A/N: THIS STORY WAS MEANT TO BE A STAND ALONE BUT I CHANGED MY MIND. I'LL SEE HOW YOU GUYS TAKE THIS CHAPTER, IT'S AU-ISH.

THE ONLY CHARACTERS THAT BELONG TO ME ARE THE ONES YOU DON'T RECOGNIZE. NO SUING.

ANYWAY, HOPE YOU LIKE IT.

ENJOY.

~*~

The rhythmic tapping and occasional sigh droned on and twenty seven year old Jason Callaway glanced at the woman next to him.

"Stop that." He said as he took her hand and held it.

Her grey eyes turned to meet his blue ones and she nodded quietly but her gaze quickly returned to the window. He knew she was trying to find something interesting to look at and to think about. He assumed it was because she was mad at him and was not in any mood to speak. Ever since his father Arthur Callaway announced that she was being sent to Harmony to look after the company branch there, Kay Callaway had been anything but happy. Jason suspected that it was because she blamed him for putting the idea in his father's head.

"Why Harmony?" She finally asked after a long time of staring at nothing in particular. She was watching him patiently.

Jason shrugged his shoulders, unsure of what to say. He honestly did not know why his father chose to send her to Harmony. Perhaps, like Jason, Arthur believed it was time for her to face her fears. She sighed again when he could not produce an answer.

"You'll do just fine." He said reassuringly.

Kay nodded but said nothing to acknowledge or agree with his statement. Instead she looked down at her lap where her other hand was curled firmly around a small heart shaped locket. She took a sharp breath as she shut her eyes tightly. "They'll be there and I'll see them." She whispered as she fought back the urge to cry.

His arm instinctively went around her and he pulled her closer to him and kissed her hair. "We can try to avoid them." He suggested. He was afraid that she would burst into tears and beg him to take her back to New York.

"I don't think I can keep doing that. Arthur said that I'll be here for at least a year. That's a long time, Jase. Hiding out in the office is not going to make them go away." She said as her voice started to break. He could see that as they drove deeper within Harmony, she became more agitated.

Jason knew she was terrified. He could hear it in her voice when she spoke, see it in her eyes even when she tries her best to hide it from him. He could tell from her gestures, from the way she nervously fidgets with the locket that she treasures. "If you really don't want to do this, I can call Father and explain to him. I'm sure he'll understand." Jason declared with a sigh. He was half expecting her to take the offer.

Surprisingly, she shook her head. "I don't want to disappoint Arthur and your mother. They've been so good to me. If Arthur wants me to do this, then I'll do it. I'm just sacred." She confided hesitantly as she pulled away from him.

Jason nodded, understanding. "You never disappoint them, Kay. They love you, no matter what. You know that." He said and she nodded.

"It's strange isn't it, that the two people I don't deserve love me more than my own family?" She said sadly.

"Kay-"

"No, it's okay. It's true. You don't need to say that my family loved me because then you'd be lying." She said. If there was one thing that made Kay unhappy, if was the mention of her family or any members of it but somehow, she felt the need to bring them up now. "Anyway, you'll be here, right? You won't leave me all alone to take care of business?"

Jason nodded. "I'll leave once in a while. I need to see how business is going in San Francisco but I won't be gone long." He said. "Please make the best of it. I'm sure this whole thing will be over before you even realize it." He said supportively.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I doubt that but I'll pretend it can happen. That way, I won't go insane." She declared as she forced a small smile on her lips.

"That's the spirit." He said enthusiastically. "Well, here we are. Time to face the music." Jason stated when the limousine came to a halt in front of Callaway Towers.

She smiled at him as she pulled out a mirror to check her appearance. "You mean time to face the eleven hundred employees who will probably think that I'm a joke because I'm only twenty one years old and I'm trying to run a million dollar company?" She asked somewhat bitterly.

"They won't think you're a joke once they see how great a CEO you are." He insisted firmly.

"Yeah, sure. Besides, I can always fire them if they get on my nerves." Kay announced casually as the driver opened her door and helped her out.

Jason smiled. "That too." He said as he followed her up the steps leading to the building.

An hour later, Jason entered Kay's twenty sixth floor office. "That was easier than I thought." He declared gladly.

"Actually that was horrible." She said sullenly as she walked over to the twelve foot window with the full view of Harmony all the way to the marina.

Jason watched her curiously and he could not help but feel sorry for her. "The board loved you." He said as he stood next to her and took in the beauty of the quaint city.

Kay scoffed as she raised an eyebrow at him. "First of all, they did not love me. The minute I walked in and started speaking, I could see that they were wondering, why someone as young as I am was taking over a company as complicated and enormous as this one. Second, out of fifteen board members, I am the only female. Third, they won't like it when I over rule them. See, I told you they'd think I was a joke!" She said exasperatedly.

"Kay calm down. This is your first day. So what if the board doesn't instantly love you? You run this company now. You have the final say. Let them disagree. Let them think that you're not fit for this job. But let me tell you something. In the end of the day, you will always get what you want. They can't fire you because you basically own this company. So don't let these men stop you." He said as he put a reassuring arm around her shoulders.

She looked at him with eyes wide and slightly shocked. "I didn't say that they're going to stop me form what your father set me out to do. I just don't like to have to prove myself all over again to a bunch of people whom I don't care much about." She declared with frustration. "God, I hate men!"

"Hey, hey! Male specimen in the room." He said in mock hurt.

Kay gave him a small apologetic smile. "Sorry. You do know that I don't consider you as part of the overly large population of jerks out there, right?" She said as she walked over to her desk where a stack of papers was already waiting for her to sign.

"Yeah, but seriously, I don't think your anger has anything to do with men right now." He stated as he glanced back at the view of Harmony pointedly.

Kay sighed. "You're right, as usual." She confessed. She turned her chair so that she could face the window and get a good look of the view. "It's strange, Jase. After years of running from this place, it's ironic that I end up here again, still against my will. When I look out this window, I know that somewhere down there are the people I used to know."

"People you'd rather not see." He added.

She nodded. "What I would give to keep those people away." Kay said with a sigh.

Jason pursed his lips as a thought occurred to him. "We can always ban them from coming near the building. Put a restraining order on them and hire more security guards." He suggested.

"Right, that will definitely keep them away." She said sarcastically. "The minute Sam Bennett is given a restraining order against him and his family he will definitely want to find out why. Besides, I can't put a restraining order against every single person that I don't want to see. The company will think I'm crazy and paranoid. What a great way to show them that I'm capable of this."

"Okay, good point." He said.

Kay sighed. It seemed to be what she has been doing lately aside from sulking and worrying. "I guess I'll just have to tough it out."

"Yup. You're superwoman. You can do this." He beamed.

Kay smiled, slightly amused. "Thanks for the pep talk, Jase. I needed it."

"Anytime. So, how about we get out of here and you give me the grand tour of Ye Old Harmony." Jason said as he faked an Irish accent.

Kay chuckled as she grabbed a pen. "I'll take a rain check. Look at all the papers that I have to read a sign. I have at least a few more hours of work. Besides, I can't bail the first day on the job." She said. "If you're willing, you could always grab a chair and help out. You are after all, co-owner of this company."

Jason shook his head. "Can't. Father's orders. I only step in and intervene when it is absolutely necessary. That means all the paperwork is yours. Besides, it's too much hassle for the company to figure out why I'm signing documents on the Harmony branch when I'm supposed to take care of the one in San Francisco." He explained. "I suggest you get someone to make you coffee. It'll be a while."

"Jason, there's a cappuccino and coffee maker over there. Plus there's the bar and the refrigerator. I'm sure I'll manage walking a few feet once in a while to get myself something to drink." She said.

Jason shrugged his shoulders. "If you say so. We'll I'm to go have a look around. I'll be back in a few hours." He said and walked out of her office in a dash.

Three hours later, Kay threw her pen on the desk and leaned on her leather seat in exhaustion. Her back ached, her leg had a cramp from sitting too long and to top it all off, she had been reading the same sentence for the last fifteen minutes. Her yes were beginning to sting and she could feel a headache coming. She had consumed her sixth cup of coffee but she was lacking concentration and it frustrated her.

Her mind kept drifting back to the view behind her, to a certain family that she would rather not name right now, that lived on a specific street which she knew like the back of her hand. The more she thought about it, the more it frightened her.

Kay sighed. Harmony had been her home for more than half her life. She grew up with most of the people here. She knew them and they had watched her grow up. Everyone knew who she was considering that her father was the Chief of Police. Someone was bound to run into her and recognize Kay. Then her family would be told and they would seek her out, demanding for an explanation.

And explanation that Kay was not ready to give.

There would be a thousand questions, stipulations for a reason of her disappearance but they should know already. They should know why she left.

Kay got up from her seat and stood by the window with her shoulder and forehead pressed against the glass. She let out a sharp exhale. If it wasn't for her sense of responsibility to the Callaways, she would have left already and never looked back. But Kay knew that she couldn't just leave. At least not like before. She had a responsibility now. Not to her family but to the Callaways. She owed them and she always paid back what she was due. She would make it through this so that in the end, the Callaways would be pleased and perhaps, they would let her leave the company or at least transfer her out of Harmony sooner.

The sooner she was out of here, the better.

~*~

A/N: WAS THAT CONFUSING? WELL IT WON'T BE IN THE NEXT CHAPTERS. HOPEFULLY SOMEONE LIKED IT. THEN I'LL UPDATE AGAIN.

IT ALL DEPENDS ON THE VERDICT OF THE READERS.

THANKS FOR READING ANYWAY.