A/N: I am so sorry for the delay. I was going to post an update last week, but I was/still am dreadfully sick, and really and almost wound up in hospital.

No need to freak out and back away from your screens though, my ailment wasn't/isn't a contagious one.

But the people who got worried and wondered where I had disappeared to are so sweet :)

I also have loads of story updates to read, I think I have about a zillion of KaydenceRei's 'All Over Again' to read, and *jumps up and down excitedly* a brand new chapter of 'Déjà Vu All over Again' by makealist to read, and I was skimming through the first couple of pages on and noticed that makealist also updated 'The Mysterious Mrs LaFleur' (the site didn't send me an alert for that, so I'm pissed at them), and updates of awesome stories make me happy.

But before I get to the bit I really like, and put up my feet and swift through awesomely written paragraphs, I feel obligated to update my own.

This chapter is absolutely not what I had originally planned for this chapter, if that makes any sense. I had mapped out, and drafted the chapter, was about to type it up, then I had a brain wave, and just had to write this one, for the heck of it.

This one is just for my personal enjoyment, you'll probably hate it, but it's short, it's 100% different from everything I have done up until now.

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*
My baby don't mess around
Because she loves me so
And this I know for shooo'
*

Edmund Burke sang along to the music playing from his car radio as he drove to work that morning. His head bobbed up and down, left to right, and his arms jerked slightly from time to time, desperately attempting but hopelessly failing at staying in rhythm.

*
But does she really wanna
But can't stand to see me
Walk out the dooor..
Don't try to fight the feelin'
Because the thought alone is killing me right nooww..
Uh, thank god for mom and dad
For sticking two together
'Cause we don't know hooowww...
UH!

Heeeyyy... Yaaaaaaa..
*

It was a little routine of his.

Every day, he would sit himself comfortably behind the steering wheel of his top notch, brand new and shiny BMW Z4, he would turn on the radio, crank up the volume so that he could sing and 'dance along' to the hottest tunes of the moment.

Okay, so The Outkast was so last summer, but they were still playing it on WFLZ-FM, and that was a hip station, so the song was still hip, and Edmund Burke was hip.

His favourite bit of the song was coming up ...

*
Alright, alright, Ok now ladies, (YEAH!)
And we gon' break this thing down in just a few seconds
Now don't have me break this thang down for nothin'
Now I wanna see y'all on y'all baddest behavior
Lend me some suga', I am your neighbor ahh here we go!
Shake it, shake, shake it, shake it (OHH OH)
Shake it, shake it, shake, shake it, shake it, shake it (OHH OH)
Shake it, shake it like a Polaroid Picture, shake it, shake it
*

And he shook his hand, he shook it as if he was trying to make it fall off. He was really getting into it at the traffic light and the young beach babes in the car next to him were starting to stare.

Like what you see, ladies, he thought as he nodded conceitedly in their direction. They so wanted a piece of him, his ego swelled with pride.

The light turned green, and he zoomed off. Flirting in the morning, best pick me up in the world. Not that Edmund needed a pick me up, he felt good today. Actually, he felt good every day, his life was golden.

If only his high school classmates could see him now. The joke would be on them. As an awkward and pimply teenage boy, Edmund Burke had known nothing but rejection. He couldn't be part of any sport team, because he was too scrawny and non-athletic. He couldn't be on the debate team, because his comeback was too long in coming. He couldn't be a mathlete, because he sucked at maths. Even the Star Trek geeks had rejected him, because he wasn't a big enough fan of the show for their liking. Bastards, all of them.

Nowadays nothing resisted the Ed'ster! Contracts, chicks, golf handicap, you name it, nothing remained indifferent to Edmund, everyone wanted a piece of him.

He had wanted to show off his prosperity to all those jocks and cheerleaders, who had turned him down and laughed in his face when he was a kid. So he drove to his high school reunion in an expensive car, wore a Rolex watch, and bought Juliet an expensive, but slutty blood red dress to wear. She hadn't wore the dress, unsurprisingly, but at least she had had the good taste to not cling to him while he paraded around the room like he was god's gift to mankind. Some people were deeply impressed by him and his success, others were lethally jealous, and Edmund was deliriously ecstatic.

Stacy Arlington, the cheerleader who had found out in high school that he had a crush on her and who had tormented him relentlessly about it and who had, since then, become the fat stay at home mother to two rat faced kids, had commented on how fantastic and lovely his wife was.

Fantastic and lovely? He wasn't sure about that, but Juliet was ideal, he could walk all over her, and it was thanks to her and her brilliant mind that he was as rich as he was. Every time he checked his savings account he thanked God for not having given her those divorce papers as he had originally intended to. Man, he would be kicking himself so hard now if he had.

But Juliet was boring and dull, and liked to read.

Good thing she didn't say anything about his mistresses, he needed a little bit of fun and games in his life, and the girls just keep falling into his arms. His charm was so irresistible, all he had to do was lean over and whisper in their ears something that gave them an idea as to how much money he had in the bank, or just how powerful a business man he was, and they would hop in bed, faster than he could say 'Millions'.

His life was perfect.

Okay, not storybook perfect. If his life was that kind of perfect, he would wake up one morning and realise he had miraculously grown an extra foot in height and doubled his muscle mass over night. But who knows, maybe someday some whiz kid would come up with a drug combo that would do just that. And then his life would be just dandy.

As he pulled into the parking lot, he remembered that he had something else to look forward to, the investment he was going to make through that James dude, who apparently knew Juliet back in college. And who apparently had some sort of crush on her or something. The thought alone made him burst out laughing. It was ridiculous. How was it even remotely possible that a guy like that could ever find someone like Juliet even slightly attractive. It was downright impossible.

Edmund had met Juliet when she was still in Med School, back when he was still nothing more than one of the many junior executives of a pharmaceutical company, head hunting for the next Louis Pasteur.

And if "Med School Juliet" was anything like "College Juliet", he just couldn't understand what James could have possibly seen in her. The girl had a great brain, a natural talent in all matters relating to fertility, and a keen interest in research, but she was withdrawn, awkward, socially retarder with absolutely zero fashion sense. He had actually been more than pleasantly surprised the first time he saw her naked. Who would have thought that she had a body like that hidden under those frumpy silhouette disfiguring clothes and her granny cardigans?

But maybe that's the kind of girl that James liked? To each their own fetishes, Edmund liked being dominated, he was in no place to judge.

The only thing Edmund was one hundred percent certain of was that there's was nothing he liked more than money, except easy money. And nothing he like more than easy money, except fast earned easy money, and that's exactly what James was offering him.

He felt victorious. Life was awesome! He was awesome! Hee, hee!

Edmund parked in his designated spot and slid out of his car.

He walked towards the entrance of the building, with a spring in his step, happy as a clam.

"Edmund Burke?" A young woman asked as she stepped out in front of him.

He looked her up and down, and he liked what he saw. Her long poker straight auburn hair was hanging loosely on her shoulders, she had a pretty face with shiny hazel eyes and her tight ivory trouser suit hugged and clung to her every curve -in the best of all possible ways. He almost gasped. She was gorgeous and barely a day over 25 according to his expert eyes.

What could she possibly want? She knew his name, maybe she wanted a job. Well then, if she was as good between the sheets as she looked, perhaps he might just find her a research or a lab assistant's position. This day was most definitely getting off to a great start.

"Yes, beautiful," he sweet talked. "I'm Edmund Burke, what can I do for you?"

She simultaneously rolled her eyes and shoved a craft envelope in his hands as she said, "You've been served."

Before smirking, turning on her heels and walking away.

Huh? Edmund Burke looked confused as he watched her disappear in the crowd. He returned his attention to the craft envelope in his hands. He opened it up, and pulled out its contents.

'PETITION OF DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE'

"What the fuck?!" he said furiously.

.

.

TBC ...

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A/N: Yeah, I know no Sawyer and no Juliet, that's bound to make me unpopular, you'll be chasing after me like angry furies, won't you?

Oh and by the way, you know how I said I wanted to finish both my stories before I started back at Uni?

Well I started back at Uni on Monday, it doesn't surprise me that I didn't keep that promise ...
Feel free to bug me, if you reckon I'm taking too long to update, sometimes a nudge is all I need to get my act into gear.

And as always, thanks so much to everyone who is reading this attempt at a semi constructed story, especially to those who review :)