Days of our Haiden

S2E14: I'm Coming After You.

Jonah's mother Beverly sat by his bedside tears in her eyes was she waited for her son to wake up. His father was off getting something for her to eat at the cafeteria. He had insisted she eat something even though she wasn't the slightest bit hungry. Who could eat when their son had almost died?

There was a knock on the door. She looked up to see Ciara standing timidly in the doorway.

"May I come in?" Ciara asked.

She smiled weakly at her. "Of course!"

Ciara walked in. "How are you holding up?"

Jonah's mother sighed. "I'm doing as well as I can. On one hand, I'm just happy he survived being shot. On the other hand, I'm worried there could be unforeseen complications. Then there's the fact that he was so sad he tried to kill himself." Her voice wavered. "I feel like I've failed as a mother to my son!" She started to cry then.

Ciara walked over to her and gently placed a hand over her shoulder. "You didn't fail as a mother. None of us saw this coming. You can't blame yourself. If anyone is to blame, it's the thugs in school who bullied him."

"Kids have been bullying my son?" Frank Caldwell asked angrily as he came into the room with his wife's soup.

Ciara looked at him and nodded. "My friends and I stick up for him whenever we see it, but it doesn't stop them. They call him fat and pick on him for what he wears. He never acted like it bothered him, but I guess it did." Ciara looked down to the ground; suddenly ashamed that she hadn't seen how much it had bothered him.

"Why didn't the teachers do anything about it?" Beverly asked as she took the soup from her husband. She set it aside. She had no desire to eat until she was sure her son would be okay.

"The bullies are a popular crowd. They are the typical jocks and cheerleaders." Ciara shrugged. "No one wants to make them pay; otherwise the sports season will suffer."

"Well, I'm going to have a long talk with the head of the school board. Someone's going to pay for what happened to my son!" Frank snapped.

"I can't believe he never came to us about the bullying." Beverly started to cry again. "I really am a horrible mother!"

Frank took her hand and gently rubbed it with his thumb. "You're not a horrible mother. I'm a horrible father. I should have spent more time with him. Then maybe I would have known about these bullies, and therefore I could have prevented all this."

"You're not bad parents."

Beverly, Frank, and Ciara all turned to face Jonah, who had spoken for the first time since shooting himself.

"You're awake!" Ciara said.

"Oh, Thank God!" Frank exclaimed.

Beverly started to cry again, only this time they were happy tears. She took her son's hand in her own.

"Don't cry, Momma. I'm sorry for making you cry." Jonah had tears in his own eyes. "I'm one big screw up. I couldn't even kill myself correctly!"

"Don't you say that! Thank God you couldn't kill yourself correctly!" Beverly scolded.

"And you're not a screw up!" Frank added. "Son, why didn't you tell us about the bullying?" He took Jonah's other hand in his own, and held it tightly.

"I was embarrassed. They all hated me because I was fat. I disgust them. I thought Lauren really liked me, but at camp I found out it was all one big set up to embarrass me." He blushed. "I thought she was going to kiss me, but instead she held a water snake up to my lips, knowing how terrified of snakes I am. I screamed and fell into the lake. Her friends showed up and they all laughed at me while she took pictures. She said she is going to show the pictures at school when it starts back up again." Jonah explained. "I was so stupid to ever think a girl like her could fall for me!"

Ciara was so angry right then, she felt as if she could kill someone. "Why didn't you tell us about what Lauren did to you?" she asked.

Jonah looked away. "I was too embarrassed." He then looked at Ciara. "Why didn't I die?"

"Because those weren't real bullets in my mom's gun. They were blanks," Ciara said quietly.

"And because it's not God's plan for you to die. Don't you ever do such a foolish thing like that again! Do you hear me?" Beverly asked him.

Frank nodded. "You scared us both half to death! We love you so much, Son. If we were to ever lose you…" Frank started to get choked up.

Jonah was tearing up again. "I'm sorry. I'll never do it again! I can't do it right anyway."

Frank gently hugged his son the best he could with Jonah being in bed. "We're going to get you help for your depression."

Beverly nodded. "I also think we should home school you. I don't want those bullies anywhere near you."

Jonah didn't say anything.

Kayla came in then and smiled when she saw that Jonah was awake. "Jonah! You're awake! Welcome back to us."

Jonah gave her a weak smile. "Thank you for saving my life."

"I hope you mean that, and are regretting having tried to kill yourself," Kayla said.

Jonah shrugged. "For my parents' sakes, I'm glad I'm alive."

Kayla turned to his parents and to Ciara. "I need to check him over. If you guys wouldn't mind stepping out for just a bit…"

"We'll be back," Frank said to Jonah, gently stroking his son's hair and careful not to bump the bandages.

Beverly kissed his cheek. "You be a good boy and listen to the doctor. I love you."

"I love you too," Jonah said.

"See you soon," Ciara said to Jonah. "I'm so happy you're not dead." She knew it was kind of a lame way of putting it, but she didn't know how else to say it.

The three of them left Jonah's room, and shut the door behind them.

Jonah's mother let Frank convince her to go sit down in the waiting room and eat her soup.

Ciara walked over to her friends.

"I heard he's awake!" What did he say?" Claire asked, standing up from the chair she had been sitting in.

Ciara told them everything Jonah had said—including what Lauren and the bullies had done to him.

"I'm going to kill them. Every single one of them!" Joey said standing up, his fists clenched.

Theo nodded. "I'll help you."

"I wouldn't go as far as killing them, but they have to pay. I agree," Claire said with a nod of her head. "The question is, how?"

"I don't know," Ciara said calmly. "But we'll think of something."

"We're going to make them sorry they ever messed with our friend," Joey said.

Theo nodded. "You can count on it."

~*This love came back to me.*~

Aiden and Hope sat on Marlena's office couch with Chase between them.

"Chase, is there anything you would like to say to your father and Hope?" Marlena asked calmly.

Chase looked at Hope first. "Did you know what I did?"

Hope hesitated. She looked at Aiden.

"Don't look at him. I asked you," Chase said; a little annoyed.

"Chase, don't talk to your mother that way," Aiden said calmly.

"She's not my mother!" Chase snapped. "I only had one mother, and I killed her." He looked at Hope. "Did you know I killed my mom, and if so, when did you find out?"

Hope sighed. "I did know. I found out years ago when we all went to the cabin together."

Chase nodded. "I had a feeling you knew. That's why you and Dad tried to stop me from trying to figure out what my flashbacks of mom meant." He looked at Aiden. "How could you not tell me after all these years? How could you let me go on believing that Mom killed herself?"

"I didn't want you to beat yourself up over killing her," Aiden said simply.

"So you thought it would be better if I thought of my mom as suicidal?" Chase asked.

Aiden didn't know what to say.

"Seriously, how could you let me go on thinking that Mom was the cause of her death when all along you knew that it was me? You had me blaming her for her own death when all this time, I was the only one to blame!" Chase snapped.

"Chase, he did what he felt was best for you. He didn't want you feeling bad for no reason," Hope said softly, her hand over his shoulder.

Chase pulled away from her. "For no reason? I killed my mother, Hope! My real mother. I have every reason to feel bad!" He whipped around to look at Aiden. "And you! Didn't you ever love Mom?"

Aiden started to tear up a bit. "You know I did. She and I loved each other so much we had you."

"Then how could you do this to her? How could you let her take the blame for her own murder?" Chase asked, tears in his eyes now.

Aiden looked Chase in the eyes. "I just didn't want you to feel the way you do now. I don't think your mother would either. She loved you so much, and she wouldn't want you to blame yourself for her murderer. After all, you were so young. You didn't know what you were doing. You were just playing."

"Had I just listened, and not played with the gun, then Mom never would have been killed," Chase said.

"Chase, you were only four. That's what four-year-olds do—they ignore their parents." Marlena smiled. "You simply cannot blame yourself for being a typical four-year-old. It was just an accident. It was just a series of misfortunate things. Had your mother not had a gun, or had she not put it where you could see it and get to it, then she wouldn't have gotten shot."

Chase glared at her. "Oh. So now it's my mother's own fault he got shot?"

Marlena stayed calm. "Chase, that isn't what I meant. I meant that you could look it from many different angles where anyone could be to blame. In reality, no one is to blame. No one was to know what was going to happen. It was just a freak accident. That's all you can consider it to be—a freak accident."

"It wasn't a freak accident. I'm to blame." Chase stood up angrily. "Shame on you for suggesting it was my mother's fault." He looked at Aiden. "Shame on you for letting mom take the blame for her death." He turned to Hope, and shame on you for not telling me the truth!" He then left the office, slamming the door behind him.

"Chase, wait!" Aiden said standing up with Hope.

Hope put a hand over his shoulder. "Just give him some time alone to cool off. He's going through a lot right now."

"But he needs us now more than ever!" Aiden said.

"Hope's right. Right now he just needs some time alone to calm down and think things through. He just found out that not only did he accidentally kill his mother, but also, his friend tried to commit suicide. It's a lot for his brain to take in. We need to take this slowly; otherwise he could regress," Marlena said. "We can schedule another session for next week. Right now, let's just give him a little time to start healing on his own."

Aiden reluctantly agreed, and after a moment more of small talk, Hope and Aiden said goodbye to Marlena, then left her office.

Hope held Aiden close. "Don't beat yourself up over any of this. All right? He's just angry right now. He'll come around." She kissed him softly on the lips, and stroked his hair. "I promise you everything will be okay."

Aiden held her close. "I could never get through this without you. You know what right?" He asked as he gently stroked her hair.

She smiled up at him. "Lucky for you, you'll never have to."

They kissed for a moment, then went to go see how Jonah was doing.

~*This love came back to me.*~

Hope felt a little awkward entering Jonah's room. After all, she felt partially responsible for Jonah shooting himself, seeing as it was her gun he had used.

She knocked on the door and entered. "Knock, knock! I just wanted to come in and check on you. I hope that's all right."

Jonah nodded. "Of course it's all right."

"How are you feeling?" Hope asked.

"Like I've just been shot in the head," Jonah joked.

Hope pushed some hair behind her ear and looked away. She then looked at Jonah's parents. "I'm so sorry I had my gun loaded. I thought loading it with blanks and keeping it in a lock box was being safe, but apparently, it wasn't safe enough. I sometimes do shooting practice just to keep up my reflexes on point. I usually unload the gun after, but that time, I didn't."

"It's not your fault," Beverly said with a shake of her head. "You didn't expect anyone to get into it."

Frank nodded. "Were sorry for any inconvenience this caused you."

Hope scrunched her eyebrows. "Inconvenience? No way! I'm just glad Jonah is going to be okay. That is the most important thing."

"I'm sorry I broke your gun box lock. I can pay for another one," Jonah said.

Hope shook her head and pat his blanketed legs. "You can pay me back by getting better!" She smiled at him.

"Do you think that Marlena person could help me?" Jonah asked. "My parents want me to get a psychiatrist, and Ciara says she's the best."

"Of course!" Hope looked at Frank and Beverly. "She's actually in today, so you could stop by her office. I'm sure she'd be more than happy to set up an appointment for you."

Frank nodded a polite nod. "Thank you."

"I'll let you guys have your privacy. I just wanted to make sure you were going to be okay. I'm so happy to see you awake and alive," Hope said to Jonah.

Jonah smiled weakly at her. "Thank you."

Hope exchanged a quick goodbye with Jonah's parents, then left. Aiden was just finishing a work-related call.

Aiden clicked off his phone, and placed an arm around Hope's waist. "Hey. How did it go? Sorry I couldn't go in with you. My secretary thought she lost some important case files when all this time they were right where I told her they'd be. She just had one of her gossip magazines lying on top of it so she hadn't seen it right away."

Hope smirked. "At least she's caught up on all the gossip," she joked. Then, she turned more serious. "He's going to be okay, thank God. I'm also glad his parents don't blame me for Jonah having used my gun."

Aiden was surprised. "Why would they? You had no idea that Jonah was even coming over."

Hope nodded. "I know, but I still feel partially responsible."

"Well, don't! It wasn't your fault," Aiden said simply.

Hope rested her head against his. "I'll stop feeling guilty about my gun being used if you stop feeling guilty for not telling Chase the truth. You did what you felt was best for him. I didn't know Meredith, but I'm sure she would have wanted to you lie to him like you did."

Aiden sighed. "I'll try not to feel guilty but I can't make any promises."

Hope kissed him, and gently stroked his cheek. "That's all I can ask; that you try," she said with a smile.

He smiled too.

"Excuse me, Hope? I need to ask you a couple of questions."

Hope and Aiden looked over at the sound of Roman's voice.

"Hey, Roman, what's up?" Hope asked, pulling away from Aiden and pushing some hair behind her ear.

"I was wondering if you've heard anything from Rafe lately," Roman stated.

Hope shook her head, her eyebrows knitted together. "No, come to think of it, I haven't heard from him in days. Why?"

"He hasn't showed up to work in over a week. First he had texted that he was sick, then he texted that he missed you so much and had to get out of town for a bit. I didn't think much of it at first, but now there are no updates from him. His father and brother are both missing as well now. Adrianna and Gabi are worried sick. Apparently, they had gotten a text from Rafe saying that he bought a house and wanted them to come and see it. Adrianna and Gabi couldn't make it, but Eduardo and Dario went to check it out. They were never heard from again after that, and it's been a couple days after that text was received." Roman explained.

"Did you check out the house?" Hope asked, getting back in to cop mode.

Roman nodded. "I sent a team out, but all that was there was a burned down pile of rubble of what we're guessing, used to be the house. Forensics are looking for clues to see if it was arson. There are literally no neighbors around that could have witnessed anything, so unfortunately, forensics is all we have."

"Do you need any help?" Hope asked. "I just need to go home and get changed, then I can go right to the station."

Roman shook his head. "You have enough on our plate right now."

"Rafe is my friend. If he could be in danger, I need to get to the bottom of it," Hope insisted. "I'll be to the station in a half hour. You can take me down to the house and I'll see if I can help spot anything."

Roman nodded his agreement. "All right. I'll see you at the station in a half hour then." Roman nodded a greeting to Aiden, then left.

"You don't mind, do you?" Hope asked Aiden.

Aiden shook his head. "Not at all. Duty calls. Let's head home. Ciara said Chase wants to stay and visit Jonah. Theo will give them both rides home."

Hope nodded. "All right."

They quickly said goodbye to the kids, then headed home.

Aiden couldn't help but be secretly upset. Hope had chosen him, yes, but still she was worried over Rafe. She was so worried, in fact, that she was dropping everything to go find him.

He sighed. He had to become a police officer more than ever now. He had to prove himself to Hope so that she would know that he was just as worthy of having her as Rafe was.

~*This love came back to me.*~

Chase had just heard what Lauren and crew had done to Jonah to make him try to kill himself. "So what are we going to do to get back at them?" he asked.

"Are you up for revenge?" Joey asked him. "I know you have a lot going on yourself, Dude."

Claire nodded. "Yeah, if you want to sit this one out, no one will be offended. We'll all understand."

Chase shook his head. "No. I'm not going to sit this one out. They almost got my friend killed. Now they're going to have to pay for it. Besides, I could use the distraction."

Ciara smiled. "Glad to have you aboard! We can use all the help we can get. I want to get back at them, and I don't mean meaningless little pranks. These pranks are going to make them regret the day they ever laid eyes on Jonah."

They all grinned.

"Do tell," Theo said.

Ciara motioned them closer to her in a huddle, then she whispered her plan to them.

They all grinned even bigger.

"It's settled then. We'll take our time to perfect our plan, and as soon as school starts back up in a couple of weeks, we strike hard and fast like vipers!" Theo said.

Joey nodded and punched his left fist into his right hand.

Claire nodded and smiled. "And they'll never know what hit them!"

They all grinned wickedly at each other, then headed over to go visit with Jonah.