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Chapter 1

Five years, it had been exactly five years since Courtney left that God awful show. Five years since she dropped all of the negative energy and people from her life and started a new, healthy one. Five years since Courtney last saw her ex, the one she thought she would spend the rest of her life with, the one that hurt her so bad she refused to say his name.

It was currently 9:18am and Courtney could not bare to move from her bed. No, she was not sick but she wished she was. Courtney traced the letters that spelled out her name on an envelope in front of her. She recognized the handwriting; it wasn't sloppy but it wasn't neat either. This letter, along with two others, had been sitting on Courtney's bedside for the past three days now. Taking a deep breath she held her fingers against the opening.

"No.", was all she could say as she opened the bedside drawer and stuffed the letter in before changing her mind. As the day went on Courtney pushed any lingering feelings about what he could possibly want aside. "You're a new person, Court. Don't let him bother you." She quietly said to herself as she drove home. "He probably just wrote me to get under my skin, how typical." She thought out loud, rolling her eyes as she gripped her steering wheel a little too hard.

Once home, Courtney did her daily routine. She put her things away, reheated some left overs, checked her messages, and made sure the mail had arrived. She was a little surprised to see the mail had not come yet but dropped it as it was still early. Courtney started to unwind by catching up on one of her guilty pleasures, Grey's Anatomy. She would never admit it, but the romance and drama the show gave off always had her on her toes. Not to mention a good cry once in a while.

It was near 5 o'clock when a faint knock was heard from the door. Courtney paused the tv and waited. Another knock followed, was Bridgette supposed to stop by? No. She would have distinctly remembered planning something. Maybe a new neighbor? Courtney straightened herself up and made her way to the door. She put on a sincere smile as she opened the door, ready to introduce herself to a new face. To her surprise it was her old friend, Geoff. It was unlike him to arrive unannounced. Hm, scratch that, it was unlike him and Bridgette to arrive unannounced; but it was just him.

"Hey, Mocha! Mind if I come in for a second?" Courtney arched her eyebrow but stepped to the side. Geoff practically ran inside and plopped down on the couch and waited for Courtney to take a seat next to him.

"Is everything alright? You normally don't come alone." Before Geoff could answer Courtney gasped.

"Is Bridgette okay!? Oh my God—"

"Courtney! It's all okay, I just need to talk to you about something—"

"You want to propose! It's sweet of you to seek my approval but it's traditionally the fathe—"

"Courtney!" Geoff was almost crying form laughing at her quick reactions. It was never a surprise for Courtney to worry about her best friend. When everything from World Tour and All Stars went down, Bridgette was the one Courtney could confide in. Granted it was a little awkward for them in the beginning, considering they were all great friends, the Killer Bass Five was able to see both sides.

"Sorry, Geoff. Please, go ahead." Courtney sat pretzel style and faced him. He smiled and looked down, this was weird. They were never the type of friends to have one on ones like this. Geoff opened his mouth ready to say something but quickly shut it, opened it again, and shut it. At this point Courtney was getting irritated, it wasn't like she had anything planned for the evening but she was being disrupted from her program. "Spit it out Geoffrey!" Geoff cleared his throat, "Okay, okay... have you been getting... letters?"

Courtney narrowed her eyes, "That's a pretty broad statement don't you think? Yes, I receive letters all the time. Could you be more specific please." Courtney wasn't stupid, she knew exactly what he meant but damnit she did not want to have this conversation, with Geoff at that. She watched as he scratched the back of head, he was nervous to say these next words. Drop it, drop it, drop it, drop it—

"From Duncan." Her thoughts were interrupted with those two words. She blinked, "Hm, no. Sorry, doesn't ring a bell." Geoff frowned at her reaction. He knew this was a touchy subject and he hated to bring it up, but Duncan was one of his best friends. Although he was completely against his actions years ago, he still did not turn his back on him, Duncan obviously needed help.

"O-okay, well hear me out." Before Courtney could respond a stern no, Geoff continued. "He's sorry." Courtney's face went blank. She didn't know how to respond, on one hand she wanted to make peace with it but on the other she didn't. She wanted to yell, cry, heck she even wanted to march down to the prison and show Duncan just how infuriating it was for him to suddenly own up to what he did five years later.

Geoff waved his hand in front of her face, "Court? Are- are you okay?" She snapped out of her daze and met his eyes. She could tell he was scared but at the same time concerned. "I'm alright Geoff. I'm more than alright, I'm perfect. This is exactly what I needed to hear to finally get rid of any "what if's" my mind can come up with about him—"

"Oh that's great, Mocha! Now I don't feel bad about giving him your phone number to—"

"Excuse me!?" Courtney sprung up towering over Geoff as he watched in horror.

"I mean— yeah... I thought you would be okay with it. It can be like old tim—"

"Old times? Old. Times!? He broke my heart! I loved him, and I thought he loved me!" Courtney was fuming, tears were rolling down her face. She hated that Duncan still gave her this reaction, she thought she was over it. She slumped down onto her couch and buried her head in her hands. This was all too much.

She didn't react to Geoff embraceing her and repeating "I'm sorry." She didn't react to him saying he'd change her number himself if it meant this much. She didn't react to him letting himself out, clearly upset that he made the wrong decision.

10 minutes. 10 minutes is how long it took Courtney to straighten herself up. She wiped her tears away, pushed her shoulders back, took her phone and called Geoff. She needed to apologize for her reaction. He picked up almost immediately.

"I'm so sorry Court—"

"It's okay. I know you meant well. I'm sorry for overreacting", she didn't mean to cut him off but she knew he'd beat himself up about it. They both sighed on their end of the line.

"What do I do if he calls me?" This question shocked both of them. For Geoff it was a good shock. He could already see the gang back together. For Courtney, it was terrifying. The last conversation she had with Duncan wasn't pleasant. There was screaming, crying, threats. It was awful, so why did she want to think about a call? Why would she put herself through that again?

"When he calls just... listen to each other? He's changed, Court. Give him a chance maybe?" Geoff said on the other line.

They spoke for a few more minutes. Courtney mentally made a point to only answer if he called that same day. She was feeling generous and maybe it was because she had already received three letters. Three unread letters.

Courtney ran upstairs and grabbed the letters out of her bedside drawer. She set them side by side in order of arrival. The first letter had her name on it, printed with a generic font; the second had her name printed in sloppy handwriting, "Obviously rushed" she thought; but the third letter... the third letter had her name in cursive writing. Courtney knew she was probably overthinking it, but something about the third letter made her feel like Duncan was really trying. She hated to admit it but she knew him, she knew when he put effort into something and when he didn't. She knew.

Just as she was about to open letter one the phone rang. Without thinking she picked up, "Hello, Courtney speaking." An operating system replied informing her there was an inmate wanting to make contact. Once Courtney accepted the charges the phone rang.

"Hello? Prin-Courtney?" A low voice said through the static line.

Courtney let go out a breath she didn't know she was holding. This was going to be okay. She was going to speak to Duncan for the first time in five years. They were going to be civil and they were going to make things right. It felt right. A tear went down her face but she didn't care, she cleared her throat and replied.

"Hello, Duncan."