When it was ready, it was a thing of beauty. To be standing in the outfield on a warm summer day, and to reach up and catch the ball, to feel it fall right into the pocket, well, there was only one way to describe it. Satisfaction.

He held that old battered glove in his hands, turning it over and over. If only things were that simple now. Sly put the glove down, and then checked the clock. Emily should be there any minute.

After much discussion last night, they had both decided that their families should know what was going on. They decided to start with his aunt first, since that might be a little easier. He knew Jenny had a temper, but she would not reject them. At least he hoped so.

There was a knock at the door. He opened it to find Emily wrapped in a large coat. "Let me in, it's freezing out here," she said as Sly stepped aside.

"Hi," Sly said softly.

"Hi," Emily said, looking around. "So this is your apartment?"

"It's not much. I still have to go downstairs to use the kitchen, but at least it's separate from the rest of the house."

Emily smiled. "I never knew you owned so many guitars."

He smiled shyly. "Oh, that's a passion. But really, any guitar player usually owns more than one if possible."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You might have several acoustics, and some electrics. Each guitar has its own sound. Some have thinner necks, the frets might be close or farther away, and some have different action…" Sly stopped when he noticed Emily's puzzled look. "And I just completely confused you."

She smiled. "Don't worry about it. It's nice to see your enthusiasm."

Sly sighed. "How are you?"

Emily walked to the window. "Really nervous. How are we going to do this, Sly?"

Sly moved to Emily, putting his hands on her shoulders. "We'll just tell the truth."

"And it shall set you free." Emily shook her head.

"How do I look?" Sly asked, holding out his arms, modeling a dark blue sweater and a pair of dark slacks.

"Much better than yesterday. This looks more like you. I still don't understand why you cut your hair, though."

Sly ran a hand over his head. "Ok, so maybe that was a little bit of a rash decision. I'll grow it back, at least a little."

"Ok, good." Emily paced a bit. "Are you ready? I want to do this as quickly as possible."

"Don't worry about my Aunt Jenny. She'll be alright."

"I hope so, Sly," Emily said, as they opened the door and exited the apartment.

*-*-*-*-*-*

Lucky awoke slowly. He was having an incredible dream, one he was reluctant to leave. In the dream, he and Elizabeth were together in New York City. They had a little apartment in the Village, and they were happy. It felt so good to be in her arms. That's where he was when he woke up.

He opened his eyes, unsure of what time it was. He scanned the walls for the window, only to find there wasn't one. Fear crept into his heart, arriving on the feet of swift horses. They had him again. They took him.

Lucky backed up against one of the walls, which was padded. That was strange. They had always kept him in rooms made up of cold concrete. Slowly, Lucky began to think more coherently. A padded room. He looked down and found himself wearing pajamas. Suddenly, the events of the previous day flooded back to him. They gave him a sedative. He was in the hospital. Oh, God, no. What I did to her…

Lucky's mind raced. There was no window. He couldn't see outside. He was trapped. There was a slit in the door. He had to get out of there. He began pounding on the door in the hopes that someone would hear him. He started to scream. "Let me out! Please let me out! Please."

*-*-*-*-*-*

Sly opened the kitchen door to find no one there. "Aunt Jenny?" he called. "Are you here?"

"I'm in the living room, Sly."

Sly took Emily by the hand, and then they went into the living room. Jenny sat at her computer. "I just finished up this page," she said, still looking at the monitor. "What's up?"

Sly cleared his throat, and Jenny looked up to see Emily standing next to Sly. "You remember Emily Quartermaine, right?"

"Of course I do. It's nice to see you again, Emily."

"You too, Mrs. Hornsby."

"Please, call me Jenny." She looked up at the two nervous teens. "What brings you by?"

Sly and Emily sat down on the couch. "There's something we wanted to talk to you about."

"Sure." She turned her chair away from the computer. "What's on your mind?"

Sly took Emily's hand into his. "Well, we have something to tell you." Emily could feel his hand shaking, so she squeezed it harder. "Emily and I, we became involved this summer."

"That's nice." Jenny had a feeling all wasn't what it seemed. "And?"

"And we like each other a lot…"

Emily couldn't stand it any longer. "And I'm pregnant."

"What?" Paul said suddenly as he walked through the door. Sly turned to look at him.

Jenny's face went pale. "Oh my God."

Emily's eyes were downcast. "We didn't mean for it to happen."

Jenny's expression softened. "Of course you didn't," she said with more than a hint of shock in her voice.

"How far along are you?" Paul asked.

"Well, by my count, just over a month," Emily whispered.

"What do you plan on doing about it?" Jenny asked slowly.

"We want to have the baby. After that, we're not sure," Sly said softly. He could not look Jenny or Paul in the eyes, so he stared at his hands.

"Sly, why don't you come and talk to me for a minute?" Paul asked, his anger evident.

Sly looked at Emily. "Will you be ok?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine. You go."

Sly got up and walked with Paul into the den, a feeling of dread settling over him.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Kevin was making his rounds in the psychiatric ward when a nurse came running up to him. "Dr. Collins, Lucky Spencer is quite agitated. I really think you should see him."

"Of course." He followed the nurse to Lucky's room, where he heard him pounding on the door, screaming. "Let me out!" he called.

Kevin opened the door, and Lucky nearly tackled him as he tried to run out. Kevin grabbed him as he tried to move past. "Lucky, what's wrong?"

"Don't keep me in there. Don't lock me up."

"It was only for your protection."

"They locked me up. I can't go back there."

Kevin knew this conversation didn't belong in a hospital hallway, so he quickly moved Lucky into the nearest empty room.

"No one's locking you up, Lucky," Kevin said after sitting him on the bed.

"The room didn't have windows. There were never windows in the rooms."

"In the compound?"

"Try compounds. They kept moving me around, but never during the day. I didn't see the sun for months."

"And the room didn't have windows, so that's why you were upset?"

Lucky sighed. "Partly. That was my most pressing worry. But that wasn't the only one."

"What was the other?" Kevin asked slowly.

"I remembered everything about yesterday."

"What do you remember?"

"What happened in Kelly's. I remember everything. I raped Elizabeth." Lucky whispered in shame.

Kevin looked Lucky right in the eyes. "No, Lucky. I don't think you did that at all."

*-*-*-*-*-*

Paul closed the door behind them. He took a deep breath before speaking. "What happened, Sly?"

"I think it's pretty easy to figure out what happened," Sly said quickly.

"Don't get smart with me." Sly looked away. "Don't you even think before you act?"

"Of course I do, Paul."

"Then how could you let this happen?"

Sly walked to the window. "We used protection. We were careful."

"Not careful enough." Paul sighed in frustration.

"What more could I do, Paul?"

"You could have not let a Quartermaine lead you around by the pants."

Sly turned around angrily. "You better watch what you're saying." Sly unconsciously reached up to run a hand through his hair, but there was nothing there, so he let his arm fall to his side. "We had sex one time. One time. That was it."

Paul took a slow, deep breath. "I had hoped you wouldn't repeat my mistakes." He walked over to Sly. "I had Susan when I was young. It was hard, Sly, very hard."

Sly squinted at Paul. "But do you regret it?"

"Not having her. But when, definitely."

"I don't know what I'm going to do," Sly said honestly. "We have to go face her family next, and I'll be lucky if I get out alive."

Paul walked over to Sly and put a tentative hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about the Quartermaines. I can take care of them if you need me to."

Sly's voice was soft. "I let you down. You must hate me right now."

Paul's face turned serious. "Hate you? Sly, I could never do that. Don't you know how much I care about you? I love you like you were my own."

Sly looked at Paul. "Thank you. I think I needed to hear that."

Paul smiled kindly. "We'll get through this, Sly, just like we always do."

Meanwhile out in the living room, Emily was sitting nervously across from Jenny. An awkward silence filled the air, until Jenny moved closer to Emily.

"How are you holding up?" Jenny asked.

"I don't know how I can even stand," Emily answered honestly.

Jenny sighed. "Emily, when I was sixteen, I was involved with a much older man. One thing led to another, and I got pregnant."

Emily observed the look of pain that crossed Jenny's face.

"I was scared, and I was alone. He wanted nothing to do with me. He was married, and he was a Senator, so I was just a potential scandal to him." She stopped. "Unfortunately, I had a miscarriage."

"I'm sorry," Emily said simply.

"Thank you. But I'm telling you this so you can know that I understand a little of what you are going through."

"That's good to know."

Jenny took Emily's hand. "Emily, I want you to know that we will support you in every way possible. I know Sly will keep up with his responsibility, but we will help anyway that we can." She saw Paul and Sly enter the room. "That means if you need a safe place to stay, or just someone to talk to, or whatever else."

"That goes for me, too," Paul said.

Emily looked at Sly, who appeared slightly calmer. "Thank you for that," she said.

"Yes. Me too," Sly said.

"Did you ever doubt it, Sly? You know how much we love you. You're family, and we take care of our own. And Emily, that now includes you, too."

Emily smiled gratefully. "Speaking of family, it's about time to go face mine."

Sly groaned inwardly. "Alright," he said. He knew this conversation would not go over as well with the Quartermaines.

"Hey, don't forget our motto," Paul said. "When in trouble…"

Sly and Jenny spoke at the same time. "Call for reinforcements."

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