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After her outburst, Alice watched in disbelief at the story that Adam was unfolding in front of her. She was not unaware that Cailen had accepted money from Adam in order to pay off debts in the past, but she had no idea what he had done in order to make the money. Suddenly she felt horrible for assuming that she was only one "giving up her dignity" to pay off Cailen's debts. So that's how that girl in Macy's recognized him.... She could not believe that this situation had gotten so bad.

As soon as Adam had offered to let him being the one to come up with the money, Alice opened her mouth to tell him that that was not going to be an option, however he did not pause to give her an opportunity to speak. "If you can...do that job, with me watching every show, I'll drive you there right now." Why the hell?!?

Her question was answered shortly after, although it still took her a lot more self restraint than she had thought to keep herself from slapping him in the face for even suggesting that he be there watching every single one of her shows. It was not as if he hadn't already witnessed her naked, but there were other reasons for this to be completely unacceptable to her. It would be one thing if Cailen somehow found out what she was doing to make the money for his debts, it would be a completely different story if he found out that on top of that, Adam knew about the entire thing and attended every single show.

"No," Alice spoke just the single word, even though she knew that Adam was more than likely bracing himself for another outburst. She had wanted to scream. She wanted to kick up a fuss for him even suggesting something such as that. But deep down she knew that he probably had a point and knew more about this world that she. Her plan began to unravel right in front of her. "How would Cailen react if he found out? It's already going to kill the relationship when he finds out about what happened with us, if he finds out that you've known about my plan, and instead of doing something to stop me, you insisted on watching? No." Alice's tone had quieted down, but still dripped with frustration. Now how was she to make enough money to free Bella. How were any of them going to come up with the money?

As her thoughts raced, she felt herself becoming dizzy, much like she had when she was walking around Macy's earlier. Once again this sickness that seemed to have fallen over her could not have come at a worse time. She tried to ignore it as her mind continued to mull over possible alternatives that would come up with money... and fast.

"What if..." Alice paused before finishing her sentence to think over the idea that had popped into her head a touch longer before actually speaking the words out loud. "I've got a little over one hundred dollars left that I was going to spend today. If we went to the casino with that... do you think we could turn it into the money we need?"

She could not believe that she was suggesting the cause of the problem might also be the solution, although it seemed like a better idea to her than giving Cailen another reason to hate her even more so than he was already going to. Of course, she had no idea how Adam would react to her making such a suggestion after he had called out Cailen for having the gambling problem not that long before. She stood up so that if Adam had another anti-gambling out burst, this time directed at her, she would be able to walk away easier to save herself getting upset for just trying to fix the situation. The second she was standing up straight on her feet, the spell that had fallen over her grew worse and her vision became double.

"I don't... I don't feel very..." Alice was unable to finish her own sentence before tumbling over back to where she was originally seated, this time, fortunately she did not lose consciousness like before. Once again she tried to ignore the fact that she was feeling more and more horrible, but this time it was much more difficult. What she thought was just merely a passing cold or flu bug was starting to feel much worse. Immediately she began to assume the worst. She reached into her purse and pulled out the remaining money that she had.

"The hospital's not far from here. Just... drop me off. I'll see a doctor," Alice handed Adam the cash that she had taken out of her wallet, "then just take this money and see if you can turn it into something more. I can't gamble anyway."

She knew that he was going to object to what she was asking of him; the part about the money, not the hospital, of course. She also knew that he was never going to just drop her off and leave her at the hospital like that. Thinking quickly, she pulled out her phone to make a call before Adam could oppose to what she was trying to put together. After waiting through a few rings, she got voicemail.

"Cailen... it's Alice. I'm not feeling good. Adam is taking me to Mercy Hospital to see a doctor. But he can't stay with me. Please meet me there," Alice finished her message and hung up the phone, and returned her gaze back to Adam, hoping that he didn't hate her for what she was doing.

Another unpleasant wave of dizziness and nausea came over her and she leaned her head back against the fence, still keeping her eyes fixated on Adam's. "Please... please, let's just try this."

A mixture of surprise and thankfulness took over Alice when Adam seemed to agree to be going along with her plan. She knew that he would not object to taking her to the hospital, but the surprise came when he did not insist on following her inside. Of course, it did make sense. She had called Cailen and told him to come see her, but it wasn't her intention to shove Adam away for Cailen. Alice had wanted Adam to attempt to turn her money into more. She knew that she could trust Adam not to get carried away; she could not say the same for Cailen.

Making her way to the nurse in charge of triage, knowing the routine all too well from her illness-riddled past, she couldn't help but feel something odd deep inside of her. Almost as if she wanted Adam to be there with her. It was the same feeling that she had when the two were seated in Starbucks earlier... when he had reached out and grabbed a hold of her hand. This is silly. You know you're still dating Cailen, right? She pushed the thought of both men out of her head as she explained to the nurse what was wrong. Even given her past medical history, Mercy Hospital was always quite busy so Alice found herself seated in the waiting room, hoping that she wouldn't collapse before seeing a doctor.

I wonder how Bella is doing.... I hope that they can figure something out to get her back. I hate not being able to help. I don't want to be here right now. Despite not wanting to be where she was, she had learned many times in the past not to ignore symptoms when they took over her such as this. It could be something as simple as a flu virus, but at the same time it could be signs of a relapse. She'd learned that she had to be careful.

After growing tired of watching the second hand on the waiting room's clock twirl around and around in the circle, Alice pulled out her cell phone and began to toy with it to pass the time. Still no word from Cailen, but Alice chalked that up to him trying to get his sister back. That was more important right now. Absentmindedly, she opened the option on her phone to send a new text message.

I wanted you to stay.
I'm scared.
You just have this way of comforting me
like no one else can

The second she realized what she was typing, she immediately deleted all of it before the message could be sent. Perhaps that is how she felt, but she knew that she couldn't tell Adam that. That would be incredibly selfish. He needed to be taking her money and trying to make it into enough to free Bella. Then there was Cailen. She would never dream of hurting him in any way... but she was unsure of how things were going to pan out between the two of them. Alice found herself wondering if there would be anything left to repair of the relationship once everything was out in the open.

Alice knew that eventually she was going to have to tell Cailen about the night she spent with Adam. Clearly, this was not something she would be able to do right now. She would wait until Bella was home safe before allowing herself to drop a bomb in Cailen's already shaking world. Maybe he would forgive her and maybe he wouldn't. But can I forgive him for what he put Bella through?

She hadn't thought about that. Cailen's problem with gambling had always caused a rift in their relationship, but at the end of the day, Alice was always able to forgive him because she cared about him so deeply. However, his problem had never put anyone in danger before. A part of her was not convinced that was something she would be able to forgive; especially when it was his own twin sister's life he put on the line. A talk was definitely going to be in order as soon as Bella was returned safely.

Maybe if he agrees to go to some sort of... treatment for his problem things can be salvaged. But is he really going to do that when he finds out what I've done? No. He's going to hate me. He's not going to want to do anything I ask. She started to type another text message, this time to Cailen.

You need to get help for this gambling
Look what it has done.

Deleted. She couldn't send him that message, not now. It was something that should be discussed after the situation was no longer critical. Maybe it would be best if she just said nothing to him right now. Cailen needed to have his sister back safe and sound before anything else could be brought upon him.

Adam, I don't regret that night.
I want you to know that.
I care about you, a lot.
I wish you were here with me right now.
But I need to sort my head out.
I need to talk to Cailen, first.

This time Alice pondered actually sending this message, her finger even hovered over the button that would transmit the message directly to Adam's phone, fully well knowing that if she sent the message that she could not take it back. At the last moment, Alice changed her mind and hastily attempted to delete this message as well. Except this time she had accidentally pressed the button to send the text.

...
Message Sent: Skylar.

Alice's eyes grew wide with utter horror. She had accidentally sent the message intended for Adam to Skylar. Now she was in trouble. What if Skylar took the message directly to Cailen? Would she do that? Alice and Skylar were very close friends, but at the same time she was also friends with Cailen.

s**t.... s**t! No, no, no! Her mind screamed somehow hoping that by doing so, somehow the message would just disappear. Unfortunately, life did not work that way. She had to tell Adam about her mistake. If Cailen found out from someone other than herself what had happened... he was going to be angry, especially now that he was dealing with the Bella crisis.

Her fingers quickly began to type but she was unable to finish her message before being interrupted by the sound of someone calling her name. "Alice Humphrey? The doctor will see you now."

After turning a corner around the perimeter of the hospital, Alice finally stopped and sat down in the grass with her back to the brick behind her. Flinging her head into her hands, she continued to sob. She had ruined everything, surely now Cailen would not want to be with her. Their friends would hate both her, and probably Adam was well. No, they'd expect this from Adam, but not from me. No one will forgive me. I'll be all alone. Pushing any potential feelings for Adam aside, Alice tried to figure out what she was going to do. She knew she needed to tell Cailen now, she had passed the point of no return on that one. It would be better if he heard it from her, so she needed to act quickly, completely unaware if Skylar intended on doing the right thing by showing Cailen the message she had accidentally received.

Interrupting her thoughts, Alice could hear the sound of her phone vibrating, letting her know that she had an incoming text message. Figuring that it was from Adam, a part of her felt guilty for even reaching for her phone to read it. Nevertheless, hoping that it would be good news about Bella, she gave in and read the message anyway. He wants to talk... what the HELL does he want to talk about?

She tossed her phone a little ways in front of her without replying, trying to rid the tears still pouring from her eyes. She pondered what on earth Adam could think was so important that he needed to speak to her right away. Something so important that it couldn't wait; even considering the situation going on with Bella currently. Her mind went back to the last part of his message "Bring a baseball bat". He thinks I'm going to be angry... what would I be angry about? If he lost money at the casino it isn't a big deal... it was just a longshot anyway. Then it hit her. She had sent Adam to the casino, the same place where Cailen had just won some money. She figured that must be what he wanted to tell her, that he had spotted Cailen there and wanted to let her know where her boyfriend was.

"Like that's really important right now!" she cried out as if somehow he could hear her response before reaching forward to obtain her phone so that she could actually respond.

No, it can wait.
it has to. I'm telling Cailen about that night
it's going to ruin everything, my entire life.
i should have thought about that before...
whatever you want... just...
it will have to wait for now.
ps. i already know he was at the casino

Her fingers typed furiously with surprising accuracy despite how upset she was at the current moment. Viciously slamming her phone back into her purse she took a few deep breaths, knowing what had to happen next. She had to tell Cailen. It was now or never. Rising from the ground, she picked up her purse and began to walk back in the direction that she had come from. Thankfully, she could see Cailen in the distance, so he had not left.

As she walked, it felt as if she had been on death row, and was now walking down the corridor to meet her fate of lethal injection. But in this case, the Governor would not be calling to relieve her of her fate. Continuing to take deep breaths to prevent herself from crying in hysterics has she had before, she kept walking. Each step brought her closer and closer to the end. The end of her relationship. The end of her friendship with everyone she held so dear. No one would forgive her for this.

"I'm sorry," Alice whispered as she finally made it back to where Cailen was standing. A few tears managed to escape from her eyes and start trickling down her cheek. One more deep breath and it was time to let the truth be known. "I didn't want to tell you now... not with what happened to Bella. But I want you to hear it from me. It's better if you hear it from me." She paused to collect herself for what she was about to say. "During our last break, I was really upset. I ran into Adam and he invited me back to his place so that we could talk. I had just left your place and I was in such a mess, I didn't know what to do. We sat and talked, he tried to do whatever he could to make me feel better..." There it was, the nuclear bomb was about to drop and destroy everything she cherished with its scorching lethal radiation. "I slept with him. I know we weren't technically together at the time... but I shouldn't have done it. It was a mistake. I care about Adam, sure... we've been friends for such a long time, but... I crossed a line. I'm so sorry... I understand if you hate me. I hate myself. I'm going to help you get Bella back and then I'm just going to disappear and you'll never have to hear from me again...." As the last bits of the story left her lips, she could not stop herself from crying. Surely anyone watching the conversation transpire would think that she must be delivering the news of someone's death what with such close proximity to the hospital, but she didn't care. She continued to cry. More that anything she wanted to wrap her arms around Cailen and beg for his forgiveness, but she knew that wasn't an option. If he forgave her it had to be his choice, and not because she pleaded with him to do so.