Rated M for violence, thematic elements, brief strong language, and intense situations.

Written October 2010 - April 2011.

The story starts off right when Scott Chandler is sent to jail for stealing ideas from Cortlandt. I first posted this story on October 16, 2010 so I would imagine it would correspond with that week's episodes. If I remember correctly, I based this story off the spoilers that were included for the next few days and then put my own dramatic spin on it.


October 2010


Annie Chandler nervously paced about the Chandler mansion, scolding herself for revisiting her old habit of biting her nails out of anxiety. She hated doing this to Emma. And it was all her fault—what she did with JR ruined everything for her and her daughter. Suddenly, the sound of the front door opening made Annie jump. Emma walked in with a blank look and sat on the couch with a sigh. Annie put on a smile as best she could and sat across from her daughter.

"Hey, you," she said softly, brushing a strand of light blonde hair out of her daughter's face. "Did you thank Hannah's mom for driving you home?"

"Yeah," Emma said with a slow nod. She looked up at her mother. "Mommy…Kelly said her mom won't let her talk to me anymore because all the people in my family do bad things and go to jail." Emma forced back tears. "But that's not true, right? It was just a mistake when daddy went to jail, and…and you were sick, right?"

Annie's heart broke. She held back her own tears as she sat beside Emma, pulling her baby girl into her lap.

"Our family is not full of bad people," Annie assured Emma. "And that's right. Daddy and I…there were things going on that not all kids would understand, but you know in your heart that we aren't bad people." Emma nodded slowly.

"I just wish people would understand like I do and not be mean about it…" she sighed. "Because I have the best mommy and daddy and stepdaddy in the world."

"Emma, I need to tell you something," Annie blurted before she cried so hard that she couldn't speak. "I'll have a talk with Kelly's mother, but the reason she said those things was not just because me and daddy were in trouble before. Someone else is in trouble." She couldn't bring herself to say her husband's name at the moment.

"Daddy isn't going to jail, is he?" Emma whimpered, tears falling down her cheeks. Annie held her daughter close.

"No, Emma…" she whispered. "Scott." Emma immediately looked at her mother, shocked.

"Scott…?" she said with disbelief, her blue eyes wide. "When are we going to see him again? He has to see you, right? He's your husband."

"Not for much longer, sweetie," Annie sobbed. She tried to compose herself as much as possible. "Basically…Scott did a very bad thing and he felt horrible about it, so he was a good man by telling the police what he did. So that he could be punished for it. He wanted to tell the truth and be honest because he knew he needed to pay for the bad thing. But now he's going to be in jail…and we may not see him for a long time." Annie broke into uncontrollable sobs, hugging her daughter. "And we have to leave the mansion, too."

Emma sat there, a bit frozen out of surprise and processing all of the new-found information.

"But I like it here," Emma said softly. Suddenly, she threw herself to a stand. "You said this wouldn't happen!" she whined. "You said you and Scott would be together forever! You said this was the last time you would get married…but that's what you said with Adam, too! And when you were married to daddy…you told me the three of us would be together forever. Why do you keep lying, mommy?!"

Shocked by such an outburst, Annie stared at her daughter for a moment. Then, she took the little girl by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes.

"Emma, I—"

"NO!" Emma screeched, half angry and half devastated at yet another change in her life. "I'm not leaving! You leave! I don't want to be around you anymore! YOU'RE A LIAR!"

At that, Emma darted out of the room and stomped up the stairs, leaving Annie in the parlor with an unbearable guilt and regret.


After plowing through the paparazzi, JR made his way back to the mansion. He was completely exhausted from all of the damage control resulting from Scott's confession that he couldn't imagine anything better to do than to go straight to his bedroom and sleep. However, on the way there, he ran into Emma's babysitter Anya, who was standing in front of the little girl's door. She looked at JR with a huge sigh of relief.

"Thank God…maybe you can make her budge," Anya said with relief. She knocked on the door. "Emma, JR's here. Wanna come out and say hi?"

"NO!" Emma snapped from inside the room. Anya grumbled a bit. JR seemed confused.

"Why is she so upset?" he asked.

"Mrs. Chandler said it was complicated, but mostly Emma's upset that they're moving out of the mansion and the whole thing with her stepfather being in jail. "

"Moving out of the mansion?" JR blurted with surprise. Anya nodded.

"Mrs. Chandler didn't seem to have much time to explain—she went out in kind of a hurry."

"Where?" asked JR. Anya shrugged.

"I don't know…" she sighed. "But she seemed really upset. And she hated leaving with Emma so upset but she couldn't even get her to talk, much less open the door. I'm just hoping the little munchkin's going to need to go to the bathroom, get hungry, or give into one of my many, many bribes." She let a half-smiled slip across her face. "The poor thing. Her mother loves her so much…and it's not Mrs. Chandler's fault entirely for all the change in that little girl's life." Anya looked back towards Emma's door, then at JR again. "You wanna give it a shot?" JR thought for a moment, then stepped towards Emma's room. He knocked on the door.

"Hey, Emma, having fun in there?" JR said, leaning up against the door. He didn't hear anything from her. After several seconds, he tried again. "You know…when I was a kid, it seemed like everything was always changing. Both my parents were always getting married and divorcing and fighting over me…and I spent a lot of time in my room like you are now. But you're lucky, you know? Because your mommy and daddy both understand that you need both of them, and you will always have both of them in your life. And Scott…I know you're upset that he's going to be away for a while…but the important thing is that he still loves you." JR paused for a moment, trying to listen for a response from Emma. He didn't hear anything so far. "That's the thing, Emma…a lot of things change—houses, rooms, family, and even you—but the one thing that never changes is the love. Your mommy loves you, your daddy loves you, Scott may not see you for a while but he loves you…and you know, I love you, too. And I'm upset that you're leaving the mansion, but like I said, I still love you. And you can come and visit me and AJ all you want after you leave."

Suddenly, JR heard a soft click and the door opened. A teary-eyed Emma stood there, crying, and threw herself into JR's arms.


Over the course of an hour, JR had checked the yacht club, Krystal's, and the park for Annie but still could not find her. He had even stopped by the parking lot in front of Ryan's apartment complex to look for Annie's car, but he once again had no luck. Out of ideas, he let his head drop onto the steering wheel. Where the hell could she have gone? Suddenly, he realized there was only once place he hadn't checked. Confusion. He cursed to himself for not thinking of that before, and then sped off towards the bar.


Annie downed yet another scotch, which was far beyond being one too many. Her head spun a bit, but at least she could forget about things for a while. It was late at night by now and the bar had cleared out, save about five men a little older than Annie who were clearly regulars at the place.

Annie felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to face a man who looked to be about forty-five, his eyes half-shut and a drunken smile on his face.

"I'm buying your next one," he said, sitting beside her.

"Fine with me," Annie said, not really caring about anything at the moment. She was suddenly distracted by a song that came on. She bobbed her head a little bit, seeing as it was one of her favorite songs. The man beside her laughed.

"That all the moves you got?" he asked in a deep, mumbling voice.

"Hell no," Annie said, giving him a sharp look. She smirked and stood up with wobbly legs, then climbed onto the bar. The other men there all whistled with approval. Annie smiled at their approval and through her arms up, swaying to the beat, her short dress riding up on her legs.

Dancing seemed to be the only thing at the moment that could make her forget. It was probably the thought she had to put into not falling off the bar as a result of her clear drunkenness. She spaced into a world of memories—the lies and constant fear that resulted from being with Terry, the love that never was with Ryan, the brief asylum romance with Aidan, the opportunities that Adam provided even though she had some feelings for him, and the love that she truly did have for Scott but just never seemed to be enough. Why was she never satisfied? She tried to make a better choice in love every time, and every time it happened, she truly thought she had. She thought she could change. But even when she was the goody-goody cookie-baking mommy dearest back at the time of her arrival in Pine Valley, deep down her true self was successfully breaking through the straightjacket of her disguise and it was only a matter of time before it freed itself.

Before Annie knew it, the song had ended. She looked around as if to make sure her assumption was correct, then after the next song started playing, she squatted to sit on the bar so that she could lower herself back to the ground. All of a sudden, she felt a cold hand on her shoulder. She turned to face the man from before.

"Keep dancing, babe," he snickered. She other drunks clapped and yelled in approval, but instead of allowing her to climb back up for another dance—which she wasn't planning to do in the first place—one of the younger men grabbed her legs that draped over the edge of the bar and started sliding his hands up her thighs.

"Get off me!" she screeched with disgust, giving him a push and lowering herself to the ground. She stumbled towards the exit, but then a different man blocked her path. He grabbed her hips and pushed her up against the wall.

"Playing hard to get," he whispered with crazy, lustful eyes. Annie's eyes widened with fear, unable to stop herself from thinking about a similar experience.

"Playing hard to get…yes, I like that," Tucker said in a soft, seductive tone.

"Get off me!" Annie insisted, pushing his hand away from her arm. He suddenly lunged forward and threw her on the bed, tearing at the straps of her dress.

"No!" Annie screamed, giving him a push and trying to get past him; however, by then all five men had crowded around her, touching her and trying to dance with her—some grabbing for her clothes.

"Dead end, sweetheart," chuckled the oldest man.