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                            Swans Crossing 1998
			   By Sierra D. Feinberg
 			         (c) 1998 

                                  Part 13     

Callie stands in the corner of the ballroom watching the happy crowd when
Ms. Rutledge walks towards her, "Callie, have you by any chance seen
Sydney around she seems to have disappeared."

Callie bites her lip, nervously not sure how to answer this, "She, she
wasn't feeling well.  I think she went to the front desk to get 
Tylenol."

Ms Rutledge shakes her head, and gives Callie a knowing look, "You don't
have to lie to me, Callie. Is my daughter somewhere with Garrett."

Callie gives her a meek look.

"I shouldn't even have to ask, well I guess I should  just be thankful
that my daughter even showed up before she went off with him!!" she
smiles, "Oh well, I'm off to enjoy more of the party." She leaves Callie
alone.

"You mean my father," Callie mutters under her breath.

Neil taps Callie on the shoulder, "Hey, you look like you could use
someone to talk too."

"Neil, It's about time you showed. Where have you been?"

Neil shrugs, "Well, I was here but hiding in the Lobby.  I had a
brilliant idea come to me for this new project I'm working on with some
buddies at MIT and I had to put them down on paper."

Callie smiles, "Same old Neil. I've missed you, you know that. You and I,
and JT and Jimmy. We always had so much fun together when we hung out. I
miss that. Things have just changed so much. Sometimes I think too much."

"Actually, I kinda find it a waste of time to reminisce about the way
things used to be because we can never go back."

"Well at least you haven't changed, well not too much anyways. So tell me
all about this new project you are going to shock the world with." She
puts her arm around Neil, "Need a budding psychologist to help you do
some research?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Jimmy stares at his ex-girlfriend while JT stares at his ex-best friend
chatting happily, "Tell me I'm stupid, JT. Tell me I'm dumb, hopeless."

"What are you talking about."

"God, help me I still want her. What the hell is the matter with me? She
stomps all over my heart and I still want her back."

JT smiles, "You're not dumb, she's Callie Walker. She has this appeal about
her, I gotta admit. She's going to be a hard one to get out of your
system."

"I don't want her out of my system, I want her back."

"Than go for it, wine and dine her but you're not gonna get her back if you
continue to act like a Class A jerk. Just a tip......" JT gets
distracted easily as Mila and Chase dance around the room, "Hey, who's
the guy with Mila?"

Jimmy snaps his attention away from Callie to Mila and Chase, "Oh, that's
Chase. We just hired him at the tool and die, a really great guy. Or so
he seems. Speaking of Mila I heard you two got extremely close this past
year?"

"Too close," JT's eyes narrow, "Well, I gotta tell someone and
considering it seems like all the girls know well, Mila's pregnant."

"What the hell?" Jimmy says, surprised. "So it's yours?"

JT nods, "Seems that way."

"Dammit man, you're too young to be a father, not to mention other things."

"What other things?"

"You know, so have you two talked about it, like what you're going to do?"

"Well she's going to keep it, when she sprung the news on me I was
drinking and I snapped at her."

"Smooth, JT, real smooth."

"I'm going to have a talk with her tomorrow, it's time to face the
music."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Later that night.................

Chase drops Mila off at her door, "I had a wonderful time with you
tonight. I hope that maybe you and I can get together another time on
like an actual date."

Mila looks down, "I had a wonderful time too, but I don't think going on
a date would be such a great idea."

"But I thought you just said you had a wonderful time," Chase stutters.

"I did, but remember what I told you earlier today. There are a lot of
things that you don't know about me."

"But I'm willing to learn."

"Chase, I just can't go out with you okay. I'm sorry," she opens her door
and walks into her house quietly.

Chase stands at her doorstep for a few seconds, "What just happened
here," he mutters to himself and walks out to his car.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sydney lies in bed and watches Garrett sleep silently. Garrett stirs
suddenly and smiles at Sydney, "Are you staring at me?"

"Yes, I can't sleep Garrett. I can't believe were engaged. I can't wait
to tell everyone I'm so excited. Of course, Callie will be my Maid of
Honor and I supposed you will want Jimmy to be your best man. And let's
see my bridesmaids will be Glory, and Mila, and than Carrie from San
Diego. You don't know her but you are going to love her when you meet
her. She's fabulous. What about flower girls, wee don't really know
anyone that young, maybe my cousin from New York, I can't wait to tell
everybody. And oh my gosh...do you know what our getting married means,
it means that ridiculous Rutledge/Booth feud will finally be over. What a
way to end it huh.......Our parents are going too....." she stops talking
for a moment, "Our parents, well our parents are going to hate this."

Garrett smiles at Sydney, "Now can I say something."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm so excited but nervous too. Soo nervous."

"Well, that's natural. Our parents aren't going to like this. That's a
fact. But, I'm sure they suspected that this would happen eventually,
probably not so soon but were adults now and it doesn't matter what they
think."

Sydney nods, "You're right. Together forever Garrett, that's you and me."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Neil sits in the lobby waiting for his parents. When Sandy walks by. "Hey
Sandy," Neil calls out.

Sandy stops suddenly dropping all of the contents in her purse all over
the floor, "Oh hi Neil. You kinda surprised me there."

Neil stands up, "I see that, let me help you with that."

"Oh that's okay," she bends over and quickly gathers all her items up.

"No, I insist," he leans over and picks up a pill bottle, he looks at
them for a second, "Why do you have these."

Sandy grabs the bottle quickly out off his hands, "Oh, you didn't hear. I
was in a minor accident a month ago. They are pain pills."

"You're still feeling pain after a month for a minor accident," Neil says
is disbelief, "You shouldn't be in pain anymore. You should see a
doctor."

"I'm fine okay, thanks for your concern though, I have to go." 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

JT and Jimmy walk  into an old cabin on the Walker Estate. "This place is
kinda spooky," JT says warily as he sits down on an old couch.

"Ahh, don't worry. It's the only thing that didn't burn when old Grandpa
Walker torched the place. Captain Walker had it renovated a couple months
ago, and told me to feel free to come here anytime. Said it was a great
thinking space."

JT pulls out his flask, "Well I got a lot of thinking to do."

Jimmy walks over to JT and pulls the flask out of his hand before he can
take a sip, "Yeah, and you won't get anything accomplished if you don't
have a clear mind." Jimmy sits down on the couch next to him, "So what
are you going to do next year. Are you going to stay in Swans and help
take care of Mila or go to Columbia and be a father through child support
only?"

"I guess it depends on what Mila wants."

"I guess," Jimmy shrugs, "But it's not just her kid, it's yours too."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Callie knocks on the Booth door and Glory answers, "Hey, what brings you
here?"

"I needed a friend," Callie says with a smile.

"Well, you always know you got one here, what's in the bag?" Glory
motions to the plastic bag Callie is holding.

"Wine Coolers, I kinda needed a pick me up," Callie says meekly.

"What flavor?"

"Well Cranberry Raspberry for me, and Strawberry Kiwi for you. I remember
how much you liked them."

"Oh don't remind me," Glory groans, "Spring Break in Bermuda, what an
experience that was."

"So come on, I know the perfect place where we can re-live old memories."

Glory smiles, "Hold on, let me go tell my parents I'm going out."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 
A little bit later....................

Callie and Glory tread through the old Walker Estate.

Glory takes a sip from her drink, "Callie I don't know about this place?"

"Don't worry, it's perfectly safe my father comes here all the time."

"Is he here now, because the light is on."

"I don't think so, I know he went with the mayor somewhere, maybe he left
the light on the last time he came here. Let me check?" Callie peers
through the window.

"So is he there?"

Callie swears under her breath, "You're not going to believe this."

"What?"

"Jimmy and JT are in there."

"Are you friggen serious."

"Totally."

"You still wanna go in? I understand if you don't want to."

"No, we have every right, actually more of a right to be there than they
do. Let's go."

Callie fumbles with the door knob and opens the door, "Looks like you two
had the same idea  we did."

JT and Jimmy stare at the two girls blankly.

"Hi Jimmy, JT," Glory says softly.

"Cheers," Callie says holding her bottle up, "Looks like we will have an
interesting night ahead."


                            To be continued...

***If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, etc., email Sierra at 
sunflower293@juno.com