12 Months...
Chapter Three
“Nothing Mulder. I’ll be right there.” Agent Scully said switching her cell phone.
‘If a partner like Mulder called me in the middle of the night, I would be more than happy to oblige. No wonder people tag you gay Ms. Scully.’ Gina was thinking as she watched her favorite TV Show’s reruns. Right below the tube that was playing the show was another television set whose screen was split in four. The four portions were showing four different sides of a house, one of which was focused on the door.
Gina lied comfortably on a lazy boy watching her TV show and staying alert about any movement on the screen below at the same time. Around 2am she saw a car approaching the main door.
“Finally Ms. Social Butterfly, you come home.” Gina remarked checking the time.
“Oh Wow… Pretty boy you are dating. Now, how come guys like that doesn’t ask me out.” Gina talked to herself as she changed the split screens to just one and focused on the man who was walking Alex to her door. “Does he know you are gay… or are you just planning to play with his heart and toss him aside when you meet a woman?” Years had passed but occasionally the scar left behind by her mother surfaced out.
Gina switched the screen back to the four parts. It had been a little over four months since she last saw Alex in person, but she had always kept a steady surveillance on her. Sometimes like that night, she did it herself, or sometimes the few-trusted fellow Agents did it. During those surveillances, she had seen Alex go out a lot. Sometimes she dated men, sometimes she dated women, but all her date ended on that doorstep. Some she kissed good night, some she didn’t but no one was ever invited inside. So, knowing that the cute guy would be retreating back in his fancy car soon, Gina paid less attention as she concentrated on the X-Files.
Mulder as usual solved the case with a bizarre explanation as to what happened, and Scully stayed dumbfounded as usual unwillingly to agree or disagree with her partner.
Gina got up lazily and stretched herself. She switched off the top TV and took one last look at the bottom one. She was just about to switch that off too when she noticed something. The car, the car of Alex’s date was still parked in the front. Gina wondered if the guy is getting lucky. As easy an explanation as that was, her gut didn’t agree with her. No matter how many men Alex dated, if it was a woman who had actually made it past the door, Gina wouldn’t be feeling the knot. But it was a man. A cute man, whom Gina herself would have easily opened her door for her place and her bedroom but not Alex. Not Alex.
Gina’s instinct was louder than any reasoning as she swiftly and quietly covered the distance from the studio apartment rented for surveillance to Alex’s apartment.
Once outside the door she rang the bell, only once. There was no answer. She didn’t need to ring it twice. Her one hand was undoing the safety button of her handgun while she opened the door and stepped inside.
“Sam…” She screamed out taking a step at a time.
The whole place was dark except for a faint light from the kitchen slash dinning area on the other side of the foyer. Her hand was firmly holding her handgun for easy retrieval if needed. She walked briskly but carefully to the door of the lighted room and pushed the door ajar.
“Sam…” Gina said softly as her eyes fell on her Witness. “Sam put the knife down.”
Gina’s hand was off her gun. They were both in front of her so that Alex knew that she meant no harm. The man whose presence had worried Gina was pinned up against the wall. He barely moved as he stared at the tip of the knife that was only millimeters away from his throat.
“Help me … ppppplllleaseeee….” He said almost pissing in his pants with fear.
“Now… you want help huh?” Alex was glaring at the man with no intend on leaving her stand. “So…. Gem tell me. What would they do to me if I do commit a murder?” Alex didn’t need to ask that question. She knew the answer too well. The case that had made her investigate Valez was about the man who raped while in witness protection. While holding that knife on the throat of a man who couldn’t take no for an answer, Alex really didn’t throwing the government another curve ball.
“You are not going to kill him.” Gina said with confidence.
“I don’t know about you Gem. But right now, I wouldn’t bet on his chances.” Alex hadn’t even blinked once since the moment she had grabbed the knife for her own protection.
Gem did not reply. She walked right behind Alex and aligned her self at the back of the enraged woman. Her body completely hugged Alex’s from behind as she stretched her hand to the length at which the knife was held.
“You don’t want to do this.” She spoke very softly. “This is not you.”
Alex was on the edge and Gina knew it. Even though she could easily grab the knife away from her, she knew that for Alex Gina needed to make sure she was the one who withdrew. So, she kept her hand steadily close to the knife, ready to grab it if it moved but she did not snatch it.
“Sam… please let go.” Gina said once more.
But Alex did not move her hand. Instead her eyes started to fill up with tears.
“Alexander ….” Gina said it in a whisper right on her ears. “Please.”
Hearing her own name, Alex’s hand and her body gave away at the same time collapsing her weight on Gina’s arms.
“Get out of here.” Gina barked at the man firmly holding the blonde who was now crying out loud.
Gina remained still and sturdy as a concrete wall allowing Alex to cry. And Alex cried. She cried loud and she cried it all. She cried because of fear… because of anger… because of frustration… because of every little thing she could think of when she got up each morning… because of every little thing she could think of when she went to bed. So… she cried and Gina held on to her… keeping her together physically and emotionally, as she broke apart.
The first thing Alex saw when she opened her eyes were a pair of jeans that were not hers, lying on the floor right in front of her bed. Next to the pants were holster with a gun and boots that looked like they were opened in a hurry. Her mind immediately feared the worst as she jerked up.
“Yeah… we ripped each other’s clothes and did it all.” Gina said grinning. She was standing on the bedroom door wearing Alex’s pajama and a t-shirt holding two coffee cups in her hands.
As soon as Alex heard and saw Gina, she remembered the night before. She remembered breaking down. She remembered crying so much that she was hiccupping while Gina carried her to her bed and soothed her to sleep.
“Best night of my life. Sleeping with you.” Gina sat on the edge of the bed and handed Alex her coffee.
“I know I get that a lot… thanks.” Alex joined in on Gina’s joke relieved that she didn’t have to answer stupid questions like ‘Are you okay?’ or ‘How you doing now?’
“If I recall correctly… I was doing all the work.” Gina said glad that she could make Alex feel better.
“You are supposed to. After all it is your job to attend to my every need. Even without ‘sex’ this certainly tops you hiring Olivia-look-alike to sleep with me.” Alex said recalling the last time Gina had claimed to be her friend.
“How did you know?” And Gina was thinking she had got away with it.
“I just don’t believe in co-incidences.” Alex sipped her coffee with a sly smile that said left Gina speechless. “Thank you for last night though.” Alex confessed her gratitude once joke had subsided. “I know it was beyond what you needed to do.”
And Alex was right. It wasn’t part of Gina’s job. But even though Gina didn’t want to. Even though Alex didn’t want to. The two women had already become friends as they sipped coffee and teased each other more.
“Come on… please. Pretty please with a sugar on top.” Chris pretended on the mouthpiece of her hands free phone that was attached to her one ear as her fingers fiercely concentrated on the words it was creating on the screen.
“Fine.”
As soon as she heard a not so eager reply she hung up and quickly speed dialed another number that was more important to her at that moment.
“Chris… you owe me …” Gina barked back only to hear the steady dial tone. ‘Bitch’ she thought glaring at the laundry basket that was on her to do list. “Not today…” She thought out loud… as though she needed to explain to her dirty clothes.
Two hours later, she was carrying a pink backpack following a group of eight year olds who thought it was un-cool to hold an elder’s hand and walk. Like Gina had preferred to do but there was no winning when ‘no it’s not cool’ is thrown at you.
Parents of Sarah’s friends too walked along with her making small chats. Whenever Gina wasn’t working on a case she always picked up after Chris’ absence. So, she was well too familiar with Sarah’s friends and their parents.
Two blocks from home Sarah and her cool friends finally separated making it okay for her to hold Gina’s hand.
“Are mommy and daddy getting divorced?” Sarah asked out of the blue.
Gina was shocked to hear her Goddaughter’s concern. Of course Chris’ marriage had broken up long time ago, but Chris had never really said the word. Even though Gina hadn’t seen ‘the husband’ as she called him, for over a year. And with the amount of time Gina spent with Chris … not seeing him meant that he was gone. But Chris never said it… and Gina never asked.
“’Divorce’ that’s a big word for small girl. Where did you learn that?” Gina asked instead.
“Oh! Danny’s parents are divorced. I know what it means.” Sarah replied as though she possessed great knowledge in the subject.
“Really…and who is Danny?”
“My ex-boyfriend.” Sarah answered as a matter of fact.
“Your ex-boyfriend!” Gina repeated in obvious surprise.
“Yeah, ex-boyfriend. I left him because he was mean to Nina and then Ms. Brown gave him a time out. I don’t want a time out so …” Sarah continued with her story while Gina just smiled with at the advancement of MTV generation. Just then from the corner of her eyes she caught a rare view mirror of a parked car and a figure not so far from them.
Her instinct knew before she did. She was being followed. She darted her eyes carefully at both their sides. The suburban neighborhood that Chris had settled in was empty with only parked cars on both sides. Gina halted and knelt down, pretending to tie Sarah’s shoe and looked back. There was no one. Everything was as tranquil as ever.
Just then her phone rang. She quickly got up and flipped her phone open.
“Are you all right?” She asked now in complete alert mode.
“No.”
“What happened?”
“I am getting older.” Alex said laughing on the phone.
“God…Sam… that wasn’t funny.” Gina wasn’t really in the mood to laugh.
“Well… it is to me. So… listen I am swarmed in right now, but my birthday this Friday, you have to come. After all Sam does have a past. And some one from her past have to show up for her birthday right.” Alex put a wall of reasons so that Gina wouldn’t wriggle out.
“Sure Sam… do you want two gifts… one from your supposed mom from your supposed past too. While I am at it.” Gina meant to be sarcastic but Alex completely ignored it.
“That’s a great idea. Thank you.” Alex said before hanging up and leaving the Agent a little pissed with the second hanged up phone of the day.
Her eyes were still closed but she could still see the brightness in the room through her eyelids. Alex tried to make sense of what was happening before she opened her eyes but it was in vain. All she remembered was a really great party, her birthday party. Not, really like the wild college parties or not prim and proper like the ones ADA Cabot was used to attending. It was rather a mix of both. It was mostly of people from work. She had also invited few neighbors who had been friendlier. And of course Gem had shown up with two gifts, just like she had promised. For a moment or two Alex was actually moving on with her life among her new friends.
Then what had happened? Oh yes! Alcohol had happened. Whose idea was it to have shots of vodka with red bull? She had no idea whose idea it was but she had gone for it and now she was paying for it too. With the head that was completely exhausted and eyelids that were just too damn heavy to open.
She had to open her eyes though. The brightness in the room just didn’t seem normal. She had to find out what was happening. And when she did… she was staring at a body on the floor that was covered with a white sheet. She knew it was a body because she had gone to enough crime scenes to recognize the way the sheet stayed on top of a corpse.
“GEM…”
“No… Agent Cabbie, you don’t get it.” Alex wasn’t talking she was screaming. “I want to know where Gem is. And you can’t just ship me off and get me a new life without first telling me what is happening.”
“Ms. Cabot you have to understand. What we are doing is for your safety. You are discovered. You need to be relocated ASAP.” The black man who was Gem’s partner kept his cool while Alex became more and more agitated.
“The last time I checked this was still a voluntary program and I refuse to be in it now. I’ll walk right back to New York. And don’t even try talking to me. I’ll only talk to Agent Gem and I demand to see her now.” Alex screamed once again getting more desperate.
When she had got up from her hangover, the Feds had escorted her out of her place and once again put her in the interrogation room of some Police Department. They hadn’t even bothered explaining anything to her, not even about the body that was in her bedroom.
Then Agent Cabbie had shown up expecting her to readily just walk away from her life once again. Which, Alex would have had no trouble doing, if it were Gem who was in front of her. But it wasn’t Gem and no one was telling her where Gem was. And ADA Alexander Cabot would not just disappear without knowing what had happened to her friend.
“With your signed consent with us.” Cabbie opened a file and put it in front of Alex as a reminder of what she had done not so long ago. “There is not much you can do Ms. Cabot. If you refuse at this point we can keep you in custody too.”
Alex refused to even look at the file when a small tap sounded from the glass/mirror. Cabbie knew that Alex knew what that meant. So he didn’t bother making any excuse and just got up and walked out.
“Why are you scaring her?” His supervisor yelled the moment he stepped into the room on the other side of the mirror/glass.
“I am not scaring her; I am just trying to make her comply.” Cabbie replied with as much agitation as Alex had been with him.
“No… what you are doing is just the opposite. Look… I know how you must feel. Gem and you have been working together for almost three years now. But I don’t think that I have to try and make my best agent understand what we are facing right now. They found Gem’s real life. Now we have to get to the bottom of this. Is it just she or they have a list of every one of us? You know how dangerous this can be to everyone of our Agents?” Agent Ward had to look at the bigger picture. What had unraveled in the last 24 hours was getting bigger than just one case and one Agent.
“I do Ward but I am telling you, they don’t have a list. When Gem was trying to get her to sign she said that she recognized someone from her past. That should have been a red flag to us to get her off the case but damn we just didn’t think of it then.”
“Then I guess there is no choice but to let her go back to her own life…”
“She is still in danger …” Cabbie cut his supervisor.
“I know but right now the priorities have changed. We have a bunch of criminals who might or might not have the list for our Agents’ real life. Now, I am leaning towards you and Gem’s theory that it is just a co-incident that someone who is after her also recognized Gem from her past. But I need to prove that theory right to be able to rest this case. To do that we send her back to her life, and then follow the dots that connects her present to Gem’s past.” That was an easy solution.
“Detective Benson is the only common dot between Gem and her. Gem said she went to Academy with her. So, there is the dot to start the connection without sending her back to her life.” But Cabbie a friend of Gem’s wasn’t for easy solution.
“Why are you opposed to sending her back?”
“Because you know exactly what that would mean…” Cabbie snapped back.
“We do what we have to do.” Ward wasn’t the evil boss. He just wanted to cover every track as he was supposed to do.
“You know there is another option.” And Cabbie said it.
“And you know that would put our witness in ten times more danger than she already is.” And Ward said it too.
“Then let her make the choice.”