THE SECRET LIFE OF THE AMERICAN TEENAGER is owned and property of Brenda Hampton, and the producers of ABCFAMILY CHANNEL. The characters involved in this story are totally fictional as are the situations, the plot involved with this story however is mine.

THIS SECTION OF THE STORY TAKES PLACE ONE WEEK AFTER THE CONVERSATION AMY HAD WITH HER FAMILY. SHE JOHN AND JAIMEE ARE NOW ON A PLANE HEADED TO ITALY TO SEE ASHLEY

John: So mom, what is you sister like? I don't remember that much about her.

Amy: She's sarcastic, a little mean at first, but she is also very loving. She is the perfect cross between you Grampa George and you Granma Anne.

John: Really, how is that? I mean I've seen her pictures and my friends think she is a pretty hot aunt, but the pictures were kind of old.

Amy: John, which of your friends said that about your Aunt Ashley

John: Probably about everyone of the guys and a few of the girls.

Amy: Which pictures of them did you show to them.

John: Just the ones where you and she were in school, and the one where she took me Trick or Treating.

Amy: I remember that she decided to be a witch during that year, and you were her little monkey with wings. Your Granpa was not happy with how low cut the dress she was wearing.

John: How come she took me, and not you?

Amy: Let's just say I wasn't at my best when you were a baby, and I went to a party with some freinds instead.

John: How come she decided to take me then? I mean it wasn't her responsibility.

Amy: Your Aunt Ashley was like that I guess. She was always there for others.

John: She sounds nice.

Amy: She is.

John: So how come you two grew apart?

Amy: I guess it was because, we both became jealous of the other. Mostly I think it was me. I used to get angry and mad at others for no reason sometimes.

John: You mean like how you used to get angry at Adrian.

Amy: Yeah, exactly like that.

John: So I'm confused. Dad, and Adrian told me a bit about your rivalry, but why were you so mad at her for dating Dad, when you were with Ben? I mean Dad was the jerk, how come you didn't get mad at him?

Amy: I guess it's because girls are mean. We will get mad at everyone, but other girl's are easier targets. Adrian was beautiful, smart, strong, and I even envied her. She was very popular with guys in school.

John: You mean she was easy.

Amy: John who told you that?

John: Adrian. She said she wasn't exactly proud of what she did, and who she used to be, but she couldn't pretend that it didn't happen either.

Amy: I guess not, (she looked regretful because she also couldn't pretend the pain she caused to others didn't happen).

John: So you were jealous of her for having what you didn't, or were you jealous of her for having Dad.

Amy: A little bit of both. I was really selfish back then, I actually still am. But, I think Adrian and I have made up for that.

FLASHBACK 3 Days Prior:
Monday 7:30 PM
Home of Rueben & Cindy Enriquez, temporary home of Adrian Lee

Adrian: Coming! (answer's door surprised to see Amy Lee Underwood)... Amy, hi what are you doing here?

Amy: Hi, Adrian I came to say my goodbyes before I leave in a few days, and since you have been so busy I wanted to make sure I didn't forget.

Adrian: So you are really going to see Ashley after all these years to make amends, huh.

Amy: Yeah, I know it's probably been way to long. But, she is my sister and after everything she did for me, John, Ricky, and everyone it's my turn to be there for her.

Adrian: Well that's true she was there for me too, I have to say I missed her.

Amy: You and she were friends weren't you?

Adrian: Yeah, I kinda guess we were. She was one of the only people who never seemed to judge others. I wasn't that surprised when Ben told me that he and Ashley had become friends.

Amy: Yeah, they were both a lot alike. I never realized that until he told me. I always thought that Ashley and he were different because Ashley was usually cold towards others, and Ben was warm and friendly. But, when you put aside their looks the obvious and concentrate on the person it makes you wonder why they were never friends from the beginning.

Adrian: As Ben wrote in his journal they were both alike, and they were both smart. Because of thise they were both smart enough to know they were so much alike that if they became friends from the beginning they would both start to hate themselves and each other.

Amy: You know that actually makes an ironic kind of sense.

Adrian: When it comes to Ben and Ashley I think irony is the only kind of sense there is.

Amy : I guess you're right. Adrian saying goodbye wasn't the only reason I stopped by. I also wanted to make amends with all my demons including you.

Adrian: Amy you and I made amends for everything a while ago. I mean I made you a bridesmaid at my wedding. Even though my marriage didn't make it I thought the peace we made did.

Amy: The truth is Adrian you made peace, I never did. I never apologized even once for the way I used to treat you or act toward you when we were in high school. You were very supportive of me when I found out I was pregnant in New York.

Adrian: Amy that is okay, we were friends then.

Amy: No we weren't you were my friend, but I wasn't yours. I need to tell you something that I should have told you along time ago.

Adrian: (worried) What is it Amy, I don't understand.

Amy: Adrian I deliberately took the bear that you had in the nursery when you got rid of Mercy's nursery.

Adrian: (shocked at what Amy was telling her) Amy...

Amy: I knew that Ben cherished that bear Adrian. I knew that he was hurting and in pain and that he loved you he just wasn't able to deal with what was happening to you while he was still grieving. I claimed that I was your friend, and I should have told you about how Ben dealt with losing his mom.

Adrian: Amy, I don't understand?

Amy: (Crying) Adrian, Ben could never really deal with losing her. He was so distraught from her death that he barely even spoke about her. He also refused to go near any of her things for fear he might break down and he didn't want his dad to see that. Leo even though he was a good man he didn't know how to help him. So he just packed his mom's things away so Ben wouldn't have to look at them, and be reminded of them. He told me that, what hurt him the most was when his dad did that, it made losing her feel real. Since then he held onto that bear to remind him of her so he would never forget her.

Adrian: So when I got rid of the nursery I re-opened the wound of him losing his mother while the pain of losing Mercy was still fresh?

Amy: Yes...(feeling guilty and letting her own tears fall)

Adrian: Why?...Why would you not tell me this Amy? Why didn't you stop me from making the biggest mistake of my marriage. Me getting rid of the nursery caused the biggest fight Ben and I have ever had, and you could have stopped it.

Amy: Because I made believe it was right. I thought that your baby dying was proof that you and Ben were wrong for each other, and you two getting divorced was what would be best for Ben. But truthfully its' because I hated you. I thought all you did was ruin Ben's life, and my relaitonship with him. I wanted to free him of you so he could be happy. I wanted you to be miserable. I hated how Ben seemed happier with you than he ever did with me. I hated how he told me he was happy with you. I hated you because of how you took him from me. I was envious of you for being the first woman he ever slept with, for being the mother of his child, the first real Mrs. Boykewich, and being the woman he loved. I hated that it felt like you took all of that from me. He was mine. But, I wasn't happy with him or he wasn't happy with me. I hated that you brought out in him what I was supposed too. You did the same with Ricky, and even my sister. They all liked you better than me. My son even liked you better than me, Adrian. Do you know how that feels to have everyone in your life favor someone else over you. Someone who doesn't even deserve them.

Adrian: Yes I do Amy because that is exactly how you and every girl at the school made me feel every single day! That is how Ricky made me feel when we were together. No matter how much I did for him, no matter how much I was there for him he wanted you! Even, Ben wanted you when we were together. Every single day all I ever was in that school was the SLUT!. You called me that every day. You didn't deserve Ben or Ricky. You didn't care who Ricky was when you met him, all you wanted from him was for him to be your boyfriend so you could be popular. Yeah, I know that is exactly what you thought. You never loved Ben, if you did you would have had that abortion. When you were in my car that day he didn't want you to get the abortion because he didn't want you to kill your child for him. He wanted you to know that he loved you no matter what. You didn't get the abortion because you couldn't go through with it, you only went there to see what he would do. You didn't care what you did, or who you hurt. You never cared what you would put him, Ricky, or me through.

Amy: Well you are no different because you had Ben and Ricky and it didn't stop you from hurting either of them. Did it? So, I might have called you a slut Adrian, but you made yourself slut with every guy you slept with and every time you hurt someone.

Adrian: Well what does that make you then Amy? Does it make you a slut, a whore, a bitch, skank, what?

Amy: I guess it made me just like you.

Adrian: Don't, you dare to ever try and compare yourself to me at all. Not even once. I grew up with nothing. My grandparents didn't want me, neither did my dad, or my mom. No matter where I went I was always un-wanted the only time I found someone who wanted me for me they died. The only time I found that again, I was with Ben. You had a mother, father, friends, grandparents, even a sister that would do anything for you. You had it all, and you never appreciated any of it, or any of them. I would have given anything to have that.

Amy: Well you had it with Ben, and you gave it away for Ricky. We both know he didn't love you.

Adrian: I gave up Ben because I didn't know if he could love me without our daughter. I left him so he could be happy.

Amy: If that is the cae Adrian, how come you didn't have an abortion? You had the same choice as I did so why didn't you do it.

Adrian: Because I already started to love my daughter and Ben.

Amy: Don't give me that Adrian. How long did it ake you before you had another man in your bed. Did you even let him move out before you slept with Henry or Omar. You moved Omar in what a month after you got divorced. But, you werefucking him before you were even divorced. So don't you try and lie that you did what you did for him. You did it because you didn't care about him. You let him suffer, and you enjoyed it. So tell me if you loved him so much, why did you do that. You didn't deserve him, or Mercy. Do you really believe that your daughter can be proud of you after that. The truth is neither of us deserved him.

Adrian: I guess you're right. So how come both of us still want him. I know you went to see him a few weeks ago. So what why is it if neither of us deserve him do we both want him now.

Amy: Because we aren't kids anymore, as kids we both saw only what was on the surface. Now I guess we both see the man he is on the inside, and appreciate it. I truly realize now that he loved both of us, we just never let ourselves be in love with him. I know I didn't love him, but I did love him. Do you love him?

Adrian: Yes, yes I do. I love Ben Boykewich. I love him because he see's me. The good, the bad, and everything in between. He had faith in me, even when I had no faith in myself. He gave me the strength to be strong, even if it made him weak. Deep down I have always loved him. I loved him and that is the real reason why I couldn't have the abortion, because I couldn't bring myself to take a life that was created by him, by us. Even though I still felt that I loved Ricky, I knew I felt something even stronger for Ben. He was strong, brave, caring, smart, and loving. He showed up at the clinic even though he didn't have too, and that was literally the greatest thing anyone has ever done for me. He was shocked that I was keeping the baby, but he was still there to make sure that he was by my side, to help me through it. He told me that we would make the best of it, and I knew when he said that, I started to fall in love with him. Because he meant every word he said.

Amy: Why after everything that happened, do you want to be with him now, Adrian.

Adrian: Because I could never understand why? Why he loved me. Why he cared about me. He saw everything in me, and he loved me despite that...(in awe) I could never understand no matter what I did to him, he still loved me. Why he was always there for me even when he didn't have to be. He didn't sleep with me to get back at you and Ricky. He slept with me because I needed him that night. Because I needed to feel love, and that is the only way I knew how to feel love.

Amy: So why did you leave him in the first place.

Adrian: Because I could never do anything right for him. I couldn't even give him the daughter we both wanted Amy. You never saw the pain he tried to hide every day. The pain I put their because I lost our daughter. (begins crying)

Amy: You didn't lose her Adrian, she just died.

Adrian: Didn't I. She was inside of me not you, not him. It was my job to make sure she was safe, and healthy and she died. So whose fault was it' Amy? She died because she paid for all of the bad things I did. He thought it was his fault, but it was mine. (drops to the kitchen floor, and cries for the loss of her child & her marriage, the mistakes she has made, & Ben)

Amy: It wasn't anyone's fault Adrian. I guess sometimes bad things happen and it's no one's fault. I have done even worse things than you, to people who have always been there for me. My boys are both still alive and healthy, your daughter didn't die to punish you or Ben; Adrian. But I am sorry. I am so sorry for not being there to truly help you and Ben like I should have. (consoles Adrian on the floor as she did in the hospital ten years ago)

Adrian: Do you think Ben and I can actually after all this time be together.

Amy: Yeah, I think you can.

Adrian: Why? Like you said I hurt him more than anyone else.

Amy: Because when you love someone truly, and really love someone, that love can never go away. It stays, and allows you to forgive them for everything. Or at least that is what I hope, because it's all I ahve to hold on too, to help me with Ashley.

Adrian: I hope so, because it's all I have to hold onto being with Ben.

Amy: I don't think so. Ben loves you.

Adrian: How can you be so certain?

Amy: Because he told me, and he was as sincere then as he was the day before you two got married. He loves you Adrian, you make him happy. You marriage failed because neither of you were ready. I guess mine is falling apart for the exact same reason.

Adrian: I've been married twice Amy, even if a relationship with Ben leads back to the altar how can it work.

Amy: Look at my Dad and Camille, both were married once before, and too other people and they still found their way back to each other. Heck your parent's were like that, and even Ben's dad was like that. In this town I think the third time is always the charm.

Adrian: I wouldn't say that considering you and Ricky are still on the first try.

Amy: At least I know we might still have a second chance.

Adrian: Let's hope you won't need it.

PRESENT STORY ARCH:

John: So do you think you and Aunt Ashley will give us a second chance to be family again mom.

Amy: I think so, our town is built on second chances.