"Why?" Liz said, growing alarmed. "Did you guys have a fight?"
"Mom, Bailey's dead," Piper sobbed.
"What?" Liz yelled into the phone. "Oh my God! What happened?
"Mom, please let me explain later," Piper said. "I can't do this now."
"My God, Piper."
"Please, Mom," Piper said. "I'll call when we land, I got to go."
"Wait, where are you?"
"I got to go, I'll explain later," Piper said, hanging up the phone and launching herself on to the bed in tears.
----------
"This is my card," Jeremy said to Piper at the gate. "Please keep in touch."
"I will, Major," Piper said. "And thank you for everything."
"It was my pleasure," he said with a grin as she threw her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek. "I'll see that her sword is shipped immediately to your parent's address."
"Thanks," Piper said and stepped back for Doreen.
"Mr. Watts, I regret my early behavior towards you."
"I understand," Jeremy said. "Your belongings are in storage," he said, handing her a card. "Call that number and they'll be shipped to wherever you decide to settle."
"Thank you, Mr. Watts," she said, shaking his hand.
"Most welcome."
Martin hung behind and let everyone make their way through the gate to the airplane before he approached the Major, who looked at him curiously.
"I was told to give this to you, Major," Martin said, handing him a document bag.
"What's this?"
"It's The Wraith's original personnel file," he said with a wink. "It's for you alone," he added and Jeremy nodded.
"Did she ask you to give me this?"
"Yes," Martin said. "When it was all over."
"I see," Jeremy said, placing the bag under his arm and extending his left hand.
"Take care, Major," Martin said, gripping his hand firmly and turning to walk through the gate.
Jeremy stood and watched until the plane pulled away from the gate. Taking a deep breath, he turned and started making his way back through the airport, Andrew falling into pace with him as they neared the exit.
"What did he give you, sir?"
"It's personal, Andrew," Jeremy said. "A gift from a fallen friend."
III
And she said, "There look through the trees, The sun always shines, Always on time."
- G. Huntley
Both of Piper's parents plus Corey and Jennifer came to the airport to meet them and Piper ran into her mother's arms when she saw her. She embraced her for a long moment before taking a deep breath and introducing her companions.
"Everyone this is Doreen and Ryan Cameron, Ryan's fiancé, Fiona, and Martin Satterfield," Piper said. "This my mother Elizabeth, my father Jack, my brother Corey and his wife Jennifer, and the little one Jennifer is holding is my niece, Devon."
Liz went into charm mode and happily buzzed from person to person. "It's a pleasure to have all of you," she beamed. "I understand there's a story to be told, but if it's alright we'll discuss it over dinner?"
"That would be fine, Mom," Piper said.
"Great, we brought two cars if you all want to pile in," Liz said. "Corey," she added with a slap to the back of his head, "Get their bags."
The cars left the airport and Liz kept up a constant stream of friendly chatter with Doreen during the entire trip back, casting an occasional worried stare at her daughter, who was unusually quiet and stared out the window sadly. When they arrived, she caught Jack's eye and nodded in the direction of their daughter, who was entering the house alone and he immediately trailed after her. Worried, but with guests to look after, she quickly went about getting them settled.
Finally alone in the kitchen preparing dinner, she found herself crying for the bashful, raven-haired girl who had sat at the table in this very room and fed her granddaughter over Thanksgiving. Afraid that she would suffer a breakdown, she got herself under control with several deep breaths and a long sigh as she turned closed eyes toward the ceiling. With dinner about ready, she was unable to stay away and she went in search of her daughter and husband.
After a quick round of the house where she informed all of her guests that dinner would soon be ready, she made tracks for Jack's study, knowing that was where she would find them. She entered quietly without knocking and found her daughter curled up in her husband's lap as he sat behind his desk.
Jack didn't bother to look up as the door opened and she crossed the room to stand next to them and lay a tender hand on her weeping daughter's shoulder.
"It hurts so bad," Piper sobbed.
"I know it does, sweetie," Liz said. "Can you tell us what happened?"
Piper took an audible breath and squirmed deeper into her father's embrace. "It's a story I think I'll only be able to tell once," she said with difficulty.
"Alright, honey," Liz said. "Dinner should be about ready, are you up to it?"
"Not really," Piper said, craning her neck up to place a kiss on her father's cheek and disentangling herself from his lap. "But it needs to be told," she added as she stood and wiped at her eyes. "You deserve to know her, she gave her life for me."
"Oh, Piper," Liz said with a sob, bringing her hand to her mouth. A sob that she quickly stifled when she saw the tears again spring into her daughter's eyes. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay," Piper said. "The sun'll rise tomorrow whether I want it to or not. I'm going to go clean up," she said as she turned and walked to the door where she visibly composed herself with a struggle before she opened it and walked out of the room.
----------
When everyone was seated at the dinner table in a somewhat uncomfortable silence, all faces eventually turned to Piper with expectant looks.
Piper took an awkward breath. "This will take some time," she started. "And I'm not sure I can get through it without taking a break."
"Do your best, dear," Liz said and Piper nodded.
"I guess I should tell you who Bailey was first…" she began slowly and continued for the next two hours.
She explained everything, stopping occasionally for a small crying jag but continuing bravely on, watching her family's expressions turn from surprise and shock to anger and eventually to tears. Liz got up toward the end and ran into the kitchen for almost half an hour before she returned and let her finish the rest of the story. Corey completely crumbled at the end and even her father looked away from everyone for a few minutes.
A long silence encompassed the room in which the only noise were the sounds of Doreen crying into her son's shoulder and the sniffles that surrounded the table. It was Jack that finally broke the silence.
"I'm very, very sorry for her loss," he said sympathetically to the Cameron's. "I only spent a few days in her company, but she was special and I know my daughter adored her."
Liz got up again at his words and, with a quick mumbled apology, fled the room.
Jack watched her go sadly. "My wife was very fond of her as well."
"We all were," Corey said.
"I'd like you all to know that you're very welcome to stay with us for as long as you wish and that my family is happy to have you here," Jack said.
"Thank you," Doreen said.
"Yes, thank you," Martin added.
"If everyone will excuse me, I think I'll look in on mother." Piper said, wiping her eyes and standing from the table.
"Goodnight, dear," Doreen said and Piper grinned at her and tried on a smile for everyone else's benefit on her way out of the room.
Piper wandered through the house without success and as a last resort, entered her own bedroom, finally finding her mother crying softly on the end of her bed. Liz looked up when the door opened and spread her arms in invitation. Nothing needed to be said, she raced across the room to enter the embrace.
----------
The days passed until Christmas Eve was upon them and Piper spent the entire night awake at the window in her bedroom, fondli
ng the little box that she had hoped to present to Bailey on Christmas. She had given little thought to what she was going to do after the holidays and the time had passed in a haze of self-recriminations and grief. She blamed herself solely for Bailey's death and castigated herself harshly for throwing a kink into the plans that Bailey had obviously worked out to succeed. She knew in her heart that if she had stayed in the office that day, Bailey would be celebrating with everyone right now. She was jolted from her thoughts when her mother quietly entered the room as the sun was rising.
"Were you awake all night?" Liz asked, crossing the room and laying her hands on Piper's shoulders.
"I'm not sleepy," Piper said with a little sniffle.
"Honey, you need to take care of yourself."
"I know," Piper said. "It's all my fault."
"If Bailey were here would she agree with you?"
"Probably not."
"Then be quiet."
"But it is my fault."
"No, it isn't."
"She told me once that she'd die to keep me from living in her world," Piper said with a sob. "And that's exactly what she did."
"Oh, honey," Liz said. "She came and got you because she loved you. Don't dishonor that."
"I miss her."
"I know you do," Liz said. "What do you have there?"
"Her Christmas present," Piper said, starting to cry.
"May I see it?" Liz asked and Piper handed it to her.
Liz opened the little box to find a beautiful silver-gold ring with diamonds inlaid within Celtic engravings.
"It's gorgeous," Liz said. "She would have loved it."
"You think so?" Piper asked, wiping at her eyes.
"I know so," Liz said with a smile. "When did you get this for her?"
"Would you believe a week after I met her?"
"Yes, I would."
"I don't know what I'm going to do."
"Well, I think you should make sure her family is taken care of, you said she left all of her money to you?"
"Yes, millions."
"Jesus," Liz said, blowing out a puff of air. "Did she leave any instructions on how she wanted her family seen to?"
"No," Piper said. "But I know she would've wanted me to look after them. I'll ask them what they want to do after the holidays."
"What do you want to do?"
"I guess I'll go back and run the company."
"Is that what you want?"
"No, I just want Bailey back."
"Oh, sweetie," Liz said, kissing her on the top of her head. "I know you do, I do too. But you need to get cleaned up. Nancy called last night, she's coming over this morning," she said and felt the shoulders stiffen under her hands. "Don't worry, I'll take her aside and explain everything."
"Thanks."
"She was very concerned for you, she doesn't know Bailey's no longer with us."
Piper sighed deeply.
"Now go get in the shower, you know how Corey is on Christmas, he's already waiting downstairs to open presents," Liz said. "He's the biggest kid."
"Okay." Piper said with a tired smile and embraced her mother tightly before collecting her things and making her way out of the room.
Liz watched her go sadly and placed the ring carefully back in its box.
IV
The door swings open and it's cold outside, Run and hide, Run and hide
- L. Davis, J. Destri
Two days after Christmas, Jeremy retreated to his den carrying a glass of brandy and took a seat behind his desk. Glad to be home, but sorely depressed over the way things had turned out, he had waited until this moment to look at her file. He pulled it from the bag it resided in and placed it front of him, frowning when the phone rang as he reached out to turn on the lamp that sat on his desk. He glared at the offensive device and waited, unmoving, through five rings in the hope that his wife would pick it up, sighing in relief when the sixth rang never came and the phone went silent. Making himself comfortable, he leaned back in his chair and sipped at his brandy, scowling in frustration when his wife poked her head through the door.
"Yes?" he asked with forced patience.
"You've got a call."
"Take a message."
"She won't leave one, insists on speaking to you."
"Who is it?"
"Wouldn't say, but she's obviously Irish."
"Irish?" he asked. "Alright, I'll take it."
His wife retreated and he reached for the phone, figuring there must be some problem with the Cameron's belongings.
"Watts."
He sprang to his feet, the brandy flying from the glass as both of his arms shot victoriously into the air.
----------
Terry poured the last swallow of his Scotch into a glass and stared at it drunkenly for several minutes. His gaze eventually leaving the glass and slowly encircling his living room, his eyes noting the accumulated refuse that created the sty the room had recently degraded to. He hadn't showered in over a week and he was peripherally aware of how bad he smelled. He had spent every day since the Director had dismissed him, wallowing in self-pity, and racking his brain in an attempt to find the moment in time where he could have turned the tables. With no answers forthcoming, he had buried himself in the bottle and had remained there.
He rubbed a hand through his hair, irritated at how greasy it felt, but too drunk to care. He looked at it stupidly for a moment, finally wiping it across the front of his robe and grabbing his glass to knock back the last of the Scotch. With a little sigh, he closed his eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep.
He awoke with a start an uncertain amount of time later and squinted around fearfully in the dark, the uncomfortable sense that he wasn't alone gnawing at the back of his mind. Not moving from his chair and afraid to breathe, he let his gaze rake carefully over every inch of the living room. Finding nothing, he let out a relieved breath and his shoulders slumped, releasing the tension that he wasn't aware had taken control of his body.
"You lose, Terry," came an Irish purr from directly behind his chair.
His bladder let go as an arm snaked over his shoulder and a gloved hand from behind gripped his face, forcing his head up and into the back of his recliner. He screamed when he felt the puncture, but the scream morphed into staggered grunts of breathless agony as the blade slowly sliced through him in an upward motion. Eventually, as the blade's progress was finally halted by bone, he felt himself released.
His hands went immediately to his injury and his eyes dropped in horror to the bleeding gash that started just above his left hip and ran across the width of his abdomen to end at his ribcage. Surprisingly, the wound itself wasn't gushing blood, the bulging presence of his entrails protruding through the wound had reduced the external bleeding to a slow ebb. He was dimly aware of Bailey coming out from behind his chair, leaning heavily on a cane and bending to clean her knife off on the front of his robe. Straightening, she reached inside her jacket and withdrew her cell phone, punching a number into it and bringing it to her face.
"Fifteen minutes."
She flipped the phone closed and limped over to sit carefully on the end of his coffee table, eyeing him with interest.
"For the second time in my life, Terry, I've killed because I wanted to, and for the first time in my life, it feels good," she said conversationally. "The wound is fatal and, from what I understand, extremely painful. Care to confirm or deny?"
He could only grind his teeth against the pain and stare at her, his eyes glittering with hatred.
"I'll take your silence as a confirmation," she said. "We have some time to catch up, it'll take twenty minutes for you to die. Of course, you'll be unconscious in fifteen. So its your dime," she added with a shrug and looked at him expectantly.
She received nothing but his labored breathing in response so she continued.
"That little scratch I gave you is my last official act as an employee of the government," she said. "Director Hoake almost laughed when I asked for the
privilege as part of my severance package. Needless to say, your services to the Organization are no longer required."
She cocked her head curiously. "No comment?"
With an effort, he managed to bare his teeth in a snarl.
"That's the spirit," she said. "Did you really think that I'd allow my lover to live with the guilt of having been the cause of my demise? She more than likely already thinks that this is all her fault, but I'll have the rest of my life to convince her otherwise. It'll be a long life too, Terry. Much longer than the few minutes you have remaining."
"D…D…Dyke," Terry ground out.
She chuckled. "That very well may be true," she said. "But I'm her dyke, and I hope to God I always am."
She raised an eyebrow in contemplation as his breath began to shorten. "It seems I was off by a few minutes. Must be the alcohol in your system. It thins the blood, you know?" she speculated. "More's the pity."
She stood from the table and leaned on her cane. "Try to land on your feet when you arrive in Hell," she said with a dark smile and turned to limp slowly towards the door, where she paused for a moment and waited for his head to fall lifelessly onto his chest.
"Goodbye, Terry," she whispered, opening the door and stepping out into the night.
She carefully negotiated the stairs with her cane and walked down the driveway to the street to open the passenger door of her GTO. With a slight grimace, she sat down in the seat and rested the cane between her legs.
"Where to now?" Josh said from behind the wheel.
"New Orleans."
----------
Piper?" Nancy said as she hesitantly opened the door.
"Come on in, Nan," Piper said from the edge of her bed.
Nancy entered and threw a worried glance at Piper who was still wrapped in her towel and staring at the katana lying across her lap. "Pippy, you've been out of the shower for over an hour, are you going to come down for dinner?"
"Yeah, I guess I lost track of time."
"Honey, are you okay?"
"No," Piper said. "I don't know what I'm going to do without her," she said tears coming to her eyes.
"You're going to go on, just like she would've wanted you to."
Stories by Kiera Dellacroix Page 52