Three days passed before Emily was really able to get up and move without help. Parker had not left her side during that time. He had cooked her meals, helped her bathe and dress and had even managed to keep the house pretty clean.

He had insisted that Emily keep a pistol beside her at all times and he had worn one in a holster on his hip. Emily had not argued with him. She knew that he blamed himself for what had happened and she didn't want to upset him by refusing the protection he was trying to offer her now.

Ed had gone home the day after the attack saying that watching Parker play mother hen was disturbing, unnatural and driving him crazy. They had had nearly constant company between Tyler, Anna, Greg, Ed and Hank. Even Russell Hawke had stopped by once to check on Emily.

"Parker, I just want to run to town and pick up my paycheck from the diner. I'll be back in less than an hour." Emily said matter-of-factly.

"Wait until Wyatt wakes up from his nap and I'll take you." Parker replied without looking away from the tv. Emily shook her head.

"By then the bank will be closed." she said.

"Fine, I'll go get Wyatt up now then." Parker said. Emily laid her hand on his arm.

"Parker, it will be fine. Don't wake him up because you know how cranky he gets."

"Then I'll go get your paycheck and I'll get someone to come sit with you." he said his eyes daring her to argue. She squared her shoulders and met his challenge.

"I need to get out of this house, Parker. It will only take me forty-five minutes or so to get to town and get back." she said.

"Yea and what if John is out there waiting for you…. What happened to you being scared to death of the man?" he demanded.

"I'll take my pistol with me." she promised. "If he does try anything, I'll shoot him." Parker didn't like that idea at all but he knew that Emily needed to get out of the house and he was sure that she was feeling smothered by how closely he'd hovered over her the last few days. Reluctantly he nodded.

"Fine." he said. "But you do not stop that car for anyone or anything except at the diner and the bank and if you are not back within an hour then I'm calling Tyler and we'll both come looking for you." he said.

Emily kissed his cheek and stood up grabbing her purse off the hook by the newly patched front door.

"I love you, Parker." she said.

"I love you too." he replied. She smiled the best she could with her still swollen lips. He always said 'I love you' back to her now… It didn't matter who was around. She guessed that almost losing her for real had changed him.

Emily got in her car and made the long drive to town. She walked in the diner and Paula hugged her gently.

"So good to see you out and about." she said in her raspy voice. "When do you think you'll be able to start back because your replacement is driving me crazy." she added looking over at the tall brunette who was currently flirting with a male customer.

"I don't know for sure yet. I had to beg Parker just to let me leave the house today."

"I don't blame him, baby girl. That man sure did a number on you." Paula said looking at her bruised arms visible under her t-shirt. Emily nodded.

"Do you have my paycheck ready? I need to be getting back home before Parker gets too worried and paces a hole in the floor." Paula laughed and walked back into the kitchen. She came out a minute later and handed Emily an envelope.

"There ya go, baby girl. Get to feeling better soon… for my sake." she added throwing a glance over at the brunette waitress. Emily laughed the best she could with her still sore body

888

Emily walked out of the bank and climbed gingerly back into her car. She started the engine and headed for home. She was just pulling out of town when she saw a red blazer pull up behind her. The blazer got so close to her back bumper that Emily was sure there was less than an inch separating them.

Emily felt a moment of irritation. She had never been able to stand people tailgating her. She looked in the rear view mirror and her irritation quickly turned into fear.

It was a man in the blazer and he was wearing a baseball cap and big sunglasses… Emily looked up at the cloudy sky and then back at the man behind her. He had an icy cold smile that Emily would recognize anywhere since she had seen it many times over the last three years.

Emily laid her hand on the pistol in the passenger seat next to her and gripped the steering wheel tight with her other hand. She pushed the gas pedal a little harder and then screamed when she felt the blazer slam into the back of her tiny Corsica.

She nearly lost control of her car as she slid around the road. When she finally managed to get the vehicle under control she was surprised when instead of feeling fear she felt anger. Pure, simple anger. Without putting much thought into what she was doing she quickly hit the brakes and brought the car to a stop. She saw John put the blazer in park behind her.

She saw him pull off his hat and sunglasses and step out of his car and start toward her with long deliberate strides. He stopped dead in his tracks when Emily threw her driver door open and jumped from the car aiming the pistol at his chest.

He threw his hands up in the air and stood rooted to the ground twenty feet from her.

"What the hell do you want, John?" Emily demanded. She didn't know where her sudden courage was coming from. All she knew was that she was sick and tired of being afraid.

"Are you really going to shoot me?" he asked his voice cold and emotion free. Emily shrugged.

"I might. I probably should. You deserve it." she replied. That same cold grin appeared back on John's face and he took a step toward her. Emily aimed the pistol up in the air and fired off a shot and she saw real fear enter John's face for the first time. She lowered the pistol back to him and shook her head.

"You better not come any closer." she said, her voice sounding stronger and more confident now that she finally had the upper hand with him. He might be able to beat her with his feet and his fists but he was no match for the gun in her hands. He seemed to realize this too.

"Go home, John. Go back to New York and we'll just forget that all of this ever happened." Emily said laying a gentle hand on her ribs.

"What about Parker? He seems like the eye for an eye type. Is he willing to forget that all this happened?" John asked.

"Yes." Emily lied. John laughed at her and Emily wished that she was a better liar.

"You better just kill me Emily because I will never stop coming for you. You are mine." John said his voice as hard as steel. Emily put both hands on the pistol as she aimed it at his chest. She took a deep breath to try to still her shaking hands but it was no use.

She wanted to kill him but she could not bring herself to do it. She felt sweat trickling down her face and back.

"Leave, John. Get out of here." she said, though even she could hear the shaking in her voice. John stepped backwards back to his car.

"All right, Emily. I'm leaving. But I'll be seeing you around." he said with that same cold threatening smile on his face. Emily swallowed hard around the lump in her throat as he turned the blazer and drove away back toward town.

Emily's knee's nearly buckled with relief when he rode out of view. She got back in her car and started quickly for home, trying to calm her shaking nerves. She did not want Parker to know what had just happened. He was already on edge and this was liable to send him over. Add to that the fact that she had disobeyed his orders and had not only stopped her car knowing that it was John behind her but had also gotten out and spoken to him… Emily did not want to see what Parker's reaction to that would be.

When Emily pulled in the driveway she saw Parker standing in the big living room window watching for her. She could see the relief on his face when he saw her. He was on the porch waiting for her when she walked up and he wrapped his arms gently around her.

"I was getting worried." he said gently as he let go of her and followed her into the house. Emily smiled the best she could through her nervousness and walked into the kitchen. She sat her purse and pistol on the table and then began to fill the sink with hot water to wash the small pile of dirty dishes.

"What's wrong?" Parker asked. He could tell by the way she was still scrubbing that already clean plate that there was something wrong with her. She always cleaned with a passion when she was upset about something.

"Nothing." she replied too quickly. "Why would you think something was wrong?" Parker grabbed her arm and spun her around gently so she was facing him. She refused to meet his gaze and instead looked down at her feet. Parker breathed out an irritated breath and put his finger under her chin, tilting her head up so she had no choice but to look at him.

"Something must have happened while you were gone. You were fine before you left and now you are shaking like a leaf and scared to death. What happened?"

"I saw him." she replied quietly. She saw the anger flash in his brown eyes and she bit her lip. "See that's why I didn't want to tell you. I knew you would be upset."

"Of course I'm upset!" Parker declared angrily. "That's exactly why I didn't want you going out by yourself.. I knew that jackass was still around." He pulled her close to him and held her as tightly as he could without hurting her.

"Where did you see him?" he asked after several moments of just holding her close.

"He followed me out of town." she replied in a quiet voice.

"What was he driving? No one has seen his car…" Emily shook her head against his chest.

"He wasn't in his car. He was in a old red blazer." she said. Parker kissed her hair.

"You said he followed you out of town… What happened? When did he stop?" Emily was silent and Parker pulled her away from him and looked down at her.

"Em, what did you do?" he asked. Emily could see the muscles in his stubble covered jaw tensing.

"I scared him away." she replied simply. Parker clenched his fists.

"How?"

"I got out of my car and told him to leave or I was going to shoot him." she replied as quickly as she could while turning back to the sink. She heard Parker let out an irritated growl and stomp across the room.

Parker paced the room working hard to let his anger run its course before he said another word to her. He knew that the last thing she needed right now was for him to yell at her. She had been yelled at and beaten too often the last couple of years and he was not going to yell and risk causing her to be afraid of him.

Finally he was calm enough to walk back over to her and start rinsing the dishes she was washing.

"Didn't I tell you not to stop for anything? That kind of included stopping to have a conversation with the man who wants to kill you." he said. Emily could tell how hard he was working to keep his voice calm and she loved him so much for that. She was already feeling so weak, scared and full of nerves at the moment that if he would have yelled she would have completely broken down.

"I'm sorry, Parker…."

"What have I told you about apologizing all the time?" he asked.

"Ok fine. I'm not really sorry. I wanted to stand up to him finally and since I had the pistol…"

"I understand." Parker said and Emily could tell that he meant it. Parker did understand why she had done what she had done. She had wanted to show John that she was no longer helpless and Parker admired her courage even though it made his blood run cold in his veins to think that John could have gotten his hands on her again.

"I'll call Tyler and let him know." Parker said. Just then Wyatt cried out from his crib.

"I'll get the baby." Emily said, leaving the room quickly.

888

"I found the blazer outside of the other side of town. But there was no sign of John and when I ran the serial number the car came up stolen." Tyler said as he leaned against the living room wall. Parker cursed under his breath and wrapped a protective arm around Emily sitting next to him on the couch bouncing Wyatt on her knee.

Tyler, Anna, Greg, Ed and Hank had all gathered at Parker and Emily's house after hearing about her run in with John.

"He can't be allowed to keep following her around and coming after her." Anna said with desperation in her voice. Tyler wrapped an arm around her plump waist and kissed her hair.

"He's not going to." Parker promised. "He's going to die real soon."

"Should you really say that in front of law enforcement?" Greg asked from the kitchen table. Tyler shook his head.

"Parker has a free pass on this one. I still owe him for saving me from that car bomb." he said matter-of-factly.

"Thanks." Parker replied.

"What we need to do is lure him somewhere private." Emily said surprising everyone. This was the first time she'd spoken all evening.

"And how exactly should we do that?" Ed asked.

"Use me for bait." she replied. "I am the one he wants." Parker shook his head with so much force Ed worried it might pop right off.

"Definitely not. Bad idea." he said. Emily let out a irritated breath and looked over at him.

"Can you come up with a better one?" she asked. Parker was silent and Greg spoke up.

"I actually think it would work." he said. Parker threw him a look that clearly said 'shut the hell up or I'm going to kill you.'

"He's right, Parker." Tyler said and Parker looked over at him. He respected Tyler enough to listen to what he had to say.

"What are you thinking?" Parker asked him.

"We need to use Emily to lure him somewhere private… I am speaking as your friend right now when I tell you that arresting him is not what I want to do because at the most he'll spend maybe five years in jail but with his money and connections not even that is likely…."

"No, the man is going to die." Parker promised. Tyler nodded.

"I still have that cabin off route 4." Ed said from the door. "That's about as private as it gets."

"We get Emily to go to town by herself. Make sure she walks around a lot and give him plenty of time to see her… Then he should follow her out of town." Tyler said.

"No way is she going alone." Parker cut in. "I will not go along with that. I am going to be with her at all times."

"Parker, if you're with me he'll never follow me. He is only tough when he's coming after a woman that he knows he's stronger than."

"Well then I guess we need to think of something else because there is no way I'm letting you go alone. That is a long drive from town to my dads cabin and anything could happen."

"You know I still got that truck that's got the camper on the back." Hank spoke up from the recliner chair. Parker nodded.

"That could work." he said. As the plan came together Emily felt herself growing more confident by the second. She knew she shouldn't be plotting John's death but she also knew that he would never let her have peace as long as he was alive. This was the only way.