'It's too bright' she thought. 'Macon must have opened the curtains before he left to let some light in'. Then the thought hit her "Macon," she said loudly sitting up. She wasn't in Cordelia, this was a strange place to her. She looked around and saw Mr. Kaiba sitting in a chair across from the bed, asleep. It was starting to come back to her slowly. She was no longer in Cordelia, she was in Japan. Standing she walked over to where he was asleep and gently touched his shoulder. He stirred against her hand.

"Hey, you're awake." he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked her up and down sleepily. It was then that she realized that she was only in an oversized t-shirt. She looked from him to the shirt trying to figure out how to ask the question on her mind. "One of the maids changed you after my doctor left last night."

"Your doctor?" She asked to go back to sit on the bed. "I don't remember that."

"You wouldn't," he answered, standing and stretching, then coming to sit beside her. "You had a panic attack and passed out at the office. Then when you came too, you kept crying about a man named Macon finding you. You were hysterical, so my physician gave you an injection to help calm you down," He touched her leg gently. "But you are safe, Chessy. You will always be safe here."

I'm so sorry," she said embarrassed. She tried to cover her face with her hands. "This is so embarrassing. One month working for you and I've cracked." He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him so that her head was resting on his shoulder. She didn't expect this out of him.

"You aren't cracked, you just need to tell me what is going on and who Macon is."

"Macon is a piece of my past I no longer want to remember. I want to move on with my life and put him in the past." She said crying.

"Chessy, you are obviously scared of him. I need to know why so that I can protect you." He pulled her away gently so that he could see her face. "Is he the one who abused you?" She looked up at him.

"Please don't make me talk about him, or home." The sobs were uncontrollable and she could not catch her breath. She was hyperventilating.

"Shanna, get the doctor!" Was the last thing she heard before she passed out again.

It was hours later when she awoke, she could tell by the way the shadows had moved on the wall. She looked over and this time Mokuba was in the chair, he was reading the newspaper. "Hey, how was your date?" She asked as he looked up.

"It went ok, I don't think I will be seeing her again though. But Seto told me what happened. How are you?"

"I'm ok, your brother is overreacting. I had a small anxiety attack."

"That wasn't small. I could hear you in my room. Right, Seto?" She turned and saw the older brother standing in the doorway.

"Mokuba is right. If that was mild I would hate to see a serious one." He looked over at his brother "Mokuba, will you go get her some tea?" Mokuba nodded and left. Then the elder brother came and set beside her with a box. "I went by your apartment after you fainted and got your picture box. Do you want to look through them?" He was hoping that getting her to look at the pictures would make her talk about this Macon guy.

"I can't talk about him," she said, seeming to read his mind. "I don't want to remember him."

"Francesca, you need to talk to someone about this. Or it's going to eat you alive." He placed the box down on the bed beside her and took her hand as he sat. His blue eyes seemed to look straight into her soul.

"Chessy," she said simply. "You called me Chessy earlier. Calling me Francesca reminds me of him." She looked down as a tear fell. "Everyone called me Chessy until he came ìnto town. He took everything from me, even my name. I just want that back."

Reaching over Seto opened the picture box and took one out at random. It was a picture of her and a dark haired girl on stage. They were both holding mics. "Tell me about this picture."

She smiled and sniffed. "That's Sasha." She took the picture from him. "She loved to be on stage. We were 15 or so here. I don't remember what we were singing or why we were even up there. But we were having a great time." She pointed to the guy on drums that Seto had missed. '"That's Marcus, he and Sasha got married last year and when I left home she was six months pregnant." She put the photo on the bed. "Those two have only had eyes for each other since kindergarten."

She reached across his lap for the box, and he saw a slight glipse of white panties. She picked up another picture, this one was of her and a black haired boy who looked like the drummer. She was in his arms wearing a green pair of shorts and a white swimsuit top that exposed her skin. "This was the day of the swamp run. That's Malachi," she pointed to the boy. "He wanted to do the swamp run. But I told him that I wasn't running. So he stayed on the sidelines with me." She looked at the picture for a long moment then placed it to the side digging another out.

Mokuba

Mokuba balanced a tray of tea and sandwiches as he opened the door to where Chessy was staying. As he walked in he saw something he was not prepared for. Seto and Chessy were leaning against the headboard looking at photos and laughing. His brother looked relaxed as Chessy said something, but she was laughing so hard she could barely get it out.

Slipping back out, Mokuba shut the door carefully and quietly. He would bring her dinner later, right now the two of them were enjoying some private time. His brother looked happier and more relaxed than Mokuba had ever seen, and Chessy looked happy, her smile seemed to light up her face.

Chessy was like the little sister he had never had. Not that he had ever wanted one. But she had quickly taken that spot he thought as he carried the tray to his room. He wanted her to be happy, and if his brother made her happy then that was ok with him. But he didn't know what he would do if one of them hurt the other.

Sitting the tray on his desk he powered up his laptop. Fracesca Delacroix + Macon + Cordelia La he typed into the search engine. He clicked on the first article that came up. It opened on a picture of a smiling blonde man next to an unhappy looking Chessy. She looked miserable.

Mr and Mrs Charles Delacroix would like to announce the engagement of their daughter Francesca Gracelynn Delacroix to Macon Augustus Thibodaux.

The look on his face made Mokuba's skin crawl. So this is who she's running from, he thought. He really couldn't blame her. He researched Macon for hours, digging into financial records, real estate and family history. He saved all of the information so that he could show his brother later, after Chessy left.

SETO

She was so lovely, he thought as she talked animatedly about a picture that she was holding. He didn't even know what the picture was of, all he knew was that he could listen to her talk all day. There was a knock on the door and both turned their heads as Mokuba walked in, "if you guys are hungry dinner is ready."