Ashley was back at home. She was satisfied with the conversation she just had with Craig, but left very confused by what happened after the conversation.

Rewind to the rest of the conversation. Right after Ashley tells Craig about Jimmy.

"Oh…oh is the only response I get?" Ashley asked.

He wanted to respond to the whole not going out with anyone comment, but decided against it…for now. "Well I don't know what you want me to say? I mean, I'm sorry for overreacting. I don't really know why I've been acting like this lately."

Ashley began to get that concerned look on her face. The one where she becomes overprotective and tries to be his mom.

"No, Ash. I'm not off my meds. It has nothing to do with me being bipolar." At least he didn't think it did.

"Well then what's wrong?"

Even though she could be overprotective at times, he really did love how much she seemed to care for him, which made him think back to her leaving for London. If she cared so much about his well being, then why did she just leave him like that?

"Ash, can I ask you something?"

She loved it when he called her Ash. He was the only one that could make her smile just by saying her name. "Of course," she smiled.

"Why did you leave me? Why would you not let me go with you?"

She so was not expecting that. "Wow, we're really going to get into this right now?"

"Isn't that why you came over here?" he asked.

"Well, yes actually, but…"

"But what?"

"But nothing, I guess." Ashley paused before beginning again. "OK, so I haven't been completely honest with you. I told you I needed to leave to get away from you and that part was true."

Craig didn't know if he was going to like where this was heading. "Well this is exactly what I wanted to hear, so far."

"Let me finish, please. So I left because I felt like I was beginning to lose a part of myself. I was always worrying about you and wanted to make sure you were OK. It just all of a sudden became all about you. We weren't an 'us' anymore and I wasn't myself. I wanted you to get better, and I thought you needed to do that on your own. If I'm being honest, I really left because I thought it would help you."

"Oh ya, it did wonders. I did extremely well after you left. You shoulda seen me. I ran away, I got beat up badly, I couldn't find the inspiration for my music (Mainly because she wasn't there, but she doesn't need to know that, he thought). So thanks for that."

"You don't know how badly I feel about all that. When Ellie told me, all I could do was cry. But then she said you started getting better and you went to group all the time. She said it was helping and you were making music again and that made me happy. And this would be where the…uh…lying part comes in."

Craig prepared himself for the worst.

"You remember Ali?"

"Hmm, the name's not ringing a bell…oh, wait…is he that guy that you started dating and then e-mailed Ellie about him so that you could break up with me…ON MY BIRTHDAY! Oh that guy? Ya, I vaguely remember him."

Ashley laughed.

"Please explain to me what part of that was funny?"

"You're just so overdramatic," she replied.

"OK then, tell me what part exactly doesn't call for someone to be dramatic?" Craig asked.

"How about the part where I never dated Ali…at least not really."

"Huh, what now?"

"I said I never really…"

He interrupted her, "Ya, I heard what you said. Now explain it, please."

"OK…so I went out with Ali once because my dad set it up and I didn't really know how to tell him I wasn't ready, so I just went. We had a nice enough time, but he could tell I wasn't into him. We ended up talking all night…about you, and we became really good friends. But that's it. So aside from my talks with Ali, I was having a miserable time and was ready to come back especially since you were doing so miserably too."

Craig wondered how long this story was going to be, but he was definitely intrigued and wondered where she was going with this. He nodded his head for her to continue.

"I called Ellie and told her everything and that I was going to come back. She said she was happy, but also thought that I should know that you were actually doing very well. The best you had been in a long time, in fact. This is what I had wanted all along, Craig. I wanted you to get better and to be happy. And since it seemed like you were, I was going to make the sacrifice and stay away. I knew if I told you everything I had told Ellie that you would come after me, and I didn't want that to happen. So I made up a lie. I wrote that e-mail to Ellie and not you because I knew it would hurt you more that way. And yes, I made it even worse by doing so on your birthday. Ellie was reluctant to go along with my plan, but I reminded her of how well you were doing and that she would be there to help you get through it. I didn't know what else to do, Craig. It's the only thing I could come up with. And I know it hurt you and I'm so sorry for that."

Craig was officially in shock.

"I kept in contact with Ellie the rest of my time there and every time I talked to her, she said you were getting better and better. I wasn't happy with my decision, but I was at least satisfied with the outcome…at least for you."

"I can't believe this," was all he could get out of his mouth.

"I know. I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say…I'll just go." She got up and walked toward the door.

"Ashley, wait!" he yelled.

She reached for the doorknob, but he grabbed her hand first. She looked down at her hand in his and then back up. "Don't leave," he said. He was now directly in front of her with those big beautiful eyes staring deep into hers. He was so close and her heart was racing and she just couldn't stop herself.

She reached for his face and pulled him in for a kiss. She expected him to immediately pull away, but he didn't. He actually did the opposite. He backed her up, so they were up against the door. She put her hands behind his head, his curls between her fingers. He put his hands above her head up against the wall. He was so forceful with his kiss that she thought she was going to run out of air and pass out, which for some reason made reality set in.

"Manny," she said as she pulled away. What was she thinking? Craig is going out with Manny. "I can't do this."

"Wait, what?" Craig asked.

"You're with Manny, this isn't right."

Craig was so blown away with everything that Ashley had just told him and then the kiss…the magical, passionate, wonderful kiss that he had been longing for. He was lost in another world, so completely gone he couldn't even stop her when she walked out the door.

He walked back to the couch and sat down. He smiled and whispered, "Ash is back."