Title: Two's Company 4/6
Author: Melinda
Feedback email address: keylime84@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: All characters and settings from "Now and Again"belong to Glenn Gordon Caron, Paramount, Picturemaker Productions, and anyone else. Basically, I don't own anything.
Rating/Warnings: some violence, some adult language
Spoiler: not much of any
Archive permission: Nope, not until I'm done.


"That's what it says Mom. `Rapist Found Dead In
Abandoned Apartment Complex'. They found his dead body just this
morning," Heather read to her mother from the newspaper.
"Wow. One day the police don't have any clue who this guy is
and they have no leads what-so-ever; the next day the guy's dead and
the case is closed. How did they know this was him?" Lisa asked as
she went through the morning ritual of making coffee.
"They found stolen jewelry from some of the women as well as
locks of hair from every woman he raped."
"That sounds convenient." She filled her cup. "Do they
know how he died?"
"He was shot. They aren't really sure how, but they think
it might have been a suicide." Heather opened the paper to the
comics.
"I don't particularly care how he died. I'm just glad I
don't have to worry about that anymore." Lisa sipped the newly brewed
coffee. "So, you want me to send out the invitations for the party today?"
"No, Mom," she said, standing. " I told you I would handle everything, and I plan to do just that."
"Okay, so when do you plan to make the cake?" Lisa grinned, knowingly.
"Uh, well, maybe you had better handle that one thing," Heather
said as she glanced down at the floor.
"Yeah, you're probably right." She gave her daughter a
teasing smile and said, "We wouldn't want a repeat of my Mother's
Day cake, now would we?"
Heather rolled her eyes and whined, "Mom!" Mrs. Wiseman laughed.

* * *

"You were right about this food. It does grow on you," Emily said
sarcastically as she ate the morning meal. It had been two days since
her encounter with the rapist and life had become somewhat normal again.
Michael grinned at her comment.
"I doubt very much," the doctor said from his seat not too
far away, "that you could do any better and keep the meal as
nutritious."
"Oh?" she smiled. "How much would you like to bet on that?"
"Excuse me?" Dr. Morris looked up from his paper.
"I could make you a delicious meal that is also wonderfully good for you," she said to both Michael and the doctor.
That sounded great to Michael. "Why don't you let her try, Doc?"
Dr. Morris looked amused. "Do you know of a specific recipe?"
"Well, no," she said sheepishly, "not off the top of my head, but if I could get a hold of my cookbook..."
"And how do you plan to do that?" Dr. Morris looked straight at her.
"The only idea that comes to mind is that I could go by my house and pick it up." Dr. Morris raised his hand to protest, but she kept talking. "My husband won't miss it I'm sure. He hardly knew the oven existed, much less any of my cookbooks!"
"What you are suggesting is out of the question," the doctor said, going back to his paper.
"If you have researched me like you said you did, you know that my husband is gone all day and my children stay at day care all day. I could just slip in during the day, using the key we have hidden, grab the cookbook, and leave. No sweat. And you can track me, so what could I possibly do? Have your men right outside the house. Heck, have one come in with me if it makes you feel better."
"Let me think about it," the doctor said, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. He pretended to be thinking then stated, "No."
"Doc, come on! I don't think it sounds like a request that is too unreasonable. She'll fix us dinner if you let her! I mean, how often do you have a good home-cooked meal?" Michael said as he finished up breakfast. "Besides, if you don't, she may have to run the little errand tonight, when her hubbie will be around. And maybe I'll just have to help her." He smiled, hoping he had the doctor cornered.
"I do not appreciate being blackmailed," Dr. Morris said sternly.
"This isn't blackmail. This is you little experiment pleading for an end to the mundane menu around here. We'll just drop by the house, grab the book, and be out in five minutes. Please!" Michael got down on his knees.
"Get back in the chair, Mr. Wiseman!"
"So, can we, Doc? Huh?" Emily joined in.
Dr. Morris looked at Michael angrily and then at Emily. He huffed noisily, shook the newspaper, and went back to his reading. Michael got back in his seat and grinned across the table at Emily, who smiled back. They knew they would have a home-cooked meal that night.

* * *

"So, what's the plan, Doc?" Michael asked. He was sitting in the back of the Toys B' Fun truck as it made its way to Emily Hansen's former home. He turned to the seat next to him where the doctor sat and then looked at the seat across from him, where Emily sat.
Dr. Morris pulled a small black box out of his pocket and opened it. "You will each wear these earpieces and microphones so that you can be in contact with each other as well as myself." He took the two earpieces from the box and handed one to Michael and the other to Emily. "To avoid looking suspicious, you will take that box in," he said as he pointed to a large packing box nearby. "You will look as if you simply delivering some toys. Once inside, get your cookbook and get out. Any questions?"
Emily adjusted her earpiece and then asked, "What do we do with the box once we get inside?" Dr. Morris opened his mouth and then closed it. "Didn't think of that, did you?" She paused considering options. Then she said, "We could just collapse it and put it in the garage with all the other boxes in there. It won't even be noticed." Dr. Morris nodded, and Emily smiled smartly. "What would you do without me?"
"Without you, I wouldn't even have to think about this. We wouldn't even be making this trip," Dr. Morris said and looked sternly at Emily.
Emily retreated, sat back, and stared into nothing. Michael looked over at her, wondering what she was thinking. He knew that if she was anything like him, she was thinking about her family. Her husband and two boys. Although, perhaps she was thinking about everything that had happened to her the past few days. That was definitely plenty to think about.
A silence settled upon the truck. It was different from the great tension that had filled it when they had ridden home in the wee hours of the morning two days ago, but it was uncomfortable all the same. It remained until they jerked to an abrupt stop.
The door at the rear of the truck was opened and Emily and Michael stepped out carrying the big box. Dr. Morris spoke through their earpieces. "Can you both hear me?"
"Yep."
"Yes," Emily stared at her home. She sighed, looked at Michael, and said with determination, "Let's do this." They entered through the front door using the extra key that the family had always kept hidden under one of the stepping stones that went around the side of the house. The house was not at all small, but was not breath-takingly large either. On the inside, it was dark and smelled of cinnamon potpourri. They set down the box. Michael began to unfold it and flatten it out as Emily headed for the kitchen. She grabbed her cookbook, and then walked toward her room. On the way, she chose an old deck of cardsout of the hall closet and stuffed it in her pocket. "Gotta have something to do with all our time in the evenings," she mumbled.
"What was that?" Dr. Morris asked through the earpiece.
"Nothing," Emily said innocently and continued toward her room.
In the meantime, Michael had finished with the box and was searching for the garage. "You wouldn't think it'd be that hard to find," he thought and walked through the family room toward the other side of the house. As he did, he passed a bulletin board that hung on the wall and something caught his eye. He stopped and looked at the board. On it hung a calendar, a schedule for the boys' soccer games, and an invitation to a party with a picture of Michael Wiseman on it.
That invitation was what had caught his eye. It was for a `birthday party in remembrance of Michael Wiseman', and was scheduled for tomorrow evening. Michael smiled. He was glad his family had remembered his birthday and had decided to do something for it, instead of just ignoring it as some might have done in that situation. He slowly moved on to the garage and put the box with the others. Then he turned to leave the garage. He stopped abruptly when the fact that it was not empty registered in his mind. There was a maroon Mercedes filling the space of the one-car garage. He quickly went back through the family room and spoke to Emily through the earpiece. "Emily, e may have a problem. I think someone's here."
Emily was in her old bedroom looking through a box of pictures, picking out a few that would not be missed. She smiled as she came to their wedding picture and then their family portrait after they had adopted the boys. She had always meant to get all their pictures in a photo album or in frames around the house, but the time had never been available. She picked out a small copy of the family picture and a few other snapshots. She was about to put the box back in its place on the bookshelf when she was startled by Michael's voice in her ear and then Dr. Morris's exclamation of `What is going on in there?' She dropped the box.
"What is it, Michael? What's going on?" she said as she quickly picked up the pictures that had fallen out and shoved the box onto the shelf. As she was leaving the room, she heard some movement in the direction of the bed. She turned and saw her husband. She couldn't tell whether he was waking up or not, but he was moving slowly. She walked over to the bed, unable to leave. She heard Michael or Dr. Morris say something to her, but she was couldn't move. She was lost in this moment.

* * *

Doctor Morris was rushing about inside the truck yelling into the microphone that was connected to Emily and Michael's earpieces. "What is going on?!" He paused, listening for a response. "Get out of there!" Another pause. "Make sure Mrs. Hansen is with you!" One more pause. "What do you mean you don't know where she is?!" He slammed down the microphone and looked at the agent who stood waiting for his command. "Give them three minutes, and if they're not out of there, go in after them!" Special Agent Number One nodded and began get the other agents ready.

* * *

Emily stood next to the bed staring down at her husband. Almost involuntarily, she reached out her arm and stroked his cheek. It was rough from having not shaved that day. As she withdrew her hand, his eyes opened slowly. He looked up at her and then he sprung into action. "Who are you, and what are you doing in my house?!" he said through clenched teeth, and he jumped out of bed. Emily backed-up against the wall. Mr. Hansen had grabbed a baseball bat from underneath the bed. "I asked you a question. Answer it or get the hell out! Either way, I'm calling the police." He reached for the phone on the nightstand.
"Daniel...I..."
He stopped, his hand on the receiver. "How do you know my name?" he asked.
She removed the earpiece from her ear and the microphone from her shirt. He stood waiting for her response. She took a deep breath and whispered, "Would you believe me if I told you..."

* * *

"Mrs. Hansen's earpiece isn't working," Special Agent Number One informed the doctor.
"Mr. Wiseman, do you know where she is?!" Dr. Morris spoke into the microphone.
"Still looking, this house seems a lot bigger from the inside," Michael said as he moved through the house from room to room as quickly and quietly as possible.
"Not acceptable, Mr. Wiseman!" Dr. Morris set down the microphone and looked over at Special Agent Number One.
"Now?"

* * *

Daniel had remained standing with the bat in one hand and the phone receiver in the other. "Would I believe you if you told me...what?!"
Emily just stood there, unable to say anything more. She wanted desperately to tell him and to make him understand, but how could she possibly explain? She started slowly but deliberately, "You have a baseball bat in your hands instead of a gun, because your wife, Emily Hansen, was completely against having a gun in the house." She paused, trying to think of what else she could say to make him believe her. "You have a birthmark on you upper-thigh in the shape of the state of Texas." Another shorter pause. "You dye your hair `acorn brown' because it started going gray three years ago." Words began spilling out of her mouth, and she started to inch away from the wall and toward him. "You own thirty-one ties, one for each day of the month. Your favorite tie is the silky red one your wife gave you for your thirty-ninth birthday. Your favorite football team is the Indianapolis Colts because you grew up in Indiana. Your first date with your wife was to a Colts game, which turned out to be a complete bust because you spilled beer all over her when you jumped up after a touchdown." Daniel sat down roughly on the bed. "The first time you and Emily ever had sex was in her apartment three weeks before we, I mean, you and her got married. She had wanted to wait, but the didn't quite happen, did it?" Emily stopped to catch her breath. She was now standing right in front of her. Only a few inches separated their bodies.
Mr. Hansen lowered his bat and stared at her in disbelief. "Who are you?" he asked in a whisper. He laid the bat on the bed and stood up slowly.
Emily's heart pounded. She looked deep into his eyes. He looked back with mostly confusion, but a hint of curiosity as well. She moved slowly closer and closer to him until their lips met.
"Emily!" She cut the kiss short and turned to see Michael in the
doorway with Dr. Morris and about ten agents behind him.