Falling Gracefully (Sebastian Stan)

Chapter 20 - For the Love of My Life

"Janet."

"Hello my love.  Miss me?" Janet said as she held Kat from behind, a knife at her throat and her hand over Kat's mouth. Kat's eyes were wide in fear.  Janet was stronger than she looked.

"Janet, what are you doing?"  Sebastian was still in the open doorway. 

"I'm taking care of the problem between us," tighten the grip on Kat.

"What problem Janet?  You and I are not a couple. We talked about it."

Janet shook her head. "No, we were.  You took me out to such a nice dinner.  And Chris and Savannah approved of me.  You just weren't ready because of Margarita.  But you're ready now."

"Yes, I am.  With Kat.  I'm sorry Janet."

"No, no you said if it was under different circumstances, you would have been happy with a girl like me.  They're different now." Janet waived the knife around.

Sebastian watched the knife, trying to figure out the best course to make sure Kat didn't get hurt. "C'mon Janet, just put the knife down."

"So you can save her?  I don't think so. She has gotten between us."  She placed the knife back on Kat, who had tears running down her face.  "We've been talking, and she agreed to leave. Didn't you, Dr. Crawford?  You said you made a big mistake, and it was all a misunderstanding."  Kat tried to scream, the noise muffled behind Janet's hand.

"Janet, please, just let her go," Sebastian begged. "We can talk, please."

"You know Sebastian you weren't really appreciative of my gifts for you.  Lucky for me, money is no object.  Being a trust fund kid can be useful sometimes." 

"I did like the gifts."  Sebastian wanted to keep her talking, distracting her from attempting to hurt Kat.

Janet narrowed her eyes, "No, you didn't.  You took them to the police and now they have it.  I worked really hard to get you that jacket."

"I know.  I'm sorry.  I didn't realize it was from you."

Janet sighed.  "See, if we had been together, I could have wrapped it up for Christmas, for your birthday.  Instead, I was forced to leave them on a doorstep. Do you know how hard it was to get into the community?" she rambled. "Of course, Chris Evans would like in a gated community.  Don't even understand why you stayed with him. But he's your best friend. I get it."

As Janet talked, Chris approached the open door to the office from the other side.  He could see Sebastian talking from the doorway and then heard what was happening.  He stepped back to the other door of Kat's office where her secretary usually sat.  He crept in, soundlessly.  He could hear through the door separating the offices all of the ramblings of the psychotic woman.  He assumed from Sebastian's words that she was holding Kat hostage.

Chris opened the door slowly, not wanting to attract attention.  He could see from the crack that Janet had her back to him, an arm wrapped around Kat, who was closest to him. Sebastian saw him from the corner of his eye. He kept trying to convince Janet to let Kat go.  "Janet, please.  If you let her go, I will go with you wherever you want and we can talk.  But only if you let her go unharmed. We can work on us, ok?"

Janet's face softened.  "Us?"

"Yes, us.  But you have to let her go."

Chris saw her loosen the grip on Kat.  He opened the door, pulled Kat away with one hand and using the other to grab Janet's arm and tackled her to the floor as Sebastian raced over and pulled the knife from her hand so she wouldn't herself or Chris.  Janet started to scream as Chris held her down.  The police burst in with guns drawn from the screaming.  Kat was sobbing on the floor. Sebastian went over to her and wrapped his arms around her.  "Frumoasa, Katie, I've got you."