John rolled over in bed and looked at the clock. It was still early and he didn’t want to wake Evangeline. He slowly slid out of bed and made his way to the kitchen to make them some coffee. He stood leaning against the counter waiting for the coffee to finish. He poured them each a cup as well as making hers the way she enjoyed it. He noticed that she was almost out of the cream she liked and made a mental note to bring some over the next time he came by.

John slowly walked through the living room back to the bedroom and sat the coffee down on the nightstand next to Evangeline. She rolled over and waked at feeling him sitting on the bed next to her.

"Good morning, sleepy head." John said running a hand through Evangeline’s hair as she sat up in bed and looking around the room.

"Morning," she whispered as she stretched her body out and let out a deep moan.

"Here," he said handing her the cup of coffee he prepared for her.

She brushed her hair back and looked up at him and she sat up in the bed, "Thanks," she said with a smile as she blew over the top of the mug cooling it down.

"Sleep okay?"

"Always when you are next to me." She replied with a giggle.

"Same here, are you going for a run?" He asked standing from the bed and walking around back to his side of the bed.

"You know me to well." She said setting the cup down and heading towards her dresser. Evangeline pulled out a pair of running pants and shirt and started to change in front of him. As she pulled her shirt over her head she noticed that he was watching her, "Something interesting?" she asked as her head was still underneath the shirt.

"You, I love watching you."

"Huh?" she asked slipping the shirt of and throwing it on the floor. "What do you mean you love watching me?" she asked standing in front of him in nothing but her panties and bra.

"Put some clothes on." He said with a smile.

"What if I don’t want too? What if I want to stand here in nothing but my bra and panties, what are you going to do about it?" she asked tilting her head to the side with her hands on her hips.

John sat there and admired her beauty from head to toe. Even in nothing but her bra and panties she caught him off guard. "But your clothes on and go running." He said still watching her over the top of his coffee mug.

"Fine." She said turning away from him and taking her bra off and slipping on a sports bra. She pulled on her tank top and stepped into her pants. She laced up her shoes before walking over to him. "Bye," she said kissing him on the lips.

"I’m going to go home, shower and change and head to work." He asked standing up from the bed, "Lunch later?" he said following her out of the bedroom.

"Of Course, you want me to pick you up?"

"How about I meet you at saw Rodi’s around 12:30?" she asked as she searched for her jogging walkman.

"Sounds great, see you then." He kissed her one last time before heading to the kitchen to clean up the coffee.

Evangeline walked out of her apartment and headed down to the track that she ran at. She headed towards the bleachers, setting her water bottle and keys down where she could keep an eye on them the entire time. She stretched before she started her run. As Evangeline started her run she placed the head phones in her ears to help find her pace. After a mile and a half she saw a familiar face and slowed her run to a jog. "Hey…" she said out of breath.

Alex paused as she looked up from her stretch and saw Evangeline standing over her smiling. "Hi." She said quietly.

"See, you found a place to run?"

"Yeah John mentioned that there was a track close by, hope you don’t mind?" she said standing and adjusting her shirt.

"Why would I mind?" she asked with a smile, "Have a good run." Evangeline placed her head phones back on and started to finish the rest of her run.

Alex looked up at her with sadness and envy. Evangeline got to spend time with their father not feeling left out or unwanted. She pushed the thoughts from her mind closed her eyes and took a deep breath. As she started her run her pace quickened more than she thought it could. She had never run this fast before in her life, something was pushing her and it felt good. As she slowed down after completing two miles she stopped next to Evangeline who was stretching. "Hi." She said tapping her on the shoulder.

Evangeline turned around pulling her head phones off she smiled at Alex, "Did you say something?"

"Just hi. I just wanted to apologize for being short with you earlier."

"No need, from the way you were running looks like you have a lot on your mind." She said with a smile.

"You could say that." She said bowing her head some as her breathing started to get back to normal.

"Well, I know you don’t know many people in town if you ever want to talk let me know." Evangeline picked up her keys and water and started to walk away.

"Evangeline!" Alex called out to her.

"Yeah," she said turning around.

"Would you be free for coffee?" Alex asked walking over to her.

"Sure, if you don’t mind me stinking up the place." Evangeline said laughing.

"Well I guess we can get it to go so we don’t stink up the place." She replied smiling at her.

"Cool, there’s a shop right around the corner. Race ya?" she said laughing.

Alex laughed back, "I think I ran enough for today."

"Gotcha, ready?" She asked looking over at Alex who was standing next to the bleachers.

"Yeah, let’s go, I need my caffeine fix for the day."

"Ha, I’ve already had half of mine. I do need more that’s for sure." Evangeline said as they walked over to the local coffee shop.

The walk was quick to the coffee house from the track. Evangeline walked up to the counter first and ordered a large coffee to go. Alex ordered, "Can I get a Grande Caramel Macchiato to go please, light on the foam."

"A Grande Caramel macchiato, that’s an interesting choice." Evangeline said taking notice of Alex’s drink of choice.

"Yeah, I blame living in New York for the past couple of years for that. Damn Starbucks on every corner!" she said laughing as the coffee barista handed her the drink.

"New York, I bet that was fun." Evangeline said as she poured cream and some sugar into her coffee.

"I see you like a little coffee with your cream." Alex said laughing.

Evangeline looked down at her drink and started laughing too, "Let’s take this to the park."

"Sounds like a plan."

"So you like it here in Llanview?" Evangeline asked as they took a seat on the park benches.

Alex smiled as she took a small sip of her coffee, "I guess so. It’s weird to be in a town where everyone knows everyone else’s business."

"Yeah that can get annoying at times. But I’ve learned to live with it. The town is nice and the people…" she trailed off.

"The people are interesting." Alex said finishing Evangeline sentence.

Evangeline looked over at her and smiled, "Yeah I guess you could say interesting. So how’s work?"

"It’s good, I have to go in early today. Got a wedding to plan for." She said with a smile. Alex looked down at her watch and realized that she was running late, "I’m sorry I have to go. I still have to get home and shower." She said rising from her seat. "Thanks for the coffee and the conversation. We should do it again."

"We should, but next time lets make it protein drinks. I’ve always wanted to try one of those."

"Okay, protein drinks it is. See ya around." Alex said walking around Evangeline and heading back to the Palace.

Evangeline sat in the park and took in the sun light. She really didn’t have a busy morning so she took her time at the park enjoying the fresh air. The conversation with Alex started off weird at first and then they found this vibe between them. It was weird, it was like she was talking to someone she knew but didn’t know all at the same time.

Alex walked back to the Palace and thought about her conversation with Evangeline. She envied the woman from head to toe. She had the family she always dreamed off and didn’t know if she should ruin those memories Evangeline had built over her life. She thought about getting to know Evangeline more and getting to know what her life was like there by indirectly learning about their father. She was scared of what would happen if she did tell Evangeline who she really was to her. She also didn’t think that she should drop such a bombshell on her not knowing her that well. She needed to talk to Adian he would tell her what to do.

Evangeline made her way into her office and checked her messages with her secretary. There were none from Jax and that surprised her. She was still working on his buyout and he should have contacted her about the papers she had faxed over to his office this morning. "Jasper Jax please," Evangeline said as she typed up a brief and checked her email.

"Jasper Jax here."

"Jax, it’s Evangeline." She said pausing in the middle of her email.

"Evangeline." He said shocked to hear her voice.

"Is there a problem? I had my secretary send some papers to your office this morning and I figured I should have heard from you by now."

"Ummm, yeah. Sorry about that. Things have been crazy around here lately."

"Yes, I know that Jax. But these papers need to be filed tonight if you want the deal to go through, unless you are having second thoughts."

"Second thoughts no, Evangeline none at all. Just trying to keep my distance that’s all."

"You’re distance? What is that supposed to mean?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"John…" he started off.

"What about John?"

"He didn’t tell you that we talked yesterday?"

"No he didn’t." she said through gritted teeth.

"Oh, well I ran into him when I was in town yesterday."

"You were in town yesterday and you didn’t stop by to talk to me. I had those papers ready last night, but you said you were going to be out of town till this morning and to wait on sending them."

"I was in town yesterday because my jet had mechanical problems and we stopped in Llanview in a while. I was on my way to your office when my car broke down and my cell phone went dead, that’s when I ran into John. Are you sure he didn’t mention our little conversation." He asked with a smirk.

"No, he didn’t. Well if you could get those paper signed and faxed to me as soon as possible that would be great. Like I said I need to get them filed today before the court house closes if you want this deal to go through."

"I will, and tell John that I’m trying…" he said with a cunning grin.

"Okay." Evangeline hung up the phone and started at the picture of John on her desk, "McBain what are you doing?" she hissed out.

John sat at Rodi’s waiting for Evangeline to arrive. He had ordered both of them iced tea and was waiting on her before he ordered food. He was starving and if she didn’t show in the next… he started to say to himself, as she walked through the door.

Evangeline had a scowl on her face as she slowly walked over to John and dropped her briefcase next to the table. She placed both hands on the back of the chair strangling it so she wouldn’t strangle John’s neck. John saw her nails digging into the back of the chair and shifted uncomfortable in his seat, avoiding her piercing gaze.

"What did I do now?" he asked finally looking at her.

"You tell me." She said pulling the chair out and taking a seat as she crossed her legs and her arms over her chest staring him down. She was in lawyer cross-examining mode and John was about to get it in spades.