Felicia just wanted to get in and get out. It was Saturday morning, yet a quick call to the house had confirmed from Melissa that Robert was at his office working on a case. She turned off the gas and climbed out of the car.

As she was halfway to the building, she realized that she had absent-mindedly left the paperwork in the car. Perhaps it was her subconscious telling her to go home. Yet she still retrieved the paperwork and returned to the building. The front door, of course, was locked, but Felicia still had a key. She removed it from her purse and quickly unlocked the door.

"Robert?" Felicia called out as she entered the office. "Are you here?"

There was a light coming from his office, along with the faint sound of voices, at the end of the long hallway. Felicia started down the hallway, in part hoping she was interrupting a business meeting.

The door to Robert's office was cracked open slightly. Felicia reached for the doorknob and turned — and what she found when she opened the door startled her. She dropped her purse and cried out in shock at the sight of her ex-husband perched over the couch, thrusting into a vaguely familiar Hispanic woman.

"Felicia!" Robert cried, stopping mid-thrust. "What the hell?!"

"Oh my God!" Gabrielle Sanchez attempted to duck behind the couch to avoid exposing herself any further.

"Robert...your wedding planner?" Felicia asked, laughing now that she recognized the woman. "That's tacky. Even for you."

"Felicia, what the hell are you doing here?" Robert demanded.

Felicia bent over to pick up her fallen purse and Alec's paperwork. She raised them into the air. "Here about Alec's tuition. I'll let you get dressed."

Felicia crossed her arms, unable to hide her smirk.

"Can you leave?"

"Oh no, not this time," Felicia said tersely. "I'm not getting hit by a car again."

"I can't do this..." Julia said softly. "I can't lie to them about Morris. His mother is a judge, she could find out that —"

Julia didn't have any longer to make a decision, however, as it was made for her when the front door opened. Julia found herself facing Kelli, Morris' sister. She could see that Kelli had been crying not only from the mascara running down the side of her face, but also the waded tissues in her left hand.

"Julia," Kelli said. "Can I do something for you?"

"I came here to talk to you about Morris," Julia replied.

"I know that you two used to date, but, um..."

"It's about his disappearance," Julia said.

"We already talked to Akilah," Kelli said. "She said there was something involving a drug deal, we've started to think the worst."

"But there's more," Julia replied. "I know the real reason Morris disappeared. He wasn't killed. He skipped town. I saw him."


MARQUETTE COVE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL

Aaron frowned and scribbled a note to himself on a post-it before making sure to place it next to his book for his next appointment, then he returned his attention to Melissa — one of his most frequent, pro-bono, patients.

"They're just nightmares, Mel," Aaron insisted, referring to Melissa's recent visions of Victor Lopez, a horrifying man from her past. "All brought on from that sick scheme Valerie cooked up last year."

"But that's just it," Melissa said. "I found out about Valerie's scheme a year ago. And for months before that I somehow thought Victor had come back from the grave to terrorize me, like it was some sort of cosmic payback for selling my body while I worked through grad school. But that all happened a year ago, Aaron. Why am I still having nightmares about Victor? Why?"

"Post-traumatic stress can —"

"Oh, don't give me that shit," Melissa snapped. "You're not going to be helpful at all, are you?"

"Sorry," Aaron apologized. "I'm just very busy. With work. I've been distracted."

"It's fine," Melissa said. "I need to get home, anyway, and relieve the babysitter."

"Okay," Aaron said. "Call me later?"

Melissa nodded as she headed for the door. Once she exited, Aaron furrowed his brow and stood up. He hated lying to Melissa, but he couldn't exactly blurt out the fact that Victor and Hugh had been instrumental in keeping a child away from her almost twenty years ago.

And he certainly couldn't explain that the child, Tyler, was now living with Hugh without any knowledge of Melissa even existing — at least, he couldn't explain that if he wanted to keep his own life.

It was selfish, true, but after twenty years, what did it even matter?

Aaron's thoughts were interrupted by his ringing office phone. He picked up the phone.

"Hello?" Aaron answered.

"It's me," Blake Thomas said on the other end. "Your cousin gone?"

"Yes," Aaron said, speaking low and seductively. "How about you get over here right now? I've been thinking of all the different ways to bang you in my office."

"Can't wait," Blake replied.

Aaron hung up his phone and grinned widely. This would at least be one way to forget about his issues with Melissa for an hour or so. Perhaps longer if he played his cards right.


BALE & MADDOCK LAW OFFICES

"She's gone," Robert said.

"You're disgusting," Felicia said. "You're absolutely...you're like a child, you know that?"

"Don't lecture me."

"You're cheating on your wife!" Felicia cried. "Again! Do you not see what's wrong with that?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Robert said. "What I do is none of your business."

"No, it's my business when my son has to find out that his father has ruined yet another marriage," Felicia insisted.

"I think you ruined ours first," Robert snapped. "You know, running around with Michael. With all of your dirty, incestuous thought."

"It's not even worth it to slap you," Felicia said coolly.

She tossed Alec's tuition papers onto his desk, and as he walked toward them, she slapped him while his guard was down.

"Actually, it sort of was," Felicia replied. "Don't let me catch you cheating on Melissa again. I don't want to get pulled into your shit orbit anymore. But either divorce her or stop cheating. Just stop being an asshole."

As Felicia strode out of the office, Robert flipped her off.

"Give me the finger all you want, asshole!" Felicia shot back from the hallway.


EMERALD SQUARE

"I'm not exactly sure why we're here," Karl said.

"Short answer — my uncle, Robert Bale, is a douchebag," Darren said. "And I hate him. Because he's a homophobic, adulterous bastard. So I'm going to take your case."

"You want to help us get custody from my ex-wife's parents?" James asked.

"Yes," Darren replied.

"But you're really only doing it to get revenge against your uncle?"

"I don't think you should underestimate the strength of revenge as a powerful motivator," Darren replied.

"No thanks —" Karl started to say, until James touched his shoulder.

"We can't get anyone else to help us," James reminded him.

"I know, but..."

"Think about it," Darren said. "And let me know. I'm very eager to give my uncle a heart attack."



HANLEY HOME

"I'll take care of them, Mr. Hanley," Leslie replied.

"I love it when you call me Mr. Hanley."

Leslie smiled and leaned against the desk. "Oh, do you?"

"Say it again."

"Mister...Hanley," Leslie said, breathing softly into his ear as he leaned forward.

Michael grinned and kissed Leslie. She set down the folder in her hands and leaned forward more, returning his kiss. As his tongue began to slide out of his mouth and into her own, the door to his office flew open. Leslie and Michael quickly pulled apart.

"Felicia," Michael said.

"I just keep interrupting office romances," Felicia muttered as she stood in the doorway.

"Hello, Felicia," Leslie said, picking up her folder and turning back to face Michael. "I'll see you at home, honey."

"Hi, Leslie," Felicia said as Leslie slipped out of the office.

"What can I do for you?" Michael asked.

"Oh nothing, just dealing with Robert again as usual," Felicia said.

Michael rose from his chair. "What did he do this time?"

"Um...nothing important," Felicia said. "But I need to find a new job soon. I don't want my days to be running around town after him and Melissa."

"I keep telling you to work for me, but you won't do it," Michael reminded her. "You did work here once upon a time."

"I know, but I just think that it would...it would be uncomfortable."

"How so?"

"I don't know," Felicia said. "But it would be."

"Suit yourself."

Felicia checked her watch. "I need to pick up Phillip."

"Well, I'm glad we had this chat," Michael said, with more than a faint trace of sarcasm in his voice.


MARQUETTE COVE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL

"Where the hell is he?" Alec wondered aloud.

He raised his hand to knock on the office door again, but his fist sailed through mid-air as the door was flung open to reveal Blake Thomas inside the office. Blake was startled to find Alec outside.

"Alec, what are you doing here?" Blake demanded.

"I'm here to see Dr. Maddock," Alec said.

Blake glanced behind the door where Aaron was standing out of Alec's view. Aaron was quickly attempting to get dressed before Alec could enter the office.

"Yeah, I did too," Blake said.

"What for?"

"My parents being dead...it's um, it's still tough."

"I'd expect," Alec said. "So, tell me, how's living with Vince been?"

"Alec!" Aaron said, interrupting Blake's response. He stepped into the doorway, patting Blake on the shoulder. "I was just finishing up with Blake here, why don't you come on inside?"

"Sure," Alec said.

He entered the office and headed toward the chair across from Aaron's desk. Before he returned to the office, Aaron leaned forward and whispered into Blake's ear, "We'll resume later tonight?"

"Same bat time, same position," Blake retorted.


HANLEY HOME

"Well, I can," Sara Reynolds said from where she was perched on the edge of the bed. "He's a loser. He tried to use you to run drugs at school, and when he found out that there were other dealers at the school who were pissed off at him, he skipped out."

"Yeah, that's intense," Vincent Moore said as he leaned against the doorway frame, his arms folded. "Good thing you broke up with him, Akilah. So now it's not like he abandoned you."

"Why are you always here?" Akilah demanded. "Go be a college student."

"Who can resist hanging out with you lovely ladies?" Vince remarked. "But, um, Jules...can I speak to you alone for a minute?"

"Yeah, sure," Julia said.

Julia rose to her feet and exited the bedroom with Vince, walking toward the end of the hallway near his bedroom.

"How are you doing?" Vince asked.

"I'm good," Julia insisted. "Really."

"Really? Then why are you lying to Sara and Akilah about Morris?"

Julia didn't respond immediately.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said, finally.

"Yes you do," Vince said. "I can tell when you're lying. There's more going on here, isn't there?"

"Just mind your own business, Vince," Julia snapped. "Try doing that for once, okay?"


BALE HOME

"I'd stay out of the office today if I were you," Felicia said hastily, before she even realized what she'd said.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," Felicia replied. "I'm just going to go."

"Is there something you want to tell me, Felicia?"

"No, I shouldn't have brought it up," Felicia said.

Felicia began to walk toward the door holding Phillip, but she paused and turned back around to face Melissa.

"How are you and Robert doing?" Felicia asked.

"I don't think that's any of your business," Melissa snapped.

"You're right, it's none of my —"

"You just don't know when to quit, do you?" Melissa demanded. "I thought things were going well enough between the three of us, but you just can't stop causing trouble. You're almost as bad as Valerie."

"Like I said before," Felicia repeated. "I'm just going to go."

"I think that's a wise choice," Melissa said sternly.

Felicia walked to the open front door and carried her grandson to the driveway where her car was. She set Phillip in his car seat and once it was fastened, she closed the door and removed her cell phone. She furiously began to dial.

"Hello?" Michael answered, still in his office.

"Michael, maybe you're right," Felicia said. "Maybe I should come back to work at Hanley. I need something to...preoccupy my time."

"I knew you'd say yes," Michael said through a chuckle. "I've already had the paperwork drafted."

Felicia smiled as she slid into the driver's seat of her car. She hung up her cell phone and placed it back into her purse. She was looking forward to finally getting her life back together — and hopefully, it would be one without frequent appearances by Robert and Melissa Bale.