PYGMALION

By DocPaul

And Galatea, by the sea, with her arms unfurled and hands wide open…

 For Cindy and Vin

BOOK TWO: Who Wants to Live Forever 

Chapter Twenty-Two: MacaVity: the Mystery Cat

Day Thirty-four, Sunday 7:43 pm

Sean and Julia stood at the gate waiting for the plane to disembark. Michael and Maria were late. A tropical storm system had kicked up at the last moment, and their plane from Miami had experienced a four hour delay, sitting grounded on the tarmac waiting for a clearing in the flight conditions.

The happy couple was practically standing next to them before either Julia or Sean realized they were there, so changed was their physical condition.

They were brown. Healthy. Maria had gained some weight, mostly in her stomach which now looked more like a pregnant woman’s stomach should look. Michael, who before had looked gaunt and drawn, was back to his pre-pregnancy weight. Muscular. The couple walked together, with Maria’s hand in Michael’s talking all the time. Or at least Maria did the talking; Michael made noises.

“You’re late.”

Michael just made a face at Sean and held out his hand. “Stop your bitching. You got it?”

Sean sighed and handed over Michael’s piece. Ignoring the startled stares of people around them, Michael put on his holster and put his gun snugly against his body. Suddenly his life was once again restored to a balance he hadn’t realized had been missing.

Maria’s rolled her eyes, but quickly hugged her cousin. “Sean.”

Sean kissed her enthusiastically. “M! You look radiant.” Sean saw Michael’s reaction. Damn, that man was too possessive! But she did. She really did look incredible. Actually both of them did. Michael wore his usual look of irritation at having to be social, but in comparison to what he was once like, it was night versus day. The man had changed, and it was all for the better.

The group talked in the car, but both Michael and Maria noticed the quietness of the other couple. They were holding back, and Michael looked at Maria from where they sat in the back seat. She shrugged. Two hours to get home. It was hard to want to let Roswell back into their lives, but then again, they were home. Whatever that meant, one thing was certain, it also meant that all the problems of home were waiting for them.

Maria ran her hand up Michael’s leg and nodded. Turning she looked outside the window watching the scenery pass in the last light of the day. It would be dark soon.

“So, any more bombings?”

Sean glanced at Julia. They shared a moment, both not wanting to wreck what was a happy trip for the other couple. There is a distinct difference between adults and children. Children practice an age-old technique of avoidance, and they can hold that for as long as it takes. Adults practice it too, but most adults found a limit as to how long they could avoid most unpleasant things. For some, that time wasn’t too long.

“No. No new bombings. I think our bomber moled on us. Too many people hitting the streets. All of Alex’s people are pushing it. The clubs are a festering hole of people thrashing the bushes. There was a skirmish at Kelly’s club the other night between warring factions of ‘something’. Who they are no one knows, but they did some major damage to her club. The Calypso is closed for repairs. We had three bodies.”

Michael glanced at Julia and then away. He wanted to ask more questions, but that would have crossed over into Alien business, and Julia was not privy to that information. Not yet. “Cap? Is he back at work?”

Sean nodded, and downshifted as he moved around another car and back into their lane. “Just after you left. He only works in the mornings, and Max continues in the afternoons. Officially your partner is becoming his Lieutenant, or Second in Command. I think Cap is going to polish Max to take over the unit when he retires. So looks like the two of you are earmarked for Specials for a long time. Us little guys sure could use some help though. The caseloads are growing. Narc took some major hits in the last two weeks. They lost two men, and they have three more on the injury list. Vice remains a shithole, and Strickdick is making noises demanding to return to work.”

“He can rot in hell for as much as I care. When do you and Cap testify?”

“Cap is scheduled next week with the board of inquiry, and I’m the day after. They pushed it back a few weeks since they lost one of their main witnesses.”

“Lost?” Sean remained looking ahead at the traffic, and Julia reached over and squeezed his hand. Michael saw the gesture and noticed the clenching of Sean’s jaw. “Sean?”

“Andy. They assassinated Andy.”

Maria closed her eyes and leaned her face into Michael’s arm as his hand tightened on hers. Andy. They remembered him well from the night he brought Sean home from the Den. A few times afterwards they met the man, and though they didn’t know him well, his death was still felt.

“Tell me. Everything.”

Julia looked out and away as Sean told the story of their missed meeting with Andy at the Den. Maria too remained silent, and some of the sparkle she gained from her two weeks vacation was dimmed under the weight of more tragedy. Her cousin. She could see in the lines of his back that he was still feeling the loss. Moving forward, she wrapped her arms around him from behind. Sean choked back the tears and reached up and grasped Maria’s arm.

Maria’s eyes met Julia’s and they both shared a silent understanding. Maria smiled slightly. At least Sean had Julia with him. She sat back in Michael’s arm and rested against him. Lulled by the long drive and the resonating timber of his voice under her ear, she slept a little as Michael and Sean talked.

~~~

Roswell rose from the desert like a Mecca of lights welcoming them home. Michael watched them for a moment, and then glanced down at Maria who was still sleeping. She was warm and healthy-looking. Healthier than he could remember her being in many months. Her eating had stopped being so outrageous, and the feeling of desperation was bleeding away from both of them. Finally they were actually allowing themselves to enjoy the idea that the were going to be parents soon. Michael watched Roswell coming closer, and the lights reminded him of Christmas. This Christmas he would be a father. That was a thought that had somehow escaped him until now. He had never allowed himself to really think of being a father beyond the actual moment. There had been no concept of future.

Maria had that though. She wrote the future with an idea that she wouldn’t survive to see it, and preparing for the worst, she made arrangements to protect both him and their children. Michael’s hand dropped to her head, running his fingers through her hair and cupping her face in his palm. Looking up, his eyes caught Sean’s in the mirror. Julia was sleeping too.

“You okay, Michael?” He wasn’t asking physically. Michael knew that. He meant mentally. The past months had worn on him. Losing her, holding her dead in his arms, and that brief moment of his life that was devoid of her presence wasn’t something he would ever forget The devastating memory walked with him like a shadow.

“For now. Right now, this moment,” said Michael, “everything is good.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. I’m in love with a woman I can barely stand to be a foot away from, and I have a life that requires me to leave her in the middle of the night at times and risk my life, but other than that, we’re good.” Sean stared at the first traffic lights came into view. Red. He slowed down and stared at Julia. He could understand Michael’s dilemma. It was pretty much the same for him. When the hell did she find a way into his life? One moment he was a happy bachelor, the next he was begging for a matching ring. Insane. He never expected that in a million years, and from what he knew about Michael Guerin before Michael met Maria, he would have bet money that Michael was a man that would remain alone all his life.

Changing. They were all changing.

~~~

The Loft. Home.

Michael and Maria stood in the doorway staring at their home in shock. It was different. The place was the same, but decidedly different.

“You want to confess now, or later?” Michael asked softly.

Sean moaned. Of course they would know their own home. It was hard to miss the broken vases, the replaced items. “It was that damn cat! I swear, M…”

“Mr. Booboo? What did you do to my cat? Sean, if you hurt my little kitten, I swear…”

“Kitten? That beast is a demon! I called for an exorcism.” Sean caught Maria’s hand. “M, he ate my shoe.”

Maria stood back in shock. Not a shoe! Her cat would never maim or harm any shoe. Small rodents, birds and such, but not….never a shoe. Well, he did at times leave charming teethmarks but... Really!

Sean prepared for the argument by picking up what was left of his six-year-old pair of Doc Marten’s. He held them up for Maria’s inspection. Michael sighed and pulled a horrified Maria behind him in protection, slapping the shoe away.

“Damn it, Sean! Put that away. I think you made your point.”

Sean had the presence of mind to feel a little bad about upsetting Maria, but then he looked at his shoe and took it back. No way. That cat was a menace.

“Where is he?”

Sean sighed. “Around. He comes and goes. Usually has a fit over his diet catfood, destroys the house in a rage, then goes outside and digs up half the garden.”

Julia who had been quiet, finally spoke up. “Sean...,” she said softly, reminding him of a special circumstance.

“Oh yeah! And he kidnapped Mac’s cat.”

~~~

The man reached over and answered the phone. A voice on the other end said two words and then broke the connection, “They’re back.”

Staring at the phone, he quietly hung it up again. Back. Time to work.

~~~

“Jonathan? What is it?” Max paused in the doorway as Jonathan stood staring at the phone he had just hung up. “Who was that?”

Jonathan just shrugged. “It was nothing. How hungry are you?”

Max’s eyes narrowed in speculation, but he shook it off. “I could eat pretty much anything you can cook.”

Jonathan smiled. “I’ve got just the thing. I’ll have to call for groceries though.”

Max stopped him. “We could just go to the market like ordinary people and shop ourselves.” Max noticed the gleam in Jonathan’s eyes as he if was suddenly amused.

“We could. It would only take us a few hours to get that done, then we come back, unpack groceries, and then it will take me another two hours to cook, and so, say about three in the morning we can eat, and…”

Max held up his hands in surrender. “Make the call.”

“Good man!” Jonathan took out his cell phone so he could walk around the kitchen and inventory the essentials.

“You’re turning on the cell?” Max chuckled. Jonathan had to be desperate. He had one rule. When he got home at night, the cell was off.

“Don’t get smart with me, Max or I’ll invite Isabel and Alex over.”

Now that was just mean. Max left the room grumbling. He still had issues over his sister and Alex being together, and Jonathan knew that. Picking up his phone in the other room, Max decided to check on Michael and Maria. It would be a little while before Jonathan was finished destroying the kitchen. The man could cook, but a large mess of pots and pans was usually in his wake. At his place there was a very nice abused woman that came in and restored order the next day, but at Max’s apartment there was just himself.

“Hey, what’re you making?” Max called to the kitchen as he listened to his phone ring. Before Jonathan could answer, the phone was picked up by a growling Michael.

“Not now! We just got home for god’s sake!”

“Michael?”

His partner cursed a nice stream of obscenities. “Sorry, Maxwell, I can’t talk. Sean and I are being sent out in the dark with a flashlight to retrieve a knocked-up white fluffy cat, supposedly called Ms. Fluffy. Can I call you back?”

Max chuckled. “I rather you didn’t. I’ll call you in the morning.” He quickly disconnected. Michael and Maria were home, and all was normal for them. That was all he wanted to know.

“Hey, who you talking to?”

“Michael.” Jonathan sat on the sofa’s arm next to Max. “Apparently they just arrived home to another crisis. Something to do with a knocked-up white fluffy cat.”

Jonathan whistled under his breath. “That place is a baby factor. Knocked-up Maria. Knocked-up cat. Well, at least we know they’re back, and that they survived the honeymoon. Where do you think they went?”

Max shrugged. “Knowing Michael? Anyplace that required the minimum amount of clothing on Maria. He seems to have this nudity thing going with her.” Max ran his hand down Jonathan’s leg, and quickly scooted over to pull the larger man down onto the sofa. “So, what are you cooking?”

“Alaskan King Crab, a shrimp scampi, parsley potatoes, braised asparagus, and the mini-corn muffins you like.”

“Hmm, good eating.”

 Jonathan nodded. “It’s late.”

Max seemed to be contemplating the meal. “So, are you going to tell me what’s going on now or later?”

Jonathan groaned. He looked at Max, and leaning across, he took his mouth in a long kiss, his tongue tasting the other man. “Later. Let me tell you later.”

Max sat back, his jaw clenching. “Tell me now.”

Jonathan actually looked nervous, and that made Max’s frown increase. In all things, Jonathan was utterly confident, but before either could comment, the doorbell rang, announcing the delivery.

“This is not over.” Max said.

“I know.” Jonathan answered the door, looking back at the intense look on Max’s face. Smiling slightly to himself, he went to pay for the groceries and help the delivery person put them in the kitchen. Jonathan glanced at Max again and groaned. “Stop it. If you want to eat anytime soon, you will stop it.”

“What?”

“That look. I can’t even concentrate enough to cook when you look like that. So either behave, or we just go to bed.”

Max’s face cleared and he was suddenly amused. Taking a stool across from Jonathan at the bar he watched as Jonathan pulled out the needed pans. “Gets you excited, huh?”

Jonathan looked over at Max, and the dark intensity of his fathomless black eyes held Max’s attention. Max suddenly gulped and remembered how it felt when he had first met Jonathan, how easily Jonathan could overwhelm him. “Oh.”

“Yeah, oh.” Jonathan leaned across the kitchen bar and kissed Max, pulling back slightly, his voice deep and breathless as he breathed across Max’s mouth. “So want to eat or what?”

Tempting. It was tempting. Oh hell, what was he thinking? Food could wait.

~~~

“Sean, dammit! Over there!” Michael tripped in the dark, and the loud crashing of cans was drowned out by his cussing.

Sean wasn’t that silent either. His endless stream of obscenities was competing with Michael’s as he dived after a frightened white furball. Lying on the ground with the wind knocked out of him, he looked up into the feral eyes of Mr. Booboo, whose tail was swishing in displeasure...

“Ouch! Son-of-a-puss-bucket!” The Boo had gotten him. A swipe to the face with his back claws.

Michael sat back huffing and puffing, trying to get his breath back. The two men lay sprawled on the ground, easily defeated by the two renegade felines.

“That cat is a menace!”

Michael rolled over, grimacing at a scratch he had on his forearm and the bite on his hand. He had caught Ms. Fluffy for a moment, but she bit him while the Boo jumped him, scratching his arm. That large hairball was going to have some explaining to do.

“You boys need some help?”

They both looked up to find Alex calmly leaning against a wall smoking a cigarette. Sean could feel his mouth watering. Oh, he wanted one of those. “Bum me one, Whitman.”

Alex tossed the pack on the downed man. Sean happily rolled over on his back and quickly smoked his new cigarette. He was quitting. Of course he was quitting. This was just a momentary lull. He worked hard. He was injured. This felt good. Julia babying him would feel better. Quickly rolling to his feet, he stomped out the remainder of his cigarette and headed for the door to the loft.

“Where the hell are you going?”

Sean ignored Michael’s scowl and kept walking. “I’m going to retrieve the Counselor, get my crap from that shithole you call a home, with its whacked-out, black, hair-shedding beast, and then I’m going to get my injuries taken care of in a manner befitting a hero. So back off, Guerin. I babysat your evil feline twin for two weeks. I need a reprieve.”

Alex chuckled, amused as a bitching Sean limped back to the loft in search of Julia. “When did he hurt his leg?”

Michael snorted. “He didn’t, but between here and there, he will find numerous additional injuries to complain about. The Counselor won’t be happy that her cat is still on the lam.”

Alex drew deeply on his cigarette and then contemplated its red glow. “It’s been a very loud two weeks since you’ve been gone. The neighborhood has gone to the cats.”

Michael got to his feet. “Anything new, Alex?”

Alex shrugged. “It’s been quiet, and my friend went under. I’ve haven’t been able to find him. He’s around, but I think he’s avoiding me so he doesn’t have to do any more talking. The streets have been busy. Everyone’s talking about this bomber, and there have been a few copycats coming out of the woodwork. If your people don’t pick them off, then they show up mysteriously dead.”

Michael rubbed his face. Yeah, fucking great to be home. “The honeymoon was great. Thanks for asking.”

Alex laughed. “How is Maria? Better?”

“Much.” Michael looked at Alex and sighed. “I know it’s tough, Alex. I really appreciate everything you’re doing. Really.”

Alex nodded. “I hate keeping things from her. But…” Alex searched for another cigarette, cursing when he realized that Sean never returned his pack. Big mooch. “I’m afraid, Michael. This whole Vilandra thing. Isabel…she loves completely. I don’t know that she can handle what her past is, what it means. I don’t want to lose her back to the nightmare she just survived. I can’t lose her.”

“Just keep her safe. Let me know if you get any more information, or need anything else to trade.” Michael groaned as he stretched. “Anything back on the blood?”

Alex shook his head. “They aren’t very forthcoming. No one will talk. I just gather that they were looking for Maria, and she wasn’t what she should’ve been before, but now she is. Somehow when you changed her, it put the last of the pieces into place.”

“How can they know that, Alex? How could they know there would be a Maria, that together we would change each other?”

Alex shook his head and headed back to bed. “I don’t know, but I’m starting to suspect that they don’t know either. Not really. They have pieces, but a lot of what’s happening is just as unexpected to them as it is to us.”

“The dreams?”

Alex shrugged, pausing before reentering Isabel and Liz’s loft. “They’re getting worse.” He paused before entering, leaving his back to Michael. “I’m starting to get them while I’m awake.”

Michael stared at Alex’s receding back. Well, that couldn’t be good.

~~~

“Sean, you promised.”

“We tried! Those two cats are insane. Michael almost had the Fluff, but she scrammed. She wouldn’t come to me.”

Julia was pacing around the loft. “Two weeks, Sean! You promised! How hard can it be to get two cats to turn themselves in? It’s what you do! My poor little girl is out there with that…that…”

Maria sat on a stool at the kitchen bar with a hand over her mouth trying to look concerned and serious. She was failing miserably. Sean’s eyes narrowed as he watched the corner of his cousin’s mouth draw up at the end.

“This is not funny, M. Your freaking cat is out there knocking up Ms. Fluffy! He’s started a damn cat gang. The noise is…”

“He’s fixed.”

Michael snorted. “Yeah, but he doesn’t know that.”

Maria’s smile broke through completely. “I didn’t want to cause him a sexual identity crisis.”

Julia stopped pacing. “Ms. Fluffy is fixed too.”

The group gaped at each other as Sean voiced what they were all wondering, “So what the heck is up with all this mating caterwauling crap? They can’t have kittens. Add in the fact that Ms. Fluffy is too old!”

“Obviously not,” said Michael sarcastically. “She’s got the B-man in a tailspin, no pun intended. He tried to protect her from me!”

Maria made an tsking noise. “Julia, I promise, your cat is safe, just having a little bit of a wild fling. I’ll make sure she gets back to you. It’ll just take getting Mr. Booboo to come home. Why don’t you go home, and I’ll call you when I’ve got Ms. Fluffy back, okay?”

Julia sniffed and looked at the two men covered in dirt and scratches. Sniffing again, she smiled at Maria. Maria, she trusted. “Fine.”

Michael threw himself down on the sofa after Julia and Sean finally disappeared. “Thank God! I thought they would never leave.”

Maria joined him on the sofa, liking how he reached up to hold her by the waist and help her down onto his lap. “Home.”

“Yeah, home, fucking sweet home.”

“Michael, your language.” Maria admonished him, giggling and kissing him.

“Shocking...” Michael explored her mouth. Honeymoons were good, but he was happy to be home. “The Boo is a chip off the old block.”

“Hmm, you think? Poor baby must be wanting to make his own family, seeing how we’re having twins.”

“Jealousy is a terrible thing. See how deranged it’s made Max and Kyle?” Michael stood up and pulled Maria after him. “Let’s go check out our bed. Make sure no one slept in it while we were gone.”

“How would you know?”

“I’d know.”

~~~

Max fell back in the bed. He was still wet from the shower. Jonathan came into the bedroom with a tray. He was wearing nothing but a towel.

“Food?”

“Food.” Jonathan put the tray between himself and Max, and sat back on his side of the bed.

“It’s a box of crackers.”

“And cheese. Some olives, and a few other things.” Jonathan grabbed a handful of crackers and cheese and started eating. “I refuse to cook at this hour. I have an early meeting, and you have some strange cop meeting in the morning.”

Max grabbed some of the food before Jonathan ate it all. One thing he learned early, Jonathan was very serious about food. About literally anything that gave a great sensation. Things like great sex. Grabbing a handful of grapes, Max sat back and contemplated his bedmate. “So, are you going to tell me, or what?”

“Do I have to?”

“What is it? This isn’t like you! You aren’t afraid of anything.”

“Got you fooled, huh?” Jonathan sighed and put the remainder of his cheese back on the plate. “Okay, so I should’ve mentioned it earlier. More than that, I should’ve just told you, but…”

Max was starting to feel a humming in his stomach. Jonathan didn’t prevaricate or avoid. “Jonathan…”

“Vanessa.”

Max was silent. Vanessa? Who the hell was Vanessa? Jonathan saw his confusion, and Max sat up a little on his legs, resting back on his haunches, teetering on the edge of the bed. “We need a bigger bed. Now....Vanessa?” Max wasn’t going to let the man get away with it. Avoidance. Vanessa?

“My wife.” Jonathan winced when Max toppled backwards and actually fell off the bed. Looking over the side, Jonathan stretched across the bed staring at a bemused Max. “Max?”

“You’re married?”

“What?” Jonathan’s entire face took on a dark red coloring. “No! God, no! I mean ex-wife! Vanessa is my ex-wife.”

Max sat up and slowly climbed back on the bed. “The one that made you learn to dance?”

 Jonathan nodded.

“The one you call the Beast of Many Hells?”

 Jonathan nodded again.

“And she contacted you?”

“Sort of.”

“Jonathan!”

“It was more like a threat. She threatened to come visit. And she called me earlier. I was hoping….no praying she had forgotten. That she fell off a cliff, or perhaps broke her pelvis, fucking some fat-bastard Senator. No such luck.”

“No luck?” Max asked in a small voice.

“Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” Max rubbed his face. “Our tomorrow?”

“Well, a tomorrow in New Zealand would be today, now wouldn’t it? Yes, tomorrow.” Jonathan felt bad about his tone. He was a little stressed, and all the good that sex had done him was fast fading away. “I’m sorry.” Jonathan moved the platter off the bed to the bedside table. “Look, Max. Marry me.” Max’s entire heart stopped, he couldn’t…didn’t know what to think, or say. “We can go to Hawaii. Marry. Run away. A honeymoon. I’ll flip for it. Anywhere you want to go! As long as we never come back.”

“Jonathan, get a grip and get serious.”

Jonathan grabbed Max to him, his mouth melding with Max’s as he explored his mouth with undeniable passion. “I know. It’s sudden. I always meant to ask you to marry me someday, once I knew how it would work out. I…Vanessa, she’s…she…” Jonathan groaned. “It took me so long to find you. So long to get you on the same damn page that I’m on, and if that witch ruins what’s going on between us, I can’t be responsible for…”

Max smiled at that. Pleased. He felt pleased. Jonathan was worried that Vanessa would come between them. His finger moved over Jonathan’s mouth, which was slightly swollen from kissing and red from where Max had bitten him. “She’s not going to come between us. I swear. What can she possibly do?”

Jonathan laughed bitterly. “This is bad, Max. I can’t even tell you how bad it is! I barely got away from her with my life, and it took me feeding her a State Representative to distract her from me. It was like being pulled into an abyss.”

“I thought she was a model.”

“Once. But she isn’t a model anymore. She’s a State Congresswoman. Her husband died before he could take office, and she inherited it posthumously.”

“Your ex-wife is?”

“Congresswoman Vanessa Whitaker.” Max’s eyebrow went up at that. Damn. He knew of her.

“What does she want?”

Jonathan looked at Max seriously. “Me. She wants me.”

~~~

Courtney moved around her small apartment, agitated. The Commander was back. The Commander and his wife. Swearing to herself, she sat down and flipped through the television channels. Finally giving up, she tossed her remote across the room.

Why? Why did she have to find them? It was so much easier to go on when she thought the Dupe reject was the Commander. Now? Now she wasn’t so sure she could handle seeing him every day, married. Happy. Oblivious to her. He had never known her, but she knew him. It was him. Always.

Courtney sat dejected in her small apartment, uncertain about what to do or where to go, when there was a knock at her door. Sighing, she opened the door to her partner, Hanson.

“What is it Carl?”

“Sam.”

“Right. Sam.”

Hanson laughed. “Your phone is off the hook. We’re up.”

Courtney sighed and grabbed her jacket, badge and gun. This life sucked. Royally. “What are we looking at?”

“Homicide. Three people in a small apartment on 21st and Williamson. Neighbor heard the shots and called 911. Black and white unit responded and walked into a bloodbath. They thing is that the victim was the one shooting trying to fend off the attacker.” Sam Hanson looked around the small apartment with interest.

“What?” Courtney asked seeing his interest.

“Your place is small. Hardly looks lived in or settled.”

“I’ve only been here a few months. I’m single. Don’t even have a cat. What do you expect?” Courtney’s voice soured. She was aware of her single status, the lack of a life partner. She didn’t need her loser partner to emphasize the fact that the only man she wanted was the only man she would never have. “What? You live in a mansion?”

“No. I live in an apartment.” Sam looked around one more time before she closed the door. “But nothing this small. Actually my apartment is a condo unit that I own. It’s three bedrooms with a nice kitchen and a large living room. I like the space.”

“I’m happy for you,” Courtney said sarcastically. “So you decorate this castle yourself or hire the leading decorator?”

Sam got into his old beater car. “I did most of it myself. My parents died a few years back in a car accident. I inherited their house and all the furniture. I couldn’t keep the house. It was too large for me, and too many memories. I kept a lot of the furniture though. Nice stuff. Sturdy. And it reminds me of my mom. The rest of my place was decorated by my girlfriend.” Sam took a turn and paused as cars refused to clear the intersection despite their sirens and lights.

“Girlfriend? I hadn’t realized that…” Courtney swallowed her belief that Hanson was gay. It seemed a running joke and belief at the PD. Some said that Hanson was in love with Guerin. She always felt a sort of kinship with Sam for that reason.

“That I was involved? Well, I’m not anymore. My girlfriend, who was my fiancée, and almost my wife died three years ago. She had leukemia. We didn’t act fast enough, and marry before she finally succumbed. She was my childhood sweetheart, and as far as I’m concerned, completely irreplaceable.”

Courtney looked out the window and swallowed. She hadn’t realized. She never asked. Guess no one did, they just assumed. “Did you live together?”

“Yes, since we graduated from high school. We already knew she was sick by our junior year in high school. She came with me to Albuquerque when I was in the police academy, and I moved to Roswell so she could be near her family. Jenny always wanted children. It just didn’t work out that way.”

“I’m sorry.” Courtney didn’t know what else to say.

Sam looked over at her as he parked the car. Turning in the seat he searched his partner’s face. “I never tell anyone this, because it’s personal. But I’m telling you.”

“Why? Because I’m your partner?”

Sam smiled ironically, and laughed a little. “No. I’m telling you for a real reason. There are some people who are lucky to find that one person who completes them, that makes living in Kansas suddenly as wondrous as living in Oz. They’re everything. When you find that person, there is this knowing, this understanding that there never can be another. And even if they die, you will never replace them, because they can’t be replaced. Jen taught me to take time. To be meticulous. To notice and savor what was good in life, as if it were the last moment of your life.”

“I still don’t understand how this…”

“Applies to you?” Sam laughed. “The Commander. He’s that sort of man. He found that one person, the one that completes him. Maria DeLuca. For him there could never be anyone else. Ever. I suggest you accept that fact and stop making yourself miserable.”

Courtney bit back a bitter retort. She knew that. She had always known that there would be only one woman for the Commander. It was predestined. Wanting to tell Hanson to mind his own business, she swallowed it, and looked at him with different eyes. “You told me this before. You think I don’t know that he doesn’t even know I exist?”

Hanson remained silent. Oh, the Commander knew she existed, but in a way she wouldn’t care for him to notice.

“What do you suggest for people such as we are? What do we do?”

“First, all questions asked should be in the singular. A person should answer a question at a time, and not make a grocery list. As to what I suggest? I suggest you cut bait, accept, and get on with your life. What do we do? We work. There is always work.” With that Hanson got out of the car and headed to his next crime scene.

~~~

“Sonnabitch!” Maria groaned and buried her head into the pillow after her usual pillow decided to remove himself from her side. Michael was up and scrambling around on the floor.

Damn jetlag. It had finally caught up with him, and it was making him slightly unreasonable. “Michael? Um...honey?” Maria sighed and rolled over as the noise increased.

“Where the fuck is my damn gun?”

Maria sat up at that. No way.

He went to the window with a triumphant grunt and opened the upper window sash. Leaning out, he searched the area trying to distinguish two figures in the dark. Bastards! He had them! Snapping his neck to the side to alleviate tension, his eyes narrowed as he took careful aim. That slight hitch to the breath. Hold. Concentrate. See the darkness within the field. Gently squeeze...

“Maria!” Michael turned in shock as his beloved gun, his Maria was snatched from his hand. He could still feel the cold metal and taste the sulfur of discharge in his mouth. He was actually hard…um, that was probably a fluke.

Maria took the firearm and calmly hung it back in Michael’s holster beside the bed. Climbing back in the bed, she fluffed up the pillows that they had messed up earlier. She signed in relief as she laid back, happy to try sleep again. Clearing her throat, she offered to her life-mate his few options.

“You are not allowed to shoot either Ms. Fluffy or Mr. Booboo. Stop bitching and come back to bed.” Michael grunted his displeasure. Maria chuckled. “Come back to bed and I’ll give you a reason to make loud caterwauling noises.”

That did it. He stopped looking for something to throw and made it back into the sheets in double time. It was hours later when the loud catcalls outside finally frustrated him enough to toss his running shoe out the window, but that was hours later.