***The next day***
Jonathan ordered them breakfast from a deli around the corner and they had breakfast in bed.
It was still rainy, so they decided to take it easy and went to see a movie.
They came out of the movie theater and laced their hands together.
"Are you hungry? We can grab dinner if you want".
"Sure".
They decided on a place that was just a few blocks away, so they started walking towards it.
They were about a block away from the restaurant when a man stepped in front of them.
He was tall, light brown hair, green eyes. He had a very determined look on his face. He wasn't huge, but he wasn't lanky either.
"Aren't you Jennifer Edwards, the columnist?"
"Yes, I am".
"And aren't you Jonathan Hart, the business tycoon?"
"I don't know about tycoon, but I'm Jonathan Hart, yes. How can we help you?"
The man looked right at Jennifer.
"Do I know you?"
"Who I am doesn't matter. What does matter is that you stop investigating Regent Airlines and the FAA. That little article that you published-that was cute. Now print a retraction or else".
"I beg your pardon!"
"Hey pal, just what exactly is it that you want?"
"You have the prettiest red hair and a very beautiful smile. It would be a shame if something happened to you because you couldn't leave well enough alone".
With that, he pushed Jennifer down and turned and ran down an alley.
Jennifer was shaking. Jonathan started to go after him.
"Darling, don't. He might have a gun".
He turned back to her.
"Are you alright?"
She nodded.
"We can go back home and order a pizza".
"No, I promise I'm fine. Honest. He just scared me, that's all".
They headed on to the restaurant and had a nice dinner.
When they came out, Jonathan tried to hail them a cab.
Jennifer was looking around, and saw Ava coming up the block.
She turned away.
As soon as Jonathan got a taxi to stop, Ava saw them.
"Jennifer!"
Jennifer got in the cab with Jonathan without acknowledging Ava at all.
They had a quiet ride to the Penthouse, and immediately went upstairs.
They came inside and he locked the door behind them.
He took her hands in his and pulled her close to him.
"That was a pretty hard fall you took earlier, darling. Why don't you go take a hot bath?"
"Good idea. Do you mind?"
"Not at all. And if you look in the bottom of the linen closet, there should be some Epsom salts along with some other toiletries from the Plaza. Help yourself".
He leaned forward and kissed her, and she headed for the bathroom.
He was making them some of the hot tea that she loved, when the phone rang.
He went over and answered it.
"Hello?"
"Hi Mr. Hart. This is Lisa at the front desk. We have a delivery for you down at the desk. Is it ok if I send it up?"
"Certainly".
"Ok, it will be right up".
He had just finished making the tea when there was a knock at the door.
He went to open it and found the bellman and another man standing there.
"Hi".
"Jonathan Hart?"
"Yes".
"This one is for you. Is there a Jennifer Edwards here?"
"Yes, she's here".
"May I see her please?"
"She's unavailable right now".
"I'll wait".
Jonathan could feel his blood starting to boil".
"It would be a waste of your time, as I'm not going to disturb her. So, you can either give it to me, or you can come back".
"Fine".
He shoved the second envelope in Jonathan's hands and headed back to the elevator.
The bellman followed him, so Jonathan shut the door.
He opened the envelope addressed to him, and read the contents.
He picked up the envelope addressed to Jennifer and took it to the bathroom.
"Darling?"
"Yeah?"
He walked in and sat on the edge of the counter.
Jennifer had the lights off and was leaned back with her eyes closed.
"There was a delivery just now. One for you, and one for me. If yours is what I think it is, it's the same as mine".
"What is yours?"
"A letter that says my presence and yours is requested before a Congressional hearing, to discuss the plane crash".
"Congressional hearing? Are you serious?"
"Very. My letter says they just want to ask us questions about the events of the plane crash".
"Can you open mine and see if it's the same as yours?"
"Certainly".
He opened hers and quickly read it.
"It's almost the same. They want to ask you about the crash, but they also want to ask you about your article".
"When are we supposed to do this?"
"It says we are supposed to call and they will set a date".
"Darling, can you hand me a towel, please?"
"Certainly".
He handed her a towel and helped her out of the bath.
He went and changed into his pajamas while she dried off.
She wrapped the towel around her and then came and put a nightgown on and climbed into bed next to him.
"Feel better?"
"Much".
He wrapped his arms around her and held her as they watched TV. But Jennifer's mind was definitely not focused on the movie.
"Darling, did the person who brought these letters to us look anything like the person who shoved me on the street?"
"No. This guy was bigger, taller, and more intimidating".
They were quiet for a few minutes.
"Darling, how did you find out the information that you put in the article?"
"I have a source who gathered information for me. The day after our last phone conversation, he and I met at Coney Island and he gave me all the paperwork, and then I came home, looked through it, and published the article. Why, what are you thinking?"
"I'm not sure. I'm just trying to figure out how they determined that you were still investigating".
"Well, I wasn't. But now that he told me not to, I've thought of three more angles I want to pursue".
"Are you sure that's wise?"
"Jonathan, they are paying the FAA to let them fly dozens of flights each day with planes that couldn't pass a maintenance performance check. They are putting countless lives at stake. They put our lives at stake. We were 2 people on a plane of how many, 3-400? We were the only ones who made it, and I swear I don't know how we did. From everything I've read and uncovered, we should have perished in that plane crash with everyone else".
"I understand that. But you published the first article a few days ago, and now you've been accosted on the street and Congress wants to question us. I just don't want this to get worse, that's all".
"It's part of the package, Jonathan. If I wasn't investigating this, I would be investigating something else".
"I understand that. But darling, you were physically threatened on the street about your article."
"I know that".
"So, doesn't that make you want to back off?"
"No, it makes me determined to figure out what else they are hiding".
"I just want you to be safe, that's all".
"Again, if I wasn't investigating this, I would be investigating something else".
"I know that. I want you to be safe no matter what you are investigating".
"And I appreciate it, I do. But I can't shy away from the heavy topics just because something could happen".
"Well just to be on the safe side, I want you to take the car service to and from work, and I want you to call me if you go meet with a source again, and I'll go with you".
"I will agree to the car service. But I cannot bring you when I go to meet a source, Jonathan."
"Can you at least call me and tell me when and where you are meeting them?"
"Yes, I will do that".
They decided not to talk about it anymore that night and just focus on each other.
They climbed into bed and chatted about what their Monday looked like.
"I am usually done at the office around 5 or 5:30".
"Same here. I usually have drinks with Morgan on Monday nights".
"Well, you go have drinks with her, and I can catch up on some office stuff and you and I can have a late dinner, say around 7:30?"
"Perfect".
As they turned out the lights, he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead.
She lightly scratched his back some and just let him hold her.
"I love you".
"I love you too".
He gave her a few soft kisses, and then made love to her before they fell asleep together.
***The next morning***
Jennifer was up first and out of the shower by the time Jonathan got up. She went and made them coffee and put a towel in the dryer for him.
They had breakfast together, and then she rode with him in the car service. They dropped her off first.
"I love you, I'll call you later".
"Love you, see you tonight".
A few kisses later, she was walking into the office.
She put her stuff down, and headed to get coffee.
She saw her boss come in, so she went and filled her in on the letter that she and Jonathan received.
"Wow. That's amazing. Be careful, though. If they can find you on the street, they are always watching".
"Yeah, that's a good point".
She walked back to her desk and sat down and got busy.
The more she dove into Regent Airlines, the more shocked she became. She discovered that Regent Airlines used to be known as Priority Airlines. It changed its name after they were named in a wrongful death lawsuit. She emailed her source and asked if they had anything new to tell her about the employees or when the company was known as Priority Airlines.
She decided to call Jonathan as soon as she found that out.
"Hello, Hart Industries, how may I direct your call?"
"Hi, Jonathan Hart please".
"One moment".
After what seemed like an eternity, Jonathan picked up.
"Hello?"
"Hi. You busy? I'm about to go to lunch, want to meet me?"
"I wish I could, but I'm about to have a lunch meeting. I promise, I'll make it up to you tonight".
"Oh, that's alright. I found out some good stuff from my source this morning. Remind me to tell you about it tonight".
"I will. I have to go, the meetings about to start. I love you".
"I love you too".
She blew him a kiss as she hung up the phone and gathered her things.
She ran up the street to one of her favorite salad places and came back.
She worked through lunch at her desk, because she wanted to be there the minute the email came through from her source.
Her boss dropped a file on her desk around 1.
"New assignments for you".
She opened it and took a look.
"Article highlighting a social problem in the city. Article highlighting a new business venture in the city".
She thought a minute and decided to ask Jonathan about the second one. She chose child abuse for the first one and focused on a new law in New York that changed the mandatory sentencing laws for child abusers as her focus.
She was able to knock that out of the park pretty quickly, and had it turned in before she left to go meet Morgan.
She walked out of the office right at 5, and found that Jonathan had sent a car service for her.
She met Morgan at The Olive Bar right on time.
"Hi."
"Hi. I ordered your standard, it should be here any second".
"Thanks".
"So Amanda tells me that you and she had an argument-are you ok?"
"It wasn't really an argument, it was more like an ambush. And I guess I'm ok".
"What do you mean an ambush?"
"I mean we were shopping, and she asked me about my talk with Jonathan. I told her that he was going to be here for the next month, and that we decided to try things again. And she got this rude, judgmental look on her face and acted like I was about to kill myself or something. And then instead of being happy for me, she acted like my being with Jonathan was the worst thing that could happen to her ever….so I just asked her "Why can't you be happy for me?", and when she didn't have an answer, I walked away and hailed a cab and went to spend my afternoon with someone who wants to spend time with me".
"She told me that she didn't mean to hurt your feelings, but that she was just being honest. She just loves you so much, Jennifer. She doesn't want to see you hurt again".
"I know that. But questioning my choices along with my ability to make them isn't the way to ensure that won't happen. And like I told her, she hasn't even met him yet. None of you have. So how can you judge my relationship without knowing him? The only one who has been introduced to him is you".
"That's a very valid point".
"It's not like he moved to hurt me, or that he even wanted to hurt me. He wanted me to come with him, but I said no, because I couldn't."
"Well, just give her some time, I'm sure she'll come around".
"It's like she wants me to be miserable without him, so she will feel better".
"I'm sure that's not the case. I think it's more that she doesn't want to see you get hurt again, and while she means well, she had very poor delivery in how she expressed that to you".
"Maybe, I don't know. I just know I refuse to feel guilty about wanting to be with Jonathan and spending time with him while he's back in town".
They chatted about work stuff and she told her about the guy accosting her on the street and shoving her and how they were summoned to speak with the congressmen about her article and the plane crash.
"Sweetie, I'm only saying this because I love you. Be careful. You did an amazing job on the article already, but it isn't worth you getting hurt to keep investigating".
"I think that was a one-time thing. I'm going to publish probably one or two more articles about the company and then I'm done. I doubt he'll come after me again, whoever he is".
After they were finished with their drinks, Jennifer made a quick trip to the bathroom before they took the car service and dropped Jennifer off first at Jonathan's place. Morgan was loving the privacy glass and all the amenities.
"James, please take Morgan wherever she wants to go-consider it one of my trips".
"Yes ma'am".
"See you in the morning".
"Night. Thanks for the ride".
Jennifer walked into the Plaza and had just stepped on the elevator when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around and was knocked out before she could see who it was.
Whomever it was that hit Jennifer on the head folded a piece of paper and put it in her blouse.
The assailant quickly used a gloved finger to push the button just before the penthouse and then stopped the elevator when they got off. They used the stairs to go back down to another floor, where they took the other elevator to the parking garage and exited the building, leaving Jennifer in the elevator.