Alison ran all the way back to Jack and Livvie's. This morning had been so strange. After finding out how Rafe felt about her and dealing with that, and the talk with that man in the park, then seeing Rafe. She hadn't expected that seeing Rafe would have that effect on her. Butterflies. Alison was hardly a shy person, but just seeing Rafe and remembering his words, it just left Alison absolutely speechless. She didn't know what to say or how to react, so she fled.

Alison caught her breath. She sat down on the porch for a moment and she thought about what she had to do. She knew what she had to do, it was just going to take a while to figure out how to do this.

Alison stood up and opened the door. And then she realized that she had no time to plan all of this out after all. She was just going to have to do it now. "Jamal," Alison said softly.

Jamal stood up from the couch and looked at her. "Ali."

Alison looked at Jack and Livvie, standing in the living room. They walked over to her.

"We just thought we'd let you guys talk," Jack explained.

"Yeah, we're just going to do that," Livvie said. "We think you really need to speak to each other."

With that, Jack and Livvie put on their coats and left the house, leaving Jamal and Alison alone.

"Hi Rafe!" Serena said cheerfully.

Rafe looked up from his journal and quickly closed it. "Serena, hey, how are you? Wait, shouldn't you be in school now?"

"No, it's still break. I have to go back tomorrow though. Ugh," Serena scowled.

"Oh, that's too bad. You're not here by yourself are you?"

"Oh no, I'm here with Mom and Christina. Mom!" Serena called out.

Lucy looked at the direction of her voice and when she saw Rafe, she waved and ran right over.

"Hi, cousin!" Lucy said cheerfully and sat down. I didn't know you were here!"

"Well it's seems like everyone runs into each other in the park, doesn't it?"

"I wanna swing!" Christina said.

"I'll go take her," Serena offered and went over to the swings with her little sister.

"So, cousin, what's going on?" Lucy asked.

"Oh, nothing."

"Oh, nothing, eh?" Lucy gave him a look of disbelief. "So, did you think about what we talked about the other day?"

"What?"

"Oh stop playing Mr. Innocent with me! You know what I'm talking about! The girl you have an eye for! I told you to just go for it! So did you?"

"Sorta."

"And?" Lucy asked impatiently.

"It didn't work out, Lucy."

"What do you mean it didn't work out? Humph! I don't believe that! You mean to tell me that some girl actually turned you down? Who is this girl? Hmm? Who is she because I would like to meet her and tell her how crazy she is not to want to take a chance with you and..."

"Lucy, Lucy!" Rafe interrupted. "That's not exactly what happened. It just…Lucy it's complicated. I don't want to talk about it."

"Oh no, you're not dodging the subject from me that easily!"

"Mom!" Serena and Christina ran over to Lucy. "Can we go get some hot chocolate now?"

"Oh, oh that's right we were about to do that. Rafe, would you like to join us?"

Rafe smiled. "Maybe another time. You have fun though."

"Some other time, huh? Hmm, I think you're just avoiding our little conversation! Well come on girls, let's get going." Lucy picked up Christina. "Rafe, we will talk about this later."

"Alright, Lucy," Rafe gave in.

"Bye, Rafe," Serena said.

Christina waved.

"Ta!" Lucy said.

"Bye," Rafe said.

Rafe stood up from the bench and took a deep breath. Then he gathered his things and went home.

"Jamal, I'm glad you're here because…I needed to talk to you." Alison took her coat off and set her things down.

Jamal walked over to Alison and took hold of her hands. "Baby, I need to talk to you too. Come on," he said and led her over to the couch.

"I haven't heard from you in a couple of days," Alison said. "I thought you would have come by sooner."

"I know, Ali, I'm sorry about that. I've been busy the last few days and also, I just wanted to give you some breathing room. I hated the way we left things. We were so angry with each other and Ali, I don't ever want to feel that way again towards you."

"Jamal…"

"Alison, you were right. I'm sorry. I'm sorry about Valerie. I didn't realize how it was affecting you and I should have, and I'm sorry for that."

"Is that why you've been busy? Busy with Valerie?"

Jamal shook his head. "Yeah. It's not what you think though," he added quickly. "Look, Val, as you know, is going through a really hard time. She went into a deep depression, Ali, and I was worried about her."

"Is she going to be okay?"

"In time, she will. I talked to Valerie, and we both agreed that maybe she needed to go away for a while. So I drove her to this clinic a few hours out of town."

"You mean, a mental clinic? Like Ferncliff?"

"In a way. It's not exactly like Ferncliff. It's more of a rehabilitation center. She's going to get the help she needs there."

"Oh, well that's good. I'm glad she's going to get the help she needs."

"So look, I was thinking, it's really lonely at the apartment. I miss you, Spunky. Can we just put this behind us and, can we just go home?" Jamal smiled at her.

Alison didn't answer. Spunky. The name that Jamal lovingly called her all the time brought tears to her eyes.

"Ali, what's wrong?" Jamal asked, concerned.

Alison wiped her eyes with her fingertip. "It's not that simple anymore, Jamal," Alison choked out, fighting back her sobs.

Jamal put his hands on Alison's arms. "Alison, please tell me you forgive me. You're not still upset over Valerie are you? I explained it to you…"

Alison shook her head. "I'm not upset over Valerie."

"Well babygirl, what is it? What's wrong?"

Alison wiped her eyes again and swallowed her sobs, finally composing herself. "Jamal, there's something I have to tell you."

"Ali, you can tell me anything. What is it?"

"It's about Rafe."

"Alison, no, we don't need to talk about this. Look, I know you've been spending a lot of time with the guy, and that's my fault. I wasn't there for you so you turned to Rafe. But look, I'm not upset over that, okay? Whatever happened, I'm not upset about it. It's in the past. Let's just forget it and move on."

"No, Jamal, I have to be honest with you, because lying and keeping secrets, Jamal, that's not right."

"Alison…"

"No please, let me finish. Jamal, you're right, I've been spending a lot of time with Rafe lately. A lot of time. And he was there for me when you weren't…"

"Alison, I'm sorry about that," Jamal said. "Look baby, that was a big mistake on my part, not being there for you…"

"Jamal, I'm not mad about that. Look, you were just doing what you needed to do. Valerie needed you and you felt an obligation to help her, and that's okay, I'm over being upset about that. But listen to me, when you were helping Valerie, Rafe, he helped me."

"Okay," Jamal said. "I understand that, he helped you out. Alison, that's not a big deal."

"Yes it is, Jamal. It's a big deal because…I…I kissed Rafe again."

"Alison, look, I don't want to hear about this."

Alison fought back her tears. "I know you don't and I'm sorry, but we need to talk about it, Jamal."

"Alison, I don't care that you kissed Rafe. Okay? Look, it's like I said before, I know you were upset and you turned to him. That's okay, and I don't blame you for that."

"I know, Jamal, but I'm really scared."

"Alison, why would you be scared? You kissed the guy, so what? It didn't mean anything, right?"

"Jamal, I'm scared because…I liked that kiss."

Jamal felt his heart break. The one thing that he was afraid of happening, the one thing that he was hoping Alison wouldn't say. "Alison, what are you telling me?"

Alison started to cry. She wiped her eyes some more. "I kissed Rafe, and I really liked it."

Jamal took hold of Alison's hands. He swallowed the lump in his throat and asked the question. "Alison, are you in love with him?"

Alison looked up at him with her wet eyes. "I don't know," she whispered. "I think I am." Tears streamed down her face.

"Alison…" Jamal whispered, feeling his own eyes tear up.

"I'm so sorry, Jamal," Alison said through her sobs. "I…I didn't…mean for it to happen. It…it just did."

"Spunky, no," Jamal said, crying.

Alison put her hands to her face and cried into them.

Jamal pulled her hands away from her face and looked into her eyes. "Are you telling me that you don't love me anymore?"

"No, Jamal. I do still love you…just…"

"Alison, please, we can work through this."

Alison shook her head.

"Alison, let's just go home. Okay? Let's go home and we will talk about this."

Alison shook her head again. "No, Jamal."

"Don't say it, Ali. Please don't say it," he begged.

Alison sobbed. "I think we should take a break from each other, Jamal."

"No, Alison!" Jamal pleaded.

"It's not fair to you, Jamal. It's not fair to you. I'm so sorry." Alison buried her head into her hands again and cried.

Jamal rested his head on her lap and cried. "No, Ali," he begged. "Not after all we've been through."

"I'm sorry," she cried again. "Jamal, please understand."

Jamal got to his feet. Tears were soaking his cheeks. "No, Alison," he said through his sobs as he walked out the door.

As soon as the door closed, Alison buried her face into the couch cushion and sobbed loudly, the image of Jamal's hurt face burned in her memory forever.