Andi heard the car pull up in the driveway. It had turned out to be a beautiful day and after helping the children climb
trees out in the back yard and a late lunch, she and Cassie were sitting in the front living room while Josh played one
of his uncle's car racing video games while Marcella did something dire to her dolls hair in the name of beauty.
Cassie hadn't mentioned either the family gathering, her sisters, or the fact her brother had gone MIA for an entire
week without giving anyone a word and Andi was grateful. And suspicious about that. The windows were open to let
the breeze in and so, when a car pulled into the drive, Andi heard it. Expecting Hector she stood up and wandered
over to the blinds to look out. But it wasn't Cassie's car pulling into the drive. Or any of the guys that were Hector's
friends and had come by before. No, this car looked distinctly out of place here and it wasn't just because it was
brand new and a name so egalitarian that it would have choked a race horse. It just felt... Andi's jaw suddenly firmed
and something moved stiffly down her back. Seconds later a somehow even newer and much sportier convertible
pulled into the drive as well.
"Cassie," Andi stated calmly, voice soft, "I just remembered. I promised Jo I'd stop by today. I asked her to bake up a
couple of special loaves for me. Is there any way you and the children could maybe walk down and pick it up for me
instead? I'd be ever so appreciative."
Cassie looked at Andi, then looked outside. She'd spent a lifetime avoiding a splay pattern of emotional gunfire, so
she knew the warning signs. She nodded at Andi and put on her 'happy face.'
"Come on kids! Errand time!" The kids groaned in protest as she paused Josh's game. "We're going to Jo-Jo's. I bet
she's got cake for you...." That got the kids moving as they found their shoes. She gave Andi an understanding
look....and led the kids out the back door.
Andi saw the children and their mother out the door, leaning down for her kisses from the two little ones. Face a
calm, neutral that neither responded to Cassie's glance or denied it. Though, as she closed the door and walked
back to the front of the house, she did hope they really did bring some bread back. 'Special' or not. She'd been
meaning to get some...
Which was avoiding the situation at hand by thinking of something mundane and she knew it. She opened the door
and stepped out onto the porch, letting the screen close behind her. As her family finished their exits from their cars
and spotted her. Bea actually waved and Andi's lips softened for a moment at her cousin. Still all sunshine with her
curling golden hair and her porcelain heart shaped face. Bea had her own role in their family but Andi had always
loved her. For what they'd once had together in a house of stiff adults and stifling rules.
"Anne." Bea called her name and waved again. As if they were much further away than they were and Andi actually
came down the stairs to stop on the last one as her cousin blew over to her. Sunshine but dramatic sunshine.
"Oh, it’s been so long! Why has it been so long? I've missed you, missed you! Are you well? Be well. I can't bear any
more bad news! Uncle Rocco just broke his leg skiing. Skiing! Him! Can you believe it?" Andi leaned down and got
two honest, baby powder scented kisses on her cheeks. Bea only drew back enough to clasp both her long hands in
her smaller softer ones. What a contrast they must make, Andi thought. Her in one of Hector's t-shirts and cut off
shorts, barefoot. All tall and lanky and dark. And Bea in her perfect sun dress and heeled sandals. Perfection in
miniature. Sunlight in a bottle. Melodic voice working on pleasant dramatics. "I just had to see you! It’s so good to
see you! I never see you anymore. We have to plan a lunch sometime. Or a spa trip! Oh do say something, Anne!
We've missed you so!"
Andi's eyes shifted, took in the others strung casually and in no way randomly between Bea and the car. Robert. Of
course. Somehow it made sense. And Liselle, looking slightly bored and breath taking, like a lost movie star from the
fifties next to one of the car doors, sun hat's wide white brim shadowing a perfect face. Another man beyond that.
Dressed - more casually than the others but even that was more than most people in Andi's world did for their own
family's wedding. He gave her a polite smile and a nod. She didn't know him. She looked back at Robert. And Liselle.
And simply asked:
"What are you doing here?"
Liselle raised a slim eyebrow in a perfect elegant arch. Implying with one move that it was beyond her what they were
doing here. Robert offered a smile though and came over.
"I wanted to see you, Anne." He made it personal, not even bothering pretend it was for another reason. "Sean told
me you'd come overseas the last time I was over there reviewing the mission's books. And I was already coming over
to meet Cole," he gestured to the stranger, "for business. So I had to stop by and see you again."
"He was quite intent on it." Liselle's voice, like a dark, rich chocolate added. Still vaguely bored by this all. The other
woman fanned her pale hand in front of her face. "Now will you please get around to inviting us inside and out of this
miserable heat?"
There was a reason Hector hated shrinks. It took more effort than it looked to circumvent their digging and endless
prodding. And this one had gotten close, damn he was good. Of course Hector had no intention on seeing him again
because of that.
So he took a leisurely drive home to fully decompress, stopping at a store to pick up more soda, feeling nearly back
to normal as he approached his driveway.
And saw cars he didn't recognize. One Tommy would kill and pillage for. And another even Mrs. Johnson wouldn't be
caught dead in. Well, maybe dead in. But certainly not alive. A little too stuffy for her taste. And his.
Strange people in his driveway. Perfect. Just what he needed. But a glance at Andi as he pulled in told him she knew
these people....strange, she didn't know anyone in the US. Everyone she knew from the US was still in Africa at the
Red Cross tent.
It was a puzzle, and he wasn't in the mood for puzzles as he parked the car and the strangers turned their heads to
look at him. Not in an overly friendly way either, as he slid out of the car and put his hat on with a confident assured
gesture. He was still outside, after all, and that was protocol. Hat when outside, take it off when you got inside.
A nice calming, automatic protocol that he didn't even have to think about as he approached the group of strangers
and Andi.
"Hey." He said. He felt like one of the women was already looking at him like a bug that needed to be squished. In his
front yard. HIS front yard. He already had a bad feeling about this as he took a deep breath and nodded at the men.
There were reactions all around to Hector's arrival but Liselle's was the one Andi noticed. Liselle was her cousin.
Only a few years older. And with more experience with men and everything involving them than Andi would ever
manage if she started now and outlived the other woman by several hundred years. And Liselle's subtly arching
eyebrow and the tiny shifting upward at one corner of her perfectly painted lips told Andi more than a flashing
billboard would have.
"Hello." Robert, between Andi and Hector, turned his attention from her to the new stranger. Military. It did narrow
down the list of people the man could be then. The man was tall. Broad shouldered. Clean cut but the hair was a
little bit longer than he'd always imagined the United States Army allowed. He offered his hand.
"Sorry to drop in on you so unexpectedly. We should have called but things have been a bit up in the air. I felt a spur
of the moment need. I'm Robert Talbot. I manage the books for Anne's father. And this is my wife, Beatrice. Cole
Buchanan, one of our business partners. And Liselle Lenclos my cousin by marriage on my first wife's side. We've
come to see Anne."
Andi meanwhile was staring in undisguised shock at her blond cousin and Bea gave her a shy smile.
"I sent invitations to you." She whispered. "But I knew you wouldn't get them. That's part of what I wanted to see you
for."
Hector gave Andi a look and nodded to everyone, shaking Robert and Cole's hands with firm grips, ignoring Liselle
as best he could. "Congratulations on the marriage." He said politely.
Normally he would have gone into his house. But he wasn't sure, yet, that he wanted these people in his house. If
Andi wanted them in there, she probably would have invited them in. The fact that she hadn't sent off warning
buzzers in his head.
He gave Andi a look. Robert, who she had mentioned before, married her cousin? And the South had the reputation
for twisting branches on the family tree!
"Obviously we weren't expecting anyone to come visit us, especially from across the Atlantic." Hector said. Still the
warning alarms were going off as he went to stand by Andi. "But welcome to the US. Hope your flight was...tolerable."
Liselle laughed and it was a low sound that could have sent shivers of pleasure down a dead man's spine.
"Nothing's every tolerable about flying." She stated in her chocolate voice. Shrugged a slim shoulder. It was a
vaguely familiar gesture. The same way the smile that was hiding in the corner of her lips was a shadow of the
familiar. Of the entire family, Andi and Liselle were the closest in form and action. And neither one of them realized it
or would have appreciated having it pointed out. A palm upward gesture with a slim, perfectly manicured hand. "But
one does what one must." Her eyes, even behind the expensive sunglasses, met Andi's and the edge of her lips
quirked. "For family."
"She's living in the wrong decade." Robert commented with a laugh. Perfect teeth. "For her it should have been
titanic cruise liners and complaining about how noisy automobiles were destroying the peaceful rhythm of life."
Liselle's head cocked slightly and she almost smiled. Not denying it.
"I enjoyed it!" Bea stated with a bright smile. Swinging her cousin's hands which she still hadn't let go of as she
beamed up at her. "Cole tells the best stories! It was a wonderful way to pass the time!"
Cole chuckled.
"They're only the best stories because you've only had to hear me tell them once so far." He looked back at Hector
and smiled. "I'm going to state the obvious but you're in uniform. US Army. My grandfather was a marine. I'm not
wrong in guessing career?"
Hector nodded, not adding the special forces part of his career. "So far so good." He said. "Except for a few bad
flights myself." Of course his 'bad' flights had nothing to do with bad airplane food. More like someone was shooting
at them and they were expected to rappel down into the fire fight. But he left it at 'bad' flight.
"As you can imagine, I spend most of my time overseas, this is a nice vacation for me." Even if it was lengthened
beyond what he expected, which did nothing to improve his mood. He gave Andi a look, quietly asking her if they
should continue to stand outside or let them on the porch.
Andi's jaw tightened again. Seeing Hector's look and knowing she needed to do something now. She hated making
him stand outside on his own front step dealing with strangers when all he probably wanted to do was go inside and
change and probably relax on the couch. And she'd learned long, long ago that her family wasn't to get near
anything that was precious or important to her.
"It has been nice." She agreed. And then, face the proper mix of apology, calmly lied as if she did it every day
without even batting an eye: "I am terribly sorry. But you didn't call before you came and we really did have
something planned for tonight." They wouldn't just go away. She could see that in all three sets of beautiful eyes.
Cole's just looked as if he was simply along for the ride. Sacrifice was required before they'd let go... "Why don't we
make a date? For lunch or something? That way we can all catch up?" And Hector, most assuredly, was NOT going
to have to endure that.
"Oh." Bea's dulcet voice, so disappointed it could have elicited tears. "But Anne, we've only just got here! Can't you
reschedule your plans? I'm sure if you tell them your family is here they'll let you off just this one time. Can't you?
Please?"
"You're implying their plans are with someone else." Liselle smoothly interjected into her younger cousin's plea.
Voice smoky and laughing behind that smoothness. And approving. Andi's head turned and through the sunglasses,
eyes met hard.
"That's silly!" Bea protested, swinging Andi's hands. "If they had plans together they'd just cance - Lissy! That's
terrible! They're not married and you know Anne's a missionary's daughter! That would be - would be - "
"Living in sin?" Liselle suggested with amusement. "Bea, really." One of her eyebrows arched. "Now who's old
fashioned? People don't really pay attention to what the Bible says about that kind of thing these days. You only pay
attention to the convenient parts. That's how it works."
"Anne doesn't!" Bea defended promptly. And then turned her attention back to Andi. Who's jaw was locked down so
hard she wasn't currently capable of saying anything and who's eyes were locked in deadly earnest with Liselle's
pleasantly triumphant ones. "Ignore her, Anne. You know she's just that way. Do say you'll cancel tonight! Please! It’
s been so long since we've talked and I want to show you the wedding pictures! I had such a beautiful dress made.
Please?" She shared the hopeful look equally between Andi and Hector standing at her side. "Please?"
Robert gave a smile and rested his hand on his wife's shoulder. An odd, uncomfortable move. "Don't press, Bea." He
chided affectionately. "I'm sure what they had planned is very important. Maybe we should schedule a lunch."
Bea's pale shoulders slumped and she bit her lower lip. She shifted her cousin's longer hands in her own and looked
back up. At both Andi and Hector.
"Do you have a little bit of time before you have to get ready?" She wheedled hopefully. "Maybe we could have tea
or something now?"
Hector made a show of looking at his watch, looking like he was calculating a time table. Then shook his head. "We
don't have enough time to do that, and give the stories justice." He said, apologetically. Perfectly capable of lying
when the occasion called for it, and it seemed like it did right now.
Not that Robert and Bea even struck him as a married couple. Were it not for the matching rings, and the hunk of
rock on Bea's finger, he never would have guessed it.
"We have to go to my sister's for lunch, and I got behind schedule at the base." He lied again. But knew, like Andi,
that a sacrifice was needed. "How about....dinner?" He suggested, looking like he'd rather not have suggested it. But
dammit, they found out where he lived. "There's a restaurant," neutral ground, "in Baton Rouge you might like."
"Baton Rouge sounds good." Robert interjected quickly. Conciliatory. "We'll get a private room. You can bring your
photo albums, Bea." He suggested calmly and she nodded. Still looking dejected.
"Of course." She agreed softly. Then she bit her lower lip again and raised her eyes. "You will both come, won't you?
We haven't even heard your name yet." She told Hector. Eyes apologetic. "I've spent all this time talking about me."
"And unrepentent fornication." Liselle added mildly from the sidelines.
"Lis." Robert gave her a chiding look and the smile hid in the corner of her lips again. Quietly pleased with herself.
"What's the name of the restaurant?" Cole asked. Focusing everyone back on the facts.
He wanted to say Pizza Hut. Badly. But managed to stop himself.
"Kiva's." He said instead. It was a nice restaurant, upscale enough but comfortable. And besides that, the servings
were generous and the food was good. That's what he looked for in a restaurant anyway. He gave Robert directions.
"We'll see you about seven?"
"Seven." Robert agreed. Liselle sighed.
"Carpooling's going to make it so inconvenient showing up fashionable late." She commented. Then she blew a kiss.
"Ta, darlings. I'm curious to see who actually shows up."
Cole held the door for her as she got in and Bea leaned up to press another double kiss to her cousin's cheeks.
"Ignore her, Anne." She whispered. "You know how she is. She always tries to bait you into arguing religion." Then
she looked up at Hector. "I understand if you can't make it." She told him with as close to a crooked smile as a mouth
as perfect and pert as hers could come. "It’s okay."
"Come on." Robert put a hand under Bea's elbow and she gave a little shrug with both shoulders. He gave both
Hector and Andi a smile.
"It'll be nice to catch up. We'll see you both there." And then he was guiding his wife to the car and holding the door
while she got in before walking around to his own side. The convertible pulled out and Robert climbed into the other
car and it followed shortly. Andi stood perfectly still until they were long gone and even the sound had faded away.
And then everything about her seemed to slump as if tight strings had just been cut. She sighed out a deep breath
and ran a hand across her face.
"Sorry 'bout that." She stated and if she'd added 'chum' on the end it would have been exactly her father's tones.
She started back up the stairs. But her hand, automatically and on its own, found his and her fingers twined tightly
through his larger ones.
Hector sighed and squeezed her fingers lightly as they headed up the stairs, tucking his hat under his arm as he
unbuttoned his jacket and loosened his tie.
"Matter of time I guess." He said with a chuckle. "Probably not the best time, Dr. Schroeder thinks I'm nuts. Never
know when I'm going to go 'rambo' or something."
"Mm." Andi commented, turning to face him once they were inside with the door closed. Gentle she slipped his tie off
and unbuttoned the first couple of buttons on his dress shirt. "I suppose I'm not supposed to encourage that then?
Even if it is my family I'm asking for a 'rambo' on?"
Hector laughed. "Let's not encourage it. I want to be reactivated, not have a cameo on the eleven o'clock news." He
said. "So that's some of them, huh? They're very....clean."
That was the best he could come up with to be diplomatic.
She unconsciously rubbed her face again before setting his hat and tie on the table.
"Vampires are clean too, I hear." She commented. "They must really something big if they sent that cadre. Oh," she
remembered belatedly, "Cassie and the children are visiting Jo." Hands full of tension and unexpendable energy,
she helped his shrug out of his jacket and hung it on one of the pegs next to the door until they could transfer it back
upstairs. This was it. She was going alone tonight and she'd make sure they never set foot in his yard again, much
less nearer to the house. She sighed again and gave him a tired smile. Reaching up to touch his cheek gently. "You
look tired. Was it very bad at the doctors?"
"Hmm. Define 'bad.'" Hector said. "According to him, I have issues. Well, I knew that." He said with a shrug. "Let's
see, every enemy I see, I imagine it's my father, which just drives me into a blood rage and I go crazy. And I'm a
selfish manipulative bastard for bringing you here, thereby ensuring your everlasting dependency on me for your
own sense of self. Oh, and I'm not deemed fit to be reactivated yet. Head case and all." He sighed and shook his
head.
"Do you want to see a shrink? And don't say no just because I hate them. I hate doctors too and not only do you still
see them, you are one."
"Mm - what?" Andi, in the process of leading him into the living room, hand in his, paused and turned to face him.
She'd been listening but the conversation had skipped around a bit. She'd had to put it in mental order so it would
make the most sense. It did serve to focus her entirely on Hector though, family getting shoved roughly to the side.
She stepped closer into him, looking up at his eyes.
"What do you mean not 'reactivated'?" She asked. Focusing on the important thing. Brows coming down as she
started to think of a thing or two she'd like to say to that psychologist. "How would that doctor know if you're ready to
go back to work or not?"
"He said he's not putting me on the activated list. When I think I'm 'ready' and can explain it to him, then I can submit
my proposal on that one." Hector said, making a face. "Don't ask me how he figures that. I think it's because I
wouldn't talk about anything he wanted to talk about, because it's none of his business. Of course, he also
mentioned I might shoot up a 7-11 if someone leers at you." He shrugged. "No big deal. Just means more leave time
I guess. So about the head shrinker. Do you want to see one? Him, I don't recommend, he's an arrogant asshole,
but I'm sure there are some...tolerable...ones? And you're not NOT going to see one because I don't like them,
right?"
"7-11? Hector." She protested. Shaking her head. She didn't even know where the seeing a psychologist was
coming from directed at herself. It couldn't be because he'd just found it so enlightening and helpful himself. And the
reactivation part was important. To him. This was his job. He loved his job. And someone was threatening to take it
away from him. She rested a hand on his chest.
"All right." she paused. Redirected them and started for the living room again. Once they were both on the couch,
she tucked her feet up under her and settled in against him so she could watch his face.
"Now. What did he want to talk about that you didn't?" She asked.
Hector shrugged. "Everything." He said. "My mother, my father, my job, my feelings, you. None of his business. I
know I'm not going to go psycho on someone in line at the grocery store, so I don't know what his problem is. I think
he's used to getting his way, I don't know, that I was going to be crying on his couch about something if he was just
patient."
Andi didn't point out that - in the civilian sector at least - that was what psychologists did. Dig around in your
personal life. Perhaps it was different for military. More concerned about the basics like how what the soldier had
done and seen had affected him. And whether it had enough so he wasn't fit to go back out again. Which, being
government run, she supposed made more sense.
"So he can keep you from being allowed back on duty because you didn't cry about your father?" She asked. "Can
he do that?"
"For a little while." Hector said. "Hey, don't complain, I just got granted more leave time, and it's not even taken out of
my personal hours." He said with a chuckle. "I'll give him a thirty page paper eventually on how I am, in fact, fit to go
back. He'll give up half way through and sign the damn paper."
Though mostly he just had to glare at the shrinks and sit as silent as a granite slab and they'd sign the paper, just to
get him out of their offices!
"So do you need to go see one? I know civilian shrinks are different than the military ones."
He did keep coming back to that last question.
"Why?" She asked. As far as she knew she'd been getting better. She hadn't had an - an episode in - in quite a long
time. Of course she hadn't been faced with much beyond the complete safety and protection of the very small world
Hector had created for her but she thought she'd been getting better. Had she - missed something? A nervous tic or
a strange way that she'd started to looking at things?
"Am I doing something strange?"
Hector chuckled. "No, you're not. Just the doc mentioned by bringing you here away from everything and everyone
you knew, I was a selfish bastard, and that if you wanted to see a shrink, you might not because I don't like them.
Just wanted to make sure you weren't completely building your sense of self around what I thought or something."
Not that he thought she would. If she wanted to see a damn shrink, she'd go ahead and see one.
"It's more that if I have to talk to him, and he asks me, I can tell him I did mention it and he should shut up and butt
out now."
It was a relief to learn she hadn't started talking in her sleep or washing her hands until they bled without realizing it.
Her brows came down and she did give it some thought though. Not that she was changing who she was to mold
herself to what she thought Hector wanted. She was too old for that. And Hector had always made it clear that he
loved her for her. Despite what he said, he hadn't fallen in love with her to begin with because of her looks. Which
meant it must have been her personality he'd been attracted to. She relaxed a bit more against him and exhaled.
Slim fingers shifting softly over the difference between the buttons of his shirt and the fabric of it.
Maybe she should see someone. But not because of Hector or the fact that she was in a strange place. There might
be things she wasn't dealing with about what - what had happened to her that she should. She was feeling a bit
braver facing what she'd - what had happened.
But she hadn't even talked to Hector about it. Why would she tell an entire stranger?
She shook her head and her eyes came back from the introverted look.
"No. I don't think I want to 'see' anyone. Maybe when I go back home. There's a priest..." Religions mixed much
easier in Africa. Or at least branches of the Christian one did. There was nothing like being stripped down to basics
and in the middle of nowhere, responsible for supporting not only yourself but your people while warlords and radical
religions that didn't approve of yours prowled the corners. Just because the prayers were different, didn't mean
there was a great deal of room to go splitting over it. She looked back at Hector. Gave him a crooked smile.
"And you are not selfish bringing me here. You were protective and thoughtful and wise." She kissed him lightly.
"You found me somewhere safe to heal." Her eyes met his. "Thank you for that."
"I'll be sure to tell him that." Hector said with a grin. "I would like to see the look on his face when he realizes, oh
gosh, he's wrong!" He sighed. “So about this family thing, should I leave my sidearm at home, or slip it into my
jacket?"