Chapter 36…

Shawn was in his father's office when jake walked in;"Hi,shawn,your sister asked me to see if you were here."

"Why?"asked he worried;"Did they hear anything from dad?"

"No,but you were gone before they woke up and she was worried about you."started his cousin-in-law slowly;"She tried to reach you,but your cellphone seems to be turned off and I had to be in town anyway,so she asked me to see if you were here."

"Oh,i didn't know my cellphone was turned off,jake,I guess the battery is dead or something."answered shawn as he checked his phone;"How is mom doing?"

"It seems that she was up most of the night and your sister called Jamie to give her something to calm her down and help her sleep,because she's really falling apart."said he;"Maybe you should go home and be with them,because they need you right now!"

"Mom's got courtney there and somebody has to be out looking for dad!"began his cousin-in-law annoyed;"I have to find dad!"

"The whole policedeparment is looking out for your father,so that's not your job right now and your mother needs you,shawn,so does your sister!"answered jake;"Just go home!"

"No,not untill I find dad!"said he angry and walked away;"I need to find dad!"

At the cory's adam was waiting for m.j. to return from her physical-therapy at the hospital when he heard his daughter's car pulling up in the driveway and a few minutes later she came into the livingroom,together with his wife,who was on crutches;"Hey,dad,look at mom!"

"Hey,no wheelchair."smiled he surprised;"That's great."

"Yeah,isn't it?"asked his wife as she sat down on the couch;"My therapist said that I was improving so much that I could ditch the wheelchair and walk around on crutches."

"That's awesome,honey."said adam,happy to see his wife out of the wheelchair;"That's great news."

"Mom does need to take it easy and she can't over-do it!"started his daughter slowly;"So we need to make sure she doesn't,dad!"

"Hey,I'm right here in the room you know!"answered m.j. a bit annoyed;"I don't need you two babysitting me or something!"

"We're not babysitting you or anything,but we just want to make sure that you're okay."said her husband;"That's all,m.j."

"I'm sorry."began she tired;"I guess I'm a bit unedged."

"No,you're just a hothead."smiled devon;"It's a family-trade,mom,it's a real thing."

"Devon's right."laughed her father;"It's something that you're stuck with."

"I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing."said m.j. with a faint smile.

When sage got home she found justin packing his things;"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?"asked her boyfriend without looking at sage;"I'm packing my things!"

"Please listen to me,justin,it wasn't what it looked like!"said sage and grabbed his arm;"Carl set that whole thing up and it was his way of getting back at me for not giving into his blackmail!"

"So it isn't true that he's your ex and that he's luke's father?"started he angry,pulling away from sage;"So you guys weren't kissing just now?"

"He was trying to kiss me,but I didn't want him to kiss me and he must have known that you were on your way and set the whole thing up!"answered his girlfriend;"He was trying to get me to pay him 10.000 dollars or he was going to tell you that he was here and fight for custody of luke,justin,he's been trying to blackmail me eversince he came to town."

"Oh,really?"asked justin;"And when was that,sage,how long has your ex been in town?"

"Since ginny's birthday."said she softly;"That's when he first showed up at the hospital,but I told him to go away and that I wasn't gonna let him see luke or give him money!"

"That was almost three damn weeks ago and you never thought of telling me about him being here once?"yelled her boyfriend furious as he closed his suit-case;"Do you blame me for thinking the worst after hearing all of this and seeing you kiss him today and knowing that you lied to me that time that I saw you two in your office a while back?"

"I wasn't kissing him,justin,he was kissing me and I didn't tell you because at first I thought he'd leave after I'd turned him down and after that I was scared of what you might do to him if you found out about what he wanted."answered sage in tears;"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you,but I'm not cheating on you with him!"

"I don't believe you!"said he and walked away,leaving sage behind in their bedroom,crushed;"I don't!"

Later that afternoon deacon was waiting in the park for devon,on a bench,when she showed up and sat down next to her;"Hi."

"Hi."said deacon;"So,how are things going?"

"Things are going well,deacon,I'm working on it."started his friend hesitating;"How serious are things between you and courtney?"

"Pretty serious and before you start ranting to me about that,devon,I didn't plan to fall in love with your friend!"answered he;"I didn't mean to fall for her,but I did."

"What now?"asked devon curious;"Are you going to tell her the truth?"

"I don't know yet."began her friend slowly;"I do know that I do want to keep seeing courtney,devon,so maybe I'll just take things as they come along."

"What happens when you have to go away again?"said she worried;"How do you think courtney will feel then?"

"She already knows that I travel a lot and she knows that i'm not staying here,but she feels the same way as I do and we're just going to take things as they come along."answered deacon;"What about you and shawn?"

"What shawn and I had has been over for a long time,deacon,so there's nothing to talk about and he made his feelings pretty clear."started his friend with a sad smile;"Besides,it's better that i'm not involved with anybody right now and it would only make things more complicated anyway."

At HeadLines Today ginny was wishing that she was at home again,laying in her bed,because she felt even worse then she did earlier and looked at the clock when her boss walked in;"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Nice to see you again too."started his friend annoyed;"Could you please not yell at me?"

"I should fire you damn it!"said lucas angry;"I told you that I didn't want to see you again untill you were better,ginny,didn't i?"

"Keep your voice down!"answered she,trying to block out her splitting headache;"I feel fine!"

"No,you don't and you aren't fine,ginny,even carter saw that!"began her friend a bit calmer when he saw ginny becoming even more pail then before;"I'm sorry about yelling at you,but I'm worried about you and you have no business being here when you're sick!"

"I'm not sick,lucas!"started ginny angry as she got up,something she shouldn't have done because it made her feel even worse and she felt really dizzy;"I'm…."

"I'm driving you home!"said he worried and grabbed her arm;"Let me help you!"

"I don't need your help and I'm not going anywhere!"answered his friend and blinked with her eyes in an effort to stop the room from spinning;"I feel fine!"

"Don't be so damn stubborn,ginny,you're not fine!"said lucas as ginny pulled away and wanted to push him away from her,but somehow seemed disoriented and suddenly he saw her eyes become glassy and lucky for ginny lucas grabbed her as she went down,passing out;"Ginny!"

To be continued….