Jas was up before the sun and headed downstairs to the kitchen to help Nanna with breakfast. When she opened the door to the west wing Flannery was sitting there looking quite agitated. Jas smirked until she heard Flannery hiss at her.

"Mind your manners Flannery, sorry from keeping you from your beloved."

She smiled, scooping the cat up. A few strokes along her orange and black streaked fur was all she needed to forgive Jas. The cat snuggled against her chest. Jas opened the door and went back to Aiden's room and laid Flannery on the bed.

Aiden stirred as the cat snuggled against him. "Jas?"

"I'm going down to help Nanna get ready for breakfast." She leaned down and kissed Aiden on the cheek.

"Okay, babe."

She chuckled as he lifted his arm and placed it around Flannery. He mumbled something and then was sound asleep again.

***

Jas was humming a tune as she entered the kitchen. Nanna grinned because she was normally not enthusiastic early in the morning. Jas's mouth watered at the smell of buttery yeast rolls. She took one off the tray and sank her teeth into it. She licked away the butter that oozed down the side of her mouth.

"It always amazes me how good these taste." Jas washed her hands then hugged Nanna. "Sorry that I missed dinner."

"No problem, it seems that someone knew that you would not be available for dinner." The old woman poked her finger in Jas's side. Where were you?" Nanna watched as Jas blushed. She was enjoying getting a rise out of Jas. "You're all perky this morning and stuff."

"I was with Aiden," she admitted with a big smile.

"Good."

"That's all you've got to say?"

"Yeah, Flannery sitting outside of the west wing told me the rest of the story."

"Oh Nanna," Jas picked up a handful of flour, tossing it at Nanna. They both laughed as the flour went poof across her face. Of course, Nanna returned her own handful. At some point, they got back to the task of cleaning up and cooking breakfast for the guests.

When things settled down Jas decided to use this carefree moment to her own benefit. She knew that she was stepping out on a limb trying to ascertain information but perhaps while Nanna was not guarded she'd be willing to share.

"Nanna."

"Yes, dear."

She fiddled with her fingers, trying to figure out how to best approach the situation. Even Flannery had figured out that certain things go on behind closed doors, and waited there until she got what she wanted. Oh, hell, just ask her.

"What's going on behind your closed door, since you know what's going on behind mines?"

Jas glanced over at Nanna, she looked unreadable.

Nanna looked over at her, then went back to stirring the big pot of grits. She placed the spoon down, then opened a pound of shredded cheese and poured it into the grits. It took a while for her to answer, finally she said, "Life. That's what's going on behind my closed door, life."

Jas flung her arms up in exasperation. "You keep talking about life. What are you talking about? Why do you keep evading me?"

"I'm not. I'm being very truthful."

She rolled her eyes at Nanna. "Day and night, I hear laughing. I see Aiden going in and out. I feel like an outsider. Why won't you tell me?"

"I've already told you. I'm just not giving you the details. It's not time yet."

Jas cringed. Should I be relieved or worried? It's not time could be both bad or good. Bad as in, something dreadful is going to happen to Nanna. Or it could be good, in that Nanna has a big surprise ahead for all of us. She decided to go with the latter. Jas couldn't bear the thought of something dreadful happening to her Nanna. "Not time?"

"No, not the time."

"As in, there will be a time when you give me the details?"

"Yes."

"Does this have something to do with me?"

"Everything in my life has something to do with you."

Despite the strained look on her face, Jas didn't comment any further. Nanna had moved on to scrambling the eggs, while Jas had put the last tray of bacon on the steam table. "When you finish with that, please put the grits in the warming trays and I will finish and put the eggs out."

***

Several weeks had passed. Dr. Keith Early sat in the doctor's lounge noticing Dr. Troy Sparkman's quietness and dull look. He noticed it quite often over the last few weeks. Troy was totally zoned out of all the hum of conversations going on in the lounge. He seemed oblivious to the fact that the hospital had just passed their emergency preparedness testing and a huge feast had been laid before the staff as part of their reward.

He walked over to the window where Troy was sitting and extended him a cup of coffee. Troy looked up, giving a weary smile. He took the coffee, placing it on the table.

"Where are you, Troy?" said Keith.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Just a lot of things on my mind." He took a sip of the coffee, then began staring out the window again.

"Care to unload any of it?"

There was no one in the hospital that Troy would trust better than Keith Early. They were a team, as surgeons, but had also become best friends. Keith was a younger handsome doctor, that had done quite well being mentored by Troy. He was blonde, had sea blue eyes and wore a five o' clock shadow. His looks were the talk of the female staff. Yet, he had his eyes on none of them. He was happily married to a school teacher named, Ava.

Troy's hands ran through his salt and pepper hair. He turned, facing Keith. "Deanna hired a team of detectives and they've found Aiden. We found out over a month ago and don't know what to do?"

"You're kidding. I thought he was..." When he caught himself about to say dead, he stopped. Troy flinched just anticipating the word. No one wanted to say that Aiden could possibly be dead, no matter how many times they'd thought it. "I'm sorry, I just..."

"It's okay, Keith, I understand. We told Jason and Taylor. They didn't take it well at all. They blame him for Deanna and I almost getting a divorce in the early days of having Aiden around the house and all the chaos and pain it caused us while he was missing. They say that he betrayed the family and doesn't deserve a second chance."

"That's terrible, Troy. I kinda get it, but he's still Deanna's son."

Troy put his face in his hands. Keith patted him on the back. "I'll be praying for you. I know this is going to be tough. Now you have to decide if it's worth having him back in your lives or the consequences of not finding out?

"It's killing her."

"I can imagine. As I recall you had given him $250,000 to start some business of his."

"It was a marketing company."

"He was sharp in that area, right?"

"Aiden is brilliant in business and marketing," Troy said, taking another sip of coffee. "We found out that his company has gone global. I'm angry with him about a lot of things but when I saw how his company expanded off of my investment and we've not heard a thing about it, I was furious. His success started in Thailand of all places."

"Wow. So, he went to Thailand when he vanished?"

"Yeah. He spent seven years in Thailand developing a booming dot com business. When he left that country, the trail went dead because he changed his last name to Ross. I gave him my name, Keith. Do you know how serious it is to adopt somebody? He dumped my name. With Aiden, it's just one pain after another."

"Troy, do you all really want to see him again? It might bring trouble that could make the rest of your lives very bitter."

Troy frowned, "We need to see him if for nothing more than closure. The strange part is, Deanna and I both still love him. There is a tiny part of him that we feel is still redeemable. We just keep hoping that one day he will love us back."

"You're parents. That's what parents do. Your family will be in my prayers, Troy."

***

Jas couldn't believe that she'd agreed to go back with Aiden to New York for a week. He convinced her that he needed to check on things – eight weeks was too long to let his corporation rest on his vice president's shoulders. "I need to make my presence known and steer my ship," he'd told her. He made sure everything was in place for Nanna before he left. He hired an efficient staff for the inn. Michelle and Bruce promised to check in on them and help out too, if needed.

Jas enjoyed watching how happy Aiden was when the bells jingled, a new guest came in and then a staff member was ready to assist them, with a smile. It reminded him of what he called the good old days. Nanna didn't like it at first when the new kitchen staff came. She and the chef butted heads for the first few days. But after Aiden had his company run a surprise marketing campaign for the inn before they left, Nanna was thrilled and thankful for all the help. The inn began to fill up.

Their progress of restoring their relationship had been running smoothly, but a part of her felt that things were moving too fast for her comfort. Right now, she was with the side of Aiden that she'd always love. The part of him that tried to make her happy when they were living in Thailand. She was the queen of his world when she was in that country. The only sad part was that he was too busy making a name for himself to give her the time that she craved.

Though he'd lavished her with luxury, his undivided love and devotion is what she wanted. He was striving to prove to her how smart he was, how he'd made something of himself despite his hardships. In her eyes, he was smart already. She never wanted more of him, than who he already was.

At first, everything was great, but as the years progressed he became someone that she didn't know. Bitterness against his parents kept resurfacing. It clouded their relationship. Money and the drive for business superstardom consumed the rest of him.

Despite how difficult it was, Jas never wanted to leave Aiden. They eventually began to fight a lot. She loved him enough to believe that at some point their love was strong enough to fix the situation. It wasn't. He sent her back to Ellijay, from Thailand. Her heart was shattered in a million bleeding pieces.

She never was a part of his life in New York except for a few "let's keep in touch" moments for holidays, birthdays and other brief moments through the years. Jas was curious to see who Aiden Ross was.