If I Should Fall (Editing)

Chapter 19

  Charlie couldn't focus as she looked at the order lying in front of her. She sighed and put her head down on the bar, the cool glass surface did nothing to quell her migraine. It had been months since Elizabeth disappeared and nothing she did turned her up. She looked everywhere she could think of. She'd gone to the police, the media and still nothing. She had no proof that Elizabeth was kidnapped and her family disputed her claims at every turn, probably greasing palms in the dark.

"I'll handle this. Why don't you go home and get some rest." Max took the invoice from her friend. It was mid-afternoon and the club was empty and quiet.

Charlie barked a bitter laugh. "I can't rest there." She raised her head. "It doesn't matter where I go or what I do, I'm never going to stop thinking about her."

As she spoke Tammy flew through the front doors. "You will not believe this." She tossed the newspaper in front of Charlie.

"What is it?" Charlie pulled the paper closer and peered at it. "Married?!" she exclaimed when she saw the picture of Elizabeth and John standing arm in arm on the front cover. She quickly read the article, which told her that the two reconciled while Elizabeth was on sabbatical, she found God, it read. "A phase!" She shouted at the paper as it described her and Elizabeth's relationship in 'her own words'. "This is bullshit!" She tossed the paper aside.

"Charlie, calm down. At least now we know she's alive." Tammy told her.

"How am I supposed to calm down? They obviously threatened or brainwashed her. She wouldn't marry that dickhead any other way. I have to get to her." Charlie stood.

"How?! You know they're never going to let you anywhere near her." Max stated.

"I don't know, but they're supposed to be having this grand televised wedding, like they're the next Princess Diana and Prince Charles or something! I just have to find a chink in their armor." Charlie mulled it over in her mind, chewing on her bottom lip. "Tammy, your brother's in security right?"

"Yeah, but I doubt he knows anything about this." Tammy replied.

"Can you call and check? It doesn't hurt. I need to know where they're having it, the catering service they're using, security, and the whole nine. I am not going to stand by and let this happen." Charlie stated vehemently as they heard pounding at the front door.

Max went to answer it and returned with a short, mousy looking man with thick glasses and unkempt hair. "Some one's here to see you. He said it's urgent." Max stated.

"Are you Charlene Baumann?" The man asked in a surprisingly deep voice.

"Yes." Charlie gave him a quizzical look.

He placed the briefcase he'd been carrying under his arm on the counter-top. "Good, I have something for you." He handed her a blue document. "Consider yourself served." He gave a brief nod of the head and left the way he'd came.

"What the hell?" Charlie whispered as she examined the papers. She started laughing even though she didn't find anything funny. "A Restraining order! I'm supposed to stay 100 feet from Elizabeth, her home, place of employment and family!"

"Oh Charlie. I'm so sorry." Tammy walked around the bar to join her.

"Don't be. They're the one's who are going to be sorry once I'm through with them. This shit has no basis. I'm sure her father bribed a judge or something to pull this off. I'm not going to let them get away with this." Charlie crumbled the documents in her hands and threw them away.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Elizabeth didn't know how long she got lost staring at her reflection in the mirror. She'd returned to her parents home less than a week prior. She barely recognized the gaunt woman staring back at her. She tried, once again, to remember the events of the past several months, but everything was always a jumbled mess and confusing. She knew she'd lost herself at some point during that time, but the question still remained; had she found herself yet?

She remembered the Rehabilitation Center and some of her treatments. She didn't know that her therapy sessions had in all actuality been hypnotherapy sessions. However, despite her therapists' confusion and best efforts to eradicate her memories of Charlie, they were mostly only able to dampen her emotions of those memories and of Charlie.

Elizabeth thought of her fiancé. John. She loved John, she was sure of that, but she found herself frowning at the thoughts of him and couldn't say why. She shook herself and pushed away from the bathroom sink and walked back into her old bedroom, once again hers. She sat on the edge of her bed trying to figure out how she could love the very man who made her skin crawl when he touched her.

She thought back to the first time John paid her a visit at the Center. He'd been given a special pass for some reason and was allowed to visit her in her room as opposed to the visiting room like everyone else and she couldn't figure out why.

They sat on opposite ends of her small bed. Her hands had been firmly clasped in her lap. "How've you been?" Elizabeth asked softly.

"I'm holding my own." He responded, trying not to fidget with the collar of his jacket, which he held in his hands. "I've missed you though."

She spared a glance in his direction and found him staring at her. Elizabeth quickly averted her eyes.

"You hurt me, you know." He told her as he rang the jacket in his tight fists. "How could you do that to me? Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"I don't know. I don't know how any of it happened. I never wanted to hurt you." She said feebly as she finally met his gaze. "I wasn't thinking clearly."

"Damn right you weren't ... But you're better now right?" Elizabeth nodded. John took a deep breath and released it slowly. "Swear to me that this will never happen again, that you'll never see that woman again."

"I swear to you that I will never see her again." Elizabeth tried to squelch the sorrow that gripped her heart.

John nodded as he looked at the jacket in his hands. He stood, placing it on the back of her chair and began to pace. "I want to start over, but on one condition ..."

"Name it." She looked up at him, beseeching him to give her another chance.

He stopped in front of her and squatted down to look evenly into her eyes. "Let's get married and start a family. As soon as you get out of here we can get married. Your family and I will handle all of the details. All you have to do is walk down the aisle and say 'I Do'." He gently took her hands in his.

"We get married, and then start working on a family?" Elizabeth said softly as she went over it in her mind.

"Well, not exactly. I was us to start today ... now. I want to start our new life as soon as possible. If you can't handle that then you'll never see me again."

Elizabeth stared into his eyes and knew this was her future. She loved John. Her mind knew this, but her heart still did a pause before she spoke. "Let's start a family." She said, almost hesitantly, ignoring the tightening of her gut.

John smiled at her before he kissed her gently. "I was hoping you'd say that." He slowly began to unhook the trail of buttons down the front of her simple one piece gown. Her stomach wrenched again as his fingers grazed across her bare skin, but she cupped his face and drew his lips to hers.

Elizabeth cleared her mind of the memories and decided to focus on the task at hand. She was already late due to her incessant ponderings. She quickly finished getting dressed and rushed downstairs to the living room to meet her mother and sister for their final gown fittings. She could hardly believe that she would be married by weeks' end.