Chapter 90 - I'll Draw You A Heart

Jon and Beth were in their office talking when there was a knock on the door.  They each look in the direction of the sound to see that it was Pete with a smile on her face.  "I know you said that I need down time, but so do the two of you."  

She walks in the office, picks Spencer up off the floor and continues, "I'm taking these two to watch a movie so you can talk interrupted."

"Pete, you don't...."  Beth tries to say.

"Stop.  I can rest when they nap or when they go to bed.  You guys need to figure out what's going to happen before the kids go crazy."  "She reaches down and takes Rowan's hand.  "Come on cutie, let's go watch a movie so mommy and daddy can talk."  Rowan takes Pete's hand and together the three of them leave the office.

Jon sits back in his chair and laughs, "We are no match for that Latino when she has her mind set."

They laugh because he's right, Pete is a force to be reckoned with when she has her mind set, "She knows that we're in a very fragile spot and she wants to help as much as she can."

There is a silence between them for a few moments.  Beth plants her butt on a coffee table, resting her head in her hands, "So, what are we going to do?"

"I don't know babe.  I don't know."  he leans back and puts his feet on the corner of the desk.  "We need to get ahead of it and show that we aren't surprised or that we weren't too caught off guard."

"We need to act like it's no big deal?" Beth has a little bit of concern about that.  She looks up at Jon, "We need to be real about it all, Jon."

"Meaning?" he asks, stretching tucking his arms behind hid head, "We are being real?"

"I don't care how this plays out in the press.  I don't care what your fans think and what the public has to say.  We have to find out the connection and see just how deep this shit really is."  She up and pacing now.  "We need to find out how Dorothea is involved in this.  THAT has me concerned."

"I'm sure we will find all of that out in time, but what should we do first?"

"The only thing we can do."

"And what do you think that is?"

"Call Dorothea and have her come over here, wait no.  Let's go see her."

"Really?"

"Do you have a better idea?" she shoots back at him.  She stops at the window and looks out, the sun is still high and the day is beautiful, she can see sailboats out on the water and a few jet ski's throwing water, "Whatever we do, we need to do it now.  We are not staying prisoner's in our own home."

"Then we need to prioritize what we need to find out.  Do we find out why with Brian first and how with Dot second?"

"We just need to find out what the fuck is going on and what they are planning.  We need to find out why there is a never ending cloud over our head and why these damn people won't leave us alone."

Jon gets up and walks to her.  He slides his hands around her waits and kisses the back of her head, "Ok, let's go."

"Go?"

"I'm sure that Brian is in SoHo with Dorothea, let's go get our answers."

"Seriously?"  Beth spins around, "Do you think they'll talk to us?"

He laughs, "I bet they have been dying to talk to us."

"Then let's go.  Let's get it done and over with, as you know - we need to get on with life."

"Are you sure?" he spins her around to face him, "Once we go, we can't undo what we've heard or what we learn."

Beth slides her arms around his neck, lip to lip she says, "We need to do this.  We are starting our new life and it all needs to be behind us."

"I agree, but we both know that nothing good is going to come from this."

"I know, but we can't live life in the shadows and I refuse to be driven into seclusion again.  Fuck them and their stupid shit, I mean really, what were they hoping to accomplish?  Breaking us up?"

"Only way to find that out is to go over there.  Do you want me to call ahead?" he kisses her forehead, feeling his own racing heartbeat in his lip as they press against her fair skin, "Or do we want to blitz attack them?"

Beth looks up at him, "Why would we give them the courtesy that they never could us."  

"Good point."

"And anyway, I'm sure they know that we're home already so they might be expecting us, or something from us."

Holding her tight, "Well, let's do it then.  The sooner we go, the sooner we can get back to start our life.  With their bullshit behind us."

As they prepare to leave, they inform Lupetta and Stephanie of their plans.  Jon tells his daughter, "Please help Pete.  We shouldn't be gone too long."

Stephanie hugs her daddy, knowing that he had to once again go deal with her crazy mother, "Don't let he get to you too bad dad.  You know she's a bitch."

Jon scowls at her, "But she is still your mother."

"Dad, please.  She's a whack job just getting wackier."

"We won't be long." he messes up her hair.  They kiss the twins goodbye and together they walk to the garage, jump into Jon's Cadillac and drive the short drive into the city.

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Jon's rings the bell, alerting whoever was in the apartment that someone was there.  Patiently they waited for someone to answer the door.  After a few minutes Dorothea swings open the door, pretending to be surprised to see them.  "What are you guys doing here?"  She snaps, Jon knowing that she looked at the security monitors before she even went to the door.  

Not waiting for an invitation to come in, Jon takes Beth by the hand and leads her into the apartment, "We are here to put an end to this Dorothea.  Where is Brian?"

"He's not here." she yells after him, "Get the hell out of my house."

"Where is he?"  Jon stops, turns around and glares at her, "Call him and tell him to get back here, we are going to hash this out so we can get on with our lives."

"Jon, take your wife and go home."

"THAT is not going to happen until I get answers.  Until we get answers.  Call him and tell him to come back."

"I'm not calling him Jon.  Please leave."

"DOROTHEA!" he scared both women when he screamed at Dot, "Call him, please."  He about chokes on the manners, but she's receptive to those kinds of things and he needs her to do what he's asked.

"I don't know where he is Jon."

"What do you mean?" Beth barks, "What the hell do you mean you don't know where he is?"

Dorothea glares at Beth and then looks at Jon, "I haven't seen him in over a week.  He hasn't called me or returned any of my calls or texts."

"Why?" Jon demands an answer, "What the hell did you do?"

Dot walks away from them, leading them into the study.  "I didn't do anything.  When you guys went off the grid, that's when he went off the grid.  I haven't seen him or talked to him since it was reported that you guys moved into seclusion for the rest of your honeymoon."

"And you didn't think to call us and tell us?"  Beth asks, "Maybe give us a little heads up that he's gone missing and now you have no idea what he's doing?"

Dorothea shifts her weight, resting a hand on her hip, she squeals at Beth, "And disturb you on your honeymoon?"

"We had your kids with us you dumb ass!"  Beth can't take anymore.  She knows that they are now just wasting their time.  Dorothea is a pawn in Brian's game, not the other way around.  

Jon steps in between them, hands up in the air.  "Dorothea, what's the last thing he said to you?"

She thinks for a minute.  "The last time I seen him was the day that you called and asked about him.  When we got off the phone, he said that he was going to go home and I haven't seen him since."

Beth runs that through her mind for a moment, "Home?  Where is home?"  She has no idea where he would call home, his parents lived up in New England and when he died, he was buried in New England - well, Beth buried someone in New England.  

Dot sits down in a high back, winged chair - the leather cracking as she gets comfortable, "He has a place upstate."

"Where?" Jon asks between his teeth, he's frustrated that here they are, once again trying to get answers and make sense of a crappy situation that Dorothea got herself mixed up in, ultimately dragging them into it.  "Where in upstate, Dorothea."

"Queen something." she waves her hands, having no real idea where.  But Jon and Beth did.  They look at one another and read each others minds.

"Queensbury?" Beth asks, already knowing the answer.

Dorothea nods her head, "Yeah, that sounds right.  Do you know of the place?" 

Jon feels like he has just had the wind knocked out of him, again.  "We do.  How did you meet him Dorothea?"  He's not sure that he wants to get started on this, but they needed to do it, they needed the answers, all of the pieces so they could plan and prepare in retaliation, if needed.  "How do you know Brian?"