The phone rang three times in the Stafford house before Dinah realized she was the only one at home. Rolling over her bed to her the nightstand, she picked up her neon phone and snapped an abrasive hello into the receiver.

"Dinah?" She sat up straight on the bed at the sound of her sister's voice. It was the first time she had heard from Kelly since she had walked out on Galen and Mia. Her parents had spoken to her and knew her whereabouts, but Dinah was always kept in the dark.

"Kelly! Hi!" She said happily. Kelly Stafford Gennaro was six years older and far more sophisticated than Dinah could ever hope to be. "Wow! How are you?"

"I'm fine," Kelly replied after a moment's hesitation. "Dinah, are Mummy or Daddy around?"

"No, Dad had an emergency at the hospital and Mom is at Aunt Ruth's. She's got a broken hip. It's so great to hear from you. Mia looks so much like you! I wish you would come home and see her."

"No, that's not a good idea. Tell Mummy to call me, okay Dinah?" Kelly asked before hanging up before Dinah could reply. Dinah stared at the phone for a moment before hanging it back up. She didn't care, she told herself. What Kelly chose to do with her life was her business. In the meantime, Dinah had her own problems. Mainly how was she going to get Noah to pay attention to her and how would she break the news to Piper that she was interested in Noah?


Scene 2:

Maura was in the living room when Luke found her, her legs curled up under her as she read a thick book. "What do you think you're doing?" He asked, his brows knitting together angrily.

"I'm reading," she said without dropping the book or losing her place. "Buzz off, Luke."

"No, not until you tell me what you are doing going to the ME Dinner!" He snapped standing firm. Maura might be able to treat Jory and Piper like kitchen help, but he was not about to be dismissed like that.

"I was asked," Maura replied without looking up. "Go away."

"By Jude Fontaine? You know he was the one responsible for Hallie being moved to The Foundation! Why would you want to go anywhere with him?"

"Because he's a nice man and he asked me to," Maura answered easily. "And I don't believe he was responsible for anything at ME. Now go away, I'm busy."

"Oh no. you are not getting off that easily. Hallie is having an absolute fit about this Mo. You can't go with him. I don't want you to either," Luke went on ignoring her request. "It's liable to get ugly at that dinner and you shouldn't be there."

Maura closed her book at last and laid it on her lap. "Who I see and what I do is none of your business. I like Jude. he saved me from a pretty embarrassing night a week or so ago. Don't tell me he's a bad person because I know he isn't. And how can a silly dinner get ugly? I think Hallie is just being a bad sport and I don't care what she says. I'm going."

"Well let me give you a warning then," Luke growled. "Don't get to close to Jude Fontaine because Hallie is out for blood and she's first on her list."

"Oh will you two grow up?!" Maura snapped. "Why are you marrying her, Luke? She's so petty and juvenile!"

"Let's not get into that, Maura. I've said what I wanted to say. Just be careful."

"You be careful too, Luke. I wouldn't want to see Hallie out for your blood," Maura returned, picking up her book and stalking out of the room.


Scene 3:

Phoebe paused outside of Rick's office. She hadn't seen much of him since his late night sleepover at the office. In fact no one at The Observer had. She knocked on the door and was surprised to hear Rick's gruff, "Come in!" in response. She opened the door, hesitating just a moment, before taking a breath and stepping inside. Rick looked up from his computer and smiled.

"Good morning, Phoebe. What can I do for you?" He asked pleasantly. Phoebe smiled unevenly back at him, unsure of exactly what she was doing here after all.

"Um...I wanted to talk to you about the ME dinner tonight," she said cautiously. "I spoke with Jamie Mason this morning and he suggested that I bring you along. Are you up for it?"

"Is this a date?" Rick asked, the corners of his mouth twitching.

"No! I don't know why Jamie wants you there. But it is not a date."

"Well, maybe it has something to do with their recent acquisition," Rick mused. He stood up and went to his window staring down the street for a moment towards the center of town. "It isn't public yet, Phoebe, but ME has recently bought out Knight Communications, our parent company." He turned back to her and shrugged. "If I am not mistaken, I believe we should fall under their Communications umbrella."
Phoebe blinked in surprise. The Observer was now owned by the most prominent family in the Glen? that hardly seemed right or fair in her mind. Where would the objectivity come from if the Mason's had complete control? She had certainly underestimated Jamie's business sense.  

"The Masons own the Observer? And this is a good thing? How am I supposed to do a story on the new CEO of ME that's fair and objective if he's the one signing my paycheck?!" She snapped, her tone sharper than she had intended. "Aren't you disturbed at all by this?"

"If you are asking if my journalistic integrity is feeling attacked, yes. From a business sense, no. I like knowing that we have a solvent company backing us Phoebe. So what if it's the Masons? I think we can still be fair and objective about them even if they are the owners." He went back to his desk and sat down again. "Besides, there's no reason to think they won't want us to write good and bad stories on them. So you and Jillie and I will all go and make nice with the owners. This isn't brain surgery or anything."

"Rick, I don't like this at all," Phoebe began.

"Honestly, I don't care if you like it or not. We are going and we are going to play their game until we find out exactly what they want from the Observer. Behave yourself," he warned as she stood up to go.

"Oh I will," Phoebe answered darkly. "But I won't like it."


Scene 4:

Piper closed her world history book with a sigh.  It was difficult preparing for final exams when one was torn between not caring and passionately caring.   Then there was graduation and figuring out what she wanted to do with her life.  That, of course, being the most difficult.  She longed to leave the Glen and go to college in some place like...New York.  Yes, New York, with its tall buildings and many opportunities.  But, then her practical side got the better of her.  New York was incredibly impractical.  She would probably be mugged and murdered, but the fantasy of New York enraptured her.  

Piper flipped through her history notes.  Study, that was all she did.  She did not possess any unique talents that she could find herself practicing with all the spare time she had.  She noticed some words scrawled in Dinah's handwriting at the top of her notes.  Auditions for the local summer play.  A Midsummer Night's Dream.  

Piper recalled the day.  Dinah had picked her up that day, practically bursting at the seams with the news of the play and suggested they audition.  Piper laughed at her.  Piper in a play, in front of people.  No. 

All day though, she had secretly entertained the idea and conjured up fanciful fantasies about her becoming a stage actress.  Of course, it was all just fantasies. It was what she did with her spare time, fantasize about impossible things.  

Piper jumped in her chair, her hand shielding her heart when the shrill phone of the ring slapped her back to reality. "Hello?"

"Hiya!" Dinah said brightly, "what's up?"

"Cramming.  Hey, about these auditions..." Why was she planning on doing this?  She would probably end up on crew.

 

On the next Episode of Secret Horizons...

Episode 18