Lexi walked into the house and kicked her sandy shoes off at the front door. She hung her towel up and slipped a T-shirt on over her bathing suit.
"So where have you been all night?" Charlie said from behind the kitchen counter, "I knocked on your door last night to see if you wanted to watch a movie but all I found was your empty, barely slept in bed."
"I went surfing" Lexi said, grabbing a bagel.
"At night?" Paige said.
"Yeah, there were some great waves last night!" Lexi spread some cream cheese on her bagel and headed up stairs claiming she had some studying to do.
"Yo what's up with Tie-Die and the whole not sleeping thing?" Johnny said from the couch in the living room.
"She's just going through some rough stuff Johnny. She'll be ok." Charlie said, doing the dishes.
"You believe that?" Paige questioned, giving her a look.
"I don't know.. I wish she'd talk to someone... there's something in that girl's head that's bothering her..." Charlie said.
"I tried getting a hold of Lauren and Donnie this morning. Their control officer says they're still under though." Paige said, "there's something bothering Mike too."
"And Jakes!" Johnny called from the kitchen, "The brother's been no stop moody these past couple days."
Charlie rolled her eyes, "listen Paige, I gotta go, I got a lead on this Odin thing... damage control when I get back?"
Paige nodded.
Mike and Bello were locked up in a safe house. Jangles had come to town and made himself know by stringing up someone's decapitated feet on a telephone wire.
Lexi sat in the back of a service van with two other agents.
"Alright kiddo, you know what to do?" One of the agents said.
"Yep, couple laps around the perimeter... see if I see any movement, or anything out of the ordinary" Lexi said grabbing a wire carefully disguised as an iPod and putting it in her ears.
"Do your thing kid." The agent said and Lexi got out of the van and started jogging.
After making her third lap Lexi slowed to a walk and then pretended to stretch.
"I don't see anyth- wait.. I think the sprinklers just turned on?" Lexi said into the wire.
She was about to ask permission to check it out when she heard screams coming from the ear com. Lexi bolted back to the van only to find the two agents dead. Suddenly Lexi felt a hand grab her shoulder. In a flash she jerked her shoulder forward, pushed her attacker back with her body and as she was turning around she heard a voice.
"Whoa stray! It's me." Briggs said.
"Briggs?" Lexi said.
"Someone's in the house with Bello." Mike's voice came on the ear com station in the van.
"Stay here" Briggs said and rushed toward the house.
Lexi heard gun fire coming from inside the house. She felt memories start to seep into her mind but she pushed them away. Suddenly she heard the sound of jangling key coming towards her... then... she saw him.. Jangles.
He came out and stared right at her. Lexi froze. She was unarmed.
Lexi made a choice. Quick as a flash, Lexi spun around and grabbed one of the dead agents' gun and spun back around, but not quick enough for Jangles was gone. But those eyes were etched into her memory.
Charlie picked Lexi up from visiting Mike at the hospital.
"So where you today? I didn't see much of you today." Lexi said as Charlie fumbled with the radio.
"I was just out, pounding the pavement, work'n the Odin case." Charlie replied.
"Who's colon is that?" Lexi asked.
Charlie looked at her, "what?"
"You smell a little like colon. Did you meet up with a CI?" Lexi said.
"Yeah, sort of." Charlie said.
"Sort of?" Lexi questioned.
Charlie changed the subject. Lexi thought that was weird.
Lexi startled awake in a sweat. She calmed herself and shook away the imagined pain from her back. Lexi climbed out of bed and climbed up on her roof top perch. She stared out at the water.
"It's just a dream" Lexi whispered to herself.
Though she knew... it had been real once.
She saw the headlights of a car turning into the house. It was Paige, back from the hospital.
What is happening to my family Lexi thought to herself. Charlie was hiding something, Mike was hiding something, Briggs was defiantly hiding something. Jakes was hiding something too, but she knew what he was hiding. Lexi regretted giving him the name of the man that was raising his son.
Lexi sighed... for she was hiding something too... not just from her family, but from herself as well.
Lexi climbed down from the roof and sat on the edge of her bed. She picked up the Pictures of Donnie and Lauren from her night stand. She missed them so much, and longed to talk to them. She set the pictures back down and picked up the only other one that sat on her night stand. It was a picture of the Graceland team... she had it put in an elegant frame that said Family on it. She hugged the picture to her and tried to go back to sleep.
R&R! Hope you liked the chapter! :) Thanks everyone that's been writing reviews! They mean a lot to me. If you want to see the pictures Lexi has in her room you can see them on my website. They're the pictures on the slide show with frames (2nd, 3rd, and 4th pics). Stay Tuned for Chapter 9! :)