Alright, here's the lowdown. Four more chapters, and a...durn,durn,durn! DEATH. Who is it. You may never know if your don't review. I want at least four!

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing.

Grace calmly got out a cheque book and scrawled her signature and the words "Seventeen thousand dollars". She handed it over, not quite looking at Luke. Just like that. No questions asked. Luke was glad for that. He was too ashamed to tell Grace how he lost all of the money.

"I promise I will pay you back every last cent," he said, with definition in his voice.

Grace nodded, and then finally spoke. "Luke, I don't want to know why you need the money, but is that the reason you came? Back to Arcadia, that is?"

"Grace, of course not," said Luke quickly, as he saw a tear fall form in Grace's eyes. "I came back because I needed a new start. I didn't even know you still lived here. I didn't even know that you had a book out…" Luke was going to continue, but he was stopped by Grace pulling him into another hug across the table.

"I love you Luke, But just promise me, you will never, ever pay that money back. I want that money to be ours…not mine or yours. Ours - let's get married…"

Meanwhile, back at the Girardi residence, Joan was also making some rash decisions. Thanks to her father, she was thinking about Adam. He was so happy with his new family. Joan thought about it while the rest talked about Kevin's baseball final of 1999. Joan didn't even have to listen to know what they were going on about. That final had been brought up so often in the past, she knew it in detail.

She understood that there was no way that she could be with Adam now. He was out of reach. Joan sort of knew it was her fault for moving away. She shouldn't have run away form Brent and Bonnie. She should have realised that Adam deserved to be forgiven and trusted, but she didn't, so she had stuffed up their future.

But maybe it wasn't too late to make amends. Was it ever too late? Joan jumped up from her seat, and ran outside and got in her fathers car, as Luke had taken their mothers. She then realised she had no idea where Adam lived. His shop was on the main street, but she doubted that he lived there too. But she was desperate so she gave it a shot.

She pulled up in front of the shop, but it had a closed sign up. She went up to the door, and pounded on it for a while, until a wave of either dizziness or emotion (she wasn't sure which one) hit her like a tonne of bricks. Joan steadied herself against the door, as she was now crying uncontrollably. She didn't know why she was, but it felt good to release all the anger she had in her heart. She sunk to the ground, and put her head in her hands. She needed to see Adam. She wanted him to know that she wasn't angry or anything.

She sat in front of the shop for a good hour. She was beginning to get cold, when a harsh voice said, "If you can't stay out of my doorway, I can recommend a good homeless shelter downtown!" The person was male and very angry.

Joan looked up with her puffy eyes, and whispered disbelievingly, "Adam?"

Adam's expression immediately softened.

"Jane," he cried softly, "I didn't realise it was you," he finished, almost regretfully.

Adam sat down next to Joan. "Cha, what's wrong Jane?" he asked, just like he used to all those years ago.

Joan looked into Adam's soft brown eyes. "I'm sorry for leaving," she managed to say.

"That's okay Joan. I understand. Bonnie told me what happened. I tried to find you, but you were gone so quickly."

"You tried to find me?" she said.

Adam nodded, and wrapped his hands around Joan's face. "You were the love of my life. How could I let you just walk away?"

"I'm the love of your life?"

"You were the love of my life. But since Hilary, I've discovered one person can have more than one soul mate. The sad truth is that you did leave, and when Hilary came along, I felt love that I had never felt since you. And know we're happy, with two beautiful children, and we live a happy life."

Joan felt a tear run down her face.

"So we were never special? I was just a teenage thing?"

"No, didn't I just explain that? You were the love of my life, but there is more than one person for everyone. What we had was special, but what me and Hilary is just as special."

Joan wasn't sure she understood what was going on. Was Adam still in love with her? When she asked, Adam just gave a laugh and said "I will always love you, you're my Jane, but I have a life with Hilary."

It dawned on Joan what Adam was saying, and she knew he was completely right. "We'll be friends, won't we?" she asked.

"Cha, of course," Adam replied as he wiped away a single tear from Joan's cheek.

Joan was genuinely happy as Adam pulled her to her feet, and they gave a friendly cuddle.

"Jane, will you come over for dinner tomorrow night at my house? I'm sure Hilary would like to meet you more officially.

"Yeah, of course Adam," said Joan thankfully.

He scrawled down his address on a piece of paper, and Joan got in her car and drove away, admittedly looking forward to the following night.

At Grace's house, Luke was sitting in shock. Marry Grace. He couldn't deny it was what he had always wanted, but this was so sudden. And he wasn't even sure if Grace wasn't going to change back into the highly groomed and overly-well-presented monster again.

As if on cue, Luke's mobile rang. He stepped out of the room to answer it. His heart fell when he heard whose voice was on the other side of the room.

"We won't that money. Meet us outside the high school in thirty minutes and leave the money on bench out the front,"

"It's a cheque," said Luke quickly.

"Well, then leave the cheque on the bench, stupid!" said the voice scathingly. "you had better be there,"

And then the line went dead.