Sorry if the editing's off, I've been really busy so you'll just have to grin and bear it. Apart from that, I hope it keeps you entertained a little. :D

Deacon and Taylor

Hope watched as her father paced around their small living room, he'd told her about what had happened just yesterday, and after coming to terms with this latest disaster she had done her best to offer him advice and comfort him, but now, the time of his reckoning was close at hand.

She stood and picked up her laptop, "Taylor should be here in a minute, I'll be in my bedroom if you need me." She said with a concerned look.

Deacon glanced up at her, a somewhat startled look on his face, he'd actually forgotten she was in the room she'd been so quiet.

"Are you sure I should do this? Maybe if I just waited a day or two . . ." he trailed off when he saw Hope shaking her head.

"You know you can't dad, the detective told you what they found on Finn's laptop last week, if Taylor finds out before you tell her you will have no chance to set things right. Steffy flew in yesterday and that means the police will talk to her soon to try to see if she knows anything, and then it will be to late. At least if you tell Taylor what happened, in your own words, there might be a slim possibility you two will get through this, if you don't, well, speaking as a mother," she stopped herself, blinked a few times to push back the shock of what she'd just said, then continued.

"As a one-time mother, I can tell you she will never forgive you, you have to pay the piper dad, just like I did."

Deacon closed his eyes, "it's not fair, why did he have to open his big mouth? I only wanted to apologise and offer him my support, instead I get treated to a confession of murder."

Hope shook her head, "he didn't murder Sheila, dad, he just let her die, and you know very well why he did, you just have to tell Taylor the same things you told me about how you felt, and more importantly, what you were thinking, but maybe leave out the part about not caring what happened to Steffy at the time, okay?"

Deacon sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair, "Hope, we both know she's still gonna hate me, and that's what I can't stand the thought of. I finally found someone I genuinely care about, we've been building something good together, something real, something we've both thought was built on honesty and trust, it's how we've been able to navigate our way through so much, but this . . . even if it was before we got together, I just can't see her forgiving me. I've destroyed everything, just like I always do."

Hope put a hand on his shoulder, pity and concern etched on her features as she looked at her self-loathing father.

"Dad, secrets always, ALWAYS, get found out in the end. If, and I repeat, if, this is the end of your relationship with Taylor then that will be sad, insufferably sad, but you will survive, and I'll be there to help you through, but I still say, this isn't something you can just sweep under the rug or pretend didn't happen. Taylor is smart, and, well, she doesn't deserve to be bullshitted to, not if you genuinely care about her. I know I'm not exactly the poster girl for honesty or morality, but I've learned a lot of things about myself the last few months since the accident, and especially since starting on my project, and if there's one thing I'm certain of, then it's the fact you need to be open and honest with people you care about, because it's the right thing to do. This is true for both of you."

Deacon jumped as a firm knock sounded at the front door.

Hope smiled, "good luck Dad, and remember, I'm here for you should things go badly."

Deacon nodded and as Hope entered her room and closed the door behind her, he opened his front door.

"Hi Taylor, come in," he said tentatively.

Taylor gave him a puzzled frown and entered, "I was just on my way to see Steffy when you called, you said it was important so I came straight here, what's up? What's happened?" she asked in genuine concern.

"Please, sit down, and let me explain," he said indicating the divan where Hope had just been.

Taylor sat, utterly perplexed, she knew something bad had happened because she could see the worry and trepidation on Deacon face.

"Is it Hope?" she asked in concern, "is she okay? I thought her and Thomas have been doing alright the last few weeks, they've even had a couple of face-to-face meetings between him, Hope and Douglas. Please tell me nothing has happened."

"No, Hope's fine, her, Douglas and Thomas are doing well, it's not that."

"Deacon, what's going on?" she asked, a frown of confusion forming on her face.

"Tay, just promise me you'll hear me out to the end okay, please, just let me explain everything that happened." Deacon said in sudden desperation as he dropped to his knees in front of her and grasped her hands in his.

Taylors eyes widened in alarm, she instantly knew that this was serious, and she wasn't going to like what she was about to be told. She stared at Deacon for a moment, a rising dread making her clutch his strong hands for support as she braced herself mentally for what was to come – then she nodded.

Deacon closed his eyes and said, "the police were here last week, detective Baker to be exact. He told me that they'd finally managed to break into Finn's personal laptop where they found a, well, a journal of sorts."

Deacon lowered his head and stared at Taylors hands; he couldn't bring himself to look at her when he told her what was they found.

"It seems Finn was really, really, sick. He'd written down some pretty delusional things, especially about Liam, and then Steffy. It seems he'd been seeing and hearing his mother for weeks before everything happened, Baker said he'd had a total break with reality and that he thought Sheila was telling him to do stuff."

Taylors hands tightened on his but she remained quiet so he continued on relentlessly, his voice becoming duller and flatter with his intense shame as he continued.

"I was in there too, as was Bill Spencer."

Deacon was quiet for a moment before launching into everything that had happened after Sheila's shooting, from what he'd overheard Finn saying to Sheila's body in the morgue, to his overhearing Bill and Justin at his restaurant and the deal he'd made. When he finally finished, he lifted his head and stared at her.

"I'm so sorry Tay, please believe me, this was before we were together, and I know that's no excuse, but I just wanted an out from what I knew, and when I overheard Spencer"

"You just thought you'd throw my daughter under the bus, that it didn't matter she was married to an obviously mentally unstable man, a man who had lied to my daughter about the paternity of her son!" Taylor said as she snatched her hands away from his in horror. She stood up and backed away from him a little, her heart shattering painfully as she finally started to process what Deacon - a man she had started to really open up to, a man she had begun to trust with her heart - was saying to her.

Deacon stumbled to his feet, his arm outstretched in entreaty. "No, it wasn't like that, I swear, on the way back to the restaurant I started to think about what Finn had said. I knew he and Steffy were genuinely happy, and I honestly thought that Hope and Liam were too, and that they'd never split up, and if I said anything about that all I'd be doing was hurting everyone involved as well as destroying my daughter's life and happiness. I thought she would never forgive me and that it would destroy our relationship, as well as the relationship I have with my grand-daughter. At the time I just couldn't risk it, I was too scared of what would happen. As for the other thing, who would believe me? Finns a well-respected Doctor, and I'm an ex-con, the father of the woman that Steffy – Finn's wife -hates with a vengeance. You know they would have laughed at me if I came in with a story like that!"

Taylor snorted in disdain, her face screwing up in anger as she spat, "Deacon, he had just admitted to purposefully letting his own mother die, and what? You didn't think that, that was worth telling the authorities about? That this man was still treating vulnerable people! That he HAD A WIFE AND CHILDREN- MY DAUGHTER!" she ended in a shout.

"You knowingly risked peoples lives, and all because you were frightened no-one would believe you? You expect me to believe that drivel?"

"I swear it's true Tay, please, just try to calm down and think about it for a moment, I'm an ex-con, the most they would have done was tell Steffy and Finn about my accusations, and nothing would have been done, because no-one would have believed me. Added to that, I thought Finn was a onecer, so I thought Steffy and the kids would be safe, I never in my wildest dreams thought he'd try to hurt anyone again."

Taylor pulled her head back and frowned. "A ONECER? What the hell is a onecer?"

Deacon ran his hand through his hair as he tried to explain what he'd thought, "A onecer is what I always called the good cons when I was in jail. They were the ones that went into the system for one off crimes, mostly crimes of passion, or desperation, you know, things they'd never repeat again in their lifetime, but just that one time, the stars all aligned in the wrong place at the wrong time, and they snapped. That's what I thought Finn was, apart from swapping the DNA test, which I figured he did because he loved Steffy and was desperate not to lose her, and I knew that she loved him, and she seemed genuinely happy about the results, as did Liam and Hope. His allowing Sheila to die and not helping save her, well, I figured that was a normally good man having a really bad moment when faced with a horrible decision. He said Sheila shouldn't have threatened to tell Steffy what he did. After everything she'd already put him and Steffy through, and him learning of all her history with the Forresters, well, I thought he had his "onecer" moment, and that nothing like that would ever happen again. I swear to God I had no idea he'd go insane and attack Steffy and Liam!"

Taylor shook her head wearily, "because of your actions you began a process that ended with my daughter almost dying, and she wasn't the only one."

Taylor shook her head and sniffed loudly as tears started to escape from her eyes.

"I can understand that reasoning, as you well know, but, as a mother . . ."

She wiped her eyes as she continued. "You know, I finally got Thomas to tell me exactly what happened. He broke down and told me how utterly terrified he was. He said he knew he couldn't pull both Steffy and Dee to safety, but he knew he couldn't let either one fall. If Douglas hadn't have called Ridge. If he hadn't have gotten there in time, Deacon, I could have lost both of them, my children! Douglas would be an orphan, Kelly and Hayes would have lost their mother! Added to that, they almost lost their father! Liam came very close to losing his life too, and Finn is dead, a man who needed psychiatric help yes, but still, just another broken human being in unbelievable pain. Thomas still has nightmares about that night! And all of this might have been avoided, if only you'd spoken up. But that you told Bill Spencer, you made a bargain with that, that, PREDATOR! Just so you could put all of it behind you and wash your hands of it. Deacon, I can't, I just can't." And without another word she snatched up her bag and ran out the door.

Deacon stood in the middle of the small lounge staring at the front door, his eyes hot with unshed tears.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and Hope whispered softly, "it's okay dad, I'm here for you, we'll get through this, I promise you."

Deacon turned around and hugged his daughter as tears of misery for what he'd just lost started to fall from his eyes.

Steffy and Marius

Marius stared at his latest sketch lost in thought. The lines were good, the style was exactly what he'd envisioned, but the pattern and the colours in the material were all wrong, it just wasn't working. He threw his pencil down in disgust.

"Not to your liking?" said a soft voice from the doorway.

He swung around in surprise, ready to berate who-ever had decided to interrupt his designing time, especially when he'd left specific instructions not to be disturbed.

His impending harsh words dried up in his throat when he saw Steffy standing in the doorway.

"Steffy?" he breathed as he looked to her.

"Can I come in?" she asked with a nervous smile.

"Of course, but I didn't think you'd be in today, given you only just returned yesterday." said Marius gesturing to a seat.

Steffy ignored the seat and came to stand in front of him.

"I have some business that couldn't wait. I needed to talk to you."

Marius stood still, not daring to move, the last two and a half months had been an agony for him. When Steffy had left to sort out her feelings, it had seemed her actions had, had rather unexpected consequences for him. They seemed to have consolidated his burgeoning feelings for her - in a big way.

As of right now his first instinct was to go to her, he wanted to sweep her up into his arms and make love to her. He wanted to whisper words of need and desire into her ears, he wanted to take every hurt she'd ever experienced away from her and replace them with happy images of him and her together, yet instead he waited, and watched, fearing what she was about to tell him.

This was her call, and he'd abide by whatever she wanted, or needed – he realised that he now cared beyond himself, beyond his own wants and needs, he cared for this woman in front of him, and that feeling was growing at a frightening pace.

Steffy frowned, "Look, I know I've been away a lot longer than I expected, or led you to think, but I really needed to sort myself out. I needed to come to terms with my life and the choices I've made, and I needed to figure out if I was willing to risk my heart again, especially with what happened with Finn. Having your ex try to murder you was never up there on my "I need to experience this" list, and I admit . . . it really threw me for a loop, especially explaining things to the kids about his death, he was their stepfather for a large part of their lives."

She took a deep bracing breath and looked up into Marius' dark eyes, "Marius, if you haven't moved on while I've been gone, and if you still want to, I'd like to give what-evers between us a try. Please, feel free to say no if you want, I'll understand, I want to make it clear that there's absolutely no pressure okay. So, if you don't want to go there just say so and I'll leave you in peace. I just wanted to tell you what I finally decided," she finished on an earnest note.

Marius reached out with one hand and slowly traced his fingers over Steffy's cheek, watching them closely, as if trying to memorize the lines of her face.

"Want? Steffy, Mia Bella. I have spent over two and a half months waiting and wanting, don't ever doubt how much I want you!"

His fingers reached her mouth where he slowly drew his thumb lightly along her bottom lip.

"Every night since you have been gone, I have lain in bed thinking of you, and what we shared, wanting only to see you again, to speak to you, to touch you, instead I could only see your beautiful face in my most fevered dreams. My soul aches for you Steffy," he said huskily.

"Of course there is no-one else, how could there be? When every fibre of my being yearns for you, your beauty, your fierceness, your intelligence, your wit, your passion. How could anyone else compare to you mio bella regazza . . . you take my breath away."

Steffy shuddered, in both relief and desire, his words seemed to break a long built up wall inside of her, and before he could utter another heartfelt word she took matters into her own hands and kissed him, and that one kiss was all it took for their passion to explode.

She vaguely remembered locking the door to his office, this reunion was going to take a while – a long, long, while.