2nd Monday

When Rae woke up on Monday morning she could see the early morning sunlight shining in through the blind. She looked at her watch it was nine minutes after seven, plenty of time before she needed to be at the hospital to see Dr. Dobson. She closed her eyes, and tried to imagine what she would do if she came face to face with her stalker, but after a couple of minutes she realised that it was a futile exercise. As she had no idea who he was, there was no way she could work out her reactions.

She sat up in bed and ran her fingers through her hair. She knew she'd told herself not to let the guy get to her, but it wasn't easy. Steve was lying in the hospital, and she knew that Jesse was in danger too. She had a feeling that Steve had only survived because he was a big fit man, if Jesse had inhaled that much chloroform...She shuddered, she couldn't think about that. She turned her head to look at him sleeping beside her, and was surprised to see that he was looking up at her. "Hi, I'm sorry, did I wake you up?"

"No, I've been awake for a while, I enjoy watching you, but you look so troubled right now." Jesse sat up, pulled her head over, and onto his shoulder.

"I was letting my thoughts run away from me." She took a deep breath, "I'm scared, Jesse, scared for me, but more scared for you and what he could do to you. I'm so sorry that I've put you and Steve in so much danger."

"Hey, neither one of us is going to back away, you know that. We went over this yesterday.  I love you, Rae, I'm not going anywhere, and Steve likes a tidy desk!" He lay back on the pillow pulling her down as well; he turned her face towards his and began to kiss her. Their lovemaking was slow and sensuous, like Jesse had wanted it to be on the Sunday morning. This time Rae was able to respond and the enjoyment was mutual.

It was just after seven forty five when Rae got out of the shower. "Jesse, are you coming into the hospital while I see Dr. Dobson? Only if you do we can use just the one car."

"Yeah, why not, I can go see Steve while you are with Brian." Rae came back into the room, grabbed the only set of clean clothes left in the place, and pulled them on. She ran the brush through her hair. Hairdressers, I still haven't asked Amanda. As she walked into the living area she could see the mail on the mat. She froze, her eyes met Jesse's, and he walked over and picked it all up. "It's ok, there's nothing from him."

Rae relaxed, don't let him ruin your day; forget him today. But she still put her badge and gun on her belt. After a quick breakfast of her yoghurt drink, (accompanied by grimaces from Jesse), and an apple they were in the car, and on the way to the hospital. They separated at the main entrance, and arranged to meet by Steve's room in an hour.

Helen was on duty outside Dr. Dobson's office when Rae arrived. She smiled and waved her through. Dr. Dobson was standing at the window watching the world go by when she entered, but he turned immediately and smiled at her.

"Good morning, Detective, how are you this morning?"

"I've been better. I need to talk to you about things we haven't discussed before because they weren't relevant, no, more than that, they didn't exist...  I have a stalker and I'd like to talk to you about the psychological aspects of it."

"How do you know that you have a stalker, Detective?"

"I guess you don't read the Sunday Comet then?" Rae once again listed all the things that had happened. It got no easier with the telling. In fact, each time she went through it, it only brought home to her just how vulnerable she was, and she was a cop for goodness sake.

"I agree with your colleague's opinion that you have a predatory stalker, and that he has become obsessed with you. I don't have that much experience with stalkers, well not as much as with their victims, but this seems to be moving faster and faster. I really would watch your back, Detective."

"Oh, I intend to, and Jesse's as well. But he got to Steve, and of the two of them he's far better equipped to handle himself, but now he's lying in a bed here."

"Well, Lieutenant Sloan was lucky, and I realise that you know that. Now, we need to talk about you, and how you're dealing with this, and any advice I can give you that I think will help."

Jesse walked up to Steve's room, and looked through the glass, his friend was sitting up in bed, his breakfast untouched in front of him. "Hey, buddy, how are you feeling this morning?"

"I've felt better, how come when you see this happen in the movies the guy just gets up, and carries on?"

Jesse smiled at him, "Hey, they shoot ten rounds out of a gun too, I guess we all get disillusioned now and again."

"Where's Rae? I thought you two were going shopping this morning!"

Jesse raised his eyes to the heavens, "Oh, don't remind me, furniture shopping! But there's no way I can let her go alone, and Jan said that she thought we would be safe in such populated places. I sure hope she's right." He leant over and picked up a piece of toast off Steve's tray, "Are you gonna eat this?"

"No, go ahead, I had one piece, I don't think I can face any more." They sat together, Jesse eating Steve's breakfast, each wondering how Rae was getting on. After a while Jesse couldn't stand it any longer.

"I'm gonna go down, and wait for Rae outside Dr. Dobson's office, you don't mind do you?"

"No, go on, I know you are just itching to get to those furniture stores!"

"Yeah, right." He walked over to his best friend, "Steve, I'm sorry… about yesterday I know I was wrong to say what I did."

"Hey, Jess, it's no problem." Steve held out his hand and Jesse took it. As they shook hands Steve smiled. "Let me know how she is later ok?"

"You got it." Jesse went out into the corridor, and down the hall. He realised that he was staring at everybody as if they were about to kill him. Face it, Travis, somebody might, you're scared. Rae admitted it, and you need to as well. He arrived at the main desk outside Dr. Dobson's office, and smiled at the nurse, "Hi, is Detective Yeager still in with the doctor?"

"Yes, but," she looked at her watch, "They should be finished in a minute." As she spoke the door opened and Rae came out. Jesse couldn't tell by looking at her how it had gone. She smiled when she saw him, and then turned and shook hands with Dr. Dobson.

"Thank you, today has been very helpful. It's reassuring to know that we're doing everything that we should. I'll see you in a week."

Jesse walked over to her, and took her hand. "Hi, Brian, how's it going?"

"Fine, Jesse, thank you. Have a nice time shopping!" He smiled over at Jesse and then disappeared back into his office.

Jesse and Rae headed back out to the parking lot, and got into Jesse's car. He told her how Steve was, and as they drove along she repeated what Dr. Dobson had said about how to deal with her emotions during this time. "He seemed to think that we're doing things pretty well. He also said not to keep it in, but to let somebody know how I'm feeling. Somebody I know isn't the stalker. I said that I'd tell you. I thought maybe this evening we could get a takeaway, sorry, out, and just talk, not only about that, but about lots of different things. I think we may both feel better for it."

Jesse looked over at her, "Yeah, I think you're right. Oh, here we are, Ikea, for what exactly?"

"Bed, sofa, things like that, and I like their kitchen stuff, not too expensive, which seeing as it is all only going to have a ten month life is important."

Suddenly Jesse felt incredibly sad, ten months and she would be gone out of his life. He shook himself; he would deal with that later. Now he had to get through a day's furniture shopping. It must be love!

Rae had sat and laid down on twelve different beds. Trouble was she couldn't remember what the first one was like now. She wandered back over to it. She wanted one with drawers underneath, there wasn't much cupboard space in her apartment, and if she did get the chance to get her children over, then it would be needed. She looked around; Jesse was nowhere to be seen. "Jesse, Jess, where are you?" She could feel her panic rising, he'd been here just now, where was he? "Jesse, Jesse!"

"Excuse me, madam, have you lost your son?" A worried looking assistant hurried over to her.

"No, no, it's fine, I just lost sight of my boyfriend for a moment, but I'm ok, now." Rae felt really silly, but she couldn't explain. She just knew she had to find Jesse.

"Hey, Rae, what about this one?" She heard his voice from over in another part of the store, turned and ran to him.

"My God, Jesse, you frightened the life out of me, why did you run off like that?" She rubbed her hand across her face, she couldn't cry here, but she felt like it.

"Rae, honey, I'm so sorry, I didn't think." He sat down on the bed he was standing next to. "This is impossible isn't it? Until this guy is caught we can't live a normal life." He could feel himself getting more and more angry. He struggled to keep his it down. "Look, lets carry on as if this didn't happen. We'll just stay together, ok?"

Rae nodded. "So what is so special about this bed then?"

Jesse smiled. "Sit on it." She did so. "It's really comfortable don't you think?"

"That's it? You gave me a heart attack because this is really comfortable!" she paused. "I'm sorry. Yeah it is comfortable. Let's go for this one, if we both like it then it's the best one so far." She took a slip from the box next to the bed and wrote down all the code details she needed. She had checked the Internet and knew that she could get her stuff delivered tomorrow before she went to work because it was the right area, but only if it was in stock. Keeping her fingers crossed she went over to talk to an assistant, making sure that it wasn't the one who had spoken to her earlier.

Jesse sat on the edge of the bed and looked at her. This has to end.

Two hours and numerous sofas later Rae was ready to move onto the kitchen department. She grabbed a cart and they headed for china, glass and kitchen utensils. Rae was like a child in a toy store. She picked up things, put them back, walked on, came back, picked them up again, soon the cart had very little space left in it. They moved onto the bathroom department and she picked up towels. The next area was full of storage boxes; soon the trolley was too.

"You know, we'll need another cart before long. Are you nearly done?"

"I was going to get a couple of blinds, a duvet, some bedding and some trendy plants then I'll be done!"

"Trendy what?"

"Trendy plants, when I used to shop in Ikea in London we always used to buy a plant while we were there, and we used to call them Trendy Plants."

Rae picked two dark blue blinds for the windows in the living area, and then changed her mind and picked up another two the same. After choosing two plants which she perched precariously on the top they headed for the check out area.

Jesse thought he might need oxygen when the total came up, but Rae just got her new piece of plastic out and smiled at the lady. After they had packed it all back into the trolley cart they headed over to the concession stand and had hot dogs for lunch. When they'd put everything in the trunk of Jesse's car she smiled at him over the top of the car and said, "Ok, where next?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

"Actually you know I think that pretty much covers everything I need, except food, oh, and I need to get a few more clothes now that my bag has been taken."

They spent another couple of hours looking for and getting some clothes for Rae. She also got couple of outfits for 'good ol' Sheree'; she couldn't after all wear the same thing again on Tuesday. Then they headed back to the apartment house and started to unload everything again.

"Jesse, do you think you could go and put that carpet shampoo thing in my place so that I can do the floors?"

"Yeah, sure, but I think we should stick together. We'll unload this and then go right?"

She nodded. Independence was a luxury she didn't have at the moment. She opened the door to her apartment and scanned it quickly. It was clear, and so she started to stack things in the closet in the bedroom, and the kitchen cupboards. She didn't want to put anything on the floor, because it would only have to be moved again.

Once everything was done they went and got the floor machine. Rae had been looking forward to doing this because she hoped the carpet would look better in the end, but it was back breaking work. She'd been back and forward it felt like a million times, and she couldn't really see that much difference.

"Hey, once you get some furniture in here it'll be great." Jesse could see the frustration in Rae's face. "Let's see, what have you got coming?  A sofa bed, a giant bean bag thing, a coffee table and a magazine rack, most of the floor will be covered. It'll be fine, trust me."

"Oh, I do trust you," Rae turned and kissed his gently on the lips, then she smiled. "So, everything is in, the floor is done, what do you want to do now? We could head over to the beach house and have a run along the beach there, or go and get the groceries in ready for me to move in tomorrow, or…"

"I know, how about we go to the Japanese Gardens, and then we could go over to Bob's for dinner."

"Oh, Jesse, what a great idea, that's better than takeout. Come on, let's go right now."

The afternoon was pleasant and they were soon in Van Nuys, they started in the Zen Garden. The scenery was beautiful, and Rae felt that they had moved slightly out of time with the rest of the world. As they walked hand in hand through some of the six and half acres of grounds, they said nothing; it wasn't necessary. After a while they sat down on the grass, and rested against each other. As she sat there Rae felt as if she had known Jesse all her life. Here, she could put all her troubles into a part of her brain that would lock them away for her. She could concentrate on the now, on being with the man she loved in a peaceful and safe haven. She turned to look at him. He was lying back on the grass now with his eyes closed. She took the picture into her mind.

"Jess, sweetheart," Slowly he stirred. Rae was sitting on the grass next to him. He shivered.

"You've been fast asleep for just over an hour. The Gardens are going to close in ten minutes." She held out her hand, and pulled him to his feet. "It's a very relaxing place isn't it? You know I feel completely at peace here, just like the Lake Shrine, beautiful places both of them." They walked back out to where the car was parked. She let out a little sigh. "I half expected the car to have been touched, but surely the man has to work sometimes. Maybe Monday is his day."

"I tell you what, let's go home, and get changed. I know we're only going to Bobs, but let's treat it as a night out."

"Better still, we could actually have a night out. Couldn't we eat somewhere else? How about Mexican?"

Jesse thought a minute, "If we go into Olvera Street, we can have a great Mexican meal. It won't taste like the stuff you have in London though, this is the real thing!"

"Ok, that sounds great, but we do have Mexican restaurants in London too you know."

Jesse and Rae had a wonderful evening. They sat, and ate their food outside, watched the world get dark and the stars come out to play. Neither of them was very adventurous, only having things that they'd heard of before, but they made sure that they didn't have the same so that they could swap about. Nobody else seemed to be hurrying, and they didn't either. It was close to ten forty five when they were ready to head back.

"You know I really should go in to Bob's, just to see how much sauce we have left, and how everything is." Rae nodded at him, and they drove back to the BBQ restaurant.

"Hey, Rae, Jesse," Alex was standing behind the counter as they walked in. The place was empty, and the closed sign was up on the door. He had a cloth in this hand, and was wiping down the counter top.

"I just came to check up on the sauce, and cash up. Busy night?"

"No, not particularly. I even got some studying done! Digestive system, I thought it was apt." He saw Jesse's face. "I took it out the back, honest!"

Jesse walked out into the kitchen, and Alex handed Rae a mineral water. "Thanks. I believe I owe you a beer." She got her money out of her pocket, and handed him some. He picked up a bottle from behind the counter and put the money in the cash register.

"You don't have to do this, but thanks." He drank from the bottle, and then wiped his mouth. "I, ah, heard what's been going on, I was in with Steve earlier. You know if there is anything I can do to help."

"NO!" Rae was horrified.

"Rae, I just want to help a friend." Alex looked hurt.

"I'm sorry, no, Alex, I can't let anybody else be his victim. He's already nearly killed Steve, and I'm really worried about Jesse. I didn't mean to shout, but I just can't let you get involved."

Jesse had come rushing out of the kitchen when he heard her shout, and he listened to what she was saying. He shook his head, this guy had her whole life tied up in his hands, and there was nothing they could do about it.

It was eleven thirty when they locked the restaurant up for the night, and headed out to their cars. Alex was parked two rows away from Rae and Jesse, and he walked over with them. Rae and Alex were ahead of Jesse who'd had to set the building alarm. "I mean it, Rae, if you do need somebody, I'm around, call me." He smiled at her, and turned to walk away. He saw a car in the dark coming towards Jesse. "Jesse, look out!" He ran back, and hurled himself at the doctor, pushing him out of the way of the speeding car, but he wasn't quick enough to save himself, was hit, and sent flying into the air.

"ALEX! JESSE!" Rae screamed and rushed over to them. Alex was lying in a pool of blood, Jesse tried to scramble to his feet, he hadn't been hurt, but didn't have much air left in his lungs. 

"Rae," his voice was croaky, he held up his cell phone, she ran and got it. She dialled 911 with fingers that she could barely keep from shaking. Once she knew the ambulance was on the way she went quickly back over to Alex. Once again she found herself kneeling by a friend feeling for a pulse. His wasn't much stronger than Steve's had been.

Slowly Jesse regained enough breath to move, and he crawled over to where Alex was lying. He was so shocked that he had no idea what to do. He just sat there, his head in his hands praying that his young friend would survive, because he knew he could do nothing for him.

They were all put into the back of the ambulance, and the paramedics began to work on Alex. They got a mask on him, and began to take his vital signs.

They got to the ER, and Alex was rushed through and into a trauma suite. Jesse was also taken into one to be checked over. Rae sat outside in the hallway, then unable to stay where she was, she got up, and walked up to Steve's room. She knocked on the door, and entered. Steve was out of bed, dressed and sitting in a chair reading a bike magazine; he stood up, and looked at her.

Steve couldn't believe his eyes. Rae was shaking and her clothes were covered with blood. "Rae, what's happened? Are you alright?" She shook her head, rushed over to him and collapsed into his arms. "Are you hurt, Rae? Rae, is that your blood?" He breathed a sigh of relief as she shook her head again.

He tried to make sense of what she was saying, but her breathing was so erratic that he couldn't. He leant over onto the bed, and pressed the nurses call button. When it was answered he turned to see a tall young woman standing just inside the doorway. "Could you page my father to come up here, please? Tell him it's not me, but it's urgent." She nodded and left, he turned his attention back to Rae.

"Come on, Rae, take deep breaths, slowly, just like dad helped you with when you were here before. Once you calm down we can talk, but not before. I can't understand what you're saying."

Slowly she calmed down enough to disentangle herself from him. "Oh, God, Steve… he tried again tonight… he tried to kill Jesse, he was going to run him down in the parking lot outside Bob's… but he missed… he got Alex instead! This is… is Alex's blood. I'm sorry, I think I'm going to be sick." She raced into the bathroom that was attached to Steve's room and he could hear her in there. He started to walk over to her when his dad came in the room.

"Steve, what is it? I would have been here in a minute when I finished my rounds." Then he heard Rae being sick in the bathroom, he looked puzzled and walked over to the door. "Rae! What's happened, where's Jesse?"

She turned to look at him and he was shocked by her appearance. She seemed to have aged about ten years since he had last seen her. "My God, Rae, what's happened?"

"The stalker came after Jesse, but he missed. He got Alex instead. He's in the E.R. Mark, I don't know if he's alive or dead."

"And Jesse?"

"He's there too, I know I should have stayed, but I couldn't." She took a deep breath, "I'm ok now, I'll go back and find out how they are."

"Not alone, you won't. I'll come with you." Steve looked over at his dad with a stare that said that he had no intention of staying where he was. Mark let it go, and they all walked down together.

The doctor on duty was Dr. Collins; he saw Steve, Mark and Rae coming back down the hallway towards him. "Detective Yeager, I have one very worried Doctor sitting in Trauma Two. Would you please go and tell him that you are fine?" Collins smiled at her. He had no idea how their world was spiralling out of control, and Rae had no intention of letting him in on it. She just smiled and walked over to him.

"How's Alex? I need to know before I see Jesse."

"He has a very deep wound on the right arm from just below the shoulder to his elbow, probably where the car hit him and the arm is broken in two places. He also has a serious concussion, and multiple cuts and bruises, but he was incredibly lucky. That's all that's wrong. He's been x-rayed. His spine and neck have been checked. He'll be extremely sore for quite a while I would imagine, but he'll be fine, and much sooner than I would have thought when he was wheeled in."

They saw her sway as the relief swept over her, and Steve was there to steady her. "Hey, come on, Detective, you can do this, we are not going to let this bastard beat us!"

"Steve!" Rae looked shocked. He smiled at her, he'd only said it to get a reaction, and it had worked. "Go on, Jesse needs you."

She walked in to see him. His face was grazed where he had hit the ground and he looked a bit glazed; she went to run into his arms but stopped when she saw his face.

"Where did you go, Rae? I thought you would stay with me or Alex."

"I went to see Steve, I needed to talk, I just needed to talk to him."

"Oh." Jesse looked at her. His head hurt and he wanted to check on Alex. "And you couldn't talk to me?"

"Don't do this to me, Jess. You were in here, being treated. I needed to talk, and I needed to tell Steve what had happened." She paused, there was nothing else she could say about it. "Oh, Jesse, let's see Alex and go home, it was such a lovely day, now it's all spoilt."

Jesse couldn't argue, he forced a smile and touched her cheek. "Hey, the lovely day was yesterday, we had a great Monday. We'll put the bad things into Tuesday."

She nodded at him. It seemed like a week since she had been sitting looking at him fast asleep on the grass in Van Nuys. They got up, and went out of the room.

"Where's Alex, Dr. Collins?"

"He has been admitted and is in room 295. And before you ask, yes you can go up, but not for long."

They smiled at him and walked towards the elevator. They rode up in silence, Jesse had both arms around Rae, and she leant back against him. They heard the doors ping, and stepped out. Alex's room was directly to the left of them. They tapped on the door, and quietly entered.

Alex was lying with his injured arm supported. His face was beginning to show the bruises from where he had landed. Rae gently brushed some of his blond hair away from his face. His eyes flickered, and opened.

"Rae, what happened?" his voice was tired, and his eyes weren't focussing properly, but he knew who she was.

"You got hit by a car, Alex. You pushed Jesse out of its path, but got hit yourself. I am so sorry."

"You sure it was only a car, and not an express train?"

"Shhh, you need to close your eyes and go to sleep. You know they check you every two hours. Trust me you need to get some rest while you can. I'll come back and see you tomorrow, OK?"

Alex nodded his head, winced and closed his eyes. Rae placed a kiss on his forehead, and they left him to sleep.

Monday I know I said that I was going to wait until later in the week to have a go at the doctor. Well, I couldn't get her out of my mind all day. I phoned the station this morning and they said she was off. Then I called the hospital and got told the same thing. They were together! I searched all their favourite places, but I couldn't find them. It wasn't until the afternoon that they came home with shopping, stuff for her new apartment. Then they went off again, and I lost them, but I found her at that restaurant the doctor and the cop own. I waited, I knew I could get him and I would have done if that kid hadn't gotten in the way. I'll have to speed up my plan. I thought I could let her go for a day or two and not see her, but I was wrong. She needs to be with me, now.