More of the same

A/N: I own nothing...

"Madison! Hurry up. We're going to be late." Angela, standing in the kitchen with her purse on her arm, yells for Maddie again. "COME ON!"

"Geez, Mom. I'm coming!" Maddie walks into the room with her backpack on her shoulder. Grabbing a muffin off the counter, she follows Angela out to the car. "If Dad were taking me, he wouldn't yell at me like that."

"Well, Maddie, if your dad were home, he could take you. He and your Uncle Shane had to go to New York to meet with their record label. He can take you tomorrow, but you're stuck with me this morning." Backing out of the driveway, they head toward the school.

Maddie reaches over to turn the radio up and tune her mom out. When they pull up in front of the school, she kisses Angela goodbye and jumps out of the car.

Angela VO: When did she grow up? She's like this little person now. I miss my baby girl. Where has all the time gone?

Angela, enjoying the morning to herself for a change, heads off to the grocery store. She's missed the simple pleasure of walking the aisles, placing things in the buggy as she goes. Having Jordan underfoot all the time is driving her crazy. He'd been gone for three days and as much as she missed him, she didn't miss the smothering. When she was pregnant with Maddie, he wasn't nearly as bad.

She pushes her cart up to the checkout and waits. Glancing over at the magazines, one of the tabloids catches her eye. She picks it up for a closer look. "What the hell?"

There's a picture of Jordan on the cover. He's leaving a restaurant with a blonde woman. The woman has on sunglasses and a big hat pulled down over her face. The caption reads "Jordan Catalano stepping out?"

Trying not to overreact, she throws the magazine on top of her cart and waits as the cashier checks and bags her groceries. Pushing her cart out to the car, her mind is racing. After loading the bags into the trunk, she takes the magazine and sits behind the wheel of the car.

Flipping from page to page, she searches for the article. When she comes upon it, she can only sit and stare. There are more pictures of Jordan and this woman. He's not touching her in any of them, but he's trying to shield her from the photographer. "Residue front man, Jordan Catalano, seen leaving New York restaurant with a woman other than his pregnant wife. Could this be his new love interest? And where is Mrs. Catalano?"

In one of the photos, she can see the woman's profile. Not believing what she sees, Angela pulls the page closer to her face. There's no doubt to her who the woman is. "What in the hell is he doing with Rayanne?" Pulling her phone from her purse, she dials Jordan's number. When it goes straight to voicemail, she screams in frustration.

Realizing he may be in a meeting, she sends him a text. "Call me asap. We need to TALK! ~A." Dropping her purse on the seat, she starts the car and backs out of the parking spot, heading for home. She's busy carrying the groceries from the car when her phone beeps. "What's up? Can't talk, in a meeting. Everything ok? ~J."

"Just call me when you get out..." Tossing her phone on the counter, she heads back to the car for the rest of the bags. After putting the groceries away, she takes her phone and the magazine to the den with her. Kicking off her shoes, she sits on the sofa with her feet curled under her and the magazine in her hands.

Flipping to the page with the pictures, she studies each one. Jordan looks angry in all of them. Upon first glance, it looks like he's pissed at the paparazzi. Knowing him as she does, she can tell that he's more than annoyed. He's really angry. She decides to give him a chance to explain before getting herself upset. She throws the magazine onto the coffee table and sits back to wait for his call.

Jordan is sitting in the conference room at Atlantic Records, staring out the window. Ever since he received Angela's text message 30 minutes ago, his mind had been back in Three Rivers with her. He was only half listening to what his agent was telling the record executives.

He was angry because he and Shane had wasted 3 days in New York. The record label wanted the new album in 6 months, which was no problem. Then they wanted the guys to do the talk show and late night TV circuit, which was also no problem. What he and Shane were having a problem with was that they wanted Residue to start an international tour in 9 months.

That wasn't an option as far as Jordan was concerned. He planned to take the next 3 years off. If the new album didn't sell without a worldwide tour, so be it. He and Shane had talked about it the night before and after talking to Tommy on the phone, they had all agreed. He hadn't bothered to mention it to Angela when they had talked because he didn't want her getting upset. She only had a few weeks left before her due date and this was a delicate time for her.

Sighing loudly, he turned back to Mark, their agent. Interrupting Mark in midsentence, Jordan stands, "Look, Mark, we've given you our stipulation. Work it out. We aren't budging." Shane stands up and they walk to the door. "Call and let us know what you decide."

He opens the door and he and Shane walk out. "Jay, what's up, man? Don't you think we need to be in there?"

"Shane, I'm tired of talking about it. I'm not gonna change my mind, are you?" Taking his phone from his pocket, he looks at it for a minute.

"No, I'm not. I just don't like them deciding without us." Shane can see that Jordan is agitated. "Something else bothering you, Catalano?"

"I got a text from Angela a little while ago. She says we need to talk." Running his hand across his face he looks up at Shane. "We do need to talk. I need to tell her that I met with Rayanne. I gotta tell her what that crazy bitch is threatening to do."

"Is she alright? Nothing's wrong with the baby or anything?" Shane starts to look concerned. "I mean, if it was an emergency she would have said something, right? Do we need to head to the airport now?"

"She really didn't say. I don't think it's the baby. I'm going back to the room and call her." Walking toward the elevator, Jordan calls back to Shane. "If you want, go back in there. I'll meet you back at the hotel." Getting on the elevator, Jordan pushes the button for the ground floor.

Jordan enters the hotel room and throws his jacket across the back of the chair. Going over to the balcony, he slides the door open and steps outside. He's wondering what Angela wants to talk about and he's trying to figure out how to tell her about Rayanne's threats.

Jordan VO: Why won't that crazy bitch just leave us alone. Now she comes up with this shit? I can't MAKE Angela forgive her. I don't want Angela to forgive her. How am I supposed to make my wife be friends with the woman who claims to be in love with me. Why, so she can be closer to me? Who does this kinda shit? She's going to sell our story to the tabloids? What the fuck? What story? And she's going to tell the whole world that she's pregnant with my baby? Not only is that humanly impossible, it would never ever happen.

Taking his phone out of his pocket, he calls Angela. After the third ring, she answers. "Hey, Ang. What's wrong?" When she doesn't say anything he starts to get worried. "Angela, what's wrong?"

"You tell me, Jordan. Why is there a picture of you and Rayanne on the front page of the tabloids? I go to the grocery store this morning and staring back at me from the checkout stand is a picture of my husband leaving a restaurant with the woman who professes to be in love with him." Taking a deep breath, she continues, "You see, I got mad at first. Then I came home and looked at the pictures more closely. I can tell how pissed off you were, so just tell me what it was about. I trust you and I know you'd never do that to me again. So tell me. Why did you meet with her?"

"FUCK! Are you kidding? It's in the fucking tabloids? GOD DAMN IT!" Kicking the table across the balcony, he turns and walks back into the room, pulling the door closed behind him. "What does it say? What bullshit are they trying to spin now?"

"Well, it implies that you're stepping out on your pregnant wife and that she may be your new love interest. I don't believe that for a minute. But you still haven't told me why you met with her in the first place. Did you call her? Did she call you? What?"

"You aren't going to believe this shit. She called me. I don't know how she knew we were in New York, but she called me on Tuesday morning and said she wanted to talk. She said she wanted me to get you to talk to her. When I told her no, she said if I didn't meet her for dinner, I'd regret it." Throwing his head back and sighing he continues, "When I got to the restaurant, there were no photographers, so now I'm thinking she tipped them off."

Sitting down on the sofa, he lays his head back against the cushions. "She said that she wanted me to convince you to forgive her. She never meant to hurt you and all that bullshit. I laughed at her and told her she was crazy. I don't want her anywhere near you and I told her that. She kept trying to grab my hand while we were at the table and I told her to leave me the fuck alone." Groaning, he asks her, "Red, you do believe me, don't ya'?"

"Jordan, of course I believe you. I know you would never be unfaithful to me. I also know that Rayanne has issues, so I know she's capable of anything when she gets desperate. Finish telling me what happened."

"When she saw that she wasn't going to get me to do what she wanted, she started crying and making a scene. She reached for my hand and I yanked it away, knocking over my water. She looked at me and said very loudly, 'But you said you loved me, Jordan'. I wanted to fucking kill her right there. I got up from the table and started walking out. She caught up to me as I was walking out the door. There were 3 or 4 photographers out there when we got to the sidewalk. I didn't want them taking any photos of us together, but I guess they did. It took me a minute to realize that she had put a hat on and sunglasses." Closing his eyes, he cursed to himself. "She followed me down the sidewalk. I made sure we were away from the photographers before I turned and confronted her."

"So what happened? Did you tell her to leave you alone?" Angela doesn't sound angry, just confused.

"Before I could say anything, she told me that if I didn't get you to forgive her and talk to her again, she was going to tell the tabloids about our affair. I laughed in her face and asked her how she considered a drunken one night stand in high school an affair. She told me that she was talking about now, not high school. She said she was going to tell them about how she spent the weekend at our house and how she and I were secretly sleeping together under your nose." Jordan pauses and laughs to himself. "How does she come up with this shit?"

"Oh my god. Jordan, do you think she would really do that? I mean, is she that fucked up?" Angela doesn't know what to say.

"That's not all, Red. She said that if you won't talk to her, she'll tell everyone that she's pregnant with my baby. Do you think she's really pregnant? Did she think I wouldn't tell you about any of this? This is all so fucked up!" Jumping up from the sofa, he starts to pace.

"I mean, I've had some crazy stalker fans over the years, but I've never had to deal with anything like this before. Are we supposed to ignore her? We can do that. And I'm not worried about the tabloids, they've printed worse about me. I'm worried about you and Maddie. You don't need this shit and I don't want Maddie reading this garbage about me."

"Jordan, I can handle this. And we'll deal with Maddie if she's asks about it. But we can't ignore it. What if she is pregnant? The media will have a field day with it. And besides, they've already got pictures of the two of you together. You have to be careful. Do not meet with her, at all."

Jordan looks over to the door as Shane walks in. He says to Angela, "Look, babe. Don't worry about this shit. I mean it. We'll deal with it, but you can't get upset. Shane just got back, so I gotta go. We're gonna pack up and head to the airport. I'll see you in a few hours, ok? I love you."

"Love you, too. See you soon."

"Hey, Jay, is everything ok? Did you tell her? She didn't get too upset, did she?" Shane worries about Angela just as much as Jordan does. He can't help but feel protective of Jordan's family, because they're like his family, too.

Laughing out loud, Jordan shakes his head. "Damn, Shane. She already knew something was up. There are pictures of me and Rayanne leaving the restaurant the other night plastered on the front of the tabloids. I told her everything and she didn't seem too upset. I think with Rayanne's crazy ass, she's come to expect it. This is all too fucking weird!"

"Well, I don't want anything to do with that crazy bitch ever again. I don't know what the hell I was thinking, getting mixed up with that shit. She's out there, man. I'm just sorry everything had to come out like it did. I tried my best to keep that shit from you and Angela." Shane looked right at Jordan. "Man, I mean, I always thought Graff had a thing for you, even back in high school, but I never thought she'd still feel that way. I wonder if she's snorting again. That shit makes you do crazy stuff."

"I don't get it, Shane, I just don't. Why can't she just leave me and Angela alone? We aren't kids anymore. It was all such a long time ago. Why can't she just fucking let it go? Why after all this time? How can someone pretend for so long?" Jordan walks over and picks his suitcase up off the floor. "I just want to pretend like I never met that chic!" He starts shoving his clothes in. "Hey, what happened after I left?"

"They said they'd think about it. Jay, I don't want to go out again. We all need a break." Shane starts packing up his suitcase, as well. Once everything's packed, they both slip into their jackets and head for the door.

A/N 2: Can you tell that I never liked Rayanne? Did I make her too crazy? Hope you enjoy...