A/N- most of this chapter is from Kacey's POV, apart from a short bit from Abby's. The song is 'I still believe' by Mariah Carey. Please R&R.

~*~*~*~*~* Kacey ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I woke up on Doug's sofa. I remember everything that happened yesterday. Doug told me that I should phone home to see how Ceara was, so I did. No one picked up and so Doug suggested that I go to the hospital, well at first I didn't want to, but in the end I agreed to go ,if only for a short while.

When I got there I saw something that surprised me, I saw mom talking to some guy I didn't know. He wasn't wearing doctor clothes and I had no idea who he was. I walked up to mom and was surprised to find that Mom practically threw herself onto me and smothered me in a hug.

'Oh Kacey, thank god you're here.' I couldn't believe how.....nice she was being, I wondered if the strange guy had anything to do with her sudden change of heart. Yesterday she was yelling at me to leave and suddenly she was hugging me, she saw me looking at him and she said to me,

'Oh Kace, this is John Carter, an old friend of mine.' He smiled at me and I realised that for someone mom's age, he wasn't that bad looking. He certainly had a cute smile and I'm sure that mom thought so too, the way she was acting. She almost seemed.......happy, something she rarely was with Derek. Actually talking about Derek, I couldn't see him anywhere,

'Mom, where's Derek?' I asked, causing her to smile,

'Oh he's with Ceara, I don't think he's too happy with you at the moment, actually he's not that happy with me right now either,'

'Really? That's great news, are you two gonna break up?'

'No Kacey,'

'Bugger,'

'Kacey...'

'I'm sorry, but it really is about time you broke up with that Irish tosser.'

Mom grinned at the John Carter guy , 'Sorry about my daughter's language, I don't know where she learns it from.'

'Nothing I haven't heard before,' he said, laughing.

'Well I'd better go see how Derek is, I'll be right back,' so Mom left, leaving me and the Carter guy alone together.

'Do you know if Ceara's gonna be okay?' I asked him, trying to break the awkward silence.

'I think she's over the worst,'

'Good,' I said, playing with my hair. He grinned at me and said wistfully,

'You know, your mother always did that when she was nervous,'

'Were you two like.....together?'

'For a while, we were friends a long time before that though, when she still had a boyfriend.'

'You have a long history?'

'A very, very long history,'

'Full of lots of pain?'

'Yup and addictions,'

'Addictions? You mean like mom's drinking?'

'Yeah, we both had our addictions,'

'What was yours?'

'Uhh, drugs,'

'Seriously?'

'Well it was after I got stabbed and a good friend of mine got stabbed too and died.....'

'That's so cool, mom dated a druggie,'

'Well, i dunno if I'd put it like that,'

'So tell me, how would you put it?'

'Uhh.....your mom dated someone who after serious emotional trauma took drugs,' I found myself laughing and I was already beginning to like him. How could mom let him go? He'd be much better for her than Derek, I just know it.

~*~**~*~*~*~*~**~ Abby ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I was in the car, driving John to a hotel, when a song came on the radio,

******************

You look in my eyes and I get emotional inside

I know it's crazy but you still can touch my heart

And after all this time you think that I,

Wouldn't feel the same, but time melts into nothing and nothing's changed.

I still believe someday you and me will find ourselves in love again.

I had a dream someday you and me will find ourselves in love again.

*******************

He looked at me and said,

'This song could've been written about me,' I look at him, I can't quite believe him, after all this time, I'm happily married, I have a life without him and he thinks he can just come back and say that.

'I, I missed you Abby,' he said, looking at me in his own special way, the way he's always looked at me, the look that makes me want to melt into his arms.

'I missed you too Carter,' I said. When I stopped the car at the hotel he didn't go up to his room alone, I went up with him and I'd never felt as happy as felt as I lay in his arms.