A special thanks to everyone who reviewed the last couple of chapters…I was kind of worried that I wouldn't get out of my slump, but when it rains, it pours, I guess. I've written more in the last two days than I have in the past month. Anyway, if it seems like things aren't happening for a reason, they really are. It might take me awhile to get back to it, but I didn't forget.

After dropping off the evidence at M.D.P.D., Keats headed over to Ryan's apartment. But instead if going in, she waited in her car, wiping her lips as though she could take away what happened.

She felt guilty even though she knew she'd done nothing wrong. Sure, she could have kicked him in the gonads to prevent him from kissing her again, but overall, she was a fairly innocent party.

How can I tell Ryan that Jake kissed me? Especially when he's been so supportive... He'll be furious with me. What if he ends up hating me?

She entered his apartment using her spare key and found Ryan asleep at his desk. He was wearing glasses, apparently in the process of reading over a few depositions of Casey's.

Keats found it strange that he was suddenly wearing glasses. She had assumed that his eyes were fine. At any rate, Keats smiled at him, thinking him very cute.

"I'm going to tell you something, okay? Promise not to get mad?" Keats began. She had made up her mind to tell him, and figured that this was excellent practice.

"Berkeley…kissed me. I didn't ask him to and I didn't return the kiss. I broke away when I got the chance and I ran like the dickens…" She gave a sigh after she had purged her proverbial soul.

But it'll be that much harder to tell him when he's awake.

"…Keats, isn't it customary to confess your sins to someone who's conscious?" Ryan lifted his head up and took off his glasses. Keats gulped.

"Please don't kill me, Ryan. I love you, and I didn't mean for that to happen. He sort of grabbed me and kissed me and then-"

"Say that again." Ryan placed his elbows on his knees and leaned forward.

"Don't kill me?" Keats asked, her brows furrowed.

"No. Right after that."

"I love you." Keats said, hoping that he would feel the same way and forgive her.

Ryan placed his lips gently against her own, kissing her as though he were erasing any leftover traces of Jake Berkeley.

"That's all I need to hear." He said, going into the kitchen for his medicine. He'd gone to a doctor after getting off work that day, receiving another round of antibiotics and a prescription for reading glasses.

Keats could hardly believe that he wasn't flying into a rage. But perhaps…maybe their love had grown deep enough to where things like that didn't matter as much.

She followed him into the kitchen and wrapped her arms around his waist from behind. He turned around to face her, backing her against the refrigerator.

"I missed you." He said against the nape of her neck.

"I missed you, too. Why do you think I left early?" She asked him, looking deep into his dark eyes.

"Because you're a workaholic." He said with a laugh. Keats gave a mock-angry glance at him and shook her head.

"That's only part of it. Most of it is that I wanted to be with you." Keats explained. Ryan smiled, hugging her close to him.

Keats slept fitfully. Her dreams haunted her, but they weren't about Patty. She woke up sweating several times, but luckily she never woke Ryan.

Her dreams were about the large Remington mansion. The rooms that stayed closed always and the scent of unspoken terrors. Keats had jolted out of the dream, telling herself that the stress she'd been under was accounting for all the nightmares.

If any of the Remingtons had kept any secrets from her, she was inclined not to know what they were.

After waking up for the fifth time, she decided to stay awake. She got on the computer and played around a bit, trying to calm her worn nerves.

Suddenly she felt a burst of inspiration. She grabbed a yellow legal pad and jotted down some names: Jimmy Grayson, Tony Delveccio, and Sorrel Chambers, Jimmy's girlfriend.

She gave them each their own column and started it off by listing their motives. Jimmy's motive was more or less a skanky boyfriend trying to get rid of his persistent ex. Sorrel's was the typical jealous girlfriend feeling threatened by her boyfriend's old flame.

Tony's motive was harder to discern, however. Was he jealous that Casey was in love with Jimmy? Perhaps he was resentful of her and blamed her for their parents' decision of sending him to boarding school. In any case, he had motives.

Keats ran her pen through the three columns and rubbed her aching eyes. She threw the pad aside and went back to bed, crawling under the covers next to Ryan.

"The bottle you brought me? It tested positive for the arsenic trioxide. There were granules of powder at the bottom." Alexx told Keats. She'd checked in with her the very first thing.

"But there wasn't a glass or anything found at the scene." Keats said. Alexx nodded.

"It was probably taken by the murderer to hide his tracks." She replied.

"Keats. Thought I'd find you here. They found traces of the powder on the steering wheel of Jimmy Grayson's truck." Delko said, entering the morgue with an open file.

"They're arresting him." He added. Keats' jaw fell open. But it's way too soon!

"But-"

"Keats, don't tell me you think this guy is innocent…. You said yourself that he fit the prototype for a deranged killer." Eric said with disbelief.

"I was just being my usual sarcastic self. I agree, he really is the type, but I don't think he did it." Keats shook her head.

"Why can't we slow down just a tad? Isn't it unfair to be so hasty when someone's freedom and life are on the line?" Keats shrieked in frustration.

"Keats, calm down. Look, if you really think this guy is innocent, get some solid evidence to support it." Delko said, holding onto her shoulders. Keats stormed out of the morgue, leaving the door swinging.

"I just might!" She yelled behind her.

"She really adds something to this place." Alexx said.

"I know what you mean." Delko replied.