Disclaimer: Nothing that can be traced to any world on air or in print is mine. Anything else is mine.

Chapter Fourteen: The Lewis Family

Life in Springfield went on so peacefully that James almost felt as if he were constantly waiting for something to shatter the quiet and plunge them all into turmoil. He had never gone anywhere where things didn't seem to start going wrong even if he wasn't involved, and Springfield was one of those towns that if it was a form of matter it would have been classified as highly conbustible. Springfield always had some scandal going, and James felt that this was the calm before the storm. It wouldn't be long before he learned how right he had been.

The trouble started the same week that Danny and Marina returned from their honeymoon in May. James and Dinah were having lunch at Company and minding their own business when a voice behind them said, " You!" The speaker was a female and sounded shocked. It was either one of the few women Death Eaters or some enemy of Dinah's, and enemies were the one thing that she had in excess. They both turned to see who had said it.

A dark eyed and blonde haired woman was staring at Dinah, her mouth open with shock. Dinah's face showed no comprehension. " I'm sorry, but I don't know who you are," she said, extending her hand. " I'm Dinah Marler."

The blonde backed away as if Dinah had offered her a striking cobra. " Yeah, you're Dinah Marler!" she spat. " You don't remember me? I'm Marah Lewis."

Dinah snapped her fingers as the memory hit her. " Oh, Marah! Hon, I'm sorry I didn't recognize you. You were a lot younger when I left town, and you've been gone the whole time I've been back."

" Don't call me 'hon'!" Marah said shrilly, white with fury. " What are you doing out of prison?"

Dinah went very still. James knew that she had trouble dealing with any mention of prison or any kind of detainment, a phobia stemming from her years on the run. " Your Aunt Cassie finally saw that it had been an accident and I was released," she said finally. " I prefer not to talk about it, Marah."

" My Uncle Hart would have preferred to stay alive for his wife and kid instead of getting shot, but that didn't keep him alive, did it, Dinah?" Marah shouted. Everyone in Company stared and Marina forgot to put down the coffeepot that she was pouring from until the overflow came down the counter and burned her arm. Dinah was so pale that James feared that she would faint.

" She said it was an accident," he interjected. " If the authorities and your aunt can accept it, then so should you, Miss Lewis." Marah switched her glare to him.

" Who're you, Dinah's latest victim?"

" This is James," Dinah said, shooting him a grateful look for buying her time to recover from Marah's outburst. " A very good friend of mine. Listen, it was all a long time ago, water under the bridge. Just let it go, Marah."

" Let it go." Marah said flatly. " My cousin R.J. will never know his father. Aunt Cassie's lost the first great love of her life. You expect me to just let it go?"

" Your Aunt Cassie's planning her third wedding," Dinah told her in a low, expressionless voice. "She's got three kids and a family, and I've got four people on God's earth who give a damn about me. I don't hate Cassie anymore. I don't hate the Lewises. I just want the chance to start over, Marah. That's all I ask. I want to be able to walk down a street or go shopping or have dinner or go to the powder room or whatever without worrying that some Lewis or Winslow is going to come up and start harrassing me. I want to start over and not screw it all up over this stupid war with Cassie again. I'm not asking you to invite me to a Lewis tea party or whatever you do, I just want to be left alone so I can stand a chance of being happy again." Although she didn't raise her voice, she sounded fierce as an Amazon by the time she finnished that speech. Without waiting for Marah to reply, she turned back to her Buzz Burger. Marah grabbed her by the shoulders and jerked her back around.

" You might have took Hart from Aunt Cassie," she hissed murderously, " but you're not taking Jeffrey from me, you got it?"

Dinah looked dumbfounded. " Jeffrey? What makes you think I'm going to take Jeffrey from you? How does a kid like you even know Jeffrey?" Marah's eyes flashed at being called a kid.

" He was my lover before I left for Paris," Marah gritted out. " I come back, and I hear he's been sleeping with some slut, and then Aunt Cassie told me that the slut was you."

Dinah gave Marah her characteristic half-quizzical half-disdainful look. " For one thing, Cassie's the pot calling the kettle black if she calls anyone a slut. For a second thing, who I sleep with is none of your business. For a third thing, me and Jeffrey are over. I took all of his crap I was going to take months ago. If you have a rival for his affections, it's your precious Cassie. Have a nice day. " She turned back to her food again, and Marina helpfully called Marah over to catch up. " I hate the Lewises," she muttered once Marah was out of earshot. " They're all such self-righteous hypocrites-Reva jumped into the Country Club fountain and baptized herself the Slut of Springfield years and years ago, but you'll never hear a Lewis admit to it. No, they don't have any sins to hear them talk, but don't have anything to do with that Dinah Marler-she screwed her life up eight years ago with one stupid mistake and that means total damnation!" She made an expansive gesture with one hand. " Thanks for sticking up for me."

" No problem. You looked like you were going to pass out."

" I only pass out when I have miscarriages," Dinah said with a twist of her mouth. " Provided I even get pregnant in the first place. Being barren sucks, not that you'd know much about that."

" I know what it does to a woman. My wife had that-ah-difficulty, and it almost put her in the closed ward of the hospital a few times."

Everyone thinks I should be in the nut house," Dinah said glumly. " I'm surprised that no one's had me commited yet, with some of the stunts I've pulled. It was the obsession with Cassie...I still don't understand it. Why does she always win?" There was an edge of hysteria there, something he was all too familiar with from Anne. " Why does Cassie always win and I always lose? Why?" She looked like she was about to cry.

" You'll win someday," he reassured her. " Just remember that payback's hell. Every side has its day."

" How d'you know?" Dinah asked.

" I'm a psychic," he said dryly, not thinking about how close to the truth it was. She laughed unsteadily.

" Yeah right."

" It's expirience. Everybody wins some and loses some. My family history's proof. On top for about a hundred years, then down another hundred, and then up, then down, then up, now down again." He noticed the strange look Dinah was giving him. " What?"

" You know your family history for over a hundred years?"

" It's what rich Brits do with their time," he explained. " We make our kids memorize family history in case we ever make it into a history book."

" I'd never survive over there, then," Dinah said. " I know who my mother is and who my father is and my brother and my stepmother who happened to be Hart's sister are, and all the family history I know are the scandals those people have been in since I was born. " She took a sip of her drink and reverted back to the Lewises. " The worst part is that L.B. is one of them-the Lewises, that is."

" Who's L.B.?"

" It means Little Bill. He's my half-brother. We have the same mother. His father's Billy Lewis, co-owner of Lewis Construction. Mom was a little loose, you know. I've always called him Little Bill."

" I used to call my younger sister Elizabeth Little Lizzy. It drove her crazy."

" L.B. doesn't care too much-he's just grateful that I managed to come home and not get life in the slammer. Me and my sister-in-law Olivia get along really well-she did me a favor when I first came back before I was released. She found out about me by accident but she didn't hand me in, so I owe Liv one."

" Would you consider paying me back pretty soon?" They both looked up, startled. Olivia was standing there, looking unusually nervous. " Can I sit down?" she said abruptly.

" Sure," Dinah said, looking concerned. " What's the matter, Olivia?"

" I think I might have done something last night," she muttered. This wasn't like Olivia at all. " Phillip told me he was going to make sure I never saw Emma again, and- and I think I might have killed him."

Author's Note: Finally, the story has a real plot! It hit me out of the blue what it is that Company is about. The 'Who Shot Phillip' sub-plot that's coming up is very, very loosely based on the real GL 'Who Murdered Phillip' sub-plot right now, and the answer to the story riddle is not who I believe the show shooter to be. The main plot is a bizzare love situation straight out of soapland involving James, Dinah, Cassie, Edmund, Jeffrey,and Marah, all of whom we'll get to know a lot better. To my reviewer: I don't think it's your fault this story's gotten few reviews. A lot of your people in the HP section arekids who don't have a clue what Guiding Light is, meaning they're probably not going to read it.

Augusta