Chapter Two-How Do I Tell her?

Ronnie went back to his apartment, nothing fancy, it was more of a bachelor pad than anything, tons of Yankee posters and memorabilia hanging and stored on shelves, and some pictures of him and his friends, and some, not a whole lot of him and his late wife.

He sat down on the couch and started thinking just how is he going to tell this beautiful woman something he can barely talk about. He can't even talk about her without getting teary eyed, so he called his pal for some help.

'Hello?'

'Hey, pal I need some advice on something,'

'sure, what is it, you sound serious Ronnie?'

'Dude, you have no idea what I just got myself into, I made a dinner date with Claire,'

'You what! Ronnie you just met this woman and now you already have a date with her.'

'It's not like that…'

'sure it isn't'

'Dante will you just listen please,'

'Okay, okay, tell me what the problem its.'

'Well she questioned me on why I was so determined to protect her, you know the whole "wearing a wire" thing, and it finally hit me why I was drawn to protect her,'

That's when Dante cut him off,

'She reminds you of Heather doesn't she?'

'How did you know?'

'I can see it too, listen man you just need to tell her the truth, you can't go wrong with the truth, look at Lulu and I we have told the truth from the start and we couldn't be happier, you need for her to trust you and in time she will appreciate it,'

'I know I have to tell her everything, but what if I can't'

'you can man, just tell her and everything will be fine she will understand.'

'Thanks man, well I better get ready,'

'If you need me just call.'

'okay see ya.'

He hung up with Dante, and started getting ready, he felt better just by asking for some kind of advice on how to tell Claire about Heather. Hopefully she will just understand and not get all creeped out.

He arrived at Claire's at exactly 7, he took a deep breath and knocked. She turned the knob, and opened the door, 'WOW', she smiled, she never really gotten any compliments like that before. 'Thanks.' she had on a black short skirt that went to her mid thigh, a pink dressy tank top, with a small black jacket, her hair was down, and went to her shoulders, her dark eyes sparkled in the light and he could tell this was going to be a very hard night, first he had to tell her about Heather, but second, how the hell was he gonna try not to stare at this beauty before him. He pushed all those thoughts out of his head for the moment,

'you ready,' he held out his elbow so she could put her arm in his, and they headed out.

'So where are we going tonight?'

'Well there is a fabulous Italian place on the pier I thought you might like it.'

'Sounds great, I always enjoy a good Italian meal'

Oh, a woman after my own heart he thought.

They ate a nice meal, the whole time Ronnie was dreading the time when she would ask the question that she asked earlier that day. He thought about it all day, even after talking to Dante he still didn't exactly know just how to tell her. So he just looked at her, he would steal glances of her when she would take a bite to eat, or stopped to drink some of her wine. None of this went unnoticed by Claire, in fact she was liking that fact that a handsome man like Detective Dimestico even was slightly giving her the time of day, after all, she is very hard to get along with. She comes on strong only cause she doesn't let anyone step on her toes or take advantage of her.

A few moments later and she finally said something, she cleared her throat, 'oh god here it comes' he said to him self,

'So are you going to tell me why you feel the need to protect me?'

He just stared at her, took a long drink of wine, and let out a sigh.

'You know I thought about that question, and to be honest with you I didn't understand why until you left, you remind me of my late wife'

She felt something in her gut, like someone punched her for even asking and having him go through it all again by tell her.

'Listen, you don't have to tell me, I get it,'

'No, I want to, I need to. I haven't talked about Heather, since. I was working on a case, it was on a serial killer, Franco.'

'I read about him, he is very dangerous and psychotic, as they put it in the paper and news.'

'Extremely, anyways, I was assigned to take him down, undercover work. I worked for him for about three years and I had all the evidence and recordings all ready to turn in when he figured out I was undercover, he found out my real name and that I was married, see Franco had an obsession with woman of men that he either had a fascination with or just wanted to torture, for me it was torture.'

He took another drink of his wine, as did she.

'So what happened?' she asked

'Well, I got a call from Dante, saying that someone broke into my house and kidnapped Heather, force entry, they found blood on the floor of the bedroom, it wasn't a lot just enough to know that she put up a fight,'

He smiled remembering how she didn't back down from anything even a real fight, he seen her beat the crap out other women for just merely looking at him like he was a piece of meat, he was, just hers.

'She could always put up a good fight, anyway, that's when I found out Franco knew about me being undercover. He sent some of his men for me and took me to a abandoned warehouse out in the woods just north of here, strapped me to a chair and then uncovered my head from the pillow case they put over me. That's when I seen her, she was also tied to a chair but in another room she couldn't see me or hear me, but I could hear every word she said and I could see everything they did to her,'

He had to stop for a second he could feel tears brimming up in his eyes, he rubbed his hands up and down his pant legs to regain control of his emotions. He couldn't continue yet he needed air.

'Can we get the check I need to get some air and I promise you I will finish,'

'Sure,'

He walked over to her helped her up and kissed her hand,

'Thanks'

'For what?'

'For listening to me I know you probably don't want to hear it but I just want you to know why I want to protect you.'

She gave him a soft smile, took his hand. He stopped to pay on the way out.

'How bout we walk on the pier?'

'That sounds great,'

He felt so comfortable with her, like he knew her his whole life.

'So as I was saying, Heather was tied to a chair and blind folded. She was crying asking where she was and why someone would do this to her, I kept trying to yell at her and tell her what was happening, but it was no use, then his voice came over some kind of speaker, I can still hear his voice in my head,

Flashback

So I see I have a betrayer on my hands, you know what I do to betrayers you have seen it done before, I figure that since your dear wife over there is the world to you, I should take her away from you,'

'Franco take me instead please, I beg you, Im the one who went behind your back not her,'

'Now why would I want to do that? Yes, you did go behind my back, but what better way to get revenge than to have you watch your wife die a slow and painful death.'

'You can't, you can't take her away from me, please, take me instead,'

'Ronnie? Honey is that you?'

'Heather, Im so sorry this is all my fault I should have listened to you and not take this case. I have put you in harms way and I will never forgive myself, Im gonna get us out of here I promise,'

'Ronnie, what are they going to do to me? What are they going to do to you?'

She was sobbing at this point scared of what was going to happen, scared that this could be the last time she ever got to hear his voice, 'Ronnie, I Love You,'

'Oh Heather I Love You too baby, but don't say it like it's the end cause its not, I promise,'

'Ronnie?…Ronnie…? NO!' she screamed, and started to just sob some more.

'Heather! Heather,….Come on Franco she didn't do anything to you, just let her go please just let her go,' he put his head down and started to cry.

'You know watching you suffer like this is so pleasurable, I am enjoying it a lot, but not as much as I am going to enjoy the next part…' sirens in the back ground were heard, 'I see your pal found my letter telling him where I was with you two, but to bad only one of you will make it out alive,'

' What do you mean one of us?'

He heard her scream and then silence, pure silence, then he heard a little bit of noise up on the roof,

'Heather! Heather?,'

The light to the other room came on and he lost it, he tried everything he could to get loose from that chair he was tied to but no luck, he then seen Dante, and the rest of the squad come through the doors,

'Dante, Heather!' he nodded, Dante turned and seen her, she was laying on the floor laying in a pool of blood.

Dante hurried to the other room while the squad kept Ronnie back a bit,

'Let me see her, I want to see her now.'

'Ronnie, let Dante check her first, it could be just a game Franco is playing,'

Then Dante came out of the room, eyes red, cheeks stained from tears.

'Its her, and she didn't make it, Im so sorry..'

Ronnie fell to his knees buried his head in his hands and just cried.

End Flashback

'Ronnie, Im so sorry, I didn't want you to go through all of this again, forget I even asked you, I will wear a wire for you, if it means saving my life'

'Don't apologize for anything, you didn't know, and plus its good for me to talk about it, but you need to know the other reason why I feel the need to protect you,'

'Okay'

'Claire, you look just like her, you remind me of her, your strong and outspoken, just like her, you have her eyes, the same color hair, I know it sounds crazy but you remind me so much of her.'

Claire was in absolute shock, maybe this wasn't a good idea she thought, or maybe it is, who knows, but she had to say something or act fast.

'Ronnie, I will listen to anything you tell me to do, if you feel the need to protect me, then protect me, I am not going to argue with you I understand now, and I am flattered by the whole thing, so lets head back to the station and start on a plan?'

'Are you sure,?'

'Yes, now come on, and tomorrow I'll buy breakfast.'