DISCLAIMER: I do not own Melrose Place or any of the characters involved in this story.

As Michael walks down the hall of Wilshire Memorial, wearing his white doctor's coat overtop his greens, Matt catches up with him and begins to walk with him.

"Hey Michael, have you seen Kimberly?" asks Matt.

"No Matt, I haven't. And if I had my way, I'd never have to see that red headed bitch again for the rest of my life. But something tells me that I won't be that lucky," replies Michael.

"Wait, let me guess. Trouble in paradise again?" asks Matt jokingly.

"Oh, it's a little more serious this time around. Why are you asking me about her anyways?" asks Michael.

"Well, it's just that she hasn't turned in her paperwork at all. And when I went to see the chief of staff, Dr. Hobbes, he says that Kimberly hasn't checked in for her rounds the last 2 days." says Matt.

Michael's usual confident look turns to concern as he grabs Matt by the arm and pulls him into an unoccupied hospital room so that nobody else will hear there conversation.

"Look, I don't know if you heard it on the gossip line back at the apartment complex yet or not, but I left Kimberly. I have a meeting with my lawyer later this week and I'm filing for divorce" says Michael.

"Divorce, huh? Did you finally come to your senses and realize that women who try to run you down intentionally aren't ideal for long term relationships?" says Matt jokingly.

"Yeah real funny, Matt." says Michael annoyed at Matt's attempt to be funny. "Look this isn't about me. She tried to sabotage one of my patient's recovery. And I've just had it up to here with her lunacy. It has reached the point where I'm so disgusted with her that I can't stand to even look at her, so I moved out yesterday."

"Uh-huh. So you need a place to stay? Cause you can stay with me at least for a day or two until you find a place." offers Matt.

"Thanks for the offer, Matt. But it just so happens that I've moved in with somebody else." Michael pauses. "I'm living with Amanda."

Matt looks at Michael and grins in shock. "No way, you and Amanda are living together?" Michael nods his head in an affirmative fashion with a childish grin on his face. "It's all starting to become clear now. You left Kimberly for Amanda, and now Kimberly has disappeared, and more than likely has gone off the deep end. Am I right?" asks Matt.

"It's a little more complicated than that. But you got the basic premise of it." says Michael.

"Well Michael, I hate to bring you down while you're basking in the glow of your latest fling…."

Michael cuts off Matt. "This is no fling, Matt. It's true love, this time for sure."

Matt rolls his eyes. "Sure Michael whatever. But listen to me, the psychological evaluation we ran on Kimberly a few weeks ago showed that she takes the word 'unstable' to new heights. Simply put, she's a loose cannon and can't cope when things don't go her way. You leaving her and moving in with Amanda could very well push her over the edge and cause her to go and do something horrific, maybe even kill somebody." he says.

"So what are you suggesting? That I should stay married to her and hope she doesn't slit my throat in the middle of the night? Matt, I don't love her anymore. I don't even like her right now." says Michael.

"No. I tried telling you to divorce her after she ran you down and you got your memory back. If you had listened to me then, maybe we wouldn't be having this conversation. All, I'm saying is that you need to be careful. I saw her tests results and I know what she's capable of. I also was the victim of an attack the she orchestrated so that she could get in and change the test results to make her look like a saint. Just be on the lookout, Michael. That's all I'm saying." says Matt as he starts to walk out.

Michael begins to think about what Matt said and speaks up just before he leaves. "Hey Matt, you want to help me try to find her? If you and I both testify against her and what she's done, maybe we could get her locked up so she won't hurt anybody anymore." suggests Michael.

"Sorry Michael. I'd love to help, but I have my own crazy nutcases to worry about." says Matt as he leaves. Michael ponders what Matt meant by that for a moment than leaves the room to continue on with his job.

Allison is sitting at her desk, totally unable to concentrate on her work because of the phone call she received earlier. Billy is talking to her trying to comfort her.

"Allison, your father is scum for what he did to you. But I really can't see him coming all the way out here to L.A. to kill his own daughter. I mean, what would be the point in that?" asks Billy.

"Billy, my mother is dead. And dad's life has totally gone down hill since the scene at the barbeque. Don't you get it? I'm responsible for ruining his life. He's wanted for murder, he's lost all his friends, and what other motivation does he have but to kill the person who ruined it?" she replies.

"But why would he want to kill me?" asks Billy.

"Because, we were engaged and he knows how close we are. To him, you're the guy who turned me against him. Plus don't forget, you came in and rescued Meredith and I. So it's not good enough just to get me, he has to get you too." answers Allison.

"So what should we do?" he asks. "We have to go to the police and report this."

"Definitely. We should probably do it tonight, cause there's the Century awards tomorrow night." Allison pauses. She looks up at Billy, then at her watch and sees that it's after 4:00. "Billy, oh my god, we forgot about Amanda's entry form for the century awards. It's 4:15, we missed the deadline." says Allison with a blank look of fear on her face.

"Allison, we might not have to worry about your father. Amanda is going to kill us first." says Billy as he and Allison just look at each other with facial expressions that say they are in over their heads.

Michael drives out to the beach house at night to pick up the rest of his things. Not knowing if he will encounter Kimberly, he prepares himself for one of her psycho fits when he opens up the front door and walks in.

"Kimberly? You here? I don't want to talk to you or even look at your ugly face. I just want to get my stuff and get out of here," shouts out Michael. His voice echoes throughout the apparently empty beach house.

Michael looks around and is completely dumbfounded by what he sees. The house has been completely trashed. The food has been taken out of the refrigerator and thrown all over the living room. All of Michael's clothes have been cut up and shredded. The couch has been cut open and the stuffing inside has been taken out. The tv has been destroyed. The walls are painted with the words "Kill Michael" and "Die Amanda Die" repeatedly.

Michael walks into the bedroom and takes an immediate right to the bathroom. The mirror in the bathroom has been smashed into pieces which lie in the sink and on the ground which makes a crunching noise as Michael walks on them. Hung up on the wall are photos of Michael with daggers and swords drawn through his head and neck as well as some of Amanda with a knife drawn through her chest and the word "bitch" written all over the pictures.

Michael, who normally is able to keep his calm when dealing with Kimberly, starts to breathe heavily when he looks at the bed and sees that the covers are pulled up and there is a huge person size lump underneath them. He prepares himself for Kimberly to be underneath there. He goes over by the bed, pulls the covers down and doesn't even look but immediately goes in for an attack and throws a punch at whatever is underneath.

To Michael's relief, it's only dummies, two dummies that have pictures of Michael and Amanda's faces on them. One of them is wearing one of Michael's suits and has dark hair. The other has on a short skirt and blouse similar to what Amanda wears to D&D. Both dummies have knives driven into the chest and the dummy with Amanda's picture on it has a note on it that says "Amanda, you should have let the cancer kill you."

Michael grabs the dummy and throws it up against the wall in anger. At that exact moment, the phone rings. Michael hesitates for a second, but then pushes his way through the messy house and answers it.

A wicked laugh bellows on the other side of the phone. There's no question to Michael who it is. "Are you scared, Michael?" says the voice on the other end. "You damn well better be."

"Kimberly, where the hell are you?" replies Michael.

"Oh I'm close, Michael. Very close. I'm so close to you that you could practically reach out and touch me." Michael looks around the house, starting to feel uneasy. "Go on, reach out and touch me, Michael. I won't bite" says Kimberly sounding more and more creepy.

"Stop with the mind games you psychotic loon." says Michael.

"Now now, Michael. Let's not go calling names. Did you have fun sleeping with Amanda last night?" Michael's face grows more and more intense. "I bet you made her a nice breakfast to thank her for it too. Let me guess, you made your famous omelette and orange juice combination. Nice touch. I guess you finally got what you wanted." says Kimberly.

Michael is now walking around the house and looking out all the windows, looking for Kimberly. "Yeah, well it sure as hell beats sleeping next to your ugly ass. And unlike you, I can hug her without worrying that she'll stick a knife in my back," retorts Michael.

"Nice Michael. Real nice." Kimberly pauses as Michael goes out on the porch to look on the beach but fails to see her. "Just enjoy it why you can, because your little cancerous slut is about to be introduced to the real meaning of pain and suffering, first hand. And you are going to have the pleasure of watching her suffer, knowing that you are the reason she is behind it." says Kimberly in a psychotic tone.

"No! Damn it Kimberly!" fires Michael back. "You're not getting anywhere near Amanda. You hear me? You've really done it now. I'm going straight to the medical authorities and tell them everything you've been up to, from Matt's attack to your attempted sabotage of Amanda's treatment, not to mention the way you trashed this beach house with your Charles Manson artwork in the bedroom here. They'll lock you up in a padded cell for the rest of your life and throw the key away." says Michael almost screaming in a panicked rage.

"Go ahead, Michael. They'll never find me. And neither will you. No, you won't see me until I've decided it's time for you to start suffering too. See your on my schedule. So enjoy your wonderful life now while you can. Because it'll all end when I decide it's time for it to end." says Kimberly. Michael goes back inside leaving the sliding glass for open.

"Yeah, really scary talk when you're on the phone. Look, anybody can mess up a beach house. But why don't you stop talking about how I should be so scared of you and show me." taunts Michael.

"What an excellent idea, Michael" says Kimberly.

Just then, a loud bang goes off on the beach. Michael runs back out to the back porch to see what it is. Just as he does, fire crackers go off underneath the beach house, scaring Michael. He quickly runs back into the house and closes the sliding door. While leaning up against the door to catch his breathe, he gets knocked off his feet when a huge rock comes through the sliding glass door and shatters it open. Michael drops the phone and starts to run out the front door when another rock comes flying through the side window, and then a third rock comes through another window. Michael rushes out the door and to his car and takes off. As Michael drives away, we hear Kimberly's evil laugh on the end of the phone that Michael dropped in the living room.

Back at the apartment complex, it is night time and dark. The black hooded stalker is back to work again. We see the stalker sneak out of Jake's apartment, apparently having broken into it, and tapes a note to Jake's front door. The stalker hears somebody coming and takes off out the front gate without being seen.

Jake and Jo make their way into the court yard, they are met by Matt as he comes out of his apartment to meet them. "Hey, where have you guys been?"

"We went to the police, then I picked up Jo from her shoot." responds Jake.

"Matt, somebody keyed my car. I'm pretty sure that it was John." says Jo.

"Oh my god. So what did the police say?" asks Matt with a concerned look on his face.

"In a nutshell, they were no help at all. They said they can't do anymore than what they're doing right now unless we have hard evidence that it is John who is harassing us." says Jake.

"Well that's stupid, do they need a picture of John holding a gun to our heads before they do something?" replies Matt.

Jake slightly grins at Matt's comment, but then notices the note that the stalker taped to his door. He goes over and rips it off of his front door and reads it to Matt and Jo. "Mr. Hanson, I have no issue with you. But I do have a score to settle with Jo and Matt. If you continue to intervene, I will have no choice but to take you out. For your own safety, I strongly advise you to stay out of it and mind your own business. It's signed 'a concerned citizen'."

Jo, Jake, and Matt just look at each other. Jo looks frightened and Matt looks deeply concerned. Jake opens up his apartment door and finds pictures hanging from the ceiling. Jake rips them down and looks at them. The pictures are of Jo and Jake leaving that morning to go to the police. There are also some pictures of Matt sitting in his apartment.

"Oh my god. Matt, Jake, you know what this means? He was in here. Detective Rawlings has been stalking us. I took pictures of him which he didn't know about, so this is him getting back at me by taking pictures of us which we didn't know about. He must be staking us out." says a fearful Jo.

"That does it." says Jake. He goes over and closes the blinds then locks the door and puts a chair in front of it "You two are staying here with me tonight. One of us is staying awake at all times. Tomorrow, we are taking this to Detective Wilkins and getting this crap taken care of once and for all."

Jo goes over and puts her head on Jake's chest and hugs him. "My god, Jake. I'm so sorry. I should never have gotten you into this." She says.

"You didn't get me into anything, Jo. I'm not going to let anybody push my friends around." says Jake in a reassuring voice. Jo hugs Jake, not letting go out of fear. Matt looks on, unable to say anything.

In Amanda's apartment the next morning, Amanda is dressed in a casual outfit consisting of jeans and a red sweater and is brushing her teeth. Michael has just woken up and walks past the bathroom in a white t-shirt and grey sweat pants where she greets him with a big smile. Amanda seems to be in an unusually chipper mode.

"Good Morning, sunshine. I was beginning to think you were going to sleep all day. You must have come in late last night. Did you get all your stuff out of the beach house?" asks Amanda as she finishes brushing her teeth and rinses out her mouth with mouthwash.

Michael, who is extremely disturbed by what happened at the beach house the previous night, doesn't want to tell Amanda about what happened at the beach house because he doesn't want to bring down Amanda's mood. She's been so depressed lately, that he figures it's better to lie then tell her the truth about Kimberly and scare her.

"No. I couldn't break away from the ER last night. But I did talk to Kimberly and worked out a time to get my things tomorrow while she's on rounds. Oh and I also told her not to bother you anymore or I was going straight to the medical board. So I don't think you'll be hearing from her again." replies Michael.

"Well good. Now we can focus on more important things." replies Amanda back with a smile.

"Yeah, like getting you well. Now it's Saturday, Amanda. You need to be taking it easy and let the drugs do their work. Now as your doctor, I prescribe a day of rest on the sofa in front of the tv." says Michael.

"Sorry, no can do, Michael. I was able to get Franklin Cruiseline back as a client yesterday, cleaning up the mess that Billy and Allison left me. And tonight is the night I've been waiting for my whole career. I can feel it, I'm finally going to win the advertiser of the year award," says Amanda as she makes her way out toward the front door, grabbing her purse. Michael follows her.

"Okay, so at least rest until it's time to go to that." suggests Michael.

"Sorry Michael, but I need to go to the spa and then to the beauty parlor. I need to look my best for tonight. And so do you if you're going to be my date. So I hope you got your nicest tux back from the beach house." says Amanda. Michael looks at her, annoyed that she's not taking his advice and resting. "Look, I just need you to go along with me on this for today. This is extremely important to me. I promise I'll spend all day tomorrow resting. Maybe even in bed all day with you if I win," she says in a seductive voice.

"Yeah, Yeah." says Michael in a sarcastic but friendly tone of voice. "Speaking of that, do you think we might graduate from spooning and move on to the next level of intimacy at some point before I start collecting my retirement fund? Not that this cuddling stuff isn't great, but well you know, there are other things to do." he says.

"Michael, I told you. I have to get well, first. Right now, it's enough just having you there with me when I fall asleep. Besides, I have to conserve my energy to get well. But I promise you, if I win tonight, we'll come back here tonight and have our own private little celebration. And I can guarantee that you won't be disappointed." Amanda says as she pulls him in and gives him a passionate kiss before darting out the door.

Michael closes the door with a cocky grin on his face that hides the frustration that is building up inside of him. While happy to be by Amanda's side, he's frustrated that they haven't had sex since returning from New York. But even more important, he's contemplating how to handle Kimberly's borderline psychotic behavior without Amanda knowing. At that moment, the phone rings, and as Michael answers it, he hears a very familiar voice on the other end once again.

"So what did you two have for breakfast today? Fruit Loops?" says Kimberly.

Michael clinches his teeth, with boiling up anger and frustration inside of him, he lashes out back at Kimberly. "Kim, I swear to god if you call this number again, I'm going to rip your wig off and strangle you with your own hair," he says.

"My my, aren't we in a crabby mood this morning? Let me guess, Amanda still not giving you any?" asks Kimberly over the phone. "Don't you remember med school? Cancer decreases sexual desire. Add that to the fact that she's slept with just about every guy over at that apartment building and I'll say that's the recipe for some pretty lousy sex if you ask me. I can't believe you left me for that" jokes Kimberly in a malicious way.

"Save the comedy act for HBO, Kimberly. I'll take a vow of celibacy before I ever touch you again. You know, you are never getting away with what you tried to do to me last night. When I'm finished it'll be you who's going to be having lousy sex, with big Bertha in the slammer doing 20 to life for attempted homicide" retorts Michael.

"Sounds pretty kinky. By the way, I wouldn't leave Amanda all alone if I were you. L.A. is no place for a woman in her condition to be wondering around in alone" says Kimberly in a devious voice.

"No." says Michael who is about to blow a gasket. "You stay away from her. DAMNIT KIM, STAY AWAY FROM HER!" yells Michael at the top of his lungs

Kimberly just laughs manically on the other end, knowing she's completely gotten to Michael's psyche. "For the moment I will, Michael. For the moment." she says giggling then puts on a more serious tone. "But that moment is about to pass." Kimberly lets out an evil laugh as Michael grits his teeth and slams the phone down. In frustration he picks up a sofa pillow and throws it across the room with force.

Allison has woken up and is still in her bath robe. She is sitting at her kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee and contemplating how she is going to handle telling Amanda that her entry form for the advertiser of the year award didn't get turned in.

Billy is sitting there with her going back and forth between that problem as well as trying to figure out what to make of Allison's father.

"You know, I went to bed last night and I prayed that I wouldn't wake up this morning. Though if I'm lucky, maybe my father will come kill me before the Century Awards tonight," says Allison in a melancholy voice.

"Come on Allison, don't talk like that. Look, your father's just probably trying to scare you," he says.

"Well he's doing a damn good job if you ask me," she replies.

"And as for Amanda, it's going to be hard on her. But this wasn't your fault or my fault. She just misplaced her nomination. And with everything she's been going through with her cancer, this relationship or whatever it is with Michael, and the pressures of her job, it's no wonder." he says.

"You may be right," replies Allison.

"I'm sure I am. I bet any minute she'll find her nomination lying around her apartment and realize it was her mistake." says Billy.

Suddenly, there is a soft knock at Allison's door. She gets up and goes to open her door and Amanda is there.

"Amanda, hi." says Allison with a warm smile while trying to hide the own personal hell she's going through. Billy comes to the door to join in on the conversation.

"Look, I can't talk long. I got a long day at the beauty parlor to get ready for the awards tonight. The limo will be here at 7:00. I figure we can do a double date, Michael and I plus the two of you, will that work?" asks Amanda. They can hear the excitement in her tone.

"Um, yeah. That's fine. Listen Amanda, are you sure you really want us to go with you? I mean this is your big night and well, we kind of dropped the ball while you were in New York." says Allison

"No need to worry about that anymore, Allison. I was able to get Franklin to stay on with D&D yesterday. It ate up most of my day trying to convince him, but in the end he signed back on," replies Amanda. "And to top it off, Mr. Franklin knows several members of the voting board personally and he assured me he's going to do all he can to convince them to vote for me. Tonight is going to be my night, I can just feel it." says an excited Amanda.

"That's great, Amanda. You definitely deserve it" says Billy.

"I just wanted to drop by and tell you two personally. And I definitely want you both there with me when I win this award." says Amanda.

"Are you sure about that?" asks Allison.

"Without a doubt. Allison, I know you and I don't always see eye to eye. But the truth is I depend on both of you for an awful lot. Maybe I don't show my appreciation that much at the office cause that's not my style, but I do recognize all the sacrifices that you two make. I might not always get the results that I'm looking for from you guys, but your effort and dedication both mean a lot to me. And I plan to mention both of you personally at my acceptance speech tonight. So I want you both to be there." says Amanda.

"Gee, Thanks Amanda. That really means a lot," replies Allison with a smile hiding her immense insecurity.

"Well, I have to run. I got a busy day ahead of me. Make sure you guys are ready to go at 7:00," says Amanda as she turns around and walks out the court yard.

"We'll be here" says Billy as Allison closes the door.

As soon as the door closes, Allison lets out an exhale. "Billy, I think you and I better start looking for new jobs," she says.

"Calm down, Allison"

"No, I won't calm down. After everything Amanda has been through, this is the first thing she's had to smile about in a month. This is the first time she's shown any shred of happiness. And no matter whose fault it is, she's going to blame me that her nomination didn't get turned in. And all the verbal tongue lashings she's given me before will seem like a walk in the park compared to what she'll say and/or do to me when she finds out. Honestly, I'd almost rather go back down into the basement with my father then have to endure what will happen when Amanda hears she's not on the nomination list." she says.

"Listen, lets at least go down fighting," replies Billy.

"What do you mean?" she asks.

"I know some people on the committee and so do you, lets make some phone calls and see if we can't pull off some last second miracles," he says.

"So where do we start?" asks Allison.

As Billy and Allison begin to go over names of people on the Century Awards Committee, from an unknown location, it is revealed that the black hooded stalker is listening in on their conversation through the transmitter that was hidden beneath the couch and is taking notes. On a yellow note pad, we see that notes have been taken, and the time of 6:30 p.m has been circled and highlighted.

We also see that more than one radio is there at this location, and that each radio is labelled with an apartment number from 1 through 8. There is one more radio that is labelled for the courtyard. It has now become evident that whoever this stalker is, he/she has planted transmitters all around the entire complex and has been listening in on every single conversation in every apartment.

Matt peaks in between the blinds out into the courtyard, which is empty at this point. Jake and Jo are both asleep. Jake is sleeping while sitting in a chair, Jo is lying down on the couch. Matt looks at the clock to check the time, and then goes over and wakes them both up.

"Hey, come on. Wake up guys." he says.

Jake and Jo wake up groggily.

"Listen, we have to call Detective Wilkins."

Jake nods in agreement. He looks in his wallet and finds the card that Detective Wilkins gave him and calls it up.

"Wilkins" answers the detective on the other end of the phone.

"Detective, it's Jake Hanson," he replies. "Listen, I don't know what further kind of evidence you need, but I came home last night only to find a threatening letter to Jo and Matt taped to my door that was warning me to stay out of it. And along with there were pictures hanging in my apartment of myself, Jo, and Matt that were apparently taken yesterday. So if you ask me, this proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Detective Rawlings has been here and that he broke into my apartment and has been stalking us. Now if somebody doesn't get their ass down here to investigate this thing right now, somebody's going to get killed. And I'll be damned if it's going to be my friends." shouts Jake over the phone.

"Mr. Hanson, calm down please," replies the detective.

"No I'm not going to calm down until you send somebody over here to do something about this instead of sitting in your police station with your thumb up your butt." replies Jake.

"Alright look. We do have reason to believe that John Rawlings has been stalking the apartment complex and probably looking for the right moment to come after Mr. Fielding and Ms. Reynolds. And now that you've gotten involved, he's probably targeting you too. But we can't send over uniformed cops. Because all he'll do is lay low until he leaves," says the detective.

"So what are you going to do?" replies Jake.

"We have to find someway to get this guy to come out into the open. And to catch him red handed. And I have an idea on how we might be able to flush him out and arrest him. But I'm going to need you guys help to do this. Listen, do you know where Jo and Matt are?" asks the detective.

"Yeah, they are here in my apartment with me." replies Jake.

"Good, stay there and don't move. Don't leave your apartment at all, don't answer the door or the telephone. I will be by this afternoon to explain the whole situation. Just stay there until I do." says the detective.

"You want us to just stay here and not do anything?" asks Jake.

"For now, yes. Just take my word for it." replies Wilkins.

"Alright, we'll be here." says Jake and hangs up the phone.

"So what do we do now?" asks Jo.

"We wait." replies Jake.

After listening in on this, the hooded stalker gets up and leaves after turning off all of the equipment at the location. The stalker walks outside and grabs a solid lead pipe that is by the doorway and gets in a black car and drives off.

Later that afternoon, we see Detective Wilkins pull up in his car to the apartment complex to see Jake, Jo, and Matt. As Wilkins starts to get out of his car, we see that the stalker has already gotten there and hits Wilkins hard over the head with the pipe knocking him back into the car. The stalker quickly gets in Wilkins car and hits him in the head with the pipe again, this time crushing the detective's skull and killing him almost instantaneously. Blood spills all over the car door and on the pavement.

The stalker reaches into Wilkins inside coat pocket and grabs his hand pistol. The stalker pushes Wilkins down in the seat so that nobody can look in the window and see him, rolls the window up and closes the door and runs off, again without being seen.

At Shooters, Sydney is working the tables when the phone rings.

"Shooters." she answers.

"Hi Syd." says the female voice on the other end of the phone, who turns out to be Ricki.

"Ricki, I don't have time for this. I'm backed up here on drink orders and I don't know where the hell Jake is. He hasn't showed up to work and he's not answering his phone, and….." Ricki cuts Sydney off.

"Don't worry about him. He's safe. We would never do anything to harm your precious Jake." says Ricki.

"Who's we?" asks Syd. "Ricki where are you?"

"It's not where I'm at right now, Syd. It's where I will be shortly, and where you should be too. You see, Martin and I want you back, Syd. We want your friendship. And we want to show you first hand how serious we are." she says.

"Wait. Back up. What are you talking about?" asks Sydney.

"Your sister Jane has hurt and humiliated you an awful lot. She's brought a lot of pain into your life. Well, it's payback time. Martin and I have a little surprise for her at 6:30 tonight. She's going to know the true meaning of pain."

"No. Why are you doing this?" Syd replies.

"Cause, we love you Sydney. And we won't let anybody hurt you. And after 7:00, Jane will never hurt you again. I promise." says Ricki.

Sydney slams down the phone in fear and looks up at the clock as it says 6:45. Realizing she has only 15 minutes, she sprints out Shooters and completely ignores the impatient customers who are asking for their drinks.

The stalker dressed in all black with a black mask, black hood, black shirt, black pants, and black gloves creeps his way toward the apartment complex. The stalker takes the hand gun that he/she took from Detective Wilkins and checks it to make sure there are bullets in there. After, tucking it in the pocket of the coat that he/she is wearing, the stalker goes down an alley behind the complex and using a trash dumpster to stand on manages to climb to the roof of the complex.

The stalker perches on top of the apartment building, remaining out of sight of anybody in the courtyard, but sits at a vantage point where the entire courtyard is visible. The stalker then takes out a pair of binoculars and looks down into the pool water that has begun reflecting off the walls. With binoculars in one hand a gun in the other, the stalker appears ready to strike at his/her designated target, which presumably is one of the tenants in the building. Two questions still remain. Who is the stalker? Is it Kimberly? Is it Detective John Rawlings? Is it Ricki or Martin from the cult? Or could it be Allison's father returning to L.A. to get revenge on his daughter for ruining his reputation? Or could it be somebody else entirely?

And just who is the stalker looking to kill? With the entire building on edge, little does everyone know how close danger really is.

At Amanda's apartment, Michael has his black tuxedo on, with everything except the jacket on as he's pacing up and down the hallway. Amanda has her nicest black dress on and is finishing putting on the last of her make up in front of the bathroom mirror. Michael paces by.

"Michael, would you calm down? The way you keep walking up and down the hall, you would think that you were the one up for the award tonight." says Amanda. Little does she know that his nervousness is due to the fact that he suspects that Kimberly will most likely do something crazy to try to ruin the evening and hurt Amanda in the process.

"Sorry Amanda. I guess I just can't help it. I know how bad you want to win this thing and I also know how bad I want to get you back here in bed once you do win. " says Michael trying to lighten the mood.

Amanda shakes her head after that statement and then chuckles. "You know, two months ago if you had said that to me I would have laughed you right out of this building." she says.

"Yeah, amazing isn't it, how it took me saving you for you to see me in a better light." he replies as he walks into the bathroom to see if she is done with her makeup yet. "Amanda, you really don't need that much makeup." says Michael.

"Save the smooth talk for later, Michael. I need all the help I can get. All eyes will be on me for my acceptance speech and I can't give even the slightest inkling that I'm sick. Appearances are everything in advertising." she says. "And speaking of appearances, your tie is on crooked." she says to him

Amanda stands up and begins to adjust Michael's tie when the phone rings. "Answer that, will you? I need to finish putting on my eye liner." she says.

Michael goes to the kitchen and answers the phone. "Hello this is Dr. Michael Mancini." he answers.

"Hi this is Mr. Franklin, owner of Franklin Cruiselines. I'm trying to reach Amanda Woodward." replies the voice over the phone.

Michael goes back to the bathroom and hands Amanda the cordless phone. "It's for you. It's the owner of Franklin Cruiselines" he says.

Amanda takes the phone with an ecstatic look of joy on her face as she covers up the receiver to talk to Michael so Franklin can't hear her. "Yes. I knew it. Rumor has it they always let the winners know ahead of time that they won, that way they have time to rehearse their speech a little more. He must be calling me to tell me I won." she whispers to Michael with a huge smile, hardly able to contain her excitement.

"Mr. Franklin. You have good news for me?" she asks over the phone.

"Well, I spoke with my friends on the judging panel here about your professional manner and your hard work, and they all agreed with me and you were a show-in to win." replies Mr. Franklin.

The smile on Amanda's face slowly begins to dissipate when she hears one key word. "Wait a minute. 'Were' a shoe-in? What do you mean were?" she asks.

"Well Amanda, I don't know how to tell you this but it seems like the nominating committee never received your entry form." he replies.

"But that's impossible. I sent one of my people over with it yesterday." she shouts. Michael's smile disappears as well as he can see her instantaneous mood change and knows it has to be bad.

"Amanda, I asked the admin staff to look over all their paperwork. They couldn't find your entry form. Either it was misplaced or the person you sent over forgot to turn it in. I'm truly sorry, but there's nothing I can do. I'm afraid you are just going to have to wait until next year." says an apologetic Mr. Franklin.

Without saying another word, Amanda hangs up the phone and turns around and looks at Michael. Her eyes look at him with the kind of hurt and anger that one only feels when their biggest dreams die. For Amanda, this has been magnified tenfold. And the words "wait until next year" echo in her head like a bad nightmare. For would there even be a next year for her?

"I don't believe this." she whispers staring past him.

"What is it? What happened?" asks Michael.

"They never got my entry form. I'm not going to win. I'm not even going to be on the nominations list." she says looking at him. The sadness dwells in her eyes and a single tear rolls out of it and down her cheek.

"Oh gosh, Amanda, I'm sorry." says Michael. Michael grabs her and pulls her in for a comforting hug. She just stands there and buries her face in his shoulder for several minutes, not knowing why this is all happening. For Amanda, it's like her last breathe had been taken from her and now she was shrivelling up. "How could this have happened?" asks Michael.

Suddenly, the blank sadness and sense of loss that Amanda was feeling has been replaced by uncontrollable anger and rage. She releases from Michael's hug and looks him in the eye and with just one word that tells exactly where the focus of all her anger is.

"Allison." she says in a tone that could mean only one thing. Amanda was going to tear her to shreds.

Amanda darts toward the door, with Michael trying to stop her. "Amanda wait." he cries out.

"Michael, don't try to stop me and don't stand in my way. This is the last straw. For 2 years I've bent over backwards to help that dim-witted, self-indulgent pitiful excuse for an employee out. I took her under my wing, and this is how she repays me? By screwing me over on the most important night of my life? Well, I'm going down there and I'm going to tear that pretty little face of hers right off." she says bluntly.

Amanda barges out of her apartment as Michael follows.

"This is ridiculous. Detective Wilkins should have been here hours ago. What could be taking him so long?" barks Jake who is pacing around and looking out windows as he appears to be getting cabin fever after being inside his apartment all day with Jo and Matt.

"Maybe he got tied up in traffic or something?" suggests Matt.

"For six hours, Matt?" replies Jo.

"Well this is L.A." he says.

Reaching the end of his rope, Jake throws his hands up in the air. "All right, that's it. That does it. I don't give a damn what that detective says. I'm getting out of here and I'm driving down to the police station." he says.

"Jake, you can't. What if John is watching this apartment right now at this very moment? He's a trained cop and he's already proven he knows how to kill. Something bad could happen to you." cries Jo.

"Something bad has already happened to me, Jo, to all three of us. I mean look at us. We've been sitting in this damn apartment for almost 24 hours straight, hiding out like a bunch of chicken littles. I'm sorry, Jo. But that's not how I live my life. When I have a problem, I face it head on. That's just how I am." says Jake assertively.

"Now I'm walking out that front door, out of this complex, and I'm getting on my bike and heading to the police station." says Jake.

"You're right, I'm coming with you." says Jo.

"Just one thing." says Matt as he hands Jake his car keys. "Lets take my car instead. John will have a tougher time getting to three of us in a car than just two on a bike."

"Good point." replies Jake as he smirks at Matt.

Jake, Matt, and Jo all walk over to the front door. Jake singles that he's going to count to 3 and that on 3, he's going to open the door and everyone's going to run really fast out of the complex. Jake gives the signal, opens the door and they all take off really fast out of the complex as Jo and Matt follow him.

The stalker on top of the roof of the complex sees them rush out and tip toes over to that side of the building to get a closer look, but as the three of them leave, another person enters the courtyard from the rear gate.

It's Ricki, dressed in jeans and a dark tank top. With a wicked scowl on her face, Ricki walks over to Jane's apartment door and knocks. Jane opens up the door and is startled when she sees Ricki standing there in front of her.

"Hello slut. Surprised to see me?" says Ricki looking down her nose at Jane.

"Ricki. I don't know what you are doing here, but if you don't get out of…" Jane gets interrupted as Ricki plants a cold hard slap right across her left cheek.

"That's what I'm doing here, bitch. You wouldn't believe Sydney when she told you I was here. You were so damned determine that she was lying that you even stopped dating Jake because he half believed her. You're so pathetic. You didn't think what Sydney was saying was real. Well that little love tap shows you just how real I am." says Ricki.

"I'll let you have that one for free, but hit me again and I'll…." Ricki slaps Jane across the face even harder this time.

"And you'll do what, huh? What are you going to do, bitch? I just hit you again, what are you going to do? Are you going to take a swing? Go right ahead. Do something daring for once in your life instead of being the snivelling little self-righteous prude that you are. Yeah, I know what you do. Sydney told me all about it. You blame her for every single thing that goes wrong in your life instead of facing up to the fact that you're just a loser."

Jane tries to keep her composure. "If I'm a loser, what does that make you, Ricki? It makes you one mentally disturbed sick freak."

"Maybe, but atleast I'm not a short haired, sexless, bony little broad who couldn't keep a guy if she paid him every night for sex. Yeah, I know about that too, Jane. Why is it all the men in your life wind up cheating on you with somebody else? It's because you can't make a man happy. And why? Cause you are nothing but a selfish bitch who thinks only of herself, not to mention a pathetic failure at everything. I mean look at you. Your design shop is a failure, so is all your relationships. Even your so called friends think your weak. You don't deserve somebody like Sydney for a sister. But you have her and you treat her like garbage when you should get down on your hands and knees and KISS HER ASS." shouts Ricki.

Unable to take any more, Jane balls up her fist and with all her force punches Ricki in the face as hard as she can. Ricki stands there laughing, seemingly unphased by it. But she reaches up and touches her lip with her index finger and sees that Jane has drawn blood. She looks at her and snarls. "You skanky bitch." she cries and lunges at Jane as a catfight ensues.

Sydney comes running into the courtyard just as the fight breaks out. "Ricki, stop it." she yells across the courtyard at her. Sydney rushes to try to pull Ricki off of Jane as Ricki has taken her down to the ground and has her in the headlock and begins to pound on her. "Jane, get out of here now. She's going to kill you." cries Sydney.

"Shut up, Sydney." says Jane.

"See Jane, even now when your sister is trying to help you, you still yell at her. What kind of sister are you? Syd, listen to me, you don't need this bitch for a sister. You have a real family now" says Ricki as she and Jane continue to wrestle on the ground. Sydney tries to get in between the two to break it up but she winds up getting punched several times herself.

The stalker is watching this intently through the binoculars, but drops the pistol while watching and it falls down into an area of the roof that is pitched black. Unable to shine a light for fear of drawing attention, the stalker gets down on his/her stomach and crawls over to the darkened area and begins to feel around for the pistol, unable to locate it.

While Jane, Sydney, and Ricki tassel over on the side of the courtyard where Jane's apartment is, Amanda comes storming out of her apartment on the other side. Feeling uncontrollable rage, Amanda doesn't even acknowledge the three woman cat fight going on. Instead she just marches straight for Allison's door.

Following behind Amanda, Michael sees the Jane, Sydney, and Ricki catfight and looks on with lustful male interest before catching up to Amanda. He tries to draw Amanda's attention to it. "Shouldn't we…..?"

He is interrupted by Amanda before he can say anything. "Let them kill each other, Michael. I can't deal with their petty little squabble right now. I got a spineless worm I have to fry." says Amanda

Amanda bangs on Allison's door with authority. Michael is standing right behind her but only partially paying attention as he can't help but watch the three way cat fight and enjoy it, especially given that it's involving two of his ex-wives.

Allison opens the door, with Billy standing behind her, as the she sees Amanda standing there with a look that could kill. "Amanda" she says but is immediately cut off before she can say another word.

"Don't talk. Just stand there like the incompetent boob you are and listen to what I have to say. You know, for the past few weeks I've been wondering what bad thing I could have possibly done in my life to deserve this illness I'm now fighting. But I guarantee you that whatever I did to deserve that isn't one one-millionth as bad as whatever I must have done to have warranted the day I had the displeasure of meeting you, Allison." barks Amanda.

Allison just stares at Amanda blankly, knowing full well what this is about. Billy hears the commotion in the courtyard and looks past Michael's shoulder to see what is happening. Michael continues to divide his attention between the argument right there in front of him and the cat fight on the other side of the pool.

"Amanda, if this is about the entry form….." says Allison, again getting cut off by Amanda.

"Oh, so you know about it already. Just when in the hell were you planning on telling me? You were going to let me go all the way to the award ceremony tonight thinking I had a chance at winning and not tell me that my entry form never got turned in and that I wasn't even going to be announced on the list of nominees. What did you just want to have a front row seat to watch me look like a fool? What kind of rat poisoning do you have running through your veins, Allison." shouts Amanda.

Billy tries to speak up, but Amanda cuts him off before he can mutter a single word. Michael just stands by as a spectator, occasionally peaking over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of the other catfight.

"Don't even try to make an excuse for her, Billy. Cause I've been hearing them day in and day out for the last 2 years. What was it this time, Allison? Were you hung over again? Or did you have to attend another therapy session to try to make some sense out of your messed up pathetic life?" says Amanda.

Billy, getting enrgagd by Amanda's harsh words shouts overtop the noise. "Look here, your entry form didn't get turned in because there was nothing to turn in. The envelope you gave Allison yesterday morning, didn't have an entry form in it. It just had a blank sheet of paper. We tried to call you, but your orders were nobody was to disturb you on your meeting under any circumstance. So don't blame Allison, cause this wasn't her fault at all." screams Billy.

"That's ridiculous. There sure as hell was an entry form in that envelope. I put it there myself. And how would you know anything about it anyways, Billy?" asks Amanda.

"Because I saw it for myself. There was no entry form in that envelope. I turned it in, not Allison. I was doing her a favor. Allison had some personal business to attend to." says Billy trying to reason.

"What kind of personal business, another one of your loser meetings for pathetic drunks?" taunts Amanda.

"Hey that's enough." says Allison.

"No it's not enough. But I'll tell you what is enough, both of your jobs at D&D. Michael and I will attend the Century Awards tonight without you two. And don't bother coming in to work on Monday. You're both fired. Let's go Michael." says Amanda as she grabs Michael by the arm and starts to pull him out of the complex.

Michael, is obviously the only one in the courtyard who's enjoying himself as he just lets out a cat like grin and waves to Billy and Allison as he turns around and starts to accompany Amanda outside, while still catching as much of the catfight as he can.

Billy turns around and starts to walk back in Allison's apartment, but Amanda's words have sparked a flame inside Allison as she quickly cuts off Amanda's exit and begins to give her a piece of her mind.

"Now you look here, Amanda. I don't care how sick you are. You just don't come in here and talk to people like that, especially those who have been busting their butts for you." says Allison.

Billy rushes out to try to play mediator, along with Michael who has now completely lost interest in the other catfight and is trying to hold Amanda back from tearing Allison apart while Billy is hanging onto Allison.

"And where the hell do you get off firing me? I have put 2 and a half years into this company. I work nights, I work weekends. I've put in as much as 80 hours a week sometimes making sure everything runs smooth. You have no right to fire me because of some mishap that wasn't my fault." says Allison.

"Save your sap story for somebody who gives a damn, Allison. We all have had to make personal sacrifices. But you want pity every time something doesn't go your way." retorts Amanda.

"Amanda, you have no legal justification for firing me. And you better think long and hard before you do this. Because if you follow through, I promise I'm going to sue your ass off." replies Allison.

"In that case, I'll see you in court." says Amanda.

"Fine then. Since you are no longer my boss, just let me say this. You are by far the coldest, bitchiest shrew I have ever met in my entire life. Everyone busts their ass and walks through broken glass for you, and all you ever do is bitch and moan. You know, you may think you have friends, Amanda, but you don't. People are nice to you because they fear you. But the cold hard truth is that you don't have a friend in the world."

Michael coughs. "Um excuse me." he says.

"Except for Michael here, whose interest in you is likely all below the waist."

"Hey, come on now." cries Michael trying to get everyone to calm down and draw the attention off of himself.

"You know what, Allison, I'm gonna tear your throat out." says Amanda as she breaks free from Michael's grip and attacks Allison, tackling her to the ground. Allison grabs the upper hand as she rolls on top of Amanda and begins pulling her hair. Billy and Michael try to pull the two women off of each other.

"Hey! This is not good for your recovery, Amanda." shouts Michael as he pulls a kicking and screaming Amanda off of Allison. Billy tries to grab Allison and keep her in line, but she breaks free and runs after Amanda. Allison lunges at Amanda, who is being held by Michael while Billy chases after here. The four of them all fall into the pool.

On the other side of the pool, Sydney has finally managed to get in between Jane and Ricki to break it up for a moment. "Jane, please, get out of here now, you're going to get hurt or maybe even killed." cries Sydney.

"Come on, Sydney" says Ricki. "Just let her go, maybe fighting is the one thing she is good at. Cause she sure as hell can't run a business or find a man that will stay faithful to her."

Sydney turns around to face Ricki and try to get her to leave. Jane makes a running dive and knocks both Sydney and Ricki into the pool and the momentum carries her in as well. The two individual catfights have turned into one giant melee in the apartment complex swimming pool with hair pulling between Amanda and Allison, while Sydney, Ricki and Jane try to drown each other. Amanda's dress is now completely ruined, as is Michael's tux, neither of them seem to care. The whole melee has turned into complete chaos.

Up on the roof, the stalker hears the noise that is going on in the courtyard and is trying to find the pistol and get back to his/her spot.

Jake, Jo, and Matt quickly make their way over to Matt's car. "Comeon, get in, quickly." barks Jake.

Matt hops into the passenger seat and Jo gets in the back. Jake is about to get in when he looks over and spots Detective Wilkins car with blood all over the door. At first he is tempted to just get in and start driving. But Jake has always been one who wants to take care of problems himself. Some call it being a hero, others call it being stupid, but for Jake it's just how he does things.

"Jake, get in. We have to get to the police." says Jo out the car window.

Jake continues to walk over to the car door and looks in the window to find Detective Wilkins dead carcass. He doesn't flinch or hesitate for a second, he opens up the car door and the dead body falls out onto the street. Jo and Matt look on in disbelief. Jake reaches down and puts two fingers on the detectives neck to confirm what he already knew. Jake looks back over at Matt and Jo. They peer at him out the car window like they've seen a ghost.

"Is he dead?" asks Matt.

Jake nods. "He's dead."

Suddenly, Jake begins to hear the noise and commotion that is coming from the courtyard of the apartment complex. With a feeling in the pit of his stomach, he knows that something terrible is about to happen, and driving to the cops would not be able to solve anything.

Jake takes one look at Matt and Jo and ponders whether to leave his two friends there. But hearing the screams and loud noise coming from the courtyard, he knows what he has to do. Without saying a word, Jake takes off sprinting at full blast back into the Melrose Place courtyard.

"Jake, wait don't leave us here." cries Jo.

Matt and Jo begin to unbuckle their seatbelts, in order to go run after Jake.

Up on the roof, the stalker has found the hand pistol and checks to make sure the bullets are still in it.

Jake comes sprinting into the courtyard and sees the total chaos that is happening in the pool. "What the hell?" he shouts out loud. The two separate cat-fights have merged into one as all the wet women are scratching and clawing at one another. The only two guys in the pool are Michael and Billy, who are desperately trying to break everything up and maintain some order.

Forgetting for a moment why he ran back into the complex, Jake spots Ricki who takes a swing at Jane. Jane ducks and she winds up hitting Amanda in the back of the head. This forces Amanda to let go of Allison, as she had been holding Allison's head underneath the water. Sydney who is in the middle of all this looks up at Jake and cries for him to help. Realizing that Sydney had been telling the truth all along about Ricki, Jake quickly takes off his leather jacket and jumps in the pool to try to help Michael and Billy retain order.

Jo and Matt come sprinting back into the building, following Jake. Jo puts on the breaks when she sees everyone in the pool, but Matt plows into her from behind and they both go flying into the pool and land on top of everyone who has all managed to jumble themselves up in one huge melee.

With ten people in the pool now, the stalker has made his/her way back to the lookout spot on the rooftop and cocks the pistol. The stalker points the pistol at the melee but hesitates on firing. Trying to make sense out of the chaos in the pool, the stalker appears to be trying to positively identify his/her target, but with everyone screaming and grabbing at each other this makes it extremely difficult for the stalker to identify anyone.

The stalker moves out of the shadow to try to get a closer look to make people out. As the stalker moves into the light, dressed in all black with a hood to conceal his/her identity, Jake sees something move out of the corner of his eye and looks up and sees the person in black pointing a gun towards the pool. Not sure who the gun is directly aimed at, Jake yells out at the top of his lungs "EVERYBODY! GET DOWN!"

The stalker knows he/she has been spotted and must fire the gun. The index finger pulls the trigger and a loud noise echoes through the courtyard. As a thick cloud of grey pistol smoke comes up from the gun, the one in black, standing on top of the roof gazes down below. The hectic chaos of the last few minutes falls silent. The stalker stands up to see over the smoke and the result of the gunshot. With no revealing identity feature, and no way to read any kind of a facial expression, the stalker just stares down at the pool below as everything turns into slow motion, then everything turns to black as the credits come across the screen signifying the end of the show for that week:

Author's Note: That is the end of part 1. I will be writing the next parts of this series over the next few weeks. I'm not sure how many parts there will be, but I do already know how I'm going to end the story. For those of you who would be kind enough to write a review, I would be curious as to who you think the mysterious stalker is. If you would please mention that in your reviews along with any other comments and suggestions, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, and I hope you are enjoying the story so far.