by Anna Scott
"Gillian, let me start out by saying that all things considered, you appear to be in good shape. We won't have the full picture until your lab work comes back, but I will give you what information I have now, okay?"
Gilli nodded her head and the doctor went on to explain that he discovered several bruises, on her ribs, across her abdomen, on her legs and arms, though none posed a serious concern. "I completed a full pelvic exam, and took samples which will need to be examined, but at this point, it doesn't appear that you were sexually assaulted. Have you been sexually active recently?"
"No," she whispered, pulling her hand from mine and laying it on her stomach. "Not since last week sometime."
The doctor smiled sympathetically, glanced up at me and I thought I saw a question in his eyes. Was he wondering why I wasn't fucking her silly every damn night? Good question, mostly because I was a moron.
"There are some large bruises around your thighs, your lower back and biceps, but nothing that worries me. The large bruise on your low back needs to be watched and I'll want to do some additional tests to ensure that no organs were damaged, but I will assume that your recovery - your physical recovery from this ordeal will be a speedy one."
"Thank you, doctor - for everything." Gillian's quietly spoken words were heartfelt and full of timid appreciation. I knew that she was thankful for so much more than just his kind bedside manner, but his discretion and his gentleness with not only her but with Kelly too. He went on to ask some questions about vitamin deficiencies and go over her medical history again, but as she responded to him, I could only hold her hand and thank God that she and Kelly were safe once more. I would never again allow my foolishness to hurt the woman I loved and I would do everything in my power not only to keep them both safe in the future, but to make them a permanent part of my life as soon as possible.
It was another hour before Gilli was dressed in the clothes Amber had supplied and she, Jake, Kelly and I were heading upstairs to the Labor and Delivery floor. We were quiet on the way up, Kelly had fallen asleep again and with the hour being so late or early rather, we didn't want to disturb her any more than necessary. If Gillian hadn't insisted on going up to see Luke and Aurora and the coming baby, I would have whisked them home and into their beds.
Tyler followed us as far as the elevators, but stayed downstairs to make some necessary phone calls. I was desperate to know the status of the operation and to ensure that the girls were no longer in danger. With Brooks dead, I was pretty confident, but not stupid enough to put all my faith in him working alone to take them. DeMarco's army was vast, and with him in custody, it was possible that those lower down the chain would take it upon themselves to come after Gillian once more, mistakenly believing that she was somehow responsible for the night's events. I hadn't had time to debrief her, to find out what all was said or what she could remember, but it seemed like with most things in our relationship, it wasn't the right time. Later, I would have to make her available for questioning, and unfortunately, I knew that I wouldn't be able to direct the interview, I would have to sit like a bystander and watch, listening to her tale.
I opened the waiting room door and allowed Jake, still holding Kelly and Gillian to precede me. The anxious faces filling the seats had turned when the door opened and each of the occupants relaxed back into the chairs when they realized that it was us and not someone bringing news of the latest addition to our little family. The only one who didn't stay seated was Hope, she sprang from her chair and as she reached Jake she wrapped her arms around him. I looked away and took in the others.
Dawn who was usually well put together looked disheveled and a little wild in her paint spattered black yoga pants and what appeared to be one of Gavin's old USMC shirts. Gavin sat next to her, thankfully safe after the craziness of the night. He was wearing the same black tee as earlier, but his dark jeans were replaced by a pair of hospital scrub pants. They were just a little short on him, which looked ridiculous, but since he'd been the one to take out Brooks, I decided not to harass him about it. He looked tired, as did everyone else, except for Amber. She was decked out in a pair of fancy cream pants, heels and some pink silky shirt. Her hair and make up were done up perfectly, like she was ready for a woman's tea party or something.
Apparently, I stared at her a little too long, a questioning look on my face because she frowned and waived over her outfit and explained, "Couldn't sleep." I nodded, understanding and looked closer and saw it, she was hiding her worry, probably the terror she had felt since Gillian and Kelly had been taken behind her standard mask. She had been doing so much better about letting her guard down, but when things were tense, she reverted back to it, at least on the outside. Her swollen belly was also prevalent and even more noticeable with Trent's hand laying possessively over it.
I glanced to Trent, his head was back against the wall, feet stretched out in repose. His eyes were closed and he held little Dylan loosely against him, Dylan's head resting against Trent's shoulder, sound asleep. The little one had one fist curled around Trent's unruly blonde hair and the other flat against his own face, two fingers pressed tight into his mouth. The whole crew was here, Luke's dad was asleep in the corner, his head resting against the window, his feet perched up on a chair he had pulled close. Our family, aside from my mom, the only people in the world I was truly close to, except maybe for Tyler and his family, who was right then, downstairs seeing to the safety of my family.
Finally, I took Kelly from Jake and settle into a chair, Gillian held tight to my side. I just started to close my eyes when the door burst open, and standing in the doorway was Luke's mom, happy tears rolling down the older woman's beaming face. "She's here, it's a girl." Her husband of almost forty years stood abruptly from his bed of chairs as if he hadn't been sleeping seconds before and headed straight for her.
"A girl?" We heard him ask, a quiet gruffness to his voice. He reached her within just a few steps and pulled her swiftly into his arms. We could hear her joyful sobs as he held her tight, lowered his head and spoke softly into her ear. I couldn't tell what he was saying, but the picture of the couple together, sharing such a colossal moment touched me deeply.
Gillian sat up, listening to the announcement, so I pulled her in close and kissed the top of her head. There was so much beauty, so much love in the room after hours of terror and heart wrenching guilt over my own stupidity that I couldn't help but choke up a little bit myself.
Chapter 13
Gillian
"Can you tell me the first thing you remember?"
After meeting the newest member of the clan and giving Luke and Aurora our love, Reed has whisked Kelly and me home and put us straight to bed. Thankfully, I'd been able to get a shower in before he pinned me down in the bed and held me tight while I slept. The craziness of the previous days had exhausted me and I slept hard for about ten hours straight. When I woke, stretching in the bed, I heard Kelly giggling and talking a mile a minute in the other room. Realizing that I was in the bed alone, I got up, slipped into a sweatshirt and a pair of leggings and joined Reed, Kelly and Belinda in the living room. Reed pulled me into his strong arms, caressed my cheek and stared lovingly into my eyes. He whispered "I love you" before kissing me sweetly right there in front of his mom and Kelly.
We sat around, eating sandwiches and chips for about an hour before Reed and I got ready to go into the ATF office. He explained that they needed to talk to me about what had happened. He would be with me the entire time. For whatever reason, Reed was still worried about security, so even though his mom stayed home with Kelly, an officer I'd met a couple of times, Christine came to the house to hang out with them. There was some history between her and Jake, but I didn't know the story and not being one for gossip, really didn't care.
On the drive over, Reed never let go of my hand, holding me firmly and lifting it every so often to kiss my knuckles as we made our way into Dallas. Once there, while we walked, as we waited, he kept an arm around me. I felt so protec
ted and like the old Reed, the Reed pre-Sandy was back. We needed to talk, I had to know what all that crap was about, but it would have to wait - again.
"Yes sir," I responded to the older man sitting across from me. I had been introduced to him, but couldn't remember his name. He was the Agent in Charge and held himself with an air of authority. No matter his greying hair or the lines that bracketed his eyes, he was a handsome man, his manner with me was gentle and I couldn't help but think that his wife was a lucky woman. The wide gold band worn proudly on his left hand had obviously been there a long time, but the metal was polished perfectly and I hoped that he cared for his family in the same way he cared for that ring.
I started in with my story, taking them from hearing someone break in, the alarm going off and seeing Kelly to trying to hit the panic button on my key ring before being knocked out. I felt Reed's body go tense several times, but especially when I relayed what Rodney had spewed about me dating the "pig" and how Reed was using me to get closer to him. Reed's hand clenched mine tightly, when I glanced at him, I saw his eyes were closed, his head dropped and he shook his head.
The older man caught my attention again when he asked, "And this Rodney, did he give you Reed's name or know which agency he worked for?"
"No, and he never mentioned which agency, it seemed like he thought Reed was a police officer, but that was just the impression I got, he didn't say. He was ranting at that point and most of it didn't make any sense."
Nodding in understanding, he wrote a few notes, then continued his interrogation. "What else did he say to you, or within earshot?"
"I am pretty sure he is Kelly's father, once when I woke for a few seconds, I heard her call someone daddy and he was going on about how Missy took her away from him."
The interview went on for what felt like hours, I answered all of his questions the best I could, but there simply wasn't a lot that I knew. I noticed that Reed wasn't overly surprised about my comment about Rodney being Kelly's father and I wondered if he'd already pieced that together.
When we finally walked back into the quiet house, we found Christine and Belinda talking quietly on the sofa. The house was mostly dark and I assumed that Kelly was asleep. I was glad, we needed to get her back on a normal schedule, thankfully I didn't have anywhere to be for a few days, so she would have some time. I would be watching her closely to see if there was any residual impact from our ordeal.
Reed walked Belinda out a few minutes later, and strangely Christine stayed behind with me. "How are you doing after everything?"
"I have no idea," I answered with a sardonic grin. It was true, there had been so much that I hadn't had time to take it all in yet. I needed some time to process it all.
Picking up a small light blue handbag, Christine slipped out a business card and handed it over to me. "We don't know each other well, but if you ever need to talk to someone who won't be shocked at anything you might need to talk about, give me a call," her returning smile was compassionate and understanding. I appreciated it so much. We stood talking about the new baby and how cute Christine thought Kelly was until Reed walked back inside and Christine took her leave.
Taking me into his arms, he wrapped me tight and kissed my upturned lips. "We need to talk some things out, precious, are you up to it now, or do you want to get some sleep?"
I wanted to sleep, but we needed to lay this stuff out, I couldn't sleep one more night with the confusion still swirling in my head. "Let's talk now."
His brows furrowed, and I knew he didn't really want to talk, but as he led me to the couch and pulled me down into his lap, I knew he was going to suck it up and get it done.
"Do you have the cafe covered for tomorrow? I really don't want you going anywhere alone until we make sure this case is wrapped up tight and you're completely safe."
It was my turn to furrow my brows, but like ripping off a Band-Aid, I decided to just put it out there. "No, I don't work there anymore."
"What?" I understood his confusion, as I had, he thought that I owned it.
"I got into a huge fight with my parents on Monday, they reminded me quite clearly that they still owned it, so I walked out."
"What? When was this and why in the hell didn't you tell me?"
I lifted an irritated brow and looked into his stormy eyes. He was angry? Oh heck no, I didn't think so. "If you'll recall, you weren't really talking to me, I hardly talked to you all week. As far as I knew, we were all but finished, so there was no reason for me to tell you anything." My words were biting but I didn't care.
He took on a sheepish expression, but I saw pain flash through his eyes. Pulling me in tight, he whispered, "We'll never be done, not ever. I was fucked up and I know that I pulled away from you, but it isn't because I wanted things to be over between us." I felt a shudder roll through him as I took in a deep breath and pushed back so that I could look into his eyes. I needed to look at him when we talked about this.
"And your ex? You weren't planning to go back to her?"
"God no, I retreated into my head because I was terrified that my job would push you away, that you would get sick of me and leave me too. I knew it was irrational, that you weren't anything like that selfish bitch, I knew that I needed to trust you. I knew that I needed to change, to let you all the way in and I was thinking about that, then this case blew up and shit was crazy and I thought your parents were staying with you so I was giving you some time with them."
"What's the deal with the case, Rodney said that you got close to me so that you could get information on him, is that true?" My body had tensed, I had so many things to say about the shit he just spewed, but was trying to keep myself calm and rational, which was something I was not feeling.
"I didn't not even close. I wanted you the first time I saw you, not only that but I had no way of knowing you were in anyway related to Brooks."
"Brooks?"
"Rodney Brooks," he explained, then I remembered someone from the night before saying that Brooks was shot and killed during the fight. I shivered, thinking that if he was Kelly's father, it was good because he wouldn't bother her again, and feeling sad that both of her parents were gone already.
"Okay, so let's go back to your ex then."
"Do we have to?" Reed whispered, throwing his head back against the sofa in obvious annoyance.
Um, what? Hell no, we sure as hell didn't have to, was he kidding? I narrowed my eyes and looked at him for a moment before moving to climb off his lap. Screw this, if he didn't want to talk to me then he sure as hell didn't have to. I'd been through far too much lately to deal with his attitude.
I got about two steps away from him when his huge hands clamped around my waist and pulled me back to him. "Where you goin'?"
"To bed," I told him flatly.
"Come on, I'm sorry, what do you want to know?"
"I don't want to know a damn thing, Reed. Jesus, You're the one who pulled back from me completely the minute you saw her. She's beautiful, I get it, then I find out that she was going to be your wife, so again, I get it. Belinda told me how messed up you were after she broke up with you, obviously she wants you back, so what was I supposed to think? You wouldn't talk to me, you didn't hold me, you didn't do anything but snap at me and be rude. So now, you start this little talk and when I bring her up, you complain, well fuck you Reed Allen!" I was yelling by the end and somehow kept the tears at bay. I was pissed, yeah maybe I was over reacting, but in this situation I really didn't care.
He stared at me, wide eyed and totally shocked. I wasn't one to swear much, and I certainly didn't yell, I wasn't an overly dramatic person so he must have realized just how angry I was with that little display, but I wasn't done.
"You know what, I'm tired, I've been through a lot this week so no, I don't want to talk anymore if you're going to just shut down on me again. We weren't dating long and even in that time, we didn't spend much time together, so I'll admit that there are things about me that you don't know, but there is a he
ll of a lot more about you that I don't know. I guess we were just together too short of a time to have the talk about exes, but you never even mentioned her name to me before, so you stay out here, or go home, or whatever you want, think about it and you can decide if you want to have this conversation, because I promise you, I won't force it. I won't chase you and make you talk to me, you either do it or you don't." I shoved against his chest and this time was able to make it into my bedroom before the waterworks started. I had closed and locked the door, I didn't know what he was going to do and in that moment, I really didn't care. I mean, I did, but I had chased the love of my family my entire life and had failed, I'd be damned if I would do that shit again.
Angrily, I ripped off my clothes, found my favorite pajama pants and a tee then slipped into my cold and lonely bed. With things going the way they were, I'd better get used to it.
I hadn't laid there ten minutes before I heard the door knob, finding it locked, Reed knocked lightly, but I ignored him. I couldn't get the tears to stop and I didn't need him to see me like this. I was serious, I was in no mood to talk, tomorrow would be soon enough, I needed to settle down, I needed to get over the jumpy feeling I had from being fucking kidnapped and held for so long. I was on edge and his reluctance and snotty tone weren't helping.
Rolling over, I punched his pillow, which didn't help, but it was something, then I heard it, a light scratching sound at the door. Had he brought Blazer in to get me to open the door? The poor dog had barely left Kelly's side since Belinda brought him home early - not home, she brought him over, this wasn't his home.
The door creaked open, damn Reed picked the lock. It probably wasn't hard for him, it was just a regular interior lock after all, his skill set was probably much more advanced than that. I really didn't want to talk, I hadn't stopped crying, my insides felt torn apart, I was terrified that someone was still out there, waiting for me or Kelly, or both of us to be vulnerable again and move in to take us. No, the kidnapping as it were, wasn't horrible, we weren't abused, but it was frightening and not something I would forget about - not ever. Would I always be afraid, jumping at shadows and strange men? I didn't know, but I hoped not.
