*'Entendez, classe, qu'est ce que c'est l'announce?' Just a short warning at the beginning that this chapter might be a bit corny. Couldn't help, lol*

Chapter 6

The session was as boring as the last ones for they still didn't make any progress. Cole killed every opportunity to create an atmosphere of trust by her hard and scornful comments and though out of different reasons Kincaid was only so willingly to help her. Basically they could skip all of those sessions, because they never got even close to the real problem. Alex had a feeling that the other ones would be more willingly to talk with her being absent, since they had faith in Matt. Admittedly, the whole thing sounded quite silly and unbelievable in general.

After having listened to a few things Billy said, Alex just mentally released, thousands of thoughts running through his mind.

Since it was Wednesday, it only lasted one hour and there was a sigh of relief going through the room as finally it was over. As he wanted to leave the room, Alex was held back by the young psychiatrist. "I have some good news for you."

Alex, still tired to death though Carter had given him more than the regular dose of caffeine pills, suddenly felt a glimmer of hope run through his head. "You found my parents?"

Matt nodded as if he was Santa Claus himself and Alex a six year old boy, receiving his favourite present. "They are going to be here in a few hours."

"Why did it take so long to find them?" Alex replied, not sounding as half as happy as one could have expected.

"Well, it's actually a bit strange." Matt shrugged. "Well, don't ask me. Some police officer's fault, I guess. You know, bureaucracy."

"It was a simple phone call."

"Alex, stop asking me a hole in the head, okay?" the other one laughed. "You can ask themselves later. I mean you act as if they wouldn't of been liked to be found." Catching Alex' look he faltered for a moment. "Alex!! You don't honestly believe that, do you?!"

"Of course not." It didn't sound convinced at all as he started to move towards the door, leaving a speechless doctor behind.

He just entered his room, which had become their constant meeting point, hearing Carter say: "Okay, so that means nightshifts again."

"Nightshifts?" Billy shrugged.

"Always two of us in a room – one will stay awake while the other one takes a rest. Which means you won't even go n piss as long as JD is sleeping."

"Why can't I sleep first?" was his next question, causing Alex to let out a helpless moan.

"Of course you can have your beauty sleep first, you baby", he answered, strongly pulling himself together to keep him from smacking the boy's head with the remote control. The constant gnawing in his stomach he was feeling since he had woken up in the hospital, rapidly increased since what he had just been told.

"What did Matt want from you?" Carter wanted to know, getting a despising look.

"Why the hell should I tell you of all people?"

Carter laughed, shrugging as if one option was as good for him as the other. "I can also beat the truth out of you."

"Carter", Terry reprimanded him giggling, but Alex didn't care about her.

"And then?" he asked.

Carter frowned. "What when?"

"Then. You beat the shit out of me. And then? You beat me up again? You even threaten to kill me? Really; I'm scared to death, Van Damme." The way he said it showed that it was just the other way round. It wasn't that he wasn't aware of the fact that it wouldn't mean a great effort for Carter to turn his words into actions, more that he didn't really care.

"You like playing with your life, don't you?" The smirk on Carter's face hadn't changed, but his voice had become a whole lot of degrees colder. He could feel the old anger against Alex boiling up in him again. And someone had just added a few drops of Tabasco.

"Carter!" Clear admonished him.

"You stay out of this, weirdo!" he snorted.

"Hey! This is a thing between you and me okay?" Alex yelled at him. "So stop insulting her!"

"Aw, sweet. At least you seem to remember taking care of your girl", the dark haired jeered.

As the meaning of the words hit Alex' brain he raised an eyebrow, eyeing Carter as well as Clear suspiciously. "What?" He searched for Clear's eyes, but she was too busy with glaring at the jock, her cheeks flushing with a deep red. "Are we …. together or stuff?"

Clear shook her head, unable to return Alex' look. God, this was so embarrassing ….

"What is this? Your sick sense of humour?"

"Nah, you weren't really together", Terry decided to help. "Though I must admit that there seemed to be something going on."

An angry scowl was the other blonde's reaction to her last sentence, but Terry didn't really mind. "C'mon Clear, one day  he's gonna remember it anyway."

"As long as I don't would someone be so friendly to tell me?!" Alex mood worsened each second that went by.

Instead of an answer Terry got up, pulling her reluctant boyfriend to his feet as well. "I guess you should clear that alone", she said. Giggling at the wordplay, she indicated the others to leave the room with them.

"Aw I wish there was a surveillance camera in here and we could watch the tape later on", the two who were left back heard Carter say before the door was closed.


It was so embarrassing. Just so embarrassing. None of them could remember anything as embarrassing as that in their lives. Well, actually Alex couldn't out of a different reason. His firt intent was to run out of the room or lock himself in the bathroom. Or he could simply reach for one of Billy's mags and pretend to read until Clear left. This really was the last thing he needed.

"May I offer you to join me killing Carter?" The girl asked after a while.

"Anytime", Alex nodded emphatically. They shared a snigger and Alex decided to just ask her quite frankly.

"Okay. So just to get that done – is there anything I should know concerning us? Even if it's just for the next time the asshole's in the mood to piss me off with one of his jokes."

Clear obviously tensed up. "Weeell, u know, there was that crash ….", she bit her lip before continuing, "Okay. You never noticed me in school or so. But after the crash …. you remember what I told you about that connection I felt towards you?"

He nodded.

"It didn't diminish since that night, on the contrary. Then, when your friend Tod died, it wasn't that I knew what had happened, like you do with your premonitions. I only …. felt you would be there out of some reason. And that you might need help." She pushed a strand of her blonde hair from her face to hide her nervousness. "From that day on you –" she sighed, trying to find the right words, "you started to listen to me, talk the whole thing over. You came to my house; we sneaked into the morgue, we – nothing even close to a relationship so far."

"So we never kissed?" Alex pretended to pout. He felt a lot better since the others had left. And he was sure that it couldn't only be put down to the fact that Carter had left as well. It was more Clear's calmness. Though she was quite nervous now – he couldn't explain; her presence still somehow soothed him.

Instantly Clear blushed, avoiding any further eye contact with him during the next minutes.

"So either it was quite bad or I was wrong in the first place", he joked, then it suddenly hit him with the power of a sledge hammer. "Oh my God, I mean …. did we even do more than kissing?"

If Clear had thought her face couldn't get any more red or burn she was now proved to be mistaken and that was answer enough.

Alex was totally taken aback from these new insights. He wished he could say something, but all he could do was just sit there and stare. It must be horrible for Clear, a lot more than for him; God, he didn't even recognize her.

"When  - I mean where – how ….", he stumbled, then sighed. "What I'm trying to say is: what – happened? You don't have to give me details about – err, you know what? I'll just shut up." He rested his head against the wall behind him, considering smacking his head against it until he blacked out.

Clear sniggered.

"Why didn't you say anything earlier?"

She raised her eyebrows and said in a happily tone: "Oh hi Alex. You remember me? We shagged on the beach that night you nearly got killed again. Want some coffee?" She screwed her nose.

Alex grinned. "So – we had that one night shag and that was it?" then frowned. "Why?"

"At first I thought you just didn't call cuz you weren't interested in more – then I found out that you were sent to Stoneybrook after, how Carter called it 'you totally freaked out over Tod'. I tried to see you there but your parents wouldn't let me for some stupid doctor had told them it would be better if you weren't seeing anyone from crash down day. Oh", she added, seeing his confused look. "Stoneybrook is an institution like this one here."

"So – what happened then?"

"I really dunno. You know – it's hard to search for info in here."

"Since when are you here then?"

"About one year. My nice guardians took it as a welcome opportunity to get rid of me, telling the youth welfare department they were oh so afraid I might harm myself since I was so traumatized." She snorted with rage. "Damn, I been traumatized since the day I first met them!"

"Your parents –"

"Dead", Clear quickly said.

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that." Inwardly he sighed at his lame words.

"Any news bout yours?"

"Yeah. Gonna see them in a couple of hours." He felt his throat getting dry.

"Really? That's great! - You don't sound very happy …."

"Dunno." Of course part of him was looking forward to it, but his stomach started to cramp just thinking about it. And it was nothing like that butterfly feeling.

The door was almost opened the same moment they heard a knock on it. Two heads appeared in the crack.

"Are you pouncing on each other or can we come back in?" Billy wanted to know.

"Can we come in even if you do?" Larry grinned.

The other ones shrugged, exchanging unsure glances.

"Show some compassion, guys", Larry moaned. "We left Carter and Terry making out in my room, the girl's room is totally contaminated by clouds of hairspray and perfume, the TV room gets cleaned, we are not allowed to go outside, the session room has such a bad aura and – as u might understand even hanging out on our beautiful grey floors loses its great attraction when Cole steps by all of the time."