AN Alrighty folks I'm going to need you to take a collective breath with me, inhale, exhale, everything will be fine. First let me just put your minds at ease, this is a Greg/Sara fic so they WILL get together. I just didn't feel like making it easy for them. evil grin

Happy Birthday Magick! Hun if you are too old to be reading them, than NeverMind and I are definitely too old to be writing them! LoL So enjoy and feel no guilt:)

Greg was on a mission. He had called her home number a few times with no answer and her cell was off. He left a message, but knew she wouldn't return his call. He even tried her brother as a last resort. He ended up pulling out the keys he still had and planned to wait at her place till she got home. He WAS going to talk to her that night.

Sara just wanted to calm down. She decided to drive to a local bar where she knew the bartender and just try to relax. She was halfway through her beer when she saw Payton sitting at a booth listening to her cell phone. Without thinking she walked over to the booth and sat down across from her. She knew in that moment who had taken the photo and why, although she didn't understand it.

Payton shut her phone slowly, "Can I help you?" She tried to sound threatening, but she was closer to scared.

Sara inhaled and tried to resist the urge to punch this woman, "For starters you can graduate from high school and join the real world."

"Oh don't get all righteous on me, you had your hooks in Greg, don't even try to deny it."

"My hooks?" She wasn't going to get angry. She was NOT going to get angry! "Payton this isn't a game." She sighed finally, "I'm not gong to compete with you. I never was competing with you and I don't appreciate you compromising Greg's and my work image with petty attempts at pay back."

Then Payton did something Sara didn't expect, she started crying. "I just…he always talked about you. Whenever you were upset, he was, if you needed him to stay late, he always did. It's like you are larger than life to him or something. I just didn't want our relationship to have been a joke to him, or a ploy to get you."

Sara had no idea what to do with this articulation of how Greg may feel about her. She actually didn't know exactly how to articulate how she felt about him, not that it seemed to matter any more. She ran a hand over her face, this wasn't at all what she had expected to encounter when she sat down.

"Listen I can't speak for him, but from what I could see he took your relationship very seriously. I don't think he would have moved in with you if he didn't." Before Payton could say more Sara got up, "But that's something you need to take up with him. Just know that if you attack either of our reputations again I will take legal action." Sara walked back over to the bar to finish her beer.

"Long week Sara?" The bartender asked.

She nodded sadly, "The longest."

Payton left a few moments later and found Greg pacing the living room when she got home. "How did you…" She started then realized the stupidity of the question.

"Used to live here…" He said dropping the keys on the coffee table, "…still had my keys."

"Yeah okay I deserved that."

"You deserve a hell of a lot more! What were you thinking Payton? Do you realize you may have jeporadized that case if their lawyer gets their hands on that photo?"

"You didn't even wait Greg, it's like we didn't even matter to you. You just went straight to be with her." She was trying to justify her actions but she knew that was futile.

He sighed, "We mattered so much that I told her today that I need more time." Payton's face registered her shock, "I wanted us to work Payton, but you became more obsessed with Sara than you thought I was."

"Tell me I didn't have a reason to." She didn't want to give up on this.

"You didn't have a reason not to trust me. After you sent me away that day I made the decision to work on our relationship, mainly because Sara had always been untoubable to me. You were my reality Payton. Then when I try to make it about us, you had to keep bringing Sara back into it. I'm not gong to lie to you and say I don't have feelings for her. But I tried my damndest to be true to us after that night. We just don't work Payton. I need you to accept that."

She pushed back the tears. "What if I can't?"

He put a gentle hand on her arm, "Then you're going to have to, she's more of a reality than I'm willing to admit right now. You need to move on."

Sara of course had no idea she was any kind of reality to him. She was desperately trying to convince herself that any feelings she'd had for him had been because she couldn't have him. She knew that was a lie, but she needed to believe it or she was afraid that cracking she was hearing was her heart breaking.

AN Yeah okay now THAT should be the last of the Payton drama...now let's just see how Greg and Sara finally get over their ridiculousness and just get together already:P