Disclaimer: I do not own the Total Drama series or anything else copyrighted.

A/N: Thank you for the reviews! I'm glad you all still like it. And, like I mentioned, major changes won't happen for another few chapters... I'm just re-posting all of this to kinda refresh your memories.

"No... no..."

Duncan wearily looked up and saw Courtney pacing in a small circle, her eyes wide, one hand grabbing the other arm. "What?"

"You can't be here!" she exclaimed, turning to him, frustrated. "You just... why?"

He glared at her, giving her a dirty look. "Look, sweetheart, I didn't ask to be here, okay?" he snapped.

She sighed, pressing the bridge of her nose together with her thumb and forefinger. "I didn't mean to be so harsh," she sighed. "I just... I never expected to see you again."

He let out a sigh, leaning back in his chair. He shrugged and stared ahead. "I'm surprised to see you here, too."

"You're not the only one," Courtney murmured, sitting down next to him.

"Why are you here?" he asked, looking over at her. His tone was genuine, inquisitive. He never expected to see Courtney in a rehabilitation center for people with all sorts of addictions. She used to be the straight-A student, the C.I.T., just... overall perfect.

She didn't respond for a few moments, but he could see that she was thinking hard about what to say. "You'll find out today. I..."

"No worries," he said, shrugging. "Group therapy will be fun."

She rolled her eyes and looked at him. "What are you here for?"

He smirked and looked at her. "An eye for an eye, Princess. If you're not telling me, I'm surely not telling you."

She rolled her eyes, also smirking. "I should've figured you would say that."

He shrugged. "I will tell you me coming here wasn't my choice. Marie made me come here."

"She must have been real worried," Courtney murmured, looking down.

He glanced over at her. "Did you come here by choice?" he softly asked.

She blinked a couple of times, remaining silent. She was about to respond when Dr. Smith stepped in the doorway, "I see you two haven't left the room..."

"We're old friends," Duncan told the doctor. "We're just catching up a bit."

Courtney let out a quiet laugh as Dr. Smith smiled. "Well, I didn't realize you two knew each other. I'm glad you two are together here, then. We're about to start group therapy, so if you two will join us..."

"So what kind of nutjobs are in our group?" Duncan quietly whispered in Courtney's ear as they followed Dr. Smith down the hallway.

Courtney rolled her eyes, trying to ignore the sensation that suddenly flowed through her body as Duncan whispered into her ear. "They're nice people, Duncan. There's all sorts of people in our group, as you'll find out."

Duncan nodded as they stepped into another small lobby-like place. There were at least eight other people sitting in chairs, the group forming a circle in the middle of the room. Duncan and Courtney sat next to each other, and Dr. Smith sat across from them.

"Everyone, we have a new member joining us today," Dr. Smith said. "Everyone, meet Duncan."

"Hi, Duncan," everyone replied, looking at Duncan. He nodded, looking around at each of them.

"Today, we're going to let Duncan introduce himself to us, and then you're all going to tell a little bit about yourselves to him," Dr. Smith explained. "Talk a little bit about why you're here, and then maybe talk about some other things." She smiled at Duncan and said, "So, Duncan, if you'll start..."

He looked at everyone, sheepishly smiling. "Um, hey, I'm Duncan Evans... just call me Duncan. My sister forced me to come here... well, my brothers and parents kinda did, too... said I'm an alcoholic... whatever. I've lived in Hamilton my whole life. It's about an hour away from here." He shrugged and looked at Dr. Smith and said, "That's it, I guess."

Dr. Smith smiled, nodding. "Good. We'll just go in a circle, so you can pick either Courtney or Alex to go next."

Duncan wanted to pick Courtney, but chose not to after glancing over at her. She had this look on her face, like she was concerned, like she really didn't want to be there or say anything. It was almost like he felt bad for her. "Alex, I guess."

One after the other, each person told a little bit about themselves. Some were more talkative than others. Each were from different places, from British Columbia to Montreal to Winnipeg to even New York state. Dr. Smith was a former crack addict, and had been working in the hospital since her stay there many years ago. A while later, it was finally Courtney's turn.

"I'm Courtney," she said, smiling slightly. She gestured to Duncan and said, "We actually knew each other years ago, so it's kinda funny to see him here..." A few of the group members laughed, others smiled. Duncan smirked, knowing she wasn't about to get into more personal details, such as how they once dated and that they met on Total Drama Island. He figured a few people knew about those details, though. It was a very popular show, and they were quite the "item".

She let out a tiny, quiet laugh before saying, "To put it in simple terms, I'm here because... well, I'm completely overstressed and I don't know how to handle that. That, and I hurt myself."

That sentence hit Duncan like a thousand bricks. He didn't say anything, and didn't really move much except for his eyes, which widened. Courtney didn't say anything after that. Dr. Smith started talking about upcoming activities and such, but Duncan wasn't paying attention.

Courtney was stressed out?

Well, she was quite the worker. She joined many clubs and did a plenteous amount of activities in high school, and did the same thing in college.

Courtney was a cutter?

Why would she cut? She's 28 years old! Wasn't cutting something emo teenagers did?

Well, he assumed she cut. He couldn't really imagining hurting herself otherwise.

These questions continued flowing through Duncan's head as the meeting ended. He sighed and stood up. He talked to a few of the other group members but decided to just walk off. This was all too much for Duncan to handle. He never expected any of this out of Courtney. He leaned against the back of the elevator as it ascended upwards. He got off the elevator and walked out. He was surprised to find Courtney walking down the hallway.

"Courtney?" he softly asked.

She stopped and turned around. They stared at each other for a few moments, trying to read each other. Courtney had a simple smile on her face, yet Duncan's was worried, concerned, and mostly confused. "I bet you have a lot of questions, huh?" she softly asked. He nodded. She nodded and said, "Well, come in my room. We can talk for a little bit."

He nodded and walked over to her. She opened her door and walked in, him following her. Her room looked like his, except hers was a bit more decorated. There were a few pictures floating around, as well as some books, mostly laying on her desk. They sat down on the couch in her room and sat there in silence for a few moments.

Duncan finally asked, "Why?"

She sighed. "There's a lot more to my problems than just classifying me as an 'overstressed cutter'. I'm clinically depressed, that's why I cut, and I'm depressed and stressed because I overwork. I'm also underweight, not because I'm anorexic, but when you do much, you just forget about nutrition and such..."

"How?" he asked, looking over at her.

She pursed her lips for a moment. "That's something I still haven't fully figured out. A lot happened in the past five years, Duncan."

"We've got the time," he muttered, trying to smile and make a joke out of it, but couldn't.

She nodded, smiling sadly and softly. "True." She sighed. "Let's just say I rushed into another relationship, and that didn't end so greatly, and then the responsibilities of life came too suddenly and overwhelmingly, and... you get the gist."

"How long were you in that relationship?"

She thought about it for a minute. "Almost three years. We've been separated for about two years."

Separated? "Were you two married?"

She nodded, her eyes and facial expression sad. "Yeah, for over two years. I, uhh..." She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "We basically had a shotgun wedding," she admitted quietly.

"You have a kid?" All this new information was making Duncan overwhelmed.

She nodded, the brightness returning somewhat to her face. "Yeah, Mike. He's over four years old." She sadly laughed and shrugged, muttering, "He was the only good thing to come out that relationship..." She sighed and shook her head. "And I let him down..."

"I'm sure he understands why you're here..." Duncan said, unsure and apprehensive.

Courtney snorted. "Yeah, right. You should've seen his face." She shook her head. "It was so upsetting. 'Mommy, why are you leaving?'" She sighed, tears filling her eyes. "I just told him I was sick, and that I needed to go to the hospital for a while. He was devastated when I told him he couldn't visit me all the time... he was crying and I..." She covered her head with her hands.

Duncan frowned, staring sadly at her. He could hear her sniffing, instantly realizing she was crying. He began to softly rub her back, but could soon feel her body shaking. He leaned over and wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sure his Father explained it more to him..."

"Tony pretty much forced me to come down here," Courtney muttered. She sighed, wiping away her tears. "I passed out one day at my apartment. Thankfully Mike knows how to use the phone, and knew Tony's number. That's when he found out about all my 'problems', as he put it. We had joint custody then, but after that..." She shook her head, wiping away more tears. "He said that either I would get help, or that he would fight for sole custody of Mike."

Duncan felt himself getting angry at this Tony guy. Tony obviously knew how much Mike meant to Courtney, and he obviously knew how to pull her strings, too. Courtney was smart enough to realize that Tony wasn't messing around, either. "How long have you been here?"

"Four weeks."

"Have you seen Mike?"

She shook her head before shrugging and telling him, "He's coming tomorrow, actually."

Duncan nodded and continued holding on to her. She turned slightly and wrapped her arms around him. They stayed in that position for a while, not saying anything as they held onto each other.