Aftermath

Candy woke up with a pounding headache. She winced, opening her eyes cautiously. Where was she? This was not her room at the Kanes! She sat up abruptly, grimacing as the pain in her head intensified.

She looked around carefully, but nothing in the room seemed familiar. A glance at the clock on the bedside table told her it was 8 am, so obviously she had slept through the night.

She was still wearing the dress she had on yesterday, she realized. But what had happened? Slowly, painfully, she tried to piece together the happenings of the previous evening. She had gone to the club with Matt and Olivia, she recollected. And then there had been those two men – friends of Olivia's – she had been sipping her wine, watching Olivia make out with Matt – the two men – she couldn't quite remember their names – they had wanted to dance with her…her memory turned hazy as she tried to recall what had happened after that and more importantly, how she had ended up here, wherever 'here' was.

Candy stood up cautiously, remembering the giddiness she had felt earlier. Mercifully, the room didn't spin and swing like it had the previous evening, and she quickly went into the adjoining bathroom to freshen up. When she came out again, Matt was standing there.

"Oh!" Candy squeaked in surprise. What was HE doing here? she wondered. He looked as handsome as ever, his freshly shaved jaw and damp hair making her all the more conscious of her rumpled state.

"You're awake, at last," he said coldly. "Here, have this." He handed her a couple of pills and a glass of water.

Candy gulped the pills down, trying desperately to remember what had happened to make Matt behave so coldly towards her.

"Uh…where am I?" she asked tentatively.

Matt looked down at her, disdain in his eyes. "You're at my apartment, Sarah."

"Your apartment? But what – why -?"

"Do you remember what happened last evening?" he asked, the contempt in his eyes more pronounced now.

"I – no, I can't remember much -" Candy faltered, unnerved by his expression. "What happened?"

"Tell me what you remember," he replied, ignoring her question.

"I – we went to the club…I had a couple of glasses of wine…those two men – I can't remember their names – they – they were talking to me…you were – were -" She stopped, her anxiety growing. "Matt – please, tell me what happened there!"

"You can't remember their names yet you ended up in a deserted alley with them, Sarah!" he bit out. "And trust me, you had considerably more than a couple of drinks – I should know. I had to pick you up from where you passed out and bring you back here!" His brilliant blue eyes were full of contempt as he looked at her.

"Passed out? In an alley?" Candy repeated, stunned. "I was – was I with – with those guys?" she asked fearfully. How was it she couldn't recall anything? she wondered desperately.

Matt's lip curled in disgust. "If you want me to spell it out for you then yes, you were with BOTH those men out in the alley, and I don't know whether you will be relieved or annoyed that I interrupted you out there!"

"But – but I didn't have more than two glasses of wine, I'm sure of that!" Candy cried out. "And I would never – never have -" she bit her lip, then continued. "Never have done something like that, Matt! You should know that about me by now, at least!"

"I THOUGHT I knew you better than that, Sarah, but obviously, I was wrong," he replied, unmoved by her passionate plea. "Now, there's coffee in the kitchen if you want, and then I'll take you back home."

Candy shook her head. "I'd just like to go back home, if you don't mind. Mr. and Mrs. Kane will be worried, and Josh will be waking up soon." "And I don't want to be in your apartment a minute longer than necessary if you're going to be looking at me like that," she added privately. "I've borne your indifference, your alliance with another woman, watching you get close with her, EVERYTHING, but I simply can't bear your contempt."

Matt simply inclined his head. "As you wish," he said.

"Ma-Mr. Kane, I – I just want to say that though I can't remember much of what happened last evening, I – I'm really sorry about the way things went," Candy tried appealing to him one last time.

"It's not me you should be apologizing to, it's yourself," he replied shortly. "You put yourself in a lot of danger with your irresponsible behavior." He paused, then went on. "In any case, Sarah, whether that was poor judgement on your part or just a case of your hormones getting the better of you, both scenarios make me think that you're not really suitable to take care of Joshua."

Candy gaped at Matt, stunned into hurt silence by his words. "Not – not suitable to – to take care of him?" she repeated at last. Of all the things Matt could have said or done, this was the one thing that hurt her the most, she thought. She blinked back the tears that rose in her eyes and stared up at him. "Wh-what do you mean?"

She thought she glimpsed a pang of regret on his face before he squared his jaw and resumed his frosty expression. "I mean that I don't think someone with a lack of judgement that puts themselves in danger – as you did – is the right person to be responsible for a little boy's welfare."

Candy bowed her head, a single tear trickling down her cheek. After all, from Matt's perspective, he wasn't wrong, she thought. "What are you going to do, then?" she asked in a low voice. If Matt intended to remove her from her 'job' as Josh's nanny, then she would just have to find another way to be with her son, she decided, lifting her chin determinedly.

Matt sighed, running a hand through his hair. "For the time being, I will not do anything, Ms. Kent, mainly because I cannot. My parents seem to think you are the right person for the job but more than that, Joshua has become very attached to you, and I don't want to do anything that will hurt him. He's lost so much already, and I don't want to put him through any more grief."

Candy let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. "Thank you, Mr. Kane," she said quietly.

Matt held up a warning hand. "But remember, Ms. Kent, that I will be watching you very carefully from now onwards. Another incident like last night, and I won't hesitate to get rid of you."

The drive back to the Kanes' mansion was accomplished in a terse silence. Candy was still trying to remember something, ANYTHING, that had led to her being alone in an alley with two men she had just met, and Matt did not seem inclined for conversation.

Once they reached the Kanes', Candy got out of the Lexus and turned to Matt. "Thank you, Mr. Kane," she said quietly. "I just want to say thank you for saving me in spite of – of everything that happened last night."

Matt hesitated and she thought for a moment that he was going to say something, but in the end, he simply nodded and, getting back in the car, drove off.