"You can't marry Annie."

Gregory Richards had never realized how much fire was in her eyes when she was upset. He'd never seen that passion in her before. It was distracting to say the least.

"You can't, and that's it. She's only a few years older than your daughter. Your daughter-" Bette took a breath and continued headlong down the warpath. Her sense of righteousness was as aflame as her strawberry blonde hair. "Caitlin, remember Caitlin? What would she think when her step-mother-"

The ex-Mrs Katzenkazrahi shuddered in disgust. "Went to high school with her? it's dispicable. It's a low point, even for you."

Gregory raised an eyebrow, and folded his fingers neatly into a steeple. "Anything else?"

"If you wanted to be married you never should had left-"

Gregory tapped his finger on the desk and shut her up. "Don't-"

"Someone has to tell you the truth." She shrugged at his look of warning. "I don't care what you do to me. You have to listen to reason."

His laughter rang through the ornate office but Gregory said nothing as he pushed the little velvet box forward on the desk. "Any other time, I wouldn't believe you. However-"

She throw up a glittering hand to stop him. "No, nothing you can say matters. You're a disgusting, greedy, reptilian, frozen-hearted-"

"I don't want Annie to marry me." Gregory left his chair and circled the desk. Lifting the box from the desk, he opened it and let her examine the star of light trapped inside the round ruby set in rose gold.

Bette whistled appreciatively and pulled it out of the case to compare it to her other rings. "What is that? 10? 12 carats?

"Eleven and three quarters." Gregory took it from her fingers and set it inside the case again. He held her hand gently as he started stripping off her rings.

"What are you doing?" Bette wondered aloud as he massaged the kinks out of her hands.

"Making some space. I want to see it on a woman's hand."

"Why do you have to take them all off?" Bette tried to pull her hands back, but he insisted. She hadn't realized how strong his fingers were before.

"I want to see it by itself." Gregory insisted, teasing her with the box. "It was more expensive then these anyway."

"Oh I see." Bette rolled her eyes impatiently. "Critizing my exes is not going to get you on my good side."

"Oh?" He raised a playful eyebrow. "Too bad." The rest of her wedding rings made a series of dull thuds as he dropped them on the desk. "Have you read Del's codicil?"

"No of course not. I just know that Annie has some ridiculous idea that you're going to marry her." Bette whistled as he lifted her hand. "How much was that?"

"It's rude to ask." Gregory quipped, but he smiled as she admired his choice. The smile faded as he drifted away. "But less than Olivia's."

"Olivia could buy a small country with that one." Bette acknodwledge as she played with the ruby in the light. "She still wears it. Puts it on every morning when she gets up."

"Habit." Gregory shrugged it off. "I'll admit I never thought I'd buy another one."

Bette started to rip it off her finger, her awe wearing off as she remembered how foolish he was being. "You shouldn't! Go convince Olivia-"

Shaking his head once firmly was enough warning. "You should keep it on. It looks lovely."

Bette turned it around her finger. "It does fit rather nicely, doesn't it? Almost like it was made for moi."

"It was."

She burst into laughter so quickily she started to choke. "Oh Gregory- Gregory- seriously. You shouldn't try to have a sense of humor." Her hand covered her heart. "You're going to give me a heart attack."

"I'm serious." Gregory crossed his arms over his chest and watched her eyes widen in her face. "Do you really think it was that hard to find a jeweler in town who knew your ring size?"

"But-"

He lifted a paper from the desk, cleared his throat to quiet her objection. "This is your departed brother's codicil. Although his determination to ruin my marriage bears a nod of admiration, his lawyer wasn't as through as I would have been. With this as poorly worded as it is, Annie's not the only one who can come into a fortune if I marry her."

Bringing her trembling hand to his lips, he smiled his most reptilian of smiles. "What do you say?"

Bette's lips parted in response, but she just shook her head.

Looking down at his neat suit, Gregory sighed. "I was hoping you wouldn't make me go down on one knee. I just had this suit pressed this morning."

She pulled him up as he started to kneel. "Not to me Greggie." Bette swallowed and tried to slow the racing of her heart. Olivia was right about him. He was absolutely distracting when he wanted to be. "Save that..." Swallowing again brought some of her voice back. "What would it be like?"

Sensing negociations were starting to begin, Gregory smiled in soft victory. "I took the liberty of drawing up a suitable prenuptial agreement. You will be taken care of extremely well financially. Your every need, every whim, will be provided for. Naturally, I will control all of Del's stock certificates and have full control of his stake in the Liberty Corporation."

"How will it end?" She wondered grimly, looking into his chill eyes and accepting what she found there. "I've been in too many of these not to know to look for the bottom line."

For an instant regret flashed through him. "In the event of our divorce you will recieve a one time payment of one million dollars, followed by a generous annual stipend for the rest of your natural life."

Generous, but not quite as generous as Olivia's. Bette added silently as she took the prenup to look it over. She scanned down quickly, but after she found what she was looking for, she grew immediately bored with the legalease and handed it back. "There's no provision for divorce in the case of adultery for either of us."

"I thought you'd find that to your liking." Pulling a pen from inside his jacket he set the gleaming silver on the signature page. "I know I can trust you to be frank with me, even to the excess of what I want to hear."

Bette started again to protest, but he rested a hand on shoulder gently. "I like that about you. Please, allow me the same courtesy. Let me finish, and you can say whatever you like."

She bit her lip, reminding him uncomfortably of Olivia. Gregory forced that thought away. "I don't care who you choose to share your bed. I will ask that you live in my house and expect that you keep your "extra-ciricular activities" discreet. Marrying you should be enough scandal. I don't need to read about it in the tabloids."

"I can be-" Watching him roll his eyes, Bette stopped short.

"Discreet." Gregory filled in for her. "Meaning cautious, attentive, restrained, tactful-"

"Hey-" She picked up the pen and waved it threateningly at him. "If I sign this you're going to have to start being nice to me."

"I can be nice."

She snorted in disbelief. "I can be tactful."

As their eyes met they both started to laugh. "Perhaps we can learn to compromise. I don't want this to be unpleasant for you."

"I've never found you unpleasant." Bette offered as if it were the highest praise. She scrolled for her name and started to begin her flowery signature. "I've always been rather found of reptiles."

"Well good." He stalled her hand. "I'll get a notary." He tapped the intercom and summoned Carol to witness their agreement. "Are you sure this is what you want? I can give you an hour to think about it."

Bette blew him off with a wave of her hand. She stopped and stared longlingly at the ring on her finger. "You knew I couldn't say no to this, didn't you?"

"It really is your colors." Gregory added dryly as he directed Carol's attention to the prenup.

"It is." Bette decided with pride as she took the pen back and paused seriously. "We'll live together?"

He nodded.

"I can go shopping whenever I want?"

Again, Gregory nodded. A trace of a smile played around his thin lips.

"I can sleep with whoever, as long as I'm-" She paused as if adding an explitive. "Discreet?"

The smile blossomed impatiently. "Yes."

"And you'll leave Annie alone?" She continued as her heart began to race with excitement.

"Yes, yes, I promise."

Bette looked at the paper for a second and signed her name with a flourish. "Maybe number eight will be lucky." Her wink made it easier for him to smile as he signed his name neatly beneath hers. The prospect of a second marriage held nothing but the stink of failure. It wasn't that he disliked Bette. As Carol signed her name beneath both of theirs and stamped it with the seal of the notary public that made it official, he realized he could do far worse than Bette. Far worse indeed. He didn't love her, but he didn't loath her. She was reasonably attractive. In fact, when she took his hand and joined him in thanking Carol for her work, Gregory realized that sharing a bed with her might not be that bad.

The possibilities were pleasant. Certainly better than the tomblike seclusion his house had now whenever Caitlin, Cole and Trey weren't visiting. Sean didn't care, and Olivia- Olivia had come home from England with AJ Deschanel sniffing round her heels like a starving mongrel dog. Bette had helped him ruin AJ out of town once. She, entirely unbeknowst to her, was going to do it again.

"I took the liberty of having some of your things brought to the airstrip."

Bette's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Gutsy of you."

Shrugging as he shut the prenup into his briefcase, Gregory offered his arm as he shut off the lights to his office. "I play to win."

"Where are we going?" Bette let her hand slip into the crook of his elbow, wondering when she'd wake up from this very odd dream of hers.

"Where is the one place in the world where one should embark on a loveless marriage?"

Her face lit with amusement as she figured it out. "Will you wear a kilt? I bet you have lovely calves."

"I'm so glad both of you were able to make it to dinner." Caitlin gushed as she hugged her mother. "The house has been so quiet since Dad left."

"Where did Gregory go?" AJ asked politely as he slipped his arm around Olivia's back. "Out to London?"

"He didn't say." Cole kissed his wife's cheek, and gestured them into Gregory's house. "But, Rose didn't mind whipping up a fantastic dinner on very short notice."

"You're never going to believe what Trey did today." Caitlin took her mother's hand and pulled her into the dining room. "He was playing with his horsey, and his daddy-"

Cole beamed at Olivia and AJ but let Caitlin finish her story. "Helped him sit up. Cole and Trey have been working on sitting for nearly a month now, but he always falls over whenever Cole lets go. But today, Cole moved his hands and he stayed up! All by himself. He's going to be a genius."

"Caitlin already has him applying to Harvard by the time he's eight." Cole added with the same brilliant grin as he pulled out her chair.

"That's wonderful." AJ replied as he circled to Olivia's chair. Her eyes were strained when he caught her glance. Whenever they talked about Trey, she shut down. Of course she put on her best front for Caitlin, but whenever he saw her alone with Trey something was different. Something he couldn't put his finger on. "So Cole, how are the plans going for Trey's baptism? Everything in order?"

"I just visited the church this morning to talk to Father Antonio. He's thrilled to be doing the baptism, after he conducted our wedding." He rested his hand on top of Caitlin's as Rose started to serve the soup course. "Everything's coming full circle."

"Excuse me." Olivia stood up politely, leaving her cloth napkin in her chair. "I'll be back in a moment."

In the bathroom she clung to the cold marble of the sink and tried to force herself to concentrate on the present. In the back of her mind she could hear her baby. The quiet murmur of his breathing as he lay in her arms. She shuddered as she turned on the faucet. Splashing cold water on her face helped pull her back. Taking a deep breath, Olivia forced herself to smile at her reflection in the mirror. Her cheeks were too tight over the bones of her face. Her lips were too white from exhaustion.

She couldn't sleep. Not since she had been to the cabin. Not since she remembered that her baby was alive. Where was he? Was he all right? Who had him?

She forced herself to smile again. She couldn't risk letting anyone know. Not until she knew where he was and how to get him back. She had to get him back.

AJ was outside the bathroom door, waiting for her with the same patient smile. "Better?"

"A little." She took his hand and didn't resist as he pulled her into his arms.

"It's hard to listen to Caitlin be so happy, isn't it?" AJ seemed to realize his understatement the moment it left his mouth. "I'm sure she appreciates how much you do for her. How much of yourself you give up for her."

"It's not like that." Olivia insisted as she pulled herself back. "I love Caitlin."

"More than yourself I fear." AJ brushed a curl of dark brown hair back out of her face. "It's one of the things I love about you."

She smiled weakly, touched by his concern, but unable to answer it. "Let's go back to dinner."

He touched her hair again, searching her eyes for the answers she kept buried inside. Like a still lake, her eyes revealed nothing more than the reflection of his own confusion. "All right, if you're sure."

Olivia squeezed his hand. "I'm hungry and Rose still makes the best shrimp. Come on." He followed her feet back to the dining room. There was a surety in her steps, a confidence in the way her heels struck the floor that promised she could still put on a masterful performance.

AJ caught up to her as he pulled out her chair. "Did I ever tell you that you missed your calling as an actress?"

"I'll make sure to bring that up the next time we have a fight. I can say I'm just preparing for a role." The journey of her eyes from the table to his face before they dove back innocently towards the pasta making it's rounds of the table. She still made his heart skip like a little boy. What fate had brought them back together on that ship? What luck was it that his ideal remained intact? Worn about the edges, to be sure, but the story of Olivia's life was so much fuller than it had been when he'd last graced it's pages. Perhaps this time- he raised his glass to her glittering blue eyes- his contribution would be more than a chapter on the fickleness of young love.