CHAPTER 14—AN ASSIGNMENT & A SURPRISE

It was barely six a.m., and Donovan had had less than three hours of sleep, but he was afraid he would sleep no more for a while.  Fully dressed, he glanced down at Remy.  The sound of his infernal cell phone hadn't awakened her.  He leaned over the bed and gazed down at her sleeping form.  Although they were less than thrilled with each other right now, he loved her and wanted to say goodbye.  In his line of business, he wasn't sure if he would return home.  He hated leaving her like this, but he had no choice.  When a suspect moved, he moved, no questions asked. 

He placed his hand onto her arm and shook her gently.  "Remy, wake up."

She came awake slowly and she turned from her side to her back.  She looked up at him with foggy eyes.  He was decked out in all black.  "You're leaving," she asked sleepily.

He nodded.  "Yeah, we have to fly out in an hour.  I don't know when I'll be back."  He kissed her forehead briefly.  "I love you."  Not one to draw out goodbyes, he left her. 

*  *  *

Before Remy had become involved with the senator, she had had a good relationship with her parents.  However, after the hubbub, she had lost touch with him.  If the truth were known, she was actually ashamed of herself.  She had let her parents down one too many times, and she hadn't wanted to face them after Wengrod's death.  She was sure they had seen her face splattered all over every tabloid in the country.  Since moving in with Donovan, she had been tempted to call or visit them, but she didn't have the guts.  Not until now.  Oh sure, I get in trouble, and I go running home to my mommy, she thought ruefully.

She knocked on the door for the first time in her life.  She hoped someone would be home.  She hadn't even given a thought to that at all.  Her fears were transitory.  The door came open and Remy stood face-to-face with her mother.  Rachel Ellis stared at her daughter for what seemed like an eternity.  Each second that passed, Remy grew more nervous and upset.  Her stomach was horridly queasy, but she was sure it was due more to the baby than actual stress. 

"Please, Mother.  Do something.  Slam the door, spit in my face, scream, cry, or whatever.  Just do something," Remy begged.

Without another moment of hesitation, Rachel drew her daughter into her arms and held her close.  Remy felt grateful tears streaming out of her eyes.  Her father, Joe, came to the door a few minutes later, and he joined in on the family hug. 

Joe and Rachel weren't cave people.  They had heard and/or seen all the stories about the senator and his 'sleazy' mistress.  They had also been bothered by dozens of tabloid reporters.  But they never reconciled that the woman the tabloids were talking about was 'their' Remy.  After several minutes, they broke their hug and went inside.  They noticed immediately that their daughter had brought a few bags with her.  She looked at the pile of bags and then focused her eyes on their faces.

"I'm going to have a baby, and I left the man I love," she said simply before bursting into tears.

*  *  *

During the entire flight, Donovan was distant, morose, and depressed.  The other members of the team knew there was something on his mind, but they didn't bother asking.  Their boss would never tell them.  Of course, he was preoccupied and upset.  He hadn't wanted to leave Remy while so many questions remained unanswered.  First and foremost, he was concerned.  He was afraid that she was set to leave him.  He didn't know why he felt so paranoid, but he had a nagging ache in the pit of his stomach that refused to go away.  He itched to call home, but he couldn't until the plane landed.

He didn't want to admit it, but his trust in her had begun to slide.  He had been with her long enough to know when she was about to run.  Of course, his leaving gave her the perfect opportunity.  Surely, she wouldn't.  Surely, she knew better.  She professed her love for him dozens of times.  Would she go that far?  Would she leave?  His impatience began to grow like an out of control morning glory vine.  He needed to talk to her, to hear her voice, if only to convince himself that he wasn't losing his mind.

*  *  *

Remy could do nothing but sleep.  The instant she had unpacked her bags in her old childhood room, she was utterly exhausted.  It seemed she didn't have the energy to walk across the room.  She collapsed in bed and that was where she stayed until her younger sister came home for a short break from college.

Renata was six years younger than Remy and was almost out of school.  Although they had spoken frequently on the phone, she hadn't seen her older sister in almost a year.  Not knowing the circumstances surrounding her sister's sudden reappearance, she ran into the room and hurled her body onto the bed.  Remy groaned and tried to cover her head with the pillow.  Half asleep, she mumbled something about 'Frank.' 

"Who's Frank," Renata demanded while she jabbed her sister in the ribs.

Remy dodged away from the attack and uncovered her head.  She gazed stupidly at her baby sister.  "Renata?  What are you doing here?"

"Glad to see you, too, sis," she said tartly.  "I always come home during breaks.  Why didn't anyone tell me you were coming?"

Remy sat up and gazed at Renata.  Her younger sister was a carbon copy of her with the exception of her eyes.  Renata's were blue.  "No one was expecting me.  I kind of just… showed up."

"Who's Frank," she asked again.

She closed her eyes tightly for a moment.  She had apparently been dreaming about him again.  How many dreams had she had?  Two?  Four?  Nine dozen?  "Nobody," she said with a sigh.

Renata jabbed Remy's ribs again.  "Nobody?  Do you think I'm going to buy that?  Come on, sis, spill it.  Who's Frank?"

"You're not going to let me sleep until I tell you, right?"

She smiled.  "Right.  Now spill it.  Who is he?  I'm dying to know."

Without realizing what she was doing, her hand slid absently down to her flat abdomen.  She had told her parents very few details about him, and now her baby sister demanded to know.  "Up until yesterday, he was the man I was living with, the one who wants to marry me."

"Marry you?  Then what the hell are you doing here?  Go get him, you dumbass."

Remy sighed.  "It's not as easy as that, Renata.  He only wanted to marry me because I'm pregnant."

Renata's blue eyes grew large.  "You're pregnant?  You mean, I'm going to be an aunt?"

She nodded.  "Looks that way."

She jabbed Remy's ribs again.  "You are an idiot.  You're having his baby, but you don't want to marry him?"

Remy held onto her poked and prodded ribs.  "God, Ren, would you stop that.  I don't want to marry him just because of this baby."

"Remy," she said softly, "does he love you?"

"Yes," she said, "he does."

"Then what the hell does it matter what his reasons are?"

She didn't want to talk about Frank anymore.  She simply wanted to hide forever in bed.  "It just does, Renata.  I see that no one gets it but me."

*  *  *

The plane began to make its slow descent toward the landing strip several hundred feet below.  Donovan was exhausted, but he hadn't been able to sleep at all.  His need to call home became an obsession.  In fact, his hand was already on his phone.  Their landing was rough, and it jarred the rest of the team awake.  Donovan didn't notice.  His mind was focused on Remy.  The instant the plane came to a halt, he whipped out his cell, and dialed home.  Remy's voice did not greet him.  The only thing he heard was his own voice over the answering machine.  He didn't leave a message.  Instead, he dialed his number again.  Getting the same response, he dialed again and again.  When that failed him, he called her work number and was told Remy had called in sick.  She had left him.  It was obvious now.  What had once been suspicion was now fact.  He couldn't even comprehend why she ran.  She had always been good at that.  Donovan shook off his hurt and devastation.  His mind needed to be clear and focused.  Once his job was done, he could then hunt down his lover.

*  *  *

In her dream, she could see Donovan running through thick vegetation.  Was it a jungle?  The woods?  She couldn't tell.  His gun was drawn and it appeared he was after someone.  In her mind's eye, she closed her eyes tightly.  She was terrified that he would be shot again.  His mind was drifting, and he wasn't as alert as he normally was.  What in the world possessed him to take and keep such a hazardous job?  A long branch caught him, drawing a shallow scratch up the side of his cheek.  She winced in pain as if she were the one hurt.  Disturbed now, she saw as he drew closer and closer to the man he was after.  The man her lover was chasing turned around and she could finally see his face.  NO, she gasped.  It couldn't be.  Ed! 

"Tonight you die.  Tomorrow, I go after your whore and your bastard," he sneered at Donovan.  He raised his gun and fired three shots, each hitting Donovan in the chest.

"NO," Remy screamed out suddenly.

She sat straight up in bed and immediately began looking for Donovan.  It took several minutes for her to realize she was no longer with Donovan.  She had run home to her mommy and daddy.  Her body was soaked with sweat.  The dream had been so vivid, so real.  She had made a huge mistake leaving the way she did.  When would she stop running from him?  She reasoned that by now, Donovan surely knew she was gone.

Remy crawled out of bed and crept out of her room.  The house was silent and dark.  She went into the kitchen and grabbed the phone.  She dialed the number and waited for the answering machine to kick on.  After she entered the code to retrieve the messages, tears began to fall out of her eyes.  There were none.  She had left him, and he had erased her away as if she were nothing more than chalk on a blackboard.  There was no turning back now.

*  *  *

Working on less than four hours sleep in three days, pure adrenaline was the only thing keeping Donovan going.  It had taken nearly two days to capture a particularly crafty drug smuggler.  Thankfully, the job had gotten done with little bloodshed.  He was once again on a commuter airplane, but this time, they were all going home. 

"Boss, what's going on," Jake stage-whispered beside him.  "You've been on Mars for the last three days."

Donovan shook his head.  He had never spoken five words about his personal life with any of them.  Of course, they all knew about his relationship with Remy, but they didn't know about the baby.  He wasn't sure he wanted to tell them, not until he and Remy were both on the same page.  "I'm fine," he insisted. 

His body language sent a clear message to Jake.  Back off.  That's what he did.

Back on familiar ground, Donovan wasted no time retrieving his vehicle and speeding away toward home.  The rest of the team stood back and watched the car round a corner before disappearing altogether.

"I'd give a thousand bucks if I could be one of his brain cells for five minutes," Cody said. 

Donovan parked his car sloppily in the garage and took the stairs two at a time to get up to his apartment.  He hadn't expected to find Remy inside.  Despite that fact, he was shocked anyway.  She had packed up most of her clothing, but left everything else behind.  He turned on a bedside lamp and his eyes identified an envelope resting against his pillow.  Impatiently, he tore it open.  One single sheet of paper drifted out.  The note was composed of only two words:  I'm sorry.