Chapter 26: Wishing, hoping and planning.
Darkness had really fallen around Simon's comfortable beachside residence now and Morgan found herself gazing out the window, as her brother and their babysitter continued to battle it out energetically with their controllers. Now that the worry of Rachael and Austin failing to return home had set in, video games were well off the young girl's radar. Even though, in reality, she and Ben had only been with their new parents for a short time, Morgan had felt safe the entire time they had been with them. And while she felt relatively the same way in the care of their rather cool new friend, Simon, Morgan's mind could not be completely at ease until she knew her mum and dad were safe. Fake, new, pretend – whatever title their guardians had had attached to them – it didn't mean a thing to Morgan. All that mattered to this young girl right there and then as she continued to look out into the night, was whether she was about to discover she'd lost two more people who meant a great deal to her. She knew wishing upon a star generally required one of the shooting varieties but Morgan figured she'd just have to make do as, with the brightest star she could muster form the night sky before her, she wished for Rachael and Austin to come home. If she'd had just one more wish, it would have been for neither of them to leave her or her brother - even just for a second - ever again.
Nick and Jen were now so close to their destination that they could almost see it. Jen felt relief but, at the same time, there was a lingering sense of apprehension at what, or rather who, the two of them were about to face. As they approached their final turn which would put them on Simon's street and only metres from his house, Nick slowed the car down, pulling in behind a parked car on the sidewalk and turning off the ignition. Jen didn't wonder why he'd stopped when, clearly, they hadn't quite reached Simon's place. Her and Nick had spent so much time working together undercover that she'd become accustomed to his way of thinking. Jen knew Nick enough to know that they'd stopped where they had to get it together; to get into the right headspace and voice their concerns before having to face any of what lay ahead.
Neither Jen, nor Nick, said anything for a good couple of minutes. They both had so many different thoughts running amok in their heads that they needed just that little bit time to sift through each one before any words could be spoken. Jen, sick of the silence and wanting to get this moment over and done with, spoke first – it felt like the words didn't even need assistance to fly out of her mouth. Is my brain even connected to my mouth any more? Sometimes it just felt as though all normal thought process had escaped Jennifer and she hated that she'd even considered that maybe Homicide wouldn't be such an easy readjustment if this operation went belly up. Nick just wanted the whole situation to end well for them both; Homicide was the furthest thing from his mind while they were in such a considerable amount of danger undercover. His main focus was getting the two of them out alive, because, the bottom line was; Nick Buchanan had such grand plans for a future with Jennifer Mapplethorpe. So grand these plans that they were half the reason his mind was so cluttered.