Hey everyone, this is the third chapter of my story. Hope you liked the other chapters .Have fun while reading it

PattyPotter91

At freak4wb: Thanks for your review. I will try my very best to update the story as fast as possible

Chapter Three: Two people, one heart

Ephram's thought was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Come in, dad!"

Andy went into the room and looked at his son. "You are lying in bed? In the middle of the day? I hope you aren't ill!"

He put his hand on Ephram's forehead, his son groaned lightly.

"Dad, I'm okay. I'm nineteen; I think II can take care of myself. Why have you come here, anyway?" "Because I wanted to make sure that you're okay. What did Delia tell you?"

"None of your business. She didn't want you to know about it." "Okay, fine."

Ephram closed his eyes and waited, hoped that his father would leave soon. But Andy stayed in his son's room and listened to the silence… till Ephram lifted himself up and groaned deeply.

"What do you want, dad? I'm tired and I wanna sleep so if there is anything you wanna say or talk about, then do it…" His father nodded and spoke in a strong voice. "You have to come down with me, at least for a few minutes…"

"Why? I'm not hungry and I already practised." "I know, come on, get up…"

Ephram stood up from the bed then went to his dad. "Fine. Whatever."

The two men went downstairs to the living room.

"What is it dad? Have I done something weird so now I will be grounded by you?" "No, I want to give you something. A present."

Andy's son laughed slightly.

"It's not my birthday today, I'm not going to marry anyone and I didn't do anything special. I do not deserve a present…"

Dr Brown walked to the closet opened it and pulled out a big large box. Then he handed it to Ephram. "Here son, for you."

"What is this? Why do you give me a box which stood in your closet?"

"Because it's yours. The stuff in it. It's a… was a part of your life…"

Ephram was a little confused. "Oh okay.Shall I open it in front of you or can I keep it?" "No, you can open it whenever you want. You can bring it to your room or to your apartment. I just couldn't give it to you earlier because…" " It's okay dad. I don't wanna know the reason. Thanks for…the box.." Andy's face lightened up a little when he saw Ephram carrying the box upstairs…

At a different place in the same country a very frustrated Madison tidied her room. She searched for a very important paper she wanted to give a professor at NYU. Yes, she thought about continuing collage. After the last year she thought it would be good to do something different from sitting in her brother's apartment, bite her nails and beap (spoiler).

She was about to carry a few books tom a table when her eyes lingered on an old dirty comic. Madison put the books on the table and reached for the comic. It didn't belong to her brother or her but it looked familiar somehow. "Brian, are you in the house?" Her older brother came into her room. "What's wrong, Madison?" "Ahm nothing. You know the owner of this?" She handed him the comic quickly. Brian looked at its cover and shook his head. He wanted to give it back to his sister but then he noticed a hand written note in the left corner.

"Who is E. BROWN? Madison's eyes widened with shock. "Why do you want to know?" "Ahm because he is the owner of this thing."

"Oh… I didn't know I had it. I have totally forgotten about it."

Brian giggled when he saw his sister's sad look. "Hey, it's no big deal Madison. You have the comic of a guy that's…"

"Manga…!" He looked at her questioningly. "What?" "Manga…It's not a comic..-.it's a manga…There is a huge difference between these two kinds." Suddenly Madison's eyes glistened with tears. Those words sounded so much like Ephram's. He always made sure that people would understand the difference… Two yeas ago she had laughed about that. Now it made her cry. Would she ever see him again? After what she did last year probably not.

"Hey, Madison. Are you alright? You seem to be a little pale, girl."

She shook her head, grabbed Ephram's manga. " No, I'm fine. I just need to get some rest. I guess I will continue cleaning later."

Brian nodded, then left the manga and his sister alone. Madison climbed into her bed and looked at the manga. She read the cover's heading " Rave Masters" and eyed the little pictures on page 1.

She knew those drawings and the story was familiar to her as well but she remember why she had taken it from him.

Madison quickly reached the middle of the manga and then when she wanted to turn to the next page a photo fell out of it. She picked it up and… her eyes were glued to the person on it. It was a photo of a sixteen year old Ephram. He smiled into the camera , while his hands moved over the blacki and white keys of the piano. In the background you could see snow through the open window. Madison turned the picture on its back , it was too much pain to look into this happy smile of Ephram. She knew he would never smile again, well not in front of her .

Madison couldn't tell why but suddenly she felt more guilty than ever for not telling Ephram about their son.

Back in Everwood Ephram wondered if he should open his dad's gift. Eventually his excitement was stronger than his tireness, so he opened the package slowly.

Inside the box were many things: Postcards, photos, drawings, sheets of paper with music keys and letters. Ephram grabbed a photo of himself from his bedside drawer. The photo wasn't complete, torn into two pieces. The second piece of it was in that box. He put the two parts together and suddenly the photo was full of happiness, smiling faces. It started to live again.

Andy's son was about to glue the pieces back together but then he stopped. Why did his dad… how could his dad have this part of his photo? Ephram was totally certain about the fact that he had thrown her piece of the photo away, right after she bumped into him and Amy at the super market. " How was dad able to safe this from the litter bag? This is so weird, is that a "I know how much you loved Madison box?"

Ephram groaned lightly and reached into the box. There was her ring, the one he had given her on their 5th month anniversary? Why wasn't it with Madison?

Seconds later he eyed some old concert tickets, a couple of pictures of him and Madison in love and the music piece her wrote for her once. The box was almost empty but he found a second letter from Madison, written to his dad which caught his interest. Ephram unfolded it and started to read:

Dear Dr Brown,

I just write this letter and let you know that I'm still here. The last weeks in Denver were harder than I thought. Also I decided that I can't take the money from you, the whole thing isn't your business anymore.

There is so much I want to undo …so much I regret by now but the most important thing is I know that I should never have come to you in the first place. I made a decision about the baby but I have to deal with that on my own.

Since decided that you wouldn't help me I ask you to avoid any further contact with me.

Madison

Ephram swallowed hard, put the letter back in its envelope.

He had never seen the letter before; perhaps it was one of his dad's secrets. This box was a lot more interesting than he first thought. So many memories of him and Madison and secrets, secrets his dad must be ashamed of as he was hiding them from him.

Delia was right. He should meet Madison. The girl possibly needed a bit of comfort, a little feeling of bliss. Ephram didn't know how she would react but he hoped she would at least be more relaxed then. He knew she felt guilty for not telling him so he figured out it would be a good thing to let her know that she was forgiven. Ephram put the empty box on his bed…wait it wasn't completely empty. He grabbed a small orange box and gasped. Her present! Madison's birthday present. The one she never had opened because they broke up. He carefully locked it in his drawer and smiled, but at the same time he was sad as hell. Maybe he missed her too, not just their son. Can you miss someone without knowing? Without much thinking he opened his address book and dialled Madison's number. After he had seen her number on the tissue he had to write it down. God knows why… He listened to the familiar sound of the phone and waited.

Unfortunately Madison had the same idea. At exactly the same moment she dialled Ephram's number and started to chew on her bottom lip.

When both of them heard the engaged tone they hung up, disappointed.

"Maybe it was not a good idea to call Ephram. Probably he doesn't even want to hear my voice. Probably he is out with Amy."

"Madison seems busy right now. Maybe I should try it later?"

With that both went to bed and drifted off to sleep.

Yeah that was it. How do you like it? Please review me...

oh the next chapter is "Flight 706 or Straight into the past" you only get it when I get at least two new review