AJ drove his car off of the highway, taking the exit that lead to his house.  He had just finished a recording session with the guys and was looking forward to getting home, to Chelsea and to Nadia.  He wondered what the two did today, hang out by the pool, hang out around the house, maybe even watched some movies.  It brought a smile to his face when he thought about the two of them.  Singing along to the song playing on the radio he tapped his fingers on his steering wheel, he thought about the court hearing.  Seeing Helen for the first time, feeling Chelsea tense up and grab his hand when she saw her.  Nadia was quiet for the whole trip, the judge took her into his chambers and talked to her about the situation.  They found out later through their lawyer that Nadia told the judge she wanted to stay with Chelsea and AJ that she felt connected to them, that she knew they were her parents and that living with them is what she wanted.  The judge announced that the McLean’s would get permanent custody of Nadia.  He told Helen that he would put in a good word for her with the judge that was handling her other charges but he told her it could have all been avoided if she would have come forward on behalf of Chelsea in the first place.

            When he arrived at his house he saw Nadia sitting on the front step and he honked his horn to get her attention, he didn’t care it was eight at night.  She looked up but then looked back down.  His eyes fell in confusion wondering what was bothering her.  Shutting the car off he got out and walked over to her.

“Hey kiddo what’s up?” He asked as he sat down beside her.

“You should go talk to Chelsea.” Nadia said not looking at him.  “And tell her I’m not going.”

“Going?” AJ said confused. “Going where?”

“Ask your Wife.” Nadia said as she stood up and turned to the door.

With great confusion AJ got up and followed Nadia into the house.  He watched as Nadia walked upstairs and then made his way down the hall.  Hearing voices coming from the kitchen he made his way there and stopped dead when he saw Jerald sitting in his kitchen.

“What the hell is going on?” AJ asked looking at Jerald and then to Chelsea.

“Nadia and her are going to Kentucky to stay with Mom.” Jerald piped up and he heard Chelsea sigh.

“Say what now?” AJ replied as he looked at his wife.

“Jerald you should go.” Chelsea said but AJ wasn’t having it.

“Oh no, tell me what the hell is going on?” AJ said his voice getting louder as Jerald got up to leave. 

Jerald turned around. “If you really want to know…”

But Chelsea interrupted him. “Jerald leave.”

AJ watched as Chelsea walked Jerald to the door and then closed it behind him.  When she turned around he stared at her and demanded answers.  “What the hell is going on Chels?”

“Nadia and I are going to Kentucky to stay for a while.” Chelsea told him.

“Ok and that’s fine but with Jerald here why do I think it’s more than that?” AJ replied.

“Nadia needs something stable and I…” She stopped and he stared at her.

“What?” AJ demanded.

“I don’t think you’re very stable right now.” She told him.  “With all the stress you’ve been under and the stress that is yet to come with finishing the record and touring I just can’t…” She stopped again.

“Can’t what?!” AJ yelled.

“I just can’t trust that you won’t go out and get drunk.” Chelsea replied sharply.

“Wow.” AJ said stunned. “I…I can’t believe you just said that to me, you sound like fucking Jerald.” Chelsea said nothing as she walked past him back into the kitchen. “What did he do Chelsea?”

“Nothing.” Chelsea replied.  “I just think with everything going on being in Kentucky will be good for me.”

“And what about me, what about Nadia?” AJ replied sharply.

“Nadia will like it there and you’ll be fine, you have the cd and touring to focus on and you won’t have to worry about me.” Chelsea told him.

“Chelsea.” AJ said his voice full of confusion, he reached for her hand but she pulled it away.

“I need to go pack, Jerald’s taking us to the airport in a couple of hours.” She said as she walked past him.

“Already?” AJ snapped.  “No…no, you’re not taking her away from me, this is stupid Chelsea.”

“I’m not taking her away from you, we are going to Kentucky, and you can come and see her anytime you want too.” Chelsea replied.

“I’m not going!” Nadia yelled from the top of the stairs. “I wanna stay here with AJ.”

“I’m sorry Nadia but you can’t and I told you why, he works long hours and then he’ll be touring.” Chelsea told her.

“How long are you planning on staying?” AJ asked realizing this could be more than just a visit.

“I…” She paused.  “I don’t know.” Chelsea replied.  “Now I need to get ready.”

“You don’t know!?” AJ shouted after her as she walked up the stairs.  “What the fuck you mean you don’t know?” She didn’t say anything.  “Chelsea answer me!” AJ shouted up the stairs.  “Chelsea!!” When the bedroom door closed he grunted in frustration and took off into his office.  Quickly he pulled up his lawyers’ number and dialed.

“Hi Sam its Alex Mclean, I have problem.” AJ said on his cell and he waited for his lawyer to answer.  “Chelsea wants to take Nadia to Kentucky and she’s making it sound like its permanent. So what do I do?”

The Lawyer spoke.  “I thought things were good between you too.”

“So did I.” AJ replied with a small hint of laughter.  “I don’t know what’s going on, all I know is that she’s taking Nadia to Kentucky in a couple of hours, is there anyway I can stop her?”

“There’s an injunction we can get but it’ll take a couple of days. If she does go to Kentucky than she’ll have to come back, then we’ll go to court and decide custody.” His lawyer told him.

AJ closed his eyes and sighed.  Had it really come to this, how did it come to this, what did he do and why was she acting like this.  “Do it.” He told his lawyer as he looked over at his office door opening.  He hung up his cell when he saw Nadia walking in.

“What’s going on?” Nadia asked. “Did you guys have a fight I don’t know about?”

“Darlin’ I wish I knew, no we didn’t have a fight everything was fine when I left this morning, I don’t know what’s gotten into her.” AJ replied.

“I don’t want to go.” Nadia told him.

“I know you don’t and I just got off the phone with my lawyer, I’m getting an injunction to stop this but it’ll take a couple of days.” He said as he walked over to her.

“But we’re leaving in a couple of hours.” Nadia replied and he saw the sadness in her eyes.

“I know but when the Injunction gets put through she will have to bring you back.” AJ told her.

“And then what?” Nadia asked.

“And then we’ll have to go back to court for custody.” AJ said still not believing it himself.  “Do you have your things packed?”

“No, I was hoping you’d be able to talk her out of it.” Nadia replied with a frown.

“I don’t think that’s happening.” AJ told her.  “Go pack, I’m going to go try and talk to her again.”

“When you get this Injunction I have to come back right?” Nadia asked.

“Yes” AJ replied with a nod.  With a sigh Nadia turned around, left the office and headed upstairs.  AJ was behind her and gave her a light smile as she walked into her room.  He then made his way to his room and opened the closed door.  When he walked in he saw Chelsea zipping up her bag.

“Chelsea, sweetheart, please tell me why you’re doing this?” AJ asked.

“I told you why.” She said quickly as she walked over to her dresser.

“So you’ve really lost that much trust in me?” AJ replied.

“Can you blame me? The way you were before I went into the hospital.” Chelsea said still not looking at him as she gathered some belongings.

“Damn Chelsea.” AJ said his heart broke that she would say something like that.  “Well then since you’ve turned into mega bitch I wanna let you know I called Sam, he’s putting in an Injunction against you and I’ll take you to court, we’ll let them decide just how unfit I am.” AJ told her as he stood up walked over to the door and then left the room.

“So?” Nadia said as she came flying out of her room.  AJ just shook his head and he watched as his daughter turned around and slammed her bedroom door.  He closed his eyes as the whirlwind of thoughts in his head became a breeze and it started to sink in what was going on.  Was this because of the accident? Was this some side effect of the coma? It all came out of left field and as he walked down the stairs to the first floor he began to cry.  All of a sudden he was losing his family, the one he wanted for so long was being ripped away from him and it was all because of Chelsea, the last person he thought would do anything like this.  He wasn’t sure which part hurt more.

When there was a knock at the door, he thought about not answering, not wanting to see Jerald standing on the other side doing his little I won happy dance.  After a couple of more knocks AJ sighed and walked over to his door. When he looked out the peep hole he was a little relived to see Kevin on the other side.  Quickly he opened it and stared at his friend.

“Dude, I got a serious problem.” AJ said with panic in his voice.

“I know” Kevin replied.  “Let me go talk to her.”

“Please” AJ said as his voice changed to a pleading tone.

AJ walked into the living room as Kevin walked upstairs.  He sat down on the couch and put his head in his hands and started crying again.  Praying with everything he had that Kevin could get her to change her mind, get her to open up about why she was doing this, and get her call the whole thing off.