This story is almost finished! Maybe one or two more chapters after
this one! I had no idea it would be this long! I hope you have enjoyed it
and any comments or criticism are appreciated!

Conner paced around his kitchen nervously. Even thought it was one in
the morning Conner was too wound up to go to be now. He and dashed home
after the show and was disappointed to see that Elizabeth wasn't there
or that there weren't any messages on his machine.
Another crack of thunder boomed through the house and Conner's light
flickered. He looked out the window and was surprised to see that it had
started to storm.
Conner had called Elizabeth's parents for her number but she wasn't
home. Conner figured that she had either seen the show and was making the
twenty-minute drive to Los Angeles or she had seen it and was fleeing
the country.
Conner quickly reminded himself that he was extremely lucky for even
getting a second chance with Elizabeth. The stupidest thing he had ever
done was leaving her back in college and then never writing. He knew the
only reason Elizabeth had forgiven him was because of what had happened
to his mother and sister.
Conner wanted Elizabeth back. Sure it was a shock and a bit of an
inconvenience when she arrived out of the blue. But as soon as he had gazed
into her warm, caring blue eyes he knew that they had never lost that
amazing connection they had once shared. Conner knew that she was in a
lot of pain and he wanted to help her through it all.
Suddenly the doorbell rang and Conner ran to answer it. There stood
Elizabeth Wakefield dressed in a pink sweatshirt and blue pajama pants and
completely soaked. And Conner thought she was the most beautiful thing
that he had ever seen. "Liz?" he said hoarsely, gesturing her inside.
Elizabeth then jumped on him and began kissing him. Conner stumbled back
in the house surprised and wet. When she pulled back she stared at him
with shining eyes. "I saw the show."
"I figured," he said wryly. He led her to the bathroom and gave her
some towels. A few minutes later they were sitting on the large couch in
his family room. "Wow, this place is incredible," Liz breathed.
"Thanks." After a moment he said, "I didn't think you were coming."
Elizabeth laughed. "You never gave me your address or phone number,
silly. And obviously you're unlisted. But I had a copy of your CD that
Jessica lent me and I called your recording studio and got the address of
your manager. Then I frantically attacked him showing pictures of us
and my yearbook so he wouldn't think I was some psycho-obsessed fan or
something."
Conner stared at her in surprise. "I'm beginning to think you're a
psycho-obsessed fan," Conner teased.
Elizabeth looked up at him smiling. "Why did you do that? It's not your
style at all."
Conner looked at her. "If you couldn't tell, I'm crazy in love with you
and love makes you do stupid things."
Elizabeth looked at him softly. "What about Monique?"
"Monique is gone," Conner assured her. "I never really loved her. I
guess I just continued to date her because I knew I could never get too
close to her."
"And that's a bad thing?" Elizabeth said quietly.
"Not if it's with the right person," Conner said placing his hand on
her face. "I missed you so much, Liz. I should never have closed you out
of my life like that."
"I'm glad you went on the show," Elizabeth said snuggling up to him. "I
was going to leave tomorrow."
"What?" Conner said alarmed. "Why?"
"Because," Elizabeth sighed. "Even though Jessica and I made up, we're
still never going to be really close. I have a horrible job at the
newspaper. I write those stupid three sentence blurbs on community events
that are just putting in dates and places. And then I thought I had lost
you to some slut nurse."
"Nurse's assistant," Conner corrected and they both laughed.
They sat there for a moment just looking at each other. "So, Miss
Wakefield," Conner said putting a finger under her chin and raising it up.
"Are you going to stay?"
Elizabeth ran a finger over his chest. "I might need some convincing,
Mr. McDermott," she said huskily.
Conner grinned at her and caught her lips in a tender kiss.

"Lila, this has got to be the lamest thing you have ever made me do!"
Todd groaned.
Lila placed her hands on her hips, "Todd Wilkins!" she scolded. "If you
don't help then I won't kiss you until you do!"
"You'd do that?" Todd said with mock horror.
"Well…no," Lila admitted. "You know I can't keep my hands off you."
Todd grinned. "So I don't have to do it?"
Lila slapped him playfully on the arm. "I'm the boss and you listen to
me."
"Yes, ma'am," Todd said laughing. He grabbed her arm and pulled her to
him and kissed her.
"You dork," Lila moaned. "Jessica is going to be here any minute."
"We have a few minutes," Todd said nibbling at her ear.
A few minutes later the doorbell rang. Lila pulled herself away from
Todd and straightened her dress as she opened the door. "Jess!" Lila
exclaimed. "I'm so glad you could come."
Jessica looked at her confused. "We just saw each other yesterday."
"I know," Lila said smoothly. "But I got a great new shipment of
clothes from France that you must see!" Lila led Jessica up to her bedroom.
Todd stayed downstairs in the den and a few minutes after Jessica
arrived, the maid escorted in Ryan. "Hey man," Todd said greeting him.
Upstairs, Jessica was shocked to hear Ryan's voice coming from the
intercom. Lila smiled slyly. She had left the intercom on for her room and
the den.
Jessica listened as Todd and Ryan talked.
"So how are you doing?" Todd asked.
"Pretty bad," Ryan admitted. "I know I should be furious at Jessica for
what she did."
"She's really messed up," Todd confirmed. "I think she realizes that
it's you she really wants."
"I can't just forgive her, though. She cheated on me."
"I know," Todd said. "I can't even imagine what you're going through.
But wouldn't it make you happier knowing that you two could work through
this together?"
"Yeah," Ryan admitted. "But I don't know if we can work through this."
Todd cleared his throat.
Jessica was staring at the intercom, never breaking her gaze.
"Do you love her?" Jessica heard Todd ask and her heart seemed to stop
beating as she waited for Ryan's reply.
Ryan sighed. "Yes," he whispered. "I love her so much. That's why it
hurts so much."
Jessica could hardly breathe. She knew that Lila was looking at her
with knowing eyes.
She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. Finally she said
hoarsely, "Ryan."
She flew down the stairs and looked frantically through the rooms. Why
did Lila's house have to be so big?
Finally she found Ryan and Todd in the den.
"Ryan," she said again.
She saw that Ryan's face was full of pain and hurt. She felt terrible
knowing that she was the cause of Ryan's distress. Why did I cheat on
him if I was supposed to love him? She thought guiltily. She had cheated
on Jeremy. She had cheated on Ken Matthews, on A.J. Morgan, on nearly
every guy she had been with. She thought back to the one guy that she
had remained faithful to, Sam Woodruff. Jessica's felt tears well up in
here eyes, even almost six years after his tragic death.
After her relationship with Nick Fox had fell apart Jessica had thrown
herself into several flings. But when she met Ryan, that had changed
everything. She had been so lonely and so desperate for love that she had
given her whole self to Ryan. Ryan became her boyfriend, her friend,
and her brother all rolled into one. In a way, he had replaced the void
in her heart where Elizabeth had been. Todd glanced at the two of them
and quietly left the room.
"Ryan," Jessica said again. "I am so, so sorry. I never meant to hurt
you."
"Well you did," Ryan said bitterly.
"I miss you," she said quietly.
"Me too," he said gruffly. He sat down on the couch.
"Jeremy didn't mean anything to me," she said and sat down on his lap
and gazed into his eyes.
"I know," he said touching her hair.
Jessica placed her hands on shoulders. "You're the one I want," she
whispered. "The only guy I love."
Ryan smiled at her. "I know that, Jessie."
Jessica leaned in and kissed him. But Ryan quickly pulled back. "No,
Jessica." He stood up and pushed her away. "It's too soon."
Jessica felt tears form in here eyes. "What do I have to do?" she said
quietly.
"Just give me some more time," he said without looking at her.