VI. Forever Severed

July 1963 Kansas City, Kansas

Yvonne laid her head on his shoulder as she played with the metal chain necklace around his neck "Who's Charles?"

Floyd looked down at dog tags he wore around his neck "My father."

"Did he pass away in the war?"

"No, he came back in '45, was a regular hard ass until he passed away a few years ago from a heart attack."

"So are you a military man, do I need to worry about you willingly going off to Vietnam."

Floyd smiled "Wish I could, my dad taught me a few useful things, but I can't join."

"Why not?"

Floyd grabbed her hand and placed it over his heart "I was born with a hole in my heart, unfortunately its grounds for them to keep me from serving."

Yvonne gently rubbed his chest feeling his heart beat "Don't worry Pretty Boy Floyd, I'll take real good care of your heart."

Floyd smiled "I see you've been talking to Ruth."

Yvonne laughed "Yep I like her, she's funny."

"Uh oh, should I be worried about you two hanging around each other?" Floyd kissed her forehead, "Because we have plans, remember?"

"How could I forget,...your plan of a suburban house, a dog and… five kids!" Yvonne rolled her eyes "I don't know who you think I am pushing out five damn kids, you're crazy."

"You're right, five is an odd number…," Floyd rolled over on her, kissing her neck "we should just go ahead and make it an even six"

x-x-x-xx-x-x-x

August 1963 Washington, DC

Floyd gazed out at the massive crowd that surrounded them, staring at the pick it signs that read 'We demand equal rights now!' 'We demand decent Housing Now!' 'We demand an end to bias Now!'.

He turned his attention forward as they continued to listen to the speech.

*'…And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California. But not only that; let freedom ring from the Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!'

When Yvonne clenched his hand he turned to look at her, only to see her smiling up at him with an expression so loving and warm it melted his heart. And in that moment, it was clear to him, he could see his future in her eyes.

He was going to marry her and he didn't care what anyone said about it or how anyone felt about it. They were two souls meant for each other and he was looking forward to growing old with her.

He tightened his hold on her hand as the crowd roared around them applauding Dr. King's speech.

One day, one day soon the only thing they'd have to worry about was raising their family.

One day soon…things would be better.

Present Day New York City, Brooklyn 8:00AM

"Her name is Ruth Jones she's a wealthy CEO of a personal hair care and body products line. I looked into her background, just like Vincent said she is from the same small town in Kansas, though she didn't move out here to New York until the mid 1980's. I also looked into Floyd's prison visitor logs and it shows her visiting him two weeks before he was released."

"Thank you Detective for compiling this information." Harold offered his gratitude.

"I'm a cop it's my job and I don't have to shoot or torture anyone or hack anything to get it," Joss scolded as she looked at John, Shaw and Harold as they gave her innocent smiles, like they had no clue what she was talking about.

"Anyway Fusco and I have an appointment to go talk to her later on today, so in the meantime please try to stay out of trouble."

Shaw smiled "Don't worry Carter I don't think Reese's ego can handle getting his ass handed to him again by a senior citizen."

"He used a car…it doesn't count..." John grumbled back glaring at Shaw.

Joss shook her head as she watched Shaw and John bicker about proper technique before turning to an agitated looking Harold.

"Any advice Detective." Harold sighed out.

"I always threaten mine with house choirs." Joss chuckled as she left the diner.

'Not a bad idea' Harold thought to himself he certainly had a lot of properties that could use a thorough dusting.

Present Day Brighton Beach, New York 9:00AM

Vincent dropped the duffel bag at his feet as the black SUV pulled up and three men stepped out and approached him.

"You have our money?" one man asked out.

"1.5 million..." Floyd kicked the duffle bag "Do you have what I asked for?"

Floyd watched as one of the men approached him grabbing the bag and checking the money, before giving his colleges a thumbs up

"Yep even threw in some extra magazines in case you need 't know who pissed you off but you'll be able to kill them with this"

"I don't planning on killing him yet...he and I have something we need to take care of first." Floyd mumbled as he watched two of the men load the weapon he just bought into the trunk of his car.

Present Day Financial District New York City 2:45PM

"Sorry for the wait Detectives, my board meeting ran a little late." Ruth explained as she gestured for them to sit down in the two seats in front of her desk.

"Not a problem, like I hinted on the phone we have some questions to ask you about two recent homicides.

"Homicide's? Ruth repeated "...and you think I can help you?"

"Yes. We believe that an acquaintance of yours is involved, a Floyd Saint-Vincent."

"Ahhh, Pretty Boy Floyd."

Joss took note of her nick name for Floyd before preceding "yes you recently provided him with living accommodations after his release from prison. Would you mind telling us what your relationship with him is?"

"He's just a friend." Ruth answered "…besides if he wasn't you'd be investigating my homicide if my wife thought I was stepping out on her."

"Just friends. Sounds like a really nice gesture for you to lend him your flat, given that he's a convicted murderer."

Ruth smiled at Detective Fusco "The last time I checked all he did was give Bobby a gun he didn't pull the trigger, Bobby did that all on his own."

"He might be doing a lot more then assisting suicide this time." Joss bit out.

Ruth held her hands up and sat down in her chair "So who do you think he killed this time"

"James Bradford and Lucas Cavanaugh, I can tell by the expression on your face that you know them."

"Yes I knew of them a long time ago…," Ruth cracked her knuckles, "…though I can't say I'll be sending any condolences."

"And whys that?" Fusco interjected.

"I don't make it a habit, to honor the death of a bunch of racist bigots."

"Wait, are you trying to tell us that they were racists?" Fusco replied skeptically since there was no indication in their files either of the men were.

"Yeah, their little group of friends got their jollies from burning crossing on people's lawns, hanging noses from trees and vandalizing property."

"We have no record that they were ever involved in any hate crimes." Joss stated confused.

"Oh course you wouldn't, you didn't get arrested for things like that back then," Ruth leaned back in her chair "…the police were no help, they were usually too busy beating the shit out of protestors at diners and bus stations."

"I don't understand, why would Vincent be a target of this group?" Joss asked.

"Love."

"Love?" Fusco and Joss repeated simultaneously.

"Yeah." Ruth sighed as she looked at the picture of her and her wife on her desk. "Being in love with the wrong person back then carried a pretty heavy price, and Floyd was in love with a black girl named Yvonne Coleman, and she paid the ultimate price for it."

x-x-x-xx-x-x-x

Harold sat still, they had all been listening in on the detective's interview with Ms. Jones. He looked up at his colleagues, Shaw had a deeper then usually scowl on her face. He couldn't help but stiffen slightly as he saw John's blank expression. He knew that Mr. Reese absolutely no tolerance for certain types of behavior and he had a feeling that bigotry was on his list next to wife beaters and child abusers.

"I'm going for a walk." John bite out as he turned on his heel and marched out the library.

Harold turned back to Sameen noticing her quirked eyebrow at John's behavior.

"It's a long story Ms. Shaw and it's not mine to tell, but for the moment let's just say the Mr. Reese has zero tolerance for certain matters."

x-x-x-xx-x-x-x

"So do you believe her?" Fusco asked as they walked out of the office building.

"It doesn't matter if I do or not, what matters is what Floyd believes and what he's willing to do to get revenge on the people he deems responsible. Our new focus is finding out what happened to Yvonne and who else he holds accountable for it" Joss replied as she pulled her phone out and dialed Harold.

"Yes Detective?"

"Were you guys listening in?"Joss asked even though she knew the answer.

"Unfortunately."

"Is John there?"

"No Detective he said he was going for a walk and he has since turned his phone off."

Joss sighed, "Okay, let me know if he does something foolish, in the meantime I'm going to see what I can find out on the death of Yvonne Coleman."

AN: Sorry for the short chapter didn't want to cram to much into it...but next time look forward to finding out how Yvonne died, what Floyd plans to do with the police commissioner...**hint,hint large guns, explosions, some team members getting hurt and a very,very conflicted man in the suit... :) thanks for reading.

* I have a dream speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.- delivered August 28 1963