The following disclaimer stands for all chapters.

I do not own this television series, the scripts, or the characters. I am not making any money off of this. CBS, PAX, Paramount etc own the rights. I am just doing this for fun.

WARNING: For all people that hate Ellen, I suggest you not read this story as it will eventually put her in a good light.

I've played with the timeline a little. Carol is not dead and she hasn't re-married and still goes by her first married last name. She is selling real estate in the same town as Ellen works. Ellen knows that Steve has a sister, but doesn't know much more, so she wouldn't know Carol on sight or by name. Hey, it is feasible, you were shocked by the sibling news weren't you? ;)

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Ellen felt her heart flutter as Steve's grinning face moved closer to her own. His piercing blue eyes darkened with desire as he leaned down to capture her mouth with his own. Suddenly, an obnoxious pop song began to play in the background. Steve's image dissolved as Ellen's apartment wall came into view.

With a groan, she tossed her covers back and castigated herself. Her mind had obviously decided to continue torturing her with images of Steve in her sleep. As if constantly thinking of him during the day was not enough. The romance novel touches only served to aggravate her. It was a fine time for her brain to finally absorb the mushy details of that creative writing class.

She was on her own now. That was it. She had to do this. She had to chase her dream. If she did not do this, if she ran back to L.A. and jumped into Steve's arms, she would eventually regret it. It was better to hurt him now than to resent him later in life. Wasn't it?

Not that her dream was going anywhere particularly fast, Ellen mused. She was doing a series of human interest articles: "On Their Own: Successful Women in The Business World." For someone who fit into that group of women, Ellen seemed to spend a whole lot of time wishing she was married to a cop and listening to her father-in-law play his musical instruments.

She knew that she could call Steve. She could even call Mark if she did not have the courage to call Steve. But, she just could not do that to either of them. She could not do it to herself. Steve was too great of a guy to tease with a false hope. He deserved to be with some gorgeous model or actress or doctor that would absolutely adore his every move. What he did not deserve was a sharp tongued reporter who whined about working at seedy newspapers.

Ellen looked at her list of appointments as she absently sipped at her morning coffee. Steve always made strong coffee, her brain helpfully pointed out. A muted scream came out of her as she slammed her mug onto her breakfast counter.

'No more Steve, no more Steve,' she forced her brain to chant. It did not help that he did not even have a creepy friend to be wary of or an evil relative that disliked her. Even his annoying habits were beginning to become endearing as she thought about him.

She supposed that she could think about his sister. She had never met the woman and neither Steve nor Mark had ever talked about her much. It was too painful for either of them.

Ellen's mind cheerfully filled in the details of a sister that would hate her. The romantic creativity of her dream extended into creating the perfect evil villainess who would despise Ellen on sight. The appeal of Steve dropped as Ellen's imagination created horrible scenarios with the "evil sister."

With a slight protest, her heart quit its incessant pleading to hear Steve's voice and allowed Ellen's brain to take over.

"One more day," Ellen muttered as she began to get ready for work. Privately, she wondered how many more days she could make it before her fingers dialed his number in the middle of the night just to hear his voice. Outwardly, she was calm and collected as she drove to her interview for the day.

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Ellen smiled as she walked into the real estate office. A blond lady slightly older than herself smiled as she looked up.

"Hi, you must be Ellen from the newspaper. I'm Carol."

Ellend nodded, "I'm pleased to meet you, Carol. Your employer says that you've done wonders since you came here. He recommended you for the series because your sales have been so high for only working here four months."

Carol smiled, "Actually, I've only been here three months. I transferred in from another office."

Ellen scribbled in her notes, "I understand that you are your sole support?"

"Yes, I was married, but it ended rather badly."

Ellen smirked, "Another woman?"

"No, he was murdered."

Ellen's hand stopped in mid-note, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

Carol shook her head, "Don't worry about it. It is a long story, and he was not the greatest of guys. I wanted to rebel, he was available. I've learned my lesson. I don't need to run from my past now. What I need is to be truly independent."

"So, no romance in the future?"

"I wouldn't say that. Being independent doesn't mean not loving or being loved. That was the mistake I made. I thought that I was being smothered at home, so I rebelled. Then I ended up being truly smothered by a man that I'd chosen out of anger instead of love. Now, I'm righting what I did wrong the first time."

Ellen shifted in her seat as her mind started to bring Steve back to the forefront. It was time to change the questions.

"So, what have you done to adapt to the many changes you've faced?"

"Well, starting out on my own wasn't too hard. Once I'd mostly reconciled with my family, it was much easier to launch out into a positive life."

"Mostly reconciled?" Ellen cringed as she heard her voice unwittingly begin to dig for dirt.

Carol noticed Ellen's flinch. "Why do I have the feeling that you are more uncomfortable with this interview than I am?"

Ellen sighed, "You would have made a great reporter."

"No, I wouldn't have. But I do make a great salesperson, and I know the signs of an uncomfortable person, and I also know the signs of regret and insecurity."

"Is it that obvious?"

"No, it is more of a family trait on my part. We snoop where we aren't wanted and try to make things better. My guess is that you aren't so hot in the love department, you feel defeated in your job, and you feel rather lonely moving to a city where you don't know anyone."

Ellen laughed, "Pretty close, although, I was the one that dropped the bucket of water on the fire in the love department. I wanted to go somewhere with my career other than into dark alleys to interview people abducted by aliens."

"And your guy didn't approve?"

"Oh, he approved. He wasn't much on tabloids. He just happens to live in an entirely different state, and he deserves more than what I can give him."

"Tough breakup?"

"I made him cry. He doesn't cry, ever. He's kind of Mr. I'm-gonna-be-strong-for everyone."

Carol shook her head. "Well, I can't help you there, but I can help you out where your job is concerned. First, what you need to do is separate your breakup from your job. You can't be a good reporter when you feel guilty every time you do an interview or write an article. As for the loneliness, why don't we have coffee tomorrow? I'm relatively new to the area, so are you."

Ellen smiled. "You realize that I was the one who was supposed to do the interview and draw conclusions."

"I do, and I think that you should start asking those questions. Otherwise, you might not have that job to sulk over," Carol teased.

Ellen grinned and proceeded with her questions.