Chapter 17, enjoy! Sorry about the delay, it's that time of the year again!
Warnings: None
Disclaimer in chapter 1
unbeta AF 33333333333
Christmas Wish
Chapter 17
Closer to Forgiveness.
"I feel…." Heidi hummed, picking up the marker and looking at the plastic mat, "I feel…" she crinkles her brow, "Not happy, I feel not mad….I feel not scared,"
Brittany hummed as she held her hand out to Heidi, who took it, "Can I feel how you feel?"
"Kay," Heidi said, as Brittany gently grabbed her hand and held it, her eyes closed, "I feel…"
"Worried, you're worried and nervous," Brittany said, in a soft voice, "Anxious, you feel like something bad is about to happen, but you don't know what."
The doctor opened her eyes and said, "It's okay, Heidi, I feel that way too," she bit her lip, looking out the window, as Heidi went back to sounding out her alphabets.
The uneasiness did not let up. She had been feeling like this since the day Stephanie had a break through and broke down. It was like someone was watching them. She knew Heidi was having nightmares, every night now. Carlos and Stephanie told her as much, as did Lester. Not only was Heidi on edge, but so were Stephanie, Carlos, her and Dr. Ivan. Diesel was more prone to outbursts as well, as if he could sense it too.
Danger was close, too close. They weren't safe.
Brittany ran a hand over her face and leaned back in her seat, looking up at the ceiling, what were she and Ivan to do? They were so few little choices and the choices they had, she didn't like.
She let out a startled yelp as hands covered her eyes but she relaxed when she heard Lester ask, "Knock knock?"
"Who's there?" Brittany asked, earning a noise of confusion from Heidi.
"It's Lester!" Heidi exclaimed happily, making Lester click his tongue.
"Of course I'm here, silly bunny, let's let Dr. B answer the question, okay?" Lester said, gently pinching Heidi's nose.
"Hmm, kay!" Heidi nodded her head, sticking her thumb in her mouth.
"Now, knock knock?" Lester asked, looking down at Brittany's covered eyes.
"Who's there?"
"Piece of-"
"Piece of who?"
"Piece of pizza, I bought lunch," Lester uncovered Brittany's eyes and pulled her up, "I know you hard, working women must be hungry."
"We are," Brittany said, turning to Heidi, who nodded her head and closed her book, "Let's go eat."
"I want up," Heidi said, going over to Lester and holding her arms up, "Please?"
"Very good use of your words and the word please," Lester said, lifting his favorite girl up, "You're getting bigger, can't feel your ribs," he looked over to Brittany and grabbed her hands, "Come on, Doc, let's go feed the hungry princess."
They settled at the kitchen island to eat. Brittany cut up Heidi's pizza, while Lester tucked into his own pie. He told Brittany he could eat a large by himself. Brittany tsked and grabbed her fork and knife to eat her slice.
"You're nearing 40, you shouldn't be eating whole pizza pies by yourself," she said, giving Heidi something to drink, "I can feel your arteries clogging from here."
"Don't worry, doc, I'll work it off tonight," Lester said, leaning over and covering Heidi's ears with his hands, "We'll work it off together, between the sheets."
"Lester!" Brittany gasped, as Lester let go of Heidi's ears, with a wink, and went back to scarfing down pizza slices, "You are such a cad!"
"Your cad," Lester said as he continued eating, "I got something else too, if you're okay with another break."
"I think we're done with today, Heidi did Dr. Ivan's homework and we worked on our feelings and expressing them and she's been using her words too," Brittany said, wiping Heidi's hands and face as she ate, "I think we can have an afternoon to ourselves."
"Good," Lester said, finishing the last slice and folding the box up with ease, "I think we're going to have fun."
"Oh really, I hope we have a blast," Brittany said, looking outside at the snow, "Hmm, I think we're going to have a true winter Christmas, I hope it snows again."
"I hope so too," Lester said as Heidi pushed her plate into the sink that rested on the island as well, "We can make an igloo and live in it for a few days."
"You can make an igloo and live in it for a few days, I'm not, you're mad," Brittany corrected him, putting Heidi's cup in the sink after she was finished, "Live in the cold, I'm not that crazy."
"It'll be nice and warm," Lester covered Heidi's ears again, earning a huff from the girl, "I'll keep you nice and warm too."
"Lester, you cut that out and go get whatever it is you want so we can get started," Brittany exclaimed as Lester slid off the island chair, laughing, "What are we going to do with Lester, Heidi?"
"I don't know," Heidi said, as Lester left them and then reappeared with some items, "What's that?"
"You know what, we've been living here for a few weeks," Lester said, looking around, "It's Christmas time, how about we decorate the place up!"
"That sounds like fun," Brittany said, turning to Heidi, who looked at them with big eyes, "I think Heidi will love it too!"
"Alright, come on, kiddo, let's add some Christmas spirit to this place," Lester said, as he went into the garage and dragged in a live Christmas tree, "We need to set this up first!"
"You guys have fun, I'm going to make some calls," Brittany said, pulling her phone out, watching the two run off into the living room. As soon as they were gone, she dialed Ivan.
"Nothing," Ivan said after picking up the phone, "Nothing, no one knows who this group is, that might be after Heidi, it's like they're ghosts."
"We just have to dig deeper," Brittany said, as she looked down at her notepad that was filled with notes, "So, this is what we know, they were training her to withstand extreme cold, that could mean they were working for someone who lives or works in a cold area, they pretty much tortured her to use her gifts, which means they're ruthless, we don't know anything about them-"
"Which means they're ghosts," Ivan finished off, "Which…which is dangerous. Brittany, we should move underground."
"We can't, our roots are too deep and if you think that Lester, Carlos and Stephanie are going to let us take Heidi with us if we go into hiding, you're crazy, Ivan, Heidi's ingrained in their lives now, our lives too, and your family, Ivan, we've done this once, it wasn't good when they were kids, and it's going to be worse now that they're almost adults."
"….Damn it," Ivan sighed, "Well, we're going to have to look into something, this unease has become permanent in our house and Diesel and the boys, they're-they're really feeling it now."
"We'll think of something Ivan," Brittany whispered, looking into the living room and watching Lester cover Heidi in ugly garland, "But, we can't split us up, we'll work through it."
Brittany and Ivan said their goodbyes and then hung up the phone, just as Lester cam walking in, holding a thing of mistletoe. He held it over Brittany's head and kissed her gently, saying, "I got this too."
Brittany smiled at him and then said, in a soft voice, "Wasn't it this that led me into your arms?"
"Hmm, you're right, I should buy more of these," Lester said, earning a laugh from Brittany, "Come, let's go help Brittany decorate the tree."
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
Carlos had been mildly surprised when Stephanie walked into his office at Rangeman and asked him if he would accompany her to her parent's house for lunch. She said that her mother invites her to lunch nearly everyday but Stephanie ignores the calls. This time, however, she didn't and told her mother she would be there.
"Is this part of the healing process?" Carlos asked as he got up, put his coat on and made to follow Stephanie out the office.
"It is," Stephanie said, grabbing Carlos' hand, "In order for me to move, I have to forgive people, I have to forgive myself, my mom was-well…"
"You don't need to tell me," Carlos said, remembering the 'help' Stephanie's mother, the weeks after the death of their son. He had to kick her out their house and then Stephanie said that she wasn't allowed back. Stephanie's mother almost made the two of them split up.
The drive to the home of Stephanie's parents was silent, each lost in their own thoughts. The radio was on, and the weather person spoke of an incoming snow storm that was looking to be a blizzard. White Christmas indeed, they might get snowed in if they weren't careful.
Helen plum waited for them, leaning against the pole of the front porch. She had a shawl wrapped around her shoulders. Grandma Mazur was absent, most likely off with her friends at the hair salon, or gods know what her crazy posse did.
"Come on in, it's too cold to be out here," Helen said ushering Carlos and Stephanie in, leading them to the dining room, where lunch sat, along with a large pineapple upside down cake. Her mother was really trying to butter her up. She wasn't going to take this bait.
As they ate lunch, Helen Plum began to talk. She was glad to see Stephanie out of this funk, that she was out and about now, and that she glad to have time for them. Stephanie let her mother talk and then said, "Mom, I came here for me, not for you."
She set her fork down and closed her eyes, thinking of the words to say, "Mom, after Ricky's death, you weren't the best support system. You swept in, like a hurricane and you left destruction along your path. You blamed me for Ricky's death, you blamed Carlos, you caused us to fight, you almost broke our family up, during our time of grief. You called me an awful mother for letting my son try to use what independence he had and you called Carlos an awful father for letting me let our son test the waters. He was four, he wanted to be a big boy, we were in a safe place but there were things that happened that were out of our hands. When we kicked you out and pushed you out of our lives, you tried to force your way back in. That trip we did, the shopping one, if didn't help, I thought that if I went with you, you would stop the calls, it didn't work."
Stephanie looked hard at her mother, "I want to hate you, I want to forget you but that doesn't help me, it doesn't help Carlos and it doesn't help Ricky. I'm forgiving you for you actions, but not because it will help you sleep at night, it's to help me move on."
Stephanie stopped speaking and looked at her mother, who looked down at her plate, with a sigh and then opened her mouth, "Stephanie…I did you wrong, I did you wrong, I did Carlos wrong and I did Ricky's memory wrong as well. I remember that day, that I blamed you both for his death. I thought, who would let their child get hit by a car, who would let their child die? After you both pushed me out, I went to Frank and told him what had happened. He exploded, asked if I had any empathy and that if he was in your shoes he would have done the same thing."
"Ricky's death was the by product of teenagers with no common sense," Helen continued, looking at the two, "Not you or Carlos were at fault. I-I'm sorry Stephanie for belittle you and Carlos I'm sorry for putting you both down, you didn't deserve it. I know you are forgiving me, but I still don't think I deserve it, after what I put you two through."
Stephanie sighed and looked to Carlos as if to say 'Help me, please!'
"We forgive you," Carlos said, looking at his mother in law, "but that doesn't mean we'll let you in our lives so easily. There's still hurt there, along with mistrust, it's going to take some time for that to heal. We only came so that Stephanie could find some closure, this is going to be on Stephanie's terms, not yours. If you step out of line, I don't care, I won't let Stephanie be exposed to your tendencies anymore. I'm going to be the husband that I am, and protect her."
"I understand, Carlos," Helen said, looking at the two, "A chance is all I need."
They finished the conversation there and Carlos and Stephanie left. Stephanie looked over Carlos and said, in a soft voice, "I feel lighter already."
"Good," Carlos said as they drove out of the 'Brug, "I want you to feel better, I wasn't lying when I said I would protect you from your mother."
"I know, you always keep your promises," Stephanie said, leaning over to Carlos and kissing his cheek, "Thank you."
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
They sat, from a distance, watching the woman climb out the dark red Tesla and over to the store front. She seemed to stop and look to and fro, before walking into the store and out of the cold. They were in a non-descript sedan, keeping a sharp eye on the woman, the Unmentionable they managed to track down.
It had been purely on accident. They had picked up a spike of activity in the US on the east coast and managed to track it down to her. It wasn't the child they were looking for but, it was an extra bonus, if they were able to get this one, maybe the boss wouldn't be so pissed.
"An empath," One of the people in car hummed, looking down at the readings on the item they held in their hand, "A powerful one too, but they tend to have weaknesses, right?"
"Yeah, she's not going to be able to pop in and out like talking about it," Another person said, "Too much going on in their head to concentrate. She's a bit on the short side."
"Who the fuck cares about her height, she's an Unmentionable and the boss wants female Unmentionables too, might get him off our back dealing with the fucking brat."
"For maybe a few days, and then we'll be back to looking for the brat, but he might give us a bonus for finding this one."
"Let's go get her now!"
"No, idiot! In a public place, the cops will be all over us, we wait, there's a storm coming, we get her then."
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
Brittany stopped walking, in the parking lot, looking around wildly. That feeling that's been in her gut seemed to reach a boiling point. It felt like people were watching but, there was no one there and this place was busy.
She hitched her purse up and continued walking into the store, shivering. She would tell Lester when she got back to his place. She was scared, they weren't safe and it was taking all her training to not panic and go into hiding.
Gods, she wanted to go into hiding so badly. Whoever was out there, they were close, so very close and she didn't want to meet them.
TBC….
Alright peeps, let heat things up! Off to the trash heap.