Chapter Rating: Strong PG13
Chapter Title: Hey Man! – Inspired by another Nelly Furtado song...
AN: Y'all didn't think I was gonna update, did ya? Hardy har-har! I proved you WRONG! *sticks tongue out* This is where everything goes awry. Possibly, I'm gonna have to change my rating to R next chapter. Depending on what happens...
Spoilers: Possible ATWT spoiler, for the last couple weeks worth of episodes...and a CSI 'The Stalker' spoiler.
~~
Marah paced around the lab, phone in hand, waiting for an answer. "Damn it, Paul! Pick up! Please? Come ON Paul! PLEASE!" she screeched.
"Marah...be calm...James can't hurt you..." Greg touched her shoulder. "You're here with people that care about you...look, it's Brass...why don't you tell him?"
"No cop can take James down, Greg...Neleh's Uncle Jack tried...Harmony's father, Hal tried..." she explained, still getting no answer from Paul. "All to no avail..." she went back to her phone vigil. "I'll try him at work..." she called Paul's work number.
"We're not in Oakdale, Marah...maybe a Vegas cop can get him..." Greg tried to calm Marah down still.
Marah shook her head, dubiously. "This is JAMES STENBECK, Greg..." she shouted, then jumped when someone answered Paul's phone.
"Hello?" Bonnie McKechnie (Author's Note: Bonnie is an ATWT Character...my favorite, actually...just so you all know) answered Paul's work phone.
"Bon? What are you doing answering Paul's phone?" Marah asked Bonnie, her only best friend that didn't join her in Vegas. "Doesn't Rose usually do that?"
Bonnie cleared her throat. "Hey to you too, Mar...and Rose and Paul had a very serious falling out...Rose is out filling out divorce papers..."
"What?" Marah's eyes bugged. "What happened...wait a sec...is Paul there?"
"Yeah, he's right here...wanna talk to him?" Bonnie asked, knowing that Marah would definitely say yes.
"Please?" Marah asked, concerned for Paul more than herself now. "How's he doing?" she asked.
"Pretty well, considering..." Bonnie nodded, walking the phone to Paul. "Here he is...we need to catch up, too...call me later, k?"
"Definitely..." Marah grinned, waiting for Paul.
"Mar?" Paul asked, crying.
"Paul..." Marah felt so bad for her brother. "Are you ok, what happened?"
"More or less..." Paul bravely stated. "Thank God Bonnie came in...I was in terrible shape...Rose decided that I worried more about helping Bonnie out of her mess with Isaac and Marshall Travers (Author's Note: More ATWT Characters, for the un ATWT-wise...) than I did about Rose. We fought, and she decided that one strike was too many for me."
Marah's eyes narrowed. "Rose DiAngelo just made my shit list..."
"What'd you call for?" Paul asked, concerned for his sister.
"Paul...I hate this...I have to be the bearer of worse news..." Marah sighed, wondering if she should even tell Paul. "Do you wanna know, or do you want me to wait..."
"No, if it's important to you...it can't wait, sis...what's up?" he asked sweetly.
"Are you sure?" Marah flashed Greg an unsure glance, wrote on a piece of paper what had happened between Paul and Rose and handed it to him. "I mean...you're going through so much..."
"Tell me, Marah..." Paul insisted.
Greg shook his head after looking at the paper. "Don't tell him..." he whispered. "Save it..."
"Paul..." Marah half-smirked.
"Please?" Paul insisted.
"James is out of jail...and here in Vegas..." Marah blurted out.
"What?" Paul shouted.
"Yeah...my friend Greg and I saw him in the park..." she explained. "Tell Bonnie...bring her out here..."
"Why, so that we can be 'Team Ryan' again? And possibly get put in jail?" Paul complained. "You guys come to Oakdale...bring all your friends..."
"I have work to do, Paul...you promised!" Marah glared at the wall, imagining it was Paul again.
"Ok...fine, I'll be there tomorrow..." Paul snapped. "See ya, Marah..." he hung the phone up sharply.
"Love ya, Paul..." Marah sighed, hanging up the phone. "I think he's mad at me, Greg..." she wanted to cry. "For the first time in my life, Paul is mad at me...and it's all James' fault!" she yelled. "Damn him!"
"Marah..." Greg pushed some of her hair out of her face. "He's not mad at you, he's going through something terrible...it's not that surprising that he may be a bit irritable."
"Paul has never said a coarse word to me in his life, Greg..." Marah let a tear fall. "I guess you're right, though."
"Is he coming out here?" Greg asked, placing her head on his shoulder.
Marah nodded. "Yeah, he'll be here tomorrow...Bonnie's coming too..."
"Who is Bonnie, anyway?" he asked.
"Oh...she and I are childhood friends...she's the Duchess of Glasco..." Marah laughed at the thought of Bonnie ruling anything other than a household. "She's a great friend, too..." she explained.
~~
Nick glared out the window of the Chevy Tahoe, as Neleh drove. How did he know about Neleh? And, how did he get my new cell phone number? I had it changed after the first time...but more importantly, how did he get out of jail?
Neleh glanced nervously at Nick. She didn't like seeing him like this at all. Sure, she'd just met him, but he seemed so happy-go-lucky all the time. How could he have such a negative side? And more importantly, what had made it show through? Who was that on the phone before? "Nick?" she asked, all these questions buzzing through her head.
"Huh? Oh...what's up, Neleh?" he asked, turning his head toward her.
"What's the matter? Your mood just slightly changed...ok, so not so slightly, but yeah..." she sighed. "Did I do something?"
"No! No, no...you didn't do anything, Neleh. Really, you didn't, I'm just kinda...eh...at the moment. That's all..." he pointed out the obvious.
"What happened? Did it have anything to do with the call you got at the crime scene?" she asked, knowing the answer, sort of.
"Yeah...how did you know?" he forced a grin.
"Something along the lines of the fact that after you got of the phone, you were all...jumpy, and you keep glancing around like a deer caught in headlights?" she explained, watching him stare at a passing car, as if it held the devil.
"Oh, uh...yeah. That..." he cleared his throat, and looked back at Neleh. "It's nothing, really..."
"You're a terrible liar..." she glanced from the road ant to Nick, then back at the road again. "What's going on?"
"Ok...here's the deal..." Nick shook his head at his own inability to lie, and grinned slightly at Neleh. "See, a year or so ago, I got this case about a guy who was stalking a woman named Jane Galloway. And, as professional as I am, I stupidly made it personal, and then I found out, by watching a couple tapes that the stalker, named Nigel Crane, had kept...he was also stalking me..." he painfully explained to Neleh. "Someone on the scene pushed me out a two story window...but thankfully, I only suffered minor cuts and bruises, and a concussion. I went home to relax...and you know, gather my thoughts? And well, some clairvoyant guy comes by and tells me that I'm in danger," he remembered the situation with great clarity. "Which, of course, I was. Nigel was in my ceiling...and, well, he killed the clairvoyant, and chose me as his next victim. Thank God, though, I was saved, about seconds before he was gonna kill me, by Detective Brass and a couple other cops..."
Neleh's eyes were as wide as saucers. "Oh my God!" she pulled over to the side of the road, reached over to Nick, and hugged him tight. "That must have been absolutely terrifying...but, may I ask...what does that have to do with right now?" she pulled back from Nick, and pushed some hair behind her ear.
"That was him on the phone at the scene...and he knew about you, Harmony and Marah..." Nick explained. "And, well..."
"How did he know about me, Mar and Har?" she asked, beginning to get nervous.
"Uh...well...he said that some guy named James Stenbeck freed him..." Nick explained, beginning to get nervous as well.
"STENBECK? Oh God..." she started to panic. "He's FREE? I have to call Marah! She needs to hide..."
"Neleh...you need to stay out of this...if you get too involved, he'll hurt you...promise you'll stay out..." Nick begged.
"No! James Stenbeck has ruined Marah, Paul, Harmony's and my life too many times for me to stay out of it! I'm sorry, Nick...I can't do that!" she shook her head ferociously. "This officially became my case...I'm sure Harmony will agree..."
~~
There's a shadow in the sky,
And it looks like rain
And shit is gonna fly
Once again