Better Late Than Never: Chapter 11
Just as Gage and Sydney were headed out the door with Marty to take him home, Alex arrived carrying Angela in her car seat.
"Hey, it's my girlfriend!" Gage beamed, relieving Alex of her burden and hoisting the carrier up so he could look directly into Angela's smiling face.
Only Alex noticed the change in Sydney's expression at Gage's choice of words.
"What are you doing up so late, sweetie?" Gage inquired of the baby girl.
"She just woke up when I got her out of the car. It's about time for her last bottle of the night anyway. You wouldn't want to feed her while I talk to Walker about your case, would you?" Alex offered.
"Oh, I'd love to, but we need to get Marty home, so…some other time, OK, beautiful?" he said, addressing the infant rather than her mother. He set the carrier on his desk, gathered his keys and his jacket and waved good-bye to Angela and Alex as he followed Sydney and Marty out the door.
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"You OK, Syd?" Gage asked as they pulled out of the parking garage in his Chevelle. He had caught her staring out the window with watery eyes again.
"Yeah, I'm fine, why?" she replied, a little too brightly.
"I don't know. You looked like you were upset just now."
"Well, I'm not, so you can stop asking me if I'm OK. OK?"
"Sure, Syd. Whatever you say," he responded, knowing full well that she was anything but OK, but having the good sense to not push the issue right now. There'd be time to talk about whatever it was later, since they had decided to stay at Marty's house overnight, both to protect him in case Tex and Johnny decided to exact any revenge and to make sure he got to the courthouse on time in the morning.
Sydney managed to shake off her hurt feelings by silently chastising herself for being jealous of a three-month old baby. She was being ridiculous and she knew it, but for almost two years she'd waited for Gage to refer to her as his girlfriend and instead he bestowed the title on Angela. How much more of this was she supposed to take? She made a mental note to call Dr. Ainsley in the morning to see if there was anything he could do for her – like erase her own memories of Saturday night. At least that would put her and Gage back on equal footing, back to square one.
Noticing that all conversation had ceased, Sydney turned to look in the backseat and found Marty sound asleep.
"I'll bet he hasn't slept since this whole thing started," she told Gage.
"You're probably right. I just hope Walker and Trivette can get to Tex and Johnny before too long. I told Marty that if they were brought in tonight that he would probably be able to see his brother at the arraignment tomorrow. I'd like to make that happen for him if it's at all possible," Gage replied.
"You've really taken a liking to this kid, haven't you?"
"I just think it took a lot of guts for him to return my gun, and I don't think he's had too many occasions to think of himself as brave or strong. I think he's idolized Tex his whole life and now he ends up handing his hero over to us. It has to be pretty tough on him," Gage empathized.
"You never cease to amaze me, Francis," Sydney said, admiration evident in her eyes as she looked at her partner.
"What? Why do you say that?" he asked, trying not to sound as pleased as he felt at the notion of her being amazed by him. He failed miserably.
She laughed and he felt his heart squeeze in his chest. He hadn't realized until that moment that he couldn't remember the last time he had heard her laugh and now he knew just how much he had missed hearing it. He had missed it a whole lot.
"Because, partner," Sydney explained, "you are the one who got your skull whacked so hard you forgot the past six months and got your gun stolen to boot and instead of wanting to lock this kid up and throw away the key, you're trying to arrange a reunion between him and the very criminal who did all that to you. You are a good man, Francis Gage." She reached over and laid her hand on his shoulder and before she could stop herself she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.
In the instant her lips touched his face, Gage felt a burst of energy slam through him, like a lightning strike. Reflexively, he let up on the gas pedal as he felt his head swim. An image floated to the surface, an image of long dark hair, bare shoulders and a copper colored dress. He closed his eyes for a second and shook his head, trying to stay focused on driving while at the same time praying that this time the image would develop into more than just a fragment…
Sydney saw his reaction to her kiss and her pulse raced. "Gage? What happened? Did you remem…"
"I don't know. Maybe something. It's gone again," he said, dejectedly. He hadn't missed her excitement at the possibility that he had had a break through, but until he knew more about what the image meant, he didn't want to get her hopes up, or his either, for that matter.
As they turned the next corner, Sydney noticed a sign over a small storefront with a bright purple awning that covered the sidewalk in front of it. The sign read "Rhyme's Portrait and Wedding Photography."
"Hey, there's…" Sydney started to say, pointing at the building as they drove past it.
"There's what?" Gage said, looking right at the sign without the slightest hint of recognition.
"An ATM," Sydney covered. "I just realized I don't have any cash on me and I'm kind of hungry. I was thinking we could order pizza once we get Marty home." She hoped the subject of food would be enough to keep Gage from detecting her lie, and it was.
"Oh, well, I've got some money on me. I'll get it this time, unless you want me to go back so you can…"
"No, we need to get Marty home. I can always get it in the morning and then I'll buy breakfast. Sound fair?"
"OK by me. I hate to wake him up, but I think we're here," Gage said as he stopped the car in front of a modest ranch house with a big bay window that cast a warm glow onto the chair swing that hung from the ceiling on the long front porch. A large yellow dog stood on the couch looking out the window wagging its tail.
"Hey, Marty, looks like the welcoming committee is on full alert," Gage said as the three of them exited the car.
"That's Mac, short for Macaroni. He's very friendly, loves to jump up and hug people, so be prepared," Marty explained as he opened the front door and was promptly mauled by his pet. "See what I mean?" he said, as he ruffled Mac's fur and scratched his ears before gently pushing him off. The dog wasted no time in greeting Gage and Sydney in similar fashion and they responded as they had seen Marty do.
"He's adorable!" Sydney gushed, adding, "I love these big, cuddly guys."
"Yeah, I noticed," Marty replied quietly, shooting a sideways glance at Gage and then back to Sydney, who continued scratching Mac's neck as he leaned against her leg.
"Hey, Marty, where's the little boy's room?" Gage asked, having apparently been too distracted by nature's call to catch Marty's comment.
"Down the hall, first door on the right," Marty answered, pointing the way.
"Thanks. Be right back," Gage said, disappearing quickly down the hall.
"I wasn't as asleep as you thought I was," Marty confessed, winking at Sydney, who opened her mouth to speak, but stopped when Marty held up his hand in a gesture that meant, 'Hold that thought.'
"Your secret is safe with me, Ranger Cooke," he promised.
"That's great, but what I was going to say was, where are your parents? It's kind of late; I thought they'd be here waiting for you," she wondered.
Finally having been scratched enough, Mac jumped back up on the couch, and laid down, head up, front paws stretched out, hind legs tucked under him. Sydney thought he looked kind of like the Sphinx.
"My dad works second shift, so he'll be home in a couple hours, and my mom is probably over at the neighbors'. She and Mrs. Reynolds next door are writing a cookbook as a fundraiser for our church and they were going to work on it on Mrs. Reynolds' computer tonight," Marty explained.
"Did somebody say 'cookbook'? That reminds me, I'm starving," announced Gage as he came back into the living room.
"So what else is new? You're always hungry," Sydney declared.
Well, there's hungry and then there's hungry. The phrase passed through Gage's conscious mind with the speed of a runaway train, leaving behind only a tingling sensation on his hands and his lips and the faintest taste of strawberries on his tongue.
Sydney's heart skipped a beat as she remembered what happened the last time she had teased Gage about his insatiable appetite. Would this ever stop? Would she ever be able to hold a conversation with him again without constantly slamming into this invisible wall of pain?
"There's a Papa John's pizza place I can call that delivers 'til eleven o'clock," Marty offered, heading for the kitchen to make the call. "What do you like on it?"
"It's up to you, Syd. You know I'll eat just about anything, except anchovies," Gage said, adding, "I don't understand why anyone would put little dead fish on pizza."
"Same here," Marty agreed.
"You guys don't know what you're missing, but since we're sharing, let's just go with pepperoni and mushroom?" Sydney posed.
Gage and Marty both nodded in agreement and Marty called and placed the order.
While they waited for dinner to arrive, Marty showed the Rangers his room. The first thing they noticed was a life-sized photo of Tex in his Liberty High School Eagles football uniform plastered on the wall opposite Marty's bed. Gage and Sydney exchanged a look of sympathy for the boy with the fallen hero.
Marty caught their expressions and sighed. "Yeah, I know, but it reminds me of better days, the ones in the past, and hopefully, the ones to come."
He smiled a courageous little smile that brought a lump to Sydney's throat. She could definitely see why Gage felt the need to protect this kid. His optimism in the face of the current situation was beyond admirable; it was inspiring. If he could find the silver lining in his rather ominous cloud, then surely she could stop feeling sorry for herself long enough to focus on finding a way to help Gage live as normal a life as possible, whether they ever got to be more than partners again or not.
"This is the guest room," Marty said, flipping on the light in the room next to his. "It used to be Tex's, but he moved in with Johnny last year. There's just the one bed, so I guess you guys will have to decide who's sleeping where." He looked from Gage to Sydney and back again, a sly smile curling his lips.
"I'll be on the couch in the living room. Syd can have the bed," Gage stated in a tone that indicated there would be no further discussion of the matter.
Just then, Sydney's cell phone rang.
"Syd," she answered.
"Sydney, it's Walker. Are you at Marty's house yet?"
"Yes, we got here about thirty minutes ago. What did you find at the motel?"
"Nothing really. They had about a two hour head start on us," he responded.
"Had?"
"DPS caught them about twenty miles south of Waco on I-35. They were speeding and a state trooper attempted to pull them over, but Tex tried to outrun him. He misjudged a lane change where there's some road construction down there and ended up in a ditch. Tell Marty he's going to have a lot of work to do on the car, but no one was hurt."
Putting the phone against her shoulder, she turned to Marty and related what Walker told her.
Marty's face crumbled and he started to cry. "I don't care about the car," he managed to say before he found himself swallowed up in one of Gage's trademark hugs. All attempts at bravado abandoned, Marty wrapped his arms around Gage's waist and sobbed into his chest.
"Thanks, Walker. We'll stay with Marty tonight and bring him to the courthouse in the morn…" Sydney said, but Walker interrupted her.
"Sydney, Tex asked if he could talk to Marty and I said he could as long as it was OK with Marty and as long as you two could listen as well. The state troopers have patched him through to the other line on my phone," he told her.
"OK, I can put you on speaker," she replied as she pushed a button on the bottom of the phone. "You still there?"
A mechanical version of Walker's voice crackled over the airwaves. "I'm still here."
"Marty's right here. You can put Tex on now," Sydney said, laying the phone on the guest room's dresser as they heard the clicking of the phone connection.
"Hey, little brother, you OK, man?" Tex said when the clicking stopped. His voice was surprisingly calm and almost soothing.
"Tex! Oh, man, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I…" Marty started to say, wiping his tears with the heels of his hands.
"You got nothing to be sorry about, little brother, do you hear me? You just be sure and tell those Rangers that it was me and Johnny dragged you into all this; it wasn't your idea. You helped them catch us, so they should go real easy on you. That's what's important. Oh, and I'm sorry about your car. We never should have taken it."
"How about if I put it in the garage and you help me fix it when you can, OK?"
"I'm thinkin' that's gonna be an awfully long while, little buddy, and you know how Dad is about junkin' up the garage," Tex said, a smile evident in his tone.
Marty chuckled. "Yeah, you're right. Maybe I'll just fix it up and then I'll give you a ride home when you need one. How about that?"
"It's a date, Marty. Hey, can you take care of Mac for me; let him know I miss him?"
"Sure, Tex, and he misses you, too."
"Well, these troopers want to get started on the road back to Dallas, so I gotta go. I guess I'll see you in court tomorrow, huh?"
"See you then, big brother. Bye."
As Sydney picked up her phone, a huge tear rolled down her cheek. She looked at Gage, but he was avoiding her eyes by studying the pattern in the bedspread.
Marty grabbed a tissue from the box on the dresser and blew his nose. Looking at Sydney, he pulled out a second tissue and then glanced at Gage and took a third one from the box. Both Rangers accepted them when Marty offered, trying to avoid eye contact with one another as much as possible.
"Thanks," they both mumbled before blowing their noses in unison, which touched off a fit of hysterical laughter from all three of them.
The doorbell rang announcing the arrival of the pizza and giving everyone something to think about besides the tender exchange between the two brothers.
End Chapter 11.