"I bring you with reverent hands
 The books of my numberless dreams,"
                  ---William Butler Yeats

Part 6
 

It was a normal, midweek afternoon at McGinty's.   Empty of all but one or two customers, the main room of the bar was quiet in the early afternoon sunlight.  His lunch half gone, Gary sat with his elbows up on the counter, chin in one hand, staring off into the distance.  Crumb was replenishing stock at the other end of the bar.  In the kitchen, Chuck and Marissa could be heard arguing - as usual.  The paper lay open beside Gary's plate, the article about the construction site accident replaced by an ad for Carson-Scott-Pirie.  He'd gotten there in plenty of time to prevent the tragedy, despite the morning's... distractions.

The paper's to do list momentarily blank, Gary absently took a bite of his sandwich, smiling to himself as his thoughts wandered back over those distractions.  Afterward, showered and tucking in his shirt and pocketing his tie, he met Kate as he came out of her bedroom.  Once again wrapped in her robe, she handed the paper to him with a crack about this bringing a new dimension to seeing the hubby off to work in the morning.  She then gave him a scrambled egg sandwich wrapped in a napkin, some juice in a travel cup, and the keys to her car as they headed towards the front door.  Her face lifted towards him as she stopped at the door, but Gary reached out and wrapped his arms around her -  paper, sandwich, and all.  When his fervent kisses showed no sign of letting up, his lips wandering instead out across her face and down her neck, Kate finally broke away, laughingly pushing him back.

"Down, boy," she joked, holding him at arm's length as she opened the door.  Her eyes were bright as she shoved him out of her apartment.  Gary, paper under one arm as he walked backwards down the hall, pointed back at her with the hand that held the juice.

"I'll be back to finish this later."  Their eyes caught and held, and Kate flushed, suddenly shy as she nodded.  Gary heard the door to her apartment close after he rounded the corner.  He was grateful for the empty elevator as he struggled to regain his composure and focus on the paper's business for the day.  There were people out there who needed him.

Yeah, but there was someone in Kate's apartment who needed him too...   Shaking that thought aside for another time, he headed out towards Kate's car, devouring his sandwich as he went.

Gary grabbed a hard hat as he arrived at the construction site 30 minutes later.  He got the workers' attention and managed to call them aside just before the crane's cable broke.  There had been a stunned silence after the heavy concrete panels plunged to the ground where they had been standing seconds before.  His hasty exit concealed in the ensuing confusion, Gary actually made it back to McGinty's and upstairs to change his clothes without running into anyone but Marissa in the office.  He handled a few minor rescues after that, and headed back at McGinty's for a late lunch.  Once there, he found Kate had left a message for him with Crumb, saying he could return her car later, if he wanted to stop by tonight.

*If* he wanted to stop by?  After last night, even if nothing happened tonight, how could she say "if?"   Crumb stared at him, the question in his eyes unmistakable.   Gary flushed involuntarily, and Crumb's expression quickly changed to a slight warning look.  Kate and the retired detective had hit it off right away, much like Gary's mom and Crumb had taken to each other.  With Kate on her own, the older man seemed to see himself as her adopted dad.  So far there hadn't been anything about the idea of Crumb looking out for Kate that had bothered Gary.  Now he wasn't so sure.  Crumb figured out far too quickly for Gary's comfort just exactly what had gone on between he and Kate last night.

A call for a refill by one of the two customers in the room saved him from actually answering Crumb's silent enquiry.  As the bartender turned away, Gary quickly busied himself with his lunch.  Crumb seemed satisfied that the mild evil eye he'd given his boss was warning enough,  striking up a conversation with the customer he'd just served and leaving the younger man in peace with his thoughts and memories.

Folding the paper beside his plate as he swallowed the last bite of his sandwich, Gary's thoughts turned toward possible distractions to come tonight, only half hearing Chuck and Marissa as they burst through the kitchen doors. Chuck was arguing his case vociferously, Marissa resolutely repeating "No," whenever he paused for breath.  Calling Gary's name imploringly, Chuck headed towards where he sat at the bar, closely followed by Marissa.  Swallowing some of his beer, Gary carefully placed it on the bar in front of him, ignoring the conversation taking place around him.

Even without  Crumb's encouragement he knew he and Kate should set a wedding date shortly; it wouldn't do to have Kate getting pregnant before they tied the knot.  And he needed to call his folks and tell them, and Kate needed to find out when her dad's carrier would be in port so they could schedule the wedding around his leave time and --

"So, Gar?  Be a man, and say ‘yes' for once, okay?"  Chuck's voice cut across Gary's reverie, and he looked up to find his partner standing there, feet set, arms crossed, doing his best imitation of the Rock of Gibraltar.  Marissa just sighed, shaking her head as she felt for a bar stool with one hand, the other holding a thick braille book.   Gary pulled one next to him out for her as he tried to sort out what the two had been arguing about. Whatever it was, it was probably no big deal. Chuck had actually done all right managing the bar, with Marissa there to balance out his wilder ideas.

"Sure, why not?"  Gary shrugged.   He had better things to do than referee for these two today.  Gary missed the incredulous looks that broke across both his friends' faces as he returned to trying to figure out what kind of wedding he wanted.  He and Kate had agreed last night that one big wedding was enough.  They'd both been that route with their first marriages.  At this point, smaller was better.

Chuck was still talking, and Gary nodded vaguely as he took another swig from the bottle in front of him.  A ring.  He needed to get Kate a ring.   Shoot, he really should make some notes before he called his folks.  His mom would want details, not just generic plans and --

"Gary!"  Marissa's shock finally got his attention. He tuned in to find her facing him, eyes wide and a look of... disgust? on her face.

"Huh?  What?  What'd I do?"

Marissa shook her head, her mouth open in amazement.

"It's not what you did, it's what you just told Chuck he could do."

Confused, Gary stared back and forth between the two of them, Marissa still gaping at him in incredulous disgust, and Chuck standing just behind her.  The shorter man looked like a kid who'd just been handed the keys to the candy store and was half expecting them to be yanked away.

"You all right, buddy?"

"Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm fine.  What are you gonna do?"

"Didn't you hear me?"  Chuck was suddenly all wide-eyed, blue-eyed innocence and Gary's stomach sank.  What had he gotten himself into?

"Well, sort of...." His voice trailed off as Chuck raised one eyebrow.  "Well, okay, I wasn't really paying attention.  What did you say?" He could see the wheels turning in Chuck's mind, and he quickly took refuge in bluster.  "What are you trying to pull over on me now?"

Marissa smiled, her "I can't wait to hear this" smile.  Gary's worry grew.  What exactly had he just agreed to?

"Chuck?"

"Why don't you just let me set it all up and then you'll see.  It'll be a surprise, a big one."  Chuck grinned, a certain twinkle in his eye that Gary knew all too well.  Oh, boy.  He was in trouble - big trouble.  Crumb appeared, setting a cup of coffee down by Marissa's hand with a "here you go, young lady."  She smiled her thanks, and he returned to his conversation at the other end of the bar.

"No, why don't you just tell me right now, buddy.  You're not doing anything until you tell me what's going on."  His voice cracked as he stared at his friend.

"Go ahead, Chuck."  Marissa's voice cut smoothly across his worry.  "Tell us how many former Playmates you plan on contacting for McGinty's lingerie night."

Gary's jaw dropped.

"L-l-l-linger,  lingerie, lingerie - I never, I never agreed to a lingerie night!"

Chuck's smile would have put a crocodile to shame.

"Sure you did, buddy!  I heard you and so did Marissa and so did Crumb over there."   Crumb snorted from where he stood at the other end of the bar.  Marissa turned to Gary, her expression plain. She wanted to know just how Gary was going to rescue them all from Chuck this time.  Still standing behind Marissa, Chuck bounced on his toes, his glee at Gary's predicament obvious.

"Well, if I would have heard what you said, I would never have said yes.  This is, this is, we are, we're a sports bar, not, not, we're not a Hooters!"

Chuck's face lit up like a kid's at Christmas, and Marissa shook her head before burying her face in her hand.  Gary could have kicked himself.  Why in the world had he given Chuck an idea like that?   He didn't give Chuck an opportunity to say anything further on the subject

"No, we're not doing that, and we're not doing any sort of lingerie night.  Period.  This is a sports bar, and we don't need that kind of, that kind of, well, that kind of stuff."

"Oh, come on, Gary, everyone else is doing it!  Ask Marissa about the revenues on some of the non-game nights!  We could really bring in the business if we'd do this."  Chuck gestured angrily in Marissa's direction, obviously feeling his advantage slipping away.

"Chuck, the revenue on the game nights more than makes up for the slow nights."  Marissa was unyielding.  "We have no need to stoop to something as low as a lingerie night."

Chuck turned to Gary, prepared to wheedle some more.  Gary shook his head, firmly in agreement with Marissa - again.

"No.  And, and, that's final!"  Gary pointed at Chuck, who gave him a disgusted look.  The phone rang behind them, and Crumb answered it.  He called down the bar to Chuck that it was for him.

"Well, then why'd you say yes to begin with?" Chuck grumbled at Gary before leaning across the bar behind Marissa to answer the phone.  Marissa opened her book.

Gary ignored them both, taking refuge in the paper.  Nothing had cropped up so far that hadn't been there this morning. .  The boney model in the ad that replaced his construction site story on page eight caught his eye.  She had nothing near Kate's figure, but the dress she was wearing had enough resemblance to the one Kate had on last night that Gary chuckled in spite of himself.  When that dress slid off...

A minute or two later, Gary realized he was still staring at the same page, with the same silly grin on his face.  Phone call finished, Chuck was leaning on the bar on the other side of Marissa, who was now engrossed in her braille book.   Chuck's eyebrows half raised, Gary didn't like the gleam he saw creeping into his friend's eyes.  He quickly turned the page and blindly searched for something to look at.

Chuck came around Marissa to lean on the bar beside Gary.  He flicked the paper with one finger as Gary tried to ignore him.

"My, we're in a good mood today.  Positively glowing.  What's happened to lighten your load, buddy?"  The last word was loaded with inference as only Chuck could say it.  Marissa's head came up as Chuck spoke, her finger pausing in its tracing across the heavy manilla page.

Gary shot him a glare over the paper, feeling the heat rise in his face.

"Nothing.  Just got a light day today, that's all.  Besides, there's no law against being in a good mood, is there?"  He folded the paper and grabbed his beer.

"So, how was last night?" Marissa asked, propping her chin on one hand.  Gary choked on his beer, and Chuck pounded him helpfully on the back as he tried to catch his breath.

"L-l-l-last, last night?"  Chuck's grin widened as Gary stammered, wiping the overflow from his spasm of coughing off his chin with the back of one hand.  Marissa's intuition was, well, uncanny, but she couldn't know about last night - could she?  He stared at Marissa briefly before deciding she was just asking an innocent question.  It was his guilty conscience that had him feeling like everyone could see right through him.  Speaking of everyone...

"Yeah, you know, Gary, your date, Kate, the play?"  Chuck's glee was increasing in time with the color in Gary's face.  Marissa's brow wrinkled as she tried to catch the undercurrents flowing around her.

"The play, the play, the play was fine, just fine, that's what it was."  Leveling another glare at Chuck, Gary grabbed a napkin from a pile behind the bar and wiped his hand and his face again.

Chuck nodded sagely at Gary's reply.

"Oh, and did Kate enjoy the play?"  Marissa right there and Crumb at the other end of the bar were the only things that kept Gary from wiping that smirk off Chuck's face.  As it was, he settled for an icy stare that only fed Chuck's mirth.  Okay, fine, if that was the way Chuck wanted to be.

"Yeah.  She did.  As a matter of fact, she enjoyed it a lot."

"Oooohhhhh."  Chuck's eyebrows rose, and his grin widened.  "Maybe the two of you should take in a play more often."

It was Marissa's turn to choke on her coffee.  Both men turned to her as she coughed, and Chuck quickly handed her a napkin from the same pile Gary had just made use of.   Neither one of them missed the sudden look of comprehension on her face. The napkin she held to her mouth didn't hide her smile.  Gary mentally took back every thing he'd ever given Chuck, and fervently wished his friend at the bottom of Lake Michigan - just long enough to wipe that god-awful smart-assed sneer off Chuck's face.

Marissa finally broke the awkward silence that fell as an ecstatic Chuck refused to be stared down by Gary.

"Gary, are you going to tell Kate about the paper?"  She spoke softly, mindful of the men standing at the other end of the bar.

Grateful for the change of subject, Gary dropped his gaze to her.

"I already did.  Last night."

"Was that before or after the play?"  Chuck took a step backward as he spoke, but the leering grin  stayed the same.

Gary decided he knew how to change the subject, and get that stinking insinuating tone out of Chuck's voice.

"Yeah, it was after the play.  Right before I asked her to marry me."  Gary thoroughly enjoyed the stunned look that replaced the smirk on Chuck's face.  Marissa reached out for his arm.

"You did what?"

"I asked her to marry me."

Chuck stepped up next to Gary, his eyes serious.

"For real, Gar?  You really asked her--"

"Gary?  Are you sure?"  Marissa cut Chuck off, and for once Chuck didn't object.  They both stared at him.  Giving up on pretending what had happened between he and Kate last night hadn't, Gary spoke up in his own defense.

"Well, yeah, I did, and yes I am.  You don't think I'd just, I'd just -- she's not that kind of girl.  And I'm not that kind of guy."  He shoved away the irritation he felt at his friends' reaction to his news.  Did they think he just did this without thinking it through?  That he just let his, well. desires get the best of him?  Pushing away the niggling thought that was at least part of what happened last night, Gary looked at Marissa as she finally spoke again.

"What did she say?"

"Well, she said yes."

"About the paper."  Gary glared at Chuck, then realized Marissa was leaning forward, just as anxiously waiting for his answer as Chuck was.  He swallowed, feeling the flush creeping up his cheeks again.  Gee whiz, did he have to tell them what Kate had said?  Studying their intent faces, he realized he did.  They had helped him carry the burden for these last two years, they deserved to know, at least a little bit.

He swallowed, not sure he could get all this out with a straight face.

"She, she, she said it fit me.  That, that it made more sense to her than me being a stock broker or running a bar."  There.  He wouldn't tell them the rest, not if his life depended on it.  Well, maybe, but it didn't, and he wasn't going to embarrass himself any further if he didn't have to.

Marissa's eyebrows went up, as did Chuck's.   Chuck blew out a heavy sigh, crossing his arms and studying Gary silently.  Marissa propped her chin in one hand again, and seemed lost in thought.  Gary was really irritated now.

"Well, don't you have anything else to say?"  The conversation at the other end of the bar stalled as his overly loud voice carried to them.  Gary winced.  He really didn't want the extra attention.

"Like what?"  Chuck's eyes were wide in shock this time.  He was careful to speak in a whisper though, as he spoke his mind.  "You didn't want to know what we had to say before you did this, before you decided to just go telling any and everyone about the paper."

Gary glared at him.

"Well, for one Kate's not just anyone, she's gonna be my wife.  For two, what does it have to do with you anyway?  It's my life!  Not yours!  You wouldn't bother to ask me about something like this - not that you'd ever find a girl fool enough to marry you in the first place, not once she got to know you."

Mouth agape, Chuck stared at Gary, his indignant response aborted by Marissa's calm voice.

"Gary, it's just, well, the paper, it's a big responsibility. Almost like being married to a cop, or a doctor.  Worse maybe.  Not everyone can be a cop's wife, or a doctor's.  It takes a special kind of person."  Her voice dropped even lower.   "It's just, it's just... we just don't want to see you get hurt again."

Gary stared at them both, only partially able to swallow his anger.  The cat jumped up on the bar in front of him, and he took some of his ire out on it, grabbing it and dumping it on the floor, before meeting Chuck's concerned gaze again.

"W-w-w-well, the paper doesn't  come to you, it comes to me, and it's my responsibility, and if Kate tells me she can handle it, I believe her.  And you know, it might be nice for you to at least congratulate me before you start criticizing her and me.  It's our decision, and it, it, it's *my* paper." He stood as he finished speaking, and without giving them a chance to answer grabbed the paper and headed for the front door.  He nodded grimly to Crumb on his way out. There were people out there who needed him, people he needed to take care of, even if his friends here thought he couldn't take care of himself or the paper without them.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Danger no refuge holds, and war no peace,
 For him who hears love sing and never cease..."

                                          ---William Butler Yeats
 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gary shifted the flowers he held in one hand to dig Kate's keys out of his pocket.  The elevator seemed to be taking forever to get to Kate's floor, and he resisted the urge to take the rolled-up  paper from the back pocket of his jeans and check it again.  There had been a few too many incidents crop up at the last minute today, from a little leaguer hit by a pop fly to a bicyclist injured in a hit and run accident.  Checking his watch impatiently as the elevators finally opened on the sixth floor, Gary was stunned. 10:13?  And he'd told Kate he thought he'd be at her place by 8:30.

Maybe he shouldn't have stopped for the flowers.  But this was the fourth time this week he'd been delayed by the paper.  Maybe he should have let the Alzheimer's patient be found by the care givers who were looking for her.  It would only have been another hour until she was found anyway, but it had been on his way, and Gary had appreciated the family's gratitude for their grandmother's return.  It was a nice change from the suspicion and irritation he usually received for his efforts.

Waiting for Kate to answer his knock, he eyed her door critically.   There had been a domestic dispute listed in the paper today as well.  Gary had called the police from the pay phone down the street, then gone to the house to see what he could do in case the police didn't arrive in time.  Normally he wouldn't have taken the chance, not gotten that involved, not after Nikki and her boys - he'd never been sure if he'd helped or exacerbated that family's problems.  But after Kate's story last week, the idea of not doing anything in a case like that had left him slightly nauseous.  What if someone could have helped Kate, and didn't?

Of course, that didn't mean he'd really been able to help the woman today.  She and her children, four-year-old twins, one of whom bit Gary when he was trying to get them out of her apartment, didn't want to leave with him at first.  They'd been willing enough to go, though,  a few minutes later when the boyfriend showed up.   Quickly ushering the family out the back door of the house, he had them over to a neighbor's before the enraged man was finished kicking in the front door.  He noted with relief that Kate's door seemed much more solid than that one.  Even if by some small chance Trevor ever did show up, it would take a mountain to move this door if it was locked.

The peephole darkened briefly, and then Kate opened the door, holding the cordless phone to her ear with one shoulder.  She smiled brightly at Gary as he held out the flowers, waving him in.  Dressed in a dark brown sweatshirt and a pair of jeans, her hair was caught up with a single long pin into a bundle on top of her head.

"No, that might work out.  I'll have to ask him though."  Still listening to her phone call, she pointed at the keys he held in his hand, wrinkling her brow in an unspoken question.  Gary shrugged, sheepishly.  Truth was, he felt like it wasn't quite his right yet to be using keys to open her door.  That wouldn't really be until they were married.  She accepted his kiss on one cheek, and, continuing her conversation over the phone, led the way into the kitchen.  After a brief search of a couple of cabinets she handed him a large Mason jar with an apologetic shrug.  Gary took care of the flowers as Kate picked up a pencil and sat on a bar stool watching him.  Whoever she was talking to was still going strong, and she began making notes on the pad in front of her.  Finally, the voice in the phone paused.

"I'll talk to him about it and let you know tomorrow, okay?...No, he just came in.  Brought me flowers."  Gary blushed as he set the flowers on the bar in the spot Kate indicated with her pencil.  The voice mumbled again, and Kate responded, "Hang on a sec, Bertie."  Catching Gary's eye as she lowered the phone, she said, "It's my sister, Bertie.  She says congratulations, and she only wants two things: number one, your dental records, and number two, she wants to know what in the world you're doing here so late at night."

The squawk that came from the earpiece of the phone matched Gary's silent consternation, and Kate laughed out loud.  Putting the phone back up to her mouth, she said her good-byes, her eyes twinkling as Gary blushed again.  Finally, Kate switched off the phone and gave in to her laughter.   Shaking his head, Gary walked over took her in his arms.

"Aren't you the rabble rouser tonight?"  Arms around her waist, he leaned back against the bar, pulling Kate against him, her arms going around his neck in return.

"Sorry."  She confessed, but the twinkle in her eyes as she returned his kiss belied her contrition.  A minute or two later, she pushed him away.  "If you could have seen the look on your face though... It was worth not being able to hear out of my ear for the next week."  Still giggling, she reached around him for the notepad.  Gary blocked her arm with his shoulder, an answering twinkle in his eyes.

"Nope, you still owe me for that one."  She didn't seem to mind greatly when his kiss stifled her objection, to judge by the ardor with which her lips answered his.  Gary's hand stole up underneath her sweatshirt to caress the soft skin of her back, Kate's hands playing with his hair.  As much as she seemed to be enjoying his attention though, she seemed distracted.  After a couple of minutes, she pulled back, her hands dropping to his shoulders where she absently traced the pattern in his plaid shirt.  Her eyes somber, it was another minute before she would look at him.  Gary waited, patiently, unsure what was on her mind.  Then with a deep breath, she looked at him.

"Someone had a video camera at that hit and run today."

Everything in the room froze for the moment while Gary stared at her, suddenly noticing just how red and puffy her eyes were.  Kate saw that?  *Shit!*  Gary looked away from her aquamarine eyes, the same color as the ring he'd found for her yesterday, the one sparkling on her hand as she played with his shirt.  He studied the pictures on the wall behind Kate for a moment.   Kate at her brother's graduation from the Naval Academy, in her sister's wedding.  Her niece and nephews.  Her sister and her husband, with the kids.  Her Dad and her brother and her grandfather, all in uniform.  Her parents' wedding photo.  Damn!  It used to be that he only had to worry about alarming Chuck and Marissa with some of the rescues the paper required of him.  That was one thing he hadn't really thought through with bringing Kate into his life.  What right did he have to ask her to--

"Gary."  He looked back at her, not sure what to say, how to tell her it was all right if she wanted out, if she didn't want to live with what his life had become.  He'd be miserable if she left now, but he could hardly ask her to stay if...

"I was so upset when I saw how close you came to being hit by that truck, I almost couldn't see straight.  I wanted to yell at you , I was so angry.  How could you put yourself at risk like that, when you knew I was here, waiting for you? Don't you know what it would do to me to lose you now, after I've found so much happiness with you?"  She paused, tears welling up in her eyes once more.

Miserably, Gary opened his mouth, the words that would release her from his promise reluctant to squeeze past the lump in his throat, inwardly steeling himself for what he knew was coming.  But Kate shook her head at him.  She wasn't done yet.

"Then, Bertie happened to call.  She'd talked to Mom, and they wanted to talk to me about the wedding.  She could tell I was upset, but I didn't know how to tell her what was bothering me without giving the paper away."  Gary nodded.  He understood that dilemma, all too well.  Kate smiled ruefully as she met his sympathetic glance, then her eyes flicked away for a moment before coming back to his as she continued.

"She finally got enough out of me to understand that I was upset about you putting your life on the line for someone else."  Now her smile was thin.  "I think she thinks you're an undercover agent or something."

Gary's eyebrows shot up.  That was a new one.  Kate went on.

"You know, she goes through that every time Matt gets sent out on a mission.  He's a SEAL, and the stuff they do is really top secret.  He can't even tell her where he's going to be or when he'll get back.  And, Mom went through that with Dad, every time his frigate went out.  Especially when he was in the Gulf War."  Kate smile was rueful now.  "You know what?  Bertie was right when she said you wouldn't be the man I loved if I didn't let you do what you had to do."

Gary couldn't think of anything to say.  Kate didn't seem to mind.  Her arms went up around his neck again, and she rested her forehead against his briefly, before looking deeply into his eyes.

"You do what you have to do with that paper, Gary Hobson.  But, you darn well better be as careful as you can be, because I do not want to lose the privilege of waking up next to you for the rest of my life."

It was later, much later that Gary headed into the kitchen for a late night snack.  Kate followed him, suddenly gasping as the notepad on the counter caught her eye.

"Oh, I promised Bertie I'd call her tomorrow about this."

Gary looked up from where he was staring into the refrigerator.

"About what?"   He reached for the leftover lasagna he could see hiding just behind the tub of cottage cheese.  He still didn't see how Kate could eat that stuff every morning for breakfast.  She didn't answer as he pulled the dish out of the refrigerator and stepped over to the microwave, pausing a moment after he put the lasagna in to stare at the buttons.  It was a newer model than his, and he hadn't quite figured it out yet.  Kate's arm reached around him, pressing one button with a finger and the light quickly went on.  That taken care of, Gary turned to her.  Notepad in one hand, she was looking at him apologetically.

"Well, it seems that there's no way they can all come in November.  I mean, Mom and Bertie could, and maybe Alex, but Dad and Matt couldn't."  Gary waited for her to finish.  Kate looked at the notepad in her hand again.

"But, Dad and Matt and Alex all have leave next month, in 4 weeks.  Then they could all be here, and Bertie and Mom were wondering if we'd be willing to move the wedding up and have it then.  If that's all right with you..."  Her voice faltered, the hand holding the notepad dropping to her side as she stared back at him.

"They, they want, they want us to move the wedding *up?*"

Kate nodded.

"Well, hey, now, I think we could do that."

The lasagna was cold long before Gary even remembered it was there.
 

"I do not know, that know I am afriad
of the hovering thing night brought me."

               -- William Butler Yeats
 

Part 7
 

"Kate?"  Gary stared, his brow wrinkled in confusion as a bedraggled Kate made her way across McGinty's crowded front room towards him.  Outside, the preternaturally dark afternoon sky lit up once more, the resulting boom of thunder claiming the attention of every person in the room. The announcer's voice calling the game was the only sound in the brief pause before the hum of conversation rose again, the clinking of glasses and *clack* of pool balls against one another accompanying it.  Gary spared the storm outside a glance, grateful for the relatively mild day offered to him by the paper.  Last time it had rained like this, he'd wound up with a knock on the head and an adventure via the paper he still wasn't sure he believed.  If not for Jesse Mayfield's watch...  Returning to the present, Gary's frown matched Crumb's as Kate came to a stop in front of him.

Hands in her coat pocket, eyes wide, she barely nodded to Crumb before turning to Gary.  Her wet hair hung in great dark ropes from beneath her beret.  Disturbed at her pale face and swollen eyes, Gary didn't give her a chance to say anything.  He handed his clipboard to Crumb, the bartender taking it belatedly.  Taking her arm, Gary knew Crumb too had noticed just how wet Kate was.  His concern grew as he guided Kate toward the office.  It hadn't been raining that hard, had it?  She was awfully wet for just walking in from her car.  He steered her through the door and on into the office.  Marissa's head came up as they entered, her hand half pulling the headphones from her ears as she paused the computer playback with the other.

"Gary?"

Kate caught Gary's eye long enough to shake her head pleadingly.

"It's just me, Marissa.  We're, uh, I'm just passing through."

Marissa frowned, then nodded her head once and, slipping the headphones back into place, returned to her accounts.  Gary shook his head as he and Kate made their way up the stairs.  This living in a fishbowl was getting to be a bit much where Kate was concerned.  Everyone knew her comings and goings - and lack thereof at times.  The nights they had spent together in the last weeks since their engagement had been mostly at her apartment, for the privacy.  The cat and the paper hadn't seemed to mind, and Gary was seriously considering just moving in over there once the wedding was over.

Kate hadn't said a word as he opened the door to his apartment and ushered her through in front of him, and she remained silent as Gary helped her off with her long coat.  She shivered as he took the hat from her, at the same time he realized she was drenched all the way through.

"Kate?  Did you walk in this downpour?"

Her lips blue with cold, Kate nodded apologetically.  Her shivering was now more like shuddering, and Gary made a quick decision.  Whatever had possessed her to walk in the downpour, she needed to get warm and quickly.  He pulled her into the bathroom, turning the shower on and adjusting the temperature before turning to her.

"Get in there and get warm.  I'll get you something to change into."

It only took a moment to find her a pair of sweats and a sweatshirt, and then Gary took the wet things she left on the floor of the bathroom along with her coat and hat and headed downstairs for the dryer.  He noticed the envelope in the inside pocket of her jacket just as he was stuffing it inside the dryer.   It was a registered letter, the heavy envelope showing signs of the soaking that the rest of Kate's attire had received.  The address caught his attention as he carefully pulled it out, and his stomach dropped.  So that was what had upset her.  Swearing to himself, he stuffed the coat into the dryer.  Resisting the urge to see for himself what the letter contained, he headed for the bar on his way back up to his loft.

"Hey, Crumb."  The older man looked up as Gary paused at the end of the bar.

"You wanna give me that pot of coffee - the decaf?"  Kate was always complaining that too much caffeine kept her up at night.

Crumb complied, setting the pot on the bar in front of Gary, then leaned on the counter with both hands as he stared at Gary.  His expression serious, the bartender didn't have to ask.

Gary hesitated, then shook his head.  With a sideways glance at the too-curious waitress nearby, he spoke quietly as in answer to Crumb's unspoken question.

"She walked from her apartment.  I stuck her in the shower to warm her up. "

Crumb snorted, then gave him a look, and Gary felt the heat rising up his cheeks.  What did the guy think, that Gary couldn't control himself around Kate, that he couldn't see she was obviously upset and needed more than a horny boyfriend right now?  The bartender had received the news of his and Kate's engagement with a great deal more enthusiasm than Chuck or Marissa.  But Gary's rather too obvious habit lately of spending the night at Kate's had led to Crumb dropping comments about making a phone call - Kate's dad or Gary's mom, the man said he hadn't decided for sure yet.  The moved up wedding date had pleased him, and he'd said he might not have to make that call after all.  However, Gary wasn't totally convinced Crumb still wouldn't do it.

Totally flustered now, Gary grabbed the coffee pot; the rag materializing almost instantly in Crumb's hand to wipe up the coffee that sloshed over the rim onto the bar.  He turned to go, Crumb's voice stopping him halfway.

"Just let me know if you need anything, okay?"

Stunned, Gary turned back to Crumb, his eyes wide as they searched the detective's for a moment.  Had Kate told him about Trevor?  After a minute Gary realized she probably hadn't said anything, it was just Crumb being the protective father-figure he had appointed himself in Kate's life.  The man was fairly observant; he'd been a detective after all.  Gary nodded, then headed for the loft, hands full with the letter and coffee pot.

Twenty minutes later Kate was curled up in her borrowed sweats on the couch next to him.  Much drier and warmer now, she sipped her black coffee as Gary struggled to understand the reason for the letter he held in his hand.  Giving up for the moment, he threw it down on the coffee table, sitting back and running his fingers through his short hair before gesturing angrily at the still damp missive.

"I still don't see why he can't just mail you the papers to sign."

With a resigned sigh, Kate shook her head.

"I don't know, Gary."  She shrugged, taking another drink from her coffee cup.  "Trevor's a control freak.  It's not gonna be thrilling to him that his dad left me half this property.  He's been drooling over developing it ever since I've known him.  That he might have to share the dividends with me, that's got to be galling.  This is probably his way of trying to get back at me for having the audacity to be in his father's will."

Gary studied the paper in front him in silence.  He didn't know how to tell Kate that's what worried him, that Trevor might be angry, that he might want to get back at her, unleash his anger on the woman next to him.  Kate would never be mistaken for frail, but still, when Gary thought about the few details she'd given him since her startling revelation last month on the bridge...  Damn, why did the man have to show up again?  Kate shouldn't have to deal with him at all, not anymore.  He suddenly realized Kate was talking.

"...never thought it would bother me so much.  I mean, I thought I was over the guy, over the..." Still curled defensively on the couch, Kate rubbed her fingers across the smooth ceramic cup as she stared at it.  Her voice trailed away, and she looked up and away, out the window.  Gary shifted closer to her, his arm going around her shoulders.  Tears were welling up in her eyes again, and she shook them away angrily.  "But when I saw that letter, saw his handwriting, his name, it was like I'd never left, like he was right there, waiting to come in the door... I, I panicked.  All I could think about was I didn't want to be alone with him, not again, not after--"

Her words choked on the sobs Gary could feel shaking the body next to him.  He set her coffee on the table and gathered her into his arms, holding her until the sobs went away, fighting his own growing anger at the man who did this to the woman he loved, who had tormented her and beaten her and made her so afraid.  She wasn't supposed to be afraid like this, she was supposed to be tall and confident and pretty, like that first night she'd come into McGinty's, and back into his life.  She was loving, passionate, courageous...and terrified right now of her ex-husband.  He was still untangling his thoughts and feelings when Kate pushed away from him, grabbing for a tissue from the box on the end table.

"I don't know which aggravates me more: That he chooses now to show up, or that he still has this much of a hold on me.  I mean, I thought I was over being afraid of him, that I didn't have to live under his shadow anymore."  Blowing her nose, she leaned stiffly away from him.  "I'm sorry, Gary, I know you didn't want to--"

"Don't say that.  You don't have anything to be sorry for.  The only one that's gonna be sorry is Trevor if I--"

"Gary!" Kate sat up straight now, turning toward him.  "You can't!  I don't want you to get in trouble for anything.  I don't want anyone to know..."

"Why?  Because you don't want him to look bad, or you don't want them to think you were stupid to stay with him for as long as you did?"

Kate flinched, and Gary swore at himself.  Dammit, Hobson, don't take your anger out on her!  You're no better than Trevor if you do that.  Blows don't have to be physical.  Pushing away the voice that whispered there was a big difference between hitting a woman and just being angry at her, Gary reached for Kate, stroking her arms lightly from shoulder to elbow.

"I, I, I'm sorry, honey.  I, I, I -- when I think about you blaming yourself for what he chose to do..."  He held her now, until she looked at him.  "It wasn't your fault.  He's the one who chose to, to, to..."  Dammit Hobson, say it! If you can't, how do you expect her to believe you?  "To hit you.  You didn't do anything to deserve that, and you weren't stupid to stay with him."  From somewhere the words came to him, and he knew they were right, even as he spoke them.  "You understood love in a way he never will.  You loved him enough to put up with that for a while in the hopes he'd change.  But, you also loved yourself enough to leave when he didn't change."

Kate looked away, chewing on one lip.  Gary waited while she thought that through, his relief undeniable when she turned back to him finally with a slight smile - she wasn't conceding his point, but she wasn't arguing against it either.

"Okay, lover boy, then what are we gonna do about this?"  She pushed at the letter before them with one toe.

Gary's smile was large in return.

"Well, for starters, there's no way you're going to meet him anywhere alone.  And for two, you're staying here with me for the next few days, until we're sure he's come and gone."

If he just didn't have to face Crumb...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Gary, I'm a big girl!  I can handle this. It's not like we're going to be somewhere alone or anything.  We'll be right downstairs, where the world can see. Just because you won't be sitting at the table with us doesn't mean I won't be safe.  Trevor's not a complete animal, you know."

Hands on her hips, Kate tossed her head defiantly where she stood beside his pin ball machine - now covered with stacks of her students' papers to be graded.   Her eyes practically snapped at him across the room, their color intensified by the soft shimmering blue of her dress.  His own hands on his hips, Gary glared right back at her, their argument no closer to resolution now than it was the first time they'd had it two days ago.  Kate had agreed easily enough when Gary suggested Trevor meet her here at McGinty's.  That had been the last thing they'd agreed on, at least where Trevor's visit was concerned.  Now time was running out.

"Not from what you've told me about him.  Sure sounded like he was an animal to me.  You trying to tell me life with him wasn't as bad as you've said?"  He regretted the words as quickly as he yelled them.  Kate's face fell, and she stared at him incredulously for a moment.  Gary shook his head.  Dammit, Hobson!

"Kate... "  Stepping towards her, Gary extended one hand apologetically, but she turned her back on him, reaching out to grasp the pinball machine with both hands, arms stiff and shoulders hunched.  Running one hand through his hair, Gary swung around to stare out the window, trying to think of some way to salvage this situation.  Dammit, he just didn't like the idea of Kate being alone with this guy - trouble was, their definitions of alone were somewhat irreconcilable at this point.  She seemed to think he was being overprotective; he didn't seem to be able to get through to her that he wasn't trying to treat her like she was helpless, he was just worried about the man.  His original unease about Trevor suddenly reappearing had only grown in the last few days.

"Hon, I'm sor--" Gary walked across the room and put one hand on her shoulder, the other reaching to stroke her unbound hair.  Kate shrugged his hands off, then swirled around to face him, eyes shining now with unshed tears.

"I am not a baby, and I didn't lie about anything, and I don't need you right there to hold my hand.  For god's sake Gary, it's just some stupid paperwork.  All I have to do is sign it, and we'll be done; he'll be gone, out of our lives forever."  Kate crossed her arms and stood up straight, her jaw firm.  "And, if you don't back off, Trevor and I can always go somewhere else to talk.  After he gets here."

Gary's own jaw dropped.  He gestured with one hand, helplessly, knowing Kate was winning and not knowing how he could stop it.

"You, you, you wouldn't."  But he knew she would.  Damn, the woman still didn't seem to be able to think straight where her ex-husband was concerned. And all this just because Gary wanted to be with her when she talked to Trevor.  Kate leaned toward him now, taking his hand in hers.

"Gary, I have to do this by myself.  I hate myself for being so afraid of him, and he'll always have this power over me if I can't face him, can't overcome it on my own."  Her voice was low, intense, but she didn't have to convince Gary how much this meant to her.  He was the one who seemed unable to articulate his own fears about the situation.  Kate hesitated, then went on.  "I know why you want to be there, I understand, believe me, I do, but can't you see that you're just making it harder on me?  Please, let me do this, for me, and for us.  I don't want to spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder afraid Trevor Howard is going to jump out and go ‘Boo!'  I want to be free to enjoy the rest of my life with you.  I have to face him by myself, overcome my fear on my own.  You can't save me from this, Gary Hobson.  I have to save myself this time."

Her smile was tender, apologetic as she brushed his hair back with her free hand, but Gary could still feel the steel beneath her touch.  She wasn't giving in, not at all.   He had never felt quite so frustrated and helpless in his life.  Well, maybe he had once or twice before, but dammit...  The cat meowed at his feet and Gary stared at it a moment, before meeting Kate's gaze again.  Trouble was, he couldn't tell if the darn animal was confirming his own gut feelings about the man, or telling him to let Kate have her way.   The knock on the door decided the issue for them.

"Yeah?"  Gary called, his eyes never leaving Kate's.

The door opened, and Chuck stepped in.  He stopped with one hand on the doorknob, his smile fading as he glanced questioningly back and forth between the two of them for a moment before he spoke.

"Um, there's some guy downstairs asking for Kate."

Kate dropped Gary's hand.

"I'll be right there."  Brushing a kiss across Gary's cheek, she headed for the bathroom.  Gary stood where she'd left him, still trying to figure out how and where he had so completely lost control of this situation.  The cat meowed again, rubbing around his ankles.

"Gar?"  Chuck's voice cut across his reverie.  Startled, Gary glanced up at his friend, still standing in the door, now frowning concernedly at him.  "Is everything all right?"

No.  No it wasn't, but Gary didn't know exactly why he thought that.  It wasn't like he had the paper right there, telling him something was wrong.  This one was all his, and only his it appeared.  Maybe Kate was right, maybe he was being overprotective of her.  Dammit, though, it was about time someone was. Realizing Chuck was still waiting for his answer, Gary shrugged slightly, bending down to pick up the cat.  How could he explain this without making one more person he cared about more upset than they already were with him?

He hadn't exactly been on the best of terms with Chuck and Marissa in the last two weeks, not since their less than enthusiastic response to his and Kate's engagement.  With Kate taking up residence in the loft the last few days, Gary was beginning to wonder if things would ever be back to normal between him and his friends.   Topping it all off, Crumb had started giving him "the look" when Kate moved in.   Every time Gary saw the man on the phone he got nervous.  Trouble was, Kate didn't want him telling anyone about Trevor.  Gary still couldn't believe she'd never confessed the real reason she left Trevor to her own family.  Her pleading left him unable to explain the reason for her presence to his friends, and Gary was forced to let them think what they wanted to about the situation.  It was obviously the worst.

"Yeah."  He nodded at Chuck briefly.  "It's Kate's ex.  He has some paperwork he needs her to sign, some property or something that got left to them both in a will."

Chuck made a small "oh" with his mouth, nodding sagely.

"Okay, well, I'll tell him that you, uh, she'll be right down."

Chuck hesitated, his concern obviously not completely assuaged, but it wasn't like Gary didn't already have a reputation as the jealous type.  He hoped Chuck would just chalk whatever he thought he'd seen up to that.

Stroking the cat absently, he nodded at Chuck again, then settled on the couch with a sigh to wait for Kate.
 

"I had thought that all my days were cast
Amid most lovely places..."

                 ---William Butler Yeats

 Part 8
 

Damn, the man was big.  Gary found Trevor easily enough as he held the office door open for Kate, though he'd never actually been introduced to him.  Seems like they might have had a class together, or been at the same party a time or two, but the crowds they'd run with in college had never really crossed paths.  Now the only thing they had in common was the woman standing beside Gary.  What position had she said he played?  Linebacker?

Untouched drink in front of Trevor where he stood at the bar, Kate's ex-husband must have stood at least six inches over six feet in his stocking feet.  An expensive suitcoat emphasized the breadth of his shoulders, and he managed to look both dashing and well-dressed at the same time.  Chino slacks and a matching dark blue shirt brought out the blue in his eyes, and his short auburn hair framed a face Michelangelo would have begged to sculpt.  Even a guy could tell this guy was handsome.  Gary swallowed.  No wonder Kate had fallen for him.

Grabbing his hand, Kate headed out into the bar, and as he followed her Gary decided he wasn't being entirely fair.  He'd gone for Marcia in part because of her looks too, when if he'd really been thinking straight he'd have latched on to Kate in the first place.  Saved them both a lot of grief if he had... he quickly pushed that fruitless conjecture away.  Save that for some night when he couldn't sleep and needed something to worry about.  He had enough to worry him right here. Trevor was waiting for them now, reclining easily against the bar on one elbow as Kate and Gary made their way to him.  They passed Chuck talking in low tones to Crumb and Marissa.  Gary grimaced as he caught Crumb's appraising glance.  Now everyone would think he was having a jealous fit over Kate's ex.  Oh well, he didn't really care right now what they thought.  He just knew he wasn't going to let anything happen to Kate, not while he was around to prevent it.  He hadn't missed the fact that she moved a bit closer to him when she first saw her ex-husband, though she stepped away and stood tall as they stopped next to him.

Good girl.  Much as he didn't want to let her do this alone, there was no reason for her to give the bastard any satisfaction.   Kate was making the introductions, and Trevor held out his hand.  Gary looked at it, and then back up at the man in front of him.  He didn't miss the flashing anger in those blue eyes at his rudeness, but he also didn't miss Kate's squeezing his hand, and when he glanced at her, her amusement at his response was unmistakable.  Good.  She wasn't going to push him to be nice to the creep.  Not that Gary would have given in on that score.  He'd been accused of being rude before, and he'd lived.

"So, you two set a date yet?"  Trevor's cool amusement met Gary's hostility head on, but Gary wasn't about to let the guy get his goat.

"I don't see that it's any of your business."

Kate cut in.

"You had something for me to sign?"  Her tone was casual, but she hadn't yet let go of Gary's hand.

Trevor reached into his suitcoat and pulled out a sheaf of papers, plopping them out on the bar in front of him before reaching back into the same pocket and producing a sleek silver pen.  He twisted the instrument, holding it out to Kate once the ball point was revealed.

"Right here, missy.  All ready for your John Hancock.  Or, Jane Hancock, in this case."

Gary bristled at Trevor's patronizing tone, but Kate forestalled any response on his part by releasing his hand and reaching for the papers - not the pen.  With a stern glance at Gary, she glanced through them briefly before catching Trevor's eye and nodding toward the most secluded table in the room, at the end of the bar below the raised pool tables.

"We can sit over there while I look through these."  She stepped away, missing the flash of irritation that crossed Trevor's features briefly.  Gary didn't, though, and he didn't move as Trevor gathered up his drink, forcing the larger man to step around him as he got up to follow Kate to the table she had indicated.  The cat appeared, crawling around Gary's feet and meowing piteously.  Gary looked at it undecidedly for a moment, then the cat jumped up on the stool and pawed at the paper he'd unconsciously brought with him.  Shocked, Gary stared at the feline, then shook his head.

"No way.  I don't care what's going on, I'm not leaving right now.  You got that? I got more important things on my mind right now than you and your tabloid ways."

He scooped the cat up and dropped it firmly on the floor.  Tucking the paper into his back jeans pocket, he straddled the seat that Trevor had just vacated.  Elbows on the bar, he surreptitiously watched the proceedings fifteen feet away at Kate's table.  So far, things looked okay.  Trevor appeared to be explaining the paperwork to her, Kate nodding now and then in response as he flipped through the pages.  Crumb appeared in front of Gary, wiping imaginary spills off the bar.

"Can I get you something, Hobson?"

Reluctantly, Gary turned his attention to the older man.

"Yeah, gimme a beer."   He didn't wait for Crumb's response, half turning in his seat for a better view of Kate.  Looking up, she caught his eye, and smiled.  Gary smiled back, reassured.  Maybe she had been right, maybe things were going to be fine.  Trevor looked up at Kate, following her gaze over to Gary.  The smile he sent was slick and Gary's unease returned full force as he glowered back at him. The guy had to have something up his sleeve, he *had* to.

"Here ya go."  Gary jumped as the bottle thumped on the bar in front of him, and he glanced at Crumb briefly.

"Thanks."

Turning back to his immediate concern, Gary tensed.   His voice rising, Trevor seemed to be upset about something.  Kate flinched as he grabbed the papers from her.  She recovered quickly though, as he rapidly thumbed through them, opening them finally to one page and slapping them down on the table in front of her.  Kate shook her head, obviously resisting whatever Trevor's wishes were concerning the paperwork between them.  With a wary glance toward Gary, Howard lowered his voice and proceeded to find another page, pointing at it as he spoke.  Nodding, Kate seemed satisfied, picking up the papers and slowly reading through them.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Gary realized Crumb had seen the entire exchange.  The old cop hadn't moved, standing there with both hands braced on the bar in front of him.  Looking deliberately over toward Kate and Trevor, then back at Gary, Crumb leaned toward him.

"Everything kosher, Hobson?"  There was a world of meaning in his quiet words, and Gary was suddenly grateful for the man's instincts and his protective feelings toward Kate.  Gary took a long look at Kate and Trevor, evidently debating another point in the papers, but Trevor was behaving himself now.  He turned back to Crumb, not bothering to hide his worry.

"Relatively."  Gary glanced back at his fiancé, then catching Crumb's eye again, added, "For now."   Crumb gave him a long look before nodding once and moving on down the bar toward Kate and Trevor.  Gary breathed a sigh of relief. The old cop understood, at least somewhat.   Kate didn't want Gary nearby, but she hadn't said anything about Crumb.  Still, Gary would keep an eye things himself.  He took a sip of his beer, shoving the cat away with one foot as it reappeared at his ankles.  Marissa appeared next.

Settling on a stool near him, she accepted a drink from the bartender, then turned to Gary.

"Gary?  Is everything all right?"

Damn!  What did they think, he needed a babysitter tonight?  Trevor was the one they should be watching.  But, they didn't know that, thanks to Kate's thin skin. Taking another drink of his beer, Gary started to answer Marissa, but his response died as the events at Kate's table suddenly caught his attention.

Kate was pushing the papers back at Trevor, shaking her head.  Gary couldn't hear what she was saying, but whatever it was, it wasn't what the man with her wanted to hear, that was certain.  Trevor tensed, then, with a look at Gary, suddenly relaxed, smiling coolly at the other man before reaching with one hand for Kate's arm.  It looked like he was just touching her affectionately, as a husband might, but Gary didn't miss the way Kate suddenly froze, her jaw clenching.  Fury burned through him as he realized she was trying to pull her arm away from Trevor's caress, but couldn't.  She winced suddenly, grabbing at Trevor's hand with her other hand, and Gary was on his way over to their table,  Marissa's urgent call unheeded,  ignoring Crumb, ignoring everything except the tableau in front of him.  Trevor smiled that oily smile at Gary, and as he released Kate's arm she cradled it to her chest momentarily before looking up at Gary.  She opened her mouth to speak, but Gary didn't give her a chance.

He didn't give Trevor a chance either.  Every eye in McGinty's was on them the second after he grabbed the larger man, yanking him half out of his seat, the chair tumbling away behind Trevor as he struggled to keep his balance. Gary's fist went back - only to find he couldn't follow through on the punch.  Crumb's voice behind him was loud in the sudden silence, as Kate grabbed at the arm holding Trevor.

"Scumbag ain't worth it, Hobson.  Don't give him the satisfaction."

"Gary!  Please!"

Gary strained against Crumb, but there was no give in the old man's grip.  Trevor had found his feet, and stood there, his gaze mocking Gary.  Kate tugged on his arm, again.  Gary looked at her, surprised to see tears in her eyes.

"Gary, please!  Don't.  He wants you to hit him, don't you see?  He wants this to happen.  Please!"

Gary stared at her, then back at Trevor.  Every instinct in him was screaming to deck the guy, and deck him good, but he knew Crumb wouldn't let him.  Marissa pushed her way through the crowd as Chuck appeared at his side.  Gary realized his friends were just looking out for him; he knew that Kate was probably right in her assessment, but he really wished they hadn't been watching him quite so closely. What he wouldn't give for one punch at the guy...  Staring angrily into the other man's face, Gary slowly released his grip on Trevor's jacket.  Crumb waited a moment before releasing Gary's arm, and Trevor made a great show of straightening out his jacket, brushing the lapel where Gary had gripped him.

Kate released his other arm and stood next to him, rubbing the wrist Trevor had handled.  Gary grabbed the papers and Trevor's pen up from the table and shoved them at the man.  He pointed at the door.

"Get out.  Now," he growled at Trevor.  "And don't come back.  Ever.  You come near her again, and I'll--"

"Hobson."  Crumb's voice cut across his threat.  Gary shook off the old cop's interruption.  Geez, he had to have seen what Trevor did to Kate, why wouldn't they all just butt out?

Perfect jaw thrust forward belligerently, Trevor took the papers, his gaze coldly furious.

"What about these?  She has to sign them by tomorrow or we lose the sale."

"Well, then, I guess you just lost it.  You send them registered mail, we'll have a lawyer look them over and send them back to you."

Trevor bristled, and his voice carried to every corner of the bar.

"We?  You don't have anything to say about any of this.  You're not married to her and just because you're screwing my ex-wife doesn't--"

Crumb grabbed Gary as he lunged for Trevor again, and now Chuck was between them too.

"You'd better leave now."  Short as he was, Chuck could be authoritative he wanted to.  Trevor looked haughtily from the shorter man to Gary and then to Crumb. Pocketing his papers, he turned to Kate, who stared white-faced at the scene playing out in front of her.

"I'll be in touch."  He glared at Gary. "Next time let's try this without the pet gorilla, though, okay?"

Kate didn't say anything, and with a last glance around the room, Trevor left.  The door had closed behind him before Crumb released Gary.  Shifting his shoulders to settle his shirt, he reached for Kate's arm.  If that guy had hurt her permanently... he looked up, shocked, as she pulled it away from him.

"Kate?"

"I told you to let me handle this!  I didn't need you to make a scene!"  she hissed at him.

"I, I , I was--what'd you expect me to do, sit here and let him hurt you again?"

Gary's words fell into the still silent room, followed by Marissa's startled gasp, and Kate's eyes grew huge.  Without saying a word, she turned and ran through the crowd of onlookers, the slam of the office door behind her seeming to signal to the crowd to get back to their own business.  Hands clenched at his side, Gary closed his eyes briefly before following Kate, ignoring Chuck's incredulous stare and Marissa's hand reaching for his arm.  If he could just ignore the rising hum of speculation from the patrons in his bar...  As he reached for the office door, Kate came barreling through it, purse clutched in one hand.

"Where, where are you going?"

Kate glared at him.

"Home."

"Well, well, at least let me walk you."

"No, thank you, I've had quite enough help from you for one night."

Kate brushed past him before he could reply.  Gary turned to follow her, to argue with her, but Crumb was quicker.  Moving faster than Gary would have thought he could, the retired detective arrived at the front door at the same moment Kate did.

"It's awfully dark out there.  Give an old man some peace of mind and let me walk you home."  Kate stared at him for a moment, then with a short nod she headed out the door in front of the retired detective.  Catching Gary's eye as he followed her out, Crumb nodded once.

 Curiosity thick in the air about him, and Gary glared at the one or two patrons that he caught staring at him.  Chuck appeared once more, but as he opened his mouth Gary turned on him.

"Just stow it, Chuck.  Just keep your mouth shut for once."  Ignoring the incredulous hurt in his friend's face, Gary swung away and ineffectively shrugging - as if he could shrug the events of the last twenty  minutes off that easily , he headed for the office door.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gary's pacing was just settling in to a rhythm when Marissa's knock disrupted it.  One lamp barely lit the fourteen steps it took him to get from the pinball machine to the treadmil and back again.  Kate and Crumb were probably three blocks away by now, waiting for the light to change at LaSalle and Ontario.  That light was always red, whether he was coming or going from Kate's.  Gary knew it was Marissa at the door before he turned around, knew she was the one who would follow him up to the loft first.  Chuck probably wasn't far behind, once he got over his huff about Gary telling him to shut up before he came upstairs.

Shoulders heaving in one long sigh, Gary headed for the door.  Marissa's form wavered in the mottled glass window as he approached, and he reflected that he really should get a new door for the loft - one without a see through window.  Especially with Kate staying here...but, Kate wasn't staying here, anymore, was she?  Gary pushed back the wave of misery that came with that realization, concentrating instead on Marissa, standing warily outside his door waiting to be invited in.  More relationships he'd screwed up.

"May I come in?"  Marissa took refuge in formality, as she often did.

"Yeah."

Gary frowned at the door as she entered, then with a shrug left it open.  Chuck would be along soon enough.  Marissa settled on the sofa and Gary resumed his pacing.  For the next few minutes, his rapid steps - to the treadmill, turn and back to the pinball machine, turn and repeat - were the only sound in the loft. Then finally, he went beyond the machine, to the window, staring out from the half-dark loft at the street lights beyond him.  Leaning against the wall, hands in his pockets, he rested his head against the warm brick. Crumb should be about to Kate's apartment, if she walked as fast as she normally did.  Which meant another couple of minutes waiting for the elevator to come down from the upper floors.

"Gary?"

"Yeah?"  He didn't turn away from the window, didn't look at his friend.  Okay, they were in the elevator, now, Kate probably looking for her keys.

"Gary, she will forgive you.  She loves you, and she'll be okay about it.  You have to know that."  Marissa spoke quietly, confidently.

Gary pivoted to face Marissa, taking a few steps toward her.

"‘Y-y-y--you don't understand.  She practically begged me not to tell anyone, and not only do I break my word to her, I go back on it in front of a whole bar full of people!"  He waved sharply at the open door as he spoke, his voice echoing through the loft.

Marissa shifted, leaning forward as she turned toward the sound of Gary's voice.

"Strangers, Gary, they were strangers," she insisted.  "Sure, it's tonight's sensation, but it will be tomorrow's old news, and in a week they won't even remember it.  Besides, I think there were extenuating circumstances."

"You're not a stranger.  And neither is Chuck and neither is Crumb.  And, what extenuating circumstances?"

Marissa's face said "Duh!" better than anyone's.

"Gary, Trevor was here.  How long has it been since Kate told you about him?"

Gary flopped into the chair beside the couch, running one hand through his hair as he tried to remember.  Just how long had it been since that night on the bridge?  Since that night - no, since that one night Kate first turned up at McGinty's, what was it, three, four months ago? - his life had suddenly gotten much fuller, much richer - and much more complicated, if tonight's events were any indication.

"Two weeks, I guess.  She told me the same night I proposed."   Gary closed his eyes now, fighting the memory of the fear he'd seen in Kate's eyes that night, fear that Trevor had left in his wake. Though getting rarer, it still showed up now and then, and not just when they were intimate.  Sometimes if Gary moved too fast, or got too rough in his play, the fear would be there in Kate's huge eyes, and his heart would break all over again for what had been done to his bride.  Since Trevor's letter had arrived three days ago Gary hadn't been able to touch Kate without her jumping or flinching.  Marissa's hand on his arm brought him back to the present.

"So, you're still grieving over it and processing it.  It takes a while, Gary, and when the man himself shows up...."  Marissa's voice trailed off meaningfully, and she let go of his arm, wrapping her long fingers around her cane instead.  "Gary, Kate loves you.  She will understand.   She's just dealing with her own fears now too, and it makes it hard to think straight.  I'm betting she hadn't seen Trevor in a while either."

Gary shook his head.

"No, she hadn't, not since the last time he--" He broke off, guiltily.

Marissa's eyebrows went up, but before she could respond another voice broke in.

"So it's true, then, what you said?  About Trevor hurting Kate?"  Chuck stood in the doorway, his dark shirt blending with the unlit stairwell behind him.  Paper in one hand, the other in his pocket, he looked uncomfortably serious, waiting to be invited in as well.

Gary waved him into the loft without getting up from his chair.

"Mind if I shed some light on the subject?"  Chuck asked.  Gary shrugged and Chuck hit the light switch beside the door, illuminating the loft before he settled on the arm of the couch opposite from Gary.  The paper he tossed landed on the coffee table between them.  Gary slouched further down in his seat as he stared morosely back and forth from his friends to the tabloid.

"Yeah, it's true.  I've seen enough just when we've..."  Gary stopped, blushing, then looked up at Chuck and Marissa, tired of trying to hide this sorrow from them.  "You haven't seen her flinch when I touch her, or sometimes, in, in, anyway, I startle her, and she just shuts down.  It's better now, than it was, or at least it was until Trevor's letter came.  I thought I would be enough to help her get over it completely.  But now, she doesn't want me--"

"Gary, it's not like your relationship is over.  You've disagreed before, haven't you?"  Sensing his nod, Marissa continued, sitting back against the couch and shrugging.  "It's part of every relationship.  You fight, you disagree, you make up.  It helps a relationship grow, be stronger.  And, I think this is a relationship that's going to last, for both of you."

Now Gary's eyebrows went up as he stared at his friend.

"You, you really think that?  That, that it will last?"  He couldn't keep the hope out of his voice.

Marissa nodded.

"Gary, I'll be honest: When you first told me about you and Kate getting married, it seemed awful fast, awful sudden.  Chuck was convinced you asked her to marry you just because you were sleeping together and you couldn't take the guilt."

Still perched on the arm of the couch, Chuck had the grace to look abashed as Gary stared at him wide-eyed

"You gotta admit, it all moved pretty darned fast, buddy."  Chuck's blue eyes were serious as he met Gary's gaze.  "I mean, you've been so paranoid about telling anyone about the paper, even your own parents found out by default.  And then in waltzes Kate and next thing we know, not only are you telling her about the paper, but you're marrying her and making her part of it all."

Gary's eyes narrowed.  There was more here than Chuck or Marissa was saying.  He sat up straight, some things finally making sense to him.

"And you two, you two'd been part of it since the beginning and you thought, you thought I was replacing you."  He wagged a finger back and forth at the two of them as he spoke.

Chuck looked at Marissa, obviously deferring an answer to her whether she could see him or not.  The lady in question shrugged and toyed with her cane for a moment before opening her mouth.

"Well, Gary, you can't deny Kate is a lot closer to you right now than we are."

"Kate's my wife.  Well, she's gonna be, anyway.  That's, that's, that's different.  You're my friends, my best friends, and you've been in on the paper from the beginning.  Kate's not interested in the paper, beyond it being what I do, and she never wanted to replace you, she's never tried.  She likes you both."

"Gary, she didn't have to try.  It's the nature of your relationship that she would replace us, at least somewhat.  Anyway, what it really means is that we just have to adjust to things being a bit different around here."  Marissa smiled.  "I could use some help when the testosterone gets thick sometimes, anyway."

Neither of the men with her cracked a smile, but they all felt the atmosphere lighten.  Marissa waited a moment, then took a deep breath.

"Hobson?"  They all turned towards the doorway.  Crumb stood there, leaning on the door jamb.  Gary jumped up.  Crumb's hand went out in a calming gesture.

"Just wanted to let you know, Kate's home, safe and sound. I checked out her apartment, no bogey men, and I made sure she locked the door behind me."  Gary nodded miserably, not sure what he had hoped the detective would say.  That Kate wanted him to come over?  That she needed him?  As if sensing his distress, the detective added, "She said she'd call you tomorrow, when she got home from school."  At Gary's crestfallen expression, the detective smiled.  "Don't worry, I put in a good word for youse.  She'll be fine.  Just give her a day to get over her mad.  You'll see."

With a slap to the door jamb and a nod to Gary, Crumb turned to go.

"Crumb?"

The detective stopped at the top of the stairs.

"Thanks."  Gary tried to say more than just the word, tried to say how much he appreciated Crumb not letting Kate go home alone tonight, not with Trevor out there somewhere, not with the bad feeling he'd had in his gut the last few days.   Crumb nodded again.

"You ain't the only one with a crystal ball, kid.  His kind, you don't need one.  I had him pegged as a louse when he walked in.  Now, the exact nature of his lousiness, that took a minute.  But the second I saw Kate with him, I knew.  It was obvious."  His rough face softened.  "She'll be all right, Hobson.  She's learned her lesson, and she'll get over him.  At least she picked better her second time around."

And with that backhanded compliment, the bartender went down the stairs.

Gary shifted uncomfortably, staring at the empty doorway.  Evenings with Kate were his routine now. What did he used to do before her?  Gary turned back to his friends as Chuck stood and helped Marissa to her feet, saying something about them being needed as well downstairs,.

"Guys..."  Gary waited while they both turned to him.  "Thanks."

Marissa just nodded and made her way out the door.

Chuck, being Chuck, had more to say than that.

"Well, hey, Gary, Kate's your choice.  And, I have to say, despite my original fears, she's a good choice. Ya done good buddy, and it's gonna be okay.  You'll see."

Gary nodded, and Chuck pulled the door closed behind him.  Running his hands through his hair, Gary turned about him.  His friends were probably right, but it didn't help his misery tonight.  He wanted to be with Kate, to hold her against the fear that he knew Trevor brought out in her, and he wanted to apologize for being the fool that he'd been shooting off his mouth tonight.  But, he wasn't going to apologize for going after Trevor.  Not after what that creep had done, and looking right at Gary...he shivered, suddenly, remembering the cold challenge in those blue eyes as Trevor reached for Kate's arm. Kate had been right, Trevor had been trying to provoke Gary into going after him.  Heart pounding suddenly, Gary found himself more worried than ever about just what the man was doing, reappearing in Kate's life like this, at this time.

The cat meowed at his feet, and he glared at it.

"You wouldn't have any help for me now, would you?  Something like a little article in that paper that comes with you, anything to tell me what the son of a bitch is really up to?"  The cat just blinked at him before settling down on the couch and lifting a paw to clean.

Gary shook his head, looking about him for the paper.  Well, it wouldn't hurt to look through today's paper once more, just in case.
 

"Turn if you may from battles never done..."

                    ---William Butler Yeats
 

Part 9
 

"Afternoon, Gary."

Gary looked up from his perusal of the paper as Marissa slid into the chair next to him.  How she always knew who was around never ceased to baffle him.  She'd told him once it was the scent of fresh gabardine that gave him away.  Now he didn't know what it was, but she was still sharper than most sighted people at discerning who was around her.  Dressed in a velvet magenta t-shirt and black slacks, braids pulled back into a bunch at the nape of her neck, Marissa was her usual casually elegant self.  With one arm she held her omnipresent braille volume close to her chest; the other hand held a small, wrapped package.  Her face wore the pleased expression that Gary associated with Marissa at her most self-satisfied.

The afternoon sun was bright, and the bar quiet.  A couple of patrons played a slow game of pool, and Robin checked inventory beneath the front bar, but the rest of the room was empty except for the table Gary and Marissa shared.  Looking over the newspaper at her and the package, Gary shifted his booted feet under the table.  What was she up to?

"Whose birthday?"

Marissa smiled.

"Oh, this is just something I had Chuck pick up for me earlier today.  Something I should have done sooner - much sooner than today."  She held the package out in his general direction.  "Congratulations, Gary."

Gary did a double take, his eyes moving from the rectangular gift back to Marissa a couple of times before he could bring himself to reach for it.  It was a book, he knew that immediately.  A small book, probably hardbound.  What kind of a book would Marissa buy him?  Now, if it was Chuck, well, he'd be worried he'd wind up with a copy of the Karma Sutra, but Marissa wouldn't do that.  He held the book for a moment, then put it down to fold the paper and set it aside.

"You, you, you didn't, you didn't have to do that."

Marissa shook her head.

"No, Gary, I should have done this a long time ago.  Two weeks ago, when you first told us about you and Kate."

Gary couldn't think of any response to that, so he picked up the book and began carefully removing the wrapping.  Marissa waited, chin in one hand.

"A Poet to His Beloved:  The Early Love Poetry of William Butler Yeats?"  Gary frowned.  Yeats?  Wasn't that who Kate was always quoting.  "Um, thanks.  Thanks, Marissa."

Marissa smiled, hearing the hesitation in his gratitude.

"Kate and I had a long talk about Yeats one night when she was waiting here.  You were busy with the paper.  She really likes him, has a lot of his stuff memorized.  And you know, there aren't many girls who can resist a guy who can quote a bit of poetry at the right time.  Not that you need that much help with Kate, but it can't hurt to be prepared.  Besides, it'll give you something to read to her on your wedding night."

Gary's head shot up, but Marissa was smiling at him.  He blushed, then frowned at her, useless as that was. Everyone around here seemed to be entirely too comfortable discussing his and Kate's... relationship.  Oh well, at least it wasn't Chuck.  He could almost be grateful to Trevor last night for giving Chuck something else to think about when it came to Gary and Kate.  Gary turned to back of slim volume, looking for the index.  Maybe he could find the poem Kate had quoted on the bridge that first night they'd spent together.

"Did you hear from Kate today?"  Marissa tried to be nonchalant, but when Gary glanced up from his perusal of the index something about her tone and the too casual look on her face belied her easy words.  She was too attentive, too focused on his answer.

Gary studied his friend for a moment before answering.

"Yeah."

Marissa waited for him to say more, chin still resting in one hand, the other restlessly ruffling the corners of her book's pages.  Gary sighed, looking back down at the book in his hand as he answered.

"She called me between classes this morning."  Suddenly, his eyes found a line he'd heard before, but not the one he was looking for.

Marissa's eyebrows went up inquiringly, all pretense of indifference forgotten.

"And?"

"We're fine.  Everything's fine.  I'm meeting her at her apartment this afternoon at four.  She wants to get me a ring, so we're gonna go shopping."

The line from the book stared up at him: *I do not know, that know I am afraid, of the hovering thing night brought to me.*  Kate had recited that one the night after Trevor's letter arrived.  He quickly checked the page, and found the poem, only to have the hair on the back of his neck stand up.  AN IMAGE FROM A PAST LIFE.  All too appropriate for what had happened here last night.

Marissa nodded, then frowned a bit when he didn't offer any more information.

"And Trevor?"

Gary froze, only his eyes moving as he looked over at his friend.  She sensed his unease, he could tell, as she shifted in her own seat.  The hand her chin rested on came down to play as well with the pages of the book in front of her as she sat up a bit straighter.  His own disquiet about the man had barely been under control all day.  The last thing he needed to do now was alarm Marissa.

"W-w-w-what about Trevor?"

"Don't play innocent with me, Gary Hobson.  You know I can't see that puppy dog face of yours, no matter how many people tell me you have it.  That man is an abusive, violent person.  He hurt Kate last night just to pick a fight with you.  Is he still out there?  Is she okay?  Are you okay?"  Marissa hesitated, then sat straight up, one hand reaching unerringly for his arm.  "What's the paper say?"

"Nothing.  There's nothing in the paper about Trevor.  As far as I know, he went back to Minnesota today, like he was supposed to."  Gary decided he really didn't need this conversation.

Marissa pursed her lips and thought for a moment, her hand heavy on his arm.

"You're sure he left?  He seemed pretty upset last night.  Did Kate tell you what was wrong with Trevor's papers?  Why she didn't want to sign them?"

Gary sighed, staring at the book in his hand for a moment before answering.  His gut feelings still insisted that they weren't done yet with Trevor.  He'd wanted to escort Kate to school and everything else today, but she had insisted she'd be fine in broad daylight.  She'd also drawn an uncomfortable parallel between his attitude towards her in this situation, and hers towards him with the paper.  Kate trusted him to exercise judgement and caution while doing what he had to do, without trying to hinder him or protect him more than he wanted her to.  She expected the same treatment from him.  Every instinct still screaming that the two situations were not comparable, Gary had been forced to concede her point, especially since the paper showed no signs of accommodating his desire to be with Kate.  Abruptly, he realized Marissa was still waiting for his answer.

"Um, she just said they didn't look right, she couldn't put her finger on it.  The biggest thing was the way he was pressuring her to sign them, not wanting her to look them over, and not giving her any time to have them checked out on her end."  Gary grinned, thinking of the solution he had come up with to that while talking with Kate today.  "I called Marcia this morning.  When Kate gets the papers, we'll take them to her to look over."

Marissa gasped, pulling her hand back before laughing out loud, shaking her head as she did so.

"Well, nothing like getting a little of your own back is there, Gary?"  Her voice was dry, amused, but Gary knew she understood.

They sat after that in companionable silence, Gary thumbing through the poetry volume, and Marissa's fingers flowing over her braille.  The paper was clear until tonight, and Kate would accuse him of being overprotective again if he followed his gut feeling and showed up at her apartment more than an hour before their date.  The clack of pool balls and the clink of bottles as Robin stocked the front bar the only sounds besides the rustle of turning pages in the room.  Crumb wasn't due in for a few minutes yet, and Chuck had left to run some errands.  He hadn't been specific about where he was going, and Gary was suspicious that it was traffic court - again.  Well, at least Chuck couldn't blame it on the paper this time.

Like fingernails squealing across a chalkboard, the yowling of a yellow tabby cat abruptly slashed across the peaceful ambience of the afternoon.  The animal landed in one great leap half on the table and half on the book in Gary's hands.  Marissa sat up straight again, instinctively pulling her own book back and holding it protectively up to her chest with both hands.

"Hey!"  Gary snatched Marissa's gift away, holding it off to one side as he checked for tears in the page, glaring at the cat as he did so.  Satisfied there were no rips in the new volume, he turned back to the cat, holding the book in one hand, finger marking his place.  He reached for it, planning to take it and dump it outside the front door of McGinty's.  The animal clawed his hand.

"Hey!"  He frowned at the scratches on his hand, eyes widening in surprise as he noticed they hadn't drawn blood.  Ears back and tail twitching, the cat crouched on the paper now, yellow eyes glaring balefully as it yowled at Gary.  Gary's eyes widened, as his stomach dropped.  This kind of a reaction usually meant something had gone wrong, terribly wro--*Kate!*  His stomach clenching now, Gary *knew* it had to be Kate.  His gut instinct had been right, he knew it had, and now Kate was paying the price for his ignoring it.  He should never have listened to her, never have let her go alone to--

"Gary?  What is it?"  Voice trembling, Marissa knew the cat well enough to know what such behavior portended.

"I don't know."

Dropping the book he held abruptly on the table, Gary reached for the paper.  The cat didn't object as he shoved it aside, frantically scanning the pages until--

Gary slammed his chair back.  But as he stood, Marissa stood herself, dropping her book to grab his arm with one hand.  Gary tried to pull his arm free, but she held firm.

"Gary!  What is it?"

He hesitated, knowing what she would say, what she would want him to do.  But, he'd never lied to her yet about the paper, and he wasn't going to start now.

"It's Trevor.  He's at Kate's apartment."  He spit the words out, quietly though, aware of the curious stares of the two pool players and Robin.

Marissa's eyes and mouth grew round.

"Oh my God, Gary, you've got to call 911, you've got to call Crumb at least you can't go over there by yours--" Marissa's voice rose.  Hands shaking, she tried to grab Gary's other arm, missing as he twisted away.  "You can't go by yourself," she reiterated, tightening her grip on the arm she still held.  "He'll kill you both."

Gary's jaw dropped.  How'd she...?  Jerking away from Marissa, he turned back to catch her as she stumbled and fell.  He made sure she was steady, but he also made sure she couldn't hold him back.

"Yeah, well, if I don't get there in time, there won't be a wedding.  So if you'll excuse me..."

Gary ran for the kitchen, ignoring Marissa's frantic pleas for him to wait.  If he took the van, he might make it in time.
 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
 

The door was locked.  Damn!  Paper clenched in one fist, Gary pounded on Kate's door with both hands, his heart pounding in time to his frantic blows.

"Kate!  Kate!  Open the door!  Kate!"  That was stupid, he thought angrily.  If Trevor was in there, no, not if, he thought, remembering the headline, he *was* in there, and Gary was out here and... he tried the door with his shoulder, but there was no give, none at all.  Shit!  He'd been grateful before for the sturdiness of the door, never stopping to think that it might not be Trevor it would keep out, but him. Gary froze, for a moment.  He heard something from inside the apartment,  someone crying out, maybe, and then nothing.

There was a creaking noise behind him.  He spun around to find Mrs. D'Amato staring at him from behind her door, open only as far as the chain lock would allow.  Wait a minute, didn't Kate say something about having had her neighbor water the plants when she was gone once?  Gary turned to her, the hand that didn't hold the paper out in front of him.  His face clearly visible in the hall light, the elderly lady quickly removed the lock and opened the door wider, though she stood warily inside her apartment, not venturing into the hall.

"What's wrong, Gary?"

"Th-th-th-the key!  Do you still have a key to Kate's apartment?"

"Well, yes, yes I think I do.  But why do you need it?  What's going on?  Are you two having an argument or something?"  Mrs. D'Amato looked him up and down, much as his Mom had when she was deciding just how much trouble he'd really gotten into as a child.

"Look, I don't have time to explain.  Kate's in trouble, and unless I can get in there to help her - look, please, Mrs. D'Amato, would you just give me the key?"  His voice sharp, echoing down the empty hallway, he gestured over his shoulder with the paper towards Kate's apartment as he spoke.  Gary advanced toward the elderly lady, hand out again, pleading.  "You know me, you've seen me with Kate, you know I wouldn't do anything to hurt her, but she's in trouble right now and--"

"Is that son of a bitch Trevor in town?"

Startled, Gary stared at her for a moment then nodded.  She hadn't waited for his answer.  He followed her into her apartment, a reverse image of Kate's, overly decorated in soft, plush furniture and with knick knacks everywhere.  Kate despised knick knacks.  She hated dusting that much stuff.  Mrs. D'Amato took a key from a hook on the wall next to her refrigerator.

Gary forced himself to take it gently, but once he had it he yelled back over his shoulder as he ran for Kate's door, "Stay in your apartment, and call the police for me, will ya?"  Mrs. D'Amato's answer was lost on him in his hurry to get to Kate.

Swinging the door to Kate's apartment wide, he dropped the paper on the chair by the door.  The first thing he noticed was the silence.  Gary swallowed, scanning the room quickly.  Two things registered simultaneously: Kate's bookbag, on the floor in front of him with books and papers from it sprawled out across the floor.  And Kate's bedroom door - closed.

Gary knew the tableau that greeted him as he burst through the door would be seared in his memory forever.  A struggling Kate lay sprawled on her back beneath Trevor on the bed.  Her green silk shirt ripped off, she clawed uselessly at the one huge hand he pressed over her mouth, pinching her nose between one long finger and thumb.  Trevor's other hand was groping beneath her skirt, pulled up almost to her hips, while his mouth roamed over the smooth roundness of her breasts above her brassiere.  Fists clenched, Gary's sight narrowed to only the man - no, the animal - abusing the same soft flesh that Gary had caressed so tenderly since that first night he made love with Kate, that first night his touch had begun to heal the raw wounds Trevor had left in her heart and soul.

Gary's own tightly held rage erupted, and he leaped at Trevor, grabbing Trevor's hair with both hands and hauling him off Kate.  His fist collided with Trevor's face before Trevor could get his bearings.  Gary didn't give him a chance, grabbing him up from the floor and kneeing him in the gut before yanking him out into the living room away from Kate.

"Kate!  Get out of here!  Kate!!"

Gary caught one glimpse of her, curled over on her side on the bed gasping for breath, before Trevor lunged for him, tackling him down to the floor.  He managed to dodge Trevor's fist as it slammed towards his face, taking a glancing blow on the cheek instead.  Somehow he got his hands around Trevor's throat.  The larger man clawing at Gary's fingers, they rolled over and crashed into the entertainment center.  Compact disks and cassette tapes and books showered down around them as they struggled.  Trevor's fist connected with Gary's side.  He let go of Trevor's neck, instinctively curling around his vulnerable vital organs.  Hardly even breathing hard, Trevor slugged him twice more in the kidneys, then reached for Gary's throat.  Gary head-butted Trevor, and the other man rolled away, holding his broken nose.  Staggering to his feet, Gary looked for Kate.  Damn!   Where was she?  He was certain she hadn't gone past him out into the hall.

Trevor claimed his attention again with a slashing blow to Gary's head.  The impact sent the smaller man staggering across the blue rug.  Blood pouring from a gash above his eye, he landed half on the floor, half on the overstuffed couch.  Trevor was on him as he tried to rise, landing several more body blows before grabbing the back of Gary's shirt.  The material ripped loudly as Trevor pulled Gary up, swinging him around and slamming him head first into the wall under the bar.

Gary gasped as little lights suddenly pinwheeled around him, the world behind the lights alternating flashes of dark and light.  Trevor hauled him up again and Gary's feet couldn't seem to find the floor.  Steadying him upright for a moment, Trevor buried a fist in Gary's stomach.  Gary doubled over, gasping for breath.  The battle paused.  Noises could be heard from the bedroom, the small clicks and rattles oddly loud in the stillness.  Holding him up by his shirt and one arm, Trevor bent close to Gary's face, an unholy gleam in his eye.

"You mean to tell me you haven't figured it out yet?"  His voice silky smooth, Trevor's fist contracted vise-like around Gary's arm.  Gary clawed at the fist with his free hand.  His fingernails found some purchase on the skin of Trevor's hand, but not enough.  Trevor put his lips next to Gary's ear.  "She liked it, Hobson.  It turned her on.  Why do you think she stayed with me for four years?"

"You, you, you're a lying son of a bitch, Howard!"  Gary stammered out, his vision now darkened by fury.  He swung wildly at Trevor and missed.  Trevor released his shirt, grabbing Gary's arm before he could connect again.  His smile oozed out around them.

"I guess I'll just have to demonstrate for you, won't I?  Show you what really turns our Kate on," he purred.  Trevor dropped Gary's arm, and landed what would have been a solid blow to Gary's jaw.  Gary recovered enough to jerk his head aside at the last minute.  Still, the blow left his head spinning again, and he fell heavily to the floor as Trevor released his other arm.

Blinking frantically to clear his vision of blood and stars, Gary saw Trevor's foot pull back.  He curled again protectively, managing to catch Trevor's foot as it connected with his ribs.  Gary yanked with all his strength as Trevor fought for his balance.  Somehow managing to fall forward instead of back, Kate's ex-husband landed directly on top of Gary.

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out.  Gary and Trevor both jumped, then froze.  Kate stood over them, a semi-automatic pistol aimed right at Trevor's head.

Gary stared at Kate in shock.  Marred by the angry black prints of Trevor's fingers, her face was hardened in a grimace of cold fury.  The green shirt down in pieces around her waist, more bruises could be seen darkening on her arms and chest.

"Get up!" she snarled.  Trevor got gingerly to his feet and backed away, hands up.  Gary pushed himself up on one elbow, wiping the blood away from his eye with one hand.  His chest heaving, he kept a wary eye on both Kate and Trevor as she backed him across the room.  Both men were very aware that while Kate herself was shaking, the gun was not.

"Kate..."  Trevor pleaded, his eyes huge.  Hand up, he licked his lips nervously.

"Just tell me why I shouldn't.  Give me one good reason," she hissed.  "Why shouldn't I?  After all you've done to me, there isn't a jury in this state who would convict me."  Her eyes electric with anger and her hair in disarray, Kate looked entirely capable of shooting the trembling man in front of her.

Gary swallowed, grimacing as he sat up, one hand grabbing at his ribs.  Kate wouldn't shoot, would she?  The article said...the paper!  Where had the paper gone?   Wiping the blood from the cut above his eye again, he watched Kate carefully for a second or two, before scanning the room for the paper.  There!  On the chair by the open door.  Gary stood and staggered over to the paper.  Kate was still speaking, though so low it was hard to hear her.

"...me I was stupid.  That it was all my fault.  Well, it's a bit different now, isn't it, Mr. Howard?  Not quite as much fun to slap me around when I've got something to hit back with, is it?  You know the hell you put me through?"  Her voice rising, she shook the gun at him.  Trevor flinched.  Kate smiled thinly.  "Yeah, I was stupid.  Stupid to stay with you after the first time you hit me.  But you know why I did, Trevor?  I loved you.  I loved the man I could see inside of you, and I thought maybe my love would be enough to help you be that man, forever. But it wasn't. Because you didn't love me in return.  Trevor is all that's ever mattered to you.  I never did, and that's why you never changed."

Gary carefully shook out the paper, and looked for the article he'd seen on page ten.  The article detailing the "love triangle shooting" in Kate's apartment that resulted in both his and Kate's deaths had disappeared, replaced by a story on publicly funded vouchers for private schools.  Gary leaned one shoulder against the wall for a moment, heaving a deep sigh of relief.

Kate advanced toward Trevor again, and he took another step back.  She smiled as he found himself against the wall in the dining room, with nowhere else to go.  Her voice was soft now, almost conversational as she raised the gun a bit higher, and settled her aim.  "I've found a better man than you'll ever be, and you're not gonna do anything to screw it up.  You're not going to do *anything.*  I'm not going to let you hurt me ever again, do you hear?"

Hands out, Trevor gulped loudly.  His eyes were open so wide Gary could see the whites all the way around his pupils.  He evidently couldn't think of anything to say in answer to Kate.

Kate didn't seem to care.  She stopped a safe distance away from Trevor, holding her aim.

"You know what I want from you Trevor?  I want an apology.  Two apologies.  One to me, and one to Gary."  Kate's voice was soft, but the gun she held never wavered, never moved.  Trevor hesitated, and she fired.

A little puff of dust came out of the wall about a foot from Trevor's head.  He looked startled, then caught Gary's eyes.

"You gonna let her get away with this?" he blustered, searching for some of his old arrogance.  But Gary's doubts about what Kate was doing had disappeared along with article.  Besides, he knew her better than that.  She was just trying to get back a little bit of the self-respect this man had taken from her.  Wiping the blood from his face with the back of his hand again, Gary stood up straight.  Outside, sirens wailed and brakes screeched.  The rest of the cavalry had arrived.

"Get away with what?  Looks to me like she's in complete control.  If I were you, I'd do what she wants."  Trevor stared at Gary in disbelief as he walked up to stand beside Kate.  She didn't look at Gary as she adjusted her aim, lowering it about half way down to the floor from Trevor's head.

"Do I get an apology or not?"  Her voice was a silken whisper wrapped around the iron hard demand.

Trevor gulped, and with one anxious look to verify the gun's aim, finally nodded.

"I'm sorry."  He sounded like he was going to throw up.  Gary took a deep breath and turned to Kate--

"Freeze!  Everybody just hold it where you are!"  Gary put his hands up as two police officers slowly advanced into the room, guns out.  Crumb appeared behind them, turning around with his arms out to block Chuck and Marissa as they crowded through the door behind him.
 

"Beloved, let your eyes half close and your heart beat
Over my heart, and your hair fall over my breast,
Drowning love's lonely hour in deep twilight of rest."

    --- William Butler Yeats
 

Part 10
 

Kate's bedroom door was closed again, had been since shortly after the second pair of officers had arrived, shortly after they had handcuffed Trevor and taken Kate's gun from her.  She'd given it up willingly, leaning shakily against Gary.  He quickly shrugged out of his shirt and put it around her, covering her with the material and his own embrace against the incredulous stares of both friends and strangers, unaware that the violence of his own encounter with Trevor could be tracked in the marks across his naked torso.

The police officers moved quickly to separate him from a now listless and subdued Kate, a grim-faced Crumb overriding Gary's protests with a hand on his arm and a gruff "They have to get statements, kid.  Let them do their job."  Gary stood silently, one hand still half reaching for Kate as they led her away.  An officer mumbled on in the background about Trevor's rights, and Gary knew Crumb was only reason he wasn't being hauled out the door in cuffs with Trevor - Trevor who screamed and cursed and lunged at both Gary and Kate as he was led away, and, when Kate cringed away from Trevor's abusive tirade, it was Crumb's abrupt grip again that kept Gary from getting himself in trouble.

Two police detectives arrived, one going directly to the officer with Kate.  After a couple of questions and a glance about him, he put a hand on her arm and pulled her towards the bedroom.  Kate resisted then, looking around as if searching for someone. Gary told himself it was him as he stepped forward, but his officer was in front of him, pushing him back. He'd started to force his way past anyway when Crumb stopped him with a word.  Chuck and Marissa were standing just inside the door, Chuck's arm around her protectively while he watched the goings on wide-eyed.  Kate was still pulling back as the two policemen led her into the bedroom.  Marissa stepped forward at Crumb's call; the on-duty detective reluctantly allowed her in the room before he closed the door.

Even in the midst of his own interview with the detective, the same man he'd dealt with when Hernandez had taken him and the DA hostage this last winter, Gary kept track of that door.  It didn't open; no one went in or came out.  Crumb finally halted today's interview with "His story ain't gonna change, Leon."  The two men retired to the other side of the room to compare notes, and Gary was left alone to watch as two women entered the apartment.  The one with the small black bag, petite with short black hair, was obviously a professional.  The other lady was tall and rotund, dressed in a tight black knit top with a pair of khaki breeches. Both women zeroed in on him after a quick glance around the room, glaring at Gary coldly as they held a short conversation with his detective.  They turned away then, heading across the living room to be admitted with a knock through the door into Kate's bedroom.

Gary kept his vigil as Chuck brought him a new dishrag to hold against the cut above his eye, one of Kate's good ones, Gary noticed blankly, before turning back to the closed door.  Kate's apartment wasn't silent anymore; police officers discussed their lives, their kids' dates and their wives' cooking as they collected and catalogued the evidence.  The flash on the police photographer's camera "poofed" each time he took a picture:  Kate's book bag and books all over the floor, the imprint Gary's head left in the wall, even Gary himself, front and back.  Radios squawked and hissed and the low murmur of voices rose and fell as bullets were dug out of the wall and the ceiling. Hunched on the couch, Gary rocked minutely back and forth, his eyes drawn again and again from the activity around him to the closed door on the other side of the room.  It seemed unbelievable that late afternoon sunlight should be streaming through the windows, that it wasn't pitch black night outside.  Gary shivered, chilled, then looked up into Chuck's unsmiling face as one of Kate's crocheted afghans dropped around his bare shoulders.  Who had she said made these for her?  Her grandmother?

Gary nodded once to Chuck, the concern in his friend's eyes vaguely registering, then turned back to his contemplation of the door.  The police photographer, a tall, skinny man in wrinkled clothes with hair and scraggly beard reminiscent of Errol Flynn, was admitted to Kate's room next, and Gary strained to see past the figure that opened the door.  He could make out nothing except Marissa sitting on the bed next to someone.  The sounds in the living room flowed up and engulfed the noise of the bedroom door closing again.  Gary sighed, his eyes shutting briefly before opening to find Chuck squatting in front of him, holding the paper out in one hand.

Gary shook his head, clutching at the afghan instead.  Chuck, after glancing around warily, carefully stowed the paper in his own back pocket.  He reached out hesitantly, laying one hand on Gary's knee.

"Hey, Gar.  It's gonna be all right."  Gary's gaze flicked briefly to his friend, and then back to the door.  He knew Chuck didn't know what to do with him, didn't know how to handle this situation.  Pollyanna and Jiminy Cricket were usually Marissa's roles.  He knew Chuck was right, that things were going to be okay, but he wanted nothing more right now than to hold Kate - to take her home, away from here, away from what Trevor had almost done to her, almost done to them.  If what he'd seen in the paper hadn't been prevented...

Gary shuddered now, eyes snapping shut reflexively as he saw the headline again, "Two dead in love triangle shooting."  But it hadn't happened, he'd gotten here in time, and when Kate had finally gotten to her gun, it had been after he got here, not before, not when she was alone and Trevor was still able to overpower her, shooting her with the weapon she'd planned on using to avenge herself.  Gary had gotten here in time, not too late, and instead of finding Trevor standing over Kate's lifeless body, instead of being shot himself while he struggled with Trevor for the gun, he and Kate were both alive.  Maybe not quite well, but they'd mend, and, if he could just get to Kate, he could hold her and the nightmares would go away and there'd still be a wedding in two weeks.

He didn't realize he'd whispered his thoughts aloud until he heard Chuck's sharp intake of breath.  His friend's blue eyes were wide with horror when Gary looked at him.

"That's what you saw?  That's what the paper said?"  Even in his incredulity Chuck remembered to keep his voice down, remembered the ears they didn't want to hear them, Crumb conversing quietly with the detective - Rob, was it? - in the background, the police officers still gathering their data, their evidence.  Gary nodded shortly, not wanting to dwell on the details, not wanting to think about what might have been.  He just wanted that door to open and the police to come out, and Kate to be released, set free from this nightmare, excused from reliving it over and over again as they questioned her.  Maybe if he said something to Crumb--

The door opened, the police photographer and the shorter of the two women who'd arrived earlier, the one with the black bag, exiting the bedroom.  Heading straight for Gary, she pulled the coffee table up and sat her black bag on it.   Chuck got to his feet with a flimsy excuse about getting Gary a drink of water or something and headed for somewhere else - somewhere beyond bruises and blood.  Introducing herself as Doctor Wu, the woman reached first for the rag Gary had been holding absently to his head for the last twenty minutes.

Some of the dried blood came away as the doctor pulled the rag off, and she spent the next few minutes trying to stop it again, applying several butterfly bandages after finally stanching the flow.  Gary shivered as she pulled the afghan aside to poke and prod his bruises, wincing as she probed some of the sorer spots.  Relieved when she declared no bones broken or even cracked, he willingly accepted the acetaminophen the doctor handed him.  Swallowing the pills without water, he looked up to find the doctor studying him carefully.  Apparently satisfied with what she saw, she rummaged in her bag again, pulling out a prescription pad and scribbling on it before ripping off the top copy and handing it to him.  When he took that copy, she quickly flipped the yellow copy over, and scribbled another prescription, ripping this one off, but not handing it to him.  She pointed at the first paper he held.

"That's for a stronger version of ibuprofen than you can get over the counter.  You both will probably need that today and tomorrow.  Don't be a macho man and not take it.  It'll help those bruises heal as well as make you feel better.  I gave Kate the same prescription."  Gary nodded, then looked questioningly at the other slip of paper the doctor held.  She followed his gaze.

"This is for Xanax.  For panic attacks.  Kate wouldn't take it, but I'm giving it to you, for her.  It's not uncommon for someone who's been through what she's been through today and in the past, to have trouble with panic attacks for a few days afterward.  Try to convince her to at least take one for the next couple of nights.  If nothing else, it will help her sleep."  Gary accepted the second piece of paper, gazing at it for a second.  Kate might not be the only one who needed these.  Looking up, he found the doctor staring at him, her face hard.  "I assume from what she said that she'll be going home with you?"

Gary nodded, not sure why the sudden change in attitude.

"Just be aware that your girlfriend is going to be a bit... fragile for the next few days.  She'll need a lot of understanding and a listening ear and a lot of positive touch with a minimum of sexual involvement."

His face burning, Gary stared slack-jawed at the woman.  What did she think he was, anyway?  Gary fought the sudden lump in his throat, forcing the words out.

"She's, she's, she's not my girlfriend, we're getting married - in 10 days."  Barely above a whisper, his voice sounded strange, almost hollow, in his own ears.

Doctor Wu harumphed as she closed her bag.

"Just don't forget that prescription, okay?"  Looking up, she caught his gaze again, and something of his heartbreak for what Kate had endured must have shown in his eyes.  Her own gaze softened somewhat.  "Look, believe it or not, you both got off easy.  And, from what I can tell, your gir- fiancé," she amended, "is a strong woman, inside and out.  Physically she'll be fine in a few days, and if you take good care of her, she'll be fine inside as well."

The door to the bedroom opened then, and the two police men came out, followed by the doctor's companion who, catching Gary's eyes on her, pulled the door abruptly shut behind her.  Sentry like, she stood by the door, glaring at Gary.  The detective ignored everyone else in the room, heading over to confer with Leon and Crumb by the door.  Gary stood, the afghan sliding from his shoulders, watching the conversation.  The doctor packed up her bag, and, with a brief nod toward Gary, joined them.  She shook her head at the cop's question, stating loudly there was no need for further medical attention.

"Here, give me those."

Gary looked blankly at Chuck, then at the two white slips of paper clutched in his hand.  He handed them over mechanically, barely noticing Chuck carefully filing them away in his wallet.  One last exchange between the four by the door, and the doctor gestured to her companion.  They left, followed by the only two police officers remaining.  The two detectives and Crumb approached Gary, the elder one speaking first as Crumb came over to stand beside him.

"We're going to need you to come down to the station to go over and sign your statements, both of you."

Gary frowned.

"Now?"

The younger detective opened his mouth, but Crumb spoke first.

"It's okay, Hobson, it won't take long."  He looked at Gary for a minute, then turned to his friend.  "Why don't youse guys run along.  I'll bring these two down in a bit.  You gotta get those statements typed up anyway."

The detective gave Gary a long look, then glanced at Crumb and nodded.

"Okay."

Gary didn't wait, didn't say goodbye, just headed immediately for that door.  It opened before he got there,   Marissa stepping out first, a small canvas bag in one hand.  Kate stood right behind her, clad now in a long-sleeved purple tunic and a pair of jeans.  Her hair loose about her shoulders, her eyes were swollen above the fat sausage-like bruises on her face.  She held another of his shirts in her hand, offering it to him as he approached, but Gary ignored it, gathering her instead in his arms, carefully, gently, aware of both their bruises.  Her head resting on his bare shoulder, he held her close and stroked her hair, the room around them fading away until he was aware of nothing but the beat of her heart against his, the warmth of her in his embrace and against his body.

Marissa's quiet "Is he okay?" fell loudly into the silence, followed by Chuck's uncertain "I think so."  Someone cleared his throat at that, and then Crumb's voice said, "We'll be outside when you need us, kid."  Gary nodded to let them know he heard, but nothing mattered right now, nothing but the woman in his arms.

It was several minutes later when he released her enough to look in her eyes.  Kate brushed her hand softly across the bruise on his cheek.  Her eyes dark with sorrow, she took a breath.  Gary shook his head.

"No."  He pulled her to him again, ignoring the protest of his stiffening muscles.  Kate leaned against him for a minute, before stepping back and offering him the shirt once more.  Gary shrugged into it this time, then reached for her hand.

"Let's go."

Kate nodded mutely, and they turned and walked out of the apartment without looking back.
 

"How many loved your moments of glad grace,
 And loved your beauty with love false or true,
 But one man loved the pilgrim Soul in you,
 And loved the sorrows of your changing face..."

    ---William Butler Yeats
 

Part 11
 

The stairs to the loft were the last obstacle in the hectic day.  His watch had said 11:18 as he arrived at Cabrini Green; Gary was sure it must be midnight by now.   At least he'd been able to wake the parents in time.  The father had stared at him suspiciously, but the mother had taken no chances.  She backed away and then ran for the child sleeping soundly in the front bedroom just as the blue Lexus came screeching around the corner.  Gary tackled the husband as the first random shots rang out; both men tumbling down into the bushes beside the door.  Surprisingly enough, no one was hurt.  Well, not seriously hurt.

Rubbing the back of his neck as he slowly ascended the stairs, Gary thought longingly of the Jacuzzi in the Honeymoon cottage at Sand Lake Country Inn.  Kate's parents had presented them with a week at the Bed and Breakfast as a wedding gift.  Gary was determined he and Kate would return to the little inn on the Oregon coast - soon and often.  But in the meantime it was as if the paper had decided he'd had too much of a break, and was trying to get revenge with a heavy slate of daily rescues.  They'd only been back a week and a half, and Gary was about ready to trash the darn thing.  He kept dropping hints to the cat about how nice the pound was this time of year.

The heavy curtains Kate had hung on the inside of the door couldn't block all the light streaming from the loft.  Gary shook his head.  He'd told Kate the last time he'd spoken with her not to wait up for him; she had a department meeting early in the morning at the university.  The ring on his left hand caught the light as he reached for the doorknob, unable to stop the smile that broke across his face at the thought that his wife had waited up for him.  Just as he turned the knob, he stopped short, staring at the stool beside the door.

It was Kate's piano stool, the one she kept in her bookroom at the other apartment.  Hand on the doorknob, his gaze traveled up from there to find Kate's three large oak bookshelves lined along the wall.  He stepped back for a moment, quietly taking in the neat rows of books - mostly Kate's, he noticed.  Well, he'd have to move some of his out here and make room for some of hers inside.  Where to put her books had been one of the most pressing problems about moving Kate into the loft.  He'd been in her apartment a dozen times before he realized that the extra door in the living room led not to a closet, but another bedroom - a bedroom with no room for a bed because of the stacks and stacks of books that filled it.

Well, hey, this worked.  Once they got the outside entrance put in, and eliminated the access to the loft from the kitchen, this would be almost like another room out here in the hall.  The shelves had been languishing in McGinty's basement since the two families had packed up all her stuff the week before the wedding.  Gary wasn't sure he liked the idea of Kate moving those heavy bookshelves without help - surely she'd gotten someone to do it for her?  He shrugged.  Kate would do what Kate would do; he'd learned that by now. Come to think of it...he looked the other direction and there by the window at the top of the landing stood several of Kate's larger plants and a big cane chair.  They looked like they belonged, Gary decided.  Better than the forest the loft had become while the two of them tried to sort out what stayed and what went.

The knob turned silently.  Stepping into the loft, Gary's greeting died on his lips and he grinned instead.  Book open flat across her chest, Kate was stretched out on the couch, one arm over her eyes and the other draped down onto the floor.  Her long legs crossed at the ankle, she wore one of Gary's baseball jerseys and not much else.  The cat was curled up in her lap, purring.   Music played softly in the background; Gary quickly identified it as the Scott Joplin cd she'd bought in Portland on their honeymoon.

His keys dropped quietly on the table beside the door, along with the cell phone his mother had handed him just before she and his dad left.  They'd stayed while Gary and Kate were gone, taking care of the paper and keeping an eye on the remodelers putting a real kitchen in the loft.  Gary made Kate promise never to give Chuck the number, but he had to admit the cell phone had been a good idea.  But then his mom would say that's what mothers were for.

Something wasn't quite right as he looked around the loft, and he paused for a moment, trying to put his finger on it.  Barring the corner where the pinball machine had been, it looked much as it had before Kate moved in.  The kitchen was the biggest change, and Kate's desk and computer now filling the corner opposite.  Chuck had been more than happy to "store" the pinball machine.  Gary figured he'd just tell Chuck it was an early Christmas present or something.  Even if he and Kate did get moved out into a bigger house someday, he doubted Chuck would want to give it up.

The boxes!  The boxes he and Kate had been wading through for the last two weeks were entirely gone, and the apartment was spotless.  Wow, Kate had really been busy today.  Gary took a minute to survey the large room.  They'd kept his furniture mostly, since it was generally newer than hers.  But Kate's table and chairs had replaced his.  The flowers he'd brought last night stood in the middle of the table in a Mason jar.  The kitchen bar was clear; behind it he could see the floor to ceiling wooden cabinets Kate had picked out shining dimly in the light from the lamp.  The brass teapot gleamed from the stove.  Most of Kate's fine art prints leaned against the wall next to the door.  Those they'd agreed to sort through together.  Though if they were going to put books and stuff out in the hall, there was no reason a couple of those couldn't go outside.  Kate's taste leaned towards modern art, but Gary wasn't sure he wanted a Salvador Dali print staring at him every morning when he woke up.

The cat raised its head, blinking sleepily as Gary knelt beside Kate.  He shot it a hostile look as he gently lifted the book, looking around for a minute before finding her bookmark on the floor by an empty tea cup.  Placing the thin paper in the book and closing it on the table, he put one arm on the floor and one arm against the back of the couch as he leaned over and kissed the tip of Kate's nose.

She sighed and stretched a bit before moving her arm away from her eyes.  Gary kissed her cheek as Kate shifted, blinking sleepily at him once or twice before his lips found hers and he gathered her up in his arms.  Her arms came around him and for the next few minutes there was no sound in the apartment but the lilting  Ragtime music - and the disgusted thump of the cat's feet hitting the floor as Kate moved over to make room on the couch for Gary.

Stretching out on the couch with his arms around her, one of Kate's legs draped over him and her head resting on his shoulder, Gary closed his eyes and sighed.  This was one of the things he had missed most about being married: simple togetherness, the not-being-alone-ness.

"You got to the family in time?"  Kate's query was soft; he knew she knew the answer already.

He tightened his arms around her for a moment and kissed her before answering.

"Yeah.  They didn't want to listen to a white guy, at least the dad didn't, but the mother, well, she didn't care what I was. She headed for the kid right after the dad tried to tell her to go call the cops on me.  Between her and me, father and son are fine."  Gary laid his cheek against her hair.  "Funny thing was, after everything calmed down she said she recognized me.  Last spring I caught a toddler that fell out of a window there.  She remembered me from that."

Kate smiled.

"It's that apple-pie face of yours.  Once someone gets a good look at it, they don't forget it."

Gary shook his head.

"You've been talking to Marissa, haven't you?  What's she told you?"

Kate shrugged, her fingers toying with the buttons on his shirt.

"Oh, lots of things."  She chuckled.  "Things I promised not to tell you.  She has to have something to hold over you - just in case."

"Wha- just in case what?"

Gary shifted, trying to see Kate's face.  The laughter in her blue eyes was a welcome change from the haunted expression they'd had all too often in the last two days, ever since a grim-faced Crumb informed them that Trevor had been extradited back to Minnesota.  There he faced assault and battery charges, filed several times over by his second wife.  Crumb had apologized to Kate, but couldn't change the fact that the city of Chicago had seen no need to waste their taxpayers' dollars on a trial, not when another jurisdiction was slobbering over trying the lout.  Kate hadn't said much, hadn't said anything at all, really, and Gary had been more than a little worried about her.

Trevor's second ex-wife, Gary amended silently.  He was sure Trevor's recent divorce was the reason the man had come to see Kate instead of just mailing the paperwork to begin with.  That and the fact that Marcia had seen right through his little ploy.  Any good lawyer would have.  Kate's signature on his paperwork would have forced her to leave her share of the money from the sale of the property in Trevor's hands - for "reinvestment."

Tonight Kate tapped his chest with one finger and smiled enigmatically.

"Well, if I was you, I'd be more worried about what Chuck told me."

Gary did a double take.

"Chu- Chuck?  Wha-wha-what'd he say?  What'd he tell you?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out."  With that ultimatum, Kate sat up, brushing a stray lock of hair out of her eyes.  She smiled again at Gary's consternation.  "Are you hungry?"

Mind racing with possibilities of what his best friend might have said that could incriminate him, Gary nodded.

"Yeah, yeah, I am."

Kate climbed over him, and then he sat up.  Mouth open, pointing at her as he thought about what Chuck could have said, Gary suddenly realized he might not want to know.  Closing his mouth, he shook his head and grinned, then followed his wife to the kitchen.  She had pulled a plate out of the refrigerator and was watching it go around in the microwave when he came up and leaned back against the counter beside her, arms crossed over his chest and one foot crossed over the other.

"You worked hard today."

Kate nodded absently, fingering the hot pad she held, her eyes on the rotating plate of spaghetti.

"Chuck and Marissa helped me.  It took most of the day, and Chuck got a couple of the guys from the bar to help with the bookshelves, or we'd never have gotten them in place."

"They were here all day?"

Kate smiled when she looked up, affirming the hope in his voice.

"Yeah.  I'd never have finished it if it wasn't for them.  Probably would have just called Good Will to come take everything and started over.  Marissa is amazing.  I have to remind myself she's blind sometimes."

Gary looked out over the apartment.  He could almost see the three of them here working together: Chuck wisecracking and complaining, Marissa twitting him about stuff, deflating his ideas and quips as fast as he could sling them.  Kate's gentle laughter and dry sense of humor would fit right in, he knew.  Shaking the vision away, something inside his heart settled into place.  Despite the new beginning after Trevor's attack, Kate and Chuck and Marissa were still very much strangers, united mostly by the paper and their various relationships with him.  He'd been hoping they would be able to establish a friendship of their own, outside of him.  From the sounds of what went on today, that was beginning to happen.

The microwave dinged, and Kate took the plate out.  Gary followed her, pausing to grab some silverware out of the drawer before joining her at the table.  His stomach growled suddenly, and he sniffed deeply of the steam rising from the plate.  He really was hungry.  Kate went back to the fridge, and came back with two glasses and a pitcher of tea.

"It's decaf," she answered his unspoken question, smiling as she did so.

The loft was silent again as he ate, except for the new cd playing in the background.  It took Gary a minute to place this one: Rent.  Kate was passionately fond of musicals, and he supposed he'd be learning most of them now that she had unpacked her cd collection.  Glancing over at her, he paused, then laid his fork down to reach for her hand.

"Kate?"

She looked up from her perusal of the glass of amber tea.  Their pupils wide in the dim light, her eyes looked almost black, serious and somber as the unsmiling expression on her face. Gary frowned, and opened his mouth, but Kate shook her head.  He closed it as she looked away, back at the glass on the table for a minute, then around the loft before turning back to him.  The cat appeared, purring at their feet.  It wound around Kate's ankles before settling down next to her chair.  Kate took a deep breath.

"I never told you what happened in the apartment... with Trevor."  She shivered, and Gary pushed his empty plate aside, reaching for her other hand.

"You don't have to.  I read the reports."

Crumb had brought them to him, though he'd done his best to dissuade Gary from reading Kate's.  Gary had insisted, though.  It was probably a good thing Trevor was behind bars already, or Gary would have joined him there shortly.  He fought the rising tide of anger as he remembered the words on the paper, words his wife had said, words that described Trevor's attack, the near rape she had suffered at Trevor's hands.

Kate squeezed his hand, and Gary was drawn back to the present.

"No, this is something I didn't put in the reports, something I didn't tell anyone.  I couldn't, I didn't realize it all myself, until today.  Until tonight, when I was here alone, thinking about Trevor.  I found myself panicking, wanting to lock all the doors and hide because he might come back."  She chewed on her lower lip and looked away for a moment, then caught Gary's eyes briefly before looking down at their clasped hands.

"When Trevor came up behind me, when he grabbed me and pushed me into the elevator, I was so scared."  She laughed once, mirthlessly.  "I was terrified.  I knew what he had on his mind, knew what he was going to do.  Even if I hadn't known, he was telling me all his plans.  Then he started talking about you, started telling me that you didn't really love me, that you were only interested in getting me into bed, and that once he was done with me, you wouldn't want me anymore, wouldn't be attracted to me anymore.  Between what he was saying, the pain in my arm where he was squeezing it, and the realization that I had another hour before you were supposed to come pick me up, I was getting more scared by the minute.  I didn't even try to stop him when he took my keys."

Gary nodded, frowning a little.  That had all been in her report; the verbal threats, the things that bastard had said to her had been part of what had sent him into a rage when he read it.  Crumb had insisted on taking Gary out to the park for a long walk afterward, long enough and far enough away for Gary to blow off his steam and make it home without a side trip to the jail.  Crumb's words still rang in Gary's ears.

"Youse gonna let that guy turn you into what he is?  ‘Cause that ain't what Kate needs, another guy who can't control his temper, can't keep himself from blowing up when he gets mad."

Mouth open, Gary had stared at the retired detective in shock.  Crumb shook his head at Gary's unspoken protest.

"I know you're mad, and I know you have every right to be.  But you gotta get over this, gotta put it behind you. ‘Cause Kate needs you to.  She needs you to be able to go on with your life, if youse expect her to be able to go on with hers."  Crumb's gruff face had softened.  "Look, the creep's in jail, gonna be for a long time.  I got enough contacts, we'll know if and when he ever gets out."  One gnarled finger pointed at Gary's chest.  "You gotta put him and what he did to Kate behind you.  ‘Cause if you can't, you'll wind up just like him.  Trust me on this, I seen it before."

Forced to acknowledge the truth in the older man's words, Gary hadn't known what to say in response to them.

Kate's grip on his hand tightened, the echo of Crumb's words fading before her soft voice tonight.  It took a minute for what she said to register.

"What I didn't tell anyone was that when we got into the apartment, Cat was there."

Gary stared at her, then at the purring feline at her feet.

"Cat?"

Kate nodded, her gaze following his down to the animal.  Cat stood and pawed at her leg.  Pulling her hands free from Gary's, Kate picked it up and settled it in her lap, stroking the ginger fur as the cat purred contentedly.

"He was sitting on the back of the couch.  I didn't see him at first, I was so freaked out about Trevor.  But then Trevor let go of me to shut the door, and Cat sat up and jumped in my arms.  That's when I dropped my bookbag, when I was trying to catch him."  She shifted uneasily in her chair, glancing up at Gary.  Arms on the table, he leaned forward, waiting quietly for her to continue.  She looked back at the cat for a moment, considering.  She swallowed, and this time her glance was apologetic.

"I always used to just sort of shut down inside when Trevor got violent.  He liked it better when I struggled, when I fought him, so if I let him have his way, he'd be done quicker, leave me alone sooner.  It didn't hurt as much then, if you didn't think, if you didn't let yourself care it was happening to you."  She hesitated, rubbing the cat, unable to meet Gary's eyes.  "That's what I was doing that afternoon, shutting down, running away inside myself.  I would have...I would have just let him..."

Her voice a mere whisper, she stared blankly at the wall across from them, her hands faltering then ceasing their motion.  The cat meowed quietly in protest.  Kate shook her head, as if waking from a trance.  She began to rub the cat's jaw again, and its delighted purr filled the small silence before she spoke again.

"If, if it hadn't been for Cat, I, I wouldn't have tried to stop him.  I honestly didn't think I could survive being with him again, not after being with you, not after we..."  She gulped and stopped, staring down at the cat.  Gary reached for her shoulder, and she blinked away tears as she met his gaze.

"It's all right.  I understand, and I would have understood."  His voice was soft, and Kate looked away before looking back at him, her eyes shining.  She nodded, and Gary caressed her cheek before claiming one of her hands in his as he waited for her to continue.  She swallowed her sobs, and went on, her voice stronger, more confident.

"But when I saw the cat, all of a sudden I knew I couldn't do that.  I couldn't surrender to Trevor what you and I had shared."  Still petting the cat, Kate shook her head, then looked directly at him.  "I couldn't let him do that to me - to us.  Even if he killed me, I couldn't let him destroy what you had given me.  I had too much self respect, too much hope now, to just give up like that.  Then the cat looked at me, and I realized that if what Trevor had in mind made the paper, there was a good chance you would see it, and you would get there before--" she swallowed hard, and Gary's hand tightened on hers.  "You might even be on your way, and if I fought him, if I didn't just give in, then the chances were even better that nothing serious would happen, that I'd be okay, and you'd be there in time and..."  Her voice trailed off, and her eyes pleaded with Gary to understand.

Gary stared back at her for a minute.  He'd felt guilty about the fact they hadn't waited to sleep together until they were married, had known that Kate felt guilty about it too.  But they had both been so lonely, it was like trying to stop the stampede when a thirsty herd finally scented water.  He'd given in, and so had Kate. They'd shouldered the guilt, and Gary'd tried hard to ignore the look in his mother's eyes when she realized that Kate was already moved in to the loft before the wedding.  Yet...

If what Kate was saying was true, if they hadn't made love, if they hadn't been together before Trevor came, she very probably would have surrendered to him, would have let him abuse her, again.  She wouldn't have known how different things could be, that what she had experienced at Trevor's hands was never love.  And then she would have tried to shoot Trevor after he was finished with her and he would have taken the gun from her and...

"Cosmic whiplash," Chuck had called it.

The chair squeaked across the hardwood as he pushed it back and the cat thumped on the floor again as Kate came to him, curling up in his lap.  He held her close, felt her heart beating next to his, felt her shaking, felt her joy when she finally looked in his eyes.

"I won, Gary. *We* won even before I pulled the gun on him."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It wasn't until the next morning that Gary noticed the long slender box in the bathroom wastebasket.  Jaw dropping, he pulled it out to be sure.

*e p t - fast, accurate home pregnancy test*

Shaving cream still slathered over most of his face, razor in hand and towel wrapped securely around his waist, Gary stood in the bathroom door, holding the box by its lid between his thumb and one finger.  Kate hummed softly to herself as she sat on the bed brushing her long dark honey-coloured hair.

"Kate?  Hon?  I-i-i-is, is there, is there something--is there something you haven't told me?"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
 

"O hiding hair and dewy eyes,
I am no more with life and death,
My heart upon his warm heart lies,
My breath is mixed into his breath."

            ---William Butler Yeats
 

Don't forget to feed the author!  nonniemous

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