The Girl Who Got Away Chapter 25, a misc. tv shows fanfic

This chapter I wrote to my Angelou, Daisy Chapman, Jeff Buckley, and k. d. Lang, song list of 'Hallelujah' on my iPod and it just slayed me. There will be a short epilogue, and then this saga will end. If you want the sequel 'The Girl Who Made It Back' let me know in your reviews. It has been an amazing trip. Thanks sooo much for your reviews on my very first atempt at fiction, fan or otherwise. Heartfelt Thanks and Peace Out!

Johnathan

On the drive back, they discussed the 'dirt-bag' Claudio situation and came up with a plan to keep him feed, watered, and motivated to compliance. Sioux asked Johnathan to drop her off at a place in Dutch where she could work on some documents they would need for their meeting with Andy. Johnathan convinced her it was best for him to talk with Andy first, and then have her join them afterwards.

'Andy's a straight arrow' He explained. 'You and me, we's kinda bent. I need to be the one to break the news to him.'

They decided it would be tonight after the crew left for town. Johnathan knew Andy had a long, tightly wound fuse he kept in steely check, however when he lost it, as Johnathan feared, it could go waaay past ugly.

It was just the three of them on the boat that evening. Sioux was in her stateroom putting the final touches on the documents she had created in Dutch. Andy and Johnathan were in their stateroom. Andy lounged on his bed and Johnathan sat on his, facing his brother.

'Okay, you wanted to talk, so spill it.' Andy yawned. 'Something is up. You and Sioux have been acting really strange and she can barely look at me.'

Johnathan took a deep breath and began,

'It's about me and Sioux.'

Andy cocked an eyebrow.

'We're gonna go for the long haul. I love her, she loves me and. . .'

Andy yawned again. 'That's great, couldn't happier for the two of you. Just try not to fuck it up O.K.?'

Johnathan gave him a level look.

'The thing is Andy it's not that simple. Did you think I'd fall in love with an ordinary woman? She's got baggage, huge pots of baggage bro, enough to sink a boat or a mere man. She told me the whole story today. It was hard to hear, but she laid it all out on the line. Said if I wanted to stick with her there could no lies between us. And I have decided to love her anyway. But I can't ask you to do the same. I'm gonna have to walk away.'

Andy was puzzled. 'Walk away from what?

'I'm gonna have to walk away from the boat, the business, the show, even you for a while, everything. She's in a mess, a big one, and I just feel like I have to be with her to untangle it. She don't know about any of my walkin' away, but that's what I'm gonna do.'

Andy sat up and gave him an unblinking stare. 'What the fuck are you talking about?'

'Let me get it all out before you say anything, alright?'

Andy nodded.

Andy listened expressionlessly and Johnathan recounted Sioux's story.

'. . .and that's the whole deal. '

Andy just stared at him for what seemed like ages.

'Andy?'

Andy spoke softly and slow. 'So you're telling me she is a professional con artist who has perpetuated maritime insurance fraud for years.' Johnathan nodded.

'That she came here to scope out the Wizard for fraud, but changed her mind after running into us.'

Johnathan nodded.

'That she is real sorry and swears she'll never do it again, and you feel you need to help her get untangled from this international 'crime cartel'.

Johnathan nodded again. This was going better than he thought it would.

'That you are going to walk away from everything we have worked our asses off for 30 years to help her do this.' Johnathan didn't nod, he held his breath.

And then Andy exploded.

He went berserk in the tight confines of the stateroom screaming. Swore at him, called Sioux every name he could think of, he was gonna throw them both off the boat, threatened he was gonna leave the boat and walk away, said he never wanted to see either of them again in his life. Their lives were ruined, he threatened to call the Feds - no he was gonna call Interpol on her ass before the authorities showed up, seized the boot, their bank accounts, everything because their dumb asses would look like her accomplices. He threw the mattresses off both beds, threw everything that wasn't nailed down around the room, and then he started on stuff that was nailed down.

With blood in his eyes, Andy sprang on Johnathan, knocked him against a wall his hands choking the life out of him. Johnathan did nothing to defend himself, just closed his eyes and waited for death. Finally, just as Johnathan was beginning to lose consciousness, Andy dropped him. Johnathan fell to the floor, gasped for breath, choked and struggled to gulp air back into his lungs. Andy fell to his knees, bent over, rocked and swore. Slowly he rose, and like a dead man running, lurched out the room muttering.

'I'm going to kill her.'

Johnathan struggled to his feet, fell, got back up and staggered after him, he couldn't make his voice work, and he couldn't warn Sioux.

Sioux

She had heard and felt the reverberations from hideous scene from the stairs. Slowly she rose and sat at the center of the banquet with four stacks of paper in front of her. Her face was stone. Andy burst in, saw her, swayed, and with a ragged voice gasped.

'You killed us. How could you kill us?' Johnathan had made it to Andy in time to hear Sioux say. . .

'I haven't killed you. I'm going to kill me.' She said evenly. 'Please sit down.'

Andy slumped into the banquet; Johnathan slumped in across from him. Both stared at Sioux.

She began. 'As you both now know I am skilled at arranging my own death. Done it successfully at least five times, and I will NOT allow. . .' And she stared fiercely at Johnathan. 'ANYONE to sacrifice themselves or your bond to 'save' me. I can and will save myself.'

She reached for the first stack of papers.

'This is a full confession of my criminal activities over the past 15 years.'

She handed the stack to Andy.

'Do with it what you will.'

She reached for the second stack and handed it to Andy.

'This is a full report on Louis-Philippe's operation, teams, past and future targets, etc. Do with it what you will.'

She reached for the third stack and again handed it to Andy.

'This is my last will and testament. I bring to your attention to the date it was notarized.'

Andy scanned the cover page and mumbled.

'2001? Ten years ago?'

'Now I bring you to the purple tab. Highlighted are the names of the co-executors of my estate and the portion of my estate that will go to them.'

Andy flipped to the directed page.

He looked up at her in shock. 'Us?'

Johnathan started. 'What?'

He got up and squeezed into the booth next to Andy to look at the document. There it was in legal black and white. Johnathan Hillstrand and Andrew Hillstrand. The amount bequeathed to them was staggering. They looked at Sioux in shock. She continued.

'I now bring you to the orange tab. There is a list of the contributions my foundation makes yearly that you will be responsible to continue in my name.'

Andy and Johnathan read the list. Sioux's foundations were very generous patrons of the Aleutian Harvester Memorial Fund in the memory of her father, a scholarship to assist young women attend everything from seamen to captain's school. As well as the Ronald McDonald House and Make A Wish Foundation.

The final stack was two copies of the same document, she handed one to each.

'This last document details where I will be over the next month, my activities, and emergency contact information as I bring my life to an end. The question is will I have a life to return to with the two of you?' She looked at them both levelly.

'Johnathan, if Andy cannot accept me, or forgive me, I will not return.'

Her eyes finally began to well.

'Mine will not be the hand of ruin that destroys the two of you. Johnathan, you will always and forever be the love of my life, but I will not have the annihilation of the two of you on my conscience. If it was, I would surely die. . . for real.'

without another word, she slide out of the out of the banquet, entered her stateroom and gently closed the door.

Johnathan and Andy just sat. Finally Johnathan shook his head, sighed, and got to his feet.

'Look at me Andy.' Andy raised his head.

'You. Not me. You. She just handed you control over her life and mine. Her freedom, our future, everything is in your hands, not mine, not hers. Yours.' He headed up to the wheelhouse a resigned man.

Andy looked down at the sheaf of papers before him and wished he could run away, far, far, away.

'Hallelujah' - Leonard Cohen

I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah