Once and Again 1. The Reunion

17

**TIME OF YOUR LIFE: _Message in a Bottle_**

By: peach 83

**DISCLAIMER: **Again, Jessie, Katie, Tad and Grace belong to ABC and Once & Again. I'm not sure which other characters I'll be using aside from them, but just the same, I'm not claiming ownership. Well, except for the rest that I created.

**A/N: I'M SORRY IF I'M STARTING ANOTHER FIC AGAIN, THOSE WHO ARE STILL READING THE DIAMOND PURSUIT AND BROWN, I PROMISE I'LL UPDATE… BUT THIS STORY JUST WOULDN'T LEAVE MY HEAD, SO I HAD TO WRITE IT DOWN. I'LL FINISH ALL OF IT, THOUGH I CAN'T PROMISE WHEN. TO TIQUE, YOU WORKED HARD FOR THE BROWN POSTERS, I WON'T DROP THAT STORY, BUT FOR NOW I HAVE TO GO ON WRITING THIS ONE FIRST…**

**SUMMARY: **Grace and Tad just got married. Nurse Kim just topped the medical board exam for clinical psychologists. Nikki put an end to her most recent relationship. Katie and Carla just got engaged. This group of friends found enough reason to go on a week-long vacation and celebrate. Okay, so Nikki was supposed to be heartbroken, but no, she isn't. She had been in so many relationships before, and it might sound weird but break-ups are one of the occasions that she celebrates. Freedom to find somebody new, she always says.

So, they all decided to spend a long overdue vacation together. Anyway, it's been so long since the last time they bonded. After highschool and leaving Upton Sinclair for college, each of them had basically become so busy with their lives, they barely kept in touch. Though college almost tore them apart, their friendship remained strong, and they remained friends up to now.

After discovering the beauty of Boracay Island in an all-expense vacation trip paid for by an influential Asian client (of which murder case she won, despite her doubts in the innocence of the said client, thanks to her brilliance), Katie suggested that tourist spot, located in the Philippines.

The catch? Grace invites her long-lost stepsister Jessie, who had been living in Australia since leaving the United States even before her highschool graduation, without realizing the emotional rollercoaster that it would cause…

**CHAPTER 1THE REUNION**

BORACAY ISLAND, PHILIPPINES…

Katie and Carla entered their room in one of the huts of Saigon Huts. The flight alone had exhausted both of them enough, and they still had to board a ship, then a ferry boat, and a tricycle (public transportation only available in the Philippines) just to get to the island. Carla was tired as hell, and was a bit disappointed that Katie made their reservations at a primitive hotel such as this (a nipa hut with coconut trees surrounding it). Being the supermodel that she is, she had stayed in the most expensive hotels available in the world. The Hilton wouldn't even compare, and now her girlfriend had to choose this place where they could stay for the rest of their vacation. But she didn't complain. Though she often dislikes Katie's taste in everything at first, letting her girlfriend make the decisions for them always proves to be the perfect choice.

Carla throws herself on the bed, stretching her tall, skinny body in every space the she could. Katie, on the other hand, instructed the hotel staff that helped them carry their bags to just leave their luggage on the floor. After handing the twenty-something guy a ten-dollar bill, the said staff left with a grin on his face, realizing how much that single tip from this generous and gorgeous American would amount into their country's currency.

From where Katie stood, she watched her girlfriend with so much adoration and amusement.

"Are you gonna lie there all day, or are you gonna help me unpack your things?" Katie crossed her arms, but at the same time smiling.

_**KATHERINE ANNE SINGER, **a.k.a. Katie, 29 years old, hotshot defense lawyer based in Los Angeles and a partner in Singer, Portman & Greene, a prestigious law firm in the said city. _

"It depends… Are you gonna stand there all day and watch me sleep, or, are you gonna join me and we can unpack later?" Carla tilts her head to Katie's direction, giving her a seductive smile. Katie shakes her head, she never wins over Carla. She once thought she was the most charming person in the world, until she met Carla. Her girlfriend could persuade anyone to jump off a cliff, if she pleases to.

_**CARLA FARRELL, **28 years old, supermodel, the newest to join the ranks of Heide Klum and Giselle Bundchen, and dubbed as 'the white Tyra Banks'. She had been modeling in Europe since 16._

"Do you want me that much?" Katie playfully looks at Carla, then walks to the direction of the bed. She takes her shoes off, dusts the sand off of her jeans, and walks even nearer to the bed. Meanwhile, Carla isn't moving to give Katie space. Smiling mischievously, instead of pushing Carla's body to create a space for her on the bed, she lays on top of her, facing her, and leveling her body in exact parallel with her girlfriend's.

"Now don't get any ideas, missy. I'm too tired for that." Carla then chuckles, as she looks up at her girlfriend's twinkling green eyes.

"I wasn't thinking of anything." Katie feigns innocence, then her grin gives her away.

"Oh really?" Carla narrows her blue eyes on Katie. "I know that look."

"What look?" Katie didn't stop herself anymore, and she starts trailing kisses from Carla's forehead to her nose, then, skipping her lips, to her chin, and down Carla's neck… Carla couldn't help but groan.

"Are you trying to make up for choosing this archaic hotel, which by the way, makes me feel as if I'm transported back into the Stone Age?" Carla jokes, which didn't falter Katie in what she was doing. The dirty blonde continued trailing kisses in her neck, and Carla's breath was starting to hitch, just by that kiss…

"Stone Age? Interesting. We can experiment and do some wild barbaric sex in this Stone Age hut. Sounds like fun." Katie jokes, then stops attacking Carla's neck, and levels her head with Carla's to be able to look at her again. Carla smiles adoringly at her. She always loves Katie's jokes. Carla then leans up, and her lips meet Katie's, and engage in a short, sweet kiss. Upon feeling the strain in her neck, Carla pulls away from the kiss, and stares at Katie's beautiful face for a moment.

She still couldn't believe she's engaged, and that she's engaged with this amazing girl. She never thought about marriage before. It was never in her vocabulary. Like fashion, she believed relationships are just a fad. She wasn't even gay. She only started dating girls because she wanted to go with the flow (at the same time, learning how to drink and smoke), so she wouldn't get bored with her hectic modeling life. Besides, everybody was doing it. She was doing crazy things for fun, until she met Katie…

"I love you, Katie…" Carla said, at the same time, lifting her right hand and tucking a loose strand of Katie's dirty blonde hair behind her left ear.

"I love you, Carla…" Katie smiles, and leans down to capture Carla's lips again.

Just when things are starting to heat up (i.e., Katie's right hand was already traveling underneath Carla's shirt, in her back, unclasping her bra), when their door suddenly bursts open. Both of them weren't so surprised anymore. Actually, they were kind'a expecting it. It has happened in the last two months, and even though they start locking the door, the loud banging would still disrupt them from whatever it is that they were doing. It gets kind'a frustrating now, so both turned their head to the direction of the door with utter expression of annoyance on their faces, and their suspicions were confirmed…

It was no other than their newlywed friends, Grace and Tad.

"I told you we'll catch them having sex again." Grace sighs, shaking her head at Tad. Meanwhile, Tad grins at his bestfriend Katie, who had already untangled herself from Carla, and was now sitting on the bed where Carla had made a space for her. Carla remains lying on the bed, too tired to get up.

_**GRACE MANNING-PINCUS, **29 years old, a wedding planner, and of all her friends, probably the only one who stayed in Evanston with her husband Tad. _

"I swear you guys are disrupting everything on purpose." Katie looks at Tad in disbelief.

"Why do I always forget my camera?" Tad laughs. His malicious jokes used to make Katie blush before. But she had gotten so used to it by now, so it doesn't affect her anymore.

_**THADDEUS PINCUS, **a.k.a. Tad, 29 years old, a Sports Magazine editor in Chicago. _

"See? This is the exact reason why I made our reservations here and not at Boracay Regency, but it's no use now. These clowns will be barging in our privacy whenever they fancy. How did you even find us?" Katie shakes her head in mock disappointment, but chuckles anyway. She reaches for Carla's right hand with her left, and holding on to it. Grace sees the sweet gesture and smiles.

"Phone tracker. It's amazing what technology can do these days." Grace lifts her right hand on the air, showing the celphone she was holding.

_So perfect for each other… _Grace thought. She was glad that these two found each other before they were too late. Katie was a commitment-phobic workaholic who didn't have time for real relationships, while Carla was too absorbed in her supermodel way of life; she became detached from her own emotions and almost ruined her own life. Yup, just like anyone famous, Carla had her ups and downs. The darkest times in her life were when she got rehabilitated thrice for being an alcoholic. But those days are over now.

"Don't you guys ever knock?" Carla finally speaks, and gets up from the bed, sitting right beside Katie and resting her head on Katie's left shoulder. Tad and Grace walked further into the room, inspecting every corner, every furniture.

"What for? You'll let us in anyway." Tad shrugs, thinking it's no big deal.

"If we have a choice, we won't." Katie snorts.

"Katie, if you wanted a jungle house so bad, you should have suggested the jungle." Grace said in distaste. She's not much of a nature person, unlike Katie. Katie could survive if the world runs out of concrete hotels, and sleep in the grass if she loses her tent. Live in a hut? You're gonna have to pay Grace first.

"What's so wrong about the house? It's cool, natural and ideal!" Katie said enthusiastically.

"You have to understand your friend here. She unconsciously transported herself back into the Stone Age, now she's acting like a Stone Age woman." Carla jokes.

"Huh, fits her well." Grace laughs. Katie turns to Carla, not looking a bit offended.

"How about that wild, barbaric sex then?" Katie winks at Carla, which majorly disgusts Grace.

"Euuw, isn't it enough that I walk in on you almost everytime? Do they even have gay people back then?" Grace marches into the other end of the room and turns right to the small kitchen.

When Katie and Carla looks back, they see Tad, standing in front of them with a big grin on his face. Katie gives him a questioning look.

"Nuh-uh, no, I'm not leaving when you guys are about to have wild, barbaric sex. Doesn't matter if I don't have my camera. I can still store the memory into the depths of my great mind. So go ahead, be my guest." Tad crosses his arms, anticipating.

"Tad, do you want to die right now and have your remains eaten by the sharks?" Katie shots him a death stare.

"You ARE a barbarian." Tad mocks fear. Just then, Grace walked back to the room.

"Who?" Grace asks after hearing Tad.

"Katie." Tad gruffs.

"You only realized that now? Anyway, we've already checked in at Boracay Regency, so you can have the huts all to yourself." Grace said sarcastically. Okay, she hates the huts. Carla gets up from the bed and proceeds on unpacking their luggage. Katie remains seated on the bed.

"Good. Where are Kim and Nikki?" Katie asks.

"Already checked in at Fridays. Regency didn't meet their taste either."

"Wait, I thought Nikki couldn't make it." Carla looks up at Katie, her eyes almost narrowing dangerously on her girlfriend.

"That's what she said until she confirmed last night." Katie smiles reassuringly at Carla. Carla and Nikki never got along. They always banter with each other. And it's not for no reason. Nikki and Katie dated for a while, and Nikki never liked the idea of Katie dating a 'reformed supermodel'.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Carla said, almost irritated by that fact.

"So you could back out at the last minute? Baby, it's just Nicole, it's no big deal." Katie said reassuringly at Carla.

"Katie's right, you know. It's just Nikki. She can be a total bitch sometimes, but that's just how she is. It's in her genetic make up. So don't think she's being personal. Just ignore her." Grace adds.

"Ignore her? Guys, it's taking all of my energy just to stop myself from strangling her." Carla sighs. What she said was true.

"And you're not going to. Carla, as far as I'm concerned, I'd prefer to marry you outside of jail." Katie got up from the bed, and walked to Carla's direction, and wrapped her arms around her.

"Fine… I'll behave. As long as she does too." Carla sighs.

"Oh, she will. She has to." Katie smiles.

"So, you guys want to go for a spa?" Tad suggests. He momentarily forgot that it was the reason why they were here.

"Sure." Carla smiles finally.

"Okay. Meet us at Bora Spa. It's a short walk away from here. Nikki and Kim are probably there already. Then we can have dinner after that." Tad then holds Grace's hand.

BORA SPA…

Tad assumed right. Nikki and Kim are already at the said spa, indulging in a really nice massage. The long trip had exhausted them as well. Or maybe it did the most to Nikki, since she had come straight from work. Being a flight stewardess isn't easy, but it has its perks. At 29, she's almost able to tour the world.

"You look tired." Kim commented from the other massage table. The two are presently lying on their stomachs, and are being massaged by two, young and nice-looking locals.

_**KIMBERLY WALLACE, **a.k.a. Kim, 29 years old,_ _registered nurse, and now a clinical psychologist, so technically, she's an MD now._

"I AM tired." Nikki gruffs, or rather grumbles. She can barely keep her eyes open. Kim chuckles.

_**NICOLE ANDERSON, **a.k.a. Nikki, flight stewardess._

"Then why are you here? You should have gone straight to sleep." Kim continued. The complaints from Nikki used to annoy her a lot. That's what all Nikki ever do. Maybe that's one of the reasons why Katie and Nikki never worked out in the first place. Kim had suspected.

"Are you kidding? My muscles are killing me, I needed a massage. And besides, I wouldn't want to miss the opportunity to hang out with our friends. It's been a freakin' long time." Nikki said. Then she hears a sarcastic laugh from Kim that makes her frown.

"What?" Nikki growls at Kim.

"Nothing." Kim said nonchalantly and avoided looking at Nikki. But Nikki wouldn't stop until she finds out what's funny.

"Kimberly Wallace, do you want me to get up from this table and put a knife on your throat so I could get your confession? I know you too well, Kim, and I know your laughs too. It's not nothing when you laugh like that." Nikki chastises her. Darn, Nikki must really know her. Hell, of course. They had been friends since pre-school.

"Nicole Anderson, I know you too well too. But coming here to wait for our friends when your muscles are sore and when you hadn't had a decent sleep, this isn't you. Don't think that I can't see through you 'coz I know exactly what's going on in your head."

"Really? What is it?" Nikki challenges her. Kim rolls her eyes.

"You're here to annoy Carla." Kim says knowingly. Nikki flashes an indignant look and replies.

"How could you say that?" Nikki says in mock innocence, which Kim didn't buy for a minute.

"How could I not? Since Katie started dating her, it's practically became your mission in life. I mean, I don't even know what you have against the girl, but she's really nice, and she loves Katie. So why don't you just leave them alone?" The girl who was massaging Kim just finished, and after Kim thanked her, the girl left. Kim remained on the table though, and sat up, facing Nikki who was still being massaged on the other table.

"Are you really buying that 'reformed supermodel' bullshit? It's a stunt she sold to the tabloids so she could have more projects and become more famous." Nikki snorts at Kim. Kim shakes her head.

"Forgive me, but this is pathetic. You had your chance with Katie, Nikki. And it didn't work. So why don't you just let it go and let them be happy?" Kim said almost pleadingly at Nikki. Of all her friends, she's closest to Katie. She's probably the only one who knows everything about Katie and the secrets she'd been hiding. She knows her pain and suffering. And Carla is her friend now too. And it's painful for her that another of her friends is trying to ruin it for them.

"You think I'm chasing after Katie?" Nikki says incredulously. She got up from the massage table and sits on it, now facing Kim. She thanks the massage therapist and the therapist leaves.

"That's what you're doing." Kim confirms. She feels for Nikki, she does. But sometimes, you have to draw a line. Nikki laughs.

"Oh my God… You just passed the medical board, and you are still so naïve, Kim." Nikki shakes her head, and gets down from the massage table to head to the steam bath. Kim follows her.

"Am I?" Kim challenges her.

"Despite of what happened between me and Katie, I'm still her friend." Nikki said while reaching for the door to the steam batch and flung it open. She then enters the empty, smoky room, and sits on the bench.

"Exactly, so why don't you just BE her friend?" Kim sits beside Nikki.

"I am being her friend, that's why I want the best for her." Nikki says almost arrogantly.

"And who's the best, you?" Kim says sarcastically. Nikki looks up at Kim, matching her sarcasm.

"I am not after Katie." Nikki says dismissively.

"Let's pretend that I believed that for a minute." Kim says, which gets Nikki rolling her eyes. She's getting annoyed at the doctor's assumptions, but she had to control her irritation. They are friends, after all.

"The point is, they love each other so much, so who are we to stand in the way of their happiness? I don't want to doubt Carla's intentions, 'coz from what I see, she is a good and honest person… So if you are still Katie's friend, why don't you at least TRY to be happy for them?" Kim stares at Nikki's eyes. Nikki stares back, and for a moment, sees Kim's point.

"Fine." Nikki sighs, and lifts up her hands in surrender.

"You guys fighting again?" Grace's voice comes from the door's direction, and when Nikki and Kim look at her direction, a smile forms into their faces and both got up from their seats to give her a hug. Same with Tad, who was standing right behind.

It didn't take long before Carla and Katie joined them for a steam bath.

So, since Grace made sure that she had paid the whole steam bathroom for themselves, she and her friends then jumped into the big and cozy Jacuzzi, and for the first time in so many years, started their long talk about their lives.

Katie and Carla are sitting side by side, next to Carla was Kim, then Nikki, Tad, and then Grace, and since the Jacuzzi was almost circle, Grace is nearest to Katie.

"I still can't believe you married Tad." Nikki laughs, and the other laughs along with her, including Grace.

"I can't believe it either." Grace joked which earns her a nudge from her husband.

"Ha-ha, very funny, honey." Tad forces a smile. Then, Grace wraps her arms around Tad and gives him a short, but deep kiss. Katie groans.

"Get a room." Katie says.

"Katie?" Grace calls after her.

"What?"

"Have you ever kissed a guy before?" Grace grins. Katie frowns. Kim, Nikki, and Carla laughed.

"Of course. I was straight before I was gay." Katie did date a lot of boys in highschool, before a certain blonde changed her entire being unintentionally.

"You were never straight." Tad interjects, which caught the attention of everyone in the room.

"What?" Katie replied incredulously. But Tad looks so serious, she looks back in interest, waiting for what her bestfriend was intending to say.

"You never liked guys. I tried to kiss you once, but you blew me off." Tad shamelessly reveals. Katie feels her face turning red. Nikki stares wide-eyed at Tad.

"Are you fucking kidding me? You tried to hit on Katie?" Nikki asks him. Tad nods.

"Why didn't I know this? You had a crush on her?" Grace narrows her eyes on her husband, but Tad merely shrugs.

"Hey, she's prom queen, what can I say?"

"Just because a girl refused to kiss you, doesn't mean she's gay. You are not the most handsome guy in the world, Tad, so get over yourself. Katie, technically, wasn't gay back then. A bit confused, maybe. And she was dating AJ Lieberman." Kim answers for Katie, and Katie throws a thankful look at her.

"You dated AJ Lieberman? I can't believe this. I was dating him. That pompous ass…" Nikki looks astounded. Carla turns her head to Katie.

"You dated everyone in highschool?" Carla raises her eyebrow on Katie. Katie opens her mouth to say something but couldn't think of anything smart, so she just smiled. Carla, on the other hand, was amused.

"So what happened?" Grace speaks again.

"About what?" Katie asks.

"When Tad tried to kiss you." Grace continued. Katie turns her head to Kim, and Kim couldn't help but laugh, which Grace didn't understand. Tad suddenly turns red, and it's as if he wanted to be swallowed by water.

_Pincus, how stupid can you be? _Tad knew he opened the door to his own disgrace. He looks pleadingly at Katie, but Katie merely gives him a mischievous smile.

"I kicked his ass… Literally." Katie laughs, and everybody followed. Tad's face was burning. At that moment, he wanted nothing but to be swallowed by earth whole.

"Fine, fine, I'm embarrassed now. Can you stop laughing?" Tad glares at his wife, who was laughing with their friends. Grace tried to control her laughter, but her eyes gave her in.

"Only if you stop blushing." Kim jokes, and everybody starts laughing again.

"So, Katie, how did you find out you like girls?" Grace finally turns the conversation back to Katie. Katie only came out to them when they were in college. It wasn't a big deal, really. They still love their friend for what she is, and her revelation didn't change the way they look at her. In fact, they respected her more, for her braveness, and for her honesty.

On the other hand, Grace's question transports her back to her highschool days at Upton Sinclair… Her confusion only started in her senior year, and only two people know how she felt: Kim and---

"_Jessie!" Katie came running into the crowded hallway of Upton Sinclair. Students currently scattered around miraculously dispersed, giving the gorgeous dirty blonde a space to run to. The blonde girl she was calling suddenly turned around, whilst closing her locker, and giving her her very sexy smile…_

"_Hey, what's up?" Jessie asks at her friend who stops in front of her, heavily breathing after her run._

"_Not much… Going somewhere?" Katie said oh-so-cutely. Jessie looks back in amusement. But she couldn't deny the fact that she found the other girl uber-charming._

"_Uh… To class, where else?" The smile didn't leave Jessie's face. She loves talking to Katie. _

"_Right, that's really stupid of me. How could I forget that?" Katie jokes and mock-slaps her forehead, which got Jessie chuckling. _

"_You're not ditching class again, are you? 'Coz I'm not going to let you."_

"_Really? And how are you going to stop me?" Katie stops walking and narrows her eyes on Jessie. Jessie is a few inches shorter than her, so she had doubts on how Jessie was planning to do that. Jessie stops walking beside her, and grabs both her arms. Katie frowns._

"_THAT'S how you're going to stop me?" Katie says in amusement. Jessie slightly blushes. "You're gonna need a stronger defense than that." Jessie looks as if she's in deep thought for a while, then she pulls Katie somewhere, or maybe 'drags' is the right term, to the closest door Jessie could reach, and pulls it open and practically pushes Katie inside. Once she got into the door herself, she slams the door shut and locks it, then turns to Katie. Jessie then walks closer to the dirty blonde, pushing her into the wall, and enclosing the taller one as she put her arms on both sides of her._

_For a moment, Katie forgot how to breathe. The room is considerably small, but that isn't the reason why she was having a hard time breathing. It was because she could feel Jessie's body pressing in front of her… _

"_Now try to do a little offense, Singer…" Jessie whispers at her. Katie didn't know how to answer. She was locked inside a dark, unfamiliar room with Jessie… And the blonde has both her hands on either side of her… She has to stop herself from the urge that was trying to control her head at that very moment… Or she will ruin everything…_

_Then they heard the knocks on the door. Jessie abruptly pulls away, then opens the door. To Katie's annoyance and disappointment. Whoever knocked had an awfully 'perfect' timing. After opening the door, Jessie and Katie see the janitor looking at them suspiciously, and Jessie walked past by him. Katie follows._

"_I wouldn't have left school but I'd still be ditching class with that strategy of yours though." Katie jokes while she catches up with Jessie in the hallway. Jessie chuckles._

"_I think you're right. I better think of another tactic then." Jessie says._

"_Hey, let's go watch some dvd later. My dad bought me a copy of Yours, Mine & Ours. Danielle Panabaker is there." Katie says giddily. Jessie smiles._

"_You really like her, don't you?"_

"_She's cute."_

"_She's unattainable." Jessie states. She stops walking and faces Katie. Katie faces her._

"_So?"_

_Jessie paused. _

"_Tell me something, Katie… How did you even realize that you're into girls?" Jessie inquired. Katie looks as if she was caught off guard for a moment there. Luckily, she was so good at acting, Jessie didn't notice. _

"_I don't know… I just like them, I guess." Katie shrugs. She tries to avoid looking at Jessie's blue orbs. _

"_Do you like someone in particular? And I mean, not Danielle Panabaker or Avril Lavigne, okay? Someone real…" Jessie looks intently at her. Katie contemplates what to say for a moment._

"_Yeah, so I like someone, big deal." Katie tried to say in the most offhand tone possible. _

"_Is it me?" Jessie's face turns so serious, Katie almost fainted on the floor._

"_No, of course not!" Katie replies so defensively. Jessie starts walking again. Katie follows her, and she can hear the blonde girl laughing._

"_What?" _

"_It was a joke, Katie, you can relax now." _

"_Ha, not so funny, Jessie."_

"_Oh, you looked very funny. Believe me." Jessie's eyes twinkled as she throws a look at Katie's direction. It enthralled the dirty blonde. Then, she shakes her head out of her daze, and speaks again. This time, thinking of something really smart to say._

"_Well, what if I said yes?"_

"_What do you mean?" _

"_What if I said that it was you?" Katie could feel her heart banging in the walls of her chest. It was the boldest thing she had ever asked the blonde so far. She isn't sure why she was feeling so gutsy right now. She just couldn't let go of the chance. She could always pretend that it was an out of the blue question, right?_

"_I know it's not me… And besides, you wouldn't dare. We're friends, right?" Jessie smiles at her, then stops in front of a door. "See you later, Katie." Then Jessie enters the said door, and Katie watched as the door closed again, with Jessie disappearing behind it. Katie lets out a deep sigh._

_It's never easy to be around the love of your life without that love of your life knowing it…_

"Katie…" Grace calls at her again.

"What?" Katie looks up. She realized she had fallen into a haze.

"You haven't answered my question." Grace continued. When Katie looks around, she sees that everyone had their attention on her, including Carla. She looks at Kim. Kim knows why. But Carla knows a different story. So, she decided to tell the version she had told Carla.

"With the help of Tad and all those football pigs, I just woke up one morning and saw the same sex in a different light…" Katie says in a joking way. They all laughed again.

"Maybe I should be thanking Tad 'coz I seem to owe him." Carla smiles, and moves closer to Katie for a kiss.

"Finally, someone grateful." Tad sighs. Before Carla's lips could even reach their destination, Nikki interrupts.

"Nice bikinis." Nikki says. The kiss being purposely interrupted, Carla closes her eyes, and pulls away. Katie just smiled at Carla, her eyes silently telling her girlfriend to let it go.

"Thanks." Was Carla's short reply.

"Freebie?" Nikki grins, for she knows that would tick Carla off.

"An often misconception. Not everything a supermodel has is a freebie." Carla growls at Nikki, but Nikki isn't fazed. She just grinned back at Carla, which annoyed the supermodel even more.

"Let it go, girls." Kim mediates. Nikki and Carla sneers at one another, before focusing their attentions on something else. Meanwhile, Carla resumes her former plan, which is kissing Katie. She then straddles her girlfriend, a ploy to annoy Nikki even more.

Truth is, Nikki isn't annoyed by the fact that Carla and Katie are together. She's just annoyed at Carla, that's all. And yes, she was being honest with Kim in their conversation that afternoon.

In the middle of giving her girlfriend the best kiss she'll ever experience in her life, which Tad enjoys watching, Grace jumps out of the Jacuzzi, her eyes twinkling in glee.

"Oh my God, you're here!" Grace didn't even bother to grab a towel. She runs out of the Jacuzzi to the door of the steam bathroom. Katie sees the smile form on Tad's and Nikki's face, while Kim's jaw drops, and looks back at Katie. Carla stops kissing Katie, and wraps her arms around her girlfriend instead, then waves at the two people at the door who just arrived. Katie was having a hard time to turn around, with Carla straddling her, but when she was finally able to move a bit and turn her head around, she saw her again…

The love of her life, Jessie Sammler, was standing at the door, holding hands with a possible boyfriend. She felt as if cold water was poured on her head. The warm water on the Jacuzzi didn't even help.

"Hi guys. We just checked in." Jessie smiles at them.

_**JESSIE ELIZABETH SAMMLER, **27 years old, pediatrician, and Grace's stepsister who had been living in Australia._

"This is my boyfriend, Adrian." Jessie continued.

"Hi." The tall and handsome guy, who looked so neat in his khakis and white shirt, had his right arm wrapped around Jessie's shoulder, which didn't escape Katie's eyes.

_**ADRIAN WEATHERS, **28 years old, international flights pilot for Qantas Airlines._

After a rather long and noisy welcome coming from Tad, Grace, Nikki and Kim, Jessie and Adrian joined them at the Jacuzzi. And Katie felt herself in a quandary, when Jessie chose to sit on the space beside her, with her boyfriend…

So far, everything went well…

Katie is lying on the bed, her arms wrapped around the person whom she had been dreaming about in the past two years; the person she chose to spend the rest of her life with. Yet, the pictures running in her mind right now are pictures of someone else. She wants to smack her own head. She was feeling guilty, just thinking about that smile that haunted her for years, before Carla was even in the picture. It took her a really long time just to let it go, to get over it. But now, everything just seem senseless now.

That smile starts haunting her again, and now she feels like she just went back to zero.

The guilt was killing Katie, and she feels like she's being unfaithful. Carla has no idea who Jessie was, or what Jessie was in Katie's life before. Nobody knew except Kim. She couldn't fall asleep, it's been two hours, and Carla is already making her journey to dreamland, while she was left alone in reality: a reality that's biting her in the ass right now. She needs to get out.

So she gets up from bed, slowly and carefully, so Carla wouldn't wake up. Just after she extracted herself from her sleeping girlfriend, Carla stirs on the bed, making a turn and her arms, making a motion to hug Katie. Katie slips smoothly away, and replaces herself with a pillow. Carla didn't seem to notice. Then, Katie heads for the door.

Katie reaches the gate of Saigon Huts. She isn't sure where she's going. She just wants to keep herself occupied, take a walk or whatever. And maybe think at the same time.

_No, I don't want to think of her, I can't, I'm not supposed to… _Katie's thoughts are screaming in her head.

"Where are you going?"

The voice almost made Katie jump out of her skin. She makes a sudden turn, ready to dodge a possible attack. But was relieved and annoyed at the same time after realizing whose voice it was.

"Kim?" Katie says in disbelief. Her heart was beating like hell, more frantic than it is already. She even feared that Carla would hear it when she was still lying on the bed beside her.

"Katie." Kim smiled.

"What the hell are you doing here? It's 3:00 a.m." Katie chastises her friend. She starts walking again, with Kim trailing behind her.

"I should ask you the same thing."

"Just answer my question, Kim."

"I kind'a knew you're not going to be able to go to sleep and would probably come out and do whatever." Kim says simply.

"Are you using psychology on me?" Katie says in suspicion.

"No… I just so happen to know you." Kim catches up with Katie and walks side by side with her. Katie falls into silence. Kim is right, she knows her. The two didn't talk in the next twenty minutes. They just walked. The beach is quiet, but there are still people around, all tourists. Some bars are still open, but Katie isn't up for a drink. She just kept walking, and Kim walked with her.

At 4:00 a.m., Katie is already lying on the sand, staring at the clear sky. She can still see the stars. Kim is sitting right beside her on the sand, facing the shore, watching the waves hit the sand.

"Did you know she was going to be here?" Katie finally speaks. Kim turns her head to Katie, but Katie didn't turn her head to meet her friend's gaze. Kim knows exactly who 'she' was.

"No… Did you?" Kim asks, but she already knew the answer.

"No… Grace didn't mention anything." Katie answers, and it was followed by a sigh. Kim stares at her for a moment, then lay down on the sand beside Katie, and looks up at the stars.

"Is that why you can't sleep?" Kim asks.

"I don't know… I'm not sure. It's a new place. I normally can't sleep on my first night." Katie lies. Of course that's the reason why she can't sleep. Why else would she not be able to go to sleep?

"I advised you to talk to Grace years ago… Why didn't you?" Kim speaks her mind. She did give Katie that advice before, so she could clear the air with Jessie's stepsister. Kim had always believed that it wouldn't be good to keep Grace in the dark, 'coz one day, she knew it would backfire. And she was right.

"What was I supposed to tell her? And would it even matter?'" Katie says so stubbornly.

"Yes, a lot. She's your friend, and Jessie is her stepsister… Katie, like it or not, Jessie is the reason why you are who you are right now." Kim sighs. She turns her head and sees the side of Katie's face. Still, Katie didn't turn to return her friend's stare. She continued.

"Had you told Grace, you wouldn't be in a sticky situation right now. Grace wouldn't have invited Jessie along, and you wouldn't be up and awake lying on the sand and staring at the stars without your girlfriend beside you." Kim doesn't take her eyes away from her friend.

"It's the past, Kim, and I don't care if Jessie is here." Katie says firmly. Kim mentioning her girlfriend just isn't making her feel any better. The guilt she's feeling is just becoming even worse. She was just glad that Kim couldn't read her mind. It's as if there was a slideshow of Jessie's photos inside her head. Remembering Carla, she tried to push Jessie's face away and replaces it with her girlfriend's, but she isn't that successful.

"Really?" Kim apparently didn't believe Katie for a bit. With the way Katie's behaving, it's hard to believe otherwise. Jessie's arrival wasn't expected. And Katie's obvious reaction now to the blonde's come back from the land down under, was more unexpected. Kim doesn't want to entertain the suspicions that immediately formed in her mind, but it's hard to ignore it.

She needs to make sure that Katie is not sinking into the funk she had fallen into so many years ago, caused by the same good-looking blonde. It took her an awful lot of years just to recover.

"You didn't tell Carla either, did you?" Kim's stare bores into the side of the lawyer's face, whom this time, finally turns her head to look at her. Katie's pair of green eyes looks so stoic, which made it harder for Kim to read her friend.

"There's nothing to tell." Katie gets up from the sand and focuses her eyes on the waves that currently hit the shore. She has a point. Nothing really went on between her and Jessie. She fell in love with the most unexpected person, and got her heart broken a million times over. Now why would she tell her girlfriend about Jessie? The girl blew her off before she could even muster the guts to tell her how she feels.

"Jessie was a big part of your life. She changed who you are." Kim states the truth as she gets up from the sand as well. Jessie did change Katie's life. Though it's a fact that she contributed to Katie's misery, she was also the reason why Katie worked so hard, to forget. It helped, and it brought her to the top, to what she is right now.

_FLASHBACK…_

_Upton Sinclair Highschool, Katie's senior year… She had been deprived of sleep for days, she can barely eat. Tad joked that she looked like a zombie while sitting in the classroom, not really hearing anything that their teacher lectured. She felt scared, and excited, and she was driving herself crazy at the same time. It's as if her chest was going to explode if she doesn't do anything. The past week hadn't been easy for her. She felt so confused…_

_Katie had been waiting by the lockers for that certain junior blonde. The two of them are so close, Eli Sammler even joked about them being attached to the hip. But in the past few days, Katie noticed that Jessie was drifting away… As if she was doing it on purpose…_

"_Jessie!" Katie yells for the approaching blonde. The blonde finally sees her, but to her surprise, Jessie storms away. Katie runs after her, and has to grab her arm to make her stop and turn around to face her. Jessie couldn't even look at her._

"_Jessie, what's going on?" Katie asks with a look of foreboding. She had a feeling Jessie was starting to notice the different way she's looking at her lately, but she tried her best to be discreet. Sure, she thinks the blonde is special, but she's not going to do anything stupid to ruin this friendship. She can't lose Jessie. She doesn't think she can. And she'd take the friendship, even if it's halfway of what she really wants. _

"_I got to go to class…" Jessie says in almost a whisper. Katie tries to look at Jessie's eyes, but Jessie keeps avoiding hers. In a split second, Katie felt that she needs to make a decision. She knew she's losing Jessie… _

"_Jess, we need to have a serious talk." Katie could feel her heart pounding in her chest. She was surprised it hadn't fall off yet._

"_You met someone and had an affair?" Jessie tried to joke, but is obviously trying to act nonchalant. But her heart was pounding like hell too. _

"_Stop playing around Jessie, I'm serious… We need to talk… There's something that I need to tell you…" Katie says, and Jessie finally looks at her in the eyes. They held each other's gaze for a while…_

"_Is it going to freak me out?" Jessie's question was out of the blue. Katie has no idea where it came from. The answer would be subjective. She would prefer to answer 'no', but instead, she answered---_

"_It might…" Katie had no idea she was holding her breath. Jessie looks at her, straight into her green eyes. She couldn't read what Jessie's blue eyes say, but she sure doesn't look excited._

"_If that's the case, then maybe you shouldn't tell me…" Jessie sighs, but didn't let go of Katie's eyes. Katie didn't know how to react, or what to say. She just looked back. It's like their eyes had a conversation of its own, understanding their own language. There was no need for words. _

_Katie had a feeling that Jessie knew exactly what she wanted to tell her, and her eyes was somehow telling her, begging her not to say the words that she was dying to say… _

_And it broke Katie's heart… Jessie didn't need to say the words… Her heart was already broken into a million pieces. Having Jessie say those words might actually make her feel worse, if that's even possible. Katie felt as if her world stopped. She crashed and burn. Something inside her died. And she isn't sure if it's going to come to life again…_

_It did… Her heart came to life again, only to have it die over and over just by the sight of that adorable blonde. After that conversation, things had been different. Jessie became too busy for her, and she was the same with the blonde since she was graduating and all. _

_Then, Jessie left for Australia. Katie thought she'd never get over it, of her… It took her years to recover. Then she met Carla at a fashion week in LA… _

PRESENT TIME…

"I'm not that stupid to do anything that would complicate things between me and Carla. I love her too much, and I can't hurt her."

"Am I the one questioning that or you?" Kim challenges her again for the hundredth time that morning.

"It's a statement of fact, not a question." Katie throws a stern look at Kim's way. She isn't sure why she's still here, talking to Kim while her friend wouldn't stop torpedoing her with these insane questions.

"Then why are you out here?" Kim's voice was commanding for an honest answer. Katie turns her head, finally locking her eyes with her friend longer than two seconds. She isn't sure how to answer. She has no idea what to say. She hoped that her eyes would prove her honesty, and that Kim would stop. Instead of answering Kim's question, of which answer Katie couldn't still figure out, she tried to steer the conversation away, acting annoyed, though she's really not.

"Don't turn psychologist on me." Katie jokes. Kim barely smiled.

"I AM a psychologist." Kim makes sure that she made her point when she gave Katie a that-is-not-funny look. Katie held her gaze, so Kim continued.

"Kim, if I need a shrink, believe me, I am not hiring you." Katie's statement didn't offend Kim a bit. Kim has a really wide understanding of Katie's situation for her to develop a grudge for one sarcastic remark.

"I'm not sure about what's going on inside your head, Katie, and I don't think I want to know…

But I do know one thing… I want to make sure that you're okay." Kim's says with sincerity. Katie knows from the start that it was Kim's intention. Kim had always been so supportive to her, ever since that day that she came out of the closet. Kim never judged her. And she was very thankful for that.

"I'm okay, Kim, really." Katie forces a smile.

"Then act like it." Kim says, then gives Katie a hug. After a rather long and comforting embrace, Kim got up from the sand, and offers her right hand to Katie.

"Come on Singer, we got to go back to reality…" Kim smiles. Katie stares at the hand, and takes it. Then, they walked back to their respective hotels.


	2. Tension and Pretensions

**A/N: Hey Bobo, can we have an update on Sharing the Life now? )**

**CHAPTER 2TENSION AND PRETENSIONS**

"Good morning, baby…" A sweet, sultry voice whispers in Katie's ears. Her eyes remained closed, but a smile forms in her face. Perfect way to wake up, though she isn't really intending to get up from bed anytime soon. After that walk at the beach with Kim at 3:00 a.m. that took hours, she still wasn't able to fall asleep soon. Her mind kept drifting into that one forbidden thought.

The thought of that flowing blonde hair, crystal blue eyes, and that very sweet yet sexy smile…

_Shit, I'm doing it again… _Katie forces the thought out of her head and opens her eyes instead. Her gaze falls on the grinning blonde lying in front of her.

"Hi…" Katie greets her girlfriend.

"Come on, get up, we got to go." Carla kisses her on the forehead and jumps out of bed. It was then that Katie realize Carla was already dressed to go out.

"Go where?" Katie's forehead contorts, and talks almost lazily. She checks the clock on the bedside table. 7:00 a.m., which means she only had an hour of sleep.

"Boracay Regency. Grace called, we're having breakfast with them." Carla heads to the nearby mirror and looks at herself. Then she speaks again.

"I don't look so bad." Carla then smiles.

"You never looked bad." Katie compliments her. Carla turns around to face the direction of the bed again. Slowly, she walks back, and kneels on the floor so she would be eye-level with Katie.

"I know… But you have to get up now." Carla reiterates. Grace said 7:00 o'clock, and the clock just ticked 7:01. Not that she mind being late, but Grace is a sucker for punctuality. And besides, she feels like seeing the beach early.

"Can't I just sleep and stay here all day?" Katie pouted like a child. Carla finds her adorable, as usual, and leans over and gives her a short kiss.

"We didn't fly all the way to this country so you could sleep in this antiquated hut. Where's your sense of adventure?" Carla encourages her girlfriend.

"I feel tired." Katie whines.

"Me too, but who cares? There's a lot to do out there." Carla jumps into her feet and heads to the door.

"Can't we do that later?" Katie said. Carla stops on the door before opening it, turns and fixes her eyes on Katie. Katie isn't the type who stays in bed until 8:00 a.m., it just isn't her.

"What's wrong?" Carla finally asks.

"What?" Katie was suddenly alarmed. _Can she see through me? Does she know what's bothering me? _Katie then tried to look as normal as she can.

"You're the one who insisted that I cancel all of my photoshoots and magazine interviews so we could have this vacation with your friends… Why are you acting otherwise now? You don't look so excited." Carla ran her right hand in Katie's forehead, making sure that she isn't sick. Of course, Katie isn't sick, just trying to avoid a certain someone.

"Fine… I'll just change my clothes." Katie finally gives up and decides not to argue. Skipping breakfast might probably cause her more problems that would demand more explanations from her. And why was she having problems with this anyway? It's just breakfast, right? Despite of Jessie Sammler's presence, everything will be okay, right? Katie has a girlfriend, and Jessie has her own boyfriend. It's not like they had a past to begin with, so why is she letting herself get affected by this stupid thought? It's just Jessie…

But that's exactly what's bugging Katie. IT IS JESSIE…

Boracay Regency… Jessie, Adrian, Grace, Tad, Kim and Nikki are already gathered and having their breakfast at the said hotel. Grace had been glancing at her watch, wondering where her remaining friends had gone. It was 7:30 a.m., and the lack of sense of time isn't making Grace happy.

"Where are they?" Grace said, tapping the fingers of her right hand on the table. Tad smiles at her.

"They'd be here, relax. It's not like they are going to miss anything. It's just breakfast." Tad said. Grace sneers at him.

"We are supposed to eat together. What's so hard to understand?" Grace replies impatiently.

"Tad's right, Grace. Besides, they're adults. They'll eat if they're hungry. Maybe they're just making the most of their time. Now that both of you are here and won't be able to distract them." Nikki says mischievously then grins, giving Kim a wink. Kim looks at her with open mouth.

"What?" Grace growls at Nikki this time. Katie had obviously told Nikki about the 'distractions' Grace and Tad had been doing. Not that Grace was doing it on purpose. She really just had awful timing lately.

"Leave those lovebirds alone. They probably haven't had sex in the last month with the two of you barging in whenever they're about to start." Nikki laughs, Kim merely smiles. Adrian finds her story funny and laughs along. Jessie merely listens. She barely throws a look at the people in front of her.

"So, you like Carla now?" Tad raises his eyebrow at Nikki. Nikki almost spits her coffee and snarls at him in disbelief.

"What?!" Nikki exclaims in the most exaggerated way.

"Shouldn't you be happy that we're practically ruining their sex life for you?" Tad grins. Grace narrows her eyes on her husband but he ignores it.

"Why would I be happy about that?" Nikki frowns at him. Tad shrugs.

"I don't know, you tell me." Tad winks at Nikki. Nikki's jaw drops.

"I am not after Katie, okay? God, how many times do I have to reiterate that?" Nikki lets out a deep breath. "Why wont the two of you just leave their sex life alone?" Nikki points at Tad and Grace simultaneously.

_What is it about Nikki that concerns Katie? _Jessie just couldn't help her curiosity anymore.

"Uhm… Wait, I think I've been gone really long… You and Katie?" Jessie finally speaks, and this time, she was looking at Nikki. Adrian isn't much of a talker, so he just listens to Jessie's friends while they are having this animated lesbian conversation, which he thought was interesting.

"You don't know?" Kim looks at Jessie in amusement.

"Know…?" Jessie's forehead contorts in curiosity.

"They dated for a few months." Kim confirms, 'coz Nikki just isn't in the mood to talk anymore. This 'Katie-talk' is starting to get to her. Her friends are accusing her of something she isn't capable of: loving someone.

"Really?" Jessie stares at Nikki. Nikki merely shrugs. Jessie didn't know how to react on Nikki's confirmation, but it created some sort of emotional whirlwind inside of her.

"You really should have stayed in Evanston, Jess. Lots of things had changed." Tad smiles at her. Jessie returns it.

"Yeah, I noticed…" Jessie answers almost quietly and looks back down at her plate.

"So… What do you do?" Kim throws the question at Adrian's direction.

"Me? I fly a commercial airplane." Adrian smiles at Kim, glad that someone finally starts a conversation with him. Being isolated in a conversation between friends never felt good. At least they are starting to notice his existence. If it wasn't for Jessie, he wouldn't be here.

"Wow, that's cool." Kim replies.

"He's a pilot at Qantas. Come on man, when are you teaching me how to fly?" Tad looks eagerly at Adrian. Adrian looks apologetically.

"Sorry man, but I'm afraid that's not possible. Too dangerous, and I'm not licensed to do that." Adrian chuckles. The only way that a person would be allowed to fly a plane is to go to flight school and get a license.

"Have you met John Travolta? He's a pilot too, right?" Nikki finally pays attention to their guest, and looks in with interest.

"Well, I had a run in with him once, but I never saw him since… He's too busy with movies, I guess. So, the only plane he's flying right now is his own jet." Adrian replies.

Just then, Katie and Carla walked in, holding each other's hand. Katie managed to smile at everyone, but made sure she isn't keeping too much eye contact. She did see Jessie throw a rather shy smile at her, and she smiled back. The awkward exchanged unapparent to their friends.

"What took you guys so long?" Grace narrows her eyes at Katie. Katie slightly blushes.

"I didn't have enough sleep…" Katie answers.

"I had to pull her out of bed." Carla interjects. Tad grins.

"I bet." Tad laughs. The nasty look Katie had thrown his direction silenced him for a bit, but then he starts laughing again. The waiter approaches their table and writes down Katie and Carla's order. Adrian moved closer and wraps his arms around Jessie, which Jessie, noticeably, barely acknowledged. Nikki looks indifferent. Kim tries to control the urge to spy on Katie and Jessie. Katie tries to be civil. Carla, Grace, and Tad were having an animated conversation about their previous night at Coco Mangas.

Katie watches her friends and girlfriend in amusement. They hung out all night at Coco Mangas and still, they couldn't stop talking about it. They must have had a good time. She would have stayed and joined in the fun, but she wasn't in the mood to celebrate anything. Maybe it's the exhaustion of the trip… Or maybe it's something else…

"Wait a minute…" Adrian says while staring at Carla. He had already joined the conversation, and Jessie didn't even notice. She was busy staring at someone else to even pay attention to her boyfriend.

"What? Just make sure whatever you're going to say is going to make sense, okay? We're having enough gibberish talk from Nikki since yesterday. One doofus would be enough." Carla sneers playfully at Nikki's direction. Nikki's jaw drops in mock shock.

"Who are you calling a doofus?" Nikki says indignantly.

"You are." Carla grins.

"I'm not a doofus." Nikki sounds unyielding, then crosses her arms.

"DOOFUS." Carla widens her smile, which annoys Nikki even more, giving Carla the satisfaction of seeing her annoyed. Katie, instead of mediating between her girlfriend and her ex, merely sat watching in amusement. Not that she's seeing or hearing everything that's going on. She could barely focus on anything anymore, or at least since yesterday.

"When are you guys ever going to give each other a break?" Kim frowns at her childish friends. Who would have thought that these professionals act like a kid most of the time?

"You are Carla Farrell." Adrian still stares in open-mouthed astonishment. He had been spending time with these people since yesterday and it was only now that he actually paid attention to look at each of their faces. He couldn't believe he's looking at the eyes of one of the Victoria's Secret supermodels.

"Uh… We were introduced yesterday." Carla chuckles in amusement. She gets that a lot. Carla looks really gorgeous with all those camera magic and make up. But in person, despite the lack of make up, she's still gorgeous. Though you wouldn't recognize her if you don't actually stare at her.

"Yeah… I mean, no…" Adrian laughs at his silliness. "I mean, you ARE Victoria's Secret's Carla Farrell." Adrian's face slightly blushes in his stupidity. How could he have not noticed last night? Certainly, the lights at Bora Spa were enough to recognize someone. But his attention was monopolized by another gorgeous blonde, whom he couldn't seem to get enough of as days go by…

Remembering Jessie who was still sitting beside him, he wrapped his arms around her tighter, and gives her a kiss on the side of her head. Another shy smile forms in Jessie's face, which Katie saw from the corner of her eye.

"I get that a lot." Carla replies cheerily. Nikki gets up from her chair.

"I'm going surfing." Nikki says. Kim frowns at her. Carla finds the opportunity to taunt her.

"You can't surf in Boracay. There's no wave." Carla says incredulously. Nikki stops walking and turns around to face the group again. Everyone's attention is on her, well, still, except her ex's, and Jessie, who find the food on their plate more interesting.

"Of course there's wave. It wont be classified an ocean if there's no wave." Nikki tries to sound the smartest as she could.

"But you can't surf with that wave." Carla shrugs with a sarcastic smile. Nikki growls at her and strides out of the hotel.

"What do you have against her?" Tad's voice comes from Carla's right side. So Carla turns her head to face her friends again.

"Huh?" Carla asks.

"Why do you hate each other so much?" Tad followed up with that question. Carla frowns. She doesn't like Nikki, definitely not. But hate her? Hate is a strong word. She doesn't hate Nikki.

"I don't hate her."

"Sure you do." Tad says knowingly.

"Tad, shut up. You're a guy, and you probably don't know what you're talking about half the time." Carla says dismissively, making Tad turn red. He then turns his head to Adrian's direction for help. Adrian smiles and comes to Tad's rescue. Carla just started THE debate.

Katie was getting bored of her situation. She wasn't that eager to join the conversation, and having Jessie sitting in front of her is making her all tongue-tied. She excused herself from Carla, and from everyone, then jogs out of the hotel, hoping to catch up with Nikki.

Nikki was still walking, heading to the shore when Katie caught up with her.

"Nicole!" Nikki turns around upon hearing that familiar voice calling her name. She plasters a smile as she sees Katie.

"Katherine Anne." Nikki jokes. She knows how much Katie hates the 'Anne', but the ex didn't chastised her for calling her that.

"You serious about that surfing thing?" Katie asks in amusement. Looking at the waves, you'll barely even move your surfboard.

"No. I just needed a way to get out." Nikki laughs. Katie laughs with her.

"So… Do you like it here?" Katie was curious. Nikki stares at the water. The sun was rising, and it was a very pleasant morning. It was a very serene environment, and it gives you a very peaceful feeling.

"Of course." Nikki smiles sincerely.

"About Carla---" Katie was interrupted before she could continue.

"Katie, I don't hate your girlfriend, okay?" Nikki looks up at Katie and meets her eyes, conveying the genuineness of what she had just said.

"Okay…" Katie says slowly, anticipating for Nikki to continue. She cares for Nikki. She's her friend, and they had been friends for a really long time. She hopes Nikki could try harder and try to be civil, if not nice, towards her fiancée. Carla means a lot to her, and Nikki too.

"We just don't get along, that's all. But it's not because of you." Nikki says firmly. Katie's forehead contorts.

"Really?" Katie sounded disappointed and incredulous at the same time. Nikki playfully punches her on her right shoulder.

"Really…" Nikki smiles. Katie believes her. When she broke up with Nikki, she knew she made the right decision: she and Nikki will be better off as friends. Together, they'll just ruin each other's lives.

"So, you want to try out the waves now?" Katie jokes and motions to the ocean. Nikki gives the ocean a brief look and shakes her head.

"Nah… I was thinking of parasailing. Wanna come?"

"No thanks. You go, have fun." Katie smiles. Nikki gives her a high five and walks away. Katie watches her, when that soft, female voice sounded from behind her.

"You're so full of surprises."

Katie made a sudden turn to find the owner of the voice that made her heart beat frantically, as if it was trying to get out of her chest. Jessie's presence, now in front of her, was so powerful, that for a moment, she even forgot to breathe…

_This isn't normal… Breathe Singer… Breathe! _

"Hey…" That was all Katie managed to say at first.

"You and Nikki?" Jessie says, looking amused, and intrigued, and curious. Katie, normally, wouldn't want to talk about her and Nikki's past. They both decided it was a mistake. They were each other's rebound relationship. Both of them just wanted to forget it, but instances like these are unavoidable.

_Where did she even find out?_

"Yeah, well…" Katie shrugs. She really has no idea what to say.

"Who would have thought?" Jessie chuckles. Katie smiles. She loves the way Jessie laughs. She has this really cute laugh, a contagious laugh.

"Things like that happen, you know… Sometimes to hurt you… And then to teach you." Katie didn't realize she was already staring at Jessie's blue eyes, and Jessie was staring back.

"Congratulations…" Jessie spoke, almost a whisper, then she looks away from Katie. Katie was disappointed that she didn't get to hold the blonde's gaze longer, but it was probably better that the other girl made the first move to look away.

"What?" Katie has no idea why Jessie was congratulating her. Jessie smiled, but decides not to look at Katie and focuses her eyes on the sand, as she plays with it with her feet.

"I heard you're getting married…" Jessie's voice almost faltered just by saying that last part. When Grace called her in Australia and asked her to join them at this vacation in this tropical island in Asia, she was hesitant. But when Grace enumerated the reasons why she shouldn't pass it up (i.e. Katie and Carla's engagement and Kim's medical board exam), Jessie immediately packed her bags and prepared herself in going to the Philippines. She wasn't intending on taking Adrian along with her. In fact, she never even thought about telling him about it. But he found out about Grace's invitation, and wanted to come along. Jessie just couldn't say no.

"I am…" Katie wanted to smile, to let Jessie know that she's happy with Carla… But she couldn't. She is happy with Carla, of course, but she just couldn't smile about it now… Standing in front of Jessie is bringing her too many good and painful memories. And when in front of Jessie, she couldn't even think about Carla…

"That's why I'm congratulating you."

"Yeah… Thanks." Katie sounded almost stupidly. They fell in short silence. It was a bit awkward, but nothing that Katie couldn't handle.

_It's just Jessie… Just Jessie…_

"And congratulations to you too…" Katie greets back, though not as sincere as she would have preferred to sound.

"For what?"

"You and Adrian." Katie could swear she almost choke with that last word, rather name.

"Me and Adrian? We're not even engaged."

"Yeah, but you will be…" Katie trails off. For a moment she looks out in the sea, her mind drifting into a daydream of Jessie looking so happy, but in the arms of someone else… Katie winced upon feeling a familiar sting in her heart, a sting she hadn't felt in a long time…

"How can you tell?" Jessie looks at Katie with interest, but the dirty blonde wouldn't even turn around to look at her again. She seemed too engrossed watching the waves hit the shore… But Katie replied.

"You're not the type who would grow old without someone by your side…" Katie says thoughtfully. Still, she kept her eyes on the sea. Jessie merely watched her back. She wished Katie would turn around again, so she could look at those beautiful green eyes, but Katie's back remained facing her.

"Doesn't mean it's going to be Adrian." It was Jessie's reply that surprised Katie. But Katie managed to hide her astonishment. Jessie's statement caught her a bit off guard. For a while, Katie pondered on what to say to that… She isn't sure how Jessie could even say that. Adrian is her boyfriend. Isn't she supposed to be the happy and dreamy girlfriend? Katie turns around again, looking at Jessie.

"You deserve to be happy, Jess… And he seems like a nice guy…"

"Are you saying that he's good enough for me?" Jessie asks her seriously, her facial expression matching her question, and her blue eyes piercing through Katie's green orbs, as if challenging her…

"Isn't he?" Katie challenges her. Their eyes locked with each other's, daring each other to look away first. It became almost like a competition between them, and not one of them wants to look away.

But the challenge did not last long, as Katie was distracted when a volleyball hit her in the head. It wasn't that hard, and she didn't fall on the sand. But it did hurt a bit. The local tourists who were playing profusely apologized to the dirty blonde, which Katie pleasantly accepted. Upon hearing Jessie giggling, Katie turned her attention back to her companion.

"Don't laugh at me." Katie could feel her face blushing.

"I'm sorry…" But Jessie continued laughing. And amused with herself, Katie laughed with her.

"It's great to see you again, Jess…" Katie smiles at her.

"Same here, Katie…" Jessie smiles back, with that smile that 'used' to take Katie's breath away… I had to quote it, 'coz right now, Katie forgot how to breathe again…


	3. You Make Me Feel

**A/N: sorry if this chapter sucks... i'm trying to make it good, but with all the writer's block i've been having lately, i had to try hard. if it isn't the greatest, i still hope you guys would like it... i'm trying to finish this, and the others as well, and there's another that i'd be posting in the near future, that i need to finish all of these before vacation time is over... yours truly is planning to go to law school this june, i have a month to decide whether i'd pursue my plans or not... and if i do, i know i wouldn't be able to update on my fics because of work and school... so i'm trying to finish this one, if not all of it... i do hope you guys would understand... **

**CHAPTER 3 YOU MAKE ME FEEL**

"How did the surfing thing go?" Kim jokes at Nikki, as she entered their double room suite at Fridays, and found the stewardess standing in the balcony, unmoved and staring at nothing in particular.

Kim walks to Nikki's direction, but as she waits for Nikki's reply, it didn't come. Nikki remains standing with her back turned on her friend. She heard Kim, but somehow, with the state she was in, she could hardly process anything.

It was only when she felt Kim nudging her side, that she realized she already have someone standing beside her.

"What?" Nikki frowns, looking annoyed. Kim raises her eyebrow at Nikki, but still, Nikki seemed to be out of herself to realize that she had been talking to her.

"You okay, Nikki?" Kim throws a suspicious look at Nikki. Nikki turns her head to face her and smirks.

"Of course I'm okay." Nikki smirks. It does look that Nikki is okay. Kim had a reason to be inquisitive though. She, herself, couldn't understand why she had been falling into senseless daydreams lately...

Some daydreams that should be kept within herself...

"You can't surf in Boracay." Kim jokes, then laughs; reminding Nikki of her stupid excuse that morning. Nikki rolls her eyes. As much as possible, she doesn't want to be reminded of that. She's had enough embarrassment from Carla that morning.

"Thanks... Carla already told me." Nikki mocks loathing, then laughs herself. Nikki smiles one last time at the horizon of the ocean and struts back into the suite.

Kim watches her in amusement. Her friend could be such a chameleon when it comes to her emotions. It's just so hard to read her at times. She always say that break-ups is what she lives for, but somehow, she could see her heart breaking everytime she goes through into one.

That one with Katie devastated her the most...

Kim follows her inside the suite. Nikki grabs the remote of their tv and slumps on the couch, and turns the tv on. Kim, out of sheer curiosity, watches her.

"Can I ask you something?" Nikki finally speaks, after realizing that Kim was taking advantage in watching her in her entertainment state.

"You already asked me one." Kim smiles, and takes the seat beside Nikki. Nikki ponders for a moment, before asking her friend what she thought was the lamest question, but she had to ask.

"Am I likable?" Nikki says seriously, which almost got Kim laughing. Kim tried to have a straight face.

"After the million relationships you'd been through, you're still not sure of the answer to that?" Kim raises her right eyebrow again.

"What if I ask you out on a date, would you ever go out with me?" Nikki asks curiously. Kim sits unmoved, but this time, raising both her eyebrows, as if asking Nikki what-the-hell-are-you-talking-about...

"Look, I know you're straight as hell and all, but I just need to know." Nikki says defensively.

"You're not hitting on me, are you?" Kim frowns at Nikki and Nikki visibly flinches in her seat.

"Euuw, no! It's a what-if question, okay? It doesn't mean anything. You're not my type." Nikki frowns. Kim chuckles at Nikki's funny reaction.

"Damn right, I'm straight as hell, and you're not my type either." Kim loosens up again. The awkward tension that build up for a moment was gone as fast as it came. Despite the fact that most of her friends are gay, she never considered going out with one... And Nikki is not an exception. Kim shudders even at the thought of it.

"I said what if, Kim. Let's forget that you're straight for a while. And let's pretend that we haven't met, and we're not friends, and I asked you out on a date... Would you say yes?" Nikki looks intently at Kim. Kim tries to put herself in the situation Nikki had mentioned...

And she couldn't stand it, not for a moment...

"It's like my own sister asking me out on a date." Kim winces, which earns her a really hard slap on the left shoulder from Nikki.

"Big help Kim, thanks!" Nikki says sarcastically. Kim laughs.

"I'm sorry, but I really couldn't see myself in that situation. Maybe I would, if it's someone else."

"Like that makes me feel better." Nikki gruffs. Kim looks sympathetically at Nikki. She had always thought that Nikki is the most confident one among her friends, but this time, she just looks so frail and afraid.

"Who is it?" Kim smirks. Nikki looks up at Kim and her face appeared emotionless, and as usual, hard to read for Kim.

"Who is what?" Nikki replies casually.

"Come on, Nikki."

"Come on what?" Nikki frowns, apparently irritated at Kim's goading.

"Oh my God." Kim's jaw drops in disbelief and delight. Nikki raises her right eyebrow.

"Kim, you got to stop that." Nikki warns her friend.

"Stop what exactly?" Kim grins, and gets up of the couch, thinking of going out for sunbathing. She heads to her bedroom and grabs a towel, sunblock, sunglasses, and takes her clothes off, leaving her in her colorful two-piece. Upon reaching her door, she finds Nikki standing there with her arms crossed.

"What are you driving at?" Nikki scowls at Kim. Kim merely shrugs and heads out to the beach. Nikki tails her. Kim barely paid her any attention until they reached the shore. After putting the blanket down, she lays on it on her stomach first.

"Kim?" Nikki is starting to get impatient.

"Rub me some lotion, will you?" Kim grins, taking advantage. She knew Nikki couldn't say no. Her curiosity is killing her. Nikki looks at Kim in disbelief, but couldn't complain. She grabs the bottle of lotion grudgingly from Kim's side, and then the sunglasses and wears it for herself.

"I swear you're enjoying this." Nikki shakes her head. Kim grins.

"Oh no, not as much as you are enjoying this..." Kim laughs. Kim continued.

"So… You finally found someone who can make your world crumble?" Kim remarks. Nikki looks horrified, but Kim didn't get to see the expression on her face. Nikki stares at Kim for a while, not directly answering her question. She swear Kim could read all of her thoughts, and she has no idea how the new doctor was doing it.

"What if I did?" Nikki said, trying to sound as hypothetical as she could. Kim pauses for a moment to think.

"Then I'm happy for you." Kim smiles. Nikki rubs the lotion on Kim's back. "When did you meet her?"

"Huh?"

"The girl, when did you meet?" Kim turns her head to the left a bit to the left 'til she could see Nikki, and finds her friend looking as if she was caught red-handed. Nikki, realizing that Kim saw the horror-struck look in her face, shooed the look away and replaced it with another casual one.

"I'm not going to talk about this with you." Nikki got up, closed the lid of the sunblock bottle, and threw it at Kim's back, hitting the other hard.

"Aww!" Kim glares at Nikki who was already walking away from her. She calls after her. "Why won't you?"

"Because it's a hypothetical question." Nikki turns so she could see Kim, but continues making steps backwards.

"You don't trust me, do you?" Kim throws a disappointed look at Nikki. Nikki shrugs.

"I said it's hypothetical. There's nothing to tell." Nikki grins, waves at Kim, then turns around and jogs away from the shore. Kim shakes her head.

_I've been hearing that a lot lately… _Kim thought, as her mind made a short trip back to that morning when she lay at the shore with Katie, when the former couldn't sleep, and Katie said the same thing: There's nothing to tell.

Not so far away from where Kim was sunbathing, Carla and Katie were cuddled up at the Grotto: a small shrine in the small, elevated land mass in the water dedicated to the Virgin Mary. There were facing the south, where they have a clear of both the shore and the water. Katie was sitting on the build up of rocks, her arms wrapped protectively around her girlfriend, who is sitting in front of her, between her tanned legs. They exhausted themselves the whole day; swimming, sunbathing, kayaking…

And this is so far the best of it all. The sun was about to set in the west. It might still take an hour, but they just found this perfect spot, and it wouldn't really trouble them to wait. It will only be a while…

"I love it here…" Carla whispers. She's leaning against Katie, and Katie was supporting her. Having Katie's arms wrapped around her felt so good, she wished she could stay on those arms forever.

"I'm glad…" Katie smiles. All day, Katie had been trying so hard to focus on Carla. Truth is, she wasn't really in the mood for anything. If she could have it her way, she just wanted to stay at Saigon Huts, maybe brood all day… But she didn't, because of Carla. So they did everything that they can possibly do on the island. Thank God there are lots of activities to choose from. They still have a couple of things to do in the next few days. Maybe try that parasailing thing Nikki mentioned that morning. She needs to keep herself occupied, to kill all of her time, to find an excuse not to think…

'Coz even if she tries to block it, one person still penetrates the depths of her consciousness and unconsciousness… Katie let out a deep sigh.

"Is something wrong?" Carla's voice breaks the sacred silence between them. Katie realizes she had been spacing out.

"Everything is fine." Katie smiles again, and gives Carla a kiss on the right side of her head.

"I feel like you're hiding something from me… Problem at work?" Carla assumes. Nothing ticks Katie off except work-related problems. Katie plays with Carla's hair, before answering her.

"A bit… But it's going to be sort out. That's what those associates are for." Katie knew it was a big flat out lie. But she has to spare Carla whatever pain the truth might cause her. She loves Carla, and she will marry her no matter what. She will deal with her own shortcomings, Jessie-related or not.

"I love you, Katie…" Carla said lovingly. The moment was just so romantic, Carla couldn't help herself. Normally, Katie says I love you back… But today, she didn't. Not that it bothers her. She was a bit surprised that Katie didn't say anything back. But seeing that something was indeed bothering her fiancée, she understood, and let it go.

Meanwhile, Jessie and her boyfriend Adrian are already at the shore. Two local boys are assisting them, and pulling the rented jetskiis to the water. After thanking the boys, the boys left with a huge tip from Adrian.

"I like your friends." Adrian smiles at Jessie.

"Well, I'm glad." Jessie smiles back.

"Thanks for taking me along… Now I could boast to my friends how we spent our vacation with Carla Farrell." Adrian jokes, then laughs. He could already imagine his friends' faces when he tell them about his Boracay experience with his girlfriend. Jessie merely smiled, not knowing what to say in return. She likes Carla. She seems like a nice person despite her former reputation. She is, what they say, a reformed supermodel afterall.

And she is Katie's fiancée… The smile fades from her face as soon as it came.

In the midst of her musing, her eyes wandered. First searching the horizon for nothing in particular…

_That's a perfect sunset… _She thought, upon seeing the sun setting in the horizon. She hadn't seen the sunset for a very long time. Almost impossible but true. Her afternoons in Australia were all spent inside the school library, or her home study, when she was working hard reviewing for the medical board. And when she finally passed and became a doctor, she spent almost all of her time inside the hospital, working her butt off. Dating was not even an option. If Adrian wasn't as persistent as he was, and as patient as he was, Jessie wouldn't be with him…

The sunset brought her peace. It was unexplainable, but understandable. Its nature's way of helping someone go through life, at least that's what Jessie thought. Then her eyes fell on another creation of nature…

At the small, elevated land mass, referred to as the Grotto, she saw two familiar figures cuddled together, in a very romantic position… Jessie could literally fell her heart sink.

"Jessie?" Adrian calls out. Jessie is currently staring at the direction of Carla and Katie, of which Adrian was oblivious.

"Jessie, come on, let's go before it gets dark." Adrian motioned to the jetskiis, when Jessie finally turned her head and paid attention. He noticed how his girlfriend had been spacing out so much lately, but he didn't really given it much thought.

"Okay." Jessie replied almost like a zombie. She could hardly take her eyes off Katie, and the image of her arms around Carla lingered in her memory. Jessie closed her eyes and shook her head hard.

_This has got to stop… _Jessie chastised herself, and tried not to look at the Grotto's direction again.

So, Jessie and Adrian proceeded to their jetskiis and headed to the water.

"I'll race you." Jessie smiles at Adrian. Adrian grins mischievously.

"If I win?"

"This isn't a bet." Jessie says with confidence.

"But if I win?" Adrian wiggles his eyebrows, and Jessie starts laughing.

"Then I lose." Jessie shrugs and boards her jetskii.

"Come on, I got to get something." Adrian follows and rides his own.

"We'll talk about that later." Jessie grins and starts her jetskii, giving her a headstart from Adrian.

"Oh, come on!" Adrian stares in disbelief as his girlfriend jets into the ocean without him. Shaking his head in amusement, he plasters a big goofy grin on his face, starts his jetskii, and races after Jessie into the ocean.

From the Grotto, Katie and Carla almost heard Adrian calling after Jessie. Katie watched intently upon seeing Adrian pursue Jessie…

"They're cute…" Carla says out of the blue. Katie didn't realize that Carla was watching the same people.

"Uhm… Who?" Katie plays ignorant. Not like Carla would notice, she couldn't see where she was looking anyway.

"Your friend Jessie, and her boyfriend." Carla smiles as she watches the two raced with their jetskiis on the water.

"Oh… Sure." Katie says, but not believing herself even for a while. Adrian really does seems like a nice guy, she meant it when she said that. But despite the good manners, the good-looks, and the good personality, Katie just couldn't understand why she doesn't like him so much. Of course, she'd by hypocrite to think that it has nothing to do with Jessie… In fact, it does… She doesn't like him for her, and as to why, that's something she doesn't want to think about right now.

"How long have you guys been friends?"

"Jessie? I'm not sure… I was a senior in highschool, and she was a junior…" Katie tore her eyes away from Jessie and Adrian, who are venturing too far out into the sea.

_Jessie isn't a very good swimmer… _Katie thought with so much concern, but then forces herself to shrug it off… _She has Adrian to take care of her… _And with that, she felt a pang in the left side of her chest, and the pain seems to be coming from the direction of her heart…

Katie felt suddenly guilty. She is sitting here, in a very sacred ground with the girl she love, the girl she's going to marry, and she couldn't stop herself from worrying about Jessie who seems happy being with her boyfriend right now…

_Stop it, Katie… _Katie then closed her eyes, singing a song in her head, just to get rid of the thoughts. She buries her head into Carla's hair, to block her vision from everything that she can see…

Carla smiles upon feeling Katie moved closer behind her, and upon feeling her head in the back of her neck. She could almost feel her erratic breathing now. She grins…

"No need to get so excited around me, Katie, it's still early." Carla comments boldly, assuming that Katie was trying to send a message. Katie, realizing that her thoughts had been affecting even her breathing, silently cursed herself in disbelief of the reality that is now facing her…

Jessie Sammler can still make her feel the craziest things…

Instead of saying anything, Katie embraced her girlfriend even tighter. Call it defense mechanism. The internal debate going on inside her was too much. She knew it was unfair on Carla's part. But she couldn't get herself to tell Carla about her feelings for Jessie before, and how the girl changed her life, on how Jessie single-handedly changed who she is and shattered her heart unintentionally.

How do you think that would make Carla feel? Even Katie isn't comfortable about that thought. Just what would Carla think? And Katie was pretty sure she isn't ready to find out.

So, she focus her attention on Carla… It's the only thing she can do anyway…

_And that's what I SHOULD do… _But before Katie could trail kisses on Carla's neck to compensate with her guilt, Carla almost knocked her in the nose when her girlfriend almost jumped into her feet upon seeing something that Katie assumed was shocking.

"Oh my God!" Carla gasped and pulled away from Katie's embrace. She got up from her seat and stared open mouthed at the ocean.

"What?" Katie frowns, having no clue as to what Carla was so horrified about.

"Jessie fell on the water and she hadn't come up 'til now! I swear she's taking a long time under!"

"What?!" Katie's head snapped into the direction of the ocean. She assumed Adrian was winning their race, and didn't realize when Jessie swerved and fell on the water. Now that he realized his girlfriend wasn't on the jetskii anymore, he came back for her, searching where Jessie's jetskii was. He jumped on the water.

"What do we do?" Carla is panicking. She hadn't known Jessie for a very long time, but she likes her. And she couldn't imagine the thought of her drowning. She knew they got to do something.

And that's exactly what Katie has in mind. She then, walked to the edge of the Grotto, and Carla turned her head in shock at her girlfriend, pretty much aware of what's cooking in her head.

"Katie, you're not gonna go in there. We go to call someone." Carla pleads her girlfriend.

"That idiot is looking in all the wrong places. I can't watch him let his girlfriend drown. You go call someone." Katie is determined to save Jessie. Jessie can't drown, she's not going to let it happen. So, why not put her years of training in swimming to good use? She didn't win that swimming scholarship for nothing.

"But---"

"Carla, go." Katie said firmly, and Carla knew she couldn't argue anymore. Carla then makes a run to find help. She isn't sure what she's looking for, but she knew she has go to find someone. A lifeguard maybe… Or just someone that could help.

Then, Katie jumped into the water…

Katie then started making her way to the direction of the jetskiis which were floating unstably on the water. She assumed Jessie must have fallen a few feet behind, not exactly where the jetskii was. It's just common sense, and she saw Adrian dived literally beneath Jessie's deserted jetskii. Obviously, the guy has no knowledge about swimming, or jetskiing, or diving, or saving someone's life for that matter.

She had to swim about four hundred meters. Jessie and Adrian must have been making their way back into the shore, and they were obviously going against the current, which is noticeably going stronger by the time. Despite the odds, Katie used all of her energy to get to the spot faster, setting a record for herself…

Meanwhile, Jessie had been struggling to get back up from the water. She was being deprived of air, and her desperate fight for life was starting to drain her of all the energy she had left… She could have easily swam for air, if she didn't feel that excruciating sting in her right leg. It sent unbelievably painful twinge into her skin, going deeper, almost making her leg numb. Consequently, she couldn't swim her way back up, and she was starting to lose consciousness…

Later on, Jessie felt like she wanted to cry… If tears actually fell from eyes, she couldn't really tell. She could almost see her life flashing before her, and felt like her chest was on the verge of exploding. She couldn't believe how many things she thought she could have done better, all the what if's, all the should have, could have and would have…

Ah, there are so many regrets…

She wished for a second chance, she wanted to make things better and make it right… Only if it isn't too late… Jessie wanted to laugh and cry at the same time… Now that she could finally realize what she wants and what's important to her, just when she's about to die… How ironic could life possibly be? Or this time, death?

But it's too late… It doesn't matter what she realizes, it doesn't matter what she regrets, 'coz in the end, nothing will matter… She wouldn't have any opportunity to straighten things out anyway… The ocean is about to claim her…

And just when she was giving up all the hope, and was about to fall into full unconsciousness, somebody grabbed a hold of her right hand…

_Adrian… _Jessie thought… She almost forgot about him… She knew he's not going to let her go… And then, Jessie blacked out…

At the shore, Kim got up from the blanket she had been lying all afternoon upon seeing Carla rushed in all directions. She has no idea what's going on, and wondered where Katie was. It's when she saw the three familiar figures coming back to the shore that Kim realized what was going on…

Adrian was carrying an unconscious Jessie in his arms, and Katie was looking frantic but calm… Kim immediately offered her blanket and Adrian lay Jessie down. Katie then kneeled next to Jessie's neck and shoulders.

Katie tilted Jessie's head, and lifted her chin. She wanted to help, but Katie obviously knows what she's doing. She might even be better at this CPR thing, being a swimmer athlete that she is. Katie lowered her ear down in level with Jessie's nose and mouth, listening for breath sounds, but she heard nothing.

Jessie wasn't breathing. Katie almost panicked. Adrian was scared.

"What should I do?" Adrian was panicking. Katie didn't answer, so Kim answered for him.

"They don't have a hospital here, only small clinics, but that would be good enough. Let somebody bring a stretcher over, or any vehicle that we could ride in. We can't waste time." Kim instructed him. Adrian stared at Jessie for a while. He was reluctant to leave her, but he had no choice. Then he ran to find what Kim had told him.

Katie pinched Jessie's nose, then lowered her head down, leveling her mouth with Jessie's. Kim's right eyebrow almost rise on its own, but knew this was SOP. If it was a different situation, she would have given Katie a serious whipping on the head. After giving Jessie one rescue breath, she pulled away, watching Jessie's chest. Jessie's chest rose up a bit, and Katie was almost relieved. She went down again to give Jessie a second rescue breath.

Katie placed the heel of her left hand over the center of Jessie's chest, just between Jessie's breasts. Just doing this is making her feel so nervous, but this isn't the time to feel so awkward now. Katie swallowed all her guts, and placed her right hand on top of her left. Using her upper body weight, she pushed straight down on Jessie's chest, and she pushed again, harder and faster, at about two compressions per minute. After giving her thirty compressions, Katie gave Jessie rescue breaths again…

This time, Jessie went to consciousness, and she coughed, water came out of her mouth. Kim smiled. Just then, Adrian was running back with another local, holding a stretcher. Carla was with him too.

Katie watched as the local and Adrian lifted Jessie into the stretcher, and rushed her to the nearest clinic.

At the clinic, Jessie was given the proper medical attention. Katie was obviously agitated despite the fact that Jessie was already safe. Jessie almost drowning gave her fear… She was waiting outside the clinic, along with Kim and Carla…

Just then, Adrian came out, with a smile on his face…

"Hey, guys…" Adrian greets.

"How is she?" Kim asks in concern.

"Better… A bit grouchy, but she's fine… You know how doctors are. They are the worst patients." Adrian chuckles in relief. Kim and Carla laughs, but Katie remained unmoved.

"Grace and Tad are coming over. I called them." Carla informs Adrian.

"Jessie is going to freak out. She insisted that she's fine and there's no need to alarm Grace." Adrian shakes his head. He then turns his attention to Katie…

"Thanks for saving her…" Adrian said gratefully. Katie merely nods. He then came back inside the clinic, and Carla looks at Katie with increased adoration.

"YOU saved her?"

"Yeah." Katie smiles. Carla smiles at her, then hugs her.

"Well… This is why I love you…" Carla gives Katie a short kiss. A moment later, a freaked out Grace and a disbelieving Tad walked into the clinic and caused more chaos. It looks like Jessie takes offense on being treated like a sick person…

It has been hours since Jessie was almost taken away from everyone by the unseen forces of nature… Katie found out a jellyfish stuck into Jessie's leg and released its toxins… Jessie was lucky to have survived. She never got to talk to her though, to ask her how she is doing… 'Coz she immediately went back to her hut with Adrian…

Like the other night, Katie couldn't sleep… It's getting harder every minute just to get some, when your mind is occupied with thoughts of someone you're not even supposed to think about. Katie keeps chastising herself, but its not working. Even in her sleep, she could see Jessie…

After making sure that Carla is fast asleep, she got out of bed and left the hut. Before walking away, she looked at the direction of Jessie and Adrian's hut, and wondered what could be going on behind their walls… Katie swallowed hard, as the possibilities ran through her head… So she walked away, and here she is again, standing by the shore at dawn, staring at the dark horizon…

Katie let out a deep sigh…

"Are you okay?"

The voice from behind surprised Katie, but didn't go unrecognized… She could listen to it with any kind of sound and she will be able to identify it… Katie slowly turned around, and her green eyes fell on a pair of blue ones…

"You're supposed to be in bed." Katie said, and almost choked on the 'bed' part. Jessie watched her for a while, before she continued walking towards Katie's direction and stopped in front of her.

"Why is everybody making a big deal about this? I'm alive." Jessie said in amusement, which was weird for someone who just had a brush with death.

"Jess, you almost died…" Katie looked gravely at Jessie. Jessie shrugs and grins…

"Yeah, well, I'm still here, so…"

"So you better be careful next time." Katie smiles. Jessie smiles back.

"Right." Jessie turns to face the ocean… "I saw my life flashing before me…" She shares. Katie was a bit surprised that Jessie was opening up, but it was very welcome.

"I'm sorry…" Katie meant it.

"No… Somehow, I feel the need to thank that stupid jellyfish…" Jessie jokes.

"And I feel like killing him… Or her… Or whatever… Do they have genders or are they asexual?" Katie looks curiously at Jessie, and Jessie laughs… Nobody can beat Katie Singer's sense of humor.

"I'm not sure." Jessie answers. Katie looks in mock shock.

"Jessie, I've always thought you're the smart one."

"Well, I was too busy studying medicine to worry about a jellyfish, so forgive the smart one."

Katie and Jessie chuckles, and then fell in a familiar, comfortable silence… Then Katie speaks again…

"What did you see?"

"What it could have been…" Jessie replied silently. Katie didn't really know what Jessie exactly mean… But she didn't bother to ask. She's not in the place to ask anything. They had been gone long from each other's lives.

"Most of it were the should have's, would have's and could have's… Maybe that's why I'm still here… I was given another chance…" Katie didn't say anything… She just looked at Jessie and listened.

"I guess I have an unfinished business." Jessie looks up at Katie again, holding her gaze, this time much longer. Katie looked back… Even in the few lights, she could see how blue Jessie's eyes are…

"Jess, why aren't you resting?" Katie smiles earnestly at Jessie.

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" Jessie jokes.

"No, of course not… It's just…" Katie motioned to Jessie's bandaged leg. Jessie follows her gaze…

"Oh for God's sake, I'm fine."

Short pause…

"Adrian might go looking for you…" Katie almost said in a whisper.

"He's asleep… Carla?" Jessie asks.

"She's sleeping too…" Katie answered. "Well, why can't you sleep?"

"Why can't you?" Jessie raises her eyebrow at Katie.

"Hey, I asked you first."

"My leg stings." Jessie admits. Then she laughs at herself.

"See? You're not fine." Katie said in confirmation.

"I AM fine. I just couldn't sleep. There's a difference, okay?" Jessie said dismissively. Katie grins. "Stop picking on me."

"I'm not picking on you." Katie said indignantly. Jessie smiles, then faces Katie again.

"Aside from the stinging, I actually feel guilty…" Jessie sighs…

_Guilty kept appearing in my vocabulary lately… _Katie let out her own deep sigh… With Jessie mentioning that word, Katie realized she shouldn't even be here sneaking behind Carla's back… But then, she realized, she isn't doing anything wrong… But her conscience is already killing her.

"About what?" Katie focuses her attention on the conversation.

"I never got to thank you for saving my life…" Jessie's voice came as music into Katie's ears…

"Well, you're welcome…" Katie said while turning her head around so she could see Jessie, just when Jessie was moving closer, and was intending to give her a kiss on the cheek…

Before Jessie's lips could hit hers, though, Jessie managed to stop… But neither backed up. Katie was too shocked to move, while Jessie wasn't really sure on what to do… So their lips remained suspended for a while, 'til Jessie made a smooth turn to the left, and gave Katie a lingering kiss on the cheek…

"Uhm… I think you really should get some rest…" Katie just heard herself talking. Jessie stares at her, but contemplating to follow Katie's suggestion. She really is tired anyway… "I'm not getting rid of you or anything, okay? I just think that maybe you really should…" Katie added. Jessie chuckles.

"Okay… You should too."

"I'll just take a minute longer. You go first." Katie nods at Jessie, and Jessie starts walking back to the huts. When she turned her back around Katie, a contented smiled formed in her face…

Meanwhile, when Jessie was ten feet away, Katie was finally able to breathe. She didn't realize she had practically held her breath since Jessie kissed her on the cheek…


	4. Message in a Bottle

**A/N: Same disclaimer, I don't own anything except the storyline and the other characters. By the way, those who keeps reading my fics, thanks a lot. I just posted another story. I know it's another start… But I have gone a long way with it since I've been writing it for a long time. So I will be posting the chapters weekly, that's a promise. It's called Somewhere in Time. Hope you guys would read it too… **

**CHAPTER 4MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE**

Carla stirred upon hearing the raucous ringing of her celphone. She opened her eyes, and immediately searched for the wall clock hanging somewhere in the room.

It was 4:30 a.m….

_Who the hell is calling me at this hour? _Carla rubbed her eyes off of sleep, then extracted herself from Katie's arms, and got up from the bed. Lazily, she reached for the celphone which was idly rested on top of the vanity table.

"Hello…" Carla answered groggily. She didn't even bother to look at the caller ID.

"_Farrell, get your hot ass back here in LA now!" _The demanding voice of her female agent echoed through the early hour of the morning, nearly causing Carla momentary deafness. If she isn't as good as she claims to be, Carla would have fired Sarah Grasso years ago. But the said agent is the reason why she is where she is now.

"Sarah? What the hell? I'm on vacation!" Carla answered in exasperation. She doesn't feel too sleepy now. Throwing a short glance at her sleeping girlfriend, and trying not to wake her, Carla walked away from the bed, and headed outside of the hut. She stood on the lit porch, with her celphone on her right hand.

"_Well, your vacation is officially over, 'coz you have to come back!" _Sarah was sounding more frustrated than ever. Something must have came up.

"I'm not coming back now. We've talked about this. You're not even supposed to call me while I'm here." Carla was getting apparently annoyed now. Not only did Sarah wake her up in a middle of a really good sleep; she was also asking her to come back to LA right that instant. Of course, that's not gonna happen. She hasn't had a vacation for years.

"_Want to hear about the Pirelli Calendar?" _Sarah knew exactly how to perk her client up. Carla paused, anticipating what Sarah would ask her to do next. Sarah, on the other line, grins at the lack of response from Carla. Silence usually means positive on her part.

"_You need to board the first plane out of that country and start shooting as soon as you arrive. Your entourage will be waiting for you at the airport." _Sarah said in a tone that Carla couldn't complain. But Carla is about to.

"I'm not leaving before this vacation is over, Sarah. I deserve this break." Carla said firmly, making sure that Sarah understands she had already made a decision.

"_Farrell, you have no choice."_

"Of course I do. It's not my fault they kept changing the schedule and failed to set a definite time. And now you're calling me to tell me that we're doing the photoshoot today, when I'm halfway across the world? Forget it." Carla gruffs. Sarah paused. The supermodel is as feisty as her.

"_You signed a contract."_

"Are you threatening me? 'Coz I'm not scared. Did you totally forget? I'm about to marry the best defense lawyer in LA, and probably the country." Carla said proudly. Sarah paused; Carla has a point. Katie Singer didn't become a celebrity lawyer for her looks. There is something more about her than just her twisted brains…

Sarah knew she's the one who has no choice. She needs to find a solution, a compromise.

"_Okay… We need to find some sort of a middle ground here. We need to meet halfway." _Sarah was drumming her fingers on top of her desk now, running different possibilities in her head.

"If you're thinking about LITERALLY meeting halfway and flying me and the photographer to Singapore or somewhere nearer to shoot, you can hang up now." Sarah was actually thinking that, but Carla forced her to drop it before she could even start. Now, that's not an option anymore.

Carla was almost starting to get sleepy again. She yawns, and she yawns again, exaggerating it so Sarah could hear on the other line. Sarah knew she has to give into Carla's demands this time… Or they lose the contract and get an injunction. The ironic truth is, Katie Singer could actually win the case for her girlfriend, and worst case scenario, Carla Farrell is surely going to fire her… So…

"_I'll talk to the Pirelli team. Is there any good photographer there?" _Sarah was already scribbling notes and numbers on a paper, mouthing instructions to an already rattled secretary. She handed the secretary the note.

"What exactly are you planning?" Carla narrows her eyes in suspicion.

"_Can you find a team who can help you facilitate your own photoshoot?" _Sarah waited agitatedly for her secretary to come back.

"I don't know, I'm not sure. I'm in an island, Sarah. They don't even have a decent hospital here. They have clinics." Carla was starting to get interested at the idea.

"_You have cameras, right?"_

"Everyone here does."

"_Professional digital ones?" _

"Yeah. Katie brought hers. I think my friends brought theirs too." Carla replied. In LA, the secretary finally came back, and signaled an okay to Sarah. Sarah nods.

"_Great. The Pirelli team is on the line now. I'm going sort this thing out with them, and give them a suggestion where both you and their team will benefit. Okay?"_

"Can I go back to sleep?" Carla asks in a hopeful tone.

"_No. I'm calling you again soon. Ciao." _And the line went dead. Carla let out a deep sigh. She stared at her celphone for a few seconds, then she heard a sound of a door that closed. From where she stood, she saw Jessie coming out of their hut.

"Jessie?" Carla calls out. Meanwhile, it was only then that Jessie realized that Carla was standing in their porch.

"Hey…" Jessie greets back. She wondered why Carla was awake. It was dark and really cold. The perfect time to cuddle up with someone… If she was Carla, she definitely wouldn't be up this early and pass up the opportunity to cuddle with Katie… She herself wasn't able to sleep, because no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get Katie's face out of her mind…

"How are you?" Carla asks in concern. She peeked at the clinic that fateful afternoon when Jessie was brought in, and saw the said doctor writhing in pain. The jellyfish had done a really serious damage. They had to bandage Jessie's leg, because it was so red and swollen.

"Better." Jessie replied. "Why are you awake?"

"My agent called and wants me to go back to LA right now." Carla chuckles. She could just imagine Sarah's face right now. Jessie's face almost fell. Carla going back to LA means Katie going with her…

Then Carla continued.

"But the hell with her. I'm not about to end this amazing vacation to work, though that decision might burden you and the rest of my friends instead." Carla chuckles. Jessie's face contorts inquisitively.

"Meaning…?"

"You guys have no choice but to become my temporary photoshoot crew for the day…" Carla smiles apologetically at Jessie… And for the first time, she sees why Katie had fallen in love with Carla…

Jessie let out a chuckle, her envious stare going unnoticed…

"The thing is, we need to find some professional photographers in this island to help us. 'Coz I can't be the model and the photographer at the same time." Carla laughs. Jessie smiles.

"Well, maybe Adrian can help you." Jessie suggests, remembering how her artistic boyfriend spends his free time in different continents in-between flights. Photography is his hobby.

"I thought he's a pilot?" Carla perks up, but asks in curiosity. Any help would be deeply appreciated right now.

"He is... But he takes photos as a hobby."

"Is he good?" Carla asks eagerly, ready to sign Adrian in for this unexpected high-paying side job. Jessie chuckles.

"I have to say that he's great." Jessie smiles. Carla grins.

"Awesome! As soon as he wakes up, tell him that he's my official photographer for the day. And warn him not to complain, okay? He doesn't have a choice." Carla winks at Jessie, and Jessie slightly blushes...

_Carla mirrors Katie in a way... _Jessie couldn't help but think.

Hours later...

"Tell me, why are we awake so early again?" Nikki whined, as Kim pulled her out from the couch. She was dragging her faineant friend out of the door. Kim even had to force her to get dressed that morning.

"Weren't you paying any attention at all?" Kim said irritatedly, throwing a deadly look at Nikki, who realizes it's better not to argue with Kim this morning. She isn't feeling too cheery. Ah, Nikki hates Kim's mood swings…

"Hey, chill. I was just asking. Besides, it's our vacation. Why do we have to work?" Nikki shrugs. Kim stops dragging her, and Nikki follows her friend out of Fridays in her own will.

"Carla is our friend and we're going to help her. That's what friends do." Kim said seriously. She doesn't fancy being woken up so early either, but she values friendship above all.

"Can't she secure the services of the professionals? Some people actually do this for money, you know."

"Nikki, will you shut up for a moment, please? You're really making a generous contribution to my headache." Kim sighs. Her head really felt so heavy when she woke up, but it didn't stop her from getting up. Nikki moves a step away from Kim. Her friend is acting unusually cranky today. Better keep her distance than get lashed on by an irritated psychologist who might actually go psycho on her.

"Fine, just relax." Nikki raises both her arms in defeat.

"And don't worry, you're gonna get paid, big time." Kim increases her pace. Nikki, who happens to be smaller, manages to catch up with her.

"Good."

In Katie and Carla's room at Saigon Huts... Carla had already packed all of her swimsuits and was contemplating to buy new ones for the impromptu photoshoot. Sarah, as promised, had called again and informed her that the Pirelli team agreed on her proposal of an impromptu photoshoot in the Philippines, as long as they follow the specified theme of the photoshoot. Sarah, consequently, relayed the information regarding the theme.

They haven't found any location yet, but they'll do the location hunting at the same time. So, basically, they would be moving around, setting up the sets and taking photos wherever it looks good. That's why she needed all the help she can get from their friends.

And as soon as they are done, Carla could send the digital photos through email. If the Pirelli team rejects it, she could just re-shoot. Well, Carla hope they won't have to. The reason why she came to this vacation was to spend all of her time with Katie... And so far, Sarah was making it impossible.

"Katie, come on, wake up. We're about to set up. Sarah is really giving me a hard time. We need to finish this shoot soon so I could get her off my back then we could go island hopping as we planned. Come on." Carla calls out to her still sleeping girlfriend, but Katie didn't move in the bed. After another few calls, Katie still didn't answer. So, Carla headed to the bed and sat beside Katie, nudging her to wake up.

"Katie, Katie?" Carla shakes Katie out of sleep. Katie merely stirs on the bed. Then she finally opens her eyes.

"Hmm?" Katie looks up at Carla.

"We're doing an impromptu photoshoot for the Pirelli calendar." Carla smiles at Katie. Katie smiles back. But she feels so heavy, she barely moved.

"But I want to stay in bed…" Katie whines and closes her eyes again. Carla smiles. Then, she runs her hand in Katie's right arm. She paused. Katie's skin felt hotter than usual. Carla then lifts her right hand up Katie's forehead.

Katie has a fever.

"Oh my God… Katie, you're sick." Carla slightly panics.

"So, can I just stay in bed?" Katie opens her eyes again and looks pleadingly at Carla. Carla frowns.

"Of course you can stay in bed. Why didn't you tell me earlier that you're not feeling well? I'm calling this photoshoot off. Sarah could just shove the cameras up her ass. I'm staying with you." Carla gets up to find her celphone. Katie grabs a hold of her right hand before Carla could walk away.

"No…"

"What?" Carla asks in almost disbelief.

"I'll be fine. You need to do this. You signed a contract. Go." Katie assures Carla. Carla stares at her.

"I don't want to leave you when you're like that. Who's gonna take care of you?" Carla said worriedly. She sits on the bed again.

"You'll be back in time to take care of me." Katie smiles. Carla caresses Katie's face again.

"Someone has to stay here with you. I wouldn't be able to concentrate if all I could worry about is you. I have to think of something." Carla gets up from the bed again and walks out of the hut before Katie could even argue.

At the other hut opposite theirs, Jessie was alone in the bedroom while Adrian was excitedly setting up his laptop and camera equipments in the small living room by the front door. Jessie was standing by the closet, and pulls out a purple colored bottle, about 8 inches long, containing a parchment, sealed with a cork. The cork visibly had been opened many times before, indicated by its torn edges.

This was the reason why Jessie was so eager to attend this reunion-vacation: to throw that letter back into the water where it belongs; to clear some things with Katie that kept bothering Jessie for years, and to be able to move on… She had been holding on to something she knew she was better off letting go… 'Coz even after years of being scared, she never got used to the fear; or to the feelings that she had been so scared to admit…

But when she saw Katie again, it just all came slapping her in the face… She couldn't let it go… Because no matter how many times she denies it, she could hardly convince herself, more so, her heart… And on the verge of death, when life was almost taken away from her, she could only think of one person…

Katie Singer…

Jessie stares at the bottle for a while. She lifts up a hand and begins to pull the cork. Then she pulls the parchment out, which has her name scribbled on it… JESSIE ELIZABETH SAMMLER, Evanston, Illinois… Droplets of dried tears apparently caused some parts of the used ink to fade… Whether it was Jessie's tears or of the one who wrote it, Jessie couldn't tell anymore.

The letter was written almost 11 years ago… When Jessie was only 16 years old… Or at least that's what the date in the letter implies; the 19th day of February 2002… Besides, the letter does really look that old…

_Dear Jessie,_

_I'm not sure why I'm writing this… This probably wouldn't even reach you… I must be driving myself crazy already, 'coz that's what I've been doing lately, it's just that… I'm in love with you…_

_A part of me wants to let you know how I am feeling, but the bigger part of me is just wanting to run away, 'coz I know, you and I can never happen… It's just not meant to be…_

_We agreed to be friends, I know… But as time passes by, I don't think I'm capable of dealing with this friendship anymore… Don't get me wrong, I love being with you. Hell, I'd give up everything just to be given a chance with you, but that's not possible either… Unless I sold myself to the devil, I don't think I'm ever getting that chance with you… So I might as well stop dreaming… Friendship is good, right? 'Coz there's no break up, no jealous rage, no expectations, we can always stay in each other's lives. But it's not good enough anymore…_

_What I'm saying is that, I can't be just friends with you. I just can't. It's pure, sweet torture just hanging around you… Look, I'm not asking you for something more. I don't want anything you don't want…_

_I'm not trying to hurt you, 'coz somehow, I know how important this friendship is for you, but I want to move on and forget you… Okay, so forgetting you is impossible, but at least you have to let me try… Seeing you everyday is just not gonna help…_

_I'm such a coward… I can't tell you in person how I feel, now I can't even say goodbye. This is probably the lamest goodbye ever, in the history of mankind, 'coz I had to stuff this stupid letter inside this stupid bottle in a really old-fashioned way, and it's even crazier to hope that somehow, someday, it reaches you… But I told you, I'm not brave enough, and hope is all that I have…_

_I really need to let you go…_

_I love you… God, I've never felt such incredible feeling… You have no idea what your smile can do to me… Or when you're looking at me… Sometimes, I wish that you'd never look at anyone else… But then again, that's another wishful thinking… I'm afraid I'll never be good enough for you…_

_Please don't think I'm selfish for doing this… I want you to be happy, that's all I want for you… But this time, I want to be happy too… I'm not saying that I'm not happy when I'm with you, but the pain always goes along with it… And it kills me inside everytime…_

_I'm sorry… I didn't mean to complicate things… Trust me, I didn't fall in love with you on purpose, 'coz if I can control my heart, I wouldn't be writing this letter, believe me… I don't want to come to the point that I would blame you for this pain that I know nobody else caused, but me… Though I'll always love you, and I'd probably never gonna love somebody else like I love you, I need this time away from you… And I'm hoping that I'd find the strength to do that this time…_

_Goodbye, Jessie…_

_Love, _

_The one person you've always believed to be destined to do great things… _

She just arrived in Australia back then, with her dad, stepmother, and Zoe. Eli could already support himself, and their mother Karen let him stay with her in Evanston, so he got to stay. Meanwhile, Grace got accepted in Northwestern, and there was no way that she's flying all the way to Australia and just drop her bright future waiting in the said university, that she had worked hard for years. Grace lived in a dorm anyway.

_It was her first week in Australia, and she felt so depressed, and she felt so alone. So she went to the nearest beach, stayed in the sand for hours, and waited for the sunset. While sitting at a build up of rocks and watching that sunset, she heard a clinking of something not so far away from where she was sitting. When she looked around to find the cause of the noise, her eyes fell on something that was floating on the water, hitting the side of the rocks so hard due to the strong current. She picked it up. It was an ordinary bottle with a letter stuffed inside it. Jessie couldn't help but laugh in amusement. Some people are actually taking this message-in-a-bottle thing too seriously. So, she opened it. And imagine her shock upon seeing the name scribbled in it…_

_JESSIE ELIZABETH SAMMLER, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS…_

Australia was amazing: the animals in the zoos, the unbelievably picturesque sceneries, the beaches. It was all great, like going to a permanent vacation. But it wasn't as great as Jessie thought it would be. Her heart kept longing for something… For someone… But she tried to fight it, because it wasn't expected of her; in one way or another, despite the liberation of the world from intolerance and chauvinism, and then the beginning of the 21st century, bigots remained, and what they think always mattered to Jessie. Besides, she already hurt that someone, and she knew she would keep hurting that someone, even if she tried not to…

So, the writer of the letter didn't leave her name. HER… Jessie was pretty sure it was a 'her'. No doubts about it. The handwriting was all too familiar to her. She knew she couldn't be wrong, even if 'her' didn't leave that one last clue as to her identity. Jessie always believed in this person, in everything that she did; and believed that that one person truly is meant to do great things in this world, to make a difference, to make the world better… And that she will become the best LAWYER the world would ever see…

And she believed right…

"Hey Jessie, I was wondering if you could---" Before Carla could finish her sentence, the loud crashing of a bottle falling on the floor surprised her. She obviously surprised Jessie with the sudden intrusion, 'coz she didn't even knock and just opened the bedroom door. Jessie hastily went down on her knees and started picking up the pieces of the broken bottle, the piece of parchment lay on the floor along with the shreds of glass. Carla ran over to her to help her.

"Oh my God, are you okay?!" Carla panics again.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Jessie forces a smile.

"I'm sorry, Adrian told me I could find you here so I went straight over, I really need your help. Are your bleeding?" Carla couldn't help but blame herself. She should have knocked! But she was too worried about Katie.

"I'm okay. Don't worry. What can I do for you anyway?" Jessie was still picking up the shreds of glass, and Carla was helping her.

"Well, first, I want to thank you for convincing Adrian to help me in this Pirelli calendar thing…"

"Oh, he doesn't need much convincing, believe me." Jessie chuckles. Carla then picks up the parchment paper, and she hands it to Jessie.

"Uhm, here… What's this?" Carla was about to look over the letter, and Jessie, looking like a deer caught in headlights, immediately snatches it from Carla's hands. Carla was surprised at what Jessie did, but let it pass. She wouldn't want anyone to pry with her things either.

"It's a draft of my stepsister's wedding invitation." Jessie lies. Zoe Manning is nowhere near getting married. The rebellious younger stepsister even vowed never to get married. The feisty brunette doesn't believe in commitments. Anyhow, Jessie loves her, and hopes Zoe doesn't choke, and that she would forgive her for using her name in this one white lie.

"Zoe?" Carla had heard about Zoe from Grace. But she hadn't actually met the famous Zoe yet.

"Yeah…" Jessie steers the topic away from the parchment she was clutching in her hand. Carla couldn't know about it.

"Okay."

"So, what's the second reason why you're here?" Jessie inquires from the other blonde. Carla suddenly remembers Katie.

"Katie's sick. I think she has a fever. I don't really have any idea what to do. I want to stay and cancel the photoshoot, but I can't. And Katie wouldn't let me breach my contract. So, I was hoping that you could help me with this." Carla says almost apologetically at Jessie.

"You want me to check on her?"

"That. And to take care of her until I get back." Carla was a bit hesitant to ask Jessie a favor, and was a bit embarrassed that she has to go to a photoshoot instead of take care of her girlfriend, but she has to go. Jessie's heart almost jumped out of her chest. Alone time with Katie would be much appreciated now, since she couldn't seem to stop thinking about her lately.

"I mean, if that's okay with you." Carla continues.

"Yeah, of course. No problem." Jessie smiles.

"I don't want to leave you or burden you with this. But you're the most qualified. And I would feel secure knowing that Katie is safe with you." Carla smiles. Jessie almost chokes. Carla trusts her more than anyone. It's a good feeling, but at the same time it puts her in a very difficult situation. Carla Farrell doesn't seem to be as nasty as the tabloids described her on her pre-rehabilitation days.

And that makes Jessie feel guilty about thinking of Katie Singer the way that she is thinking of her right now…

And she doesn't want to like Carla. Because the more she sees how nice she is, and how beautiful she is, inside and outside, Jessie becomes more and more insecure. Having the gorgeous blonde supermodel in front of her, her insecurities are taking its toll.

_Katie is obviously happy with her._ Jessie thought.

So, the whole 'crew' set out to their mission, with Carla leading them, but without Jessie and Katie. Kim wondered where the two were, but after Carla informed them about the 'Katie situation', Kim wasn't a bit relieved. Leaving Katie with Jessie just doesn't sound like a good idea… Well, for Carla's sake. She has no idea what kind of situation she had put her girlfriend into.

Hours passed…

"Carla…" Katie calls out. Jessie, who is sitting at a nearby chair watching Katie, felt an invisible squeeze in her heart upon hearing Katie call out Carla's name. Thinking that Katie might be needing something, Jessie, despite of feeling her voice being caught up in her throat, managed to pull some of her vocal chords.

"Uhm, she's already left… Katie, do you need anything?" Jessie asks in concern. She gets up from her seat and stops beside Katie's bed. The dirty blonde was asleep when she and Carla came in, and she decided it would be better not to wake her up. The medicines could be taken when she's awake. She lifted a hand on Katie's forehead and estimated her temperature to be about 38 degrees.

Katie's eyes shot open at the sound of a different, but familiar soft voice on her right. Her eyes fell on a blurry vision of another blonde, but she was sure, in her groggy state, that it wasn't her girlfriend.

"Feeling better?" Jessie smiles. She walks to the small kitchen to fetch some water and food. When she got back, she pulled out a breakfast tray and put the water and food over, along with a medicine Jessie had brought with her from her room.

"Jessie?" Katie could swear she's dreaming. She had dreamed of Jessie as the first person she sees when she wakes up in the morning. And now, she could only think of it as a dream…

_Damn dream… _Katie sighs and closes her eyes again. Only to have it shot wide open upon feeling Jessie's soft, delicate right hand on her forehead. She could swear she felt something! Like some sort of want, desire, whatever it is…

"Jessie?" Katie repeats in disbelief. Now this couldn't be a dream. Jessie is definitely in her room.

"Yeah, that's me." Jessie chuckles. She sits on the bed, still holding the tray of breakfast for Katie. "Come on, get up. You need to eat."

Katie gets up, slowly. Her head still feels so heavy. She looks around, and Jessie notices.

"I told you, she has left already. If you need anything, feel free to tell me." Jessie smiles, and Katie almost passed out when Jessie reached out to touch her forehead again. Katie grows visibly stiff while sitting on her bed, while Jessie, oblivious as to the effect she made on Katie, puts the tray on the bed. She then pulls something from the bedside table. Katie looks mortified.

"What's that?" Katie flinches in the bed, her eyes widening without looking at what Jessie was actually holding.

"It's a thermometer." Jessie replies. But Katie remained distant. Jessie looks up at her and sees the expression on her face.

"Thermometer? Are you sure?" Katie finally loosens up, letting out a deep breath. Jessie watches her in amusement before realizing why Katie flinched. Katie has a phobia on syringes.

"Singer, you are such a kid. I'm not going to inject you with anything." Jessie laughs.

"Who are you calling a kid?" Katie replies indignantly. She then takes a bite of the ham and cheese on the breakfast tray. Jessie merely shakes her head in amusement.

"Now, where do you want me to put this?" Jessie ignores Katie's defensive remark and lifts up the thermometer on Katie's face. Katie frowns.

"Huh?"

"Do you want it on your mouth or on your butt?" Jessie tried to make a straight face as another horrified look crosses Katie's face. She missed this: making fun of Katie. Katie swallowed the bite of ham and cheese without even chewing it.

"What difference would it make?" Katie grabs the bottle of water and gulps it down.

"Nothing really. They would produce the same results." Jessie smiles toothily. "Now open your mouth."

Katie does as ordered, and Jessie puts the thermometer in her mouth.

"I was going to choose 'butt'." Katie said, or more like gargled. She spoke with the thermometer in her mouth. Jessie laughs.

"Really? You looked scared as hell." Jessie pokes Katie on the shoulder, and Katie couldn't help but giggle. "Keep that on your mouth or your dead." Jessie says in mock warning.

"Is this even clean?" Katie gargled again. "Or have you used it on someone's ass already?" Katie narrows her eyes playfully on Jessie, and Jessie shrugs. Katie's eyes widen. Jessie, satisfied with the look on the dirty blonde's face, plasters a grin on her own.

"Do you realize how funny you look now?" Jessie laughs, grabs Katie's spoon and fork, and gets a bite of the ham and cheese.

"That's not so amusing, Jessie." Katie frowns.

"Haha." Jessie mocks her even more. The doctor glances at her wristwatch. 30 seconds.

"Why would someone even want anything like this on their ass?" Katie frowns. She plays with the hem of her blanket.

"Well, nobody actually likes it. It's just that they have no choice."

"Oh."

"Open your mouth."

Katie follows as ordered again, and Jessie pulled the thermometer out of Katie's mouth. She reads the thermometer, and it reads 37.5 degrees.

"You'll be fine." Jessie assures Katie.

"Who said I wasn't?" Katie frowns. Jessie puts the thermometer back to the nightstand and grabs the medicine.

"Well, your girlfriend was pretty worried." Jessie says quietly. Somehow, the mention of the 'girlfriend' suddenly created a tension in the atmosphere. Katie paused, thinking of what to say, and later spoke again.

"Yeah, I have to say she's a worrier… She came to you?" Katie inquires at Jessie, who wasn't looking up at her.

"Yeah…"

"Sorry to bother you…" Katie said apologetically. Jessie finally looks up at her again.

"You're not bothering me." Jessie reassures Katie.

At the photoshoot… The group had already taken a couple of shots of Carla, mostly in the sand, then in the water. But Adrian wasn't satisfied, neither Carla. For a moment, while being lost in her world of modeling, she forgot about Katie. It's usually her getaway, her escape from everything… Not that she needs to forget Katie… It's just that, even when Katie was not in her life yet, this is her haven… And it still hasn't changed…

"Aren't you guys even hungry? I haven't had anything since Kim dragged me out of bed this morning." Nikki complains while walking in the sand, pulling a bag of bikinis they bought from the beach stores for Carla's shooting outfit. They are walking on search for another location. She was walking behind Adrian and Carla, side by side with Kim, and behind them were Grace and Tad.

Carla turns around but continues walking, giving Nikki a death glare.

"Is that all you could ever think about?" Carla snarls at Nikki. Kim, who still wasn't in the mood, merely glares at her whiny friend.

"What, food?" Nikki mock smiles, and acts ignorant. Carla rolls her eyes.

"You can eat later, you know." Carla sneers at Nikki.

"Easy for you to say… You're a model." Nikki insults Carla purposely, which made Carla's ear turn visibly red. She stops walking. Kim looks alarmed, and shifted her eyes back and forth Carla and Nikki. Nikki looks dismissive and imperturbed.

"Girls, we need to go now." Adrian tries to mediate to avoid a possible girl fight. Carla could feel her jaws tightening while staring back at Nikki, who wasn't a bit affected at all. And it kills Carla to know that Nikki could beat her with her insults. Carla turns around and starts walking again.

"Stop stereotyping me." Carla says loud enough for Nikki to hear. She tried to think of something to say, but couldn't think of anything smart. She throws a look at Kim, who was giving her a don't-you-even-dare-say-anything-stupid look.

"And no one forced you to be here." Carla growled. Nikki lets out a sarcastic laugh, which earns her a slap at the back of her head from behind. When she turned around, it looked like Grace wasn't so amused with her either. But Tad was. He just couldn't say anything out of fear of getting beaten by his own wife.

"I'm not here on my own free will either." Nikki growls back.

"Nikki, will you just shut the hell up?" Grace finally speaks up. She was tired, and hungry, but she knew this isn't the time to complain. Nikki needs the photos as soon as possible. And as soon as they finished this shoot, the faster they could do whatever the hell they want. But Nikki isn't helping.

Nikki, who isn't a bit scared of Grace, turns her head around, mockingly drops her jaw in fake scare, then grins. Grace could swear she could have hit Nikki again in the face, this time would have been harder, if Tad didn't squeeze her right hand.

"Let it go Grace… You're just tired." Tad smiles at Grace.

"The hell I am…" Grace replies. Tad moves closer and gives Grace a kiss on the cheek, then a smile slowly forms in Grace's face. Nikki, who was purposely listening to the newlyweds behind them, exaggerates a shudder.

"Geez, get a room, will you?"

Back at Saigon Huts…

"So, how did you meet?" Jessie asks Katie. She was still sitting on the bed, helping Katie finish her breakfast, which the dirty blonde found hard to finish. So, Jessie decided to join her. Jessie isn't sure why she was asking, she's in between wanting to know and not knowing. It probably would even be better if she doesn't know, but the curiosity is killing her.

"What?"

"You and Carla…"

Katie stops munching her ham and cheese. She looks up to meet Jessie's eyes, to find out why she was asking about Carla, but couldn't find any clues. Jessie half-smiles, then takes another bite of the ham and cheese she prepared for Katie.

"Uhm… Fashion week, in LA." Katie smiles. It was funny how they first met. Carla had just gotten out of rehab for the third time, and she found the blonde supermodel at the bar in the after-party, trying to decide whether to gulp the glass of Smirnoff in her right hand, or the glass of coke in her left.

"Wow…" Jessie tried to mask her jealousy with her cheeriest voice.

"Yeah, I had to follow her everywhere so I could make sure that she doesn't drink a drop of alcohol that night…" Katie chuckles at the memory. Carla even tried to hit her in the head with her pouch, but luckily, she dodged it quite effectively. The supermodel tried to get rid of her all night, but Katie didn't leave her alone. Not once… And since then, not ever.

"Oh…" Jessie doesn't exactly know how to react. Katie looks amused.

"I could have said the same." Katie said, which made Jessie blush. "It was Carla's post-rehab days…"

"You saved her." Jessie says, realizing how painful that truth was. She almost choked just by saying it. She picks up the glass of water from the breakfast tray and takes a sip.

"No I didn't."

"Yes, you did." Jessie says with a bit pride. Despite how much it hurts, Katie still, is the person she had always been.

"Or at least the tabloids said so… Not that I have anything against it. Their publicity earned me more clients and more admirers than I could ever imagine." Katie jokes, then grins. Jessie laughs. Katie might have joked about it but she knew perfectly that it was at the same time, factual.

"How do you keep them off?" Jessie was half-curious. Even long before Katie was a famous defense lawyer, back in Evanston, she already had a band of admirers willing to give their life for her.

"Oh I don't. I just try to be discreet." Katie plasters an evil grin. Jessie smiles, then it fades as fast as it appeared.

"Come on, you wouldn't do that to Carla."

_Ouch… _Deep inside, Jessie could feel a stinging in her heart… Even worse than the stinging caused by that jellyfish that almost killed her. Katie and Jessie fall into silence.

"Yeah… I wouldn't…" Katie says sincerely… They locked eyes, but Jessie was the first to look away before tears could actually form in her own eyes. "Like you wouldn't do to Adrian…"

Jessie decided not to say anything. The lump in her throat was preventing her from speaking anyway. She took a moment, reached for the medicine that was rested on the breakfast tray along with the plate, and she opened it. After successfully shedding the medicine off from its protective wrapper, she looks up at Katie.

"Open your mouth." Jessie commands the now frowning lawyer.

"Again?" Katie's forehead contorts.

"It's only paracetamol." Jessie raises the medicine in her right hand so Katie could see it.

"I puke medicines out. I'd rather have a bottle of Jack Daniels." Katie whines. Jessie raises her eyebrow.

"If you puke it out, I will make you eat everything back." Jessie looks seriously at Katie. Katie, for a moment, was scared at the authority Jessie was projecting in front of her. In real life, she is scared of Jessie, for a lot of reasons.

"Euuw, now I want to puke." Katie's jaw drops.

"Katie."

"What?"

"Do you want me to use force?" Jessie narrows her eyes on Katie. Katie slightly blushes, but then grins.

"Would it involve handcuffs and blindfolds?" It was too late when Katie realized she had said it out loud for both of them to hear. Simultaneously, both their faces flushed bright red. Jessie was smiling, but red; and Katie was looking apparently embarrassed, and too red.

_Casual flirting… _Katie tried to convince herself.

"No, but it might involve my hands forcing your mouth to open." Jessie chuckles.

"But I don't want to drink any---" Katie was cut off, as Jessie moved closer, reached out with her left hand clasping both sides of her cheeks, and forces it to open. Katie tried to fight Jessie, but Jessie was stronger, or maybe Katie actually let her be the stronger one…

Jessie managed to pry Katie's mouth open, and tossed the medicine into the dirty blonde's luscious mouth…

_Quit fantasizing about her mouth, Jessie… _Jessie lets out a deep breath.

"Uhm… You should go back to sleep. Get some rest. I'll be here." Jessie motioned to the small couch sitting not so far away from them after giving Katie her glass of water. Katei gulps the water down. Jessie then picks the breakfast tray and brings it back to the kitchen. When she got back, Katie was looking intently at her.

"But the couch is too far away. What if I had a nightmare, or if I go on seizure… Wouldn't you be too far away from me?" Katie displays her puppy dog eyes. Jessie chuckles in amusement and crosses her arms.

"It's barely 10 feet away." Jessie narrows her eyes on Katie.

"It's still 10 feet."

"You wouldn't have any nightmare, and you're not epileptic so you're not gonna have a seizure." Jessie shakes her head.

"Stay beside me."

"Doctors don't sleep with their patients…" Jessie says, then realizing how that might have sound, she rephrased. "I mean, doctors don't sleep beside their patients." Jessie chuckles again at her own silliness.

"Yeah, but friends sleep beside their friends… Come on Jess, for old time's sake." Katie smiles. She isn't sure why she wanted Jessie by her side. She really wasn't feeling good since she woke up that morning. But having Jessie around was making her feel better. And she loves feeling that way.

Jessie remembered that day when she came back to her mother's house, in highschool. She ditched class, and Katie went with her. They stayed in her room, with nothing to do but stare into each other's eyes. She isn't sure why they do that. Sometimes, they just get lost at each other's eyes to even notice they were lost. Okay, that's pretty confusing, but that's what it was to her.

"Okay, for old time's sake." Jessie smiles. Katie then makes a room for her, and moves to one side of the bed. Jessie takes her slippers off, and climbs into the bed, beside Katie.

"Be there when I wake up, okay?" Katie smiles.

"Okay… Get some rest, Katie…" Jessie smiles back. Katie closes her eyes, with the smile still plastered in her face…

Meanwhile, Carla's group had already assembled another set at another part of the island. Adrian was already making calls, trying to locate the best private resorts in the island so they could do more shoots in new locations. So far, he isn't satisfied with anything that they have done.

It took them another few hours before Carla decides that they should head back to their rooms. She was tired, and she could see all of her friends are tired too. Well, except for Adrian. The guy seems too thrilled to even recognize exhaustion. Carla wanted to go back to their hut so badly. Katie might still be sick, and her girlfriend needs her.

So, they walked back… They all decided to drop by Saigon Huts, at Adrian's and Jessie's place to see the shots they have made.

"Why don't you all stay here? I'll order us something." Adrian suggests with a charming smile on his face.

"Good idea. How about pizza?" Tad's stomach grumbles, and everybody starts laughing.

"Tad's obviously hungry. I'll have anything you want. I don't care. As long as it's edible." Nikki grins.

"You'll anything, even if it's not edible." Carla frowns at Nikki. Nikki throws a flying kiss at Carla, and Carla winces.

"Yuck." Carla glances at her watch. "Guys, I'll see you later, okay? I have to go check on Katie. And besides, Jessie might also be hungry."

"I'll go with you." Grace gets up from the couch and follows Carla to the door. Kim throws a look at Nikki, and catches her staring at the direction of the door. Nikki notices Kim's stare and growls defensively.

"What?"

"Nothing." Kim shrugs, but looks suspiciously at Nikki.

Meanwhile, Carla and Grace were walking back to the opposite hut, where Katie and Jessie were supposed to be.

"I hope she's okay now." Grace says.

"Me too… Well, she's being guarded by a doctor, so, I can be assured that she is." Carla smiles. Then she opens the door. But she and Grace stops in the threshold. Jessie and Katie were sleeping side by side on the bed. It wouldn't have bothered Carla, knowing Jessie and Katie were friends.

Except that Jessie's head was resting on Katie's right shoulder, while Katie's left hand unconsciously rested in Jessie's stomach, both fast asleep.

"Oh…" It was the only word that Grace could utter at the moment.

This wouldn't have disturbed Grace and Carla, if the two didn't look so adorably perfect together. Carla knew it was for no reason, but she felt the green-eyed monster being woken up inside of her.

Grace and Carla stood by the door, watching the two sleep. Grace isn't really sure if they should do anything. If they should wake them up or they should just let them sleep.

Eventually, after a few seconds of stunned silence, Jessie stirs on the bed and open her eyes. She almost froze guiltily, upon seeing the two people standing by the doorway. Carla and Grace were watching them in confusion. Jessie bolted up from the bed, nearly knocking Katie in the face… Jessie gets out of the bed.

"Guys, you're here." Jessie said, trying to sound as casual as possible. She smiles at Carla, which Carla luckily returns. Jessie, for a moment there, was a bit scared that Carla might go on accusing them of something after catching her and Katie in bed together. Well, not really together, but you know.

"Aww…" Katie touches the side of her head that Jessie accidentally knocked with her own head. She slowly open her eyes, and finds her girlfriend, and Grace, walking into the room now. Trying to not look so guilty, she smiles at them.

"Baby, you're here…" Katie smiles at Carla. Carla walks to the bed and gives Katie a kiss on the lips. Jessie immediately tears her eyes away from the scene.

"How are you feeling?" Carla asks, while caressing Katie's cheeks.

"I'm okay… My doctor here took a really good care of me." Katie glances at Jessie. Jessie smiles sheepishly.

"Thanks." Carla said sincerely to Jessie.

"Yeah, well, I had to shove the medicine into her mouth. She gave me a hard time." Jessie chuckles. Carla chuckles with her.

"Forgive the kid." Carla jokes.

"I'm not a kid." Katie says indignantly. Grace laughs at her friend who was acting stupid right now.

"Well, anyway, I should go. I left the rest of the medicines in that drawer." Jessie points to the nightstand. "Let her take it every four hours."

"EVERY FOUR HOURS?" Katie's eyes widens.

"Make sure she takes it. Use force if you have to." Jessie instructs Carla. Carla laughs.

"I will. Thanks Jessie."

"You're welcome." Jessie smiles. Let's go Grace.

"Okay. See you later guys." Grace waves at Carla and Katie, and follows Jessie out of the door. The door had already closed behind them, but Carla was still staring at the place where Jessie had disappeared.

She couldn't explain it, but something suddenly scared her…

"Carla, you're not really gonna use force on me, are you?" Katie says cutely at Carla. Carla then was snapped out of her trance, and smiles at Katie.

"I will, if I have to."

Katie pouts, then decides she still wants to sleep…


	5. Exile Island

**CHAPTER 5EXILE ISLAND**

"You're kidding, right?" Nikki grumbles and buries her head back into her pillow, as Kim tries her best to drag her out of bed again that morning. After some serious pulling of arms and legs by the shorter girl, the taller one remained plastered in the cushy bed.

"Do you see me smiling?" Kim retorts at the stewardess, who barely looked at her. When still, Nikki didn't get up, Kim realizes it's time for a serious wake up call. She grabs the bed sheet, gathers her strength, and pulls it, resulting to Nikki's hard fall.

Nikki gets up, looking in shock and disbelief. The fall gave her a painful head butt with the floor.

"You've got issues, you know that?" Nikki glowers at Kim. Kim merely shrugs and heads for the door.

"I'll give you five minutes. Carla and friends are will be waiting at Saigon Huts." Kim was about to leave Nikki's room in the suite, when Nikki's unintentionally stops her in her tracks.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're pregnant." Nikki frowns while dusting herself up. She didn't realize Kim actually heard her.

"Excuse me?" Kim's voice echoed indignantly inside Nikki's room. Nikki's head snaps at Kim's direction and realizing that Kim heard her, she blushes deep crimson. Nikki forces a smile, and her eyes darts everyhere, looking for the nearest escape. Kim takes a few steps back to her petrified looking friend.

"Uhm… Shouldn't we have breakfast first?" Nikki changes the subject. Kim fixes her eyes on her.

"Why would you think that?" Kim asks curiously, as she narrows her eyes on Nikki.

"What?" Nikki plays innocent, which, I'll have you know, doesn't really fit her.

"I'm not pregnant." Kim says firmly. Nikki didn't know how to respond, so this time, she decided to shut up, which was good for her. 'Coz everytime she opens her mouth, it dooms her. So, Kim continued.

"Again, why would you think I'm pregnant? Am I getting fat?" Kim says worriedly now, and glances down at her own body. Nikki rolls her eyes.

"No, you're far from being fat." Nikki replies and rolls her eyes again. Kim could easily be chosen as the sexiest female in California. She heads to the bathroom for a quick shower, and Kim follows her.

"But why would you think I'm pregnant?" Kim says in an irritated tone.

"Uhm… Because your grouchiness is becoming a little too much lately?" Nikki reminds Kim. Well, Kim is usually moody, but not this much moody.

"That doesn't make me pregnant." Kim frowns.

"You should have an appointment with yourself." Nikki suggests in the most sincere tone, which earns her a glare from Kim again.

"What?" Kim frowns even more. Nikki stops to think, and then something seems to click in her head as the expression in her face lightens up, as if something just dawned on her.

"When was the last time you actually went out on a date?" Nikki inquires, that got Kim raising her right eyebrow.

"Why would you care?"

"Just answer the fucking question, Kim." Nikki fixes her eyes on her pondering friend. Kim's face softens.

"A year." Kim answers timidly, avoiding Nikkis' judgmental eyes. Nikki's eyes widen and her jaw drops.

"You're joking."

"No." Kim frowns again, trying to hide the embarrassment.

"Kim, seriously, you need to get laid!" Nikki screams. Kim looks stiff, and eyes Nikki seriously.

"I'm NOT sleeping wit YOU, Nikki." Kim crosses her arms.

"Hey, you're the one who suggested that, and that would have been welcome. Anyways, we're gonna go find someone for you tonight."

"Do I look desperate to you?" Kim sounds more indignant than ever.

"No, but still, you need to get laid."

"I don't need anything. Will you just go and change? People are actually waiting for us, you know." Kim pushes Nikki into the bathroom. Nikki follows Kim's orders and closes the bathroom behind her.

_Just when you thought she could never go crazier… _Kim shakes her head and glances at her watch.

At Saigon Huts, in Katie and Carla's room…

"So what do we do?" Katie asks Carla, who has her back on her. Carla was standing by the bed, preparing the swimsuits that she would be bringing along with them.

"We got to cancel it." Carla turns her head briefly to look at Katie, who was standing about five feet away from her.

"Cancel island hopping? Carla, it took me a week and a million phone calls to have sailboat reserved for us." Katie says in a disappointed tone. Island hopping is one of the main reasons why she suggested that they spend their vacation here. And it's not easy to get on the island hopping list. Boracay is a very famous beach resort, of world standards.

"I thought you wanted me to do the shoot?" Carla reminds Katie. She was disappointed that Sarah asked her to do a reshoot, 'coz their last shots seemed good enough as they wrapped up yesterday.

"That was yesterday, when we weren't scheduled to go island hopping. This is practically the best part of this vacation, Carla."

"Can we postpone it?" Carla turns around and leaves the swimsuits behind, walks towards Katie, and upon reaching her destination, she stops in front of the lawyer, and wraps her arms around her shoulders.

"We can't postpone… But we can cancel. They don't have much sailboats here, and they have thousands of tourists everyday who comes every now and then. We're lucky we're able to reserve one for today." Katie admits. Carla smiles.

"But I've started the shoot, and so I might as well finish it." They look each other in the eye and Katie sighs.

"Okay… That's okay." Katie smiles. Carla kisses her on the lips, then pulls away.

"Do you still want to go?"

"Of course. But since you're not going, then I'm definitely not going."

"Of course you are. You should go. You've been wanting to do this island hopping thing for like a year now. I'll be fine. We have enough manpower to facilitate the shoot." Carla says in a reassuring tone. She pulls away from the embrace and walks back to the bed, returning to her swimsuit packing.

"You want me to go alone? Do you know how boring that would be?" Katie pouts.

"You don't have to go alone. You can take one of our friends." Carla suggests. Then they heard knocks on their door. Katie walks over to open it, and at the door, stood Adrian and Jessie. She smiled at both of them, and let them inside the room. When Jessie walked past by her, Katie couldn't help but close her eyes…

_God, she smells so good… _Katie opens her eyes again, hoping nobody noticed how Jessie's mere presence enthralls her.

"Hey Carla." Adrian greets.

"Sorry to bother your quality time again, but I really needs you guys." Carla looks apologetically at Adrian and Jessie.

"Oh, you're not bothering us at all." Jessie smiles at Carla.

"We'll have plenty of that quality time when we're back in Australia, believe me." Adrian grins evilly and winks at Carla and Carla lets out a short laugh. Jessie slightly blushes, and Katie tries to block her ears from hearing Adrian's tattle prattles 'coz it makes her want to hack Adrian's head off.

"Anyway, the owner of that private resort who didn't call us back yesterday, he finally called this morning. He named his price and with the budget you specified, we're in." Adrian had reserved the best private resort in Boracay for their reshoot. He had seen it himself on their first day, and was glad that Carla has a lot of budget for this shoot.

"Perfect." Carla grins.

"Where are they?" Adrian looks for signs of Kim, Nikki, Grace and Tad, but they are still nowhere to be found.

"I'm assuming they're on their way over now. So much for Grace's punctuality." Carla remarks and laughs. Katie and Jessie's eyes met, and both pulled away with a sheepish smile.

"So, how are you doing Katie?" Adrian turns his attention to the rather silent dirty blonde.

"I'm fine, thanks." Katie smiles.

"Good, you'll definitely enjoy the shoot. Carla's supposed to pose in simulated nudity." Adrian grins mischievously. Katie slightly blushes, and Jessie fixes her eyes on the discomfited dirty blonde.

"Oh, she's not going with us." Carla informs her photographer.

"Why not?"

"I reserved this really nice sailboat so Carla and I could go island hopping. But since she's apparently unavailable, she wants me go to alone." Katie says in mock hurt. Carla walks over and gives her fiancée and playful slap on the right arm.

"I didn't say that. I said you could take one of your friends."

"And who exactly do you have in mind, Tad? He wouldn't go if Grace isn't going, and you need them in your crew. Kim is being exceptionally too hard on everybody lately, I think it's her period. And I'm certainly not going with Nikki. She talks a lot, and I still have a headache to tell you the truth." Katie says as-a-matter-of-factly, which got everybody laughing.

"Like I'm going to let you go with Nikki." Carla narrows her eyes on Katie, then chuckles.

"Jessie could come along. She had been wanting to go island hopping for a long time, but we we didn't know sailboats are supposed to be reserved here. The schedule is fully-booked at least until two months from now." Adrian suggests. Katie, Carla, and Jessie's eyes all focused on him. Katie stood stiff in anticipation, Carla considered his suggestion but wasn't feeling comfortable at all about it, and Jessie, doesn't know what to think.

Carla still isn't sure why, but after seeing Katie and Jessie sleeping side by side in their bed yesterday, something stirred inside of her. Although her fiancée's and the doctor's relationship is definitely platonic and innocent, that perfect image of them in her head just wouldn't go away. She knew she was somehow jealous of the blonde doctor, and she also knew that she has no reason to. But how can you not be jealous of this brilliant, beautiful, non-drinking, non-smoking, no-sordid-past pediatrician?

"Yeah, you should go together." Carla just heard herself spoke. She looks up at Katie.

_Don't be paranoid, Carla, the damn doctor is straight… _Carla forces a smile. Katie looks back at Carla. Jessie takes interest on the floor. She doesn't really want to participate in the on-going conversation 'coz she doesn't really know if she wants to go or not. After realizing how much Katie and Carla love each other, and how the former seems to be a really good person, Jessie wondered why she was given this second chance at life; or whether her second life means anything at all.

"You should go, Jessie." Adrian smiles at Jessie. Jessie looks up to meet his gaze and smiles back. She looks at Carla, and the supermodel gives her a nod. When she looks at the lawyer, she couldn't tell how Katie felt about the idea.

While Carla keeps convincing herself that she would feel better knowing that Katie wasn't going alone…

_Or would I? _Carla wondered.

At the private resort… Carla and her 'crew' were preparing to shoot, fortunately, they were the only people inside, so they wouldn't have to sway on-lookers, 'coz there wouldn't be any. Grace was helping her rub some sunblock on her back, while Carla was putting on some on her arms, while sitting on a chair.

"We have to get this right this time. It's ruining our vacation." Carla says seriously. Grace smiles.

"I have to agree with you." Grace replies.

"I'm sorry." Carla says sincerely.

"Hey, it's okay. Let's just get this over with, okay?" Grace smiles.

"My bitch of an agent is really good at her job, so we have to believe her when we need to do a reshoot. Really sorry." Carla chuckles.

"As long as she pays us, it's fine." Grace chuckles with her.

"You let Katie and Jessie go have some fun, while all of us are working our butt off here, tending to your stupid needs? This is unacceptable." Nikki's voice came in front of Carla and Grace. Grace and Carla simultaneously look up. Carla ignores her, while Grace gives her an odd look.

"I'm talking to you." Nikki crosses her arms. Grace gives her a warning look, but Nikki ignores her the same. Grace frowns.

"I'll let you two have your moment." Grace says in amusement, and walks away from both of them.

"Island hopping? Really sweet. I wonder why you didn't go with them?" Nikki, still crossing her arms, castigates the supermodel, who barely threw a glance.

"You want to leave? Fine, go ahead. I couldn't care less. I'd be relieved to get you off my back. And for your information, I'm not happy that Katie isn't with me now, okay?" Carla growls and Nikki and storms away. She walks to the nearest sunbathing chair and slumps on it. Nikki watches her for a while, before following her.

Carla, of course, knew Nikki was standing in front of her again.

"Why are you still here?" Carla pretends to be busy rubbing sunblock on her arms.

"Then why did you let her go island hopping without you?" Nikki asks curiously.

"I have something more important to do." Carla retorts. Nikki stares at her for a moment, before taking a seat in the sunbathing chair beside hers.

"What's up with you?"

"Like you care." Carla gruffs. Nikki rolls her eyes.

"If you wanted her by your side, you should have asked her to stay."

"What do you know about relationships? You can barely keep one." Carla says below the belt. Nikki felt a bit hurt, but didn't let it affect her. Carla is obviously going through something right now.

"Okay, I'll let that one go." Nikki says sincerely.

"I'm not asking you to." Carla says. She then closes the lid of the sunblock bottle and throws in grudgingly on the sand. Nikki watches Carla as the supermodel lies on the sunbathing chair on her back.

"Pretend that you don't hate me for a while, will you?" Nikki tries to keep her patience. If Carla was someone else, she would have already knocked her unconscious out of annoyance. Carla paused, then finally, turns her head and looks at Nikki.

"I don't hate you." Carla says sincerely. Nikki was visibly surprised.

"Really?" Nikki asks in disbelief. Carla gets up again. She sighs.

"Look, I'm sorry if I'm being more pain in the ass than I usually am… I don't know why I'm acting this way, I'm just…" Carla sighs for the thousandth time.

"Are you okay?" Nikki moves closer, this time, sitting beside Carla in concern.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Did Katie and Jessie ever date?" Carla looks up to meet Nikki's eyes. Nikki looks back in obvious confusion and amusement.

"What?"

"Did they ever date?"

"Katie and JESSIE? Jessie is as straight as a ruler." Nikki chuckles. "You're worried because Katie is away with Jessie?" Nikki was still amused. Carla frowns.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing. But there's nothing to worry about. Jessie, in case you forgot, is here with her boyfriend Adrian, who is standing right there." Nikki points to the direction where Adrian was instructing Tad and Kim about something. "Stop worrying."

"I can't help it. I don't know why I feel so scared of them being together, it's just… There's something about them. Haven't you heard of women instinct? They're often right."

"And I think your instinct is going haywire." Nikki looks sympathetically at Carla.

"You're probably right." Carla sighs again.

"Of course I'm right. So cheer up, okay?" Nikki says, and Carla finally smiles.

"Okay… I got to stop worrying now. I have to look good in my photos." Carla grins and gets up from the chair. Nikki gets up as well.

"You always look good." Nikki reassures her.

"Funny, Katie told me the same thing." Carla chuckles. From a distance, Adrian's voice could be heard.

"Hey Carla! We're up in a minute! You ready?!" Adrian asks and waves at Carla and Nikki's direction.

"Okay, we'll be there!" Carla screams at Adrian's direction. Adrian, along with Kim and Tad, gets into position. Grace could be seen walking over Carla's direction, holding a set of make up for the retouch.

"You know what I love about shooting photos of simulated nudity?" Carla grins at Nikki.

"Uhm, no." Nikki shakes her head.

"It makes you look sexy without revealing so much." Carla then pulls the string of her top bikini, and shoves it into Nikki's hands. Nikki, who wasn't ready with that move of Carla, felt herself grow stiff to where she stands. One roll of her eyes and she would see something she wasn't ready to see. So, she kept her eyes locked on Carla's face. Meanwhile, Carla lifted up the towel from the sunbathing chair and covered her front.

_Holy mother of God… _Nikki could feel hear hands trembling while holding Carla's bikini top.

"Keep it safe for me." Carla smiles at Nikki, and jogs to meet Grace. Grace the retouches her make up, and they both headed to Adrian's direction. The photoshoot started.

Meanwhile, Katie and Jessie, who were both wearing their bikinis as they boarded the small sailboat docked in the shore, barely looked at each other.

Hours passed. The photoshoot is going well. While Katie and Jessie's communication skills are not getting so well. They had visited three islands already, but they really haven't started a decent conversation. Yesterday, everything was okay. Both of them had no idea why, but the tension between them was utterly unavoidable. Jessie's bikini clad body wasn't helping…

Katie's thoughts flew back to that day when she saved Jessie from drowning: her lips on Jessie's lips giving her rescue breaths, and her hands pressing on Jessie's chest, between her breasts, giving her compressions to revive her… She could remember her hands trembling, her hands feeling Jessie's skin, and---

"What are you thinking?" Jessie's voice snaps Katie out of her daydream. She suddenly blushes deep crimson at the doctor's question. Sure, Jessie wouldn't want to know what she was thinking.

"Nothing." Katie replied in a rather high pitch. Jessie chuckles. Katie blushes even redder. They were sailing, on their way to their next island, and both are getting tired of the tension that was between them.

"This is great. Thanks for taking me." Jessie smiles. Katie smiles back. They were sitting opposite each other, and facing each other. The local boy who was manning the sailboat was on the other end, looking out for their next stop and was oblivious to their conversation.

"Thanks for coming with me."

"I'm obviously just the next best thing, but I'm fine with that." Jessie jokes, but she was a bit hurt by the reality of it. Carla would always be the first in Katie's heart. Katie looks seriously at Jessie.

"You're not just the next best thing, how could you say that?" Katie asks. Jessie forces a smile.

"There's no question about it, Katie." They fell into silence again. Jessie wished she hadn't said that.

Hours went on again. Carla and her crew finally wrapped it up. But just as they were packing, the sky was starting to go dark, and it was only 4 in the afternoon. Adrian instructed everyone to pack everything fast. Being a pilot that he is, he knew a storm might be coming. And Carla was more worried than ever.

Katie and Jessie are still out venturing the islands and braving the sea, and are apparently unaware of the storm that was heading their way.

"I guess I won." Jessie finally speaks after their long moment of silence. Katie looks up at her. They are still sitting in front of each other, but somehow, they had gotten closer. Whoever made the first move of moving closer, they couldn't tell. But the strong current was prompting Katie to act protective around Jessie after the blonde girl's close brush with death.

"Won?" Katie's forehead contorts, without having any idea about what Jessie was referring to.

"The bet."

"Bet?" Katie tries to recall if they ever had a bet since they boarded that sailboat that morning. But they barely had any conversation.

"The one we made at my mom's house, when we ditched school, and got caught by Grace's mother, remember?" Jessie smiles at Katie. Katie ponders for a moment, but couldn't seem to grasp what Jessie was talking about. Jessie, realizing that Katie wasn't about to recall the bet, helped her remember.

"You said you're never gonna get married. And I told you that's impossible and that you're gonna get married before you're thirty. I was right." Jessie looks Katie in the eyes. It hurts to know that Katie is getting married to someone else, but at least she won the bet. Katie's face lightens as she remembers.

"Oh, that bet." Katie chuckles.

"You owe me five hundred dollars." Jessie jokes.

"Yeah, I think I do." Katie stares at Jessie. Jessie sighs and looks away. Looking at Katie's eyes wakes up something inside her, a hungry monster waiting to get out… So she looks away.

"The sky is a bit darker than it should be, don't you think?" Jessie changes the subject as soon as she could. Doing something stupid would complicate things with the now already complicated situation she and Katie were in. And she's not about to do that.

"Yeah, I noticed. I'll talk to him." Katie gets up and walks slowly to the boy who was manning their sailboat. After a rather short conversation, Katie walks back nervously to where Jessie was, and sits opposite her.

"We have a problem." Katie says.

"What?"

"An unexpected storm is coming." Katie says disappointedly. Jessie looks a bit scared, but managed to hide it.

"We should go back to the main island then."

"That's the thing… We can't." Katie says regrettably. Jessie didn't know what to say. She was becoming more scared now.

"We can't stay in this boat." Jessie could feel her voice tremble. Seeing how their predicament was scaring Jessie, Katie held her by the shoulders.

"We're not staying in this boat. The boy said we're stopping at the next island and we could stay there for the night. When we reach that island, I'll try to find a way to get out of there as soon as possible. Maybe they have a bigger boat that we could rent to take us back to the main island." Katie reassured Jessie. Jessie silently nods.

It was dark, and the rain started to drench Boracay Island. People scattered to the nearest place they could take refuge. Tourists went back to their hotel rooms, and nobody could be seen in the shore.

At Fridays, Nikki was pacing the living room back and forth. She was looking agitated and worried. Kim watches her in amusement, as there was nothing else to do. There was nothing much on cable.

"Are you okay?" Kim asks Nikki.

"Katie and Jessie are not back yet." Nikki replied.

"What?" Kim was alarmed. "Is there anything we can do?"

"No. There are no telephones in the small islands they went to."

"God, I hope they're fine." Kim sighs. She contemplates calling Grace and Tad. Nikki grabs the phone near Kim and dials a number. Then, has second thoughts and hangs up.

"I thought there are no phones in the small islands?"

"I'm not calling Katie and Jessie. I was calling Carla."

"Since when did you care about Carla?" Kim frowns. Nikki dismisses her.

"She must be freaking out now." Nikki then storms into the door and Kim calls after her.

"Where the hell are you going?" Kim could hear the thunderstorms and could see the lightning striking at a distance from the balcony.

"Saigon Huts." Without further ado, Nikki waltzed out of Fridays.

In a small island miles away, Katie and Jessie were standing cold in their bikinis in front of a reception desk at a really small, dark lodge. The power went out, and the lodge didn't have a generator, so the place was lit with candles. The local boy who was with them was dripping wet in his clothes while standing by the door. The rain of the storm caught them while running out of the sailboat. The strong current almost threw them into the water but all of them were thankful that they got off safe. Their only refuge was this small, torn down lodge, in this really small island.

"Uhm… I know this might sound weird. I don't have cash, or ATM, or anything for that matter, 'coz I left everything at the main island and we were caught in this unexpected storm. But if you give us three rooms now, and hopefully some clothes or towel, whatever you have, I'll pay you double tomorrow. Please." Katie plasters her most charming smile at the young, shy-looking Filipina on the other side of the desk. The Filipina looks sympathetically at her.

"Well, ma'm, if I own this place, I would gladly give you the rooms… But what proof do I have that you are going to come back tomorrow and pay as you promised? Because if you don't, I will be taking the fall, and to tell you the truth, I cannot lose my job." The young receptionist tells Katie. Katie ponders for a moment.

_A collateral… Something of value, what could I possibly…? _Katie paused, and realized what her left thumb was playing with in her left ring finger. Then she glances at her right where Jessie stood, trembling in cold. She glances at the ring in her left ring finger… She swallows a lump in her throat…

"Here." Katie takes off her engagement ring. It has a diamond in it, 12 karat. Jessie's eyes slightly widens and her jaw drops. But she didn't say anything. She wasn't wearing anything of value to give in exchange. Well, her bikinis cost a lot but she's not about to take them off. The receptionist, who sees the genuineness and the value of the ring, accepts it.

"Are you sure you're going to come back tomorrow to redeem it?" The receptionist is still hesitant despite the value of the ring.

"It's my engagement ring. Of course I'm coming back to redeem it." Katie says. The receptionist nods. She checks on something in her file and speaks.

"We only have four rooms. Two are already occupied. So, only two rooms are left." Katie and Jessie exchanged awkward looks. Of course it means they have to share. The local boy can have one of the rooms to himself.

"Okay… Can we have some towels, please?" Katie replies.

"The towels are in the closet in the room. Room 4." The receptionist hands them their keys.

"Thanks." Katie smiles at her and walks to the direction the receptionist had indicated. The receptionist then handed the other key to the boy by the door.

At Saigon Huts… Carla was sitting on the bed, staring in space. She was worried about Katie, and wondered where she is now and what she's doing. The image of her and Jessie lying side by side on the bed together still lingered in her mind. Carla tried to shoo the thoughts away. Katie being trapped in a storm in a deadly sea is enough to keep her occupied. There's no room for jealousy now… Carla was suddenly jerked out of her reverie upon the persistent knocking on her door.

But was disappointed to see it was…

"Nikki?"

"I'm assuming you're not happy to see me?" Nikki replied.

"Oh, it's not that, it's just… I'm sorry, I was hoping you're Katie." Carla was about to invite her in but realized that the brunette was dripping wet. "Wait, you came all the way here from Fridays?" Carla asks in disbelief.

"Yeah, that's where I'm staying." Nikki chuckles.

"Are you crazy? Do you know how cold it is? Come in, my God, you are such a handful, do you know that? I'll get you a towel. What were you thinking?" Carla led her into the room and raids her closet to find Nikki a towel. After finding one, she hands it to Nikki, and starts looking for some dry clothes in her closet.

"I was worried…" Nikki stops there. She could have easily said 'about you', but that might freak Carla out. But she is definitely worried about Carla.

"Thanks…" Carla smiles. After finding some clothes, she hands it to Nikki.

"What are these?" Nikki stares at the clothes.

"Clothes." Carla replies in amusement. "You do know how to wear them, right? Or do I have to dress you up?" Carla jokes. Nikki slightly blushes and was glad that the light in the room was dim enough for Carla not to see.

"I know how to get dressed, thanks." Nikki heads to the bathroom with the towel and the clothes. Carla shakes her head as she chuckles.

_Nikki isn't so bad afterall… _

Back at the small island, in the lodge where Jessie and Katie were staying at Room 4… Jessie and Katie were now both wearing towels, their bikinis both hung in the small bathroom to dry. They haven't spoken a word since entering the room, and Jessie isn't very happy with the cold treatment Katie was now giving her. The dirty blonde had practically ignored her purposely since coming to this lodge. At least they were talking when they were at the boat. And Katie was protecting her every now and then. But upon arriving here, Katie suddenly turned into Ice Princess.

"Are you hungry?" Jessie asks while sitting on the bed. There was only one bed in the room, and they haven't decided who was going to sleep there and who's going to sleep on the couch. Sleeping together yesterday was not an issue. At least they were both fully-clothed. But now, it would be a good idea to sleep away from each other, Jessie thought.

"No."

"Uhm… You should take the bed. I'll just sleep on the couch."

"No, I'll take the couch." Katie replied without looking at Jessie. She grabs an old magazine on the stacks in her right, and Katie starts perusing it despite the dimly lit room. Like the reception area, it was lit by two big candles situated strategically so a person could see everything in the room.

_Anything to distract my attention… _Katie sighs. Since leaving the main island, she could think about nothing else but Jessie. The sight of the beautiful doctor is too overwhelming that Katie just blocks everything out, which isn't good for her. She knew she should be thinking about her fiancée and not fantasizing about a straight, committed blonde, who by the way is sitting on the bed across the room, wearing a towel, and nothing else underneath it… Katie's chest heaves… _This is just too much…_

"You know what? I think we should find a bigger boat. Maybe they have a yacht, or something better, who knows? We need to get back to the main island." Katie gets up from the couch and heads to the door. Jessie frowns.

"Are you out of your mind? It's storming out there. You could get lost in the sea. Worse, you could die in the sea." Jessie stops Katie as she gets up from the bed herself and walks nearer to where Katie stood. Katie swallows another lump in her throat and wished Jessie would just stop walking towards her. The blonde isn't making it any easier to breathe.

"Look, I know you miss Carla, okay? She's probably worried to death already. So don't do something stupid and risk your life for nothing." Jessie chastises the dirty blonde who was growing stiff to where she stood.

"If you don't want to go, you're welcome to stay here." Katie was about to open the door when Jessie's right hand stopped her when the blonde got a hold of her left arm. Katie turned around.

"What's your problem?" Jessie was starting to get annoyed at the distance Katie was putting between them. They were friends again yesterday. Though Jessie isn't sure if that's what she wants, still, that was good enough.

"My problem? We're miles away from home, we don't have any clothes, I pawned my engagement ring to get us one room, our girlfriend and boyfriend are left alone in our hotel rooms about to have a heart attack, and I'm stuck in this torn down lodge with you. That's the problem." Katie finally says it out loud. Jessie's grip loosens on Katie's arms, but she remained standing face to face with Katie.

"Oh, so I'm the problem?" Jessie was starting to flare. Katie felt her jaw tightening. She tries to avoid looking at Jessie. Fortunately, she was taller.

"Just go to sleep, will you?" Katie growls at Jessie and heads out of the door. Jessie grudgingly follows her, and finds her at the reception desk, which was currently deserted. The receptionist must have gone to sleep herself, since there was nothing much to do, and nobody would probably check in anymore anyway. Besides, the lodge was full as it is. Jessie was still tailing her but Katie barely paid her any attention. As she enters their room, Katie almost slammed the door in Jessie's face.

"I didn't come here to get my nose broken Katie!" Jessie had to shout. She was seriously thinking that Katie had some sort of ear problems or something 'coz she can barely reason herself out. Katie's been really acting strange since this morning. Jessie looked into Katie's mossy green eyes. Is she in despair? She looks like it. Is it even possible for anyone such as Katie Singer to feel this much anguish? Katie's the jolliest person she's ever known. In Jessie's worst time, Katie had put a smile on her face without much effort. She always looks in the brighter side of things despite of the hopelessness of the nastiest situations. That's what she loved about Katie. And she couldn't think of anything that could make her lose her heart now.

_Maybe she misses Carla that much? _

Jessie felt the need to rescue Katie. She knew Katie needs her. And she will do just about anything to see that infectious smile on Katie's face again. Jessie started to calm herself. Losing her temper wouldn't help her now. She needs to reach out to Katie.

"Come on Katie. I'm tired of guessing. I'm tired of reading you and keeping up with you and being sacked by you all the time."

"I didn't ask you to follow me around." Katie retorted. She got up from the bed and walked around it, trying to get as far away as she can from Jessie. "You know, to tell you the truth, it gets kind'a annoying. I never dreamed of having a personal stalker." She added sarcastically.

Jessie wanted to hit Katie's head with something hard to put some sense into her, but of course she wouldn't do that. They're still friends after all. But having her acting so cold and not knowing the reason why is starting to get into her nerves. Why can't just Katie tell her? Why can't she talk to her?

"What are you so afraid of?" Jessie asked, all concerned. She flinched upon seeing the reaction that she got from Katie. She hadn't seen Katie so angry. Actually, she had never seen Katie angry at all. Now, she's starting to regret asking. Katie had been glaring at her for quite a few seconds now.

"What?" Surprisingly, after seconds of tension-charged look, her expression softened, but not much. She's still furious, of course. "Why would you think I'm afraid of something? I just want to go back to the island, that's all. What's so wrong about that?"

"Because you know that's not an option and you're just being stupid." Jessie glares at Katie. "What are you thinking, Katie, what are you feeling? Am I so scary that you can barely stay in a room with me?"

"Wait." Katie waved her hand, cutting Jessie's sentence. "Huh?" Katie's starting to get all confused now.

How could Katie look so cute while being perplexed at the same time? Jessie sighed in desperation. She just wanted to reach out and hug her. She just wanted to be near her. She just wanted to make this time memorable for her, if not for them. 'Coz who knows, Jessie might never have this time with Katie ever again. Once Katie says 'I do' to Carla, Jessie's life will be officially over. She could perfectly remember highschool. Life was definitely better when she had those days. She had Katie. Without her, life was unbearable. It was too late, Jessie is aware of that fact. But she wished she could have at least laugh with Katie again. Or be comfortable with her again.

"Damn Katie, you're such a pain in the ass…" Jessie whispered. But she didn't realize she said it loud enough to be heard by Katie.

"I'm a what?" Katie obviously grew angrier. She crossed her arms.

There's no point as to denying what Katie had heard. So, instead of making up lies, Jessie repeated it.

"I said you're a pain in the ass." Jessie crossed her arms too. She's not going to vow down and say sorry. She was just telling the truth. Katie had been a royal pain since they entered the lodge.

"Oh, great. Thanks for being sensitive Jessie. Considering you're more pain than I am. But I bet you don't even realize that." Katie was flowing with sarcasm again.

"First, I'm insensitive, and now I'm ignorant? Two insults in less than a minute. You just broke the world record Katherine Singer, congratulations!" Jessie was making the situation worse, she knew it. But she had to fight back. It's not like she's not used into getting in these sort of situations with her stepsister Grace. And she'd rather argue with Grace than Katie right now.

This time, Katie was looking down the floor. She knew that Jessie's still looking at her. But she had to avoid those baby blue eyes. Or Jessie will see how vulnerable she is. They both fell into silence. But neither of them moved to get closer to each other. It was a pretty weird situation to be in. They never had a single argument ever since the day they became friends. The first time they had, which happens to be today, they were already at each other's throats. Normally, Katie would have just shut up and let Jessie talk like an idiot as she stare into space and ignore everything that Jessie has to say. But Katie didn't. She has so many feelings in her heart right now, so much pain, and having Jessie so near is not making things any better. Why does Jessie have to be here now? Why can't she just disappear? Not in the bedroom, no. Why can't Jessie just disappear from her memory forever? Why can't she just let her go on with her life?

As Jessie stood near the door, looking at Katie, her heart wanted to melt. They are hurting each other right now. And she was sure that neither of them wanted to do that, but both of them just couldn't help it.

"Katie…" Jessie said, desperately trying to talk as soft as she can… "Stop being a coward." Jessie did not take her gaze away from Katie.

"Huh?"

"God, Katie, why can't you just be honest about your feelings for once?! If I'm hurting you, I'm sorry! If you hate me so much now, why can't you just tell me?! Stop pretending that you care, or that we're still friends, 'coz we're obviously not anymore! We're both delusional for thinking that things haven't changed between us, but it did. Stop being nice, just stop pretending, and just be honest about how you feel!" Jessie yelled in exasperation. Katie's playing dumb, and it doesn't suit her.

"I tried to be honest with you once, but you never gave me the chance." This time, Katie said seriously.

"This isn't about that anymore…" Jessie remembered the days regrettably. She suffered from that as much as Katie suffered, but Katie didn't know that.

"Obviously, you don't know that." Katie says sarcastically.

"Then tell me." Jessie challenges Katie. Katie gives her a brief look, then sits on the bed. Jessie doesn't know how much Katie was praying for a vortex to open in the room right now, for Katie to be sucked into a parallel world where things would be less complicated.

But then, Katie wasn't about to say anything. She doesn't intend to. She engaged. She's marrying Carla. Jessie would disappear in her life again in the next few days. Reading exactly Katie's thoughts, Jessie spoke again.

"Oh, I forgot how much of a coward you are." Jessie says sarcastically.

"If you wanted me to be honest about my feelings, then why didn't you let me back then?" Katie says sharply.

"Why didn't you do anything?" Jessie asks back. Katie lets out a sarcastic laugh.

"So I could what, embarrass myself in front of you? And let you think how desperate I was? Jessie, why are we even talking about this now? You have a boyfriend, you're straight as hell, and I'm engaged… And yes, maybe I do have a problem being in a room with you, but that doesn't mean I hate you… I just… Jess, can we just drop this, please?" Katie sighs. She wanted to give up. She doesn't want to argue anymore. Jessie stares at Katie for a while.

"Katie, look at me…" Jessie's soft voice urges Katie to look up, but Katie remained looking at the floor.

"Tell me what you wanted to tell me back then…" Jessie says. _And I'll tell you how I feel back then… _

"No…" Katie says in a whisper…

"I want to know…"

"I can't…" Katie shakes her head… It would have been simple to tell Jessie, if she still, wasn't feeling the same until now… So it's harder, it's more complicated. And telling Jessie would be making herself more vulnerable to the blonde now, if that's even possible.

"You can't be scared all your life, Katie."

"I'm not scared…"

"You can't even look at me…"

"I have my reasons." Katie was starting to flare at Jessie's prodding.

"Doesn't make you less scared… You're still a coward." Jessie makes use of that word from the letter. Katie could feel her jaw tightening again.

"Don't say that."

"You ARE a coward." Jessie says firmly. Katie gets up from the bed.

"DROP IT." Katie matches Jessie's seriousness, but the blonde didn't even flinch.

"COWARD." Jessie stares straight into Katie's mossy green eyes, and before she knew it, Katie was already standing in front of her, pushing her against the back of the door.

Their lips crashed with each other, with so much passion, that the feelings engulfed them. Jessie has no intentions of fighting back. Katie was now satisfying a decade of hunger, longing and desire that imprisoned Jessie from wanting someone else for so long. Katie's tongue trailed Jessie's lips, seeking entrance. And when Jessie allowed herself to get carried away with this intense passion, their tongues fiercely sought each other's caresses.

Katie's mind was now clouded with want. She had always yearned for Jessie's touch, and now, wasn't an exception. She aches for Jessie more than she could ever remember. She tried her best to stop herself from dreaming about the blonde in front of her for days, out of guilt, and out of all the moral codes in the world, and out of loyalty to her fiancée. But even if she tries to stop herself now, there's just no way that she could.

Katie's right hand was now clutching the hem of Jessie's towel… One pull and she knew there would probably no going back. She clutched it hard; torn between wanting and not wanting to pull it off the very sexy blonde. Yeah, sexy Jessie is all Katie could ever think about since her arrival at Boracay Island.

When both of them ran out of air, it didn't stop Katie from ravishing the now ecstatic blonde. Her soft lips trailed wet kisses along Jessie's now sweating neck, while Katie's right hand finally pulled the towel off Jessie's body. It fell quietly on the floor. Katie felt her own towel being pulled off of her, and like Jessie's, it fell effortlessly on the wooden floor.

Katie then felt herself being pushed slowly into the direction of the bed. She then fell on the bed, and Jessie hovered on top of her; the touch of their naked bodies sending unbelievably mind-blowing feelings all through their entire being. Jessie's bare body on top of her is enough to drive her insane.

Their lips crashed with each other again, as Katie lets her right hand make its way down Jessie's body, making sure not to neglect any part of Jessie's skin…

"Katie…" Katie heard the blonde moan in her mouth as her right hand reached its destination…

Back at Saigon Huts, Carla lay on the bed, watching Nikki who volunteered to sleep on the couch as she keeps Carla company. Carla was glad of this improved relationship with Nikki. She smiles, then remembers Katie…

_I hope she's safe… _Carla then closes her eyes, and drifts off to sleep…


	6. The Real Storm

**a/n: Sorry for the typographical errors on the previous chapter, I didn't edit it… I did it in a hush-hush, so, forgive me… anyway, this probably has some errors again, but I think it's still understandable, so… I don't claim ownership of the Once & Again original characters, some facts are modified to fit the story… And some are exaggerated, so, here you go… **

**CHAPTER 6THE REAL STORM**

Katie wakes up in the familiar smell of the blonde currently imprisoned in her arms. Slowly, she opens her eyes. Last night isn't just a dream, as confirmed by Jessie's blonde locks flowing in front of her right now. She stares at the back of the blonde's head for a while, then lets a smile form in her face.

Last night, she thought she had died. It felt that way. Then, it was as if she was born again. It was a rendezvous in heaven she thought could only happen in her wildest dreams. She tried to control herself, she did. She was successful for a while, by totally ignoring the irresistible Sammler. It took her all of her energy that she has. But, despite of all the efforts, Katie knew one thing: Jessie could destroy even her strongest defenses. _So much for being a lawyer... _

_How could it be, that now, everything feels so right? _Katie questions what she was feeling now. Her right arm was wrapped tightly in Jessie's bare stomach, as she lay on the bed on their sides, and Jessie with her back in front of her. She could feel the blonde's misty back against her front, and that alone was bringing her back to oblivion. Katie pulled Jessie even closer, and let the strawberry smell of her hair overwhelm her again.

On Jessie's side of the bed, she plasters a smile of her own, not even thinking or worrying about the consequences of their action. Last night erased every pain, every suffering, every regret that she had experienced or had been keeping in the last decade. Everything is clear to her now. This is the reason why she was still alive. Rather, the girl, whose arms are wrapped protectively around her now, is the sole reason why she didn't die. Maybe it isn't too late. She leaned into Katie's embrace, and their naked bodies blended as if they were one again…

"What do you mean Jessie's still not back?!" Grace yells at her flustered husband as Tad explains the situation. It was already 9 in the morning. The sun was up and the sky was perfectly clear, not leaving any traces of yesterday's storm. Tad made her believed the other night that Jessie was back and safe at Saigon Huts. Knowing his wife, Tad knew lying to her was for her own good. Grace would have organized a search and rescue party in the middle of the storm for her stepsister Jessie, who's probably safe at a hotel somewhere in the small islands, having a cup of hot cocoa and having an animated conversation with Katie. He believes, and he knows, that nothing bad would happen with Jessie as long as she's with his over-caring bestfriend Katie.

"Grace, honey, relax. Jessie could---"

"Jessie could be hurt or lost and stranded at a freakin' Bermuda Triangle or worse! I don't even want to think about it!" Grace, who was fuming, storms out of their hotel room though she was still in her pyjamas. Tad could do nothing but scratch his head and follow her. When Kim called last night, they agreed that it would be better not to alarm Grace. Besides, it's too early to even worry that something went wrong. Jessie and Katie were accompanied by an experience local boy anyway.

"Grace, wait…" Tad increases his pace to catch up with his panicking wife.

"You lied to me! Why would lie to be about my sister's whereabouts?!" Grace marches her way to Saigon Huts, which is a considerably long walk from Boracay Regency.

"Jessie will be okay---"

"Okay?! Last time I checked, she almost died in the sea! If something bad happens to her, you're gonna pay." Grace waves her right index finger at Tad's face.

"What?! Why me?! I didn't do anything!" Tad's eyes widens.

"You lied to me, Tad!" Reaching Saigon Huts, Grace goes straight to Carla's door. She knocks, or rather, bangs on the door with all her might. Which, by the way, wakes Nikki with a start. Having another head butt with the floor, Nikki shakes her head out of sleep…

_I so hate floors right now… _Nikki rubs her painful head, then heads to the door. Before she could fully open it, an outraged Grace barges into the room without warning, almost knocking her down.

"Carla, where the--- Nikki?" Grace frowns upon seeing Nikki instead of Carla. Tad looks as surprised, and he looks around to find any signs of Katie's fiancée.

"Where's Carla? Is Katie back yet?" Tad asks the question for Grace. Nikki paused for a while, before remembering why she was at Carla's room in Saigon Huts.

"No, not yet." Nikki looks around, but wonders where Carla had gone. The supermodel had left without informing her.

"What are you doing here?" Grace frowns at Nikki. If it was Kim who opened the door, Grace wouldn't have questioned her presence in the hut. But Nikki? She's the last person she expected to see.

"Keeping Carla company." Nikki says nonchalantly.

"You were going to kill each other yesterday." Grace eyes her suspiciously.

"What are you trying to imply?" Nikki scowls at her. Grace watched Nikki's facial expression for a while. But not seeing any fishy signs on her newly awake friend, she decides to drop it.

"Now, where in the hell is Carla?" Grace asks Nikki. And Nikki obviously has no idea, so she shakes her head. Just then, Carla and Adrian came into the door.

"Guys, we've been looking for you." Adrian says in a relieved tone upon seeing Grace and Tad in the room.

"It's about time. Why didn't you tell me Jessie was still missing last night?" Grace now glowers at Adrian. He knew he should have told Grace. But like Tad, he knew it wouldn't be good to alarm everyone with something that isn't confirmed yet. It's not like they could do anything anyway. The power in the main island was limited due to black out, and communication lines weren't available in the small islands Katie and Jessie went to visit. And, they weren't sure on which island the two had stayed.

"Look, I'm sorry---" Before Adrian could finish, Carla cut him off.

"We have to go now." Carla heads out of the door with everybody following her. It was a funny sight, actually. Tad and Grace were still in their sleeping clothes, and Nikki was wearing Carla's really short shorts and shirt, forgetting for a while that she wasn't wearing any underwear, but follows them anyway.

"Where are we going?" Grace asks Carla as they walk towards the shore, to a group of sailboats docked not so far away.

"Searching." It was Carla's short reply.

"We went to the sailboat company and asked for help. Radio communication is still unavailable at the small islands, so no matter what they do, they couldn't contact anyone. So there's no way to check whether Katie and Jessie had stayed in an island or not. We have to go and check ourselves."

"How are we going to do that? I thought sailboats are supposed to be reserved---" Tad was interrupted.

"If something bad happens to Katie and Jessie, they will be responsible. I guess they pulled some strings." Carla spoke. From the direction of the sailboats, they could see Kim waiving at them.

"Damn, she's an early bird." Nikki gruffs and shakes her head in disbelief. As they approached Kim's direction, Tad looks out into the sea, and sees something that somewhat resembles a sailboat. His heart almost leaps out of his chest, and there was a glimmer of hope.

"Hey, look." Tad points to the direction. Carla and Adrian watched in anticipation. They stopped walking, and waited as the sailboat came nearer.

Meanwhile, the local boy who was manning the sailboat finally smiles at the sight of the main island. While the two bikini-clad Americans sat opposite each other in silence, and they barely spoke a word to one another while on their way back.

They weren't really sure why. Last night could easily be the best night of their lives. But when they got out of bed and their arms that morning, they didn't talk. Katie and Jessie would have stayed on the bed for days, just loving the feel of each other. But the boy who accompanied them was knocking excitedly on their door, which prompt them to get out of bed reluctantly.

_It's not a mistake… _Jessie convinces herself. She doesn't regret what happened, not a bit. But why was Katie acting otherwise?

_Oh my God… _Katie stares at her left ring finger, where the engagement ring used to be. She is coming back to get it. Definitely. She's going back to the island to get that ring back. The sailboat company has to give her a way to get it back. If she has to buy her own sailboat just to get it back, she will… _For Carla's sake…_

Does Katie regret what happened last night? Of course not. Does she want it to happen again? Of course. She would probably make love to Jessie over and over again. She might even not sleep at all and make love to her until morning, until time runs out and they have to go back to their respective halves again…

_But we cheated… _Katie told herself. And she couldn't help but feel guilty. She cheated on the woman she's going to marry, with the woman she loves with all of her heart… The woman who came here with a boyfriend…

Now, Katie's confused. What is she supposed to do? What does Jessie plan to do? Is there something to last night than just one amazing one night stand?

_Are we going to break Carla and Adrian's hearts? _Katie sighs, which didn't escape Jessie's ears. Katie knew they need to talk, to clear things between them. Maybe Jessie does feel something for her. If last night means something to Jessie, Jessie would leave Adrian.

_Would her feelings for me be enough reason for her to leave him? _Katie wonders, and hopes… But Carla is still here… Carla will be hurt… Katie doesn't know what to do anymore. She can't decide right now… She was torn…

As their sailboat neared the shore, both of them saw the familiar figures standing by. Grace, who was whimpering with tears of joy upon seeing her stepsister wave at them, waves back. Katie forces a smile, and her eyes searched for that another familiar blonde.

Carla was standing beside a smiling Tad, with a smile of her own plastered in her face, and she was obviously in the verge of crying. Katie waves at her fiancée, and the guilt in her heart grew…

_I cheated on her… _

The sailboat finally docked along with the others… Tad and the rest of their friends jeered in relief and happiness upon seeing Katie and Jessie back safely. Jessie was the first to come down, and Adrian welcomes her with a wide smile and immediately wraps his arms around Jessie's waist. When Adrian leaned down for a kiss, Jessie wasn't able to do anything…

She missed someone else's kiss…

Katie felt as if her heart fell into the sand as she watched Adrian kiss Jessie as if he hadn't kissed her in a long time. The longing in him was clear, and Jessie didn't stop him.

_Of course she wouldn't stop him, not in front of everyone… He's still her boyfriend, you idiot… _Katie lets out a deep breath, masks a charming smile, and searches for the sight of Carla. She sees her walking to her direction.

Carla throws her arms around Katie with tears flowing from her eyes, and showers her with kisses, and Jessie sees every one of it. Jessie felt as if her heart fell into the sand… Katie didn't stop Carla from ravaging her with kisses either…

_She's still her girlfriend… _This time, it was Jessie who lets out a deep breath. Just when Jessie felt like collapsing on the sand, Grace's arms wrapped around her tight…

"Oh my God, Jess, you scared me!" Grace sobs in between tears as she embraced her stepsister. Jessie couldn't help but smile. At least Grace is still there to put a smile into her face without trying so hard…

Saigon Huts…

"I'm gonna go sunbathe, you wanna come?" Jessie asks Adrian who was busy in front of his laptop working with Carla's latest photos. She stood in the small living room in another pair of bikinis and rather big sunglasses, while holding a bottle of sunblock. Truth is, she wished Adrian wouldn't come.

"Thanks, but I have to finish editing these photos. Carla's agent is a real pain in the ass. She gave us 'til tonight." Adrian smiles apologetically at his girlfriend. Jessie smiles back. Her wish was just granted.

"That's alright. I'll be at the shore." Jessie heads to the door.

"Jessie?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad that you're safe." Adrian says sincerely.

"Thanks."

"I love you, Jess." Adrian waited for her response; a response that didn't come. Jessie merely smiled. Then, she left the room.

At the opposite hut, Carla was sitting on the bed, waiting for Katie to get out of the shower… After a few minutes, Katie finally finished, and came out of the bathroom in a towel. She was holding another towel to dry her hair.

"How are you?" Carla's voice broke the silence in the room. Katie looks up at her anticipating girlfriend.

"I'm fine..." Katie forces a smile. Carla watches her as Katie looks for her side of the closet for something to wear.

"You haven't said a word since you came back..." Carla said, almost hurt that Katie chose to be quiet about the ordeal she had been. The storm was really strong. It could have easily toppled them out of their sailboat if they haven't reached the shore of the island they stayed in in time. Katie knew Carla has a reason to inquire, and to worry. But she's just not up to it. She's so distracted right now, so confused. She could barely focus her attention outside of her own world. Even if it's Carla...

"I'm sorry... It's just..." Katie turns around to look at Carla who remains sitting on the bed. She knew how much Carla wants to talk about what she had been through during that storm. She knew it would require her to lie, to make up stories just to satisfy Carla's curiosity, and to spare her from the pain the truth will cause her. Carla has the right to ask questions. God knows how much her fiancée had worried, and God knows how guilty Katie is feeling at the moment. She hates lying to Carla, but she's running out of options right now.

"I'm sorry…" Katie managed to finish. Carla looks at her with sympathy. She was glad that Katie was back and safe, and that she didn't relapse with her fever considering that the storm probably drenched her recovering girlfriend.

"Are you okay?" Carla asks. Katie looks at her in the eyes.

"Yeah… Just a bit tired…" Katie will do anything just to avoid talking about being stuck in the island.

"I understand… Although I wished that I was with you." Carla smiles.

"I wished you were with me too." Katie tries to mask the pain she was feeling with a smile. Despite the guilt, she knew what she said was a lie, which makes her feel even more guilty.

"I'm gonna go get something to eat then drop by Adrian's to edit the photos. Wanna come?" Carla says hopefully. Katie shakes her head.

"I think I'll just stay here… I've had enough of the ocean for a while." Katie forces another smile.

"Well, if you want to talk, you know you can talk to me, right?"

"Yeah… Thanks Carla."

"Let's have dinner together, only the two of us." Carla suggests.

"Okay, that sounds great."

"I'll be over at Adrian's. Pick me up when you're ready." Carla then heads for the door, and closes it behind her. When she was out of sight, Katie picks up her phone and dials a number.

"You got to come with me. I need your help." Katie says to the other person on the line.

x-------------------------------x

"For take out, thanks." Carla smiles at the waiter who took her order at Banza, a Portuguese Restaurant not so far away from Saigon Huts. The waiter turns to leave the table, then, somebody else's voice was heard.

"Alone?"

Carla looks up, and smiles again upon seeing Nikki. She nods, and Nikki takes the seat opposite her.

"I don't see Katie around." Nikki looks around, and she guessed right. Carla really was alone.

"She's back in our room. The ordeal pretty much worn her out." Carla's shoulder visibly fell down. Nikki stares at her for a while.

"I'm worried about her." Carla continued. She sighs. Nikki stares down at the table.

"'Til now? She's back, and not with Jessie anymore." Nikki jokes. Carla didn't laugh. She stares at the same table.

"She hadn't said anything since coming back with me to the hut."

"Well, you know people and their moods…"

"I still wonder what happened. She doesn't really want to talk." Carla looks up at Nikki, and Nikki meets her gaze.

"Maybe you should just let her…"

They locked their eyes with each other's, before Carla pulls away with a loud sigh. Her right hand rests on the table and begins playing with the spoon.

"Why do I feel like she's pulling away? Somehow, it's like she became distant overnight…"

"Don't you think you're being a bit too paranoid?"

"Maybe, but… Why am I feeling this way? All of a sudden, it's like, I don't trust her… Like, I don't know… Why won't she talk about what happened with her when it stormed? Or what she had been through? Why is it so hard to discuss it with me? I'm her fiancée." Carla looks up at Nikki again. Nikki ponders for a while. She honestly doesn't know the answer. But if she was in Katie's situation, she would probably be telling Carla even the littlest details to stop her from worrying…

_Whipping my ex sounds like a good idea right now… _Nikki's sympathy was flowing for the agitated blonde sitting opposite her.

"Pride? I'm not sure… Exhaustion, mood swings? Or maybe there really is nothing to talk about. Maybe they sit it out and waited 'til morning. Maybe she felt like she doesn't want to bore you with the stupid little details."

"But I want to know those stupid little details…" Carla says sincerely.

"Then you should let her know that." Nikki smiles reassuringly at her. Carla smiles back.

"You know what, Nikki? You're not so vain after all." Carla jokes. Nikki mocks feeling hurt.

"Excuse me?" Then they both laughed.

x-----------------------------------------x

"Go back to the island to what?" Kim asks in disbelief. Katie mentioned about staying in a torn down lodge with a few rooms and candles as their light (Kim accused Katie of sleeping with Jessie and Katie immediately denied it), but Katie didn't really elaborate the details as to why they had to go back to the island.

Katie managed to threaten the sailboat company of suing them if they are not going to let them use one sailboat to get back to the island. The company immediately complied, considering Katie's reputation, which wasn't unknown to them. The locals obviously watch CNN.

"To get my engagement ring back."

"You left your ENGAGEMENT RING in the island? Why did you take it off in the first place?" Kim frowns. Katie rolls her eyes.

"I had to pawn it."

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?" Kim catches up with Katie's longer strides as they marched their way to the docked sailboats they had been this morning.

"In exchange for a room." Katie's eyes searches for the boy who accompanied them yesterday.

"A ROOM?" Kim's eyebrow shot up in the air.

"Look, we needed a place to stay. It was raining hard. There was a storm for God's sake!"

"I thought you said TWO rooms?"

"One of it went to the sailboy." Katie's eyes continued searching for the boy.

"And you stayed in one room, with Jessie? That ring costs thousands of dollars. You could have bought the whole lodge!" Kim emphasized. Katie turns around and gives Kim a short glare, which didn't affect the brunette a bit.

"The lodge was full. Just come with me and stop asking questions, okay?"

"You still want to convince me that you didn't sleep with her?"

"I didn't sleep with her." Katie says almost convincingly, but also, she didn't look at Kim's eyes.

"Wet Jessie Sammler in her sexy pair of bikinis sharing a room with you? I wouldn't be surprised if you ravaged her in the sailboat in front of the boy! Who are you kidding, Singer? YOU SLEPT WITH HER!"

"Will you keep it down?" Katie glares at Kim again. Kim realizes she got carried away with the unfortunate revelation, but lowers her voice down for her friend.

"Oh my God… You did. You're so fucked up."

"Will you stop giving me more problems and shut up?"

"I realize the underlying sexual tension between you and Jessie but I never imagined you acting on it considering you asked Carla to be your wife." Kim chastises Katie.

"It just happened, okay?" Katie waves her hand in the air in desperation, wishing Kim would just stop.

"Is that your excuse?" Kim raises her voice in disbelief.

"I'm not trying to excuse myself, okay? But it happened already, I can't do anything to change it. Nor do I want to change it…" Katie admits… Kim stares at her.

"Why?" Kim asks, and Katie stops walking. She turns around.

"Why? What do you mean why?" Katie frowns almost annoyed at Kim. Kim knew Katie has a reason to be in a defensive mode right now.

"You still love her, don't you?" Kim's investigating eyes bore through Katie's green ones. Katie holds her friend's gaze for a while, but looks away, again because of guilt. Katie lets out a deep sigh.

"Kim, I just want to get my ring back, okay?"

"What for? You pretty much shattered everything that ring symbolizes." Kim says seriously. Katie silently blames herself for her weakness. But as she said, it has happened already. Nothing she can do about it.

"What's going to happen now?" Kim asks her. Katie feels a lump in her throat and swallows it.

"Honestly, I don't know… What happened between me and Jessie felt so right, yet it was so wrong… I've wanted that for so long… To feel her, to have her… And last night was--- It was everything I lived for." Katie smiles at nothing in particular. Kim watches her closely, not knowing how to react.

"There's something between us… And I fear it… Jessie brought all the loneliness in my life, and Carla erased it… I asked Carla to marry me. We're getting married. Jessie was barely a week back in my life, and I'm throwing everything away… What does that make me?"

"An asshole…"

"So you see, Kim, I don't know what to do now… I don't know what to think. I don't know what Jessie wants or if last night means anything to her at all… And I want to know. But right now, I just want to go back to the island, and get the ring back."

"Okay…" Kim heard herself answer. A long silence and a few minutes later, Katie found the boy, and they sailed off to the sea again.

x-------------------------------------------x

"So, what did you do?" Grace asks her stepsister who was lying down on the sand, on her stomach, beside her. They had been sunbathing for hours, and both of them are loving what the sun is doing to their skin. Some color would be much appreciated right now.

"With what?" Jessie turns her head to look at Grace, who, on the other hand, was lying on her back, and was wearing her sunglasses on to protect her eyes from the scorching afternoon sun. Grace had been lying on the sand for an hour when Jessie found her there and joined her.

"In the island, when you got stuck. I mean, it wasn't exactly a dream come true, but still, we can't deny the fact that Katie Singer is the gay version of Brad Pitt." Grace giggles at her own joke. Jessie gives her an odd look, not realizing the slight blushing of her cheek.

"Nothing happened." Jessie tries her best not to squeak. This conversation is making her feel uneasy.

"I'd be shocked if you said 'something happened'. Come on sis, I was just playing with you." Grace chuckles then turn sideways to have a good look of Jessie's face. Jessie didn't laugh or say anything else.

"But I got really worried." Grace sighs as her facial expression turns serious.

"I know, Grace. But you can stop worrying now 'coz I'm here, safe and sound." Jessie smiles and gives Grace's left shoulder with a slight pat.

"Tad lied to me. He told me that you're back and safe at Saigon Huts last night." Grace shakes her head. She still hasn't forgive her husband for lying about the truth. But Jessie thinks it's funny.

"I think you should just let it go. If I was him, I would have lied to you too." Jessie admits. Grace gives her a mock scowl. Jessie shrugs.

"You have the tendency to go overboard, Grace. We all know that."

"Hey, I resent that." Grace warns Jessie, but smiles later anyway. "And why is it that Adrian didn't even freak when you didn't come home last night? I wanted to slap him for being so… Numb. Did he even come looking for you?" Grace frowns at the thought. She likes Adrian, but right now, not so much.

"There wasn't any reason to worry, believe me. I'm fine."

"We're you safe?" Grace asks in concern. Jessie smiles dreamily.

"Never felt safer…" Jessie falls into a trance, which Grace notices. Grace watches her for a second before waking her up from her short-lived stupor.

"Huh…" Grace looks suspiciously at Jessie, and Jessie shakes her head out of her daydream and turns over on her back.

"Stop punishing Tad, okay? He's had enough." Jessie purposely changes the topic.

"Fine… I'll talk to him later. What about Katie, is she okay?" Grace asks, and Jessie just looks at her.

"I don't know… I haven't talked to her since we came back…" Jessie replies regrettably. She wonders where Katie is and what she's doing now…

_Probably with Carla… _The thought made her heart throb… A throb that was more painful than ever. Why is it that the truth always hurt so much more than lies?

"How exactly did you pay for the lodge? You guys brought nothing with you." Grace looks curiously at Jessie.

_The ring… _She wonders if Katie will come back to the island to get the ring back. And if she does, would she still wear it? Jessie contemplates of telling Grace about the ring, but decided against it. She thinks it would be better not to let anyone now. If Katie wants them to know, she will tell them. But Jessie knew she has no right. The engagement ring being pawned might come as a big deal not just for their friends, but especially for Carla.

"Uhm… I don't know. Katie talked to the receptionist and she managed to get us the rooms. You know her and her charms." Jessie jokes, eliciting a grin from Grace.

"More like voodoo trick. I hope she didn't have to sleep with the poor receptionist?" Grace chuckles. If Jessie was standing, she would have tripped on her own two feet.

"No, she didn't…" _But I did… _Jessie blows the stray strand of blonde hair from her face.

"I got to go." Grace says apologetically. She then gets up from beside Jessie. Jessie looks up.

"Wooing Tad?" Jessie jokes, and Grace laughs with Jessie's term.

"Yeah. Before he kills himself. We all know he's head over heels in love with me." Grace winks at Jessie. "Later, sis." Grace then jogs away from Jessie, and Jessie watches her with a lopsided smile. She then decides she's had enough of the sand, and gets up, preparing for the walk back to the huts.

x------------------------------------------x

Adrian's and Jessie's hut at Saigon Huts…

"Awesome! Bye Sarah!" Carla hangs up her celphone with a huge smile in her face, and turns around to relay the news to her newest photographer, Adrian.

"They liked it?" Adrian asks with a nervous smile. Carla grins.

"They LOVED it. The Pirelli team is off to finishing the calendar right now." Carla hugs Adrian. "Thank you."

"No. Thank YOU for the huge pay." Adrian winks at Carla. Carla laughs.

"Well, no problem. It's their money, not mine."

"Katie would be proud of you. Where is she anyway?" Adrian walks back to his laptop and sits in front of it, staring at the photos they just sent Sarah through email. He still couldn't believe it himself. The photos he shot would be included in the Pirelli calendar. That's one major achievement for an amateur like him.

"I don't know. I came back to the hut but she wasn't there." Carla's face slightly contorts, wondering where Katie could have been without telling her.

"Why don't we celebrate? Call her." Adrian encourages the supermodel. Carla smiles and walks over to Adrian's direction and joins him. Their eyes are now admiring their hard work.

"Tonight, I'm celebrating with only her." Carla says almost giddily. Adrian chuckles.

"Good idea. I should celebrate with Jessie." Adrian grins, while already planning a romantic night with her.

Short silence…

"These are really amazing shots… You're good at editing too. You should consider a career in photography." Carla suggests. Adrian shakes his head.

"Thanks, but I love flying too much."

"Right."

"Would you like some prints?" Adrian offers. Carla nods.

"Hell, yeah!" Carla screams. Adrian chuckles at Carla's enthusiasm.

"Okay. Why don't you find the photo papers in our bedroom while I set up the photo printer?"

"Where in the bedroom?" Carla starts walking to the direction of the bedroom. Adrian pauses for a moment to think.

"In one of the closets, I think. I'm not sure where Jessie put it, so feel free to open every drawer and closet you could find." Adrian says after Carla who's already inside the room, looking where to start.

First, Carla searches the nearest closet. She hurls the closet door open and starts looking. No signs of any photo paper or any paper for that matter. It contains only Jessie's clothes. The second closet contains Adrian's clothes, neatly pressed together. The only places left to look are the drawers, and Carla starts opening each of it, and found nothing but undergarments. Carla looks all over the room again, and sees a couple of traveling bags left on the side of the bed.

_If it isn't in the closets and drawers, it must be in the bags… _Carla laughs, as she starts talking to herself. Katie will surely love the shots. She couldn't wait to show her the pictures when they spend dinner together tonight. Carla then, kneels in front of the bag, and starts looking at the red one. She didn't notice that the name tag read 'Jessie Elizabeth Sammler, Brisbane, Australia.'.

Carla immediately realized whom the bag belongs to, though, 'coz the first thing that she saw was a stethoscope. She almost laughed. Does Jessie have to bring things from the hospital on her vacation? But of course, Carla didn't know, it's almost a doctor's nature to bring one everywhere he/she goes.

She could have stopped searching right there. She's supposed to be searching for something that belongs to Adrian anyway. But somehow, her gut was telling her otherwise. It was weird, that she kept going over Jessie's things. There wasn't much inside, just a couple of meds Carla has no idea what for, some gauze, and other medical stuff she wouldn't care naming. She was about to let it go, but one last thing caught her attention.

Jessie's appointment book with something slightly protruding from it: a familiar parchment, the parchment from the bottle that broke, the parchment that Jessie told her was the draft of Zoe's wedding invitation. She thought it was odd, that day that she got a hold of the parchment, Jessie snatched it from her as if she doesn't want anyone to see it.

Carla still thought it was weird, the way Jessie acted.

_What's so secret about that wedding invitation that Jessie wouldn't want anyone to see? _Carla isn't exactly the type who can let go of curiosities. So, thinking it would be harmless, Carla pulled the parchment from the appointment book, and at her first sight of the handwriting, her jaw drops…

She read it.

Adrian had already finished setting up the photo printer when the door opened and Jessie came in.

"Hi honey!" Adrian walks over to give Jessie a kiss. She didn't protest, but isn't ecstatic either. Since last night, she had been thinking about talking to Adrian. She isn't sure what to tell him, but Jessie's sure about one thing: she needs to leave him.

"You look so happy."

"The Pirelli team approves the photos. We're done!" Adrian raises his hands in the air for emphasis. He can be such a dork sometimes.

"Congratulations." Jessie smiles and heads to the room.

"Thanks… We'll celebrate tonight."

"Okay." Jessie reaches for the doorknob of the bedroom.

"Oh, Carla's there looking for the photo paper. She's taking a bit too long. Where did you hide it anyway?" Adrian asks in amusement, 'coz really, Carla had been in the bedroom forever. Jessie suddenly feels defensive and flings their door open.

Carla turns her head at the door, and her blue eyes met another pair of blues. Jessie walks slowly into the room. Carla's standing by the bed, holding a familiar piece of parchment in her hands. Their eyes locked with each other's, and they stood there, without words being said.

Jessie could just see the confusion, the pain that presently dwells in Carla's eyes. There may not be tears, but the hurt the supermodel was feeling was traceable. It's as if she was questioning the doctor about the letter, and Jessie has no idea what to do or say. The letter pretty much says everything about the past, but not necessarily the future. There's no way that Carla didn't recognize the handwriting.

It was an old letter, yes, but even after reading it so many times, it still makes Jessie feel as if it was written yesterday, and she knew, by the look in Carla's face, that the other blonde felt the same way. Jessie has no idea what was going on inside Carla's head, what she's planning, what she wants to say. But Carla didn't do anything. Instead, after minutes of just looking at her, Carla walks past by her, without looking away from her, and hands her the letter with her left hand. As Jessie reaches for it, a glistening band around Carla's finger caught Jessie's attention.

_Their engagement ring… _Jessie feels another pang in her heart. Now they're even. And Carla left the room, leaving Jessie holding the parchment in her hands.

"Did you find it?" Adrian asks Carla as she walks back into the small living room. Carla gives him a blank stare and shakes her head. Adrian frowns at the weird reaction of the blonde and turns his head to the direction of his girlfriend who's standing by their bedroom door.

The two girls exchanged a look, that didn't go unnoticed to Adrian, but he didn't think much of it.


	7. The Last Goodbye

**A/N: Same disclaimer, I don't claim ownership of Once & Again original characters… Sorry for typographical errors, this is unedited and a bit rushed… Don't have much time to edit… Enjoy reading… By the way, Katie and Carla has a diamond engagement ring… Forgive me if I don't know much about karats and that sort of stuff…**

**CHAPTER 7THE LAST GOODBYE**

_I can't bear breaking Carla's heart... _That's what Katie had been telling herself since she got her engagement ring back. It wasn't easy parting with it, to tell you the truth. She had been through a lot with her fiancee. Their relationship isn't perfect. They had their own share of ups and downs, good and bad publicity, adorations and criticisms from almost all kinds of people. And Katie survived, with Carla.

She wondered if what happened that stormy night in the small island means anything to Jessie at all... Or was it just sex? Plain, but amazingly tempestuous sex. For a moment, Katie let herself wonder what would it feel like, if Jessie leaves her boyfriend and comes running into her arms, to declare her love...

_Stop dreaming... _Katie closes her eyes. No matter what happened between them, whether it means something or not, it was wrong. She's engaged to marry Carla, and Jessie is dating Adrian. Would it be right to let Carla suffer from all her indiscretions? If there's someone to suffer, that's her. She's the one who let herself get carried away with her old feelings for Jessie.

OLD feelings... Old feelings that seem to resurface after years of loving someone else... Katie knows there's no reason to deny it. Her feelings for Jessie had always been with her, buried deep within the depths of her broken heart, and it never vanished, even when Carla came to her life. It's a reality that she has to live with. But that doesn't mean she never loved Carla. That's exactly the reason why she couldn't decide on what to do right now...

Having lunch together had never been this quiet between them. Carla and Katie are occupying a table at Plazoleta, another restaurant at the beach. Sitting opposite each other, both are lost in their own world. They barely acknowledge each other's presence, and Carla is even yet to touch her food. And neither bother to ask the other what they are thinking, for they don't realize how quiet they had been.

Carla has no idea what to make of it. Yesterday, she found the parchment from Jessie's things, and it could only be written by one person. Sure it had been written for years, but the one who wrote it has a distinctively consistent, hasty but beautiful handwriting.

_But it was written in the past... _Carla tells herself. She could just ignore it, but somehow she couldn't. She's had reservations with regards to Jessie since the first time she saw her, woman's intuition as she refers to it, but the doctor being Grace's sister and everyone's friend, Carla ignored her suspicions. In fact, she tried her best to be as friendly as she can be towards the seemingly nice and likeable blonde. Then she found that letter, and all her trust was thrown out of the window.

Why is it that reading her fiancee's old letter to Jessie hurts her so much?

She keeps on thinking but Carla keeps arriving at one conclusion. There's more to that letter than just a group of decade-old words. Katie had told her almost every relationship that she had been through. She thought she knew everything, but why forget that one little detail about Jessie?

_'I'll probably never love someone as much as I love you...' _LITTLE DETAIL... Carla repeats that part of the letter in her head, and it hurts as much as she read it the first time. And the fact that the storm caused Katie to spend some time alone with Jessie in the island even hurts more. Just the thought makes her stomach turn. What happened in the island? And why would Katie write something so strong like that? Exactly how much did she love Jessie? Is Katie really over her?

_Do I really want to know? What else are you hiding from me, Katie? _Carla feels as if her larynx was being crushed. Finding that parchment in Jessie's possession at this odd time seems to add to the pain. It's 2013, and the letter Katie wrote was dated 2002. It's clear that Katie and Jessie never dated, as Katie poured out her heart in that letter. Then why is Jessie holding on to it until now? Who travels with a love letter from an old admirer when vacationing with your boyfriend or girlfriend? Unless there is something to this than Carla could see...

"I want to know about Jessie." Carla speaks firmly as she looks up at Katie. Katie's jaw grows stiff, and she swallows an invisible lump in her throat.

"What about her?" Katie answers in the most insouciant tone she could muster.

"I don't know. Why don't you tell me?" Carla is determined to give her the benefit of the doubt. It's hard, but she will let Katie tell her side of the story.

"Carla, I don't understand. What are you saying?" Katie looks at Carla straight in the eye.

"We promised to always be honest with each other, Katie, no matter what. I want you to be honest with me now. Is there anything that I need to know about Jessie?"

_Did she find out what happened in the island? _Katie feared, but had doubts in her own suspicion since Carla can be very fierce and cruel when betrayed. Her fiancee could have easily slapped her now. And besides, the only soul who knew about her folly was Kim, and Kim isn't the type who gives away secrets.

Jessie, for sure, hadn't told anyone. So why is Carla asking questions? Is Katie so damn obvious?

"She's just a friend." Katie admits. But Carla wants her to elaborate.

"I'm giving you the chance to be honest now." Carla feels her jaw tightening. They sit unmoved looking at each other.

"I am being honest with you... Nothing went on between me and Jessie. We are just FRIENDS." Katie emphasizes. But the 'friend' part actually hurts... Carla stares at Katie's green eyes, hoping to be able to read her.

"Okay." Carla gives a shrug and forces a smile. Katie smiles back, but feels that Carla isn't satisfied with her answer. But what could she do? She isn't about to hurt Carla for her stupidity.

"Hey! So good to see you guys, mind if we join you?" Adrian's overly cheery voice came from behind Katie. Her face almost contorted into a frown. She could recognize that voice even without looking. And she could tell without turning to look at him that he isn't alone.

"Adrian, I don't think we should---" Jessie isn't able to finish what she was going to say. Carla looks up to her with a big smile on her face, and to her Jessie's utter surprise, looks so damn genuine.

"It's okay. Join us please. It would be a pleasure to dine with my best photographer to date." Carla smiles at Adrian, and Adrian grins as his ego grows double at the praise of the revered supermodel. Carla gets up from her own seat and moves to sit at Katie's left, while Adrian and Jessie occupy the chairs opposite them. Carla calls out to the waiter and had her plate moved, while Adrian and Jessie place their order.

_Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse... _Jessie thought, as she try her hardest to act civil towards the dirty blonde sitting right opposite her. How could it be that Katie seems to grow more and more beautiful every time that Jessie sees her? She then looks at Carla, but shifts her eyes to her plate before meeting the other blonde's gaze. After the incident at their hut yesterday, she couldn't bear seeing her pain. _But she isn't the only one hurting... _

Katie looks up at Jessie. The doctor's arrival somehow erased the thick cloud she had been feeling while being alone with Carla. She still feels guilty, even just by smiling at Jessie, but she couldn't help it. Jessie's presence lightens up everything around her, every time. Jessie smiles back.

"So, you guys coming to Coco Mangas tonight?" Adrian asks Carla in particular.

"Of course, it's OUR victory party." Carla smiles and for the first time, picks up her spoon and grabs a bite of her food.

"Haha, thanks for sharing me the spotlight." Adrian offers his hand across the table and Carla shakes it. They seem to get along well, Katie noticed.

"You'll be there too, right?" Carla turns to Jessie, who looks surprised at the attention she was getting from Carla. She stutters before she could reply, which makes Katie wonder why Jessie was apparently nervous.

"Yeah, I think so." Jessie managed to say.

"How's Grace and Tad doing? I heard Grace isn't so happy about her husband lying to her about you being stuck in the island." Carla chuckles. Jessie thought it was strange, she isn't sure how to react. Carla is acting like she hadn't read the letter. The incident at the hut yesterday, with Carla finding Katie's letter and Carla reading it, and now Carla's acting like it didn't happen at all. Jessie could vividly remember the pain in Carla's eyes, the cold stare that she gave her, and her silence as she stayed in their hut longer to wait for her photo prints.

"They're okay. She finally stopped punishing Tad." Jessie smiles. Carla being nice is making her feel guiltier. If being calm and nice is Carla's way of punishing Jessie and Katie, this is the nastiest revenge.

"I can't believe we're already leaving tomorrow. I really fell in love with this place." Adrian looks around and smiles.

"Me too." Carla agrees.

Katie, suddenly oblivious to the people around her, has her eyes lock on Jessie, who's almost squirming in her seat. This isn't a very pleasant situation to be in. As Katie stares at her, thoughts of that night in the small island flood her brain. She could clearly remember the smell of Jessie's hair, the taste of her skin, and the sound of her voice as the blonde called out her name a thousand times as they made love twice that night...

How can she ever forget that night and the way it felt?

_What happened to NOT breaking Carla's heart? _Her own voice echoed through Katie's head. She almost forgot that Carla's starting to suspect something. She then looks at her left, and smiles reassuringly at Carla. She has to sort this out. She's yet to make a decision, and it will not be easy. But right now, she has to think of Carla. She has to stop being a selfish liar who's in love with the other girl sitting right in front of her...

Decision-making will come in due time, when she's ready to risk things and carry the guilt of hurting the people that for sure, are inevitably going to be hurt.

Katie suddenly feels she needs a drink. She reaches out for her glass of red wine and takes a sip. Jessie watches her lift the glass to her mouth, almost lusting after Katie's beguiling lips, when a familiar sparkle in Katie's left hand distracts her attention.

Katie is wearing her engagement ring…

x - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - x

Jessie had been sitting under a tree by the beach for about twenty minutes now. The lunch went fairly well, or so Carla and Adrian would like to think. Jessie, after seeing the ring on Katie's finger just wasn't able to focus on the conversation anymore. Not that her cooperation was needed. Carla and Adrian were so absorbed talking about their photographs, the Pirelli Calendar, and Heide Klum to even notice her silence.

Katie, who sat in silence herself, kept throwing reassuring smiles at her direction, and at the same time, at Carla's. She wasn't sure how to take it. Just seeing Katie sit beside Carla is waking the green-eyed monster inside of her. And now, seeing she's wearing the engagement ring in Katie's finger again, it's another story...

_Was it just sex? _Was it a spur-of-the-moment thing for Katie, or something to keep herself busy to kill time? Jessie thought about the night with Katie. The lawyer was acting like they have nothing to feel guilty about, while she had a hard time just trying to act the same way in front of Carla and Adrian.

_Was I one of those unimportant one night stands? _Jessie's heart breaks.

Jessie falls back into her own reverie, and her mind flies back to her accident: falling from the jetskii, the stinging on her right leg caused by the jellyfish, the feel of the water closing in on her...

She thought she would die in that accident. She imagined what heaven would be like. She wondered what if she did things in a different way. What if she hadn't been so scared?

She almost gave up on life, when a strong pair of hands pulled her out from underwater and brought her up for air. She could remember the feel of her savior's lips on her own and the feel of her hands between her chests. She lived, because Katie saved her. And she wonders whether somebody would be capable of saving her now. The only person who can has someone else to save. This is her ultimate death. No resuscitation, no life-saving technique could revive her now. And it's killing her. It isn't fair to have her experience heaven for a while, and then have her go crashing hard, back down to earth...

Her celphone then rings. Jessie has no intentions of answering it, but upon seeing the unregistered number, she decided against it. The call might be important. So, she takes the call, only to hear that familiar, deep, female voice that gets her heart long for Katie's presence more...

"_Hi..." _Katie smiles on the other line. She's nervous, just calling Jessie. But she can handle it.

"Hey..." Jessie's voice almost got caught up in her throat.

"_Uhm... Jess..." _Katie trails off. She still doesn't know what to say. All she knows is that she needs to talk to Jessie. She needs to come to a decision, and she needs to talk to Jessie before she decides.

"I was... I think we need to talk..."

"_Yeah... You're right. That's actually why I'm calling..." _Katie says cautiously. Jessie stares into the ocean as she holds her celphone up to her left ear.

"Katie... I'm sorry..." Jessie says softly, almost choking in her own words. The smile vanishes from Katie's face. She falls in silence, as she waits for Jessie to speak again, but she didn't say anything more.

"_Jess, what are you apologizing for?" _Katie feels a feeling a foreboding. Jessie is not going to tell her that what happened between them was a mistake, would she? Is Jessie going to ask her to forget the best night of her life? Jessie gathers herself. She needs her strength, to be able to face this lost. It isn't exactly a battle, but Carla won. There's no point in fighting it now. This is destiny's way of telling her that she had a chance and she wasted it, fate is telling her to back off. What can she do?

"I'm just... I'm really sorry..." Jessie wants to tell her that it was, indeed, a mistake, but she couldn't get herself to say that. Jessie is convinced that it wasn't. But technically, it was.

"_Can we see each other now? To talk? There are---"_

"I can't..." They fall in silence... Katie falls into a trance before she's able to speak again.

"_But we need to talk about what happened..."_

"Katie, let's not waste each other's time anymore... I'm sorry..." Jessie says painfully, and she hangs up...

"_Jess..."_ Katie calls out, but she only hears a beeping on the line. Jessie has a point, Katie knows she's right. Talking will just worsen the pain both of them are feeling right now. She still has no idea on what to do, on what to decide...

But to Jessie, Katie had obviously made her choice.

At Boracay Regency, Tad is forced to turn his eyes away from his laptop as the soft knocks on their hotel door echoed in the whole suite. Grace had gone out swimming with Kim and Nikki, and he had to stay behind to edit a sports article a staff emailed him which is needed urgently. He's in the middle of his work when the said knocks distract him. He frowns.

When he opened the door, he sees Jessie standing on the doorway, on the verge of tears. Tad's heart sinks at the sight of his obviously broken friend. Before Jessie could ask him where Grace is, she just explodes. Tears come running down her face as if it will never stop. Tad, not knowing what to do, wraps his arms in his now trembling friend...

x - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - x

Carla organized an impromptu victory party for her and her friends. After having dinner at La Isla Bonita, which composed of sumptuous meals of seafoods, they stopped by different bars, had a few drinks, watched and listened to some acoustic performers in the shores, and later on they settled at their favorite bar, Coco Mangas.

"This is to you guys." Carla raises her glass of Jack Daniels on the rocks in the air, proposing a toast. She and her friends sit on a circle table, this way they are able to see each other. As usual the bar was packed, but Carla had managed to reserve this special spot for them.

"Cheers." Everybody said in glee. Carla, after taking a sip from her glass, turns to face Katie on her left, and giver her a long kiss on the lips. Katie isn't surprised, but she's too out of herself now to even react. Carla, of course, noticed the lack of passion on Katie's part, but decided to stop being untrusting and let it go. She pulls away from her fiancee, and smiles at her.

"Come on baby, cheer up... This isn't a funeral." Carla jokes.

"I'm sorry... It's just... I'm just not in the mood." Katie admits. Carla lifts her right hand and strokes Katie's cheek. With Adrian separating Carla and Jessie, Jessie gulps a large amount of her J&B.

"Do you want to go back to the hut?" Carla asks worriedly. Katie shakes her head.

"No..." Katie forces a smile. "I want to stay."

"Okay." Carla gives Katie another kiss on her right cheek, and Nikki, who's seated two people away from Carla (with Katie and Kim separating them), crosses her arms.

"You know what? I'm not so used to you being so quiet. Bad food?" Grace jokes at Katie this time. The dirty blonde manages a chuckle.

"I wished, but no."

"Ah... Lack of sex life?" Grace winks at Katie. "Please don't tell me you're still blaming me and Tad for that." Grace laughs. Katie slightly turns red, hoping Jessie isn't hearing any of this, because it's just so embarrassing.

"Grace, I'm just not in the mood." Katie looks apologetically at Grace, trying to keep her patience. Grace realizes that Katie isn't joking and finally shuts up. Carla holds Katie's right hand. Nikki clears her throat and takes a gulp of her vodka and actually empties her glass. Kim eyes Nikki in disbelief.

"Trying to get drunk?" Kim asks the stewardess.

"Yes." Nikki then gets up from her chair and heads for the bar for more drinks. Carla watches her curiously.

"Honey, would you like to dance?" Tad turns his head to Grace, who's sitting in his right, and offers his hand. Grace, looking glad, accepts Tad's hand.

"Of course, honey." She smiles at him, and they head off to the dance floor. As they sway into the live sound of another local acoustic performer, Grace wraps her arms around Tad's shoulders, while Tad wraps his arms around Grace's hips and pulls her closer.

Silence loomed their table. It turns out that Adrian isn't so vain after all. He had been noticing Jessie's lack of passion towards him in the past few days. Not that Jessie were ever passionate in their relationship. If Jessie had been cold before, she's now colder. But he loves her, and whatever shortcomings Jessie might have, he will work on it.

The first time he saw Jessie, he was sure: Jessie is the one he wants to spend the rest of his life with. Call it love at first sight. He had to endure several no's for a single date before Jessie actually said yes. He worked hard to win Jessie's heart, and he couldn't explain his happiness when finally, she became his girlfriend. And until now, his feelings for her hadn't changed a bit...

"Why do you keep looking at our table? What's wrong?" Grace whispers in Tad's ear. She noticed how worried Tad looked. But what was there to worry about?

"Nothing." Tad smiles at her.

"Are you sure? You look so worried." Grace tightens her arms around Tad's shoulders and pulls him even closer.

"Really, everything's fine, honey." Tad leans down and gives his wife a kiss. But Grace was right. He is worried... About Jessie.

When Jessie came to their hotel suite that afternoon, Grace wasn't around, and maybe Jessie felt she had no choice but to talk to Tad. She told me one big secret that she had been keeping for so long, that now, she exploded. The truth shocked Tad. He had no idea. But he understood. He saw Jessie's pain. A decade of suffering could be seen in Jessie's blue eyes. He wanted to tell Grace, but Jessie asked him not to. Jessie wanted to tell Grace herself.

Tad wonders how long Jessie could take this: just sitting two persons away from the one who owns her heart, watching somebody else touch her, its torture. But there's nothing that he can do.

At the bar, Nikki gulps her second glass of vodka, and Kim, upon realizing that Nikki hadn't come back for a while, follows her. She finds Nikki occupying a stool in the far left, ordering her third glass. She sits on the stool beside the brunette.

"Want some company?" Kim asks.

"Sure." Nikki replies without looking. She orders a beer for Kim. Her friend isn't really a wine person.

At the table, it became even quieter. Carla remains holding Katie's hand, but her eyes focus at the direction of the bar where Nikki and Kim are sitting. Jessie barely moved or talked. Adrian mysteriously disappeared from the table without anyone of them noticing.

It's supposed to be a celebration, but strange enough, nobody feels like celebrating. Well, except for Tad and Grace who are making the most of the moment while dancing and holding each other, and Adrian, who's on the small stage already. Nobody even noticed how he got there. Jessie could barely focus her attention to anything right now...

"This is for you, Jessie..." A voice said through the microphone which finally, got Jessie's undivided attention.

_What is he doing? _Jessie wonders. She finds her boyfriend on stage, holding the microphone, and smiling at her. Tad and Grace continues dancing. Grace watches in interest, while Tad looks in suspicion. He has a feeling where this is going to. Nikki, who's downing her fifth glass of vodka, barely pays attention to Adrian, while Kim, like Grace, watches curiously. Carla smiles at Adrian's direction, but occasionally throws a short glance at a seemingly drunken Nikki by the bar. Katie plasters a frown.

_Go on, make a fool of yourself please, entertain me... _Katie thought. She almost laughed at herself. She feels too sarcastic right now to take one of Adrian's pathetic attempts to be cute. She turns her head to Jessie's direction and finds her watching the boyfriend...

The guitarist strums the guitar in a familiar tune. Grace and Tad sways in the dance floor, and Tad looks troubled. Something will happen, something big...

"It's late in the evening, she's wondering what clothes to wear, she puts on her make up, and brushes her long blonde hair, and then she asks me, do I look alright, and I say yes, you look wonderful tonight..." Adrian sings.

Grace and Cara smile. Katie rolls her eyes. Tad fixes his eyes on Jessie. Nikki looks amused, and gulps her sixth glass of vodka. Kim eyes Katie closely. Jessie looks confused but forces a smile upon seeing Adrian smiling at her. Dedicating the song to her was sweet, but Jessie is more concerned about what Katie would think other than anything else. But then again, what would Katie think? As of the moment, she's busy holding Carla's hand…

"We go to a party and everyone turns to see, this beautiful lady that's walking around with me, and then she asks me, "Do you feel all right?", and I say, "Yes, I feel wonderful tonight."…" Adrian walks down from the stage. Katie grits her teeth as the pilot walks his way towards their table, to Jessie. Carla's attention is now focused at Adrian and Jessie, momentarily forgetting about Nikki who's trying to get wasted at the bar. Everyone else at Coco Mangas is watching the scene Adrian is creating.

"I feel wonderful because I see, the love light in your eyes, and the wonder of it all, is that you just don't realize how much I love you, it's time to go home now and I've got an aching head, so I give her the car keys and she helps me to bed, and then I tell her, as I turn out the light, I say, "My darling, you were wonderful tonight, oh my darling, you were wonderful tonight." Adrian finishes singing. He stops in front of Jessie.

From the bar, Nikki shakes her head, this is far too entertaining for her. She orders another glass of vodka and downs it, and earns a glare from Kim.

"Everybody, this is my girlfriend Jessie." Adrian says proudly and looks adoringly at Jessie. Jessie's face flushes bright red.

_What is he doing?_

"And I want everybody to know that I love her with all of my heart…" He says, and the crowd goes 'aww'.

_How original… _Katie silently sulks in her seat. She sees as Adrian drops on his knees, in front of Jessie, which got her eyes widening. _No... _Katie couldn't blink, her ears strain to hear what Adrian was about to say…

"Jessie…" He fumbles with something from his pocket, and he pulls out something… A glistening something…

_A ring… _Katie's jaw drops. Kim shifts her eyes from Adrian to Jessie to Katie. Nikki rolls her eyes. Tad stops swaying in the dance floor with Grace, staring at the unfolding proposal in disbelief. Grace's smile widens. Jessie barely registered what's going on. She just sit there watching Adrian.

"Jessie, will you marry me?" Adrian asks Jessie nervously. Katie focuses her eyes on Jessie now, silently praying that Jessie would say no and tell everyone that she's in love with someone else, and that someone else is Katie. Jessie isn't ready for this. She never expected a proposal from Adrian, ever. Her relationship with him is nothing than just a safety net, she's sure of that. And having him now, kneeling in front of her, embarrassing himself in front of everybody was just rattling.

What should she say? If she says yes, that would be against everything her heart says. But if she says no, everybody will wonder why she did, and will ask her questions she doesn't want to answer. Coco Mangas became suddenly quiet. Nothing could be heard but the sound of the guitar playing the instrumental acoustic version of Wonderful Tonight.

_But what would be the point of saying no, when the only reason why you would is holding somebody else's hand? _Jessie feels so pathetic…

Nikki, meanwhile, stumbles from the stool at the bar as she makes her way out. Carla's snaps her head at Nikki's direction and sees her wasted friend trying to make her way out of the door. Kim warns her friend and stops her from leaving but Nikki is just too stubborn. Carla looks worriedly and gets up from her chair, whispering an excuse to Katie which Katie barely heard. Her attention couldn't be torn away from Jessie, who isn't answering Adrian, but rather smiles at her boyfriend.

When Adrian reaches for Jessie's left hand and put the ring on her ring finger, the blonde didn't protest, to Katie's utter disillusionment. She felt let down, defeated… Even if she didn't hear Jessie say yes, she wore the ring. This is just so cruel. She felt something exploding in her chest. Was it her heart? Did it shatter into pieces? Will she die?

_This isn't happening… Not in front of me… _Katie's mind is swirling, she feels nauseous. Jessie just got engaged, and not with her. It's like one of her worst nightmares coming to life.

Meanwhile, Carla is standing not so far away, helping Nikki walk since the brunette is having an awfully hard time standing on her own. Kim isn't even paying any attention to Nikki at all, so Carla took it upon herself to bring Nikki back to Fridays safely. But as she stood there, seeing the reaction on Katie's face, her heart sinks…

x - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - x

Katie, again, is sitting on the sand later that night, facing the sea. After more drinking and giving the newly engaged couple some congratulatory greetings, they disbanded. And Katie just found herself here, at the exact same spot where she stayed and found by Kim, when she saw Jessie again after all those years.

"Katie…" Katie hears someone calling her. She expected that voice. She always hears that voice everytime she needs to hear it. And she's glad that she heard it again now… Her right hand clutches on the sand, as if tearing it into even smaller pieces, as if it's possible…

"For a while, she was mine… All mine… It felt so great, and it was as if everything was finally in place… And there's nothing else that I could ever need, or want… I just want to lay there with her, feel her… I was in a delusion that she was the reason I'm alive, and I believed that…" Katie says softly as she reminisced about that night with Jessie, almost breaking down in tears, but she controlled those tears from falling. She has to be strong… She'd gone through this before, only this time, going through it again is worse.

"I don't know what to say… I'm sorry…" Kim admits as she sits beside Katie again. Déjà vu. It's like being transported back to their first day in Boracay.

"God, I love her so much…" Katie finally trembles, and tears flood her eyes… Her right hand starts punching the sand softly, to feel physical pain… But the emotional one is worse… Kim wraps her arms around Katie. The lawyer never looked so frail…

"You got to let it go, Katie…"

"I thought I had… That's why I threw that letter into the ocean, to say goodbye, and to let her go…"

"But have you?" Kim pulls away, looking sympathetically at her broken friend.

"No… I haven't…" Katie admits. Her sobs breaks the silence of the night.

x - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - x

At Fridays, Carla watch as Nikki falls into sleep.

x - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - x

"Do you believe that you can love two people at the same time?" Katie asks Kim. She had stopped crying, but the pain remains in her green eyes.

"Of course, but you'll always love one more than the other. Eventually, you have to decide. I think it's a choice between who you want to be with or who you want to spare from the pain that you can cause." Kim knows exactly that Katie is referring about Jessie and Carla. She might have admitted that she's still in love with Jessie, but Katie's relationship with Carla isn't that simple. She loves Carla, Kim knows that.

"I think Jess has already made a choice…" Katie chokes in her words. Tears start to fall from her eyes again and she wipes it hastily.

"What are you going to do now?"

"What do you think I would do?" Katie asks her back. Not that she has a solution at the moment. She doesn't want to hurt Carla, and she doesn't want to let go of Jessie either.

"Don't stay with Carla because you don't have a choice. Stay with her because you want to." Kim says firmly. She fully understands the weight of Katie's pain, but Carla is her friend too.

Katie turns her head and looks briefly at Kim then stares back into the ocean again.

From a distance, a figure stood, and its shadow starts moving away from their direction…

The lights are already off when Katie was able to go back to their hut. She figured Carla would be back there sleeping, and she guessed right. She stares at Carla's sleeping form. Her mixed emotions are tearing her down right now. She feels guilty, and broken, then broken again…

_Boracay was a bad idea… _Katie has no one else to blame but herself. The events in the past week shouldn't have happened. Everything started out wrong. She should have been honest with Grace about her feelings for Jessie. She shouldn't have let herself be weak in front of Jessie while they were stuck in the small island. Witnessing Jessie get engaged with Adrian was just the worst of the worst. It was like plunging to her own death. She wonders why she didn't fall into a nervous breakdown. Why didn't she realize what Adrian was up to when Adrian took that microphone on stage...

After changing her clothes, Katie stares at Carla's sleeping form again before climbing into bed. Carla was lying on her right side, and Katie slips behind her back. She pulls the blanket covering Carla and covers herself. Katie then rests her left arm on Carla's waist. She lay there, staring at the back of Carla's head, when Carla surprisingly got up. Katie frowns…

"I thought you're asleep." Katie says after the blonde. Carla throws her a cold look. Her eyes were red, as if she just cried. Katie feels that familiar feeling of guilt and gets up from bed, and follows Carla, who's currently heading for the door.

"Obviously I'm not." Carla's coldness takes Katie aback…

"Carla…"

"We promised to always be honest with each other, Katie, no matter what." Carla looks straight into Katie's eyes. Her tone was firm and steady, and her facial expression was hard as a rock.

"What are you saying?" Katie takes steps towards Carla, whose tears starts falling from her eyes. But Carla raises her right hand, warning her to stop, which Katie did.

"'I'll probably never love anyone as much as I love you?'" Carla recites that part of the letter she read in Jessie's possession, the part that will never stop bothering her. She glares at Katie, who now looks like a deer caught in headlights.

_She knew about the letter? How did she find out about the letter? _Katie almost panics. She thought it was impossible. The letter wouldn't even survive years of floating in the ocean. But by meeting Carla's icy cold stare, she could swear her fiancée had read the letter to Jessie. How she got a hold of it, Katie has no idea. And would Carla even recognize her handwriting?

"You know what hurts more?" Carla continued as she hastily wipes the tears from her eyes.

"Carla…"

"You can never be honest with me… You were NEVER honest with me…" Carla shakes her head, then storms out of the door. Katie runs after her.

"Where are you going? Carla!" Katie calls out from the porch. Carla turns around, looks at her in the eyes, and answers.

"To the only person I trust right now…" Carla wipes her tears again, and walks away into the dark. Katie knees finally give up, she slumps to the floor, and leans against the wall for support… She covers her face with her hands...

This is more than she can handle…

x - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - x

Kim couldn't sleep. This vacation is supposed to keep them relaxed, and happy. But with everything that's been happening, despite the fact that she isn't even supposed to be involved, was getting to her. She's worried about Katie, then there's Carla, then Jessie and Adrian. Katie's torn, and in the middle of it all, there's no doubt that Carla will be the one to suffer. With Jessie, on the other hand, she has suspicions. The fact that Jessie slept with Katie at the island means that there maybe something more to them than just sexual tension. And if her suspicions are right, another heart might be broken: Adrian's.

_This vacation is more twisted that I thought… _Kim thought. She gets up from bed to get something to drink, beer, wine, anything that will make her fall asleep; and on her way to pick up the telephone at the living room to call for room service, she heard the sobs. Her forehead contorts… It doesn't sound like Nikki. So she takes the steps towards Nikki's room and finds the door open, and surprisingly, Nikki looks sober, while holding a weeping Carla in her arms. Nikki sees her and locks eyes with her, and Kim understood. She nods at Nikki, and closes the bedroom door.

Nikki held Carla in her arms 'til her tears ran out… Carla's sobs could still be heard in the room, but she had stopped crying. Currently, they are sitting side by side on the bed. Nikki watched the blonde as she sat in silence, hurting. She wished she could do something to ease the pain, but she knew there's nothing.

"I still can't believe that she's in love with Jessie…" Nikki says softly. Carla flinches at the statement, and Nikki holds her hands to comfort her.

"I gave her a chance to come clean, to tell me the truth about Jessie… But…" Carla wipes the tears that start from falling from her eyes again. "She feels so much for Jessie… Oh God…" Carla's tears fall from her eyes, and Nikki embraces her again…

"Love is like handing someone a gun, having them point it at your heart and trusting them to never pull the trigger…"

"And she pulled the trigger… Am I keeping her from being happy?" Carla pulls away and looks at Nikki's eyes. Nikki's heart breaks upon seeing Carla's pain.

"No, of course not… Unexpected things happen, Carla… There are things that you can't control, no matter how much you try…" Nikki says reassuringly. Carla lets herself wander into dreamland for a while, reminiscing all those times she spent with Katie.

Best times of her life. Katie changed her life the way Jessie changed Katie's. Katie saved her from herself. When Katie proposed to her, losing her never crossed her mind. Based on Katie's own account of past relationships and flings, nobody else can ever threaten their relationship. Except that Katie left that part about Jessie…

"It's over, isn't it? I need to let her go…" Carla sobs again.

"People are in your life for a reason. Some are there to teach you, some are there to hurt you, and few are meant to change you. For better or worse, it's uncertain. Not everyone of them is meant to stay…"

"What if… What if you don't want to let go?" Carla swallows the lump in her throat.

"Well, you can, or you can't… But you SHOULD. It will not be easy, and it will be painful. You can't keep holding on to someone who's holding on to someone else…"

Carla and Nikki exchange looks, and Carla stayed on Nikki's arms 'til morning…

x - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - x

"This is the best vacation ever." Grace proclaims, as she and Tad finished packing their things the next morning. Their week-long vacation just concluded. Tad merely looks at her and doesn't agree.

"Are you not going to say anything?" Grace frowns at her husband, who decided to stay quiet and walks to the bathroom to pick up a forgotten underwear.

"It was a great vacation, Grace, I agree with you." Tad smiles at Grace and gives her a short kiss. He then puts the underwear into one of his bags.

"Why is it that I don't believe you?" Grace looks suspiciously at Tad. Tad meets her gaze, then closes the zipper of his bag. He sighs.

"Grace, it's a great vacation, believe me… But for some people, I don't think I can say the same thing." Tad shrugs. Grace crosses her arms.

"What do you mean?"

"I wish I could say more, but I'm not in the position to talk." Tad shakes his head and heads to their balcony to have one last look of the beach from their room.

"Come on, honey, what's going on?" Grace nudges Tad, but Tad shakes his head again.

"It's just… I hope that this vacation did something good for everyone of us, instead of just ruining trusts and relationships, you know." Tad says almost mythically at Grace. Grace contorts her forehead even more.

"Trusts and relationships? What am I missing here?"

"Time to go, honey…" Tad smiles at her, and holds her hand. Grace isn't able to ask anything anymore.

At Saigon Huts… Katie is still slumped on the floor at the porch of their hut. She isn't able to sleep since Carla left the hut last night. She remained there sitting until morning. Then the door of the hut opposite them opened…

Katie looks at the direction of the other hut, and sees Adrian and Jessie walking out of their door, with a staff of the hotel helping them with their things. Her eyes locked with Jessie's eyes, as the blonde sees her from where she stood…

Jessie sees how devastated Katie is. She isn't sure what happened. She somehow hoped that her engagement is the reason why she is, but drops the thought. Carla probably had confronted Katie about the letter and they argued… Or worse, Carla might have already found out about what happened when they were stuck in the island…

She didn't realize her boyfriend, or fiancé, had already walked his way towards Katie…

"Katie, are you okay?" Adrian asks in concern, and Katie looks up in surprise.

_Where did he come from? _

"Yeah, I'm fine…" Katie says quietly.

"Where's Carla?"

"She went out for a while…"

"Uhm… We're leaving now, how about you?" Adrian tries to engage her in a conversation but Katie obviously isn't up to it.

"Maybe later… Bye…" Katie says dismissively. And realizing that it's his cue to leave, he smiles at Katie, and walks back to where Jessie is standing. Then they walk away, and disappear from Katie's sight…

At Fridays…

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Nikki asks Kim as she finished packing her suitcase. She and Kim originally planned on leaving that afternoon, but Nikki changed her mind. She will be leaving that morning, with another unexpected companion…

"No, I think someone else would need my company…" Kim has Katie in her mind.

"Okay." Nikki pulls her suitcase into the leaving room and heads to pick up the phone for room service.

"I'm glad that you're taking care of Carla." Kim says to Nikki. Nikki was unmoved for a while, then dials a number and requests the person on the other line to send her a staff to help her with her things. After she hangs up, she turns to Kim.

"Tell Katie that she owes me…" Nikki says seriously and walks back to her room.

"Okay."

"And how much of a stupid asshole she is."

"Okay."

Then Nikki closes the door behind her.

Saigon Huts… Katie, still slumped on the porch, looks up upon feeling the presence of someone in front of her…

"Carla…" Katie gets up from the floor, but Carla walks past by her and opens the door. Katie follows her into the hut.

"You swore that there's nothing that I need to know between you and Jessie." Carla says, trying to control herself from being angry.

"It's the truth…" Katie says softly. Carla mocks a laugh and turns to face Katie with her most sarcastic face.

"Do you still want me to believe that?" She remembers reading the letter, then hearing Katie's conversation with Kim last night, at the beach… 'I was in a delusion that she was the reason I'm alive, and I believed that…' Carla's heart breaks for the millionth time…

"There was nothing between me and Jessie, and there never will…" Of course, Katie was lying again…

"What happened in the island, Katie?" Carla looks straight into Katie's eyes… She could swear she's lying… Katie couldn't answer. "Oh, do I have to refresh you memory? 'For a while, she was mine, all mine… And it felt so great…'," Carla repeats the exact statement that she heard Katie tell Kim last night… Tears roll down Carla's face, to her disbelief, because she thought she had ran out of tears to cry. But she's wrong.

"She's never my girlfriend…" It was Katie's lamest and most pathetic answer. There's no getting out of this. She screwed up, and she will pay the price.

"Do you ever wish that it could be different?" Carla chokes in her words…

"Carla, you need to stop this…" Katie says pleadingly.

"You loved her, Katie… You loved her so much that it almost killed you… And you still do…" Carla shakes her head. This is her whole life, crashing right before her eyes… It never felt so painful…

"I love you so much, Katie… I do… But I'd rather not have you than have it halfway with you…"

"What are you saying?" Katie's matching Carla's sobs now…

"I'm saying goodbye…"


	8. Without You

**A/N: THIS IS THE SECOND TO THE LAST CHAPTER… THERE IS ANOTHER ONE COMING… EVERYONE HAS TO HAVE THEIR CLOSURE, DON'T THEY? HINT GRINS**

**CHAPTER 8 WITHOUT YOU**

Singer, Portman & Greene, Los Angeles, California… It's 9:00 p.m., and Katie's still inside her office. She's been sitting in front of her table, buried in piles of documents, while pieces of crumpled paper are scattered around. She scribbles something in her pad, then crosses it, rips it off, crumples it again and throws it to the direction of the door, and she's too busy to even notice that someone had already picked it up…

"Do you ever go home?" The pleasant voice of one of her law firm partners finally forces her to look up. Katie smiles at her. Natalie Portman, one of the brightest lawyers Harvard had produced. And yes, she is THE Natalie Portman, Hollywood actress, and she still is. Acting is only a part-time job for her now though. The beautiful brunette is the typical example of beauty and brains. She went to law school with Katie at Harvard, and since then, had become really good friends. It's as if they are each other's sisters.

"Do you?" Katie plasters a tired smile on her face, and leans back against her chair.

"Good point… I come home occasionally… But it seems like you haven't even left your chair in the past three months, since you came back from Boracay… Well, of course, except for the times when you had to appear in court to argue and to submit those motions and depositions for the cases that you handle, which, noticeably, had increased 50." Natalie crosses her arms and walks towards Katie's table. She occupies the chair in front of it, as she waits for Katie's answer.

"Of course I come home. You just didn't notice." Katie grins, then gets up from her chair. "Coffee?" She heads to fix herself a cup, and Natalie shakes her head.

"Katie, leaving the office at 12 midnight, and checking back in at 5 in the morning doesn't count as 'coming home'. You barely even sleep. Are you trying to kill yourself?" Natalie asks worriedly. Katie comes back with her cup and sits on her chair again, looking at Natalie in amusement.

"You mean coffee can actually kill people?" Katie jokes. Natalie rolls her eyes at her friend and Katie chuckles.

"Don't try to be smart with me." Natalie playfully points her finger at Katie.

"I AM smart." Katie grins confidently.

"I'm SMARTER. See the difference?" Natalie raises her right eyebrow then grins.

"What do you want me to do, Nat? Cut my work hours? I got nothing else to do, so why not defend those wrongfully accused criminals? This is the reason why I studied law." Katie picks up her pad again and goes over what she had written, as she holds her cup of coffee on her right hand.

_This sucks… _Katie shakes her head, tears the paper off again and throws it on the floor.

"Just because we have someone to clean for us doesn't mean you can keep throwing everything around. That's just…"

"Charming?" Katie jokes.

"Disgusting and annoying. How did Carla ever fall for you?" Natalie jokes, then sighs at her second statement. Katie smiles quietly. She wonders how Carla is doing. She haven't seen her since she said goodbye to her in Boracay. A week later, in LA, a package arrived at her office from Carla, and when she opened it, it was their engagement ring. There was no note, it only contained the ring.

That's when Natalie found out that everything was over between Katie and Carla. She's actually the one who introduced them to each other. Katie's invitation to that LA fashion week was from Natalie, which she got from Carla. Surprisingly, nobody found out about their break up, not even the press. Carla kept a low profile and she was rarely seen in LA. Last time Katie heard, Carla signed to model in Paris.

"How is she?" Katie smiles.

"I haven't heard from her. But a friend of ours told me that she's doing great in France." Natalie smiles at Katie reassuringly. Katie had told her about her worries about Carla, that she might relapse drinking alcohol, and Katie is sure that she will never be able to forgive herself if that happens. That will be her fault.

"I'm happy for her." Katie sips from her cup of coffee. Natalie watches her for a while.

"I don't think she will be as happy for you." Natalie says honestly. Katie frowns at her. Natalie continues.

"Look at yourself, Katie. You've lost weight, you have bigger eyebags…" Natalie trails off upon seeing Katie's eyes narrowed at her.

"Im not saying that you're ugly, okay? I'm just saying that you're normally hot, and now, you're not so hot…" Natalie pauses, then chuckles at how funny she might have sounded. Katie laughs.

"Geez, thanks Nat." Katie jokes.

"I'm just saying that… I think Carla wants you to be happy too. But you're here, in the office, at 9 in the evening, and you haven't even had dinner yet, working on some closing arguments---"

"Of the biggest case of my life. Nat, this will make me or break me." Katie looks seriously at Natalie.

"You know that's a lie." Natalie matches her seriousness. And Katie isn't so glad that Natalie was right. Even if this case could be considered as the most sensationalized murder case in the past five years, it won't do much damage to her career if she loses it. The evidence of the prosecution, though circumstantial, is so strong against her client, but she's sure the man was innocent of killing his wife, and she had presented scientific and forensic evidence to prove that. She's smart, and sharp when it comes to looking at evidence and arguing her case. With her years in practice, she had pretty much established herself. She doesn't have to prove anything anymore.

"You try to keep yourself busy so you wouldn't have time to think about other things… You're trying to find an excuse to avoid dealing with your problems, which, I have to say is an easy but a lonely escape. Do you think Carla would be happy to see you like this?" Natalie chastises her friend. Had it been Kim saying all these things to her, Katie would have argued with her already, but this is Natalie whom she reveres more than anyone else, and she considers as a sister.

"Nat…"

"You know what you want, Katie… Go for it…" Natalie says softly. She hadn't met Jessie, but she's heard a lot about her. Katie hadn't told her as much as she had told Kim, but she knows enough. Katie had told her about what happened in their vacation in the Philippines, and there's no doubt how much Katie loves the girl.

"You make it sound so easy."

"Well, you need a lot of convincing…" Natalie jokes. Katie looks up at her and smiles.

"But I have a case to win tomorrow." Katie changes the topic. Natalie watches her, hiding her disappointment. She wished Katie would just make it happen and make herself happy. She deserves it after everything she had been through. But something is stopping Katie from chasing after her happiness.

_She'd been hurt too many times… _Natalie knows she couldn't blame her.

"And I got to go." Natalie gets up from the chair and heads for the door.

"See you in court?" Katie asks hopefully. When Carla was still here, she would be there with Natalie and her other law firm partner, Thomas Greene to wait with Katie for the verdict. She wished Jessie would be there with her this time, but since the blonde is probably happy with the preparations of her wedding of God knows when it's supposed to happen, she asks Natalie to be there for her.

"Of course… And Katie, everything will be okay. All of these are just 'foreplay'. Everyone has got to have their own happy ending." Natalie winks at Katie.

"How do you know that?"

"I'm psychic." Natalie keeps a straight face, but Katie grins mischievously.

"More like psychotic." Katie laughs.

"It's a little bit of both." Natalie mocks seriousness then reaches for the door.

"I agree." They both share a laugh, and finally, Natalie leaves the room. Katie ponders at what Natalie had said, before going back to work on her closing arguments.

Brisbane, Australia… Grace and Jessie are inside 'Cinderella', one of the best wedding gown shops in Brisbane. Grace stood behind Jessie in front of a really big mirror, and is currently zipping the back of the white gown Jessie is wearing.

"This is perfect." Grace smiles triumphantly. The seamstress had to make several alterations at the gown since Jessie's weight seemed to fluctuate in the past three months.

"Turn around." Grace instructs her stepsister excited. Jessie abides, but without so much enthusiasm. Grace eyes her suspiciously, then makes her turn around again.

"How many more times do I have to turn around? It looks the same." Jessie frowns. Her statement makes Grace frown but Jessie didn't bother to explain her behavior. Grace had been noticing this strange way that Jessie had been acting when she is two days away from getting married.

"Will you stop being so crabby? You're acting like you were forced into this." Grace scolds her and turns Jessie around again, so they will be facing each other. Grace looks at Jessie in awe. Her sister looks so pretty in her gown.

"Help me out of it." Jessie asks Grace, but Grace isn't listening. She's so impressed by the gown and the way it looks on Jessie that she almost pulls out her camera phone to take a picture. Well, she did, but Jessie is fast enough to reach for the back zipper of her gown and pulls it down, to Grace's irritation.

"Hey, I was---"

"I just want it off, okay?" Jessie walks away from Grace and jumps out of the gown. Grace crosses her arms and focuses her eyes on Jessie.

_Something is going on here… _

"What's wrong?"

"What?" Jessie replies irritatedly. Grace raises her right eyebrow at her.

"YOU are being an exceptional brute lately. Way to impress your future husband, Jessie, I'm sure he'll love you even more." Grace tries to provoke Jessie but her stepsister merely looks at her. She sighs.

"I don't want him to…" Jessie says quietly as she picks up her jeans and shirt and wears it. Grace's eyes widen.

_Did I hear her right? _

"What?" Grace frowns.

"Nothing…" Jessie rolls her eyes. Grace walks nearer Jessie and turns Jessie around, so they will be facing each other again but Jessie just wouldn't look at her.

"Are you having an affair?"

"No." Jessie growls and sits on the couch near them. They are alone in the fitting room, and the attendant will only come back when they call for help. Grace watches Jessie in disbelief. She sits beside Jessie.

"Adrian's having an affair?"

"No one's having an affair, Grace."

"So, what's the problem? Don't think I haven't noticed Jessie, you are not happy with this wedding, are you?" Grace eyes Jessie closely, and Jessie doesn't say anything. "Oh my God… Jessie, you don't want to get married, do you?" Grace asks, and Jessie doesn't answer again. "Then why are you marrying him?"

"Because I was stupid… He proposed in front of everybody and I couldn't say no."

"Why can't you? It's monosyllabic."

"That monosyllable will generate more questions."

"So you decided that, 'oh, I'll just marry Adrian, it's easier than having to answer their questions'." Grace mocks Jessie's voice. "What are you trying to hide?"

"If I tell you then I wouldn't be hiding it anymore, would I?"

"Jess…"

"Grace, I'm in love with someone else…" Jessie looks up to meet Grace's open mouthed stare. Grace shakes her head.

"I'm confused… You're marrying Adrian, but you're in love with someone else. And you wouldn't want to answer our possible questions if you turn him down, because…?"

"Because that person is engaged with somebody else."

"Sis, you ARE stupid." Grace shakes her head. Jessie scowls at her. "Why use Adrian in all of this? You'll just be breaking his heart."

"I know, I just…" Jessie looks helplessly at Grace. "I'm going to marry him." Jessie says firmly.

"When you're in love with someone else? Jess, have you banged your head somewhere?" Grace face contorts.

"What if that person is in love with another? Grace, if not Adrian, who else? He's sweet, he's handsome, he's perfect… I don't want to grow old alone. Just the thought makes me feel even lonelier."

"But you DON'T love him." Grace emphasizes. Jessie sighs.

"He loves me." Jessie pauses in silence.

"Who is this other guy? He's an idiot for falling in love with someone else." Grace's angry face almost made Jessie laugh. She purposely did not mention the 'she' part. Grace has no idea of who the other person is. She's yet to tell Grace, and Grace will surely be shocked if she finds out the truth about the other 'guy'. Jessie merely smiles.

"Jess, don't force yourself."

"But I wouldn't want to break Adrian's heart either…" Jessie says.

_It's not like I still have a reason to… I wonder how Katie is doing now… _And the pain in her heart doubled upon remembering the ring on Katie's hand…

x - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - x

In one of LA courtrooms… It has been three hours since Katie had finished her closing argument. She's a bit apprehensive about the jury. They keep staring at her client, maybe assessing his guilt or innocence. Despite the strong forensic evidence, the prosecution had established the possible motive of the murder so strongly, and Katie's fear is for the jury to consider it as a fact of guilt. Katie stayed in the courtroom and Natalie stayed with her. This being a sensationalized case, the courtroom was packed with spectators and reporters, and the latter kept ambushing her with questions which she refused to comment.

In Australia, Jessie's eyes are glued to the tv as she watched the drama unfold in CNN. And her face lights up upon seeing Katie's face…

It took only a few more minutes before the officers of the court and the jurors came back and everybody rise. After everybody had occupied their seats again, Judge Harriet Snow speaks to the defendant.

"Mr. Emmett Stone, please rise. The foreman, please, identify yourself." Defendant Stone rises from his seat, along with his lawyer, Katherine Singer.

The foreman, a fifty-year old construction worker named Robert Carlyle identifies himself.

"Have you reached a verdict?" The judge asks.

"Yes, Your Honor." The foreman hands a note to the deputy and the deputy carefully brings the note over to the judge. After reading the note, Judge Snow gives the note back to the deputy, and the deputy hands it back to the foreman.

"On the charge of murder on the first degree, how do you find?"

"We, the jury, find the defendant, Emmett Stone, NOT GUILTY." The words of the foreman, especially the last two ones, echoed all over the room like thunder. The prosecutor turns his head to Katie's direction, but he barely smiles. He walks out of the court room, refusing to entertain the reporters that immediately surrounded him. Meanwhile, after the judge declared that Mr. Stone is a free man, he hugs Katie and thanks her. Katie then smiles at Natalie, who walks over the defense table and gives her a hug.

"You're better." Natalie greets. Katie frowns.

"Only better?"

"I'm the best, deal with it." Natalie jokes, then hugs Katie again.

"Alright." Katie laughs.

"That was an amazing closing argument. With that amount of scrap last night, I didn't think you'd come up with one." Natalie laughs.

"Me too. Thanks for being here, Nat."

"You're welcome… So, ready to celebrate?" Natalie walks past by the reporters with Katie behind her.

"It's 4:00 p.m."

"Who cares? Greene is already throwing a party down at Eidenberg's for you." Natalie mentions Katie's favorite bar.

"Wow, cool."

"Ms. Singer, what turned the prosecution's case around?" A reporter's voice came from behind Katie. Cameras are almost everywhere, covering every corner, surrounding her and Natalie as they made their way out of the court house.

"I think the jury is in the best position to answer that." Katie answers politely.

"Do you think winning this case has more to do with your uncanny ability to charm the jury than the evidence presented?" Another reporter asks. Natalie frowns.

"Juries are not idiots as you make them sound. If there's an idiot here, that would be you." Natalie sneers at the reporter who was taken aback by the reply of the normally nice actress-lawyer. Katie laughs.

"That's new. What's up with you?" Katie looks amused.

"I just feel like charging on someone, that's all. Haha, side effects of another victory." Natalie laughs.

"Anyone you want to share this victory with?" A female reporter asks this time. Katie pauses, before she looks straight into her camera.

"The one who owns my heart." Katie smiles charmingly, then walks away faster with Natalie.

In Australia, Jessie remains staring at the tv even after Katie was gone. She wonders who Katie was referring to… God knows how much she wished it was her… But then again, her heart ached… She's getting married tomorrow…

Meanwhile, at Hollywood Hills, house of actor Chris Pine, the front door bursts open and two figures charges into the room, arms all over each other, and their lips, attacking each other's with wild abandon…

Kim's back hits the black leather couch first, and Chris hovers on top of her. She feels his hands kneading her back, creating a trail of invisible fire in her skin. It's been a month since they started dating, and Chris is crazy about her, as much as Kim is crazy about him. As they continued to kiss, Chris pulls her from the couch, kissing her while leading her to another part of the house. Kim turns him around, playing with him, and she feels herself hitting another obstacle which is not the bed…

And bottles came crashing to the floor. Kim hit Chris's collection of souvenirs from the different countries he visited…

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry…" Kim whispers as Chris trails kisses on her neck.

"That's okay…" Chris speaks while continues attacking her neck, which elicits a moan from Kim. As Kim tries to take a glance of the damage she had done, though, something catches her attention… A parchment lying on the floor along with the shreds of glass…

"Wait… Chris, wait…" Kim slightly pushes Chris away.

"What?" Chris smiles adoringly at her.

"There's something on the floor…"

"Oh, yeah, it's just something that came along with the bottle. Amusing actually. I didn't realize people still use the bottle to send their mails to each other, to think UPS and FedEx were created." Chris laughs, then pulls away from Kim after giving her another kiss. "Would you like anything to drink?" He offers.

"No thanks." Kim picks up the parchment from the floor. She could feel her heartbeat double. She's sure it isn't Katie's letter. She knew because she was with Katie when Katie wrote it. Katie wrote it on a pure white parchment and this one is a bit bluish. But her gut tells her to pick it up and check it out.

_Katie must not be the only one who's had her heart broken… _Kim assumes. Then, she unrolls the parchment, and reads it…

"Oh my God…" Kim says it out aloud just when Chris is walking back to where she is after getting some beer from the kitchen.

"Are you okay, Kim?" Chris asks. Kim looks up at him.

"Where did you get this?" Kim looks intently at him while waiving the parchment in her hand for emphasis.

"A beach in Monte Carlo, December 2006. Why?"

"I have to go."

"But you just arrived." Chris asks in obvious disappointment.

"Really, I have to go. I'll see you next time, okay?" Kim kisses him on the lips one last time that night, and walks out of the house.

"Uh, okay…" Chris nods and watched as Kim left his house.

Kim jumps into her Chrysler and drives down Hollywood Hills. She reached for her Bluetooth headset and puts her in her ears, and voice dials her Motorazor V3X phone.

"Katie Singer." Kim speaks, and the celphone automatically dials Katie's number. She could hear the celphone ringing, but Katie isn't answering. Knowing Katie's recent sleep cycle, and considering it's only 8 in the evening, she doubts that she's already asleep. She tried calling her again but Katie still didn't answer.

"Grace Manning-Pincus." Kim voice dials Grace's number this time while she steers the wheel of her car while following a zigzag road. And, like what happened with her call to Katie, it was to no avail. Kim hits the steering wheel with her right hand.

"Come on guys, answer the phone… Tad Pincus." Kim voice dial's Tad's number and finally, he answers!

"_Kim?"_

"Where on earth is Grace? Why isn't she answering the phone? I tried calling your house but nobody's answering either." Kim frowns as she speeds her Chrysler.

"_Didn't you know? We're in Australia. It's Jessie's wedding tomorrow and Grace is in charge of it." _Tad says rather anxiously. He tried to convince Jessie not to go on with the wedding, knowing her heart is already reserved for someone else.

"Tomorrow?!" Kim screams, and Tad pulls his celphone away from his ears.

"_Look, I'm not happy either, okay? So please, try not to shatter my eardrums." _

"I thought its still next month! Does Katie know?"

"_I tried calling her but she refuses to talk to anyone. She overworks herself. I have suspicions that she doesn't even come home anymore 'coz I have left her like a thousand messages to return my calls, but she didn't." _Tad then realizes something.

"_Wait… Do you know SOMETHING?" _Tad narrows his eyes. Kim did ask him if he already told Katie about the wedding. Then, Kim must know something! It's not easy to keep this secret all to himself…

"What?"

"_You know about Katie and Jessie, don't you?"_

"Yeah, I know everything, and I need your help."

"_As long as this makes Katie and Jessie happy, I'm in." _Tad grins.

"Have you watched 'Serendipity'?" Kim asks.

x - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - x

Katie, who's currently lying on her cushy bed on her stomach, suddenly feels the warmth of the sun hit her in the face. She could vividly remember closing the blindfolds last night, or was it the other night? Katie couldn't be sure. She was rarely home anyway. Maybe the blinds weren't even open at all.

"Get up sleepy head, come on." Kim's voice echoed in the room. Katie remains on the bed.

_This is just one bad dream… I'm imagining her voice… _Katie is almost convinced, until she feels the tugging on her blanket. She half-opens her eyes.

"Kim? How'd you even get in?" Katie asks groggily, without doing any effort to get out of bed.

"You gave me a key, have you forgotten?" Kim frowns at her and opens the rest of the closed blinds. Katie covers her face with a pillow.

"I did?" Katie's muffled voice sounds disbelieving. Kim rolls her eyes.

"That night when you got drunk two months ago, you gave me a key and you insisted that I keep it and use it when the time comes."

"What time exactly?" Katie frowns under the pillow.

"You said that if you don't show up at work for a week, you're probably dead, and that's the time that I should use the key to locate your body, and you requested to be cremated and buried in Evanston." Kim says as-a-matter-of-fact.

"Has it been a week since I didn't show up?" Katie asks and Kim looks at her sleepy friend in disbelief.

"Actually, you never missed a day of work. You know, I still think you have schizophrenic tendencies." Kim shakes her head.

"Ha…" Katie says mockingly.

"Get up Katie, come on." Kim grabs Katie's left hand and pulls her out of bed. Katie is forced to get up.

"Why are you doing this? Aww.,. My head feels like hell. I want to go back to sleep…" Katie falls into bed again but Kim pulls her again.

"Got wasted last night, AGAIN?" Kim raises her eyebrow at Katie, who's now sitting on the bed but still has her eyes closed.

"Didn't you watch tv last night?"

"No, I was out with someone and knocked a bottle down." Kim answers seriously. Katie opens her eyes with a frown.

"I won the case, Kim. I had a reason to celebrate." Katie gets out of bed and closes the blind folds with a remote control that she picks up from the night stand. But, Kim opens it again manually. Katie rolls her eyes and walks out of the bedroom. Kim follows her.

"You're just looking for an excuse to get drunk." Kim says in the most reprimanding tone. Katie walks down to the kitchen, and is almost blinded by the sun shining in her house. Every blind fold is open and the curtains are neatly tucked to the sides.

"What have you done to my house? I'm getting that key back. I don't care if I die or if you find me when I'm dead. Either way, I'm dead. It's not like you can revive me or anything."

"Shut up Katie, and get dressed."

"I don't want to get dressed." Katie whines. She still wants to go back to sleep. Then she feels Kim pushing her to the door.

"Then don't. You don't look so hot with those clothes, but that will do."

"Hey!" Katie is wearing her nighties: sexy and a bit revealing, but definitely not something to wear when you go out. Katie just finds herself being pushed into the limousine waiting outside.

"Where are we going?" Katie looks at Kim suspiciously. Kim closes the door of the limo then she sits opposite Katie.

"Australia." Kim grins.

"WHAT?!"

"To the private airport, John." Kim instructs the chauffeur. Katie looks around. Kim turns back to Katie. "Your Asian client who gave you that first trip to Boracay is really cool. He's more than happy to lend us his private jet and this limo, can you believe that?"

"I don't have a passport." Katie crosses her arms.

"Got it." Kim lifts Katie's passport in her face, and Katie's eyes widen.

"How did you… Don't tell me I gave you my vault combination too?" Katie doubts it.

"No, but it's too easy to crack. Come on Katie, using Jessie's birthday as your vault combination? That's so…" Kim almost said 'lame'.

"What?" Katie looks dangerously at Kim. Kim mocks zip her mouth.

"Nothing."

"I'm not going to Australia in these clothes." Katie says firmly.

"Of course, you're not. I figured you wouldn't be so willing to change, so I brought some of your clothes too." Kim grins then points to the bag on Katie's right side.

"You know, you're starting to scare me. Why are we going to Australia?" Katie goes over the clothes and chose a white shirt and a pair of her favorite faded jeans. She starts wearing the clothes.

"Because of this." Kim hands her a bottle. Katie reaches for it but finishes getting dressed first.

"And what's this?" Katie frowns at the bottle.

"Message in a bottle. Sorry I broke the original one so I stuffed it in a new one for dramatic purposes." Kim chuckles.

"Are you joking?" Katie doesn't look pleased.

"That's exactly what I thought when you threw that bottle with your letter addressed to Jessie into the ocean."

"Don't make fun of me." Katie warns her.

"Oh, I'm not. I just realized that there are forces in this earth that is way beyond our control." Kim nods in her own conclusion. Katie thinks Kim is acting really weird.

"Am I supposed to agree with you?" Katie has no idea where Kim is going with this.

"Yeah. I've always been a skeptic, but now I'm not so sure."

"About what, God?" Katie guessed. Kim raises her eyebrow.

"I've always believed in God. I'm talking about destiny." Kim rolls her eyes again. Katie tries to keep a straight face. She finds Kim really funny at the moment, talking about destiny and being a skeptic.

"What does it got to do with this, and me?" Katie waves the bottle in the air.

"Read it." Katie looks at Kim and realizes how serious she is. So, she opens the bottle. After a few seconds of reading, her jaw drops, and her eyes remained locked on the parchment she's holding in her hands.

_It couldn't be… No, I'm imagining it… _Katie shakes her head. She's confused and at the same time, she's hoping that the letter is for real. But it's impossible. The handwriting does look familiar, but, it's just not possible…

"We're going to Australia because of THIS? I don't even have any idea why you're wasting yours and my time on this."

"I do." Kim pulls out a brown envelope containing something. She puts it on Katie's lap. Katie looks up at Kim and Kim nods at her, motioning for her to open it. Reluctantly, Katie did.

It contains fax messages from Australia. She has no idea who sent it, but those are documents consisting of Jessie's handwriting. Some of her notes in highschool and college, then her notes in her letterheads, probably done at some medical conference or something… Katie shifts her eyes back to the parchment in her other hand and reads it again…

_March 14, 2003_

_Dear Katie,_

_You're right, you are a coward… So am I…_

_Love, Billie… _

"It wasn't Carla who found your letter, Katie, it was Jessie." Kim voices out her conclusion. 

"This isn't possible. This has got to be a joke." Katie shakes her head.

"Katie, why are you doubting what's already in front of you?"

"Do you know how many people are there all over the world? Somebody else could have found that letter and thought it would be fun to write back and pretend to be Jessie." Katie retorts in irritation.

"I know I'm not a handwriting expert. Maybe you're right and somebody is just playing you, and whoever that moron is happens to have an eerily similar handwriting with Jessie; too much to be a coincidence, but let's consider that. But did you even read the last part? It says, BILLIE." Kim closes her case. Katie falls quiet and stares at the parchment in her hand again. She could feel her hand tremble just by holding it. Kim is in the right opinion to assume that it could be Jessie's letter. The 'Billie' signature in the end of it pretty much proves it all. It's the nickname that they gave each other years ago… And only a few people know that they call each other that…

"She's getting married tonight, Katie…" Kim informs her friend. Katie doesn't look up. She remains looking at the letter, then tears rolls down from her eyes.

"And you're dragging me all the way to Australia to witness that?" Katie wipes her tears and puts the letter and the fax messages down the cushion of the limo.

"No. I'm dragging you all the way to Australia to stop your worst nightmare from happening."

"You think this stupid letter can fix everything between me and Jessie? It's just a simple piece of paper written years ago, Kim."

They fall into a short silence…

"We made love in the island twice, and still, she decided to marry him. How can one stupid letter stop her from doing so?" Katie's tears continued falling.

"Do you believe in destiny?"

"Destiny sucks, okay? It threw me into an island with Jessie, brought me as close to her as I could ever be, then pulled me away so harshly. Fate is telling me to forget her and move on. That's what fate is, a powerful but cruel force of nature. It managed to break my heart three successful times: the first with Jessie, the second with Carla, and then, with Jessie again. It will continue breaking my heart until the day I die. I accept that now."

"Or maybe fate is telling you to believe."

"Maybe you are just romanticizing this whole thing." Katie grits her teeth. After wiping her tears again, she tries to stop her tears.

"Carla gave up her own happiness for your own. Why are you wasting it?"

"I am not going to force myself on someone who doesn't even want me."

"Did you really read the letter or are you just completely illiterate?" Kim is starting to become annoyed. Katie can be the most stubborn person in the world.

"What?" Katie says in an indignant tone.

"Are you crazy?"

"Why don't you tell me? You're the psychologist here." Katie growls at Kim.

"You know what your problem is?"

"That I'm gay and unhappy?" Katie plasters a mocking smile and Kim tries her best not to strangle her.

"I swear I'll throw you into a mental asylum and have you locked for years the first chance I get." Kim scowls at Katie.

"Funny."

"It's your defense mechanism. Of all the seven deadly sins, that's what I hate the most." Kim shakes her head. Katie stares at Kim, not knowing what she's talking about.

"What?" Katie frowns.

"Your pride! You know why I hate pride so much? Because when you have it, you always don't want to be the first to do the step to be with someone, you always try to hide your feelings, you don't want others to know that you're hurt, you're afraid of losing someone but also afraid to show it, you're afraid to love someone whom you think can't love you back, you're not happy, and in the end, you lose everything without even trying to have it."

Katie looks at her, impressed, but scared. She's seeing Kim's point now. And Kim is definitely right.

"Did it ever cross your mind that maybe Jessie wants you to stop marrying Adrian?" Kim sighs. She can see Katie's scared. But all she needs is some serious encouragement, and she'll be confident enough to risk her heart again.

"Katie, swallow your pride, for once. Make it happen. One of you has to be strong enough to fight for the other. In this situation, it has to be you." Kim says softly.

x - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - x

Brisbane, Australia... Hours later, at the chapel where the wedding will be taking place. Jessie changed into her wedding gown with the help of Grace. They are left alone in the bride's dressing room, after the make up artist finished her job on both Grace and Jessie.

"You can still back out, you know..." Grace says at Jessie, who's sitting in front of the mirror, silently looking at herself. Everything is set, all they are waiting for is time.

_If I ever really had a life, this is the end of it... _Jessie silently told herself.

"Jess, are you sure about this?" Grace asks again. Jessie seems lost, staring in space. It takes a few seconds before Jessie makes a slight move and speaks.

"No..."

"Then don't do it." Grace says firmly. She couldn't let Jessie go through this. Just seeing how miserable Jessie is, she couldn't take it. If she goes through this wedding, how long could Jessie take it? Grace could just silently curse this 'guy' who's doing this to her stepsister. As soon as she meets this guy, she'll probably kill him.

"I..." Jessie shakes her head... Then Grace witnesses as the tears fall from Jessie's eyes. She hands the bride a piece of tissue from the vanity table not so far away from them.

"Please don't cry, it's ruining your make up. Not like you need it in the first place, but you know. Come one, cheer up, you're the most beautiful bride ever." Grace jokes to lighten up the current situation. She feels sympathetic towards Jessie, but what can she do? It's still up to Jessie whether she'd walk that aisle or not. And Jessie is being exceptionally stubborn, not to mention stupid. Jessie accepts the tissue and wipes the tears gently.

"I don't know what I was thinking..."

"My thoughts exactly..." Grace pulls a chair and sits beside Jessie, looking at her sister through the mirror.

"I was... I was actually hoping... That... That person would show up and stop my wedding and tell me, in front of my family and friends, the feelings that 'HE' has for me..." Jessie purposely changed the pronoun to 'he'... As we all know, Grace is still clueless, and divulging the true identity of the one who's breaking Jessie's heart right now would worsen the situation, with Grace being involved.

"You're going through all this trouble to make your romantic happily ever after fantasy a reality? Jessie, are you insane?" Grace raises her eyebrow at Jessie in disbelief, this time turning to her side to look directly at Jessie. Jessie still, remains looking in front of the mirror.

"Maybe I am... Why would I think that person would even come, much more care?" Her own words chokes her. As the tears fall again, Grace hands her another piece of tissue.

"Jessie, this other guy... Did he love you?"

"Yes..." A small smile forms in Jessie's face.

"Does he still?"

"I don't know..." Jessie shrugs. "It's complicated..."

"What happened between you?" Grace looks sincerely at Jessie, and Jessie finally turns to look at Grace.

"I took things for granted... And when I realized that, it was too late..." Jessie forces a smile, just then tears fall from her eyes. She lifts the tissue to wipe it from her face.

"I'm sorry..." Grace wraps her arms around Jessie's shoulders, and Jessie holds on to her, really tight...

Tad, meanwhile, is waiting outside the chapel, standing on his tux. He's pacing back and forth, when a hand taps his right shoulder. He turns around to see...

"Zoe? I thought you hate weddings." Tad frowns upon seeing the rebellious Manning in a nice bridesmaid gown instead of her usual punk clothes.

"Thanks Tad, nice to see you too." Zoe replies in sarcasm. Tad rolls his eyes.

"I just didn't expect you here when you've already informed everybody that you want to live the life of a pirate for a while."

"That shocked my mom, didn't it?" Zoe grins and crosses her arms.

"You almost sent her to the hospital." Tad shakes his head. Everything to Zoe seems like a joke. She just couldn't understand what limits are.

"That would have been funny." Zoe chuckles.

"Or FATAL." Tad growls at his sister-in-law. She's so out of control, and he wonders what made her come to this wedding. "What convinced you to stay?"

"Did you actually believe that pirate joke?" Zoe mockingly looks at Tad in disbelief.

"Zoe, with you, it's hard to distinguish when you're joking or not." Tad continues pacing the lobby of the chapel. Zoe frowns and momentarily watches him.

"You seem agitated."

"So?"

"You're not the one getting married." Zoe raises her eyebrow.

"Stop bothering me, Zoe." Tad glances at his wristwatch. Few minutes to go, and EVERYTHING will be over.

_Where the hell are they? _

"Not so friendly today, are we? What's up with you, Pincus?"

"None of your business... Really Zoe, what made you stay?"

"I think Jessie is making the biggest mistake of her life, and I want to be here for her." Zoe says, and Tad stops pacing. He walks slowly to Zoe and stops in front of her, narrowing his eyes at her suspiciously.

"Why would you think that?"

"Because I don't think it's right for anyone to limit herself when there are countless possibilities." Zoe grins, and Tad cringes. Zoe chuckles. "It's a joke... God, you are so slow..." Zoe shakes her head.

"See what I'm talking about? You think everything is a joke."

"You don't me that much, so stop judging me."

"Stop trying to be funny then." Tad says irritatedly.

"You know, if you're a girl, I'd say it's your period." Zoe shakes her head mockingly at Tad, which earns her a glare. Just then, a Jaguar speeds into the chapel and stops in the parking area with a screech.

Again, courtesy of Katie's generous Asian client... Tad perks up at the sight of the rushing dirty blonde and brunette heading to their direction... Zoe stares at the figures heading their way, and grins upon seeing them...

"Katherine Singer and Kimberly Wallace..." Zoe smiles at them. Kim smiles back, while Katie stares in awe at the grown up Zoe standing in front of her. Her stay in Australia gave Zoe some accent, but at least Katie could still understand it.

"Is she trained to call us by our full names?" Katie jokes.

"She's just here to annoy everyone. By the way, what took you so long?" Tad growls at them.

"Traffic, Tad." Kim shrugs. Katie and Zoe hugs each other. When Zoe was still in Evanston, of all Grace's friends, she's closest to Katie. Katie is so cool and popular then, that Zoe idolized her. Next to Jessie, of course.

"Well, what the hell are you waiting for?" Zoe pulls away from Katie, and Katie gives her a strange look. Zoe, not even bothering to explain what she meant, returns a reassuring smile. Katie turns to Tad, narrowing her eyes.

"What did you tell her?" Katie frowns at Tad. Tad raises both his hands.

"Nothing, I swear."

"Will you just go and get her?" Zoe waves her right hand impatiently. Katie and Kim exchange looks, and runs for the direction of the bride's dressing room. Then, upon reaching it, the four of them stop outside. Katie could feel her knees about to give. She could feel the cold sweat drenching her shirt.

"This is scary..." Katie says while staring at the door of the dressing room...

"Katie, we don't have much time." Kim nudges Katie to open the door. Katie pulls back in horror.

"But I don't know what to say to her."

"And this is coming from you, Katherine Singer, who said a lot to get those criminals off the hook and unscathed?" Zoe frowns at Katie. Katie scowls at her.

"You're not really helping right now."

"Leave her alone, Zoe." Tad castigates the youngest Manning.

"Who else is inside?" Kim asks Zoe.

"No one. I saw Grace leave to check out the decorations inside the chapel a while ago." Zoe confirms. Katie stares at the door in silence, and without much warning, reaches for the doorknob, turns it open, and silently enters the dressing room. Tad, Zoe and Kim silently pray, as the door closed in front of them...

"I don't want to break anyone's heart, Grace, but I thought I could do this… I just… I have to get away from here…" Jessie says with her back turned on the person standing by the door… She had changed back into her jeans and shirt, and her wedding gown is thrown carelessly on the chair near the vanity table. A bag is rested on the chair she was previously sitting in, and Jessie is currently zipping her bag closed.

"Can I run away with you?" Katie asks thoughtfully, as she looks at the blonde standing not too far away, with her back turned on her. All of a sudden, as if something divine had intervene, she felt suddenly gutsy. Every fear that she felt before facing Jessie vanished. Jessie freezes to where she stood, and sees in front of the mirror that it isn't Grace who's standing by the door…

"Katie…" Jessie suppresses the smile from forming her face. Katie's arrival is surprising, and she dreamed of it. But not really knowing the reason why the dirty blonde is standing in front of her, Jessie defers her celebration.

"Do you believe in destiny?" Katie takes steps towards her and Jessie turns around.

"What?" The tears form in Jessie's face.

"That's what Kim asked me on our way here." Katie stops one foot away from a clueless Jessie. That's not what she expected to hear from Katie; though she did entertain thoughts of her coming to her wedding to stop her.

"Uhm…" Jessie clears her throat. "What was your answer?" Jessie tries to control her tears from falling.

"I said 'destiny sucks'." She shrugs. "It broke my heart thrice, and I only have one heart. It's a miracle that I could still stand on my feet, and to even make it here…" Jessie stares at Katie with her mouth hanging open. Katie continues.

"I have a reason not to believe, right? It's so easy to deny the existence of something that you don't see… Then Kim gave me this…" Katie lifts up the parchment in her right hand for Jessie to see… Jessie stares at it, thinking of what Katie meant by that, and the reality strikes her…

Katie is holding HER letter…

"Oh…" Jessie clears her throat again and she looks up to meet Katie's pensive eyes.

"You found my letter…" Katie states.

"How did you know that I…"

"You replied." Katie waves the letter she's holding again, a bit amused, and glad, and sad… Do they really have to wait this long to be able to tell each other how they really felt, or still feel?

"I felt the need to…" Jessie rubs her eyes, still trying not to cry. Her feelings for Katie are overwhelming her.

"Why didn't you tell me personally?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing but I just realized that you're blaming me for stopping you from doing so…" Jessie says bravely, but this time, Katie isn't angered by it.

"You did…"

"Then you stopped fighting for me…"

"That's not true. You're the one who left." Katie shakes her head.

"But my heart remained…" Jessie says softly.

"Don't blame me for wanting your happiness, Jess."

"I thought I can just move on and forget you. It looked so damn easy, having the opportunity to live somewhere far, and yet, grabbing the first chance that I get, I came all the way to Boracay so I could see you again… Only to find you so happy with Carla, and I thought I could say how happy I am for you that you've found somebody who can make you happy… Then I realized how much of a hypocrite I would be to be able to convince myself that… Letting you back into my life just proves that I'll never be complete without you…"

"I guess all we could do now is look back and wish that we could have done things differently…" Jessie continues in frustration. She finally let the tears fall from her eyes.

"We can't do anything with the past, Jess, that's why it's the 'past'. We have to leave it behind…" Katie walks even closer, lifts her right hand in Jessie's face and wipes her tears.

"Katie, why are you here?"

"You said I was right calling myself a coward… Well, you did make that clear when we were back at the island…" Katie tucks Jessie's stray hair behind her left ear.

"You still are…"

"What do you think I'm doing here?" Katie lifts up Jessie's chin, and smiles.

"I don't know… Do you have the guts to tell me?"

"I didn't come all the way here to watch you walk away again, Jess… Do you even have any idea how much I love you?"

Jessie looks back at Katie, whose smile alone could make her knees fall. She lets the tears fall from her eyes again.

_Please don't let me wake up… _Jessie silently wished, thinking this is nothing but a dream.

"I couldn't even describe it." Katie moves even closer, her hands now cupping Jessie's smooth face.

"I know how it feels…" Jessie pauses before continuing. "And that night at the island, in your arms, it felt so good to belong to you, even for a while…"

"I need more than a while…" Katie says sincerely…

"Are you here because that's what destiny is telling you to do?"

"I'm here because of something more powerful than destiny…" Katie moves even closer, trying to tone down the desire to kiss Jessie.

"I don't know how that letter got into your hands, but what if destiny's playing you again?"

"Then I'll play with it… What do I have to lose? I have nothing…" Katie pauses…

"You're saying all of this, when you're about to marry someone else?" Jessie, although want nothing else than to be near Katie, couldn't help but think about the other part of their 'square'…

"I'm not anymore, I can't live with a lie… Jess, do you know what life is like without you?" Katie asks, while stroking Jessie's hair, smiling at her, reassuring her… Jessie shakes her head…

"It's like dying… You're my life, Jess… Letting you go would be as good as killing myself… I love you so much, Jess…" Katie rests her forehead against Jessie's, and brushes her nose with the blonde. Slowly, a contented smile forms in Jessie's face…

"Why won't you tell me just what's---" Grace's angry voice thunders from the direction of the door just when, Katie leans down to kiss Jessie.

_Nice timing, Grace… _Katie postpones her plan of showering the blonde with her kisses, but doesn't pull away. She turns her head at Grace's direction, who, at the moment, is staring at them in wide-eyed disbelief. Her jaws are practically falling on the floor upon seeing the unexpected scene in front of her, and behind her are their nosey friends: Tad, Kim, and Zoe.

Jessie visibly blushes, but doesn't do anything to pull away from Katie. She feels so happy and uncaring about other people that, she wraps her arms around Katie's neck, which makes Katie grin…

After the short silence, where you can actually hear the sound of crickets, Grace makes a step back and closes the door, and stares at the closed door… Tad, Kim and Zoe watch her in amusement.

"Grace, it's nothing you haven't seen before." Tad taps his wife's shoulder. Grace gives him a scowl.

"Was that… KATIE SINGER?" Grace shifts her eyes among the three and all had the same response. They all nod in confirmation. Letting out a deep breath, as if she's going to a war, Grace reaches for the doorknob and opens the door again… This time, she finds Jessie and Katie in a major liplock, almost to the point of ripping each other's clothes.

"YOU're the other guy?" Grace points at Katie, as Katie and Jessie pulls away from each other. Katie nods, and Jessie smiles at her stepsister.

"Yeah." Jessie answers proudly.

"So, the other GUY is GIRL?" Grace's face contorts.

"Uh-huh." Jessie grins.

"And worse, it's Katie?" Grace frowns. Tad, Kim and Zoe laughs. Katie lifts her chin indignantly.

"Hey!" Katie reacts.

"How long had this been going on?" Grace puts her hands on her hips, and she isn't aware that Tad is mocking her from behind, mimicking her every move, which elicits a suppressed chuckle from Zoe, Kim and Jessie.

"Nothing HAD been going on… Everything in our relationship comes at the wrong time, Grace. And now, it's just starting, actually." Katie almost says guiltily.

"Wrong time? How many wrong times had there been?" Grace narrows her eyes on Jessie. Jessie turns her head to Zoe, and Zoe nods. Grace follows Jessie's gaze and realizes something.

"You know something?" Grace growls at Zoe.

"Yup. They've been in love with each other forever Grace. You're friends with both and I couldn't believe why you didn't notice the tension. God, you're so oblivious." Zoe grins, and knows how much this would piss Grace off.

"Well, forgive me if I'm not as malicious as you guys are. I didn't realize that that tension between them is sexual!" Grace turns her eyes back on the guilty looking couple. Tad laughs loudly, which earns him a glare from all the girls in the room. He mock zips his lips.

"Romantic, not sexual… Or maybe a bit sexual." Katie jokes and Jessie playfully hits her on the side.

"And why didn't I know this?" Grace exclaims in disbelief and turns to Jessie.

"Let me see…" Jessie pauses as if to think… "Well, because we live in two different continents?" Jessie smiles at Grace. Grace pauses and nods, agreeing with Jess. But not entirely to let this all go.

"But it's Katie. You know, goofy, silly Katie Singer!"

"Oh, you forgot gorgeous and charming." Katie mocks humility and chuckles. Jessie kisses her on the cheek.

"Giddy, aren't we Katie?" Kim grins at Katie. Katie returns a smile and mouths a thank you.

"This is so unexpected… I didn't even see this coming…" Grace looks confused, and she examines both Katie and Jessie's face… She sees something that she hadn't seen before: fulfillment. Seeing the smiles in their faces, it gives her some sort of peace, gratification. Maybe this is what makes Jessie happy, to be with Katie…

_Have I been so blind? _Grace shakes her head, amused with herself. Has she really been that oblivious? Exactly how long had Katie and Jessie been controlling their feelings for each other? And how long Jessie had suffered? Her stepsister had been in Australia for more than a decade, and she remained true to her feelings to Katie. And speaking of suffered, Grace remembers something…

"You made my sister suffer." Grace points at Katie again, which mortifies that dirty blonde a bit. Grace looks like she's going to kill her. Grace approaches her and Katie takes a step back.

"What?" Katie says in defense.

"When Jessie told me about this 'other guy', which turns out to be a girl, I swore to kill you."

"What?!" Katie hides behind Jessie and Jessie willingly covers her.

"Grace---" Jessie is interrupted.

"Do you know how many liters of tears she cried because of you?" Grace narrows her eyes on Katie.

"She cried a river, Grace, believe me…" Kim interjects, and Grace turns to her, locking their eyes for a moment. Grace turns her gaze back to Katie again.

"Oh…" Grace softens. And something clicks in her head again. "OH." Grace eyes widen. Zoe and Kim exchanged amused looks, and Zoe lifts her right hand in level with her right ear and motions a repeated circle. Kim mouths an 'I know'.

"Shouldn't you guys be leaving now or something?" Tad says in concern. He's glancing constantly at his wristwatch. The supposed wedding is about to start in twenty minutes.

"Yeah, Tad's right, Katie, we should go." Jessie grabs Katie's hand and leads her to the door, with the bag in her other hand. Kim and Tad walks to the direction of the door.

"We'll keep a look out. The last thing we want is an uproar from the future husband... Or in this case, the ex-future husband." Kim volunteers. As Jessie and Katie made their way to the door, Grace calls after them.

"When Carla and I caught you in bed together after that photoshoot, did you---"

"Nothing happened!" Jessie and Katie turn around and answer in duet, defensively. Zoe looks entertained watching them.

"And when it stormed and you got stuck in the island?" Grace looks suspiciously at the two who had their backs turned on her. Zoe crosses her arms and grins. Tad's ears suddenly perks up at his eyes widen as he waits for the couple's answer. Jessie and Katie exchanged guilty looks again, and avoid looking at anyone. Kim slaps her own forehead.

_Alas, Grace gets everything… _Kim shakes her head and continues to look out at the corridor, making sure no one is coming.

"Oh my God…" Grace's jaw drops again. Jessie and Katie, not intending to answer, immediately leave the dressing room and follow Tad and Kim in clearing the coast.

"Coast clear." Tad declares as they reach the parking lot.

"Tad, I need to borrow your car." Jessie turns to Tad.

"We don't need his car. We're running away with something else." Katie winks at Jessie and Kim automatically hands Katie a set of keys. Katie pushes a button and a red Jaguar convertible unlocks. This time, it's Jessie's jaw that drops.

"Perks of having a filthy rich client. Let's go Jess." Katie holds Jessie's hand and squeezes it. Jessie smiles. But before heading to the Jaguar, she turns to Grace.

"Tell him that I'm sorry…" Jessie says sincerely.

"I will…" Grace smiles back.

"I didn't mean to…" Jessie trails off, not really knowing how to explain.

"He'll understand, Jessie… Well, I hope." Grace chuckles. Jessie waves at them.

"Thank you…" Jessie gives everyone a hug, then, Katie follows giving everyone a hug. And Jessie and Katie speed away with the Jaguar.

_Is there love as powerful as Jessie and Katie project? _Grace smiles… Then remembers something…

**A/N: THIS IS THE SECOND TO THE LAST CHAPTER… THERE IS ANOTHER ONE COMING… EVERYONE HAS TO HAVE THEIR CLOSURE, DON'T THEY? HINT GRINS**


	9. Cradle

**A/N: Alas, an ending… Well, sorry if there are typos, this is unbeta'ed… **

**CHAPTER 9 CRADLE**

"I love you, Katie…" Jessie says sincerely, while holding her celphone in her right hand. She's currently on-duty at the Children's Hospital Los Angeles, while Katie is driving her rented car, a latest model by Ford, and passing the famous London Bridge that 5:00 in the afternoon, London time. It's only 9:00 a.m. in LA, and Jessie is just about to make her rounds when Katie dropped her a call. It's been three days since Katie left to make a speech at the prestigious law school of Oxford University. Katie asked her to come with her, but being tied up with work, she had to stay behind.

"I love you too, Jess…" Katie couldn't help but grin. Two years ago, she would think this is just a dream, but now, after those two years of being together, it's time to believe. Two years is too long to be just a dream…

"Well, I got to go… The kids are waiting for me." Jessie gets up from her seat inside her office and heads for the door. Katie pouts, which Jessie could almost feel all the way from London. It's just one of Katie's cute mannerisms.

"No, they're not. They're scared of you." Katie jokes. Jessie laughs.

"Hey, they love me, okay?" Jessie mocks being hurt, then hears Katie giggling on the other line. Both of them fall into a comfortable silence, until Katie speaks again.

"I don't see why they wouldn't…" Katie smiles almost dreamily. The smile on Jessie's face widens…

_Is it possible to fall in love over and over again, everyday? _Jessie thought.

"I'll talk to you later then." Jessie glances at her watch.

"Okay… I love you…" Katie says it again. Jessie shakes her head at how dork her girlfriend is.

"You said that already." Jessie jokes and finally opens her office door and walks the hallway of the hospital. She nods at a fellow female doctor who smiles at her.

"You're supposed to say I love you too." Katie pouts again. Jessie giggles.

"Of course I love you too…"

"Bye Jess."

"Bye honey…" Jessie hangs up. The smile just wouldn't disappear from Katie's face, as she steers her SUV to one particular destination in London.

At the famous Harrods Department Store…

_Time if flying away so fast… _Katie told herself. It's been two years since Jessie ran away from her own wedding. It's a bittersweet memory, actually. No matter how much they wanted each other, both of them are aware of the amount of pain they had caused Adrian, and Carla as well. They haven't heard from any of them since, nor did they try to contact them. It's just too complicated. Jessie and Katie wished both Adrian and Carla are doing well. Katie feels better when Natalie shares her the latest news about Carla, who seems to enjoy living in Paris, and glad that she didn't relapse with her drinking habits.

It wasn't easy at first. For about six months, Katie traveled back and forth Australia and LA, and she complained a couple of times. Jessie, on the other hand, was discouraging her about wasting money on flights and told her to just wait until her papers are final, then she'll go back to America. But of course, Katie couldn't last a week without seeing Jessie. When Jessie finally earned her license to work in the US, she chose LA, and moved in with Katie. Jessie had no problem with staying in Katie's house at Sunset Boulevard, but Katie insisted of moving somewhere nice and homely. So, despite of Jessie's protests (arguing about the 66 km. drive from Malibu and LA, then vice versa everyday), she couldn't do anything but to let Katie get her way. Who are you to argue with the best defense lawyer in LA anyway?

Singer, Portman & Greene is even larger than ever. They hired ten more associates in the past year, either they are more famous than before, or more people are committing crimes nowadays. Katie doesn't really want to make a fuss about it.

It's quite ironic, really, that in life, the person that brings out the best in you, and the one that makes you strong, is actually your weakness. Katie and Jessie are both aware of that, and made a silent promise not to use that against each other…

Never a day had passed that Katie didn't think about Jessie. Thinking about her girlfriend became an automatic thing for her. It's as if everything that she does, she does it for her. She could just imagine Nikki's face if she realizes how whipped her ex is right now… But then, she has no idea where Nikki is, or what she had been doing in the past two years. Kim told her that she left with Carla, after that incident in Boracay, and she never heard from her since. She still wonders what went on back then, Nikki and Carla loathed each other.

_I guess I'll keep on wondering… _Katie's not expecting to hear from Carla again. She was an asshole, she admits that. But with Nikki? Katie found out that Carla and Nikki had became friends somehow. She understood where Nikki's animosity came from. But isn't two years long enough for her to forgive her ex?

Katie decides to stop thinking about Carla, Nikki and Adrian. She couldn't help but do so at times, and it brings her spirit down. Then, she focuses her attention back to someone else, to Jessie… The blonde never fails to put a smile in her face, even after a trial that seem to go wrong. All Jessie had to do is tell her that everything is going to be alright, and with that, every doubt, every problem seems to disappear on its own. It's that simple.

This is why she's alive, this is why she's here: to be with Jessie, and to make her happy.

"What more could I ask for?" Katie asks herself loud enough for anyone to hear. A stupid grin is again, plastered in her pretty face. She knows the exact answer to her own question. After parking her car, she heads inside the famous department store, Harrods, and there is only one place that she intends to visit…

A jewelry store…

She stops in the display of rings. There are thousands. Too many choices, too many that fancies her, but Katie knew she has to make the perfect choice. She didn't realize it would be this hard, at the same time, exciting, just looking for a ring…

Katie examines each ring closely. There are gold, white gold, titanium, platinum, just about every kind of jewelry that you can imagine. She worried which ring Jessie would love and which ones she wouldn't. This is so far, the best adventure in her life. It's not easy to make a decision, and she wished Natalie or Kim was there with her to give their honest opinions.

But Kim is too busy dating a neurosurgeon, and Natalie is so caught up with work lately…

And there, as if waiting for her for so long, Katie's eyes locks at the most precious jewel she had ever seen, just in the center of all the displayed rings…

Without hesitation, she asked for assistance and requested to see the ring more closely. Satisfied, she gave the attendant the size that she wanted, and paid for it in cash. Just when she's about to leave, and as if destiny's in the mood for jokes, she bumps into HER again… Her green eyes falls on the face of the last person she expected to see…

"Carla?" Katie calls out, surprised and confused to see the girl she almost married. The supermodel freezes, unsure what to say upon seeing her ex-fiancee standing in front of her again. Her eyes locked on those familiar green eyes that she hadn't forgotten even after years of being apart…

"Katie…" Carla manages a smile as she greets the dirty blonde back. There is a momentary silence between them…

Children's Hospital, Los Angeles, California... Jessie had just finished making her rounds, and heads back to her office, with a couple of patient charts in her hands. When she opens her door, she finds Grace occupying the leather couch on the side of the room, with Addicus in her hands…

"Oh my God, you're here! I'm so happy to see you! Hello Addi!" Jessie runs to the direction of Grace and Addicus. Grace smiles as Jessie sits beside her, and stares adoringly at her son. She carefully places Addicus in Jessie's waiting arms, and watched as her stepsister sways Addi in a lullabye…

"You think Katie would make a good parent?" Jessie asks Grace while staring at Addi. Grace smiles while watching Jessie.

"Katie? Well… Sure." It's as if Grace's answer was forced. Jessie chuckles. Grace laughs. "Both of you will make good parents, I believe so…" Grace then follows sincerely.

It's been a year since Tad and Grace had a baby boy, whom they named Addicus, and who's turning one-year old next month. They made both Jessie and Katie his godmother. And Grace can see how much Jessie loves her godson.

"I thought you're not coming until tonight." Jessie smiles at Grace, then shifts her gaze back to Addi, who is starting to fall asleep in her arms.

"Change of schedule. Tad is interviewing the LA Lakers now." Grace tucks Addi's slightly long brown hair behind his left ear. He hadn't had a single hair cut since he was born. And his parents are not intending to do that any time soon.

"He's so adorable…" Jessie smiles dreamily, and sighs as she continued staring at the now sleeping baby in her arms.

"You can have your own, you know…" Grace jokes. Jessie looks up at Grace, slightly blushing. Then she smiles sheepishly. "You've always loved kids." Grace added.

"Yeah, I do love kids…"

"Oh… Now I finally get it." Grace grins, as if for the first time in her life, reality dawned on her. Jessie looks at her in confusion.

"What are you talking about?"

"I finally understand why you love Katie." Grace smiles triumphantly.

"I am so brilliant." Grace says proudly. Jessie frowns.

"You are?" Jessie grimaces, and Grace's grin widens.

"Yeah I am… Katie is so childish, that's why you're so enticed by her." Grace giggles. Jessie blushes deep red and scowls at Grace.

"That's not why I love her." Jessie raises her voice to make Grace shut up with her crazy, not to mention, stupid ideas.

"Then, why do you love her?" Grace challenges Jessie. Jessie locks her eyes with her stepsister's.

"Love simply knows no reasons…" Jessie says sincerely. Grace falls quiet for a moment, not being able to think of a smart return on that. It's been two years and Jessie's feelings for Grace's lawyer friend obviously grows more and more everytime they talk. She never thought it possible, for Jessie never showed so much emotions towards someone ever before. She never imagined that such Jessie is even capable of feeling such things. But then she remembered that those people that passed through Jessie's life in the past isn't Katie. It's THAT simple.

_Well, she managed to stay in love with Katie all those years without me knowing… _Grace thought in amusement.

"That's so trite." Grace jokes. If Jessie isn't holding Addi, she would have playfully hit Grace by the arm by now. Jessie merely smiles. Grace then reaches for Addi, and Jessie gives him to her. Grace, making sure that Addi is already in deep slumber, puts her son down on the nearby crib. Jessie gives her godson a kiss on the forehead, and sits back down on the couch. Grace occupies her former seat beside Jessie, and the two of them watched as Addi lay still asleep in his crib.

"I'm assuming that you're happy?" Grace asks Jessie without turning to look at her.

"More than ever…" Jessie smiles. She couldn't believe it. Every day is just another day to look forward to. She never gets bored. Spending every day of the last two years with Katie is as perfect as it could ever be. There had been fights, of course, that's normal. But for Jessie, it's just perfect.

"Why not settle the score then?" Grace turns at Jessie and winks. Jessie turns her head at Grace's direction, looking at wit's end.

"What?" Jessie slightly squeaks.

"Don't tell me you haven't thought about it… The idea is pretty much dancing in your eyes…" Grace grins. Jessie rolls her eyes. "Jess, really, what are you waiting for?"

"Years of being totally clueless, now you're acting like you can read me?" Jessie says incredulously.

"You can propose, you know." Grace stares at Jessie. Jessie stares back.

"Me, propose? Are you serious?" Jessie slightly squeaks again. Grace couldn't help but laugh.

"Do you see your face?" Grace keeps on laughing. Jessie's cheeks are growing deep red.

"I can't propose."

"But you want to." Grace says with conviction. Jessie sighs. "I don't know how it goes with couples like you, but I supposed it's all the same. Although in your situation, it's confusing who should propose with whom." Grace says as a matter of fact.

"I can't propose." Jessie repeats, but more firmly this time. Grace frowns at her.

"And why is that?"

"Because I'm scared." Jessie answers, and she does look scared. Grace smiles at her reassuringly, and gives her a hug…

Café Coco, St. John Street, London, England… Katie and Carla had been occupying a table in the far end corner of the café for a few minutes. From Harrods, they drove in separate cars to this lush coffee shop which Carla suggested. Back at Harrods, not much words were said. Just some exchange of smiles, and short sentences.

Katie was obviously tense at the unexpected run-in, and almost excused herself by telling her ex that she has to go and sustain her need for caffeine, and Carla suggested this place. Katie just found herself agreeing, and she followed the supermodel's car until they reach this coffee shop. Their moment of silence is deafening.

"This is weird…" Katie lets out a nervous chuckle.

"Yeah…" Carla replies. They fall into a familiar silence again, when Carla continues.

"It's been two years, right?" Carla looks up at Katie. Katie looks back.

"Yeah…" Katie nods.

"I'm surprised to see you here." Carla is surprisingly casual, which is making Katie feel more comfortable.

"I gave a speech at Oxford University…"

"Law school?" Carla asks, which got Katie looking amused.

"Duh, I'm a lawyer…" Katie rolls her eyes and laughs.

"Right…" Carla chuckles. She's a bit curious why this seems like a not so awkward situation anymore. Carla had considered the possibility of one day she might run into Katie somewhere in the world. Seeing each other at Harrods definitely surprised both of them, but talking again, she didn't expect she would feel this relaxed. She's still nervous, but she's more relaxed.

"What are you doing in London?" Katie looks curious.

"Photoshoot. Then I was doing some serious shopping when you bumped into me. You're such a klutz." Carla jokes. The waiter brings their order. Carla sips from her cold coffee and looks back at Katie.

"Is that all you ever do?" Katie jokes. Carla shakes her head.

"Nope… I walk the runway too." Carla smiles. Katie smiles back. She missed Carla, she really does. She missed talking to her and laughing with her; in a friendly way, of course. She wanted to ask her so many questions, like what happened to her in the past two years, but knew that would be out of line. No matter how well Carla had moved on, she still hurt her. Katie just hopes that Carla will forgive her…

"Carla, about what happened---"

"I moved on…" Carla says softly. Katie sighs.

"I'm sorry… Please don't think that I never loved you." Katie looks sincerely at Carla. Carla locks eyes with her, and shakes her head.

"I never questioned that. But you hurt me."

"I wished I never had to…" Katie trails off. A familiar pain covers her heart, as if everything happened just yesterday.

"I forgive you." Carla smiles. Katie looks up again in surprise, but relieved.

"You do?"

"Well, at first, I thought I never could… But I do, I forgive you, Katie… I didn't understand why all of what happened, happened. It was so painful, I felt like I'll never survive. But I did. What's done is done. And in the end, you'll realize that things really happen for a reason." Carla sips her cold coffee again.

"Yeah, I realized that too…" Katie smiles as she watched Carla take another sip of her cold coffee. Katie reaches for a bite of her bread.

"So… How's Jessie?" Carla asks with no trace of hatred or whatsoever.

"She's great. We bought a nice house in Malibu. How are you?" Katie asks, and Carla plasters a mischievous grin on her face. Katie narrows her eyes at her.

"What?" Katie continues. There's something so devious about Carla's look that drives her even more curious.

"Nothing." Carla tries to keep a straight face. Obviously, Katie still doesn't know. Despite the paparazzi, she's managed to hide everything away from the vigilant eyes of the press.

"Come on, what's up?" Katie leans closer. Carla shakes her head.

"I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"Because I can already imagine your reaction."

"Am I so predictable?" Katie narrows her eyes on Carla.

"Most of the time." Carla nods and laughs. Katie starts to make her brain work. What could Carla be possibly hiding from her? She takes a wild guess.

"You're entering the convent?" Katie winces at her own speculation.

"Not in a million years." Carla shakes her head frantically. Convent never even crossed her mind.

"You're pregnant?" Katie knew that it would be impossible. Just by looking at Carla's perfect figure, she could tell that her ex isn't…

_Not that I'm checking her out… Oh God, Jessie forgive me… _

"No." Carla shakes her head… Watching Katie's face contort as she tries her best to think of the possible answer, Carla couldn't help but laugh. So, to save Katie the headache, she confesses…

"I'm married." Carla admits. Katie looks at her, jaw dropping in surprise. Katie has no idea what to say at first.

"Really?"

"Yeah, why do you sound so surprised? I almost married you, didn't I?" Carla says in mock insult.

"Natalie failed to mention it."

"She doesn't know… Less than five people do."

"So… Who is it?" Katie asks curiously.

"Someone I'm crazy about." Carla smiles dreamily. Katie takes note of the wedding ring in Carla's right ring finger. She does seem happy. And she's glad. But right now, she wants to know who the lucky girl, or guy, is.

"Like that's the answer I'm looking for." Katie rolls her eyes. Carla turns her eyes back at Katie's. First, she contemplates whether it would be a good idea to tell Katie. She never even thought that the day would come that she was going to discuss this with Katie.

"Come on, Carla… You're supposed to be proud of her… Or is it a 'him'?" Katie narrows her eyes playfully at Carla again. It was weird, that now everything seem like its back to normal between them. Only this time, they are not a couple.

"It's a 'her'… And of course I'm proud of her. I just…" Carla pauses, then laughs in amusement of herself. She stares at Katie's eyes.

"It's Nikki." Carla says Nikki's name so sweetly, that Katie's eyes almost bulge out of its own sockets. It takes a moment for Katie to process what she had heard.

"Nikki?" Katie repeats, making sure she heard Carla right.

"Yes, Nikki." Carla nods. Katie falls into silence. So that explains the animosity when Katie cheated on Carla. That's why Nikki comforted Carla all those time that Carla was hurting. Smooth…

"Nicole Anderson?" Katie asks again. Still, she couldn't believe.

"Yeah, that Nikki." Carla chuckles at the mixed reaction in Katie's face: exactly how she imagined Katie's reaction would be.

"Who would have thought?"

"Exactly what I imagined you'd say." Carla smiles. She likes being here now, talking with Katie, catching up with each other's lives. It was hard letting the dirty blonde go. After all, she had loved her so much, and it was both for their sake.

"Wow…" Katie stares at nothing in particular, smiling like an idiot, and then looks up at Carla again. Her ex isn't joking. "Wait…" Katie then realizes something.

"What?"

"Did she propose to you?" Katie asks her curiously. Carla isn't sure why Katie wants to know, but she answers anyway.

"Yeah."

"Clever." Katie starts laughing. "I can't believe I was as stupid as Grace!" Katie is laughing so hard, Carla couldn't tell what's so funny. She has no idea what Grace has to do with this and what makes Grace stupid.

"Huh?" Carla frowns at Katie. Katie, still laughing hard, looks up at Carla again.

"Nikki must have liked you since the first time I introduced you to her." Katie concludes, then shakes her head. "But she pretends not to like you, because liking someone for so long just isn't her thing. That's why she annoys you all the time! Clever move Nicole, using the most ancient way of flirting… Tell her I worship her." Katie is laughing hard again. Carla slightly turns red, but smiles.

"She just couldn't put the moves on you, because of me… And with all those disaster that happened in Boracay, she finally got her chance…" Katie's laughs turns into a genuine smile. "She stayed with you…" Katie stares at Carla. Carla nods…

"I told you, things happen for a reason."

"Yeah… I agree with you…" Katie says softly.

It was a pleasant encounter. Katie and Carla aren't sure if they are ever going to see each other again, even as friends. Carla had started a life with Nikki in Europe already, and based on their conversation, it seems like both her friends are enjoying their home in France.

x - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - x

When Jessie got back in their Malibu home at dawn the following day, she found Katie sleeping so soundly in their bedroom. Her girlfriend had come back from London last night. She would have come home earlier, if she wasn't needed badly in the hospital. So, before heading for a shower, she kneels on the floor at the side of the bed, strokes Katie's dirty blonde hair, and watches her sleep for a while. And then, reluctant to stop watching her adorable girlfriend, she gives Katie a short kiss on her forehead, and heads to the bathroom for a shower.

When Jessie came out of the bathroom after showering, Katie isn't on the bed. She paused, and heard the sound of something cooking in the kitchen. Katie must have felt her, and realized that she was home.

_Really sweet… _Jessie thought. Despite of how tired Katie is, she never fails to fix her breakfast. She then walks back into their bedroom in her bathrobe. Before she's able to reach her closet to find something to wear for the day (luckily she doesn't have to work), she sees Katie's appointment book in the nightstand on Katie's side of the bed (the left), her eyes locking on it…

She had thought about what Grace had said. She wants to marry Katie, there's no question about that. It's just that, she won't be the one proposing. Jessie's nerves just couldn't handle that amount of fear of rejection, and pressure. And besides, if Katie says no, she doesn't know how she would take it.

But Jessie also knows that she wants to be closer to Katie… She wants Katie to mean more to her, and her to Katie. She wants to promise Katie forever…

So, while driving back to Malibu that morning, Jessie kept drafting and scrapping ideas on how to be alone with Katie, somewhere far and romantic, somewhere where the idea of marriage would come up. She was hoping that Katie would bring it up first, before than her, but if she doesn't, Jessie will.

_I have to be strong enough… _Jessie is determined about that. She had already cleared her schedule for the weekend. She isn't sure where to take a trip, or if Katie has time, so, she takes the opportunity to snoop around Katie's appointment book, to check if she would be able for her weekend plan, and sees Katie's hasty handwriting already scribbled on that date…

'Romantic Tuscany…' That's Katie's note for the upcoming weekend.

_Romantic Tuscany? _Jessie frowns. What does that mean? Is Katie is going to Tuscany this weekend? And if she is, why hadn't she mentioned it to Jessie when it's barely two days away?

_What is so romantic about Tuscany? _Is there another European law school asking her to speak? Katie usually tells her two weeks ahead of time when she's going out of the country. And, she usually asks her to come along with her AHEAD of time, for her to be able to clear her schedule in case she wants to go. And now, she's going out of the country again, within two days, forgetting to mention the trip to Jessie, and scribbling down 'romantic Tuscany' in her appointment book? Jessie frowns. She doesn't like the feeling of this.

_Stop being paranoid Jess… _Jessie castigates herself, and heads out of her bedroom to the dining area, and finds Katie setting up the table. Katie's face lightens upon seeing Jessie and walks towards her and leans down for a kiss, which Jessie gladly gives her. They take a rather long time making up for the lost kisses in the past few days that Katie was in London.

"Hmm, that smells nice." Jessie smiles.

"Hungry?"

"Yeah… I didn't eat much when you weren't here. I missed you too much. I could barely force myself to eat." Jessie says thoughtfully. Katie smiles at her, and walks towards her and kisses her again.

"You smell so good…" Katie whispers in Jessie's right ear. Jessie playfully pushes her away.

"I know… But I'm hungry." Jessie grins, and Katie pouts.

"Fine. I'll let you eat all you want…" Katie pauses, then grins. "You'll need a lot of energy." Katie winks playfully at Jessie, and Jessie smiles.

"What do you have in mind?" Jessie narrows her eyes on Katie.

"You'll see." The evil smile danced in Katie's face. Jessie shakes her head.

"Do we have the morning paper already?" Jessie asks, while Katie is still busy setting the table.

"Might still be outside. I haven't picked it up."

"Okay. I'll get it then." Jessie heads to the front door, barefoot, and heads to their electronic gate, which is almost ten meters away from their terrace, separated by the lavish lawn. Their estate isn't very big. Just enough for the two of them; a place that they could clean themselves whenever they have time or when their weekly cleaning lady couldn't come.

Jessie sees the folded broadsheet lying on the pavement near the gate, and she picks it up, only to surprise herself... Jessie stood in the lawn, too frozen in her discovery to react. Then, like a zombie, walks back into the house, her shoulders almost falling in her sides…

Katie smiles at Jessie upon seeing her coming back to the dining room with the morning paper in her hands.

"So you found it? Sit down, honey, breakfast is ready." Katie says to Jessie, but Jessie remains standing, too shocked to say something. Katie is confused about the way Jessie is acting.

"Jess, are you okay?" Katie walks towards Jessie to feel her forehead, but Jessie makes a step back.

"Why don't you tell me?" She shoves the newspaper to Katie's chest, almost knocking the air out of her. Katie watches as Jessie walks to the direction of their bedroom, and stares in confusion at the newspaper which is now in her hands. She looks on the front page, and sees herself on it. She had been in the front page of the morning paper a thousand times, and she had always been newsworthy, previously because of her notorious reputation and notorious relationship with the then notorious Carla Farrell, but nowadays, it's mostly because of the controversial cases that she handle…

But now it seems as if she's back into dating Carla Farrell again. In the front page was a picture of her laughing with Carla, at Café Coco in London. The picture was taken by a paparazzi yesterday and sold in LA, to the newspaper publication that made her famous! There's just no other explanation. Unfortunately, Jessie obviously didn't know the whole story. She runs after Jessie to their bedroom, but meets her in the hallway. Katie's eyes bulge out of her sockets: Jessie was carrying a stack of her clothes.

"Jess, what are you doing?!" Katie asks in exasperation as her furious girlfriend walks past by her with her clothes.

"Throwing you out." Jessie marches to the front door and upon reaching the railing of the terrace, throws Katie's clothes to the lawn. Katie's jaw drops.

"What?!"

"I don't want to see you tonight Katie, please…" Jessie tries to be calm.

"If it's just for tonight, then why are you throwing all of my clothes out?! Come on, Jess!" Katie follows as Jessie marches back to their bedroom, intent on getting another pile of Katie's clothes to throw outside. That's exactly what Jessie does. Katie's eyes widens when Jessie did so.

"Hey, no, not that! Jess!" Katie tries to stop Jessie, but surprisingly, Jessie get the clothes away from Katie's reach and throws it on the lawn. Katie jumps down the short flight of stairs, as something from the pile of clothes rolls on the grass. She was only wearing a ladies' boxer shorts and a tank top.

"What's wrong with you?! Are you doing this over some stupid photo?!" Katie finally screams in irritation. Jessie was about to walk back to the front door but turns around to retaliate, when she noticed Katie scrambling to find something on the grass.

"What are you doing?" Jessie asks. Katie looked funny almost crawling on the grass, searching for something. But then she's not about to forget about the front page of the newspaper and that 'Romantic Tuscany' thing…

"Why would you care, huh?! You never bothered to ask me about that photo! It's just a photo!" Katie continued looking for something and finds a small black box on the grass. It was already opened and nothing was inside. "Shit!" Katie scrambles to find what the box preciously hold just a while ago.

"Do I have to ask you?! Shouldn't you have told me?!"

"How?! You never gave me the chance! We haven't even started breakfast yet! What exactly are you accusing me of?! It's just Carla for God's sake!" Katie scuttles in every part of the grass.

_Fuckin' wide grass… _Katie furiously searched.

"Yeah, like you even plan on telling me! Like you never mentioned about 'Romantic Tuscany! What exactly are you planning to do, Katie?! Spend another weekend of rendezvous with your gorgeous, supermodel ex?!" Jessie's hands are now on her hips. Obviously, she feels threatened and insecure about the ex. It has always been Jessie problem.

"What?!" Katie screams indignantly, still without throwing a look at Jessie. Jessie, while standing at the top of the short flight of stairs in the terrace, watched in amusement and irritation as Katie continued jostling in the grass.

"What are you doing in there?" Jessie asks curiously.

"I told you, I spoke at Oxford University!" Katie looks irritated.

"No, I'm asking what you are doing in there." Jessie points at what Katie was doing to their grass. She's practically ruining their thousand dollars worth landscape. Well, Katie has a reason, one which Jessie doesn't know.

"It's none of your business, okay? And before you jump into conclusions, first, you should collect the facts!"

"Geez, Katie, thanks for the tip, but I'm a doctor, not a lawyer." Jessie rolls her eyes.

"Damn right! So stop accusing me of something that didn't happen!" Katie pulls a big mound of grass and throws it away.

"Katie, don't do that to the grass!" Jessie wants to approach Katie and stop her, but she stops herself, for being close to Katie will just weaken her defenses. She intends to keep Katie out for the night.

"Wait a minute, let's not change the topic here. Who says I'm going to Tuscany with Carla?!" Katie still, isn't looking at Jessie.

_Where's that damn ring?! _Hiding it under the pile of clothes isn't such a good idea at all.

"Little black book." Jessie crosses her arms again, looking sharply at Katie. Katie finally looks up, thinking what Jessie might be talking about. Then she realizes.

"I don't have a little black book. I can't believe this. You snoop on my appointment book! What exactly are you trying to find? Some proof that I'm doing you wrong?" Katie looks at Jessie in disbelief. Somehow, Jessie feels suddenly guilty, but she shakes the feeling off.

"Hey don't turn this around on me. You're the one who was caught on a picture with your ex, laughing somewhere in London and clears her weekend schedule to meet again." Jessie glowers at Katie. Katie shakes her head at Jessie.

"I'm not going with Carla to Tuscany, I'm going with you. You know, this is supposed to be a surprise, but thanks to you, you ruined it already." Katie says sarcastically. She continues searching for the ring that rolled somewhere in the thick grass. Katie picks up clothes after clothes, then throwing it behind her one by one. Jessie, didn't know what to say.

_With me?_

"I supposed you still don't believe me. Why don't you call your boss and ask him what I requested from him? I had to buy him a dozen of those insanely expensive Harrods teddy bears just so I could convince him to allow you to get off of work for a few days. Maybe then you'll believe me. Go, get the phone, call him, what are you waiting for?" Katie calms down. The screaming match with Jessie drained her energy. The ring is still nowhere to be found.

Jessie feels that she believes Katie.

"You were taking me to Tuscany?" Jessie asks, slightly hopeful.

"I still am." Katie replies firmly. Jessie slightly smiles.

"Well, why didn't you tell me ahead of time, I---"

"I told you, it was supposed to be a surprise." Katie sighs. She's getting frustrated. She has to find that ring.

"What's the---"

Before Jessie could finish, Katie felt something with her right hand while feeling on another part of the grass… A smile forms in her face, and she picks up the 14k, white gold, princess cut center with round side stones ring…

"Because of this…" Katie, tired of their fighting, lifts up the ring for Jessie to see. She carefully planned proposing to Jessie. That's why she chose Tuscany, because it's romantic. But when everything blew up into her face and got out of proportions, time to resort to the most desperate measure. She can't rescue her already exposed plan anymore anyway.

Jessie's jaw drops. Tears glistened in her eyes and threatened to fall.

"I plan on proposing to you. I didn't want it to be ordinary, so I tried to find the best ring at Harrods: most famous department store in the world, right? I didn't want the proposal to be ordinary. LA just seem so… Plain. So I booked the plane tickets and a nice villa in Tuscany, just so if you say yes, we could spend some alone and quality time together without worrying about work or Tad and Grace or anyone else for that matter." Katie chuckles at herself. Jessie's tears began to fall.

"Jess, that encounter with Carla at London was coincidental. I'll be honest with you that I enjoyed having coffee with her and catching up with our lives, but of course in a platonic sort of way. Before there was an 'us', I did love her, and then you came back to my life, only to make me realize that, I never stopped loving you. But I was with Carla, and you were with Adrian, so I tried to stay with Carla, because I felt guilty of hurting her, and I felt so scared of pursuing you… And now that I have you, be assured that you'll always have me, and my heart… Nobody else can and replace you… Don't even think that…" Katie smiles at Jessie. She then, gets down on her knee.

"So, since my plan has been thrown wide out in the open, let me ask you something that would change my life… Jess, as of the moment, I couldn't find any alternative words or any other way to ask you this, but I promise to be a little more creative when we get to Tuscany, and for now, all I want to say is… Well…" Katie, aware that Jessie probably knows what she's going to say, still feels nervous. She had to clear her throat first before she could continue.

"Will you marry me, Jessie?" Katie stares straight into Jessie's eyes, where tears are continuously falling to her cheeks… Jessie, for a moment, couldn't say a word…

"Please tell me those are tears of joy…" Katie jokes nervously. Jessie smiles, then runs straight into Katie's arms, and letting her put the ring into her right ring finger. It perfectly fit. Jessie, not being able to control her joy, wrapped her arms so tight around Katie, and gave her a long, passionate, electric kiss… She could feel Katie's lips curve into a small smile. And they pull away…

"So… Is that a yes?" Katie asks.

"Hell yes…" Jessie grins. After almost making out on the lawn, they remained in each other's arms, reluctant to let go. Katie held Jessie's hands in hers, marveling on how soft those are. Then she lifts up both hands and gives it a kiss.

"Katie, about the clothes---"

"Forget about it. It's not like I'll be needing it any time soon, anyway…" Katie winks at Jessie. Jessie could feel her face burning and was pretty sure it wasn't because of the morning sun.

"You're evil." Jessie jokes. She gives Katie another short kiss on the lips, her arms still wrap around Katie's shoulders. "I'm sorry for not trusting you…" Jessie says in utmost sincerity.

"That's okay. You didn't know Carla's happily married." Katie smiles at her.

"What? She is?" Jessie pulls away a bit so she could look at Katie's face. She's surprised to hear that Carla's married. She hasn't even heard it from the press.

"And guess who she married." Katie grins. Jessie frowns. She doesn't know much about Carla, much more her past relationships.

"I give up."

"Nikki." Katie saw the priceless expression on Jessie's face. It was even worse than hers. She could just imagine Kim, Tad and Grace's reaction once she tells them. And she couldn't wait…

"I didn't see that coming." Jessie shakes her head, then laughs…

_Truth can sometimes be stranger than fiction… _


End file.

Once and Again, Drama, Romance