At the Valley Inn, Krystal finishes her meal and exits the dinning room. She starts up the grand staircase to her room for the evening, but seeing an inviting corner with an overstuffed chair near the large rock fireplace, she pulls a book from her bag and makes her way to the quiet lounge. Soft music plays as the firelight and a small lamp on the table next to her illuminates her book.

Just then someone walks up next to her and says, "Can I get you anything from the bar, Ma'am?"

She looks up from her book and sees Jackson standing next to her smiling.

A surprised smile takes over her face and she responds, "Yes, tea with lemon, please?"

Jack wondering if there is enough light in the room for her to recognize him says, "Krystal? It's me, Jackson."

She doesn't look up, but simply turns the page on her book says, "Yes. If you're waiting for a tip, you'll have to bring the tea first." As she closes her book, looks up to him and laughs. "You working as a waiter now? You should ask for a different uniform. That handsome suit won't last one night in the kitchen." She finishes with a chuckle.

Jack laughs with her and then says, "When I first saw you sitting here, I thought maybe you were with someone. But, seeing you reading now, I'm just wondering what you're doing here at this hour?"

"Oh, you didn't hear?" Krystal asks.

"Hear about what?" Jack responds as he positions himself in the matching chair opposite her.

"Tad and Dixie, were just got married, again. They didn't make a big deal of it as they didn't want to put the Hubbards in an awkward situation – you know with the funeral and all – so they just had a quiet ceremony at the court house."

"Oh, that. Yes. I heard. I'm so very happy for the both of them."

"So, that is why I am here at the Valley Inn. So that they could have the house alone, since they're not going on an official honeymoon for awhile – they want to wait until things settle down in town first." Krystal puts her book in her bag and looks up at Jack.

"Also, I've been planning for quite a while now to get my own place, since Dixie returned home. I spoke with Tad about it before, when he and Cara where married, but now seems like as good of time as any other."

Krystal breaking from the conversation's topic says, "Oh, Jack? I meant to ask. How is Erica? Any news? Bianca told Marissa and I, what Maria said in the meeting. Has there been any change since then?"

"No. Nothing yet." Jack says with exhaustion over the thought.

"I am so sorry Jack. I know you love her very much."

"Yes, well, sometimes love is not enough to keep two people together." Jack says while pulling at a loose string in the arm of the overstuffed chair he is stilling in.

"Well, I don't know about that. Just look at Tad and Dixie. Even death couldn't keep them apart." Krystal responds with questioning eyes.

Jesse entering the front door of his apartment, sees Maya folding laundry on the sofa. He sets his keys on the table and makes his way to her, "Maya, you're just who I am looking for."

Angie entering, from another room, says, "Why? What's wrong, Jesse."

Jesse reaching out to give Angie a greeting kiss says, "I need to know where Mookie is?"

"Mookie?" Both women look to him with confusion.

"Yes. Mookie." Jesse demands.

"Oh, Jesse, why do you need to find him? Angie protests. "That boy is nothing but trouble. The last thing Maya needs, is him around here."

Jesse motioning Angie to sit in the chair next to him continues, "No. I mean, yes. He is trouble and no we don't want him around here, but I think he might be a key lead in the Chandler party shooting."

Maya's attention immediately moved from her folding, freezes her motions and locks her eyes on Jesse and says, "Oh, no. Mr. Hubbard. Mookie would never do something like that. I'm sure of it."

"Jesse?" Angie almost whispers.

"Now, wait a minute." Jesse tries to calm the mood. "I didn't say he caused the shooting, but I think he might be a key lead to who did. That's all."

The two women relax as Jesse continues, "So do you know where he is? Do you know how to locate him? Family? Friends? A city, Maya? Anything?"

Maya's face turns nearly sheet white and she looks as though she might begin to tremble. "Mookie cannot come back here, Mr. Hubbard." Tears spring up in her eyes as she holds a small stuffed toy. "Lucy would never be safe, if he knew about her. He would never leave us alone, if he knew!"

"Oh, Jesse?" Angie protests as she quickly moves to comfort Maya.

"No, Maya. He doesn't need to know anything about Lucy." Jesse insists. "In fact, he won't know that you helped me locate him."

"No, no. I can't!" Maya begins to sob into Angie's shoulder as Angie tries to comfort her.

Angie looking with pleading eyes for Jesse to stop his questions says, "Jesse, please?"

Jesse gets up from his sitting position on the sofa and says, "Okay, Maya. It's okay." He then begins to pace the floor of the apartment, like a caged animal. An idea comes to him and he says, "Hey, we've all talked about how small this apartment is, right?"

The two women look at him with surprised faces. "Yes." Angie agrees.

Maya wipes her tears, confusion covers her face and says, "I don't understand."

"Then let's move. If me just mentioning Mookie's name is this upsetting – and you are that afraid of him finding you and finding out about Lucy – then let's move."

"Move?" Angie says with confusion. "Jesse, where to?"

"Just across town somewhere. Somewhere that Mookie will never find us. Maybe into a house with a big backyard?"

Maya smiles and wipes her face, "With room for a swing set and a sandbox?

"Yes. Lots of room for Lucy. Maybe even room for a pony." Jesse laughs.

"Oh, Jesse, that's a wonderful idea." Angie hugs him. "Let's do it right away. Maybe we could get a place near PVU?"

"I'll contact a realtor first thing tomorrow." Jesse responds. "And we'll make certain, to get a place with a good security system too."

Maya smiles in relief. After a moment of contemplation, she says, "Mookie has an extensive criminal record. I know where his mother lives. He stays with her sometimes. Will that help you locate some information on him?"

Jesse excited at her compliance rushes to her side and giving her a hug says, "Yes. That would be a great help. Thank you, Maya, thank you. I promise you, he'll never be in contact with you and never know about Lucy, ever! I'll personally see to that!"

"Krystal, do you remember what happened just before the party? Do you remember that Erica and I had just broken up?"

"Well, yes, but then she showed up at the party? You and she went off to talk and I just assumed -"

Jack interrupting says, "And that talk only further confirmed, to me, that we should be separated."

"What? Now I'm confused, Jack."

"Remember, just before the shooting, how I was leaving the mansion and she was asking me not to leave – quite boldly too - in front of the entire room full of party guests?"

"Well of course, how could I forget? I don't think anyone will ever forget that show. But I thought that was just another one of your lover's spats with her?" Krystal asks with much confusion.

"Yeah. A spat alright." Jack says with a large sigh. "Another exhausting, ring-around-the-Jackson game. The very last for me, that's for certain." Jack says with an elevation in his voice. "Erica made it perfectly clear to me, that night, that she and I, we're finished."

"But, why, Jack? I thought you two were making wedding plans."

"So did I. That is until she made it very clear to me that, that was not what she wanted."

"What? Erica finished with you? I'm sorry, but I really don't understand or believe, that statement?"

"You know how she was making plans to go to Hollywood and write her book and star in the film – about her life story – that, Kit, promised her?" Jack asks.

"Yes, but why couldn't she do with you? I don't understand?"

"Exactly, what I asked her. I don't understand it either, Krystal."

"And? And what did she say?"

"She said that she didn't want to marry me. She said that she was going to Hollywood and that she wasn't going to marry me just to prove her love to me."

"Prove her love? What does that mean? You asked her to marry you to prove a point?"

"No! Hell no!"

"Well, I mean seriously, it isn't like you haven't been dragged through every mud puddle drama of her life for the last 25 years. I would think if you were demanding a marriage it would have happened long ago. I mean, I thought she wanted to marry you?"

"Yes. So did I? That is just it." Jack continues, "I told her that I wasn't going to wait another 20+ years for her to make time for us. I'm not going to put my life on hold any longer, waiting for her to figure out if I was a priority to her or not. I understand that she has dreams and plans for her life, but I have dreams and plans too."

He finishes slowly with a marked sense of grief and a change in the tone of his voice. "Her plans just don't line up with mine any longer. So we finally put an end to it. Finally ended both of our misery. I can no longer be with her."

"But, Jack, Erica was running after you – just before the shooting – she was begging you not to go? Maybe she realized how serious you were, about the marriage, and she was going to marry you after all?"

"But that is just it, isn't it? I don't want her to marry me just to hold me. If she and I, have to play ring-around-the-Jack every other week? Why do I want that kind of game playing relationship? I don't have to be number one all the time, but I'd at least like to be in the top ten! Hell, Krystal, with all the drama in her life, most days I don't even know where she is and where I am in her line up call. When my number comes up, she is sure to ring my bell but, this is the thing, I don't want to be on her leash any longer! I have dreams and plans of my own too. And they involve loving someone who loves me as much as I love them. Someone that puts me at a higher priority, in their lives, then some business call or the latest fashions from Paris." Jack, now angry finishes his vent and with exhaustion, falls back against the chair.