Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

Mac looked at four pairs of eyes that were saucer wide. Georgie, Dillon, Lucky and Elizabeth took a moment to let the news sink in as Mac waited patiently.

"Faith is dead?" Georgie's voice sounded squeaky, like a cartoon mouse.

"Yes," Mac told her.

Lucky swallowed loudly.

Dillon stayed quiet, blinking every few seconds. He stared at the blanket. Then he looked Mac dead in the eye.

"Am I being charged with murder?" he asked. Georgie looked like she was about to protest, but Dillon gently restrained her, needing to hear the answer. He held her hand and waited. Mac sighed.

"Dillon, do you want a lawyer here?"

Dillon shook his head. "It's fine. I want to hear this myself first." Mac nodded and went on.

There are a couple of options," he explained. "The district attorney-"

"Baldwin," cut in Lucky. "Mac, he's a sniveling bastard, can't he be kept out of this, and any other cases, for that matter?" Mac held up a hand to stop him.

"He's actually being decent here, Lucky," Mac told him, "partially under duress." Lucky raised an eyebrow. "Your aunt basically threatened his life if he wasn't humane."

"Bobbie?" Elizabeth was both surprised and not, at the same time. Lucky grinned despite himself. Mac nodded.

"What about Dillon?" Georgie sounded just the tiniest bit hysterical. Mac turned back to them. "Well, considering the, um, unusual circumstances, the situation is a little different. Normally you would be charged, and then the D.A. would possibly put an offer on the table, but in this case, they're giving the offer first. One year probation, 50 hours community service and a class on reckless driving."

"Community service?!" Elizabeth was upset. "Dillon ought to be given a reward for this - driving Faith into a tree was community service!" Lucky placed a finger to her lips and she quieted down.

Dillon was quiet. Lucky asked what they were all wondering.

"What if Dillon doesn't take the deal? What's the charge?"

Mac sighed. "Involuntary manslaughter. If you go to trial, there's a good chance you'll get off on self-defense, but it would depend heavily on the jury pool."

"What about my record?" Dillon wanted to know. Being charged for theft was one thing, but killing someone was quite another.

"If you take the deal, your record will be sealed upon successful completion of the probation. And if you do decide to go to trial and win, the case will also be kept off your records."

Dillon looked thoughtful. "So I can go to trial, make a lot of people take the time to dredge up memories of the things Faith was capable of, and possibly end up serving jail time, or I can do some community service, go to a class and take probation and then after a year I'll have a clean slate, so to speak? It seems pretty clear to me."

"But Dillon, what about college?" Georgie wasn't sure why she was bringing this up, but suddenly it seemed very important to her. "You could be found innocent. You probably would be. But if you don't at least try, you'd have this on your record for a year. You're supposed to apply to college this year!" Her voice was rising, upset. Dillon put a hand on her arm.

"Hey, hey, hey. Shhh... calm down." She took a few deep breaths. Dillon went on, looking her in the eyes. "Yeah, I might get off, but I might also be convicted. Going to trial is a risk and for once, I know that taking the risk isn't the way to go. If I take the deal, I'm guaranteed that this will be off my record in a year, as long as I stay out of trouble. And I know you're worried about me getting into college, but I can just take a year off from school and apply when you do." He swiped a thumb across her cheek.

"Okay?" She nodded silently. He turned to Mac. "I'll accept the D.A.'s offer," he said quietly.

Mac nodded. "Good decision," he told Dillon. "The class and the community service will be easy. And like you said, no trial and no jail time, you just have to stay out of trouble." Suddenly, he looked pointedly at Dillon. "Especially," he warned the young man. "If you think you've got a snowball's chance in hell at dating my daughter."

"Daddy!" Georgie was suddenly bright pink.

Elizabeth grabbed Lucky's hand. "I think we should go. Thanks for letting us know Mac. Bye Georgie, Bye Dillon." They waved.

"Mac." Lucky nodded. "Bye Georgie." He smiled at her and grinned widely at the boy next to her. "Good luck," he told Dillon. He and Elizabeth left.

Georgie was blushing, cringing at what Mac had said. Dillon had been silent, looking at his hands. He contemplated them for a few moments and lifted his head, staring Mac right in the eye.

Lucky handed Elizabeth a cola and took a seat next to her on the couch in the hospital waiting area.

"Thanks." She took a sip, trying to calm her nerves. Lucky placed a hand on her arm.

"How are you feeling?" he wanted to know. She turned to face him.

"I'm glad," she admitted. "I know that it isn't right to celebrate another person's death, but-"

"-but she wasn't human," Lucky said softly, "she was a monster. She was cruel and manipulative, and took pleasure in everyone's pain."

Elizabeth nodded. The truth was, there was only one other person in the world whose death she would have celebrated. But she didn't need to say anything. Lucky knew, and she knew he knew, so the words didn't need to be said.

"After everything," he began, rubbing her hand, "I'm just glad that you're going to be okay, that everything is going to be okay."

She locked eyes with him. Her vision was still compromised, but somehow she could always read his eyes. There was a lot to be said, but all in due time.

"Thank you," she told him. They stared at each other another couple seconds. Then

Lucky slipped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her toward him.

Her head still fit perfectly on his shoulder.

Dillon stood firm. "May I?" he asked.

"May you what, Dillon?" Mac wasn't giving an inch. Dillon took a deep breath.

"Date your daughter, sir." Dillon's voice was firm, but respectful. Georgie watched the exchange between the two men.

"Why should I trust you?" Mac was in his interrogation mode.

"Dad!" Georgie wanted to crawl in a hole and die, but Dillon held his own.

"Because all I want is to make Georgie happy and keep her safe," he told Mac seriously. "I know that you want the same thing and that you've always just tried to protect her, but Georgie doesn't need protection from me."

"You took her to a motel on a stolen bike," Mac reminded Dillon.

"Yes," conceded Dillon. "And it was a dumb thing to do, I admit, especially the bike part. But I never laid a hand on Georgie and that's the god's honest truth." When Mac didn't say anything, he continued. "Look, Commissoner Scorpio, I'm sure it would be really easy for you to just tell Georgie she can't see me, and that she's grounded for the rest of her life, but do you really think that will make her happy?" Mac's nostrils flared and Dillon hurried to cover his own ass. "What I mean is, if you let Georgie and I see each other, then I can take her out in the way that-that you would probably want someone to take her out. I could come to your house and pick her up, and you could interrogate me about where I was going to take her and remind me every single time about making sure I drive carefully, and I can bring her home and walk her to the door-"

"Georgie has a curfew."

"And I'll have her home in time for it."

"She wants to go to an Ivy League college."

"I think that's great."

"If I ever, ever were to hear about you drinking-"

"I don't drink-"

"-and then driving with my daughter in the car-"

"-would never happen-"

"-I would have you thrown in jail so fast-"

"Okay! Okay!" Georgie couldn't take any more. "The next thing we know, you guys are going to be negotiating livestock for my dowry." She turned to Dillon. "Your noble suitor intentions are incredibly romantic-" to Mac "-and your hyperprotective father routine is very sweet and endearing in a Biblical times kind of way, but it's not necessary. Dillon's a great guy and he wouldn't do anything to hurt me or take advantage of me, nor would I let him. So before anyone starts mentioning the number of goats that I'm worth, let's end this little display of machismo, shall we?"

Dillon and Mac just stared at her. Georgie's exasperation was growing.

"Dad," she demanded, "say something."

"Um, Georgie, I-"

"Not to me," she interrupted. "Say something to Dillon."

Mac was taken aback at Georgie's tone, but he turned to Dillon and looked at him carefully for several moments. Dillon looked back, not defiantly, just looked. When Mac had contemplated to his satisfaction, he spoke.

"You obviously care a great deal about Georgie."

"I love Georgie." Dillon's voice was soft, but firm. If he was afraid of how Mac would respond, he didn't show it.

Mac was thrown, but he had known this. He knew he had known this. It was just - just hard for him to hear it out loud. He turned to Georgie.

"And you..." he couldn't say the words, not yet. She understood.

"Yes." She nodded.

Mac took this in. He turned to Dillon and stared at him, hard. Dillon held his ground.

"Okay," Mac said.

"Okay?" Georgie's voice shook slightly. Dillon smiled, a tiny bit, and nodded.

"Thank you," he said. Georgie was silent, but she bit her lip from the inside.

There was nothing left to say on the matter. Mac slipped back into police mode.
"I'll inform the D.A. of your decision, Dillon." He spoke crisply.

For about a nanosecond, Dillon was confused, then it clicked into place. He nodded. "Thank you Commissioner."

Mac nodded back and excused himself, closing the door quietly behind him.

Georgie and Dillon watched him go in silence. When the door closed, they remained still for several moments. Then Dillon reached for her. Without a word he pulled her face close to his, brushing his lips against her forehead, her eyelids, her cheeks, even the tip of her nose, before sliding their mouths together in a fiery kiss. The inside of her mouth was warm from their mingled breaths. He sought refuge in her lips and tongue.
When they finally pulled apart, they were both breathless. Georgie rested her head against Dillon's shoulder, trying to calm her nerves. For several minutes, the room was silent, except for their breathing.

"Wow," Georgie finally spoke up. "That was an intense hour."

"Yeah..." Dillon agreed. "You know, between potential manslaughter charges and Mac, I have to say, I think jail might be less scary."

Georgie laughed. "I know," she assured him softly. "But Mac just wants to be extra careful with me."

"Because of what happened when he wasn't extra careful with Maxie?" Dillon asked.

"Well, that, and - have I ever told you about Robin?" Georgie wanted to know.

"I think maybe you mentioned her once...lives in Paris, right?" Dillon couldn't recall anything else.

"That's right. Mac's niece. My cousin. Well, step-cousin if you want to be extremely technical, but she's more like my sister. Mac raised her." Dillon nodded, following along. "Anyway, she had this boyfriend, Stone, who just loved her like crazy, and they ended up sleeping together. He was her first, but he had - you know, a past. Anyway, it turned out that he had AIDS and Robin contracted HIV when she was just a little older than Maxie."

"Oh wow..." Dillon was shocked.

"I think Mac blames himself," Georgie continued, "which is why he gets overprotective about me and Maxie."

"Your cousin, is she...okay?" Dillon wasn't quite sure how to ask the question.

"Actually, she's great," Georgie told him. "It's been like, eight years, and she's never shown any signs of sickness. She's a doctor now."

"Wow." Dillon was impressed, but something needed to be said. "Georgie, you have to know that when we come to that point, that I'll, I'll do whatever you want, you know I'll"

Georgie cut him off. She understood what he meant. "I know." She smiled at him, looking directly into his eyes, then closed her own. "You know what," she told him. "I really don't want to get into any other huge issues right now."

Dillon conceded. "Okay," he agreed. "What do you want to talk about?"

Georgie shook her head. "I don't know."

Dillon smiled. "Well, how about I tell you about this dream I had?"

"Yes, please." Georgie arranged her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes to listen to the story.

"Well," he began. "I was in this grand ballroom with lots of people, orchestra playing big band music-"

"-Like that CD you played at the Cellar?"

"Mmmmhmmmm...so you appear at the top of the steps leading down into the ballroom. And you look, might I add, incredible." -Georgie giggled- "You're dressed in a light blue strapless dress and you have flowers in your hair. You come down the steps and I take your hand and lead you out on to the dance floor. And every one else just, disintegrates and it's only you and me."

"Sounds...cinematic." She knew he would appreciate the description.

"Yeah..."

"So," she smiled slyly. "Does it have a happy ending?"

He smiled back. "Are you asking me if the guy gets the girl in the end?" He felt a shiver as he remembered having this conversation the first time, remembering how close he had held her as they'd danced. She nodded.

"Well then, yes it does."

Georgie tilted her head. "I think I want to see it sometime." She knew this didn't quite make sense, but it was too fun, this memory lane/fantasy combination. Besides, she was looking forward to what had happened next.

Dillon didn't disappoint. He stroked her cheek with his fingers and leaned in close, his breath tickling her cheeks. "I'll tell you what, how about I show you right now?"

"Okay." She'd barely breathed the word, and then he was kissing her softly. But this time there was no interruption. No snide Maxie, no jerky Kyle, no stoner Zack. Just the two of them. She revelled in the feeling of his lips. He revelled in the taste of hers. Dillon never really liked grape bubblegum, but it was Georgie's favorite, and for some reason, the flavor was delicious on her lips.

The kisses slowed down, eventually coming to a stop. Dillon wrapped his arms around Georgie, pulling her down to rest against him. She traced a finger along his collarbone and looked up at him, seeming the tiniest bit nervous.

"I love you," she whispered.

He cupped the side of her face and she leaned her cheek against his hand. "And I love you," he promised.

Georgie leaned her head on to the sweet spot between his shoulder and his chest, closing her eyes. Dillon closed his and they just breathed together. He remembered something she had said, and smiled.

"Georgie?" he called softly.

"Hmmm?" Her eyes were still closed.

He tipped her chin up toward him. She looked into his eyes and narrowed hers when she saw the sneaky grin he was trying so hard to conceal.

"What?" Her tone was suspicious.

He kissed her lips affectionately. "So how many goats ARE you worth?"