Got a blitz of reviews this morning so a big thank you to that person, feedback is always welcome. Fear not, I've never abandoned a story I've made public yet. (I was thinking the other day that it'd suck if I suddenly found I had a terminal illness and couldn't finish all the stories I'd planned. Guess that'd suck under any circumstances...) Thank you to anyone else who's following or favouriting this. This marks the end of Episode Two: I've got Episode Three written but I'll stick to posting them over the weekend, it'll give me a bit of leeway when writing the later episodes since I might not have as much writing time the next two weeks...

CHAPTER THREE

Ethan hovered in the doorway as Laurel entered the house. "Right, so, I'll see you later then,"he attempted, hoping he could leave it at that and make his exit. Unfortunately, Laurel was far more tenacious than that.

"Woah, hold on, wait a minute,"she intervened. "You don't get to just do that and then disappear without any answers."

"Do what?"Ethan asked, playing innocent.

"You gave Emma a full on kiss in front of everyone! What was that about?"

Ethan attempted to come up with a suitable answer. Eventually, a smile played across his face. "It was… something I've wanted to do for a long time."

Laurel smiled as well. "So are you two back together?"

"I don't know. If she wants to be."

Laurel nodded. "About time too." She headed towards her room.

Ethan took that as his cue to leave. But before he could do so, another voice cut in. "So, was it good?"

He looked round to find Sutton standing in the dining area, arms folded, an amused look on her face. At least it wasn't an angry look, which is what he'd got used to from her. "Yeah, it was,"he confirmed.

"Well, you could probably get better from me but that's not really what matters, is it? At least we can be sure it's her personality you love."

Ethan looked at her cautiously. "So…you're okay with it?"

"I guess I have to be, don't I? I mean, I could try and split you up, tell lies to you both, play the old twin card and confuse everyone but I tried that and it didn't work. And it's not going to make you suddenly fall in love with me, is it?"

"It's just I'm kind of used to you…" Ethan struggled for the correct phrase.

"Playing games?"Sutton suggested. "Yeah, maybe. But I've seen where that got Rebecca…and Alec. I don't really want to end up like that. Maybe if I start using the right people as role models, well, someone might feel about me the way you do about Emma."

Ethan felt a pang of sympathy for her, forever searching for what she wanted in the wrong places. "I did want it to work between us, you know. Once."

"And the worst thing of all is I knew that and I still stuffed it up." Sutton held out a hand awkwardly. "Do you think we could manage to be friends?"

Ethan ignored the offered hand and hugged her instead. "I think we could manage that."

Emma and Mads had touched on the subject of the kiss during the hour long flight but had quickly become aware that they had other things to worry about. They'd caught a taxi to the prison where Jordan was being held and identified themselves to the guards. Emma had given them her real name. She'd realised with a start that it was the first time in months that she'd introduced herself to a stranger as Emma Becker rather than Sutton Mercer.

Once he was sat opposite them, Jordan shot a glance in Emma's direction. "Thanks for coming."

"Well, I'm mostly here for Mads,"Emma admitted. "But I'll help any way I can."

"How are you managing?"Mads asked.

"Well, I've been introduced to the concept of court appointed lawyers, since no-one's willing to pay my legal fees this time."

"I can try and find someone,"Mads suggested.

Jordan shook his head. "That's not the problem. It's the witnesses. My lawyer's been trying to talk to them, to discuss what happened, but he gets stonewalled at every turn. They just say they'll say what happened in court."

"Why would they do that?"Emma wondered.

"At a guess, Rebecca's instructions."

"Maybe we can talk to them?"Mads suggested.

"You can try. Not sure how much good it'll do though."

Thayer had answered the summons to the prison without question. It seemed to be his new role in life, to be at Rebecca's beck and call. He wasn't sure if he liked it but at the moment it seemed like a necessary evil. "What do you want?"he asked, not even attempting pleasantries.

Rebecca was straight down to business as well. "I got a message from LA. Seems Mads has turned up there. And she had a friend with her."

"Emma,"Thayer confirmed.

"Trying to get Jordan out of jail no doubt." Rebecca thought the matter over. "I want you to go and help them."

The instruction surprised Thayer. "You mean…pretend to help them?"

"No, I mean actually help them." Rebecca saw his confusion. "It doesn't really matter if Jordan goes to jail or not. It's annoying that he's not helping me anymore but he's not the important thing here. The important thing is that he could be our way back in." She could see that Thayer still didn't understand. "Emma and Mads, even Sutton, they'd be happy if Jordan got out of jail, right?"

"Right,"Thayer confirmed.

"So if we're the ones that make it happen, then in the eyes of your friends we'll be heroes. And it's a lot easier to get what you want when everyone thinks you're on their side."

End of Episode Two