Tim rarely took hitchhikers, but the little girl was hardly a danger. Oh, sure, she ran away from home. He was absolutely sure about that. But so did he, when he was young. He didn't see anything wrong with that. Home wasn't always a pretty place. She was claiming she was going to see her father. Supposedly the guy was working for a Canadian consulate. Nothing wrong with that kind of job. Tim was seeing his son once per month for an one-hour dinner. He wasn't going to stand in a way. Chicago wasn't exactly on a way to New York, he made couple extra miles.
"Are you naturally predisposed to irritate people, detective, or should I treat this as a personal attack on my person?"
Detective Semanski, the man in question, looked Meg Thatcher in the eye. He even managed to hold her gaze for good five seconds before he checked if his shoes were still clean. Ray Kowalski, who was sitting next to him smiled under his nose. The younger detective had a lot to learn in his life, if he was to survive the dangerous police work.
"Is there a third option?" Semanski managed.
"Certainly. We'll just do it my way." Years of practice taught Meg that when it comes to 'group meetings' the best strategy to end them fast and with reasonable outcome is simply to terrorize everyone.
"Er, Inspector? If I may?" Of course if Fraser happened to be in the meeting that sometimes proved to be considerably more difficult. He was always polite, logical and actually managed, quite often, to make some good points. But he liked to discuss things. She hated long meetings and hours of pointless discussions. Fraser called it democracy. Meg called it waste of time. She just liked things to be done her way. It usually worked out quite fine.
"If you don't mind me saying so, I think Detective Semanski has made some good remarks. Now, speaking from my own experience from two summits that our Consulate was helping to protect so far..." Meg stopped listening. She knew what he would say anyway. That international cooperation is excellent idea, because... well, she wasn't sure why, at the moment, but she knew she was able to explain it if necessary. But it was also an administrative headache. Which of course would cause her to do unnecessary work. NAFTA was up and running for a long time, the meetings that were taking place right now were just for bureaucrats to have a nice dinner. Diefenbaker could probably protect the summit on his own. It wasn't causing as much turmoil as it used to.
She sighed heavily, got up from the conference table and walked to pour herself a cup of coffee. The moment she picked up the cup and the pot, the door to her office opened. That was surprising, she said not to disturb this meeting. Not that it was that important, it's just that if she had to leave the others would have come up with some nonsense while she was gone. That better be good.
Ashley, a young woman who managed to stand being Meg's secretary for two years already, (surprising for both of them) looked at her boss frightened. "Er... I'm terribly sorry to interrupt, but-"
"Daddy!" a little girl's scream from behind startled everyone and made her stop. Eleven year old Caroline run up to Fraser, who stopped his monologue. Although he looked shocked, he picked her up, kissed her and hugged her tightly.
The short moment was broken by the sound of glass braking. Everybody looked at Meg, obviously the cause of it, but she didn't seem to notice neither that her legs were covered in a steaming liquid nor that she was standing in the middle of her conference room with mouth open.
Fraser looked around. Ashley might be a patient secretary, but he knew she was also quite a gossip. So was Detective Semanski for that matter. Some things certainly needed to be taken care of and straightened out. Pretty quickly. "Sir, it appears that I might have a personal emergency. Would you mind if I took the rest of the day off?"
Meg blinked at last. Her first reflex was to say 'of course' but she managed to stop herself. That was too good of a chance. "I gather that you finished your argumentation and that you fully agree with me then?"
"Er, yes, of course, Sir." Ben had to admire Thatcher's technique of negotiation.
"Very well then. You should feel free to leave, Sergeant. Dismissed." Four pairs of eyes watched Fraser hurry out of the office, still carrying the little girl in his arms, Dief at his heels. The neurons in some part of Meg's brain finally got unblocked. "Auuuuu!" she screamed out loud noticing the burning coffee on her legs.
"Oh, honey... are you okay?" Fraser put Caroline on the ground and kneeled besides her.
"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?" she asked curiously.
As Fraser left the conference room waves of emotions were overcoming him. First worry (although logically he didn't have anything to worry about now - she was safely here, he should have worried before, but he didn't know about that fact at the time), then anger (he wasn't sure whom he was angry at), then again relief. Finally he decided he should probably get away from consulate. "Would you accompany for a walk?"
"Okay." she said happily.
When they were away from consulate, Fraser lead them to a bench in the park. They sat down there. "So... Caroline..."
"Yes?" she looked up at him innocently.
"How should I put this... Does your mother know where you are?"
Caroline thought about it for a moment. "No. Not really. Although she knows I would be away." Fraser looked at her expectantly. "Well, I sort of lied..." she was clearly embarrassed about that, which made Ben fell quite good. "I said I had a school trip. You know I really never lie. Well, until now anyway. So they just believed me."
"And are you proud of yourself?" perhaps that wasn't the best time to be giving reprimands, but Ben just couldn't stop himself. A lie was nothing to approve of.
"Well, no. Of course not. But I asked first if I could visit you, but mum said no. And she couldn't really give any reason. Any good reason I mean. She just mumbled something. And she said I should ask you first, but I knew you'd want me. Right?" she looked with hope in her eyes.
"Of course, darling. You know how much I love you." Fraser was smiling like an idiot. He gave her a hug. "But your mother will be really worried. And Matthew."
"Oh, I don't know." Caroline stared at her feet which were kicking the air quite violently.
"Why not?" Fraser knew that this was the problem. Or at least part of it.
"Well, he's really busy taking care of Angela..." she managed quietly.
Oh, dear. Well, we did expect that. We just didn't expect Caroline to run away from home. He hugged her again. "Oh, honey. Mat loves you. You know that."
"Well, yes, I know. Of course. But he's never so... warm with me. So caring."
"Honey." She had a point. Ben knew it. He saw it himself last couple times he was visiting. Matthew was so happy that he and Monica finally had a child, that he seemed to undergo a metamorphosis. He was fixated at his daughter. Sure, he loved Caroline a lot. But since Fraser was around quite a lot, they all knew he was never really a father. And he really wanted to be one. And now he got his chance. The situation was a real mess. Capital 'R', capital 'M'. How could he explain that to an eleven year old? "You know your mother and I love you very much?" Caroline looked at Fraser, she gave him a little nod. "And you know that Mat cares for you a lot." a nod, but joined by roll of her eyes. Fraser decided to let go. "Now, you see, most children can only have two parents. If they are lucky. My mother died when I was six, you know. And then my father was mostly away. And you sort of got two and a half parents and maybe even a bit more. Consider yourself lucky."
Caroline suddenly looked very embarrassed. That was not what he wanted. Not for long anyway. "Come on, princess. Stop sulking."
"I don't sulk!"
"Of course, dear. Now, shall we perhaps try calling Monica? You know, to let her know where you are?"
"I guess..."
They got up and started walking. "So how did you get here?"
Ben sat in a cyber-cafe wearing a headset. Caroline sat next to him, quite fascinated with what was happening around. Fraser logged into consular network, from where he logged onto a server in Russia (it was run by an old friend from the Territories) and then to an anonimizer in India. Finally he dialled a number and they both heard the tone.
"Monica Hazen, how may I help you?" the tone was professional, clearly indicating that it was a busy day.
"Hello. It's Ben." he heard the silence on the other end of the line. The arrangement was clear - if he was calling there was an emergency. He didn't have to say anything. But keeping appearances of a normal conversation in front of Caroline might be a good idea. "And right here, next to me, is someone very special." he gave his daughter an expectant look.
"Hi, mum!" they could hear a heavy, long groan. "I... I wanted to say that I'm sorry." She looked up at Fraser. Clearly there was a discussion about that before. "But I came to visit daddy without telling you." she finished. "I'm okay. Dief is quite fun. He let me play with him and he seems to be happy wearing a scrunchie." Still there was no sound from the other side. "Mum? Are you okay?"
"I'm here honey. Oh, God. I'm glad you're alright. Honey, could you let me talk to your father for a while?"
"He's listening right now, mommy. We're both wearing headsets!" she was clearly proud of that.
"Ah. Well, perhaps you could put another scrunchie on the wolf, honey?"
"Oh, you need to talk alone. That's cool. I'll talk to you later, mum. Don't worry I'm sure daddy will take good care of me! Bye bye!" she took her headset off.
Fraser looked around. It wasn't ethical, he knew, but he knew it'd work. "They have some games in there, darling." he said pointing to a row of computers. "I think they have Sims." Caroline didn't have her own computer. And Mat used his for work quite a lot. Her eyes shined. Ben nodded his permission and she was gone. He motioned for Dief to watch after her. "We're alone." he said to the headset.
"Oh, God, Ben... How did this happen..."
"Well, it appears someone gave her a ride. All the way from San Francisco to Chicago actually."
Monica considered it for a while. "Oh, but it could have been a kidnapper. Or even worse... Oh, I can't even think about it."
"Well, she did ask him before, if that's of any consolation. She asked whether he was a kidnapper, a rapist or any other sort of criminal. She also warned him she is going to see her father, who was a policeman."
"Not much of a consolation, Ben. Oh, God... She never lies you know? I didn't even think of checking if there was a school trip. She never lies." There was a longer pause. "Why did she run away?"
"Er, she was jealous of Angela, I believe." A long heavy silence on the other side was followed by a heavy sigh. "I tried to explain it, but it isn't easy, you know."
"Oh, God. It's my fault. I should have talked with Mat about that. I've seen troubles coming, but he was so excited, I didn't want to ruin it for him. We were trying for so long..."
"I know. It's not your fault. You couldn't have predicted that. Don't blame yourself too much."
"Easy to say, Ben." Monica paused for a long while. The shock started to wear off. "Ben, did someone see her?"
Fraser thought how to brake the news. Probably blunt was the way to go. "She walked in the middle of a conference meeting screaming 'daddy'. An hour ago, at least five people knew, including my superior officer and Ray." after a second he added "Kowalski."
Monica didn't speak for a long while. In her office she put the phone down on her desk and let her head rest on her hands. She could hear sound still coming from the receiver. She glared blankly outside the window at the downtown San Francisco. After a minute she slowly put the receiver back on a base. She picked up her purse and coat and left the office. After half a minute the phone rang again.
"Could you repeat that?" Vecchio couldn't believe his ears. Then his brain switched to the detective-mode and suddenly a lot of past events started to make a lot of sense. "Thanks." he managed to say to the person on the other end of the line. He hung up.
He stared blankly at the phone for a little while. Then he slowly went to the living room of what used to be his home in the past, and what was Fraser's and Frannie's home now. His sister was walking around, trying to get Dorothy to sleep. Robert was playing with LEGO on the floor. Ray was to preoccupied to notice that and almost stepped into a medieval castle. He apologized and turned to Frannie. "Frannie, could I talk to you?" he whispered.
"I think she's just falling asleep. It'll take couple more minutes." Frannie looked into Ray's eyes. So did her mother, who was reading a book on the couch. She got up and took Dorothy from her.
"Okay, we'll be in the kitchen." they left the living room.
Once in the kitchen Frannie asked "Okay, you look like you've seen a ghost. What happened?"
"You better sit down for this." Vecchio said pulling out a chair for her.
"Ray, you're scaring me. Is Fraser alright? Did something happen?"
"Fraser is okay. I mean he isn't wounded or something." He sat next to her. "Frannie a friend from the precinct called. Apparently Fraser has a daughter."
His sister stared at him waiting for more. That seemed to be the news. "I know Ray. I've just put her to sleep. Or was trying to, until you came, anyway."
"No, Frannie. He has another child. She is ten-twelve years old. She came today to the consulate in the middle of a meeting. Fraser took a day off and no one has seen him since. But he seemed to know about her."
Frannie sighed heavily. "Of course he knew about her. Do you think that children just wander around the country finding their long lost parents that have no idea about them?"
Vecchio stared at her in shock. "You knew about this?" he screamed at her.
"Don't scream. Above all don't scream. Yes, I knew about this. Did you think Benton would keep something like that from me?"
"How long did you know?"
Frannie considered her options. The situation seemed to be getting really complicated. "He told me very soon after he found out, Ray. He doesn't keep any secrets from me."
"So you've met her? Who's the mother?"
"No, Ray. I've never met her. Nor her mother."
"Isn't it a bit strange? How old is she?"
"She's eleven." That was a mistake and Frannie knew it the second the words left her mouth. Ray still had some experience from interrogation room and Frannie was never good at keeping secrets. She couldn't go back in time and kick herself in the shin. She watched the look on her brother's face as he was dealing with math. Finally the look of horror overcame the puzzlement on his expression.
"No..." he said with disbelief. He stared at Frannie like she was from another planet. "Do you realize who the mother is?"
"Yes, I realize whom she is, Ray." Ray started to get up. "Sit!" There is a tone of voice that is available only to nasty dictators and mothers. Ray's legs did the work independently of his mind. "Where do you think you're going?" A back of Ray's mind started to wonder automatically whether he perhaps forgot to do the homework.
"Er... To find him? Them?"
"And then what?"
"Well, I didn't exactly thought it through." Ray sit and thought for a moment about the whole situation. "How can you be fine with that?"
"Ray. I have a wonderful husband and children. We're a happy family. Besides that Ben has a daughter and visits her sometimes. Her mother... well, her mother is not the world's nicest person. Fine. But she's different now. Ben said she's got her revenge and she's done. She's married, Ray. They just had a child. She has a new life."
"Oh! Sure! Now you'll tell me she's Mother Teresa, saving orphans and all. I know her, I've seen her, I was there when it all happened. You haven't slightest idea about Victoria."
"So what do you want to do? You want to put her in prison? You want to tell her husband about her past? Tell her children? Ruin her life, that she's got now? Yes, that makes perfect sense. Afterwards, I'll just sleep soundly every single night for the rest of my life." Frannie's stopped her outburst for a moment. "The only reason that I've never met her, is that Ben's been afraid what you'll do if you find out. It's the only reason that he kept it secret from everyone for all these years. That's why I'm not expecting him back here for tonight, since you're visiting."
Ray felt a lot of things. Anger was definitely one of them. How could Fraser do that to his family and his sister? Bastard. But then some things that Frannie said started to sink in. He suddenly felt a bit embarrassed. In the end it was Ben's child. And Ben was family. "What's her name?"
"Caroline."
Vecchio was quite shocked. "She named her after Fraser's mother?" He sighed heavily and got up. He held a hand up before Frannie started to protest. "Don't worry Frannie. I'll try to make it right." He gave her a kiss and left the kitchen.
Mat was really confused. He was standing inside the Emeryville train station looking at the schedule. Angela (Thank God!) was sleeping peacefully in the baby carrier. The whole situation didn't make any sense to him, but Fraser seemed to be very serious. He was so sure where Monica would go, although he claimed she didn't tell him. Matthew was finding this whole situation quite abstract and bizarre. Besides the train towards Chicago wasn't leaving until tomorrow morning. It wasn't even standing on a platform yet. It just didn't make any sense.
Although he had to admit that his wife's behavior was a bit unorthodox today. According to her secretary she left early without saying a word to anyone. The secretary described it as dream-walking. Matthew took the fact that Caroline ran away (Well, not really away. She just wanted to see her father.) quite hard, but she was definitely safe now, there was nothing to worry about. Something caught his attention in the corner of the eye. A woman looking very familiar was walking towards the platforms. He followed her.
He went up to the platform just before she reached the door of the train. "Monica!" he screamed after her and started running. Monica stopped dead in her tracks and looked back. Mat caught up with her. She seemed quite shocked. "Honey, what's happened?" She just stared at him. Then she looked down at their daughter sleeping peacefully in front of her husband. She sighed and looked away. A tear started to roll down her cheek. "What is it?" His mind started to absorb the situation around him. "Why would you want to go to Seattle? What's going on."
But Monica didn't say anything. She just sobbed. He hugged her. "How did you find me?" she managed after some time.
"Benton called. He said to come here and stop you. What happened? Did he do something to you?"
Monica laughed bitterly. "No, Mat. No. He didn't."
"Then what's going on? Where were you going?"
She looked at her husband and daughter again. "Nowhere." She kissed him. "Let's go home."
"Why can't we stay at your home?"
Fraser looked at his daughter. There was no easy way of explaining this. They were walking down the street towards Ray and Maggie's apartment. "Honey, you know how mum has a new husband?"
"New? I thought she wasn't ever married before?"
"Well, no. No, she wasn't. What I mean is... That's not important. The important thing is that, as you know, your mother and I are not together."
"You're trying to tell me you have a girlfriend? That's okay, I know all about that."
"All about what?"
"Well, when boys like girls they do things together."
"What kind of things?"
"Oh, I don't know. Like go to the movies."
"Oh, that kind of things. That's good. Really good. Er, yes, well, I don't have a girlfriend, I have a wife. I'm married."
"Oh. Well that's good. I wouldn't want you to be old maid. So can I meet her?"
"That's not everything. I also... Well, you also have a brother and sister."
Caroline stopped and eyed him suspiciously. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I have two more children. With my new wife. Her name is Francesca. Your brother's name is Robert, after your grandfather. He's five. Your sister's name is Dorothy. She's one. And a half."
Caroline stared at him, thinking. "You could have told me earlier."
"I know, I'm sorry. I didn't know you'd be here."
"So, why can't we go to your home and meet them?" Fraser sighed. "Are you ashamed of me?"
"Oh, honey, of course not. You know how proud of you I am."
"So what? I'm like a secret or something?"
Fraser hesitated. "Well, sort of. Francesca knows about you, but no one else does."
"How come?" The hurt look on Caroline's face was tearing Ben's heart apart.
"Well, when... Let's just say that when me and mum were together, your mum did some mean things to Francesca's family."
"What kind of mean things?"
"I can't really tell you. Maybe when you're a bit older."
"Oh, great." Caroline hated being patronized. "So what, they're still mad at her?"
"Possibly."
"Possibly?"
"Yes."
"You mean, you don't know."
"Well... No, not really. But I'd say there's very high chance they are."
"Well, couldn't mum just apologize? And we could meet together or something?"
Ben sighed. "No, honey, it's not that simple. Can we go, please? Ray is my best friend. And you know Maggie, she loves you a lot."
"I guess..." she was clearly disappointed.
Ray Kowalski entered his apartment. "Hi Maggie!" he shouted.
"Hi!" came from the kitchen. She came out to give him a kiss. "Ben called. They'll be staying over tonight. They should be here in an hour or so."
Ray stared at her in disbelief. He was trying to think of a gentle way to break this news to his girlfriend for half a day. "You mean you knew about his daughter?"
"Oh, sure." she walked back to the kitchen.
After couple seconds of standing in silence he followed her to the kitchen. "And you didn't tell me?"
"Benton asked me not to tell anyone."
"Well, alright, but it's me. I mean, I'm your boyfriend, he's my partner... I think I deserve to know."
"Could you chop the onions, please?"
"Am I talking to myself here?"
Maggie looked at Ray and smiled. "Ray, I'm sorry. It was for the best this way."
"What do you mean? How old is she anyway? Who's the mother? What's her name?"
"You don't know? I thought Ben would tell you everything once you've met her."
"I didn't 'meet' her. She ran into the conference room at the consulate today screaming 'daddy' and jumping on Fraser and before I could speak again, after the shock, Fraser was gone having taken a day off."
"Oh. Sorry, I didn't know. Her name is Caroline, she's eleven. Her mother is..." Maggie hesitated. Well, he'd figure it out anyway. "Victoria Metcalf."
"That witch?" Ray screamed. Further realizations dawned on him. "You mean Fraser knows where she is? And he didn't arrest her?"
"Oh, calm down. A statute of limitations on her crimes kicked in two years ago anyway."
"Not on murder."
"Ray, she killed a con. Sort of in self defense anyway."
"That's not what Vecchio told me."
"Vecchio is not the most objective person when it comes to this case, Ray. Besides Ben wouldn't testify against her. And from physical evidence he's more guilty then her. All you do if you arrest her is that you'll ruin her life, Ben's life and their daughter's."
"Huh?"
"If RCMP finds out he was covering up for her for six years, it won't do any good for his career, will it?"
Ray stared at her in shock. "I can't believe I'm hearing this! You two are the most by-the-book officers I've ever met. You're practically insane with rules. It's almost as if you enjoy bureaucracy! And now that?"
Maggie looked away. "I'm not happy about this Ray. But it's my brother. She's his daughter, his flesh and blood, my flesh and blood. What am I supposed to do? Arrest him?"
"You could tell the authorities about whereabouts of Victoria..."
"That'll do no good. Ben is really afraid what would happen if she went to jail because of him. I don't understand him here, but... I respect that."
Kowalski gave it a little thought. "Actually, after what Vecchio told me, I can understand Fraser quite well."
It was few days later and Fraser parked the car in front of Monica and Matthew's apartment.
"Well, we're here."
"Yeah." Caroline looked up nervously. "I'm sort of afraid."
"Honey, just be honest. They'll understand, just apologize. Come on, Dief and I will both be there."
They went upstairs and rang the bell. Monica opened the door. Caroline jumped into her arms. "Oh, sweetie, I've missed you so much." She carried her inside. "You scared the hell out of me, you know that."
"I'm sorry. I really am. I just wanted to see dad."
"I know. It's okay."
"Where's Mat?" Fraser asked.
"He's at work. Please come in. So, how did you like Chicago?"
"It's really nice. It's not as hot as here." That was clearly an advantage. "I've met so many people! I've met Frannie and Robert and Dorothy and Uncle Ray and Ma and Ray. And I've seen Maggie again. And daddy took me to so many places!"
Monica looked at Fraser horrified. He mouthed a silent 'later'.
Some time later Caroline was using one of her few chances to surf the web, while Fraser and Monica were preparing lunch. "So, Ben, I'm freaking out here. What happened?"
"Well, I'm not sure how it happened, but it seems to be alright..."
She looked at him. "What do you mean?"
"I think Francesca had a good long talk with her brother. He was visiting us. Later, me and Caroline, we were staying at my sister's place and he came over and said that we're family and we should stay at home. That family should stick together."
"Doesn't he know I'm her mother?"
"Oh, he knows. We just don't speak about it. He seems to be fine with it. In the end it's been a long time ago."
"Oh, Ben, I see where this is going. You'll want us all to meet and get along. The world doesn't work this way."
Fraser looked up at her sternly. "I'm forty six. I'm not a kid. I'm pretty sure that if Ray ever sees you he'll shoot first and then ask questions. But he liked Caroline quite a lot. And she likes him too. She got along with Francesca quite good as well. So don't worry. As long as you don't come to Chicago, or visit Florida, everything is going to be fine."
"Are you sure?"
"No."
"Ben!"
"I'm not. What can I say? The moment Caroline entered Consulate screaming 'daddy' and jumped on me, there wasn't much I could've done."
They worked in silence for a while. Fraser was chopping tomatoes and mushrooms, while she was frying onion and bacon. "I wanted to thank you." she said.
"For what?"
"For telling Mat to go and get me. You scared the hell out of him. Especially with that 'whatever happens under no circumstances contact the police' stuff. He thought I was in real trouble." After a while she added "Which I sort of was. I can't lose my family Ben. It means too much to me."
"Don't worry. I'd have found you even if you left." She looked up to notice him blink to her.
"You flatter yourself."
"No, no. Between my brain and Diefenbaker's nose, you don't stand a chance."
It was some time later and all five of them, or six, if you count Diefenbaker, decided to go to the beach. It was late May, so it was warm enough. Matthew, Monica and Angela stayed under a large umbrella, while Ben and Caroline enjoyed the sun. Francesca seemed to like when his skin was getting a bit darker and he didn't mind. He couldn't do it too often of course. He'd go bankrupt spending all his money on the sun lotion. But he didn't mind a sunbathe once in a while.
Monica glanced at them. Mat who was sitting in between followed her gaze. Ben chose this moment to rotate onto his stomach. Midway through his movement he heard a loud gasp from behind. He looked back. "Is something wrong?" he asked curiously. Monica was looking the other way. It seemed some sand got into her eyes.
Matthew looked surprised between his wife and Ben. "What's that thing on your back."
"The thing on my back?"
Caroline looked at her father whose back was currently facing her. "Oh, yeah. Right here!" she said touching old bullet wound.
"Oh." Realization dawned on Fraser. "Oh. It's, uh, a bullet wound."
His daughter was fascinated. "You got shot?"
"Well, yes. Many times actually."
Mat was staring at Ben with a mixture of admiration and horror. Caroline was showing signs of curiosity available only to children. "Really? How many?"
"Er... Let's see." Ben was running a commentary while showing the places the bullets hit him. It might be shallow but the look of admiration on his daughter's face was worth it. Besides he was taking all these bullets for someone. "Twice in the right leg, once in the left shin, once on right arm, but that was just a graze really. And the one in the back."
"What's that?"
"Oh, I've been stabbed here."
"And that?"
"Oh. That. A dead otter was frown at me."
Everybody stared at him in shock. "Pardon?" Mat managed at last.
"An otter was flung at me. It was dead at the time. It was shot before. A local bully, so to say, had thrown it, the whole school was afraid of him. He shot the otter first and then he thrown it at a friend of mine, but I pushed her out of the way. Unfortunately I didn't predict the trajectory to well and it hit me."
"That's unusual to say the least."
"Why, thank you kindly." Ben really didn't like telling that story.
Caroline was first to recover from the surrealism of the described situation. "So why is that scar at your back different from the other ones. It's darker and bigger."
Fraser took a look at Monica. She was looking in the opposite direction. "That one was pretty bad. I lost lots of blood and was recovering a long time." Significant pause. "The bullet's still in me."
"Does it hurt?" Sarcastic part of Monica's brain was starting to wander whether Caroline and Fraser prepared that gig on their way over here.
"No, not really. Only sometimes, when I overuse my back, a little. It's stuck there for good so there's nothing to worry about." He said to calm his daughter. He looked at Monica and decided he might as well cut her some slack. "Let's go swimming?" he asked Caroline.
"Sure!"
Matthew watched them run for the ocean and play in the watter. Apparently no wolf was happier than a wet and dirty wolf. Then he looked at his wife. She had an uneasy look on her face. "It's his job, he's a policeman. It comes with the badge. Sure, he's got more than most. But when I think about it, doesn't surprise me. Did you google him?"
"Huh?"
"Did you look him up on the Internet? He's some kind of local hero. He's saved the city couple times. Once from a nuclear disaster or something. He made cover of 'Chicago Guardian.' He's kind of local minor celebrity. Some things sound almost impossible. There was this case when he was catching Russian spies and intercepted some huge load of machine guns and in the middle of it he had to take part in ballet as a cover. The critics thought it was part of a performance. He got great reviews. There's a whole website devoted to him. Although most of the crazy stuff he did is from some years ago. Recently he seemed to calm down a bit. Maybe it's the marriage?"
Monica stared in shock. "I had no idea." She still seemed troubled.
"So don't worry. He seems to be invincible. I'm surprised he got this one bullet which is stuck in his back. He seems to be managing to avoid others quite well."
"You don't understand..." she bit her tongue.
"What do you mean?"
Monica stared at sea in silence for a long while. "That bullet was meant for me."
"Why didn't Frannie want to come?" Caroline just couldn't understand why someone wouldn't want to come and visit the North. It was so beautiful up here. They've been here for almost four weeks already and she loved it. She was sad they had to go back home.
"Francesca doesn't like the Territories." Fraser couldn't fully hide his disappointment about this, but he did it quite well anyway.
"Why?"
"Because it's cold and barren landscape? I'm not sure. Probably she doesn't like it for the same reasons I love it. But it's different for me. I've been brought up here. I'm really happy you like it so much. I was afraid you'd hate it."
"I love it!" They were hiking up a hill and Fraser almost couldn't keep up with Caroline. This was really unacceptable. Sure, he was carrying all the equipment. But that didn't justify him. He was only forty six! His father at this age was walking day and night chasing criminals in much worse conditions. He surely wouldn't have problems keeping up with an eleven year old girl.
I'm telling Dief all the time that city makes him soft. Perhaps I should keep telling that myself. "I don't particularly enjoy shopping in big malls. They say that opposites attract. While that might not exactly be true, unless you speak of electrical charges... that's not important. Two people who are the same, couldn't stand each other in a marriage. It's the differences that make it interesting and let it sustain the test of time."
"So you're saying is that you let Frannie shop, and she lets you come up here and wander through the wilderness, as long as you don't make her come here?"
"I wouldn't put it like that. But, sort of... I don't really like shopping anyway."
"I can understand that."
"Okay, we'll stop here for a second."
His daughter looked around. "But we're almost home. It's twenty minutes down there, isn't it?"
Ben was surprised. "Who taught you topography?"
"What do you mean?"
"How do you know how to use the map?"
"What's there to know? It's all written here." she said pointing to the legend.
He looked at her catching azimuth on the mountain opposite. "And who taught you how to use compass?"
"What's that?" she looked up from the map which was by now lying spread on the ground pressed down with four stones and Caroline was kneeling in front of it trying to find their location. "I think we're here."
"That's right. Three hundred meters due north from where you're pointing, actually. How do you know how to catch azimuth?"
"How to catch what?"
"Azimuth. That's what you've just done. You measured a real angle from some point which you can name to the north and then placed it on the map. How do you know how to do that?"
"It's called azimuth? I didn't know. I just figured if I do that I can position myself."
"That's... That's quite impressive. I'm proud of you."
"Thanks, dad. So why are we stopping here?"
"Oh. I wanted to show you something. Come." They went up a steep hill that they were transversing till now. They stopped after few hundred meters. "I think it's here. But it's been so many years. And the landscape is changing a bit every winter."
"Why are we here?"
"I wanted to show you this place. It's where you're grandfather died."
"Oh." she looked around at nothing by wilderness. "What happened?"
"He was going to reveal a fraud scheme. A friend of his, who was in on it, ordered a hit. He was shot."
Caroline stood in silence for a while. "That's terrible." Ben just nodded. "What happened to this man who killed him?"
"The man who killed him is dead. The one who ordered to kill your grandfather killed him to cover it all up. The one who ordered the hit is doing life sentence in prison."
"Did you catch him?" Ben nodded. "I'm sure grandfather would appreciate it."
Fraser couldn't help but smile. "He did." They stood in a comfortable silence listening to the wind blow around them. "Let's go home. I don't know how about you, but I'm getting hungry."