Chapter 13 - When the past comes knocking

Julia found another distraction, besides work, that would take her mind off that constant feeling of being watched. Jack Deschanel.

All weekend she'd been thinking about their dance, about what they'd said... One thought in particular would not leave her; should she tell Jack what had happened in Seattle? Julia felt he'd wanted to know that. They were sort of becoming friends. Didn't a friend deserve to know such things? But then again why drag another person into her personal mess?

Walking into the office on Monday she was almost resolved to tell Jack her story. But then the whole day just passed in a blur of invoices, e-mails, phone calls, prospects for the customer parties, so Julia did not get the chance to even think of her resolution, not to mention talk to Jack about it.

Every now and then someone would pop their head into her office to say:

"Loved the party, Julia!"

or

"Great party last Friday!"

or

"When's the next party, Julia?"

Which was a nice break from the monotonous paperwork.

Zoey popped not only her head to her office, but her full self. She was grinning from ear to ear.

"Tell me, Jules, that dance with the CEO... was it on the party's agenda?"

"Ha, ha, ha, very funny, Zoey."

"Anyway, my mom loved the picture of you two together on the dancefloor."

"Jeez, Zoey!" The smile disappeared from Julia's face. "You didn't...!" Julia slowly rose from her chair, murder in her eyes.

"Chill, Jules! I'm just kidding." Zoey chuckled. "I mean, I did take a pic, I just didn't send it to my mom..." Seeing that Julia grabbed a book from her desk and was eyeing Zoey furious, the latter backed out of the room. As she was closing the door however, she added, "I haven't sent it yet." She closed the door just in time to avoid the book clashing with her face.

Not sure which one of the Deschanel siblings was annoying her more, Julia sat down at her desk and dived back into the e-mails and invoices.

When she again looked at the clock it was already seven. She'd been so busy she even missed the six o'clock coffee in the office kitchen. That meant she'd missed the opportunity to tell a certain someone about Seattle.

Julia packed her stuff and left the room. The e-mails and invoices had already gotten too much of her undivided attention.

Once in the hallway she noticed that the lights were still on in Jack's office. She could hear voices as the door was slightly ajar.

Well, he is the same workaholic as I am, Julia thought, turning to walk away. But then she heard her name being spoken and she stopped in her trucks.

She considered for a moment whether to ignore it, but decided against it. Someone, most probably Jack, was talking about her and didn't even take the trouble to close the door.

"So how did you manage to get this information?" Jack asked.

"I reached out to a friend in DEA..." That was Tom speaking.

Having a bad feeling about that conversation, Julia walked closer to Jack's door.

"So I was right," Tom continued, "Someone was purposefully blocking me access to information on Nicholas Starr..."

Julia swayed on her feet hearing the name. She leaned against a wall not to fall down. She was naïve to think that Jack would wait for her to tell him about Seattle, while all this time he had had her past investigated.

"What's so secret about a guns dealer?"

"Well, actually, what is kept secret is how he went down..." Tom paused dramatically.

"How?" Jack asked, clearly impatient.

Silence answered him, so Julia imagined Tom raising his brow, waiting for Jack to connect the dots. Which he did a moment later.

"Julia?" Jack whispered, but Julia could hear disbelief in his voice.

"Our one and only Miss Stiles helped the FBI bring down Nicholas Starr." Julia thought she heard amusement in Tom's voice. Asshole!

"Why isn't she under some kind of witness protection?" Jack seemed outraged.

This was when Julia had it. She opened the door with a hard push letting it slam against the wall.

"Because that's how I wanted it," she spoke in a cold tone. She could see shock, then fear and then embarrassment on Jack's face, but all these emotions were gone within a second. He immediately composed himself and took on that look of indifference, that look of an utter asshole. "You know, they told me I'd be safe, that any information about my involvement would be wiped out... but well it seems the safety of others is of no value if you have old friends with the DEA... " She sent Tom a bitter look and could swear the guy sent her a guilty one in return.

"Julia, I..."

"I don't give a fuck about your explanations, Tom! Didn't you think, morons, that looking things up about me, might just put me in the spotlight again?!"

"Why didn't you agree to witness protection?" Jack finally spoke. His composure annoyed her.

"Because I didn't want to run and hide, I didn't want to pretend I'm someone else..."

"But you've been doing just that, Julia!" Jack interrupted her. "You ran away from Seattle and you've literally been hiding in this office. You're hiding behind Brand Today, for heaven's sake! You are constantly pretending to be someone else!"

"I'll wait in the car," Tom whispered and immediately backed out of Jack's office.

Julia and Jack ignored him, staring at each other, both furious.

"How I live my life, is entirely up to me, Jack! You have no right to be checking up on me like that, to be investigating my past?!"

"I do have that right, Julia. The moment the safety and wellbeing of my sister and my employees is at stake, I will start digging through anyone's past..."

"Finally, you got to the point." Julia chuckled, but she put so much resentment into it, that Jack took a step back. "Jack Deschanel finally found a way to dispose of Julia Stiles from his company! Well, congratulations, Jack, you might have actually managed to get rid of me!"

"That's not what this is about, Stiles!"

Julia was fed up with the discussion; it was leading nowhere. She shook her head and turned to leave.

"Stiles, don't be such a drama queen! It's not like that guy is after you. He's in jail, remember? You put him there, afterall!"

"You have no fucking idea what you're talking about, Deschanel."

Julia slammed his door and walked to the elevators as quickly as possible. God forbid that the asshole would step into the same elevator with her.

Her hands were shaking so bad she had to take a couple of deep breaths.

Calm down, she urged herself. Go down to the lobby. Harvey will call you a taxi as usually so you can go home and forget about the asshole. Well, at least for the next couple of hours...

Once at the ground floor she stepped out of the elevator only to be greeted by silence. At such a late hour there were usually no people in the building, so that was not what surprised her; Harvey had the habit however of listening to the radio, so usually getting out of the elevator she would hear music. Then she would turn the corner and Harvey would be there, waiting for her, phone in his hand, ready to call her a cab.

Today however when she turned the corner in the hall there was no Harvey to greet her from the Security desk. Julia walked over to where Harvey would normally sit and watch all the security monitors.

"Harvey?"

She heard a rustle from the back room where the Security guards would usually keep their stuff. She sighed, relieved. Harvey was probably just taking a break.

"Can I help you?" A guard that wasn't Harvey walked out of the room.

"Oh, hi. Is Harvey around?" Julia asked, confused.

"No, he had to take a day off. His wife is sick," the guy explained, eyeing her suspiciously. He then turned around and disappeared in the back room.

I guess you will not call me a cab... Julia thought, searching for her phone. It wasn't as if she couldn't call her own cab. Just with Harvey around leaving the office at a later hour, when it was already getting dark, had never been a problem for Julia. The elderly man always made her feel safe.

She booked an Uber and looked outside at Lexington Avenue through the glass wall of the building. Some people were still crossing the small square just outside the office, so Julia decided to wait for her taxi there. Rather than here with you, you indifferent jerk, she thought, sending one last glance in the direction of the security room.

She also realized that Jack might be walking out the same way any moment. With that thought in mind she sped up her pace and walked out to the small square.

A chill ran down her spine. The people she'd seen walking around just a moment ago, were now all gone. She could still see cars on Lexington Avenue, but she was alone on the square.

Where is that freaking taxi? Julia thought, fighting back panic. That well known feeling of being watched came back.

She turned around to look at the office building, considering whether not to go back inside. The lobby was so unpleasantly dark by now, that she quickly pushed back the idea.

And then she heard that voice, the voice she'd hoped never to hear again.

"Julia, Julia, Julia... You are a lady difficult to find..."

***

"Shit!" Jack brushed his fingers through his hair after Julia slammed the office door.

He knew he screwed things up. He and Julia were finally getting somewhere. Well, they were not friends, but they were getting there.

You're not getting anywhere after today, Jackie boy...

Jack took a deep breath and went out after Julia. He knew he should have apologized the moment she walked into his office. Well, maybe he could still do that.

He ran to the elevators only to see the door closing. For a moment Jack considered going after her, but then decided against it. They were both angry right now, this all could escalate even more.

I'll talk to her tomorrow, Jack thought, going back to his office.

He grabbed his stuff and took the elevator to the underground parking. He knew Tom would be waiting there for him with that vicious smirk on his face. He wasn't wrong.

"Well, that didn't go well..." his friend said, as Jack got into the car.

"What makes you think that, Sherlock?"

"Did you manage to... well, calm her down somehow?" Tom inquired, starting the car.

"Well, if you consider calling Julia a drama queen a way to calm her down, then yeah..." Jack said, shaking his head. God, I am a moron.

"Way to go, man!" Tom chuckled.

Jack didn't answer. He just laid his head back on the head rest and closed his eyes, trying not to think of a certain someone.

Tom certainly wasn't helpful; he switched on the radio and started singing with Dermot Kennedy...

You got that power over me

My, my

Everything I hold dear resides in those eyes

You got that power over me...

Jack had to admit that Julia too held some kind of power over him. He couldn't stop thinking about her motives to help the FBI back in Seattle, to come to New York, to stubbornly stick to her own name and not deciding for witness protection. He lied to her; as much as he loved his sister and cared about his employees, the only person's safety he was thinking about was Julia's.

He opened his eyes and looked out of the car window. Tom drove out of the underground parking and was now rounding the square in front of the office. The place looked deserted and cold; all the colorful dots that he liked to be observing from his office were now gone.

He did notice a small group of people though; two men and a woman. Something about that woman seemed familiar. They were quite far away, but the way the woman pushed back the hair from her face, instantly told him it was Julia.

Who are those men then? He thought, now almost smashing his face into the window. One thing Jack realized, looking at Julia's posture, was that she was tense.

As Tom was rounding the square a closed news paper stand suddenly blocked his view. When Jack had the group in plain sight again, he sucked in a breath.

"Jezus!" he yelled, seeing one of the men punch Julia in her stomach. "Stop the car!" He grabbed the door handle, not waiting for Tom's reaction.

"What are you...?" Tom trailed off, hitting on the breaks.

Jack assumed his friend noticed what was going on on the square.

"Call 911!" he cried out and jumped out of the car.

By now he thought he counted Julia receiving at least three punches. He was still far away from her. He felt like he'd never ran as fast in his life as he was running now, yet it still did not seem enough. He saw Julia fall down, but this did not stop the men from assaulting her; they were now both kicking her.

"Heeey!" he yelled, hoping this would draw the men's attention to him, but in vain.

Faster Deschanel!

A small shrubbery was blocking his way. He jumped over it and that finally diverted the men's attention from Julia.

"Step away from her..." Jack gritted through his teeth, now walking towards the men.

Both men turned to him. One of them looked kind of scared, but they were both wearing baseball hats which covered half of their faces, so Jack couldn't really tell. He glanced at Julia, she was moving, but looked far from alright.

"We better go, boss," the younger one of the two said.

"Well, I'm not done yet..." the other guy said and pulled out a knife.

In that moment they all heard rushed footsteps and a few seconds later Tom jumped over the same shrubbery Jack had a minute earlier.

Seeing the gun in Tom's hand, both men backed away.

"I'll see you soon, beautiful Julia..." the man with the knife added. There was a promise and menace in his voice.

Jack ignored that, getting to Julia in no time. He dropped to his knees, trying to lift her up. Her face was covered in blood and completely swollen and her shoulder looked dislocated.

"Call 911!" Jack cried out feeling that he was losing it. How could anyone do something like this to a woman?

"I already have, Jack." Tom was already by his side. "Don't pull her up. She probably has broken ribs... Jack, I'm going after them." Tom already started moving in the direction the two men ran into.

"No, Tom, I need you here." Jack couldn't help but imagine the two guys reappearing as Tom walked away. Would he then manage to fight them off and protect Julia at the same time?

Jack cradled Julia in his arms. He could feel her shaking. Tom noticed that too and quickly covered Julia with his jacket.

"She's going into shock."

"Julia," Jack whispered. "Julia!" he repeated louder, to which she tried opening her eyes. "Stay with me, Julia. Help is on the way."

"He..." she tried speaking, but her voice broke.

"Don't speak..."

"He found me..." Julia managed to say, and there was so much pain and torment in these words. She sounded defeated.

"You'll be alright..., you'll be alright..." Jack kept repeating, looking into her eyes. He wasn't sure whether he was trying to convince Julia of that or himself.

The moment he heard the sirens, Julia closed her eyes again.

"Julia!"

"No, no..." she sighed, clearly losing touch with reality.

"Julia, please, stay with me..."

Jack couldn't remember the time he'd ever felt so powerless as he did now. CEO or not, there was nothing he could do right now to ease her pain. And that was killing him.

As the paramedics put Julia on the stretchers, Jack couldn't help but think how insignificant the fights and arguments between him and Julia had been; they all meant nothing in the face of such suffering.

"I'm her fiancé, I'm coming with you," Jack lied to the paramedics and got into the ambulance without waiting for their reaction.

He tried not to get in the way, but still managed to grab Julia's hand.

As the ambulance started moving, Julia opened her eyes; panic clear in them.

"Where are you taking me!?"

"Ma'am..."

"Julia, it's alright. We're going to the hospital. You are safe." Jack moved his face closer to hers. Seeing him she actually calmed down.

"Jack..."

"I'm here..."