Crossing the Line

Jackie heard footsteps coming down the hall and keys in the slot. She rubbed her eyes and sat up straight at the island waiting for her best friend to walk in. “Hey Jackie! How’s Lulu doing?” Cam asked reaching down to pet Tazer. “What are you talking about?” Jackie asked frowning and feeling the tears well again. “Adam called me last night to let me know that Lulu was sick and Tuukka was worried since she hadn’t called so I came to check on her,” Cam explained confused by Jackie’s reaction. At his words she burst into tears again, sobbing hysterically. “She’s… she’s… not… here,” Jackie choked out in between sobs collapsing forward onto the island. “What do you mean?” Cam asked sitting down next to her and wrapping an arm around her shaking shoulders. Jackie tried to tell him but choked on her words causing her to cry harder. “It’s okay Jack just let it out, and breathe. Breathing is important,” Cam said kissing the top of her head and rubbing her back. She continued to cry until her sobs turned into hiccups. “So why don’t we try this again. Lulu’s not here so she’s probably at work or something. But why are you so upset that she’s not here?” he asked letting his worry show through. Jackie took a shaky breath and averted her eyes. “Dougie and I had a really big fight and he said some things that really hurt me. He apologized and swore it would never happen again but he can’t promise not to say things in the heat of the moment that won’t hurt as bad. How can I trust him not to really hurt me like that again?” Jackie asked wiping away the few tears that fell while she spoke. Cam swallowed hard already wanting to kill Dougie for making Jackie cry. “Do you want to tell me what this big fight was about? It might help me give you advice,” Cam suggested not sure if it was a big fight over something stupid or something meaningful. Jackie rested her head on Cam’s shoulder letting a few more tears escape before she spoke. “He accused me of not wanting to tell anyone about the baby when really I just want to make sure I won’t miscarry before we tell everyone,” she said softly tears welling her eyes.

She felt him stiffen and Cam’s hands clenched into fists. “He’s a moron. Of course you want to tell everyone but it’s understandable why you wanted to wait. I can also see his position though. He’s just as terrified as you are and wants to be a team. Not that justifies anything he said to you and if he ever does it again I’ll kill him,” Cam said trying to calm himself down and help Jackie feel better. “Regardless, I think that in the heat of the moment he won’t ever say anything as horrible as that because this incident will be in the back of his mind even at his worst,” Cam continued kissing her head. Jackie sniffled and nodded her head taking comfort in his words. “Now how about we watch a movie and wait for Lulu to come home so you can have girl talk with her? As alike as we are, I’m no Lulu when it comes to girl talk,” he said making Jackie laugh. She stood up to walk into the other room but Cam swept her off her feet bridal style. “Allow me, lady with a baby should be taken care of in style,” Cam teased walking into the next room. The two were laughing when Cam set her down gently on the couch with Tazer protectively sitting next to her. “You can pick what we watch before you ask,” Jackie said tossing him the remote for Apple TV so he could go through Netflix. “We’re watching a Christmas movie. I haven’t seen one yet so you have to watch one with me,” Cam decided plopping next to Jackie and letting her get comfortable leaning against his shoulder. “Let me guess, White Christmas?” Jackie teased knowing it was both Logan and Cam’s favorite Christmas movie. “Shut up or I’m telling Donna and both Patricks,” Cam mock threatened. Jackie gasped in fake horror. “You wouldn’t!” she exclaimed moving back suddenly in a way that caused Tazer to growl at Cam as though he was a threat. Jackie shushed Tazer with a laugh and Cam repeated for her to shut up as the movie credits started to play.

Logan woke up in a bed that wasn’t hers, in room she had never seen before, with an arm around her waist that didn’t belong to her best friend and a pounding headache. She took a deep breath and tried to remember what was going but she couldn’t figure it out, her head was pounding too much. Lying still she searched through her memory to try to remember why her head hurt so much. When the arm around her waist tightened Logan’s heart sped up, it was the arm that had made her head hurt. Alex had hit her. He had said that he hadn’t wanted to but she left him no choice since Logan wouldn’t comply. “Good morning love,” Alex whispered propping himself up on his elbow to lean over and kiss Logan’s cheek. Logan stiffened but didn’t say anything; she had chosen silence as her form of resistance. “Oh please don’t tell me you’re still mad at me. I said I was sorry and I meant it, I don’t want to hurt you, you just didn’t give me any other options,” Alex said tracing his fingers along her bare hip. Logan felt goose bumps rise where his touch was and felt more violated by the caress than when he had forced himself on her. “Please don’t be mad Logs,” Alex pleaded kissing the back of her neck. Trying to fight the tears threatening to fall Logan attempted to get out of the bed but his arm tightened anchoring her in place. “Logan I know it was only our first night together, you need to remember that we’re going to be together until Christmas so you can meet my mother. If you promise not to tell her anything you can call Jackie later or maybe tomorrow,” Alex continued now running his hand along her side. Logan looked up at him her eyes questioning if he was serious. “Yes, I promise you can call Jackie today as long as you don’t tell her anything but you have to call her from a phone that isn’t yours,” Alex said. “And you have to be good today, no more fighting me,” he added leaning down to kiss her. Wanting to talk to Jackie more than anything Logan let him kiss her instead of pursing her lips into a tight seam like she had done the night before. “Now that wasn’t so bad now was it,” he smiled down at her placing a small kiss on her nose.

When Logan never came home after work Jackie started panic more than before. Jackie started to search for her phone to call Cam before work. “She’s not home. Her shift ended an hour ago,” Jackie said trying not to cry. “Maybe she called Tuukka since she missed him last night, and they physically can’t go a day without talking to each other,” Cam reasoned feeling his worry grow. Logan must have gotten caught up at work; she would never leave or not come home. Especially not when Jackie was having issues with Dougie and pregnant. “If she isn’t home when I get home tonight I’m going to call you and we’re going to have to do something. We’re going to have to call my parents and her work but we can’t tell Tuukka because the last thing he needs right now is his best friend MIA. Oh lord if we tell him and he goes ballistic and does something stupid like try to start a goalie fight or hurt someone Logan will kill him,” Jackie ranted grabbing clean scrubs and trying to keep herself from losing it. Cam chuckled on the other end of the line and agreed with her. “Now get to work, you have babies waiting for you,” he teased hanging up. Jackie smiled; Cam made her feel better just like he always had. When her first boyfriend had broken up with her she was too afraid to tell Pat and told Cam instead and rather than going right to killing the boy in question he cheered her up, then went after the kid with Pat. “All right Tazer, I’m going to work but don’t worry I’m sure Logan will be here soon to keep you company,” she said petting the puppy on her way out the door. Even though she had promised herself not to Jackie checked her phone every few seconds on her way to the hospital just in case Logan called or texted. Walking into the Brigham Jackie turned her phone off, she couldn’t check it at work anyway so it wouldn’t matter if Logan called during her shift.

Logan stood at the hotel’s front desk glancing around hoping Alex would let her talk to Jackie in peace. “Excuse me Miss,” she whispered to the woman who had agreed to let her make the phone call. The woman gave her a look and noticed the forming bruise on Logan’s face. “What can I do for you honey?” she asked seeing the way Logan fidgeted a little whenever someone walked behind her. “My name is Logan Brennett and I need to call my best friend, I’m willing to pay you if you can keep the dark haired man over by the windows away from me while I call her,” Logan whispered leaning forward. “Of course dear, I’ll do it no need to pay,” she responded letting Logan call and walking around the lobby to talk to the guests. “Hi Jackie it’s me, I can’t tell you where I am because I’m afraid he’s listening and I can’t tell you where I’m going because I don’t know. I hope everything is going okay with Dougie and the baby and I’m sorry you’re probably worrying about me. Don’t call my phone because he threw it out the window yesterday somewhere outside the city. He might be listening right now and that makes me worried. I love you okay? I love you Jackie. And Cam, tell him I love him. And Pat, and Erica, and Jess, and Mama, and Papa Kaner, and Tuukka, and Dougie, and the girls,” Logan said trying not to cry while leaving the message on her best friend’s voicemail. “I have to go Jackie, I’ll see you soon,” Logan finished hurriedly. After hanging up she wiped away the tears that had made their way onto her cheeks and took a deep breath. Continuing to remind herself to breathe Logan walked over to where the front desk lady was flirting with Alex. “There’s my girl, I told you she was real,” Alex said with a laugh wrapping his arm around Logan. “Well hun you have a good boyfriend here, he wouldn’t take my number no matter what I offered,” she said winking at Logan. Logan laughed and allowed Alex to pull her into his side knowing if she didn’t he would be upset with her repressing their relationship. “While we have you, can I grab our room key so I can take her up the room?” Alex asked with a devilish grin. The front desk woman smiled and went to check them in making sure she wrote down Logan’s name, the room they were staying in and a side note to send room service up at a random time in case something was going wrong.

“She called,” Jackie sobbed into the phone when Cam answered. “What are you talking about?” he asked rubbing the sleep from his eyes and looking at the clock, it was three in the morning. “I just got off my shift and she left me a message, we have to do something. He threw her phone out the window and I don’t know where they’re going because she doesn’t know,” Jackie continued to cry. It took Cam a minute to figure out what she was talking about. “Lulu,” he whispered, his heart starting to race. “We have to do something,” Jackie said before sobbing hysterically into the phone. “Jackie go home and get into bed, I’m coming over,” Cam told her getting out of bed and grabbing his keys not even bothering with a shirt. Staying on the line he let Jackie continue to cry as he drove over offering a few words of comfort as she cried. “Alright Jack, I’m hanging up because I’m about the run up the stairs,” Cam said putting his phone in the pocket of his sweatpants before jogging up the stairs. Letting himself into the girls’ condo he found Jackie in bed just like he had told her to. “I’m here Jackie, it’s okay. We’ll figure it out when we wake up. Just go to sleep Jack,” Cam soothed letting her cry into his chest and brushing his fingers through her hair. “Just get some sleep Jackie, it will be better in the light of day,” Cam said, something Logan had always said when they had problems at night. Clinging to Cam she cried herself to sleep, knowing that at least in the morning they could work on figuring out what was going on with Logan.

Notes