*  *   *  *  *  * *

“Jesus Christ!  What happened?”  Andrew asks, not believing what he’s seeing.  He gets no answer.  “Damnit!”  Andrew grabs the nurse’s shoulder and spins her around.  The nurse shrieks in fright .  She glares up at Andrew. “What do you want, sir?”

“What happened to him?”  Andrew asks, motioning toward the bloody Jericho.

“Blunt trauma to the head. He was found in the parking lot a few hours ago.”

“Do you know who did this to him?” Andrew questions, concerned.

‘No sir.  No witnesses.”

“How’s he going to be?”

“Are you a relative, sir?”

“No.  A friend though.”

The nurse nods.  “Don’t worry.  He’ll be okay.  You can come visit him in a day or two.”  She starts to push Andrew out of the room.  “Now sir, you must get going.” Andrew obeys and leaves the room, taking one last glance at his battered friend.
 
He makes his way to Stevie’s room, his mind cluttered with thoughts.  There’s only one person who would do this: Shane.  The bastard that he is.  Now what am I going to do? Stevie and I certainly can’t do anything.  Jericho is definitely out of the picture.  There’s no one I can turn to.  Oh, God, what am I to do?  I fear for Ashlee and what that creep’s probably don’t to her.  She probably hates me now too for letting this happen in the first place.  She- His thoughts are interrupted as he enters Stevie’s room and notices something missing:  Stevie.

“Shit!” Andrew runs out of the room and to the receptionist’s desk.  Out of breath, he asks, “Did you happen to see a patient walk by?  A man with long, dark hair, really tall and had bandages around his chest?”

“No, sir.  I haven’t seen ‘im.”

“You haven’t? Damn, well thanks.”  Andrew leaves the desk, more confused than when he got there.  Hmmm.. maybe he’s in Jericho’s room.  He jogs over to Jericho’s room and looks inside.  Stevie’s nowhere to be found.  “DAMNIT! Where is he?!?” He asks himself out loud.  Suddenly, a horrible thought crosses his mind:  What if Shane and the others got to him?

He runs back to Stevie’s room.  He runs inside and looks around, searching for any clues as to what happened to Stevie.  He searches every corner of the room twice.  Half an hour later, he sits on bed, exhausted and hopeless.  I’m never gonna find him.. He thinks miserably to himself.  He then realizes something he didn’t notice before.  The window.  “That wasn’t open when I left…” He gets up and walks over to it, and peers outside.  Hmm.. there’s no way.  He couldn’t have. He thinks to himself, biting his lip in thought.  Well, there’s no other explanation.. He argues with himself.

He goes back to the receptionist’s desk.  “Miss?”

“Hmm?”

“This hospital has all the records of anyone that has been admitted into here with an injury, right?” Andrew asks, a plan forming in his mind.

“That’s correct.” She replies, looking up at him.

“Well, can you look one up for me? I really need the information and address of this person.” He explains.

“I’m sorry, sir, but that’s classified information and I can’t-“ Andrew grabs her shirt collar.  “Listen, miss, I really need this information and if you don’t get it for me, I’ll get it myself.” He threatens.

“S-sir, really, I can-“

“Get it, NOW!” he shouts.

“O-Okay sir.  Who d-do you want me to look up?” She stutters.

“Abs.  A-B-S. Joey Abs.” He says, letting go of her collar.   She nods, terrified.  In a few quick keystrokes, she pulls up the info on Joey.

“The address is 1081 Rock Avenue.  Phone number is-“

“1081 Rocket Avenue?  Where’s that?” Andrew asks, cutting her off.  “Yes.”  “How do I get there from here?  Is it far?”

“No.  Not far at all.  All you do is, when you exit the hospital, take 3 blocks left, go straight down Wheeler Road until you reach Orange Street.  Rocket Avenue is right over there.  I believe house 1081 would be on the right.”   “Thanks.”  And with that said, Andrew runs out of the hospital, for the first time in a day, smiling.

*  *  *   *  *

“Ashlee, you said you were going to go along with this!” Joey exclaims, frustrated.

“Yeah, well, I changed my mind.” She replies coldly.

“Damnit Ashlee!  I love you, but it doesn’t mean I won’t hurt you to get what I want!”

“You hurt me?  Yeah righ-“ Joey cuts her off as he grabs her ponytail and yanks her head back sharply.  “OW!” She shrieks.

“I told you.  Now are you going to give me what I want?” he asks sternly.

“Fine!  Just let go of my hair!  You’re hurting my neck.”  Joey obeys and lets go of her.

“Good.  Now give me my kiss.” He demands.  Ashlee groans loudly, but goes and kisses him. Joey kisses back and enjoys every minute of it, until the minute he feels a sharp pain on his lip.

“Ooowww!!” he shouts, ending the kiss.  Ashlee grins at him.  He touches his bottom lip gently, and sue enough, when he pulls his finger away, there’s some blood on it.  “Why in the hell did you do that for?!?”

“Umm.. oops?” Ashlee’s grin grows wider.

He glares at her.  “You know, I should make you lick the cut clean.” He suggests.

Her face scrunches up in disgust.  “Eewww, no!” She shakes her head wildly.

Joey takes her off his lip and places her next to him.  “I’ll be right back,” he says mysteriously, getting up.  She looks at him, a curious expression on her face.  He disappears into the kitchen.  A couple of minutes later, he tiptoes back in, holding a few pills in his hand.  He sneaks up behind Ashlee and pulls her ponytail once again.  The moment she opens her mouth to yell, he tosses the pills into her mouth, then pats her on the back, causing her to swallow them.  He then goes and sits down next to her, waiting for the drugs to kick in.

“How ya feeling sweetie?”

She looks at him.  “Well, seeing as how I have the sexiest man in the world as my husband, I don’t think I could feel any better.” She replies, smiling at him.

He nods.  “That’s wonderful honey.  I wish I could say I feel that great, but.. this cut on my lip is really bothering me.” He says, looking back at her with sad, puppy dog-like eyes.

“Would you want me to kiss it all better?” She suggests.

He nods, grinning slightly.

She goes to kiss him, but stops suddenly.  “You know what would help me a whole lot?” He raises an eyebrow in question.  “if you took these cuffs off of me.  It’s really hard to move with them and my arms are starting to ache.”

Joey nods and pulls the small key out of his pocket.  She turns around he unlocks the cuffs and throws them onto the floor.  Ashlee turns back around to Joey and grins at him.  She places her hands behind his head and lets his hair out of his ponytail.  “That’s more like it..” she says before kissing him deeply.  She runs her fingers through his hair as he places his arms around her.  Before the two of them realize it, their kiss turns into a french kiss.

In the middle of their kiss, Joey places a finger between their lips, stopping it.  Ashlee looks at him surprised.  She watches Joey lean back down and pick the cuffs back up. She nods, realizing what he wants to do.  He lays her down and she places her hands above her head and near the table next to the couch.  He handcuffs her hands to the table and tosses the key aside.

He kicks his shoes off and goes for the zipper of his pants when suddenly there’s a loud crash coming from the next room.  The sound of a window breaking open.  “Damnit, what in the hell is it now??”  He questions as he runs into the room where the crash came from.

Ashlee turns her head and watches him disappear from view.  When he’s out of sight, she frowns. “Aww man, just my luck!”  Just then, Joey comes flying back out into the room and falls to the floor.  Following him with an angry expression on his face is Stevie, still bandaged up.  He walks quickly over to Ashlee, his expression now one of concern when he sees her handcuffed.  “Where’s the key?” he asks, checking behind him.

“What are you doing Stevie?!” she shouts at him angrily.

“I’m rescuing you!  Now, do you know what Joey did with the key?”

She glares at him.  “He threw it over there.” She motions toward the door.

Stevie runs over and sure enough, the key is on the floor.  He picks it up and then goes back over to Ashlee and uncuffs her. “Thanks.” She murmurs, as she pulls her hands out.

“Are you okay?  What did he do to you?” Stevie asks, helping her sit up.

The minute she’s fully up, she slugs Stevie and knocks him to the floor.  “I’m feeling much better now, thanks.” She runs over to Joey and checks on him.

“You okay honey?” She asks, grabbing his hand.

He looks up at her. “Yeah, fine.  Where’s that little bastard?”

“Over there.” She points to Stevie, who’s starting to get up.  Joey jumps to his feet and advances toward Stevie.  “If you think what I did to you before was bad, you haven’t felt anything yet.”  Joey threatens.  When he reaches Stevie, he wastes no time in assaulting him.  He pulls Stevie up by his hair then throws him into the wall.  Stevie slams into it and falls to the floor.  He looks up at Ashlee, teary-eyed.  “Why?” he cries out weakly just before Joey kicks him in the ribs.  Ashlee watches in delight, her smile widening as Joey continues to attack Stevie.  Just when she’s about to tell Joey to throw Stevie outside, so they can get some peace, a hand covers her mouth.  She elbows the person behind her and spins around to face them.
 

What she sees surprised her momentarily.  Her surprise quickly turns to one of suspicion.  “What are you doing here?”

Andrew’s holding his stomach in pain.  He looks at her, confusion in his eyes.  “I’m here to help you.. to get you away from Joey.”

“Away from Joey?  Why would I want to get away from him?  He’s my husband and I love him!” she explains, glancing back at Joey.

Andrew grabs her arms and forces her to face him.  “Love him?  What are you talking about?”

“Yes, you heard me.  I didn’t stutter Andrew.” Her eyes harden.

“You can’t possibly be for real.  This is Joey we’re talking about here!” Andrew exclaims.  “He’s done something to you. Drugged you or something, because I know you Ash, and he’s one of the last people you’d ever-“

“Hey!”  What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Joey shouts, cutting Andrew off approaching him, his eyes cold.

“Joey,” Andrew growls.  “Stay the hell away from us.”

“And if I don’t? She’s my wife, Andrew.  She loves me, not you.”  Joey says, stepping closer.

“You’ve drugged her Joey.  Done something to her.  She doesn’t really love you.”

“Why don’t her herself who she loves.”  Joey takes another step, so that he’s now within an arm’s reach of Ashlee.

Andrew notices this and starts taking a few steps back, pulling Ashlee along with him.  She looks back at Joey, her eyes pleading for help.

“Ashlee, before you answer my next question, I have something I need to do.”  Andrew says, taking a few more steps.  She glares at him.  “What?”

Andrew doesn’t reply, but goes and kisses her passionately.  Instead of fighting back, she finds herself returning the kiss.  How strange.. If I love Joey so much, then why am I kissing Andrew back?? She asks herself.  You dummy!  She shouts mentally to herself. Because Andrew is the one you really love, not Joey!

With that, Andrew ends the kiss and grins at Joey, who’s glaring back angrily.

“Now, Ashlee, who is it you love?”

She looks at Joey, a smile on her face. “You Andrew.”  She starts to laugh as Joey’s mouth drops open in surprise.  He growls loudly then runs at Andrew.  Just before he runs into Andrew, Ashlee pushes Andrew out of the way and gets hit instead.  As soon as Joey realizes his mistake, he bends down to Ashlee’s side.

“Are you okay, baby?  I didn’t mean to hurt you.  You shouldn’t have stepped in front of me.  I’m so sorry.  I-“

Before he can finish his sentence, Andrew pushes him away.  “Look what you did!”  He leans down and picks her head up gently.  “You alright?”

She blinks slowly and groans as she lifts herself up.  “Yeah, I’m fine.”  She rubs the back of her head gently.  “I think you better go check on Stevie.”  She says, throwing a glare at Joey.  He frowns slightly when his eyes meet hers.

“Right.” Andrew says, standing up and walking over toward Stevie.  As soon as Andrew’s by Stevie’s side, Joey runs over and pulls Ashlee to her feet. “Let go of me Joey!”

“I just want to apologize.” Joey whines.

“It’s quite alright Joey.  No need to apologize.” Ashlee replies, pulling her hands from his grasp.

“No.”  He grabs her arm and pulls her close.  “I just want to say that I’m sorry for hitting you like that.   You know I’d never hurt.  Like Is aid before, I love you Ash.  I just want you to be happy.”

“Happy?  You want me to be happy?  Then leave me alone and never bother me again!”

Joey shakes his head.  “Impossible.  The thought of being separated from you for just one minute drives me crazy.”

“Ugh!  Give it up Joey!  You and I were not meant to be, okay?  Now, let go of me!”  She shouts at him.  Her outburst startles him and she uses the opportunity to push him away and escape.  He stumbles backwards and lands on the couch, a bewildered look on his face.

She runs over to Andrew and helps him pick Stevie up.  “Sorry about before Stevie.  I was under the influence of.. something.  I didn’t hit ya too hard, did I?” she asks, combing the hair out of his face.  He shakes his head lightly.  “No.  It was quite a week punch.”
He laughs.

She grins at him and laughs.  “Would ya like another one?” She jokes.  He shakes his head again.  “That’s okay.  I’ll pass.”

Stevie gets to his feet, leaning heavily on Andrew’s shoulders.  He glances over at Joey, who’s sitting on the couch still, a look of confusion on his face.  When the three of them start to head toward the door, he snaps out of his trance. He jumps up and heads toward them.  He grabs Andrew’s shoulder and spins him around, aiming to punch him.  Andrew successfully blocks it and Joey gets punched instead.  Ashlee runs over to the table and picks the phone up and makes her way over to Joey.  She sneaks up behind him and a second later, smashes the phone over his head and knocks him to the floor.  Andrew smiles at her and she returns it, going back to Stevie.  Stevie places an arm around her shoulders, and the other around Andrew’s and the three exit Joey’s house.  The three friends are too busy with getting Stevie out of the house and back to the hospital to notice the figure in the shadows.  The figure with the long, dark hair and evil green eyes.  Mark was watching and waiting… thinking of a way to once and for all get Ashlee on their side.. He’d get them when they least expected it..