It was a good thing Jen was already awake or she might not have heard the soft rap at the door. She and Hannah both were usually awake by now, but Hannah was cutting another tooth and fussed most of the night. Thank goodness Tay was willing to watch her even when she was fussy, her mother had given up trying when Hannah only wanted Jen. To her amazement, she didn't fuss a whole lot when she left her with Tay. She padded quietly to the door, thinking it was probably Taylor, and opened it only a bit, sticking her head out and rubbing the grit from her eyes. "Oh god...EMMA..." she swung the door open and yanked her friend inside, hugging her fiercely. "Are you insane? I've been going crazy worrying about you! Where in the hell have you been?" she asked. Emma swallowed hard, fighting back more tears and grabbed her pad and pen, not sure if she could actually speak. Jen took in the sight before her and wanted to cry herself. It looked like Emma had lost at least ten pounds, and though she could tell she'd tried to keep showered and clean, Jen could see that she had sand in her hair and clothes. Jen watched as Emma scribbled with shaky hands on her pad of paper. "Tired, Jen. Sore. Dirty. Stay a while, please?" she looked at Jen with her eyes filled with tears. "Like you have to ask.." Jen muttered and wiped her own eyes. "Emma are you hurt? Why won't you talk to me?" she asked. She watched as Emma scribbled some more. "Throat sore. Tired of crying all the time." the note read. "Okay, baby. Come on.." Jenny tugged Emma down the hall to the bathroom and started the shower. "Take a REAL shower and gimme those clothes. I'll wash them for you." she told her and stood to watch her. Emma kicked off her sandy shoes with an apologetic look at her friend. "Sand vaccuums.." Jen said. "Zac is going crazy you know.." she started to tell her and a look of pure fright washed over Emma's face. Emma grabbed her pen and paper. "DON'T CALL HIM PLEASE." she scribbled and handed it to Jen with shaky hands. "Don't worry honey, take a shower and get some sleep, okay?" Emma nodded and finished undressing, too tired to have the argument out loud. She took a WARM shower, which relaxed her aching muscles and she was truly glad to not feel one grain of sand on her body when she dried off. Jen brought her a set of her own clothes and told Emma she could wash her stuff AFTER she got some sleep. Jen was fully dressed, long blonde hair pulled into a low ponytail and having a cup of coffee. Emma scribbled on her pad again. "Hannah?" she wrote and showed it to Jen. "She's asleep, getting more teeth. Go get in my bed and crash, this note writing shit is gonna get old fast." she smiled and gave her a gentle shove toward her bedroom. "I LOVE YOU." Emma wrote quickly and blinked back more tears as Jen hugged her hard. "I know sweetie. Go sleep." Emma wiped her eyes and did as she was told. Jen waited until she could hear Emma's slow even breathing and then picked up the phone. 'I'm NOT calling Zac..' she told herself, 'I'm calling Tay.' She told herself she wasn't breaking any promises to her friend by doing that. As soon as she hung up, she paced the house, doing small busy work to calm her nerves. |
| Taylor pulled into Jen's parking lot slowly, not wanting to give Emma any warning that they were there until Zac was standing in front of her, ready to talk. Taylor turned to his brother as he shut off the engine, "Zac, she wouldn't have stayed gone so long except that she is afraid...of what you'll think of her now that you know what kind of work she did at the bar. Just go slow, okay?" he said. Zac looked ready to explode, "WHY WOULD I.." he began and then stopped and shook his head, unable to think of anything except seeing for himself that she was actually alive. "Zac, just go slow or she'll bolt again.." he told his brother more forcefully. "Stay here and I'll go make sure she's still asleep." Zac nodded in response and waited rather impatiently. Tay tapped on Jen's door as lightly as he could and she hurriedly opened it. "She's awake...in Hannah's room.." she whispered. "She won't even TALK to me Tay, writing notes and shit..she's lost a ton of weight and she was covered in sand," Jen's eyes were watery with unshed tears. "What DID she say?" he asked, his voice low. "Nothing dammit..she won't even open her mouth to speak, but I did hear her talk to Hannah a little bit." she told him. "Wrote me a note beging me NOT to call Zac, so I didn't.." she grinned. "I called you.." Hannah's bedroom door opened and Emma emerged, making Tay suck in his breath. Her face was alot thinner, though she was tan from living on the beach and her eyes were sunken in and had dark circles that rivaled Zac's under them. Emma got one look at him and froze in a panic. "Emma.." he called her name and tears immediately poured down her cheeks. "Emma just talk to him, please..." he begged. "He's going nuts, thinking you were lying dead on some beach somewhere..." Emma shhok her head slowly and backed up, digging through her pockets, looking for the key to her car, then remembered they were in the pocket of the things Jen washed for her. She yanked open the lid, pulled the soaking wet pants out and ripped the key from the pocket. She went to the kitchen counter where the pad of paper was and scribbled with shaky hands. "Thank you jen, call soon..love you.." she wrote and shoved the pad toward Jen. "Emma NO...just talk to him.." Jen begged, tears streaming down her own cheeks as she could see Emma looking for a way to get past Tay and out the door, so she could run. Emma quickly scribbled on the pad again, "NO!!!!!" Emma moved toward Hannah, kissed her little pink cheek and hugged her, then shoved her at Tay without warning, knowing he'd reach for her. When he did, she slipped past him and out the door. "Dammit!" he exclaimed and gently handed the baby to her mother, then took off down the steps after Emma. Zac sat in the truck with the door half open, waiting for Tay to wave him in if Em was still there. He was becoming even more impatient as he sat there, wondering why in the hell she'd be so worried about what he'd think of her, he was only angry that she didn't tell him so he could be the one to help her get out. He was angry because she trusted Taylor with that instead of him, when it was he, ZAC, that loved her more than anything else. And he was still angry with Taylor for not coming to him, letting this mess get this out of hand and THEN discovering that Jen was who he was looking for, while he was stuck searching beaches and parking lots for days on end. He looked up then and saw Emma bolting down the steps, Taylor right behind her yelling at her to wait. "Shit.." he muttered and jumped from the truck, determined to catch her and make her talk to him, find out if he was wasting his time and energy looking all over creation for a woman who didn't love him the way he loved her. |