A Fresh Start
Chapter Seven
Washington DC, NIS Headquarters
She is standing behind her desk in her office. For the last few nights, she stayed at the center in case the situation changes with Richard. After leaving St. Petersburg she had spent six months in Europe, moving from town to town, country to country until she was sure that he was safe and then she had gone home, arriving just in time to see her mother before the cancer took her.
As much as she hated being with her family again, it was the safest place for her, because as much as they pretend to hate her, everyone in that town would have given their lives for her, Russian mob or not, lost soul or not. After her mom had died she had left for the last time.
Moving up to Nashville, she enrolled in Med School and settled into civilian life, about six years into medical school a former agent was brought into the Med Center after being shot in a raid, that's how she became involved with the agency again. The agent recognized her and notified headquarters that she was still alive.
After Med school, residency and internships, she moved to Washington and went to work at NIS Headquarters after stipulating that, she would not return to field work. She couldn't take the chance that they would find her. She hated to leave Jeffrey behind, but there was no other way to protect him. Her cover was blown.
How the Russian mob had found out that she was an agent for the US. Government and helping the Soviet Government crack down on illegal crime in the country she never figured out, but when she had gone to work that day and Sasha had told her that they knew. She knew she had to protect Jeffrey.
"You have to go." Sasha said when she had walked into the club.
"Why, what's going on?" Rebeca asked.
"They know. He knows your government."
"How?"
"I don't know, but he knows. If you want to stay alive you have to leave, leave St. Petersburg, leave the country, whatever you have to do, but you have to go."
"What about..." She almost asked about Jeffrey.
"Your American friend, I don't know. I didn't hear anything mentioned about him, but if Victor sees you two together, he's going to know that he's involved as well."
"I can't leave him."
"You have too." Sasha had insisted, pulling Rebeca out of the club. "Here." She said, pushing into her hand a set of keys. "Drive south out of town about twelve minutes, there's a house sitting back off the road, wait for me there."
"Why are you doing this?"
"Because, I'm not going to let Victor hurt another lady." Sasha replied quickly, looking over her shoulder towards the club. "Go." She said, pushing Rebeca towards the car. "And don't call anyone; don't tell anyone, especially not your American friend. They have your phone tapped and the apartment is being watched."
"How do they have my cell phone tapped, it's a gove…"
"I don't know, but they do, now go." Sasha said, turning and walking back into the club.
Rebeca stared after her for a few seconds. She was completely freaked out. She wanted desperately to go back to the apartment but she was terrified they were watching her and that would put both of them in too much danger not to mention compromise the investigation. And if there was one thing that was drilled into her when she was in the Academy was that the mission always came first, partner or no partner, lover or no lover.
Slipping into the car, Rebeca had followed Sasha's instructions. She pulled up at house about twelve minutes later. Getting out, she looked around for several seconds before she walked up to the house, her heart beating against her chest. "What if this is a set up? What if Victor is waiting for me on the other side of that door?" She almost turned around and got back into the car, but then a picture of Jeffrey being tortured and killed because she had betrayed him flashed in her mind
Reaching out, she slowly tried to door handle, hoping deep inside that the door would be locked. It wasn't, the door swung open slowly when she released the knob. She stood there for a couple seconds waiting to see if anyone would come to the door. Nothing happened, as silence filled the air. Slowly she took a step inside, closing the door behind her.
She stood in the entrance way for several minutes, letting her eyes adjust to the dim light before she took a step into the main room. The house was rather run down. It looked like no one had lived there for probably ten years. The furniture was ratted and old; the carpet was well worn in spots. And the house smell of stale un-circulated air, it was stifling hot in the house as well. Slowly she walked over to one of the windows, testing it. She raised it about inch to let in some fresh air, afraid to open it more in case it brought attention to the house. Looking around, she realized that at one time someone had lived here.
As she walked through the house, the feeling that someone lived in the house haunted her. When she reached the kitchen, she was sure that someone lived there when she opened the cupboards and found boxes of food in them along with cans of non-perishable vegetables all with the government seal still on them.
On the east side of the living room was a broken down couch, in the corner beside that was a recliner. Along the west wall was bookshelves filled with books, covered in layers of dust. In the northeast corner of the room was a small television set, walking over to it, Rebeca flipped it on and the house was filled with Russian programming. Turning it off, she thought "Why didn't I take the time to learn a little bit of Russian before I came over here?"
Her job at the club, didn't require her to know how speak the language. Being on stage, she had limited contact with the audience. Half the time they didn't even pay attention to her, except for Victor. There had been several times in the last six months that she had to fight off his advances. None of which she told Jeffrey about, she knew exactly what he would do, and she couldn't let him blow the operation because of jealous rage.
"Maybe that's how they figured out that I was undercover, because I wouldn't take Victor up on any of his offers." Rebeca thought.
She is still standing at the window when someone softly taps on the door to her office before opening it.
"Lt. Col." The nurse says.
"Yes." Rebeca replies, turning from the window.
"His fever spiked again."
"How high?"
"103, ma'am."
"Okay, up the dose of antibiotics and keep me informed."
"Yes ma'am." The nurse backs out of the room.
"What happened?" She thought, turning back to the window. For the last six months he had been stable and then in the last two months he's had repeated bouts with staph infections. "I'm afraid if this continues he'll die." She says to and empty room, turning away from the window she walks back over to her desk and picks up Richard's file.
Up to that point he hadn't shown any indication that his body was shutting down, but the continual infections were beginning to worry her. Getting up, she walks out of her office and down the hallway to the elevator, nodding to another doctor as she went. Pushing the button, she waits for the elevator.
Jeffrey, William, Cassie and the boys hang out at the palace most of Sunday afternoon until William had to get ready for a state function, promising that he would return as soon as he could possible break away. He left Jeffrey, Ava, Cassie and the boys in the pool. Ava is playing in the shallow end with RJ and Will as Cassie swims over to Jeffrey.
"Are you okay?" She asks
"I'm fine, why?"
"Because you been quiet today."
"I got a lot on my mind."
"Any more dreams" Jeffrey looks away but doesn't reply.
"You have had more." Cassie says, moving till she's in his line of view.
"Yes.".
"Maybe…"
"I don't want to talk about this Cassie. My dreams aren't your problem. They'll go away in time." Jeffrey says, pulling himself out of the water and walking over to one of the lounge chairs. Cassie follows him.
"Jeffrey, I'm not trying to pry. I want to help. I had dreams about Richard for awhile after he … after the accident. And they seemed so real to me and then I would wake up and I would realize that he wasn't there and it felt like losing him all over again. I can imagine this is how you feel now."
"What I feel is frustrated? I've accepted that she's not coming back, she's dead. I can understand dreaming about her right after she disappeared; in fact I did, but now. It's been over twelve years since we were together. I don't understand why I'm dreaming about her now."
"I don't know, unless you haven't really accepted that she is dead."
"Of course, I have. I've moved on."
"Have you? We both know that you go from girl to girl. You never let anyone close to you."
"I let you get close to me." Jeffrey replies. "And I let Marah."
"That's two women in twelve years Jeffrey, how many have you known since she left?"
"I don't want to talk about this."
"All I'm saying is that maybe your mind is forcing you to face the fact that she's gone, and forcing you to admit that you haven't accepted that she's dead."
"I'm going to go for a walk." Jeffrey says, getting up as Ava walks up.
"Where are you going?" She asks, as Jeffrey walks by.
"I need to be alone." Jeffrey replies, walking away as she looks down at Cassie.
"He's got a lot on his mind."
"Yeah, and that woman is keeping him up too."
"He told you…"
"No, he played it off, but whatever, or whoever she is. It's really got him messed up." Ava says, sitting down beside Cassie.
"Your father is a good man." Cassie says, watching Jeffrey walk away.
"Yes, he is. So why did you let him go?" Ava asks.
"It's a long story, some of which even I don't understand. I'm going to get RJ and we're going to go back to the villa. Will needs to get settled down for school tomorrow."
"Alright." Ava replies, as Cassie gets up and walks over to the pool.
"RJ, come on. We need to go."
"But mom, we're…"
"No, Will you come too." Cassie says, motioning for the boys to get out of the pool, which they did reluctantly."
A few minutes later, Ava is alone. Laying back against the lounge she closes her eyes, soaking up the afternoon sun. She isn't sure when she fell asleep, but someone lightly shaking her, woke her up.
"Ms. Peralta." The maid says.
"Yes." Ava replies, sitting up.
"Ma'am, the doctor is here to talk to his highness, but I told him that he's not in the palace. He asked to speak to you or Mr. O'Neill."
"Alright, I'll go see what he needs." Ava says standing up, and wrapping a robe around her she walks towards the palace, followed by the maid. "Where is he?" Ava asks, as they walk into the palace.
"In his Highness's office."
"Thank you." Ava says, turning towards William's office.
"You're welcome ma'am." The maid replies, returning to her other duties.
Opening the office door, the doctor turns, surprised to see Ava walking into the office instead of William or Mr. O'Neill.
"I sent the maid to find his Highness or Mr. O'Neill."
"William is at a state function and my Dad is tied up right now. What did you need?"
"I have the results of the DNA tests."
"Do you have them with you?"
"Yes."
"Can I see them?" Ava asks, holding out her hand.
Reaching into his inside pocket, he pulls out an envelope and hands it to her. Slowly she opens the envelope and pulls the paper out. Shaking it open, she takes a deep breath before she looks down and reads the report.
"Jeffrey's my father." Ava sighs in relief. "You're sure." She asks, looking up at him
"Yes ma'am, we ran the tests twice just as his Highness asked."
"Thank you." Ava says, hugging the doctor and completely shocking him. "I've got to go find my Dad." Ava says, as she walks out of the office. "I'll tell William that you came by." She calls as she leaves the office, looking for Jeffrey.
When Jeffrey left Cassie and Ava at the pool, he had no idea where he would go but that he needed to get away from them and Cassie's questions and maybe try figure out why he is dreaming about Rebeca again after all these years. He really thought that he had accepted the fact that she was dead and gone. He was just walking through the informal gardens when Ava calls out to him. "Dad." Stopping he turns, watching as she run towards him.
"What's wrong?" He asks when she catches up to him.
"Nothing." She gasps, trying to catch her breath. "Look at this." She says, handing him the envelop that the Doctor had given her.
"What is it?"
"Just look at it."
Opening the envelop Jeffrey pulls the report out of the envelope. Looking down, he starts to read the report until he gets to the part that said, "99.9%" he says, looking up at Ava.
"That's right, 99.9%. You're my father. That proves that if Olivia was raped that night you didn't do it."
"But that still doesn't prove beyond a doubt that I wasn't… that what happened between Olivia and I was consensual."
"That is between you and her, but this proves that Edmund was up there and that he raped her and not you. You were innocent."
"If that's true, all those years, they let me think that I had raped her, that I was… I felt so guilty."
"I know."
"And Olivia, I mean she was still raped that night, but to come face to face with the man she was told raped her. That nearly killed her and now she has to go through all that all over again."
"Yes, but at least she'll know the truth and she'll know that her rapist is actually locked up and not walking around free. We should go celebrate."
"Celebrate what?"
"That you were cleared."
"Even if I didn't actually rape her, I still took advantage and then I left her alone."
"You both were young, you made a mistake." Ava says, putting and arm around his waist and squeezing him slightly. "Why don't we go back to the palace and see if William's back and we'll go out and celebrate?"
"Okay." Jeffrey replies, as they start back to the palace.
William is walking into the palace when Jeffrey and Ava walk in from the garden. "Hey you two, I figured you would still be in the pool."
"Cassie went home, so we got out." Ava says. "How was the state thing?"
"Fine, I came back as quickly as I could."
"Well good, because we're going out to celebrate."
"What are we celebrating?" William asks, looking back and forth between Ava and Jeffrey.
"We got the results back." Jeffrey says, holding up the envelop, that's in his hand.
"If you're celebrating then that means…"
"That Jeffrey's my father." Ava bursts out.
"And that's a good thing." William asks, smirking at Jeffrey.
"Of course it is." Ava replies, reaching over and slapping him.
"No, I know it is." William says, smiling as he held out his hand. "Congratulations."
"Thank you." Jeffrey replies.
"Then, let's go." William says
"Wait, I can't go like this." Ava says.
"You look fine." William replies.
"I'm in my swimsuit, I have to change. I'll be right back." She says, running up the stairs to the second floor.
When she returns twenty minutes later, William has changed and they are waiting for Ava in the courtyard. As she came out of the palace, both men stop talking, staring as she walks towards them.
"Speechless, is a good thing." She says when she reaches them.
"You're beautiful." William says, as he leans over and kisses Ava's cheek. Jeffrey notices the gesture but doesn't comment as he hugs his daughter.
"Are you ready?" He asks when he steps back.
"Yes, I'm sorry it took longer than I thought. I had to take a shower."
"Its fine, we were just sitting out here talking." William says. "But if you're ready."
"We can go." Ava says, taking the arm Jeffrey offers. William notices that Jeffrey makes sure that he is the one to escort her back into the palace. He doesn't say anything, but he notices.
The next morning Cassie is back at the palace, waiting for Jeffrey to see if he has contacted Noah. By the time they had returned to the palace the night before, it was too late to call. He and Ava were scheduled to return to Springfield that evening on the royal jet. Jeffrey is just leaving his suite when one of the maids stops him. "Sir, her Highness is waiting for you in the courtyard."
"Thank you." Jeffrey replies, heading towards the courtyard. "Cassie." He says, as he walks down the steps to the courtyard.
"Jeffrey." She replies, turning towards him.
"I was about to call him." Jeffrey says, pulling his cell phone from his pocket before she can ask.
"I don't want to pressure you, but…"
"You need to know, I understand Cassie, better than… well maybe not better than but just as much as you do."
"Thank you." Cassie replies, as Jeffrey punches in Noah's private number and his code. After a couple rings, Noah picks up.
"Jeffrey."
"Yes."
"What's up, we haven't worked anything out yet?"
"I know. I need to talk to you about Richard."
"It's Cassie."
"Yes, she wants to see him."
"I figured she would. I'm surprised she didn't demand to come immediately after you told her."
"It was a bit of a shock for her and I told her right up front that there might be a possibility that the agency wouldn't let a civilian into the center."
"Right now, that's not our main concern. I'm not sure it's a good idea for her to be up here. He's got a staph infection right now. They're fighting it with antibiotics but his fever is spiking."
"She needs to see him."
"I'll see what I can do. It'll be up to his doctor, if she allows visitors."
"Alright, William wanted me to talk to you about the other matter. Let me talk to Cassie and I'll call you back."
"Okay, I'm going down to check on him. I'll have an update and I'll ask about Cassie coming to see him."
"Please do." Jeffrey replies, hanging up a few seconds later.
"What did he say?" Cassie asks
"They're not sure; he's has a serious infection right now."
"How serious?" Jeffrey didn't want to tell her how serious it was. "Jeffrey, how serious." But he couldn't avoid it.
"He has a staph infection Cassie. Their treating it with antibiotics right now but his fever keeps spiking."
"How did he get a staph infection?"
"There are many ways he could have gotten the virus. He could have always had it and his body being in a weaken state opened him up to the infection. He's been lying in that bed for several years now."
"Does this mean that he'll die? He can't have survived this long and die, Jeffrey. He can't. I have to see…, he needs to know that I'm there. That I've always been there." Cassie stops for a couple seconds. The realization hitting her that what she had just said was the truth. She had never left him. Her heart was still with Richard, even through Edmund, and Jeffrey and then Josh. Those relationships had never worked because her heart still belonged to Richard. "It always will." Cassie whispers.
"What was that?"
"Nothing, but I have to see him. He has to know that I never left him."
"I'll see what I can do when I call Noah back, but ultimately it's up to Richard's doctor as to whether you're allowed to see him."
"She can't keep me from my husband."
"How do you know his doctor is a she?"
"I don't, it was a figure of speech."
"I'll talk to Noah, and we'll see. I have to call him back in a few minutes to discuss Camille."
"About transferring her down here."
"Yes, how do you know about that?"
"William and I were talking about it before you came down. If you can convince the government to turn her over to William, I'm all for it. She tried to kill my husband."
"I'll talk to Noah about it."
"Thank you, I'm going to go down to the children's museum. I've been spending a lot of time down there, working and volunteering. It's sort of helped, and I feel closer to Tammy down there. She's the reason I built the museum. She loved to go to the Children's museum in Springfield and when I married Richard I suggested that San Cristobel could benefit from such a place for the underprivileged kids on the island. He loved the idea and helped me get it built. It opened just a few months after our son was killed."
"I'm sorry Cassie." Jeffrey says, walking over to her and lightly rubbing her shoulder.
"It's okay, because I got Will out of it. I know he doesn't replace the child that Richard and I lost but I would truly be lost without that little boy."
"I know."
"I'm going to go."
"I'll call Noah and when I have a decision I'll let you know."
"Thank you." Cassie says, hugging him quickly before she walks into the palace.
When Cassie leaves, Jeffrey picks up his cell phone and calls City Hall. After a couple rings, his assistant Stacy answers. "City Hall, Mayor's office."
"Stacey, its Jeffrey."
"Oh, Mr. Mayor. How are you doing?"
"I'm fine, has anything happened."
"Not really sir, Spaulding is petitioning the city for permits to build a condominium close to the lake. There is a town meeting scheduled to discuss the project, before the zoning committee and the city council. So far, most of the residents are against the project. We have group suggesting plans for further development on 5th street and expanding Main Street."
"So it's pretty much business as usual."
"Yes."
"I want the projections on the Spaulding development on my desk when I get back, and call Josh Lewis; I want his opinion on the project."
"Yes sir."
"Have you heard from Detective Mallet?"
"No sir."
"Okay, I'll get back with you later."
"Yes sir."
Jeffrey hangs up a few seconds later, punching in the number to Lieutenant Jamison's line at the agency, he waits for him to answer. "Hello…."
"Hello, Jamison…"
"…you've reached the desk of Lieutenant Jamison…."
"Damn." Jeffrey mutters as he listens to the rest of the message.
"…I'm not able to get to the phone right now, if you will please leave message I will be happy to return your call."
When his voice mail finally beeps, Jeffrey said. "Lieutenant Jamison, Its Col. O'Neill I need to speak to you about that matter we discussed. Please call me back." He hangs up. He has only been off the phone a couple seconds when it starts to ring. Glancing down, he sees that it is Noah pushing talk he answers the call. "Noah."
"Jeffrey."
"How is he?"
"His fever is still spiking, they're trying a stronger antibiotic."
"What did the doctor say about Cassie seeing him?"
"She thinks it'll be too much for him. He's really weak and she doesn't want to expose Cassie to the infection."
"So, it's contagious."
"Yes, highly contagious."
"Okay, I'll tell her that she can't see him right now. But if he gets worse, she has to see him Noah."
"I know. About the other matter you wanted to talk to me about."
"Yes, William suggested that we turn Camille over to him, to be tried in San Cristobel."
"Why?"
"Richard was a government official with the San Cristobel Government when the accident happened. He can charge her with more than just conspiracy and attempted murder."
"Like treason."
"Exactly, and you know the penalty for treason in San Cristobel."
"Yes, it's death."
"And I would be willing to bet that Camille will be found guilty."
"I'll talk to the Director."
"Okay."
"I'll let you know what the Director's decision is. Tell Cassie to hang in there. We're doing everything we can for Richard."
"I'll tell her, I don't know how much comfort that will be."
"I know, but it will be something."
"I'll talk to you soon."
"Okay."
Jeffrey has just hung up from the call with Noah when William walks into the courtyard. "I was looking for Ava."
"I think she went with Cassie to the Children's museum. I wanted to ask you about this thing."
"I knew this was coming."
"I'm just curious what you guys are?"
"We're friends."
"Are you sure that's all you are? Because it seems like you're both getting really close?"
"We're friends, that's all." Jeffrey nods as William turns to go back into the palace.
"I also talked to Noah." Jeffrey says, stopping him again.
"How is he?"
"He's got a serious staph infection. They are treating it with antibiotics but his fever is still spiking."
"Does Cassie know?"
"Yes, I told her this morning. I also told Noah about your suggestion."
"What did he say?"
"He said he would bring it up to the Director and would let me know his decision."
"He realizes that this is the better solution. If you allow me to take custody of Camille she will be tried for treason, which carries a much stiffer sentence than charging her with conspiracy and attempted murder in the US."
"Yes, he realizes the differences and he'll explain the differences. After that it's up to Director to decide whether to precede in the US courts or turn her over to you. Personally, I think you're right, and I know Cassie feels the same way, right now it's a waiting game."
"So we wait. Did you contact Olivia about the DNA testing?"
"No, I thought we would wait to tell her once we are back to Springfield."
"I'm going to go work on some stuff."
"Alright."
William leaves, and Jeffrey goes to the front of the palace to find one of the pages and ask them to have a car brought around for him. He is waiting on the car, when Cassie and Ava walk up.
"Cassie, I was just coming to see you." Jeffrey says, walking up to them.
"Did you hear from Noah?"
"Yes." Jeffrey replies, looking over at Ava.
"I'll just go upstairs."
"Actually William was looking for you earlier." Jeffrey says.
"Alright, I'll go see if I can find him."
"What did Noah say?" Cassie asks when Ava is out of hear shot.
"Why don't we go upstairs?" Jeffrey says, walking towards the stairs.
"Okay." Cassie says, following behind him.
Before they reach the sitting room, Jeffrey stops one of the maids and asks her to call the garage and tell them not to send the car around. When they reach the sitting room, Jeffrey steps aside to let her enter first, following behind her and closing the door behind them.
"You spoke to Noah?" Cassie asks, turning to face him.
"Yes."
"What did Richard's doctor say? Can I go see my husband?"
"Not right now…"
"But…"
"His fever is very high Cassie, it keeps spiking and the type of staph infection that he has is highly contagious. He's also very weak."
"But maybe I can make him fight." Cassie says, pleading.
"You have to think about RJ and Will, what will happen to them if you get sick? As soon as Richard gets out of this, I'm sure that the doctor will allow you to see him. Just give it a few days."
"Alright." Cassie replies, giving in. "Will you keep me posted?"
"Yes, along with William."
"Did Noah say anything about Camille?"
"I told him about William's offer and he said he would bring it to the Director's attention."
"Thank you for all that you've done Jeffrey." Cassie says, walking over to him and hugging him.
"You're welcome. I promised Richard I would look after you. Grant it I haven't done the best of job, but…"
"But I haven't been a willing participant either." Cassie says, smiling up at him.
"You…"
"I made it difficult, I know I did and I'm sorry."
"You were hurting Cassie."
"I'm still sorry for all the stuff I put you through."
"I need to go pack. Ava and I are supposed to leave in a few hours." Jeffrey says, hugging her. "You'll be okay." He says, leaning back
"I will when I see him again."
"It won't be long." Jeffrey says, releasing her.
"I'm going to go get RJ and go back to the villa." Cassie says, walking towards the door, stopping she turns back around and walking over to the desk, pulling out a piece of paper she writes something down before she walks back over to Jeffrey.
"That's my phone number at the villa, and my cell #. Call me if you hear anything about Richard, or if you want to talk."
"I will."
"You both have a safe flight."
"Thank you." Cassie leaves and Jeffrey goes back to his suite.
7.13