The Long And Winding Road
Notes: The usual disclaimers apply, and remember that all episodes that came after "This Charming Man" aren't canon in this story. Thanks for the reviews of Chapter 57.
Chapter 58 - Walk On
"That's right, I won't need you to work tonight."
An exhausted JT was sitting behind his desk at TMD talking on the phone.
"I know this is the second day in a row," he continued. "It's just a temporary thing until business picks back up and I can afford to have everyone here. And I'm cutting back on hours for all my part-time people, so it's not just you."
JT's face showed increased annoyance as he listened to his employee's reaction.
"Look," JT said, his voice growing louder, "you know what a tough time this is… Fine. Then don't come back… That's right… No, I'll send your last check in the mail. I don't want you in here ever again."
JT then slammed the phone down.
"The guy lives at home with his parents," he said out loud even though he was the only one in the office. "It's not like he was going to starve if he had to go without an extra couple of shifts for awhile. It's only going to be for a few days. Then things will pick up again.
"Okay, maybe a few weeks.
"I thought Spinner was joking around when he said you could hear a pin drop around here. This place has never done big business, but I've been back a few days now and hardly any customers. Guess I can't blame them. Who wants to spend two hours in a dark room in the same building where the owner got himself stabbed?
"And if all that's not bad enough, now I'm starting to talk to myself. Oh yeah, I'm doing just great."
JT picked up a stack of mail that was on his desk and began to sort through it.
"Light bill. Phone bill. Hold on… What's this?"
He put down the other envelopes and opened one that had no return address.
"'Please copy the message below,'" he read, "'and send it to 10 other people. If you break the chain, you will have incredibly bad luck.'"
JT couldn't help but laugh.
"Too late," he remarked before tearing up the note and tossing it in the trash. "I've already got more than enough bad luck as it is."
Just then the phone rang.
"Thank you for calling The Movie Difference," he answered. "Would you like to hear about which movies we're showing this week?"
He became very concerned as he listened to the caller.
"What do you mean you never got the check?" JT asked. "I put that one in the mail personally the day before I… What I mean is, it's been two weeks. Canceling my account? Look, this is obviously a problem with the mail. You know how the post office is. Tell you what, I'll write out another check and… Hold on. This theater has been doing business with your company for years. You can't just… Hello? Hellooo?"
No sooner had the caller hung up on JT than he received another call.
"Yeah, what?" JT answered wearily. "Oh, hello Ed."
JT sighed as he heard the reason for the call.
"Yes," JT responded, "I HAD planned on getting back to you about the deal for the new equipment… Just as soon as I finish reading over all the paperwork… Yes, I know it's been a week since I was supposed to give you my answer. It's just that I ended up being gone for over a week and… Yes, I do understand that your time is valuable, but what you don't understand is that… No, I do not have an answer for you… Because I just don't, that's why!"
JT became increasingly tense as this conversation continued.
"Ed, if we're going to do some business, you are just going to have to give me more time… No, I can't say how much time. Maybe enough time as it takes to be able to think clearly without people like you bothering me. I can hardly breathe around here anymore with all of you wanting things from me every five minutes."
This time, it was JT who hung up the phone. He looked at all the paperwork on his desk that he still hadn't been able to get to since his return to work. The phone then began to ring once again. Tired and frustrated, he knocked the phone off the desk and onto the floor.
"Hey! No fair starting without me."
Startled by the new voice, JT looked up to find Jay standing just inside the office looking pleased with the current situation.
"Knocking the crap off your desk is supposed to be MY job," Jay added.
"How did you get in here?" JT asked, growing nervous.
"Through the door," Jay answered snidely. "Any other questions?"
"How did you escape? You're supposed to be locked up."
"Bail," Jay replied, sounding overly cheerful. "It's my new favorite word."
"That doesn't make any sense," JT said, confused. "If you could get out on bail, it would've happened before now. Besides, what judge would be stupid enough to let you out on bail in the first place?"
"Maybe it wasn't bail," Jay suggested. "Don't you worry about it. I'm gonna be long gone from this place AND this city before any judge has time to start missing me. I just had some unfinished business to make finished before I go away."
"Spinner!" JT quickly called out.
"Didn't see him out there," Jay informed him. "He must be on a break. Can't blame him. Looks like a ghost town out there. No customers. Nothing to do."
"You stay away from me," JT demanded, the feeling of panic increasing within him.
"What? No insults, Yorke? No little stand-up act to distract me? What a difference a few weeks make."
JT decided to hurry out of the room, but he no sooner got past his desk than Jay grabbed him by the arm and then grasped the front of his shirt.
"Not so fast," Jay said, holding JT in place and pretending to sound concerned. "After all, you're still recovering. You've gotta save your strength. Not that there's ever been much to save."
"Help!" JT yelled. "Anybody!"
"Calling out to be rescued? I'm very disappointed in you. But I can forgive you. It's my fault you're still even here."
"Let go of me," JT said, struggling unsuccessfully to get free of Jay's grip.
"The only thing worse than getting picked up by the cops was finding out you were still alive. Here I was going through fingerprinting and mug shots and getting tossed into a holding cell, and you didn't even have the decency to make it all worthwhile by dying. But I'm here to make it up to both of us.
"I thought about looking for your little blonde friend and bringing her over here to watch the festivities. But then I figured it would be even more fun to take care of things here and then go to see her. Maybe me and her can have a little fun before I leave town."
"Jay, a person would have to be insane to think that Emma would ever willingly go near you."
"I'm flexible," Jay responded, grinning. "I never said she had to be willing."
"Don't you dare touch her," JT ordered, his voice sounding desperate.
"Or what?" Jay fired back. "You'll haunt me from the grave? Because that's where you're going. This time I'm making sure of it."
Unable to get away, JT looked in horror as Jay pulled out an all too familiar switchblade.
"I'm thinking this time I should aim closer to the heart," Jay explained. "Maybe I'll have better luck that way."
Powerless, JT watched as the blade got closer. As soon as it made contact with him, he yelled loudly.
Instantly, with eyes wide open, JT quickly sat up. He soon realized that he wasn't in the office, but rather at home in bed.
Sweating and breathing heavily, he realized that the last few minutes had been a dream. A nightmare, really. But certainly not real. This was only Wednesday morning. One week since the stabbing. He wasn't planning to return to work until next Monday.
Though shaken, JT tried to keep in mind that it was only a dream. Emma was fine. His business wasn't a failure. Jay wasn't going to return to finish what he started. There was no reason to feel nervous or stressed about anything. He just wished his mind would hurry up and get the message.
Morning eventually gave way to noontime, which found Emma sitting at the counter of Ryan's Grille awaiting a take-out order for herself and JT.
"What's the good word about JT?" Patrick asked Emma from behind the counter after he'd finished serving a customer sitting two stools over from her.
"I called him over an hour ago to see how he was doing," Emma answered. "There was some uneasiness in his voice, but JT's getting better everyday. He's certainly holding up a lot better than I think I would under the circumstances."
"I'm glad he's doing okay," Patrick responded.
"To tell you the truth," she added, "it's me who's been a wreck the last few days. I started my job on Monday…"
"Oh yeah," he interjected. "I remember JT bragging to everyone at work the other week about how you'd gotten the job you'd wanted with that…animal protection organization, I think he said."
"Right," Emma replied. "With their media and public relations department. Anyway, it's only part-time work and I'll be able to do a lot of it from home. But for this first week, I've had to spend the mornings in the office. And while I'm enjoying the work, it's taken all the willpower I've got to keep from constantly calling to see how he's doing. If I had to work full-days in the midst of all of this, I'm sure I'd be out of my mind by now."
"It's great how you're still as devoted to him as he is to you," Patrick noted. "It doesn't seem to work like that for everybody."
Emma noticed the added bitterness in his last statement.
"Patrick, that reminds me…This is the first chance I've had to talk to you in over a week. Care to explain what possessed you to act like such a jerk to Liberty?"
"Jerk?"
"Class A jerk, from what I heard," she answered plainly.
"It's not worth getting into," he said, trying to minimize how his relationship with Liberty fizzled. "Besides, I'm sure Liberty has already told you all sorts of tales of woe about Evil Patrick Ryan, The Phone Message Withholder."
"Actually, Manny filled me in on what happened," Emma corrected. "Liberty hasn't mentioned your name – at least around me – since your break-up. Patrick, I know you pretended to be a controlling pig when the four of us went on the double date to that awful steakhouse last year, but I can't understand why you decided to act that way for real. Especially at a time when Liberty might have needed your support the most."
"None of that matters, Emma. It's obvious that Liberty was never going to care about me. Not really. I could have been the perfect boyfriend in every way, and I'd still never be more than second best in her eyes."
"That's really sad," she commented.
"I know," Patrick said. "I feel sorry for her, too."
"I meant sad for you," Emma clarified. "Sad that you kept second-guessing her intentions until you eventually drove her away. No matter what you've convinced yourself to believe, I know she cared about you. She deserved a lot better, and I only hope it won't be too long before she finds the right person. The one who will really care about her AND respect her."
Feeling there was no way he could successfully respond to this, Patrick told Emma he'd go into the kitchen and check on how her order was coming along.
Meanwhile, Liberty and Spinner stood just outside of Ryan's near the door.
"You don't have to go in there, you know," Spinner said. "Just in this neighborhood alone, there's gotta be a dozen different places to eat lunch."
"If he's in there, he's in there," Liberty responded, with less steadiness in her voice than she would have preferred. "It's been a week; I can handle it. Besides, I'm not about to let the possibility of his presence keep me from eating food I enjoy in an establishment that I enjoy."
"That's good," he said simply.
"With that said," she added with greater confidence, "it makes things even more pleasant that you agreed to have lunch here with me, Gavin."
"No big deal," he remarked casually. "A guy's gotta eat."
Liberty smiled and started to open the front door when she felt a hand lightly grab onto her arm. She turned back to see Spinner looking at her.
"I'm glad you asked me," he said in a more serious tone than before. "It's gonna be fine in there."
She nodded, and then she led the way inside the building. As they walked nearer toward the counter, Emma spotted the pair and grew alarmed.
"Liberty!" she called out. "Has something happened?"
"Hi," Liberty greeted as the pair reached the counter and stood near where Emma was sitting. "Has something happened about what?"
"With JT?"
Liberty looked over at Spinner, who appeared to be just as puzzled as she was.
"Not to my knowledge," she told Emma. "Then again, I haven't seen JT since I visited him on Monday."
"Oh," Emma responded following a sigh of relief. "It's just that when I saw you both come in together like that, I thought maybe something had happened and you were looking for me."
"No," Spinner spoke up. "We're just grabbing some lunch."
"I see," she said.
After the events of the past week, Emma felt there was very little that could startle her these days. This apparent friendship between Liberty and Spinner, though, was something she would never have predicted. Still, she'd noticed the two spending time talking together at the hospital more than once.
"Let JT know it's all going okay at work," Spinner said, interrupting Emma's thoughts. "But everybody's ready for him to come back."
"I'll tell him. I think he's aiming for a return next Monday."
Just then, Patrick returned from the kitchen carrying a sack containing Emma's order.
"This should be everything, Emma," he said as he handed her the sack.
He then looked over and saw Liberty.
"Hello Liberty," he said in a formal tone.
"Hello," she said in return, though she refused to acknowledge her ex by name.
"How have you been?" Patrick then asked.
"Fine."
"Here for lunch?"
"Obviously."
A part of Patrick had been hoping that Liberty would be apologetic when their paths crossed the first time after the break-up, but he could now see that this wasn't going to happen.
"Liberty, these long answers you give in response to questions…I think that's what I've missed the most."
"We should grab a table before the place starts filling up," Spinner suggested to Liberty after nobody responded to Patrick's sarcasm.
"Excellent idea," she replied. "Emma, say Hi to JT for me?"
Though Liberty missed it, Spinner caught Patrick rolling his eyes when she mentioned JT's name.
"I will," Emma said in answer to Liberty's request. "Talk to you later."
"Liberty, you want to go on and pick out a spot?" Spinner asked. "I'll see about someone bringing over some glasses of ice water."
"That sounds good."
After Liberty walked away, Emma looked on as Spinner leaned his head over the counter and close to Patrick.
"You're not gonna be an ass to Liberty," Spinner said in a quiet but serious tone. "You're gonna be nice whenever she's in here. Or at least stay out of her way. That goes for today or any other day from now on. Got it?"
"Wow," Patrick said sarcastically. "Spinner Mason actually formed several reasonably coherent sentences in a row without a cheat sheet. Don't worry. I was always the understanding one in the relationship. I have no reason to bother Liberty. Besides, what did you have in mind? Planning to beat me up if I wasn't nice?"
"No," Spinner replied. "I saw her in action, and she can handle herself great. But she doesn't need the hassle. And if she decided to slap the hell out of you again, I'd cheer her on and tell her not to stop at just one slap this time. Now see about getting a waitress to come by our table with some water and menus."
Spinner then left the area without Patrick being able to say anything in reply.
"Looks like she really has lost her mind," Patrick then commented to Emma. "She's decided to associate with someone like that? Now I'm positive I'm better off without her. What do you think of all this, Emma?"
Sack in hand, Emma stood up.
"What I think is that it's time for me to go," she answered. "Oh, and I'd listen to Spinner if I were you. While I don't condone violence of any kind, especially after last week, I'm sure Liberty COULD take you if she wanted to. Bye."
While Emma was leaving, Spinner sat down in the booth Liberty selected.
"You did it, Liberty," he said as he looked across at her. "Came in and didn't let Mr. Nameless get to you or anything. Not a surprise, but it was good to see."
"Thanks," she replied, once more feeling relaxed and confident. "Now, we've wasted enough time on him. I want to get back to what we'd started talking about the other day. You were telling me what it was like being part of a band."
"Yeah," Spinner said enthusiastically. "Those were some good times. I know everyone thought it was Craig's band, but the thing to remember is it's the drummer who's always the most important part of the whole thing. You know…the one that holds it all together. You don't have a really good drummer, you don't have a band. Hey, what kind of music do you like?"
A short time later, Emma arrived at JT's. After letting her in and answering her now-standard questions about how he was feeling, he followed her into the kitchen, where she put the sack containing their lunch on the table.
"Fun day at work?" he asked while grabbing plates from a cabinet.
"Right now they have me doing a lot of busy work," she explained while getting drinks out of the refrigerator. "Making copies. Folding pamphlets. Preparing mail-outs. Nothing major yet. But then, it was only my third day."
"And you still loved every minute of it," JT said knowingly.
Closing the refrigerator, she looked at him setting the kitchen table and smiled.
"I did. I do."
"I knew you would," JT responded. "And I bet it's not going to be long until they've got you writing the copy for some of those pamphlets and mail-outs."
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," she cautioned. "Anyway, what have you been up to today? Nothing too strenuous, I hope."
"Just thinking. For me, I guess that counts as strenuous."
"Not funny, JT."
JT considered telling her all about his dream, but for a change decided to just get straight to the point.
"I'm sorry Emma."
"Since when does JT Yorke apologize for an attempt at humor? Even a failed attempt. Especially a failed attempt."
"No," JT stopped her. "I'm sorry I didn't do a better job."
"What are you talking about?" Emma asked, growing concerned.
"He said these horrible things about you and all that happened is that I almost got myself killed," JT said, leaving Emma with no further doubt as to what he was referring to. "While I was on the floor in there he could have come after you and I couldn't have done a thing to stop him."
"But he didn't," she countered. "He wasn't interested in hurting me, only…only you."
Though Emma had been trying to maintain a positive outlook these last several days, her own thoughts regularly drifted back to that night one week earlier.
"He could come back," JT continued. "It could happen all over again and I still couldn't…"
"That's not going to happen," she insisted.
"Emma, I'm supposed to be able to look out for you."
"Yeah," she said weakly. Then she slowly reached over and grabbed his hand. "And I'm supposed to be able to look out for you, too."
JT looked at Emma and realized she must have been having similar feelings of regret.
"You said it yourself back when we went to see Shane," she explained. "He asked if you took care of me, and you told him we take care of each other. That's the way it's always been with the two of us, going all the way back to kindergarten. But there's no way I could prevent what happened to you. I'm so fired up about protecting the animal kingdom, and I can't do a thing to keep the person I love most in this world from almost…"
Choking on the words, she had to pause for a moment.
"Emma…"
"But we can't control what happens during the times we aren't together," she continued speaking before JT could say anything, "I know that if I had been there that night, I would have done anything necessary to prevent what happened. I also know that if I'd been there and you saw him coming toward me, you would have done anything necessary to stop him from reaching me."
"I guess that…"
"As it is," Emma, now impassioned, again kept speaking without JT being able to get a word in, "you DID do something. You defended me against his words. Defended Sean too. You did what you could against a dangerous psychopath, and I don't want you to ever feel guilty about 'what-if' situations that are out of your control. There is no doubt in my mind that I feel safe when I'm with you and that you won't let anything happen to me when you're around, just as you can be assured that I will do the same for you."
"Emma…"
"By the way, JT, if all of this had happened to me, there's no way in the world you'd let me get away with saying things like 'I almost got myself killed.' And I'm not going to let you get away with it either. I said this to you in the hospital, and I'll keep on saying it until I'm sure you believe it – you were NOT the one responsible for Jay doing what he did."
Despite the comfort that her words brought, JT simply looked at her and smiled, not saying anything.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing," he finally spoke up, "just waiting to see if you were done."
"Of course. I'm not one of those people who starts talking and goes on and on nonstop."
"Of course not," JT said, humoring her. "I was just going to say that I'll work on not feeling guilty. But I want you to do the same."
"Deal," she responded. "Considering it's only been a week, I think we're doing okay."
They then sealed the deal with a lengthy kiss.
"You've definitely started getting your energy back," Emma remarked after they eventually pulled apart, causing JT to laugh.
"Sorry, I know you haven't wanted me to do anything strenuous," JT teased.
"For something like that…you're allowed," she said, grinning.
They then resumed preparing the table for lunch. Emma mentioned that she would have to tell him about the interesting goings-on she witnessed over at Ryan's. JT still had concerns over the part of his dream that showed his business falling apart. He wasn't even sure if he could be in the building without constantly thinking about what happened. But though he still felt out of sorts, he was eager to prove his dream wrong. To get his life back on track. To pick up where he left off.
No. Where THEY left off.