First of all, I'd like to apologize that it's been so long since I've put a chapter up. My one best friend had the baby and her twin sister, my other best friend, is also pregnant. I'm doing her shower as well so we've been doing a lot of planning the last few weeks. Plus, I've begun volunteering at my local hospital's cancer center once a week as a way to honor my grandma, who I was very close to and lost in April due to cancer. So between work, spending time with my friends and honorary niece, shower planning, and volunteering, it's been a bit crazy! The shower is in two weeks so I'll have some more free time to devote to writing after it's over. Please don't lose hope on this story, it's just taking much longer between updates lately. Thanks so much for being patient with me!!! :)

A Cabin in the Bluffwoods

Flynn-

It had been a few days since coming back from Chicago and Flynn had spent it in research mode. He felt a need to be even more meticulous in his planning since these trips began. There was always a huge amount of things that couldn't be controlled, as it always was in life, but he was trying harder to have a better sense of what he was going into now. Especially since everything had a way of going sideways from almost the moment they landed.

He'd diligently tried not to think of Lucy in that time. Unfortunately, during the quiet hours after he tiredly laid his head down, he couldn't control his dreams anymore than he could control the weather. His dreams were filled of Lucy. It wasn't just their time in Chicago that he dreamed about, but everyday things that had never happened; mundane things that he could all too easily picture. Flynn dreamed of Lucy sitting at her desk in her Stanford office grading papers while waiting for meetings with students. He dreamed of her easy smile as she lectured. He dreamed of her being delighted at a new book she found in a bookstore.

Flynn also dreamed of the two of them doing things together. He dreamed of her trying to make a home-cooked meal and him laughing as she pouted at her failure, again. In his surveillance of her these past two and a half years, he'd noticed she hardly ever cooked, and if she did, it was something very, very simple. The thought amused him that this brilliant woman couldn't cook to save her life. He supposed there had to be something she wasn't perfect at. He knew he would enjoy teaching her to cook. It would no doubt take a lot of time, he didn't mind in the least, and burned meals, but he was confident she would eventually learn and become proficient at making his favorite Croation dishes. He dreamed of Lucy sitting on a sofa and reading, so lost in the book that she wouldn't immediately be aware he was in the room. But when she finally did notice his presence, her beaming smile would light up the darkest of places.

Those dreams always made Flynn angry because they brought on feelings of guilt. These were things he shouldn't be dreaming about. His dreams should be filled with Lorena and Iris and their life together. He would curse his subconscious upon waking. It made him want to lash out at the world, as if he wasn't already, and he would attack his research with a new determination. I don't care what that damn book says, I will get my girls back! he would vow. But then his dreams would be of Lucy again and the cycle would repeat itself. It took a toll on his mind and made him weary. He felt like such an old man sometimes, far beyond his years.

Flynn's mind wandered to his phone call to Logan. After he'd had a chance to calm down after they came back from Chicago, he'd held up his end of the deal and given the information about Jessica Logan's murderer. He wondered if Logan had gone to see the man already. Most likely he had. Logan wasn't a man to waste time. He envied Logan that he could look the man who had destroyed his life in the eye. Flynn could only hope that one day he would have that chance, then he could kill the bastard.

His thoughts going down this path were counterproductive to what he needed to be doing so Flynn forcefully redirected his mind to the planning of the next trip. He was going to the Bluffwoods in Missouri, which were deep in Indian territory so he'd need more help than the ever-dwindling group of guys he had. He needed someone from the 1882 time period and could handle himself well with a gun. There was only one person in Missouri in that time Flynn knew who could be of any real help to him: Jesse James.

Jesse James was famous because of his outlaw days in the years following the American Civil War until his death on April 3, 1882. He was shot by Robert "Bob" Ford in the presence of his brother, Charley, in Jesse's own home after eating breakfast together before they were travel to conduct a robbery in Platte City. James was dusting a painting over the fireplace mantle and Bob Ford drew his weapon and shot him in the back of the head. The Ford Brothers had made a deal with Missouri Governor Thomas T. Crittenden. The bounty on James was $5,000. Quite a bit of money for the Ford Brothers and they made the deal for the reward money and immunity from the murder.

The timing would need to be precise, Flynn surmised. If history was correct and James knew the Ford Brothers were about to betray him and let Bob shoot him, then Flynn would need to stop them first. Or, if history was wrong and James didn't suspect a thing, Flynn needed to wait until they were about to shoot him. Guns in their hands would be hard to argue with. It was risky to do this. A second too soon or too late could mean death. That had never stopped Flynn before and it wouldn't this time.

They were lucky that Missouri still had large areas that were undeveloped so there would be no trouble landing and hiding the Mothership. They would just have to hope no hunters came along because they would have to shoot them to keep their location secret. Flynn didn't like the idea of shooting an innocent man just trying to provide himself and maybe his family with dinner. It was another necessary evil in a never ending cycle of "necessary evils." That's all my life is now, Flynn sighed at the thought. Neither Lorena nor Iris would recognize the man he'd become.

Flynn hardened at the thought. All that mattered was that he get them back and to do that he needed whoever was in the cabin in the Bluffwoods of Missouri. Feeling that he'd done all the research that he could and was prepared, he readied himself for the jump to St. Joseph, Missouri and to save the life of Jesse James.

I'm sorry this is so short, but I wanted to get something posted. :)