Doctor Watson stared at Daniel uncertainly. She found she had to think of him as Daniel. In spite of what she'd just heard, he was still Reverend Daniel Cooper. "And what do I tell the Coast Guard? And the islanders? Daniel, I can't just..."

"Tell them I fainted. Tell them I missed breakfast and supper. Tell them... I don't know! Please! I can't go to the hospital on the mainland. They..." Daniel broke off, uncertain what to say. Besides, was it fair to get the people of Hope involved in this mess? People had died because of him. Suddenly, he felt very afraid for his twin. The story about Angie and Loubar had been a lie. What about the rest? Had any of it been truth? Or was he the biggest, most gullible fool in the world? Oh, how Dingo would cackle at that! Dingo! His father! What must he think? Memories of Cliff Cooper came but were banished by the image of his own father and ... Mangela! He moaned softly. Oh, what had he done?!?

The doctor's manner immediately turned to concern at the sound of Daniel's pain. "Daniel?" She bent over him and touched his forehead. "You need to see a specialist. I'm not trained for this. Please!"

"Dad?! Oh, Ang--Christie! What have I done?"

"Daniel," 'Christie' said it firmly. Rollie was Daniel now and she was Christie. It was time they both got used to it. "You didn't do anything. We will sort this out. But maybe Doctor Watson is right. Maybe you should go to the hospital."

Et tu, his expressive eyes said. They slid over to Callie who looked so bewildered and confused. He didn't blame her. He felt the exact same way. Daniel took a deep breath and fought to get himself under control. "Those men, the ones who made me Daniel, they..."

"Daniel, they will understand." Suddenly Christie thought of something. "We can call your emergency contact! He'll know what to do."

"Um, Christie, I don't have an emergency contact."

"Huh?"

"I don't... I don't think this has anything to do with Witness Protection. It's something else, something strange and ... insidious. They made me think I am Daniel Cooper. They erased Rollie Tyler from my life totally. Why? That's not the Witness Protection program! I've met people with them before and they don't do things like that."

Christie nodded thoughtfully, surprised she hadn't recognized that for herself. She was too used to thinking of her own contact. She wondered when he'd met them, but wasn't surprised. Rollie Tyler had gotten involved in all sorts of things that most people never dreamed about or thought only happened in the movies or on television.

"These are... different. I don't know why they did it, but they did and it looks like they might be behind the lies I heard about you. Why?" Daniel looked desperately at the three women. "Please! We can't attract their attention! They have to think their... conditioning is still working. Please..."

Doctor Watson took a deep breath,  hoping she wasn't going to regret this. "All right. I'll call Kevin to cancel the helicopter. I hope they forgive the false alarm. They're probably almost here. I'll... think of something to tell them. But! If you're not better I'm sending you to a specialist, no ifs, ands or buts! And you are going to do exactly what I say!"

Daniel nodded, "Yes ma'am!"

Doctor Watson left to make the call.

Christie gaped at his ready agreement. Callie caught her surprise and wondered. Maybe they were all in for some surprises with this. She itched to get on the internet and find anything she could on Rollie Tyler. She wouldn't say anything, not yet, but... Her curiosity was yowling in her ear, eager to find answers.

As if he guessed what she was thinking, Daniel turned serious brown eyes on to the island's only journalist. "Callie, I want you to promise me something."

"Oh, I won't tell," she hesitated only briefly over the name, but finished it with the name she knew, the one she was most comfortable with, "Daniel! I promise!" Callie readily spoke the promise. And she wouldn't, she vowed to herself, not unless Daniel said she could! She wondered what the full story was. She wondered if she could get it, even if she couldn't reveal it. She could show it to Daniel and Christie and maybe Doctor Watson, then destroy it. Just like the other one.

"I know you won't, Callie, but that's not what I'm asking right now." He took a deep breath. He was starting to feel sleepy again. "Promise you won't look up Rollie Tyler." Before Callie could draw breath to protest, he continued firmly. "Let Christie find the information." He looked at the blonde who was torn between surprise, amusement and joy. "She's very, very good at that sort of thing and can cover her tracks so no one will trace it back here. Promise, Callie! Please! Look together. Work on this together." His eyes communicated a silent message to the woman he had known better than any other. She nodded once.

"Christie?" Callie looked at the blonde in surprise. "How? Do you--Do you mind?"

"Nope, no problem." Christie answered with easy assurance.

"Angie was the best of the best. She could hack anything and no one could catch her." Daniel chuckled. "Hope you kept in practice, sweetie."

"You better believe it," Christie shot back. "I just hope you still 'bounce' as well as you used to." She really missed his Australian accent and wished for just a bit that he would say something... Aussie. However, it seemed Daniel was American and he'd been speaking as an American for a long time now. She wondered, wistfully, if he would use it, just a little, if they were alone.

"Bounce?" Doctor Watson asked curiously as she came back.

"As in bounce back," Christie told her. "Let's just say, things happened to Rollie."

"I... see," Doctor Watson said, mystified. "All right, everybody out," she pointed her finger at Daniel, "and you, go to sleep."

"Yes ma'am." Daniel obediently laid back down and shut his eyes. He wasn't sure if he could really sleep or not, but he was certainly going to try. After all, he'd promised to obey Doctor Watson's orders.

Christie goggled at the sight of Rollie's, no, Daniel's meek acquiescence. She followed Callie out of the room, slightly stunned. When Doctor Watson came out and closed the door, she had to ask. "How did you do that?!?"

"Do what?"

"How did you get Ro, um, Daniel to listen to you?"

"What? Is it that unusual?"

"Yes! I can think of several doctors who would have loved to learn your secret! Come to think of it, I want to know too." Christie thought back to all the times Rollie had treated his own injuries, disobeyed doctor's orders and wrecked general havoc with the medical profession and sometimes with her with his stubbornness.

Doctor Watson blinked in confusion. "He's been very good for me. If you'll pardon the expression, Daniel has been an absolute angel, especially compared to some of my other patients." She cast a look at Callie who had the grace to blush slightly. "He doesn't complain nearly as much, he listens to me, which is unheard of, and he's obeyed me... so far. That's odd?"

Christie nodded confirmation. "Could... Could it be more signs of ... his conditioning?"

Doctor Watson frowned thoughtfully. "I don't know. I'm afraid I have nothing to compare it with and little knowledge about brainwashing," she said as if it left a foul taste in her mouth.

Christie couldn't blame her there.

"Of course, he's a minister now. That might have something to do with it," the doctor added.

"What?!" Christie looked startled.

"Christie, I told you Daniel was the minister of Hope Community." Callie looked at her startled friend.

"I... I know. I guess I forgot. I never thought of... him," she nodded toward the closed door, "as minister material before." Christie now looked totally bemused.

"Oh! Maybe... Maybe he isn't really. Maybe they did that." That was a very disturbing thought to Callie. She frantically began mentally going over the duties Daniel had performed since coming to Hope. There hadn't been any weddings, thank goodness! But...

"Whoa! I don't know about that, but I think Daniel is a minister."

Both of the younger woman looked in surprise at the doctor's positive affirmation.

"Think about it, Callie. Daniel Cooper has shown the true faith and dedication of his calling. Oh, he may be inexperienced, but he's a minister all right. You don't program that type of faith and dedication." Doctor Watson looked at the newcomer. "Is it really that hard to believe?" She waited.

Christie chewed thoughtfully on the inside of her cheek. Was it that hard to believe? She nuzzled her daughter's hair. A little over a year ago, she would have laughed if someone had said she'd be a mother, that she'd be a research librarian at a college instead of doing special effects. But she was and she truly enjoyed it. The only thing that had marred it was losing Rollie and her friends. She had become immersed in her new identity. Had Rollie as well, over and beyond the programming? "Well, he always went out of his way to help people," she looked at the two women, "even strangers. He also possesses a strong sense of right and wrong. " She thought about it some more. "He likes to believe that people are more good than bad. He didn't ignore the bad, he just thought most people were good and they'd do what was right if given the opportunity. I... I guess he could have," Christie frowned a little as she thought about Mangela, "but he had a,  um, rather unorthodox childhood and was introduced to some, er, unconventional beliefs at a young age."

"Really?" The doctor looked at Christie with genuine curiosity. "Like what?"

"Um," Christie looked around, checking to be sure they really were as alone as they appeared. "Well, he spent a lot of time with... Australianaborigines." She said it very fast making it sound like one long word.

"What?" Callie tried to decipher what Christie had just said.

"That's interesting," Doctor Watson responded calmly.

Now Christie goggled at Doctor Watson. "I just told you that your new minister was, well, half raised in a... a... um, pagan religion."

"Hardly," Doctor Watson drawled. She smiled at the bewildered women. "Did he believe what they taught him?"

"Well, um, yeah, kind of, for a while."

"And did it violate Christian belief? What did his parents teach him?"

Christie blinked in surprise. "I don't know. It's just... different. There's some very fundamental differences with their beliefs, but... They believe in helping each other and punishing wrongdoing. Actually, I think they're harsher in their punishments than... most Christians." She remembered the Inquisitions and the witch burnings. She shivered as she thought of some of the things people could do in the name of religion. "Their creation stories are very different for one. They believe in magic and some other decidedly unorthodox things, but... I don't know if having believed and knowing their beliefs, how it would affect Rol-, um, him believing in Christianity. I know he told Man... Um, he ... doesn't hear, doesn't believe anymore. I don't think Dingo taught him much of anything and..."

"Dingo?" Callie pounced.

"Um, Dingo is Rollie's father. I don't think he ever really thought about it, religion that is. His mother, she died when he was pretty young, but I think she was a regular churchgoer, when they had church anyway, and took him with her. I--I saw him," she pointed with her chin at his door, "with her Bible once. It looked well read."

"So, he could have become a minister," Doctor Watson concluded, "given the right circumstances. A kind, gentle, tolerant minister who wants to help people, who would accept other people as they are and not try to convert them, that would be reluctant to condemn someone out of hand. Would he hold true to his oath as a minister?"

Christie felt her ground was solid here. "Yes! He always believed in keeping his word and promises, in... holding faith with what he said, no matter what."

"It sure sounds like Daniel Cooper," Callie nodded in slow acceptance.

"And like the type of minister, he would become if he did," Christie concluded in wonder.

Doctor Watson beamed at them as if they were two slow pupils who had just figured out a particularly tough problem. "That's because it is Reverend Daniel Cooper."

"But..." Callie frowned thoughtfully.

"But what?" Christie looked at her new friend, puzzled.

"Um, nothing, I guess. Christie, could you find out if a story and some pictures were real or not? If they were faked?"

"On the internet? Well, it depends on how well it was constructed, but yeah, I can spot most fakes. Pictures are easier than stories. You have to look for collaborating evidence on stories."

"Yes! Let's check this out," Callie suddenly felt eager and hot to follow the trail. "We can use my computer."

"No offense, but I think we better use my laptop," Christie answered. "I have some, shall we say, special protections on it." Her eyes suddenly widened. "Oh no!"

"What? What is it?"

"I left my luggage and the stroller at the ferry. It's probably long gone by now, if not stolen."

"Don't be too sure, let's check at the Widow's Walk," Callie lead the way out the door.

"Widow's Walk?" Hadn't Callie mentioned something about a bar called that?

"Widow's Walk Tavern. If you don't take a summer house, it's where most visitors overnight." Callie chuckled. "It's also the only place to eat out. Wait until you meet Boris!"

Christie followed her, wondering if it was okay to take Ailene to a tavern. "Boris? You mentioned a Boris. A  big Russian bear?"

"Boris is great! He says he's done everything and came ..."

"that close to being a cosmonaut," Christie finished with her. "He was too tall. You told me that."

"Yeah, I guess I did. He's an artist and a lot of other things, including a really good chef." They walked into a building that looked solid, rugged and nautical. It looked like what a fishermen's tavern should look like.

 A tall, slender redhead greeted them. "Hey, Callie! How's Daniel?" She sounded genuinely concerned.

Callie glanced at Christie, wishing they'd worked up a story beforehand and she was going to have to report it too! "Better! He's doing much better, Alex. Doctor Watson still has him though. She, um, told him to take a nap. Apparently, he was rundown, you know? Exhausted and he sort of forgot to eat last night and skipped breakfast this morning."

"Really? You would think Daniel would know better. He's so health conscious."

A shorter woman with soft blonde hair spoke up. "Oh, I'm so glad he's doing better. We were worried."

A tall, broad shouldered man with blond hair and a receding hairline came out through some swinging doors. "Boris hear Callie. Will make Reverend Cooper some good nourishing broth! Like mother used to make.  Boris take to Daniel to eat. Make sure he does. Not good to run self into dirt. Worry everybody!" He nodded decisively and stalked back to where he came from.

"So, that's Boris?"

"That's Boris," the redhead confirmed.

"Alex, Molly, this is Christie and Ailene." Callie introduced her new friend and her daughter.

"Oooh, how adorable." Molly came over, wiping her hands on her apron. "May I?" When Christie nodded her permission, she took Ailene in her arms, cuddling her close. "Oh, and that must be Blue. Is that Blue, Ailene? Hmm?"

"I just don't understand about Daniel," Alex started.

"Well, he works too much." Molly countered. "You know that. We all do. He's always working on the church or the house or the garden and hardly any help," she saw Dylan sitting at the foot of the stairs, "except for Dylan, of course." She smiled at her friend's son. "Doctor Watson said Daniel's going to be okay, Dylan. Christie, this Alex's son, Dylan. He's Daniel's acolyte."

"Hi Dylan," Christie said. She could see that Daniel's collapse had really scared him. Some of the fear had slipped away at Callie's and Molly's reassurances.

"Hi, guess this must be yours, huh?" He pointed to some things next to a seat in the hall.

Christie was surprised to see it was her luggage and the stroller. "Yeah. How did it get here? I thought I left it on the ferry."

"Oh, Harry brought it over," Alex told her.

"Harry?"

"One of the fishermen," Callie explained.

"I'll have to thank him."

"Well, the captain knew you'd gotten off and would need it, so he gave it to Harry to bring here." Alex walked over to her son. "Dylan, why don't you go visit Rebecca. Didn't you say something about a 'project' you were working on together?"

"Uh, yeah." Dylan shifted uncertainly.

"What is it, Dylan?" Alex asked her son, brushing his hair back from his face.

"Could I... go with Boris to see Reverend Cooper?" Dylan looked at her anxiously, waiting for permission.

"I don't know. It sounds like he needs to rest." She saw his eyes cloud up and sighed. "Oh, all right. But you, young man, and  Boris are to listen to Doctor Watson. You hear me? If she says quiet, you be quiet. If she says out, you leave immediately."

"Yes, ma'am," Dylan responded.

"Good," she hugged him once. "Scoot," she swatted his rear. "See if Boris needs some help with that broth. We want Daniel to get his strength back so he can perform in the Christmas program."

"And service, Sunday," Dylan reminded her. He paused on the way to the kitchen. "Reverend Cooper will be well enough for service on Sunday morning... Won't he?"

"I..." Alex looked a little flustered at the question.

"That will be up to Doctor Watson, Dylan," Molly told him. "Why don't you ask her so we can post a notice if it's cancelled?"

"Okay." Dylan pushed one of the doors open, but looked at his mother. "I'm going to Rebecca's after, okay Mom?"

Alex smiled wryly. "Okay, just don't forget to eat."

Dylan gave her a 'come on, you're kidding' look and went to see Boris.

"I don't know what they're up to, but it'll help take his mind off Daniel. He was really scared when he, um, fainted like that." Alex shook her head. "Christie? Are you staying here or...?"

"Oh! Christie and Ailene are staying with me," Callie said. "We just came by to see if her stuff was here."

Alex glanced at the clock. "Almost time for the lunch crowd. Care to beat the rush? Boris has lunch ready."

"It smells really good too," Molly assured them as she returned Ailene to her mother. "I'll get a highchair for Ailene."

Callie and Christie exchanged looks. Christie nodded. "All right, Alex," Callie answered for both of them. They followed Molly as she carried a highchair to a table and sat down.

Callie watched her guest as all during lunch they overheard conversations about Daniel and his collapse. She was curious about the small smile of pleased delight that appeared on her face. "What is it, Christie?"

"They love him," she told Callie, her tone indicating her pleasure. "They really love Daniel."

"Of course, we all do. What's not to love?" Callie responded, not quite getting it.

"Oh, I agree!" Christie answered, then very softly so no one else would hear. "It's just... He's lost so many he loved and has been alone too much. It's good to know he's loved and cherished the way he deserves." She cleared her throat. "Of course, you couldn't convince him that he deserves it."

Callie nodded. "I see. I think I understand what you're saying, Christie."

"I'm glad. Remind him, Callie. You all have to remind him occasionally," the blonde told her as she rescued a full spoon before her daughter's playful attention had it on the floor.

"Remind who, what?" Molly asked curiously as she caught the tail end of their conversation. She placed their tabs on the table.

Callie looked uncertain of what to say, so Christie spoke up. "You have to remind Reverend Cooper occasionally that you care about him."

"Of course we care about Daniel! He's a wonderful man," Molly exclaimed.

"Careful, Molly," Kevin said as he walked up behind her, placing his hands on her waist and resting his head on her shoulder, "I might get jealous of our Reverend Cooper."

"Christie, this is Kevin Mitchum, Hope Island's law enforcement. Kevin, this is my friend, Christie, and her daughter, Ailene."

"Hi Christie, Ailene. That's a pretty name," Kevin answered. "Don't you think that's a pretty name, Molly?"

"Yes, Kevin, Ailene is a very pretty name for such a pretty girl," Molly crooned.

"Kevin and Molly are engaged," Callie whispered loudly.

"I remember, you told me that," Christie smiled at them. They looked liked they belonged with each other and so happy to be together.

"So, what's this about caring about Daniel? Doctor Watson said he was doing okay. She told me he'd been overdoing it since she let him get back to full duties after the, uh, accident." He paused as a thought struck him. "Oh. I guess we should have noticed, huh?"

"That's okay, Kevin. Some things, you can't notice," Christie assured him. "Besides, Callie says his church is at the top of the hill. Kind of hard to keep an eye on him when he's up there and you're down here."

"Yeah, I guess." He sighed. "Still, this time, I'll make sure I stop by the church more often. We don't want any repeats of that particular excitement on the docks."

"Amen," all three women said in agreement.

Kevin went to sit down to eat lunch at a nearby table, Molly following him to get his order.

"So, dessert? Coffee? Or..." Callie asked, eager to get on the scent of the story.

"No, I don't think so," Christie smiled knowingly, "I'll take 'or'."

"Let's go!" They left money to pay for their meals, placed Ailene in her stroller and grabbed Christie's bags. They headed for the newspaper office eagerly, wanting to see just what they could find about the final days of Rollie Tyler.