Chapter One

This chapter was written by Melissa.

Carly went from table to table, making sure that each and every centerpiece was perfect. In less than six hours, the room would be filled with the city's most eligible bachelors. She picked up the picture of Morgan and felt the scars on her heart as her eyes misted with tears. It had been three years today since his passing, but it never seemed to get any easier. Perhaps that was why tonight was so important to her. It was all for Morgan, to raise awareness for bipolar, perhaps if they had known more, if she had known what to look for, then he would still be here with her.

"Do you need any help?" Jason asked as he walked into the Metrocourt ballroom and interrupted her thoughts.

Carly smiled at him, it was just like him to show up when she needed him. She grabbed his hand and led him to a table to sit down.

"Just making sure that everything's perfect, but I seem to be running out of things to keep me busy," she stated honestly as she looked around the room.

"I came by to let you know that you can add my name to the list of Bachelor's to be auctioned off," Jason said.

"Sure, I can do that, but Sam may need to come up with a lot of money in order to beat out the competition for a date with you."

"I don't think that Sam will be here, or if she is, that she'll bet on me," Jason stated.

"Why not? If you were my fiancé, I wouldn't risk the chance of losing you to the other women of this town."

"Sam and I, we're not getting married anymore, we're not even going to date anymore. It's just over."

"What the hell is wrong with that girl? Just when I think that I can trust her with your heart, she breaks it. I should break her pretty little face instead," Carly vented as she clenched her hands together.

"Don't be mad at Sam, it was a mutual decision. We just...the five years that I was gone, it changed things between us. We realized that we were trying to recreate a past that couldn't be recreated and that we don't want the same things anymore. I still need the danger, the adventure, the adrenaline. Sam can't take the same types of risks anymore. She needs the security of loving someone that she isn't constantly afraid will disappear on them again."

"It wasn't your fault that you were taken away from us."

"Maybe not, but it's changed things just the same."

"Well, it's Sam's loss then."

"I'm going to go and pick up my tuxedo, I'll see you tonight," Jason said as he kissed her cheek and walked out.

Carly was just about to leave as well when she received a call from someone that had been gone from this town for far too long.
The caller wanted Carly to add his name to the list of Bachelor's. She agreed and then hung up the phone as she began to rearrange the order of the names on this list. His appearance certainly would be a surprise and she wondered how his presence would affect Elizabeth and Franco.

XOXOXO

Franco stared at the portrait that he was creating as he moved his pencil across the paper. He had an art studio, but for some reason he needed to be in the art therapy room at the hospital when he drew her. He wasn't even sure of who she was, but her beautiful face came to him in his dreams. Perhaps she was his muse or a vague memory from a time he couldn't remember. He didn't like to think about that, it was frustrating that he couldn't remember anything about his life from before Heather Webber had fished him out of the pier when he was just twenty-five years old. He put the pencil down as he looked at the blond curly locks and her beautiful blue eyes as he wondered if he would ever have a name to put towards his muse. He sighed and then looked up, feeling irritated that he was no longer alone and could no longer work on his masterpiece.

"What are you doing here?" Franco asked as he looked up from his latest sketch to see Kevin Collins standing across from him.

"You're still angry with me," Kevin pointed out.

"Way to state the obvious Doc," Franco said as he put his pencil down.

"I just, I wanted to say that I'm sorry for all the ways that my brother hurt you."

"Ryan can apologize for his own damn sins. Don't you think that you should be sorry about your own?"

"You feel that I betrayed you."

"I know that you betrayed me. We were close, I'm not naive enough to think that we were friends, but I thought that you honestly wanted to help me."

"I did want to help you."

"No, you used me. You gave me all of those free therapy sessions so that I would spill my secrets to you and then you used them to try and rehabilitate that demented brother of yours. Ryan couldn't be helped, he killed my beautiful Kiki because of you. To hell with you and to hell with your therapy."

"I understand that you don't want to see me anymore, but I don't think that you should give up on the therapy. One of my colleagues Marty Saybrooke has just moved to town. I'd be happy to give you a referral."

"What did you just say?" Franco asked as he stared at him.

"I was saying that I could give you a referral."

"No, before that. What was her name?" Franco asked as he glanced towards his sketch of his muse.

"Her name's Marty Saybrooke. Do you know her?" Kevin asked as he looked at Franco with concern.

Marty, the name seemed so hauntingly familiar, and yet there were no memories tied to it. The only face that he could conjure up, was that of his masterpiece. Did his muse finally have a name and could this Marty have something to do with his past. "How could I possibly know her, I've never met the women, but I would like to meet her," Franco stated.

"Are you going to the Bachelor auction tonight?" Kevin asked.

"Yes, Elizabeth wants me to be one of the Bachelor's so that she can bid on me. It's not really my thing, but if it makes Elizabeth happy."

"Okay, well I'm also going to be there and I've convinced Marty to check it out since she's new to town. I'll introduce you to her tonight."

"I'll see you then, you know your way out," Franco stated as he returned back to his drawing.

XOXOXO

"Are you sure that you want to go tonight?" Monica asked Drew as she looked at her son with worry. It had been a month since Oscar had died and the toll had really devastated her son.

"I promised Carly that I would be a Bachelor for her event."

"I'm sure that Carly would understand if you are not up to it."

"I'm sure that she would to, but honestly, I need to get out of the house and it's for a good cause. Are you going to go?" Drew asked.

"Yeah, I'll be there," Monica said.

"I'm going to go and get ready," Drew said as he walked out of the room.

Monica picked up the phone and dialed her number as soon as Drew had left the room. She pleaded with the woman on the phone to go with her to the charity event as well. When the woman had agreed, she hung up the phone with satisfaction. She hoped that her guest would vote on Drew if she came to the party. Drew had been in so much pain for far too long and losing Oscar the way that they had. She would do anything to make sure that her son began to live life again.

XOXOXO

"Cowboy, don't you look handsome," Nora said as she came down the stairs and wrapped her hands around her husband.

"Tell me again, why we have to go to this thing?" Bo asked.

"You don't want to go?"

"It's not that exactly, it's just that I would rather spend the night with my beautiful wife naked in bed."

"It's a good opportunity for us to meet some of the townspeople now that I'm the new District Attorney and you're the new police commissioner."

"You have a point."

"I'll tell you what? Come with me to the auction tonight and tomorrow, we will spend the day naked in bed."

"Deal," Bo agreed as he kissed her.

XOXOXO

She stared at the newspaper article about the charity event and she wondered if Finn was going to be one of the Bachelor's for auction. She wondered if he was still single or if he had moved on with his life. The idea of him with another woman, it left her feeling jealous, not that she had any right to be upset after the way that she had torn out his heart and left him.

She knew that it wasn't fair, the way that she had treated him, or that she had gone back to Port Charles. How would he react when he saw her again? Would he be happy to see her? Would he be happy when he learned that she hadn't miscarried their child like she told him?

She picked up the phone and began to dial his number when she thought better of it. She couldn't tell him that she was back over the phone. She needed to have this conversation with him face to face. She would go to the benefit and if he was a Bachelor for auction then she would bid on him. She needed one night alone with him so that she could tell him the truth about why she had left him.