Chapter 9
Why don't
you tell me again
How you'll still be there
When the heartache ends
But It's alright
Why don't you tell me my friend
How you'll still be there
When the heartache ends
AJ frowned as Brian walked into the kitchen and, looking
around blearily, stumbled toward the coffee maker and poured himself a
mug. Sipping it a little, he dropped into the seat across from
AJ. When AJ continued to frown at him, Brian lifted a brow.
“Something bothering you, AJ?” he wondered.
AJ shook his head slowly. “No, not really. I was
just wondering how it was that you could worry about your family during the day
and sleep in the bed you share with Si with another woman at night. Care
to explain, Bri?”
Brian frowned, now. “What the hell are you talking
about, AJ? I would never…” he trailed off, realizing what AJ was talking
about. “Oh! Well, jeez, AJ! Last night was not what it might have looked
like. Seriously, do you think I could ever cheat on my wife? Especially
when she and our children are missing?!” His voice rose angrily.
AJ held up a hand. “Chill, Brian. I walked into
the doorway this morning and saw you and Kelly curled up together. I just
wondered. I wouldn’t imagine that you would cheat on your wife, anyway.”
Brian pushed the mug of coffee away and leaned
back. “Do you really want to know what happened?” At AJ’s nod, he
began. “I had a dream last night, well, more of a
nightmare. Afterwards, I realized I needed to go back into my room, so as
I was about to open the door, Kelly came up behind me. I must have
screamed in my dream because she woke up and came to see what the problem
was. She convinced me to go into my room, and I just asked her to wait for
me in case of, well, whatever.” He sighed. “I broke down, AJ. It’s hard
but I think, now that I’ve taken those first steps in, I can go
back. Anyway, when I broke down, she held my hand and, afterwards,
convinced me to try to sleep. I was scared, though, to sleep alone in
there,” he looked down at his hands. “I can feel Sienna in
there. Damn it, I can smell her perfume and it’s driving me crazy with
worry and loneliness! So, I asked Kelly to stay until I fell asleep, and
she must have fallen asleep, too. That’s it. That’s all that
happened,” he finished.
AJ nodded. “She’s a good friend. She was there
when you and Si were apart because you thought she had cheated on you, and,
now, here she is again. Kelly’s amazing.”
Brian nodded. “I’m glad I spilled that margarita on
her at that awards show.” He grinned. “She probably won’t say the same
thing, but, well, that’s women.” Then his grin disappeared. “Where are
they, AJ? Why won’t the bastard call back so we can figure it out? And who the
hell is he?!” He buried his face in his hands.
AJ leaned across the table and patted Brian’s
hand. “We’ll figure it out and bring them home safely, Brian. I know
Regan’s working her butt off to find them, but it’s hard. She’s finding out
if there’s anyone anywhere that may have had a grudge against you or Si in the
past.”
Brian sighed and looked up. “Yeah, but so far, there’s
been nothing.”
AJ gave him a half-smile. “Well, at least there’s hope
that they’re still alive. Keep that hope, Brian, because they will
come home.”
“I hope so, AJ, I really hope so.”
***
Kelly buried the urge to scream. Men! They were so
paranoid about everything. She’d heard AJ ask Brian for an explanation for
the previous night. Why couldn’t they see everything in innocent
terms? She wasn’t here to seduce Brian away from Sienna; she was here
because Brian and Sienna were friends that she cared about. She knew Brian
was hurting and worried, and all she wanted was to help him. But, no!
Every action was to be mistaken, wasn’t it?
She turned away from the kitchen and, as she walked past
the study, decided to stop in and see how Regan was. She liked Regan and
had to admit that the woman was smart and knew her stuff. If there was
anyone Kelly would ever want to depend on in a crisis, she figured it would
have to be someone like Regan. Of course, it hadn’t taken her long to
figure out that there was something going on between Regan and AJ. They
avoided each other like the plague and only spoke to each other when it was
impossible to avoid. Kelly wondered if they’d had an argument before she
had gotten there or whether it was something else.
She knocked on the door and, hearing the “Come in!”, opened
the door. Regan was typing on the laptop, on the phone, and simultaneously
glancing over several official-looking documents. When she saw Kelly, she
motioned for her to take a seat. Kelly looked around and finally chose a
seat that only had a few pieces of paper strewn across it. Stacking them,
she neatly placed them on a nearby table.
Regan finished up her phone call and, sighing, she turned
to Kelly. From the first day Kelly had arrived, Regan had noted that Brian
seemed less depressed. It was as though Kelly had taken some of the worry
off his shoulder and made him more positive about the return of his
family. Which was definitely more than Regan was feeling. Plus, Regan
mused, she was desperately in need of another woman in the house. With
three overtly male men, it was impossible to breathe at times, even in a house
as large as Brian’s.
“So, what can I help you with?” Regan asked Kelly.
Kelly shrugged. “I needed some space from all the
testosterone and the sheer male stupidity that tends to come from it. Do
you know what I mean?”
Regan nodded, thinking of AJ. “Oh yeah. I know exactly
what you mean because in this house, being the only female, was getting really
difficult.”
Kelly smiled. “I’m glad I’m not the only one, then.”
She sighed. “So, is there any news on Si or the kids? Any shred of
news?”
Regan sighed. “I wish. I’ve gone through several
of the more routine procedures, and, now, I’ve been going through some deeper
level ones. So far, I’ve found nothing. Other than the last place we
know they were was in a small town outside of Richmond. What I really need
is for the guy to call Brian again, so I can try to trace the call
again. We may get closer this time.”
Kelly frowned. “Other than that, there’s nothing?”
Regan shook her head. “It’s depressing. This
family is so wonderful and doesn’t deserve this heartache. Those babies are
so innocent, you know? Before you came, Brian was even more torn up than he
seems right now.”
“He still is,” Kelly told her and related what happened the
night before. “I think AJ saw me sleeping on the bed next to Brian and
assumed the worst, though. Which is so stupid!” she exploded. “I
mean, really! I’m here to help Brian, not sleep with him! He loves his wife and
children, and neither of us would do anything like that. It’s
infuriating,” she finished.
Regan shook her head again. “Men are so strange like
that. And yet, smart women like us seem to invariably end up falling for
them. So, AJ saw you, huh? I guess that would account for the unreasonable
snark he gave me earlier this morning.”
Kelly gave her an apologetic smile. “Sorry. I
just don’t know why anyone would think Brian would do something like that,
though. I mean, AJ’s one of his closest friends, too.”
Regan was quiet for a few moments. “Kelly? Will you
promise not to kill me if I ask you a question?”
Kelly frowned. “No, of course, not! What’s your
question?”
“Do you have feelings for Brian? I mean, as other than just
friends?” Regan asked, slowly.
Kelly looked at her, surprised. “What? Where on earth
would you get that idea? Bri and I have been friends for a few years,
now. There was a time before they got married that Brian and Sienna hit a
bad patch, and I had just met Brian. We began to spend time together,
which led a lot of people, including Si, to think that we were
dating. Honestly, Regan, we’re just friends. That’s it,” she
reiterated, a little too forcefully, Regan thought.
Regan watched her. “So, you’re just
friends. You’ve never felt anything more?”
Kelly was quiet for a little bit. “Okay,” she
said. “Maybe, maybe I am attracted to him, but who wouldn’t be? He’s
got a great sense of humor, and he’s really generous, caring, and handsome…”
she trailed off. “Damn it! Damn it, damn it! I really wanted to get over
this,” she admitted. “Two years ago, I had convinced myself that I would
not let him sneak his way under my skin. Guess that didn’t work,” she
shrugged and slumped back in her chair.
Regan sighed. “Kelly, it’s understandable why you’d be
attracted, and I think it’s amazingly noble that you can be here to care for
him without doing anything to distract him from worrying over his family.”
“It’s not noble,” Kelly told her. “I care about Sienna
and their kids. I love his family like they were part of my own, and it’s
driving me crazy not knowing where they are, too. But, here’s the deal, no
matter what my feelings are, I’m completely realistic about them. I can’t
be anything but friends with Brian because I know my feelings won’t be
reciprocated without splitting their beautiful family up. And I never,
ever want to do that,” she added firmly.
Regan nodded. “I can understand that, too. I
still think it’s noble,” she repeated.
“Maybe, but I think it’s got to be masochistic somewhere in
there, too,” Kelly said. “I’m not worrying about it, though. It’s
just important for me to be here when this family is in the middle of the most
unbelievable crisis ever. I never thought this would happen to anyone,”
she murmured.
Regan sighed. “This sort of thing shouldn’t happen to
anyone, but, unfortunately, it does. But I’m not going to stop until I
find them, and that’s a promise,” she added.
Kelly smiled. “Good.”
***
Later that day, Brian watched as the repairmen replaced the
glass wall of his sunroom and realized that it had been two weeks since the
kidnapping. Two weeks since he had last seen his family and believed them
to be safe. It had been two weeks since he had believed himself to be
untouchable. He didn’t know what he would do, Brian thought as the sound
of a drill filled the air, if his family wasn’t found soon.
He turned and went back towards the study to see if there
had been any new leads since the last time he’d checked in with Regan, which
had been an hour ago. He was thankful that he had someone so dedicated to
her work assigned to find his family. Though a part of him still believed
his family was lost to him forever, with Regan’s quiet affirmations that she
would find them, he was beginning to feel more confident that Sienna and the
babies would be home soon.
Brian traced a finger over a portrait of the twins and a
pregnant Sienna that had been taken in September and ached for them. Where
were they and what were they doing? Were they safe or were they
scared? As he repeated the same prayer he’d been saying over and over in
the past two weeks, the cell phone in his pocket rang.
Brian yanked it out and stared at the unfamiliar number,
knowing that it was the kidnapper calling again. As he flipped the phone
open, he pushed open the door to the study where Agent Lord had already clicked
on the tracing mechanism and was listening to the conversation with Regan.
Comforted, Brian spoke. “Hello?”
“Happy two week anniversary, Brian,” a cheerful but muffled
male voice responded. “I must tell you, the last two weeks have been
amazing. The rugrats were sick for a while, but they’re much better.”
“Sick? What the hell did you do to them, you crazy son of a
bitch! If you’ve hurt them, I swear there will be no place on this planet you
can go where I won’t find you!” Brian spoke angrily, fighting the fear he felt.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Temper won’t get you anywhere, Brian,”
the kidnapper answered gleefully. “I was going to say, as for your wife,
she’s in incredible shape. In fact, she sends all her love—but not to
you.”
Brian felt a sick dread fill him. “What have you done
to her? If you’ve hurt her…”
There was a laugh. “Hurt her? I’ve only done what
she’s wanted. Oh, wait, would you like to talk to her? Let me put her on.”
There was a pause then Brian heard him speak again. “Sienna, I believe
your worried husband would love to hear from his wife.”
“Brian?” Sienna’s voice sounded far away and wavering.
“Sienna!” he nearly wept with relief that she was still
alive. “Are you okay? Are the kids okay? What’s he done to you? Where are
you?”
There was a small hesitation, then Sienna spoke
again. “We’re fine, Brian. The twins and Luke are healthy and getting
enough nutrition. Don’t worry about us.” Her voice sounded dull and
worried Brian.
“Are you okay?” he asked her again.
“Well, I thought that was a nice little chat,” the
kidnapper returned. “I bet Sienna doesn’t care about you anymore, do you
darling?”
Brian strained to listen. He heard Sienna’s quiet gasp
and moan, then, “I—I don’t…” her voice trailed off, then with a burst of force,
he heard, “I love you, Brian!”
“Sorry, Brian. I have to go. You know, teach your
loving wife a little something about being good to a hospitable
host. Ciao,” and the line died.
Brian stared at the phone in his hand, then he looked up at
Regan, tears filling his eyes. “Regan, he’s hurting her. I’m
terrified of what he’s done to her and what he’ll do to her, now,” he
whispered. “Tell me you’ve found where he is.”
Regan squeezed his hand and looked over at Lord, who looked
up from the digital map attached to the tracing device. “Charleston, South
Carolina,” Lord told them. “I have it down to the street address, so we’ll
need the cops in the area to get to it as soon as possible.”
Regan nodded. “They might still be there, but I doubt
it. This guy knows how we work, and he’ll probably be gone by now. But
we’ll try anyway,” she said, giving Brian’s hand another reassuring squeeze.
AJ and Kelly knocked on the door. “What’s going on?”
AJ asked.
Kelly, though, had seen the stricken look on Brian’s face
and had put her arms around him and helped him into a chair. “What
happened?” she asked Regan.
“There was another phone call,” Brian spoke
instead. “I heard Sienna. She said they’re fine, but I have a feeling
the bastard’s hurting her.” He didn’t voice his suspicions because the idea of
rape was too horrifying for him to say it out loud.
Kelly rubbed his shoulder comfortingly and turned to
Regan. “Where did the call come from?”
“Charleston, South Carolina,” Regan told her.
“So he’s moving South,” AJ concluded. “Where is he
going? And how is he finding all these places to call from? I mean, if he had
Sienna with him and her pictures are plastered everywhere, how did he manage to
call without alerting someone to her presence?”
Regan looked at him, surprised. “I don’t know, but I
hadn’t thought of that angle yet.” She ran a hand through her hair, which was
messy from all the other times she’d run her hands through it,
frustrated. “We need to find out what the place he called from is, and
then we’ll try and see.”
Twenty minutes later, the Charleston police had told them
that the address the call had been placed from was an old, abandoned
warehouse. The door had been broken open and the telephone had indeed been
used. The warehouse was set in the furthest, emptiest part of the
city. It was an old industrial area that was no longer
used. Unfortunately, by the time the police had made it to the scene,
there was no one to be found.
Regan nearly screamed in frustration but knew she had to
keep it together for Brian’s sake. “Well, at least we know they’re in the
vicinity of the area and are being searched for. Unfortunately, there were
no cameras and no one to say whether or not they had seen a car or what car it
was. I’m sorry, Brian,” she apologized.
He shook his head. “I think I need to talk to the
media again. It’s been two weeks, and Holly called to say that they’ve
been getting flooded with calls to find out what progress is being made.”
Regan nodded. “Maybe it’ll reiterate the necessity to
keep eyes open for people who look like your family. And, now that we know
the direction they’re headed in, those in the South will be more alerted to
it.”
***
Reporters and cameramen showed up at the gates to the
Littrell property within minutes of Brian calling the different
stations. Fans that had left earlier returned in full fervor and with
bigger sympathy signs and flowers.
Harold patted his son reassuringly as he looked out the
window at the crowd that had gathered. “Stay strong, kiddo,” he told
Brian. “Everyone out there and in here is praying for Sienna, the twins,
and Luke. God’s watching out for them.”
Brian nodded, but he still couldn’t shake the sick feeling
in the pit of his stomach that told him that a fate worse than death had
befallen the woman he loved. Trying to push past it, he gave Kelly a small
smile as she came back into the house.
“They’re ready for you, Brian,” she reported. “All you
have to do is go out there, stay strong, and tell them what you want to say.”
Brian nodded and reached for the hand she held
out. Shrugging into his coat, he made his way into the cold outdoors and
headed for the gates at the end of his drive. Kevin, AJ, Harry, Nick,
Shane, and Howie followed them. Regan was already waiting at the bottom,
ready to press the button to open the gates. When Brian nodded to her, she
hit the button and smiled reassuringly.
“I’ll be here to answer any questions they may
have. I’ll only tell them what I can,” she reminded him.
Kevin stopped Brian as the gates began to open. “If it
gets to be too much, get out of there. Don’t stick around because we’ll
take care of the rest, okay?”
Brian nodded, then he turned to face the waiting
crowd. Stepping forward, he found a dozen cameras thrust in his face from
ABC to FOX to MTV News and VH1.
“Good evening, everyone, and thanks for braving the cold to
be here. I want to thank all of you, the fans and the media for being so
supportive in what is, undoubtedly, the hardest time in my life,” Brian
began. “My wife and three children were kidnapped from this home two weeks
ago, today. Last week, the FBI took over this case because we discovered
that the kidnapper had taken my family to Virginia and the case became an
interstate investigation. In the course of the last two weeks, I have
personally received two phone calls from the man who took my family, both
stating that he was not planning on returning them. Unfortunately, we have
not yet discovered the identity of the kidnapper, but the FBI is taking every
measure possible to figure it out.” Brian took a deep, shuddering
breath. “Today, I received the second phone call, which let us know that
my family is, for the time being, safe and in South Carolina. He let me
speak with Sienna, and I…” Brian trailed off, trying to prevent the sobs from
taking over. “She told me that she and our children are okay, but, before
she could say anymore, we were cut off. I am begging everyone from South
Carolina to Louisiana to Florida to please keep their eyes open for my
family. Their pictures are everywhere on the Internet and are being played
on the news stations. Please, I’m begging you,” Brian ended with a sob
taking over.
As the tears flowed down his cheeks, he could no longer
stop himself from crying, and the fans watched silently as he broke
down. Unable to stand watching him in pain, Kelly pushed past Nick and
Harry and put her arms around Brian. Murmuring to him quietly, she made a
path for him to get out of the center of the horde of fans, media, and family
and led him back towards the house. As they left, Regan and Kevin stepped
up to the cameras and finished up by answering any questions anyone had.
When they passed Jackie, she reached out her arms for her
son, but Kelly shook her head and helped him back into the house. Jackie
watched them go, an annoyed frown on her face.
Inside, Kelly helped Brian up the stairs and, thinking that
going into his bedroom would be too hard at the moment, began helping him
towards one of the guestrooms.
Brian stopped her. “Kelly, wait. I,” he paused to
press his hands to his eyes and brush away the tears that continued to flow
down his cheeks. “I need to go to my room. Please.”
She nodded and opened the door to the master room, where
Brian went and curled up on the bed. “I messed up,” he told her, a few
minutes later, as she continued to stand in the doorway. “I should’ve
stayed out there and stayed strong.”
“No one expects you to be Superman, Brian. If you
didn’t break down, you might have seemed too emotionally detached. This
way, you’re showing how you really feel,” she reminded him. “Besides, what
good would it have done you to bottle it all up?”
Brian squeezed his eyes shut. “Thank you,” he said
after a few minutes. “Thanks for being here, being a friend, and helping
me. I don’t think I could’ve made it without you.”
Kelly sighed. “I care, Brian. That’s why watching
you like this makes my heart ache. Knowing that your precious children and
a good friend of mine are somewhere out there makes my heart ache
more. Helping you, comforting you, is helping me, too. It’s not
wholly unselfish.”
Brian looked over at her. She’d helped him through a
lot, he realized. More than he could have imagined. He knew she’d put
her life and work on hold for him and wondered how long she could keep doing
that if she knew how he’d come to depend on her friendship.
“Thank you, still,” he added. “I am more grateful
right now than you could imagine.”
Kelly smiled. “That’s what friends are for.”
It's never
easy and you never know
What leaves you crying
And what makes you whole
There ain't no way that I can hold it down
Falling to pieces
Forever in doubt
But it's alright
Why don't
you tell me again
How you'll still be there
When the heartache ends
But It's alright
Why don't you tell me my friend
How you'll still be there
When the heartache ends
Lyrics from “When the Heartache Ends” Rob Thomas
***
