Days of our Haiden (Read 6,345 times)

[ihearthaiden]

Days of our Haiden
Season 2 Episode 7: One Way or Another

Hope led Chase over to the couch, and had him sit down in the middle. She sat to his left, and Aiden sat to his right.
“What are you remembering about your mom?” Aiden asked, trying his best to hide the concern in his voice.
Chase shrugged. “Not much. I’ve just been having scattered memories about her lately. I remember she liked to drink a lot. I remember one day we danced while she splashed Champaign in our hair.”
Hope raised an eyebrow. “What was she doing drinking around her four-year-old son?”
Aiden looked at her. “That was Meredith for you. She had a bit of a drinking problem. Unfortunately, she didn’t let our young son being around stop her addiction.” He turned back to Chase. “I’m not trying to badmouth your mother. She was a good woman who just needed help with an addiction.”
Chase continued. “I remember you and mom used to fight a lot. I remember you yelling at her and not allowing her to help give me a bath after she got the Champaign in my hair.”
“You remember that? You were only four!” Aiden said in surprise.
Again, Chase shrugged. “I don’t remember much about mom. I just have bits and pieces here and there. That was one of those memories that just stayed with me for some reason.”
“Chase, Honey, do you remember anything else? Any other memories?” Hope asked quietly. She placed a hand over his shoulder.
Chase nodded. “I remember small things. I remember laughing with her on a merry-go-round horse.”
Aiden grinned. “We used to take you to the county fair whenever it would come to town. You loved it! That was the first ride your mother ever took you on. You were so excited to finally be old enough to ride on a ride.”
Hope smiled at the thought of Chase so tiny. So far so good, she thought. The memories Chase had been having were harmless. It was normal for a son to miss his mother who died way too soon.
“Then there is one other memory. I remember you taking away my white Converse shoes that I loved,” Chase said to Aiden.
Aiden’s smile faltered. “You remember those?”
Chase nodded. “They were so cool! They were my favorite pair, but one day you took them away from me and wouldn’t let me wear them anymore. Why was that?”
Aiden felt his stomach churning as he thought back to all the work he had gone through to hide Chase’s bloody clothes—those shoes included—along with any other evidence that Chase had accidentally shot and killed his own mother.
Aiden cleared his throat. “They were really dirty and worn out. You needed a new pair.”
“I wish you had gotten me another pair just like them then,” Chase said.
Aiden and Hope glanced at each other, not being able to mask their worry and concern too well.
“I don’t really remember much about the last day mom was alive. I actually can’t even pinpoint the last day she was alive. It almost seems like she just stopped existing one day,” Chase said to his dad.
“In a way, that’s what happened,” Hope said. “We’re all going to just ‘stop existing’ one day.”
“I remember being told not to play with something. You and Mom were fighting about her having it,” Chase said to Aiden. When Mom wasn’t looking, I crawled over and took it from the shelf she had it on. I was playing with it. I’m not sure what it was… My mind is too fuzzy when I try to see it in my head clearly.”
Aiden tried his best to remain calm. “I think it was a glass figurine. I didn’t like your mother having all those glass animal figurines she used to collect, but she kept collecting them anyway. I was always afraid you would break one, and then cut yourself on the glass.”
Chase shook his head. “I don’t remember it looking like a figurine though. I remember it was kind of big, whatever it was.”
“I don’t know. Your mother liked to collect some pretty big figurines! The elephants were huge figurines. She even had a few dinosaur ones. Come to think of it, those were your favorite. You probably had a dinosaur one in your hand.” Aiden hoped Chase believed his lies.
“I don’t even remember mom having a glass animal figurine collection,” Chase stated.
Aiden glanced at Hope. That’s because she didn’t, he silently told her with his eyes.
Hope smiled, and gently rubbed Chase’s shoulder. “Well, I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t remember every single detail about what my father had growing up!
Aiden shook his head and laughed nervously. “I barely remember what I had for breakfast this morning!”
Hope laughed with him. “I know, right?”
Chase still looked unsure. “I know Chad said before that Marlena helped him unlock some of his memories. Do you think Marlena could do that for me too?”
Aiden looked at Hope in a panic.
Hope quickly shook her head. “I’m sorry, Chase, but Marlena was just telling me the other day that she is at her max with clients and won’t be taking any new ones until next year. Anyway, I don’t think you need a psychiatrist for something small like that. Honey, you were so young. Most memories can’t even be retrieved from that age. Your brain just didn’t have the capability or capacity of storing the memories since it wasn’t fully formed yet at the time.”
Aiden nodded. “It is only capable of holding a few select memories at that age. That’s why we don’t remember much if anything about being a newborn, infant, or even toddler.”
Chase sighed. “It’s just so frustrating to not be able to remember! I want to be able to remember mom better.”
Hope stroked is hair and gave him a sympathetic smile. “I know, Honey. Maybe more memories will come to you on their own, and maybe they won’t. But you will always have pictures, and the memories you do have.”
“And I can tell you about some good memories you had with her. Whenever you want to hear some, all you have to do is ask!” Aiden said with a smile.
Chase nodded. “I’m going to go lie down for a bit. I’m tired. What are we doing for dinner?”
“Wanna order a pizza in?” Hope asked. “We can get sausage and pepperoni, just as you like!”
“Sure. Whatever.” Chase then headed up the stairs to his bedroom.
Aiden sighed. “Well, that was close! Thank you for helping me out. I was sure he was going to start remembering…” He sighed. “Well, you know.”
Hope slid over closer to him, and ran her fingers through his hair. “Hopefully he won’t remember that is was a gun he was playing with. What was it doing on a shelf low enough for him to reach it anyway?”
Aiden shook his head. “Meredith was always moving it. She loved to play with it when she was drunk. I tried hiding it from her, but she always found it somehow no matter how well I hid it. She wasn’t very responsible when she was drunk. That unfortunately meant placing the gun dumb places.”
Hope sighed. She wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder. “Well, I guess all we can do now is wait it out, and pray he doesn’t ever remember.”
Aiden raised an eyebrow. “And if he does?”
Hope kissed Aiden on the cheek. “If he does, we’ll deal with it together as a family, and help him get through it.”
Aiden kissed the top of her head, and gently stroked her hair. “I love you. You know that right?”
Hope smiled. “I know, but it’s still always nice to hear.”
Aiden smiled as well, and he kissed her lips before going back to playing with her hair.

~*This love came back to me.*~

Lani had big plans for the 4th of July. The Horton Town Square was throwing a Fourth of July BBQ bash. She would be attending it for her father and Theo’s sake. But the bash wasn’t what she was looking forward to. No, she was looking forward to the fireworks. She wasn’t looking forward to the fireworks because they were pretty, or because they were a Fourth of July tradition. No. She was looking forward to them because that is when she would lure Rafe away.
She had it all planned out. First, she would arrive at the party, having ridden with her father and brother. She would mingle with them and not say much to Rafe. After all, she knew he would only push her away if she came on too clingy. However, after dinner, and after it got dark and the fireworks were about to start, she would give him a drink laced with the two roofies she had gotten that drug dealer to “donate” to her. She had chosen two instead of one in order to make sure that Rafe would be out for quite a while. After all, she couldn’t have him waking up before she was ready for him to.
Next, she planned on sneaking him through the woods while he was still with it enough to walk. She would have a rental car parked on a back road deep into the woods. No one ever used that road anymore because there was nothing out that way but woods. Hunters sometimes used it, but no one would be hunting at night. She would have Rafe wait in the car while she went back to the party, and said goodbye to her father and brother. She’d tell them she had ran into a friend who was going to give her a ride home. Then, she would leave, hop into the rental car where Rafe should be passed out at that point, and head to her secret location.
She had scouted out a few places, and had eventually decided upon an old abandoned house. It was listed as condemned, but it didn’t bother her. It was up on a hill, secluded from the rest of the town in the middle of nowhere. It was about two hours from Salem. The other day, she had decided to drive out of Salem on her day off to look for the perfect spot. She wanted something a little ways from Salem so that no one in Salem who might be looking for him would be able to find him—at least not in time.
She had traveled for two hours before she had come across the place and she couldn’t believe her luck when she saw it. The windows were boarded up, and the doors were locked tight, but she found a window that would be easy enough to break into. She knew she could always board it back up later so as not to alert anyone that someone had broken in.
Lani smiled as she thought of her plan. She then headed up to the counter, for she was next in line. It was time for a crucial part of her plan.
“May I help you?” the friendly airline employee asked her.
Lani smiled. “Yes. I’d like to buy a one-way advanced plane ticket to Lebanon, Missouri for July 3rd, please—first class and the earlier the flight the better. I’ll be paying in cash.”

~*This love came back to me.*~

The next day in school, Jonah popped another button between classes. He sighed as he picked the button up off the floor. “Of course it would be that button!” he grumbled; annoyed. He had already lost two top buttons from other times wearing the shirt. His mother wouldn’t let him get rid of the shirt because she didn’t want to waste a shirt that still buttoned up high enough. However, now that yet another button from the top had popped off, the shirt was now way too low-cut.
“Do you need some help? I have a travel sewing kit in my locker. You can never be too careful when you’re a cheerleader. I always keep it with me just in case I rip something.”
Jonah looked up and was surprised to see Lauren Schafer, the cheerleader he had been crushing on since he had first laid eyes on her at the beginning of the year. “Hi…Uh…Yes… But I don’t know how to sew.” He blushed.
She smiled. “No worries!” She went into her locker and took out the kit. “I can sew it for you.” She winked at him.
He smiled. “That’s very kind of you. Thank you.”
“Hm…” She looked at his other buttons, then back at her sewing case. “Lucky for you, the thread is the same shade of blue as the blue I have.” She smiled and winked at him.
Jonah grinned. “Even if it wasn’t, any color is better than having my chest exposed. Aint no one wanna see that, am I right?”
She giggled. “Don’t be so hard on yourself! Now stay still. I don’t want to jab you.” It took her only a minute to sew the button. She even buttoned the shirt back up for him when she had finished sewing. “There! Good as new.” She gently patted his chest.
“Thank you so much, Lauren! I really appreciate it.” Jonah grinned.
“You’re very welcome, Jonah! I’m just glad I could help,” she said sweetly.
“You know my name?” Jonah was shocked. He didn’t even think she knew he existed!
“Of course I know your name! You’re the funniest guy in school, and I love to laugh.” Again, she smiled and winked at him, then she put her sewing kit back in her locker and locked it up.
She looked at her watch. “We better get to class. We have one more minute before we’re late!”
Jonah nodded. “I have math. Yuck! I wouldn’t mind being late for that!”
Lauren laughed. “I hear ya! Thankfully I don’t have math just yet. I have English. I love English.” She started to take off. “See you around!” she said without looking back.
Jonah grinned and waved to her even though her back was to him. “See you around!”
He headed to class smiling the whole way there. Not only did Lauren know he existed, but she had fixed his button for him and told him she’d see him around! Finally, something was going his way! He guessed life had to come up at some point—even for him. He smiled even bigger at the thought, suddenly not minding anymore that he had to go to math class.

~*This love came back to me.*~

“Chase, I went shopping last night. What do you think of my new dress?” Claire asked Chase.
Chase was too busy daydreaming to hear her. He was trying to remember more about that toy his four-year-old self had been playing with, but nothing more was coming to mind.
“Chase!”
Chase looked at Claire, annoyed. “What?” he snapped. He was annoyed with the way she had a knack for interrupting his thoughts lately.
Claire looked hurt. “I asked you what you thought of my dress.”
Chase glanced at it. “It’s nice.”
Claire crossed her arms over her chest. “It’s nice?”
Chase nodded. “Yes.”
“That’s all you have to say about it?” Claire was hurt. She had gotten the dress because it had reminded her of Marilyn Monroe’s infamous dress. She thought she looked darn good in it. She had thought Chase would be drooling over her. Instead, all she got from him was that it was, ‘it’s nice’.
“Well, do I remind you of anyone in it?” she asked.
Chase sighed; annoyed that she kept pushing him. He looked at the dress again. “I don’t know. Someone who forgot to put clothes on over her slip?” He laughed at his own joke, but halted his laughter when he realized that she wasn’t laughing too. “What?”
Claire shot mental daggers out of her eyes at him. “Really, Chase? Really? You had so many options to choose from that would have been acceptable. You could have said, an angel, a bride, or whom it reminds me of—Marilyn Monroe. But, no. You think I look like someone who forgot to put clothes on over a slip!”
“Fine! You look like all those good things you mentioned; not like you’re in a slip. I’m sorry, okay?” Chase said, though he didn’t sound too sincere.
Claire glared at him, her arms crossed over her chest again. “Too late!”
Chase let out an annoyed cry. “My gosh, Claire! It’s just a stupid dress! What is the big deal? For once in your life just please leave me alone to think, all right?”
Claire was hurt. “That’s it! I can’t do this anymore, Chase. You’ve been ignoring me for a while now, you’re always off into space when we’re together and you won’t even give me a logical reason why. Now, I go out of my way to dress pretty for you, and you say it’s just a stupid dress. I can’t anymore with you. I just can’t!”
“Yeah, well maybe I can’t with you anymore either!” Chase snapped. “Whatever that means.”
Claire narrowed her eyes at him. “It means we’re through, Chase.”
“Fine by me,” Chase said with a shrug.
Claire had tears in her eyes. She moved to the opposite end of the classroom and sat down.
Chase sighed. He knew he was being a jerk, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care. These flashbacks were bothering him way too much. Anyway, he just didn’t feel that spark for Claire anymore that he used to. He didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but this was for the best.
The teacher came in then, and he did his best to forget about his flashbacks for the time being. As for Claire, she was already forgotten about.

~*This love came back to me.*~

Hope had the day off, and so far, she had been enjoying a morning in bed with Aiden.
She now lay next to him, her arms around him as she rested her head on his chest contently. “Are you okay?” she asked. She kissed is chest.
“Hm? Yeah why?” he asked her. He kissed the top of her head. 
He softly kissed her lips. “I’m just worried about Chase. I’m worried he’s going to start remembering more about what happened that night. Hope, if he remembers that he’s the one who killed his mother…it will kill him! He’ll never forgive himself.”
Hope kissed his chest again, and gently ran her left index finger up and down it. “Maybe he won’t remember. He’s obviously been trying to remember, but he hasn’t been able to. Heck, for all we know, those memories really are gone forever.”
Aiden looked at her, fear in his eyes. “But what if they aren’t?” he asked in a whisper.
Hope propped herself up on her right elbow. “Then we will deal with it together. We’ll make sure he knows that it was purely an accident, and that he was way too young to be able to hold himself accountable. Of course, you will let him know that you don’t hold him responsible, and I will assure him that even I being a cop still consider it just an accident. We’ll let him know we don’t love him any less because of it.”
Aiden ran his fingers through her hair with his right hand. “How did I get so lucky to have such a beautiful, intelligent woman in my life?”
Hope shrugged. “Beats me.”
They both laughed.
Hope then lowered her eyes with love for him. “Mm… Show me again how much you love me, Mr. Jennings,” she purred.
Aiden moaned, and slowly pinned her down beneath him. “Mm… With pleasure,” he murmured.
He kissed her neck, and she moaned as he began to do just as she had requested. She would help Aiden deal with Chase remembering if and when the time came. Until then, she just wanted to enjoy Aiden dealing with her.

[ihearthaiden]

Days of our Haiden
Season 2 Episode 8: Independence Day

It was the fourth of July and Jonah was excited for the bash that was going on in the Horton Town Square that night. School had ended just five days before, but being out of school and officially a senior was not why he was excited. Well, it wasn’t the main reason anyway. The main reason was that Lauren had promised to go with him. He thought back to that miraculous moment when he had finally worked up the courage to talk to her.
It was lunchtime, and he saw her heading toward the cafeteria. She had just finished sending a text out to someone.
He walked over to her, feeling both courageous and inspired. The night before he had seen the movie We Bought a Zoo on DVD. In the movie, the main character had said that it only took twenty seconds of insane courage and embarrassing bravery for something great to come out of it. Now that he was pretty much alone with Lauren in the halls, he figured it was a sign from God to take this chance and run with it.
He tapped her on the shoulder. “Lauren?”
Lauren turned around, and smiled at him when she saw who it was. “Jonah! Hey!” She grinned. “Need another button sewn?” She winked at him.
“What?” Jonah looked down at his shirt just in case, and was relieved to see that all his buttons were still in place. He looked back up at Lauren. “Actually, I was wondering if maybe you would like to go with me to the 4th of July bash. It’s on the 4th of July.” Jonah blushed when he realized what he had just said. “Duh! Of course it’s on the 4th of July. When else would a 4th of July bash be?”
Lauren giggled. “You’re cute. Sure! I’ll go with you.”
Jonah’s whole face lit up and his heart soared. “Really?”
Lauren nodded. “Sure! I’d love to. But I have something else going on earlier, so I’ll just meet you there. How about by the memorial plaque at six?”
Jonah nodded. “I’ll be there!”
Lauren smiled, then kissed his right cheek. “I’ll see you July 4th at six then.” She winked at him, flashing him yet another smile, then detoured into the girl’s bathroom.
Jonah touched his cheek as he finished the memory. He wished he could safeguard his cheek so he never had to wash her kiss off. However, he couldn’t go to the bash smelling gross. He had to shower. He sighed as he stripped down and stepped into the shower. He hoped that there would be a lot more kisses from her coming his way anyway.

~*This love came back to me.*~

“This summer is so going to rock! First we get to go to summer camp, then I get to move in with Chad. I mean, who doesn’t want to live in a mansion, right? Even if it is just a guest house,” Ciara said to Chase as they got ready to head out. She was still living at home until after camp, then she would fully move over to the guest house. She had already spent a couple nights there just to see what it would be like, and he had loved it. Half of her stuff was already there.
Chase nodded. “His guest house is like the size of this house!”
Ciara grinned. “I know, right? If I can’t be rich, working for the rich is the next best thing!”
Just then, Hope and Aiden came down the stairs, kissing as they walked.
Ciara made a disgusted face. “You know, you’re going to trip and fall right down those stairs if you can’t even manage to stop sucking each other’s face long enough to get down the stairs.”
Hope broke a kiss, and shot Ciara an amused look. “It’s good to see you’re in a pleasant mood,” she said sarcastically.
“I’m sorry, Ciara,” Aiden apologized. “It’s just that seeing your mother in her little red dress does things to me.”
Ciara made a gagging motion with her finger. “Please, spare me the details.”
“Just be glad you don’t know what we were just doing upstairs!” Hope teased.
Chase and Ciara both let out cries of disgust.
Hope and Aiden both laughed. They secretly loved harassing Ciara and Chase, but only because they were at the age where everything annoyed them or grossed them out.
“You’re lucky you get to be out of here soon and not have to be around them,” Chase grumbled to Ciara.
Ciara smirked. “You should switch your bedroom to the spare bedroom. At least it’s down the hall a ways and not right across from theirs.”
“Good idea,” Chase agreed. His smile then faltered as he suddenly got a memory of his parents fighting.
His mother was yelling again about Aiden being dangerous. He told her she was crazy. She locked herself in the spare bedroom with her gun, saying she would shoot him if he tried to get in.
“Fine! Lock yourself in the spare bedroom! See if I care! At least I can sleep in my own bed and without you at that!” Aiden had snapped back at her.
Chase remembered being so scared he started to cry.
Aiden had tried to comfort him but in the end the only thing that had comforted him was a big bowl of ice cream and watching cartoons in Aiden’s bed until he fell asleep. He had woken up the next morning, still in his father’s bed with Aiden lying next to him, watching him as if to make sure he was alright.
“Chase, Honey, what’s wrong? You look troubled,” Hope said. She placed a hand over his shoulder.
Chase shook his head. “Nothing. I was just remembering something. It’s not important.”
Aiden walked over to him, the concern clearly seen on his face. “Son, what did you remember?”
Chase blushed. “I remember eating ice cream in bed next to you, and then sleeping in your bed the whole night. You and mom had had a fight and she locked herself in the spare room with her gun.”
“Sheesh! And here I thought Aiden had issues,” Ciara quipped.
“Ciara!” Hope snapped.
Ciara held her hands up. “Sorry.”
Aiden ignored her. He kept his attention on Chase. “It was just another one of her drunken nights. Don’t think too much on it. It was no big deal. Come the morning she was back to her old self— once she got over her hangover that is. We all went to lunch after and had a great time.”
“All I remember is waking up to you staring at me. It’s funny what was comforting back them would be downright creepy today,” Chase joked.
Aiden and Hope laughed nervously.
“No worries there!” Aiden said.
Hope took Aiden’s face between her hands and smiled at him. “He’s too busy looking at me in the mornings now.”
“Waiting to continue where we left off the night before…” Aiden murmured, his eyes lowered with desire for her.
“Okay! This is my cue to leave,” Ciara said.
Chase nodded. “Mine too.”
“Well at least now we know how to get them both out of the house when we want to be alone,” Aiden joked.
Hope playfully swatted his shoulder. “Oh, stop!” She grinned nonetheless.
“See you there!” Chase called out to them as he left.
“Or not, if we’re lucky,” Ciara quipped before shutting the door behind them.
“You’re so bad!” Hope said, her hands around Aiden’s waist once their kids left.
“You love it and you know it,” Aiden murmured.
Hope moaned. “Mm… I do. I really do.”
They kissed.
“I’m just glad he didn’t think much of that memory,” Aiden said after a moment of kissing.
Hope rested her forehead against his. “Let’s just go to the bash and not worry. Can we do that for one night?”
Aiden sighed. “I’ll try.”
They kissed again, then got their shoes on to head to the bash.

~*This love came back to me.*~

Lani had everything set. Earlier that morning, she had taken the board off the window out back. Lucky for her, there was no glass. She had climbed into the house, then unlocked the back door. There were no neighbors around. This place was as secluded as it got. She was guessing the previous owners had not wanted to be bothered. That worked out perfectly for her, for she didn’t want to be bothered either. She went out the door, then re-boarded up the window. That way, if anyone were to be driving by (not that anyone would have reason to), they wouldn’t see that someone had broken in.
She had cemented a metal chair onto the basement floor. She had also installed metal wrist cuffs that were chained to the arms of the chairs. There was even a head restraint attached to the headrest of the chair. There was no way he was getting out of this chair. She had bought it with cash at some seedy sex store about an hour away. It had been a bitch getting it down to the basement by herself, but, being a police officer, she kept herself strong and in shape. Along with that, and her sheer determination, she had managed to get it down there.
She had taken one more look around the basement then headed back home. Now, she was in the car with her father and brother, ready to enjoy the 4th of July bash. She knew she would enjoy what happened after the 4th of July bash much more.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Theo asked Lani.
Lani shook from her thoughts. She smiled at her brother. “Oh, it’s nothing. I’m just thinking about how it will be nice to have the day off tomorrow.”
“I leave for camp tomorrow. It’s too bad we can’t hang out,” Theo said.
Lani side-hugged him. “We’ll hang out when you get back. I promise.”
Theo grinned at her. “I’d like that!”
She grinned back at him.
They arrived at the square, and got out.
“I can’t wait to have a hot dog! I’m starving!” Theo said.
“You and me both! I want a double decker cheese burger,” Abe said.
Theo laughed. “I’d like to see you try to eat one of those!”
They walked ahead while Lani lagged behind. She caught sight of Rafe. Their eyes met. She nodded politely at him, but didn’t smile.
He sipped the beer he had in his hand and nodded politely at her. He didn’t smile either.

~*This love came back to me.*~

Claire was looking at her phone in the square as she headed to find Ciara, and she bumped into someone. “Oh! I’m sorry!” She looked up and her face fell when she saw it was Chase.
“I’m sorry,” Chase said quietly.
Claire looked away. “Don’t be. I was the one who wasn’t watching where I was going.”
“No,” Chase corrected her. “I’m sorry for being such a jerk to you the other day. It was a really pretty dress on you. You know me. I’m a guy. I don’t do fashion. That’s why I didn’t know what to say.”
“I looked pretty would have been sufficient,” Claire said, looking at him now.
“You look pretty in anything you wear anyway,” Chase said sincerely.
Claire blushed. She smiled, and pushed some hair behind her ear. “Thank you.”
“For the record, I don’t know who Marilyn Monroe is. I had to look her up. Now I see it. The dress was a total Marilyn dress, but honestly, you wore it better,” Chase flattered her.
Claire grinned, her blush growing deeper. “I thought everyone knew who Marilyn Monroe was! And thank you, but I know she is a millions times hotter than I am. You don’t have to say it just to make me feel better.”
Chase shrugged. “I’m not. I honestly think you’re prettier.”
Claire’s expression softened. “You know, maybe I was a little too quick to break things off between us.” She stepped a little closer to him.
Chase shook his head. “No, you did the right thing. I was a jerk. Anyway, I don’t know about you, but I just haven’t been feeling our relationship lately. I’ve been so distracted by these memories I keep getting of my mom. Claire, it’s nothing personal, I promise. I just… I love you so much as a friend, but as a girlfriend…”
“You’re just not feeling it,” Claire finished for him. She sighed. “To be honest, I’m not really feeling us in that way anymore either. But I do still love and care about you as a friend. What are these memories of? What is bothering you about them? Maybe I can help you.”
Chase shook his head. “I love you for offering, but it’s kind of personal. I think this is something I have to work out on my own.”
“Well, maybe camp will help you relax, and think things through better. After all, I hear the campsite has a beautiful, peaceful lake.” Claire gently nudged his shoulder with her right fist.
Chase smiled. “Maybe,” he agreed with a nod, though he really didn’t think it would help.
Claire kissed his cheek. “I wish you well, Chase. Good luck with those memories.”
“Thanks,” Chase said, sad their relationship was ending even though he knew it was the right thing to do.
“And don’t worry.” She took his hands in her own and kissed them. “We’ll always be friends.”
He smiled; this time sincerely. “Always,” he agreed.
Claire, smiling as well, kissed his cheek once more, then let go of his hands and went off to find Ciara.
Chase sighed, then went to find the guys, hoping they could help him take his mind off things for the night.

~*This love Came back to me.*~

“I should have gotten the hot dog instead of the burger. That looks really good,” Hope said to Aiden as they sat on a bench together in the middle of the square.
“Here. Have a bite.” Aiden held out his hot dog to her and she took a bite.
She licked the mustard and ketchup off her lips. “Mm, that’s delicious!”
Aiden pushed some hair off her shoulder and away from her neck. He then kissed her neck before murmuring in her ear, “Why don’t we leave early? I have another hot dog for you that you’ll enjoy even more than this one.”
Hope gasped, and playfully swatted his shoulder. “Behave! We can’t leave. I want to watch the fireworks.”
“Baby, I promise you, if we go home now, I’ll see to it that there’s fireworks,” Aiden teased.
Hope smirked at him. “Down, boy.” She continued to eye up his hot dog which he had only taken one bite out of.
He handed it to her. “We’ll trade.”
She shook her head. “No. I can’t take that away from you. I should have ordered one myself.”
He shook his head in return. “Baby, I don’t mind eating a hamburger instead. Here.” He gave her the hot dog. “I can’t enjoy my meal knowing you’re not happy with yours.”
Hope looked at him, then took the hot dog, and gave him her burger. She kissed him softly on the lips. “I love you.”
His eyes lowered with love for her. “And I love you, my love.”
They kissed again, then went back to eating their food.
“Mm!” Hope said as she took another bite of her hot dog.
Aiden smiled at her. He admired her beauty as he took a bite of his burger.

~*This love came back to me.*~

Jonah’s eyes lit up as Lauren headed over to him. She had an ice cream cone in each hand.
“Hi Jonah!” She said with a cheery smile. “Chocolate or strawberry? I figured we’d have ice creams and sit on the bench together while we watch the fireworks.”
Jonah smiled big. “I’m good with either. Whatever you don’t want, I’ll take.”
Lauren handed him the chocolate. “I’ll let you have the chocolate.”
“Thank you! How much do I owe you?” Jonah asked reaching into his pocket with his free hand.
“Not a thing! I bought it for you.” Lauren sat down on the bench and pat the spot beside her. “Come sit!”
Jonah did as told. “Thank you for the ice cream.”
“You’re very welcome!” She took a lick of her cone. “So, I’m going to be a counselor at Camp Hakui. I wanted to be one at Wanataga with you, but sadly they’re all booked up.”
Jonah’s face lit up. “Really?”
Lauren nodded. “Mhm!”
“Mrs. Mathis said our camps will be doing things together, so at least we can still see each other,” Jonah said. He was almost too excited to eat! Almost. He took a big lick of his ice cream.
“Exactly! I’m really looking forward to hanging out with you these next two weeks, Jonah!” Lauren said sweetly to him.
Jonah smiled at her. “I’m really looking forward to hanging out with you too, Lauren.”
She grinned at him, then kissed his cheek.”
The fireworks were about to start then, but Jonah didn’t need fireworks in the sky. They were already in his brain.

~*This love came back to me.*~

The fireworks were starting. Lani was furious! Nicole had come over to Rafe and they had eaten cheese burgers together. Nicole hadn’t left his side since! Now they were watching the fireworks together. There was no way in heck that Lani was going to be able to get to him now. Her plan would have to wait until the next day.
She sighed. The more she watched him all chummy with Nicole, the angrier she became. Why was it that he loved hanging out with any woman that crossed his path except for her? She was an attractive young woman, and she was damn good in bed if she did say so herself! Rafe would be lucky to have her. But, no. He preferred women like Hope and Nicole. Well, he was going to pay for not liking her. He was going to pay big time. She would be a patient woman. She had waited this long, so what was one more night? Tomorrow she would strike, and like a cobra, she would strike hard and fast. Rafe wouldn’t even know what hit him.

~*This love came back to me*~

The fireworks ended, and Hope tugged at Aiden’s sleeve.
He looked at her. “What is it, Baby?”
He wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his chest. “I want another hot dog.”
Aiden looked at the vender. “All right. It looks like they’re still serving. I’ll go get you one.”
He started to get up to walk over to the vender, but Hope quickly stood up and grabbed his hand.
She pulled him close. “Not that kind,” she purred into his ear.
“Oh,” Aiden said in realization. “Oh!” he then said a little more enthusiastically when it really sunk in what kind of hot dog she had meant. “By all means, let’s go home then.” He pulled her close by the waist.
Their eyes locked, both pairs filled with desire for the other.
Hope nodded, then kissed him passionately.
He moaned, and hungrily kissed her back.
She then led him by the hand to the car.
He opened the car door for her and let her in. Then, he shut the door and headed to the driver’s side. He had been thinking as he had watched her beautiful face light up during the fireworks. She had looked so beautiful in the light of the moon, stars, and fireworks.
He got into the car and turned he engine on. He paused to look at her again.
Hope noticed him staring and smiled. She pushed some hair behind her ear. “What?” she asked with a blush and a slight laugh. “Do I have ketchup or mustard on my face?”
He shook his head. “No. I’m just thinking of how you’re more beautiful than a thousand fireworks.”
She blushed. “You always were such a charmer,” she said.
He shrugged. “I only speak the truth.”
“Mm, then take me home, Mr. Jennings, so I can show you my appreciation,” she purred, her hand moving over to gently caress him over his pants.
He bit his bottom lip and moaned. She was wild and crazy, and he loved every moment of being with her. He started the engine, and as he side glanced at Hope he drove. As he saw her smiling at him with that beautiful smile of hers that always took his breath away, he knew what he was going to do. One day in the extremely near future, he was going to ask her to marry him again.

[ihearthaiden]

Days of our Haiden
Season 2 Episode 9: Danger Zone

“I can’t believe the other councilors are those jerks!” Theo said as they rode on the plane to the camps.
“At least Lauren’s not a jerk. I can’t believe she’s going to be stuck having to work with them!” Jonah said.
They were all appalled when they got to the airport and realized that the counselors for Camp Hakui were none other than Becca, AJ, Jake, Jason, Lauren, and Rochelle. They were unsure of who Rochelle was, but judging by her short, spiky purple hair, her red lace up corset, short, ripped black denim shorts over ripped fishnets, and black platform boots that went to her knees, she didn’t exactly look like someone they wanted to counsel with either.
“That Rochelle looks like a freaking raccoon with all that black eye makeup,” Joey quipped.
“Her lips looks like they’re covered in blood. I bet she’s a vampire,” Theo joked.
Claire rolled her eyes. “It’s not nice to stereotype. For all we know, she could be very nice.”
“And don’t be ridiculous. Vampires don’t exist!” Ciara said with an eye roll.
Theo looked at her. “Oh, they’re real all right. Maybe not to the extent of how they are portrayed in movies and TV, but they exist.”
Lauren came over then and stood by Jonah’s aisle seat. She rolled her eyes. “Those guys are such jerks! They keep bad mouthing you guys. I needed a break from them.”
“How is Rochelle? Is she weird?” Chase asked.
Lauren shrugged. “She doesn’t say much. She’s been doing nothing but reading her Dracula book so far.”
Theo’s eyes lit up. “See?!” he said to his friends.
Ciara rolled her eyes, but the guys snickered. Claire just smiled.
“Don’t worry. I stick up for you guys. Of course those idiots won’t hear it.” Lauren rolled her eyes.
“Don’t even worry about it! Arguing with idiots is just waste of time,” Ciara said.
“You’re probably right. Well, I have to go to the bathroom. We’ll be landing soon so I better get back in my seat after that.” Lauren sighed. “This is going to be a long two weeks.” She rolled her eyes again, then headed to the bathroom.
“Ciara smiled at Jonah, who was sitting across from her. “Looks like you finally found a nice girl, Jonah!”
Jonah grinned brightly. “I sure have.” He could not believe his good luck!
He sighed contently, and ignored the fact that AJ had stood up in his seat and had turned to face him as he pushed up the tip of his nose and made snorting sounds at him.
Jonah was so happy to have Lauren, he wasn’t even going to let AJ or his thug friends bother him with their immature, thuggish behavior anymore. At least, he’d try not to.

~*This love came back to me.*~

Lani dialed Rafe’s number. She didn’t want to wait a moment more to put her plan into action. Like she did, Rafe also had the day off. She knew he would be available.
“Hello?” Rafe picked up on the third ring.
Lani smiled even though he couldn’t see her smile. “Rafe! Hey. I was calling to see if you wanted to have dinner over at my place tonight, at around, say…six?”
Rafe paused for a moment. “Lani, we’ve already discussed this. I’m not ready to get into another relationship. I’m sorry.”
You didn’t seem to have any problem with it when you were hanging out with Nicole last night! Instead of screaming at Rafe what she was screaming in her head, she stayed calm. “No! I know that. You know, I think sleeping with you got it out of my system. I really do. I just want to get together as friends. I also want to apologize to you for throwing myself at you when we went to the music festival. I’m so embarrassed.”
“Really, Lani, I’m the one who should be embarrassed. I had way too much to drink. I never should have slept with you and led you on like that,” Rafe apologized.
“Don’t even worry about it. We both made a mistake. Why don’t we get together tonight to just try to get back to things not being so awkward. We’re friends, right?” Lani asked.
“I suppose.” Rafe cleared his throat. “But, really, Lani. We should go back to keeping it professional. I don’t think dinner is a good idea.”
You never kept it professional with Hope! Lani dug her nails into her palm. “Come on. One dinner can’t hurt. Please? I’m going to feel like you totally hate me if you don’t let me cook dinner for you as a friend. I went all out and got prime rib!”
Rafe sighed. “Well, I do love prime rib.”
I know. I overheard Hope mentioning that one day a while back. “See? How can you pass that up? I even made blueberry cobbler for dessert.”
“You had me at prime rib. I’ll be there,” Rafe agreed.
Lani grinned big. “Excellent!
“And Lani?”
“Yes?”
“I don’t hate you. I could never hate you.”
Lani rolled her eyes. Too little too late, Rafael! “Good to know. See you tonight at six!”
“See you tonight at six,” Rafe agreed.
Lani clicked the off button and set the phone down. “Too bad for you, you won’t be making it past the blueberry cobbler, Rafe.” She smirked, then left to go grocery shop.

~*This love came back to me.*~

Hope had put in a good word for Aiden at the police station and his application had been accepted. Now it was time for him to prepare for his entrance examination.
He took practice tests on line and studied the answers he got wrong. Most of it came easily to him, being a lawyer. He knew this part of the processes was going to be a piece of cake. It was the physical he was worried about, but he would worry about that when the time came.
Hope massaged his shoulders from behind. “Why don’t you take a break? We can go out and do something fun.”
He closed his laptop. He was tired of studying and pretty much felt prepared anyway. His test wasn’t until the next day at noon, so he still had plenty of time to study.
He turned to face Hope, and gently pulled her down onto his lap. “I can think of something fun we can do right here at home,” he murmured his lips brushing against her neck.
Hope smiled, her fingers tangling in his hair. “I’m sure you can.”
He kissed the side of her neck.
She closed her eyes, tempted to give into him. However, her stomach growled just then and reminded her of how hungry she was. “We’ll have plenty of time for that later with the kids away at camp. Right now, I want to eat. After that, I want to figure out something fun for us to do. We don’t do anything spontaneous any more. All we do is go out to eat then come back and make love.”
Aiden raised an eyebrow. “And what’s wrong with that?”
Hope smiled at him, as she stroked her hair. “Nothing. I just want to explore other ways to have fun.”
“We can do that too,” Aiden teased, wriggling his eyebrows at her.
Hope rolled her eyes and groaned, feigning annoyance. “Is that the only thing you ever think about?”
“When it comes to you, yes!” Aiden said simply.
“Well, not today. At least…not right now.” Hope got up off his lap, then took his hands and helped him up. “I want to go eat, and then I want to go dancing in the park! They have a live jazz band and a dance floor all this month for their summer festivities. It lasts until nine at night.”
Aiden kissed her. “Well dancing is kind of our thing. How about this? We go get a quick lunch, then come home and make love until we’re too tired to make love any more. Then we’ll take a nap together. When we wake up, I’ll do a bit more studying, then we can get all decked out, eat dinner outside at the square, and then go dancing. It runs until nine, tonight, you said. Right?”
“It will be a different jazz band tonight than there is now, but I suppose it doesn’t matter which one as long as we get to dance!” Hope said.
“And make love?” Aiden asked as he began to place gentle kisses all up the side of her neck, then behind her ear.
Hope closed her eyes, her breath getting slightly heavy as it always did whenever he kissed her neck and that spot behind her ear. He always knew the places on her body to kiss that drove her insane with desire for him. “And make love,” she said quietly. She then opened her eyes and pulled his body by the waist until his body was pressed directly against hers. “Wherever we eat, let’s make it quick so we can get to making that love…” he murmured in his ear. She gently nibbled at his earlobe and ran her fingers through his hair, knowing that that was one of the way’s he got turned on.
He moaned. “I agree—let’s make this quick.”
“But not the lovemaking. I wanna take that nice and slow…” she murmured in his ear.
He moaned again, and practically dragged her out of the house.
Hope didn’t mind. After all, she needed it as much as he did now.

~*This love came back to me.*~

The teens arrived at the airport and grabbed their suitcases.
Jonah was looking for his bag when suddenly he felt a wave of pain on his foot. He cried out and looked to see a big suitcase on his right foot.
AJ smiled at him. “Oops! Sorry. It’s hard trying to get it off the conveyor belt. It slipped.” He picked it up off Jonah’s foot.
“You did that on purpose!” Ciara snapped.
AJ sneered at her. “Prove it!” He laughed, then rolled the suitcase away.
“Are you all right?” Ciara asked Jonah. “He didn’t break your foot, did he?”
Jonah shook his head. “No. I’m fine. The pain faded already.” The truth was, his foot still hurt—a lot. But he didn’t want to look weak in front of his friends, nor did he want to give AJ and his pals the satisfaction. Jonah knew that Joey and Theo were tough. If it had happened to them, they probably wouldn’t be crying like a baby like he was doing inside.
Jonah wriggled his foot. He could move it so it wasn’t broken. Still… He hoped it would stop throbbing soon. He bet it was swollen.
Once they all had their bags, they headed to the shuttle to go to camp. Jonah was just glad that they at least didn’t have to share a camp. He didn’t think he’d make it two weeks if he had to.

~*This love came back to me*~

“I’m so glad you could make it,” Lani said. She had dressed in tight black jeans, black ankle boots, and a tight lacey red top with a modest neckline. She wanted to come off as sexy but subtly sexy so as not to scare Rafe off, but still give him one last chance to become more than friends.
Rafe grinned. “How could I say no to prime rib?”
Lani smirked. “Come in.” Choosing food over me. You’ll be sorry. She shut the door behind him, then led him into the dining room where she had the table all set.
“Mm… This all looks delicious! I was going to bring some wine, but I wasn’t sure if you already had some or not,” he said as he sat down at the table.
“I figured maybe drinking alcohol wasn’t such a good thing after what happened the last time we were together,” Lani said.
Rafe nodded. “Good point!”
“Is Sprite okay?” Lani asked.
Rafe shrugged. “Sounds good to me!”
Lani went into the kitchen and got two glasses. She decided to let Rafe have one more chance to come to his senses. She poured them each a glass without slipping him the roofies just yet.
She headed back to the dining room and handed him his drink before sitting down with hers.
He took a sip. “Thank you.”
“Sure thing!” she said before digging into her food.
Rafe dug into his food as well.
“So, Rafe, I’m totally cool with being just friends, but would I ever be someone you’d want to date? You know, maybe once you’re fully over the loss of Hope?” Lani asked casually.
Rafe looked at her, his fork paused in mid-air. “Lani, I thought we’ve already been through this.”
Lani shrugged. “I’m not asking to date you now. I myself don’t even think that’s a good idea. You’re clearly not ready for a relationship. I’m just asking about down the road. Heck, say six months from now even.”
Rafe sighed. “Lani, the truth is, yes, you’re a very attractive woman, but you’re just not my type. I enjoy our partnership and being friends with you, but that’s as far as it goes, and as far as it will ever go.”
You’ll be sorry you said that, Rafe. Lani shrugged. “That’s cool. No biggie. Thanks for being honest.” She smiled. “There are plenty of other hot fish in the sea. I’m sure I’ll find the perfect guy one day.”
Rafe nodded. “That’s the spirit!” He took another bite of his prime rib. “Mm… This is really good.”
“Would you like more?” Lani asked.
Rafe shook his head. “Na. I’m good, thanks. I gotta save room for that blueberry cobbler you promised me!” He winked at her.
Lani smiled. “Of course! At least let me refill your soda.”
“Thank you!” Rafe said, nudging his glass to her.
“I’ll be right back.” Lani grabbed both their glasses, then headed into the kitchen. She refilled hers, then refilled his. She took the two roofies from her pocket, and placed them in Rafe’s drink. She stirred them around until they dissolved. She then headed back out to the dining table.
She handed Rafe his drink.
“Thank you!” he said, immediately bringing it to his lips.
She watched as he took a couple big gulps. That’s it. Drink it all down Rafe…
They made small talk as they finished their dinner.
“I’m going to clear these up and go get that cobbler!” she said, clearing their plates.
“Would you like any help?” he asked her.
“No, I can get it! You’re my guest, and I don’t make company work. I’ll be right out with that cobbler.” Lani headed into the kitchen and put the dishes in the sink. She then dished out the cobbler on new plates. The drug took about twenty minutes to take effect. They would have their cobbler and then he should be starting to feel the effects.
She smiled to herself as she brought out their cobblers. Just twenty minutes and her revenge could begin…

*This love came back to me.*

“All right. Before the Camp Hakui campers head on over to their camp, our cook has prepared a special dinner for you councilors to welcome you to the camps!” Gracie Melbourne, the councilor in charge of both camps said to them once they had arrived at camp and been shown around to Camp Wanataga.
Joey, Chase, Theo, and Jonah had their own cabin, and Claire and Ciara had their own cabin. The other counselors had their stuff loaded into the canoes that they would be taking to get to their camp. It was just a short trip across the lake to Camp Hakui.
They all headed into the camp’s dining cabin and took their seats.
So far only one long table was set up, so both camps had to sit together.
Their meals were on silver trays with a top over each tray.
The councilors all took the tops off the trays in front of their seat.
“I thought we were getting a special meal. This just jot hot dogs and macaroni and cheese!” Theo griped.
“I love hot dogs and macaroni and cheese!” Jonah said, already digging into his.
“Of course you love it! You’re a fat slob who loves anything edible!” Jake snapped.
AJ and Jason laughed, and high-fived Jake.
Becca smirked. “Well, I’m not eating mine. They are filled with God knows what disgusting things.” She gave her hot dog to Jonah. “You’re already completely disgusting inside and out so it shouldn’t bother you any.”
Jonah was hurt, but he took her hot dog anyway. He was extra hungry after all that traveling.
“Don’t let them get to you,” Lauren whispered to him from her spot beside him. “They’re just trying to get you going. I happened to love hot dogs and people who don’t think they’re too good to eat hot dogs.”
Jonah smiled at her, feeling a little better.
“I have to switch seats. I can’t sit here looking at you while I’m trying to eat,” AJ said to Jonah. He had been sitting right across from Jonah. He moved to the other side of Becca. There was an empty seat in front of him. “Much better!” he said. “Looking at that ugly, fat, loser makes me want to vomit.”
Becca laughed.
Jonah felt his heart sink again. He suddenly wasn’t hungry anymore, but he choked down his hot dogs and mac and cheese anyway.

~*This love came back to me.*~

Aiden stroked Hope’s hair as they danced together under the moonlight and stars in the park. “You are the most beautiful woman in the world. I didn’t think it was possible for you to get any more beautiful but you somehow manage it time after time.”
Hope stroked his hair as well. She brushed her lips against his left ear. “You always know just what to say to make me feel beautiful and loved.”
“That’s because you’re both beautiful and loved,” he murmured burying his nose in her hair. Her hair always smelled like perfume. He didn’t know if it was the scent of her expensive shampoo and conditioner, or if she put perfume in her hair. Whatever it was, he loved it.
She smiled at him. “As are you, Mr. Jennings. Well, handsome and loved that is.” She winked at him.
He twirled her around to the music.
“It’s such a beautiful night,” she said. “I love these summer nights.”
“Me too—especially when I get to spend them with you,” he said.
Hope smiled, and gently stroked his cheek with her palm. “Likewise, Mr. Jennings.”
Suddenly, their song began to play. It was the song they had danced the waltz to the night they had fallen in love.
Hope looked at Aiden. “Did you have something to do with this?”
Aiden grinned. “I might have gone over to the band when you were in the bathroom and asked them to play it when you came back out.”
Hope kissed him, then stroked some hair out of his eyes. “I love you more with every day that passes.”
Aiden kissed her softly on the lips. “Baby, I can assure you, I feel the same way about you.” They kissed some more.
Aiden broke the kiss. “I know we’ve only been back together for a little over three months, but I already feel we’re back to where we were before I went insane.”
Hope nodded. “I think so too,” she said.
Aiden pushed some of her hair behind her right ear. “Do you feel safe with me now, Hope? Do you feel like we can finally move past all the horrible things that kept us apart? All the horrible thing that happened because of me?”
Hope gently placed a hand over Aiden’s left cheek, and looked deeply into his eyes. “If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have asked you to move in with me, and I wouldn’t be here with you tonight.” She then brushed her lips against his ear. “And we certainly wouldn’t have been making love like we did after lunch. My goodness, you wore me out!” She grinned at him.
He grinned at her too.
She then gently took is face between her hands, and rested her forehead against his. “I love you, Mr. Jennings. As far as I’m concerned, what happened that tore us apart for a while, never happened. I’m not going to let what Andre and Stefano did to you, ruin what we had.”
Aiden looked her in the eyes, his eyes and heart filled with so much love for her he thought he would burst. “I love you so much, Hope.”
Hope’s eyes lowered with love for him, and they kissed.
Aiden knew then that he was going to propose to her sooner rather than later—much sooner.
Hope broke a kiss, and took his hands in hers as their song ended. “Let’s go home,” she said.
He nodded. “That’s exactly what I was thinking!”
They then headed back home, both more in love with the other than ever before.

~*This love came back to me.*~

The teens lay in their beds. AJ and his gang of thugs had gone across the lake to their own camp.
“Jonah, are you all right? Those jerks were pretty mean to you at dinner,” Theo asked from the bed across the room from Jonah’s bed.
“I’m fine. It’s nothing I’m not used to by now,” Jonah said. He wiped away the tears that were filling his eyes. He was grateful for the cloak of darkness so that no one could see his tears. He hated being called fat and unattractive. He already felt fat and unattractive. He didn’t need jerks like AJ confirming it. Also, it made him embarrassed in front of Lauren. What if she one day woke up and realized she was too good for him? Not that they were officially dating or anything, but still…
“Don’t even worry about those jackasses! They are so not worth our time! I only wish we had some hot councilors from the other camp instead of those assholes,” Joey said from his bunk next to Theo’s. “This is going to be a long two weeks! I’m just glad they’ll be on the other side of the lake for the most part. At least Lauren isn’t like that. She really seems sweet on you Jonah!”
Jonah smiled. “You really think so?”
“Dude, totally! I’ve seen the way she looks at you,” Joey replied.
“Yeah,” Theo chimed in. “She sticks up for you. That’s gotta say something, right?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Jonah agreed. He suddenly felt a little better.
“Chase, are you asleep, Dude?” Joey asked.
Chase didn’t reply.
Jonah tried to look over at Chase who was in the bed next to his bed, but he couldn’t see in the darkness. “He must be sleeping.”
Theo yawned. “That’s what I want to be. I’m exhausted from all the traveling. “Goodnight, Guys. See you in the morning.”
“Goodnight,” Jonah and Joey both echoed.
Meanwhile, Chase was tossing and turning as he dreamed about his mother.
“Mom! You’re alive again!” Chase said. He ran to hug her, but she quickly stepped back.
“Mom, what’s wrong?” he asked.
“You hurt me,” she said, pointing at him.
Chase couldn’t tell if his mother looked angry or sad. “I hurt you? How?”
“You should know. How could you not remember?” Meredith asked. She definitely looked angry now.
“Mom, I’m sorry, but I honestly don’t know! What did I do? How did I hurt you?” Chase asked. He was starting to panic. Hurt his mother? What was she talking about?”
Meredith placed her hand over her heart. “You hurt me here.” She went from angry to sad.
“Mom, I don’t know what you mean! I didn’t even know you were alive until now,” Chase said, tears in his eyes now.
Meredith stared him in the eyes. “I didn’t say anything about now.” She then disappeared.
“Mom! Don’t go!” Chase cried out.
He jerked awake. He was sweating, and breathing heavily. His mouth was dry.
He headed into their cabin’s bathroom and splashed some cold water on his face. He then cupped his hands, and drank water from them before turning the spicket off and getting back in bed.
He closed his eyes and tried to calm his breathing. “It was just a dream,” he whispered to himself. “Just a dream.” He soon fell back to sleep, no more dreams invading his sleep.

~*This love came back to me.*~

Rafe was starting to drift. Lani knew the time to strike was now while he could still get into her car.
“Rafe, are you okay? You look a little peeked,” Lani asked with fake concern.
“I’m suddenly not feeling so well. I feel so tired,” Rafe said.
“Why don’t I drop you home? You look really out of it. I don’t think you should be driving,” Lani said to him.
Rafe started to stand up. “I’ll be fine. I just…” He started to stumble.
Lani quickly got out of her chair and helped him stay upright. “Oh, no you’re not! Come on, Rafe. As a cop, you should know better than to even attempt to drive when you’re in a state like this.”
“I don’t know what happened. I was fine, and then all of the sudden I feel like crap!” Rafe said.
“Let’s get you back home. You can come pick up your car tomorrow. I’ll pick you up and bring you back here in the morning.”
“That might be a good idea,” Rafe said. “I appreciate it. Thank you. I’m just so tried…”
“I know. Let’s go.” Lani led him over to the front door, and opened it.
She then led him over to her car, and opened the door to the back seat. “I’ll let you sleep on the backseat on the way there.”
With Lani’s help, Rafe climbed into the backseat and laid down. “Thank you.”
“Oh, Rafe? Did you tell anyone you were going to dinner at my place tonight?” she asked.
“No. Why?” Rafe asked.
“Just curious!” Lani shut the door, smiling to herself. Excellent.
She then quickly ran back to the house and locked up. Then, she got in the car and headed out to the “House of Torture,” as she liked to think of it.
She looked over her shoulder toward the back seat as she pulled out of the driveway. “Rafe? Are you awake?”
Rafe didn’t say a word. He was out cold.
She smirked, and put her eyes back on the road. “So far, so good!” she said to herself.

[ihearthaiden]

Linked do to a little bit of off-colorness.

S2E10:

www.fanfiction.net/s/11613144/34/Days-of-our-Haiden

[gapeach]

Lani has really lost it!

[ihearthaiden]

Linked one more time because of the violence.

www.fanfiction.net/s/11613144/35/Days-of-our-Haiden

[gapeach]

Loved the chapter. Wonder how Rafe is going to be rescued?!?!?!

[ihearthaiden]

I'm so glad you're enjoying it so far. Thanks for reading! Time will tell.

[gapeach]

You are such a tease!!!

[ihearthaiden]

Days of our Haiden
Season 2 Episode 12: I’ll Remember

A week had passed. Rafe was ready to die at this point. No one was looking for him he was sure. Lani had texted Roman from Rafe’s phone, telling him he needed to get out of town for a few days for mental health reasons. He missed Hope too much and couldn’t bear to be around her or the place that reminded him of her. Roman had been ever so understanding, according to Lani.
Lani had shaved him again from head to toe. At least she had someone cleaned up his bodily fluid mess on the floor with a broom, dustpan, and mop, as well as one big trash bag. However, the stench was still in the room, for he re-messed the room up daily. He supposed he should just be grateful that she was more gentle with shaving him the second time around. His cuts were healing, and he had been afraid she would reopen them, but she hadn’t. Even so, she had plucked his eyelashes out with tweezers, and that had been almost as painful as the cuts.
“All right. So, you have your looks taken from you, and of course Hope is taken from you. She asked for time off at the station so that she and Aiden could go on a romantic getaway this weekend.” Lani smirked. “I bet you they are going to be spending all weekend in bed.”
Rafe wanted to hurl—and not just because of the stench that still lingered in the room.
Lani grinned. “I bet she screams his name in ecstasy in ways she never screamed yours. The guy looks like he’s amazing in bed. You were good, but I’ve had much better.”
Rafe felt the anger welling inside of him. “If I’m not that good, then why do you want me so badly?” he snapped.
Lani looked him up and own, tapping her lips with an index finger. “You know what? That is a good question! Don’t worry. I’m soon done with you. There’s just one more thing you love that I have to take away from you first.”
“What’s that?” Rafe asked. He had already lost everything. There was not much else she could take away from him other than his life. He suddenly felt the urge to throw up again.
Lani smirked. “Why, your family of course! I’m going to make sure your dad, your mother, your brother, and your sister too are all demolished. I’m not a total monster. I’ll let little Arianna live. She can go live with her Daddy Sonny. That is, if he can even be bothered to act like a father to that little brat.”
Rafe suddenly got angry. “Look. Your beef is with me; not them. Kill me, but let them be!”
Lani shook her head. “I’m sick of your family being the heroes of this town! They all have to go. Sorry not sorry,” Lani said, taking out Rafe’s cell phone.
Rafe’s face turned red. “I swear if you hurt a hair on any of their heads, I’ll—“
Lani cut him off. “You’ll what, Rafe? Hm? What are you going to do in that chair? Nothing! That’s what.” She was quiet as she sent out a mass texts.
After a moment, she put the phone back in her pocket. “There! I just texted a mass text to all of them asking them to come to this address ASAP. You bought a huge house as a surprise, and you want them all to see it.”
“What are you planning on doing? Locking them up as well?” Rafe asked.
Lani nodded. “In this basement, yes. None of the windows are low enough or even big enough to crawl out of. First, I’m going to douse this basement in gasoline. Then, when they come down here and find you, I will light a match, toss it down into the basement, and lock your family down here so that you can all burn together.”
“You’re sick! You sick and twisted Bitch!” Rafe snapped.
Lani slapped him hard across the face, which hurt worse than normal because of her long acrylic nails and spiked metal ring. “I don’t know what I ever saw in you.”
Rafe’s phone buzzed in her pocket, and she looked at the texts.
“Crap!” she said. “Your mom is working, and so is your sister. Your father and brother will come out though.” She texted them back that she (Rafe) was looking forward to showing them the house, then she put the phone away again.
“They’ll be leaving in an hour, so they should be here in about three or four hours.” She smirked at Rafe. “It’s only three or four hours, then you will be put out of your misery. You have three or four hours to live. I won’t be able to shave them, but, oh well. As long as you’re all dead, no one will ever know I’m behind this. Honestly, no one is around to smell the stench of the burning hair on your bodies anyway. I really just wanted the fun of shaving you, hurting you, and humiliating you.”
She turned to leave. “I have a few errands to run before the big event.” She grabbed something off the table. “And not that there is any way for you to warn your family or escape, but just in case, I’m going to need you out cold again.” She turned around and zapped Rafe in the same place she had zapped him before. He hadn’t even had time to see it coming.
Rafe screamed in pain.
Lani then took her police baton and bashed him over the head with it so hard, he passed out. She shrugged. “Hey. I did you a favor. At least passed out, you can’t feel the pain.” She kissed his cheek, then set the baton down. “It’s so nice being a police officer and having all these fun tools!” she gushed before heading back up the basement stairs. She left the basement, making sure the all doors were locked securely before she left the house to run her special errands.

~*This love came back to me.*~

It was the final day of camp. It had been one long week. Thankfully, for the most part, the other camp hadn’t been over at their camp. But they had made appearances here and there, and the kids from the other camp were horrible to Jonah. Jonah knew it was all about of their councilors coaching them to be horrible to him. The kids called him fat, and one little brat had even kicked him and bit his arm. It hadn’t broken the skin, but it had still hurt, and left an impression in his arm. Gracie—the main councilor who was supposed to supervise everything—barely even made an appearance, so they were all left to fend for themselves.
Jonah never wanted to go to camp again after this. He was just grateful it was the last day. It was currently Friday and they would return home Saturday evening.
Today they were having a canoe race with the other camp. That meant the other camp was at their camp, and Jonah was none too pleased about it.
“Ick! I just saw a huge spider in our cabin! Joey was going to smash it, but Theo wouldn’t let him. He picked it up and let it outside. He loves spiders. Ick! They creep me out!” Claire said to Jonah.
Jonah shrugged. “They don’t bother me too much. Snakes are what terrify me. I hate snakes! It is the one thing that will get me running for the hills!” he said to her.
“Or an all you can eat buffet, you fat pig!” Kyle, a fourteen-year-old boy who was practically a mini version of AJ said to him. He was from Camp Hakui of course.
“Yeah, if the buffet is by the hills,” Rachel, a bratty little ten-year-old redheaded girl, also from Camp Hakui said. She and Kyle laughed, and did Becca, for wherever Rachel was, there was Becca. Becca was what appeared to be Rachel’s role model, which of course explained Rachel’s brattiness.
“I don’t care if you’re a kid. Keep it up and I’ll knock your freaking teeth out!” Ciara snapped at the kids.
“My dad’s a lawyer. You just try it! He’ll sue you for all your worth!” Rachel snapped.
Ciara lowered her eyes at her. “Well, my mom’s a cop who can cover up any crime she wants, and her boyfriend is the best lawyer in the US. So bring it!”
Rachel shot her a nasty look, but backed off.
Theo raised an eyebrow. “That’s the first time I’ve ever heard you compliment Aiden!”
Ciara scowled. “Yeah, well desperate times cause for desperate measures.”
“All right, everyone, it’s time for the canoe race! Teams will get into their canoes and race to the other side of the lake and back. The first team to have all of their team back first wins the trophy that will be displayed in the winning camp’s trophy display case. It will be engraved with the winning camp’s name on it. Also, the winning team will get to have a group photo with the trophy to take home,” Gracie, who surprisingly had showed up for the days’ festivities, explained.
“Woo! Just what I always dreamed of having. A picture holding a trophy,” Joey said sarcastically under his breath.
Claire elbowed him. “Don’t be a jerk like AJ.”
Joey rolled his eyes. “Don’t compare me to that douche.”
They then all got into their canoes. Each camp had three canoes with two councilors and four campers per canoe.
Gracie squeezed the air horn once they were off, and the race was on.
It took some time to get across the lake and back. Of course being jocks, AJ and Jason had no trouble getting their canoe to the other side of the lake and back. They were the first to arrive back.
Ciara and Theo weren’t far behind them, though Jake and Becca arrived about the same time they did.
Rochelle and Lauren were next, followed by Chase and Claire. Dead last was Jonah and Joey, but only by a little.
Camp Hakui cheered, and their campers high-fived the councilors.
“No wonder Jonah was last! His boat was weighed down by all Jonah’s fat!” Kyle said.
“Hey, Jonah! Are you sure it wasn’t you who swallowed the whale instead of the other way around?” Rachel asked, referring to the Jonah and the whale from the Bible.
Jake, Becca, AJ, and Jason all laughed, and high fived both Kyle and Rachel. Rochelle rolled her eyes.
Lauren slapped AJ on the shoulder. “Don’t encourage him! It is so unprofessional to laugh with the bullying campers instead of condoning them for being nasty!” She whipped around to Kyle and Rachel. “And you two! You both need to respect the counselors!”
Kyle rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well he needs to respect a diet!”
“Or the gym!” Rachel added. She and Kyle laughed and high-fived.
Lauren glared at them as the fellow Hakui campers laughed, along with AJ and his pals.
Lauren clenched her fists and let out a frustrated cry.
Jonah placed a hand over her shoulder. “It’s all right. Don’t worry about it! I appreciate you sticking up for me.”
Lauren squeezed his hand. “You know what? Tonight after dinner, meet my by the dock. You and I can go for a canoe trip—just the two of us. No one will miss us. We can bring our dessert on the canoe with us.”
Jonah grinned big. “Sounds good to me!”
Lauren grinned too, and kissed his cheek. “Meet me tonight at 5:30,” she whispered in his ear before walking over to get her picture with the rest of her camp and their trophy.
Jonah touched his cheek and smiled, the bullying already forgotten about.

~*This love came back to me.*~

“This is such a breathtaking view! I can’t get over it,” Hope said as she stood on the balcony of hers and Aiden’s hotel room. It overlooked the ocean. It was a warm evening with a cool breeze blowing her hair. They had gotten to the Cayman Islands early, and looked around the little shops and boutiques most of the day. They had then had lunch on the beach and after that, they had spent a couple hours on the beach, followed by a boat tour.
Hope had then wanted to take a nap. While Hope had napped, Aiden had gone out and set up a little surprise for her. He had gotten back just as Hope had awaken. Now, she was looking out at the balcony as he changed for dinner.
Aiden finished getting ready and came out to join her. He wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. “Aside from you, nothing beautiful really phases me anymore. I get to see your beauty on a daily basis. Who needs anything else?”
She smiled. “You always lay it on pretty thickly.”
“Well, it’s all true.” He pushed some hair away from her neck and kissed the side of her neck. “You deserve to be told every day how beautiful you are.”
She turned around and kissed him.
He hungrily kissed her in return until her kisses turned into the kind that he knew meant she was getting in the mood for more than just kissing.
Hope tried to push him back toward the bedroom, but he stopped her. “Not yet. I have a surprise for you first. We have to go back to the beach for it.”
She pouted. “But we were already at the beach all day!”
“You’ll like it even better this time. Trust me,” he assured her.
Hope sighed. “All right.” So, she took his hand and they headed out to the beach, which was literally only a few yards from their hotel that was right on the beach.
When they got to the beach, the first thing Hope noticed was that nobody was around.
“Where is everybody?” she asked.
Aiden grinned. “I called in a favor with the mayor—free law services the next time he needs a lawyer. In return, he did was he had to do and ended up getting this section of the beach reserved for just the two of us. I would have tried for the whole beach, but with a hotel right on the beach, it’s kind of hard to stop people from going on the beach all together.”
Hope grinned too. “That’s understandable!”
Aiden then led her over between two palm trees where a blue blanket waited for them. It had a Champaign bottle on it in an ice bucket. There was also a bowl of fresh strawberries. “A waiter from the beach restaurant will be coming out with burgers and fries for our dinner.”
Hope took his face between her hands and kissed him softly on the lips. “How did I ever get so lucky to land a man who’s this romantic?” she asked.
Aiden’s eyes lowered with love for her, and he kissed her softly on the lips. “Baby, I’m the lucky one.”
They kissed some more, then sat down together on the blanket. No sooner had they sat down had the waiter brought out burgers, fries, and sodas for them.
“I hope you don’t mind me having ordered for you,” Aiden said to her.
Hope shook her head. “Not at all! You know what I like.” She gently rubbed his thigh. “In more ways than one,” she murmured in his ear, causing him to blush.
“I will come back out in twenty minutes to collect your empty plates,” the waiter told them.
“Thank you! Would it be possible to get a little container of chocolate sauce for the strawberries when you come back?” Aiden asked.
The waiter nodded. “Of course!”
Hope and Aiden both thanked him, then their waiter took off.
“It really is such a beautiful night out. Thank you so much for doing this for me,” Hope said.
“I just wanted tonight to be special,” Aiden assured her.
Hope took his hand and gently squeezed it. “Trust me, it is.”
They smiled at each other and kissed, then ate their meals and made small talk.
The waiter came back out once they had finished eating, and he brought the chocolate sauce. Aiden thanked him and paid for the meal and tip in cash, then they were left alone again.
Aiden popped the Champaign cork and it flew over to the side.
Hope laughed, and placed the cork beside the bucket.
Aiden poured them each a glass and held his out to hers in a toast.
She held hers out to him.
“To us and our eternal love for each other. Is that too cheesy?” he asked.
Hope smiled and shook her head. “No. It’s absolutely perfect,” she said. “To us and our eternal love for each other.”
They clinked glasses and drank up.
“Want one?” Aiden asked taking a strawberry and dipping it into the chocolate sauce. He held it to Hope’s lips.
Hope ate it from his hand. She closed her eyes, and licked her lips. “Mm… Delicious!” She grinned. “Now it’s your turn.” She dipped a strawberry in chocolate and fed it to him.
He licked his lips as well. “Mm… So delicious!” he agreed.
They both ate two more each.
“Ugh! I know there are six more left, but I couldn’t eat another bite!” Hope said.
Aiden shook his head. “Uh, uh! Me neither. It’s okay. Our room has a fridge in it. We can save them and for later with the rest of the Champaign.” He noticed Hope was writing something in the sand with her finger. He nodded toward it. “What’s that?” He moved over closer to her and saw that she had drawn a heart in between two seashells with H+A written inside the heart. “And you say I’m the romantic one!” he gushed. He took out his phone and snapped a picture of it.
Hope grinned at him.
Aiden then stood up and took her hand. “Come on. Let’s go for a walk along the shoreline.”
Hope nodded. “All right.” She stood up.
They had both already kicked their sandals off. As they headed to the shoreline hand-in-hand, Aiden squeezed the ring box in his pocket with his freehand. It was almost time.

~*This love came back to me.*~

Jonah was so excited! He made sure to comb his curls and dress in his best outfit he had brought to camp. He had even borrowed some of Theo’s cologne! He had scarfed down his dinner in record time, and was now waiting by the canoes for Lauren to show up. She was already there, holding her chocolate pudding cup and spoon, just as he was holding his.
“Hi!” Lauren waved. “Are you ready?”
Jonah nodded. “So ready!”
Lauren laughed. “Cool.”
Jonah noticed a small cooler in her hand. “What’s in there?” he asked her.
“I sneaked us extra puddings and some mini containers of milk,” she said with a wink.
Jonah grinned. “Awesome!”
They got into the canoe and together they rowed out to the middle of the lake, where they then stopped and ate their pudding cups.
“Lauren, I really want to thank you for giving me the time of day. No one else at school likes me other than my small group of friends. Heck, sometimes I don’t even think my parents like me very much,” Jonah said as he ate.
“Well, anyone who doesn’t like you is just a jerk and they are missing out!” Lauren said. “I think you’re the coolest boy I’ve ever met!” Lauren gushed.
Jonah smiled and blushed. “Really?”
Lauren nodded and grinned. “Really! You’re different than all the other boys. I really like you, Jonah.” She moved closer to him and brushed her lips against his ear. She then lowered her voice to a seductive purr. “I mean, I really like you.” She ran her hand over his thigh.
“I’ve never kissed a girl before,” Jonah whispered.
Lauren smiled. “Don’t worry. It’s not rocket science. Just close your eyes and let it happen,” she purred.
Jonah closed his eyes.
Lauren smirked, then reached into the cooler. She then took out a water snake and held it up to his lips.
Jonah kissed it.
“Open your eyes,” she purred as she took out her phone with her other hand.
Jonah opened his eyes and screamed when he saw the water snake right in front of his face. He moved back in a panic and the canoe began to shake.
Lauren burst out laughing, and took a picture of him. “What’s the matter, Jonah? Didn’t you like the kiss?” She pushed the snake toward him again and Jonah screamed again. He moved back even further, and fell into the water with a loud splash.
All the sudden, another canoe came over to them from behind. It held AJ, Jason, Becca, and Jake.
“Ha, ha! He fell for it!” AJ said.
Lauren grinned at Jonah who was struggling to stay afloat. “Say cheese!” she snapped another picture of him.
“I don’t understand!” Jonah said, latching onto the side of the canoe. “I thought you liked me.”
Lauren cackled. “Oh, please! As if I would ever like am ugly, fat, slob like you! I’m a gorgeous cheerleader for goodness sake!” She climbed into AJ, Jason, Becca, and Jake’s canoe, and kissed Jason hard on the lips. “Jason’s my man. Unlike you, he is incredibly hot and muscular and not a tub of lard like you!”
Jake laughed. “She was playing you the whole time, you fat loser! It was all leading up to this. She was going to make you fall for her and then bam! Humiliate you like the loser you are.”
“We didn’t know how exactly how we were going to humiliate you, but when Lauren overheard you telling Claire how afraid of snakes you were, we knew exactly what to do!” AJ explained.
Lauren grinned. “This lake has water snakes all over the place!”
Jonah quickly climbed back into his own canoe. He was crying. He was too traumatized by both the snake, and being played by Lauren to be able to stop himself from crying this time.
“Aw! We made the itty bitty baby cry!” AJ said in a baby voice.
Lauren snapped a picture. “I can’t wait to post these pictures all over school when we return!”
They then took off toward their own camp.
“Goodbye, Loser! Don’t let the water snakes get you!” Jason called out.
Jason, AJ, Jake, and Lauren all laughed, then Lauren and Jason made out until their canoe could no longer be seen by Jonah.
Jonah threw himself down onto his stomach in his canoe and sobbed. This time, he couldn’t seem to stop.

~*This love came back to me.*~

After they had been walking along the shoreline for a bit, Aiden stopped Hope and made her face him. He then took both of her hands in his own.
She smiled at him. “What is it?”
“I want you to know that I meant what I said to your father. I love you more with every beat of my heart and breath that I take,” Aiden began.
“I feel the same way about you,” she said, pulling a hand out of his and gently stroking his cheek with the back of her hand.
“I know to say that I screwed up in the past would be the understatement of all understatements…” Aiden began.
Hope shook her head. “We already discussed this. No more talk of that night, all right?” she said gently.
Aiden nodded. “I just want you to know that I am going to spend the rest of my life making it up to you. Now, I know it’s only been four months since we’ve gotten back together, but Hope, I love you. Now that we’ve finally gotten things back to the way they were before…when we were together the last time… I talked to your dad about something else that night we had dinner at his and Julie’s.”
Hope raised an eyebrow. “Oh? About what?”
“About me asking you to become my wife again,” Aiden said.
Hope’s expression was one of shock.
Aiden took out the ring box and opened it up as he got down on one knee.
Hope gasped, and covered her mouth.
“He says as long as it makes you happy, we have his blessing. And I love you more than life itself. So, Hope Williams Brady Jennings, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife again? Will you marry me…again?”
Hope had tears running down her cheeks.
“I hope those are happy tears,” Aiden said with a smile.
Hope nodded. “They are. And yes! Yes, Aiden, I will marry you again.” She held out her left ring finger.
“You’ve just made me the happiest guy to ever live!” Aiden said as he slipped the silver ring in the shape of a tulip on her finger. It was encrusted with diamonds.
Hope looked at it on her finger. “I love it so much! It’s a tulip! It’s so perfect for me!”
“Nothing but the best for my baby,” Aiden said.
Hope pulled him in and kissed him passionately. She then rested her forehead against his and murmured, “Take me back to our room and make love to me, Mr. Jennings. Please?”
Aiden moaned. She didn’t have to tell him twice!
He picked her up and carried her away from the shore.
She laughed. “We have to grab our stuff!”
He groaned. “Let’s make this quick.”
He gently set her down. They put their sandals back on, then gathered up the blanket, ice bucket holding the Champaign, chocolate, and strawberries, then they headed up to their hotel room, eager to celebrate their engagement.

~*This love came back to me.*~

Earlier, Lani had gone out and bought the gasoline she needed. She had paid in cash of course, and didn’t get the cans all in the same place. She came down the stairs of the basement and spread the gasoline all around the basement. “This place is really going to blow!” Lani said with a laugh. She made sure not to get any gasoline near the stairway. After all, she didn’t want to accidentally burn herself when she threw the match.
“Lani, please. Just leave my family out of this. All right?” Rafe asked.
Lani rolled her eyes. “If I did that, then you could die with some piece of mind that your family is okay.” She narrowed her eyes. “You’re going to suffer for rejecting me, and if that means seeing your family burn to ashes, then so be it!”
“You’re insane! You know that, don’t you?” Rafe asked. “You belong in a mental hospital!”
Lani rolled her eyes. “Please! I’m just tired of being rejected by men time and time again. It’s time one of them pays for rejecting me! There’s nothing wrong with a little payback, Rafe.”
“There is when innocent people’s lives are at stake!” Rafe snapped.
Lani shrugged. “Sometimes innocent people have to sacrifice themselves for the greater good.” She splashed some gasoline over him.
Rafe coughed, for some had gotten in his mouth.
Lani rolled her eyes. “Oh, give me a break!” She walked over to the table and grabbed some duct tape. She cut off a piece and placed it over Rafe’s mouth. She then cut off another piece and double layered it. “That ought to hold ya!” she said.
Rafe’s phone buzzed in Lani’s pocket. She took it out and looked at it. She smiled. “They’re here.”
She quickly texted back. Come on in and down to the basement. I need help with something.
She pressed send. She then looked at Rafe. “They’re here. I guess this is goodbye. I’d love to say it was nice knowing you, Rafe, but it really wasn’t.” She kissed his cheek.
Rafe tried to scream, but it was muffled by the duct tape. He tried to break free, but he couldn’t. The chair was too strong.
Lani quickly headed up the basement stairs. She then hid behind the open basement door so that she would be out of sight.
Eduardo and Dario came into the house.
“Why did he buy a house all the way out here when his job is back in Salem? It makes no sense!” Dario said.
“He hasn’t been the same since Hope left him for Aiden. Take it easy on him. He probably just wants a place to get away from it all; to get away from her. It must be hard having to see her at work all the time and around town with that Aiden guy,” Eduardo said.
“This must be the basement,” Dario said as they got to the basement door. He sniffed. “Do you smell gasoline?”
Eduardo sniffed as well. “I do. It’s very strong in this area. That’s odd. Rafe?”
They headed down the basement stairs.
“What the hell?” Dario and Eduardo both asked when they apparently found Rafe shackled up in the chair with the tape over his mouth.
Rafe’s muffled scream could be heard.
“Who did this to you?” Eduardo asked.
Lani moved like lightening. She took a matchbox out of her pants pocket and lit the match. She then tossed it down into the basement as far as she could throw it. It hit a nice puddle of gasoline about a foot away from Rafe’s chair.
“Look out!” Dario yelled.
Lani quickly shut the door and locked it. She then took the can of gasoline she had on the main stairs of the house, and spilled some gasoline right outside the door of the basement. She then spread the gasoline all along the house. Finally, she stood in the doorway of the house and lit another match. She tossed it into the house causing the main part of the house to go up in flames.
She smiled as she heard screaming coming from the basement.
She shut the house door, then got in her car which she had hidden in the detached garage. Finally, she pulled out onto the road.
By the time she was out of the drive, the whole house started to go up in flames.
She drove for miles before stopping by a sewer. When he was sure no one was around to see, she dropped Rafe’s skinny cell phone through the grates of the sewer, then got back into her car and headed back to Salem, laughing as she thought of the Hernandez men burning in the basement. They were probably dead by now she knew.
She smirked. “Justice has finally been served,” she said to herself. She only hoped the fire got to them before the smoke inhalation killed them. After all what fun was a murder without making them suffer in the process?

~*This love came back to me.*~

Chase lie in bed that night. He hoped the night passed soon so that he could get home. After breakfast tomorrow, the campers parents were going to pick them up, then the councilors could go home on the bus they had ridden in on.
This whole time in camp, Chase had tried to think of what his mother had meant by saying that he had hurt her. For all he knew, it was just a meaningless dream. Then again, was there something he was subconsciously not remembering? Had he hurt his mother somehow and he just didn’t remember? She had placed her hand over her heart in his dream when she told him that he had hurt her. Maybe it was an emotional thing.
Jonah came into the cabin. Chase was kind of annoyed. He had purposely skipped the s’mores and campfire to be alone to think.
“I didn’t think you’d pass up on free s’mores,” Chase quipped.
Jonah took off his shoes and began to dress for bed. “I’m not in the mood. Besides, I don’t eat all the time! I’m not that fat!”
“Dude, chill! I didn’t say you were fat. I just know you like s’mores, so I was just surprised is all. Relax!” Chase said.
Jonah finished getting ready for bed and crawled into bed. He didn’t say a word for the longest time as they lie in the darkness. Then, he spoke. “Chase, my parents texted me earlier and said they will be late getting home tomorrow. I forgot to bring my house key. Do you think I could stay at your place until they get home?”
“Sure. No problem,” Chase agreed.
“Your parents are away, right?” Jonah asked.
“Right!” Chase confirmed. “We can’t throw any party’s though, sadly. Hope is a cop. She has a way of finding things out. Besides, they will be home on Sunday and I don’t feel like having to clean up a mess before she gets back.”
“I always forget she’s a cop. Does she keep a gun at home?” Jonah asked.
“Yeah. She has a couple of them. I think she keeps one at the station though,” Chase replied.
“Where does she keep the one at home?” Jonah asked.
“In a locked box on top of our coat closet. Why?” Chase asked.
“No reason. Just curious. It must be nice to know she is prepared in case there is ever an intruder in the house,” Jonah said.
Chase shrugged. “I never really thought about it, but yeah. I guess so.”
“Goodnight, Chase. I’ll see you in the morning,” Jonah said.
“Goodnight, Jonah.” Chase turned onto his side and closed his eyes, trying to think of how he could have hurt his mother, but falling asleep before he could think of anything.

~*This love came back to me.*~

Hope and Aiden lie in bed kissing and sharing their love for each other.
Aiden kissed her neck and she closed her eyes, running her fingers through his hair as he continued to kiss her neck and love her.
His lips then met with hers as they continued to share their love for each other.
Even after it was over, they continued to kiss, just loving the feeling of being in each other’s arms.
Hope rested her head on his chest and examined her ring. “It’s so beautiful. I love that it’ a tulip! How did you ever find one like this?”
“I went to a jewelers in the square and told the jeweler a little bit about you and us. I showed her a picture of you, and she came up with this. It wasn’t even on sale yet, but she knew it would be perfect for you. She brought it in from the back. As soon as she showed it to me, I knew it was the right ring for my love,” Aiden explained. He nodded toward it. “Look on the inside.”
Hope slid the ring off her finger and looked inside the band. She read the inscription out loud. “My love for you grows more every day.” She looked at Aiden with happy tears in her eyes. “Oh Aiden, it’s beautiful!”
“I had it specially inscribed. I thought it was a perfect for you, and perfect for this ring.” He took the ring back from her and replaced it on her left ring finger. He then kissed the finger.
Hope pulled him in for a passionate kiss on the lips. She rested her forehead against his. “My love for you grows every day too. In fact, it just grew right now,” she said.
“Show me how much it grew,” he said quietly.
She moved so that she was now on top of him, his face between her hands. “You want me to show you how much my love for you just grew?” she asked softly, the look of desire and love flashing in her eyes.
Aiden nodded. “Yes show me how much your love for me just grew.”
Hope moaned, and then kissed him passionately on the lips as she went to work at doing just that!

~*This love came back to me.*~

Chase was glad to be home. Camp wasn’t his thing. It wasn’t horrible, but it really hadn’t taken his mind off things. In fact, it seemed to have made things worse. He was eager to be back in his own bed. He also wanted to be hypnotized to try to remember what he did to hurt his mother. Even if he couldn’t get Marlena, he’d find another psychiatrist. He knew his parents didn’t think he should speak to one, but he wanted to. In fact, he felt he needed to.
“It’s dinnertime. Do you guys want to go out for pizza before we head home?” Ciara asked.
Claire nodded. “I’m down. Just let me text my parents and tell them I won’t be home for dinner.”
Theo nodded. “Same.”
“I already assumed we’d be going for dinner, so my parents have already been texted,” Joey said. “I texted them on the bus.”
“What about you, Jonah? Are you going to join us?” Claire asked.
“Actually, I’m not feeling very well. I think I’m going to sit this one out,” Jonah said. He turned to Chase. “Can I have your house key?”
Chase nodded. “Sure.” He took it out of his pocket and handed it to him.
“Thanks!” Jonah said.
“Are you sure you don’t want to join us? You barely touched your breakfast, and you didn’t even get anything when the bus stopped at Burger King for lunch!” Claire said to him.
“I’m fine. Really. I probably just caught a stomach bug or virus from one of the campers,” Jonah said. “I’ll see you when you get back,” Jonah said, holding the key up to Chase. “Thanks!” He then took off. It was only a ten-minute walk from the school (where the bus had dropped them off) to Chase’s home.
“I’m worried about him. Did something happen at camp that we don’t know about?” Ciara asked as they walked to the pizza place just down the road from the school. “He hasn’t seemed himself since last evening.”
“I don’t think anything happened, but he hasn’t been eating. That’s so unlike him,” Claire said.
He seemed a little down last night. He skipped the s’more’s campfire thing. I thought that was unlike him,” Chase said.
Joey nodded. “And he’s been avoiding Lauren like the plague. It’s really weird.”
“Maybe he’s been bitten by Rochelle, and she really is a vampire!” Theo said.
Claire rolled her eyes. “Don’t tell me you’re still on about that! If she’s a vampire, then how can she be out in the daylight? Hm?”
Theo shrugged. “Maybe she is part human so she can still be in daylight.”
Ciara rolled her eyes. “Lame.”

~*This love came back to me.*~

Jonah used his key to get into Hope’s house. He was sniffling as in his mind, he replayed Lauren’s betrayal.
He set the key down and shut the door. He then went into the coat closet and found the lock box. He took it out. He set it on the coffee table then went into the garage. When he found a hammer, he came back out and smashed the lock box’s lock. It broke open.
He then took the gun out and held it in his hand. Next, he headed up to Chase’s room to see if he could find a piece of paper and a pen.

~*This love came back to me.*~

Chase didn’t know why he had bothered coming along for pizza. He wasn’t hungry either. Before they even ordered, he decided to just go home. “You know, I’m not feeling very well either suddenly. Maybe something really is going around! I’m just going to head back.”
“Are you sure?” Ciara asked.
Chase nodded. “Sorry about that. I’ll see you tomorrow or whenever.” He then left the pizza place without even saying anything to the rest of his friends.
As he walked home, he kept trying to think back to the last day he remembered his mother being alive. He remembered playing with that shiny object he wasn’t supposed to play with. He didn’t know how to work it, but he sure had fun trying to figure out how to. His mommy was drinking and not paying attention. She wasn’t even in the room. His daddy was working….
Chase thought about it the whole way home, but by the time he got home, he just couldn’t clearly picture what he had in his hands.
He opened the door of the house…

~*This love came back to me.*~

Jonah hadn’t known what to write, so he just kept it simple.
I’m sorry. Mom, Dad, I love you. Please don’t blame yourselves. I’m just not happy in this life. I never have been. Maybe once I’m with Jesus and God I’ll be happier. Ciara, Claire, Chase, Theo, and Joey, thank you for being the best friends I ever had. You gave me a chance when no one else would. You deserve a better friend than a big, fat loser like myself. I’m sorry. I love you guys. I hope to see you on the other side one day. Please remember me. -Jonah.
Jonah set the note down on Chase’s desk, and then he took Hope’s gun and held it to his head. He cocked the gun…

~*This love came back to me.*~

Chase hadn’t even had time to close the door when he heard it. It was loud—so loud!
Bang!
The sound vibrated in Chase’s ears, and suddenly, the object in his mind became clear to him. It was a gun. He had been playing with a gun! It was Meredith’s gun.
He remembered it all then.
His mother stormed toward him. “That is a gun!”
Chase was hardly paying attention as he continued trying to see what it did and how it worked. Then he heard a loud boom and saw his mother fall to the floor, the drink in her hand splashing to the ground.
She wasn’t moving or talking anymore. There was a red liquid all over her and him. He was suddenly frightened, and started to cry.
Eventually Aiden came home from work. He looked at Chase, who was still sobbing. “What have you done?”
Chase remembered it all now. “I killed my mom,” he said quietly. He sank down to the floor, placed his arms around his legs, and began rocking back and forth. “I killed my mom.”
Just then, Ciara came running into the house. “Chase! I heard a gunshot! What happened?” She noticed the empty gun box on the coffee table. “Is that mom’s gun box?”
“I killed my mom. I killed my mom. I killed my mom.” Chase kept chanting it over and over as he rocked back and forth, back and forth, staring off into the distance.
“What are you talking about? Chase! Chase snap out of it! Where is mom’s gun? Where is Jonah?” Ciara yell-asked.
“I killed my mom.” Chase said, looking at her blankly.
Ciara shook her head, and ran up the stairs while Chase went back to chanting and rocking.
She looked through all the rooms, calling out Jonah’s name but getting no response.
When she got to Chase’s room, she peered in and screamed louder than she had ever screamed before in her life. Jonah lay on the bed, a bloody gash in his temple. Blood was all over the walls and the floor—not to mention all over his clothes. He loosely held Hope’s gun in his hand.
Her eyes fell upon his suicide note, and she read it.
Sobbing, she picked up her phone and dialed 911.
“911 emergency. What can we assist you with?”
“It’s my friend.” Ciara sniffled. “I just found his body. He killed himself!” She then burst into tears as the 911 responder tried to get more information out of her.
She dropped her phone and sank down to the floor, grabbing her knees and sobbing uncontrollably.

[gapeach]

OMG. That was way too intense.

[ihearthaiden]

Days of our Haiden
Season 2 Episode 13: Whatever It Takes

“What happened?” Kayla asked with concern when Ciara came in with the paramedics, sobbing hysterically.
“My friend. He shot himself with my mom’s gun! He tried to kill himself. I thought he had killed himself, but the paramedics say he’s still alive, but barely,” Ciara answered.
Kayla went straight to work. She quickly looked him over. “We need to get the patient prepped for emergency surgery—now. There’s so time to waste!” she said to her colleagues.
“Is he going to be all right?” Ciara asked, tears still streaming down her cheeks.
Kayla looked solemn. “I don’t know, but I promise you I’m going to try as hard as I can to save that boy’s life.” She then ran off to prep for the emergency surgery.
Ciara went over to the chairs and sat down, still shaken. She knew she had to call her mom, but before she did that, she had to collect herself.
Suddenly, Theo and Joey came running into the hospital. When they saw her, they walked over to her.
“What happened? Why did Jonah shoot himself?” Theo asked.
Ciara looked up at him, a tear streaming down her face. “He said in his suicide note that he wasn’t happy. He said we were the best friends he ever had, and that we deserve a better friend than a big, fat loser like him!” She started sobbing again.
Theo sat down beside her and wrapped an arm tightly around her, tears streaming down his own face.
“Is he going to be all right?” Joey asked, tears welling up in his eyes.
Ciara shrugged. “I don’t know.” She looked around. “Where’s Chase? I told you to bring Chase! He kept saying he killed his mom. I don’t know what he was talking about, but he was out of it. He needs to talk to Marlena.”
“Claire took him to find Marlena. He is still pretty out of it,” Joey said.
Ciara sniffled. “I have to call my mom.” She took out her cell phone, then headed to a more private and quieter area to call Hope.

~*This love came back to me.*~

Hope opened her eyes when she heard her phone ringing. She had been sleeping with her head on Aiden’s chest. His right arm was around her.
Careful not to wake him up, she gently removed his arm from her, then grabbed her phone and climbed out of bed. She answered it. “Ciara, Honey, hold on just a second,” she whispered.
She headed out to the balcony and closed the door. She then answered again. “What is it, Sweetie?”
“Mom?” Ciara said with a tear-filled voice. “Jonah tried to kill himself tonight.”
Hope felt her heart sink. “What? How? Tried to? Is he okay?”
“He was home alone. He told Chase his parents weren’t going to be home for a bit, so Chase let him have a key to our house to wait there. The rest of us headed out for pizza, but Jonah said he wasn’t feeling well and went back to our place to wait for us. Then, about ten minutes later, Chase wasn’t feeling well either and decided to go back home too. I was worried about Chase, so I told Claire what to order for me, and then I headed back to check on Chase and Jonah. When I got there, I heard a gunshot. I ran in and asked Chase what happened. Chase was downstairs, completely oblivious. He was on the floor rocking back and forth, chanting over and over that he killed his mother—whatever that means. I saw your broken gun box with the missing gun on the coffee table. I went upstairs to find Jonah since I wasn’t getting anything out of Chase. That’s when I found Jonah in Chase’s bedroom. There was a suicide note and blood everywhere! He was lying on his bed. Oh Mom, it was so horrible!”
Hope sat down on one of the chairs on the balcony. She suddenly felt weak. There was so much to take in at once!
She put a hand to her forehead. “Where’s Chase now?”
Ciara sniffled. “Claire took him to Marlena. I haven’t heard anything since. It’s only been about ten minutes or so.”
Hope nodded even though she knew Ciara couldn’t see her nod. With Marlena was the best place for Chase to be right now. Now it was time to deal with the Jonah situation. “He used my gun to shoot himself?” she asked wearily.
“Yes. He shot himself in the head! I don’t know how he’s still alive. It’s a miracle. Though for how long he stays alive, nobody knows.” Ciara began to sob again.
Hope took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. “Ciara, Baby, I am so sorry you had to see that Sweetie. Look, maybe it’s not as bad as it looks. I always keep that gun filled with blanks. He didn’t shoot himself with a real bullet.”
“But there was so much blood, Mom!” Ciara cried.
Hope sighed. “I know, Baby, but just because it’s a blank, doesn’t mean it still can’t puncture the skin. It is safer than a bullet, yes. But it can still do some damage from that close of range. That being said, he has a much better chance of surviving than he would if he had been shot with a bullet. All we can do now is pray, and hope that the surgeons can save him.”
“Mom, why is Chase saying he killed his mom?” Ciara then asked, a little calmer now.
Hope swallowed hard. “I don’t want to get into it right now. Look, it’s really late. As soon as morning comes, Aiden and I will change our flight to fly back home first thing in the morning. All right?”
“All right. I’m sorry you have to end your trip early.” Ciara sniffled.
“It’s not your fault, Baby. Just try not to worry. Call or text me if you get any updates on Jonah’s condition,” Hope said softly. “I’ll call you once I know what flight we’ll be taking.”
“All right,” Ciara agreed.
They hung up their phones.
Aiden opened the door to the balcony then, and placed a hand over her shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
Hope had tears in her eyes as she looked up at him. “Their friend Jonah shot himself with my gun.”
“What? That’s horrible! Is he… Is he dead?” Aiden asked with concern.
Hope shook her head. “Not yet anyway. Thankfully it was only loaded with blanks. Still… Those can be just as deadly when shot from close range.”
“Ciara needs us. We need to get back,” Aiden said.
Hope nodded. “Unfortunately, she’s not the only one who needs us.”
“What do you mean?” Aiden asked.
Hope sighed. “Chase was there when the gun went off. He remembers everything now. He remembers killing his mother.”
Aiden’s face went pale, and he sat sank down into the chair next to Hope’s. He buried his face in his hands. “What are we going to do?”
Hope got up and hugged him from behind. “All we can do is be there for him. He is with Marlena now, so he is in good hands.” She then held out her hand to him. “Come on. Let’s get a few more hours of sleep so that we can be alert enough to deal with everything tomorrow morning. I want to get the earliest flight back that we can get.”
Aiden nodded. He then took her hand and let her help him up.
They went to bed, both worried about Chase and Jonah.

~*This love came back to me*~

“Would you like me to stay with you?” Claire asked Chase.
Chase shook his head, and didn’t say anything.
“I’ll be in the waiting room if you need me,” Claire said to him. She thanked Marlena, then left.
“Chase, Honey, do you mind telling me what you mean by you killed your mom?” Marlena asked softly.
“I remember…” Chase said sadly. “I remember it all now. I was four. Mom and Dad had both told me not to play with the gun. Mom put it up so I couldn’t get to it. I got it anyway.”
“Take your time,” Marlena said gently as Chase paused, tears welling up in his eyes.
“I found it and was playing with it. I didn’t know what it was, and I wanted to find out. My mom saw me playing with it and yelled at me to give it back to her. I ignored her and kept playing with it. Suddenly, I heard a loud bang and looked up. She was lying on the floor in a pull of blood. There was so much blood. I cried, and my dad came home from work and cleaned me up. I don’t remember anything else other than my mom was gone, and I never saw her again. I killed her.” Chase burst into tears and covered his face with his hands. “My gosh, I killed my own mother!” He looked up at Marlena, tears streaming down his face. “Who does that?”
“Chase, listen to me. You were only four years old. It was an accident! You just thought you were playing with a toy. You cannot blame yourself!” Marlena said to him softly yet firmly.
Chase looked up at her and sniffled. “But I was the one who kept playing with the gun even though she told me not to. I was the one who pulled the trigger. I was the one who killed her. It is all my fault!” He burst into tears again.
Marlena had tears in her eyes as well. She walked around her desk, and over to Chase. She then wrapped him tightly in her arms. “Come here. Go ahead and cry. Let it all out. It’s good not to hold it all in.”
Chase then collapsed into her arms, and did just that.

~*This love came back to me.*~

Hours later, Ciara and her friends, who had gone to pray for Jonah in the chapel, had just gotten back to the waiting room when Kayla finally came out into the waiting area.
“Is he going to make it, Mom?” Joey asked with tears in his eyes.
Kayla walked over to him and hugged him tightly. “I have good news!” She looked at his friends. “The surgery was a success! We were able to clear out the obstruction from his head. Luckily, it was just a blank. If it were a bullet, I have no doubt in my mind your friend would be dead right now. However, it still did some damage. He had a cerebral hemorrhage and we had to work hard to get the swelling down and stop the bleeding. We were finally able to do both, though barely. I’m telling you though, it’s a miracle. Had that blank hit two centimeters to the left, there would have been no saving him—blank or not!”
“Thank you for saving my friend, Mom,” Joey said, hugging his mother tightly and not caring if he looked like a child.
Kayla squeezed him tight. “Don’t thank me, thank God. Your friend’s lucky to be alive. It looks like he’ll make a recovery, but it’s still too early to tell if the blanks caused any serious damage. We’ll all just have to wait, and let time tell.”
“Thank you so much!” Ciara said.
“Thank God he’s going to be all right!” Theo said with a smile.
“Has anyone called his parents yet?” Kayla asked.
Ciara shook her head. “We don’t know his parent’s number. We always just called him on his cell.”
“I’ll have someone look it up. They need to know what is going on with their son. You guys go home and get some sleep. Jonah’s going to be out of it for a few hours at least. His body needs this time to sleep and recover,” Kayla told them. She then walked off to get ahold of Jonah’s parents.
“We need to see how Chase is doing. We can’t just leave him here,” Ciara said.
The others nodded, and headed to Marlena’s office.
“Should we knock?” Claire asked. “Maybe we shouldn’t interrupt them.”
Before anyone could answer her, Marlena opened the door and smiled. “Hey, you guys. Chase is going to be staying over at my place for the night. Ciara, you can too if you’d like. I know going back to where your friend… I just think you’d be better suited at my place.”
“Chase can stay with me,” Joey offered.
“And Ciara can stay with me,” Claire chimed in.
“I want to stay with Marlena. I just need… I need someone I can talk to right now who can help me.” It was the first full sentence Ciara had heard Chase say since the incident.
“Do you want me to stay with you?” Ciara asked.
Chase shook his head. “I need some time to clear my head. You can stay with Claire.”
Ciara nodded. “All right.”
“How’s Jonah? Is he…dead?” Chase asked.
“No. Kayla did surgery on him. It was just a blank. He’s going to be okay,” Claire said.
“Good! I don’t need another death on my hands,” Chase said dully.
“How could what happened to Jonah possibly be your fault?” Ciara asked him.
Chase blinked at her blankly. “I told him where Mom keeps her gun. I just thought he was curious. I should have known he was going to use it.”
“You didn’t know,” Claire said, placing a hand over his shoulder. “Don’t even worry about it.”
The others nodded their agreement.
“You guys go home and get some rest. I’m so glad your friend’s going to be okay! Thank the Lord for miracles, right?” Marlena asked with a smile.
They all nodded.
They then exchanged goodbyes with Marlena and each other, and headed back to their respective places.

~*This love came back to me.*~

Hope and Aiden arrived back in Salem at nine the next morning. Ciara had texted Hope and told her that Jonah was going to be okay, and that Chase was with Marlena.
Aiden had called Chase, who wanted answers. They had agreed to meet at Marlena’s office at ten.
“The officers on duty were kind enough to have the mess cleaned up for us so that we don’t have to clean it ourselves,” Hope said as they examined Chase’s room. “They had to get rid of the bed spread and pillow cases, but they were able to get all the blood off the walls and the floors. It’s a good thing we have all hardwood now.”
Aiden nodded. “That poor kid, being so unhappy with his life that he felt the need to try to kill himself. He always seemed so happy when I saw him.”
Hope nodded. “Me too! My heart just breaks for him. Thank God the shooting didn’t take. I’m telling you, from now on that gun remains unloaded.”
Aiden gently rubbed her back. “Don’t blame yourself. You couldn’t possibly had even thought about Jonah using it to try to kill himself.”
Hope nodded. “I know. I still feel a little guilty though. My gosh, his parents must be absolutely beside themselves! I can only imagine the pain of getting the phone call that Ciara, Shawn, or Chase had tried to kill themselves. It was horrible enough when I lost Zack. That was an accident. To think of one of my children so down and depressed and unhappy with life that they’d try to take their own life…” Hope teared up. “I’d feel like I failed as a parent!”
Aiden wrapped his arm around her from behind and kissed her right temple. “But it wasn’t one of your children, and you haven’t failed as a parent. You’re the best mother I know, and I couldn’t ask for a better second mother to Chase!”
Hope smiled weakly at him and rested the back of her head against his chest. “We tried so hard to stop him from remembering, and it was all for nothing! I bet you the gun shot was what finally triggered the memory.”
Aiden kissed the top of her head. He sighed. “Well, at least once we get him through this, we can just relax, and not have to worry about him finding out anymore. He’ll already know, and he will heal from it.”
“True.” Hope turned around to face Aiden. She took his hands in hers. “My heart just aches for him too! He finds out that he is responsible for killing the mother that he loved with all his heart. Then, on top of that, he finds out that his best friend tried to commit suicide. “How is he going to be able to handle all this?”
Aiden gently squeezed her hands. “You know what they say, ‘God never gives us anything we can’t handle.’ We just have to accept that this happened for a reason, and accept that God will get him through this.”
Hope nodded. “We’ll get him through this too,” she said with new determination.
Aiden nodded. “Yes, we’ll get him through this too.” He sighed, and gently pushed some hair away from Hope’s face. “I’m so lucky to have such an amazing, beautiful, loving woman to help me get my son through this.”
Hope took his face between her hands. “To help our son get through this,” she corrected.
Aiden nodded. “Yes. Our son,” he agreed, his eyes lowered with a deep love for her.
They kissed tenderly on the lips, then headed out of the house hand-in-hand to go have their family meeting with Chase and Marlena in Marlena’s office knowing that they could get through anything, as long as they got through it together.

[ihearthaiden]

Days of our Haiden
S2E14: I’m Coming After You.

Jonah’s mother Beverly sat by his bedside tears in her eyes was she waited for her son to wake up. His father was off getting something for her to eat at the cafeteria. He had insisted she eat something even though she wasn’t the slightest bit hungry. Who could eat when their son had almost died?
There was a knock on the door. She looked up to see Ciara standing timidly in the doorway.
“May I come in?” Ciara asked.
She smiled weakly at her. “Of course!”
Ciara walked in. “How are you holding up?”
Jonah’s mother sighed. “I’m doing as well as I can. On one hand, I’m just happy he survived being shot. On the other hand, I’m worried there could be unforeseen complications. Then there’s the fact that he was so sad he tried to kill himself.” Her voice wavered. “I feel like I’ve failed as a mother to my son!” She started to cry then.
Ciara walked over to her and gently placed a hand over her shoulder. “You didn’t fail as a mother. None of us saw this coming. You can’t blame yourself. If anyone is to blame, it’s the thugs in school who bullied him.”
“Kids have been bullying my son?” Frank Caldwell asked angrily as he came into the room with his wife’s soup.
Ciara looked at him and nodded. “My friends and I stick up for him whenever we see it, but it doesn’t stop them. They call him fat and pick on him for what he wears. He never acted like it bothered him, but I guess it did.” Ciara looked down to the ground; suddenly ashamed that she hadn’t seen how much it had bothered him.
“Why didn’t the teachers do anything about it?” Beverly asked as she took the soup from her husband. She set it aside. She had no desire to eat until she was sure her son would be okay.
“The bullies are a popular crowd. They are the typical jocks and cheerleaders.” Ciara shrugged. “No one wants to make them pay; otherwise the sports season will suffer.”
“Well, I’m going to have a long talk with the head of the school board. Someone’s going to pay for what happened to my son!” Frank snapped.
“I can’t believe he never came to us about the bullying.” Beverly started to cry again. “I really am a horrible mother!”
Frank took her hand and gently rubbed it with his thumb. “You’re not a horrible mother. I’m a horrible father. I should have spent more time with him. Then maybe I would have known about these bullies, and therefore I could have prevented all this.”
“You’re not bad parents.”
Beverly, Frank, and Ciara all turned to face Jonah, who had spoken for the first time since shooting himself.
“You’re awake!” Ciara said.
“Oh, Thank God!” Frank exclaimed.
Beverly started to cry again, only this time they were happy tears. She took her son’s hand in her own.
“Don’t cry, Momma. I’m sorry for making you cry.” Jonah had tears in his own eyes. “I’m one big screw up. I couldn’t even kill myself correctly!”
“Don’t you say that! Thank God you couldn’t kill yourself correctly!” Beverly scolded.
“And you’re not a screw up!” Frank added. “Son, why didn’t you tell us about the bullying?” He took Jonah’s other hand in his own, and held it tightly.
“I was embarrassed. They all hated me because I was fat. I disgust them. I thought Lauren really liked me, but at camp I found out it was all one big set up to embarrass me.” He blushed. “I thought she was going to kiss me, but instead she held a water snake up to my lips, knowing how terrified of snakes I am. I screamed and fell into the lake. Her friends showed up and they all laughed at me while she took pictures. She said she is going to show the pictures at school when it starts back up again.” Jonah explained. “I was so stupid to ever think a girl like her could fall for me!”
Ciara was so angry right then, she felt as if she could kill someone. “Why didn’t you tell us about what Lauren did to you?” she asked.
Jonah looked away. “I was too embarrassed.” He then looked at Ciara. “Why didn’t I die?”
“Because those weren’t real bullets in my mom’s gun. They were blanks,” Ciara said quietly.
“And because it’s not God’s plan for you to die. Don’t you ever do such a foolish thing like that again! Do you hear me?” Beverly asked him.
Frank nodded. “You scared us both half to death! We love you so much, Son. If we were to ever lose you…” Frank started to get choked up.
Jonah was tearing up again. “I’m sorry. I’ll never do it again! I can’t do it right anyway.”
Frank gently hugged his son the best he could with Jonah being in bed. “We’re going to get you help for your depression.”
Beverly nodded. “I also think we should home school you. I don’t want those bullies anywhere near you.”
Jonah didn’t say anything.
Kayla came in then and smiled when she saw that Jonah was awake. “Jonah! You’re awake! Welcome back to us.”
Jonah gave her a weak smile. “Thank you for saving my life.”
“I hope you mean that, and are regretting having tried to kill yourself,” Kayla said.
Jonah shrugged. “For my parents’ sakes, I’m glad I’m alive.”
Kayla turned to his parents and to Ciara. “I need to check him over. If you guys wouldn’t mind stepping out for just a bit…”
“We’ll be back,” Frank said to Jonah, gently stroking his son’s hair and careful not to bump the bandages.
Beverly kissed his cheek. “You be a good boy and listen to the doctor. I love you.”
“I love you too,” Jonah said.
“See you soon,” Ciara said to Jonah. “I’m so happy you’re not dead.” She knew it was kind of a lame way of putting it, but she didn’t know how else to say it.
The three of them left Jonah’s room, and shut the door behind them.
Jonah’s mother let Frank convince her to go sit down in the waiting room and eat her soup.
Ciara walked over to her friends.
“I heard he’s awake!” What did he say?” Claire asked, standing up from the chair she had been sitting in.
Ciara told them everything Jonah had said—including what Lauren and the bullies had done to him.
“I’m going to kill them. Every single one of them!” Joey said standing up, his fists clenched.
Theo nodded. “I’ll help you.”
“I wouldn’t go as far as killing them, but they have to pay. I agree,” Claire said with a nod of her head. “The question is, how?”
“I don’t know,” Ciara said calmly. “But we’ll think of something.”
“We’re going to make them sorry they ever messed with our friend,” Joey said.
Theo nodded. “You can count on it.”

~*This love came back to me.*~

Aiden and Hope sat on Marlena’s office couch with Chase between them.
“Chase, is there anything you would like to say to your father and Hope?” Marlena asked calmly.
Chase looked at Hope first. “Did you know what I did?”
Hope hesitated. She looked at Aiden.
“Don’t look at him. I asked you,” Chase said; a little annoyed.
“Chase, don’t talk to your mother that way,” Aiden said calmly.
“She’s not my mother!” Chase snapped. “I only had one mother, and I killed her.” He looked at Hope. “Did you know I killed my mom, and if so, when did you find out?”
Hope sighed. “I did know. I found out years ago when we all went to the cabin together.”
Chase nodded. “I had a feeling you knew. That’s why you and Dad tried to stop me from trying to figure out what my flashbacks of mom meant.” He looked at Aiden. “How could you not tell me after all these years? How could you let me go on believing that Mom killed herself?”
“I didn’t want you to beat yourself up over killing her,” Aiden said simply.
“So you thought it would be better if I thought of my mom as suicidal?” Chase asked.
Aiden didn’t know what to say.
“Seriously, how could you let me go on thinking that Mom was the cause of her death when all along you knew that it was me? You had me blaming her for her own death when all this time, I was the only one to blame!” Chase snapped.
“Chase, he did what he felt was best for you. He didn’t want you feeling bad for no reason,” Hope said softly, her hand over his shoulder.
Chase pulled away from her. “For no reason? I killed my mother, Hope! My real mother. I have every reason to feel bad!” He whipped around to look at Aiden. “And you! Didn’t you ever love Mom?”
Aiden started to tear up a bit. “You know I did. She and I loved each other so much we had you.”
“Then how could you do this to her? How could you let her take the blame for her own murder?” Chase asked, tears in his eyes now.
Aiden looked Chase in the eyes. “I just didn’t want you to feel the way you do now. I don’t think your mother would either. She loved you so much, and she wouldn’t want you to blame yourself for her murderer. After all, you were so young. You didn’t know what you were doing. You were just playing.”
“Had I just listened, and not played with the gun, then Mom never would have been killed,” Chase said.
“Chase, you were only four. That’s what four-year-olds do—they ignore their parents.” Marlena smiled. “You simply cannot blame yourself for being a typical four-year-old. It was just an accident. It was just a series of misfortunate things. Had your mother not had a gun, or had she not put it where you could see it and get to it, then she wouldn’t have gotten shot.”
Chase glared at her. “Oh. So now it’s my mother’s own fault he got shot?”
Marlena stayed calm. “Chase, that isn’t what I meant. I meant that you could look it from many different angles where anyone could be to blame. In reality, no one is to blame. No one was to know what was going to happen. It was just a freak accident. That’s all you can consider it to be—a freak accident.”
“It wasn’t a freak accident. I’m to blame.” Chase stood up angrily. “Shame on you for suggesting it was my mother’s fault.” He looked at Aiden. “Shame on you for letting mom take the blame for her death.” He turned to Hope, and shame on you for not telling me the truth!” He then left the office, slamming the door behind him.
“Chase, wait!” Aiden said standing up with Hope.
Hope put a hand over his shoulder. “Just give him some time alone to cool off. He’s going through a lot right now.”
“But he needs us now more than ever!” Aiden said.
“Hope’s right. Right now he just needs some time alone to calm down and think things through. He just found out that not only did he accidentally kill his mother, but also, his friend tried to commit suicide. It’s a lot for his brain to take in. We need to take this slowly; otherwise he could regress,” Marlena said. “We can schedule another session for next week. Right now, let’s just give him a little time to start healing on his own.”
Aiden reluctantly agreed, and after a moment more of small talk, Hope and Aiden said goodbye to Marlena, then left her office.
Hope held Aiden close. “Don’t beat yourself up over any of this. All right? He’s just angry right now. He’ll come around.” She kissed him softly on the lips, and stroked his hair. “I promise you everything will be okay.”
Aiden held her close. “I could never get through this without you. You know what right?” He asked as he gently stroked her hair.
She smiled up at him. “Lucky for you, you’ll never have to.”
They kissed for a moment, then went to go see how Jonah was doing.

~*This love came back to me.*~

Hope felt a little awkward entering Jonah’s room. After all, she felt partially responsible for Jonah shooting himself, seeing as it was her gun he had used.
She knocked on the door and entered. “Knock, knock! I just wanted to come in and check on you. I hope that’s all right.”
Jonah nodded. “Of course it’s all right.”
“How are you feeling?” Hope asked.
“Like I’ve just been shot in the head,” Jonah joked.
Hope pushed some hair behind her ear and looked away. She then looked at Jonah’s parents. “I’m so sorry I had my gun loaded. I thought loading it with blanks and keeping it in a lock box was being safe, but apparently, it wasn’t safe enough. I sometimes do shooting practice just to keep up my reflexes on point. I usually unload the gun after, but that time, I didn’t.”
“It’s not your fault,” Beverly said with a shake of her head. “You didn’t expect anyone to get into it.”
Frank nodded. “Were sorry for any inconvenience this caused you.”
Hope scrunched her eyebrows. “Inconvenience? No way! I’m just glad Jonah is going to be okay. That is the most important thing.”
“I’m sorry I broke your gun box lock. I can pay for another one,” Jonah said.
Hope shook her head and pat his blanketed legs. “You can pay me back by getting better!” She smiled at him.
“Do you think that Marlena person could help me?” Jonah asked. “My parents want me to get a psychiatrist, and Ciara says she’s the best.”
“Of course!” Hope looked at Frank and Beverly. “She’s actually in today, so you could stop by her office. I’m sure she’d be more than happy to set up an appointment for you.”
Frank nodded a polite nod. “Thank you.”
“I’ll let you guys have your privacy. I just wanted to make sure you were going to be okay. I’m so happy to see you awake and alive,” Hope said to Jonah.
Jonah smiled weakly at her. “Thank you.”
Hope exchanged a quick goodbye with Jonah’s parents, then left. Aiden was just finishing a work-related call.
Aiden clicked off his phone, and placed an arm around Hope’s waist. “Hey. How did it go? Sorry I couldn’t go in with you. My secretary thought she lost some important case files when all this time they were right where I told her they’d be. She just had one of her gossip magazines lying on top of it so she hadn’t seen it right away.”
Hope smirked. “At least she’s caught up on all the gossip,” she joked. Then, she turned more serious. “He’s going to be okay, thank God. I’m also glad his parents don’t blame me for Jonah having used my gun.”
Aiden was surprised. “Why would they? You had no idea that Jonah was even coming over.”
Hope nodded. “I know, but I still feel partially responsible.”
“Well, don’t! It wasn’t your fault,” Aiden said simply.
Hope rested her head against his. “I’ll stop feeling guilty about my gun being used if you stop feeling guilty for not telling Chase the truth. You did what you felt was best for him. I didn’t know Meredith, but I’m sure she would have wanted to you lie to him like you did.”
Aiden sighed. “I’ll try not to feel guilty but I can’t make any promises.”
Hope kissed him, and gently stroked his cheek. “That’s all I can ask; that you try,” she said with a smile.
He smiled too.
“Excuse me, Hope? I need to ask you a couple of questions.”
Hope and Aiden looked over at the sound of Roman’s voice.
“Hey, Roman, what’s up?” Hope asked, pulling away from Aiden and pushing some hair behind her ear.
“I was wondering if you’ve heard anything from Rafe lately,” Roman stated.
Hope shook her head, her eyebrows knitted together. “No, come to think of it, I haven’t heard from him in days. Why?”
“He hasn’t showed up to work in over a week. First he had texted that he was sick, then he texted that he missed you so much and had to get out of town for a bit. I didn’t think much of it at first, but now there are no updates from him. His father and brother are both missing as well now. Adrianna and Gabi are worried sick. Apparently, they had gotten a text from Rafe saying that he bought a house and wanted them to come and see it. Adrianna and Gabi couldn’t make it, but Eduardo and Dario went to check it out. They were never heard from again after that, and it’s been a couple days after that text was received.” Roman explained.
“Did you check out the house?” Hope asked, getting back in to cop mode.
Roman nodded. “I sent a team out, but all that was there was a burned down pile of rubble of what we’re guessing, used to be the house. Forensics are looking for clues to see if it was arson. There are literally no neighbors around that could have witnessed anything, so unfortunately, forensics is all we have.”
“Do you need any help?” Hope asked. “I just need to go home and get changed, then I can go right to the station.”
Roman shook his head. “You have enough on our plate right now.”
“Rafe is my friend. If he could be in danger, I need to get to the bottom of it,” Hope insisted. “I’ll be to the station in a half hour. You can take me down to the house and I’ll see if I can help spot anything.”
Roman nodded his agreement. “All right. I’ll see you at the station in a half hour then.” Roman nodded a greeting to Aiden, then left.
“You don’t mind, do you?” Hope asked Aiden.
Aiden shook his head. “Not at all. Duty calls. Let’s head home. Ciara said Chase wants to stay and visit Jonah. Theo will give them both rides home.”
Hope nodded. “All right.”
They quickly said goodbye to the kids, then headed home.
Aiden couldn’t help but be secretly upset. Hope had chosen him, yes, but still she was worried over Rafe. She was so worried, in fact, that she was dropping everything to go find him.
He sighed. He had to become a police officer more than ever now. He had to prove himself to Hope so that she would know that he was just as worthy of having her as Rafe was.

~*This love came back to me.*~

Chase had just heard what Lauren and crew had done to Jonah to make him try to kill himself. “So what are we going to do to get back at them?” he asked.
“Are you up for revenge?” Joey asked him. “I know you have a lot going on yourself, Dude.”
Claire nodded. “Yeah, if you want to sit this one out, no one will be offended. We’ll all understand.”
Chase shook his head. “No. I’m not going to sit this one out. They almost got my friend killed. Now they’re going to have to pay for it. Besides, I could use the distraction.”
Ciara smiled. “Glad to have you aboard! We can use all the help we can get. I want to get back at them, and I don’t mean meaningless little pranks. These pranks are going to make them regret the day they ever laid eyes on Jonah.”
They all grinned.
“Do tell,” Theo said.
Ciara motioned them closer to her in a huddle, then she whispered her plan to them.
They all grinned even bigger.
“It’s settled then. We’ll take our time to perfect our plan, and as soon as school starts back up in a couple of weeks, we strike hard and fast like vipers!” Theo said.
Joey nodded and punched his left fist into his right hand.
Claire nodded and smiled. “And they’ll never know what hit them!”
They all grinned wickedly at each other, then headed over to go visit with Jonah.

[gapeach]

I would NOT want that gang of kids mad at me! Hope that Hope finds something at the house. Aiden is wanting to be a cop for the wrong reasons.

[ihearthaiden]

Days of our Haiden
Season 2 Episode 15: Tearin’ Up My Heart

“We found something. You might want to take a look at this,” Darren from forensics said to Abe as he observed the crime scene. It was determined that it was indeed arson. Now, judging from the grim look on Darren’s face, it was also a murder scene.
Abe walked over to where Darren led him. It was a ghastly scene. There was the charred remains of one victim in a metal chair very much resembling an electric chair only with a slightly different looking headpiece. Next to the chair were two charred bodies on the floor on either side of him in the pugilistic position. All three bodies were beyond recognition.
“This is officially a murder investigation,” Abe stated.
“Good Lord, what happened?” Roman asked, coming over with Hope then.
“It looks like three people have been burned to death. Gasoline cans were found around the crime scene and remnants from a match were also found. Judging from the way whomever this is was locked up in this chair, we’re definitely looking at a premeditated murder,” Abe stated.
“Do we have any identification on the bodies?” Hope asked. Her heart sank and her stomach felt sick. Rafe, his father, and his brother were all missing. Rafe had told his brother and father to show up at this location. Now the house was burnt to the ground, and there were three bodies. She didn’t want to panic until she knew for sure, but this most definitely wasn’t looking good.
“We’re going to pull the dental records of Rafe, his father, and his brother. I don’t want you to panic. We don’t know for sure it’s them. This is just a precaution so we can rule them out,” Roman said calmly to her.
Hope swallowed hard. “Or confirm that it’s them,” she whispered.
Roman put an arm around her and she rested her head against his. Neither of them wanted to think the worse, but both of them knew deep down that things didn’t look good.

~*This love came back to me*~

Chase came home an hour after Aiden did.
“Where were you?” Aiden asked.
“It’s none of your business,” Chase muttered.
“Chase, I know you’re angry with me, but it doesn’t give me the right to talk to me that way. I’m still your father,” Aiden said calmly.
Chase glared at him. “Well you sure didn’t act like it!”
“I was just trying to protect you,” Aiden said, trying his best to keep his voice calm.
Chase nodded. “Yeah, by making me believe my mom killed herself! You made mom look bad.”
Aiden sighed. “I already explained myself. I know you don’t believe it, but I did what I thought was best for you. I made a mistake and I’m sorry. I don’t know what I can do to make it up to you, or at the very least make you less angry with me.”
Chase was quiet for a moment before speaking again. “There is one thing you could do for me.”
Aiden was filled with hope. “Name it.”
“I want a pet. A cat or a dog, I don’t care which. I just want a pet,” Chase replied.
“Chase, when Hope and I brought that dog home this past April, you and Ciara promised to take care of it, then you both got too busy for it. We had to give him away. You’re lucky we were able to find a family to adopt him,” Aiden said skeptically. They had put an ad in the classifieds, and a loving family who lived on a farm had adopted the dog. Their kids were so happy to have a new dog, and the dog was thrilled to have a huge field to run and play in. “How is a pet going to help things anyway?”
“I’ll get a cat then. They don’t need to be entertained as much. Cats are loners. I promise to take care of it. A cat will be easier to look after. Please, Dad! Ciara’s living at Chad’s, and you and Hope aren’t exactly who I want to talk to right now. Having a pet would comfort me. I’d feel like I had someone to talk to even though he or she can’t talk back to me,” Chase explained. “Marlana even said on our first session that it would be a good idea to have a pet because sometimes having someone to vent to—even if they don’t talk back—can help.”
Aiden nodded. “You made your case. Fine. We can get you a cat.”
“Tonight. In fact, I want to go get one right now,” Chase said, already heading for the door again.
“Now? I should probably talk it over with Hope first,” Aiden said.
Chase shrugged. “Go ask her then.”
“I can’t. She’s busy at work,” Aiden stated. “Can’t this wait until tomorrow?”
Chase shook his head. “I want a cat tonight.” He looked at his phone. “The shelter closes in an hour. We better get going.”
Aiden sighed. He was desperate to get back on good terms with his son. Also, Chase had been through so much. If he wanted a cat, Aiden really didn’t see the harm. “All right. Let’s go get one. If getting a cat will make you feel better and forgive me, then let’s go get a cat!”
Chase nodded. “It’s a start,” he said, looking his father in the eyes. He then opened the front door and left the house, leaving the door open for Aiden to follow behind him.
Aiden followed after Chase, a little worried about Chase’s comment about this being a start. He couldn’t help but wonder… What else was Chase going to demand until he finally forgave him?

~*This love came back to me.*~

“I feel sick to my stomach!” Hope said as the police department’s dentist that worked for them in cases like this arrived on the scene. He had already been faxed the dental records of all three Hernandez men.
He walked over to one of the bodies on the ground and knelt down, examining the teeth of the corpse. He checked over the records. “These match Dario Hernandez,” he confirmed.
Hope covered her mouth with her hand, tears running down her cheeks. “Oh no.” She didn’t want to hear the rest, but she knew she had to. Maybe there was still hope.
The dentist moved on to the second body on the ground. Again, he examined the corpse’s teeth, then looked over the dental records. “I can confirm that this is without a doubt Eduardo Hernandez.”
Hope started to cry a bit then. She knew that meant the body in the chair had to be Rafe, but she just didn’t want to believe it yet. Maybe Rafe got away. Maybe the person in the chair was another victim, or even the killer. Maybe Rafe had locked the killer in there for vengeance for his brother and father.
Then why didn’t he contact anyone if that were the case?
She ignored that last thought. Maybe he was hurt somewhere and unable to communicate with them. It would be better than him being dead.
The dentist had finished looking over the third corpse. He looked at Rafe’s dental records, and his face became solemn.
“No!” Hope cried. “Please, don’t Rafe!”
“I’m sorry,” the dentist said, looking down to the ground. “The corpse’s teeth are a perfect match for Rafe Hernandez’s dental records.”
Hope began sobbing then as Roman held her tightly. He let her sob into his chest.
“My dear friend,” she cried. “My ex-partner in more ways than one! How can he be dead, Roman? How?”
“I don’t know, Hope,” Roman said, gently stroking her hair. “But I will tell you this. We will catch the killer.”
Just then, Lani came to the crime scene. She jumped out of her squad car. “What is it? What’s wrong?” she asked; panicked.
Hope looked at her, tears in her eyes. “It’s Rafe. He and his brother and father were brutally murdered. They were burned to death.”
“What? Rafe? Not Rafe! Are you sure it’s him? Maybe it’s not him!” Lani said.
Hope sniffled. “His dental records confirm it.”
Lani burst into tears then. She sank down to her knees on the ground. “Not my friend. Not Rafe! Please not Rafe!”
Hope cried harder then, and walked over to her. She sank down on the ground next to her and put an arm around her.
Abe came over then, and sank down next to them. He put his arm around his daughter on the other side.
Lani looked at him. “Oh, Dad! My friend! Who would kill my friend? They killed him in such a horrible way too!” She began sobbing hysterically.
Abe hugged her tightly and stroked her hair. “It’s okay, Sweetheart. We’ll find his murderer, and when we do, they will pay. I promise you that!”
Lani buried her face in his shoulder. Don’t count on it… she thought to herself.

~*This Love Came Back To Me.*~

Chase and Aiden checked in at the shelter, then headed into the cat room. There were four cat rooms. From the looks of it, there were hundreds of cats to choose from.
Aiden wrinkled his nose. It wasn’t that he didn’t like animals. He did. It was just that, he had never been a cat person. He hated how the litter got all over the floor and never stayed in the box. He hated how cats went in a litter box and you had to scoop their poop and pee every day. He didn’t like having clawed up furniture, and he especially didn’t like clawed up skin. When he was growing up, his aunts had a couple of cats, and both were nasty little things. It had turned him off from cats. However, he knew not all cats were mean. He had come across a few nice ones in his life. Even so, he preferred that cats be other people’s cats; not his. “Are you sure you don’t want a dog instead?”
Chase shook his head as he pat a grey tabby cat’s head. “No. You’re right. They are a lot of work. Cats are easier to manage.”
“You don’t have to clean the litter box if you get a dog,” Aiden reasoned. He shot a warning look to a black cat who was giving him the stink eye.
“But dogs need to be walked daily, and they want more attention. I’m going to be at school and then out with friends. Then of course I’ll have my sessions with Marlena. Besides, I’m just not feeling up to giving a dog the attention it deserves.” Chase pet a few cats. Some rubbed up against his leg. Some walked right past him as if he were invisible.
Suddenly, a fluffy white cat came over to Chase and put her front paws on his legs as if she wanted him to hold her.
Chase smiled, and picked the cat up. Hey, girl!” He knew she was a girl because the boy cats in the shelter had blue collars while the girls had pink collars. The cat instantly started purring.
Chase kissed her. “Looks like my cat picked me instead of the other way around. I want this one.” He kissed her once more. “Want to come home and live with me?” he asked her.
She purred even louder and nuzzled her face against his cheek.
Chase grinned. “I’ll take that as a yes.” He set her down, then nodded at his father. “Come on. Let’s go fill out the paperwork. I’ll need you to co-sign since I’m not eighteen yet.”
“She looks awfully fluffy. She may shed a lot…” Aiden warned.
“No problem. I’ll brush her every day to help get rid of excess hair,” Chase said as he left the cat room.
Aiden sighed. If this is what made his son happy, then he was willing to adopt the white fluff ball. Maybe she wouldn’t be so bad. He bent down to pet her.
The cat hissed at him and tried to swipe him. Aden just barely got his hand out of the way in time.
“Now that was just uncalled for!” he said to the cat.
The cat growled in retort.
He left the cat room. “Why did it have to be a cat?” he muttered to himself. “Heck. Why did it have to be that cat?” At this point he’d have taken the black cat that was giving him the stink eye earlier.

~*This love came back to me.*~

“I’m going to go bring her up to my room,” Chase said, carrying the cat’s carrying case up the stairs. “I’ll come back down for the litter box, food, and cat bed.”
Aiden watched Chase disappear up the stairs with the cat. They had gone shopping after signing all the paperwork. Having a cat was already proving to be expensive. As much as Aiden loved his son, he was almost regretting allowing Chase to get a cat. Surely there had to be some other way to gain his forgiveness!
Just then, Hope arrived home. Her eyes were bloodshot, and she looked solemn. She put her purse and keys down on the stand by the table. She then closed and locked the front door for the night.
“What’s wrong?” Aiden asked.
She looked up at him. “It’s Rafe. He was murdered. He, his father, and his brother were all burned to death.”
Aiden was shocked to say the least. “What?”
Hope nodded. “The house Rafe had supposedly bought was burnt to the ground. The three of them must have been trapped inside. Rafe’s body was found locked up in a chair like an electric chair. We’re thinking his brother and father got locked down there with him, and then the fire started.”
“Are there any leads on who might have done this?” Aiden asked.
Hope shook her head. “So far the only thing we know for sure is that it was arson and murder. Whomever did it made sure to cover all their tracks.” She started to tear up again. “I just can’t believe Rafe’s gone after all we went through together!” She burst into tears again.
Aiden quickly ran over to her and took her in his arms. He gently stroked her hair. “I’m so sorry, Hope. I know how close you two were.” Inside, he was feeling a mixture of emotions. He was sad to see Hope in so much pain. He was anxious that she was this hurt over a man she was supposedly no longer in love with. He was even slightly relieved that Rafe would no longer be in the picture. He felt like a monster for thinking the last part, but he couldn’t help it.
Hope suddenly saw the litter box and bag of litter over Aiden’s shoulder. She stopped crying and sniffled. “Why is there a litter box and cat litter in here?”
Aiden blushed. “Oh. That. Chase said he wanted a pet to talk to and to help take his mind off things. He said that Marlena recommended it. He chose a cat because it needs less attention than a dog.”
“Well, you could have asked me first,” Hope said, pulling away from Aiden.
Aiden nodded. “I know, and I would have, but you were at work and Chase wanted one tonight. He said he’d try to forgive me if I let him have a cat.”
“Well that was stupid,” Hope said coldly. “He’s just going to keep using you to get things what he wants, saying he’ll forgive you if you do this and that for him.”
Aiden remembered Chase saying that getting a cat was a start. Maybe Hope was right.
“Anyway, there’s nothing to forgive. You only did what you thought was best for him. Chase is going to have to grow up and except that!” Hope snapped.
Aiden was a little surprised. “Give him a break, all right? He just found out he killed his mother, then on top of that, his friend tried to kill himself with Chase in the house!”
Hope sighed. “All right, fine.” She looked at Aiden. “But you still had no right to give him permission to have a cat in my house!”
Aiden felt his heart sink a little. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you would be this opposed to it. I figured you wouldn’t mind helping out our son.”
“He’s not my son. He killed his mother; remember?” Hope snapped.
Aiden gasped. “Hope! I can’t believe you just said that!”
Hope shrugged. “Why not? He said it himself. I’m not his mother. Now you reward him by bringing a cat into my house without even asking me first.” She shook her head and walked away. “That’s just great. Just great!”
Aiden was angry now. “Look, Hope, I know you’re hurt and angry over what happened to Rafe, and you have every right to be! But what you don’t have the right to be is rude to me or our son. Yes, no matter what Chase says, he does consider you his mother. You are the only mother he’s ever really known except for those four short years of his life with Meredith. Silly me for thinking you actually considered him a son too! And I apologize. I just figured that since you and I will be getting married that this house was partly mine too!”
Hope’s expression looked crushed. “Aiden, I—“
Aiden was too angry to let her finish. He knew he should cut her a break after the news she had just gotten, but a part of him was angry with her for acting like she and Rafe had still been lovers, so he let his anger get the best of him. “Don’t worry. Chase and I will move out and we’ll take the cat with us. I’m assuming since you don’t want us in the house and don’t want Chase as your son that you no longer want to get married again. Don’t worry. You can still keep the ring!” Aiden then unlocked the door and, ignoring Hope calling his name, he left, slamming the door behind him.
He then got into his car and sped off. He didn’t know where he was going. All he knew was that he had to calm down. He knew deep down he was being a jerk, but he wasn’t ready to go back to being a nice guy just yet.