Finally she was able to speak, "Ju-Julian, dead?"
"Well, the police think that he's probably dead," TC admitted.
"How...how did it happen?" Eve asked, her voice shaking.
"It was a car accident. Apparently last night, Julian drove his car over the edge of a cliff just outside of town. They've recovered the car, but they haven't found a body yet."
"So he might be alive?" she asked, grasping at the tiniest sliver of hope in what TC had just said.
"I doubt it, honey. I don't think anyone could have survived that kind of crash. And if he had lived through it, they would have found him by now..."
"Maybe it wasn't Julian in the car," Eve said hopefully. "Maybe it was someone else...I don't know, someone who borrowed his car? That's probably what happened." She smiled to herself. "He's OK then," she thought.
"I guess that's possible, but not likely," TC said. "I mean, can you see Julian Crane letting anyone drive his sports car? I don't even think he'd let Rebecca drive it. Anyway, I don't wish anything bad on anyone else - you know I never wish harm on anyone, honey. But if there's one person in this town I would like to see get his just due, it's Julian Crane."
Eve drew in a deep breath as a wave of fear again came over her. Her stomach was so upset, she knew she was going to get sick.
She ran to the bathroom, with TC close at her heels. Slamming the door shut behind her, she lifted the toilet lid and dropped to her knees before it just in time...
"Honey, are you OK in there?" TC called, worry very much apparent in his voice.
Eve sank down beside the toilet, sobbing. She pulled her legs up to her chest and collapsed her head on her knees. She totally forgot where she was for the moment as she gave in to her emotions.
"Eve, do you think you have the flu? Was it something you ate?" TC continued to inquire through the closed door.
Lost in her pain, Eve could not hear him. Her mind was someplace else - somewhere far away in time and space...
After a few more minutes, TC rapped on the door. "Eve, honey, do you want me to come in? I'm worried about you."
Eve snapped back to the present. "Wha-What?" she called out. Looking at the door, she realized who had spoken. "No, TC, I'm OK," she said, her voice shaky. "It was probably just something I ate."
"Oh," he said through the door. "I thought for a minute there it was more than that."
"What do you mean, TC?" she asked, trying to make her voice sound natural, but really not even caring to cover up her feelings.
"Well, for a moment it flashed through my head that you might be pregnant, that you might be having morning sickness."
"No, TC, it's not morning sickness," she said. "Would you give me a few minutes? I just think I need time to recover."
"Sure," he said, sounding confused. TC walked back to the kitchen.
Eve's head fell back once more on her knees. Tears flowed freely from her eyes. "Julian, you can't be dead," she said. "You can't be gone."
Her body began shaking uncontrollably as her weeping continued. "I need you," she pleaded to him, hoping that somewhere, somehow he could hear her. "I need you in my life. You can't be gone; I love you."
Julian snapped awake from his nap in the bottom of the pit. "Eve," he said to himself. "Something's wrong..."
Sheridan walked over to where Julian was lying on the blanket. She knelt down beside him. "Are you all right?" she asked worriedly. "I thought I heard you say that something was wrong."
"Oh, I am fine," her brother replied, trying to shake off what he was feeling. "It must have been a bad dream," he thought to himself. "I'm sure Eve's all right..."
"Good," Sheridan said. "I didn't want my favorite patient having any more problems."
"I'm your only patient," Julian said with a smile. "But you know, you do make a fine nurse. I'm sure the hospital could use your services. Since I am on the board, maybe I could put in a good word for you."
"Well, maybe I'll have to check into that someday," she joked. Then turning serious, she said, "Julian, you don't know how glad I am you're going to be OK."
He smiled. "I have to be. I have to make sure you're all right, until Luis comes."
Sheridan nodded. "And he will come; I know that. I just hope it's before..."
"Before the baby comes?" he asked, reading her mind.
"Oh, God, Julian," Sheridan said, rubbing her hand over her stomach. "What am I going to do if this baby arrives before Luis finds us? How am I going to have my baby here in this pit?" A sense of dread overtook her, and she shivered at the horrible thought of giving birth to her beautiful baby in this hellish prison.
"That's not going to happen," Julian insisted. "Luis is going to find us soon; you'll see. And anyway, I would never let anything happen to you or your baby. You can believe that."
"I know, Julian," Sheridan said, giving him a slight grin. "As I told you before, if you weren't here, I don't know what I'd do."
"AWWWWWWW, such touching words!" Charlie yelled from above.
The two prisoners looked up once again to see the dreaded woman in the clown mask peering at them over the edge of the pit.
"Good day to you too," Julian returned.
"It is a good day!" countered Charlie. "And I'm glad to see you're doing better. Of course, that's not what the town of Harmony believes..."
"What do you mean?" Julian asked, taking her bait.
"Oh, let's just say the great, powerful Julian Crane had an accident last night. It seems his car plunged over a cliff. Of course, they haven't found a body yet...but then the ocean current can be tricky!" She laughed evilly.
"You crashed Julian's car?" Sheridan cried. "You made everyone think he was dead? How could you?"
"Oh, it was easy," Charlie answered. "And it will help keep everyone off his trail, and yours."
"I can't believe she did that," Sheridan said, turning to Julian. "Luis will know something's not right; you have to believe that."
Julian nodded hopefully. He thought of his earlier dream about
Eve. Was it really a dream, or was it Eve crying out to him? "Is that what
was wrong?" he thought apprehensively. "Does Eve think I'm dead?"