The Real Deal (16)
A/N: sorry this is so short I wrote it while sitting in my Anthropology class yesterday :)
Mark, Shawn and Laurel sat in the restaurant and waited for Mark's friend Sam to show up and give them what they hoped was good news. Mark had passed on Laurel's gut feeling about Harley being closer than anyone expected, and even if he wasn't as sure as Laurel was he was still a ball a nerves.
"Don't look so worried Mark, I know that the "Hungry Howie's" lead isn't as solid as you would want it to be, but I am confident that I am on the right track with this," Laurel said to Mark just as Sam walked over to their table, "So was I right or was I right?" Laurel said in way of a greeting.
"As one of the best Private Investigators in the world, it pains me to say that you, my Lady, were dead on. Turns out that there is a Hungry Howie's in Canyon Lake," Sam started but was cut off by Laurel.
"Canyon Lake? Canyon Lake! You mean she never even left Canyon Lake? All this time we've searched all over the country and she has been in the first place we looked all along?! I'm going to kill her! I'm going to hug her so very tight and then I'm going to kill her!" Laurel ranted.
"Calm down, baby. Don't get yourself all worked up yet, Sam said there was a Hungry Howie's in Canyon Lake, he hasn't yet confirmed that that's where Harley is," Shawn said squeezing Laurel's hand firmly.
"Shawn is right, I can't yet confirm Harley is there, but I got eyes there now so if she is there we will know soon," Sam said finally taking a seat at the table.
Mark still hadn't said a word and it was making the others nervous.
"What's on your mind big guy?" Shawn asked.
"I just don't get what is keeping her away. I know she was hurt by what she thought she saw, but still everything she loves is here, Laurel, her job…"
"You." Laurel said finishing Mark's thought.
"If she loved me she would have come back and talked all of this out with me, instead for almost six months she has hidden like a coward."
"She thinks you betrayed her, Mark. She thinks that once again she fell in love with a man who didn't love her back."
"And I get that, but why not try listening for once, huh? If she weren't so damn stubborn she would hear me out and realize that I do love her, that I am in love with her and that I am nothing like that ass hole Kendal Drew!" Mark said getting angry.
"You can tell her all of that and more the minute we find her, right before I kill her!" Laurel said getting a small chuckle out of Mark.
Mark had never been more anxious in his life, well at least not that he could remember anyway. Sam had called to let him know that his guy had finally positively ID'ed Harley. Mark had told Laurel that he would make the trip to Canyon Lake and bring Harley home, but there was absolutely no way Laurel was just going to sit around and continue to wait to lay her eyes on the woman she loved like a sister.
Laurel couldn't decide which emotion she wanted to be feeling at the moment as she kept going from tears of joy to flat-out rage at knowing that Harley had been so close for all these months, yet still so far away. Laurel couldn't wait to see the look on Harley's face when she realized her days of running were over. She wanted to hug her tight to make sure she was actually real and then she was going to shake her, hard, until her brains poured out of her stubborn head. So she and Mark were making the three and a half hour trip to Canyon Lake to finally bring their girl home.
"Are you nervous?" Laurel asked Mark even though she could tell by his Kung-Fu grip on the steering wheel that he was.
"Of course I'm not nervous!" Mark scoffed.
"Then why are you gripping that steering wheel so tightly? What did it ever do to you?" Laurel laughed which earned her a glare from Mark.
Mark realized that his knuckles were in fact white from the tight hold he had on the wheel, but instead of answering Laurel he just loosened his grip.
"It's going to be ok, Mark, we know where she is now and we are going to bring her home, even if we have to drag her kicking and screaming," Laurel said giving Mark's shoulder a reassuring squeeze.
"It's been months, Laurel, what if she's moved on? Found someone new?" Mark asked his voice almost a whisper.
"Don't be silly, Harley loves you and only you!" Laurel said confidently.
"You don't know that, you can't know that," Mark said shaking his head not believing Laurels words.
"Mark, Please! Harley is head over heels in love with you, so much so that she ran away instead of staying to watch you with another woman," Laurel started to say before Mark cut her off.
"THERE WAS NO OTHER WOMAN!" Mark boomed.
"I know that and you know that but unfortunately Harley doesn't know that," Laurel replied.
"She could have stayed instead of running away. She could have believed me the hundred times I tried to explain. I left message after message begging her to listen to reason and she wouldn't even answer my damn calls," Mark said and Laurel could hear the pain in his voice.
"You know her history with men, Mark. You know that seeing Kendal with that guy in her office did something to her that I don't think she fully understands. She couldn't take the chance that you would do the same thing to her I think Harley is scared out of her mind that one day you will see her the way she sees herself, and yes, I know we both know that Harley is a beautiful woman, but because of her family and because of Kendal she doesn't believe that and I also think that Harley still doesn't believe that she deserves a man like you,"
"But that's simply not true and if I'm being totally honest with myself, I think that I'm the one who doesn't deserve her, and after all of this time it's obvious that Harley doesn't want me in her life anymore," Mark admitted.
"So then tell me this, if you truly believe that then why are you going after her?" Laurel asked. After a full minute with no response Laurel continued to speak. "It's because you love her and can't live without her," Laurel told him.
"Yea, that's exactly why," Mark said looking over at Laurel with a small smile.
Harley finished up her sandwich and put her book, Getting Ready for Baby: The Ultimate Organizer for Mom-to-Be, back in her bag before standing to head to her appointment with the realtor. Harley had decided that she needed a bigger place before the baby was born and so she was going to go house hunting. Harley felt a pang of hurt as she thought about how perfect Mark's house would be to raise a family, their family.
"Snap out of it Cooper, that ship has sailed," Harley said as she pulled out a few bills from her bag to pay for her lunch.
Harley walked the two blocks to the first house on her list of possibilities to meet her realtor, Janet Jeffries, never realizing that there was a pair of eyes on her the entire time. Just as she made it to the house she felt a sharp pain radiate through her head and as she hit the ground Harley felt an even sharper pain in her belly, right before everything went pitch black.
