Could this day get any worse?

I just told my sis that her best friend is in custody and she is in shock. She looks like a fish out of water opening and closing her mouth. If we weren't in such a mess I'd probably laugh at her.

She finally says something.

"What do you mean he's in custody? Maureen, why is he in custody? I took the guards down, not him right? Did he get caught up in my mess?"

I should just say it's Cowboy. Trouble follows him even when he's not looking for it. But it follows her just as much as it does him. That this should be nothing new to her but apparently it is.

" Yes, Houston's in custody and I don't know why. Carol's still trying to figure that out."

"What are we going to do? Why would they arrest him? Maureen I should just turn myself in, we are making this worse."

I don't know what to tell her. Carol didn't give me specifics and I needed to get back to her hiding in the closet before the security goons came looking. But if I was a betting woman he must have seen the guard manhandle CJ and in typical Houston fashion went ballistic.

That's one thing he never faltered on. If anyone hurt his family or worse hurt CJ there would be hell to pay. Aunt Liz and her fiancé found out the hard way. When someone tried to run CJ off the road and make it look like an accident; then to have the same person try and finish the job at the hospital he pulled out all the stops to find out who was trying to kill his best friend and why. He even got security for me and Carol wanting to ease CJ's mind in ensuring her two sorority sisters were just as protected as her.

I had not seen Houston since his trips to surprise CJ and do his best to try and to go through the female population at had earned him his nickname Casanova Cowboy.

When CJ called out of the blue to tell me what had happened to her and then she had overheard Laurel and Hardy; the men that had run her off the road say they had a week to get me and Carol that did get my attention. Well the Laurel and Hardy comment hooked me but having my life in danger was nothing to take lightly.

I was scared.

When he came to my office and followed me home to ensure I was safe and had two security guards waiting for me I started to see him in a different light. Not the Casanova Cowboy that had charmed and dazzled all of her sorority sisters but still had made CJ feel she was the one he had come to see.

Those of us close to her saw how she would say 'it's Houston way he loves women and we are just friends.' but saw how she would smile and go along but we knew it had hurt her when he would forget a lunch date or when we heard from his weekend conquest of the great time she had with him.

This made me dislike him even more back then, thinking he was just stringing her along and I was never shy in telling her she was too good for him and she should not wait to see if he would show and just go on with life and enjoy it because it was too short. There is one thing my friends could always count on with me. I was brutally honest and I expected the same in return.

So I knew if he ever found out I was the one that had come up with that name he might not ever speak to me again.

CJ told me that nickname was the bane of his existence and tried every trick in the book to get her to fess up and tell him who had come up with it. To this day he hated to be called that even though it fit him to a tee. She promised to keep my secret. and I was forever grateful I would never want to lose Houston as a friend, even though we had a rocky start. He was one person I could count on and I would never want to lose his friendship.

He had solved the case and when the dust settled had invited us over to his office for a bar b que he had flirted with Carol and Carol had shut him down knowing she would not do that to our sis. Whether CJ knew it or not she was in love with her cowboy and even though we had told her countless times through school and to the present she still said they were just friends and we were out of our minds.

"Maureen?"

Oops I must have zoned out, "No sis you did take the guards down. The guard who grabbed you wasn't the one that brought us up to the conference room. I don't know who that guy was but he deserved it. No one should do what he did. He nearly knocked me down trying to get to you and he didn't identify himself. From what the nurse that paged Carol said and the rapid grapevine that is hospital gossip he's a leech. He's always trying to pick up the nurses on each floor and he gets grabby from what she was told. He manhandled you sis, no doubt and like I said I will be a witness to this."

She looked at me wanting more answers but I had just as many questions as her. My main concern was getting her out of this as soon as I could. She looked like hell. I needed to get her a new shirt and something to clean up those scratches and cuts.

She put her head down and looked at her hands.

"God we are making this worse, now we both are going to have records, Maureen I'm going to lose Jake for sure aren't I?"

I put my hand on her shoulder. "We will fight, mark my words. Something wasn't right, that creep ran past me or better yet pushed me out of the way to get to you, never identified himself and just grabbed you from behind. I will testify to this and I'm sure there is surveillance tape that will back that up. If he wanted to have you stop he should have said been guarding the door that he was supposed to be doing not flirting with the nurses. Sis you didn't know who was coming up behind you did you."

"No, I didn't turn around. I heard footsteps and I remember pressing the elevator button and then looking to the side to find the stairs I was going to run down 8 flights. I didn't want to hear Houston's lies."

"You need to stop that!"

I had said that louder than I wanted to. She was in shock. I don't think I'd ever yelled that loudly at my friend.

Hell must have frozen over. I was defending Houston. I usually was the one to be on the Parsons side of any Parsons vs Houston squabble but this time I could honestly say I was on the Cowboy's side.

If she would have seen his face when she ran out the door she would have been apologizing instead of running. I did. It was devastating. He looked like he had lost everything and was paralyzed into just watching the woman he loved run away thinking he had betrayed her.

But he had been right even though it was not what she wanted to hear. He did the right thing by cooperating. We would find another way and I knew the Child Advocate from prior cases and she would help us out, now I wasn't too sure but we'd cross that bridge when we came to it.

"You're defending him? In your eyes he doesn't do anything right and now you side with him? Thanks a lot you know what I'm leaving, I'll find my own way out of here."

I put my hands on my hips.

"Are you done? Because if you're not I will personally hand you over to the security goons. I'm on Jake's and Star's side. I will do anything and everything in my power to keep those two safe and with our family, yes CJ our family that includes you and Houston. We need to see where we are in this mess and I need you to stay here okay? I need you to think rationally now, not what you want to happen but what is the right thing to do. Okay?We will talk this out. No more running CJ I didn't think you were a quitter and by your actions right now you are giving up on those two kids that need us more now than ever."

She was on the verge of tears but she needed to hear some harsh truth and that was one thing she could always get from me.

"Sit here I'm going to go out to call Carol and see what she's found out."

She didn't look up and just nodded. I told her to lock the door and hide. I went out and looked down the hallway and almost made it to the nurse's station, when I was grabbed and brought into a room.

It was the nurse from earlier.

"They are on this floor searching in all the rooms we need to get your friend hidden. They are looking for her, not you. Your name has not come up so they must think you are looking for her like everyone else."

If this was true it was a relief. I didn't know how I was going to talk my way out of going to jail or to my partners at the law firm when they think I'm at home recuperating from my surgery. One crisis averted.

"I need to use your phone. Will they try and open the supply closet my friend is in?"

"Come on, they are still down the hall. We will hide her behind the nurse station or in one of the linen bins."

We snuck back to the closet and told CJ the situation. We made it to the nurse's station and heard voices coming closer to us.

"Can you fit into that storage cabinet?" She pointed to one behind the station and CJ looked at me.

"You got to try sis we need some time and I still haven't called Carol to see what's going on so let's get you in there and I'll call okay?"

She squeezed in and the cabinet door closed right before the two guards came.

I got on the phone and paged Carol and they walked right by me.

She called right back, "Hey got some news they aren't looking for you only CJ and they are only wanting to see if she's okay. The guard that grabbed her wasn't even assigned to be on the floor you were on and he interfered when he wasn't told to act. I think he wanted his 15 minutes of fame. The guards assigned to you where to come into the conference room once they were called and take them out a side entrance so they wouldn't be bombarded by the media circus."

This was definitely good news if they weren't looking to take CJ into custody then she might not be charged with hurting the guard since he was in the wrong. But it didn't explain why Houston was taken into custody.

"Before you ask Cowboy was taken in for taking down the guard that had grabbed CJ, from what I pieced together he came out to find her when she screamed, he saw what the guard did and went to help but she didn't need any from what I heard she took him down and the other guard was trying to stop him and got in the way and the creepy guard hit him by accident and knocked him out. She got into the elevator and you followed with creepy trying to grab you and sis helping you out to escape. Houston grabbed him and the guard pulled his gun on him and it almost went downhill from there but Houston disarmed him and started to punch him and had to have Lt. Hoyt and two guards to pull him off the guy. Hoyt took him into custody they are on their way to police headquarters."

Oh boy this was going to get bad. What was I going to tell CJ?

"Carol what about CJ she thought she was being abducted, she thought she was back in the garage the night she was taken. If you would have seen her you would see what I was talking about. The training she had been given by Too Mean kicked in and she was defending herself the guy really manhandled her and what you told me that creepy guard wasn't supposed to be there and he wasn't assigned to take her into custody it might work in our favor, do you think she should just give herself up?"

"Maureen I don't know I'm on my way to the conference room and I could use your help. Maybe we can convince the advocate to help us to navigate this. But, I think we should keep sis hidden."

We didn't have my options so I agreed and told her I'd meet her upstairs and to wait for me by the elevator.

The guards came back after having checked the other wing on the floor we were on.

I started to talk to the other nurse and they asked if we had seen CJ, they had a picture of her. It was the one that was on her ID Badge that had granted her access to help out Jake.

I shook my head as did the other nurse. They thanked us and went to the next floor to continue their search.

We waited till they got in the elevator. I told CJ the coast was clear and she tumbled out of the cabinet. I helped her up and updated her on what had happened.

"I need you to hide in that closet and wait till I have some answers and to see if you are in the clear and then we will break Cowboy out."

She smiled. "I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have you as my friend, you and Carol. Or if you weren't your honest self I appreciate it and yeah I did fly off the handle and I did think. Whether I want to admit it he did the right thing but if you tell him that I'll tell him who came up with his nickname."

I hugged her and walked her to the closet. "I won't I promise. Now let me go and get us out of this mess. Okay?"

She nodded and I left her to meet up with Carol.

We met up and went to the conference room. Roxy and Emma was there as was Eveyln the child advocate.

They were in a heated discussion about Jake's care and what had happened to our Sis and Houston.

I cleared my throat and they all stopped.

"Ms. Flanders, did you find her? I heard what happened by the elevator and came down from speaking with the administrators."

"Not exactly, I was in the elevator with her and she got away. I can tell you she was scared and that she was defending herself. The guard had no right to come up from behind her and grab her as he did. She was injured. I can tell you that much."

Emma stood up, "you see he did hurt her, I've put complaints about that guard and I know I am not the only one that feels he is here for all the wrong reasons. I bet if you dig Evelyn you will find a connection to the leak and him."

"Be that as it may Emma but Mr. Houston attacked him and well now he's in custody and this doesn't look good. What am I going to tell my superiors?"

"Dammit Evelyn, he pulled a gun on him everyone hit the floor and the guy was not happy that he had lost CJ so he was going to make sure he had Houston, Hell Evelyn he could have shot the man or worse the whole place up because of what he wasn't even supposed to be on this floor and I have witnesses to collaborate this. We should be thanking Mr. Houston for taking care of the problem."

I looked at the two nurses and Evelyn. She was actually thinking about what Emma had said, I didn't want to say anything but I thought I should.

"Ms. Bloom I understand your apprehension but you have to believe us, CJ and Houston are the best thing for Jake. They might not be putting their best foot forward but it's been a trying day and tempers and fuses have been short, but mark my word they would lay their lives down for that baby and as you heard fight for what they think is right. Houston does tend to be a little over protective of CJ but it's been a rough couple of months for them I'm sure once you've done your research and talked to both of them you'd understand why."

Evelyn looked at me, "why don't you tell me Ms. Flanders? I know what had happen to Ms. Parsons but please enlighten me why you think they should be given this much leeway?"

I shook my head, "I'm sorry it's not my story to tell, she will tell you if you ask. I'm sorry just as Houston is protective of her, so are we. We protect our family and we stand by their decisions. Also, I was a witness to what happened and I am aware this guard had no business on this floor and was out to make a name for himself so you can tell them to tread lightly or that media circus might just come in handy."

Evelyn asked if we could wait outside while she called the Administrators.

We walked out and Carol hugged me, "that was very subtle sis but I think this might be their get out of Jail card."

Emma and Roxy were smiling too, "that was some fancy talking now if you need witnesses let me know they don't want anymore attention I think they might let it slide, how is CJ I heard he roughed her up pretty good before she laid down the hammer on him."

I took Emma's hand, 'the less you know the better, I'll tell you once we hear what Ms. Bloom has to say."

Ms. Bloom came out, "Okay I just was told that the guard wasn't going to press any charges, it seems Lt. Hoyt sent officers to take him into custody for brandishing his firearm with no regard for human life and for assaulting Mr. Houston while he was handcuffed and in custody. I'm sure he wasn't expecting what he got and the firestorm that came from it. So Mr. Houston and Ms. Parsons will not be charged. But they want reassurance from you Ms. Flanders that you or any one will be speaking to the circus outside if you can guarantee this then they will be satisfied. But, I want to speak to both of them and I want to help you help them in navigating what is the best course to get them certified by my department to assist in Jake's care."

No Charges that was definately good news now we stood a chance and Ms. Bloom looked like she was on our side, we just had to walk the straight and narrow and ensure her that CJ and Cowboy will do everything they asked them to do.

"Deal I will see if we can locate Ms. Parsons and call Lt. Hoyt to bring back Houston so you can talk to them. Thank you I'm sure this has been hard on you and I promise they will both be more cooperative, you have my word."

She nodded. "See that they are."

We made plans to meet again in the conference room and Carol and I made a beeline back to the floor CJ was hiding on and to the closet..

I opened the door "Sis you are not going to believe what happened."

I looked around and I turned back to Carol, "Dammit she's gone."