Ebony had only been scared a few times of her life, but she was sure it had never consumed her like this.

It freaked her out, being a mother, and to something so tiny and totally dependent on her. How she longed for Siva's wisdom during these times.

"I don't know what I'm doing…" she said in frustration of her thoughts.

The little baby in her arms looked up at her, his green eyes twinkling. Ebony could only help but smile. It was still too hard to tell who the baby looked like, but it was certain he had Ebony's eyes, Slade's nose, and hair.

There was a soft knock at the door that drew her from her thoughts.

"Go away!" she shouted in a whisper.

"I can't," the female voice replied.

"And why not?" This isn't your room," she said in frustration. She didn't want company. She was sort of embarrassed and afraid because now she had a blatantly apparent weakness.

"Ebony please let me in, I just, I need somebody to talk to and I don't know where else to turn."

Highly suspicious, she laid the small bundle in the basket beside her and unlatched the door, "You need to talk to me?" she stared at Amber, "Don't you have Trudy or Salene, or even Ruby to chat with. We're not exactly friends, Amber."

"Well actually, Ruby's here too," Amber pulled the girl from her hiding spot.

"This is a meeting I forgot to get the memo too, and I'm afraid we're going to have to reschedule girls," Ebony leaned against the door frame, arms folded across her chest.

"Relax Ebony," Ruby sighed, "We're here on friendly terms…for now."

"That's good to hear because I am much too weak to fight. Please enlighten me, why are the two of you here?"

Amber muttered, "We want you to get us off this island for one."

"What am I queen or something? I don't make decision for everyone."

"No, but you sure do influence a lot of decisions lately," Ruby rolled her eyes, "You affect everyone's lives!"

"Lay off the bitterness Rubes, it's unflattering to that pretty face of yours," Ebony rolled her eyes.

"Well we're not all exactly living I up like you right now," Ruby snapped.

"Let me guess, you and the blonde one broke up?"

Ruby looked as if she might cry, "Yes we did, and don't say you had nothing to do with it, because you had everything to do with it!"

Amber nodded, "We need you to tell us what goes on in that head of his. Do you know he's utterly drunk? He made a pass at me this afternoon, right in front of Ruby."

Ebony rubbed at her temples, "Can we keep down please, newborn resting. Now run this by me again, you are here to see me because Jay made a pass at you and dumped her because of me?" Ebony bit her bottom lip. Jay couldn't have possible told them the truth. "How do I fit in?"

"He said he's been having second thoughts about you tow. That Thunder could've been his, that you two talked a lot when running from the Ram and that he's uncertain about things."

Ebony sighed, relieved. They didn't seem to know too much. "Exactly, Thunder could have been, and I do stress could have, been Jay's son. But he screwed it up by having uncertainties about Amber. He…" she stopped, never wanting to admit how much she had been hurt about that break up, "…is stupid. And I'm done with him. I'm over it, I love Slade. Shove that in his face!"

"Would you tell him that, please, so I can take him back?" Ruby asked.

Amber laughed, "At least your problem is half way solved I'm competing with a woman who isn't even on the island."

Ebony stood up, pacing. "I am not a therapist. I don't know why, me, of all people, you came to. Ebony, just my very name should send you searching for holy water. Ebony, the one who has caused you all so much pain for her own gain…I can go on all day here…and you came to me?

"You are a lot of things Ebony, but it is never too late to turn it around," Amber said, even before Slade and Thunder, you gave me hope that perhaps I had been getting to know the wrong you all along. There's a soft Ebony in there somewhere."

Ruby piped in, "I don't see it, but Siva did. She said even as a kid you were a decent playmate…"

"There's too much emotion in this room for me right now," Ebony stopped pacing, peering at her sleeping child, "I will talk to Jay, I would kill him even, if you weren't so smitten with him, but Amber I cannot help you. You know when Bray falls in love, he is in love. I do hear you and Trader are…"

"WE ARE JUST FRIENDS!" Amber blushed.

"Right," Ebony arched a brow at her."

Amber cocked her head to the side, "You know, like you and Jay, only we aren't exes."

"Okay, sure. Now please go away, both of you…shoo now…shoo…out of here…"

"We aren't allowed to visit a fellow tribe member?" Amber smirked.

"Ugh Amber, are you trying to make me gag. I'm much too hormonal and vulnerable right now, your playing nice frightens me. If you don't go I fear I might be 'nice' and give you a hug."

Ruby hopped off the bed from where she was studying young Thunder, trying to see if he looked the slightest bit like Jay. "Amber that's just too eerie, I mean Ebony hugging us? I think we should go."

Amber shook her head. Ebony was fighting with her personality. She had the potential to be a good person, she just had to let go of the past. "You're right Ruby, let's go."

Ebony was glad to see them go. She sat on the bed looking at her sleeping son. He looked so angelic and at total peace. She had to change, if not for herself, for him. He deserved a mother whose name wasn't shadowed by a past of evil.

A few days had passed, and Ebony had given much thought to what Ruby had dropped on her like a bomb.

She had loved Jay, in fact, she still loved Jay, but not the kind of love she had for Slade. Slade was her missing slice of pie, and he was all hers. He truly loved her. He could see it in his eyes, it was a look she had been searching for in every other man she chased, and he had rewarded her with it. He understood her completely.

Jay was just somebody she could talk to when she was too afraid to give in completely to Slade because of the love he showed her. Still, the love for Jay in her was strong. You never truly get over the first man who didn't deem you a witch. And Thunder could have very well been Jay's, but she did the math over and over again, there was no possible way that was even possible.

She had even had to reassure Slade that once in Liberty she and Jay had said goodbye in the not so traditional between the sheets way. And that Thunder was absolutely, one-hundred percent his son and not Jay's.

He had been a little angry that she had covered up such an event, but he forgave her.

Now, after ensuring Thunder was in his father's care, she went in search of Jay. She found him exactly where she knew she would. Upon the Mariana where she had seen him for days just gazing at the stars.

He seemed in a daze, or drunken stupor, until he saw her then his face brightened up.

"Ebony!"

"Don't look so surprised to see me, you knew I was coming!" Ebony didn't return the smile.

Jay's smile faded, "You had a chat with Ruby."

Ebony hit him on the forehead using her palm, "Yes man! Are you mad? What is going on in that brain of yours, huh?"

"Nothing…"

"I'll say."

"…and everything," Jay finished as if he hadn't heard her, "I love you, I love her, I love Amber, I love Trudy."

"You do not love me Jay, if you did, you wouldn't have hurt me the way you did," Ebony shouted.

"People make mistakes Ebony! I made a mistake!"

"Make that two! You broke my heart, then you trampled on it."

"You are not exactly miss innocent, you dumped me before I could even make up my mind about Amber. And I did hurt you, but I love you, and I know you love me too."

I have love for you, yes, but I moved on," Ebony sighed, "And you do not love me. You are in love with the idea of love and family."

Jay was quiet for a moment, "That was our dream Ebony, not you and Slade's. We were supposed to run away and raise family."

"Yes Jay, things were so good, but your heart went missing and frankly, I am not a patient woman. Besides, dreams change. Get over it Jay, go back to Ruby, start a new dream with her, we all know she wants kids."

"Are you sure he is not mine?"

"I am positive. That last time at the saloon doesn't add up to Thunder's birth."

"Positive?"

"I am one hundred percent positive. Now get your head together You need to sort things out with your woman, please bathe before you do so, you smell like rotten fish," She waved a hand back and forth in front of her face as a fan.

"You are right. I am in love with a dream, but you were wrong about one thing, I do love you," he bent over and kissed her atop her forehead.

"Well you will not be winning me back."

"Can I at least try?"

"You would only be wasting your time. I'm happy Jay, after all the things we put one another through, I am finally over you. And I think I'm going to do something I have never done before, give my heart fully to the man I love. I am going to marry Slade."

"If you're doing it just to hurt me, it won't work, you tried that with Ram, remember?"

"Let it burn Jay, I am certain this time. So leave well enough alone. This is the end of you and me, the very end."

She left him alone on the deck confused. He had truly lost her.