Tru was still furious with Davis when she finally caught up with Harrison who she had set talked into following Natalie early. She was seated across from him in a café opposite the building where Harrison assured her Natalie was visiting.
"I can't believe he told her," she said as she added several spoons of sugar into her drink. "And after I told him not to!"
Harrison was surprisingly silent and eventually Tru realised that he wasn't agreeing with her every point, in fact he wasn't saying anything at all. Instead he was focused on the building across the street with a single-minded intensity that struck Tru as being more about his avoiding her gaze than his diligence to the job at hand.
"You agree with him, don't you?" Tru asked in a quiet voice that succeeded in drawing her brother's attention back to her.
"I can see his point," Harrison replied with a shrug. "And it's not like he knew about her past…"
"I told him not to tell her," Tru repeated again.
Harrison shrugged again, refusing to be drawn into an argument. Tru wondered briefly when he had become the level-headed one and she had become the impulsive and volatile one.
"I know you have this ability to alter the past," Harrison said slowly, as though he was carefully considering his words. "But you can't change what happened that far back. She knows, and even if the day rewinds again she'll still know."
"And I just have to deal with it, right?" Tru asked with a rueful smile.
"Yeah," Harrison nodded. "It's not like you've got any other choice."
Tru nodded in reply and took a drink from her mug, scowling at the overly sweet taste, there was too much sugar in it even for her.
"Davis?" Carrie called out as she walked into the morgue, surprising Davis where he sat at his desk.
"Are you okay?" Davis asked as he jumped up from his seat and took in her pale features and saw the worry etched onto her face that had not been there earlier in the day. It was obvious that the shock of his news had worn off and now fear had taken its place.
"I just wanted some company," Carrie said with a nervous smile. "I keep jumping every time the phone rings, not knowing what to expect, I can't concentrate on my work and…"
Bursting into tears, Carrie collapsed into one of the chairs and Davis walked over to her with a box of tissues, an essential item in any morgue office.
"I've spoken with Tru," Davis cautiously said once Carrie seemed more in control of herself. "She told me what happened yesterday and I told her that you know about her secret."
"What did she say?" Carrie asked as she wiped her eyes.
"She wasn't happy that I told you," Davis admitted. "She thinks I've betrayed her, and maybe she's right."
"I meant about me?" Carrie pointed out. Davis caught her sigh of impatience but could not blame her for it; of course she wanted to know about what had happened to her the previous day. He cursed himself for his stupidity in getting caught up in his own problems instead of concentrating her hers.
"Someone you used to know, someone named Natalie, shot you last night, a revenge attack for your involvement in a black market drugs ring," Davis said, wondering whether he had been too blunt but not knowing how else to tell her. No matter how many times he thought it through he didn't believe there would ever be an easy way to tell someone how they had died the day before, and would again if they didn't take action to stop it.
"Davis, I can explain," Carrie started before Davis cut her off with a raised hand and a shake of his head.
"There's no need," Davis said. "It's in the past and everyone deserves a second chance. You helped the police and I don't need to know anything else. I'll respect your privacy."
"But I need to explain," Carrie insisted before filling Davis in on the story of her not so perfect past.
Davis listened carefully, nodding at the appropriate times, and checking that her story matched that of Tru. Every detail was accurate, nothing was missing and finally when she was done she turned her tear stained face to him before dropping her head into her hands, quietly crying again.
Davis needed no more convincing as he passed her another tissue.
"How's it going?" Richard asked over the phone, without commenting on Jack's very audible sigh at being checked up on.
"I'm just tracking down Natalie," Jack said as he hurried across the busy intersection.
"You're slipping," Richard criticised. "You should have found her before now."
"I only saw a glimpse of her in Carrie's last memory," Jack pointed out.
"The cadaver's last memory," Richard corrected coldly.
"It might help if you told me where Natalie is," Jack pointed out, ignoring Richard's sly insinuation that he was becoming too involved in this rewind.
"I've told you before, you're getting far more help from me than you should need anyway."
"Well how about I find myself a fake ID, pretend to be sent by her Probation Officer, meet you at your office and get her address that way?" Jack asked with as much sarcasm as he could muster. "Or you could just tell me where she lives now, and save me the trouble."
"This is the last time," Richard muttered before giving Jack Natalie's address. Jack grinned into the phone but his words of thanks, sarcastic as they would have been, were cut off by the dial tone as Richard hung up on him.
"Trouble," Harrison said to Tru who was sat in the passenger seat of his car. They had followed Natalie home and had been parked on the opposite side of the street for less than ten minutes when he had spotted the familiar sight of Jack Harper heading in their direction.
"I see him," Tru said as she stepped out of the car and into Jack's path.
"Lovely evening for a walk isn't it Tru?" Jack asked as he approached her.
"Carrie isn't going to be coming here so you're just wasting your time," Tru began as she side-stepped to block his path.
"If you're so sure about that," Jack said before lowering his voice to a dramatic stage whisper and leaning into her ear, "what are you doing here?"
"You could call it hedging our bets," Harrison said from where he had come to stand at the side of Tru."Gambling again Harrison," Jack mocked with a sad shake of his head. "And here I was thinking you'd given up that guilty pleasure."
"Oh I still bet on occasions," Harrison replied with a smile. "I'll bet you anything you like, right now, that Tru will be the one that comes out top today."
"Really Harrison, I don't want to take your money," Jack said with a smile. "Not so easily as that anyway."
"Carrie isn't here," Tru interrupted. "She's not going to be here, and she's not going to die."
"And you're here to make sure that Natalie doesn't go anywhere when her old friend doesn't show up?"
"She's not going to get near her," Harrison stated firmly.
"So blinkered," Jack said with a shake of his head. "Fate doesn't care about the who killed who, where, and with what. All fate cares about is that the outcome is the same."
Tru stood still as she took in Jack's faked expression before swearing and jumping back into the car.
"Harrison," she called to where her brother stood on the sidewalk still determined not to let Jack past. "He's changed things, she's in trouble already, we've got to get going."
Harrison quickly got into the car and started the engine as Tru dialled Davis on her mobile phone and waited impatiently for him to answer.
Jack watched as the car sped away and out of sight before he strolled over the street to Natalie Gallagher's apartment building.
He buzzed through to her apartment and waited for her to let him in. His pocket bulged with the envelope of cash he won at the track that afternoon. Even as he walked up the stairs he wondered whether he was doing the right thing. Richard would say no, he knew that without a doubt. But he was not so sure himself.
Carrie had managed what he hadn't in that she had succeeded in being accepted into the trust of Davis, Tru's greatest ally. With her gone he would be losing to Tru far more frequently. All he had to do was let her live and she would be there to help him work against Tru for months to come.
It was all about balance and sacrifices and this was his game now, not Richard's.
All he had to do was let Tru win this round, without her knowing of course, and then ensure that Natalie disappeared from the picture. He hoped he had won enough money to ensure she forgot about her mission of revenge.
He knocked on the door and waited as Natalie opened it with a suspicious frown.
He knew what Richard would say, but he was not Richard and he wasn't going to tell Natalie where to find her victim.
"They're having takeout at the morgue?" Harrison asked in surprise.
"I thought they were going out to dinner too," Tru replied with a shrug. "I guess they couldn't get reservations."
"But the morgue," Harrison sighed. "Not the most romantic setting for a date."
"Well that's Davis," Tru said gripping the dashboard as Harrison took a corner far faster than she would have liked.
They arrived there in record time and Tru jumped out of the car and ran into the building, Harrison close behind her.
She ran down the corridor to the morgue and into the room where Davis was sat at a table across from Carrie.
"I told you we were okay," Davis said as she came to a slightly breathless halt.
"Are you sure?" Tru asked. "Jack was pretty clear with what he said. Where did you get the food from? Is it safe?"
"The food's fine, Tru," Carrie said as she took a bite of meat. "Why don't you two join us?"
"Yes," Davis nodded. "We can all sit down and talk, the whole team together."
Tru could not stop her sharp intake of breath at his words but bit her tongue as Harrison's calming hand nudged her towards the table.
"Free food," Harrison grinned as he looked at the vast spread across the table. Tru couldn't help but smile at seeing how much Davis had ordered for a dinner for two.
Pulling up a chair she sat down as Davis took his seat again and Harrison settled down and starting helping himself. She wondered what to say, feeling uncomfortable at saying anything in front of Carrie. No matter what Davis said, she was not part of the team and she could not bring herself to trust her.
"Tru?" Carrie said quietly and hesitantly. "I know you don't approve of Davis telling me about your, er, gift, but I want you to know that I'll do everything I can to prove to you that I can really be a part of the team."
"Are there going to be any more surprises from your past?" Tru asked bluntly.
"Tru!" Davis explained with a frown at her and a glance of sympathy towards Carrie.
"It's okay," Carrie said to Davis before turning back to Tru. "No, there aren't any more surprises from my past, that part of my life was over a long time ago and I've moved on now. I've got a new life, loyal friends and I feel like I'm a part of the team already. I know you don't trust me yet, but I hope in time you will."
Tru listened carefully to the speech, sure that it was rehearsed, trying to pick out a thread of insincerity amongst the words, but unable to do so. Nodding she raised her glass to propose a toast.
"To the team," she said, everyone echoing her words as they chinked their glasses together.
Maybe she would come to trust her but until then she would be keeping a very close eye on her new ally.
"Alive and well I see," Jack said as he sat down on a barstool beside her and gestured the bartender over.
"No thanks to you," Carrie muttered, glaring at her co-conspirator.
"Actually it is with thanks to me," Jack said with a smug grin. "Natalie's gone on a trip out of town with a large sum of money to compensate her for her extended troubles."
"What?" Carrie asked in surprise.
"I paid her to leave town," Jack clarified. "She's gone and won't be back any time soon."
"I thought I had to die," Carrie asked, suspicion evident in her voice. "I thought that it was Fate's decision."
"Fate did decide," Jack said, "but I decided otherwise and broke the rules for you. I think you're more valuable to the cause alive than dead."
"And Richard?"
"Richard disagrees," Jack frowned as he remembered his conversation with Richard earlier that morning. To say his mentor was unhappy was a vast understatement but it was too late to alter things now. "I'd stay out of his way for a while if I were you, I know I am."
"You don't think he'd…" Carrie could not bring herself to finish her sentence.
"No, he wouldn't kill you himself," Jack assured her. "The window of opportunity has gone, he knows that and won't take matters into his own hands."
"I guess I'll have to start proving how much more valuable I am alive then," Carrie said as she took a drink. "You can start by telling him that after I was officially accepted into the fold by Tru, she and the others were rather curious as to why Richard was following Natalie in the first place. You might want to warn him to get a cover story ready in case they ask or start looking into things."
"Will do," Jack replied. "See, you're already proving an asset. Richard will soon come round."
"I'm sure he will," Carrie said, before finishing her drink and turning to leave Jack alone in the bar.
The End
A/N - I hope you have enjoyed the first of my second season continuation stories. I have lots more planned if people are interested in reading them so watch this space.