Fulton felt the cold air of the frozen ice hit face with the breeze as he entered the arena through the back door. A bouquet of red roses were gripped in his right hand, his bag slung over the other shoulder. Today was a great day, he had decided, a smile forming on his lips. The hallway was completely vacant as he moved through them to his office at the end of the hall. On his way, he passed the room Tammy had occupied the last time she was there for practice. The door was shut tightly but a light escaped from the crack under and a shadow passed by. He smiled to himself, thinking he'd come back to surprise her with the roses. Finally reaching his office a moment later, he threw his bag on the desk and gave a quick glance over the camera monitors once before the door behind him opened. Fulton looked up at the man standing in the doorway, a muscular guy dressed all in black stared back at him.

"Can I help you?" Fulton asked, looking the man up and down. The man continued to look around the office.

"This is the security office, you can't be in here." He quickly said, motioning for the man to leave. The man hesitated for a moment before backing out the door and closing it behind him. Fulton scoffed slightly, moving to put his bag in the closet. He reached for the door handle, when it opened abruptly and a finely polished hand reached out to grab his shirt and pull him in. He was slammed back against the wall of the darkened room before the light switched on. Tammy Duncan's face looked back at him, her eyes red from crying,

"What's wrong?" He asked, immediately dropping his bag to the floor and taking her in his arms.

"My mother... She's being a real jerk." Tammy mumbled against his chest, noticing the flowers in his hand.

"Are those for me?" She asked a surprised tone in her voice. He looked down with a shrug,

"Yeah, it's not much."

"No, they're beautiful." She smiled, taking the flowers to look at them.

"They're my favorite color... Thank you, Fulton." She said coming closer to him. He smiled at her, wrapping a protective arm around her waist to pull her closer before their lips met in a passionate kiss. They pulled apart after a moment for air.

"So why are we hanging out in the security closet?" He asked before she laughed at the situation.

"Because my Mom's a psycho bitch." She explained without missing a beat. Fulton had to laugh.

"Okay... and that involves this situation how?" He tried to connect the statement with the question.

"After our little all nighter last night, she's decided I need extra supervision and hired me not one but two bodyguards." She sighed. Fulton sighed too, running a hand through his overgrown hair.

"Okay, did you tell her that I was with you last night and you were perfectly fine?" He asked. Tammy threw her hands in the air.

"That just made her get two instead of one." Tammy sighed again, leaning against his firm chest.

"What are we going to do, these guys are completely under my Mom's control and she definitely doesn't want me to go out with you anymore?" Fulton took her head in his hands and tilted it up to his face.

"It's going to be okay, we'll just talk to her. I mean it's not like you're a teenager anymore and she can't order you around." Fulton reminded her. Tammy nodded slightly,

"Yeah but she does anyway."

"You can't let her." Fulton eyed her sternly.

"I know but she's my Mother. What am I supposed to do?"

"I know." Fulton nodded taking her hand in his. "Let's go talk to her now and get everything straightened out."

"Okay, maybe you'll have better luck with her than me." Tammy hoped, opening the door to let them both out. Fulton took her hand in his and closed the door behind them.

Her eyes weren't open but her mind knew that a bright light was located just above her head shining down on her with scrutiny. Connie groaned, her body aching with a stiffness that she hadn't felt since 7th grade hockey practice. When she had really been out of shape and kind of pudgy if you asked her. Her eyes focused on the blinding light above her and trailed to the white walls all around her. The room seemed to be absent of all color. It took her a few moments for her mind to register the fact that she was no longer in the club but a hospital room with white curtains all around her, not walls after all. She tried to sit up but was unable to, a sharp pain running through her body from her right side.

"Easy. It's okay." A voice whispered behind her, lightly touching her shoulder. She groaned with defeat and laid back down on the soft mattress to breathe.

"Where am I?" She asked, keeping her eyes closed.

"You're at the hospital." The voice she now recognized as Jake's said. She sighed, taking a deep breath in but failing to let it out.

"I need to get out of here. I need to get back to work. I can't be here." She mumbled, trying again to sit up. Jake put his hand on her shoulder, gently pushing her back down to the bed.

"No, I don't think so. You're going to stay here until you're better or at least until we can figure out what happened to you." He assured her. She shook her head,

"No, Jake, I don't have any insurance. I can't pay for this." She reminded him. He nodded,

"Don't worry about that. I got that." He reassured her before brushing the hair from her forehead. Sweat had started to appear there from her struggle to sit up. She closed her eyes to his cool touch, the first gentleness she'd felt that day.

"Jake, what's wrong with me, what happened?" She asked, fearful of the answer, her throat getting dry.

"I don't know, the doctors are running some tests, you passed out after your argument with that guy." Jake answered. The memories suddenly came back to Connie and she held her head in her hands.

"Oh, Guy. Does he know I'm here?" She asked, worry flashing on her face. Jake shook her head no before standing from the bed.

"I hate to leave you but I have to go to some stupid family thing tonight and there's no way to get out of it. Is there anyone I can call to come stay with you?" Connie thought for a moment but no one came to mind,

"No, I'll be fine, just leave the phone close." Connie asked. Jake nodded, placing the receiver at her right side table before grabbing his coat.

"I'll be back soon to check on you." He said as he left the room. Connie nodded in acknowledgement before the door closed. Her eyes drifted back up to the panels of the ceiling tile before she fell back into a deep slumber with thoughts of Guy running through her head.

The banquet hall was crowded and packed to the brim with people when Ashlee and Averman entered through the front door to the strange looks of the current guests.

"Wow," Averman's mouth hung open at the elaborate decorations that grazed the hall walls. A large banner with the Banks Company logo hung from the ceiling of the entrance. Ashlee groaned with annoyance.

"I see Dad went all out to impress his investors again." Ashlee sighed with annoyance, shaking her head.

"Hey, at least he didn't hire the clown, now that would have been a great party." Averman suggested with a grin on his face. Ashlee let a laugh escape her lips before they reached the refreshment table. Averman managed to grab two glasses of white wine from the table and handed one to Ashlee,

"My Lady." He mumbled. She smiled at the gesture, looping her arm around his.

"I'm glad you came tonight." She confided, moving back through the crowd to find someone she knew to converse with. Averman felt his cheeks heat up,

"I'm glad you asked me." He whispered, taking a large gulp from his glass before following the petite blonde through the crowd.

Adam Banks ran around the car to open the door for Julie but she was already half way out of the car when he reached it. She laughed when he almost bumped into her but instead ended up holding her close to him.

"Sorry, I was coming to get the door." He explained, a nervousness in his voice Julie didn't often hear from him.

"No, I'm just not used to it." She whispered, turning away from his face to move from the open door. Scooter lost interest in opening doors for her a while ago. Adam cleared his throat before stepping back to let her out and close the door behind her. He handed his keys to valet and wrapped a protective arm around her waist to led her into the foyer. Julie felt slightly uncomfortable before relaxed against his touch. This was supposed to be a friendly night out, she thought silently.

"Adam, I..." Julie started but was cut off by Ashlee and Averman cutting through the crowd to meet them with excitement.

"Adam! You will not believe with Mrs. Carmichael decided to wear this year." Ashlee laughed hysterically, trying to cover her mouth as people around them stared.

"It looks like a form of art on her head." Averman added to Julie, producing a laugh from her tightened face. Adam peaked over the crowd to spot the 50 -some woman cutting a track on the dance floor. Her dress way to tight and her hat blowing in the breeze. He wanted to laugh but the absence of a certain man at his sister's side stopped him from doing so.

"Ash, where's Dean?" He asked, trying not to sound accusing. Ashlee's face changed,

"I don't know, Adam. And I don't really care." She sounded resound in her thinking before pulling Averman back to her side, "Averman is my date tonight and I'm having more fun than I ever have." She tried to contain the laughter before burying her head in Averman's shoulder to laugh again.

"She's had a little bit to drink." Averman whispered over her head. Adam nodded, knowing full well that when his sister decided to drink it was usually because she was upset about something and she wanted to forget about it.

"Just keep an eye on her." Adam motioned to Averman before grabbing Julie's hand to lead her farther in to the crowd.

Charlie walked slowly up the familiar driveway, a slightly nervous feeling in his hands as he reached for the door handle before remembering this wasn't his house anymore. Reaching back, he knocked slightly on the wooden frame and waited for a response. The familiar jag sat in the driveway followed by an older station wagon behind it. He chuckled to himself that his mother would not get rid of that old thing. Charlie sighed with a shake of his head before the door behind him opened slightly,

"Charlie!" Gordon Bombay exclaimed, opening the door to let him in. "Your Mom's just in the den working on her new painting." Gordon commented, sitting back on the couch to collect his law books that were shrewed all over the furniture.

"Sorry about the mess, I've got a case I've been doing some research for." He said, piling the books on the coffee table. The latest hockey game was on the plasma TV, it was Friday after all.

"So, how you been?" Gordon asked, finally cleaning a place for Charlie to sit. He accepted, sitting across from his step-Father.

"Good, things are good." Charlie commented, looking down at his feet. "How's things here?" He asked, looking around the living room. He could hardly tell Coach even lived her, his mother hadn't changed a thing since he moved out.

"Good, We're getting by. Your mother sold her first painting last week." Gordon seemed to nod with pride. Charlie did too.

"And the guys? Anything new?" He asked,

"They're good. Fulton just got a promotion at his job. He's all excited because Tammy's back in town." Charlie commented with a laugh. Gordon shook his head in acknowledgement.

"I heard that, you'll have to have them stop by sometime. I'd love to catch up." Charlie nodded, letting him know he would pass the message along. Casey Conway-Bombay came walking out of the den at the sound of her son's voice filling the living room.

"Charlie, I thought that was you." Casey said, coming around the corner to hug her son. Charlie smiled,

"Hey Mom." Charlie wrapped his arms around his mother's small form before returning to his seat on the couch.

"Are you hungry? Did you eat today?" Casey immediately went into her Mom mode, deciding to feed her son, he did look a little thin. Charlie nodded,

"Yeah, I had a burger at the diner earlier. I'm fine."

"Oh, that's not food. I'll make you something." Casey nodded before disappearing from the room. Charlie sighed but didn't say anything , returning to his seat and clasping his hands together.

"So, what's going on?" Gordon asked his face soft with concern. He always knew when there was something Charlie needed to talk about.

"Not much, I got that promotion at work a few weeks back, but then Linda shows up to take my old job and things have gotten a bit uncomfortable to say the least." Charlie finished in one sentence without taking a breath. Gordon sighed,

"Well, that's something. Did you talk to her?" Gordon asked.

"Yeah, I'm her boss now and on top of that, she decided to announce her engagement to this private investigator. The guy seems shady to me." Charlie sighed leaning back on the couch and putting his hands to his head. Gordon nodded, understanding.

"Well, did you try to talk to her about the two of you?" He asked.

"Yeah, she completely avoided the conversation." Charlie sighed, leaning forward again and resting his elbows on his knees.

"Oh, well, it is work so maybe just try to move on. Don't want to confuse the two, you know?" Gordon suggested, returning his daze to the hockey game. Charlie sighed, he'd been confusing work and his social life for months now that it seemed his life was his work and his work was his life. Charlie's eyes wandered to the TV as well, a hint of something baking coming from the kitchen. Charlie sighed again, allowing his mind to think over the past few days. He was just thinking about Linda when Casey re-entered the room with some fresh muffins on a plate.

"Here we are, now eat up before they get cold. I put a roast in the oven for dinner, you'll stay right?" Casey suggested, setting the plate in front of him. Charlie looked over at Gordon with a knowing glance before leaning forward to take a muffin.

"Thanks, Mom. I'll stay for dinner." He responded with a loving smile.

Guy Germaine sat on the vacant park bench overlooking the half frozen lake. His mind wasn't on the sight in front of him but on a certain brunette he left standing in the cold night air, crying. He lowered his eyes to the ground with disdain for himself. How could he do that to her? She hadn't told him want she was doing because she knew how he'd react. He didn't even let her explain. He was no better than she was for lying to him. He groaned with angry, punching the bench with his fist before standing to pace the length of the pond. This was the pond where they fell in love. This was the pond that tied all of them together. He had to get out of here, he thought before walking off towards the apartment.

Connie lay in her soft white bed, enjoying the feeling of a mattress below her when the door opened behind her to reveal a man in a white lab coat.

"Ms. Moreau?" he asked politely. She nodded, trying to sit up. "No, it's okay, you can stay laying. I have your blood test results here." He said, pulling up a chair to sit with her. She knew it was bad when they sat down to explain the situation. She braced herself for his words.

"Ms. Moreau, we did find the reason for your sickness. It seems you've contracted Hepatitis C, it's an STD that's passed by interact with an infected person. Usually by intercourse or needle sharing." The doctor looked down at her with sympathy in his eyes. Connie absorbed the news. She took a deep breath in trying to remember how she could have gotten such a disease.
"Is it fatal?" She asked, not bringing herself to say the words she was dying. The doctor looked down.

"Not anymore, fatalities are in the hundreds but not from the disease itself but the side effects. We're going to start a high dose of antibiotics immediately but the real threat here is how far it's progressed already." Connie looked at him worried, not really believing the words that were coming out of his mouth.

"So, am I...?" She questioned before the doctor spoke up.

"No, here's the situation. The infection has reached your liver. The majority of patients that fall to this disease die from liver failure. Now, you're liver from the test we ran it operating at about 75% functional. So we really don't need to worry about that unless it drops below 50%, in that case, we'd need to discuss a transplant, after we've cured the disease of course." Connie looked up at the ceiling with worry as the doctor stood from his chair.

"Here's a packet of information on HC and if you have any questions please buzz the nurse to page me. I'll be sending in your first round of meds in about an hour with your dinner." She nodded before he left the room, a single tear falling from her eye. How had this happened to her? it was just her luck, she reasoned, rolling over away from the door to cry.

The blue of Julie's eyes sparkled in the ballroom light, Adam silently noted, zoning out the mindless chatter that was going on around them. All that existed to him was her. She was great at pretending to be interested in a conversation, when talking with his parents or other stuffed shirts. She laughed at all the right moments, she blushed at the exact right time and she pretended to be appalled at the bad business dealings his Father had fallen into. She was perfect.

"Adam?" Her voice cut into his thoughts and he blushed to hide his confusion in his distraction.

"I'm sorry, I was thinking of something else." He answered, receiving a disappointing look from his Mother.

"We were talking about your promotion." Julie exclaimed, touching his forearm with her small hand in a caring fashion. He momentarily forgot where he was.

"Um, yes. My promotion." Adam exclaimed, regaining his composure.

"It sounds exciting." Julie tried to remain engrossed in the conversation but found her eyes scanning the room. Everyone was inquiring about the woman on Adam Banks arm. Adam had never showed up with a lady, people were starting to wonder if he was either gay or not interested. She smiled casually to herself, not noticing the eyes that were watching her from the bar. It seemed everyone had taken a glance at her to inquire why she was so special. The man staring at her took another gulp of his drink. He'd been seated there since they arrive into the main ballroom, he couldn't believe she was here, to process that she was here with Banks, was something entirely different. He watched Adam's hand graze her back in a loving fashion and his grip tightened on his glass. How dare she be out with him. She should have been at home, crying because he kicked her and her kid out. Her laugh broke his thoughts and he scowled before standing from the stool. He had to get some fresh air before he punched something.

A shriek of laughter caused Averman to hide embarrassingly away from his date. Ashlee was out of control, she'd consumed at least 6 glasses of wine and she was now trying to dance in the center of the dance floor by herself. Averman has followed her to try to get her to have a seat but instead got sucked into the dance. Averman pulled her to him to try to get control of the situation,

"Ashlee, let's go outside to get some air." He suggested. She giggled slightly,

"Oh, Averman, Am I pretty?" She asked with a sigh. Averman smiled slightly,

"No, Ashlee." He mumbled watching her face fall. "You're beautiful." He mumbled, touching her face with his hand. She leaned into the embrace with a small smile.

"Averman, you want to get out of here?" She asked, motioning to the door.

"Sure." He gestured, leading them to the door. Anywhere would be better than here with all those eyes watching, he thought, grabbing her sweater from the chair as they passed.

Tammy gripped Fulton's hand in her own as she nervously looked down the hall before walking out of the security office they'd been huddled in the past few minutes. Her gripped tightened when she saw one of the hired apes coming around the corner. He seemed to see her too and increased his stride.

"Ms. Duncan. Please come with me. You're Mother has been worried about you." He tried to grab Tammy's arm but she pulled away.

"I can walk on my own!" She snapped, Fulton pulling her behind him.

"Relax, we were just on our way to see Mrs. Duncan now." Fulton reassured the man. He seemed to nod and motioned for them to move. Fulton kept Tammy in front of him and away from the man handling goon that her mother sent to find her. The dressing room was just a few feet up when the other man appeared from within the doorway and opened it for them. Tammy gripped Fulton's hand tighter and pulled him in the room behind her. Mrs. Duncan sat on the couch, flipping through a skating magazine in which Tammy was on the cover. She looked up at them, her eyes almost going into slits and slammed the magazine down on the couch to stand.

"I see our talk this afternoon when in one ear and out the other?" Her Mother sneered with contempt. Fulton stood up taller,

"Mother, you can't tell me who I can and can't see. Fulton came here to try to make things right with you." Tammy said glancing up at Fulton with a smile. Her mother continued to sneer and look upon Fulton as dirt.

"Mrs. Duncan..." He said reaching his hand out to shake hers. She ignored it, crossing her arms over her chest. "I just wanted to come and apologize for keeping Tammy out so late last night without calling. I'm sure you were worried and I won't let that happen again." He promised, even though it seemed like he was 16 again and asking for permission to date Tammy. Tammy smiled at him for reassurance before looking back at her Mother.

"Damn right it will not happen again because she won't be going out with you again." Her Mother promised, looking to Tammy to agree. Tammy's eyes almost tearing up.

"Mother, I like Fulton..." She tried to explain. Her mother cut her off before she could even get another word out.

"Enough, I think we should be concentrating on the show tonight instead of dealing with ridiculously foolish talk as this. You won't be seeing her again, Fulton and as for tonight, you will leave this dressing room or I will have you escorted out. You have a job to do, don't you?" Mrs. Duncan asked, looking down at his security jacket. He cleared his throat to argue when Tammy squeezed his hand. He looked to the two idiots behind him ready to beat him to a pulp and realized he better listen to Tammy for now and let it go.

"Right, but this is not over." He promised the older woman who now had a smile on her face.

"Oh, I guarantee you, it is." She promised, watching him leave the office. Once the door was shut she looked to Tammy with a look of determination. Tammy huffed but didn't try to argue, going into the bathroom and slamming the door. Her Mother watched her go before sitting back down on the couch and resuming her reading, a small smile on her face.