Episode 114

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Episode 114

Scene 1:

"...so you have these brothers, Osiris and Seth, and their sister, Isis. Who also happens to be Osiris' wife. Stop me if you've heard this one before...."

Twirling her pen between her fingertips, Callie Blake shifted in her seat, her notebook sliding down in her lap as she crossed her legs and subtly brushed her dark hair over her shoulder, revealing the slender curve of her neck bared by a low-cut tank top. "I swear to God, the only reason I show up to class is because of him," she murmured to her friend sitting next to her, who nodded likewise. In fact, the number of students signed up for the summer module of Egyptology was at an all time high, and the attendance rate - despite being held at eight o'clock in the morning - was almost a hundred percent. Why would a hundred students willing choose to give up half of their summer, wake up early and attend class? The answer was obvious.

Dr. Leo Kingston. The name alone was enough to make half of the female student body sigh in contentment. But his effect wasn't just on the female population. Even the guys liked him, because he somehow found a way to relate to his students on their level. Which was more than could be said for Dr. Michael Patricks, the senior Archaeology professor at Hope College. Sitting through one of Dr. Patricks' lectures was widely known to be almost as effective as a local anesthetic.

Callie smiled, barely listening as Dr. Kingston recounted the story of Horus. It was elementary Egyptian Mythology. As a third year student, she was well versed in the subject, despite the fact that her area of interest was Mediterranean excavation. Tapping her pen against her bottom lip, she set her imagination to mentally undressing the man down in front. Her pen slide downwards, trailing the length of her throat, and further down....

The clearing of a male throat broke her out of her reverie. Lounging against the front of his desk, arms folded over his chest, Dr. Kingston had seemingly singled her out, and she could almost imagine she could hear the tail of his question still hovering in the air. "I'm sorry, could you repeat the question, Dr. Kingston?" Callie asked smoothly. "We can't hear you clearly all the way back here."

Leo grinned as if he knew exactly what she'd been doing. "Of course," he said, pushing away from his desk. She couldn't help but notice the way the faded and well-worn denim of his jeans pulled taut over his muscular thighs as he did so. Somewhere behind her, she could hear the lecture hall door squeak open and swing shut, but her attention was captivated. "Miss Blake, isn't it?" he asked, glancing up at her nod. "I was just giving a discourse on the symbolism behind Isis. After Seth has murdered his own brother, Isis retrieves her dead husband's body and, hovering over Osiris, assumes the form of a sparrow hawk, fanning just enough life into him for her to conceive a son. Do you care to comment on the subject?"

Callie shrugged lightly. "I'd say it gives a whole new meaning to the term 'blow job'," she quipped glibly.

The room filled with laughter and giggles and Leo nodded good-naturedly. Glancing at his watch, he ran his fingers back through his hair. "Okay, guys. On that note, I think we'll call it a day. Don't forget the test on Friday. And the module is rapidly winding down, so don't forget your group projects. They will count as half of your final." Turning his back as they began to file out, he shifted a few of the papers on his desk, waiting until he heard the last swing of the doors.

Looking up expectantly, he assumed his previous position, arms folded over his chest as he watched Miss Blake descend the steps to the podium. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"I'm sure there is, Dr. Kingston. Do you mind if I call you Leo?" Callie murmured as she closed the distance between them, but she was cut off by the sound of footsteps descending after her.

Scene 2:

"What did you expect?" Maura demanded after listening to Rick rant about their dismissal from the Ford apartment. He'd been on the same tangent since leaving and it was wearing thin. She was tired as well and in a bad mood as well and had zero tolerance for his outraged and wronged father routine. "We surprised them and demanded to see their daughter..."

"Our daughter," Rick corrected.

Maura glared at him over her untouched breakfast. "Their daughter," she insisted. "You don't get it, Rick. Katie and Bruce Ford are the only parents Tristen knows. They've done everything for her and we haven't done a thing. Besides that, they let us see her after all."

"You know, they owe me a little more than that!" Rick seethed. "I didn't have a say in what happened to her, if you remember."

"Yes, I remember. Thank you so much for bringing that up." She picked up her fork and stabbed at the lettuce. "All right, you want to play that game? Let's say I did tell you. What would you have done?" She stared at him pointedly. "And don't tell me you would have married me because that is a bunch of crap," she added crossly.

Rick's fork clanged against his empty plate. Apparently, she thought, being angry gave him an appetite. "Maura, you know damn well I would have married you!"

"And then what? Be a terrible father? Neglect me in favor of your career?" She shot back angrily. "Don't look all shocked and hurt. I'm right. We've been here before, Rick. You said it yourself. So quit acting all high and mighty. I did what I had to do just like you did. Can you honestly...tell me that you could be Tristen's father in every sense of the word?"

He stared hard at her. She could see him struggle to contradict her. He had always contradicted her arguments before, sometimes winning. She would like nothing more than to hear Rick say he could be Tristen's father. It wouldn't change anything but it would be nice to hear nonetheless. Maybe then she wouldn't feel as if ten years of her life were wasted on a fantasy, just as Jude had said. Jude. She felt a pang of guilt at the thought of him. She would have to talk to him when she returned.

"I don't think I know what you mean," Rick replied. "I am her father. What else is there?"

"You're not her father, Rick. Bruce is," Maura said sadly. "He loves her. He doesn't want to use her like you seem to want to."

"I do not want to use her," he snapped. Maura raised her eyebrows gently.

"No? What was the point of having to see her? To satisfy your own curiosity or to pay me back some for the anguish I gave you?"

"So you think I'm some sort of masochist then? Only out to hurt you? Thanks a lot, Mo." He pushed his plate back and flagged a waitress down. "What would it take to get a refill on this coffee?" He snapped at her. Maura frowned at his abuse of the waitress. If he had spoken to one of her waitresses at Connie's that way, he'd be looking for somewhere else to eat. The waitress scurried away in search of a pot of coffee. "I thought you knew me better than that."

"I don't know you though, Rick. Look, I am always going to have feelings for you. Just like you are always going to have feelings for me. But can you honestly say that you love me right now, just as I am? I can't say that and if I can't you can't because you don't know me now." Rick rolled his eyes but she pressed onwards. "What's my favorite TV show?"

"I don't know...Friends?" Rick replied, shrugging.

"No...it's a show called Paradise Found," Maura said. "But if you knew me you would have known that."

"Okay, first of all, I've never heard of that show and secondly, what does knowing your favorite TV show have to do with anything?"

"It's kind of a twisted drama...nevermind about the TV show. What I'm trying to say is that you don't me right now in this moment. I am not the same person I was ten years just like you aren't the same person you were. And...it's taken me a long time to figure this one out...but we don't belong together. Someone told me that I was holding onto a fantasy about you and Tristen. And he was right, I am. Tristen is happy, well adjusted, and taken care of by two people who adore her. I love her too much to ever take that away from her. Then there's you." She smiled wistfully. "When you showed up at Connie's last year, my first thought was how lucky I was that I had a second chance..."

"You sure didn't act that way," he interrupted.

"Let me finish. My next thought was that you would only upset the rhythm I seem to have found in my life."

"All right, what are you trying to say in that perfectly obtuse way you have, Maura?" Rick asked tiring of her speech.

"I'm saying, Rick, that Tristen has parents and they are not you and I. And we are not meant to be together. That is what I am trying to say in my own obtuse way." She paused as his brow furrowed and his mouth dropped open to argue. "I'm so right on this one you can't argue." She scraped her chair back and stood, slipping her purse strap over her shoulder. "I'm not telling you anything you don't know Rick. Think about it. I'm heading back to the hotel to pack."

She heard Rick's chair scrape across the floor as she walked away. That would give him something to think about for the time being. But she was right. Anything she had felt for Rick, she realized painfully, was all an illusion just as Jude had said. His demand to see Tristen despite her protests and then his astonishment at Bruce and Katie's reaction to them had made her see that the man she knew, the man she had hoped he still was, had disappeared.

Scene 3:

Jillie arched a brow amusedly as she watched the brief exchange between Leo and his student. Or was she more? Waving a bottle of champagne in one hand and two crystal flutes in the other, she took the last step down and sauntered towards his desk. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" Jillie asked innocently, setting down her things and hopping up onto Leo's desk, the hem of her short skirt rising even more as she crossed her legs. She assessed the little coed critically. Twenty, twenty-one maybe. Long, straight chestnut hair. Wide green eyes, with just a hint of a slant to make her look a little more exotic. Burnished tan that Jillie had no doubts was not marred by tan lines. Oh yeah. This girl was a pro in the making.

"Not at all," Callie practically purred, pulling herself away from Leo. "I'll just meet you later in your office," she told him. Tossing her hair over her shoulder once more, she nodded to Jillie as she passed.

"Grasping for your lost youth, Leo? That's rather pathetic," Jillie laughed when the girl was gone.

"I saw you come in," he told her. "Is there something in particular you needed?" he asked, a pointed glance at the champagne. "Is there something we should be celebrating?"

"Actually, yes." Lifting the bottle, she handed it to Leo. "Would you care to do the honors?"

"Or risk you taking out an eye? Yeah. I think I can handle the task." The cork left the bottle with a loud pop, and Leo filled the glasses with the bubbling liquid. "May I ask what we're celebrating?"

"Well, according to you, I owed you one. Now, my debt is paid. I don't want to owe you a damn thing."

It was Leo's turn to raise a brow. "The way I see it, you owe me more than just one."

"The way I see it, you're just looking for an excuse to spend time with me, and I definitely would prefer you not hanging around all the time."

He smothered his grin with a sip of the champagne. "And that's why I sought you out today, is that right?"

"Yes," Jillie said airily, before thinking it over. "Exactly. Wait. No. I mean - "

"I think you've had one too many already," Leo said, sliding the flute from her grasp.

"I'm not some child you can charm with a smile and a pair of well-fitting jeans," Jillie snapped.

"And I didn't invite you over," Leo returned. "So why are you here?"

Jillie slid off of his desk and walked around the back of it, falling into his chair and propping her feet up on the corner. "I really can't stand my sister," she groused. "I don't understand how things always go this way. She stole his kid from him, and he's just willing to let it go? They've gone on some bonding trip and...it just doesn't make sense. He came to me. Me, not her! Not that I'd take his sorry ass back. He's supposed to hate her, for God's sake! What is wrong with the people in this town?"

Sitting on the edge of his desk, Leo eyed her. "Have you ever considered the possibility that it's just you?" The look she sent him could have withered a lesser man. Or would that have been a better man? Leo, however, kept goading her. "I'm serious," he told her. "From what I've seen, and what I remember, everyone around here loves Maura Conlan. Maybe you're the one with the problem."

Rolling her eyes, Jillie stood up suddenly. "I should have known you'd take her side. Yeah, I have a problem. It's name is Maura!" she practically shouted.

"Calm down, Jillian. I'm not taking anyone's side," Leo said, standing up straight. "Why do you let her get to you so much?"

"Why are you trying to psychoanalyze me?" she retorted sharply.

"Hey," he said, shrugging causally. "Can I help it if you leave yourself wide open for it?"

Sending him a look of disgust, Jillie shook her head. "Why did I even bother? You know what? My debt to you is paid. Don't ever come around my apartment again." She stalked towards the door, but his voice caught her off guard.

"Jillian," Leo called, though he made no move to chase after her.

"What?"

He hesitated a moment before saying what was on his mind. "I'm not sleeping with her."

Her expression softened slightly as she glanced over her shoulder. "I know." She saw the question in his eyes and smiled sweetly, her gaze raking over him swiftly. "If she'd really gotten that close to you, I can't imagine she'd be sticking around for more."

Scene 4:

Hallie picked up the crisp white envelope and turned it over in her hands. "What is this?" She asked as Stephen entered the living room with two cups of coffee. He looked at it briefly, dismissing it immediately.

"An invitation to the Foundation's latest benefit," he replied handing her a cup. "I'm sure you received one as well, Hallie."

"Well considering that I haven't been at home much lately, I wouldn't know." She tossed it back on the table, turning her attention back to Stephen and the coffee. She had spent the night at his home but nothing had happened. Not that she hadn't tried. Stephen Roth was having an attack of the honorables and refused to...what had he said? He had refused to take advantage of her in her current state or some nonsense like that.

She had stayed anyway, sleeping in his guest room, not wanting to go back to the house that she and Luke had bought together. Though, she thought, he hadn't stayed there much since the fire anyway. Still, his belongings were there and she didn't want to even think about him. If he thought he would get away with this humiliation, he was dead wrong.

"All right," Stephen said dropping down next to her on the couch. "I let you off easy last night. Are you going to talk to me at all about this?"

"What? The Foundation's ridiculous ball? No, I have no comment on the abilities of Liza Gennaro," she replied frostily.

"That is not what I was talking about Hallie."

"I know," she sighed. "But I really don't want to talk about Luke any more than I have to. And right now, the only person I want to talk to about Luke is my lawyer."

"Well, that's not what I meant either." She gave him a confused glance. "Don't play stupid. I know very well that you are going to retaliate now. What do you have planned for Luke and his new girlfriend?"

"What makes you think I have anything planned?"

"Because you always do. Hallie, listen...if you're planning on getting even with Luke and Liza, I understand. This is me after all. I've helped you with your schemes in the past and I am not about to go running off at the mouth about it either."

Hallie eyed him curiously. Stephen was such a contradiction. One day he was telling her how much he loved her but didn't want her and the next he hated her but wanted her. She wasn't sure what to think of him anymore or how she felt about him. She did care about him and was still attracted to him but did that amount to loving him? Aside from her feelings for him, she didn't trust him in the slightest.

"I'm not planning anything," she lied. She did have a vague idea of what she was going to do. Very vague. "Sorry to disappoint."

"You haven't. In fact, that's admirable of you." He finished his coffee and set the cup down on the end table. "All right. I'm going to be honest with you right now. And if you laugh at me, I swear to God, Hallie..."

"I won't laugh at you. Unless you're utterly ridiculous," she replied lightly, trying to steer the topic away from her plans of revenge. Stephen took her hand in his and held it, watching her with a sudden look of sincerity that she found unsettling.

"Hallie, I know you very well. And I know you'll do something. Just promise me, whatever it is, if you get yourself into trouble, you come to me." Hallie started to roll her eyes but a squeeze of his hand stopped her. He was serious!

"Stephen, I told you I don't plan to do anything. Luke Conlan can have his divorce," she said with as much resignation as she could muster. "But I promise, if I get into any kind of trouble, you will be the first person I call." He nodded seriously cupping her chin in his free hand and kissing her gently.

"That is a promise I won't let you break," he told her pulling away at last.