Chapter 14! Enjoy!

Warnings: None

Unbeta AF

Can You Keep A Secret

Chapter 14

Memories Of Days Gone

Heidi had never seen this before, but to be honest she had never done what had occurred in the bunker before. She released part of her powers to protect the women but now, it seems, the parts that hit Brittany were now claimed by the woman herself. Heidi wasn't in fear of losing power, her gifts didn't work like that, it always replenished itself she had infinite power.

And now, so did Brittany. When Heidi looked out through Stephanie's eyes, she could see Brittany's aura, shining brightly, a lovely silvery grey color that pulsed with the promise of great power. Such a nice feeling. She was also glad to see the woman had found away to tuck away those dark thoughts and was now not afraid of neatly everything.

It was nice to hear Stephanie talk freely about the on goings that she and Brittany got into. It was nice to see them, though what Heidi enjoyed the most was seeing how the woman interacted with Carlos's brother. Like a shy, maiden, who had just developed her first crush, the mute woman was hopelessly falling for the tall, soft spoken man. Not that Stephanie and Heidi could argue against it, Alejandro was handsome and kind and seemed to have an extremely soft spot for the mute woman, from the way his own aura would shift, whenever the woman was around. They were always close to one another, though that was the man's job, however, Stephanie once told Heidi she found the man asleep in the armchair beside Brittany's bed, keeping a constant vigilance over the sleeping woman.

"It's so adorable," Stephanie gushed to Heidi, as they ate sweets, "I've never seen her act this way around anyone, not even in high school, but then again, she had been very awkward, back then. Still is, to be honest."

It was lovely to hear Stephanie go into a tale about her time as a schoolgirl after the Helen Plum incident. It made Heidi happy to hear that Stephanie had at least two years of happiness before going off to become an adult.

It was also nice to see the way she behaved around Carlos too. Her nervous energy was not a bad one, but one of new found emotions and feelings. A crush, Stephanie had a crush on Carlos! How dare she tease Brittany and her crush when she had her own crush as well! Well, Heidi would tease Stephanie for it.

Heidi turned from her spot, looking out at world from Stephanie's eyes but paused as she felt something inside of her chest. It had her laying a hand on her bosom, the sensation was odd.

"Hello there, Ms. Plum, Ms. Brittany, I'm Agent Diesel," Heidi turned to look back out from Stephanie's eyes and found herself looking at a new man. A tall, blond man, with beautiful blue eyes, a shaggy beard that looked as though he had tried to trim, dressed in 'jeans,' a white shirt and a jacket made of brown leather. He was handsome, extremely handsome, with a crooked smile that was infectious. It had Heidi smiling softly, as she turned her body around fully to look at him. Through Stephanie's senses, Heidi could smell him. He smelled of winter, of pines and all the good things that made the season special.

There was something else about him, though, that had Heidi still holding her chest. His aura, he was just like Alejandro and Brittany, he had gifts, but something about his own gifts felt, familiar. He felt familiar, like a nice warm hug, comforting. It had tears welling up in the woman's eyes as she looked at the man, as he spoke softly to the two. Who was he? Why did his aura make Heidi want to rush and embrace him?

"I'll be back soon, to talk to both of you privately, well, with your bodyguards as well," the man, Agent Diesel said, making Heidi's throat close up and tears to drip from her eyes, "Thanks for letting me talk to you, glad I didn't make you uncomfortable," he gave another smile and Heidi let out a broken sob, "Have a good day." He was leaving, no, please, don't leave her, don't leave her!

"Wait, don't go!" Heidi cried out, reaching her hand out, and for a moment, the man paused and turned to look at them both, "Please…"

"Sorry," Stephanie's voice came out, "Don't know what that was…" Heidi crumpled to her knees, sobs racking her body as the man left.

"Don't go, come back," she sobbed, burying her face in her hands to cry harder, "Come back."

She never did feel the gently aura of magic surround her, nor did she see, through Stephanie's eyes, Brittany looking at the woman, with her left eye covered with a tea towel.

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

"You've a warrior's body, yet a gentle touch," The woman said, as she leaned into the hands that wove flowers into her hair, "Are you like this with all the maidens in your tribe?"

"I am a warrior, my dearest creature," a man's voice rumbled, as large fingers expertly braided thornless blue roses into curly hair, "I have no time to woo a maiden, unless that is, I stumble upon them."

"Did you stumble upon other maidens?" The woman asked, cooly, her eyes shifting slightly, "Besides me?"

"You are the only maiden I've stumbled upon," the man reassured the woman, finishing his work turning the woman around to make her look up into dazzling blue eyes, a smile on a war hardened face, "You are the only maiden to have captured my heart and my soul."

"Do you only say that because mayhaps I have bewitched you, with my gifts?" The woman asked and the man laughed loudly and wrapped his arms around the woman's waist, pulling her close to his frame, "You've not answered my question."

"It is not your flowers of strange colors, nor is it your gifts that have captured my heart and soul," the man said, cupping the woman's jaw and pulling her face to his, "No, it is that witty mind of yours, that heart that pours with emotion for me and your alluring body," the man kissed her gently and mumbled against her lips, "There is no need for you to use magic to capture me, my dearest creature, I come to you, willingly, for everything else."

"You make me feel almost human when you say that," the woman whispered against the warrior's lips, "Stay with me, please…"

"I will never leave you, Gleti," The man promised, "I will watch over you, be by your side until my last breath."

"That is what I love to hear," the woman Gleti, sighed and then her vision was turning to black and Brittany was sitting on the couch, in the living room, with tears in her eyes and an ache in her chest.

'Gleti…' she looked over to Stephanie, who was laughing at something Carlos said and wondered to herself why did she not see Stephanie's past, why did she the past of someone else. It was a lovely memory, yes, but those were not Stephanie's memories.

Brittany took a small look into Stephanie's past, when the woman, as the strange, blond man was able to leave, whispered for him to stay, in such a strange voice. There was so much emotion in that request too. Brittany was pretty sure Stephanie had never seen this man before, and so she had snoop! Who was that woman? Who was that man? Brittany thought as she wiped at her tears, sniffling softly. Those emotions, they truly loved one another. Gleti….maybe Brittany could look her up. Maybe she could find her. She didn't know if she would find anything, but it didn't hurt to look.

"Are you alright, Bella?" Brittany's cheeks grew hot as Alejandro placed a concerned hand on her shoulder and damn it, he called her that nickname that made her squirm, "Why are you crying?"

'I-it's nothing,' Brittany turned to look at Alejandro, giving him an awkward smile, one which he returned, 'I just...remembered a scene from a romantic movie, those movies, they're my weakness.'

If Brittany's cheeks could, they would heat up even more, as Alejandro gently wiped at her tear, with a thumb and then gently grabbed her hand saying, in a low voice, so that only she and him could hear, "Are you sure? Not a bad memory?"

'No, I promise,' she thought to the man, and he gave her a dazzling smile and her stomach did that flipping thing.

"Good, Bella," Alejandro whispered to her, and turned to talk to Lester and James about something, still holding her hand, running his thumb over the back of her hand as he did. Gods, she felt like a silly school girl, with a crush. Wait, she did have a crush, a crush on the man beside her. She was going to die! He needed to stop making it so easy for her to crush on him!

She looked over to Stephanie and huffed, finding the woman to be of no help, too deep into a conversation with Carlos about Rangeman. Ugh, she would most likely make fun of her and her crush too. She felt Alejandro squeeze her hand gently, as her huff and she nearly melted.

Maybe researching this strange woman would distract her from her impending doom that was her crush…

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

Two small figures hid quietly in the thick brush that rested deep in the pine woods they had run into. They shook and trembled in terror as they heard screams and cries from their tribe, they could smell the smoke from fires and see the light of them, glowing an dim orange in the dying sun's light from the forest.

Their mother told them to run into the woods, to go hide and not to look back, the moment someone shouted that the enemy was here. The two figures, children ran deep into the woods and hid, listening to their home be destroyed. They clung to one another, tears in their eyes as they heard the slaughter, their mothers' screams of pain, the screams of others and then nothing. They had slid deeper into their hiding place, a thorny bush they often picked clean, during the warm seasons for its sweet berries, when they heard heavy footsteps and shouting in a language they didn't know. They were still like baby rabbits for hours, even after the people left, even as the fires died out and in its place was silence.

They slept there, in the thorny bush, that night and when the first morning light came, they crept back to their home to find it in ruins and the people who lived their dead or taken away. The children wept softly but then the older one took charge, he had to take charge and told his younger sibling to gather what food they could, they would have to go somewhere else.

They tied their meager findings up and slung them on their back, taking only spears for protection and heading into the woods. They walked for days, weeks, forging for food, the older brother fighting off the wildlife , as they walked deeper into the mountains. As they made their way into the mountains that their mother once told them about, they found their shifts and bare feet useless against the cold weather. It rattled their bones and malnourished bodies as they trekked through the snow. They had no idea where they were going but hoped the mountains would provide safety from the enemy. That was unless the mountains did them in first.

One night, the two were so cold and tired, they made a fired in a cave, huddled around it and fell asleep, the lull of the extreme cold had them falling deep into a nice, warm sleep. They would have died that night, both children, if not for the fact, through sheer luck, they had stumbled upon a resting spot for a tribe that lived deep in the heart of the mountains, in a valley known to no one outside of it.

A group of hunters, from the tribe, had stumbled into the cave they used as their resting spot from the cold and had found two children, both boys, sleeping beside the dying embers of a fire, close to death's door. The hunters saved the children from their almost frozen death and carried them to the village hidden in the mountains, taking them to the tribe's leader.

They were fed and warmed and when the children found that the ones that saved them spoke the same language as them, were relieved to find that they had not landed in danger but safety.

"Our tribe is gone, men, lots of them, came, burned it down, we heard screams and came back to find everyone-" the oldest boy whispered, holding on to his brother tightly, "We didn't know where to go, so we went to the mountains to hide from the enemy."

The village elder looked at the two boys and told them that they had found a new home, any tribe that spoke their language was a kin of theirs. They would be safe in the valley tribe and thrive here. Though it was colder in the cold season times than their old tribe, the brothers easily found a place in the tribe, taking the tribe's name as their own. They would be called the Gario brothers, the ones who reborn from a snowstorm.

Diesel rested his head in his hand and looked down at the book. He hadn't known how bad life could be back before modern history, nor how dangerous it could be. So that's how his family was started eh? Two orphans adopted by a tribe, interesting. Well, not as interesting as the women he spoke to, the other day.

Jane Doe A and B, or one Ms. Brittany and the other Ms. Stephanie Plum. They were nice women, despite what they had gone through, they remained upbeat and spirited. To be honest, he didn't know what he was looking for, with these women but they had been the only ones, in that bunker, one of them had to be the source of the magic.

Stephanie she had no trace of magic around her, nothing at all, it couldn't have been her to have released it. She was a lovely woman though, but it couldn't be her. He would have another interview with her, though.

Brittany, though, she had magic, it almost felt like that one he felt in the bunker, but there was something about it, something different. He wanted to explore it more, to see if her magic was the one. If she did have that magic, when then? What was Diesel suppose to do with her and her magic? Ver had been radio silent when that question came about, most likely even he had no idea what to do.

Diesel sipped his beer and tossed the leather book to the side, his eyes closed and a sigh escaping his lips, as he set the beer bottle down. Destiny…that shit sort of sucked. He got up and walked over to the window of his hotel room and looked out at the city before him. He hated Washington D.C. couldn't understand the allure of it. He was finding the Gario Estate to be a more comforting place, he was finding himself going to the woman's crypt more often as well to well…stand watch over her, he supposed. He found her still form to be a source of comfort as well. What would happen If she should wake? Had she ever woken up before?

Diesel rested an arm on the cool surface of the window and continued to stare out of it. All he knew is that: A. one of those two women housed that power and B. he needed to know which one it was to protect them from whatever evil was out there and figure what they had to do with his family's history.

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

"Joseph Morelli," Joe walked slowly into the living room of his apartment and found himself staring at a person sitting on his couch, lounging as though they lived there, "Welcome home, have a seat, let's talk…"

Joe reached his hand down for his gun holster but the figure just tilted their head and smiled softly.

"During your 3rd year as a Navy Seal, you went behind enemy lines, on your own accord, to a village, kidnapped a young woman from her family and kept her against her will, in a undisclosed location to scratch that...itch of yours," the figure said, making Joe pause and the figure's smile was downright devilish now, "Used her for three months, during that long mission, and finally when you were done with her, killed her off and tossed her body in a place no one would find. Military couldn't have a wild cannon like you, war time or not, they let you go, sweeping that incident under the rug and letting you get a cushy job at the FBI…"

Joe's fist closed into a ball and the person on his couch added, "She's still reported as missing, hide her body in a good spot, didn't you? Not even the Navy knows where it is, how about I just tell them where she-"

"What do you want from me?" Joe finally relented and sat down from across the person, which made them smile broadly and rest a hand on their knee.

"Why, I need for you to help me with something, of course, consider it a mission you have knowledge in, kidnapping," the person said to Joe, "I want both Jane Doe A and B from the Barton case, and you will bring them to me…ironic, isn't it? It's like you and Wilkes were cut from the same cloth!"

TBC…

Wild cannon indeed, I never said who would look up Joe's history first.