A/N: Hey all! Sorry for the long absence. Let's get right back on the horse with a relatively short one (for me). Hope everyone is well!
PREVIOUSLY: Mary nodded with a smile, "I do know that now," she said, her eyes moving to the fire once more, "But I still had an image in my mind of the child I'd left behind who was just about to start her teen years. She was just about a year older than Rudy is now…"
Chapter 59: A Campfire Story, Part 1
"… of course, Ysabeau was on her own in the vast icy wilderness of the Alaskan Tundra when I left her. Rudy, on the other hand, was here in a tropically warm, beautiful, federal island protected by federal agents, surveillance systems, background checks and a remote location."
She took a breath, calming herself, "Rudy had her personal protective detail in Acacia and Adam as well as you three on watch as the undercover agents assigned to this stretch of beach."
"This stretch of the beach?" Tosh asked.
Mary nodded, "These three are responsible for surveillance of all beach activity here."
Shannon nodded, "I get it. Like beach taggers with a badge."
"Beach taggers?" Johnny asked.
"You know – on public beaches when you have to pay for a beach tag to use the beach for the day or a weekend?" Shannie explained.
"You get charged money to use a beach?" he asked.
Carolyn shrugged, "We used to when we lived back east. The beaches are super crowded and… well, people aren't so friendly to the environment…"
Shannie nodded, "Not to mention a little ignorant of personal safety on the water – especially when they've had a few too many…"
Carolyn shrugged with a sigh, "… so the beach towns have to pay the lifeguards, the beach patrol and the maintenance crews to take care of the beaches and the people…"
"… and those people need to be paid," Shannie continued, "So the tourists pay those extra summer costs through their beach tags. It wouldn't be fair for residents to pay the extra personnel since they're not usually the offenders."
Sola shrugged, "Makes sense. So, they don't charge every taxpayer – just the outsiders who come to use the beaches and cause the need for the services."
Shannie nodded, "Pretty much. I'm sure there are things about the system that aren't fair but what system ever is?"
Lynnie had been watching Bo and knew that she was anxious to get back on topic, so she redirected the conversation,
"So, back to Rudy and Mary… if you weren't always watching them, who covered for you when you were with another resident?"
Mary answered, "As you know, Acacia was assigned to me and Adam was assigned to Rudy. Those assignments happened when Tamsin picked up the case. Before that, these three were just patrolling the border as a backup to the agents who were assigned to the residents who were here before us."
"And if you're wondering, Tamsin was assigned to me," Bo said, her eyes on the fire.
"When did any of you sleep?" Kate asked, "I mean, if agents sleep at the same time the person they're protecting does, aren't they vulnerable? I would think any planned attack would be at night."
"That's very true, so when Rudy was with me, one of them would sleep. When that person woke up, the other would sleep, but who's covering who wasn't my point."
Mary nodded towards Bo, "The daughter I left behind was alone in a hostile climate."
"And Rudy was safe and surrounded by protective services," Kate concluded, "She was safe with or without you, but Bo… I guess she wasn't?" Kate asked, looking at Mary, "I'm sorry but all of us new to the family have only heard rumors about Bo's past. We've never wanted to pry, but… well…"
Kate had jumped in, knowing her fiancé might know these answers from her professional chats with these women, but the rest of them did not have first hand knowledge of their friends' past.
"The townspeople talk and… well, we overhear things sometimes. Obviously, those who were at your wedding are completely well-informed of the truth but there are those who live much further away from town who are apparently not in the know. They still see Bo as someone to be feared."
Shannie laughed, "Of course, we all know better. I'd kick her ass if she came after me."
Bo glared at Shannie, "You'd never see or hear me coming if I really came for you."
"Right," Shannie said, her laugh stifled, "I knew that… what I was actually trying to say was that I didn't think you would ever come for me… but you do you."
Bo burst out laughing, "Wow. You really do need to sit out poker nights."
Lynnie nodded, her eyes watering with hysterical tears, "I told you. She really can't see a bluff or a tell. She's so bad!"
"And Tamsin is so good," Molly said, "Beats me every time."
The Special Agent held up a hand, "Now that's not true. I let you win a few months ago so you would have money to give Elise for the field trip about whales."
"How big of you," Molly laughed.
Sola asked, her face serious, "But Bo had the support of all of you, right?"
Shannie shook her head, "Lynnie, Kelly and I are all nurses that met Lauren a decade ago at a Boston hospital. We followed her here because we wanted to continue to work with her."
"Anna and I met Lauren on a tall ship just last year. We came to work at her hospital after she gave our names to Stephen."
Stephen nodded, "Betsy and I agreed to help Lauren rebuild the hospital system under her new philosophy after she took down the less-than-altruistic-businesswoman who once owned the conglomerate of hospitals that we now run."
"You… own… you own a whole hospital?" Sanjo asked Lauren.
"Stephen and I own a total of seventeen hospitals across the country with a few more joining us over the next year," Lauren explained.
Kate smiled proudly, "Lauren and Stephen are attempting to bring quality healthcare to places that wouldn't normally have access and they're doing it without owing anything to wealthy donors."
Anna nodded, "That's why Kate and I threw away our traveling doctor jobs that fit our outdoor adventure lifestyle to work with her. It's a whole new way of administering healthcare."
Kate smiled, taking Anna's hand, "And we're finding that laying down roots in one place with a great group of people isn't as dull as we thought it would be."
Seeing the look on Lauren's face found Kate quickly clarifying,
"Not that Alaska is dull. Not at all, actually. We've been skiing, ice climbing, glacier hiking, dog sledding and so much more. It's a great place for adventurers to live."
Anna nodded, "And we'll plan trips during our vacation time."
"Plus, we're not just employees. Under their system, we're all shareholders and board members," Lynnie explained, "So we all have a vested interest in the hospital being successful at achieving its goals. At the end of each year, we get a check if the hospitals are in the green. If not, Penelope will re-analyze the budget and see where we can cut costs, starting with the shareholders paychecks."
"Not the employees paychecks?" Sola asked.
Stephen shook his head, "Never. They're not the ones who made the decisions that put us in the red, so no, the cuts will come from our take-home pay."
"Wow. That's…"
"…Unusual for corporate America," Johnny finished for his wife.
Lauren shrugged, "Well, hospitals were never meant to be part of corporate America. They were meant to be about people… citizens and non-citizens alike who needed care. We're getting back to basics and doing what we're trained to do for the right reasons – not the paycheck."
"And we all signed an agreement as a shareholder that money would be deducted from our pay for the following year – an amount based on our pay tier – that would put the hospital in the green by the end of the following year," Stephen explained.
Lauren nodded, "As the highest paid, Stephen and I put the most back in, but Penelope recommends to every new hire that they put five percent of their paycheck into savings so that they're financially prepared if they have to reinvest money into the hospital."
"And you're all okay with that?" Skye asked, "I mean, you're essentially giving back your paycheck. Sounds to me like you've all taken too many sips of the kool-aid, if you get my drift."
Lauren leaned forward, clearly angry at the remark, but Kelly spoke up,
"Uh… youngest of the group here. When I worked for Evony… the previous owner, I had three days off a year including vacation and sick days. If I took any additional days off, it was without pay. I was screamed at daily, I was working fourteen to eighteen hour shifts and, on the rare occasion when Lauren was off, I had to work with one of the most selfish cardiothoracic surgeons I've ever known."
She looked at Lauren and shook her head, "Sorry. I just…"
"It's okay, Kelly. You're entitled to speak your truth," Lauren said, turning back to the Islanders, "She's referring to my ex-wife. She was not the easiest person to work with…" Lauren said, slouching back in her seat and mumbling, "…or to live with."
Kelly continued, "I'm making more money now than I did then. I've met my soulmate – who will be here with the last of the family soon – and I'm actually excited to go to work every day. I'm not always stuck in a surgical room or rotating through CICU beds."
"I don't understand. What changed?" Sola asked, leaning forward to hear more about Kelly's work, "Sorry. I'm a nurse practitioner, so… well, I'm interested to know what's so different about this hospital."
Kelly smiled, "New recruit!"
Sola smiled, "Sorry, but this island and these people are my home and family. I could never leave."
Kelly nodded, "I understand. Believe me. No pressure. I was just kidding, mostly. We're always recruiting new talent who want to practice the Dennis-Archer method of healthcare."
"And what is that, exactly?" Sola asked.
"Patient first medicine – no matter what," Kate replied, "I'm the Chief of the Cardiothoracic Department in Alaska."
"You? Not Lauren?"
Lauren smiled, "I'll be heading up our new Trauma Center when it's finished. The woman that we used to work for placed me in cardio. It was never my dream. I'm actually better suited to Trauma cases and… well, the way I was marketed, everyone came to my hospital for transplants. Day and night, I did nothing but give people new hearts."
"When they were available," Shannie said, "Most of the time, they weren't. It's hard… to say the least and Lauren's been at it longer than Lynnie and I have."
Kate nodded, "It's a rough business that takes its toll on people who truly care about their patients. Sometimes, having no heart to give, we run out of options to save someone."
Lauren's eyes were set on the fire, "It's tough telling the parents of a child to go home and make the best of what time they have left."
She sighed before she continued, "Talking to a child who knows they're going to die… that they'll never go to another gym class or recess with their friends… they'll never run around a playground… never run outside in the park or ride their bike…" her eyes moved to the ocean, "… never catch a wave and feel a board beneath their feet… never feel the sun on their face or watch another sunrise or sunset after a long walk…"
She looked up at Kate who rubbed her back and turned to Sola,
"Telling a child, they're going to die before they go to their first dance, have their first kiss, go to prom, graduate, go to college, get married, have a child… well…"
She could see the tears well in the eyes of the islanders and chuckled, wiping her own tears,
"…at least I know ya'll have beating hearts."
They smiled, Sola nodding to Lauren, "It sounds like you've built a wonderful hospital. I could only dream of not dealing with the healthcare insurance system nightmare every day."
Lauren nodded, "I had a fifty-eight-year-old woman in a patient room in Boston with her three granddaughters who had lost their mother when they were twelve. She was all they knew."
Shannie new the story. She had stood by Lauren's side when she gave them the news and her friend was struggling with the memory. It was a difficult case, but the doctor continued,
"I had to tell her the healthcare insurance company wouldn't allow the transplant of an available heart because her condition wasn't advanced enough yet."
"The heart went to a twenty-five-year-old smoker," Shannie said, shaking her head.
"The older woman died six months later when no match could be found. She became septic," Carolyn said with a sigh.
Sola shook her head, "Our healthcare system doesn't work."
Shannie smiled, "Speak for yourself. Ours does."
"And Mrs. Smalick's apple pies are all the payment I need," Kelly said.
"Abby Orson's blueberry stuff that has that crumb topping?" Kate said, licking her lips, "I could eat that and nothing else all day."
"You'd die of a sugar overdose," Shannie quipped.
"Nu-uh. Abby says there's only one cup of sugar in the entire pan, so I'm guessing maybe a half-tablespoon a piece. Besides, blueberries are antioxidants and there's a ton of blueberries in it. Abby's blueberry cake is a health food."
They all laughed and Mary nodded, "Lauren brought one home. Molly and I have tried for months to duplicate it."
Lauren nodded, smiling at Sola, "They've come to the conclusion that Abby has a secret stash of blueberries because it tastes too good for them to be frozen."
"Frozen blueberries?" Sola asked, her face sour.
Mary smiled at Lauren, then turned to Sola, "Child, it's Alaska. Eight months out of the year, there is no fresh fruit to be found. It's all frozen beneath the soil."
"Although there are some berries that are edible that grow around rocks at varying altitudes if you know where to look," Bo explained.
Mary nodded, "Another difference between me abandoning Rudy versus Ysabeau. Here, you simply reach up or down in the orchard and you have a snack or the makings of a meal."
"That's for sure," Bo said with a sigh, leaning back in her chair as her eyes turned to the fire, "One of my prized possessions that was burned…" she caught herself and scowled, "… in a fire… was a paperback book about nature in Alaska. Mom had written notes in the margins or inserted note paper explaining how to make different salves, medicines, and meals."
She shrugged, "I read that thing cover to cover over and over again until I'd committed it all to memory. I went to different libraries in my travels. I would ask the librarians how to pronounce the big words or the ones that I couldn't read since I wasn't really good at reading cursive at my age."
Mary hung her head, realizing just how deficient her daughter's education had been at the time that she'd left. She was smart, but some things needed an adults guidance to learn.
"The stuff that really caught my eye at the library was gardening books. Things about soil and plant growth. I grew my first tomato plant in a pot that traveled with me in the box seat of my first sled. It grew up through the slats in the seat so eventually, I couldn't sit down. I used a plastic bag to make a little greenhouse for it."
She smiled, shaking her head, "But the frost got it one night, so I had to figure out how to keep it warm in the snow."
She shrugged, "At the next library, I learned about solar panels and built one for my sled bench. It ran a tiny heater that sat in the box and kept the roots warm. The heat radiated up into the bag and clamped a light onto the rear handle to give it artificial sunlight… it was my first invention. I felt like a genius despite still having to ask the librarian to help me with words."
She looked up, realizing she'd just been rambling on about what was coming into her mind like one of Rudy's movies. She shook her head,
"Anyway, I'll never forget the first tomato. It was so fresh, so good and… I'd done it myself. I think it was the first time I'd ever felt like I had a real chance at surviving."
She turned to Mary, "It was my fifteenth birthday and I vowed to find you by the time I was sixteen. Obviously, I didn't, but that single achievement gave me the strength to keep looking."
Mary reached out and thumbed away the tear on her daughter's cheek, her eyes remaining on Bo's as she explained,
"We grew tomatoes together every spring at the restaurant garden where I worked."
Bo smiled, "You dug the hole, then I put in the seeds…"
Mary smiled, "Then I covered the seeds, and you would put in the stake and write tomato on the card…"
"Before you put the card on the marker in the ground. We were quite the team."
Mary nodded as Skye interrupted the moment, "Well, you should see Mary and Rudy in the orchard together. There's no better team."
Mary scowled, but Bo gripped her hand and leaned in, whispering,
"I won't let her get to me."
Mary nodded, "I have no greater love for Rudy than I do for you, Child."
Bo pulled back, nodding, "I know, Mom."
Mary lifted her daughter's chin until their eyes met, "I hope so. You'll see. A mother has plenty of love to go around for every child she has. Like the great tree of life, our heart branches out with love enough to grow with our family."
Nodding, the brunette smiled, "I think I understand. My love for Elise grows every day."
"And it will continue to do so when the adoption is finalized, Child. Until then, your heart will protect itself just in case she changes her mind."
"You don't think she will, do you? It would break Lauren's heart."
"I do not, but I think the life you've lived makes you hesitant when it comes to trusting your heart to another."
Bo lowered her eyes as Mary released her face, "I need to trust that little heart as I trust Lauren's or Rudy's or yours."
"Agreed and you will. Give yourself grace, Child. She's your first and there will be another if you and Lauren choose."
Bo smiled, "We already have. You'll be a grandmother again, Mom."
Mary's face glowed, "It will be my honor and a great, great joy to live to see that child."
The two were lost in conversation, but were quickly reminded of their other guests by Camie's voice,
"Um… so, back to that story, Mare?"
The Dennis women sat back in their chairs, Mary turning to her island family,
"So, I suppose you can see that Ysabeau never had the luxury of safety that Rudy was fortunate to have."
"But you said you had left Bo with that teacher friend of yours and that one of the elders knew you were going on the run."
Mary nodded, "Sanjo, seriously? That's like saying a paperclip would serve as appropriate protection against the theft of confidential files."
He nodded, "Point taken."
Mary shook her head, "Until I boarded that plane with Acacia and Adam, I'd believed as you did – that Ysabeau was left in good hands. I thought she was better off without me even though I missed her terribly."
"So why didn't you go find her?" Kelly asked, "Um… sorry for just blurting that out."
Mary shrugged, "It's a fair question, Child. I missed her and, believing that she was safe because we were apart, I reminded myself that missing her was about me, not about her safety. I needed to put her needs before my feelings."
She shook her head, "But then I received my confidential briefing and learned that the teacher had been killed. That meant it was likely the information I'd shared with the elder had become common knowledge – or twisted into an untruth about me."
Lauren nodded, "Indeed, the rumor had been spread in their village that Mary had attempted to kill her husband and was on the run for that crime."
Mary turned to the fire, her eyes brimming with tears,
"As we moved closer to Alaska, I had this silly image in my mind of my daughter… my Ysabeau," she laughed, "Only that image was of the child I'd left behind."
She looked at Bo, "I'd imagined it for so many years that I didn't realize that you would look different now."
Turning back to the fire, she continued, "I imagined her at the moment we were reunited… that the small child I'd missed so desperately would run into my arms… that I would hoist her to the heavens and then gather her to my bosom and hold her tightly."
Tears were free to take the path of least resistance down her cheeks,
"I heard the words I would say to her as I whisked her off to the safety of this island… Nalligivagit, Kulu."
She lowered her eyes, wiping her cheeks as Bo explained,
"Rough translation, I love you, my dear child," Bo said, placing a hand on Mary's knee, "Mom?"
She raised her eyes to her daughter's, "I'm so sorry."
Bo nodded, "I know, Mom," she chuckled, "Feels like we're beating a dead horse, eh?"
Mary lowered her eyes, exhaling a long breath, "This horse, as you call it, will never be dead. We can move forward, but we will never forget."
She looked up at her island family, "As I learned when I arrived, we were well beyond the childhood years that I remembered so fondly. Time and all that had happened while I was gone, had taken its toll.
She chuckled uncomfortably, "As the young ones would say… it was time for a reality check. The child I'd long imagined had become a formidable woman in her own right. She had a life and people of her own, a mind of her own and a voice she didn't hesitate to use – at least, with me."
Kyle nodded, "I do have to say that Bo was never one to say much until you arrived."
Mary nodded at Kyle before she turned back to the Islanders,
"I quickly learned that Ysabeau had just recently come to have all of the friends and family that you see here today. Behind her was a path of destruction that had begun with a single choice… my choice… the choice of her own mother. The choice I'd made to leave her behind."
She stared into the fire, "I was finally awakened to the reality that when I abandoned Ysabeau as a child, she held more love for me than I'd ever bothered to recognize and while that love led her ongoing search for me until last year…" she shook her head, tears welling up in her eyes, "… holding onto that love for me would also break her heart when she learned the truth."
She finally looked up at Bo, her eyes pleading with her for understanding, "When love hurts you as I hurt my daughter, you never forget."
"Mom…" Bo began, "This isn't something we need to talk about here…"
Mary shook her head, looking up at the group, "We've all been through so much together. You are all family to me… in my heart, you are all like sons and daughters. I am grateful for your support and counsel over the past year."
She sighed, "But you should know who I am, and you should know who Ysabeau is so that you can understand her and all that has and will be said of her."
She looked at Anna, "It would help to know that you will continue to support her when Faith and I have moved on to the Great Beyond."
She looked at each of them as she spoke, "She will never forget those feelings of abandonment, isolation, fear, anger, hopelessness and loneliness that were born from my abrupt departure and nurtured by her father and those who believed his lies about her."
She looked across the fire to Molly, "All of those feelings built into the proverbial thousand cuts that failed to take her life – instead, taking her spirit… her love… her hope."
She looked at LJ, "That pain… that loss… molded her into the angry, hard, isolated, dark woman that your town knew. The woman that your family couldn't trust you with."
She shook her head, her eyes on the Morton Family, "The truth of the woman you knew comes from my choice, not yours. Abandonment became mistrust of others and fear of letting love in, isolation became her norm, so being around others was unwelcome."
She looked at Tosh, then Mark, "Her fears were validated the night she was beaten, and her dogs… her family killed by that mob. Each and every day after that, the anger that had been born mile by mile and day by day over the years became a rage that triggered her to become a defender of the innocent since she had been unable to defend herself."
She turned back to Kyle and Tamsin, "Hopelessness and loneliness caused her to seek out companionship, but those relationships never lasted because I taught her mistrust of love and attachment. Finding safety in the wilderness taught her to choose being alone."
She turned to Lauren, "Until you, Child. Your patience, your perseverance, your kindness, your compassion… your unconditional love for my daughter allowed her to open up and trust her heart to you."
Turning back to the flames, Mary sighed, "While I'm pleased that my daughter grew into a strong, woman with a beautiful wife and family, her life never should have been as difficult as my choices made it."
She chanced a look at her daughter whose face was cold at the memories of her past. She couldn't blame her, but she also couldn't bare to see the pained look on her face. She moved her focus back to the flames for a long moment, allowing her memories to carry her to the truth of her past. She spoke, her voice low and full of regret,
"The day we met at the train station in Talkeetna, she was angry… so angry," she shook her head, "And she had every right to be."
Johnny spoke, "Mary, you couldn't have known."
Bo's head snapped to the man, her voice as cold as winter in Alaska, "She knew. She knew exactly what kind of man my father was. She knew he wouldn't allow a loose end like myself.
Her eyes traveled over the islanders to her mom and finally to Tamsin, "You all knew."
Bo turned her eyes down as she steeled her jaw and settled her emotions. As much as she wanted to raise her voice in anger, these were Rudy's friends. Instead, she turned again to Tamsin knowing that she had faced her ire before. She would understand,
"The bureau knew, and they forced Tamsin to use me as bait for Big Jim. Why they couldn't just take him in, I'll never understand, but…"
Tamsin lowered her eyes before Bo turned back to look at Johnny who hung his head.
"Wow. It was just a hunch, but you knew too."
"What?" Johnny asked.
"I finally figured it out," Bo said, shaking her head as the realization hit her, "Acacia and Adam were Mom and Rudy's handlers, but you three… you were in charge of the island… you were their bosses."
Johnny shook his head, "Me. I'm the one. These two follow my lead. This isn't on them."
"Wow. How big of you," Bo spat, "You used me as bait to keep my mom safe so if I didn't survive, your bosses would still have her to testify against him."
His eyes remained down as did Sanjo and Camie's while the two women looked at their husbands until Bo spoke again,
"Wow," she looked at her mom as tears filled her eyes, "Sacrifice one daughter to save the other."
She turned back to the tall, muscular, long-haired man, "Well, I'm right, aren't I? Whose idea was it?"
She turned to Tamsin who shook her head, chancing a glance at Johnny before she again lowered her eyes when he spoke,
"You have no idea what Mary was dealing with. You have no right to judge…"
"I'm sorry," Bo began, "Did you forget about the 'to protect and to serve' that law enforcement agencies are supposed to be all about?"
"Bo… stay calm," Anna said, leaning in, "Rudy can hear you. The windows are open."
Johnny shook his head, "There's also this thing called collateral damage. Too many people were dying because of your father, Bo and remember, he was your father. Why should other families suffer because of yours?"
"Jonathan!" Mary scolded, "How dare you!"
"I'm sorry, Mary. But when considering the big picture, I'm right. This was the Dennis Family empire and needed to be handled within the Dennis Family members. You said it yourself, Mary – no one should suffer for the sins of your family. Your husband… your three sons…"
"It was the Morton Family empire," Mark corrected, looking across the family at Johnny, "As a son of Big Jim who is older than Mary's children, you're missing an entire generation that holds key pieces to this puzzle."
"Our investigation was centered on our key witnesses – Mary and Bo," Johnny began, but Mark shook his head and laughed,
"They knew nothing about the inner workings of Jim's 'empire' as you put it," he said, shaking his head, "I was a better witness than the two of them combined. The best you had from Mary were maybe some domestic violence charges – maybe attempted murder. Same goes for Bo who was on the receiving end of the shotgun but always managed to dodge the bullets – sometimes literally, thank the Spirits."
He shook his head, "Pops told me to take my family and run but I didn't listen. I couldn't desert my brother… bastard. If anyone should have been put through the hell Bo has, it should have been me. I was there helping my grandfather pull his trigger despite Pops' warnings."
"Mark!" Molly said before Tamsin shook her head to remind everyone,
"Let's all just relax. Mark is safe from prosecution, Molly. He may speak freely. I assure you. That was part of the deal for the information he provided. He cannot be jailed for anything he did in connection with his grandfather's crimes. The same goes for Michael, LJ and Tosh."
Tosh nodded, "And to be clear, Mark never pulled the trigger on anyone."
Tamsin clarified, "Of course, Big Jon is a different story since he did not come forward to offer testimony and tried to continue the family business after Big Jim's death… all of the family business."
The couple nodded in unison as Mark turned back to Johnny,
"Mary and Bo were victims of my grandfather's madness. You had no right to use Bo as you did. You treated her like a criminal because her estranged father actually was one. She's an innocent."
"Really? You do realize that we had to bury evidence against her, right?" Sanjo said, his finger wagging at Bo.
He turned to eye Bo suspiciously, the brunette looking at her mom, but Johnny wasn't having it,
"The dead men that were left about ten miles from a job site…"
Mary shook her head, "Killed with their own weapons, yes?"
Johnny frowned, looking at Tamsin who held up her hands and shook her head. He turned to Mary, "How could you possibly know that? Those records were sealed and…"
Mary cut him off, "Let's just say that some pieces are falling into place for me right now as I listen to this conversation. You told me that there would be questions for my Ysabeau about three men found wounded and frozen near an oil refinery where she had been known to work before disappearing."
Bo looked at Anna who took her hand and shook her head, but the brunette already had a plan as she smiled at her friend and said, "It's okay. A."
"Bo…" Anna cautioned, but Bo had already stood and held out her hands to the agent,
"Take me in then."
The look of shock on his face was apparent as Mary stood, placing herself between Bo and the man she had considered a son,
"You will do no such thing!" the Elder shouted, her face filled with rage.
"Mary…" Johnny began.
"Bo, tell him or I will," Anna said from behind Bo.
Bo turned, looking over her shoulder, "That's privileged information that you cannot share without my consent. You do not have my consent."
Lauren stood, walking to Anna, "What's going on?"
"I'm sorry, Lauren. I can't," Anna said as Tamsin stood, coming to stand on the other side of Lauren,
"Okay… let's all just calm down here. No one is taking anyone anywhere. Let's all just sit and talk this out."
Bo kept her eyes on Johnny who continued to eye the brunette suspiciously as a smirk spread across Skye's face,
"I knew you were trouble."
"Skye!" Johnny said, scolding the woman.
"I certainly hope that you have not shared bureau information with a civilian, Special Agent," Tamsin said, addressing Johnny.
He shook his head, "Not me."
Turning to Sanjo, Tamsin shook her head, "You told her?"
"No. I mean… she overheard me on the phone and… well, that's why we begged Mary not to go to Alaska. We knew Bo was bad news and we wanted to keep Mary out of it."
"Bad news?" Bo asked with a laugh, "Wow. You sound just like the broken record I've heard all my life. That's just perfect. Even the bureau believes my father's lies."
"Lies?" Johnny asked, "You killed those three men, didn't you?"
Bo shrugged, "In self-defense."
"Oh, right," Skye said, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest, "You're so predictable."
Bo stood, "Come on then, Miss Perfect. Let's see what you would have done,"
She turned to LJ, Mark and Shannie, "You three… come with me and bring sticks."
Everyone watched as Bo headed towards the water. She turned back when she noticed no one was following her,
"Well, come on… or are you going to draw your guns because you're afraid I'll try to swim to Alaska from here?"
Mary waved the group on, "Come on, then."
Bo had the group sit on the dune, but put LJ, Mark and Shannie in a triangle about twenty yards down the beach. She used them to represent the three men who had chased her down the deserted dirt trail all of those years ago. She explained exactly what had happened from the their first sexual advances through the violent assault to each of their deaths.
When she finished, her three 'victims' were on their backs in the sand and Bo stood, eyes down, clearly shaking from having relived the memory of her childhood trauma.
Still, she raised her eyes to Johnny, "I was maybe sixteen or so, saw the patch on their jackets, so yes, I ran. I was pretty sure they were still alive and I needed to be as far away as possible when they woke up or I was a dead woman."
"The patch?" Johnny asked.
Tamsin shook her head, "Really? Did you guys actually read any of her testimony? Olivia and Camie had been together for what… four or five years? You never noticed the logo on her briefcase? You guys are… whatever."
She stepped back and sat on the two chair arms between Anna and Kate, arms folded over her chest.
Bo explained, "I knew the patch meant they were part of an organization of criminals. I'd picked that much up at work, but I didn't know that I would see that patch for the next ten years. I definitely didn't connect it to Big Jim until I moved to Talkeetna and I didn't connect him to my life until… well, let's just say a lot of therapy."
"Oh come no. Do you seriously expect us to believe that you didn't recognize your own father?" Skye laughed.
Anna stood, "Trauma and memory loss are documented partners. It's a defense mechanism known as Repression."
"Oh? And how would you know?"
Tamsin shook her head, "She's the Head of the Psychiatric Department at Dennis-Archer Hospital. So are you done talking yet?"
Skye's mouth dropped open as she started to speak, but Tamsin shook her head,
"I guarantee you will further humiliate yourself if you say one more word. In addition, I've got a mind that's a steel trap when it comes to confessions and right now, the more you say, the further you push your husband into deep, deep shit."
Sanjo gave his wife a warning glance, turning back to Bo when she spoke once more,
"When I saw workers with that Big Jim patch on their arms, I knew I was headed in the right direction. Everywhere I went there was someone who recognized that I was a young kid on my own and they would help me… or at least, be kind to me."
Bo shook her head, "I'd leave town as soon as the kind people told me that they'd overheard the men asking about Mary Dennis. I figured that if they were looking for her, they weren't certain that she was dead."
She looked at Mary, "If she was alive, I needed to get to her first, so I needed to leave and stay ahead of them. Of course, once cell phones became popular in the state, they would all share my picture. I always avoided cameras at the Iditarod, but ultimately, someone would snap a picture at a banquet or starting line, so… well, I never changed my name."
She sighed, "That's all I have to say and show you in my defense."
She turned and headed back up the small dune with some difficulty. Her knee was sore and swollen from the day's activities. Anna moved to her side, helping her along. She reminded her to breathe and led her through the exercises until she had regained her composure.
It was just as they reached the top of the dune that Bo turned to Anna, her eyes brimming with tears,
"Now she knows."
"I'm aware, Bo."
"She's going to see me differently."
Anna shook her head, "She's going to look at you as she always has, Bo. You're her wife and the woman she loves. That love is unconditional. You are the strongest woman she knows, and this is just another shred of proof. She may have questions."
"I don't want to talk about it."
"I know and I will talk to her, but if she has questions, you owe it to her to answer them at some point. You've opened this can of worms and invited them all in. Tamsin could have handled this privately, but you and Mary are on this 'bare your skin' mission tonight, so…"
Bo nodded, "I know. I get it. My mom wants to tell her truth and I'm just getting…"
"Angry."
"Yes and when I'm angry, I usually run but since I stopped running with my legs and sled, I've started running my damn mouth. I miss being withdrawn and silent."
"Do you?"
Bo sighed, "Yes. Lauren fell in love with the withdrawn, silent me."
"But did she stay for the withdrawn, silent you?"
Bo sighed, "I guess not."
They walked to the fire and just as Bo was about to sit, Lauren came to stand in front of her. She took a bundle of the long straight hair into her hands, twirling it around her fingers before releasing it and launching herself into Bo's embrace. They held each other for a long moment before Lauren noticed Anna smiling awkwardly at the group across from her.
She whispered to Bo, "I'm going to release you now, but you will hold me all night long tonight while we sleep."
Bo smiled, "Yes, Ma'am."
"I'm sorry you had to endure that in silence all this time, Bo. I wish you had trusted me to hear the story but I understand why you didn't. You are my wife and I love you unconditionally, okay?"
Bo pulled back, kissing her wife gently, "Okay."
"I'm going to go back and sit with your brother now. He's keeping me warm."
"I'll keep you warm."
Lauren grinned, "You'll set me on fire. Try not to let these people get to you, okay?"
"Really? They're not getting to you?"
The blonde grinned, "I'm pretending they're Evony. It helps me to stay professional."
"Okay, but if I picture them as Evony, I might hurt them so I'm just going to focus on Rudy."
"Good idea."
The blonde moved away from her wife, allowing her to sit back down next to her mom.
Tamsin raised her hands, "To be clear to everyone in this little family and friends circle, since those bodies were found, things have changed… or should I say job ranks have changed?"
Johnny scowled, "Yes. That is a fair assessment."
Tamsin looked at Bo, "Acacia and I were both promoted to lead the team when our Assistant Director in Charge determined that the bond that had grown between these agents and Rudy was not allowing them to be impartial."
"Despite the fact that Tamsin had become involved with you," Sanjo said, defending Johnny.
Bo smiled, "I'd hardly call what Tamsin and I had as involved. I mean, no offense to her, but at that point in my life, I was incapable of feeling emotion… especially a true and deep love. Tamsin was nothing more than…"
She looked at her friend, frowning apologetically, but Tamsin smirked,
"A good banging on occasion that helped us both to release the tension of a very difficult time in her life. Besides, Bo didn't know I was investigating her and she didn't know that Big Jim was her dad at that point."
"Right. The convenience of amnesia again," Skye spat.
"What the actual fuck, Sanjo!" Tamsin shouted, "I'm going to have your badge, Dude!"
Sanjo's eyes went wide as Johnny and Camie shook their heads.
Skye came to his defense, "He didn't tell me! I went in his briefcase and saw the case file."
"Wow. I'll have his badge and have you in federal prison. Even better, wouldn't you say, Bo?" Tamsin asked, crossing her arms over her chest as her eyes roamed over the islanders.
"Tamsin, please…" Sanjo began, but the blonde shook her head,
"All of you. Get off her back right now and for always, or I swear to God, I'll take this straight to Acacia. We clear?"
"Fine!" Sanjo said, waving his arms over his head and sitting back in his seat before turning to his wife, "I'm changing the combination on my safe and you will not pull the whole 'you don't trust me' or 'you never tell me about your job' things. It makes you no better than Liv."
"Don't you dare compare me to that bitch!" Skye shouted in reply.
"If the shoe fits…" Camie laughed.
"I'm changing the lock, Skye. I mean it. You crossed a line. If you want to be involved in fighting crime so badly, go back to work for the H.P.D."
She sighed, sitting back in her seat. She crossed her arms over her chest and remained silent.
"You dudes are really something else," LJ said, shaking his head, "I'm not even twenty and even I can tell you think Bo's some kind of hardened criminal. Nice to know that innocent until proven guilty is really a thing in your version of the law."
"Hey – she killed those guys, self-defense of not – and didn't report it."
"Sounds to me like she was just a scared kid, Johnny," LJ replied, "Unless you're one of those men who believes in turning a woman into the victim when three men jump her and do disgusting things to her."
Kelly stood, "I can't listen to these assholes anymore," she turned to Mary, "Apologies, Mary, but if you consider them family, I understand why you got mixed up with Big Jim."
"Kelly!" Lauren yelled, but the young woman shook her head as she replied,
"No, Lauren. We're here as family, not boss and employee. I refuse to sit here and watch all of you force yourselves to be polite to five people who clearly have some other agenda with regards to Mary and Rudy."
She turned to Mary once more, "I am sorry if my words hurt right now, but you know I don't know how to be anything but brutally honest."
She turned to the Islanders, "You have been rude, inconsiderate and demeaning to us since you arrived on this property."
To everyone's surprise, Carolyn stood, "And despite the fact that Bo's arrival began with the arrest of one of your own, we still rolled up our sleeves and opened our wallets to help you save your Co-op. I didn't see any of those people coming to your rescue until we opened the door."
Lynnie laughed, "Hell! You were here for over a year and you didn't even both to try to save the orchard for Mary. Yet you sit there judging Bo for what she did to survive on her own?" she looked directly at Skye, "And you are the rudest and judgiest of all. You wouldn't have lasted one night in the Alaskan tundra as an adult let alone as a twelve year old girl."
Skye scowled, crossing her arms over her chest, "Oh, and you would, pretty little Miss Boston?"
Lynnie held up a hand to Kelly, jumping to her defense, "Have you ever slid out of a helicopter and down a rope at an altitude where the air is so thin that you need to wear an oxygen mask? Have you ever landed from that rope onto the side of one of the world's tallest frozen mountain peaks in sub-zero weather to rescue a sick climber?"
Skye's mouth closed, then opened, then closed again before the nurse crossed her arms over her chest,
"Didn't think so. And what were you doing when you were thirteen years old? Were you catching, cleaning and cooking your own meals in the middle of a frozen wasteland? Were you doing your own laundry, repairing your own car, taking care of thirty-five dogs day in, day out? Catching their food? Making money to buy them straw so they wouldn't be sleeping directly on ice?"
Shannie added, "You have no idea what this woman has had to endure, so let me give you a little homework assignment you should have done the day you took this case. How about you head over to the internet and watch a few videos about subsistence living in Alaska."
Lynnie nodded, "And dog sledding in Alaska – more specifically, caring for sled dogs in Alaska."
"And how about looking up how indigenous peoples are treated by the federal government, while you're at it," Kelly added.
"And then remember that Bo did all of this while she was completely and utterly alone," Kelly finished, turning to Mary, "I'm sorry. I'm going to head inside for a bit… hang out with the friendliest people I know."
Mary gave her a nod, then turned to the Johnny,
"And then remember that Bo was alone because I made a choice that you and Tamsin told me was the best course of action."
Tamsin shook her head, "I agreed it was the best course of action based on Johnny's side of the story. Now that I know it all… if I only had a time machine."
"Well, sadly, you don't," Bo said, slouching in her chair.
Mark shook his head, "Thank the spirits that you became the special agent in charge, Tamsin," he turned to Johnny, "Perhaps you kept yourself in the safety and isolation of this island for too long to see the true big picture."
Johnny shrugged, "I still stand by my decision to keep Mary away from Bo – especially since Bo just admitted that Big Jim's men were looking for her. Mary had no choice. I understand that Bo had it tough, but look at what she survived. I'd say she's the stronger for it. Mary made the right decision. There is no blame here."
"Had it tough?" Tosh asked, "Tough, you say?"
"She survived those three men with barely a scratch… her words, not mine," Johnny defended.
Tosh shook his head, "You have no idea what she endured… what happened to her…"
He caught Bo's eye as she shook her head. It wasn't his story to tell, so he took a deep breath and continued,
"But we all know now that when she arrived in Talkeetna, Tamsin was pushing for intervention to be immediate because things were escalating."
Tamsin shook her head at Johnny, "But instead, you had me recalled to the Boston office to provide an update which, of course, turned into an ambush about my relationship with Bo."
"Whatever," Johnny said, shaking his head, "They sided with you and put you in charge a month later."
Tamsin was furious as she stood, "And do you know what happened during that month that I was kept in Boston and told to stand down while additional surveillance was set up?"
"She's alive. She's here. She's fine," Johnny said, "And look – they're all reunited. Why are we doing this, Tamsin?"
Bo stood, that person from her past rising easily to the surface. She pulled off her long-sleeved T-shirt, so she stood in front of the group in only her sports bra.
While Bo's family and friends had heard of the incident that took place soon after Tamsin had been recalled to Boston from Talkeetna, only Lauren and Shannie had seen the damage done that night. It was Bo's most closely guarded secret – or, as Lauren had told Shannie – her greatest shame. They'd never spoken of it – not even to Carolyn.
Bo could hear her mother's gasp, but she kept her wits and turned to Johnny,
"I'm alive? I'm fine?" Bo asked, "And now I learn that you sacrificed me to a pack of animals because Tamsin and I had sex a few times?"
"I was told it was a relationship," Johnny defended.
"Yea, well, while you were busy worrying about what was happening on the bed of my sled…"
"You slept on your sled?" Sola asked, cutting Bo off.
Bo laughed, "Clearly, someone hasn't been listening. I grew up living outside – day and night. I slept on a sled by a fire surrounded by dogs while holding an axe in either hand."
"Ready to kill?" Sanjo chuckled.
"Ready to defend myself against a bear," Bo said, lifting her arm and turning to the side, "I didn't always wake up fast enough."
The group fell silent looking at the four long scars on Bo's ribcage,
"Once they claw you, there had better be a long, thick hunting knife in at least one hand or you're likely to get dead."
"That's…" Sola began, her eyes wide, "… from a bear?"
Bo sighed, "Yes. So don't you dare defend my mom's choice to abandon me or your husband's choice to serve me up as bait to the wilderness. I was a child just a year or two younger than Rudy when my mom and the feds left me alone in the harshest climate on earth to fend for myself when I barely had the skills to survive. I believe that in any other state, you would be prosecuted for child abandonment at the very least!"
She shook her head, addressing Johnny with a smirk,
"But they knew that wouldn't happen in Alaska, right? And by the time you all picked up the case, I was no longer a minor, so not a problem, right? With all of its vast wilderness and the ability of the elders and federal government to toss blame back and forth between you, it was a convenient place to use a child to further your agenda! That is where you used my mom's ignorance of your laws to keep her complicit in your plan."
She took a step towards Johnny, her finger in his face as she felt Lauren's finger slide into her bicep. She was grateful for her wife's intervention as it prevented her from reaching out to the agent further. She took a breath and pointed to the scar on the side of her ribcage,
"This is my oldest scar. I was twelve, maybe thirteen when I was first attacked by a bear. I ran my team into a shallow cave, jumping from my sled so it would block the entrance and protect them but it left me outside with him. I ran until the first lesson from my past surfaced…"
She lowered her eyes as she spoke, "If it's brown, lay down, if it's black, fight back… if it's white… goodnight."
She shook her head, looking back up at the man, "I dropped my axes and laid down, curling up into a ball as tight as I could. I allowed that brown bear to toss me around like a toy. When the claws broke through my outer layers of clothing to skin, I bit my tongue and stopped myself from screaming out in pain. I needed to play dead, or I really would be dead. I was terrified he would smell the blood and bite down…"
She pointed to a slim scar on her neck usually covered by her hair, "This is a knife wound from a blade held to my neck. I was fifteen when a man three times my size and drunk pinned me to my sled outside. My dog got her first taste of human blood that night and I survived."
She pointed to the burn scar on the underside of her jaw, "This is when I learned that sleeping too close to a fire in high winds on the tundra can set your bed roll on fire even if you're a good five feet away from the flames."
She pointed to her shoulder, "How do you like this bullet hole… or maybe this one…" she asked, pointing to her chest and the near miss from last year, "…it missed my heart but hit my lung. Luckily, my wife happens to be a world-renowned cardiothoracic surgeon and was only forty feet away from me when I was shot."
"You're… really? You really are a heart surgeon?" Skye asked.
Lauren's face dropped into a scowl, "That's your takeaway from what you just saw on my wife's body? Knife and gunshot wounds - burns from making campfires at age fourteen while alone in the tundra with nowhere to live?"
Bo's voice rang out through the night sky as she held out her arms,
"What? This isn't enough for you, Skye? You still don't get it? You still don't understand my anger or why my mom came to Alaska and stayed? Well, let me make it clearer for you so that you really understand how these agents sacrificed me so that they could make their case. Let me show you the pictures Tamsin had removed from my file to protect my privacy."
She turned, facing her wife allowing the firelight to illuminate her back. Mary saw the scars more clearly and immediately knew what they were from. A whimper escaped, drawing Bo's eyes to hers. Bo turned back to Lauren, unable to maintain eye contact with her mom.
She was embarrassed that she'd seen the wounds, yet now angry at her mom for not taking her from Alaska years before that night had happened.
Lauren cupped Bo's face, knowing that this was a moment she'd never intended, but in her rage, she'd exposed the most private part of herself that came from what she considered her weakest moment.
She whispered to Bo, "You survived. Those are the marks of the strongest woman I know. You're here today because you fought to survive against ten men."
Bo nodded, lifting her eyes to Lauren's. Bo took a shaky deep breath before she turned back to the Islanders who stood in judgement of her,
"Those are the scars from my father's whip. When he was finished, he handed that whip to his sons one at a time before I was released to his men with orders that the only rule was to make sure I was still breathing… barely."
"Here on my hip, my low back, my arms, my ribs…" she pulled up the leg of her shorts, "…both thighs. The small scars on my face and ears are from frostbite. I was held practically naked in the snow while they beat me within an inch of my life. Then I was thrown on the ice cold dirt floor of a jail cell."
She took the shirt that Lauren had lifted from the ground and pulled it over her head, the tears falling freely,
"Don't you dare tell me I have no right to judge. Any of you could have sent for me. Any of you could have whisked me away in the middle of the night under the cover of darkness."
"Bo…" Mary began, but the blonde lowered herself to the elder Dennis and spoke softly, "She was angry with them, not you, Mom. She never intended you to see…"
Mary placed a hand on Lauren's face, speaking with enough volume for anyone to hear, "Daughter, you need not explain. I've seen now. I understand," she nodded, "I bear scars of my own. My husband was never a kind man. This was my greatest fear for her. Now that fear is realized."
Lauren's eyes brimmed with tears, but Mary shook her head,
"Do not cry for me. I was an adult, and I knew who he was. I made the choice to stay for my children so he would leave them alone. I stayed… until I didn't."
Mary shook her head, "I should have stayed for her. There is no excuse. I've thought about it a million times. We could have gone on the run together – into Canada and up into the lands of the North. Instead, I trusted people in a village where I knew I had enemies and he had friends. Do not cry for me. I am undeserving."
Mary turned to Johnny, "My daughter is right. You cannot defend my actions and you cannot defend the actions of the bureau nor your own when you took over her case," she nodded towards Bo,
"This is the damage I've caused. You will never forget… the scars will never allow it. Our love for each other is strong but you are the stronger… for you have chosen to find the strength to forgive me… but we both know there will always be setbacks… there will always be scars that run so deep that you can't see them all."
Tamsin spoke, "I should have fought harder to have them pull you."
Bo was calmer, more rational as she spoke, "Tamsin, you were a rookie agent. Johnny was given the case after the other agent died and he dropped the ball until you picked it up."
He looked at Tamsin, "You told her that?"
Tamsin shook her head, "I had left that detail out. Our Assistant Director handed out those gory details along with the bureau's official apology letter when she came into our field office to give her statement."
Bo smiled at her friend, "If it weren't for you…"
Tamsin shook her head, "If it weren't for me, you probably would have killed that bastard in that cabin rather than letting us arrest him. Instead, he dropped dead in prison. It was too good a death for that man."
Bo sighed, turning to her Alaskan family behind her, "I'm sorry. I never wanted you to see…" she sniffed, "I'm so sorry."
She saw Tosh absolutely falling apart in his chair and moved to him, leaning down to whisper in his ear,
"I'm so sorry. I never wanted you to see. She just made me so angry and… I never wanted you to look at me and…"
He pulled back, "What? Feel the shame and blame I should rightly feel? I'm the one who's sorry, Sister. I… dammit! How on earth can you even stand to look at me?"
Bo smiled, using her sleeve to wipe his face, as she whispered,
"Man up, Dude. The island boys are watching."
They shared a laugh before Bo took his hands, "I can look at you because it was your kind eyes that allowed me to trust you when I trusted no one. It was the grace and charity you showed me when no one else did. It was the shelter you gave me when I had nowhere to live."
"It was a shack, Bo," he countered.
"It was a roof and big enough for the dogs and my sleds until you led me to Kyle. I survived because of you and Dyson. You opened doors that I thought were locked to me because of our father."
Bo stood, turning to the islanders, "I'm sorry I lost my temper. I'm sorry you had to see…"
Sola shook her head, standing to move towards Bo. She put a hand on each of her shoulders and lowered her forehead to the brunette's, taking a deep breath,
"We were angry with Mary for not returning. Now we have a better idea of why she stayed. It was the right thing for her to do. I didn't know. I'm so sorry for the life you were forced to live because of the actions of others… including my husband."
Bo nodded, pulling back, her eyes locked on Sola's, "Thank you."
Sola nodded, her voice loud enough for her family to hear, "I will not speak for my family, but personally, I am sorry for the way that you and yours have been treated since arriving here."
Turning to Mary, Bo sighed, "I'm sorry Mom."
Mary's eyes were full of tears, her cheeks red, "We start treating those scars tonight."
"Mom, there's nothing you can do. They're old and… well, Lauren has researched the…"
"I think your wife and I agree that there are some things that native medicine can do better than her medicine. If you are willing, I would like to try. They will never disappear, but the scars don't have to be so deep."
Bo nodded, moving to sit back in her seat. She was embarrassed that she'd lost her cool. She hated that everyone had seen the scars on her back… that they might now look at her differently… like the damaged goods she was. She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly to calm herself.
Kate leaned over, handing her a mug, "From your wife. Drink it all, she said."
Bo nodded, taking a slow sip of the warm liquid, the alcohol hitting her senses almost immediately. She looked up at her wife, as Kate whispered in her ear,
"Drink it. All of it."
Lauren offered her one of those adorably pouty smiles that said she understood and that this would help until they could talk.
Bo nodded and took another sip before turning to her mom,
"Mom, I'm sorry this conversation has erupted in anger. This was to be your story and it became about me."
Mary nodded, only now aware that her daughter was not seated next to her wife… none of them were seated where they would usually be. Her dear friend Molly was so far from her. She wished she was by her side now, yet she was also relieved that her daughter was here and by her side in this place.
She turned to her island family, "We claim to be an island that demonstrates unmatched hospitality, yet you didn't arrive on this property until today. This was hardly a demonstration of island hospitality."
She nodded towards Bo, "Then, you arrive just moments after Rudy pulls in with Bo, Lauren, Elise, Patrick and Jake, whisking her off to surf with barely any attention paid to her best friend and their loved ones."
She pointed towards the house, "They worked all day in the orchard, purchased additional work tools for the people they brought, yet you gave one general thank you to Stephen and Betsy for their efforts."
Johnny opened his mouth to speak, but Mary shook her head,
"Dinner was all about you and your island life which is a major social faux pas in front of a group of visitors. You took the seats you wanted rather than allow them to sit first, then did the same thing here at this fire."
Mary again waved Johnny off, "So, if you would stand."
They all looked at each other, so Mary repeated, "Please stand and gather your belongings in your hand so that I may demonstrate."
They all stood, standing near the fire, then turned back to Mary who smiled,
"Now, if my Alaskan family and friends would please take the seats where you would normally sit at home for Sunday night family dinner?"
"Sunday night family dinner?" Sola asked.
Molly replied since she was the closest, "We do a pot luck dinner every Sunday night at The Homestead. I usually help Mary to make the main course and the rest bring appetizers and desserts in rotation."
"Did you mention that earlier tonight?" Sola asked.
Molly nodded, "Yes, that is one of the things we did manage to squeeze in between your island stories and jokes. If you'll excuse me."
Molly moved to sit in the chair to Mary's left, the two immediately joining hands as Molly whispered,
"This has not been an easy first night for you, my friend."
Mary nodded, looking at Tosh, "It hasn't, but I fear it is about to get worse for your father-in-law. He looks troubled."
Molly nodded to her husband who was now sitting with his father on one side and LJ on the other,
"My husband as well."
Once they were all settled, Mary looked up at her island friends,
"Do you feel welcome to sit in this circle?"
Skye frowned, "You mean apart from each other?"
Mary smiled, "You see, if you're truly interested in showing my guests hospitality, you would be attempting to strike up conversation with individuals which means you would welcome sitting away from those you see day in, day out every day of your life."
Sola nodded, "You're right, Mare. If we truly care about you, we will want to get to know your family and friends. We will show our support for your choices."
Mary smiled, "This blending of my two worlds is difficult for all of you, I'm sure. Each of you is accustomed to a certain routine with me… and with Rudy. I'm sorry if you feel any discomfort or if I haven't spent enough time with each of you, but please know that it's a long week and we will all find the rhythm in time."
Sola nodded, taking a seat between LJ and Shannie, "So, who usually sits here?"
LJ smiled, "Michael, when he's home. He's my only cousin, so we're like brothers."
"Oh? And where is he now?"
"He's in college to become a Veterinarian. Kurt – you met him earlier today…"
"That's the pilot, right? Kelly's boyfriend?"
LJ nodded, "Yes, he's also Kyle's brother. He's flying Michael and the rest of the family here from the Big Island right now. They should be here soon, I think."
Sola nodded, "Well, I look forward to meeting your only cousin Michael."
She looked up to see that the others had still not taken a seat, so she spoke to the group,
"Would anyone like to make a gesture of goodwill towards these three that would help them to take a seat?"
Kyle tapped the seat to her left, "Here you go, Johnny. This is where my brother usually sits. Kelly is his girlfriend. He's out picking up the rest of the family from the Big Island right now."
Johnny smiled, taking the offered seat, "He's the pilot we met earlier, right?"
"One and the same. He flies and repairs just about anything with an engine… I mean, if it's meant to fly. He also works on cars, boats, ancient hotel generators. My brother just has a knack for anything electronic or mechanical."
"So, he's an engineer?"
Kyle shook her head, "Bo! Johnny's asking about my brother's jobs."
Bo laughed, "Good luck, Johnny! Kurt's got the longest resume I've ever seen."
Kyle smiled and continued, while Bo hung on every word,
"Kurt did a year of college in engineering but… well, other than the fact that we couldn't afford it, he really missed flying so quit school to become a full-time pilot. He'd been working on engines since high school, so he went to a technical school to become a licensed mechanic."
She nodded to Bo, "He met Bo when working on an old car at a house she was renovating. He had been yapping with the electricians while taking his lunch and got them behind schedule."
Bo laughed, from across the fire, "I made him sweep floors behind them to get them caught up and when he finished, he just stood there watching them work. He was mesmerized. Three weeks later, he called me looking for a side job, so I paid for him to go to school to get certified as an electrician and brought him onto my crew."
Kyle nodded, "But then Lauren stole him away from Bo when she was opening the hospital. She helped him get certified as a medical equipment technician and evac helicopter operator. Kelly is a field nurse so the two of them started flying with the rescue squad."
Lauren smiled, "He loved what Kelly was doing so much that we sent him back to school to become a medic. Now, the two of them are together most of the time."
Kelly leaned over and smiled, "Mostly, he does the flying and I do the caring. There's a whole team in the chopper, but when I'm repelling down onto a mountain or into an avalanche area, I'd rather have Kurt at the controls."
"So you really do that stuff? Hang out of a helicopter?"
She shrugged, "Someone's gotta do it, otherwise those people will die."
"Of course," Johnny said, "Wow. I must sound like a really big asshole to you."
"Yup," Kelly said, honestly.
He smiled, "You really are honest."
"Why live life on a lie?" Kelly asked, "Welp…"
"Please…" Sola said, reaching up to take Kelly's hand, "Stay?"
Kelly looked at Lynnie and Shannie who shrugged. She looked back at Johnny,
"Done being an asshole?"
He smiled, "Done."
"Well, we'll try this again then."
She took a seat, Sola asking, "So this brutal honesty thing you've got going…"
"Well, like I said, there's no sense living a life of lies. It takes a lot less energy to be honest – especially if the person you're talking to is rude. I hate when people like that apologize when they realize they were just being the asshole and I'm supposed to say something like 'that's okay' or 'no worries'. They were an asshole. I won't let them off the hook for that no matter who they are."
"Point taken," Johnny said before Kelly turned back to the conversation with Sola, LJ and Shannie.
Johnny turned to Kyle and Tamsin, "You're right, by the way."
"About what?" Tamsin asked.
He sighed, "About everything. I lost the case file. I dropped the ball on the investigation which led to Bo staying there longer than she should have. What was with the scars on her back? She didn't talk about those."
Tamsin nodded, "And she probably won't. That's the first time I've seen them."
"But you and her were… I mean…"
"Bo and I were never fully naked together," Tamsin said, "It's Alaska."
"Neither were Bo and I," Kyle added, "When your bedroom is a sled in the wilderness, you're staying clothed. It's fucking cold out there."
"I didn't realize…" Johnny began, then shook his head, "Actually, I never asked. I just… assumed."
Tamsin chuckled, "Let's face it, Johnny. You were never built to sit behind a desk."
He nodded, "You're right. I made assumptions that when my agents handed me their reports, that they had done their due diligence just like I had always done when I was a field agent. After hearing all of this tonight, I get why I was demoted and sent back to the field."
Tamsin laughed, "Some demotion. You were sent to a fucking paradise, and you got to be in your home state. That's twice as much as most of us get."
He smiled, "Yea, I remember you being pretty upset about Alaska."
"The boss thought that since I was Scandinavian, that I would welcome the cold," Tamsin laughed, "Alaska is not my homeland – not even close."
"So what's your next plan?" Johnny asked.
Tamsin shrugged, "Well, you heard that Acacia and I will be running the Alaska field office, right?"
He nodded, "Are you taking Adam with you?"
"Damn straight."
"I thought so, although I thought his love of the beach might keep him with us."
Tamsin smiled, "His love of Molly's beef stew and the all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast at the hotel where he lives are his motivating factors. That and I believe there might be a little romance budding in his life."
"Really?"
Tamsin shrugged, "Just an observation. No facts to back it up whatsoever."
"Come on. Dish."
She looked over at Sanjo and Skye who were sitting together on the ground next to the fire,
"I'll tell you what. You get those two to change their evil ways and we'll talk."
"Geezus," he said, only now realizing where they had seated themselves, "Skye is really…"
"…A judgmental bitch who doesn't seem to be able to separate Bo from Olivia?"
"Well, yea, I guess so. Although I have to admit – until I saw Bo's scars, I really didn't understand what her life had been like."
"You really didn't read the reports, did you?"
He shook his head, "I was juggling one-hundred and three cases across three different offices."
"Yea, I'd heard it was unmanageable until they put Timmy Mayer in there."
"He cleared fifty cases in a week," Johnny admitted, "The man is a machine."
"No, the man is single with no kids and he convinced the Special Agent in Charge to rearrange the geographical location groupings of our office responsibilities. He never had to set foot on a plane to travel between offices."
"I was on a plane about seven times a day."
"He recognized that when he was working under you. He saved the bureau over a million dollars in the transportation budget in flights alone. That doesn't count cars, gas, mechanical repairs, inclement weather delays… it's working so much better over there now."
He nodded, "I wish I'd seen it the way he did. I might still be working a desk."
"You want a desk?" Tamsin asked.
He shrugged, "I'm getting too old for chasing down criminals, Tamsin."
"But that's why you have Sanjo and Camie."
"Yea and in another seven years or so, they'll be struggling too. I just don't know if it's worth it anymore."
"Getting your ass handed to by Bo's family shake you up?"
Johnny nodded, "That and realizing the things I was saying. I wasn't listening to them, Tamsin… I was just defending myself. I think that ever since I was demoted, I feel like I have to explain my side all the time to the point that I've stopped listening."
She shrugged, "Well, recognizing your weakness is the first step in changing that weakness into a strength."
"Agent Sam Martin, week one of training."
Tamsin nodded, "He didn't tell us that until week two, but yes. A good agent always evaluates his performance in an ongoing pattern. The agent who doesn't is likely going to find themselves transferred or fired when they're eventually pulled in front of the review board."
He smiled, turning to Kyle, "Sorry about all of this work talk. I'm sure you don't want to hear about it."
Kyle smiled, "Actually, it's nice to hear something about it. Tamsin never shares anything about her work life. I mean, you always expect that when your partner comes home from work, you'll ask how their day was and they'll respond with more than one word."
"So what does she say?" he asked.
"Fine or exhausting followed by what's for dinner or what are we doing after I shower or…" a devilish grin spread across her face, "… take me to bed or lose me forever."
Tamsin slapped Kyle, "I would never use a Top Gun line to get you into bed."
"What's wrong with Top Gun?" Johnny asked.
"Nothing. It's just not meant to be used in my sex life."
"Oh?" Johnny asked, winking at Kyle, "So what is your best line to get your partner into bed?"
"I pick her up and throw her over my shoulder Neanderthal style, rip off her clothes, toss her onto the bed, strip naked and lay down next to her and then say, 'how was your day, dear?'. It works every time."
Kyle laughed, "She's never actually done that… I mean, she has done the Neanderthal thing, but we never actually made it to the bed when she did."
"She's right. We did it right there on the stairway up to the barn loft."
"The barn?" Johnny asked.
"Shhh…" Tamsin said, "She was at The Kennel and I came in to get her for dinner. We'd given Bo and Lauren hell when we caught them in an empty stall the week before. We'd never hear the end of it if they knew we did the same thing."
He nodded, growing quiet for a moment before he looked up, watching all of the individual conversations that were now taking place,
"It's sad that Sanjo and Skye have chosen to exclude themselves."
Tamsin nodded towards Camie, "But it looks like Camie, Lynnie and Kate are hitting it off."
"I'm glad he found two women to sit with. He's probably wringing their ears over Liv."
"Shame about that," Kyle said, "I mean, what we know of it."
He nodded, "He didn't love her. She filled the gap when his one true love went off to join the World Surf League. She's moving back home now, so who knows."
"Mary told us. She's going to let her stay here," Kyle said.
Johnny nodded, "Hopefully things will work out with them and she'll end up back with Camie. We'll see if he can get out of his own way and apologize for being such an ass to her. I mean, who wouldn't allow someone they loved to live their dreams?"
Kyle and Tamsin shared a glance before Tamsin asked,
"I don't know… I mean, would you stand in the way of Mary and Rudy living their dreams if it takes them back to Alaska? I know that all of us are ready to let them go if Rudy chooses here."
He smiled and nodded, "Touché."
Looking at Mary he sighed, "I'd love to hear more from her. I'm sure she's tired… it's been an emotional night."
Tamsin shrugged, "Ask. She and Molly aren't really talking about anything. They tend to ask a question and then sit with it before either of them gives a concrete answer. They're very philosophical that way."
"I don't want to interrupt," he said.
Kyle shook her head, "She didn't change the seating arrangement so we could have small, individual conversations. She's just giving us time to get acquainted because she shifted our seats."
"Who usually sits in those two chairs that are empty?"
Kyle thought about how to explain, "Well, if Kenzi can get away from the hotel, she'll sit in the one on the left, Hale will take the one next to hers and then one the boys will likely sit next to Hale to have guy talk. If Dyson, Ciara and the kids were here, there would be more chairs. I mean, some people couldn't come because of work – with what all of us do for a living, it's rare to get Sundays completely off."
"Oh? What do you do?"
"I own the Kennel with Bo. The dogs need daily care multiple times a day and right now, we have about ten pregnant females, so they're never alone."
"Right. I talked to Cassie today and she explained. Where is Cassie, anyway?" he asked.
Kyle explained, "She actually has family on the Big Island, so went there for dinner. I think she'll be back tonight. If not, in the morning to check on the dogs for sure."
Johnny nodded, eyeing Sanjo and Skye who were now staring back at him. He shook his head and Sanjo lowered his eyes. He sighed, locking eyes with Skye,
"You're right about Skye. She's become a controlling witch of a wife. She really should go back to work. She's bored and is getting curious about Sanjo's cases because she doesn't have any of her own."
Tamsin nodded, "And I think we can all agree that not having all of the information about a case and its members can cause an agent to grossly misjudge the outcome."
He nodded, "I suppose it's time for me to have a chat with Sanjo."
Tamsin shook her head, "If I were you, I would invite me to do that with Acacia tomorrow."
"You'd be willing to do that?"
"After all I heard tonight? I'd be letting him off easy if I didn't."
Johnny sighed, "Do your worse, Special Agent. If he doesn't respond, I suppose I'll have to transfer him."
"You would do that?"
He shrugged, "I would encourage him to get his wife back to work first, then transfer him before I have to fire his ass."
"Sounds reasonable."
Kyle sighed, "So, ready to get back to a large group conversation? See if we can all play nice?"
"Listen. I'll settle for listening to each other," Tamsin said.
Johnny nodded, "Agreed."
He turned to Mary, "So, Mare? I don't want to interrupt, but do you feel up to telling the rest of your story or would you rather wait until tomorrow night and do those sticky dessert treats now?"
All eyes moved to Molly who gave her a nod, "I've advised Mary to get it all out there tonight. I see no need to carry more negative storytelling over into another night. I believe Shannie would advise us to 'rip off the Band-Aid'."
Shannie smiled and nodded, "Exactly!"
Mary sighed, "I spoke of the tension here tonight and my hope that as two groups from two different worlds, we would find a rhythm together over the course of the week. It's funny that I say that now when most of my life was spent off-balance or out of step with my own life's rhythm."
She smiled, her eyes moving to the fire,
"My life… well, let's see… where to begin."
"At the beginning, Mare!" Kelly started, "I always wanted to know what it was like to grow up at the top of the world!"
Mary smiled and nodded at the young nurse, "Well…"
************ To Be Continued…**************
