In New York, Alli had a great day exploring the city but it was too late to be out on the town and she was trapped in her hotel room now.

*knock knock*

"Coming." She opens the door and sees Sean leaning against the door frame.

"Why are you here?"

"For you."

"Well, this isn’t an anniversary, so I guess you’re ok with coming now."

"Look. I’m sorry."

"Oh yea, for what?"

Sean pauses not knowing what to say. "I’m sorry you are so insecure that you have to have reminders of special days nonstop instead of making new ones. I’m sorry you have to have special dates planned in order for us to be in the same room together and most of all, I’m sorry you ever met me. You were obviously better off beforehand."

"Thanks for sharing."

"I have the room right across the hall if you wanna send me some love letters or anything." He smirks knowing that would bother her and he shuts the door behind him. Alli is so confused. She wants to be mad at him for what he said, but she knows he is right, sorta! She stomps over to his room and pounds on the door. When he opens the door, she charges right in.

"I don’t need special dates. I just use them so I don’t make the same mistake my mom did."

"You don’t look like a mistake to me."

She pauses and turns to him. "I’m sorry for what I did to us."

"I know." and he slowly walks toward her. His arms encircled her waist. "I want you to know that I never had any intention of making you do anything we are not ready for."

"I know . . . but . . . "

"But nothing. I think you know that I’m not in this relationship for a booty call." He pauses as they both snicker a bit. "I’m going out with you because I think we have something worth much more than that."

"Just think, huh Mr. Mushy?" They laugh and have a playful reconciliation. After watching a movie, Alli gives Sean a kiss good-night and retires back to her own room. The front door left a message on the door saying she missed a phone call while she was away. "This is Alli Fowler, do you have a message for me?"

"Yes, Miss. It says ‘It is 8:30 here making it 9:30 in New York City where my only daughter happens to be all alone with no phone call to her very worried mother."

"Thank you." She laughs and dials home.

"Hello?"

"How much money is your pretty girl worth to you?" Alli says in a disguised voice.

"Honey, I hate to burst your bubble, but I learned this the hard way; but us Cory women can’t disguise our voices."

Cameron, who is standing by Amanda’s very large video collection deciding what they should watch, laughs at Amanda’s remark remembering her attempted kidnaping before the Lumina Ball.

"Well, I tried. Now why did you leave the front desk a novel to tell me?"

"Can I help it that I am a little worried that it is quite possible that the person in the next room could come into your room and do terrible things to you in the middle of the night?"

"I wouldn’t fret, mom. Sean and I just had a long talk about that." Amanda looks over at Cameron who is purposely not making eye contact with her. "I’m going to go to bed. Good-night mom."

"Cameron, what did you do?" Amanda says as she hugs him from behind and kisses him between the shoulder blades.

"Call it an early Christmas present. We have a bigger issue."

"Can’t decide what to watch?"

"Well, no, but that’s not what I was talking about. I have stood here for quite some time and have been admiring the lovely order with action, romantic comedies, drama and all the others placed in their own little section."

"And?"

"And then there is this group of 12 tapes that I have noticed an unsettling similarity in."

"Like?"

"Like do you like this Christian Slater guy more than me?!"

"Oh no, it definitely would have to be an equal attraction."

"I guess I can live with that."

"I bet you aren’t going to let me watch one of those thought, are you."

"Ain’t no chance."

"That’s okay, I have better plans." and she grabs his shirt and leads him up the stairs.

~~~~~~~

Amanda watches Cameron sleep for awhile and drifts into her own sleep, wondering what she is up to at Rule High . . .

"This is your afternoon announcement. The administration just wants to wish the staff and students a very happy and safe winter break. Happy Holidays and good-bye."

"Amanda, we are going skating tonight to celebrate break, wanna come?"

"Yea, it sure is worth the celebration. If they hadn’t declared break, I was going to be forced to take some mental health days!"

"I second that motion!"

"So, can I invite anyone?"

"Oh yea, that Cameron guy is a catch. 8 PM, you know the place."

"Yea, sure." she walks towards the doors to go home. Cameron had just gotten home and saw his father in his chair watching TV."

"Hey there, son!"

"Hi, dad." Cameron says cautiously.

"Big break from school, bet you got big plans. Hey, what did you get that girl of yours for Christmas?"

"Well..."

"Bro, phone."

"Hello?"

"Woah. You sound hot, wanna date."

"I wish I could but some pushy broad has beaten me into submission."

"That hurts! Anyway, this pushy broad has a social arrangement and requests the company of such a loser who lets girls beat him into submission."

"Talk about hurting!"

"So, will you come skating with me and some friends?"

"Sure, when should I pick you up?"

"Pick me up?"

"Yea, I have a feeling dad is feeling a little generous today. Always happens near the holidays. Should take advantage of it while I can, right?"

"Right! Say 7:30."

"7:30."

"Ha-Ha. I’ll see ya at 7:30, Mr. Sarcastic. I love you."

"Love you too."and hangs up the phone. "Hey dad, can I borrow the car?"

"Who needs to borrow the car when I can take you! I miss that girl, I haven’t seen her in awhile."

"I’m sure she remembers." Cameron mumbles under his breath.

"Go get ready."

"Ok, I guess."

Surprisingly, the car ride went pretty smoothly. It being a short trip may have had something to do with that. Cameron was actually getting along with a lot of Amanda’s friends. It’s not like her doesn’t hang out with these people during football season, but he always felt Amanda’s group was so exclusive. She seemed so out of reach. But not anymore; now Cameron could hold her close to his side and she would respond with a kiss on the cheek. They were all having such a good time just sitting around chatting, they barely did any skating before it was time to go. Cameron was holding Amanda from behind while she stood there in his arms, and his letterman’s jacket, trying to stay warm. A car flew into the parking lot and abruptly stopped in the middle of it. Cameron knew that this was a bad sign. His dad’s good Christmas deed was finished. Cameron slowly opened the door.

"You okay, dad?"

"I’m just great! Now get in the fucking car, stupid!" Cameron closed the door and started to lead Amanda back into the skating place. "I’ll teach you to make me look stupid!" and Cameron’s dad pushed on the accelerator. Cameron jerked his head and saw the car darting toward him and Amanda. He pushed Amanda out of the way and then tried to dash out of the way of the speeding car but on the jump, the hood of the car caught Cameron’s legs and flipped him up. He fell flat onto the top of the car and rolled off the back as his dad sped out of the parking lot. On the way down, Cameron hit his head on a rock on the side of the road.

"Someone call 911!" called out Amanda’s friend Susan as she went over to Amanda and then to Cameron. Regardless of the flip, it didn’t appear that Cameron broke any bones but that blow to his head had him bleeding an awful lot. She took her sweater and wrapped it around his head. The ambulances were there in no time and rushed Cameron and Amanda to the hospital.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Oh my! I hope we are okay." Says Amanda as she wakes up quite startled from her dream. Although it was make-believe, Amanda knew that when it came to Cameron’s past with his father, it wouldn’t be too hard for it to come true. Cameron sat up and kissed her shoulder. She turned and smiled as he wrapped his arms around her and they fell asleep right away, but Cameron was left to dreams about how things were going at the hospital...

Amanda had lost consciousness for a little bit but regained it on the ride to the hospital. She would have lost much more if it wasn’t for Cameron, who wasn’t doing as well. Susan was right, Cameron hadn’t broken any bones, just some bumps and bruises, but he had lost a lot of blood from the fall on his head. The doctors got it to stop bleeding but needed to get back into his system. He has yet to regain consciousness, and it wasn’t looking good.

"How’s Cameron?" says Amanda as she comes out of her room.

"We aren’t really at liberty to tell you, Miss Cory. Now please, you aren’t suppose to be out of bed."

"I’m fine! I don’t need this extra attention, I need to know if Cameron is okay!"

"I’m sorry, I can’t give you that information."

"He saved my life, he has to be okay."

"You can see him. Room 423, just don’t be alarmed by the machines and please, try to stay quiet. Until we can make sire his brain hasn’t suffered any damage, we have to make sure not to stimulate it too much."

"Why can’t you do that now?"

"We have to make sure he has stopped bleeding for sure."

"How much longer of a wait is that?"

"About another hour."

Amanda sighs and starts walking toward Cameron’s room. She looked through the window and saw all the machines that were hooked up to him. With the doctors not knowing if his brain was injured, they placed him on a ventilator and a heart monitor, just in case those parts that control those things received any damage. She paused, then entered his room. She quietly grabbed a chair, sat next to his bed and held his hand. "I love you." she whispered. About an hour later, one of the doctors knocked on the door and motioned for Amanda to come outside. She slowly got up, kissed Cameron’s and, and left the room to see her mom and Matt waiting for her.

"I was so worried!" Rachael said as she embraced her daughter. "You could have been killed, darling!"

"I know, mom." she says as she turns around and looks through Cameron’s window. Would they tell you anything about Cameron?"

"No, the doctors are strict about that stupid family policy."

"You’d think they’d make an exception when a part of that family is what caused this disaster in the first place." she said to Matt as she turned around and saw Gary run in the hospital.

"How is he, is he okay?"

"They will tell us now!" she takes his hand and they go to the doctor.

"What is the skinny on my bro?"

"Mr. Sinclair, your brother lost quite a lot of blood and the doctors have just gotten the go ahead to preform a Cat-scan. The results will confirm to us if he received any further head damage."

"And if it doesn’t?"

"Then we will just need to get a blood donor and hope he regains consciousness."

"And if it does?" Amanda butts in.

"We will have to go from there." and he leaves to help his other patients.

"So who in the family is the same blood type as Cameron?"

"Well, I’m the same as mom..." he pauses "I just hope Cameron is too."

"You mean..."

"He could be dads." and they both look at each other in fear that Cameron’s life could be in more risk than it already was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I can’t even get a break in my dreams." says Cameron as he wakes up and hops in the shower. Cameron goes for his morning run and when he gets back, the phone rings.

"Yea?"

"Yea yourself."

"What’s up Gary?"

"Just come over, I got some big news."

"But it is my break and it would get in the way of my lying around time."

"Get you Ragity-Ann butt over here!" he hangs up the phone and goes up the stairs to his and Amanda’s room to change into regular clothes. He kissed Amanda on the head so he wouldn’t wake her, but he should have because she was not sleeping so soundly...

"Good news. The cat-scan didn’t see any problem with Cameron’s brain."

"We all knew he was too thick-headed for anything to shake that brain." says Gary as he scoops Amanda up for a big, celebration hug.

"So, all we need is the blood match."

"Is anyone that is a match allowed to help?"

"It is medically preferred to be a relative, but with parental consent it can be anyone that is a match."

"Great!" Gary dashes to the phone to call their mother at the diner she works at. He dials the phone and turns to see their father walk through the front door of the hospital. Gary hangs up the phone and starts to walk toward him.

"This isn’t the place Gary." says Matt as he steps in front of his path."

"Oh, and a skating rink parking lot is!" he screams loud enough for his dad to hear him.

"Shut your mouth boy or you’ll be next." Gary goes back over to the phone to make the call to his mother.

"Mr. Sinclair, I assume you are here to donate for your son, right this way."

"Oh no, Cameron wanted freedom for Christmas, consider this and early present." he starts laughing until he sees Amanda. "I missed you?"

"Shove it."

"Amanda!" butts in her mother.

"Ooh, attitude. I like that."

"Why don’t you leave and we’ll call it square!"

"You don’t want me to leave, you need me."

"That’s right, here are the papers you need to sign Mr. Sinclair."

"Thank you." he signs them and hands them back to the doctor.

"I’m sorry sir but ‘blow me’ is not an acceptable signature."

Cameron’s dad hurls over laughing and then leaves. Amanda was in complete shock but right then Cameron’s mother rushed in the hospital. The doctor hands her a fresh copy of the papers and she thrashes through each sheet.

"So, who is type B blood?"

Rachael turns her head. "I know who is."

"Who, mom!" Amanda says eagerly.

"You. It’s your fathers blood and you inherited it."

"Finally, I can help!"

"This way, Miss Cory."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"That dream is starting to pick up." Amanda says as she crawls out of bed and goes downstairs for some breakfast.

"Something looks good and I’m not talking about the food." says a familiar voice.

"There’s my charmer, but the better question is where was he before."

"Do you want the good news first or the bad news?"

"I hate conversations that start this way!"

"Well, I’m not going to break that tradition, I am afraid."

"Ok, good news first."

"Gary’s lead came through early and we are going to go investigate where he believes the Cory money is stashed."

"That’s great! But, wait... what’s the bad news?"

"Departure is in T minus 3 days and counting."

"That’s... the day after Christmas!"

"I know, but wouldn’t it be a great New Year’s present if we got your family’s money back?"

"But this is just a lead, right? This could turn out to be a wild-goose chase for all you know, or..."she pauses as she thinks. "Oh my gosh, another Guthrie or Halliday mess!"

"Don’t think like that, you’ll only get scared."

"Of course I’m scared. No money is worth your life!"

"And no jerk is worth ruining your family’s life, if that even be the case. Just calm down and lets enjoy the days we have left together before me and Gary have to go."

"And where would that be, by the way?"

"Las Vegas."

"Ooh!"

"Don’t even think about it. You, and Alli, are staying right here in good-ol’ Bay City where you are safe from any danger that may be lurking around that place."

"And why should you be the one in the danger?"

"It’s my case, and besides, who knows; I could come back with double the Cory money."

"That’s it! You aren’t going!"

"I have to. Now, don’t worry. I’ll be fine."

"If you aren’t, Gary is dead meat!"

"Fair deal." he chuckles as he pulls her in for a soft kiss that turns into an intimate one.

"Woo, what was that for?"

"So you don’t forget I love you."

"It would be very hard." She grabs his hand and they go for a walk in the park.