Tom could barely contain himself as he fumbled his keys into the lock. They would be so proud of him (they would have to be!). He quietly slipped inside the house, careful not to alert those who might be inside of his presence as he moved through the halls. He crept around the corner to see Amy sitting at Genevieve's feet. It was such a lovely scene. Tom was pleased that Amy and Genevieve got along so well. It would only make any transitions much easier . . . if one happened to pop up down the line. Then again, it would be a long while before anything popped up. His time would be spread extremely thin from here on out.

Genevieve caught a small glimpse of Tom's shoe from around the corner. "Okay," she said cautiously. "Do you really want to sneak up on us? Let this be a warning: I've been teaching Amy my self-defense moves, and if need be, she will be forced to do her damage."

Tom slunk out from behind his hiding place to be greeted by Amy's open arms. He could tell that something was wrong with her when he picked her up. Over the last few months, she seemed to be growing weaker. He hated to think that anything was wrong with her. Genevieve, who had a secretarial job at Windcliff, had taken Amy to visit one of the doctors. "What do they do at Windcliff?" he had asked Genevieve.

"Oh, they do lots of things. They treat any ailment you can catch. Mental problems often manifest in physical symptoms, you know? If anything's wrong with lil miss, they'll find it."

Tom didn't know what to think of that, but he trusted Genevieve enough to take her word on the Windcliff gospel. He had allowed her to take Amy to visit with the doctor. Unfortunately, the doctor couldn't come up with any reason for her sickness. She hypothesized that the girl might be reacting to the severe amounts of stress she had been facing over the last few years, but she didn't seem to take this theory seriously. It had been suggested to Tom that Amy be put into Windcliff on an in-patient basis. Both Tom and Genevieve shot that idea down immediately. Neither saw Amy as being that ill and both decided that the best they could do for her was to care for her in her own home. "How where you today, kid?"

"I was okay, Tom," sighed Amy. "Just a little tired."

"Sorry to hear that, hon. You'll be better tomorrow." He looked up to Genevieve and asked, "How are you?"

"Fine I suppose. What's with you? You don't usually ask about such things."

"Today's as good as any for that to change."

Genevieve shrugged. "Okay, I can play this game too. How was your day?"

"So glad you asked." Tom sat down in front of Genevieve. Amy sat down between his crossed legs and pulled his arms around her, sinking her head into the comfort of his warm winter coat. This had been the closest thing to a family moment that Tom had experienced in a long time. He didn't want to moment to pass, although he figured that it would very quickly. "I had an odd job today."

"Where do you go? Oz?"

"Very funny, Gene. No, I was at Collinwood."

"Really? How did that happen?" asked Genevieve.

Tom waited for Genevieve to slip to the floor before he continued his anecdote. She sat in front of him, bracing her back against the sturdy recliner and folding her hands into her lap. She looked ready, if not mildly interested. "Um, there was some major wiring problems going on at Collinwood today. Since they had no one to help on hand, they were forced to call in on someone."

"Figures," snapped Genevieve. "Be it fix their lights or kill off their enemies, the Collinses are hopeless without Matthew Morgan. Go on . . . "

"Thank you. Well, Mrs. Stoddard called Garringer and he sent Darren Morgan and I out there to fix things up. As always, Darren found a million reasons not to do his work, leaving me there to fix the entire damn mess."

"Morgan really should be fired. You work your fingers to the bone while that idiot sits around fattening his royal largeness on whatever is in the icebox. You should say something about that."

Tom shook his head, careful to keep the smile that threatened to emerge from overtaking his face. "No need," he insisted shyly. "Morgan is already kicking himself. You see, Mrs. Elizabeth Stoddard herself took notice that I was doing my job without complaint. Once I was done, I went in to see her and she raved me for a few seconds. She briefly told me that the family had been without a general maintenance man for quite awhile and asked if I might be interested in taking on some of those responsibilities at Collinwood."

"Some of those responsibilities? Why not all?" asked Genevieve.

"She's got a man working the grounds and fixing the cars, but this guy can't make his way around the house to save his life," explained Tom.

Genevieve wrinkled her nose, staring down into her hands as she contemplated what he had told her. When she looked up, Tom could see the thin red lines beginning to creep into the whites of her eyes. "Um . . . if you're working for the Collins' now, will you still be working with Garringer?"

"Yeah . . . the Collins thing isn't full time, although it pays VERY well. I've still got to work with Garringer to make ends meet."

"Oh," whispered Genevieve vaguely. "So you'll be working more hours than you are right now?"

"Not every day, but I will average more hours a week than I do now."

Amy looked up at Tom and said, "You're not going to be around the house as much as you are now. What's wrong? Do you not like us anymore?"

"That's not so, honey. I love you so much that I want you to have a comfortable life. I just want to make it easier on us in the long run. Do you understand?" Amy begrudgingly nodded her head. "Good, now if I'm reading the clock right, it looks like it's someone's bed time."

Amy groaned as she wrapped her arms around her brother's neck. "Do I have to, Tom?" she asked as he carried her to her room.

"Yep. You know that you have school tomorrow and . . . "

"Another doctor's appointment. ICK! I don't want to go back to the doctor."

"But you've got to," insisted Tom. "Once you get better, you never have to go to another doctor again."

"Really!"

"Well, you may have to go to doctor once more, but that will be a long time from now. Can you deal with that?" asked Tom.

Amy thought about it a moment before mumbling, "I'll manage."

Tom tucked Amy in for the night. She seemed to take the news well. He had hoped she would have been more ecstatic, but he could deal with her reaction. She's only a child; his priorities and hers would not always match up. Genevieve's response, however, had been disheartening. She should have understood his excitement. What was her problem?

Tom caught Genevieve before she walked out the door. She was going to leave without saying goodbye. "Bye, Gene. It was a pleasure to be with you too."

Genevieve stopped quickly and shut the door. When she turned to face him, Tom could see the dried tear tributaries that lined her face. She fell back into the door, letting it buffer her body as she slid to the floor. While pulling her knees to her chest, she murmured, "I think Amy was right."

"Right about what?" asked Tom.

"Right about you not wanting to be around certain people. I mean, why would you take a job that you didn't need? It'll kind of take up all your free time, you know?"

"God Gene, why does it have to be like this? I'm not taking this job for any reason other than money. I know I don't need the money, but I want to have it tucked away," explained Tom. "I don't want to stay in Collinsport for the rest of my life. I want to take that money and move away, to get far from this hell hole."

"And leave me behind?" asked Genevieve. "You don't seem to have factored me into your great plan." She leapt to her feet and slowly began to approach Tom. "I've done so much for you. I'm like your surrogate mother/wife. And how do you think I'd feel about having to give up Amy. I love her as if she was my own. Tom, I love you and I can't believe that you think so little of me that you'd leave me to the side."

"But that was never my intention! If I was going to go, you better believe that I wouldn't leave without you. I don't know what I'd do with myself if you weren't with me."

"Do you me . . . mean that?" Tom nodded. Genevieve muffled a sharp yelp into her palm before running into Tom's arms. "Oh God, I should have known better. I'm such a dunce sometimes."

"You're just tired," whispered Tom. "You do so much for me and I never really acknowledge it"

"As I said, it's just like I'm your wife or something. You know, this will be the first night I go home in about two weeks. I'm sure my mother has already leased my room out to some ne'er do well border."

"I don't see why you bother going home," said Tom. "You know you always have a place to stay here."

"As much as I'd like to live in your bed, I don't think that's an option," sighed Genevieve.

"And why not?"

"Well, for one thing, we're not married."

"What difference does that make?"

"People will talk behind our backs if we just live together."

Tom couldn't help but stare incredulously at her for a moment. "But they're already talking about us, Gene. As you said, you've not slept at home for the past two weeks and this is far from the first time something like this has happened."

"It's not the same," insisted Genevieve as she pulled out of his grasp.

"Oh, I see how it is! It's okay for us to sleep together and occasionally spend the whole night with one another, but it turns into sin once we officially set up house."

"That's not what I was trying to say."

"Then what were you trying to say? I sure as hell can't get it!"

Genevieve shook her head dolefully as she stood by the door. "And now we're back where we started . . . only our roles are reversed."

"Yeah," mumbled Tom. "I'm sorry."

"So am I." Genevieve paced the floor before saying, "We're not going to get anything settled tonight."

"No we're not." Tom walked up to Genevieve and planted a chaste kiss on her forehead. "You go home and think about it. I don't want to pressure you into anything."

"I know you don't, Tom. I just don't know what to think."

"Then you need to go home and decide. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Tom waited until Genevieve had driven out of the driveway to slip back into the house. He could understand her reservations. Collinsport was a small provincial town and what he had asked of her would not be well received. He wanted to be with Genevieve as much as possible, but he didn't want to ruin her reputation in the process. This all would have been easier if he were ready to marry.

Tom was about to head to his own room when he heard someone knock at the door. It was Genevieve. "What is it?"

"I left something here," she whispered.

"What?"

Genevieve smiled and took his face into her hands. "I left my heart." Genevieve kept a straight face for almost half a minute before bursting into sweet giggles. "I'm sorry to be so cheesy but that's the only thing I could think to say. I drove around 15 minutes and that was all that was in my head. It's pathetic."

"Not pathetic," insisted Tom, "but . . . um . . . "

"Weak?"

"Well meaning." Tom kissed her forehead and asked, "You can't have made up your mind?"

"Hmm . . . I'll stay here tonight and then . . . then we'll pick up my junk from my mom's house throughout this week."

"What's brought on this change of heart?" asked Tom.

"Mom and Carl lived together for years," replied Genevieve. "Besides, I'm almost 21. It's about time to leave the roost."

"Are you sure? I don't want you to do anything you'll regret."

Genevieve placed her finger over his lips and smiled. "I'm sure I won't regret it. I know that all will end up right."

"It already has."

The two of them ran over Tom's room, ripping off their clothes the moment the door closed. They made love, careful to keep the sound down so as not to wake Amy. Once they were done, they lied entangled in one another's arms, occasionally talking although both knew that there was no real need to do so.

"We won't get married in Collinsport, will we?" asked Genevieve wistfully.

"I've not even proposed yet and you're talking about marriage," sighed Tom. "And no we won't be married in Collinsport!"

"I want it to be at the sea, the entire thing. I don't want the confines of a chapel to close in on us."

"Last time I checked, we were living very close to the sea."

"Okay, I want the sea but I don't want Maine," revised Genevieve quickly. She moved in closer to Tom, nearly pulling herself on top of his body so that she would be looking down into his eyes. "I want to go somewhere less dreary. I want to go south or maybe to the West Coast. I want to go where the sun shines, where you can taste the salt in the ocean rising in the air. I want a tan, dammit."

"You've got this all figured out, don't you?" Genevieve nodded deviously. Tom could only laugh at her. He pulled her closer to him, this time pressing her body into his and diverting her intense stare from him. "See, it's a good thing I got this extra job. I've barely started and you've already got every dime spent."

"You don't mind do you?"

"I don't care. I couldn't spend it."