(Cory Estates)

"Iris." That one word was all that Amanda could manage to get out of her mouth. She was so shocked (and not in the good way) to see her sister standing in her living room. When she finally could find the words, the ability to speak, she asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Amanda," Iris said, still in that sickly sweet voice of hers, "that is not happiness to see me."

"Maybe because she isn't happy to see you." Cameron piped in. He didn't like this woman. Amanda had told him about her, Iris. How she tried to takeover Cory in the 80's, a act that almost killed Mac Cory because of the betrayal. And Amanda had also told Cameron how Iris had never once been nice to her or Ali or any of the others that he now considered family. She hated Rachel and any family that she brought with her, including Matt and Amanda. Yes, at first sight, Cameron hated Iris.

Iris glanced over at him in surprise as he took a shot at her. Nobody Amanda had ever been with had stood up to her like this guy was obviously going to do. "Hmmm..." Iris thought to herself. "Cameron might just be a bigger obstacle than I thought." Her eyes narrowed slightly and Amanda put a hand on Cameron's arm to restrain him.

"I'm going to ask you again Iris, what are you doing here?" Amanda said with a little more force in her voice. She knew who was with her all the way, holding on to her and as long as Cameron was still there, she had the strength and the courage to do anything.

"Look Amanda," Iris softened her voice, but Cameron still saw right through it. "I know that you and I don't have a good relationship....."

"You don't have a good relationship with anybody here." Amanda shot back.

Cameron squeezed her, his arms still around her, as if to say "Good one babe!"

"I know, and that's why I'm here. I, I , I don't really have anywhere else to go and nobody else and I need some help."

"Help? You want help from us?"

"I know that I have no right to ask anything like this, but I'm asking anyway. Can I stay here for a little while, maybe do a little work at Cory.."

"Work at Cory?! You have to be kidding!" Amanda could not believe her ears. Then there was suddenly something that occurred to her. How did Iris get out of jail? "Iris, how did you get here? Your supposed to be in jail for the next 10 years. How did you get out?"

"Good behavior and early parole my dear. Now, have you considered my request?"

Cameron could not believe the gall of this woman. After all she had done to this family, to his family. He let go of Amanda and started to tell Iris just where she could put her good intentions but Amanda stepped in front of him.

"Iris, you and I never got along. You always resented me and never had a kind word to say about anything that involved me. And as for how you treated my daughter, the few times you were around her, well, we just won't go there. So as far as I'm concerned, you can just stick it."

Iris started to open her mouth to protest, but Amanda cut her off.

"Excuse me, I'm not finished." She and Iris stared at each other, each of them trying to intimidate the other. Cameron had to smile as he saw Amanda in her "aggressive, loaded for bear" mode. He wiped the smile off his face as he listened up to

what she was saying. "Like I said, you can shove it. But, unfortunately, this is not my house and Cory is not my company. If you want something from this family, your going to have to ask my mother. I'll go get her." Amanda turned and smiled at Cameron and gave him a look that told him that Amanda wanted him to supervise Iris until she got back with Rachel. He nodded his okay and Amanda left to track down her mother. Iris and Cameron were left alone.

They stood looking at each other. Cameron had no intention of talking to this woman. He hated her and he knew that she had been mean to Amanda and Ali. And in his book, that made her the enemy. Iris however, saw Cameron as someone that she would have to deal with. It was best to know the limits with him. She smiled that artificial smile of hers.

"So Cameron, tell me about yourself," Iris said as she sat down on the chair.

"Why?"

"Well we are family now, I just......"

"We are not family. Amanda does not like you, and from what I hear, she has good cause. So in my book, we are not family. Family does not try and take over the business and almost kill their father with betrayal."

"But family does actually kill their father." Iris shot right back.

Cameron was a little surprised that she knew about that. He had been hoping that Iris would give him something on her and she just did. If she came right from prison to the Cory's how would she know about that, unless she had researched him. He didn't have time to ask her about any of that because in through the door stormed an irate Rachel followed by Amanda and Matthew. Amanda motioned to him and he followed her out into the hall.

"Whew, glad we got out of there. That's Iris? Your sister?" Cameron and Amanda walked together into the conservatory to talk. Amanda shut the door behind them and the two settled down on a chaise lounge.

"Let me tell you one thing," Amanda said and Cameron could tell that she was angry. "Paulina is my sister. Iris is just related to me by blood. And believe me, if I could find a way that I could change that, I would." She crossed her arms over her chest and settled back with her head on his shoulder. Cameron kissed the top of her head and almost got a fat lip as Amanda bolted her head up. She looked over at him with tears in her eyes.

"I almost forgot about it. The letter," Amanda looked at him with such fear in her eyes that Cameron could have killed whoever sent it to them.

He sat up and looked at Amanda. "I'm going to call Joe and see if he and Gary can come over here. They need to look at this thing. I'll be right back." He kissed her cheek and got up and walked out of the conservatory. Amanda watched him leave. She was alone in the big indoor garden.

She looked around at all the plants and remember how she used to play hide-and-seek with Matthew in here, and "Safari" whit Ali. But now with the memory of the letter fresh on her mind, the big, green, leafy plants seemed dark and ominous. And she seemed small and vulnerable. Amanda racked her brain as she sat there, trying to figure out who sent that letter. "Who would do such a thing?" Amanda thought as she sat there waiting for Cameron to come back. She stood up in the middle of the room and looked at the jungle of exotic and domestic plants that her mother cared for. Some of them were as small as moss and others were huge. So big that they could be hiding things within them. Suddenly Amanda had the feeling that she was not alone. That there was something hiding in the plants, behind their big leaves. She started to back away from them, getting ready to break into a run if needed. Amanda suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Aughh!" she screamed as she whirled around.

"Amanda, it's just me. It's just me," Cameron said. Amanda tried to catch her breath as he hugged her. "I called both Joe and Gary. They'll be over in about 20 minutes or so. Here, let me get Claudia to get you something cold to drink..."

"No!" Amanda grabbed at him so suddenly that Cameron either had to take a few steps back or fall over on his butt. "Don't leave! Please don't leave me alone in here." She put her face in his shoulder.

"All right, all right. I won't go anywhere," Cameron said. The sat down together again and Amanda still had her head and face buried in his shoulder, her breath coming hard and fast as she struggled with her fear at this moment. She looked up at him.

"It will never stop, will it?" she asked him.

"What will never stop?" Cameron asked, not fully understanding what she was talking about.

"There will always be something getting in the way. Someone will always be after us."

"Amanda," Cameron began.

"First it was Scott, and then it was David and that witch, Josie and now this. Who sent this to us?"

"I don't know."

"What do they want from us?" Her voice was almost hysterical now. Cameron knew that after Scott, David and the stuff with Josie that Amanda would not be able to take much more. And now she had to deal with whoever sent them this note.

"Amanda, I don't know anything right now. Okay? But when Gary and Joe get over here, we are going to see what we can figure out." He hugged her and she just let him hold on to her with out holding back. She was so tired of all the games, the dangerous games. They sat there, not saying much for the next 15 minutes until Gary and Joe walked in together.

Cameron stood up and greeted the two men. They all stood there as Cameron explained what happened with the letter, Amanda, not saying much on account that she was too upset. Joe slipped on a pair of rubber gloves and looked at the letter with Gary and then placed it in a evidence envelope. Cameron finished up the story.

"And that's about it. Amanda got the letter and I was just coming back to get my watch and she was upset so I stayed with her and called you over."

"Amanda," Gary sat down next to her. "Do you have any idea..."

Amanda cut him off as she stood up. "No, I don't know who sent it, or why. The only person I can think of is David, and Cameron said that all was quiet with him. I don't have any other ideas, Cameron and I already went over this with me." She looked down at Gary and realized that she had snapped at him. Sighing, she put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you."

"That's all right, Gary said.

"No, it's not. I shouldn't take it out on you."

"Amanda, it's really all right. I understand. Your given the right to snap under the circumstances." Gary smiled at Amanda and was rewarded with a fraction of a smile from her.

"Amanda, before I got Cameron's call, I just got off the phone with Paulina. She told me that Iris was back in town," Joe said. "Amanda, what kind of relationship did you have with Iris?"

Amanda looked around the room at the 3 guys sitting with her. "No... you can't think that she would..."

"Amanda, you got to wonder about the timing of this all," Cameron said. "I mean, she just shows up here, on the same day that we get this letter..." Cameron let his voice trail off as he let his implication sink in.

"Okay, I'll admit it, we don't have a good relationship. But I don't think that maybe she would do something like this. No, I don't think she would."

"How can you explain it? She and the letter on the same day?"

"But why? I mean why hasn't she tried anything before? Why now?"

"Okay Amanda, let's just focus on the possible connection between Iris and the letter. What would you have that she wants?" Joe questioned his sister-in-law.

Amanda didn't say anything for a minute. She just mused over the question. "The only thing that I can think of is the magazine."

"BRAVA?" Gary asked.

"Yeah, after Scott, even before that, Cory wasn't doing very good. Not hurting by any means, but not as well as we would have liked. But now, with BRAVA, Cory is starting to take off once again. That's all I can think of."

"So maybe she's trying to work her way back in?" Joe said.

"I don't know." Amanda replied, rubbing her temples. Cameron saw that and sighed inwardly. "She just doesn't need this at all," he thought to himself.

"Well, I'll tell you what Amanda. I'll take this down with me to the lab and get it checked for prints and see what we can come up with. If you think of anything else, give me a call." Joe and Gary stood up and walked to the door of the room with Cameron.

"Man, she is taking this hard," Gary commented.

Cameron nodded his agreement. "Yeah, she finally thought that the 3 of us could have a nice peaceful life and now this. On top of that, Iris shows up."

"Cameron, what did Iris say?" Joe asked interesting. "Did she give you anything at all?"

"Yeah, as a matter a fact, she did. She told Amanda and I that she just got out of jail..."

"Oh, yeah, said Gary. "Iris was put away for trying to kill Carl. If forgot about that."

"I really don't know all the details, Amanda never really filled me in. But, her and I went at it a little..."

"Big surprise," said Gary, not a bit surprised that his brother would clash with Iris.

"Tell me about it. But she does now about me and the old man." Cameron said looking back at Amanda.

"And if she did just get out of jail, how did she find that out." Joe finished up for Cameron.

"Yeah, well, if you could just look into this with me, I'll be looking in to it to, but 3 can move more than one." Cameron said. The men all said good-bye and Gary and Joe left. Cameron walked back to Amanda who was still sitting on the bench. He tried to put his arms around her, but she pulled away.

"It will never stop." She said.

"Amanda," Cameron tried to hold her once again but she pulled away. "I'm going to find this person. I swear to you."

Amanda turned and looked at him, and this time when Cameron tried to hug her, she did not pull away.

He sat down and closed his eyes. He completed the first task, delivering that envelope to Amanda as the women said to do. He didn't know why she hated Amanda Cory so much, but as long as she was taking care of Amanda, he could concentrate on Cameron. He wasn't sure what will happen with Cameron, but he would pay just the same.

She smiled to herself as she sat back. She had just learned about the effect that her little letter had on Amanda.

"Oh, Amanda. You took it all away from me. And now your going to pay. Yes, you will pay dearly." She smiled. "Oh, yeah, you will pay dearly. I'm going to take it all away from you until you have nothing and nobody left. You'll be all alone."

She took the next little surprise out and looked at it. She smiled once again.

"Soon Amanda. Very, very soon."

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