(Cory Estates)

"You want to run that by me again?" Iris asked in an icy voice. "I find the two of you going through my things and I'm the one being arrested?"

"I'm not arresting you, I just want to ask you some questions." Joe said, slipping into his official cop manner. Cameron stood back slightly, trying to control his temper.

"About this." Joe tossed the file on her bed and Iris looked down at it. "You want to explain to me why you have all of this information and how you had time to gather it, with you just being released an all."

Iris just stared at them, realizing that her plans had pretty much been uncovered.

"Well, what do you have to say?" Joe asked on.

"There is nothing illegal in there. There is no crime with researching people," Iris said through clenched teeth.

"But there is a crime in stalking." Cameron finally shot in.

"Stalking?" Iris asked with arched eyebrows.

"Somebody has been sending Amanda some pretty nasty messages." Joe said, watching carefully to see her reaction.

"Look, I don't know what your talking about here. I never sent Amanda anything." Iris said, glaring at the two men standing in her room.

"What is going on here?" Rachel appeared in the doorway.

"Rachel! Is Amanda alone?" Cameron asked, being startled by the thought that Amanda was alone and scared.

"Paulina and Ali are with her. What is going on?" Rachel repeated.

"Hey Rachel, I think you'll be interested in this." Joe handed Rachel the file. She took it and scanned the contents and when she looked up at Iris her eyes were blazing.

"I knew you would try something. I knew it. Didn't you learn your lesson years ago when you almost killed your father with your betrayal." Rachel said.

"This house, this company, by all rights, this should all be mine." Iris cried out. "He was my father!"

"And my husband and a father to Amanda and Matthew!" Rachel shot back.

"Matthew isn't even his son! And he's running Cory?"

"Iris, you have exactly 15 minutes to pack your belongings and get out of my house or I will take revenge for all you have done to me and this family."

"Not so fast Iris," Joe piped in. "I haven't finished with the questions about the letters to Amanda."

"I don't know anything about any letters to Amanda. But let me tell you one thing, Rachel. Any woman who can marry the enemy of my father does not deserve to call my father a husband or family."

Rachel stepped forward and slapped Iris's face. The 2 of them would have gone at it, if not for Joe stepping in to control Iris and Cameron escorting Rachel out into the hall. He shut the door behind them.

"Easy, there." Cameron said.

"I knew she would try it. But I thought maybe I should give her one more chance because she was Mac's daughter." Rachel shuddered and sighed, trying to get it out of her system.

"Joe will talk to her some more."

"Did she say anything?"

"Just that she had nothing to do with the letters or anything."

"Do you believe her?"

"I don't know. Of course she won't just come right out and say that she's behind it, but I don't know." Cameron rubbed his face with both hands. "How's Amanda doing?"

"When I left her, she was with Ali and Paulina. She was resting."

Cameron nodded and walked down the hall to where his wife was. Rachel watched him go. She sighed. After that whole mess with Haliday, she knew that both Amanda and Cameron deserved some peace, but unfortunately it wasn't going to happen.

She went back into the bedroom and Joe was still questioning Iris.

"Look, I don't know anything about any letters that Amanda is getting. I already told you all about this." Iris was sitting on the bed looking very bored. Joe and Rachel looked at each other.

"Iris I told you to start packing your things. I want you out." Rachel said, barely controlling her venom.

"Oh, don't worry. Even though I would love to reclaim my place in Cory and in this house, which I will, I wouldn't stay another minute in this house with you."

"I don't care where you go Iris," Joe said, "but you are under suspicion about this whole mess with Amanda, so make no plans to leave Bay City."

"You know both of you make me sick! You look down your noses at me, but what you have now, you took from me. It was mine, Cory was mine and you took it from me. I will get Cory back and when I do, all of you will be groveling at my feet," Iris promised.

Cameron walked into his room and Ali was sitting on the bed next to Amanda. Paulina was in the chair by the window. He smiled at Ali and nodded slightly to Paulina.

"Hey, Ali, come on. Let's go get Dante and I'll make you two French toast in the kitchen." Paulina walked over and put her hand on Amanda's cheek. "You take care sweetie, okay? I'll be back late."

Ali leaned over to her mother and gave her a kiss. "Will you two soon finally tell me what is going on? I am not a little kid anymore. I just want to..."

"Yeah, yeah Brat. We'll tell you when you need to be told," Cameron playfully pushed a protesting Ali out of the room and shut the door. He closed the door and went back to Amanda's side.

"Are you feeling better?" he asked.

"Just embarrassed."

"Don't be."

Her pretty eyes filled with tears as she looked up at him. "I'm so tired."

"Why don't you lean back and go to sleep for a little bit." Cameron rubbed her hair and pushed it back away from her face.

"Not that way. I am tired of everything coming between us."

"Nothing is going to come between us," Cameron said, trying to calm her fears.

"Yes it will. Who ever is doing this will not stop until they get what they want. And that is the part that scares me the most."

"What? Who it is?'

"No, the fact that I don't know what they want." She sighed and rubbed her hands across her face much the same way Cameron did a little while ago. "We are going to have to tell Ali."

"I know. I'll tell her if you want me to."

"Are you sure that your ready for your first dad thing?" she teased, trying to lighten her mood. He smiled back at her and kissed her nose.

"I'll try it once and if I don't like it, well than I just don't know what we'll do."

"Go and talk to her now. The sooner she knows, the better. She needs to be prepared." Amanda sat up suddenly and looked at him with wide eyes. "Did you and Joe talk to Iris?"

"Yep."

"And?"

"Of course she admitted nothing. But we did find some interesting things in her room."

"Connecting her to the messages?"

"No, but she's after Cory Publishing again."

"Big surprise. But nothing about the messages?"

"No. Joe is going to keep at it though."

Amanda sighed and got up. Cameron stood up too, in case she collapsed. She didn't Amanda walked over to the window and looked out of it, watching just like Cameron had done before not too long ago. Looking out at the woods behind the house to see if there was anything there that didn't belong. Cameron watched her for a minute.

"Amanda, Joe will keep on Iris."

"Tell him to forget it."

"What?" Cameron couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"It's not her."

"How can you be so sure?"

She turned to look at him for just and instant and he saw the fear in her eyes. He had only seen that fear twice before in her eyes. Once with Scott and another with Jordan. And now she was just as afraid of this unknown enemy. He listened up to what she was saying. It was so quiet he couldn't quite catch it. "Amanda, I didn't hear you. What did you say?"

She turned around to him very suddenly. "Can't you feel it?"

"Feel it? Feel what?"

"Someone is coming. And it is going to be worse than before."

Cameron sighed. He should never have told her about that feeling of his that he had at Joe and Paulina's. Now she was scared right to the bone. "Amanda, that was just something that I felt."

"Yeah, and you were right about it. Look at what's happening. First the letter and then the e-mail. It gets worse and worse. Whoever is doing this is not going to stop until they get what they want." She turned around to face him and put her hands up over her face and started to sob.

He opened up the can of pop and bit into his sandwich. He had followed orders and sent the e-mail. She had told him to send it from the Internet access computer at the Bay City Public Library yesterday. Amanda should have got it today. Now all he had to do was wait for some more instructions.

He finished up his sandwich and his pop and flipped on the TV. He flipped through the channels, and found nothing that interested him. The only thing that interested him lately were the plans that she and him made about Cameron and Amanda.

She had called not too long ago. He thought back to the conversation that they had together.

"Hello?" he said, answering the phone, already knowing full well who it was.

"Are you ready to move soon?" she asked.

"Whenever you give the word, all systems are go."

"Great, let's give Amanda and Cameron a little more time with all this before we go on the full attack."

"Whatever you say." he told her. "After all, it wouldn't be fair to destroy Amanda and Cameron's lives all at once."

"Hey you two? What is it that smells so good in here?" Cameron attempted to crack a joke and a smile as he walked into the kitchen where Paulina was making French toast for Ali and Dante.

"Oh, hi there Cameron. Would you like some French toast?" Paulina smiled at him and offered him a plate with 3 slices on it. She saw how tired he looked and felt a stab of pity in her heart for him. He had suffered in his life and he and Amanda deserved a break.

Ali sat there, not looking up at Cameron. She just kept handing Dante small pieces of his breakfast.

Cameron glanced at her and then back at Paulina and they exchanged a worried glance.

"How's Amanda?" Paulina asked.

"Better. She's upstairs taking a shower. Hey kid, how's it going?" Cameron asked, trying to keep his voice light.

No response from Ali. Paulina and Cameron exchanged another worried glance. Cameron decided to try again.

"Hey Al, are you okay?"

Still no response. She got up and walked out. Cameron followed her. She walked out into the library and Cameron walked in behind her and closed the door. She whirled around to face him. A little Amanda looked up at him, her young face so full of anger and fear.

"I want to know what is going on and I want to know now." She looked up at him and her jaw was set much the same way Amanda set her jaw when she was giving an order. Cameron had to smile to himself. He listened in as she continued. "I'm not a little kid like you and Mom think I am. If something is wrong, I deserve to know."

Cameron looked at her. Such a little person, such a large fire in her. He leaned down on the desk and folded his arms across his chest. "Your right Ali. You are not a little kid and you deserve to know what's going on."

Ali looked at him. She was kind of surprised that he was dealing with her so upfront. She narrowed her eyes at him, not sure if he was tricking her or appeasing her or what. "Well, I .. well that's better. Now what is going on?" She leaned against the couch and took on his posture, folded arms and lean. "Ali," Cameron sighed, not sure how to begin. He decided that it was probably best to just come out and be straight with her. "Ali, about a week ago, your mom got a letter in the mail, no return address. Inside was a picture of her and me that was taken in the park without us knowing. I think it must have been some sort of zoom lens or something. There was a message on the bottom..."

"What sort of message?" Ali wanted to know, now fully realizing the seriousness of the situation.

Cameron wasn't sure how much he should reveal, he didn't want to scare the girl. "It was the word soon."

"Soon?"

"Yeah," Cameron said.

"What else happened today?"

Cameron chose his words carefully. He really didn't want her to know that she had been a direct target. "Today your mom got a e-mail that threatened us. She got really worried about you and when she went to your room and you weren't there, she panicked. But she is okay now, so I don't want you to worry."

"What happens now?" Ali asked, not sure if she should be scared or sad or really anything.

"Now I find out who is doing this. I don't want you to worry because I will find this person. But I'm going to need your help. Okay?"

Ali nodded. At first she didn't like Cameron but after he forgave her for her faults and took care of David, she was somewhat in awe of him. How he seemed so fearless and so willing to lay down his life for her mother. Ali loved her father, she worshipped him, but he would never ever lay down his life or risk injury for her mother. And Cameron would. She also knew that he would protect her. And if he needed help, she would supply it.

"All right. Now, I don't want you to some much as leave this house, not even go outside on the grounds without someone. Joe and I are going to get you a body guard who, for the time being will be with you always. I know it will be a pain, but it will make your mom feel better okay?"

"Sure. Is that it? I want to go see Mom."

Cameron nodded and Ali started to walk away. She stopped and briefly put her hand on Cameron's arm. A guesture which both surprised and touched Cameron. She continued on her way and Cameron watched her go.

After Ali left, he walked over to the French doors and looked out. He thought back over all that had happened in the last week and right then and there, he prepared himself to defend his family.

"All right, whoever you are. Come and get me. I'm ready."

continue