Disclaimer: First of all, I own nothing! The main characters of this story belong to the superbly talented Martha Williamson. Also any dialogue you may recognise is from the show. I just borrowed it.

This story is based on Holly. It's mostly from her point of view. I'm keenly aware that Holly is not anybody's favourite, but she is essential to the development of the story. Holly is such an integral part of who Oliver is and why Shane falls in love with him in the first place. Holly is the character that we all love to hate!

Bear with me, I'm not going to necessarily redeem Holly but I need to see how Holly works, how she processes the events in her life, why she does what she does. What's her motivation? Why is she so selfish?

Thanks to Rhonda Leighton Wronski for her editing and support and her push for me to try something that might not be too popular with the crowd but it's from my heart.

I hope you enjoy it. Please feel to critique it. All comments welcome.

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Holly's Story – Part I

Chapter 1 - Cheyenne, Wyoming

Karen Murphy considered herself lucky in love, but there her luck stopped. She was 17 and deeply in love with her high school sweetheart and school's quarterback, Patric O'Connor. He was an extremely good looking boy who every girl dreamed about. The fact that Patric looked twice at Karen was a miracle, since he could have his pick of any girl he wanted. However, Patric was also in love with Karen. Her beautiful, glossy red hair combined with her gorgeous green eyes and a vivacious personality made her very attractive to Patric, as well as many other boys in their high school. Karen was pregnant by the time they graduated. Her parents were most displeased. Her father kicked her out of the house for bringing shame to the family. Karen and Patric got married at the Registry Office in the commercial district of Cheyenne, Wyoming on September 24th 1984. Holly O'Connor was born on October 4th.

The young family moved into Patric's parents' house. It was a disaster! Patric's mom hated Karen for "destroying" her son's future. She would have nothing to do with the baby and eventually they had to move out because everybody was constantly at each other's throats. They rented a house in the poor district of Cheyenne. The rundown house was only marginally better than a trailer. Patric managed to secure employment at the local fertiliser plant while Karen worked as a maid for a family in the rich district. Luckily for her, her employer had twin girls the same age as Holly and two nannies to look after them. Holly spent most of her time playing with the 2 little girls, while her mother worked. She became almost like another daughter to the family. As Holly grew up, she learned to despise her humble origins and dreamed about better days ahead. She always received the hand-me-down from the twins and became accustomed to designer labels, good food and good manners while learning to be selfish and self-centred and take for granted those who loved her the most.

Holly was 16 years old when her father died of lung cancer after years of heavy smoking and working 12 hour shifts without the proper safety gear to protect him from the harmful chemicals and fumes. Her mother wasted no time and married Tim Greene soon after. Tim was a manager at a local second-hand vehicle dealership. They moved into Tim's house, which was larger and located in a better part of town. Unfortunately, Tim was a drunk and took a liking to Holly. Whenever he came home intoxicated, Holly had to lock her door and pray he wouldn't kill her mother, who had become his regular punching bag. Many nights Holly cried herself to sleep as she remembered her dad. He never complained about his lot in life. He worked like a dog to support the family. He also was a gentle soul who had developed a love for poetry as a means to cope with his hard life. He would read to her every night, still insisting to spend time with her until the day he died. Holly failed to see how lovely that gesture was, sometimes annoying her greatly, since she had rather talk to her friends on the phone instead. However, lately she had come to realise how much she missed him, how precious those times were. What a good man he was, despite the unlucky hand life had dealt him. She wished she had been a more loving daughter.

Holly's mom died 2 years later from injuries inflicted at Tim's hands. During the trial, it came to light that Karen had had two miscarriages due to severe beatings. The prosecution had all the damming documents from the hospital. He was convicted of second degree murder, as well as manslaughter for his two babies. He received a 20 years' sentence for Karen's murder and 5 years for each of the babies. Holly inherited everything Tim had, which included his house and all its contents, a renovated 1969 Mustang and a brand new 4 wheel drive Ford pickup. Holly came out of her mother's bad marriage with a fat bank account.

Holly couldn't wait to leave Cheyenne behind and she did so the moment she graduated from high school. She sold everything lock, stock and barrel and bought a Toyota Camry. She loaded it up with her personal stuff and drove the 100 miles to Denver, Colorado, which she would use as a stepping stone to get to her final destination of Paris, France.

Chapter 2 - Denver, Colorado

Holly wasted no time in Denver. She enrolled herself at the University of Colorado to study French and Classic Literature. She loved the French subjects, but the old classic studies were a real bore! She couldn't stand Shakespeare and the old professor who taught the class was like Hitler, terrorising his students. That old professor was the complete opposite of her French Literature professor, Remy Chastain. He was about 35 years old, making him about 15 years her senior. Remy was the son of an American soldier and his French mother from New Caledonia, who was a nurse for the military. Remy's dad never married his mom, but never lost contact with his son either. Several times, he had insisted that he come to America; including for his college education, which Remy received at Harvard University. Remy had a brilliant resume and a bright future ahead of him.

Holly fell madly in love with him. His delicious French accent just drove her crazy. They engaged in a torrid love affair that had to be kept secret. If the administration found out the professor was dating a student, the professor would be immediately dismissed. Unfortunately for them, things got out of control and they were found out. Remy was dismissed. He was devastated and struggled to get back into a normal life. Holly did not help!

After a night of uncontrolled drinking, they had a horrible fight and hurled their anger at each other. They didn't hold back anything, unleashing a venomous war of words between them. Remy decided to drive home despite being very intoxicated. Holly did not attempt to stop him, throwing his shoes out the window as he walked out. On the way home, Remy was involved in a head on collision and died on the spot. The crash also killed the other driver, who was a nurse and mother of 2, simply driving home after her long shift.

Holly never quite recovered from Remy's death. Her guilt over not stopping Remy from driving while drunk continuously ate at her. She tried hard to fill her life with fun activities to forget her past, but sadly, she realised nothing and no one could ever replace Remy. She became obsessed with Paris instead and her life revolved around getting herself there. She managed to finish her degree, but found it difficult to find a job where she could utilise her training. She could not seem to hold a job for more than three months at a time and struggled to find purpose in anything.

The years rolled on, one after another with Holly hovering on the fringes of life without any aim. One boyfriend after another came up short when compared to Remy. She didn't know why she didn't just move to France, as if life still had some purpose for her in America. She waited, for what, she didn't know.

Her poetry was the only thing that kept her going; that and the dream that one day she would eventually get to Paris and start her life over. She managed to make enough money from her various jobs to cover her rent and other expenses without having to touch her precious savings, that she hoped one day she would use to launch her life in France.

She joined a Poetry Club which met every Friday night. Every week they met at a different home to make things interesting. One Friday, the meeting was scheduled at a ranch up in the Rockies. The weather looked uncertain. She hemmed and hawed about going, but eventually she decided it would be OK and went anyway. When she got there, she was the only one who showed up. Everybody else was smart enough to realise that travelling up to a ranch in the mountains when a blizzard was coming was not the wisest thing to do. She turned around immediately and headed back towards Denver. She was furious with herself. She pushed hard on the accelerator trying to outrun the bad weather. It was increasingly difficult to see the road. Finally the driving snow caught up with her. The blizzard combined with the night darkness made the road a death trap. Holly pushed on; oblivious to the grave danger she was in. On a blind corner, she lost control of the car. It spun around and ended up hanging over the edge of a cliff with the back tires teetering in the air. She could tell the car was sliding backwards very slowly towards the abyss below. She was paralysed with fear. She then saw what she thought was an angel walking towards the car... he had on a dark blue suit… and he was here to rescue her!