“Are you sure about this?” Tess asked, looking over at Kyle.

“What?” Kyle stopped looking at the woman across the room and turned to listen to Tess.

“I said, are you sure you want to be here?” Tess looked over at the woman still trying to catch Kyle’s eye.

“Of course I do. Didn’t I say I would be here for ya?” Kyle leaned in closer to Tess. “So do you think that woman is pregnant? She keeps trying to get me to come over and sit with her.”

“She might just be here for a check-up, Kyle. Not all women in the room are pregnant.” Kyle glanced around the room and just shrugged. Sure they’re not. In that room, pregnancy looked like an epidemic.

“Tess?” Tess’s name was called from the door. She got up and gathered her stuff. As she was walking into the doctor’s office she looked back to see Kyle still making eyes at the strange woman.

“Kyle!” He looked over at her and quickly scrambled after her.

“Did you want me to come in with you? I was just going to...” Tess grabbed his hand and dragged him with her giving the woman in the corner a hefty glare.

When Tess came out of the bathroom, she stood the doorway to the Lab room in shock. Kyle had three nurses around him, and Carolyn the Lab Tech was taking his blood.

“Kyle?”

He looked up and smiled at Tess. “Hey, Tess! Carolyn is taking my blood and is going to check it for me. Isn’t that great?”

Carolyn beamed, “He’s a real good patient. Are you all through?” Tess just nodded. Carolyn gestured to another nurse who led a quiet Tess to an exam room, as Kyle stayed talking to the women. “We’ll keep an eye on Kyle for you.”

~~~

“Tess, you can get dressed. I’m going to have Lisa give you an ultrasound. Normally we don’t do them until the fourth month, but you’re shy of it by about three weeks.” Jim helped Tess struggle to sit up. “I just want to see the placenta and uterine walls. With the lateness of discovering the pregnancy and missing the first trimester almost completely, we’ll keep a real close eye on this one.”

Tess swallowed hard. “You don’t think there’s anything...”

“No.” Jim just patted her hand. “But, we’ll look at everything.” He looked at her chart and counted up the days. “Your blood is unique, so adding that to the late discovery issue, we just need to keep a close eye on you.” Jim got up and quickly filled out a form. “Lisa will come get me and take pictures when she has the ultrasound all set up.”

“Doctor, do you...”

He took Tess’s hand and held it firmly. “It’s going to be fine. You’ll see. I do want you to come in for more frequent appointments than is normally warranted, but it’s nothing to worry about.” Tess just nodded her head, but for the first time since she suspected she was pregnant she actually felt worried. Jim saw the frown and tried to distract her. “So how is the Masters coming?”

“Oh, it’s coming along nicely. I already submitted most of it to the committee, but I’ve got a small rewrite required. It looks completed and I was accepted to the PhD program pending the rewrites.” Tess just shrugged. “The rewrites will keep me busy. There was some last minute information that came in after I finished my thesis, so there are few options. I can’t just overlook information.”

“I’m sure you’ll get it done. Now that you’re past the morning sickness phase, most women find being pregnant gives them a nice burst of energy and enthusiasm.”

“I never had morning sickness, maybe that was why I didn’t clue in on being pregnant right away, with that and my spotty menstrual record.” Tess smiled and breathed deeply. “Actually I feel great, almost like my whole body is humming.”

Jim laughed. “I think Maria wished she could say the same thing. Her gory tales of eating and feeling tired were long and winding. Is she feeling a little better?” Tess just nodded, uncertain what else to do. “I tried to call her this afternoon, but her secretary said she had left for the day and there is no answer at her house.”

“I think I’m seeing her tonight. Her mother was going to come over to cook, and that usually means an impromptu call to everyone to come eat. Amy is big on large family meals.”

“She does have that whole big family thing going. The entire office still has a pool going as to when the Wedding will actually occur.” Tess just laughed when she noticed even the Doctor stress ‘Wedding’ as something big. “I wonder if you could deliver something to Maria for me. I need her to call me, and I have a prescription for her. I called it in, but the information sheet and instructions are included in the message.”

“No problem. I can do that.” Jim handed Tess her ultrasound sheet to give to Lisa.

“Thank you, Tess. Now give that to Lisa, and I’ll be in to see you in the imaging room. Do you need any help in finding it?”

“No. I know where it is.” Jim nodded and left Tess to finish getting dressed.

Tess went to find Kyle on her way to the ultrasound. “Kyle!” He was telling a small group of women and a few patients included, the story of how he and his partners had destroyed the Palisades.

“Tess, hey are you okay? Are we ready to leave?” Tess’s eyes narrowed at the numerous stickers covering Kyle’s person, the two lollypops he was holding and the happy smilie band-aid covering his needle stick. She only got a plain old neon one.

“No. I’ve got to have an ultrasound, can you come with me?” Kyle just nodded and wished the women goodbye, and Tess’s eyes became hard when she noticed one of the nurses slipping her phone number in Kyle’s pocket.

“So is everything okay?” Kyle asked when they were in the darker room, and Lisa, the ultrasound tech was setting up the equipment. Tess just nodded and waited until Lisa left the room.

“Kyle, did Michael mention anything to you about Maria being sick?”

Kyle’s brows came together in confusion. “Maria? No. Guerin has been, but I’m thinking he was born that way.” Kyle looked around the room to make sure Lisa hadn’t returned. “Why? Did the doctor say something?”

“Yes, and no. We were talking about morning sickness, and he brought up Maria and how she’s been sick and tired lately.” Tess said in a loud whisper. “She might have been in for just an annual physical, but him saying that after we were just talking about morning sickness makes me suspicious, and... and ...Maria's been acting strange lately.” Kyle just snorted. “Okay, stranger than usual.”

“So Maria and Michael could be...” Kyle’s face lightened and became full of mischief. “Oh wait until Amy finds out!” Tess shushed Kyle to be quiet when Lisa entered the room.

~~~

Sean looked over the placement of the monitors one more time before going to the back room to the control panels that were recording all incoming displays. Alex just stood up against the wall watching. This was wrong, so wrong. His place-his club- wired . Here the people came to be free. To listen to music and feel the wonder of their youth, away from the prying eyes of Johnny Law. Then Alex’s stomach hollowed out as he realized that some youth, such as Krystal’s, would never be allowed to play out.

“Is this all you plan to do? Put in security cameras?” Alex asked Sean as he came over and bummed a smoke.

“No, we have rotating shifts going. Some of Vice will be here, but Majors is trying to keep it in-house. Our interest isn’t to shake down your people, just protect them.” Sean watched the monitors as different parts of the club became apparent.

“And Guerin?” Alex asked, lighting another smoke off his lit one. Chain smoking, a nasty habit, but he had been doing it almost non-stop since losing Krystal.

“He’s a problem. We’re still trying to figure out how to get him in the door of this place without all your customers fleeing in terror.” Alex laughed at that. Yeah, Detective Guerin looked like a killjoy, a real buzzkill with his pissy cop attitude disapproving of the little people. And yet, it was those little people, those little flawed people who he strove to protect.

“Send him in with a date. Even the most pissy of people or the most hardcore of men are puss-y-whipped, and can find themselves led around by their dick.” Alex laughed at the image of Guerin bending to a woman, or even a man.

Sean just shrugged. That was a thought, but the only person who could make it come off was Maria. Michael wasn’t a good enough actor to be able to portray utter fascination and devotion to another woman. And to a man? Sean had to laugh out loud. The first time a man even touched Michael suggestively, Michael would bellow like a demented cow and then break the man’s arm. Another woman? Michael would stomp around the Club sneering and scaring the locals while absentmindedly pulling the ‘little woman’ behind him. Now Maria would be different. She would coax him on the floor, get him all hot and bothered, and the two of them would forget the entire operation while f-ucking each other hard up against the club wall.

Michael was a problem.

“Getting Guerin a believable date? I don’t think it can be done.” Sean said reaching over to bum another smoke. Filthy habit, he was glad he never started.

“I offered to date him once. Or twice.” Alex said batting his incredibly long eyelashes at Sean.

“Really?” Sean looked impressed, and looked Alex up and down. The boy was still whole and breathing. Impressive. “And yet you never hit on me? What is Guerin, just sexier?”

Alex laughed, nodding an acknowledgment to one of his men over at the door who held up a delivery slip. Good, the bootleggers had come to restock the bar. Their supplies had been dangerously low, and with his manager on vacation Alex had forgotten to do the ordering.

“Oh he is sexy, even I have to give him credit for that. One of my female band members saw him over a year ago when he first came in my club, and she withered around on the floor for three days in orgasmic ecstasy without the man doing anything but scowl at her.” Alex took a long draw on the smoke and went from the monitoring room to the main bar. Going behind the counter, he checked out the restocked bar. Good, it looked good.

“I’m crushed.”

“Don’t be,” said Alex distractedly as he checked his spritzer lines. The number three button that held club soda was still sticking, and the cola line was still too syrupy. He quickly told his worker, Charley to check the stock lines and reset the cola mix of cola syrup to carbonation. “You’ve got it in spades too, but you have the touch of the edge, the unknown, that Guerin doesn’t have. With him, it's obvious where he stands, what he’ll do, but you…” Alex just shrugged. “Make you an offer, and there’s a chance a person could find them f-ucked up the ass real fast. The unknown factor.” Alex adds derision and sarcasm to his laugh. “Scary!”

Sean’s eyes narrowed. This man saw too much, walked the walk and knew the count. His confidence in his own understanding was his control. He knew. And because he knew, much like Michael understood death with a gut feeling, Alex understood the human spirit that drove men to action.

Needing to teach Alex the meaning of the word 'scary', Sean grabbed him hard by his shirt and literally dragged his tall lean body across the bar. Taking his mouth in a long hard kiss, literally exploring Alex’s mouth and staying longer than he normally would, he refused to relinquish Alex until the man submitted control. Pushing Alex away from him, Sean took another draw on his smoke and watched carefully for Alex’s reaction.

Alex stood there looking at DeLuca. Yeah, just as he suspected, the soul of darkness. Alex kept his hands at his waist holding tight, refusing to give in and wipe his mouth. His eyes searched Sean’s and in silence they stood, staring each other down until Alex took back what he could. He said the one thing he knew would piss Sean off. “I knew you would do that, Detective.” And before Sean could react, Alex grabbed him and kissed him back hard, with violent intent and no emotion except the power of control.

Pulling away, he half-smiled at Sean as he poured them both a whiskey. “I know you well, Detective. But make no mistake, sex means nothing to me. It's just bodies against bodies. I’m not even into smut. When I see stories or watch shows where the main characters are all over each other, all slutty, I don’t see it as powerful or breaking edge. I see it for what it is. Sex. Nothing more, nothing less. It’s just another control tactic. Using my body isn’t a problem, but touching my soul and heart is another thing.”

Sean almost tried another tactic. A beating. Alex Whitman needed a beating. Sean just nodded at the irony of it. He couldn’t intimidate Guerin either. They all knew the mark, understood the meaning of powerplay.

“Don’t push me, Whitman. You don’t know where I live.”

Alex drank the burning liquid and let winter rise from his soul to brim out of his eyes. “Don’t I?” That was Alex’s curse. He knew it too well, saw it all too easily. “I know that this place is now under the protection of more than just me, and I also know that Guerin will stand here, his body in the way to save all my innocents, as will you and all your little minions.” Alex poured another finger of whiskey and added more to Sean’s glass. “And even with all that, we will fail. We will fail because more will die before we find this monster and take him down.”

“How do you know? We’ll find him.”

“I’ll find him.” Alex knew that was true. He knew that he would look into the eyes of the monster, and no amount of chameleon ability would mask the disease. He would see it, know it. The trick was to see it before the hunter preyed upon another innocent soul, and in the balance of things they were running behind.

“Alex...”

“How the f-uck could this hunter go so long undetected? Don’t you people have databases for this crap?” Alex was pissed at his loss. He couldn’t feel it, couldn’t taste or touch it. The raw anger and need for justice was fueling his body and diverting him from thoughts of Krystal, but once he found his pound of flesh he would drown in the pain. But only after he found retribution. His hand shook as he lit up another cigarette. He needed a release, to tap off the pressure before he exploded. He didn’t have time for this sh-it.

“He’s not a real serial killer. He’s a sociopath. A cold calculating one. People think that serials are just about multiple kills, but it’s more than that. It’s methodology as well. Serials hunt in their own social groups and races. Usually they hunt a specific type of target, a certain aspect. It’s like the man who hunts virgins in order to drug, sodomize and rape. He’s not looking for experienced people, and not necessarily women. He takes men too. They just have to be innocent. Virgins. Or the person who targets women who look like his mother. Every day he kills his mother. Or even Jack the Ripper targeted prostitutes, white prostitutes.”

“So why the hell is this sick f-uck walking around undetected? Hasn’t he killed enough, or are we waiting for some magic number?”

Sean just shook his head. He could understand the anger he was getting from Alex, because it was the same anger fueling him. It was the impotence of letting the bastard walk around unhindered.

“He’s not a classical serial. He’s killed many, or so we believe. His protection was to hide his bodies. We’ve got missing people, but so does the world. The human race is full of people who are missing, even as they sit in their own homes buttering their toast. When people take a walk and disappear into the edge, there is a part of us that wishes we could so easily just walk too. All these things that tie us to our world-bills, jobs, obligations, friends and even family at times become overwhelming. He uses this against us. Uses the ever-increasing incidence of missing people against us.”

“What’s he looking for? Who?”

“That’s the problem. It changes. The victims have nothing in common. Nothing that would have tripped the National databases or Quantico crime labs.” Sean drank down his whiskey and nodded for another. “He’s not a serial because he doesn’t match the profile of a serial. He’s a sociopath because he feels no remorse or nagging morality. This hunter has a purpose, a design. And the design changes to whatever his requirements are for the latest victim. Maybe it's their voice, looks or heritage. Maybe he's looking for something exotic, like talent. It never stays the same so it keeps his victims diverse and hidden.”

“So he’s collecting specifics...”

“Yeah.”

“So what was Krystal?”

Sean just sighed and shook his head. “Don’t really know what made her a target, but whatever the attribute was...he thought she was perfect.”

“So he processes them and then dumps them? What is the purpose in that?”

“He dumped them because they were blemished.” Sean didn’t want to go into it, but... “Your cousin had a tattoo on her hip, a small butterfly. It marred her skin and made him dump her. If she hadn’t had that marking we probably would have never found her.”

“The tattoo? It was the tattoo that made him toss her out like garbage?” Alex’s voice rose in anger. Not that the other possibility was better, but the insult of his cousin tossed out like someone's junk hurt. “I want this f-ucker. I want to eat his heart! That tattoo, it was me! She had wanted it forever, but her parents said no. I didn’t see the harm or the problem. I signed the papers and went with her when she had it done.” Alex picked up the half-empty bottle of whiskey and suddenly threw it violently against the wall, watching it shatter into thousands of shards of broken glass. His hands closed in fists on the bar as he let the rage rock his gut.

Sean knew there was nothing to say, no words.

“Bring your people. This club remains open until we catch this virus.” Alex turned to leave, to find another bottle to kill or someone to f-uck. “But know this, when it comes to the end, I’ll stand over his dying body and I’ll reach into his chest, and I will rip out his heart. The last thing he will see is me eating his soul and sending it to hell.”

“Alex...” Suddenly Sean wanted to join the man, to stand there with him and smear his face with the blood as well. What could he say? What were the proper words? Strange to wonder if Guerin had them.

“The thing with men like us...is we were born angels, you know?” Alex headed for the door, but paused there with his eyes seeing farther than those who saw nothing but the obvious. “Unlike Lucifer we didn’t fall from Heaven and grace, we were sent out. He sent us, gave us to them...the lost ones. When Lucifer fell he found that his angel’s body was encrusted in ice, his soul lost and cold. And he took up the sword, ripped a hole in his body and cut off his wings to open up the pure energy and light of the angel’s heart. It’s a brightness like the very light of creation, Heaven. But he was evil and that brightness was the blackness of fire. It was from there that Hell was born, the energy from his black soul. When we were sent we felt the same cold, but our hearts are the beacons that save the lost ones, the innocents. It’s all about second chances. We are the protectors and we walk a hard long road because we lost our grace, so here is where we spend eternity. Unlike Lucifer we still have our bright souls, but what happens, Detective, when creatures such as we become so weighed down in the mire?” Alex rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m afraid to cut open my body, to let the light of creation out to warm my iced-over bones. What if its light is as dark as the Dark One’s? Do we bleed? Do we sink to Lucifer’s realm? Was grace just a dream? Who protects the Protectors?”

Sean just sat there as Alex left the room. He felt the darkness again, and wondered if they were all really damned. All Sean knew was he was no Angel. Who protected the protectors? Sean knew. That was why God gave them Maria.

~~~

“Honey? Do you have more than tortiglioni? I was looking for something with more weight.”

“There’s angel hair, spaghetti, fettuccini, linguini, tortellini...what are you looking for exactly? I think I also have some fusilli, cavatelli, stascinati, and orecchiette.” Maria frowned at all the pots on her stove. So far it looked like a pesto sauce, roasted garlic alfredo, and clam sauce. “Mom, what are you making, and could you not put in eighty cloves of garlic? It does terrible things to Michael’s digestion. I have to live with him, you know.”

“Perciatelli? That’s what I want.”

“Nope, don’t have any.” Maria was searching through her dry goods pantry. “Michael hates it. They’re long and hollow, too firm, and it keeps slapping him in the face when he tries to roll it up on his fork leaving sauce everywhere.” Maria looked over at the open garage door when she heard Michael’s laughter. He and Jim were looking at the Mustang, leaning into the engine. They had moved the Mustang into the main garage next to the GTO, and now the working garage was open and waiting for their next project.

“Maria, stop messing around in there and come stuff the mushroom caps. I was telling Jennifer at the bridal shop that everyone would need material that could be easily cleaned from spilt tomato sauces.”

“Your menu didn’t have a tomato sauce in it, mom.”

“Oh, I changed the menu.” Maria just groaned as she stuffed the mushrooms, snacking on food and cheeses while cooking. Amy went off on the full menu she selected which was a nightmare of Italian, French and Greek. Next week it would be sitdown Moroccan or Turkish followed by the whole sushi bar dilemma.

“Have you considered letting Jim select the menu?”

Amy stopped and looked at her daughter as she smeared herbal cheese on a cracker and stuffed it in her mouth, and then another one with added seafood c-ocktail sauce. Amy also noticed that Maria was working her way through four pounds of cold peeled shrimp with c-ocktail and Tabasco sauces combined.

“You look puny. You’ve been eating enough?” Amy yelled for Michael through the garage door. “And don’t be ridiculous, Jim can’t pick the menu. He’ll want barbeque or c-ocktail weenies.

That sounded better to Maria than some of the stuff her mom was thinking of. Actually a good barbeque and a nice pot of c-ocktail weenies sounded like heaven, if they added grilled shrimp to the menu, or lamb kabobs with mint sauce.

“I’m just saying that Jim is more of a hearty man-type eater. You might do better with pork chops and applesauce, or have someone do a pig in a pit or a side of beef over the fire, with some Tex-Mex specialties from this region. Because honestly, Mom, not everyone is into the whole 'reduced sauces and elegant food that looks good, tastes good, costs a fortune, but is hardly filling thing'. Let's feed some people.” Maria gestured to all the cooking pots on her stove, all the food on the counters. Italians knew how to feed family, and Amy was losing sight of the fact that she was feeding family at the Wedding .

“What would Michael want?”

Maria thought about it for a second, and then without hesitation. “Pigs in a blanket, lots of beef or any type of meat, not made all fussy-just lots of it. Potatoes. He likes the roasted ones dipped in butter and Parmesan cheese, and desserts with lots of whipped cream.”

Michael came into the loft followed closely by Jim. Leaning over he kissed Amy on the cheek as he opened the refrigerator door and grabbed Jim and himself a beer. “That sounds great. Is that the new menu?” Michael stopped and tasted the clam sauce off Amy’s wooden cooking spoon. “Mmm, that’s excellent, but does it have enough garlic?” Maria just groaned.

Smiling at him and very pleased, Amy reached for more garlic. “So why aren’t you taking care of my daughter? Look at her.” Amy added the garlic to the press as Michael turned his attention to Maria who was stuffing her face. Going up behind her, his arms reached around her as he helped her chop up things, eating morsels she fed him behind her back. “She's wasting away.”

“She eats constantly, Amy. Her metabolism is running high lately, that’s all.” His metabolism was running high too. Moving his face into her neck, he smelt the scent of her skin, and his tongue came out to taste its salt. Moving even closer into her he let her feel his arousal.

“She? Helloo! She happens to be in the room, so cut out the talking about her in the third person.” Maria closed her eyes as her breath came in pants. Moving her hands down and behind her, she found his hips to pull him closer to her. It was Amy’s mean spoonhand that pulled them apart and kept them from losing control right there.

“Hey!” Michael said when the wooden spoon hit him.

“Get your hands off my daughter and go stand over there! What is wrong with the two of you? This is the fourth time I’ve had to break you up since Jim and I got here.” Jim reached over and took a hot mushroom cap off an oven tray and popped it in his mouth. Actually the fifth time, but who was counting?

Michael grudgingly released Maria as the doorbell rang. Leaving her reluctantly, he went to answer it. Tess and Kyle were on the doorstep with a few bags of groceries. Amy had called them and given them a list of things she needed.

“Kyle!” Amy saw her favorite son and when Tess entered, her smile got larger. “Tess! Oh honey, Kyle didn’t tell me he was bringing you! I hope I made enough food. Maria, put on another pot.”

Maria didn’t hear because Michael was distracting her again. He had pulled her out of the kitchen and had her backed up against the dining room table.

“Michael...” Maria moaned as his mouth left her neck and found her mouth, as she moaned deeply inside his.

Michael rubbed his head against her. “How about the bathroom just for a quick one?”

Maria moaned again. He was insane. Not only had they increased their amount of sex in geometric proportions, but the volume was becoming too loud even for utility closets. “My mom will hear and you don't want to have her standing over you swinging a newspaper or a broom, do you?”

Michael had to agree. Maria was becoming quite the screamer. He conveniently ignored the fact that he was pretty vocal himself. But then again, he never really listened to himself.

“Maria! You two better be setting that table.” Amy picked up the phone and dialed the missing Sean. He was supposed to pick up bread from a special bakery. Where was he? “Jim, sweetie, hose them down.”

Jim looked at the couple and just shook his head. There was no way, no how he was coming between that couple. Wetting them down would just mean they would rut around wet. The only thing he could think of to get them apart was the lure of food.

“Maria?” Tess took care of it. She interrupted the two with Kyle at her side.

Jim took the opportunity to go join Amy in the kitchen hugging her from behind as she talked on the phone at Sean. Occasionally she would reach back and feed Jim sample tastes.

“Oh, Tess. Hi.” Maria straightened up, trying to get herself under control. Tess handed an envelope to her. Both Maria and Michael came to attention when they noticed the office letterhead of Maria’s doctor.

“I had an appointment today.” Tess explained as she watched the two read.

“You’re anemic.” Michael said as he read DocJim’s explanation. It seemed Maria’s bloodwork had come back a little wrong. He changed her prenatal multivitamin to one with a little more umph, and wrote her a prescription for an iron supplement.

“He called it in to the pharmacy.” Maria frowned. She hated medicine and pills. This sucked, but maybe it could explain her tiredness and her desire for the taste of rusty nails, which translated into sucking on Michael’s blood.

Tess and Kyle shared a quick look and Tess took the plunge. “So when is your due date?” She almost screamed at how quickly Michael’s hand covered her mouth, and the way both Michael and Maria hustled her outside into the garden.

“Hey!” said Kyle angrily. “Take your damn hands off of her!”

Both Michael and Maria looked pale, as they quickly searched for and located Amy. “Sorry, Tess,” said Maria. “It’s just we’re not announcing it just yet, and with Mom in the house...”

“What’s wrong? Amy would love to know she’s going to be a grandma.” Kyle said calming down now that Michael’s hands were off Tess, as he unconsciously gathered her up closer to him and was soothing her with long strokes down her body.

“Figure it out, Kyle.” Michael looked back through the glass to make sure Amy was still far enough away. “What will Amy do when she finds out we're expecting? I’ll tell you. First, she’ll have a new project. Just like when she finds out about Tess. She’ll put her wedding plans on hold, and turn it around to getting the unwed mothers under control.” Michael added emphasis to the word 'mothers' just to share this horror. Nasty strategy, but misery loved company. “Now Maria and I plan to get married. But I think Cap has waited and suffered enough. He doesn’t deserve to have his wedding postponed because of us.”

Michael didn’t mention that both he and Maria realized that Amy would turn all her efforts and plans to getting them married. It wouldn’t be by shotgun, but with Amy behind it, it sure the hell would feel like it. Plus, Michael was horrified at the nightmare affair Amy was planning. He had asked Maria if she was going to do that to him, make him such a public display. Maria, being his one and only true mate, promptly lost her stomach at the suggestion. So it was looking more and more like a Justice of the Peace, Reno or Atlantic City for them, thank god. They might have considered a small intimate family wedding with just friends, but with Amy anywhere within nuclear blasting range, that would turn into something more almost instantly.

“Oh god, you’re right.” Kyle now looked back at Amy too. What first looked to be a huge opportunity to get Michael’s goat had now become something horrible and terrifying. Kyle couldn’t see his dad’s disappointment over having Amy put him on hold again, and he knew that Amy would meddle. She would see the unwed, pregnant Tess, and want to fix it. Kyle was damned if he was going to watch his ‘mother’ toss Tess at Max’s head. F-uck that. He had stood in that room and listened to the swishing noise of the fetal heartbeat, and had seen its motion beating on the monitor. This baby already had a father.

Sean entered the loft with all the bags he brought, bitching loudly. This effectively distracted Amy from noticing the two couples huddled in conspiracy.

“What the hell do we need all this bread for? I couldn’t believe it when they kept processing the order.”

Amy went over and slapped him across the face, and then gently kissed him on the lips. “Watch your mouth.” Handing the bags over to Jim, Amy critically looked over Sean’s face. He groaned under his breath. He had forgotten his face.

“What happened to you, Sean?” Amy took his face and gently moved it around to survey the bruising, the healing cut across his eye and the fresh nick on his forehead.

Sean wasn’t above blaming the new ADA. “I met a new woman. She threw her shoe at me and it nicked me on the head.” Amy just clucked her tongue when Sean pulled Julia’s shoe out of his pocket. “I had her ticketed for operating a motor vehicle in improper footwear.”

“Really?” Amy’s eyes became brighter taking on a note of speculation. This woman had obviously made an impact.

“Yeah. I wouldn’t want the new ADA to think she's above the proper rules and regulations. Everyone knows that proper procedures and following the letter of the law is so important.” Jim just rubbed his face and groaned. Dammit, that meant a call to his office from the DA’s tomorrow.

Michael came back into the room followed by the others. “Sean, are we all set up with Whitman?”

“Yeah, I spent the rest of the day there after court let out.” Sean didn’t want to talk about the fiasco of court so he changed the subject. “He’s going to be a problem.”

“I know.” Michael nodded towards Kyle, who grabbed his father. “We’ll talk about it when I get back. Help your aunt cook.”

Amy frowned as she noticed Kyle, Jim, and Michael taking off. “Where are you going? It’s almost time to eat.”

Michael quickly kissed his ‘sort of’ mother-in-law and headed for the door. “We’re all out of Cap’s favorite beer. Just a quick liquor run and we’ll be back.”

“Oh, honey.” Amy understood perfectly. It was terrible that Jim shouldn’t have his favorite beer. It was so sweet the way the boys looked after him. She watched them hustle him out of the loft, and turned her attentions back on Sean.

“So tell me all about this ADA person, and what is ADA? Is that her name, not that it’s not perfectly lovely because people do go by initials all the time.” Sean made eye contact with Maria, his lovely hazel eyes begging her for help. “Is she married?”

~~~

Jim shook off their hands and shrugged into his jacket that Kyle handed him. Favorite beer indeed. He was a tap man. Whatever was available made him happy, except for Black Label which gave him gas. He hated having Amy chase him around the house with a lit candle and air freshener.

“Okay, what’s going on?”

They took Kyle’s car, and as Kyle headed to the pharmacy to pick up Maria’s new prescriptions, both he and Michael blurted out their respective ladies' state of grace at the same time. “Tess is pregnant." "Maria is pregnant.” They looked at each other and then at Jim.

“At the same time?” Jim’s eyes narrowed. The boys had been busy. Then it hit him. He was going to be a grandfather! And then cold hard reality shot him right between his eyes. Amy.

“No, Tess is three months, but it’s not Kyle’s.” Michael ignored Kyle’s scowl. “Maria is just over six weeks. The problem is...”

“Amy.” Jim rubbed his jaw. “I haven’t been engaged to that woman for six years to know what this means. Now why the hell couldn't you wait until I finally got her down the damn aisle before you ran off to procreate? This is a problem.”

“Only if we tell her.” Michael looked at Kyle. They had already talked about this. “I think someone needs to take Amy in hand. She’s been running amok for too long, and Maria needs her mom right now. If you don’t get her under control soon, we’ll be forced to tell her. We can hold out only so long. She’s already noticing that Maria’s been sick, suffering from morning sickness. It’s just a matter of time before she starts putting it together. Amy’s not stupid, just distracted.”

Jim nodded. “I’ll take care of it.”

~~~

Alex walked slowly to his door, tripping over the discarded clothes he had tossed about. He hadn’t had anyone come in to clean or pick up since Krystal. Still carrying a bottle in one hand, he looked at the grandfather clock in the front entryway. Damn, he needed to leave for the Club, but he didn’t feel like it.

Opening the door, he stood rooted to the spot at the clean lines of Isabel Evan’s back. Turning to the sound of the door opening, she had just been about to leave, having given up thinking he wasn't there. Isabel had hoped Alex would be home, because Club Hell was on her list of places to avoid.

“Alex?” Isabel was shocked at the dark, unkempt, dangerous man standing in front of her. Max had told her about his losing his cousin, and after struggling over it for a day, she finally went to find him.

“Isabel?” Alex rubbed his face. Okay, he was officially trashed out of his mind. His dreams of Isabel Evans had just taken solid form.

“You look...” Isabel stopped herself. He looked terrible. Worn and cold. But he also looked...wonderful. Telling herself to be strong and not to give in to temptation, she entered his place. The building was a nice modern one, and she thought it was an apartment building with many new modern upscale units. But while parking the car, she realized it was one very nice private residence built on a small hill in Roswell's land of higher priced realty and people who wanted privacy. The many different angled roofs and the white stucco with red tiled roofing and trim in black wrought iron somehow fit with the landscaping of southwestern shrubs, bushes and cacti.

“Yeah, like I’ve been swimming in a bottle. Good, because I have.” Alex put the bottle on Drexel Heritage Signature Ivory Coast Credenza. Isabel gasped and quickly picked the almost empty bottle off the stone top, and followed Alex into his home.

“Your place, it surprises me. A year ago, I’d sworn you lived in...”

“A ratty old apartment, run down, and skeevy?” Alex looked for more smokes. “I did. I still do. I keep an apartment close to the Club for late nights and when I pick up women. This is my home. I don’t invite just anyone through my doors. And don’t be too impressed with the décor. My mom did it. She's keeping Ethan Allen and IKEA in top sales. It seems every time I make it home she's changed the place again. My stuff tends to be her discards from whenever she redoes her and Dad’s place. Some stuff I like. There’s a nineteenth century heavy shrunk from the Black Forest, and a table from Ireland made of moss wood. She can change anything else, but those things stay. Those and my bed.”

“What kind is it?” Isabel asked as she looked at the décor closely. It was interesting to see the darker woods of the more traditional styles mixed with more modern stuff from IKEA. Eclectic. Alex’s mom was a trend setter.

“My bed? Old world stuff. An estate sale in France a few years back got me a heavy old fashioned bed right out of the Palace. It has all the looks of begetting and f-ucking into old age, and I like the thought of the babies born in it, who more than likely died in it too. It has a feel of living and history. Plus, I replaced the mattress not too long ago so now it has some mighty fine bounce.” Alex tossed himself down into a chair and looked at Isabel.

She looked good. Real good. A far cry from woman he had put in a taxicab over a year ago. He followed her progress, but stayed out of it. It was her time. And though she came a long way, he knew that she was just beginning. Part of him was curious to know how strong she had become.

“Why you here, Isabel?”

Isabel hated how he stayed away from her. “I heard about you from Max, and I needed to know you were okay.”

“Well I’m not okay, but I’m here.” Alex could feel the anger rising again, the need for violence and release. “This is not a place you need to be, Isabel. I’m in a dark place, and believe me you don’t want to go there.”

“I live in the dark, buddy. Don’t lecture me on it. I want to see Alex, the Alex I know. And I can’t see you for all the dirt and filth. You stink, and when is the last time you ate?” Alex thought about it for a second, and was actually shocked when Isabel came forward and pulled him out of his chair and dragged him upstairs. “Booze doesn’t count, nor do any of those c-ocktail onions or olives. Real food, Alex. When did you last eat?”

“I don’t remember. Where are we going? Bed?” Alex could handle pounding some excess energy into Isabel Evans. Sex. It would be just sex. He kept chanting that in his head.

“Bath.” Isabel looked at him and the gleam that came into his eyes. “Alone. Seriously, you really smell.” Alex watched her as she found his bedroom and then his master bath. Standing there curious, he watched her run the bath, and stubbornly refused to comply in removing his clothes. She wanted him naked, then she was going to have to get him there.

Isabel saw the challenge and ignored his eyes. Yeah, like she was afraid of a little male flesh. Slowly pulling his clothes off, she wasn’t prepared for her response to his flesh. The long lean lines of his body with hard muscles under the skin, refusing to move to her hands. The pierced nipple was taunting her, making her remember that sex was her addiction. But Alex was more than that...he was her fantasy, her goal for an entire year.

“Are you getting me nekid, Isabel?”

“It’s pronounced 'naked', Alex. Not 'nekid'.”

Alex didn’t care. She was smelling his skin, smelling the scent of him under the smell of booze and stale sweat. Running his hands up under her hair and holding her head firm, he took her mouth in a kiss. It wasn’t just a mating of mouths, but of bodies. It started in his groin and worked like fire up his spine as her hands gripped him tightly, holding onto his forearms. Without her noticing, he removed her clothes and ran his hands down her body to pull her into him as his hands gripped her ass hard, running his fingers between her asscheeks. Isabel Evans was no skinny girl. She had some meat, some curves, and a totally f-uckable luscious ass. He needed that right now. He needed a bed partner that could take what he had, and not break under the pressure.

Alex walked them backwards and pulled her into the bath with him. She was right. He smelt and was dirty. And he wanted her clean, too. Because what he planned to do to her was going to make her filthy, and he wanted no mistakes or misunderstanding that all of it came from him. Isabel hardly noticed the water, because Alex was hotter as his hands and mouth never stopped touching her.

“It’s 'nekid', Isabel. 'Naked' is the oh so correct northern pronunciation. It means taking off your clothes. Now 'nekid' is the southern pronunciation, and it means taking off your clothes and getting all sweaty, hot and ready to cause trouble.”

Isabel laughed at that. But a part of her that fought for so long held back, pushed him back a ways. “I don’t touch men any more.”

Alex paused and looked at her critically. “You telling me you’re a lesbian?” He just shrugged. “I’ve got no problem with that. Invite her along. I’ve done it with two women before. I can easily f-uck and eat at the same time. And watching? Not a problem.”

Isabel rolled her eyes and dunked him under the water. Men. Did they all have the same fantasy or what? She let him come up for air. “Are all men pigs? Even the ‘nice’ ones?”

Alex gripped her hard, leaving bruises on her arms. “Don’t confuse the facts, Isabel. I’m not nice. If that’s what you’re expecting I suggest you walk out of here now, because by tomorrow your body’s going to understand just how mean I am. I don’t do innocents or virgins, and I’m not looking for some foolish tittering girl who wants to cow-eye me. I'm looking for an image I had, a dream.”

Isabel was breathing hard. She wasn’t any of those things. And after coming out of therapy, she was worried that no man could want her, not with all the damage she had done to her body, all the pollution and waste.

“What is the image?”

“It's just a dream I get. She stands high on a plain, above a battlefield bathed in blood, as the ashes of war are blackening her skin, not a human skin, but her skin. And she stinks of blood and death, but her eyes are endless and dark with a deep fire burning inside. I want to touch that fire, feel that warrior spirit over me, taking me inside.”

Isabel looked at him in shock. “The rain was red, and the ground was warm to touch...warmed by the dead. How long...”

“Almost a year. I could see the trees, they were burned to the ground, and streaks of lightning rushed the sound as the swells of the dying echoed...she is what I’m looking for. A soul darker than mine, one that burns in heaven but lives in Hell.” Alex took Isabel firmly by the head and looked in her eyes seeing that fire, that power, hidden there. “I can’t return to Heaven, my place is here in Hell. I want someone who can live in the cold and the fire of ice.”

“Alex...” Isabel moved over his body and reached an arm around his neck joining her mouth to his in a deep sucking kiss. She couldn’t leave him, not now. Tomorrow she would hate herself for backsliding, but now there was only him. It was like coming home.