Chapter 6
Rating: PG-13
The Crossing Jordan characters totally aren't mine ~ they belong to Tim Kring and Tailwind Productions.
Kaidlyn and her mom, Laura, are my own creations and therefore they're mine.
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AN ~ Although I first introduced Kaidlyn in "Endgame," she subsequently appeared in "That Night" as well as being mentioned in "Running." The timeline basically follows after "That Night" and before "Endgame," but I did have to make some changed to Kaid's age to have it fall into line with the rest of the story. Since "Endgame" is so far from show canon now, I'm not getting overly upset about it.
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Eddie and Kaidlyn stepped out of the building, blinking in the bright sunshine of the crisp, Boston fall day. They were almost to the car when they heard someone running towards them from the building.
"Wait! I can tell you some information about what happened!"
They turned and saw a dark-haired, scruffy-faced man. He stopped directly in front of Kaidlyn and looked into her eyes. Something about him made her really uneasy, but she was frozen in place and speechless. Eddie's instincts were going nuts too, but he didn't want to make any sudden moves. He was not about to endanger Kaid's life for anything in the world. Finally he found his voice.
"What did you say?"
"I said I could tell you more information."
"So spill it."
"Not here. Back in my apartment."
"Fine. Let's go then."
James got between Kaidlyn and Eddie and started to move Kaidlyn towards the building. Eddie clamped his hand onto James' shoulder.
"Uh uh. She doesn't go anywhere alone. If you're talking to her, you're talking to me." Eddie glared at this stranger. Besides, she was only an intern, though he wasn't about to tell this man that.
After a stare-down, James finally relented. He didn't want to hurt the girl, but he didn't want anyone else there. He'd only wanted to talk with her. Then again, he thought he remembered seeing the man with Max, so maybe it wouldn't be so bad. . .
"Fine. Come on." James led them into his apartment.
Kaid felt only slightly better at Eddie's presence in the room. As they entered, she looked around, her eyes burning details into her memory. She turned and spotted a bulletin board on the wall next to the door. What the hell. . .? She moved closer until. . .
"Why do you have a picture of my cousin?" She whirled on James, anger and fear flashing in her eyes.
"Your cou-. . .?" Eddie moved over and looked in disbelief at the picture of Jordan. He made a mental note that like it or not, she was going to get some extra eyes on her for the foreseeable future.
James hadn't said anything yet, and Kaidlyn ran towards him. "Tell me! Why do you have a picture of my cousin?"
"It's ok. I'm not some pervert who wants to hurt her." James tried to keep his voice calm. He hadn't expected the fire of the girl's reaction.
"But. . ." Kaidlyn was completely confused.
"Why don't we sit down? Look. You can sit here in this chair ~ clear path to the door. You want to leave, you can leave. No one's being held here." He looked at Eddie, whose only sign of movement was a hand hovering at ready in case a gun was warranted. Kaidlyn tentatively sat down, eyes wide, not knowing what to expect.
James swallowed, then began. "My name is James Horton. You cousin, Jordan Cavanaugh, is my half-sister."
"Your WHAT?????" Eddie spoke the words that Kaidlyn was unable to utter.
"Her mother was my mother. But Max was not my father."
"Than who. . .?" Kaid's voice returned, but was smaller than Eddie had ever heard it.
"I'm not sure. We think it might have been that Malden guy who was killed. But there's no way to be sure."
Eddie nodded slowly. That could explain the tension that had always existed between Max and Malden. But. . .
"I wasn't raised by either of them. When I was a baby, Max gave me away to another family, the Hortons. He now says that he found my mother holding me underwater in the bathtub. But I don't know. . ."
Now it was Kaidlyn's turn to nod. It made sense. Her mother got unusually upset about the Yates case in Texas a few years earlier. "My mom started to say something when there was that case in Texas, but she never really elaborated. . ."
James looked at Kaidlyn. "So you're Jordan's cousin?"
"Yeah." She looked towards Eddie, unsure of how much to say.
"Ok. I. . ."
"I'm assuming that you don't really know anything about the case we were called here on?" Eddie could tell that Kaidlyn was still really uneasy. While he didn't think James was dangerous per se, he wanted to get her out of there quickly.
"No. I'm sorry about that. I just. . . I heard you mention the name Cavanaugh and I wanted to talk with her." He looked at Kaidlyn. "I'm sorry if I scared you."
"It's ok. I think we do need to go now, though." She looked towards Eddie, who nodded and held out his hand to her. It wasn't something he'd normally do, but she needed the reassurance. She was clearly unnerved by all this.
After requesting that James please leave her alone in the future, Eddie walked Kaidlyn out the door and to his car. Once they were buckled in and on the road, he looked over towards her.
"You ok?"
"I guess. I just. . ."
"It's a lot to take in. Do you believe him?"
"Given some things I learned about my own part of the family, I think we've all got a lot of secrets. So yeah, I think it's possible."
"You want to go and talk with Max?"
"No. Not yet. There'll be time for that later."
"Ok." He turned his eyes back towards the road. He sensed that Kaidlyn had a lot more to say than she was letting on, but he was her supervisor. Some things just weren't appropriate.
"Hey Eddie?"
"Yeah?"
"Um. . . Uncle Max is having an open mic night at the Pogue tonight. I was gonna do a couple of songs, and I think Jordan is too. Would you. . . Not like a date or anything, but would you want to come? I think some of the other guys from the precinct are coming ~ the morgue crew too."
"Yeah. The Pogue's a cool place. And it'll be nice to hang out with friends."
The rest of the day passed without incident, and before long, everyone had piled into the Pogue with open mic night in full swing. Kaidlyn sang a song, Jordan sang a couple, and they did a rendition of "Closer to Fine" that would have made Amy and Emily jealous. Lily read some of her poetry. Finally Max announced that Kaidlyn would perform the last song.
She picked up her guitar and hopped up onto the stool. After a couple of chords, she opened her mouth and started to sing, her sweet soprano voice doing an amazing cover of the Sara Evans song:
She wore a dress with cherries on itGoing somewhere that she'd be wanted
A town this small, all they do is talk.
No wedding ring; chilled fingernail polish
She always wished that she could go to college
But some dreams fade, they just slip away.
She started to show a few months ago
And she had to go
That's how she wound up
On the backseat of a Greyhound bus
Head hung down with the windows up
Staring at the rest of her life.
She never thought this would be the place
Where she would find her saving grace
But she fell in love, she fell in love
On the backseat of a Greyhound bus.
Moon was full, the stars were smiling
God has a funny sense of timing
The baby came on the interstate
Somewhere between Jackson and Memphis
She finally found what she had been missing
She cried and laughed while the red lights flashed
Sweet baby girl
She looked into the face of a new
The face of a brand new world
On the backseat of a Greyhound bus
Heart so full that is could bust
Staring at the rest of her life
She never thought this would be the place
Where she would find her saving grace
But she fell in love, she fell in love
On the backseat of a Greyhound bus
As the words hit his ears, Max almost dropped the glass he was drying. Kaidlyn knew. . . There was no other explanation for it. Sure, she could have heard the song and fallen in love with it. But when he looked at her and saw the tears shimmering behind her lashes, he knew she knew. Laura had told her. How much he couldn't be sure. But Kaidlyn knew something of the way she entered the world.
As Kaidlyn finished to awed applause, she looked at Jordan and then at Max. And the three of them knew that it was going to be a long night of honest conversation.
. . .to be continued. . .