Ding dong, LaGuerta is dead. The threat was gone by Deb's hand, but she wasn't happy about it at all and neither was I. We let us be seen at the New Years' Eve party long enough to have a plausible alibi, then we excused ourselves, saying Deb was tired and I wanted to be with my son, and left.
Her hands were cold, her stare was vacant and she didn't speak one word during the whole trip. She was practically catatonic. When we arrived home, Deb let me hold her hand and lead the way without protest and barely walking: I even thought about carrying her in my arms, she was so fragile I was afraid she would break or vanish into thin air like a ghost.
As soon as we were at the door, Deb let out a gasp that let me know she was, in fact, still alive and among us.
"Hannah", she whispered.
"What about her?" I asked, and then I saw it: a black orchid, otherwise exactly like the white one Hannah McKay had given me months ago. Could it be...? My thoughts went to Harrison. I opened the door as quickly as I could, and once we were inside, I was greeted by Mr. and Mrs. Holland, our friendly neighbors, who had agreed to watch over my boy for Jamie.
"Hello, Dexter!" Said Helen, "Harrison was asking for you, but he finally fell asleep. Not even the fireworks could wake him up"
Well, that was one less thing to worry about.
"Hi Helen! Hi Roy!" I said, "Could I ask you one last favor? Could you please bring Harrison to my bed? It's just, my sister is a little tipsy and I don't want to leave her alone, but I don't want to leave Harrison alone tonight either..."
"Don't worry," Roy said. "We'll bring him. You take care of your sister."
Once Harrison was safely tucked in my bed, I bid the neighbors goodbye, giving them the orchids as a thank you for their time. They loved them, they didn't know they were bad omens after all.
"Come here, Deb. Let's get changed and get some sleep", I said. I had never seen her so vulnerable, not even when she found out about who I am. She looked at me, but it felt more like she looked through me to some point in space. I took off her dress, shoes and bra, and helped her into one of my t-shirts. Dearly Damaged Debra, so beautiful and so broken, never that obedient to me since we were very little, and even then she challenged me from time to time. What had I done to her? What had I turned her into?
I went to the kitchen and came back with a glass of water. "Here, drink this", I said. She did as I told her, no questions, even though she grimaced a couple of times. Then she fell down on the bed next to Harrison, while I barely caught the glass.
"Sorry about the M99. Tomorrow we'll get something better suited for humans", I whispered in her ear and kissed her temple. I was sorry for much more, but at the moment, letting her get some rest was the only thing I could do something about. I wasn't gonna get any sleep. With everything that had happened, I could only be okay watching over my sister and my son, the two people I love, and making sure they were safe at least for the night.