Memories and Secrets

Alex had rushed up to Jo as soon as he got her call. He had been on his way to see Jesse when he was paged and so he still didn't know that his wife had been admitted. But if Jo was right, and she was now coming round, then it would have been a blessing in disguise that he had been delayed. He slowed to a walk as he rounded the corner onto Rae's hallway and moved down towards the door. Alex could see Jo standing waiting for him, and the guard who seemed to be reading something. Well that suited him just fine; he didn't want her in the room anyway.

"Doctor." Jo opened the door and they both entered. Alex pointedly shut the door behind him, but the guard, who was obviously not at all interested in Rae or her condition, didn't even lift her head.

Alex could see that Rae was beginning to stir, and so he sat on the chair next to her and began to speak. "Rae, Rae, it's Alex, if you can hear me, squeeze my hand." At first there was no response to his words, and so he tried again. "Rae, come on, Rae, open your eyes, it's all right, you're at Community General." This time his words seemed to get through and very slowly Rae began to open her eyes.

Rae had been aware of being in bed for a little while, she knew somehow that she wasn't awake, but she wasn't as deeply asleep as she had been. She was just drifting into the unpleasant world of her dreams when she heard a voice calling her, and she tried to move towards the sounds, but she couldn't. Once again the dreams began to beckon her, but this time as the voice began again she was able to use it as a lifeline and move closer to it. "What…? Where am I?" Rae thought that the voice had said that she was at Community General, but she knew that she must have still been dreaming, that couldn't be right.

"Rae, come on, Honey, you're at Community General, please, wake up." Alex took a firmer hold of her hand and hoped that his touch would help.

Rae felt the warmth of somebody's hand on hers, and realised that it was a pleasant sensation. Her world had been hard and cold for so long that it seemed to shake her into the waking world, and she opened her eyes properly and, as she got used to the light, to her delight she looked up into the faces of Alex and Texas. They saw the fear that replaced the happiness as Rae reacted to the sensation of something round her neck. She tried to move her hands up, but her face reflected the pain she felt and she made no further movements. "No, please, Alex, take it off, Take It Off!" Rae could feel the panic beginning to overwhelm her, and she couldn't get away from it. "Alex, help me, please."

"Shhh, Honey, don't say anythin' let us talk. Can you understand what I am sayin'?" Jo looked at her friend, and could see that she was struggling to keep calm.

"Texas, I can't..." Rae couldn't get any more words out. She tried to move to a little more comfortable position, but the wave of pain and the increased pressure on her throat stopped her.

Jo and Alex saw the pain as she tried to move, and then to their consternation her eyes filled with tears. "Rae, it's all right, you're safe here, for at least a week. I don't have any intention of sending you back to the jail infirmary until you are well on the mend."

"Where, send me where? Alex, where's Jesse?" Rae could feel the tears threatening to spill down her cheeks, and she knew that if she did cry it would hurt, a lot, so she tried not to let them fall.

"Rae, you're in pain I know, so just listen and then I will give you something for it, ok?" Alex watched as she just looked at him, and then he continued. "I know what happened to you, because your friendly resident guard, who, I'm afraid, is outside the door, told me all about it."

"What? Alex I don't understand." Rae had to stop talking. She was so close to complete panic that she shut her eyes to try to stop the room from spinning. "Help me, I don't understand."

"Rae, what is the last thing you remember?" Alex was getting increasingly worried, and he knew that he would have to sedate Rae again any minute, because he could see that she was having trouble remaining in control of her emotions.

Rae took a moment to answer and they could see that she was trying very hard to get a grip on herself. "A house, I was in a house, tied up, I heard voices … I couldn't move, I had something round my neck…" Rae stopped talking for a moment and shut her eyes. She felt a hand on top of her own and she continued. "There was a flash, a bright flash… then nothing… I was here just now."

Alex saw Jo move away, tears shining in her eyes. He tightened his fingers round Rae's hand, and found that it was now he who had to control his emotions.

"Rae, I want you to listen to me, really listen…" He saw another reaction cross Rae's face, sudden realisation of something awful.

"Jesse, Alex, Jesse isn't here because he's dead… and my baby, what about my baby, can you save it? Oh, God, Jesse." Just as the last time Rae had remembered Jesse's death, the tears poured down her face, but this time she could do nothing to stop them, and Alex, fighting tears himself leant over and took her other hand in his so that he was holding tightly to both of them.

"Rae, listen to me. You have some memories missing, but Jesse isn't dead Honey, and the next time you wake up I will make sure he is here so you can see him, but for now you need to rest. I am going to give you something for the pain, as I said, and then I want you to go to sleep. In the morning we will re-assess everything."

"But it said in the paper … he … he showed it to me." Rae paused for a minute as the reality of what Alex had said sank in. "Really, he really isn't dead?"

"No, Rae, he is fine, and I will get him here for you, but you have to rest, let your body heal, ok?"

Rae tried again to move her head to get away from the pressure that was round it. "Please Alex can you take this off me, please? I can't bear it, I can't get away from it, it's like the scarf, please, take it away." Rae's breathing began to become erratic, and Alex took a hold of her shoulders, but the look of pain in her face made him let got.

"Rae, concentrate on your breathing, slowly, in and out, you know you can do it." Alex watched as gradually Rae began to breath steadily again. "I can't take it off, because you need it on. Rae, I wouldn't have put it there if it weren't really necessary, you know that.  You have damaged your neck, at the back; it will keep you still until I can assess the injury again in the morning like I just said. As soon as I can I will get rid of it, I promise, but that's the best I can do. Rae, you will be asleep, you won't know it's there, and when you wake up, somebody will be here to make sure you don't panic too much, ok?"

"I, I guess so." Rae looked up at her two friends, it seemed only a few minutes since she had been alone in a dark room, now they were with her, and telling her that Jesse was all right, when she thought he was dead, and that she wouldn't go back… somewhere, she couldn't remember what Alex had said. "Texas?"

"Yes, Honey?" Jo had been standing silently watching her friend struggle with her demons, not really knowing how to help her.

"Why are you in a nurse's outfit?" Rae swallowed, and felt the pressure once again. She shut her eyes briefly and then looked at her friend.

"So I could be here when you woke up. No, don't you worry yourself none about that, you just let Alex send you off to sleep." Jo leant over and kissed Rae gently on the cheek, and was relieved when she was rewarded with a very slight smile.

Once Alex had sedated Rae he and Jo left the room. He spoke briefly to the guard to let her know that her prisoner had woken up, and was now sedated, and would be kept that way until the morning. He didn't offer any more details, his mind was swimming with what he had just witnessed, and he needed to get it straight himself first. Officer Bryant just nodded, before suddenly thinking of something to say. "I'll be relieved in about an hour, Officer Worrell will be taking over. I'll be back twelve hours later. The fun never ends in this job."

"Officer Bryant, how do you feel about your prisoner?"

"How do I feel about her? I don't feel any way about her, she is awaiting trial, and I am working, end of story."

"Ok, I just wondered." Alex went to move away, but was stopped by Officer Bryant speaking up again.

"Why, because she's a cop? I don't like dirty cops, if they break the law then they deserve all they get behind bars."

"An' if they are innocent?" Jo couldn't help but join in.

"Then they'll get over it. Life will go on for them on the outside, and I will carry on working, I don't have a problem with that." The prison guard looked back down at her magazine and Jo and Alex knew that the conversation was over.

Alex looked at Jo and shook his head. He headed off towards the elevator to go see Jesse, and then realised that Jo would have to stay there until he released her. "Ah, Nurse, I will need your assistance with my next patient, if you would follow me."

"Yes, Doctor." Jo looked a little worried as she stepped into the elevator, and Alex smiled.

"Relax, I'm going to see Jesse, and I thought you would want to come with me. We have a lot to tell him, and I would like you to help me out."

"Oh, that's ok then, I thought you meant it!" Jo let out a sigh of relief, but then her face grew serious again. "Alex, Rae will be all right with that guard won't she? She had a jail full of them an' ended up here."

"Yeah, I think so. She's worried about doing her job, so she won't let anything more happen to Rae, and you have to remember, there were an awful lot of prisoners around when Rae was attacked, they would have to weigh up the situation and the safety of others before wading into break up a fight, as she so obviously wanted to make clear, she was just doing her job."

The elevator pinged, and Jo and Alex got out and walked along the hallway towards Jesse's room. They could see him through the open door, and he seemed to be asleep. Alex knocked on the door and Jesse opened his eyes and looked towards the noise. "Oh, hi guys, come in … Jo, why are you wearing a nurse's uniform?"

"It's a long story, an' we have come to let you know about it. Jesse, Honey, it concerns Rae, she is in the hospital."

"What, where, can I go see her? Alex, you must let me see her."

"Ok, Jesse, just slow down here. Rae is asleep; I have just sedated her, so she won't even know you are there. I was going to tell you, slowly, but I will just fill you in on the details now." Alex looked over at Jo and saw that she was upset by what she had done.

"Sorry, Jess, guess I'm not cut out to be a nurse after all." Jo felt awful about the reaction her words had got from Jesse.

Gradually Alex told Jesse all that had happened to Rae. As he told his friend about the injuries she had received, he could see that he was getting anxious. He told him that Rae was in cervical traction, but he only said what he had told everybody else, that she had been kicked in the back of the head. He took a deep breath; he knew that Jesse's anxiety was about to get worse. "Jesse, Rae doesn't remember anything that has happened since she was left in Levington's basement after he was arrested. She thinks that she is here because she was rescued from there… She thought you were dead, Jess."

"Oh, God, Alex…" Jesse couldn't begin to process what Alex had just told him. "Nothing, nothing at all, why?"

"At the moment, off the top of my head, all I can think is that because she's had a serious head injury in the past this has caused her partial amnesia. Jess, you know that the brain is such a complex organ that we understand only a minute part of its functions."

"And she may never remember?" Jesse knew the answer, he didn't really need to see Alex nod silently, but as he did he felt his heart sink and he began to realise all that Rae had forgotten.

"Eliana, she won't know she has a baby, or that we are married, our house, or the fact that she was in jail. My God, Alex if that all comes back at once it could destroy her."

"Jesse, I know that, and Jo has been sitting with her, pretending to be a nurse, so that there was a friendly face there with her all the time. She shouldn't wake up again now until the morning, and we will both be there then, and so will you. I promised her that when she woke up you would be with her."

"Thank you, Alex, especially for getting Jo in to be with her, I don't think I would have thought of that, I really appreciate it, and I know Rae will too… one day, I hope.

"What did the x-ray show? You have her in cervical traction, and if she was kicked it could have caused a lot of damage to the muscles at the back of her neck." Jesse felt the doctor within him moving forward once again.

"Jesse, nobody else asked me that, I wish you hadn't either. The truth is…" Alex stopped talking for a moment. He had managed to keep the information to himself, but Jesse was more than a doctor, he was Rae's husband, and he deserved to know. "I think she has damage to the muscles at the back of her neck and possibly the vertebrae too. She seems to swell up so much when she is injured, that I couldn't be sure, but I have her in a neck brace and when I check her knees tomorrow I am going to take her for an MRI."

They talked for a little while longer, and then Alex checked his watch and was surprised to see that it was a little after six in the evening and his shift had ended an hour ago. "Jesse, I'm sorry, but I have to run, I have my date with the five nurses tonight. Much as I would rather spend the evening with you, I have to go."

"Hey, I don't want to stop you from being stud of the month, you go on, I'll be fine here, I will sleep and if I can't do that then I will think about what we learnt last night again. Jo, you go too, I'm sure Mark would be glad of your company, and I really am tired." He didn't add that he needed to come to terms with what he had just been told, but Alex and Jo knew that he would be thinking about that more than anything else.

"Ok, if you're sure, I'll come and see you in the mornin' you make sure you get that sleep now." Jo leant over and kissed him gently on the cheek, and then they hugged.

"Thank you, Jo, for helping Rae, thank you so much."

"Honey, it was my pleasure, I'm just glad I recognised the signs an' had Alex there when she started comin' round. Now, sleep, y'hear?"

"Mmm, yes, mom." Jesse winked at Jo, but she could see that he really was very tired and worried, and she guessed that if they had arrived five minutes later than they actually had to tell him about Rae, they would have found him fast asleep.

Alex made sure that his journey to the parking lot took in Rae's hallway and he just put his head round the door for a moment. She was lying perfectly still and, under the influence of the sedative, was for now at peace with herself and the world around her. The guard on the door was Officer Worrell and Alex introduced himself.

"Hi, I'm Doctor Martin, I'm Mrs Travis's physician."

"So?"

Alex realised that he was getting mighty fed up with the antagonism that he was getting second hand through Rae. For a minute he was glad that she couldn't remember any of it, but he knew that if her memory did come back she would have trouble coping with the hostility that her position was creating for herself and her friends.

"So, I thought I would say hello, you know be friendly, introduce myself, so you knew who was going in and out of the room."

"Doctor…" the guard paused for a second "Martin, I don't care who goes and sees her, you can bring the whole nursing staff and set them up in lines around her bed, it makes no difference to me. I will do twelve hours and then go home, twelve hours later I will come back. It's a job, and she's a dirty cop, as long as she doesn't try to escape then you just do what you want. By the look of it she won't be escaping from anywhere for a long time."

Alex felt his anger rise, and he handed the guard the list of nurses who would be treating Rae, then he turned and walked away without another word. He didn't stop until he arrived at his car, he got in it and slammed the door so hard that the air freshener fell of the dashboard and smashed against the handbrake. "Oh, great, now I get to go out smelling of …" he picked up the cardboard container and read it. "Alpine Mist." Alex pulled out into the traffic and headed towards his apartment all the windows as wide open as he dared, determined to shake off his black mood and at least look like he was enjoying his evening.

Jo had gone down to the cafeteria and got herself something to eat, and then before she headed for home herself she had decided to go and sit with Rae for a little while. The guard on the door looked up as Jo told her who she was, but didn't say a word. Jo shook her head and went into the room. Rae was lying completely still, which was to be expected, and Jo could see that the cervical traction device was pulled up and over the bed head. Alex had explained to her that it was only used when a patient was asleep, but that as Rae would be sedated most of the time, because of her fear of having things round her neck, she would be able to have it on for about a week before she needed to be fitted with something different.

Jo sat down and gently placed her hand over Rae's. It hadn't been until Jesse had begun to talk about what Rae couldn't remember that she had realised just how much had happened since Levington had been arrested. There had been a lot of traumatic times, there always was where Rae was concerned, but they had shared so many happy times too, and for Rae to have no memory of them was just awful.

It was just after eight before Alex arrived outside the nightclub. As he parked his car he could see the word Secrets lighting up the night sky. He got his ID and wallet out of his pocket and was about to go in when he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned round to see one of the nurses standing there. He felt the colour leave his face as he realised he couldn't remember her name.

"Doctor Martin, the others are inside, but as you are paying for this evening, and there is an entrance fee, I thought I would wait and let you take care of me as well."

Alex sighed. "Ok, that's not a problem… Miss?"

"Louise, my name is Louise."

Alex looked over at the doorman, paid him and then he and Louise entered the nightclub. He looked around and saw four ladies sitting at a table over to the left side of the club and he and one fifth of his date headed over to them. As they got closer he could see the flowers he had ordered sitting on the table. He indicated to Louise to sit and then he pulled a chair up so that he was next to Shannon. Ladies, I'm sorry that you had to pay to get in here tonight; I hope that the flowers will make up for it."

He saw Louise looking across the table at him, and he could see that she looked a little embarrassed, but he knew that it was her own fault, and if he was honest he just didn't like the girl. He was annoyed that she had spoilt the surprise and would now get the flowers and not have to pay her entrance fee, but he knew that he couldn't say anything about it. The music began to play and he looked at his companions. "Would one of you ladies like to dance?" He felt his heart sink as Louise stood up.

"We drew lots, I'm first." She moved over to stand next to Alex and held her hand out to him. He took it and they went out on to the dance floor together. With his back to the rest of the ladies, he didn't see the looks that passed between them; they were a cross between disgust and pity.

As they moved on to the dance floor Louise looked at the handsome young man next to her. "I guess I owe you an apology, huh? About the entrance fee I mean."

"It doesn't matter, but your friends may need an explanation. Did they know why you were waiting outside?" Alex saw the nurse nod her head, and then he decided that dancing would be better than talking, and so he didn't reply.

It was five minutes before Alex and Louise rejoined the group, and he seriously needed a drink. He indicated for a waiter, and was glad that this was the type of club where he didn't have to go get the drinks himself.

"Yes, Sir?"

"We would like some drinks, ladies?" It was no surprise to him when Louise went to speak first and he cut in determined to stay in charge of the situation. "Shannon, what would you like?"

"Um, would it be too much to suggest a bottle of champagne between us?" Shannon looked round and saw her friends nod their agreement.

"No, that's fine." Alex looked back at the waiter. "I don't think I can afford Dom Perignon, but something nice." Alex looked up and hoped that he would be able to eat for the rest of the month.

"Ooh, lovely, champagne and flowers, I knew that this was going to be a great evening."

Alex smiled, "Thank you… Katie?"

"Yep, that's me. I guess we should be wearing name tags."

Alex watched as the waiter headed back towards the bar and then he turned back to his companions. "Shannon, would you like to dance?"

"Yes please, that would be lovely." She stood up, and Alex could see that she was wearing a midnight blue evening dress, perfectly straight and plain, except it was covered with tiny glittering sequins, which sparkled as she walked. Her long black hair was no longer kept up in a braid and hung in shiny bouncy curls down her back with the sides held up in a diamante clip.

As they walked out onto the dance floor the music slowed right down, and feeling a little embarrassed Alex took her into his arms. They had been dancing together for about a minute when Shannon began to talk. "Doctor Martin, I'm so sorry about Louise, we... well, we hadn't planned for her to be one of the five, but she kinda elbowed her way in."

Alex was no longer feeling embarrassed by the closeness of his dance partner, and he smiled as she spoke. "Alex, please, and I must admit, she doesn't seem to fit in with your group."

"I don't think she fits in with any group… Sorry, I don't like to sound nasty, I guess she's lonely, and I don't think that she does this type of thing very often, she doesn't seem to know how to behave in a group."

Alex moved his arms slightly and Shannon found herself a little closer to him. She smiled; it was a place she hoped she would be again real soon.

The music ended a couple of minutes later, and they made their way back to the group. As they sat down the waiter brought the champagne over in an ice bucket and handed the bill to Alex. He looked at it with trepidation, but found that it wasn't as bad as he had feared. "Excuse me a moment." Alex stood up and moved away from the table. He didn't want his companions see him pay, somehow it didn't seem right.

"There you go, you can keep the change." Alex handed over the bills and smiled at the young man in front of him.

"Thank you, Sir."

As the evening progressed the conversation around the table began to flow, and Alex found to his surprise that he was enjoying himself. He could see that Louise was indeed an outsider and he tried many times to bring her into the conversation, but she didn't seem to be able to join in for very long before descending back into silence. He danced with all of the nurses, twice each at least, and then he checked his watch and was surprised to see that it was after midnight.

"Ladies, I'm real sorry, but I have an early shift tomorrow, so I will have to be going in a little while." He took a deep breath, and hoping that he wouldn't be rebuffed, and that he wouldn't embarrass her he looked over at Shannon. "Do you think we could have one last dance?"

"That would be lovely."

"Do you want to sort out about taxis? I'll pay for them, but maybe you could share?" Alex smiled. It hadn't been too expensive, but he had no idea where the nurses all lived, and he knew he could blow a week's money just on their journeys home.

The music was slow again as they reached the dance floor, by this time in the evening most of the music was that way. This time as Alex took Shannon into his arms, he felt no embarrassment at all, and they danced close to each other without saying anything for the whole of the song, and as the music died away, Alex felt for Shannon's hand and they walked back to the table together.

Katie and Mary already had their coats on, and Louise and Nadine were just being handed theirs. "We've ordered cabs, Louise and Katie live in the same part of town, and Mary and I aren't that far apart, Shannon what about you, which cab will go closest to your place?" Nadine looked over at her friend, and could tell that at least one of them had been a hit with their date.

"Oh, that's ok, I go right past where Shannon lives, and I can take her myself." Alex tried not to blush as he spoke, and hoped that what he said was true, because he really did have an early start. Alex was reassured as he felt her squeeze his hand slightly.

"Thank you." Shannon smiled shyly at her companion, delighted at what he had just said.

The waiter came back over and spoke quietly to Alex. The five ladies saw him hand over some more money and then turn to them. "The two cabs are waiting outside. I guess I'll see you at the hospital tomorrow. Thank you for a great evening, I've really enjoyed myself, I hope you have too."

"Oh we have, some of us more than others." It was Katie who spoke, and she smiled across at Shannon as she did so. "Thank you Alex, it was fun wasn't it? Maybe we can do it again, but next time we can all pay, and bring our boyfriends along."

Alex felt his heart sink, he hadn't thought about them having boyfriends, well not Shannon anyway. Mary came over and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you, we all knew you would treat us to a wonderful night, and we were right." She and Nadine headed over towards the exit, Nadine hugging Alex as she moved past; they disappeared from sight waving over their shoulders as they went.

Katie moved over and kissed Alex as well, "It was just fabulous, thank you, Alex, and I would love to do it again." Katie turned to Louise, "Come on then, Lou, let's go, you have an early shift tomorrow too, don't you?"

"Yeah, goodnight, see you on the wards." Louise did the buttons up on her coat as she moved over and joined Katie, and then they too disappeared out into the night.

Alex sat back down, and pulled Shannon down onto the seat beside him. "Did you have a nice time?" Suddenly it was important that she above all the others had enjoyed herself.

"Oh, yeah, it was great. Thank you Alex, I hope you weren't too bored."

"Hey, you were here, how could I be bored. Oh, sorry maybe I shouldn't have said that." Alex could see she was shocked at his words.

"No, that's ok, I'm glad you feel like that, but I guess we had better be going hadn't we?"

"Well, maybe we could have just one more dance first?" Alex saw Shannon smile, and he pulled her to her feet and then went back out to join the other couples on the dance floor. This time they didn't come back after the song finished, they stayed for another three dances before Alex realised that it was almost one in the morning and he really needed to get home. "Shannon, I really have to go, I guess you had better let me know where I am dropping you first hadn't I?"

"Ok, I start at lunch time, so I need to get home too, beside my Mom will be waiting up for me. I live just the other side of Venice Beach… what?" Shannon could see Alex smiling at her.

"Then I really do live in the same direction as you. Madam, your carriage awaits." Alex took Shannon's arm and they headed over to get her coat, then they walked in companionable silence out to his car. He opened the door and Shannon sat in the passenger seat and then he went round, got in and started the engine.

"Wow, you really like pine don't you?"

Alex could see that she had opened her window a little, and he had to smile. "Yeah, sorry, I broke the air freshener when I got in the car at the hospital today. This is way better than it was then."

"Well it is still making my eyes water… Alex, I'm gonna have to take them out, I'm sorry, can you just hold on a minute?"

"Your eyes?" Alex wasn't sure, but he thought that was what she had said.

"Yeah, my eyes, I wear contacts."

"Oh, right, no problem." Alex cut the engine, and turned on the light, he watched as she took 'her eyes' out and then he started the engine again and joined the light late night traffic. The next time he looked over at her Shannon was wearing a pair of small, metal-rimmed glasses. "Hey, you look really different with your glasses on."

"I know, terrible aren't they?" Shannon grimaced, she hated wearing them, and she just knew that Alex wouldn't like them either, oh well; it had been fun while it lasted.

"I think they look good on you." He smiled, and then turning his concentration back to the road didn't see the relieved smile that crossed her face.

They drew up twenty minutes later outside a small neat house about ten minutes from Alex's own apartment. He could see a light on in one of the downstairs rooms, and was glad that Shannon had someone who cared enough to wait up for her. He turned and began to speak.

"Shannon, I've had a great time, I would like to do it again, just you and me, but Katie said you all have boyfriends, so I guess that isn't possible."

"No, Katie said we could do it again with our boyfriends. She and Nadine are both in steady relationships, and Mary has had an on off friendship with a guy named Dan for about two years, Louise is still getting over some kooky guy she used to date, but me, I'm footloose and fancy free, and I would just love to go out with you again."

Alex felt his heart soar this time, as he listened to her words, and he got out of the car to go and open her door with a huge grin on his face. Shannon got out of her seat with an equally broad grin, and looked up at Alex. He was just a little bit taller than she was with her high heels on. She saw him move in a little closer, and then closed her eyes as she felt his lips on hers.

"Mmm, how about tomorrow night? I am meeting up with some friends, because we are trying to help another friend who is in trouble, but I can get away about nine, maybe we could meet up then?"

"Ok, where do you want to meet?" Shannon was delighted that he wanted to go out with her again so soon.

"I'll be in Beverley Hills, so I'll leave and come pick you up."

"I could get a cab over and then we could go somewhere from there, what do you say?"

"I'll check with Jo, that's whose house it is, and I'll let you know tomorrow."

"That will be fine." Shannon had the flowers in one hand but she took hold of Alex's hand with the other and together they walked up the path to her front door. As they got there, Shannon took a deep breath and gently pulled him back down towards her and this time she began to kiss him. They both froze as the front door opened, and Alex pulled hastily away and looked straight into the face of a slightly older version of Shannon.

"Hi, I'm Debbie, Shannon's mom. Thank you for bringing her home, at least I presume you're the young man she went with, otherwise she has gotten to know the cab driver real quick."

"Mom!" Shannon felt herself turning red, and glared at her mother.

"Hi, yes, I'm Alex Martin, and it was no trouble bringing your daughter home, no trouble at all." Alex held his hand out to Shannon's mom and was relieved when she shook it gently and let it fall. Debbie smiled at him and then turned back towards her daughter. "I guess I'm in the way then, aren't I?" with a smile she took Shannon's flowers from her went back into the house and closed the door.

"Moms, who'd have them? I'm still getting used to her being around. She didn't want to be a bother, but I knew she was lonely after my dad died, and so I came home. I guess I'm a bit old to be living with Mom, but for a while I think she needs me." Shannon wasn't sure why she felt she needed to explain, except maybe that she really liked the young man in front of her, and wanted him to know a little more about her.

"Hey, it's not a problem, and believe me it's not as rare as you think." Alex thought about Steve and Mark. "I have a friend who shares a house with his dad, and … well he is way older than we are."

She smiled then and took his hand. "Alex, I had a great time, thank you again."

"Hey, I had a great time, too, and now we have tomorrow to look forward to." Alex moved in to kiss her again, once he had checked that he couldn't see Debbie anywhere. It was ten minutes before he walked back down the path to his car, and the smile on his face stayed with him all the way back to his apartment block.