Living Without
Part Seven
Abby walked up to the front door with Ross Marler following behind, and both were carrying one of the sleeping Bauer boys. Ross had came along to make sure that they got back safely, despite Abby assuring him that they would be fine. It was Saturday night and there were crazy drunk people driving out on the streets, and Ross didn't want to risk her hitting the road with her boys on such a night alone.
"See," Abby turned to look at him once they had got to her door. "Nothing to worry about. We got home safe and sound," she told him as she dug in her purse to get her keys. Finding them, she was about to stick one into the lock when the door slowly opened, causing Abby to jump back.
"What is it?" Ross asked.
"The door is open," she replied.
"Maybe someone is home."
"We always lock the door, Ross."
"Hold on, let me check it out," he said as he started for the door. "You're not going in with my boy!" she shrieked. "Someone could still be lurking in there."
She was right, Ross knew. He couldn't go in there with a child. He directed Abby back to the cars and there, he got his flashlight out of his trunk. The children were laid down in the back seat and Abby was ready in the driver's seat in case anything were to happen.
Ross headed back to the house and carefully pushed the door open with his flashlight. Abby watched anxiously as he disappeared into the house, her leg tapping rigorously. The lights of the house came on and a few minutes later, Ross emerged. Abby stepped out of the car, raced up to him and immediately bombarded him with questions.
"Calm down," he said to her. "We should call the police."
"What?!" Abby exclaimed. "What happened? Was someone in there? Did you see Michelle?? Is she hurt? What did you-"
"No one was in there. I think you just had a robbery."
"A robbery?? Oh my God! Oh my God!" Abby panicked as she paced back and forth in front of Ross. "Robbed?? I have to see what they took!"
"I suggest you stay here for now," Ross stopped her as he brought his cell phone up to his ear. "Yes, I'd like to report a robbery."
"Ask to speak with Frank," Abby said, but Ross simply batted her away and stepped from her to hear what was being said to him on the phone. While he was preoccupied with the police, Abby went on into the house.
"Abby!" Ross called. "Hold on," he said into his phone as he went after her. When he got in, he found her standing in the middle of the living room.
"They broke everything," Abby remarked as she looked around her. "Everything!" she added before climbing the staircase.
Ross stood his ground by the door and kept an eye out at the car where the children were sleeping. Abby returned downstairs minutes later in a frantic state and Ross tried to calm her down.
"This was no robbery, Ross," she told him. "Nothing upstairs was tampered with except Michelle's room," she looked up at him. "The place is upside down! Whoever was here came for HER!" she exclaimed in frustration. "Look, you've got to talk to Frank!"
"I thought you said Michelle wasn't here."
"She wasn't, but she came back! She must have. Her suitcase was out and some of her things were being put in it. She must've been getting ready to leave," Abby remarked as she moved about agitatively. "That family! That...that Santos family. They probably found out that she was back in town and came after her!"
"Abby, please, calm down. Alright? We don't want to jump to any conclusions," Ross told her.
"Conclusions??" she asked as if he were insane to have said the word. "Oh, my goodness. I've gotta call Rick," she said and then headed towards the kitchen.
***
Sunday, shortly after midnight
"Hmm..." Michelle groaned in pain as she turned from her back to her side. "Mmm!" she moaned louder once she was completely laying on her side, and in this position, her cheek was laying against the cold, damp floor.
At the sound of nearing footsteps, Michelle sat up with such swiftness that only worsened the aching of her head that felt as if it had been hit with a ton of bricks. It seemed too heavy for her neck to support, and slightest movement intensified the already excruciating pain and dizziness that she was experiencing.
She tried to open eyes, and when she did, she wasn't able to make anything out. She must've been in a dark room. A dark, cold, damp, silent, dead room. How long she had been unconscious and in that room she did not know.
As she tried to remember what had happened, she also attempted to stand, but that effort was futile.
"Rick," she barely murmured as she ran her fingers through her curly locks. "Abby? Drew? Jesse? Anyone, answer me!" she yelled and that sent a razor sharp pang to her head, her voice echoing throughout the hollow room and also contributing its own respective effect on her.
Was she in an abandoned building? A warehouse maybe? Her jumbled thoughts were slowly becoming clear, and she intrinsically jumped at the recollection of the incident at the house. Memory of the fictitious police officer soon followed and everything after that was a blank.
Carmen's goons caught her despite her effort to leave, she thought. Where she was now was what she wanted to know, as well as why she was still breathing. What did Carmen have up her sleeve? What did she want with her alive? Was this her idea of some sick torture game she wanted to play before personally killing her off? With Carmen, anything was possible.
A mumbled voice could be heard nearby and Michelle turned in the direction, straining to hear what was being said.
**
"Yeah. I've got her."
"It took you long enough," Danny spoke into the phone and tried to stay focused as Alejandra kissed along his shoulder and the base of his neck.
He was sitting on the bed and she was behind him, her hands seductively making their way down to his belt buckle and attempting to unfasten it.
"I encountered a little bump in the road," Juan spoke euphorically. "But that was taken care of."
"Danny, put the phone down," Alejandra whispered into his free ear just as she pulled his belt from around his waist.
She then came from behind to kneel in front of him, so he could see what was awaiting his touch. He still wasn't looking at her, and so she decided to get his attention. She proceeded with unzipping his pants and then she raised her head to observe any sign of hesitation coming from him.
Danny gave her naked form a look over and his lips curved wryly into a devious smirk. Alejandra smiled back and was delighted that he had finally looked at her. Maybe tonight would be her lucky night. Maybe not. Her smile instantly melted when Danny grabbed her night gown, threw it at her, and then left the room with his phone.
"I'll be there short-"
"We're not at Crystal Springs," Juan immediately informed him.
"Why the hell not?" Danny's voice thundered as he paced the hall.
"We had to vanish for a few hours," he replied. "I suspected that there was some 'baggage' trailing behind us, and I figured we'd better drop them. They were getting a little too heavy, so we went off the road. Look, Danny, if you want to know, she's okay."
"All I wanted to know was if you got her," Danny said, listlessly. "Where are you?"
"She'll be at Crystal Springs in the morning," Juan replied, not wanting to reveal their location. "And you'll be at mass. Just stay where you are for now. I'll see you in church," he concluded and then disconnected the call.
"Juan!? Damn it!" Danny exclaimed angrily as he turned off his phone. He stood in front of his room door with his hands resting at his waist, and he forcefully exhaled a chestful of air as he stared up at the ceiling.
"Damn him," he mumbled under his breath and sighed as he headed back into his room.
When he stepped in, he was surprised to find that Alejandra was still there. In his bed. Naked. He had hoped that she had slipped out while he was on the phone, but apparently, she hadn't.
For one thing, Alejandra was very persistent when it came to 'making love,' as she referred to it. She was determined to give herself to him at the drop of any number of dimes, and over the past few weeks where talk of his upcoming nuptuals have been more prevalent, Danny had managed to avoid situations like the one now staring him in the face. He had been trying so hard not to use the woman any more than he already had, but she was making it extremely difficult.
From the way Danny looked at it, he had two options. He could either kick Alejandra the hell out of his room and be kept awake by thoughts of his ex-wife, OR he could just fuck his future wife right now and worry about the repercussions and Michelle later.
Hmm. A hard decision. Indeed.
***
Sunday, Sept 3rd - Morning
"Daddy! Daddy!" the children shouted as they ran into the room and jumped on top of the bed, jolting Danny and Alejandra awake. Both appeared confused as to what was going on.
"Dani, stop. Please," Danny sleepily spoke while shielding his eyes from the sun that was shining into his face, but the two continued with their jumping.
"Good morning, Daddy!" Danielle yelled at the top of her voice as she jumped higher. "Today's my birthday!!"
"Happy birthday, sweetie," Danny said tiredly in his still confused state, and when he glanced at Alejandra, the events of only a few hours earlier came flooding back to him.
"Happy birthday, baby," Alejandra added as she tried to get the girl and her brother to stop their activity, but she was at the risk of losing the comforter that was covering her nakedness.
"Come here," Danny remarked, bringing his daughter down to him just as Alejandra finally got a hold of Michael. When Danielle was on her knees, Danny stared into her beautiful face, smiled, and then asked, "How old is the birthday girl today?"
"Dani six, Daddy!" Michael answered.
"I wasn't asking you, Mr. Speak-When-Not-Spoken-To," Danny said as he poked at the boy's stomach. "And you who doesn't even know his own age, how do you know that your sister is six?"
"She tell me."
"She told you. I should've figured."
"Are we still going to church, Daddy?" Danielle interrupted as she straddled Danny's legs and held his shoulders with her small hands.
"Yes, we are still going to church," he replied. "What time is it?"
"Eleven after eight," Alejandra told him as she reached for her robe that was laying on the floor.
"Eleven after eight," Michael repeated and he laughed loudly while scrambling from the bed to avoid his daddy's attacking fingers.
"Will we see Uncle Ray?" Danielle asked. "Daaaddeee!" she called, trying to get him to ignore her brother, who was now half way across the room and leaning against Alejandra.
"I'm listening, baby," Danny answered her. "Yes, you'll see your Uncle Ray," he finally replied and her face lit up.
"More presents!" she exclaimed gleefully and Danny cocked an eyebrow.
"You only want to see Ray because of presents, Danielle?"
"Uhh...no?" she responded waryly.
"Yes, you do!" Michael chimed from where he was. "That what you say."
"No, I didn't. You shut up."
"Hey!" Danny stopped them right there. "We're having none of that today."
"Have you taken a bath yet?" Alejandra asked the children, changing the subject before Danny got one or both of them crying. It wasn't hard for him to do that either. A simple look would set them off.
"No. We come say Daddy good morning," Michael replied.
"You've been here for ten minutes and you still haven't said it," Alejandra informed him.
"Good morrrrning," the child sung.
"Good morning," Danny replied with a smile. "What about my morning kiss?" he asked and his children covered their mouths with both of their little hands. "What?"
"Daddy stinky breff," Michael let him know and he and his sister giggled.
Alejandra pursed her lips to prevent herself from laughing as she stood trying to get her dark hair into a ponytail.
"I do not!"
"Do too!" Danielle said, her voice muffled beneath her hands.
"No way," Danny continued to protest as he carried his daughter down from the bed.
"You need to brush your teeth," Danielle told him and immediately ran away before he could grab a hold of her.
"Come on. It's off to the tub," Alejandra said as she lead them out.
"Okay! I'll brush my teeth. So does this mean I get no kiss?" Danny purposely asked and as predicted, his kids sped the rest of their way out of his room, their innocent, playful laughter echoing through the hallway.
Danny was finally able to get out of bed with his children gone, and he smiled to himself when he heard them screaming "Mama! Mama!" down the other end of the hall. They must've sighted Carmen, he supposed. Danielle and Michael were a handful and they were quite the characters. He couldn't imagine his life without either of them. The hard part about it all was that his daughter reminded him so much of someone he would much rather forget.
But he couldn't forget. Michelle had been on his mind all night: while he 'made love' to Alejandra, through his sleep. Despite what he believed happened between them and his supposed hatred towards her, Danny could not stop thinking about Michelle. He tried everything to get her out of his head, and even went as far as burying himself within matters of the 'business.' That worked splendidly, considering he was busy with so much that he couldn't think of anything else but the business. Most recently, however, whenever he was in the presence of his children, all of his mental Michelle-specific road blocks would unexplainably fly out the window. He would also find himself in his office looking through their albums as he had done two days ago.
Danny couldn't understand why any of this was. Whenever he looked at Danielle and Michael as he did now, all he could see was Michelle. In their eyes. In their smiles. He could hear her in their laughter.
She haunted his dreams that night as she had every night since he found out not too long ago that Pilar had finally agreed to aid Carmen and Alejandra in preparing for his closely approaching nuptuals. Why his sister was doing that, he didn't know and he wished he knew what was going on in that girl's head most of the time. She was the only one, besides their abuela, who was steadfastly against the marriage and now she was acting like all was well, laughing and smiling with Alejandra, whom she would otherwise not have been caught dead next to 9 days ago.
Nothing in his life made any sense, so Danny didn't expect his sister's behavior to either. Pilar was still very much a Michelle advocate, he was sure. She hinted as much in their conversation yesterday, and why she was playing nice with Alejandra now? Who knew but Pilar.
Maybe she has finally given up on trying to talk some 'sense' into her brother and support whatever decision he makes concerning his life and the welfare of his children.
Yeah, right. Pilar would rather eat glass just to get Danny to admit that he still cared for Michelle than to give up. She always told him that she could see past this so-called front he put up. That she was tired of him acting so nonchalant when it came to Michelle; tired of him behaving like he could care less if his ex lived or died.
The truth of the matter was that he didn't care and his hard-headed sister just didn't want to accept that. She was always claiming one thing or the other, and when it came to certain things, she was right. But when it came to Michelle, she was just downright wrong. In his opinion, of course.
Danny stood up from the bed and stretched out as he yawned. Pilar was just as crazy as Ray. Two peas in a pod, he thought as he strolled towards the bathroom and grabbed a clean towel on his way in. He had plenty on his agenda today, and his first mission was to rid himself of Alejandra's scent which stuck to his skin as filth did a dirty pig.
***
"I couldn't sleep," Abby spoke wearily as she sat at the kitchen table with Frank Copper and sipped from her coffee mug. "I kept thinking about Michelle. I just want to know where she is. I've tried Drew's, the Lewis', and her place and I've come up with nothing! She's not at the light house either. Rick checked there. I just can't think of anywhere else she could be."
"A hotel maybe?"
"I don't think so. Michelle wouldn't just leave without telling us where she's going."
"You did say that she and Rick had an argument earlier, right? Maybe she wants some space," Frank remarked. "Maybe she doesn't want you two to-"
"She got space when she went over Drew's yesterday," Abby didn't allow him to finish. "I'm sorry," she immediately apologized.
"It's okay," Frank said. "I understand your frustration. I'm sure Michelle's fine. This whole robbery situation was probably something random and has nothing to do with Santos."
"I don't believe that," she said to him. "I think they have her and every minute we spend just sitting here, is a minute more that they have to do whatever they want to her. That's IF they haven't done it already." "Don't think that way..."
"It's hard for me not to. Considering what that family has done to her before, I won't put anything past them. I can't! You may say that I'm overreacting, but there is something in me that tells me that I'm right. This may sound crazy..."
"No, not at all..."
"But...haven't you ever had that kind of gut feeling? The kind of feeling where you just know that something is not right? It's like...an instinct!"
"I don't doubt that you have these feelings, Abby, but if I may speak honestly, I think that what you're saying is a far reach. You shouldn't hang on to this," Frank told her. "We've questioned a lot of people and no one saw anything."
"No one WANTS to say that they saw anything," she rephrased. "How can they not have seen anything, Frank!? That logic is completely insane to me! It really is. Maybe they were intimidated into silence..."
"I just talked with the boys. They're okay," Rick said while walking into the kitchen. The conversation instantly quenched when he took a seat next to his wife. "What's going on?" he asked, sensing the tension between Abby and Frank.
Abby turned away from him, ignoring his question and she continued to sip on her coffee. Frank's eyes moved from Rick to Abby and then back to Rick before he sat up straight and cleared his throat.
"You have to find her, Frank," Abby spoke when she felt that he was about to say something. "And you need to look into 'them.' "
"Abby, Michelle was not kidnaped," Rick said to her, but she continued on with what she was saying to Frank.
"I know Michelle, and her disappearing without telling us where she is going is not her at all, okay? You've got to trust me on this."
"Without much evidence to support your claim, I can't do anything. You know that," Frank added and Abby sighed. "It would be a lot easier to think that they have smallest involvement as to what happened here, but without proof, we have nothing. And it hasn't been 24 hours since Michelle was last seen by Drew, so she could pop up at any moment."
"Honey, Michelle is fine wherever she is. I'm sure that she's only trying to collect herself," Rick remarked as he touched her shoulder and Abby immediately came to her feet and gave him a sharp stare.
"Don't try to comfort me," Abby said harshly. "You're the reason for all of this. And if Michelle is to pop up, you better pray that she doesn't pop up dead," she concluded and she made her way out of the kitchen.