Ethan watched as Theresa came back. He tried to suppress the feelings he still felt for her after all of this time, but it was useless, he still loved her as much as he had the day she had left, he had never stopped loving her and he didn't think he ever would. He got up and walked to her his knees wobbly and his palms clammy and sweaty, he needed to talk to her, he had no naïve notions that he could explain everything and she'd fall into his arms but he wanted to tell her what had happened, to redeem himself in her eyes. He walked up to her and the glare she gave him made it hard to force the words out of his mouth. "Theresa, can we talk?"

She was quiet for a moment and then reluctantly she nodded. Theresa watched in silence a she handed the baby over to Sheridan and then she followed him outside, she didn't know what she would say, she had gone over this moment for a long time but all of the arguments and hateful things she had concocted in her mind vanished and she felt like that seventeen year old girl who had been tongue tied around her crush, she remembered what a mess she had made of things in the beginning, spilling paint on him and all of those other embarrassing accidents. She looked up and they were in the small gardens behind the hospital. Theresa sat down on a bench and then looked up at Ethan.

Ethan looked at Theresa, the moonlight was shining down on her and she looked just as she did six years ago and then he saw how she had changed, her eyes were dull where they had always shined and her lips remained pressed together in a permanent frown, the light that always followed her into every room was also gone, it had been one of the things he loved most about her, her ability to light up a room…to light up his life. He didn't even realize he was staring until she spoke.
"What?" she snapped at him wondering why he was scrutinizing her, she hadn't changed that much.
"We need to talk," he said though he kept his eyes on her, she had changed so much.
"So I've heard…" There was a moment of silence. "Do you remember the Harmony summer festival when I dumped paint on you?" asked Theresa not looking up into his eyes.
"Yeah," said Ethan smiling, how could he forget? He had come back from law school; the stuck up rich boy and his pride had been bruised when he'd had to go around covered in blue paint.
Theresa looked up at him and her eyes were cold, "I wish I had never met you because it was the worst day of my entire life. I should have listened to Luis and Whitney, they knew that you could never love me. They both told me it wouldn't work out but I didn't listen. I hate myself for being so blind and naïve," she said frigidly, burying the knife in Ethan's heart a little deeper, she wanted him to hurt as much as she had.
Ethan couldn't believe how unfeeling she sounded, this wasn't his Theresa, the Theresa who you could just look at and know what she was feeling, one of the most emotionally honest people he had ever met. "Theresa I loved you, I'm sorry-"
"You're what? Sorry? Apologies don't mean anything to me, my husband apologized all of the time but he didn't mean it so why should you? Don't waste your breath; I don't believe you are one bit sorry. Gwen was probably better in bed than me any way," she said laughing harshly.
"Theresa what is wrong with you? What happened to the sweet, kind, person I fell in love with?" he asked desperate to find any trace of the woman he loved.
"Surprise Ethan, she's dead and so is her love for you so don't even think about trying to mend what you tore apart. When I told you I hated you I meant it and I still do, so this talk is useless. I moved on and I married Demitris," she said automatically covering her neck wound. "Even if he was an asshole he never went behind my back and cheated on me," she neglected to mention the fact that he cheated on her right in front of her face and even flaunted it. "I'd rather be hit than betrayed any day. Well we did 'talk' so you can tell Mama I did what she told me to do," said Theresa standing up and walking away.
Ethan went after her and spun her around; he wanted her to understand that he had never stopped loving her. "Listen to me Theresa. What you saw between Gwen and I was not my fault, she drugged me!"
"Sure she did," said Theresa sarcastically as she pulling away.
"You have no right to hate me Theresa. I know you probably found out that Gwen was pregnant and I married her but…Melanie wasn't mine….and she was the reason I stayed with Gwen. Melanie died a few years ago, Theresa."
Theresa turned around and looked at him and her heart broke for him, no matter how much she hated Ethan, losing a child was something no person should ever go through, to wonder about the future, what could have been, there was nothing worse in the world than that.
"That baby in there isn't mine either, she's my niece." Ethan looked into her eyes and for a moment he saw deep sadness and pain and something else but it was quickly replaced with the unfeeling facade.
"I'm sorry for your loss," she said walking away from him and back towards the hospital.

Ethan sighed and slowly followed behind. He told Luis to give Pilar his love and then he took Amy and drove home. His house was right next to the ocean with its back to the beach. There was a thick row of trees and bushes blocking the view of the ocean but he could hear it and the sound soothed him. He sat down on a lawn chair with Amy in his lap. It was such a beautiful summer night, he had loved nights like this, when he and Theresa had been dating they'd spent many nights at the beach, watching the ocean and the stars, he felt a terrible ache in his heart when ever he thought about it, there was nothing more he wanted than to hold her in his arms again and tell her that he loved her.

Theresa stayed at the hospital and talked to Eve who said with a few weeks of rest Pilar would be fine, she rejoiced in the news, a part of her wanted to leave for New York and get away from the drudged up past but a part of her also felt like she was home and she couldn't leave so soon. When Pilar had fallen asleep for the night Theresa decided to find a hotel but Luis and Sheridan wouldn't have it.
"We have an empty guest room, please come stay?" pleaded Sheridan and Theresa couldn't resist.
"Okay, I have a few places to go first and then I'll come over, I promise."
Theresa got in her car and drove to the beach. The lighthouse was on and she could see its light, calling sailors home. She got out of her car and took off her shoes, the sand under her feet felt wonderful and the song of the ocean made her heart swell. She had missed nights like this, the smell of the breeze, the sound of the ocean, the feeling of her feet sinking into the damp sand…cuddled up next to Ethan. She felt a wave of shame and anger at herself, she had been so horrible to him…but he had hurt her first. She tried to reason with herself that she shouldn't feel bad but she did. The thing that she was most angry about was that she actually wanted to believe him…she wanted to believe that he was sorry, but she couldn't.
She sat down in the sand with some trees at her back and the ocean in front of her, and as she was bombarded by memories she looked up at the night sky sprinkled with stars and she did the only thing she could…she cried.

Ethan was in his back yard as anger seethed through him. He had went over his conversation with Theresa in his head when he realized that she said her husband hit her, was that where the bruise had come from? He should have realized, but he'd been so busy hoping she would forgive him that he hadn't asked, not that she was likely to tell him the truth any way. He was so mad that he was tempted to fly to New York and kill the bastard…he had changed her, made her into someone Ethan didn't even recognize but he knew that part of it was his fault, he should have tried harder to explain to her what had happened with he and Gwen. He missed the Theresa he loved so much, he used to be able to just look into her eyes and know how she was feeling but it wasn't like that anymore.
Nothing in his life was how it was supposed to be. He laid back and his thoughts drifted to Melanie. She had the softest blonde hair and she would sit on his lap and put her arms around his neck and give him kisses on the cheek and she had loved the park, the swings most of all, Ethan had spent many hours pushing her on a swing while she laughed and begged to go higher, she had been such a daddy's little girl. As he allowed himself to think about all of the things he missed about his daughter his heart broke all over again. It was then he heard someone crying, not Amy's but deep, heart wrenching sobs, it was coming from the other side of the foliage blocking his view of the beach. The he heard a voice as knew that it was Theresa.

"I just don't know what to do. I can still see his face when I told him I hated him. I don't know why I was so cruel. I guess I'm afraid that I'll get hurt all over again," she said wiping away her tears, she just wanted to tell someone how hurt she felt and the ocean seemed like the perfect secret keeper so she let everything in her heart pour out. "And when he told me about his daughter Melanie all I could do was tell him I was sorry for his loss. I out of all people should know that kind of pain," she said thinking of her own child…her and Ethan's child. "I wish I could tell him that I'm sorry." She knew her pride would never let her but she was truly sorry for the things she had said. She sat looking at the ocean for a few more minutes and then she decided to leave. She got up and with a huge sigh she walked back to her car.

Ethan sat there in silence, relief flooding through him, what he had just heard…that was Theresa, the real one. He knew that he had to make things right again because as long as he lived he knew that he could never find the happiness that he had found with her, and even if in the end she didn't want to be with him anymore he at least wanted her friendship, he wanted her to smile, to laugh and no matter what he was determined to make things right. He went into the house and picked up the phone.