Will had insisted that his sister take the hired car back to Amber's house and they had taken a taxi back to the apartment. There had been a tense silence between them, and they hadn't said a word to each other since their question and answer session on the roof. Will had seemed to be deep in thought as he stared out of the window, and Carmen wasn't sure how to talk to him.

They had spent the entire time at the party moving from group to group separate from each other. She had heard all about Rainer and Alice's twins and Mason and Cassie's little girl. They were both about two years old and had been left with Bryce and Grace, who also had a two-year-old, for the evening. She couldn't help but wondered if the three cousins would grow up to be close, since they were all about the same age.

There had been a time in her life that she had wished for a little sister or brother, but as her mother's life had spiraled out of control the mature part of her had been glad that she had had one less person to take care of.

Whenever she spent time with the Stevens family she felt the absence of family in her own life, and it reminded her how lonely she really was, with no one to call on when she needed support. Laura was lucky to have found Davis, and Carmen was jealous that she had gotten his family in the bargain as well.

Granted, Laura had had some trouble with Lizzy, who had tried to play the protective older sister bit to begin with, but they had worked out their differences after Lizzy saw how happy Laura made Davis. Lizzy and Davis's mother telling Lizzy to layoff might have had something to do with it as well. The woman was formidable force when she had the mind to be.

"Is everything all set for the meeting with Adrianna's friend tomorrow?" Carmen asked to break the tension.

Will nodded, still lost in thought. She sighed silently not sure what else to say.

The car dropped them off and the trip up the elevator was just as silent. She was feeling dejected, and she knew that she had no right to feel that way since she was the one who had refused to answer more of his questions. But he had been too close to knowing all of her secrets, and because some of them painted her in a bad light she had closed down; she didn't want him to think less of her.

As they entered the apartment, Carmen continued on, heading back towards the bedroom.

"Carmen, please wait," Will's voice called softly behind her.

She froze, it was a tone she had never heard from him before. She felt her hand tremble as she sat her purse down on a side table and turned towards him with a feeling of overwhelming dread.

He was about to say something that she wasn't going to like, she just knew it. She watched as he walked over to the breakfast bar and reached for his laptop, spinning it towards him. Carmen stayed rooted to the spot until he motioned for her to join him.

"Please," his voice was just as gentle as it had been a moment earlier as he held out his hand to her.

She walked towards him but didn't take it, she couldn't because he would feel her hand trembling.

He spun the computer towards her stepping back so that she could see an image of herself, Laura, and Kelly on the screen. She looked at him in confusion, was this what he wanted to talk to her about? A four-year-old photo?

"So?" she asked, looking up at him. It still amazed her that she had to look up to meet his eyes.

"This photo, it's important, you're different in it. In all the others you're cold but in this one your warm, it's as if the real you is fighting to be seen."

"On the contrary, the others are the real me and, to me, this looks like all of the others." She followed his gaze back to the photo, watching him shake his head.

"No, what was different, what was going on in your life when this photo was taken?"

Carmen looked at it trying to recall and as she did she couldn't help the fleeting smile.

"See there it is, that smile, it's there in that photo, it's in your eyes."

"That was one of our first photoshoots with the new rising photographer Davis Stevens. It was taken in Vegas, Kelly was livid that he had gone out with Laura, and Laura and Davis's date hadn't gone well, even though it was obvious that they were crazy about each other. It was amusing to watch Laura, 'Ice Queen' Wren falling in love. It was one of the few photoshoots that I had fun on."

She looked at the photo shaking her head, she still didn't see any difference in herself in the photo. It looked like all of her others.

"When I met you in the Austin airport there was something familiar about you but I couldn't place it. It was obvious to me, despite your attempt at disguise it, that you were a beautiful woman. Josh had given me your name but he hadn't told me that you were a model, but knowing you were friends with Laura, and seeing how beautiful you were, I was able to put two and two together." He turned away from the photo, crossing his arms.

"But I still didn't realize who you were, that you were a Landau girl, not until the day your hat fell off and I recognized your hair." He looked at her hard. "You believe me about that, don't you?"

"Sure," Carmen shrugged.

"No Carmen, it is important that you believe it. I need you to tell me that you believe it before I tell you the rest." He walked over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders squeezing them.

"Yes Will, I believe you." And she did.

He reached behind him and turned the computer towards them a little more. "This photo saved my life. You saved my life Carmen."

"That sounds a little dramatic." She swallowed hard as pushed the feeling of fear that clawed at her away.

"I was held as a prisoner for over seven months, there are things...I can't..." he walked away from her and gripped the back of a bar stool for support. "Someone had smuggled in, or left behind, an American magazine. It was a few years old but it was like an anchor, it held us to what we were, are, American soldiers."

Carmen felt bile creeping up from her stomach and into her throat, but she wasn't sure if it was because of Will's pain or her slow realization that he thought she was something that she wasn't.

"We had to keep it hidden, but when it got really bad we would take it out and look at it, eventually I was the only one left and it was all I had to keep me going. This photo and you were what I dreamed about, what I wanted. It wasn't Laura or Kelly that drew me, it was you."

"Please stop Will." Carmen held up her hand, fighting back the nausea and tears.

"I'm not telling you this to make you feel sorry for me or to impress you, I am telling you this to try to get you to trust me. I will do anything it takes to keep this woman, you, safe."

"THAT'S NOT ME!" she bit out between clenched teeth. "You are seeing something that isn't there, it never was."

Will shook his head.

"I don't want to be the one to bring you back to reality with a hard bump-"

Will's sudden laugh was derisive. "I have never left reality, even when I was dreaming of you I knew it was only a matter of time before the pain and fear would start again."

She felt like she couldn't breathe at his words and she had to struggle to hang on to her self-control. "You're seeing something-"

But once again he wouldn't let her finish. "You, Carmen Morales, are a smart, witty, woman who has so much love to share, but you don't know how, and you don't have anyone to share it with."

"And you want me to share it with you?" She couldn't help the disbelief in her voice.

"No, I wouldn't be worth it, I'm too broken, I've told you that, but who I see in this photo is real. I see her right now. You're not cold, you're scared and confused, but you're not cold no matter how much you want to be."

He waited and she remained silent, her face stony as she tried to deal with all that he was telling her.

"That kiss you gave me was not cold."

His comment slammed home like a fist to her gut. She had already admitted to herself that she was in love with him, and she had admitted to Will that she wanted him. What he was saying was true, these were not feelings of a cold woman. However, he was right, now she was frightened and confused and she didn't know what to think.

She took a step away from him. "I need to be alone," she said before she turned and fled to the bedroom, feeling that she had been lied to once more. He didn't want her, he wanted an image, an ideal. He wanted who he had made her out to be in his imagination, and she knew there was no way she could ever match it.