“Let’s do Dylan’s party there,” Alex said.
“What?” Cassidy asked in surprise.
“Let’s have his party at the house.”
“Alex...there isn’t even anything at the house…there’s no table – there’s no…”
“Eh…minor details,” Alex dismissed the observation playfully.
Cassidy laughed. “You’re crazy, you know that?”
“Come on… we’ll go shopping.”
“Shopping? Alex, you hate shopping. You can’t stand to be in the grocery store for five minutes.”
“Different.”
“Really?” Cassidy propped herself up to look in the agent’s eyes.
“Yeah… Come on,” Alex urged. Cassidy was delighted by the spark she saw in Alex’s eyes. There was an excitement there that the teacher had not expected. The agent was like a small child getting a new puppy, wide eyed.
“Shopping for?” The teacher inquired.
“Stuff.”
“Stuff?” Cassidy raised her eyebrows again.
“Yeah…Come on, Cass…. Seriously… a FRESH start. What do you think Dylan would say about a Batman room?” Cassidy shook her head and kissed Alex. “What?” Alex asked innocently.
“I love you, Alex Toles.”
“Good thing,” the agent said.
“Is it?”
“Yep. Do you think we could make it Dylan’s birthday present?”
“What?” Cassidy asked smiling.
“You know… the house…his room…”
“You really are Alfred,” Cassidy laughed. Alex looked at her hopefully. “I think that could be arranged…yes…but I think,” Cassidy kissed Alex gently, “that you,” she pulled back and kissed Alex’s nose, “might have some other things to worry about first.”
“Really?” Alex asked. “Like what?”
Cassidy ran her hands up Alex’s sides. “The lady of the house requires the butler’s service.”
“I already did the dishes,” Alex joked. Cassidy looked at her and Alex took the woman into a passionate kiss. “But I live to serve.”
Michael Taylor sorted through the large pile of files on his desk. “Jonathan Krause,” he whispered. “Where have you been?” He leafed through a few papers before settling on one. He brought it closer and studied it for a long moment. He set it down and moved to his computer keyboard quickly typing in some words, hit the ‘enter’ button and waited. “Well, well….Admiral Brackett….and Major General Krause… What do you know? Old friends? …. Let’s see… I wonder,” Michael Taylor typed some more words and waited. He shook his head and tried something else as his tapping on the computer keys becoming more insistent. “Oh…. Fisher….Colonel Edward Fisher…fascinating…..What?” Taylor stopped abruptly and pulled his chair back slightly. He ran his hand over his head. “What is going on here?” Taylor picked up his phone and dialed. “Hey…Brady I need something.”
“What is it?” Steven Brady asked.
“Well, what would you say if I told you that Claire Brackett’s father, Carl Fisher’s father and Jonathan Krause’s father were all old friends? They all worked on a project together in the seventies.”
“Weird. But not that weird… we all know service runs…”
Taylor stared at the screen in front of him. “Yeah…I would’ve dismissed it myself…if it were just Brackett and Fisher… but Krause?”
“What do you think it means?”
“Maybe nothing at all except that it brought them all together…but IF it IS what brought them all together, it would stand to reason that whoever is at the core of this mess with the congressman was part of that crowd too…Don’t you think?” Taylor asked.
“It does. Is the congressman…”
“No, but there is a name on here that almost made me fall off my chair.”
Steven Brady was curious, “Who?”
“Lieutenant General Anthony Merrow.”
“As in?” Brady asked nervously.
“As in President John Merrow’s father.”
Cassidy woke up and heard the shower running. She groaned. Alex was already up and moving. The teacher threw the pillow over her head and grumbled some more. “What’s the matter,” Alex called playfully.
“Why are you awake?” A muffled voice answered.
“We’ve got things to do today,” Alex said happily.
“Yes…couldn’t we do them later, though?”
Alex laughed as Cassidy removed the pillow from her face and sat up slightly against the headboard. The agent leaned in and kissed the woman in the bed, her cold wet hair brushing the teacher’s bare skin and causing Cassidy to shiver. “Awake now?” Alex asked.
Cassidy smacked her lightly. “And just what is on your agenda today?”
“Our agenda, Cassidy…We’re shopping.”
Cassidy shook her head. “You are serious about this party, aren’t you?” Alex shrugged. The agent was smiling broadly and Cassidy was both amused and touched by Alex’s plans. “Alex, we have everything Dylan needs at home.”
The agent pulled a black sweater over her head. “Yeah, well…we can sell it.”
“You have lost your mind, Agent Toles.” Cassidy said half serious. When Alex turned to face her, the teacher could see that for whatever reason, this was important to Alex. “Alex… What is this about?”
“I just want it to be our house, Cass.”
That sentiment was something that Cassidy understood and she expected that Alex would want to make the house their own. “We haven’t even talked about affording the house, Alex. I mean, I own the house in New York. It was mine in the settlement, but it might take time to sell, particularly after the…”
“Yeah…I know. It’s fine,” Alex said as she turned to finish getting dressed.
“What do you mean it’s fine?”
“I mean you don’t need to worry about it.”
Cassidy took a deep breath. “Okay...look… I am not going to have you…”
Alex laughed. “It’s fine because technically I own the house in Westport.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Nick needed to take out the loan for the restaurant. I took out the mortgage on that house for him. We rented it until three months ago. We put it on the market, but no offers that met my price…so, I’ve been paying the mortgage anyway.”
Cassidy was stunned. “Alex…that house has to be worth…”
“Yeah… I know… good thing I am good with money, huh?”
“Alex…”
“Relax, Cassidy. My parents invested well for both of us. Nick’s went toward the restaurant and this house. Me? I just kept investing. I’m not wealthy…not like, well, not like what you’re used to…but I’m all right. Now, I can just enjoy what I’ve been paying for.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Cassidy wondered.
“I would have told you no matter what decision you made, but not until you made it.”
“Alex…”
“Listen, whatever you want to keep from your house…that’s fine. God knows I have nothing in the way of things to contribute to a house. I really want to do this with you.”
“Shop?” Cassidy giggled. Alex shrugged. She looked at Cassidy hopefully. “This is really important to you?”
“Yeah…it is… I want Dylan to…”
“Dylan loves you; you don’t have to impress him with things,” Cassidy reassured.
“It’s not that.”
“Okay….”
“Look…. I missed six birthdays.” Cassidy felt the breath leave her body as she listened to the woman now sitting next to her. “He’s been through so much, more than a six year old should….and he is still happy… I just…”
“Okay,” Cassidy stopped the agent.
“Okay?”
“Yeah, okay.” Cassidy said with a smile.
“You’re sure that you…”
Cassidy chuckled. “Alex, my head is spinning. It really is.” Alex’s face dropped in f
ear and the teacher caught the change. “No,” Cassidy laughed. “It’s not a bad thing….just spinning. This is….you are….I just, well you surprise me….and then you….I can’t…” She saw Alex trying not to laugh. “What?”
“You’re rambling, Cass.”
“Yeah? Well maybe it’s contagious.”
“Must be,” Alex agreed.
Cassidy sighed. “Just promise me, not over the top….okay?”
“So… that truck cab and the 65” TV are out?” Alex said seriously. Cassidy just stared. “I’m kidding, Cass. Butlers don’t make that kind of money and neither do FBI agents. I’m afraid you’ll have to call Bruce Wayne there in Washing…” The statement was stopped abruptly by a kiss. “Or you could just do that,” Alex said.
“Je t’adore,” Cassidy reminded the woman.
“Allez. Je suis impatient de rentrer à la maison (Come on I am anxious to go home).”
Cassidy got up and headed toward the shower. “Me too,” she said as she walked through the door.
“I hope you remember you said that,” Alex muttered.
“Don’t worry. I will,” a voice called back.
don’t know anything about that,” Jonathan Krause said into his phone.
“Well, someone had to know,” the president responded.
“You say he had FBI identification?”
John Merrow’s level of frustration was rising by the second. “Do I need to say it in French for you? Il aviat FBI identifictaion dons son sac.”
“Yes, well… have you asked your compagne?” Krause sad flippantly.
“If you are referring to Claire Brackett she assured me she had nothing to do with it.”
Krause opened a heavy wooden door to enter a large and elegant conference room. “John, I am in meetings today…. meetings with people whose support we need to preserve. My money is on Brackett.”
“Brackett was here in D.C.”
“I’ll assume you have confirmation of that,” Krause said.
“I do.”
“First hand?” Krause said bating the president.
“Not exactly.”
“Well, Mr. President….we both know that Fisher and Brackett knew each other since childhood and from what I gather, intimately. I’d get that confirmation.”
“Brackett is committed. She has only one side to play,” Merrow replied coolly.
Krause snickered. “Everyone has sides to choose, John… everyone.” He hung up the phone leaving John Merrow to consider the words carefully.
“Keep your enemies closer,” Merrow said as he gripped the sides of his desk. He picked up the large phone seated at the corner, “get me Claire Brackett.”
Cassidy was thoroughly amused by the agent. They had only been together a short time but one thing Cassidy knew unequivocally was that Alex did not like to shop. The few times she and her mother discussed the idea, Alex cringed. The teacher secretly suspected that Alex’s culinary abilities were better than she often let on, but she would never have a chance to cook because her idea of shopping entailed a five minute trip for macaroni and cheese. In the last four hours Alex had pulled the smaller woman to a host of stores. And now, Cassidy found herself walking through IKEA and losing the agent every five minutes. “I swear, Alex, the next stop is going to be to Babies R Us to get a tether for you if you don’t SLOW down,” the teacher called in mock annoyance.
“Awww….come on, Cass….come over here.” Cassidy caught up to the tall, dark haired woman who was standing in a demo of a boy’s room. “Check it out.” Cassidy smiled watching her lover. “See… the table and the storage stuff is black. It’ll look so cool with that bed stuff we found…and that clock.”
“Who exactly is this room for?” Cassidy put her hand on her hip and smiled.
“What? Come on; it IS cool.”
Cassidy shook her head. It was true. Dylan would love it all. Alex had dragged Cassidy to a collectible comic store and found some superhero things, a Batman clock, a lamp that looked like the Batcycle and some colorful things from Superman, Spiderman and some other characters Cassidy did not immediately recognize. Dylan LOVED superheroes and Cassidy was beginning to realize so did the agent. “Okay? So… How do you intend to get this all home?” The teacher asked.
Alex smiled. “I’ll get it.”
“Uh huh.”
“This will fit in the SUV.”
“Uh huh, and who’s going to put it together?” Cassidy raised her brow.
Alex shrugged. “We will.”
“WE will, will we?” Alex grinned innocently and Cassidy laughed. There was no way she could say no. Alex was already writing down the numbers she needed to purchase the items for Dylan’s room.”
“Okay,” Alex reached for Cassidy’s hand.
“Okay? Now what?”
“First we get this and then we have to make two more stops.”
“You’re serious,” Cassidy rolled her eyes and shook her head. She looked at her lover and spoke softly, “Honey…I think he has enough.” Alex’s face lit up. “What?” Cassidy asked.
The agent shrugged and dropped her tone to a whisper. “I like that.” Cassidy was completely confused and her face showed it. “When you call me that.” Cassidy was confused. “You called me, Honey.”
Cassidy chuckled. “Yes, I did… so Honey, let’s wrap it up.”
“Can’t.”
“Alex…”
“Um um… Just trust me, please?”
Cassidy threw her hands in the air. “Fine, but just so YOU know…when I need you to go Christmas shopping I expect you to smile and carry the bags.”
Alex pretended to consider the statement carefully. “Carry the bags?”
Cassidy began to pull slightly ahead of the agent’s slowing pace. “Yes, Alfred. The bags.”
***
“Chairman.”
“Hello Chris,” Chairman Stiller greeted the congressman.
“I am sorry that I have been out of the loop… this whole thing with Cassidy…”
James Stiller’s brow narrowed to a point. “Yes, you must be relieved that Cassidy is safe.”
“Well, of course,” Christopher O’Brien answered gesturing to his colleague to accept a seat in a large chair.
“I must admit, Chris…I was surprised.”
The congressman sighed. “Believe me, so was I. I can’t imagine what Cassidy was thinking.”
“Thinking about what?” The older man asked.
“This thing with this woman. I think the stress has finally gotten to her,” O’Brien answered.
“I see. I was actually referring to your press conference.”
“My press conference?” The chairman nodded. “You know how it is,” the congressman said dryly. “They are relentless.”
“Ahh… so you thought, feed the sharks?”
The congressman was growing uncomfortable with the conversation. “So, how do we look with that resolution?” He sought to change the subject.
Chairman James Stiller remained silent. He stroked his chin and considered the man before him. “Why the change, Chris…on this measure?”
“I thought that was clear, Chairman. The administration is concerned about the restrictions and its impact on strategic initiatives.”
“But you don’t work for the administration,” the chairman responded. “You work for the people of New York.”
The congressman responded coolly. “True, but sometimes flexibility is important. I have made commitments…”
“Hummm… interesting choice of words, Congressman.” The chairman rose from his seat and stood looking at the younger man. “Loyalty is a precious commodity and allusive.” He began leaving and then turned back to the congressman. “The resolution stands as it is. Please, if you speak to Cassidy, send her the best from both Ellen and I.”
Christopher O’Brien felt his stomach twist. He offered the man a contrived smile, “Of course.”
“Alex…. No.” The agent smiled and her eyes grew wide as she
nodded ‘yes’ in disagreement with her lover. “We don’t even know how long it will take to sell the house in New York.”
The agent pulled the smaller woman down onto the sofa in the show room. “And…”
“And… I won’t be working… AND you won’t be working.”
“I can see where we are headed,” Alex smiled.
“What does that mean? I know,” Cassidy chuckled, “that you are excited. But Alex we have all of this already.”
“No… you have all of this.” Cassidy sighed. Alex would have liked to have had them sleeping in the new house that night if she could. The teacher wondered how the agent was going to keep quiet around Dylan until the weekend. “Cass, the house will sell better if it’s staged anyway,” Alex said emphatically.
Hearing that statement conjured images of Alex in front of Martha Stewart for Cassidy and she chuckled. “I’m not even going to ask,” the teacher said.
Alex smiled. “You love it… look at it… you love it.”
“Alex… you have bought Dylan an entire new room, a new dining room set and a host of other things… paint and…”
“Cassidy….”
“Yes?” Cassidy smiled.
“Please let me do this.” Alex decided to take Rose’s advice and be direct. This was something she could do and something she wanted to do. And, she needed Cassidy to understand that. The little Cassidy did know about the agent’s youth told her that ‘home’ was something Alex had never really felt. That continued to be the one topic that Alex seemed guarded with.
Cassidy sighed and kissed the agent on the cheek. “I do love it,” she admitted.
“I know,” Alex beamed.
“Unacceptable,” John Merrow said. “What exactly did the chairman say?”
Christopher O’Brien thought for a moment wanting to temper the situation. “He said the resolution stands.”
John Merrow paced the floor. “Unacceptable….What else? Did you tell him that you were acting in part on my behalf?”
“I did.”
“And?” Merrow said angrily.
“And he said I don’t work for you. I work for the people of New York.”
“Bloated… arrogant… Self-righteous son of a bitch,” Merrow complained as he hurled insults meant for the chairman of Way and Means. “Why? What changed? What did he say?”
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