Disclaimer-Passions is not mine

I Know You, And That's What Matters

Fox walked to Theresa room and knocked softly on the door. Inside, he could hear Little Ethan crying.

"Go away!" Theresa yelled from the inside.

"Theresa, it's me, Fox" Fox said loudly against the door. "Let me in."

"Go away."

"Come on, Theresa, please let me in."

She was quiet for a few moments.

"Theresa? I'm coming in." Fox opened the door.

Theresa's head was turned away. In his crib next to her bed, Little Ethan was wailing and thrashing.

"Theresa? What's wrong?"

Theresa turned her head to him and he could see tears filling her eyes and falling off her face, wet tissues bunched in her hand. "I don't KNOW!! Something's wrong!" Her hands shook as she trembled. "I'm his mother, and I don't know what I can do for him!"

"Hey, hey! Calm down!" Fox went forward and grabbed her, pulling her against him, and letting her sob into his chest.

"I can't do anything!" Theresa yelled, her voice muffled by his shirt.

Fox wrapped his arms around her and held her to him. God help anyone who tried to hurt her now.

"Do you think I'll ever have my memories back?"

After Theresa had calmed down, Fox had sent for Phyllis to take care of Little Ethan. Fox was now sitting on her bed. Theresa was lying on the bed, her head on his lap, and he was stroking her hair.

"Yes. Antonio remembers, and I'm sure you will, too."

(A/N: Antonio has come out of his coma, just like the 2/25/03 episode. OK, back to Theresa and Fox sharing a moment…)

"But what if I don't? What if I never regain my memories?"

"The old Theresa would have said that fate would bring them back."

"Well, the old Theresa is gone. The new Theresa thinks that fate has nothing to do with it. The new Theresa thinks that it was a person who did this to her."

Fox smiled weakly. "It was either the old Theresa or Ivy."

"The new Theresa thinks it was Ivy," Theresa said. "Ivy frightens me."

Fox stopped stroking her hair and leaned over to get a look at her face. "She frightens you?"

"When you were fighting with her…I was scared."

"Theresa, Ivy's not going to hurt you."

"It's not that." Theresa glanced upwards at him. "It's how she tricked me."

"That WAS pretty cruel of her."

"It's not the prank. I can live with the prank. It's just that I was so easily fooled. It got me thinking…how many other people can take me for their plaything? How many people are able to control me because of what happened?"

"It's not the question of whether they can or not," Fox said, "but the question of if they WILL or not."

"Until I know…I can't trust anyone." Theresa turned over, so now her face was looking up at his. "Except you. I know you. You are in my memories, albeit they are hazy. But I can trust you…I know you, and that's what matters."

Fox looked own on her, and she smiled up at him.

"Fox…do you believe in love?"

"I didn't for a long time."

"Why?"

"When I was really little…my parents didn't care for me at all, nor my sisters, Sarah and Belinda. They devoted all their time to precious Ethan. Even my grandfather favored him. Sarah and Belinda were really close, because they are twins, and for a little while they were tight with Paloma…your sister, the one in Spain."

Theresa nodded, and he continued. "But there was no such thing for me. I got beat up at school, but when I came home crying, neither of my parents cared. They mentioned something about suing the kid's parents, but nothing ever came out of it. I went to Sam Bennett, and he trained me in self-defense. Then I became a playground legend. Girls were afraid of me, so I never had a girlfriend. Guys were afraid, too, so I never really had a good friend. When I was 13, my parents shipped me and the twins off to a boarding school. I got kicked out of dozens of schools, until I found one to my liking. My parents couldn't just bring me home, no, they had to pay extra expenses just to keep me in boarding schools. Think of it…parents paying people to keep their children away from them."

Theresa nodded sympathetically.

"I came back a little while ago to find out what I should do with myself, see if I could salvage a little of my share of the mansion. And then I found HER."

"Describe," Theresa said.

"She was beautiful. Her hair, her eyes, her form, her attitude…everything about her was beautiful. She enraptured me at a glance. But a big problem…she was in love with Ethan."

Theresa nodded.

"But Ethan was lost to her, anyway. He loves another woman, Gwen. Ethan hurt the beautiful woman badly…he had led her on and dumped her at least twice in the four years they'd been involved with each other, and he had the nerve to propose to Gwen in front of her. I hated Ethan for hurting the beautiful woman. She deserved better than to be heart-broken over him. She turned to me, and I was her comfort. Each day I hoped she would fall in love with me, but she was still in love with Ethan. And Ethan tried to keep me from her."

Theresa looked up at him with wondering eyes.

"But now…now the beautiful woman doesn't remember her love for Ethan. She's been hurt too badly. That means that I am free to love her, and hope that she'll fall in love with me."

Theresa looked up at him. "Who is she? Who is this beautiful woman?"

Fox leaned over her, his eyes locked on hers, and he was sure she could hear his heart pounding. "It's you, Theresa. You are the beautiful woman."

Before she could say anything, his lips found hers in a tender kiss.

Eternity passed in seconds. This was all Fox ever wanted since coming home…to hold Theresa to him, feel her skin against his, her lips pressed against his. She summed up all his hopes and dreams into one woman who radiated beauty and love. He wanted to stay like this with her forever.

Theresa's heart was pounding so hard she could feel it against her lungs. She knew she could trust Fox…she knew he would never, ever hurt her. From him she felt warmth and security…not the fairy tale love the old Theresa had imagined, but the deepest, truest love that could ever happen, a love that went past a teenage infatuation, and if Theresa could remember Gwen, she would know how Gwen felt about Ethan. She felt it here with Fox.

Fox brought the kiss to a close and pulled his face a few inches above hers. "Forgive me," he said, looking anguished. "I had no right…"

"Shh." Theresa put her finger on his lips, silencing him. "I love you, Fox." She took her hand away and kissed him again.

"I love you, too, Theresa." He kissed her again. "We have to go to bed."

Theresa's eyes widened. "But Fox, I can't…not until I…"

"We don't have to," Fox said. "But if you want me to…I could lie next to you. I could stay with you tonight."

"That, Fox, would be wonderful."

*Wipes away tears* I love this chapter. I just hope that I can have that kind of relationship one day. *Cough-John-Cough*

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