Love Conquers All

Introduction:  This story begins in the late summer of 1999.  Ryan & Gillian are still divorced, and she and Jake have begun a relationship of sorts.  Ryan and Gillian have maintained a friendship, but things are awkward between them.  Most other things in Pine Valley remain the same.

~ Chapter 1 ~

"I just really think you should give it some thought, Ryan."
"Hayley, how many time do we have to go over this?"  Ryan asked, exasperated.
"How many ever it takes before you tell the truth!  You still love her, Ryan.  You can't tell me that it doesn't bother you to see her with Jake," Hayley countered.

Ryan looked down at the S.O.S. bar where he had been re-shelving glasses.

"We don't even know that she is with Jake," he said quietly.
"They sure looked pretty friendly at my wedding," Hayley said gently.

Ryan's mind drifted back to the day Hayley and Mateo finally became man and wife.  Gillian looked so beautiful in her bridesmade dress.  Her hair sofe, falling down around her shoulders......But, she wasn't his.......She wasn't his......

"It's not really any of my business," Ryan said.  "At least, not anymore.  And, Jake's a nice guy.  He'll be good to her."
"And, what about you?"
"It's not important, Hayley.  All that matters it that Gillian is happy," Ryan said.

Hayley looked across the bar at him incredulously.

"So, that's it?!"
"Yep."
"That's what you want?  For Gillian to fall in love with Jake and forget all about you?"
"It would be the best thing for Gillian to forget I ever existed," Ryan said adamantly, making it clear that the subject was closed.
"All right.  All right,"  Hayley relented.  "But, Ryan, the time will come when it'll be too late.  I just hope you won't be sorry when it does."

Ryan shivered at Hayley's dark words.  He quickly shook off the sensation and lifted up the bar to leave.

"It's late.  I've go to go," he said and walked out the door.

~ Chapter 2 ~

"Jake!" Gillian whined. "How much longer do I have to wear this?!"
"Leave it on.  I don't want you ruin the surprise," he said.
"Come on! What is it!"
"Shhh, Gillian.  You'll wake up the entire boarding house.  Here," Jake said reaching around and removing the blindfold.

Gillian looked down on the end table in her bedroom and quickly picked up what had caught her eye.

"What are these?" she asked, holding two pieces of paper in her hand.
"Tickets," Jake said.
"To what?"
"Ha, to where," Jake corrected.
"'To where'?"  Gillian repeated, as it sunk in.  "You want me to go away with you?"
"Not far.  It's a vacation resort on Virginia Beach.  And, just for the weekend," he hurried on, in an effort to convince her.
"Jake," Gillian began hesitatnly, "I, I don't know."
"Come on, Gillian.  You know how much I care about you - how deeply I've fallen in love with you.  I want us to be together," Jake continued, "like a real couple.  Don't you want that, too?"
"Jake, I just......."
Gillian's voice dropped off and her eyes glazed over as her mind filled with an old memory.  It was the day she signed the divorce papers.

"Say it.  Tell me.  Tell me that you still want to be  married to me, and I'll make confetti out of these stupid divorce papers."
"I can't."

Then, she could hear it all over again, as plain as day.  The sound of her wedding ring hitting the hard cement.  The sound that haunted her day and night.  She ran her fingers through ther hair, suddenly agitated.
"Gillian, are you all right?" Jake asked.
"Yeah, I, I'm fine, " she replied, returning to the present.
She looked down on her left hand where she used to wear her ring.  It was now empty, like her heart.
"Okay," she said, hardly believing it herself.
"What?" Jake asked, stunned.
"I'll go with you."
"Oh, Gillian! Gillian, that's wonderful!" he exclaimed, pulling her into his arms.
Gillian smiled feebly.
"You won't regret it. I won't let you regret it."
He kissed her softly - and she let him.  Jake broke the kiss and looked into her eyes.
"Stay with me.  Stay with me tonight," he asked quietly.
Though she no longer wore her ring, Gillian could feel it branded on her skin. And, again her mind betrayed her.  She could see it as vividly as if it were happening all over again.

"Gillian, I love you, and I want to be with you - that is, as long as you'll still have me."
"Oh, I must be dreaming. And if I am, just don't wake me up."
"This is no dream, my beautiful, sweet princess. And I 'm gonna prove it to you."
She tilted her head up towards his, and they kissed passionately.

"I can't, Jake. Not now," she said, silently adding "not here".
"Okay.  We can wait, 'till the weekend," Jake said.
Thinking out loud, Gillian said flatly, "That's tomorrow."
"Until tomorrow," Jake said happily, kissing Gillian goodnight, then leaving the room.
Hours later, unable to sleep, Gillian lay in her bed, their bed - no - her bed.
"Tomorrow," she said.

~ Chapter  3 ~

The hallway was stark and white.  Ryan was unable to decipher where he was, but the unpleasantness of the setting was vaguely familiar.  And, one thing was unmistakable - the screams.  He could hear them from the far end of the hall and as he continued to walk, they became louder.  He soon realized they were Gillian's cries of pain, and a wave of absolute terror rushed over him.

He began to run, until he reached the room the sound where coming from and stopped abruptly at the sight that met him.  Gillian was in a hospital bed with a slue of doctors and nurses around her.

"The head is crowning," one of the doctors said.

Ryan immediately began to recover from his state of panic.  She was having a baby.  Thier baby.  He had always wondered what thier children would look like.  Would they have Gillian's dark hair and Hungarian complexion? Or would they have his light, blue eyes?  Or, more likely, a stunning combination of the two. Either way, they were sure to be beautiful.

He turned his attention back to the bed where Gillian lay, as she let out another cry of pain. Is childbirth supposed to be this painful, he wondered. Or was something wrong?

He saw a familiar face in the crowd of doctors.  He knew Jake Martin was not an obstetrician, but he was a friend.  Surely, he could help her.

Then, Ryan heard the cry of a baby, and watched as one of the doctors wrapped the child in a blanket and handed it to Gillian.

She cooed and kissed the baby, finally looking up to speak.

"Daddy, come meet your daughter."

Ryan began to make his way through the crowd of doctors to her bedside when, to his horror, he saw Jake step forward.

"No," Ryan said.

Gillian smiled lovingly up at Jake and handed him the baby.

"No!  This can't be happening!" Ryan shouted, panic beginning to build.  "Gillian!  That's supposed to be our baby!" he called to her, but she didn't seem to hear him. "No!" he screamed. "No! No!"

His words were the painful cry of a lost soul.

"NO! NO!"

Suddenly he woke up, sitting bolt upright, still crying "No! repeatedly.  Sweat dripped from his brow and his heart slowly regained it's natural rhythm, as he grasped the realization that it had only been a dream.  But, as he sat in his bed he thought to himself, what was to stop it from becoming a reality?
                            ************************************************
Across town, in the early morning sunlight, Gillian neatly folded clothes, packing the remains of the closet.  As she folded an outfit, she remembered when she last wore it, and could almost see the shadows of her and Ryan dancing playfully around the room.  It was almost sacrilegious to be packing for this trip in the first real home she and Ryan had ever shared.  But, that was the past, she firmly told herself, and did her best to shake off the sensation.

She walked over to her radio and turned it on, trying to get her mind off the course it had once again taken.  However, it only had the opposite effect as the room filled with the singer's anguished thoughts, that seemed to mirror her own.

"I can't figure out why it all fell apart.
And, I don't have a clue just how I lost your heart.
So, make me understand why I still need you so.
Tell me something I don't know."
                                 ************************************************
Ryan got up out of bed and began to pace the room.
"I don't know what it's like to lie alone at night and toss and turn."
God, he couldn't understand how it had come to this - or what to do now.!
"When it comes to pain, it's plain to see I've got a lot to learn."
                                ************************************************
Gillian put the final item in her suitcase and locked it.

"So, make me understand why I still need you so.
And, tell me how to let you go.
Tell me something I don't know."

She picked up her suitcase and wearily took one last look around the room.  Then, silently closed the door.
                                  ***********************************************
Ryan didn't know just how, or when, his life had tailspined out of control.  He only knew the time had come to stop it.

Link to Chapter 4 - 7


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