Chapter 23: Winner Winner Fish Dinner

Nathan flopped down at last in his office chair after pouring his first cup of coffee. It had been a busy morning. Thank goodness Allie knocked on his door to check on him—he'd been sleeping like a bear.

Maybe quite literally. After a fitful night's sleep the night before and then getting home late after cleaning up Henry's office, he doubted he even rolled over last night. His night with Elizabeth had filled his dreams.

Even now his heart was overflowing just thinking about it. Though he was exhausted yesterday, he had soldiered on, determined to finally make that dream a reality.

After taking Elizabeth home, he tucked in Allie, and nearly fell asleep himself—singing to her in the darkened room. She elbowed him twice because he kept drifting off mid-verse. Allie took pity on him and sang the rest of the lullaby herself, kissed her father's cheek, and sent him back out the door.

He hustled back to town and was surprised to find not only Bill in Henry's office, but Jesse and Clara as well cleaning up. "What are you all doing here?" he had asked.

"It was an early night at the Cafe," Jesse shrugged nonchalantly, moving Henry's desk chair back into place.

"Ok…but I didn't expect you two to come over and have to clean this up."

"After all you've done for Jesse and me, we weren't going to let you clean up alone." Clara explained as she folded the tablecloth and put it into her basket.

"Alone? It's basically finished. Thank you. I…"

"Better get some sleep, Constable. Rounds come early." Bill took hold of one side of the borrowed cafe table.

"But I could at least…" Nathan trailed off as he walked towards the table. Jesse cut in front of him and grabbed the side opposite of Bill.

"No. I've got it." Jesse replied with a smile as he and Bill carried the table out the door that Clara held open.

"Nathan, you could carry that beautiful flower home. Did you make that?" She asked, pointing to the vase left on Henry's desk.

Nathan blushed. "I did."

"It's beautiful. She'll want to keep that. I know I would." Clara glanced at Jesse who rolled his eyes.

Nathan laughed uncomfortably—not wanting to be between the newlyweds' spat.

Taking a sip of coffee, Nathan smiled to himself at his friends' kindness. Not too long ago he had considered picking up and leaving with Allie again to chase his career. It was Elizabeth who had stopped him, and it turns out that she was right about leaving friends behind—even more than he knew at the time.

Though he still wondered sometimes if the Inspector position would have been a good decision, he knew deep down that he would have missed Hope Valley. Everything was turning out as it should be. Allie is happy, Elizabeth loves him, and Jack runs to greet him every time he sees him. Honestly, there isn't much more he could wish for.

The door to the Mountie office opened suddenly to reveal Bill with a blueberry muffin, and a half grin. Nathan sat up straighter. "Good morning, Bill. Thanks again for your help last night."

Bill merely grunted in return dismissing his comment. "You're getting a late start. Any trouble on rounds?"

"Uh…no. I just caught a few people out and about." It was half-true. He just left out the part about one of the people on rounds being a school teacher who had left her flower behind on a date.

Bill nodded, seemingly accepting his answer. "This is for you." Bill mumbled, handing the muffin over.

"Uh…thanks, Bill." Nathan replied, a bit surprised at the gesture.

"It's from Jack. He said I never give you muffins." Bill narrowed his eyes.

Nathan sputtered a laugh, remembering Jack's vow to tell his Uncle Bill. "Ah…I love that kid…"

"Don't get used to this. When does Kinslow get in?" Bill asked, abruptly changing the subject.

"About 4:00. He's staying at my house tonight, and we'll catch the train in the morning. Nothing new for rounds. Thanks for covering me again. Hopefully it'll be a bit before I'm called out again."

"No problem." Bill turned back towards the door and opened it slowly. He stepped through the doorway and stuck his head into the office. "Oh and Nathan? Glad you two had a good time last night." Bill winked and Nathan would have taken the words at face value had he not also heard Bill make an unmistakable kiss sound with his puckered lips disappearing behind the door.

Nathan's eyes flared, and he turned every shade of red sinking deeper into his chair as the office door closed. He was not going to live this one down anytime soon. He ran his fingers through his hair and took a deep breath, reminding himself to start locking the door.

The rest of the day passed quickly between caring for Newton in the livery, cleaning his saddle and tack, and picking up their train tickets during afternoon rounds. He had also headed over to Coulter Enterprises and asked Lee for a ride to the train station tomorrow morning. Checking the clock, he grabbed his Stetson from the peg by the door and headed to the schoolhouse to see his girls.

As he rounded the corner past the bank, he could already see children pouring out of the school doors in the distance. It didn't take long for Allie to spot his red serge. She barreled towards him with books in hand.

"Whoa there…don't knock me over now." Nathan teased.

"Is Uncle Gabe here yet?!" She asked peering around him.

"Not yet, Sweetheart. Probably another hour or so. He sent me a wire this morning before he headed out."

"Ok. Mrs. Thornton said she'll be over around 5:00 to help with anything but the fish."

Nathan chuckled to himself and looked up to the schoolhouse steps where he caught Elizabeth's eye. There was no way that she could have overheard, yet she seemed to be shaking her head no and laughing anyway. Sheepishly, he raised his hand in greeting before he turned and put his arm around his daughter as they headed down the path for home.

——-

A cool breeze blew down from the already snow-capped mountains. In the coming weeks, they could expect their first snowfall. But for now, it was merely a reminder to enjoy the fall weather while it lasted.

Looking downstream at his daughter, Nathan was enjoying every moment. He wasn't sure when it happened, but his clumsy little 4-year-old niece had transformed into a lovely young woman who had proved to be a master with a fishing pole.

Nathan was in his early twenties when he had lost his older sister Colleen. Never had he dreamed that he would suddenly be Allie's caretaker, but he loved his niece dearly. He brought about a peace in the little girl that no one else could after her mother's passing.

Maybe there really was something to the "Irish twins" title his father had always said about him and his sister. Regardless of being two years apart, he and Colleen always seemed to have the same connection and even a silent communication between them. It was a strong bond with a fierce defensiveness and unyielding loyalty to each other.

It wasn't even a question for Nathan. If Colleen entrusted her most precious gift to him to raise, there was nothing that he would let stand in his way. So, when his commanding officer saw Nathan's determination to choose Allie over his career, Staff Sergeant Delaney directed his first postings to smaller and safer locations to afford Nathan more flexibility to care for his niece instead of lose one of his top achieving officer candidates.

It had worked. Rather than turn in his serge, Nathan agreed to stay on and Delaney continued to influence his career from afar.

"Are you just gonna let me catch dinner then?" Allie sassed to her father. "You're just staring. That pole works better in the water you know."

A slow grin crept across his face, and he shook his head, clearing the memories, turning back towards the river. "Just giving you a head start. You'll need it."

Allie threw her head back and laughed. "It's on. First to five fish wins."

"No small little dinky fish then!"

"Deal."

Quiet fell across the stream as father and daughter strategically positioned themselves over their chosen fishing holes. Allie was downstream standing ten meters from where a boulder was creating light rapids. Nathan stood upstream, keeping his long frame in the shadows, angling his pole in a deep well near a fallen log.

Only a few minutes passed when Allie reeled in her first brook trout. It was a respectable 30 cm fish whose dark green scales were gleaming in the retreating sunlight. Not to be outdone, Nathan pulled in a 40cm rainbow trout. It's golden tail was still flopping furiously as Nathan removed the hook from its gaping mouth. Running twine through the hole and out it's mouth, Nathan added his catch to Allie's on the stringer and returned to his fishing spot on the bank.

In the end, it was Allie that reached the goal first with two gray bull trout, a pink bellied cutthroat trout, and two deep green brook trout. "Told ya I didn't need a head start!"

Nathan pulled again on his line and reeled in his fifth trout. "Are you sure?" No sooner had he spoken the tease, the fish surfaced. It was an underwhelming 10cm gray bull trout.

Allie eyed him sarcastically. "Do you want to save that one for bait or…"

Nathan rolled his eyes and set the fish free. "I'll give that one a little more time."

"How very gracious of you. Don't forget to fillet mine. I'll be answering to 'Winner' for the rest of the night."

"You would. Uncle Gabe is going to love that."

Allie squealed with delight in anticipation of her uncle's arrival. Though Nathan vaguely remembered his sister doing the same things at that age, he still wasn't prepared for the unexpectedly shrill vocals of a preteen girl.

——-

Nathan and Allie had neared the far side of the pond before he heard her let out a deep and strangled sigh. Slowing his long steps, he cast a concerned glance in her direction. "Allie-girl? Are you ok?"

Her fishing pole slumped against her shoulder before she looked up at him with pained eyes. "Dad? How do you know when a person is being honest?"

His Mountie senses were on full alert now as he started feverishly scanning his memories for who might have hurt his little girl. Dylan rose to the top of his thoughts, followed by past teachers, and finally, painfully, Elizabeth. Focusing his attention on their conversation, he asked gently, "Is there someone specific you're asking about or just someone in general?"

Allie's eyes brimmed with tears, and she looked down at the road in front of them before scuffing her boots to a stop. Nathan set their stringer of fish, tackle-box, and their poles down before he held his arms out to his daughter. Within a second, she was nestled in his strong arms. Her jagged breath gave way to body-wracking sobs into his canvas coat.

Nathan held on with one arm and rubbed small circles on her back with the other. If there was one thing, he had become well-versed in with his experiences with Grant women, it was just to hold on and support them the best way he knew how.

When her sobs slowed to deep breaths again, he dipped her back slightly and tilted his head, "Ready to talk about it?"

She sniffled and nodded her head slightly.

"What happened? Did somebody hurt you?"

"No." She blurted, releasing another sob. "It's just…how do we know that Mrs. Thornton isn't going to push us away again?"

"Oh Sweetheart." He held her tightly against his chest while he searched for the words to say. He wanted to comfort her and tell her she had nothing to fear, but in reality, he couldn't promise her that. "Well, we don't know. Do you think Mrs. Thornton is lying?"

She looked up somberly, resting her head against his shoulder. "I don't think so. I think she loves you. She looked at her flower all day on her desk again. It's just…I guess… I'm just…scared."

"Because you don't want to lose your relationship with her?"

Allie nodded. "I just want to be…a family. Even Jack…I wish he was my brother. I always have. I love him, Dad."

"I know. I love them too. I have to believe that everything will work out." Nathan squeezed Allie gently in reassurance.

"But how do you know?" Her eyes pleaded.

His eyes tenderly searched hers before he pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I don't know. It's just a peace I have. We are meant to be a family."

"I know it too." She whispered.

He held her close for a moment more before he felt her lean back and wipe her eyes. "Sorry Dad. I don't know why I'm crying."

"No need to apologize, Allie. The strongest women I know cry. Anytime you need it, you've got a space right here. You can tell me anything." He smiled proudly at his strong young lady.

"Thanks, Dad." Allie's soft smile turned mischievous, "Anything huh? Well then…you smell like fish." Her dewey eyes sparkled as his eyes narrowed and lips drew a taut line.

"Your favorite," Nathan deadpanned. "C'mon Winner. Uncle Gabe is probably waiting." He spun her out of his arms, causing her to giggle. Allie grabbed both poles, and Nathan grabbed the fish-filled line and tackle-box as they continued down the road to their row house a little lighter and more hopeful.

A/N:

Short little update today, but this section seemed too sweet to cut.

Bill's comments and kiss sound when closing the door is my version of the faux-chapter-titles I had teased with @nebula2 after last chapter. Her Drabble called, "Too Much Tongue, Constable" is her hilarious alt canon take on if Bill had caught their kiss on the road last chapter.

The fishing scene was inspired by a comment Nathan makes in his speech at Allie's wedding to "Take her fishing every chance you get. You'll never regret those times together." (This can be read as future canon in this story's already published short story sequel You'll Always Be My Little Girl )