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                      Swans Crossing: the Reunion	
		         Chapter 9: Change in the Air
		           By Michelle Rutherfurd

CAUTION! This story contains some adult themes/situations.
	
        Callie paced back and forth on the floor of the sub.  She had 
lived in the sub as a child and teen, but after her and her father left, 
he had let the Swans Crossing Marina rent it out, as they couldn't travel 
with it.  When Callie returned to Swans Crossing, she had rented it for
herself.  It was almost like before she left.  Almost.
        The big difference was that her father was gone.  And she had left 
him.  As much as she loved Jimmy and even though she knew how wrong it was 
of her father to try to keep her and the love of her life apart, she still 
loved her father and missed him terribly.  And as she anticipated, her 
father had figured the one obvious place for Callie to go when she left, 
and that was Swans Crossing.  And so he tracked her down and got a hold of 
her.
        When her and her father left, Callie had been mad at him for taking 
her away from the only home she ever knew.  But she also understood why he 
had done what he did.  When Callie was a baby, her mother had walked out on 
her father, too.  She said it was too hard to stay with him when he forced 
their family to move around so much.  He was so wrapped up in his work all 
the time, and she had gotten lonely living their eccentric lifestyle with 
only a baby to keep her company.  So one day she got up the courage, packed 
up her things, kissed Callie good-bye, and with merely a note of 
explanation left behind, she moved out and was never heard from again.  
        Callie knew that her closeness to Jimmy scared her father.  He was 
not ready to lose another important girl in his life.  They had talked 
about this many times throughout her and Jimmy's relationship.  But just 
when Callie had thought her father was getting used to the idea of Callie 
finally growing up, she accepted Jimmy's proposal and set he father off to 
his old over-protective ways.  That's when he laid a guilt trip on her to 
leave with him.  And for many years this went on, Callie feeling angry and 
at the same time sorry for her father.
        Till one day she couldn't take it anymore.  She too packed her 
things, wrote a good-bye note, and left in the night.  And now that she 
was home again with all of her friends and her future husband, she couldn't 
help but feel a deep pang of sorrow in the pit of stomach towards her 
father and what she had done to him.  No one knew the main reason he 
needed her so much.  No one knew of his slow-spreading yet fatal cancer.
                            *   *   *   *   *
        Jimmy sat down next to Neil later on that day at the soda shop.
        "Hey Atwater.  What's up," he greeted him.
        "Not much.  Just having the best day of my life," Neil answered, 
thinking back to his conversation with Nancy earlier that morning.  Him 
and Jimmy had never been that close of friends, but for some reason his 
mood had put him in the mood to share his feelings with anyone.
        "Does this having something to do with the crush you have on Nancy 
Robins that I heard about?" Jimmy prompted.
        "Well, yes...since you asked.  I just can't believe it!  I don't 
think I've ever felt this strongly about a girl before!"
        "Yeah, I know what that feeling's like."
        "She's just so funny and easy for me to talk to, not to mention 
pretty fine-looking.  I just can't believe how much I'm connecting with 
her!"
        Jimmy laughed as Neil went on.  "Oh man, she's gonna have you 
whipped before you know it!"  
        From the moment Callie had returned, Jimmy had felt like laughing 
and smiling for the first time in years.  She had brought back the old 
Jimmy with her.  And yet Jimmy still couldn't help but wonder what she was 
hiding from him.  Everytime he tried to bring up why she had stayed away 
so long or how she could still be so loyal to her father even though he 
had overreacted to their engagement or anything that had to do with her 
being gone, specifically her father, she became withdrawn.  She was 
definitely hiding something.  "But, oh well," he thought.  "I have our 
whole lifetime together to figure it out."  And with that, he went back to 
listening to Neil's incessant babbling about the "amazing Nancy Robins."
                            *   *   *   *   *
        "Wow, Mila!  You look great!" J.T. commented as she was seated at 
the table he had waiting for the two of them at the club.  
        "Thanks, J.T..  You're so sweet to say that," she said sweetly as 
she sat down.  She knew that she looked great in her teal-blue tube dress 
of which the diagonally cut hemline fell a little past her knees.  Her 
long, bleach-blonde hair fell down her back in a sleek, super-straight 
style.  She had spent hours getting ready, and she knew it showed.
        As the two began to look over their menu's, Mila tried to make 
conversation.
        "So how did it go with Glory," she asked, purposely bringing up a 
subject that she knew would remind him that his relationship with Glory 
Booth was over and it was time to move on.  
        "Well, not too well.  I told her why I wanted to break up and all, 
but I don't think she took it too well."
        "Well don't feel bad, J.T..  You have the right to break off a 
relationship.  She'll get over it."
        "I'm sure she will," he said, then muttered under his breath, "But 
I'm not so sure I will."
                            *   *   *   *   *
        A few tables away, Sandy and Owen sat together waiting for Saja to 
arrive, who had arranged for the three of them to meet.  
        "What do you think he wants?" Owen asked Sandy nervously.
        "I don't know.  What could he want to talk to both of us at the 
same time about...OHMYGOSH!  Do you think he KNOWS?"
        "No, no.  Calm down.  That's not possible.  I think.  Well, I 
guess we're about to find out."
        "Hey guys," Saja greeted them.  "Sorry that took so long but one 
of the cooks just quit and I had to make a few arrangements.  So I guess 
you'd like to know what I want to talk to you about."
        Sandy and Owen again exchanged nervous glances and then nodded at 
him.
        "Ok, here goes.  But you have to promise to just listen to me say 
this all while I can--don't interrupt.  And don't freak out, ok?  The thing 
is, I know about you two.  I know you've kissed and I know you have 
feelings for each other.  At first I was angry at you both for betraying 
me.  But then I realized that you can't help the way you feel.  So you 
don't have to feel obligated to do or avoid doing anything.  
        "Sandy, we've been together for a long time.  But you and Owen are 
best friends and co-workers.  Maybe you starting a relationship with him 
isn't such a bad idea.  After all, you never would have kissed him if our 
relationship was that important to you anyway.  Let's face it: it's been 
seven years and it's almost like we're all trying to hold on to what we had 
in our childhoods, like we're afraid of letting go and really growing up.  
But times have changed, and so have we, Sandy.  It's time to say good-bye.
        "I'll never forget you and what we had.  And hopefully, we can 
always be friends.  But it mustn't be more than that.  Good luck with your 
relationship, you two.  See ya around."  And with that, Saja walked off 
leaving a very surprised Owen and a crying Sandy behind.
                            *   *   *   *   *
        Glory walked the streets sadly.  She had been wandering around all 
day.  Ever since J.T. had called off the engagement she had been walking 
around Swans Crossing aimlessly, avoiding anyone and everyone.  Eventually 
she got hungry and wandered into a bar on the outskirts of town.  
        It was there that she began to drown her sorrows into a bottle of 
Jack Daniel's.  And since then she had continued her town-wandering with 
a bottle of Jack or vodka or anything else hard she could get her hands 
on.  Now it was dark and she had a splitting headache to top off her 
dizziness.  
        She looked around her, trying to figure out which way was the way 
home.  But she couldn't remember where to go; she couldn't even see 
straight!  As she continued to turn in circles, searching for anything 
familiar in her confused state, she began to get scared.  In the back of 
her head she remembered some sort of plan she was supposed to start.  
Something important she had to do.  But as she stumbled to a nearby bench, 
every thought cleared her head and then blackness clouded in.
                            *   *   *   *   *
        Nancy paced her messy room in Mila's mansion.  Dirty clothes were 
everywhere.  And shoes, magazines, and dirty plates and glasses littered 
every surface imaginable.  
        "Michael's coming in a few weeks!" she thought excitedly.  She had 
just heard about the game that New York's pro football team was playing 
against Swans Crossing.  Surely as the official sports caster of New 
York's team he would be there.  And that was when she would win him back.
        Looking at her reflection in the mirror, Nancy studied the small 
scar on her face.  It was all that was left of a cut that Michael once 
left her from a knife after a very violent fight.  But it was slowly 
fading into her skin tone.  However, the internal scars were not lifting 
the least bit.
        As she began moving around the room, picking up items and putting 
them away, a part of her screamed, "No!  Stop!  He'll only hurt you again!  
This is not the way to get your baby back!  He's capable of ANYTHING!!"  
But she ignored this warning from deep inside her head and went on 
listening to her broken heart.
                                *   *   *   *   *
        Sydney and Garrett stared at each other through the hole in the 
wall at No Man's Land later that night.  Garrett had pulled down the 
Fabian shade and signaled Sydney to meet him there.  And now, neither one 
finding the right words to describe their feelings, they just stared into 
each other's eyes in silence.
        Finally, after what seems like a lifetime, Sydney spoke.
        "Garrett, last night was a mistake.  I can't deny that I have 
feelings for you, and I'm sorry if you feel I've led you on.  But I'm 
engaged.  And you could never understand why I can't leave James.  But it 
cannot happen!"
        He continued to look at her in silence.  Then he reached through 
and dried the tears that were falling down her face with his gentle touch.  
"Sydney," he said softly, "I love you, and I always will."
        His words, though few and simple, had a deep impact on her.  They 
conned to stare at each other with a look of two people madly in love in 
their eyes.  However, still torn, the tears continued to roll down 
Sydney's face.  
        Finally Garrett asked, "Don't I at least deserve a chance?"
        Sydney waited another moment, looked up at the stars, then back at 
him again.  And for once, she listened to her heart instead of her mind.  
        "Yes.  You do."


		      Copyright: Michelle Rutherfurd 2000

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