A/N: Okay, this was supposed to be the last chapter, but there's going to be one more just to tie it up a little better. And POV wise it's kind of crazy—it goes between Paige, Dylan, Marco's, and Alex's POV, lol. And in no particular order. I wanted a little of all of them, especially the two Michalchuk sibs for this chapter. Sorry, I tried to make it as non-confusing as possible.

Paige

I felt the bottom drop out of my stomach. I had to force the words out, they didn't seem to want to leave my throat.

"W-What?" I choked out. "What the hell do you mean she saw you kissing?" I glanced at Alex, who was biting her lip, light-hearted attitude gone.

Marco looked as guilty as a child who had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar before dinner. "I'm sorry... I was following Patricia to make sure she was okay, but before I got to her, I ran into Dylan, and I really didn't mean for it to happen, it just kind of...did, and... I'm so sorry."

I closed my eyes, wishing I could block out the world and go back to a few seconds ago when I'd been blissfully kissing my girlfriend. "Oh, God, Marco... how could you?" Okay, so I really had no room to talk, but still. We hadn't been caught. Not like the two of them. Therefore I had the right to be upset.

"I'm sorry," he said again, looking pained. "I'm so, so sorry."

"What is she going to do?" Alex spoke up.

"She's trying to find you, Paige," Marco tilted his head toward me.

"Great," I said sarcastically. "So she can rub it in my face that my boyfriend is gay and cheating on me with my brother." If the situation hadn't been as serious, I might have found that particular statement rather amusing, if only because of how utterly ridiculous it really was.

"She's not going to tell anyone, though, right?" Alex demanded of Marco.

He winced.

Oh no.

"Well..."

"Marco!" I shrieked, promptly losing every bit of what was left of my composure.

"God, I'm--"

"Don't you dare say you're sorry again!"

Marco held up his hands. "Okay...what do you want me to do?"

"Oh, I think you've done enough!" I said heatedly. I could feel my lungs struggling to bring in the necessary amount of air for me to breathe. My chest was tightening, my breath coming in quick gasps. Perfect. A fucking panic attack. Just what I needed.

Alex's cool hand on my arm brought me back, like an anchor, my lifeline.

"Breathe, Paige, it's okay," she murmured. "It's not that bad, it's all right."

I sank down into a chair, fighting my impulse to totally freak out. Well, even more than I already was.

"Marco, go...try and run some damage control, please," Alex ordered him calmly. Marco nodded, and with one last apologetic look, disappeared. Alex continued to mutter soothing words, rubbing my back gently as she tried to coax me into calming down enough to get some air traveling in my windpipes.

For next year's party, I was making sure I had to work.

Marco

Guilt and the slight edge of panic tore at my mind as I hurried room from room on a desperate search for Patricia Michalchuk. I was so intent on finding the brunette, I almost didn't notice when my boyfriend slipped right past me. Evidently, neither did he.

"Dylan," I called, and he spun around. After having been discovered, he had agreed to go and find her and try to talk her out of doing any damage, while I informed Paige.

"Did you find Patricia?" I asked hopefully, catching up with him.

He shook his head. "No, but Daniel said she was in the living room looking for Paige."

"Let's go."

I followed at his heels as we raced for the living room as fast as we could without running. We reached the room in a matter of seconds. The record was still playing in the corner, but the conga line had dispersed. The remaining guests were all grouped around the walls, a few on the sofas, all chatting animatedly, obviously so far unaware of any jaw-dropping family secrets. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"There she is," I said, my stomach flipping several times over as I spotted Patricia opposite us, her eyes hungrily searching for my friend. Dylan and I set off across the room. She looked surprised to see us, but a smug grin didn't hesitate to make itself at home on her lips. The lower of which was sporting a painful looking bruise in the corner, courtesy of the back of my head. My stomach sank another few inches as my guilt intensified slightly.

"Patricia, look, we need to talk to you," Dylan said, grabbing her arm and steering her, not so gently, out of the room. She looked scandalized at being handled so roughly, and jerked her arm free of his grasp.

"What?" she snapped, glaring up at Dylan.

"Look, you can't tell anyone about...about what you saw, okay?" he said hopefully.

Patricia sneered. "And why shouldn't I? He's cheating on your sister," she said icily, jerking her head at me. "And you're betraying her, too."

"No, it's not like that. At all," I tried to explain. I sighed, looking over at Dylan. He nodded, so I continued. "All right, the truth is... Paige and I aren't really together. Neither are Dylan and Alex."

Patricia's mouth genuinely dropped open in surprise. "What?" she said again. "Then, why--?"

"We're together," I gestured at Dylan and me. "So are Paige and Alex. Paige and Dylan's parents didn't want the entire family to know they were gay, so they asked them to bring along a couple of fake hetero dates instead," I explained.

"Paige is gay?" There was a look of dawning comprehension on Patricia's face.

"Yes."

"And so are you?"

"Yep."

"And she's dating Alex?"

"Right."

"No one else knows?"

"Just their parents."

A wide grin was slowly starting to form again. She looked as through she'd just been informed that Christmas was scheduled to come twice this year. Meanwhile, I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

What the hell had I just done?

Alex

I winced as Paige's grip on my hand tightened, silently cursing Marco and his horny boyfriend for their lack of self control. Well, not that I was exactly a master at curbing my impulses, but they had gone and gotten themselves caught, and now my girlfriend was sitting here having one of her panic attacks, thanks to their apparent inability to exercise some self restraint.

"Alex?" Paige finally managed.

"Yeah, babe?"

"Go help Marco, please. I don't really trust him to fix this. He'll just end up making everything worse," she rolled her eyes.

I nodded. "You okay, then?"

"Fine. Just fix this," she pleaded with me.

"Okay. I'll take care of it. I promise," I said, rising from my kneeling position on the ground next to her. I kissed her on the forehead and headed off in the direction that Marco had disappeared.

I saw a flash of dark hair up ahead slipping into the living room, and darted forward. He was too far to call out to, but I could get to him before I lost him in the crowd if I hurried.

Unfortunately, I hurried right into one of the only people who could possibly have made the situation any worse.

"Alex! There you are, I've been looking all over for you," Daniel's cheery voice greeted me. Damn kid.

"Yeah, look, can we do this later?" Or, not at all? "I'm trying to find my friend Marco." I didn't mean to sound so rude and impatient, but I considered helping stop my girlfriend's cousin from spilling one of her deepest secrets to everyone in her entire family to be a bit more important than Daniel's Halo stats.

"Oh," Daniel's face fell. "Yeah, but I just wanted to ask you if I could have your e-mail. See, I belong to this club that sends you the latest game updates and info if you join. I thought you might be interested. I could send you the sign-up information, and you could join and..."

"Yeah, okay, sounds great."

"But you didn't give me your--"

But I had already taken off.

"Alex!"

I sighed, frustration settling itself firmly under my prickling skin as I turned around to answer to the feminine voice that had called my name.

Oh perfect. The only other person, besides Daniel, who could possibly have made this any worse.

"So, I'm not sure if you're forgetful, or just incredibly stupid," the honey sweet tones were at complete odds with the furious expression on Emily's face as she strode toward me. I really did not have time for this.

"Emily, look, I'm not trying to steal your freaking boyfriend, okay?" I said, my voice wavering with the effort of filtering out the impatience. Where the hell did she come up with these conclusions? Psycho.

Emily leered. "Well that's good, I mean it's not like you'd even have a chance."

Right. She's not threatened at all. That's exactly why she told me to stay the hell away from Daniel.

Bitch.

"Frankly, I'm a little surprised you'd go for someone so obviously out of your league," she continued. My fingers tightened instinctively into a fist at my side. "You should really learn how the whole dating chain works, hunny." I really didn't like her using that word. 'Hunny.' It reminded me too much of Paige's trademark 'hon,' and this chick didn't deserve to have anything in common with my girlfriend. "Daniel wouldn't go for stuck up, wannabe punk trash, anyway..."

And that was where I lost it. One minute, my fingers were turning white with the pressure from being curled too tightly into a fist, and I was biting my tongue, fighting against every instinct in me to haul said fist into Emily's pretty little face.

The next minute, something had snapped and I found myself doing just that, with the only somewhat conscious thought to ring out of the naked anger and frustration was that Paige was going to kill me for doing this.

Dylan

I was panicking. My thoughts chased each other around my head and everything inside me seemed to have melted into pure nerves.

Patricia was going to spill our secret, and all because of some stupid childish rivalry between her and my sister. There was no doubt in my mind that she would do it, anything to hurt Paige, no matter who else was brought down in the process. Patricia was so senselessly venomous sometimes.

We had tried bargaining with her, Marco and I. We had tried explaining the situation. We had even, much to my reluctance, pleaded with her not to tell, to keep it to herself. Thanks to that, I was now nursing a very sore and indignant pride, and for no good reason, as Patricia had made it quite clear that she still intended to make the announcement of our deceit as soon as possible. I had suggested to Marco that we attempt threatening her into silence somehow, but he had immediately shot that idea down.

Now we were somewhat desperately searching for my parents, hoping they might be able to lend a hand with the situation. I sped along the hallways, Marco right behind me, until I found my Aunt Charlotte gossiping with Uncle Ray.

"No, Marco, let's turn around, please," I begged, stopping dead in my tracks at the sight of my uncle.

He rolled his eyes. "Just come on."

I reluctantly followed him over to my aunt and uncle. I cleared my throat to announce my presence, and they immediately looked up.

"You wouldn't have happened to have seen my parents anywhere around, would you?" I asked shortly.

"Oh, they went to the pharmacy with your grandma to pick up her medicine. You know she doesn't like to drive if she can help it. Her friend Lori usually drives her, but she's got a broken ankle," said Uncle Ray gruffly.

I blanched. "They're gone? Both of them?"

"Well, yeah. Your dad said he'd take your grandmother, and your mom went along for the drive. They should be back pretty soon."

I nodded. Of all the times to disappear and leave us stranded alone fighting a losing battle...

"Oh, and Dylan, just keep in mind what we talked about earlier," said my uncle, winking. "He's quite the ladies' man," he said conversationally to Aunt Charlotte's questioning look.

Marco must have seen the look on my face, which, if I had to guess, was something that mirrored absolute horror, because he gently laid a hand on my shoulder and began to steer me away from my relatives.

"Come on, Dylan, lets go find Paige."

Paige

Finally managing to compose myself into a somewhat rationally thinking human being, I took a deep breath and stood up.

Okay, okay, okay... it's not that bad...she's just going to divulge your secret to every single member of this family, who are going to find out that not only are you their gay niece/granddaughter/cousin/whatever, but that you're a big, fat, lying...well, liar, but it's really not that bad...

Just then, a strangled cry interrupted my racing thoughts. I hurriedly made my way toward the source of the noise, wondering what the fuck else could possibly go wrong in one day.

I had to ask.

"Alex!" my voice must have gone up at least an octave. There was my girlfriend. And there was my cousin's girlfriend. The latter was clutching her nose, which was bleeding profusely and had already started to swell. The former was standing there, wiping a trace of blood off the side of her lip.

I stood, looking from one to the other, horror struck, and trying to fight off the beginnings of another impending panic attack.

"What the hell did you do!?" I cried, though it was really quite obvious. So much for just avoiding Emily.

Alex looked about as guilty as Marco had a few minutes ago. "Well, Paigey, see what happened was... um..."

"She's a fucking psycho!" exclaimed Emily, who was trying with little success to stop blood from dripping all over the carpet. Alex appeared to have gotten in a pretty impressive hit. She had come off better, at least, than her adversary. A small cut was visible on the side of my girlfriend's lower lip, but it looked thin and shallow.

Huh, I think I just described Patricia.

Anyway, I didn't imagine for a second that they'd been finished with each other. In fact, if I hadn't walked in, I had a feeling they'd be madly tearing each other limb from limb by now.

"Well, she's a fucking delusional bitch," Alex replied coolly.

I gave a hopeless wail of despair and shut my eyes again, still trying to fend off the renewed assault on my lungs.

My eyes flew open at the sound of a raised voice coming from the living room. I exchanged a glance with Alex, and we both took off, Emily right behind us.

What I saw nearly sent me into cardiac arrest.

Dylan

My eyes met Paige's across the living room, and it was one of those rare moments we had where we said it all without a word.

We were so going down. Both of us. And there wasn't a single thing we could do about it. And if it wasn't here and now, it would just be another place, another time. And the fear and anticipation, knowing that she had that secret over our heads, would be worse than anything.

I broke the gaze and my eyes settled instead on the mastermind behind the unraveling of our perfect plan, who was fervently attempting to get everyone's attention. It wasn't proving difficult, and I rolled my eyes; Patricia's fake angelic smile looked more like a leer to me.

"Attention, everyone! Listen up!" Finally, everyone quieted down to listen to what she had to say. "Okay then," her smile widened slightly as she looked around the room at our relatives, all eyes focused intently on her, obviously pleased with the effect she'd created.

"Well, I'd just like to say that I am so incredibly lucky to have family like you all," she began. I'd bet my freaking house those tears in her eyes were forced, too. "It's a really good feeling...to know that there are so many people who'll have my back when I need help. And of course, in return, I'm there for them..."

I wasn't quite sure how she planned to get where she was going from this point, but I figured it wouldn't be long before I found out.

"There's a really special bond that family have...love, loyalty, trust..." Patricia continued. The careful emphasis on the word trust hadn't gone unnoticed by me, nor, judging by the look on my sister's face, by Paige, either. I felt a small hand intertwine with mine, and I squeezed Marco's hand back. Didn't really matter now, anyway.

My eyes flicked back to Paige for just a second, and I saw that her hand was tightly clasped within Alex's. Everyone's attention had settled politely on Patricia, and no one took any notice. I also observed that Emily was standing behind my sister and her girlfriend, and that her nose seemed to be bleeding heavily. Wonder what that was about.

"In fact, I think the most important thing in any relationship is trust. I know I trust my family. After all, if you can't depend on them, who can you depend on?"

Inwardly, I wondered how all this must sound to the rest of the family who had no idea what this rant of Patricia's was about. More than a little strange, I expected. Well, it would make sense in a minute, when she outed us to them all. I took a deep breath, trying to mentally and emotionally prepare myself for the potential repercussions of this.

"Personally, I would never lie to any of you," Patricia said sincerely. Well, what seemed to be sincerely, anyway. Manipulative little sneak that she was, I doubted very much that truths were the only words to slip through her lips.

"And I'd like to think that you would never lie to me," she took a deep breath, which I was pretty sure was just for dramatic effect. "Which is why I think you all deserve to know...there are two members of this family that have been keeping a secret from us all, and I think it's about time it all comes out in the open."

Patricia took one last look around at all the upturned faces, now hanging on her every word. "See, Paige and Dylan...they have a secret they've been keeping. So, I'm just going to say it..."

"Wait a second!"

Immediately, everyone in the vicinity turned to the source of the outburst, trying to see who had deprived them of hearing what had promised to be a particularly juicy piece of family gossip.

To my surprise, Alex had released Paige's hand and was striding toward the middle of the room to stand next to Patricia, who looked nervous and bewildered by this interruption. I glanced down at Marco, who was looking equally surprised. Alex leaned close to Patricia's face, and spoke just loud enough for me to be able to understand.

"I don't think so, bitch."

She spun around to face the rest of the family. "No, you know what?" she addressed them all. "If anyone is going to tell you all the most interesting piece of gossip that's none of your business that you're going to hear all year, it's going to be me. I've had enough of you pushing around the people I care about," she shot back at Patricia. Alex flashed Paige a reassuring smile before going on.

"So, I'm just going to say it... Paige and Dylan? Yeah, the thing is, they're gay. And for that matter, so are the supposed 'dates' they brought along, which would be me and Marco over there," Alex said casually.

Marco discreetly attempted to scoot behind me as all eyes were momentarily cast towards him at Alex's gesture. By the time all the expected gasps and hushed, whispered conversations had begun, he was a faint shade of pink.

"Actually, Marco is really dating Dylan. And I—" Alex marched determinedly back across the room of gaping idiots to Paige, who looked simply dazed. Then, drawing several more gasps, whether of shock, disgust, or something else entirely, I wasn't sure, the brunette kissed my sister squarely on the lips. "Am dating her."

"Yeah, and you know what?"

Okay, this had to be the biggest shock of the evening. Marco, seemingly drawn in by Alex's surge of daring and cool indifference to my family's reactions, was glaring up at Patricia, challenging the rest of them to say a word against us. He was obviously, and quite humorously, nervous about being the center of attention at the moment. It was quite apparent to anyone how awkward and uncertain he was with all eyes on him. Nevertheless, it meant more to me than I could ever say that my boyfriend was willing to speak up on my behalf.

And it shocked me more than I could ever say when he suddenly reached up and pulled me down to him, kissing me firmly. We broke apart with a satisfying smacking sound, and he returned his indignant gaze to the now completely stunned audience. "That is what you should have been seeing this whole time. Not the lame-ass performance of a happy heterosexual relationship we've been putting on all night."

Paige looked as surprised as I felt, and Alex was beaming at us both from across the room. Patricia, however, having had both her fun and her crush-of-the-moment wrenched out from under her, was looking furious and pouting like the whiny brat that she is. Maybe that was a horrible thing to say about my own cousin, but cousin or not, she'd created a hell of a lot of trouble for us.

Alex

You know, I don't think I have ever been prouder of Marco. I mean, he's not exactly the type that does well under pressure, something he and Paige have in common, I think.

But his little rush of pride, his desire to show them all the plain naked truth, all the while forcing it in Patricia's deserving face, was as amusing as it was a proud moment for me. Who do you think taught him to be a defiant, in-your-face little prick?

After all, you're not really an evil genius until you've successfully corrupted at least one innocent soul.