The Rookie and Me: Second Chances (COMPLETE)

Phone Calls

Tears fall from my eyes as I hear his deep, rugged voice for the first time in almost a month. "Hi, Ty."

I can hear him trying to catch his breath as he says, "Ali... I am so sorry. Please just..."

I interrupt him, "I just wanted to call and see how you were doing?" Real smooth, Ali... Let's all just pretend that he isn't the love of your life and he's just some old friend you haven't heard from in a while. Idiot...

He seemed stumped by my question, "Uh... are we really going to do this?"

Shit, he's onto me. I don't know why I ever thought I would be able to pull this off. I didn't even think about what I was going to say to him before I dialed his number. Real smart, Ali.

"What? What do you mean?" I mutter softly.

"You know exactly what I mean, Ali. I don't want to do small talk. I want you. I want you to come home. I'll do anything. Please, Ali..." He pleads with me through cracks in his voice. Please don't cry, please.

I sigh softly, "I... I can't, Tyler. I just can't."

"Ali, please! What do I have to do to get you to come back home? I will do anything. Anything in the world. I need you, please." He says in between sniffles.

I can't hold back the tears anymore, "Tyler, I'm not good for you. You know that. Everyone knows that. You just have to accept it. Please."

"No, Ali. You're wrong. I cannot live without you and Cameron. Please. I miss you. So fucking much. Please just... just come home." He pleads repeatedly.

I sit and think to myself while the tears stream down my face. "Tyler, you almost lost everything because of me. I can't let that happen again."

"You're wrong." He groans harshly, "I did lose everything.... the day you walked out that door and never looked back. You are everything."

We sit in silence and listen to each other breathe. He clears his throat and says, "Ali, can I ask you something?"

I sigh, "Anything."

He pauses for a moment then asks, "Do you still love me?"

How could he even ask me that? Doesn't he know already? "Tyler, I only left because I love you! You have to know that..."

He doesn't say anything. He just breathes softly on the other end of the line, thinking to himself. Finally, he breaks the silence.

"If that's true, and you do still love me... please. Come home. Or at least tell me where you are and I'll come to you. Please, Ali." He says in a serious tone.

I sigh heavily, "Tyler, I can't. I can't do that. I'm sorry. You deserve so much more than I could ever give you. Please, you have to let me go..." I pause for a moment, "I love you forever, Ty. Goodbye."

I quickly hang up the phone before he even had a chance to respond. I head back inside and turn my phone off for the night. I lay beside my baby boy and silently cry myself to sleep, just thinking about the only love I have ever known and how I'll never see him again.

TYLER'S POV:

"Tyler, I only left because I love you! You have to know that..." She says on the other end of the phone.

Honestly, I don't know what hurts more. Her leaving me without any warning at all, or hearing her say that she only left because she loves me. If she really did love me the way that she says she did (or does), then she would have stuck around and fought for what we have. What we have is just... so fucking real that it feels unreal at times. Doesn't she know I would do anything that I could to make her happy and keep her safe? 

I take a moment to collect my thoughts and manage to find the words that I wanted to say, "If that's true, and you do still love me... please. Come home. Or at least tell me where you are and I'll come to you. Please, Ali."

She sighs heavily, "Tyler, I can't. I can't do that. I'm sorry. You deserve so much more than I could ever give you. Please, you have to let me go..." She pauses for a moment, "I love you forever, Ty. Goodbye."

Before I could even say anything, she ends the phone call. I quickly try to call her back, but she has already turned her phone off. She knew I would try to call her back immediately. She's so frustrating and stubborn as hell. When she sets her mind to something, there is no changing it. No matter what I would have said or done, it wouldn't have changed anything. 

I need to know where she is. I need to find her. Just hold her, just one last time at least. If I had known our last night together was going to be the last time I would ever see her again, I would have done everything so differently. I would have tried to make our last night so unforgettable that she wouldn't be able to leave me behind. I would have made sure that she knew I would stop at nothing to keep her safe and happy. That's all that matters to me. 

I head upstairs to my bedroom and crash onto my bed. I ordered this king size bed for the space since I'm such a big guy, and usually I would love being able to sprawl out the way that I can now, but I honestly can't stand this feeling now. Now that I have had her in my bed, laying in my arms, it has never felt so fucking empty. These past 3 weeks have been the loneliest I have ever had. I miss the three of us laying in this giant bed, watching cartoons on a loop. I miss hearing Cameron running barefoot around the house. I miss seeing her sit by the fireplace reading her favorite romance novels. I don't think I'll ever be used to not having them around now that I have had them in my life.

ALI'S POV:

The next morning, I woke up to the sun beaming through the blinds on the sliding glass door to our balcony. I rub my eyes gently and try to get them adjusted to the morning light. I look over at my baby boy, still sleeping soundly beside me. I grin at his tousled blonde curls going in every direction possible. I grab my phone from the nightstand and remove the charger. It takes a second for it to finally come back on, but once it does, message after message starts coming through. Each and every one of them are from Tyler, apart from one. There is one text message from Whitney:

"I need you to call me when you wake up please. It's urgent." -Whitney

I wonder what this could be about. What could be urgent? I hope she's okay. Maybe she and Blake are fighting or something. I quietly get up from the bed and step out onto the balcony. The phone rings twice before she answers.

"Hey, Whit. I got your message. Is everything okay?" I say softly, trying not to wake Cameron as I close the sliding glass door. 

Whitney clears her throat gently, "So, I completely forgot to tell you yesterday when we talked, but you got a piece of mail delivered to my house. It's from an attorney's office..."

I scrunch my brows in a confused manner, "Wait, what? Why would an attorney's office be sending me a letter?"

She sighs softly, "Do you want me to open it? I can read it to you. Or I'll send you a screenshot of it?"

"Yeah, go ahead and open it. I need to know what this is about. I'm like, internally panicking right now." I say anxiously as I hear her tear open the letter.

I hear her toss the envelope onto the table and listen to each word that she says carefully, 

"Dear Alice Walker: You have been served with a subpoena issued in connection with a criminal investigation being conducted in this District..."

Tears fill my eyes as she continues reading the letter. The letter from an attorney, that I have no doubt in my mind was hired by none other than Joe Smith himself. Which could only mean that he woke up from the medically induced coma he was in. And now he is taking me to court? Is that what this means? What could he possibly have to take me to court for? He assaulted me! And now this only means one thing... I am now legally required to go back home.