Chapter 70

Monday morning things went back to normal, or at least as normal as they could be. Kevin and Kristin were home and trying to pretend like the whole weekend never happened. Brian and Leighanne were pretending to be happy in front of Baylee but as soon as he wasn't around, they refused to even be in the same room together let alone speak to each other. AJ saw Emily off to work and then had a car service take him to the airport to fly back to New York.

He was feeling rather crabby when he walked into the studio. As hard as it was to have Emily leave every weekend, he learned that it was a lot harder to be the one who had to leave. He hated having to come back when all he really wanted that morning was to stay in bed with his wife. He had thought they were going to get right to work on recording so he was a little surprised to find his manager, Mark, was waiting for him.

“We need to talk.” he said with a worried look on his face.

“Sure, what's up?” AJ asked, wondering what was happening.

“Why don't you come with me to the conference room.”

Once behind closed doors, Mark sat down across from AJ looking like he was afraid to say what he needed to say.

“What is it, man?”

“We received a letter in your fan mail that is quite concerning.” Mark said.

“So I have another crazy fan, what's new about that?” AJ asked, not even phased.

“This one is different.” he said, sliding a copy of the letter across the table.

AJ picked it up and as he read it, all the color drained from his face and his stomach went cold. He read it several times before he spoke.

“When did this come?” he asked quietly, still looking at the paper in his hand.

“Last Wednesday. It only came to my attention this morning.”

AJ sighed and handed the paper back with a slight tremble in his hand.

“What do you want to do?” Mark asked.

AJ closed his eyes and thought for a moment. “Nothing.”

Mark looked taken aback. “Nothing? Don't you think you should at least say something?”

AJ shook his head. “This stays between you and me until I say otherwise, got it?”

“If you're sure...”

“I'm sure.”

“Look, why don't you take the day off?” Mark suggested.

AJ shook his head. “I need the distraction. I'll be fine. Listen, if you get any more of these I want to see them right away, ok?”

Mark nodded. “I'll make sure all your mail is getting screened carefully from now on.”

Emily came home exhausted from staying up late and working all day. She had just sat down to eat some leftovers for dinner when her phone rang.

“Hey Amanda, what's up?” Emily asked.

“What the hell is going on with my sister?” Amanda demanded.

Emily cringed. She did not want to be caught in the middle of the two sisters again, and she knew that as much as Leighanne didn't want her to find out, she needed to tell Amanda. Leighanne needed all the support she could get right now. Emily vowed not to tell everything to Amanda but just enough.

“Can I come over? I'll tell you all about it when I get there.” Emily sighed.

“Ok. I'm over at Randy's. You still remember the way?”

“Yes. And whatever you do, do NOT tell your sister I'm coming over.”

Emily put her food back in the fridge and drove over to talk to Amanda. She knew Leighanne would be upset over Emily telling Mandy what was going on, but Emily decided that Leighanne needed to stop keeping things to herself and let people help her once in awhile. And between working and flying to New York every week, Emily really didn't have time to be the only person who knew what was going on.

Randy let her in when she got there. “Long day at work?” he asked, taking in her tired eyes and her work scrubs.

“Long weekend.” Emily mumbled. “You'd better put on a pot of coffee, this is going to take some explaining.”

“Emily, I'm sorry for freaking out on you.” Amanda said, giving her a hug. “It's just...she sounded so....”

“I know.” Emily said. “How was your trip to Chicago?”

Amanda looked up at Randy before answering. “It was....interesting.”

“Good interesting or bad interesting?” Emily raised an eyebrow.

“Just....interesting.”

Emily looked over at Randy and he shook his head at her and went into the kitchen.

Amanda led her into the dining room and the two sat down at the table.

“Look, your sister isn't going to be very happy with me for telling you all of this but I'm willing to risk it at this point.”

“What's going on, Emily? Is she ok? Is she sick or something?”

“No, she isn't sick. But some things happened this weekend...and things got pretty ugly.” Emily went on to explain the weekend and Kevin's revealings at dinner Friday night. Randy was so shocked by what he'd overheard when he brought them each a cup of coffee that he sat down and listened, wanting to hear the rest. Amanda was near tears when she finished.

“Leighanne did that?”

Emily nodded. “It was a long time ago, Mandy.”

“Well....I mean...Brian actually said he doesn't love her anymore? I'll kill him!”

“According to Kevin in a sober state, the real story was that he thought he didn't but he really does.”

“Why didn't she want me to know about any of this?”

Emily looked at Randy briefly. “She knew you...took what happened with Steve really hard and she was afraid you might never want to trust another guy again or something. She was just trying to protect you, she wanted you to be happy.”

“What should I do?”

“I'm going to call her tonight and tell her that I told you. Hopefully she'll still be speaking to me after that. Call her tomorrow and take her out. She might just need to be distracted a bit.”

Amanda nodded. “I'll tell her I tortured it out of you.”

Emily laughed and finished her coffee. “She wouldn't believe that for a second, she knows I'd never willingly crack!”

Emily went home a little later and called Leighanne on her way. She was relieved to get her voice mail and decided it might be better to just leave it in a message.

“Leighanne...it's Emily. Listen, I talked to Mandy tonight. She was very worried about you and I thought it was best if she knew what was going on so she can help you. So...I told her everything. I'm sorry if you're upset with me, but I really think it's best if she knows now. Look, call me, ok?”

That evening, Baylee was having a great time up in his room playing with his tonka trucks after dinner while his parents were downstairs. He was right in the middle of crashing the dump truck into the wall when he heard Daddy yelling downstairs. He tip-toed to the top of the stairs to see what was going on thinking maybe Daddy was watching a basketball game without him or something.

“What do you want?” Brian said to Leighanne.

“I want you to talk to me! Hasn't it been long enough?”

“I didn't know there was a time limit.”

“You know what? If this is the way you're going to continue to behave you might as well just leave. Find someplace else to stay, you aren't doing either one of us a favor by staying here.”

“I'm certainly not doing it for you, I'm doing it for Baylee.”

“Baylee doesn't need his parents pretending everything is fine when clearly it isn't.”

“Oh don't do that, Baylee doesn't suspect a thing!”

“So you're just going to stay mad at me forever, is that it? But you're never going to bother giving me a chance to explain? So that it can all be my fault? You get off the hook for falling out of love with me and I get to be the bad guy.”

“Hey, you did that all on your own, I didn't have to do a thing!”

“Well if that's really how you feel, why don't you just leave me and take Baylee with you then?” Leighanne retorted.

“Maybe I will!”

“Yeah, that'll last maybe a month! With your schedule there's no way you could take care of him without me. You're the one that didn't even want him in the first place!”

“Which apparently you took upon yourself to correct for me!” Brian yelled.

“When did you become such a hateful bastard?” she said coolly through her tears as she left the room.

Baylee went back into his room and sat down on the floor but he didn't feel like playing with his trucks anymore. He didn't really understand what was going on but he was scared and confused. Why were Mommy and Daddy yelling at each other? Why didn't Daddy love Mommy anymore? Was Daddy really going to take him away from Mommy? Did Daddy really never want him? Was that why Daddy was always gone so much?

He was still sitting on the floor a half hour later when Leighanne came to get him ready for bed.

“Baylee, are you alright?” she asked.

Baylee nodded.

“Do you feel sick?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Can I go to bed now?”

“Of course. Would you like me to read you a story?”

“No thanks.” Baylee mumbled as he put on his pajamas.

Baylee woke his parents up twice that night claiming nightmares. He wouldn't tell them what they were about, he said he didn't remember. The truth was he'd been dreaming about what he'd overheard. He dreamed that Brian took him away and he never saw Leighanne again. He dreamed that Brian left him behind because he didn't want him anymore. But he was scared to tell his parents because he was afraid he would get in trouble for spying on them.

In New York, AJ woke up from a nightmare of his own. The dream had been so incredibly vivid that he'd been tempted to call Emily even though it was three in the morning just to make sure she was alright. He turned on the tv and stayed awake the rest of the night watching bad infomercials, feeling too afraid to fall back asleep.

Tuesday night Emily went to bed early in an attempt to catch up on some much needed sleep. Unfortunately, her phone rang at midnight.

“Huh?” she answered, still half asleep.

“Emily? It's Leighanne. I'm so sorry I woke you up...I just...needed someone to talk to.”

Emily could tell Leighanne had been crying and she sat up and turned on the lamp. “It's ok. What happened, are you alright?”

“Can I come over?”

“Of course! Are you sure you want to so late?”

“I really just need to get out.”

“Ok. I'll be waiting for you.”

Emily sighed as she crawled out of bed and put on her robe. “This had better be good.” she muttered to herself. Once she was more awake, Emily decided she needed to call in some reinforcements. She realized that for Leighanne to insist on coming over so late she must really be upset. So, she called Amanda.

Amanda and Randy had long since been asleep when her cell phone rang. Randy was so trained to answering phone calls in the middle of the night that he instinctively answered.

“Dr. Brown.” he grumbled.

Emily chuckled. “Randy, it's Emily. I'm really sorry to wake you guys up, I need to talk to Amanda.”

“Is everything ok?” he asked.

“I think so. Kind of. Actually I guess I don't know.”

“What the hell does that even mean?” he grumbled.

“Just put her on the phone!”

Leighanne got there around 12:30. Amanda pulled in right behind her.

“You called my sister again?”

“Yes, I did and don't even bother trying to argue. She knows. Let her help you.” Emily said firmly.

“Fine.” Leighanne sighed. She knew when she'd been defeated and she didn't even have it in her to argue.

The three women sat down in Emily's living room and waited for Leighanne to explain herself.

“Do you guys think I'm a terrible mother?”

“What? That's insane, of course not!” Amanda answered.

“Seriously Leigh, I've worked with a lot of moms and you are by far the best I've seen. Where is this coming from, anyway?”

“Brian and I got into another fight tonight after Baylee went to bed. He started having nightmares last night, but he won't tell us what they're about. Brian accused me of doing something to Baylee to upset him. But I can't think of a single thing that would have set it off!”

“Why would Brian have said that?” Amanda asked, just as shocked as Emily.

“He hates me.” Leighanne said. “The things he's said to me....the man really hates me.”

“No, he doesn't hate you. He's just mad.” Emily tried.

“This isn't the way Brian behaves when he's mad.”

Emily knew she couldn't argue with that. Brian was irrational when he was mad but he was never really cruel to people. “So...do you think Baylee senses the tension? Maybe thats causing the dreams.”

Leighanne shook her head. “We're perfectly civil when he's around.”

“Yeah but there's a difference between civil and normal.” Amanda pointed out.

“We've been extra careful to make sure he can't pick up on anything. He doesn't even know I sleep in the guest room. Brian insisted on sleeping in Baylee's room tonight. It's like he doesn't even want me around Baylee anymore, he's so afraid I'll poison his mind or something with my evil.”

Emily and Amanda looked at each other. They were both truly at a loss.

“Maybe you two should take some time apart.” Emily suggested.

“Brian insists we not disrupt Baylee's world. Even though I happen to agree with you that it would be best, I'm not going to be the one to leave. He's the one that's so angry, he should leave.”

“Would it help if I talked to him?”

“No! Don't you dare! It's bad enough you told my sister everything.”

“Do you want to sleep here tonight?”

Leighanne shook her head. “I need to be there for Baylee tomorrow. Look can we just talk about something else? Amanda how was Chicago? What's Randy's family like, were they nice to you?”

Amanda sighed. “It was an...interesting trip.”

“Why do you keep saying it like that? What happened? Are they weird or something?” Emily exclaimed.

“Well...you know how Randy is all warm and friendly and nice?”

“Yeah....”

“Well, his family is the complete opposite. I don't even know how he ended up the way he is.”

“What do you mean?” Leighanne asked, glad to be distracted.

“Well his parents were nice enough, just a bit dull and dry. No sense of humor. His brother Mike is kind of a jerk to his wife and totally uninvolved with his kids. And his sister....is...well, a total bitch.”

Emily was shocked. Randy had always spoke so highly of his family. “Why is she a bitch?”

“Because she hates me.”

“That bitch!” Leighanne said.

“To her, I'm just a teacher, I'm too young for him and apparently I'm not good enough because I don't wear designer clothes or something like that.”

“She actually said those things?” Emily asked.

“Not exactly. It was just the way she reacted to everything I said, making snide comments all night. Of course she only did it when Randy couldn't hear so when I tried to talk to him about it he laughed at me and didn't believe it. He said I was being paranoid.”

“Well, I guess it's no wonder why he doesn't visit his family very often.” Emily said. “He must feel so out of place around people like that.”

“I could tell the whole weekend he was trying really hard to fit in with them but they treat him like he's an outsider. He says he stopped letting it bother him years ago.”

“That's too bad. I always thought he must have had such a wonderful family to turn out to be such a great man.” Leighanne admitted.

They talked for about another hour before Leighanne was ready to go home.

“I'm sorry, you guys need your sleep. You both have to work in the morning, don't you?”

“Don't worry about it.” Emily said, yawning. “That's what friends are for!”

“Look, I know you said you guys aren't going to take time apart but just in case you do want to get away for a night, I want you to take my extra apartment key.” Amanda said.

“Mandy that's ok.” Leighanne said.

“Look, I'm practically living at Randy's, I sleep there every night so I won't even be there. Just take the key. You don't have to use it but at least you'll have it, ok?”

“Thanks.” Leighanne took the key. “So you sleep over every night, huh? Have you guys talked about just moving in together?”

Amanda rolled her eyes. “Goodnight, Leigh!”

Chapter 71

AJ was exhausted Wednesday in the studio. He hadn't slept much more Tuesday night than he had Monday.

“You ok?” Brent asked.

“Yeah, I'm sorry I guess I'm just off today.”

“You look like you haven't slept!”

“I'll be fine tomorrow, I plan on crashing as soon as I get home.”

“Alright. Make sure you're taking care of yourself, got it? We've only got a few more weeks left of studio time and I want to make sure we get everything just right.”

AJ went home that evening and went right to bed. He slept soundly for a few hours but woke up again to the same nightmare he'd had the last two nights. As he sat up he looked at the clock. It was just after midnight. He wondered if by chance Emily was awake and sent her a text message to see if she was.

Emily had also gone to bed early that night but she woke up when she heard her phone beep. She grabbed it and saw that AJ had sent her a message.

“Are you awake?” it said.

“I am now.” she wrote back. “Want to call me?”

Her phone rang about ten seconds later.

“Hey.” she said, sleepily. “What are you doing up so late?”

“I'm sorry I woke you up. I just...couldn't sleep and I was thinking of you. I miss you.”

There was something in his voice. She didn't know what it was but she could tell something was bothering him. “I miss you too. Is everything ok, did you have a bad day or something?”

“Everything is fine. I guess I just wanted to hear your voice again. Our conversation this evening was so short. Are you ok?”

“Yeah.” she stretched. “I think I might still be half asleep.”

“Go back to sleep.” he said, softly. “I'll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Ok. I love you.”

“I love you too, Em.”

Thursday morning Emily woke up feeling pretty crappy but she thought it was just from not getting enough sleep. As the day went on, however, she realized that not only was she exhausted, she was starting to get sick. She developed a nasty cough that caused Dr. Keaton to send her straight home to bed before she infected the entire staff. By the time she put on her pajamas and crawled into bed, she'd developed a fever. After a dose of cough syrup she still couldn't quiet her cough and ended up trying to sleep sitting up. She was downright miserable by the time AJ called her that evening.

“Hello?” she croaked.

“What's the matter?” he asked, immediately picking up on her miserable voice.

“I'm sick. I got sent home from work today.”

“I'm sorry, sweetie. What's the matter?”

Emily had a nasty coughing fit before she could explain. “I got this cough and then I got a fever and I feel like shit. And to top it off, now I can't come see you tomorrow!”

“Why not?”

“I don't want to get you sick with whatever this is. Then you wouldn't be able to finish your album in time and I'm certainly not going to be responsible for that.”

“I'll come down there and take care of you!” he insisted.

“I'll be fine. I'm just going to isolate myself at home and take good care of myself. Hopefully I'll be over it by Monday.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, feeling disappointed that he wouldn't get to see her.

“I'm sorry. I just don't think I'd even be in a condition to travel tomorrow.” she said, coughing some more.

“You're right. Take care of yourself, ok? Call Brian or Leighanne if you need anything, and call the doctor if you aren't better tomorrow.”

“I will. I love you, I wish you were here.”

“I wish I were there too.”

AJ was pretty concerned about Emily when he hung up the phone. He didn't like the thought of her being home alone and sick and as much as he wanted to go home for the weekend to take care of her, he knew she was right. He couldn't afford to get sick. It would set him back weeks with the album and that was time that they just didn't have. So, he was forced to send in the next best thing, Leighanne.

Leighanne was so grumpy when AJ called her that she almost didn't answer. Then she figured he hardly ever called her so it was probably important and she decided to answer after all.

“I need a favor.” he said.

“Sure!” Leighanne said, happy to have something to do besides stew over her and Brian.

“Emily is home sick and she sounds terrible. She's not going to be able to come up here this weekend and I can't really come down there and risk getting sick so...would you mind going over and checking on her? Her cough is awful, I really think she should see the doctor tomorrow or something.”

Leighanne was touched by the way he was worried. “Of course. I'll go over right now and I'll be sure to check back in the morning.”

“Thank you so much.” he sounded relieved. “Will you call me?”

“Sure.”

“Oh and make sure the alarm is set and everything when you leave, ok? If you could just walk around and make sure all the doors and windows are locked for her.”

“Yeah, I can do that, why? Is everything ok?” Leighanne found it a bit of a strange request.

“Of course, why wouldn't it be?”

“I don't know, it just seemed odd.”

“Could you just do it please?”

“I'll do it, settle down!”

“I'm just worried about her being stuck there all alone and sick.”

“I know. I promise I'll take good care of her.”

“Thanks Leigh, I owe you one. Is everything ok with you?” he asked.

“Are you seriously asking me that question?”

AJ chuckled. “Give him some more time. It's quite possible that he's more stubborn than I am.”

Leighanne left immediately to check on Emily. She used the spare key they'd given her in case of emergency to let herself in after calling and getting no answer.

“Emily?” she called.

“Leighanne? Is that you?” Emily croaked from upstairs.

“Yeah. Hang on, I'll come up there.”

“What are you doing here?” Emily asked when Leighanne walked into her room.

“What do you think I'm doing? I'm checking on you, silly!”

“AJ called you?”

“Of course. He said you sounded terrible and I think that was actually an understatement. No wonder he was so worried!”

“Gee...thanks. I feel like complete and total shit. I can't even sleep because of this damn cough.”

“You're burning up, too.” Leighanne commented, feeling her forehead. “Have you eaten anything?”

Emily shook her head.

“I'm going to go out to the store and get you some soup and some more medicine. Do you want anything else?”

“Can you get me some Sprite?”

“Of course. Call me if you think of anything else, ok?”

“Thanks.”

Leighanne returned about thirty minutes later and immediately heated up some chicken soup and brought it up to her. “It'll help soothe your cough.” she insisted.

Emily managed to eat half a bowl of soup and a small glass of Sprite before Leighanne handed her a dose of nighttime cough syrup.

“Do you need anything else before I leave?”

Emily shook her head.

“Alright. I'm going to set the alarm as I leave. I'll check on you again in the morning but if you need anything whatsoever tonight, call me. I don't care what time it is, ok?”

“Thanks Leigh. I owe you one.”

“Get some rest.”

Leighanne called AJ on her way home and told him that she was pretty sick but that she ate some dinner and looked like she was probably about to fall asleep when she left. AJ made her promise to call him in the morning after she checked on her. Brian was getting a snack in the kitchen when she came home.

“Is Emily ok?” he asked.

Leighanne was so stunned that he was speaking to her nicely that it took her a moment to respond.

“She's pretty sick but I think she'll be ok.”

Brian nodded and walked out of the kitchen without saying another word.

The next morning, Leighanne dropped Baylee off at preschool and went to check on Emily and found that she looked worse than she had the previous night.

“Sweetie I think you should see a doctor, your cough sounds so much worse.”

Emily nodded and handed Leighanne the phone number of her doctor and made her an appointment for two hours later. She managed to convince Emily to take a long, hot shower but could not coax her into eating any breakfast. Leighanne put her foot down and insisted that she at least drink a cup of hot tea and then called AJ and left him a message that she was going to take Emily to the doctor in a few hours and they'd call him when they were done.

It didn't take the doctor long to diagnose a wicked case of bronchitis and sent Emily on her way with prescriptions for antibiotics and extra strength cough syrup to help her get some better sleep. He also instructed her to get a vaporizer and to drink plenty of fluids. They picked up her medicine on the way home and then Emily put on a pair of fresh pajamas and got into bed. Leighanne handed her a pill and a glass of water and then she chased it with a dose of cough syrup and anxiously awaited falling asleep.

Leighanne called AJ once Emily was comfortable.

“How is she?” he answered.

“Oh...I didn't think you'd answer!”

“Lunch break. How is she?” he sounded worried.

“She's ok. The doctor said she has a very nasty case of bronchitis so you should be extra glad you didn't come down here. She's back in bed and waiting for her medicine to kick in.”

“Can I talk to her?”

“Of course. Hang on.”

“Hey Leighanne?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

Leighanne smiled. “You're welcome.” It felt good to be appreciated for a change after the way things had been with Brian the past week.

“Hi.” Emily said, rather pathetically.

AJ stifled a laugh. “How are you feeling?”

“Shitty. Very, very shitty.”

“I'm so sorry. I love you. Is there anything I can do?”

Emily smiled. “Can you just talk to me a little bit? I just want to hear your voice.”

AJ filled her in on his plans for the weekend since he'd be solo. Brent had offered to take him out that night and he planned to catch up with some old buddies of his on Saturday and he thought maybe he'd do some shopping on Sunday, he wanted a new coat.

Emily's eyelids were beginning to droop by the time he finished and he could tell by her voice that she was about to fall asleep so he quickly ended the conversation and promised he'd call her later in the evening.

“I have to go pick up Baylee and take him home but I'm coming back tonight.”

Emily felt so bad that she didn't even argue. As much as she hated to admit it, she actually needed Leighanne's help so she simply nodded and let Leighanne tuck the blanket around her.

She got Baylee home and fed him some lunch before playing a game of Go Fish with him. Then they read a book together and Baylee went to take a nap. Brian came home while he was sleeping.

“Are you going back to check on Emily tonight?” he asked, once again shocking her by breaking the silence.

“Yeah, I thought I'd go over after dinner and make sure she's ok. She looked terrible when I left.”

“I was thinking, why don't you just spend the night there? I can handle Baylee. Besides, I'm taking him to see my parents tomorrow for a few days.”

“You're what?”

“Taking him to Kentucky.”

“When did you decide this?”

“Yesterday.” Brian answered.

“Don't you think you should talk to me before taking our son out of state?”

“I just did.”

“No, you told me. There's a difference.”

“So what, I need your permission?”

“Well you could least ask if it's ok with me!” Leighanne said, totally shocked that he'd go so far as to take Baylee out of state without much of a mention.

“Just like you asked me if it was ok if he was conceived?”

Leighanne rolled her eyes. “Grow up.”

The fight escalated from there and the two yelled and threw insults for nearly ten minutes before Leighanne stormed upstairs.

Chapter 72

Baylee had been woken up by Brian and Leighanne's yelling. He once again crept to the top of the steps to find out what was going on. He really didn't understand what was happening but it was very scary for him to listen to so he went back into his bedroom, got into bed burying his head under the pillow and pulling the blanket up over the pillow to try and block out the sounds of yelling coming from downstairs.

Leighanne quickly packed an overnight bag and left for Emily's house. For the last week she'd at least been able to hold on to hope that things would get better if she just waited out the storm. After that night, however, she no longer had that hope. Brian had gotten more and more angry with her as the week had gone on and she didn't believe that they'd be able to move past this anymore.

Emily was asleep when she got there, right where she'd left her that morning. Leighanne woke her awhile later to try and get her to eat a little soup but Emily didn't feel like it and went back to sleep. She took Emily's cell phone downstairs with her so she wasn't disturbed by any calls feeling much like going to sleep herself.

Around seven, Emily's phone rang when AJ called her. Leighanne answered, in the middle of making herself something to eat.

“Hey AJ, it's Leighanne.”

“Oh...hey Leigh. How's Emily?”

“She's sleeping, which I suppose is a good sign.”

“Good. I've been so worried about her all day! Are you alright? You don't sound so good.”

“I'm fine.”

“Liar.”

Leighanne smiled. “You've got better things to do than listen to me complain.”

“So tell me quickly then.”

“Brian decided to take Baylee to Kentucky tomorrow without even talking to me about it. So we had another huge fight and he told me I should just come spend the night here.”

AJ winced. Things did not sound pretty between those two.

“Well maybe I should come home and take care of Emily and you!” he joked.

“Honestly? I've been so miserable that almost sounds nice!”

AJ laughed. “It can't get any worse than it is, right?”

“That's what I thought a week ago. But I was wrong.”

“Well...then I'm all out of inspirational stuff to say.”

Leighanne laughed. “Thanks for the effort.”

AJ went out with Brent that night to a restaurant opening and he met a few new people and had a nice time but he couldn't stop worrying about Emily. He turned down going with them to some club on the other side of town and instead went back to his apartment and tried to relax. Eventually he went to bed and fell asleep fairly quickly, but it wasn't long after he had the same nightmare he'd had every night that week.

“We received a letter in your fan mail that is quite concerning.” Mark said.

“So I have another crazy fan, what's new about that?” AJ asked, not even phased.

“This one is different.” he said, sliding a copy of the letter across the table.

He picked up the letter and read it.

Emily McLean you and I are meant to be.

I love your sexy lips, and the things they could do to me.

I love your sexy curves and I can't wait to put my hands all over them.

Every night I dream about tying you to my bed and having my way with you

Torturing you, pleasing you, hurting you, forcing you.

It won't be long before you are mine,

I can't stand the thought of your husband putting his hands on you.

You're to be mine or no one's at all.

AJ raced home from New York but he was too late. He came home to find his house destroyed and Emily missing. Then the stalker had sent him a video on his cell phone. It showed Emily naked and tied up with a gag in her mouth. The faceless stalker was touching her and kissing her and then he hurt her. The last thing he heard was Emily's scream.

And that was when he always woke up.

He'd been out of his mind with worry ever since Mark showed him that letter. He'd had his own share of stalkers over time but their letters were nothing like this one. And it didn't seem to make a lot of sense that the letter would be sent to his fan mail if it was meant for Emily. Maybe the stalker didn't have their address, or maybe it was just someone trying to mess with him personally by making him think they were after his wife. He just didn't know and because of that, he didn't want to worry Emily. If he told her, she'd be terrified and upset and he didn't want to do that to her until he was sure he had to. All he wanted to do was protect her from all of that.

The only problem was that he couldn't stop worrying that it was a serious threat and he never warned her to be careful. What if something unthinkable were to happen to her? Not only would he never forgive himself but he wasn't sure he could handle it. If something happened to Emily....well, he just didn't know what he would do. He'd probably end up in jail for murdering the bastard that put his hands on her, and he wouldn't regret it for a single second. He briefly wondered if he could record an album from prison? He shook his head.

“Get a grip, McLean.” he told himself.

Saturday morning Emily woke up to find her head still pounding. She had been hoping that the medicine would have kicked in by now but unfortunately, it had not. She slowly sat up and realized her whole body ached. Her stomach was sore from all the coughing and the rest of her muscles were achy from the fever and from laying in bed for two days. She grabbed the thermometer from the bedside table and took her temperature. 102. She sighed. She should have been a little better by now. Then again the doctor did say she had a bad case so maybe it was going to take a little more time to clear up.

Leighanne heard her wake up and came to check on her.

“You're supposed to look better, not worse!”

“I know.” Emily said, miserably before having a coughing fit.

“How about another hot shower?” she suggested.

Emily nodded. “That sounds nice.”

“I'll make you some tea and toast while you do that.”

Emily took a ten minute shower and felt totally exhausted again by the time she was done. She put on clean pajamas and found Leighanne had put on fresh sheets on the bed for her.

“I thought it would help you feel more comfortable.” she said.

Emily got into bed and nibbled on her toast.

“Can you bring me my cell phone? I want to call AJ.” she said.

“Sure. I'll be right back.”

Leighanne excused herself to let them talk in private. She looked at her watch. Brian probably hadn't left for the airport yet and she really wanted to get to say goodbye to Baylee. She called Brian's cell phone and took a deep breath, wondering if he'd even bother to answer her call.

“Yeah?” he answered sounding neither welcoming nor hostile.

“I was wondering if I could just say goodbye to Baylee before you guys leave. Can you please put him on the phone.”

“Sure.”

A few seconds later she and Baylee had a nice talk about all the fun he was going to have with his grandparents and cousins and aunts and uncles. He was definitely excited and talking to him really helped cheer her up. He finally announced that he needed to go grab something from his room and handed the phone back to his father.

“How did he sleep last night?” she asked.

“He only woke up once.”

“Good.”

There was a brief pause before he asked, “How is Emily?”

“Sicker than yesterday but the doctor said it might take some time, she had it bad.”

“Well, at least she has your help.”

“Yeah....listen....I want you to think about something while you're gone.”

“You do, do you?”

“Yes. Please just think about it, ok? I want us to see a marriage counselor.”

Brian laughed. “You're the one that needs the help, Leigh. Not me. I'm not going to some marriage shrink. You and I both know what the problem is here.”

“Well then how exactly do you suggest we fix this?” she said, totally helpless. She had really thought marriage counseling would be their best bet. A third party person to help them through all of this. If it saved AJ and Emily, who couldn't it save?

“Well when I figure that out, I'll let you know.”

And with that, he actually hung up on her.

Leighanne hung her head and tried her best not to cry but she just couldn't stop it. She wondered if she'd save them both a lot of pain if she beat him to it and threw him out while he was gone and forced him to separate. But she didn't want that. She wanted to work through this so no way was she going to be the one to throw in the towel. She'd wait it out until he was ready. If he ever was.

When Brian arrived back at his parents house in Kentucky, he finally felt calm as he felt his muscles start to unwind for the first time since the day after Thanksgiving. His mother could sense that something was bothering him but he didn't want to talk to her about it. He knew she'd be furious with him for the way he was behaving. Truthfully, he wasn't thrilled with the way he'd been behaving either but he just couldn't seem to control himself. He was so damn angry with her. While he knew why he was angry, he didn't quite understand why he was so angry with her. His rational being knew that he needed to talk to her and listen to what she had to say but there was something holding him back and he really wanted to figure out what that was before he talked to her. He wanted to get out of that state where everything about her irritated him. He couldn't be fair to her until he got over that. Maybe what he needed was another trip to visit Kevin. Kevin always seemed to have answers to these kinds of things. He smiled as he watched Baylee running through the yard with his cousins and for a brief moment he wished Baylee had another sibling to play with. He shook his head and went outside to join in the fun. He'd had enough thinking for one day.