A Captivating Coupling Part 15 "The Outside" An: I want to thank everyone who reviewed and encouraged me. Yes! I Think I am breaking a record. 3 Chapters in less than a week. Holy shit! I also want to thank everyone who gave me their opinion on doing the ficlets. Which I am totally going to start as soon as my keyboard types the right way! So yeah, thank you to all of you, and please keep reviewing, it's what really keeps me going. A day and half no sleep got you only 3800 words sorry! Haha! Please enjoy this chapter, and don't cry too much! Oh and thanks to Kelsey and Gerri who were up with me while I worked on this. And thank you to my beta Helen. Who I pray gets well soon! Love you all, Forever Folked, Rory BLOW UP THE OUTSIDE WORLD Nothing seems to kill me no matter how hard I try Nothing is closing my eyes Nothing can beat me down for your pain or delight And nothing seems to break me No matter how hard I fall nothing can break me at all Not one for giving up though not invincible I know I've givin' everything I need I'd give you everything I own I'd give in if it could at least be ours alone I've given everything I could To blow it to hell and gone Burrow down in and Blow up the outside world Someone tried to tell me something Don't let the world bring you down Nothing will do me in before I do myself So save it for your own and the ones you can help Want to make it understood Wanting though I never would Trying though I know it's wrong Blowing it to hell and gone Wishing though I never could Blow up the outside world Music: Cornell Jennifer Taylor had just gotten home from her Lamaze class. She’d tried calling her husband’s cell phone but there had been no answer. Jennifer figured that Craig ended up having some kind of business emergency and that was why he didn’t make it. So she called her best friend to come and fill in as her coach. Jennifer learned some things she’d forgotten about when she had Justin and some new ways as well to cope with her labour. She was due in just a few weeks and couldn’t have been more excited to have a child. Another child. She let a silent tear fall down her face as she pulled into the long driveway of her home. Seeing Craig’s SUV parked in the driveway, she became angry. Figuring he must have fallen asleep and that was why he hadn’t met her. Jennifer waddled her way through the house yelling for Craig, but received no answer. In a huff she decided to go upstairs and wake him up. Slowly she made her way, holding tightly to the wood banister. She hated treading up and down these stairs; her back was aching and her feet were killing her by the time she made it up them. She opened her mouth to holler for her husband one more time when she stopped in her tracks and placed one hand on her stomach and the other on the wall for balance. At the end of the hall she could see a light on in the room to the left. She regrouped herself and cautiously stepped forward until she was standing just outside the doorway. “Craig?” She said softly, her husband was curled up on the twin sized racecar bed, clutching the blue blanket to his chest, his face buried into a pillow that had baseball’s decorating it. She went to the bed and touched his shoulder. “Craig.” She said again, a hitch to her voice. Craig jerked and his eyes opened. “Justin.” He asked, before his vision cleared and he saw his very pregnant wife bending over him. Jennifer’s tears burned the back of her eyes. “You didn’t meet me at the club.” She said. Craig sat up, his hands still clinging to the blanket; he swung his legs around the side of the bed and shook his head. “I can’t do this.” He told his wife. Jennifer slowly got down to her knees and reached out to touch her husbands face. She titled it up and made him look at her. “What do you mean?” She asked. Craig took Jennifer’s swollen hands and placed them on his lap. “I can’t be a father to the baby.” He told her, looking her right in her bright blue eyes. Jennifer could feel her heart breaking. “What do you mean Craig? You are the baby’s father.” She told him. Craig dropped the blanket and Jennifer’s hands before getting up and going over to the dresser where framed pictures sat. He picked up the one in the red frame and reached out his fingertips to trace the lines of the little boy’s smiling face. Jennifer crawled up to sit on the bed. “Craig, you’re scaring me!” She yelled making him turn back to her. Craig glared at his wife. “You want to replace him!” He spat, setting the photograph down to join the others. Jennifer flinched. “I don’t Craig! I don’t! I just want another baby.” “To make you forget about him!” Craig returned. Jen wrung her hands together. “That’s not what I want! I just want to make new memories, I want to be a mother.” “I thought you were one!” Craig yelled and started pacing back and forth. Jennifer couldn’t believe they were having this conversation. “I…I….am Craig. But Justin is gone!” Craig stopped pacing for a moment and glared at her. “Don’t you think I know that!” “No Craig.” She said defeated. “What?” Craig wasn’t sure he heard her right. Jennifer took a deep breath and looked her husband right in his glassy blue eyes. “You come in here every single day and talk to him like he’s here!” She said. Craig let his tears fall. “Would you rather me forget about him?” He asked. “No Craig, of course not… I just want you to be happy again.” Jennifer cried. “By replacing Justin?” Craig asked. “No…no.. that’s not what this baby is.” Jennifer said rubbing her belly. “I can’t… I won’t forget about him Jennifer. I won’t be happy with another baby! I won’t be happy until Justin is home!” Craig told her. “You won’t be happy because you won’t let yourself be!” Jennifer said standing up and nearing her husband. “I miss him just as much as you Craig. I gave birth to him. But I also know that Justin wouldn’t want us to shut down, to not live!” Craig stared at his wife with wide eyes. He couldn’t understand why Jennifer just didn’t get it. “Justin was my life.” He told her. “I’ve been dead since the day he was taken.” He turned from his wife and started to walk out of the room. “Craig! Please, don’t do this.” Jennifer said. ‘I thought I was your life too?’ Was left unsaid. Craig turned back to Jennifer. “I’ll be sleeping in the guest room.” He said, tears still streaming down his cheeks. He looked at his beautiful wife, crying into her hands, her body shaking. He wanted to go to her. Tell her how sorry he was. But he couldn’t. He was certain that it was something he had done to cause Justin to be abducted. And he couldn’t allow anything to happen to the new child. So he had to cut himself off now. Jennifer watched her husband leave the room from the slits in her fingers. She couldn’t believe that this, THIS, is what Craig really wanted! She just didn’t know what she could say or do to change anything. When she’d told Craig she was pregnant, he was shocked but seemed happy and embraced the thought of them having a baby. Even if she was getting older, and it was unplanned, things seemed to be going great concerning the baby. Until, a month ago when she noticed that Craig stopped rubbing her belly and talking to their unborn child. She thought it was just her nerves but she could feel something shift in Craig, could feel like he was waiting for something. Dreading something. And you know, she actually had forgotten about what that was. She was so enraptured in the baby inside her. The life the movement. That she had forgotten that the day her world had stopped six years ago was coming to head. And she had no one to blame but herself. She wondered if Craig was right. If she was trying to replace her little boy? Too tired to get up from the bed, Jennifer kicked off her trainers and snuggled into the soft linens on her sons’ bed. She brought the tiny, worn stuffed Teddy Bear to her chest and held it as she cried and remembered the day that she found the bear all alone in this very bed, six years ago to the date. It was a Saturday morning. A morning like any other. Jennifer was up with the sun, ready to see what the day’s activities were. She grabbed her soft terry-cloth robe and slipped on the pink fuzzy slippers her son had gotten for her just a few weeks before as a mother’s day gift. Opening the door to her and Craig’s bedroom she turned back and looked at her husband who was still snoring, and sleeping soundly. Jennifer stepped into the hall that was lit with the tiniest bit of light coming in from the large patio door that led to the outside at the end of it. She looked to the left and saw that her son’s door was still closed; she listened for a minute to hear if he was awake, but laughed to herself. Justin was a heavy sleeper and wouldn’t wake on a Saturday until Jennifer woke him. So, Jennifer went down the stairs and into her office to see what the daily agenda was. The office was on the east side of the house, so the two French doors that opened up onto the deck were letting in the brightest of morning sunshine. She went over to the windows and gazed out for a while, admiring the crisp spring morning grass. The dew that sparkled in the early morning light. She saw that there were a few new roses blooming in the garden and really wanted to go see them and maybe cut a few to put in a vase in the kitchen, so she could gaze at them while she cooked breakfast. First she grabbed some sheers out of the desk drawer, tightened her robe a little more, even though the back yard was fenced in, and the closest neighbours were a mile away, Jennifer was still a modest woman. Still being a little tired Jennifer didn’t think anything of just unlocking the door and going out. Usually, after checking the day’s agenda, she went to the front of the house and turned off the house alarm. But not that day. Her pink fuzzy slippers navigated the stone steps throughout the garden. She glided through the green paradise, taking in all the smells. Crossing to where the rose bushes grew she let the mint leave plants assault her senses before going to the sweeter sent of fresh roses. She cut five. Two beautiful pink ones and three red ones. She planned on placing each one beside their breakfast plates; maybe write a small note to remind them how much she loved her boys, before they started their busy days. Jennifer went back into the house. When she got inside she went and looked at the agenda book on her desk and flipped it open to the day’s date. Craig was playing golf with the fellows from the Country Club at noon. She would be going to the club as well, but with Justin for their first week of French lessons. She laughed when she thought of how precocious her son was. Just a few months over 12 and he’d already learned German, Spanish, and Italian. And now they’d be learning French together from one of the Country Club’s tutors. She was sure that Justin would pick it up much quicker than she would. He was, without a doubt, a certifiable genius. Glancing back down at the book she saw that tonight was the party to welcome the newest club member into the fold. The whole family would attend the gala that night. Craig hadn’t seemed very inclined to go, he told Jennifer it was because he didn’t think that the man’s profession was very fruitful. Whatever that meant. But Jennifer was excited to meet the talented writer. It surprised Jennifer that their day wasn’t going to be any busier. Usually she was running errands the family always needed something. It was nice. She’d get to spend a lot of time with Justin today. Jennifer went into the kitchen and made a large breakfast. While she was cooking the bacon Craig came down, still in his pyjama pants, and looking well rested. His chest was still sculpted and when he reached up to stretch with his muscular arms, the pace of Jennifer’s heart quickened. “Good morning honey.” She said turning off the heat for the bacon and moving it onto some paper towels to degrease with her spatula. Craig gave a small yawn and came around his wife. His hands reached to her waist and he dipped his head to nuzzle at her silky blond hair. “Mmmm.” He said breathing deep. “Something smells good.” His hands tightened on her waist and brought Jennifer around to face him. Jennifer giggled and kissed Craig’s nose. “It could be the bacon, or the blue berry pancakes.” She said smiling. Craig smirked and then looked thoughtful. “It could be.” He said releasing her for just a moment before pulling his wife up against his body, letting her feel his morning wood. “But I’m pretty sure it’s you!” He growled into her ear and started to kiss her neck. Jennifer giggled and then let out a small moan. In just seconds she turned to jelly in her husband’s hands. “Craig, Craig… the breakfast.” She protested stepping out of his grasp and going back to the plate of bacon before setting it on the table. Craig smiled. “Oh, come on….. I don’t mind if it gets cold. Cause I’m so hot!” He told her going to stand behind her as she organized the roses on the table. “Craig. Justin could be down here any minute.” She told him turning around. “After breakfast you can show me just how hot you are!” She told him. Craig grinned and went to go sit at the head of the table. He picked up his rose and smelled it. “The rose is beautiful Jen. Thank you.” He said taking her hand and smiling up at her. “And the breakfast looks great!” “Hey..hey..hey.” Jennifer chastised her husband who was reaching to serve himself from the plates of food. “Let me just get the eggs on the table and I’ll go upstairs and wake Justin up. I’m surprised he didn’t wake up when he smelled the bacon cooking.” Jennifer went back over to the counter to get the egg plate when she suddenly felt like her skin was crawling. She pushed the thoughts away and started to walk toward the breakfast table. Craig looked thoughtful before replying. “Oh, I think he might be on the west patio. I saw the door was opened a little. He’s probably out there playing his laptop.” That’s when Jennifer stopped in her tracks. “Did you get the paper from the porch this morning?” Craig asked looking up. Jennifer gulped. “No, I…” It was then that she realized she hadn’t turned the house alarm off. If she had, she would have picked up the paper from the front porch, like she did on most mornings. “Jen?” Craig asked looking worriedly at his wife who’d just gone as pale as a ghost. Jennifer knows that she was the last one in bed last night. She knows that she re-checked the alarm, and it was set. She’d set it herself a few hours before that. Her hands start to shake and she drops the plate of eggs before sprinting from the room. She doesn’t hear her husband call after her. She doesn’t know he’s behind her until she turns and smacks into him after going out on the patio and not seeing Justin there. Craig suddenly races into Justin’s room. The two seconds it takes to open the door he hopes to god that they are just over-reacting. He turns the handle and slams the door open, it clangs against the wall beside it and it’s the loudest sound in the world. The loudest, scariest, most terrifying moment of his life…when he sees that the only occupant of the racecar bed, is, Gus… his son’s teddy bear. The one he takes every last fucking place on earth. Even school. He hides him in his backpack. He would never leave him. “Craig!” Jennifer is standing in front of him. He doesn’t know when she got past him to enter the room. And when he looks around, he realizes that he’s somehow in the middle of the room, holding Gus Bear. And that’s when he and Jennifer take off. They search the large house frantically. Both knowing that there isn’t anyway that Justin would be hiding and not call out for them. The search continues out side. Jennifer takes the backyard and Craig takes the garage and side yard. Jennifer looks up in Justin’s tree house, thinking, maybe Justin went up there in the middle of the night. Maybe he’s still sleeping. When she doesn’t find him there, she goes into the pool house, checks the bathroom, the steam room, the sitting room and then, braver than she thought she could be she checks the silent pool. And doesn’t find him. Craig searches the Garage, and then looks inside both Jennifer’s minivan and his SUV. Justin isn’t in either, so he runs out side and looks over to the tool shed on the side of the house, and that’s when he sees what he’s feared. On the side of the tool shed are the breakers for all of the homes systems. Most importantly, the alarms system, which seems to have been smashed to pieces. Like a zombie, he walks to the side of the shed and sees a white piece of paper taped with masking tape onto the grey wood. His fingers shake as he grabs it and tries to focus his eyes on the type “Craig! Craig! He’s not out back! I checked the pool house, his tree hou…” Mid sentence Jennifer stops in her running stride out to the front yard. She sees what Craig saw only moments before. Craig’s eyes are welled with tears that will remain there for a long, long time. His skin is on fire and his insides seem to be spontaneously combusting with pain. Jennifer isn’t sure how she has the energy to walk toward her husband. But she’s there beside him, her body going numb from the fear. “What? What does it say.” Craig can’t read it to her. He shoves the paper in her hand and runs inside the house to call the police. Jennifer slumps to the ground after reading the first sentence. Mr. Taylor. We have your son. This is where her eyes get blurry and her terry-cloth robe gets grass stains. You will NEVER see him again. I can promise you that he will be safe. We will not harm him in any way. He will learn to live a happy life. A life away from your world. And that was it. There were no leads. None at all. But that didn’t mean that Craig didn’t look every single fucking day. Even if there was nothing to look for. Until the night, six years later when Craig stumbled into a bar he’d once frequented and read a story in that morning’s paper. Brian Kinney: Acclaimed writer’s whereabouts’ are still unknown. This marks the one-year anniversary of his mysterious disappearance. To this date there has been no form of communication from his abductors or any requests for a ransom. The simple letter found on his office desk, addressed to his agent is the only evidence of his disappearance. Mrs. Prescott. We have your client. Craig’s eyes filled with tears. You will NEVER see him again. I can promise you that he will be safe. We will not harm him in any way. He will learn to live a happy life. A life away from your world. Brian Kinney was a familiar name, for more than one reason. And when he looked up and across the bar, he saw a face that seemed familiar, though he couldn’t place it. He looked back down at the paper and stared at the corner picture of the handsome man, sure that he was probably in the same place as his son. And for the first time in six years, Craig truly believed that his little boy might be safe. Here's the link for MIC ch. 2 Truth it comes directly after this chapter and is imparitive to the story. http://midnight-whispers.com/efic/viewstory.php?sid=4800&i=1