Family Ties

Description: Johnny gets a surprise visit from a very close family member. But, he soon finds out that he got more than he bargained for when she interacts with her present life and gets into a little trouble of her own.

CHAPTER FIVE

The sun was shining bright the next day as Laura and Johnny walked through the park; their destination, a political convention for Greg Stillson. Laura had heard of this man from the news. It seemed, to her like he was a pretty honest guy.

"Why did I let Purdy talk me into this?" Johnny asked, letting out an exasperated sigh as he ran a hand through his hair. Reverend Purdy had talked him into teaming up with his organization, which had somehow also made him a Stillson supporter in the public eye. But, that was something that Johnny definitely wasn't. He would poke himself in the eye before he supported Stillson.

"Come on, Johnny. He can't be that bad, can he?" She asked, watching all of the townspeople waiting in anticipation for the politician.

"You've never met him, have you?" He asked, knowing very well that she hadn't.

"Can't say that I have," she answered as a ruggedly handsome man walked up to Johnny and gave him a pat on the back. He was dressed in casual clothes, yet he sported a badge over one pocket.

"Hey, John." He said.

"Hey, Walt. What are you doing here?"

"Purdy wanted me to make sure that nothing would go wrong, today. He wants everything to be perfect." He glanced at Laura and gave a small smile. "You must be Laura. Sarah told me about you." He held out his hand for her to shake.

She took his hand in hers and gave it a small shake. "You must be the husband, then. Am I right?"

He nodded, impressed that she actually figured out who he was. But, then, it wasn't too difficult a thing to figure out. "Yeah. I'm Walt."

They continued their conversation for a few minutes, both Johnny and Walt finding out a few more details about Laura, which surprised them both. She had told them a story about how she had been involved in a homicide case that involved an officer in her precinct. It turned out that he had gotten angry one night and killed his girlfriend. Laura explained how she and her partner figured out that it was the officer and followed to where he was still keeping the body.

It was one of the toughest cases that she had had, but she got through it and made sure that no one else got injured. She had escaped with a few bruises and a part of her arm slashed open with an extremely sharp knife. That was something she never wanted to witness again.

Walt soon left, leaving Johnny and Laura to scan the crowd. Johnny's eyes set on Reverend Purdy, but made sure not to make eye contact. The last thing he wanted was to converse with the reverend about Greg Stillson.

A young man wearing a sharp, brown suit approached the two. "Well, if it isn't my favorite psychic." He said to Johnny.

Both Johnny and Laura turned, which got the man's attention. He examined every inch of Laura that was possible and gave her a sly smile. It was obvious that he found her attractive.

Laura stifled a cringe as he continued to smile at her. She figured this man was Greg Stillson. Now she realized why Johnny didn't like the guy. He was too cocky for her liking.

"Who is this vision of loveliness?" He picked up her hand and placed a gentle kiss on it.

Laura paused before she said anything. She didn't know what to say, she was so disgusted, so Johnny decided to speak for her. "Greg Stillson, Laura Fuller. Laura's my cousin from out of town."

Stillson's smile grew wider as he heard that little bit of information. "It's a pleasure, Miss Fuller."

"It is." She answered, pulling her hand away from him. "And please, call me Laura."

Johnny watched judgingly as Stillson flirted with her and she willingly accepted it. Hell, she was even flirting back. This just wasn't like Laura.

"So, John, it's good to see you. How's my future looking these days?" The two men just laughed, Johnny more cynical than Stillson. It was like it was a big inside joke that Laura didn't get.

She excused herself to let the two talk when she noticed Sarah at one of the tables set up for supports. She figured that the two should make up. They both cared about Johnny greatly and it would be uncomfortable if they both kept arguing over one stupid little thing.

"Hello, Sarah." She said, taking the seat next to the brunette.

Sarah looked up at her and glared. "I have nothing to say to you."

"All right, then I'll just talk… I don't know what I did to you to make you so angry at me, but I'd like to put all of this behind us… for Johnny."

Sarah's eyes softened, but she still didn't believe that this was the same person who had grown up with both her and Johnny. "I want to believe you, but when I got that phone call, all I thought about was how Johnny would react if he ever woke up… You were supposed to be dead."

Laura placed a caring hand over Sarah's. "What makes you think that I am not the same person that you used to build snow-people with in the winter?"

Sarah's eyes softened even more. "You're different. You've changed."

Laura nodded. "Can you honestly tell me that you haven't changed because of Johnny's accident? You can't tell me that witnessing something like that didn't make you want to say 'to hell with everything'… I just changed more so, because he was family to me. After his accident, I wasn't the same person anymore. I had changed. So, I changed my life along with myself. I dropped out of school to become a cop, I changed my hair and the way I dressed. I got my bellybutton pierced and I got a tattoo… People change because of these kinds of things."

Sarah nodded. "Yeah, I know." A small smile crept across her face as something she had said finally hit her. "You really remember making snow-people?"

The blond smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I do… I remember one time Johnny knocked one of the children over, so we got him back by shoving him into this giant snow drift."

The brunette gave a small laugh. "I remember that… But, why did I get that call from your mother about you dying?"

Laura furrowed her brow in confusion. "But that's the thing. My mother doesn't even know about that. I never told her, since she thinks my job is already too dangerous as it is."


Stillson eyed the two women from afar as they chatter and laughed as they talked. It seemed as though he had a new goal to achieve. He had been so eager to get the sheriff's wife into bed, but now he had his eye on someone else.

Laura was the perfect woman for him to conquer. She was gorgeous and seemed a bit strong willed. Though, she did seem to flirt back when he talked to her. But, that could have just been a ploy.

He would worry about that later. All that he was focusing on was the fact that conquering her would be a big plus, since she was Johnny Smith's cousin.

He just couldn't wait to break that spirit of hers. It was a challenge in which he most certainly would be victorious.


Yay, another chapter completed. I promise that Sarah and Laura will be getting along much better now. And I will be incorporating Laura's job and her partner more as the case in New York still needs to be resolved.

Please read and review.