Chapter 106

The hospital wasn't that far away from where they where, especially if you were driving an ambulance with lights and sirens on. Brian had left the scene right after the ambulance did and called Leighanne on his way.

“Brian thank God, what the hell is going on?” she said when she picked up.

“I don't have a lot of time to talk. Emily is ok, we found her. AJ is being taken to the hospital in an ambulance right now, we'll be there in about a minute.”

“Oh God...what happened to AJ?”

“I'm not really sure. Everything happened really fast. All I know is that he's unconscious and the medics didn't want to take any chances waiting so they basically scooped him up and ran.”

“You're sure Emily's ok?” Leighanne asked, only breathing half a sigh of relief. Emily was safe, now they had to make sure AJ was going to be alright.

“She's fine. Shaken, I'm sure, but fine. She's riding in the ambulance with AJ. Honey I have to go, I'm parking the car. Meet me downstairs in the ER.”

Leighanne had been sitting at the nurses' station with Karen and quickly filled her on as she began to head downstairs.

“I'll page his neuro surgeon and have him meet you down there.” she said.

Leighanne ran over to Brian in the waiting room and gave him a big hug. “Are you alright?” she asked, looking him up and down.

“I'm fine.” he assured her.

They saw Emily slowly walk towards them. “They wouldn't let me stay with him.” she said, with a flat voice.

“Honey sit down.” Leighanne said. “Are you sure you're ok? He didn't...hurt you or anything did he?”

Emily shook her head. “No.”

“Brian go get her some water.” Leighanne said as she noticed that Emily was definitely in a severe state of shock. Her face was blank and pale and her hands were trembling and as cold as ice.

“I'm fine.” Emily said, trying to shrug Emily off.

“Emily, don't try to act fine. I know you're not.” Leighanne said. “Sit down!”

Emily did as she was told and accepted the water from Brian.

A few minutes later, Officer Knight walked in. Brian and Leighanne stepped out of Emily's earshot to talk to him.

“What the hell happened?” Brian asked.

“AJ went in there and had him distracted but things escalated pretty quickly and we didn't have much time. Tiny was about two seconds away from pulling the trigger on the gun he had pointed at her head. I ran in and tackled AJ to get him out of the way and our guy took Tiny down. I'm pretty sure AJ hit his head when we went down.”

Leighanne shivered as she realized how close they'd both come. “Is Emily...ok?” she asked. “She said he didn't hurt her but...”

Knight shrugged. “Most hostage victims aren't ready to talk about it right away. That's why I let her come here. Judging by the looks of her, she's probably in the middle of mentally shutting down because it's just too much for one person's brain to process. As as a defense mechanism, the brain shuts it down and tries to block it out and make the person forget about what happened. Not to mention the physical tolls that shock can take. Just keep a close eye on her. Any word on AJ?”

Brian shook his head. “Not yet.”

“He's one brave son-of-a-bitch.” Knight muttered. “I'll never admit this to him but if it hadn't been for him breaking through and going in there, we probably would have had a much different ending to this.”

Emily walked over to them. “Did Tiny...I mean, is he.....”

“He didn't make it, honey. He's dead.” Knight said, gently.

“Oh...ok.” she said, without any emotion and went back to her chair. Leighanne went and sat next to her. Brian overheard them talking about Baylee.

“So...what happens now?” he asked Knight.

Knight shrugged. “Crime scene unit will process his car and the scene. At some point in the next day or two, we'll need Emily's statement but I won't even try to ask her anything until we know how AJ is. There isn't really much left to do except paperwork. Tiny didn't survive so there won't be any court proceedings or anything.”

“It just seems so...anticlimactic. Like, all that happened and then there's nothing to do? It just feels weird.”

Knight nodded. “I know what you mean. I think it's better for Emily this way though. She won't have to worry about his trial, testifying, the thought of him getting out of jail someday and coming back to finish the job. It's a much cleaner ending for her and AJ.”

In the midst of all the excitement, everyone forgot that Denise was supposed to arrive at the hospital straight from the airport. She stopped at the information desk to ask what room he was in.

“He's still in the emergency room.” the volunteer said.

“That doesn't make any sense, he's been here for a few days now.” Denise frowned. “Maybe there are two people with that name.”

“There's only one. I'd go down there and see if they can straighten it out for you.”

Denise walked across the hospital following the signs for the ER. When she spotted Brian and Leighanne standing by a window, she rushed over to them.

“What's going on, why is he still in the emergency room?” she asked.

“Denise!” Brian exclaimed, hugging the woman. “He checked himself out of the hospital to find Emily and then he got knocked out and brought back here.”

Denise had a look of total confusion on her face. “Why would he go find Emily?”

“The stalker managed to abduct her.” he said, in a low voice.

Denise looked even more confused. Brian guessed that, true to AJ form, he hadn't informed his mother about anything that was going on so she wouldn't worry about him. Brian did his best to quickly bring Denise up to speed. “So now we're just waiting to hear from the doctors how serious he is.”

She had a horrified look on her face as she took in everything he said. “What about Emily? How is she?”

Brian gestured to where Emily was still sitting, looking pale as a ghost as she sat up perfectly straight, staring at the wall. Denise rushed over to her and pulled her into her motherly embrace. As Emily relaxed into her, she felt herself begin to give in to some of the emotions she was feeling. Her shoulders began to shake as she sobbed silently against Denise's shoulder.

About ten minutes later, AJ's surgeon came in. Emily quickly wiped her eyes and stood up.

“How is he?” she asked, anxiously.

“He's going to be just fine. He did probably hit his head when he fell but it was such a minor bump we couldn't even find where he hit it. Sometimes when people are recovering from a severe concussion, any small jolt is enough to aggravate the condition.”

“Is he awake?” Denise asked.

“He was awake on and off while we assessed him but he was pretty out of it still. He was getting agitated, probably remembering what had happened, so we sedated him for the MRI and gave him another dose of morphine to make sure he's not in any pain.”

Emily breathed a sigh of relief. “So...he's really going to be ok?”

The doctor nodded. “If he stays in bed and recovers, he'll be totally fine. He's being taken to a room on the fifth floor in room 5227, you can go meet him up there.”

“Thank you so much, doctor.” Denise said, shaking his hand.

They all quickly went upstairs to his room and got there just as his nurse was getting him settled in. Emily slowly walked over to him and gave him a soft kiss on the forehead. The nurse explained that she expected he'd probably sleep for the next several hours.

“Emily why don't you come home with us and get some rest?” Leighanne suggested as she noticed that Emily was starting to look a bit wobbly on her legs.

Denise agreed. “I'll stay here with him so he's not alone.”

Emily shook her head. “I am not leaving him. When he wakes up he's going to need to know that I'm alright and I won't let him wake up after all that without me being here.”

Leighanne looked at Denise who nodded. “Fine. You can stay but you're going to eat dinner and rest, got it?”

Emily nodded as she sat down in a chair.

“You guys should go. I'll call you if anything changes.” Denise said to Brian and Leighanne.

Brian and Leighanne left the hospital, fighting off the remaining press as they walked out the main entrance.

“Why don't you ride home with me?” he said. “We can get your car tomorrow.”

Leighanne nodded. “Let's pick up some dinner on the way home. All of a sudden I'm starving!”

Brian smiled. “Me too.”

They picked up some Chinese food for themselves as well as Amanda and Randy who were at home with Baylee. As they ate, they told them everything that had happened that day, still finding it a little unbelievable themselves.

After Amanda and Randy left, Brian and Leighanne looked at each other across the table.

“I can't believe how unbelievably long this day has been.” Leighanne admitted.

“I know what you mean. So....this morning, when we talked....did you mean it?”

“Mean what?”

“About me coming home.” he said, awkwardly.

“My God, was that this morning? It seems like days ago. Of course I meant it.”

Brian walked over and pulled her into a tight embrace. “God, I love you.” he murmured.

“I love you too.”

“You know, I had thought that when this moment came it would be romantic or something, but I'm exhausted. Do you mind if we just...go to bed?”

“I don't mind at all.” Leighanne said as she grabbed his hand and began to lead him up to their room.

It felt a little awkward as they got ready for bed. It had been months since they'd slept in the same room together, but as soon as they climbed into bed and he wrapped her up in his arms just like he used to, everything suddenly felt right again.

Denise left Emily to go down to the cafeteria and get them both something to eat. Emily held true to her promise and ate as much as she could before grabbing his hand and laying her head down on the side of his bed and shutting her eyes. She didn't expect to fall asleep but actually managed to drift off in just a few minutes. Denise smiled as she turned down the lights and settled herself down to sleep in the other chair.

AJ woke up a few hours later feeling very disoriented as he looked around yet another room he didn't recognize. He smiled as he looked down and saw Emily asleep in the chair next to him, her head still rested on the bedside. He reached out and softly stroked her hair. Emily woke up to his touch and sat up.

“It's over.” she said softly before leaning in to kiss him. “Everything is ok.”

AJ gave a half smile before he fell back asleep, this time getting a much more peaceful rest knowing that Emily was ok and all of this would now be behind them.

Chapter 107

Another four days had passed since the incident, as Emily liked to refer to it as. She had gone down to the police station to meet with Officer Knight to give her statement. It had been tough on her but somehow she'd managed to get through telling him everything that had happened. He had apologized for dropping the ball on keeping her safe during their set up and Emily quickly informed him that she held no blame against anyone but Tiny. She recognized that he probably would have gotten her one way or another and she also realized that she probably owed Knight both her life and AJ's. He'd also given her some information on support groups for victims of violent crimes and advised Emily to keep all their security measures in place, if anything to help her feel more secure as she recovered from all of this.

When she got back to the hospital, AJ was sitting up in bed waiting for her.

“How did it go? Are you alright?” he asked, immediately.

Emily smiled as she sat down on his bed. “It went better than I thought. Where's your mom?”

“She was driving me crazy so I sent her out to get me something decent to eat besides hospital crap. Do you want something? I could call her.”

Emily shook her head. “No thanks, I'm not really hungry yet.”

“Well, I've got good news!” he said.

“What?”

“I get to go home tomorrow!”

Emily smiled. “Really? Are you sure you're up to it?”

“I'd say it's about fucking time! You've seen me...I can walk around a little without getting dizzy, my MRI is normal, no brain swelling of any kind and my pain is controlled by oral medications. Besides, I'd rather go home and have you as my nurse!”

“You know I'm probably a lot bossier than the ones you have here. I don't take any crap!”

AJ laughed. “I know. I'd still rather it be you though.”

The next morning, the doctor shook AJ's hand and told him he was one lucky guy for coming out of all of that without any permanent damage and signed the discharge papers.

“So you know the drill.” he said. “You can go home but you still need to stay off your feet except for 5-10 minutes of walking every 4 hours. Your prescription for the pain pills in is the paperwork, you can take 1-2 every 6 hours as needed and I'll see you again in a week to check on you.”

“Got it.” AJ said.

“Alright Mr. McLean, take care.” The doctor said as he left.

AJ was already dressed and ready to go as the orderly brought in the wheel chair and took them out to the waiting car.

Emily had warned him that there were still members of the press waiting outside and AJ insisted he was well enough to make a short comment as he exited.

“I just wanted to thank everyone for their prayers and support. I feel very lucky that things turned out the way that they did. The docs say I'll be as good as new in a few weeks.” And with that, he and Emily climbed into Denise's waiting rental car and drove home.

It felt strange for him to walk in the house. Nothing seemed different yet so much had happened that he felt like the house should be unrecognizable. Emily got him settled on the couch and he gladly accepted a pain pill as just the trip home was enough to make all his bruises and headache very sore again. She refused to let him sleep upstairs in their bed that night, telling him he'd had enough physical exertion for one day to be climbing the stairs so instead, Emily slept in the recliner next to the couch.

Denise announced the next morning that she would be flying home that evening.

“Already?” AJ asked.

“I know you hate it when I fuss over you and now that I know you're going to be fine, I can go home and relax.” Denise said.

“I love you, Ma.” AJ said, feeling silently relieved that she wouldn't be around to bug him anymore and slightly guilty that he felt that way.

Emily found Denise packing in the guest room. “Denise can I ask you a favor before you leave?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“Could you take me to the grocery store?”

Denise frowned. “Why, is everything alright?”

“No, it's not that it's just....it's been awhile since I've been anywhere besides the hospital alone...since everything started, I always had Tiny with me and...I don't know...I guess I'm just not ready to go anywhere alone.”

“Enough said. And I'm proud of you for being able to admit that. It's nothing to be ashamed of. We'll just tell AJ I insisted on helping you so he doesn't have to worry.”

Emily breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks.” She didn't want AJ to know she was afraid. She supposed he'd figure it out eventually, once he was recovered, but she didn't want him to have to know just yet because he'd insist on getting up and helping her and she knew he wasn't ready for that yet.

AJ was sleeping off his morning pain pill when they got back. Denise helped Emily put everything away and went upstairs to pack while Emily brought AJ the donuts she'd bought for him and gently woke him up.

“Hey...” she whispered as she kissed his forehead.

AJ took a deep breath as he slowly opened his eyes and smiled up at Emily. “Are you back already?”

Emily chuckled. “Yeah, we left about two hours ago.”

“Well shit! I didn't realize I was sleeping for so long.”

“That's kind of the point...you need lots of rest to heal your body! And to help keep your strength up, I bought you a nice, healthy breakfast!” she said as she handed him the donuts.

He laughed. “Who are these really for, me or you?”

“Well...I mean I figured you would share.....” she said, snatching one out of the box. “What can I get you to drink? Coffee? Milk?”

“Milk sounds nice.”

Emily went and poured two large glasses of milk and set them down on the coffee table. “Do you want to sit up for a bit?”

“Yeah, my neck kind of hurts from laying down so much.”

“Alright, you know the drill!” Emily said as she gave him her arm to hold on to while she slowly sat him up with her other arm. “You're getting better, you only groaned in pain once this time!”

“That's because I'm a man...I'm tough!”

“Yeah...men are so tough...that's why women give birth, right?”

AJ cringed. “Uh...something like that.”

Emily laughed. “Your mom is upstairs packing. Brian and Leighanne are going to take her to the airport and then since she has to return her rental car, they're going to rent one for us and drop it off afterwards.”

“Why do we need a rental car?”

“The police took yours while you were in the hospital to make sure nothing was done to it.”

“They took my car??? I swear to God, if it comes back with one scratch on it...”

“You'll what? I believe I'm the one whose car is totaled and sitting in some junk yard somewhere.”

AJ sighed. “I'm sorry about your car.”

“Don't be...it wasn't your fault! Besides, I'd much rather have you alive than my car!”

“Well, we can go out and get you a brand new one.” he offered.

Emily shrugged. “Unfortunately they don't make the Pacifica anymore. I'll have to find something else.”

“I don't think that'll be too hard. You might even have a little fun car shopping!”

“Buying a car is not nearly as satisfying for most women as it is for men. But I do have a few ideas.”

“Don't fill up on those donuts you two, I'm making a big lunch!” Denise said as she came back downstairs.

“Denise you don't have to do that!” Emily said.

“It's my last chance to fuss over you two!”

“Thanks, Ma!” AJ said. Truth be told, as much as he didn't like to be fussed over, he was glad she had been staying with them because it meant that someone was taking care of Emily while he couldn't do it. Emily hadn't talked much to him about anything that happened and he wasn't ready to push it yet. He knew she probably wasn't ready to talk about it because he knew that he certainly wasn't really ready to hear all about it himself. Right now, he was just focusing on getting better so that he could help Emily heal. He was very well aware that there was no way she was going to let him take care of her until she was satisfied he was completely recovered himself so that was his goal for the next week.

That night, after Brian and Leighanne dropped off their new rental car, Emily decided AJ was strong enough to climb the stairs so he could sleep in their bed. They climbed into bed together and Emily snuggled up against him, careful not to bump his bruised ribs. He wrapped his arm around her and inhaled her scent.

“I feel like I haven't held you in months.” he said.

“I was just thinking the same thing.” she sighed. “Are you comfortable, do you need another pillow or anything?”

“No, I'm fine. Hey do you know what I realized today?”

“What's that?”

“I haven't smoked in like, a week!”

“No I guess you haven't, had you? How do you feel?”

“Honestly, until I figured that out, I hadn't even thought about smoking. Now it's only a mild craving.”

“Hey who knows, maybe brain surgery is the cure for smoking!” Emily joked. “Although to be honest if I had to pick between you being a smoker for life and having to go through all of this again, I'd much rather you smoked.”

“Yeah, me too.” he laughed. “Listen,” he said, his voice becoming more serious. “I know you're trying to put all of this behind you, but I feel like maybe it would help us both if you and I talked about what happened. I mean really talk about it.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, tensing up.

“You've never actually told me what happened when you were with Tiny.”

“Sure I did...”

“No, you didn't. You made your statement to the police and haven't talked about it since then. I'd be a fool to believe that you're totally fine and to be honest, part of me really needs to know what it is that you went through because I'm imagining all sorts of terrible things and....well I just need to know.”

Emily took a deep breath. “He didn't...do anything to me, if that's what you're asking.”

“Are you sure?”

“You don't think I'd tell you?”

“I don't know. Maybe you'd keep it to yourself thinking you were protecting us both.” It wouldn't be the first time she'd done something like that.

“I promise, Tiny didn't touch me in any kind of sexual way. It wasn't about that. I'll admit that most of the time I was with him it was what I kept waiting for but once we were in the hotel, he never laid a hand on me. Mostly he just sat on the bed rambling about you and his wife.”

“You know I was telling the truth, right?” AJ asked. “I honestly didn't know she was his wife. I was in the bar getting blasted just like I was every other night and she approached me. To be honest I think she did it on purpose but Tiny never wanted to see it that way.”

Emily nodded. “From what he said about his marriage, I wouldn't be surprised. I know you're right, we should talk about everything. I guess I'm just not ready yet. Right now I'm so caught up in just being with you and being so thankful that you're ok that my mind can't even really seem to process anything else.” she admitted. “I've been thinking today that at some point, it's all going to hit me at once but right now, I think it's just too much to deal with.”

“Ok, I'll give you some more time. But I'm not going to let it go...” he warned.

“I know.” she nodded. “I'd rather spend time thinking about the future. I mean I spent so much time hiding away in here just wishing the whole thing would be over and now that it is, I feel like I'm starting to get my life back little by little.”

“How so?”

“Just small things like I can plan Kristin's baby shower with Leighanne and know for sure that I'm going to be able to fly to LA without any problems or worries. I can think about our future again too, like your album release and your shows and being able to make love to you the way we used to and maybe even some day have a baby of our own!”

AJ smiled. He was glad to hear her making plans again. “We sure do have a lot in store for us the rest of the year, don't we?”

“If we can just get through it without anything else bad happening!” she joked.

“I think we've seen all the bad we're going to see for quite awhile.”

“You know, maybe in a few more days, if we're really careful, we could have sex....I mean I could be on top and be gentle...” she said as she snuggled closer to him.

AJ got hard as soon as he heard the words leave her mouth. “Damn woman, it's not nice to torture me like that, do you have any idea how bad I want you right now?”

“I'd say I have a pretty good idea.” she smiled.

Chapter 108

When Brian and Leighanne got home that evening after a brief visit with Emily and AJ, they sat down together in front of the fireplace and enjoyed a glass of wine.

“Did you see AJ watching us tonight?” Brian asked. “It's almost like he still doesn't believe things are better between us or something.”

“Well...don't take this the wrong way, but I can't say that I blame him for being suspicious.”

“Why is that?”

“Well it was kind of sudden for one thing. And...well I mean you weren't really acting like yourself for a long time and I wonder if he's just wondering what's going on with you? Like maybe he doesn't trust that all of a sudden the switch turned back and you were really able to move on.”

“Do you have trouble trusting that?” Brian asked, pointedly.

Leighanne shrugged. “It isn't that I don't believe you. It's just...I don't know, seems a little hard to believe that all of a sudden you just realized you really did love me and wanted to work it out after all that time of questioning things and being so angry all the time. Even before Thanksgiving you were like that.”

Brian sighed and grabbed her hand. “You don't have to be afraid to talk about it.” he said. “I know it's been a lot for you to deal with. It's been a lot for me to deal with. We haven't really had the opportunity to talk about a lot that happened.”

“Well, no, but I thought that was because we agreed to leave the past in the past.”

“And we have. But now that we're both more healed, if you wanted to talk about anything, I think we should. I'd rather discuss it than have either of us wondering things.”

“Ok...if you're sure?” she asked, hesitantly.

“Positive. We need to be open with each other, right?”

“Right. Well...so what are your plans?”

“What do you mean?”

“Career wise. The last we left off with was you wanting to do another solo album and I know you've been talking with the guys about getting back into the studio soon.”

“The solo album is going to wait awhile. I don't know what I was thinking, I don't even really have much material yet and I don't know how much longer the guys and I will be doing albums together so I want to give them priority. It looks like we'll be in LA working in the studio in the fall, we'll have meetings throughout the summer to go over demos and pick the songs we want to record. And when I can, I'll spend time writing my own songs.”

“Oh! Wow, for some reason I thought you'd be gone a lot more this year.”

“Well, when Baylee got sick I realized more than ever where my priorities are supposed to be. I want to be around more. For both of you.”

Leighanne smiled. “I'd like that.”

“Do you....still want another baby? I know you said if I didn't than you didn't, but I want you to answer me honestly.”

She thought for a moment. “Sometimes I think I still do, but then I look on everything that's happened the last few months and I'm honestly not sure if it's what I really want or not. To tell you the truth I've kind of put it out of my mind lately.”

“I know I was really selfish when you tried to talk to me about it. I wasn't being fair to you and you were right for calling me on it. So I want you to know that if you decide it's something you really want, than it's something I'd be willing to talk about.”

“Really?” Leighanne was shocked.

“Really.”

“Well...ok. I guess I'll just think about it a little and see how I feel. Maybe Kristin's pregnancy hormones just put me into overdrive or something.”

Brina laughed. “Well I'm willing to bet pretty soon you'll have Emily's pregnancy hormones to fend off too.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah, I mean we know they've talked about it. I doubt they're going to wait too much longer.”

“AJ's going to be a great dad.” Leighanne said.

“Yeah, he is.” Brian agreed.

There must have been something in the air because that same night, Amanda and Randy also had a serious discussion.

He was working in his office and she knocked lightly on the door frame.

“Hey!” he said. “I was just finishing up, I promise!”

“That's ok. I was actually wondering if we could talk for a minute.”

“Sure, what's wrong?” he asked, noticing her wide eyes and the nervous way she was wringing her hands.

“I...just wanted to apologize to you.”

“What for?”

“For doubting you. It's hard to explain so bear with me. I never truly believed that you could be the stalker. Not really. But I doubted you because lately I seem to doubt everything. When I saw the look on your face that night, I knew you really meant what you said. I realized that I was letting Steve continue to ruin my life- he cheated on me and I turned into this person who didn't trust anyone. That's not who I really am and it isn't who I want to be and it would be such a shame to let him continue to ruin my life by letting what he did come between me and every relationship I have. You are a very special person to me and I don't want to lose what we have because of him. So...you were right. And I deserve better than to continue to doubt myself. I realized that you are nothing like him. Nothing. And I'm sorry for all the times I ever doubted you.”

Randy got up and wrapped his arms around her. He could tell that it had been very difficult for her to admit all of that but it was exactly the moment he'd been waiting for. He had realized that he couldn't wait too much longer for her to come around and he was so relieved that she had.

“It's ok.” he said, kissing the top of her head. “I'm just so glad you finally realized all of that.”

Amanda sniffed. “I just feel like I've been so unfair to you.”

“You had your reasons and I always understood where you were coming from. That doesn't mean I liked it, but I understood.”

“So...are you ok? I know being investigated really messed with your head and everything, and I didn't help matters much....”

Randy nodded. “I'm ok. I'm glad that it's over.”

“I think we all are.”

He looked at his watch. “What do you say we go to bed a little early tonight?” he suggested with a mischievous grin.

Amanda laughed. “That sounds like a pretty good idea to me!”

Three days later, Emily drove AJ to his follow up appointment with the neurologist. He had a quick CT scan done and then the doctor came in to do a neuro exam.

“Mr. McLean you seem to be recovering just fine! Your scans were totally clean, there's no swelling. You incision is healed and your ribs are looking pretty good too. I still say you're one lucky guy!”

“Thanks, doc!” AJ said, glad to have good news.

“I assume your wife here has been pretty strict on your recovery?”

Emily laughed.

“Yeah, you might say that.” AJ answered with a grin.

“Well I'd say that you're more than ready to resume some light physical activity. Take it slow, your body isn't going to be used to it so don't push yourself.”

“When do I need to come back?”

“As long as you don't have any problems, I see no need for you to come back. Take care of yourself, ok?”

“Will do.” AJ said, shaking his hand.

“Thank you, doctor.” Emily said as she stood up.

Once they were in the car, Emily said, “I think we should have a dinner party to celebrate!”

“That sounds awesome, I've been so cooped up it'd be nice to see some friendly faces!”

“You feel like a quick trip tot he grocery store?”

“I can't believe I'm going to say this but going to the grocery store sounds like a lot of fun, it's been so long since I've been anywhere!”

Emily laughed. “Do you need to refill your pain pills while we're out?”

AJ shook his head. “Actually I haven't taken one today and I didn't take one yesterday until bedtime. I have a few left but I don't think I need them anymore so I'd rather not take them.”

“So, you're not in any pain?”

“Not really. Not as much as I was three nights ago....”

Emily blushed. She'd kept true to her word and they'd attempted to make love but no matter how gentle she tried to be, any amount of jostling was just too much for him and they'd had to jump ship and take cold showers. Emily was too afraid to try again until she was positive he was recovered.

“Well, you just let me know when you're ready to....try again.”

“I will. At this point I figure we've gone this long, why not wait until I'm one-hundred percent so we can really go at it.”

Emily grinned. “Alright, you've got yourself a deal!”

On their way to the store, Emily called Leighanne and invited them over for dinner who immediately agreed. Then she left a message for Amanda with the invitation. They picked up some steaks, salad, potatoes to bake and Emily got some ingredients to bake a cake. She could tell AJ was beginning to get worn out by the time they paid for their groceries so she sent him to go lie down while she baked the cake.

While she was waiting for the cake to cool, Amanda returned her call.

“Hey Emily! I feel like I haven't talked to you in forever!”

“Hey Mandy!! How are you? Did you get my message?”

“Yes I did and I'm totally game to come over, it sounds like fun.”

“Good! What about Randy?”

Amanda was quiet for a few seconds. “I don't think he'll want to come.”

“Why not?”

“Because of everything that happened.”

“What happened?” Emily asked, totally dumbfounded.

“You know...with the cops and the investigation.”

“What investigation?”

“You didn't know?” Amanda asked.

“Does it sound like I know?”

Amanda sighed. “At one point, just before AJ's accident, they suspected that maybe Randy was your stalker. Something about him giving you sleeping pills would make it very easy to kidnap you if he knew you would be unconscious and the way he was so protective of you all the time.”

Emily was completely caught off guard. “I had no idea, AJ never said anything....”

“He probably didn't want to upset you. Look we both understand how it seemed but I don't really see how he could be comfortable coming over after all that.”

“No, of course not. Amanda I'm so sorry!”

“Don't apologize. It's over.”

“I know but....”

“Listen I'll ask him, but just don't count on him being there, ok?”

“Yeah, ok.”

Once the cake was safely out of the oven Emily knew what she had to do. She told AJ she needed to run a few errands. She arrived at Randy's office just before his lunch break.

After greeting Margie and answering her million questions as quickly as she could, she managed to find out Randy was eating in his office and sent her on back.

She knocked on his door and he called for her to come in.

“Emily! I wasn't expecting to see you here, is everything alright?” he asked.

Emily shut the door behind her and sat down across from him. “I came to apologize.”

“For what?”

“I didn't know that they'd accused you of being the stalker. I just found out today and I just wanted to apologize. I never thought it was you, I swear! You were just being a good friend and everyone took it the wrong way, I guess. Anyway I feel just terrible, that must have been humiliating.”

Randy shrugged. “I suppose so. How did you find out, anyway?”

“I called to invite you guys over for a dinner party tonight and Amanda said she didn't think you'd want to come because of it. She assumed that I knew but I didn't. I'm so sorry.....”
“It wasn't your fault, Emily. Besides, it's all over now.”

“I know but still...”

“Are you doing ok?”

“About as well as can be expected I suppose.” she shrugged.

He eyed her carefully. “AJ ok?”

“Yeah, he just got cleared from the neurologist actually. That's why we're having the party. Will you come?” she asked, carefully.

“No, I don't think so. I have a lot of work to do...”

Emily always could tell when he was lying but she decided to let it go. “Oh, well ok. Maybe some other time.” she said, trying to conceal the hurt from her voice.

“Yeah, another time.”

“Well, it was good to see you. I have to get back home. Take care.” she said, standing up to leave.

“You too, Emily.” he said, almost feeling guilty for turning down her offer.

Emily got home and found AJ heating up some lunch.

“What's wrong?” he asked, noticing the look on her face.

“Did you know they'd accused Randy of being the stalker?”

AJ sighed and sat his drink down on the counter. “Yes.”

“Why didn't you tell me?”

“Because I knew you'd never believe it, even if it were true. And I didn't want to upset you anymore than I had to. It was just a small hunch but it was all we had to go on at the time.”

Emily sat down on the bar stool. “But can you imagine what that must feel like to be falsely accused like that?”

“What's going on? How did you even find out about this?”

“When I talked to Amanda about the party tonight she assumed that I'd known about it and said that she didn't think Randy would want to come over because of it. So...I maybe sort of went to see him to apologize....please don't be mad!”

AJ thought for a moment. If he pushed aside the way he felt about Randy, he realized that the guy was Emily's friend and she would feel badly that he'd been hurt. “I'm not mad. I understand why you did it. But he still won't come?”

Emily shook her head. “He said maybe another time.”

“Well, maybe he just needs some space right now. Was he mad at you?”

“No. I think just the idea of being around me after all that probably makes him uneasy. Or maybe he thinks I bring more trouble to his life than I'm worth.”

AJ took his lunch out of the microwave. “He'll come around. Let's just enjoy the party tonight.”

Emily smiled. “You're right...this is to celebrate your recovery, I'm not going to let anything ruin it!”

While Emily was busy decorating her cake, AJ tried to watch tv but he couldn't shake feeling guilty about Randy. For Emily's sake as well as Amanda's, he knew he had to try and make things right. He had a feeling it wasn't Emily Randy didn't want to be around. He got the number out of Emily's cell phone and called him, hoping the conversation remained friendly.

“Dr. Brown.” he answered.

“Hi...it's AJ.” he said, awkwardly.

“Oh..hey...what's up?” Randy asked, wondering what in the world AJ could possibly want.

“Listen, I just wanted to....Emily told me you didn't want to come over tonight and she feels terrible and so do I. So I just wanted to apologize for getting you dragged into the investigation. It just...well at the time I was so desperate to catch the guy that I was reading too much into a lot of things and I shouldn't have done that. I know you were just being a good friend to her and I appreciate that. So for Emily's sake, I hope you'll forgive me. I was just doing what I had to do to protect her.”

Randy was quiet for a moment. “Yeah, I can respect that. I probably would have done the same thing in your shoes. Not that I'd ever be in your shoes....” he added, snidely.

AJ rolled his eyes. “Well...I was just hoping you might reconsider coming tonight. For Emily. And for Mandy. I don't want there to be any more rifts in the group.”

Randy took a deep breath. “Yeah...I'll think about it.”

“That's all I'm asking.”

Emily was surprised when she saw Randy walk in with Amanda that night. She didn't mention anything about it, just gave him a quick hug and led them inside. Everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves as they sat around the table. It was the first time they'd all been together for a happy occasion in quite awhile. After dinner they played Apples to Apples together while they ate Emily's delicious chocolate cake. When Leighanne noticed AJ started to appear tired, she decided it was time for them to get home. Amanda and Randy left with them leaving Emily and AJ in a quiet house.

“Thank you for dinner.” he said.

“You're welcome. Thank you for living and getting better.” she said.

Emily left the party mess for the morning and went up to bed with AJ. She realized that she may have been acting slightly clingy towards him, always wanting to be in the same room as him and always going to bed with him, but she gave herself a break feeling that after almost losing him twice, she was entitled to a little time to hang on to him a little more than usual.