***Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They belong to Brenda Hampton and Aaron Spelling.

Clean Slate

In Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, there is a knock at the door of the condo recently rented by Mary Camden. Its 2:30 in the afternoon, and she is upset that someone is brothering her on her first day off in over 5 weeks. She wonders who it could be, seeing as she only gave her address to Robbie, and gave him strict instructions that it should only be used to write to her.

They knock once more, and Mary scrambles to answer the door. "Just a second!" Without even thinking, she checks herself in the mirror, running her fingers through her hair, before she reaches for the doorknob. The person on the other end can hear her fiddling with the lock, before the door finally swings open.

"Hey Mary."

"Wilson?! Oh my gosh! Uh, what are you doing here? How did you find me?"

"Well, I called your house and begged your father for the address."

"Wow. Why? Oh, I'm so sorry, where are my manners? Please, come inside." She says to him, her heart beating faster and faster.

Mary is astonished that the mere sight of Wilson's sexy body still makes her weak in the knees. She also couldn't help but notice that Wilson had suitcases with him. Great, just great. This place is a mess. And what if he plans on staying? All I have in here is a kitchen table, T.V., and one bed. I don't even have a couch!

As Mary curses herself for not buying the futon she saw on sale at the furniture store a week and a half ago, she and Wilson sit down at her kitchen the table on the only chairs in the whole place.

"Wait a minute, where's Billy? Or better yet, why isn't Billy with you?"

"That's kind of a long story. Let me start from the beginning."

"Ok." Mary says apprehensively. She did not like the sound in his voice. It made her uneasy. That was because not only was it a tone of annoyance, it was one of fearfulness. She had never seen Wilson frightened; not once in all the six years she had known him. He was always the strong one, levelheaded, never making a big deal over anything. Mary got the feeling that this was a big deal.

Wilson shakes his head in shame. "My whole life has fallen apart, literally crumbled around me. And now that I think of it, it all started with you."

"Me?"

"I never should have let you slip away."

"What about Corey?"

"Corey and I were never meant to be together. We got together out of common misfortunes, not love."

Mary gives him a sympathetic look.

"Everything's such a mess from when I last saw you. First I lost you, then my job, and now Billy."

Mary is confused. "What do you mean you lost Billy?"

"Well Brittany's parents found out somehow that I had lost my job. They came over one day, unannounced, to see if Billy wanted to go back with them to their house, without me. He didn't want to, and I didn't want him to either. I mean, I'm not opposed to him knowing them, but not like that, not under those circumstances."

Mary nods.

"Well when I asked them about maybe rescheduling or something, they started mumbling some stuff about me not being able to provide for Billy and their "grandparental" rights. Next thing I knew, I got a letter in the mail form their lawyer saying that Billy has to spend time with them, that they are entitled to some sort of custody."

"My gosh!"

"Of course I refused, because they were being ridiculous, and Billy said he didn't want to see them either. They ended up taking me to court, and now they have Billy for 7 and a half months." Wilson's eyes begin to fill up with tears.

Mary has never seen him act like this before, not even during their many talks about Billy's mother, Brittany. "Wow. But you can't just let them do that. You're going to try and get him back, aren't you?"

"I've talked to two lawyers, and they both say that there's nothing I can do."

"Well, uh, maybe I can call my dad. He should be able to do something."

"Didn't your father just have open heart surgery?"

"Oh yeah, that's right. So maybe he won't be able to help. Um, I can help. I'll do anything I can."

"Thanks, but I really don't think there is anything you can do for me."

"Oh, um, ok." Mary says sounding defeated. "So besides all of that, why are you here? What are you doing in Florida?"

"I called my old company, and they told me that might have work for me here, so I came down."

"Oh."

"But…"

"But?"

"I don't really have a place to stay. And I was hoping, if it wouldn't be to weird for you…"

Mary thinks this over for a second. It would be a little uncomfortable, to say the least, but something inside of her doesn't want Wilson to leave. "Of course you can stay here. How could I say no to you?"

"Thanks, I knew I could count on you."

"Well, we go way back." Mary pauses for a second, and then continues hesitantly. "There's kind of a little problem."

"What?"

"Well, I only have one bed."

"I figured that. The couch, anything, would be fine. If I'm putting you out I guess I could go to a motel."

"You're not. It's just that, well, the chair's we're sitting in are it."

"Oh." Wilson says, slightly disappointed.

Mary thinks for a while. She is aware of the only option, but is reluctantly to suggest it to Wilson. She decides to mention it anyways, hoping it would help her "feel him out".  "Well, um, I do have a queen sized bed."

"What are you implying?" Wilson asks, secretly excited.

"We are adults. We could share the bed…"

"We could…"

They both laugh at themselves.

"Its only 2:45." Mary says. "We have some time to think about it."

The two of them talk for a while, steering clear of the topic of relationships.  Before they know it, it is 6 o'clock, and they both are starting to get hungry.

"Well, I don't really have much food. We could go get a pizza, my treat."

"Sounds good to me," Wilson replies. "Thanks."

"It's the least I could do. I mean, you've been through so much."

"What do you mean the least you can do? You're letting me stay with you for a little while, and you don't owe me anything."