Triangles @ soapcentral.com

Carol stared at the papers stunned. There was no way this was true. She needed to have a DNA test. She pushed her hair back nervously, and gasped for breath. She had put the paper down and looked away from it so many times, she knew that it was true, she needed a perspective on it. There was a loud knock on her door, she opened it and found Millicent standing before her.

***************************************************************

 Sierra listened to her messages again. Ryan wanted to hang out with her again. Soon, as he put it. She dialed Monica’s number, her friend answered after the second ring.

"Ryan wants to hang out again," Sierra stated as a greeting.

"Well then hang out with him," Monica yawned. " You didn’t have a problem doing that before."

"Don’t you think its weird, especially after everything that went down," Sierra had a weird feeling about the whole situation.

"Hes changed, matured, maybe he just wants to leave the past in the past, like Carol said he did." Monica was tired of having the same conversation with Sierra. For once she wanted to talk about herself, how she was dealing with the break up with Carol. Which wasn’t well.

"I just have so much going on..." Sierra was surprised when Monica cut her off.

"Sierra you havent once asked me, how Im doing or if I needed to talk about my break up. I know this must be news to you but the universe does not revolved around you." Monica hung up. Sierra closed her phone, she was in a state of shock. With everything she was going through, Monica needed to be there for her, not yelling at her.

***************************************************************
"He asked me to hang out!" Savannah exclaimed, again. Kevin watched his friend as she paced back and forth.

"He also said he liked you." Kevin smiled at her. He knew she was panicking and he found it amusing.

"He never said he liked me, he said I was beautiful, there’s a difference," She stared at him and saw that he was smirking.

"No there isn’t, he liked you, he wants to spend time with you." she glared at him.

"This is all amusing for you isn’t it? Watching me go through the perils of dating and being rejected, while your mystery man keeps you nice and warm." She shot, she wasn’t angry at him and was secure enough to know he wouldn’t get angry at her.

"I don’t have a mystery man," He insisted. He felt guilty keeping this secret from her but he didn’t want to ruin her chance at happiness.

"The one that your having sex with..." She watched his face, she knew he was keeping it secret for a reason, she just couldn’t figure out what that reason was.

"When does he want to hang out with you?" Kevin tried to steer the conversation  back to what they had been talking about. He would tell her IF things didnt work out with her and Tony.

***************************************************************

"Carol dear have you seen my stepson?" Millicent asked.

"N-n-n-no" She stuttered. "I’m sorry Millicent I’m dealing with a lot right now."

"Yes the untimely death of your mother, how unfortunate." Millicent ut on her best sympathy voice.

"Thank you, if you’d please excuse me.." She was going to finish when Ryan came running up the stairs.

"Hello Ryan," Millicent sneered at him.

"Millicent what are you doing out in the sunlight, and why arent you exploding?" He shot.

"If either of you see Derrick please, have him call home." Millicent looked between the two. "I am sorry about your mother." She looked at Ryan. "As always the displeasure is al mine."

"Why do you always have to be such a greedy bitch Millicent, I also experienced a great deal of displeasure." Ryan watched as she walked to her car, then turned to Carol. "Are we ready to do this thing?"

"As ready as I’ll ever be." She answered looking down. "I hope this works."

"It will, I promise." They smiled.

***************************************************************

Sandy watched as Sean got undressed. He walked to her and gave her a kiss, and started to un hook her bra.

"Sean I dont want to have sex again until we’re married." She watched his expression as it turned dark.

"Why not?" He asked, trying to hide the anger in his voice. He had a feeling Sierra was behind this.

"Because I want to wear a white dress to our wedding, and I want our wedding night to be special." She answered, feeling good about her decision when he smiled, and let out a small laugh.

"Well then I guess I need time alone in the room," He waited for her to leave. She didnt catch his implication at first. "Well I guess if you want to watch me..."

"What?" She asked confused, then as she watched him, she realized what he meant. "I’ll go finish dinner." She hurried out of the room.
***************************************************************

The justice of the peace had performed the ceremony in a quick manner. He had three other couples after Carol and Ryan. They walked back to the car in silence.

"Well its official I’m misses Ryan Hughes." Carol looked sad.

"Yea you are," Ryan looked over at her. "Not exactly the person I thought I was going to end up married to."

 "Yea well its not like your exactly Angelina Jolie."

"What do you lesbians see in her?" Ryan asked trying to lighten the mood.

"She’s beautiful. Ryan we cant avoid talking about the next step in your plan, especially since we are only a few minutes away from it."  Carol was anxious.

"Well basically tell me everything you remember then we check you into Oakview."  Both took a deep breath. Oakview was the local psychiatric  hospital.

"What happened to the straight camp idea?" She asked.

"It went by the wayside, noones going to know we’re gay, and even if they do they cant stop us from getting married."

"We could still do it after I get out of here," She said as they pulled into the driveway.

"Anything you want to tell me before I have you committed?"

"I’ve told you everything, My mom and I were fighting, I blacked out and then when I came to she was dead."

"Ok." They walked into the building. When they reached the desk, he said "My wife would like to commit herself."

"Are you a threat to yourself or anyone else?" The receptionist asked.
"Yes." Carol answered.

Tracy waited for her youngest daughter Tabitha. She had reflected a lot on the things she was doing in her daughters lives. The amount of control that she was taking. She knew it was the wrong thing to do, but she couldn’t help it, they made poor decisions and therefore she had ot be the overbearing mother like her own.

"Hey mom I thought Sierra was picking me up." Tabitha got into the car.

"Shes out doing something with one of her friends." Tracy answered her. "I hope you dont mind spending 5 minutes with your mother."

"Whatever." Tabby responded.

***************************************************************

Carol and Ryan sat staring at one another. She had told him everything, from the black out to the fact that her mother had been stabbed to death. He brought up that even if she hadn’t killed Virginia she could still be charged with obstruction of justice for lying to the police.

"What do we do now?" She asked, trying to break the silence.

"Get married," He answered so quickly she thought he was joking. "If IM your husband then I cant be asked to testify against you."

"Ummm theres a problem with that." Carol noted "We’re both gay."

"That doesn’t matter." He reasoned.

"We’re both very out." She shot back.

"In the eyes of the law, we’ll be husband and wife for whatever reason,"  He answered confidently. "And it wont be anything wrong since you haven’t been accused of anything yet." Carol sighed, she knew that he had a good point and she had told him everything.

***************************************************************

Sierra watched as Sandy tried on some wedding dresses. She looked truly radiant in each dress that she tried on. Sierra lied to her on almost every dress, hoping that the next one would be ugly enough for her to choose. If Sean thought he was going to have beautiful wedding he had another  thing coming. Especially if he wasn’t going to be marrying her.

"Are you sure you should be wearing white?" Sierra asked after another dress looked terrific on Sandy.

"Why wouldn’t I wear white?" Sandy asked genuinely confused.

"You have had sex with Sean haven’t you?" Sierra asked casually.

"Well," Sandy looked away, shame written on her face. "Yes we have had relations."

"Well then  we need to be looking at other colored dresses." Sierra said sternly.

"But I want to wear a white dress," She was near tears.

"Well maybe if we push back the wedding date a little and you dont have ’relations’ with Sean until then you might be able to get away with a white dress." Sierra advised.

***************************************************************

Tracy dropped Tabby off at home, then headed back to the office. Once she reached the office she listened to her voicemails. Nothing of interest, she deleted them all. There was a knock on her door.

"Tracy, We have a problem." Justin Sparks told her. Justin was her most trusted advisor. After she took over he was the one who gave her the information that she needed to successfully run the business, and he did it with a take no prisoners attitude that she enjoyed.

"What is it?" She asked figuring that it would be something that could easily be taken care of.
"As you know your contract as CEO is up," He began "And the stockholders have to vote on renewing your contract."

"Yes, Justin what’s the problem?" Tracy asked at once annoyed and concerned with the direction this was taking.

"We have 98% of the votes in," He let this sink in. Her stomach dropped, every time her contract had been up, her ex husband who still owned 33% of the company voted against her but her 33% equalized that in her mind. "The vote is split 49% in favor and 49% opposed to retaining you."

"Which stockholders haven’t been counted?" She asked. In her mind she was playing out all the ways this could possibly go down.

"Spearstim Holding company." He answered, "I’ve already tried to call them but there has been no answer, I sent out a letter of advisement and it was returned to me." He watched as this information sunk in.

"Whose the CEO or owner?" She asked plotting her plan of attack.

"Thats the thing, its a fake name," He responded. "  The CEO is listed as John Doe."

"Shit!" She pushed her hair back. "What happens now?"

"Well according to company policy without a majority vote, you cannot renew your contract, and you cannot work without a contract." He answered. "If we dont get this vote in, and in your favor within the next 3 weeks, you will no longer be the CEO of this company."

"What if I get  of the stockholders who voted against me to change their vote?" She asked.

"Its highly unusual, when Brad was removed from the position he tried the same thing." He began, knowing that any mention of her ex husband would usually end with them arguing. "It was established that there had to be an alternate vote to see if the other stock holders would allow a ’do over vote’ it was unanimous no."

"Damn." Tracy said defeated.
***************************************************************

"Are we actually going to do this?" Carol asked as the walked up to City Hall.

"We have to," Ryan stayed  calm, and confident. "To save you from going to jail."

"Lets get this over with." She took a deep breath and started up the stairs, Ryan followed.

"After this Im taking you straight to Cadillac Mental Hospital," This stopped Carol cold in her tracks.

"What?" She demanded. "I never agreed to that."

 "Its to set up your defense," Ryan reasoned with her. "In case you are ever charged with..." He trailed his words. She knew what he was going to say, she hung her head. He was right.

“I need to get that dumb bitch away from Sean.”  Sierra slammed her keys on the table.

“Who, dear?” Tracy asked, glad for the chance to comfort her daughter.

“Sandy whatever her last name is.” Sierra threw herself into the chair, fighting tears.

“What have I always told you about enemies?” Tracy asked

“Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. I’m sure Sean has already warned her about me.”

“Then seek and destroy.”

***************************************************************

“Where was I today?” Michael repeated.

“Yea, I called the church and they said you had been gone for a few hours this afternoon.” Ellen responded.

“I was helping a young man who called me,” Michael answered, then went to the shower. “Father forgive me.”  As he showered, he tried to make sense of everything. He truly loved Ellen and knew that they belonged together, however he also loved Kevin and felt that he should give him a chance.  On top of being torn between those two was his religion. What did God really think about homosexuality?

***************************************************************

Sean found Ryan at a restaurant.

“So you know what happened with Derrick and I?” He asked, sitting down without an invitation.  

“Yep.” Ryan answered, looking at the menu.

“I’m sorry Ryan,” Sean began. “I was drunk and he was a warm mouth.”

“I don’t need to hear the details of your foray into homoville.”

“I’m not gay” Sean protested “It was a one time thing.”

“Whatever.” Ryan put the menu down. “Where is the damn waitress?”

“Ryan...” Sean protested.

“No worries Sean.”

***************************************************************

“Come on talk to me,” Ray insisted to Kevin.

“No Im fine really.” Kevin smiled, brightly.

“Tell me, I can help you.” Ray knew his friend was lying.

“You have no experience with secrets,” Kevin sighed.

“Dont I?” Ray asked.

“Do you?” Kevin responded.

“I’m gay” Ray blurted out.

***************************************************************

Tony and Savannah sat in an awkward silence.

“This is weird, huh?” Tony laughed a bit

“Yea it is,” Savannah pushed her hair back. “Im sorry, I feel like a high school girl.”

“I know the feeling” Tony said “I mean not a school girl but ummm...”

“I understand what you mean.” Savannah smiled at him.

“What you must think of me.” Tony looked straight at her.

“I used to go to McDonalds just to see you.”  Savannah blurted out.

“I know, I used to walk by your table at lunch to see you.” Both smiled at their confessions.

***************************************************************

“Derrick is that you?” Millicent hollered when she heard the door open.

“Yea, what do you want?” Derrick yelled back. The only time she talked to him was to make his life a living hell.

“We’re going to have the Clarks over for dinner Thursday night,” Millicent entered the kitchen with him. “I expect you to be there and be on your best behavior.”

“Yes mommy dearest,” Derrick shot, “NO talking about blow jobs.”

“Cut that talk out,” Millicent admonished.

“What is this dinner for?” Derrick asked.

“Im trying to get a seat on the church board.”  Millicent answered “And I want their endorsement.” She knew she could get Ellens endorsement, even if Ellen had no desire to give it to her.

***************************************************************

“You no good dyke.” Virginia screamed at Carol. “You can’t do anything right.”

“Go to hell mother,” Carol screamed back at her.

“Why are you such a disappointment?” Virginia sneered.

“Because you made me this way!” Carol exclaimed

“No I didn’t, I would never make such a disappointment, you were adopted” Virginia stopped dead in her tracks.

“What?” Carol asked, shocked.

“I adopted your sorry ass.” Virginia answered, starting to cool off.

“Your lying.” Carol grasped at straws. She put her hands on her head as it started to throb. Everything went black. When  she woke up, Virginia lay on the lay bleeding. “MOM” she screamed......  

Sierra met face to face with Sandy and Sean at the mall. She and her friend Monica Spies had been shopping.

“What a pleasant surprise!” She chirped. Sean tried to steer Sandy away from her.

“Sierra, please just leave us in peace.” Sean pleaded.

“I just want to introduce myself to your fiancée.” Sierra smiled. “I’m Sierra Montgomery.”

 “Sandy Carpenter.” Sandy smiled “Will you be coming to our wedding?”

“No,” Sierra sneered. “You wont be marrying my boyfriend.”

***************************************************************

Derrick ran into Monica at the mall. They hugged, both surveyed one another.

“You look good,” Monica smiled.

“As do you.” He looked at her again. “SO have you decided which side of the fence you’re on?”

Monica laughed. “Nope I’m still Bi-sexual, had a fling with Carol over the summer, it was good but I can’t compete with Ryan.” She shuffled. “Whats going on with you and Ryan?”

“Well its over for good between us.” Derrick sadly looked down. “I slept with someone else over the summer.”

“Dish.” She smiled, the realized what had been said. “Oh my God have you told him?”

“Yea and he was not happy.” Each met the others eyes.

“Uh oh.”  Monica shifted nervously. “At least he doesn’t know who it was with.”

***************************************************************

Amy looked through the classified ads. She had been looking for a job all day and was not finding anything decent.

“Find anything sweetie?” Ellen asked.

“No mom I haven’t.” Amy sighed and threw herself onto the chair. “Luckily the student loans will cover most of my expenses for school.”

“Your father and I will help out as much as possible.”

“I know.” Amy smiled faintly. Debbie started screaming “But there are four other people here to consider.”

“Let me know how I can help.” Ellen left the room. Amy returned to the papers, and her growing frustration.

***************************************************************

Tony waited at the restaurant. He watched for Savannah, and stood up when he seen her. She looked beautiful, she was wearing a black pleated skirt with a white dress shirt.

“You look great.” He smiled and pulled out her chair.

“Thank you.”  She blushed. She had always had a crush on Tony but never thought he felt the same way about her.

“My pleasure.” He couldn’t take his eyes off of her.  “Do you remeber when we went to homecoming together?” He laughed softly.

“Yea.” She giggled. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“Sorry, that was a ridiculous question.” He looked away embarrassed  “This is  just a little weird.”
“For me too.” Savannah admitted.

***************************************************************

Kevin sat at the diner alone. He was trying to sort out all the emotions he was feeling. Shame, regret, yet he also felt a connection to Michael that could not be denied. The waitress came by and he ordered a coke. If only he could confide in Savannah, but that would complicate her life more than what it needed to. He would have to figure this out for himself. He would not tell Savannah that he was sleeping with the father of her new boyfriend.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Ray asked

“Got a million dollars?” Kevin laughed.

***************************************************************

Ryan ran into the group of Sierra, Sandy and Sean. He walked straight to them.

“Sierra I am not your boyfriend.” Sean insisted.

“I bet you were the first time you slept with this tramp.”  Sierra said nastily.

“I thought we were going to be friends.” Sandy pouted.

“Hey Ryan.” Sean said, glad for the distraction.

“Hello.” Ryan responded distantly.

“This is Sandy” Sean ask pointing to her. “How’s Derrick?”

“You would know better than anybody,” After Ryan made the shot he walked away, leaving everyone staring at him.

***************************************************************

Michael came home and found Amy still looking for a job,

“Why don’t you come work at the church with me?” He asked hoping to give his daughter a much deserved break.

“Dad, as much as I appreciate the offer, I will not work with you.” Amy knew her father was trying to help but she was not about to let him just give her a job just because he could.

“Hey hun,” Ellen reentered the kitchen after settling Debbie down.

“Hey,” He pecked her on the cheek. A pang of guilt hit him. He knew in his heart that what he was doing with Kevin was wrong but he couldn’t help himself. “I’m only home for a minute, have to do the evening service. Can I expect my family to be there?”

“I’ll be there with Debbie, ask your daughter yourself.”  Both turned to Amy, who ignored them. “And Tony is on a date.”

“Ahh.” He turned to go to the restroom.

“Michael,” Ellen called after him.

“Yea.” He responded.

“Where were this afternoon?” Michael felt himself pale.

Ray was shopping for his dorm.  He mindlessly picked things up and put them back down. Often he wondered if he should tell his mom that you couldn't change a persons sexuality. More often than not the people she "helped" went back to being them true selves.  She would never understand though.

***************************************************************

Derrick sat next to Ryan. He was shifting uncomfortably. He was about to tell  Ryan something major but he knew Ryan wouldn't take it well. In fact he considered not telling him at all but Ryan was intuitive and would be able to guess that there was something he didn't know.

"What is it?" Ryan snapped. He was already annoyed that Derrick had took off for the summer without, but now he was acting like a child.

"What?" Derrick asked taken aback.

"Who'd you sleep with?" Ryan glared.

"I d-d-d-dont know what your talking about," He stammered, attempting to stay cool.

"Just tell me,"  Ryan demanded. "Quit playing games."

"Sean Morgan." Derrick said defeated.

***************************************************************

Sierra spied Sean leaving his house. She was determined to talk to him. He'd been avoiding her since he returned.

"Sean," She yelled out. He turned and paled when he saw her.

"Sierra, I've been meaning to call you." He faked a smile.

"I bet you've been busy," She hugged him. "Preparing to apologize to me."

"Uh, not exactly," Sean decided it was best just to be honest with her. "I met someone and we're getting married."

"Over my dead body." Sierra sneered.

***************************************************************

Tracy sat across from Millicent Woods, they were having lunch.

"Hows that charming stepson of yours?"  Tracy asked, referring to Derrick

"The sooner I get him out of the way the better." Millicent grumbled. "I cant believe Colin lets him get away with the stunts he pulls."

"Colin does have a soft spot for his son." Tracy smiled.

"Well its getting on my nerves." Millicent sneered. "I dont know how much more I can take."

"Since when are you a shrinking violet?" Tracy asked, a devious smile playing on her lips. "After all the stunts you have pulled."

"We swore never to speak of those."  Millicent chastised. "I wonder what I could do to get him out of the way."

"Send him to Rose Harlands." Tracy smiled.

"He wont go to an ex-gay camp."

"Make him."

***************************************************************

Carol looked in disbelief at her mother. She was freaking out over a glass being in the sink.

"God damnit, cant you pick up after yourself?" Patty yelled.

"Mom it was one glass, I was in a rush this morning."

"Don't take that tone with me, you lazy ungrateful bitch."  She slapped Carol, and unexpectedly Carol hit her back.

"Don't ever do that again." Carol stormed out of the house. Ryan was waiting outside for her. She screamed. "What the hell are you doing here?"
 
"Sulking." He answered. "I was going to knock but I heard the yelling." They began walking.

"Yea, its getting worse maybe I should move out." Carol stopped. "Wait, why were you there?"

"All I can say is that Sean Morgan better watch his back."

***************************************************************

Kevins cell phone was ringing.

"Hello," He answered. "You know I'll be there." smiling he hung up.

"Who was that? Savannah asked.

"Nobody, dont you have a date to be getting ready for with Tony?"  He smiled at his friend.

"Was that the secret guy you've been seeing?"

"We're not seeing one another. Just kinda messing around."

"Well when do I get to meet him?" Savannah asked.

"You already have." He sighed.

***************************************************************

"So Savannah finally got you to agree to go out with her?" Amy asked slightly teasing.

"I've always had a thing for her."  Tony confessed. 
"I've often..."

"Stop right there I don't need to hear any more."

"Maybe this could turn out to be good for me."  Both smiled.

***************************************************************

Kevin opened the hotel room. Deep in his heart he knew that he shouldn't be doing this, but he had yet to be able to stop.

"Whats wrong stud?" Michael Clark asked.

"I'm sleeping with the town preacher, who is married with children." Kevin answered. "Im going to burn in hell for this."

"Why do you keep the affair going?" Michael asked.

"I cant resist you!" They kissed on that note.....