Chapter 91

AJ was in such a state of panic that for a minute, he didn't know what he should do. Obviously there wasn't a lot he could do from all the way in Cleveland. He grabbed his phone and dialed Brian's number. When he didn't answer, AJ hung up and called again. It took three tries before Brian finally picked up.

“Don't you know what time it is?” he grumbled, half asleep.
“I need you go over to my house right now.” AJ said.

Brian sat up. “What's going on?”

“Someone tried to break in...they threw a brick through our back door. Emily locked herself in the bathroom and called the cops. I need to know she's alright, man. I can't just leave her down there to deal with this by herself.”

“Alright, I'll leave right now.”

“Thanks. And Brian...she doesn't completely know everything that's been going on.”

“What? I thought you told her.” Brian said, angry that AJ's scheme had possibly failed to protect her.

“She thinks the stalker is after me.”

Brian sighed. “Look, either you get your ass down here and tell her or I'll do it for you.”

“I know. I'm packing to go to the airport right now. I'll tell her everything when I get there.”

“You'd damn well better.” Brian said, hanging up the phone. He threw on his clothes and dashed out the door, racing over to make sure Emily was ok. He didn't mind going out in the middle of the night, he knew AJ would have done the same thing if it had been Leighanne or Baylee in harm's way but he was furious with AJ for having kept Emily in the dark for so long.

As AJ raced down the hall towards the elevator, he called Officer Knight. He didn't care what time of day it was, Knight had told him to call if anything happened.

“What is it, McLean?” he grumbled.

“Someone tried to break into my house. The cops are on their way, my wife is locked in the bathroom.”

“Where are you?”

“I'm in Cleveland. I'm going to the airport, I'll be home as soon as I possibly can and I'm going to tell her everything, I just don't want her to find anything out before I get there.”

“Alright, I'll check it out, I know the detective on tonight pretty well.”

“Thanks. Listen, can you let me know as soon as you find anything out?”

“Of course.”

Emily was huddled next to the toilet as she stayed on the phone with the 911 operator.

“Ok, Emily the police just pulled up out front. Can you give me the code to your gate?”

She shakily relayed the code over the phone and squeezed her eyes shut as a few tears threatened to spill out. The police were here. Even if there were someone in the house, the police would find them before they could hurt her. Right?

“Emily they're walking through the back door, can you hear them?”

“No.” her voice wobbled.

“Just hang on a few more minutes, ok?”

Emily was able to hear footsteps slowly working their way upstairs and into all of the rooms. Finally the operator told her no one was inside the house or hiding outside and it was safe for her to unlock the bathroom door.

“It's alright, Miss. You can come out.”

Emily stood up and slowly opened the bathroom door. She saw a male and a female policeman standing in her bedroom.

“Are you alright?” the woman asked.

Emily nodded. “Are you sure he's gone?”

“We're sure. Why don't you sit down over here.” she led Emily over to the chair by the window. “We're going to look around, check for footprints or any other evidence. Can I get you some water or something?”

Emily shook her head.

“We'll be right downstairs if you need us. Until then, stay put ok? Someone will come take your statement in a few minutes.”

As they officers shut the door behind her, Emily let out a shaky breath and tried to stop the tears from flowing.

“Stop it!” she told herself. “You're fine, quit being such a baby!”

But even though she told herself that, she knew it wasn't that simple. The whole time she'd been locked in the bathroom she kept thinking about all the bad things that could happen. What if someone had wanted to hurt her? What if it was just a burglar who didn't think anyone was home? Wasn't that always how home invasions went bad? What if it wasn't a robber but a crazed serial killer with an ax or something?

A few minutes later there was a knock on the door.

“Mrs. McLean, there's a man outside who insists your husband sent him to check on you. His name is Brian?”

Emily nodded. “Please let him in.”

Brian took the steps two at a time as he raced up to Emily. He saw her sitting on a chair, pale as a ghost and it seemed like her entire body was trembling as she stood up.

“You didn't have to come....” she tried to say.

“Yes I did.” Brian said. “Come here.” He held her in a tight embrace as he assured both of them that she was ok. “Sit back down.” he said as he wrapped a blanket around her. “You're freezing! I'm going to go make you some tea.”

Emily grabbed his hand. “Please don't leave!”

Brian looked down at her frightful eyes and took a seat on the floor next to her chair. “Do you want to call AJ?”

“Could you please call him? Tell him I'm fine...just say I'm talking to the police or something, I don't want him to worry about me.”

“Emily, he's already worried about you!”

“Would you just please call him?” Emily insisted, her chin quivering.

AJ answered the phone on the first ring.

“Are you there?” he asked.

“I'm right here with her. She's alright, the police are downstairs having a look around at the scene. She's pretty shaken up but she's fine.”

“Are you sure she's ok? You know how Emily likes to pretend she's fine when she's not....”

“Well that's kind of why she made me call you.”

Emily glared at Brian, who pretended not to notice.

“She's trying to stay strong.” Brian said. “I'll make sure she's taken care of until you get here.”

“Brian...thank you.” AJ said, feeling incredibly relieved. He'd been so terrified that the stalker had gotten into the house and would find Emily before the police could arrive and that's why he knew he needed to fess up immediately. He'd never have forgiven himself if something had happened to her. If she'd have known everything, she would have reacted to the situation very differently. She never would have gone downstairs to investigate the crash. What if he'd been standing right there in their kitchen when she came down the steps?

“Why did you tell him that?” Emily yelled at Brian.

Brian looked like a deer caught in the headlights. “I'm not going to lie to him Emily. And there's nothing to be ashamed of, you should be scared! That would be the normal reaction. You don't need to hide it from AJ or from me. Besides, he knows you way better than to believe you'd be totally unaffected.”

Emily looked down. “I just...I don't want him to have to worry about me while he's away. I want him to enjoy this tour and not have to spend it worrying about leaving me alone.”

“Well that's something you should tell him, not me. But I'll tell you one thing: because he loves you, he'll worry about you while he's gone no matter with the circumstances are. That's what we Southern Gentlemen do.”

Emily cracked a smile. “How long has it been since you worried about your wife?”

Brian's face fell.

“I'm sorry...I didn't mean that.”

“Yes you did. And that's a very different situation.”

Emily shrugged. “She's still your wife.”

About an hour later, Emily had given her short statement of what happened and Brian suggested she come stay at his house and try to get some rest. The police had boarded up her door and taken all the evidence they needed, including the brick that was thrown through the glass. Brian waited while Emily packed an overnight bag and he drove her back to the safety and warmth of his own house.

AJ was sitting in the Cleveland airport waiting for his flight to board when Officer Knight called him back.

“Did you find anything?”

“There was a letter attached to the brick.”

“Was it him?”

“Yes. Your wife was kept in the dark, I had the officer running the investigation make sure no one told her anything. As far as she knows it was just a brick. When does your flight get in?”

“Not until 7:30.”

“I'll pick you up at the airport and show you a copy. You're telling her everything?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. I think it's time we have our friends at the FBI look into this. This guy means business.”

AJ went cold. He wanted it to be over, for it to have just been a small incident that went away. He didn't want to deal with a serial stalker who wanted to kill his wife. He didn't want to talk to the FBI and he didn't want to turn Emily's world upside down again. But that was all out of his control now.

“Yeah, whatever you think is best.” he answered, swallowing hard.

“Didn't you say you had a guy watching your wife?”

AJ hadn't even thought about Tiny.

“Tiny? Yeah, he keeps an eye on her but he usually goes to his hotel after he thinks she's gone to bed. He walks the property and calls it a night.”

“Have you spoken with him tonight?”

“No, I haven't. I'll give him a call right now and see if he might have seen anything out of the ordinary today.”

“Good. We'll want to talk to him ourselves later. I'll see you at the airport.”

AJ called Tiny and woke him up. Tiny said he hadn't seen anything suspicious that evening but the evening before he'd seen a man walking along the back fence but he turned out just to be a meter reader for the water company. AJ said he'd have the police contact the water company and make sure the guy was really who he said he was and asked that Tiny fully cooperate with the new investigation. Tiny hated cops. He always said there was a reason he was a private body guard and not a cop, because all cops were slime balls and he hated dealing with them. AJ knew he wasn't going to like working with them but Tiny promised he'd do it but that he wasn't going to go out of his way to help them.

Brian pulled the car in the garage and closed the door behind them. It was nearing three in the morning and the house was dark and quiet when they walked in. He turned on the kitchen lights and sat Emily down on a bar stool and forced her to drink a cup of tea.

“I'm going to go tell Leighanne you're here. I'll be right back down. Tyke's asleep on the couch if you want some company.”

Emily smiled. Brian knew that Tyke and Emily never had a very good relationship. She sat in the brightly light kitchen and stared out the windows into the darkness and knew that there was no way she'd be getting any sleep tonight.

Brian crept into Leighanne's room trying not to startle her.

“Leigh.” he whispered as he stood by the bed.

Leighanne cracked an eye open and looked up at him. “What is it? Is Baylee ok?” she asked, sitting up.

“He's fine, still sleeping. It's Emily. I just brought her over here, someone broke into her house tonight while she was there.”

“Oh my God! How is she? Is she hurt?”

“She's fine. Someone threw a brick through the door and probably got scared off by the alarm. She locked herself in the bathroom while she waited for the police. She's trying to pretend like she's fine so at least she's acting like herself.”

“Tell her I'll be down in a few minutes!” Leighanne started to get out of bed.

Brian shook his head. “She doesn't seem to want to see anyone right now. I think she's still trying to process it all. She's downstairs drinking some tea and then I'm going to try to get her to go to bed.”

“Was it the stalker?”

Brian sighed. “Probably. But apparently AJ wasn't completely upfront about it. She thought the stalker was after him.”

“What the hell was he thinking?” Leighanne demanded.

Brian shrugged. “He was just trying to protect her I guess. He'll be here later this morning and he's going to tell her everything.”

AJ had no idea how the flight home managed to go buy so quickly. He spent quite a bit of time planning on how he was going to tell Emily everything and wondering what her reaction would be. He was the first one off the plane as soon as they opened the door and as he made his way out of the terminal, he saw Officer Knight standing just outside of security.

“You look like hell!” he said. “Let's go get a cup of coffee.”

AJ nodded. Judging by the look on Knight's face, things had gotten a lot more serious. They sat down in the airport coffee shop and didn't waste any time getting down to business.

“Here's a copy of the letter.” Knight said, sliding it across the table.

AJ picked it up and stared at it in disbelief. It wasn't a letter at all, it was a photograph that had clearly been edited digitally. It was a picture of a woman's dead body surrounded by a pool of blood but the stalker had taken a photo of Emily's head and put it on the body. At the bottom were the words, “Your time is up, bitch!”

AJ knew it obviously wasn't Emily's body but the photo seemed real enough to make him nearly vomit at the image of his wife dead. He pushed his coffee aside and swallowed hard a few times.

“Are you alright?” Knight asked.

AJ shook his head. “You ever seen anything like this?” he asked, his voice hoarse.

“A few times.”

“Do I want to know how they ended?”

Knight shrugged. “Some good, some bad. We'll get this guy, AJ. I can feel it!”

“I need to get to Emily.” AJ said, trying to compose himself and shove the image of the body out of his head.

Chapter 92

Officer Knight dropped AJ off at Brian's around 8:30.

“Where is she?” he asked as soon as Brian opened the door.

“She's upstairs in the guest room. She agreed to lay down but she's just been watching infomercials all night.”

“Thanks.” AJ said, immediately going upstairs.

He opened the door slowly. Emily had moved to the small love seat and while it appeared that she was watching tv, she had a completely blank stare on her still very pale face. She looked over at him when he walked in, shutting the door behind him.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, sitting up.

“What the hell do you think I'm doing here? You really think I was going to stay up there?”

“I'm fine! Really, it wasn't a big deal.”

AJ crossed his arms. “Emily, it was a big deal! Stop pretending, I know you better than that.”

Emily chin quivered. “But I don't want you to worry about me, you should be enjoying yourself right now!”

AJ sighed and sat down next to her. “Sweetie I've been worrying my head off about you since right after Thanksgiving.”

“Why? Because I got sick?” Emily asked, confused.

“No. Look, there's something I haven't been completely honest with you about.”

“What is is?”

AJ folded his hands and looked down. “Do you remember when I told you about the stalker?”

“Yeah....”

“Well....I'm not the one being stalked. It's you.”

“Me? But you said.....”

“I didn't actually tell you it was me, it was just what you assumed and I let you.”

“But...why?”

“I didn't want to scare you. I felt like you'd been through enough this year and at first I didn't think it would be anything serious.”

Emily waited for him to continue.

“The first letter came through my fan mail. I thought it was just a hoax and I really didn't want you to be scared. The second letter came to the house while you were out running errands a few days before Christmas.”

“And the break in...that was related?”

AJ nodded. “There was another message attached to the brick he threw through the window. I don't think he was trying to break in, I think he was trying to send a message.”

“What did it say?”

He shook his head. “It doesn't matter.”

“AJ McLean stop protecting me! What did it say?”

AJ pulled the photo out of his pocket and handed it to her. Emily took one look at the gruesome photo and dropped it to the ground, her hand covering her mouth. “Oh God.....”

“I'm so sorry I never told you. I really thought I was protecting you.” he said, fighting off the emotion that was threatening to take him over.

“You let me walk around thinking I was safe all this time when there was some lunatic following me?” Emily stood up, outraged. “How dare you decide what's too much for me to handle and what isn't!”

AJ stood up and wrapped his arms around her. “I'm so sorry, I didn't know it was going to go this far.”

Emily closed her eyes and leaned against him. As furious as she was with him, she was starting to understand why he'd done it. She'd been scared enough thinking some random robber had broken in her house but after seeing that photo and learning there was someone after her, she understood the kind of fear he'd been trying to spare her of. Her body felt cold to the bones and she could feel herself shaking as everything he'd told her sank in.

“I promise, I'm doing absolutely everything I can to keep you safe and catch him, Em.” he said, softly as he stroked her hair. “I'm not going to let him hurt you.”

“You can't promise that!” she said, tears flowing down her face. “No one can.”

AJ held her back and looked her in the eye. He didn't know what to say. He wanted to tell her that he could promise that, but he knew he couldn't. He couldn't even guarantee to keep his own wife safe and what was worse was that she knew it as well as he did.

“I'm so sorry.” he whispered.

“What do we do now?” she asked, stepping back and wiping her eyes.

“The police are going to bring in the FBI. I imagine they'll be contacting us sometime today. And I'm going to introduce you to your bodyguard, Tiny. He's going to be with you at all times until the bastard is caught.”

Emily opened her mouth to protest, but she knew he was right. She needed someone to keep her safe.

“And I want to say one thing. All you have to do is say the world and I will cancel all of my shows until this is over. Nothing is more important to me than you.”

“Absolutely not. If you do that, you'll probably blow your career and I'll feel terrible. I'll have Tiny, you won't be gone that much and you'll be done in less than three weeks.”

“Are you sure?”

“I am positive. In fact it's the only thing I'm positive about right now, I can't even decide if I'm mad at you or not. You will be at that concert tomorrow night and that's final!”

“Ok but I mean it. If you change your mind, I'll stay.”

Emily nodded.

“Brian says you haven't eaten. Will you come downstairs and at least have a bagel or something.

Emily took a deep breath. “Why not?” she smiled. “I'm not going to let this guy get me down.”

AJ watched her walk out of the room and frowned. If there was one thing he knew about his wife, it was that she was exceptional about pretending everything was fine and he was worried she wasn't going to handle all of this very well if she kept that up.

Emily successfully dodged Brian and Leighanne's questions about how she was doing and managed to choke down enough food to satisfy them all. An FBI investigator came over and spent over two hours interviewing them both and assured them that they were working hard profiling the guy and would be using their best resources to investigate it. AJ went home after that to meet a repairman who came to replace the glass on their door and then he met Tiny at Brian's to introduce him to Emily.

“I can see why they call you Tiny.” she said, sarcastically as she looked up at his large frame. He was a tall man who bordered right in between bulky and chubby but Emily could tell that a lot of that bulk was strength.

Tiny smiled. “That obvious, huh?”

“So I hear we're going to be new best friends.”

“So it would seem.”

“Tiny was my bodyguard for years before he left the company we worked with. I'm sure he can spend a lot of time telling you good stories about me.” AJ said. He could tell Emily wasn't thrilled about the prospect of having a stranger around her constantly but she was doing her best to accept it.

“So how exactly is this going to work?” she asked.

“If it's ok with you, AJ and I have talked and we think it's best if I stay in the guest room. I'll do my best to stay out of your way and not intrude on your privacy but when you're home, I'll at least be in the house. I'll take you to work in the mornings and pick you up when you leave. If you want to go anywhere, I go with you. You shouldn't ever go anywhere alone.”

“Gee...sounds like fun.” Emily said. “This feels more like a punishment than a protection.”

“Emily...” AJ said, warning her to at least be nice to the guy who was giving up his life to protect her.

Tiny smiled. “I'm not such a bad guy, you'll see.”

“I want you to take a self defense class too.” AJ said. “Just in case.”

“Just in case what? Some crazy stalker tries to kill me?” Emily rolled her eyes. When she saw the looks on everyone's face, she immediately regretted it. “I'm sorry, I get crabby when I'm tired.”

“You should get some rest.” AJ said, gently. “I'll wake you up when dinner's ready.”

Emily nodded. She knew it was easier to go upstairs and pretend to rest than to say that she didn't think she'd ever be able to sleep again. It would save him at least that much worry.

AJ and Tiny talked some more logistics and went over AJ's schedule. They decided it would be best to have Tiny stay at the house even when AJ was home and AJ apologized for Emily's resistant behavior. He could tell when he went to get Emily for dinner that she hadn't slept. He'd been married to her for three years. If she'd really been asleep she would have glared at him for waking her up. Instead, she slowly opened her eyes and smiled at him. He decided not to say anything, figuring at least she was laying down.

“Dinner's ready.” he said, softly.

“Alright. I'll be down in a few minutes.” she said, sitting up.

As soon as AJ shut the door behind him, she buried her face in her hands. Just the thought of eating made her want to throw up, but she knew she'd have to find a way to force it down to keep everyone from nagging her and worrying that she was about to flip out. In truth, she was about to flip out, but what wouldn't help that would be to have everyone know it. She needed to be brave and face this head on. That's what everyone expected of her. She took a deep breath and stood up, feeling wobbly from exhaustion.

She sat next to Baylee during dinner to keep herself occupied. He'd certainly regained all of his energy as he chatted through the entire dinner. Emily could feel everyone watching her, especially AJ. He was having a hard time knowing she expected him to leave again the next morning. He would have felt better if she had at lest expressed how she was really feeling instead of pretending like nothing had happened. He was worried that eventually it would set in with her and he wouldn't be there to help her when it did.

After dinner, AJ took Emily home. He could tell how anxious she felt as she looked at the newly repaired door in their dining room.

“Everything looks back to normal.” she said. “You'd never be able to guess anything happened.”

“If you're not ready, you don't have to stay here.” he said, gently.

“I'm fine.” she insisted, more for her sake than his. “Where's Tiny?”

“I'm right here.” he said, from behind her.

Emily nearly jumped out of her skin as she turned around. “Big guys like you should know better than to sneak up on people.” she said.

“Sorry. Bad habit.”

“I'm going to bed.” Emily muttered, embarrassed by how startled she'd been.

AJ came up with her, exhausted himself from being up the previous night. He was in such a deep sleep that he didn't even notice the fact that Emily hadn't slept a wink. She turned the tv on and kept the volume low so she didn't disturb him. If he woke up, he'd know that she'd been jumping at every little sound. Every time one of the dogs walked past the door, she gasped. Every time she heard Guapo running around, her heart nearly stopped. When Tiny got up to use the bathroom, she'd almost forgotten he'd been there and freaked out when she heard a door open and close.

“Are you positive you want me to go?” AJ asked early in the morning as he was getting ready to leave.

“Get out!” Emily insisted. “You'll be home in two days! Besides, I have Tiny the Bulky Giant to keep me company before I go to work.”

“You're going to work?”

“Why wouldn't I?”

“I just thought you might want to take a few days off until you're back on your feet again.”

“Do I not look on me feet?”

“You look fine.” he lied. “I just want you to take it easy, that's all.”

“Well, sitting around here worried isn't going to help me take it easy. I'll be better off at work

with things to do to keep me busy.”

“Just promise me you'll take care of yourself?” He sounded worried.

“I promise. You'd better go, you're going to be late.”

AJ leaned down and gave her a long, slow kiss. “I love you.” he whispered.

“I love you too.”

The next week was long for both AJ and Emily. AJ spent every waking moment that he was away in a near state of panic over Emily. It took all he had to put on a decent performance when he was on stage because his mind seemed a million miles away.

The investigation had turned up absolutely nothing so far. Tiny insisted everything was going fine, Emily was keeping about her normal routines and seemed to be holding up well. She'd taken a five-day self defense course and while she at first felt stupid for beating up a man in a giant foam suit, once she got over it, it felt great to be able to kick some ass! AJ had been home and left again to do two more shows. He only had four left and he couldn't wait for them to be done with so he could be home for more than a few days at a time. When he'd been home, he could tell Emily wasn't sleeping. She was losing weight, she had huge circles in her eyes and very little color left to her complexion. When he asked her about it, she denied it and told him she was sleeping fine.

The truth was, Emily had hardly slept since the break-in. Whenever she did fall asleep from absolute exhaustion, she woke up gasping for breath and drenched in sweat from the same nightmare. She wasn't even able to remember most of the dream, she just knew it was violent and graphic and she didn't even want to try and remember it. She'd be awake for hours after one of the episodes trying to calm herself down and she was constantly worried AJ was going to wake up and realize what was happening.

She and Tiny were getting along very well. She won him over quickly by cooking breakfast and dinner for him and then they'd spend the evenings together watching tv and enjoying light-hearted conversations. He did end up telling her some pretty good stories about AJ and she had to admit that it felt really good to have something to laugh at.

The night before AJ came home for his last two-day break, Tiny brought in the mail and handed it to Emily. She opened a large envelope and gasped as she read it.

“What is it?” Tiny asked.

Emily handed him the letter. It was just like you saw in the movies, made out of individual letters cut from a magazine or newspaper instead of handwriting.

“All the self defense in the world can't save you!”

Tiny looked up at Emily. He didn't think it was possible for her to look even more pale than she had been lately, but her face was totally drained of any color except for the subtle hint of green “Are you alright?” he asked.

“I'm fine.”

“I'm going to call AJ.”

“You most certainly will not!” Emily yelled.

Tiny looked taken aback. “He'll want to know about this, Emily.”

“He's about to go on stage, you can't do that to him.”

Tiny knew AJ well enough to know she had a point. It wouldn't change anything if he waited a few hours to tell him. “Fine. I'll wait to call him, but I'm calling the police right now.”

“Fine.” Emily huffed. She walked up to her bathroom, turned on the bathtub, sat down on the edge of it, and bawled like a baby. She wanted nothing more than for none of this to be happening. It was so surreal. This was the type of thing that happened to really famous Hollywood actresses, not a small town girl from Ohio. She was exhausted. She was tired of being afraid to sleep, she was tired of pretending she was fine when she was far from it, and she was tired of constantly looking over her shoulder wondering who might be lurking in the shadows.

Chapter 93

A few hours later, as expected, AJ called Emily's cell phone.

“Are you alright?” he asked, worry written all over his voice.

“I'm fine, it was just a stupid letter.” she insisted.

“Emily....”

“I said I'm fine. Leave it. The FBI has already been here to pick it up, Tiny is right across the hall, everything is fine. How was your show?” she asked, desperate to change the subject.

AJ sighed. “It was fine.” he said. “I don't want to talk about the stupid concert.”

“Well, I don't want to talk about the stupid stalker.” Emily insisted. “I'm tired of hearing about it.”

He knew when he'd been defeated. Emily was not going to budge. He'd have to confront her about it when he got home. When Tiny called, he'd admitted that he didn't think Emily had been sleeping much lately and that she hadn't come out of her room since she'd seen the letter. AJ had thought he'd been helping her by giving her some time and space but now he realized he was going to have to confront her. His confrontation was delayed, however, when he got home the next afternoon. He was surprised to find Emily at home and when he asked Tiny what was going on, Tiny just shook his head and walked out of the room.

“Emily?” he asked. “What's going on, why aren't you at work?

Emily shrugged. “I quit.”

“What? You love your job, why would you quit?”

“I just didn't feel like working anymore.” she said, not even looking up from the television.

AJ turned off the tv and sat down next to her. “Emily you can't let this take over your life. He won't get you at work, there are too many people around.”

“You don't know that. I'm better off staying safe at home than I am going out anywhere.”

“What about your life?”

“What life? What kind of life do I have being terrified every single time I leave the house? Every time the dogs bark? You can hardly call that a life!”

AJ sighed. He knew she was right and he hated that there wasn't anything he could do about it. “Tiny says you haven't been sleeping.”

“I'm sleeping just fine.”

“You looked more rested when you had pneumonia in the hospital.”

Emily rolled her eyes. “You need to stop worrying about me. I'm fine. Quitting my job was just what I had to do. Hopefully, it won't be forever. Besides, now I'll have more time to be with you, you should be happy!”

“How can I be happy when I know you're doing something that's only going to make you unhappy?”

“Just drop it.” she snapped, standing up and going upstairs.

“She's been like that all day.” Tiny said, handing AJ a soda. “She bit my head off for suggesting she take a shower and get dressed.”

“I've been waiting for her to finally crack and stop pretending. Now I just have to get her to talk about it instead of avoiding it.”

“Good luck with that.” Tiny said, turning on the tv.

AJ looked up the stairs after Emily and decided to give her a little more time. He sat down next to Tiny on th couch.

“Chicken shit.” Tiny muttered.

Amanda had been keeping Randy updated on the ongoing drama of Emily's stalker but he was very surprised when Margie told him she'd quit her job with no notice that morning. No one besides Dr. Keaton seemed to know why and Emily had respectfully asked her to keep the information to herself. Margie, of course, was hoping to get some details from Randy.

“Sorry Margie.” he said. “Emily's private life is private for a reason.”

“Can you at least tell me is she's ok?” Margie pressed.

“I don't know.”

Randy called Amanda from his office to ask her if she'd heard anything about it. Amanda said she hadn't heard and would see if she could dig anything up. Leighanne and Brian didn't know either. Leighanne called AJ to see what was going on.

“Hey Leigh, what's going on?”

“Did Emily quit her job?”

“How the hell did you hear about that?”

“Randy's receptionist heard it from her sister, the receptionist at Emily's clinic. He asked Mandy who asked me. Did she?”

“Yeah. She said she just didn't feel like working anymore.” AJ went on to explain the latest developments from the previous day and Emily's mood that day.

“You need to talk to her.”

“Don't you think I've been trying?” AJ snapped.

“I'm sorry...of course you have. We all know what a tough shell Emily has.”

“Yeah...so how do I break through it?”

“I think you just have to be firm with her. You might even have to be a little bit of an ass.”

AJ sighed. He was afraid of that. He went to check on her about an hour later and found her cleaning out her closet. She was still in her pajamas and her hair was a wreck.

“Why don't you take a hot bath or something?”

“Leave me alone.” she muttered.

“I'm sorry, I can't do that.” he insisted.

Emily stopped and looked up at him. “Why the hell not?”

“Because I can tell how upset you've been and it's time for you to start talking to me about it. I love you, but you look like absolute hell right now. I know you're scared beyond belief but you can't keep all that to yourself.”

Emily bit her bottom lip in an effort to keep from crying. She knew he was right, but she was afraid if she let down her guard she'd wind up in even worse shape than she was already in. If she had to admit to him how she was really feeling, she'd also have to admit it to herself.

“I am fine.” she said. “Now get out and leave me alone!” Emily said, throwing the coat hanger she'd been holding against the closet door.

AJ stood still for a moment shocked before he nodded and left. This was going to be way more difficult than he'd originally thought.

Randy had stayed away long enough but now, after hearing Emily had quit her job, he needed to check on her. He stopped by her house after work and buzzed the gate. He could tell AJ wasn't thrilled he was there but he let him in anyway.

“What can I do for you?” AJ asked as he let him in the front door.

“I came to check on Emily.”

“Because you heard she quit her job.” AJ said.

Randy nodded. “We're all worried about her. How is she?”

AJ wanted to lie and tell Randy that everything was under control, that he was taking perfectly good care of his wife, but he was so discouraged that he couldn't even bring himself to admit it.

“She's not so good. She's upstairs cleaning out her closet and she refuses to come down. When I went in to suggest dinner, she threw a shoe at me and told me she wanted to be alone.”

Randy knew Emily had a temper but that was very abnormal behavior for her. “Why did she quit?”

“She said she doesn't want to work anymore. Which we both know is a flat out lie. She loved that job.”

Randy agreed. “Would it be alright if I tried to talk to her?”

It actually wasn't alright with AJ but he knew it might be in Emily's best interest so he showed him upstairs. Randy knocked on the door as he walked in. He was more than shocked when Emily turned to look at him. She had lost several pounds, she was in pajamas, hadn't showered and had dark bags under her eyes. She almost didn't even look like Emily.

“What are you doing here?”

“I hear you quit your job. Laurie called Margie as soon as she heard this morning.”

Emily shrugged. “It's no big deal.”

“Yes it is! You love being a nurse! It isn't like you to just toss that aside.”

She gave him a blank stare. “I'm fine.”

“Are you sleeping?”

“What is that, the question of the day?”

“Why are you always so afraid to admit you're not fine?” he shot back.

“What good would it do?”

“It's always good to get things off of your chest. It isn't healthy to keep everything bottled up. People who have been through scary situations need to deal with their emotions.”

Emily planted her hands on her hips and took a step towards him. “I do not have post traumatic stress syndrome. I have a lunatic who's out to get me. Sleeping will not fix that. I am fine, you all need to leave me the hell alone!”

AJ cringed from out in the hall where he'd been trying to listen. He'd hoped Randy might have gotten her to talk a little more, or at least make friendly conversation. No such luck. The two defeated men walked back downstairs.

“You need to get her help.” Randy said.

“What do you want me to do?” AJ asked, feeling a mixture of hope that he'd have an answer and disgust that Randy was telling him how to take care of his wife.

“Getting her to sleep might help. I can leave her a prescription for something, you'll only have to convince her to take it. Or I guess you could slip it in her drink.” Randy said as he pulled a prescription pad out of his pocket and wrote one up. “Will you call me if there's anything I can do?”

AJ nodded. “Yeah. My tour is over in five more days, I think if I'm around more I'll have a better time getting through to her.”

“You're going to leave her like this?”

“Do you really think she'd let me stay?”

“It doesn't matter what she wants, clearly she isn't in the right state of mind right now. No wonder she's not dealing with this if she hasn't had anyone around to support her!” Randy accused.

“Man, you have some nerve coming into my house making accusations like that!”

“What, it isn't true?”

“Look, you might find this hard to believe, but I do know my wife better than you do. I am doing everything I can for her. Everything. I know you probably think you can do a better job, but you need to back the fuck off!” AJ said.

Randy held his hands up. “Whatever man. Get her to take the pills.” he said, and walked out the door.

“Who the hell was that douche-bag?” Tiny asked.

“That was Randy, the doctor guy she dated before me.”

“That was Randy?”

“You know about him?”

Tiny nodded. “We stayed up late talking one night, she told me all about what happened with you guys last fall.”

“She talked to you about that?” AJ asked, surprised.

“We've talked about a lot of things. And before you ask, no, I'm not about to go up there. I heard you tell him about the flying shoe incident.”

“Who's the chicken-shit now?” AJ laughed.

“She ain't my wife! Go fill that prescription.”

“Alright. You want anything?”

“Get some ice cream!” Tiny said.

When AJ came back from the pharmacy, he found Emily sitting on the bed with the entire contents of her closet thrown about the room. He entered with extreme caution.

Emily smiled sheepishly. “You don't have to look so scared to come in. I'm not going to throw things at you again.”

AJ sat down next to her on the bed. “I'll forgive you.” he smiled.

“I'm sorry for being such a bitch. I'm sure you know I've been doing a lot of pretending lately and after Randy left and I replayed all my conversations from today over in my head, I realized how ridiculous I was being.”

“No one blames you for that. You're going through a lot.”

“Yes. Yes, I am.” Emily sighed.

“What can I do to help?” he asked, softly.

Emily leaned her head down on his shoulder. “Can you just stay with me tonight?”

“Of course.” He kissed the top of her head. “Whatever you need.”

“I just want to feel safe” she whispered.

AJ put a finger under her chin and tipped her head up towards him. He leaned down and slowly kissed her. He was pretty sure there was one thing he could do that would at least make her feel safe for about an hour. He wrapped his arms around her and leaned her back onto the bed. Emily sighed as she gave into him. Whenever he made love to her, she forgot about everything else in the world except for the safe feeling he created deep inside of her.

Afterwards, he held her tightly to him.

“Thank you.” she said.

“You really don't need to thank me for that, it wasn't as if it was a sacrifice on my part.” he laughed.

“I guess you're right.” she chuckled. “I hope Tiny didn't get an ear full.”

“Tiny has heard it all before I'm sure. I'm starving, I think I'm going to go make a sandwich. Can I get you anything?” he asked, carefully.

“How about a grilled cheese?”

“Coming right up!” he said, amazed that she was willing to eat something.

He threw on a pair of jeans and went downstairs while Emily put on a t-shirt and tried to shove as much of her stuff back into the closet as she could. He came back upstairs about ten minutes later with a tray of food. He set it down on the bedside table and handed her a little, white pill.

“What's this?” she asked.

“Randy left you a prescription to help you sleep. I want you to take it.”

Emily was quiet for a minute before accepting the medicine and swallowing it with a glass of milk. “You'll stay after I fall asleep?”

“Of course.”

Emily ate her grilled cheese and then she and AJ lay down together. He held her tightly against him and sighed a breath of relaxation as she finally fell asleep.