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you what?” she blinked back at him, “Dave what happened? What’s going on? Don said there was an emergency and…”

“And your partner got himself in over his head tonight,” Dave threw a glare down at her, “You know the partner that you failed to mention--the partner that you threw on Deidra without telling any of us…”

Shannon’s eyes widened in realization, “Oh my God. Are you trying to tell me that Dean’s the one that Don is working on and…”

“That’s right,” Dave nodded further, “He found himself injured in the line of duty considering that no one was aware of who he was. Why didn’t you tell me about your having him watch Deidra?”

“I didn’t think it mattered,” Shannon shrugged her shoulders, “You said you wanted her safe and I knew she was safe with him.”

“So you sent him to her--let him deceive her and seduce her all in the name of keeping her safe?” Dave threw back at her harshly, “Tell me Shannon was that about keeping her safe like I asked you to do or more so about you and Dean solving the case since you both have vested personal interests in this one?”

“I never let my personal feelings get the best of me in the case and neither did Dean. He’s a good agent and if anything happens to him,” Shannon turned her eyes to the double doors before her. Her worries mounted as she thought about her partner, “What happened to him tonight? Where was he?”

“On a vacation with Deidra,” Dave blurted out watching the color drain from Shannon’s face.

“Are you telling me that Mathis went after her again? Did he go after them while they were away and…” Shannon’s mind was reeling with possibilities as she thought of the latest string of victims where Bruce was concerned.

“No Shannon. Your little partner got himself in over his head by viewing crime scene photos in front of Deidra. He was stupid enough to think that he could keep up the charade while manipulating her emotions and…” Dave started in an accusatory tone.

“Wait a second,” Shannon tilted her head up to look at him, “Are you telling me that tonight Bruce found them and attacked them while they were away? That he was doing some research and Bruce snuck in and hurt them? Is Deidra okay? Did Bruce hurt her?”

“No Shannon. Bruce wasn’t there, but your idiot partner didn’t think to tell Deidra the truth. When she saw the crime scene photos and Dean, she did the math and…” Dave was no where near being able to finish his word when Carly and Deidra rounded the corner of the hallway. He was about to lay into Shannon about her lies and how she’d deceived him, but before he got the opportunity realization dawned in over Shannon’s features.

“She did this, didn’t she?” Shannon’s questioned harshly, “Deidra’s the one who put him here tonight, isn’t she?”

“Shannon I don’t think that’s relevant at this point in time given that you and Dean lied about…” Dave began to chastise her but his words were lost as Shannon spun on her heel darting down the hallway towards Deidra.

“It’s going to be okay,” Carly tried to reason with Deidra knowing that she was still in a state of shock over what had happened with Dean. She’d been silent on the way over, but it was obvious that she was in a state of turmoil over the situation.

“No, it’s not okay. I stabbed him tonight. I could’ve killed him and…” Deidra stammered a bit only to feel a harsh yank on her arm.

“That’s what I thought you did you stupid bitch,” Shannon sneered at her, all of her anger pooling up and inside of her. She reached for Deidra slamming her into the wall before her fist struck Deidra right square across the face sending her head spinning with that one bold movement.

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

“Hey,” Brant frowned letting Sarah out of his embrace, reaching out wipe the tears away from her eyes lightly, “Everything is going to be okay Sarah.”

“How could you say that Brant?” she questioned with a small sigh, feeling him reach out to take her hand in his gently. “Can you obviously think that after all of this everything is going to be back to normal.”

“I really don’t know,” Brant shrugged with a small frown, hating to see the way that Sarah was acting, “All we can do is wish for the best right now.”

“I think the best was just shown right in front of us,” Sarah sniffed, trying to get past the tears that were burning out her eyes, “Kyle has lost it. I have never seen him like this before.”

“He’ll be okay,” Brant promised with an assuring tone, hoping to god he was right, “He just needs some time to calm down. He just feels hurt and needs some time to think. He’ll be better.”

“I don’t see that happening anytime soon,” Sarah replied, feeling Brant squeeze her hand in his tightly, “I have never seen Kyle like this before. It’s like he is a completely different man. That was his best friend that he just blew up on. The one man that Kyle trusted most in life.”

“That one man that he feels betrayed him right now,” Brant pointed out, shaking his head slowly, “I have to feel for Kyle right now. I mean, what Grady did was wrong Sarah. I don’t know if what Susan told Kyle was true, but it should have been the thought that counted.”

“I could understand him being angered Brant, but,” her words were trailed off by the tears that had returned. She felt Brant pull her into his arms once more as she rested her head against his chest.

“Don’t worry Sarah,” he hushed, running his hand through her blonde hair lightly, “I know that everything somehow is going to work itself out. If you keep letting this get you so worried, you are going to make yourself sick and you don’t need that. You don’t need that at all.”

“Sarah,” Brant heard someone call out Sarah’s name, unfortunately it wasn’t Kyle coming back to tell her everything was okay. It was Diego running over towards them.

“Diego,” Sarah looked up from Brant’s embrace to see Diego rushing over towards them, “What are you doing here?”

“I heard what happened and I came down here,” Diego informed her after seeing Brant let her out of his embrace, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Sarah assured him with a small frown, wiping a few more tears from her eyes, “Something is really wrong.”

“Diego, can you stay with her for a minute?” Brant questioned seeing Diego nod slowly. Brant had to go look for Kyle and try to set things straight. He couldn’t leave the two of them like this. Something had to be situated one way or another. “I will be right back Sarah I promise.”

“What happened Sarah?” Diego wondered, reaching out hug her tightly, watching as her tears slowed down as she looked up at him. “What happened here tonight?”

“Susan died after telling Kyle that she was pregnant,” Sarah explained with a small frown, looking around the room towards Grady, “He blamed Grady for everything because he could have helped and they got into a big fight. We tried to stop him, but he was just too strong to stop.”

“It’s okay Sarah,” Diego hushed, seeing more of her tears begin to fall, “Just don’t think about it right now. Try to think about something else.”

“Like what Diego?” Sarah questioned with a small frown, feeling him pull her closer to him.

“The fact that I am here for you,” Diego replied quickly, thinking of something else to say, “Just talk to me about something to try and get your mind off of things.”

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

“Grady look at me,” Avery pleaded reaching out to touch his face. She forced him to meet her eyes as it was obvious he was still back in the place he’d been with Kyle. She wasn’t sure if he was still lost in what had happened in the hallway outside of the ER or if he was back in those woods remembering Susan’s ultimate ending.

“She lied to him,” Grady murmured under his breath his words coming out in a tight, verbatim sound, “She lied to him Avery. There was no baby. There was no…”

“Grady, forget about that right now,” she touched his cheek gently, “Look at me please…”

“He had no right to do this,” Grady’s eyes narrowed with anger thinking about the way his friend had betrayed all that had happened in his life. He thought of the way Susan had stolen his life away from him--brought him to a state of drunkenness for a great many years--how Susan had single-handedly taken his brother from him--taken Jade as well and yet Kyle dared to behave as if Susan had some right to exist in this world. She lost all of her rights when she’d crossed that line in killing each and every thing that Grady loved in his life.

“He’s just upset. She hurt him and…” Avery tried to reason thinking about Kyle’s out of character rage.

“No, he knew full well what he was doing. He chose to believe in her--believe in her lies instead of following his instincts,” Grady remarked sourly, his hands shaking with emotion, “He knew full well what she was doing to him, yet he fell for it hook, line and sinker.”

“Grady come on. He’s upset. Emotions are running high and…” Avery tried to reason with him remembering herself how angry Kyle was.

“No Avery, he wanted to believe. He wanted to see what she made him see and that’s where he made his mistake,” Grady insisted firmly, his jaw clenching in anger. “She mislead him and for that she deserved all that came her way. She really thought that telling him she was pregnant would be her reprieve, but it was too late for her. She deserved what she got!”

“Grady come on,” Avery tried to reach out to him feeling his hands trembling beneath her touch, “Stop this.”

“No,” Grady shook his head at her, “She killed Russ. She took him away from us Avery. She stole innocent lives from those around us. She destroyed so many happily ever afters. She didn’t deserve the luxury of walking around town and getting away with it scott-free.”

“I know that Grady, but…” Avery sighed in heavily feeling tension creep up and over her spine.

“But nothing. Because of Susan your daughter won’t know Russ. She won’t ever be able to be with her father and I won’t ever be with Jade,” Grady argued with her, his breaths coming out in uneven gasps, “She knew how much Jade meant to me. She knew how all I wanted was to find peace and happiness in my life. She couldn’t let me have it. She betrayed me in the worst possible way in killing our child and shattering my heart with Ken. I thought that she’d finally succeeded in doing me in, but it wasn’t until she killed Jade that I saw her for what she truly was.”

“Susan was evil. She was a manipulative, horrible person and I hate her. I can’t say that I’m broken up about what happened either considering what she did to everyone I love,” Avery explained tearfully, “but Grady, think about what she did to Kyle. She drugged him. She manipulated his mind and now he’s still dealing with the after effects of it.”

“She poisoned him against me,” Grady’s voice grew hollow and empty tears threatening behind his green eyes. His face was swollen and bloody, on the verge of bruising but there was no strength to be denied in the raw, untamed passion behind his voice when he continued to speak up, “She knew she’d taken nearly everything from me, so before she died she had to find a way to take away the last people that I still had in my life. Forget about the fact that she was trying to have Sarah murdered--that what happened tonight could’ve been Kyle losing Sarah, but rather once again it was about Susan digging the knife deeper.”

“Grady, that’s not…” Avery stopped herself watching him crumble to pieces before her. She gave up trying to argue with him and wrapped her arms around him allowing his tears to fall freely on her shoulder. She massaged her fingers up over his spine knowing that after tonight, nothing would ever be like it was. In a way Grady was right. Susan had won. She’d found a way to destroy a friendship that seemed to go without limits--a bond that went beyond brotherhood and now as Avery held onto Grady, she knew that there would be no turning back. Life was about to change in ways that no one could even begin to imagine.

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

“I love being in your arms Kevin,” Ria snuggled in closer to him on the couch as they watched something on television, “I could stay like this forever.”

“Forever would be too short,” Kevin replied, kissing her forehead gently before hearing his cell phone begin to go off. “Let me check if that is Seth.”

“Okay,” Ria nodded, watching as he reached for his phone to look at the number. “Is it Seth?”

“No,” Kevin answered, looking at the number on his cell phone. It was Angie calling him again. He really didn’t want to answer it, but he didn’t want her to worry to death about him. “I have to answer this real quick. I’ll be right back.”

“Okay,” Ria nodded as he walked towards the back of the room to answer his cell phone.

“Hello,” Kevin answered his cell phone, already pondering what he was going to be telling Angie, he really didn’t want to tell her something that would make her worry even more.

“Kevin,” Angela sighed, placing her hand over her chest lightly, “It feels so good to hear your voice again, I was so worried about you. Is something going on?”

“It’s nice to hear your voice too,” Kevin thought of everything that had happened while he was in Coral Valley. He didn’t need her worrying even more. No, she didn’t need any stress at all. “I have just been busy with the family and everything, that’s all.”

“Are you sure?” Angela questioned, noticing the tone of his voice, he was never really good at lying to her. “Are you okay?”

“Um, I guess you could say I just have a stomach ache,” Kevin lied, looking over his shoulder back at Ria, “Other than that, I am perfectly fine.”

“A stomach ache?” Angela questioned his reply before shaking her head slowly. “Usually when you have one of those, it’s brought on by
stress, so are you going to tell me what’s up?”

“I just ate too much food,” Kevin tried to explain with a small frown, “You know how sometimes that happens to me. I just ate to much greasy foods. Nothing big.”

“Actually, I always saw you as a bottomless pit,” Angela offered up, hearing him let up a small chuckle, “No, I am serious, but I guess if you say you only have a stomach ache--then I guess I trust you.”

“That’s all,” Kevin nodded slowly, thinking of something else to say, “Nothing that Tums can’t heal.”

“You and your eating problems,” Angela chuckled to herself remembering the last time he has eaten with her was with Nick when they both got sick. “I miss you being here Kevin, it’s not the same without you here.”

“Yeah, I miss you too Angie,” Kevin looked back at Ria who was watching the movie still, “Listen, I’ll call you later okay? I am kind of in the middle of something.”

“Okay,” Angela agreed with a small sigh, “Just next time, make sure you answer your cell phone.”

“Will do,” Kevin smirked, looking down at his watch, “Talk to you later Angie.”

After he said his goodbyes to Angie he went back to the couch and wrapped his arm around Ria tightly, feeling her head rest against his shoulder lightly.

“Who was that?” Ria wondered, seeing Kevin shrug his shoulders. “I know that wasn’t Seth.”

“It was nothing,” Kevin replied, trying to change the subject, “So, tell me what I missed in the movie.”

Sure he didn’t like saying Angie was nothing, but right now he wanted to get everything off his mind. He deserved some time to just sit back and relax--to forget about everything that had been hurting him lately. Soon or a later, everything would be back to normal--hopefully.”

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

“So, tell me--what’s the last thing you ate?” Diego questioned trying to change the subject as Sarah looked up at him oddly. “Okay, so maybe this isn’t going to work like I was hoping it would.”

“No, it’s okay,” Sarah hushed him with a small sigh, “You are trying, that’s at least the one thing you are trying to do. I appreciate that.”

“Well, I don’t like to see you upset,” Diego declared with a small frown, hugging her once more arms tightly, “It kills me to see you cry and I don’t like it.”

“I don’t mean to make you worry,” Sarah frowned, resting her head against his chest lightly, “I guess I just can’t help myself.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Diego hushed her, running his hand through her blonde hair lightly, “You are the one that I am worried about.”

Diego noticed Avery and Grady approaching them as he looked away. He didn’t really know what to say or do right now. Everything seemed to be confusing. There was no side to choose. There was really no way to stop everything at the moment.

“Hey, where did Brant go?” Avery questioned, walking up to Sarah and Diego with Grady at her side. “I thought I just saw him over here a second ago.”

“You did,” Diego replied, letting Sarah out of his hug before turning his attention to Avery, “he said he would be right back in a minute.”

“I’m sure he will be right back,” Sarah pointed out, her eyes meeting Grady’s in an uneasy way. She wanted to say something in Kyle’s defense, but thinking of it clearly--she could feel where both men were coming from. Grady was hurting and so was Kyle. Both men had a reason to do what they did. “Grady, I…”

The noise of someone repeating no over and over again filled their ears. Sarah looked behind her to see the doctor’s telling Joseph about his daughter. Susan wasn’t a good person, but her father obviously was. It was upsetting to see Joseph like that, she couldn’t let him stand this alone. Sarah walked slowly away from the group before approaching Joseph.

“This can’t be happening,” Joseph told himself, feeling someone touch his shoulder lightly making him jump from the feeling.

“Sir, I know you probably don’t know me, but my name is Sarah, I knew Susan,” Sarah frowned seeing him nod slowly, she hardly even knew that man standing before her, but out of instinct she reached out to hug him lightly. The way he was crying got to her, she felt horrible that someone so good could have someone so cold. Susan’s father was upsetting to see, she was trying to be there for him if no one else could be. “I’m sorry about all of this.”

“I am going to miss her so much,” Joseph stated, feeling Sarah pat him on the back lightly, “She was my daughter.”

“I know,” Sarah nodded slowly feeling her heart sink more and more by the moment. Right at this second, she wished that she could go back in time and stop everything from happening. Save Kyle, Grady, and the Joseph all the pain and suffering they were going through.

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

Brant walked out of the hospital feeling the cool air strike upon his skin. The stars were shining above in a seemingly peaceful, cloudless night, but he knew that there was a storm brewing back inside the hospital. It had started when Susan had been shot, but now it raged beyond anything that anyone had anticipated.

Surveying the lot beyond the hospital, Brant spotted Kyle over by one of the benches. He was slumped over, his face in his hands as Brant was pretty certain that he heard Kyle crying. Knowing how tentative this situation was Brant knew he had to approach it with the right amount of tact and caution or else he could wind up like Grady--the object of Kyle’s wrath. That was the last thing he’d wanted or needed, so he took in a slow breath before approaching the clearly disconcerted Kyle.

Brant walked over to the bench clearing his throat as he contemplated his next move. He watched Kyle stiffen at the sound he made. Kyle glanced up briefly before refocusing his attention to his hands again seemingly disinterested in what Brant had to say.

“Go away Ashford,” Kyle spoke up in a low, warning tone.

“I would, but I’m afraid I can’t do that at the moment. Not when you’re out here like this and everyone else is inside worried sick about you,” Brant moved forward to take a seat beside Kyle, but thought twice of it. He stepped back opting to sit on one of the other benches. He inhaled slowly before speaking up again, “Now I know we’re not the best of friends--hell I know you can’t stand me, but I thought that maybe you could use someone to talk to.”

“And what? You just thought I’d want to be forthcoming with you about my feelings?” Kyle looked up from behind his golden locks of hair seeing Brant watching him closely, “Give me a break.”

“Look sometimes it’s easier to talk to a stranger about things,” Brant began uneasily sensing that Kyle wasn’t about to offer up any kind of window of opportunity between them. Still Brant had to try to make some kind of impact for the sake of all those involved, “I know you might find this hard to believe, but I can understand what you’re feeling right now.”

“Like hell you can,” Kyle glared up at him once again, “You don’t even have the first inkling of what it is that I’m feeling at a time like this. You don’t know what it’s like to be betrayed like this and…”

“And what?” Brant questioned gruffly leaning a bit forward, “You think you’re the only person out there who has watched their dream fade away? Seen their future ripped right out of their hands? Kyle take a good look at the world around you. Life is full of those kind of miseries. It’s something that we can’t avoid.”

“This could’ve been avoided,” Kyle argued with him, his eyes straying to the parking lot beyond where he sat. He’d wanted to leave when he’d stomped out of the hospital earlier, yet when he thought about what had left him inside. When he envisioned Susan’s confession and the idea of his child he’d lost, it kept him near to where they were before they were taken from this world.

“No it couldn’t have,” Brant cleared his throat uneasily, his worries mounting by the moment, “Kyle tonight would’ve found a way of happening with or without Grady there.”

“He’s the one who chose to do nothing. He knew that she was pregnant--knew what my knowing I was going to be a father would do to me…” Kyle insisted firm in his resolve that the only one to blame for what had happened tonight was Grady.

“Kyle, you’re not hearing me. Tonight happened and it was a tragedy. I can feel your pain and I understand where you’re coming from about feeling like your world was ripped away from you in thinking you lost a child, but…” Brant inhaled slowly preparing to deliver the news he and Avery had been given earlier, “If it wasn’t Susan, it would’ve been Sarah that died tonight.”

“What?” Kyle questioned lifting his head up to look at him.

“Susan put a hit out on Sarah,” Brant further explained seeing the blank expression on Kyle’s face, “When they found the guy that shot Susan, he confessed everything. He told us all about how she paid him to kill Sarah--paid him to follow you and eliminate Sarah so that she wouldn’t be a problem any longer.”

“No,” Kyle shook his head in a state of disbelief, “That’s not possible.”

“I wish it wasn’t, but the guy has proof. He offered up documented evidence--tapes of his conversations with Susan from what we were told,” Brant explained further thinking about the madness that must’ve driven Susan at the end of her life, “She was desperate to get you to herself. She was ready to eliminate the competition and if you hadn’t been with her tonight and the man she hired wouldn’t have been so damned clueless you’d be here tonight mourning the loss of the woman you love. Sarah would be the one that you lost.”

“No, no I don’t want to listen to it,” Kyle brought his hands up over his head feeling a dizzying headache overtake him.

“Whether or not you want to listen, you need to hear,” Brant tried to appeal to him, “I’m not going to pretend that I don’t think you have every reason in the world to be upset because I know if I was in your shoes, I’d be feeling the very same way. If I had a child out there--if someone was pregnant with my baby, I’d move heaven and hell to make sure that my child had a way to be brought into this world. Even if I hated their mother, I would always want to put them first…”

“Grady didn’t care about that. He walked away from our friendship--from what mattered to me…” Kyle added in a low, rumble of a sigh.

“I don’t know what happened tonight up there when everything took place, but what I do know is that you came very close to losing the woman you love,” Brant stood up from where he sat, his worried eyes sweeping over Kyle, “Don’t be a fool and lose her now. Kyle she loves you and she wants to help you. You need to let her in. You need to be honest with her about what you’re feeling and this is the time when you need to hold onto one another, not push her away. You can’t keep fighting this on your own.”

“Brant, don’t tell me what to do with my life. You don’t know the first thing about me,” Kyle spoke up in an accusatory tone.

“I know enough to know that if you let Sarah walk out of your life without giving her a chance to be there for you, it’ll be the biggest mistake of your life. You’ll always be wondering what if--thinking about how you should’ve done things--about what you could’ve said to keep from losing the best thing that ever happened to you. You’ll wonder where you went wrong and by the time you see what you’ve done, it’ll be too late. You’ll have lost her,” Brant issued a warning before eyeing the hospital’s entrance momentarily, “You have every right to your pain and to wanting your space, but at least let her know that she hasn’t lost you--that she’s still someone you can confide in. She wants you to help her help you…”

“I don’t think that’s possible right now,” Kyle dropped his head again, closing his eyes and rehashing the details of the night over and over again in his mind.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Brant sighed heavily wondering if he could at all convince Kyle to go back inside, “but for what it’s worth I think you should at least try.”

“That’s rich coming from you Brant,” Kyle let out a small, ironic laugh, “Given how little you think of me, I have to wonder what angle you’re working here.”

“I’m working the angle of a man who knows what it’s like to lose his family. My mother died when I was a child--my father was a son of a bitch and I know what it’s like to have your hopes built up to the point where you feel like you can reclaim your life again--where you think that there’s reason in this world to keep pushing on. You have hope and faith and dreams for the future and then before you can hold onto it, well, I know the bitter taste of watching it slip just out of your reach,” Brant confessed biting back on his words, “I’ve experienced it in my own way and it sucks. It’s ugly. It’s horrible--rotten and something you’d rather not face, but I’d hate to see someone like you who still has so much to grasp onto let go. I’d hate for you to fall away from the things that matter just because something like this happened.”

“It’s not something I can just sweep under the carpet and forget,” Kyle argued with him slumping his shoulders.

“I’m not telling you to forget. I’m just merely suggesting that you don’t do this on your own. Sarah loves you and she needs you. You need her, so why not at least try to let her in? Why not try to give her the opportunity to understand?” Brant suggested lowering his voice a bit, “Kyle, don’t let go of her. You’ll regret it the rest of your life if you do. Trust me on that.”

“Trust,” Kyle repeated with a stifled laugh, “I’m starting to think that there’s no such thing as trust in this world anymore.”

“There is if you can trust in yourself enough to follow your heart and your instincts,” Brant spoke up encouragingly, “Just look at what it is that’s inside there and it will guide you to where you need to be.”

Kyle stayed silent upon listening to Brant’s words. Brant could see the turmoil behind his features--the obvious pain that was still circulating in his mind and he couldn’t help but feel for the guy. Brant could remember what he’d felt like in losing his family--in watching his brother’s fall to madness and he could see that Susan had done the same thing to Kyle. It was devastating, but Brant just hoped that Kyle would take his advice.

“Just think about it Houston,” Brant offered in one last attempt before walking away to give Kyle his much needed space for a little while. He just hoped that once Kyle assessed the situation that somehow Kyle would find a way to at least let Sarah inside to help him before his guilt, anger and frustrations ate him alive.

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

“I can’t believe she is gone Ben,” Diane felt the tears building behind her eyes more and more as she looked through her picture book. There were so many moments she shared with Jade and there should have been many more ahead of them, but that was all stolen away from them. “All the time we could have spent together is all gone. All the things I could have…”

“It’s okay,” Ben hushed, grabbing the picture book from her hand before setting it down on the table, “I understand what you are feeling Diane. You could have done anything to change what happened, you can’t let this get to you.”

“I can’t help it,” Diane wiped away some of her tears from her eyes, “I lost my best friend and there is nothing that I could do to change that--nothing I can do to bring her back to her family and me.”

“She will live on throughout our hearts if we just let her,” Ben replied, running his fingertip along the side of her face gently, “You just have to let her in and we will never lose her.”

“It’s just hard Ben,” Diane sniffed, feeling him reach over to hug her in his arms tightly, “I just wish I could have known what was going on. I would have tried to help her. I would have tried to be there for her.”

“You were there as much as possible Diane,” Ben assured her with a small sigh, thinking of Jade as he spoke, “I am sure that she is looking over you now and is very proud of you. Jade never thought anything less of you. She would hate to have you feeling this way. She would want you to be happy with your life.”

“I know, that’s just the type of person that she really was,” Diane sighed, feeling him hug her tighter.

“Exactly,” he sighed, running his hand along her spine gently. He felt so bad for everyone, Jade was a good person who didn’t deserve any of this. Once she was gone, it was like it broke everyone.

“I just wish I could have said goodbye,” Diane whispered, feeling Ben’s hand on the back on her neck, “I wanted to spend more time with her, just so she knew I cared.”

“She knows Diane,” Ben hushed thinking something over for a moment, “I have been thinking about this for a while and I want you to tell me how this sounds. I was thinking that if we had a daughter, we would name her after Jade.”

“Seriously?” she questioned seeing him nod slowly. “I would love that Ben. That would be so great.”

“Then it’s all set,” Ben decided with a small smile, “In honor of Jade, we will name our daughter after her.”

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

“Just who the hell do you think you are?” Shannon shouted pulling Deidra up off of the floor with a firm yank. She shoved her back into the wall once more before her angry eyes narrowed in on Deidra, “Where do you get off doing that to him? All he ever was to you was good and this is how you repay him?”

“I didn’t know…I didn’t…” Deidra stammered in her own defense feeling Shannon toss her across the hallway again.

“You didn’t know? You didn’t know,” Shannon repeated her voice raising to a pinched squeal. “Do you have any idea how many hours were invested in this case? How many men we lost in doing this job? How many risks Dean took in the name of saving your pathetic, whiney little ass? No, I don’t think you do, but now that you’ve done this, well you can mark my words that you’re going to find out.”

“Shannon stop!” Don’s voice called out to her. He watched her raise her fist to strike at Deidra again, but fortunately Don found his way to pull her back in time.

Dave rushed up to the two women not quite sure what Carly was doing as she stood back seeing the scene unfold before her. He looked between the three women before turning to Deidra.

“Are you okay,” Dave asked worriedly.

“Of course she’s okay. She’s a cold-hearted, self-centered, vindictive bitch, so why wouldn’t she be okay? She’s the one who practically murdered a man who has been nothing but good to her. He risked his career to save her life--to keep an eye on her and keep her safe and this is how she repays him,” Shannon threw her hands up in the air.

“Shannon, honey you need to calm down,” Don tried to reason with her only to feel her slap his hand away from her.

“I’m not going to even think about being reasonable with her given that she didn’t give my partner the same respect,” Shannon shook her head adamantly before glaring at Deidra, “Do you have any idea how much you’ve screwed things up tonight? How you jeopardized what we’ve been working our asses on day in and day out for years now? Do you have any idea how stupid you are?”

“Enough!” Dave snapped at Shannon, “I think we’ve all been through enough tonight.”

“No, I don’t think we’ve even come close to it,” Shannon argued with him, raw hatred burning behind her eyes.

She thought back to the long hours she and Dean had spent trying to nail Mathis--to the fact that Dean was willing to walk away from his career--from this case because he’d started to feel something about the ignorant twit before Shannon. When Shannon thought about all the hassle that Deidra had brought into Dean’s life it only made her blood boil. To think that one of her best friends was about to lay down his future--his career and possibly his life for such an ungrateful, unfeeling, unemotional twit, Shannon decided that she was no longer about to feel compassion for Deidra Byrne. She’d stepped on the wrong toes this time and it was all about payback.

“For the record Dean is going to be okay. I went in and checked in on him. They had another doctor on staff working on him and they’re stitching him up,” Don tried to smooth over the situation. He turned to his wife and he opened his mouth to say something, but he knew only too well not to try to challenge her when she was looking ready to snap someone’s head off.

“Thank God,” Deidra let out a breath of relief.

“Yeah thank God indeed,” Shannon took a step forward reaching out to Deidra and shoving her into a wall again. This time however she slapped handcuffs on her.

“What are you doing?” Don questioned with a gulp.

“I’m placing her under arrest for assaulting a federal agent,” Shannon explained mouthing the words with icy contempt. “You have the right to remain silent…

“Shannon let go of her,” Dave stepped in closer to the duo trying to stop Shannon from giving in to her rage.

“Dave, I’m warning you. Don’t you even think about trying to pull rank on me here because you know I outweigh you on this one,” Shannon warned him sharply pushing Deidra forward with a small shove, “Your little girlfriend is lucky that I’m not busting her ass for murder tonight. Consider this a favor since she didn’t kill my partner…”

“Dave…” Deidra spoke his name, fear rising over her features as Shannon attempted to cart her off.

“Don do something,” Dave turned to look at Shannon’s husband with a frown. “Talk some sense into her.”

“I don’t let her tell me how to do my job, so don’t expect me to tell her how to do hers,” Don replied with a heavy sigh, “Although if you really want to help Deidra, you’d better call her a good lawyer. Knowing Shannon the charges are going to stick.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Dave frowned knowing full well that as the police chief he should be able to do something to help Deidra, but he was also aware of Shannon’s threats and of the FBI wanting a piece of him and a reason to blow up in his face. He looked to his wife noting her eerie silence, “Carly…”

“I know. We’ll get the car,” Carly nodded in response knowing what he was about to ask, “and for the record Deidra owes me one if I take this case.”

“I’ll owe you one too,” Dave sighed heavily watching Shannon cart Deidra off in a rage all the while chewing her out over what she’d done to Dean. Watching the elevators closely Dave could see the pain behind Deidra’s eyes and he knew that she didn’t need Shannon to make her feel bad about what she’d done. Her guilt was obvious in her expression. She’d already started beating herself up over this in ways that Dave couldn’t even begin to imagine.

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

...to be continued...