Manny nervously held Craig's hand as he swung it back forth roughly. He was practically itching to skip down the sidewalk, dragging Manny with him. "You look pretty Manny." Craig said sweetly, as he led her forcefully to the park. Manny could only respond by plastering a confused look across her face, and attempt to smile as he portrayed a childlike version of himself, not aware of his own strength or that he was acting nothing like his normally cool collected self. Craig stopped her as they got closer to the park, he smiled at her and placed his hands on her shoulders, "stay right here." He turned away and turned back and put up his hands, "close your eyes."

Manny looked at him confusedly, "okay?" she slurred out slowly. Craig smiled brightly as Manny closed her eyes, and went to walk away.

"No peeking!"

Manny felt her stomach flutter as she thought about Craig's radical change in behavior. She tried desperately to peek, but restrained at the thought of upsetting Craig, at the moment something like that just wasn't worth guessing on whether he'd freak out in a good way or flip out like a beast. Emma had explained to Manny, as they sat in her room, while getting ready for her date, that Craig and his father had a lot of issues. That Craig's father would flip out for the smallest, little thing Craig would do. It scared Manny, just the thought of someone hurting Craig sent shivers down her spine. And then she thought of when she told him she was getting the abortion, the fire and anguish in his eyes, the look that he would snap her in two. Manny shuddered, she hoped deep down that Craig's usual cool, collected self would re-emerge soon, she didn't want to be around him if she said the wrong thing, or did something he didn't approve of. She heard him walk up to her and gently tug her to follow. "Can I--"

"No!" he said, "keep them shut."

Manny walked carefully as Craig led her farther into the park, judging by the steps she was making, and where she had started walking at she assumed they were nearing a picnic bench near the playground equipment. She sighed gently as Craig stopped tugging and walked behind her and slowly covered her eyes with his hands, "can I look now?" she asked. Craig smirked happily at the thought of making someone he cared about happy, just made the moment even brighter.

"Okay, now" he said softly and removed his hands as she fluttered her doe eyes open. Manny gasped. "Do you like it?" Craig asked. " I mean I know you were thinking I'd take you out, to like a fancy restaurant or something, but I couldn't get Joey to give me an advance on my paycheck, and…"

Manny took in the scene quietly as Craig rambled excitedly. A delicate table cloth was thrown over the picnic table, elegant candles lit, some take out from the Dot resting on paper china with plastic silverware and clear color tinted plastic cups. "it's…" she looked over at Craig as he continued rambling on, "you did this for me."

Craig turned his attention back to Manny, "well yea," he said almost dumbfounded that she asked. " do you like it?" he asked again, this time not rambling on, and waiting for an answer.

Manny nodded as she took his outstretched hand and was led to the picnic table.

ooO0Ooo

"So what do you want to do first?" Mark asked as Ashley led him out of the hospital. " play some tackle football, skydiving, extreme goat wrestling?" He laughed as Ashley playfully punched his arm. "Hey, hey Sweets, careful there, you're beating on a man who just had a heart transplant."

Ashley rolled her eyes, "well what do you want to do?" she asked.

"Let's get matching tattoos!" he decided excitedly, "on our ass cheeks."

Ashley glared, " don't you just want to go home?" she asked, "I'm sure you're parents would want to see you."

"You'd think that wouldn't you?" he asked watching as his feet shuffled along, "I just don't want to go home right now Ash, it's a mess, I mean," he looked up at her, "you saw them at the hospital, it's like walking into a cage match with them."

"So, then…what are we going to do?" Ashley asked as they stopped at the bus stop and she rested her chin on his shoulder as she wrapped her arms around his waist. Mark shrugged, wanna go back to my place?" she asked.

"Sure, sounds good." Mark said watching as the bus pulled up slowly the stop. Ashley smiled as she pulled out a bus pass and climbed hand clasped with Mark's she climbed onto the bus and led him to the back where they found a comfortable spot by the back window on the tattered seat. Ashley rested her head on his shoulder and he tilted his head to lean against hers and watched as the city-scape whisked by them. The bus stopped two blocks away from the Isaacs-Kerwin residence when Ashley and Mark got off. Unlocking the door and walking inside Ashley turned to her boyfriend.

"So what do you want to do?" she asked as she shut the door behind them.

Mark shrugged, "it doesn't matter," he said snuggling into her neck, making Ashley squirm as she tried to walk into the living room. Ashley pulled away and set her keys on the piano as Mark walked to lull over Ashley's Grandfather's guitar set in the corner of the room. He picked it up and strummed it lightly, cringing as he realized that the strings were terribly out of tune. He slumped down onto the couch and looked up at Ashley who'd slid herself down onto the piano bench. "D?" he asked politely. Ashley smiled and lightly drew her fingers onto the piano keys and played a simple D major chord. Mark gently bit his tongue as he poked from between his lips as he tuned the guitar to open D. Ashley gently tickled a few keys, playing nothing specific, just playing a haunting harmony in the key of D as she hummed an equally haunting melody. Mark looked up from the couch and lazily picked the guitar strings with his fingers, sliding his left hand up and down the neck of the guitar lightly playing notes that complimented Ashley's.

"She lies alone" Ashley sang out softly as closed her eyes and focused on her playing. Mark watched her as he played, his fingers working on the strings. The room had become an intimate situation for the both of them as they began playing music together. "Blood red petals, fall from her hands." Ashley began playing more intensely as her lyrics became more graphic, "like the blood dripping down her arms…draped across her bed, fingering the rose petals while her blood runs dry" Mark continued to play, closing his eyes as well as he finger picked the strings. "Taking in the last bit of…" Ashley continued.

"Beauty…before she finally closes her eyes" they sang together, "no tears left burning down her cheeks, no sun shining as she opens her mouth to speak."

To any on looker, the scene would be one of a amazement, but with a connection at that moment, between two hearts, and two musicians, it was nothing out of the ordinary for them. "So calm," Mark sang as he rapped his guitar with the palm of his hand, "So quiet," Ashley sang as she began to slow the tempo. "so peaceful as she closes the stem in her hand."

"The thorns so sharp," Mark belted out.

"Bleeding her just a bit more than she herself can"

"Strangling the stem"

"The silky red petals turn a sickly brown, no more red---"

"Just a frown" Mark opened his eyes as he sang and Ashley looked over at him, smiling as she worked her fingers across the ivory.

"She fades away"

"Like the flower"

"Losing beauty"

"Losing grace"

"Losing life, as the color drains from her face" they sang together, and Mark strummed his last chord as Ashley finished the improvised song, ending on a strong chord. Ashley smiled, "that was new," Ashley said looking over at Mark.

"That was the poem you wrote last week, wasn't it?' Mark asked.

"Just something…I didn't know you remembered it at all," she said as she slid off the piano bench and joined him on the couch. The sound of keys in the front door signaled the return of someone home and Ashley peered her head towards the opening door and smiled as her mother and step-father walked into the house. "Hey Mom, …Jeff!" she called out.

Kate walking the living room and smiled, "Mark, honey, how are you feeling?' she asked politely.

"Fine Kate, I'd be much better if you told me Jeff was grilling up some of his fine steaks for dinner." He said laughing as she smiled at him.

" I take it you'll be joining us then for dinner?" Kate asked as she made her way to the kitchen.

"If that's not a problem" Mark said pouting.

"You're never a problem, Mark" Jeff answered for her as he followed Kate into the kitchen to prepare dinner.

Ashley looked around to find the room empty apart from her and Mark and smiled as she pulled him close and breathed in the scent of his hair, "you're just a charmer aren't you?" she whispered in his ear.

"Mmm you know it," he said hugging her close.

Ashley kissed his cheek gently and pulled away, getting up off the couch, "I'm gunna go to the bathroom, I'll be right back. Mark smiled as she kissed his cheek and pushed himself up.

"And I'll be waiting for you in the other room to steal the remote from me," he said smiling, but the moment she was out of view he sighed heavily. Truth be told he wasn't his usual happy self. Dr. Ellis said he may feel a little depressed post-Op but he didn't think it'd bother him. He felt miserable having someone else's heart, granted he was more than happy to have one that worked. He felt his chest ache slightly as he became upset over his thoughts and reached into his pocket for the pain pills Dr. Ellie had prescribed for him. He thought about the things he was told he could and could not do, and frowned. Granted he was allowed to do certain activities, but more specifically to, "not exert yourself" he mimicked as he walked to the kitchen and grabbed himself a glass of water to chase the small does of Ultram he was given, and then he dug around in his pocket for the immunosuppressant he was given to reduce the risk of his body rejecting his new heart. That thought alone made him feel worse as he walked into the family room and sat down in front of the television. "What if my body rejects my heart?" he thought himself as he gently placed his hand over his slightly swollen chest. He reached for the remote and turned on the television just as Ashley entered the room, and he smiled.

ooO0Ooo

Ellie walked into the Cameron brother residence and collapsed on the couch. " I might as well just give you a key, Red." Tracker said as he followed her inside, "you're here just as much as Sean is." Ellie sighed heavily as she pulled off her heavy boots and curled up on one end of the couch and made room for Tracker to sit after he loosened his tie from work. "Speaking of,…"

"He's with Jay, picking up parts for the expo car," Ellie answered upon the questioning of Sean's whereabouts.

"And you're here why?" he asked amused by the amount of time his brother's girlfriend spent at their place with and without him. He laughed himself as she threw a glare his way.

"What I can't hang out with my favorite pseudo older brother?" she asked brightly before the scowl returned to her face. Tracker kicked his feet up onto the coffee and stuck his hand out, asking for the remote.

"Okay, Red, what's wrong?" he asked as he flipped through channels, and upon finding nothing he turned his attention to Ellie.

"My stupid mother…" she said frustrated, " if you can call her that."

"She drinking again?"

"Enough to make her act I'm baby-sitting her" Ellie answered tugging on her braids." she can't do anything without my help." Ellie pulled on her hair enough to make her cringe slightly. "How did you put up with it, I mean with your parents?"

Tracker closed his eyes and thought momentarily about the things he did to deal with his own parents' antics, their drinking, the constant physical and emotional abuse towards each other, it all bottled up inside him as he grew up. "I moved away," he answered simply.

Ellie pulled her legs underneath her, watched him intently as he opened his eyes. "You just…left?" she asked.

Tracker nodded, "I moved to B.C. to live with my grandmother, I needed to get away from it all, and when I came back Sean was at his breaking point, so I moved here and brought him with me…"

Ellie nodded and turned her attention towards the front door as Sean walked in and dropped his book bag on the floor and walked lazily to the couch, where he collapsed down between his brother and girlfriend. He moaned audibly and canoodled up with Ellie, who giggled as Sean's unshaven face brushed against her cheek, and was met with a sloppy kiss. He turned to his brother, "dinner?"

"Ordered pizza before I left work," Tracker answered.

"You staying El?' Sean asked playing with the tear on her thigh in her jeans.

Ellie took the moment to think about her mother, who was lying at home on the couch, drowning herself in a cocktail of vodka and the Lifetime movie of the week. She tried to ask herself the question of "where do you want to be Ellie?"

"Yea, I'll say," she said, "and then go home to clean up after a child," she grumbled.

"Hm?" Sean mumbled sucking on her earlobe as Tracker got up to answer the door as a knock interrupted.

"Nothing," Ellie answered rolling her eyes and turned towards him, and was met with his lips on hers and his hands cupping her face. She pulled back, "what's with you tonight, you're like a bag of hormones."

"I dunno," he said reaching for her waist to pull her closer, "but only you can fix me" he said smiling as he pressed his lips against hers.

Ellie rolled her eyes, "oh really?" she said laughing as she pulled back.

"Well I guess I can always go ask Amy," he said standing up. Not immediately realizing the damage control he'd have to do to make up for that statement as he smirked. Holding onto her hands he attempted to pull her to her feet and the playful smirk died as Ellie glared and tugged her hands away. He looked down at her to realize that he'd said the wrong thing. "Sorry," he said sitting back down.

"It's okay," she said standing and walking towards the kitchen where Tracker was looking for paper plates, "Track, I'm gunna see you later, I should get dinner or something for my mom." And she walked passed a confused Sean on her way out the front door. Tracker watched from the kitchen as Sean angrily got up and followed Ellie, slamming the door shut behind him.

"El!" he called out chasing after her, and reached out to grab her arm as she hustled faster, "Ellie, stop!" he said as he grabbed her wrist forcefully and pulled her back. She swung around her plaits whipping around as she turned towards him.

"What Sean?" she asked angrily, trying to tug away, but Sean instinctively grabbed her other wrist to force her to stay.

"I'm sorry," he said, basically repeating what he'd said in his living room.

"And I told you it's okay, now can I go home?" she asked, pulling herself from his grasp.

"It's obviously not okay, you're freaking out about a stupid comment!" He watched as her eyebrow twitched violently as she shouted at him, and continued to twitch as she continued her rant.

Ellie rolled her eyes, "Sean you're incredible" She turned around as she continued her walk home, walking backwards down the sidewalk, "I don't care about the stupid comment, I don't care that it was about Amy, I just frankly don't give a damn about it." She watched as Sean stood still, angry, watching her as she walked away from him, "it's important enough for me to care about, can't I just go home and eat dinner with my mother?"

"Fine, go home!" Sean shouted turning away from her.

Ellie groaned loudly and turned to walk home and immediately spun on her heels and chased after him, grabbing him by the shoulder and spinning him around so he stared her red-faced and angry. "I lied."

"I know" he grumbled, "your eyebrow twitches when you lie."

Ellie sighed, "I don't understand how you could even joke, even after what Jay said the other day," referring to the cafeteria comment.

"I'm sorry," he said for the third time that day. "Geez El,what do you want from me" he said rubbing the back of his neck.

"Look, I'm just gunna go home, my mother needs me."

"Don't use that excuse" Sean said.

"And why not, Sean?" Ellie asked, hands placed defiantly on her hips. "Because I'm dying to know why I shouldn't care for my mother."

Sean stared at her wide-eyed, almost angry that she didn't realize how wrong of a situation it was for a child to take care of a mother that is totally and completely capable of living life without a bottle in her hands. "Ellie you can't be serious, she should be taking care of you."

"Well right now she can't, and I'm all she has." Ellie turned to walk home.

"Fine, go to your mom," Sean said reluctantly, knowing fully well that this fight just wasn't worth it. Ellie's shoulders slumped and she turned around again, a solemn look on her face as she tried desperately to show Sean that she wanted to stay. The whole situation of her staying for dinner was changed by one simple remark, she didn't actually want to go home and clean up after her drunken mother, but with rationalization came realization. Despite her need to take care of her mother, the reality of the situation was that Judy Nash needed to take care of herself. And in the few moments she turned around to look Sean in the eye and open her mouth to say that she wanted to stay, he saw it all. He knew the look, the look that showed someone had to be somewhere else, but wanted nothing more than to stay where they were loved.

"What kind of pizza did he order?" Ellie asked, knowing she didn't need to say much, or need much convincing to get her back on the couch in front of the television cuddled up under Sean's arm. Sean smiled and gently intertwined his fingers with hers and they walked back, following the scent of freshly delivered pizza.

ooO0Ooo

Craig kissed Manny gently and smiled before turning and making his way down the street skipping happily as entered the Jeremiah residence to find Joey and Angela on the couch watching what looked like, "Princess Diaries!" Craig shrieked excitedly. He pushed Joey aside on the couch and plopped himself down between them and threw his arms around his half sister and grinned madly. "Angie," he turned to her, "do you wanna make cookies?"

Her eyes widened and she jumped to her feet, bouncing on the cushions of the couch, "with chocolate chips, and sprinkles, and food coloring?" she asked on each bounce, "can we make them purple?"

Joey shook his head, "not tonight," he said simply, as he stood up to calm Angela's bouncing. Immediately crushing both the hopes of Craig and Angela.

"But why?" Angela pouted.

"Because you need to go to bed early tonight, you have dance classes in the morning," her father answered sternly. "I can't have you up late baking cookies and then getting all sugared up."

"It won't take that long to make," Craig rationalized, and with that comment Joey sent him a glare.

" I said no, Craig, not tonight."

"But I wanna bake cookies tonight!" Angela demanded.

"Yea! I wanna bake cookies tonight too!"

"Enough, both of you, this isn't up for discussion."

"Joey, seriously, cookies don't take that long to make, I just want to bake some god damn cookies!" Craig said suddenly digressing from the positive mood he'd been in most of the day to the almost frightening violent mood he was in now. Angela covered her mouth in shock as Craig uttered the words, "god damn" and Joey turned to him again, barking orders for him to go to his room.

"Damn it Joey, you're not my father, you can't tell me what to do!" he shouted as he pushed himself off the couch and violently pushed Joey out of his way as he stomped up the stairs. Joey stumbled back a few steps before catching his balance and watched bewildered as Craig marched himself to his room, and then slammed his door forcefully.

A/N: Sorry, for the very very very long wait. For some of you that read and know what's going on with me, it's been a very stressful time. To be frank, it's just been pretty crappy, but during the time I was writing little by little, hoping to get this out as soon as possible. I'll try to get working on the next chapter so I can finish this up before starting the final story in the series (which is still in theory, but soon to be written). No worries. I won't abandon this until it's completely and totally finished. Thanks for sticking by, and thanks for waiting. R/R let me know how this chapter turned out.

Also, the poem/song sung by Ash and Mark, yea, that's mine. I own it, if you use it, I will sue you, because I do need the money.