Author's note- Another day, another chapter! Sorry about the wait, but it's hard to find the inspiration these days, with the way that they have taken this soap. At least it's not another five months!

Disclaimer- Contrary to popular belief, I don't own Passions, the town of Harmony, or any of the inhabitants. Alistair Crane does.

Chapter 32- Facing the Music

As the couple drove closer and closer to Harmony, Kate could feel herself getting more and more nervous. She had never done anything like this before. Kate was the kind of person who thought every angle through, went over every possible detail, and then made a decision. Eloping with Hank Bennett definitely couldn't fall into that category.

But at the same time, it was the easiest decision that she had ever made. Never in her life had she loved anyone like she loved Hank. Kate smiled softly to herself, feeling a wave of calm wash over her, soothing her nerves.

"What are you thinking about?" Kate glanced at her new husband quickly, before returning her eyes to the road.

"How happy I am that I married you." She answered, lacing her fingers with his.

"Now that's what I like to hear." Hank grinned, kissing her hand gently as they continued their drive back home to face the music.

--&--

"There's her car!" Theresa informed Fox as they waited for his sister to arrive. She couldn't wait to see her. In the short time that she had known Kate, they had become very close. Theresa couldn't wait to see her, and to tell her about everything that had happened in the last forty-eight hours.

They both raced from the sitting room to the front hall, just in time to see Hank carry Kate through the front door. What the hell? Fox thought as he watched the scene unfold.

"Hi Nicky!" Kate grinned, throwing her arms around her brother.

"Hey Meg. What's up?" Fox asked, trying to be as nonchalant as possible. Unfortunately, when it came to Kate, he was never nonchalant. Even though she was the older of the two, he had always felt that he needed to protect her.

"Not much."

"Not much?" A voice rang out from behind them. All eyes were on Alistair as he entered the hall, his powerful voice booming through the space. "You call sneaking off into the night to get married not much?"

"You got married?!?" Fox was shocked. This wasn't something that his sister would do. She wasn't the kind of person who would run away and get married to a man that she barely knew. She had known Hank Bennett for only a little over a month now, and she had actually been with him for less than that. What was she thinking?

"Thank you for telling everyone, Grandfather." Kate said, turning away from Fox, but she had already seen the disbelief and betrayal in his eyes.

"Well, my dear, I thought that you would have told your own brother by now." Alistair explained.

"Well, this isn't exactly something that I wanted to tell him over the phone." Kate said, the uneasy feeling that had settled in her stomach in the car coming back. This was not the way that this was supposed to go. Now that she thought about it, she really hadn't thought about what everyone else would think, or how they would react, especially Fox.

"You got married." Fox repeated, the reality sinking in.

"Yes."

"What were you..."

"I love him."

"And were will you..."

"Not sure."

"Have you been..."

"No!"

"Are you?"

"No!"

"Hey, is this a private conversation, or can anyone join?" Theresa cut in, taking them away from their conversation only comprehensible to each other.

"We'll be right back." Fox informed them, grabbing Kate's arm and leading her into the music room before shutting the heavy oak door behind them.

"Okay, so, you married him because you love him, you have no idea where you are going to live, you haven't been replaced by a pod person, and you aren't pregnant. Is that right?" Fox recapped their conversation, hoping that they had been on the same page.

"Well, the pod person is still up for debate, but other than that, yes, that sounded pretty accurate."

"Funny, Meg."

"Hey, I'm just trying to lighten the mood."

"Well, I don't think it worked." Fox ran a hand through his hair. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that hey, here's this guy that I love, who loves me back, why don't we get married?" Kate shot back, crossing her arms. "You are marrying Theresa because you love her, why can't I marry Hank for the same reason?"

"These situations are completely different!" Fox yelled, his temper flaring. "Theresa and I have been together for a long time. You have barely known Hank Bennett for a month, and you have hated him for half of it!"

"I have not!" Kate glared at him. "I was mad at him, but I never hated him!"

"That's funny, I seem to remember hearing you say exactly that not too long ago!" Fox' voice grew louder, as he shot a look at his twin. "Or do you not remember that night at the gazebo?"

"Don't you dare throw that night in my face!" Kate narrowed here eyes. "I can recall a whole lot of your not so shining moments too!"

"That has nothing to do with anything!"

"Yes, it does! It has everything to do with it!"

"It does not!"

"It does too!"

"It does not!"

"Does too!"

"Does not!"

"Does too!"

"Not!"

"Too!"

Suddenly, they both did the only thing that they could do in this situation. Both Fox and Kate burst out laughing, the anger and tension that had filled the room suddenly vanished at the absurdity of their situation.

"I'm sorry." Kate apologized, hugging her brother.

"I'm sorry too." Fox tightened their embrace. "Are you happy?"

"Yeah." Kate said softly. "For the first time in a long time, I'm really happy."

"Then that's all that I care about."

"Good, because all I want for you is to be happy too."

"If he hurts you, I'll kick his ass. There will be no place in the world that he could hide from me." Fox informed her, a surprising firmness in his voice.

"Good to know."

"So, does anyone else know?"

"Nope."

"When are they going to find out?"

"At our wedding reception, of course. It will be the event of the season. One that no one is likely to ever forget." Kate smiled. Her plan was going to come full circle. Everyone was going to get what was coming to them, and very, very soon.