REVAMPED AS OF APRIL 2014

"Carmen - you need to come as soon as you can. Hospital... Mount Sinai - please don't bring Mort."

The request was a strange one from Rob, especially when it had seemed that Rob and the others had actually become friends with Mort, but there was such panic and desperation in Rob's voice that she couldn't help but let this one slide. Tying her long hair into a messy bun and yanking a fleece pullover on, she hurried to her car and made to drive into the city.

Following the trend in the two weeks after the strange incident of Mort and the radio - they had taken to not even acknowledging it had happened at all - the previous evening had been a quiet one. Having woken up at about five in the morning, Carmen had been in the process of doing a lot of nothing - watching Casablanca and flipping through the latest of issue of A-List that had hit stands recently - she was hardly feeling awake when she got into the car. She knew that when she told Mort about this later, he wouldn't be at all thrilled to know she'd gotten in the car in a rush and driven off like this, after what had happened last time, but it appeared to be a time of crisis, and in these circumstances, it was usually easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.

Arriving at the hospital, Carmen entered the lobby to see Rob waiting for her to take her upstairs. He grabbed her by the wrist and led her to the elevator. "It's Mel -"

"But why couldn't Mort be -"

"Mel lost the baby."

Carmen froze and stared at Rob wide-eyed at the revelation - he had to pull her by the arm so that the elevator door did not close between them, and once they were away from any prying eyes, he leaned wearily against the side of the elevator, massaging his forehead and huffing in exhaustion.

"I - I tried talking to her," he began. "But I need to know, where was Mort last night?"

"We were together," Carmen said, her face falling into a frown. This situation felt unpleasantly familiar, and she remained frozen on the opposite side of the elevator from Rob. "If you're trying to -"

"Eleven o'clock - it isn't possible you were sleeping or something? After you guys, you know -"

"God, Rob," Carmen said, her voice tight with fury. "We weren't having sex, he was over helping me because a fuse blew and I didn't want to go outside alone!"

Before Rob could respond, the elevator doors opened, and Carmen strode out angrily down the hallway before Rob caught up with her, catching her by the arm again. "Please calm down," he said quietly. "Carmen, I'm sorry - it's just that Melanie insists she saw what she saw. I didn't want you be caught off guard when she said it."

"Do you believe it?"

"I - I don't know," Rob said, shaking his head. "I just know that Melanie is really sure of what she saw, and she says she saw someone in that - that hat you told me about -"

"What?"

"Just hear her out, okay?" Rob pleaded. "She's really freaked, just... please."

When Carmen showed signs of resignation, Rob placed his hand on the handle of the door to the hospital room. Carmen hardly had stepped foot inside when Melanie turned in bed to face her, her face red and swollen from crying. Her face was covered with scratches, and her arms were badly bruised. Unable to help herself, Carmen hurried over to the side of the bed and reached out for the blonde-haired woman's hand; in response, Melanie hugged Carmen tightly.

"Carmen, it was Mort - you need to get away from him!" she sobbed uncontrollably into Carmen's shoulder, and Carmen felt a sense of total shock at the accusation leveled at her fiance. She attempted to stammer something in protest - that Mort had been with her, that it was impossible - but Melanie made the statement with such conviction that Carmen couldn't even react. "I was going to visit Rob at work, and - and all of a sudden, I saw him in the alleyway. He had his back to me, but I recognized him. And - and I looked back and he was gone, and I didn't know where he went -"

"It could have been someone else," Carmen attempted to reason. "Mel -"

"And then I heard him!" Melanie continued, pulling back and sobbing. "There was a voice behind me - his voice! He said, 'it's a shame I got to do this', and he pushed me into the street in front of a taxi."

"What did the taxi driver say he saw?"

"He ran," Rob supplied, standing with his arms crossed near the door. "They arrested him, but he's not saying anything. He won't talk."

"I - the baby," Mel said, tears streaming down her face. "I was doing everything I could to be a good mother - Carmen, I did everything I could, right? Rob?"

"Of course - of course you did, Mel," Carmen said, reaching out and embracing the girl - one of the first times she had ever been the one to initiate such a gesture. "This isn't your fault."

"It was Mort - I didn't want to believe it either, but I know what I saw," Melanie insisted, her voice muffled as her face was still buried in Carmen's shoulder. "I saw him, Carmen, I know I did. What if he hurts you? What if that - that Shooter -"

At this, Carmen froze and gently drew back, staring at Melanie for a moment in absolute shock before slowly turning to face Rob, who couldn't look her in the eye. Turning back to Melanie, Carmen squeezed the woman's hand and reached out, smoothing her long blonde hair. "I'm going to - to talk to Rob outside for a second, alright. We're gonna figure this out."

Carmen got to her feet, and she grabbed Rob by the arm - she wasn't concerned with the fact that she could possibly rip his arm out with her abruptness as she pulled him out of the room, shutting the door behind them. She didn't stop until they reached the end of the hallway where Melanie couldn't possibly hear them, and she turned into a small empty waiting area. Finally alone, she reached out and slapped Rob hard across the face.

"You told her?" Carmen hissed furiously. "Melanie knows about Shooter?"

"I thought it was over!" Rob said, gesticulating widely with his arms - he didn't dwell on the slap, as it certainly wasn't the first time. "I didn't think it would make a difference if I told her about why you were in the accident, she wanted to know -"

"It wasn't yours to tell!"

"They called me, Carmen. Remember that," Rob said, his gaze suddenly going cold. "When something happened to you, I was the one who got dragged into it because everyone thought Mort did it, remember? It's my business -"

"Excuse me, then," Carmen said coldly. "I won't drag you into anything anymore then, Rob. You don't need to come running to my rescue anymore. Tell Melanie I'll be back when you're not here," she retorted. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the keys to the Mercedes, shoving them back into Rob's hand and storming away.

Carmen made her way to wait in a Starbucks across the street, and after she called, she was surprised that Mort made it into the city from Tashmore Lake in record time. He found her sipping on her third coffee, sitting in a small armchair in the corner. He knelt in front of her and placed a hand on her knee - she had explained the situation as best as she could over the phone, and by the looks of it, she was still shaken. If Carmen hadn't needed him, Mort certainly wouldn't have driven all the way out here and risk being pegged with more accusations. "Babe," he said carefully. "What's going on?"

"Can we just talk about it at home?" Carmen said weakly. "I just - I don't want to give Rob a chance to decide to try and find me."

The drive home was quiet - Mort felt a little squeamish at the number of pensive sighs that came from the passenger seat, because Carmen was hardly the sighing type, so if she was doing it, it meant she was thinking about something unpleasant. Difficult. Given the situation with Melanie Carter, which he'd heard just enough about, he wasn't confident that Carmen thinking about anything and not talking to him about it was a good sign. He reached out to flip the radio on and start searching for clear stations, only to have the first viable station turn out to be the old country station that had played a part in their last uncomfortable conversation last week. She tensed, and he quickly turned it off.

After the couple of hours of tense silence, they finally pulled up in front of Mort's house, but neither of them stepped out of the car yet. Carmen had her hands folded in her lap, and Mort didn't remove his hands from the steering wheel.

"I know it wasn't you," Carmen said suddenly, unable to look up. "You were with me when it happened, and I don't know why Mel thought of you, but -"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Carmen said, clenching her eyes shut. "I'm sure, Mort, and you need to be sure too because I can't stand this," she said shakily. "I can't stand being cornered by my friends like this when I know they're wrong."

Mort didn't know how to respond - he wanted to be unselfish, to say that she didn't need to defend him, but it was difficult to even think it. He couldn't ask her to not defend him, because she was the only one who did. He groaned, running his hands through his hair.

"You know what?" Carmen said, finally unclasping her hands and looking up. "Maybe we should get away from here for a while - just you and me. Get away from this. Mel has Rob, she doesn't need me around. What do you think?"

Mort paused and looked at Carmen questioningly - it probably wasn't the time to think about it, but she was suggesting they take their first trip together. Mort hadn't even traveled far past New Jersey in years. Carmen forced a small smile and reached out, grasping his hand tightly.

"I have an idea," Mort said, clapping his other hand over their enclosed hands. "It's the middle of the week, no major holidays - we could drive up to Cape Cod and find someplace by the water. No emails, no phonecalls. We can leave right now."

"Cape Cod?" Carmen asked hesitantly. "Massachusetts?"

"Why not?"

Massachusetts - was it a good idea? Was it a sign? She had never told Mort where Timothy Haley was, and it was possible that Cape Cod was far, far away from him. The whole point of all of this was to get away from this paranoia, from living in fear. To hell with Timothy Haley, Carmen decided.

"Let's go."

The four hour drive to Massachusetts came with surprising levity - they didn't talk about Rob, or about Melanie. A part of Carmen felt bad for bailing when she did, but at the same time, she knew that she wasn't needed. It was strange, Carmen decided - no longer being needed by Robert Wallace. Strange, but long overdue.

Mort, on the other hand, felt a strange sense of vigor running through him now that he was far away from Tashmore Lake - from anywhere that linked him to his past. He felt oddly adventuresome - young. They were like wanderers; they were turned away for lack of vacancies at at least three bed and breakfasts until they found a quaint little blue Victorian house with a sign outside with its name - the Blue Fox Cottage. Carmen immediately took a liking to the place, as the minute they walked in, she spotted a china cabinet full of small figurines. She hurried over to have a look as they waited for whoever owned the place.

Carmen wasn't used to quaint things. She was used to nights at the Met, to Central Park, to night clubs. This place, however, represented a kind of life she'd never gotten to enjoy - a peacefulness and a quiet that she never knew she could possibly be missing out on.

Mr. and Mrs. O'Mahony, an old Irish couple with hair that had yet to turn white at all, seemed happy to have them over to fill the last vacant room in their cozy establishment. After being shown to their room - a small suite with a four-post bed and a window overlooking the rocky ocean shore - Carmen placed her duffel bag down on the ground next to the bed and looked around, shaking out her legs that still were recovering from having fallen asleep during the long drive. She took off the slightly oversized jean jacket that she had borrowed from Mort, who never wore it anyway, so that she was just wearing a thin, peach cotton dress and Converse shoes - it had been comfortable enough to travel in, even if it was highly mismatched.

"It's nice - good change of scenery," Mort said, dropping his own bag near the window and leaning against the wall. "I told you this was a good idea."

"It was my idea."

"Well, you can't blame me for trying to get one by you," Mort chuckled, shaking his head and walking over, wrapping his arms around her. He knew that she wasn't quite detached from what had happened earlier in the day - he wasn't expecting it of her - and he coaxed her over so that they were both sitting on the bed. "And I am pooped from all that driving. I think," he began, kicking off his shoes and resting his legs up on the bed, nudging her with his knee to do the same, "that a nap is long overdue."

Carmen couldn't help but agree, kicking off her own shoes and nestling into Mort's side. She was asleep in minutes. What was meant only to be a nap, however, turned out to last for hours, and by the time they both stirred, it was dark outside - it had to be nearly eleven in the evening - and they decided to not even bother getting up. Instead, Carmen rolled onto her other side so that she was looking at Mort, their faces illuminated by the moonlight through the window. She realized just how crazy this had been, running off so impulsively - but now, it suddenly felt real that she was going to marry this man. She was going to spend the rest of her life loving him. And now, they had run off. They had a secret place of their own.

"Let's have our wedding out here," Mort said suddenly, breaking the almost entranced silence that had settled between them. "It's a few hours, it's not far from New York," he reasoned. "It wouldn't be too much of a hassle to get to."

Carmen looked away briefly - she wasn't even sure if she'd have anyone left to invite after what had happened to Mel. She had no family - Rob and Mel were together, and of course Chloe and Andi would take their best friend's side. What else did she have? She gave a small sigh and shook her head, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "Mort - do you think your family would come?"

"From Maine? Yeah. I don't - speak with them much. But they'd come. My mother, my uncle..." he shrugged. "They don't have much better to do. We're from this tiny town - tiny. Most interesting thing to ever happen was when this group of kids got poisoned at this church picnic about twenty years ago."

"Why haven't I met them?"

"Because even I haven't seen them in ten years. We have more of a quarterly Hallmark card relationship," he laughed. "But they'll come. And they'll love you."

"Are you inviting your fans?"

"Absolutely not," Mort smirked as he leaned over and kissed his fiance soundly. "Now, since we're awake..."