Chapter 8

"I don't want to talk about this right now," Tru said as she stormed into their apartment.

"You have to, don't shut me out," Carisi marched in behind her, he let their door slam behind them. "What the hell is going on? What does Carson know that I don't?"

Tru slung her purse onto the kitchen counter and leaned against it, partly bracing herself for the questions Sonny had, and partly trying to keep her world from spinning out of control.

Sonny leaned against the other side of the kitchen island and looked at her, his gaze and tone softening. "Are you…pregnant?"

Tru's eyes searched Sonny's. She saw the hope that lay within them and how badly he wanted to start a family. She knew how much this would mean to him, but she couldn't shake the crippling fear that had overcome her ever since the thought of being pregnant entered her mind. She sighed and pulled the pregnancy test out of her purse, still in an unopened box. "I don't know." She whispered. "I haven't taken it yet."

Sonny's eyes fell on the box, and he was silent for a moment as he looked at it, then back to Tru.

"It's okay, we'll do it together." He offered.

"No," Tru shook her head, "I don't need to know."

"I do," Sonny's voice was barely above a whisper, but it was firm.

Tru backed away from the counter, "I'm sorry Sonny, I just can't…I can't deal with this right now." She turned and headed to their bedroom.

"Tru, you can't just walk away from this." Sonny called after her, but their bedroom door shut, further dividing them.

Sonny bit his bottom lip and cursed under his breath. Why was she shutting him out like this? He loosened his tie slightly, suddenly finding it harder to breath. It was like someone had sucked the oxygen out of the room. Pain and anger flooded him. Pain that Tru was shutting him out, pain that he felt a wedge being driven between them. Anger that Carson was the cause of that wedge. Anger, thinking about what would have happened if he hadn't decided to go pick Tru up tonight. Fear—because of what happened the last time he got his hopes up about having a child with Tru.

He headed for the door, he had to get out of there. He couldn't just sit back and do nothing while Carson continuously pushed the boundaries of his parole. How far was he willing to go? It didn't matter, Carisi was thought, he was done playing this game. Time to give Carson a taste of his own medicine.

From inside the bedroom Tru could here the front door slam and it made her jump. After a second, she could hear Sonny lock the locks to the door with his keys. He left, she thought. One tear ran down her cheek, then two, then three and before she knew it, she was bawling her eyes out.

She didn't know what to do. She was letting Sonny down, letting her patients down, letting her possibly unborn child down because she wouldn't even confirm its existence. She was letting her fear cripple her, and she hated it, but she didn't know how to stop it. She laid down on the bed, curled into the fetal position and continued to cry.

Carisi drove down the dark New York City street. His fingers gripped the steering wheel so tightly, his knuckles were white. He just wanted things to go back to how they were. Back to when Tru confided in him over everything. Back to when they were so happy together, they made everyone else nauseous.

He tried to push away the thought that he was losing her. He told himself she was just overwhelmed with everything happening the past several weeks. He took the next turn towards his destination. Carisi glanced down at the paper he had printed out at the police station. It contained everything Carson had been up to since he was released on Parole, his work information, contact information and more importantly his updated address. He read the numbers to the buildings as he drove down the road. 1201,1203,1205, he glanced to the other side of the road, 1202,1204,1206—there it was. He pulled his car over right before building 1206 and killed the headlights. Then he waited.

He wasn't a stranger to stake outs, he'd been on them dozens of times. This one was different. This one was personal. He kept his eyes locked on the door to building 1206—where Carson lived. He checked his watch, it was almost 9 o'clock at night. Maybe he was in for the night? It didn't matter, Carisi would sit there all night if he had to, to make sure Carson didn't come near Tru.

It took about an hour, but Carson finally emerged from the building. He glanced around before he turned and began to walk down the street. Carisi grabbed the hoodie in his passenger seat, took his suit jack off, put the hoodie on and flung the hood up over his head. He got out of the car and with that, he was following Carson. The stalker became the stalked.

He followed Carson as he walked the next several blocks. With every step he took he thought about how many times Carson must have done this exact thing. Was Tru the only girl Carson had been obsessed with? Was there one before? One after? One now?

There must have been something that made Carson the way he was. Something that triggered it, something that set him off. As beautiful and lovable as Tru is, there had to be something else behind this. There had to be a reason. Did she remind him of somebody else? His mother, he scoffed at that thought. Everyone was always so quick to blame mothers, now here he was thinking the same thing.

Carson ducked into a doorway and Carisi followed behind him, but not too close. As he stepped in he was the flashing lights and heard the loud thumping of a night club. A bouncer stepped up to him, ready to stop him, but Carisi flashed his badge and he backed off.

There was no sign outside, no line at the door, no roped off line, nothing to indicate there was a raging club inside. It must be one of those private things, invite only. Good thing Carisi's badge is an open invite to anywhere.

Carisi took a seat at the bar and watched out of the corner of his eye while Carson took a seat at the other end of the bar and ordered a drink.

"What can I get for ya, handsome?" A voice broke through his thoughts, and he turned to see the bartender.

Her hair was tied up in a bun and she had a red bandana tied in a Rosie-The-Riveter style around her head. Her lips popped red to match.

"I'll just have a beer," Carisi said.

She reached under the bar and then set a beer on the bar, using her bottle opener to open it, never breaking eye contact with him. She slid the beer over to him and then touched his forearm, "Let me know if you need anything else."

Carisi wasn't interested in the slightest but smiled to be polite and took a swig of his beer. He fixed his gaze on the mirror that hung behind the bar. In it he could see Carson without haven't to turn and look at him. He watched as the bartender made her way down the bar to him. They talked for a minute, and she playfully caressed his arm too.

Carisi shook his head, that girl doesn't know who she is flirting with, he thought. He took another swig, then another until he was gulping down the last of it. He motioned for the bartender again, and she walked his way.

"Can I get another?"

"Sure thing dollface," She retrieved another beer and slid it over to him, she looked at him for a second. "Don't take this the wrong way, but you don't seem like you belong in a place like this."

"Place like this?" Carisi asked.

The bartender looked around with a shrug, "It's not the finest crowd."

Carisi nodded, "And uh…Casanova down at the end…" Carisi nodded his head in Carson's direction, "Does he come in here a lot?"

The bartender looked towards Carson, and then back to Carisi, "You could say that."

Carisi pulled a twenty out of his pocket and slid it over to her. "What else could you say?"

She stared at the money for a second before picking it up, she leaned onto the bar infront of Carisi, leaning in close enough to make him uncomfortable, he swallowed hard and tried not to look away.

"If you ask me," she began in a low voice, like she didn't want to let anyone else hear her even though the music was so loud nobody else could probably hear them anyway. "He spends a lot of time in here for someone who has so much at home."

Carisi raised an eyebrow, intrigued, "What do you mean."

"He has this great wife, a kid on the way, he doesn't even really drink, he's nursing a club soda right now."

"He ever mentions this wife's name?"

She raised an eyebrow, amused, confused, wondering why he was asking these questions.

"It was a weird name; I hadn't heard it before." She said.

"Tru?" Carisi asked, and as he did his heart skipped a beat.

"Yeah, that's it!" She said, "He talks about her a lot, and their baby."

Carisi bit his bottom lip again, trying to not fly off the handle. Who the hell was he to claim Tru as his wife? To act like she was his, he was so fed up with this guy. He was delusional calling Tru his wife and imaging up a child with her. That was their future to have, not Carson's!

"Thanks," Carisi said, he pulled out some money and laid it down on the bar to pay for his beers. As he turned around to leave, he spotted Carson in the mirror, he was right behind him. Carisi turned around, coming face to face with the man he hated most.

Tru awoke to the sound of Daisy barking as ferociously as her small stature would allow. She sat up, trying to fight off the grogginess and confusion of being woken up so suddenly.

"Daisy," Tru called, "What's going on?"

She stood up from the bed and walked towards the living room where the barking was coming from.

"Daisy!" Tru snapped, Daisy stopped barking and looked at Tru with her big brown eyes.

Tru looked at the door, wondering what Daisy was barking at. She reached for the doorknob, prepared to open in and look outside, but just before she reached it the doorknob turned on it's own. She jumped back, gasping. The door began to rattle and shake, Tru's stomach lurched as she realized someone was trying to get it.

She ran for the bedroom, shutting the bedroom door. She snatched her phone off the bed and quickly called Sonny. It rang once, then twice, then three times.

She began to panic. Was he not going to answer? Just then she heard the front door come open, and her heart sunk once again. She reached for the lock on the bedroom door before realizing there wasn't one. She darted into the closet and shut the door. Crouched down in the floor, clutching the phone to her ear, she peered through the venetian closet door and waited for what was to come next.

"Are you following me?" Carson asked.

Carisi shrugged, "Me? Nah, I was in the neighborhood."

Carson was amused, "What a coincidence."

"A lot of coincidences for one day," Carisi said.

"Rough night?" Carson narrowed his eyes on the two beer bottles the sat behind Carisi on the bar. "You and your girlfriend get in a fight? I hope it wasn't something I said."

Carisi's jaw clenched, and his hands balled into a fist. It was all he could do not to pummel him into oblivion.

Carisi's phone began to ring, but he just stared at Carson, refusing to look away first. Praying he would make the first move so he could finally lay into him fair and square.

"Aren't you gonna get that?" Carson raised his eyebrow.

Carisi sighed, "Damn it," he said as he retrieved his phone. He looked at the Caller ID and saw that it was Tru, "Tru, hey…"

"Sonny, someone's at the door," Tru said frantically on the other end.

"What?" Carisi exclaimed, "What do you mean?"

"They're trying to get in." She said.

Carisi looked at Carson who had a look of fake concern spread across his face. "Is everything okay?"

Carisi shoved past him and rushed home.

Sonny ran up the stairs to their apartment building, taking them two at a time, going as fast as he could. He hadn't even drove home, in the late-night traffic it would have taken far too long. So, he ran the twenty blocks from the night club to their apartment. His legs felt like they were on fire and his lungs burned as he ran up the stairs, two at a time. His head pounded, the blood thrashing in his ears and his heart thudded in his chest. Even though he got home fast, it was still long enough for God knows what to happen.

He ran to their door and quickly turned the knob to open it, but it didn't budge. It was locked from the inside. He pulled his keys out of his pocket and quickly turned the key in the lock. He entered the apartment, taking a quick scan. Nothing seemed out of place, it was quiet and clean. He walked through the apartment, looking around, silently listening for any noise. He heard something coming from the bedroom and walked in that direction.

The bedroom appeared empty too, the bed was unmade on one side, where Tru slept, Daisy laid on the bed asleep. His mind raced with panic, where was Tru? What had happened here?

He turned to walk out of the room when he spotted something through the closet doors. He walked towards the closet slowly, and then jerked the doors open.

Tru screamed before realizing it was him. She was crouched in the floor, her knees to her chest. She grabbed at his hands as tears streamed down her face. He knelt down, taking her in his arms.

"Oh my god, Sonny, thank God it's you." She was talking a mile a minute, a breath away from hyperventilating as she fought back tears.

"Tru, what the hell happened?"

"He was here," she cried, "Carson was in the house, he tried to come after me."

"Tru, Tru, calm down," he tightened his grip around her, letting her know she was safe before pulling back to look at her.

"Carson wasn't in the house." He said.

"What?"

"I followed him."

"What do you mean you followed him?"

"I followed him to a bar, I was watching him the whole time. I had eyes on him when you called me." Carisi said.

Tru's eyes stared into his with confusion, "No, it had to have been him."

Carisi shook his head, "It wasn't."