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"Was?" Alan asked.

"Yeah. I've put a pause on my singing career for a while. I've decided to work on other musical interests for a while and to relax from being on the road so much."

"Such as?" Alan pushed in a tone that made Jeff shoot him a warning glare.

"Well a friend of my father's gave me a flute for Christmas a few years back and I decided that now would be a good time to learn how to play it. Besides that, I've been trying out some new music for my guitar and trying to write new songs. It's hard. Especially when the songs aren't about love of some sort."

Just then a beep from another call was heard. 'Shit!' Jeff thought as Alan groaned.

"That's probably Scott. I'll be back in a few minutes," Jeff said heading for the door.

Alan stopped him and whispered, "What do you want me to do?"

"Try and get some more information from her, but do it discretely," Jeff emphasized the last word with a slight hiss. Alan just nodded and Jeff left to see what was going on.

"So you play the flute?" Alan asked after his father had disappeared down the hall.

"Not real well. I'm still learning," Oriana replied before breaking out into a coughing fit.

"Are you a-a-all right?" Brains asked walking over to the bedside.

Oriana waved him off and nodded. "Yes. I'm fine. Still recovering from a nasty cold I had."

Alan and Brains just looked at each other, trying to figure out what to do next when Jeff called Brains to the lounge through the intercom. Brains excused himself, leaving Alan to wonder what he was going to do. He waited until Brains was out of earshot, then turned on Oriana like a rabid dog on its owner.

"Who are you really? What are you trying to hide? Who are you working for? Where'd you get that flute?" Alan asked, taking Oriana by surprise from his tone.

"I am really Oriana Gant! Honest! If you're referring to my IDs, I had them all made so that I could go out in public and not have to worry about being jumped by the press. It's so hard to lead a semi-normal life when you're a half-decent singer just trying to make a living."

"If you were trying to hide from the press then why is all the information on the IDs the same except the names?"

"Well... As a singer, everyone only knows me as Felony so I use that ID to get me in to my manager's office, the record company, so on and so on. As a second-rate guitarist trying to get some gigs close to home, everyone knows me as Aurora Morningstar. The other ID, Stacia Floring, I use everywhere else with everything I do."

"Why don't you just use your real name? Wouldn't that be easier?"

Oriana shook her head. "I can't. If I used my real name I'd be hunted down and killed."

Alan raised an eyebrow in question and was quiet as he thought things out for a second. "Why isn't there any information on the name Oriana Gant? No social security, no birth records, nothing. What'd you do? Appear out of thin air?"

Oriana looked at him and sighed, then looked down at her hands as she began twisting part of the sheet up in her hands. "Sir, I want you to know that what I'm about to tell you hasn't been told to anyone outside of the army." She looked up at him for a second, then back down at the sheets. "I was, I guess you could say, a war orphan. I was found in a nearly destroyed village after a terrorist attack by a group of soldiers. One, Sergeant Jonathan Gant, felt sorry for me and decided to adopt me, but for whatever reason, he wasn't allowed to legally. He went AWOL and disappeared into Amish country with me. A few years later the government found where we were at and killed him, but thankfully didn't find me. Ever since then I legally changed my name to Felony Shepherd and more or less have kept my true identity hidden." She looked up at him, tears trailing down her cheek, a deep sadness in her eyes.

Alan just stood there in shock and disbelief. He searched her face for any signs of lying, but couldn't find any. It sounded so sincere and the tears were a nice touch. He almost felt sorry for her, but something was nagging at the back of his mind that just didn't make sense. Something she had said that just didn't click right. He was so deep in thought over what it was he was startled when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking up he saw it was his big brother, Scott.

"Why don't you let our guest get some rest before dinner, hmm?" Scott said, noticing the slightly puzzled look on Alan's face. Alan nodded slowly and left the room. Scott watched his brother leave then turned to Oriana, a bundle in his hands.

"Here are some clean clothes to change in to, if you'd like. Dinner's at six. Someone will come and get you around five-thirty or so. You can rest until then."

"Thank you," Oriana whispered and Scott left, looking almost as puzzled as Alan did.

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Are you confused? Did Oriana's story kinda go right over your head? Do you wish you could help poor Alan not be as confused as you? Well maybe help will be in the next chapter for you and Alan. Stay tuned for more!!