"Ya're either the bravest man Ah've ever known or the stupidest," she states as he walks into the kitchen the next morning.
"Why is that, Audrey?" he asks, a curious tilt to his head.
"After what Ah did last night and ya didn't lock up the knives?" she queries with a raised eyebrow. "That makes ya either brave or stupid in my book."
"Or I could be crazy," he suggests, amusement coloring his voice.
"The thought had crossed my mind," she mutters into her tea cup. "So now what?"
"After you are through with your breakfast, we'll start your self defense lessons for the day," he tells her, noticing the empty tea cup in front of her.
"Then we might as well get started," she states as she stands up and takes the cup to the sink, trying not to wince at the sore muscles. "I've been sittin' here for nearly half an hour waitin' for ya ta get out here."
"My apologies, I was unaware that you were waiting," he replies as he turns towards the training room.
"For someone who seems to have eyes on the back of his head, Ah find that hard to believe," she shoots back as she follows him.
"Contrary to your beliefs, I am not omnipotent," he tells her while they make their way down the corridor.
"Could have fooled meh," she grumbles under her breath and hidden under the mask, a smile appears.
"Your dinner is ready," he states as he steps into the art storage room but she doesn't even acknowledge his existence, she just continues to stare at the computer screen. "Is something the matter?"
"Ya mean other than the usual?" she asks sarcastically. "The boys say that Ruth and Tim have been fightin' again. The bills are startin' to pile up."
"That is most unfortunate," he replies as he starts to turn to leave. "Your dinner is getting cold."
"Ta hell with my dinner," she snarls as she launches herself out of her seat and goes to stand in front of him. "Ya created this mess, V, and you better figure a way out of it."
"And what would you suggest I do?" he asks, still surprised by this woman who's gone from meek mouse to terrible tiger.
"Ah don't know, but ya better think of somethin'," she snaps as she pokes him in the chest with a finger as she speaks.
"I will thank you not to poke me," he nearly growls as he grabs her hand in a painful grip.
"Then do somethin' to help them," she insists, refusing to flinch as he continues to squeeze her hand. "If ya hadn't killed Michael, none of this would have happened."
"If you had simply remembered your handbag for a change or had not come back for it for at least another five minutes, then you wouldn't be here," he points out. "You'd be living off of Jones' pension and you would still be pretending to be the mother of the twins."
That stops her dead in her tracks and he can see the fight go out of her like deflating balloon.
"Oh god, it's all my fault," she whispers.
"Not entirely," he consoles as he releases her hand and then steers her towards the kitchen. "Go eat your dinner. I will think of some way for their financial burdens to be lessened."
She dejectedly heads for the kitchen and finds her dinner waiting for her. When he joins her a few minutes later, he discovers that all she's done is pushing the food around on the plate, but hasn't eaten any of it. He sits across from her and puts a small wooden box on the table between them, the black lacquer finish with the mother-of-pearl inlay softly glowing in the kitchen light.
"What are you doin' with my jewelry box?" she asks, surprised to see it sitting there.
"I find it interesting that you would take all of your jewelry with you when you were only going to be gone a couple of days," he says.
"I found out the hard way that things tend to disappear out of that box when I'm gone for a couple of days," she replies. "A good bit of the jewelry belonged to Georgia and Ruth's mother. After Ah figured out that Michael was takin' it, Ah started takin' the box with me. I tried givin' some of the pieces to Ruth since they're rightfully hers, but Michael found out and went over to her place and demanded them back."
"Is all of the jewelry in here from Ruth and Georgia's mum?" he asks.
"No, there are some pieces in there from Michael to Georgia, they're pretty expensive too since he wanted people to see that he treated his wife well," she answers.
"Would you be willing to give the box and its contents to Ruth now?" he inquires.
She looks at him in surprise for a moment and then reaches up and starts to take all of her jewelry off. When she reaches for the diamond engagement ring and wedding band on her left hand, he stops her.
"The jewelry in the box and what you've taken off should be enough to support them for a while," he tells her. "The ring looks to be custom made."
"It is," she replies. "Michael had it made for Georgia to prove his 'love' for her."
"Hold onto it for now," he instructs as he collects the other pieces of jewelry on the table. "I think it will come in handy later on."
"What are you goin' to do with them?" she questions.
"I will make sure that she gets everything," he assures her.
"Thank you," she says as she picks up her fork and stabs a piece of food with it.
"You're welcome, Audrey," he replies as he stands and leaves her to eat in peace.
Ruth sits at her desk staring at her computer screen trying not to lose her temper or her sanity. Between the bills piling up, her boss chewing her out for someone else's mistake, the fights with Tim and the twins trying to eat everything in sight, she's surprised she's managed to keep it together for as long as she has. She briefly glances at the clock and sighs, know that soon she'll have to go from one this war zone to the one at home. She starts trying to get some work done again when her phone rings.
"Of course," she quietly grumbles as she picks up the handset. "This is Ruth Thompson."
"Ruth, it's Betty from the front desk," Betty says. "There's a package here for you."
"Sign for it please," Ruth requests. "I'll pick it up on the way out."
"I tried to, but the guy won't let anyone but you sign for it," Betty tells her.
"Fine, I'll be there in a minute," Ruth sighs before hanging the phone up.
A couple of minutes later, Ruth emerges from a lift behind the receptionist's desk and sees a man in a BFC uniform waiting nearby. When Betty spots her, the receptionist nods her head towards the man and Ruth acknowledges with a nod of her own. She steps up to the man and looks up at him, idly noticing that he hasn't taken his sunglasses off even though he's indoors.
"Ruth Thompson?" the tall man asks.
"Yes, that's me," she replies.
"Thumb print please," he requests as he holds out the small scanner and she obediently puts her thumb on it. "Here you go."
"Thank you," she replies as he hands her the package.
"Have a nice day, ma'am," he says as he touches the bill of his cap and then turns to go.
"So, who's it from?" Betty asks.
"It doesn't say," Ruth answers as she examines the package. "That's odd, I thought it was required that there be a return address for something to be sent through the BFC."
"That is odd," Betty replies as she leans forward. "Well, open it up."
"Being a bit nosey, aren't we?" Ruth laughs.
"Well, yeah," Betty snorts. "It's the least you can do since I had to baby sit the guy until you got down here."
"And I bet that was a real bit of torture for you too," Ruth teases.
"Ok, so he had a great looking arse, but still, there was something about that guy that was a bit creepy," Betty replies.
"Yeah," Ruth agrees. "Probably because he didn't take off his sunglasses."
"Ok, now that we've agreed the guy was creepy, open up already," Betty insists, eagerly staring at the box.
"Fine," Ruth laughs again as she opens the box and finds another box inside with a note attached. "'Open when you're alone.'"
"What the bloody hell does that mean?" Betty demands.
"It means you're not going to see what's in the box," Ruth tells her as she closes the outer box and heads for the lifts.
"That's not fair," Betty whines.
"Life seldom is," Ruth replies a bit sadly before stepping into the waiting lift.
Several hours and one too many arguments later, Ruth retires to her bedroom for the night, exhausted physically, mentally and spiritually. The package that she received hours ago sits peacefully on her bed and it takes her a few moments to remember that it's hers. She wearily pulls the second box out of the bigger one, not caring that the Styrofoam peanuts it's packed in fall onto her bed and the floor.
She shakes the box, but doesn't hear anything rattling inside and it doesn't weigh very much. She pulls the note off and tosses it to the side before using her thumb nail to break open the tape. Once she gets the tape taken care of, she opens the flaps and a sea of more packaging peanuts faces her.
She cautiously sticks her hand inside and digs around until her hand hits something solid. She carefully pulls it out, not caring that she's making a bigger mess as more peanuts flow over the sides of the box and onto the bed. Once the object is out and she gets a good look at it, she instantly recognizes it.
With trembling hands and a rapidly beating heart, she carefully places the jewelry box on the bed and opens it. Inside there's a thin layer of cotton, but once that's removed she finds pieces of tissue paper wrapped around many small objects. She feels the tears forming in her eyes and she pays them no mind as she unwraps the first item and reveals her mother's favorite broach.
She lets out a strangled sob and quickly goes about unwrapping the rest of the treasures in the box. Tim comes in a minute later, sees her sitting on the bed totally concentrating on something and then he sees the Styrofoam peanuts on the bed and floor. Before he can admonish her for creating such a mess, he sees her with tears freely flowing down her face and a smile on her lips.
"What's this about?" he asks and she looks up at him and lets out a happy sob.
"It's me mum's jewels," she tells him as she holds up a necklace. "She somehow sent me them."
"Are they all there?" he questions as he eagerly comes over to see the various pieces of jewelry spread out on the bed.
"I don't know," she replies. "I haven't finished unwrapping them yet."
"Do you want some help?" he inquires nervously.
"I'd like to do it myself," she responds after thinking about it for several seconds. "But could you just be here? I don't expect you to clean up the mess or anything, but just sit here with me."
"Yeah, I can do it that," he tells her and then after clearing a spot for himself, he sits down next to her on the bed and starts to rub her back to comfort her.
She goes back to carefully revealing each piece of carefully packed jewelry and when she's a little more than half way through she gets another surprise.
"Oh, my god," she gasps.
"What is it?" he asks, leaning over to get a better look.
"Her jewelry's in here too," she whispers, barely believing what she's seeing.
"Is there more?" he questions excitedly.
"Let me see," she replies as she hastily starts open the rest.
A few minutes later and the bed sparkles with gold and precious stones in the lamp light. The couple stares in wonder at the treasure before them, both of them stunned at their sudden good fortune. She gently touches one of the pieces and then she carefully separates the jewelry into two piles.
"There are a couple of mum's pieces missing," she states. "It looks like all of Her pieces are here except the engagement ring and wedding band."
"Is there any more in the box?" he inquires.
"I don't think so," she answers as she picks up the box and holds it up to the light to see the bottom. "Wait, there's something more in here. It looks like a piece of paper."
She pulls the paper out and opens it up.
"It's a note," she says. "It's from Her."
He looks over her shoulder and reads along with her.
My dear Ruth,
I know there are no words I can write that will ease the suffering you've been through, but I thought that maybe giving you what should have been rightfully yours to begin with would at least ease your financial burden. There are pieces missing and I wouldn't be surprised if they were the ones your mum gave Georgia. Michael took those years ago and I don't know what he did with them. He more than likely sold them I'm afraid and I'm sorry if that is the case. I think you know what to do with Georgia's jewelry and I've enclosed the address of a man who will give you a good price for them.
Please don't tell the twins about this and I suggest you hide this box and its contents from them. It would be too hard to explain why the man I'm staying with let me send these to you but won't let me come home to them. Unfortunately, that will never be. Soon they will be legally yours, but please don't ask me how I know this. Just know that the next few months are going to be very confusing for everyone and very taxing on the boys. Love them as I no longer can and maybe someday I'll be able to tell you the whole truth.
Until then, take care,
A.M.
"A.M.?" he questions. "What's A.M. mean?"
"I have a feeling those are her initials," she replies as she picks up a scrap of paper on the very bottom of the jewelry box that has an address scribbled on it. "I'll take the diamond earrings and the matching necklace to this guy tomorrow. It's probably best to only sell this stuff a little bit at a time. We don't want the Finger's attention on us."
"Especially now that we don't have that bastard's protection," he grumbles. "Let's get this stuff cleaned up and get to bed. At least I'll sleep better knowin' that we'll be able to start paying our bills again."
"So will I," she agrees as she starts to carefully put the jewelry away. "So will I."
The next day as Audrey is working in the art storage room after another multi hour work out when a new email message arrives. She instantly recognizes Ruth's email address and opens the message.
Thank you, are the only two words in the message.
You're welcome, Audrey emails back and it feels as if a large weight has been lifted from her shoulders.
Author's Notes: Hey, what do you know, my muse is finally being cooperative about continuing with most of my stories. I know this chapter is a bit short and there isn't a lot of V goodness in it, but I felt it was important to put this in here. I promise that the next chapter there will be lots of V and plenty of action to boot. As always, please leave a review.