Chapter Two

The duration of the car ride was mostly spent in silence. Fox's groans of nausea were the only sounds breaking the silence. Every so often Theresa glanced at Fox in his pitiful state, hoping that he would fight the urge to hurl until they reached their destination. "How are you holding up Fox?" Theresa asked softly.

Fox groaned miserably in response and struggled to open the passenger side window.

"Oh Fox," Theresa frowned. "I told you drinking wasn't going to solve any of your problems."

Closing his eyes and concentrating on making the world around him stop spinning, Fox weakly replied, "I wasn't trying to solve my problems Theresa. I was merely attempting to numb the pain. Even if it were for a brief moment, Theresa, I needed to numb the pain."

Pain.

Theresa was not a stranger to pain. There had been a whole slew of events in her life that exposed her to inexplicable pain so great that it at times became unbearable. She knew how much it hurt to love. She also knew how much it hurt to let go.

Just the thought of letting go threw Theresa into a whirlwind of horrible, heart-wrenching memories of watching her baby daughter Jane and son Ethan leave with her ex-fiancé Ethan Winthrop and his wife Gwen Winthrop.

It had already been a week since the courts had given custody of her children to Ethan and Gwen. Ethan's impassioned closing speech manifested Theresa into a horrible monster whose actions of impregnating herself with Ethan and Gwen's embryos and later sleeping with Ethan after believing she had miscarried convinced the judge to rule Theresa unfit to care for her children.

Grasping the steering wheel so tightly that her knuckles became white, Theresa bit her trembling lower lip as she tried to remain focus on driving and ridding her mind of the memories that sliced through her heart.

Although his vision was blurred and doubled, Fox watched Theresa and sensed that something was troubling her. Blinking rapidly, Fox focused on Theresa's face long enough to watch a trail of tears escape the corners of her eyes. He winced as he felt a pang of guilt. When he had first arrived in Harmony, he and Theresa were almost inseparable. However, there had been a period in which their lives had taken different paths that led them to misery and heartache.

Fox had heard of Theresa's path that led to her losing custody of her children, and instead of being there for her like he had usually been in the past, he had been brooding over Whitney Russell's betrayal and how to ruin his half-brother Chad Harris' career at Crane Industries. Although he was intent on hurting others, Fox ended up destroying himself and his relationships with the ones he truly cared about.

Yet it was the misery and heartache that Fox and Theresa endured that eventually led them on the same path back to each other.

"I'm sorry." Fox said suddenly yet softly.

"What?" Theresa asked turning her head to look at Fox. "Did you say something?"

But before Fox could repeat himself, a gagging burp escaped his mouth as the contents still remaining in his stomach surged upward and burned his esophagus. Breathing heavily, Fox closed his eyes and shuddered as he forced himself to swallow what was lodged in his throat.

"Never mind," Fox coughed as he rubbed his burning throat.

After pulling into the driveway, Theresa removed her keys from the ignition and proceeded to get out of her car. As she made her way to the passenger side, Fox,still evidently unsteady, attempted to get himself out of the car using the car door for support.

"Put your arm around my shoulders," Theresa said as her arms grasped Fox's waist.

"Theresa, I'm too heavy" Fox protested as he watched Theresa in her tiny frame brace herself to support him.

"Fox, just listen to me. Put your arm around my shoulders." Theresa said firmly.

"Okay," Fox relented as the thought of lying down in a warm bed beckoned to him. "We're not at the mansion," Fox noted as her surveyed his surroundings - his words still slightly slurred.

"We're at my house. It's closer." Theresa said quickly as their footsteps echoed about them.

"You didn't want to go to the mansion did you?" Fox asked quietly. Theresa suddenly seemed to loose her footing resulting in the synchronized beat of their footsteps becoming scrambled.

"I'm not exactly welcomed at the mansion." Theresa muttered. Guiding Fox to the porch rail, Theresa loosened her hold of Fox around his waist.

"Can you stand up on your own? I need to find my keys."

While Theresa dug into her purse Fox watched her intently. Tired eyes and stiffened shoulders gave Fox a glimpse into the emotional battle that took a toll on Theresa physically and mentally.

"You didn't want to go to the mansion because of what happened. Between you and- well, you know" Fox asked as he watched Theresa's eyes immediately tear.

Stiffening and closing her eyes, Theresa turned her head away from Fox. "Don't, Fox. Please." Theresa said simply yet shakily. "Please, not now." Turning the knob, Theresa let the door swing opened wide.

"You know," Fox said as Theresa wrapped her arms around his waist and resumed to help him into the house. "You shouldn't deal with this alone." He whispered. "Someone wise told me that."

Giving Fox a small smile, Theresa replied, "I'm not alone," as she helped him down the hallway into her room. "Here, sit down. I'll be right back."

While, Theresa walked into the kitchen and filled an empty glass with water, Fox tried to resist the urge to crawl under the covers and fall asleep. Closing his eyes and inhaling deeply, Fox detected the sweet tantalizing scent of Theresa's perfume. Memories of their time together began floating in Fox's head as his slowly lowered the rest of his body onto the bed.

After obtaining a glass of water, Theresa walked into the laundry room and sifted through a basketful of recently cleaned clothes for one of Luis', her brother's, clean shirts. Upon returning to her room with a shirt in one hand and glass in the other, Theresa noticed that Fox's limp figure passed out on her bed.

After setting the glass down on her dresser, Theresa shut the door slowly and walked over to Fox. "Hey," Theresa whispered softly in his ear. "Fox sit up. We need to get you into a clean shirt. C'mon," Theresa prodded as she poked his shoulders.

"Mmph," was Fox's muffled reply as he reluctantly opened his eyes to find Theresa's deep brown doe eyes gazing into his own. Suddenly feeling as though something had lodged in his throat, Fox coughed as he sat up.

"Here," Theresa said getting up to grab the glass of water before handing it to Fox. "I thought you'd might need this."

"Thanks." Fox said clearing his throat and taking a sip of the water.

"I also brought you this," Theresa said holding up Luis' shirt. "I figured that you wouldn't want to sleep in a vomit-covered, alcohol-stained polo."

"You figured right." Fox said taking another gulp of the water before setting it down on the nightstand beside the bed. "Thank you Theresa."

"No problem." Theresa said as she took a seat beside him. "Anything for a friend."

"Friends." Fox said nodding. "You know, Theresa. It feels like we haven't spoken to each other in forever."

"I know." Theresa said taking Fox's hand into her own and giving it a friendly squeeze. "It kinda made me sad that I didn't get to see you or talk to you much."

"So you missed me?" Fox said nudging Theresa as she gazed up to see a mischievous glint sparkle in his eyes. "So what'd you miss most? My charismatic charm, My hot and sexy body, or well- you know." Fox said grinning as he winked knowingly.

Laughing, Theresa punched Fox playfully on the shoulder. "Oh c'mon Fox. It's so obvious that I couldn't keep resisting that sexy body of yours."

"I knew it!" Fox said shrugging as he laid back down on Theresa's bed with his head resting on his folded hands. "I knew you couldn't resist me any longer."

Chuckling, Theresa ruffled Fox's hair. "In all seriousness, Fox," She began quietly. "I missed this. I miss joking around with you, talking to you"

"Me too." Fox replied as Theresa's voice slowly trailed off. "I've missed you too."