AN: A couple more chapters left, okay? And then an epilogue, probably...

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LeeAnne came home the next day and set herself up on the sofa in the lounge. She said it was "too lonesome" up in her room, too far away from everyone. It did make sense to have her closer to the kitchen, since it was so far for her to walk from her bedroom. Also, it saved her having to walk down the back stairs where her accident had occurred.

And although no one came out and said it to her face, it soon became obvious to her that everyone was upset with her, and that she wasn't surrounded by people who loved or even liked her.

"What the fuck's going on around here?" she asked plaintively when Mara had placed a cup of tea by LeeAnne's elbow and walked away without a word.

"What do you mean?" Mara asked coolly, turning around.

"No 'hello,' no 'you feeling better?'" LeeAnne gestured toward the teacup. "You just plunk it down and leave?"

"What do you want from me? We weren't friends before, we're certainly not friends now, I assume you're leaving in a couple of days, so what is there to say?" Mara demanded, hand on her hip.

"Why would I be leaving in a couple of days?" LeeAnne seemed honestly perplexed.

"You have no reason to stay, do you?" Mara sounded just as perplexed.

In the meantime, their raised voices had brought the others from all over the house, including Chiara, who'd been in the mudroom.

"I'm going to Italy with Drew, for your wedding," LeeAnne said, gesturing toward him where he stood in the doorway to the kitchen. "We're still engaged." She lifted her left hand, where she still wore the ring, for emphasis. "After that, I might take Sienna and go back to LA, if I feel like it, and if Nicholle hasn't sold the house--"

"Hold on a tick," Gary said. He was sitting on the main stairs, bouncing a smiling Sienna on his legs. "I don't know about Italy and the wedding with Drew, though I have a pretty good guess that's not happening. I do know, though, that you're not taking Sienna anywhere. You relinquished custody to me, remember? You keep the house, the car, all the baby gifts and money and that, but she's mine, you don't even have visitation, you didn't want it. 'I'll be too busy' were your exact words, if I recall correctly."

"And you're definitely not coming anywhere with me," Drew said firmly. "As you've made plain over and over and over these past weeks, everything between us is happening according to the contract we signed, and we'd better be damned careful not to break it, right? And, though I understand it was no fault of yours, you did break it when you lost the baby, so our contract is now null and void; therefore, we're no longer engaged."

"But--wait, you guys are saying not only have I lost the baby I was going to have, but you're not going to give back the baby I gave away?" LeeAnne sounded incredulous.

"Think about what you're saying," Ned responded without missing a beat. "You want Drew to stick to his contract, the one that you broke, but you don't want Gars to stick to his contract, the one that he hasn't broken? How unreasonable is that? You can't pick and choose which legal documents you uphold and which you ignore. You either--"

"No! No! This is all bollocks!" This came from Noah, whom no one had noticed in the dimly lit hallway that led to the music room and recording studio.

"Noah! What are you doing here?" Apparently LeeAnne hadn't known Noah was even on the premises.

"None of this matters, all this shite about contracts and enforcement and what's null and void? Everyone knows the truth, all of it, you bitch! That baby wasn't mine, it was Gary's, and you didn't love it, just like you don't love her--" and he gestured viciously to the baby in Gary's lap. "We all talked, and everyone knows the truth, so you can call every news station in England and spew your rubbish, because none of it matters anymore! Tell everyone anything you want, and all that will happen is that they'll all hate you, just like I do!"

Noah stalked to the window and pointed to the fans who were still standing out at the gate to the main road. "Do you know what they're calling you? You're the 'gold digging American slut,' or the 'broodmare whore,' that's what I read online," Noah told her triumphantly. "You've done nothing but lie and use everyone with every breath you took since you got here, and the sooner we see the last of you the better. In fact, you should probably hurry up and leave the country, because as soon as the truth starts getting around, you'll be arrested for statutory rape of a minor."

LeeAnne made a face.

"That's ridiculous," she said. "I never raped anyone. I can't, I'm a woman. Who would I have raped?"

"Me," Noah answered. "I was only fourteen when you came to my room."

"Oh please, you wanted it so bad," she answered with a grim smile. "How stupid can you get? You were a horny teenager." She turned to everyone else in the room. "Is he telling the truth?"

"They're very strict about this stuff in England," Luke informed her. "Gender doesn't matter. Noah is a child, and you're considered a pedophile, the most degenerate of criminals."

"Really?" LeeAnne asked in a small voice. "That's what they're calling me? They all hate me that much?"

"Is that all you care about?" Chiara asked in wonder. "Everything he said, and you're worried about what they're calling you?"

"I can't go to jail," LeeAnne said. She pushed her blanket aside and rose, surprisingly vigorous for someone who was supposedly recuperating and not feeling well. "I'm going to pack, so we can go as soon as my sister gets here" she announced. "She should be here this evening." And she turned and walked up the stairs, passing Gary and baby Sienna without so much as a downward glance.

Drew went to his brother and hugged him.

"You okay, little bro?"

Noah nodded. "I'm taller than you, don't call me little" he admonished, his voice muffled.

True to her word, Nicholle showed up, waited while the driver loaded LeeAnne's bags into the car, got back in next to her sister, then the two of them simply pulled away into the dusk, headed back to the airport, presumably.

"How did she even know not to come in?" Ned asked.

"LeeAnne must've texted her," Drew answered. "I don't even care, I'm so fucking happy to see the back of her."

The two of them were sitting the lounge, having a drink before bed. Gary had taken Sienna up already, and Luke and Mara, who were leaving for Italy in the morning, were upstairs doing last minute packing. Noah had crashed right after dinner, exhausted from all the emotion, and Chiara had retired to the cottage because she had to get up early for work.

"Did you ask her? Chiara, I mean." Ned kept his voice down as he spoke, downing the rest of his drink in one gulp.

Drew nodded. "She said she'd come. At first she said she didn't want to intrude on a private celebration or some such, but Mara overheard us and came into the kitchen to tell her that she wanted her to come to the wedding, she was counting on it, that it wouldn't be the same with out her and everything, and she finally agreed to come."

Ned smiled.

"That's ace, mate. I think you two are going to work things out. I mean, once she thinks about it, she'll realize that you didn't really do anything wrong, you know? You lied because you had to, but you didn't cheat on her, you never stopped caring about her, you told her the truth the very first moment you could--"

Drew nodded. "But the lying, no matter what the reason, that's a hard thing for a girl like Chiara to forgive, I think." He, too, downed the rest of his drink, and rose, gesturing for Ned's glass so he could refill both of them at once.

Ned handed it over with a "Thanks, mate," and Drew walked over to the bar to mix up two more whiskey sours, which was what they were drinking that night.

While he was walking back with them, he stepped on Sienna's little ball and nearly fell, almost spilling both drinks.

"Whoa!" He wove to and fro, narrowly avoiding mishap, and handed Ned his drink. He set his drink down and went back for the ball, picking it up so it wouldn't happen to someone else.

He sat down with the ball and picked up his drink with the other hand, taking a swallow as they continued to talk, holding the ball.

He looked at it, noticing something dried and brown smeared across it.

"What's this, then?" he asked absently, rubbing at it. He looked over at Ned as he asked, continuing to rub. "Kind of looks like blood, doesn't it?"

He glanced back down at the ball before the expression on Ned's face registered, and he quickly looked back at his friend.

"Ned? Neddy? You okay, mate? What's wrong? You look sick."

Ned set his drink down and covered his eyes. "I've had nightmares about that ball," he whispered. "But I'm not sorry, I'd do it again."

"What? Ned, how much have you had to drink? What are you talking about? Are you pissed?"

"I thought I cleaned that stupid ball," Ned said, holding his hand out for it.

Drew handed it over, still not understanding what Ned was talking about.

Then he remembered the last time he'd seen it.

Sienna had been holding it, right after LeeAnne had fallen.

And Ned had been holding Sienna.

And hadn't LeeAnne actually said something about the ball? Right before she lost consciousness?

"Ned? Ned? What did you do? What did you do, mate? Did you do something that night?"

Ned looked at him, and his eyes were bloodshot from the whiskey, but they were sober as he nodded.

"I knew. I knew that stupid slag would come running down those stairs like she always did, so I just--put the ball down, you know?"

"On the stairs? On the landing?" Drew whispered.

Again, Ned nodded.

"I wanted her to die," he said simply. "You and Chiara were so happy, Andrew! I'd never seen you so happy, you know? Never! And poor little Chiara, without a friend or family in the world to call her own, she finds you--I mean, what are the chances that a chubby, plain-faced gardener could even get the attention of a rock star, let alone get him to fall in love with her? But she did, and she has this chance to be, god, so happy, so very happy, and then along comes that stroppy cunt, that snake in the grass to ruin everything!"

Ned's face was a grim study in hatred.

"I hoped I could make her happy, but I couldn't, she loved you and only you, like you loved her and only her. You deserved to be together, and I wasn't about to let that miserable excuse for a human being ruin the lives of so many that I loved, not if I could do anything about it."

He rubbed at the ball vigorously, removing the last of the brown stain.

"It came bouncing down ahead of her when she fell, so I just picked up and handed it to the wee one." He shrugged. "She didn't die, but it all worked out."

He looked at Drew, concern in his green eyes. "Are you going to turn me in?"

Drew slowly shook his head.

"You're my mate," he said simply. "And I love you like a brother. You were trying to help me. You did help me. I'd never do anything to hurt you, you must know that."

Ned nodded.

"Thanks, man. And thanks for listening."

Drew swallowed the last of his drink as Ned did the same. They rose, hugged each other, and walked up the main stairs, arm in arm.