Chapter 51
A Memoir of Misplaced Guilt
A week later, Bobby is released to come home. Joy helps him into their bedroom he tried putting most of his weight on the banister she'd suggested that he sleep in the guest bedroom since it was on the ground level. Bobby was stubborn and insisted that he only slept downstairs in his own home when he'd done something wrong. Joy didn't want to fight with him. This was the second time that he'd scared her like this. The first was when Sophia shot him. They both worked in positions where there was a risk of life his more than hers, she was not on the street she was usually inside her office tracking and sending out teams to collect the bad guys. Though Bobby was in a high position, he spent lots of hours as a close protection agent to his father.
Bobby gets comfortable as he could, he wanted to breach a subject that they had heatedly spoken about the morning of the day he got shot. "Joy, I just want to say now that we are back home. I'm not going to start up with you again about telling your family." He'd left the house pissed off that day, that she hadn't told her family about their baby. She'd screamed in his face, that him telling her to tell them, wasn't going to make her tell them any sooner. He'd stormed out, jumped in his Hummer, and sped off. That afternoon, when his father pointed to his side and the pain hit him, the last thought as he was passing out was that he was going to die, and the last thing he'd said to his lover wasn't I love you or anything along those lines. He hadn't said anything else to her he'd just left.
Joy speaks up "Bobby, I told them the day you got shot. This is the second time I've almost lost you. I was afraid of what my family would say, and I was right about that, but as I sat in that waiting room for what would be 9 hours, replaying our fight in my head, and hoping that the last thing I said to you wasn't what I screamed at you that morning. My fear for you outweighed the fear of their reaction and judgment. I told mother and father, they started in with the things I knew they would say. It pissed me off at myself because this was the reaction that I feared so much that I argued with you over, and let you leave angry." Bobby tells her that she didn't let him leave. In the mindset he was in, she could not have stopped him. "Yes, I guess you're right, it's kind of hard to be your calm when I'm the one agitating you. I'm sorry." Bobby says he was sorry he left like that. He admitted that his own insecurity was the driving force behind his anger when he kept asking her to tell her family. He asked if she didn't mind telling him what did her parents say? "They unfairly compared you to Jack, Elation's husband merely because of the fact that, your work schedule doesn't allow you to accompany me to family functions. I knew with us both opting to go to Ivey Mansion for Christmas, that telling them that I was with child, would start shit. I sat there listening to them and when I was sure they were through, I told them what I should have said long before then. I told them that, yes I am their baby daughter, but I'm fully grown and that if they were going to continue verbally beating me over the head while I sat in that 16 by16 room waiting to see if my child would have a father, I was going to hang up." Bobby says maybe if he met them it would dash some of their fears. He pointed out that he had never officially met any of her family. Her face brightened, and she asked was he sure. Bobby says yes and then asked her a question that had been bouncing around in his head for a time now. He asked her to marry him. Her face sobered "That depends on why you're asking. If you are asking because I'm pregnant, don't feel obligated to."
Bobby says "No. I mean that's a small part of it. Truth is, you surprised me before I could ask you. Then I felt that if I went ahead and asked that night, you would think what you are saying now. For five years you have made me one of the happiest men on the planet. You are my calm, you get the fact that I'm not a corporate type, I don't do nine to five. You mesh well with my family, a part of my life that I thought was getting smaller, not larger at one time. I love all of you, from your intelligence, your silly side, down to your brutal honesty, which I appreciate. If you want to wait until after the baby comes I'm cool with that, if you want to go as soon as I'm cleared to travel, I'm down with that. Bottom line, whatever you want we can do. I just want you to be happy and remain mine forever." Joy says she'll marry him. Bobby's smile lit up his entire face.
Paula had just finished getting the twins washed up and put to bed for the night. She walks to Janet's door, hears giggling, knocks, then enters. Janet nearly tumbles out of the computer chair trying to close her laptop. Paula had seen Tony on the screen and wondered why them talking was suddenly a secret. "You didn't have to hang up with your friend." Janet blushes beet red and covers her face. "I was coming to tell you goodnight. Are you ok Little One you are bright red?"
Janet could feel the heat in her face. "Momma, can we talk? I want to share something with you but like as a friend." Her momma says yeah, she knows that they can talk about anything she wants. That made Janet feel better she hadn't really spoken to her momma about something serious since her sneaking out and driving so this was better than that. "I never had a talk with dad about me having a boyfriend. We just never brought it up. Like the dating thing, I never went on dates before, or even asked too. Guys at my school in Houston were way too creepy, and the ones I liked ended up being friends with..." Janet shudders and pushes on without saying her attacker's name. "Guys at my new school are way too old for me. I do like someone from, I guess you can say he is kind of from Grandville South. At the very least, Tony is there a lot." Her momma asked what she defined as having a boyfriend. "When he smiles at me it makes my heart flutter, and I end up smiling even if I was like mad or sad seconds before. He smiles more when we talk on vid chat. When he calls me, I can hear his smile in his voice. He is also gorgeous when he wears the band tees that hug his muscles, and his hair in a high ponytail or a low one or even when he doesn't have a ponytail and his hair is just free. He likes to dance, and he can draw. When he isn't around other people, and we are just chatting he can be so funny, and he makes me feel special. I like when he hugs me, he makes me feel safe, not creeped out or like I want to run. He says that he wants us to date, but for it not to be a secret because he saw the same stuff I did. The aftermath of Nikki trying to sneak around, not that I think he would throw me in the lake, but I'm not good at being sneaky hence me just this month fully getting my privileges back for the driving thing. He's also not into sneaking around, because he says if we got caught he is kind of afraid of dad hurting him or ruining his chance to stay in Grandville South with his mom. He says we could go on dates or just meet up at events. I like the idea of both as long as I get to see him."
Paula knew she had heard right because when they were on the Mania trip she kept hearing Tony's voice, and since Tony wasn't on the bus and Nikki wasn't speaking that meant that Janet must have been chatting with him on video chat during the drive. It wasn't sneaky, Janet wasn't disallowed to speak to boys on the phone her Houston friends had simply stopped calling her. Paula knew that had upset Janet for a time especially after her less than true friends sided with the female bully. They had started rumors about her and stopped calling her after the court case that threatened to close her former Fast Track school. That pissed Paula off these were the "friends" that still wanted to come over and visit when it would get them in to a concert or into a WWE show, but would get mad when Janet couldn't hang out in Houston 3 or 4 hours away with no supervision in a town she no longer felt safe in. Janet had revealed, that she was just asking in front of her friends and was secretly glad her dad told her she wasn't going. Yes, her attacker was killed by Megan, but his followers, crooked ass parents, and sister still lived there. Mark had made mention of his suspicion that Tony liked his daughter and watched the boy when they would come to hang at his school to watch the showcases. Paula hadn't seen it and would owe Mark a Coke. She asked her big girl. "So, when did you guys have this deep conversation?" Janet tells her right before Sophie's wedding. "Has he said anything to Tracy?" Janet says she was asking first because if she couldn't be his girlfriend then he would look crazy. She says she really hoped her dad let her be Tony's girlfriend. Paula says she will speak to Mark. Janet hugs her and opens her laptop, her message window reopened, and Paula waved at Tony as his image appeared. As Paula is leaving the room she tells Janet not to stay on too late since they had to head back to Grandville South for school in the morning, and 6 a.m. came quickly.
Joshua and Rapture are heading to the post office to pick up Personal Touch's mail. Rapture had offered to drive since Joshua's truck was considered totaled. The STOP team followed them. With all the stuff that was hitting the news from the file left by the guy that had gone upside Joshua and Brad's head, Rapture tells Josh that Cass was really freaked out at the park and when she got the proof that had been missing about the cases. Seeing that Joshua was becoming uncomfortable, Rap changed the course of the conversation and asks how everything with them and Candy had been going since Rap had been on the road right after coming back from the wedding. Joshua tells him that Candy had gone back to her old self and that he hoped his friend stayed and did not return to the toxic level anymore.
Joshua gets out and collects their band fan mail. It was weird not having Bobby here with the team. He usually just picked days when Chase wasn't super busy, that way Bobby could lead his team. The newer agent in charge of following him was ok but it just still felt off. Andrew had asked him if he wanted to switch and Joshua told him, no, to stay with Angel since she was at LEGNA, and would be for most of the day. It was in part, Joshua's mistrust of LEGNA security being able to protect his wife. Since Deon was still out there and now had some ability to hire people to hurt his wife and friend, Joshua wished for the millionth time that when Angel shot the fucker she'd aimed a lot closer to the center. As they arrive back at the house, Joshua invites Rap in as he goes through the pile of fan mail. Whiles sitting in his music room at his desk. One envelope was heavier than usual, so he handed it off to the agent to check before he opened it. It was just a fan asking for Angel and him to sign the program that was included. That was the weight of the letter. He opened a few more then stopped on one that had a side two. Addressed directly to him. This wasn't odd even though his fan base knew he was married, he still got teenage girls writing him love letters to which he'd just sent them a photo in return for their time. The photo was usually of the entire band. Joshua reads the page and begins reaching for a picture to sign when the tone of the letter changed he paused. Rap asked what was up. "Alex is writing me no he didn't sign it, but it has to be him." The agent asks about the return address. "It's garbage probably." Joshua looks at the envelope and sure enough, it was his birth mother's old address. "No one lives there." Alex told him if he didn't meet with him soon his personal life before Joshua Davenport, was going to go very public. He'd claimed to be sorry for the loss of his truck. There was a card attached to the paper that read Ivey Hotel Suites 1 pm tomorrow, no cops, or the world will see just how much the interviews were wrong about him. Joshua had never done a tell-all, he usually answered questions that pertained to his music. The only people that knew about Boy Smyth was his wife, his mother, his dads, his siblings, and Candy. He turns the card over and it wasn't a card. It was a picture of him at about 7. This wasn't a pic that he would give to Angel for her book. This one he bawled up in his fist with irritation. He'd wanted to throw it in the trash. Since the threat was on the other side he folded and pocketed it. Biting his lip, he wondered how many more pictures like that had Alex captured and did nothing with. Rapture brought him out of his thoughts when he asked what was wrong. Looking at the big man, Joshua felt exposed and cut his eyes away from the scrutiny, not even thinking that the reason Rap was looking at him was because he outwardly seemed distressed. Taking a breath, he excuses himself. He had to think, he didn't want pictures like that surfacing. The one he'd giving Angel was years after he'd been rescued, he'd picked up weight, he also didn't have a welt on the side of his fucking face or busted lip. Even though Bradley and he fought every day until Josh beat him up at 12, they rarely exchanged face shots since Bradley had later admitted that it would have got him in trouble way sooner.
Alex Knight knew he was getting sicker, he couldn't get to Boy through phone anymore. He had sent some fan mail but inside was a message, and he would wait to be contacted. Patrick called him on another disposable phone. "Yeah look I never told you to try to take him out. Your little stunt with the truck crash failed, luckily for me. Have you forgotten that I need something from him? You try that shit again before I give you an all clear, and I'll put you in the ground myself. Are we clear?" Patrick hangs up.
Patrick was done taking orders from people he was so mad at Boy he saw red, just thinking about the fact that Boy refused to go the morgue and claim his own parents. They would be thrown away like trash. He knew that's not what really happened, but they'd go in the fire and there would be no one to collect them. Patrick couldn't since he was on the run. He'd been watching someone that was related to Angel she'd given exclusive interviews about how she was Angel's grandma to a few magazines. The media ate it up since they couldn't get a picture of Boy's kid. Alex wanted blood or something from Boy's son. Patrick figured he would make Boy go and be a good son for once in his life, by holding the old lady hostage. Patrick knocked on the door, when it opened he leaped into the house preventing the old woman from closing the door on him. The old lady screamed and fainted, falling backward in a heap on the floor. Wow, this looked familiar she sprawled just Angel had, only if this old bald lady was pregnant that would just be gross. She had to be in her 90s. Patrick felt for a pulse she was still alive. Suddenly he is attacked by a screaming man with a streak of white in his hair. "Hey now, stop that hurts. You must be Angel's cousin?" The guy says she was no cousin of his if she sent him here to beat on his grandma. Patrick pulled one of his needles, Alex had given him a few tools of his former trade. He didn't like being hit. It reminded him of Boy beating on him at the wedding. Just like when he got his licks back with Boy at his club, he sticks the guy with a needle and watches as his punches get wilder and easier to dodge. Soon the guy faceplants the floor alongside the woman who was looking up at him now. "Boy's wife didn't send me here to beat you up. I just didn't want you to close the door in my face." She asked had he killed her grandson. "Nah, he not dead just asleep." Patrick tells her his plan of how she was to call Angel and tell her that she was being held hostage and that the only way she'd live is if Boy went and claims his dead parents at the morgue. The lady looked confused and asked who the hell was Boy. "Oh, you know him as Joshua." Patrick says with a sneer. The woman told him that she was afraid he'd picked the wrong relative because she didn't think Angel would even take her call let alone care if she were harmed. "Well, looks like you had better try." Patrick pulls another needle. She says she will try and to please put that away. Patrick pulls a prepaid cell phone, hands it to the woman after carefully putting his needle away, he'd hate to stick himself again that was how Angel had got away the first time.
Over at Logan's home, Mia and Logan are sitting on the back porch talking when they notice that it seemed too quiet in the house. Getting up, they both ease into the hall and hear what sounded like music to Logan's ears. Glenny and Ethan talking while lying on the floor of Glenny's rooms with Row coloring.
Glenny wasn't as afraid as he was when he first came home. There were new people and his daddy wanted him to talk to them. They were strangers. Then this morning his daddy's lady friend fixed breakfast for everyone. She made tacos, they had egg, and sausage, and white stuff in them, but they were really yummy. Glenny played with his until his daddy ate some and Miss Mia and his new friend Eman. His friend asked him to call him E. "E, you can have the red one, I want the blue one my car is blue like my daddy's truck" E said that Logan's truck was black. "No, I don't have a black crayon. It broke, I will color really hard, so it will be black." E says that will just break the blue one. "No see," Glenny gripped the blue crayon and pressed as hard as he could, and seconds later it snapped. "You broke it."
Ethan looks at the shadow in the hall and back at the little kid that sat accusing him of breaking his crayon. "I didn't break it, you pressed too hard. Don't blame me, if I broke it. I would tell you." Glen Dale then tells him he broke the crayon with magic. "Ha, if I had magic even a little bit, I would break more than crayons." Glenny asked him what he would break. "Hmm good question, but I can't tell you. Your dad and my mom are right outside in the hall and might not like me telling you stuff that pops into my head." Glenny looks at his partly open door then gets up and walks towards it. Both parents walk in, Glenny says to them that Ethan had made them appear because he was magic. Ethan rolled his eyes. Logan asked his son who he'd saw do magic. Glenny butchers the word magician but says Janet and Nikki had taken him to a magic show.
Gloria sat in Jonathon's Range Rover she was completely wiped out. The flight had been long, and she caught an early one to get here at a decent hour. They stop at Amy's Eatery and Jonathon walks in and comes back soon with a carry-out container. He starts the car and she watches as the STOP team follows. He spoke about Officer Benjamin Valentin's death note article that Cassandra had got permission to send for fact-finding and then sent to print. John says that some of the information in it would not be released since Bobby's team had sent the parts that were not to be printed by any of the networks. "I'm glad the one that attacked Joshua can't hurt him anymore, or anyone else for that matter." She'd read most of the stories that came out on the LEGNA US website and was thankful that the bastard had not succeeded in killing Chase or his son Robert. "Ben's wife has disappeared. I don't think she'll ever be found if the speculation is correct, classically The Wolf doesn't leave his kills lying about." Gloria knew that from the fact that her ma's body never did surface. "How is Angela and Joshua taking the information about Deon being a part of a mob family, and using that power to go after them?" Jonathan cuts his eyes to her as they approach their home. He asks in a flat tone why? His tone spoke volumes about how they'd last spoke about his children, and what he thought of her opinion, or what her opinion had been. "John you were right, sometimes there isn't another way. I asked because I'm concerned. Deon has been able to evade the police though over 20 members of the mob family has been taken off the street. Has Angel kept up with her firearm training, because if Deon comes or sends someone I would much rather her have to prove it was self-defense again than anything to happen to her or Joshua. Before meeting Asher, I had such a distorted view, but something Angel said the night she was released stuck with meh. That was, that Deon could have taken her from her family forever and that fear is what guided her hand. The reason I spoke to her about there being another way was because at that time I thought it was just a revenge thing, because he'd attacked her before. I now see what your girl meant. Her action wasn't for revenge, it was for survival. More so, that her child would continue to have a mother." John looks surprised and then says that Angel and Joshua were both very stressed about the not knowing where Deon is, or what his next move will be, but yes, his girl had continued training with him at the local range, and her shot was improving. "I'm sorry but not surprised that it is stressing them, but I am glad you took on the task of teaching your girl how to defend herself." John says before Angel learned to shoot, Joshua and he doubted that any of them would have been able to convince Angel to leave the house after that news came out even with the larger close protection team in place.
Up the hill at Ivey Mansion, Joshua walks into his bedroom and calls Bradley "Hey, are you here in town?" Bradley says yes he's on-site and asks what's up. "Call me back when you go on break I don't need you free falling through anyone's roof." Bradley says he in a mobile office working on some blueprints. He then asks what is wrong adding that his little brother sounded amped and not in good way. Joshua tells him about the mail and the meeting. Bradley advised Joshua to not go alone no matter what the note said. "I'm not, I just don't know what the fuck I'm going to do. I can't let that shit drop into the press." Bradley says even if it did none of the shit the Smyth assholes did to him was ever his fault. "Yeah, but Bradley this shit could tank my fucking image. No one would see me the same." Joshua sits on his bed staring out the window at nothing.
Bradley asks, "Public or private?" Joshua says both but that he's more worried about the private. Bradley could have dealt if Joshua was talking in a vain showbiz sense, but he wasn't he was ashamed and afraid of how his friends and family would see him differently if photos started popping up. Bradley gets angry and yells "How Josh?" He knew what Joshua was about to say and it wasn't going to improve his mood. With all the therapy his little brother had been through none of his therapists ever touched the shame Joshua felt. Closing his eyes and reopening them Bradley sighs and calmed his tone. The last thing he needed was for his bro to feel that he didn't understand him, the problem was he understood all too well. As Joshua launches into the same reasons he said before Bradley says, "Josh stop how can it tank your image it wasn't like you asked to be abused as a child?" Bradley gets up and closes the door to the mobile office. "You damn right I'm pissed at you, and here's why. As far as you have come away from being Boy Smyth you can't keep blaming your younger self for the shit that happened to him." Bradley hears Joshua shutting him out in his responses that lessened in verbiage and tone. "Look, your name changed, and you were rescued. Joshua no matter what you call yourself in your head at different times in your childhood, or have people call you. If you keep carrying around shame and embarrassment for shit that isn't your fault it will eat you alive. This asshole who sat and watched your abuse at the hands of those that were supposed to protect you was a super shit cowardly move. If anyone should feel shame and embarrassment it's those that hurt you, hell at one time I was one of them, but Josh I will say it again you couldn't stop it on your own, you were a defenseless child. You or your younger self isn't to blame. It is not your fault, it never was. If the stuff gets ink, don't let him win by letting this shit tank you mentally. Those of us that love you aren't going to see you any fucking differently." Joshua was so quiet that Bradley thought he'd hung up. Bradley looks at his screen and nope Joshua was still on the line. Joshua said that he was going to at least go to the meeting, he couldn't just sit around waiting on this shit to unfold. He also says that he'd tell Angel, kind of warn her and he prayed that Bradley was right. "You pray that I'm right about Angel?" His little brother was so thickheaded at times. "Josh, you want to hurt her?" Joshua says no and asks why the fuck would he ask that. Bradley didn't mind hearing the anger because it was a lot better than the defeatist tone Joshua had been using. "Listen, bro, there isn't a picture or story from that time in your life that'll ever change how Angel or any of us feels about you. I really wish you'd finally get that through your head. If this shit gets ink and you let it wreck you, that will hurt her to see you in pain about something that you couldn't change, and that she can't make better for you, don't do that to her or yourself."
Joshua soon closes the call with Bradley. He'd been pacing the room and mostly listening to Bradley speak since he could hardly get a word in at times during their conversation. He calls Angel, his call goes to her answering service, before he can ask himself why that happened it was revealed because his phone played her song she must have called him when he was calling her. "Hey, babe," Angel tells him how her grandmother had just called her and how Andrew had told her to keep talking to her. "Why the hell would he do that? He's there to protect you not tell you who to talk to." She explains about how Patrick was holding her grandmother and Nathan hostage in hope of making him go to the morgue and claim the Smyth couple. His breath caught, he then continues. "Angel there's not a lot that I wouldn't do for you but this…"
Angel cuts him off as she buckles JC into his car seat. "Joshua I would never ask you to do that, not for her. The only reason I stayed on the line at all, was because Andrew wanted to try to trace the call since if it wasn't one of Madam's schemes, Patrick would be at a traceable location and I wanted him caught." Angel makes eye contact with Andrew. He cues the team via text, pulls away from LEGNA underground parking towards home. Angel continues speaking as she gives JC his toy that he smacked on the car seat/carrier handle. "He was, and Andrew sent a team to the location. As I waited for Andrew to give me the sign to hang up, I listened to Patrick in the background. I wouldn't lie to her or for her. He made her go up to her room, he had the needles. She begged him as I had not to stick her. She begged me to save her. She almost got me to feel something for her," Angel's tone lowered as rage reverberated in her voice. "Then in true Madam fashion, when she figured she wouldn't get her way, she threw a mind fuck at me. This time I felt more anger than anything. Sophie was 4 and I was about to turn ten." Angel lowers her voice though her baby wouldn't understand what she was about to say she still did want her tone to upset him. "Madam brought up a family trip she said that she should have insisted that Uncle Richard take me to the picnic that year instead of cave and let Chase take us. Sophie once said it was because Chase really didn't like Madam all that well, I'm glad. To this day I'm even more thankful that Chase didn't retreat into his devil-may-care persona about taking us girls to the picnic himself. Sophie and I suspected, but I figured I'd ask why, since Andrew needed more time for his trace. If Madam had got her way there is no telling where I'd be right now. As she would have been riding with Chase, Sophia, and toddler Sophie in Chase's newest car. She said that she'd told my Uncle Richard to drive me into Detroit and leave me there because Sophia was tired of me asking about my father in front of her husband. Madam and Sophia had told him to make it count. He was going to get me out there where he knew I didn't know my freaking way back, and then would have put me to work. He never touched me, it was just the suggestive stuff he said to me that freaked me out to the point that I refused to go anywhere near him unless Chase was around. I couldn't listen to her anymore after that, I told Andrew I was sorry, he must have read it in my face before I even spoke to him, because he gave me the thumbs up." Angel laughs with no humor, and retrieved the toy that JC had just launched into the back of the driver's seat. "Madam thought I was apologizing to her. I hung up. It's one thing to suspect that your creepy uncle with the pimp clothing is a bad dude, it's a new level of repulsion to find out your suspicion is true." Angel took a breath and calmly pushed it out. "Andrew kept me updated. The STOP team did find the house, it was Gathan's old address. Madam and Nathan are dead. When they got to the house they heard a scream and then a crash. When they entered Madam was found at the bottom of the stairs she'd gone over the banister head first. Nathan was beaten to death face down in the rose bush out back. Patrick almost got away, but he went back for that big truck, that sometimes still haunts my flipping dreams, and when he tried to back over an agent that ordered him to stop, he was shot dead by the team." Joshua asks was she ok. "Yeah, it's just been a very long day. Hey, you were calling, mine just got through first, did you need something?"
Hearing about her day just made him want his wife and child home. "It can wait. I just want you guys to come home, are you almost done for the day?" Angel says that Andrew was driving them home right now and that she was thinking of taking the next few days off to get ready for their tour. "Sounds good babe. See you soon." When he hung up many different emotions took over. Relief that Patrick wouldn't be a threat anymore. Maybe Joshua's nightmare would stop. The night in his office knowing Patrick was out and on the run with really nothing to lose just made the fucking nightmare worse. Joshua hoped they sent that truck Patrick and James had loved to terrorize them with, to the crush lot. The fucker really thought kidnapping Madam was going to make him do shit? Joshua was thankful that Patrick had went for Madam. After hearing what that woman said since Angel wouldn't help her, Joshua felt nothing but relief that the bitch couldn't hurt his wife anymore. Yeah, this last time Madam's mind fuck didn't hit its mark as she wanted but enough of them had hurt Angel through the years, and he was glad the house finally fell on the head wicked witch. After hearing about her uncle and what he would have done if given half a fucking chance just made Joshua want to go find the pervert and beat the holy shit out of him. Angel was so right, It's one thing for Joshua to assume he caught that badly dressed, monochromatic, pervert looking Uncle Richard checking out Angel and Sophie at Sophia's fucking funeral. it's a new level of repulsion to find out his assumption was true.
Over at the hospital, Kevin lay in the bed in a coma. Beth had been told that she could visit him today Butch was watching Adam. Though her husband lays here with a bandage around his head and a machine breathing for him she had to believe in her heart that he was still in there fighting. She speaks to him as she holds his hand. "Kev, I'd wanted to come sooner, like the night it happened, but Homer said it wouldn't be safe for me to do so. I left that day because you scared me, I love you, but I wasn't going to risk not being able to take care of Adam. I got your gifts and your letters." Tears ran unchecked down her face. She continues speaking to him, saying everything that had been inside of her. Homer tapped on the door as he entered and told her to go back to her father's place. "Dad, I just got here." He says no she had been here for three hours and with the way things were going he wanted her out of the public well before nightfall. "Ok, may I have a few more minutes alone please?" He tells her he'd give no more than 30 minutes. "Thanks, dad." When he walked out she had noticed how old her father-in-law looked and knew this was ripping him up as much as it was her. She leans over and kisses Kevin on the cheek. His hands twitched, it first startled her. This was the first movement he did on his own. "Babe please wake up."
Kevin had been able to hear his wife's running monologue. He forgot half the stuff she'd talked about. In the past few years of their marriage, he'd forgotten how fragile she was. Beth was the reason he fought so hard to get off drugs after his Vice fuck up. He'd hurt her while looking for the heroin that he'd hid under the toilet. When she told him, she'd thrown out the plastic bag he'd punched her in the face and yelled at her. Once again, his job, and his reaction to it had almost broken his marriage. He couldn't feel anything. He'd tried to speak to her, but it was like he was trapped in his fucking head. She was leaving, he just hoped when she returned he could at the very least say he was sorry more than in his head. His dad was next to come in the room. He heard every word and the hopefulness in his father's tone when asking him to move his hand again. Kevin couldn't even feel his body, so that was a no go. He wished he could do a lot of things. He wanted to tell his father thank you for him helping through the hard years when he got hooked on drugs. His father had just said that his shooter was killed by a federal STOP team. So, Ben was dead. Well at least if Kevin got the use of his body back he wouldn't have to fear Ben coming to try to finish him off. When he heard Logan's voice Kevin felt something like tingling but could not be sure where he felt it. Logan had come, and from what he was saying it made Kevin really want to wake up and talk to his cousin. Logan was leaving, the tingling came back Kevin hoped this was a good thing.
Mark drove Logan up to the hospital to see Kevin. Mark was the leader of his motor club so when he'd heard that Kincaid was shot in the line but alive, he'd come off the road to visit his member and check on Logan since he knew that the two had some issues and how in the event Kincaid died he didn't want Logan alone spiraling like he had when Megan passed. Logan had just started coming back around not a month ago. Then there was his other member Kevin father's Homer. Homer looked his age and that was saying something since his nickname in the club was "The Hydra" since hydra don't show any signs of age. Well, this last week and a half had made Homer's age show, he looked tired and worn down like he wasn't sleeping. Mark was worried about the Kincaid and Conner family, even with Logan being his brother through marriage his motor club was always like an extended part of his family and right now one of them was on his back fighting for his life. RJ Kinkaid, the youngest Sheldon Med Crew Captain on record, and Homer's youngest son walks up and greets Mark. Mark called the kid by his club nickname and got a smile from the younger man. "How you are holding up Rocket?" RJ had been in the motor club since his feet could reach the ground from the seat of a crotch rocket. RJ says that he and Kevin had been on the outs because he freaked out Beth. He just hoped his brother survived. Logan comes out and asks Mark did he want to go in, Mark turns to Kevin's kid brother and ask, "RJ did you want to go in first?" RJ shook his head no, saying he was staying tonight with his big brother, so Mark could go ahead. After nodding Mark enters the room.
Back at Ivey Mansion after dinner, playing with JC until he went to sleep on his play mat in their bedroom. Joshua offered to put him to bed. Angel thanks him and then her phone rang. It was Sophie, Angel knew Luke's biggest honeymoon surprise location and was able to keep Luke's secret. With there not being many beaches Sophie hadn't been to either for work when she modeled, or on vacation. Luke's idea of taking her to Southland, New Zealand to view the Waipapa Point Lighthouse and its beach proved to be a great surprise. It gave Luke some scenic hiking area to explore and gave Sophie a beautiful beach she'd never been to. Her sister sounded so happy and animated, Angel just let her gush and reveled in her sister's much-deserved happiness. After her call was done she turns to Joshua as he reentered their bedroom and told him about her call with Sophie. Something was up she could feel it. He helped her up and asks her to have a seat on the bed. He said he needed to tell her something.
While Joshua had put his son in his crib he thought on how to tell Angel about the Alex stuff. He really hadn't wanted to bring it up at all. Just having her and his son home and just playing with him and talking about their tour plans and making faces at them both was a good night in his book. Tomorrow was a different story. He had to tell her because no matter what Bradley said there was still a part of him that felt like this exposure would mess with how his wife and her family saw him. Yeah, they had heard the story, hell he told them some of what he could remember, but it was one thing to hear it and another to see it and read it from another point of view. When he walked back in their room Angel looked up at him, the smile that lit her face as she talked about her call with Sophie was one of those smiles that he liked to see on her, it took over her entire face eyes and all. In that instant, he tried to buy himself some time, tried to think of a way not to tell her, but he wouldn't start keeping secrets. They had been doing very well with their no secrets policy. In his experience secrets could damage communication in a relationship, and he didn't want to be the one to do that. It was 10 at night, in 15 hours give or take, he'd be in the presence of a man that for whatever reason wanted a meeting so bad that he would use blackmail to get what he wanted. Joshua walks over puts out his hand she takes it and he pulls her to her feet. He asked her to have a seat on the bed because he needed to tell her something. He starts with the meeting and the fact that he didn't know what Alex wanted but felt he had to go. She said no he didn't have to go. "I kind of do because he threatened to publish some shit from my time with Brenda and James. If I can avoid that I at the very least must try. I'm not stupid enough to go alone, but I can't sit back and do nothing." She says she understood and to please be careful. She tells him that though she wanted to see the picture he mentioned that put that look in his eyes when he spoke about it, she wouldn't push him to show her since he'd not insisted on seeing the video. Joshua knew what video Angel was talking about and he hadn't wanted to see it, because her telling and the shit that came out about her reoccurring nightmares about that week Braden had drugged her, were way more than enough verbal-visual. She'd finally deleted it after Chase was able to tell her that it was the original. He felt 100 times better when it was no longer a problem for her. Hers was gone forever it wasn't released on the net and had been wiped via Ivey Desktop Clean up, but if he went to the meeting and Alex still released what he had, his life as Boy Smyth would be everywhere. He wasn't trying to let this mess him up. Bradley was right, he wasn't as worried about the fans he'd got trolls before and the shit really didn't bother him. The person that mattered to him the most, was sitting not even a full 6 inches away from him right now. He couldn't let whatever happened, tank him. His old ways of coping had almost broken them up, he'd once let past experiences taint his view and made it a bigger issue that got out of hand quickly. When she'd discovered the video, he told her that she had to remember that she wasn't alone anymore that nothing that was on that video would ever change how he or her family saw her. It shredded him to see her in pain and know he really couldn't do shit about it. He guessed it was time to take his own words to heart. She reaches over and starts off with feather-like touches on his nape. That simple contact calmed him more than anything that he'd tried to distract himself with since getting the letter.
Since he was so receptive to her small caresses to his nape. She then climbed behind him on her knees and starts massaging his neck and back. He was so tense she knew he'd been wired about something finding out that it had to do with Alex pissed her off, she hoped and prayed that since he was going that he would be as careful as possible. He reaches in his pocket and unfolded a photo. Angel was stunned into silence when he wordlessly raised it up. Anger was her first response, but she tamped it down. She takes it and looked at her husband years before they'd met. This was a way different image than the kid that stood at the center of their pool about to dunk his adoptive mom at 12.
The loud silence was getting to him. Joshua looked back at her face. He reached up and wiped a tear out of her eye. He didn't want her crying that's not why he'd shown her. He'd shown her just in case Alex did release the shit, he'd shown her because no matter what Bradley said he still feared the unknown of her reaction. He whispers to her "Please say something." She soon breaks the silence as she expressed how it would always sadden and piss her off that they did this to him, and how she'd never forgive Alex for doing nothing to help and throwing this at him now. She then kissed him and told him that she was thankful he'd survived the actions of those that hurt him back then and was able to be here with her now because she'd loved him almost from the first day they met and having him as her husband was the second-best thing that ever happened to her. He knew what was first and he felt the same. With everything that happened to them during the pregnancy, there was no doubt in either of their minds that JC was their miracle child in so many ways. A calm washed over him. She put the picture down, gets up and gave him a pleasant surprise as she starts undoing the buckle of his jeans. He stands to let them fall, and helps her take his shirt off and she pushes him back on the bed. She kisses him all over his face then kisses his neck, nibbles on his ear, making him moan. He reaches for her. She stands back up. He devours her with his eyes as his wife takes off the knee length business style dress to reveal her newest bra and thong set. She then tucks her index fingers into the string waist of her thong and slides it down. His gaze follows her every move as she reaches behind her and lets the bra fall away. She moves in between his legs on her knees and starts kissing the inside of his thighs. She was driving him crazy. The restraint he was using almost slipped when she put him in her mouth. The feeling mixed with the visual sent him over the edge. When she licked her lips and climbed up his body letting him taste himself in her mouth just made him hard again. She then lightly nipped his top lip slowly dragging her teeth lightly to the edge of his lip then kissing him. He crushed his mouth to hers, she grabbed his hair. He rolls and is now on top of her she whispers between kisses, that she wanted him inside of her. Their sexual dance continued until both were sated and breathless.
The next day, Tony was on cloud nine when he arrived at his mom's place. He had a girlfriend, Mark trusted him he was so juiced he could hardly keep the smile from his face. To top off his week, his adoptive parents were going on vacation which meant that he would get to stay in Grandville South for 2 weeks with no breaks. He told his mom about Janet, and she was cool with him having a girlfriend. He was video chatting Janet when he hears his mom and Frank arguing. "Um, let me call you back Jan." Tony gets up and stood at his door. They were arguing about him. Frank told his mother to stop babying him and make him get his ass out there do something besides hang around this damn apartment and be on the computer. His mother tells Frank that he used his computer to do school work since he was satellite homeschooled. She also says that Tony played basketball over at the school with some friends he met since coming here. Frank gets on her about that, saying that wasn't going to teach him how to be a man, then calls Tony. Tony walks out of the room and Frank told him he was going to take him fishing today. Tony looked at as his mother. Frank says for him to get a move on. Tony really didn't want to go fishing or anywhere with Frank especially when the choice wasn't even his.
Tracy watched the color leave her boy's face and spoke up. "No. Frank, Tony is not on vacation his adoptive parents are, even though he gets to stay for a while he still has to keep up with his school work. Go on back in the room Tony." Tony heads back in the bedroom. Frank says that she was raising that boy to be a momma's boy all because she lost time with him. That stung, coming from a dark place she said nothing as she looked at the man that recently asked her to marry him, and wanted her and her son to move into his place. She hadn't given him an answer and didn't want to let her emotions lead her right now. Sighing she says, "Wow that was low, um why don't you head on out, I need to be alone right now." Frank says that came out wrong. "If you stay right now this isn't going to get better. I'm trying very hard, not to take your words to heart. Please leave."
Seeing her color rise, Frank gets to his feet. Her stance was so closed off, where he would have given her a kiss before walking out the door he didn't think it would be welcomed so he just left. He'd really stuck his foot in his mouth. As he walks to his car the sensation of being watched raises his awareness, he looks up and catches Tony watching him. Then the kid soon lets the curtain fall back into place. He gets in his car and drives off. He had no destination in mind but soon found himself outside of Ivey Mansion. He'd been meaning to check on his former employer. After the park incident, Chase had been released and came to Ivey Mansion to recuperate. Though Chase had moved out of Ivey Mansion years ago, until his girls took their places as the live-in owners he'd still been employed by Chase. Now he was employed by Andrew a federal agent who was employed by the Davenports and the Ivey-Sheldon family as a close protection agent. Frank himself was the only remaining member of the original security staff that did not possess a federal clearance level. That household in Frank's opinion was finally growing into a home. Since Ivey Mansion is the largest estate in Grandville South, before the girls moved back he felt like when Chase or his wife wasn't visiting he was guarding a type of tourist attraction. This past year had been a whirlwind of changes for them all. Some rules that applied when the first Mrs. Ivey lived there died with her. When Sophie called him into her home office months ago and laid down the new procedures. Frank was worried that he'd end up without a job. Until that moment he saw the girls as the same children he watched over when they were going up. Frank learned quickly after the girls planned to stay that they weren't little girls anymore, the moment that realization hit him his work performance raised to their liking and Sophie stopped looking at him with annoyance in her gaze.
Chase sat in his daughter's home office here at Ivey Mansion, he was taking part in a town hall meeting via video. He watched as the Mayor spoke and waited for the vote to come to him he was going to be against the ordinance that Jackson was trying to push. One of Chase's cameras picked up a car pulling into the driveway. He tells his close protection agent that was filling in for Robert who the car belonged to, Frank was off today so his card access would not get him in the house. With Andrew out with Joshua, he figured if the agent had not met the security guard he didn't want any major mishaps. Something on the screen caught Chase's attention and he never thought he'd see it. A team of FBI agents stormed the town hall meeting and were now escorting Mayor Jackson out in handcuffs. The Deputy Mayor ended the meeting. Soon Chase is called by the Treasure a man he'd advised for years. The younger man was so excitable. "Is there a reason your mayor was just perp walked out of the meeting?" The treasurer tells Chase that a lot of stuff came out in the article they had seen on the news. "There must have been more to it if federal is involved." The treasurer says he will call Chase back when he gets into the privacy of his vehicle. "Would not your office be sufficient?" The treasurer says no because there were things said by the agents that pointed to some type of leak of audio information and he wasn't going to risk being overheard. His close protection agent renters the home office with Frank standing just behind him in the hall. Chase nods with a wave for the agent to let Frank in. "Well I have a visitor right now anyhow, so just call me back when you feel comfortable doing so." Chase closes his phone and peers up at Frank.
Frank stepped further into the room. "I'm sorry I didn't come to see you sooner, but you look good for a guy that got flattened." Chase smirked and told him for the millionth time not to ever quit his day job. Chase looks at his former head of security when he resided here, and something was off. Frank confirmed his suspicion with a question.
Frank says "Chase in all seriousness, I'm glad to see that you are ok. I have a question have you ever said something and wanted to take it back, just erase it from existence the minute it left your mouth?" Chase says, of course, he'd said a few things that were ill-timed. "Well I really screwed up I said something that I don't know how to fix. I was hoping since I want to step into the role of step-father one day with the woman I'm seeing. You have done a great job in that role I was hoping for some advice." Chase asked him about what was said, and Frank went on the defensive and that is when Chase stopped, asked him if he wanted advice or did he just want to vent. "I guess your right I'm sorry, it's just that I see him not applying himself and want to get him to do more than peck at the computer."
"Frank, I don't know this young man or what his resistant nature to you is, other than you probably come off as more intimidating than what you mean to be. No person, child or adult, is the same. So, I won't be able to give you a specific course of action to take." Frank says what about Robert and Angel neither of them were his biological children. A muscle twitched in Chase's jaw. "Frank my children are mine whether on paper or by blood. You come to ask for my advice here it is. I didn't command any of my children to be the image of what I thought they should be. It was never up to me to make them into what I was. If you do manage to get this woman to marry you, it will not be your job to try to turn this young man into the image of what you think he should be. If he was hurting himself I could see you stepping in to try to lead him away from danger, but it sounds as if you are measuring him against your own upbringing or your preconceived image of how a child should act, that in and of itself is a recipe for failure." Chase gets his call from the treasure. "I really must take this." Frank says sure and walks towards the door. As Frank is leaving right before Chase takes his call he says to Frank's back. "Find something you both enjoy it's worth a try."
Joshua sat in Angel's truck with Andrew outside of Ivey Suites, Bradley had wanted to come but if Alex had an ambush waiting, Josh didn't want Bradley hurt for just trying to have his back. Andrew told him if he said to clear the room that he was to listen and get the hell out of there. Joshua nods. He silently reflected on his meeting with one of the men he did willingly call father. He'd come downstairs this morning and Chase was in the kitchen he'd told Chase where he was going and why. Chase said though he'd planned on going home today he'd stay until Joshua returned. Joshua didn't know why at that moment but hearing that took a little of his worry away. Thinking about it now he knew why. It was true enough, that Brenda, James, and now even Patrick were in a freezer somewhere but that didn't mean that Alex wasn't just as underhanded. Joshua's worry that Alex would pull some type of double cross and show at his fucking home again, was why when Chase said he'd be here, took some of the worry away. If anyone could keep his wife and child safe inside Ivey Mansion, Chase W. Ivey could, and Joshua had no doubt that he would. Another piece of the puzzle seemed to slide into place in his head, someone else that had protected his wife when Patrick ambushed him was Jonathon. Thinking of his other father reminded him of a conversation, that happened the day after the fight at the club with Alex. If Alex was still trying to get stem-cells from JC it was good that Joshua had told Angel about the possible Boy Smyth story coming out because Joshua wasn't going to give Alex the stem cells that Angel and he had preserved just in case Michael's health declined again. Luke had suggested it since he'd been able to help Michael so much they'd agreed to freeze the material. Andrew handed him an earpiece and went over what he wasn't to admit to. Irritation licked Joshua's tone as he turns in his seat and says, "I'm not an idiot, and I'm not guilty of anything, the only reason I'm here is to hopefully put this father, son reunion bullshit to bed for good."
Andrew sighs and says in a bored tone while messing with the sound level coming out of Davenport's mic attached to his shirt. "Davenport, drop the attitude, If I had half a suspicion that you had anything to do with the deaths of the Smyth couple, it would piss off my boss, but you'd be in federal lock-up right now. I am telling you what not to say because I don't know what his deal is, and I don't want him walking you into a backwards confession on a recording that we are bringing to the table. You don't have to be an idiot to be manipulated into saying something you wouldn't normally say. This guy knows how to push your buttons, or else you wouldn't be here right now."
Joshua gets out of the truck. Andrew gets out and would be a room away from the room that Alex was supposed to be in. What Alex didn't know was before he got here the video surveillance was set up. Alex calls and tells Joshua to ditch the fed he said no cops. "He's not a cop, he's close protection, there's a big difference," Alex says he wasn't out to hurt Joshua that would be stupid considering what he needed but he guessed he deserved this level of trust from his own kid. "Trust, you sent me that shit in some fucking fan mail, and think I will ever trust you? You really need to stop sampling your own drugs, they are frying what is left of your brain." Andrew tells Alex that he would ignore that if Alex kept his word that he wasn't out to hurt Davenport at least not physically. Joshua says, "Thanks a lot," Putting some unease in his voice, which wasn't hard Joshua concedes and says to Andrew "Look, I really don't need the publicity he is threatening." Andrew says he will be near just not in the room, and that was the best he could do. "Alex he is not going to leave me here, but he has agreed to not be in the hotel room with us." Alex told him the room number.
Moments later, Joshua enters the room Alex had come to the door looked out and opened it just far enough for Joshua to walk in without touching him. Alex saw his's son's piece sitting on his hip. "Thinking of shooting me already? I kind of expected to see the knife belt." Alex walks over to the room's bar and asks Joshua did he want something to drink. Joshua says all he wanted to know was why this meeting was necessary. Alex drinks his drink and says. "I did you a favor, two really," Joshua says Alex hadn't done anything for him ever. "I got rid of them for you. You're welcome." Joshua repeats himself in a monotone. "Oh, you think I didn't do anything for you? How about I kept Patrick off your ass. He came to me with blood in his eyes thinking you offed his parents or had them taken out." Alex smiled at that. "I'm not here to hurt you there is no reason to. I tried to bond with you and got a fat lip for it. I get it you were pissed. I kept losing track of you that's why I sent the letter. I need something from you that only you or your wife Angel can give permission for me to get." Joshua says he not paying him any money. "Boy, I mean Joshua, I don't need your money. Yeah, you married into a lot of it, but if I wanted money I could have hit up the producer he was willing to throw me some cash to get rid of me. I have it on good authority from a few guys I know, that you and Angel stored stem-cells from when Jonathon-Chase was born. I need some because where I have finally made it in the financial department and am happy that the sacrifices I have made paid off. Without this, I won't live too much longer. I have a very rare blood disease. If you want, fuck it, I'll pay you. How much you want? I can't go back and undo anything I have on camera it's in the past." Joshua shakes his head no. Alex nods his head yes. "Look you have the power to possibly save my life. Before you told me the behind the scenes shit that I missed when not at your house I went to Brenda and asked her point blank what happened that day you were taken away from them, when she told me in detail how she helped him. I never would have believed you when you said she hurt you too had I not asked her. That was never the deal. There is still not a lot I could have done, but I thought I at least had her on the side of our kid. James showed up I knew if I failed in getting you to do this for me at the very least they would never bother you again. Please, is this what you want? You want me to beg? You were right, after I found out exactly what went on I wanted them dead and I killed them. Will you please help me? Please. I'll never bother you again if it doesn't work I'll be dead anyway but at the very least I would have tried. Looking at it from your place I understand why but I thought maybe you could see that though I can't change the past I got rid of a nightmare all I asked is the chance to live out my life. If this works you won't see me ever again."
"Alex, I have heard what you have to say. You want me to help you after all you have done, and I'm not even talking about your inaction during the time I needed you. Since you have surfaced you have trespassed on my property, harassed me, scared my wife, threatened my father's woman, you have tried your hand at controlling Patrick. Knowing that he was with you doesn't tell me that you had anything under control. You boast about keeping him off my ass. You were hiding a fugitive. He must have escaped your leash a few times he sent that fucking truck into my Titan hard enough to nearly kill the driver. Now for your next act, you try your hand at blackmail?" Alex says please and suggests if not from Jonathon-Chase how about from Joshua himself. Having his son's name spoken by this monster pissed Joshua off even more than he ever thought it could. His voice drops into his lower register as he snarls "The answer to your question is still no. Just like you didn't help me when they were trying to kill my ass. I'm not willing to help you. If you want to post those pictures that you sat back and took instead of helping me, go for it. I'm out of here."
As Boy is walking out of the door Alex says. "The night before our fight at your club I hadn't heard from you and knew I couldn't get back in your house, so I was going to just take Jonathon-Chase." Joshua stopped walking, "Sophie's protection team got close and me and Patrick got the hell away from the doctor's condo. I ordered the pic taken and sent it into the media under your name. I can't get what I need without you so taking your kid would have just made this worse. If you don't do this, I'll do more than post pictures I have people that are closer to you than you think, and if I give them the word they will take him from..." Joshua turns around and pulls his piece aiming it at Alex's chest. The rage that set in his son's gaze was nearly tangible. "You won't shoot me not here with your federals next door. Put it away, son."
Andrew says into his mic. "Davenport, don't do this. I'm in the hall. Let me do my job. Clear the room Davenport I mean it." Andrew was watching his screen as he walks the short distance to behind Davenport. "I'm at 7'oclock lower your weapon and let me do my Job. Team one, hold your positions." Davenport lowers his weapon and backs to Andrew's voice when Joshua turns to him Andrew could see the fight for control in Davenport's eyes as he says that Alex had just threatened to take his child and how he couldn't let that happen. "Clear the room Davenport I heard, we all did. Now let me do my job. Go back to the truck. He is going into a cage tonight I need you to clear the area now. We spoke about this, I'm here to protect you and to get him off the street." Joshua nods, Alex drops his hands when Joshua hostlers his gun. Andrew pulled his weapon. His team would have a clean shot if Alex tried anything now that Davenport wasn't in the room. "Alex Knight get your hands back in the air, you're under arrest," Alex smirks as he asks what the charge is. "I will start with Murder, extortion, and conspiracy to commit kidnapping just to name a few." Andrew read Alex his rights and made sure to tell him at the end. "That right to remain silent, if I were you, I'd take that a lot more seriously, you've said more than enough." As he and his team are walking Alex outside across the parking lot in handcuffs he sees Davenport watching them. Andrew just hoped Davenport stayed in the truck cab.
Alex walks out the building and felt like a dumb shit. He looks at his son that was staring at him not moving but his eyes followed Alex's every move. With a team of 8 feds flanking him Alex wondered who they were protecting him, or his son. Last time he checked he couldn't make himself disappear but with Boy's refusal to help him he guessed he was going into that dark night soon anyway. He hadn't heard from Patrick he'd have to call one of Wolf's lawyers to come tap dance his ass out of the cage they were going to put him in. He didn't want to spend his last days locked in a cell. He knew he had to be careful because if he got one of Wolf's men in trouble he would not have to worry about his blood disease killing him. He speaks to Andrew as he is being walked into the back of a windowless van. "Agent Stark, you know the kidnapping bit was smoke right? I don't know anyone that would risk getting close enough to him to do a job like that one. Will you tell him that for me? I stepped over the line."
After watching Andrew take Alex to the van Joshua calls Chase "Hey dad Alex is in custody he admitted to the murders and a few other things. I'm ok. Yeah, Andrew is heading back to the truck now." Chase says that he sounded off. After explaining in detail what was said Joshua says "Dad I wanted to, I wanted to just pull the trigger and end him when he threatened to take JC. He admitted to already trying once. He or whoever he had working for him was who took the picture and sent it in under my name. Andrew wasn't in the room but hearing him tell me where he was and telling me to let him do his job wasn't what stopped me. I can't explain it. A memory of me waiting for Angel to be released popped in my head. I didn't want her having to go through the shit I did waiting to see if she would be released. Mine wouldn't have been self-defense to my knowledge Alex wasn't armed, not with a physical weapon anyway, he stood there with his hands in the air and my crosshair over his heart. It was at that moment that I knew if I shot him in that room with all that video equipment recording us that I may not be able to come home. Hearing Andrew speak to me and his team just brought that thought closer to the surface for me."
Chase hands the phone to Angel. Joshua spoke to her when he gets to the part about drawing down on Alex for what he said Angel shook her head no and she says. "Babe I'm glad you didn't and not because it is Alex, more along the lines of he's not worth it. I know what he said, but if your shooting him, got you put into the van for putting him out of his misery, it would not have been a fair trade. Ever since you walked out with Andrew this afternoon all I wanted is what I still want you to come back home safely. As for what he said, yes, it's infuriatingly scary, but it would be more so without you here." They soon end their call.
Joshua sits in the truck cab as he watches the van that now contains Alex pull off and Andrew walk back inside of the hotel. Moments later he gets in and drops a large envelope on the back seat along with his video equipment. As they drive towards Ivey Mansion Andrew says. "I don't know if those are all he has, but I figured you'd want what he brought with him." Joshua reaches back takes the envelope. After taking a deep breath he opens the envelope then closes it and says that he wanted to make sure these weren't copies. "That's up to you, I officially don't know that package exist if you catch my meaning." Joshua nods and calls Cassandra asking did she have time to do a little research for him. She says she'd bring her portable set up to the house. Joshua thanks her.
Over at the apartment Tracy had watched Frank drive away and she breathed a sigh. His words stung she was doing the best she could. She just wanted what was best for her boy. Shipping him off to public school wasn't the answer. She'd already almost lost him, to his father's mental illness that was the only explanation she could handle for why Anthony did what he did to their son, and that guilt was why she tried to continue the parenting style that was set in place by his adoptive parents. She wanted what was best for her son what parent didn't? She often thought of how her baby used to be before Anthony lost his mind that horrible day. She sees glimpses of her son in his actions when he thought no one was watching and believes that he will heal and want to do what he once said his passion was. Tony opened the bedroom door and came in and sat next to her. "Hey, are you okay?" Tony shrugs and stands up putting his hair in a low ponytail and says he's finished with his assignments and asked could he please go to Ivey Mansion and meet up with Janet and Nikki. "I don't think they are out of school yet babe." It then hit her with a wave of sadness what he was doing. "Tony, you don't have to try to hide from Frank."
Tony looks at his mother and says "I'm not hiding he works there I just want to go see my girlfriend and hang out for a while. Janet has a project that she believes I can help her with. Tony sees the surprise in his mom's gaze and had thought what she was probably thinking he was lot of things, a math whiz wasn't one of them. He says "Yeah, I know it sounds crazy, but she said it was for her advertising elective class so maybe she wants me to draw something for her. These are her words not mine, she says she's great with numbers, but she couldn't draw without a ruler if her life depended on it." His mom looks at his art portfolio that he'd packed and sat down next to him. She asked could she see some of his work. "Really? I mean sure." That was a shock to him he'd always showed her before the thing with his dad but until now it was like she spent more time trying to be his friend. Yeah, he wanted his mom to like him more than his dad did, but it kind of got weird they kind of lived like roommates when he was here. She'd at the very least calmed down on the taking him to every park she could think of he had to draw the line when she got tickets for another rock concert. Crowds weren't his thing. He was getting better, going to Mark's school and watching the exhibits with Jan helped a lot. Rapture's graduation from the school was in a few days and Janet had asked him so he was going to that he'd asked his mom and she was so excited that she promised to buy him an outfit for the event. He opens his portfolio case one of the old pictures he'd drawn fell to the floor. Luckily for him, it landed on its back he bent down and snatched it up preparing to put it back in his inner compartment. His mom asked to see it. "Um, that one was really old not my best stuff. Here is one I drew at the park by Logan's parent's place." She takes it and comments on the detail and then asked to see the other pic. Looking at his mom he didn't want to show her "Look I was angry when I drew it nothing special." She says she understands that. "Ok?" Tony pulls the old drawing out and handed it to his mom. His mom takes it and looks at it. Back then he'd written the date on all his finished work under his name just in case something else ever happened to him. The sketch was of him and his father with his father standing over him with the knife in hand. Above Tony's head, he'd written the title of one of Joshua's songs from his Davenport Lighting days. The Song was entitled "Who Wants it" It spoke about abuse, and abandonment, or at least that's what Tony had got from the lyrics. At the bottom of the page was Joshua's refrain to the song. "Why make me, if all you want is to destroy me?" He hated to see the look his mother tried to hide. He shrugs takes the sketch back and says. "A lot was going on back then I was hurt, angry, and confused. When I got released from the hospital Megan told me that I was going from the hospital into the system it was like I had no one. I told everyone they sent at me the truth and they still wouldn't let me come home. I drew that the last time I saw you. I know what the truth is now, but back then it was easier to believe the stuff Megan said about you not really wanting me around because I'd remind you of dad and how much you loved him and would miss him. My adoptive father Mr. Bonner wouldn't accept that as truth, he didn't trust Megan and I'm glad he didn't because he did a lot of things that helped against her suggestion. One of the biggest ones was putting himself up as an emergency donor for me." His mother put his artwork down and pulled him into a hug. She told him she loved him and a lot of other things that he already knew but it was still good to hear it from her. After they talk some more he brought up something he figured would make her happy and please Frank. He wanted his mom happy and Frank made her happy, but he didn't want to go off into the woods with the guy. "Hunting isn't something I'm into, the idea of walking into a deserted area with him with weapons freaks me out." His mother asked him had Frank ever done anything to him to make him feel this way. "Frank has never done anything but before that day dad hadn't raised even his fist in my direction. If Frank wants to do something with me, can't it like be something here or close to this area? I go to Mark's school knowing that in the event I had to get out of there quick I know where I am and how far it is from here on foot." Tony gets a text from Jan and smiles "That's Jan, can I go?" His mother says yes but that they would talk later.
The guys arrive back at Ivey Mansion Joshua was just glad to be home. Getting out of Angel's truck he holds the packet that contained more pictures and what could be a video of him. Andrew heads towards the guard shack Joshua walks in the house. Upon him entering Angel ran to him hugging him saying that he was home. Chase and Amy greet him as they cross the atrium. As Angel lets go Amy surprised him by hugging him and telling him that she was worried about him. Chase taps her on the shoulder she steps away from him. Chase shakes his hand saying that they were heading home and thanks him and Angel for letting him recoup here. "I'd say anytime, but I'd rather this be the last time you have to recuperate. I'm glad you're back on your feet. You know you're welcome here anytime dad. Thanks for staying today." Chase nods and they head out with the agent that was covering for Bobby walking out in front of them.
Frank heads back towards Tracy's, after getting an earful from Paula when he walked into the bar. It was like that woman had radar. He'd walked in and Paula asked what his problem was considering he was here and not out fishing. He told her that Tracy and he had a misunderstanding and Paula had got in his face, when he'd said what happened between Tracy, Tony, and himself. Paula told him how much of an ass he'd been. She also told him if he hurt her girl he would have to answer to her. He'd told her the truth that he hadn't been aiming to say what he said at least not like that. He'd asked her about the relationship she had with Mark's kid. Paula had told him a few things and then told him some of what Chase said, like for him not to try to demand that Tony go with him because even if he did go it would not change whatever put that hesitance in his stride and could make it worse. He'd asked worse how. She said that Tony could start avoiding him or ask to remain with his adoptive parents if he no longer felt safe in his mother's presence which would, in turn, rip Tracy to pieces. Frank didn't want the boy to fear him or start making excuses to stay away. Tracy already missed her son something fierce anytime he had to go live with his adoptive parents during the week. He said the part about trying to make Tony into a man and Paula had made him think about a few things, his approach was probably the worst one to take with a kid that had been through so much at such a young age. As he walks up the stairs to Tracy's apartment, he is almost taken off his feet by Tony who was jogging down the steps.
Tony was on his way to see Janet and had started his way down the stairs, upon seeing Frank he tried to stop before he made contact. He hadn't been expecting anyone to be around the corner Tony grabbed at the railing to stop himself before he ran into Frank. He'd missed Frank took the brunt of the impact. Tony scramble / crawls away from Frank and back up the stairs as fast as he could. "Oh shit, I'm sorry, I didn't see you in time. I'm sorry." Frank walked up the stairs and says for him to watch where he was going next time. Tony grabbed the railing making sure he had it this time and pulled himself to a standing position. "At night you can see the refection of whoever is coming up the stairs in the café window, but not in the daytime. I'm sorry I really am. I got to go." His mom comes to the door asking him what was wrong. Tony looks back at his mom and then down at Frank, "Uh"
Frank answers for him. "He almost took me off my feet, a hard thing to do considering I outweigh him by 150 pounds. You ok Tony?" The kid nods and says he's sorry. "I know, hey as long as we both didn't go headlong into the parking lot I call this a win. You need a ride somewhere?" Tony says no Frank steps to the wall side to let Tony pass him. Tony grabs the railing and moves down pass Frank with his grip on the railing so tight his knuckles were turning white. The tension in the kid's decent reminded him of his conversation with Paula and Chase. The kid was fucking terrified and Frank didn't believe it was just the almost tumble over the banister. If he had of been thinking he might have moved to the railing. But the look the kid threw him as he passed was one of uncertainty what did he think Frank was going to do, pitch him off the steps with his mom standing there? Sighing he looks up at Tracy "I'm sorry I said what I said. The closest to having children of my own that I have ever come was watching Ivey Mansion and protecting the Ivey children." Tracy says for him come in because she didn't need her business all over town considering he was standing on the landing of the upper level of the book café. They head inside, and she locks the door. "I was very much out of line. I hurt you and that's not what I want to do. I understand that right now you may be angry at me and all, but I want to talk this through. I was an asshole I didn't see the full picture, I won't be continuing to try to make Tony into the image of what I came up doing. I now realize a lot more than I did before. Me trying to force a bond with your kid was wrong. Hell, when my mother remarried my stepfather forced me to go to all kinds of places. In a lot of ways, I could see why me reenacting that part of my own childhood would be a no go. Times are different our situation and relationship are different. He's different from how I was. My words about your parenting were uncalled for. You're a great mom it's one of the things that sealed my attraction to you even more than before I found out you were one. You have always been protective of the waitresses and it showed even back then that you care about people. 2 years ago, you came to town and took my breath away. These last few months that I have got a chance to spend being with you has been the highlight of my life. I took you refusing to let Tony hang with me as a mistrust thing and it stung. I get it now. I won't claim to be a shrink but from what happened I could see why he don't want to hang with me." Tracy tells him what Tony said about how he felt. "I can see not going hunting or out beyond civilization. I do want to spend time with him. If you'll let me I aim to stay around. If you marry me I'm not leaving. We'll just have to find something to do that we all can build on like the trip to the zoo. I don't want you stressed and I don't want his fear. Will you forgive me? I was a dumbass, but I aim to make it right if you'll give me a second chance."
Tracy stood in her living room watching Frank rock from side to side with his security ballcap in his hands. "What you said was hurtful, but I forgive you. As for your continued insistence to want to take him places at first, it was more me saying no. I knew of you for years, but we had just started going out months ago. I was having a hard time with trusting anyone but maybe Logan with my boy because of what happened. It's not your fault, it was mine I left him that day and my husband tried to kill my son." Old confusion and hurt fill her tone. "We hadn't fought or anything that morning, but by that afternoon I was a widow, sitting in a hospital talking to my comatose son, then to have him ripped from my custody upon his release from the hospital was hard. So, when Tony came to me the first time and begged me not to let him go with you it just cemented my fear. I'm sorry I didn't say what was on my mind. I'm trying to do what I think is best for him. It's been almost three years since I had my little boy in my care for this long I don't want to mess this up again." Frank stops her by kissing her, when he pulls back he wipes her silent tears away with the pads of his thumbs and tells her the same thing Logan told her right after everything happened. That she had to stop taking the blame for what Anthony's actions not only did to their son but to her as well because it wasn't her fault, and no one that knew the truth and mattered would ever blame her.
Author's Note: Here is a few questions: Do you think there is any information from Joshua's past that could truly tank his current image? Did you believe Mark was ready to let Janet, his image of Nia date? If not, why not? Please read and review: EndNote