Scene 1:

It was morning when Piper slipped through the door of the empty house and locked it behind her, along with the two other looks on the door. The house was old and well kept to only the degree that made it livable. They were college students after all. A cold draft always seemed to float through. Piper flicked the light and the room was dimly lit. It was a dingy place with sparse furniture and little decoration. No one had the time. School, work, and the theatre consumed all their lives. She stopped in front of a full length mirror in the hall. A dark blood stain was smeared across the aqua colored dress Jewel had so lovingly made within an extremely short period of time and an extremely tight budget. Now it was ruined.

Piper felt again that fierce passion and anger towards Chase. The desire to hurt him and torture him for all the millions of ways he had destroyed and tortured her. The feeling that truly overwhelmed Piper though was her fear towards what she had discovered in herself. Piper had always been perceived as demure, innocent, sweet. And all she could think about at the moment with Chase was killing him and getting her revenge. Piper quickly stripped the dress off suddenly as though ants had suddenly crept into it. She threw the tattered and stained garment in the trash. She felt the feeling again of eyes on her which she tended to feel quite often. There were no curtains on the windows in the kitchen, Piper only recalled after she had stripped herself down to nothing, but her underwear. She wrapped her arms around herself and caught her reflection in the window. Her hair had leaves and other such things stuck in it. Her wrists were swollen from where Chase had so tightly gripped her, but for the most part, it looked as if nothing had happened.
A rapping on the door.

Piper yelped, leaping out of her reverie. She heard her name called and recognized Noah's voice. Piper breathed a sigh of relief. She would have to tell Noah, but Noah would insist on going to the police. No way around it though, Noah would dig it out of her. She looked around for something to cover herself and again Noah beat on the door.

"Hold on Noah!" Piper called, she slipped into the living room, grabbed a blanket off the couch, wrapped it tightly around her, and opened the door. She hurried Noah in, him asking questions immediately, and Piper briefly lingered at the door, wondering if Chase was lurking nearby.

"Piper!"

Piper whirled around, realizing Noah had been calling her for a while. She looked at him expectantly, waiting for his onslaught of questioning.

"You disappeared from the ball," Noah managed at last. He studied her face, wondering why she had left him stranded at the party without her and then not be anywhere he went to look. He didn't want to believe that she would desert him without a good reason, but she didn't seem to have one either. And if she did, she wasn't telling. Yet, he reminded himself. Give her a chance. "You okay?"

Piper began to nod. It was almost an automatic response to the 'are you okay' question. She quickly changed her motion to a negative one. Words would help, Piper told herself.
"I....uh....." Piper took a deep breath, tugging the blanket over her nearly bare body and the idea of that suddenly made her embarrassed in front of Noah. "Noah, now be rational, I don't want you to freak out when I tell you this...," Piper prepared him, finally finding some words.

"Okay, when you put it like that," Noah started, the frustration in his voice showing through. "What?"

His frustration was a little discouraging for her, but Piper pressed on in one quick breath.
"Chase found me."

"Chase." The name stuck in his throat. He had found her. Well, she wasn't hiding that was certain. Still.... He wanted to reach out and make sure she was all right, but at the moment, she didn't look like she wanted that at all. "At the ball."

Piper nodded wordlessly, the blanket slipping off the reveal her bare shoulder, embarrassed, she tugged it back up, shivering slightly as the usual cold draft passed through the old house.

"What happened? Unless, you don't want to talk about it..."

Piper shuffled towards the living room, realizing there was no use in trying to be modest, but she wrapped the blanket around her anyway to where all that was revealed was some of her shoulders and above. "I went outside. I took my hair down and he said something about it," Piper mumbled, trudging through it, remembering now every minute detail. "And he grabbed me from behind." She remembered now that when he spoke she felt terror, when he had grabbed her she felt rage. Piper continued to recount the story for Noah, but left out the feelings that had driven her to such viciousness.

He didn't want to smile, but he was proud of her. She wasn't a victim anymore. The smile crept into his eyes unwillingly at the thought of Piper kicking the crap out of Chase Garrett. He wished he'd been there to help.

"Piper," he started, biting back a lecture that wanted to come out. "Good for you," he said instead.

Piper arched an eyebrow, but suddenly a tear trickled down her face. "Noah, I wanted to kill him," she finally admitted aloud. And more tears came after that. "I wanted him to feel the pain I feel all the time because of him. I wanted him to feel what he had put me through." Piper now had lost her voice in her tears. Her body trembled. "I wanted to kill him," she repeated.

Noah edged closer to her on the sofa and took her hand in his own, rubbing it gently with his thumb. "I think that's perfectly normal. I want to kill the bastard too. But you didn't. That says something about you. You're not like that."

"It use to scare me when you mentioned that, saying you would kill him or something," Piper sniffled, "but, if I had had a better chance, I just might have, Noah."

"I'm glad you didn't," Noah said growing serious. "Look, Piper. I don't want to lecture you. But hear me out. If you did that...I did that, we'd be no better than him. And we are better. Look at us, we're young, and smart and we have the world ahead of us. Anything he does to us...it only makes us stronger. I want you to defend yourself but I don't want you going after him. I love you too much to see you put yourself through misery like that."

"I have no intention to go after him," Piper said softly.

"Good. I won't either. But if I see him near you, I won't be held responsible for my actions," he grinned.

Piper gave Noah a weak smile, comforted by his words, but still shaken by her feelings.
"I love you, Noah," Piper whispered softly. It was three words she rarely said.

"I love you too, Piper," he returned.

Scene 2:

Stepping out of the shower, Jillie quickly patted dry with an oversized terrycloth towel, lifting a corner to wipe the steam from the bathroom mirror. The apartment was quiet, which caused her to breathe a sigh of relief. Having lain awake most of the night, she'd been well aware of the time when Georgia had returned home from the Ball, as well as when she'd woken up to get ready for work this morning. But that had been almost two hours ago. She was thankful now because the calm quiet seemed to attest to the fact that Leo had yet to rise.

Her nose wrinkled in a grimace. At least, she hoped he'd had yet to rise. In any sense of the word.

The thought of the man asleep in her bed sent a little shiver down her spine. Jillie couldn't help but feel that this time, she'd gotten in way over her head. Sure, she was the wild child. Yeah, she liked to live life on the edge. But this.... Murder....

Wrapping the towel around herself, she pushed open the shutter doors and moved into the bedroom, a cold gust of air causing goose bumps to break out over her still damp skin. With a glance to make sure Leo was still fast asleep beneath her down comforter - her soft-as-a-cloud comforter that would have been heaven compared to sleeping on the floor last night - she discarded the towel and slid into her black silk kimono robe. Fastening the lotus embroidered belt around her slim waist, she left her hair to air dry as she exited the room and padded towards the kitchen, her footsteps light on the hardwood floor.

The clock on the coffeemaker told her it was just after nine o'clock. Far too early for a woman of leisure. Or so she liked to consider herself, now that she was sans employment. Happily, she noted Georgia hadn't forgotten to set the timer, and she poured herself a hot mug of coffee. Black.

The sound of a car door slamming made her move to the window of the small breakfast area. She was paranoid, she knew, but for good reason. Any moment now, she expected the cops to come knocking on her door. But the person she saw marching up to the stoop wasn't any cop. It was someone far worse, in Jillie's opinion.

Gina rang the doorbell of Georgia's apartment ready to scold her daughter for her disgraceful behavior at the ball the night before. She hadn't seen it with her own eyes of course, but gossip was gossip and Georgia was at the center of it with that terrible doctor she worked for at the hospital. Georgia was making a fool of herself for a man who wasn't even interested in marriage to her. All he wanted, Gina was certain, was a quick affair before finding an heiress with a large fortune to settle down with and eventually leave with a hefty divorce settlement. Gina was not going to let her daughter get involved with that. Georgia had a career and a good heart. She deserved someone to be kind to her and love her; not someone who just wanted her for one thing and nothing else. She jammed at the doorbell again, growing impatient at Georgia's slowness.

Pasting on a smile, Jillie's fingers curled around the doorknob as she pulled it open. Maybe it was lack of sleep, or maybe she just didn't care enough, but she couldn't make that smile meet her eyes. "Mrs. Corelli. You're certainly here...bright and early. Is there something I can do for you?" Silently she cursed the woman and her obvious impatience. All that ringing of the bell was certain to have wakened her guest..

Gina frowned at the sight of Jillie in the doorway. Not who she expected at all but it simply wouldn't do to make yet another bad impression on one of Kevin's children. She'd already struck out with Maura and Jory. Quite possibly Piper too but that was too early to tell. Only Luke didn't seem to mind that she was dating their father. "I'm sorry to bother you so early, Jillie," Gina began smiling back at her. "I'm looking for Georgia."

"She's at work," Jillie informed her roommate's mother. She didn't invite Gina in, nor did she step aside.

"So early? Well, I'll talk to her later then. And how are you dear? I didn't see you last night? Did you stay at home last night?" She inquired pleasantly trying to make small talk. No time like the present to get to know the woman after all.

Jillie stared at the woman as if she'd grown a second head. "No, though I don't suppose you would have noticed. You seemed quite...absorbed with my father." The words left a distasteful feeling in her mouth as she replayed Gina and Kevin's obnoxiously public make-out session in her head. "Actually, I left early."

As if on cue, a man's voice could be heard bellowing her name through the apartment. Obviously, Leo wasn't a morning person.

Gina cocked an eyebrow up at the voice. Left early hm? No wonder Georgia was acting so strange if this is the person she roomed with. Jillie was obviously the bad influence here. She would have to remember to speak to Kevin about this... If Jillie didn't have a logical explanation that was. "I see. Well, no wonder you left early."

For some odd reason, Gina's tone of voice really rubbed her the wrong way. Oh, who was she kidding? Everything about the woman irritated the hell out of her. But who was this woman to judge her? Oh, her words were simple enough, but Jillie knew enough to discern the look in the older woman's eyes. And, sure, usually, the most obvious conclusion was the correct one where Jillie was concerned. Ironically, last night had been anything but sexy. But there was no way in hell she was going to tell Gina the truth.

"No wonder, indeed. I found the ball singularly lacking in...amusement. So..." she glanced over her shoulder just as Leo came stomping down the stairs. For a moment, she forgot where she was going with her thought. His dark hair was tousled wildly, and sometime during the night he'd fought his way out of his clothes. His broad chest was bare, smooth and void of any annoying farmer's tan she'd wished he'd had. Instead of the pasty white boy she remembered, his skin was a sleek burnished gold - the color only achieved by spending hours and hours beneath the hot sun. He'd haphazardly pulled his tuxedo trousers on, zipping the fly but leaving the button tantalizingly undone. All in all, his very presence infuriated her. And the flush in her cheeks proved it.

Still, she managed a tight smile. "So...we came back and had a party of our own," Jillie finished, clearing her throat of the sudden tightness there.

"I see," Gina replied eyeing the man behind her with disapproval. "I had hoped you might be a good influence on Georgia. She's younger than you and naive. I guess I should have realized that you two might be complete opposites."

"Opposites? Naive? Are we talking about the same woman? The same woman who locked her boyfriend in a closet last night?" Oh yes. She'd heard that much.

Leo rested his hand on Jillie's shoulder, conveying much in the simple gesture. Mostly, he too seemed relieved that it wasn't the police...or worse...Dr. Adams' killer. Inhaling deeply, she took a step back and Leo's arm curled around her waist. He dipped his head to the curve of her neck, nuzzling her clean skin. She shivered as the rough stubble along his jaw scratched her, but it wasn't an entirely unpleasant feeling. Of course, she knew it was all an act. Not just for Gina's benefit - although the look of displeasure on her face was well worth it - but also to back up their alibi. If it came down to it, Gina's testimony could add a little credence to the ruse.

"I'm sorry," Leo grinned, straightening as he held a hand out to Gina, "I don't believe we've met. Jillian has a way of...forgetting formalities and common courtesies. I'm Leo Kingston."

Gina tipped her head slightly at the man. "Gina Corelli. Look, I'm sorry to interrupt you two but I was only looking for my daughter. She's at work so I shouldn't keep you." She took a step back away from the door, her eyes fastened to Jillie. "And I hope she locked that man in the closet. He deserved more if you ask me from the way he's been treating her. A word of warning Jillie? Sometimes, you do get what you deserve."

"I hope you remember that," Jillie replied flatly. "And for the record, if anyone's influencing Georgia, maybe it's you. Unless, of course, you <b>want</b> her to be the type of woman who goes around publicly mauling men she hardly knows. Wrecking their families and - "

"Jillian." It wasn't so much that Leo cut her off, as it was the way he did it. There was something unyielding in Leo's tone, and it instantly quieted her. The disturbing part about it, she realized, was that she didn't do it for the sake of their act. "I'm sorry, Gina," Leo apologized, smoothly positioning himself between the two women. From the looks in their eyes, he wasn't certain they wouldn't try to lunge at each other's throats. "We'll make sure to tell Georgia you stopped by. I hope you have a wonderful day, and please, forgive Jillian. She's not her best...in the morning." He added the latter after a hefty pause, provoked only by the sharp jab of Jillie's elbow to his kidney. "Perhaps we can all get together soon. Both families. It would be nice if everyone could get to know each other."

"You make me sick," Jillie muttered to him under her breath.

Gina raised an eyebrow at him but only nodded. There was another strike against her. Make that 3 for sure out of 5 with one undecided. How was it possible that her kids' friends adored her but Kevin's children did not? She wasn't trying to replace their mother. Besides, she had been gone for ten years now and they were adults! She shook her head and smiled at Leo. "Thank you Leo. It was nice meeting you. Jillie," she added with a nod of her head before turning away from the door.

Closing the door behind the woman, Leo held up a hand, as if it could hold off Jillie's inevitable tirade. Well, it would have to. "Not now," he instructed her.

"Now you're telling me what to do? Who the hell do you think you are? I saved your ass last night. You still haven't told me everything that's going on. I even slept on the <b>floor</b> - "

"Yes, well, that last part wasn't entirely necessary."

"In your dreams," Jillie scoffed with a roll of her eyes. "And don't try to change the subject."

"Gina Corelli isn't the subject you need to be worrying about right now," Leo pointed out, sobering. "Truth is, we're hardly in the clear. So why don't you get dressed. I need to go to my place and get cleaned up before I go in to work."

"What? You can't go there!"

"I have to go there. How do you think it'll look if I don't show up?"

She thought it over and shrugged. "Fine. Walk into the lion's den. But don't think I'm going to come rescue you again."

"Relax, Jillian - "

"Would you stop calling me that?"

"Everything's going to be fine. Trust me. I'll take care of it."

He left her at the front door as he went to gather his clothes. Shaking her head, Jillie wrapped her arms around herself. Trust me. The famous last words of every untrustworthy man. Right. Everything was not going to be fine.


Scene 3:

Sleep would have been impossible despite John Stafford's untimely death, Jamie thought sadly unlocking his front door. The grandfather clock in the hall chimed the seven o'clock hour at his arrival. Had he been out since midnight? Must have, he decided. His tuxedo jacket from the night before was thrown carelessly on the coat rack next to the door, the letter from Michaela's lawyer poking out of the pocket reminding him of what had happened to his life in the last 24 hours.

He leaned over and plucked the letter from his jacket and opened it once again, staring at the words he had been stunned to see last night. "The dissolution of marriage between Michaela Robinson Mason and James Mason III..." He eyes blurred slightly at the finality of the words. It didn't seem real. How could it be? The last time he had seen Michaela...she had been distant, yes, but willing to divorce him? No, he couldn't see that. He'd just have to talk to her is all. Yes, that was it, fly to Toronto and force her to discuss this whole ridiculous thing with him.

He tucked the paper into his pocket and headed toward the kitchen where the smell of fresh hot coffee beckoned him. He wouldn't sleep today anyway, he reminded himself. Mrs. Finch, the housekeeper Michaela had hired just before her departure, greeted him genially motioning for him to sit while she poured a cup of coffee for him.

"I hear about Dr. Stafford on the radio this morning," Mrs. Finch said as way of apology. "Sad thing too. He was a good man."

Jamie nodded, staring at the table. He was a good man and it was a terrible loss. All those things he had muttered to Barbara Stafford last night that, now, sounded hollow and false. But you take comfort in what people offer, he reminded himself, no matter how shallow.

"Chris up yet?" Jamie asked draining his cup.

Mrs. Finch stepped closer and poured him another cup. "Yes, he's been up almost as long as I have. Something about an orientation or something..."

Jamie puzzled over that for a moment until he remembered that Chris had volunteered to lead Freshman Orientation at the high school. "Is he still here?"

"Should be upstairs in his room," the housekeeper answered. "Would you like some breakfast Mr. Mason?"

"Actually, I would. I need to talk to Chris first though," he replied. "Just keep it warm for me, okay?" Mrs. Finch nodded as he shoved his chair back and climbed the back stairs to the second floor. Chris' door was open just enough for Jamie to see Chris stuffing a book bag with clothes. "Going somewhere?" He asked pushing the door open and leaning against the door jamb.

Chris looked up, startled at the sound of Jamie's voice. "School," he managed to reply, turning his back quickly.

"For orientation."

"Yeah..."

"Look, Chris, I'd like to talk to you before you go, okay?" Chris glanced over his shoulder at him and shrugged. "I'll take that as an okay. All right, I'll just be honest with you. Your mother has decided that she doesn't want to stay married to me."

"That's a shocker," Chris mumbled, kicking at the carpet with his foot.

"What is that supposed to mean?" He asked frowning at his son.

"Exactly like what it sounded like. Are you really surprised that Mom wants a divorce?" Chris returned sharply sounding eerily like his grandmother. "You ignored her half the time and the other half of the time you told her what to do. It's no wonder she wanted to get away from you."

Jamie blinked at the tone of his son's voice. Chris had been angry about a great many things in his life but this was the first time he had heard the bitterness creep into his words. "Wait a minute, Chris..."

"No Dad, listen to me for a change. You've ignored Mom since we moved here. I'm not surprised at all that she doesn't want anything more to do with you. You put Grandma Gwen and your work ahead of her every time she wanted or needed something! Jesse and I both saw it. You never did though. I knew when I left for camp that she wouldn't be back. Jesse even wrote me a letter and told me as much. For an adult, you sure are blind to a lot of things." Chris picked up his book bag and slung it over his shoulder. "She wants me to move to Toronto with them, you know."

Jamie shook his head, he hadn't known. "Do you want to?" He managed to ask feeling tired after the lecture from his fifteen year old son.

"No. I want to finish high school here where my friends are. And that is the only reason I'm staying," he added angrily before brushing past Jamie and pounding down the stairs.

Jamie stood numb at the top of the stairs. Too much had happened and he didn't know what to do next. He'd always been able to handle change before. But this...Michaela's departure and Chris' anger were almost too much to deal with. So, he wouldn't, he decided at last. He had work to do at the hospital after all. Might as well submerge himself in that. Getting himself moving at last, he pushed himself back to the kitchen and forced himself to eat the breakfast Mrs. Finch had prepared for him.


Scene 4:

Maura stirred briefly at Jude's side making a soft sighing noise. He'd been awake for some time, marveling at Maura while she slept and wondering at their night together. She stayed because he'd wanted her. They had come together hard and fast, without regard to caution or care. All Jude knew at the time was that he had waited too long to have Maura and nothing would stop him. Maura didn't argue, only responded in kind and with as much passion as he had ever seen from her. After the initial rush of being together and they lay on his bed wrapped in each other, they took their time and made love to each other again, exploring each other with tenderness.

Maura had fallen asleep with her head buried in his chest. He hadn't slept much though he was exhausted from the emotions of the night. Instead, he watched her sleep and dozed fitfully thinking about her and what to do next. There was, of course, the one thing he wanted more than anything. It was the next logical step. But whether Maura thought so was an entirely different matter. And whether she was truly free of Rick Upton's hold on her remained to be seen.

She stirred again, her eyes fluttering open briefly. A small smile flitted across her face before she yawned and stretched. "Good morning," she said.

Jude smiled at the huskiness of her voice. "Good morning...that's quite a voice you have in the morning," he teased.

"Shut up," Maura grinned back at him. "What time is it?"

"About eight." She yawned again and rolled over, giving him a little space to stretch.

"How long have you been awake?"

"A while," he answered reaching for her hand. "Couldn't sleep much, I guess. But how did you sleep?"

"Very well," Maura replied inching back towards Jude. "I wish you had gotten more sleep though. Something bothering you?"

"Not really. I'm just in awe." She gave him a puzzled look remained silent waiting for him to explain. "Of you, Maura. I'm having a hard time realizing that you are really here with me and last night really happened. That's all."

"Of course it happened, Jude. It was the best night of my life. Well," she paused as a shadow fell across her face briefly, "being with you was the best part. There are definitely moments I wish I could forget happened."

"Like Gina?"

"Yes. Like Gina. But let's not talk about that right now. I don't want to spoil this, okay? Let's talk about something else...like why are you still living in the ME condo?"

Jude laughed and looked around the sparse room. Sure it wasn't much more than a glorified hotel room but he had gotten used to it. "You don't like it do you?"

"Well, it is kind of plain...not much to look at..."

"I see. So I need a decorator is what you're telling me? Well, maybe it could use a few pictures... It isn't really mine anyway. Maybe what I need is a new place altogether. Maybe one with a little extra room..." He trailed off not sure of how he should continue. He wanted Maura to stay with him. He wanted more nights like the last.

"You could use a new place to live Jude. You're right, this place isn't yours and you've done so much to make your life your own anyway, why not finish it with a new place to live?" Maura suggested.

"I think you're right, Maura. But the thing is...I don't think any place would do...without you that is," he added quietly. "I've been thinking...last night was everything I've ever wanted. I don't want it to end. And I know that sounds selfish as hell, but I don't want you to leave me every time and go back to your father's house. I want you to stay. Be there when I get home, have dinner and breakfast with me, share the same closet. All those stupid things that I never knew I wanted before, I want now."

"They aren't stupid, Jude," Maura responded. "In fact, I think they're lovely things. The same kind of things I want too."

"I'm not proposing you know..."

"I know!" Maura grinned with a roll of her eyes. "And if you were, I'd turn you down!"

"You would, would you? I think you're lying, Maura Conlan. I think you'd jump at the chance to marry me. After all, I am a Mason!" He announced haughtily.

Maura chuckled. "Oh yeah, I always forget that part." Growing serious, Maura sat up and met his eyes with a firm gaze. "I do want to be with you, Jude. I've never wanted to be with anyone as much as I do with you. But I know you wouldn't propose after one night in bed. That just isn't your style."

"Would you really turn me down?"

Maura leaned in and kissed him softly. "No," she replied. "So be glad you're just asking me to live with you."

"Is that a yes?" Jude asked preparing himself in case he read her wrong.

"Of course it's a yes. But this place is going to need a lot of help," she added with a grin.

"Not this place. Our place. Somewhere different. We'll look for it together." Maura's face brightened at his suggestion. "A place we can call home."
 

On the next Episode of Secret Horizons...