Daniel met Callie outside of her office/home and they walked to the ferry landing together. They said good morning to the islanders they saw and stood quietly talking, waiting for the Tarquin II to arrive. "How are you suppose to know her? Or is it, how is she suppose to know you, Callie?"

Callie laughed, a twinkle in her dark eyes. "I just told her to look for a short woman with a whole lot of pockets, standing with a tall, skinny guy."

"Is that what I'm for?" Daniel pretended to be offended, but it was hard not laughing about it.

"Yep, that's exactly what you're for, Daniel!" Callie looked totally unrepentant as she watched the ferry dock and passengers disembark. "Come on," she tugged on his sleeve, "let's find Christie and Ailene!"

"Whoa! Slow down, Callie! You sure are excited about this."

"Well, I like Christie, you know? She sounds so nice when we talk."

"But?" Daniel could hear it hanging there between them.

"She's lonely, Daniel. She doesn't have anyone to lean on. I... I don't want her to feel like that. Especially not at Christmas!"

"That's... That's very generous of you, Callie." Daniel smiled gently at the shorter woman. Callie got so caught up in her love of her job, sometimes people forgot what a warm, giving heart she had. Daniel had learned this particular lesson about Callie. After all, she let go of a top rate story, all because of him. He'd received the benefit of her generosity first hand.

Callie brushed Daniel's words aside. "That's her!" She pointed excitedly toward a pretty blonde getting off the ferry, pushing a stroller. "That has to be her, Daniel!" She tugged on his sleeve and didn't realize anything was wrong until it slipped from her fingers. Startled, she turned to find Daniel Cooper collapsed on the ground. "Daniel?" His face was as white as a sheet and lines of pain were etching deeper into his face even as she watched in horror. "Daniel?!?" His eyes remained closed and he didn't make a sound.

"What happened?" "What's wrong?" "He just collapsed!" "Is it a heart attack?" "Reverend Cooper is too young for a heart attack!" "No, remember that kid on the mainland? He died of a heart attack. Just a high schooler!" Islanders swirled around them, stunned by their minister's collapse. Kevin was pale as he organized some of the fishermen and Nub into carrying Daniel Cooper to the island's medical clinic.

In the excitement, no one noticed how pale Christie Culhain had turned. She gathered her daughter into her arms and thought about turning around and getting back on the boat. It wasn't safe to be here. It wasn't... She had to know. Christie straightened her back and marched in the direction the man who had collapsed had been taken. She looked around at the muddle of people with bewilderment. They were all talking at once and she couldn't make any sense of it. Spotting the woman who had been with him, she walked to her side. "Cal-Callie?"

Callie jumped and spun around. "Christie? Oh! I'm sorry! Daniel! He-he-he..."

"Shh. What's happened? What's going on?" She tugged the woman over to sit on a couch. Well, why not? No one else seemed inclined to use it and she felt like her legs were made out of rubber. She better sit down before she fell down, dropping her sweetheart on the way.

Callie took a deep breath, then another. "Daniel. He collapsed or fainted or something! Just boom! No warning. Nothing!" She wrung her hands.

Rollie? Her mind whispered in worry. "Callie, it will be all right. Maybe he forgot to eat or something." She tried to smile at her, even though her heart felt like it was about to take flight like a frightened bird.

"You didn't see him. I-He was pale as a ghost and he was in pain!"

"Callie, you said Doctor Watson is a good doctor. One of the best and you were lucky to have her. Let's find out what she has to say first. Okay?" She clutched Ailene more tightly. It was dangerous to be here. It was dangerous for her. It was dangerous for Ailene. It was dangerous for Rollie... But she couldn't go! Not until she knew he was all right! She buried her face in her daughter's soft blonde hair to hide the tears that suddenly sprang to her eyes. She'd thought he was dead! Why?!? Why hadn't they told her? Why?!? She struggled to pull herself together. How could she explain why she was so upset, so concerned about someone she never met before? How?!? How could she hide the fact that she loved him so completely, so totally, so... hopelessly?

A sudden hush filled the waiting area and she looked up anxiously. Everyone was staring at a middle-aged woman in a white lab coat. She didn't look special and yet there was an aura of quiet confidence around her that eased, just a touch, the young mother's fears.

"All right. Settle down. Tell me what happened?"

The room exploded into noise again and she moved her hands in a time out signal. "One at a time. Who was with Daniel?"

"I-I--I was, Doctor Watson." Callie waved her hand meekly, like a kid caught without the answer in class.

"Fine. Callie, what do you know?"

Callie chewed her lower lip thoughtfully. "I'm not sure. We were-we were waiting for Christie." She smiled wanly at her Net friend. This wasn't the welcome she had had in mind for her. "I wasn't really looking at Daniel, you know? I was looking for her and I pulled on Daniel's sleeve and it..." She hiccuped and covered her mouth in embarrassment.

"And?" Doctor Watson prompted gently.

"It, his sleeve, just slipped from my fingers. I turned around and Daniel was lying on the ground, pale as a ghost. I never thought I'd see that, you know? Pale as a ghost. And I... Oh! He looked like he was hurting a lot and it was getting worse not better. But... He wasn't clutching his chest or anything. He was... just lying there." She took a shuttering breath and suddenly felt grateful for the hand that slipped into hers, squeezing it comfortingly. "Is Daniel all right? What's wrong?"

Christie saw the same concern on every other face in the room. They all nodded, anxious and worried. Their concern made her heart feel warm, even as she worried more as the doctor didn't answer Callie's question.

"Was anyone looking at Daniel when he collapsed?" Doctor Watson looked around the roomful of people. They shuffled around a bit, but no one spoke up. She sighed. "All right. Listen up. I don't want to hear any exaggerations, folks!" She looked at them sharply. She knew full well what the island grape vine was like. "Daniel isn't having a heart attack. He is in a great deal of pain. I gave him a sedative and he's sleeping right now. Got it?"

Christie was amazed as every head in the room bobbed obediently in acknowledgment.

"Good."

"Should I call the Coast Guard, Doctor Watson?" Kevin asked seriously. A helicopter would be the fastest way to get Daniel to a hospital.

The other islanders left quietly, talking among themselves.

"I think you better. We'll need tests run and he should be examined by specialists." Doctor Watson turned to go back and watch her patient.

Callie interrupted her. "He's sleeping?" At Doctor Watson's nod, she sighed deeply. "Not... Not unconscious?"

"No, Callie, Daniel's not unconscious. I don't think he lost consciousness at any point."

Callie looked relieved for a moment, then blanched. To feel that much pain!

Christie swallowed then stood up. "Could we stay with him? While you're waiting for the Coast Guard?"

Doctor Watson looked sharply at the pale stranger watching her. There was such a depth of pleading in her blue eyes. And what is Daniel Cooper to you, she wondered thoughtfully.

"Callie and me?" Christie felt her daughter squirm in her hold and shifted her slightly.

Doctor Watson shifted her penetrating look to the bundle in her arms. She smiled softly at the healthy baby. "All right."

Doctor Watson led the way to the treatment room Daniel lay sleeping in. Both women tiptoed behind her as if afraid they would wake him up. "Here, sit down." She pulled a chair over for the pretty blonde with the baby, then got one for Callie. "What's your name? I don't think we've met." She glanced at the monitors she had hooked to her patient, then stuck a finger out for the baby to grab.

"I'm Christie. This is Ailene." Christie smiled slightly as Ailene immediately snagged the doctor's finger. The red plush dog in her other small hand slid unnoticed to the floor.

"Ah, the 'Name the Dog' contest!" Understanding dawned as she recognized the toy.

Christie blushed slightly. "Uh, yeah. Is he... Will he be all right?" She turned to look anxiously at the pale figure laying so still in the hospital bed.

"I don't know right now. But I am going to find out. I promise, Christie." Once more, Doctor Watson wondered about the young woman's concern. Did she know Daniel? Was this another part of his mysterious and unspoken past?

Christie felt herself warm at the declaration. "I'm sure you will, Doctor... Watson? Right?"

The doctor chuckled softly. "That's right and, don't worry, I have heard all of the Sherlock Holmes jokes."

"I'm sure, you..."

Christie was interrupted by a whimper from her daughter. "What's wrong, sweetie? Hmm?" She pulled her closer and brushed her hair from her face. The whimper rapidly grew to a full blown wail. Christie paled at the noise and shot an anxious look at the sleeping man. Damn! Rollie was... No, Daniel! Get used to it now! Daniel was waking up as her daughter demonstrated just how strong her lungs were. Oh hell! She'd dropped that damn dog! That was why Ailene was crying. She bent over to snatch it up, but found her eyes caught by the depths of the brown eyes that looked into hers. Daniel... Rollie was looking closely at her, confusion filled his eyes as did pain.

Daniel Cooper stared, stunned into the blue eyes of an absolute stranger. Except... She wasn't... Ang... Somewhere deep inside, a wall cracked. A dam burst and he was inundated with memories. Confusion and pain built as he struggled with two sets of memories, with two names. A name rose to the top of the maelstrom. "Angie?" he whispered hoarsely, his voice full of pain.

Doctor Watson and Callie froze as they watched unnoticed. Angie? What was going on? This was Christie... Wasn't she? Callie's mind immediately darted to Jo's story, to how she had hidden from the world because she'd committed a crime in her youth and couldn't face the consequences. Jo had been pregnant with her daughter, Kara, and her daughter's father had died in the act of the crime... Was this Christie's story too?

Pain subsided and as he saw the little one in her arms, guilt rose in its place - An overwhelming, unbearable feeling of guilt. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Daniel whimpered, then curled into a ball, rocking back and forth. Tears flowed down his face, unchecked. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Angie!!!"

Tears flowed unnoticed down the blonde's face as she bent over the heartbroken man, unable to stand it. "Shhh, shhh," she soothed softly, "it's all right, Rollie. It's all right."

Rollie?!?! Doctor Watson and Callie exchanged bewildered looks. What was going on? For one wild moment, Callie wondered if Daniel had been hiding on Hope too, just like Jo. If that was why his plea for help for her had been so moving. Then reality crashed in as she remembered the story she had uncovered about Daniel Cooper and his father, Cliff Cooper. Daniel Cooper was real! Wasn't he? So who was Rollie?

Rollie or Daniel, whoever he was, hiccuped and shivered under her touch. Forgiving him again! Why did Angie always have to forgive him?!? He was suppose to protect her, to keep her safe. He promised Manny! He'd... promised...

All through this Ailene continued her cry, unabated. Rollie shivered again and forced himself to look at ... her? He saw a beautiful little girl, a baby with a full head of soft blonde hair and great big blue eyes. Her face was screwed up in a terrible knot as she demanded her toy be returned the only way she knew how. Oh Angie! I'm sorry, he thought helplessly... But she's beautiful, she looks like her mother. Rollie didn't realize he'd said it aloud.

Angie gently kissed his forehead. Oh! He looked so good to her, even hurting! She had thought she would never see him again. She bent down, absent-mindedly to rescue her daughter's toy, then answered. "I wonder how that could be," she answered drily, trying to ease the emotions that were tearing both of them apart.

Startled, Rollie looked up into Angie's eyes, then froze like a terrified deer caught in a car's headlights. All he saw there was love and understanding. He sobbed and turned his head.

"Rollie? What's wrong?"

"It's my fault. It's all my fault. I'm sorry, Angie!"

"You keep saying that." Angie's brow puckered in confusion. "Somehow, I don't think you're apologizing about what I think you're apologizing for..." She gently touched his shoulder, then stroked his forehead. "What's wrong, Rollie?"

"He--he--heee," Rollie gasped and choked a bit. He licked his lips and forced himself to continue, to say those terrible, horrible words. "He tried to kill you, but he didn't want to kill you! He wanted to hurt you and he did and he raped you and this time you ..."

Angie looked totally nonplused at Rollie's words. "If you're saying what I think you are... You think Loubar came back and raped me again?! And that Ailene is...?"

Rollie shivered and curled back into a ball. "He killed Chiops and he hurt you, raped you! He..."

"Oh, Rollie! No! No, he didn't! Rollie Tyler, you listen to me! Chiops is fine. He's with the Gattis and probably spoiled totally rotten by now. Loubar. Did. Not. Rape. Me. Again. He... He tried to kill me. I can't deny that, but he didn't rape me again. I... I adopted Ailene."

Rollie opened his eyes and looked at Angie Ramirez, totally bewildered. "A--a--dopted?" He was totally confused, They had said... But Angie was saying... He felt a headache coming back, totally unconnected with the confusing mess of memory still roiling inside his head.

"Yes! Adopted!" Angie said it firmly and he had to believe her. He'd known Angie for so long, she wouldn't lie to him. He always knew when she lied to him and she wouldn't lie about something so... serious, so important. "After...  After they said you died, I ... I gave up. I didn't want to live without you. The Feds had come and said I had to go into the Witness Protection Program. And I... I didn't care." Angie cried as she remembered those awful days, thinking Rollie was dead, feeling her heart turned to powder and dry dust. She'd felt like she would blow away. "They took me to a protected facility to... to recover from my injuries, but... Rollie, I missed you so much! I didn't care if I lived!" Finally, she'd admitted it! Not only to herself, but to him too. Rollie always thought she was so strong, so capable. But losing him was the one thing she couldn't survive!

Rollie looked totally horrified at Angie's words. She... She ... Oh! Fresh tears spilled down his pale cheeks.

"I was... just marking time. I knew it and they, the doctors and nurses, knew it too. Then one day... I was just rolling around the hospital, in one of the wheelchairs. And there was a horrible accident. The man, Ailene's father, died on the way to the facility. It was the closest and Ailene's parents worked for the government. So they brought them there. She... Her mother died on the operating table. When the ambulance arrived, everyone was scrambling around. Her heart stopped. The nurse with Ailene just shoved her into my arms and jumped in to... to try and help save her. I... I looked into Ailene's eyes and I... found I was still alive. She was so beautiful, so warm and soft and she smelled like baby powder. Not like she'd just come from a horrible wreck. She looked up at me with those big baby blues and I didn't want to let go." Angie cried, a different type of tears as she looked at her little miracle in her arms. "I didn't want to let go. And then, the doctors and the nurses and the Feds all said she didn't have any family. She was all alone too, but if she was with me, then neither of us would be alone any more." Angie smiled radiantly as she looked at Rollie. "And I wasn't, because they let me adopt her." She sighed softly, suddenly so happy she thought she might burst. She was alive, she had Ailene and now she knew Rollie was alive too.

Suddenly, Angie realized they had an audience and she frowned thoughtfully. "And I think I just blew both of us out of our covers."

Rollie choked back a laugh at the understatement. "Well, I think I started it... Angie. Or... Should I call you, Christie?" He smiled warmly. "I don't think Doctor Watson or Callie will blabber it, love. Not if we ask them nicely."

Doctor Watson and Callie shifted uncomfortably as Daniel or Rollie or whoever he was looked at them with eyes full of faith and hope.

"Um, I've got to admit, I'm confused. Are you Daniel or Rollie? I thought..." Callie clamped her mouth shut as she realized she was about to mention Daniel's father and his secret. Or was it? What was truth and what was the lie?

Rollie frowned thoughtfully, staring at the sheet covering him. Who was he? Was he Rollie or Daniel? He felt like Rollie Tyler, especially when he looked at Angie. But he also felt like Daniel Cooper. Why did he seem to have two sets of memories vying for his attention?

"Well, I know one thing," Doctor Watson spoke up, "the Coast Guard helicopter will be here soon."

That got everyone's attention.

"What?!" Daniel/Rollie exclaimed in surprise. "Why?"

"Daniel," Doctor Watson sighed, then continued. "I'm going to continue to call you, Daniel. All right?"

Daniel nodded. He knew it was best he was known as Daniel Cooper. Everything else... Would and could wait.

"You collapsed, rather abruptly, and scared everyone to death in the process I might add. I didn't know what was wrong. I still don't know what's wrong. You need to be examined by specialists. A neurologist and..."

"No." The word was firm and unequivocally undeniable.

"No?" Doctor Watson frowned. She'd thought she'd at least had this patient trained right. He'd behaved so nicely after his accident too.

"No, Doctor Watson. I... I don't think they could help me and... It might attract other... attention." He looked at her with pleading, brown eyes. "Please?"

"Who's the doctor here, you or me?" Doctor Watson shot back, trying to be impervious to that look. Damn it! She hated it when they looked at her like that. "Or is that who Rollie was? A doctor?"

"Um, no, no, Rollie wasn't a doctor. Though he was pretty handy to have around in an emergency." He found himself amused about talking about himself in the third person. Had he lost it now? Well, all Aussies were suppose to be eccentric anyway. "I think... Give me a chance, I think I can sort out what's wrong. Please?" He saw the doctor's resolve was wavering. "I'll follow your orders!" That brought a smothered snort of amusement from Angie, but he ignored it for now. "I think... I think seeing Angie again, broke something down. Remember? After the accident? I was having those strange dreams? Well, I think they were these memories of... of Rollie... trying to come out. It took seeing Angie, here, alive, real, to bring them out all the way. That's all this is. Please?"