A Plan in Effect

He blocked some of the punches and began to punch back at Brad.

He continued to go at him, crawling away from him and trying to get the upper advantage.

-

In the meanwhile, Ellie had called the cops and waited for them to arrive. Once they did some of them spoke to her while the others headed to the hotel room for Brad.

AJ cotninued to stay on Brad, not letting him get the upper hand. He was going to make him pay for what he did to Ellie.

Brad blocked some of the punches and got some in, until the cops came in. "NOBODY MOVE!" they shouted out as Brad put his hands up. "You sir, are under arrest." they said as they grabbed Brad.

"Who you need to be arresting is that man over there." he said as he glared at AJ.

AJ got up and kept his own hands where the cops could see them. "That man assaulted my wife." he said seriously.

"We know." they nodded. "We've talked to her already." they said to AJ as they handcuffed Brad.

"This isn't over." Brad said as they started to take him out of the room.

He watched, trying not to smile as the cops took Brad away. He then rushed down to the car to check on Ellie.

Ellie was just finishing up talking to cops and was getting checked out. To say she was okay....yeah, that wasn't an option right now. She kept the ice pack they gave her as she sat in the car and once they saw AJ coming, they left. "We'll call you during the week." the police told her.

She nodded, not really in the mood to talk to them anymore.

AJ thanked the officers before looking into the car. He'd never seen Ellie so shaken up. He gently knocked on the car window. "Ellie? Baby, it's me...can you unlock the car?"

She looked over and nodded a bit, unlocking the car door for him.

He got in and took a good look at her. "Baby, I'm taking you to the hospital."

She shook her head. "I just wanna go home. I don't need a hospital."

"I'm gonna have to insist." he said firmly.

"AJ, no." she said. "All they are going to do is ask me questions that I've already answered and I don't feel like talking about it anymore. I don't want to be out here, I want to go home and stay locked up in the room. Please, don't make me go." she pleaded.

"Ellie..." he started. "Fine...but if you're still in a lot of pain in the morning, I'm taking you." he said seriously. "Then did you want Jeff to keep the kids tonight?"

She nodded. "Fine and yes, let him keep them."

He nodded as he started for home.

She would just sit quietly in the car, holding the ice pack to her cheek, until they got home.

He parked in the driveway and just looked over at her. "Ellie, what can I do?"

She shrugged. "Nothing. It's not like you can rewind the day or change how everything went."

"I know that..." he said softly. "Let's go inside...are you hungry? Thirsty?" he offered first as they got out of the car.

"I'm fine." she said as she got out of the car and they headed to the house.

He nodded, keeping an eye on her.

"...can you walk in first and check the house out?"

He nodded. "Yeah." he said as he headed into the house, ready in case anything or anyone was there. Thankfully, the kids were still with Jeff at Jeff and Candice's place. He made sure every room was empty, even the garage. He then went back out to get Ellie. "Yeah...it's safe." he assured. It pained him to see her so afraid and fragile.