Hello, to everyone who managed to survive finale of "Dexter"! I hope you all succeeded to erase what happened in 8x12 out of you're mind, I know I'm still struggling with it, but it's getting better. I'm not going to waste too much time on talking about it, my only comment would be "What the hell was that?" . I'm actually amazed by the mess writers made. It takes real talent for that... I mean, it's "Dexter" and it's logical it won't have happy end, and it's even logical for Deb to die but... seriously? Debra being dumped in the ocean?
Anyway, my new chapter is up. It took a lot of time to recover after "Remember the Monsters" and sit down and write again, but I think I managed to move past it. Feel free to review it.:-) We all looove reviews, don't we?
There are few more chapters almost finished already, so I expect to post them in next week or so. Expect some new characters and more of Dex/Deb confrontations, these two are just getting started, actually.:-) Their relationship is fascinating and complicated and has crazy ups and downs so it's real fun to explore it. I just wish season 8 had more of their scenes together...So many secrets and emotions left unexplored is simply unforgivable.
To everyone that kept reading it and reviewing it, I send you one big "thank you" hug.:-) And to my " boot in the ass", S., you're a godsend. A really cool one.:-)
Enjoy and review, please.
CHAPTER TEN
Vogel serves Quinn some whisky and sits opposite to him, her notes on Dexter splayed across the table. Quinn is silent and he takes his time to sips the drink and enjoys it's flavor, and when he finishes he looks straight up and smiles.
"So… About the case file." He begins.
"It's fiction." She says convincingly. " I said this to your friend already."
"Angel is one thing. He was too upset back in the office to read this stuff clearly." He says. "But I wasn't. I know you're hiding something big." He shifts in his chair and gives her a square look. "This man here…" he gestures toward the papers, "lives by some sort of Code which provides some kind of twisted justice for killers. He has a sister he, according to you, only thinks he loves. And he talks to you on a regular basis."
Vogel is glad she didn't write everything down. If she did, there would be needed only one look for a remotely intelligent person to realize who's she's talking about.
"At first I thought this was about the Brain Surgeon… But, no it wasn't." He decides on taking an direct approach. "The Brain Surgeon is not killing killers. The only person that ever did that was the Bay Harbor Butcher. And that man has been dead for a very long time. So…" he leans forward, "What…is… all… of… this?"
"A fiction. I've told you. It's just a fiction. Nothing else!" She gives him one reassuring smile. "I've always been fascinated with James Doakes."
"But here it says you talk to him." Quinn says calmly.
"Well, I imagine talking to him. That's the only way I can do it, since he is dead. I want to write a case study of him."
"Patient zero shared his frustration with me over his relationship with his sister. Somehow, he's deluded himself into thinking he has genuine feelings towards her." the cop quotes her. "That doesn't sound to me like it's someone you "imagine" talking to. And James Doakes had sisters, not sister. I never met him, but he doesn't sound like that guy from your fairy tale."
"What are you suggesting?" Vogel knows she's walking on the edge right now, but she needs to know where is she with all of this. Her rather complex situation turned even more problematical: with Angel discovering her secrets, Dexter being mad at her for keeping notes on him, and the Brain Surgeon breathing down her neck, this thing could make things far worse. It could be the final nail in her coffin.
"I'm implying your experiments are not past. I'm implying you were connected somehow with the Bay Harbor Butcher and that your fascination with that case inspired you to take one more dangerous step toward creating his copycat, in order to defend yourself against your other former patient, the Brain Surgeon. Are you following me?" Quinn looks like a hunting dog that picked up the scent of his prey and she knew this is not going to be brushed off easily. He was so close to the truth, except for the part where he thought that patient zero is new Bay Harbor Butcher.
There is no "old" or "new" Bay Harbor Butcher. There is only one of them.
"Dexter.", Vogel suddenly says, interrupting Quinn. She sees him standing behind Quinn, and for a moment she's convinced that all of this is just one breath away from turning to a bloody mess.
When did Dexter let himself in? She didn't lock the door when she let Quinn inside her house…? Why wouldn't Dexter call or knock first? But that one was easy… He most probably saw Quinn's car and wanted to hear for himself what's going on. But that would mean only one thing. He doesn't trust her anymore.
That thought makes Vogel flinch. He's like her son, she can't lose him now. Not now when she thinks she found a replacement for her long lost child.
Quinn is startled when he sees Dexter and his hand instinctively flies to his gun, but stops in a second. Dexter relaxes a bit and shines them one apologetic smile, asking them to forgive him for intruding.
He says he has some thoughts regarding Brain Surgeon and that they have been looking the wrong way all this time. After he mentions Eric Watson, Quinn's eyes shine brighter and he nods remembering who the man is.
"Why do you think this man might be connected with these serial killings? If anything he looks normal and I don't find anything suspicious about him." he says. "And he has an alibi, or did you forget that."
"Sometimes you can look right at the serial killer and think "That's perfectly normal guy." You've worked long enough on the force to know something like that." Dexter cuts him off, looking directly into Quinn's eyes. "His alibi was Matilda. He was sleeping next to her that night when Aidan disappeared. Well, did it ever occur to you that he might've given her something to make her sleep through entire night? "
"That murder did look strange, now didn't it?" Vogel interferes.
"Yes, almost like… somebody interrupted him…" Quinn trails off, and then his eyes widen. "Oh fuck it! But.. Wait, Dex, why did you wait 'till now to say that?"
"I didn't wait. I didn't think about that," Dexter answers. "It occurred to me just now. And I know that Dr Vogel doesn't sleep till late, so I came here to talk to her about my theory and when I heard voices inside I thought that she's in some sort of trouble. So I came in…"
"He's a real hero." Quinn jokingly says, but undertone of his sentence doesn't go unnoticed by Vogel. On the other hand, Dexter's face doesn't change a bit. He takes a phone and calls for Deb. "You know that your sister got a green light to join us here? Angel said he wants her help and Elway agreed with that." He abruptly stops, when he hears someone answered the phone. "Oh..Elway…That's a surprise. Well, could I talk to Deb..? Yeah, of course… Tell her to check in as soon as she finishes with her shower. Yeah. Thanks." He hangs up. "That was awkward. Elway's at your sister house. Answering her fucking phone." He addresses Dexter.
"Oh." Comes Dexter's short reply.
"I will drive around Eric Watson's neighborhood tonight, just in case. Tomorrow morning I'll tell Batista about this, maybe we'll get a chance to do a tox screen on Matilda and.."
"Good luck with that one, if she really was overdosed with sleeping pills there is a small to none chance you'll find traces after all this time. And you'll need very good reason to exhume her body and most probably you'll need a permission from Watson himself." Dexter reminds him.
"Yeah, well fuck, I'll find something. There has to be something that points to him! If I need to I'll follow him 24/7 but this fucker has to be stopped."Quinn shouts.
"Why are you so invested in this?" Dexter asks genuinely interested.
"Because this case could bring your sister back to force. I told you I'll do anything that's in power to get her back there. Or did you forget that?" Quinn asks. "Maybe I should ask you why are you so devoted to this case, so you have to come in the middle of the night to Dr Vogel's house?"
"Same thing," his colleague answers.
Quinn's phone interrupts them and he cheerfully greets Deb, apologizing for calling that late, and laughs shortly when familiar sounds of Debra cussing travels all the way to both Dexter's and Vogel's ears. The doctor gives Dexter one disturbed look, but he returns her stare coldly, and it makes her feel helpless even more. This is spinning out of her control and it's not going to end well.
The following few minutes go on in a blur for Evelyn, as Quinn excuses himself, acting like they never had a conversation that Dexter cut short, and soon enough she is sitting opposite of a very angry Dexter. She prepares herself to fight another storm, as he confronts her about the notes she's been keeping about him. She tries to explain that it's simply what she doesit's like she's keeping a patient's file, but he reminds her that he is not one of her patients and that she should stop patronizing him.
"I'm not a ten year old in a desperate need of your and Harry's guidance! What you did with these notes could cost us both if Angel was more intent to find out who that patient zero of yours is. Luckily for us, he was distracted enough not to persist-" He is stopped with Evelyn sighing and giving him an unhappy look.
"I thought you heard what Quinn and I were talking about." She says.
"No I just came in and… Wait. What was he doing here anyway?" Dexter looks puzzled.
"We had luck with Batista. He was disturbed by what happened to Thomas, and there was also your sister, and she did, I must say, a wonderful job to cover you up, but Quinn wasn't fooled a bit. He thinks that not only I might know who the Brains Surgeon is, but that I'm creating another Bay Harbor Butcher. Dexter, he is close." She warns.
He blinks slowly. "Quinn. He put that together?"
"Well, he is persistent to impress Deb, I guess…" Woman turns around and shakes her head in sorrow. " I'm so sorry I got you into this."
"Too late for that now." Dexter shakes his head , his brows furrowed in a frown." Quinn already suspected me once. It might get difficult to dodge him now. I have to act fast. I need to find the Brain Surgeon and get Hannah out of the country as soon as possible. She is also in danger with all of this."
"And now your sister is involved with all of this. This is large mess."
"Deb will be fine. She knows how to take care of herself." Dexter voice grows bitter.
"Dexter, if you suspected that this is Eric Watson, why didn't you keep that off the records? It's going to be much more difficult now when police knows about him. They'll arrest him as soon as they get first proof about him being Brain Surgeon." It's obvious Vogel is confused, but he gives her conspicuous look, and she knows he's up to something.
"Watson moved out of Matilda's house. I went there before coming here. He's disappeared and we could use the police to find him. And I'll be one step ahead of them all of the time. As soon as they locate him I'll make sure if he is the one we're looking for, and I'm going to put him on the table. I have to finish this before I leave."
"You're still dead set on going to Argentina…?" Evelyn asks, her voice betraying that she's obviously displeased with this turn of events.
Dexter visibly hesitates for few seconds and then answers. "Yes."
She's not convinced, though.
Less then twenty four hours after Thomas Matthews' death, Miami Metro is crowded with FBI and it's a situation that's not very welcomed on either side. Both sides still remember their collaboration on the Bay Harbor Butcher case and the way Frank Lundy went ignored on his theory about the Trinity killer. The feds are also still sour over the fact that Lundy went to Miami Metro for help, and that they seemed like the bad guys at that moment. Special Agent Jonathan Crawford was one of those who turned Lundy down, and now he is in the same station where his old colleague became rather respected.
Angel greets his unwanted guests, still sour from the last press conference he just held, which turned into one giant mess, just as Debra predicted. He sits down at his desk and talks to Crawford just as Deb stops by his office and he sighs in a relief. He knows why she's here; Quinn told him already. Her detective badge is ready at his desk, and he gives her secret smile, letting her know that he welcomes her back.
Deb smiles and glances at Dexter's lab, so she leaves that way, and Angel returns his attention to Crawford. Quinn is waiting in the briefing room for his lieutenant, watching Masuka joke with Deb and Miller and Dexter silently texting someone. Two feds come in and ask something and all five of people turn their heads with so much hostility that it makes feds disappear in a split second. Vogel joins them, sitting next to Dexter, and Joseph smiles at her. Debra turns away from Masuka, a soft look on her face, when she notices something on one of the photos from the crime scenes and she comes closer to take a better look at it.
"I need tons of fucking coffee." She murmurs, and Quinn happily obliges by going to the coffee machine.
"Something interesting?" Dexter comes closer to Debra, and she unwillingly takes step back. In the return she receives such a hurt look that she hasn't seen on him for a very long time.
"I'm not here to hang around with you." She says quietly "What do you want?'
"I'm here to welcome you back. That's all." He says. "No need to withdraw."
"I'm not withdrawing." Deb fires defensively.
"No, you're acting like I'm a goddamn plague." He answers. "People will notice. Now more than ever you have to act normal. There could be someone on to me right now, and I can't risk anything looking suspicious."
"It's all about you, as always." Deb shakes her head, disgust evident in her voice. The way he kisses and touches and his hard efforts to make her come suddenly come to mind and she backs off, embarrassed of her own thoughts. Okay, it's not always about him. But most of the time, sure.
"Deb please not now." He says in exasperated voice. "It's not about me, it's about you too, but I can't do anything else at the moment to convince you that I do love you and that I do care for your wellbeing. The only thing I can do is to protect you and you're not helping me right now."
Deb's eyes widen and she stays speechless, tucking her hair behind her ear and nervously shifting her weight on the other leg. He said he loves her. It still gets to her.
Manipulative cocksucking jerk.
Masuka calls out for Dexter, irritated because one of the feds accidentally got into a lab so he had to call for a backup. "Hey Dexterous, let's give these feds a lesson about not intruding into our chambers. When they touch my lab it's like they touch my private parts. And I don't like to be touched this way, man. It's gross."
"Great, now every time I get into the lab, I'll think about touching his private parts." Dexter scoffs, and Debra unexpectedly giggles. He gently smiles at her, and gets rewarded with one sad and short turn of her lips upwards, but it quickly disappears as Batista comes into room.
"First off. Detective Morgan, welcome back." He hugs Deb tightly and she kisses him on cheek, fully smiling at him. "We missed you. I know you haven't ruled out Chicago yet, but this is your home and I want you to remember why you loved this place. And hopefully, you'll decide to stay."
She thanks him and quickly shifts attention from herself to the photos on the board. "Let's get to fucking work.", she says.
I honestly can say I've enjoyed my day. And that's a first time after a very long time that I've got myself to think that things can be somewhat normal. Deb's stare is not so hard anymore, and that gives me some small comfort. Maybe there is hope for us. She takes the badge back, and I'm surprised that Angel had everything already prepared, like he knew this was going to happen. When I asked him how did he figured out this outcome he simply said that it was Elway himself who fucked things up: pressuring Deb and trying to control her was never a good idea. It was just a question of time when this was going to happen, but it surprised him too when Deb called him this morning already and told him she's back.
There were no details about why she made this call, but she mentioned she and Elway had a big fight last night, and knowing Elway, it most probably turned pretty ugly. Angel's satisfied look tells me more than he's willing to share: he is more than pleased that Jacob is out of the picture.
Quinn is working his ass off to prove to Deb that she made a right call, and by the end of the day they produced some leads that I would be happy to know before the police did, but I couldn't stop it anyway. Quinn went through Oliver Saxon's past, and came up with few clues where he could find him, and Deb on the other hand, managed to find out where Saxon and Matilda met. It was club called "Romero" and it was going to be my first stop once I get out of the station.
Hannah texts me that she has moved into different motel, this time under name Laura Morgan. That information somewhat unnerves me, since I don't like to be reminded of my mother, and the way I last saw her, and the implications of Hannah taking the liberty of using my last name doesn't sit right to me. Which is weird since few days ago I was completely okay with that. She also says that she died her hair in red, as her passport picture has a red wig, so I get that she's trying to push me forward with our plans. And I get it, but I'm tired of explaining that I can't leave Vogel like this. And Saxon might follow us, which could end badly.
Astor also calls and says she'll be taking care of Harrison, since Jaime has something to do in next hour, and we share an awkward moment of silence, before I agree. Yes, Astor is big enough, but I can't help but to think that maybe, just maybe Harrison wouldn't kill that animal if it wasn't she that took him out.
Which is ridiculous, of course. Nobody could stop me from killing. Even if Harry kept me locked up, it wouldn't work.
But I need to find some excuse, any excuse…
The rest of the day I do my best to stay away from Quinn, since what he said to Vogel last night wasn't pleasant at all. He is so close and I'm waiting for a moment where everything will start to crumble down on me. After what happened with Maria last year, everything is possible. I need to be prepared.
There could be more innocent blood on my hands soon enough. Quinn's blood.
On my way out of the building Deb stops me. She seems casual, quite the opposite from yesterday, and I ask myself is there any sort of secret plan behind her behavior, but it seems that she's genuinely interested in talking to me.
She walks beside me, and chats about her day and Masuka's new jokes, and I answer her politely but we never look each other in the eyes. She turns around in time to see Quinn exiting a the building and waving at us, smiling gently at Deb. This man truly loves her. If only it could be so easy with me, too.
"Deb…" I begin, intending to stop the small talk. "Elway. You were with him last night. Today you're back on force."
"Yeah, well. He gave me way out. I said I wanted to quit and he backed me up." She obviously lies, but I won't have any of that.
"Yes, because he's such a forgiving person. Now really, what happened?" I ask once again.
"Nothing happened!" her voice grows higher, and now I'm sure something terribly went wrong.
"You're saying that he let one of his best workers leave his agency, and go back to Miami Metro just a day later. I guess he kissed you and wished you good luck. And the two of you will most probably have nice a conversation about your day tonight over a dinner. Yes, Deb. I'm that stupid, I believe that." I give her one of my nasty looks. " But naah….It wasn't that way. He was pissed of, right?"
Her lips break into grin. "Royally."
I return her smile. " I knew it."
"Well, yes, what did you expect? I told him I'm quitting his job, and I even offered to stay week or two until he finds a replacement, but he told me to fuck off." she explained, but I already knew that part. "It wasn't pretty. I confronted him about attacking you, and about pressuring Angel, and he had no way out. Actually he sounded surprised about you saying anything at all."
"Yes? He should've seen that coming." I raise my eyebrows. "Way to go, Deb. You got him into bed, and then threw him out of it. Great job. He is going to hate you now. " I chuckle." I'm glad you stood up in my defense, it was about time. I thought you'll never stop hating me."
That wasn't smart a thing to say. I see a flash of something strange in her eyes, and in the split moment realization dawns on me: Debra really has some hidden agenda. It turns out that all this time this web of secrets and lies I made around her didn't leave her untouched. She seems much more at ease when it comes to saying untruths and she is harder to read. But, the pupil still hasn't outgrown the master. I eye her suspiciously, such a drastic change in her demeanor is impossible to go unnoticed. I may be blind when she's around, but that doesn't mean I'm dumb.
On her part, she still masterfully feigns innocence, and does her best to give me a confused look, but behind it I sense she's tensed once again. Clearly she didn't do what she did for me, but I give it a shot anyway. Maybe she'll blurt out her plans if I play it smart.
"No, seriously, now. Why did you do that?" I ask once again lightly.
"I confronted him about threatening you. At first, he denied such a thing, and then he admitted that he was bit harsh last time he saw you."
"Bit harsh? He drew his gun at me." I chuckle with no real humor. Elway wasn't aware how close he was to have his bowls ripped out of him. It would be really nice, bloody picture, painted over Angel's new, expensive carpet.
Batista would've killed me.
"Then I asked him about what the fuck did he say to Angel, and we got into fight. A big one. And it ended with me saying that I love my family the most, and I'll do whatever I have to protect them." The last part seems honest, but I still sense there is something more to it.
"So you did that to protect your family. Me." I smile.
"Yes." She answers a second too late.
Something changes. We carefully examine each other and Deb takes small step back. I'm onto something.
"Deb." Her pupils dilate, and I see that she stops breathing for a second. "What's the real reason you called it off with him?" I ask her, all the playfulness lost in my tone.
"I told you the reason." She says." To protect .."
"No, Deb. " I shake my head stubbornly.
"When I called you upon your decision to be with Hannah, that fucking Hannah that tried to fucking kill me last year, you said I'm no better because I'm with Elway so I called it quits." She tries to explain.
"But you didn't really expect I'll follow your decision and end my relationship with Hannah, right?" I ask, missing the point obviously.
"I didn't expect you'll do that, no." She shakes her head quickly, and I can say she's telling the truth this time. But that still leaves my original question unanswered.
"Then why? You didn't do that for me, you didn't do that for Hannah."
"I told you. You said he represents danger to my family." Debra is still paying dumb, but at least now I know for sure that she hides something. Whatever is on her mind I'll find out, but obviously not now. I have to find a way to catch her off guard.
"Ok, if you don't want to tell me, that's your own decision." I brush the subject off. She visibly relaxes and I turn to open the door for her. This gesture surprises her and she clumsily thanks me and sits in her driver seat before turning awkwardly and changing the topic completely.
"That "Romero" club.. That place where Matilda met that Saxon guy… I have some contacts there. Do you want to check it out with me tonight?"
"Actually, I wanted to ask you to watch over Harrison and Astor. But I could ask Jaime…" I trail off. "I promised Astor that I'll take her to the beach today."
"Why don't we pick them up, and go to the beach, and they can stay in my house for few hours, it'll be enough for us to get to that shithole "Romero" and ask around about Saxon. If he was there recently, we'll find out, trust me." She, she tugs lightly on my sleeve. "Come on. Go to your fucking car, I'll follow you. I'm starving, we could eat with kids."
"Yeah, well, I've gotta do something first. Hey, why don't you go and pick them up, and I'll join you later?" The way I suggest it leaves no question what the real reason for my departure is. I have girlfriend, in a very unfortunate position. Being a fugitive from the law is driving us both crazy.
"Fine, that suits me." Her voice betrays how disappointed she is, since she clearly gets I'll be going to Hannah.
"Okay, so see you later at your place." I say, ignoring her.
Astor impatiently waits as Deb opens the door with Harrison clutching his arms around her neck and pulling her hair in the process. Deb says "Fudge" and Astor laughs hard.
"Come on, open the door and hurry up while there is still some sun left." She hurries Deb along.
Harrison yells "Sandcastle" for fifth time into her ear and Deb finally manages to come into the house, putting down the small package she found in front of her door, and hurriedly looking for her swimming suit. All the time Harrison refuses to let go of her, and she's actually glad because of that. Knowing how much time she spent without him makes her feel so sorry. If she owes something to Rita, it's to look after her child. The only child Deb will ever have.
Once they're on the beach Astor finally takes Harrison and they both laugh and run into sea, greeting the waves, then running away from them. One of those waves pulls Astor, and she falls on her knees, her brother grabbing her arm protectively and pulling her so she can get up. Debra stays speechless at the sight. Harrison is only four, but sometimes he is like a grown man. He inspects Astor's knees for bruises, and that looks ridiculously funny, but both Deb and Astor suppress their urge to laugh.
"See, we have a doctor here." She announces to Deb.
"I won't be doctor. I don't like them." Her brother says seriously.
"So what are you going to be? " She asks curiously, while Deb listens interested. Not so long ago Harrison only wanted his Lamby and bedtime stories. Now he is taking care of his much older sister, and has his first vision of what's he's going to do when he gets older.
"I wanna be a veterinarian ." He says happily, stumbling through the word to get it our correctly, and succeeding. He gets on his feet, calling out for his imaginary friend elephant. "Dan hurt his leg. I wanna help him. Let's go, Dan. I'll take a look at that thorn."
Deb notices that Astor suddenly went pale, and she questions her about that. When she gets her response, the explanation regarding one particular night when Astor lost her brother, Deb's blood freezes in her veins and she feels so cold and horrified, watching at her nephew, looking so innocent and fragile, and thinking of him killing that animal.
And she gasps, realizing that the cycle is going to continue.
She couldn't save Dexter.
And now Harrison is turning out just like his father.
Is she really too late?
After the second round of sex Hannah gently strokes Dexter's hair but he seems absent, so she turns her head away and swallows hard.
"I'm losing you." She suddenly says, her voice hurt. Why did she ever think that Dexter could go through with this? But why… why would he give up on her once again, when it all seemed like it's going to be her way? Why is he so reluctant now?
Surprised at her outburst, Dexter turns and grabs her face. "What? No!" and to reassure her, he kisses her softly on lips, but she doesn't return his kiss, instead she gets up, suddenly feeling the cold air in her room, looks through window, and thinks of what to say to him. Hannah McKay was never the one that begged, but he seems to bring that side out of her. The hopelessness that washes over her at times like this brings back unpleasant memories. She keeps dreaming of her first night at detention, and the way she was harassed. She remembers the way her hand trembled when she wrote a confession that sent a the love of her life (or that's what she thought until she met Dexter) to serve the rest of his life in jail.
But she survived that. It scarred her, it broke her in worse ways than her father's constant neglecting did, but she managed to get herself out of it all. A few people lost their lives while she was finding her way out of it all, but it was just the necessary cost of her survival.
"You could end all of this. You could pack up Harrison and yourself and leave with me. Instead of that you chase that lunatic around that might hurt you, hurt us and you risk me being caught for what…? For Vogel?" She says without any real fire.
"I'm not doing this for Vogel only. I'm doing this for all of us. What if he tracks us down, what then? If he follows us, and what if one day he finds Harrison and..?"
"If he wanted to hurt Harrison, he would have done that by now!" She raises her tone, and then stops herself, alas, too late. The words are out, and she know just how wrong they sounded just by the look in Dexter's eyes.
"I'm sorry Dex. I didn't mean to be that insensitive…It just came out wrong!" She apologizes, but he keeps staring at her. "You know I care about Harrison!"
"But you care about me more." Dexter finishes her sentence. "You care about, you and me, about us."
"Yes." She nods quickly.
Dexter's hard expression doesn't change." But there is no us without Harrison, Hannah."
She interrupts him. "I know that, I'm sorry-"
It's his turn to interrupt her. "And the woman that says that she loves me more than anything should know that! He is my son, and he means a world to me. And you should know better! If you are going to be my wife, you will have to learn that he comes first."
"Your wife?" She screams out, hugging him. "Yes, yes, yes, Dex."
He keeps talking mechanically. "Well, it's only logical after we get out of the country. But I want the best mother Harrison can have and you're doing a hell of a job to convince me that you're not the one for him! His mother has to love him, he has to be the most important to her, even more important than I am. And if you do love him the way you say, and if you love me the way you say, you'll wait until I get this over and done with Saxon. He is a threat to my family, and I have to eliminate him."
"You, or your so called Dark Passenger? Because Dex I, I know you want the best for Harrison, but please, convince me that it's not your ridiculous need to kill…Because I know you can do better! For me, for this love. I know it fills you up, this time we have together, and I know you haven't killed in month. Tell me truthfully, is this kill you're preparing to do because of your family, Harrison and me, or because you want to plunge knife into his chest?"
She sees her words have struck him. She's close, so close to getting what she wants.
"I need to go." He says the sentence that frustrates her the most.
"I asked you something. Is that the reason you want to kill him?" Hannah insists. She is out in the safe zone, Dexter seems calmer after his outburst at her. So she wants to get all the truth out. "Where are you going now?"
"I'm going out to hunt him. I have a lead where he might be." Dexter answers, dressing himself up, and going out.
There is something he's not telling. She knows that, she knows when he rubs his neck this way and straightens this way that he's hiding something. And she is about to discover what.
Hannah flashes him one gentle smile and kisses him. "Okay, my love. Just be careful. I'll wait. Just report back to me with everything. Passports and money are ready, waiting for us to leave." She motions toward bed, her things hidden beneath.
"See you soon." Dexter says, kissing her back.
He leaves, and Hannah waits few moments.
Then she grabs the keys of her rented car, her black, dorky glasses and some baseball hat.
She leaves, locking the door behind her.
Jaime greets me on my way to Deb's house, and she smiles, secretly pointing at Astor teaching Deb how to cook. The girl seems so intent to educate her aunt, but it's not working, as Deb swears, forgetting that Harrison is around. She can shoot a moving target 20 feet away, but she misses the entire pan when she has to put an egg into it. A walking contradiction, that's Debra Morgan.
"I met them at the beach, Deb told me you two have something planned tonight. So I'll keep an eye on them. Deb agrees that we stay here." Jaime says. "But..I…have something.."
"Your things are at my place, if you want to pick them up, you can do that, but take kids with you. And if you have plans with Joey, you take them there, too. Just text me where to pick them up." I answer, thinking about what Hannah said. Harrison and Astor can't be alone even a minute, I made that mistake today, but it can't happen again.
"Actually, I'll take them to Angel's place, I promised him a dinner tonight. You know, brother-sister bonding time." She nods in Deb's direction.
Yeah, Jaime. I know. Except, Deb's and mine bonding time consist of going into a club and stalking potentially one of the worst serial killers Miami's ever faced and getting him on the table of the most successful serial killer Miami's ever faced. Which would be your boss.
"Oh, good then. Except…I don't know when we'll finish, so.." I rub my head, hoping she'll get the clue..
"We'll be awake, don't worry. And if you think you'll stay pretty late, they'll sleep at our place. Don't let that be an obstacle for the two of you." Says the best nanny in the whole world.
She takes the kids out, and Deb and I stand on the porch and kiss them, waving. Harrison holds on Deb like he's never going to see her again, and Astor comments something about him being little too attached to her. I don't mind it, actually. This is all Deb's going to get, since they won't see each other for a long time once we move to Argentina with Hannah.
Once they drive off, we get back to house, preparing for our first stalking night together. Or in Jaime's words, brother and sister quality time.
Hannah follows him, keeping a long distance, and in one moment she loses him. But that's not important, because she knows this neighborhood. She already knows very well where he is and it doesn't take her long to find his car.
Sitting in the car for a good fifteen minutes seems like in eternity for her. Actually, she doesn't know what she's waiting for. But then, Jaime gets out with girl that she recognizes as Astor, and Harrison kisses Deb and hugs her, and it gets Hannah emotions to the boiling point. She grips her steering wheel until her knuckles turn white, and she curses "Bitch…" without even speaking aloud. Once the kids and Jaime are gone, Dexter follows Deb back into house.
"Like a fucking puppy." She says to herself.
Hannah turns on the vehicle. There is no need for her to wait anymore. Dexter lied to her. He's not stalking anyone tonight. It's not fucking Oliver Saxon keeping him here.
It's his sister.
Debra emerges from the bathroom and I stop doing whatever I did before that and then actually forget what I did before that.
Pretending that everything is normal has been perfectly fine all day, and she actually surprised me with her usual behavior toward me, usual being the way she acted before she found out about my hobby. Right now I question both her motives, and my reactions to her.
I keep saying myself she is my sister. Yet I have uncomfortable flashes of our night together for two days already, but I masterfully managed to suppress it in the previous hour. I forgot that anything out of the ordinary ever happened between us, and then this happens.
Is she teasing me on purpose?
Debra's dark red dress is something new, I don't remember seeing it on her.
She notices I eye the dress, and answers my unspoken question. "Oh, Jake bought this one for me. I hate it and thought it was fucking slutty, but slutty is exactly what we fucking need tonight." And then quickly corrects herself. "For the stakeout. We're going into slutty club."
"That's one hell of the coincidence you know someone in "Romero", Deb." I try to shift my attention to our conversation. Deb puts on red lipstick and ties her hair up.
Would you please stop doing that, Deb?
"Actually, we're not going into "Romero". It's "Salsa madness" right down the street, two or three placed from "Romero".. But the boy that works there knows everyone in that neighborhood. If Saxon ever went there, he was spotted, trust me. I know that, I've been working long enough on the street to know how things function outside." And then she turns around and I notice that her dress fits her perfectly. It's maddeningly tight around her breasts, since it has no straps at all, and then cuts at her waist and falls to her knees.
Elway knew her dimensions accurately.
That's because he had his hands on her.
He had his fucking, dirty hands on her.
I can't help myself. "Wow, you and Elway must've been very active. I have to admire his precision of picking up the dress that suits you this way." I comment dryly.
Deb sits down and shoots me the most evil smile I've seen on her face in ages. She slowly crosses her legs and puts her heels on, that same expression not leaving her face. When she speaks, her voice is silky and malicious and I want to kick myself for talking at all.
Now she thinks I'm jealous. I'm not. I have my beautiful girlfriend and I don't need anyone else. Especially not my own sister.
I am not jealous. No.
"I don't know if I should get offended or flattered. " She gets up and approaches me. The way she walks is not Deb at all, when did she learn how to walk on high heels? "Thank you for your compliment over my fucking dress and the way it fucking suits me. And fuck you for calling me a whore referring to Elway and me. We fucked once, last night." And then she points to the sofa, the one I've been keeping my hands onto. "Right there, where you hold your hands." I take my hands of the sofa instinctively and she laughs. "I'm kidding, Dex. It was in bedroom."
"I don't need to know that." I fire back agitated. "Your sex life is none of my business."
"Then don't fucking ask if it hurts you so much, Dexter." She answers back immediately.
I stay silent.
This is going to be long night.
Deb is driving fast, well, faster than usual. She was always one hell of a driver, a real danger on the road. That's the reason why I usually drove us whenever we needed, but tonight she insisted, so I let her do whatever she pleases. It's a funny sight when she sits in the car and curses and then changes into pair of running shoes, kicking her heels onto the back seat. I chuckle when she gives me the middle finger and says "Next time we're stalking someone you're wearing fucking heels."
I speak out aloud how glad I am about our relationship going back to normal, hoping I'll get something out of her, but Deb refrains herself from comments, and that only fuels my suspicions even further.
But, at least I think that the worst is behind us.
I decide to change the subject, so I ask her who is this contact she's leading me to. She informs me that guy is called Santos Ayala, and that she met him while she was back into Vice. He was a small time criminal and she actually saved his life by accident, but ever since then he considered her sort of his muse.
"You know how Masuka says he has his "people"? Like, little fucked up scientists? Well, I have my people, too. Whole bunch of them. Whatever you might need, I have it. Contacts on the streets among hookers, checked. Contacts at local drug market, check." At that I growl at her, as we both remember that she was using pretty recently, so she quickly gets over that one. "Contacts between musicians. That one goes thanks to Anton. And you couldn't believe what musicians know. They're like regular fucking hawks on the streets, they know everyone. Just name it, rich guys, poor guys, bad guys."
We get to the club and she takes a deep breath.
"Here we go." She says, and then stops me, asking the last thing I could think of right now. "How the fuck do you plan on leaving with Hannah to Argentina? It still fucking puzzles me."
"Seriously Deb, now?" I glare at her. "We had a twenty minutes long drive, and now you ask me that?"
"Well, sorry I fucked up your tight schedule, asshole. Next time I'll announce myself before I shoot you inappropriate question, your Royal Fucking Majesty." Deb jokes, and then her look turns to irritated one. "Oh, please don't tell me you took her to Summer!"
"To who? " I close the door and she walks over to me.
"Summer. Summer Bridges. That girl that did miracles with passports, we arrested her two years ago. Come on, she was questioned in one of those..what was the name of that case..?"
" The Bolton case. The guy killed his sister's lover, yeah I remember that one." The thought of the slim, shorthaired girl goes trough my mind. She was hitting on me so hard that I thought I'll put her on my table and kill her out of the pure annoyance. I think there would be some part of the Code that allows that. "Don't get caught" means, do whatever you have to do to survive. And I could've died of pure boredom, that's what kind of affect she had on me.
"Oh, God, she was so into you." Deb laughs." That's your passport contact. You see, you have people, too."
"No, I didn't take her to Summer." I answer agitated, walking toward the club, and turning around awkwardly when I notice that Deb is not following.
Oh, she forgot her heels.
She puts them back on. "Motherfucking cocksucking heels. I fucking hate them so fucking much." She looks up, her face twisted in pain.
I raise my eyebrows in painful expression. "Deb, hurry up, please."
"Oh fuck you. This is not fucking horse race, Dexter. Will you chill out for fucking second? " She comments. Finally she wins her battle over her shoes, and curses once again just in case, and joins me quickly.
"So. Fucking Hannah." She goes back to the subject.
"She already has passports for me, Harrison and herself. And she has cash. Lots of it." I reassure Deb, but she's skeptical.
"Don't tell me she fucking keeps it in her place? Oh fuck Dexter, you're both insane. You're just waiting to get caught!" She speeds up, noticing a car going towards us from the not so safe distance. "If anyone arrests her, there is immediate proof that you have been helping her all along, Jesus Christ! And how the fuck did she get so much fucking cash?" She figures that one herself and slaps her thighs exasperated. " Great. More innocent people. Fucking A, Dex."
Sounds of salsa music covers her voice, and then the crowd swallows us.
Angel plays chess with Astor, and surprisingly she wins for third time. Just for his pride, he acts like he let her win, but to be honest, he thoughtfully considered his every single move, and she still beat him. One of his telenovelas starts on the TV and he saves himself and goes to watch it. Astor joins him and Jaime gets the dinner out, Harrison carrying plates.
Angel is still amazed at how grown Harrison looks. Dexter is really happy to have this kind of child. He remembers how impossible Auri was at his age. Astor and Harrison sit in front of TV, and then Harrison happily points to one man, that looks a lot like Dexter.
"Daddy!", he says.
"It's not daddy. It's Daniel Vergara. He is good guy in this show. He is good guy, just like your daddy." Angel pats the little boy over his blond hair.
"Daniel. I love that name. It's like "Dan", only longer. If I ever had another brother I would call him "Daniel." Harrison chews on his fingernail, and Astor hits his hand.
"Have you ever seen Dan do something like that? It's gross!." She warns him, but he sticks out his tongue.
"Stupid! Dan has no fingernails!" He says.
"Who is Dan?" Angel asks his sister, confused. She quietly answers that it's Harrison's imaginary friend.
"Oh." Angel smiles, and then gently hugs Harrison. "I think you should go in the kitchen and take out another set, so Dan could have a dinner with us, okay buddy? And apologize to your sister."
Harrison returns the hug, and then kisses Astor on her arm, saying he's sorry for calling her stupid. She winks to Angel, and takes Harrison's hand, walking into kitchen with him. Jaime turns off the TV, and firmly orders for Angle to sit at the table and leave the stupid telenovelas alone.
Angel thinks to himself that all the sisters are the same. They always do what's best for their brothers even if the brothers themselves don't like it.
He gets up and then the sound of his phone brings him back to living room.
"Leave it, it's nothing important. Our dinner is getting cold." Jaime is displeased.
He takes the phone with him and opens the message, while following his sister. And then he almost drops the phone.
Because the words in are so haunting that he almost can hear the gunshot taking away his Captain's life.
"Do you really think that Estrada killed Maria Laguerta? Didn't all the pieces too conveniently fell into all the right places? Like a puzzle, too easy to solve. Be a decent cop for once in your life and look closer. Guess again, Angel. Your ex-wife deserves at least that much from you."