The flashbulbs, exploding around her like a thousand fireworks was something Olivia had never gotten over. It was like being trapped in a jar full of angry fireflies. Gregory liked it. Each reporter was there to see him. Every flash of light was a nod of admiration. He reached over to squeeze her hand as the limo pulled up in front of the Deschanel Ballroom, the great hall of Sunset Beach and the only structure in town large enough to hold their charity crowd this year.

Gregory reached over to kiss her before lowering her mask to her face. "Wouldn't do for the camera's not to see it." The masks had been Ben Evan's idea. He always was too much of a romantic, but Olivia and Caitlin both loved the idea. "You look beautiful sweetheart."

Her mask was the deep blue of both her dress and the sapphires gleaming around her throat. It swept up from her eyes in delicate lines of diamonds that trailed off into her hair. Thirty loose stones had been glued there that afternoon. The effect was a crown of stars that settled into the dark curls of her hair.

"In fact beautiful doesn't even do you justice." Gregory's mask was far simpler. Black around his eyes and reaching upwards in a crown of silver leaves. Oberon and Titania, king and queen of the fairies. Ben had wisely broached the idea with Olivia present, knowing she'd be more likely to agree. Explaining that as the only married members of the board, it had to be them.

Caitlin watched as her parents made eyes at each other through their masks. The occasional sweetness, she understood. At times they seemed to forget their hatred of each other, but this was approaching full scale reconciliation. When her father had told her about the necklace, she thought it was just another extravagant gift her mother wouldn't appreciate. Yet another disappointment for her father, but this time felt different. Something had changed in the way her father took her mother's hand.

"They look really happy tonight, don't they?" Sean pointed out as Gregory led Olivia out into the reporters. "Mom looks great. Dad's smile seems real. Maybe you're right after all." Sean and Tiffany climbed out of the other side of the car.

Caitlin waited for a moment and followed them in. She walked through the gauntlet alone, the reporter's distracted by a Congresswoman from the fifth district.

Liberty had outdone itself this year. Vines too green to be fake and too large to be real ran up the walls and crept out into the crystal chandelier. Even the floor was green, silk flowers scattered around the dance floor to be kicked aside when the dancing started in earnest. Caitlin's place was at the fourth table, after the pillars of the community. Politicians draped with jewels or glittering wives. It was ironic how everyone had to outdo each other in the name of charitable giving.

She pulled out her chair and sat down, taking the champagne flute the masked waiter set in front of her. Glancing curiously up to the head table, she watched as the champagne trays passed in front of the board members.

Alex Mitchum perched on the table next to her parents. Taking the glass and laughing as she tried to figure out how to drink around her mask. Alex's mask was crimson with gold highlights, accentuating the strawberry blonde of her hair and the bright red of her dress.

For the first time in as long as Caitlin could remember, her mother let the alcohol pass her by. Gregory waved it by as well. Ben Evans, whose mask had a samurai look to it, took two glasses, one for him and the other for his date. His date was a mystery. Behind her geisha mask, Caitlin couldn't tell who it was. It didn't matter; Bette's gossip column would have all the details tomorrow. She swirled the champagne, listening to the bubbles pop against the sides of the glass.

Sean and pulled out Tiffany's chair and they settled in, laughing and drinking punch from the beautiful crystal goblets. They were really too nice for punch, but she wasn't sure she was ready for Sean to start drinking. Maybe her mother's weakness was genetic, and he wouldn't be able to fight it either. But somehow, Olivia had passed up on the champagne.

Curious, Caitlin excused herself from the table and made her way through the crowd and up the stairs to the head table. The orchestra had finished tuning and started in on a mysterious melody that added to the surrealism of the part. Dr. Baxter's arrival was causing a bit of a scene at the front of the ballroom, and Alex was the only one to notice her coming up the stairs.

"Well good evening Caitlin." Alex took her arms and gave her a half-hug. "You look lovely in that color. Very grown-up."

"Thanks Alex." She took the empty chair next to Alex and watched her parents out of the corner of her eye. "Where's your date?"

Reaching for the bunch of grapes on the silver trays on the table, Alex smiled impishly and waved her hand towards the laughing crowd of people near the door. "Rog's down there. Causing trouble as always."

"At least you know you aren't in for a dull evening." Caitlin sighed softly.

Alex popped a grape into her mouth and shook her head. "I wouldn't pout too much if I were you. You have your youth, and you certainly inherited more then your share of the attractive genes from both of your parents" Fingering a blonde curl, she teased the girl with an easy grin. "Though I never did figure out where you got these golden locks from. Certainly not your mother."

"Mom and I never did have much in common." Caitlin's eyes flashed angrily for a moment, obvious even through her glittering lavender mask.

Alex caught another glass of champagne for Caitlin and decided to press the issue. "Why would you say that?"

Caitlin shrugged off the question. "We don't look at all alike. We've never been interested in the same things. I guess you could say we don't see eye to eye on anything."

Though she tried to look comfortable, years of experience told Alex that there was something going on behind that innocent smile. "How is she doing?"

"Olivia?" Alex looked over her shoulder, watching Gregory and Olivia talking cheerfully with Ben and his date. "She's wonderful dear; your daddy really outdid himself on that necklace."

"But she's not drinking anything." Caitlin pressed further and was rewarded as Alex burst into a smile.

"Gregory's not drinking either." Alex pointed out with a wink and a raised eyebrow. "I think it's just the sweetest thing, don't you?"

"Yeah." Caitlin lied, fishing for more information. "Very romantic."

"I suppose it's not as adorable when it's your parents." Alex admitted as she reached for a strawberry from the fruit plate. "But, I'll embarrass you and tell you I think it's a wonderful thing that your parents are doing. Starting over at their ages might seem irrational, but you know you're only as old as you think you are."

"Starting over?" Caitlin asked again. Remembering her conversation with Cole in the study left an unpleasant taste in the back of her mouth. Cole had to have been mistaken. Her parents wouldn't do that; Gregory would be better off divorced then tied to her mother with another child. Provided she could even carry one to term without falling into the trap of alcohol.

"Having a baby." Alex replied firmly, driving the nails into Caitlin's heart. "You know, when a man and a woman love each other too much, they forget about their good senses and let biology take over so they can live forever."

Caitlin's mask hid the pain in her eyes, but did nothing for the sudden tightness in her jaw. Alex's chance to ask about it was lost when Roger descended on his date. Wrapping his arms around her shoulders, he kissed her cheek and nearly pulled her off the table in his enthusiasm. "Good evening love. Sorry I was late, it took forever to get these bloody things glued to my skull."

Roger was certainly a sight. In addition to a simple wooden mask, he had carved antlers peeking out of his curly gray hair. Someone had done a good job on them too; they looked entirely plausible as natural growths of his skull. Instead of the neat black suits worn by every other man at the party, he wore tan suede pants, a multi-colored silk shirt and a short brilliant purple velvet cape.

He leaned down to kiss Alex's other cheek, leaving a trace of dark lipstick. She wiped it off on her napkin and slipped comfortably into the arm he put around her waist. "Is certainly nice to let the horns out one day of the year. Filing them down does get terribly tiresome."

"You look lovely Alex. Like a burst of sunlight, and you Caitlin, are a vision for these poor old eyes. Sometimes I think Robin Goodfellow's died and gone to heaven." Roger moved towards Caitlin but she dodged away, not wanting a lipstick mark on her own cheek.

"You're wearing lipstick." She exclaimed as Roger started fidgeting with the ribbons on Alex's mask.

"Figured I could get away with it tonight." He tilted his head, enjoying the shadow his horns made against the table with the candlelight behind him. "Always been curious to see what you women are so on about."

"And?" Alex wondered as he stole her glass of champagne. "What's the verdict?"

"Tastes funny." Roger admitted as he took a long sip. "And I keep getting it on things."

"I don't know whether to be sympathetic for your plight, or vindicated that you finally have a glimmer of understanding into the hearts of women." Alex took him firmly by the arm and steered him towards the other board members. "Gregory's going to owe me another hundred when he sees you. Didn't believe me that you'd go for the entire effect."

Roger and Alex headed for the other Liberty board members, but Caitlin hung back, wanting to escape. "Aren't you coming with us Catie?" Roger asked thoughtfully as he realized she wasn't moving.

"Oh no, I thought I'd go find-" Cole had promised to be here. He would understand how horrible it was that he had been right about her parents. "Ethan." She finished with a smile. "Maybe we can fit in a few more dance lessons before the party gets underway."

"He might feel better if you let him lead from time to time." Alex reminded her as Caitlin walked away with a wave. "All ambitions and control. Wants romance but doesn't even know what she's looking for. Really Rog, sometimes she's just too much like Gregory for her own good."

"Maybe someday she'll find someone to mellow her out a little." Roger offered sagely. "Gods only know what Gregory would be like now without our dear Olivia to calm him down."

Alex pulled his face down to hers, digging her fingers into his jacket. "You know that's why we never worked out don't you?"

"Darling, you and I never worked out because we were both married and then by the time we learned and bothered to get divorced, we were too afraid to get into anything like that again." Roger massaged his fingers into her spine, feeling the satin of her dress slip beneath his fingers. "This is a really lovely dress. Very smooth."

Alex giggled but leaned into his embrace. "Gregory and I."

"Ahh." Roger realized thoughtfully. "You were the last fling off his bachelorhood, weren't you sunshine?" He caressed her neck, finding the bones of every vertebrae as he felt his way up to her hairline. Catlike, Alex curled into his touch appreciatively. "Come on, I'll take you out on the balcony and you can tell me all about it. Your bet will still be there."

Alex followed him up the stairs and out onto the second floor balcony. Far below, the ocean crashed up on the rocks that made the foundation for the largest building in Sunset Beach. The moon was a crescent of yellow, glistening forlornly above the waves. Roger balanced himself on the stone railing, locking his feet into the bars. He resembled a pagan god when the moonlight caught his antlers.

Alex leaned on the stone next to him, watching the water spray up from the cliffs below. "Thanks for volunteering to listen to me. I know I can be brutally honest with you."

"Confidentiality agreements." He pointed out lightly. Smiling benevolently, he lowered his hands to the railing as he waited. "I've always been a good listener. It's why my dear old mum thought I was a bit batty and wanted to be a girl."

Turning around, she leaned into his shoulder. "You would have made a lovely girl."

"I always thought so." Roger started braiding the ribbons on the left side of her mask. "So, what about Gregory?"

"Oh Roger," she started with a heavy sigh. "I still have feelings for him. Not the kind I want to do anything about but the kind I'm having trouble ignoring."

"He's gone sunshine." He explained softly as he pulled her in front of him to rub her shoulders. "Entirely gone. Not that I blame you at all. His passion, the force of his personality, all of it is genuinely appealing about him. Gregory's a rottweiler, when he likes you, he'd kill for you. If he doesn't like you, he'll rip your face off."

Laughing again, Alex tilted back her head and snuggled into the warmth of his body. "Funny analogy. Especially consider how much he hates dogs."

"Competition. He needs to be alpha male, all of the time. Pack leader." Running his hands up and down her arms kept Alex warm. Roger rested his chin on her head. "That's why we continue to get along. I'm a clown. A follower."

"Entirely nonthreatening." Alex agreed gently as she patted his hands. "And I know it would never work between us. We're too alike. It would be fun for awhile, but then we'd implode. I'm sure you remember, we were there after that summer. Ready to kill each other."

Sighing again, she wandered into old memories. "But no one else was ever that fun."

Roger turned her around and lifted up her mask for a moment. "You can still have fun, sunshine. We can get a lot of fun into whatever time you have left."

"I don't want that much." She admitted softly as she pulled her mask back down over tearful eyes. "Every day it's a little bit harder to get out of bed and give myself the morphine and the steroids. Each time I wonder if I should just pull back the plunger all the way on the little needles and just end it."

Being a gentleman, Roger took her hand and kissed it. "When you're ready, I'll be there. Just like we talked about."

"I know," She toyed with his horns as she found her smile again. "And you're a sweet man for keeping my secret so well."

"Secrets all around lately." He gave her another hug and started in from the chill night air. "When you get a chance, talk to Livie alone. She's going to need your help with her own little secret."

Gregory watched Roger and Alex returned from the balcony arm-in-arm. With all the familiar faces around it was almost like old times again. He caught the waiter with a tap on the shoulder and retrieved the two glasses of sparkling water. Returning to his conversation, he handed one to Olivia with a smile. Annie had started to give them a hard time for passing up the champagne, but she was easy enough to quiet.

"It's going to be a long night Annie and I'm afraid I'm just not as young as I used to be." Gregory had explained easily to Annie's geisha mask. "Besides, there's more for you that way."

Ben shook his head, his laughter out of place with his samurai appearance. "You'd think she'd have picked up a little more sophistication while she was in Europe."

"And you are a millionaire heiress now." Without even looking at Annie, Gregory ran a grape around the edges of Olivia's lips before letting her eat it. "You have a reputation to live up to Miss Douglas."

Ben watched Gregory's flirting and tried to figure out where the likeable side of Gregory had been hiding in recent years. "Where is Roger? Annie needs to thank him again for buying her out of that rather sticky situation."

"Over by the food with Alex." Gregory pointed out with his glass. "If you're headed over there, take this to Alex for me." Handing Olivia his glass, he took a hundred dollar bill out of his wallet and passed it to Ben. "I foolishly bet Roger wouldn't wear the horns in public."

"I tried to warn you." Olivia piped up as Ben and Annie left them. "Roger's never been one to pass up a chance to do something out of the ordinary. He looks good in them though."

"Everyone looks wonderful." Gregory took her hand and led her out towards the dance floor. "Although, no one else here compares to you. This-" He ran his hand over the line of diamonds. "Adds just the right air of mystery. I'm going to have to keep it around for awhile. Find some use for it."

Olivia put her hand on his shoulder as he chose their steps. "Strangers in the night darling?"

"There's something intriguing about only seeing part of your face." He ran a lazy finger along her chin, smirking. "Makes me appreciate what I have all the more."

"Aren't you afraid someone will see you and your reputation as an ice cold attorney will be ruined?" Olivia wondered as she wrapped her arm around the back of his neck.

"I don't see why being a good husband is bad for my reputation." He retorted gently. "Being a bad one never seemed to make a difference."

Olivia started to protest, almost losing her step in the waltz. "You-"

Gregory hushed her with a finger over her mouth. "I was a terrible husband. Either gone to work or locked up in my own mind. You deserve more then that."

Unable to reply, she kissed his fingers.

Gregory cupped her chin for a moment and smiled, looking reverent in his dark mask. "I've tried to blame you for what happened between us and tried to tell myself it's all been your fault." Titling his head so he wouldn't bump their masks together, he kissed her, feeling rather proud. She was his and he wasn't embarrassed to demonstrate that in the middle of a floor full of people.

He kept her in close, only swaying slightly to the music as he rested his head on her shoulder. "But this is a partnership, isn't it? Even the blame has to be shared."

When the music ended, Gregory took the pause before the next song just to hold her for a moment. "All of that is behind us now. I promise you that Liv."

Caressing the line of his nose through his mask, Olivia was grateful her eyes were hidden in hers. It really wouldn't be proper to burst into tears in the middle of Sunset Beach's finest. Pulling Gregory out of the crowd, they retreated to the head table.

He pulled out her chair and settled her into it with another glass of sparkling water. "I'm going to go see about dinner. I'll bring your plate back to you."

"Thank you darling." Taking advantage of her moment alone, Olivia turned away from the party long enough to wipe the tears away from under her mask.

Alex caught her shoulder and handed her an extra napkin. "Here you are. What did Gregory do now?"

Olivia replaced her mask and smiled even though she still felt the tears stinging her eyes. "Oh Alex. He's been so sweet lately. It's like it was when we were young and foolish. I just can't imagine how much it's going to hurt when it ends."

Alex took Gregory's chair and wrapped her arms around her friend. "Oh honey. It's not going to end. Not between you two." Lifting Olivia's mask off again, Alex carefully got the tears away from her eyes with the cloth napkin. "Never between you two."

"Take it from someone who was in a marriage that ended in divorce. There are signs that lead up to it. Moments where you wonder why you got together at all-" Alex hugged her again, brightly trying to share her optimism. "But you don't have that do you?"

"No." Olivia managed weakly, swallowing her tears and forcing herself to smile. "I just don't want to let him down."

Alex tapped her fingers on the table thoughtfully. "How could you disappoint him?"

Looking around, Olivia made sure Gregory was still out of earshot at the catering table. "I'm not sure if I can get pregnant."

Scooting her chair closer, Alex leaned in conspiratorially with her hands on Olivia's knees. "That's all? I bet Roger has tons of magic potions he could prescribe you. Women older then you have children all the time and if there's anything I can do, you just ask. You know I'd do anything for you two."

Satisfied that Gregory was still far enough away, Olivia confessed, feeling rather childish. "Roger gave me something. It's supposed to help. I was going take it next weekend, when Gregory's away in England."

"Isn't that counterproductive if Gregory's away?" Olivia blushed faintly as Alex hit her shoulder playfully. "After all, if I remember my early biology lessons it takes two to make a baby."

"Roger said-" She took a drink to clear her throat. "I might already be pregnant. He wants me to take this drug to encourage my body to implant the baby. It's just; it's a series of shots."

Alex squeezed her shoulder, smiling broadly. "That's easy. Needles just look scary when you have to do them yourself. I'll help you."

Olivia watched Gregory's approach with the plates in his hands, quickly lowering her mask. She squeezed Alex's hand in the affirmative, her eyes deeply grateful. She changed the subject to something safe for Gregory's ears. "Ben brought in this orchestra all the way from San Francisco. Said he saw them years ago, and couldn't wait for an excuse to bring them down here."

"Here you are." Gregory announced as he set the plates down in front of both women. "I choose different things for both of us so you could try everything. If you had let me know you were sitting in my chair I would have gotten you something too Alex."

Alex vacated his chair, staying long enough to squeeze Olivia's hand again in comfort. "I think I can manage to find my own food. Don't let him be too nice to you. That mask is a little too nice to ruin it."

Gregory took the hint, wrapping his arm around her waist. "You all right?"

Olivia nodded as she spread her napkin out over her lap. "I'm fine. Really. I'm just a little emotional lately."

"It's all right." Reassuring her as he made his hand comfortable on her hip. "As long as you're happy."

"Ridiculously so lately darling." Olivia fidgeted with her silverware, not really sure what to start with on her plate. "I- it's just- I can't..." Taking a deep breath, she set down her fork and looked at him, finding his eyes in the black holes in his mask. "I'm afraid it's going to end."

"It's not going to end." Gregory gently leaned his forehead into hers, resting their masks together. "I promise you Olivia. Everything's going to be all right. I wouldn't, I couldn't leave you." He kissed her, taking his time with her lips. Enough time that he got a few whistles of approval and a scattering of applause. Olivia's blush ran pink up to her mask and disappeared.

"Now, can we eat?"

Olivia reached down to the hand he still had on her waist and took it. Cherishing the warmth of his fingers. "All right. But I want you to turn your plate so I can get your lobster."

Gregory raised one eyebrow, turning his plate towards her slowly. "What do I get?"

Coyly sliding his hand up the smooth fabric of her dress, she stopped it just beneath her breast, still out of sight through the table. "I'm willing to open negotiations for after the party."

Gregory pressed his advantage, trusting the centerpiece to hide his hand from the majority of the crowd. "Unless you want to strategically retreat somewhere more out of the way."

Olivia took his lobster and ate it, licking traces of butter from her lips. "Don't you think we'd be missed?"

"We could be discreet." He replied suggestively.

Olivia moved his hand to the complicated closures on the back of her dress. "Not in the amount of time it would take me to get out and back into this." Leaning over to whisper in his ear, she stole another morsel from his plate. "I'll have to make it up to you, later."