Franie's Story

(This story interlocks with each chapter so if you come into this story other than the beginning, then you may well scratch your head at some of the comments within this chapter. I've tried to make this a glimpse into the lives and lifestyle of three people. They chose to keep there lives private, isn't it strange how life never lets that happen.)

My thanks again go to Linda62953 for her editing.

*******

Even as the credits wound themselves down, it felt like Red was simply winding herself up. She pulled air into her lungs just long enough to expel it again. It took her a moment but she moved to kneel on the couch facing me.

"I spoke to Caroline this afternoon. She admitted that she was in the reckoning for the nomination and could well take the award, but said nothing of doing this."

A great sadness crept over Red. Her shoulders seemed to slump as her eyes once again came away from the television.

"Please my Master, it is now I need you, more than ever. Help me end this once and for all."

Before I could speak, the phone interrupted my thoughts and out of habit, I placed it on 'speaker'.

"I have already had the studio lawyers on the phone they swear that they had nothing to do with the speech that Caroline Atkins just gave."

Red and I both looked at each other, what the studio gave as a promise, no longer held any weight with us anymore. Red was also still waiting for me to reply to her plea.

"Mathew, I need you to do something for us. From now on, take no calls from the studio or anyone involved with this, have one of your assistants field all your calls with them and alternate between 'you are out of the office' or 'you're in a meeting'."

Red gave me a hug and a whispered thank you, when she realized I was going to back her up in this. I would never leave her alone to face this she was my slave and my promise has always been to protect each of them

"It's time to bring this to a close Mathew. We will get back with you in a few days time. Just keep them at arms length, until we have talked to you and caught you up to date with what we plan to do."

The pause was longer this time.

"I have to ask this, is what you're planning legal?"

This time we both smiled.

"About as legal as the things they have been doing to Red, Mathew. We will be leaving in a few hours and will keep you up to date as best we can. See you in a few days, Mathew."

I terminated the call, it was clear Red had more to say. I just waited her out.

"We have to do this alone. Please Jack, order my sisters away, we cannot risk the studio bringing them into this, it's not their fight. It hurts like hell to say even that, but please Jack, we must."

"They will understand, they're your sisters and will stand by you."

Red vigorously shook her head.

"No. When we go after the studio, they may lash out and catch my sisters in the crossfire. They have clearly shown no remorse with what they have done so far. We must place them out of harms way before we do this."

It was clear that Red wouldn't step back from this and I had to admit I was in agreement with her. Selling it to the girls, was going to be another matter though. Red phoned Samantha first and spoke to her. At first, she was adamant that she would stand by her sister, but between us both we talked her down and in the end, I made it an order. She reluctantly agreed with a premise that if we needed her day or night we were to call and she would come running.

Frankie on the other hand was a pit-bull. She flat out refused and slammed the phone down on Red. Twice more I phoned her and she slammed the phone down on me. The third time she refused to even pick the phone up. My next call was to Joseph. He had been expecting my call after watching the awards ceremony himself. I asked him to meet us at Father Stevens' residence as soon as he could. He agreed and said he would leave as soon as he'd finished his rounds at the clinic.

We both heard the car make its way along the valley road. Frankie skidded to a stop by the door and rushed into the cabin, spotting our suitcases by the door as she did. Red knelt facing Frankie. Frankie's own training made her kneel facing Red.

"Don't go, we can fight this. We are a family, we are strongest together."

Red leaned forward and held Frankie's hands.

"My own sweet sister, I have loved you from the day I was sent here to protect you. Every day you bring me such joy."

Frankie tried desperately to pull her hands away from Red. Red never gave an inch as Frankie pulled so desperately against her, finally she let go, lurched forward, and hugged her sister who then burst into tears, and agonizing sobs burst forth as both girls realized the finality of this moment.

Another car pulled alongside Frankie's. Mrs. Gillins got out; she could see both girls through the open door, as she drew alongside the door she also noticed the two suitcases.

"Let her go. You both have work to do and it's time for you both to leave. I have a suitcase in the trunk of my car, I will stay here with Francine until you both return and you will return because I insist on seeing all of you at my own wedding."

Frankie pulled herself away from Red and rushed to Mrs. Gillins, who in turn held her close.

"Make them stay, they won't listen to me, please make them stay. We are a family. We are the strongest together."

It took a moment for even Mrs. Gillins to compose herself enough to hold Frankie by the arms so she could pull her away enough to look her in the eyes.

"My dear sweet child, you are young yet also older than your years. They have to do this alone; it's up to us to keep all this going, so they know they have us to come back to."

What she said next damned near broke all of us standing in that room.

"Jack reminds me so much of my late husband. When he deployed, he told me that he knew he would return because he had someone to return to. Three times he returned and I loved that man to a standstill, although his luck ran out on his fourth deployment, I cherished every moment I had with that man and the child he gave me. You will be strong my child because they both need you to be, now give them a hug, a kiss and let them both know they have you to return to."

Frankie paused as she looked so deeply into Mrs. Gillins eyes, the moistness in her own eyes as she stared back at Frankie simply reinforced the conviction she felt about what she had said to Frankie. With a gentle nod, Mrs. Gillins let her go, Frankie hugged, and kissed us both, we made it as far as the car before Frankie rushed out and attached herself to my back and wouldn't move until she extracted a promise from me that I would phone her daily.

The drive to Father Stevens' residence was done with Red staring out the window, her chin on her knees and her arms wrapped around her legs. Not one word passed her lips on the journey. Joseph's car was already there, the good Father was leaning against the door watching me park. He opened Red's door and held her to him for a moment before guiding her towards the residence and sitting her in a chair before even acknowledging my presence.

We talked well into the night, as one plan started to form; it was soon dispelled as either unworkable or borderline illegal. It was as I stood to head to the bathroom that I heard a comment made by Joseph. By the time I had taken a leak, the comment grew in my head. By the time I'd sat down again, the comment grew to fruition or at least to the point where we all started to chip in with ideas and iron out the details.

Joseph also took it upon himself to bring something else up that we had sworn never to reveal to Red.

"Jack before we go down this road you need to be completely honest with Red."

The conversation between Father Stevens and Red instantly stopped.

"This is a conversation for another time Joseph and I resent you bringing it up at a time like this."

Joseph was having none of it and continued to stare at me. Both Red and Father Stevens were as well. Perhaps it was truth time. I just wished it were a better day to do this.

"The hospital as standard practice, had to tell the medical insurance people that you were being transferred. They phoned me while I was signing the papers for your release, they believed you were receiving the best medical care at that hospital and if I moved you then they would cancel your medical insurance."

I looked at Red, she was torn between wanting to explode and cry all over again. However, I continued anyway.

"My heart told me that they wanted to keep you there so the studio could continue to make mileage out of you, since they had already announced the press conference. Ever since you left that hospital I have been footing to bill for your medical needs."

Red shot off the chair and paced the room, alternating between cursing the studio, me and just about anything that had a pulse. Finally, Father Stevens stood in front of her and held onto her until she calmed.

"He could have told me Father."

"Really, answer me this my child, between the time that he took you away from Hollywood and now, when could he have sat you down and told you this without the fear that you would relapse?"

Red continued to hold onto the good father as she thought about what he had just said. After a moment she shrugged her shoulders and Father Stevens let her go, Red in turn looked at me.

"I will pay you back, every dime."

"Do that and you'll be living with the good Father for the rest of your life."

She smiled at my veiled threat, as did the good Father fortunately. As Father Stevens let her go she came and sat on my lap wrapped her arms around me and hugged me. Thanking me for being me, Red wouldn't let me get away with a shrug of my shoulders so I told her she was always welcome.

*******

It was also clear that the sharks had smelled the blood in the water. Twice that evening, reporters had phoned the good Father wanting to know if he was again going to interview Red for the Chronicle. On both occasions, Father Stevens told them that he would publish an interview with Red if she felt the need to talk to him in response to Ms. Atkins remarks on TV.

We knew time was running out, Red downloaded all the information Father Stevens had and we were back on the road an hour later, with a promise from Joseph that he would UPS any information we needed as soon as we could supply an address to send it to.

The local reporters turned up at the door of Father Stevens' church the next morning. The good Father had been busy with his time and was already in the process of bringing out another special edition of the Saint Mary's Chronicle. In it, an 'interview' with Ms. O'Connell had stated that she had watched the awards and was indeed confused by the announcement that Ms. Atkins' award was hers.

She also reminded the good Father that the accident was on the second film and this award was for her acting on the first film. In addition, she couldn't accept an award that she herself hadn't earned and so by extension, wasn't entitled to.

When we sat around at Father Steven's residence, working on the wording to her so-called interview, the Father decided that a few Hail Mary's for publishing this little lie in the paper would be worth it. The reporters took their copy of the Chronicle away with them and one copy found its way to the studio. By now Red and I were exhausted and pulled into a hotel to rest, I picked up a brochure from the hotel showing the locations of all the hotels they had in their chain and I used it to plan our route to Hollywood.

As we slept, Mathew and his assistants were being phoned hourly, wanting meetings with them. As instructed, Mathew kept them at arms length and the same two excuses were used for the rest of the day. When we woke, I kept my promise to Frankie and phoned her. She told me that Mrs. Gillins was now in my seat, she was now her PA and Jodie had taken over the running of personnel. It had taken half a morning for my company to get used to the new regime change.

I guess spending so much time at seminars and in meetings with other businesses had got them all used to being semi-independent. We talked for awhile and Red told her that she loved her and would be back soon, I said the same and thought it best to leave it there since we were both unsure when that would be.

I phoned Gordon and told him that two women were living at my home, he was to turn on the security system both inside and around my house and have it monitored day and night. Gordon quickly understood my meaning and offered to have people on the ground as well. I agreed and gave him a list of people I believed may visit; anyone else was to be challenged. Gordon's own people would have pictures of the people on that list within the hour. I may not be there, but Gordon knew I wanted them looked after.

*******

Red's gym was there next target, I was told from Red that Anthony played the knuckle dragging gym rat to a tee and enjoyed every moment of it. The reporters left feeling frustrated and still at a loss, if there was a story to be had.

We knew that by car, it would take us three days to get to Hollywood; we chose to make it four. We still had things to do, keeping the studio lawyers off balance being one of them. Using the brochure from the hotel we booked ahead and also sent Joseph the details of the hotel, he promised to send everything we needed on overnight UPS and it would be there when we got there.

Mathew phoned us as Red drove, I placed it on speaker and Mathew told us that the studio lawyers were getting concerned and one of their people was now camped out at reception, waiting to talk to him. Red smiled when I suggested that Mathew used the fire exit to leave his office that evening. It seems they hadn't anticipated Red doing and saying nothing and that worried them, more so since she had now fallen off the grid.

When we got to our hotel, we booked a small conference room so we could spread things out and not be interrupted. Red was sleeping soundly and for that I was extremely grateful, other than finger her own necklace she never let her own nerves get to her. She had faith in what her friends were doing for her and that meant everything to her.

The UPS package arrived as we were going down to breakfast. I thanked reception and took it with me. It was clear Red wanted to open it, just as it was clear that I wasn't going to allow it until we had all we needed in our conference room. With breakfast finished, we grabbed all our paperwork and photos and locked ourselves in for the morning, the table was just big enough for our needs and we smiled to ourselves that we stood no chance of doing this in our room.

By the end of the morning, two folders now sat on the table ready for Red to use when needed. We made copies of both and got UPS to take both onto Mathew so he would have a heads up and make his own plans for the meeting with the studio lawyers that was coming. My phone call to Frankie put Red in orbit; it seems Caroline Atkins came to my office with a reporter in tow.

When Tony asked him to leave, the reporter stated freedom of the press. Tony casually mentioned that he was standing on private property and he could shoot him and make it look like and accident. The reporter knew he was being stonewalled. Caroline told him she would be fine, when security walked Caroline up to my office. Mrs. Gillins met her in the corridor along with Frankie and Jodie.

All three were silent as Caroline made her practiced speech, no one moved when she tried to hand over her award. Every woman in that corridor looked on in shock when Mrs. Gillins told Caroline to take her award and shove it up her ass.

When Caroline looked towards Frankie and said, "No hard feelings."

Frankie said, "I personally wish you would fuck off and die, and that's said with so much feeling."

I must say my driving took a hit when that came over the speaker. It burst the anger bubble that Red had surrounded herself in as well and I could see genuine tears of laughter, it took her a moment to calm and a thought occurred to me that I had a use for Frankie. The need to keep her at arms length over this, meant I had to also hide her.

"Frankie, talk to Mrs. Gillins. I no longer wish to see you as you, with brown hair; a red head would be good for you for a few weeks. Also make sure the eyebrows match."

The pause was obviously confusion on her part, the sound of a click as our conversation was now being shared with Mrs. Gillins.

"Jack, we agreed that you would not involve Francine in this."

"Two things make that impossible Mrs. Gillins. Frankie will not allow that and as confrontation becomes inevitable she would do everything in her power to make sure she was by our side. Mathew Bowden will need Frankie's abilities when he confronts the studio, Red and I trust Frankie, she is needed."

We could both hear Frankie in the background; it was plain that she was already booking an appointment at the hairdresser for that evening. Mrs. Gillins knew I was right and we talked logistics until Frankie got off the phone.

"It's arranged, I have the last appointment tonight, how dark a red do you wish me?"

Looking at Red proved pointless she was confused since I hadn't mentioned any of this to her before hand.

"A modest red Frankie not a striking red, also I want you to go shopping you will have a use for the glasses that we first see Rebecca use."

The silence as Frankie took a moment to understand took longer than even I suspected, the giggle that followed showed me that she now remembered the time I was talking about.

"All shall be done tonight. I look forward to seeing you both very soon."

"No. Phone Gordon, at the moment, his people are looking after you both at our place. He will make the arrangements and have someone with you when you travel. You will not travel alone I won't allow that, once you have done what I asked, you cannot return to work until all this is over."

"I will obey."

Closing my cell simply meant that Red could ask me the one question she had held to herself all through my conversation with Frankie.

"You promised that we would order my sisters away. Why?"

"Mathew will need her help. I need to keep Frankie close by so I know what she's up too. You don't think for one minute that she was going to stay at home, do you? Frankie is too much like Shannon and we don't need Frankie doing a Shannon on us when all this comes to a head."

Red giggled and that quickly turned into a laugh that broke the tension Red had been feeling.

"Point taken, Shannon trained that girl way too well."

All I could think of as I was driving was, Amen to that.

*******

There was another couriered package waiting for us when we arrived at the next hotel. Red waited for me to open it yet all I did was place it into my suitcase and lock it. We once again booked a small conference room for the next morning and we caught up with Mathew.

"The phone calls are almost hourly now. The lawyers still sit outside by reception despite being told, I'm not in the building. Your two files arrived this morning and I already have my people on them, what your proposing to do is both brave and suicidal at the same time."

"Its nice to know I can still impress you Mathew."

This time he laughed.

"Hell Jack, you and the girls have done nothing but impress me every single day. How's Red holding up?"

This time I looked at her and she smiled back at me.

"She's doing just fine Mathew, Red is up to speed on what we sent you and we have given ourselves an extra day in case you have anything to add to this. If not then set the date and we will get this started."

"Ok I will do. Like I said, I have my people looking at what you sent us. We will highlight everything that they could try and use in a court of law, but lets face it, the photo's Joseph has of Reds back when she came to the clinic would bury any of them if they tried to fight her in court on this."