CLAIRE FISHER'S APARTMENT
"Oh, come on," Claire scoffs after
the briefest hesitation. "Save it."
"I'm serious!" Ryan insists. "I do
need you. Claire, you--you're the only woman I've ever wanted like this
-- even remotely like this. What we had--"
"--was a teenage thing. And it's
not as if that went too smoothly."
"Just because it didn't go smoothly
doesn't mean it wasn't good," he counters. "And come on, how could
it have gone smoothly, with our fathers and everything?"
Claire pulls her lips together tightly
and shakes her head. "No. No -- it's in the past."
"Not because we wanted it to be!"
He sees that all-too-familiar flaring
of nostrils as Claire inhales sharply ... but suddenly, she is left without
anything to say. And Ryan knows exactly what is going on.
"You keep thinking about the rape,"
he says. "I can tell. You're looking to fall back on that as a reason to
push me away."
"Well, it is kind of a big deal,
don't you think?" she fires.
"I never said it wasn't! But it wasn't--it's
not what you've thought it was for all these years. I know that must be
a huge shock, and it probably doesn't even seem real to you sometimes ...
but you believe me. You believe what I told you on New Year's. I can see
it."
Claire says nothing.
"I know you need to get used to it,"
Ryan continues. "I understand that. And I'm sorry ... I'm so sorry for
letting you believe that it was me all those years. Not just because of
what it meant for you and me, but because I know how hard it must be to
believe the truth now."
Claire turns her head to the side
and focuses on the carpet. "Ryan, I spent all those years believing that
you were the one who raped me. For you to spring that on me -- for me to
have all of that come rushing back into my head all of a sudden -- especially
after losing Tim ... I can barely even handle it."
"I know," he says gently. "I know.
But you do believe me. And that ... it tells me that there is something
here, that we haven't totally lost whatever we used to have."
She doesn't look up at him. "This
really is not a good time for you to be trying to sweet-talk me."
"I'm not. That's not what I'm trying
to do. I just--I want your friendship. I want your acceptance. I want to
try to put all of that confusion behind us and get along."
Claire takes a slow breath, opening
her mouth as she prepares to speak. But another series of knocks on the
door cuts her off.
"What is this, a freaking parade?"
she mutters as she turns back to the door and opens it up.
And this time, what she discovers
gives her genuine reason to gasp.
"Hello, Claire," coos
Diane Bishop.
END OF EPISODE #203
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