A NEW DAY 
by Michelle T
© 2000

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

With strangled cries, Howie and AJ bolted at the same time, falling to their 
knees on either side of her.  Howie gently pulled her head onto his lap, 
smoothing her hair off her face.  His hand froze when he saw the blood on his 
fingers and trickling down from over her eye.  He screamed, "NOOOOOOOOOOO!  
God, no!  Please be all right, Baby, please.  Oh, God, someone help!"  He 
looked up wildly and saw AJ sitting across him, catatonic.

"YOU!  You did this!  You fucking asshole, you did this!" Howie clawed and 
clutched at Michelle's shoulders, "Please wake up.  Please, baby, wake up.  I 
love you so much.   Oh God!" 

Kevin threw the phone to Brian and ordered him to call an ambulance.  He 
dropped to his knees aside of Howie and forcefully pulled Howie's hands off 
Michelle.  "Stop it, D! Let me see how bad it is."  Howie wouldn't move away. 
 "AJ, get him out of here!"  Kevin screamed looking at AJ.

AJ jumped up quickly and ran behind Howie, pulling him backwards away from 
Michelle.  Howie flew around to him and with fury in his eyes pushed AJ 
backwards, "You stay the fuck away from me!  You stay the fuck away from 
her!" he shouted pointing at Michelle and then turning back quickly and 
forcefully punching AJ on the side of his face.   AJ stared at him briefly 
before flying out of the room. 

"Nick! Go with him!  Brian?"  Kevin was frantic watching Howie put his hands 
over his ears and screaming incoherently.  God, this is it, he's reached his 
limit, thought Kevin.

Brian joined Kevin on the floor beside Michelle and spoke quickly into the 
phone.  The ambulance was on its way.  Kevin jumped up to go to Howie as 
Howie turned quickly and slammed his fist through the front window.  Kevin 
caught his arm as he was preparing to swing again.  Howie swung wildly with 
his other arm and caught Kevin's chin, forcing his head backwards.  Kevin 
quickly righted himself and overpowered Howie pulling him away from the 
window and over to the couch.  

"Please, D, stop!  Don't crack, I need you.  Michelle needs you.  Please D!"  
Kevin didn't know what to do and was feeling the weight of the world upon his 
shoulders.  He held Howie in his arms and heard his ravaging sobs as he 
released all his emotions.

Within moments an ambulance came quickly to a halt before the house, it's 
sirens off per Brian's instructions.   Brian ran to the door and threw it 
open before rushing back to Michelle.  The paramedics came in and looked 
inquiringly at everyone.  Brian yelled at them to help Michelle and they fell 
about checking out her injuries.  Within ten minutes they had her in the 
ambulance.  Brian yelled at Kevin that he was going with her and that he'd 
call him as soon as they were there.

Kevin continued to hold onto Howie until his sobs subsided.  Howie pulled 
himself up and wiped his face.  "Oh fuck, Kevin, I didn't mean to do that."

Kevin looked at him with compassion.  "Christ, D, I'm surprised you stayed 
calm for so long,"

Howie smiled slightly.  Kevin smiled slightly back.

"We've got to get to the hospital," Howie said jumping off the couch.  

"NO!  She'll be in good hands.  First thing we need to do is resolve this, 
right here, right now."  Kevin pulled Howie towards the studio.  AJ and Nick 
were leaning against the glass doors to the back yard.  AJ remaining silent 
while Nick was speaking softly to him.

"AJ, please, you know Howie didn't mean it, just like you didn't mean 
anything with Michelle.  God, it's just all the frustration and emotions 
flying around.  Everybody's sorry, but nobody knows how to make it better.  
Michelle will eventually realize none of this is her fault.  Kevin will help 
her I'm sure. And I guarantee he'll call Dr. Towers to go see her tonight.  
Oh, AJ, this isn't all your fault.  Yeah you freaked out, but it wasn't 
really you!  Please don't keep berating yourself.  We'll all get through 
this."  Nick hung is head, not sure if he was helping, not sure what to do.

Howie and Kevin heard Nick's words and walked towards them.  Howie went up to 
AJ and turned him around slowly.  AJ was shocked to see him and backed up 
slightly. 

"AJ, I'm sorry, I didn't mean any of it.  I'm so freaked out right now and I 
guess I just did what you did to Michelle earlier.  I know that you really 
didn't intend to hurt her.  I'm begging you for your forgiveness, now." Howie 
held out his hand to AJ.

AJ stared in amazement at Howie, before pulling him into a hug.  "D! I'm 
sorry, man!"

"I know, its okay.  We all need to calm down and think rationally.  We've got 
to get Michelle some help.  Kevin, can you call Towers and call Carey too?  
He knows her and maybe there's something he can do."  Howie regained his 
control and pulled away from AJ, looking at Kevin.  Kevin grabbed both men on 
the shoulders and squeezed gently, then left the room to make the calls.

Howie turned to Nick and smiled gratefully at him.  "Thanks, Nick, for being 
here!"  Nick nodded slightly, not sure what good he'd done.

"Guys, I think we need to clean this place up.  All this glass lying around 
is scaring the shit out of me.  D, your hand is bleeding and AJ, your cheek 
is bleeding."  Nick moved towards the half bath and surveyed the mess in 
there.  He mumbled something about getting a broom and left the room. 

AJ and Howie walked up the stairs to their respective rooms to clean up, 
agreeing to meet back downstairs in fifteen minutes.  

***********************

Michelle regained consciousness just as the ambulance reached the hospital.  
She looked around the ambulance with confusion.  Her eyes finally settling on 
Brian who was holding her hand and watching her.

"Bri, why am I here?  What did I do?" A scared look came over her face as she 
probed his eyes.

"Shell, you didn't do anything.  You whacked your head pretty good and passed 
out. Don't worry, though.  They said it wasn't serious."  Brian patted her 
hand affectionately.

"Then I want to go home."  She started to sit up and the paramedic sitting 
near her head gently held her down.

"Please, miss, just relax and let the doctors inside check you out properly."

Michelle groaned and cursed lowly.

*************************

Thirty minutes later, Kevin finished his conversation with Carey after 
assuring him that everyone else was as well as could be expected.  Carey had 
become a great confidant in the last six months and Kevin didn't hold 
anything back.  He sighed deeply and dialed Brian's cell phone.

"B, what's happening?"

"Nothing serious, Kev.  She's fine physically, but…."

"What!" Kevin was tired and anxious.

"Well, she's gotten really mad at everything.  When she first came to, she 
was pretty disoriented and I think she thought she had tried to kill herself 
at first.  Then when I explained what happened, she just kind of started 
getting angry.  She's been cursing the doctors and nurses like crazy.  She's 
with Dr. Towers now and I don't think she's being very cooperative."  Brian 
sat in the empty waiting room outside of an office Dr. Towers had taken her 
into.

"Ok, we're on our way down.  Thanks, Bri." 

"How's everybody there?"

"Better.  Howie calmed down considerably and he and AJ have talked. I think D 
scared him into sobriety.  We'll be there soon though and can talk more 
then."  Kevin hung up and helped Nick finish boarding up the front window.  
When they were done, Kevin went up the stairs to find AJ and Howie sitting 
side by side at the top step talking quietly.  They both looked beat, but 
calm.

"Let's go guys, Brian said Michelle's okay physically.  She's talking to 
Towers now, I guess."

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