Chapter 16

"And I didn’t think the day could get any worse. Well, the day has, in fact, gotten worse! This is unbelievable. It’s like my worst nightmare come true. My mother is here," Maria whined as she collapsed face first onto the bed. Jacob smiled. "What about this amuses you so much?" she asked him as she turned over and lay on her back. Jacob sat down on the bed and ran a hand over his bandanna-covered head.

"The way you two talk to each other. Your mother isn’t, um, how do I put it?"

"Playing with a full deck?" Maria asked. Jacob laughed.

"Yeah," he said. Maria sighed and covered her face. Jacob noticed that her arm, although still bandaged, wasn’t bandaged as heavily. It must’ve been a deep gash, but she’d never let Jacob see it, so he didn’t know how badly she had been hurt.

"I can’t stay here with her. And I’m not sleeping on the couch."

"You can come stay with me," Jacob said, softly. Maria removed her hands from her face and looked at him.

"Really?" she asked. He nodded. "What about the cameras and all that?"

"You’ll have to sign some papers and if we don’t want stuff filmed, we just have to say the word and the Mikes will take care of it." Maria sat up.

"Do you want anyone to know? You know, about us?" she asked. Jacob looked at his hands.

"I don’t know. Maria, being involved with someone in a pop band is hard. I’m not being full of myself here, but the fans can be unsupportive where our relationships are concerned," he told her, looking at her now.

"How was it with Janie?" she asked. Jacob stood up. Maria watched as he went to the window and looked out.

"It wasn’t that bad, really. Fans respected our relationship and were usually cool," he said. Maria stood up and walked over to him.

"Do you think that they’d be any different with me?" she asked. Jacob looked into her eyes. He smiled.

"They’d like you better. You don’t take any crap from anyone. If someone said something to you, you’d give it right back," he told her. Maria smiled.

"I wouldn’t want anyone to think that Jacob Underwood’s girlfriend is a bad-tempered, obnoxious bitch," she said. Jacob put his arms around her waist.

"Are you my ‘girlfriend’?" he asked. Maria looked down.

"I don’t know." She looked up into his eyes. "Jacob, you’re gone so much. I don’t want to worry about you finding someone else when we’re not together and I don’t want to constantly be missing you. How can we have a relationship when we will never get to see each other?"

"We have to have faith. We can do it, I know we can," Jacob said. Maria still wasn’t convinced. They heard the sound of the piano being played in the other room, but ignored it.

"You broke up with Janie because it was too hard for the two of you to never see each other. What makes you think that the same thing won’t happen with me?" Jacob just looked at her. "See? You can’t promise it won’t. And I can’t risk being hurt, so for now, we’ll be together, but not ‘officially’ together. Is that okay with you?" Maria asked. Jacob nodded sadly. He loved her, but what she was saying made sense. He didn’t want to hurt her and he didn’t want what happened with Janie to happen with Maria.

Maria smiled at him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held him tightly. "If your offer still stands, I’d love to stay with you until she leaves," she said. Jacob smiled.

"My offer still stands," he told her. Maria leaned forward and captured his lips with hers, kissing him deeply. Jacob moaned against her lips, raising his arms so that his hands became buried in her hair as he held her head to him, their mouths pressed tightly together.

The sound of someone clearing their throat made them separate. "I was just wondering what you’ve decided to do," Caroline said, looking at Maria. Maria didn’t let go of Jacob. She just turned her head to look at her mother.

"Jacob’s invited me to stay with him until you leave," she said. Caroline frowned.

"I don’t think…" she started.

"It’s fine, Ms. Larson. We have a big house, so there’s plenty of room," Jacob told her. Maria let go of Jacob and pulled a bag out from under her bed.

"Oh, you boys all live together too?" Caroline asked as she came into the room. Jacob nodded.

"We tried to live apart once, but for the sake of the band we wanted to be together. We get along well, so it’s cool," he said.

"I see," Caroline said, studying Jacob. He didn’t mind, but Maria did.

"Mom, stop. Jacob is a great guy. He’s willing to put up with someone ‘unbalanced’ like me," she said. Jacob smiled.

"I’m sorry about that, Maria. I never said that you were crazy," Caroline told her. The phone rang. Maria sighed. She went over to pick it up.

"Hello?" Jacob and Caroline watched Maria as a frown appeared on her face. Now what?

Emily walked into the loft and was surprised to see Erik and Trevor in the sitting room with Sarah. They were looking through ‘their’ issue of Star Power. Ashley was at the piano playing an unrecognizable song.

"Did the birds like your music?" Sarah asked with a smile. Emily smiled back.

"Yeah, the seagulls gave me a standing ovation," she said. Erik and Trevor looked confused. "Emily takes her guitar to the park and serenades the birds," Sarah explained. Ashley stopped playing the piano and looked over at Emily.

"You play the guitar?" he asked. Emily nodded, glancing at him, and then away. She went to her room. Ashley frowned.

"What is up with her? She, like, can’t even look at me. Is there something on my face?" he asked, half-jokingly. Sarah shrugged.

"Maybe she likes you and is shy," she said, smiling. Ashley didn’t think that was it, but he didn’t even know Emily, so he didn’t want to question her about her strange behavior. He couldn’t help but wonder, though, why the hell she couldn’t look at him.

In her room, Emily dug out a shoebox from under her bed. She opened it and sifted through it, finding the picture that she was looking for. Tears came to her eyes as she looked at the spiky blond-haired, blue-eyed, smiling face staring back at her from the photo. "I miss you, Travis," she said softly, tears sliding slowly down her face.

Alex quickly let herself into her apartment. She was hurrying because she wanted to get over to Maria’s before the guys left. She cursed as she tripped over the rug in front of the door. There was a knock at her door.

"Dammit!" Alex said, turning around as she pulled one of her shoes off. She yanked open the door and looked up at her brother, Carlos. Dropping her shoe, Alex just stared at him.

"Can I come in?" he asked. His voice didn’t match his appearance at all. It was calm and not overly deep. Alex swallowed hard and moved aside. Carlos walked in. He smelled like cigarette smoke.

"You smoke?" she asked, closing the door. He turned and shoved his hands into his worn jeans.

"Yeah," he said. "You have to do something in jail to occupy yourself."

"Can I get you anything to drink?" she asked. He shook his head.

"No, I’m okay," Carlos replied. He looked around at Alex’s apartment. "Nice place." Alex sighed.

"What’s with the small talk? I’m sure you came here for a reason, so what is it?" she asked. Carlos looked at her.

"I miss you, Al," he said. Alex sat down on the couch. Carlos sat next to her.

"Why? Why did you have to get mixed up in all of that bad shit, get arrested and taken away from me for three years? It screwed everything up," Alex said, angrily.

"That ‘bad shit’ was paying for our food. Mom could only do so much and Dad’s back was bad, so he couldn’t work. I had to do something," Carlos told her.

"But drugs? There are other ways to make money that aren’t illegal," Alex said. "You are so smart and you go and flush your life down the toilet by messing with drugs. In a way, I’m glad that the cops caught you or your life would really be messed up right now."

"I never did drugs. I just sold them. Unfortunately, I didn’t know that a couple of my clients were undercover cops," Carlos said. Alex shook her head.

"Yeah, well, like I said, I’m glad for your sake that you got caught."

"Why didn’t you come see me?" Carlos asked. Alex looked at him. Tears came to her eyes.

"It wasn’t that I didn’t want to. I just couldn’t stand the thought of you in jail. It hurt to think about and if I actually saw you locked up…it hurt too much. I cried wanting so badly to see you, but I couldn’t make myself go there. Miguel went for the both of us, but then he got all pissed thinking that I was deserting you. I wasn’t. It just hurt too much." Carlos sat back against the couch.

"It was no picnic and I understand why you didn’t go, but I missed my little sister. Three years is a long time, Alex. Three years." Alex wiped the tears that were sliding down her cheeks. Carlos reached over and pulled her to him. Alex wept in her brother’s arms. "I’m proud of you, you know? Mom told me about your job and everything. You got your own place. You should be happy." Alex sat up, embarrassed by her crying.

"I love what I do. I have great friends and a good job. I wish I could help out mom and dad more, but I’m not that good yet," she said with a small smile.

"I’m working on it," Carlos said. Alex looked at him frowning. "A legitimate job, Al." She smiled. Things might just work out after all.

Maria finished writing something down on a piece of paper. Jacob and Caroline stood watching as Maria talked on the phone. She seemed nervous and agitated for some reason.

"I know. I wish you had called me before now. I miss you and will see you soon. I’ll let you know my plans." Maria paused for a moment. She nodded. "Okay. I love you too. Bye, Dad." She hung up. Caroline shook her head.

"Is there a crisis?" she asked, a hint of sarcasm in her voice. Maria frowned at her.

"As a matter of fact, there is. The baby was born prematurely and isn’t well. Does that make you happy?" she asked. Caroline actually looked ashamed for a minute, but recovered quickly.

"Oh, I see. Wasn’t she due at the end of September?" she asked.

"Yeah. The baby was born September 18^th, almost three weeks early. He’s in critical condition," Maria said, sadly.

"Why didn’t Joseph let you know sooner what was going on?" Caroline asked.

"He knew that I wasn’t thrilled about the baby and there was so much going on that he just waited. I guess he hoped that the baby would get better," Maria said, looking at the floor. Jacob walked over to her and put his arm around her.

"Will the baby be okay?" he asked. Maria shrugged.

"They don’t know. Marilyn is beside herself. She’s very upset and Dad isn’t doing too well either," she said.

"You’re going out there, aren’t you?" Caroline asked. Maria looked up.

"I think so. I wouldn’t expect you to understand why, though," she said. Caroline turned around and left the room. Jacob held Maria, who turned and wrapped her arms around him. She sighed against his shoulder.

"Why are things so complicated all the time?" she asked. He shook his head.

"I don’t know. Are you still gonna come over tonight?" he asked. Maria nodded.

"Yeah, I can’t be here with her. We’ll kill each other," she said. Jacob smiled. He kissed her forehead and released her. Maria walked over to her dresser and continued to pack.

Caroline walked into the sitting room. Sarah saw the look on her face: annoyance, which was the way she usually looked after she dealt with Maria for any length of time. "What happened?" she asked her.

"Your sister is going to be staying with these boys until I leave," Caroline said, obviously not happy about it.

"That’s cool. We have a lot of room," Ashley told her, smiling his most charming smile. Caroline smiled back at him.

"That’s what your friend, Jacob is it? That’s what he said," she told him. Sarah sighed. So, Maria got to go room with Jacob while she had to stay cooped up in the loft with their mother. That was really fair.

"Jacob’s Maria’s ‘friend’ too, Mom. In fact, they’re a lot more than friends," Sarah said.

"I realize that," Caroline said, frowning. Erik, Trevor and Ashley suddenly felt very uncomfortable. Emily then came into the room. Her eyes looked red, but she smiled.

"Aunt Caroline? I didn’t know that you were here," she said.

"Emily? My goodness, how you’ve grown," Caroline said, hugging her.

"It’s good to see you," Emily said.

"How’s your mother? I haven’t talked to that sister of mine in so long. You have to tell her to keep in touch," Caroline said. Emily just nodded. She hadn’t heard from her mother in a long time either.

Jacob and Maria came out of her bedroom, Jacob carrying Maria’s bag over his shoulder. Maria smiled when she saw Emily. "Hey, Em. I’ll be staying at the guys’ house if you need me," she said.

"That’s cool," Emily said. Caroline turned to look at Maria.

"I wish you’d reconsider. I came here to see you, after all," she said. Maria bit her lip. She looked at Jacob, then back at her mother.

"I know. I’ll stop by tomorrow. I’d just rather stay with Ja…the guys for the time being," Maria said. Caroline looked hurt, but held her head high. She walked over and lightly kissed Maria on the cheek. Maria was stunned. Her mother rarely showed physical affection---especially in front of other people. "Goodnight," Maria said. Caroline shot Jacob a dirty look, but he ignored her. Maria kissed Heathcliff, who was annoyed by all of the people around. She took Jacob’s hand as they made their way out of the loft. Ashley smiled at Emily, who, of course, looked away. Ashley sighed, shaking his head.

"Wasn’t Alex gonna stop by?" Erik asked as they made their way down in the elevator. Maria nodded.

"Maybe Kyle gave her something to do at the last minute. He’s good at that," she said. Erik nodded, but he was disappointed that he hadn’t gotten to see her again.

Caroline sat down on the couch. "So, Sarah, what’s this Jacob boy like?" she asked. Sarah sat down beside her.

"Why? You don’t like him?" she asked.

"He just doesn’t look like the type of young man that Maria would like," Caroline replied. She knew when she had walked in on them that they were serious. How serious, though, remained to be seen. "She just ended her relationship with Geoff, so I’m kind of surprised that she’s with someone else so soon." Emily brought over some sodas for them.

"He’s great, really, Aunt Caroline. He helped Maria a lot after what happened in New York. Maria was pretty bad and Jacob was there for her. He’s the only one who was able to get through to her," she said.

"I see," Caroline said. She remained quiet. Maria wasn’t very experienced when it came to serious relationships. Her thing with Geoff had lasted the longest and was her first real relationship. Maria’s work was too important to her, though. Jacob could be the most wonderful guy in the world, but he’d better not mind being second in Maria’s life. Her work came first. Caroline sighed. Maria wouldn’t be able to keep him; she’d find a way to screw it up somehow.

They arrived at O-Town’s estate and Mike M., who was sitting at the long ‘meeting’ table, sighed when he saw Maria. She went over to him.

"Mike, I’m only here because the guys are saving me from having to spend time with my uninvited, annoying mother. I promise, I’ll stay out of the way. Just pretend I’m not here," she said. Mike smiled.

"Well, if you’re gonna be hanging around, you’ll have to read and sign this," he said, dropping a thick pile of papers in her arms. Maria frowned.

"What’s this?" she asked.

"It’s a contract about the cameras. If you don’t want to have a ‘fuzzy face’ on the show, you have to sign that," Mike told her.

"It’s thicker than War and Peace," she mumbled. "Fine, I’ll read it later." She put it on the table. Jacob nodded at Mike, thankful that he didn’t give Maria a harder time and taking her hand, he led her to the guesthouse.

"Mike’s softening up, guys," Erik said, smiling.

"I don’t want to argue with Jacob," Mike said, as he sat back down. Mike C. joined him and they started to go over some business. The camera followed Ashley upstairs. He knocked on the door to Dan’s bedroom. When he didn’t answer, Ashley pushed the door open. Dan was sitting up, reading a book.

"Dude, you didn’t answer," Ashley said.

"I can’t talk," Dan whispered. Ashley nodded.

"Oh, right. I forgot," he said, going over and sitting on the bed.

"Man, you missed some entertainment today. First Maria slapped this girl who works with her, then when we went back to her place, Maria’s mom was there and Maria had no idea she was coming. They don’t get along too well. It was comical," Ashley told him. Dan smiled, shaking his head.

"Sorry I missed it," he said. Ashley had to strain to hear him.

"Yeah, well, Maria’s here now. She didn’t want to stay at the loft with her mother there."

"I’m sure Jacob’s happy," Dan said.

"Of course he is. It’s cool, you know. After everything with Janie, it’s good to see Jacob so smitten. Wow, I never thought I’d say that Jake is ‘smitten,’" Ashley said, laughing. Dan smiled.

"Anything that makes Jake happy is a good thing," he said.

"Well, I’ll let you get some rest. Is your voice any better?" Ashley asked. Dan sighed and gave him a so-so hand gesture. Ashley got up and left the room. Trevor was walking down the hallway.

"Hey, Trev, you wanna play some video games?" Ashley asked him. Trevor smiled.

"You bet. Let’s go," he said. The camera followed them downstairs.

"I would think that with such a big house, your room would be bigger," Maria said as she set her bag down on the floor in Jacob’s bedroom.

"This is the guesthouse, so I guess it’s supposed to be smaller. I don’t mind. It’s all I need," he said. Maria nodded and yawned.

"Are you tired?" Jacob asked. Maria smiled at him.

"A little, but I’m tired of lying down, too. I still haven’t been sleeping well, actually," she admitted. Jacob nodded, but didn’t go into it. Maria was getting help and he knew that it wouldn’t work right away. He now had to deal with the fact that he couldn’t be with her all the time. "What’s wrong?" she asked, seeing the look on his face.

"The tour is coming up," Jacob said. Maria walked over to him.

"And?"

"And we’ll be apart for a long time unless I figure out a way that allows you to come," he said.

"Jacob, I work. I can’t go on tour with you. I don’t wanna be away from you either, but that’s life and we have to deal with it," Maria told him. "Like it or not."

"I don’t like it," Jacob said. Maria shrugged. She walked over to her bag.

"What can we do?" she asked.

"I don’t know, but I’ll think of something," Jacob replied. Maria pulled out her sleeping attire.

"I’m gonna take a shower, okay?" Jacob nodded.

"Sure," he said. Maria headed for the bathroom across the hall from his room, leaving Jacob standing there, trying desperately to think of a way to keep Maria with him.

"Hello?"

"Alex, it’s Erik. You never got over to Maria’s. Did you get stuck at work?"

"No. Guess what? Carlos came over to talk. We actually had a civilized conversation. He’s still here, too. I’m so happy, Erik!" Alex gushed. Erik smiled.

"That’s great. But I still wanted to see you," he whined.

"Oh, poor baby. I’ll see you tomorrow if you have time," Alex told him.

"I’ll check and see. Our rehearsals are becoming more intense the closer we get to the tour," he said.

"Oh, well, let me know. I’m pretty flexible, it’s you who has a full schedule all the time."

"I know and I wish I had more free time, but it comes with the business," Erik said, sighing. "I’ll definitely let you know when we have some free time, though, because I want to see you before the tour starts."

They said ‘goodbye’ and Erik hung up the phone. He lay back on his bed, bummed that he wasn’t able to have the kind of personal life that he wanted.

Maria returned to Jacob’s bedroom in light blue, white and yellow checked pajama bottoms and a light blue tee shirt with a daisy on it. Jacob smiled.

"What?" Maria asked.

"Um…I didn’t quite picture you in a flowered shirt," he said. Maria looked down.

"Yeah, well, Sarah gave me this ‘outfit.’ I forgot what she wanted. She usually only buys me stuff when she wants something. As long as it’s not you she wants," she said, smirking. Jacob laughed.

"You look…cute," he said. Maria walked over and grabbed his shoulders.

"Don’t ever tell me I look ‘cute,’" she said. "I’m not ‘cute.’"

"You’re adorable," Jacob teased. Maria frowned.

"And you’re too skinny. Don’t you eat?" she said, poking his stomach. Jacob grabbed her hand.

"When I get the chance," he said. He pulled her to him and kissed her. After a minute, Maria pulled away. She smiled as she went to get her brush. She brushed her long, wet, tangled hair and pulled it back into a ponytail. Jacob watched her.

"How long are you planning on growing your dreads?" Maria asked, reaching out to lightly tug on one of his dreads, several of which were starting to unravel.

"They’re coming out. I don’t know exactly," he replied. Maria walked into the bedroom and sat down on the bed, pulling her legs underneath her. "What got you so upset today at work?" he asked. Maria sighed. She knew he’d bring it up eventually.

"Jocelyn is a bitch," she said.

"Besides that," Jacob said with a smile.

"She got pictures developed that I didn’t want developed. They were the ones of the disaster." Jacob nodded. "I have them with me. Do you want to see them?"

"If you want to show me," he told her. Maria got off the bed and went to her bag. She pulled out the envelope and handed it to him. Jacob took the pictures and began looking through them while Maria settled herself on the bed again.

Jacob was shocked. Maria had been right in the middle of it. The devastation had taken place literally right around her. She had been in danger the whole time. No wonder she had trouble sleeping. He saw the picture of Officer Lansing. The cop was smiling at her. It must’ve been right before the first plane hit. The pictures of the buildings were the worst. Jacob put the pictures back into the envelope. He climbed onto the bed and pulled Maria into his embrace. She sighed against his chest.

"I had no idea you were so close when it happened," Jacob said.

"Yeah, I couldn’t have been any closer without actually being inside. I didn’t think that I was in danger, though. I mean, I ran, but it wasn’t real, like, I didn’t realize what was going on until later. I kinda froze," Maria told him. Jacob nodded. He didn’t want to go into this again and get Maria upset.

"You’re getting help and you’re okay. That’s the important thing," he said. Maria settled against him and she eventually fell asleep. Jacob sat up, holding her in his arms. He never thought he’d feel this way again so soon after Janie, but Maria was different---it had happened so suddenly and was more intense than what he had had with Janie. Jacob was determined to make it last, too.

"Who was on the phone?" Carlos asked Alex. They had ordered a pizza and were just finishing eating.

"Erik. He’s a guy that I’m seeing," Alex answered as she sipped a Diet Pepsi.

"Oh? What does he do?" Carlos asked.

"He’s in a band. They’re getting more successful every day. They were put together on a TV show and now they’re touring and stuff. They were just on the cover of the last issue of Star Power." Alex went and got the magazine. Carlos frowned as he studied the guys.

"Is this him?" he asked, pointing at Erik. Alex smiled and nodded.

"I don’t want you dating the member of some boy group," Carlos said.

"Why not?" Alex asked.

"He’ll just use you and go on to the next groupie. I don’t want you hurt that way."

"Carlos, Erik’s not like that. Calm down," Alex said. Carlos stood up.

"They’re all the same. They’ve got money and girls throwing themselves at them. There’s no way they’ll settle for just one girl," he said. "They’ve all got egos and think that they’re above everyone else. Don’t see him, Alex, he’ll only end up hurting you."

"I don’t agree," Alex said, frowning. Carlos walked to the door.

"Well, the next time he’s around, I want to meet him. Anyone who dates my sister has to meet me first," he said. Alex just looked at him.

"Goodnight," she said. Carlos nodded and left. Alex closed the door and leaned against it. She sighed. Carlos was just being overprotective. Erik wasn’t like that. Alex frowned. Maybe he was too good to be true. Troubled by that thought, she went to bed.

*AN: I just wanted you to know that my season three and the real season three are going to be similar, yet different. I may throw in some real things that happened, but it’s basically my version of a season three. I’m not sure of all the Britney dates, so places will be changed and of course, different things will go on. I like to be accurate, but it’s easier to just make stuff up as I go along. Thanks for reading. I really appreciate it!

~Maura

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