Author's Notes: Okay sorry for the confusion, just for clarification purposes: The story actually takes place 25 years later... Sorry!!!!! Carter and Abby were married for 23, but there was a 2 year break between the time Carter came back from Africa, and the time they got married... I hope that clears everything up? I'm sorry again, I was just trying to get the idea down, and the little details slipped out from under me.. Anyways thanks to everyone for the positive reviews, they make me want to keep writing... I'm up to Chapter 12, but I like building the suspense... So please read and review, and of course, enjoy!!! Thanks!!!

I put the last box down on the floor behind heading out the door. Somehow this is all happening. It's been about two and a half weeks since Christmas, two days since we saw our lawyers. Everything was going strangely smooth. We didn't have a big court case, I wanted nothing from him. We worked out a schedule with Millie and Ethan. Ethan was old enough to be at home alone, and if he didn't feel like it, he could travel between my condo and the mansion. He had a car, and somehow he was okay with everything. It had taken a while for me to talk to him about all this, but he somehow understood. I was expecting him to hate me and scream at me, tell me I was ruining his family, his life. Yet I got the completely opposite reaction. He said he loved us no matter what, and would try to help out in any way he could. The news was a little harder on Millie, but she also managed to come to terms with it. She was going to work between our shifts, which she wasn't too thrilled about, but it would be okay. She would stay with me if I was off, or she would be with Carter if he was off. We'd decide weekends and everything, but the choice was always up to her. If she didn't want to, then she didn't have to. We both knew it would be a hard adjustment, but she would get through it. We would all have to adjust and sacrifice. I unpin the keys from the mansion from my keychain. They seem unusually heavy, and I twirl them around my fingers for a second. I have a huge dislike of keys. I place them down on the dark mahagony table and pick up the box. I head up the four stairs toward the door, as I hear my name being shouted from the steps.

I turn around briefly and Carter's standing there, holding onto the railing. He sounded like he wanted to say something, but the words didn't come out. I had a vague idea stay would have been in there somewhere. But it didn't come out. I gave him an akward smile and opened the door, shutting it behind me as I made my way out into the bitter winter. I stood at the door, I haven't been out on my own for twenty years. It would be so strange coming home to an empty house, a clean kitchen, and silence. I popped the box into the backseat of my BMW, and crawl into the driver's seat. I didn't think turning my car would take this much effort. I thought I would feel differently, somehow liberated. I remember the day I walked away form Richard. I felt like I was alive again, now I felt dead. I hear my phone ringing in my purse, and I reach over to grab it. Amy's name lights up the screen, and I answer it, pressing the flip phone to my ear as I turn on the car and begin to pull out of the driveway.

"Hey baby."

She's still my baby, and always will be. I know she hates when I call her that, but I'll never stop doing it. I stop at the gates, and wait for them to open for me. They finally begin to creak open, and I turn left, watching the huge property disappear behind me.

"Hey, mom. Sorry I didn't call yesterday. So what happened on Thursday?"

I put the phone between my ear and my shoulder, trying to pay attention as the houses get closer and closer together, and more populated. The mansion rested on a good couple acres.

"Its going to take a couple weeks for the paperwork to go through, but it's official. I'm on my way to my condo right now."

I hear silence on the other line, Amy's known about this the longest, and she didn't sound prepared at all.

"Amy, I'm sorry. If there was another way, I would have tried it. It's over and it's hard, but I promise it'll all be okay."

She lets out a sob as I pull into the parking lot of my new building. It's right on the lakefront, I've got a great view. Although right now none of it seems worth anything with my daugther crying. I get out of the car and am met with a shot of cold wind, snow, and ice. I walk over to the side were I had put the box, and open the door.

"Amy, I'll call you back in a few minutes. I need to get inside. And don't forget, I love you."

She snuffles a quick bye and hangs up her phone before I have a chance to shut mine. I put it into my pocket and lock my car. The doorman opens the glass door for me and I make my way to the elevators. I live on the seventh floor. I get on as soon as the doors open, and in a few seconds I'm up where I belong. I unlock my door with my new key, and set the box near the door. I've slowly begun moving in, I still have unpacked things, but for the most part, it looks like a home. I look over the beach, the fog and snow mixing together and creating a white blanket.

I go back to the box I brought, I needed something for my fireplace mantel. I pull out the pictures I gathered, and sit down on the carpeted floor with the empty frames. The first one I took was of Amy and me, the day she had been born. I had been in labour for over twenty hours, ready to kill anyone that came into my path. Of course Susan had showed up, to see how everything was coming along, and she ended up delievering my baby since Dr. Coubourn had been busy with another delievery. And believe me, babies do not wait.

The next one I took was of our ever-growing family. Amy had been about about two, and the twins had just been born. We were in the backyard, Amy in Carter's arms, Jack and Rob in mine. I don't remember who took the picture, but we looked so happy. I don't even want to remember what we might have been hiding and pretending back then. I put that one up next to the previous one.

The third picture I found was of the kids, when they were still small. Amy was probably the oldest, at eight or nine, and Millie was only a few weeks. I think John snapped the picture just as Millie had begun to wail. Ethan was holding onto my leg, the twins were smiling like clowns, and Amy had her head against my shoulder, we looked so much alike. It was a great picture.

The last one I wanted was one that had been taken two years ago, during vacation. We had gone to Italy for a month, an extended family vacation. Everyone was bigger, we were all older, but it was something I could look back at later, and remind myself what I had. I would do anything for my family. Right now I never felt more alone in my life, even though I could easily go back to the mansion. I could stand before him and ask him to take me back. And he would do it. I knew he always would, but I don't think I would ever forgive myself. I'm doing the right thing, I just need to completely convince myself of that.