DMVS Archive | Season Two - Safe in the House of Love

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Safe in the House of Love

Episode 20 written by Karen
Original air date:

Disclaimer: The characters in the following fan fiction do not belong to me. They belong to CBS and Viacom and other powers that be. I am only using them for the purpose ofwriting this story. No money is being made from this writing it is for entertainment purposes only. And now on with the show...

Summary: Mark tries to talk to Jesse about Lynda Mitchell, but finds himself further alienated from his friend and son. A Continuation of Perfect Match.

Jesse looked across the table at Lynda and smiled as he watched her, "you look so beautiful."

"Why Jesse Travis, that is a very nice thing to say and please keep the compliments coming," she teased.

He couldn't help but laugh at her comment. Over the past few months he had fallen head over heels for the young lady before him and he knew that he wanted to keep seeing her. "Do you have any plans for lunch tomorrow?"

"I'm just going to have something at work," she then took a sip from her soda, "why?"

"I'd like to come by and pick you up since it is my day off."

"That sounds wonderful," his face lit up as she watched the young doctor before her. She knew that she had him right where she wanted him.

"Good."

"So, after we are finished with our meal...what do you say to a nice walk on the beach looking out at the ocean just being with one another?"

Jesse smiled walking on the beach at night had become a tradition for them every night that he didn't have to work at he hospital and he had grown to love every second on the beach. "I say that is an amazing idea."

"Good, because I am about done here."

Jesse chuckled, "me too."

Same Time, Community General

Cheryl knocked on Mark's office door and waiting for him, "come in," she heard her partner's father call out from the office.

"You wanted to see me Mark?" She asked opening the door and peaking in.

"Yes, I was wondering if I could ask you a favor."

"Anything...you know that," she teased going over to the chair in front of the doctor's desk.

He waited a moment before he started to talk again, "I know that Steve got mad about us checking Mandy's records...but..."

"You are still having a bad feeling about her," Cheryl finished the sentence for him.

"Yes...I can't seem to shake the feeling that something isn't right with her or Lynda," he explained as he looked over at the detective. "Do you have the same feeling?"

"Yeah, I've had that feeling for such a long time now. It has been several months since Lynda came into the picture..."

"I know. I can't put my finger on it, but something is definitely is wrong." He then smiled, "but I am sure that we can figure this out."

"Steve spends all his free time with her and Jesse is the same with Lynda. It is like we hardly get to see them when they aren't working or getting Bob's ready to re-open." Cheryl brought her hands to her eyes and rubbed them.

"I hardly ever see Steve these days and the only time I see Jesse is when he is working," he shook his head. Something was defiantly sending off warning signs about those to ladies.

"I have already checked their records and found something out about Lynda," she said sitting up in her chair.

"What?"

"We'll it looks like Lynda Carter didn't exist before a year ago."

"I wonder why that is?" Mark asked stunned at what his young friend had just told him.

"I'm not sure, but I think Jesse should be told that the person that he's dating isn't who he thinks she is."

"I'll have a talk with Jesse tomorrow. He isn't due to come in, but I'll stop by his apartment and tell him what you found out."

"Thanks Mark," Cheryl then stood up, "I'll keep my eyes open and see what I can find out for you."

Early the Next Morning, Jesse's Apartment

Jesse opened his eyes to the sound of knocking. He sleepily opened his eyes and looked at the clock to see that it was 9 am. He had planned to be up at 8, but decided against it cutting off his alarm clock.

After a minute he got out of bed and slowly walked toward the door and opened it to see a smiling Mark Sloan there, "I thought for a moment, that you weren't home."

Jesse opened his eyes a little wider, "hey, what brings you here so early?"

"And it is nice to see you too Jess," Mark teased.

"Sorry, didn't mean to sound so grumpy. I guess I need a little coffee, care for some?" Jesse asked as he stumbled over to the kitchen.

"Coffee sounds good," after closing the apartment door Mark followed his friend into the kitchen.

"So what have you been up to Mark? We haven't had a chance to talk much lately," Jesse said starting the conversation.

Mark took a seat as the coffee started to brew, "Jesse, I've wanted to talk to you for a while now about something and last night I got some information that you should hear."

Jesse looked away from the cabinet that he was getting the cups from, "what is it?"

The older doctor choose his words carefully, "it's about Lynda."

Jesse's eyes lit up at the mention of Lynda's name, "Mark I'm so glad that you brought her up...I been wanting to tell you something before I tell anyone else. I have decided to ask her to marry me."

Before Mark could say anything Jesse was heading to his bedroom and soon came back out with a jewelry box, and handed it to Mark, "what do you think?"

Looking at the engagement ring in his hand Mark sighed, "It's nice Jess, but..."

The smile on Jesse's face faded as he heard the word, "but", come from Marks mouth, "but what?"

Mark heart broke at his young friend's question. He knew that Jesse thought of him as a father and he hated to give him bad news. "How much do you really know about her, Jess?"

"Enough to know that I want her in my life forever," Jesse never let his gaze leave his friend's face, "what's going on...don't you like her?"

"Before I go on, I want you to know that I asked Cheryl to look into Lynda's..."

Jesse stopped Mark, "you had Cheryl check her record? I can't believe you...you are treating me like your son...you did the same to him about Mandy." He turned his head away from his friend, "I am not your son and I would appreciate you stay out of my life and not have my girlfriend checked out."

"I know what I did was wrong and I am sorry that I went about this and Steve's relationship the wrong way, but I am worried about both of you," Mark tried to explain.

"How could you Mark...I thought you liked Lynda?" Jesse sadly asked as he took a seat next to his friend.

"She seems to be very nice, but there is something about her that strikes me a little odd. I know that you may be mad at me now...I just want you to hear me out," Mark then stood and headed to the coffee pot and got two cups ready and brought them to the table.

As he watched Mark take a seat Jesse looked at the coffee as if it was going to tell him what to do, "what do you not like about her?"

"I have a bad feeling about her is all and then Cheryl tells me that she didn't exist before a year ago...Why would she be hiding her true identity from you?" Mark asked.

Tears formed in the corner of Jesse's eyes, "there has to be some reason why."

"I'm sure there is, but I still think that you should wait to ask her to marry you...until you are sure that she is the right person for you."

Jesse stood up and started to pace the kitchen floor, "I know that I want to ask her now. I will ask her about her past, but I am going to ask her to marry me." He then looked at Mark, "did you think that I would change my mind just because you had a bad feeling."

"I guess not, but I want you to be careful. There is something about her that seems..."

"What?" He looked at his friend, "she is a great person. I was hoping that you would be happy for me."

"I'm sorry," Mark said sadly. He couldn't be happy about this relationship. He knew that his words probably hurt Jesse a lot, but he didn't trust Lynda at all.

Jesse looked at Mark surprised and shook his head not understanding what was going on.

Later, BBQ Bob's

Steve watched as the new walls were being put up and smiled knowing that before long Bob's would be up and running again.

"What are you still doing here? You promised to take me out to lunch," Mandy teased.

Steve walked over to Mandy and wrapped his arms around her, "I was just thinking about this place being up and running again."

"I know that it has been hard the last few months not having Bob's open," Mandy said looking around the construction site, "besides I miss the ribs."

Even though it didn't think it possible his smile got larger, "how did I ever get so lucky to find you?"

"Oh, I think that we both lucked out with finding each other," she turned to kiss Steve as she looked around one last time, "what do you say we eat at Community General?"

"Ah, hospital food...I think that sounds wonderful."

"It sure does," Mandy agreed.

Same Time, On the Beach

Jesse sat behind Lynda letting her lean against him as they looked out at the waves, "Lynda, I have to talk to you about something."

She turned to face him, "what do you wan to talk about?"

"It isn't easy for me to talk to you about this, but...Mark came to me this morning," Jesse started to explain what Mark had told him about her past or lack of.

"He had my record checked," she asked her voice cracking as she started to sob, "why?"

"He tells me that there was no Lynda Mitchell before last year," Jesse said in a low voice.

"He's right," she sobbed uncontrollably.

"Can you tell me what happened?" Jesse asked as he pulled her close to him.

She shook her head that was resting against Jesse, "my name was Monica Berry from Grant, Alabama. I was married before Jess," she turned her head to look Jesse in the eyes. "It was awful...he hit me. There was so many times that he would come home at night drunk." She then closed her eyes in mocked hurt as she cried more.

"I'm so sorry that you had to go through that," he held her close as she cried. He couldn't believe that Lynda had to go through that abuse.

Lynda opened her eyes to look at Jesse, "I was going to have a baby and he came home in a rage one night and...and..."

"Oh Lynda..."

"He pushed me and I feel down the stairs and lost the baby. I couldn't stay there any longer. I had to get away, so while he was sleeping I left and a few days later he found me...he...he was going to kill me Jess."

She wiped her face with her hand, "so I changed my name when I moved here. I had a friend that was the sheriff in Alabama and he helped me to get a new name and I moved on."

Jesse kicked himself for reminding Lynda about something so painful, "I am so sorry that I brought this up."

"No...it's alright. You needed to know anyway," she said in between sobs.

"But...I didn't have to drudge up such bad memories."

"She wiped her eyes and looked at Jesse again, "why doesn't Mark like me?"

Jesse didn't know what to tell her, truth be known he didn't understand it himself. All that Mark told him was that he had a feeling about Lynda, "I'm not truly sure...but hey that doesn't matter. He can't tell me who to see."

She looked at Jess and tried to stop her crying, "I am so glad that...you are in my life, Jesse."

"Hey, that is what I'm supposed to say," Jesse teased as he pulled a box from his pocket and handed it to Lynda.

Looking at the box Lynda opened it to see and engagement ring inside, "Jess?"

He smiled as he kissed the top of her head, "will you marry me?"

Her eyes filled with tears once more she looked at the ring. "I...I don't know what to say."

"Well, you can start but agreeing to marry me," Jesse teased nervously.

"Yes, I'll marry you," she was beaming that Jesse had proposed it made her job with Mandy just a little easier.

Mandy's Apartment, That Night

Mandy was sitting on the couch watching an old movie as she heard someone knocking on the door. She sighed heavily as she got up and headed to the door to find Lynda standing there.

"We need to talk," the young woman told her as she passed her and entered the apartment.

"What do we need to talk about?" She asked as she looked at her watch to see it was a little past ten.

"Mark Sloan, that's what," she angrily shouted.

"What has the old fool done now?"

"Nothing that I couldn't fix, this time...but before long he is going to figure out that something is wrong. He found out that I'm not who I seemed, but we wanted Jesse to find that out anyway...so that I could tell him my little sappy story."

"So he found out a little earlier than we thought he would," Mandy smiled as she noticed the ring on her friends finger, "what's this?"

"You are looking at the future Mrs. Jesse Travis," she beamed, "this is too easy."

"I think it's about time to make sure that Jesse and Steve are on the outs with that nosy Mark Sloan."

Lynda smiled listening to her friend's words, "I'm already on that as we speak...I think that maybe that other busy body Amanda Bentley should be added to the people that we alienate them against.

"Sounds like a plan," Mandy cheerfully retorted.

Next Day, Community General

Jesse went into the doctor's lounge to where Amanda and Mark sat talking, "hey."

Mark looked up at his friend with caring eyes, "hey Jess."

Jesse went straight to the coffee pot without even saying another word to his friend. Amanda looked from one of her friends to the other trying to figure out what she had missed.

Jesse bypassed the table and headed over to the couch and took a seat and just looked at his coffee. He wanted to talk to Mark, he didn't like the way things had ended with them the day before. He kept his gaze set on the coffee thinking of what he was going to say to his friend.

Amanda cut through the deafening silence, "so what did you do on your day off, Jess?"

Jesse looked up at Amanda grateful that she came up with a way to start a conversation. He had to tell Mark what Lynda said to make his friend see that she wasn't a bad person and that his sense of her wasn't on track this time.

"It was great, I spent a lot of time with Lynda and well..."

"Well what?" Amanda asked as she noted the spark in his eyes.

"I asked her to marry me and she said yes."

Amanda's smile went to the look of shock, "oh."

"Aren't you happy for me?" he asked sadly as he looked at his friend's face.

"Of course I am...but what do you really know about her?"

He closed his eyes for a minute then stood and headed for the trash can where he threw the cup of coffee away, "I see that you have been talking to Mark. I know enough about her to know that I love her...I thought that you would be happy for me, but I guess that I was wrong."

"I am happy for you, but...can you please sit down so that we can talk?" Amanda was about in tears seeing the hurt that she had just caused her friend.

"No, I have work to do...I will see you later," Jesse said heading out the door.

Both Amanda and Mark watched Jesse leave and just shook their heads. They turned to look at each other and knew what the other was thinking.

"What are we going to do Mark?" Amanda asked knowing that she had the same bad feeling about Lynda that Mark did.

"We have to show Jesse that Lynda isn't what she seems to be. We also have to find out all there is to know about her...I just wish that this feeling would go away and that Jesse could be happy."

"How are we going to do that?"

"I'm not sure, but we have to do something fast." Mark sat back in his chair and looked at his empty coffee cup wishing that he could do something for his friend.

The rest of the day seemed to go by fast for Mark and Jesse with endless patients coming in. Mark watched as yet another gurney came into the ER and went to their aid. Right behind that one was another and Jesse rushed to it.

Mark headed to trauma room one as Jesse headed to trauma room two. A few minutes later Mark was exiting the room after loosing his patient. He noticed his son come in the waiting area with Mandy and Lynda by his side.

Walking over to his son Mark greeted then with a smile, "hey son...Mandy, Lynda."

"Hey Dad is Jesse around?"

"He's in with a patient," Mark explained as he noted that Lynda wouldn't even look at him. "Is there anything that I can do for you son?"

"No, we were all going out for dinner tonight and Jesse is due off in ten minutes so we though we would drop by and pick him up."

Steve looked at his father and then to the file in his hands, "can we talk alone for a minute, Dad?"

"Sure son."

"I'll be back in a few minute," Steve told Mandy and Lynda as he and his father left the waiting area.

After entering an empty trauma room Steve closed the door and looked at his father, "we need to talk."

Mark noted how his son phrased the sentence and the small bout of disappointment that were in those four words, "what wrong son?"

Mandy told me what you did," Steve couldn't believe the he was having another talk with his father about going behind people's backs...after all this was not like his father at all.

"I assume that this is about Lynda Mitchell?"

"Yes, I know that you worry about me and that is why I got over you looking into Mandy's past, but getting Cheryl to look into Lynda's past. Why would you do that?"

Mark sighed as he looked at his son, "I know how I did things were wrong, but I had to do something. I know that something is going on and I aim to find out," Mark told his son who responded by handing him the folder he had in his hand.

"Open it."

Mark opened the folder to find a police report and pictures of a battered Lynda, "Son?"

"Mandy told me this morning that you had Lynda's background checked out. I have to admit that I wasn't surprised that you would have Cheryl do that after having Mandy's records checked. Mandy also told me at how hurt and afraid those memories made Lynda. She was getting her life back in order and then she had to talk to Jesse about one of the hardest times in her life..."

Mark just stood there listening to his son and looking over the police report of Monica Berry...the past that Lynda had to get away from.

"You see Dad, this is why she changed her name, she had no choice when the abuse continued. She had to get away from her ex-husband. Can this end now?" Steve asked with pleading eyes.

"I'm sorry that I made things hard for her. You know how much I care for Jesse and I don't want to see him hurt."

Steve just shook his head and then looked at his father sadly, "so these pictures of her mean nothing to you?"

"I didn't say that, but I'm not going to just trust her just like that," Mark snapped his fingers. He then looked at his son hoping that he understood that he had to find out what was going on.

"I'm sorry that you feel that way, because if you don't trust Lynda that means that you don't trust Mandy and that is your loss," Steve left the room leaving Mark standing there not knowing how he could fix his relationship with his son or his friend.

Later That Night, Jesse's Apartment

Jesse and Lynda entered the apartment heading straight for the couch and taking a seat after having dinner with their friends. They had planned to sit down and talk about their future all afternoon.

Taking Lynda's hand Jesse smiled, "I wanted to talk to you about setting a date."

The young woman sat in mocked shock waiting for the right time to answer him.

"What's wrong are you having second thoughts?" Jesse asked hoping that she didn't. He had always wanted a family, a real family for so long. He thought of the Sloan's, Amanda and her son's as family, but he wanted one of his own.

"No, I haven't been having second thoughts...its just. I don't want to be the reason that you and your friends are not getting along. I know that Mark doesn't like me and I just wonder how many more feel the same as him. I just want to make sure that everything is going to be alright."

"I want you in my life and who cares what everyone else thinks, besides I'm my own person and I know that you are the right person for me."

Lynda smiled, their plan was working before long Carter would have his revenge and so would they, "then let's plan a date."

"Good, when would you like to get married?" He asked his eye beaming from excitement.

"How about this spring?"

"I would love to get married this spring. When would you like to be married?" He asked excitedly.

"Well, do you want a fancy wedding or not?"

Jesse looked at her in shock. He never really thought about this before. He just assumed that she would want a big wedding, "I'm happy with what ever you choose."

"Let's have a simple one, how about the first week of April?"

Jesse got up from the couch and headed over to the bar to get his calendar, "How about Saturday, April the 5th?"

"I think it's perfect," she gave one more caring smile to Jesse and knew she had him right where she wanted him. She stood up and headed over to him, "what time do you have to be at work tomorrow?"

"At one."

She kissed him passionately, "so what do you think we can do with all our spare time?" she mischievously asked.

Jesse swung her up into his arms kissing her as he carried her to his bedroom.

Next Morning

Carter Sweeney sat looking at the young woman that had come to visit him in prison. He was pleased to see her, knowing that they were to only meet twice the first time when the plan was starting to work. That had been the visit a month before and the second time to set a date for their plan would be put into motion.

"It is nice to see you my dear," he greeted Olivia Winston, better known to Sweeney's enemies as Lynda Mitchell.

"Yes, it is nice to see you too," she let her eyes slightly wander to the prison guard knowing that she had to do this right, "I wanted to come see you to tell you that everything is working out with my school work."

"I see, when are your finals?"

"April the 5th," she explained, "I just wanted to see you and tell you that I have been doing great at school and thanks to you I get to graduate soon." She hated using these stupid code words, but they worked and that was all she wanted to do give him the information he need and get out of that prison.

"I am proud of you," he smiled.

"I had better get going. I hope to come back and see you soon," with that she got to her feet and walked away.

Carter watched her go as the guard headed him back to his cell. Everything was going as he had planned. Soon revenge would he his.

The End