Chapter One- This too shall pass
Bob Hartley thought very quickly, making his best attempt to carefully calculate Mel's every move. He'd been trapped in his office with Mel, the bank robber for several hours now and was getting to the point of no longer being able to stand it. Did this man even have a weapon like he'd threatened he had…Bob couldn't tell really but he knew he had to get out of this before something bad happened. And he had no doubt that it would.
"Look Mel. This has been fun, but we really have to go, our time is up."
Bob tried to pretend that he was talking to Mr. Carlin, or any of his patients, as this is what he usually said when they were in his office and had overstayed their welcome. Elliot Carlin had been there earlier, having forcefully interrupted Bob's being held up so that he could try and have his scheduled session anyway.
"I don't think so." Mel almost laughed, "there are cops out there after all, and if I'm going to get away, you're going with me."
In that instant, Mel drew a gun from his coat pocket. Bob was floored that he actually had a weapon and he was scared almost to the point of just passing out cold on the floor. Bob reached over and grabbed a black hardcover book, his journal from the bookshelf, placing it over his heart. To Mel, it looked like any other book, but for Bob it was immensely special. It detailed his life, his thoughts…and how much he loved his wife. He often referred to the book as his letters to Emily. She didn't know about the book, but incase something happened, he wanted to be sure it would get back in her hands.
"If we're going to go somewhere, let's just do it." Bob said, backing slowly toward the door, acting as if he were going to comply with Mel's wishes. Mel had said something earlier about the two of them going to a foreign country where he couldn't be extradited for his crimes.
"Don't touch that door!" Mel screeched.
In the midst of all of this angst, the psychologist in Bob noted that he was paranoid on top of everything else. Mel clicked the gun and signaled for Bob to back away from the door and go and sit down in his desk chair. Bob's heart leaped up back into his throat. Mel backed away into the door and was about to open it.
"Look out Mel!" Bob burst, momentarily confusing the bank robber who turned around to face a still shut door. He paused, dumbfounded for a moment, giving Bob time to sweep in and begin to tackle him for possession of the gun.
The two men struggled for a few minutes, punching one another, and making a mess out of the office. Bob, for example was once shoved into his own bookshelf, causing a wave of books and his A-Z bookends to cascade off the shelves and hit him on the head. It was the letter "Z" that caused Bob to drop to the ground. As he fell, the journal he'd been holding slid half way across the room and lodged its self under the couch where no one could see it.
Everyone (Emily, Jerry, Howard, Carol and Mr. Carlin) who were held up down the hall in Jerry's office could hear this. The police began to prepare to move in. Emily's heart began to pound and she and Howard, who'd brought her there in a panic when they'd heard that Bob was a hostage, rushed down the hall and back into the lobby by Carol's desk where the police were stationed.
"Go back into the dental office Mrs. Hartley." Sargaent Webber, the officer in charge of case, warned.
"No! Something's going on, I don't care if it's dangerous for me." She said, Howard grabbed her arm gently and began to pull her back down the hall. Sargent Webber ignored her anyway and focused on his work.
Suddenly the noise of the fighting was punctuated by a loud pop, which Howard recognized to be a single gunshot. And then silence.
…..
"Shu, shu, calm down Emily, you're going to make yourself sick." Howard whispered, running his fingers through her hair as he held her close to him.
Emily guessed she knew that she couldn't allow herself to become sick, even though she wanted to. She did her best to harness her uncontrollable sobs and allowed herself to collapse into Howard's arms, face first.
"Oh no, no, no no no no no! It wasn't supposed to be this way."
"I know Emily, I know." Howard, wanted to cry and scream too.
"Howard, I wanna see him."
This idea concerned Howard greatly. He thought it was a terrible idea for her to see him. Sure Bob was there, laying in his office, but that was physically…spiritually he was gone.
"No you don't sweetie." Howard replied, wondering how he could possibly be of any comfort to her in that moment.
"Yes I do." She cried. "He's my husband and I love him and I'm carrying his baby, of course I wanna see him!"
"You're carrying his what?!" Howard asked.
"Howard. I'm pregnant."
"How did you…you're going to have a baby!?" He questioned. Emily nodded through her tears. "Oh Emily, a precious little…oh Emily…I'm so sorry." He soothed, again taking his hysterical friend in his arms. She broke down in tears all over again when he said this. "Honey, it's okay, it's okay." He said, wiping the tears off her cheeks as her cries dragged into deep sobs.
Howard quickly noted that his thumbs couldn't keep pace with the tears streaming down her face and that his hands were covered in her mascara. Emily was crying so hard she was choking and gagging.
"Emily, take a deep breath, take a deep breath. You've got to be strong for the baby. I know how terrible you feel." He decided to try and convince her to calm down for the sake of the unborn, and as far as he could tell, very undeveloped baby's health. "But the little guy is a manifestation."
Emily, even in her grief was caught off guard for a moment…Howard knew the word manifestation? She looked up at him and began to listen.
"Of the love you guys shared. And even though this has happened…he still deserves every chance you can give him to become a healthy, happy baby…and you still get to be his Mommy." Emily choked again as he said this. This made her partially very happy and partially even more upset than she already was. It made that lump sitting in her throat bottom out and land in her stomach. She was going to get to go on without Bob and start their family…how bittersweet. "And Bob would be proud…"
"Oh Howard! I never got to tell him!"
"You never got to tell him!"
"He didn't know he was going to be a Daddy! I never got to tell him, please let me see him! Let me tell him to his face, please!" She sobbed. "I'm a grown up, I can hold it together, please! Let me kiss him, good…good…" She couldn't finish saying it and began crying again.
Howard had no idea what to do. On one hand he thought it was a great idea, on the other, he thought it was terrible. He was afraid Emily would crack, and loose the baby to miscarriage, causing her even more heartache, the kind she might never get over. Or that maybe, she'd loose it and the baby would be born and have neither a father or a mother…Howard thought very carefully. He knew he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed and he didn't want to make the wrong decision.
"Emily. It'll be too hard on you sweetie. You want to remember him as he was. And I promise you'll thank me later. Come on. I'm taking you and we're going to see Sargent Webber, okay?" Emily understood and nodded as she leaned her head against Howard's chest.
She'd been thinking about it in the past few moments, and although devastated she knew that she had to pull it together. She wanted to see Bob…but she knew exactly what he met. Emily knew the baby needed her, doubly now as it's Mom and it's Dad.
…
"You okay Emily?" Howard asked.
Several hours had passed and Howard found himself in a really weird place: in bed with Emily, trying to keep her calm. She'd mellowed considerably and cried softly now, not hysterically.
"As okay as I guess I can be right now. Are you okay?"
"I-I don't know." Howard admitted.
Bob was his best friend. He loved him too, for what it was worth. Sure his love for Bob was far different than the one Emily had shared with him, but Howard was nothing short of devastated, he just couldn't show it right then.
"You know what I did yesterday?"
"No, what?"
"Such a contrast from today…I went to the doctor and I had an ultrasound and I got to hear my baby's heart beat for the first time…funny, huh?"
"That's painfully ironic, Emily."
"Isn't it?" She was sad. "I just wish I'd…I don't know…told Bob last night, brought him on the appointment with me and surprised him…maybe then he wouldn't have gone to work today…maybe then…"
"Emily it's not your fault, you can't blame yourself like that." Howard reminded. "It's not how it works."
"Howard?"
"Yeah?"
"What am I supposed to tell my baby about Daddy?"
"That he loved him."
