Chapter 3: To Change Their Minds

She kept seeing Flack, she wanted to introduce him properly to her parents in the hope they would call the whole thing off but she knew just how stubborn they were. Alexanderio wanted to see her more and more and she wanted to see him less and less. He just made her feel totally uncomfortable, he would just sit there staring at her breasts, dribbling over himself, she had caught him staring at her arse a few times, she'd had to tell him so many times not to do it. She threatened him with arresting for sexual harassment and eventually he stopped. She was still racking her brains for the answer to where she knew him from and slowly it was slipping back to her, in drips and drabs and it was frustrating.

When she had been a patrolwoman she had been stalked for five months. He had watched her in her most intimate moments, getting in out of the bath, getting dressed and even her sexual relations with her dick of an ex-boyfriend. He'd run off the moment she'd realised she was being stalked, what a useless lump he'd been to her. He'd watched her while she was at work, in the supermarket, at the bank and even at the free clinic. He had followed her everywhere and he had tried to kill her. And she was starting to piece things together. One night she was in bed with flack and she told him she wanted to talk. "Do you remember that guy who was in my apartment a few weeks back, when we fell through the door kissing?" she asked

"Vaguely. Why?" he replied

"I have to explain something to you and I don't think you will like it" she took a deep breath before continuing "Where I come from arranged marriage still exists, it's part of our culture and my parents have been very lenient with me. They think I should've taken a husband now, that I should be married. But I've never found a man I want to marry and it has tested their patience. So they found me a husband and arranged the wedding, without my knowledge. Alexanderio, you remember him, he took the mick out of your name, and well that was him."

"Him?" he asked, very confused

"Yes" she nodded "That's the man my parents found for me to marry"

"When you planning on telling me all this?" he asked angrily

"I'm telling you now" she replied "I don't want to marry him and I won't. I'll never go willingly back to my village to marry him, they'd have to force me. I don't want him, I don't like him and I don't want to marry him. I want you, I want to be with you… I love you and only you. I've never met anyone like you before, anyone who really gets me and you're everything I want, I want you because I love you. I love you more than anyone else I've ever been with. I'm the happiest I've ever been. I never want to be with anyone else as long as I live. I don't want to leave you, I don't want to marry someone I could never love, and I don't want to marry somebody I could never trust. I trust you with my life, I want you to understand that. I love you more than you could ever know and I don't want to hurt you"

He looked deep into her eyes, looking for something and he didn't know what. He trusted her, trusted her more than anyone else and he didn't want to lose her, he loved her more than anybody else he had ever loved before. "I'm struggling to understand it at all. Your parents have arranged for you to marry someone else?"

"Yes" she nodded "I told them I was seeing you but she ignored me and went ahead and told me I had to meet him. I did and I hate him, there's something about him and it gives me the chills. I don't want him and I don't want to marry him but my parents aren't going to let me out of this. And he worries me, he wants to see me and I want to be as far away from him as possible. When I first saw him he seemed so familiar and I've been trying to think why and now I'm starting to remember and I'm terrified that if he is the man I think he is, he will kill me"

"Why?" Flack asked, concerned now though still understandably angry and confused "Who do you think he is?"

"I think he might be Lucas Garcia, the man who tried to rape me and kill me" Jamie gulped "The man who stalked me for five months"

"The man who tried to rape and kill you" he asked

"When I was a patrolwoman at 7th precinct this man, he stalked me" she began "He took pictures of me in my most intimate moments; in the shower, getting dressed and even having sex with my ex-boyfriend. Who did a runner the moment the first picture of us having sex dropped through my door and he was a cop. He sent more and more pictures and notes telling me he was watching me and that he wanted me so much. He'd tell me he wanted me in his bed and to have sex with me. He said that he wanted me so much and that when he watched me when I was naked he would play with himself and well things to that effect. I felt sick. I kept my windows shut and the curtains, I always locked myself in but he must've hidden cameras in there when I was out because he still kept sending pictures of me to me. He was arrested three times and I saw his face but he was never charged so he was just out to do as he pleased again. I was so scared. Then one day I was patrolling in central park, I was waiting for my partner while he was in the toilet and out of nowhere he flew at me and shoved me into the bushes. He ripped my trousers down and my knickers and tried to forced himself inside me but I fought with him and shoved him away but that made him even angrier, I managed to get my gun and shot him in the shoulder but he took a gun out and shot me twice before realising what he'd done. He picked me up and took me to hospital and he wouldn't leave, not until the cops from my precinct showed up and he ran off before he could be arrested. He was arrested again and he got eight years for attempted rape and attempted murder. That was ten years ago, he would be out by now. And I think he's back. I think he's the man who my parents want me to marry. Lucas had a beard and long hair but his eyes, I remember them too well, the rage in them when he tried to rape me. I think Lucas Garcia is Alexanderio Rodriguez and if he is he will hurt me again. He was obsessed and he scared the hell out me Don and I don't know how to get out of this engagement because I know my parents won't let me"

"If he is Lucas Garcia then you have every right to want out and I want to help you. The fact that your parents wanted you to marry someone else and you went with it, even once does sting like hell. But you're telling me now and you're telling me you want out… I don't want to lose you Jamie, yeah it stings but I can deal with that in my own time. I want to stay with you more than you would ever know, I don't want to lose you because I care about you far too much. I love you Jamie and I don't want to let you go."

"Will you help me get out of this so we can stay together?" she asked searching deep in his eyes, she knew he was struggling to figure this all out in his head and that was more than understandable. "Because I don't want to lose you, I love you and I want you forever. You're the one I've looked for my whole life, you're the one and I know it"

He simply nodded, his head was a mess and that was saying something. Of course he wanted to help her get out of her arranged engagement and marriage to the guy she had just told him may very well be the man who stalked her, tried to rape her and tried to kill her. He didn't want to lose her because he knew she was the girl, that she was the one he wanted to be with for the rest of his life. She was the one. "How do we do this?"

"My parents have to meet you properly" she replied "They know I've been seeing you and maybe if they meet you they'll change their minds. If they see we're happy together they might change their minds"

"Ok. Are they in the city?" he asked

"They flew in yesterday for a fortnight" she nodded "I'll ring my mom in the morning". He nodded again. They looked into each other's eyes before laying down. They both laid awake most of the night staring at the ceiling. He was trying to figure this all out in his head and work it all out, it was a lot to take in. Arranged marriages, the thought of losing the woman he loved and the fact that the man who had caused her harm in the past may be the man her parents had chosen for her to marry. She was praying to high heaven her parents would like him and end the engagement to Alexanderio because she was really beginning to get worried because she had realised he may very well be Lucas Garcia, the man who had stalked her and had attempted to rape and kill her.

The following morning Jamie made the call to her mom, Flack sitting opposite her at the table. When her mom picked up she went for it straight away, not even giving her mom a chance to speak. Within five minutes she had arranged the whole thing and ended the call. "They're coming tonight at seven. God I hope it goes right"

"Me too" he agreed

At work neither of them were hundred percent there, both were thinking about tonight and the engagement Jamie was wrapped up in. flack was still trying to figure it all out in his head because it was a hell of a lot to take in for him. The one thing he did know for certain though was he wasn't going to let her go without a fight, he was determined to stand by her.

She was nervous about to night but she really had to get out of this, she was going to introduce flack to her parents properly. She hoped they would like him enough to call of the engagement, she wanted them to accept it. Her parents were not aware of her motives in asking them to come round a meet Flack but she just wanted to stay with him. Before they knew the time had arrived. They got changed and went into the living room to wait for her parents to arrive. "Nervous?" she asked

"A bit" he replied "I hope they like me"

"They will" she smiled

"Do you not remember last time?" he raised his eyebrow "Your mom was well peeved off with us"

"Yeah but she was tired and she didn't expect to open the door and for us to fall through it eating each other's tonsils" said Jamie as there was a knock on the door. She opened and let her parents inside. "Mom, dad this is Don" she said "Don this is my mom and dad"

"Hello" smiled flack holding out his hand. Nathaniel shook his hand while Francesca kind of grimaced at him before saying something to Jamie in Spanish. "Creo que se esta sentado? y la conciencia de que es lo que el infierno estás jugando? 're Casarse pronto!"

"Yes it is and it's my life" replied Jamie "Just give him a chance"

"I will sweetheart but you know…"

"I know mom" Jamie looked down "But I'm happy"

Jamie had cooked so they sat down to eat. Nathaniel was happy to get to know Flack, though he was grilling him pretty well. "So you met Jamie at work?"

"Yeah" replied Flack "She is a fantastic Detective"

The night went smoothly, even Francesca lightened up in the end and allowed herself to join in the conversation, Jamie was so relieved it was going this well. Eventually they left and Jamie and Flack both sighed a massive sigh of relief. "I think my dad likes you" smiled Jamie "And I think my mom does too"

"Really?" he raised his eyebrows "She didn't seem that impressed with me"

"That's just her way of showing you she likes you" said Jamie

"Really?" he raised his eyebrows even more. "Do you think it's enough for them to call of your engagement to Alexanderio?"

"I hope so" sighed Jamie "I really hope so… you staying tonight?" he nodded and they turned in for the night.

The following day Jamie's mom visited her before work. Flack had already left as he was pulling the early shift so he'd left while she'd still been asleep. While she was having breakfast there was a knock on the door. Yawning slightly she got up and went over to open it. Upon pulling it open she saw her mom. "Mom" said Jamie "Come in"

"I wanted to talk to you about that stunt you pulled last night" replied Francesca. Jamie made her some tea and they sat down at the table to talk. "My stunt?" said Jamie "What stunt?"

"Getting us to meet him" replied Francesca "I know what that was all about"

"Yeah I wanted you to meet my boyfriend while you were in the city" shrugged Jamie

"Yes so we would call off the engagement" said Francesca

"Will you?" Jamie asked hopefully

"Me and your father have been talking" Francesca began "About it… he seems like a good guy Jamie. He seems decent and well mannered… so"

"So?" said Jamie, her heart pumping at a million miles an hour. She was silently pleading with her mom to say they were calling of the engagement.

"We're going to give him the benefit of the doubt" replied Francesca "If he makes you happy and you want to be with him then we'll give you the benefit of the doubt. We'll call of the engagement as soon as we get home"

"Thank you!" Jamie smiled, so happy that if she could she would back flip across the room and out the window "Thank you thank you thank you!"

"But Jamie if he ever hurts you leave straightaway" said Francesca

"Mom he would never hurt me" said Jamie "I love him he loves me end of story. And if you ever make me go near Alexanderio again I will crucify you"

"What did he ever do to you?" asked Francesca

"What apart from stalk me, try to rape and kill me?" replied Jamie "Mom Alexanderio Rodriguez is not Alexanderio Rodriguez at all, Alexanderio Rodriguez is Lucas Garcia the man convicted of attempting rape me and of attempting to kill by shooting me twice!"

"Jamie if you knew that the first time you met him why didn't you say?" asked Francesca

"Because I didn't realise it was him. I'd blocked those incidents out and forgotten about them" said Jamie "It was traumatic and I somehow blocked it out and just sort of forgot it, if I had I would've told you"

"Well we're ending the engagement so you won't. I just want you to be happy" said Francesca placing her hand on Jamie's arm "Well I have to get going your father and I are going to see your brother and his wife and their children. Good luck"

"Thanks mom" said Jamie before Francesca left. Smiling she got dressed for work and headed in. when she saw flack she raced over to him to tell him the good news. She took him outside the front of the precinct. "Mom came round this morning" she began "They're calling it all off!"

"Really?" he smiled

"Really!" she smiled even more. He picked her up his arms and spun her round before they kissed each other passionately. They could stay together, they were so happy! Several officers from the precinct went by and wolf whistled at them but they just carried on kissing each other, nothing could ruin their happiness.

They had gotten what they wanted. Her parents had called off the whole thing with Alexanderio and they could stay together. They could do what they wanted together and that meant they could move on from this little hiccup and just focus on the future, their future together. Because they were both desperate for this relationship to work out because truthfully, deep down inside their feelings were very strong and very conclusive.

Jamie knew it was him she wanted, she'd never met anyone like him before, anyone who really got her and actually understood why she'd chosen to be a cop and someone who had some decent sexual maturity. Though this may be due to there being a couple years between them but it made it better in some ways. He wasn't immature in the sense that he felt he had to brag to his buddies about their sex life, which a couple of her boyfriend's had done in the past. She hated that, their sex life was their sex life, it was personal. Or that he was totally addicted to watching or looking at, porn. He was mature enough not to do those childish things. Though incredibly sarcastic, he wasn't an immature adult. He knew where to draw the line and he did it, he didn't cross it. Some people spend years looking for the right person and some find them instantly. She'd spent a few years looking but she was glad she had because she knew this time she'd found the one. She was head over heels in love with him. She loved him more than words could ever say.

Flack knew that she was the girl he'd spent his whole life looking for. True he'd been very much in love with Jess, he'd faced facts long ago, she wasn't coming back and she wouldn't want him to not move on from her. But this time he really, truly felt that he'd found the woman he could, and wanted to, spend the rest of his life with, by her side forever. There are some things you know from the off and some things you don't, she was one of the things he'd know from the off. He'd fallen head over heels in love with her the first time they'd ever met. A day he'd never forget. The fact was Jamie was simplistic, she wasn't oh give me money, spend lots and lots of money on me, look at me look at me. She was kind of just this is me, I want this to be about both of us and I don't need to attention seek to get you to notice me. Well no because she did that by being her and he loved her for it. He loved everything about her. He loved her with all of his heart.

It looked like they end of the story and they were glad, it had been rather uncomfortable, especially for Jamie. Coming face to face with the man who had tried to rape her in the middle of central park then had shot her twice in the chest, had been terrifying. It had taken years to blot it out and now it had all come flooding back to her. But now it was over, she was going to move on from this, they were going to move on and make a life together. Thing looked good, it was a happy ending.

But the story was far from over. It was only the beginning of the story.