Water Ch. 144 - I'll Hold On To You, Hold On To Me

 

Beth wakes up to the sound of Romeo crying.  She's at first startled, confused and then she panics.  She jumps out of bed, grabs her robe and heads down the hall to the sound of his cries.  When she bolts into the spare bedroom, she sees Stephanie trying to change his shirt.  "What's going on?"  She asks, rubbing her eye.

 

Stephanie tells her, "Dad wants me to get him cleaned up so we can go to dinner."  And she manages to change his shirt and get him to calm down.  Romeo seen his Beth and he was all better.  Running to her, she picked him up and gave him a kiss.

 

"Hi little man."  And she kisses him again.  "Where's your daddy?"  Romeo wiggles and tells Beth down.  Beth sets the little guy down and he takes off out of the room.  Stephanie and Beth follow him to the living room where Jon is with the Jake and Jesse.  Jon is on the phone and Beth can see that he's very upset.  He's sitting on the edge of a couch cushion, with his head in his right hand.  He's nodding his head and saying, "Mmmmhmmm."  repeatedly.

 

Beth looks at Jesse, "Who's he talking to?"  She mouths to him.  Jesse shrugs his shoulders, telling Beth that he had no idea who it was.  Beth sits down on the couch across from Jon.  He notices her and looks up.  Winking at her, he holds up one finger, indicating that he's going to be a minute. 

 

Jake and Romeo had started a game of tag, running through Beth's open floor NYC apartment, that isn't very childproof.  Watching the boys, she makes a mental note that they needed to baby proof and get this place ready for babies.  She sees all of the Brian mementos and knows that she has to put them away.  And that hurts her a little bit, but she knows that they need a fresh place. 

 

Jon gets off the phone and looks at his family and asks them, "Who wants to go out to the Hampton's?  We can have dinner at the Parrot." 

 

Beth gives him a look, asking what's up.  The kids all want to go out to the Hampton's.  There's a pool and alot of friends out in the Hampton's, of course the kids want to go.

 

"Who was on the phone, babe?"  Beth asks Jon, wondering what the hell is going on.

 

He gives her a look to let her know, not now.  They will talk about it later.  And Beth accepts that.  She knows that she has to put a little trust and alot of faith in what he's doing. 

 

"Jon, I have to work in the morning.  I can't go out there today.  I can come out this weekend?"  she doesn't have a good feeling about this.  Why does he need to run out to the Hampton's? 

 

Jon stands up and says, "Come on."  with a nod towards the kitchen.  Beth follows him in there, dying to know what the hell is going on.

 

In the kitchen, Beth hops up on the counter.  Jon walks up to her and gives her a kiss.  "How was your nap?"

 

"It was good, what's going on?"

 

"Do you feel rested?  Did we wake you when we came in?" he asks, hoping they were quiet enough.

 

Beth laughs and says, "I woke up to Romeo crying.  Scared me a little bit."  She wraps her legs around him so he can't get away.  With her hands on each side of his face, she asks him again, "What's going on?"

 

Jon lets out a little laugh and starts to tell her, "We leaked too soon.   We should have gotten out of the city when we had the chance."

 

"What do  you mean?"

 

"Well babe, you're famous.  We should have not made your name public or we should have left the city when we left Ken's office.  There are about 50 reporters downstairs."  He can't help but smile when he sees that bit of information settle in.

 

"Seriously?" she's amazed.  It's only been a few hours.  She looks at the time on the microwave.  It's 6:30.  "There are reporters downstairs?

 

"Yep, between paparazzi and reporters, it was a bitch getting in here.  I had to go around back."

 

"That's why you want to go to the Hampton's?  Cause there are people down stairs?  We can  just go back to Jersey." she tells him.

 

Jon doesn't want her to see that he's concerned and he doesn't want to tell her that the phone call he was on was regarding a death threat towards her.  He doesn't want to, but he knows that he has too.  He promised no more secrets.  "The call I was on, that was the New York Police Department.  There was a couple of death threats made toward you.  I want to get you out of the city."  he winces and looks at her, waiting for her reaction.

 

Beth sits there a few moments and processes what she just heard.  She wasn't sure that she heard him right.  "Did you say there were death threats made towards me?" 

 

He nods his head yes.

 

"Threats made toward me?" again, she asks.  She can feel herself getting warm, she can feel herself slightly feeling violated.

 

"There were tow calls made, that were specific to you, to Ken's office.  Two separate callers, but both said that they were going to kill you."  He slides his hands around her waist and just holds her.  "I get these alot, but now they involve you, so, you and the kids are going on vacation until this dies down."

 

That was all she needed to hear, "I am not going on vacation, Jon.  It's probably just a fan that's upset.  There can't be any validity to them."  She's trying to convince Jon of something that she really isn't all too convinced of herself.

 

He firms up and tells her, without hesitation, "You are going on vacation.  We aren't taking any chances Beth.  And it isn't open for discussion."  he steps back.  He knows she wants to get down and pace.  He really think that she wants to get down and scream.

 

Beth slides off the counter and starts to pace, just as Jon thought she would.  She can hear that the kids turned the TV on and that they're watching cartoons.  "Jon, I don't want to run and hide.  I mean, we're having babies - how long do we go away for?"  Running her fingers through her hair, Jon can see that she is getting a little worried.

 

Taking her hand, he says, "It should only be a couple of days.  You can work from home."  Kissing her hand, he continues with, "It will be in tomorrows paper, so we can expect another threat or two, and we are taking them all serious. " 

 

"There has to be something that we can do?  Hire security.  Yeah, we can hire security, we were just talking about that."  She gets a little excited, thinking that she has solved the problem.

 

He shakes his head no, and adds, "That's not going to cut it.  I want you out of the city, away from any place that is associated with you, with us."

 

She stands there and looks at him, she doesn't know what to say.  She feels defeated and now trapped.  After a few moments of silence, she just asks him, "Are we ever going to have a life?"  And she leaves the kitchen.

 

Walking through the living room, with Jon right behind her, Jesse asks them, "Are we going to the Hampton's dad?"

 

"We are, sit tight for a few minutes.  Beth needs to get dressed."  And he disappears with Beth. 

 

The two of them are in the master bathroom and Jon can see that Beth is pissed.  This is one of those instances that you don't prepare for, if there is a preperation. 

 

She drops her robe on the floor and puts her bra and panties on.  She wasn't putting her suit back on, so she grabbed clothes out of her closet.  And she's doing with attitude.  "Goddamn it Jon, I don't like this.  I don't like this feeling of being so unsettled and up in the air.  Things were going so good, these last few days have been wonderful."

 

"Hey, hey" he walks up to her and puts his hands on her shoulders, "This is temporary.  And we are going to be on the cautious side, it's always better to be safe than sorry.  Plus, it's the Hamptons."

 

"Not funny!"

 

"Please do this for me, without a fight."

 

She puts on a pair of jeans and a tshirt.  "I'll go, Jon.  Are the kids ready to go......we don't have anything that we need......my vitamins are at home.......school starts next week.......Romeo has a check up next week and so do I.......I just went back to work.........."  Jon walks up to her again and just holds her.  He can see that she is on the verge of a mild meltdown.  She wakes up from a nap and finds out that there are people that literally want her dead.  That's alot for anyone to take in, especially a high risk preganant woman.  "How do we get out of here?"

 

"The NYPD is already downstairs.  I'll walk out the front door and you and the kids will go out the back.  I'll meet you down the block, when they see that I'm not being followed.  There are undercover cops out back waiting for you and the kids."

 

"This is fucking crazy."  She grabs her purse and her messenger bag and says, "Let's go."  ANd she leaves the room.  He stands there and is feeling frustrated and scared.  He wants nothing more than to protect her and his kids - even the unborn ones.

 

In the living room, Jon explains to the kids that they need to go out back with Beth and he would see them in a few minutes.  Stephanie and Jesse are a little familiar with the ingognito way of life, so they are fine with it.  Stephanie helps Beth get Jake and Romeo safely in the unmarked SUV, after Jon had kissed them all goodbye.  He gives te last kiss to Beth and tells her, "Until next time."  That made her cry, and smile all at the same time. 

 

Jon parted from his family and went as a decoy out the front door.  Romeo's bag in one hand and Beth's in the other.  The crowd had gotten bigger and the police presence had done nothing to scare them off.  A pregnant mistress was big news........