Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Passions or NBC. I am not making money off this story.

Note: Special thanks to Long Lost Love for letting me use her Speed parody from her story Passions: Through the Television. It's a great story. If anyone here hasn't read it, go read it.

Sex, Lies, and Audiotape

Prologue: Theresa told Ethan that she knew he wasn't a Crane. She even told him that she scanned the files on the computer but later deleted them. She told him everything she knew and that she didn't mean to hurt him. She said she wanted to tell him but her mother wouldn't let her. Pilar admitted it but Ethan wouldn't listen. He left Harmony in Sheridan's car without a friendly word to Theresa. There was no word great enough to describe how devastated a tearful Theresa felt.

Ivy was angry. She was mad at Theresa for betraying Ethan like she did, and for scanning her papers on her computer, but that wasn't even close to the bulk of her anger. She was much more mad at Julian and Rebecca. She was going to get revenge on them, and she already had a plan; a plan that would still give her the Crane fortune, and make Ethan happy again.

She watched Speed enough times to figure out what to do. And she had taken enough technology classes to further buffer up her plan. First she recorded a tape of the library without anyone in it. 5 minutes. That should be more than enough time for her to do the rest of her plan. She went into Alistair's camera room (where Alistair is able to get surveillance of the whole place), and put the tape into the VCR that was hooked up to the library and started playing it. She quickly went into the library to set up the cassette recorder and left the room. Almost immediately after she left the camera room and took out the tape out, Julian entered the library. She knew he and Alistair were going to talk about Martin Fitzgerald. She just knew. When they did, she would give the tape to Sam and they would be convicted and she would divorce Julian and still get the Crane fortune. Ethan would be happy again because he would be glad that he wasn't part of a family of murderers.

After Julian left the library, Ivy went back in and took out the cassette. She went to her room and started listening to it. This is what she heard:

(Phone rings)

Julian: Julian Crane.

Alistair: Do you know what has just happened with Sheridan and Luis?

Julian: No, father. What?

Alistair: Luis just proposed to her. She said yes.

Julian: What?!

Alistair: If you hadn't spent so much time sleeping around, you could have put a stop to this.

Julian: What could I do father? We tried everything. For awhile that Luis mask we hired that guy to wear worked. But then they decided to move on and forget the past. You even told me that you were going to play Eve's tape of Sheridan's confession to killing Luis's father at Ethan and Theresa's engagement party. But then the tabloid revealed Ethan not to be a Crane and that messed everything up for everyone.

Alistair: I'm still going to play Sheridan's confession tape. I still have it. If there's one thing I can thank Eve for, it's for not erasing this tape. When Luis hears that Sheridan killed his father, he'll want nothing more to do with her.

Julian: But what if Luis finds out that we really killed him before you get a chance to play the tape?

Alistair: That is something that cannot happen. If Luis dodges all the times that I will play the tape, it's up to you to kill him.

Julian: What? I can't kill Luis. If I do, Chief Bennett will launch such an investigation that he will find out we killed Luis.

Alistair: That will not happen. If I have to, I'll kill Chief Bennett too. Luis cannot find out that we killed his father. And he cannot find out that he's buried under the Gazebo.

Julian: Very well, father. I will see to it that Luis hears that tape. I will see to it that he doesn't find out that we murdered Martin Fitzgerald.

Alistair: Good. I'll call again later with more plans.

Ivy stopped the tape. She sat there stunned. This was all the proof she needed to get back at Julian. With that in mind, she left with the cassette player and a set of headphones and went to the hospital to give it to Sam.

When she got there she saw Sam in the hall. He was beyond angry to see her. "Didn't I tell you enough times to stay away from me and my family?" he said, walking up to her. "Get out!" He pointed to the door.

"Will you at least take this?" She handed him the tape.

"What is it?" he asked, taking the tape.

Ivy leaned in closer to whisper. "It's proof that Alistair and Julian murdered Martin Fitzgerald."

Sam stared at her wide-eyed. "What?!"

"Listen to it." She handed him the cassette player and the headphones because she knew that it wasn't time for the tape to be made public yet.

After Sam finished listening to the tape, he took of the headphones and didn't move. He was too shocked. Finally, after a few seconds he went to the payphone and dialed the police station. "Issue a warrant for the arrest of Alistair and Julian Crane. I have proof that they murdered Martin Fitzgerald....Yes, that's right. They did.....Alright, I'll be down there in a few minutes." He went back to Grace's room to tell her what was happening.

In the car, Ethan was driving feeling betrayed. Betrayed by everyone except for Sheridan. All he could think about was Theresa and the way he left things with her. He was mad at her for lying to him and he wasn't sure if he still loved her, but he felt bad about the way he treated her. He decided to turn on the radio to get his mind off it.

"This just in," came on the radio. "We have reports confirming that Alistair and Julian Crane murdered Martin Fitzgerald." Ethan slammed on the brakes in the middle of the road, fortunately, he was the only car out there. "We're not allowed to release anything else yet, but we are allowed to say that the body is believed to be buried under the gazebo on the Crane estate."

Ethan sat there stunned. A family he was once proud to be a part of were the murderers of the father of the woman he loved. "Oh, God. Theresa," he said. All his anger, all his feelings of betrayal were forgotten. He turned the car around and drove back to Harmony.

When he got to the Crane estate, he saw Rebecca and Gwen. They didn't notice him. They were talking about they're plan about mailing Ivy's letter to the tabloid, everything.

"It was you?!" Ethan yelled walking up to them.

Gwen and Rebecca turned around and saw him, shock on their faces. "Why, Ethan, I didn't know you would be coming back so soon," Rebecca said.

"You were the ones who mailed it in to the tabloid?!"

"Well..." Rebecca began.

"There are no excuses for what you did." Ethan almost yelled. He knew that they had to have gotten it from Theresa's laptop, but he wasn't angry at her. He also figured out why Gwen and Rebecca did it. "Do you know how many lives you were messing with? My stepmother almost died and she lost her baby!" He stopped, realizing what he just said. He just called Grace Bennett his stepmother. Was he just accepting Sam as his father? He didn't have time to think about that. He was too busy with Gwen and Rebecca. "What did I ever see in you, Gwen? How could I have been fooled into thinking that you and your mother were good people. I never want to see you again." He walked off without leaving them a chance to reply.

When he got to the gazebo (what was left of it), he saw Sheridan and Luis. Luis looked like he had been crying. Sheridan was consoling him. Ivy was consoling a crying Pilar. Charity was consoling Miguel, they both looked like they had gone through an ordeal of their own. Jessica, Reese, and Simone were over by them too. Kay was there, but she was no where near them. (What happened was that earlier before, Kay had confessed everything to them. And Miguel and Reese basically said that they couldn't understand how they ever once liked her enough to ask her out). But where was Theresa? He couldn't find her anywhere. "Sam!" he called, running over to him.

Sam looked up. "Ethan?" He didn't expect to see him. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard on the radio. I had to come back. Where's Theresa?"

"Chad and Whitney took her home. She was really shaken up."

Ethan just nodded. "I need to talk to you about something."

"Okay. What is it?" Ethan told him that it was Gwen and Rebecca who sent the tabloid his mother's unsent letter. He told him the entire story. "Oh my God," Sam said. "I can't believe it." He stood there stunned, feeling nothing but hate for the two people that caused his wife to miscarry.

"There's something else I need to talk to you about. Something important."

"What is it?" He already had a feeling though.

"I guess...that," he was having trouble saying it. "I want to be a part of your family."

Sam didn't know what to say. He wasn't expecting it. They talked for a few minutes and decided they'd talk to Grace tomorrow.

"I got to go," Ethan said. "I have to talk to Theresa." He started back around.

"Ethan wait. Take this." Sam handed him the engagement ring Julian had taken away from Theresa.

"Where'd you get it?" Ethan asked.

"After I arrested Julian, I found it and decided to give it back to you in case you came back."

"Thanks." He smiled. Sam smiled back.

Ethan knocked on the door when he got to Theresa's house. Whitney answered it. "Oh my gosh," she said. "Come on in."

He entered. Whitney shut the door. Chad came in, shocked to see Ethan. "Hey man, what are you doing back?"

"I turned around when I heard it on the radio. I can't believe it. I'm glad I'm not a Crane anymore." No one said anything for a few seconds. "Where's Theresa?"

"In her room, she's asleep," answered Whitney.

Ethan looked at the clock. It was only 8:36. Although considering what she the pain that she was suffering from her father's murder and Ethan dumping her, it was understandable that she was exhausted. "I have to talk to her."

"Ethan wait," Whitney said. But Ethan was already inside Theresa's room.

"Let him Whitney," Chad said. "I don't think Theresa will mind if Ethan wakes her up." He smiled, wrapping his arm around Whitney's shoulder.

Theresa was sleeping on her side so Ethan kneeled down and faced her, saying nothing as he brushed her hair off of her face. He couldn't wait any longer. "Theresa?" he said softly. "Wake up, honey."

Theresa opened her eyes. Ethan said nothing, knowing all too well how bewildering those first few moments of waking up can be. "Ethan?" she asked, sitting up.

"Yeah. I'm here."

"You came back?"

"Yeah. I'm so sorry for the way I treated you."

"It's okay, you came back now. That's all that matters."

He hugged her. She hugged him back, and she started crying again, tears both in pain of her father, and tears of happiness because Ethan was back.

"If it's the last thing I do, I'll make sure Alistair and Julian pay for what they did to your father."

"Just keep holding me. Promise me you'll never leave me again."

"I promise, Theresa. I will never leave you again." He hugged her tighter, getting teary eyed himself.

Epilogue: Julian and Alistair were convicted and would spend the rest of their lives in jail. When Charity had escaped from hell, her powers of goodness reached their full maximum, because of that, Hecuba, Tabitha, and Timmy were destroyed. Kay managed to get her soul back although her friendships with Miguel, Reese, Simone, Charity, and Jessica were forever destroyed. Reese and Jessica actually started dating. Ivy divorced Julian and got control over the entire Crane empire. Ethan and Theresa were married under the name "Bennett". For those of you who are wondering how come everything went well for Ivy if Grace put a curse on her, it's because Ivy did the right thing by recording Alistair and Julian. The right thing overtakes a curse.