Once and Again Time Heals All Wounds

Time Heals All Wounds

Author: j_rock873

Rating: R

Summary: This is a sequel to the alternate ending of "Some Things Never Change". I realized that I could have gone into more detail about the Spring Break that was mentioned in the previous story. That's what happens in this story.

Disclaimer: I own the characters, Zoe's ex-roommate/ex-girlfriend, Ashley; her wife, Rachel; her college friend, Mark; and his girlfriend, Michelle. The rest belong to the show.

Reviews: Yes, I want them.

Author's notes: Words in italics are personal thoughts and in all capital letters required special emphasis.

* * *

Three months later

After she and Rachel had returned from their honeymoon, Zoe put the house up for sale. Rachel had moved into Zoe's house to become her roommate shortly after she filed for divorce, which obviously helped Zoe tremendously in her mission to get over David. While they planned the wedding, they also talked about selling the house. Zoe had decided that she could no longer live in that house with her future wife while memories of David still lingered there. Rachel agreed, and they decided on buying a new house. Meanwhile, Zoe had secretly bought a house that she checked out through a real estate agent. With the money Zoe received from the sale of their current home and David's car, which had been gaining interest in a savings account for at least two years, she was able to buy a fairly sized, three bedroom home not too far away from the shore of Lake Michigan. Zoe had surprised Rachel the first time she saw the house.

Flashback

"Isn't this a nice house? Rachel, what's wrong?"

"It's a great house, but somebody already bought it," Rachel mumbled while looking away.

This helped the surprise because she didn't see Zoe smirk at her.

"Well, there's the agent. Let's see if she can tell us who bought the house."

"Ok, but I doubt we'll change their mind."

"It's nice to see you again, Mrs. Manning. Here are the keys to your new home," she announced with a smile as she gently dropped them into Zoe's open hand.

"W-What is she talking about, Zoe?" Rachel asked before coming confused.

"I bought it. It's our new home."

"Really?" Rachel bubbled over with excitement. She then leapt into Zoe's arms causing them to fall to the ground as the agent laughed along with Zoe before leaving.

"Yes, it's really ours."

End of the Flashback

When it came time for the move, Grace, Jessie, and Katie offered to help. As the girls started to unpack, Jessie and Katie got a good view of the lake from the backyard. They could just barely make out the view of the Ferris wheel on the Pier. They both would let out a happy sigh every time they saw that. When the other three heard them, they shared a laugh.

"Hey, I thought you were going to help us?"

"Sorry, Grace, we just got a little distracted."

"Really? We hadn't noticed," Zoe exclaimed while looking at Rachel, who just let out a smile.

"So, what do you want us to do?" Jessie questioned.

"I'll take care of the kitchen, you and Zoe fix up the main bedroom and the connecting bathroom, and Katie and Grace will organize the family room," Rachel commanded.

"Sorry, she can be a slave driver sometimes," Zoe explained with a laugh as everyone started their tasks.

Zoe and Rachel's bedroom

"Zoe, just out of curiosity, why did you get a bigger house?" Jessie started with an already knowing smile.

"Well, Rachel and I plan on having kids in a few years."

"Really? Who's going to be the one giving birth to them?"

"Rachel is, she thinks she can deal with the pain that goes along with it better than I could," Zoe said with a loving smile plastered all over her face.

"That's so sweet," Jessie declared as she walked over and gave her a hug, "How many do you want to have?"

"We want to have one of both."

Jessie and Zoe continued to talk until they were interrupted.

"Hey, Zoe, what's this?" They heard Katie shout from the family room.

The family room, a few minutes later

They entered to see that they everything was finished. Rachel was sitting in a chair while Grace and Katie were on the couch. Katie was holding a DVD.

"What are you talking about, Katie?" Zoe inquired with a clueless expression.

"What's on this DVD? Someone wrote Zoe Gone Wild on it."

Zoe raced over and demanded with a look of fear as she started to go pale, "Give me that! I thought I destroyed it."

She unsuccessfully tried to grab it away from Katie, which just brought curious looks to the faces of Grace, Jessie, and Rachel.

"WAIT! This isn't THAT video, is it?"

Katie started to grin mischievously at her.

"DUH, why else would I try to get it away from you?"

"What are you two talking about?" Jessie and Grace wondered.

"It seems that your little sister made a video during her first Spring Break down in Florida."

"We thought there were only pictures, and when did you see it?" Jessie and Grace replied as they became more shocked at the sister who had developed a wild streak while at college.

"It was when we were all were having a rough time that following summer. I came over to talk to Jessie. I only got to see a few minutes of it."

Katie looked at Zoe with an arched eyebrow.

"So, can we see it?"

"NO!"

"Why not? It can't be more embarrassing than when you caught me and Katie on her birthday," Jessie said, which made everyone, except Rachel, remember that day with a good laugh.

"Trust me, it is."

Zoe tried again to grab it away from Katie, but failed.

"You'll get it back if we get to watch it."

Zoe looked around to see that they all agreed with Katie.

"Fine."

Zoe sat down beside Rachel while Jessie joined Katie and Grace on the couch. Katie took over the remote and started it up.

B&W Zoe: "Why didn't I just destroy that thing already? Wait, I know why." (gets a sad look on her face)

B&W Grace, Jessie, Katie, and Rachel: "We just can't wait to see what she's hiding from us."

On the DVD

It started out like they all expected it to with kids drinking. Then it started to get interesting as the crowd who didn't even bother changing out of their swimsuits began doing body shots off each other. Their eyes began to bug out as they saw Zoe do a shot off a beautiful girl with black hair. Their positions were then reversed, and the girl did the same thing to Zoe. The crowd began to chant "ASHLEY!" as the girl took her time licking the salt off Zoe's stomach.

"Dang," Grace shouted as they all whistled at Zoe, who blushed as they continued watching it.

"Did that tickle, sweetie?" Rachel challenged with amusement.

"A-A l-little."

Zoe continued to shock them as she had begun dancing wildly while Ashley danced in front of her and constantly rubbed up against her. The crowd started to chant "ZOE!" when Ashley, who was leaning her head back, was kissed by Zoe. She ran her hands over Ashley's stomach and up and down her sides before resting them on the hips. While the others continued dancing, Ashley and Zoe had other plans. Ashley had Zoe sit down on a chair. Everyone else stopped and watched Ashley give Zoe a lap dance. Once again, her sisters looked at her while she was blushing a very bright red.

"This is like a train wreck."

"What do you mean, Katie?" they all implied.

"You know you shouldn't watch, but you can't look away."

They all laughed until Zoe's most embarrassing moment so far happened. Little did they know it would only get more shocking. They could only stare as the girls switched positions, and Zoe gave Ashley a lap dance. It wasn't the lap dance that really got them. It was the pink bikini she was wearing, which just happened to be the same one that Lily and Jake had objected to in the previously mentioned pictures. However, the pictures didn't show the back of the bikini. Their chins nearly hit the floor when they saw that.

"WHOA! ZOE, that bikini is even more revealing than my red one," Katie announced.

"Yeah, Zoe. Didn't you think that it was a little dangerous wearing something like that?"

"No, I didn't, Jessie," Zoe told her with sudden confidence.

"And why is that?" Grace butted in.

"You see that guy over there?" They all looked as Zoe pointed to a guy, standing close by, as the dance continued, "That's our friend, Mark. He promised he would watch out for me and Ashley because he said we reminded him of his little sisters, except for the obvious attraction between us."

"That's good to know," Rachel commented as they saw her tall and well-toned friend pull back a guy that was getting too close to Zoe.

"Consider this your only warning, man!" Mark stated as the other guy quickly moved away.

"Thanks, Mark," Zoe and Ashley said with huge smiles as another girl walked up and wrapped an arm around him.

"Who's that?" they all wanted to know.

"That's his girlfriend, Michelle."

They all relaxed a little when they saw the worries they had for her disappear at that very moment. They all began to laugh again as they watched Ashley grab Zoe by the hands and lead her to a nearby couch. When they arrived there, Ashley fell back with Zoe landing on top of her. They started kissing again for a few minutes before the recording ended.

"See, Zoe, I told you it was irresistible," Katie replied after everyone had watched Ashley caress Zoe's butt, "But why did you let her do it?"

"Because she WAS my girlfriend."

"It seems like all us have good taste in girls and boys."

Zoe began to cry suddenly. This confused the girls until realization kicked in.

"OH MY GOD, Zoe. Is that the one?" Grace and Jessie guessed as worry quickly appeared.

"Yes, it was," Zoe revealed while Katie and Rachel sat there speechless.

The girls all looked back as there was more than expected on the DVD. They watched as Ashley and Zoe had entered a smaller hotel room and appeared to be getting ready for bed. Zoe simply hopped into bed while Ashley quietly set the running camera on the dresser in front of them. Deep shock set in as they watched Ashley keep her back to the camera, remove everything, and hop into bed as well.

"ZOE, WHAT THE HECK IS THIS?" Grace yelled at her.

"I didn't know she was recording THIS!" Zoe face turned pale as tears started to flow down her cheeks.

"Katie, hit the stop button," Jessie demanded.

"Not a chance," she answered, unaware that Zoe was crying.

"I SAID stop. Zoe's crying."

"What?"

Katie turned around and saw her crying as she hit the pause button.

"No, it's ok. I can watch it once before destroying it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Katie. I'm sure." _Damn it. Why did she have to record it? I guess this explains why she would always stop the DVD player when I would come back from my psychology class._

Katie started it up again. Zoe rested her head on Rachel's shoulder as she was pulled into a hug.

"I thought you said you were tired? At least that's what you told everyone else."

"I lied," Zoe whispered as she moved closer to Ashley.

"Why did you lie?"

"This is why," Zoe whispered again as she passionately kissed her.

"Sounds like a good reason to me."

Ashley laughed as she quickly removed Zoe's bikini top and began kissing her way down Zoe's chest.

"Ok, stop this right now. We don't need to see any more," Jessie and Grace begged Katie.

"No, I want to see this," Rachel said, which surprised them all.

"Why do you want to see it, Rachel?" they all gasped.

"I'll let you know when the right moment comes."

"O-Ok," Zoe replied while wondering what was making her wife so curious.

She would find out minutes later when Zoe had called out Katie's name just like she had done to Rachel.

"OHHH, KAATIEEE!" Zoe moaned as the rest of her bikini was tossed out from under the covers.

"Huh?" Ashley grunted beneath the covers.

"Uh, sorry," Zoe apologized before moaning out, "OH, AASHLEYYY!"

"That's better."

Zoe blushed as everyone stared at her.

"I KNEW IT!" Katie and Rachel both shouted before laughing.

"Are y-you mad at me, J-Jessie?"

"No, but you really need to watch what you say," Jessie said in a slightly upset tone.

"I'll promise to you, Katie, and Rachel that I will never do that again."

"OK, we believe you, honey," Rachel assured sweetly as Jessie and Katie simply nodded.

Ten minutes later

"Zoe?"

"Yes, Ashley?"

"I thought this was your first time?"

"It was."

"Then why did you call out the name Katie?"

"It's kind of a long story."

"Well, give me the shortened version."

"Katie was my first crush."

"Then why didn't you sleep with her first?" Ashley hissed as tears began to fall down her cheeks.

"Because I was twelve at the time, and she's dating my sister."

Everyone smiled casually at Zoe, except for Jessie, who also started to cry.

"What's wrong, Billie? Why are you crying?"

"B-Because s-she said sister, not stepsister."

"So? Grace and I have been calling you that for a long time now."

"I know. It's just so nice to hear that sometimes it still chokes me up," she let out through a sob as Zoe hugged her.

They all turned back to the screen just in time to hear the next thing Ashley said.

"Ok," she paused a second. "I love you, Zoe."

When Zoe didn't respond, she spoke again, "I know you don't love me yet, but maybe some day soon you will."

Ashley grabbed the comforter and covered herself up before heading over to the dresser to shut off the camera.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"I forgot to recharge my phone."

"Oh, so did I. Would you do me a favor and plug mine in too?"

"Sure."

"Thanks, baby."

Ashley looked sadly into the camera as she plugged in the phones, which were conveniently sitting beside it, before shutting it off.

End of the video

Zoe immediately burst into tears, got up, ran into the bedroom, and slammed the door shut.

B&W Zoe: (sits there crying so hard her tears began to sting) "Why did she have to say she loved me? Why couldn't I love her back?"

B&W Grace, Jessie, Katie, and Rachel: (just stand speechless behind Zoe)

"What did this girl do to Zoe?" Rachel responded at the pain she felt at seeing Zoe cry quickly increased.

"Yeah, what did she do to Timex?"

"Timex?"

"Yeah, it's a nickname we gave her after a car accident."

"A few weeks before the end of that school year, Ashley committed suicide. Since Zoe was her roommate, she was the one that found her on her bed with an empty pill bottle in her hand."

"That's why she barely talked during the following summer?" Katie declared.

"Exactly, even Dr. Rosenfeld couldn't help her. It took a letter from Ashley's family for her to get over it. They said she had been suffering through serious depression after coming out during her freshman year of high school."

Katie rushed into the bedroom with the others right behind her.

"Zoe, will you talk to me, please?"

"What do you want, Katie?" Zoe relented as everyone saw her tear stained cheeks.

"Why didn't you tell me about Ashley? I thought we were friends?"

"We are. Like you said earlier, it was when we were all going through a rough time. You and Jessie were fighting. Grace and Tad had broken up that summer, fortunately that didn't last. Do you honestly think the four of you would have made up if you had spent time worrying about me?"

"But, Zoe, we're family. That's what families do for each other."

"I know, but I love you three enough to let you figure out your own problems first."

Zoe was then hugged by all four girls.

"So, do you feel better now, sweetheart?"

"I will in a minute."

Zoe then dashed out to the family room. They watched her as she smashed the DVD into several pieces, threw it away, and hugged Rachel.

"What do you want to do now, Zoe?" they all asserted anxiously.

"I want to go to the Navy Pier. I hear they have a pretty nice Ferris wheel."

Zoe smirked at Jessie and Katie, who blushed at her. Rachel locked the door, and they all took a fairly long stroll to their destination.

The End


End file.

Once and Again, Angst, Drama