Matt stared out at the skyline. Elizabeth had just left and although he felt like his heart had gone with her, he knew it was for the best.
But what to do now? He finished his Scotch and carried the glass back over to the wet bar. He stopped there for just a minute, contemplating whether or not to pour himself another one. He could go downstairs and pummel his punching bag for a while. That's how he had dealt with frustration in the past. Only this time, it wasn't coming down from a case he had worked on, no, this was his life and his future. That's if he really had one. He had his flings in the past and loved lots of women, but that's not what he wanted now.
He really thought Elizabeth was the one. After losing his fiancé years ago he had had dreams of a woman he thought was his soul mate. When he met Elizabeth, he thought she was the woman of his dreams and he allowed himself to fall hard for her. He almost lost her though, and he couldn't risk losing a wife to a psychopath and she clearly didn't want to take that risk. He just couldn't do that again and if that meant being alone…but no, that's not what he wanted, not at all.
Punching a bag wouldn't help anything as twisted up inside as he felt. Only one person could bring him back down to earth, C.J. She held his hand through every twist and turn in life. The only person he ever really let in to see his fears, his hopes, and even his dark side when a case pushed him just a little too far. He could count on one hand the number of times he needed to deal with something without her, like when he had to deal with that same serial killer who had killed his fiancé in the past, and then killed a look alike right in front of him. C.J. understood, she always did. She never pushed him too hard, just prodded him to share and move on, finally coming to the other side of all that pain. That's where he needed to go now, to see her.
It was late, but he figured she would still be up. Not only was she up, but it looked like she had a visitor. Matt recognized Hoyt's car when he pulled up and wondered why he was there. It could just be a social call, Hoyt probably heard about the aborted wedding and came to C.J. for information. No one knew Elizabeth had left, so most people probably thought her and Matt were off somewhere planning a bigger wedding. Matt sighed, turned the car off and headed for the door.
As he made his way to the porch he could hear C.J. and Hoyt having a rather heated discussion.
"I don't need a babysitter!" C.J. said rather loudly.
"I don't need another murder investigation either! Or Houston on my back because something happened to you! " Hoyt came back with, matching C.J.'s volume. "and I don't want anything happening to you either" he softened, "Listen, its only for a couple of weeks, until we can get him arraigned again. In the meantime, you'll just have a couple of nice looking men following you around all day. What's so bad about that?"
Matt knocked on the door.
C.J. half-heartedly chuckled, "what every woman wants, huh", she sighed, "Hoyt, I can take care of myself" as she walked to the door.
"What's going in here, the neighbors are going to call in a disturbing of the peace on you two," Matt said as he walked in looking at both of them.
"How much did you hear?" C.J. asked, hoping he only heard pieces and she could think up something real quick to divert his attention. After all, he had enough to deal with, what with his wedding being interrupted the way it was. His attention needed to be on Elizabeth and their wedding, not on her and the latest threat to her life.
"Enough to know that I don't think I'll be leaving you alone for while" Matt came back with as he looked her up and down. "Hoyt, what exactly is going on? Who do you think will be coming after C.J. and why?"
Hoyt took a deep breath, "Robert Tyler".
Matt's brows shot up immediately. Robert Tyler was the man C.J. thought she fell in love with almost a year ago. Right after she had made her declaration of love to Matt while on the run from police after being framed for a murder he didn't commit. He didn't answer her that night, and he ended up fleeing afterward for over a month. When she did get to see him again, she ran to him, he held her for a brief moment before having to run again as a wanted man, but left her with one soft kiss. When all was said and done, he needed time to reconnect with his uncle and she had been left waiting. In the meantime, Robert had come back in to town to work on furthering his career as a newscaster and, or so it seemed, to connect with C.J. again. They had dated briefly in college.
Just the mention of his name brought back memories for C.J. from months ago. There she was waiting for Matt to do something with her revelation to him that she loved him and he had left. She could kick herself for being shot in the shoulder that night. If she hadn't, what would have happened? Would they have gone back to the office? Would he have told her that he loved her back? Or would he have told her that she meant too much to him as a friend. When she finally did get to see him again, she ran to him, ignoring any fear of the potential let down that could be coming. He took her in his arms as if he had waited forever to hold her and ran his hand through her hair with a look on his face that said…you have no idea how much I missed you. After that last, sweet but brief kiss, with his hand stroking her face, all he said was, "Missed you" before he was gone again. Finally, and it seemed like forever for her, the case ended. But then he took off with his uncle. She knew Uncle Roy from when she and Matt both grew up together in Texas and she was more than happy to see him again, but she really wanted to at least come to some understanding of what had been said between them. It was in that limbo that Robert stepped back in to her life. He not only wanted to spend time with her, but he wanted her, and she fell into that. But it had been a con….he only wanted to move ahead and she was just one piece of the puzzle for him, and Matt still didn't know all the details.
"What the….how….what is he doing lose?" Matt asked in way more of a calm manner than he was feeling at that moment. "How did he escape?"
"He didn't escape" Hoyt answered almost sighing at the same time, "He was released on a legal technicality. Our D.A. is working, as we speak, on getting a motion before the court in the morning for a new trial".
"Technicality? What technicality? He was caught red handed threatening a woman he believed to be the wife of his former accomplice. We have it on tape." Matt sounded a little exasperated.
"That's part of the problem Houston" C.J. tried to explain. "Its entrapment. We lured him to that hotel when I told him where the wife of George Davis was hiding out, and we violated his civil rights by taping him".
"What about the evidence found in his apartment? I mean, it tied him to the Barbra Daniels kidnapping and George Davis" Matt asked.
"All discovered as a result of our tape," C.J. said softly, "It may all get thrown out because of me."
Hoyt walked over to her, "C.J., its not your fault. I authorized the use of that hotel room and I knew what you and Houston were planning. His lawyer's right. I should have known better, found another way," putting his hands on her shoulders.
"I believe he's arguing that I, as an officer of the court, should have known better." She looked down as she finished the rest of her point, "I just wasn't thinking clearly, I knew it was entrapment."
"Look, like I said, its just a couple of weeks, at the most, until we can bring him in again for a new trial. In the meantime, I'm assigning two officers to watch your every move. As much as you dislike it. We aren't taking any chances" Hoyt said as he made his way to the front door. "And now that Houston knows what's going on, I have every confidence that he will make sure you have even more protection. Goodnight." With that, Hoyt left C.J. and Matt alone.