“Nadia!?” Chelsea yelled as she began to panic.  She walked out into the hallway and yelled again. “Nadia!” Quickly she ran down the front stairs into the living room.  “Nadia!” There was no answer and along with the panic came confusion. Where did she go?  Opening the kitchen door she looked inside and called out one more time. “Nadia!”  There was no answer.

“Oh God.” Chelsea whispered as she turned around and took off out the front doors.  “Nadia!!” She screamed as she looked around the yard, she ran down to the end of the driveway and looked down the street both ways.  “Nadia!!” She yelled again.  Her brain started to panic and she ran her fingers through her hair as small whimper broke from her lips.

“Chels?” Someone shouted at her and she spun around to see AJ

“I can’t find Nadia.” Chelsea said as she tried to control herself.  “I can’t find her.”

“What do you mean?” AJ asked as he walked up to her.

“I can’t find her.” Chelsea said a little frustrated, how hard was it to understand.  “I went to her room to talk to her and she wasn’t there, I searched my room, the living room, she’s not in the kitchen and she’s not answering to me.” She said a little frantic.  “Did she come out here? Wait I thought you left?”

“I was in the back; I hadn’t left yet when you took off after Nadia.” AJ told her.

“What’s going on?” Anne asked and Chelsea looked up at Anne and Jerald standing on the porch.

“Did you see Nadia in there?” AJ asked.

“No” Anne said shaking her head as the two walked up to AJ and Chelsea.

“Than I think she took off.” AJ told them.

“What!?” Anne said shocked.

Chelsea let out another whimper as she began pacing around the yard.  “I need to check the fields.”

“Chelsea she didn’t go back there we would have seen her.” AJ said.

“Well than where is she huh?!” Chelsea yelled back at him.

“I hope you’re happy Alex, coming out here and upsetting these two, you couldn’t leave well enough alone could you?” Jerald said bitterly.

“Excuse me?!” AJ said but then he realized Chelsea had said it just as loudly and he looked at her shocked.

“You…you want to talk about upsetting?” Chelsea yelled at him.  “How about the fact you came into my hospital room after I had just woken up from a coma, telling me to leave Alex, telling me he was no good for me!” Chelsea yelled at him.  “After I had just found out that not only was my daughter alive but she was right there in front of me and you turn around and threaten to take her away!” She screamed as the tears began to pour down her face. 

Chelsea than ran up to Jerald and shoved him hard.  “I left him, I took Nadia away from her Father a Father she had just met, I took her away like you wanted and it still wasn’t enough!” She screamed shoving him again.  “You didn’t care I was loosing my husband, if it wasn’t for him Jerald I wouldn’t be here today! You didn’t care that Nadia was losing her Father, no, no all you cared about was you beat Alex and you won!”

“What?” AJ said from behind her.

“I hope you’re happy Jerald, I hope you’re really happy because now she’s taken off!” Chelsea yelled as she shoved him one more time and took of into the backyard.

“What is she talking about?” AJ asked staring at Jerald.

“I have nothing to say to you.” Jerald said as he turned around to head into the house but someone grabbed his arm.

“But you will answer to me.” Anne said looking at him sternly.  “What was she talking about?”  Jerald looked at his Mother.  Just then a car turned into the drive way and all three looked at who was coming.  AJ’s face fell in confusion when he saw Kevin get out of the passenger side and then there was even more puzzlement when Tim got out of the drivers side.

“What’s going on?” Anne said looking at both men worried.

“Did you guys see Nadia at all, any chance you saw her?” AJ asked Kevin.

“No, why, what’s going on?” Kevin asked and AJ assumed he knew something was up now.

“Jerald started shit and pissed Nadia off, she took off.” AJ told them.

“What?” Kevin said looking at AJ worried but AJ had turned to Jerald.

“I don’t have time to find out what Chelsea meant, I need to go find my daughter but so help me God, if you did something to cause Chels to do what she did, not even your Mother will be able to stop me from kicking the ever loving fuck out of you.” AJ snapped with a frightening, angry tone.  He turned around and started heading towards the back, that’s when it happened.

“Jerald told Chelsea that if she didn’t leave you, he was suing the two of you for custody.” Kevin’s voice rang out and AJ spun around as Anne let out a gasped and then angrily shouted her son’s name.  “He told her with the way things were with you the last few months and with Chelsea not being able to take care of herself because of the accident, he had a good chance a winning.”

“How do you know this?” AJ asked Kevin.

“She told me, one night at the hospital.” Kevin replied.  “She was terrified, she didn’t know what to do.  She was scared that any day you would get some prick lawyer showing up at your door. So she had me call Jerald try to hold him off until she got out.”

“That’s why she called you?” AJ asked. “To take her home.”

“No, that was because she really wanted to surprise you.” Kevin replied with a light smile.

“The night before I came here, why didn’t you tell me then?” AJ demanded.

“She begged me not to tell you, she was very scared Alex, it’s why she was snapping all the time, it’s why she lost it on Jerald the way she did at the hospital, and the only thing I could think of to do was get you out here.” Kevin said and he could see the sadness in his eyes.  “Then I called Tim told him what was going on, we met up here so we could talk to Mom together.”

“I…I don’t get it, why couldn’t she have told me.” AJ replied.

“She wasn’t thinking straight, she’s not thinking straight, she’s scared and confused and If she left you, did what Jerald wanted, he would back off and she would be able to decide when you saw Nadia, when you could be with her but if my Brother got custody he wouldn’t let you see her, he’d let Chelsea but not you.”

“Damn right.” Jerald mumbled and that was it AJ lost it. He took of after Jerald, darting across the lawn as Kevin shouted at him.

“Alex, Alex, Alex.” Kevin shouted as he took off after his friend. Just as AJ was able to reach out and grab Jerald’s shirt, his band mate grabbed his arm and yanked him away.

“I’m going to hurt you; I’m going to fucking hurt you!” AJ shouted at Jerald.

“Let’s go find Nadia dude.” Kevin said pulling AJ away.

            AJ turned and looked at him.  “Let me just once fuck, just one fucking hit please.” AJ begged as Kevin go behind him and started pushing towards the cars.

“Let’s go look for Nadia man, come on.” Kevin said as AJ began to focus off of Jerald.

“I don’t fucking believe this!” AJ shouted angrily.  He flopped angrily into the car and slammed the passenger door.

“Ok so we came from that way but we didn’t see her so we’ll go this way and loop back around.” Kevin told him as the car pulled out of the driveway.

“Fine” AJ mumbled as he pictured himself pummeling Jerald on the front lawn.

Slowly Kevin rolled down the road, his window down calling out Nadia’s name.  AJ stared out front watching the edge of the trees, watching the shoulder, hoping any second she would pop into view but it was hard when he mind kept going back to Chelsea and what she had done.  He was so confused and blindsided by everything he wasn’t even sure if he was mad at her. 

“I’m sorry I never said anything man.” Kevin said as they began to circle the large block area. 

“I don’t even care right now, I just wanna find Nadia.” AJ replied still staring out the window.

“What’s that?” Kevin asked and AJ looked over to his side. “Is that her?” Kevin asked. “I don’t know what she was wear…”

“Yes that’s her.” AJ said quickly and relieved.

“Damn she’s fast.” Kevin said as they pulled up ahead of her and parked the car.

AJ got out of the car and when he looked back at his daughter she was standing on the side of the road staring at him.  He closed the car door and started walking towards her.  “Why did you take off, Chelsea’s worried sick, I was freakin’ out.”

“So, she doesn’t care about me and she doesn’t care about you.” Nadia said angrily.

“No Nadia, that is where you are wrong, your Mother loves you more than anything, more than me, more than herself, and she will sacrifice everything for you.” AJ told her.

“Then why did she take me away from you?” Nadia asked her eyes welling up with tears.

AJ looked at her; he wasn’t sure what to tell her, how she would take it.  With a deep breath he decided being honest with her was the best way to go.  “Jerald told her he was going to take you away from us because she wouldn’t be able to take care of you and he said I was unfit too.”

“Why would he do that?” Nadia asked.

“I still don’t know why he hates me so much but he does, I still don’t know why he went this far.” AJ said. “I’ve been looking for you.  Look, your Mom thought that she didn’t want to risk it, she didn’t want to fight, and she didn’t want to put you through that.  So she gave Jerald what he wanted and moved out here, if she made it look like she was leaving he would back off and then she would be able to say when I saw you, not him.”

“Because he probably wouldn’t even let me see you.” Nadia said as she made a annoyed face.

“Exactly.” AJ said with a light smile, he knew she understood at least a little bit.

“So did you know?” Nadia asked.

“No, not until a little while ago, when she realized you had taken off she lost it on Jerald, she took off into the back too look for you and then Kevin showed up, he told me.” AJ said as he looked back to Kevin.  “He showed up with his Brother Tim so they could talk to Anne and tell her.”

He than wrapped his arms around her. “I’m so glad you’re ok.” Then he pulled away. “Don’t take off like that again, no matter how mad you are.”

“I’m sorry.” Nadia said with a frown.

“It’s ok just go get into the car.” He said as he nodded back.  AJ followed her back to the car and got into the passenger side.

“Does this mean we’re going back to Cali?” Nadia asked.

“In a couple of days.” AJ said as he looked back at her.

“What about the cd recordings?” Kevin asked.

“I think they can get by without me for a couple of days.” AJ replied.  “I need sometime with Chelsea, so we can work out what happened plus her and Nadia need time too.”

They drove back to the house and AJ was the first to get out of the car.  He closed the door for Nadia and they both walked together to the house.  AJ opened the door and they walked in to see Anne and Tim sitting on the couch.

“Oh thank God you found you.” Anne said as she stood up.

“Where’s Chels?” AJ asked.

“Upstairs, Tim went and got her, told her you went with Kevin to go look for Nadia.” Anne said as she finished hugging Nadia.

“Where’s Jerald?” Kevin asked.

“Outback” Anne replied with a frustrated sigh.

“I’m going to go talk to your Mom why don’t you go to your room and start packing.” AJ told Nadia.

“Are you leaving?” Anne asked.

“Just going to a hotel, so we can talk and Chelsea can relax a little but we’re staying for a couple of days.” AJ told her before he walked up the stairs.

He walked down the hall to Chelsea’s room and stopped at the door, he frowned when he heard her whimpering on the other side.  Raising his hand he gently knocked on the door with his knuckle and waited.  A minute later she came to the door and opened it.

“Hi” AJ said when he saw her on the other side.

“Hi” She replied quietly.  “Did you find her?” She asked.

“Yeah” He said with a nod.  “She’s in her room packing.”

“Packing?” Chelsea asked confused.

“We’re going to go stay at a hotel.” AJ said as she frowned a little.

“Okay” Chelsea said with a nod.  “Can I say goodbye before you go, or does she not want to talk to me.”

“Huh?” AJ said confused. “No, Chels, you’re coming with us.”

“I am?” She replied confused. “I mean you want me to go?”

Now it was his turn to frown.  He took her by the hand and walked into the room, closing the door behind them.  AJ turned around.  “Of course I do sweetheart.  We need to talk about what Jerald did.”

“What I did” Chelsea said and AJ looked at her confused.  “I did this, I could have told you but I didn’t.  I made the decision to come here, to take Nadia away from you.”

“Because of the corner Jerald had you in.” AJ replied. “And I’m telling you right now he is not taking us to court, he’s not going to take Nadia away from us, from you or me.”

“Alex…” Chelsea replied with a frown.

“It’s not going to happen.” AJ told her.  She looked down at their hands as he held them and then she started crying.  Letting go of her hands he wrapped his arms around her.  Chelsea buried her face into his shoulder as she cried.  His hand gently drifted down the back of her head as he comforted her.