A/N: Well, there you go...Francie finally remembered! Now what?! Well, read and find out! :-)

Ethan: The wait is over! Buckle up, it's gonna be a bumpy ride!

Becca: Yes! He kept the flippin' shirt! Bet he's sorry now! It is going to be tough on James, and everyone. Lives will change, that's for sure! Keep your fingers crossed for Frames!

DeniseDEMB: Thanks for the Happy 50th Chapter wishes, I appreciate it! You've been with me through everyone of them - and the story before - unwavering in your Frendall support! Ch. 57 in OFNF was written because of your Frendall addiction! Did you know that?! ;-) Anyway, I can't believe he kept the shirt either! LOL

RockChickWrites: The shit has only begun to hit the fan, my sistah! Danger...drama ahead! That damn shirt...everyone is floored that he kept it! LOL That's right, usher in Linda to make Kendall forget his baby mama. That poor guitar, that's all I'm saying. smh Linda is in the "club"! Got the popcorn? Then let's go...


"Coming through," James stepped into the living room and headed straight to the couch to set Tiff - and the guitar - down. "Need a breather."

The scuffle with Chris added to the alcohol James drank really took a lot out of him, and carrying Tiff, and her security blanket, from the downstairs studio was an tiring, awkward load. At one point in their journey to the main floor, James thought he was about to stumble and drop Tiff but he reached deep, pulled it together, and continued trudging up the steps.

Moving quickly, Carlos relocated some pillows, clearing a spot for Tiff and James. "Here man, set her down. You, too, you don't look so good."

Placing Tiff in her resting spot, James sat next to her in the couch. "What?!" Using his humor to hide his own uncertainty of his current range of abilities, James winked at his Latino friend, "I always look good!"

"Says the pretty one," Nikki grinned at James, still concerned about the injuries of her future brother-in-law.

"Fine, you're still pretty," Carlos playfully rolled his eyes. "Just less pretty than usual."

Giggling at the banter of the group, Linda noticed the gash on James' cheek had again started to bleed a little. She grabbed the towel Nikki used on his wounds earlier. "You okay?" Linda gingerly dabbed at the thin trickle of blood.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I'd be better if I knew where Francie was, and what she was doing. "She just got hard to hold on to with the damn guitar and all."

James saw Linda shoot a sideways glance at the blonde, unmoving and still clutching the guitar. Even if he didn't know how Linda felt about Kendall, the look of disdain would have told James that Linda didn't care much for Tiff.

"Tiff?" Nikki shook the blonde. "Wake up." Recalling the scene Tiff causes earlier, embarrassing Francie and Kendall, during the 'friendly' game of Most Likely and the fact that she had some hidden inner turmoil occurring - of which Niki still knew nothing - the oldest Mancini sister's patience lessened, anger bubbled, and her gentle shaking grew more forceful. "Come on, Tiff! Wake the fuck up!"

"U'm uuuup," Tiff mumbled, scowling but not opening her eyes.

"My ass!" Nikki pulled at the instrument in Tiff's hands. "Get up and let go of the fucking guitar!"

"Nikki," Logan placed his hands on his fiancée's shoulders to calm her down. "It's okay, baby."

"It's not okay, Logan! James is practically killing himself trying to help her sorry, self-pitying, ass!"

"No'sorry 'n' selph piddin'!"

"No?!" Nikki's hands went directly to her hips in her usual no bullshit, straightforward way. "Then why the drunkfest? Why the drama with MY sister?!"

"Me 'n' Fanzie, we goo'!" Tiff slurred her retort.

"You're good?! Only because she's nice enough to forgive your ass!"

"Kennall's faull!"

Linda's head snapped toward Tiff, her eyes glowed with anger. "Kendall's fault?! Did you just say, it's Kendall's fault?!"

"Yez, Kennall's faull!" Tiff tried to sit up, she wasn't going to take any shit from her boyfriend's little artist buddy. I've seen them working together, the way she oogles at Kendall and touches his arm as she laughs at his jokes, even when they aren't that funny. Flirting with him in front of me, I don't think so!

"Him an' hiz Fregles! Wher'iz he?! I tell 'im...no mo' Fregles!" Tiff wagged her finger at Linda, "an' no'mo YOU! Jus' me!"

No more Freckles, huh? Yeah, okay, like Kendall will go for that, Tiff. There's no way you're going to force Francie from Kendall's life. Not a chance. Believe me, I thought it out and those two are tight, that's all there is to it. Even if Marley weren't in the picture, those two have too much history. Like it or not - and God knows there was a time I didn't like it at all - they are thick as thieves. I've seen it, dealt with it ,and done my best to accept it. Jersey, I hope you'll be able to cope better than Tiff has.

"Maybe if you weren't so concerned over his interest in others, you could concentrate on the distance you've put between you two!"

"Wha'?!" Tiff was as shocked as the others. Five people stared at Linda with wide eyes and slack jaws, the sixth person witnessing Linda's outburst tried not to grin. James was proud of Linda standing up for Kendall. That's what he needs, that woman right there.

"You heard me! If you pulled that processed blonde head out of your ass, you'd see that you've pushed him away!"

James quietly looked on, wondering if Kendall knew what a fiesty woman he was moving on to.

Tiff struggled to get to her feet, but it proved futile as she refused to relinquish the guitar. "He say dat?! Di'he tel'you dat?! May'e dat son' wudn't bout Fregles! May'e iz bout you! May'e Kennall lie!"

Song?! What song? The hell is she talking about?! He wrote a song about my Sweetness?! No, she's drunk...she doesn't know what she's saying. Kendall wouldn't have written something for Francie. Maybe it was about Linda. James hoped that was true but he couldn't shake the suspicion that grew every minute the two were nowhere to be found.

"Okay, that's enough!" Ry stepped between Linda and Tiff. "Stop it! Tiff I know you've got things going on right now. It'll all be better after some sleep." She turned to address James, "Are you able to get her upstairs? We need to get her to bed."

Pushing himself off the sofa and the bullshit from his head, Janes nodded, "Yep, good to go."

"No seep! I wan' Kennall! Wher's Kennall?"

Hell if I know, but when I find him he's in deep ship for making me babysit one of his women while he's doing God knows what with mine! No, no, no...don't go there Jay! There's a reason, remember? There's a good reason. Shaking free from the latest round thoughts running rampant in his head, James told Tiff what he hoped was a lie, "He's upstairs in his room, Tiff. Let's go see him." If he's there he better fucking be alone!

Confused and surprised that James knew where Kendall was, Carlos whispered, "He is?"

James shrugged, "You got a better way to shut her up and get her to bed?"

"Ooooh, good point."

Bending down, James scooped up his cargo and headed toward the staircase with Ry following him to assist once he got the drunk woman in Kendall's room.

"I'm going, too," Nikki whispered to Logan. "Francie and Kendall weren't downstairs, they're not on the main floor, maybe they're upstairs. I'm gonna look for them."

Fearful that the two may actually be up there, tucked away intimately in a bedroom, Logan thought it best he go, too. "I'll help." Before following Nikki, Logan turned to Carlos and Linda. "Would you guys mind checking out back for Kendall and Francie?"

"Sure," Carlos nodded.

"You think they're outside?" Linda questioned. "It's freezing out there."

Shrugging Logan answered, "Who knows, but we haven't checked there yet." Logan turned and caught up to the others making their way to the second floor. With every step he took, dread spread through Logan. I hope to hell, they're not up here.


No, not everything! She can't remember EVERYTHING! What do I do? I can't deny it - any of it - not if she knows!

Walking to the edge of his bed and placing his hands on the outsides of her thighs, Kendall dropped to his knees at Francie's feet. "I'm so sorry, Freckles," his soothing words and stroking hands did nothing for Francie's tormented heart.

Eyes filled with tears that threatened to cascade down lightly-freckled cheeks, looked at Kendall. Francie shook her head, slightly, "No, Dimples, I'm the one who should apologize. I never should have done that, I never should have used you like that."

"No, I took advantage of the situation, too." Moving his hands from her legs, Kendall took the shirt from her hand and tossed it to the ground, allowing him to hold Francie's trembling hand in his. "I wanted you back so badly, I was willing to do anything." He shut his eyes tightly, "All I could think about was you. Your lips on mine, you in my arms, I wasn't going to let that moment pass by, Freckles. I just wasn't."

Setting the button down on the bed beside her, Francie raised her free hand to his cheek. "Oh, Kendall," Francies tears began to fall. "What have we done?"

"I'm so sorry, I just couldn't bear to tell you."

In the midst of the turmoil inside her heart, another thought - almost as crushing as the fact she cheated on James - bombarded her. He couldn't BEAR to tell me?

The hand Kendall held pulled back sharply and fell to Francie's lap as her other slid from his face and grasped the edge of the mattress, white knuckles betraying the urgency of the hold.

HE couldn't bear to tell me?!

"Wait." The iciness of that single word sent shivers through Kendall's body. He held his breath waiting to see where this was leading, but his heart knew what his head had yet to realize. It's all over, Francie knew what he did.

He couldn't bear to TELLME!

"You lied to me." The calmness in which those words were spoken terrified Kendall. Way to hollow, way to detached, way gonna blow up in my face!

The dark orbs that stared into his soul were cold and angry, but the brief flicker of hurt and disappointment is what really got to Kendall. That's what made it impossible to meet the eyes of his friend, his first love, the mother of his child. He looked remorsefully at his empty hand resting on Francie's knee.

Kendall's refusal to look at her, his inability to respond to her, enraged Francie. Slapping his hand off her leg, she screamed at him. "You lied to me, Kendall! To me!"

"Freckles -"

Francie cut him short. "Don't call me that! Don't you EVER call me that again!"

"I'm sorry!" Kendall sat back on his heels, "God, I'm so sorry!"

"You're sorry?! You lied to me! Oh, my God, you lied to James, Tiff...all of us...and you're sorry?!"

"I just couldn't tell you. You'd have been crushed if you knew. I couldn't do that."

"So instead you lied?!"

"I thought it was for the better. I didn't want to jeopardize any of our relationships!"

A crazed, bitter laugh escaped Francie, "You mean you were covering your own ass. You didn't have the guts to tell your best friend you slept with his girlfriend!"

"That's not it!"

"No?! Well, that's what it sounds to like! My God, Kendall, you let me think that I wrecked the car," Francie's voice cracked with emotion, "and lost my baby, because I was upset about James and Amber!" Kendall flinched, as Francie's hand flew from her lap and pointed to the closed bedroom door, "You let HIM think that!"

"I thought that was better than telling you guys what really happened!"

"Better?! James thinks I nearly died because I didn't trust him! Because I didn't trust our love!"

"You didn't!"

"But he should at least know that I'M the one who screwed up! ME, not him!" The dam broke and a second round of tears fell as Francie's body was racked with sobs.

"Freckles, don't cry." Moving to her side on the bed, Kendall needed to hold her, comfort her, but Francie would have none of that.

"I said don't call me that! And don't touch me!"

"Please, Fre-...Francie, I'm sorry."

"You should be!" Her eyes fell to the diamond and ruby engagement ring sparkled brightly, taunting her guilty heart. "And so shoulld I."

Kendall attempted to justifying their indescretion. "No, it was all a big misunderstanding, Freckles, we didn't know!"

"Don't call me Freckles! Just get away from me!" She buried her face in her hands, ashamed. Ashamed that she doubted James and his love for her. Ashamed that she used Kendall, knowing how he felt about her. Ashamed she was so careless to leave the house during the ice storm and got in the wreck that, possibly, took her baby - James' baby. Ashamed.

"What am I going to do?!"

Unsure of the answer, himself, Kendall tried to reassure her. "We'll get through this, Fay."

"How?! How do you think we'll do that?!"

"I'll talk to James."

Francie shook her head, "You're crazy! He will kill you!"

"Don't you think I know that?!" He dropped his voice showing his guilt, "I need to. I have to apologize to him. This has been eating at me for weeks."

Eyeing Kendall with a frown pulling her brows togheter, Francie spat, "Really? Cause you look pretty unscathed to me!"

Ignoring the sassy sarcasm, Kendall continued, "I need to tell Tiff, too."

Rolling her eyes toward the ceiling, Francie scoffed, "That should be a party."

"I'll fix this." If I tell myself that enough, I may actually start to believe it.

"There's no fixing this Kendall! Tiff will never speak to either one of us again! Logan and Carlos will hate me...us...for what we did! And James...James...," Francie's fingers toyed with the amore necklace that hung around her neck, the necklace James gave her in Miami, when they had something special, before Francie destroyed it by sleeping with Kendall.

It's ruined! Our relationship is ruined and it's all my fault! Tugging at the chain, Francie ripped the necklace off throwing it to the ground, ironically, coming to rest atop Kendall's crumpled shirt.

"It'll be okay, Francie, I promise."

Kendall's words of comfort set her off once again. "You promise?! Oh well, that makes it all better! I know you'd NEVER lie to me, would you, Kendall?! A promise implies trust is present, obviously that's not the case here!" The words were spoken with the intent to hurt Kendall, and they did. "It'll never be okay! None of us this EVER be okay again!"

"It will, Freckles."

"Stop! Just stop with the lies!" Angry fists began to pound on Kendall's exposed chest.

Grabbing at her wrists, Kendall struggled to restrain Francie with out hurting her. She's grieving, she's hurting, she's angry as hell, and she has every right to be. I let her down. I did this!

Francie grew more angry at being restrained, she continued fighting back, squirming her way out of Kendall's careful hold, her flailing hands continued making contact with Kendall's pale skin.

Good thing she's been drinking and she's crazy pissed because with all of her years boxing, if she gets a good shot on me I'm done!

Knowing he had to be more forceful to stop the attack, Kendall stood up, towering over the seated, petite brunette, and used his height as an advantage over her. He clasped one of her wrists mid-swing, the other after it had hit his chest. He lunged forward, throwing both he Francie onto the pale green comforter that blanketed his king size bed. Scrambling to hold her in place, Kendall straddled her pelvis, clenching her her thighs together with his legs to maintain his balance.

"Get the fuck off me, you lying son of a bitch!"

"No! Not until you calm down!"

Her struggle continued, Kendall knew it would. He's seen Francie's temper before and knew that she had to blow off steam before she could cool down to allow her to think straight, and until that happened Kendall was staying right where he was, safely on top of his ex-girlfriend and in control.

"STOP! GET...OFF...ME!"

"Quit fighting me, Freckles!"

"Stop it! Let me go!"

"No!" Kendall allowed himself a deep breath enjoying his moment of victory, effectively pinning Francie down, stopping her from hurting herself and him.


"Hang in there, Pretty Boy," Nikki encouraged James as she noticed him slowing down on his staircase ascent. "Almost there."

"I sure don't remember all these stairs being here when Francie lived here."

"That's because you usually ran up them to get to the bedroom," Logan joked.

James retaliated, "Hey! I'm a romantic guy, you louse! I carried her up the stairs sometimes, I just never did it with a guitar in her hands."

Muffled shouts from an upstairs room drowned out the chuckles from Nikki and Logan, bringing the procession to an abrupt halt.

"STOP! GET...OFF...ME!"

"Quit fighting me, Freckles!"

"Stop it! Let me go!"

"No!"

"Francie," James, Nikki, and Ry said in one voice.

"Kendall," Logan nearly groaned his response.

All four took off like bats out of hell.

James forgot how tapped his strength was. Hearing his fiancée's cries, an adrenaline rush fuled his urgency to get to Francie's side. Tiff's head wobbled like a newborn baby as she was jostled by her chariot's speed. With Tiff in his arms, Nikki and Logan were able to keep up with James' long legged sprint and reached the top of the staircase together.

Spinning to face Logan, James thrust Tiff at him, not caring if his friend had a good hold on the drunk woman or not, and headed to the closed door of Kendall's bedroom with Chris' words echoing in his head. "If I were you, I'd start looking in his bedroom. I mean, we all know that's where Kendall would have taken her." The thoughts of what was going on in that bedroom infuriated him! I swear to God, I'm gonna kill Kendall!


"Get the hell off me, Kendall!" Francie bucked her hips attempting to throw Kendall off and free herself. The friction of her body on Kendall's groin stirred a primal hunger in his body, effectively turning him on. The anger in Francie, her helplessness, her fight to be free from the restraints of his domineering control, all of it, excited Kendall.

"No!" Kendall screamed in answer to both Francie's demand and his own desires. I fucked things up with Tiff, because I couldn't get over Francie, I'm not doing that Linda! I'm not ruining what she and I could have! I won't!

The bedroom door flew open with such force it slammed into the wall, leaving a hole where the doorknob met the plaster. Startled by the sound of the collision, Francie screamed. Kendall's head spun to look over his shoulder, what he saw terrified him. Standing in the doorway, seething in anger, stood James.