The invitation read, "Liza and Adam Chandler are pleased to announce the first annual ball to benefit the Frost Foundation For Mental Health Protection." Sam read the date and time and sighed.

This meant, not just shopping, but tux and shoe shopping with two women. This was a nightmare.

Paige and Rahne didn't see it as such. They were comparing notes on dresses and jewelry as they helped Li'l Bit pack. The singer was due to start work on her next CD soon and had to head back to Nashville later that day. She sent her best friend a supportive smile and shrugged. "They do make blue jean tuxes..."

***

Pete Wisdom was frustrated. Totally and absolutely frustrated. The bloody computer belonging to friggin' Merrick was in a secure room in his apartment. And not even Black Air's best could get into it— not until his girlfriend got home from work.

When Kitty, Rahne and Sam had first come to Pine Valley, Pete had been content to let his investigation go slow for their sakes. Sam's little sister had more of a concept of money than her big brother, and that was a bad idea. So, he watched as they got jobs and learned how to be responsible adults. Even Sam had to agree that they all needed time away from the team to grow up.

But the riot at the television station two days ago was the wake-up call Pete had been expecting. While going slow was good for the former students of Xavier, he could no longer expect that Merrick would behave. It was only a matter of time before someone died because of the hate Dimitri was selling.

Take Timmy for example. Jeremy was a great man, someone to be proud of, but the kid wouldn't acknowledge his big brother because of his DNA. And the kid was quickly allowing hate to fill his whole soul.

So after making sure that Kitty and the six-year-old Amanda were safe at the ballet studio, Pete decided to make nailing Merrick his full time occupation. Which was why last night, he had broken into Merrick Enterprises and sent Bobby a copy of Dimitri's financial history for the past ten years. Today, he had planned to slip in the Merrick loft and take a look at the man's personal files, implanting a device that would allow him independent access to the man's computer.

And that left him standing outside the office, baffled by the complex security system. He could always have Kitty help him break in after she came home from work, but judging by the wiring of the system, Pete knew a quicker way to bypass the problem. "Okay, Dragon, how did you do this one?"

***

Leaving Sam at home to take his friend to the airport, Paige and Rahne decided to do some serious shopping at the mall. They combed the place each looking for just the right dress, but found nothing.

Stopping to eat brunch at the food court, they ran into some of Paige's friends. Kevin was talking to Richard, his boyfriend, while Kelsey was flirting to a intern at the television station. Scott Chandler was trying not to look at Laura, who was trying to get his attention.

Rahne sat down next to them and listened to them babble for a bit. Suddenly, the conversation turned to the X-Men's recent exploits in Boston. Kelsey was relaying watching them on television, "And in the middle of the fighting, all I could think about was how cute Gambit was!"

Laura laughed. "I've always found the Beast to be cute," she admitted. "How about you?" she asked Kevin and Richard.

Kelsey objected, "I meant he's sexy!" The group laughed at her, "Tell the truth, Kev." She threatened her best friend with a fist.

"Ice Man," Kevin and Richard answered together. Paige and Rahne smiled as Kevin asked Scott the same question.

"Rogue," Scott admitted. "Well, how about you, Rahne? Who do you think is the sexiest?"

"Cannonball." Rahne answered with a smile. The guys started laughing. "What?"

Richard tried to explain, "The guy's mutant power is the ability to set the lower half of his body on fire. That's got to hurt." Rahne looked puzzled so he tried to explain again. "Sensitive equipment area."

Paige caught what he was trying to say a second before Rahne did. She quickly got up and dragged Rahne to her feet. "Jewelry! I saw this beautiful cameo in the store window. You have to see it, Rahne!" she announced to the group.

She pulled the woman out of earshot just as Rahne got what the man was trying to say. Rahne stood against the post and tried to hold back her chuckles. It was no use, before too long the two women were holding each other for support. Finally, Paige managed to get out, "Ah hope he's wrong for yer sake."

Rahne smiled knowingly. "He is."

Paige turned to her and remembered the condom she'd discovered last week under the couch cushion. "And how do you know that?"

Rahne smiled as she explained, "Back when were in the New Mutants, Sam put me in a head lock- right after the slumber party incident." Paige started giggling. "Let's just say he sorely missed his cup." There were ways to break a headlock, and several could be quite painful. "Even the professor agreed that Sam deserved that one."

"And here I was thinking something dirty," Paige said. "I mean, I found that condom in the couch and all."

Rahne blushed. "Sam and A aren't there yet. A feel ...." Her blush grew as she tried to find words to explain her feelings. "Improper? Like A shouldn't be wantin' tae do what A want tae do with Sam." The Reverend Craig had raised her to believe that she shouldn't have the kind of feelings that she did for her boyfriend.

Paige smiled at her friend. Rahne had a very wild soul bound by her faith in God. With her upbringing, she'd have some trouble knowing her boundaries. "So what do you do?"

"Stick tae what A feel comfortable with." She sighed. "A ken that Sam is used to more--" What she felt comfortable with was just kissing, holding hands, and hugs. It seemed very junior highish to her but, as her friend from church pointed out, everybody had their own levels. The other night, when Paige walked in on them making out, was their first time just making out. Sam was used to doing that more often with his last two girlfriends.

Paige stopped that thought right there. "He has you, not Lila or Tabitha. He loves you and accepts you, that's all that's important." They started to walk towards the jewerly store.

"Don't ye dare tell Sam A told ye, but muh feelings for him are a lot deeper than A show." Paige shrugged. She knew her brother knew it. And she knew her brother respected Rahne enough not to push her into anything she didn't feel ready for.

***

Tony answered his cell phone with a sigh. For the next couple of days he was taking a vacation which consisted of protecting Celeste as she met with some fairly dangerous people. Which meant that he didn't want the Network to let people to contact him, like they just had. "What?"

Pete laughed at the tense tone of voice. "On vacation? Sounds like you need one."

"Kind of," Tony admitted. "Celeste and I are going down to Charleston for a pow-wow." It was their cover story, at least. "It's so boring right now, I'm hoping to run into grave diggers." Tony had a habit of stealing from those who stole from graves. After identifying the tribe the artifacts came from, he'd return them. It was his way of honoring his Native American hertiage.

"Bust a few of them for me, mate." Pete turned his attention to the secured room. "You did a job for Merrick a couple of months ago and I need to get into the room. Not the one on his castle but the one in his office."

"You need to ask me?" That was a surprise. "Use my back door passwords so it doesn't show up." In case he ever needed to get back into a building he designed the system for, he made a special code. "Brahms, Hemmingway and..."

"Sequoya." Pete smiled as he realized that Tony's passwords showed more about the Native American than most people realized. His favorite musician, his favorite author, and another man from his tribe who valued literacy.

"Exactly." Tony hung up the phone as he pulled into the school. It was best that no one knew he was so intellegent. He had started designing systems so he'd have a challenge when it came to sneaking into buildings, but his tough guy image was what kept him alive.

***

"Ya sure?" Sam asked his best friend, reading Li'l Bit well enough to know she was afraid. Tad had asked him to have her stop by Bianca Montgomery's hospital room before she left town.

"No, Ah'm not," she whispered, "But Ah can help her, so Ah have ta be." She didn't want to be where she was, standing outside the hospital room, about to talk to someone one on one about their personal demon. But if she didn't speak out, in a very real way, Amber's death would have been in vain. Drawing courage off Sam's presence, she walked through the door.

Bianca Montgomery looked up and sighed as she saw another pretty woman enter her room. This one didn't walk in and take her temperature or slap on a feeding tube though, she just sat down in the chair next to her bed and started talking. "Hey, Bianca..."

Bianca turned to this woman. "Hi, I guess. No, I'm not going to support group." That's all everybody wanted, just to make her eat. She couldn't allow herself to do that though.

The woman shook her head and suddenly Bianca realized that one of her favorite country music stars was sitting in her room. "Ah was like that too," she said with a smile. "Back when they had a feedin' tube in me."

"You- you were like me?" That the younger girl had a hard time believing. Li'l Bit wasn't fat but still she nodded.

"Amber, my best friend--" the star fished a picture out of her purse and handed it to her. "Ah'm the one on the left an' that was taken after one of muh first concerts--" Bianca looked at her and then back at the picture. "Amber was more talented than me, she could have had it all." A sad expression crossed Li'l Bit's face. "Ah wanted what she had, looks, talent, a wonderful guy. Ah ended up with what she had alright, an eatin' disorder."

"Then you understand?" Bianca whispered. Li'l Bit nodded. "What happened to Amber?"

"She died because she couldn't accept help." A shadow crossed the singer's face. "Ah could so Ah recovered."

***

The air in the room was tense with unspoken anger as Celeste faced her sister Ariel. "Why are you so mad at me?" What had started out as her packing for a business trip turned into yet another fight.

Ariel spat out the truth as she saw it. "You're sneaking off to sleep with Tony again." She didn't see how her sister could stand to be in the same room as the man who forced her to have sex. And to top it all off, Matt had asked Celeste not to see Tony any more.

"For the last time, Ariel, we didn't sleep together." This wasn't the heart of the matter, and Celeste knew it. Yes, her friend Tony would be watching her back as she met with people to set up an escape route for mutants in the Charleston area when Operation: Zero Tolerance started. And yes, Matt had ordered her to never see Tony again. But Celeste was still enough her own woman to do what she wanted with whom she wanted, when and where she wanted- as long as it didn't hurt Ariel.

"And Matt wanted you to attend the ball with him. It's important because his company sells ads to the television station." Ariel was on Matt's side of this. Her sister was too wild and free-spirited. And if it took acting the way Ariel was acting to clip her wings a little, she would. Maybe the next time she needed her big sister, she'd be there. She was resentful that she came last on her sister's long list of priorities.

Celeste looked around the cottage and sighed. She had to be in Charleston and didn't have time to let this fight continue to the point that Ariel stormed out. "Matt wants me to be docile and needy. Newsflash for the both of you- I'm not." She finished packing. "I'll be back in time to get to the event and be his Barbie doll. It's my job too."

This time, she stormed out of the cottage. Handing her luggage to Bumpkin, she sighed as she climbed into the limo. When could she ever be the woman she was?

Tony was waiting, his brown eyes filled with concern. "You okay?" Celeste shook her head. "You know, you never need to act around me, I can help no matter what." That made Celeste smile.

"Sometimes, I think the whole thing is hopeless," she admitted. And with a wry grin, she added, "I've gotten enough grief for sleeping with you, I wish I did."

Tony smiled and Celeste noticed, not for the first time, that he was a very attractive man. He was part Cherokee, part Hispanic and had a strong air of sensuality about him. He simply knew he had sex appeal and knew how to melt a woman's defenses and saw no reason to flaunt it. She had a sudden image of her running her fingers though his long, black hair as they kissed deeply and passionately. Truth be told, making love with him, if they didn't have the pesky problem of their friendship, wouldn't be an unpleasant act. In fact, it would be a very wonderful thing.

At that moment, Tony was noticing Celeste in a way he normally didn't see her. She was very attractive, he'd always known that. She also made him feel protective of her, but he knew that. What he hadn't known was how downright desirable she was, how much he enjoyed the whole package. She had long slender legs, beautiful curves, and wide blue eyes, a mind that easily could best him in the boardroom and a body that could drive him wild in the bedroom. They would have magic together.

Then, as soon as the moment came, it was gone. Tony shook his head. "Celeste, I don't use women, and I don't let women use me." He had had his heart broken by a woman he thought loved him like he loved her, but never again. He hadn't let anyone get that close to him since Torres.

A slight blush crept across the woman's cheeks. "Sorry," she muttered. What had happened between them? She wasn't the kind to have those kinds of thoughts about a friend. She banished all thoughts of the two of them in front of a fireplace to the back of her mind, like she did every time she had physical feelings for him. "I just wish I could reach Ariel."

Tony grabbed her hand as she continued. "I'm on the road so much right now trying to set up the underground for Emma that I'm never at home. When I am, I'm in my office." A tear streaked down her face. "I'll help save thousands of lives, but at the cost of my sister's, and that's wrong."

"Have you tried having her tested for drugs?" Tony asked gently. Celeste shook her head. "You might want to." Ariel was showing all the signs of having a problem with drugs or alcohol and, as a recovering alcoholic, he knew that it was vital to get help for the teenager.

"I don't trust her anymore so I searched her room. I didn't find anything." She rubbed her temples, a tension headache building. "I've gone though her clothes, her bookbag, everything. If she's using anything, she's not keeping it where I can find it. Short of having her tested, I can't get any proof. And, honestly, I don't know if I have the strength to force her to be tested." She frowned at the statement. "It would take too much of a fight and, if I was wrong, I'd lose her trust forever."

They had spent enough time together that they could read each other. Seeing the tiny wrinkles around her eyes, Tony motioned for her to turn around so he could give her a massage. She accepted it in the name of friendship and only allowed herself a second of guilt-free enjoyment of having his hands on her. That was just about the same amount of time he allowed himself to enjoy the act of relaxing her stressed body.

***

Because Paige had to work the lunch shift and both woman had some time off saved up, Rahne called up Kitty and invited her to go shopping so that they could catch up on their lives. The two women were so busy with work and home they hadn't had the time to really talk since the night Rahne had nearly left Sam. They walked along Forrest Street, and enjoyed the chance to chat.

"And I really think Pete is serious about working though his worries about getting married," Kitty said. Rahne smiled at her. "I mean, I know I'm young and all but, after all I've been through, I feel old enough to get married."

Rahne nodded, "Celeste calls it the 'I'm too young tae be this old' syndrome. You see so much so fast that yer birthday means nothing more than a day tae buy cake and light some candles."

"Now," Kitty spotted the store they were looking for. "That is the truth. She's- what? thirty or so?- and deals with so much." Since they met on Muir Island, she and Kitty e-mailed each other once a week.

"Try just turned twenty-four." Kitty was shocked to hear that Celeste was that young. "And she's right about the syndrome. Sam and A are talkin' of gettin' married, and A can see us gettin' married next year, when A'm twenty and he's twenty-three. And A ken that's young."

"I have to give you credit for one thing," Kitty admitted. "You two are in love, living together, and not sleeping together. That's willpower." She couldn't make the same choice for herself.

"That's our way of expressing our love." Rahne disagreed that she and Sam were denying themselves anything. "Love for God and His commandments and love for each other. A'd do nothin' that would hurt Sam, and he'd do nothin' tae hurt me, and we'd both be hurt if we hurt if we slept together without gettin' married first." Sam's parents had gotten married because his mom was pregnant, and he'd grown up knowing that the people in his small town looked down on that. And her childhood had been hellish. They had each made their decision based on their childhood and the Bible backed them up. "It's not everybody's way."

Kitty agreed. "That's willpower, pure and simple." She opened the door to the dress store and let Rahne go through.

The Boutique was the place to shop in Pine Valley, the two discovered. It was elegant, tasteful, and very expensive. However, after helping Rahne comb every store in Pine Valley, Kitty would have gladly paid for a dress for her friend to wear, if it would fit her right, look right and be something Rahne would wear.

"Well, hello, dearies," The owner, Myrtle Fairgate, got up to greet her newest customers. She had a flair for the dramatic, which was clear from the way she dressed. There was a knowing gleam in her eye, as if nothing they could say or do would really shock her. "How may I help you today?"

Quickly, Rahne smiled at her. "A need a decent dress, and Kitty wants an indecent one." Kitty laughed at that. Since their trip into Victoria's Secret turned into an impromptu lesson on how to really embarrass her friend, Rahne had been looking for a way to get Kitty back. She had done it. Myrtle smiled and pulled out a dress from the racks. It was long, black, and extremely lacy. The back dipped down in a wide V that was on this side of risque.

"Where's the dressing room?" Kitty asked, in part to quickly repay Rahne. Mrtyle pointed to the back. Kitty quickly tried it on, and to her delight found that it was everything she wanted in a dress. It gave the appearance of showing a lot more than it did, but revealed enough to keep Pete's eyes on her all night. Quickly, she made up her mind to buy it. "Do you have any accessories?"

"Just a second," Myrtle dug though her display of bras and underpants to find just the right velvet underclothing. She had a knack for looking at a person and knowing what size they wore and what style they liked. It was why she was the best at what she did. "So how's Kurt and Amanda?"

Rahne turned around from the rack of dresses she was looking at. "How do you know Kurt?" Kitty stuck her head out.

Myrtle smiled. "When I was in the carnie, I worked along with him and Jimaine and their brother. We've kept in touch over the years. He said you were in town."

Kitty nodded. "They're fine. Amanda's expecting a baby in a couple of months."

The older woman laughed gleefully. "That's wonderful!" Quickly, she made plans to ask Redd to send a special gift to the three this Christmas. After all, what was the use in knowing Santa Claus if she couldn't pull a few strings now and then?

***

Erica Kane, once the diva of the fashion industry, was sitting in prison blues at the state correctional institution when Betsy came in to visit. "That's you?" Erica asked her old friend. When she got the phone call from her old modeling friend, she hadn't know to expect such a big surprise.

Betsy had decided on a simple explanation for the change in her appearance. "I had plastic surgery done a while back." Make-up hid the pink tatto she had over her eye, but other than that she looked as she always did on a day to day basis.

Erica looked the woman over. "Very natural," she praised the surgeon. "Especially the nose and chin. If I didn't know better, I'd swear that you changed bodies with someone." She made a note to ask Betsy for her surgeon's number when she needed a face lift. Tactfully, she didn't point out the way Betsy's makeup clumped over her eye.

Betsy coughed to hide her smile. "Figured new me, new body."

Erica's dear friend, Janet Green, had had a total make over, so it wasn't hard to buy that reasoning. "So what did you want to know?"

"I'm helping with a hostile takeover of your ex," Betsy started.

Erica Kane smiled, "Which one? I've lost count of them." At last count, she had been married nine time legally and twice without the law's consent.

"Dimitri." At that, Erica's face lost its smile. Things had been ugly with him. Between her struggle with drug abuse, his cheating on her with his brother's wife, and later her miscarriage, that was a marriage to forget about. And now, it looked like Dimitri was losing his mind with his current actions, which included stealing the television station from Stuart and brainwashing his wife, Gloria.

"What exactly do you need to know?" Erica smiled at the thought of payback.

***

There were times all the tips in the world wouldn't make this job at Holiday's worthwhile! Paige thought as she brought another plate of fries to Tim and his friend Oyster.

Tim grinned at her as he "accidently" spilled his drink. She started to clean it up as he asked, "You going to the ball this weekend?" Hope was written on his face as he said those words.

In a normal world, Paige would be glad to see the school jock ask her out, but she would have had more fun on a double date with Emplate, Jubilee and Shatterstar. She'd rather sit at home and molt than go out with a member of the Friends of Humanity. "My boyfriend from Snow Valley is taking me." While it cost her the tip, it was worth it to see the smile dashed from Tim Dillon's smug face.

***

Sam was whistling as he pulled the cucumbers out of the fridge. Paige had let it slip that she was going to invite Angelo to escort her to the gala event, and his big brother instincts were screaming "fresh meat". Nothing like the prospect of frightening a young, impressionable teenager to brighten his day, he thought as he sliced the vegetables.

Cheerfully, he slipped the Cornish hens in the oven and tossed the salad. Kitty and Pete were coming over later, bringing a mystery guest, and he wanted to impress them and it was good stress relief from the hectic day at work.

"What smells sae guid?" Rahne asked as she walked in the door. She noticed the already set table, with a nice center piece and remembered that her friends were going to come over. It didn't matter what Sam fixed, Pete would inhale it, but it always made her happy to see him working hard to fix something nice to eat.

She went into the kitchen and kissed him on the cheek. "Caesar salad, marinated celery hearts, cucumbers, roasted Cornish hens on a bed of rice pilaf, and--" he motioned at the dessert he was fixing, "strawberry shortcake." Quickly, he torted the cake in four layers.

"Muh favorite," Rahne said with a smile, as she stole some of the strawberries. She was a big fan of Sam's mother's shortcake recipe.

Sam took a container of canned whipped creme and built a dam around the outside and inside of the torted cake. To that, he added a strawberry glaze and covered it with another piece of cake. He repeated this three times before setting down the can. "Ah'll need ya help in a second." He finished the base of the cake by frosting it with a stabilized whipped cream frosting.

Rahne watched with a smile as he carefully showed her how to take the thinly sliced strawberries and decorate the base of the cake. He had already taught her to make the angel food cake and the whip cream frosting. She figured that he would teach her the strawberry glaze soon.

"Now, have ya ever made a rosette before?" Rahne looked at him with a blank expression, so he picked up the can and showed her how to make a icing rosette with a twist of the wrist.

Rahne looked at her hand where Sam had made the rosette and smiled. It was sweeps month at the station. She had gone in to work for a few hours and discovered all her computer was good for was a paper weight. They needed the stress release. Knowing exactly what Sam was planning to do, she started to lift her hand to her mouth.

Right when she expected him to do so, he gently pushed the rosette in her chin. She surprised him by getting the extra can of whip cream and splattering him with it. Smartly, he covered the cake before showering her back with his can.

Careful to keep it in the kitchen, they managed to splatter everything with whipped cream, laughing at the same time. She slipped a little and ended up on the floor, still spraying Sam with her can. He got down on her level and started wrestling with her, trying to get her to let go of the can. He was on top of her, knees against her ribs, holding her hands over her head when a loud "UHHUM" got their attention.

Rahne looked up to see a very bemused Kitty and Pete standing in the doorway. "It was open...." Kitty muttered as Sam helped his girlfriend up. Their old teacher, Stevie, walked in and smiled. Rahne's can rolled across the floor. They were both too mortified to be surprised to see her.

"Things have changed," Stevie said, taking note of Sam's whipped cream crown. "I'll never show up early again!" She laughed at the situation.

Pete thought of several remarks but wisely discarded them as he stared at the two. Half of them would go over their heads, others he would have to explain, one or two would cause Kitty to get upset. Finally, he walked in the kitchen and picked up the discarded can. "Where's a camara when you need it? Next time, this is a lot more fun with a lot less clothes on." The blush on the other couple's faces told him they knew exactly what he was talking about. He could see Rahne mentally adding another idea to her list of things to do on her honeymoon.

Kitty smiled at the situation and decided to make sure Sam died with a smile on his face. "Chocolate's good too."

What Sam would have said was lost when his cellular phone rang. He sheepishly pointed to his jacket pocket and Stevie fished out the phone. Rahne got a dish towel and cleaned off part of his face. "Hello?"

It was Trish Tilby, Hank's current girlfriend and a news reporter, on the other end. "Sam, I was hoping you could confirm a rumor I heard."

He motioned for his guests to sit down and quickly explained who it was on the phone. Rahne slipped off to take a quick shower. "Ah can try." Trish was not his most favorite person in the world, but she had given a story to "The Cutting Edge" a week ago.

"It's about Emma Frost's new lover, Celeste Dubois---"

Sam stopped her there. "They are both very straight and Celeste is dating someone." He could hear Trish making notes as he continued. "Celeste is Emma's assistant and protégée."

"Is there any truth to the rumor that Celeste was raped?" Trish asked directly. Sam started to wonder where this was leading and more importantly, what Hank was doing dating this woman.

"She's made no secret of the fact she was drugged an' taken advantage of." He felt his temperature rise as he started to wonder how this played into the Frost Enterprises takeover bid on Merrick Enterprises. "She's an early intervention counselor and leads a rape recovery support group." Celeste had turned something very negative for herself into something positive for a lot of people.

Stevie looked at him and then at the other couple. Kitty whispered an explanation. "And how about the fact that she was a porn actress?" Trish pushed.

"She detests porn." Sam stated firmly, knowing that this was leading into the part of Celeste's life she didn't want anybody to find out about. "She'd never willingly take part in something like that."

"Or the fact that she sold her own child?" Sam's chin dropped as Trish asked the question. Dimitri Merrick was going to pay for leaking this story to the media.

He lied firmly, "Celeste is a card carryin' feminist. If she had a child she couldn't afford or want, she'd abort it." If he took the easy, "no comment" way out, then Trish could have repeated the remark with her story. Truth was the feminist card she carried identified her as a member of "Feminists for Life". This was one of the few situations he knew where a lie was better than the truth.

"And the child she sold was a mutant?" That was wild speculation on Trish's part.

"Celeste has never, ever had a child," Sam said firmly. "Mutant or otherwise." Once the defense was finished, it was time for the offense. "She's a personal friend of Emma Frost. Do you know Frost Corporation keeps libel lawyers on retainer?"

"So there is an intimate connection with Emma Frost?" Trish came back.

Sam laughed and nodded to the damp-headed Rahne as she entered the room. "Celeste and Ah used ta date. Ah can promise ya she's straight." Rahne smiled at that remark. "Totally straight. Yer barkin' up the wrong tree, Trish." Pete made a motion for Sam to put down the phone for a second, which he did.

"One friendly date, the date from hell, and ye two used tae date?" Rahne joked. Sam shrugged. "Nice cover."

Pete simply gave Sam the right words to say. Picking up the phone, he repeated, with a slight blush, what he had been told. "Ah'm so sorry its been so long for ya that ya start lookin' at other women." The blush deepened as he added, "However, neither Celeste or Emma would letcha inta their beds. Of course, most men want more than an backstabbing li'l floozy..." He couldn't finish repeating what Pete wanted to say, but Trish got the message. She hung up very insulted.

Stevie laughed, she had long since torn up her Trish Tilby fan club card. "Pete, Kitty's got good taste." Kitty nodded.

"Thanks," Sam offered to Pete. "Now we know Merrick's on the offensive but we have no concrete proof linking him ta what we have going on in town."

Pete agreed. "And Trish discovered enough of Emma's assistant's past to hurt the girl. At least the nosy ol' hag isn't goin' after Emma herself, but we need to fix her boat." Kitty turned to Pete, so he explained, "I did a little snoopin' to see how hard it would be to get blackmail on our people who were investigating this town. Celeste is the easiest target, wot with her past and her boyfriend and all." He was under the impression that Celeste was dating the next leader of the Network.

"If Hank wasn't dating Trash," Kitty thought out loud, "then all we would have to do is call J. Jonah Jamison and let him defend his Goddaughter. But he is dating her, and Jamison would crush Trash."

"But would Hank be datin' Trish if he knew how low she was willin' tae go?" Rahne wondered. Stevie politely walked over and pulled the hens out of the oven, leaving the group to talk.

"He got back together with her after she spilled the beans about Legacy, didn't he?" Sam asked. "It's worth a shot, just to warn him and let him know what she's goin' ta do ta get a story. He had hoped she changed."

The other three agreed, but Rahne added, "Let's let Emma handle callin' Jamison so that Celeste never finds out that her friends were asked about her past." As Rahne called Emma and Hank, the other three talked.

"What I don't get," Sam puzzled, "is how Trash knew about the tape."

Pete nodded. "The Network has been buyin' up every copy they can find. Emma's givin' them the money, but Dragon would do it anyways--" Sam snorted, he didn't like anyone who hurt a friend. Pete defended Tony, "He feels he owes it to Celeste, knowing how much it hurts her to have them out there. Only one man sells them anymore and he's almost disappeared. The only real way Merrick could have told Trash about the tape's existence was if he had a copy."

"And there's a porn ring operating in Pine Valley! Some guy is selling pictures and tapes, some very new, across the country." Sam remembered Liza's fruitless investigation. "So if we find the person who sold the tape, we've got a link to Merrick?"

Pete shook his head no, "Not unless we find proof Merrick is running the ring, but.... Your friend, Li'l Bit, said that Jeweled Leopard is the company that blackmails people into signing with forged pictures?"

"Yeah." Sam had asked his friends for help in tracking down the owner. "Celeste traced the paperwork for the holding company to a dead end."

Pete took out a cigarette and lit it with a hot knife while thinking. "Jeweled Leopard.... Kendall!" Stevie turned around at that.

"You want to call Kendall Hart?" Kendall Hart was the older of Erica's children, and caused her mother all sorts of grief. "Why? I mean, after causing Erica to stab Dimitri Merrick and trying to blackmail her boyfriend's father into giving them money, she's dropped off the face of the earth."

"Not exactly. She's living in Sunnydale, California under an assumed name. But what did she use to blackmail Dimitri with?" Pete asked.

"A jeweled leopard!" Stevie squealed. "So if you can link the same guy to the forged pictures and the porn stuff, you've got it made."

Pete was thinking whom he knew in town who was a photographer, and was sleazy enough to do teenager porn. Jim came to mind, but he was almost too good a choice. Today was Wednesday, the ball was Saturday and Jim's studio was closed on Sunday due to his exhibit at Stuart's gallery. Because Pete was expected to be at the gala, Sunday was the best day to break into the lab.

Rahne walked back in and gave a progress report. "Emma's callin' Jamison, and Hank is..." She smiled at them. "Let's just say that bein' a shocked prude who is very upset that someone is going to hurt her friend is a great way to knock some sense into him." Rahne sighed. "Celeste has had enough trouble tae last her a lifetime." After a moment, as Sam went to his room to take a shower, she turned to her former teacher. "Laura told Paige that yuir dating Rafe, the director of the youth center?"

Stevie nodded. "Since I left Salem Center things have turned out okay." More than okay, actually. She was running a profitable business, involved with a wonderful man, and just enjoying life.