Ch. 24 Sparking Matches

He came downstairs and looked around the living room. Everything looked the same as it was the day she'd disappeared, save for the pictures. He went to the closet and pulled a box from the shelf. Sitting himself on the leather couch, he

lifted the lid off the old shoebox and looked at its contents. After he'd cleaned up the mess he had made that day, he'd grabbed every picture he had of her and hid it away. It was too painful to look at, but he couldn't bring himself to throw them away either.

Other than that, everything , even her clothes, had been left in place. In a deep region of his heart, he held out hope she would come back. He got his wish; she was back. He picked up the framed one on top, feeling the weight of it in his hand, and admired the photo it held. He recalled the day it was taken. He'd joined Carly, Michael and Courtney in the park. They were sitting on the bench, his arm around her as she leaned into his chest. He remembered how Carly gushed about what a perfect moment it was and insisted on taking a picture.Sighing at the memory, he put the frame aside and continued to file through the box, knowing he put it in there. After a few moments he found it.

He had no idea why he kept it, but he had. he'd reread it a thousand times and basically had it memorized. Grabbing the phone, he dialed an always dependable number. On another day, he might have been amused by the sleepy greeting.

"Stan, it's me. I know it's early but I need you to get on something right away. How soon can you get here? Alright." he hung up the phone, not bother to say goodbye.

Thirty minutes later Jason was handing the letter over to the man.

"Just see if you can get anything from it." he instructed.

"Alright, I'll let you know." Stan said, yawning and walking out. He closed the door behind the man as he heard footsteps behind him.. Turning around he was greeted by someone he didn't expect to see.

"Morning." Robin greeted.

"Morning." he answered remembering the next he'd do was talk to her and learn everything that's been going on. "I didn't hear you last night."

"Yeah, you were a little distracted." she hoped the bitterness was not apparent in
her voice. She couldn't help it. It had been hard enough to get him to sit and talk to her before, now that Courtney was back, it would be impossible.

"We need to talk."

"About what?" she asked nervously.

"About the other night. What exactly happened the day you went to that hospital?"

"I told you." she answered quickly.

"I know but-"

"Hi." Robin spoke, happy to interrupt his interrogation. He looked at her questioningly before turning over his shoulder where she was looking. He saw her standing at the bottom of the stairs and his focus shifted instantly, as she guessed it would.

"Hey." he greeted, his heart skipping a beat as he took in her appearance. It had been so long since he had seen her after waking up in the morning. "Did you sleep well?"

He wanted to kick himself for asking the question when he already knew the answer. He knew that she hadn't slept well at all, but his mind didn't seem to form anything for him to say. She nodded slightly to his question, she was lying. She didn't want him to know about her restless night.

"Are you hungry? Do you want some breakfast?" he asked, slowly regaining his thoughts.

"Sure." she answered quietly.

"Umm..There's really nothing to eat here, I'll go grab something. Will you be ok?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

"Ok, I won't be long."

Putting on his jacket, his first instinct was to kiss her goodbye. He barely caught himself before giving in to the habit. Instead he simply nodded and walked out. Outside in the hall, he momentarily leaned back against the door. He took a deep breath in and out before standing back to his full height and walking further away from the door, casting a glance back to the door.

An awkward silence settled in the penthouse and Courtney looked at the brunette, wondering if she was anyone of importance to her.

"Do I…Should I know you?" she asked, letting the silence fade away.

"Oh. No. Actually we've never really met. Robin Scorpio." she said holding out her hand. Courtney looked at it for a moment before slowly grabbing and shaking it. "Well, uh, I have to make a phone call. Excuse me."

She left the blonde alone in the room and pulled out her phone. Finally, he picked up and she began speaking.

"It's me."

The door opened and Carly entered. Immediately seeing her friend on the couch, she took her own seat on it, being sure not to sit too close. She didn't

want her to think she was crowding or pressuring her. She simply wanted to talk to her.

"I thought you were Jason." she said honestly.

"Sorry, but he'll be back." She spoke the words the two had said to each other many times when it came to their men.

"You're Michael's mom right? Carly?"

"Yeah, that's right." she answered. "I'm sorry about him and what happened yesterday."

"It's fine." she said looking down. Carly tilted her head and rested it on her hand, looking at her friend closely.

"Is it?"

Robin walked speedily into the room, eyes finding Carly.

"Great, when Jason comes home tell him I had to go out." she didn't wait for a reply before walking out the door. Carly looked at the door then back to Courtney.

"I'll be right back." she got up and went quickly into the hall, catching Robin before she could get into the elevator.

"Hey!"

"What are you doing?" Robin demanded to know when Carly grabbed her arm to prevent her from leaving.

"What am I doing? What the hell are you doing?" she spat. "You come back to town, cry all over Jason, practically beg him to protect you from whoever is out there, and now you're just going to go out there where God-knows-what can happen?"

"Oh please.. Don't act like you care if anything happens to me."

"Damn straight I don't. But Jason wants to protect you for some unknown reason and I don't want to see him blame himself for not being able to."

"God! Nothing is going to happen to me!" she said irritated.

"You say that like you know for sure." Carly replied, raising her eyebrow and crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Do you know something we don't?"

"Yeah, I know I've got somewhere to be." she said sarcastically, taking the stairs to make a quick getaway.

"Ugh…I hate that woman." she shook her head and turned around to go back inside the penthouse. She shook away the negativity and returned inside.
She stopped when she didn't see her friend in the living room. She looked around for a second wondering where she had gone, when she heard a bang come from the kitchen and then another.

"Courtney?" she called, rushing to the area. "Courtney?"

She heard her say her name as she opened and slammed yet another cabinet.

"Sweetie, what's wrong?" Carly asked.

"I was thirsty, I wanted some water." she replied keeping her attention on the cabinets, trying to control her frustration. "But I can't find the cups."

"It's ok." she said. She walked to the small, wooden door just next to the one Courtney had just opened, and pulled out a glass.

"No it's not." she admitted taking the glass from Carly. "It's not ok to not know where things are in my own home."

"It's not you're fault, you had no control over what happened."

"And what did happen?" she asked the woman.

"I don't know," she answered sadly. "We really don't know the details."

"So how do you know I had no control? How do you know I didn't bring this on myself?"

"Because I know, ok." she said trying to keep her tears in check. The conversation was pulling at all her emotional strings. She put her hands on her shoulders to emphasize her point by looking in her eyes. "I know you."

"No, " she pulled away from her touch. " You know her! You can't know me, nobody can. I don't even know me!"

Losing hold of her emotion, she grabbed the glass and hurled it at the wall. It shattered on impact and the remains fell to the ground as Courtney sank there as well, her head in her hands. Carly stood for a brief second before going to the woman on the floor.

"I'm sorry." Courtney whispered, lifting her head to look at the woman and allowing her to see the falling tears. "I'm sorry, it's just-"

"Shh…" Carly hushed her, before wrapping her arms around her, letting her own tears go.

The two stayed like that, neither speaking.