Grace almost tripped over Alex as he sat waiting on the steps of the hospital. Waiting, thinking, wasting precious minutes.

"What's going on? Is Stevie ok?" He asked quickly, relieved that at last someone had come along who could give him the answers he so desperately sought. "You told her about the police right? You explained everything, that we never meant it to go this far...."

"I told her, she's ok." Grace answered, feeling torn between the promise of silence she had made to her friend, and the demanding desperate man in front of her.

"And?" Alex asked.

"Just give it some time, come on lets go." Grace said. "No use sitting here all night."

Grace thought back to the conversation she had with her friend.

"I thought we were friends Stevie. You can trust me. What ever is going on with you and Alex has nothing to do with me, its no reason to leave Drovers and make us all worried sick. You really want to shut all of us out of your life like that?"

"Course not." Stevie answered. And it was a little over the top she realised now, to walk away from her entire life just because of him.

"Then explain it to me, please Stevie, I don't understand." Grace asked.

"You would have to promise to tell no one, especially him." Stevie warned her.

"I promise Stevie. How can you even ask me, of course I won't repeat anything you say to me."

Grace wondered at the time if that was a wise thing to promise, but she saw no choice. Now she was in the awkward position of facing Alex and trying not to mention anything. She had urged Stevie to tell him about the baby, Stevie had refused.

"He has a right to know don't you think? And he'd be thrilled." Grace told her friend.

"Maybe he does and maybe he would. It doesn't change things for him and me though. Its over. I just can't deal with him right now. Can't you just make him go away?"

"Easier said than done." Grace replied.

"I can't believe you went along with this stupid plan."

'If you'd seen how desperate he was then you'd understand. Think about us for a minute, we didn't know where you were or why or if you were dead or alive. What did you want us to do?"

"Fine, I'm sorry." Stevie mumbled.

"Well fine, I'm sorry too." Grace replied.

"Please respect my wished Grace." Stevie begged her. "Please don't say anything to him about the baby. Please just take him away."

"Ok." Grace agreed, it was not her place to tell him anything. But getting him to leave would not be easy. " Is that why you left? Because you're pregnant?" Grace asked

"No." Stevie answered.

"Then why?"

"It doesn't matter now." Stevie answered sadly, not wanting to get into the whole story. Not wanting to remind herself that the man she loved more than life itself did not truly love her or want her.

"Why did he stay so long in Argentina?" Grace wanted to know. Things had been so odd for a long time now and she wondered if something had happened in Argentina

"Please trust me Grace, It doesn't matter anymore. Just get rid of him." It really did not matter, Stevie decided. In fact it was good things ended so quickly like this. If not, she would have spent her life time trying to hide from him the things that happened while he was in Argentina, and each day she would wonder if today would be the day he found out. Each day that went by she would know it would only make him hate her more for not telling him sooner. It would have caught up with her in the end. It was better this way. To be over before it really even begun.

Grace was not sure Stevie could be trusted at the moment, nor that getting rid of Alex was the solution. But because Stevie had pleaded with her she agreed. Besides it was helping no one to have him sitting outside, everyone including Alex was only growing more agitated. Somehow some way she would convince Alex to leave it for now and go home.

~

One week later.

Michelle was rather pleased with herself. She had sent Alex on a wild goose chase halfway across the country. It would be days before he figured out what she had done. It would give them all some peace away from him, and perhaps he would take the hint and give up. Michelle did not allow herself to think about him, about how sick he was, and how tragic it was. She did not want to know about it. She preferred to believe Stevie's story, that he had cheated on her. She preferred to imagine him as an awful heartless cruel man. It made it easier to get rid of him that way. She reminded herself that his presence would lead to so much unhappiness and it was better for all if he just quietly disappeared. Stevie would get over it.

Things had started to settle down in that week. Stevie had been released from the hospital, and she and Michelle had left town for a few days to get away. Rose would be coming home tomorrow and they were both excited to see her and hear about her travels.

Just as life began to be taking a good turn, there was a knock at the door.

They were surprised to find two police men standing at the door, wanting to discuss Harry Ryan. Both had forgotten all about that stupid plan of Alex, and assumed the whole situation would just go away.

"There was a mistake, it's all been sorted out now." Michelle explained to the two men.

"I'm afraid it's not quite all sorted out. There are some unanswered questions and we would like to discuss the matter down at the station."

Stevie had no choice but to accompany them. She wondered if this was another trick from Alex. If he was somehow paying her back. Or if truly the police believed she was involved in Harry's death. She could not decide which scenario was worse. Her mind was so full that she could not really even comprehend the things the officers were telling her. Only weeks ago she had the perfect fairytale left, where had it all gone so wrong? She vowed to herself to never ever let her life get that good again, to never believe in that happy ending. It was far too painful to come crashing back down to earth.

She went with the police quietly to the station, resigned to the fact that her life was one giant mess that would never get any better. She heard Michelle promising to call a lawyer. Why should she need a lawyer she was innocent, she was hiding nothing. It was all a stupid mistake. It was all Alex. Maybe it was life's way of punishing her for all the things she had done wrong. In either case a lawyer would be of little use.

~

As Stevie woke in the hospital, she had no recollection of how she had come to be there, or what had happened in the hours in between. Her last memory was of getting in the car with the police, and then she had woken up here. She wondered if she had only dreamed about the police, she wondered if the whole awful week had been a dream. Maybe the whole year. Maybe she had hit her head very very very hard one day and been in a coma, dreaming of marrying Alex Ryan. Surely it was too good for real life. Surely all these crazy thing were not happening. Maybe she had been unconscious for the last five years. Maybe she had never come to Drovers. Maybe Claire was not dead. Maybe Claire and Alex were happily married. And she was still….still what ? Wandering aimlessly around the country wasting her life? Missing her little girl and trying so hard to save for a future but never getting anywhere? Somehow, in spite of all the bad things, she hoped that she had not dreamed her life.

As she turned to see Michelle sitting at her side she began to realise that nothing had been a dream.
She found herself relieved. At least her life had been real and she was not going crazy. Her smile soon faded as she noticed the worried expression on her sisters face.

"What's wrong?" Stevie asked her.

"Nothing, just rest." Michelle had answered her.

"My baby?" Stevie had asked, terrified that something had happened.

"The baby is fine, everything is fine, just rest." Michelle assured her.

Although she wanted to ask so many things, she could not help but close her eyes and surrender to sleep.