Remember, I own nothing. Please Review. I love to read them. :)


A few days later, Crosby was leaving for his annual trip every summer back to Vermont. He would be gone for two weeks visiting his family, and then when he got back, his family would come back with him for two weeks in Seattle. They did it every year, and Joelle always looked forwards to his return back. She loved his family, and got along with them really well. They never gave her grief over her choice in careers, unlike most of her friends' parents, or even her relatives themselves. Her uncle's to this day never liked the idea of her being on the boat with them, but never held her back. She wouldn't let them, and they knew not to try, especially knowing what the repercussions would be.

Crosby had asked Joelle to housesit for her while he was gone, so that there would still be people going in and out of his house while he was gone, which Joelle had said she would do. Two weeks up in the mountains away from her family was just too great to pass up. She never told her uncles that he was leaving out of town, just so they would leave her alone about the whole thing.

"Now don't get too crazy and destroy my house while I'm gone." Crosby said as Joelle drove him to the airport.

"Why would I do that? I will throw the parties, clean it up so you don't notice, so that I can keep having them. Why ruin a good thing?"

"Funny."

"I'll be sure to bring my side job home with me."

"Your side job?" He asked, giving her an eye.

"Yeah, me working the corner. I make a good living doing that. I want to retire young, and doing that will be the perfect way of doing so."

"Right. Just wash the sheets when you're doing." He joked.

"I'll be sure to leave every disgusting disease waiting for you in your bed." She said, throwing her empty coke bottle at him.

"Yeah, you do that." He said, eying her.

Joelle pulled up at the airport drop off area and parked her car. She climbed out to say bye to him.

"Give your mom and dad a hug for me." She said, giving him a hug.

"You'll see them in two weeks. Give them one yourself." He said, hugging her back, then going to grab his bag out of her trunk.

"I already can't wait to see them." She said, smiling.

"Well, the two weeks will fly by, and you will see them then." He said.

"They will fly by for you. You're on vacation. I'm stuck in boring ol' Seattle."

"Enjoy yourself. You have my house to yourself. Whatever you do, don't destroy it."

Joelle smiled, and then watched Crosby walk into the airport. She then got back into her car and drove to his house and let herself in. She felt alone, but was fine with it. For once, she felt comfortable knowing that none of her uncles would barge in at any moment without warning.

Joelle headed towards the refrigerator to make herself some lunch when she heard her cell phone ring. She smiled when she saw it was Josh.

"What's going on." She said, answering the phone.

"I am doing nothing, getting ready to eat a little lunch, and then relax. Something I don't do often, and I am planning on doing a lot of it in the next two weeks."

"What's going on the next couple of weeks?"

"I am house sitting for Crosby, and my uncles don't know where I am at, and that's all that I care about right now."

Josh laughed.

"What you doing tonight?"

"Hanging out with you now." She said, making up both of their minds for them.

"We are now? Where too?"

"There is this bar downtown that has pool tables. We can go there and just hang out. Nothing too big. Again, keeping up with the relaxing theme of the weeks ahead."

"Want me to come and get you?"

"Nah, I'll come get you. Again, seclusion is the game I'm going for right now. Plus, I technically asked you out on this little get together, so I need to come and get you." She joked. "Where do you live?"

Josh gave her directions to his house, and decided on meeting up around nine that evening. Joelle spent the rest of the day doing exactly what she wanted, nothing. She caught up on shows that she liked that had come out on DVD, and vegged out. Something that she hadn't done in awhile, and had enjoyed to do.

Joelle had pulled up to Josh's house around 9:30. Unable to find her keys, she knew that she was going to be late. When she knocked on his door, Jake answered the door, and Joelle smiled at the sight of him.

"What are you doing here?"

"When I heard you were coming over, I jumped at the chance to come by. Not often I get to see you during off season." He said.

"Where's my hug?"

Jake gave her a hug, picking her up in the air.

"So, are you the man in this relationship you have with my brother?"

"Why would you say that?"

"You asked him out tonight, technically, and are picking him up. I just figured."

Joelle just pushed him while he laughed.

"Well, I could see it. He is kinda' girlie."

"Fuck off." Josh said, coming into the room. "Don't you remember who won the arm wrestling match?"

Joelle rolled her eyes laughing.

"I'm never going to live that down, am I?" Joelle asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"She let you win, and you know it."

"Do I?" Josh asked, smiling.

"I will relinquish the title, but I'm at a disadvantage right now. Let me build up my strength some more, and then I want a rematch." Joelle stated, defending herself.

"Something tells me you will be using that excuse for awhile."

"How about this. When we go out for Opies in January, before we leave, that's when we have our rematch."

"Why not before King Crab season?" Jake asked.

"Because my uncles haven't given me the okay to go back yet, since I still don't have any upper body strength, or stamina built up. This way, it gives me time to build up my strength. Come January, I should be back in true form, or at least close. It gives me my fair advantage back."

"Unfair advantage." Jake added.

"Why unfair?" Josh asked.

"Because she will kick your ass."

"Ya' know, have I ever told you how much I like your brother?" Joelle asked, putting her arm around Jake.

"Funny." Josh said.

"Are you ready? If we get there too late, we won't get a table."

"You're the one who is late."

"Yeah, I'm always late." Joelle said, looking around the house.

"Lets go."

"Have him back by 11 Joelle." Jake joked. Joelle just smiled at him, laughing a little.

Josh and Joelle left, climbing into Joelle's car.

"So, really, why is Jake still at your place?"

"He lives there now. Andy and I had an extra room, and Jake needed a place for a bit, so he moved in."

"Aw, how sweet." Joelle joked, smiling at him.

Josh laughed. They drove downtown to a bar that Joelle frequented a lot that had a live band, many pool tables, and dart boards. The two of them made their way in and got one of the last pool tables open.

"You break. I'm not good at it." Joelle said.

"Somehow I find that hard to believe." He said, circling the table.

Joelle smiled, and then noticed the cocktail waitress walking around. Joelle ordered a beer, as did Josh, and then she watched as Josh hit the ball. The two of them played game after game, casually flirting with one another. After Joelle had lost another game, she leaned into Josh, kissing him.

"You're letting me win, aren't you?"

"If I'm good enough to make you believe that, then sure." She said, smiling. She then glanced over her shoulder at something that caught her eye, and the smile immediately left her face.

"What's wrong."

"Whatever you do, do not get angry." She said to him softly.

"What?" He asked.

"And we are not dating." She said, eyes getting big.

"Huh?" He was confused, trying to study her face, but didn't like what he saw.

"Joelle Williams!"

Josh turned around towards the guy who called Joelle's name. He was a big guy, taller than him and must larger in size. Joelle, who was backing away by this time, looked mortified and sick to her stomach all at the same time. Josh watched as the guy walk up to her and lean in to give her a kiss. It was obvious that Joelle didn't want the guy to kiss her as she backed out of the guys grasp and made a face while he kissed her. Josh clenched his fist, not knowing how to react.

"When did you get out?" Joelle asked, baking away as far as she could from this guy that interrupted their evening. She was practically sitting on the pool table.

"A couple of days ago. I was wondering where the hell you've been. Small world to find you at this spot."

"Either that or your stalking me. You know I like to come here." Joelle said, making a face.

"Aren't you going to introduce me to this man that you were kissing all over?" The guy said, glancing over at Josh.

"Why would I do that?"

"Because it's rude not too." He said, giving Joelle a look that made Josh very uncomfortable.

"Josh, this is Patrick. Patrick, this is Josh." She said, giving Josh a look of regret. He could tell that she wasn't happy. There was something about this guy that Joelle didn't like, and he wanted to know what it was.

"Why didn't you come visit me?" Patrick asked, putting his arm around Joelle, holding her close.

"Why would I?" Joelle asked, pushing him away from her, giving him a look.

"You know that I never meant anything that I had done back then."

"Right, like I've never heard that shit before. Larry said that shit to me and my mother all of the time."

Joelle could see Josh's eyes get big, trying to piece everything together.

"Larry was a smart man." Patrick said.

Joelle's mouth dropped open.

"I'm kidding! Damn, Joelle, you lost your personality. This douche does nothing for you." He said, pointing to Josh.

"Excuse me?" Josh said, not able to keep quiet anymore.

"Josh, don't." She said, standing in front of him, looking right at him. "What did I say?" She said quietly in hopes that Patrick wouldn't hear.

"Listen to the bitch Josh, she's smarter than one would think."

Joelle, still not facing Patrick, made a face. She mouthed the words 'I'm sorry' to Josh, and then turned back towards Patrick.

"Pat, please just go. Why are you trying to ruin my night?"

"Because you ruined my life you little bitch. I was in jail because of you."

"No, you were in jail because of your addiction to meth, which led you to beat the shit out of me. Remember that? I told you that I would not put up with it, but yet, you decided that I deserved it anyway."

"You drove me to do that shit."

"And also sell it on the side? I think not. You need to leave now Patrick. If I do remember, I do have a restraining order out against you."

"You never renewed it. I looked into it, and my lawyer said I was clear." He said, patting her cheek, slapping it a little. "Don't fuck with me."

Joelle took a deep breath, trying to keep her temper down.

"Josh, will you go pay the tab? We're going to go." She said, smiling at him. She could tell he didn't want to leave her, but he did anyway.

"Wow, you have him trained pretty well, eh?" Patrick said, breathing down her neck. She got chills, mostly from fear.

"Just leave me alone. I have asked you that a million times now. I want nothing to do with you anymore." She said.

Patrick grabbed ahold of her wrist, holding it tightly. It was painful, but she refused to show Patrick that.

"Listen to me you little whore. You can go sleep around with anyone you want, but you know you belong to me."

"Belong? I am a possession now?"

"You will find out, in due time. Just wait. I will show you."

"Is there a problem here?" One of the male bartenders asked, walking up to them.

Patrick let go of Joelle's wrist.

"No, not at all." He said. "See you around, bitch." He added quietly in her ear.

Joelle glared at him, watching him leave.

"Don't let him follow me out of here." She told the bartender. "If you see him follow, call 911."

"Want me to call now?" He asked.

Joelle shook her head, and then headed out of the bar. Josh met up with her at the door and the two of them walked out.

"Care to explain now?" Josh asked.

Joelle held her wrist, which had an imprint of Patrick's hand around it.

"He's the reason why I have trust issues." She said, walking quickly towards her car.

"What?"

"That is my ex-boyfriend. An ex-friend of mine set us up, and he ruined me. People always say you end up with a guy a lot like your father. Guess what, it's true."

Josh still gave her a questioned look.

"Can we just go back to your place? I need to leave here, and I need you to keep an eye out for any cars following us."

Joelle got into her car and Josh climbed into the passenger's seat.

"Hold on. This is going to be a crazy ride."

Joelle sped out of the parking lot, and sped down the streets with Josh watching behind them. When Joelle felt comfortable enough to slow down, she started to head towards Josh's house. They went inside, to where they saw Jake sitting on the couch playing Playstation.

"Hey, you guys are back early. I joked about the curfew earlier, ya' know." Jake said with a smile, but the smile disappeared when he saw Joelle's face.

"Been kind of a rough evening." Joelle said, trying to put a smile on her face.

"What the fuck happened to your wrist?" Jake asked, grabbing her hand to take a better look at it.

"Nothing." Joelle lied.

"Nothing? How can you just say nothing? Joelle, what the fuck just happened tonight?"

"Please, can we drop it? It's over. I'm sorry you had to witness it." Joelle said, sitting on the couch.

Josh just looked at her, dumbfounded.

"Seriously? You're just going to leave it at that?"

"He is not worth talking about."

"Joelle, you need to speak about what just happened. And why I couldn't beat the ever living shit out of him."

"Because he would have killed you. He had about five of his goons with him, and you would of got the shit kicked out of you, and that would solve nothing. I like you in one piece, thank you."

"Well then what are you going to do?"

"Call my lawyer again in the morning and get another restraining order against him. It's all I can do." She said, sighing. "I don't understand why he is out. I was told I was going to be one of the first to know he was being released, and that wasn't supposed to be for a few years yet."

"So you feel safe being out and staying alone right now?" Jake asked.

Joelle smiled a small smile, looking at the brothers who were staring at her.

"That better not be a 'yes I do' smile." Josh said.

"No, it's more of a 'can I crash with you because if I tell my uncles I will be locked in a bedroom until salmon tendering season' smile." She said, eying them.

"That smile said all of that?" Jake asked, laughing a little.

Joelle shrugged her shoulders, looking over at Josh.

"Of course you can stay here." He said, shaking his head.

"Thank you. I just need to make a phone call and leave a message for my lawyer to give me a call ASAP. If I don't do that, it'll be next to impossible to get ahold of him tomorrow."

Joelle stepped away from the guys to get some privacy and dialed her lawyers' number into her cell phone. As many times as she had called him a few years back, she still had it memorized. She got the machine, like she had figured she would get, and then asked for him to give her a call as soon as he got the message, stating that it was emergent. She took a deep breath, trying to wrap the evenings' events around her brain. She could hardly believe that she ran into him. He was supposed to be in jail for at least another 6 years. She didn't understand why he was out, and why she wasn't informed.

Joelle walked back into the place Jake and Josh shared and sat down on the couch next to Josh, grabbing his hand.

"Thank you for this." She said to him, smiling.

Josh responded by leaning over and kissing her gently, lingering a little.

"I don't need to see that shit." Jake said, interrupting them. Joelle smiled at the comment.

"You're just jealous I'm not kissing you." Joelle joked.

"Exactly!" He said, laughing.

Joelle shook her head, sitting closer to Josh. Before she knew it, she fell asleep on the couch holding onto Josh.

"Do you want to go lay down in my bed?" Josh asked her quietly.

Joelle nodded, half asleep.

He helped her get up and led her towards his room. She crawled into his bed, covering herself up. Josh got in on the other side and brought Joelle in closely, kissing her softly.

"Thanks for letting me stay here." She said to him softly.

"Anytime." He responded, running his fingers through her hair and out of her face. He studied her face. Her eyes were closed, but he could tell that she had a lot on her mind, just wasn't talking about it. It worried him, but the fact that she was there, in his arms, made her feel safer than if she would of left to go back home.

"I'm sorry." She said softer than her comment before.

"For what?" He asked, holding her close.

Joelle buried her face into his neck, holding him close.

"Everything." She said, kissing his neck.

The two of them fell asleep shortly after. They were asleep until Joelle's phone started ringing. Josh looked at Joelle, who didn't seem to even hear the phone, and then looked at the clock. It said it was 7am. He glanced at her phone and saw that Sig was calling her.

"Joelle, it's your uncle." Josh said to her, kissing her neck, trying to wake her up.

Joelle opened her eyes slowly, then took the phone and answered it.

"What did I say about bothering me at an ungodly hour?" She mumbled into the phone.

"Why do I have Patrick calling the house?" Sig angrily asked.

Joelle made a face, groaning.

"How did he get this number Joelle?" He asked again, not amused. "And why the fuck is he not in jail? I don't need him coming near this house."

"He won't. I don't think he's that stupid." She said, curling up next to Josh, laying her head on his chest with her phone resting on her opposite ear. "And I don't know how he got your number. Maybe from when I lived with you before. He must have it memorized or something."

"Why don't you sound more freaked out about this? Did you know he was out?"

"I ran into him last night, unfortunately. I left a message for my lawyer to give me a call. I guess my restraining order expired, and I never thought much about it, since I knew he was in jail. I am working on getting it reinstated."

"When he calls you, let me know. I am going with you."

"Roger. I'm going back to bed now." She said, and then hung up the phone before her uncle could protest. She set it down on the nightstand next to Josh's bed, and then wrapped her arm back around him.

"What's going on?" Josh asked, sleepily.

"Patrick is on the rampage." She said, sighing. Patrick had never been to her uncle Sig's house, but had called the house many times. She felt confident enough in the fact that he had no clue where he lived. Plus, Sig lived in a gated community with a guard at the front gate. She knew by that time that Patrick's name was on the 'do not enter' list.

It wasn't long after when Joelle's phone rang again. Angrily, she answered the phone to find out it was Brent Kettner, her lawyer.

"I need you to come to my office ASAP." Brent said on the phone to her.

"Why?"

"Just do it." He said, hanging up the phone. Joelle groaned. She knew at that point something was going on that she didn't know if she wanted to know the answer too.

"I have to go." Joelle said, looking at Josh.

"Call me and let me know what is going on, okay?" He said, looking at her. They both were still laying in bed, and neither one of them wanted to get out.

Joelle leaned up to him and kissed him, lingering a little.

"Be safe." He said.

Joelle nodded, and then crawled out of the bed. She let herself out of the house and went to her car and sped off towards her uncles house. She let herself in and saw June and Sig in the kitchen.

"There you are. What is going on?" Sig asked, frantically. "And what the fuck happened to your wrist?"

"Brent wants me in his office right now. You coming, or no?" Joelle asked, pouring herself a cup of coffee. She ignored the question regarding her bruised up wrist. It hurt like crazy, but she was trying to ignore the pain.

"Yes, lets go." He said, standing up.

Joelle and Sig crawled into Joelle's car and Joelle sped off downtown to where her lawyers office was at. Amanda, his secretary, saw them come in and instructed that they go straight into Brent's office. Joelle led the way and once in, Brent smiled a not so happy smile to them, and asked them to sit.

"What's going on?" Joelle asked him.

"Patrick is out, obviously. Only I was never informed of it until after he was gone. Otherwise, I would have called you. I have a meeting with the judge later today, however, Patrick is on parole, and is told to have no contact with you what so ever."

"Well, that was already broken. I ran into him last night." Joelle said, angrily.

"The wrist?" Brent asked, nodding his head in the direction of the bruised up wrist.

"Yes." She said.

"And he called the house looking for her as well." Sig added in, obviously not amused at all about what is going on.

"Then we need to let the judge know this. Any witnesses to the encounter?"

"Josh was with me, and one of the bartenders stepped in when Patrick was getting loud."

"What bar?"

"The Joker Pool Hall." Joelle said, sighing.

Just then, Brent's phone rang, and Amanda said through the speaker that Judge Nixon was on the phone. Brent immediately took the phone call in front of Sig and Joelle. Sig looked over at Joelle, who looked better and more calm than he would have figured. Joelle, however, felt like a wreck.

"He violated parole your honor." Brent yelled into the phone. "He met up with her last night, and has been trying to call her at her uncles house, the only number he knows to get ahold of her. He has been out less than 72 hours now, and he is already trying to get to her."

Joelle listened as Brent ask for an emergency meeting with Patrick. The judge gave him 24 hours to get the evidence and witnesses needed to prove that Patrick was in fact trying to contact Joelle, which was in direct violation of his parole.

"Go home. Stay home. Don't go anywhere." Brent said to Joelle. "The meeting will be at 9am tomorrow. Please don't be late."

Joelle nodded.

"In the meantime. I need you to talk to Josh and see if he will testify for you. And I will contact the bartender at the bar from last night to see if we can get him as well."

Joelle sighed, looking over at her uncle.

"You're staying in the house." Sig said. "I'm calling Edgar and Norman, and they are staying there as well. The more people to keep an eye out, the better."

"He won't come to the house. Like I said, he's not stupid." She knew that he wouldn't go to the house too, due to the fact of her uncle being around. Joelle was the only one he had ever hurt. Never friends of Joelle's, or family of hers. He wasn't normally the violent type, but for some reason, Joelle was the center of all of his anger. "What I do see him doing, is not showing up to the hearing tomorrow."

"Honestly, you better pray that he does." Brent said to her.

"Why?"

"Because if he doesn't show, that means he's in hiding, and it'll be very hard to find him."

Joelle shook her head.

"Well, then, I better just sit and wait."

Sig and Joelle said bye to Brent, and then headed back to Sig's house. The day dragged on while they all waited for the day to end, and the next morning to come. Joelle couldn't help but think about the hearing the next day, and whether or not Patrick was going to show up or not. She thought of calling Crosby, but didn't want to worry him and ruin his vacation with his parents. She decided on not doing so, and not even texting him, unless it became necessary. She decided to call Kendra, but ended up not reaching her. She called Josh, who did answer, and she asked if he would come to the hearing with her tomorrow to testify that Patrick was, indeed, in the same room as her and did indeed talk to her. He immediately agreed, and Joelle thanked him.

Joelle fell asleep early that evening, mentally exhausted. When she woke up, she got ready and put on a nice pants suit and straightened out her hair. Mandy and Nina were in the bathroom with her while she got ready.

"Are you scared?" Nina asked her.

"Scared of what?" Joelle asked her cousin.

"Of seeing him again?"

Joelle shook her head.

"I think I'm more scared of not knowing if he is going to show up or not." She said, running the straightener through her hair some more.

"I hope they put him back in jail." Mandy said.

"Me too." Joelle said, smiling at her.

"Will you call us after the hearing? Mom and Dad won't let us go." Mandy said.

"I definitely will." Joelle said, unplugging her straightener. She then put on the finishing touches to her make-up, and then headed downstairs.

"You ready?" Edgar asked as she walked down the stairs. Him and Norman did in fact stay the night at the house, and nobody seemed to of gotten much sleep.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Joelle said. Norman, Edgar, and Sig were all going to the hearing with her. Josh was going to meet them there. They drove towards the courthouse in silence. When they pulled up, Brent was waiting outside for them.

"Come on in. We'll brief once inside." He said, ushering them into the building. He went over how the bartender did in fact agree to make a statement in regards to the evening in question. He had also gotten phone records of Patrick calling Sig's house. It was a slam dunk in Brent's eyes. Joelle just hoped he was right.

They waited for the trial to begin. After what seemed like forever, and the judge getting more and more impatient, Joelle saw Patrick's attorney show up, looking very displeased.

"Where is your client!?" Judge Nixon demanded.

"He's not here." The attorney said.

Joelle shook her head, putting her hands up to her face.

"What do you mean he's not here?" The judge asked.

"I don't know where he is. I told him about this mandatory hearing, and he said he'd be here, but he's not your honor. He won't answer my phone calls."

"I want the suspect to be found and taken into custody immediately." The judge said, angrily. "This is in direct violation of his parole. Find him, and get him where he belongs."

The judge slammed out of his courtroom. Joelle looked over at Brent.

"Darlin', you need to get out of town." Patrick's attorney said before Brent could say anything.

"What?" Joelle asked, looking over at him, startled by what he said.

"He's not happy, and he'll find you. You know he will find you."

Joelle looked over at Brent with wide eyes.

"Where is your client?" Brent asked him.

"If I know, I would have brought him in myself. I don't know."

Joelle got up and stormed out of the room.

"Joelle, wait!" Edgar said, running after her.

"Where is she going to go?" Sig asked Brent.

"Anywhere where Patrick wouldn't know where she is."

"Can't be Kendra. That would be the first place he would look." Norman said.

"We'll have to ask her if she knows a place."

Edgar met up with Joelle outside. She had lit a cigarette and seemed very upset.

"Joelle, you need to calm down.

"Calm down? After the one guy that is supposed to be on Patrick's side told me to get the hell out of town, you expect me to calm down? Where am I going to go Edgar? I can't go to Kendra's because that would be the first place Patrick would expect me to go."

"There is no place else you can go? No vacation you wanted to go on?"

Joelle shrugged her shoulders, looking around outside at the many people walking around. She was hoping that Patrick would just show up at that moment, but knew she wasn't going to get her wish. She then thought of something, and immediately went to fishing her phone out of her purse.

"What are you doing?" Edgar asked.

"Calling Crosby." She said.

"What can he do?" He asked, confused.

"He's in Vermont right now visiting his family." She said. "He will be there for at least another week and a half."

Edgar nodded, and then paused.

"I thought you were staying with him currently, to get away from Sig?"

"I was, only he wasn't there."

Edgar gave Joelle a look, showing her that he wasn't pleased. By that time, Sig, Norman, and Josh all walked up to them. Joelle, however, ignored them, waiting for Crosby to answer the phone.

"Hey, what's up? I can't really talk." Crosby said quietly.

"But I really need to talk to you. Can you get away so we can talk?"

"Yeah, hold on."

Joelle heard a lot of muffling noises over the phone. After a long pause, Crosby came back to the line.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"I don't really want to ruin your vacation or anything, but I need a big favor." She said.

"What?" He asked.

Joelle proceeded to tell him everything that was going on. Crosby was completely silent on the other end when she was finished.

"Crosby, speak dammit."

"I'm still on the whole Patrick is out comment."

"That was the first thing I said in that whole conversation. That's all you got out of that."

"I want to know who would let that bastard out."

"It's irrelevant at this point." She said, lighting another cigarette. "The favor now."

"You need to get out of town, which is understandable. Come here. I'm sure mom and dad won't mind at all."

"Are you sure? I really didn't want to ask you, but my first instinct was to go to LA and stay with Kendra, but that would be the first place he would look to find me."

"No, you're not going there. Come here. I'll let my parents know, and they would love to have you."

"Are you sure they, and you, are okay with that?"

"Joelle, just get your ass on the plane. I will pick you up when you get here. Just let me know the flight information when you know it."

Joelle sighed a huge sigh of relief.

"Crosby, I owe you one, seriously."

"Oh, I know. I will redeem it as soon as I know what I want out of this." He joked.

"I will call you when I know."

Joelle hung up the phone as Brent walked up to them.

"I cleared it with the judge. He is fine with you leaving as long as I have contact with you at all times." Brent said.

"She needed permission to leave?" Sig questioned.

"She's one of the main witnesses to his trial. Definitely a big no, however, with the circumstances, he gave the okay." Brent explained. "Now, where are you going?"

"Vermont." She said. "I have a friend there."

"Who is there?" Sig asked, confused.

"Crosby is there with his parents." Joelle explained.

"Wait, weren't you crashing with him for a few days?" Sig asked.

"You don't want to know the answer to that question." Edgar said.

"Then lets get you home to pack, and then to the airport." Norman said, breaking the look that Sig was giving Joelle.

Joelle's uncles headed towards the car but Joelle held back.

"I'm sorry about all of this, again." Joelle said, looking at Josh.

"Don't be. You need to get away from here, until Patrick is caught. It's not safe."

Joelle nodded.

"Call me when you get there?" He asked, smiling at her, trying to cheer her up.

"I will." She said, then leaned over and kissed him. She then headed towards the car, where her uncles were waiting. She climbed in, and was taken straight to the house. She quickly packed her things while her uncles called to set up the flight. Sig had insisted on flying her to Vermont, which Joelle didn't bother trying to convince him otherwise. She actually liked the idea of having someone keep her company and watch over her while she flew across the country.

Before she knew it she was in the airport on a flight to Vermont. She finally was able to relax, and even Sig seemed to calm down a little.

"Thank you, again." Joelle said to him.

He smiled at her, putting his arm around her giving her a hug.