Home Fires

Chapter Ten

Eliot pulled Kenna closer to him and put his hand on her abdomen. He felt the fluttering and turnings of his child inside her. Burying his face in her hair Eliot knew that before either one of them left this bed, they had to talk about what was going on with her.

"Talk to me darlin'." He whispered in her ear.

"I lost everything the day you left Kentucky." She answered softly.

"No, you just thought you did. I'm still here Kenna. I know I took the long way home, but I'm here now. Here forever." Kenna fought the urge to pull away and make him see that he would leave again. Maybe not to day or next week but he would leave her. After she told him her secret it wouldn't be long before he was gone again.

"The night you left Winchester was the worst and the best night of my life. After the…the night you…"

"Took your virginity…Kenna Shane, you've never been ashamed of that night." He said.

"I know but we…it was an unspoken rule that we would never bring it up let alone make love again. I didn't plan on the night you left. I just wanted to have one last moment that was ours alone. That night was supposed to make you want to come home. It was suppose to make you want to take me with you." Eliot felt her start to shake. He pulled her body tightly to his.

"I did want to come home Kenna. I just got wrapped up in something I couldn't get out of." He knew he couldn't tell her about the dark cell and the beatings he had endured over those six months he was imprisoned in a country he had no business being in doing things he should have never been doing for a country that thrown him to the wolves a half a dozen years later.

"I spent the next two months wasted out of mind. I drank. But you already knew that. The haze I was in didn't really affect anyone but me. Jodi was struggling with her own grief and I really didn't know if Billy was hurting her or not." Eliot ran his hand down her arm.

"Kenna…"

"No Eliot. I need to tell you this. I just wanted to forget all those feeling I had. I had promised you I would take care of Jodi. I broke that promise."

"You were fifteen."

"I've been in love with since I was seven." She whispered. He moved his hand from her stomach to her breasts. She closed her eyes and her breath caught. They had been so damn sensitive lately and even before her pregnancy he could turn her on with just a touch now all he had to do was look at her and she was gone.

"I guess someone knew what they were doing when he sent you home with my sister that day." He said in ear. Kenna swallowed hard. She clung to his arm and tried to hold back the tears. "Let it go baby."

"I got pregnant that night." He kissed her cheek. The warmth of his body against hers made her relax. "I lost the baby two months later. I didn't even know I was pregnant."

"Is that what upset you?"

"The same week we heard this baby's heart beat was the week I lost…" The tears fell. "I lost the one thing that would have brought you back to me." The sobs racked her body.

"Baby I tried to come back and I did when you needed me."

"But you couldn't stay. I knew that when you came to help after Simon. I wanted to tell you then about the baby but I figured it was too late." Eliot closed his eyes and thought about what she had said. He couldn't have stayed. He owed too much to too many people by then and Kenna was the least of his worries. She had disappeared off the face of the earth not to long after.

"Why didn't you tell me this when you came to ask for my help with Jimmy?"

"Because twenty years is a long time for regrets. You couldn't have stayed and I couldn't have raised a child back then." She rolled herself over and looked into his blue eyes. They were red and a tear fell down his cheek. Kenna ran her hand down the stubble she had grown to love more than the clean shaven boy she fell in love with all those years ago. "I know what happened to that child was my fault and I really don't know what I would have done if things had…been different but last week it all came flooding back and I didn't know how to tell you and I didn't know how to deal with the memories."

"I love you." He pushed her hair away from her face. "Nothin' that happened twenty years ago is gonna change that. Nothin' that happens in the next twenty is gonna change that either Kenna." He hugged her close. "I'm sorry you had to go through all that alone and I'm sorry you thought you couldn't tell me now when it was upsetting you so much. You were hurting Kenna. Loosing that baby wasn't your fault. Things have a way of happening for a reason."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. And I wasn't alone. I had Mrs. Bailey. She kept the doctor from telling my mom so I didn't have to go back there after it happened. She paid the bill and got me a job as a tutor."

"Is that why you pay for whatever her insurance doesn't cover?" She looked at him. "I saw you drop off the check before we left the nursing home."

"Yeah, I guess that's why. She didn't have to protect me from my mother or yours. She could have told them both why I was acting the way I was but she kept it to herself." Kenna closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Would you think I was weak if I told you I can't take any more of these week long jobs?" He looked at her. "I have too much time to think." He kissed the top of her head and pulled her close.

"I can't make any promises."

"Will you wake me up tomorrow to go with you to the farmer's market?"

"I thought you hated all the people."

"I just want to be with you." She whispered. "Does that sound too needy?"

"No, it sounds like a woman who's been missing the love of her man." He rolled on top of her and looked her in the eye. "Dinner or dessert?" He asked her.

"Do you have to ask?" She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss.

o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o

The sun was out and there was a chill in the air. It was only two weeks to Halloween and the farmer's market was loaded with fall treats and holiday decorations. Eliot almost felt normal again. Walking with Kenna, talking with the venders. If anyone looked at them they would seem almost normal.

"You're thinking it too." Kenna curled her arms around his left one and leaned her head on his shoulder. He looked at her.

"Like you're not waiting for the other shoe to drop?" Eliot answered. He knew she was. But today she was hoping it would drop on the other side of the world because they were liking this little bit of normal.

"Okay, you call it." She stood straight. He looked at her slowly moving his gum around his mouth as he looked over her shoulder.

"Blond guy, ten o'clock." Eliot looked at the man. Kenna turned slightly.

"Ex-Navy. Just retired. Still carries his service weapon under his jacket." He smiled and shook his head. She was good at this game. She always had been.

"Red head, three o'clock." Kenna named his target. Eliot didn't even need to turn.

"Stripper…too old to be one, but one none the less." Kenna smiled. Eliot was looking over Kenna's shoulder again when he saw her. His expression changed. "Pick pocket, twelve o'clock." He whispered so only she could here. Kenna turned. A blond girl no more than ten or eleven was dancing through the crowd. Kenna saw what Eliot did a second later when she lifted a man's wallet and put it her messenger bag hanging from her shoulder.

"Cop, six o'clock." She returned. Kenna ducked through the next wave of people and Eliot walked head long into the uniformed officer.

"Hey man, glad to see you. I saw some guy picking another dudes pocket." Eliot pointed the opposite direction of where the girl and Kenna headed.

"What did he look like?"

"Man, I don't know brown hair, brown jacket." Eliot just turned and got lost in the crowd before the man could ask any more questions. He found Kenna sitting next to the blond girl on one of the park benches.

"Meet my new friend, Sarah." Kenna crossed her legs and looked up at him.

"Hi, Sarah." The girl didn't look at Eliot. "Sarah doesn't say much." Eliot interjected.

"Sarah tried stealing the Ex-Seal's Glock."

"How'd that go over?" Eliot sat on the other side of the girl and looked into her bag.

"Not the way she planned, I'm sure." Kenna returned.

"Just let me go. I promise I won't steal anymore shi…stuff."

"Looks like we got us a hard ass Kenna Shane." Eliot said in his best southern boy accent.

"Yeppers." Kenna nodded. "I'm starving, why don't we head the pier and your new friend Eliot will find a safe place for all these wallets and iPods oh my." Eliot stripped the bag off the girls arm and Kenna stood and lead the waif of the girl toward the little seafood shack on the pier. "How old are you?"

"What do you care? I could yell right now that you're a kidnapper and they'd shoot you where you stand." Kenna pulled out her BFD badge.

"I'm a first responder. You called for help and I'm helping." She said just a little too sweetly.

"I could say your boyfriend was kidnappin' me and you were going to make me your kiddy porn star." Eliot came up behind her, now void of the messenger bag.

"Not a really good idea either sunshine." They stopped at the restaurant and got a table outside. The girl wasn't scared and she wasn't running. There was something deeper going on here than a pick pocket getting caught. He looked at Kenna and she knew too.

"Call Parker." Kenna said as she handed her a menu. Eliot walked away from the table and made his phone call.

"I know you're up to something so you might as well spill it."

"What do you know about me?"

"I know that your parents aren't in the picture. That your stealing for survival and not for kicks and I know that you have twenty seven cents in your pocket and fifty cents in your shoe." The girl's eyes widened.

"How do you know all that?" She was amazed.

"Don't tell Eliot, but I was a thief once myself." The girl looked doubtful. "I wasn't really good at it but I tried. I know you keep the money in your shoe because you might need to call someone to get you out a jam. The twenty seven cent thing is just for luck. It's the number of times you picked without getting caught. Now you have to…"Kenna looked at the girl. "add to the pocket."

"How did you know how much was in my pocket?"

"She heard the change rattling. Each coin makes a distinct sound." Eliot said as he came back to the table. "Parker and Nate are on their way." He looked at the girl. "You hungry?" He knew she was. The smells alone were making the young girl drool.

"No."

"Too bad, you're eating something." Eliot sat down. Why wasn't the girl running? That was the question. Maybe this was the game. Get them to be nice to you, maybe take you home and then call in the big guns to clear you out. The waitress came to the table.

"What looks good to you Sarah?" Kenna asked, playing the good cop to the bitter end.

"Whatever." The girl sat back.

"Three specials." Eliot said without pretence. "Two cokes and…" He looked across the table at Kenna. "and an orange soda." Shaking his head he leaned against the edge of the raised chair. "You live around her Sarah?" The girl shrugged. "You know I could just hand you over to Barney Fife over there and be done with you." Eliot pointed at the rent a cop standing by a display of pumpkins.

"I live with some friends off of Pleasant Street." Eliot looked at the girl.

"If you're in trouble Sarah, we can help. Don't be afraid. You don't need to lie." He told her in a soft voice. The waitress brought their drinks and the girl stopped talking. Eliot looked at Kenna.

"Thank you." She said softly. He nodded. "Sarah please tell us what's going on." The waitress brought them their food and the girl went to work on her fish and chips.

"Slow down kid, you're gonna make yourself sick." Eliot told her. He looked at Kenna. He moved his phone and took a picture of the girl and sent it to Hardison. Eliot popped a fry in his mouth and watched the little girl. She was a cross between the girl Kenna was and the woman Parker had become. Eliot shook his head. God help them all.

"When was the last time you ate Sarah?" Kenna asked.

"Yesterday. I got a hot dog from the vendor on Wilcox with some money I lifted out of one of the wallets."

"Who have you been stealing for Sarah?" Eliot leaned over and looked at the little girl. He wanted to take her as far away from this madness as he could get her.

"The foster parents they placed with me." Sarah looked at the two adults sitting across from her. "Who are you people and why do you care what happens to me?"

"Their two of the best people you'll ever meet and because they like to rescue strays." Parker came up behind them. "Hi Sarah, my name is Parker and I want to help too." The thief smiled. Eliot turned to Nate who was standing a few feet away.

"Hey boss." Eliot walked to the man and Parker took his seat.

"What are we looking at?"

"Some foster family's training pick pockets and thieves barely out of diapers." Maybe Kenna and Parker can get some more details." Eliot turned to see Kenna motion to her ear. He turned his ear bud on.

"We got company." She said. Eliot turned to the pier and saw the man reading an upside down newspaper.

"We need to take her with us Nate."

"DCF needs to take her Eliot."

"DCF put her with these people." Eliot looked at the two women talking to the girl. "You really thing those two are going to let that kid out of their sights?"

"We need to call someone." Nate looked at his hitter and back to the girls.

"Till we figure it out where is the safest place for her?" Eliot knew the answer.

"Our building." Nate answered. "She's your responsibility Eliot."

"Nate, she's a kid, not a puppy."

"I'm just saying." Nate looked over at the newspaper man. "Take care of him before we leave."

"We'll figure this out."

"You do know that we can't save them all Eliot?" Eliot looked at Kenna.

"I know, but I gotta try." He nodded and went to take care of the trouble that was reading upside down news.