Hours passed and he went to pick up Jordan, whose hair he had fixed by making it into what was considered a 'boy's cut'.

"How was school?"

"Some girls made fun of me." She complained, not mentioning that she got into an ugly argument with them.

"Why don't we get some pizza?" he suggested.

The two had pizza alone, as Emily refused to eat and was back in bed. Afterwards, Jordan went to see her.

"Mommy?" she called into the dark room.

"Jordan, let your mother rest" Max ordered. He didn't want the girl to see her mother like this. "Go do your homework"

Emily enjoyed the security and warmth of the bed, as she could feel her heart pounding from anxiety.

She got better after a few days, and even started seeing Tom again.

"I missed you" he said, as they laid together in the guest room bed.

"Things were…crazy for me." She answered. Malden didn't know about her moods.

"Max making life difficult?"

"I cut Jordan's hair, but he didn't like the style so he gave her a boy's cut. He likes to show who's boss I suppose. I also suggested we take a family vacation, especially for Jordan, but claimed not to have enough vacation days" What Emily didn't mention was that Max had spent his vacation days taking care of her and that she had cut the child's hair out of paranoia.

One Saturday, when Emily was having one of her good days, she made pancakes for Jordan and Max.

"These are great sweetie." He told her.

"I hope you don't have to work today."

"I don't think so."

Thusly, they all spent a peaceful Saturday as a family, until Max got a call about a lead in a case.

"Why can' t you go later daddy?"

"The man I'm looking for is very dangerous honey. The sooner I find him the better."

While he was gone, Jordan did homework, and Emily watched television, until Tom called her sometime later. He too was spending the weekend at the office.

"Did you miss me?" he teased.

Emily went to the far end of the kitchen, so that Jordan couldn't hear her from the living room.

"Of course…."

"Sorry, my boss is coming! I'll call ya later"

"Why don't we go see a movie, baby?" she suggested to Jordan when she put the phone back.

"Okay!"

Together they saw a film called 'The Apple Dumpling gang', and Emily started to cook dinner when they returned home.

As she prepared the meat, an unpleasant memory came to her, unbidden. Dressed prim and proper, according to her nanny's standards, she found nothing but a small plate of rice in front of her one afternoon for lunch.

"You threw away some of your sandwich yesterday. I know you did Maybe after being on a diet that many in this world are forced to live on, you'll be more appreciative of the food I give you." The nanny seethed; this was when she was about seven years old, and had just discarded the crusts. This regime of only rice lasted for about a week. She had been trapped as her parents in Europe and school was out for the summer. To this day, she could not stand rice.

Quickly, she suppressed the memory, and continued with her task. That night she had a nightmare. She was at home, alone, when suddenly, a man, with a gun came in and shot her on the chest. Emily woke up screaming. Her paranoia gave her nightmares.

"What is it babe?"

"I dreamt that someone came into the house, and shot me!" She cried into his shoulder as he held her.

"Shhh…..that'll never happen. I'll protect you."

"What if it's a premonition ??"

"It's probably from watching too much news." Max didn't want her to dwell on this. "Go back to sleep"

TBC