Summary: Ethan and Theresa meet again after four years.
Author Note: I'm going with the assumption that
Ethan was 24 when Passions started and Theresa was 17. Move them up five years from the beginning of the show and
that makes them 29 and 22.
PART ONE
...I want you out of this house - and take your bastard
with you ...
The words still hurt Ethan to his very soul. His father - no not his father - Julian Crane was the richest man
in Harmony, and Ethan was next in line to head the family. But that was not meant to be...
Four years earlier, it had come to light that his mother Ivy had an affair just prior to her marriage to Julian.
Ethan was a result of this union. And due to a scheme of Ivy's to regain the happiness of her past, it was revealed
that Ethan's father was, in fact, Sam Bennett - Chief of Police. Not one to enjoy the embarrassment of a scandal,
Julian did the only thing he could do - he divorced Ivy, and removed Ethan from both the family business and his
will.
Ethan lost everything ... his fortune, his name, even his love. Gwen Hotchkiss broke things off with him about
a month after Ethan had moved out of the Crane mansion. She tried to stay with him but she was not a woman used
to living beneath her means - and the pressures from her family made it next to impossible to remain with Ethan.
Now Ethan was one of "common" people of Harmony. He was able to find a job with the State Attorney's
Office. He was actually very content with his life now. He was living his life for himself and there were no pressures.
He enjoyed Harmony and the people in the town had accepted him no questions asked.
The Bennett family actually welcomed him with open arms. Sam had told him that he was sorry that he wasn't there
for him growing up but that he was there for him now. Grace accepted him and loved him like one of her own. Noah,
Kay, and Jessica were excited about having an older brother. He had grown close to Sam and his family over the
last few years. And it was obvious that Sam was proud of his son and his strength in dealing with the cards dealt
him.
His mother had moved away due to the embarrassment of the scandal and the fact that she couldn't face Sam Bennett
after everything had come to light. Ethan missed her but he made sure to go and visit her at her family's home
in Connecticut at least three times a year. She was doing her best to handle the situation and was happy that her
son had a loving relationship with his father. All she ever wanted was what was best for her son. She wasn't sorry
for what she had done - Ethan now had a father who loved him, and she was free of both Julian and his father Alistair,
and was now living her life happier than she had since before she married Julian.
Ethan sat in his living room. He thought back to when Julian kicked him out of his life. It still hurt. He was
punished for something that was beyond his control. In the last four years, no one from the Crane family, except
for Sheridan, had even tried to contact him. It showed him what a ruthless family the Cranes were and that the
same fate would have fallen to him if the truth had never come out. Ethan shivered at the thought.
The only thing he regretted was the fact that he was lonely. He lost Gwen, although he never really loved her the
way he imagined he would love the person he would spend the rest of his life with.
"Okay Ethan no use thinking about the past," he said out loud. He got up and went to his bedroom and
went to sleep, wondering if he would ever find someone special to share his life with.
