Chapter 2

Alright Mortals, King Alex is in the house.

So far, I've gotten 3 reviews, all requesting 3 different pairings. This chapter will NOT have the pairing quite yet. It's just setting everything up. I really need you people to pick some one ... I'm like dying here trying to pick between Mitchsen, Chaubrey, and Staubrey! Yeah, no Jaubrey ...

I won't update either until I can finally pick one, so y'all gots to help me here! Any who, my plea to you people to continue reading and reviewing is done now. On to the story now!

One other note no one cares about: I'm not a criminal person. I know very little about investigations and other things like that. Therefore ANY mistakes, incongruities, etc of that sort are all my fault, and I apologize. I mean no harm in writing this.

Obviously, I own nothing. I REALLY wish I did, but I alas, I do not. If I did, a number of things would have been quite different!

Darkness. Lights. Sounds. Too much right now to process.

All around her, doctors frantically tried to save Aubrey's life. Unfortunately, Aubrey didn't want to live. All she wanted to do was sleep. No more appointments. No business. Just a nice peaceful sleep. Was that too much to ask?

"Shit she's crashing."

"CLEAR!"

Vaguely, through the haze of the drugs, Aubrey heard someone yelling about crashing. She wasn't crashing, she was floating. So happy, so free. No worries.

'If only these people would stop yelling ... its making it very hard to sleep' Aubrey thought dully.

Then there was a painful shock and the burning in her chest and she went back to floating.

All around her, the flurry of doctors was lost. Before she finally lost consciousness for the last time, all Aubrey could think of was that she really wanted to sleep and all of these damn doctors were making it really hard to.

Finally, sometime in the night, Aubrey was deemed stable and was put in the ICU for monitoring and then later questioning. After all, a suicide attempt of one of the most powerful business women in the world just cannot be overlooked.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

'What the hell is that beeping?' Aubrey groaned, the words not leaving her lips.

When she tried to move her arm, to rub the sleep from her eyes, she found that she couldn't; something was restraining her wrist. Opening her eyes, Aubrey finally took in her surroundings. She was in a hospital room, hooked up to a bunch of machines.

'Well that explains the beeping noise.' Aubrey thought dully. For a moment, she didn't understand why she was in the hospital though.

"Shit." Aubrey swore. All of a sudden, the events of last night (or perhaps longer, she was unsure of how long was she out) came flooding back into her exhausted brain. Memories of the pills, of someone shouting for help, of shocks, and of floating. Of despair, or hatred, and then later of peace. Everything crashing in at once. Once again, she'd failed. How freaking hard is it to mess up a suicide?

"Ah, you're awake"

The entrance of the doctor and a policeman broke her from her reverie.

"My name is Dr. Camp, but you can call me Anna, and the man next to me is Officer Austin. I'm not exactly sure how much you remember from two nights ago ..." Dr Camp paused temporarily as Aubrey shook her head in response "... so here is a basic run down of what happened. After your attempted suicide, Mr. Devine, the man in your hotel room heard noises coming from your bathroom. He had assumed you had slipped while using the shower so broke down the door. He called 911, and you were rushed here."

Aubrey's brow furrowed as the sleep haze began to clear even more.

"You were presented to us at 0330 and seemed at first impression to have taken a large quantity of pain killers. Had you been left without medical attention for another few minutes, you would have surely died. Now, this appears to have been a suicide attempt. As per protocol, you will need to answer a few question from the local police department, be on suicide watch for the next 72 hours, and then if deemed necessary, proper legal action may be taken. Do you understand?"

The sudden torrent of information was overwhelming. For the most of it, Aubrey wasn't listening. However a few words managed to get through her dazed state. Before she could start to process anything though, Officer Austin began his introduction.

"Good afternoon Ms. Posen. As Dr Camp said before, my name is Officer Austin. I need to ask you a few questions that may or may not later lead to criminal charges later. You may have a lawyer present during this questioning, or you may answer these questions without one. Do you understand?"

It was too much. All most certainly far too soon. Too many words, too many people, too many emotions right after she woke up from a failed suicide attempt. However, one thing was slowly making its way through her drug addled mind.

"Where's my father?" The words came out as barely a whisper, but the fear in those three words was evident.

"Why? Do you want him here?" Officer Austin asked, gently. "He's right outside. I can go get-"

"-NO! Please, please, no more." Aubrey broke down sobbing "No more."

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Aubrey's heart monitor began to go faster; however, she barely registered this. All she was able to think about was that she most certainly did NOT want to see her father, not now, not ever again. Her whole life had been a lie.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

"Shit! She's crashing again!"

"NURSE!"

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

The news of Aubrey's attempted suicide made national news; however, that was not what was blaring from the headlines of thousands of newspapers and televised reports. The cause of her attempt, the reason that the woman perceived to be the most powerful business woman in America and perhaps even the world, was what caused everyone's heads to turn.

After Aubrey's meltdown at the mention of her father, Officer Austin had seen the look of real fear in her eyes and had began to quietly make enquiries into his background. With enough evidence to show something unjustified, his senior officers sanctioned a full, extensive investigations on him, their company, and Aubrey's life.

Detectives quickly found out about Aubrey's "appointments" that her father had made her go to. As they dug deeper, they found out the sheer extent of Mr. Posen's use of his own daughter. He was quickly charged, and then later apprehended trying to flee prosecution. Prostitution, corruption, assault, resisting arrest, just to name a few. Quite the rap sheet.

It was a rather simple, though extremely scandalous case. After a hostile trial where he represented himself, more dirt was uncovered and after the case finished some two months later, her father would serve thirty years in jail, lost all parental rights to his children and lost his stake in the company.

In short, Thomas Posen III would spent the next thirty years making registration plates and straw hats, living the high life in a lovely jail cell. It was presumed he would spend the rest of his life behind bars and Aubrey would never have to see him ever again.

Aubrey's Uncle would take over the family business. After making a speech condemning his own brother and pledging to be better, all the loose ends were beginning to be tied up nicely.

Except for one.

The debate as to what to do with one Aubrey Posen was fierce. Should she serve jail time? Should she even be charged? What kind of mental help did she need? Dis she even need mental help?

In the end, it was finally decided that Aubrey would not have any form of criminal charges and she would spend six months in a mental facility, having not passed her assessments to the satisfaction of her doctors. She would be reassessed after her six months and if she was deemed better, she would be able to pick up the threads of her life once again; now all of the loose ends were tied up nicely.

Except that they weren't.

Aubrey was a shadow of herself. She barely ate, she only spoke when she had too, and she flinched anytime anyone came within three feet of her. On top of that, if anyone so much as mentioned her father, Aubrey broke down; the panic attacks evidentially her way of showing her terror. It usually ended up with her having to be sedated. As it would seem, Aubrey's life was over. All that was left for her was to simply exist.

Alright. Sorry about the wait on this. I'm going to try and update once a week ... But believe it or not, I have a semblance of a life, and part of that means that I have some responsibilities that comes before writing. Mortals may hate me if they wish, but I'm too lazy to care.

Anywho, PLEASE LEAVE YOUR SUGGESTIONS! I can't write the next chapter until I figure out who Aubrey belongs with. Along that note, if you have any other suggestions about where I should take this fic, any mistakes I have made, please tell me. I have no beta, so all mistakes are my own. This is new for me, so all criticism is welcome and appreciated.

04/16/14 - NB – I now have a new Beta J waatp has gone through all of my chapters, even the ones that had been Beta's before and corrected what she can.