Chapter Twenty-Eight It was early into the morning when Emily pulled up in front of JC's luxurious home, and she felt her eyes burning with tears of joy as freedom ran its course through her body. Riley had apologized on for what he had done, agreeing to keep his distance and to seek help. Part of her wanted to doubt his commitment to change, but she did respect that he had taken the first step to recovery. But now was not the time to worry about Riley. She glanced in the rearview mirror of her car and couldn't suppress a laugh as she took in her appearance. There would be no way to make herself look any better, so with a small smile on her lips she opened the door of the car and stepped out. When her feet hit the pavement, she felt a small rush of excitement flow through her veins. She felt as if she had not seen JC in forever and she could not wait to have his handsome self standing in front of her.

"I'm such a child," she whispered as she slowly made her way up to the door, reaching down into her tiny purse to find the key that he had given her. As she inserted it, she felt familiarity starting to return to her. This routine was not something she had done very often, but it felt as if it belonged. It clicked in her life and she did not want to be without it.

She pushed the door open and stepped inside the house, part of her wanting to see JC standing in front of the door as if he knew that she was back....that she was home. She slowly made her way further into the house and cleared her voice to speak. "JC....I'm back...."

There was no answer and she frowned when she realized that he was not there. She walked into the kitchen and sat down on one of the bar stools that was placed in the left corner of the room. She wanted to see him, but she didn't have the smallest clue as to where he could be. Her tired eyes glanced around the room and settled on a picture of JC and Justin that was hung on the refrigerator by a magnet. She narrowed her eyes as she wondered if it was possible for JC to be staying at Justin's.

"Its worth a shot," she mumbled as she stood up and made her way into the living room, where an address book was kept by the phone. She flipped through the pages and let her finger rest against Justin's number. She bit her lip, wondering if she should call so late. Her thoughtfulness won the battle and she shut the book, deciding to get some sleep and call in the morning. It wasn't like she expected him to rush over that minute if she called him, although it would be nice to see his face right that moment. With a small chuckle, she stretched out on the plush couch and closed her eyes. She was definitely too tired to make it up the large staircase that lead to the room where she had once stayed, and the couch felt just as comfortable. As her body began to relax, an image of JC appeared in her head. She thanked God then and there for sending him to her to be her guardian angel. Without him, she would have never made it through what she had, and she would not be the person that she had become. She owed JC so much, and there were no words to express how grateful she was to him. As she drifted off to sleep, she made a promise to repay him in some way for the kindness that he had shown her.

*Later on that morning*

Whitney woke up with a groan as the sunlight hit her eyes for the first time that day. She rubbed her eyes and looked around the room, smiling when she realized that she had fallen asleep in Justin's bed yet again. The last thing she remembered from the previous night was arguing with him over the date that she had to leave. She had taken a month off from work and that month was quickly drawing to a close. As much as she wanted to, there was no way that she could possibly stay any longer than the time she had requested. She had definitely fallen for Justin, it wasn't hard to pick up on that, but his life was much too hectic for her. She was new to the music industry and she did not want to hold him back while his career was in full force.

She turned on her side and couldn't help but laugh as she saw Justin lying next to her, a small patch of drool hanging from his lips. She gently reached over and wiped it away, smiling as he moved slightly but never completely woke. He was beautiful. It wasn't his outward appearance that made him beautiful, it was the entire package.

"Oh Justin," she whispered as she brushed her fingers against his face and sighed at the warm feeling that she got inside of her body. She knew that she wouldn't be falling back asleep, so she decided to get up and have a small breakfast. She quietly made her way downstairs and was startled to see Lynn standing in the kitchen who was in the process of cooking something.

"Good morning dear," she greeted as Whitney walked into the kitchen and pulled a stool over to where Lynn was standing.

"Good morning," she replied back as her eyes looked into the pan where she saw a pancake being made. "I love pancakes."

"Good! Justin loves them and I haven't had the chance to fix them for him lately, so I thought I'd surprise him."

Whitney grinned as she watched Justin's mother move about. She could see where Justin had inherited his personality. "He's definitely something, Lynn. You should be very proud of the son that you've raised."

"I am," she said, her eyes sparkling as she talked about Justin. "He's been through so much and through it all, he's stayed grounded. I'm impressed by him more and more each day. I love him to death...I adore him."

Whitney laughed and nodded her head as she stood up and reached for a plate so Lynn could place the cooked pancakes in. "He truly is special."

"You know," she began as she gave Whitney a wink. "He thinks the world of you."

"I don't know why," she responded, feeling a blush creeping up on her face. "He deserves way better than me."

"Don't say that," Lynn softly scolded. "You're a beautiful, intelligent, and caring person and I'm so proud of Justin for finding you. I'll tell you one thing! If he lets you go, he's a fool."

"I don't plan on letting her go...atleast not yet," Justin's voice called out to them as he walked into the kitchen and placed a soft kiss upon Whitney's forehead. "This isn't talk about Justin when Justin isn't around time though!"

Lynn laughed and continued making pancakes, while Justin winked at Whitney and made his way out of the kitchen. "I know you guys are dying to gossip about me some more, so I'm going to go take a quick shower...I'll be back to eat though. Whitney....don't eat it all."

She laughed and rolled her eyes as his form retreated out of sight. "He definitely is something else."

"Not trying to change the subject to something gloomy...but have you guys heard anything else from the police about Emily?"

Whitney felt her spirits falling as she shook her head and sighed. "They've got some leads but nothing has lead to her yet. I'm really worried..."

"You're not the only one," JC's voice said as he walked into the kitchen and gave Lynn a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'm going to run home to get some clothes and check messages to see if the cops have maybe screwed up and called my house on accident. Tell Justin that I'll be back later."

"Are you not going to eat?" Lynn asked as her voice came out with concern. "I heard you haven't been eating much lately, Josh."

"I'm not hungry right now...but I'll tell you what. I'll let you fix me a nice lunch later if you're in the mood," he said as he winked at her and left the room.

"He's really attached to this Emily...I'm going to have to meet her," Lynn said as she finished with the pancakes and placed them on the middle of the stove. "Food is done."

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Whitney said as both women laughed. This was the type of environment that every person deserved to experience. These people that Whitney had been lucky enough to meet were unbelievable. If every person in America was like that, then she knew beyond a shadow of doubt that everything would be better.

JC drummed his fingers against his steering wheel and sighed as he waited for the red-light he was stopped at to turn green. It wasn't too late in the day and there were already numerous cars on the highway, making traffic seem like it would never end. All he wanted to do was go home, get his stuff and head back to Justin's in case the police called over there. After what seemed like an eternity, the light changed and he was able to begin back on his way. It took longer than normal to get to his home, and he finally felt his frustration start to reside when he pulled into his driveway.

His gaze settled on the black car that Emily had been driving before she had been kidnapped. It was parked just in front of his car and his eyes narrowed in curiosity. The most reasonable explanation for that car to be setting there was that the police had dropped it back off to keep it from becoming vandalized while it had been parked at the restaurant. Yet, JC had figured that they would keep the car there in case Emily managed to somehow make her way back to the restaurant.

He sighed. All the possible explanations for the car to be there were giving him a headache. He got out of his car and slowly made his way to the front door, where he fumbled with his key to enter. Once he was inside, he walked into the kitchen and threw his keys down on the table, slightly cringing at the noise they made. He still wasn't getting very much sleep at night and it was causing his nerves to become edgy. He reached into the refrigerator and picked out a bottle of water before moving further into the house. He could see the light on his answering machine blinking and he rushed over to check the messages, praying that one would either be from Emily or from the police.

As he stood there waiting for the messages to begin, his eyes narrowed as he took in his couch. It looked as if someone had been sleeping on it because there was a blanket crumpled up at the end. He rolled his eyes as he figured that before all of this had happened, he had taken a nap and forgot to put the blanket back in place.

"JC...this is your mother...I haven't heard from you in a while and I'm worried about you. Give me a call when you get the chance," his mother said as the first message played. He sighed as disappointment already began to fill his spirits.

He hit the button to go to the next message and slowly took a drink of his water. "JC...this is Chris...give me a call whenever you have a chance...we're curious to know how this whole situation is playing out. Oh yeah...Johnny wants to have a meeting sometime soon but he's waiting on you to contact him so he can schedule it...so...give me a holla back."

JC couldn't help but groan. It seemed that Johnny was always waiting for him and he grew tired of having to be the planner of the group. For once, he'd like to be a follower so that some of the stress could be held back from him.

"End of Messages..." was what he heard next, startling out of his silent argument with himself.

"I need a shower," he said outloud as he sat the water down on the table next to his machine and ran up the stairs. He walked into his bedroom and stopped when he saw a woman walking out of his bathroom, wearing only a towel. His voice caught in his throat as he realized who it was. Her head was down, absorbed in something that she only knew.

"Emily..." he whispered as disbelief shocked him to the core.

Her head shot up and her eyes filled with joy as she saw who was standing in front of her. "JC..."

"When....how...ohmigosh," he said as he ran to her and swept her into his arms, her tiny frame fitting perfectly against him. "You're all right..."

She laughed slightly and pulled away from him, wiping away a tear of joy from her face. "I'm so glad to see you.."

"How did you get away...where is that bastard at?" JC said, as anger started to take over his emotions. "He didn't hurt you did he, Emily?"

"I'm fine," she told him as she lead him over to his bed and sat down on the edge, smiling up at him. "We worked things out...he's agreed to get help and he didn't harm me. I got here late last night and I didn't know where you were, so I just went to sleep and decided that you had to eventually come home. I left the cell phone you gave me back at the nasty cabin that Riley took me too...and it had your cell phone number stored in it. I had no way to find you..."

He wrapped his arms around her again and inhaled the fresh scent of her hair. "I'm just glad you're safe."

"I missed you," she said as she shyly looked at him, wanting to tell him how he had been the one to get her through the terrible ordeal, but she didn't know how to even begin.

"I missed you too," he said, wiping away one of her tears that had fallen. "As much as I want to be selfish...you need to let Whitney and Stephanie know that you're all right...they're worried sick about you."

"I could tell from Whitney's message," she said, laughing softly as JC smiled. "Thank you for being concerned about me...I really don't know what to say."

When she had mentioned 'Message', JC suddenly remembered what he had confessed to her over that message. "Emily...about that message..."

"What about it?" she asked, feeling confusion about his sudden change of tone.

"Did you listen to the entire message?"

She looked at him before nodding her head. "I listened to when you said hope to hear from you soon or something like that....why? JC...I'm confused...what's wrong?"

He took a deep breath and took her hands in his. "You didn't hear the entire message....Em...we've got to talk."

Chapter Twenty-Nine