Jesse stood in front of the mirror and brushed his teeth. He looked at his bare chest in the mirror and saw what she saw. Over the years that he had been away he had changed a lot. The hairs on his chest were turning grey and there were tiny lines at the corner of his eyes and on his forehead. Plus his abdomen was remarkably softer than it was 18 years ago, especially since he moved back home. He sighed and rinsed his mouth before throwing on a navy blue polo shirt and dark blue jeans.

It was another hour before Suze got home and he hadn't seen Max since earlier that morning. He checked his phone and saw that there was one missed call from Suze's house. He studied it and noticed that it was from half an hour ago. He hit the redial button and the phone started ringing. It seemed to ring for forever before someone answered.

"H-Hello?" A shaky voice spoke into his ear.

"Max?"

"Yea?"
"It's Jesse. Did you call me?"

"Oh Dad, hey." Jesse was taken aback. He looked down at the phone number on the screen to make sure he had called the right place. "Uh, I'm ok...Just uh..." the was noise in the background. "Just watching the game." Jesse frowned again. He had just watched the game with Max last night. There was no game on today.

"You sure everything's ok?" He asked again.

"Uh yea. Look I gotta go. See you later Dad." And then the phone went dead. Jesse stared at his phone with confusion. He had never had a weirder conversation in his life. Here was his kid calling him Dad when just hours earlier he had sworn that he would never call him that. And then there was the non-existent game that he was watching. Jesse could feel himself grow more and more anxious as he paced his room thinking about Max, and what he was up too. He looked over at Suze's house and not a single light was on, and there was no flicker of light from the living room where the TV would've been watched. That was the deciding factor for Jesse to go over and just check on Max. He grabbed his phone and put it in his pocket as he raced down the stairs. He lightly jogged across the driveway, Suze's lawn, and up the porch steps. He knocked on the door and waited for an answer. As he waited he thought of what Max could be up too. He tried to remember what he would be doing if he were 18 and then he remembered Gina. He didn't want to have a bad relationship with Max and kicked himself for being so stupid. He walked to the porch and down the porch steps. He looked back at the house and sighed. Maybe if he rang it just once more, just to be sure. Beside's he was too young to be a grandpa anyways.

He knocked on the door and rang the doorbell shortly after, listening carefully for any signs of movement. After a minute he grabbed the door handle and turned it. Expecting it to be locked he was surprised when the door opened easily. He stepped into the dark hallways and looked around. There was so shred of light anywhere. He listened for signs of life and became aware of heavy breathing somewhere in front of him.

"Max, buddy? Where are you?" He called out again. There was a quick movement to his left and the door slammed shut, which caused Jesse to jump. The breathing was suddenly louder, almost as if the person was standing in front of him. But he could see nothing, not even the tip of his nose; the room was completely black.

"Max?" He asked one more time, this time his voice cracked nervously. He heard the sound of fabric rubbing together on his left side, and then he heard a loud crack and felt instant pain in the left side of his head. He grabbed the side of his head and felt a wave of dizziness wash over him. He stumbled into the table and knocked it over. He felt a pair of feet on either side of his legs, and strained to look up at the person. He let out a loud groan and felt his eyes droop shut; a numbness filled his body. He heard the person chuckle as Jesse drifted out of consciousness. Everything faded away; the sounds of heavy breathing and a chair scraping on the floor close by, the smell of blood and sweat, the feeling of the vibrating phone in his pocket.

Suze pulled into the driveway and frowned as she hung up her cell phone. She had called Jesse 3 times already, just to make sure they were still getting together that night, but he never answered. She had the same familiar sinking feeling that she had 19 years ago as she climbed down the ladder, when she found out she was pregnant, as she watched Jesse's car drive down the road off to live his own life. She looked over at his house and noticed that his bedroom light was still on, so maybe he was just getting ready. She smiled as she remembered watching him get dressed that moment and how normal it felt. She grabbed her purse and climbed out of the car, throwing the keys into her bag without even thinking. Her heels clunked along the wooden porch as she headed for the front door. She turned the door handle but found that it was locked.

She sighed as she dug threw her purse for her keys, feeling slightly agitated that Max had locked the door. His car was still in the driveway so she knew that he was home, she didn't see why he needed to lock the door. The lock clicked and she opened the door. The house was in complete darkness. She felt a wave of nervousness and sighed.

"That's stupid. To be afraid to go into your own house." She mumbled to herself as she walked into the house and closed the door. She kicked off her heels and dropped the keys in the basket. Only they didn't go into the basket, the clunked as the landed on the wooden floor. She frowned and felt around for the table but it wasn't there. She felt panic rising in her chest and felt along the wall for the light switch. When she found it she flicked the switch but nothing happened. Nervously she flicked it a couple more times.

"M-Max?" She called out slightly frustrated and slightly scared. When there was no response, she felt complete panic take over. "Max!" She shouted again, afraid to move. She became aware of the same heavy breathing, and noticed that it sounded familiar, not that she had heard it from the night before but like she had heard it on a regular basis. She sighed.

"Max, come on. This isn't funny anymore." She said. "I'm not even late."

"But you are late." A cold voice answered and she froze once more. Her mind going blank and a cold fear filled her body.

"What...Who's there?" She peeped, her lips frozen and her hands shaking. The lights flicked on and Suze's eyes took a moment to adjust to the bright lights. The first thing she saw were 2 chairs in the middle of the hallway, where Max had left his chair that morning, and they were tied together. On one chair, Suze spotted Max. His hands were tied behind his back and each leg was tied to a chair leg. Duct tape covered his lips and his eyes, the right one swollen and bruised, looked at her with pure terror. Tied onto the other chair was Jesse. Like Max, he too was bound with his hands behind him and each leg tied to the chair, but his head slumped onto his chest and there was a long trickle of blood pouring from his ear, down his chin and soaking the front of his shirt.

Then she noticed the person standing over them. Holding a gun to Max's head, stood Michael. His face was pale and his blue eyes were cold and crazy. He wore black leather gloves, a black sweater and jeans. His hair was wild and greasy and he looked like he hadn't showered in days. He wore a triumphant smile on his face as he stared back at her. She couldn't help the look of terror that she returned. He frowned.

"Don't look at me like that Susanna." He sighed.

"Why?" She felt tears in her eyes. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because it's the only way." He said, speaking to her as if she were a small child.

"The only way for what?"

"For us to be together." He smiled at her, showing all of his gleaming white teeth. The same smile that she used to shudder at but tried to see past. She stared back at him completely confused and scared.

"What? I don't know what you mean!" She said, her voice shaking.

"Don't be stupid Susanna." He snapped. "You know exactly what I mean. These...people, are in the way of our complete happiness." He said pressing the barrel of the gun into the side of Max's head. Suze watched Max wince and a tear rolled down his cheek.

"Please! Don't do this." She begged and he smiled again.

"I got this idea from Max actually." He said patting Max's head with his free hand. "He should get some of the credit."

"Wh...What?" She asked confused.

"Well it was something he said to me once...That as long as he was around you would never leave." Max's forehead creased as he thought about this and then his eyes widened in fear. "Remember Max? I think you were 8."

"8? That's almost 10 years."

"That's how long I've been planning this for." He smiled with satisfaction.

"Wh-What?"

"Of course there were setbacks, like the dog and...him." He shot Jesse a look of hatred, before turning back to Suze. "But I knew they were just minor characters in our love story." She stared at him like he had just grown 4 heads and was speaking 10 different languages at once. "But it all worked out perfectly. You're brother's moved out of state and barely called you, you're mother was a drunk and Ceecee was busy with Adam and Gina. All I needed to concentrate on was Max here. I had to make sure that it was the right time, when no one would ask any questions." He flashed a vicious smile. "Now is that perfect moment, darling."

"He's...He's my son, Michael. Please." She begged again.

"Darling, he can be replaced by our children." He said so casually that she had to replay the sentence in her mind. She felt her blood boil with rage.

"So you think...you think that if you kill the people I love that I will turn to you?" She shouted at him.

"Yes." He sighed. "It worked before."

"I-What?"

"Remember? When your mother died? You cried in my arms for hours."

"My...mother?" She stared at him. "She died of an overdose years ago."

"Oh Susanna." He sighed. "Do I really have to say it out loud for you. I killed her. It wasn't very difficult actually. All I had to do was slip some crushed up Advil into her vodka and plant some pills around her when she finally died." Suze was past the point of comprehension and stared back with a completely blank mind. She stared at her son and Jesse and knew that the only way to save them was to keep talking. She pushed away her emotions and started to formulate a plan.

"But why?" She asked. "Why kill her? She was barely here to begin with."

"Because she was a horrible mother. All those times she left you to take care of yourself and to watch over you're little brat for a brother. She didn't deserve you. None of them did." He said glaring at Jesse's unconscious form.

"She was my mother." Suze whispered.

"It's better this way." He sighed as he watched her shake with anger. She could taste the bile rising in her throat.

"Then...did you...kill David too?" She asked, David's bloody face popped into her brain and she felt her knees shake.

"He was, like the others, a small character that needed to be removed. He was a...antagonist if you will. He was only getting in the way, with all his traveling and girlfriend dramas." She shook her head and tried to stay focused. But the thought that Max had been right about Michael killing David made guilt fill her stomach. How could she have subjected her family to this monster? "It was supposed to make you run to me, David's death. But then Jesse turned up and ruined all of my plans. I had to think fast, change things around. I broke in last week, to get a better feel of the house, when the dog attacked me. So naturally she had to go too."

"You killed...You were the reason she was barking t 3 in the morning?" Suze felt, if possible, more shock. She remembered hearing Sheeba barking a ferocious bark that she had never heard before, and she couldn't be calmed until Max got up for his morning run.

"I wish I hadn't killed her. She was a good dog, but..." he shrugged and looked down at Max. Her eyes flicked down to Max's angry, red face and then to Jesse's calm face, his eye blinking slightly, his chest rising and falling gently. She blinked. Jesse was awake, only he was smart enough not to move, because Michael couldn't see that Jesse was awake from where he was standing. She saw Jesse's hands quietly working away at Max's ropes while Max worked on Jesse's. She quickly looked away and met Michael's gaze.

"You obviously don't know how I work!" She snapped and he looked surprised by her sudden outburst. "You think I'm going to run into your arms and marry you?"

"Yes." He blinked at her with confusion.

"I haven't said yes to any of your other proposals, why would I now?" She shot at him and he sighed and shook his head.

"Because, Susannah. There were people stopping you from doing what you truly wanted to do."

"Like who? Who was stopping me?"

"Well, Max, for instance, has hated me since he found out that I wasn't his precious Daddy." Michael bent down and looked at Max directly in the eyes. "Haven't you Maxy?" Max scowled and cursed him under the duct tape. Michael chuckled.

"Well, what about Jesse? Why are you doing this to him?" Suze shrieked, trying to distract Michael again.

"He wasn't part of the plan, and probably would've survived if he hadn't come over here tonight. But now he's involved and I can't let him leave."

"But he's done nothing wrong." She shouted and Michael's smile faded into a scowl and he turned towards her, the gun leaving Max's head.

"Oh no?" Michael said as he started walking towards her. "I saw you Susannah." She saw Jesse lift his head and the boys quickened their pace. So to help she started inching along the wall, making Michael moved farther and farther away from them. She backed into the living room and stumbled over a rug, hitting her face off of the grate of the fireplace. She blinked back the pain and spotted the fire poker resting close by. She groaned and stood up, and turned to face Michael.

"S-Saw me where?" She felt the cool metal meet her fingers and curled them around the handle.

"I saw you at the restaurant." He shouted and caused her to flinch. She swallowed nervously but raised her head and met his eye. He was standing very close to her now, she could feel his unsteady breath on her cheek and knew that his asthma was acting up.

"I...I don't know what you mean." She said slowly and he scowled at her.

"I followed you. After you completely embarrassed me by leaving me rejected and alone, I followed you. I watched you walk up the street to your restaurant. But I waited outside because I needed a moment to cool down. Then I see him pull around the back and I knew."

"Knew what?" She shrieked.

"I knew what you were. What these people were making you become. A lying cheating whore." He spat and she stared back at him. Behind him she saw Jesse was almost completely untied. But both Jesse and Max were staring at Michael with furious faces. Then she saw a smile flick across Michael's face as he looked down at her lips. "You never kissed me like that before." He inched closer and she scowled.

"That's because I never loved you!" She said in a low voice and the smile froze on Michael's face. Then a pained look passed over his face, his broken heart clearly displayed all over his face, before it quickly changed to complete hatred.

"You stupid fucking bitch!" He raised the gun and pointed it at her face. For a split second her heart stopped beating.

"Hey Mikey!" She heard Jesse call from behind Michael. Without even thinking she watched Michael turn to Jesse and raise the gun. As if watching in slow motion she raised the fire poker and with all the strength she could muster she rammed the end threw Michael's back. As she felt his spine snap she heard the crack of the gun and watched Jesse fall to the ground clutching his bleeding chest.

She let go of the fire poker and Michael sank to the ground. Max was the first to react. He jumped off his seat and raced to Jesse's side. Seconds later Suze jumped over Michael's dead body and raced to Jesse. His face was pale and his eyes blinked quickly.

"Jesse!" She cried. She lifted his hands from his chest and blood squirted out at her.

"Oh Shit!" Max said.

"Call 911!" Suze shouted at him, as she unbuttoned her white blouse and pushed it on the wound. "Please don't die." She whispered to him, as Max talked to the dispatcher. Tears formed in her eyes, and started pouring down her cheeks.

"Suze..." he choked and she shook her head.

"No!" She shouted, pushing down on the wound with shaking hands. "No! I need you. You have to fight for me! Fight to stay alive Jesse! We've gone this long without each other! I can't go on any longer. Come on Jess!" She said trying to encourage him. The shirt in her hands was now a dark crimson colour and she knew. He smiled and coughed up a stream of blood, before his eyes drifted shut.