Part 33

It was the day before the Lupus cruise and Sarah had been ‘in hiding’ for the last two weeks. Howie and Kevin kept it to themselves where she was, not even telling the other three. All they would say was that she was okay. Sarah didn’t call anyone or go anywhere. Her only contact with the rest of the world was through Howie who went ‘home’ to her every night.

She woke in Howie’s arms, his morning stubble tickling her shoulder, his warm breath on her skin. She snuggled in closer to him and he hugged her tight. Running her hands over his arms, she thought about what it was like to not have this and she trembled.

Sleepily, Howie asked, "Are you cold, ‘Angel’?"

"No. I remembered not having your arms to hold me close."

"That will never happen again, except when I’m on tour. You ready to go home today?"

"Not really but I guess I have things to do before tomorrow."

"All you have to do is pack. The rest is done."

"I should call Becca and Sonja."

"You can see them tonight. We’re going to AJ’s for dinner."

"Have you told them anything?"

"Just that you’re okay."

Sarah became silent as she thought about what had happened with Russell at the daycare center. Why was he doing this to her after two years of being divorced? Of course, some of the ‘strange’ occurrences that she’d always chalked up to fans now made sense too.

There was a knock on the door and Howie said, "Come on in."

Howie’s mother came in and said, "Breakfast is ready, you two."

"Thanks, Mom."

"Sarah, are you going to stay here tonight?"

Howie answered, "No, ma’am. We need to head back to the condo to get ready for the cruise. We’ve got a midnight flight to Miami and dinner with AJ and the others."

Sarah said, "Mrs. Dorough, thank you so much for letting me stay here for the last two weeks."

Paula smiled at Sarah, "It’s been a pleasure having you here, Sarah. I’m just sorry that it was to hide. Howard, have they caught the man who was stalking her?"

"We haven’t reported it, Mama. There’s no proof until he hurts her which I want to prevent."

"What are you going to do when you go on tour?"

Howie looked at Sarah who had been asking the same question and he hadn’t figured out the answer yet. He wanted her to go with him but it was impossible with all the responsibilities she had to the center, the restaurant, and the foundation. He had put himself in a bind by letting her take over everything for him and now he didn’t know what to do to get out of it. "I don’t know yet, Mama. I think I’m going to have to hire a bodyguard for her."

Sarah frowned at that suggestion. She didn’t want to have to live like Howie did when he was on tour with a bodyguard shadowing her every move.

When he saw the look she gave him, he said, "I know you don’t like it, but I’d feel better about it."

"You two can talk about it later. Come eat your breakfast before it gets cold."

His mother left and Howie got up to get dressed. Sarah lay in bed watching him and wishing she could just stay where she was and continue hiding.

Howie looked at her as he pulled on his pants. "Aren’t you gonna get up?"

Sarah shook her head, "No! I don’t wanna!"

Howie laughed as she pouted and pulled the covers over her head. He went over to her and pulled them back. As he sat on the side of the bed, he brushed her hair out of her face. "You’re so beautiful when you pout."

"Will it get me anything?"

"A kiss!"

"I can handle that."

Howie pulled her up to him, taking her face in his hands, and kissing her tenderly. "Now get up, you bum. I have things to do today to get ready for the cruise too and you’re going with me."

Sarah lay back in the bed and pulled the covers over her again. "NO! I don’t want to leave here."

"Fine. Stay here then. You won’t have me to hold you at night for a week and it’ll be another week before I make love to you!"

Howie knew that would get a reaction from her and she quickly got up. She pulled on a pair of jeans, one of his old sweatshirts, and put her hair into a ponytail...all before Howie could finish dressing.

Sarah looked at Howie as she pulled on her tennis shoes. "What’s taking you so long, ‘D’?"

Howie laughed, "What was it that made you move so quickly...the thought of me not holding you every night or not making love for another week?"

Sarah grinned as she helped Howie button his shirt. "Both! God, I’ve missed feeling you inside me but I guess I should be grateful that your parents agreed to let us at least sleep together."

"Yeah....sorry we haven’t done anything but I just couldn’t do it with my parents right across the hall."

Sarah laughed, "I know what you mean. I’m not sure I could have gone through with it even if you had wanted to. Come on, ‘D’. Let’s go eat."

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

Sarah and Howie spent the day preparing for the cruise. They went by the center to check in and let Rachel know that Sarah would be back after the cruise. They also made sure that the plans for the Christmas party were in place. Sarah was really looking forward to this since she’d missed the Halloween party. Again, the guys were going to sing and she LOVED watching them with the kids. They were so good with them.

After leaving the center, Howie stopped by the restaurant to check on things there. They didn’t stay long and then headed home. Sarah was relieved to finally be going home but she was still worried that Russell would find her there too.

Pulling into the drive, Sarah felt a chill pass through her and she suddenly became anxious. "Howie, has John been here while I’ve been
gone?"

Howie shook his head, "Off and on. Sarah, what’s wrong?"

"I don’t know. I’ve just got this..."

Sarah froze as she looked up at the front door. Lying in front of the door was Christopher. It looked as if he were just asleep but how did he get outside? He was an indoor cat. Then Sarah realized he wasn’t asleep and she let out a muffled cry.

Howie looked up to the front door when he realized where Sarah’s attention had gone and saw Christopher too. His blood went cold and he grabbed Sarah as she started to crumple. He turned her head away from the sight and held her close. "Come on, Sarah. We’ll go around to the back and I’ll take care of this later."

"No....I have to see!"

"Sarah...no...."

Howie couldn’t stop her as she made her way up the steps to find Christopher laying on the welcome mat. There was a note attached to his collar and Sarah took it off. She opened it to read, "I want you back and there’s NOTHING he can do to stop me." Sarah handed the note to Howie as she took Christopher in her arms.

Howie read it and balled it up. "Yes, there is something I can do to stop him. I’m calling the cops."

"Howie, that’s not going to stop him," said Sarah softly. "He’s a lunatic. I was crazy to think that the divorce would keep him out of my life. I should have known he’d turn up again."

Inside, Howie looked around the place to make sure that nothing was missing. What he found bothered him. All the pictures that he had of Sarah were gone and the ones that he was in had Sarah cut out. "Damn it!! How in the hell did he get in?"

Sarah clung to Howie, "I told you....nothing is going to stop him short of his death."

Howie grabbed the phone and called the police and they spent the rest of the morning talking to them. Howie also called the security company to have them come check out the security system. Russell had managed to bypass the whole thing and he wanted to know how as well as get it fixed so this couldn’t happen again.

While the security company was going through the apartment, Sarah went out onto the balcony to watch the shrimp boats going by. It wasn’t unusual to see them from the balcony and it always amazed Sarah to see the sharks following the boats, especially when they were cleaning the decks and the chum was going off the sides. As she watched, the thought occurred to her that that would be the PERFECT way to kill someone....put down a chum trail attracting the sharks and then pushing *whomever* you wanted killed into the water amidst the feeding sharks. The only thing you would have to do is make sure they were completely naked. The sharks wouldn’t eat the clothing.

‘Hmmmm....you are truly evil,’ thought Sarah. ‘But what a perfect way to get rid of Russell.’

Howie came out and stood beside her taking her hand in his. He looked at her and said, "Sarah, I’m going to protect you."

"I know, ‘D’," she replied softly. "I never doubted that. I can’t stay at your mother’s any more. I don’t want him to mess with her."

"You don’t have to worry about that. Why don’t you go pack so when we leave here, we don’t have to come back?"

Sarah looked at Howie. "What about ‘Oscar’?"

"We’ll take him to AJ’s tonight. I’m sure he won’t mind watching him for us."

"I’m scared, Howie."

Howie took her in his arms hugging her tight. "I know you are, sweetheart, but it’s going to be okay. Look, they’re taking ‘Christopher’ and going to do an autopsy to be sure of what killed him. And the local cops are going to keep an eye on the place for us while we’re gone. The security company is also changing some things so that NO ONE will be able to bypass it again. They’re going to need your thumbprint before they leave too."

"Okay.....Howie, how are we going to stop him?"

"I don’t know, Angel, but we will."

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

Alison and Vanessa were at AJ’s along with Sonja and Becca and they were all thrilled to see Sarah. Becca rushed to her as fast as her ankle would permit her and hugged her tight.

"What in the hell is going on?" asked Becca as she held on to Sarah.

"We’ll explain in a few minutes," said Howie.

Nick piped up. "You know, you two are making it a habit of being late to these little get-togethers. Mind sharing what it is that keeps you from arriving on time?"

Sarah shot Nick a nasty look as Howie snorted, "Like you REALLY need to know why we’re late."

The others greeted Sarah much the same way, relieved to see that she was okay. Then they all went to sit in AJ’s living room where Sarah sat with Howie. It was obvious that she didn’t want him to go too far from her and she seemed more timid than normal. The ones who knew about the bulimia couldn’t help wondering if the two-week absence had been because of that.

Howie said, "All of you know about Russell and Chrissy so I’ll just start. We found out a couple weeks ago that Russell and Chrissy are both in Orlando and apparently have been for a couple years now. When we found out that they were here in town, we also found out that Russell is stalking Sarah. He had his son enrolled in the center’s day care and on the paperwork, he had changed the name of his son and his last name so that Sarah wouldn’t recognize the name. He also called her that morning referring to her as ‘Angel’ and ‘Baby’. Then he sent her some flowers, her favorite, with a single red rose in the middle.

"We decided to have Sarah hide for a little while to see if he’d try anything else so she’s been at my parents’ place for the last two weeks.
Kevin and I were the only ones who knew."

"Well, did it help?" asked AJ.

"No. When we got back to the condo today, we found ‘Christopher’ on the front porch...."

Becca interrupted, "He’s an indoor cat....." and then she saw the look on Sarah’s face. "Oh my god," she whispered.

Howie continued quietly, "He was dead."

Becca turned to Nick and began to cry softly as he held her close and the others were shocked into silence.

"There was a note on his collar...’I want you back and there’s NOTHING he can to do stop me’."

Kevin asked, "How did he get to the cat?"

"Evidently, John forgot to set the alarm because the police found where he forced his way into the place. We don’t know for sure that HE killed the cat though. The cops are going to have an autopsy done on him just to check."

Sarah hadn’t known this and she looked up at Howie. "I thought it was the security system?"

Howie shook his head, "No. I just didn’t want to scare you at the time. Anyway, the security company has made some changes to the system. I need you guys to go by and leave thumb prints so that you will be able to turn off the alarm system. They said I can have up to eight people that I trust...the five of us, Sarah, John, and my mom...will have access."

All four of the guys agreed they’d go by and take care of it as soon as possible.

Kevin asked, "What did he do on the inside?"

"ALL my pictures of Sarah are gone and the ones of us together have her cut out of them. It’s like he was trying to erase her from my life."

"There’s no chance of that," said Sarah softly as Howie hugged her tight to him.

Howie said, "I’m going to get Billy to hire a bodyguard for Sarah while we’re on tour. I can’t leave her alone as long as he’s doing this to her. The cops have said that they can’t do anything to him until he physically harms her."

"But he broke into your house," said Nick.

"Yeah, but there’s no proof Russell did it. It could be a fan. They dusted the entire place for prints and the only ones they came up with were mine, Sarah’s, and John’s."

"Damn," said AJ. "This is really freaky."

"Tell me about it," said Howie. "Bone, do you mind letting Oscar stay with you while we’re on the cruise?"

"No, no problem, bro."

Vanessa spoke up, "Sarah, Howie said Chrissy was at the center."

"Yeah. Evidently, they’re together. I gave the information I had on them to the cops today."

Becca asked, "Do you think he’s been to my place?"

"It’s possible," said Howie.

Sarah looked at Becca curiously. "Why wouldn’t you know?"

Becca grinned, "Well, Dr. Carter felt it would be better if I stayed with him so I wouldn’t have to go up and down the steps alone with my ankle."

Sarah laughed, "Yeah, and I’m sure you didn’t argue with him in the least."

"I’m crazy....not stupid," said Becca.

They all laughed and the subject of Russell stalking Sarah was dropped. They were relieved that it wasn’t the bulimia but concerned that this guy was stalking her. They had all worried that at some point in time, a fan would do it to them and there had been several times when there had been some close calls but so far, they had all been rather lucky in that respect.

"Okay...what’s for dinner, AJ. I know there’s a reason why we don’t NORMALLY eat at your house and it’s because YOU don’t cook," teased Sarah. "I want to know what we’re eating and if I’m going to be hurling on my own because you DID cook."

"Oh, you are so funny....NOT," shot back AJ. "No, Ali cooked and we’re having lasagna with all the trimmings, salad and garlic bread."

"Oh, just what we need," said Kevin. "Garlic."

Howie laughed evilly, "No...no garlic for me or my lady."

"That’s to keep the VAMPIRES away," teased Sarah as Howie tried to bite her neck.

"I thought you already had eternal life by mating with him," shot AJ.

Sarah threw a pillow at AJ. "You never said it was TIME TO GET NASTY!" she said doing her best imitation of him.

Everyone laughed and then headed to the kitchen to get some dinner. It was nice to have everyone together and very different for them to all have dates. Sarah and Becca had gotten use to being the only two girls at the get-togethers so it was a change to have Ali, Ness, and Sonja there now.

The girls went out by the pool to sit together although Sarah left Howie reluctantly. She kept him in sight the whole time though and Becca realized it. When the other three got up to go get seconds, Becca took Sarah’s hand. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I don’t know. I can deal with the press hounding me, Howie being on tour for eternity, and the fans, but Russell is REALLY NOT what I want to deal with right now."

"I know what you mean. At least you’re going away for a little while."

"Yeah," smiled Sarah as she thought about the cruise. It was going to be nice to be with Howie on a cruise even if it was a working cruise for both of them There were bound to be nights when they’d be able to have time alone and she knew that Howie would make sure of it.

"A romantic WORKING cruise in a tropical paradise while a lunatic lurks in the shadows here at home waiting for me."

Becca laughed, "You knew he was a lunatic when you married him."

"Yeah, I did but god, I was so damn young then. It would have been so nice if I could have met Howie back then. I can only imagine what it would be like now."

Becca laughed, "Like you’re so old now!"

Sarah got serious and said, "Becca, I may not be but 25 but god....I feel ancient with everything that has happened to me....marrying Russell, losing Jesse, the bulimia, losing my baby, and now, Russell stalking me. I just want to settle into a quiet life with Howie by my side and NO MORE FUCKING problems."

Howie and Nick heard Sarah as she said that and Howie put his arms around her from behind. He kissed her on the cheek and said, "Things are going to get better, Angel."

"How quiet can your life be with Howie being a celebrity?" asked Nick.

"It won’t be that bad. I can handle the press and the fans. It’s the other things I’m tired of."

Howie said, "I understand how she feels, Nick. It tends to make you age before your time. Like you. With everything that happened to you and Bec two weeks ago, you aged right before my eyes."

"Really?" asked Nick as he pulled up a chair beside Becca.

"Yeah, bro....You earned the right not to be called a kid anymore, at least, not by me. Have you told the others about it?"

"Just B-rok. I figured Kevin and AJ wouldn’t understand."

"Oh, Kevin would understand," said Sarah. "But you and Brian are a lot closer. It’s understandable that you would tell him and not the others."

The two couples continued talking as the others joined them. Well, all but Brian and Sonja.

After a couple hours, Sarah looked around and said, "You know something. B-rok and Sonja have disappeared."

Everyone looked around thinking they were in some corner talking as usual but they weren’t to be seen.

AJ cracked, "Hey...hey...B-rok’s getting him a piece!"

Sarah sighed as Nick punched him. "AJ, do you have to be so crude about EVERYTHING?" she asked.

"No, not everything. I haven’t told them what we...."

"Stop right there," said Howie angrily knowing where AJ was going. "I’ll put up with a lot of your shit, AJ, but you aren’t going into that about Sarah."

AJ got defensive and started to say something but Sarah said, "BOTH OF YOU STOP.....NOW! We’ve had fun tonight. We don’t need to end the night with a fight."

Kevin said, "Sarah’s right. You two let it go and AJ, I’m with Howie. I’m not going to listen to you talk about Sarah like that."

AJ pouted and Sarah said, "It doesn’t become you, ‘Bone’."

"What doesn’t?"

"The pouting. That’s a Nicky thing."

"Hey...I resent that," said Nick.

"What? Being called Nicky or the pouting?" asked Becca. "Cuz we all know how much you pout."

"You’re suppose to be on my side, woman," said Nick as he hugged Becca.

"Oh, I am but you DO pout more than ANY one grown man should."

Howie looked at his watch. "Sarah, we need to get to the airport. Kev, do you mind driving us there?"

"No, not at all."

"AJ, we’re going to leave the truck here," said Howie.

"Cool. You guys have fun on the cruise."

"Plan to," said Sarah. "Ali, Ness, GOD, it’s so good to see you two again. As soon as we get back, I promise, we’ll get together, just the three of us."

Ali and Ness gave Sarah a hug and watched as she said good-bye to the others. Then they all walked to the door together.

Vanessa said, "Sarah, I’m really sorry that Russell is doing this to you."

"It’s not your fault, Ness. He’s responsible for his actions, not you. Just please, if you see him, don’t give him anything....or Chrissy."

"Never!! You take care of yourself, baby," said Ness as she hugged Sarah.

Ali said, "You have fun on this cruise."

"I plan on it and you be careful with AJ. He can be a handful sometimes."

Ali laughed, "Yeah, I see but you seem to be able to handle him."

"Yeah....kind of. I’ll explain it later."

Howie came into the living room with Kevin. "Ready, Angel?"

"Yep!"

Kevin gave Ness a kiss. "I’ll be back to take you home. You don’t mind hanging out here, do you?"

"Not at all. I’ll help Ali clean up."