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"Ryan?" I said, adjusting my eyes to the light of the hallway.  "What are you doing here?"

Rubbing my eyes, I focused in on the distressed figure standing in my doorway.  The look on his face told me that something had gone horribly wrong. His hands were visibly shaken, his hair was tousled, and his eyes had this glazed look.  Minutes had passed before Ryan's mouth opened to answer me.

"Lisa…I'm so…damn it, I'm such an idiot…did I wake you up?" Ryan started as he looked down at the ground and ran his hands through his blonde hair.

Did he wake me up?  It was the middle of the night!  But I didn't want him to think that he was being a burden, seeing what kind of state he was in. 

"Hey," I said gently and touched his wrist, "would you like to go for a walk somewhere and talk? My brother's asleep and I don't want to wake him."

Ryan looked up as a tear fell down his cheek.  "Would you mind?  I need someone to talk to, and you're the first person I thought of at this hour of the night."

"Sure.  Give me a few."  I turned around, having to readjust back to the dark room as I slipped on a pair of jeans and sandals and brushed my hair.  I figured my brother wouldn't be getting up anytime soon, so I decided not to leave a note or anything.  I managed to find my room key, remembering I had put it on my nightstand before turning the light off earlier.  I put it in my pocket, grabbed a light jacket and quietly closed the door behind me. 

Ryan had been standing outside my room, quietly kicking the wall and mumbling something about an argument when I walked outside.  "Ready?" I asked as I checked the lock on the door.  He nodded slowly and put his hands into his pajama pants pockets.  I wondered why he thought of me to help with what was bothering him.  We walked together down the hall and into the elevator without saying a word to each other.  As we reached the ground floor, Ryan walked out in front of me and held the elevator door.  Walking off the elevator, I glanced at Ryan who was biting his bottom lip.  I flashed him a gentle smile but to no avail.  What the heck was bothering him?  I had to find out without being too nosy.   When we walked out the front door, Ryan held the door for me and guided me out the door by touching the small of my back.

"So tell me, Mr. Stiles," I started as we walked down the sidewalk, "what brings you to my part of town at this hour of the night?"  I had hoped for a chuckle, some kind of breakthrough.  No such luck.

"Where do I begin to tell you?" Ryan said with a sigh.  He began kicking a crumpled piece of paper from cement block to block.  After a few minutes of silence, I stepped on his piece of paper, picked it up and threw it in the garbage. 

"That's not going to help whatever's bothering you, Ryan."
"I guess you're right."  Ryan stopped in his tracks at the end of a sidewalk block.  "I know a good place we can go, more quiet and personal."  He pointed to this small park nearby that had a few tall trees and some benches spread out around the vicinity of the park. 

We sat down at a bench in an outer corner of the park, which happened to be nicely lit by a streetlight close by.  Ryan adjusted his pants as he sat down.  The stillness of the night around us was interrupted by Ryan's sigh.

"Remember how I said I was expecting a call from my wife earlier?" I nodded.  "She called me around 10, just to let me know that she, Mackenzie, and Sam had gotten to her parents' house safely.  Anyway, we got to talking about how different it was not being with each other for the night and how much we missed each other.  All of a sudden…TOTALLY out of the blue, she goes into this rant about how my priorities are out of whack, with staying here for the show and all."

"Wow, how did you deal with that?" I asked sympathetically.

"Well, what could I say?  Anything that I could say in my defense would only dig me into a deeper hole.  I mean, if I told her that the show matters the most to me right now…how could I deal with coming home in 36 hours to a wife who may think I don't love her anymore, or kids who think that I'm never around.  I love my family more than anything in the world and I wouldn't want them to think that."

"Exactly.  So what did you say?" I inquired, concerned about where this fight was going.

"Alright, well…" Ryan ran his fingers through his hair, "I told her that my show matters a lot to me right now.  Heck, I'm an executive producer for the show!  Then she said, well I guess the show matters more than your family.  So the argument went on for about 10 minutes and it started to get to the point where she was calling me these nasty names.  I tried not to get upset, but when the woman who you've loved for over 20 years thinks less of you because of what you have to do for a living…damn, that just hurt more than words could ever describe." 

While Ryan was talking to me about the argument, I noticed that he got more and more upset.  I had looked down at the ground, not wanting to make eye contact with him while he was getting so upset.  I could only nod in understanding.  I mean, who wants to see one of their absolute favorite celebrities crying and being so agitated?  When he had finished talking, I looked up at Ryan only to see him put his head in his hands.  It only took seconds before his shoulders began to shake.  Wow, he was really shaken up by this fight, I thought.   I shuffled over on the bench so that I was sitting right next to him. 

If only I had a tissue, I thought.  I know that he probably doesn't want to show his tear-stained eyes, puffy and bloodshot from crying.  Then I remembered that I had put a travel pack of tissues into my pocket the day I got onto the plane to come to California. 

I got out a tissue from the small pack I had.  "Here…" I said as I unfurled the tissue from its folded form and handed it to Ryan.  He picked up his head and slowly turned his head toward me to see what I had been offering.  His eyes were glassy with red outlines from all the tears he had shed.  A solitary tear fell from his left eye down his cheek. I wiped away the tear with my thumb. 

Ryan tried to thank me for the tissue, but no words came out.  He took the tissue, blotted his eyes, and wiped his nose.  He closed his eyes with the last wipe, but it only seemed to bring back the same sobs.  Ryan buried his hands in his hands as I rubbed his back with my left hand.  It seemed to help as he took some deep breaths and lifted his head. 

"Why am I such an idiot?  How did I get myself into this?" Ryan said with a sigh.
"You know, Ryan," I said, trying to be somewhat helpful, "With your house being exterminated and all, your wife is probably just frazzled by the whole thing, with getting your kids out of the house and all.  I'm sure the time apart for you two will make the heart grow fonder, as the saying goes."

"I hope you're right.  I appreciate you taking time at this hour of the night to help me out." Ryan said with a sniffle.   He looked away from me to wipe the last tear from his eye as I softly rubbed the top of his left leg with my hand. 

The wind began to blow gently around us, making the night now brisk and strangely cold.  I rubbed my arms with my hands and undid my light jacket that I had wrapped around my waist.  I leaned forward to put it on, but had a difficult time finding the sleeves for my arms.

"Here, let me help you with that…It's the least I can do," Ryan said as he turned toward me and took a side of my jacket.  I managed to get my left arm into a sleeve.  Ryan gently took my right arm and guided it into its respective sleeve. 

"Thank you, sometimes I can't do the simplest things." I said with a chuckle and pulled up the zipper on the jacket.

Ryan cracked a smile.  "Is that a smile I see?" I said jokingly.
"I guess it is," said Ryan as he blew into his hands from the cold.
"You wanna head back?" I asked, "It's getting a little chilly and I'm exhausted.  You wore me out!"  I joked.
"Sorry about that…but again, thanks for your help.  I hope it didn't inconvenience you.  What time is it anyway?" Ryan asked.

I rolled up my jacket sleeve on my left arm to look at my watch.  I rubbed my eyes in disbelief.  "Wow, it's uh…3:45!  Where did the time go?"  I said as I got up from the bench.

"Oh shit…" Ryan said as he stretched and stood up.  "I have a taping tomorrow and I have to get some sleep.  I don't know how I'm going to do it, but I have to."

We walked out of the park and headed back towards the hotel.  As we got into the hotel, we took the elevator back up to the second floor.  Ryan walked me back to my room before returning to his.  Thoughts ran through my mind as we stopped in front of my door.  Do I hug him and offer him some kind of consolation?  Do we just shake hands?

"Lisa, I can't thank you enough for your help tonight.  Sometimes I just need someone to listen to my problems.  How can I possibly repay you?" asked Ryan as he shuffled his feet around the floor.

I could help but notice how cute he looked making designs in the carpet…was he nervous about something?  He looked up at me and smiled, waiting for an answer.

"I'm sure I'll think of something," I said with a wink.  He chuckled. 
"Well, good night, Lisa…I mean, good morning.  Whatever." Ryan said as he leaned in towards me.

Oh god, I thought…what is he doing?  Ryan opened up his arms and bent down to meet me in an embrace.  It was one of those warm embraces you get after you've helped a friend in need…one of those 'thank you' hugs.  We stayed in the hug for what seemed like minutes.  His hands began rubbing my back as if he had never felt the feel of a cotton shirt before.  Since I am only 5'8", my head could only reach his chest.  I turned my head towards his shirt.  I inhaled and sighed…he had this smell that I had only imagined in my dreams…his after-shave smelled of pine and his shirt smelled of a sweet cologne that intoxicated me. 

We released from the embrace and wished each other good night.  I opened my door quietly to a pitch-black room.  I closed the door behind me and leaned against it.  Was I truly dreaming?  Maybe…let's just go to bed and I'll wake up tomorrow as if nothing ever happened…yeah, that's what I'll do, I reassured myself.  I put my pajama pants back on, hung my jacket over the back of what felt like a chair and crawled into bed with a sigh of relief that a long night was now over.  I smiled to myself about what happened during the past few hours and drifted off to sleep.
*************
The next morning, I woke up very groggily around 8 and rolled over to see empty sheets on the bed next to me.  Where did my brother go, I wondered.  I opened the covers and got up.  Walking over to the TV, I noticed a small piece of paper on top of the desk next to it.  I picked up the piece of paper, figuring it was a note from my brother letting me know where he went:

Lisa-
Had a crisis early this morning at work- very important.
Took the early flight home to Philly.  Sorry to leave early-
You have the room for the next 3 days.  Left you some money-
Do some sightseeing on me.  I will call you tonight.  Enjoy the rest of the gift!
~Chris

Sure enough, I turned around and his suitcase and his belongings were gone- he really did leave.  How could he do that?  I was really looking forward to this gift…what was I supposed to do for the next three days by myself?  I went downstairs to get some breakfast.  I grabbed a glass of orange juice and a croissant and headed back to my room. 

For the next couple of hours, I was at a loss with what to do with myself.  I curled up in bed and decided to watch TV.  Just then a knock came at the door.  I jumped out of bed and went over to the door.  I looked in the peephole but did not recognize the gentleman standing in front of me.  I opened the door, wanting to find out who this gentleman was.

"Can I help you?" I said.  The man had been carrying this long white box and carried a clipboard.  Upon closer examination, the man wore dark slacks and a striped dress shirt that had a 'FTD' logo on the left shoulder.  Wow, Chris didn't have to send me flowers, I thought.  He's too much. 

"Miss Daniels?" the man asked with a smile.  "Sign here."  He handed me the clipboard and a pen.  I signed my name and accepted the long white box that was presented to me.  I paid him a tip and closed the door. 

I opened the box and inside there were three beautiful long stem red roses.  The deep red color and the size of the roses were breathtaking.  My brother would never send me red roses, I thought.  Who could these be from?  There was a card attached to the inside of the lid.  I carefully took off the card and took out the little card that was inside.  It read:

Lisa,
This is a token of my appreciation for last night. 
These three roses represent the three hours we spent together.
I can't thank you enough for simply being there to listen.
It meant more to me than you could ever know.
Truly, Ryan

When I saw who the card was from, I began to cry.  No one had ever been so thankful to me for simply listening to their problems and trying to offer advice.  And what's more, it was from Ryan!  He really didn't have to send me flowers.  I would do anything for a friend in need.  I took the flowers out of the box and took in the glorious aroma of this wonderful gift.  I looked around the room for something to put the flowers into.  Next to the TV there were a set of glasses and a small bucket to put ice in.  The glasses seemed too small, so I took the ice bucket, went into the bathroom and filled the bucket half way with water.  I put the flowers in the bucket and put them next to the TV. 

I sat down on my bed and stared at the wonderful flowers that had brightened up the room.  The phone rang, so I turned down the TV and picked up the receiver.  It was only my brother, letting me know that he had gotten home all right.  Even though I knew my brother wouldn't understand, I explained to him the situation about Ryan.  Of course, he didn't believe me, seeing that it was "all in my head".  We debated for a few minutes as I tried to convince him that it was real. 

After getting off the phone with him, I decided I was hungry and went in search for dinner.  I returned home with some fast food.  As I headed back towards my room, I heard the elevator open.  Hoping that it was Ryan, I turned around, but it was some elderly lady dressed in a bright floral muumuu.  I shuddered at the sight and turned around to continue back to my room. 

After eating a little of my dinner, I got thirsty, so I grabbed some spare change and opened the door.  As I walked down the hallway, I saw Ryan returning from his taping.  I wanted to say something to him about the flowers, but he looked exhausted, so I went to the machines and got my soda instead. 
************
"Ooh, 'Grease'!" I exclaimed, coming across one of my favorite movies on TV.  I shifted into my covers and settled in to watch the movie. 

"Born to hand jive, baby!  Born to hand jive baby!  Oh yeah…" I sang loudly with the song on the screen. 

Someone knocked on my door.  Thinking I was being too loud, I turned down the volume and opened the door to see Ryan's beautiful eyes and face.

"Geez, I can hear your voice down the hallway!" said Ryan with a wink.
"Can you really?" I said, surprised that my voice could carry that far. 
"Nah, I was just kiddin' with ya," he said as he took a step into the room.
"Phew," I said, relieved that no one heard me.  "Thanks for the beautiful flowers by the way."
"Shoot, it was the least I could do."
"Did you call Pat yet and talk to her?"

"I did this morning…the conversation was very awkward.  Neither of us wanted to apologize for what was said the other night.  We didn't fight about it though, so I hope it's resolved.  Pat did tell me though that the exterminator had called her.  I know it sounds weird, but we left him a number just in case.  He said that our situation was a lot worse than we had thought, so he needed to do some extra spraying in the master bedroom and the kids' rooms.  That means I'm going to be here for another 36 hours.  I would go to Pat's parents' house, but Drew and I have some work to do for the show…paperwork and all."

"Well, I'm glad you talked to her.  You shouldn't have anything to apologize about, Ryan!  She's the one who called you those nasty names."  I said, trying to be helpful in some way.

Ryan replied, "I know, but Lisa…she's my wife!  I can't stand to be mad at her.  I would do anything to fix this tension we have."

"I see that, but if you didn't do anything wrong, why should you have to apologize? I was always taught that you apologize only when you're the one at fault.  You are not the one at fault!"

"Geezus, Lisa…you just don't understand what marriage means.  Hell, you're single so you can't have any idea what it means!"

After that comment, I stood there staring at him.  How could he say that to me?  Being such a sensitive person, I became overwhelmed with tears in my eyes and ran for the door.  Fumbling with the door handle, I eventually got the door open and slammed it behind me.  Instead of taking the elevator, which would have taken too long, I took the stairs.  I opened the door to the stairwell and stomped down the first flight of stairs.  It was only seconds later that I heard the same stairwell door open and some hurried footsteps getting closer to me. 

I managed to get to the lobby, ran past the concierge, and went out the front doors.  It was then that I was met with a downpour of rain.

"Damn it," I said, as I looked up at the sky.  The rain pelted my face but soon became enmeshed in the tears that had been falling all along.  I turned around just then to see Ryan run out the same doors. 

"Lisa!" he yelled out.  I had no desire to acknowledge a man who had just insulted me.  I'm not dumb.  I've had relationships before, so I can relate.  With the purpose to get as far from Ryan as possible, I ran into the street, looking to hail a cab.

"Shit, where are all the cabs when you need one?"  I said as I flailed my right arm for a cab.  Suddenly something grabbed my left arm and dragged me back to the hotel side of the street.  I looked back to see Ryan dragging me back.  The rain had the same effect on Ryan.  His face had the same look as it had the other night.  I could tell that he was equally upset by what was said. 

"Let me go!" I said as I fought to go back into the street.  The falling rain seemed to be at my advantage as I broke away from his grasp.  By this time, the rain had soaked through my clothes and made it very difficult to run far or run fast but I managed to find myself across the street from Ryan.  I looked across the street briefly as I saw Ryan stepping off the sidewalk and heading in my direction. 

I looked to my left and to my right to survey where I could go.  I chose to go right and began to run as hard as I could.  I wasn't much of an athlete, so I couldn't go very fast.  I then looked up from my steps to see a rather large crowd in front of me, walking in my direction. 

"Shit," I thought.   Where do I go now?  I thought.  I turned around and headed in the other direction where Ryan had still been running to catch up to me.  He stopped in his tracks, figuring I was coming back to him anyway.  As I was trying to figure out how to get around him, my mind was flooded with different options and I wasn't aware of where my feet were going below me.  All of a sudden, my feet came out from under me as I tripped on a crack in the sidewalk.  My body seemed to be airborne, sailing in slow motion. 

Just as I was about to hit the ground, someone caught me, grabbing me under my arms.  I opened my eyes to find out who the person was.  Through the rain soaked hair and the tears, the heroic person who saved me was Ryan!  "You okay?" he asked.

"I am now." I replied, looking directly into Ryan's eyes.
"I am so sorry for what I said.  I had no idea."

Ryan picked me up from the ground and just held me a warm embrace.  I began to sob at what a fool I must have looked like to him.  Ryan released his embrace very slowly to the point where we were looking at each other face to face.  The moment seemed to hang in time as the pouring rain fell around us.  Ryan lifted his hand and with his thumb brushed away the tears falling from my face.  As I looked back at him, he had a serious look on his face.  His eyes said it all- he truly was sorry for what he had done. 

He brushed away the tears with his thumb but his hands remained on my face and the back of his right hand slowly found its way to my chin.  He lifted up my head towards his as he leaned towards me.  As he got closer to my face, my heart beat faster with each tick in time.

Ryan tilted my head to one side, as we became nose to nose.  His lips finally brushed against mine, as if begging an entrance.  I accepted and put my arms around Ryan's neck.  The kiss began gently, exploring with desire.  We broke away from the kiss briefly, but it only seemed to intensify the longing to continue.  Ryan pulled me in tightly towards his rain-soaked clothes and kissed me with a powerful intensity that took my breath away.  We sank into each other's arms and enjoyed the moment that seemed to last an eternity in time.


Part Four