Chapter 10

Eddie and Jamie agreed to meet at a Christmas tree stand on a large local lot about a mile from their home since they had taken separate cars that morning. The evening air was still blustery, and the bouncing harsh bare bulb lights from the strings above the trees assailed his eyes and deepened his returning headache, threatening to turn it into a full migraine.

"Ed, I'm really wiped out," he admitted as they stood in the entrance. "I'm sorry, hon, but we're going to have to make this fast."

She could see he was telling the truth by the gray cast that had come down over his face. "We can leave," she whispered as Kaylin was jumping up and down with excitement between them.

"No, let's get it done. She wants a tree and we're here now. How about we split up and cover more ground," he suggested. "Just yell if you find one you like." Jamie had really wanted to take his family out to the country for the day and troop up and down the fields at a farm to find the perfect fresh-cut tree, but that opportunity had passed for the busy couple and this was going to have to do for the season. Next year, he promised himself, there would be time for the four of them to go.

Eddie agreed and took Kaylin down the rows to the left, the little girl skipping along. Jamie went right and was stupefied at the display of the varieties being offered: long needles, short ones, blue spruce, balsam fir, Douglas fir, noble fir, Scotch pine, Virginia pine, or eastern white pine. He hoped Eddie had some sort of clue as to what she wanted since right now all he was interested in was finding a place to sit down. He gratefully parked himself on a nearby bench and waited. There were several other people milling up and down the aisles, but on whole the place was fairly empty. He saw Eddie and Kaylin cross the rows at the far end of the lot; they appeared to still be browsing, so he settled back to wait a bit longer. His eyes soon lit on a man in a plaid coat though that looked to be following them, with a gaze that seemed to be more on the little girl than on any of the trees. Jamie gasped as the adrenaline hit him, and he leaped off of the bench and sprinted down the far side, arriving just as Eddie and his daughter turned the corner.

"Jamie! What's going on?..." was all his wife could get out before he spun her around and addressed the stranger who had tailed them.

"Why are you following my family?" he hissed at the older man as he stepped in between them.

"Sorry, sir," the man apologized with a thin tight smile as he looked up in surprise and held his hand up. "The little girl dropped her glove back there. I just wanted to give it back."

"Oh, uh, sorry about that, thanks," Jamie stuttered and swallowed a small gulp as he came face to face with him... there was something strikingly familiar about those eyes, that smirk... what on earth? He shook his head and accepted the item while trembling from the stress and his sudden burst of movement as the man gave him a puzzled frown and moved off.

"What is wrong with you?" Eddie demanded, as she pulled his shoulder around to face her.

"I... I thought he was following Kaylin," he stammered, swallowing hard. "Eddie, please take her back up there to look at the trees," he whispered as his hand went down to clutch his stomach. "I'm gonna be sick again."

"Jamie..." Eddie started with tears in her eyes as she gathered their daughter and headed further up the row to give him some needed privacy. "We are so going to talk about this when we get home. I know something's wrong," she called back.

###

Jamie managed to collect himself and transport the small tree that Eddie and Kaylin had agreed on back to the house, and he busied himself setting it up in the stand while his wife and daughter had supper. He wasn't in a position where he could even look at food at this point so he stayed in the living room, preparing himself for the interrogation that was to come when the little girl went to bed. He had really screwed up in front of Eddie twice this evening, and he knew that she would be demanding some answers. Trouble was he didn't really have any, at least none that he was willing to share. There was no way in hell he was getting into any of the Blue Templar stuff with her though... that was supposed to be buried deep and gone, and he planned to keep it that way. He wasn't surprised later when she plopped herself down on the couch next to him after Kaylin had been put down for the night.

"Spill it, Reagan," she cut right to the point. He flinched a little at the tone of her voice.

"Nothing to spill, Ed," Jamie hedged as he avoided her eyes. "Had a couple of bad dreams about Kaylin getting hurt, and now I guess I'm just being over reactive. It will die down. I told you, this happened to me before when I was younger."

"You're a terrible liar, Jamie," Eddie said, as she wasn't buying any of this. "You told me before that it was seeing an old car in D.C. that set your dreams off, now it has to do with Kaylin... and tonight when I mentioned your brother's name you went off on that too." There was an icy silence for some time.

"It was Joe's old car, or rather one like it that I saw; ours was junked," Jamie finally caved, he knew that he had to pony up something truthful, as Eddie was a fine detective in her own right and would not have let this drop. "That night I had one of those vivid dreams, you know... where you're standing frozen to the ground watching something terrible happen to someone you love, and you can't stop it. I had the same dream twice that Kaylin was in an accident with that car... that's all."

Eddie sat back and observed her husband. She could tell that he was being mostly truthful in his answer by the look on his face and his misty eyes, but she had a sneaking suspicion there was more. Jamie would never come completely clean over something like this. There must be something else he was trying to protect them from.

"Maybe it's just like Dad said," he offered quietly. "I'm just stressed about some stuff... new position at work with more responsibility, new house, new family, another baby on the way. All these things that make me happy... are the same ones that I'm afraid to lose like all the others in the past." Eddie knew he was talking about his mother, Joe, Sydney, Vinny and the tragedy of the summer before when her 10-13 rolled over the radio when he said that. Jamie had experienced more loss in the last few years than she could even imagine.

She shifted back, satisfied for now with the reasonable explanation he had given and determined to help. "What can I do to make it better?" she asked as she slid closer to him and wrapped her arms around from behind.

"You do that just by being here, Eddie," he sighed. "I need you to promise to be my rock for a little while now; I need you to anchor me."

"I can do better than that you know," she whispered as her hands began roaming again, and she pulled him around and pushed his back down against the armrest.

"Oh, Ed," he moaned as he lay back, knowing exactly where this was headed.

"Just let me help you relax, please," she whispered as she kissed his neck and hit all of his triggers, one at a time in a slow, methodical order. "I know what I'm doing." Soon the two were locked together in a passionate embrace and all the worries of the day had vanished, only to make an ugly reappearance later on in the night after they had fallen asleep upstairs in one another's arms.

"Eddie, where are you?!" Jamie yelled frantically as he searched the wooded, snow covered hillside for his wife. Rows and rows of perfectly trimmed pine trees thwarted his efforts to see her, but he could hear her muffled cries growing weaker in the distance. Kaylin and another small child sat silently on an old log watching the proceedings with eerily blank looks on their faces. "Eddie!" he yelled again as he fought to run through a deep drift towards her, then screamed in agony as his left leg snapped when his ankle slipped and wedged itself between large two rocks. Undeterred, he dragged himself along the ground to a clearing, only to spot his wife being held from behind with a gloved hand over her face as she was forced down the path to the road by a blond man in a plaid coat. "Let her go!" he screamed in horror as she was shoved in the trunk of the blue car and her kidnapper turned around. It was Joe... of course it was Joe with the damn Chevelle again. At this point Jamie wasn't even surprised by that. His brother sneered back, and this time he spoke.

"It's all your fault. You screwed me out of everything, and now I'm going to take your life from you piece by piece," he laughed as he got in the car and peeled away in a cloud of exhaust.

"NO! BRING HER BACK!" Jamie screamed out loud, as he jerked up and crawled to the end of the bed, ready to scramble away as Eddie tried in vain to grab him before he hurt himself. She was too late, and only made matters worse as she knocked him off balance when he tried to bear weight on his left leg and he collapsed, striking the side of his head on the corner of the nightstand.

"Jamie! STOP! Please, stop! It's just a dream," she sobbed as she ended up being pulled to the floor on top of him as she desperately hung on. His heart was beating out of his chest and sweat was pouring off of his bare skin as she moved over and helped him sit up against the bed, gasping for breath. Blood was beginning to trickle down his face from a small cut in the hairline above his eye. He swore he could feel the broken bones grating against each other in his leg as he lay there, fighting for air, fighting to wake up and shrug off that horrible nightmare.

"Eddie," he breathed, as his eyes finally opened and he reached up to touch her arm to ground his mind in the present. "Thank God," he panted while he blinked and tried to compose himself. She was here, it was just a dream, he told himself. Just another stupid dream. The phantom pain in his lower leg lifted as he came back to his senses, and he reached up to touch the side of his head which was now throbbing. His fingers came away sticky and warm.

"Jamie, I'm sorry! You're bleeding," she cried after she reached up to turn the lamp on, and then quickly pulled a shirt out of the laundry hamper to hold up to the side of his head.

"I'm okay," he choked out hoarsely. "It's nothing, just a scratch."

"It's not nothing, your head is split open! What was it about this time? Who was in trouble?" Eddie demanded before they both became aware of another small presence, one which averted any further questioning. Kaylin had heard her father's scream and woke up in all the commotion. She stood in the doorway with her lip quivering as she took in the horrible scene before her.

"It's okay, baby," Eddie said as she scrambled over to retrieve her daughter. "Daddy just had a bad dream and got a booboo when he tried to get out of bed. He's all right."

"Come here, sweetness," Jamie called to her as he continued to calm himself. "Everything is fine, see?" he said as she latched onto his side. "I just have to be more careful next time," he told her as he wrapped his arm around her. "Mommy will get a bandaid and fix me right up."

"I think you might need to go in for some stitches," Eddie said doubtfully, as she looked at the crimson stain spreading across the fabric.

"Not happening, Ed," Jamie replied back forcefully, leaving little doubt behind. "Linda gave me some surgical glue, just get that out of the first aid kit and close it up. Please, Eddie," he added. "I've had enough of hospitals and I've got to be into work in the morning. That FBI meet is going down tomorrow night and I need to have everything in place."

"You'll look like you went ten rounds with Tyson when you go into the office," she replied softly.

"I'm okay with that," he sighed, as he held his little daughter tight. "I'd take that any day of the week if it kept all of you safe."

Eddie just shook her head, knowing it was useless to argue the point at that moment as she went to retrieve the medical supplies. That sinking feeling that this had more to it than a spate of simple nightmares had come roaring back. If Jamie wasn't going to come clean, she was damn well going to find answers from someone else and get to the bottom of this situation before he needed real help. She knew just where to look.