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

                                Parts 9 & 10   

Garrett opens the door to his house and walks in with Sydney close
behind. Glory hears the door open and walks into the living room from the
kitchen.

"Hey, it's about time you guys got here," Glory says quickly.

Garrett takes off his coat, "Why? What's up?"

Glory looks at Sydney, "Cal, has called here 3 times looking for you,"
she turns her attention back to Garrett, "and your best friend, is being
consoled upstairs by Saja and a Jack Daniels. Me and Saja came home after
dinner and found Jimmy on the porch."

"Oh, my gosh. Callie told him," Sydney says more to herself than anyone
else in the room.

"Looks that way," Glory mumbles.

"Hold up, Callie told Jimmy what? What are you two talking about?"
Garrett asks with confusion.

"Let Jimmy tell you, I gotta go visit with Callie. She could probably use
me right now." She kisses Garrett on the cheek, "Glor, you wanna come?"

Glory shrugs, "Sure, Jimmy's upstairs in your room. Tell Saja thanks for
dinner and I'll call him later if he's not here when we get back."

Glory and Sydney leave as a confused Garrett heads up the stairs. He
knocks on his door lightly and than walks in to find Jimmy sprawled out
on his bed and Saja sitting at his desk, "Hope I'm not interrupting the
party."

"No worries it's Still going, The pity Jimmy Party! Still going strong,"
Jimmy sits up and thrusts his bottle of Jack Daniels into Garrett's
hands that has no more than a sip left, "Here, have some."

Garrett nods his head, "No thanks man."

"Ahh, don't worry I got another bottle. There's plenty more."

Garrett shrugs, and takes the last sip, "So, what happened with you and
Callie."

"Do the honors Saja, I'm tired of telling the story."

"Callie told Jimmy that she was in love with someone else and they
couldn't be together anymore."

Garrett looks at Jimmy with disbelief, "Are you serious? Did you tell her
that you planned on moving to L.A. Maybe that would change everything,
maybe she is just worried about having a long distance relationship."

Jimmy rolls his eyes, "I worked my ass off on that USC application just
for her. All for her. I barely touched another girl when I was on the
road cause I loved her and even though we weren't going out anymore I just
didn't want to screw up my feelings for her. But, damn. I'm the one that
ended up getting screwed. Leads me on one night, and than tells me she's
in love with some other dude. What is that, what is that?"

"Do you know who this other guy is?" Garrett asks.

"Nope, and honestly I could care less, Callie's out of my life. She is
history. All those feelings I had for her, they are going to disappear.
I have to make them disappear."

Saja shakes his head, "Do you really believe that Jimmy. It's okay to
still love her. She was your first. Your first love, and they say you can
never stop loving your first. I bet she still loves you in her own way."

"Oh don't give me your  sappy psycho babble. What do you know about
girls? What, have you had any other girlfriends besides Sandy. Have you
even ever gotten laid yet, lost  your virginity when you have we can
talk, but until than you will never understand what me and Callie had."

Saja stands up, "I'm outta here. Call me when you sober up. "

"Bye Saja," Garrett says quietly.

Saja leaves, and Garrett looks at Jimmy for a moment, "You should really
apologize. He didn't mean any harm."

Jimmy shrugs, "I know. But he's been sputtering all this first love stuff
all night. I got sick of it. He doesn't understand. He's never even
experienced love like you and I have. Knowing him he's probably still
crushing on Callie like he has since we were Sophomores."


"Fine, than you wanna get some advice who has experienced love. Don't
stop caring, you just gotta accept what's happened and move on and just
leave what you and Callie had in the past. Be her friend. That's what's
you two started out as. Love her as a friend. It's gonna take awhile to
get to the point but don't try to hate her because hate will consume way
too much of your energy."

"Easier said than done, Garrett. I mean what if  Syd told you she loved
someone else. I bet you would feel the same way I do."

"Probably would."

"Can, I crash here tonight. I'm kinda wasted and I don't want...."

"You don't even have to ask, my house is your house. Just try to sober up
before my parents get home."

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

Callie, Glory, and Sydney are all lounging in Callie's room, drinking
coffee. Callie takes a sip from her cup, "So, that's what I'm going to
do. I am gonna go back to San Diego for the rest of the summer and I'll
stay with Grant and Randy and..."

"You can't do that, Cal. We need you here," Glory protests.

"I just can't stay here. I can't stand to see Jimmy look at me with stone
cold eyes for the rest of the summer."

"So what, don't let Jimmy ruin your summer just cause he's hurt cause you
don't want him."

"I mean he never had any designs on you, it's not like me and Garrett.
And so you guys had a hot night last night. So what? It's not like guys
don't do that all the time, meet some at a girl at a party make out with 
her, possibly more and ditch her the next day," Sydney say's.

"But, that's different. It's not like I never met Jimmy before. We were
once in love and I did lead him on. How could I have been so stupid."

"You weren't stupid, you were just caught up in the moment," Glory say's.
"Forgive yourself, and one day Jimmy will too."

Callie smiles, "I guess I was a little rash to just think about picking
up and moving."

"That's right, now turn that frown upside down you silly billy," Sydney
say's in a sing song voice.

"I love you Sydney and Glory."

"We love you too," Callie and Glory say in unison.

Glory smiles, "Hey you know what it's possible both of you two could end
up being my sisters-in-law."

Callie throws one of her pillows at  Glory, "Don't think so. Me and Grant
aren't exactly talking marriage."

Sydney smiles, "Well me and Garrett aren't either but I am pretty sure
that one day," she knocks on Callie's wooden table, "oops, don't wanna
jinx it. Anyways we don't need guys to be sisters."

Glory smiles, "We should call Mila and turn this into a real slumber
party."

"And Sandy too," Sydney adds.

Glory shrugs, "I have barely talked to Sandy since our graduation."

"I know, she's off in her own little world of being a superstar," Callie
says. "Saja told me that she has been putting everything that doesn't
involve her career on hold."

"But you can't blame her. I mean, San has worked so hard to get to where
she is. She probably just doesn't want to ruin everything that she has
gained. She's in a world where you can lose everything you get by a blink
of an eye," Sydney say's sticking up for Sandy.

"That's true. Well I am going to go raid the kitchen so just call them
and we will be ready to party." Callie say's as she gets up from her spot
on the floor.

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

JT walks into Swans and sees Neil sitting at one of the booths. "Hey,
mind if I join ya."

Neil looks up, "Why would you want to?"

JT sits down, "Come on Neil."

"What do you mean by come on, this has been the first time you have been
barely civil to me since last year."

"I'm sorry about, that. I really messed up my life and one of the worst
changes I made was cutting you out of my life."

"Well, I guess you are just going to have to deal."

"Listen, I am trying to apologize."

"Why? Why the sudden need to make things right. It's too late for that
JT. We've both grown up. I might have needed you as a friend in high
school, but I don't need you now."

JT looks down, "I wish I could make things the way they used to be."

"Well, it's too late for that. Way too late. You have hurt me and people
I care about one too many times. You know, actually I could care less
about the things you have done to me but it's the things that you did to
Glory that makes me detest the very sight of you. You didn't see how
hurt she was last year, you weren't there to be her shoulder to cry on,
you were too drunk or high on yourself to notice anyone but yourself or
anyone that didn't worship the ground that the "Big Swans Crossing
Football hero" walked on. You know when you became a lil' celebrity you
forgot everyone that helped you. It wasn't just you that won those games,
it was the whole team. Only you forgot that. And when you forgot you lost
a lot of people that cared about you." Neil stands up, "I have to go."

JT stands up, "I'm sorry, Neil."

"Prove it! Not just to me but too Glory, and too everyone else you hurt
last year. People don't forget JT. Memory is a very powerful thing."

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

Part 10:

Mila is standing outside of Callie's room on her balcony and Glory comes
out to join her, "Nice night," Glory say's quietly.

Mila turns around and gives her friend a smile, "Have you ever tried to
count the stars. I always tried to do that when I was little but I always
lost track."

"There's about a million stars out there tonight." Glory sits down on one
of the two chairs on the balcony, "So, how was your second semester at
Columbia. You and I haven't talked at all since we got back."

Mila sits down on the other chair, "Ahh, you know how it is. It was
great. New York is a really exciting city."

Glory smiles, "I bet you can't wait to go back huh? Got any studmuffins 
waiting for you back there."

"Uhh, no. New York was great but it wasn't that great. In fact, I might
not be going back
next year."

"Why?"

Mila sighs, "Cause, well cause I'm Pregnant, glory. I'm going to have a
baby."

Glory tries to quickly cover up her shock, "Oh,  Mila. I'm so sorry."

"Don't say that. Don't be sorry. I'm not. I've accepted it and I am
actually happy about it now."

"Does your mother know?"

Mila nods her head, "Not yet. I was going to tell her this afternoon but
I couldn't. I folded, chickened out."

"What about the father? Does he know."

"Yes, he knows but that's about it. Isn't willing to admit it's his."

"Do you mine me asking who it is? I mean, well I probably don't know him
anyways."

"Actually, you do. It's JT Glor. JT s the father."

"JT," Glory mutters, "It's JT."

"Yes. Our relationship was so messed up Glory. I can't believe I allowed
myself to trust him and fall for him. I was so stupid, I mean I saw what
he did to you"

"So, you and JT went out."

"Not exactly, like I told Callie. We had sex and that was it. I wish I
could say this baby was consumed out of love but it wasn't"

Glory looks out into the darkness, "So, he's not accepting this. huh?
He's taking it like the jerk he's become."

"Wouldn't even admit it was his. Accused me  of  sleeping around and it
was actually some other guys." Mila snorts, "This is quite ironic
considering JT has a list of conquests longer than the Constitution. You
know if men could get pregnant he would have a dozen kids already. I bet
I'm not the only girls he's knocked up. The other probably just kept it
quiet, got abortions. Sometimes I think that's what I should do. It would
make it so easy."

"Than why don't you."

"Cause," Mila smiles, "I have something inside of me in there. A little
me. I couldn't do that. I couldn't get rid of it because I made a
mistake. It's not fair to take it on an innocent little baby."

"You know it's not a baby yet, it's still a fetus."

"Fine, a little innocent fetus. Mamma brought me up to take
responsibility for my actions, and taking having this baby is taking
responsibility."

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

Callie is lying on her bed and Sydney is lying on a bunch of throw
pillows on Callie's floor, "They look they are having a pretty serious
conversation out there." Sydney motions to the balcony.

"I bet Mila's finally telling Glory about the pregnancy."

"You think she is going to tell her about JT too."

"I think she will, I mean it's not going to stay secret for long. I hope
Glory's okay with it."

Sydney sits up, "Glory's strong, she and JT have been apart for awhile
now. Like she takes everything she will take the news with grace and I
think she will be able to handle it."

The two girls are interrupted by the loud noise of a slamming door, "I
think that's my dad, Callie stands up. Wanna come with me to go greet
them.

"Sure," Sydney stands up and follows her friend out of the room and down
the hallway.

Callie stops suddenly when they reach the stairs, "Oh my gosh."

"What," Sydney asks, curiously.

"My dad," she says quietly, "and your mom," she motions to them couple
down the stairwell.

Sydney walks in front of Callie and peers down the stairs, "kissing."
Sydney looks at Callie, "What the hell, did you know about this."

"Hello! I would have told you."

"So, what do we do?"

"I guess we should go down, and ask them what's going on." Callie
starts walking down the stairs and the Mayor and Captain soon separate
hearing the footsteps. 

The Captain turns around, "Callie, why hello Sydney."

"Hi Dad."

"Hi Mom."

"Hi girls," Mrs. Rutledge says with a smile.

"So what's going on. I wasn't aware you two were seeing each other, and
why didn't you tell us," Callie asks matter a factly.

"Well we weren't sure about where this was going, and we wanted to wait
to tell you girls till we knew exactly what was going on, but looks like
we have been caught. Were sorry for keeping you in the dark." Mrs. Rutledge
says apologetically.

"So what exactly is going on, Mother," Sydney asks curtly.

"Well, honey, Callie,  Elio and I, were in love."

Callie's jaw drops slowly as Sydney looks at the two of them with utter
shock.


                            To be continued...

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