THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY
disclaimer - I would not could not own them there. I would not could not would not own them here. I would not, could not own them in the cold. My baby turned eighteen this week, and I am feeling old.
Also, wrist still hurts, so the chapter is a bit short.
Chapter Thirteen
Several months later…
Aito Yamamoto smiled politely at the overworked government employee.
"As you can see," Aito stated, smiling all the time, "we have all the appropriate paperwork."
Brady Carroll frowned as he examined the forms. "Yes, yes I see. This is just unusual. You are aware of what Jackson Mitchell is accused of, aren't you?"
"Jackson Mitchell was never truly a violent criminal though, was he?" Aito stated. "He associated with several who committed violent crimes but for the most part, he was not considered a threat to society."
"The Tracy Family might disagree with you," Brady muttered.
"Unless the government acts under orders from the Tracys," Aito said loftily, "then this is a court order that needs to be obeyed, isn't it?"
Brady frowned again before reaching for the phone.
"Marcia? I need you to get Mitchell ready for transport. No, it's permanent. A family member has a court order that will have him transported to a private mental health facility. He's being released under the directions of an attorney in my office, Tomo Moto, from San Francisco. I checked his paperwork and it's in order. Well, tell Dr. Jaan that the ruling will stay in place. Once Mitchell has the ability to understand the charges, he'll be back in court, but until then if a family member is willing to foot the bill for private care, it's one less expense for the state of Illinois."
Hanging up the phone, Brady closed the file and signed off on the appropriate lines in the electronic medical records.
"OK, Jackson Mitchell is under limited release to the New Horizons Clinic is Palo Alto, by directions of his court appointed guardian Gina Thompson. And you say you have the private security and medical flight waiting on the air strip?"
"Everything was in order," Aito said with a touch of arrogance. "No reasonable person should have denied this request."
Brady glared at the man as he left. "Mr. Moto should stick to crime solving and leave us poor schmucks alone," he muttered as the door closed behind his visitor. Something about the whole mess seemed odd, but with one disaster after another, Brady was wondering how soon he would need his own padded room.
Kate peaked around the door. Seeing Daria's eyes blink before opening wider with a smile, she let herself in.
"Hey," Kate said softly. "How are you feeling?"
"Tired," Daria said smiling. "But good. I finally got Tony to go take a break. He's in the cafeteria."
"So?" Kate grinned. "Where's the lady of the hour?"
As if obeying Kate's order, a nurse came in pushing a small plexi-glass basinet.
"Feeding time, Mrs. Delgado," the young man said in a chipper voice.
"Wow, she's so tiny," Kate sighed as the newborn was placed in Daria's arms.
"She didn't feel so tiny a little while ago," Daria grumbled before smiling gently at her daughter.
"Compared to our boys?" Kate laughed softly. "She's a Dresden doll."
Unlike her brother who had his father's brown eyes and dark hair, the baby showed signs of the rich auburn of her mother, while her eyes were still the newborn blue.
"I hope she'll have Tony's eyes," Daria grinned. "She's stuck with my hair," she murmured as she ran a hand over the soft fuzz covering the baby's head before setting the tiny mouth to feed.
"So?" Kate asked. "Name?"
"Her name," Daria said, watching her daughter feed hungrily, "is Elena. It's a good combo of our mothers' names. Elena Katrina Delgado."
"Katrina?" Kate said with a grin.
"Well, I wanted to name her for strong women I love and admire," Daria muttered without looking up.
"Back at ya," Kate said, fighting to hold back her tears as she watched the two Delgado women.
"So – anything new and life threatening?" Daria asked casually as her daughter continued to eat.
"No," Kate sighed. "It's beginning to look like the powers that be were right. It was Susan Haas."
"It still feels…I don't know," Daria sighed as well. "Like we are missing something."
"I know," Kate agreed. "And somehow, I feel like I am waiting for the other shoe to drop. But I'm scared by then it will be too late."
"Let's hope not, Eppsie," Daria said, lifting Elena to be burped. "Now – help me get set before the unholy terrors arrive."
"Unholy terrors?" Kate muttered in confusion, even as she adjusted Daria's bedding. Her confusion was answered when Hurricane Helen burst through the door.
"Where's my granddaughter?" Helen Morgandorfer asked in a cooing voice, her husband meekly following behind.
"Hi Mom, hi Dad," Daria smiled, watching her mother commandeer her newest granddaughter.
Kate edged to the door, slipping out even as the rest of Daria's family – well, those related by blood and marriage – crowded the room. She had her own family to see, because Daria was right.
They were missing something.
"Hey, Em," Alan smiled as he sat down next to his sister-in-law. "How are you and the kids doing with Johnny upstairs?"
Emily chuckled, making Alan relax a bit. The physician had been a nervous wreck for weeks after finding out that her own mother was the chief suspect in the attacks against the Tracys, fearing the other members of the family would blame her. It had taken a lot of time and reassurance to make Emily see otherwise.
"We're fine," Emily smiled back. "Has Kate called from New York yet?"
"Yep," Alan grinned. "Baby Girl, Elena Katrina, six pounds, eight ounces and perfect for being a few weeks early. Daria is fine if exhausted and itching to get back to work. With both Daria and her sister in New York now, her parents are house shopping out on Long Island. Tony's family gave them a good lead on a condo out that way."
"Grandparents can be a blessing," Emily murmured absently. "Alan…"
"Emily, you made the right call," Alan assured her. "Would your mother even be interested in the kids if your brother and his wife had produced her socially required offspring?"
Emily chuckled again, only this time with sadness tinting the tone. "No," she sighed. "No she wouldn't."
"Uncle Alan, Uncle Alan," Elizabeth called out as she ran into the room. "It's story time. Are you ready?"
Alan picked up his niece and kissed her cheek. "Ready and able, oh, fearless leader!" he teased her. "Give Mommy a kiss. Oh, and Emily?" When the doctor looked up, he blushed slightly. "I forgot – Can you go see Tin? She's losing her dinner, wondering what idiot called it morning sickness and cursing me in three different languages."
Emily looked confused so Alan said, "English, Malaysian and French. She and Julie will get on like a house on fire for that."
Smiling Emily watched Alan leave with her daughter, a tinge of sadness in her heart for the other babies she would never have before she got up to go check on her sister-in-law. The other babies were the main reason she could never forgive her mother – and why her children would never know those grandparents. A part of her still wondered if Susan Haas was really the one behind the attempts on the family. But it had to be…
Didn't it?
Kate Tracy tapped a pen on her desk, waiting anxiously until there was a knock on her door.
""Ello, Missus Kate," Aloysius Parker, driver and right hand man to long time Tracy friend Lady Penelope peeked around the door. "M'lady said you wished to see me."
"Yes, Parker," Kate said kindly. "Please. Come in and take a seat." Once the man was sitting in front of her, Kate took a deep breath before speaking again.
"Parker, I'd like to talk to you about your daughter," Kate said bluntly.
The older man went pale. "Lady Penelope told you about my daughter?"
Kate smiled gently. "No. Perhaps I should back up a bit. Not long ago, I tried to find out some added background info on one of our employees, Julie Maxwell."
"Julie Maxwell?" Parker mused. "Isn't that the young lady Mr. Gordon is going to marry?"
"Yes, Parker," Kate confirmed. "But while we were investigating any possible reason for the attacks on the family, we started with Julie's family. Julie's parents divorced when she was young and she was raised with her stepfather's name. Since her biological father's parental rights had been stripped by a judge at her mother's behest, Julie didn't even know his full name for years. Her maternal grandparents had loved her very much but after they died within a week of each other, her mother sent her to a French Convent school. Julie was only brought back because her stepfather in a sports promoter and Julie was doing rather well in swimming competitions. He felt it looked bad for her to be doing that in Europe."
"Her mother told me she'd give her my information when she turned eighteen," Parker said, a lump in his throat. "Said it needed to be Juliet's choice."
Kate shook her head. "Her mother never told Julie, instead she said that you had surrendered all rights to her and said you had washed your hands of her."
"Never!" Parker insisted. "My Juliet was the joy of my life. But – she's respectable now. An Olympic athlete and marrying into the Tracy Family. She won't want anything to do with me. I'm an ex-convict and a servant. Juliet deserves better than that."
"All I ever wanted," Julie said in a shaky voice from the doorway, "was a parent who loved me and was proud of me. Do I have that or not?"
Parker turned, his eyes going wide before filling with tears. "Oh my. I'd 'ave known you anywhere. You are the very image of my mother."
"Really?" Julie asked with tears in her own eyes. "I'd like to hear about her."
"Take your father up to the penthouse, Julie," Kate smiled. "I think you could both use some time and privacy. Maybe some coffee."
"Tea would be better," Julie and Parker said at the same time before they started to laugh. Anne Marie came in at Kate's signal and led them to the private elevator that went to the penthouse.
Kate sat back down, smiling. She doubted they would have discovered the link between the pair if not for the earlier attacks.
"What do you know," she muttered as she pulled out a file. "Susan Haas was good for something."
Two days later
"So did Lady P say that Parker came back in one piece?" Kate joked as she joined the family.
"That and that the man can't stop humming and smiling," Jeff smiled in return. "That was a great thing you did, Kate."
"Yeah," Gordon sighed. "Now, I don't just have to worry about Kate coming after me if Julie is unhappy with me, I need to worry about Parker."
"Well, Gordon," Alan grinned. "Just don't blow it." Then he looked solemn. "Seriously, Gordo – don't blow it. Julie is the best thing that could ever happen to you."
"I know, Al," Gordon sighed again. "And I'm doing my best."
"Alan, are you still doing that book reading for the New York City Youth Literacy Fundraiser?" Jeff asked after a few minutes of random conversations from around the table.
"Yes," Alan said with an apologetic smile at his wife. "Tin isn't coming now, seeing as how she becomes sick on planes these days – well, except for short flights."
"Well, I do have to go to New York," Jeff mentioned. "Kate says that Mr. Pushkin will only deal with me."
"Wants the man in charge?" Scott joked.
"Wants a man," Kate grumbled. "Misogynistic jackass."
"OK," Alan said cheerfully. "Dad and I head to New York tomorrow." He turned to his wife. "Want anything from New York?"
Tin-Tin poked at her food and sighed. "Something I can eat without losing my lunch?"
"Lunch is usually fine, Auntie Tin," Jason said with a grin. "You usually hurl after dinner."
As Tin jumped up to run to the bathroom – again – Alan sighed and followed. New York was looking better by the moment.
Jackson Mitchell looked out the window, focusing on something for the first time in months. Tracy Tower…Why was that important?
"Jackson," a voice said softly in his ear. "Drink this. It will help you focus."
Mitchell obediently drank the tea, and soon he zoned out once more…Tracy…The Tracys…Hate…Anger…Tracy…
A/N I know, not much going on. But that will change soon.