So here is another chapter. Hope everyone is doing OK out there. Stay safe!

Chapter 16

Ruby was speechless. The only words that formed in her head were the words Oh and Fuck.

"Mrs. Hill?" asked Agent Turner again.

Ruby snapped out of her reverie. She needed to get her shit together. "Agent Turner!" she smiled, managing to keep a quiver out of her voice. "What a nice surprise", she continued, channeling her inner Stepford Wife. "I'm sorry I thought it was my daughter, Sara. Please. Do come in".

Agent Turner gave her an appraising look, smiled a little, and stepped through the doorway.

"I'm sorry I have a sick child at home, so I won't be able to talk for long", she smiled, as she beckoned him into the kitchen. "Can I get you a cup of coffee, Agent?"

Turner gave her a smile that didn't reach his eyes and replied, "coffee would be heaven, Mrs. Hill".

Ruby gave a flick of her hand and smiled sweetly, "Oh, please. Call me Ruby".

They stood for a moment, smiling pleasantly at each other, like two predators each waiting for the other to make a move.

A few seconds later, Agent Turner broke the silence, "sugar", he said.

Ruby tilted her head "excuse me?"

Turner smiled again, "I take one sugar. You know, in my coffee".

"Of course!" exclaimed Ruby, "sorry I'm not sure where my head is at this morning". She turned to pour the coffee.

"You're probably worried about Beth, aren't you?" suggested Turner, in a tone that made the hairs stand up on the back of Ruby's neck.

Ruby turned around, a faint quizzical look set on her features, masking the terror she was starting to feel. She turned around, and decided she was done playing.

"You keepin' tabs on us, Agent Turner?" she asked, eyebrows raised.

Agent Turner reached out and gently took the cup from Ruby. Ruby wasn't sure if that was a calculated safety precaution on his part.

"Well, let's just say you three are very intriguing, to a guy like me. I always keep up to date with some of my more interesting… cases", he smiled, deliberately leaving a large pause to allow Ruby to fill in the gap.

Suspects, she thought, he was going to say suspects. Her spidey-senses were tingling.

"Well I'm flattered", she said with a pale smile. "So, what can I do for you, Agent Turner? Like I said, my son is ill, so I need to make this quick."

Turner blew into his cup, causing the aroma of coffee to flood Ruby's senses. He took a sip and gave Ruby another smile. "I think you know why I'm here", he said.

Ruby tilted her head, trying to remain calm yet a voice inside her head was screaming, oh shiiiiiiiiiiit. "I'm sorry, you know mindreading isn't one of my skills", she replied smoothly.

Turner licked his lips, putting Ruby in mind of a snake, poised to strike. He let the silence draw out between them. "Well, I want to talk to you about your husband, of course", he finally said with an insufferable grin.

"Stan?" asked Ruby, her voice sounding strange to her ears, almost squeaky. "What about him?" she continued, getting a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Well I hear that he is still in the doghouse after all that business a few months back. I thought I would touch base with you – see how he was doing. He seems like a good cop – I could put a good word in, you know". Turner let the sentence hang in the air as he took another sip of coffee. "If you like…", he concluded, flashing Ruby another disingenuous smile.

Ruby held her breath. She couldn't believe what Turner was suggesting. He wanted her to spill her guts to him to give Stan a career boost. She then considered the other implications of this – a thinly veiled threat.

She opened her mouth to give him a few choice words but was interrupted by Harry. "Momma? I'm thirsty" said the little boy, tugging at her sweater. Ruby looked down and gave Harry a big smile. "Okay honey, I'll fix you something". Harry went back though again, seemingly oblivious to the drama unfolding around him.

This interruption gave her the reprieve she needed. "Agent Turner, I'm sorry but I will have to continue this conversation another time", she smiled, taking the cup from his hands.

Turner raised his brows and looked her up and down. No doubt trying to reassert his dominance over the situation. "Of course," he replied and turned towards the kitchen backdoor.

Ruby could feel herself trying to keep it together, just wanting him to leave. To get the hell out of her house.

Turner grasped the door handle and made to leave. He paused in the doorway, turned around and gave Ruby another smug grin, "oh by the way, you forgot the sugar".

Ruby gave an awkward chuckle, and Turner chuckled too. It was pretty fucking surreal, Ruby thought. Suddenly Turner stopped chuckling, his eyes as cold as steel as he delivered his parting shot, "we'll talk again real soon, Ruby". He closed the door.

Ruby held her breath and counted to ten. Surely, he had left by now? She sat down heavily at the kitchen counter. Shuddering breaths, tears forming in her eyes. She sobbed as quietly as she could so as not to wake Stan or alert Harry to her distress.

"Momma?" asked Harry, "can I have some juice pleeeeaase". Ruby took a deep breath and swallowed down all the panic, the tears and the fear. Time to put her Mom face back on. "Yes honey", she replied, "I'm on it".

Annie and Noah sat on the bed, entwined in an embrace.

"Okay", said Noah patiently. "I like hugs as much as the next guy, but you've been hugging me for the past 10 minutes and still not said a word. Can we please talk?"

Annie sighed. She didn't want to talk. She just wanted to stay like this. Forever. Nothing but trouble followed whenever she opened her mouth. It was better this way.

"Annie? Hello? Earth to Annie?", asked Noah, breaking their embrace and trying to gain eye contact.

"I don't wanna" pouted Annie. She was afraid of what she might say if she started talking. How Noah would react. What Noah might do. What Rio might do.

"Annie…", said Noah softly, kissing her gently. "You know you can tell me anything".

"I don't know if I can… tell you this", replied Annie hesitantly.

"Of course you can" said Noah, rubbing her shoulders.

Annie looked up into his gorgeous eyes and sighed. "Just. Just give me a sec", she said. She wanted to take in this moment – the moment before all hell probably broke loose. She wanted to remember Noah looking at her this way.

A minute or two went by. Noah frowned and looked perplexed "are you actually going to say anything… or?"

Annie took a deep breath "Noah… we might be kind of fucked. Turner is after us again".

Dean stood staring at Rio, in a state of shock.

Rio waited a few seconds to see if Dean would snap out of it. He did not. Rio nodded, realizing he needed to take control of the situation. He sighed and pulled down his hoodie, revealing his face fully.

"Okay Dean, this is what's going to happen. I'm going to come inside your house now, because we need to talk and it ain't smart doing this on your doorstep". He gently pushed his way past Dean and entered his apartment.

He turned around to see Dean still standing at the door, like a statue, staring into the space where Rio had occupied a few seconds earlier.

Oh man, thought Rio, he almost felt sorry for the dude. He walked over and gently pulled Dean back inside and closed the door, standing face to face. Rio took a deep breath and said "Dean". There was no response. Rio tried again, placing his hands on his shoulders "Dean".

Dean finally looked up, as if awoken from a particularly nasty dream. His eyes darkened with rage and fear "you've got some fucking nerve showing up here", he hissed. "You fucking ruined my life, and now – what – you're coming here to kill me? Finish me off? Well I can tell you something hombre, I ain't going down without a fight!"

Dean swung at Rio and hit him on the chin and Rio's head snapped violently to the side with the force of the punch. Dean yelped as pain shot up through his fist and towards his wrist, "motherfucker!" he cried.

Rio felt a burst of pain and disorientation and the taste of blood in his mouth. He took a second to center himself, rubbing his chin. He gave Dean an appraising look. He was almost impressed at this new Dean – he didn't know he had it in him. Rio walked over to Dean's sink and spat out the blood collecting in his mouth and gave his teeth a quick once over. Just a cut.

He turned around to see Dean gripping the hand he just punched Rio with, still turning the air blue with profanity.

"I'm impressed, Dean. Not a bad punch", Rio said rubbing his chin again.

Dean looked up and shouted "What the fuck do you want from me? Haven't you already taken everything? What else can you possibly want with me?!"

"Let's get some ice on that hand, then we'll talk", replied Rio, calmly. He walked over to Dean's freezer and found an ice pack and handed it to Dean. "Sit down". He then turned to pick up the whisky bottle he spotted as he came in, topped up Deans glass and poured one for himself.

Dean eyed him warily as Rio handed him his glass. Rio grabbed a chair, spun it round and sat down, arms resting on the backrest. How can he look cool just sitting down on a fucking chair?, thought Dean irritably.

Rio drank deeply from his glass. "Nice scotch", he murmured.

"Thanks", replied Dean, and not quite knowing what to do, took a deep drink from his own glass.

"Dean. We need to talk", sighed Rio. "Elisabeth is in deep shit".