Thanks for the last reviews ^^
Time is money – let´s start at once!
Hope you still enjoy the story, even though it hadn´t been read by my beta reader ;-)
There are only about three more chaps left til the end – so, be prepared!
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~ 20 ~
Numbness
When Marti and Morgan came to Heathers house, they looked curiously in her garden. The next minute a big gray something came running towards them behind the fence and they couldn´t even move anymore. Marti´s heart nearly refused to work and Morgan´s eyes were about to fall out of his head. Rufus was really terrifying and he kept barking like hell.
"Just move slowly, okay?" Morgan demanded of Marti, searching with trembling hands for the treats in his pocket.
Even if there was a fence between them, the dog would have had no difficulties to jump over it. And they both knew. Marti tried to call him by his name...
"Hey, Rufus... You´re a really cute doggie, aren´t you?" It sounded ridiculous.
In fact, the dog stopped barking and sat down, looking interested at the two of them. Morgan finally found the treats in his pocket and so, they made the first attempt while still shivering. Marti took one piece of the wiener in her palm and showed it to the dog. She didn´t want to get to near to it, but Rufus immediately began to snuffle. He even whined and came as near as possible to the pickets, looking for the good smell in her hand. Morgan whispered to offer it to him and she forced herself to try to do it. Rufus picked up the wiener out of her palm and then sat down once more to attend the next one, whining again and looking really adorable with his dark sparkling eyes and the scrubby gray coat. The terrifying aspect was gone somehow.
"Good dog, Rufus...," Marti spoke silently to him and got herself another piece out of Morgan´s plastic bag full of pieces of wiener. "Look what we´ve got for you! Wanna have? Lie down!" The dog did what they wanted him to do and Marti gave him the reward through the pickets.
"A lamb in the body of a wolf..." Morgan smiled amusedly. "This dog wouldn´t hurt anyone, he just defended his area like everyone else would do."
"Think you´re right. Let´s give him the rest and try to stroke him, okay?"
Morgan nodded and they got pretty fast friends with Rufus, the calf. At the end they were able to stroke over his head, let him snuffle their hands and lick over their palms. Mission done. Rufus won´t be a real danger anymore for the squad or for Marti herself.
She was more than just happy about the successful attempt. "Let´s go back to class! It´s late."
"Have you seen the baby carriage over there in front of the entrance?" Morgan asked, looking interested at the house.
Marti turned around again and couldn´t even believe what she saw. "She´s so sick, I just don´t get it."
"What if she´s pregnant? I mean, why not?"
For a short moment Marti hesitated and thought about this option. It made no sense at all... "We´re getting a bit paranoid, too, don´t you think so?"
"Okay, whose is it?"
"Her sister´s, friend´s, whoever´s."
"Hopefully. Wouldn´t that be good for you and the squad?" Morgan put his arm around her neck and they went away, thinking of the baby carriage all by themselves.
"Good point. But I don´t think that it would be as easy to get rid of her."
Back at Lancer university Morgan began to talk to her again, waiting for her to get the books out of the locker. He still reported about the baby carriage, assuming Heather maybe could have gone totally crazy at all. A chatterbox would have been nothing compared to him.
In the meantime Marti stood in front of her open locker and stared inside. The first she had recognized was this plush cat she hadn´t seen before. "What the hell...?" She took it out and Morgan suddenly interrupted his investigative speech.
"What the fuck?" he shouted in disgust, taking the plush cat rudely out of Marti´s hands.
It had a knife stuck in the middle of its chest. Like the real one in front of their door a few months ago. Hell to the cat waswritten on a paper under the knife, too.
"She did it again!" Marti whispered accusingly, totally out of her mind and finally in real despair.
"Absolutely nuts. You have to report her to the dean. Now!"
"There will be no fingerprints at all, like then. She´ll have to confess like before, I´m afraid." Her glance wandered back into the locker to get her history book when suddenly her hands got hold of another paper. She looked at it with obvious fear in her eyes. Morgan wanted to watch it, too, and she showed him with trembling fingers.
"What´s that?" he asked a bit confused about the meaning.
"Looks like an ultrasound picture of an unborn baby. Now we know what the baby carriage is for."
He turned the picture around and showed her some notes on the back. "Look at this! She wrote a notice for you."
"This is Julian´s little boy. You´re out!" Marti read loud, nearly bursting into tears right there in the hallway in front of everybody.
Morgan turned pale all over. "Oh my God... Did he really...? Did you know?"
Marti wasn´t able to answer at all. She couldn´t even see anything through the tears. So, Morgan embraced her and tried to calm her down a bit. "Shhhh... That´s what she intended, you know? To make you feel bad."
"How did she get into my locker?" she stammered quietly.
"She´s a professor. Obviously she has her ways."
"Dammit!" Another sob came out of her throat.
Morgan stroked her back, looking at the picture again. There was Heather´s name on it, her birth date, the current date of the medical examination and a few other things he didn´t understand. "Maybe you know what that means?" he said and showed her the picture again, pointing on some special dates. "Any idea?"
"Perhaps the weeks of the pregnancy? I don´t know..." It could have been true – an eight week old embryo. How could Julian do that to her? He had sworn he didn´t even kiss her and now evidence was showing up that really cruel way.
"You should talk to him soon. This plush cat is a final warning. I thought you told me Julian had claimed action for injunction? If that´s right, she has to live with the consequences now, right?"
Marti still cried bitterly in his arms and he felt unfortunately good holding her that close. "He did. Obviously it didn´t work," she stammered into his dark curly hair. "We can´t prove it´s been her to put it into my locker."
"Let´s face the truth: This woman is dangerous and someone has to stop her. We´re talking to Julian right now. Come on!"
"No! No, no, no... I can´t..."
"Marti? Look into my eyes, please!" he demanded and she lifted her head from his shoulder. "Come on! What´s your problem?"
She lowered her eyelids kind of being ashamed. "I feel not strong enough for his answer..."
"Bullshit!"
"It´s true."
"He may be a scary lawyer but he won´t cheat on you. Never ever. Unfortunately."
She tried to laugh anyway. "You wish! No, to be honest: Heather tried to get him into her bed not only once and maybe he couldn´t resist anymore because of her blackmailing him? He´s just a human being after all, you know?"
"But one of the best persons I´ve ever known. An introvert Mahatma. And when he looks at you, you can see real emotion in his face. He loves you, Marti. He wouldn´t do that to you, even less with professor Rathbone."
"Ever the romantic... Morgan, you know what? If I hadn´t Julian, I´d choose you for being my boyfriend."
"Seriously?" the young man asked, blushing all over.
"You bet!"
"What about Dan?"
"Dan is off the market."
"I feel flattered...," he smiled. "So, come on, let´s go! We have to talk to your lover."
"No. I have to join class and so do you. End of discussion." Marti closed the locker after having put the plush cat and the picture back into it. "Don´t worry about me, okay? And DON´T you DARE to tell him about it yourself! Got it!"
Morgan nodded, sighing. "Why do I always listen to you, huh? I must be kind of addicted...," he murmured to himself but she could hear it very well.
They went to their classes and Marti had to concentrate on her studies again, even if that seemed nearly impossible. She thought about the pregnancy all the time. It hurt damned much. She didn´t want to tell or ask him about that, it would have meant she didn´t trust him in the end. And that felt pretty awkward. Heather must have lied. She MUST.
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Later on at the Hellcats´ house, she talked to Savannah about her speculation. She showed her the ultrasound picture and her true friend nodded wisely.
"It looks pretty real, doesn´it? Charlotte´s pics just looked the same."
"However, I worried about it. Maybe it´s not Julian´s child?"
"Might be possible. She´d be crazy enough to blame him to win him back this way."
"He won´t return to her because of a baby." Marti sighed heavily. "But I think he would be really happy to have a child again..."
Savannah embraced her intimately. "Honey, don´t think of that option. He´s truly upright as far as I got to know him. And of course, he´s a lawyer. Never forget that, okay? He knows what´s right. Morally and legally. "
"Maybe that´s the point, I mean morally and legally? He´s a lawyer in the end, right? Dammit! Please don´t tell anybody about the plush cat, okay? I´m going to show it to Julian tomorrow."
"I swear. You better sleep now. It´s been a long day," Savannah remarked with a warm smile on her face.
"Absolutely. Listen! I´m sorry I forgot about your dad. How´s the process going?"
"Not very well, I guess. Since Julian refused to defend him furthermore, he has to deal with some really incompetent duty solicitor. Maybe he will go to jail for a long time..."
"I´m so sorry, Savannah... I tried to convince Julian, but he didn´t want to do it again. And to be honest: I understand his reasons."
"So do I. I lost most of the respect I had for my dad when he tried to flee the country." She had to hold back her tears. "It´s been so embarrassing for my mum, you know? Our church had been very kind, even all the members but to be honest, I think they talk behind our back, though. To take bribes is a really bad crime, " she sniffed.
"Must be hard to fall that far after have flown on top, huh? Well, I´m going to feel the same way soon in case the dragon can´t be stopped, right?" At least Marti tried to smile.
"Don´t you think of the worst case! It´ll bring misfortune..."
Marti sighed. "I just tried to have a sense of humor about it."
"You´re unbelievable."
"Thanks a lot. By the way, I´ll have difficulties to sleep well tonight because of the plush cat with the sticking knife into its chest, you know? What am I going to tell Julian tomorrow? He´ll totally freak out about this offensive threat."
"We have to tell the squad, too. This is no joke anymore. She must be stopped right now."
"Just don´t tell anyone about the ultrasound, okay? It´s too private and I don´t want her pregnancy to get public because of me," Marti answered quietly.
"I promise."
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When Morgan left Julian´s house, the law professor still sat on his couch and tried to relax. What his former student had told him a few minutes ago had been that disgusting and nearly unbelievable, he hardly was able to form a serious thought in his brain. The worst case had come true and he had to decide what to do now, how to go on with his life and their romantic relationship.
The whole night he couldn´t sleep a single minute thinking about what would be the best thing to decide. Even Heather´s first attempt of scaring them with the plush cats on Ally´s grave had frightened him like hell. And she actually did it again. Although he had tried to make her stay away from his girlfriend by forcing action for an injunction. His heart felt terrible, thinking of Marti. The shock she must have had the moment she had found Heather´s horrible gift inside her locker.And as usual she didn´t tell him immediately for keep being a tough young woman in his eyes. Bullshit.
The first thing he wanted to do the following morning after having a cup of strong black coffee was to call his girlfriend to make sure that she was okay. But he had come to a hurtful decision over night which he wanted her to know as soon as possible. Only there was a catch. It had to look real for Heather, he thought like a clever lawyer. That meant to do what he decided without Marti´s knowledge. Cruel. Absolutely cruel. His ex-wife would have to live with the consequences, too. And he was not going to be a gentleman this time. To ruin his life had worked once, it´ll not work this time even it felt like it at last.
His fingers trembled enormously while he was picking up the phone to dial Marti´s number. This was definitely the worst thing he ever had to do. In fact, there was no other way to protect her from his former wife and her obvious craziness. Morgan had done the right thing to tell him Marti´s secret right after he heard about it. She won´t understand it but he appreciated Morgan´s decision to go it alone. He wondered why it took her so long to pick up the phone so, he looked at the display but he had dialed the right number. Julian just let his mind wander back to their romantic kisses and even more, when Marti suddenly answered the phone after all. She sounded a bit confused, he thought by himself.
"Don´t say anything, Marti, I have to talk to you first." He paused. His girlfriend didn´t try to answer immediately, so he went on with this difficult mission. "Okay, this is really terrible for me to do but we have to end our relationship right now. There´s no other way to go on, I´m afraid. Please don´t call me or try to knock on my door once more. I´ll bring your personal stuff to your mum´s house. Bye Porsche, I´ll always love you." He hung up without waiting for her reaction, feeling miserable inside. His eyes seem to overflow and he sat down on the couch again, breathing and trying to keep calm.
The thought of her still staring at the phone and crying silent tears made him nearly lose control. He turned off his cell and looked at the ceiling for about ten minutes. Maybe she would try to come here even though he wanted her to not pay him a visit anymore. Would make sense to leave the house as soon as possible, because Marti always had done things she hadn´t been expected to. With shaking knees and a bleeding heart he finally left the house to catch Heather at home before her first class at the university. The thought of meeting Rufus again wasn´t very encouraging at all but he had to let off steam and she was the one and only person to benefit from. Clenching his teeth, he arrived at Heather´s and got out of the car furiously. She was just leaving, closing the door while Rufus was barking inside.
"We have to talk!" he ordered from behind with icy voice.
Heather turned around, smiling friendly. "Jules! Nice to meet you! Have you come to take me to the university?"
"I´d like to stay here, just where I am. You did it again, putting a plush cat in Miss Perkins locker? Threatening her to death? Despite this action for an injunction! Am I right?"
"So, she immediately ran to you to enjoy you comforting her? Poor baby... By the way... Did she tell you...?"
Julian started boiling inside, interrupting her with a simple gesture by his hand. "Don´t you dare to do that again," he told her quietly, gnashing his teeth. To hear Heather name her poor baby was like laughing publicly at his girlfriend. "I won´t hesitate to get you arrested and you know what I´m capable of. This is my one and final warning." He turned around in a rage and went back to his car without even waiting for her answer. For the first time Heather had no words to tell him. She´s never seen him that furious before. His eyes were throwing out sparks and she was quite afraid of him.
When the car started, Julian felt like having a heart attack but he drove away anyway. On the road he couldn´t hold back the tears anymore and started crying silently for the first time in months. Watered eyes he arrived at Lancer and got out of his car, hoping not to meet Marti right now. He first went to the bathroom and looked into the mirror, being shocked because of seeing his rose colored eyes and cheeks.
"Oh my gosh, I´m looking like a freak...," he whispered to himself and freshened up. He still felt this terrible hurt deep inside, not willing to accept the choice he made half an hour ago on the phone. "What am I gonna do if she´s out there anywhere in the hallway? I can´t stand her accusing eyes...," he murmured and closed his own ones. Sighing heavily, he wished Marti could be safe in his arms again.
On the way to his first class he phoned one of his former detectives to help him. Whatever it may cost, he wanted Heather to be observed. Just to make sure Marti stays safe. It turned out to be no problem and he got a little more relaxed after all. Then he informed the responsible judge at court house about Heather´s knowing violation. Consequence was to impose a fine on Heather and an increase of the distance she had to stay away of Marti. It´s just that Heather wouldn´t care about that...
When he entered the lecture room his students were nice like always but he knew exactly they noticed him being a picture of misery. After the two classes he had to do Julian got back to his three strikes law office for the daily work. Maybe he could forget his sadness and worrying for a while by working on their case to get three strikes law overturned. To pack Marti´s stuff at home would have been way to complicated for his wounded soul and deep inside in some way he was still hoping for her early return, too.
When he got home late in the evening, he found a letter in his postbox. Heather´s hand writing, of course, not Marti´s. Again he had to hold back his tears like a teenager suffering from heartache just by remembering her not being here. Nervously he opened the envelope and read Heather´s short note.
Would like to have dinner with you tonight. There is some wonderful news to talk about. Heather
The wonderful news to talk about he knew damned well. Probably Marti had complained about the plush cat in her locker and now she felt being the winner because of him finally having ended their relationship. Damned beast! He decided to send her a short message via cell phone, saying he´s got no time for talking about wonderful news due to an important appointment with his client. After he had texted her he made a short call on his detective and he told him Heather hadn´t been acting criminal again. She even didn´t try to observe his house or any place else. Good to know. Julian switched off the cell and sighed heavily.
He sat down on the couch and stared at the ceiling once more. The house was a lonely place without Porsche being next to him. Instead of cooking away his misery he decided to have something to drink. After some glasses of wine and a lot of sad thoughts about his misery he fell on his bed, feeling a little drunk. Looking next to him and recognizing his lost again, he suffered from loneliness once more. Silent tears finally brought him to sleep deep in the night.
Tbc...
©Mrs. NiG, 11/21/2011
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Hope to see you soon ^^