Two Years Later:
It is beautiful, Max thought, they stashed us away in a beautiful place. The Murphy family. Arizona, the middle of the desert. I don't even think Em, Laura, remembers our old life.
"Honey?"
"Hey, I didn't think you'd be here until later."
"I knocked off early," Kenny said, brushing her hair back. "Thought I might surprise my wife. Where are the girls? Are we alone?"
"Homework. Napping. The usual. What are you doing?"
"Taking advantage of our busy children to grope you."
Some things never change, Max thought, feeling his hands drift to her butt. He's never been able to keep his hands off of me. "Oh?"
"Something really sexy about an apron."
Max groaned at that. "I baked cookies for Laura's classroom. Mm, that feels good."
"None of that organic, no sugar stuff? Rebel."
Max kissed him back. "You want me right here?"
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"It was their case," Jimmy said.
"And you still don't think they died," Jill said. "That they faked it."
"They vanished, their children were scooped up by FBI agents. I don't think it was their idea. Max's dad put a hit on them, I think they're in witness protection somewhere. I just don't have any proof. They're legally dead and I need them to testify."
"And if you push to find them you put their lives in danger, if they really are alive."
Jimmy nodded, knowing deep down they were. "Their kids too, and I think that is probably the number one reason why they agreed to disappear. I need them to testify."
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Max smiled to herself, as she watched her kids in the pool. Swim team for Laura and Alyssa and lessons for Caitlyn. They are fantastic, happy, we're perfectly safe.
"Sarah? I've been looking for you."
She looked up, still amazed at her three year old happily kicking across the pool in her class. "I guess I've been hiding."
"I have photo waivers. We want to post some pictures of the kids our team site."
Max felt her heart freeze up in her chest. "Website? Let me talk to Jack first, we can be a little protective of them."
"Mommy!"
"Hey, Caitie," Max smiled, as he dripping wet three year old threw herself in her lap. "Have fun, Kiddo? Cass, I'll let you know at the next practice?"
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"I talk to Kenny's parents every week," Jimmy said. "They really believe they're out there. William put a hit on them, we never saw the bodies, the kids vanished, and they're hiding."
"For a reason, Jimmy," Jill said. "You know they wouldn't have done in lightly. If, and it's a big if, you can't pull them out of it. You need to leave them alone. It isn't worth their lives, those kids' lives, to have them testify."
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A great dad, Max thought, watching him play with the girls in the yard. I do like having him around more, the girls love it, hmm, this life. Calm, almost normal, the fresh start we wanted? Not like this. Setting the food on the picnic table, she suppressed a grin at the scene in front of her.
"Mommy!" Lindsay cried, barreling into her. "Do we have to stop?"
"Picking on your dad?" Max asked, hugging her back. "Nah. Go get them, Kiddo."
"I love you, Mommy."
"Ah, I love you too, Aly. Go tackle your big sister for me."
I could cry, she thought, we're making this work. I actually like Sarah Murphy. Wife, mom, even a part time job in a bookstore. My girls on swim team, in second grade, kindergarten and pre-school, we're good together, close, the team…
"You look deep in thought," Kenny commented, as the girls clamored up to the table. "You okay?"
"Perfect," she said, as he brushed back her hair. "The girls give you a beating out there?"
"Is that what they're learning on swim team? Karate?"
"You must be getting old."
He dropped a kiss on the top of her head. "Yeah? You're not much younger, Honey. Is that gray?"
She groaned at that. "Really?"
He dropped his voice, as their girls dug in in. "Nah, you're adorable, sexy, and I want to strip you down and lick you all over."
She felt herself flush at that. "Later?"
"It's a date."
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"I put in a formal request to the Marshall's office," Jimmy admitted.
"You don't even know if they're alive. If they are, this could get all five of them killed."
"I think they have nine lives."
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"You know I can't resist this," Kenny smiled, looking at her wrapped in a towel and dripping wet. "Come here, Sarah."
She slicked back her wet hair. "Why don't you come and get me, Jack?"
Damn, he thought, as she dropped the towel, love this side of her. This part of our new life, without the drama, expectations, a fresh start in all sense of it, I think we've settled in here. Pulling her to him, he tossed her on the bed.
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Jimmy sat back, looking at the case file in front of him. How do I find them if they are in witness protection? Do I really want to put them in that danger? Their case up for debate…Media.
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"Hmm," Max sighed, snuggling in closer and laying her head on his chest. "That was great."
"We've always been good at that, Sarah," he said. "Want to go again?"
"In a minute."
"You okay?"
"I'm with you, of course I am."
Home more, he thought, working nine to five in town maintenance, spending time as a family again. Reconnecting with my wife. "Right back at you."
She smiled at him through her hair. Relaxed, happy, safe, this is the perfect life. "Jack?"
"You gonna get deep on me? Can't I just enjoy you?"
"You enjoyed me all sorts of ways. No, I," she started. "Just thinking about the past, and I know we're not supposed to talk about it, and we have this new life."
"Yeah?"
"I like this life."
"We wanted a fresh start."
"We got a very fresh one."
"You want to talk about it?" he asked. "We jumped right into this, became new people…Sarah Murphy is pretty great."
She shook her head. "Do you think about what we left behind?"
"Of course I do."
"Do you miss it?"
He pressed his lips to her forehead. "You and the girls are what matters to me. If the four of you are safe, I'm good. I don't blame you for this. You and me? We're a good team, no matter what."
"This just, this life? Seems normal, calm, nothing crazy or weird. Is this how other people live? I think I like feeling normal, I can almost believe that we're a normal family that nothing bad has ever happened to us."
"Except."
"Yeah."
We embraced being the Murphy's, Kenny thought, to keep our kids safe. Maybe for our own sanity too. A fresh start. "Hey, we can talk about it, Honey."
"We thought this would be temporary, but it's been two years. Do you think this is permanent?"
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"You did this?" Jill asked, watching the news story break about the Martin case. "You'll think they'll see this and want to testify."
"They need to testify, they can't just vanish," Jimmy stated, trying not to feel guilty. "They aren't dead."
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"I don't know," he said. "I miss parents, my sister, all of them, of course I do. My job, our house…cannot believe it was torched like that. He can't live forever, Honey and then?"
Still looking for Caro, need me to testify against him, he wants to kill us. "Could we live like this forever? What do we tell the girls?"
"Nothing yet. Maybe not even when they're older. One day at a time has been working for us. Hey, are you okay?"
She smiled at him sadly, feeling safe and secure in his arms. "Yeah. It's hard sometimes."
"I know. You and me? We're in this together, hold onto that."
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"Sheriff Brock?"
Jimmy looked up from his desk. "Can I help you?"
"Federal Marshall Mark Stanton," he said, flashing his badge. "We got your request pertaining to Kenneth and Maxine Lacos."
"So they are alive."
He laid the folder on his desk. "I reviewed their murder in Boston. William Stewart had them murdered from prison."
"Where are their kids? They were ripped from their grandparent's by FBI agents."
"Emily, Lindsay and Chloe Lacos," he said. "We're also killed by William Stewart's men. The van was intercepted. It is a tragedy, but they are not in witness protection."
"This was their case, if they are alive, I know they are, they need to testify."
"I'm sorry for your loss, Sheriff," Stanton said, standing up and having his briefcase tumble to the floor. Crouching down, he scooped the paperwork back in it. "Even if they were in the program? I wouldn't encourage them to come out and testify. People in witness protection are in there for a reason."
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"This isn't real," Max said lowly, as they stared at the television. Glancing back to their cereal eating kids. "That was our case."
Kenny nodded, feeling chilled all over. "Yeah. Retried? Tainted evidence, dead arresting officers? Ah, crap."
She glanced up at him. "We can't…right?"
Kenny winced, as they flashed pictures across the scene…of us, he thought, leading Jake Martin out of the house. Big trooper hats, 14 years ago, she looks so young there. "We're not going there. This is our life, we're in this program, we're not uprooting again, and it's stable and safe for them."
Max nodded, looking back at their kids. For them, I'm not Maxine Stewart Lacos anymore, I have to be Sarah Murphy. "I should get them to school."
"I can take the day off."
"Live our lives normally, Jack."
"I'll call you, Sarah," he said, his heart aching as he looked at her. She has that look. "Hey, we're good here, right?"
She looked back at their kids before up at him. We are, in this bubble we created. "I'm not going to do something reckless."
He smiled at her, tilting her face up to his. Pressing his lips to hers, he inhaled the familiar scents. "No wrestling alligators or racing lions?"
All for my kids, she thought, never thought I'd be such a sap about this. "I promise. Go to work, I'll be fine. Better than fine."
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Fiore, Arizona, Jimmy thought, reading the itinerary that fell out of Stanton's briefcase. His next stop. Find them.