Leo thanked the waitress as she topped off his coffee. The sun was just cresting the horizon. He had been up for nearing twenty-four hours and should have been dead on his feet but instead he left like a livewire. The events of previous evening played out over and over again. "I wish I had just left well enough alone," he whispered to no one in particular.

"What?" Melanie asked.

"I should have never pushed Elizabeth. If I'd just left well enough alone none of this would have happened."

"How can you blame yourself for any of this?" Melanie scoffed. "It's not your fault."

"Maybe not technically, but man I pushed her to talk to Jason, brought her to the bar. If I had just let her stay holed up in her office tonight this would have never happened."

"I doubt that. We are talking about Theresa Kennedy. She's like a dog with a bone. What happened was bound to happen sooner or later. I just wish Liz would have stood her ground and kicked that bitch's ass!"

"Amen to that," Leo agreed. "But we both know that's never going to happen," he said matter of fact. "Liz would rather bury herself in work and block out the world than give Theresa and Weston the comeuppance they deserve."

"And Weston, what the hell was she doing with him of all people?" Melanie questioned.

"Hell if I know. I thought for sure Jason was going to wipe that smirk off his face. Shit, I would have helped him."

"I hate to see Liz going through this again. It's not right."

"It's not really the same though," Leo countered. "Jason isn't Billy. He isn't lapping up Theresa's garbage."

"He certainly isn't giving her the boot either," Melanie countered still not completely willing to give Jason a free pass. "He's well aware of Theresa's offenses but still he seems to always allow her to nudge her way into his life."

"You and both have known Theresa for a long time. She's never one to let anything stand in the way of what she wants,"

"And what she wants is Jason," Melanie cut him off.

"Yes, but Jason doesn't want her."

"It's hard to tell that sometimes. You know what they say a picture's worth a thousand words and let's just say Liz has tens of thousands of them." Melanie offered referencing the stack of newspaper and magazine clippings she and Leo knew Elizabeth had.

"Maybe so, but what are we going to do about? There's no denying that her and Jason are good together. I know you don't want to cut him any slack right now, but you have to admit that he's good for her. They just fit. And I don't want to see her, either of them, lose the best thing that's ever happened to them."

"So, I'm guessing making Theresa disappear isn't an option?" Melanie half joked.

"Probably not," Leo laughed.

"Oh crap!" Melanie said looking at her watch. "I am due at the hospital in an hour. I have to go." She reached into her wallet throwing a twenty-dollar bill on the table.

"I got this." Leo handed her back the money. "Come on, let me get you to work. There will be more time for us to figure out how to Elizabeth and Jason in the same room later." Easily Leo reached for her hand as they walked out the door of the diner into the bright Carolina sunshine.

The truck rumbled to a stop when Jason cut the engine. He looked through the dusty windshield at his surroundings. The sun peaked its way into the early morning sky shades of pink and persimmon dotted the horizon. Jason looked at the large metal building that sat before him and the only thing he could see was Jake's body sprawled out on the garage floor the night of his heart attack. It seemed like eons ago but really it had only been a few months and in those months his neatly ordered life had been turned upside down. He wondered what his life would have been like at this very moment if that night had never happened. If Jake hadn't insisted on him joining Ryan Racing. If Elizabeth hadn't been Pat Ryan's daughter. He knew it would have certainly been far simpler. Yet the idea of never having met Elizabeth, was something he couldn't imagine.

Opening the cab door he let his long legs unfurl themselves thick soled boots making impressions in the soft Carolina soil. Suddenly he longed to be able to swing open the garage doors and find Jake bent over the hood of the racecar. Pulling his cell phone out of his back pocket, Jason began to dial his crew chief's familiar number only to stop himself remembering the time difference between North Carolina and Texas. All he wanted right now was to hear Jake's booming voice, a voice that would tell him that everything was going to work out, a voice that would offer him the advice he so desperately needed.

He wished he hadn't listened to Melanie and Leo earlier about giving Elizabeth her space. Every voice in his head screamed at him to go after her, to talk to her, to resolve all of it. He should have listened to it because at the moment the chasm between them seemed too wide to cross. That thought alone weighed heavy on him.

Elizabeth balanced the large black coffee in one hand turning the key to her office door with the other. Something told her there wouldn't be enough coffee in the world to help her get through this day. She hadn't slept a wink last night the images of the evening, hell the past few weeks circled around in her head every time she closed her eyes. Absently dropping her leather bag on the desk, her eyes were drawn to the newspaper and magazine articles scattered there. The lump in her throat grew as those images gave way to the recollection of Theresa and Jason last night in the back of the bar. A stabbing pain tore through her heart as it shattered into a million little pieces. How had she let herself get drawn into this position again? How had she allowed herself to again be at the mercy of a broken heart? The pain of losing Billy had been nothing to what she was experiencing now. Maybe it was because she had permitted herself to believe that Jason had been different. That he was somehow more in love with her than Billy had ever been, but Elizabeth was wrong. Jason was no different than any other man she had met.

The knocking on her door startled her and forced thoughts of Jason to the outskirts of her mind. "Come in," she said.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing."

Elizabeth was stunned to see Billy Weston standing in the doorway of her office. Immediately her stomach lurched dealing with him at the moment was the last she wanted. In fact if she could have gotten up and slammed the door in his face she would have, but she found herself answering his question. "I'm fine," she returned curtly.

"Are you sure?' he asked. Somehow he had no memory of his well-rehearsed speech. It had been his intention to woo Elizabeth back but at the moment all he could do was stand before her tongue tied.

"Billy, what do you want?" she questioned dispensing with any pleasantries.

"I really just wanted to check on you. You seemed out of sorts last night. I mean you did jump into my car," he said stressing the word my.

"What can I say a lapse in judgement," she quipped.

"I know that we didn't leave things in the best way, but I do still care about you," he said pointedly.

Again Elizabeth's stomach rolled end over end. Billy Weston in her face was the last thing she needed or wanted right now. "Didn't leave things in the best way?" Elizabeth echoed. "Seriously? As you can see I have a great deal of work to do," she gestured to the files on the corner of her desk. "If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to get started on my day."

Billy glanced at the top of the desk and the various photos of Jason and Theresa weren't lost on him. Inwardly, he grinned. Theresa's bed hopping just might work to his advantage after all. "Like I said I just wanted to see how you were doing."

"Now you've seen. So you can go." Elizabeth pointed towards the door.

"Good-bye Elizabeth," he said shutting the door behind him grinning like a Cheshire cat as the plan in his mind took on a new form.

Melanie stopped short as she rounded the corner catching a glimpse of Billy Weston exiting Elizabeth's office. Suddenly her mind turned circles and the original intention of her visit to Elizabeth's office had gone right out the window. "What the hell was Billy doing here!?" Melanie bellowed as she stormed into Elizabeth's office.

"Well good morning to you too," Elizabeth retorted in return.

"What the hell was Billy doing here?" Melanie repeated completely ignoring her friend's obvious sarcasm.

"He came to see how I was," Elizabeth said honestly knowing that until she did Melanie wasn't about to let it go.

"Like he really cares?"

"Maybe he does," Elizabeth answered much to Melanie's utter dismay.

"What!? You are kidding right?"

"I'm just saying.."

"Just saying what? Please tell me you are buying whatever bullshit he's selling."

"Did you need something?" Elizabeth asked desperately wanting to move the conversation away from Billy. She had no reason why she was even remotely considering he still cared and the last thing she wanted to do was debate that with Melanie.

"I wanted to talk to you."

"So talk."

Suddenly Melanie felt tongue tied. Thoughts of Billy worming his way back into Elizabeth's life had her dumbfounded. "I wanted to talk to you about what happened last night," she was finally able to muster.

"There's nothing to talk about," Elizabeth countered.

"Oh there most definitely is! Starting with why the hell you were getting out of Billy's car last night? I thought you would rather be burned at the stake than go anywhere with him."

"He was in the right place at the right time," she said matter a fact. "I needed a ride and he gave me one." Melanie had no retort for her friend's remark. "Now that's a first, Melanie King – speechless," Elizabeth half laughed.

"I just don't understand. Why'd you run out?" Melanie questioned when she was finally able to get her bearings. "Why didn't you stay and fight for what's yours, kick Theresa's ass finally?"

"I'm done fighting for something, someone," she corrected, "that obviously doesn't want me. I've been down that road before. I know where it leads."

"You can't be serious? You can't really believe that Jason wants Theresa?" Out of the blue Melanie found herself coming to Jason's defense when last night she had been ready to villainize him. "Have you lost your mind?"

"No, actually I think I finally found it," Elizabeth countered. "I really need to get to work. Is there anything else you needed?"

Melanie was stunned by the coldness of her friend's tone. It was like the walls that Elizabeth used to protect herself had doubled in size. "I need you to listen to me. I need you to stop collecting this trash!" Melanie stated pulling several of the pictures of Jason and Theresa out from under Elizabeth's bag. "I need you to stop cowering in the corner and fight for what you want!"

"I want to be left alone."

"The hell you do! You can deny it all you want but you love Jason and you're scared as hell right now so like always your turning inward shutting everyone out. I let you do it before but not this time," Melanie stated with authority.

"Are you finished?" Elizabeth asked expressionless.

Before Melanie could answer her name was paged from overhead. "Hardly," Melanie countered as she turned on her heel and headed in the direction of the third floor nurse's station.