A/N: Thanks for continuing to read, review, and follow! I really appreciate it. I apologize for the delay in updating. Life has gotten in the way of writing, and I ran into a bout of writer's block. This year has been something. I don't know exactly what, but it's been something. I hope you are all staying healthy and safe. Thanks for staying with me! This chapter picks up where the last one left off. Hope you enjoy this update!

/

After a minute, the hangover cure began to kick in, and Jo started to feel better. She looked at her friend. "You still haven't answered my question, Marissa. What's Greenlee right about? Does it have anything to do with Dave taking that guy away last night?"

Marissa sighed. Jo never missed a thing and neither did Cory. Marissa saw Cory lean in, curiosity written all over her face. "Can we table this discussion until after the hangovers are under control? I promise that I will tell you everything, or as much as I can, then. Deal?"

Jo nodded. She knew there was a reason for her friend's silence on the matter and trusted her when she said she would tell her everything she could. "Deal."

Cory eyed her friends and leaned back, satisfied along with Jo for the moment. When Marissa looked at her, she nodded her agreement as well.

While Bianca, Lisa, Kendall, Greenlee, and Bruce were clued in as to what was going on, the rest of the group watched the interaction and wondered what they had missed. Before anyone could question what Jo and Marissa were talking about, Terri showed up to take their orders. The tension eased along with the hangovers, and light-hearted conversations began.

As breakfast wound down, Bianca glanced at the time and turned to Marissa. "I'm going to check on everyone back home and see how they survived last night. I'll let Jessica know that we're going to be a little late getting back too. I want to make sure she's okay with staying. I know she texted you that she was, but …"

"I know. Jessica wouldn't complain to save her life. Be prepared for her to tell you that everything is good even if it probably isn't. See if there's anything she wants or needs us to grab on the way home." Marissa requested. She had sent Jessica a text earlier to let her know that everyone was good on their end in Shamokin and that they would be late in getting back home. Marissa simply said that something came up and that she would explain when they got home. Jessica, to her credit, didn't press her on that.

Bianca nodded, grabbed her cellphone, and stepped away from the table for some privacy. She was good with the earlier text exchange between Marissa and Jessica, but a part of her wanted to actually talk to someone back home. You could tell more by hearing someone's voice instead of reading a text. Plus, she wanted an update on Zach and Ryan. Bianca was amused by the fact that the two had insisted they had everything under control the previous evening. Normally, that might be true, but they were outnumbered 9 to 2. The odds were not in their favor.

When Bianca returned a few minutes later, she was quizzed by the others on how things were going back in Pine Valley.

"Is your house still standing?" Gail asked.

"More importantly, how are Zach and Ryan? Is there any update on the watermain break?" Kendall and Zach had talked the night before so she was aware of the situation back home.

"Thor is okay. A little sore but moving, slow." Bianca laughed.

Kendall raised an eyebrow. "Thor?"

"The kids gave Ryan and him tattoos last night. Zach got Thor."

"Dammit. I will never hear the end of that. He'll probably insist that I start calling him that." Kendall rolled her eyes.

"Do I want to know about Ryan? If Zach is Thor, God only knows what Ryan is." Greenlee asked.

"He got Mickey Mouse along with a mani-pedi."

"I'm just telling you all right now, don't even think about calling me Minnie!" Everyone burst out laughing while Greenlee just shook her head. She was glad Ryan was such a good sport, and she couldn't wait to see the pictures. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that Zach had taken several.

"As for the watermain, things should all be cleaned up tonight." Bianca whispered to Marissa about her idea, and her wife thought it was a great idea. With that settled, Bianca made the announcement to the group. "To that end, we're having a cookout and pool party when we get home, and you're all invited. That includes families. Jessica said that she would take care of letting Greg, Mom, and Jack know. Gail, Sam went over to the house this morning to help Jessica out. She and Miranda had texted each other about what was going on last night. So, Sam will take care of telling Carol and Alex."

"Cory, I know that Chris and Matt were going to come over later." Marissa said. Cory's husband and son were in town until after the wedding. The family had decided on a little mini vacation around the wedding and had booked a room at the Yacht Club.

Cory nodded. They were already going to have dinner with the Tasker-Montgomery clan as well as Jo and her family that night. "I'll let Chris know about the minor change in plans."

"If the rest of you want to make some calls and invite your families, we'll be all set." Bianca suggested.

Marissa glanced at Jo. "We'll talk after everyone has made their calls. You have my word."

Jo nodded knowingly at her best friend. It was obvious to her that Marissa knew she was by no means off the hook, and Jo was glad her friend had conceded that point without any argument.

While the others pulled out their cellphones to coordinate with their families back in Pine Valley, Rafaela returned her agent's call, and Maura checked on a couple of her patients. Marissa and Bianca discussed the unexpected event they would be hosting. The couple had previously ordered a cake for a small celebration for Jo and Greg, but there was no way that would be enough dessert for everyone that was now coming. It was then that they determined to order something in addition to the cake. With that decision made, Marissa called the bakery and placed an additional order. She then reached out to Sam and asked her if she would be willing to pick up the order, and the teen readily agreed.

/

When everyone was assembled again and had freshened their drinks, Marissa glanced at Bianca who gave her wife a nod of encouragement before she began.

"I'll start at the beginning. You all know about the class action lawsuit against Landry and Llanview University. Some of my clients have been harassed by some associated with the University. As a result, the firm has taken steps to protect them. When all of that came to light, Bianca and I decided to arrange protection for our family as well, and the other partners agreed. Mitch Reardon is in charge of that."

Lisa sighed in relief and nodded. "I'm really glad to hear that." She turned to the others. "Mitch is the best. Marissa could honestly not be in better hands."

"Some time ago, it came to our attention that the other side, in particular Vincent Turner, the Athletic Director, and Terrance Angleton, the University President, had hired a private detective to investigate and follow me. One of the private detective's operatives is a man by the name of Ralph Grismore. Fortunately, neither the detective nor Ralph are all that good or discreet. We were able to pick them out right away. Ralph ended up following me here."

"Was Ralph the guy being escorted out of here last night? Did he try something?" Jo asked.

"Yes, and yes. Thanks to Mitch and his people, a couple of whom he had follow us here, we were perfectly safe. They worked with Bob and Sean and his officers, and they all pretty much set up a sting, if you will. Basically, we gave Ralph an opportunity that was too much for him to pass up. I left my drink unattended, or so he thought at the bar, and Ralph slipped something into it." Marissa heard gasps from the group and quickly continued to reassure them. "Bob caught everything on camera as well it being witnessed by Dave and a few others. The whole thing was monitored the entire time, and I was never in any true danger. Neither were any of you. If I thought for one second that anyone was in danger, I would have called everything off immediately. Trust me on that. Honestly, the only reason this happened now is because everything fell into place. I had every intention of explaining everything when we got home. I didn't want to ruin this weekend for you, Jo. You deserved to have some fun, to enjoy yourself with no stress. I'm sorry that this ruined things for you."

Jo looked at her best friend and shook her head. "For an intelligent woman, you can be kind of dumb sometimes. You didn't ruin anything. I had a great weekend. However, you have to know that I would trade a fun weekend away for your safety every single damn time. That case is important. You're helping those girls and young women get justice, helping them heal, reclaim their lives. I'm really proud of you and not surprised at all because, well that's just who you are. I do wish that you would have told me sooner so I could've kicked that guy's ass myself. Nobody threatens you and gets away with it. Nobody. Got it?"

Marissa smiled and nodded. "Got it."

"Good. And there is not a doubt in my mind that if there had been even a whiff of danger that you would have called things off. Not only for us but especially for Bianca. I really don't think I'm going out on much of a ledge here by guessing that she knew about all of this."

"Yes, Bianca knew. I told her as soon as I knew something was going on. I learned my lesson in keeping something from her to protect her. That was my way of thinking once. Not telling her would do more damage than good. So, yeah, she knew right away."

Bianca nodded with a smile. "Rissa did tell me right away. You know, she was really torn on whether or not to tell you. Rissa really wanted to give you a break since you were under so much stress with all of the fires going on with your wedding. I swear that she was going to tell you about everything when we got back to Pine Valley. She just wanted you to have this weekend."

Jo chuckled. That was her friend to a tee. "I believe you. That's who she is. To be honest, I would've done the same thing. That's probably why we're such good friends."

Marissa's grin matched her friend's. "Probably."

Cory rolled her eyes. "There's no probably about it. So, Marissa, where were you and Bianca this morning? Jo and I went by your room, and you weren't there."

"Ah, we were at the police station. I had to give my statement as to what happened last night. Nora came down to take it. She was also going to deal with Ralph afterwards. He ended up confessing and giving up Angleton."

"Nora Buchanan was here?" Lisa asked.

"Yes, Sean and Dave contacted her last night. Since this was related to the gymnastics' case …"

Lisa nodded when she understood where Marissa was headed with her explanation. "And she's the special prosecutor on it. It makes sense that she would be here to handle Ralph. Did he have a lawyer? What about a deal?"

Marissa laughed. "Ralph didn't want a lawyer. According to Nora, he thought he could take care of everything himself and basically get a slap on the wrist."

"Isn't there an old adage about someone representing themselves having a fool for client?" Natalia mused.

"Yeah, and it's definitely true in this case. Nora said he was going to get jail time despite what he thought."

"What about the people who hired him? Are they going to be arrested? They sure as hell should be." Kendall stated. The anger was evident in her tone.

"Oh yeah, they will. Knowing Nora, she won't do it today or tomorrow."

Bianca looked at her wife. "Why not?"

"More press coverage if it happens during the week."

"I guess that makes sense. More people watch the news during the week than on the weekend." Greenlee added.

"Yes, it does, and the state attorney general wants to send a message. Nora wants to send a message as well, probably more than the attorney general. She told me that he's considering a run for governor, and this would be great PR. Making the arrests when they can get maximum press coverage will do exactly that. The criminal case will help the civil cases. Neither will fix what those girls went through, but we can get them justice which could help them in some small way. And Angleton and others just like him only think of the bottom line monetarily. So, if we can't send them to prison, we'll hit them where it gets their attention and hurts them the most. I would love nothing more than for them to go to prison. I don't know if that will happen, but Nora is going to do her damnedest. As for my team, we're going to focus on helping Nora as well hurting them the best way he can, in their wallet. At the very least, I'm hoping we can stop any more girls from suffering at their hands and by their indifference."

"If anyone can do that, Marissa, it's you. There's not a doubt in my mind about that. I'm proud of you and honored to know you and have you in my family." Kendall said earnestly.

"Thank you. That means more than you know."

Kendall winked in reply. "My little sister did pretty good when she picked you. Oh, and Jo?"

"Yeah?"

"You would be waiting behind Bianca to kick the ass of anyone who hurts Marissa."

"True. That's okay. As long as I get my licks in, I'm good." Jo laughed.

Greenlee chuckled. "Yeah, that would be a long line of people wanting to get their licks in." She turned to Marissa. "Most importantly, you have to be a fighter to be part of the family, and you definitely are, Rocky, so, you fit right in. It's also a known fact that Bianca would've kicked Ralphie's ass if he had done anything to you."

"Yes, I would have." Bianca stated confidently.

"You do not cross a Kane woman and live to tell the tale." Marissa grinned and gave her wife a quick kiss. Her cellphone notified her that she had received a text so she quickly read it.

"Damn straight!" Kendall said and clicked her coffee mug against Bianca's.

"Everything okay, Rissa?" Bianca asked.

"Yeah. It's from Nora. It looks like everything is going down on Monday. She said to watch 'Good Morning America' on Monday morning. Robin Roberts will be interviewing her and the state attorney general."

Jo thought for a moment and then asked what the others were thinking. "What about arrests? Wouldn't they be made before they appeared on national TV? I don't think you would want to give Angleton and the others any warning."

Marissa smiled. "You would be correct. Nora said that Bo is in charge of the logistics of the arrests. Knowing him, he will have it timed to the second and not give them any warning. I was there when he arrested Landry, and I know exactly how he feels about him. He feels the same way about Angleton and the others as he feels about Landry." Marissa turned to the younger lawyer. "Lisa, we need to let the girls know what's going on. I don't want them finding out about this from television program."

Lisa nodded. "You're right, I don't either. I can start making calls right away."

"Call Brian, Claudia, Sofia, and Brandon first and ask them to help. I need to let the other partners know what's going on. I'll help you with calls after I'm done talking to them." Marissa turned to the others in their group. "I'm sorry …"

Jo stopped her before Marissa could continue. "Stop. There's no need to apologize. I had a great time, and I'm pretty sure everyone else did as well. This, however, is more important."

Cory nodded in agreement. "Jo's right. Is there anything we can do to help?"

Marissa smiled at her friend's offer and support. "I honestly can't think of anything right now. Unfortunately, we have to be the ones to talk to our clients."

"We can at least load up the car while you're making your calls." Cory offered.

While that discussion took place, Bianca looked at Jan and Aya. "We'll need to be ready if any of the girls need to talk."

Jan nodded. "Aya and I will have the staff ready."

"We'll split up the list. I think we should have a couple more people on site for any questions or support. The girls may feel more comfortable talking to someone in person." Aya said.

Jo joined their conversation since she had been helping some of the victims. "I'll be available as well."

Kendall and Greenlee glanced at each other. They knew Marissa and Bianca had things under control with their coworkers so they decided to help the only way they could.

"Cory, that's a great idea. While they stay here and handle what they need to, the rest of us will head back to the hotel and pack. Bruce, once we get the limo loaded, we'll swing back here and pick them up." Greenlee instructed.

While Greenlee and the others headed back to the hotel, Kendall pulled Terri aside and took care of the check, leaving a sizeable tip. She also informed Bianca of their plan which her sister gratefully acknowledged and turned over her and Marissa's room keys over to Kendall. The others staying at Shamokin Joe's followed suit with their room keys along with their thanks.

/

A short time later, the Pine Valley crew met up again at Shamokin Joe's. Goodbyes were shared with their friends from Shamokin before they headed back home. As they left the restaurant, Marissa suggested to Terri that they watch 'Good Morning America' on Monday morning if she was interested in what was going on. Terri nodded and said she would definitely be watching. She also said she would pass that information on to the others and especially her brother.