DM, KM...the ending's a little different from what either of you have seen,
I think. You know I can't stop myself from fiddling. Hopefully I didn't do
anything too drastic!
Thanks as always to those thoughtful enough to drop a line about the story. It's nice to know someone's reading. Why else post?
Thanks, and until next time...
Shelter Chapter 10 By: Mariel
Epilogue
Surrounded by trees exhausted from a night of fighting the wind, it had taken almost an hour to dig the car out and get it on the road again.
As they'd promised Emma the night before, they made their way as quickly as possible to the hospital Brenda had been admitted into. The trip was made in companionable, peaceful silence. Emma did not seem in the mood to talk and sat quietly staring out the back seat window. In the front, the two adults sat in a cocoon of wonderment over what had passed between them only hours before.
Once at the hospital, they quickly learned that Brenda would not suffer overmuch from her injuries, and would likely be demitted within a few days. Jack requested permission to see her.
"I want to see her first," Emma said as they walked towards Brenda's room.
"We can all go in together," Jack told her.
"No. She's-" Emma stopped in her tracks and wrapped her thin arms around herself tightly. Tears started to form in the little girl's eyes. "I-" She stopped, unable to continue.
Samantha immediately turned a concerned gaze towards Jack. Putting a gentle hand on Emma's shoulder, she said, "We can let her. Just for a couple minutes." She looked down at the little girl, empathizing with what she must be going through. All Emma probably needed, she thought, was to be hugged and told it would be all right by someone she trusted.
Some of what she was thinking must have gotten across, because Jack reluctantly nodded. "We need to speak to her alone afterwards, Emma. How about you go in for a few minutes, then we'll switch? The nurse said she'd keep an eye on you while we're with her."
After Emma had disappeared into the room, Samantha said, "Thanks, Jack."
"I suppose she's scared. And worried. It won't hurt us to wait a bit," he said in a gruff tone.
They waited in silence on a vinyl-covered settee placed just outside the room. The atmosphere thick with what had happened between them, Samantha finally murmured, "We're going to have to talk."
"Only if it doesn't break the spell," he returned in a low voice.
She smiled, and suppressed an urge to touch him. "I think it'll take a lot more than talking to do that."
"I'm still in shock," he admitted, looking at his hands.
Making what was to be a rare public display of their newfound closeness, Samantha reached over and placed her hand over his. He raised his eyes to meet hers. Silently, they communicated the knowledge that though they were unsure of the next steps they would take, those steps would certainly be taken towards each other.
Several moments later, they turned and rose quickly when Emma emerged from Brenda's room. "You can go in, now," she said, her eyes filled with tears. "I'll just sit here and wait," she added, walking over to the settee Samantha and Jack had vacated. She sat, her feet swinging several inches from the floor and looked down at her folded hands.
After sharing a sad glance, the two agents entered Brenda Hood's hospital room. She lay quietly, her large blue eyes following them as they crossed the room towards her. Her head was partly bandaged, testament to it having gone through the windshield when her car had left the road and hit a tree. What hair they could see looked to be shoulder length, blonde, and wavy. Both agents resisted the urge to look at one another in surprise. They had supposed that she would be somewhere in the range of Nancy Shelby's age - late forties, early fifties. Looking down at her unlined face, Jack revised his estimate to somewhere in the mid thirties.
"Brenda Hood?"
The woman in the bed nodded carefully, her expression wary. What transpired next was an interview that left Jack totally frustrated and Samantha feeling an odd sense of pride that the woman had borne herself so well against his inquisition.
Yes, she had taken Emma two days ago. Yes, she had brought her to her cabin. When asked for her motive, and after being given their evidence, she reluctantly admitted that she had planned to provide Emma with 'adoptive' parents. "Emma deserves that," she insisted stubbornly.
"And her mother doesn't deserve to know where her daughter is?" Jack asked, his anger simmering.
Brenda turned clear, certain eyes towards him. "No. I don't believe she does. Emma's mother cares very little for anything but herself and the checks she receives for Emma's upkeep. I don't know why. I don't understand it. Perhaps she can't help it. Perhaps it has something to do with her own childhood. I don't have those answers. I did have the answer to Emma's situation, though: loving parents in a good home, where she'd have the chance to feel safe and loved and cared for. Every child deserves that, Agent Malone."
That she believed what she said with all her heart was evident.
"Did Greg Browning also deserve that?"
Brenda paused, obviously recognizing the name. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"I think you do. Greg went missing six months ago. He was one of your cases. Did you decide to play God and find him new parents, too? Did you take him away and put him with people to raise him as their own? Did you do that for Sarah Churchill? For Justin Cooley? For Brandon Spencer?" he asked, listing some of the other names on their list of missing children.
"Why would I do that?" she asked.
"You decided to do it for Emma."
Brenda looked away. "Emma was different. Emma needed a chance."
Jack believed none of it. "I've heard you quoted as saying that very same thing about Greg Browning."
Her expression shuttered, she said, "You can't lay every missing child at my feet."
"No, but we will be investigating every child disappearance you might have had something to do with."
Brenda Hood shrugged. "You have to do what you have to do. I'm sorry, I can't help you."
They got very little information out of her after that. Leaving, Samantha looked at Jack as they walked down the corridor towards where Emma was waiting for them with the duty nurse. She knew they couldn't leave things lie, but also knew that wherever the other children were - if Brenda had helped them find new homes and families - they were likely better off than they would have been without her intervention.
"I think I'd like to know why she picked Emma," she commented. "Perhaps that would help us understand who else she might have chosen."
Jack looked at her. Her voice held none of the condemnation he would have expected. He remembered her words when they'd spoken of why Emma had managed to remain so untouched by the mixed up, crazy life she had led with her mother. What had Samantha's early life been like? Was it the reason she seemed to have so little animosity for what Brenda had done? Had she at some point hoped for a rescuer? Wished for different parents? A different life?
"You don't seem terribly upset by what Brenda was trying to do," he observed.
She thought a moment, searching for the right words. "I'm not. I think life doesn't always deal a fair hand, and I think when that happens to children, it's a good thing that adults look out for them and try to shelter them the best that they can. Sometimes they need protection, Jack. Shelter from their environment, or from the people they share genes with. Whatever. They need love, too." She paused. "I guess more than anything, they need love and the shelter it provides them. Emma wasn't getting that, not by the looks of it. Brenda saw an opportunity to help her, and though it went against the rules and against popular perception of what was right, she was willing to do her best for the child, regardless."
He shook his head and slowed his steps to a halt. "What she did is against the law."
"Yes, I know. But what she did was also a wonderful, kind, sacrificing thing, too." She looked him in the eye. "I'm sorry we found her, Jack, and sorry we were so good at tracking her down and stopping what was going to happen."
He stared at her. "You don't really mean that. You don't know where she was going. It could have been somewhere terrible."
She shook her head. "You know as well as I do Brenda wouldn't have allowed that. She would have chosen parents very carefully."
"I want to know who she had picked out for Emma."
Samantha looked at him with dark eyes. She had a theory, but was not about to share it. She was sure Brenda Hood never would. Some things, she knew, were better left alone. It was something she would see Jack learn over their next few years of working together. It was something she had learned before she could remember.
* * *
As fate would have it, when they returned to the city, Jack and Samantha learned that Emma's mother had disappeared. With her at least temporarily out of the picture, Frank Roberts, Emma's father, was called. He arrived the same day they called for him to take his daughter home with him. The last they saw of her, Emma looked content to be going. Samantha had worried about the stepmother, but held her peace. Anything, she thought, would be better than living as she had been.
Brenda was arrested. Later, suspicion arose that Nancy Shelby might possibly have been aware of what Brenda was doing. May, in fact, have even helped in the process. Brenda, however, refused to incriminate anyone else, and the DA's office was unable to gather enough evidence to charge her with what Jack was sure was a whole series of child abductions. Whatever she had done, wherever the children had been placed, she had accomplished her task with such skill that they were unable to come up with anything that could lead to a prosecution.
Ultimately, Brenda Hood was charged only with the abduction of Emma Matthews. She served eight months of her sentence and eventually went to work for an adoption agency.
In the days that followed their experience in the cabin, Jack and Samantha continued to draw closer. They had taken a huge, unconsidered step that night. But they were sure of their attraction for one another, sure that the connection they felt was true. As time passed, they found that keeping their private lives separate from work happened just as naturally as the beginning of their affair had. Wrapped in the moment, they thought little of where what they were doing would lead. This was theirs. It provided protection against the world, protection against things they saw and felt and couldn't forget, and from lives not what they had hoped for. Their affair was what they wanted and needed, and there was no question of its rightness or wrongness. A void filled, a need met, kindred hearts...who knew what it was, or what it meant - or what it would lead to? They welcomed its shelter and said thanks.
End Shelter 10/10
Thanks as always to those thoughtful enough to drop a line about the story. It's nice to know someone's reading. Why else post?
Thanks, and until next time...
Shelter Chapter 10 By: Mariel
Epilogue
Surrounded by trees exhausted from a night of fighting the wind, it had taken almost an hour to dig the car out and get it on the road again.
As they'd promised Emma the night before, they made their way as quickly as possible to the hospital Brenda had been admitted into. The trip was made in companionable, peaceful silence. Emma did not seem in the mood to talk and sat quietly staring out the back seat window. In the front, the two adults sat in a cocoon of wonderment over what had passed between them only hours before.
Once at the hospital, they quickly learned that Brenda would not suffer overmuch from her injuries, and would likely be demitted within a few days. Jack requested permission to see her.
"I want to see her first," Emma said as they walked towards Brenda's room.
"We can all go in together," Jack told her.
"No. She's-" Emma stopped in her tracks and wrapped her thin arms around herself tightly. Tears started to form in the little girl's eyes. "I-" She stopped, unable to continue.
Samantha immediately turned a concerned gaze towards Jack. Putting a gentle hand on Emma's shoulder, she said, "We can let her. Just for a couple minutes." She looked down at the little girl, empathizing with what she must be going through. All Emma probably needed, she thought, was to be hugged and told it would be all right by someone she trusted.
Some of what she was thinking must have gotten across, because Jack reluctantly nodded. "We need to speak to her alone afterwards, Emma. How about you go in for a few minutes, then we'll switch? The nurse said she'd keep an eye on you while we're with her."
After Emma had disappeared into the room, Samantha said, "Thanks, Jack."
"I suppose she's scared. And worried. It won't hurt us to wait a bit," he said in a gruff tone.
They waited in silence on a vinyl-covered settee placed just outside the room. The atmosphere thick with what had happened between them, Samantha finally murmured, "We're going to have to talk."
"Only if it doesn't break the spell," he returned in a low voice.
She smiled, and suppressed an urge to touch him. "I think it'll take a lot more than talking to do that."
"I'm still in shock," he admitted, looking at his hands.
Making what was to be a rare public display of their newfound closeness, Samantha reached over and placed her hand over his. He raised his eyes to meet hers. Silently, they communicated the knowledge that though they were unsure of the next steps they would take, those steps would certainly be taken towards each other.
Several moments later, they turned and rose quickly when Emma emerged from Brenda's room. "You can go in, now," she said, her eyes filled with tears. "I'll just sit here and wait," she added, walking over to the settee Samantha and Jack had vacated. She sat, her feet swinging several inches from the floor and looked down at her folded hands.
After sharing a sad glance, the two agents entered Brenda Hood's hospital room. She lay quietly, her large blue eyes following them as they crossed the room towards her. Her head was partly bandaged, testament to it having gone through the windshield when her car had left the road and hit a tree. What hair they could see looked to be shoulder length, blonde, and wavy. Both agents resisted the urge to look at one another in surprise. They had supposed that she would be somewhere in the range of Nancy Shelby's age - late forties, early fifties. Looking down at her unlined face, Jack revised his estimate to somewhere in the mid thirties.
"Brenda Hood?"
The woman in the bed nodded carefully, her expression wary. What transpired next was an interview that left Jack totally frustrated and Samantha feeling an odd sense of pride that the woman had borne herself so well against his inquisition.
Yes, she had taken Emma two days ago. Yes, she had brought her to her cabin. When asked for her motive, and after being given their evidence, she reluctantly admitted that she had planned to provide Emma with 'adoptive' parents. "Emma deserves that," she insisted stubbornly.
"And her mother doesn't deserve to know where her daughter is?" Jack asked, his anger simmering.
Brenda turned clear, certain eyes towards him. "No. I don't believe she does. Emma's mother cares very little for anything but herself and the checks she receives for Emma's upkeep. I don't know why. I don't understand it. Perhaps she can't help it. Perhaps it has something to do with her own childhood. I don't have those answers. I did have the answer to Emma's situation, though: loving parents in a good home, where she'd have the chance to feel safe and loved and cared for. Every child deserves that, Agent Malone."
That she believed what she said with all her heart was evident.
"Did Greg Browning also deserve that?"
Brenda paused, obviously recognizing the name. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"I think you do. Greg went missing six months ago. He was one of your cases. Did you decide to play God and find him new parents, too? Did you take him away and put him with people to raise him as their own? Did you do that for Sarah Churchill? For Justin Cooley? For Brandon Spencer?" he asked, listing some of the other names on their list of missing children.
"Why would I do that?" she asked.
"You decided to do it for Emma."
Brenda looked away. "Emma was different. Emma needed a chance."
Jack believed none of it. "I've heard you quoted as saying that very same thing about Greg Browning."
Her expression shuttered, she said, "You can't lay every missing child at my feet."
"No, but we will be investigating every child disappearance you might have had something to do with."
Brenda Hood shrugged. "You have to do what you have to do. I'm sorry, I can't help you."
They got very little information out of her after that. Leaving, Samantha looked at Jack as they walked down the corridor towards where Emma was waiting for them with the duty nurse. She knew they couldn't leave things lie, but also knew that wherever the other children were - if Brenda had helped them find new homes and families - they were likely better off than they would have been without her intervention.
"I think I'd like to know why she picked Emma," she commented. "Perhaps that would help us understand who else she might have chosen."
Jack looked at her. Her voice held none of the condemnation he would have expected. He remembered her words when they'd spoken of why Emma had managed to remain so untouched by the mixed up, crazy life she had led with her mother. What had Samantha's early life been like? Was it the reason she seemed to have so little animosity for what Brenda had done? Had she at some point hoped for a rescuer? Wished for different parents? A different life?
"You don't seem terribly upset by what Brenda was trying to do," he observed.
She thought a moment, searching for the right words. "I'm not. I think life doesn't always deal a fair hand, and I think when that happens to children, it's a good thing that adults look out for them and try to shelter them the best that they can. Sometimes they need protection, Jack. Shelter from their environment, or from the people they share genes with. Whatever. They need love, too." She paused. "I guess more than anything, they need love and the shelter it provides them. Emma wasn't getting that, not by the looks of it. Brenda saw an opportunity to help her, and though it went against the rules and against popular perception of what was right, she was willing to do her best for the child, regardless."
He shook his head and slowed his steps to a halt. "What she did is against the law."
"Yes, I know. But what she did was also a wonderful, kind, sacrificing thing, too." She looked him in the eye. "I'm sorry we found her, Jack, and sorry we were so good at tracking her down and stopping what was going to happen."
He stared at her. "You don't really mean that. You don't know where she was going. It could have been somewhere terrible."
She shook her head. "You know as well as I do Brenda wouldn't have allowed that. She would have chosen parents very carefully."
"I want to know who she had picked out for Emma."
Samantha looked at him with dark eyes. She had a theory, but was not about to share it. She was sure Brenda Hood never would. Some things, she knew, were better left alone. It was something she would see Jack learn over their next few years of working together. It was something she had learned before she could remember.
* * *
As fate would have it, when they returned to the city, Jack and Samantha learned that Emma's mother had disappeared. With her at least temporarily out of the picture, Frank Roberts, Emma's father, was called. He arrived the same day they called for him to take his daughter home with him. The last they saw of her, Emma looked content to be going. Samantha had worried about the stepmother, but held her peace. Anything, she thought, would be better than living as she had been.
Brenda was arrested. Later, suspicion arose that Nancy Shelby might possibly have been aware of what Brenda was doing. May, in fact, have even helped in the process. Brenda, however, refused to incriminate anyone else, and the DA's office was unable to gather enough evidence to charge her with what Jack was sure was a whole series of child abductions. Whatever she had done, wherever the children had been placed, she had accomplished her task with such skill that they were unable to come up with anything that could lead to a prosecution.
Ultimately, Brenda Hood was charged only with the abduction of Emma Matthews. She served eight months of her sentence and eventually went to work for an adoption agency.
In the days that followed their experience in the cabin, Jack and Samantha continued to draw closer. They had taken a huge, unconsidered step that night. But they were sure of their attraction for one another, sure that the connection they felt was true. As time passed, they found that keeping their private lives separate from work happened just as naturally as the beginning of their affair had. Wrapped in the moment, they thought little of where what they were doing would lead. This was theirs. It provided protection against the world, protection against things they saw and felt and couldn't forget, and from lives not what they had hoped for. Their affair was what they wanted and needed, and there was no question of its rightness or wrongness. A void filled, a need met, kindred hearts...who knew what it was, or what it meant - or what it would lead to? They welcomed its shelter and said thanks.
End Shelter 10/10