Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this fic, except the ones that you don't recognize. Disney and Alliance Atlantis and so forth own them all. Due to the problems in fanfiction.net, this chapter took a while to get out. The song "I Drive Myself Crazy" is by NSYNC. The plot belongs to me : ) Happy reading!

Note: *~*~* means a switch from present time to the time in the book and vice versa; ~~~~~ means a switch between different scenes; and ***** means a switch from past to present in the book or flashbacks. The italics are mostly when someone's thoughts.

Realization of Fate

Reminiscing the Past

The moment she reached her room, Val closed the door immediately and locked it as though an ax murderer was chasing her. In reality, she was only running away from him.

"Why do you have to be you?" she asked to no one in particular as she leaned on the door and fell to the floor.

Everything was fine before, and now, two days after she returned, everything was starting to confuse her all over again. Was it because she's staying at his house? Was it because he proposed to Andrea? Was it because she was falling for him all over again?

"I can't," she reminded herself. "I'm married and pregnant, and my husband doesn't even have a clue that I'm having his child and divorcing him."

Have you ever been in a position where, in a matter of seconds, everything that you thought made sense makes no sense at all? I lived that moment at that point in time. How come you only know the worth of what you have when it's about to be taken away from you? He's nice, sensitive, sweet, understanding, caring, …he's everything I can't have. At least not anymore. Just when I thought things can't get any worse, they multiply by ten…

Val finally pulled herself up from her position and sat on her bed. Thinking it would take her mind off the subject, she turned on the radio and laid down her head on one of the pillows. The DJ's voice soon became clearly audible from the radio.

"And here's a request by Caroline, who said that the song reminded her of an old love and a mistake she wished had never happened. Here's 'I Drive Myself Crazy' by NSYNC."

Intrigued, Val closed her eyes and let the music engulf her.

Lying in your arms

So close together

Didn't know just what I had

Now I toss and turn

Cause I'm without you

How I'm missing you so bad

Where was my head?

Where was my heart?

Now I cry alone in the dark

I lie awake, I drive myself crazy

Drive myself crazy thinking of you

Made a mistake when I let you go baby

I drive myself crazy

Wanting you the way that I do

As the song went on, memories of the past came back all over again …Particularly that solemn day near the end of their freshman year in college.

I was such a fool

I couldn't see it

Just how good you were to me

You confessed your love

Undying devotion

I confessed my need to be free

********************

"Tyler, why are we in the park? I have some better things to do."

"Val, I need to ask you something," Tyler said rather excitedly in a nervous fashion. "This…"

"I think I should go first," Val said rather calmly. "I guess this is as good a time as any."

"Go ahead."

"I think we should take a break."

"Well, we're not doing anything much right now," he tried to make a joke.

"Away from each other."

"What?" he asked with surprise in his tone. "What are you talking about? Where is all of this coming from?"

"Tyler, this is what I want," Val told him as she sat on one of the benches in the park. "I want to be a doctor. If I am going to be one, then this is what I should focus on."

"What about us?" Tyler asked her. "I love you."

"I love you, too, but this is not permanent. It's just a time away from us, but I can't succeed in school if you keep taking up my time."

"Taking up your time?" Tyler said with a hint of frustration. "Val, we don't go out anymore. We barely see each other. Whenever we do talk, we end up fighting, like what we're doing right now. I don't even have any of your time. It will only get worse if we do this."

"School is important to me. I …I don't have seconds to spare for any quality time. I'm already behind schedule and schoolwork. You of all people should understand."

"What about us?" Tyler asked her again, hoping she'd see things from his side.

"We're still together. It's just a break, Tyler."

"Break… Breakup… It's the same thing. Now I'm going to ask you one more time. What about us?"

"I don't know. If you can't accept the fact that I need space and that I need you to give me time and not put in a situation where I have to choose between you and my future, then I don't think this is going to work."

"Don't say that!"

"I don't think this relationship will last at all."

Tyler was already in tears. He just looked at Val, thinking about the words she just said.

"Tyler, say something," Val pleaded.

"If this is what you want, then I won't stand in your way," Tyler told her in the coldest tone possible.

Silence followed after his words as Tyler tried to hold himself together.

"I guess this is goodbye."

"I guess so," Val stated. "We can still be friends, right?"

"Yea," Tyler said, although he did not know what would really happen.

"I better go," Val said as she left him all alone.

As soon as she reached her room, Val collapsed to her bed and cried.

********************

And now I'm left

With all this pain

I've only got myself to blame

………………………………

Crying her eyes out, Val turned off the radio, unable to take anymore reminder of what happened. In a strange way, the song was saying the exact thoughts that she was having at the time. As she recalled, the break up wasn't the worst…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tyler closed his bedroom door quietly after he finished cleaning up the kitchen. He was engaged…finally. Who would have expected Tyler Connell to be wed to a supermodel? If the same question was asked back when he was in high school, well, Valerie Lanier would probably have been the obvious choice.

He recollected the talk that they had earlier. He figured she wasn't as happy as she had claimed time and time before. If things had gone differently, he might have been married to her, but fate had other plans. Instead, they had a daughter together, but were married or engaged to different people. It was a weird situation, but he was thankful that they were friends. Close friends. Good friends. The best of friends. Back in college, as Tyler remembered, he thought they would never gain their friendship back.

********************

I was devastated. I locked myself in my room. I never wanted to go out. And then I reached a point where everything around me reminded me of her and of the pain she has caused me. It drove me mad. I decided to go away. I moved as far away as possible. She came to talk to me …To stop me from leaving …But my heart was cold and full of hate.

"Can I come in?"

"Yea," he said silently without bothering to turn around and face her.

Val knew what Tyler had been going through. Heck, almost everyone in the campus knew. It hurt her to see him like this. The Tyler she knew was never like this …Ever.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Of all the people, I think you would be the one to know," Tyler told her smugly.

"Don't do this, Tyler."

"Who are you to tell me what to do?"

Val fell silent as if a knife was struck to her flesh.

"I'm your friend."

"That's funny," Tyler commented, still having his back to her. "Since when was the last time we 'friends' talked?"

"You know what I mean, Tyler. Now why are you doing this?"

"Because everything in this place reminds me of you!" Tyler said crossly, finally facing her. "Everywhere I go… Everything I see… Everyone I know… They keep reminding me of you. It seems like there's a dagger fixed in my heart, and every time you come up, I feel the dagger twisting inside of me. I need to get far away from this place as possible. Far away from you. I can't take anymore of this."

Tyler took his remaining luggage and headed out the door.

"You can't do this."

"I thought this is what you wanted. Time and space, right? Well, you know what, I'm going to give it to you right now."

"Tyler, don't leave," Val pleaded.

"Watch me," Tyler said coldly as he left her alone.

I think it hurt her, but I convinced myself that it was for the best. For both of us. We never saw each other again for a long time. I returned a year later, dragging along my friend, Robert O'Brien, with me. We seldom talked to each other, but never kept in touch. After college, a few meaningless postcards were sent back and forth between us. We only made peace with each other during that wedding day. We've definitely come a long way since then. A long way in did.

********************

Now that he thought about it, Tyler noticed that neither Val nor him talked about what happened during those time. If he were to decide, he would choose not to know and not to talk about it. Besides, they finally got to a place where they can just talk and be happy for each other. Also, he was engaged to Andrea Burbank, and nothing could be more fulfilling for him than that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I know this took a really long time, but school already started, and I already had the privilege of turning in two essays - - - One on the second day of school. I'm really sorry. That was it for this chapter though…a glimpse from the past. I figured you should know what happened. Don't forget to review! Later! ~ Scarlet182