Joe swallowed hard around the lump in his throat and did his best not to let his mind wander to the images of his wife and son that jumped out at him. All of fragmented information that he had been fed so far pointed to the fact that he was stepping into the middle of a Mob war and he had watched enough of those types of movies to know that real life would be far worse.

Aligning the pieces of this puzzle proved to be a difficult task. Yet the only think Joe could focus on were the facts. The number one of them being he had bonded with Danny and Albert in the past months in a way that even his present fears couldn't shake. Joe raised his eyes as he said a silent pray for not only himself but also the others as well to emerge from this unscathed.

Joe picked up the coffee, which were now cold, from the counter and made his deliberate entrance into the waiting area. "Follow Jenny's lead," he repeated to himself as he drew closer to the group.

"Thank you," Jenny said reaching for the cardboard container holding the drinks, "Bernardo, Nino, I would like you to meet Joe. He is the manager of the club and a close friend of the family;" Jenny stressed knowing full well given the circumstances it was necessary for the men to know that Joe was no threat to them.

"Nice to meet you, Joe," Bernardo said bringing forth his hand to meet Joe's.

"And you," he returned hearing his own voice shake.

Joe moved away from the group towards Michelle, as Jenny continued to make small talk.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly.

Her only response was to shrug her shoulders fearing any speech on her part would only bring a new flood of tears. This was all too much for her. Killing Mick; being forced into the witness protection program; falling in love with Danny Sampson; finding out that Danny was Mick's brother; watching Jeremy Lucas shoot Danny; knowing that Danny could die too; standing up to the federal agents; telling those people now the most dear to her she wasn't who they thought she was and now having more Mob men descend upon her; Michelle couldn't fathom anything anymore.

"Do they know anything?" he questioned eyes darting to Jenny and the men only mere feet away from them.

"I don't think so," she mustered, "Jenny told them I was Melanie Branson and Danny's girlfriend. What a joke," she giggled. The whole twisted situation getting the better of her.

"That's good. I spoke with Albert and he said no matter what to follow Jenny's lead."

"Whatever," she said harshly, "Like anything matters anymore anyway. My life is over!" angst filling her voice as she spoke.

"It's far from over," he countered, "and Danny is going to pull through this surgery. I know it. He loves you too much not to."

"You are kidding right?" she gasped.

"NO!!"

"I KILLED HIS BROTHER!!" Michelle's words were louder then need be.

"Michelle," Joe said through clenched teeth.

"It's the truth. How can he ever forgive me let alone love me?!?!?!"

Jenny's ears perked up at the conversation that was taking place in the background, "Excuse me, Bernardo. Melanie is quite up set by all of this. I really do need to see to her."

"By all means. Nino and I will go get some coffee and wait for Albert to arrive."

"Thank you."

Jenny watched Nino and his father departed the room, "What do you two think you are doing over here?!?!" the fever ant tone of her voice showed her anger, "We can't afford to let The Sandoval's in on our family secrets!"

"I killed Mick!!" Michelle forced again, "AND IF DANNY DIES I AM JUST AS RESPONSIBLE!!!" the cries that filled her throat covered any further words.

As angry as Jenny was the only thing she could find herself doing was reaching for Michelle, pulling her close against her chest while the frightened young woman cried. Gently stroking her mass of blonde curls, Jenny couldn't begin to imagine the turmoil that was taking place within Michelle. So many things that once had been true turned into falsehoods for not just her but all of them.

"Listen to me," Jenny began as she wiped the tears from Michelle's face, "Yes, you are responsible for Mick's death. There isn't anything we can do to change that. I have to believe somewhere deep inside you; you understand that you did what was necessary to ensure your survival. It doesn't make it any easier to deal with and I understand that. But you must stop punishing yourself for an act that ultimately you had no control over."

"NO CONTROL!?!?!?!" Michelle couldn't believe her ears, "I picked up a rock and bashed his skull in! I was very much in control."

"No!" Jenny stressed, "You were reacting to a situation that Mick was in control of. You have to see that."

"I wish it were that simple," she sighed.

"It is.........."

"Sarah," Joe said as the girl entered the room, "I thought Albert told you to get as far away from here as possible?"

"I couldn't," she replied.

"Where's Matt?" he asked.

"I don't know and I don't really care."

"What?!?!?" Confusion again reigned supreme.

"He didn't understand, did he?" Jenny asked knowing full well that what Matt had heard would have been hard for most people to digest.

"No he didn't," Sarah's words were soft as she spoke.

"I'm sorry," Michelle said watching the tears silently slid down her friends face, "This.....all of this is my fault. If I had just stayed out of everyone's lives none of this would be happening," she cried.

"How is it your fault that Matt chose to think the worst of you all?" Sarah countered coming to stand alongside of Michelle. "He was the one who chose to hear only the words and not see the truth that was starring him in the face. You are my friend. I don't give a damn what you did to get here. All I care about is that you helped me when I didn't think it was possible and I want to do that for you now. Damn the consequences!"

"But......I can't........" Michelle began.

"No buts," Sarah said cutting her short, "I want to be here. And no one is going to change my mind."

"Thank you," Michelle reached out to her friend squeezing her hand.

"Albert isn't going to be happy about this though," Joe interjected still trying to follow Albert's orders.

"We are in this together now, " Jenny said, "Albert knows that. We are family and family to us means everything!" Jenny heard the words as they escaped her lips and couldn't believe she had said them.

Suddenly she was everything that she had never been. In the midst of this crisis she had turned herself into the Mafia wife she had never been. Rather then it terrifying her the way she thought that it would, it gave her a calm that she had never experienced before.

As Albert brought his car to rest in the parking lot of the hospital, he still wasn't able to shake the rage that consumed him. His eyes traveled to the folder that lay on the seat beside him. In the short period of time that he had acquired this knowledge the words on those pages were burned into his memory. He vaguely wondered if this was how Danny felt coming to the realization that Michelle had been responsible for his brother's death no matter what the circumstances that were behind it. It was easy for him to understand the fury that must have coursed through his nephew. Ultimately Albert knew it had been different. Danny loved Michelle so that made it all the more difficult for him. Albert on the other hand had no restrictions on his thoughts; nothing to stop him from enacting the wrath that welled from a part of his soul he long thought had been walled off.

Albert picked up the folder that in a second had changed his whole perception of life, as he had known it. He dropped it as quickly as he reached for it almost like it seared his skin like a branding iron. The rationalization of the facts coming again to hit him squarely in the face. Albert forced back the tears that he had suppressed until now but the effort proved a fruitless one. The rage and anger now dissolved into disbelief and pain at all that was now lost to him because of some vain power struggle that should have never come to pass. The images of his fallen son and brother danced vividly along the dark canvas of his closed eyes. Albert beat his fists on the steering wheel doing anything to release the pent up rage the threatened to swallow him whole.

"I SWEAR TO GOD YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!! EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU WILL PAY!!!!!" he seethed forcing composure to return.

Albert ran his hands over his face breathing in the cool air hoping that would quench the fire that wasn't about to be extinguished. He stepped off the elevator on the surgical floor and his eyes met Bernardo's, a man he hadn't seen in nearly ten years. A funny sensation of relief and apprehension washed over him. He could feel himself being easily sucked back into the ways of a world that was no longer his.

"Albert," Bernardo's voice conveyed true feelings for a man who had once been part of a circle of friends.

Albert reached to shake his hand and upon doing so Bernardo pulled him into a full embrace, "I am sorry about Daniel. This was never meant to happen to him."

"No it wasn't," Albert confirmed.

"What happened? Did Daniel find Mick's killer? Is that person responsible for this as well?" Bernardo fired his questions in rapid secession.

"Mick's killer??" Albert feigned ignorance, "What are you talking about?" Michelle was part of their family now. He wasn't about to feed her to the wolves he knew these men to be.

"Carmen told us that Daniel had come here to avenge Mick's murder," Bernardo said giving Albert a questioning look.

"Since when have you given credence to Carmen's words?" Albert forced the words from his mouth.

"Are you trying to say that it all was a ruse on her part?" Bernardo's face grew flushed as his own anger at being duped again by Carmen pushed its way to the surface.

"It has come to my attention that many things about Carmen Santos have been a ruse."

"Excuse me?" Bernardo asked arching his brow.

"I think you heard me. It appears that Carmen is the master of illusion."

"ALBERT!" he was tired of the guessing game that his old friend was playing, "What is it you are trying to tell me?"

Albert brought forth the folder that hung in his hand. "I think this will explain it better then I ever could."

"WHERE DID YOU GET THIS!?!?!?!" Bernardo's booming voice caused Jenny to move closer to the open doorway.

"Dietz."

"And you believe this?!?!"

"Don't you? It makes perfect sense from where I sit."

"Dietz is a rat! He proved that to me in spades. He is only looking out for number one."

"That may be, but there is no denying what's on those pages. All the things that were muddy to me in the past, suddenly became crystal clear. So what are we going to do about it?!?!" Albert barked.

Jenny continued standing at the door. As she listened to the exchange of words between her husband and Bernardo, nausea filled the cavity of her stomach. The words she was hearing bounced around in her head like sounds of a record being played at the wrong speed. Distorted in such a way that she could almost believe that it wasn't how it sounded. The longer she remained there the more the horrific the tale became. Her mouth went dry and the warm blood that had coursed through her veins was now frozen.

She couldn't even remove herself from the doorway as Albert, Bernardo, Nino and Dr. Hacker entered the room.

Joe swallowed hard around the lump in his throat and did his best not to let his mind wander to the images of his wife and son that jumped out at him. All of fragmented information that he had been fed so far pointed to the fact that he was stepping into the middle of a Mob war and he had watched enough of those types of movies to know that real life would be far worse.

Aligning the pieces of this puzzle proved to be a difficult task. Yet the only think Joe could focus on were the facts. The number one of them being he had bonded with Danny and Albert in the past months in a way that even his present fears couldn't shake. Joe raised his eyes as he said a silent pray for not only himself but also the others as well to emerge from this unscathed.

Joe picked up the coffee, which were now cold, from the counter and made his deliberate entrance into the waiting area. "Follow Jenny's lead," he repeated to himself as he drew closer to the group.

"Thank you," Jenny said reaching for the cardboard container holding the drinks, "Bernardo, Nino, I would like you to meet Joe. He is the manager of the club and a close friend of the family;" Jenny stressed knowing full well given the circumstances it was necessary for the men to know that Joe was no threat to them.

"Nice to meet you, Joe," Bernardo said bringing forth his hand to meet Joe's.

"And you," he returned hearing his own voice shake.

Joe moved away from the group towards Michelle, as Jenny continued to make small talk.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly.

Her only response was to shrug her shoulders fearing any speech on her part would only bring a new flood of tears. This was all too much for her. Killing Mick; being forced into the witness protection program; falling in love with Danny Sampson; finding out that Danny was Mick's brother; watching Jeremy Lucas shoot Danny; knowing that Danny could die too; standing up to the federal agents; telling those people now the most dear to her she wasn't who they thought she was and now having more Mob men descend upon her; Michelle couldn't fathom anything anymore.

"Do they know anything?" he questioned eyes darting to Jenny and the men only mere feet away from them.

"I don't think so," she mustered, "Jenny told them I was Melanie Branson and Danny's girlfriend. What a joke," she giggled. The whole twisted situation getting the better of her.

"That's good. I spoke with Albert and he said no matter what to follow Jenny's lead."

"Whatever," she said harshly, "Like anything matters anymore anyway. My life is over!" angst filling her voice as she spoke.

"It's far from over," he countered, "and Danny is going to pull through this surgery. I know it. He loves you too much not to."

"You are kidding right?" she gasped.

"NO!!"

"I KILLED HIS BROTHER!!" Michelle's words were louder then need be.

"Michelle," Joe said through clenched teeth.

"It's the truth. How can he ever forgive me let alone love me?!?!?!"

Jenny's ears perked up at the conversation that was taking place in the background, "Excuse me, Bernardo. Melanie is quite up set by all of this. I really do need to see to her."

"By all means. Nino and I will go get some coffee and wait for Albert to arrive."

"Thank you."

Jenny watched Nino and his father departed the room, "What do you two think you are doing over here?!?!" the fever ant tone of her voice showed her anger, "We can't afford to let The Sandoval's in on our family secrets!"

"I killed Mick!!" Michelle forced again, "AND IF DANNY DIES I AM JUST AS RESPONSIBLE!!!" the cries that filled her throat covered any further words.

As angry as Jenny was the only thing she could find herself doing was reaching for Michelle, pulling her close against her chest while the frightened young woman cried. Gently stroking her mass of blonde curls, Jenny couldn't begin to imagine the turmoil that was taking place within Michelle. So many things that once had been true turned into falsehoods for not just her but all of them.

"Listen to me," Jenny began as she wiped the tears from Michelle's face, "Yes, you are responsible for Mick's death. There isn't anything we can do to change that. I have to believe somewhere deep inside you; you understand that you did what was necessary to ensure your survival. It doesn't make it any easier to deal with and I understand that. But you must stop punishing yourself for an act that ultimately you had no control over."

"NO CONTROL!?!?!?!" Michelle couldn't believe her ears, "I picked up a rock and bashed his skull in! I was very much in control."

"No!" Jenny stressed, "You were reacting to a situation that Mick was in control of. You have to see that."

"I wish it were that simple," she sighed.

"It is.........."

"Sarah," Joe said as the girl entered the room, "I thought Albert told you to get as far away from here as possible?"

"I couldn't," she replied.

"Where's Matt?" he asked.

"I don't know and I don't really care."

"What?!?!?" Confusion again reigned supreme.

"He didn't understand, did he?" Jenny asked knowing full well that what Matt had heard would have been hard for most people to digest.

"No he didn't," Sarah's words were soft as she spoke.

"I'm sorry," Michelle said watching the tears silently slid down her friends face, "This.....all of this is my fault. If I had just stayed out of everyone's lives none of this would be happening," she cried.

"How is it your fault that Matt chose to think the worst of you all?" Sarah countered coming to stand alongside of Michelle. "He was the one who chose to hear only the words and not see the truth that was starring him in the face. You are my friend. I don't give a damn what you did to get here. All I care about is that you helped me when I didn't think it was possible and I want to do that for you now. Damn the consequences!"

"But......I can't........" Michelle began.

"No buts," Sarah said cutting her short, "I want to be here. And no one is going to change my mind."

"Thank you," Michelle reached out to her friend squeezing her hand.

"Albert isn't going to be happy about this though," Joe interjected still trying to follow Albert's orders.

"We are in this together now, " Jenny said, "Albert knows that. We are family and family to us means everything!" Jenny heard the words as they escaped her lips and couldn't believe she had said them.

Suddenly she was everything that she had never been. In the midst of this crisis she had turned herself into the Mafia wife she had never been. Rather then it terrifying her the way she thought that it would, it gave her a calm that she had never experienced before.

As Albert brought his car to rest in the parking lot of the hospital, he still wasn't able to shake the rage that consumed him. His eyes traveled to the folder that lay on the seat beside him. In the short period of time that he had acquired this knowledge the words on those pages were burned into his memory. He vaguely wondered if this was how Danny felt coming to the realization that Michelle had been responsible for his brother's death no matter what the circumstances that were behind it. It was easy for him to understand the fury that must have coursed through his nephew. Ultimately Albert knew it had been different. Danny loved Michelle so that made it all the more difficult for him. Albert on the other hand had no restrictions on his thoughts; nothing to stop him from enacting the wrath that welled from a part of his soul he long thought had been walled off.

Albert picked up the folder that in a second had changed his whole perception of life, as he had known it. He dropped it as quickly as he reached for it almost like it seared his skin like a branding iron. The rationalization of the facts coming again to hit him squarely in the face. Albert forced back the tears that he had suppressed until now but the effort proved a fruitless one. The rage and anger now dissolved into disbelief and pain at all that was now lost to him because of some vain power struggle that should have never come to pass. The images of his fallen son and brother danced vividly along the dark canvas of his closed eyes. Albert beat his fists on the steering wheel doing anything to release the pent up rage the threatened to swallow him whole.

"I SWEAR TO GOD YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!! EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU WILL PAY!!!!!" he seethed forcing composure to return.

Albert ran his hands over his face breathing in the cool air hoping that would quench the fire that wasn't about to be extinguished. He stepped off the elevator on the surgical floor and his eyes met Bernardo's, a man he hadn't seen in nearly ten years. A funny sensation of relief and apprehension washed over him. He could feel himself being easily sucked back into the ways of a world that was no longer his.

"Albert," Bernardo's voice conveyed true feelings for a man who had once been part of a circle of friends.

Albert reached to shake his hand and upon doing so Bernardo pulled him into a full embrace, "I am sorry about Daniel. This was never meant to happen to him."

"No it wasn't," Albert confirmed.

"What happened? Did Daniel find Mick's killer? Is that person responsible for this as well?" Bernardo fired his questions in rapid secession.

"Mick's killer??" Albert feigned ignorance, "What are you talking about?" Michelle was part of their family now. He wasn't about to feed her to the wolves he knew these men to be.

"Carmen told us that Daniel had come here to avenge Mick's murder," Bernardo said giving Albert a questioning look.

"Since when have you given credence to Carmen's words?" Albert forced the words from his mouth.

"Are you trying to say that it all was a ruse on her part?" Bernardo's face grew flushed as his own anger at being duped again by Carmen pushed its way to the surface.

"It has come to my attention that many things about Carmen Santos have been a ruse."

"Excuse me?" Bernardo asked arching his brow.

"I think you heard me. It appears that Carmen is the master of illusion."

"ALBERT!" he was tired of the guessing game that his old friend was playing, "What is it you are trying to tell me?"

Albert brought forth the folder that hung in his hand. "I think this will explain it better then I ever could."

"WHERE DID YOU GET THIS!?!?!?!" Bernardo's booming voice caused Jenny to move closer to the open doorway.

"Dietz."

"And you believe this?!?!"

"Don't you? It makes perfect sense from where I sit."

"Dietz is a rat! He proved that to me in spades. He is only looking out for number one."

"That may be, but there is no denying what's on those pages. All the things that were muddy to me in the past, suddenly became crystal clear. So what are we going to do about it?!?!" Albert barked.

Jenny continued standing at the door. As she listened to the exchange of words between her husband and Bernardo, nausea filled the cavity of her stomach. The words she was hearing bounced around in her head like sounds of a record being played at the wrong speed. Distorted in such a way that she could almost believe that it wasn't how it sounded. The longer she remained there the more the horrific the tale became. Her mouth went dry and the warm blood that had coursed through her veins was now frozen.

She couldn't even remove herself from the doorway as Albert, Bernardo, Nino and Dr. Hacker entered the room.

Jenny took a ragged breath as she pressed her body against the coldness of the hospital corridor wall. The thoughts and emotions swam about the recesses of her mind to the point where she felt as though she were drowning. She couldn't face standing in Danny's room for a second longer the ghosts of her past threatened to consume her. Yet, the relief Jenny was hoping to find outside the confines of that suffocating room never came. The knowledge that she now held tightly to only served to be an ever present reminder of her son's senseless death. All those hurdles that Albert and she had been able to scale in the past months came back to trip her up again.

Jenny felt the tears but when she touched her cheeks there were none there. It was as if they had been turned inward to quench the burning fury within.

She watched Albert shake Bernardo's hand before he walked into the awaiting elevator. She couldn't help but wonder just what had been decided, suddenly torn by what she wanted to have happen and exactly what she would be able to live with. Her initial rage was now tempered with thoughts of reality. That reality being that they were now embroiled back in an existence that had cost them so much already. The one consolation was that finally the person responsible for it all would be the last causality.

"Jenny," Albert said as he approached his wife who's form was still hard pressed against the wall, "What is it?"

"Nothing," she whispered.

"Is it Daniel?" he questioned.

"No, no Danny is resting just like Dr. Hacker said. It's just this roller coaster ride we have been on these last few months……" she paused not wanting to reveal what she had overheard.

"I know it's been maddening," he concurred cradling her solidly in his arms, all the while thinking 'if you only knew the half of it.'

"Bernardo didn't wish to stay to see Danny?" Jenny asked hoping that Albert would be forthcoming with his plans.

"He and Nino had some of their own affairs to take care of. I am sure he will be back. Daniel and he have grown very close since Miguel's death."

Jenny bit her tongue. She fought the feelings of hurt that Albert had chosen to keep her in the dark once more that were beginning to fill her. Isn't this how they had ended up as mere strangers for all those years. The secrets and lies that were forever present between them, "Albert, I want you to know…….," she began as the door to Danny's room swung open revealing a teary eyed Michelle standing before them.

"What is it?" the pair said in unison.

"He's awake," she returned breathless.

"What?" Albert couldn't help but sound surprised.

"I was talking to him and all of the sudden he said Michelle," she explained not really believing it either.

"That's wonderful," Jenny reached for her hand reassuredly, "I knew that he would need you."

"What on earth are we doing out here?" Albert asked wanting to see his nephew, "He shouldn't be alone in there."

"I was going to get a nurse. I think that they will want to assess his condition for the doctors." Michelle's voice held a confidence that had been sorely lacking until now. It was almost as though the medical training that she once had found it's way to her again.

"I will do that," Jenny offered still a bit gun shy about entering that room again. Her nerves were raw still from the flood of information and Albert's lack of willingness to include her in his plans.

"No, no," Michelle said, "Both you and Albert deserve to be with him. I can take care of this. It will only take a minute." Michelle walked away before either had a chance to object again. She needed the moment to herself. Yes Danny had called her name but she wasn't letting herself believe that it had meant anything yet. It could have been an involuntary response. She needed the time to gather her thoughts and steel herself for the fact that Danny could realize what all she had been responsible for and turn her away. She needed to be prepared for that.

Albert and Jenny made their way to either side of Danny's bed. To her he looked just as pale as he had earlier. "Daniel," Albert said softly, "We're here son. Maybe Michelle was mistaken?" he commented searching his wife's blank expression.

"Mistaken?"

"Maybe she only thought he said her name." He couldn't help being disappointed at not finding Danny more coherent.

"He did just get out of surgery," she could hear the bite to her voice returning. As much as she wanted to stop that from happening she couldn't. She was in a sudden tailspin causing herself to revert back to all those ways of protecting herself.

"Jenny?" Albert starred at her confused by her abrupt change in attitude.

"I am sorry," she said looking into the dark pools of her husband's eyes. She had to force herself to remember that he wasn't the enemy. That he had never truly been. It was time for her to direct her anger at the appropriate force.

"Uncle Albert?" a weak voice invaded Jenny's thoughts.

"Yes, Daniel, it's Albert. Jenny's here as well." He leaned in closer as to hear Danny's next words.

"What happened?"

"Danny, you were shot," Albert said matter of fact.

"Shot?!?!" he repeated astounded by the thought, yet that astonishment was quickly replaced by the recall of events that rushed him.

Instantly he was again standing holding Michelle in his tight grasp. He could almost hear her pleading her version of events the night Mick was killed. He couldn't wrap his thoughts around the image of it all. How could this girl who was precious to him have been capable of killing his brother?

"Danny?" Albert said watching the hard mask fall across the young man's features. "Do you remember anything that happened?"

"I remember everything," he returned his voice cold.

"Melanie……." Albert began not understanding if everything to Danny included the fact that Melanie and Michelle were one in the same.

"Don't you mean Michelle?" he said as he tried to sit up however the stabbing pain in his chest kept him down.

"Easy son," Albert reached out to him.

"NO!" he strained again to sit up, "There is something you really need to know about Melanie," Danny gasped doing his best to control his pain.

"We know Danny," Jenny said, "We know everything," she looked Albert directly in the eye as she spoke hoping to make him understand that she truly did know everything.

"You know?!?! You know she killed my brother and that all this time she has been playing me for a FOOL!!" Danny couldn't let himself remember all the goodness that they had shared. No matter what feelings he had for Michelle, he couldn't bring himself to imagine a life with her. Not knowing what he knew. Mick's role in it all didn't make a damn bit of difference.

"Danny, please calm down," Jenny asked calmly. "You need to remain still and quiet. You just had major surgery to repair your heart." She tried to be the voice of reason but it was lost on him.

"Daniel, I don't see Michelle as playing you for a fool," Albert said knowing exactly where his nephew was headed. "Don't forget that you too did not portray yourself as who you truly were."

"So what you are saying that this is my fault?" Danny's voice grew angry, "You expect me to just forgive and forget?!?! MICK'S DEAD!!!" With those words the alarm indicating a spike in Danny's blood pressure sounded.

"Excuse me," a nurse said as she pushed past Albert in effort to get to Danny, "You will have to leave now. The least stress is best for him."

"No, I want them to stay," Danny said eyeing his uncle angrily.

"Mr. Santos," the nurse began, "Your recovery depends……"

"Do you not understand English? I said I want them to stay."

"I am going to get doctor."

"You do that!" Danny countered to the nurse's retreating back.

"Danny, please," Jenny said reaching for his clenched fist.

"What?"

"This really isn't a good time to discuss this. You have barely been out of surgery for more then a few hours. We can talk about this later. You need to rest right now, build your strength."

"There is nothing to talk about," he countered, "I DON'T EVER WANT TO SEE MELANIE….MICHELLE WHATEVER THE HELL HER NAME IS AGAIN!!!!"

The harsh reality of those words stopped Michelle in mid step. As much as she wanted to believe that she was ready to hear them, she wasn't. Any words that had formed were caught around the lump in her throat, her only action was to run from the room tears making their way down her cheeks.

"Let her go," Albert said as Jenny was about to take off after the young woman, "We have more important things to take care of here!" Albert barked his eyes burning holes through his own flesh and blood.

Michelle tore down the corridor without a clue to where she was running. 'I DON'T EVER WANT TO SEE MELANIE….MICHELLE WHATEVER THE HELL HER NAME IS AGAIN!!! I DON'T EVER WANT TO SEE MELANIE….MICHELLE WHATEVER THE HELL HER NAME IS AGAIN!!!!' resounding in her head.

Why had she been surprised by his reaction? It was a normal honest reaction to what she had done. But that didn't stop it from hurting as much as it did. She had truly lulled herself into believing that their love would be enough to get past any obstacle. What a joke that had been. Killing Mick, killing Danny's brother wasn't just an obstacle. It wasn't something simple that could be explained away. It was a curse that would follow her forever.

The burst of cool air hit Michelle in the face as she rushed through the swinging doors of the hospital.

"ROSS!?!?!"

"MICHELLE?!?!"

Both individuals stood spellbound by the other never expecting to see one another again.

"What are you doing here?" they said in unison.

Ross's mind had been racing ever since he had read in the paper about Danny Santos being shot. The true kicker was that he was in the same town that Michelle had been sent too. In his plane ride there he hadn't let his mind entertain the thought that Michelle might somehow be in danger but now standing face to face with her he knew she was.

"Does the Santos family know you are here?" he whispered.

"Yes," she nodded.

"What?" he as astonished to find her still breathing after that comment.

"It's not what you think."

"Not what I think? You are telling me that they found you here?"

"Not exactly."

"Michelle you aren't making a damn bit of sense."

"I know. What are you doing here?" she asked not really wanting to rehash her romance with Danny just yet.

"Never mind that. What the hell is going on here?"

"I think you better sit down," she directed him to a stone bench near the entrance.

"What!?!?! Here?!?!? I think we should contact the agent in charge of your case and have them get you the hell out of here. The last thing you need is a run in with the Santos'"

"The Feds cut me loose."

"WHAT!?!?!?!"

"It's a long story Ross."

"Well you certainly aren't safe here."

"But I am. Albert has seen to that."

"ALBERT!?!?!" With each sentence that passed by Michelle's lips the more confused Ross became.

"Albert Santos. He's Danny's uncle. He promised that I would be safe."

"Michelle, could you please tell me what the hell is going on!" Ross barked his voice a mixture of fear and anger.

"I am trying," she stressed.

Ross sat quietly and listened as Michelle wound her unbelievable tale of the last few months more surprised by each turn of events.