Living Without
Part Nine
Michelle ran off the pathway and into the grass, going as fast as her weak legs could take her away from that man. Both she and her pursuer slipped and slid in the mud a couple of times as they tried to make their way up the hill, the chase still in progress.
Finally Danny managed to grab a hold of Michelle's ankle while she was struggling on hands and knees to get away. He pulled her down to the ground, and then pulled her body to him and turned her around so she would be laying on her back. When he did so, Michelle was mumbling something inaudible through her sobbing as the rain showered down heavily on the two of them.
Danny was on his knees, trying to catch his breath as he stared down at Michelle - his dark locks dripping of water. He couldn't believe that he was even looking at her. That she was there. The feeling of wanting to snap her neck wasn't as strong as it had been before now that he had her in front of him once again. He wanted to do something to her, but he didn't know what.
With the rain pouring down on her in buckets and her entire aching body drenched in mud, Michelle continued to mumbled whatever it was she was saying to herself. She had no power to run. Whatever strength she had was now gone. She had no power to fight. No will to struggle. All she could do is give in to her strained body and unwillingly surrender.
**
Danny violently swung the door open, it hitting hard against the wall behind it, and he stepped into the house with Michelle draped over his shoulder. He and his captive were dripping wet and leaving a trail of mud as he came further inside.
"What's going on?" a confused Juan asked as he came from the direction of the kitchen. "What happened with you?" he asked, referring to the mud all over both he and whomever he was carrying.
"This happened!" Danny exploded as he pointed at Michelle. "You were supposed to be watching her!"
"That's...!"
"Yes!" Danny snapped. "Get her cleaned up," he instructed before Juan could say anything else and he dropped a wet and muddy Michelle into his arms. "And don't you let her out of your sight."
Juan took her back up to the room she had occupied and into its bathroom. There, he lowered Michelle in the tub. Clothes and all. As he was reaching for the cold water knob, Michelle attempted to get out, but was held in and her head and back were instantly cursed with the sharp, piercing thorns of the ice cold shower of water.
A few minutes later, Juan turned off the shower and helped a shivering Michelle out of the tub. He handed her a nearby towel and escorted her back into the room. Once in the room, she snatched her arm from him and continued further in on her own. With the towel around her, she went to stand by the window with tears in her eyes, staring out at the storm she was a part of roughly 15 minutes ago.
"Your things are in the closet," Juan told her before leaving her alone in the room.
Michelle glanced over her shoulder just as the door clicked shut and then returned her attention to the window. She wasn't looking at anything in particular. Just staring out.
Danny had her. Not Carmen. Danny. Carmen. Her head whirled.
Having run into her husband...no, make that her FORMER husband out there was more than the word unexpected could describe. The man that she had once been married to had her captive. The man she had come to loathe brought her back into this house. Back into this room. The very room they had spent so much time in.
She was now staring at her own reflection in the window and her eyes swelled more with tears. She looked terrible and felt even worse. Her hair was a mess, her face bland, and she was standing there in icy cold clothes. With a blink, her tears fell to her skin and more were quick to follow. All of her hopes of getting away from this house, away from this town washed away the very moment her eyes met with those of...
Michelle turned from the window and went over to the closet. She had to get herself out of those wet clothes. She was already sick and she didn't need to add pneumonia on top of whatever ailment she had. Though at this point anything fatal would be a blessing.
**
Coming into the parlor, Juan made his way over to a table not too far from the burning wood of the fireplace and instantly grabbed the bottle of scotch and a glass, served himself, gulped the liquid down, and forcefully slammed the glass down on the table.
"Angry about something?"
Juan whipped around to find Danny standing by the window that Michelle had almost made her escape from, with his arms folded across his chest. Those eyes of his were burning a hole in his head, but Juan wasn't going to let Danny get to him.
"Don't start with me, alright?"
"I've gotta start somewhere-"
"Well, just don't start with me," Juan said again and he turned around to pour himself another drink. "And don't even try to give me one of your lectures either! I'm no good with that bullshit."
Danny sighed and unfolded his arms as he began his pace about the room. Arguing was not going to get him anywhere. Arguing with Juan DEFINITELY was not going to get him to the front door. The man was the only ally he had in this situation and Danny wasn't looking to ruin that over this 'minor' mishap.
"You should've kept your eye on her," Danny said regardless. "What were you doing anyway!? If I hadn't showed up when I did, she would've been gone and the police would've been all over this place!"
"If you had showed up when you were supposed to, we wouldn't be having this conversation," Juan quipped.
"You had a job to do-"
"And YOU are two hours late," Juan responded as he held up his wrist to point to his watch. "Don't speak to me as if you hired me, Daniel. Remember, I'm doing this as a favor to you. You had an obligation to be here at 6 o'clock. Not a second later," he said, taking a sip of his scotch.
"I happened to have been detained by a pack of wild children, mind you. If I recall correctly, a certain Juan Carlos Alvarez insisted that I fraternize with people that I don't give a shit about at my daughter's birthday party than to come here directly-"
"And raise suspicions?" Juan interrupted him. "Oh, no. That Alvarez guy wasn't thinking at all."
"It's not like you had anything else better to do," Danny added before he plopped down into a big chair.
"My wife is better than this. A lot less exciting though," Juan remarked and then drank down the rest of his beverage before speaking again. "I do a favor this big for you and because of a little mistake, you go off like a fire alarm. And this is the thanks I get."
"Thanks," Danny spat out. Following a brief silence, he said the more meaningful, "Thank you."
Juan put down his glass on the table, strolled over to where Danny was sitting, and pulled up a chair and sat down next to his friend. He glanced over at Danny and then out at whatever he was looking at and back at him again.
"You know, she hasn't aged a day," Juan started. "She's just as beautiful as the last time I saw her. I think that was the day after Michael's christening," he said and he got no rebuttal from Danny. "She's not well," he added and that instantly got Danny's attention.
"You're telling me this as if I care."
"I'm just letting you know. She was beat up pretty bad-"
"Good job!" Danny exclaimed jubilantly.
"Not by me, Daniel. By the time I arrived at the Bauer residence, our 'guest' already had a few 'guests' of her own. They weren't exactly appreciating her hospitality. They had knocked her down and one of her 'dear friends' were just about to beat death into her when I showed up."
"Lucky for her," Danny remarked apathetically.
"Why would you think that I'd do something like that to your wife? I mean, EX wife," Juan corrected when Danny flashed him a fiery glare. "All you asked me to do was abduct the lady. I don't do more than what is necessary and I certainly don't beat up women. I may smack them around a little, but going to such extremes as knocking them unconscious is just not my style," he said and then paused a moment before continuing. "Some time last night, she started running a fever. Lis mentioned something of some deep bruises along her back and sides-"
"Lis was here?" Danny interjected.
"Yeah. I had her come check her out. Your 'guest' seemed to be in really bad shape and I certainly didn't want her to clock out before you had the chance to kill her yourself."
"So, did you see what Lis was talking about?"
"You mean the bruises?"
"No, the twelve dwarfs! Of course, I mean the bruises!"
"No, I didn't," Juan replied. "Yes, I cleaned her up as you asked, but I did that with her clothes on," he said, responding to what he knew Danny would ask next. "Lis had managed to get the fever down, but it was still lingering. After exposure to the rain, I'm sure it'll come back in full force."
"Like I said, I don't care."
Juan stared at Danny for the longest time and then shook his head in disbelief. " I never thought the day would come when I'd say this, but you, my friend, have become a very cold man."
"Not by choice."
"You'd let her die."
"That's the point, isn't it?"
"I suppose. So when are you going to do it?"
"Tonight. Just as planned," Danny replied as he glanced over at Juan to find that he was staring at him. "What?"
"I didn't say anything."
"No, but you were thinking something," Danny said and Juan looked away from him. "You don't think I can do it!"
Juan rubbed on the back of his neck and cleared his throat, refusing to utter a word in response.
"I'm tired of this!" Danny jumped out of his seat.
"Tired of what?" Juan's eyes followed him up.
"You! Pilar! Ray! What is wrong with you people!? I said I was gonna rid this Earth of Michelle, and that's exactly what I'm going to do! Tonight! As a matter of fact, I'm going to go do it now."
Danny grabbed his muddy leather jacket from where it was on the floor and dashed out of the room.
"We'll see, Danny. We'll see," Juan remarked and he got up and headed for the kitchen.
**
Abby stood by the window as the unstoppable rain continued to fall from the sky, and in her hand she was holding the cordless phone. She had been waiting for a call from Michelle since the first one hours earlier. Despite hearing her sister-in-law's voice, Abby was not convinced that all was well. There was still something nagging in her gut about the situation.
Michelle didn't mention where she was going or whom she was with. There was also the fact that the number of the phone from which she made her call was blocked, and the origination of the call couldn't be determined by the operator with whom Abby spoke with immediately after her call with Michelle had been abruptly terminated.
Rick made his way into the house and shook himself of his wet raincoat and hung it up on one of the coat hooks by the door. He found Abby still in her place at the window.
"Man, it's really coming down out there," he remarked as he brushed over his hair with his hand. "You'd think it was Armageddon," he said, but his wife was unresponsive. She hadn't even turned to look at him.
As soon as Rick started in her direction, she darted away from the window and disappeared down the hall. Rick sighed as he made his way up the stairs and into their room. He began to change his clothes when one of his boys came in and made himself comfortable on his parents' bed.
"Ryan," Rick said when he noticed the boy. "I didn't see you come in," he added as he unbuttoned his shirt.
"It's raining cats and dogs."
"Pouring is more like it," Rick replied. "So what have you and Simon been up to? Been driving your mother up a wall all day?" he asked in jest and when he didn't get an answer, he glanced over at the child to find that his head was bowed. "Hey buddy. Why the long face?" Rick asked as he went to sit next to him.
"Is Aunt Michelle coming back?"
Rick looked down into his son's eyes and gave him a forced smile. "Well, um, Ryan...to be honest, I'm not sure. But there is one thing I do know. She will be back."
"How can you be sure? This was the first time she's ever been here and now she's gone. Why did you have to go make her angry?"
"Son, it wasn't anything deliberate. Besides, how did you know about her being angry?"
"I hear things. Grown ups really don't know how to keep their mouths shut. Especially Aunt Blake."
Rick pursed his lips to stifle a grin and then continued with what he had to say. "Well, uh, you're Aunt Michelle and I did have a little disagreement."
"A nice way of saying you had a fight, Dad?"
"Can't put anything past you, huh?"
"Not really," Ryan remarked nonchalantly. "You know, maybe you can call her back!" he exclaimed, suddenly getting excited. "And you can apologize and say that you're really REALLY sorry and want her to come back! That'll work! If I talk to her, she'll come back for sure!"
"What do you mean, I could call her back? Did she call?"
"Yeah," Ryan replied. "Didn't Mom tell you?"
"Sweetheart, dinner's ready."
Both looked up to find Abby standing in the doorway, and Ryan immediately got to his feet and ran past his mother and downstairs.
"Michelle called?" Rick asked just as Abby turned to follow her son.
"Yes."
"What did she say?"
"That she was fine, that we shouldn't worry about her, and that she was going away."
"Going away? Where??"
"She didn't say," Abby replied and started once again for the stairs.
"Abby," Rick called while running up to the door, and his wife stopped at where she was. "Can we talk, please? We can't keep on like this."
"Like what?"
"Like how we are."
"And how is that?"
She was being difficult and he knew it. He rolled his eyes heavenward and silently prayed for some aid. "Can I at least see who I'm speaking to?"
"The person doesn't want to be spoken to right now," Abby said coldly and continued on her merry way.
"Damned this, Abby!!" Rick shouted at her in his frustration and he slammed the bedroom door shut.
**
"What!?"
"The party was going on and I didn't want to break it to you then. I thought saw her at the park two days ago and so, I had some guys of mine check it out."
"AND??"
"It's her."
Carmen felt as if she was about to pass out and she immediately held on to her desk and slipped into her big leather seat. "God, this can't be happening. Not now. Does anyone else know that she's here?"
Dietz paused in thought and Carmen looked up at him to know why he was taking his time in answering.
"If you know something, Dietz, don't let the cat get your tongue now! I need to know! That girl has done nothing but ruin my family and I will not allow her to do it again! My family is finally happy. My son is where he belongs and he will soon be with a woman he deserves. I will not let that MiCHELLE come back and spark up trouble! Dietz, if you know of anyone, I mean ANYONE who knows that Michelle is back, let me know now."
"Boss, no one knows. Just you and I," Dietz lied.
Carmen sighed her relief and got up from her chair. "That is a great comfort. Believe me! I cannot have her or any of those BAUERS around me or my family. I don't even want that name to be repeated in this house! Danny has made it clear to me over and over again that he no longer harbors feelings of any kind for Michelle and I believe him," she said, taking in a deep breath. "But...I remember what I had to go through with Danny concerning Michelle and I remember how much he loved her. How much they loved each other. The things he did for her! I'm afraid that if he sees her, his heart will betray his mind. That is why it is imperative that Danny knows nothing of Michelle's presence. Neither should Alejandra. There is no need upsetting my future daughter-in-law with such news."
"What are you going to do, Boss?" Dietz asked.
"What any mother would do. I'm going to keep my family together and my Danny happy. Michelle has done so much harm to this family. She has caused nothing but pain for Danny and she leaving he and the children broke him severely. Thank God Alejandra was around to piece him back together. Michelle no va a lastimar a mi hijo, a mis nietos, o a cualquier persona en mi familia más," Carmen spoke thoughtfully and then she turned to look at Dietz with a dead serious expression. "That's why I'm going to kill her."
Translation: "Michelle no va a lastimar a mi hijo, a mis nietos, o a cualquier persona en mi familia más." = "Michelle is not going to hurt my son, my grandchildren, or anyone else in my family anymore."