Here's hoping the Northeasterners battling the elements this weekend stay safe and warm!
####
I think we need to talk about what happened at the hearing.
It's Sarah. We need to talk. I can't…do this anymore.
Honey, we need to talk. Please call.
Ms. Montgomery., I would like to talk with you about the incident with Gabby at your earliest convenience.
Talking: the fool's illusion for doing.
And now everyone wanted their say.
She pressed the button. Played the last message back. Remembered the benefits of doing before she picked up the phone and ensured that her daughter's so-called teacher received a swift, prompt response.
"I don't care if she's tenured until she's hobbling on a cane. This Kane is going to give her something to hobble about. Get it done."
She had expected it. The first day Gabby got on the school bus, the first day she'd resisted every overprotective-mother urge to tail the bus – Bianca had only waited for the inevitable day when her daughter would slink off the school bus and hide in her room. She wouldn't cry or rage like her sister might. In some unfortunate regards, she was her mother's daughter. She would just feel. Quietly. Unintrusively. She would feel everything.
Bianca had expected this. She had even prepared the conversation, fine-tuned from the last time...with Miranda. Our family is different, but not all that different. I love you the same. They don't understand. Give them time.
Except she would leave out that last part, because the one thing she would never again give was that precious 'time'' - that 'time' to validate herself and her family for people who, quite frankly, did not deserve the 'time' of day.
She had expected this speech to be dusted off and implemented after some errant remark from the schoolyard bully, or maybe in the heat of a lunchtime battle over the last buttered roll.
She had never expected her daughter, along with AJ Chandler, to be the subject of the latest break room gossip amongst the school's supposed adults.
She had never expected her too-sweet, all-too-trusting daughter to amble up to her favorite teacher – just to say 'hi' - and to overhear how her mommy had made AJ's daddy kill a bunch of people.
And, she was willing to venture, a certain kindergarten teacher never expected to lose her job over this 'small incident.'
Ms. Johnson was about to learn about the danger of expectation.
Bianca picked up the phone again and dialed a familiar number.
"I'm ready to execute the rest of the plan."
As was someone else.
####
Melt-in-the-mouth middle. Swift. Smooth flip. And, of course, the sizzle.
He was getting to be a regular sous chef, at least when it came to the fine art of over-easy eggs. And, like any great foodie, he had to add his own special trademark.
With the image of the first time he'd served his morning pick-me-up to a horrified but ultimately satisfied Natalia, he slid the egg onto its creamy, vanilla ice cream-tinged oatmeal base.
The bacon was still getting its crisp on, so he fired up the coffee-maker. One dollop of cream? Or maybe they should just live dangerously and go for two. This particular breakfast had to be, well…perfect.
Brot pulled out the rumpled brochure. He smoothed the wrinkles that somehow didn't diminish the charm of the tiny chapel and cottage. It would be the centerpiece of the tray: the conversation piece for a conversation that was long overdue.
Smiling and badly whistling a nameless tune, he went to confirm the second most important topic of the day: "Hey, hon, how much cream –"
Another image quickly captivated his mind: his fiancée, convulsing on the floor.
####
"You think you can spare a few minutes to talk with your poor, lost bro?"
For the first time today, the word 'talk' didn't set her teeth on edge.
"Get over here right now."
Bianca couldn't hide the mirth behind the order, and said 'lost' brother couldn't help obeying, goofy grin in place the whole time.
The grin only grew wider when she flipped now non-existent dreds. "Nice haircut," she mused, her own grin teasing her lips.
"Several years and a few recent rounds of phone tag, and that's all you gotta say to me? Nice haircut? Although, admittedly, it is."
"Well, there was one other thing -"
"Yeah?"
"Did you get shorter? I could've sworn that basketball camp you were at for a year had a height requirement."
Now he hopped up onto his feet, properly outraged. "Hey, I'm just waiting on my call from the Celtics, and…well, you look different, too."
"Snappy comeback. I see you've been frequenting the comedy clubs."
They shared a mutual glare before simultaneously dissolving into a fit of giggles. Giggle, God, how long had it been since she'd done that?
Reggie knelt again and wrapped her up in a longer hug. She closed her eyes and savored the moment. He made it too easy…too easy to go back…
"This freakin' town." He swiped at his eye when he pulled back. "It can really ruin a guy's street cred, you know?"
"You've still got some left to ruin?"
She grabbed his hand before it could get in a swipe.
"Sorry, sorry. Kendall's influence. I would like to know, though, what finally brought my bad-ass bro back to the whirlpool of fun that is Pine Valley?"
"We can talk about that later."
Quick, not-so-smooth deflect.
"Actually," he added, slapping his hands against his knees, "I was hoping maybe you and the kids – and maybe Kendall's brood, too - could join us for breakfast. My treat."
"Us?"
"OK, I technically came to pick her up, but you were my first stop. Is she here? Or, back that up, what did you think? Be honest."
Well, honestly, she had no idea what the hell Reggie was talking about.
"I -"
"Yes, please, be honest." That voice already grated. This newbie was going to have to learn her place, which did not include interrupting private conversations. Brooke must have been smoking –
The inner rant screeched to a halt as her brother put his arm around the smiling intruder. "What did you think of my wife?"
Oh...
Before she could replace the finisher to that thought with a more sanitary of course, Reggie directed another question toward the new arrival. "And what did you think of my sister?"
"Oh, she was everything you said." Still smiling, the girl met her eyes and offered the patented double eyebrow-raise before turning back to Reggie. "And more."
####
"It's not like him, or Greenlee for that matter."
She put the phone down for the hundredth time because Zach had that look. That straight-lined 'I wanna say something, Probably something you're not gonna like, but I'm just gonna sit here and give you that 'look' instead'' look.
Normally, she might be inclined to accidently drop a plate...or maybe hurl it against the wall a couple of feet from his head.
Just to get a reaction. Anything.
But after their experience yesterday, she was willing to leave her husband to his brooding ways. Right now, those very predictable ways were comforting.
"Emma's a great kid, but she's still insecure. She's still afraid of being abandoned. I can….I can see that."
Kendall could see it too well.
With her history, who could blame Emma?
"Ryan wouldn't let his daughter think, even for a minute –"
"It's not been that long. Just give it time."
And drop it. Right now.
That's what the non-reassuring, non-calm, silent Zach was saying, anyway.
"Look, Emma's fine right now. In fact, she's currently schooling our sons in the fine art of losing Go-Fish gracefully. If we don't hear from them by this afternoon, then I'll go over there myself. Figure this thing out."
She stopped her pacing, her only currently available energy-burner. "I think you've had enough adventure for one day. Speaking of which, I think we should still call the doctor."
"I told you, it was just sleepwalking. It…it happened a lot when I was a kid. No big deal."
He was doing that one-fingered temple-rub. Trying to control it. Trying to be Mr. Calm Guy. But those same two words were still there, just below: drop it.
"That 'no big deal' scared the hell out of me."
They hadn't exactly led the most peaceful of existences, but it still wasn't every day she woke up on New Year's Day to her husband collapsing into her arms.
And, lately, he'd been…different.
"I'm fine now. Promise." He managed to capture her hand on one of her pace-bys. "Join me." He signaled to the small plastic bag on the counter. "And please tell me that's the latest issue of Hockey Now. A guy's gotta have his morning reading."
He had that way, too: that way of calming the nervous energy that a hundred of her tics and habits couldn't. She instantly smiled and grabbed the bag before settling down across from him. Morning was always 'their' time. Sometimes it would be spent here at the kitchen table, with a paper and a couple of cups of coffee, as they tried to manage the 'normal couple' thing. Other times, they'd be occupied in more aerobic activities. Either way, and both ways had their definite benefits, morning was their time to decompress. To just be.
Kendall slid her purchase onto the table, grinning as she flipped through its contents. "Well, it is interesting reading material. And this part is perfect, I think. Look at the meanings for the name Joshua: God saves, salvation…"
She was eagerly pushing the book across the table, until she saw the new look on Zach's face. Exactly what she wanted: an unmasked, unplugged reaction.
And exactly what jarred the hell out of her.
She saw undeniable, indisputable…anger.
No, not anger.
Rage.
"Zach, what -"
"I don't want to hear his name again. Forget him."
Each word was careful, barely controlled, but hers sure as hell wouldn't be.
"Forget him? He's my brother. Not was. Is. Always will be. And, in case you're forgetting, I owe my life to him. He saved me."
"I saved you!"
She didn't flinch at the volume, or the venom, in the words. She didn't flinch as the coffee cup in his hand imploded, sending shards of glass and steamed liquid across the table.
She didn't even flinch when she looked up and saw their two guests just inside the doorway.
One wore the proper stunned, slightly embarrassed expression.
Her sister, though, wore a very familiar expression: equal parts hurt, guilt, and…knowing.
What are the two of you keeping from me now?
Only then, only when she sensed that she probably didn't want the answer to that question – when she affirmed that she was sure as hell going to find it anyway – did Kendall flinch.
####
The arms. Trembling, then thrashing. Uncontrolled. But they're still reaching, reaching.
And he can't. He's trying, but he can't reach back.
He can't move, because it's so hot now. It's always so damn hot, and now somebody's just thrown gasoline on it all, lit a match, because it burns.
It burns and he can't crawl out of his own skin.
His muscles may have abandoned him, but his senses - they're on full alert.
He can smell. The smoke, the char, the overcooked…
He can hear. Sizzling, crackling. Spliced with the relentless pops on an endless loop.
And he can see. Everything. But he won't. He won't dare acknowledge the writhing shadows haunting the corner of his eye. The bold highlights against the angry orange backdrop.
And he won't look into those still-open eyes. The ones tethered to the restless legs, the tongue-shredding teeth, and the ever-pounding, ever-reaching arms.
Arms reaching for help that will not come.
He won't.
"Brot?"
He can't.
"Brot? Come on, man. Come back."
Come back, soldier.
The smoke from surely blackened bacon stung his nostrils, and the sputtering coffee maker still wheezed a few hacking breaths.
And a face hovered over him.
"Jesse, I –" The slow pounding behind his eyes exploded as he scrambled to his feet. "Natalia, oh God, she –"
His fiancée, who had been splayed on the floor for God knew how long, was now relaxed in the chair. Obviously, based on her measured breaths and pale skin, she was still recovering. She offered him a small, concerned smile.
She was concerned for him.
"It's okay. She had a seizure, but I got her the medicine. I got here just in time."
In time.
"I'm sorry." All he could say. He wanted to go to her, but, once again, he was paralyzed. God, what if -
"She's gonna be okay. We're all gonna be okay. Where did you go, Brot?"
Only one set of muscles could move. His fingers released their death-grip on the paper in his hand. He looked down at the destroyed cottage. "Nowhere."
His erratic heart had slowed to a rumble. The explosion had settled into a small flame. And he could finally look into those eyes.
He could finally look into them and ask one quiet question.
What if I can't save you?
####
She knew it was inevitable, so why did it hurt so damn much?
Kendall might've smiled more, said – or, more accurately, not said – all of the right things. They might've even had the girls' night outs and done the kid sleepover exchange every month…
They might've convinced themselves for a while that it was all good. Fine. Never better. The same.
But it wasn't.
In those unguarded moments, when the once-easy silence now begged to be filled with too-hasty, too-generic words, Bianca could see what Kendall tried so hard to hide.
She'd spent the last five years waiting for the day when the well-earned distrust and disappointment in her sister's eyes took its center-stage.
That day had come on the back of yet another Pine Valley secret that had managed to give its diligent, exhausted guard the slip.
The numbness was supposed to be her talisman. Looking between her sister and brother-in-law, however, she realized that it, too, had given her the slip.
Reggie, ever the peace-maker, attempted a treaty while foregoing the necessary details. The ever-so-vital specifics. ""We, um—" He cleared his throat and tried on the smile again. It didn't fall away this time. "We thought you, Zach, and the boys might go for a late breakfast with us and Yasmin. You know, catch up?"
Zach had become the tabletop's most faithful scholar, leaving Kendall to try on her own smile. Her fitting wasn't quite as successful. "That sounds great, but I've – we've gotta man the fort here. We're waiting for Ryan and Greenlee to pick up Emma. Maybe another time?"
Reggie, taking the hint, nodded. "Absolutely."
Wilting under her sister's watchful eye, Bianca interjected. "I think – I'm sorry, but I'm gonna have to pass, too. I just remembered this meeting I have."
God, that sounded banal, even to her.
But it was true.
Reggie threw his hands up. "I guess it's just me and my lovely wife then."
"Oh, the horror," Kendall mocked, which brought another grin from their brother.
Their brother.
Those particular words brought a whole new set of long-buried feelings and complications.
Reggie, as unawkwardly as he could manage, given the circumstances, excused himself. Bianca thought that she, too, might escape unscathed.
Right up until halfway on her journey out the door, when Kendall took hold of her arm.
"We need to talk," she whispered: half the Kane-command. And half-plea.
Those infamous words.
"We will." Bianca's smile didn't have any better success. "Right now, I think you need to talk to him."
She nodded inside and was startled by the set of eyes locked on her, full of their own commands…and pleas.
What was one more secret between in-laws?
####
Kendall cleaned up the coffee stain.
She listened to the sweet sounds of her children's laughter mingling with the deeper rumble of her husband's.
She put the book back in its bag and placed it in the drawer.
She opened the laptop, went online, and typed three words: Josh Madden death.
####
Reggie's car pulled away and her driver immediately filled his spot. Signaling to the man, Bianca read her new text.
He's ready.
And responded in quick fashion.
Good. I will be there soon.