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Eve hummed a tune as she reached for the time-out sheet. Since she had just finished up with her last patient for the day and was on her way out of the hospital she let out a tiny smile before setting the sign out sheet aside thinking of the upcoming Halloween party. She headed towards the elevator ready to go home and relax a bit when she ran into Chris. "Lock anyone else in a closet lately?" Chris asked stepping off the elevator and catching sight of Eve. "Not unless they deserved it and believe me, if I would've had it my way you would've stayed in there until I was able to change your mind," Eve shot back at him. "I still can't believe you wouldn't listen to me Chris. I know you think you know what you've gotten yourself into, but you don't." "Eve, is it really so hard for you to believe that people can change?" "When it comes to Julie Devlin....YES!" Eve replied in astonishment. "Chris, the woman bricked me up in a wall and left me to die. I don't care how much you want to believe she's changed, she's dangerous Chris and the last thing I want is to see you end up getting hurt when she decides to snap and she will Chris." "She wasn't under her own power then, Eve. Cooper was controlling her," he sighed in frustration, "In case you haven't noticed, I love Julie. You could at least support me, but you didn't. All you could do was judge. Where were you when I needed your friendship? After all the times I've been there for you, you couldn't find it in yourself to stand up with me." "Chris, I was trying to be your friend. Don't you see that I was trying to keep you from making the worst mistake of your life?" she questioned reaching out to him. "Chris, I don't want you see you mess up your life because of whatever it is you and Julie have been plotting. You know me well enough to know that if I honestly believed that you were doing what you felt was right that I'd stand behind you one hundred percent, but Chris I know you better than this. I know that there's something else going on and while I can't put my finger on it, something's wrong and I'm worried about you." "Don't worry about me, Eve. For once in my life, I'm actually allowing the woman I love to know how I feel about her. Yes, I'll admit that this all started with ideas of inflating my bank account, and it became about loving with my heart, Eve. I genuinely care for Julie, and nothing you say or do can change that." "So I'm just supposed to believe that you, Chris
Ramsey have fallen head over heels for psycho-Julie?" she questioned in
astonishment shaking her head. "I'm sorry Chris, but I just don't
buy it. If you expect me to believe that you're in love with Julie,
well it's not going to happen. And as for worrying about you, well,
if you want me to stop, then I will," she stood taller feeling her
face flushed. "I won't bother you anymore Chris Ramsey if that's
what you really want. We can go on pretending that we weren't friends
and then you and Julie can live happily ever after without worrying about
little old me interfering."
"Fine, then that's the way it has to be. Have a nice life, Lambert," Chris said in frustration as he walked away from her towards the on-call room. Eve watched him walk down the hall feeling her face grow hot with anger. How dare he walk away from her like that without even giving it a second thought. Clenching her fists she stepped away from the elevator and followed him into the on call room. "So that's it, huh?" she questioned with a hostile tone. "After all this time, it comes down to this? You know Chris of all the people I've met in Port Charles, I never anticipated that you'd be one to walk away from our friendship like this. It turns into gee thanks Eve it's been great, but since you don't agree with me then forget you?" "Walk away? I walked away? No, Eve, you did that just fine when you locked me in the closet. How could you do that to me? How could you ruin what was supposed to be one of the happiest days in my life? Is that your idea of friendship? What would you have done if I had turned my back on you that way? Locked you away from Kevin? Would you have said Gees thanks for screwing up my life Chris? No! You would be mad as hell, much like I continue to be with you." "Chris, you're not being fair. It's not the same type of situation. Kevin and I didn't decide to take the plunge and get married after he had a psychotic breakdown and tried killing me." Eve replied trying to rationalize things no matter how poor of an excuse it was. "Chris, all this time I've known you hooking up with a serial murderer just didn't seem like the thing for you to do. You and I both thought Julie was crazy and then all of a sudden she's the love of your life. I just don't get it Chris, but I really want to understand," she sighed after a moment. "Chris, I honestly want you to be happy, but not with Julie?" "So you want me to be happy? Really, Eve?
I find that very hard to believe. And falling in love with Julie
didn't happen completely out of the blue. If you'll remember we went
out before she and Frank got together. If you'll also remember, I
was visiting Julie at Ferncliff for months. You couldn't find it
in your heart just once to believe in me, could you? I really thought
you were different Eve. I thought you were the one person in
"Chris, you know that's not true. What we had together was different," Eve replied lowering her voice a bit. "I'm not judging you. I'm just concerned about you. I wish you could just see that," she could feel herself getting choked up despite the fact she'd promised herself that she wouldn't lose control of her emotions as she did the other night with Kevin. "Chris, I just don't want to see you get hurt. Why can't you believe that?" "Because you're not listening to me, Eve. You're not listening no matter how many times I tell you that I love Julie and I mean it. You keep overlooking what I'm feeling. You should have thought of how hurt I would be when you locked me in the closet." "Fine Chris," Eve replied in defeat trying not to cry as she moved towards the doorway to leave realizing that this was too much for her to deal with right now, "I'm sorry. I truly am and I won't bother you about this again." Chris took a deep breath and couldn't look at her. He turned his back to her and closed his eyes. He heard her start to open the door when he spoke, "Eve, for what it's worth, you were always the person I counted on in my life. You were my rock." "And even though I couldn't admit it, you were mine Ramsey," she replied wiping a tear from her cheek feeling a lump in her throat as she stepped out into the hallway afraid of what would happen if she didn't leave. She knew she'd fall apart and she promised myself she wouldn't do that. Chris sank onto the sofa and rubbed his eyes as he let out a pained breath. He had lost his one true friend. The only person who'd ever cared about him. He closed his eyes and wondered if everything he was doing was truly worth it. Eve was halfway down the hall thinking about what
had just taken place between Chris and her as tears flooded down her face.
Her hands were shaking and she could feel everyone's eyes upon her as she
pressed the button to the elevator. She looked back at the
on call room thinking about everything they had been through over the years
and
"Chris, I'm sorry," Eve spoke up tearfully. "I'm so sorry." Chris looked at her and saw her tear stained face, her wet lashes, those beautiful brown eyes slightly reddened by her tears. He leaned forward and took her hands in his, holding her and drawing her near to him. He reached out to wipe tears from her cheeks before cupping her face in his hands, "I shouldn't have said the things I said, Eve. I'm sorry. You were just trying to be a friend to me." "No, you're right. I was being selfish and thinking about what I felt was best for you in the long run," she replied with a sniffle looking back at him. "I should've been more considerate of your needs and feelings instead of deciding what was right or wrong for you. I guess that I was just too blind to open my eyes and think about what is best for you, but when I locked you in that closet, I honestly never meant to push you away." "Eve, I only wanted you to believe in me and my ability to honestly decide something from my heart. I have a bad habit of loving people and never telling them. I don't want to make the same mistake with Julie." "Chris, I know you have a wonderful heart beneath that exterior of yours," she replied placing her hand on the center of his chest, "and that's why I'm worried about you. I've learned through observation that you're a wonderful, caring man and despite the fact you try so hard to convince the world otherwise, I know there's good in you. I know you're capable of making your own decisions, but I just don't want to see you get hurt in all of this since you deserve nothing but the best," she touched his face softly looking into his deep brown eyes as she finished feeling a tear roll down her cheek. "That's all I could ever wish for you." "If I truly deserved the best Eve, I would have been able to have you," Chris said then almost kicked himself for letting that one slip. He covered by smiling while wiping her tears, "I mean look at you, on your knees here in front of me. What more could a guy ask for?" "You're terrible, you know that?" she questioned with a smile thinking about what he'd just said as she swatted him lightly. "Just when I think I've tapped into that emotional side of Chris Ramsey, you come up with something like that. What am I going to do with you?" He smiled, "Love me anyway. You always have. Admit it, Lambert. Your life would be completely miserable without me." "It would be a lot less chaotic is I wasn't worrying
about you so much," Eve began softly meeting his gaze, "but you're right.
I would be completely miserable without you in my life and thinking that
I'd lost you, well it did something to me Chris," she paused for
a moment feeling herself choked up on emotion once more. "Don't you
dare laugh at me
"Laugh at you? Never," Chris said softly, wiping the remainder of her tears away, "You're never going to have to worry about losing me, Eve. I'd never let you be very far from me. I don't think I could live without being able to hear your voice telling me just how crazy I am or that pointed look you give me when you think I'm up to something," he grinned, "Or that beautiful smile when you're genuinely happy." Eve cracked a smile at him before nudging him once more. "Hey, don't let it get to your head, but I'll admit that I don't know what I'd do without martini nights and you allowing me to vent about everything that's going wrong in my life no matter how tedious it may seem to you at the time. Somehow you always know the right thing to say to me Chris and I know that at times I seem to under appreciate you, but I honestly don't. You mean a lot to me," Eve explained leaning forward and kissing him on the cheek before whispering in his ear. "You always will." Chris smiled having her this close to him. It was hard. Too hard. Here was the woman of his dreams, the one woman that he actually wanted and he would never be able to have her. Chris took in a breath and smiled as he looked into her eyes, "Same here." "That means a lot to me Chris," Eve replied returning the smile grateful that she hadn't left moments earlier when she'd been hurting before. Eve noticed something in his face though as she looked at him and her smile faded. "Chris...what is it?" He saw her smile fade and tried to hide the regret he was feeling, "Nothing." "Yeah right." Eve replied disbelieving him as she looked him over. "Here we go again. Once again you want me to believe that everything is just perfect in Ramsey world when in reality there's this little monster just eating away at your insides like the ones in that Zombie Killers game we have at our place...." she stopped herself realizing what she'd said and corrected herself. "....your place." "You're right. There is a little demon that I have, but there's nothing that anyone can do about it. I just have to let it stay caged up like the wild animal that it is," he said breaking eye contact with her, "There's nothing that can be done to fix what's wrong with me, Eve." "There's nothing wrong with you Chris, well, other
than the fact you're involved with a serial killer," she replied with a
light chuckle seeing the sadness creep over his features as she inched
in towards him. "Of course you are wrong about there not being any
cure for what you have. The way I see it, there is a way to exorcise
the demon in you. Tickle
Chris laughed as she played her game with him. She knew just how to get him out of his own self-pity, but the cure was part of the disease in this case. He laughed heartily as he trapped her hands with his and looked into her eyes, "Okay, point made. Can I surrender now?" "Surrender now?" she questioned with wide eyes looking back at him as she nodded at him holding her hands. Eve moved in closer to him and spoke softly. "Chris, why would you want to surrender now when you have the upper hand with so much to gain?" "Because sometimes, Eve, it causes everyone less pain to surrender than it would be to win everything." "Maybe you're right, but in surrender, you never know what could've been had you given it the extra pull," Eve replied after a moment taking note of their closeness as she pulled back a bit with a smile. "I guess if you want to, it's okay to surrender this time and admit that I'm the champion once again." "And give you an inflated ego?" Chris asked with a smile, "I don't know if that's such a good idea or not." "Oh come on Chris. I know you're just dying to tell me how great I am,” Eve smirked tapping her hand on his leg. "Well, I'm waiting." "You are great," he said with a sad smile, "More than I could ever put into words." "Hey, I didn't realize it would be like pulling teeth with you." Eve replied seeing that dark cloud cast over his face once more not really clear why. "You know Chris if I would've known this would be so hard for you, I would've let you win that round." "Eve," he said taking a deep breath and swallowing hard, "I think that maybe there's something we should talk about. It's something that I've wanted to say," I paused, "Needed to say for a long time. I just don't think they'll ever be a right place or time for me to say it." "Shh.....Chris if this is about Julie, then I understand," she began looking up at him. "I realize that I've kind of pushed my way into your life and wanted to oversee everything you do, but if this is really what you want, I won't try to dissuade you no matter how badly I want to." "This isn't about Julie," he answered taking her hand in his as he looked into her beautiful brown eyes, "It's about the two of us." "The two of us?" she repeated looking back at him feeling a dryness in her throat as she eyed him closely. "What about us?" Chris suddenly lost all his courage. How was he going to tell her this? This was one for the record books. Me, Chris Ramsey, actually speechless. Looking at her, she seemed to be nervous about what he might have to say. Somehow he felt like he was looking at a reflection of himself. He was just as nervous about saying this as she must be to hear what he had to say. "Eve, we've been good friends for a long time now," he started, stating the obvious, but knowing no other way to segway into what he really wanted to say, "We've done our fair share of flirting with one another. But somewhere along the way, Eve, it ceased to be a simple friendship for me. I can't explain it, because this is the first time in my life I've felt this way about anyone. I guess what I'm trying to say is," he paused, steeling himself for her reaction to what he had to say next, "Eve, I'm in love with you." "You're in love with me?" she repeated feeling
the color drain from her face as he said the words. She almost fell
back after hearing him say that as she looked back at him waiting for him
to come in with the traditional ‘sure I'm in love with you and half the
rest of the
"You're in love with me?" Eve repeated again still not sure if this was another one of his games as her own thoughts ran wild in her head. "Chris I swear if this is just your way of saying Gotcha Eve, then that's a pretty big way to try to be one up on me and right now the last thing I want to hear you say is that you're playing around with me again for some kind of reaction..." "This is going to sound ironic coming from me. But it's the honest truth. I'm in love with you Eve, head over heels. I have been for a long time. I've been afraid of telling you, afraid that you would run from me and never want to be near me again. I'm terrified of losing you." "You're in love with me but you marry Julie Devlin? What were you thinking you moron?" she questioned feeling her heart pounding in her chest as she looked at him. "Chris, why on earth did you let me go if you loved me? I know you say you were terrified of losing me, but letting me move in with Kevin, isn't that close to losing me?" she took in a breath looking down for a moment. "I specifically asked you if you were in love with me and you said no....well, no, you didn't say that, but you gave your usual response and now you're telling me this. What right do you have to do this now?" Eve looked up at him once more feeling her fists tighten. "Chris, you picked a horrible time to tell me that you're in love with me and right now I have to tell you that I'm furious...beyond furious. You shouldn't have said this now like this.....it just shouldn't be.....damn you." She began unable to complete her thoughts as she stood up and began pacing the room. Her heart was pounding wildly in her throat as she turned to face him. Without a word she approached him overcome with the urge to smack him for keeping her in the dark for so long about his feelings when she did the least likely thing grabbing his collar on his shirt and pulling him to her planting a fierce kiss on his lips. Chris had watched her pace, get very mad and just
knew that he had done it. She would be gone in a matter of minutes.
Never did he expect her to get mad and then plant one on him. He
had expected her to walk out the door and never come back, but here she
was kissing him. He held her to him, returning her fierce kiss before
pulling her away from his lips as they were both breathless,
"Well that's a stupid, stupid logic. Spending
your life with someone who wasn't the one," Eve replied thinking about
her own situation with Kevin and how their relationship had started.
She grew silent for a moment not quite clear on what to say as tears filled
in her eyes. "And as for me making my own decisions, you're right.
I wouldn't have let you tell
"Yeah, well, it doesn't really matter in the grand
scheme of things, does it? I'm in love with you, you're in love with
another man, and I'm still left on the outside looking in. I just
couldn't let this chance pass me by again, Eve. There were times
I could have told you, but it would have only complicated things.
When you walked out that door a few minutes ago, I thought the good part
of my life was over. If you're not in my life, Eve, I
"Chris, I can't just go back home to Kevin now and act as if this hasn't happened. I can't pretend that all of this isn't effecting me and just let you sit back and marry Julie just because you don't want to be alone." she paused not sure if she was thinking clearly at this point in time. "Chris, you're right, the timing stinks, but maybe this is the way it was supposed to be. Even after everything that's happened, we can't just leave it at this." "No we can't, but we really don't have a lot of options at our disposal, do we?" he took a deep breath, "Eve, I don't know where to go from here. I love you and nothing in the world can change that. Lord knows I've tried." "And I've tried not to let myself get attached
to you, but with your wedding around the corner, something happened to
me...even Kevin has seen it," she replied softly turning away for a moment.
"Chris, I don't know what we're going to do, but I can't bear the thought
of putting this behind us and to be honest with you, I know it's selfish
but I don't
"You feel something when you're with me?" he asked confused, "Eve, what are you trying to say to me?" "How could I not Chris?" she questioned with a soft laugh closing her eyes. "No one else seems to read me better than you do. When I'm at my lowest, you're always the one to pull me back to myself again. You always know how to make me smile and look at life without having such a hard attitude about things. Granted I'm not very good at expressing my emotions, but there's something there...something very special." she paused a moment thinking about Kevin. "Sure Kevin and I look like the picture perfect duo and he's wonderful, but honestly, if there wasn't the sex, I don't think we would've lasted this long. I'm sure that's the last thing you wanted to hear right now." "Ewww, gross me out," he said teasing, before touching her cheek, "Eve, I agree that we have something special between us. I've always thought that. I fell in love with you because you're a beautiful, sexy, intelligent, funny, wonderful woman that deserves to have the best things in life. That's all I've ever wanted for you. For you to be happy," he whispered, looking at her lips. He lowered his lips to hers, kissing her tenderly. Eve responded to his kiss wrapping her arms around his neck thinking about everything that had transpired between them. She wasn't sure what was going to happen, but she knew this felt so right. Pulling back from the kiss, she looked into his brown eyes. "I guess we need to think about what happens now." she said breathlessly looking around the on call room thankful no one had decided to drop in on them. "Yeah, I suppose we do. That's a hard decision to make." "Especially since you've committed yourself to a serial murderer," she pointed out seriously looking back at him. "She's not going to take it too lightly that her husband has the hots for her worst enemy you know." "Yeah, well, what's she going to do us from Ferncliff?" "Well, I wouldn't put anything past herm" Eve replied seriously thinking about how Julie nearly killed me in the past. "Chris, this is not something to be taken lightly." "I know. I know. I just don't know where to go from here. We both have other attachments." "Yeah, so the best thing would be to walk away right now, but at the same time, that would be the worst thing too." Eve replied looking up at him. "So what now?" "That's a very good question. I don't want to lose you Eve. I couldn't live without you in my life." "You won't have to worry about that Chris," she replied trying to reassure him as she started thinking things over. "Before we make any decisions, I need to know, are you sure about the way you feel for me?" "I'm positive, Eve," he answered as his phone rang. He looked at Eve for a moment, before taking a deep breath and answered his phone. He heard Julie's voice and he sighed before answering, "Hi Julie, is everything okay?" Eve watched Chris on the phone with Julie suddenly struck with a slight feeling of jealousy as her phone rang. Stepping aside so not to interfere with his conversation she answered the phone."Hello," Ryan hated playing Kevin, but it did have it's advantages. Eve Lambert as advantage number one. She was a thing of beauty and he had gone above even his own expectations. He dialed her cell phone and waited for her answer. "Eve, it's Kevin. What time will you be home?" "Actually I'm running a little behind here at the hospital, so I don't know exactly when I'll be there." Eve answered looking over at Chris. “Now just hold on a second Julie. What’s going on?” Chris asked turning his eyes away from Eve. "No. Dr Locke said she'd be here and hour ago and she's not..." "Do you want me to call her or would you rather I came out there?" "I already tried to call her..." Julie lied, "can you please come out here? At least until she comes anyways." “Eve? Are you there?” Ryan’s voice cut through as Eve looked away from Chris. “Yeah, I’m right here,” she replied trying to focus on ‘Kevin’. "I just wanted to be sure that you were okay," Ryan said looking at a copy of General Homicide and smiling brightly, thinking of the irony of the book and his brother, "Call me if you're going to be very late. I don't want to worry about you. You mean too much to me, Eve." "I know Kevin. You mean a lot to me too." Eve replied softly feeling a bit guilty about her feelings for Chris since Kevin had always been so good to her. She tried not to think about it as she spoke up again. "I shouldn't be too late." "I'll see you then, Eve," Ryan said before hanging up the phone. “Please just hurry Chris,” Julie urged again as he looked over to Eve. "Sure,” Chris sighed, “I'll be there in just a bit. Hold tight, okay?” "Okay. Thank you Chris." Julie said, hanging up the phone. Chris hung up his phone and looked over to Eve
who was just ending her phone
"Yeah I figured." Eve said softly looking at him for a moment. "That was Kevin wondering when I'd be coming home." "This is going to be difficult for us, isn't it?" "Yeah I think so." Eve replied with a nod. "This is starting to feel like I'm involved in an affair all over again, but somehow this is different....right?" "I sincerely hope so.“ Chris sighed, “I
don't want this hurt you, but somehow I know that
"So is this the part where we go back to things being like they were before? You with Julie and me with Kevin?" Eve asked suddenly terrified of letting him walk away. "Somehow I don't think things will ever be the way they were before." "I don't think so either Chris and right now I have to admit going home to Kevin seems like it's going to be the hardest thing I've done in a while." Eve forced a smile. "I never thought I'd say something like that." "To be quite honest, this is the first time in months that I haven't wanted to go see Julie," he sighed, "I think I was beginning to fall in love with her." "Really?" she replied a bit surprise. "You and Julie in love huh?" Eve laughed lightly. "And to think I'm the one to screw that one up, but since we're on honesty here, I'd thought about a future with Kevin." "Where do we go from here? I can't imagine going back to Julie and looking at her, knowing that I've told you exactly how I feel." "And I can't imagine going back to Kevin and making love to him knowing that it's you that I want to be with." she replied honestly unable to believe that after all this time she'd let what she'd been keeping inside come up to the surface. "I don't think I can fake it once I leave here Chris." "I don't think I can either. What do we do, Eve?" "I don't know Chris." she replied after a moment of silence. "I need to tell Kevin the truth. I'm not going to be able to hold this in any longer although I'm sure he's had his suspicions for a while now. In fact, he's the one who brought up the fact that you might have feelings for me." "Saw right through me, huh?" he asked with a smile, "It figures. He always had a way of ruining things for me." "Not everything though." Eve replied touching his face softly before moving in to kiss him. "Not everything," Chris said softly, returning her kiss, "I love you, Eve. I always have." "I love you too Chris even if I was too stubborn to admit it before." she replied with a trace of sadness wishing she hadn't let things get to this point before finally admitting the truth to herself. He touched her cheek gently, looking eye to eye, "We'll get throughout his somehow, Eve. We'll figure out how to work this out." "I truly hope so." she replied feeling chills down her spine at the mere touch of his finger tips and the look in his eyes as he gazed back at her. "I don't want to lose you." "You're not going to. You never have to worry about losing me, Eve." "I hope not because I'd hate to have Julie murder you once she finds out about this." she replied lightly with a soft grin. "I suppose that really isn't too funny now is it?" "Ironic, but not what I would consider funny. She's really not so bad, Eve. I honestly believe she's different now." "Chris anyone who would hold me at gun point is nothing short of a lunatic." she explained seriously. "She left me to die Chris and I can assure you that despite her claim that this was all Cooper, I won't forget what she did." she paused realizing she didn't want to argue about this. "Look Chris, I'm not telling you what to believe, but a serial killer is a serial killer and if the roles were reversed and you knew I was getting myself involved with someone dangerous, I know you'd be saying the same thing." "I would, but no one seems to listen to me when I tell them what I believe or what I don't," he said getting up and walking across the room, "She's not the same woman, Eve. She's different. She has a heart." "Yeah I'm sure she has a real heart of gold Chris." she replied watching him for a moment. "You're really in love with her, aren't you?" Chris couldn't bring himself to look at her. How had he done this? How had he fallen in love with two women who couldn't be more different? He nodded, "I really am. I don't know how it happened, Eve. But I do care about her." "Yeah well, then maybe it's better if you and I forget about what just happened between us." she said stiffening up realizing that this wasn't what she was expecting. "Look, I'll just head on back to the lighthouse and we can just pretend that this..." she nodded at him, ".....well, you can go on with Julie doing God knows what and everyone lives happily ever after..." "Eve, wait," he said desperately, not even sure
about what he was feeling, "I can't forget about what happened even if
I really wanted to, it would be impossible. I love you. I do.
I know that sounds like a complete contradiction of the fact that I care
for Julie, but it's the truth. I don't know where to go from here.
I can't go back pretending that I don't
"Chris....." Eve started unclear on what to say. "Chris all my life love has been this thing that has been so far out of reach for me and every time I fall something happens. For so long I thought Kevin was the one, but now after tonight....." she reached out to him. "Chris, I don't want to forget this either because what I'm feeling for you can't be ignored any longer...I guess what I'm trying to say is that I know what I want, but with Kevin and Julie, I have no idea how I'm going to get it and that terrifies me." "It scares me too, Eve. How can we go on this way? There are so many complications that it's impossible to count them all. I just don't understand how we're going to go about getting around it. I love you Eve and I refuse to let that slip through my fingers. I wasted so much time not telling you how I felt about you, and now that I have, I can't waste anymore." "Then what if we resolve to meet later tonight and figure out a way to make this work." she suggested hopefully. She began touching his face after a moment running her finger across his smooth skin. "I'm sure if we put our heads together we can come up with something..." "I'm sure we can," he whispered, kissing her tenderly. "We'll meet later tonight and talk about this." "All right," she nodded after they’d parted. "I suppose this is where you go to Ferncliff and do you routine visit with Julie and I go home to see Kevin." "It all sounds so simple, doesn't it? But it's not going to be anywhere close to easy, is it?" "It's probably going to be one of the hardest
things we're going to have to do. Just the thought of going home
to Kevin now like this.....gosh, I don't know how I'm going to be able
to look him in the eye and tell him the truth, but I don't want to keep
this from him
"I wish I hadn't wasted so much time. I
should have told you so long ago, Eve. I should never have let you
leave the apartment and I should have tried to convince you to love me
instead," he sighed, holding her in his arms, feeling as if this
is where they both belonged, "Too bad that we can't go back and change
things. I would have done a lot of things differently." he
closed his eyes thinking of Julie for a moment, "And the biggest thing
I would have done differently is I would have stayed away from Julie.
I wouldn't have myself tied up in knots this way." he kissed her forehead
and looked into Eve's eyes,
"All right," he nodded looking up at him, "tonight
it is. We can meet somewhere private so that we can be alone together...."
she paused feeling as if something more should be said. "Chris before
you leave, I just want you to know that I'm sorry...sorry for being so
"Eve," he spoke softly, reaching out to touch her cheek gently, "Don't ever be sorry. I should have been more outspoken about my feelings. I have no one to blame but myself for all the wasted time." "I just wish I wouldn't have been too dense to pick up on the signs." she admitted softly looking back at him. "This is probably going to sound strange coming out of my mouth, but I love you and I'm not just saying that because of what just happened. I really mean it Chris." He kissed her lips gently, "I believe you Eve. I wanted to hear you say that for so long and I feel like I've been given a great gift today." "So do I. When I thought you'd walked out of my life because of what I did, it nearly drove me crazy. I couldn't bear to lose you." she explained still feeling traces of him lingering on her lips after our kiss. "I just hope this doesn't end up blowing up in our faces once the truth is out." "Wasn't it you that told me to tell the truth once?" "Yeah well honesty hasn't exactly been our strongest virtue now has it?" she questioned thinking about how long it took for them to reach this point. "I know I have to tell Kevin the truth and I intend on doing that as soon as I leave here. It's just that he's been so good to me and he's not going to be expecting this. I don't know how he's going to react. Oh who am I kidding? He'll probably be hurt for a while then go running back to Lucy." Chris frowned, "I don't know how I'm going to tell Julie. She's come so far and she depends on me so much. I'm afraid of what this will do to her, but I won't let go of this. I love you too much." "I don't want her to hurt you Chris, but I suppose
that as long as she's in Ferncliff, we're okay for the time being." she
replied seeing the look in his eyes. "Listen I don't know what was
going on with you and Julie and I'm almost afraid to know, but whatever
it
"Together," he smiled, "That sounds like a dream come true, Eve. It's a wonderful dream to even imagine that we have a future together. It's all I've wanted for so long. And here it is, right before me." "Soon we'll both have everything we ever hoped for Chris." she assured him softly leaning in to kiss him again. "I know that everything is going to work out." "It will," Chris said softly, "It has to." "Well I suppose this is the part where you leave before Julie gets suspicious and Kevin starts to think something happened to me." she spoke up hating this completely. "I suppose so. We don't have much of a choice at this point, do we?" she asked rhetorically, "Call me later so we can talk," he said before reluctantly letting her go and walking out the door.
Chris drove out to Ferncliff and went to the visitor's room to wait for Julie. He entered the room to find Rachel and Julie sitting down. "What took you so long?" Julie asked, hurt. Chris walked over to her and sat beside her, kissing her on the forehead as he took his seat, "I'm sorry. I got tied up at work and couldn't get away," he lied then flashed her his best smile, "Forgive me?" "We were almost afraid we'd have to start the celebration without you." Rachel explained softly smiling at the both of them. "Celebration?" Chris asked looking at Rachel. "That's right. As of five tonight all your wishes will finally be coming true." Rachel explained with a smile. "You mean Julie's being released?" Chris asked with a smile. "Yes." Julie replied "I'm sorry...I couldn't wait any longer, so I asked her to tell me." "That's great," Chris said with a big smile, "I'm just glad that this nightmare is almost over." "I really can't believe it...in a few short hours I'll be free!," Julie said, turning to give him a hug. "Free," Chris repeated holding her. It was at that moment that his meeting with Eve came to mind. How was he going to deal with this? It all seemed simple with Julie confined to Ferncliff, but she would be free soon. What would they do then? He hugged Julie and smiled when they parted, "Free to get your life back." "Among other things." Julie said thinking of Christina.
She would finally be able
"Maybe we should take a trip to where dreams begin," Chris said with a smile thinking of the castle and Christina's birth. It would be very important to get Julie reunited with her daughter. "To a castle far away?" Julie asked, smiling. "So the beautiful princess and her knight in shining armor can live happily ever after," Chris said, with no idea how he was going to break her heart and not really knowing if he could. Julie smiled. "So what were you really doing that made you so late?" she teased "Oh my, you don't have any trust in me?" Chris
asked with a skeptical grin, "Would
"I don't know...why don't you tell me." Julie replied, just as skeptical as his grin "You should know the answer to that." Chris replied,
trying to keep from actually
"Fine...don't tell me." Julie said, getting up
from her chair and walking towards
"Okay, fine, I'll tell you but you're not going to like it. I was talking with Eve." "Eve!?!" she said, louder than she had expected.
"What was so important that you
"I couldn't pass by the opportunity to goad her about locking me in the closet. And then we got into a conversation about our marriage. I was trying to explain my feelings to her." "Well did you convince her?" Julie asked, blindly
knowing he would never convince
"Yeah, I think I did," he said looking away for a moment. "How? I would never in a million years think you
could convince Eve." she said,
"It took a little convincing, but she believes me now." "So she's going to leave you alone?" Julie asked, hopeful. "I've made my point very clear to her," Chris explained tightly thinking about his moment with Eve. “Did you now?” Julie asked raising a skeptical brow. “Would I lie to you?” He questioned as she searched his eyes and he prayed that she couldn’t see the truth. “I’m not sure Chris,” Julie paused, “Do you really expect me to believe that?”
Eve left the hospital and drove back to the lighthouse thinking about Chris. She dreaded talking to Kevin, but she knew this would need to get out sooner or later. She entered the lighthouse and set her purse down. "Kevin, I'm home." "Eve, I was beginning to get worried. What
happened?" he asked walking over to
"I was busy at work and ran a little behind." she began knowing that this was not going to be easy. "Listen Kevin, why don't we take a seat so that we can talk for a while?" "Why do I have the feeling that this isn't a talk about something cheery?" "Kevin, I've been thinking lately," she began leading him over to the couch and taking his hand in hers, "things have been kind of stressful for all of us lately and well I've had a lot on my mind, but tonight I think I finally figured things out. I know this is probably not going to make any sense to you, but I ran into Chris and we had a talk about my locking him in that closet..." "Don't tell me that he convinced you that he's honestly in love with Julie. I know Chris is smooth, but I thought you could always see through him." "I can see through him and we were indeed right Kevin. While he cares deeply about Julie, he's not in love with her." she replied softly looking away. "I figured as much. So what lame excuse did he come up with this time?" he asked with a sarcastic tone, "Don't tell me it was the town pariah thing again." "No it was nothing like that Kevin. It was more like Chris was honest with me about a few things that he hadn't been honest with me about before." she explained looking up at him. "I know you don't believe it Kevin, but deep down Chris has a heart and he's truly a wonderful guy once you get past the rough exterior. Sure he isn't the model citizen around here, but he's never let me down and he's the one person who really sees me for me." "Why does it worry me that you're actually extolling the virtues of Chris Ramsey? I mean I know that he's your friend, but you've always been one to know that he's not exactly the good guy." "I know he's done some horrible things in the past Kevin, but one thing that's always been constant is what Chris and I have with one another. I don't really know how to explain it, but there's always been this connection and he knows me unlike anyone ever has." she stopped herself seeing the confusion in his face. "Kevin you and I have something special too, but when you think back to how this all started, we were just two people trying to mend our broken hearts because our ex-lovers ended up in bed together." "And you're saying that there's nothing more between us? Is that what you're trying get at here, Eve? If so, I'm going to go ask Chris what he used to brainwash you." "Kevin we've helped each other through some very rough times and I'll always love you in a way, but you can't honestly sit here and look me in the eye telling me that you don't still love Lucy." she began realizing this was starting to sound like a cop out. "And Kevin I can't sit here and lie to you about what I'm feeling right now. I owe you that much and honestly I don't know how or why it happened, but I think that somewhere along the line I fell in love with Chris and it took him trying to marry Julie for me to realize that. I don't blame you if you hate me, but I couldn't keep this from you." "In love with Chris Ramsey?" Ryan asked feeling
his anger boiling beneath the surface, but trying to stay focused, "Do
you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds? And you more than anyone
should know that things are over between Lucy and myself. Over, done
with, finished, Eve."
"Kevin I'm sorry and believe me I know how crazy
this sounds and if you would've told me a week ago that I'd be having all
of these feelings inside of me about Chris, I'd ask you what you were on,
but tonight when he and I had a chance to talk things through....really
"Are you sure about this? Are you sure you're not just fishing for a better way to keep Chris away from Julie? I mean, if that's the case, just tell me and we'll work on a way for this to work. Not that I think it will because Chris wants Julie's money. I can understand if you're confused. We've all been through a lot in the past few months and you just said yourself that you weren't feeling this way a week ago. What changed between then and now?" "It's hard to explain, but when I thought that I could lose Chris, that's when it hit me Kevin." she explained tearfully. "He and I have gone through a lot together over the past couple of years and for so long I didn't read the signs that were there right before my eyes and tonight when he...." she stopped herself thinking about the words exchanged and their kisses. She turned to ‘Kevin‘. "Kevin, I care about you too, but I'm just afraid we started this for the wrong reasons. I mean think about this...we started sleeping with one another to get over Scott and Lucy and every time something came up rather than really talking about it we somehow ended up in bed together. That's been our solution to everything lately." "Eve, you can't possibly love Chris," he said getting up and pacing for a moment, "It absolutely cannot happen." "Kevin I'm sorry, but you know maybe in the long run this is better for both of us this way. I mean it's better that this came out now than ten years down the road when so much more was at stake." she explained following him with her eyes. "We just weren't meant to be I suppose..." "Yes we were!" he said going over to her and grabbing her by the arms, "Yes we were meant to be together and no peon like Chris Ramsey is going to get in the way of that," he said pressing his lips to hers fiercely. "Kevin, don't." she started pulling away from the kiss in shock never seeing this side of him before as he held onto he arms tightly. "Kevin, you're hurting me." "You're not leaving me, Eve. No one leaves me!" he shouted.
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