Part 13
The Hart Remembers – Part Thirteen
Jonathan sagged against Herschel as if all of the life had drained out of him. Herschel eased his hold on him and turned to watch the burning building hoping with everything in him that somehow Jennifer hadn’t been in there when it went up. But he knew it was a futile hope. The information they had was solid. It was then that he remembered that the Clark girl was supposed to be out here somewhere. Strange that she hadn’t come forward. He hoped she hadn’t been inside as well.
Herschel turned to look at Jonathan who he realized was sobbing. It was heart wrenching to watch. It had taken seconds to reduce Jonathan Hart to a broken man. Hell, what would he do without Jennifer, she was his whole life.
Herschel put a hand on Jonathan’s shoulder to let him know he wasn’t alone and he looked up at Herschel with such sorrow. Jonathan turned to look at the burning building. There were sirens in the distance now, presumably the emergency services.
Just then Jonathan thought he saw movement through the smoke just past the building. He screwed up his eyes to get a better look and then thought he must have imagined it. But no, there it was again. It looked like…. No, it couldn’t be. He slowly got to his feet, not taking his eyes of the image he could see. Herschel looked up at him to see what he was doing and saw him staring intently past the burning building.
Herschel swung his head around to see what it was just as Jonathan started to move. My God was that…. Herschel stood also. Jonathan was running now trying frantically to make his legs move faster.
As he got closer, two figures emerged from the thick smoke and Jonathan launched himself at the taller one.
Jennifer was startled to find herself in Jonathan’s arms. It was like a miracle that he was suddenly there. She realized that she hurt quite a bit. It must have happened when she was knocked to the ground as the building exploded.
Jonathan stepped back to look at her as Herschel ushered them all a safe distance away from the burning building.
Just then the fire trucks burst into the yard and there was a flurry of activity as the firemen went about doing their job.
Jonathan was speechless. He had gone from despair to ecstasy in seconds and he couldn’t believe that he had Jennifer in his arms, alive and well.
“How?” he asked incredulously.
“Well, we have Jessica to thank that I am still alive. She saw Rhodes and his men leave and rushed into the building, grabbed the handcuff keys and freed me just seconds before the explosion. She was very brave and I am so thankful to her” Jennifer said as she looked around at Jessica and smiled at the girl.
Jonathan went over to Jessica and scooped her up into a bear hug. “Thank you so much for saving Jennifer. I will never be able to repay you”
Jessica looked embarrassed and said “It’s nothing; anyone else would have done the same.”
“No, some wouldn’t believe me, thanks again” He let her go and went back to take Jennifer in his arms again.
“Jonathan, you’re squeezing the life out of me” she said with a laugh in her voice.
“Sorry darling” he said as he loosened his hold on her a bit “I just can’t believe you’re alive, I really thought I’d lost you this time” Jennifer could feel him shaking and tightened her arms around him even though it hurt to do it.
Jonathan felt Jennifer wince a bit and stood back to look at her “Are you ok, I felt that wince. You’re not hurt are you?”
“I’m a bit sore; the explosion knocked us off our feet. I think I may have jarred my muscles. They are complaining a bit” she said with a small laugh.
Herschel had been watching the reunion with an indulgent smile on his face, happy that Jennifer was alive and that his friend wouldn’t have to live the rest of his life without the love of his life.
But he did need to ask some questions and as loath as he was to break up this happy reunion he had to ask them now.
“Jennifer, sorry to break this up but I need to talk to you for a minute if that’s ok?” he asked.
“Oh, hi Herschel, yeah that would be ok.”
“Do you know where Rhodes is?”
“No, not now, but he did say that he wanted to be close enough to see the explosion. He wanted to be sure he was rid of me for good. I guess he won’t be happy I thwarted him again” she said grimly.
“Ok, I have men on the look out for him. Can you give me any details of the vehicle he is driving at all” he asked.
“No. Maybe Jessica saw something more, she was outside”
“Great I’m about to question her anyway. She is just getting some medical attention from the Paramedics for a couple of nasty cuts to her face.”
“I was about the get some medical assistance for Jennifer also” Jonathan said as he grabbed her hand a dragged her over to the paramedics. He wasn’t taking any chances with her.
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Later, after Jennifer and Jessica were given the all clear by the paramedics, they were heading to the precinct to give their statements to Herschel while it was all still clear in their minds.
As Herschel was driving them all back his cell phone rang.
“Grey” he said briskly and then listened intently for a few minutes to what the person on the other end was saying. His face broke out into a huge smile “that’s fantastic news. What a stroke of luck” he listened some more and then ended the call by saying “Yeah, we’ll be there in about five minutes”
The others in the car looked at him curiously and he explained the call to them.
“Well, we’ve had a bit of luck tonight. Rhodes and his goons have been apprehended already. They were picked up by a patrol for a minor traffic violation. The traffic cop had already been briefed about Rhodes and recognised him. He immediately called for backup and they were arrested a little while ago. Rhodes is on his way to the precinct as we speak” he said with a huge grin.
After Herschel’s announcement there was a cheer from the others in the car.
“I didn’t think it would be so easy” Jonathan said grinning as he looked at Jennifer. She smiled weakly back at him and he thought to himself that she looked exhausted. He just wanted to get her home but realized that Herschel wanted everything in print tonight. Jonathan knew that he wouldn’t want any stuff ups that would allow Rhodes to go free once again.
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As Herschel’s car pulled up in front of the precinct another cruiser was pulling up at the same time. As Jonathan was getting out he idly looked across to the cruiser just in time to see Rhodes being handed out by a uniform cop.
Jonathan felt his blood pressure rise and before he knew what he was doing he had rushed across to them and had forced Rhodes up against the cruiser. He then slammed his fist into Rhodes face and split his lip. Rhodes staggered against the force of the blow and started to slide to the ground. Jonathan grabbed him by the throat and hauled him to his feet.
“You bastard, I should kill you for what you have done to my wife!” Jonathan screamed as he tightened his grip around Rhodes neck. Rhodes began to gasp as his airway was cut off. The officer was trying to pry Jonathan’s hands from around Rhodes neck but he wasn’t having any success.
Rhodes began to slide to the ground again as the pressure from Jonathan’s hands completely cut of his air supply. Jonathan followed him down, not letting the pressure ease. He was literally squeezing the life out of Rhodes.
Jonathan became aware of several hands on him trying to pry him of off his hated enemy but all he could see was a red haze. It felt as though his blood was boiling. The rage was making him so much stronger than normal and the others couldn’t loosen his grip.
Then he heard her, Jennifer, the love of his life, speaking to him softly “Jonathan don’t, please. You don’t want to kill him. If you do Herschel will have no other choice than to arrest you. I don’t want that, do you?”
Jonathan stilled when he heard her voice. She was calming him and his hands loosened from around Rhodes neck. Rhodes made an awful gasping noise as he was able to take in air once again. Jonathan pushed him away with disgust and stood up. He backed away, slightly horrified with what he had done. But on the other hand he couldn’t help feeling a little satisfied seeing Rhodes on the ground gasping for air.
Jonathan turned around to look at Jennifer. She looked distressed and had tears in her eyes. He felt horrified again that he was the cause of her distress. He quickly gathered her into his arms and held on for dear life. She was his reason for living.
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It was very late by the time they got home that night. Max and Maria were already in bed having been told that Jennifer was safe earlier in the night.
They were greeted by a very excited little dog as they let themselves into the quiet house. Jennifer scooped him up into her arms and cuddled him as he tried to cover her face in kisses. Jonathan watched this scene with an indulgent smile grateful that Jennifer was still here to make a fuss of the dog.
With the dog in her arms she turned to look at Jonathan and gave him one of her brilliant smiles. She noticed the look on his face and put the dog down to go to him wrapping her arms around him. He immediately hugged her back, both of them needing the comfort of the embrace.
Jonathan pulled back a little to look at her and said “Come on let’s go to bed, you look beat”
Jennifer tried to stifle a yawn, and grinned at him, nodding. They slowly made their way upstairs to the bedroom. It wasn’t long before both of them were fast asleep.
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The next few days went by in a blur. There were a lot of interviews with the police and FBI, not to mention the press. Jonathan also had a crisis at Hart Industries to deal with so it meant that he and Jennifer hardly saw each other. They just passed each other at breakfast in the morning and collapsed exhausted into bed at night.
Four days after Jennifer had nearly expired in the explosion Jonathan had had enough. He had barely had more than two minutes with her since it had all happened. They hadn’t even made love and he desperately wanted to, needed to.
So he decided that enough was enough. They wouldn’t get any peace at home so he began making plans for some time away from it all.
Two days later he had everything organized. He hadn’t told Jennifer what he was planning and with the help of Maria and Max it stayed a secret until the last minute.
Jennifer was in her study trying to sort through the mess that Sanchez had made when he was looking for the disks. She was becoming very frustrated as all of her files were mixed up and there were papers everywhere.
“Jennifer, can you come here please?” she heard Jonathan say from the living room. What was he doing home at this time of the day? Curious she rose from her chair and walked into the living room to be confronted by not only Jonathan but Maria and Max too. The three of them were grinning broadly at her and she wondered what they were up to.
“What’s going on?” she said with a small smile.
The others just kept grinning at her and as she came further into the room she could see all of the luggage and provisions packed up and waiting at the door to be loaded into the car.
“Going somewhere?” she asked enquiringly to Jonathan whose grin widened even further.
“Yes, my darling” he answered her and she just looked at him puzzled.
“Oh, well, have a good trip then, I guess” she said losing the smile from her face.
Jonathan laughed at her and she frowned at him. It wasn’t like him to keep his travel plans from her and she didn’t like the feeling much. In fact she was starting to feel angry that he hadn’t told her he was going away.
They had barely spent any time together since she almost died and she had hoped that this weekend they could have some quality time together. She had been feeling a bit emotional since all of this had happened and she could feel the tears pricking at her eyes. She blinked a couple of times to stop them, damned if she would cry.
“No, darling, you don’t understand. You are coming too. In fact we are all going.” Jonathan said reassuringly and was pleased to see the hurt look ease from her face.
“After the last few days I think we all deserve a break away. We can’t get any peace here so I thought it would be great to get away.”
Jennifer smiled at him then knowing that she had over reacted a bit.
“That’s great darling, but what about Max, he’s supposed to be in school and….”
“It’s ok, I have spoken to his teacher and she has set some work for him to do while we are away. It’s only going to be for a few days anyway”
Jennifer smiled at him and said “Ok. So where are we going then?”
“It’s a surprise” was all he said.