A/N: Yay!!! Reviews are fun! By the way twinklegirl18297, I'm glad you also understand the genius that is Monty Python. "...It's just a flesh wound!" teehee. anyway...

Ch. 6 Rapid Hope Loss

"Ric."

The word was barely audible as she spoke it, staring in disbelief. She watched the smile disappear from his lips. The devious look he arrived with transformed into one of confusion.

"What did you say?" he asked.

After blinking several times, she could see that the dead man wasn't there after all.

"Courtney?" Carly asked, her friend looking miles away.

"Nothing." Courtney lied and knelt to pick up the glass bits off her floor.

"Ok." she replied deciding to let it go then lowered to help clean up the mess.

"Thanks."

"It's nothing. Why did you drop it?"

"I was surprised to see you, that's all." she explained.

"Do you break something every time company comes over? I mean, you looked like you'd seen a ghost."

The last word made Courtney stop her movements and let out a small sigh. Her friend could see she had struck a nerve and wanted to slap herself for being so stupid. "It was a joke. I didn't mean to remind you about...never mind."

She stood up and threw the shards in the trash, not wanting to hear the excuse the woman had for coming by. But it didn't matter, as Carly began to speak again.

"You know I was thinking, we really haven't had a girls day in a while. So what do you about tomorrow; you and me-"

"Carly," she cut in." what did you really come for?"

"Ok, so you caught me. I wanted to see how you were, you know, with everything."

"Fine." she responded.

"Yeah, and I never touch junk food." she answered sarcastically. "Tell me the truth; you're not ok."

"You're right. I'm not ok. I'm so far from it, I don't remember what ok feels like. Ok is a whole other lifetime ago." she confessed.

A brief silence fell between the two, and Courtney found herself wishing she would just leave. The other woman seemed to catch on to the tension, because she gave an excuse for having to go. Probably to report to Sonny how pathetic her situation was. Knowing their relationship, it would give him a laugh. She saw Carly stop just outside the door and face her.

"You know, what Sonny said at the station, he didn't mean it." she offered.

"Yes, he did. Bye, Carly."

She closed the door before her friend could try to respond.