I Can't Do It Alone

Tia smiled as she looked at her phone to see Kris calling her. “Hey,” she answered. “Are you guys about home yet?” she asked. She really had missed Kris since he left for the road trip, and she couldn’t wait to see him again.

“Yeah,” he replied. “Are you ready to go back home?” he asked.

“Yes,” she admitted. “I love Brooklyn and Jocelyn, and I appreciate that they let me stay with them, but I am ready to just go back to your place and sleep in your bed again,” she said with a smile.

“Well, then open up the door,” he said. Tia furrowed her brow in confusion, looking down at her phone to see if he was being serious. When she put the phone back up to her ear, she heard Kris say, “Seriously, open up the door.”

“Okay,” Tia said slowly, walking over to the door and opening it to see Kris standing there, a smile on his face. She immediately shut her phone, throwing it onto the couch, jumping into Kris’s arms. “I’ve missed you so much,” she told him, kissing him.

“I’ve missed you, too,” he told her when they broke apart. “Where’s Brook and Jocelyn?” he asked, looking around the apartment.

“They’re both at work,” she told him, and he nodded. “Can we go home?” she asked him.

“Yeah,” he said. “Is there anything you want to grab?” he asked, and Tia walked back to the guest bedroom to grab her suitcase, which she had packed the night before.

“Okay, I’m all ready to go,” she smiled, dragging her suitcase out to the living room.

Kris picked it up, laughing. “You really were ready to go, weren’t you?” he asked as they made their way out of the apartment. Tia shrugged in response. As he drove back to his place, he finally decided to ask about the one thing he knew Tia wanted to just forget about. “So, have you gotten anything from the stalker?” he asked carefully, not wanting to upset her.

“You know,” Tia began. “I actually haven’t gotten anything since you left. Maybe he’s finally given up,” Tia said with a smile on her face.

“Let’s hope so,” Kris told her.

“But, I do need to talk to you about something,” Tia told him, and he glanced over at her to let her know he was listening. “We need to figure something out with Max, Brooklyn, Jocelyn, and Sid. This is getting out of hand, and they need to work everything out before something bad happens,” she said.

“Why, did they say something to you?” Kris asked as they made their way into his apartment.

Tia nodded as she sat down on the couch. Kris dropped her bag by the door and then sat down across from her in the chair. “Jocelyn accepted the job offer,” she began.

“Shit,” Kris muttered.

“And, honestly, I can’t say that I blame her. I mean, she said that she wasn’t going to stay here and wait for her and Sid to make things right when she can’t guarantee that that will ever happen. And, if she did do that, then she’d end up resenting him,” Tia continued.

“And Max and Brooklyn?” Kris asked, scared to hear how bad their relationship was at the moment. He knew that Max hadn’t talked to her since he found out he was going to be a father, even though Kris had urged him to do so often. He didn’t want the baby to grow up with his or her parents hating each other.

“Brooklyn had her first doctor’s appointment this week, and she called Max to see if he wanted to go. He didn’t pick up, and he didn’t call her back. She says she’s all ready to raise the baby on her own as a single mother,” Tia informed him.

“Why can’t they just fix everything already?” Kris asked. “We both know that they love each other. They shouldn’t be fighting like they are.”

“Do you have any ideas as to what we should do?” Tia asked. “All I can think of is an intervention,” she laughed.

“That’s actually not a bad idea,” Kris told her, and Tia glanced at him questioningly. “Seriously, if we just put each couple in a room, tell them how stupid they’re being, and refuse to let them out until they fix everything, maybe they’ll actually work things out,” he explained.

Tia looked at him for a few more moments before she asked, “Which couple do you want?”

Kris smiled as he said, “I’ll take Brooklyn and Max.”

“Okay, I’ll work on Sid and Jocelyn, then,” Tia said. “Is there any way that you can get Sid and Max to come over here? I can lock Sid and Jocelyn in the bedroom until they fix everything, and then you can work on Max and Brooklyn out here in the living room,” she suggested.

“Yeah, I’m sure I can get them over here,” Kris told her. “You want to try it this afternoon?”

“Sure. I’ll have Brooklyn and Jocelyn come over here,” she replied.

***

“Hey, is everything okay?” Brooklyn asked, walking into Kris’s apartment. Tia had called her and Jocelyn earlier and asked them to come over. She hadn’t told them what was going on, just that she needed them to get over to Kris’s apartment as soon as possible.

“You didn’t get anymore stalker letters or gifts or pictures or any other creepy things, did you?” Jocelyn asked her, concerned.

Tia shook her head. “No, I didn’t,” she told them.

“Then, what’s wrong?” Brooklyn asked.

“We need to talk about your guys’ relationships,” Tia admitted. “This is getting to be ridiculous, you guys! Brooklyn, you and Max have a baby on the way, and you’re not even talking right now,” she began, looking at Brooklyn,

“Yeah, well that’s mainly his fault,” Brooklyn argued. “I tried to call him, and he didn’t answer, and he never called me back. What am I supposed to do? Show up at his apartment unannounced?” she questioned.

“If that’s what it takes,” Tia told her, and Brooklyn rolled her eyes at her. “And, Jocelyn,” Tia continued, looking over at Jocelyn. “You accepted the job offer, so you’re going to be moving clear across the country. And, have you even told Sid that you’re going?”

“He already knew I was going to. Before I even decided, he thought he had it all figured out,” Jocelyn told her.

“And, before you decided, you said that you two would make the long distance thing work. And, now what? You’re planning on leaving without even telling him? Jocelyn, that’s ridiculous.”

“He’s the one being a jackass about it,” Jocelyn whined.

“So, why can’t you be the bigger person and actually work this all out?” Tia asked, and neither of them answered her. “Well, since you all refuse to do anything, Kris and I decided we’d intervene.”

“What do you mean you’re intervening?” Brooklyn questioned, just as the front door opened and Kris walked in with Sid and Max.

“Tia, what happened this time?” Sid asked, walking over to her.

“More pictures?” Max asked,

Tia looked over at Kris, confused. “Sorry, I told them they needed to come over for you,” he explained, and Tia nodded her head in understanding.

“What?” Max asked. “Nothing happened to you?” he asked, looking over at Tia.

“Nope,” Tia said, shaking her head.

“Then why are we all here?” Sid asked.

“An intervention,” Tia stated as the four of them stared at her.