"You sounded frantic when you called," Taggert said, pulling Gia into his arms.

"Frantic doesn't even begin to cover it. They had a warrant! They went through my things. They touched everything!" Gia said. She felt safe in his arms.

"It must have been awful. If I had known I would have come, but Mac kicked me off the case. I'm out of the loop," he replied wearily.

She went to sit down on the chair in his apartment.  "They think I killed Emily! Why...how..." Gia sputtered.

Taggert lowered his eyes to study the toes of his shoes. Gia caught this. "You don't actually think I had anything to do with Emily's murder, do you?"

"I heard the tape."

"Yeah, well it seems to have gotten around.  I may have been connected to Stefan. Emily may have been blackmailing me, but that does not make me a cold blooded killer!"  she complained fiercely. "I didn't have anything to do with it."

"Nothing? Gia, goodness, they are systematically building a case against you. You could end up in prison."

"I won't go to prison because I didn't kill  anybody."

Taggert  wanted to believe her, but he couldn't deny his police instincts. Everything in  him  screamed that Gia was in this up to her eyeballs. "Where were you the night of the murder?"

She hesitated for the slightest fraction of a second. Inside, she kept reminding herself to play it cool. There was no reason for her to lose her freedom along with everything else. "I was with Nikolas."

"All night?"

"Really Mark, that's a little personal, but yes I was. All night."

"Then why is Elizabeth Webber telling every cop that will listen that she saw you heading towards the docks when she was going home?"

"Because she' s a lying bitch!" Gia  retorted, trying to contain her anger. Elizabeth Webber strikes again.  The girl always popped up  at the wrong time, chock full of information that no one wanted to hear. "I was with Nikolas," Gia protested adamantly.

"Is that the story Nikolas is going to tell?"

"We're kind of at odds at the moment. I don't know how reliable his word is. He was pissed at me."

"Gee, I wonder why?" Taggert sarcastically remarked. "You did lie to him. Spy on him. Take his money..."

"Pledge my undying love! I love him and that is all that should  matter. It's okay, though. I'll make him see that I am sorry. He'll forgive me."

"Will he?"

"Eventually!" she snapped, her doubt bleeding through. She had called Nikolas all last night after the police had left. He hadn't answered or called her back. She was sick with worry. What if he  did something stupid? All she wanted was for him to be safe.

And  for him to come back to her.

Was that too much to ask for?

Taggert put a gentle hand  on his sister's shoulder.  "I want this to all work out for you. I have to head back to work, you try and stay out of jail, okay?"

Gia smiled, standing up to hug her brother. "I'm doing my best. Oh, and don't tell Mama! She's out of town, there is no reason to have her flying back from Florida because of this. She might have another heart attack."

"Gia-" Taggert started to protest.

"It'll all blow over, Mark."

Taggert nodded his head, but he didn't believe. Murder charges didn't "blow over."  ~*~   ~*~ Three hours later, Gia sat at her desk staring down at Dr. Jones' appointment book. She had just finished rescheduling one of his patients for a more convenient day.  He was out of town on a conference and she had been seriously considering going home early. She was still feeling lousy.  Her conversation with her brother hadn't helped. She could tell he didn't believe her.

As she flipped through the pages of the date book,  her stomach churned slowly. She stopped suddenly, her fingers paused in mid air. Her eyes grew wide as she shifted through the pages. She found herself looking at the calendar of the month before. Her finger viciously stabbed each little box  with a number higher than ten. There was a silent count occurring in her head. She flipped the page to the current month. The count continued. When she was done. She went through the whole procedure again.

The count was the same.

Twenty three had long since come and gone.

44...44....44....44...44...

She laid her head across the cool pages of Tony Jones' appointment book. It couldn't be. It just couldn't be...

It had been three weeks since nothing happened.  She hadn't noticed. She had been busy. And now, three weeks...

She counted again. Then, she counted again.  Then, she  multiplied the number by two. 88...88...88...

Then she cried.

Then she counted again.

Then she picked up the phone and  dialed an extension that she had fumbled around to find. When the phone was finally picked up and a polite voice answered, Gia said, "Ummm...I would like to make an appointment to see Dr. Neuman. Today! Now!" ~*~  ~*~ ~*~

Nikolas stood on the deck of Helena's yacht. He stared blankly at the murky blue water. He closed his eyes as Helena came up behind him, her hand rubbing his back. "Are you feeling better this  morning?"  she asked. 

The lack of true concern in her voice didn't go unnoticed. "No."

"Perhaps you would feel better if you ate something."

"I doubt it."

"You really must take care of yourself."

He pulled away, stalking back down to the state room. Was he really  letting Helena comfort him? There was something seriously wrong with that.  Helena? The evil woman who had kidnapped Lucky? 

Surely there was someone else he could have confided in. His mother. Lucky. Elizabeth. Alexis.

But last night, it had seemed to him that no one could be trusted. He was surrounded by liars. Helena had seemed to be the only one who didn't hide the fact. She had known that everyone was  playing him for a fool. She had known...a lot of things.

She didn't seem surprised when he showed up.

She never seemed surprised about anything.

Helena  came floating into the room. "Nikolas, you should really just forget about Gia.  That girl is trash, anyway. But, never fear, she  will be dealt with."

"What does that mean?" Nikolas asked, his heart starting to beat faster as he saw the devilish delight in his grandmother's eyes.

"It means that it's time to take the trash out." ~*~  ~*~  ~*~

Stefan was attacked from behind.  The fingernails in the back of  his neck sent pain shivering through him. The fist that beat down on his shoulder sent him staggering into the wall.  His  hand  flew behind him and came into contact an abundance of  braids. He grabbed a handful of them and yanked Gia  around to face him.

"What do you think you're doing?!" he demanded in a breathless rage.

"I'm  trying to injure you, Einstein! Duh, I was hoping for internal bleeding but  you're way too quick for me."  She winced as  his grip on her hair tightened. "Let go of my hair!" she shrieked. 

He pulled her around the corner into his office. Only then did he release the death grip he had on her hair. "I should have expected this kind of behavior from a criminal like yourself."

"Look who's talking! This is all your fault. You've destroyed my life. Nikolas' life. "

"I assume he broke off his relationship with you?"

"Yes, he did. I bet you didn't fare any better."

"No, I didn't. He despises me."

"Something else Nikolas and I have in common."

Stefan glared at her. "You have no reason to hate me. You made your own decisions. I've the most to lose here!"

She tried to hit him again, but he caught both of her wrists. "HOW have you the most to lose? I'm losing everything here!  Your sucky little uncle-slash-father monstrosity is nothing compared  to what is left between Nikolas and me!"

"Are you referring to all of the bills he won't be paying for you?"

Hysterically, Gia bellowed, "NO! I'm referring to the baby that I'm carrying! I'm pregnant!"
~*~  ~*~  ~*~

End of chapter Twenty One, Please e-mail any feedback by clicking on the mailbox below :)

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