March/09

The house is seems so empty and I feel so alone.  My Mom, Kevin and Anne made me come home to shower, eat and sleep but I don’t want to go into the bathroom, I don’t want to eat and I’m no where close to tired. I want a drink so bad but Chelsea would hate me when she woke up, if she wakes up.  God I feel like an idiot, I wasted the past few months drinking my sorrows away, fighting with her over stupid shit and now, now I may never get the chance to say anything to her ever again.  They tell me to think positive, they tell me to talk to her…I wonder if this is how she felt when I got into the accident but at least back then she knew I would wake up.  I also came very close to having Jerald charged with assault but out of respect to Anne and Kevin I didn’t…

The phone ringing broke him from his writing and he put down his journal.  He picked up the cordless phone and answered it without looking at who was calling.  “Hello?”

“Mr. Mclean it’s Detective Wilkos.” The lead FBI Detective spoke.

“Hi” AJ replied as he sat back against his couch.

“I know things are very rough for you right now but I was wondering if you’d be able to come down to Nevada.” The man asked.

“Why?” AJ replied his face falling in confusion.

“We have found your daughter.” The Detective told him and the world around AJ stopped.

“You found her?” AJ asked again making sure he heard the man right.

“Yes we’ve found her and we need you to come down to Las Vegas, I can explain more when you get here.” He told him as AJ’s body shook with excitement.  “I know it will be hard to leave Chelsea right now.”

“It’s ok; she would want me to go.” AJ replied.  “I will be there on the next flight.” AJ told them.

            “Call me back on the number I gave you when you have everything confirmed someone will be at the airport to pick you up.” Detective Wilkos said.

AJ said goodbye to the man and then hung up the phone.  He stared at it for a moment as a smile slowly stretched across his face.  “We found her.” AJ said quietly.  “We fucking found her!” He shouted in excitement as he jumped up from the couch and ran upstairs with the cordless still in his hand.  Grabbing his bag from his closet he tossed it onto the bed and headed to his dresser as he dialed Kevin’s number.

“Man, you’re supposed to be sleeping” Kevin said without saying hello.

“They found her!” AJ blurted out with excitement into the phone.

“What?” Kevin said a little confused.

“They Found Nadia, the Detective needs me to go to Vegas.” AJ told him.  “I’m packing right now, I’m going to book my flight, if I have time I’ll swing by and say goodbye to Chelsea before I go.”

“You’re serious?” Kevin said.

“Yes I’m serious dude what the fuck?” AJ replied as he stopped packing for a moment, then he quickly slammed his close into his bag not even bothering to fold them.

“Alex that’s…that’s just.” Kevin couldn’t get out the words.  AJ could hear his Mom in the background asking what was going on.

“It’s ok to tell her, just in case I can’t make it down there.” He told Kevin as he zipped up his bag.

“Ok” Kevin replied as AJ opened his bedroom door and hurried down the hallway.  “The Detective called they found Nadia.” AJ heard the two women gasp.  “He’s grabbing a flight to Vegas they said they needed him down there, he’s going to try and stop by before he goes though.”

“K, dude I gotta find me a flight I’ll call and let you know when I leave.” AJ told him as he walked into his office.

“Alright man” Kevin replied and then the two friends hung up.

Quickly AJ pulled up the LAX website that he had bookmarked and typed in his flight info.  There was a plane leaving in an hour and a half, he could make it but wouldn’t be able to stop off and see Chelsea.  He was ok with that; he knew Chelsea would want him to get his ass down there as fast as possible.  AJ closed the browser and his eyes caught the desk top.  It was a picture of Chelsea and the dogs. 

He smiled at the picture.  “I’m going to bring our daughter back to you.” He whispered and then kissed his first to fingers and touched her face on the screen.

AJ stood up and grabbed his bag, he walked out of is office, walked out of his house, locked the door and headed to his car.  He put his bag in the back and then got in the driver side.  Plugging in his blue tooth he dialed Kevin’s number and waited for him to pick up.

“Hey what’s up?” Kevin said.

“I got an hour and a half to get to the airport and get to my gate.” AJ told him.

“Ok so you won’t be by” Kevin said knowing it would take at least an hour to get to LAX from AJ’s house even if he did take the highways.

“Yeah it’s going to be pushing it as it is.” AJ said.

“Its ok man, we got her here you go get your little girl.” Kevin said and it made AJ smile.  “Well I guess she’s not little.” Kevin quickly said with a chuckle and it made AJ chuckle too.

“I’ll call when I get all the info, ok?”

“Alright man, stay safe and good luck.” His friend said before they hung up.

AJ followed the city streets until he came to the first highway ramp, he was glad that at least he didn’t have to deal with the Business rush that plagued the highways of LA, and he hoped there were no ghost cars that would catch him flying down the highway.  He glanced at the clock on his dash and relaxed a little when he realized he was making good time as he approached highway 405 which would lead him close to the airport. 

When he arrived he had about forty-five minutes to check in get through security and get to his gate and as long as there wasn’t any major back ups he could do it.  After he checked it he grabbed his cell and called the Detective to let him know what flight he was on and when he would get in.  The Detective told him that another Detective would be at McCarran Airport and bring him to the MGM Grand where the FBI agents were staying.  He hung up the phone when he reached security and was glad to see he could basically walk right through.

“Getting lucky today” He thought to himself as he walked through the tall security archway which didn’t beep. 

AJ sat down at his gate and pulled out his phone.  Not wanting prying ears to hear cause you never know who was around he texted Kevin. 

“How are things?” He asked and then waited.

About five minutes later his phone alerted him he had a text.  “Good, she just went down for another CAT scan, gonna be a half hour or so, going to grab something to eat.”

“Ok let me know how it went.” He sent back and waited for a reply.

“Will do man.” Kevin texted back after a couple of minutes.

He was glad he was cutting things close to take off because then he didn’t have to sit and wait to long.  His mind was going a mile a minute thinking about things.  What did she look like, does she know who he is, how is she handling what is happening, and then he thought about Chelsea.  The times he find her in a room along crying, the pain in her eyes when she woke up in the hospital, and how much she wanted to have her daughter back.  Now she was in a coma as he flew out to Vegas to meet their daughter for the first time.

“Now boarding flight 143 to Las Vegas.” A woman announced over the PA and AJ grabbed his bag and headed over to the line at the gate.

“Leaving now, phone down.” He text to Kevin and after it went through he shut his phone off.  Placing the cell in his pocket he lifted his bag over his shoulder and pulled out his ID.

He sat down in his seat on the plane and looked out the window.  Taking a deep breath he pushed the down the excitement and nervousness that wanted to explode from him.  Then he realized he packed only clothes, no iPod, no journal, and wondered what he would do for the next hour.  When the plane took off he looked out the window and watched the buildings below get smaller and smaller.  As the plane leveled out he closed his eyes and gathered his thoughts.  How he wished Chelsea was here.

The flight seemed to take forever even though it was only about fifty-five minutes and as the plane descended down towards the run way he felt his heart beating faster and faster.  He waited for most of the people to clear out and then grabbed his bag as he walked off the plane.  AJ walked through the terminal and kept an eye out wondering who would pick him up.

“Mr.Mclean?” A woman asked as she walked up to him.

“Uh yea?” He asked, was this a Detective or a fan.

“I’m Agent Panas I’m here to take you to the hotel.” The woman said.

“Ok” He nodded and his heart jumped into his throat. This was it he was on his way.

He followed the Detective out of the airport and headed to a black car.  They both got into the backseat and when the back door closed the driver pulled away from the hotel.  AJ started biting his nails as he looked out the window to the city he was all too familiar with.  Without knowing his foot lightly tapped the car floor as his knee gently bounced.

“Nervous?” The woman said and he looked at her confused.

“Huh?”

“You’re biting your nails and tapping your foot, signs someone is nervous.” The Agent said as she nodded at his finger in his mouth.

“Oh, yeah a little I guess.” AJ replied as he pulled his hand away.  “Does she know what’s going on?” He asked.

“Nadia?” The woman asked and AJ nodded.  “Yes, she has been told why Helen was arrested and why we were there.”

“Is she ok?” AJ asked.

“She’s very quiet, we really can’t get he to talk.” The woman told him and it made AJ frown but oddly there was a familiarity to Nadia’s reaction. 

Then he lightly laughed to himself. “Just like her Mom”