Author's note: This chapter is a redux of the previous chapter, from Kendall's point of view.

Chapter 18

Kendall adjusted one of the ornaments she had received from Bianca. She felt a little embarrassed that she had told Zach the mushy anecdote that went with it. Come to think of it, she had told him lots of mushy anecdotes. She peered up at him and saw that he was staring at her. What the heck? Was she blushing? Damn him, anyway. She broke eye contact, looking anywhere but at him. She caught movement out her window and saw Maria standing at Zach's doorway. She glanced over at Zach to alert him to his guest. When he saw who it was, he looked thoughtful. Kendall gave him a "whatever" look, and so he stood up and left.

Kendall thought it was strange that he walked out the door looking so uncomfortable. Zach was supposed to be madly in love with her. He should have been rushing out the door with an expression of glee. Men, who could figure them out. Well, that wasn't true. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that his expression made sense. He had come to town hoping to rekindle their romance. First Maria hid their relationship with everyone. Then she seemed to choose Edmund, but kept running to Zach every five minutes. Then everyone found out she was keeping his secrets for him. And yet she still seemed to want to be with Edmund. Poor guy had to be confused.

Kendall shook her head and stood up to turn off the radio. She couldn't believe she was sitting here dwelling on Zach Slater and sympathizing with him. Erica would dig her own grave and throw herself in if she knew about all the stuff that Kendall had been through with Zach in the past 36 hours. Wow, had it only been that long? It seemed like forever.

As Kendall pushed the off button on the radio, she heard a distinctive British accent outside. Ethan! She rushed to the door. "Ethan! Where have you been? Never mind, you need to come inside." He glanced over at her. "In just a minute. There is something important I need to tell my father." Kendall shook her head. "Not more important than your freedom." This seemed to give him pause, so she injected a note of pleading. "Please come with me. Zach can wait until later." Of course Zach couldn't help but add his own comment, "With bated breath." For a second Kendall thought Ethan would ignore her, but thankfully he turned and headed for her door.

Kendall slammed the door. "Ethan, where have you been? I've been worried sick!" Ethan carressed her shoulders. "Sorry, love. After finding out that Zach was my father, I needed to do some serious thinking. I tried renting a cabin in the mountains, but the blizzard nixed that idea. On the drive back, however, I came to the realization that no matter what I did next, I was going to need some serious backing to do it. I went straight to chairman of the board at Cambias and explained my situation. He called an emergency meeting, and just like that I was put in place at the head of Cambias."

Kendall stared at him. "What about Bianca?" Ethan shrugged. "She'll have a position of power, just not the top position. She doesn't want it anyway. Don't worry about little Miranda's legacy. That darling girl is set for life." Kendall could hardly take it in. She happened to glance out the window and saw that Zach and Maria were now in his apartment, wrapped in a pretty steamy embrace. Not wanting to examine the strange twist in her heart, she turned back to Ethan. "What were you about to tell Zach out there?" His smile was very self-satisfied. "I had his gaming licenses revoked." Kendall's shoulders sagged. "It didn't take you long to start the whole revenge locomotive going, did it?" Ethan shrugged. "It wasn't just about my personal pain, Kendall. I'm fully convinced that Zach is a menace to the public. Cutting off his power supply was the first step in stopping him from doing more harm. It will be much harder now for him to take shots at Ryan or poison Greenlee."

Kendall sighed. "Zach didn't do those things, Ethan. We found out last night that Jonathan Lavery was the culprit. He's criminally insane. The charges against you have been dropped." Ethan looked stunned. "My word, I had no idea. I feel terrible for Ryan, but I guess I'm glad to be free now." Kendall smiled. "Its funny that people made up their minds that it was either you or your father that were perpetuating all these crimes, and in the end it was neither of you!" Ethan nodded absently, "However, that still doesn't change the fact that my father hurts people. Look at what he's done to Maria. He's got her so turned around that she can't even think straight." Kendall shook her head. "I'm not so sure about that. I wonder if it's the other way around." Ethan looked bewildered. "Damn it, Kendall, what the hell is going on here? Do you actually feel sorry for my father? Why did you look so disappointed when I told you about the gaming license? I thought you understood how I felt. My father betrayed me and rejected me, just like Erica did to you. Why do you act like what I did was wrong?"

In his anger, he was waving his hands around and he knocked the tilting star from the top of the tree. It fell to the ground and broke. Kendall's eyes filled with tears. She didn't know what was wrong with her. She shouldn't have cared less what Ethan did to Zach. She shouldn't have cared that Zach was making out with the love of his life while she was in here with a boyfriend who suddenly looked terrifyingly like Michael. She couldn't take it anymore, she ran out of the apartment. She got into her car and drove off. In her rearview mirror, she saw Ethan get into his car. Damn, he was going to follow her.

Why was she acting like a scared rabbit, anyway? Maybe because it was all too much to take in. Ethan seemed so different tonight. Instead of the devil-may-care Brit she cared about, he had suddenly turned into a power-mad corporate wank. Just what Zach seemed to be so worried about. Buth how could he have changed so much in a day's time? She had to laugh at her own question. She felt like she had changed a lot, herself. Spending so much time in Zach's proximity had made her understand him a lot more, realize he wasn't the evil person everyone in town made him out to be. It had also made her realize how attracted to him she was. All of this was very bad news for her budding relationship with Ethan. Kendall had the sinking feeling that the bud was going to get nipped. Kendall saw SOS up ahead and decided to pull in there. Maybe Ethan would back off if she was in a crowded bar, and give her time to think.

She threaded her way through the dancers and leaned on the bar. Ethan wasn't far behind. "What happened back there? You've never run off like that before. The Kendall I know would dig in her heels and fight to the death." She closed her eyes on her tears. "So I guess we've both morphed into something unrecognizable." Ethan folded his arms. "What are you talking about?" She threw up her hands. "You were so kind and gentle. My heart melted when you held Miranda in your arms. All you wanted was the truth, your legacy. Now that you have it, its like….its like the curse Zach talked about has come true. Tonight you were practically frothing at the mouth when you were talking about revenge. It reminded me too much of Michael, so I had to leave." She knew they were harsh words, but she hoped that comparing him to his uncle would smack him into reality. He stared at her. "He got to you, didn't he? Zach has brainwashed you, just like he did with Maria."

Kendall turned away from him, crushed beyond belief. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to will away the pain and confusion. She tried to crush the voice of her mother telling her that she should have listened and stayed away from Ethan. Her head started pounding in rhythm to the beat of the Maroon 5 song that was playing. Coming here had been a big mistake. She barely registered Ethan's voice. "I guess the old saying is true. Speak of the devil and you'll conjure him up." Her eyes flew open and she stared in the direction that Ethan was looking. Sure enough, there was Zach and Maria on the dance floor. Maria had her eyes closed and she looked blissful. Zach, however, seemed to be staring into space. How in the world had they ended up in the same place as she and Ethan? Was this some sort of attempt to torment her? Throw it in her face that while her relationship with Ethan was crumbling, Zach seemed to be finally getting the woman he wanted? Kendall saw the way he was holding Maria in his arms and was reminded of how he had held her in his arms last night. She wasn't sure how it had happened, but she had woken up at one point and realized she was snuggled against him. For some reason she had felt unable to pull away and move to her side of the bed. It was all too surreal.

As if her musings weren't bizarre enough, when the song ended, Kendall was startled to see Zach abruptly pull away from Maria and almost stagger to the bar. Across the way, Kendall could see that he seemed to be extremely moved by something, as if his personal demons were waging a holy war inside him. Kendall saw Maria slip up behind him and tug on his shoulder, but he was ignoring her. Kendall had this sudden mental image of walking over there and shoving Maria away, then taking Zach's face in her hands and kissing him until he forgot everything, even his own name. Zach looked up at that moment and his eyes locked with Kendall's. Her breath was taken away by the agony she saw in them, and the brief flash that seemed to indicate that he was reading her mind. The spell was shattered when she heard Ethan mutter beside her that it was time for Zach to face the music.

Kendall felt like she was watching a train wreck as she saw Ethan speaking to Zach. Zach pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and glanced at it. Maria appeared to be reading Ethan the riot act. Then something strange happened. Zach looked up from his cell phone and stared at Ethan and Maria. His face appeared to completely shut down as he slipped his cell back in his pocket and then turn and walk away. Ethan and Maria were so busy arguing that they didn't even appear to notice that he was gone.

Kendall debated whether to go after Zach or knock some sense into the two chuckleheads. It was a no-brainer. She got up and pushed her way through the crowd. It became more and more difficult as she neared the doorway, as people packed in for one last hurah before Christmas Eve. She finally escaped, but when she looked around the parking lot, she saw that he was gone. She stood there for awhile, snowflakes gathering in her hair, as she wondered what to do. Her cell phone rang and she glanced at the ID. It was Erica. She answered, and listened as Erica told her that Jonathan Lavery had been found and was safely in custody. Everyone was coming back home and Erica wanted her to come right over to the penthouse. Kendall agreed and hung up. She stared down the street for a few more moments, her eyelashes becoming crusty from the increasing snow fall.