"What's wrong with Tabs?" Berto asked his teammates in confusion over breakfast. "She's been pushing me away for a couple of days."

Ric sighed. "She got that phone call and -boom- she's distant. I can't reach her."

Terrie nodded. "A offered ta go shopping with her today, but she turned me down."

By unspoken agreement, the three changed the subject when Domino entered the room. When she left, Berto sat back in his chair and frowned. At times, he wished Sam was still on the team.

***

Paige set down her coffee cup. "This is tea!" Sam had bought six matching dark coffee mugs for use in the morning a couple of days ago. However, this had its drawback.

Rahne nodded as she tasted what she thought was her cup. "Cream in this cup."

"Must be mine," Sam said after taking a sip of his sister's black coffee. They exchanged cups with a smile. This was getting to be a morning tradition. He started laughing. "Better than Friday when we all ended up with cream in our cups."

Rahne shook her head as she remembered tea with cream. Sure, the problem would be solved by buying a couple of different colored mugs, but it wouldn't be as much fun. She took her cup and carefully wrapped a rubber band around it. "What's tonight?"

Sam checked the cooking schedule. "Valley Inn with Pete and Kitty. Want ta come, Paige?" They were meeting under the guise of three old high school friends just getting together.

Paige wrinkled her forehead. "I've got to work and then Laura's coming over to study for a bit." Laura's grades weren't good enough to get into Pine Valley University, but she was trying to prove to the admissions office she could handle the load. The two had become fast friends.

"See ya there?" Sam asked Rahne.

"Aye, but A've got tae work late." Rahne was getting caught up in her research. "A'm takin' a change of clothes with me, just in case."

"Ah'll drop ya off at work," Sam offered. They worked a few blocks apart, so they usually rode in together. "And that way, Nurse Hathaway can't say anythin' about ya not stayin' ta finishin' up when Ah come ta pick ya up."

"A'll get ma stuff." Rahne went back to her room as Sam picked up the telephone.

"Again?" Paige asked her brother as he dialed a number. The phone rang in Nashville. "It's six o'clock her time."

"Ah'm worried about Li'l Bit. She hasn't called me back in a month." And Sam knew his friend wasn't on tour. "The last time Ah saw her, she looked so sick and sad." While Rahne had been away, he had escorted his childhood friend to the music awards. She had looked too thin and very ill, and soon afterwards stopped returning his phone calls. Something was wrong. Sam let the phone ring until the machine picked up. "Bit, it's me. Ah wanted ta make sure ya got muh new number. 555-555-6703. It's the third time Ah've given it ta ya, use it. Please." Sam hung up the phone.

He and Paige exchanged a troubled look as he stared at the phone. While things had been difficult for a few months after the night he spent at her place, they had managed to straighten it out lately, or so he'd thought. If Li'l Bit wasn't avoiding his phone calls, where could she be? And he needed to talk to her so he could get some information that would help Paige.

Rahne walked out, carrying a hanger with her change of clothes. "Any luck?" She knew Sam was worried about his friend and that worry was somehow tied into his other problem. She had to pray that when the time was right, he'd let her in. Still it troubled her to see both Guthries so upset.

Sam shook his head. "If'n Ah don't hear back by the end of the month, Ah'm flyin' down ta see her."

***

Ruddy, the assistant director of "The Cutting Edge" dropped the tapes that Tad had requested off on Sam's desk and smiled. "It's going to be a long day."

Sam nodded. "Especially since the boss lady wants blood." Liza Colby Chandler, a tall blonde woman who looked a lot like Emma Frost, walked by talking to Scott. They had received a tip that that there was a porn operation in town and Liza hit the roof.

She continued talking to Scott. "I want to know who this scumbag is, where he works from, and how old the girls are. And I want to know the answers yesterday." She waved a picture of girl in her early teens in front of him. "This isn't an eighteen year old, and I know it! I want the head of this man."

Sam dug around in his desk for a file folder. "Ma'am," he started as his big brother instincts started working . "Let's at least give the gal some privacy." Liza nodded, smiled at the politeness of the southern gentleman, and slipped the picture in the folder.

She looked at him, and he could see the wheels turning in her head. "Your sister--"

Sam answered very firmly, "Hates the camera. So does my girlfriend." Liza would do anything for ratings.

Scott quickly redirected her. "How about Gillian? The way she carries on, she'd love to." Ruddy laughed.

"Call her and find out." Liza stormed into Tad office to talk to her best friend. "Have I got an story for you," she announced before closing the door.

Scott sighed and picked up the phone. "That was a joke."

Ruddy shook his head. "She's the joke." He handed Sam a slip to sign and walked away.

Scott hung up the phone. "No answer. Oh well, I'm seeing her tonight anyways." A dark look crossed his face and he turned to Sam. "She's part of the reason I broke up with Laura."

Sam nodded, trying to figure out if he was supposed to say anything to his friend. Scott continued, "That and Laura couldn't let me in on what was hurting her."

That was a very sore subject. Rahne knew something was hurting Sam and he hadn't taken the time to explain it at all. How could he explain his worry about what his Daddy's best friend might have done to him and his sister? "Sometimes, a secret is best kept ta yerself."

Scott shook his head. "It was hurting me to see her hurting so much. I wanted her to tell me what was the matter. I love her."

Sam winced. This was getting very personal. The one thing he could say was, "Maybe ya pushed too hard." Rahne wasn't pushing Sam but, she was trusting him to tell her the truth when he could. Then again, because they had been friends for so long, and their lives had depended on him being trustworthy, maybe it was easier for them.

Pain flickered across Scott's face. "I just wanted in. She broke up with me instead of telling me the truth."

Sam gulped.

***

Tony Longhair nodded as he finished briefing Emma on his efforts to take over the Network. "I can introduce Celeste to those people she needs to know," he promised. "That way, not only will she be able to get the mutants out of the states when the time comes, but it'll look like I have your sanction to talk with them."

Emma smiled, enjoying the ability to unofficially give her blessing to the young man's efforts to climb up his career ladder. It cost her nothing, yet the potential payback was great. "And you and Celeste will spend time together." She'd been encouraging Tony's and Celeste's relationship from the start.

Tony smiled as he pulled the strands of his ponytail off his chest. He was part Hispanic and part Cherokee, and he took pains to cultivate the Native American side of his heritage. His hair and his medicine bag were two small parts of the image he worked to project as a savage warrior. Celeste, his friend, was the only chink in his armor, and he didn't mind the fact at all.

"I'm not saying that I'm not looking forward to spending time with my friend," he said with a grin. The two of them had a wonderful chemistry that made them a fantastic team. "But I am worried about her."

Emma nodded, she shared the same concerns. "Between her sister and the pain-in-the-ass that is her boyfriend, she's torn." Matt called Celeste constantly at work, checking up on her, demanding to know where she was and who she was with. More than that, her assistant just didn't seem as self-confident as usual. Because Celeste had requested that her boss not read her mind, Emma was limited to passive observation and reading the stray thoughts that were too powerful to filter out. "Something is wrong."

Like Emma, deep down, Celeste didn't trust people enough to let them into her inner thoughts. She had her support group, the students, her friends and her sister to worry about, but she would not let anyone worry about her. She didn't want to let them in to her heart that deep. That way, when they would hurt her, the pain wasn't that bad. Tony was closer to her than anybody else, yet he knew he didn't know everything there was to know about his friend. However, he did have his ability to read people. "Matt's not helping it any."

Emma nodded as she looked at the picture of Cordelia on her desk. "He lost Celeste because he couldn't make her the woman he wanted her to be...." There was an easy explanation for the sudden change in behavior, but it wasn't a pleasant one. "Celeste told me that he'd say negative things about her before she broke up with him. I wonder..."

Her voice trailed off as she remembered the way Celeste only said good things about Matt in relationship to calming Ariel down. She was devoted to her younger sister, there wasn't anything she wouldn't do for her. But to allow herself to stay in an emotionally or verbally abusive relationship, or one where she wasn't treated right, that was a ludicrous thought. "What can we do to help her?"

Tony blinked at that remark from Emma. That level of concern was unexpected from the Emma of six months ago. But since connecting with her daughter, Emma had started to seem... more human. "Let me handle it on my end, and we'll keep an eye on her." He pressed the buzzer for Celeste to come into the room.

"Do what you can." Emma slipped out of her office just before Celeste walked in.

"I thought Emma wanted to see me." She smiled at Tony, happy to see him again, even if Matt had forbid her to see him.

"Actually, I remembered it was your twenty-fourth birthday tomorrow." Celeste smiled. Matt had forgotten. "And I got you some things." He handed her a pass to an advanced boxing class at The Health Club in Pine Valley, which was a few blocks away from Sam and Rahne's. "Since you are always complaining about finding classes that like women in them and since Emma's got that project coming up, I figured why not?" Celeste smiled and hugged him. "And.." He placed a beautiful wrapped box in her hands.

Celeste opened it and found an oval shaped cameo locket in it. "My goodness..." She opened it to find a picture of her parents on one side and her sister on the other. "Thanks!" she hugged him.

He showed her a secret compartment on it. "It's an antique, I remembered how much you liked things with secret parts to them." Immediately, Celeste decided to put a picture of her daughter in there. How could she close a friend out of her life after he did something this wonderful for her? She slipped the cameo around her neck.

As Tony insisted on taking Celeste to lunch, Emma had to marvel at the complex simplicity of his plan. He'd managed to make sure that Celeste wouldn't kick him out of her life and arranged for her to catch up with two other friends. By making her keep her friends, he was making sure she had a support system to fall back on.

Very impressive.

***

That evening, Sam and Rahne sat down at table across from Kitty and Pete and looked around. The Valley Inn had a four star restaurant, very elegant and impressive. "Nice," Sam said as he looked over the menu. His eyebrows raised at the menu prices and he was grateful they had Xavier's credit card.

"Nice not tae cook." Rahne agreed.

"So," Pete started with a smile. "Tell me, Rahne, how's shackin' up?" Sam dropped his menu at that remark. "How do the neighbors sleep with all that noise?"

Before Sam could say a word, Rahne smiled innocently. "What noise?" This had been going on for a long time between her and Pete.

"The noise you two make." Pete shot back. This was mild compared to what he could do but it was also friendly. Rahne set herself up for a lot of it.

"That's the television and we keep that low." Rahne's smile grew. "Even Sam keeps his radio low when he's playin' his country music." Sam caught on to what she was doing and smiled.

"She makes me," he added. "Low enough so we can hear Paige comin' and goin' at night." Kitty started to laugh, realizing that they were going to get Pete. Quickly, she covered her mouth. This day was overdue.

Pete started to smile, thinking he had trapped Rahne again. "And does it make good background noise?"

"A can hear it while A'm doin' the dishes." Rahne answered, acting like she didn't get the point.

"Bloody hell," Pete muttered. "I don't want to hear about your honeymoon." That girl was too innocent to be real.

Sam smiled. "Don't even want to see the pictures?" Almost against her will, Rahne's face started to light up as she imagined marrying Sam.

What Pete would have said was lost when he noticed a leggy woman with long black hair come in the room. She shot him a dirty glance. "Undressy?" He threw his napkin down. "Kitty and I'll be right back." Kitty followed him out with a frown across her face.

Sam and Rahne exchanged a bemused glance. "He hates losin' that much?" Sam wondered.

Rahne smiled and squeezed his hand. "Anything to give us a second alone, A guess." That way, he had more ammo when they came back. _Of course,_ she thought, _A could make a few comments about this dissappearance._

***

Robert Drake knocked on the door to Janet Green's office. "Hey stranger," he started. He was auditing Enchantment's books and Janet was the head accountant.

"Hey yourself," Janet was a no-nonsense blonde with the ability to face down her past no matter what. She needed it, given her long history in Pine Valley.

"Never did say I'm sorry about that fight." Bobby smiled as Janet laughed. A while back, he had been given two tickets to the "Couple of the Year" award and invited Janet to go with her. All would have gone well, except for the fact her daughter's father didn't like her coming with someone else. A fight had broken out, and Bobby had spent the night in jail.

Janet shrugged. "It was a boring party before hand." She motioned for him to sit in the chair in front of her. "Trevor would say he's sorry, but he's not."

"You still seeing him?" A troubled look crossed Janet's face. "Tell your friend all about it..."

Janet sighed. "You know I threw my sister Nat down the well when I was insane?" Bobby knew the long history between Janet and Natalie, her sister. "Now her son, Tim, has threatened to tell my daughter, Amanda, I killed someone." Janet had been insane for a long time, and during that time she had killed Will Courtland with a crowbar. Tim was Nat's daughter and Amanda was her own daughter. Trevor Dillon, Nat's widower and Janet's boyfriend, was raising both his stepson and his real daughter, Amanda. "And the only way to stop him is not to see Trevor anymore."

Bobby sighed. "Sounds like he's got you trapped."

Janet nodded and, after a long moment, asked, "How's your love life?"

How could he explain the complicated relationship he and Emma shared? "It's not boring," he said with a smile.

***

"Truth," Kitty demanded as they walked into their room. "Where do you know that woman from?" Pete sat down on the bed and sighed.

"We met in Hungary." Kitty stared him down. "She was a precocious seventeen year old who had fallen under the spell of Erica Kane, and I was with Black Air." He had decided there would be no surprises. And the quickest way to make sure of that was to tell her the truth.

Kitty smiled a little at Pete's squirming. "And?"

"We were investigating a jewelry ring that we believed operated out of the estate next to Andressy." Pete lite a cigarette and loosened his tie. "In the course of a week, li'l Princess Undressy had slept with six of my men, and I caught her bragging about it to her friend Nicole Callahan."

"As in Bliss?" Kitty asked, surprised. She knew that Pete had a history with DV 8.

"As in her mentor- in every sense of the word." Pete chuckled. "So when she came on to me, I turned her down. Hell, she was a floozy." He looked uncomfortable. "So she ruined our operation."

"And she still holds a grudge," Kitty summarized.

"A big one. She'll try to make life hell for us." The girl was the type to try to break them up out of spite. "But I couldn't have you thinking I was a cradle robber now, could I?"

***

To kill time, Sam and Rahne started observing the people in the Valley Inn. Their attention was drawn to a couple carrying a baby who sat down next to the woman Pete had called "Undressy". The man, who had dark hair and eyes, moved forcefully into the room and insisted on a high chair, despite the glances he drew. Finally, the management allowed a high chair to be brought in.

"A cannea believe that," Rahne started. While she loved children, she felt that there were some places that they shouldn't be brought. And a place that was as elegant as the Valley Inn was one of them, if only because it wasn't the most comfortable place for children.

Sam nodded, "Ah feel sorry for his wife." The skeletal woman, whose mane of curly blonde hair seemed to weigh more than her, tried to calm her husband down. Once the chair was brought, she faded in the corner, next to the baby. "She's better at being invisible than Kitty."

***

Paige smiled as she was finally able to sit down. "It's been hectic," she told Kevin. The restaurant had finally quieted down.

Kevin agreed. "Some nights are like that, others are better." He handed Paige a shake. "Did you see that cute guy at table nine?"

Paige nodded and giggled. There were certain advantages to having a gay coworker. "And the one at twelve?" Laura overheard and nodded.

"Timmy was very sweet," Laura added. "He left Paige a five dollar tip." Paige squealed as she got up to bus the table. "Kev- tell her about that guy in the formal."

Kevin smiled. "Myrtle and the ballet school teacher, Stevie, came in here one day with a guy that was entering a woman-less beauty contest. Myrtle and Opal had done a good job and actually made him look like a woman." Laura started laughing. "And then Opal called and asked me and Mr. Delany to hit on him so he'd think he was perfect." Kevin started laughing. "I've never seen a guy leave a twenty dollar tip for a coke before."

For some reason, Paige knew that the ballet school teacher was someone her brother knew, and filed that piece of information in her mind. Out loud, she asked, "Who are Mrtyle and Opal?"

Laura smiled at their names. "Mrtyle is a really neat lady who runs a dress store. She's the most understanding and compassionate woman you'll ever meet."

Kevin tried to explain Opal to his co-worker. "Opal's an old hairdresser who took me in when my parents kicked me out for being gay. She's like the mother I never had."

Paige blushed as she remembered where she heard their names before. A while back, her brother and Bobby had to go to a FOH gala, and Sam had to dress up like a woman. "That dress, it wasn't pink and frilly was it?" Kevin nodded. "That's my bubba." The three laughed. "He's not your type, Kev," she warned him with a grin. "He's very happy with Rahne."

"You know what they say about the cute ones-" he told her. "They are all taken or straight."

***

Kitty and Pete walked down just as the waiter was setting down the salads. "Hope ya don't mind," Sam said, "we ordered for ya."

Kitty nodded. "Sure. Sorry about us getting up," she apologized. "Just a shadow from Pete's past."

Rahne smiled broadly. "As long as the wiring don't say any different." Pete, the unflabbable, fained a nearl blush at that one, remembering the way he had expected her to ask her questions for weeks after that incident with the wiring. Sam picked up her glass and sniffed it to make sure it was just water she was drinking. She caught his eye and grinned. Jake and Allie had a good effect on her.

Suddenly, the baby started crying, and they watched as the long blonde haired woman picked her up. "That's Gloria Marsh Merrick," Pete pointed out. "She was engaged to your boss, Sam, Tad Martin, until she thought he'd slept with his boss Liza Colby Chandler. So she married that guy on the rebound. But before that, she was engaged to your boss, Rahne, but married his twin brother. Setting in bars all day helped him get the dirt on nearly everybody.

The tall, dark haired man started to dig through the baby's diaper bag. "The kid's name is Maddie. Her mother was Maria but she died when Transglobal 149 crashed. His name is Dimitri Merrick. He's a grade "A" jerk, stay away from him at all costs. He slept with his brother's wife, hid the affair from his now ex-wife, tried to run over the woman with his car, kidnaped Gloria, stole the TV station from Stuart, waited until his brother was recovering from the plane wreck to take his daughter away from him, etc, etc. Now he's got his new wife in the palm of his hand." The last was said in a very negative tone of voice.

Sam shook his head. He had no use for men who tricked or forced women into being what they wanted them to be. "And the gal?"

"She's Gillian Andressy, a Hungarian Princess-" They watched as the baby drooled down her shirt.

Sam sighed and got up to help the unfortunate couple. "Rahney, if'n ya don't mind, Ah've got better things ta do than ta listen ta a baby cry all night." Rahne nodded.

***

"Maybe Ah can help." Gillian look at the blonde head man in front of her and smiled charmingly. "Ah have seven brothers and sisters back home."

Her smile turned more sensual as she realized that this was a Southern man. Nicole Callahan had always sworn that southern men were the best kind of American men. And Gillian wanted to make a exhaustive, extensive study of the different varieties of American males. It would compliment her study of European men, which she had broken down and studied by regions. One day she would publish her findings in a best selling novel and go on tour, but now she was having too much fun conducting her research.

Dimitri Merrick tried to stop Sam from helping, embarrassed by his infant daughter's lack of manners, but Gloria smiled gratefully. "It's worth a try," she said. Sam picked up Maddie and watched as she stopped fussing and started cooing.

"Oestrus!" Gillian exclaimed, using her favorite word. She fixed her guy- winning smile on him and carefully crossed and uncrossed her legs. Sam blushed.

***

From their table, Pete turned to Rahne and asked, "Tell me she didn't say what I think she said.." From the blush that spread across Sam's face, there was no doubt as to the fact that Gillian was putting the moves on the naive southern male.

Rahne looked puzzled, "A think she said 'oestrus'. What does that mean?" She watched in growing anger as Gillian flirted with Sam.

Pete groaned. "She's warnin' Sam she's hot for him." Immediately, Rahne got up to rescue her boyfriend. Kitty smiled at him. "She was always bloody damn easy."

"Did I say a word?" Kitty smiled. "I didn't say I thought it was sweet of you to warn Rahne or it was nice that you let Sam be rescued." She squeezed Pete's hand. He was always a little nicer around Rahne, teasing her about things he knew her opinion about. And Rahne had learned to fight back using her innocents, Kitty was just waiting for Pete to find a way to counterattack. Right now, he kept up the game for fun and to build Rahne's self-confidences.

Pete smiled at her. "And are you oestrus?" Oestrus was the state of sexual arousal in a female mammal that occurred when she was in heat.

"Only for you." Kitty kissed him. "But we have friends over for supper."

Pete smiled, "Let's get dessert in our room." Kitty agreed. "Something chocolate and totally decant."

"Let's...." Kitty smiled at him. "Chocolate covered you sounds devine."

***

Rahne smiled politely at Dimitri Merrick and his wife and put a possessive arm around Sam. "Ye are sae guid with wee baines," she cooed.

Maddie giggled her agreement. "Ah've always wanted three or four of muh own," Sam admitted as he realized Rahne was rescuing him from this woman. "Ah could see them- yer red hair, muh blue eyes. Strikin'." Rahne nodded as Sam handed Maddie to Gloria.

It was strange, but Gloria had a way of blending into the background, Rahne noticed. Like she didn't think she had the right to be seen as anything other than Dimitri's trophy wife or Maddie's step mother. Even Gillian's blatant flirting only drew a slight frown from her. "Thanks," Gloria whispered.

Gillian nodded. "That's one I owe you." Her voice was a combination of several accents. "And I always repay my debts."

Rahne felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. "A'll thank him for ye," she shot back. "After all, A live with him."

Gillian waited until Rahne nearly couldn't hear her and then whispered, "But he might like a gift from a better looking package."

Rahne tensed up, the woman had hit her where she was most sensitive, her looks. She turned back to the woman, but Gillian was interested in the salad before her.

***

After supper, Kitty and Pete seemed a little rushed to go to their room, so Sam and Rahne enjoyed a chance to talk. Sam had ordered Rahne's favorite dessert, knowing she'd never order it herself. "A'm sorry if A stopped somethin' with that Gillian lass," Rahne started.

Sam was surprised she'd apologize. "Don't be. Ah'm with the gal Ah want." Rahne smiled. "Ah like muh gal sweet and smart and very Rahnish," he added, remembering Rahne's problems with her self esteem. Rahne beamed at that.

Taking another bite of Sam's death by chocolate, Rahne asked, "How's Paige?" Suddenly, that dark look came over Sam's face.

"Ah'm hopin'--" He stopped as he saw a red headed woman walk in the room with a gray headed man. "That's Laura's mother and her boyfriend." He smiled as they came over to say hello.

Brooke English was the co-editor of Tempo magazine, head of the board of directors of the Brooke English house, and mother to Laura and Jamie. People around town called her "Saint Brooke" with a reason. She and Jim talked for a minute and then walked off.

"So what didja think of them?" Sam asked.

Rahne wrinkled her forehead. "That Jim is ... slimy."

"How so?" Sam asked, leaning in. He'd met Jim the night Laura's car broke down and Paige called him. Jim rode over with Brooke. Something about the man didn't set right with him, but he was hard pressed to name what it was.

"A donnae know," Rahne sighed. "A donnae like him." She undid the top two buttons around her collar that she subconsciously buttoned when Jim came over.

***

Back at the mansion in Salem City, Ric found Tabitha out by the boat house. "Figured I'd find you here," he started.

Tabitha looked across the water. "Why bother?" She blotted her tears.

She was his oldest friend, that's why. They'd learned to look out for each other, which was another reason. "Because I'm worried about you."

"Don't be," she said. "What's done, done. What is, is." There was a bitterness to those words that surprised him.

There was one thing to try with her, a total bluff. "When did you find out?" He asked.

Tabitha threw her tissue into the lake. "A while back. But after all the tricks I turned--" She stopped and took a deep breath. "Things I did, I shouldn't be surprised."

Suddenly, Ric understood. "When were you planning to tell Bobby?" he asked as compassionately as possible.

Tabitha turned around and sighed. "When I can." She reached out and hugged him, needing her friend at that moment.