Chapter 5: 3 Libras (A Perfect Circle)
A/N: This is really part 2 of the pervious chapter, and the last real flashback chapter, I mean of course I'll refer to past events but this is the end of the full length flashback. You get to see everything that happens afterwards, how he recovers; you get to see what happens to the group when they find out about what happened to Craig. You'll get to meet his future wife, and how they end up together. There are Cameos from character from the past. For Craig he has to learn how move on with his life, he will suffer the greatest professional success and the worst personal moment of her life. For Ashley she has to learn to live with what she did and how it affects their world. The music is not really intertwined with the dialogue in this chapter but it goes along as more of a companion piece.
Threw you the obvious and you flew with it on your back A name in your recollection Down among a million, say:
Difficult enough to feel a little bit disappointed passed over. When I've looked right through, to see you naked and oblivious and you don't see me
Well I threw you the obvious, Just to see if there's more behind the Eyes of a fallen angel, Eyes of a tragedy.
Here I am expecting just a little bit too much from the wounded but I see, See through it all, See through,
And see you.
So I threw you the obvious Do you see what occurs behind the Eyes of a fallen angel Eyes of a tragedy
Well, oh well.
Apparently nothing. Apparently nothing at all.
You don't. You don't. You don't see me. You don't. You don't. You don't see me
You don't. You don't. You don't see me you don't. You don't. You don't see me at all
Craig begins to hear the noise around him; the first sound that he tries to make out is the EKG machine to his right. Then Craig's eyes start to flutter and he starts to move them around, he feels the bandage over his heart trying to figure out what it is. He opens eyes and notice that they lights are on, he sees the bandage over his heart, more specifically the middle of the bandage where there is a dry pool of blood, his eyes move around then meets to the body of a nurse who is looking at what Craig only assumes to be his chart.
"Where am I? What happened? Says Craig but it sounds more like mumble
"Oh so you're finally awake. You had a bad couple of day. We thought you wouldn't have made it. I guess someone upstairs really likes you," the nurse says as she tries to give him a hopeful smile.
"Yea he really loves me, huh?" Craig as in the most sarcastic tone he could muster
"Look whatever problems you have. You should feel lucky to be alive, you were out for the 14 hours" says the nurse.
"I'm sorry, I'm just going through a tough time right now, I'm sorry my name is Craig" he catches himself knowing that she probably already knows that.
"Yea I know what your name is. I'm Casey it's really nice to meet you, it would have been better under different circumstances
"Yea I guess so," says Craig, he loses himself in the moment forgetting all the pain he was carrying around which felt like the weight of the world. He thinks to himself as the meet eyes, "she has such a pretty girl, she probably not that much older than me, she's short but she has such a nice smile". His mind returns to reality and dwell on the pain that he just suffered.
Casey notices the change in his face, for one moment she saw the happiness in his eyes and that beautiful smile that he wears. Then the next moment a frown replaces the smile, she opens her mouth and sees "I hope a dirty thought didn't just enter your mind, just so you know I don't date patients, even cute ones" hoping that it would make him and she can tell that it succeeded.
Craig chuckles and says "I'll keep that in mind."
"Alright, oh I forgot your friends are outside. The red headed one looks really upset, so her boyfriend is trying to console you, so is the one with who looks like he has good taste in clothes, and your father is filling out paperwork. Looks like you have really nice friends. I'll let them then but remember two at a time & they can't stay long you need your rest. See you later handsome," says Casey as she walks out the door
"Thank You Casey, for everything" Craig says this knowing that she probably didn't hear him
Ellie & Sean enter the room. Craig could tell that Ellie looked she was about to die; he could also tell that Sean had shed a tear.
"Are you okay Craig? The doctors told us that your attacker missed your heart by a couple inches, what happened?" Ellie says this while trying to hold back tears
"Yea man we were worried, they told us that they didn't think you would make it. So that's why we called your Dad & Marco. He flew in a couple of hours ago, and Marco drove down from T.O" who says Sean as she wraps an arm around Ellie.
"I'm fine guys, a little sore but hey whatever, you know"? Says Craig as tries to settle himself in the cold hard bed
"So what happened? Where's Ash? Does she know you're here," says Ellie as she looks at Craig's face trying to get some answers. Reaching for her phone to see what time it is, 1:18am.
"The less you talk about her the better. I asked her to Merry me in central park; I had this entire plan that included me singing for her. She said she wasn't ready for it, so I left to think. When I got home I found her drunk and in bed with another man. So I left and went to your guys apartment, you weren't home so I went to drink, after getting hammered I left then I got jumped and I woke up here" says Craig as he tries to gauge their responses.
"Dude did she tell you anything before you took off" says Sean while Ellie could barely open her mouth because she is sobbing endlessly. Sean sees this gets up and says "We'll let you got some rest, I'm so sorry Craig, come on Ellie" as he carries Ellie out the door.
They walk outside, Both Marco & Joey look at them, they don't know what to think. Joey says "Is he awake? Is he okay?
"Yea he'll be ok, but that bitch won't be after I get my hands on her" says Ellie as she walks away
Both in Unison say "Huh?" Sean responses back "Ashley turned down his marriage proposal, then Craig came home and found her in bed with another guy. He took off, went to a bar got drunk and got jumped and stabbed in the heart".
"OHHH" both says as they look at each other.
Both Joey and Marco go inside see they could see how Craig doing.
Ashley runs through the hospital, and goes up p the nurse desk, out breath she ask, "WHERE'S CRAIG MANNING"
"Um in 5B" says the Station Nurse who has a puzzled look on her face.
She goes up to the room about to go inside, she sees Craig sleeping peacefully in his bed and lets out a sigh. She turns the doorknob but before she enters the room she hear a voice in the background.
"What the hell are you doing bitch, you're such coward for even coming here. Craig told us everything. How could even show your face" says Ellie not caring if everyone in hospital is looking at her.
"I'm so sorry for what I did to him, I wanted to say yes, but I got scared. All I remember is drinking and then walking to see looking at me, then him leaving. You have to know that I love him so much and all I want to do is be with him," says Ashley as she drops to the floor and begins to sob.
"Well you have a feeling way of showing it, you broke his heart Ash, you know that he got stab, in the heart of all places. But its not like he could feel it because someone had already ripped it out of his chest. Just leave Ash & don't come back, he needs to recover and he cant do that if you're still here. We all know that you love him but what you did is horrible, were not in high school anymore." Ellie says this as she puts a hand on her shoulder.
Ashley gets up and starts to walk away but not before saying "Tell him that I will always love him, even if he doesn't want to ever see me again"
Craig had been awaken by all the screaming and was sitting in his bed, he heard all that was said and just looked down and let out a sigh.
Over the next few months he recovered from his injuries, Casey would always come into his room and talked to him. It was nice to talk to someone who didn't know about the drama that was "Craig & Ashley". They began to get closer and closer as he started to distance himself from all that was Ashley Kerwin. When he was released from the Hospital he moved in with Ellie & Sean, Ellie made Sean go to the apartment and pick up all of Craig Stuff. Casey made sure that she would always call and check up on him. She didn't want to admit it to her self to she was starting to fall for him. Craig unsure of himself but knew that it was becoming easier and easier to get up everyday and know that he wasn't with Ashley, but at first it was definitely hard, and Sean & Ellie did their best to comfort him.
One day Casey called and said "Look Craig, I know that were friends but I would really like to take you sometime, you know on a date. No pressure, but I don't want to hide how I feel".
Craig didn't know what to do, Ellie told him "It wouldn't hurt you to go out with her, maybe you'll have some fun, besides doing little club dates you never go out".
Craig relented and went out with Casey, and discovered that he felt happy around her. At the end of their date, he walked her to her apartment building they kissed, she felt like a kid opening presents on Christmas. Craig felt all of his pain drift away.
"Wow, that was worth the wait" says Casey as she pull Craig in for another kiss.
"Yea I know what you mean", says Craig as he returns her advances.
"Look I think we should stop, I don't want this to go to far too quick, it needs to be just right. Okay I'll call you tomorrow, I mean later today since it's about 2:15" say Casey as she kisses Craig on the cheek.
Craig says "Okay, I guess I'll talk to you later, sleep tight" as he begins to walk away
He gets back to the apartment and is startled by Ellie watching TV on the couch.
"Hey, your home. Do you know what time it is? So did you have a good time, I mean its almost 3 that's a good sign, right?" says Ellie as she makes room for Craig on the couch so he could sit.
"Yea I had a good time, she is a really nice girl. She kissed me, her lips were sweet, I think she uses orange Chap Stick" says Craig as he put his finger to his lip.
Ellie motions to get up and says, "Well I'm glad, and I'm going to bed. Sleep tight Craig" and kisses him on the cheek. "Sean would get mad if he wakes up & I'm not there" and before Craig could say anything Ellie had already closed the door.
Over the next few months Casey and Craig's relationship had grown stronger & stronger. Craig's album had just come out, the record company wanted to wait until he better and so it was a surprise that when it came out it had broken various single day sales records not only in Canada where he knew would sell strong, but also in the states where even though records sales had been weak he still managed to sell 2 million albums in the matter of a week. Everyone was so happy for him. Add on to the fact that his first album didn't live up the expectations that the record company had. Jimmy had called him from L.A and told he couldn't be there because he had a showing in a gallery in West L.A. Craig said it was cool. Casey, Ellie, Sean, Marco, Dylan, Joey, Angie, & and Caitlin had all thrown him a huge party to celebrate. His life was better than it had been six months pervious.
Casey goes up to Craig and says, "Hey You, do you like the party" as she wraps her arms around his waist and gave him a tender kiss.
He looks back down at her and kiss her back, "yea this is awesome. I'm thankful for everything you & Ellie did not only today but for the last six months. You've my rock and without I wouldn't have made it this far without you"
She gives him a curious look and pulls him down and whispers in his ears, "well then you're going to have to make up to me tonight, aren't you?"
He looks at her and sees that she is biting lips in anticipation. "Oh I wonder what you are talking about"
Marco comes up the two of them, he thinks to himself, "After everything that he has been through, he has found some sort of happiness, but I wonder if him & Ash were still together would this moment be any better, I guess we'll never know". "Hey Craig are you ready for the tour, isn't next week, how long is it" trying avoid the other question in his head.
"Yea I'm ready, it's about 3 and a half months, all of the U.S and some dates in Canada. To bad I'm not playing in Toronto it would have been nice to play a show in for the hometown crowd" says Craig who is still looking at Casey
"Yea he's ready but I'm not, I mean 3 months without my man, I just don't know if I'll find the strength to pull through, only if I had some incentive" says Casey as she pulls Craig in and begins to kiss again.
By this time Ashley had moved out of their old apartment and moved into the dorms, too many bad memories. Her roommate was named Katy; her goal was to become an entertainment lawyer. Ashley gets back to the room after her 6pm constitutional law class and finds Katy in bed eating some cereal and reading Blender.
"Hey Katy what's going, what are you reading?" says Ashley as she put her bag on the desk
"Um, nothing just Blender. Damn I can't wait to get out of school so I can make some real money" says Katy as puts a spoon full of cereal in her mouth.
"What are you talking about? What about paying back all the money you borrowed to pay for school. That's going to take awhile to payback," says Ashley as she gives here a confused look.
"Well let me you read you something. "The U.S tour for Canadian Singer/Songwriter Craig Manning has raked in over 300 million in ticket sales, along with over 150 million dollars in merchandise sales, and on top of the of that the over 6 millions records sold domestically and 15 million records sold worldwide. This comes along at a perfect companion to the news that he has been nominated for 12 Grammy's including Best Record for "As Lovers Go", Best Album, Best Rock performance by a Male Artist, and Best Rock Album. This has definitely been a banner year for Mr. Manning and his record company. Sources closes to his inner circle tell us that he had already begun writing songs for his next album. It will be a tough road ahead but we sure that we can record a new album that lives up to its predecessor" wow I mean the guy is making a money hand over fist, his lawyer must be cleaning up and have you heard his songs they're great. I would love to the woman that he wrote those songs for, she must be one lucky woman" Katy says with a sense of amazement in her words.
"Yea me too" says Ashley as she opens her cell to reveal a picture of Craig & Ashley kissing as her wallpaper
Six months later Craig is back in the Studio but this time in L.A, he is working with some new producers. He wants to change it up a bit, his record company disagreed with him but they eventually relented because they trusted him so they let him do it. Craig & Casey talked everyday, for hours on end, they seem to be happy. One day Casey calls Craig up, its 7am New York time, so its 4 in the in L.A.
Craig picks up the phone call and see that its Casey on the other end, she says, "Hey babe, I got some news I gotta tell you"
"Do you know what time it is, what the news" Craig says this in a tone that he hopes will mask his anger.
"I can't tell you over the phone. It's really important. Please, I know you still recording, but this can't wait" she says in her sweet voice.
"Okay, I'll get the time off and I'll be on the next flight out. I'll call you when I get to the Airport to tell you what time my flight will be landing at JFK, okay?" says Craig as he already begun to pick his stuff.
Casey sounds so excited and she says "Alright I'll see you when you get here, love you bye" and hangs up before Craig could get a word in.
"Wow that was the longest ten minutes of my life, it seemed like an eternity," Craig says to himself as he gets out of the shower and gets dressed.
He makes breakfast for him and his son. They finish and he begins to clean up, and forget that he promised himself that he would go to the club to check things out. So he grabs his things and he drops little Joey at Marco's place then heads over the club.