Creepin' Up On You
Chapter 11: No Air
Lily woke up with a start at the sound of the basement door opening. She didn't know what else Jasmine could do to her, but she knew now just how crazy Jasmine was. After all, Lily now knew that Jasmine was capable of murder.
Lily felt the tears well up in her eyes as she thought of her poor, unborn baby, who didn't get the chance at life he or she deserved. Her sadness then turned to anger. Lord help her, if she ever got out of this, Jasmine could consider her life over. She would pay for what she had done. Boy, would she ever.
In walked Jasmine, Brad, and some strange man that Lily had no idea who he was. He was an older looking man with longish grey hair and glasses. He almost reminded Lily of Dr. Emmett Brown from the Back to the Future series only, of course, with glasses.
"Good morning, Lily. I trust you didn't sleep well last night," Jasmine smirked as she said it, and, had Lily not still been cuffed to the wall, she would have jumped on her, ripped her hair out by the roots, then gouged her eyes out and made her choke on them.
Lily just snarled at her.
"This is Doctor Gregory Hines—not to be confused with the late singer slash actor." Jasmine introduced.
Lily found it slightly humorous that this guy actually was a doctor like Emmett Brown. However, she was too saddened and angry to even crack a smile.
"He's here to check on the baby, and make sure the baby is still all right after that kick you forced me to give you," Jasmine stated simply.
Lily narrowed her eyes at Jasmine. "I didn't force you to kick me. You kicked me purposely to kill the baby because you were jealous, and you know it!"
Jasmine hit the air with her hand. "Oh, pish, tosh!" Why would I be jealous of you, of all people, when I have a body like this?" She motioned down her own body, and Lily wanted to spit in her face. Or, better yet, throw up in her face.
"Buh-rad, I thought I told you to bring the equipment in for Doctor Hines!" Jasmine said to Brad with an eye roll.
"I can't bring all that in by myself!" Brad complained.
Jasmine let out a cry of frustration. "Do I have to do everything myself?"
"I can help him. It is my stuff after all," Dr. Hines said.
Jasmine placed a hand over his shoulder and smiled. "No, it's quite all right, Doctor. Bradley and I can get it." She smiled, and batted her eyes sweetly at him. Then, she turned to Brad, her sweet expression gone. "Let's go, Buh-rad."
Brad clenched his fists tightly, and looked like he wanted to protest. However, he sighed, and went with her anyway, not saying a word.
"Please, Doctor. Let me go. They're keeping me prisoner here!" Lily cried out at soon as Brad and Jasmine were gone, having locked the door behind them.
The doctor shook his head. "I'm sorry, Lillian, but Jasmine is paying me good money for this."
"I'll triple it. You'll never find money like that elsewhere," Lily promised.
The doctor shook his head. "I've known Jasmine since she was a little girl. I can trust her. As for you, I don't know you, and therefore cannot trust you. I may be old, but, in my case, it makes me wise—not senile. No matter how hard you try to convince me otherwise, I know you'll go to the cops. I won't see any of that money."
Lily shook her head. "No! I promise you, Jasmine is the only one I want to see put away. You can go off Scott free. You can go anywhere you want with the money I'm giving you."
Dr. Hines shook his head. "As I told you, I've known Jasmine ever since she was a kid. Her mother and I go way back. On her mother's deathbed, I promised her I'd look out for her daughter, and I'm not about to go back on my promise. Besides, I'm old with no family left. Jasmine is paying me handsomely as it is. An old man like me doesn't need any more money than that."
Lily sighed. "Jasmine is sick, Doctor. You're not helping her by letting her do this. She needs psychological help."
Dr. Hines' expression went from kind to angry in two seconds flat. "I'm the doctor; not you. There's nothing wrong with Jasmine but a little lovesickness. Besides, helping her is not keeping her locked up in a prison or an insane asylum."
Lily sighed. There was no use in pleading with the guy. He was as insane as Jasmine was.
R&L
It was another morning, and Rufus didn't feel any more like getting up than he had the day before, or the day before that. He sighed, then slowly climbed out of bed. He went to the bathroom, washed his hands, shaved, showered, dried, and dressed. Then, he went downstairs and choked down the waffles that Eric had made him. He ate the bacon and eggs that Jenny had cooked him, and the juice she had poured him, hardly tasting any of it. He was on autopilot, only having got out of bed for the sake of his children, his band, and Lincoln Hawk's fans. Had he only had himself to think about, he would have gladly stayed in bed all day long.
"The police called, but I didn't want to wake you. They said that they still have no leads. They went to Grand Central Station and showed the workers Lily's picture. No one remembers seeing her. Nor was a ticket purchased in her name. They tried her maiden name and all her married names. None of her credit cards have been used either," Jenny informed him.
Eric glanced at her, then turned his attention to his stepfather. "On a better note, she isn't in any of the hospitals. At least, not within a three hour range from here."
Rufus nodded. "That's good. At least we know she's not lying sick somewhere." On the inside, he wanted to scream. Of course there's no leads! There never is! And, if someone took her or hurt her, they certainly aren't going to bring her to the hospital. Especially if they killed her. That doesn't say anything! For all we know, her body could be lying dead at the bottom of the Hudson River!
But Rufus knew he couldn't say anything of the sort. His children meant well. He knew they did. But none of this was making him feel any better. All he wanted to do was just crawl under a rock and die. Without Lily, his life simply wasn't worth living.
R&L
Jasmine and Brad unlocked the door and came back in, wheeling in a sonogram machine and a gurney.
Lily sighed. She hoped her baby could be okay, but she highly doubted it after that hard kick Jasmine had given her.
"Please undo all her cuffs," Dr. Hines requested of Jasmine and Brad.
Brad instantly got down on his knees and freed Lily of her ankle cuffs while Jasmine undid her wrist cuffs.
"Get onto the gurney," Dr. Hines ordered Lily.
Lily glanced at the door, but of course it was shut and locked. There'd be no way she could get out without being taken down. Besides, the last thing she needed was for Jasmine to get even angrier with her and hurt her worse. Her poor baby may have been dead, but Lily knew she had to keep herself alive—for Rufus and their other children's sakes.
With s sigh, she climbed onto the gurney, and lay down on her back.
"Lift your top, please," Dr. Hines ordered as he set up the sonogram machine.
"You are at least a real doctor, right?" Lily asked, knowing that he was still going to work on her even if he weren't.
He nodded. "Of course! I may have retired a few years ago, but I still know what I'm doing."
Lily sighed. Well, at least he knew what he was doing. "What are you planning on doing a sonogram for anyway? Checking to make sure she got the job done?" She shot Jasmine a nasty look.
Jasmine smirked. "Relax, Lily. I changed my mind about the baby. I don't want it dead after all."
Lily felt a twinge of hope, but it crashed as soon as it rose. There was no way her baby could still be alive, could it? "Dare I ask why?" she asked.
"Well, I figured, even though you're the mother, Rufus still deserves to have his baby. If the baby is still alive, and you have it, I will tell Rufus it is ours." Jasmine said it as if it were all going to work out just so easy like that.
Lily smirked. "Um, Jasmine, you need to have had sex with him in order for him to believe that."
"Yeah, well, I'll just have to have sex with him ASAP, won't I?" Jasmine snapped, her arms crossed over her chest.
Lily gasped as the coldness of the sonogram wand hit her stomach.
Jasmine took it as surprise at her statement instead of the coldness. She grinned. "Sorry, Lily, but you had to know it was coming eventually." She held her thumb and index finger centimeters apart. "I'm this close to getting him into bed anyway."
Lily wanted to point out the fact that even if Jasmine did somehow manage to get Rufus to sleep with her, which she absolutely would not, she would be three months behind in having conceived the baby. But, she kept her mouth shut. If (by some miracle) this baby were to still be alive and survive, Lily needed Jasmine's hope of pawning it off as her own. If Jasmine didn't have that hope, then she might just change her mind again and let the baby die for real this time. Lily couldn't let that happen.
"Well, you're in luck, Jasmine! It appears your baby is not only still alive, but doing fine. Your kick didn't seem to have harmed it. It's like a miracle baby," Dr. Hines said to Jasmine.
Lily was so happy, tears filled her eyes. Thank God her baby was still alive! She prayed a silent prayer of thanks to God. She would start going to church. She would. If God would just get her out of here and keep her and the baby safe, she would go to church and get the kids to go too. It was her deal and promise to God.
But this baby wasn't Jasmine's. It never would be. Lily would die before this baby became Jasmine's.
Dr. Hines looked Jasmine in the eyes. "She going to have to be taken better care of though, or this baby could start to suffer. I'll write you a prescription for prenatal vitamins. I'll make them out to you, so that no one suspects anything with her." He nodded toward Lily.
Jasmine nodded. "Thank you very much. Do you know if it's a boy or a girl yet?"
Dr. Hines shook his head. "Not yet. It will be another month or so until I'm able to tell. I can come back for weekly visits if you'd like."
Jasmine nodded. "Yes, please."
Dr. Hines wrote down something on his prescription pad. "All right. Well, here is your prescription." He ripped the paper off his tablet and handed it to Jasmine. "Take it to the pharmacy I wrote down. They know me there and will honor the prescription even though I'm retired." He winked at her.
Jasmine grinned. "Thank you, Gregory." She kissed his cheek. "Can I expect you the same day and time next week then?"
Dr. Hines nodded. "That you can." He pat Jasmine's shoulder, and kissed her cheek in return. "See you then. You can keep the gurney and machine here for later use."
"Thanks, Gregory," Jasmine said.
Brad let him out, locking the door behind them.
Jasmine turned her attention back to Lily. "We'll get you a bed, a TV, and a DVD player. What kind of movies do you like?" she asked.
Lily raise an eyebrow. "You're actually going to be nice to me?"
"Only for the baby's sake. He or she can sense when his or her mother is stressed. Well, I'll be his or her mother, but since you're carrying him or her, I have to treat you well until he or she is born," Jasmine stated. "I'll go get you a healthy breakfast."
Jasmine then left the basement, locking the door tightly behind her.
Lily sighed. Then, she smiled, and rubbed her stomach. "I promise you'll be safe now. My little miracle baby. No one's ever going to hurt you again. I promise. They'll have to kill me first."
Lily swallowed hard. She hoped it never had to come to that. Sure, Jasmine was good to her for now. But, what if she changed her mind again? What happened after she had the baby? What would happen to her then when there was no longer a baby inside of her to protect?
She sighed. She just hoped she wasn't in there long enough to find out.
R&L
Rufus went to work that day, and set up the gallery a bit. He knew he should make some calls and get some artists for his gallery. Things were practically ready for them now. Still, he just hadn't had it in him to call people. He hardly had the energy to do anything since Lily disappeared. It was as if she had literally disappeared. There was no sign of her anywhere, and not even a ransom note.
"Where are you, Lil? I need you," he had said to the empty room.
With a sigh, he took out his cell phone, and dialed up a few artists he knew were waiting for his call. He might as well keep his mind occupied, he figured.
It took his mind off things slightly. But, eventually, after about an hour worth of calls, she invaded his mind again, and he knew he could no longer fool himself. He had to get out of there.
He locked up the studio, then headed out. He looked at his watch. It was almost noon. Shortly, it would be exactly three days since Lily had gone missing. It made him sick.
His stomach rumbled, shaking him from his thoughts. He realized he actually felt hungry this time, despite his being so worried over Lily. He decided he might as well stop by the Brooklyn Deli since it was only a couple blocks away. He could use the walk.
So, he headed out. He thought of an idea. Maybe if he announced on live television that he would offer a reward, it would help. He could call the television station, and he could set it up with them. He'd pay anything to get Lily back. He was sure Chuck would help with the reward. Surely someone would come through with some information that would help them. There had to be somebody out there who saw something. After all, it was New York City, for goodness sake. Somebody was always watching. Gossip Girl had of course put the word out that Lily was missing. But there weren't nearly as many people that paid attention to Gossip Girl as there was people that payed attention to the news.
With a newfound hope, he got to the deli. He would fill his stomach so that he could think better, and then he would head home, and look up the number to the station. He'd find Lily. He would!
He entered the deli, and waited in line.
A moment later, he felt a tap on his shoulder.
He turned and saw that it was Jasmine. What was it with this chick that she was always where he was? He wasn't really in the mood for talking now, but he didn't want to be rude, so he put on a smile and greeted her. "Hello again, Jasmine! We got to stop running into each other like this." Really, we have to.
Jasmine grinned, and gently took his arm in her hands. "I'm not! I quite enjoy running into you." She winked at him.
Rufus grinned. "Well, it's always a pleasure running into you too."
"I see we both had a craving for the deli," Jasmine said, releasing his arm.
"Well, for me it was more a craving for a sandwich than the deli. I don't think I could eat a whole deli," he joked.
Jasmine giggled. "You're such a dork." She crossed her eyes at him and stuck her tongue out.
Rufus actually heard himself laugh. It felt good to laugh again. He nodded toward the tables. "Care to join me for lunch once we get our food?" Maybe being alone wasn't such a good thing after all, he figured. He needed someone to bring his spirits up. For, he was more willing to accomplish things when he was feeling good. When he was feeling down, well, not so much.
Jasmine batted her eyelashes. "I'd love to!"
Rufus nodded and smiled, then it was his turn to order, so he did, even buying Jasmine's lunch for her. After all, he was grateful for the company. He'd bring his spirits up, then he could focus more on finding his wife and getting her back. Yeah, he needed to bring his spirits up so he could think better and find his wife. He'd get her back, or die trying.
R&L
"You're good at this! No wonder you wanted to go bowling!" Rufus said. He could hardly believe Jasmine had talked him into bowling after lunch, but she had. She was very persuasive. Besides, having company and having fun was starting to get his spirits up again, and, when his spirits were up, he felt that anything was possible—including finding Lily and getting her back.
"Seriously, you must be my good luck charm or something. I'm never this good," Jasmine said before rolling the ball that wiped the remainder of the pins out, giving her a spare.
Rufus rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right! You're hustling me."
Jasmine smirked. "Okay, maybe I use to be in a league, but that was when I was like ten or twelve. Besides, technically it's not hustling when there is no money on the line." She winked.
"Yeah, well, it's a good thing there isn't because I never realized how much I suck at this game until now." Rufus rolled the ball, but it only hit one pin before going into the gutter.
"Well, at least it's one more pin than you hit the last time," Jasmine quipped. She hid a smirk behind her hand.
Rufus made a face at her. "Very funny!"
"Come on. You have to keep your wrist straight, and you'll do much better," Jasmine said.
"But it feels so uncomfortable that way!" Rufus wined.
Jasmine smirked. "You want to do better, don't you?"
Rufus nodded. "I'd at least like to feel like I'm competing with you."
"Well, then, let me help you." Jasmine waited until Rufus had collected his ball from the ball return, then she placed her hand over his wrist, and forced his wrist straight with her thumb. "Now roll!" she ordered before reluctantly taking her hand off his.
Rufus rolled the ball, feeling so awkward keeping his wrist straight. The ball rolled a few inches, and then went straight into the gutter.
Rufus turned around and gave Jasmine a look.
She blushed and shrugged. "Well, maybe it doesn't work for everybody."
He smirked. "You think?"
She grinned. "You'll get it eventually, Rufus. You just gotta keep trying."
Well, after two games, Rufus had improved. He was able to get two pins knocked down now instead of one.
"You really do suck at this game," Jasmine said as they left the alley.
"At least you're the one who paid for the games," he quipped.
She smirked. "You paid for lunch, so it was only fair. Though I think you got more out of lunch than you did the bowling."
Rufus shook his head. "No, that's not entirely true. I may suck at bowling, but it made me forget my problems for a while.You made me forget my problems for a while, so thank you."
Jasmine smiled, and gently rubbed his shoulder. "Anytime." She winked.
"Well, I guess I had better get going, but thanks again." Rufus winked at her. "I owe you one."
Jasmine's face lit up. "Do you really mean that?"
Rufus expression turned to one of confusion. "What, that I owe you one?"
Jasmine nodded.
Rufus was curious now. "Well, sure. Did you have something in mind?"
Jasmine bit her bottom lip. "Well, you don't really owe me one. I just thought that maybe, out of the goodness of your heart, you could do me a favor?"
"It won't hurt to ask," Rufus said, not quite wanting to fully commit to anything until he heard what exactly it was that she wanted.
"Well," Jasmine began, "I hope I'm not being totally insensitive, but... Well, I remember reading in the paper last week about the Benefit for children's cancer on Saturday. I know you were supposed to go with Lily. I read who is scheduled to attend."
Rufus felt the sadness creeping in again. He looked down at the ground. "So much for that."
"Well, you see, it's a charity that's very near and dear to my heart. When I was twelve, my best friend died of cancer. It was pretty hard on me," Jasmine confessed.
Rufus looked at her. "I'm so sorry to hear that."
Jasmine nodded, her eyes getting teary. "So, I was just wondering if maybe you could still go, and I could go in Lily's place?" She quickly continued at the startled look on Rufus' face. "Again, I'm not trying to sound insensitive. I don't want to sound like I don't care that Lily is missing either. It's just, I always dreamed of going to some benefit or party where all the rich go. And, this would be the perfect one to go to since it's for something so near and dear to my heart."
Rufus sighed. "I don't know."
"At least this way, there would still be two people contributing to the benefit. And, I'm sure more people will attend knowing a member of Lincoln Hawk will be there," Jasmine winked.
Rufus smiled. "Well, I don't know about that, but I guess I could take you. It might take my mind off things. Then again, it might make me sad, knowing Lily was supposed to be there with me."
"I promise I won't let you get sad. Please?" Jasmine pleased, taking his arm, resting her head against his shoulder, and looking up at him with pleading eyes.
He looked down at her, then sighed and smiled. "All right. You talked me into it. I'll do it for you for being such a good friend to me."
Jasmine squealed, and clapped her hands excitedly. "Oh my gosh, thank you so much! You're so not going to regret it. I have just the dress for it too!"
Rufus grinned. "You're welcome. You're coming to the show tonight I assume?"
Jasmine nodded. "You know me, I wouldn't miss it!"
Rufus smiled. "Cool. We'll talk about it then. I better go now. I have things I really need to attend to."
Jasmine hugged him. "Okay. See you tonight! And thanks again." She winked.
Rufus winked back. "See you."
As he headed back home, he couldn't help but smile. It felt good to do something nice for someone. Hopefully karma would come right back to him, bringing Lily with it.
R&L
Lily lie in her bed, thinking how grateful she was that Jasmine was going to be nice to her now. It felt so good to have a nice warm, comfortable bed again, and to have a television and a DVD player. She didn't have cable because Jasmine didn't know any cable installers that wouldn't go running to the police once they saw Lily. Jasmine also didn't trust Lily not to try to escape or scream if they moved her somewhere else while the cable was being installed.
Still, Jasmine had brought down the Twilight and Harry Potter movies as well as some horror movies and romance movies. Twilight had intrigued Lily. As had New Moon. She had yet to watch Eclipse. The Harry Potter series didn't impress her too much. The horror movies weren't her genre. She had never really been a fan of horror movies. They were too bloody, gory, and sick, in her opinion. As for the romance, well, she was afraid to watch those. They might make her miss Rufus too much. As if she could miss him anymore than she already did.
But, she couldn't complain. At least, not when she compared her life now as to how it had been a day ago. Now she could go to the bathroom when she pleased, and not have to wait to be released. She had something to watch to help time pass by. Jasmine had brought her down some of her romance collection, and the Harry Potter books that Brad had finished and now returned.
Aside from having no more cuffs, the best part was, her meals were more constant and healthy. For breakfast, Jasmine had given her strawberry oatmeal and some orange juice. For lunch, Brad had brought her a lean turkey and cheddar sandwich on wheat bread with carrots, celery, low fat dip, and strawberry banana yogurt as her sides. For her drink, he gave her a tall glass of grape juice. He gave her a pudding cup for dessert. Also, it was good to have her prenatal vitamins back. She could finally take care of her baby the way he or she deserved.
The door opened, and Lily looked up from theTwilight book she had been reading.
Jasmine smirked. "Good book, isn't it? You're kind of like Jacob. He's in love with Bella, but will never have her because Bella can only love Edward. Of course that would make Rufus Bella and me Edward, but you get the gist of it. You'll see it all play out in New Moon when you read it. It's even better than the movie in my opinion. Anyway, here is your dinner. I made sure it was healthy so that my baby will be born healthy."
"Thank you," Lily mumbled, not wanting to anger Jasmine and therefore endanger the baby by informing her that the baby would never be Jasmine's.
She took the plate Jasmine handed her. It had grilled chicken on it with a side of brown rice. Her drink was a can of Pepsi.
Jasmine held up a hand. "I know what you're thinking. Pepsi isn't necessarily healthy for you. But I don't want my baby growing up to be the type who will never drink soda. Then he would be just as much of a stick-in-the-mud as you are. Besides, juice or milk with chicken is just gross!"
Lily held her tongue. "It's fine. Thank you." She ate her meal without another word.
"Guess what?" Jasmine asked with a taunting smirk. "I had lunch with Rufus again today. He paid. We were laughing and joking, and having such a good time! We even bowled afterward. I did great and he totally sucked, but he still loved it. In fact, he had such a good time and loved it so much that he agreed to take me to that charity benefit you were going to go to for children's cancer."
Lily swallowed down the a bite of chicken. "Excuse me?"
Jasmine nodded. "Oh yeah. He told me he was grateful to me for cheering him up, and told me that he owed me one. So, I made up some story of how I had a friend that died of cancer when I was twelve, and how it was my dream to go to an event where all the rich people were going—especially for something that benefits a cause so near and dear to my heart!" Jasmine over dramatically placed a hand over her heart and looked heavenward, fake sadness in her eyes.
"You're sick!" Lily couldn't help but snap. After all, she could hold back every nasty thing she felt about Jasmine.
Jasmine snarled at her. "Hey, sometimes a girl has got to make up a few lies to get to where she needs to be. I'm sure you're not a perfect saint when it comes to not lying. Besides, I have money. I can donate, and I will. Of course mainly to impress Rufus, but I don't think the kids will care about the motivation as long as they get their money."
Lily finished her meal before she said anything that got her into trouble.
"Anyway, I want to thank you, actually," Jasmine said, gathering Lily's dirty dish and silverware. She left her the can of Pepsi since there was still some Pepsi left in it.
"Thank me?" Lily asked, taking a sip of her Pepsi. "For what?" she asked after swallowing.
Jasmine grinned like the cheshire cat. "Why, for getting my outfit all picked out and paid for. I'm going to be wearing exactly what you picked out for yourself to wear to that benefit. I mean, since you won't be going now, it would be too much of a shame to take it back, right?"
Lily felt sick. She nodded, and put on a fake grin. "Of course."
Jasmine pat Lily's shoulder. "Thank you for pretending to be happy about it, but you don't have to pretend. I actually much prefer torturing you."
Lily narrowed her eyes. "Well, in that case, I want to tear your hair out for stealing my outfit and trying to steal my husband."
Jasmine threw her head back and laughed. "Now that's the Lily I know and hate! But of course you know not to even try such a thing." Her eyes darkened wickedly. "Otherwise, I might just change my mind out the baby and kill it for good."
She turned and headed for the door. She unlocked it and opened it, then turned back to Lily. "And, I'm not trying to steal your husband, I actually am stealing him. But don't worry. There are other fish in the sea for you. Or, should I say, rockstars in the arena. Then again, why would any rockstar in their right mind want you? Well, maybe you can aim lower, and go for someone in a retirement home. They're desperate for someone! Hey, you might even get some more money out of it." She winked, then laughed some more. "Okay, I'm done. I have to go get ready for my future husband's show." And with that, she left, shutting and locking the door behind her.
Lily sighed, then lie down on her bed, her book forgotten for the time being. Rufus had actually agreed to take Jasmine to the benefit in her place? Wasn't he looking for her at all? How could he just go to a benefit with another woman when his wife was missing? Especially when, in the first place, he had only planned on going because of his wife.
Lily buried her face in his pillow. "Rufus, why aren't you trying hard enough to find me?" she cried into it. She started to sob then. How did her life go from swell to hell so quickly? She had no idea. All she knew was that she was falling into a deep, dark, pit of despair. And, from the looks of it, she was beginning to think there was no way out.