Chapter 31 – Fields of Gold

Dealing with some writer's block on this story. I know where I want it to go (the wedding and beyond) but it's getting there that's the problem. I don't just want to skip ahead several months to get where I'm going either. Working on some ideas as we speak to help bridge the gap, including a resolution to the Gemini killer storyline which will come up in the next few chapters and no, Anna, Cathy, Nick or Bryan won't be killed. I promise.

"Anna?" I was struggling with my tie. Anna had convinced me that I needed to start wearing one to court and since I was like most men, I opted for the ease of a clip on. When she saw my collection, I was told that I needed to start wearing real ones and I reluctantly agreed.

She came in the bedroom, "Yeah?"

I held the instrument of my demise out towards her, "Help?"

Letting out a stifled laugh as she wiped her hands on the back of her jeans, Anna took my tie from me and had me sit on the edge of the bed so she could reach. She sat on her knees behind me and I watched in the reflection of the mirror on the closet door as she tied it and kissed me on my neck just below my left ear when she was done, sending a shiver down my spine, "Done."

I stood up and turned around, picking Anna up and adjusting her to where her right arm was around my neck as I carried her out of my bedroom. "Grab my coat since my hands are otherwise engaged."

She grabbed my coat with her free hand as I carried her up front. Draco saw me carrying Anna and the dog's ears perked up. Even with me living here almost seven months, Draco was still uneasy whenever anyone got close to Anna and I was no exception. She never tried to bite me but her ears remained up, concerned with what was going on. Anna softly told the dog that she was okay but it didn't help. Cassie was nowhere to be seen and Danilla was perched in the Christmas tree about halfway up with her tail hanging out and curled at the bottom around a lower branch. Looking over at our fireplace mantle, I had to smile. We had bought stockings for Cassie and for me and Anna had the stockings embroidered with our names to match the ones she had done for Draco, Danilla and herself. I set Anna down in the living room as she picked up Cassie's stocking which had fallen off of the mantle. "When's court?"

I checked my reflection once more in the mirror above the fireplace mantle as Anna grabbed her BlackBerry and her keys. She was heading into town with me to finish up some last minute Christmas shopping. As scheduling would have it, Anna had to work Christmas Day and the day after and I'd have to work Christmas night so we had decided to do our Christmas on Christmas Eve which was in five days. "In about an hour so we'd better get going."

My court case lasted a couple of hours and when I was done, I waited in the lobby with a uniformed cop I knew on Anna to come pick me up. We rode together back to Summerlin in silence with the radio playing softly in the background. Anna had it tuned to a station that was playing only Christmas music. Normally, Christmas carols and Christmas songs playing all the time would have bored me and I'd be begging for her to change the channel, but as we drove down the Vegas strip on our way home, I caught sight of all of the casinos decorated for the holidays and somehow, it didn't annoy me quite as much. I told Anna it was because she was with me and that broke the silence and after that, I was telling her stories of my family's Christmas traditions back in Texas and had her laughing until tears were streaming down her face at some of the stuff my sisters, brother and I did as kids.

After taking a six hour nap, my alarm clock went off and I rolled over in bed, but Anna was already gone. Stopping in the kitchen to turn on my coffee maker, I found Anna on the floor wrapping what she bought earlier while I was at court. She had her hair pulled back in a ponytail, giving me access to her neck. As the scent of coffee started to fill the room, I sat down on the floor behind her and kissed the back of her neck and saw that she was wrapping a copy of a DVD set of the Toy Story movies, "Let me guess, Bryan?"

Anna laughed, "No, smartass." She pulled a piece of tape she had stuck to her sleeve off and after folding the wrapping paper over, she taped it to the edge of the box, "Though it'll probably wind up at the station at least once. Cody's going through a Toy Story thing right now. Cathy told me they got him a couple of Toy Story toys and asked that I get him the DVDs so I picked those up at the Disney Store while you were in court. I also got your present as well."

"What?"

"Nope. You'll find out tomorrow morning when you get off work and don't even bother to look for it. It's not here." Anna was finished with Cody's DVD set and tossed it under the tree, next to a few more presents for my sisters and brother and their kids plus my parents.

I noticed that as we shopped and wrapped our presents, there wasn't anything for Anna's family in the pile. I didn't question her as to why because I already knew the answer for her lack of presents for them. Sighing as the truth hit me, I pulled Anna closer to me and wrapped my arms around her and pulled her to her feet as I stood up, "Merry almost Christmas, Anna." Pulling her back to the bedroom, we had a few hours before I had to be at work and we made good use of that time.

Twelve hours after I left home, I was yawning as I parked my Tahoe behind my truck which was in its spot under the carport. The house was dark except for the porch lights Anna left on for me and the motion light on the edge of the house which turned on when I drove towards the front of the house. Reaching over to grab my work bag, I stopped myself mid yawn as I opened the door and went inside.

As customary, Cassie was waiting for me at the door. Draco was probably wherever Anna was and as I reached down to turn the lights on to the tree, Danilla hissed at me from her perch in the branches. I reached through and was surprised when she let me pet her without swatting at my hand, "You're gonna be pissed when we take this down next week. Where will you hide then?" Not wanting to press my luck with the cat, I quit petting her and plugged in the lights on the tree and went to find Anna.

Rounding the corner in the bedroom to throw my work vest and shoes in the closet, I caught sight of her in bed with the covers half over her. Her right leg was stuck out from under the blankets and she was on her side with her hair mostly covering her face. Draco was on Anna's side of the bed and stood up next to me as I sat down on the bed and started to brush hair out of Anna's face as I kissed her hand, "Merry Christmas."

"Mmmm…" Anna grumbled and stuck her hands under the pillow.

"Come on. Get up."

I started to pull on the back of her arm and reluctantly, she rolled over and yawned. Draco moved to get a better view as Anna started to stretch. I held out my hand and Anna took it as she stood up slowly and yawned once again, "I just got to bed about an hour before you got home." She reached over and put on her fuzzy sequined purple house shoes and grabbed her glasses off of the table on her side of the bed before she started towards me.

"This won't take long. Now come on." I started to pull Anna with me and she stumbled but managed to catch herself on the wall before I heard her yawn again.

I had already plugged the Christmas tree in when I got home a few minutes ago and I could tell from where we were that Danilla hadn't moved from her position in the tree. By now, the branches on the edge of the tree were flat on one side from supporting her weight. I let Anna's hand go and she fell into the couch before yawning again and watching me. I knew she didn't have a clue as to what I had gotten her, but unbeknownst to her, I had Bryan's help to make sure what I had gotten her would work.

"Merry Christmas. Sort of..." I handed Anna the box with the hockey jersey in it. I had gotten her a San Jose Sharks jersey with the name and number of her favorite player on it. She looked at me before she tore into the gold and red Christmas wrapping paper.

"Aaahhh!" I laughed, not expecting her to have that reaction for a jersey, especially considering how sleepy she was. She held it up and flipped it over before trying it on by draping it across her chest. "You are the best fiancé ever. I love you."

"I love you too but that's part one." I held the envelope with the hockey tickets in it. "This is part two and Bryan helped me with these."

"Oh Jesus. I'm afraid." Anna opened the envelope and let it fall to the floor as she stared at two hockey tickets for an upcoming game in San Jose, "Oh my hell…I see why you got me the jersey." Still with the tickets in her hand, she knocked me over, almost causing me to fall on Cassie who was watching Anna's reaction from behind me. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Nice to see you're awake now at least." With Anna still in my lap, I managed to sit up. Draco came over and sat down in front of us, her brown eyes fixed on Anna while Cassie went to lie down on the wood flooring in the living room, her body causing a thud when she flopped over. Anna got up and petted Draco and reached up and grabbed the dog's stocking off the mantle and handed Draco a new piece of rawhide. She went to her corner of the room and ignoring the hisses from Danilla who was still in the tree, Draco went to work on her new chew toy. "So where's mine?"

"Right here." Anna reached in the tree, almost to the other side, and pulled out a box. "I figured you wouldn't look back there. It was here the whole time."

The box Anna handed me was small and wrapped in the same wrapping paper that she was using to wrap Cody's DVD set. I tore the edge of the paper and opened the box and found an envelope inside the box from the dean's office at the University of Texas. After giving Anna a quizzical glance, she motioned for me to open the envelope and when I did, an official piece of paper with the letterhead from the dean's office was folded up inside and as I read it, I saw it was signed by the Dean of Students and that the letter was to be traded in on two tickets to the upcoming Texas and Arkansas game that was scheduled in Texas this fall. "Anna…" I was floored, "How'd you manage this?"

"Figured we'd watch the Horns lose together."

I stared down at the letter in my hand and pulled her to me again with my other hand as I kissed her neck again, "Thank you. I was trying to get tickets to this game but it's not until next year. I wanted it to be a surprise for you, but you beat me to it. How'd you do this? They're not on sale to the general public until after Memorial Day."

"Your father has many connections in Texas. He was thrilled when I told him what I wanted. I told him we'd stay there at their house. By then, we'll be married so no separate bedrooms. Your father promised to help me get a voucher for the tickets as long as I didn't gloat too much when my Hogs won. However, if they lost, I have to wear Horns gear the rest of the time there including some ridiculous headband looking thing with plastic horns coming out of it. I considered it a fair trade." Anna returned the kiss I gave her as she leaned her head back on my shoulder and yawned, "Of course, you'll have to take off work."

"Consider it done."

"I just figured it'd be a nice surprise for you and a chance to see your family." Anna was folding up the wrapping paper to the box and she had a look on her face I didn't quite understand, "Seeing as how I know you miss them so much."

After thanking her again, and holding her tightly when I realized the look she gave me was about her own family, Anna got up when my coffee maker signaled the brew was done. By the time I got back, she had put her jersey on and was on the couch watching A Christmas Story. I sat down next to her just in time to see the famous lamp scene where the father pulled the lamp out of the wooden box for the first time. "Please don't ever ask me for a lamp like that." Anna was looking up at me from where she was lying. She had put a pillow in my lap and was lying on that with her feet hanging off the edge of the couch, resting on Draco's back. "I'll have you committed."

"Not my style. Now if you'd let me get that Longhorns lamp out of storage…" That lamp was one of the few things I had kept from my old apartment and if my parents hadn't given it to me when I started college, I would have trashed it along with most of my furniture from my old apartment. It held too much sentimental value for me to toss it out with the Target bookcase and the Wal-Mart end tables I had acquired when I rented my apartment after moving to Las Vegas.

"You can get it out of storage as long as it goes on your side of the bed. Course, I can also get my Razorback lamp out and put it on my side. We can have half the room painted in Longhorns colors and have half painted in Razorback red." Anna started to laugh, "I've heard of that happening before. I don't know where I'd put the San Jose Sharks teal in though." As another favorite scene of Anna's came on TV after a commercial break, she and I both laughed as the scenes played out on the movie before Bryan, Cathy and Cody came by to celebrate Christmas a day early with us as both Bryan and Anna would be at work tomorrow.

A little over a month after Christmas, I was in the lobby of McCarran International Airport waiting on my sister's plane to land. Anna had told Jillian she'd pick her up, but she and Brian were held up at work and asked me to pick her up. As exhausted as I was from working, I was contemplating sleeping on the benches behind me near the exit, but decided against it. I checked the arrival board for the fifth time since I had arrived and it showed Jillian's plane to have landed about half an hour ago, but she was nowhere to be seen. Giving up for the moment, I gave in to my tired body telling me to sit.

"Nicky!"

Looking up, my sister was jogging towards me, pulling her carry on behind her. I stood up again as I met her in front of the arrival boards, "Jilly."

"Where's Anna?"

"Love you too, sister." Jillian hugged me as she looked over my shoulder, "Anna's still at work. They had a late callout and are still at work finishing up on a scene. She got stuck on the engine last night and they're out at a pretty big fire on the outskirts of Vegas. Most of the alarm companies in the department are out there."

After promising my sister that Anna was going to meet us when she was done, Jillian and I talked the whole way to baggage claim as she caught me up on the happenings in Texas. My mother had sent along our Christmas presents with my sister and that resulted in two more checked pieces of luggage for my sister to lug with her to Vegas. She finished with the news in Texas and I gave her the brief rundown of the wedding plans so far. "So when can I see Anna?"

I shut the door to my Tahoe after Jillian got in, resisting the urge to shut it on her hand for ignoring me. After getting in and starting the truck, I backed out of the spot and told Jillian that we were meeting her at a coffee shop inside one of the hotels that was next door to the bridal shop Anna was using for her dresses. "She said she'd call me when she's on her way. It's about eleven now, so they should be here any time now. Anna said the callout was at six, so they've been on scene five hours. I know she'll be excited to see you."

"Likewise. Nervous yet?"

"Nope." Shaking my head, I hoped I was convincing enough to keep Jillian from realizing how nervous I was getting with the approaching wedding date, "Not at all."

"Liar. You have to be. I was a nervous wreck before my wedding. I threw up in the bathroom for a solid hour and a half."

I assured Jillian I wasn't nervous yet, but she wasn't convinced, telling me I was going to get even more nervous as the weeks went by. Anna called in the middle of my conversation, saving me from more embarrassment, telling us that she was going to shower at the station and she'd be on her way. Bryan wanted to meet my sister and I agreed to allow him to tag along and meet her before the wedding.

While on the phone, I pointed out a Starbucks that was just outside of one of the casinos to my sister and told Anna to meet us there. I ordered a latte for me and Jillian ordered a frappachino for herself. We were served quickly and found a seat relatively close to the door. I started in telling Jillian more about Bryan since she was curious as to why he'd want to meet her. "He's like her brother. Of course he'd want to meet his soon to be sister in law."

"Bryan doesn't bother you?" Jillian took another drink from her frappachino and shook her head, "Anna being that close to Bryan for that much doesn't bother you? I'd be wound up tight if my husband had a friend like that."

I sighed, getting tired of defending Anna and Bryan to everyone, "No, it doesn't. If you could see the two of them, you'd understand what I mean. They're like…" I stopped as I tried to think of a way to describe the two of them, "They're not romantic, it's more like brother and sister, but closer. Twins almost. I have heard them joke about being twins separated at birth more than once. If it wasn't for the more than foot of height difference between them, I'd believe it."

"Twins can be fraternal rather than identical. They don't have to look alike. So it honestly doesn't bother you?"

"How many times to I have to keep defending her to everyone? They've known each other their entire lives. They were born minutes apart and were even next to each other in the nursery at the hospital. When Anna's own family ignored her which was for the better part of her childhood, she found solstice at Bryan's. I've listened to the stories of her childhood and most, if not all, of the happy memories have Bryan in there somewhere. I trust Anna. I trust Bryan. Anna is Bryan's cheerleader and he's her biggest supporter, next to me of course, and has been forever."

"And that's all? You're sure?"

I could feel the anger rising. Everyone I knew doubted Anna and Bryan and I was getting tired of defending my actions as well as hers, "Yes. There's nothing there between them and there never has been. Where'd all this come from?" Jillian shrugged her shoulders and took another drink from her frappachino, not bothering to answer me. I could tell by the doubt in her eyes that she held reservations, "That's it. End of story."

After my rant, I slammed my coffee cup on the table a little harder than I intended to. The lid wasn't properly secured and it fell off and a small amount of hot coffee splashed on my hand. Jillian passed a few napkins my way and apologized, "I'm just looking out for you. I just hope you're telling the truth about it not bothering you."

"Jillian, it doesn't bother me. If anything, I'm jealous." I saw my sister's posture straighten up. I knew she was about to say she was right but I stopped her, "But not about that."

Jillian had taken the top off of her drink and was mixing the whipped cream on the top with the rest of it while she spoke, "Then of what?"

"How close they are. I don't have a friend like that, other than Anna. Anna's known Bryan her whole life. I've only known Anna for just shy of a year. I'm not jealous of Bryan and never have been. I guess I'm just jealous that she's got a friend like that. Not many people do."

"But you have me." Jillian had a goofy smile on her face as she tilted her head to the side, "And what better sister could you ever ask for?"

"Allison?"

"I hate you." She folded her arms across her chest and pretended to pout, but it didn't last long.

"You love me. Everyone loves me."

"Even Anna?"

I didn't know how to respond, "Nope. She hates my breathing guts. We're just putting up a farce to keep mom and dad off my back." I took another drink from my latte before I responded, "What on earth possessed you to ask that? I wouldn't have given her the ring or asked her to marry me if she didn't."

"Nicky, mom and I both had a talk after you two left Texas. Mom absolutely adores Anna. I like her too and so do Allison and Marissa but you can't forget what she did to you." Jillian had a pained look on her face as she continued, "I didn't physically see you during the months that the two of you were apart, but I could hear it in your voice. She crushed you."

"What she did to me? What about what I did to her?"

Jillian was confused, "I don't get it."

I tightened my grip on the wrought iron chair I was sitting in to keep from losing my cool in public, "We've since made up for it and have moved on." My sister's look changed from the one she had a moment ago to a look of disbelief, "Anna got shot. She got shot because of me. Me! Nigel Crane found us and shot her because of me. Anna killed him because of me. Anna was in the hospital for almost six weeks because of me. Nigel's insane lunatic liar sister found Anna because of me. I don't blame Anna for running away like she did. Hell, I'd do it too."

"You didn't tell me this, or at least not all of it. I knew Anna got shot and I knew the cliff notes version of what happened after, but you didn't tell anyone about the sister."

"No, I didn't. How do you think that'd go over with mom if I told her everything?" I exhaled sharply as I held my phone up to my ear to fake a phone conversation to make my point, "What am I gonna say? 'Hi mom! No, I'm fine. Remember the guy Anna shot and killed to save my life? Yeah. Him. Well, his deranged sister found us and started harassing us and that's the real reason Anna ran off and left me brokenhearted and crushed for two months.' Jillian, please. Mom would never sleep again knowing what was going on. There are some aspects of my job that she knows happen to me but she doesn't want me to confirm. I guess the ignorance helps her sleep." I was beginning to get annoyed with my sister's presence, "Is this the real reason you came here? To annoy the hell out of me about Anna?"

"No, Nicky. No." Jillian finished off the rest of her frappachino before she resumed her explanation, "I'm worried about you. That's all. I don't know Anna as well as you do. I just want to make sure that everything that happened in the past is forgiven and you're not making some colossal mistake that you have to overcome in the future."

"I'm fine. Anna and I are fine. We're better than fine. Anything else?"

"No. That's all I needed to know."

I knew my sister well enough to know that she wasn't about to drop the subject. I knew I had to change the subject before Anna showed up to take Jillian off my hands to get her bridesmaids dress fitted, "How's my newest niece?" Tyler's wife had their first baby about two weeks before Christmas. Anna and I had gotten a phone call to let us know that the baby girl was doing fine and they had settled on the name Michelle which was my brother's mother in law's middle name. My mother had sent me a few pictures of the baby in the Christmas card that Anna and I had gotten just a few days before Christmas.

"Fine. She looks just like Tyler. Poor unfortunate soul. Mom is doting of course and that always brings up the subject of Ryan and me having children. I can only imagine how it's gonna be as soon as you and Anna get married. You'll barely be back from your honeymoon and the guilt trip phone calls will start. Where are you going anyway?"

"We haven't decided yet. Actually, I haven't decided yet. Wherever it is, I won't tell you." I stood up and shoved my chair under the table and tossed my now empty coffee cup in the trash can near to where we were sitting, "You'll run straight to Anna and blabber and this will be a surprise."

Jillian looked hurt, "I will not. I promise. Now where are you going?"

I shook my head as MMMBop started to play on my phone, signaling me that Anna was calling, "Not gonna happen. You'll blabber to her and ruin it just like you did with our brother." I flipped my phone open and I could hear Anna on the other end sneezing, "Allergies?"

She sounded like she had a sinus problem, "Yeah. I think being out at that fire for the past five hours didn't help much. I downed some allergy meds before I left the station. Where are y'all?"

Jillian started motioning for me to give her the phone but I swatted her hand, "We're at the Starbucks just next to the Monaco casino. I know you said that dress shop was around here somewhere."

"Great. I'll be there in a few."

Anna and I hung up and I turned my attention back to Jillian, asking her to elaborate more on my newest niece. I knew that'd keep her entertained enough until Anna got there.

About twenty minutes later, Anna's Xterra pulled into an empty parking spot next to my Tahoe and Jillian was up and heading outside before Anna even got out of the truck. I smiled as they hugged in the parking lot like long lost sisters and came inside. Anna stopped at the counter long enough to order a strawberry frappachino before taking the empty seat next to mine. I waited on Anna to finish her drink before I announced I was heading home to catch up on my sleep before I fell asleep at Starbucks.

After kissing me goodbye, Anna and Jillian left to go dress shopping and I headed home, thankful to finally get some sleep.

A/N: Reviews are welcome and encouraged. Anonymous reviews are allowed. I work hard on my stories and seeing as how I don't get paid, reviews are the only payment I get. It makes me feel good to know that people are reading my story and then taking the time out of their lives to leave me a line, even if it's "I love it! More please." Anything is better than nothing.

The wedding will be coming up in the next couple of chapters. :)