May, 2007, NYU

Zach and Liam exited the clinic while holding their aching and bruising jaws.

"I told you it was a bad idea," Liam groaned.

"She told me they were almost over, man! Who would have thought he was in a football team? Crazy, coward..."

"This is your fault," Liam shot at his friend.

"Oh, hey, there, Chanty!" Zach called, not hearing his words.

Liam turned around and saw Chanty walking toward them with a frown.

"What happened to the two of you?"

"Do you care that much?" Liam asked in his jesting tone.

Chanty rolled her eyes. "I actually want to thank the ones responsible for your injuries. Oh, well, whatever the two of you have been doing, it would have been really bad, as usual."

And then she was off to her classes.

"Now she thinks I am a douche," Liam sighed.

"Buddy, in case you haven't noticed, Chanty has always seen us that way."

"It will change. Once that bastard Cameron is out of the picture."

"Man, I hate to say this, and I am only saying this VERY rarely," Zach said, facing him, "I think it is time for you to give up on her. She doesn't see you as you see her."

Liam didn't answer, his mind reeling with thoughts of Chanty Strindberg walking away from them.

2013

"What do you mean you are being arrested?!" cried Cassandra and Angelica at the same time.

Julianne was silently shooting daggers at Zach who was cowering behind Henry.

Chanty's eyes flew to Liam but he was not even moving his head to look at her. It seemed that he was too focused on his bleeding forehead.

"They had caused quite a scene. There were damages," the cop explained while he tried to make his way through the crowding ladies.

"I want a full report on--" Cassandra started but Philip cut her off saying, "Babe, just go home. Let us handle this."

"Handle this?" Angelica asked incredulously, specifically fixing her gaze on her husband, her hands on her hips. "What do you plan to do? Call your attorney? Well, let me tell you, he is quite busy getting arrested as well! You have no choice but us, your wives and fiancée and..." Angelica's gaze flew to Chanty for a few seconds before she added, "well, girlfriend or whatever."

"Angelica, not now," Henry said dryly, his voice tired. "You are obviously overreacting. Go take Cassandra and Julianne home. I will be home before you know it."

Henry had that authoritative voice that if he used, could really mellow the ladies down. Sure, Philip was bossy, but Henry was scary. Well, they only felt scared in his presence after they learned he was a freaking NSA agent.

"And did I forget to tell you we have a lot of talking to do?" Henry added to his wife, quickly throwing Chanty a glance and then his eyes went back to his wife.

Chanty groaned. Henry knew. And obviously, by the way Philip was looking at her and his wife, he was also made aware.

There went her perfect lie. Out in the open.

She didn't bother listening to the exchange of Cassandra and Angelica and their husbands. She was already looking at Liam, silently calling out his name to turn his head and look at her. But he wouldn't. And she knew it. He was aware of her presence and he was not even looking at her.

The two groups of estrogen and testosterone continued their battle until the biggest of the cops decided to step in, shouting, "Okay, enough!" with impatience. It was only then did they all close their lips.

"Glad you can all understand those simple words," the cop said, smiling at them sarcastically. "Now, move aside, ladies. These men are going to have a trip to the precinct."

"Can't you first attend to their wounds before you arrest them?" Chanty spoke for the first time, her eyes still on Liam and his bleeding forehead.

The cop closed his eyes in impatience. "Lady, if you have seen the state of their opponents, you would know that your men here are in a fairly, better and healthier state."

"Hm," Angelica and Cassandra uttered at the same time. "Good."

They all stepped aside to let the cops and the four men walk through toward the waiting vehicles with Cassandra muttering something like, "You did good, babe. I didn't know you had it in you!" to Philip as he passed by.

The four ladies followed the group.

"Wait," they heard Henry say. "Our cars. Ange," he called to his wife.

Angelica walked toward him, followed by Chanty and the others.

"You guys take our cars. We won't need them for a couple of hours. The 'no driving' rule is off for tonight," Henry ordered, passing his key to his wife. Philip was fishing for his in his pockets while a cop collected Zach and Liam's keys.

"Chanty, you take Liam's," Angelica ordered, shoving the key to her. Did her friend forget how awkward this situation was? Or was it just Chanty who remembered Liam didn't want to see her, or talk to her, at all?

"What?" she asked, her eyes darting to Liam who was now looking at her, his face blank. She asked him a question with her eyes and he shrugged his shoulder in answer before turning away to walk to the nearest police car. "Fine," she muttered under her breath.

They all watched the men get into two police cars. "What now?" Julianne asked, playing with Zach's keys in her hand, when the cars finally revved off the road.

"We go after them, of course. They might need back up," Angelica said with certainty.

"I don't think your husbands will like that," Chanty told them.

"Oh, things are almost leading to a divorce anyway. He divorced me once, remember? I think the second time would not hurt as bad," Cassandra said, waving off Chanty's words.

Knowing Angelica was a little serious about her statement while Cassandra just obviously said hers in anger, Chanty knew better than to disagree. And she wanted to be there if the guys needed any help in any way.

*****

The police station was peaceful until they all rushed in.

The same big cop faced them with disinterest when they came through the glass doors.

"They are still being questioned, ladies," he said dryly.

"Then we can wait," Angelica said, holding her chin high.

"Is there coffee?" Cassandra asked.

"No, but there is an extra holding cell if you don't setting down and keep quiet," the man said. "Pregnant women not exempted."

"Let's just sit down," Julianne suggested.

"Yeah, because I am tired," Angelica answered, looking at the cop. "Not because I was ordered to."

The man just shook his head and turned to walk away.

An hour later, they all got impatient. This time, it was Julianne who walked to the desk. "I want to see my husband now." Chanty didn't know why she had to keep on lying about Zach being her husband.

The clerk looked as if he was assessing the situation. "I suppose you can talk to them for just five minutes. And then you cannot bother us again."

"Enough time to talk," Angelica agreed much to everyone's surprise.

Chanty stood up and said, "Lead the way."

*****

"We told you to go home," was Philip's words the moment they all entered the small visiting room. They were being separated by a glass window with tiny holes so they could hear each other.

"Why are you being detained? And why are we meeting in this place? It looks like you are about to be hanged," Angelica exclaimed.

"Relax. We handled things. We are just waiting for a few calls," Henry reassured them.

Looking at them, Chanty could tell that their wounds were not that serious as she first thought, but Liam had a small bandage on his forehead.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

He was standing behind Philip and when he heard her voice, he looked up. "Yeah," he answered.

Chanty felt the same crushing feeling in her chest. Gone were the smiles and the glinting eyes he often threw in her direction.

In fact, she had never really seen him look at her like that except today. And looking back at all those years she had known him, she could now say that Liam had always been affectionate toward her just by the look he had been giving her. And she had been stupid to have not noticed it before.

And now it was gone.

And it was all her fault.

"Tell us what really happened," Julianne demanded.

The men looked at each other in silence.

"Zachary," Julianne addressed her fiancé seriously, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Jules, it was nothing. We didn't start it--" Zach started to explain.

"From the beginning," Julianne interrupted.

"Well, if you really want to know, it all started when Zach called us for a few drinks," Philip answered. "And after a few bottles, we all found out that you, ladies, had been keeping a secret from us." He fixed Chanty a look, his voice with a slice of anger in them. "Especially my sister."

"Ah, so it is about that stupid lie," Chanty said, finally breaking down in frustration. "It all happened because of my lie. Great! Blame it all on me, sure. I know it was my entire fault. Happy now? Are you happy now that I admit I got you all in trouble again?"

"Hey, calm down," Angelica whispered beside her.

"Chanty's your sister, Philip. How can you say such a thing?" Cassandra demanded.

"Fine. I am sorry. But we still need to talk, Chanty," Philip told her stonily.

"But that was true though," Zach said after a long silence. Liam looked at him and was about to say something but he continued, "I invited everyone for a drink because Liam obviously needed to get out and get some air. I know, the bar was a bad choice, but it had always worked out for us in the past. We didn't even talk about what you girls did because we were all angry in our own, private ways after we learned you lied to all of us. So we just--"

"Drank," Henry finished. "Until some guys showed up."

"Who?" the women asked in unison.

"Some guys who got a call from my wife," Henry answered.

At first, Angelica was frowning. And then realization struck her. "We were trying to find you guys. I called a few people and--"

"Well, to make the story short, we overheard them talking by the next table about you," Henry said. "They obviously didn't know Zach, but they knew you."

"And Chanty," Philip answered, his jaw clenching.

"And?" Angelica and Chanty asked.

"And they talked like they were stripping you of all your garments," Zach provided when no one spoke. "You should have heard it. You would have handled the matter on your own because--"

"When did the brawl start?"

"When Liam stood up and--" Zach did not finish his words. He sighed, obviously mentally beating himself for saying too much. He looked at the other men and they all shared a look.

If it was their secret look to say, 'Shut the hell up!', it was pretty much close to the version the girls would use.

"What?" the women asked.

"Liam stood up and things just started to get...busy," Zach finished. "We couldn't just let them continue talking about you girls like that."

"You're lying," Julianne pointed out.

"Jules--"

"We are not at a liberty to answer all your questions at the moment," Henry stated in his authoritative voice.

"Liberty my ass!" Angelica exclaimed.

"We were read our Miranda rights, you know," Zach tried to reason but grimaced when he saw the disbelief in Julianne's face."

"That was the story," Philip said, putting a stop to all the craziness. "We got into a fight, like most men, because we were together, because Zach called, because the truth finally came out and we are all upset about it," he finished in a tone that said the conversation was over. "Look, this has all been a mess from the very beginning. Let us talk some other time, Chanty, and remember that I am still your brother and I am family. I deserved to know the truth. Whatever you," he pointed at Liam, "and Liam have between you is between you, but when it comes to Willie and your problems with Cameron, I need to step in and you have to let me help you. That goes to all of you as well," he said to everyone else in the room. "Your problems with your wives and husbands are to be solved on your own. But not right now."

A long silence followed and they could all hear the ticking of the clock on the wall.

"Fine," said Angelica.

"Fine," said Julianne.

"Fine," said Chanty.

"Does that include the two of us?" Cassandra asked.

"Yes," Philip answered.

"Fine," said Cassandra.

And with that, the ladies walked out of the room to wait outside.

*****

"We shouldn't have told them anything in the first place," Liam told the rest of the guys, scratching the uninjured side of his head. "They will only want more answers."

"Well, what we told them was the truth, right? We got into a fight because of them," Zach reasoned.

"You don't really want to repeat those words to Julianne, man," Liam told him.

"Now they must be thinking we have been talking about them," Henry said, sitting down on the bench. "I know Ange is already planning her next move by now. She'd try to dig for more details."

"They don't have to know everything," Philip said.

"Just tell her the truth. Liam stood up and told those morons to get lost," Zach suggested.

"That's not what he really said," Philip answered, a smile twitching on his lips.

"Oh, yeah," Zach added with a laugh, looking at his friend. "You called her a 'lying, beautiful witch who is too good for any man in the room'. Your exact words, man. It was sweet and harsh at the same time."

"Shut up," Liam said, lightly kicking his friend at the shin.

"And then Philip stood up, intending to punch you for calling his sister a lying witch, but he missed and hit the other guy instead."

"And all hell broke loose," Henry finished with a sigh.

"I am not sorry about what I said though, Philip," Liam said seriously, looking at Chanty's brother.

"I understand. She has done a stupid mistake," Philip said, nodding his head. "And I am sorry for trying to punch you, but I am also sorry I wasn't able to hit you."

Liam scoffed while Henry and Zach chuckled.

"We should definitely not tell them the whole truth. They will take it wrongly and offensively," Liam suggested.

"It sounds crazy," Zach nodded.

"Crazier than them," Henry agreed.

*****

"I know they are not telling us what really happened," Angelica whispered to them.

"They are men, Ange, they hate to explain everything in detail," Chanty said, now feeling tired.

"I will know everything. Henry will tell me," her friend said with confidence.

"I don't think so," Chanty said.

"But Zach will," Julianne said in a simple tone. "He can't keep a secret. He is not a very good liar."

"Good," Cassandra said with a nod. "Philip rarely talks about these things. I am even surprised he got into a fight. It's not him."

"But I can't believe they tried to point everything to us," Angelica said with frustration.

"Well, we did lie to them," Chanty said. "Especially me."

"Oh, shut up. They will understand us once they are free from intoxication and once they get a few days off to think," Angelica assured her.

When they heard the doors to the detention room open, they all jumped to their feet.

There, walking toward them were the guys. And they didn't look like they were exiting a freaking detention room in a police station. They were walking as if they just walked out of a football game.

Their reunion was as normal as well.

"Where's the car?" Henry asked Angelica.

"Outside," his wife answered, handing him the keys.

"Let's go home," Philip said to Cassandra. And then he turned to Chanty. "You need a ride?"

She was about to say no but then she looked at Liam. Her heart sank and she walked toward him, giving him his keys. "Your keys," she whispered brokenly before turning to face her brother. "Can you drop me by at mom's place?"

"Of course," Cassandra uttered gently, taking her hand.

"Hey, you, men from the bar!" the big cop called out behind them.

The four men turned to look at him.

"No driving for you. You all failed your BAC test."

Keys were returned to the ladies. But since Liam had no one to give his keys to, Angelica said, "You can ask Chanty to take you home."

Chanty's heart started to hammer against her chest.

Liam looked uncomfortable as hell and she felt like she was not ready to face him now, much alone be with him in a car.

But the look her friends gave her reminded her of the reason why they went searching for Liam and Zach in the first place.

"Sure, I will," she said in the most nonchalant tone she could muster.

"I can hitch a ride with Zach--" Liam started, but Zach was already walking out the door with a wave.

"Next time, man!" his friend said, guiding Julianne beside him.

Philip looked at Chanty like the big brother that he was.

"I am fine," she told him. Philip nodded and let Cassandra lead the way out the door.

"Liam, your keys."

"I can get a taxi and--"

"Just give me the damn keys so we could drive and talk," she told him, surprised at her newfound courage.

Angelica and Henry looked at the two of them, probably anticipating another trip inside the detention room. It was only when Liam shoved his keys in her hand did the couple walk out the door.

"Let's get this over with," Liam said coldly before he followed the Bell couple outside.

Okay, so now he was back to being the cold Liam. Gone was the restless one who didn't want to give her his keys. How could she manage this side of him?

Chanty took a deep breath and silently prayed for more strength.

Liam would obviously make it difficult for her.