Title: The Swear Jar 11/X
Author: Romantique
Email: dolph1n
Classification: Raylan/Winona Family/General
Rating: T for language (but no worse than the show)
Summary: Raylan is a new dad. This one is a stand-alone, not a sequel to 'A Change of Scenery.'
Disclaimer: It's 'Justified' hiatus time, and I'm bored. This fic is based on nothing but my imagination and takes place sometime after the end of Season 3.
Legal: These characters do not belong to me. I'm just a fan and have not made a dime. Please email me to obtain permission to post.
A/N: So sorry to be so long in between chapters. Real life got in the way, big time. Hope you enjoy this one.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"Boyd's in Tennessee?" Rachael asked, more than a little surprised. "Isn't that a little risky for him to leave his Harlan stronghold ... unattended?"
Rachael knew Boyd's MO. All the marshals in the Lexington office knew Boyd Crowder's MO.
"Maybe he didn't," Raylan answered, not having considered that angle, "leave it unattended."
His thoughts then immediately went to Ava. If anyone was looking after Boyd's interests in his absence, it had to be Ava.
"My instincts tell me that there's a good chance Boyd's in custody." Raylan's mind was racing ninety miles an hour. "And Ava's been warmin' up to me to throw me off the scent. I have to admit it worked, but for opposite reasons than you might think. It worked on Tim for those same reasons."
"I can see a reason for hesitance in falling for the charms of Miss Ava." Rachael smiled. "And see? There's hope for you and Tim, yet."
Raylan smiled back at her, giving her a self-depricating 'courtesy' laugh, at his own expense.
After they arrived back to the Court House, Rachael headed straight for her desk and jumped on the computer, while Raylan went downstairs to 'Records.'
"I ran that address you asked me to," a young, blonde, female clerk caught Raylan's attention as he entered the department. "The house is all clear, but you were right about the alarm system."
She then handed him a report printout.
He studied the piece of paper. "Wynn Duffy," he said to himself. "Thanks, Kelly," Raylan smiled, and headed back, towards the floor elevators.
Before heading upstairs to his floor, Raylan pulled out his cell phone and called the realtor who showed him and Winona the house the day before.
"Mrs. Hastings," he began when she answered her phone. "I came across a little problem with the house we're buyin', but I think you can fix it. We need the alarm system and monitoring company changed over right away. I can't do it because the house is not yet in our names." After listening to her response, he said, "Yeah, I want you to set it up with Apollo Alarms and Monitoring in Lexington. Yep, there are several marshals out of this office who highly recommend Apollo."
Raylan knew exactly how to play his realtor. She was thrilled to receive such a useful tip. An alarm company recommended by the Marshal's Service was insider information. Indeed, she would use the prized information many times over in her business. In return, she gladly promised to have the alarm and monitoring contract switched over right away, and Raylan had no doubt she would do exactly as she promised. And Wynn Duffy would be out of his new house.
A short time later, when Raylan made it back to his office, Rachael was ready and waiting for him.
"I've got to hand it to you. You were right," she said, handing the devil his due in the form of a printout. "Boyd was picked up by the Marshal Service in Nashville for trafficking. Unlike 'The Blue Grass State,' 'The Volunteer State' does care about the weed business."
"Oh," Raylan said with a twinge of sarcasm and a nod, "they care."
"So, Crowder got picked up in Tennessee?" Seated next to Rachael's desk, Tim overheard his partners. "You know, they'll put him away and throw away the key."
Entering the office front doors after an early lunch, Art overheard all of them.
"Sounds like all our Boyd Crowder problems are over," Art added with a satisfied smile.
"But, Art," Raylan looked quizzically at his boss, "I need to find out if he was the one who busted Arlo out of jail." He then added, "I'd like to go to Nashville and interview him in custody."
"You know what?" Art asked with a frustrated sigh, glaring daggers at Raylan. "You astound me. Here, you've been lookin' for a way to put your old man behind bars ever since you were transferred back to Kentucky. AND you've been on the case to put Boyd Crowder behind bars from day one, as well. Now, that they're both behind bars ... have you ever heard the sayin' about lettin' sleepin' dogs lie?"
"Uh, yeah," Raylan answered, with a note of sarcasm in his voice. "It's true I always wanted to be the one to put Arlo back behind bars. But not for murder. Arlo didn't commit those murders. You know that. You know the cast of characters involved."
Raylan was referring to the murders of Boyd's associate, Derek aka "Devil" Lennox, and Kentucky State Trooper Tom Bergen.
"Be that as it may, Arlo confessed. So, in the eyes of the law, he did commit those murders. And now Boyd's bein' held in Tennessee for traffickin' weed," Art recanted. "It's not perfect justice, but it is justice all the same. And finally, Boyd's off the streets and out of our hair. Not to mention, I don't have to spend one more dime of our precious investigatory resources on that scoundrel."
Then, Art impatiently crossed his arms in front of him. "This is a good thing, Raylan. What are you gonna do now with all your free time?"
Raylan pondered the thought. It was a strange one at that. The look on his face was one of a man having his professional mind blown.
"You've been fighting this Crowder thing for so long, it's kind of hard to give it up," Tim pointed out the obvious to his colleague.
Tim knew all about having trouble letting go, first hand, from his fighting days in Afghanistan.
"Maybe," Raylan acquiesced.
Suddenly, Raylan found his self-questioning his thought to go to Tennessee and question Boyd ... to get to him while he was down. But then, he immediately thought that Art was right. Why poke that sleeping dog? Boyd would spend mandatory time in jail for drug trafficking based on stiff and unyielding Federal sentencing guidelines. No plea bargains or legal maneuvering on this deal.
Art put a fatherly hand on Raylan's shoulder. "Don't you have a weddin' to get ready for?"
"You're gettin' married?" Tim asked, the only one of the four who didn't know.
"He's re-marryin' Winona," Art smiled with approval. "Gonna be a real family man."
"Well, congratulations!" Tim smiled. "And here, I thought you were just tryin' to avoid the advances of the widow Crowder."
Rachael chuckled.
"No," Raylan smiled. "I left her all for you," he bantered back with Tim.
"Did you leave me that good lookin' bartender, too?" Tim bantered back. "I'll just live off your scraps."
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Back at Winona's sister's house, Raylan brought some lasagna and an antipasto home from one of Winona's favorite restaurants. After dinner, Raylan grabbed a quick shower and changed into a tee-shirt and jeans. He then went to the fridge where he cracked open a beer and made his way back to Winona's bedroom. There, in dimmed light, she was seated in the rocking chair nursing Caitlyn to sleep. He stood there silently propped up in the doorway and watched. It was a beautiful sight.
At some point, Winona noticed him there and smiled.
"How was your first day back to work after our little vacation?" she asked.
"Oh, it was a day," he said.
"Is that all I'm going to get out of you?" she tried to keep her tone even, as Caitlyn was just about sound to sleep.
"I found out Boyd Crowder's in custody in Nashville," he said, taking a long pull from his bottle. "I'm thinkin' I need to talk to him about Arlo's last prison break. Art doesn't want me to go. It's not in the budget."
Winona quietly stood up and gently placed the baby in her bassinette. She then turned around and took a seat on the edge of the bed.
"Boyd's not an average felon to you. Never has been," she observed. "I know you and he dug coal together, but why the continued interest in him?"
"I guess part of it is I know Arlo didn't kill those two men he confessed to killin'," Raylan began. "And I think Boyd definitely killed one and maybe knows who killed Tom Bergen. But there is somethin' more."
Winona could always read him.
"Boyd saved my life," he confessed.
"You never told me that," she said. "When?"
"A couple of times," Raylan answered after taking another swig, finishing off the bottle. "One time was in the mine. There was a cave in, and I was trapped down in a minin' shaft with 3 other men. We were runnin' out of air, chokin' on coal dust. Boyd blew a hole through a parallel shaft and got us all out of there."
He then took a seat next to Winona on the edge of the bed.
"I never did like workin' down in the mines," he recanted. "But after the cave in, I never went back down, again. Aunt Helen wouldn't hear of it, and I quit."
Winona reached over and began rubbing circles on Raylan's back.
"And what was another time?" she asked.
Raylan let out a sigh. Her touch felt good to him.
"It was that time we were in that shoot out over at Boyd's daddy's place," he reminisced. "I told you about that one."
"Yeah, you did," she remembered.
Then, she got up on her knees behind him, and she began to rub on his shoulders, kneading the stress out of his taut muscles.
"That feels so good," he whispered, hanging his head, giving her full access to his long neck.
"Do you feel an obligation to Boyd?" she asked.
"I dunno," Raylan answered with is eyes now closed, enjoying the massage. "Unlike Arlo, Boyd's always cared somethin' about me. He's had my back. I know he's a lyin', cheatin', murderin' no good son of a bitch. But there's somethin' about him that had a redemptive quality. At least, until now. I guess that's what I'm havin' trouble tryin' to reconcile."
As Winona continued to work her magic on his shoulders, she leaned forward and whispered, "Maybe you need closure. Maybe one day while we're movin', you could take a couple of days off. And on one of those days, you could drive out to Nashville and get yourself some closure with Boyd. That way, it wouldn't be on the Service. Just an old friend visitin' a felon in custody."
Shifting his weight, Raylan looked into Winona's blue eyes with a deep intensity.
"You are amazin', did you know that?" he asked, swallowing down a lump that had formed in his throat.
The woman's insight into him touched him very deeply.
She reached over and brushed his hair away from his eyes, over his furrowed brow with her fingertips.
"I know I love you," she said. "And I want you to be happy and to be at peace with things, with your past."
Raylan took her into his arms and gazed into her eyes. Then, he began to nuzzle down the side of her face and down her long neck.
"I love you, too," he whispered between kisses.
As he reached her sculpted clavicle and slowly headed into her cleavage, she threw her head back and her chest heaved. Then, she reached up and pulled him down, on top of her, wrapping her legs around him.
They kissed, and they moved as their clothing became unbuttoned, unzipped, discarded. He wanted her with a new level of urgency, trust, and intimacy than he'd never experienced before. She felt it, too.
They got what they gave, and they had never before given the other more trust and truth and understanding than on this particular night.
(To be continued...)