BONUS CHAPTER! I just really had this floating in my head and I wanted to get it down as soon as possible so you get an extra chapter this week!

A/N Just in case anyone was confused, Lee DID kill Sam, who is not a State Senator in this AU. He was brought to trial but the jury found him not guilty because he did it in self-defense, which is not seen as a crime. So he was acquitted but there is more to the story than that (of course I'm not telling though). There is also a reason why Carley broke down after listening to Lee, but that comes later. Thank you again for the wonderful reviews!

Chapter 4

Over the next month, things improved in Carley's life to the point where she wondered if there was someone helping her out behind the scenes. She was able to move out into the apartment at Turtle Creek and get most of her stuff out of storage and into her new place without any trouble. She met with Molly and the girl welcomed her back with a sarcastic "about time you came running back" and a punch on the shoulder. Carley laughed through her pain, knowing that even though Molly seemed pretty nonchalant about her return, she could tell that what Lilly said was true and that Molly was ecstatic to have her back. They spent time together with Lilly talking, learning what's new in each other's lives. Carley learned about Molly's sister Hannah's relationship with her long distance "totally not a boyfriend" friend Ben Paul from Stone Mountain and how she met him at summer camp. She was grateful that Lilly didn't mention to Molly her nightmares or why she left as she wasn't ready to tell her yet, not feeling up to having both Lilly and Molly on a blood hunt for Michael.

Carley also had the chance to see Kenny, Katjaa and Duck again when she returned to Lee's house. As she had expected, Duck was no longer a three year old toddler and she barely recognized him from the last time she held him. She, Kenny and Katjaa had also been able to repair the friendship they lost, and she had to admit as annoying Kenny was to her when they were younger, she really missed his stupid antics and thick southern accent and she missed the calm comforting aura that she always felt around Katjaa.

Her relationship with Lee was probably what she was most grateful for. After that first awkward yet eye opening and emotional meeting, her and Lee swiftly moved back into their old friendship the next time she came over. They laughed and joked along with Kenny, almost like they were in high school again. Throughout the week Lee would invite her over multiple times, and they would just continue to talk. It was around the third time he invited her over when she asked if he had a job anywhere.

He answered her with just a simple no, but by the look on his face she knew to leave the question alone. She could tell he's still hurting by what happened and she wished she could try to do something for him, but as Kenny said to her one day "You seem to be doing a lot for him by being around. Ever since you came around he's been much happier". For some reason, knowing that she was helping him in some way made her feel better.

She now pulled her rental car into the only spot left she could find on the curb and got out, grabbing her bag and preparing herself for the day ahead. It was her first day of work, and to be honest, she was more nervous than she thought she would be. With the help of her old boss, she was able to get her old job back at WTKS. She was eager to see her old friends and apparently finding her a spot as a reporter wasn't that hard. It turned out that they weren't able to find someone to replace her anyway, so Steve, her supervisor, was happy to welcome her back as he missed her special style of hard-hitting journalism.

As she entered the building she already came across a familiar face, rushing past her with wires wrapped around his arms. "Hey Doug!"

"Carley! Good to see you!" Doug stopped in his tracks and went to greet his old friend. She would have hugged him but she was afraid of getting tangled in all of the wires he held. "How have you been? Are you working here again?"

"Yea. Actually this is my first day back. Do you know where Steve is?"

"Oh yea, he's just down the hall in his office. Welcome back Car."

"Thanks. Are you still the Maintenance Engineer? I didn't know you bought in the wiring chords."

"Nope, I'm Chief Engineer now." Doug said proudly, moving some of the wires aside to show off his name tag.

"That's great! Congrats Doug!"

"Thanks. Speaking of what's new, did you meet the new editor?"

"No, I haven't. John left?"

"Yea, He moved up north to Boston a few months ago." Doug said, shaking his head sadly. "Well, I've got to go. We'll catch up some more later okay?"

"Sure. Nice talking to you, see you around."

"See ya." And with that, Doug continued down the hall on the right while Carley walked straight forward down to the door at the end of the hall. On the door, the words Steve Wade, News Director were etched in black over the glass window. Carley looked through the window and could see two figures talking on the other side. As she knocked, she saw one of them pause the conversation and walk over to open the door.

"Hey Carley, come on in." Steve smiled as he opened the door wider for her to enter. She returned the smile but as she walked in her eyes focused on the woman standing in the middle of the room by the desk.

"Before you start I wanted to introduce you to our new editor, Danielle." He said, waving his arm towards the woman. She wore a simple white blouse and blue skirt with a matching blazer and her black hair, a contrast to her fair skin, was pulled back into a low ponytail. She stared at Carley for a moment, her penetrating gaze making Carley feel increasingly uncomfortable, until she finally smiled and held her hand out.

"Pleased to meet you Carley. I'll be your editor from now on. I look forward to working with you." Her voice was pleasant but almost robotic, like there were no real emotions behind her words.

Carley grabbed her held out hand and shook, smiling back at her. "I'm Carley. I look forward to working with you too." She said with a hint of forced happiness in her voice.

"Well by the looks of it, this is gonna be a long day." She thought only half-jokingly.

For the next two weeks, Carley and Danielle got into some form of mutual rhythm at work, where they got as much work done as possible while having the least amount of contact with each other. After their initial meeting, tour of the grounds with Steve, meeting with the rest of the news team (some of whom Carley already knew) and their subsequent first assignment, Carley and Danielle have been at odds with each other about almost everything. From what they should cover, to how they should format the script for the radio anchor, to what people they should schedule to interview, both girls seem to be on the opposite end of each spectrum when it came to their opinions about what would be the most affective and it seemed like the only thing they could agree on was that they needed to stay away from each other. By the end of the second week, Carley was incredibly stressed and tired.

"I don't know what's with her! It's like she has to argue with me on everything! We can't even agree on where a stupid little comma should go, and since she's the editor, she has the final say on everything!" Carley groaned, leaning back on Lee's couch and rubbing her forehead while Lee sat next to her, stifling his laughter. He had forgotten about her habit of ranting whenever she was frustrated. For the most part, Lee had found it amusing when she started yelling into the air, uncaring of who was around, unless of course, her anger was directed at him.

"You know, you're just as stubborn as her."

Carley lifted her head up at glared at Lee. "Excuse me? I at least try to listen to others opinions, while she just goes with whatever she thinks is best. Do you know how many times I had to rewrite the first sentence of the report?!"

Lee lifted his arms up in surrender, surprised at her outburst. "I was just saying that it seems like you both have more in common than you think."

"Whatever." She turned away from him, pouted and crossed her arms as there was a knock on the door. Lee went to answer it and was greeted by Clementine with a hug to the waist.

"Hey sweet pea. Did you have fun with Kenny and Duck?"

"Yea, but I wanted to come home." She answered as she let go of him and walked through the door. Lee waved to Kenny from across the street and then closed the door behind her.

"That's just fine. There's actually someone I want you to meet." Lee walked over to Carley who stood when she noticed Clementine in the room. "Clem, this is Carley, an old friend of mine."

Carley, her anger suddenly gone, walked over and bent down to be face to face with the little girl. "Hello Clementine. I haven't seen you in such a long time."

"You know me?"

"Yes. I knew you when you were a baby, so you probably don't remember me much. You've grown to be so pretty." Clementine gave her a shy smile, slightly blushing at the compliment.

"Well, I better get going. I need to go find food and get to work on my next story, god knows it's going to take all weekend." Carley said as she stood back up and turned towards Lee.

"You know you can have dinner with us if you'd like Car."

"Thanks, but I already spend too much time around here anyway." She joked as she gathered her bag and jacket. "I'll just go to my usual spot or maybe try to actually cook this time."

"Okay then. Take care Carley."

"See ya."

Carley opened the door to her apartment, dragged herself through the door, and turned on the lights. She dropped her bag on the table and stretched her body out on the small couch, yawning. After another dinner at her favorite diner, she felt too tired to even move from her place on the couch. While still on the couch, she reached in her pocket for her cellphone and dialed Lilly's number.

"Hello?"

"Hey Lilly, it's me. I'm just calling to say that I'm still coming with Molly tomorrow."

"Okay. You still want to go to that new bar around the corner from Crawford Square?"

"Yea, let's check that one out."

"By the way, when are you going to introduce me to your old friends?" Carley rolled her eyes. This was the fourth time Lilly had asked.

"Anytime you'd like Lilly, just let me know when."

"Soon."

Carley sighed. "Fine then, soon. I'm going to bed. Have a goodnight Lilly."

"Goodnight." Carley hung up her phone, turned off the nearby light, slipped her shoes off and walked to her bedroom. She fell on the bed, grabbed the closest pillow, laid her head on it and drifted off to sleep, too tired to change her clothes.

She never saw the figure moving through her window outside.

"Dad, what's this?" Clementine said as she lifted up a giant folder to show to her father.

Lee took it and opened it, flipping through the contents inside. "I think it's Carley's, looks like a list of news sources. Where did you find this?"

"It was on the couch." The little girl responded, pointing to the spot where she found it.

Lee picked up the phone and tried dialing Carley's number, but received no answer. He hung up the phone and looked down at the folder again in thought.

"She was so stressed today and these papers are really important too. Turtle Creek is only 20 minutes away and I'd hate for her to be even more stressed."

Lee grabbed his car keys off the coffee table. "Clementine, go get your shoes on, we're going out for a minute."

Carley awoke to incredible heat surrounding her and a thick smell of smoke in the air. Her senses went on alert quickly and she jumped up, only to start coughing as soon as she tried to breathe. She could barely see as the room was filled with a thick gray smoke and she was forced to look down as her eye burned from the heat. Quickly she found her way to her bedroom door, her lungs trying to take in any air they could. She opened the door only to come to the sight of her house filled with flames. Her lungs burned for air, but all she could breathe in was the smoke.

"Oh god, I need to get out!" She tried her best to keep calm, but she began to panic and fear for her life. She couldn't see, she couldn't breathe, and she was surrounded by flames. Using her hands and feet to feel around, she tried her best to find the kitchen counter, but cursed herself as she began to feel lightheaded.

"Stay up Carley, you can't pass out. Keep it together!" She willed herself to keep going, but as she reached the middle of the kitchen, her body gave out and she collapsed onto the floor, hitting her head against the counter.

All she could see was a figure looming over her before everything went black.

A/N I'm still posting a new chapter on Friday/Saturday so you'll still have another new chapter this week. Don't forget to review!