Chapter 10

"This one, Daddy! Oh, may we p'ease have this one?!" Kaylin carefully pleaded with wide eyes as her mittened hands tugged on Jamie's while she excitedly directed him to what easily appeared to be the tallest specimen left on the nearby Christmas tree lot the following Saturday afternoon.

"Wow. That's a whole lot of…. timber," Eddie commented as she and her husband stood together and craned their necks to look up at the top of the big Norway spruce with just a few small snowflakes wafting down as winter had settled upon the region rather early once more again this year. "Baby, I'm pretty sure Daddy would have to cut a hole in the roof of our house to make that one fit, and then all of us and Bear would get rained and snowed on. I don't think he would like that…. do you? Maybe we can find one that's a little bit smaller," she encouraged. "Like so high so we can reach the top to put the star on," she demonstrated on tiptoes with up stretched arms.

"'Kay," the little girl acquiesced with a small disappointed frown before moving off down the row to look at more suitable and ceiling-friendly possibilities to keep her four-legged furry friend dry since everyone, including Kaylin Elizabeth Reagan, knew that kitties did not like to get wet, especially Bear most of all.

"Thank you… that was close," Jamie mouthed almost silently as he took Eddie's hand and they followed along behind their daughter as a frigid breeze rustled the lines of open-bulbed lights draping back and forth across the way.

"Anytime… I've always got your back," Eddie assured with a grin. "Well… almost. Trying to carry something like that into the house on your own might break you, and that would be no fun," she added while allowing her hand to drift over and bump him suggestively causing an immediate flinch and blush. "We could open up a few other things under the tree tonight after the little elf goes to bed. I'm gonna miss you next week when you're away."

"Down girl," he smirked before sneaking in a little kiss as he brushed her lips. In spite of the unsettled start to the week during that contentious dinner, the two had a made peace with each other since then and their personal and professional lives had remained on a quieter course, which was a relief to both even though Jamie was still waiting for her to come clean with him over the goings on at the 12th, however, he had a good idea why she was being elusive, having been in the same position where pinning on the nameplate stamped Reagan offered more of a target than advancement opportunities for one's career. He knew her time out on patrol was soon to come to an end one way or another at Wilson's direction, so was reluctantly willing to bide his time and opinion for now since in his mind only three opportunities were presenting themselves, either Eddie stayed with the platoon where she was and worked the front desk, managed to find her way upstairs into the squad, or made a move to 1PP. While he preferred one of the latter two, should his wife chose door number one he was ready to offer his support. As far as expecting the same from his brother, he had passed on that notion and had pointedly been ignoring his older sibling all week, with no intention for an attempt to resolve their differences until after he returned from Washington.

"'Bout this one?" Kaylin questioned as she drew his attention back and stood before a short, skinny Charlie Brown version propped up against a fence and forgotten in the back corner. Jamie swore he could hear the browning needles dropping off of it by the second. "Him sad all by himself," she added with an equally despairing look.

"Oh… sad is a good word for it," Eddie took over once more as she wrinkled up her forehead. "Although maybe fire hazard fits better," she slipped in sideways under her breath. "We can't, Jamison…" she warned, passing the baton to make it his responsibility to say no this time.

"Sweetie, I don't think that one is for sale anymore…. see the tag is cut off," Jamie fibbed with a half-truth as he doubted they would get this one home with any of the branches intact, anyway. "I bet it's already sold and the people are coming back to pick it up. Maybe Grandpa and Pop Pop got the very best tree here with you," he fluffed and continued to try to pacify his little daughter. "We can look somewhere else tomorrow," was the final attempt until brimming tears from those light blue eyes nearly broke his resolve. "How about we go down this row? I don't think we tried over there," he encouraged as the little girl sighed and moved off once more.

"Nice one," Eddie quipped. "Stay strong… thought you were going to break there, Reagan."

"Like you're any better… using Bear against her, for shame, Janko," he chided.

"Next year at this time for Christmas there will be four of us," she reminded with a happy chuff. "I want to go out of the city to a real tree farm and pick out our very own to chop down next time so we can hike up and down hills and have hot chocolate and take a horse-drawn sleigh ride. We'll make a day of it."

"And I can guess which one of us will be chopping, dragging and sporting the baby backpack while we're trudging up and down those hills searching for the perfect tree. Besides in less than three weeks there will be four of us," Jamie reminded with a little frown as he recalled last night's phone conversation with Eva… the one that had Eddie promising her mother she was welcome to stay with them for as long as necessary until she could sell the home in Rochester and find a suitable replacement here in the city while starting her new position at the agency in Park Slope after the first of the year.

"Oh, only for a short time," Eddie defended. "C'mon, what was I supposed to say, no? Mom's already had multiple offers on her house. She won't have any trouble selling it, and once that closes she'll be able to look for her own here. She already gave notice at her job, but she can't afford to have two places at once. Trust me, she likes her things just so, and she moves quick. It'll just be a month or so at the most," she assured with a satisfied nod. "Besides, it will be nice to spend the holidays together again, won't it? Kaylin will love having her Nagyanya around this time."

"If you say so, dear," Jamie accepted with a heavy sigh. While this last visit with Eva had gone well, he wasn't so sure how an extended version would pan out especially since her daughter would be further along in the pregnancy, and he had seen firsthand how the Janko women were likely to go into full-out momma bear mode whenever there was any inkling of a reason.

"Speaking of that, I called and scheduled a visit with daddy for next Sunday morning after you get back from your trip. I know it's a long drive down to Fairton and we might miss dinner if there's traffic coming back, but we both have off. I really want to tell him about the baby and if we wait any longer, it won't be much of a surprise when he sees me," she snickered while tapping her belly to highlight the ever-increasing little pooch. "I'm not gonna be able to hide it from anyone soon."

"Also fine, dear, as long as the weather's good. The ten-day forecast shows a storm might be brewing for the end of next week," he informed while making a mental note to make sure Eddie and the house were prepared in case there was a snow event in his absence. In no way would he allow his wife be out there shoveling so much as two flakes at a time in her condition while he was gone.

"Oh, we'll be okay… there's almost never a big storm this early in the season..." Eddie trailed off in assurance. "Uh oh," she murmured after spotting an impatient little girl standing with her arms crossed with a patented frowny face in front of yet another piney option. "Little lambchop looks pretty serious over there. Let's hope number three is a winner."

Indeed, relief was evident on both her parent's faces when a closer inspection revealed Kaylin's next choice was an almost appropriately sized although very fat and full nine-foot Douglas Fir that would make the perfect addition to their holiday decor in the high ceiling of the living room. With a now-happy child and wife, Jamie gratefully waved over an attendant who helped drag the heavy tree up to the front to be paid for and then carefully secured the wrapped version to the top of Eddie's crossover with some assistance for the short trip home. He was standing in the driveway contemplating the reverse move and how to get their prize safely down and then up the front steps into the house single-handedly when he was startled by a now-familiar voice behind him before spinning around to come nearly face-to-face with the owner. Those eyes… those somehow eerily familiar cold eyes...

"Looks like you might need a hand there," came the voice associated with them as Mason Malevsky stood on the sidewalk dressed in an old flannel plaid coat zipped up against the chill. "Be happy to help."

"Oh, uh… thanks, Mason," Jamie responded, caught off guard by the other man's sudden appearance as Eddie had quickly run Kaylin into the house to use the bathroom and he had been preoccupied with the current dilemma. "Maybe if you could just help me lift it off the car. It's heavy though… I don't want to put you out."

"No problem. Where I come from neighbors and family look out for one another."

"And where is that?" Jamie asked deliberately as he tried to filter out a little information about this odd man who had recently inserted himself into their lives. The accent had a distinctly New York base, but it was no longer pure and he was curious to see if the truth followed since he had an instant distrust building and that sixth sense had not often left him down.

"Oh, all over you could say I guess when it comes down to it," Malevsky replied evasively while successfully tempering his grin and relishing in this unexpected opportunity to dart in and touch the Reagans intimately without their knowledge while gaining intelligence on the house at the same time since he had plans to use it and disrupt their perfect lives soon. "Grew up in the northern part of the state, but moved south for a time. Retired a few years ago and decided to come up here to be closer to my son," he added, trying as hard as he could not to spit out that last word with venom… it was Sonny after all he had moved near… the oldest child of his who was buried in a crowded Brooklyn cemetery down several rows from his mother under a nondescript marker that bore only his initial and last name after he took his own life when cornered in that bar as the Blue Templar's reign ended… an event which had caught the attention of the directors of the FBI and seen his own position and credentials within the famed Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico, Virginia terminated without cause leaving him with one less son and no pension to show for a lifetime of work… all due to the Reagans; first that would-be whistleblower Joseph in his attempt to infiltrate the Templar, and then the mighty PC himself who managed to shut the organization down after this second pesky offspring had stubbornly taken on the investigation on his own as a goddamn rookie at the time, nonetheless. But for them the entire Malevsky clan would be set and enjoying a life of riches elsewhere. Instead, he had been left to eek out an existence on his savings and social security while his youngest son Matthew held a low-level guard position with a construction company in Jersey after having been outed in similar fashion from his detective post at the 3-1 following Sonny's demise.

"Oh, that's nice," Jamie commented while referring to Mason's admission about moving closer to family, and he relented to the older man's offer by proceeding to move around the car and undo the multiple straps to release the tree. "There. I'll take the heavier part with the trunk. If you could just lift the top to clear the car… it's new and my wife will kill me if I scratch it," he added in easy small talk, hoping to accomplish the goal and have this stranger moving on before Eddie or Kaylin came back outside, but that was unfortunately not to be as almost immediately evident by the sound of her questioning voice.

"Jamison Reagan, who are you talking to out here?" Eddie demanded as she approached from the other side of the car. "Do you need me to help?" she continued before stopping short in surprise as she came around the front and ran almost directly into Mason while he stood waiting for Jamie to get into position. "Mister… um, Mason," she startled with a jump. "Sorry, I wasn't expecting you to be here," she deflected with a little laugh and a hand over her heart.

"Nice to see you again. Thought your husband here could use some assistance," Malevsky offered with his patented cold smile. While Jamie was occupied with attention from Matthew in Washington, Mason had definite plans for a few occurrences here at home that would be sure to rattle this little blond irritant and that matching sniveling child who had the misfortune of taking the Reagan name themselves. "You don't seem to be in a way to help him," he added with a definite nod towards her belly and an inflection that had both Jamie and Eddie's blood running cold with what felt like a concealed threat to their unborn, although neither dared admit as much to the other in his presence.

"Oh, I'm fine, but thank you," Eddie swallowed, now as eager as her husband to see this peculiar man off on his way.

"Reagan, so you're the PC's youngest," Mason questioned and that strange sense of déja vu washed over Jamie once more even though he was certain he had never met this man in person before… still there was something so uncannily familiar with that face and those words. For once that eidetic memory of his failed as it could not settle on a match or make a connection with similar conversations held long ago with another that had taken his own life before him after having tried first to impart the favor before that with cut brake lines on Joe's beloved '71 Chevelle. Sonny Malevsky and his father shared many similar features, but the age difference and years of distance were enough to mask the connection for now although Mason knew he was treading the line as much as he was enjoying the game. Perhaps it was time to move this along so that he did not lose the opportunity to surveil the inside of the house and search for the best opportunity to breach it. "I recognized you from that picture in the paper the other week. You're one of those fellas going to Washington DC for some kinda meeting," he offered by way of innocent explanation before encouraging a change of topic. "Here, let's get this down now. Ready? One, two, three," he directed and carefully aided Jamie in lifting the bundled tree to clear the side of the car. "I'll help you get it inside," he added quickly before his counterpart had the opportunity to object or put his end down on the driveway and wave him off. "You don't want to scratch the woodwork or the missus won't like it," he added with a nod and grin toward Eddie. "Trust me, my wife would have had my head if I tried to do something like this on my own back when she was alive."

"I'm sorry to hear about your loss," Eddie commented as she reluctantly moved aside and supervised their ascent up the porch steps before stepping up to open the front door where Kaylin was impatiently watching her treasure approach after having been stripped out of her winter wear layers for potty duty and asked to stay inside while her parents dealt with moving the unyielding mass of branches and needles into the entryway and around the corner into the living room. "Was it recent?" Eddie inquired as she protectively put a hand on the little girl and pulled her back behind as the men passed.

"No, Marta passed in childbirth with my second son," he revealed candidly with no apparent consideration for Eddie's current condition. "Left me alone to raise my two boys," he added almost bitterly before a low rumbling growl emanating from the kitchen reminded everyone of another presence in the room as Bear emerged from his lair above the refrigerator and showed his displeasure at the unexpected invader by bouncing down to the breakfast bar counter and rising up to his fullest, fluffiest long-haired hissing arched-back stance with flashing green eyes in a display normally reserved for very few intruders unless it happened to be Danny who had still failed by this point to make a lasting peace with the big cat.

"Oh, damn," Jamie breathed before quickly setting his end down on the carpet and stepping in front of their clearly irate pet before he could launch his patented blitz attack on this guest… welcomed or not he had no desire to see the man knocked down by the nearly twenty-pound muscular animal in their own home. "Stop!" he ordered harshly with a hand up before Bear could initiate his missile-like leap which saw the cat stand down slightly although he continued to offer an ever-increasing angry yowl. "Sorry," he apologized while offering a look back at Mason. "He's usually gentle, but sometimes very protective around strangers."

"As well he should be," Mason offered as he slowly dropped his own load to lay the tree all the way down and step back to add some distance. "I'm sure with your family's reputation in this city you need to be cautious," he indicated with a glancing look around that had already pinpointed the well-concealed but obviously top-notch security system that would likely impede an attempt to breach it outright and thereby foil any plan to break in undetected and leave a few carefully premeditated "gifts" for the family before the holidays. Unfortunate, he thought as he would have liked nothing more than to wring that goddamned cat's neck right here in front of them all, but it did not appear as if that part of his outlined tactics could be carried out without invoking too much risk. Surely there was video surveillance to go along with the alarms and motion detection devices that would capture and reveal his intent too soon. Still, Mason Malevsky was nothing if not resourceful and he vowed to regroup and design something equally distasteful to shake up the wife and kiddo while the husband was away. "About that, I meant to ask if there was a lot of crime in this neighborhood?"

That's odd, Jamie thought once more. Who would ask something like that now after buying a house and moving in?

"Not much," he answered honestly. "Why? Have you had any problems?"

"No reason," Mason laughed. "Now, there's an answer for the ages. I must have picked it up from my son. Be safe," he added once more with a tip of the hat as he moved off towards the door and past Eddie who had remained silent and defensively placed in front of Kaylin during that whole exchange. "Good night, ma'am."

"Thank you for your help, Mason," she stuttered politely as he walked out and immediately closed the door securely behind him, pausing to turn the locks for added measure.

"Why did you do that?" Jamie asked as his eyes narrowed, wondering if his wife had likewise been spooked by the so-called neighborly encounter. "I thought you told me I was being paranoid."

"Let's just say I think that he's someone like Renzulli would say… when you're talking to him, you better have one hand on your wallet. Know what I mean?" she replied. "I don't like that he was in the house," she added with a shiver. "I felt like he was scoping us out. Did you catch the look at the alarm before he asked about the neighborhood? He tried to hide it."

"Yeah," Jamie agreed. "Plus he showed up unannounced right when it looked like I might need some help and practically dragged us up the steps to get a look inside. Now do you mind if I check him out? He knew I was leaving next week too," he added with concern. "Promise me you'll keep everything alarmed and stay away from him while I'm gone."

"I promise, but I'm gonna beat you to that research," Eddie added before thinking. "I'm on nights again starting tomorrow," she revealed regretfully after catching his look, knowing that Jamie's next scheduled shift was the second tour on Monday and to this point she had been unable to get her week of promised days reinstated by Sergeant Dexter.

"Let me get this straight, you're advocating the unauthorized use of a police computer?" he asked with a frown, recalling a time in the not-so-distant past when she had threatened to turn him in for doing much the same thing. "And Ed, why did you wait so long to tell me about the shift change," he added gently. "That new desk sergeant is playing games again… same as he did at the 2-9, isn't he? Why didn't you come to me about it before?"

"Baby, why don't you go look through those boxes Daddy brought upstairs and pick out the colors for the lights and bulbs you want to hang on the tree while we get it ready to put in the stand?" Eddie directed Kaylin as she shooshed her towards the back of the room. "Jamie, I need to handle this myself," she explained in a low whisper. "What he's doing to me is no different than any of the other women at the 12th, and if I have you or anyone else in the family swoop in and say something it looks like I can't handle anything on my own… that definitely won't win me any points with the brass or Detective Rivera, and I need all the ones I can get right now."

"Eddie… I understand that; we all do," Jamie answered as he closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around her. "Honey, I've been there and I hate that you have to go through it now too, but we have to be honest with each other even through something like this. Just because I can't go in there and punch the guy's lights out like I really want to doesn't mean I can't help or at least be a sounding board for whatever you're facing. Please don't try to hide stuff like this from me. I really will try to respect your wishes and stay out of it… more so than some of the other people in this family," he reminded with raised eyebrows. "Especially one so-called retired commissioner, not to mention any names."

"Oh, no… Pop," she gasped, recalling that conversation which saw her spilling out her problems. "Has he…?"

"Nothing that I know of, but there's no way he'll let anyone bully his newest granddaughter without at least snooping around a bit," Jamie admitted. "Don't worry. Pop's been out of the game for a while but he's still one of the best. He promised not to make any waves or at least not leave a trail," he assured.

"So you talked to him already," Eddie frowned with an accusing tone. "You knew all along."

"Yup," he admitted with a wry smile before turning serious once more as he thought about their visitor. "Well almost… you kind of outed yourself. Now as far as this Mason guy goes… we don't even have a last name to go on."

"Jamie, let me please," Eddie insisted. "I'll look into it tomorrow. I've got some ideas. I promise we'll talk it over again on Monday morning… this is exactly the type of stuff I want to do upstairs in the squad… I can handle it," she replied confidently. "Trust me. You have your sources and I have mine."

"Alright, lambchop," he sighed, reminding himself it was imperative for her confidence that he remain supportive when it was her career that was being affected for the most part now by their marriage and the unexpected sprout. "I just hope the little guy in there is at least half as spunky and good looking as you both are so we men can try to keep up appearances in this household," he whispered once more as a certain blond-headed girl returned to their immediate circle wrapped nearly head to toe in sparkling gold garland with bows and soft string balls hanging from her jumper while wearing an angel topper on her head. "LOOK!" she gushed and twirled around in a happy preschooler dance. "I pretty like a Christmas tree now too!"

"Yes, you sure are, sweetness," Jamie grinned at the sight of his beautiful family before snagging a twig of artificial mistletoe off his daughter's shirt and holding it over Eddie's head while prompting her to return a deepening kiss. "Thank you," he mouthed as he leaned his forehead against hers. "Because of you and her I have just about every gift in my life I could ever hope for."

So it's a hopeful that she's soon-to-be-a-Detective E. Reagan who is on Mason's case at this point although even as he finds himself needing to reconfigure a few ideas, this was a plan that was years in the making and so he has left little to chance otherwise by thoroughly covering his tracks to this point. Will Eddie's search prove fruitful, or will she run into a series of carefully staged dead ends? More on that as she and Jamie share some intimate time and ready themselves for a surprising obligation and what will turn out to be a possible game-changing doctor's appointment.

Since I won't be back with another chapter until next week, I want to wish everyone a wonderful holiday season and thank all the readers and reviewers who have made writing these stories over the past few years or so much fun!