Chapter 25

"Love you, too," Jacob said. Maria kissed him quickly once more and headed for her jeep. Jacob watched her go. He then turned and ran into the house.

"I have to go," Emily said to Ashley. "I had a great time. Thank you for inviting me." Ashley smiled.

"You’re welcome. It was great having you there. I’ll see you, well, I don’t know when I’ll see you but it better be soon!" he exclaimed. Emily laughed. Ashley hugged her and she kissed his cheek lightly before running over to Maria’s jeep. Ashley watched as Maria backed the jeep out of the driveway and left.

"She sure was in a hurry to get out of here," Ashley muttered to himself.

"Erik, I have to go. Look, Maria already took off," Alex was saying to Erik, who didn’t want her to go, so he was holding onto her arm.

"Fine. I’ll call you," Erik said, hugging her. Alex kissed him, ran a hand over his shaved head and smiled.

"Bye. I love you," she told him. Erik kissed her deeply before she was able to break away, get into her car and leave.

"Guys! We have to meet to discuss your tour," Mike M. shouted to any O-Town members within hearing range.

"We just got back!" Erik protested. Mike put a ‘comforting’ arm around Erik’s shoulders.

"Too bad," he said. "Think of it this way, the sooner we meet, the sooner the meeting will be over."

Erik sighed, but nodded. "Fine. Let’s get it over with," he said as he walked into the house with Mike.

Friday, January 4^th

Alex had taken a personal day off from work to move back into her apartment. She couldn’t be afraid anymore, especially since Carlos had told her that he was planning on going to the police about the guys who had attacked them. ‘I’m sure the cops will love the fact that Carlos was accepting money to silence him,’ Alex thought, sarcastically.

"This is the last of them," Miguel said as he carried a box into the apartment.

"Thanks so much for helping me," Alex told him and hugged him. He held her tightly.

"Anything for you, Al," Miguel said. "Are you sure you don’t want me to stay for a while?"

"I’m sure. I have to start living my life again. The physical scar is starting to fade and I want my emotional scars to fade, too." Miguel nodded.

"I understand, but I’ll still worry about you," he said, smiling. Alex smiled back. She was ready to get her life back in order. No more being afraid.

Maria sat on an exam table covered by white paper that made way too much noise when she moved. She sighed and looked at a picture of a skeleton on the wall. Dr. Wallis had taken blood and was awaiting the results of the test. It was just a precaution and to see if Maria was okay to travel overseas. She was feeling a lot better, but she still felt sick occasionally. Whatever she had, it wasn’t going away.

After about twenty minutes, Kristi unexpectedly appeared. Maria smiled at her. "Hey, what’s going on?" she asked.

"I was wondering why you’re seeing Dr. Wallis at the hospital instead of at his general practitioner’s office," Kristi replied.

"I needed an exam ASAP and this was the only time and place I could get on such short notice," Maria told her. Kristi nodded.

"You have the flu?" she asked.

"Yeah and it’s not going away, which is why I’m here," Maria answered. Dr. Wallis then returned and smiled at them.

"I have the results of your tests. Sorry it took so long," he said. Kristi waved and left the office, closing the door behind her.

"So, will I be sick forever?" Maria asked him. Dr. Wallis smiled.

"No, but you do have a virus that is persistent," he stated. "It’s a viral infection that will go away in time." He looked at the chart he was holding. "I assume that you’ve made a regular appointment schedule with your OB/GYN." Maria frowned.

"Why? You know I avoid those ‘intrusive’ exams like the plague," she said, her frown turning into a smile. Dr. Wallis looked at her.

"Even when you’re pregnant?" he asked. Maria laughed.

"Right. Um, well, when I get pregnant, I’ll make an appointment with Dr. Ambrose," she said.

"Maria, I’m not kidding. You’re almost six weeks pregnant," Dr. Wallis told her. Maria’s smile faded. She shook her head.

"That’s impossible," she whispered.

"You are sexually active are you not?" he asked, sitting down and pulling his chair closer to her. Maria nodded.

"Yes, but we’re careful," she said, her voice flat and emotionless.

"Did the condom break?" Maria shook her head.

"We, well, I’m on the pill, so once we didn’t use one. Or twice, but that last time was just this past week. I can’t be pregnant. No, it’s not possible," she said. Dr. Wallis put a comforting hand on Maria’s knee.

"I wish that all methods of birth control were one hundred percent effective, but I’m afraid they’re not. Unfortunately, the pill didn’t work for you once. I’m sorry if this has upset you. I thought that you knew. I’ll call Barbara Ambrose myself for you if you want and set up some appointments. You can still go to Europe, just as long as Barbara has given you a complete examination," he said. Maria just nodded. Dr. Wallis patted her knee, stood up and left the exam room. Maria looked down at her flat stomach. Jacob had been right. How had he noticed before she had? What were they going to do?

Ed was trying to get the most out of the band at their rehearsal. He had run them through the choreography for three of their songs three times each. The guys were exhausted, panting and trying desperately to catch their breath. After the music to Sensitive ended, Ed stood up from the spot where he had been crouching and nodded.

"Okay, better, but I need more intensity and Trevor, you’re dragging. Up the energy level! Let’s go again!" he yelled. The group put their all into the routine. Trevor put a little too much extra, however---and came down wrong on his ankle. He went down hard as his ankle snapped sideways.

"Shit!" he shouted as he held his ankle, a painful grimace on his face. The guys stopped and looked over at him. Erik knelt down beside him.

"Are you okay?" he asked. Trevor frowned at him, tears of pain sliding out the corners of his eyes.

"Yeah! I’m great, Erik!" he replied, sarcastically, still holding his ankle. Ed had come over and he knelt down, too.

"Can you move it, man?" he asked. Trevor tried and winced, closing his eyes tightly. He shook his head.

"Did I put enough ‘intensity’ into it?" Trevor growled angrily. Ed ignored him and went to make a call.

Ten minutes later, Mike C. hurried into the studio. "Should I take him to Dr. Klein?" he asked Ed. Dr. Klein was O-Town’s ‘official’ doctor.

"Yeah, man. It looks bad," Ed told him. Mike instructed Ashley and Erik to help Trevor up. They practically had to carry him to the van.

"You two take Dan’s van and go back to the house," Mike instructed Jacob and Dan, who nodded.

"Great," Dan said, packing up his things after the others had left. "I hope Trevor’s okay by the seventeenth." The seventeenth was the group’s departure date for the tour.

"I hope so, too," Jacob remarked as he grabbed his bag and headed out of the studio to the van.

Alex was finishing her unpacking when there was a knock at her door. Miguel had left a little while ago, so Alex was now alone. She looked through the peephole and sighed when she saw Carlos.

"What do you want?" she asked, crossly, as she opened the door. Carlos walked past her into the apartment.

"I wanted to see how you are doing," he said.

"I’m fine. See? Good. Now, you can go," she told him.

"Please, Al, I never wanted to make you hate me. I thought that I was helping the family. It was easy money, so I took it."

"’Easy money?’ Bullshit, Carlos! The guys who you are taking money from shot you and stabbed me! How can you call that blood-money ‘easy money?’" Alex asked.

"Can we sit down and discuss this rationally with no yelling?" Alex nodded. "Do you have anything to drink?" Alex went over to the refrigerator in the kitchen and returned with two cans of Pepsi. She sat down on the couch beside her brother.

"What happened to the legitimate job you were going to get?" she asked as she sipped her soda.

"I’ve been looking, but with my conviction, people are refusing to hire me," Carlos told her, looking at the floor.

"But…" the phone rang. Alex jumped up to go answer it.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Alex, it’s Susan. I just wanted to let you know that Mike dropped off the tour schedule, so if you want it, you can drop by the studio and pick it up anytime before five."

"Great. Thanks. If I don’t get there today, I’ll come by tomorrow. Is that okay?" Alex asked.

"Sure. I’ll be here," Susan answered.

"Cool. Bye." Alex hung up and returned to the couch. She took another sip of her soda.

"So, where were we?" she asked. Carlos looked down, guiltily.

"I love you, Alex, and I want us to be close like we used to be," he said and finally raised his head to look at her. "I just want what’s best for you."

"I know, but what you did was wrong. Do you even see that or realize it?"

"Yes, I do now. I hope that you’ll forgive me," he said. Alex sighed. She reached over and hugged him. Carlos held her close and closed his eyes. He was just protecting her…that’s all he was doing---protecting her.

Maria slowly walked into her loft. Emily was on the couch playing her guitar.

"Did you see the doctor? How’d it go?" Emily asked her. When Maria didn’t respond, Emily frowned. "What’s wrong?" she asked.

"I’m going away again. I’ll be back soon," Maria said as she suddenly ran to her room. Emily put her guitar down and followed her.

"Going where? Maria, you’re scaring me, what’s wrong?" Emily asked as she watched Maria frantically packing. "You’re not real sick are you?"

"I have to see my father and Marilyn. It’s no big deal. I’m fine. I just have to go. It won’t be for long," Maria told her. Emily was still scared.

"Maria…"

"No, Emily. I can’t talk. Not now. I’ll be back in a couple of days." Maria went into the bathroom and grabbed what toiletries she’d need.

"Please, just tell me what’s wrong! I promise I won’t tell anyone! Is it Jacob? Did he do something to upset you?" Emily asked. Maria laughed, humorlessly.

"He did something all right. No, it was actually the two of us, but he is involved," she said as she re-entered her room and finished packing.

"What did he do?" Emily asked softly. Maria stopped her frantic movements and leaning against the bed, she closed her eyes. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes.

"I’m pregnant," she whispered. Emily’s eyes widened. Maria turned to her. "Don’t tell anyone," she hissed. Emily shook her head violently back and forth.

"No, I won’t. My God. What are you gonna do?" she asked.

"Right now, I’m going to San Francisco. I’ll be back whenever," Maria answered. She grabbed a few more things and threw them in her bag.

"What about Jacob? What if he, like, calls wondering where you are?" Emily asked. "What do I tell him?"

"Don’t tell him anything. Just say that I had to leave town on business for a couple of days and that I’ll be back soon," Maria told her as she pulled her bag over her shoulder, located her cell phone and dialed to purchase a ticket. She walked to the door, Emily right on her heels.

"You’ll be okay," Emily said. Maria smiled and hugged her.

"I hope so," she said. She then spoke into her phone. "Yes, I’d like a round-trip ticket to San Francisco. Your earliest flight, please."

"Ow," Trevor moaned. His ankle was being examined and it hurt like hell. They were at the hospital and Dr. Klein was making Trevor’s ankle hurt more instead of making it feel better. To make it worse, one of the MTB cameras was there filming his pain.

"Oh, you’re tough. Stop acting like such a wimp," the doctor said, smiling. Trevor shook his head.

"It hurts," he said. "And thanks for your sympathy."

"You’re welcome. I’m going to order a few X-rays just to make sure it’s not broken. It looks to me like a severe sprain, but the swelling is bad, so I’m going to take some pictures just to make sure," Dr. Klein told him.

"Yeah, well, I’m used to photo shoots," Trevor mumbled. The doctor laughed.

"I’ll send someone in to wrap it afterwards," he said. Trevor nodded and sighed. What a way to spend the day. He’d rather be in rehearsal.

Jacob and Dan had returned home, showered and changed. They were now in the studio working on their new song, American Game. The songs that the group wanted to submit for the album were coming along slowly. Each one of them was working on something and each one wanted to have something ready to submit when the time came.

"Try this," Jacob said as he played a guitar riff that he had been working on for the song. Dan watched him and tried it. It didn’t sound as good, but Dan managed to get the chords down. "Good. You’ve gotten so much better in such a short amount of time, it’s awesome." Jacob slapped hands with Dan, who smiled.

"It’s just addicting to want to write and play," he said. A MTB camera was filming them and for once, they didn’t really mind at all.

"I’m gonna call Maria. I haven’t talked to her in, like, two days because we’ve been so busy," Jacob said as he stood up and went to his room. Dan stayed and kept playing, the camera capturing his every move.

Jacob picked up his phone, lay down on his bed and dialed Maria’s home phone number. "Hello?"

"Hey, Emily, it’s Jacob. Is Maria there?" There was a long pause. "Emily?"

"Um, no, Jacob, she, uh, had to go away for a couple of days," Emily said. Jacob could hear the distress in her voice. He sat up a little. Something was up.

"Away? Where? Why?" he asked quickly.

"Um, to San Francisco…on business," Emily said. Jacob knew immediately that she was lying.

"Business? In San Francisco? Bullshit. The only reason she’d go there would be to see her father. What’s going on?" Jacob asked, heatedly.

"She, uh, oh God, Jacob. I can’t tell you," Emily said, upset. Jacob thought hard. Why would Maria run away this time? What could have happened today? He thought about what she had had to do today. She had…a doctor’s appointment. Jacob closed his eyes. His suspicions must have been correct after all. Maria was going to have his baby.

"Is she pregnant?" Jacob whispered.

"Um, I can’t, I don’t…"

"Tell me!" Jacob yelled. Dan had come into Jacob’s room and looked surprised when Jacob suddenly raised his voice.

"Jacob, I can’t. Maria didn’t want me to say anything," Emily said, clearly crying now. Jacob paced and ran a hand through his hair.

"What’s she gonna do? See her father? Get rid of the baby? What?" he asked, now starting to panic.

"No! She’s not doing anything like that. She just wanted her father, I think," Emily told him.

"Thanks." Jacob hung up. He looked at Dan. "I gotta go," he said as he grabbed his bag out from under his bed and began to pack.

"Jake, are you crazy? You can’t just go," Dan told him.

"I have to. I have to go to San Francisco and bring Maria back," he said, firmly. "She can not keep running from me when things get complicated."

"But, we’ve got rehearsals and…"

"Who gives a shit about rehearsing?" Jacob yelled. He then noticed the camera outside his bedroom door. He went over and slammed the door in the cameraman’s face. He turned to Dan and walked over to him. Jacob reached behind his back to turn off his body mic. Dan did the same. "Maria’s pregnant. I am not gonna just sit here while she goes to California to do God knows what! I have to go. I’ll be back, don’t worry. I won’t do anything to hurt the band." Jacob then began to pack again.

"She’s really pregnant? God, Jake. That’s tough," Dan said, sitting down on the bed. Jacob nodded, but it didn’t appear as if the reality of it had sunk in just yet.

"She needs me. We have to talk. I’m not letting her run away again," Jacob said. "Tell the Mikes, um, just tell them that I’ll be back soon and not to freak out."

"They’re gonna freak out anyway, you know that," Dan told him. Jacob nodded.

"I don’t care. I have to see Maria," he said as he zipped up his bag. He grabbed the keys to Dan’s van, and his cell phone. He looked at Dan. "Mind if I borrow your van?" Dan shook his head. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck, man," Dan said as he hugged Jacob.

Jacob opened the door, ignored the cameraman who looked totally confused, and ran down the stairs. Dan sighed as he watched Jacob disappear from the room. What a mess. How would Jacob and Maria handle this unexpected situation?

Trevor was lying on an exam table high on painkillers. Erik and Ashley were getting a kick out of Trevor’s drugged-up state.

"So you, like, feel nothing at all?" Ashley asked. Trevor smiled at him.

"No, baby, I feel real good," he slurred. Erik looked at Ashley and the two of them laughed.

"I thought that I saw Mike in the hallway." Erik and Ashley turned to see Kristi entering the room.

"Hey, Kristi. Yeah, Trevor, here, sprained his ankle at rehearsal, so he’s kinda out of it," Erik said.

"Kristi! I want to feel your love," Trevor said, looking over at her. Kristi smiled.

"Really. Wow, how many painkillers has he been given?" she asked as she walked over to him.

"Hi…you’re so pretty," Trevor said, reaching out to her. Kristi took his hand and looked at Erik and Ashley.

"He’s not ‘kinda’ out of it, he’s ‘totally’ out of it," she remarked.

"No, it’s true, you’re pretty," Erik agreed, smiling. Kristi laughed. Suddenly, Trevor pulled her down to him and kissed her passionately. Ashley and Erik stood watching with shocked expressions on their faces.

Kristi tried to pull away, but Trevor had a firm grip on her hand with one of his hands and his other hand was holding her head. She couldn’t help but let him kiss her…and she found herself kissing him back, too.

"We’re, uh, gonna go," Ashley said, grabbing Erik’s arm and dragging him along behind him.

"But, I wanna see…" Erik protested.

"Let’s go!" Ashley said again, dragging Erik with him. Erik reluctantly followed him.

Trevor finally let go of a dazed Kristi. "I like you," Trevor said and closed his eyes. Kristi had seen the pain in his eyes before they had closed. She didn’t know if Trevor had meant what he had said, but she now realized that she was definitely attracted to him. The question was: would he remember anything when the painkillers wore off?

Alex sat down to watch TV. "There’s nothing on on Friday nights," she complained to no one as she channel surfed with her remote.

She yawned and felt her eyelids becoming heavy. She wasn’t really that tired, so she was kind of surprised at how she was unable to keep her eyes opened. Alex went to the kitchen to try and wake herself up by moving around. She became dizzy and had to grab the counter to keep herself standing. It was then that she knew something was wrong. It felt like she had taken something to help her sleep---but she hadn’t.

"Why am I so tired, then?" she asked out loud. Alex immediately thought of her attackers. What if they had done something to her to make her defenseless? What if they were coming after her again? But what could they have done?

Alex shut her eyes tightly and re-opened them. She staggered to the phone and picked it up. She wanted to call Erik. He’d help her. Dialing would be a problem, though. It looked like there were three times as many numbers than there really were. They all swirled and blended together. Alex dropped the phone.

She made her way over to the front door and opened it. She couldn’t do anymore. She slid to the floor. The last thing she saw were a man’s feet as she lost consciousness.

Ashley and Erik helped a limping Trevor into the house. He grimaced as they struggled to help him up the stairs to his room. The Mikes followed them in. Dan was in the kitchen eating a bowl of cereal at the kitchen counter.

"How’s Trevor?" Dan asked as the Mikes entered the kitchen. Mike C. nodded.

"He’s doing okay. It’s a bad sprain, but the doctor seemed to think that he’d be okay by the seventeenth," he said.

"Wow, you really think he’ll heal that fast?" Dan asked.

"He better," Mike M. replied, sourly. ‘Great, he’s in a bad mood,’ Dan thought.

"Is Jacob in the studio?" Mike C. asked. Dan looked into his bowl.

"I, uh, guess," he said. When Mike started out there, Dan jumped up. "Actually, no, he’s, um, not." Mike M. frowned at Dan.

"Where is he?" he asked. Dan took his bowl and put it in the sink, turning on the water to rinse it.

"He’s, uh, out," Dan told them. Ashley and Erik came into the kitchen.

"Trevor’s sleeping," Erik said. "The pain killers…killed him." He smiled at his joke. He then frowned as he noticed the tension in the room.

"What’s going on?" Ashley asked, also noticing the tension as the Mikes looked at Dan, who refused to look at the Mikes.

"Dan was just about to tell us where Jacob is," Mike M. said. "Is he with Maria? At her place?"

"Not exactly," Dan said. How could he not tell them? He finally looked at the Mikes. "Look, don’t get upset, but Jake had something to take care of, so he left."

"Left…where?" Mike M. asked, already getting a headache---and angry.

"San Francisco," Dan answered. He braced for the outburst he knew was coming.

"What?! When?" Mike M. yelled.

"Uh, about an hour ago," Dan said. "He’ll be back…"

"I don’t care! He shouldn’t have gone to begin with!" Mike M. shouted.

"There was something that he had to do," Dan defended his band mate. Mike C. sighed.

"He knows better than to just leave. You guys have rehearsals. You have a major tour coming up that you need to prepare for. He shouldn’t have left," he said.

"Guys, he’ll be back," Dan told them again before leaving the kitchen.

"I hope you guys didn’t get too attached to Jacob because when he does get back, I’m gonna kill him," Mike M. said, angrily, to a totally confused Erik and Ashley.

Alex moaned as she turned over. She was lying on something soft. She put her hand on her forehead and moaned again. She opened her eyes and knew immediately that she wasn’t in her apartment. Alex sat up and looked around. She was in a small room with a bed, a dresser, a small nightstand with a lamp and a chair. There were hardwood floors with no rugs and the windows had dirty, brown blinds on them. The blinds were closed. It was very dark.

Slowly, Alex slid off of the bed that she was lying on. She stood up and hesitated while a wave of dizziness washed over her. She made her way to the door and tried the knob. It was locked. She had expected that it would be. Alex heard footsteps and ran back to the bed, crouching down behind it. The click of the lock was heard and the door opened. Alex’s eyes became wide. Standing in the doorway was…Carlos.