A/N: This is what I call a filler chapter. I own nothing but the mistakes, just know that not all questions will be answered in Part Two, but Part Three is coming soon in March.

43

Reason You Need Coffee #357:

It's almost impossible to work with your eyes closed.

—SIGN AT THE LIMA BEAN

After their conversation, Cedes comforted Gina, and her daughter agreed with everything her mother was telling her because she could not let go of the guilt.

Once she had finished comforting her, Cedes was finally able to get the whole story out of her daughter. It obliterated Cedes' heart to hear her daughter try to explain what it was like to find Mrs. Banks tied up. How she rushed in without even thinking, putting everyone in even greater danger. How she watched as the knife sank into Ricky's stomach.

Cedes decided right then and there her daughter learned her lesson in the hardest way possible. She would've given anything to protect her from learning this particular lesson. Still, what Gina did could not go unpunished. Cedes saw several thousand hours of community service in her future to hopefully curb her daughter's desire to be a detective like she was.

However, the worse thing Cedes had to do was tell her daughter was about Mike Bowen's death. Her daughter's wails were so loud and so long, Cedes feared she would have an asthma attack. Sam held her for a long time while Cedes stroked Gina's braided hair, worried she'd broken her daughter. They all cried together and waited as they brought Ricky, barely conscious, to his room across the hall.

"I don't know what to say to him." Gina said between sobs. "I don't know what to do."

"All you can do is be there for him. You can't know or understand his pain, but you can just be there when he needs you."

When Gina's next rounds of medicine had kicked in, Cedes left the room as soon as her baby girl had fallen asleep. She was going to check on her other stabbing victim, Mike Chang. He could soon have visitors now he was in serious but stable condition. That was something positive, she thought as she knew she had to head to Lima Springs to take care of some things in her office.

Before leaving the hospital, she talked to her parents. "Okay, too trusting and too deaf parents. Gina has an IV. Her butt will show if she tries to make a run for it in her hospital gown and that will mortify her. Plus, she literally just had brain surgery. Do you think you can keep her from sneaking out?"

Their faces were filled with guilt and concern.

"Cedes, I promise you, I am never taken my eyes off of her again unless she passes the sleep test of having her hand in water and peeing the bed. Seriously, everything that has transpired is because of us, and we are going to make sure we make it up to all of you."

"Dad, believe me, I am not blaming you all for this. She decided to contact Chris Pratt even though he suggested that she get parental approval. Gina did not think and her lack of thinking escalated something that could have been prevented. Assigning blame will not change the past, so let's just use this as a learning experience."

Her mom's face told Cedes she was not convinced. "If only we never showed her the articles."

"More than likely, she would have found those articles on her own all because she imagines herself to be a real life girl detective bent on being like me. However, her love of true crime stories, especially podcasts and tv shows, means that she probably knows more about hiding a body than I do."

"We're devastated and beyond sorry, Mercy," her dad said. "If we could change what happened—"

"Just like everybody else who wished they had that power, I would, too. As many times as I've planned your deaths for something that actually was your fault, this is not one of those times."

"You've planned our deaths more than once?" her mom asked.

"You can't imagine how often I passed on buying arsenic."

"When was the last time you plotted our demise?"

"Um, yesterday, remember Tank?" she asked.

"I can understand that was a very bad choice for you sweetheart." Her dad scratched his chin.

"Very bad choice?" she asked. "You set me up with an assassin, dad!"

"He was so polite and handsome." Her mom included like that made it alright.

She gave up and kissed her mother on the cheek, then gave her dad a hug. "Just prove to me that you two deserve not to be in jail or have me resurrect Tank from the dead to put you out of your miseries by making sure the most important person in my life is safe, secure, and stays in her hospital bed."

Not that she didn't trust her parents or Sam, but there was no place she rather be than by her daughter's side. But, she had to get to Lima Springs to check on the progress of the Alana and the Banks' cases. Chris Pratt's family was on the way to ID the body, and wanted that cursed tennis bracelet. They were going to be upset. Cedes decided as soon as she find the bracelet she was going to keep it in evidence as long as she possibly could.

She promised to return as soon as possible and left Hunter in charge, only because he refused to leave with her, so she took Sam with her. He had a business to run, and he needed to get some rest that did not involve a chair that reclined about as much as a seat on an airplane.

On the drive to Lima Springs, her thoughts, as they always did, eventually were on the man sitting beside her. The way he cared for Gina. The way he held her in the shower, completely not caring that she was a soaking and sobbing hot mess.

Martinez's call and snapped her out of her musings. The Bluetooth picked up the call and she was aware that Sam was pretending sleep and was listening to the entire conversation.

"We got everything taken care of here. Only thing you need to know is that Ralphie set fire to the jail."

"Okay, good. Who's Ralphie again?" She loved her joke that she played on her deputies about forgetting Ralphie was the raccoon that was apparently an escape artist.

As soon as her conversation with Martinez ended, her phone rang again, but this time it was Andy Collins.

"Hello, Mercy darling girl," he said as a greeting.

"Howdy handsome, tell me what you know about him?"

"You were right about Mr. Tank Williams. Except he wasn't a famous hitman; he was more of a wannabe famous hitman."

"Who could blame him about wanting to be famous; this is California, and it was either that or be a rapper."

"True. I looked into his German hit. It really happened, but it was by one of the most famous snipers in British history, he went by the name Jackal and is white as snow. Your guy has never even been out of the country and doesn't even have a passport."

"Maybe he isn't really Tank Williams. Surely, he had multiple identities. Maybe one was a white British man."

"Yeah, absolutely not. He was insane, but not a famous assassin. How is your daughter doing?"

"She is doing a lot better. Thank God. Thanks for looking into this for me, Andy."

"You know I would do anything for you Mercy girl. It looks like Channing Alana has a new sentence, and it's even longer than the original now that his ties to the Westons and Williams have been exposed, also the money he had hidden all these years being found and tied to him has sealed him in for life in prison."

"I can't think of anyone who deserves it more," she said, hoping Tina filed for divorce as soon as Mack told her the entire truth.

"I should buy you coffee again soon. We can watch the sunrise or sunset together."

"What's with this again bull? You have never bought me coffee. The way I remember it is that someone forgot his wallet last time."

Collins burst out in laughter and only ended the call. Her words too funny for him to even say goodbye.

"I thought he was working with drug addicts now and had retired from law enforcement," Sam said.

"He is doing that. He only helps me out from time to time when I need him."

"I know exactly how he feels then."

He wasn't wrong. She only called him when she needed help. She didn't feel like she had the right to otherwise considering how cold he was towards her when she first returned. And if he wanted to see her, he darned well knew where to find her. By the time she was ready to tell him this, they were back at the sheriff's department and his truck.

He got out and stared at her awhile before saying, "You can do a lot better than a phony psycho assassin and that old man, often wed Collins."

He closed the door before she could reply.

Lack of sleep and being hit by a truck along with his injuries obviously had rattled Sam's brain. How else could he believe that she and Collins were a thing? Yes, she loved the older man, but not like she loved Sam. Because she was doomed to always love him no matter how big of a dick he was being.

She was able to get her mind off of her unrequited love for that impossible man as she suffered through an afternoon of work on top of work, all while sending her parents thousands of texts to check up on the kids.

When she was finally back at Gina's hospital room, she found her mom reading a smutty book from her book club in a chair, and her dad snoring. Her daughter was gone.

"Where in the hell is my daughter?" she asked upset when she didn't see her baby in her hospital bed.

Her mom got up and put a hand over her mouth to quiet her and led her to Ricky's room. "Every time she wakes up we keep finding her like this," Minnie whispered when Cedes saw Gina beside Ricky face to face with him while holding his hand.

"How is she?"

"The doctor says her recovery is miraculous. She has no pain and is eating well. If she moves suddenly, she does get a little dizzy."

"Does she know she has a big bald spot where they shaved her head for the surgery?"

"No. We're going to let her discover that when she is ready to deal with that."

"How's Ricky doing?"

"He only wakes when Gina is forced to go to her own bed. He's delirious and starts fighting everyone until they finally let her come back just to calm him down."

"I never wanted an intense relationship for her at this young age," she told her mom.

"You can hardly blame her. You were the same way at her age."

"What? I have never been in an intense relationship my entire life."

"Because your love was focused on someone you were not in a relationship with."

Her parents had known how she felt about Sam almost before she knew it herself.

"I am for here for the rest of the night, Mom. You two can check out of the hotel and go home and get some rest."

"I'm only going to agree to this because your dad's sciatica will act up if he sleeps like this, but we'll be back in the morning."

Cedes sat down on the recliner beside her daughter and was surprised when Ricky opened his eyes and looked at her over the girl lying beside him.

She got up and headed to his side of the bed, "What do you need, Ricky?"

"I'm so very sorry, Sheriff." his words were so quiet she could barely decipher what he was saying.

"You don't have anything to be apologizing for, Ricky."

"I do. I let him hurt Gina. But as soon as it happened, I tried to stop him."

"Listen, I don't want to even think about what would have happened if you were not there with her. You more than likely saved my daughter's life while almost losing your own. I am beyond grateful for your actions, and I should be thanking you."

She could tell he was doing what her daughter was earlier blaming himself. None of her words would convince him, hopefully, time would.

"What has been worrying me the most is why didn't you tell us about your dad's passing?"

"Because you would have been forced to tell social services, and I would have been sent to my grandparents who are living in crowded Winnebago while they help the residents of Altadena rebuild their businesses and homes, so developers won't buy them out. Besides, my grandparents are in their seventies. They are too old to have to worry about raising a teenager."

"I don't think they are too old; I think you were worried about being a burden to them."

"I know I would be."

She didn't believe a word he was saying. His look of adoration at Gina's sleeping face, let her know the real reason why he wanted to stay in Lima Springs.

"If I don't go live with them, the state would probably send me to a children's home because nobody wants to adopt or foster mixed race Hispanic kids in this crazy world of ICE gone loco and kids committing suicide because they are being bullied about it."

"Well, if you would have come to me, I would have come up with a plan for you to stay in Lima Springs. I already have one set in motion right now that could possibly work if the state agrees." She didn't want to promise him anything in case Hunter was not approved as his foster father. If Hunter was rejected, she knew her parents probably would be accepted, but having Ricky and Gina that close was not a good idea at all.

"No matter how everything works out, I don't ever want you to go through something like this alone again. If you can't trust me, you can trust Hunter or my parents. Go to them. You have people who love you and want to help in any way we can."

Gina, who she discovered had been listening to the entire conversation because she squeezed Cedes' hand when she bent over to kiss her daughter on her cheek before sitting down to watch them throughout the rest of the night.

When Cedes woke up the next morning to the sound of nurses checking on the kids, she opened her eyes to the most beautiful sight in the world. Sam Evans on one side of the bed, snoozing beside her daughter, and Hunter Clarington on the other, doing the exact same thing beside Ricky. Gina was once again in bed with Rick, but they were about to kick her out to change his bandages.

Ricky was awake, his gaze heavy lidded but alert. He was studying Hunter, as though trying to figure him out. She'd often done the same.

Cedes stood before the nurses could awaken them and walked over to Sam, then kissed him in gratitude. She meant for it to be a quick peck, but he wasn't sleeping and returned the kiss immediately, going so far as to wrap a hand around the back of her neck and angle his head to deepen it. His tongue brushed softly against hers, causing a tremor low in her belly before she broke contact.

"They need the ladybug back in her own bed and you're in the way." She told him after breaking the kiss and motioning towards the nurses.

He nodded, stood to gather Gina into his arms, and carried her across the hall to her own bed while Ricky looked on, gazing at her daughter like she was the best thing that ever happened to him. An emotion Cedes understood all too well.

Cedes followed Sam with Gina to her daughter's room. "I didn't know you were coming back today."

"You didn't ask to find out," he retorted.

"Ricky has a tough road ahead of him. He has to deal with losing his father and taking a man's life. I am worried about what that will do to someone so young."

Sam eased Gina onto her bed as though she were made of fine crystal or priceless gems. "We'll be here for him. Whatever it takes."

"I think he should talk to a therapist or psychologist." When Sam nodded, she added, "Speaking of talking to someone, I thought I would have a talk with your friend, Mike Chang."

"I saw him last night. He's doing a lot better."

"Good. I still need to talk to him."

"I don't think it will do any good because he doesn't remember much."

"That could very well be true, but I am going now to talk to him."

She found Mike Chang in a room two floors down. He was just as stunning in person as he was on video. Around Sam's height but leaner. He was still in military shape eight years after his service. He looked like a Hollywood star and not a paid mercenary.

After introducing herself, she got his side of the story. Sam had already told him what happened with the Alanas, so he was up to date on Mack's well-being.

"We've had too many stabbings in Lima Springs back to back to back," she said realizing the coincidence.

"I'd like for you to stay in Lima Springs."

"Is this your version of the don't leave town speech?" he asked, his voice hoarse and deep.

"No, this is me about to fill a lieutenant's position, and I'll be short a deputy kind of thing. There's an opening. I'd like you on my team."

Sam seemed even more surprised than Chang, and Chang was completely shocked.

"You don't even know anything about me," he said.

"I've done my research including a background check, and references check with some of your COs. According to everyone who's ever met you, even Sam Evans—"

"Never heard of that man."

"—you're kind of amazing."

"I never said that about Chang," Sam argued.

Chang raised a brow. "It's too late. You can't take it back. You think I am amazing."

"I have never and probably will never say that you are amazing."

"Here's how it is going to go," Cedes said, interrupting the lover's quarrel.

"Carry on this should be good."

"You are going to marry Tina, and no I won't be your maid of honor and Sam won't be your best man."

Mike suddenly became very interested in the conversation.

"You guys will elope with the boys as your witnesses and then rent that house on Cohen Drive. The pretty yellow one."

Sam nodded. "Oh, the Motta's house that they tried to move Sugar into but she refused even after they let her decorate it; nobody rents it because of Sugar's stipulation that it can't be painted inside."

"Exactly. Then you, Tina, and the boys move in, put up wallpaper which is not painting so you get around Sugar's stipulation, then you go to the police academy even though you could probably teach at it, after that you become my latest and greatest in twenty weeks. Give or take a couple of weeks."

"You've really planned this all out."

"I have. I get what I want, and I want you on my team. With your military experience, I can hire you on as a sergeant."

"What if I try to disappear?"

"Then, I'll bring you in for kidnapping one way or the other, and you'll go to prison for the next thirty years, the boys will grow up without a father, and Tina will spend the next three decades visiting you in jail, or if I can't find you; she will be in jail because I doubt you will be able to leave without letting her or Mack know. She wouldn't willing give up your location, and I lock her up for that. It's your choice the love of your live behind bars or you. I hear conjugal visits are a reward for some freaks who prefer love behind bars."

"Can I sleep on it?"

I am giving you twenty-four hours and the guard will stay outside your room, and I am here as long as my daughter is. Also, I do want to thank you for keeping Mack alive and well all those years."

"From what I hear, I now owe you the same thanks."

"Let's call it even. I expect to hear from you soon." She started to leave and then remembered, "I almost forgot. Mack said you had a contact in the Weston family. Was it Agent Wu?"

"I could tell you—"

"Yeah, yeah." She left to find Hunter waiting for her in the hall outside Chang's room.

"I'm really beginning to question your recruiting decisions," he said.

"What?" she asked defensively. "They're effective and Jay was my first recruit, and you love her.."

"Right. But you need to think about what you are doing."

"I know what I am doing Hunter. Mike Chang would be an asset to our department."

"I am not talking about Chang. I am talking about Cooter Menkins. You're playing a dangerous game with Stacey's life. Do you know what her Uncle Cooter would do to her if he found out what she's up to?"

"Lower your voice please, and for your information, Stacey came to me."

"Because she didn't realize what she was getting herself into. She has always been all bark and no bite."

"Hunter, did she tell you what's going on?"

"No. She wouldn't tell me anything. But I am not stupid as everyone thinks. I can guess. Also, I can hardly talk around her, so it wasn't like we had an actual conversation after you left yesterday."

"Wow. How did I not pick up on your infatuation being so strong that you could actually be quiet?"

"I am not infatuated." She gave him her patent look of I know you are lying, and he gave up the lie. "Does her brother know?"

"That you're in looooooove with his baby sister?" She couldn't help but tease him.

"No, about whatever's going on with you and his sister."

"We haven't told him, but you know Sam."

"Not as well as you, obviously, and why am I just now learning about all of this, and what is Cooter Menkins up to?" he asked.

"I didn't want to involve you until I knew what was going on for sure. And I still don't. Not exactly." She didn't tell him how Stacey's initial information about another deputy being involved implicated Hunter because she didn't know exactly who that deputy was.

"I can't with you." He said as he stormed off to go back to Ricky's bedside.

Gina thought her grandparents would never leave. She loved them, but she had things to do, places to go, and people to apologize to.

She had already texted Ashlyn, who had sent hundreds of texts after she'd heard what had happened. After she gave her bestie all the details, she looked at Ricky as he slept. He lay on his back but his face was turned toward her. She lay on her side not the side her head was operated on but the other side with her arm over his chest.

She gave him an Eskimo kiss. "I'm going to see Mrs. Banks before my grandparents come back," she whispered in his ear.

"I want to go with you."

"You know you can't."

"The nurse said I am going to be able to get up and walk today. Now could be the perfect time to do it."

"No way Jose."

"Will you give her my apologies, too?"

"Of course, but she is going to be like what for? Saving our lives and when I get back, we can talk if you want."

"About?"

"You know what we haven't talked about. I am waiting for when you're ready." She kissed him on the cheek then got off his bed.

Pushing her IV stand down the hallway without being questioned was not as hard as she thought it might be. She was able to go by the nurse's station and get on the elevator without anyone asking her way she was going. Of course people looked at her like they wanted to ask her what she was doing, but she avoided their eyes.

As soon as she tapped on Mrs. Banks' door, she heard a moan from the inside of the room. She couldn't run but she hurried to the woman who was sitting on a bed with a drink in hand and whose mouth was groaning and moaning.

"Are you alright? Do you need me to get a nurse!"

"I am fine, I didn't know it was you Regina. I thought you were a nurse especially that handsome male one. I am really enjoying my stay here. I am getting waited on hand and foot. The nurses are spoiling me like I should be spoiled. Did you know that my servants quit because I never paid them? So, I am enjoying every moment here before they kick me out in a little while."

She took a drink of her juice as though she were on vacation and not in a hospital.

"I came to give you my deepest, sincerest, and heartfelt apology."

"Why are you apologizing for trying to save my life?"

"You don't know that I am the one who told Chris Pratt about the tennis bracelet. I didn't say it was your house specifically. I told him it was still at the old boardinghouse. He must've figured it out. I took a picture of it because I was going to use it to prove you were a serial killer a long time ago, then I changed my mind about exposing because I don't want you to go to jail since you don't brush your teeth, and I thought I would steal the tennis bracelet to botch the chain of custody and give it to my mom, so she could get it back to the family, and then I thought maybe you could write a letter so that would be read with your will so people would know that the drifter Buddy Leibowitz was innocent all along."

"I...I think I understand."

"Anyway, none of that matters because everything was my fault. It's my fault you and Ricky almost died. He wants me to apologize for him, too, but he has nothing to apologize for. It was my idea. All of it. And I am so, so sorry, Mrs. Banks. I promise I will never almost get you killed again."

"Would it make you feel better if I told you I'm glad this happened except for you and Ricky getting hurt that is."

Gina looked at the woman as if she had lost her mind.

"Your grandparents told me about the articles. I've kept these secrets for far too long, Regina. It's time that everyone knew the whole truth."

"What is the whole truth?"

Mrs. Banks held out her hand. Gina took it instantly, the elder woman's smooth skin like tissue paper between her hands. "The last time I tried to tell it I was threatened. I am no longer afraid, and women have been intimidated into silence for too long. When we get released from the hospital and everything is back to normal, I want you come to my house and we'll talk. You can be my voice and tell people what really happened all those years ago."

"Are you sure, you want me to do this?"

"I am more than sure."

"So, you're not going to pay me back by killing me and burying me under your floorboards?"

"I would never touch a hair on your head even if when it's not underneath that turban of bandages you are now sporting," she said.

"What I don't understand the most is why was Chris so obsessed with that tennis bracelet? It's only worth a few thousand dollars? Maybe five?"

"Exactly." She got up and got her purse, before lying back down on the hospital bed fully dressed and about to be released no matter her groans and moans.

"And why did that girl's family worry more about this damned tennis bracelet than Emily," she said, lifting the tennis bracelet out of her purse.

"How did you bring it here?"

"I insisted the paramedics allow me to grab it when they brought me to the hospital. I told them I was afraid somebody would steal it, and that it was a family heirloom."

"I can't believe you were able to take an item from a crime scene?"

"I'm old, dear. You'd be amazed at what you can get away with when people think you're crazy and/or senile."

Gina's admiration for Mrs. Banks was growing by the minute.

"I am giving it to you."

"I couldn't possibly take it."

"I insist. You and Ricky saved my life."

"After we put it in danger."

She gave her a dismissive wave. "Po-tay-to, po-tah-to. I trust you to do the right thing and think about why that family cared so much about a diamond tennis bracelet."

Gina knew there had to be more to the story. "There is a mystery behind this bracelet."

"Exactly. I never figured it out, but maybe you can."

"You two have got to be kidding me?" Cedes walked in to find her parents searching for her daughter. "You lost Gina in a hospital with her being hooked up to an IV!"

They turned looking guilty as ever. She had enough on them now to use for the rest of her life.

"You guys are never allowed to watch her ever again."

"Hey, everyone."

"Gina," Minnie said, rushing to her and pulling her into her arms.

Malcolm soon followed asking her, "Where were you?"

"I went on a walk. The walls were closing in on me."

Cedes knew her daughter was lying, so she gave her the look.

"I went to apologize to Mrs. Banks."

"Gina, that poor woman doesn't need you terrorizing her anymore. Visiting her without her permission at this point borders on stalking, ladybug."

"But you're about to take her home. It was now or never. And she was moaning when I entered her room."

"I'm going to check on her. You stay here and don't leave again without letting someone know."

Gina's shoulders sagged but Cedes didn't miss the thumbs up she gave to Ricky. Mrs. Banks must have forgiven them for their transgressions.