A/N: Hey guys, how ya's going? Been a bit busy the last few days getting ready for my little sister's birthday. I've only recently realised how much I've spoilt her :/. Drat. Lol.

Thank you so very very much to DreamingInATeacup, rae-rae89, SasoLOVE111, 'Lil Obsessed, RANDOM COOKIE NINJA, brightglo, AppoloniaAstria, Happy2BeeMe, kiki, TempusSimia and JellyBeane for all the awesome reviews! And we've reached a 100! Thank you so much guys for your support, it means heaps to me that you're enjoying the story, and I hope I don't disappoint you with it.

NOTE!: this chapter isn't going to go like most of you are thinking it will (just a fair warning, so please don't yell at me!). I didn't imagine Evie to give out her most precious secret to anyone quite so easily…so…yeah. It happened differently then what the last chapter suggested. I'm really sorry, but this is just how it came out.

I hope you enjoy it anyway, (and don't hate me!) and be assured that everything will come out eventually c:

. : Chapter 17: Hints of the Truth : .

Insane insane insane.

I've finally lost the last tiny shred of sanity. I knew it'd happen eventually, but I'm not nineteen yet. I had expected it to last a little longer.

I crept around the back and entered my room via the tree outside my window. Ben was still sleeping soundly, splayed out across my bed. I tugged the blanket up around him and kissed his forehead. Then I set the still unopened book and letter on the bedside table and went downstairs.

"Oh, thank god!" Tasha breathed out in relief when she saw me. Then she frowned. "How'd you get inside?"

I rolled my eyes. "Seriously, you've gotta stop freaking out when I leave. And for your information, I came in via my window. Hey, Sam?"

My cousin looked a little surprised at me addressing him. He still wasn't quite used to me being nice yet apparently. "Yeah?"

"Would you, um, come for a walk with me?"

"A walk?" He and Black asked at the same time.

"But you just went for a walk." The younger of the two complained.

I ignored Black. "Yeah, I wanna talk to you. In private."

Sam nodded and stood. "Okay." He kissed Emily as he passed her and followed me out the door. "What's this about, Evie?" He asked as we headed towards the trees.

"I need advise on something, but I was told by a friend in confidence, and I don't know what to do. I don't want the others to know." I said as we wandered leisurely down a well worn path.

"Why me? I thought you would have gone to Leah or someone like that."

"Normally, yes, but not this time. I know what she'll say about this and it's not all that helpful. Plus she knows who it's about, and that makes her biased, where as you don't, so therefore you're the most logical person to ask." I explained.

He chuckled. "Sounds serious, what's wrong."

I took a breath and twisted my fingers together nervously. "You promise you won't tell anyone else?"

He watched me carefully. "…Alright."

"You have to promise me, Sam. I'm not supposed to tell anyone, but I don't know how to help my friend." I said firmly.

"Ah, so this is about your, uh, friend?" He raised an eyebrow questioningly.

I know, it's the lamest lame excuse and has been used a million times before, but…we already know I'm desperate. Believe me, I recognise the all time low.

"Yes." I said calmly. I was the best liar I knew, and I knew quite a lot of liars. I had this.

He nodded slowly, still not entirely convinced. "Alright, I promise I won't tell anyone. What is it?"

'Thanks for humouring me.' I thought dryly. "Okay, well it's sorta hard to explain and very complicated. So, just bare with me okay?"

He nodded again, smiling at me in reassurance. "We've got time."

'Time. Right, sure you do, but I might not.' Focus, damnit!

"Okay…um, okay. Where the hell do I start?" I asked myself, groaning internally. Maybe I should just forget about it and figure it out my damn self. It's not like I couldn't do it. Wow, being back here was really turning me into a right pansy.

My cousin sighed and put a hand on my arm, pulling me down to sit next to him on a log. "Evie, calm down, it's me. You can tell me anything, alright? Just…start at the beginning and it'll be fine." He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and squeezed, looking down at me encouragingly.

I breathed out and concentrated on bringing my heart rate back to normal and started slowly. "The beginning, well, it's basically like this. My friend met this guy and they fell in love. He was nice and seemed like one of the few that are worth your time of day and we all liked him. Then after about seven months, he proposed and she said yes. Then not long after that, they found out she was pregnant…"

"He didn't take the news well?" Sam put in.

"No! No, he took it more then well. He was ecstatic, over the moon. They both were. I've never seen two people so happy." I was quoting Tams there, but I had to stick to the lie.

He couldn't know it was me. Just couldn't. I really don't think I could handle all these people, my past, knowing how rightfully fucked up my present is.

Sam nodded and motioned for me to continue.

"Then…it all went bad. There was a…an accident, and he literally caused it, my friend got injured…and the baby died. He disappeared, haven't heard a word from him in ages, but now I know he's back in the country and he's probably looking for my friend. And I don't know what to do." I finished, fixing him with my best confused-scared look. It wasn't that hard to fake.

"Does your friend know he's back?" Sam asked.

I shook my head. Change the story as much as possible, make it a lie with the hint of the truth, they are the easiest lies to believe. "No, she doesn't know. I don't know whether I should tell her or not." I looked at him imploringly. "What would you do, if it was you? If the person you love, the other parent to your child, killed it, disappeared and then came back?"

He frowned deeply, obviously not liking the thought. Hell, join the club. "I…don't know. I'd be angry and sad. I don't know how I'd handle it. This is the person you love…does she still love him?"

I opened my mouth then closed it and shrugged. "No, for the most part. I think. He hurt so many people. Then just up and left her when she needed him, to explain, and be with her while she recovered. But…I'm not sure if there's still a little part of her that does love him still. I mean, she loved him enough to freaking say yes to marriage and try to have a baby with him. She's smart. I doubt she would have done any of it unless she did love him."

Sam nodded as he processed this. "This is quite the question, Eves."

"I know." I groaned. "I want to help her, but I don't know if I should beat the crap out of him before he finds her. Or, take him to her, so she can beat the crap out of him…or something like that. Urgh, I don't know!"

Sam chuckled. "What if you spoke to him first? Get him to explain himself before you beat him up, or let him near your friend."

'Let Adam explain…' "What if what he says makes it all worse?" I pointed out, going back to pulling on my fingers. "What if he says that he never loved her at all, and the whole thing was this huge lie? Or what if he doesn't know what he's done and it was all an accident?"

"You said he was the cause of it, wouldn't he have stuck around if it was an accident?" Hmm, Sammy had a point. If it was all just a mistake, then why run?

"That…makes sense to." I sighed. "I don't know how I want it to turn out. I mean, on one side I want it to all have been a mistake and have some plausible explanation. But…"

"Could you forgive him?" Sam asked gently. "Could your friend forgive him for abandoning her when she needed him? For killing their child?"

Could I forgive him? If he told me it was all wrong, and that he was sorry and the guilt killed him every day? "But why'd he run?"

This time Sam didn't have an answer straight away and after some thought he said tentatively. "Maybe he couldn't stay, maybe there's something else to the story?"

I frowned. What 'something else' could Adam have had? He took the information and defected. Was he a double agent all along? Or was it something else? What if he'd been bought? I shuddered at the thought. Being bought was worse then being a double agent. It was like the ultimate betrayal of the spy world, on top of his betrayal to me.

"He should have found a way to be with her. If he really loved her, wouldn't he have found some way to be there when she needed him the most?"

"…Yes, but we don't know what circumstances he was in. I suggest you find out the full story and then decide. I know if Emily needed me, I'd be with her no matter what stood in my way."

I smiled at him teasingly, trying to ignore my new inner turmoil. "Not everyone is as 'white knight' minded as you are, Sammy."

"I think that's 'russet knight.'" He corrected with a grin, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and rubbing my arm. The heat from his skin burned through the material of my clothes easily.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." I rolled my eyes then laid my head on his huge shoulder with a sigh. "I wish it didn't have to be so hard."

I stiffened a little when he kissed the top of my head, like Dad used to do. I know it sounds strange, but being in the arms of a man I'm related to hasn't happened for a long time. The male figure that's normally present in every girls life has been absent in mine, and now Sam was obviously trying to refill it. I wasn't used to it. The closer they all got the more tense I became.

And they were getting closer. It was undeniable.

"I wish so to, Eves." He said softly. "It'll be okay though."

"How do you know?" I teased. "I can't see your crystal ball anywhere."

"I left it at home." He replied easily. "Can't you just trust me?"

"…I suppose so." I knew, without looking, that his face had just lit up like a Christmas tree overloaded with lights in a dark room. I rolled my eyes at how easy it was to please these people. A smile, a small, half-joking sentence made them as happy as pigs in mud. And I had no idea if this was a bad thing or not.

"C'mon, Evie," He coaxed gently, getting us both to our feet with little effort and began leading me back. "Let's get you home and get some breakfast into you."

"Are you saying I'm to skinny?"

"No!" Ha, men, it's so easy to make them think they've entered dangerous territory. It's so fun…yeah, I'm a bitch. Anyway. "There's nothing wrong with you. Your beautiful, little cousin. I'm just saying that everyone should eat breakfast. It's…"

"The most important meal of the day. Yes, I know, thank you, Mother." I grinned up at him teasingly. "I was pulling your leg, Sammy."

He shot me an annoyed look. "Don't do that. It's hard to know when you're joking or serious at the best of times, I don't need you fooling around and making it harder for me."

I laughed. "Sorry,"

"You sound it."

I poked my tongue out at him and darted away from his bulky form, diving into the house.

"You know," I yelled to him over my shoulder as I leapt behind the bench and hid shamelessly behind Emily and Tasha. Hey, I'm not stupid. If he sat on me like he used to be prone to doing, I'd be crushed. "If you were green, you'd make a good Hulk."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that."

"Denial!" I sang, grinning stupidly. Divert his attention from our conversation. Make everything seem fine. It was a defence reflex. Plus, annoying him was rather enjoyable. And if it applied to him, it applied to every other male in the room.

Triple points to me.

A/N: Sooo…? Am I safe? Or do I have to be worried about being murdered in my sleep? Heh. I know, I know. 17 chapters and the secrets are still well and truly buried, but I promise their getting closer and closer to the surface. In case you missed it (which is possible, since I write myself in circles) the letter and the book are rather big clues. I don't want to spoil the surprise, so just…bare with me?

Please please please don't hate me and pretty please review!

~Meg xx