AN: Short chapter, but I've been told it's alright. I hope you like it.

"Hey mom, I want you to meet someone. This is Tom, my boyfriend." Cassie told the grey stone. She knew on some level it wasn't normal to do this, to hold on to the memory of a mother she had never even seen but she couldn't stop it. Dead or not, this was her mother and she loved her.

"Uhm... Hello, Mrs. McNamara. I have heard a lot about you. And well, I wish we could have met while you were still alive. I hear you were an amazing person, much like your daughter here. I promise I will treat her well." Tom said, more to humour Cassie then for himself, cause really, he wasn't in the habit of talking to headstones.

"Well at least one of my parents knows about you now." Cassie smiled at him, then took his arm, guiding him to a bench nearby. "I told you this place is beautiful."

"It is, you were right. Long way up though."

"You know I met your mother here. I didn't know then that she was your mother of course. I thought she was pretty cool. Never thought she would've been a special FBI type bodyguard person though." Cassie told him.

"That is the general idea, if she would tell everyone what she does for a living me and Sam would be long dead." He smirked. "But I don't want to talk about mum, I want to know how you have been. Everything this time." He genuinely meant it, that is quite the accomplishment for a sixteen year old hormone filled boy who knows there is a motel near that his girlfriend wouldn't mind paying a visit to.

"You know Michelle right?" Cassie asked him.

"Your dad's girlfriend?" He answered.

"Yeah, well you know, I never really minded her, but since that day at the hotel, where I was a bit rude to her... Well, that's an understatement, I was horrible. But since then we haven't been on friendly terms. Until I came back from our first... How do you call this anyway? Doesn't really classify as date, does it?"

"Meeting?" Tom suggested.

"Works for me. So after I came back from our first meeting she knew I had been with you. It was creepy how she just figured that out. But she promised not to tell dad, cause you know, he would freak. It does mean however, that I have to be all nice to her, and just buddy up to her so she will think we're becoming real friends or something."

"And you are not becoming friends?" Tom asked cautiously, trying not to sound stupid.

"What would be the point? Dad already told me he is going to dump her. Besides, she's a floozy. I just need to make sure that that floozy won't tell on me when dad dumps her."

"Why would she do that?"

"To hurt him of course!" Cassie exclaimed.

"Yeah, but then he would know about the situation and could fix it. Not that I want him to fix it, I mean, as far as I am concerned there is nothing to fix, since this is really right but... You know!" Tom stumbled over his words trying to say the right thing.

"I know. But I still have to be careful around Michelle." Cassie laughed. She then leaned in to kiss him "You are adorable you know that?" She whispered against his lips.

"I was thinking the same thing about you." He smiled, then kissed her again.

Both of them being rather hormonal teenagers it was very predictable that the two would keep on making out until finally Cassie pulled back.

"Want to go check out that motel?" She asked, wishing he would take some more initiative.

He rapidly pulled back. "Yeah!" He exclaimed, then more shyly took her hand "Uhm, Cass... Have you ever done that before?" he asked.

"What exactly?" She asked.

"You know... IT." He explained.

"Oh uhm... well no. But I really want to, with you." She smiled encouragingly.

"Well, I have never done it before either so... Just don't expect too much of me, ok?" aww, teenage insecurities.

Cassie smiled and kissed him "Same here. We'll just muddle through together." She grinned, and started pulling him along.

"So you are on the pill right?" He asked, knowing that getting pregnant would be a really bad thing, especially in his situation.

"Are you kidding? My dad would find out in three seconds! Don't worry, I brought condoms." She assured him.

"I did too... but it could rip or something." He complained.

She stopped in her tracks and swivelled around to face him "So do you want to do this or not? Cause I can't go on the pill, not while still living with dad anyway. We can either do this now or wait 'till I am twenty or something and move out."

"I want to do this." He softly kissed her lips "But I want us to be careful while doing this. I don't want to loose you." He placed one arm around her waist and more calmly started walking towards the motel.

~

"I feel like a dressed up monkey!" Sam complained, tugging at her new school-uniform that was required at their new and exclusive private school.

"You look adorable!" Chris exclaimed. Trying not to laugh. In truth the twins looked a lot like dressed up monkeys, twin monkeys of course. "You look like twins for a change."

"And the good thing about that would be..." Tom muttered. He loved his sister to death and everything, but he would like to be seen as an individual as opposed to a part of a greater whole.

Ironically, Sam couldn't agree with him more on that subject. "Mom, no more private schools from now on." She warned her mother.

"Like you've got a say." Chris grinned "Anyway. Bubba will drive you both to school, stay there and drive you back when you're done."

"Oh come on! We have got cars! We don't need to a baby-sitter anymore mom!" Tom objected.

"If you run into any trouble, the janitor, librarian and headmaster's secretary are ours. We have already cleared your body-guard with the school, we've told them your father might try to get you back and we think it's necessary." Chris said, ignoring Tom's whining.

"Great." Sam sighed. "I guess we'll be going then."

"Drink your juice first, Sam, and Tom have some breakfast, I don't want you starving." Chris said, her voice as motherly as any real mother's ever had been.

Tom shoved some toast in his mouth as Sam gulped down her juice. Then the two walked out of the kitchen in stride, silently protesting against being 'different'.

Sam leaned against the wall in the lobby where they waited for Bubba to bring the car around. She looked at Tom and suddenly smirked.

"You've had sex." She stated.

Tom was surprised by this rather blunt statement. "So what if I did? I am not going to discuss it with you!"

"And why not? Last I checked I still was your only friend." Sam said.

"Because you are my sister!" Tom protested.

"So, how was it?" Sam asked, more to tease him then actually wanting to know.

"Great." Tom muttered, REALLY not happy with this topic of conversation with his SISTER of all people. Granted, it would be worse if it had been his mother.

Sam didn't answer, just raised her eyebrow, clearly not believing it, or at least trying to get him to feel even more uncomfortable.

"OK, OK... Let's just hope practice makes perfect." Tom now turned his back to his loudly laughing sister, making sure she couldn't see his bright-red face.

~

"Hello."

"Michelle? Hey, it's me..." TC hesitantly said into the phone.

"So you've thought about what you said?" Michelle asked. And there TC was thinking he was the only parent between the two of them.

"Michelle, I think we need some time apart." He said, to avoid all misunderstandings as to the reason he called.

"What? Why?!" She exclaimed, sorely shocked.

"Look, it isn't working out for me anymore. Really it isn't you it's me, I am a lousy person at the moment, neglecting every aspect of my life. There just doesn't seem to be enough of me to go around anymore you know? Cassie's stunt this summer, that's clearly a cry for help and I need to answer that, I have to help her. And my work, it has been so hectic lately. And I haven't been treating you right either. You deserve someone so much better than me!"

"Yes I do, TC. I do deserve someone better but I don't want someone better. I want to be with you! I am not one of the things on your list, I am your partner, I can help you with Cassie, she needs a woman in her life. That way you can concentrate on your job more and when that has all settled down, and only then we can go spend some quality time together. It will be perfect." Michelle tried to persuade him.

"No Michelle, I am just not ready for that kind of commitment. Relationships are a lot of work, deserve a lot of work, and that needs to come from both sides-."

"You don't love me?" Michelle asked, cutting him off.

"I am sorry Michelle." He said, really feeling sorry for the girl and wanting to smack himself over the head for having used her the way he did. "It was never supposed to go this far." He admitted.

"But I love you TC! You have to love me!" Michelle was obviously crying on the other end of the line.

"I am really sorry." TC said again, not knowing what else to say.

"There's another woman, isn't there?" Michelle asked, "I demand an answer TC! I know your type, you are never long without a girlfriend! Tell me who she is TC!" Michelle cried.

"There's no one else. I just can't be with you anymore." He answered, figuring this was not the time to bring up Cassie's little list.

"So when everything has calmed down we will get back together?" She tried.

TC rolled his eyes "No, probably not."

"So this isn't about all the crap you just dished out! You have another woman and aren't man enough to come here and tell to my face that I wasn't good enough for you!"

"No Michelle! Listen to me. I really care about you, but it is all just too much for me at the time. You shouldn't sit around waiting for an ass like me. You should be out there looking for the love of your life, the one person that will make you happier than anyone else ever could. I'm not that man, Michelle." He sighed "I am sorry but I'm not."

She threw down the receiver. He almost jumped when right after he had put down the phone it started ringing again, he had caller ID but it was a secret number, so definitely not Michelle.

"Hello?" He asked, wondering who he knew with a secret number.

"You sound gloomy." The voice said, instead of making itself known.

"Chris?" He asked, surprised that she of all people would call him.

"Yeah, it's me. I just thought that we should get together sometime, to talk. And I don't mean start some hot torrid love affair, I just mean as friends. We were great friends for a while back in the day." She said.

"Yes we were... We never were torrid though." He chuckled.

"So how about it, do you want to renew our friendship?" Chris asked, he couldn't hear any of the emotions mingled through her voice that he used to be able to discern.

"Yes, I would like that very much." He smiled through the phone, hoping she would be able to hear it.

"Good... Good. So uhm... I can't give you my address or phone number, for safety's sake." Chris started.

"I know." TC interrupted her "We can meet at my place. I assume you know where it is?"

"Yes, I drove Cassie back from Cory's grave once. It has to be when the kids are in school though, I am assuming we aren't dragging them into this friendship." Chris said.

"That would be the general idea. Let's see." TC started flipping through his organizer until he found the right date "I have the day after tomorrow off, you could come by then."

Chris smiled into the phone, he could clearly hear it "Yeah, that would be great."

~

Chris put the phone down and sighed heavily. It had been such a stupid move to tell TC her secret. They hadn't seen each other in so long. She was sure he had to have changed and not all for the better. Michelle was evidence of that. Chris snorted at the thought of the bratty woman.

She couldn't figure out why she told him. At the time it felt right, but then, at that time she had been completely caught up in old times. She had to make sure he was still the trust-worthy guy she remembered, and there was only one way to go about that.