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(EXT: Capwell Enterprises)

---Keith sits in Gina's office, watching CC & Elizabeth on the monitor. Gina comes storming into the room, dressed in her black shirt, pants, and sock hat. She demands to know what's going on.

"Shhh, butternut, I can't hear them," Keith admonishes.

"Hear who?"

"CC & Elizabeth who, now will you be quiet...."

"But we already know everything about their history together. I don't see the point of-"

"SHHHHH!"

---Elizabeth grows frustrated at the situation, as she is unable to get a cell phone signal inside of the elevator. CC pulls the alarm but doesn't hear anything go off.

"Shouldn't this thing be on a damn generator?"

---Keith snickers from the office.

"He must mean the generator you shut down," he says.

---CC continuously presses buttons and tries his cell phone, growing angrier by the second. Elizabeth begins to laugh.

"What is it that's so funny about this?"

"You, CC, you never could take it when things were out of your control. I see that hasn't changed over the years."

"It hasn't."

"I thought it might have, considering the demands I imposed on you when we merged the companies. You pretty much rolled over."

"I didn't have a choice."

"You? Didn't have a choice? CC Capwell, I think I know you well enough to know that you always have a choice. You chose to go along with it. Why?"

"It would've been too risky not to. I was facing an imminent takeover. And I knew that nothing you were demanding could be worse than that. The company needed to be preserved, for my children, for me, for..........."

"For Sophia. It's okay, you can say her name, she was my sister. But that's what gets me- if what you were doing was for Sophia, why would you allow me to bar her from the building and to prevent her children from ever inheriting it?"

"Because.......Oh Hell, maybe I felt I owed it to you after all these years. I led you on, I let you believe there could be a future for us when I knew that I was going to marry Sophia."

"Why, CC? Why did you do it?"

"There was something about you, a quality you possessed that Sophia never had. You were meek, but it wasn't just that. I could rescue you, you were vulnerable, always so vulnerable, which appealed to me. Sophia, God love her, was not a very vulnerable woman, especially not then. She was a woman who knew what she wanted and went after it, whether it be with men or in her career. She certainly didn't need rescuing, not by me anyway. I led you on because I was selfish- I wanted the best of both worlds, and for a short time, I had it. It's cruel to say- I was very young then- and I knew that you'd stay at an arm's length as long as I wanted to keep you there. I played on the jealousy between you & your sister, probably making it even worse than it was. But I couldn't give you up....until there was no other choice. Sophia was pregnant and as far as I knew then, it was mine."

"But he wasn't your child, was he? I knew, I KNEW she still had something going on with Lionel, but she wouldn't dare admit it to me. You were like sport to her and it sickened me to watch her fool you the way she did. I knew she didn't love you, she only loved the idea of being your wife. Do you even know how much it killed me the day she finally married you? I loved you with all of my heart and I had to watch my sister, who had everything in life that I never did, make you her husband. And she didn't give a damn about you. That's why I left and never looked back- I couldn't watch it. It was too painful."

"But that changed. We did fall in love."

"Much later. How nice that everything worked out for the two of you. And there I was, having had an abortion that was forced on me at such a young age, with nobody to talk to. No one to help me work through my pain. It shattered me, all of it- I was a shell of myself. Not until I got away from that house, from my father, from Sophia, from you, did I recover any semblance of who I was, but I was broken. And there was nobody who wanted to fix me, not that I would have let them in. I thought I wouldn't ever find anyone- and then I came back here and things actually fell into place for me. I met Keith-"

"And you married him. Him. A man who's only going to hurt you more than I ever could."

"He makes me happy, CC."

"It's a farce. Believe me. I've known the man for many years Elizabeth, I know when he's up to something. He's lived with Gina long enough to have a commonlaw marriage and he ups and marries you? The man is no good for you. He has an agenda."

"Oh who the hell are you CC? Really? You hurt me more than any man ever possibly could and you're actually brazen enough to just chalk it up to being young and not knowing any better? I'll take a man like Keith Timmons over a coward like you any day."

---Keith looks at Gina.

"Well she has impeccable taste," he smirks.

(EXT: The Lair)

---Brandon busily pours drinks & shots for customers behind the bar. He's caught by surprise when a familiar voice orders a Newcastle. He looks up and sees Steve standing there.

"And make it snappy!?" Steve jokes

"Yeah, haha, funny. I went to business school my friend, not bartending school."

"They don't teach you how to use a bottle opener there?" he laughs, as his beer explodes in Brandon's hand.

"Yeah, I don't have one, and the ones on the bar are ancient."

"Here, lemme show you. It's all about the angle you hit it at."

Steve walks back there and pops open his beer.

"I used to work at a bar, up in San Francisco."

"You lived in San Francisco?"

"I've lived all over. Can't stay in one place for too long. Guess I'm a vagabond at heart."

"Your parents must be thrilled."

"I wouldn't know, since I never knew either one of em. My mom died when I was born. My dad's in the clink. I haven't even met him."

"Oh, I didn't know, sorry..."

"How could ya? Don't sweat it."

"So you used to bartend, huh?"

"Yeah, it's been a little while though."

"I see. Where you working right now?"

"Actually, I'm kind of between jobs, I was gonna talk to you-"

"Great. You're hired. Here's a towel. That's Julie and Brian, they're closing tonight and they'll work the point. You'll work with me over here on service."

"Can I finish my beer?"

"Yeah....when we close. Knock out these tickets and I'll have Brian mix up some shots."

Steve smirks and starts working on the service checks.

(EXT: Capwell Enterprises)

---Gina watches CC & Elizabeth on the monitor, eating popcorn with Keith.

"You know, I don't know what men see in her. Talk about frigid."

"She's vulnerable, muffin, or haven't you been listening?"

"She's about as vulnerable as a piranha. Maybe when she was a 16 year old waif, I could buy it. But now? Honestly, I could tolerate Sophia more than I ever could her."

"Please! You HATED Sophia, you couldn't even be in the same room with her without getting into a knock-down drag-out fight!"

"That should tell you how I feel about Elizabeth. The only reason I haven't ripped her to shreds is because she's the type that would want that, just so she could play victim. In 17th century Salem, they burned women like her."

----Elizabeth apologizes for calling CC a coward, but he tells her it's unnecessary. He says that she was right to be angry with him and that he doesn't have any right to tell her how to live her life, especially in a romantic arena.

"It's just.....I can't stand watching him hurt you, prey on you like I know he is."

"Much like I couldn't stand watching my sister prey on you. The difference is, I left you alone."

"And that Sophia is a completely different human being from Keith Timmons."

"CC...."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but how can I stay quiet and watch you make such an enormous mistake with him?"

"My marriage isn't a mistake."

"Not for him it isn't- it was done purposefully and with malice. He married you when you were drunk and didn't know what you were doing- right there, should tell you something. He, on the other hand-"

"Was just as intoxicated as I was, if not more, so he-"

"So he'd have you believe. He knew exactly what he was doing when he married you Elizabeth, make no mistake."

---"You're right on the money there," Keith smirks

"For being such a b!tch.........she's a stupid b!tch, that's for sure."

---Elizabeth insists that it wasn't like that and CC doesn't understand their relationship.

"I understand it perfectly. You own 1/2 of Capwell Enterprises and Keith wanted in on that. So, he married you."

"Do you really think I'd be so foolish as to not see through that? He works in the D.A.'s office, he makes plenty of money."

"It's not about money, can't you see that? It's about power. And the fact that it's not just any company you own 50% of- it's Capwell Enterprises. He wants it, and he's going to use you to get it. Mark my words."

"That's nice to know, that's your opinion of my marriage? I've spent my whole life alone, and I finally open myself up to someone, romantically, and make a commitment and you'd have me believe that that man only sees me as a means to an end?"

"That's exactly how he sees you, yes."

Elizabeth begins to laugh. "Oh, oh, I supposed you'd have me think that's how any man would see me now, right CC? As a means to an end."

"Not every man. Not me."

"Oh, and what is it that you see?"

"I see the same, vulnerable young girl I fell in love with years ago. I see a bright, vibrant, intelligent woman, but when I look into your eyes, that girl is still there."

"That girl grew up, CC. And doesn't need rescuing anymore."

"If only that were the case. You need rescuing alright, from the same person you've always needed rescuing from- yourself."

CC walks up to her passionately kisses her. She kisses him back a bit, before pulling away.

"Don't do this. Don't do this to me. I'm happy with Keith."

"I don't believe that. He could never make you as happy as I could make you, not in a million years."

"Since when do you even want me CC?"

"Since now," he says, as he passionately kisses her again.

They pull apart for a second and a teary Elizabeth looks into CC's eyes. They hold the position, gazing at each other, until she allows him to begin kissing her again. She starts removing her dress as CC takes off his jacket and lays it on the floor for them to lay on. He pulls Elizabeth's dress the rest of the way off as she begins unbuttoning his shirt. She frantically works at them as he continues to kiss her. His shirt comes off, as they fall onto the jacket and begin making love.

---Keith pops some more popcorn into his mouth.

"Now you know why we did all this, my cumquat."

"I do?"

"Free Porn," Keith smiles as he grabs another handful of popcorn. Gina picks up a handful and throws it at him, giving him a disgusted look.

THE END................for TODAY"