Subj: Collinsport -- 80
Date: 2/22/01 12:25:03 AM Central Standard Time
From: DSRules

Quentin was awakened by Azura kissing him on his chest. "Hi, there!" He smiled at her.

"Good morning," she grinned up at him.

"You up for a little shopping trip this morning?"

"Shopping?" She sat up a little. "What do you mean?"

"I think you need an engagement ring." He reached down and raised the third finger on her left hand to his lips.

She shook her head. "No. All I need is to know that you love me." She lay back down again, throwing one leg over his.

"All right. Then *I* need for you to have an engagement ring. And I'll bet that Zoe needs it, too."

"Zoe?"

"Yes. You remember her? Our daughter?"

She smiled at how easily the words 'our daughter' came from him. "I don't think that she would care."

"Why don't we go over to Collinwood and ask her, then?"

* * *

Vicki was awakened by the sound of a crying baby. Thinking the baby was her own, she leaped from the bed, but soon fell back down again when she realized that all of her own babies were grown by now. And some had grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

{Penni.} She thought. {It's David and Sarah's baby.}

She tried to go back to sleep, but sleep eluded her. {Oh, well. Might as well go downstairs and get something to eat.}

She walked down the stairs quickly, heading into the kitchen, where David, Sarah and Zoe sat at the table. Penni was in an infant carseat that was placed in the center of the table.

"You look happy." David commented as Vicki took the fourth chair.

"I am." Her smile broadened. "It feels good to be home."

David got up and got the coffee pot. "You want some coffee?" He asked her.

"Yes, please." She smiled up at him, pushing her cup in his direction.

He filled the cup. "So, now that you're back, what are your plans for the day?"

"I really don't know." Vicki shrugged. "I guess I'll go over and visit Carolyn for a while. I feel so foolish that I didn't recognize her last night."

"Don't feel bad." Sarah comforted her former governess from across the table as she lifted Penni to her shoulder and began to burp her. "It's not your fault that you didn't recognize her. You had amnesia, after all."

"I know." Vicki sighed. "But it's still hard knowing that I saw my best friend last night and talked to her like she was a complete stranger."

Penni let out a large burp, and Sarah cradled her in her arms again as she started another bottle. "Do you remember what made you lose your memory?"

"No." Vicki shook her head. "It was two years ago. I had just started seeing someone new, and he had invited me to his family's Memorial Day cookout. I was driving through Burbank to his family's house when the amnesia just hit me. I just suddenly forgot everything. Where I was, who I was. I even forgot how to drive. I ran the car into an embankment or something, then got out and walked away.

"I spent the next few days living out of homeless shelters and eating at rescue missions and things." An uncomfortable expression crossed her face. "One night, a new shelter opened up. With comfortable beds, and they never turned anyone away.

"So, I took a chance. While I was there, they offered a home - a permanent home - to anyone who wanted one. I took them up on it.

"And you know where that got me. They picked up and moved on a few weeks later, and then kept traveling, stopping for a few weeks in various cities. First San Francisco, then Sacramento, on through the Pacific Northwest, then down through the Rocky Mountains. Eventually, we ended up in Bar Harbor."

"But you don't know why you developed amnesia?" Sarah asked.

Vicki shook her head. "No. Not a clue."

"Good morning," Laura said as she came into the room. Her eyes lingered a moment longer than they should have on Zoe as she poured herself a cup of coffee and took a fifth chair at the table.

"Good morning, Laura." Sarah smiled at her. "I'm thinking we should probably get a bigger kitchen table. When Beth and Javier come downstairs, I'm not sure we'll be able to get all of us around this one."

"Oh. Didn't you know? Beth is working at the antique shop this morning, and Javier has already left for work." David told her.

"Oh." Sarah pouted a little. "I forgot. It's a work day, isn't it? And I'm so desperate to tell you all." She paused. "Oh, what the heck. They'll just have to catch up later."

"What do you want to tell us?" David said.

"Is it about Momma and Daddy?" Zoe asked.

Sarah nodded. "Why don't you tell them, Zoe?"

"Well," Zoe began, "They came to see me last night. They're going to get married." She beamed.

"That's wonderful, Zoe!" David grinned at his younger cousin.

"What terrific news." Vicki also replied.

In the ensuing excitement, Laura slipped, unseen, from the room. The announcement of Quentin's engagement hit her hard. She walked down the corridor to the front door of the house and then stepped outside, staring across the bay at the lighthouse.

Her hand unconsciously found an old scar slightly off-center on her chest. {Quentin!} Her heart cried out. {You know you belong to me. You always have. You always will. I will find a way to win you back. I have to.}

* * *

Sighing as he picked up his carry-on bag, Neil walked to the door and offered his boarding pass to the airline employee. {Of course Todd would be on vacation.} He thought, referring to the pilot he normally hired to fly him when he needed to travel. {So, here I am, flying commercial.}

He began the walk down the jetway to the plane. {I just hope that after my connecting flight, I can make it in time to stop Barnabas before he speaks to Nicholas.}

Subj: Collinsport -- 81
Date: 4/13/01 4:43:41 PM Central Daylight Time
From: DSRules

If breastfeeding talk requires some kind of warning, consider yourself warned.

NOTE: I've finally cast the role of Neil! Henceforth, he will be played by Peter Barton (Eddie from Sunset Beach)

=====================

After breakfast, Sarah stood to collect the dishes to put them in the dishwasher.

"Don't bother with that." Vicki admonished her. "You and Penni should just go and have some mother/daughter time."

Sarah smiled, and responded. "It'll only take a few minutes." She picked up her plate.

"I said," Vicki said in a tone that allowed no argument, "that I'll take care of that."

Sarah put the plate back down on the table. "Well, we'll keep you company then." She picked Penni up and moved out of Vicki's way, standing on the far side of the dishwasher.

"Am I going to be able to convince you not to?"

She smiled. "Not really."

Vicki sighed and began stacking plates.

"I was thinking," Sarah began, "about your amnesia."

"Mm-hmmm. . ." Vicki responded.

"It just seems kind of odd. I mean, isn't amnesia usually brought on by, you know, a shock or a blow to the head. It usually doesn't just *happen* like that."

"Well, it happened that way with me. Both times." She finished putting the plates in the dishwasher and moved back towards the table to pick up the coffee cups.

"Both times?"

Vicki nodded. "The first was around 1900. I was walking down a street in New York City, and then, poof! No memory. It took about ten years for it to come back that time."

"What made it come back?"

Vicki had finished loading the dishwasher, and she poured powdered detergent into it, shutting it and turning it on. "It just came back as suddenly as it had left."

"Well, I was going to the lactation consultant today," Sarah paused, "and on the way I'm going by my office to see everyone."

Vicki sensed that Sarah was going somewhere with this line of conversation. "All right . . ."

"And, well, my boss, Adam, he's also my nephew - long story - has a lot of books about the paranormal and psychology and stuff. Maybe he can come up with a theory about why your amnesia just hit like that."

Vicki finished drying her hands on a paper towel. "Why not?" She asked. "It'll give me a chance to see some of the town by daylight again, too."

* * *

Feeling crowded, despite the extra space his first-class seat afforded him, Neil shifted around in his seat as he dug in his briefcase for his book.

"Would you like something to drink?" The flight attendant asked him.

He shook his head. "No thank you."

Just as she was about to move away, he turned in his seat. "Actually," he addressed her again. "I've brought my own . . . beverage with me, but I really could use a couple of those plastic glasses. And could you please keep the ice cubes coming?"

Blood was best warm. Second-best was cold. Lukewarm blood was something Neil reserved for moments of absolute desperation.

The flight attendant smiled. "Of course, sir." She reached into her cart and pulled out a glass, filling it with ice. "Will this do to start with?"

Neil nodded. "Yes it will. Thank you very much." As soon as the flight attendant's attention was fixed on something else, Neil reached into his briefcase and pulled out the bottle of blood he'd brought with him, splashing a little of it into the glass then setting it aside to allow the ice cubes a little time to melt. Within a few minutes it looked like a perfectly innocuous glass of tomato juice to the unsuspecting eye. {Well, better drink this before it coagulates,} Neil thought as he took a sip.

* * *

Barnabas nervously adjusted the knot of his necktie and then picked up his briefcase, which contained the envelope that had Nicholas's address in it. He kissed Julia quickly. "If you need to reach me this afternoon," he told his wife, "you might not be able to find me."

"Oh?"

"A new book just came out last week. On the economics of the Byzantine Empire. It may take me a while to locate a copy, I'm afraid." He actually already had his copy of the book. It was in his office at the college.

"Oh." Julia responded. "I see. Well, have fun book-shopping."

"I will." Barnabas responded with no inflection. He kissed Julia again, then put his arms around her, hugging her fiercely.

"Barnabas? Are you all right?" She mumbled into his chest.

He released her. "I'm fine, Julia. I don't know what got into me."

She raised a hand, cupping it against his cheek and kissing him again. "You'd better get a move on."

"I guess I had better." Barnabas agreed as, reluctantly, he turned and walked out the door.

* * *

Sarah and Vicki emerged from the lactation consultant's office. Sarah carried Penni in her arms, and Vicki carried a small bag.

"Well, you don't have to do it if you don't want to," Vicki said. "I've breast-fed and formula-fed, and they're both perfectly acceptable."

"I know," Sarah sighed as she kissed Penni on the head and leaned down to buckle her into the carseat. "And I really want to breastfeed, but, look at all this."

She took the bag from Vicki, rummaging through it. She looked at the tubes, tape, and bottle for formula. "Supplemental feeding system, huh?" She asked doubtfully.

"You and Penni were separated for quite a while, and your milk has dried up. You know that if you want to re-establish it . . ."

"I know." Sarah responded, nodding. "It just seems so . . ."

"Awkward?"

Sarah nodded. "Yeah. I guess."

"Well, you aren't going to be able to use that for the rest of the afternoon, so just keep giving Penni bottles until David gets home from Wyndcliff, and then you can discuss it with him."

Sarah smiled at her former governess. "You're right. Let's go get some lunch, and then we can go see Adam."