I promise you, this chapter is a bit less shocking! Enjoy! ;)

The officer that was with Alex the whole time took his arm.

"Mr Ryan, let's go back inside."

He pulled back real hard and snapped at him. "I'm perfectly capable to walk myself! And do me a favour, don't "mr" me, the name's Alex."

And he kept this attitude...Towards the police, to his workers, to the girls from Drovers and also Fiona, no one could get through to him. Even when Fiona cried, he wouldn't soften up, like he did before. When the investigation and hearings at Killarney where finally over, he still didn't change one bit. Riley really had enough of the way he was bossing every one around, every one had the same thought, it was like the old grumpy bastard was back; Harry Ryan. And just when things seemed to get a little better, Alex got himself into another fight with Fiona, which made everything even worse...

… … …

Fiona was so fed up by everything, she hated the fights, but she had no clue of how to deal with him. And jealousy is like poison.

"Oh come on Alex, you're only thinking of her! I know she's been through a lot and that she's your friend, but right now, it's all about Stevie! Sometimes I even wonder if you still love me." She finally said what she felt.

Alex turned away from her, he bend his head and sighed. "Right and what kind of answer do you expect from me? What's between us doesn't have anything to do with Stevie. I have to go back to work." He was referring to the fake pregnancy and all the other lies she put him up with.

Fiona was so angry at him. "Say that again!" She yelled and grabbed his arm, forcing him to look at her. And when he did, his eyes spit fire and all kind of emotions.

"Look into my eyes and say it again! Tell me Stevie has got nothing to do with us."

He looked down. "She hasn't."

Fiona got furious. "You're in love with her, aren't you?!"

Now that made him look at her. "No I'm not in love with Stevie!"

"Oh come on, it's obvious! You know what, you're right, go back to work! Turn your back on me again, like you do every time! Go ahead, run away from everything, so you don't have to focus on how you really feel!"

He suddenly walked towards her, anger was written all over his face and he squeezed his eyes a little bit, it was a threatening look.

"You've got it all figured out, haven't ya? You know, maybe that's exactly why I don't talk. And don't start about Stevie, you know it's not all about her, that's ridiculous. I'd rather say; it's all about you!" He took a deep breath to continue, he saw how much it affected her, but he went on...

"You've told me a million times how bad you feel that all of this happened here, that we are in the newspaper, you've cried your eyes out about how much this will effect your family and friends. You're so damn frustrated and ashamed because your husband killed someone. You are worried about your reputation, about how people will look at us from now on. You haven't been very supportive towards me, despite the fact that my behaviour just sucks. Now, you wonder if I still love you?!"

Fiona cried her eyes out, but Alex had enough of this, he felt his head sting when he walked away. Ready to make another victim of his anger, the first one on his path would get tears in his eyes too. And it was Nad.

Nad always listened, he was one of Killarney's best workers, if not; the best. But Alex made him become insecure lately and he was about to reach the point that he couldn't take this any more. After Alex yelled at him and named up a bunch of things that weren't well taken care of, he responded.

"It's like I can't do anything right around here any more Alex. I honestly have never felt like this when I worked for your father. I'm sorry, but if nothing changes then I'm out of here." He just said it and walked away, feeling proud of himself to finally have said that.

Alex didn't respond to that, it made him feel worse. He knew he had to change, but just didn't know how. Suddenly his phone rang, the screen said it was "Drovers Run". He didn't hesitate to pick up.

"Hey Alex, have you got some spare time this afternoon?" It was Regan, who was determined to help him.

She could hear him sigh. "I never got some spare time left. Since I'm the only one who runs this farm properly." He replied, sounding tired and frustrated.

But Regan already guessed he wouldn't be enthusiastic in the first place. "Just a few hours."

He sarcastically replied. "Just a few hours? Right. For what?"

Regan waited, then answered. "I was wondering if you'd like to come with me to visit Stevie."

The look on his face suddenly changed. "I don't know." His voice became softer.

"She's in hospital." Regan said.

Alex got worried. "Since when?"

"Since a few days, she was to weak and fainted a few times."

Alex his heartbeat quickened, his breathing got faster. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Alex? Calm down ok? She needs rest, she wasn't allowed to have visitors."

She could hear he changed and he sounded restless when he responded. "When are you going?"

Regan smiled. "Whenever you're ready."

"I'm on my way." He said and hung up, he rushed into the house again, upstairs, to change.

… … …

"What are you doing?" Fiona suddenly entered the bathroom.

He was busy tying the buttons of his blouse and looked in the mirror. "I'm going to visit Stevie."

"Visit Stevie? Are you sure that's allowed?"

He sighed, but stayed calm. "Regan just called, she's in hospital because she was to weak. Can you believe it? I even warned them." He now looked at her.

Fiona shrugged.

Now Alex had that angry look again. "What? You don't agree? Or you don't care?" He sighed and looked in the mirror. again "I shouldn't have mentioned it, you don't give a damn about her." And he turned and walked to the bathroom.

Fiona followed. "I've never said that! What is wrong with you?!"

"Oh come on, I see the look on your face whenever it's about Stevie." He kept staring in the mirror, busy with his hair.

Suddenly Fiona began to yell at him. "That's because of your reaction, you completely change when it's about her. You would do anything for her! Even if it comes to killing someone!" Then she ran away. Alex was furious, he quickly wanted to put the hair gel back in the closet and go after her, but the pot slipped through his fingers and smashed on the floor.

"Damn it!"

Fiona knew she better get downstairs, but her husband was quick and grabbed her just before she reached the stairs. He roughly turned her to make her look at him.

He was raging inside, Fiona was sobbing. "Would you have done it for me?"

Alex still held her arm, he squeezed it and strictly replied. "Get out! Pack your things and leave!"

Fiona was shocked of his reaction, she dried some tears and did what he said...

… … …

Alex did care, he felt like he was being stabbed. Fiona had made her point and she was right, he was thinking to much of Stevie and it was frustrating. When he was in the bathroom again he put his wedding ring back on and thought about the choices he had made. Was Fiona just a fling? To flee from Harry? To not feel hurt by him any more? To prove he could settle down and start his own life? He kept staring at the ring and feelings of guilt were adding up. He decided to walk to the bedroom, where Fiona was.

… … …

Alex stared at her, while she was pulling her clothes from the wardrobe. Fiona looked unhappy and insecure, tears were running down her cheeks.

"Of course I would." He suddenly said to her, which made her look at him right away, she felt confused.

"I would kill someone for you, if I had to."

He deeply sighed "I'm sorry."

That made her cry even more, sorry was a word she didn't hear much from him lately. She walked up to him and before she knew it he took her in his arms.

"I am really sorry. It has been rough, for both of us. And as your husband I'm not allowed to treat you like this." He finally opened up a bit.

Fiona wrapped her arms around him. "I'm sorry too." She sniffed and looked up "You still want me to leave?"

He shook his head and was ashamed of himself, then he let go of her and grabbed her shoulders looking straight in her eyes. "Look I'll have to pick up Regan now, ok? Let's have diner tonight, just the two of us."

Fiona gave him a strange look, it was hard to believe after what just happened. He forced a smile on his face and said "Hey I'm trying."

And he really was, he wanted to make things better. He gave her a kiss on her forehead and left.

… … …

"Oi! Wait up!" Dave yelled from a distance, he was the only one who could still get along with Alex pretty well. Probably because he didn't bothered him with any questions.

Alex looked back but didn't stop walking. "Sorry mate, I'm in a hurry."

Dave fastened his pace and caught up on him.

He put his arm around Alex and smiled. "You and I got some seriously catching up to do mate. Tonight? The beer's are on me." Dave had heard a lot about Alex from his clients in the past few days and it wasn't very positive. But there hadn't been one time that he didn't stood up for his mate. And of course he'd heard from the girls what happened, it all made him feel so sorry for his friend, he wanted to be there for him.

But Alex shook his head. "I don't think I'm in the mood for that Brewer."

Dave begged. "Come on, just a few beers, to cheer you up a bit. I promise not to ask or mention anything that has happened."

Alex sarcastically responded. "To cheer me up, seriously? You know, I would pay ya, if you could to cheer me up."

Dave laughed. "You're kidding. How much would you pay me?"

Alex shook his head. "It's a joke."

"I take the challenge. What about 10 bucks for each smile."

Alex stared at him and thought about it, it was kind of funny. "Oh what the heck, the deals on." He smiled.

Now Dave got him. "Oeh that's already 10 bucks for me mate."

Alex tried to look serious. "Brewer? That doesn't count."

Dave acted like he was disappointed. "What?"

"I don't see any beer yet, do you?"

Dave smiled and saluted him goodbye. "I'll see ya tonight."

"Hey wait up, what if you don't succeed?"

Dave laughed. "Oh I will!"

… … …

Later in the car, Regan told Alex the big news she had for him. "Did Nick call you already?"

"Yeah I talked to him, I thought you knew, told him the whole story this time."

Regan smiled. "Yes I know, but did he call you again, yesterday?"

Alex frowned. "No. Why wou..."

Regan couldn't hold it much longer. "Nick and Tess decided to come home."

Alex was shocked! "What!? When?"

Regan carefully smiled, she had been hoping that he would be happy about it. "They're already on their way."

Alex didn't knew what he heard! He suddenly stepped on the brake, real hard. After the car stood stil he got out, slammed the door and started walking.

Regan was surprised and jumped on the drivers seat to back up the car, hoping he would get back in. "What are you doing, we were going to visit Stevie."

But Alex kept walking. "Leave me alone."

"Alex? Come back here." Now Regan got out too. He was so stubborn!

Regan ran after him. "What the hell is wrong with you?! Everyone tries to be there for you and all you do is piss people off or hurt them. I thought you'd be happy! Nick left everything behind to be there for his brother."

Alex stopped and bend his head. "You really don't understand, do you?" Then he turned to look at her. "I don't want him to come home in this mess I've created. I screwed up everything."

"Look there's nothing you can do about it right now. Pull yourself together and get back in the car so we can go and see Stevie."

Surprisingly enough he listened and got back into the car.

"You should have called me right after you heard this Regan."

Regan started the car. "I'm telling you now. Don't be so hard on yourself, your brother wants to be there for you, he loves you!"

"Fine. That's exactly what I don't need right now."

Regan got mad. "You know if Stevie was here, she would've slapped you right in the face for the way you're behaving!"

Suddenly his attitude changed and he even laughed. Regan was right, Stevie would have done that and she was probably the only one who could do that and get away with it.

… … …

In the hospital...

The doctor meat them in the waiting room, he wanted to inform them about her situation. Regan made eye contact with Alex. "You go and see Stevie, I'll give you an update later." Alex nodded, but was also a bit afraid to go inside. And the police officer who was standing by the door wasn't making it easier for him to enter Stevie's room.

He slowly put down the door handle and carefully opened the door, then he peeked around the corner and noticed Stevie was asleep.

When he stood beside the bed he noticed how clean she was compared to a few days ago. Her red curly hair was beautiful and shiny again. Alex took a seat and when he did he picked up the scent of shampoo coming from her hair. It made him bend in to get closer to smell her hair. Being with his best mate immediately calmed him down, that restless feeling he had was gone, he didn't even felt the anger that had build up inside of him.

He moved his hand to her face and spread his fingers to carefully caress her cheek. Stevie moaned and turned her head, he quickly pulled his hand back. Her eyelids moved and she slowly opened up her eyes.

He carefully smiled "Hey there."

The nurse came in and saw what happened. Stevie closed her eyes again and sighed.

The nurse checked her IV and informed Alex. "That's what happens all the time. She doesn't want anything."

Alex glanced at her, but then his eyes were on Stevie again, he softly said her name. "Stevie?"

But there was no respond.

"Stevie. Can you look at me?"

But still nothing happened.

"I'm not here to force you into anything." He patiently waited.

The nurse was impressed of how he did this and also of the respond he finally got.

Stevie opened her eyes again and now kept them open and stared at him. She looked pale and depressed.

"That's better." he said while staring back, into her beautiful brown eyes.

… … …

Stevie smacked her lips, her mouth felt dry and then suddenly she broke the silence. "If you don't expect anything then why are you here?"

"Listen you've got every right to be mad at me." He said. "I know I've ruined your chances for the trial." He waited.

But Stevie kept quiet and looked away.

"I'm really sorry."

He heard a big sigh and then she looked at him again. "You're sorry for what?" With her eyes wide open she looked straight at him. "Sorry for killing Leo? Or sorry for letting the gun slip through your fingers so it ended up right in front of me?"

Alex swallowed. "Both."

"Right. Is that why your here? Because you feel guilty?" He wasn't wrong, she indeed was angry.

He stood up and walked away from the bed saying. "Do you have any idea how much I thought about you for the past few days?"

Then he turned to look at her, he was emotional. "All I did was protecting you. I would do anything for you, even if it means killing someone."

Stevie still didn't respond, she just stared at him as he walked to the bed again. "And I'm here because I'm worried. Look I'm trying to support you here, but it makes no sense if you're sending me away."

But Stevie didn't want any attention, especially from Alex. It touched her, but it was like all she had been doing was building walls. "Did they arrested you too?"

Tears jumped into his eyes, because of the whole situation. He couldn't help it that he hadn't been in jail, but it felt so unfair towards Stevie.

His voice went down. "No, we've had police officers at Killarney several days for the investigation and the hearings."

"I knew it."

He walked towards the bed again. "Knew what?"

Her eyes were on him for quite some time. He looked in her eyes and then looked away, it was quiet for a while.

Alex suddenly tried a different approach. "Did they offered you any help to deal with this?"

Stevie was annoyed by his question. "I'm not going to see a shrink if that's what you mean."

"Well, you can't just forget and move on..."

She roled her eyes and sarcastically smiled. "Why not? I always did that. Can we drop this subject and go back to the other one?"

Alex got angry, that fake smile of her hurt him. "No we can't. Stevie? He hurt you. That cold hearted mongrel raped you, he completely burned you down, I can't believe you're just gonna let that happen." One tear escaped from his eye and slowly ran down his cheek, he fought against the other tears.

"He's dead. There's nothing to be afraid off." She ignored his emotions. Alex couldn't believe it and suddenly figured it out and straightforwardly asked.

"Are you mad of me because I'm not being punished for what I did?"

"No." She lied first, but then suddenly changed her answer. "Yes. It's just not fair, I had to go to jail because of you. Because of that stupid gun lying in front of me. You should have said something!"

"I did."

Stevie sighed and shook her head. "They arrested me, but left you at home because you have a good reputation, you're a Ryan. But you should have done something."

Alex was flabbergasted. "I did everything I could." he took a deep breath. "Stevie I did everything to make it right. I asked them to take me instead, but they wouldn't listen."He paused. "My heart broke wen I saw you leave."

But Stevie stayed mad. "Well you haven't tried hard enough. You just stood there with that lying bitch."

That pissed him off. "Hey that's my wife here we're talking about!"

Stevie turned her head. "Oh please! Just leave. Go home Alex."

"No, I'm not going anywhere! I've got every right to defend myself ánd my wife. First of all; Fiona might have lied to me, but she's not a bitch. Second of all, let me explain something about the gun. I was so shocked, my hands were trembling and..."

But Alex couldn't finish his sentence, because Stevie filled him in.

"Yes I know you didn't do it on purpose. You didn't do anything to make me look bad."

He frowned. "Then why are you upset with me?"

She looked down to the bed. "I'm just disappointed."

Now Alex got confused. "That's even worse. What should I have done differently according to you?"

"Let the gun drop in a different direction?" she couldn't say it without laughing.

Alex frowned, but his face lightened up when he heard her laugh.

"So you can still laugh after all?"

Stevie turned towards him. "Weird isn't it? What about you? You look terrible."

"Gee thanks." He said, his smile disappeared. "This is an awkward situation if I may say so. First you're mad at me and suddenly you're asking me how I'm doing?"

But despite her joke, Stevie was serious. "I didn't ask that, but now that you're mentioning it; how áre you doing?"

Alex pulled up one eyebrow and sarcastically responded. "Gee I'd loved to talk about that, but first I really need your forgiveness."

Stevie stared at him and gave him a sweet look. "I'll forgive you."

"That sounds to quick and to easy."

"I can't stay mad at you for long. But I'm still disappointed." And she tried to look disappointed.

Now Alex carefully sat down on the bed and put his hand on hers.

"Now what can we do about that?" He asked very sweet.

Stevie shyly smiled and looked down "Mr Charming."

Alex frowned, he was serious. "Give me a break Stevie. I'm serious." Then he sarcastically added. "You don't look very disapointed by the way."

"Well I am."

Alex just stared at her and then softly squeezed her hand. "And maybe you are confused as well...and very tired."

She didn't disagree.

… … …

When Regan entered the room again, her whole face was smiling. She had some good news...

"Have you told her yet?" She asked Alex.

He shook his head and allowed her. "Go right ahead."

Stevie could see how exited she was and she too got very happy when Regan told her about Nick and Tess' homecoming.

Regan kept smiling. "But there's more good news..." Stevie just waited. "You're allowed to go home tomorrow."

That was a huge surprise! "What? I can't believe it. I don't have to go back to jail?"

Regan widely smiled. "No, they're releasing you and you're free to go home, until the trial." Stevie smiled and made eye contact with Alex, he was happy for her too.

Finally Stevie had something good to look forward to. "Haha, can you believe it! I'm already picturing myself; cuddling with baby Claire and catching up big-time with Tess." She laughed, Regan hugged her. They stayed for a while and then left, Alex didn't dare to give her a hug, instead he kept some distance.

This visit had really helped Stevie. She hadn't smiled for a long time and felt depressed, but she was feeling so much better after this. Also talking to Alex helped her a lot, more then she showed him.

I would like to know what you think of this story so far/ or chapter, so I can learn from it and become a better writer ;) Can you leave me a review? Thanksss