London, 2014

It was a dreary morning to begin with as he headed into the hospital. His grim and sad face gained a half reasurring smile from the front desk nurse as she guided him where he needed to go.

"Right this way Mr. Michael's," he turned to follow her.

He nodded and followed her towards the elevator. His thoughts were so muddled with lack of sleep.
When he got the call from his secretary about Tara, he immediately booked a flight and told his chauffeur to turn around and head to JFK airport.

Deep down inside he was reeling with guilt and knew what he did was wrong.
He was a horrible father. A man that ran from his responsibility to be one. The moment Nancy fell ill and her health took a turn for the worse, he panicked and let his depression take the best of him.

The love of his life was dead. He took a plunge into the bottle and turned his back on everything. His whole life made no sense without her and he felt in no condition to raise Tara.
He could barely take care of himself.

If it wasn't for Ted and his best friend Jonathan he would have surely fell off the face of the earth. When they found him he was a mess. They helped him in so many ways. And when he decided that it was best that Doreen take care of Tara, they supported him.
They helped by keeping him in contact with her even though Doreen would knowingly have a fit.

He followed the nurse that led him to where Tara was.
He entered and his heart ached.
He saw Mimi by her side asleep.
Doreen in the far corner on a chair and Andrew and Carl stretched on the floor.

He walked closer to gently lay a hand on Mimi's head. Slowly she stired and lifted her head. Looking around her eyes looked at him. She immediately stood up and landed in his arms. She wept and he hugged her close resting his chin on her head.

"Uncle Greg she won't wake up." She cried.

"What are you doing here?" The familiar voice asked as Mimi stiffened in his arms.

Letting go of him she turned to look at the angry glare in her mothers eyes.

Between clenched teeth he gave a half smile.

"Doreen," he nodded.

"You don't have a right to be here," she said.

He shook his head and in a low tone he spoke.
"I have ever right to be here shes my daughter,"

Doreen shook her head angrily.

" No, you turned your back on her. Remember?"

"How long are you going to keep reminding me" his voice rose a little.

"The longer it will take to know she doesn't need you," she dashed away a tear.

Shaking his head with a half laugh.
"She needs me she always has," he replied.

"Really then where were you this whole time," she shot back.

"Right by her side. I've been there for her for the last 7 yrs." Greg blurted out.

Confused Doreen blinked and she frowned.

With a triumphant smile he nodded his head.
"That's right. Who do you think paid for all of her ballet classes, swim classes, cheer leading tryouts and uniform, her admission to college and Mimi's?" He said.

Doreen shook her head more confused.
"It was scholarships"

He shook his head.
"No. It was me the dead beat dad." He snipped.

She immediately looked at Mimi accusingly.
"You knew?"
Mimi looked away.
Greg hugged her around the shoulder and pulled her close.

"Don't blame it on her she is not the one that refused to let me see my daughter."

"I never did such thing," Doreen shook her head.

"No Doreen? You just made it very hard for me to keep in touch. Hanging up on me. Not responding to my messages, sending back my gifts. Childish behavior don't you think?" he stared at her.

Doreen looked away.

"I came to see my daughter and when she is well she is coming to live with me in Manhattan we already discussed it."

Doreen gasped and looked angrily at Mimi. Then as she noticed Carl and Andrew stood beside her with a guilty look
They knew as well.

"Hi, Mr. Michael's," Carl nodded.

Nodding back he said hello.

Nervously they looked at one another.
Andrew reached for Mimi and excused himself pulling her along with Carl to leave Doreen and Greg alone.

Silently they looked at one another.

He turned his head away from her to walk to Tara's side.

He looked down at her and gently held her hand.
"Oh baby girl! What happened to you?" He swallowed the lump in his throat.

He stood by her side and leaned down and kissed her forehead. He whispered near her ear.
"Dads here hun, please wake up"
He slowly stood up and looked down at her.

~•~•~•~•~
The familiar voice spoke and immediately she was there present. But not really there. She stood there not able to say anything that they couldn't hear and watched her father and aunt argue over her..

"Guys please stop," she cried.

The moment she appeared there was something different. They spoke and their voices seemed distant and muffled.

Something wasn't right.

She walked closer. Wanting to touch her fathers arms she stared at her hand. She gasped noticing it was starting to fade.

"What is happening to her," she flexed her fingers and brought them up higher.

Suddenly the room began to dim. She looked around her heart began to thump heavily in her chest. The low tones of familiar music made her turn looking around.

As if blurring out of one place and into another the sounds became more clearer.
Her dreams.
Abruptly she jerked awake.
Her head felt so heavy and her eyes weighted.
Again the music.
She stiffened.
Could it be?

Her eyes focused and again like every other day she awoke to where she left off.

Lost in time.....

Slowly holding her heavy pounding head she sat up. She turned to look at the far corner and noticed Duncan looking at her phone.

Grogily as if she had just gotten over a bad case of the flu, on bended knees she crawled towards him.

He sat on the nearby trunk engrossed with her cell phone he never looked up as she came close. Silently she listened as the song began.
Her heart felt overwhelmed. It was a song meant for loved ones that are no longer here.
She wanted to cry.
All was lost for her. She may never return home.
She rested her head on the bed post. Holding back her tears that threatened to fall. She closed her eyes unable to contain her emotions.
She sang softly.
"Never have I imagined, living without your smile.
Feeling and knowing you hear me
It keeps me alive
Alive
And I know you're shining down on me from heaven
Like so many friends we've lost along the way
And I know eventually we'll be together
One sweet day."

Warm hands caressed her cheek and wiped away her tears.
She opened her eyes and looked at Duncan.
Her heart raced as he gently touched her lips. His eyes hungrily lowered to them as he lowered his head and his lips claimed hers.
She softly wrapped her hands around his neck and kissed him back.
His hands wrapped around her waist and he pulled her closer to him.

It was strong, possessive and hot. His hand caressed her back and squeezed her closer. A soft groan escaped his lips as their tongues touched and she answered with a sweet whimper.

She felt so groggy and weak. As if drained and recovering from a bad case of the flu.
He broke away from the kiss gently and looked down at her. He caressed cheek and looked deep into her eyes. She could barley hold her stance and he noticed her slowly slump in his arms.

Tired and weak she raised her finger to her eyes and rubbed them.
"I don't feel right Duncan," she mumbled.
He stared at her and frowned.

" You can thank Aidan for that," he scowled.
A confused look creased her brows as she drowsily looked up at him.

"What?" She asked.

He took a deep breath.

"Aidan slipped a sleeping draught in our ale and locked us both in here," he said.

"Why?" Her eyes looked towards the door.

" He was furious at our behavior and felt the need to step forward and settle it for us. By calling a truce until that is resolved we stay in here." He shrugged with a smirk.

She stared at him. Her head still heavy. She looked down and began to think.
"A truce?" she whispered.

"Aye, a truce," he whispered.

Her eyes slowly raised to look up into his.

"No more arguments?" she added.

"Nay," he shook his head and gently brushed her hair away from her shoulder exposing her beautiful neck.

Slowly he glided his finger down it.

Her eyes closed softly, reveling in his touch that had her tingling all over again.

Trying to clear her thoughts she stammered as he leaned forward and kissed her close to her collarbone.

He pulled his head away to listen to her.

"In light of the situation, I think its best if we both apologize. Together. Its only fair." She whispered as his lips came closer.

With just a peck of a kiss he looked at her. His eyes held hers. Then hungrily looked at her.

" I think tis better if I apologize first."he said in a low voice.

He had to because all of this was his doing. From the moment he met her until now. Not able to express his feelings, he tried to keep her at bay by mistreating her.

Swallowing hard, he looked down and gently held her hands and raised them to his lips and kissed each one.

"I was a fool for treating you so. By trying to avoid you and deny my feelings for you, I angrily tried to punish you for absolutely no reason. For that and all the wrong I have done to you I am sorry."

Her eyes filled with tears looked up at him. She softly glided her fingers along his cheek and felt him shiver.

"I am sorry for everything I did. From disobeying you to arguing with you. I failed to understand your life and your way of living. I was ignorant in what you have to go through daily to keep your loved ones safe. I apologize for that." She leaned forward and gently kissed his lips.

He leaned his head against hers. And immediately rapped his arms around her and pulled her into a warm embrace.
She molded to him so well. Her warmth comforted him.

She buried her face in his shoulders and inhaled his scent. Closing her eyes she felt such an immense relief being in his arms.
She didn't want him to let go.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Hello my lovelies...
I want to first off say Thank you for reading my stories. And showing me lots of love, likes and votes.
Your comments are amazing.

***forgive me if I haven't been updating frequently. I work from home doing custom invitations and I have a large order to complete that takes up all my time Thankfully I get business(yayy) but no time to update like I would like (booooo)
But I promise I am updating as fast as I can.

*** For those of you that don't know this story was written so long ago like back in 2001. I lost it. Then I found it in my old email account. I wrote it on wordpad and it couldn't be read. It was a jarbled mess until I fixed it. So I noticed back then the whole hot and steamy romance was absent ..forgive me if it seems like Tara and Duncan are taking it toooo slow to get to the whole hanky panky but I can assure you its coming and full force just bare with me because I have since decided not to use my original story but create something entirely different. So bare with me...pleassee.

With that said, I would like to end my night with a well overdue shotout to ALL my new followers.
Again Thanks so much....
xoxoxoxoxo