"Hello?" Loren said into her cell phone, plugging her other ear to block out the music of the bar. "What?! How did you…never mind, not important. Of course! I'll be right there." Loren hung up her phone and quickly pulled some cash out of her purse, not even bothering to count the bills.
"I have to go. Thank you for inviting me, Lt Sims." Loren rushed through putting on her coat and was about to walk away before she was stopped by the Admiral's voice.
"Everything okay, Lt?" He asked, giving her an assessing look.
"Everything's fine, sir, I really need to go though." With a nod from her superior, Loren dashed out the door and into the badly lit parking lot.
"I should probably get going as well, sirs, ma'ams." Victor said, gathering his things more sedately than the Lt before him had.
"Have a goodnight, Gunny," and "Goodnight, Gunny," could be heard along the table and even a few from the dance floor. Victor also left the bar and entered the badly lit parking lot but he was stopped by a female shriek coming from a few rows over. It sounded more excited than anything but there was no way he was going to ignore it. As he approached silently he was able to hear voices, one male and one female, talking excitedly.
"When did you get here?" The woman asked and Victor was floored when he realized it was Lt. Singer.
"D.C. or the bar?" The man replied teasingly and Victor was just able to make out the Lt and the man wrapped up in a hug, Lt Singer held up by the man like he had spun her around and then refused to put her down. The man had dark hair, remnants of a military cut lingering, and carried himself confidently. Most likely former military.
"D.C., you goof." Lt Singer's affectionate voice kept ringing in his ears as he quietly extracted himself and moved back towards his car. Tonight had revealed more of this woman than the entire past year.
Who was the man she so easily opened up to? Why would her childhood require her to learn different dance styles? How much of Lt. Singer was actually Loren and how much was just a mask to protect herself? These questions and more plagued Victor as he drove towards his empty apartment.
Back in the parking lot, Mac had finally placed Loren back on the ground. They had exchanged teasing comments back and forth as they walked to Loren's car, enjoying being together for the first time in over a year.
"It's not that I'm not happy to see you, Mac, I'm ecstatic, but what are you doing here?" Loren asked as she pulled into her parking spot outside her apartment. She turned off the car and shifted to look at her brother.
"Can't a man just come visit his sister?" Mac asked, gazing at her softly.
"A normal man yes, you, no." Mac let out a sigh and motioned for them to go inside.
"I'll tell you everything after we get inside and sweep your apartment for bugs." Loren nodded in acquisition and the pair exited her car. It took them nearly an hour to do a complete sweep and to dispose of the few bugs they found.
"Alright, now spill." Loren said handing a mug of coffee over to her brother and settled in next to him on the couch. Mac sipped his coffee with one hand and wrapped his other arm around her shoulder, pulling his sister in close.
"There was a serial killer in New York. God, Angel, the victims, they looked so much like you and Honey." Mac closed his eyes as if trying to ward off the memories. Loren pulled his arm around her tighter but remained silent, letting him speak when he was ready. "I stopped by and visited Honey at her placed in New York, I think I scared Mitch, but it wasn't enough. I needed to see you were ok too.
"Did you catch him?" Loren asked softly and felt Mac squeeze her just a bit tighter.
"Yeah, Stella took him down." Loren had never met Mac's partner Stella, but he had told her a lot about the Greek-American woman and even shown her a few pictures. Loren just let her brother hold her and silently thanked whoever was out there that he was safe here with her.
They remained like that for several hours, Mac reassuring himself that Loren wasn't one of the victims and Loren reassuring herself that Mac was still there with her. They didn't move. Their coffee got cold and Mac's arm fell asleep but it didn't matter because that simple reassurance of holding and being held was more important than anything else. Mac eventually felt Loren become heavier and her breathing even out. He gave her a few more minutes to fall deeper into sleep before he gently maneuvered them so he could pick her up.
"Sh, I've got you." Mac whispered into her ear as she began to stir and she drifted back to sleep. Mac laid her down gently on the bed and tucked her in. He gently brushed her hair away from her face and smiled as she snuggled into her pillow. "I don't know what I would have done without you. You really are my angel." Mac grabbed a pillow and blanket from the hall closet and made himself comfortable on the couch.
10 year old Mac walked along the Potomac. He'd been homeless for the past two years, scrapping by on what he could steal and crashing in warehouses. He had stayed close enough to another pack of homeless kids that he had their protection but far enough away that he wouldn't get sucked into their drama.
It was entering the spring thaw and the water level on the Potomac had raised considerably. It was getting late and he could barely see. He was headed back to the latest warehouse when he saw a man dressed all in black drop a squirming bag into the rushing river upstream from him. It wasn't uncommon for people to toss puppies or kittens into the river and it made Mac livid.
He saw the man leave the bridge and jumped into the river and swam to where he thought the bag would end up. It passed just barely close enough for him to grab at the strap and pull the bag into shore. He heard a sound like puppies whimpering and unzipped the black gym bag.
"Oh my God." Mac said looking into the bag. Inside were two naked, tiny babies. One was wailing loudly while the other looked barely alive and her lips were turning blue. He picked up the bag gently and nearly ran towards the warehouse. Who dumped babies in a river?
One of the older boys, Red, met him at the door. "What's got you in such a hurry, Mac?"
"Babies…dumped…river…need help." Mac gasped to the older boy and held out the bag.
"What are you…" Red, nick named that because of his bright red hair, was stunned into silence when he opened up the bag, "Mike! Get Ally! We got babies!" Ally was a 16 year old Mexican-American who had given birth to a premature baby only two days ago. She was also Red's girlfriend and the baby had been his as well. The baby was too tiny and they didn't have the access to the medicine they needed to save him but now Ally might be able to save Mac's twins.
Mac followed Red and Mike to the back of the warehouse where Ally was. He watched as the wailing baby quickly latched onto one of Ally's breasts while Red performed CPR on her blue lipped sister. The tiny baby let out a weak wail and everyone let out a sigh of relief. Red quickly transferred her over to Ally and again relief filled the air when she latched onto Ally's other breast.
"She had to have been touched by an angel to come back from that." Mac turned to the blonde woman who had spoken. She looked to be in her early twenties and had a camera slung around her neck. He hadn't even realized she'd taken pictures of the whole thing.
"Well, Mac, you found them, what would you like to name them?" Red asked sliding an arm around his girlfriend as she fed the two tiny babies.
"Megan, after my sister." Mac said looking at the baby who had been wailing. "And Loren, after my mother, she looked like an angel. Maybe that's who was looking down on her."
"Alright, Mac, looks like you'll be sleeping in the thick of the group now." Red said looking at the younger boy.
"What do you mean?" Mac asked still enthralled by the tiny babies in Ally's arms.
"You found them. Ally can feed them and everyone here will help but they're your responsibility now. Congratulations."
"Wait a minute. You're giving a kid the responsibility of raising two babies who are clearly only a few days old?!" The blonde woman asked.
"Yeah, and if you have a problem with that we'll disappear so fast you won't be able to find us or finish your project." Red glared at the woman and she visible acquisitioned.
"Who's she?" Mac asked looking suspiciously at the woman.
"Mac, meet Rachel. Rachel, Mac. She's working on some project for a photography class. Decided she wanted to see what we live like. Don't worry she's already committed to not telling anyone where we are or who we are." Red reassured but it didn't lessen Mac's suspicion at all. It wasn't even himself he was worried about any more. As soon as Red had told him Loren and Megan were his responsibility it was like an intense feeling of having to protect them had come over him. They were his world now.