At 4 o'clock Hallie returned in a rush to pack up and get to the airport in time for her fligh

"Are you sure?  You don't need me to stay?" she asked.

Something inside Hallie believed her and she smiled back at her friend before giving her a long hug. Laura hurried and helped Hallie get all packed up and a ready to leave. Once Joey arrived she walked them both to the door.  "You know I am only a phone call and a flight away if you need me." Hallie said.

"I know."

"I love you."

"I love you too." Laura said as she kissed her friend on the cheek while hugging her tightly.

As Hallie and Joey were walking down the driveway, Laura called after her. "Thank you, Hallie!"

"What are friends for?" she smiled as she backed down the driveway waving before she got into the car.

Laura watched as they disappeared before going back inside. She noticed that the house seemed so empty and cold without her there. She walked into the living room and placed JC's cd in the stereo before walking over to the piano to grab the remote. She curled up on the couch with the throw blanket and pressed play. She closed her eyes tightly and listened to his voice and pictured him at the piano while he played the tune. She remembered what her dad had written in his letter. "...I'm sure he is around there somewhere if you haven't found him already...Tapping away on the piano day and night...Just like you and I used to do..."

She took the letter from her pocket and began to read it over and over again to herself before falling asleep on the couch.

At about 10 she woke up to the sound of someone knocking at her front door. She dragged herself off the couch and slowly walked over to the door and opened it. Rachel was standing there soaked from the rain.

"Rachel." Laura nodded.

"Laura." she nodded back. Laura stood there watching her as the rain kept coming down on her head.

"Can I come in?"

Laura moved over and opened the door wider for her to enter. "Thanks." Rachel said as she walked past her.

 Laura didn't know what to say to break the silence.  "Want something to drink?" she finally asked.

"No, I'm fine." Rachel said. "I would just like to talk if that is okay with you."

"What's there to talk about, Rachel?" she asked calmly.

"What isn't there to talk about!?" she yelled.

Laura kept her cool and walked into the living room and sat down on the couch before looking up at Rachel and crossing her arms. Rachel took a deep breath and began to speak. "You were my best friend...Practically my sister. I would have never thought you would have actually went and gotten with JC behind my back. You must have known you were in the wrong because neither of you told anyone."

"Don't even talk to me about friendship and stabbing you in the back. You've done it to me too many times to even count on two hands, Rachel. You've continuously lied, stolen, and cheated to get to the top." Laura said as she leaned over to get her laptop. "And just so you know...This was never about revenge. It just happened. We didn't want anyone to know because we didn't even know where it was going ourselves."

"JC was suppose to be off limits. But seeing how close you and Justin have become lately, I guess you want to keep it all a family affair."

Laura shot her a look. "You may have gotten one off at the club that night, but don't think you will get away with that shit tonight, Rachel."

Rachel backed away a bit when she heard the seriousness in her tone. Laura wanted to laugh, but knew it would be prudent to wait. "Don't come into my home talking to me as if I was some snake lying in wait and got with JC while you were still together. I'm not as conniving or as deceitful as you. An entire year went by before anything ever happened between us...And even that wasn't planned. I can't help who I fall in love with, Rachel. It just happened to be JC."

Tears were falling down Rachel's face as she looked towards the ceiling and huffed to herself. "Yeah, It just happened to be someone I have loved for a very long time, Laura!" she yelled.

Laura was now angry. She stood up and walked towards Rachel and yelled, "Don't you dare fuckin' talk to me about love! If you ever really loved him you wouldn't have cheated on him…Especially with Jerry. You would have never lied about him possibly being Nikky's father either!"

"You helped me keep that secret!" Rachel screamed back.

"What did you expect? I don't abandon my friends. No matter how wrong they are! I kept your secrets for you and look where it has gotten me...You come through like a hurricane and I am left to clean up your messes along the way. I am left to pick up the pieces and put everything back together. And you just go on about your business as if nothing ever happened. Then, for whatever reason, you decide to come back into his life and the both of you start to reminisce about your past together. And I, again, am left out in the cold to pick up the pieces once more. You screw up my working relationship with Jerry and this incredibly important deal that both me and JC have in the works, and you screw up my friendship with JC and expect me to turn over and say it's not a problem. You do all these terrible things to people and I always end up being the one to blame. I'm sick of it!!" she screamed.

Laura paced the floor and tried to calm down. "You lied and cheated and I end up the hated one? What kind of sense does that make? What do you tell people to make yourself look so good in the end? I would really like to know as a future reference. And the fact that he still loves you is beyond me. And since you have his son now, that clinches the deal."

"He told you he still loves me?" Rachel asked.

Laura walked towards Rachel and tapped her fingers to her temples, "You don't get it do you? When are you going to grow up and think about someone else besides yourself, Rachel?!"

"Look who's talking. You weren't thinking about me when you and JC were sleeping together." Rachel said as she rolled her eyes.

"You were happily married to Jerry. Why would I think about you? Why would you care either way if you were married?"

"It would have been respectful if you would have come to me first is what I am saying."

"Did you come to me first when you decided to date Ryan Miller? David Cheswick? Seth Richards? Should I go on with the list of guys I liked? You didn't like any of them, but you got with them anyway. Did you come to me out of respect when you decided to steal the song I had written for our high school talent show and sing it in front of the entire school and I was left out of the competition because I had no backup? Did you even care about me when you went and slept with that record producer I interned with at college. You remember when you dumped him? I got fired!"

"Well if you hated me so much for all this time why did you stay me friend? Why did you take me with you when you went places?" Rachel asked.

As Laura started to speak Rachel glanced over at the piano and looked at all the pictures of the two of them together...Happy. Laura noticed her gaze and cleared her throat as she continued. "I never hated you, Rachel. I was always afraid to take you anywhere in fear of losing jobs. But I took you, because that's what friends do. They help one another. They support each other. I have fought for you over and over again. And I don't want you to think I'm not happy that you finally got to where you wanted to be in your career. I'm just hurt by the way you went about getting there."

"You make me seem like this huge selfish bitch."

"Let's be honest...You are. But I've know that since kindergarten when you used to hog all my Barbies. You were a great friend most of the time. There were just moments when that great side of you was missing. Yeah, you were always by my side...Always down for the ride. But somewhere in there I just think that you used our friendship too much to get what you wanted."

Rachel shook her head from side to side and said, "I love how you make it seem like I was the only one using our friendship. Look where it got you. It got you into JC's bed."

Laura rolled her eyes and walked towards the backdoor and opened it hoping Rachel would get a clue to leave. "Look...It's obvious that you are too hard headed to understand what I am trying to say, so I am just going to stop trying. I'm also through talking about me and JC. That's a dead issue. I've already done what I have to do as far as JC and I are concerned. All he has to do is sign the divorce papers. Then the two of you won't need to worry about me any longer."

Rachel stood up and walked towards the door and stopped before leaving, "I'm sorry it had to end up this way."

"Well I'm even sorrier that I tried to be more of a friend to you, than you ever were to me." she stated before shutting the door in Rachel's face.

Laura pressed her back up against the door. Her body suddenly felt lighter and her mind refreshingly clearer. A smile crept across her face in realization that she finally stood up to her friend of over 20 years. She went and sat down on the couch and relished in feeling good about life for once in the past few months.

She looked down at the table and saw her fathers letter sitting there. She reached down and looked at it once more. Something inside her kept dragging her over to the piano. She pressed record on the small tape recorder sitting on top of the piano. She then slowly began to play and sing lowly to herself. She started to pick up the pace on the piano and the singing grew louder. Tears began to stream down her face as she played. She stopped and smiled to herself before rewinding the tape. As she played it back she frantically began writing the lyrics down before going back and writing the music. When she looked up at the clock, she noticed 3 hours had gone by. It was the fastest she had ever written a song in her life.

She laughed to herself and a deep grin appeared on her face as she got up and grabbed the phone and dialed.  "...Hey Christina. It's Laura Charles. Remember when we had talked a couple weeks ago about writing a song for your album? I think I have just what you were looking for."

She sat down at the piano as she continued to leave a message and sung the chorus as she played. "...Call me back as soon as you get this." she said before hanging up the phone.

She let the phone fall to her side as she leaned back on the coach smiling to herself. "Thank you, daddy." she whispered as she looked up towards the heavens.