Part 42:
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Jenn followed AJ into their bedroom at the beach house and sat down on the
bed while AJ set her suitcase down. "Tired?" he asked as he opened the
window.

"Yeah, its been a long day." She replied. Out of all the couples they were
the ones with the least hostility between them. She was still a bit upset
that he hadn't told her sooner and he was upset she had told the other
wives what was going on, only because the others had yelled at him for it.

AJ sat down next to her, "Do you think we're actually going to get through
this Jenn?"

She turned and studied him for a minute, "I promise you we will, we all
will."

He sighed, "I don't know." he stood up and headed for his jacket on the
chair.

"J, you can do this without smoking." she said, knowing exactly what he
was heading for.

He shook his head emphatically, "I can't Jenn, I need something to calm my
nerves. These help..."


Across the hall Nick watched Lis set her things away. "Why aren't you
talking to me?"

She sighed, "I'm tired of talking. Its all I've been doing lately. I just
want to climb into that bed over there and sleep for a week. Maybe when I
wake up things will be the way they should be."

He rubbed the back of his neck as he watched her, "And what way is that?"

"Not having to live with the threat of Lou over our heads."

Nick chewed his lip, "Its all my fault. I could have stood up to Lou, we
all could have but we were too afraid now we're paying for it."


Howie climbed into bed behind Ty, he inched closer to her and sighed.
"Ty..."

She closed her eyes, "Howie not right now I need to sleep. I'm exhausted."

"I just...nevermind." he said and rolled on his back. "Night Ty."

Ty laid there for a couple minutes, listening to him breathe, knowing he
was still wide awake. She rolled over, "What were you going to say?"

"That I'm sorry I couldn't trust you. No let me rephrase that, I'm sorry
you think that, the truth is I was afraid to tell you...I thought you'd
think it was true and that I could do something like that and hide it from
you. Although given what I've heard today my company could be doing that."
he groaned softly, "I could be in as much legal trouble as Lou could and
that terrifies me. I could lose everything..."


Kevin laid on his back, staring up at the ceiling. Not a word had been
spoken between he and Alec since they left the office. Her words kept
repeating in his head, and he closed his eyes as he tried to figure them
out. He felt her get into bed next to him. "Alec..."

She sighed, she had hoped he was asleep when she came out of the shower.
"Yes?"

"What did you mean before, about us controlling you?"

Alec rolled over, "Your trying to hard to keep us all out of this. But
Lou's using us to get back at you and you can't seem to realize it."

"But we see it now."

"After the fact."

He took a deep breath, "Sorry."

A small smile appeared on her face, "Its all right."

"You actually tracked Taylor down?" he asked, rolling on his side to face
her.

"Yeah..." she trailed off.

Reading the expression on her face he knew something was up. "And?"

"And when she wouldn't admit to it I did some more investigating and ran
into Keith's real father...he's the splitting image of you which explains
Keith looking so much like you. But when I went back to confront her,
I..." she stopped, "I got a little upset and slapped her."

Kevin chuckled softly, "You slapped Taylor?"

Alec nodded slowly, "She drove me to it. Taylor's a conniving little..."
she was cut off by Kevin's lips meeting hers. "What was that for?"

"Reminding me how stupid I was being."


Shan rolled over as Brian moved over to her side of the bed, "Shannon..."

"Look Brian I will get up and sleep on the couch if I need to." she said
calmly.

"Why?"

"Because I'm still pissed off at you all right?" she waited for him to say
something and when he didn't she glanced over her shoulder and saw his
puppy face. "And that will not work on me."

"Jeeze Shan what do you want from me?"

"An apology!!! Do you know how much it hurt to go to Lexington and find
out you weren't there and weren't going to be there, then you lie to my
face!! Plus those pictures...I've been on an emotional roller coaster the
last few weeks and why?? Because you couldn't tell me anything."

Brian hung his head a little, knowing what she was saying was true. "All
right Shan I'm sorry. I'm a stupid guy from Lexington, Kentucky who
thought he was doing the right thing."

She turned to face him, "Are you serious?"

He nodded, "Totally serious. If I could turn back time I'd tell you
everything from the start...but I can't do that Shan, so I can only
apologize and hope that the Littrell charm is going to kick in soon and
you'll forgive me."

She looked him over, "I might be willing to forgive you...IF you put on
that gladiator outfit and dance the hula."

Brian's eyes widened, "What?"

"How much do you want forgiveness Bri?" she asked a smirk on her face.
"What's it worth to you?"