Well, decided to update again. I wasn't going to at first, but, the site's okay (for now) and I've just changed my mind. I do that sometimes. LOL.
Anyway, thanks for the support and patience.
And here I go...
Rocky and the officer stared at the blonde guy. His tone had set off alarm bells in Rocky. "What is it that I need to know and who are you?" Rocky asked.
The guy looked around, then, sighed and focused on Rocky again. "I'm-"
"Brett!" Tess exclaimed, hopping up and running over to the guy. She grabbed his arm. "He tried to kill her, Brett! He tried to kill her! This twisted jackass tried to kill Cait!"
Brett pried her fingers from his arm. "Calm down, Tess."
She looked at him as though he'd suddenly sprouted feathers and took a couple steps back. "Have you completely lost it? This creep tried to kill our friend!"
"No, he didn't," Brett said. Rocky's eyebrows shot up. "Tess, Rocky had nothing to do with this. Nothing at all."
"What's happened?" Rocky asked him.
"Well, Cait set this whole thing up- as I'm sure you know. But you don't know how she went about it. All right. My best friend Luke and I have known Cait for years- since high school. Anyway, I was hanging out at Luke's place last night and Cait came over- in a total rage. She kept saying how she just wanted to get you back for breaking her heart. When we finally got her to calm down somewhat, she told us she had an idea," Brett said. He paused for a second. "A pyschotic idea. She wanted Luke or me to... beat her nearly to death- even throw in a few stabs with a knife."
"No. No, no, no. That can't be right, Brett. That can't be what really happened. Rocky is responsible," Tess said.
"He's not," Brett said simply. "Luke and I told her she was crazy and refused her. But, she kept pushing. Kept saying how important it was that Rocky and his fiancee pay. How important it was that their baby grow up without a father. I have never seen her like that. We continued to refuse and tell her that she needed to get some help and move on with her life before she totally broke and wrecked everyone's lives."
"But..." Tess' voice trailed off.
"I know it's hard to hear- it's hard for me to even say. But, that's what happened. She was determined to do this. She had planned it right down to the smallest detail. I told her I'd have no part of it. But... Luke changed his mind," Brett said.
Rocky tensed. "Why?"
"Cait has things on him- secrets that he's scared to death of having revealed. I don't know what they are, but... they're obviously pretty bad. Cait threatened and blackmailed him... he agreed to do it," Brett said, clearly pained. "Just like that."
Tess gasped. "No. Luke wouldn't... Cait wouldn't..."
"It was Luke, Tess. It was Luke. She lied to you. This whole thing was a setup. Cait has clearly gone off the deep end," Brett said seriously. He looked at Rocky. "I won't lie to you, man. I wanted to stay out of this altogether, but... my sympathy for you outweighed my loyalty to Luke. I couldn't let this happen. I mean, you have a fiancee and baby on the way. It's not right."
Rocky nodded. Wow. "Thanks for coming through, man. I know all of this is really tough to deal with."
"I'm just sorry about all of this, man. I had no idea she'd lost her grip like that," Brett said, shaking his head slowly. Then, he looked at the cop. "So, as you've just heard, you've got the wrong guy. The person responsible for this mess besides Caitlin Buchanan is Luke Stephens. And I can take you right to him right now." The cop looked skeptical and Brett sighed. "Officer, I have no reason to make any of this up. I mean, think about it."
"You could easily be a friend of Rocky's. Rocky could've easily-" the cop said.
"This is the first time I've ever met Rocky," Brett said honestly. "Luke Stephens is my best friend. Why would I be here telling you he did this? Why would I purposely try to ruin my own friend like that? It doesn't make any sense."
"All right. We'll check out this Luke," the cop said coolly.
Tess was feeling completely nauseous... and deeply betrayed by the woman she'd considered one of her closest friends. Her head began to spin. Cait had actually blackmailed a friend into nearly killing her... all because of hurt feelings. All because of one guy's rejection. And she'd told outrageous lies. She'd spun the whole thing to make it seem as though it were all Rocky's fault. And Tess'd fallen for it. Why? Because she had no idea her friend was so completely screwed up. Tess' eyes rolled back into her head and someone caught her swiftly when she fainted.
"I should get her home," Brett said, sighing.
Katherine entered the police station- followed by Rocky's parents. The lawyer was on his way. Katherine walked right up to Rocky and hugged him. Mr. and Mrs. DeSantos looked at the redheaded woman lying limp in a blonde man's arms, then, Mr. DeSantos looked at the cop and narrowed his eyes.
"You have no right to hold my son," he said angrily.
"They won't be holding him, sir," the blonde man said. "He didn't do this. A friend of mine did and I just told them that. You guys can fill them in. I really need to get Tess home. Again, Rocky... I'm really sorry."
"Don't be. I owe you one, Brett," Rocky said, giving him a grateful look.
"You don't have to worry about that," Brett said with a half-smile. Then, he lifted Tess up in his arms and headed for the doors.
"What happened, sweetheart?" Mrs. DeSantos asked gently. Seeing her son in handcuffs was more than a little too much.
"Well, we've gotta tell our lawyer that we've wasted his time- actually, Cait has," Rocky said. Then, he proceeded to tell his parents and fiancee what'd truly gone down. They were horrified and angry.
"Can't you take those cuffs off of him? He's obviously in the clear now," Katherine said to the cop in a cold voice.
The cop cleared his throat. "I apologize for this. I was simply trying to do my job."
"And you can do it by picking up this Luke person," Katherine said, her voice cold and hard. She knew that this really wasn't the cop's fault, but, his earlier attitude- and his partner's- had really ticked her off. She looked at Rocky. Seeing him being dragged away in handcuffs... . He leaned in and gave her a smile.
"I told you everything'd be fine," he whispered.
It was nearly two in the morning and Katherine was sitting on the her and Rocky's sofa, staring straight ahead at nothing in particular. All she could think about was Rocky and what could've happened. She knew it wasn't really healthy to be stressing like this, but, she couldn't do much to stop it. She knew that the important thing was that Rocky was fine, but, her mind wouldn't stop whirling.
'If Brett hadn't come forward, if Luke hadn't broken down and confessed...' she thought, then, sighed deeply and shook her head. She looked down at her belly. "Your Daddy... today, I was reminded all over again of why he is so important to me. There are so many bad people in the world, little one. All they care about is getting what they want. They don't care who gets hurt in the process. One of them wants to take your daddy away from you... and me. But we won't let that happen." She closed her eyes.
Kat?" came Rocky's sleepy voice several moments later. She opened her eyes to see him standing in the doorway, rubbing his eyes. He was wearing pajama bottoms and nothing else. She smiled easily, thinking of how adorable he looked. He walked over and sat down next to her. "Why are you still up? Is everything all right?"
"For the most part, yeah. I just wanna stop thinking of how I could've lost you," she said.
"You'll never lose me," he said, pulling her to him and kissing the top of her head.
She looked up at him. "When you were being practically dragged down the hall in those handcuffs, I was... I don't think I'll ever be able to tell you how I felt."
"It's definitely something I never wanna go through again," he said.
"I don't blame you," she said, tears in her eyes. "Rocky... you mean so much to me and now I'm ready more than ever for this family of ours."
"Me, too, Kat," he said.
"Let's make love," she said softly. This'd be their second time. She was surprised to be feeling sexual desire right now, but... it was actually more than that. Deeper than that. She just needed and wanted to be incredibly close to Rocky right now and physically seemed to be the most fitting way.
He looked down into her eyes. "Are you sure?"
"Mm-hmm," she said.
He stared at her for several moments, then, nodded. He slowly disentangled himself from her, stood and a held a hand out to her. She suddenly thought of that night a few months ago, the night they'd conceived their baby. She smiled, took his hand and he led the way towards the bedroom.