A/N: Thank youuuuu for your feedback! I'm truly happyyyy!:) Lily, thank you for your help!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
No, wait. The dog is mine.
Oh, and mistakes.
Hmm, that's all.
7. Kingdom of Dragonflies
The 19th of July, 2003.
A narrow, gritty road led to the cottage which was shadowed by trees. The trees gave enough shelter and hid the cottage and the garden almost completely from the prying eyes of summer visitors to the other cottages. This was a two-layered cottage with timber walls. It had a kitchen with breakfast bar, two small bedrooms and a bathroom on the first floor. The living room area was comfy with a large fireplace that warmed the entire room in winter time. The staircase led to the second floor where the two bedrooms with bathrooms and a screened balcony were located.
In the kitchen, where the heart of the house was, Doctor Jill Cameron stood looking out through the kitchen window down to the small lake shore. Mosquitoes danced in the air, trying to escape the dragonflies. Water glimmered, and the sky was cloudless. A mild wind now and then whispered in the trees. The joyful screams of the children splashing water on each other filled the air.
The gray haired woman wasn't worried about the noises. Some might have enjoyed the peacefulness of nature that the place offered, but she had always found the happy voices of the children delightful. The silence reminded her of her loss. Her husband had lost his battle with cancer years ago and she missed him every day. They had bought the summer place when their children were small. Now, as the years had gone, and wrinkles surrounded her eyes, she found the place her true home. She didn't miss living in a big city for she had had enough of urban life. Smiling, she saw her grandchildren through the kitchen window and glanced at her best friend.
"You would like to join the party, wouldn't you?" She tapped softly her dog. The icy eyed Siberian husky howled, waving its tail. The dog ran toward the door which led in the back yard of the cottage. She laughed and followed the dog, turning on the alarm system and making sure she had her phone with her. She grabbed a couple of towels along on the counter by the doorway. They both vanished outside and soon she was surrounded by her grandchildren.
"Grandma!"
"How is the water, my dears?"
"It's so warm, come to swim grandma!" An eight year old, sand brown haired boy begged as water drops sparkled on his tanned skin.
"Maybe later." Jill wrapped a towel around the small boy and tousled his hair. She looked around, looking for the one who was hidden.
The children, except the boy, ran back to the small shore. One red-winged dragonfly fled just above his head making him jump.
"I hate those damn bugs." He muttered.
"Young man, watch your language." She gave him a stern look.
"Still, I hate them. They always fly toward me." He kept whining.
"They don't attack you. Remember what Vera has told you?"
"She's a nerdy, grandma."
"Oh Eli, you're just jealous how good she is in biology."
"Duh, I'll bet there aren't so many dragonflies in the big apple." Eli shrugged his shoulders. It caught her attention and felt a sudden twist in her heart.
"And what do you know about the big apple, young man?"
"That's going to be her new home, isn't it?"
"Is that what she told you?" She asked sadly, knowing the truth already.
He didn't reply, but nodded toward the garden. There she was, sitting on the ground and leaning against the biggest oak which offered the best sun block. She had her legs crossed, a book in her lap, black curls falling over her shoulders reaching all the way down to her small waist.
The boy bit his lower lip and glanced at the girl. "Maybe she doesn't want to go there." And then he looked at Jill right in the eyes. "Make her stay here with us."
Jill tried to look as if his words didn't affect her. Instead of giving en explanation of how things aren't always so simple, she placed a soft kiss on the boy's cheek. This caused a slight protest.
"Grandma, no kissing! I'm not a baby anymore." The boy wiggled out of her embrace.
"Oh Eli, you are always a baby in my eyes." She laughed softly.
"Duh, I'm not." He seemed to be truly irritated by his grandmother's affection, but before he ran off to play with the other children he looked at the older woman and bit his lower lip, hesitating.
"What is it?" She asked.
He didn't answer to her, but glanced at the girl and it gave an answer to her what bothered his mind. She tapped his back gently and suggested: "Why don't you go play for a while?"
The boy sprang into a run. She witnessed how Eli hopped into the lake, giving a good splash of water all over the others who protested by screaming and laughing. Then, she headed toward the small girl.
"Vera?" She asked tentatively as she was a few feet away from her.
Her eyes flickered open. She glanced up at the older woman. She stood up slowly, and Jill ran her fingers through her hair. "Is everything all right, dear?"
She snaked her arms around Jill's waist and looked for comfort.
"Oh honey…" She placed a soft kiss on the top of her head. "Why don't you come with us to the shore?"
"I want my mom, Aunt Jill." The velvet sparkled in her eyes as she glanced up at the older woman, and the look on her face – the one she had seen once on her mother's face – broke her heart.
"Soon, sweetie." Jill's eyes watered. "Soon."
xxx
In New York City, Stella arrived at work. Her hair was pinned up at the back of her head and she wore a pair of faded jeans with a shirtless top. She thought about choosing flip flops but ended wearing a pair of high heels. After her morning run in the park, she had taken a shower and enjoyed a breakfast. She tried to form a pattern to keep her mind focused. Still, she missed her daughter with every breath. But it was best for Vera to stay with Aunt Jill, the woman Stella considered as her mother. She wanted to get things settled before Vera could move. She only needed to contact a school near their apartment, but that could be done later on the following autumn. Everything was pretty much ready as she had a work and chosen the kind of apartment that offered enough space for the two of them.
One thing was undone though. She stared at Mac's laptop on the desk and pondered about using it. Then, she quickly opened the laptop. She typed an email address and with a few clicks she booked a flight ticket. She sent a text message to Jill and asked her to check her email account. She had sent the booked flight ticket as an attachment to Jill's email. Her heart raced as she was sure that Mac would enter the room any time. But as she looked at the time it was nine o'clock in the morning and she stood in Mac's office alone.
Her gaze wondered around the room. It was the first time she had been able to study peacefully all the pictures on the walls. A picture, which she had seen so many times before, of the four Marines made her shiver. She wondered if Mac knew about what kind man one of them had been, would he still have kept the picture out. She stared at it a long time before letting her gaze wonder around the room, ending up staring a photo on Mac's desk. The woman with golden light hair smiled happily. Claire. The last time, years ago, her hair was longer. The last time—
Knock knock.
Stella lifted her gaze and saw Detective Lindsay Monroe waiting by the door.
"Morning." Stella said as she met the gaze of the younger woman. "Come in."
"Good morning." Lindsay smiled, nervously. She was surprised to see Stella in Mac's office. She wondered if Mac agreed about Stella using his office.
"Have you had your coffee yet?" Stella asked.
"No."
"I hope we have time to drink." Stella transferred her attention to the picture again. Lindsay witnessed it. Smiling a bit sadly, she took few steps towards the desk.
"Claire."
I know her name.
Stella looked as if she didn't know what Lindsay talked about.
Lindsay nodded, saying: "Mac's wife, but she—"
"Oh." She had prepared herself for that kind of information, but it still ached to hear it.
"But she died on 9/11." The younger woman continued.
"I didn't know..." Stella said after a moment of silence. She wondered if he had been happy with her.
"How could you have known?" Lindsay stated, capturing Stella's attention. "I mean, you and Mac. You hardly know each other."
Stella thought about that for a moment. Yes, they barely knew each other nowadays. But she couldn't help but wonder if they had ever known each other so well after all.
xxx
Mac was late from work and he was very aware of that. Insomnia, the howling dog at the next door when he finally fell asleep, the goddamn morning traffic and the heat. He cursed everything while walking toward his office. Finally, he sat down onto his chair and breathed deeply. Having no time to check his email, he witnessed his second-in-command entering the room without knocking.
"Good morning." Stella said holding a piece of paper in her hand.
He grunted his greetings, and pondered if he should tell her to knock first, but managed, barely, to shut his mouth.
If Stella noticed his bad mood, she didn't let it show.
Mac paid attention to the paper she held. "What's that?"
"Oh,here. Lindsay asked me to bring you this." She handed the paper. "It's the result of the gun powder test."
Mac read the text on the paper and put it on the desk. "No match." He added.
It was the knock on the door which interrupted him.
"Yes." They said and turned to look each other before witnessing a secretary stepping inside the room.
"Detective?" She asked.
"Yes, Julie?" Mac said.
"Uh.. Detective Bonasera?" The secretary corrected.
"What is it?" Stella replied and was given a yellow, post-it note. Julie exited the office. Stella looked at the note, and her face paled which didn't go unnoticed by Mac. As much as she tried to hide her hands trembling, Mac saw her trepidation. The mood changed in the room. It wasn't just tense, it was more that it was suddenly filled with floating and heart cribbing fear.
"Detective?"
She tucked the piece of paper into the pocket of her jeans and rose up. "So, do you think Danny could use some help with processing the evidences?"
Without waiting his response she walked toward the door.
He hesitated, but then he rose up from his chair.
"I know it isn't my business, but is everything all right?"
She peeked over her shoulder. "Yeah, I'm… I'm fine."
He watched through the glass walls which separated his office from the wide corridor as she vanished around the corner. He grabbed his phone and dialed numbers. He waited for a moment before the call was answered.
"It's Mac Taylor. Yeah, no need to apologize, Julie. Listen, about Stel.." He mentally cursed not being so formal. "About detective Bonasera." He cleared his throat. "Would you send her files into my office… Don't worry about Chief Sinclair. Just say that I needed to check few things. Just send the files. Thank you."
After the phone call, he tossed a pencil on his desk and scrubbed his face. He didn't know what bothered him more, the fact that she lied to him about being fine or the fact that she had no ring on her hand. Soon, he would find out.
xxx
Somewhere, beneath the darkened sky, Vera and Eli stared at the blinking stars. They lay on the dock, wrapped in their own blankets.
"When you are going to leave us?" Eli bit his lower lip. He didn't want to lose his best friend. He liked Vera: the other girls were dummies but she was different. She knew all the cool stuff he was interested in, too.
"I don't know."
"What's that?" Eli asked after another moment of silence, pointing the moving item on the sky.
"That's an airplane, Eli." Vera started to giggle.
That got Eli blushing, but thankfully it was so dark it hid his expression well. "I was just testing you."
"Yeah right, Eli." Vera snorted. "I'm going to miss this, you know."
The idea of not spending time with her made him sad. "I'll bet there you won't see stars."
"I'll bet you'll be afraid of the dragonflies the next time we meet." She spoke sharply.
"I'm not scared of them!" Eli protested.
"Let's make a deal then."
"What kind of deal?" Eli asked.
Vera turned her head toward him "Next time we meet, I'll tell about the stars I saw in New York and you tell me about the dragonflies."
He thought about it a second. He could win his fear. "O- Okay."
The ripple of the lake cut the silence as they admired the beautiful sight above them.
xxx
A folder rested on Mac's desk as he came back from the lab. The late afternoon caressed the city with its heat and sun. The air condition hummed in the room. Mac took the folder in his hands and read the information.
Name: Stella Elena Bonasera.
Birth date and place: 12-4-1967, Greece.
Relatives: Mother; Elena Bonasera born 1942 died 1971. Father; unknown.
Address: 241 Chambers, apt 5G, New York City.
The latest work history: Narcotics in Seattle 1998-2002.
Present job: CSI in New York.
Rank: Detective 1st Grade.
Position: Crime scene investigator.
Next of kin: Dr. Jill Cameron. 555 100797.
Jill Cameron? It was a familiar name. Mac thought for a moment and wrote the information up. Otherwise there wasn't anything special that would give away something about the latest member of his team.
Marital Status: Married 1994-2002. With who? Mac wanted to know. Divorced since 2002. Why?
He put the folder on his desk and counted. A year after she disappeared from his life she got married? A year ago she got divorced? From 1998 to 2002 she lived in Seattle as she worked there. He decided to check the information. So, the missing years were 1994-1998? He wrote the years on a paper.
He kept reading. She had been on sick leaves often, but always returned into the field tasks. There were marks of the short hospital visits 1999-2001 which he assumed to be because of the job. There was also a longer hospital visit, two weeks in the end of 2001 and after that specific time the visits ended. Things got heavy in Narcotics, he assumed as he read that she had given her notice after January 2002. Then, there was only the information that she had been chosen to his team. He glanced through the rest of the papers and ended up in the last page of the folder. He was about to close it, but the red marked text caused his heart jump rapidly in his chest. A restraining order? That information changed everything.
xxx
Several hospital visits. Sick leaves. A longer hospital visit. A restraining order. A divorce. A disappearance.
All the pieces of the puzzle began to form together and he was determined to find out at least a part of the truth. He found out the number of the Narcotics office in Seattle she worked in and made a call.
"Narcotics." The man answered shortly. His voice was low and authoritative.
"Hello. This is Detective Mac Taylor calling from New York's crime lab." He began. "With whom I can speak about your former detective, Stella Bonasera?"
"I'm detective Cole Emerson." The man introduced himself. "How can I help you?"
Mac explained his business and the man confirmed that Stella had worked in Narcotics. She had been partners with him as well.
"Too bad she quit." The man said.
"Why is that?" Mac asked.
"Simply that she was one of the best detectives we had."
Mac glanced through the papers and stated: "If I have understood correctly, she was on sick leave often. She couldn't cope with the pressure of the job?"
There was a silence at the other end.
"Haloo?"
"Yeah, sorry." The man cleared his throat. "Look, we don't pay attention to others' sick leaves. I'm sure she had her reasons."
"I understand." Mac said shortly and understood that the man knew more than he told him.
"We, including her, didn't and still don't talk about our private live." The man continued. "We just want to protect our families."
But she didn't have a family. Only a husband. Mac wanted to add, but spoke anyway. "It says she's married."
"Yeah, that's correct. A decent guy, I guess."
"You guess?"
"Nah. I heard them fighting on the phone time to time." He explained. "Guess he didn't like how tough his wife was. He was hot tempered sometimes."
Bet he was. Mac thought how hot tempered he had been toward Stella. He kept the words unspoken. "Well, okay. Thanks for your time."
"Say hi for me. Anytime she wants to come back, she is welcome."
Mac promised to do so.
xxx
It was late when Mac headed toward the elevator. He was on his way to home. Mac heard the sound of water coming from the lockers as he passed the door. The moist and hot air in the locker room hit his face as he stepped further. He saw the pile of clothes on the bench, a phone on them and a yellow post-it note fallen on the floor. He picked it up. He didn't have time to read it completely, only catching the number of a flight, when he heard Stella's voice was voice raspy and upset: "What are you doing?"
"I…" He began, but couldn't end his sentence as he watched Stella wrapped in a towel walking toward him.
She snapped the note from his hand. "You have no right. "
"It was on the floor." He crossed his arms over his chest studying her look. His gaze fell along the water drops sliding from her hair along her shoulders. She snorted something in disbelief and turned her back toward him.
It was the scar over her shoulder blade which caught his attention. The word restraining order hammered in his mind. What did he do to you? He really didn't think about it when he placed his hand over it because the last time he touched that part of her body it was unbroken.
"Stella..."
Her muscles trembled beneath his palm. It caused him swallowing his next word. As the scar vanished beneath the towel he tugged it gently downwards, making sure it didn't fall completely off her, to see how low it went. She didn't protest as she felt his fingers following the scar from her shoulder blade down onto her right hip. He rested his hand on her hip bone where the scar ended. He stood completely petrified by his discovery, suddenly timid of the knowledge of her bare skin and their close proximity.
He cleared his throat and was tempted to brush her moist hair over her shoulder. "What happened?"
"Some junkie got me off guard, that's all."
"Some junkie?" He asked in disbelief.
She tilted her head toward him, but didn't look at him. "That's the danger of our job, detective Taylor."
"Is that who I am to you?"
"You're my boss now."
"I think we should talk." He didn't move away from her.
"Talk?" She shook her head, laughing. "You wanna talk now?"
How much longer would they avoid their past, he didn't know. He had so many questions in his head, and a one burst from his mouth.
"Where is your ring?"
He saw the same reaction in her as she read the post-it note in his office. She stepped away from him and told him to do his own conclusions.
"You… I…" He began to be exasperated. For why, he couldn't figure out. "You are my concern as a member of my team and—"
"Oh, is that I am to you?" She turned around and eyed him. He bit at his lower lip and started to say something but for some reason he couldn't form words.
"That's what I thought, Detective Taylor."
He knew there would be no talking with her. Still, he scrubbed his face with his hand. "Look, I have read your files, Stella. There were no marks on any junkie's assault."
"I worked in Narcotics." She wrapped the towel tighter around her as she realized how naked and exposed she was. "You should know it's classified information."
"I called in Seattle." The comment was given in a quiet voice. "You weren't in the hospital several times because of the job."
She stared at Mac with no color on her face. If he knew… God, if he knew about the truth. "You have no right…"
He was right and saw it all in her features.
"What happened?"
She swallowed and blinked hard to keep the tears falling.
"What did he do?"
It was the sound of her cell phone that interrupted them, saving her. She grabbed it and stared at the display of the phone.
"I need to get this." She said her eyes glistening. "Please, leave. This is personal."
He stared at her for a long time and exited the room. He found himself leaning against the wall next to the door. He closed his eyes, praying for forgiveness because he was about to hear every word of her call. But he wasn't prepared for anything he was about to hear. When the words came out of her mouth, his eyes snapped open and his heart dropped below a zero point.
"Hi baby girl… I love you..."
tbc
Thank you for reading. Feedback is always welcome. I must say that the next chapter is still unfinished, so be patient, the update may take awhile. Sorry.
