Chapter 9….

At mary's place Kathleen was talking to Cheryl when adam came in;"Hi,adam,where's my sister?"

"She's at home."answered he;"Is everything all set for tonight?"

"Ofcourse."said his other sister-in-law;"Why wouldn't it be?"

"Is everything okay?"asked Kathleen a bit worried when she noticed the look in adam's eyes;"You look worried."

"It's m.j."started her brother-in-law hesitating;"She's been acting really weird these last few days and I've tried to talk to her about it,but m.j. keeps saying that she's just a bit tired or that she's got a headache and I just don't know what to do anymore."

"Maybe she's coming down with something."answered Cheryl;"She's well enough to come tonight to her own party,isn't she?"

"Do you want me to talk to her?"asked her sister slowly while she looked at adam;"Maybe I'll be able to get her to open up to me about what's going on with her."

"I doubt it,Kathleen,but you can always try because with the way that m.j. has been acting these last few days I'm really starting to worry about her."said adam;"She seemed almost spooked about something when she ran out of here."

That afternoon beth was packing some things at home when the doorbell rang and when she opened the door alan garrison was standing there;"Hello,beth,why are you still here in baycity?"

"I'm packing and as soon as I'm done I will be out of here in the morning."said she;"Are you here to check-up on me?"

"Ofcourse I am,because I can't very well risk having you around like a loose cannon,can i?"asked garrison with a strange smile as he forced his way into her house and grabbed both of beth's arms;"I will get my revenge on your boss and his family and I won't let anything or anybody get in my way!"

"Let go off me,alan,you're hurting me!"begged beth scared;"Please let go!"

"Just remember to stay out of my way if you know what's good for you,because this isn't over untill every member of that family meets the same faith as my mother did after my father disappeared and she was left to look after me with hardly any money!"warned he beth angry and left again;"Just get out of town and never come back again!"

Shawn was walking through the park with eva;"I'm glad that you came."

"Why wouldn't I have come?"asked his girlfriend confused;"What is going on with you,shawn,you have been acting really weird lately."

"Yes,I have and I'm sorry about that,but that is why I called you."started he hesitating;"To explain why I have been acting so strange."

"Why is that then?"asked eva worried;"Tell me."

"I don't know an easy way to tell you this,so I'm just going to come out and say it."answered her boyfriend as he stopped and put his hand on her arm;"I want to end things between us,eva,it just doesn't work for me anymore."

"You're breaking up with me?"said she shocked and pulled away from him;"Why?"

"I just don't feel the same way about you as you do about me and it's better to end things between us."started shawn slowly;"I'm sorry and I wish that things were different,but they aren't and that is why I'm doing this."

"Is there somebody else?"asked his now ex-girlfriend;"Is that it,shawn?"

"I just don't love you and that is why I'm breaking up with you."answered he and tried to look as innocent as possible;"This just isn't working."

"Have you ever loved me or was I nothing more then just a girl to have sex with?"said eva suddenly angry;"How long have you known about this before you were man enough to tell me?"

"Not for long and you were never just a girl to have sex with,eva,it wasn't like that and I didn't set out to hurt you."began he irritated;"Why are you being like this when I'm only trying to be honest with you?"

"If you have to ask me that then I'm glad that it's over between us,shawn Cassidy,because then you're nothing more then a stupid jerk!"answered his ex-girlfriend angry as she walked away from him;"Just leave me alone!"

In chicago sam was still trying to convince his daughter to go home;"Please,honey,just go home and I will talk to your mother about not grounding you anymore if you promise to behave."

"No!"answered mandy angry and grabbed her bag;"I'm going somewhere else,so that you can't send me back to mom!"

"You're not going anywhere!"started her father tired as he stopped her;"Come on,sweety,running away isn't the answer and it won't solve anything,mandy,just sit down and listen to me."

"Why?"asked she;"You're just going to take mom's side no matter what!"

"I'm not taking your mother's side no matter what,but she does have a point this time and I'm not all that happy about you skipping school either!"said sam;"How about if I went back to baycity with you?"

"To do what?"started his daughter surprised;"To bring me home before you go straight back to Chicago again,dad?"

"No,I promise you that I will stay in baycity untill we have found a solution for this problem."answered he;"But only if you promise to be a good girl and stop giving your mother such a hard time."

"Sure,dad,I promise."smiled mandy as she flew him around his neck;"Thanks."

It was nearly seven when devon got out of her car outside of mary's place and wanted to go inside when shawn showed up;"Wait a second,devon,please."

"What is it?"asked she a bit tired;"I have to go inside for my mother's birthday-party."

"I have been trying to call you several times today,devon,I broke up with eva."started shawn hesitating;"Can we please just go somewhere for a while to talk?"

"No,shawn,we can't because I need to go to my mom's party now."answered his friend;"I can't do this right now!"

"I'm sorry about messing things up like this and not breaking up with eva before we slept together was stupid,,but I don't regret what happened between us and I'm trying to make things right now,so we need to talk about it."said he when his twinsister showed up and grabbed his arm;"What do you want,Courtney,can't you see that I'm in the middle of something?"

"No,we're done and I have to go inside."started devon quickly as she walked away;"He's all yours."

"Devon…!"answered her friend irritated and turned towards his sister;"Thanks a lot!"

"Is it true that you broke up with eva earlier?"asked Courtney;"Why,shawn,what happened?"

"That is none of your damn business and just leave me alone!"said he angry as he went inside as well;"Just mind your own business."

Cheryl was getting dressed when her husband came into the bedroom,putting his arms around her,and began kissing her neck;"Don't do that,chad,we're already running late as it is."

"So?"whispered he into her neck;"An hour later won't make any difference then anyway."

"You're bad."laughed his wife as she turned around and put her arms around his neck;"What did you have in mind?"

"Since all of our kids are already to your sister's birthdayparty and we have the house all to ourselves for once i can think of a few things to do."smiled chad and lifted her up into his arms;"Are you still in a rush to get to the party,Cheryl?"

"I'm sure that they won't even miss us."answered she while chad layed her down on the bed;"Another hour or maybe two won't make that much of a difference."

"That's my girl."said her husband with a big smile on his face as he gently leaned forwards as they began to make love….

Alison was getting waiting for todd to pick her up when Amanda came out of the study;"Your father is bringing mandy back tomorrow."

"That's great news."smiled Alison,but was surprised when she saw the annoyed look on amanda's face;"Isn't it,mom?"

"The fact that he's bringing her home is,but for some reason he wants to stay here for a while."answered she;"Untill the problems are solves or atleast that's how he put it."

"Maybe that isn't such a bad idea,mom,if it keeps mandy here and stops her from running away again."

"We'll see."said Amanda;"I just don't want mandy to think that she can get away with anything she wants and her father comes downhere with her to stay here for a while might give her that idea."

Devon was talking to ginny when shawn came up to them;"Hey,ladies."

"Hey,shawn."said ginny and was surprised when devon didn't really respond much,so she came up with an excuse to let shawn and devon have a moment alone;"I'm going to get something to drink."

"I'll come with you."started her cousin when shawn stopped her as ginny walked away;"What are you doing,shawn,don't!"

"All I ask of you is that you listen to me."answered he and pulled her into a quiet corner;"Please,devon,we really need to talk about this."

"Talk about what?"asked devon angry;"About you suddenly being in love with me out of the blue or about us having sex while you were drunk or about you breaking up with eva for reasons that I still don't understand?"

"I broke up with eva because I'm in love with you and we didn't have sex because I was drunk,devon,it happened because of how I feel about you and I'd like to believe that you feel the same way."said her friend and made devon look him in the eyes;"Tell me the truth,baby,do you feel the same way as I do?"

"I can't do this right now,shawn,so just leave it alone!"answered she with tears in her eyes as she pushed him away and walked away quickly;"Leave me alone!"

To be continued….