What Now

1. The Doghouse

Two Weeks Earlier

"Will there be anything else, Mr. Williams?"

I looked up from my computer at my assistant, Anne. She was standing in the doorway of my office. Well, she was standing in the doorway of the extra room in my apartment that I used for an office. After I ended up selling my company, I started working or the FBI. My job there was mainly to upgrade their facial recognition software and other security features.

I kept Anne on as my personal assistant. We've been working together for over a decade and she was the best in her field. "No, thanks. I'm okay. Have a good night, Anne."

"Have a good evening, Mr. Williams."

After she left, I stretched in my office chair. I had been working late the past few weeks, trying to find glitches in the Bureau's security system. When the New York office got a new director, he wanted to make sure everything was up-to-date, and nothing would slip through the cracks. Hence why instead of accepting Lydia's offer for dinner tonight, I'm staring at my computer sucking back my fifth cup of coffee.

The thought of her made me glance at the picture I had on my desk. It was probably my favorite picture of her. It was taken at this apartment once we got back to New York and sold my penthouse. She stayed the weekend with me, and we spent most of our time at the pool. When I wanted to take the picture, she was feeling shy in her new black bikini and glanced away from the camera.

She really was the best thing that ever happened to me. I've been thinking a lot about everything that happened since we met. We met by chance; two misfits who felt lost in the world. We became friends, close friends, before it eventually led to more.

People still didn't believe the story when we told them we met as to strangers and decided to go on a cross-country road trip together. I would do it all over again if I had the chance. I wouldn't change anything. Well, that's a lie. If I could have redone the past six months without dealing with James or PSYCHO Amy, it would be a miracle.

I still have nightmares sometimes from when Lydia was abducted. Sometimes I wake up in a cold sweat, thinking that she was dead. In my nightmares, I wasn't able to save her. Sometimes, she would be laying right next to me and I would hold her as I tried to go back to sleep. The nights that she wasn't there, I called her to make sure she was okay. She never got upset when I would call and wake her up. She would either talk to me or I would get dressed and go over to her place.

She told me she was fine after we got back to New York. But I knew that wasn't the whole truth. She had her own fair share of bad dreams regarding that incident. But, we had each other and we were doing the best we could to put the past behind us. Besides, she had new things to look forward to. Like the relationship she's building with her brother.

Michael had been a new constant in her life, and I was grateful for it. They had gotten close ever since they reconnected, and Lydia was happy about that.

My cell phone vibrated on the desk and I smiled as I looked at the caller ID. Speak of the devil.

"Well, we'll. Look who's calling me back finally," I said jokingly into the receiver.

"Sorry, man," Michael laughed, "work has been crazy lately."

I definitely knew how he felt. "How has it been lately?"

"It's alright. It's going. Trying to get as much work as possible before the season dies. You know, feast or famine."

Michael ran a construction company in San Francisco. Ever since he and Lydia started getting to know each other, they used my charter plane to fly back and forth. Lydia got back yesterday, which is why she wanted to have dinner tonight.