Episode 343


The wedding music began to play alerting everyone in the church that the ceremony was about to begin. Avery kept Erin close to her watching as Russ stood next to Grady. She couldn’t help but admire how handsome he looked in his tux reminding her all over again of the day they shared their vows with one another. She couldn’t help but smile as the music continued and she thought of how everything seemed to finally be falling into place for everyone around them. They were together again and happy and Kyle was getting married. Grady had found love and…

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Erin crying. Looking to her daughter, she saw that Erin was suddenly very uncomfortable. Avery tried to rock her in her arms to soothe her, but all that happened was Erin grew far more agitated.

“Where’s Kyle,” Kevin questioned leaning over closer to Avery when Erin let out a loud wail. His brown eyes flashed down to her worriedly, “Hey little girl, what’s wrong?”

Erin sobbed harder than before, her tiny lip quivering as her arms waved around in the air. Avery looked up at Russ throwing out an apologetic expression before turning her attention to Erin again.

“It’s okay sweetheart,” Avery whispered to her daughter. She tipped her head up to look at Kevin, “She might need to be changed.”

“I can take her if you don’t want to miss the wedding,” Kevin offered hearing Erin let out another deafening scream. A few people in the row in front of them turned around to give Avery a glare and Kevin frowned at them. He tossed out a glare before speaking up, “What are you looking at?”

The people quickly turned right back around, but it was clear Erin had no intention of stopping with her sudden tantrum. Avery exchanged looks with Russ again before wiggling her finger and pointing towards the door.

“I’m going to take her out there to change her,” Avery decided getting up from where she was seated. As she got to her feet, Erin’s diaper bag tipped over spilling it’s contents all over the floor. A small curse built on Avery’s lips before she let out a sigh.

“I’ll take care of this,” Kevin assured her kneeling down to pick up what had already rolled out of the diaper bag. He reached for a diaper handing it to Avery and offering her the small pack of wipes that were on the ground next to him, “Here take this. I’ll be out there in a couple of minutes with the bag.”

“Okay,” Avery tossed out a grateful expression before carefully excusing herself out of the row. She started off towards the exit while Kevin swiftly shuffled to put together the contents of the bag.

Once he’d had them back inside he rose to his feet and caught the expression on Russ’s face. Kevin held the diaper bag up in the air and pointed to the door watching Russ nod as the music continued. Carefully Kevin slung the diaper bag over his shoulder ready to follow Avery out of the church and help her with Erin when he spotted Brant and Angela on the other side of the church with one another.

“Great,” Kevin muttered under his breath realizing that trouble was going to follow if Avery and Angela crossed paths. A sudden worry shot through him, but it was replaced by a concern for Erin when he heard her still crying outside of the room. He walked out into the foyer area to find Avery standing by the ladies room with a perplexed expression.

“What’s wrong?” Kevin asked worriedly.

“It’s ripped,” Avery held up the half of the diaper that she was still holding onto while the other half was on the floor in pieces. “I must’ve stepped on it or something when it was on the floor.”

“It’s okay, you have this now,” Kevin held out the diaper bag for her to look through, “I’m sure we can find something in here to help.”

“I know I have a few more in there,” Avery nodded reaching into the bag with one hand while Erin continued to sob.

“Let me see her for a second,” Kevin suggested shuffling Erin into his arms while Avery sought out another diaper. As she continued to search through the jumbled contents of the bag, Kevin spotted Cameron out of the corner of his eye and he realized that his worries were compounding. After seeing Brant and Angela together in the same place with Russ and Avery, he knew the situation was going to be bad, but with Cameron here right now--it was about to get worse--much worse.

“I found one,” Avery let out a breath of relief pulling a diaper out of the bag.

“Good,” Kevin replied quickly watching Cameron step into the church as worry carried over him. He could still see that Erin was upset, but he was convinced if he didn’t somehow get back into that church again and get Angela out of there the whole world was going to fall to pieces right before his very eyes. Carefully he handed Erin back to Avery and offered up a quick breath, “I’ll be right back. I promise.”

“Okay,” Avery gave him a strange look before turning her attention to Erin again in the hopes that maybe just maybe she could find a way to calm her down and get her to relax before the whole wedding knew just how miserable Erin was on her first major public appearance.

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

“Where’s the groom?” Angela couldn’t help but ask in a muted whisper leaning in over Brant’s shoulder. “You would have thought he’d be out here already unless of course he got cold feet.”

“If he did we’ll be getting out of here a whole hell of a lot faster,” Brant chuckled in response thinking about all he’d learned about Sarah. “It would prove that Kyle is a lot smarter than I gave him credit for.”

“Yeah well whatever the circumstance, I hope when we have our big day that you won’t be getting cold feet,” Angela warned him in a firm tone, “or else I may have to hunt you down and kill you.”

“Hmm, in most instances that would cause me great concern, but from you that sounds oddly erotic,” he teased tilting his head to the side and curling his arm around her shoulders.

“Only you would think that way,” she wrinkled her nose in response placing her hand on his thigh as she leaned in closer to him, “and that’s simply because you have such a dirty mind.”

“Gee, I can’t imagine why,” he inched forward stealing a quick kiss from her lips, “Could it be because you seem to have this way about you to bring out the worst in me?”

“I was hoping it was your best,” she mused kissing him again with a bit more hunger behind it than the first one had, “though if what I’ve seen is your worst, well I can’t wait to see it get better.”

“It gets better each and every time we’re together,” he snaked his arm around her further sliding her in closer to him on the pew they were seated on.

“I can’t argue that one,” she nipped at his lower lip, her thoughts dwindling from the wedding altogether when she heard the music shift. She then realized that they were seated in a church and not alone with one another. Perking her head up, she could see some of the stares that they were getting from the crowd. She dropped her head again and spoke up in a small whisper, “Maybe we should cool things down for a little bit. We don’t want to take away from the wedding in front of us.”

“To hell with the wedding,” Brant replied, his dark eyes ravenous as he held onto her, “I’d rather get out of here and go home with you and have our own celebration.”

“Soon, very soon,” she promised wiping at his lower lip with the pad of her thumb. She opened her mouth to say something more when her dark eyes fell upon the front of the church. Spotting a familiar face out of the corner of her eye, she couldn’t help but gasp.

“What?” Brant asked worriedly seeing the change in her. His arm immediately moved away from her and his hand pressed in over her abdomen, “Is something wrong?”

“I just…” Angela’s jaw dropped as she found herself staring directly at ‘Nick’ as he stood at the front of the church next to another man. “I am… I mean…”

“What?” Brant frowned turning his head in the direction of where she was looking. “Is something wrong? Did you see something?”

“No, I just…” she sank down in her seat trying to hider herself before ‘Nick’ saw her. “I mean maybe you were onto something with this whole leaving the wedding thing. It’s not really my idea of a good time considering that I don’t really know any of these people and…”

“Hey half of this town hates me anyways,” Brant shrugged his shoulders seeing Grady and Russ standing in front of the whole church, “Besides, I’d rather not have to witness those two jackasses playing saints in front of this town when I know they are far from it.”

“You know them?” Angela practically gulped with a sudden fear.

“Unfortunately,” Brant nodded pointing over at Grady, “That jerk has been nothing short of a pain in my rear for the last few months and him…”

Panic floored over Angela as he motioned to Russ then looked back to her, “Well let’s just say that he’s got a knack for screwing up my life more often than not,” he revealed to her.

“Why do you say that?” she couldn’t help but ask sinking further down into the seat.

“Let’s just say that he’s the one that my wife left me for,” Brant scowled shooting an icy glare over at Russ, “and to make matters worse I just found out that jackass is my half brother and…”

“Your half brother?” Angela repeated the color draining completely from her face.

“Yeah, I know it’s a really messed up situation, but I’m doing my best to ignore it. Besides in his coming back to town, Avery leaving me opened my life up for the best thing that I could’ve ever hoped for and that was finding you again,” Brant’s gaze left Russ and returned to Angela again. He noticed how pale she was and he reached out to touch her cheek gently, “Hey are you sure you’re feeling okay?”

“Actually I think I would really just like to go home,” Angela started uneasiness pouring out over her, “I’m feeling a little bit nauseated and…”

“Hey, we don’t have to stay,” Brant promised reassuringly, “I can just let Don know we’re leaving and…”

“I’ll just go wait outside,” Angela began again ready to say something more when the music changed and Sarah appeared at the doorway blocking her quick exit. In a panic Angela dropped down into her seat, leaning in against Brant in the hopes that once the bride made it down the aisle she could find her way out of the church and away from Brant ever finding out about the man she failed to mention to him upon their reunion. If he found out about what happened when she was with ‘Nick’ especially knowing what she did about him being Brant’s half brother she knew full well that there was about to be trouble--big trouble!

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

“Are we good?” Grady questioned rubbing his hands together seeing Kellen step in behind him getting in position for the wedding to start as they looked down the isle hearing the small whispers of people as they waited. “Kyle all good?”

“Kyle is more than good,” Kellen smiled looking over in the corner of the room to see the worker he had asked to come into the room with the television they ordered to be there. “He’ll be here in a matter of moments.”

“Everything will be going as planned,” Grady inhaled deeply looking around the room of people before folding his hands out in front of him hearing Kellen let out what sounded like a deep worried breath.
“What’s wrong with you, I thought this was your kind of thing?”

“I don’t know, I’m just a little nervous,” Kellen half whispered seeing Grady’s green eyes widen as if he was shocked to hear what he admitted. “What? You try to pull all this off almost by yourself Grady. I’ve had to practice my speech over and over. I just don’t want to stutter or anything.”

“The only way you will is if you keep thinking about that,” Grady tried to keep his words in a whisper as he turned to see Kellen a bit better as people waited for the ceremony to begin. “If you are always worrying about something, you aren’t going to let your true feelings out. If you say something while you’re worried, the words get all jumbled up and you don’t get to say what you really mean.”

“I see,” Kellen’s eyebrows perked up as Grady took in a deep breath and stared out into the crowd toward Deana as Kellen moved forward and placed his hand on Grady’s shoulder. “This sounds like it’s coming from someone who knows off hand they didn’t say the right thing.”

“If only you knew little buddy,” Grady took in a deep breath before hearing the music start to play and they straightened up wiping off their jackets. “I just wish at the time when I’m put on the spot I would be better with my words and not always mess up when I’m around the things that mean the most to me.”

“Well then, let me give you some advice about that,” Kellen moved in closer to Grady whispering so he could hear him in the back of his ear. “If it’s the case I think you’re talking about--don’t talk with your head talk with your heart. If you seriously love someone and don’t want them hurt then you will say anything when your heart is the one thinking.”

“Then I guess that’s how you should be when you do your speech,” Grady muttered seeing Kellen nod slowly before Kellen’s blue eyes stared out toward the isle. “Since the people involved mean so much to you, I know you wouldn’t want them hurt.”

“You’re exactly right,” Kellen agreed taking in a deep breath and reaching down to fix his tie hearing the music change telling him that the girls would be there soon and Kellen smiled widely seeing everyone turn their attention toward the isle. “You know, I never got this part of a wedding. The woman walks down the isle and everyone is looking the other way. I could do random stuff up here and possibly moon them and they would never know. Just because the music changes they are all looking away.”

“That’s because it’s what they are meant to do,” Grady half whispered as everyone was still turned toward the other way and he saw Kellen throw his hands up in the air waving them around. “The attention is supposed to be on the bride. Stop it.”

“What?” Kellen half laughed seeing Grady’s green eyes glaring out at him as Kellen turned around and pulled up his suit jacket wiggling his butt over and over again as he looked back to see Seth staring out at him letting out a small laugh and he straightened up. Seth tried to hold back his laugh as he shook his head slowly and looked back toward the doors. “Okay, that was stupid on my part. I’m sorry.”

“Hey, I wasn’t the one that got embarrassed you did,” Grady half laughed seeing the color in Kellen’s cheeks rise as he looked down toward the ground and stomped his right foot on the flower than had fallen earlier. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure that Seth was the only one that saw you or just laughed.”

“It’s not funny,” Kellen bit down on his bottom lip trying to hold back the embarrassment he had been feeling now that someone had actually caught him being stupid. Fixing his tie he let out a long breath tired of waiting for everything to be happening. “Why are they taking so long?”

“Kellen, you should know that women take forever getting ready,” Grady looked back seeing Kellen nod slowly before taking in a deep breath going to say something else as Grady paused him. “Even if we take longer.”

“Good point,” Kellen half nodded only to see Blake walk down the isle and he straightened up knowing that Sarah would be next as Blake gave a half confused glance seeing no Kyle and Kellen smiled widely. “This is going to be great.”

Hearing the bride’s music start to begin he stepped down one step seeing Sarah start to walk down the isle and he looked back at Grady seeing Grady smiling widely as Kellen rubbed his hands together. Seeing Sarah reach them he heard the whispers of confusion as Sarah looked around.

“Where is Kyle?” she questioned seeing Grady look to Kellen as Kellen bit down on his bottom lip and pushed back his hair seeing the way that she was staring out at him. Hearing the music stop as Kellen pointed toward the guy holding onto the rolling stand for the television motioning him to move forward. “Kellen?”

“Right, everyone over here,” Kellen snapped seeing everyone look forward toward him as he unbuttoned his jacket and pulled it off throwing it to the side. Starting to undo his tie he pulled that off too and threw it by his jacket before moving down toward the floor grabbing a hold of the stand before looking back at Sarah. “I bet you have noticed that there is no groom. You might think he isn’t here, including you Sarah, but truth of the matter is he is very much here.”

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

“This is kind of different,” Wendy walked down the stairs seeing Ken waiting for her as he sat on the bottom step playing with his keys as she took a seat next to him. “I’m usually used to a full house here and everything.”

“Right,” he took in a sharp breath seeing the way she looked over at him as he shrugged his shoulders and moved over toward the window to look outside of it. “I guess everyone is just more excited to leave and do away with their own plans in their future.”

“That’s okay,” Wendy half smiled moving forward and placing her hand in over the curve of Ken’s shoulder, seeing him look back at her over his shoulder. “We’re here together and that’s all that matters. Where making a future of our own, I’m not sure how long that will be, but…,”

“It will be longer than you think,” Ken pressed his right hand in over her mouth gently before shaking his head and motioning toward the back door wanting her to follow him as he took in a deep breath. “I don’t want you thinking about things like that right now, I just want you to come with me. I have something to show you.”

“In the backyard?” she questioned seeing the way he nodded and smiled as he led her through the yard and in the back toward the garden. Seeing her curious eyes following their every move Ken led her through the bushes as she saw a small picnic set up by one of the garden statues they had. “A picnic? I love it. It’s nice and quiet…,”

“Even though everyone else is gone and the house would have been just as quiet,” Ken half laughed taking a seat and seeing her do the same as he reached out to grab a water bottle and hand it to her. “I know I could have done something better, but this might be just as good.”

“Anything from you Ken is great,” she half whispered accepting the bottle before looking down toward the ground feeling him move in closer and nudge her gently. “This is amazing Ken, I appreciate everything that you have done for me so far.”

“It was just for the person I love,” Ken half replied seeing the way she looked out at him with her dark eyes as he reached out slowly to caress her cheek with his thumb. “I just want you to have the best life you can have.”

“You mean with the time I have left?” she questioned with a small laugh seeing him frown as she looked away from him, feeling his fingers pushing back her hair gently. “Listen, I know that you want to do everything possible to get me better, but it’s not going to work Ken. I’m sick and I will always be sick…,”

“I don’t want to hear this Wendy,” Ken shook his head slowly pressing his index finger against her lips gently before inhaling deeply thinking about all the events that took place to get him to her. “Deep down I know you don’t want to hear about it either, so let’s just think about it this way. I’ll stay off that topic as long as you stay off that topic.”

“I’m just saying,” she shook her head slowly knowing that there was no possible way to try and understand everything that was happening between them, only to accept it deep down. “I haven’t been able to give into passion in a long time and…,”

“Well let’s make it present,” Ken leaned in closer to her caressing her neck gently with his fingertips before moving in to press a small kiss against her lips feeling her fingers curve in over his shoulder. “Wendy, do you remember when we were younger and…,”

“Ken, that was a long time ago and truthfully, that wasn’t really romantic,” she pointed out seeing him nod as he got up slowly and reached for her pulling her into his arms before walking back toward the house. “Ken, what are you doing?”

“Wendy, I’m going to let you feel that passion you feel you have been missing,” Ken muttered seeing the way her eyes looked up into his and he pulled her in closer to him hearing her gasp out. “And I’m going to make it as romantic as possible.”

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

“You call a circus a fun time?” Evie questioned with a small laugh getting out of JT’s car seeing the way he walked in next to her grabbing a hold of her hand. “I’ve never seen someone thinking that was a good thing.”

“Well, I figured you wanted to learn more about me so I’m actually bringing you to the place that I used to work at,” he informed her seeing her look over at him with her chocolate eyes as he nodded slowly and offered up a wide smile. “Please tell me that you aren’t afraid of clowns.”

“No, of course not,” she half laughed seeing the way he looked out at her as she took in a deep breath and looked out toward the circus as they walked in closer toward the place. “I just have never really been to one in a long time. My dad was always busy doing god knows what and, just never mind. About this circus, what did you do here?”

“I was the clean up guy sometimes and other things the next,” he answered with a half laugh feeling her fingers tighten around his as he walked through the gates knowing that they were going to let him in considering he pulled a few phone calls to get them in so he had to get the manager to get him to remember him. “In all honesty, when I was younger I told you--I wasn’t the best of guys. The worst part was one time I was so out of it that I guess I actually came into an elephant act thinking it was over and fell right in the elephant…,”

“Oh god no,” she half laughed covering her mouth as he nodded slowly and saw her look away from him and he shrugged his shoulders. “And I’ve kissed you?”

“Believe me, I was in the bath soaking for weeks,” he informed her with a wide smile knowing that it was going to gross her out but he couldn’t help but tease her. “How about we stop here, I was always pretty good at this game.”

“Throwing balls?” she questioned seeing him nod slowly before she took in a deep breath seeing him look back at her with a small frown as she shrugged. “I’ve always liked soccer and surfing better. Baseball isn’t that bad though.”

“Well, how about I try and then you?” he offered up seeing her shrug before he moved forward and paid for the both of them before grabbing three balls and aiming, hitting the top bottle with first ball and then missed the next. Hearing her laugh he looked back at her and shook his head slowly. “Okay fine, watch this.”

“I’m watching,” she nodded slowly seeing him wind up and catch a hold of all the bottles with the last throw and he let out a small laugh holding his hands up in the air in victory. “You got a small one.”

“It’s not size that matters,” he pointed out hearing her let out a small chuckle as he got one of the small stuffed animals and motioned her to go ahead as she picked up the ball and looked it over slowly. “Just throw the ball…,”

“And we have a winner,” the man boasted proudly seeing the way that Evie threw the ball knocking down all the bottles on her first throw as JT let out a half laugh seeing the huge dog stuffed animal she got as she smiled. “Nice arm.”

“I told you it was easy,” she half laughed pulling the stuffed animal in closer to her hearing him let out another unsure laugh as she looked over at him seeing the way he took in a small breath. “What is it JT?”

“I’ve never been beat in that before, that’s all,” JT blushed putting his stuffed animal in his pocket and taking in a deep breath as he looked around for a moment grabbing a hold of her hand. “Come here I want to show you something. You see there is this one thing they have. It’s a simulated ride where it like takes you through this storm and you actually feel like…,”

“No,” she pulled her hand away from him seeing the way his eyes looked out at her as she shook her head slowly and held harder onto the stuffed animal as she looked away from him. “I just don’t want anything to do with storms okay? Nothing with lightening and…,”

“Okay, no problem,” he hushed her reaching out to wrap his arm around her shoulders trying to calm her down as he pressed a small kiss against her forehead. “How about the Ferris wheel? Does that sound okay to you?”

“Sure,” she tried to keep eye contact away from him as she felt her heart hammering in her chest at the very mention of a storm and she shook her head slowly. Walking with him she stopped seeing a strawberry treat that caught her eyes. “What is that?”

“Oh this?” JT smiled widely pulling her gently over toward the table seeing the way her eyes lit up at the very sight of strawberries and he let out a small laugh. “Well, actually--I don’t know what they are but they are amazing.”

“Well anything strawberry sounds great to me,” she pointed out with a wide smile before reaching for her purse only to see him shake his head and pull out his wallet. “Thanks and after this we can go to the Ferris wheel and you could show me whatever else you did here. I just want to focus on these strawberries right here.”

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

“So everyone, would you please turn your attention toward the television,” Kellen went to push play before looking back at Sarah seeing the confusion behind her eyes as the whispers of the crowd rose above. “That includes you Sarah.”

Still hearing the whispers of the crowd Kellen hushed them and rubbed his hands together before pushing play and stepping away from the television seeing that he had caught everyone’s attention as of right now. Seeing Sarah walk down the steps and move to see the television she saw Kyle flicker onto the television as Kellen smiled.

“Hello everyone, I bet you are where I’m at right now. Well, I’ll explain that later, but right now I’d like to apologize to everyone here. I made you come and the truth of the matter is I wasn’t able to make it either, I have other things important that I have to attend to,” Kyle’s voice echoed through the room as there were a couple of gasps and Sarah continued to watch seeing Kyle’s smile expand as she watched the tape Kellen had put in. “Most of you probably know me, some of you know me a lot and some a little, but all of you know me as a pretty well rounded guy. I know that a lot of people actually know that Sarah is pregnant with my child. Wrong.”

“What is this?” Sarah snapped hearing the gasps and whispers of the crowd as Sarah moved forward and Kellen grabbed a hold of her to make her watch the tape again. “Kellen…,”

“You see the bride to be, which I know you are there Sarah so you can listen up good. The bride to be shouldn’t be wearing white. In fact all of you should know, there is no way that the child she is having is mine. A lot of you would know that Sarah and I were broken up for quite some time and the baby growing inside of her is way too young to even be considerably mine. I know what everyone is thinking is, if not me as the father, then who?” Kyle stood up as the camera followed his movements and he held his hands up in the air on the video before offering up a small laugh. “Well I’ll tell you right now, one possible chance is sitting in the front row if my directions were held out right. Diego Hernandez.”

“That’s not true,” Sarah blurted out looking toward Diego seeing his dark eyes widen as he moved forward in his seat standing up from it as the crowd let out a few small gasps. “I would have never.”

“Right about now I would assume that Sarah would be saying it never happened, well there are plenty of people that could prove it did, but yes--Sarah did cheat on me with Diego and no hard feelings Diego. I know that sometimes a cold, heartless bitch like Sarah could get to someone,” Kyle’s voice echoed through the room as there were a few gasps and Diego stared out at the television before looking over toward Sarah. “Well right now, let’s blame Diego. You see there is another person that Sarah had some fun with while she was engaged to me and I’m not sure where he is sitting but I’m assuming somewhere near the back and that’s Cameron Stone. Yeah, Cameron I saw you and I’m no idiot. Kind of like these people, they aren’t idiots and once they see you for who you are Sarah they will never trust you again.”

“What?” Diego snapped looking over at Sarah seeing Kellen let go of her long enough for Diego to move back and look back at Cameron seeing him half smiling as if he was amused at the video. “You and Cameron?”

“Hey, let’s not get too uptight,” Kellen nodded toward the television and motioned for them to look at the television again as they saw Kyle just standing there before motioning the camera to follow him as it went outside and Kyle paused in the darkness. “There is a lot more.”

“This is just for Sarah right here,” Kyle pointed toward the camera as Sarah watched it carefully listening to hear what he had to say. “If you think that I will ever get back with someone as disgusting as you--you’re wrong. I want nothing to do with you and hell, I don’t even love you. My heart belongs to someone else and you tried using the baby against me. Well news flash Sarah, if that baby does happen to be mine by some miracle I will fight you for that baby and make sure you never see it again. As of right now, you see these rings. Yeah, I have them, they aren’t there. This is what I think of you and the relationship we had.”

“Turn this off,” Sarah snapped only to feel Kellen hold tightly onto her as the crowd continued to watch seeing Kyle throw the rings into the water and turn back toward the camera before fixing his shirt. “Turn this off right now.”

“Sarah, I’m not marrying you now and I’m never going to marry you. I want you to be as embarrassed as I was when I found out I never loved you and made a fool of myself,” Kyle’s voice echoed through her ears as he shook his head slowly. “Again, everyone I’m sorry you all came here for nothing and I hope to see you all again except Sarah. I never want to see her face again.”

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

Julian sat at his desk thinking about the headline that had made it’s way to the front of the newspaper on his desk. Reaching out for it again he saw a photo of Kyle with Sarah and found himself wondering how it was that Kyle could find himself getting married to someone like that--to someone who clearly had no regard for him as a man or even more so as someone she was supposed to spend the rest of her life with. He closed his eyes for a moment and thought about what he’d witnessed between Sarah and Diego in the visiting room. While he’d wanted to say something to Kyle, he was concerned about doing so. Sure, he and Kyle had spoken and worked together a few times, but Julian had been conflicted about going through and telling Kyle something that could potentially destroy him.

“Plus Sarah is pregnant,” Julian thought to himself remembering full well how he’d felt when Olivia had told him that they were having Jackie. Their relationship was strained at the time after it seemed they’d both had different plans for the future. Olivia had wanted to bury herself in a career while Julian had wanted a family and as Olivia had put it, fate was clearly on Julian’s side with the surprise pregnancy. Yes, Olivia hadn’t been happy about that discovery and was reluctant to move forward with the pregnancy considering that she’d been wrapped up in school at the time, but with a little convincing, a wedding proposal and years together Julian knew full well that things had worked out for the better. What stress he and Olivia had shared with one another disappeared once Jackie was born. They’d found a new beginning and so could Kyle now that he had a child on the way.

“That is if it’s his baby,” Julian pondered knowing full well that Sarah was less than faithful. Granted Julian might’ve experienced strain in his relationship, but it wasn’t because the woman he loved had been cheating on him. If that was an issue, then there would be no telling how things would’ve turned out. Things might have been different and…

“Hello,” he heard a voice capture his attention. Looking up he saw his wife standing in the doorway offering up a wave at him. She carefully closed the door behind him, her auburn hair curling at the ends and framing her face while she crossed the room. “Earth to Julian.”

“Olivia,” he smiled at his wife grateful to see her after all of his thoughts. He stood up and circled around his desk to kiss her gently, “how are you?”

“Obviously in a much better mood than you are,” she noted giving him a quick once over, “What’s with the doom and gloom routine?”

“Doom and gloom?” he repeated giving her a quick look.

“I saw it in your eyes when I was outside,” she confessed touching the side of his face gently. “Even now I can see something is eating away at you.”

“No, I’m fine,” he lied trying to force a small smile and push his concerns about Kyle out of the way for now.

“You’re lying,” she searched his eyes for a long moment, “I can tell. You have that expression on your face that you get when you’re lost in thought, but are working to keep it from me.”

“I’m not working to keep anything,” he started, then sighed. “Okay, so maybe I do have something on my mind, but it’s not that important.”

“It’s important enough to worry about it, so what’s up?” she questioned seeing him move over to his desk again.

“I was just thinking about the way life works,” he admitted glancing up at her again. “I mean when you think you’ve got it all figured out, something comes along and changes it for you.”

“Why would you say that?” she frowned down at him, an uneasiness carrying over his eyes. “Where is that coming from?”

“I just…” he paused glancing up at her again, “it’s not anything in our lives, but there is this friend of mine…”

“Friend huh?” she arched a doubtful brow moving in closer to him.

He nodded, “Honestly yes. He’s getting married and there is this woman…”

“That he’s getting married to?” she questioned.

He nodded again, “They just well, they…I mean she’s pregnant and he is planning on a future with her, but…”

“But what?” she questioned curiously.

“I saw her with someone else,” Julian blurted out with a heavy sigh. He brought his fingers up through his dark hair and sighed. “I just sort of walked in on something and now all I can think about is how he has no idea what the woman he’s going to marry is all about. I’m sure he’s thinking about the happiness ahead of him, but if she’s not faithful now…”

“Julian,” she sighed circling around to touch his shoulder gently, “obviously this man is marrying her because he loves her--because they have a child on the way.”

“I realize that, but given what I’ve seen,” he started again only to feel her press her finger into the center of his lips to silence him.

“Julian, I know that you want to help because it’s in your nature, but this really isn’t your place,” she continued pushing his chair out behind his desk enough to move in onto his lap. Settling herself over him she leaned forward to kiss him lightly, “I know you mean well, but given the circumstances maybe it’s best if you let them figure it out on their own. I mean how would you feel if someone approached you and said something about me like that? Would it make you doubt me and our love?”

“Of course not,” he shook his head and frowned, “but you’re not cheating on me. She’s obviously been with another man more than one time.”

“Even so it’s best if you don’t get involved,” she continued to remind him touching his cheek lightly, “People like that tend to find the truth in their own ways sooner or later. I’ve learned that when others get involved it gets messy.”

“Maybe, but…” he hesitated again only to feel her touch his face lightly.

“No buts…” she shook her head firmly leaning forward to steal another kiss from his lips, “Right now I want to talk about this weekend--about the fact that Jackie is going to be spending her time with Lindsay and John has that music camp, which means that it’ll be just the two of us alone together…”

“Alone,” Julian repeated arching an amused brow.

“That’s right,” she nodded in response, “and as foreign as that sounds right now, it’s something that I think you and I should take advantage of together. I mean we could actually delve into perhaps a little candlelight dinner…maybe some mood music and…”

“And it sounds nice,” he smiled up at her wrapping his arm around her slender waist, “I think I could get very used to the idea of being alone with you for a while.”

“Good, then keep the weekend open because I think it’s long past time for us to give up being perfect parents for a while and remember what it’s like to be fun, wild adults who know how to appreciate one another,” she mouthed in response bending down to kiss him once again.

“I do appreciate you,” he replied moving in to kiss her again, “very much.”

“I’ll look forward to that appreciating this weekend,” she mouthed in response sliding her arms around his shoulders only to feel her pager going off on her side. Frowning she pulled back and groaned.

“Duty calls?” he half questioned hearing the phone on his desk ringing.

“On both ends apparently,” she reached for her pager seeing it was the hospital.

“I guess this is where the possibility of what if ends and reality gets in the way,” Julian noted with a heavy sigh.

“I guess so,” she frowned back at him, “I should probably call them back.”

“Yeah and I,” he paused nodding towards the phone again.

“We’ll talk later,” she decided with a long sigh moving towards the door to his office. She spun around to see he’d already answered the phone and she sighed knowing that the time they had alone together was far and few these days. Still at least they had the weekend to look forward to. That in itself was something!

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

“You son of a bitch,” Sarah spat feeling Kellen finally let go of her as she fell to her butt seeing Kellen shake his head slowly before walking over toward the television to turn it off. Kellen folded his arms out in front of his chest as she let out an angered hiss. “You’re going to pay for this.”

“The only one going to pay is you Sarah,” Kellen kneeled down staring out at her with his blue eyes before offering up a wide smile and staring out at her. “Payback that is. You see you tried ruining so many people’s lives that you never got it. You aren’t the only one in this world that gets what they need. You never deserved Kyle and you deserve much more than you are getting right now.”

“That’s it,” she stood up from the ground seeing Kellen stand up too and she marched forward seeing Kellen stare out at her as she brought her fist up to hit him only to feel him catch her fist. Swinging her other one she felt him catch that one too before she brought her head forward seeing that he was bent down trying to fend her off and her head nailed his sending him to the ground as he let out a small groan. “You’re going to die.”

“Kellen,” Grady went to say something as Kellen stood up and placed his hand over his forehead letting out a small hiss before motioning Kellen to listen to him. Seeing Sarah head for him again he let out a small gasp only to see Kellen grab a hold of Sarah’s forehead holding her back as Kellen looked back at him. “I don’t think actually getting into a fight will help.”

“She came after me,” Kellen pointed out seeing the way that Grady glared at him as Kellen rolled his eyes and let go of Sarah. Turning toward Grady he threw his hands up in the air only to feel his left hand catch a hold of Sarah’s chin seeing her fall to the ground as he let out a small laugh. “My bad.”

“You little gay…,” Sarah got up from the ground and jumped on Kellen’s back wrapping her arms around his neck tightly and her legs around his waist as Kellen let out a small gasp. “You’re going to pay for all this.”

“Do you want help?” Grady questioned seeing Kellen shake his head slowly as Grady rested back against the statue in the corner of the room seeing that people must have decided it was a good time to start clearing out of the room as Sarah continued to attack Kellen. “I’ll help anytime you need it.”

“I don’t need help,” Kellen grumbled moving back quickly and slamming Sarah’s back into the wall only to feel her loosen up a bit, but not enough to let go as she let out a small hiss. “I’ve got this under control.”

“I can see that,” Grady half yawned seeing Kellen spinning around and around trying to get her arms off from around his neck and he let out a small hiss. Bending forward Kellen flipped her over onto her back on the ground. Standing above her Kellen shook his head slowly getting to the ground and putting his elbow across her neck to keep her in place and make sure not to hurt her. “Kellen, come on you’re a man. Well, you have the body of a man.”

“She’s attacking me,” Kellen felt Sarah moving underneath him and trying to hit him again as Kellen stood up and held his hands up in the air angrily. “Okay, I’m not touching her just go on and give me a minute. You got what you deserved Sarah.”

“I hate you,” Sarah stood up walking over to Kellen and slapping him across the cheek as he took in a deep breath and tried to hold it in as she pushed into his chest. Kellen stayed there for another moment before Sarah brought her hand across his cheek again seeing him turn away from her before shaking his head slowly and then bringing his hand across hers. “You jerk.”

“You started it,” Kellen felt her slap him again as he did the same only to feel her hit him back and every time she did, he would hit her right back. They continued until finally she decked him in the face and Kellen then grabbed a hold of her hair pulling back roughly hearing her let out a small hiss. “Hold your horses before I pull out all of it.”

“I’d like to see you try,” she growled out at him as she went to hit him again and he let go of her as her shoe broke and she fell down the two stairs landing flat on her butt as a few people stayed to watch her fight with Kellen. “You’re going to pay for that.”

“Back off,” Grady ordered sharply stepping between the two as Sarah moved in closer to Kellen again seeing the way Kellen begged her to move in closer to him. “Kellen, knock it off.”

“Get out of my way Grady,” Sarah ordered seeing Kellen glaring out at her with his blue eyes before starting to unbutton his dress shirt. “You’re going to get your butt kicked once I get my hands on you.”

“Yeah, well newsflash sweetheart,” Kellen took in a deep breath knowing that Sarah was paying close attention to him now that he was the one that revealed what a whore she really was. “You’ve punched me how many times? One more time and I swear that I will punch you and you will be out for hours.”

“I’d like to see you try,” Sarah brought her foot up trying to catch Kellen in the groin only to get Grady in the process making Grady fall down to the ground, placing his hand over the center of his pants. “You ruined my life.”

“And you ruined Heather’s,” Kellen held up his fists knowing that she would most likely be on the attack again as he moved forward and in closer to her. “She’s my best friend and it’s sad that a stupid bitch like you was able to bring her down. So come on Sarah, just bring it.”

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

“I don’t believe this,” Angela gasped under her breath taking in the scene right in front of them with Sarah trying to murder Kellen. It was too unbelievable for words and after what she’d heard about Sarah and her brother, to say she was stunned was the least of it. She shook her head trying to make sense of everything that Kellen had said. It seemed that there were quite a few secrets in this town and today they had been exposed in such a way that no one was ever going to be the same.

“We need to talk,” Kevin slid into the row where Brant and Angela had been seated. He grabbed Angela by the arm and tried to pull her up from where she was seated in a stunned moment.

“Kevin, what are you…” Brant watched Kevin pull at Angela’s arm causing her to get up from where she’d been beside him. “What’s wrong?”

“I just need to have a word with Angie,” Kevin explained nudging Angela once again, “Could you just um step outside with me for a minute?”

“No, I’m not going anywhere,” Angela shook her head adamantly pulling out of Kevin’s reach, “I have to get to the bottom of things and…”

“And you can do that later,” Kevin cut her off abruptly, “You and I need to have a chat outside and…”

“And nothing. We’re not having a chat outside right now considering that I think I need to get some answers about…” Angela hissed back at him. She shrugged out of his hold once again ready to turn to Brant once more when Kevin clasped her wrist.

“Angie, I don’t think you get what I’m telling you,” Kevin’s words came out in a firm, unyielding tone, “I’m not asking you anymore. I’m telling you to come with me right now and…”

“I can’t believe any of this,” Brant ran his fingers through his hair searching around the church to see everyone’s reaction to learning what kind of a person Sarah was, “I wonder where Don drifted off to. I know he was just right there and…”

“I said I’m not going with you Kevin,” Angela snapped glaring up at her best friend. She pushed him away from her causing Brant to watch the two of them closely. A frown carried over him as Angela stepped away from Kevin.

“What’s going on?” Brant couldn’t help but ask sensing the tension between Angela and Kevin. He saw something pass over Kevin’s face as Kevin looked to the back of the church. “Kevin?”

“The hell he’s sneaking out of here without giving an answer about all of this,” Angela muttered under her breath bending down and brushing past Kevin in a haste.

“Angie wait,” Kevin called out to her worry creasing over his brow as he realized that things were about to get to a new level of chaotic with Angela if he didn’t put a stop to it. Remembering that Avery was out in the lobby Kevin rushed after Angela hoping to prevent disaster.

“What is going on here?” Brant couldn’t help but wonder as he realized that everything in the church seemed to be caught up in a whirlwind of disaster after Kellen revealed the truth about Sarah. Now watching Kevin and Angela rush towards the back of the church Brant realized that maybe it was time to figure out just what in the world was going on!

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

Ria watched from where she stood seeing Kevin chasing after Angela yet again. It caused her thoughts to return back to what she’d seen on that tape and no doubt she was certain that Kevin and Angela would be up for a repeat performance--one that Ria most certainly didn’t want to be watching. A shudder passed over her as she looked to Seth.

“See I told you I was right,” she pointed over in the direction Kevin ran off in, “He can’t keep his hands off of her obviously. The fact to the matter is that Kevin doesn’t want to walk away from the past like he tries to make us all believe. He just keeps running to it over and over again.”

“Ria, I really don’t think that…” Seth started watching Sarah try to take another punch at Kellen. Seth tossed an apologetic expression over at Ria once again before rushing over to Blake and muttering quickly, “We’ll talk about this later.”

“No we won’t because there won’t be a later,” Ria’s eyes narrowed at Kevin as she marched over to the back of the church. She watched Angela push Kevin away, yelling a few words at him once again before rushing out the front doors.

Seizing the opportunity, Ria marched forward ready to give Kevin a piece of her mind once and for all after the way he used her and broke her heart. If he was going to go back to Angela, then he was going to at least hear what she had to say about it, she decided taking another bold step forward when she ran right smack into Don.

“Hey,” Don felt her plow into him. He spun around to catch her before she could fall, “Where’s the fire Ria?”

“It’s over there,” she spat out motioning towards Kevin, who seemed to be conflicted about whether or not he should chase after his precious Angie. She rolled her eyes before standing up straighter and looking to Don again, “I’m about to tell my ex-fiancé to go straight to hell.”

“You are?” Don replied with a puzzled expression, “Hey, what happened? I thought that you were really happy and….”

“Men suck,” Ria blurted out feeling her frustrations mount as Kevin took a step backwards moving closer to the both of them without realizing it.

“Why do you say that?” Don questioned awaiting her answer with a curious expression as it seemed that the church had transformed into a war zone so to speak.

“Because of this,” Ria tapped Kevin on the shoulder causing him to spin around and face her, a stunned expression on his face.

“Ria,” he gasped clearly out of breath as his chocolate eyes gazed down at her in a panic, “what are you doing here?”

“We were both invited remember?” Ria tossed back at him pointedly folding her arms in front of her chest, “Of course you probably forgot in between chasing Avery and Angie around, huh? It just didn’t cross your mind to think about me since I’m clearly so low in the list, eh?”

“Ria it’s not like that,” Kevin tipped his head back in an attempt to look over his shoulder to search for Angela, “It’s just that well a lot’s been going on and…”

“Oh yeah I can see that,” she scoffed back at him, her irritation growing with each passing second.

“Ria, you’re the one who refused to talk to me. I didn’t dump you. You’re the one who threw me out and…” Kevin reminded her sharply before facing her once again. Once he did he felt as if he’d been kicked in the gut. The pain behind her eyes was overwhelming. The way that she seemed so angry and full of hate for him caused him to buckle backward with grief all over again. Instinctively he reached out to her trying to explain himself, “Ria I love you. You know I love you and…”

“And it’s not enough, is it?” Ria shook her head at him furiously, “As long as Angie has you chasing her around, she’ll always keep pulling your strings and using you when the mood strikes, right Kevin? She’s never going to just let you be happy and have a life of your own, right Kevin?”

“Ria, that’s not how it is. I promise that I can explain everything to you if you just give me five minutes to work things out here and then we can talk. We can go somewhere else in five minutes after I deal with a situation and…” Kevin stammered trying to find a way to gain control of the situation that was spinning out of control around him.

“Forget about it Kevin. Nothing is going to change in five minutes especially not after you go find Angela,” she threw her hands up in the air, a look of disgust washing over her, “I don’t know why I even bothered with you.”

“Ria wait,” he reached for her arm, trying to pull her back to him, but instead of getting a positive response from her, he saw the glare that seemed to cut him to the core, “Ria please. Just five minutes. I swear to you after I talk to Angie we can go somewhere private and…”

“To hell with Angie,” her face twisted in a deep scowl at the mention of Angie’s name. She scrunched her face up bringing her knee in a jerking upward motion as well striking Kevin right square in the groin. He fell to the ground with a thud as she glared down at him tears threatening to overtake her. “And to hell with you.”

“Oh my…” Don’s jaw dropped as Ria realized he was standing there still. She blinked two times before speaking up.

“You asked why men suck, well there’s your answer Don,” Ria spat out with tears threatening before spinning around to leave.

“Ria, wait…” Kevin squeaked in a pinched voice as Don looked down at the floor where Kevin lay in a ball and winced.

“Oh man, it sucks to be you,” Don mouthed unable to refrain from comment. “I’ve been there so many times in the past and I know it’s not pleasant.”

“Shut up,” Kevin glared up at Don, hurting like hell as his eyes watched the woman he loved rush out of the church without a second though. Sure, he was in pain after she‘d kicked him, but nothing hurt worse than his breaking heart as he realized that she was right. As long as Angela was in his life, he never was going to be happy--as long as he kept dealing with all of her problems, he would never have a life of his own and thanks to the past with Angela, Kevin had just lost all hope of a future with the one woman he truly loved.

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

Grady stood taking in the scene as Kellen and Sarah went twenty rounds with one another. He was about to intervene when Sarah moved to kick Kellen in the groin only to miss and knock Seth in the shin after he’d attempted to try to calm her down. Grady watched Seth buckle over in agony and opted to take a small step back out of the situation unfolding in front of him.

“I can’t believe all of this,” he heard a voice whisper in the back of his ear. He felt a hand press in on his arm and as he looked over his shoulder he saw Deana standing beside him with a surprised expression behind her brown eyes.

“Neither can I,” Grady admitted turning ever so slightly to look at her more completely. He moved another step backward down the stair behind him until he was on the ground level with Deana, “This is insane.”

“You aren’t kidding,” Deana shuddered hearing Sarah throwing a vase of flowers across the room over at Kellen. The vase shattered and she reached for something else. Deana pulled Grady a bit further away from the scene before whispering in his ear, “Where’s Kyle?”

“Far from this place and I don’t blame him given what’s going on,” Grady admitted with a sheepish grin. However as another crashing sound erupted from behind him, he reached out to Deana and pulled her further away from the chaos, “And I think it might be wise for us to do the same. Do you want to get out of here with me?”

“Grady, I don’t know if…” Deana began hearing Sarah’s shouts grow louder, her threats more violent at Kellen. “You know on second thought I think that’s a great idea considering I think someone is going to get seriously hurt around here and I would hate for that to be you.”

“Really,” Grady couldn’t help but smile seeing the genuine concern behind her eyes.

“Yes really,” she nodded unable to repress the smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth, “I would hate to have to be called into work to have to stitch you up all over again given what a miserable patient I remember you to be.”

“I’m much better than I was before,” he promised with a wink, “I may even be polite if I have to.”

“You? Polite?” she laughed lightly feeling a bit more at ease with him than she’d been in a while, “Um Grady I hate to say this, but right now I don’t think a lot of people would say that polite is your strong point especially not Sarah.”

“Hey she’s only getting what she gave back to the community again and again,” he replied with an air of heavy sarcasm, “She should’ve known better than to try to play Kyle like that. Really I don’t know what the hell happened to her, but what’s happening now, well it couldn’t be happening to a nicer person.”

Another crash sounded from behind where Grady and Deana stood. Grady glanced over his shoulder to see Kellen waving his arms in the air wildly, words of insult flying from his lips as well.

“I do think she met her match though in the insults department,” Grady couldn’t help but laugh before his focus returned to the question he’d asked Deana, “So what do you say? You want to get out of here with me? Maybe get some coffee or something?”

“Yeah I think we can pull that off,” she nodded in agreement reaching for his hand in hers, “Although I should probably find Don and tell him that I’m leaving.”

The shouts continued to roar from behind them.

“On second thought,” Deana bit on her lower lip nervously, “Maybe we could just call his cell phone on the way out to let him know I left.”

“Great idea,” Grady nodded in agreement guiding Deana towards the side door of the church in the hopes of making their big escape undetected.

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

“You’re getting everything you deserve sweetheart,” Kellen pointed out seeing Sarah kick away her broken shoe as Kellen offered up a wide smile. “You didn’t see what you had, if you would have just kept your legs closed you would have been married by now, not you--that was too hard for you.”

“You don’t know me,” she moved forward seeing Kellen step out of her way as Kellen held his hands up in the air after Grady had crawled away a while ago. “You ruined everything Kellen and I always knew you would. Just because you have a hard on for Kyle doesn’t mean he likes you. He is just using you.”

“You think I care if he likes me,” Kellen half laughed shaking his head slowly before taking in a long and pulling open the rest of his shirt so that she saw his undershirt. Pushing back the sides of his dress shirt he motioned her to take a step forward before shaking his head slowly. “You see, I love Heather more than anything other than Kipp and she loves Kyle--that’s all that matters.”

“He was mine first,” she snapped seeing Kellen shake his head slowly as he stepped down one of the steps seeing her follow him as she came at him again and this time he moved out of the way seeing her go to jump on him, only to go over the benches in the church and onto the ground in a thud. “What is so good about my sister?”

“Well let’s think about this,” Kellen took in a deep breath seeing Sarah’s fingers wrap around the back of the bench as she pulled herself up slowly and stared out at him. “She isn’t you and that makes her clean. You know what though, you’re frizzy and I don’t like you at all.”

“Yeah and you’re a woman,” she turned around and moved in closer to him noticing that he knew she was about to hit him again as she felt him turn her around and grab a hold of her arms putting her in some kind of lock so she couldn’t get out. “Let go of me Kellen or I swear you're dead.”

“Nice try, but by the time you are done trying you will already be passed out,” Kellen muttered in her ear feeling her wrap her arms around over and over again hearing him let out another small laugh. “I told you demon girl, there is no way to get out of this and…,”

“Kellen let her go,” Kipp’s voice echoed through Kellen’s ears as Kellen let go of Sarah and turned back toward Kipp seeing the way that Kipp got between them holding his hands out so that he blocked the both of them. Knowing that if Sarah did happen to get a hold of Kellen, Kipp knew that it was likely Sarah would try and murder him and he wasn’t about to let that happen right now. “You two need to stop fighting right now. He helped Kyle because Kyle asked him to Sarah and Kellen--Sarah helped a lot of guys.”

“I noticed that,” Kellen half laughed wiggling his fingers at her in a teasing manner to see her push at Kipp’s hand to get him away from her only to feel him continue to hold her back. “Whether you like it Sarah, you are never going to have Kyle back again because he saw you for who you truly are.”

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

Brant worked his way through the crowd wondering where in the world Angela had drifted off to after she’d raced away from where they’d been seated. He’d tried to catch up to her and Kevin, but then he was caught in the hustle and bustle of churchgoers trying desperately to get out of their seats before Sarah flipped out on them as well. Brant could still hear Sarah lashing out at Kellen, but right now that was of little to no concern for him. He wanted to find Angela and see what was going on considering that she’d up and left in such a frazzled state.

“Where are you,” Brant mouthed scanning the area for any sign of Angela. He was working his way over towards the entrance when he spotted Don in the middle of the lobby, “Don. Don hey!”

“Brant,” Don waved at his friend wildly watching as Brant pushed his way through the crowd, “hey!”

“Have you seen Angela,” Brant questioned approaching Don only to discover Kevin still lying on the ground. He could see the obvious agony Kevin was in as his hand was clasped over his groin area and his face was still a bright shade of red. “What the hell happened here? Please don’t tell me Angela was that pissed at you to take you down like this?”

“It wasn’t Angela,” Don piped in before Kevin could reply to Brant’s comment, “Sure she seemed like she was worked up when she raced out of here, but it was Ria who did this number on Kevin.”

“I’ll be fine,” Kevin explained in a pinched voice his brown eyes full of tears as he tried to pull himself off of the ground only to stumble forward again.

“Let me give you a hand,” Brant offered his hand out to Kevin before thinking twice of it. Brant motioned to Don before nodding to Kevin again, “Let’s help the man up instead of just sitting here watching the aftermath of his misfortune.”

“Oh right,” Don nodded getting up from where he’d been seated for the last few minutes watching the scene unfold around him. He moved to one side of Kevin before Brant stepped in on the other side. The two men started to hoist Kevin off of the ground as Don looked to Brant again, “So what happened to get all this going on? I was on the phone with the hospital when it seemed like all hell broke loose in the church.”

“Sarah got caught cheating and Kyle let the world know all about it,” Brant explained matter of fact, unable to repress the grin that swept over his features, “This wedding turned out almost as good as Ken’s did if not better.”

“Given that Kevin’s the one that got kicked in the balls and not me, I’d have to say it’s turning out much better,” Don chortled in response thus earning him a heavy glare from Kevin. “No offense man.”

“Yeah, well right now I hurt too damn much to be offended,” Kevin sighed heavily thinking about the way Ria had run out on him. “Ria just doesn’t understand. She doesn’t see that she’s wrong about Angie and I.”

“You and Angie?” Brant repeated giving him a strange look. “What about it?”

“Ria thinks that I’m still in love with Angie,” Kevin spoke up behind gritted teeth.

“Why would she think that?” Brant questioned with a puzzled expression.

“Thanks to good old Foley, she saw something she shouldn’t have and she flipped out on me. I tried to explain it to her earlier, but she tossed me out. She refused to talk to me before the wedding and…” Kevin began to explain the situation to Brant.

“She had no problems telling you to go to hell when she nailed you in the…” Don piped in cheerfully.

“Shut up Don!” Kevin snarled at him watching Don raise his arms in the air defensively.

“I’m just saying,” Don shrugged his shoulders taking a step back just in case Kevin felt compelled to deck him.

“So wait? Chris made Ria think that you’re in love with Angela?” Brant gave Kevin a strange look, “Why would that jackass do something like that?”

“Probably for the same reasons why he did what he did in writing that article, but the fact to the matter is as much as I want to work this out with Ria, I have to find Angie right now. I need to get her out of here before she gets into trouble,” Kevin explained with a worried expression.

“What kind of trouble?” Brant asked worriedly. “Kevin, what’s going on?”

“I promise I’ll explain later,” Kevin shook off the pain that was rocking over him before turning to Brant, “but right now I have to get out there and find her.”

“I’m going with you,” Brant announced firmly, “If something is wrong then she’s going to need me there.”

“Brant, this doesn’t concern you,” Kevin replied in a bit of an evasive tone.

“If Angela is in some kind of trouble or something is bothering her, then you can bet it concerns me. I love her Kevin and I’m not going to abandon her when she needs me the most,” Brant announced causing Kevin to realize that there was going to be no arguing the matter.

“Fine, but just don’t make things worse than they already are,” Kevin warned before the two men headed towards the church exit ready to find Angela.

“Well,” Don scratched his chin lightly unable to repress his amusement, “this is sure turning out to be quite a day here.”

Another crash sounded from back inside the church and Don shuddered remembering Ken’s wedding when a very furious Michelle tried to beat the life out of him. Not wanting a repeat performance Don started to tiptoe towards the exit of the church as well.

“Um guys,” Don mouthed in a quiet tone picking up his pace, “Wait for me.”

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

“Just where do you think you’re going?” Angela demanded stepping in front of Cameron before he could run out to the parking lot in the midst of the confusion.

“Angel,” Cameron started surprised to see his sister standing before him glaring at him as if she was ready to murder him. “hey I…”

“Yeah you,” she took a bold step forward, her brown eyes narrowing in anger at him, “What the hell were you thinking? How could you do something like this?”

“Hey this was not my fault,” Cameron informed her point blank shaking his head at the scene that was taking place around them. “I had nothing to do with Kyle’s decision not to marry Sarah.”

“Really,” Angela arched a disbelieving brow, “then why did Kellen tell everyone that you were sleeping with the bride to be?”

“Kellen’s a queen, you know how he thrives on drama Angel,” Cameron tried to backpedal thinking about how that admission from Kellen and Kyle was the last thing that he’d anticipated in going to the wedding. “I realize that things look bad, but…”

“But nothing Cameron. You did something to destroy that man’s happiness not to mention if what Kellen said was true about you plotting and manipulating people to…”

“Kellen doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Cameron lied trying to ignore what Kellen had told everyone about his arrangement with Sarah.

“I think he does and that’s why you’re trying to run away,” Angela confronted Cameron shaking her head at them, “You know full well that those people would’ve been fine if you hadn’t tried to manipulate the situation in your favor. When I saw that tape it reminded me of our father and…”

“Angel stop,” Cameron cut her off abruptly, “I am nothing like our father. I have done what I needed to do to survive in this town.”

“By manipulating and hurting people?” she questioned with a look of disgust, “Cameron that’s not like you. You aren’t that kind of person and you swore that you would never cause something like this.”

“I didn’t cause this!” he snapped at her frustration rolling over him, “I wasn’t the one that made this wedding fall apart. That was Sarah’s doing and as for what I promised her, I was never, ever going to give her any of it. I don’t care what she wants--it’s not important to me.”

“Then why say those things? Why make those promises?” she couldn’t help but ask confusion settling in over her.

“It was one of those times when you say things you don’t mean. You know when you’re with someone and…” Cameron threw his hands up in the air, “I’m not going to justify or explain my actions to you. I did what I did because it was what I wanted to do and that’s all there is to it.”

“Ah yes good old Cameron who is above doing the right thing. You can’t just stop and think about anyone else for a change can you? You can’t let yourself be the man I knew you to be because it doesn’t fit into this whole agenda you have working with you,” Angela shook her head at him disgustedly, “You’re such a hypocrite.”

“A hypocrite,” he repeated with a sarcastic laugh taking a step towards her, “you my sister are the greatest hypocrite of them all. I came to this town bound and determined to right the wrongs that have been done against our family. I did everything I have in order to make those pay for taking away what was rightfully ours.”

“Cameron, what are you talking about?” she shook her head at him, “What does that have to do with today? How does what’s happened to our family have anything to do with all of this?”

“This has to do with you sleeping with the enemy,” Cameron approached her, a dark expression creeping in over him, “After everything I have done to keep you out of harm’s way, you found it in you to rush into the arms of the enemy. Time after time you’ve been too stupid to see how things really are. You’ve found a way to keep pushing yourself in the line of danger and I’ve been cleaning up your messes.”

“Oh please,” she rolled her eyes at him throwing her hands up in the air, “there you go wanting to push the conversation on someone else when you’re clearly in the wrong.”

“No Angel you’re in the wrong! You’re dead wrong!” he shouted his words shaky and broken by emotion, “Not only have you disobeyed me time and time again, but you took it upon yourself to find the one man in this world I detest the most and become his whore.”

“What are you talking about?” she blinked back at him, “Cameron, have you lost your mind?”

“Have you lost yours? Have you no shame or decency?” Cameron grabbed her arm tightly, pinching it with his fingers, “Of all the things I expected and anticipated for my sister I never believed that she would fall into bed with the one man who was responsible for the death of our father.”

“What?” she questioned confusion setting in over her as she tried to wrench her arm away from him, “Cameron what are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about Brant,” Cameron snapped at her jerking her arm in a violent tugging motion, “Brant Ashford--the man responsible for our father’s murder.”

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


...to be continued...