TWO
Lena
2 Weeks Later
"Okay, kiddo, so what's the plan for Halloween this year?" I asked my son as we walked up and down row after row of costumes. Last year, Colton was going through a Star Wars phase and he'd went as a Storm Trooper. The year before, he'd went as a baseball player because money was tight and I thought that his old tee ball uniform would suffice.
This year? He's all about The Walking Dead, so when he spotted the Daryl Dixon costume, I quietly laughed to myself about it. And we turned the corner and promptly my cart bumped into the cart of Officer Erotic Hands, star of all my X rated fantasies as of late. He chuckled and I gave a polite nod.
"Any more brushes with Helena?"
"Thankfully, no. Got new locks on the doors and fixed all the windows.. You didn't have to send the security team down to install a security system though, but thank you.. I'm going to pay you back every single penny.." I told the guy and he shook his head, waving it off. "No need. Just doin' my job." the guy answered and I shook my head, insisting again that I was going to pay him back.
"What are you goin as for Halloween, little guy?" he asked my son and my son bit his lip and then tugged my shirt. "I think I wants to change my costume, momma."
"To what, Colton? We've been through every single aisle." I told my son patiently, and down he went, coming back seconds later with the military uniform. I raised a brow and Logan chuckled.
"We'll get them both.. Just in case you want to go as Daryl." I decided, curious what made my son change his mind and go back for the military costume when he'd been so set on being Daryl Dixon.. I mean his bike even looks like a motorcycle replica, he could have pulled it off easily. I didn't question it though, I mean kids, am I right? They change their minds so much.
"Actually, they do a thing at the town square every year for Halloween.. It ain't much, but there's candy.. He could wear 'em both." Logan spoke up and I eyed him, nodding. I'd seen the fliers for the carnival on the bulletin board at the school.. Right next to the fliers advertising the Nurses Ball.. Which is supposed to be a family event too.. And another teacher, Misty, she was trying to get me to go with Colton.. Supposedly, there is a surplus of single men.. I bit my lip.
"Hey Colton.. Do you want another costume, champ?" I asked and Colton's eyes lit up as he nodded. It couldn't hurt to get out and mingle more, get to know people in the town I've been living in for a few years now.
While Colton was looking at costumes within my eyesight, Logan asked casually if I was planning to go to the Nurses Ball, subtly adding in that this year, they'd opted to add a costume contest and scary story time for the kids.. Some woman, Obrecht, she was over all that.
"Actually, yeah. In the past few years, I haven't been able to do much for him.. Kind of want to make this Halloween special." I admitted and Logan gave a nod, smiling. "My partner, Diego.. His wife kinda talked me into goin. I wasn't gonna go."
"I wasn't either, one of the other teachers talked me into it and I literally just decided to go.." I admitted, not even sure why I felt the burning desire to tell Logan what I'd just said, going silent shortly after.
My son raced back over with a Kylo Ren costume and I shook my head as I told him, "That one is a little too expensive."
"Okay." Colton pouted, but he made his way back to the rack and came back a few minutes later and I had to laugh. "You're sure you wanna go as Michael Myers?"
"Mhmm."
"Okay, kiddo." I put the costume into our cart and Logan chuckled and then as we were making our way to the food section of the store, Logan stopped me by calling out, "That night.. I told ya my name.. ya never told me yours."
"It's Lena." I answered, giving a smile. He repeated it and if I thought my dreams were erotic? If I thought his hands on my body the night of my ordeal were erotic? Nothing was like the way he said my name.. I actually bit down on my lip.
"I'll see you around, Lena."
"Likewise, Logan." I told him, smiling as we made our way to the food area in the store.
Colton explained it then, why he wanted to be a military person. Apparently, Logan was telling my son stories about his time in Iraq, the milder and funnier things, to keep him calm while they were bringing him to me that night while I was in Benson Hurst General.
And apparently, Colton thought it was a neat costume. And he considered the man a friend… Because to quote him, "He didn't let me be scared."
I turned another aisle and for a few seconds, it was weird, the feeling of deja vu that washed over me when I saw the older blonde woman picking up plums. I'd seen her somewhere before, I was almost sure of it.
It hit me when we were a few feet away from her.. The video that creepy fucking old woman made me watch that night.. The woman she claimed was my birth mother.
The woman looked up and right at my son and I as Colton tried to eat grapes right out of the packaging and I literally froze, forgetting to scold my son in the whole surreal few seconds. The man made his way over to her, they were laughing and smiling..
He wasn't the man who'd been in the nursery with the babies on the video.
She looked like she wanted to say something, things felt awkward, so I hurriedly let Colton pick out a few peaches for the peach cobbler I was going to bake us later that night and then I made my way down the frozen food aisle, trying my best to put the whole thing out of my mind.
The woman said it that night.. My birth family wasn't ever going to want anything to do with me. And I needed to accept that.
Laura
As the young woman and her son stood talking to Logan Hayes, Laura couldn't help but watch. Kevin commented on it a time or two, trying to get her to walk over, but Laura wasn't sure what to say if she were to walk over, so she hadn't.
By now, Kevin knew the situation and Laura was currently waiting on DNA to come back to prove Helena's story as truth or false, some sick joke to hurt Laura and her family one last time. Rumor had it that Helena was really sick and weak lately, that's what Luke claimed… She wasn't going to live much longer. It wasn't entirely impossible that Helena would pull this to hurt them all one last time when it turned out to be false.
"Luke would have a heart attack right now." Laura mused to herself while Kevin was gone to pick them up a few sides for their meal that night, and then she got a close up view of her grandson.. he gave a crooked grin that looked so much like Luke's miniature that for a second, Laura was seeing Lucky at the age of 5 over again because Lucky's smile had been exactly like the one the little boy gave.
He was sneakily popping white grapes into his mouth and Laura laughed to herself.. That was something Lulu had always done as a child on family grocery trips. And then her eyes met with the eyes of her potential daughter and both women sort of froze a few seconds. It took everything in Laura not to walk over and say something and from the looks of it, the young woman was also struggling with the urge too.
When she'd finally gotten the guts to do it, under Kevin's gentle persuasion, the girl and her son were gone. She frowned to herself and made her way to the checkout with their food. She hoped they found out something DNA wise soon because the wait was really getting to her.
Logan
I wasn't expecting to bump into Lena and her son again that night, but I did about an hour later at the Pizza Shack. I'd been grabbing something quick on my way back home. The little boy saw me and bolted over, talking a mile a minute. And then a panicked Lena was calling his name, scolding him in concern when she got to where I was sitting.
"You can't just do that, Colt!"
"But Momma!"
"Your mom's right, kiddo." I spoke up, a firm voice I'd heard Diego use on my god daughter Sage a time or two, usually when it's night and she wants to play instead of sleeping. It worked on Colton and he nodded and then said "Sorry, momma."
"You guys wanna sit down and keep me company?"
Lena sat down with her son and I happened to look up and over, groaning when I saw my father walking into the pizza parlor. Her eyes followed mine and I explained simply, "My dad."
"Oh."
"We get along okay, just he's a little pissed at me for takin the job Chief Ashford offered. He didn't want me to come back here when I got away." Logan took a bite of his pizza and the man came over, sitting down.
"Fancy seeing you here, son."
"One hell of a coincidence, I guess." I muttered dryly, but then my father nodded to Lena and Colton and I explained, "This is the woman Helena roofied after breaking into her house." and then my father eyed Lena warily. I nudged him under the table and grumbled but my dad spoke up and naturally, he spoke his mind.
"Looks an awful lot like Lulu, son."
"Dad.."
"Well, that old" Lena covered her son's ears before continuing, "Bitch who broke into my house did claim that I was her fraternal twin."
My father gaped and I coughed. Probably the first time somebody's ever been as blunt as he is with them right back outside of me or my half brother Franco or my half sister Serena. He definitely wasn't used to it.
"They know any of this?"
"Nope.. and if it's all the same to you sir, not entirely sure I'm gonna tell them, either. I mean the woman lead me to believe if I did, they weren't going to want anything to do with me anyway and it's not like I had a bad childhood.. far as I'm concerned? It's just a weird story that I know and never have to talk about." Lena admitted as she added, "There is something you can do for me, sir."
"What?"
"Convince your stubborn ass of a son to let me repay him for the security system he had put in at my cabin.. Because he's determined not to."
My father eyed me and I groaned internally.. Oh yeah, I could sense it.. the mother of all nagging fits later.. Because see, I know my dad and I know him well enough to know that just because she's related to Lulu, he's already written her off.
"What she's not sayin, dad, is that she wasn't even the one who called the cops to get help for herself.. Instead, she got her son and his sitter out and the sitter called. So yeah, she needs a panic button."
"I'm capable of handling me, Logan."
"You got roofied by an old woman, woman."
"If that jerk she had with her hadn't taken me for my gun, it would not have happened.. Hell, if I'd shot first and asked questions later, none of it would've happened." Lena mused as they carried over the half canadian bacon and pineapple cheese and half four cheese pizza she ordered. I eyed it and then her.
"Pineapples.. on pizza?"
"Mhmm. Don't knock it until you try it, Logan."
"No thanks.. it's all the same to you, I'll stick to my pepperoni."
My father looked from me to Lena and then back again and he stood, shaking his head as he walked up to the counter to pick up his own order. Lena asked with a soft laugh, "Well that wasn't awkward, was it? I'm gonna take it that your father did not like my twin sister.."
"Loathed her."
"And now the weird look he gave me makes sense. Lighten up on the guy, Logan.. Family is pretty much all you have." she told me as she and Colton stood, getting ready to leave. I smirked and then pointed out, "Maybe it wouldn't be so bad… telling them who you are. I mean you never know.. And your brother is an agent too.. he could get that jerk of an ex off your tail so you and the little guy don't have to pick up and run in the middle of the night."
"Or it could be a complete disaster, Logan. I'll see you around."
"Lookin forward to it, Lena."
FOOTNOTE:
As previously stated, if you want to know more about Lena, go to my user bio on here and read her bio sheet. Actually, everything pertaining to this whole series is on there and I've done a little tweaking and updating to some things, so it's probably a good idea to just read everything.
Obviously, this chapter is more or less Laura and Lena running into each other after Helena's told them both. I'm gonna have her running into her family more. Also, there was flirting with Logan and an appearance by Logan's father because obviously, these two are gonna have their hands full with their families loaded past ties and potentially fathers butting in.. Decided there will be a Nurses Ball and a carnival too. :)
Thank you so much for the review, mariposa101 and the two faves and three follows! I love everyone who takes the time to review or to favorite and follow my work because it means so much to me that people are not only reading these things, they're actually finding them interesting!