SERENITY: A Path Home (Beauty 0f Life Book 6)

by Laura Acton

  Blackbird Industries – 3:15 p.m.

  Dan and Lexa stood together near the SUVs, and observed medics examine Jon’s cut, check over Bram, Darrius, and the Colly brothers. There was a reason Dan wanted to take Jon to be checked out. He hoped to ask Dr. Fraser for some pain pills covertly. The jolt when Jon hit the end of the net wrenched his chest muscles, pulling him up and holding the four men also strained them.

  When Bram spoke though, Dan couldn’t counter him without drawing unwanted attention. So, he let it drop, but his muscles hurt and carrying all their gear down hadn’t helped either. Dan wished he had brought a couple of pills Jim gave him last night, but he didn’t think he would need them today.

  Lexa turned to Dan and peered at him. They packed up most the gear and were only waiting for Loki to finish helping Ray with the last of it. She smiled, “Nice work, Dan. When those beams crashed down, and Jon and Bram fell, that scared the bejeebers out of me. You and Loki did a great job.”

  Dan glanced at Lexa and asked quietly, “Do you have any pain meds?”

  Lexa’s eyes grew concerned. “What hurts?”

  “Just my chest a bit. Nothing big but …”

  She gazed into his eyes and Lexa could tell he hated asking. Nonchalantly, she answered, “Yeah, in my bag. I’ll grab you water and a power bar in case anyone asks.”

  Dan nodded. “Thanks, Lexa.”

  “Anytime,” Lexa opened the door and rummaged for the little bottle in her bag, still floored he asked. She would keep quiet and not make a huge deal out of it. Perhaps in the future, he would come to her for help when he hurt if she played this cool.

  She returned with waters and protein bars for both of them and secretively slipped him the two pain pills.

  Dan unscrewed the cap of the water bottle, stealthily took the tablets, washing them down with a long drink, followed by a bite of the bar. After he swallowed, Dan said, “Appreciate it.”

  Changing the topic, Lexa responded, “Wonder if the Collys will fly the coop or if they’ll become jailbirds.”

  Dan cocked his head at Lexa’s odd words. “Strange thing to say, but yeah, I think they will end up getting what they deserve. Those beams coming down surely added weight to Hawks’ claims of them cutting corners.”

  “Not such a strange comment. You did notice all their names are types of birds, Merlin, Jay, Robin, and Rhea?” Lexa snickered, “Rhea is a flightless bird, that sure describes Rhea Colly. And their last name … Colly means black, and in Old English, it was used to mean blackbird.”

  Dan grinned. “Ms. Trivia, you astound me.”

  Lexa half-laughed. “Want more trivia?”

  “Sure, why not?” Dan leaned up against the SUV while they waited for Ray and Loki to join them so they could go back to headquarters.

  “Okay. Well, in the Twelve Days of Christmas song, the original fourth verse published in 1780 said four colly birds. Sixty-eight versions later, in 1909, the popular Austin one, changed the verse to calling birds.”

  Dan chuckled. “I need to be on your team if we ever play trivial pursuit.”

  “You and I would be a great team except for TV and movie trivia. Neither of us pays any attention to that stuff.”

  “Ray’s riding with Boss. Ready to go?” Loki said as he jogged over. Halting, he noted the news cameras and hoped his Ma hadn’t seen the news. She worried enough without having a front row seat to actual calls. He pushed that thought away and said, “Sure hope the Colly brothers get jail time, and Darrius receives the help he needs to manage his pain. Man, it must suck suffering like that.”

  Loki’s mind skipped, and he gaped at Lexa and Dan. “Hey, you don’t suppose that parrot in the café at lunch today is Paulie, do you?”

  “Might be,” Dan said as he opened the passenger side door and slyly rubbed his chest. Yeah, no fun living with pain. It can drive a sane man to contemplate suicide. Unbidden an image of The One flashed in Dan’s mind. He forcefully shoved the face away not wanting to recall the man who tortured him for months, causing unrelenting pain which drove him to want to die.

  Leaning his head on the window, Dan stared out at the passing scenery, not seeing it as he focused his thoughts on something pleasant to banish The One. He crafted a vision of Sexy Lexie on a moonlit night. Her wavy hair down and arms around his neck as he encircled her waist and pulled her close. They leaned foreheads together and gazed into each other’s eyes as passion sparked just before they kissed.

  Dan smiled as he held that image in the forefront of his mind as they traveled back to headquarters. He wanted to spend time with her desperately, but until he felt better, he would curtail extracurricular activities. Although, they might swing having dinner sometime soon.

  Lexa glanced at Dan several times and wondered what brought such an exquisite smile to his face. Her mind stuck on his lips, and all she wanted to do right now was kiss him until his eyes glazed over. That line of thinking both warmed and frightened her. She shouldn’t have passionate thoughts about Dan during work hours.

  To push them away she asked, “Loki, have you considered asking my friend Mary to be your date for the party?”

  Shaking his head, Loki said, “Nah, I think I’ll go stag too. That way Dan won’t be the only one dateless.”

  “You can be each other’s dates,” Lexa teased.

  Both Dan and Loki groaned.

  TRF HQ – Briefing Room – 6:30 p.m.

  Loki bounded into the room where most of the team was sitting. His excitement palpable as he shuffled the papers in his hand.

  Lexa glanced up from the book on negotiation strategies she was reading. “What do you have there, Loki?”

  “I’ll show you when Bram and Ray get back.”

  Lexa returned to her book knowing he had been up to mischief again. The corners of her mouth turned up. Loki sure does bring joy into my life.

  Dan moved his checker piece taking out five of Jon’s. “King me.”

  Jon shook his head. “Didn’t see that one coming, Dano.” He turned and stared at Loki as he lightly rubbed his gauze covered forearm. Four stitches were required to close the gash, though it could’ve been so much worse.

  Bram and Ray strolled in carrying coffees from their Timmy’s run for the team. They handed them out and then sat down.

  Standing up, Loki cleared his throat, gaining everyone’s attention. “I give you the inspiration for my fourth verse.” He held up a picture and waved his hand around it with a flourish.

  “Where did you get that?” Bram asked, dumbfounded.

  “You remember the news crews?” Loki asked as he handed out pages to all of them. The team all nodded, and he continued, “Well, apparently, they showed up right after we all headed up into the building. They filmed the entire time. I captured this still from the video.”

  Jon, Bram, and Dan gawked at the photo which showed the four of them in position to catch the Collys as they were falling.

  Loki began to sing, “On the fourth day of Christmas, Alpha Team gave to me, four falling birds, three mother hens, two lovey-dovies, and a frozen sniper in a pear tree.”

  Dan grinned, he had another ornament for his tree.

  Jon’s Home – 7:45 p.m.

  “Dad, what happened?” Kent asked as he pointed to the bandage wrapped around his father arm when he sat at the dinner table.

  “A little mishap. Nothing to worry about.” Jon tousled Kent’s hair.

  Jennifer came up behind Jon melding her body to his back, allowing her arms to go down to his chest as she leaned close to his ear to whisper. “I caught the news, but the boys didn’t. Heroic effort, Constable Hardy. You probably shaved two years off my life when I witnessed you swinging two stories up. I believe you deserve a full body massage tonight.

  Jon turned and gave Jen a light kiss on her cheek. “Sounds excellent.”

  “How are the rest of the team?”

  “All good.”

  “Even Dan? I know you were worried about him.”

  “
I gave him a ride home tonight. He seemed alright. Though, it’s typically a crap shoot with him. He’s too adept at hiding how he feels.”

  Joey ran up and hugged his daddy’s leg. Innocent gray eyes peered up as he clung to a piece of paper. “Daddy, I drew a picture at school today.” Joey held up the drawing.

  “Let’s see what we have here.” Jon lifted Joey into his lap and laid the construction paper on the table and then his eyes flicked to Jen after trying to figure out what the picture was. Jen was no help when she turned away with a grin to get his reheated dinner from the oven. Not wanting to hurt his son’s feelings or stifle creative talents, he utilized his TRF skills. “Interesting picture, why don’t you tell me all about what made you decide to draw it?”

  “Miss Crawford said we should draw something that made us happy. This is Kent’s bongo drum, and these are the drums Santa Claus is going to bring me. And this is Kent and me playing together.” Joey’s bright smile lit up the room. “I’ve been good, so Santa’s gonna give me drums, right, Daddy?”

  In the face of such joy and innocence, Jon could only grin and answer, “I’m sure Santa will bring you what your heart desires.” He hugged Joey close, thankful he was able to come home to his family today.

  Dan’s Apartment – 7:45 p.m.

  All pretense gone, Dan gingerly lowered himself into his chair. He took two painkillers as soon as he arrived home thirty minutes ago and his aching had not abated. He stared at his phone debating whether to bother Jim. He pressed call and when Jim answered, Dan said, “Hey, Jim.”

  “I watched the news. I’ve been waiting for your call. I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes.”

  Dan snorted. “How did you know I’d call?”

  “You have to ask?” Jim gave Heather a quick kiss and grabbed his keys on the way out of his apartment.

  “No. Guess not. See ya soon.” Dan hung up and closed his eyes. Hiding his soreness for the rest of shift was difficult, though the meds Lexa gave him took the edge off. The drive home with Jon was an exercise in control. No way in hell he would allow Jon to see he hurt for several reasons. The three main ones were he couldn’t appear weak, didn’t want Jon feeling any guilt, and wanted to avoid a resurgence of the now dormant mother-hen behavior.

  Dan gazed at his tree to focus on something more pleasant than the ache in his chest. Without realizing it, he dozed off. A knock on his door woke him, and he realized Jim was here. Groaning, Dan sluggishly rose from the chair.

  He opened the door to find Jim carrying takeout from Jarmal’s place. “Did I interrupt you getting dinner?”

  Jim shook his head. “This is for you. I’m certain you haven’t eaten.”

  Dan raised a brow. Sometimes it was gratifying, and other times it was unnerving how well his unit brothers knew him. “I’m not hungry.”

  “You need something in your stomach to take meds.” Jim set the container on the island and went to Dan’s fridge. He grabbed a beer and water bottle. “Beer for me, water for you. Eat then I’ll take a look. What’s your pain level?”

  Taking the burger out of the box, Dan sauntered over to his chair. He groaned as he lifted the cheeseburger to his mouth.

  “That high. Why didn’t you call as soon as you got home?” Jim picked up Dan’s water, moved the desk chair closer, sat, and uncapped the bottle for Dan.

  “I took meds about a half hour ago. Hasn’t relieved the pain.”

  Jim took a swig of his cold beer. “Not surprised. I should take you to the ER and get Fraser to prescribe a muscle relaxer, a stronger medication, and several days of rest.”

  Dan glared at Jim.

  Lifting his hands in front of him, Jim said, “Save your ice for someone else. I said should, not, would. Once you’re done with your burger, you can take another dose. Already cleared it with the doc. Then it’s a hot shower and bedtime. Although you would benefit from a few days off.”

  “Can’t do that.” Dan took another bite, not really hungry.

  “Why not?”

  “Because I would have to admit that hauling Jon up hurt me. I’m not about to cause him any guilt because it was not his fault. I won’t do that to him.”

  After taking another sip of his beer, Jim set it down. “Why were you holding the net instead of Ray? Jon knows you were still sore from the bullet in the vest. That was only three days ago.”

  As he leisurely consumed Jarmal’s five-alarm cheeseburger, Dan described all four critical calls of the day.

  “Geez, you sure have some wild calls.” Seeing Dan finished the burger, he stood. “Where are your pills?”

  “Bedroom.”

  “Follow me in, swallow pills, take a shower, and go to bed. In that order.”

  With a lopsided grin on his face, Dan rose and ambled into the room following Jim as instructed. Ten minutes later, Dan exited the bathroom after a long, hot shower, wearing only boxers. He saw Jim had his stethoscope out. “My lungs are okay.”

  “Humor me, or I call Fraser.”

  Dan sat on the edge of the bed and let Jim examine him without further complaint.

  Jim sighed. “Still feel you should take time off. You overstressed the muscles, and they will be very sore for several days. But barring that, you must go easy, avoid hand-to-hand training, heavy bag, weight lifting, target practice, and use a heating pad to relax your muscles when you get home. Only cardio but take it easy on that too.” Then he explained the frequency and maximum dosage Dan could take of the stronger meds.

  Dan’s eyelids felt rather heavy as he listened. I shouldn’t be this tired. He glanced up at Jim. “You spiked my burger.”

  Jim grinned. “Guilty as charged. Text your boss that you will be sleeping in and will miss workout tomorrow.”

  “Can’t. Did that today. They’ll know something is up if I do it again.”

  Sighing, Jim shook his head. “Compromise, one-hour workout. Ease back into things.” He hated to facilitate Dan’s deception, but said, “It will be easier for you to hide not doing an upper body workout.”

  Dan scooted back in his bed, lids growing more difficult to keep open. He plopped his head down on his pillow. If anyone but Patch … Jim dared drug him with a sleeping aid he would be pissed, but he trusted Jim implicitly. As sleep called to him, Dan mumbled, “You text him, one hour.”

  “I will. Rest easy, brother.” Jim went to the other room to get Dan’s phone and send the message for him. When he returned to the bedroom, Dan was sound asleep. He set Dan’s alarm clock, covered him with a blanket, and stood a moment watching his brother sleep. “You’re one complicated man, but I wouldn’t want you to be any other way.”

  As he reentered the common room, Jim stopped to peruse Dan’s Christmas tree. A genuine smile split his face. Brody would’ve gotten a kick out of this tree. He pulled out his phone and snapped a photo to email to Blaze, Winds, and Mason. Dan doesn’t know it yet, but he’s not the only one with surprises this year. Jim cleaned up the dinner packaging and then let himself out, locking Dan’s door as he left.

  Cousins and Junior Olympians

  16

  December 16

  TRF HQ – Briefing Room – 6:15 a.m.

  The beat of the rock music fueled Dan’s heart-rate increasing pace on the stationary bike. He set it to the max resistance since this would be the only equipment he would use in the pre-shift workout. Being no impact, it wouldn’t strain or jar his upper body which still complained loudly about yesterday.

  If anything, he hurt more now than two days ago. His torso muscles were tight and sore. He would do everything in his power to avoid straining them again. Dan hoped their involvement in critical calls would be limited, allowing his muscles to relax and heal.

  After Jim’s intervention last night, he slept straight through to five thirty. Thankfully his brother set the alarm for him, or he would still be sleeping. As it was, he hit snooze twice and barely made it to headquarters by six. In his mad dash to arrive on time, he forgot to put the bottle of painkillers in
his go bag, which was one more reason he hoped for a slow day.

  Dan glanced around at the team, and a smile formed. When he arrived this morning, he found that Jon, Bram, and Loki all had communicated with Boss they would be coming in at six, each deciding to cut their workouts short. He wasn’t the only one with aching muscles. Catching the Collys left all four a little ragged. Only Lexa and Boss worked out their upper bodies because although not sore, Ray’s hand injury prevented him from lifting weights.

  His thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of his phone. Dan fished it out of his pocket. “Hello.”

  “Hey, Doppelganger, you got a moment to talk?” Scott asked pouring coffee for him and Lily. His lovely wife sauntered up and took the mugs to the table as he snagged the jar of blueberry preserves for his Belgian waffles.

  “Yeah, just on the bike. What’s up?” Dan slowed his pace a bit so he could talk without sounding like an obscene phone caller.

  “I know you’re at work, but this is my only opportunity to call. I talked to Kyle yesterday. He’s a go. Confirmed his ship docks late in the evening on the twenty-third and his leave was approved. Wanted to check on your arrival time.” Scott sat across from Lily and smiled again. God, she’s beautiful and radiant even with her hair mussed up and no makeup. I’m glad she’s past morning sickness. Marrying her is the best thing I ever did.

  “I get off about two. Planning to volunteer at Mayfield Soup Kitchen until seven, then I’ll be on the ten o’clock bus to Ottawa. Should arrive about two in the morning. Glad to hear Kyle got leave. His CO is a real pain in the ass. He needs to consider changing his specialty. He has more to offer the Navy.”

  Scott chuckled. “We’ll see. Been working on kid brother. He’d be a natural in the intelligence side of the house, especially with his communications and computer skills. It must be what he wants though. His choice. Give me a call when you’re about an hour from Ottawa. I’ll pick you up at the bus station. You can crash at my house until Operation Merry Surprise begins.”