Disclaimer: Characters are owned and produced by The Disney Channel, That's So Productions, Brookwell-McNamara Entertainment, It's A Laugh Productions, Warren & Rinsler Productions, NBC Universal, Tailwind Productions and Shaftesbury Films. I am just borrowing them for these stories. Original characters are owned by the author of this story.

When Continents Collide

Chapter 4

The Edge of Reason

Chelsea knew the second that she crossed the threshold of the apartment that she had been too hard on Raven. If the world were in a vacuum, she would have understood what Raven was going through. Raven didn't ask for Chelsea to fall in love with her. Raven didn't ask Chelsea to reveal her feelings to her. And deep down inside, Chelsea knew that Claire was a loose thread in their relationship that eventually had to be dealt with. She secretly hoped that Claire would just fade away into the shadows; a simple footnote in Raven's life, but again she knew better.

About three months earlier, Raven was in the shower when Chelsea was heading to class. Chelsea was out of cash and she grabbed Raven's wallet to borrow some cash. She found the bluebonnet note. Her first instinct was to confront Raven about it. But confront her about what? It was just a note. She wasn't cheating. It was a goodbye note from an ex that loved her. She had told Raven that she understood. For her to suddenly change course would be hypocritical.

The specter of Claire simmered under the surface and it made Chelsea uncomfortable. But why? Only Chelsea could truly answer that question. At first she didn't know herself, and as long as she didn't have to look Claire in the eye ever again, she really wouldn't have to examine that question. But that night, in the restaurant, in front of God, Raven and Casey, there Claire was. Chelsea had to face Claire and come face-to-face with the reality that scared her to death…

(Telephone ringing)

"Hello?"

"What's up?" Chelsea said.

"Nothing." Teri said. "What's wrong? You don't sound good."

"Your cousin and I had a fight. Then Raven and I had a fight. Just, whatever you do, please don't yell at me. I can't take anymore tonight."

"You saw Claire tonight?" Teri asked.

"Rae and I went to that new restaurant near campus and ran into Claire and her new girlfriend." Chelsea started. "Turns out her girlfriend is my study partner in my ethics class and Raven's new financial aid counselor. How's that for Twilight Zone-ish?"

"That sounds like the episode of a sitcom. They could call it… That's So Chelsea."

"That's not funny." Chelsea deadpanned.

"I'm sorry, Girly." Teri said. "So what was the fight about?"

"That's really not important. What is important is that I was way too sensitive in my reaction to Claire… got pissed… Raven had to drag me out of the restaurant…"

"She dragged you out?" Teri asked incredulously.

"Yeah. Then I blew up at her on the way home." Chelsea said as she started to cry. "I stormed up here and she left. That was over an hour ago and I don't know where she is. I really messed up."

"Okay. You messed up a little, but you can fix it." Teri said. "Your emotions got the better of you and you went a little ape-shit. Happens to everybody at some point. If you were as pissed off as I can imagine you were, Raven is just giving you time to cool off. Now let me ask you a question."

"Okay."

"Why did you open up on Claire?"

"I don't know."

"Yes you do."

"Can we talk about something else? Please?" Chelsea begged.

Teri's natural instinct was to push, but she sensed something deep inside Chelsea that was going to take more than the Teri Winters blunt force to get out. So she backed off.

"What do you want to talk about?" Teri asked.

"Should… Should I call Rae? You know… see where she is?"

"No. I bet she's on her way home." Teri said. "An hour is time enough for anyone to cool down. Don't worry." Milliseconds later, Chelsea heard keys jingling in the lock. Raven was indeed home.

"You were right. She's home." Chelsea said with a smile as she dried her tears.

"Teri, So Very strikes again."

"Thanks." Chelsea said softly.

"Call me tomorrow."

"K." Chelsea said. "Bye." She hung up the phone and turned toward the door. Raven was standing just inside the threshold.

They both had the same thought. "I'm sorr.." They both laughed softly. "You go first." Raven said.

"No. Beauty before stupidity." Chelsea countered.

"You're not stupid." Raven said. "I'm the stupid one. I left you out on an island by yourself. I shouldn't have done that."

"I shouldn't have blown up the way I did." Chelsea said. "It was disrespectful to you, Casey and Claire. Can you forgive me?"

"Of course I can. Can you forgive me?" Raven asked. Chelsea nodded as a tear fell.

"I was worried about you." Chelsea admitted.

"I went for a walk to my favorite place." Raven said. She then paused. "I…"

"Now I'm taking a walk to mine." Chelsea said as she closed the distance between Raven and herself.

"Chels…" Raven started to speak again but was cut off by Chelsea's mouth covering her own. They both melted into the kiss. Chelsea pushed Raven against the front door and began peppering her neck with sweet kisses. "Chels… Oh God, that's my… spot."

Chelsea continued kissing Raven passionately. She was determined to make up for the lost time she wasted that evening. Chelsea kissed Raven's earlobe and began trailing back down her neck, following the line of her shoulder. She was quickly losing herself in the taste and texture of Raven's baby soft skin until she noticed something that stood out on the curve of Raven's shoulder against the black top she was wearing.

"Where… did this come from?" Chelsea asked with a low measured tone that belied a dark thought process beginning to form inside her head. Using her right hand as a pair of tweezers, she plucked a singular, long strand of blonde hair from Raven's shoulder.

"I… told you that I went for a walk in the park." Raven said as her insides began to tremble. Oh for the love of God, let me explain! Raven's inner voice screamed.

"And you happened to walk underneath a blonde tree?" Chelsea's voice was calm and steady, but bitingly sarcastic in tone. "Does this hair belong to who I think it belongs to? Was she in the park?"

Chelsea's questions were right on top of each other. Raven had no choice but to answer honestly and quickly.

"Yes it does and yes she was." Raven said. Chelsea stepped away and began walking toward her room. "But I swear I didn't know she was going to be there." Raven stood in the hallway as Chelsea stepped inside her room to retrieve her purse. "She was walking her dog!" Raven stumbled backwards as Chelsea silently but forcefully brushed past her making a beeline for the front door.

"You know, if you two want to get back together, just tell me so I can make other plans." Chelsea said as she grabbed her coat. "You two are unbelievable." Unlike earlier, Chelsea never raised her voice above a normal volume level.

"Chels! It's not what you think at all! Will you just let me explain?" Raven pleaded with Chelsea, to no avail.

"That's twice tonight, Rae." Chelsea said with fire in her eyes. "You had two opportunities to tell me about close encounters with Blondie and both times I find out in some way other than from your mouth." Chelsea had never looked at Raven with such disdain. "Speaking of your mouth… did you kiss her?"

Raven cocked her head to one side in a contrite manner. "Chels…"

"Thanks for answering my question." Chelsea said as she opened the front door. As she stepped through, she added definitive punctuation to her sentence. "Fuck her and fuck you." Chelsea growled before slamming the door. Raven shuddered as the door slammed. She felt a cold chill run through her body as she could still hear the slam of the door ringing in her ears.

Raven exhaled a shaky breath as her entire body vibrated nervously. She was now terrified that she had just lost Chelsea for good. Chelsea's last words echoed in her brain. Chelsea had never spoken to her that way. Raven bit her bottom lip as tears began to stream down her face. Raven Baxter had earned a Ph.D over the years in getting herself out of the stickiest jams. But as she stood staring at the back of the door, she had no answer for this one. She was between a rock and a hard place, with no wiggle room in sight.

Chelsea was forty-five minutes into her journey away from home. As she darted into the black New York night, she was fed-up with all things Raven and Claire. She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. She wanted to throw things. But at the moment she walked. She walked into the building near the corner of 63rd and Lexington and went up to the third floor. She walked up to apartment 2G and began knocking.

After a minute there was no answer. She knocked again. Ten seconds went by. Still no answer. She knocked again. Another ten seconds yielded no response. She was about to knock a third time when the door eased open.

"Chelsea?" Teri was shocked to see Chelsea at her front door.

"Can I come in?" Chelsea asked.

"Yeah. Sure. Come in." Teri stepped aside to allow Chelsea to step inside.

Chelsea looked around the nicely furnished apartment, noticing the relaxed, almost romantic ambiance that was present. She heard soft jazz coming from the bedroom and noticed a glass of wine sitting on the table. She then took a good look at Teri, who had on a silk Asian-print bathrobe and what appeared to be nothing else underneath.

"I'm sorry if this was a bad time. I…"

"No. It's fine." Teri said.

"It looks like you have company. I'll come back another time." Chelsea turned to leave.

"No. I don't have company." Teri said. "I am just relaxing. Sometimes I just like to mellow out with some soft jazz and some wine and… whatever else strikes my fancy." Teri walked over to the couch and sat down. She leaned over and patted a spot on the other end. "Sit. What's on your mind? I thought you said Raven came home. What happened?"

"I apologized. She apologized. We apologized. We started kissing. It was feeling good. I noticed a blonde hair on her shirt. Asked her if it was Claire's. She said yes. I asked her if she kissed her. She gave me a non-answer answer. I said 'Fuck her and fuck you' and left."

"I'm gonna whip Claire's ass!" Teri scrambled for the cordless phone and started to dial Claire's number. Chelsea took the phone out of Teri's hand and hit END.

"No. It's all right." Chelsea said with eerie calm. "This is my fault."

"How in the hell is this your fault? I want to hear this one." Teri sat back ready to listen to Chelsea's reasoning.

"It's not important." Chelsea said stone-faced.

"Not important?" Teri fumed. "You had two fights with your girlfriend and one with her ex in one evening! How the fuck is that not important?"

Chelsea broke down in tears. "I asked you not to yell at me! I can't take this shit anymore! I wish I had stayed in San Francisco!" Chelsea sat with her shoulders slumped sobbing.

"Shhh." Teri slid over and put her arm around Chelsea. "I'm sorry. I won't yell anymore. I promise." Teri lifted her head and looked at the ceiling and let out a deep sigh. Moments later, her phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Teri, It's Raven." Teri could tell by Raven's voice she was in tears. "Have you heard from Chelsea?"

Teri looked over at Chelsea who had stopped sobbing but was still in tears. She knew Chelsea was in no mood to deal with Raven, regardless of who was right or wrong. She knew that saying Chelsea was there would just lead to the whole 'Let me speak to her-I don't want to talk to her' thing that no one liked. So for the sake of peace, she decided that a carefully crafted un-truth was in order.

"No I haven't. What's wrong, Rae?" Teri said that to signal to Chelsea that Raven was on the phone.

"We had a fight… two actually… about Claire and she stormed out of here and… I am so scared." Raven said in between tears. "She left her cell phone so I can't reach her."

"I tell you what. If she calls or stops by, I'll let you know, okay?" Teri tried to reassure her. "And don't worry. I'm sure she'll be okay. She's probably blowing off steam."

"You don't understand. I've never seen her this angry. I…" Raven began sobbing.

"Look, I will call you as soon as I hear anything." Teri said.

"Thank you, Teri. Thank you so much." Raven said with all the sincerity she had inside her.

"Sure thing. Bye Rae." Teri said before hanging up the phone.

"Thank you Teri. I didn't want to talk to her." Chelsea said.

"I know." Teri said in a low soft voice. "Why don't you go clean yourself up. You look a mess."

Chelsea looked at Teri and let out a wry chuckle. "You sure know how to treat a girl."

"That's why they're knocking down my door." Teri joked. "Now get out of here. In the bedroom and to the left." Chelsea walked into the bedroom and disappeared around the corner.

A few minutes later, Chelsea emerged from the bedroom.

"How do ya feel, kiddo?" Teri asked.

"Better. Thanks."

"Want some wine?" Teri asked.

"No thanks. I'm cool." Chelsea said. "By the way, I turned your music off. You can take care of the other thing yourself."

"What other thi— Oh… damn. I left that out?" Teri said, a blush quickly spreading across her face.

"Don't be embarrassed." Chelsea said. "We all take matters into our own hands every now and then."

"Still… I don't want to advertise it." Teri said sheepishly.

"Now the mood lighting and everything makes sense. You had a date with yourself. Cool." Chelsea said.

"Can we… change the subject please?" Teri said as she stood up and to put her wine glass in the kitchen.

"Are you serious? Chelsea asked quizzically. "Miss Bold and Beautiful here is shy?" Teri walked back in to the living room. "I mean I expect you to shout it from the rooftops… 'NEW YORK! I LOVE MYSELF! I MEAN REALLY, LOVE MYSELF!"

"You have issues. You know that?" Teri asked.

"That's why you love me!" Chelsea squealed then stopped and smiled. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Helping me take my mind off things."

"That's what I'm here for." Teri smiled. "You hungry? I'm starving."

"Okay. What you got?" Chelsea asked.

"I'm not in the mood for home cookin'. I thought we'd go to this little Chinese place around the corner."

"I can make a mean hamburger." Chelsea teased.

"A vegetarian making a mean hamburger… this I've gotta see. You're on." Teri smiled.

Chelsea walked over to the kitchen where Teri was standing. "Thank you for being here for me." Chelsea reached out and embraced Teri. The newly minted brunette uncomfortably shifted in her stance as Chelsea embraced her. She wiggled out of Chelsea's hug.

"Uh… Okay. Let's get the stuff for your hamburger." Teri turned and walked over to refrigerator.

"Is everything okay?" Chelsea asked a visually uncomfortable Teri.

"What? Yeah. Everything's fine."

"Teri? The one thing you pride yourself on being is a straight shooter. Now what's wrong?"

"I told you… Everything's cool. Now there is a pan in that cabinet. Salt and pepper are over there." Teri said as she leaned into the refrigerator. Chelsea, meanwhile, gathered the pan and the salt and pepper and put them over near the stove. She peeked into the fridge while Teri was rummaging. "Buns, ketchup, relish, mayo…"

"You got some stuff for a salad?" Chelsea asked still peeking.

"Yeah I should…" Teri suddenly stood up and wheeled around coming nose-to-nose with Chelsea.

"Here." Chelsea said as she looked at Teri. "Lemme get that for you." Teri was about to transfer the items into Chelsea's hand when the three plastic bottles and pack of buns hit the floor... on purpose. Teri magnetically drew her lips to Chelsea's. Just as quickly as the shorter former blonde, now brunette stunner let her guard down, she quickly retreated.

The supremely confident Teri was now reduced to words of mush.

"Chels… I'm… here. Let… me…" Teri bent down to pickup the plastic condiment bottles off the floor as well as the pack of buns. When she did this, her silk bathrobe worked its way open. She nervously put the ingredients on the counter, then realized that a stunned Chelsea now had complete visual access to her body. She quickly snatched her robe closed. "I'm… so… sorry." Teri said. She was completely flustered. "I had too much wine."

"But I didn't." Chelsea said. She pounced on Teri with lightening speed, devouring the mouth of the now overwhelmed older woman. Chelsea's hands found their way inside the robe and around the smooth waist of Teri.

Chelsea had moved down to Teri's neck. Teri was pinned against the counter and was unable to back away. The only appeal she could make was with her voice.

"Chelsea, please. Don't do this!" Teri breathlessly said as her legs quaked. "If you're looking for me to stop you… I don't know… if I can." Teri continued to try reasoning with her. "You have a…" Teri's sentence was interrupted by Chelsea's mouth frantically covering hers. Teri's knees buckled as Chelsea's tongue entered her mouth, searching for reciprocation. Teri instinctively complied.

Every bell and whistle imaginable was going off in Teri's head. She had to get Chelsea off of her now. She had been attracted to Chelsea at first sight four years earlier at the University of Maryland. Chelsea had only gotten more attractive as the years went by. The only reasons she didn't pursue Chelsea on the plane were Chris and Raven. Chris was now out of the picture. But Raven was still there. Not only did Teri like Raven, but she loved her like a best friend. She loved Chelsea like a best friend too.

But what Chelsea was doing to her at that moment was not best friend-like. Chelsea was pushing every one of Teri's buttons correctly and repeatedly. If this had been anyone else doing this to her, they would have found themselves on the counter, or the floor, or the table, or all of the above and then some. But this wasn't anyone else. This was Chelsea; her good, supposed-to-be platonic friend Chelsea. And as good as Chelsea's onslaught felt to her, and as horny as she was before Chelsea had arrived, this had to stop… now. And there was only one way she could think to do it.

"Goddamnit, Chelsea, stop!" Teri screamed. Chelsea froze. She looked at Teri. Her robe lay wide open, her skin flushed, her lips swollen, her short hair wild from Chelsea's hands roaming through it. Chelsea briskly walked out of the kitchen and went into the living room and sat down on the sofa. Teri, realizing that she was seconds away from contributing to a disaster, stayed put for a moment to pull herself together.

Chelsea sat almost catatonic on the couch. She was now officially out of control. She raged against her girlfriend, twice. She almost beat her girlfriend's ex down in a restaurant. Now she was in her friend's apartment about to, in her mind, make one of the biggest mistakes of her life.

Teri slowly walked into the living room. She sat down on the couch next to Chelsea.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you. I didn't know how else to make you stop." Teri said. Chelsea looked at Teri, then dropped her head. "I love you too much as a friend to let you do that."

"I made you yell at me. I'm sorry I forced myself on you." A very contrite Chelsea said.

"Trust me, my body was not complaining!" Teri said.

"I just…" Chelsea's tears choked off her thought. "This is the first time since I've been here that I feel like I'm alone." Chelsea looked at Teri. "I've got to go." Chelsea had a look of being completely lost in her eyes. She needed something, anything to hold on to.

Teri don't do it. You just pulled yourself together. NO! Teri sat back and pulled Chelsea to her chest and held her. Chelsea started sobbing. Teri closed her eyes and silently did the same. Teri then pulled Chelsea's face to hers and softly kissed her lips.

"Teri, you don't have to…"

"Shhh." Teri said as she softly kissed Chelsea. The redhead closed her eyes tight as Teri began delicately kissing along her collarbone.

Chelsea felt her body begin to relax. Everything around her began to slip away.

"Oh God, Raven, yes." Chelsea whispered breathlessly. Teri planted one more kiss on Chelsea's collarbone before her words registered. She stopped cold in her tracks. At nearly that same moment in time, Chelsea's words registered in her brain as well.

"I just said Raven. Didn't I?" Chelsea's question was simply a formality.

"Yeah." Teri answered.

"Did I do that on purpose?" Chelsea inquired.

"Your body didn't. But your mind did... Go home." Teri said. "You should be doing this with her." Chelsea was about to speak. Teri cut her off. "We are still friends, and there are no hard feelings. This never happened. I'll call Raven and tell her I talked to you…"

"No. I'll tell her I came over here. I'm not gonna lie to her."

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Teri asked.

"Well... maybe I'll leave out the almost sleeping with you part. But yeah. I'm sure." Chelsea said.

"Do you want me to talk to Claire for you?"

"No. I need to talk to her myself." Chelsea said. "Maybe if I do, I'll stop acting so..."

"Insane?" Teri added.

"Yeah." Chelsea said as they heard a knock on the door. "Insane."

"What is this Penn Station tonight?" Teri incredulously said to Chelsea. "Who is it?" Teri called out.

"Teri. It's Raven."

"Oh shit!" Teri whispered. "What the..."

"Calm down. What did we do? Nothing. I got here twenty minutes before she did. Okay?" Chelsea whispered her plan. "Now go get rid of your date toy. I'll answer the door."

"Teri, please! I don't know where Chelsea is and it's driving me crazy!" Raven pleaded through tears from the other side of the door.

The door to the apartment eased open. "Hi Rae. I'm right here."

Close call number two was narrowly avoided. Raven found Chelsea. What happens next? PLEASE REVIEW.