….“I couldn’t be sure you’d come,” Derek says with trembling lips as he brushes the hair from his face with a nervous hand.

“You didn’t really give me a choice, did you.”

He smiles broadly for several lost seconds before his face falls back to its stony resolve. “The choice was always yours, I just gave you the encouragement needed to guide your pathway to me.”

“YOU FUCKING THREATENED TO KILL DONNA!”

“Promises dear boy. Words of encouragement, that was all.”

“S-S-So you never m-m-meant any of it?” he stammers.

He smiles broadly once again, allowing a muffled laugh to escape his lips as he presses a pleated napkin against them. “No, I meant every word, nigh, every syllable spoken, and had you not met me here, had you not done what I asked, I would’ve followed through with my promises spoken.” he says with an evil wink….