A/N: I do not own the Total Drama series or anything else copyrighted.

"Marry me."

Neither Duncan nor Courtney could ever forget that moment, no matter how much they wanted to forget it. It was a perfect moment, no one could deny it. He had stood behind her, his arms wrapped around her in a tight, yet secure, embrace. They were high on the mountain, looking at the town of Hamilton below them. They stood there in silence for many minutes before he quietly said those two words to her. It took her a moment to comprehend those words, and she was so surprised when she turned to him. He kept the smirk on his face, but inside he was freaking out at her silence. She finally whispered out that much-wanted answer of "yes".

He would never forget that moment, but the day and night before and after that moment were a blur to him. He did not remember what she was wearing, for he was solely focused on the area before him and her face. Those moments were fresh in his mind, and would pop up from time to time, but that was before the accident. If even a still from that memory would pop into his head, a beer would already be in his hand, ready to infiltrate his mind and rid of any and all of the pain.

As Courtney stood in front of him, tears threatening to pour from her eyes, the memory, still fresh as ever, popped into his head. After a moment of silence, Duncan quietly said, "I never forgot about that, Courtney."

"You bought this jacket just for me," Courtney quietly said. "It was that morning, right after we parked downtown. You said you wanted to buy something for me, and I said I liked this jacket. You said I looked so beautiful..." She looked down, shallow breaths emerging from her mouth.

Duncan couldn't help but remain silent as his ex-girlfriend stood before him, tears falling from her eyes.

"I don't know why I have such a particular attachment to this jacket," she said, finally looking up at him once more. "Especially after our break-up. You constantly said I looked beautiful when wearing this." She paused for a few moments before quietly asking, "Were you lying to me, Duncan?"

"No," Duncan firmly said. "I wouldn't lie about that."

She remained silent, though her eyes grew icy cold. After a minute of firmly staring at him, she said, "But you would lie about other things."

"It was once."

"You have no proof."

"Neither do you."

"Yes, you only slept with another woman once, but there were plenty of other moments with plenty other women."

Oh, how he wish he could be drinking right now. The main reason that they broke-up was because of him sleeping with another woman, only two months after their engagement. He wasn't drunk when he did it, but he wasn't sober. She knew what he was doing when he did it, and she was not happy at all.

Interrupting his thoughts, she said, "I just want to know why, Duncan."

Narrowing his eyes at her, he said, "That's in the past, Courtney."

"You never gave me a reason, Duncan. You owe me that."

"I don't owe you anything."

"You owe me that, Duncan! I just want to know why you slept with her! Why you cheated on me and broke our engagement and relationship!"

"It wasn't all my fault, you know!"

"I know I'm also to blame, Duncan! I know I'm bossy, I know that I'm mean and competitive and just... I know that I'm alone and that I'll probably never have a successful relationship, ever! I have joint custody of my son, but when I do have him, I barely see him because I'm at work all the time. I bury my thoughts by overworking myself, thus pushing away everybody in my life. At night, I take care of my son when I'm not at work. At night, when I'm not at work and not with my son, I stay home alone. I don't go out on dates because it's easy to put myself down and tell myself that I'm not good enough for anyone. Do you remember telling me that, Duncan? That I'm too much of a bitch to be with anyone and that I'll always be alone and that I should have been grateful that you had gone out with me for as long as you had."

He didn't remember that. He didn't remember most of what he said during their fight. Everything he said was in the heat of the moment, and was almost instantly forgotten. He could remember how genuinely angry he was, though. He quietly said, "I don't remember."

"Well, I remember. Every single fucking word that we both said."

"I'm sorry."

Though her angry face slightly softened, she still said, "It's too late for apologies. You can't change what you did or said."

Almost defeated he said, "I don't know what to do."

"Be grateful that I'm even talking to you. If we had come across each other at any other place, I would have ignored you. But, because you're here and we're, unfortunately, involved in the reasons why we're here-"

"You are not why I'm here."

"You're here because of a problem called alcoholism, something you've developed since we started dating but got progressively worse after we dated."

"Sorry to break it to you, sweetheart, but you're not part of the reason I drank."

"Oh, really?" she spat. "You told me you would go out at night to get away from me, and that you would drink so you wouldn't have to think about me. That's also the same reason you slept with that woman."

"That was back then, and this problem is different."

"You've been suffering with alcoholism for years and you know it!"

"You are not the reason I started drinking!"

"I am the reason you became an alcoholic! To get away from me!"

"And, what, am I the reason for your cutting?"

"You helped me realize what a pathetic person I am, Duncan. I'm the reason I cut myself."

Duncan took a deep breath. He didn't want to argue with her, but wasn't sure if she really wanted to be arguing with him. He knew he didn't want to stand outside with her and argue all day and night long, though. He quietly said, "We need to go to counseling. Together."

Courtney stared at him, silent. After a minute, she said to him, "I agree."


"Hey, Dr. Smith..."

Dr. Smith looked over at Duncan, smirking slightly. She recognized his tone of voice, and knew immediately that he wanted something. She said to him, "Hey, Duncan..."

"I have a question."

"I should have an answer."

He smirked, always intrigued by her quick responses. He asked her, "Is there couples counseling here?"

The Doctor raised an eyebrow before asking, "Why do you ask?"

"Courtney and I need to go to counseling together."

Dr. Smith knew about Courtney and Duncan's previous relationship. She never had any sessions with Courtney and only saw her at group sessions, but did recognize the woman. When Duncan arrived and saw him and Courtney together, the Doctor immediately remembered the two were once in a relationship. She never brought it up to Duncan in any of their sessions, though, and had only heard vague bits and pieces of their relationship.

She pursed her lips before saying, "I'd rather not discuss this in the hallway here. Isn't your appointment soon, anyway?"

"In an hour, I think..."

"Well, I don't have anything planned for the next hour. Let's go ahead and bump up your appointment to right now, okay?"

Duncan nodded and followed his counselor into her office. He laid down on the couch across from her chair, literally sprawling out on the couch. He muttered, "I've got a lot to talk about today, Doc."

Dr. Smith nodded, crossing her legs. "What would you like to talk about?"

"I cheated on Courtney."

She furrowed her eyebrows, not completely understanding what he meant. "Are you two back together?"

"Oh, God, no. I don't think she would give us another chance."

"Why do you say that?"

"She told me today that she would have ignored me if she had seen me anywhere else but here."

Dr. Smith nodded, grabbing her clipboard and jotting a few notes down before returning to his original statement. "So, you said you cheated on her..."

"Yeah, five years ago. That's why we broke up."

"Will you tell me why you cheated on her?"

Duncan remained silent for a minute, gathering his thoughts. He had never discussed this with anyone else before, but knew he could trust the Doctor. He quietly said, "We got engaged two months before we split. I thought I really wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. But, then I really realized that I was making a life-long decision. I loved her..." He sighed. "I loved her so, so much, but it scared me, making that big of a commitment. She was so happy, and she spent so much time looking at wedding stuff... I snapped one day, when she got onto me about not planning anything. It got progressively worse after that. So, one day after an argument... I went out, had a few drinks with some guy friends, then slept with this stripper."

"Did you regret it?"

"I regretted it once she left with her stuff from our apartment. I..." He let out a sigh, shutting his eyes. "I remember coming back one day and everything was gone. Well, all her stuff, anyway. She left her engagement ring on the counter, without a note or anything. That's when I started freaking out, after I saw the ring. I ran all over the apartment, making sure she wasn't pranking me and that she'd give us one final chance..."

"Had you two broken up before?"

"Sort of. The first year of us dating wasn't really dating, I guess. We spoke every now and then. She broke up with me for a day right before Total Drama Action ended, but..." He shrugged, opening his eyes once more. "We got back together, and were together for six more years without any break-ups or whatever."

"Did you ever tell her you were scared?"

"No." He let out a quiet sigh before muttering, "I didn't."

"Why?"

"I don't know. I really don't remember much about the week that we broke up. It's like I was a different person, letting out all of my anger and frustration out on Courtney..."

"Why were you angry and frustrated?"

"Again, I don't know."

Dr. Smith quietly hummed to herself, jotting down a few notes. It was as if Duncan's memory was blocking out a lot of what happened, which intrigued her very much.

"I still love her, y'know."

Dr. Smith looked up and over at Duncan. She asked, "Courtney?" When Duncan nodded, she said, "It's normal to always love your real first love."

"She was my only love, really," he quietly said, looking away. He let out another sigh and shut his eyes once more. He quietly said, "I wonder if we'll ever be good friends again..."

"The two of you have been talking since your arrival here, correct?"

Duncan nodded once more, muttering, "Yup..."

"Do you think you two are friends right now?"

He made a humming noise before quietly saying, "Kind of... We're definitely acquaintances, and we've talked to each other some about our personal lives... I dunno if we're good friends, though."

Dr. Smith nodded. She said to him, "Well, to answer your question from a while ago, we do have couples counseling here. We do have couples who come in who want to get better together. I can have you two meet up with one of the counselors, one who specializes in 'broken' relationships."

"You know Courtney and I aren't together, right?"

"I do remember you telling me that. I'm not going to send you to a counselor who sees happy couples. You two aren't together, but have quite the past, and it seems like you two have some resolving to do. Now, let's talk about your progress in your other sessions..."


"Hey, Court..."

Pursing her lips slightly, Courtney glanced over at Duncan as he sat down next to her. She wasn't too keen on seeing or talking to him. She really wanted to be alone for the rest of the night after the fight. He sounded nervous, though, and curiousity was getting the best of her. She quietly said, "Hey, Duncan."

"So, I talked to Dr. Smith a while ago..."

She nodded, now staring ahead of her. She asked, "What did you two talk about?"

"I tried talking to her about our break-up. I... I don't remember a lot of what happened, Court. And it sucks, because you seem to remember every single little thing that happened while, all I know is that I was angry and... I remember some things I said, but not everything."

"What are you getting to?" she quickly asked. She didn't want to talk about their break-up again, not twice in one day.

"I asked about couples counseling."

She let out a bitter laugh and said, "Duncan, we don't go out anymore."

"I know, and I told Dr. Smith this. She set us up for an appointment two nights from now."

"Why are we going to couples counseling?" she asked, turning to Duncan.

"We need to talk," he simply told her, also looking at her. He gently smiled at her and said, "I missed you, Court. I want to be your friend again. I... I hate what happened all those years ago."

"Would you take it back if you could?" she quietly asked, tears brimming along the edges of her eyes.

He remained silent for a moment, pursing his lips ever so lightly. After a moment, he whispered, "I don't know."

A/N: Thank you for the reviews :) Please keep them up!