On Friday, Rollie arrived at the St. Regis Hotel to have lunch with FBI Agent Elena Serrano. He arrived on time but was kept waiting by Serrano for almost ten minutes. Rollie anxiously looked at his watch and bit his fingernail. He wanted to get this over and done with before Angie returned from her day of pampering at the spa. Timing was everything in FX. It could also be everything in life as well. Finally, Agent Serrano arrived.
"Rollie!" Elena called as she approached him. She was still beautiful in a way that said she knew it but didn't have to announce it. She wore a tan suit with the blouse buttoned low to reveal her bra peaking out from the edges. Her shirt fit snugly, outlining her beautiful breasts and her skirt skimmed just above her knees.
"Elena. Beautiful as always." Rollie stood as he greeted her. Rollie was wearing a dark blue suit and a blue silk shirt with no tie. As Elena went to give Rollie a proper kiss, he deftly turned his cheek to her.
"I'm so pleased that we could finally get together. We have never really been able to manage that in the past. Why is that?" Elena asked but wasn't really expecting an answer. "I swear, Rollie, it must be kismet this time because we both showed tenacity and perseverance in making this date." Elena smiled seductively at him, thinking she knew exactly why he showed tenacity this time. She took his hand in hers and her voice became almost a whisper. "Rollie, why don't we skip lunch and go up to my room?"
Rollie breathed slowly and deliberately. "Uh...can't. We've got some important things we need to discuss," he said as he pulled his hand free.
"Loubar, you mean? Well why don't we go upstairs so we can discuss him in private," Elena insisted as she stood up from the table and tried pulling him up with her hands. Rollie wasn't budging.
"Elena. As I said, there are things we need to discuss—"
Elena took her seat since Rollie wasn't budging from his. "So let's discuss them in my hotel room. Remember that time in Paris, Rollie? It was kismet that we were able to hook up. You were on that shoot and I had just apprehended a master criminal. I found out you were staying at the same hotel and I remember we didn't leave your room for the entire weekend. Who says you can't mix business with pleasure, huh?" Elena laughed and threw her hair back as she did.
Rollie looked uncomfortable and blushed at the remembered weekend in Paris. It seemed like a lifetime ago. Rollie cared about Elena. He always had. They had fun together and sometimes it could be very intense. But he had never envisioned them as anything more than bed partners. Adventurous bed partners but bed partners nonetheless. "Elena. Didn't you ever wonder why we were never able to get together again after that? Why our timing never worked out?"
"Not really. We are two extremely talented and dedicated individuals who are both married to our jobs." Elena smiled seductively over at Rollie. "That doesn't mean that we both don't know how to have fun. And anyways, that was then. This is now, and here we are...." She said as her foot made its way up Rollie's leg.
Rollie flinched slightly and moved. He was glad he hadn't told Angie about his lunch now for two reasons. He knew how jealous she had been of Danielle Vandenglass and if she saw how Elena was acting...
Rollie reached down and removed Elena's foot from his crotch. "Elena!" he implored her. "We just never would have worked out. It wasn't meant to be," Rollie insisted. "You need to accept that and move on...because I have."
"Move on? What do you mean?" Elena's eyes showed shock. Clearly, she hadn't been expecting this. She always saw Rollie as a good time boy, not one to be in serious relationships. That was why they were so perfect together. That and the sex, which was wonderful! Neither of them was looking for anything permanent. There were no strings attached. They hooked up when it was mutually convenient and there were never any expectations except for the next time they would hook up again.
"I've always considered you a friend—"
"Rollie, we were more than that."
"Not really. I mean we were never in a serious relationship. You've got to admit that, Elena." He watched as she considered the truth of it. "See, the thing is...my life has changed over the past year or so. A lot has happened. Some of it was for the worse but a lot of it was for the better." Rollie's face grew pensive as he pondered the past year or so. "I find myself wanting things I've never wanted before: a home— a real home, a family. A wife—"
"Rollie, what are you saying?" Elena's eyes were huge as she tried to still her beating heart.
"I'm saying that I'm getting married—"
"What? Married?" Elena was dumbfounded.
"Yep," Rollie confirmed. "Next May in fact, and I'd like you to be there if possible—"
"But...but to who?"
"Angie. Angela Ramirez." Rollie beamed proudly.
"Your assistant?" Elena asked incredulously.
"My partner, yes."
Elena sat quiet for a moment just taking everything in. Rollie Tyler, the original good time guy, the guy she always knew didn't want to be pinned down, the guy she knew she could count on for an unconditional good time, the guy who once said that suburbia wasn't for him...was getting married...to his assistant. Elena had liked Angie Ramirez the moment she met her. She wasn't just another pretty face. In fact, Angie Ramirez was one of the best computer hackers she had ever come across but...Angie and Rollie? Together? Elena couldn't picture it, even now with Rollie sitting across from her telling her news of his engagement to Angie. She had thought that their relationship worked better as brother and sister than as, well, lovers.
Elena returned her attention to Rollie. "How? How is this possible Rollie? You always said you didn't want to settle down."
Rollie managed a half smile at his former attitude. "I didn't always say that. I only said it because I was afraid of commitment. Truth was, marriage scared me and I just didn't see it in the cards for me. So I tried to be nonchalant and develop a devil–may–care attitude towards relationships." Rollie looked Elena in the eyes. "Don't get me wrong. I've never been a love 'em and leave 'em kind of guy but I also wasn't looking to settle down. It sounds like a cliché but I was just waiting for the right woman to come along—"
"And Angie Ramirez was right there the whole time." Elena smirked. She had to hand it to Angie. She had the inside track all along. Elena never expected she had the gumption to do something about it, however. Angie never seemed like Rollie's type, though. Elena still couldn't fathom the two of them together.
"Yes, she was." Rollie continued. "But it took me almost losing her to realize that."
"What happened?"
Rollie's eyes were cold and hard. "Loubar."
"What does Victor Loubar have to do with you and Angie?"
Rollie shot her an incredulous look. "He hates me, Elena, for thwarting his plots. You of all people should know that. You and I brought him into Angela's life and he's wreaked havoc in it ever since. And now he's developed this cruel hatred that is bordering on psychotic paranoia. But instead of coming after me like a man, he went after Angie like the coward that he is." Rollie's face grew hard. "He hurt her, Elena. He hurt her to hurt me. He wanted Angie to hate me, for me to be accused of murder and to be alone. He wanted to ruin me spiritually, emotionally, and financially." Rollie paused a long time before continuing. He chewed on his nail. Then, he looked up at Elena. "For a time, Angie turned away from me. Our relationship suffered. I thought she had found someone else. But, during that time I realized how much I was in love with her and that I can't live without her. I am truly in love with her, Elena." Rollie leaned forward and looked her in the eyes so she would understand how serious he is. "I will do anything to protect her. You need to know that and believe it because that's why I'm here."
Elena Serrano looked deeply into Rollie Tyler's eyes and saw just how much he had changed. There was still the fire and the passion she had known and loved before, but now there was also depth of passion and commitment that she had never before seen. And it was there for another woman, not her. There was also determined protectiveness for the women he proclaimed to love, Angela Ramirez.
"What is it you want, Rollie?" Elena asked finally, trying to control her emotions. She would try to be happy for Rollie because he deserved it. Still, her heart felt an emptiness she had never anticipated. Somehow, she had never considered the possibility of Rollie Tyler falling in love.
"I'm here to volunteer my time and effort to catching Victor Loubar once and for all."
"Rollie," Elena shook her head, "you're a civilian. And, as you say, you're getting married soon. What could you hope to accomplish by doing this?"
"Don't hand me the 'civilian' crap, Elena. I've helped you and the NYPD out enough for that to be considered a very deliberate insult." Rollie's eyes bored into hers. "And as for what I hope to accomplish, is your deductive reasoning failing you? I want Loubar dead or behind bars. I really don't care which."
They sat staring at each other across the table, neither ready to give up or back down. Rollie was determined for Elena to see how serious he was being. Angie's life and their future together depended on that.
Elena worried about Rollie, about the danger he was willing to take on and what that might cost him...and her. She knew if she didn't help him he would go to someone else and she couldn't help but feel partially responsible for putting him in this position in the first place. Elena was the first to flinch.
"Go on," she encouraged him finally.
"Loubar is getting sloppy. He's obsessed with me and I think we can use that to our advantage. We can exploit it. It's creating a vacuum around him. He's losing focus of the jobs he's been hired for and his terrorist pals are more and more concerned about his abilities. You must have heard that through your terrorist network grapevine, Elena." Rollie looked into her eyes for confirmation and then continued. "We have his DNA. We have one of his bank account numbers. We have a number through which we can contact him. There has to be a way we can use this information somehow and that's way more than we had a few years ago, or even months ago."
"So what? How does that help us?"
"Use your imagination, Elena." Rollie's eyes twinkled. He knew he had captured Elena's interest but he still had to reel her in. "Plus, if I have access to the GARP unit I can make a more perfect rendering of Loubar's face." He smiled as he continued the sell job. "Picture it, Elena. If Loubar can play at being me, why can't I play at being Loubar? Why don't I make his life a living hell? Why can't I shadow him the way he's shadowed me? Why can't I set him up the way he wanted to set me up?" The smile left Rollie's face as he leaned forward, his face close to Elena's. "I want to see him isolated and alone, not trusted by his terrorist friends. Who knows? Maybe if we're lucky they will take care of him so we don't have to." Rollie smiled but there was no warmth in the smile. "Turnabout is fair play."
Despite her resolve Elena found herself smiling in admiration at Rollie. This could work, she thought. It definitely has possibilities. She was also amazed at the lengths Rollie was willing to go for Angie Ramirez. She had seen their friendship before, their camaraderie, but she had never imagined it turning into love. In that moment she envied Angie.
"I would have to get clearance from my superiors and if we do this we would have to have the cooperation of our counterparts in Europe. To be frank I'm not sure we can get that after the last debacle with Loubar," Elena cautioned him, not wanting to get his hopes up.
"You can do it."
"This could take weeks or possibly even months to work out—"
"I know."
"This is not a weekend project that you're proposing," she pointed out.
"I realize that."
"And how does Angie feel about it?"
"You let me worry about that," Rollie advised Elena. "You just get the authorization."
"You mean Angie has no idea what you're planning?"
"Not yet," Rollie paused. "I wanted it to be a sure thing before I told her. To be honest I wasn't completely sure how you would respond to the idea. I have to ask you not to mention this to anyone besides your superiors until I've had a chance to tell her."
"That's your call. I'll get back to you in a couple of days." Elena rose from the table. "You do realize that if this crazy scheme of yours is approved, that you could be gone for months?"
"I understand."
"Well," Elena pointed out. "I hope your fiancée does."
Rollie was at his workstation when Angie returned late in the afternoon from the spa. She had huge bags with the Plaza logo on it. She came in and promptly plopped down onto the couch, her legs dangling over the arms. Rollie watched in bemusement as she came in and then he slowly sauntered over and stared down at her.
"How was it?" He smiled.
"It was wonderful. I am soooo relaxed." Angie smiled. "You could do almost anything to me."
Rollie laughed. "That's good, sweetie. You deserve it," he said and was about to return to his work. That is, until Angie caught his hand.
"I said you could do almost anything to me." Angie smiled as she gently pulled him down on top of her.
"Oh." Rollie laughed. "I didn't realize that was an invitation."
They lay together on the couch after making love, Angie's head rested on Rollie's shoulder. He spotted the big bags from the Plaza and enquired about them.
"Ooh, I think you'll like what I got." Angie smiled as she reached over and dug into one of the bags. She pulled out some scented massage oils and some bath oils. "Since you couldn't come to the spa I thought I would bring the spa home to you." She grinned shyly. "The masseur gave me some pointers that we could try later...." Angie bit her lip. "What do you think?"
"You had a masseur?" was Rollie's only response.
"Yes I did." Angie smiled mischievously as she noted a spark of jealousy in Rollie's eyes. "And he had very strong hands."
"Strong hands, eh? How strong?" Rollie's eyebrow rose.
"Very strong. Incredible in fact—"
"Incredible?"
"Yes. Incredible," Angie confirmed as she ran her finger along Rollie's jaw line. "But nothing like yours," she said as she nibbled his earlobe.
"Really? Well maybe I should remind you about my hands," Rollie suggested somewhat determinedly as he moved on top of Angie.
"I haven't forgotten your magic fingers Rollie." Angie smiled and then she tried to look very serious. "Though I could always use a refresher course."
Rollie laughed as Angie giggled and he indeed went on with the business of reminding Angie about his magic fingers.
The next day Lucinda brought her friend Eric with her to the loft. He was the wedding planner she had told them about.
"So, Eric, how did you get into the wedding planning business?" Rollie asked a he sat across from him on the couch with Angie by his side, his hand resting on her knee.
"In a round–about way. I'm a model." Eric didn't catch Rollie rolling his eyes or Angie poking Rollie in the ribs. "But male modeling doesn't pay all that well especially if you're not popular and we have short career spans," he continued. "I was always looking for something else to fall back on and I found that I always just loved planning things. It's a knack, really. I started with a friend of mine who got married last year. Both he and his fiancée were too busy to really plan the wedding the way they wanted to. They almost broke up over it. So I stepped in and helped them organize it. Sometimes, all it takes is someone who has the time to go out and get the information for people who are too busy to do it otherwise. I mean, if you hired me to do your wedding, I could bring samples of flower arrangements here, and wedding invitations, I could hunt down the musicians or DJ you need, and then there's the place where you're actually going to be married, and the reception..."
"Oh my gosh, Rollie! We didn't even think of that!" Angie's eyes were wide with the realization. They hadn't even thought of where they wanted to get married. There was so much more to this getting married business than she realized.
"Eric's really good." Lucinda smiled proudly.
"Have you ever been married?" Rollie asked as his arm wrapped around Angie's shoulder, her mind still going over the seemingly endless possibilities for the location for the wedding and reception.
"No, unfortunately. I just never met the right person." Eric sighed. "But I do have references," he insisted as he pulled out his portfolio and handed it to Angie. "Since my friend's wedding I've done five more, all varying in size and circumstance."
"Eric did a really spectacular theme wedding a few months ago." Lucinda chimed in. "It was featured in New Brides magazine. It was beautiful. It was a very formal evening wedding and all the guests had to wear black and white. All the invitations and decorations were in black and white, and even the wedding cake," Lucinda beamed. "Eric took care of all the details. He's becoming a real hot property. You better grab him while you still can!"
Eric blushed at the obvious sell job Lucinda was doing on his behalf. "I can be as involved as you want me to be." Eric insisted. "I can handle everything right down to the seating arrangements and making all the decisions including the honeymoon details. Some couples don't want or just can't be bothered with these details and they prefer that I handle them and all they have to do is show up for the ceremony. Many of them have very busy lifestyles and a wedding is something they have to coordinate their agendas for. Or, like most people, the final decisions will rest with you and I just help you with the options."
Rollie pondered the advice. "Well, you've given us a lot to consider. Right, Ange?"
"Yeah. A lot." Angie agreed as she perused the portfolio. "My head is swimming."
Eric got up to leave and Angie handed his portfolio back. "Can I make a suggestion?"
Rollie and Angie nodded.
"Well, Lucinda tells me that you both had to check your calendars for some free time to fit this in, which tells me that you're both pretty busy people. And, I understand that you work with other people who have the same busy schedules. Whether or not you hire me, I suggest that the invitation list, and the arrangements for the locations of the wedding and reception be handled soon so that these people may also arrange their schedules to attend."
"Oh my gosh! You're right." Angie was wide eyed again, like a deer caught in the headlights. "Rollie?"
"We'll be in touch." Rollie smiled weakly.
After they left, Angie sat on the stairs leading to their bedroom with her head leaning against the coolness of the metal railing. Rollie came over and sat down beside her, taking one of her hands in his.
"So, what do you think?" he asked finally.
"I think that we are on a fast moving train and I don't know where it is headed or how to slow the damn thing."
Rollie chuckled and scratched his chin. He had never heard wedding preparations described quite that way before. "So, you want to hire him?"
"Do you?" Angie looked at Rollie, unsure of how to respond and not wanting to disappoint him.
Rollie's hand reached up and moved some hair from Angie's eyes. "I think, that, if hiring him prevents your beautiful brow from being furrowed...then that's what we should do." His head rested against hers. "I don't, however, want to be one of those couples that lets the wedding planner handle everything and we just show up for the wedding. Our lives are busy but no so busy that we can't have a hand in the planning of our own wedding. That's important to me, Ange. I'm only doing this once and I want to do it right the first time. I want this wedding to have our imprint written all over it."
"Me too." Angie smiled brightly and relaxed a little. She felt the same way but ever the pragmatic, she brought up another point. "But there is also the cost to consider." Her nose crinkled at the troubling consideration.
"True,' Rollie agreed. "Leo says that we both will be getting a very hefty share of the reward for exposing and catching Delveccio and Nick Drake and the others in the crime ring. And I mean a hefty reward." His eyebrows rose to illustrate his point. "We can use that."
"A reward?" Angie grinned. "There's also the honeymoon," Angie pointed out.
"Don't worry about that. I have been planning the honeymoon ever since you said yes." Rollie's eyes twinkled.
"Oh really?" Angie smiled.
"Oh yeah!"
The decision was made to hire Eric Reckles to help Rollie and Angie plan their wedding. They worked separately on their guest lists, taking people off, adding people, putting people back on and finally they ended up with a guest list of around 300 people between them, including some of Rollie's distant relatives and some of Manny's old colleagues, the closest Angie came to family. Neither one of them could believe that they had that many friends but with their movie and police connections, they found that they were dropping people off the list just to keep it below 300 but soon the guest list ballooned to almost 500!
"Oh my God!" Rollie exclaimed uncharacteristically. "I thought you said you wanted a small wedding?" Rollie asked sarcastically.
"I do...or at least I thought I did," Angie replied, biting her lip as she looked over the list. "I guess it got out of hand— "
"You guess?" Rollie smirked and Angie hit him with the pad of paper in her hand.
"I feel bad leaving some people off, like some of my Dad's old friends and colleagues." Angie looked up from her list as she thought of her father. "Some of these people go way back with my Dad. They helped us when we arrived from Cuba, they set us up with a place to stay and helped my Dad in finding jobs for him. They're the closest thing I have to family besides you. And, like family, I haven't seen many of them since Daddy's funeral but..."
"Say no more." Rollie reached over and hugged Angie to him, kissing her on the top of her head. "It's fine. This is our shindig and we can have as many people as we want. I bet we could even have clowns— " Rollie ducked another swipe from Angie. "Okay, maybe not clowns," Rollie laughed. "But you'll see, somehow we'll make 200 seem like it's a small and intimate gathering." Rollie assured Angie.
"Yeah, well be that as it may we still have to trim this list. Most of these people are work contacts, who will be very upset if we don't invite them but I think I can live with that. Others are contacts through law enforcement and again, the same thing. Then, you have a lot of cousins, aunts, and uncles whom you quite rightly want to invite," Angie said as she tried not to dwell on the fact that she had no real family to invite to her wedding. She was glad that Rollie did, though. "Then there are our school chums and really close friends. Eric says that if we get the list down to 150 we can get the White & Gold rooms at the Plaza which seats 180 people."
"Down to 150? I didn't think we'd have that many!" Rollie exclaimed in disbelief. "So, let's chop away. Show no mercy Ange."
Trimming the list was going to take some time and consideration. Whenever Angie removed someone, Rollie thought that they should be there and vice versa. Eric put a deposit on the White & Gold rooms at the Plaza with an option of a bigger room if they needed it, but they would have to decide fairly soon because the Plaza is one of the most popular destinations for weddings in New York.
Plus, they had the Osaka project to work on and Richard Owen had called as well and asked that some of the special effects be gone over. His film had gone back into post–production after one of the producers had a fit over one of the actors. He now needed some of the effects changed and some new CGI effects added.
Then, they landed a gig doing the effects for a pilot for a television show on one of the cable networks. Rollie wasn't too sure that they should do it because he didn't want to be contractually obligated to the show if it got picked up. He really didn't want to work in television. But Angie assured him that the pilot was so awful that there was no way that it could possibly be picked up.
In the meantime, Rollie hadn't heard back from Elena in almost two weeks. He wondered if she hadn't taken his proposal as seriously as he hoped. He almost called her several times but stopped himself for being too anxious. Rollie decided to give her a few more days. Maybe she was having trouble convincing her bosses of the validity of the offer. Of course it was possible that the negotiations with her European counterparts were taking longer than anticipated. Rollie knew those negotiations could be tricky when it came to international laws and jurisdictions. If he had known someone with Interpol or Scotland Yard, other than Nick Drake, he might have approached them directly. But he didn't and so he had to go through Elena. He wondered if it was possible that Elena wasn't as behind his proposal as he had hoped. She could be stonewalling it or not be as persuasive with her bosses as she could be. It could also be that she didn't have as much pull with the agency as Rollie had hoped.
In any case Rollie decided that he would call Elena in a couple days to find out what was going on. In the meantime, he decided not to tell Angie until he knew more. There was no use in telling her about it if it wasn't going to happen. He also wondered to himself if the proposal was turned down if he could accept that and leave it or if he would find another way to go after Loubar. He realized that this was far too important to him to accept defeat. If Elena's bosses turned him down...he would find another way.
Rollie sat on the couch working on some design sketches for the television gig Tyler FX had landed. Angie was working on the computer setting up some schematics for some of the CGI shots that Richard Owen needed for his re–shoot.
Angie rubbed her neck, having been at the computer for 6 hours straight. She looked down at Rollie as he worked out his sketches. He was a genius. He could take the some of the vaguest concepts from the writer or the director and make them real, give them life beyond what even the director had imagined. Rollie gloried in doing that and they weren't just real as models or plaster and paint. Rollie added little touches that added to the whole feeling of it being real, whether it was turning knobs on a navigation console or feel of texture on an alien's tongue. Rollie always added that little extra touch that made it all real, even if most people didn't notice it. Rollie knew it. And Angie knew it too.
Angie sat down next to Rollie on the couch and handed him a cup of Earl Grey. "I thought you could use a break."
Rollie took the cup gratefully never looking up from his sketch. "Yeah, thanks luv."
"What's that?" Angie asked as she peered down at his sketchpad.
"This? This is just a sketch for our hero's weaponry; a grappling hook gun," Rollie explained."It's supposed to fold into a compact weapon, fire regular bullets, and then when unfolded, it turns into this really cool grappling hook which the hero can use to scale a 20 story, or higher, building. The grappling hook has to be strong, lightweight, and compact. In other words, nothing like this exists and I'm supposed to invent it and make it believable. It's all part of the job." Rollie winked at her.
"Cool." Angie smiled, impressed. "I wouldn't mind one of those on my climbing vacations."
"I'll see what I can do." Rollie chuckled as Angie lifted his arm and claimed her place beneath his shoulder. She held onto his other hand with her own. "How about you, you done with work?" Rollie asked.
"Yep. I finished for the day."
"Really?" Rollie smiled.
"Yes, really." Angie laughed, knowing what he meant to do. And she wasn't disappointed. Rollie's lips came down on hers and soon he was pushing her back down onto the couch. Angie's hands snaked their way inside Rollie's shirt, as she pulled his shirt tail out of Rollie's pants and her hands roamed over Rollie's chest and back. Rollie's hands, meanwhile, were busy unbuttoning Angie's shirt and moving the material off her shoulders.
"Rollie." Angie moaned.
"Hey Rollie!" Leo came bursting through the door just then.
"Bloody hell!" Rollie groaned, as Angie looked up wide–eyed, as Detective Leo McCarthy was standing right behind Rollie.
"Leo, hi." Angie greeted him weakly as she covered her exposed chest with her arms. Rollie shielded her with his body as she gathered her blouse about her.
"Leo, what have I told you about knocking first?" Rollie growled.
"Sorry pal. It's going to take some getting used to." Leo sat down in a chair across from the couple, a bemused expression on his face. "I need your help isolating some sounds on this audio tape. I need to know if there is anything that can give us an approximate location for the call. I would have taken it to the lab but you guys are faster."
"You're right there." Rollie took the tape and turned to Angie, who was now fully dressed. "Ange?"
"Give it here." Angie took the tape and examined it. "I'll see what I can do." She called back as she headed up to her workstation.
Leo explained to Rollie that he was working a sniper case where the victims were random and there was no connection amongst them, at least not one that had been found. The only clues were the phone calls they would receive anywhere between 1 and 3 hours before the next victim was shot. Leo wondered if the connection could be in the pattern of the shooting themselves rather than the location. It was just a theory.
Angie cleaned up the tape and played it back for both Rollie and Leo to hear. There was a lot of background ambient noise and Angie wasn't sure what Leo was looking for. He said that he was looking for something, anything that would that would help him figure out when the next shooting would take place. They listened to the tape again, but still couldn't figure it out the sounds. Rollie had Angie playback the tape again.
"There." Rollie interrupted. "Rewind it and boost the gain."
Angie played with the sliders. "What do you hear?"
"Horses," Rollie answered. "I hear the clopping of hooves on the pavement."
"I hear wheels too." Angie smiled. "A horse drawn carriage," She exclaimed, winking at Rollie.
"You can hear part of the guide's spiel to the tourist too." Rollie smiled. "Central Park by the sounds of it, Leo. Sounds like the guide is pointing out the Museum of Modern Art."
"Thanks for your help." Leo smiled as Angie handed back the tape. Leo was already on his phone calling Midtown as he headed for the door. "Bye guys!" he called back.
"Hey, let us know how it turns out!" Rollie called, his hands on Angie's shoulder.
A few days later Rollie still hadn't heard from Elena Serrano. Instead, he went about his normal routine, all the while he was chomping at the bit to hear something, anything.
As part of that routine, Rollie went out for a meeting with the producer and director of the TV pilot. Angie stayed at the loft to work on the CGI for Richard Owen's picture. Rollie was gone all afternoon and Angie had been working all day when Elena Serrano called the loft.
"Oh hi, Elena. Rollie's not here. He's at a meeting. He'll be sorry to have missed you. I know that he was looking foreword to having lunch with you when you're in town—"
"We already did. He didn't tell you?"
"Uh...no. It must have slipped his mind." Angie gritted her teeth. Why did she get the feeling that Elena enjoyed informing her of that just then? "We've been kinda swamped lately, if you want you can call back in an hour or so—"
"Actually, I would like to leave him a message if possible. I'll be in a meeting and won't be able to call him back later."
"Okay. Sure. Go ahead." Angie reached for a pen and pad. She hated being Rollie's secretary especially when it involved messages from beautiful women from his past.
"Tell him that I discussed his proposal with my superiors as requested and if he still wants to go ahead with the plan he needs to meet me tonight at my hotel at 7:30. He knows where it is."
"Okay," Angie replied slowly. Then, because she couldn't help it asked. "What proposal is that Elena?"
Elena hesitated for a moment and then replied calmly. "You know, the one about going after Victor Loubar. If Rollie still wants to go ahead with it, tell him to meet me tonight. As a matter of fact, maybe I will call back at 7:00 o'clock just to be sure. Bye Angie."
Angie almost dropped the phone.
Victor Loubar! Rollie! And Elena Serrano?! What the hell was going on here???
Angie's blood ran cold at the mention of Loubar's name. No! This had to be some scheme of Elena's, but she wasn't the type to scheme like Dani. There had to be some mistake, some rational explanation behind that call. Rollie was not going after Loubar! Rollie couldn't do that! He wouldn't do that. Not without telling her.
Try as she might Angie couldn't get any more work done. She kept pacing back and forth in the loft and wringing her hands. She kept looking outside and looking at her watch, waiting for Rollie to come home. She contemplated calling him but wasn't sure what she would say. Her hands were ice cold and wild ideas were going through her head, each one wilder than the last. Angie determined that she was going to get to the bottom of this. Rollie was going to allay her fears and tell her that Elena was just a jealous viper and she was horribly mistaken or that it was just a big, stupid, joke. That was it. It had to be.
A few hours after Elena's phone call, as she continued to pace the loft, Angie finally heard Rollie come through the door.
Rollie came up the stairs and smiled when he saw her. "Hey, Ange, the producer of that TV show is a bit of a show pony but—"
"We need to talk," Angie interrupted him. She stood before him on the landing, her arms folded and a serious expression on her face. Despite her proclamation, however, she didn't say anything right away. She opened her mouth to speak but then turned suddenly and went back into the lounge.
Rollie took off his coat and followed her into lounge. "What's up?" he asked as he considered Angie's body language.
Angie paced in front of him. Her arms were still folded around her. She desperately didn't want what she was thinking to be true. What if it wasn't? What if she was making a bigger deal out of it than it already was? She tried to tell herself to calm down, to not fly off the handle, to not accuse, and to let Rollie explain.
Rollie reached out and stopped Angie's pacing. "Angie? What is it? Is it about the wedding?" His eyes searched hers.
Angie pulled away abruptly. "No. This is not about the wedding," she snapped as she stared into Rollie's eyes. "Tell me you are not going after Loubar."
Rollie's jaw dropped. He felt as if he had just been sucker punched. "What?" he sputtered.
"Tell me, Rollie. Tell me that you are not going after him."
Rollie didn't say anything. He avoided Angie's eyes and turned away from her.
Angie came around in front of him. "Elena Serrano called while you were out," Angie continued. "She said that the two of you met and that you discussed some crazy plan about going after Loubar. Rollie tell me she's wrong," her voice was soft as she pleaded. "Tell me that she's the one that approached you and tell me that you turned her down. Or better yet, tell me that this is some kind of stupid, cruel, joke that the two of you cooked up, because if that's the case Rollie, I promise you I won't be angry." Angie turned Rollie's face to hers as her chin quivered. "Just tell me, Rollie. Please!"
Rollie's eyes misted over. Bloody hell, he thought. Was this deliberate on Elena's part? He wasn't prepared for this. This wasn't how he wanted to do this. Rollie's voice shook as he ran his hands over his face. "I can't...I can't Angel."
"What?" Angie cried as she shook her head and realized her fears were founded. "No!" Angie backed away from him as anger came to her eyes. "No, Rollie. You can't! I won't let you!"
"Angie, please. Let me explain." Rollie followed her. "I need to do this. I can't wait for him to come after us again. I can see how scared you are of him. You're so scared of him that you want to put off having a family. That's no way to live, sweetie." He tried to take her hand in his but Angie yanked it away. "You're actually the one that gave me the idea."
"What!" Angie turned around, fire in her eyes.
"You asked why someone couldn't put him on the defensive for once and that started me thinking that I could do it...it would be a kind of poetic justice, in fact."
Angie could sense how serious he was about this. She felt as if the rug had been pulled out from under her. "When? When were you going to tell me?" she demanded suddenly as her jealousy flared. "Or weren't you? Or were you just going to run off with Elena and hope that I didn't miss you?"
Rollie flinched at the accusation. "Of course not," he replied angrily. "I was going to tell you. I was waiting to hear if it was okay'd. I didn't want to say anything until then because if it wasn't then I didn't want to upset you needlessly."
"But Rollie..."
"I can do it Angie. I know I can."
"No Rollie, you can't. Let someone else do it. Please. I can't lose you. Tell Elena you were wrong." Angie paced in front of Rollie. "Tell her to find someone else. If it's a good plan then someone else can do it. It doesn't have to be you. We've got a wedding to plan—"
Just then the phone rang. Neither of them made a move to answer it. The machine picked it up and they could hear the voice of Elena Serrano on the phone.
"Rollie? It's Elena. Listen, I don't know if Angie gave you the message or not but if you are serious about going after Victor Loubar then you need to meet me tonight at my hotel. We have the go ahead from my superiors and we just need to work out some details. Call me if you can, otherwise meet me at 7:30. If you're not here by then I'll assume you changed your mind. Bye."
Rollie stole a look at his watch. He still had twenty minutes to make the meeting.
Angie caught his look at his watch and reacted right away. "No. Oh no you don't! You are not going." Angie implored him, feeling as if she were grasping at straws, her fear, her jealousy, and her insecurity ruling her emotions. "Can't you see she's manipulating you? Elena is manipulating the situation for her own ends. She wants you Rollie! Can't you see that?"
"Elena is not manipulating me," Rollie insisted, his voice rising with emotion. "Can't you see that? Don't you have enough faith in me to see that? It doesn't matter what Elena wants. I want you and the only reason I am doing this is for you, for us, and for the future that you want to put off because of him."
"But I told you that I might change my mind about the babies," Angie cried as she held her arms about her. She felt her body filling with tiny tremors. "Why can't you just give me time?"
"Because I've seen what the mere mention of Loubar's name does to you." Rollie's voice softened. "It's happening right now. Look at yourself! You lose all color from your cheeks, your hands start to shake, and you get this far away look in your eyes. You're putting up walls all around you and you don't even know it. Pretty soon, even I won't be able to break it down. It's getting worse instead of better—"
"I'll get counseling," Angie whimpered. "Please don't do this!" Angie was sobbing now, her shoulders shaking with each sob. "Please."
"I have to," Rollie said as he stood before her for a moment. He saw how she held herself, her body shaking and he was convinced, now more than ever, that he had to do this. Then, he reached for his coat. He was about to turn to leave when he suddenly turned back around and came back and took Angie's face in his hands. "I love you, Angie. Victor Loubar is never going to hurt you again," he vowed as he kissed her softly on the forehead.
Angie feebly clutched at his hands. She felt the fear of losing Rollie forever. She didn't want to let him go. "No! Rollie don't. Please! I mean it, Rollie." She wiped the tears from her eyes so that he would know that she was serious. She had to do something. "If you go...if you go and meet Elena—"
"Don't. Don't do this Angie." Rollie held his hand up in a stop motion as he pleaded with her. He felt tears come to his eyes. He couldn't believe that he could lose Angie over this.
"Me? Me? Don't you dare put this on me!" Angie yelled. "I'm not the one that came up with this plan and went to Elena behind my back—"
"Hey!" Rollie swung around at the implied accusation.
"NO! You're the one doing this. It's you! I mean it, Rollie. It's your choice. If you do this...if you go and meet Elena...if you go after Loubar then I won't be here—"
"Angie please!"
"....when you get back," Angie finished.
The words struck Rollie hard. He felt as if his heart had just stopped. Mangela's words of warning rang in his head. No! He had to believe that she was bluffing, that she didn't mean it. He was doing this for her. She had to know that.
"I have to do this Angie," Rollie said quietly, his jaw set. Then, he grabbed her face and kissed her passionately so that there would be no mistaking his feelings and where his loyalties lie.
Angie unexpectedly kissed him back passionately, trying to put all her love, all her fear into that kiss a she tried to make him understand what was at stake.
Then, Rollie pulled away quickly and headed for the door. "We'll discuss this more when I get back," he promised as he tried not to hear Angie cry out "NO!" as he left the loft, tears streaming down his cheeks.
Angie watched as Rollie left the loft. She stood there stunned into numbness and crying. She felt hollow as she fingered her engagement ring. Did she have the strength to follow through on her threat? Perhaps Rollie didn't think she would go through with it. Rollie had to know that she was serious. She had to show him that she meant what she said because he meant the whole world to her, even if it meant giving him up in order to protect him. Angie cried silently as she pulled the ring off her finger. Maybe if Rollie sees I'm serious he won't go through with it, she prayed.
"I won't be here when you get back," Angie whispered softly. Angie looked around the loft silently as tears colored her vision, even Bluey whimpered quietly beside her. Then, she held up the ring in her fingers and looked at it. "I love you Rollie." Angie placed the ring on the lounge table and silently went upstairs to pack.
Rollie started up the car and drove off to a meeting with Elena Serrano. He gripped the steering wheel of his car tightly as he mindlessly maneuvered his way through the bustling streets of New York. A voice inside his head was screaming at him to go back to the loft and take Angie in his arms and make love to her all night, that that was where he belonged. Another voice in his head was saying this was something he had to do, that Angie would never be safe as long as Victor Loubar was alive. Loubar had hurt Angie too much already. Rollie wasn't going to let him get another chance.