MoonFish--Surprise Visit--Part 8--FINALE

*pant pant pant*


So this is it. It was supposed to be a "ficlet" but in reality, it's about 15K--so a full out novella. Now honestly, I don't think this is publishable because too much relies on things from other books, so it's still going on the back of Fish on a Bicycle.

But one of the fun things about following me on social media is you get to see it now.

Enjoy!

Surprise Visit!--Part 8

Jackson couldn’t keep his eyes off monstrosity dangling over his head.

“Really?” he asked nobody in particular.

“I was about to say the same thing,” Ellery muttered, staring in the same direction. “I mean, apart from being hideous—”

“It’s gonna fall on our heads and kill us all?”

The hideous thing in question was a large plywood rainbow arch, painted in neon colors—badly—and suspended about thirty feet off the ground using nylon cord in the branches of trees, and a cherry picker. Besides looking garish and unhealthy, it also looked… precarious. Damned precarious.

Jackson looked at Ellery, and they both looked at his mother, who was lingering over a table of admittedly lovely blown glass baubles that had caught her eye.

“We need to get her away from this thing,” Ellery said, and Jackson nodded in return, his blood running just the tiniest bit cold. This had been the longest four days of his life—but he was damned if it would end with Lucy Satan’s blood on his hands.

He gave the sign, which read, “Crafty, Free, LGBQT!” another dubious look and caught a flash of something shiny from a gap in the cherry picker.

Fucking aces.

With a shake of his head he turned towards Ellery’s mother, who was charmingly terrorizing the poor blue-haired waif behind the counter.

“So, these were blown by your wife? That’s wonderful. Is that her there?”

“Yes ma’am.” She nodded at a tanned, wiry woman waiting on another customer. “She’s been learning the craft from her uncle since she was in high school.”

“Well this must be her calling. And did you make the felted bags they go into? Because they complement the artwork so very well.”

Blue-haired waif smiled weakly and looked toward her wife, who was not in rescuing position. “Thank you,” she squeaked. “We, uh, like color.”

They did indeed. The glass globes were done in a variety of techniques, from color diffused throughout the glass, to the kind that looked like flowers in the center, to the kind with abstract shapes drawn throughout the sphere, the colors undulating and receding with the angle.

Jackson smiled and winked at the poor woman, not talking because he sort of got that wasn’t her thing. Instead he peered at the artwork, as fascinated by the colors as Ellery’s mother seemed to be.

“Which one do you like?” Lucy Satan asked, and for once he didn’t get defensive or snark at her. For one thing, the girl watching them was fragile, and she might not get that with them, being bitchy was a bit of a dance.

“Mm…” Jackson ran his finger down one that was a cluster of white and ebony flowers, with hints of green. “That one’s very Ellery, except it’s a little girly. But pretty.” He smiled at the waif again. She smiled back gratefully. “This one…” He had to reach out and touch it. The colors were rich brown and bright magenta, and they reminded him of his sister’s hair. Back before it had been a thing, Jade had found a way to put a strip of that bright puplish pink in her rich brown hair. She’d done it as tightly kinked curls, she’d done it as waves. Even when they’d been in high school and she hadn’t had the money to get her hair “done”, she’d bought a box of something totally inappropriate for her hair and combed it through her tight mahogany-bronze ringlets. The dye had lasted until her next wash, of course, and she’d needed to cut the ends off because it had fried them completely, but she’d loved that color.

His sister of the heart—he’d put her and her boyfriend through a lot this past year. And she hadn’t wavered, not once. It had been her idea to break off the on-again-off-again thing between them—which was good, because they’d both fallen in love with other people. But she was a lesson—a true good lesson—in how love, real love, wasn’t something you could just fuck away.

“This,” he said thoughtfully. “Reminds me of Jade.”

“It does indeed,” she said.

Jackson risked a look at her, and she was regarding him thoughtfully.

“Did you and Ellery decide on the office?” she asked, catching him by surprise.

“The one on F street.” He sighed. “The parking is going to suck, but you know, he really loves the inside.”

“And you’d do anything for him, wouldn’t you?”

Jackson nodded. “Well, yeah.”


She patted his hand. “I appreciate the two of you, doing what I asked this week. Not asking questions.” She let out a little sigh, and he wondered if she was as tired as he was. “I think I was asked to come here because you and Ellery could handle this situation, and Ellery’s father…”

“Is too sweet for words.”

She gave a throaty little laugh. “IT’s really so very much easier for us to be in danger, isn’t it? Than to let our loved ones be?”

Jackson nodded, and out of instinct, he looked up at the cherry picker.

Burton was standing up and sighting somebody in the cherry picker!

Jackson grabbed Ellery’s mother and wrapped his shoulders around her, hating that she was six inches shorter than he was, even in her pumps. With a quick look around he saw Ellery, standing under the sign, head cocked like he couldn’t’ figure out what in the hell Jackson was doing.

And beyond him, he saw a motorcycle, veering toward them, ready to go up and over the sidewalk and into the crowd like it was out of control.

From far away, he heard Burton shouting “Rivers, get down!” at the same time he said, “Ellery move!”

And then…

Burton had never almost frozen in his entire life.

He’d had them all in his sights. The happy little family, looking at doo-dads, Ellery standing a few paces off, apparently entranced by his mother and Rivers making nice. Wasn’t that fucking adorable, right?

Then Jason had spoken up in his earbud. “I got Charley One, repeat, got Charley One. Charley Two is inbound motorcycle, heading east down K street. He has no options, repeat zero options.”

Uh oh. Bad guys with zero options often got desperate. Burton disregarded invisibility and stood to spot the motorcycle when he saw two things.

One was Jackson, wrapping his body around Ellery Cramer’s mother, and the other was Cramer, standing right in the way of the motorcycle straight toward him.

And then the third thing. The big assed nylon cord, the granddaddy of sailor’s knots that held the entire hideosity of a sign up from this side.

He screamed, “Rivers, get down!” at the same time Jackson screamed, “Ellery move!” and then he prayed for timing and pulled the cord.

Ellery didn’t give a shit what everybody was yelling. Jackson was protecting his mother bodily and Ellery had to go help him. He lunged for the two of them, knocking them both to the ground just as the giant piece of plywood swung down and knocked off some poor asshole on a runaway motorcycle that was heading for the craft fair.

The cycle went sideways and slid across the concrete, coming to a stop about a foot away from Ellery’s backside as he lay on the ground, feeling foolish. The rider—wearing black leathers with a yellow helmet—got unsteadily to his feet and was reaching around behind him for something when suddenly he fell to his knees, and then on his face.

Ellery’s eyes went wide as a thin trickle of blood came out of his helmet and a gun went skittering across the sidewalk.

And out of nowhere, an ambulance pulled up.

Jackson and Ellery’s mother were still climbing creakily to their feet as the ambulance guys—no medics Jackson or Ellery had ever met, and they knew this beat pretty well—gathered the cyclist up and put him on a gurney without even taking off his helmet. Given the lack of movement as a whole, Ellery suspected the helmet was probably holding all the cyclist’s brains in, after the bullet had liberated them from the rider’s skull.

As they clambered to their feet and checked for bruises, Ellery caught Jackson looking over their heads and nodding, before going back to making sure Ellery’s mother and Ellery didn’t have any scrapes.

Jackson, of course, had bloodied his elbow going down, because Jesus Christ, that man.

As the crowd started muttering to itself and stopped looking for police—who didn’t appear to be coming—and nobody noticed that the motorcycle had just seemed to pick itself up and drive away—Ellery looked a question at Jackson.

“So….?”

Jackson shrugged and smiled wearily—and then jumped and checked his pocket. “Uh, so, Lucy? We can go the fuck home now.”

For a moment Ellery’s mother sagged, looking a little older, and a little fragile, and a little like she’d actually needed that protection after all.

Then she stood upright and gave Jackson a level look. “Of course, dear boy. But if you will excuse me, I have a purchase to make, and I’d really love to see the rest of the booths here, don’t you think?”

Jackson let out a little laugh. “Of course, Lucy Satan. Of course.”

They stood back and let Ellery’s mother make her purchases, and Ellery put his hand solidly on the small of Jackson’s back.

“So, is it over?”

Jackson pulled out his phone. One bad guy dead, one in custody. Will text you tonight with the all clear. Nice reflexes, by the way.

As Ellery watched, Jackson texted, Thanks for the apple fritters.

And that was all. “Wow,” Ellery muttered. “So, do we still have to go to the game tonight?”

Jackson just looked at him. “After we’ve invited Jade and Mike? Do you really think your mom is going to cancel now?”

Ellery groaned.

No. No she would not. But they would get to go home and have dinner there and spend some time on the couch. And since his mother couldn’t get another flight out until the day after next, they had an actual day to sit quietly and visit, while Jackson swam laps in the pool and tried really really hard to forget the last five days had ever happened.

Good luck with that, though.

Before she left, Ellery’s mother gave them a charming hosts’ gift.

A hand blown paperweight, with the unlikely color combo of bronze and magenta mingling in the center. Jackson had smiled as he’d unwrapped, and set it down on it’s felt coaster with surprisingly respectful fingers.

Ellery had just cocked his head.

“You don’t like it?” his mother inquired.

“Mm… not my colors,” he said diplomatically.

“Well then, think of it more as Jackson’s gift.”

And Ellery did. But that was okay. He gave his mother a genteel kiss on the cheek. “Something that makes him happy is a gift for me,” he said, feeling sappy.

But his mother just smiled and patted his cheek, and it was time to take her to the airport.

They got back and collapsed on the couch in complete relief.

“Please tell me you won’t miss her,” Jackson begged.

Ellery looked at him, wearing the waterproof bandage on his elbow like a badge of honor. “Jackson?”

“Yeah?”

“If I stripped naked and bent over the couch, would you to get the lube from the bedroom? I’d really like to celebrate being alone.”

Jackson’s chuckle, ripe and filthy, was enough to get him to stand up and start toeing off his shoes.

Epilogue

Jason Constance had learned to sleep on a helicopter a long time ago—but he couldn’t. Not today.

“You dropped a sign on his head,” he said in disbelief.

Burton opened one eye, because he had been sleeping. “You taught us to use the weapon at hand,” he replied, voice mild.

“I don’t even believe how that went down.”

Burton snorted. “I don’t believe you subdued your guy without killing him. It took an awful lot of fun with knives to get that guy to talk.”

Constance shrugged. Like Burton, the physical things—the running, jumping, shooting people while you did it—that part had been the easy part.

It had been holding on to the tiny fragments of his soul that was hard.

“But a sign!”

Burton blew out a breath. “If I tell you a secret, will you shut up about the fucking sign?”

“Sure.”

“Ernie texted me the day after we left. There was ‘Rivers get down’, and there was ‘Pull that thing!’. Guess how it played out.”

Constance started to giggle. “Really?”

“Really.”

The giggles died abruptly. “Let me know if he texts you anything about me, okay?”

Burton just stared at him, and Constance got an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“What? What’d he say?”

“He said that in the end, when it’s all over, you’re gonna be okay.”

And for the life of him, Jason Constance, who’d had a plan all his life, couldn’t think of another thing to say.

MoonFish--Surprise Visit! Part 7

So, yeah-- this is still going on--but we're drawing to a close and that's exciting!

Anyway-- in honor of MoonFish, and me being way behind, we're postponing Kermit Flail until May--so don't forget to send in your stuff if you have a book to pimp! (If I get a ton of stuff for April in the next week, I'll do one for next Monday, but in the meantime, Squish is having a birthday and I'm planning a party... and a class... and some events. So let's just say, you know. Busy.)
So Kermit Flail, first Monday in May, watch for it then. 

And in the meantime, enjoy the MoonFish!

PART 7

“Oh dear God,” Jason muttered, struggling to sit up in the bed of the house they’d co-opted for the operation. “What now?”

“Craft fair,” Burton told him from the computer console that tapped into all the cameras they’d placed around Ellery Cramer’s house in the past week. “Jackson texted last night after we got in.”

“He what?”

Burton grimaced. Technically he never should have contacted Rivers at all, but after things like, say, an emergency trip to the Sierras to rescue a kid out of a tree, he figured that maybe Jackson’s pithy advanced notice comments did more good than harm. 

“Wanted us to know. Craft fair during the day, King’s game at night. I already got us tickets.”

“Kings game? They’re not bad this year.” Jason blinked hard, trying to wake up and Burton let out a sigh. 

“Boss?”

“Yeah?”

“You need a break.”

And maybe because they’d been working the op together for four days and Jackson had almost given Constance a heart attack when he’d climbed that fucking tree, Jason actually said something real.

“I am having nightmares.”

Well of course. The things they’d seen, the things they’d known had happened, and, worse, the things they were anticipating that hadn’t happened yet. Burton had Ernie to go home to, but Constance, he watched over the whole lot of Psycho Unit USA (as some asshole had dubbed their detail, whom Burton would never forgive.) 

“I… Ernie helps,” Burton admitted, because hearing his CO and boss and friend admit that he wasn’t handling shit was a big admission. Nobody took advantage of the free psyche program in their detail. 

Nobody.

“Burton, can I ask you something?”

“Sir, yessir.”

Constance rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and scowled. “Very funny. How did you know? About being…gay?”

“Bi?” Burton shot back, but then took pity on his boss. “I knew. Girls were easier. And since, you know, this job, relationships not a thing, I did easy.”

“Then why Ernie?” 

Ernie hadn’t been easy at all. Ernie had been a spacy, bitter, kind mass of contradictions—who had known deep in his witchy bones that they were destined to be lovers from the moment he’d first heard Burton’s voice. 

Which was about three days before he’d seen his face.

Burton blew out a breath and smiled. “He, uh, wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

Constance’s look of surprise made him laugh. “Really.”

Well, Burton cultivated his silence, his body, his entire demeanor, to be the guy people didn’t mess with. But then, Ernie cultivated his spaciness, his flexibility, his quiet yielding to the brutal winds of the world to be the guy people didn’t notice. 

And yet Ernie had kept bending Burton to his will. Burton had just looked at him and melted. And every time he tried to put up a barrier or put the brakes on, he’d thought about living without Ernie and…

Couldn’t.

“I can’t explain it,” he said humbly. 

Constance let out a bark of laughter. “And I came to you for advice?”

Burton rolled his eyes. “About what?”

Constance shook his head. “Nothing—it’s unimportant.”

Burton let out a sigh. “Jason, do you see those screens?”

“Yeah?”

“To the left of screen four, we’ve got a bad guy in waiting in a follow car. At nine o’clock, our three targets are going to leave the house in that ridiculous SUV of theirs and drive through this weird-ass city to go to a craft fair in the Rainbow District. Which means that in forty-five minutes one of us is going to go first and set up, and the other one is going to follow, and we’re going to be kind of busy for the next couple of hours. But until then, you and me got nothing but time. Now what? We’ve worked together for five years and you are the one person—including my parents—who knows about me and Ernie. So what is it you can’t tell me?”

Jason raised an eyebrow. “One person?”

Burton tilted his chin just enough. He didn’t talk about Ace and Sonny, and their little garage that managed to sustain itself on word of mouth alone. Jason knew, but Burton didn’t talk about them.

“Fine.” Jason blew out a breath. “Not bi, Lee. Gay. Me. Gay. And I haven’t hooked up since I became your CO. Because I’m ten years older than you, and ten years ago that sort of thing could have gotten me fucking killed.”

Burton was conscious that he had to close his mouth. He did that and swallowed to get rid of the dryness. “Really?”

“Would I fucking lie—”

“No. Not about this.” Burton held his hands. “But you heard me calling out for Ernie…” Neither of them liked to talk about the early days in Psycho Unit USA. Knowing who was out there, knowing what they’d been trained to do, knowing that someone from their military had basically set monsters loose on the world—nobody in their unit was okay.

“I guessed. I was right. And so I can talk to you.”

Burton grimaced. “Look. You know that place I don’t talk about?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s home. I… I made myself a home, even before I had myself an Ernie. Do you still live at the base?”

Constance scrubbed his face. “Yeah. God yeah.”

“Make yourself a home. Take your own advice. Get the fuck off the base and find a thing that’s human and real. You don’t need to hookup—you need to connect. And that’s a whole different thing.”

Constance gave half a laugh and nodded. “That’s… that’s some wise words,” he said softly. “I’ll remember that.”

“My pleasure, sir,” Burton said dryly. “You want to shower before we have to get to it? These people have a shower with a steam setting—I feel like all my dangly parts are clean, you know?”

Constance laughed outright then. “I’ll try to make it quick.”

“You completely missed the point. Now go!”

Burton watched his CO disappear into the bathroom and looked back at his screens. Nope, nothing yet. He knew they were out there—he’d seen flashes of one guy, shadows really. They needed them both. Getting one wouldn’t do it—both would help them put pressure on the people who issued the contract.

He was ready for this detail to end already. 

Usually when he was sent to guard a target, there was a hint of wrong doing—some sense that this person had agreed to live dangerously. Ellery Cramer’s mother had done nothing more than issue a few delicate inquiries as to where Karl Lacey had gotten his money. Yes, it was officially poking her nose where it didn’t belong—but issuing a hit wasn’t usually the first protocol for that kind of thing. A runaround would have done just fine.

He thought about the way the woman had ruthlessly dragged her son and his boyfriend through pretty much every public experience known to man. 

Well, maybe not the runaround—but at least try a sternly worded letter of discouragement before death, right?

At his belt his pocket buzzed, three short bursts, like he’d programmed his phone to do with Ernie and Ernie alone.

See you tomorrow, Cruller. Can’t wait!

Burton blinked, and a buzz of excitement hit his stomach, like it had when he’d been deployed and action had been in the air. He didn’t ask if Ernie knew that for certain, and didn’t ask how he knew. 

Took Ernie on faith, which was the only way to take his flaky, witchy, sexy as hell boyfriend. 

Me neither. Love you.

Love you back.

Burton smiled softly at the phone, not feeling dumb in the least. One way or another, he would see Ernie tomorrow—and he was damned if he’d let grieving over friends ruin his homecoming.

He was going to get these guys and he was going to leave Rivers, Cramer, and the woman he was starting to think of as Lucy Satan in his rearview, safe as bunnies on his watch. 

MoonFish--Surprise Visit!--Part 6

Okay folks-- just the MoonFish tonight. Enjoy--

Surprise Visit! Part  6

The trip up was surprisingly quiet, and at first, Jackson thought it was just because the damned tank was so loud without the extra padding and insulation that Sonny and Ace had pulled out to make it slightly more fuel efficient.

Then he'd glanced in the rearview mirror and had seen Lucy Satan asleep, hands folded in her lap, head against the head rest, perfectly composed like a vampire.

But vulnerable still.

He felt bad for a moment. Ellery's mother didn't deserve a hit out on her--but then, she was fighting the same people in court that Jackson and Ellery had fought on the ground that winter, so maybe what she deserved and what was happening had no relation whatsoever.

"What?" Ellery practically shouted in his ear.

Jackson just shook his head, unwilling to tell Ellery that his mother looked helpless, because as far as Ellery was concerned, Lucy Satan was invulnerable and perfect, and Jackson didn't ever want to change that for him. He felt like it was wrong on a cellular level, to let Ellery think his mother could be harmed.

They made it to Kaden and Rhonda's house, which was back in a little development called SugarBaker's Cove. The houses were on four to five acre plots, most of the plots filled with dense woodland beyond whatever yard development the homeowner implemented. Some people had four acres of swimming pools and tennis courts, but Kaden and Rhonda weren't rich, only prudent. They had a backyard big enough for the kids to play kickball in, and a lot of fucking trees.

Kaden and Rhonda, and their children, River and Diamond, were out in front, nervously pacing as they pulled up. Two ginormous fucking Boxer/Mastiff hybrid dogs were sitting patiently at their heels, waiting for the occasional pet so they could slobber on whoever offered.

"Uncle Jackson!" River had grown. She was, what? Eleven this year? A beauty like her mother, she wore her hair back in thick braids, and had gotten tall enough for Jackson to rest his chin on her crown when he lowered his head.

"Hey, pretty girl," he murmured. "What's going on? You haven't found him yet?"

River shook her head and wiped her eyes. "He was weird all week, like freaking out and crying and Mom and Dad couldn't get him to talk and this morning we were supposed to go to school and he was gone before we woke up!"

"It's a good day at school!" her brother Diamond told him. "We get treats and stuff, but maybe not..." He looked at his sister nervously. "Maybe not in the seventh or eighth grade."

"WE get them in the sixth grade," River sniffed. "I don't see why Anthony wouldn't get them in the seventh."

Anthony had started out as a lonely kid who'd taken a job to bug Jackson and Ellery's car. But once Jackson grabbed him--and realized that the one witness to the transaction had been killed--he'd become a witness in need of protection. Kaden and Rhonda had stepped up because Jackson had asked them to--and because the police didn't see the need at first.

But Anthony--who'd been a foster child most of his life--had fit into the Cameron household like he'd been born into it. Kaden and Rhonda had asked if they could take over his fostering, and had been looking into an actual adoption--and the happy ever after that Anthony had cynically believed would never happen to him.

Jackson had no idea what would make the kid take off and leave. Except...

"Don't report cards come out today?" he asked the kids.

"Yeah." Diamond looked at his father. "I don't get real grades yet," he said ingratiatingly, "but if I did, I'm sure they would be A's." His smile--wide and white against the ebony of his skin--was extra sugary sweet.

Kaden rolled his eyes and looked at Jackson. "I so believe that," he muttered.

"Yeah, that totally wasn't a line." Jackson tried to look sternly at his nephew, but Diamond's smirk was just so transparent he couldn't. "God, kid, you'd better get your act together for seventh grade."

Diamond laughed outright. "Well, yeah. They use percentages and letter grades in seventh grade. I know bad things happen to people who can't figure that out!"

The laughter relaxed the little family for just a moment, and then they sobered.

"Well," Ellery's mother said, a big bag of all sorts of treasures over her shoulder, "I'm sure you can completely explain to me why it's okay to not do your best in school when you're obviously smart enough to fool the system, but in the meantime, how about I take you children inside and we make some breakfast and let the adults try to find your foster brother."

"Our brother," River said fiercely. "He says 'foster brother' like he's afraid he's going to get moved to another home, and we keep trying to tell him we want him forever." She pulled away from Jackson to look at him with pleading in her eyes. "Uncle Jackson, we're the only home he's ever had. I don't even know where he thinks he'd go."

Jackson nodded. "I would bet he's not far away," he said softly. In fact, he'd put actual money on it. "Go in with Lucy... uh, Mrs. Cramer, and see what she's got for you." He met Lucy Satan's eyes and she nodded. "She came from a long ways away just to bring you good things."

Lucy nodded and disappeared with the children inside, and Rhonda gave a sigh of relief.

"Oh good, they're gone now, and I can tell you we are losing our fucking minds. Jesus, Jackson, where in the hell could that kid go?" Her eyes got bright again, like they had when they'd pulled up. "He was so happy until about a week ago, and he started slinking around like he was afraid we were going to drop the hammer on him at any moment. I caught him crying when I went to tuck him in, and he said he was just sad, but it's got to be something."

Jackson nodded. "I, uh...look. I've got an idea." He pulled out his phone and punched some buttons. "And better yet, I've got a tracker on him."

Kaden's mouth fell open. "YOu've got a what?"

Jackson shrugged. "Remember? I bought him that phone when I brought him up here. He took it with him, right?"

They both nodded. "Doesn't go anywhere without it," Rhonda said. "Those games you let him buy are like his favorite things."

Jackson smiled a little. "Does he have a charger?" he asked, and Kaden clapped his hand over his eyes.

"He's got my charger! It disappeared last night!"

"I bet he packed a lunch too," Jackson said.

Rhonda--who was Kaden's smarter half--looked at Jackson compassionately. "What is this about?"

"You guys, grades are coming out. This kid hasn't had you for parents very long--how good do you think his grades are going to be?"

Kaden groaned and pinned Jackson with a frustrated glare. "Oh Jesus--I should have known."

"Kaden," Rhonda said kindly, "it's not your fault--how would you--"

"Oh, trust me," Kaden muttered. "I'd know. Well, Jackson, where is he?"

"Let me go find him," Jackson said. "I... you know. I've got a little experience with this."

"Text us when you see him. I need to go have a heart attack."

"Yeah--he's somewhere in the backyard."

"We've been back there--we spent the morning with the dogs going through the area. There's nothing there but trees."  Kaden looked at the dogs. "By the way, you two were a terrible disappointment in the search and rescue department. I thought you liked that kid."

The dogs looked up at him, tongues lolling, and waited for more pets.

"Morons," Kaden muttered.

"Anubis, Orion, door!" Rhonda commanded crisply, and the dogs ran to the front porch and turned around, ruffs bristling, eyes alert for any danger.

"Yeah, honey. They're the dumb ones," she said sweetly. Then, to Jackson, "You can find him?"

"I promise," he said. "But maybe let me go alone."

Ellery grabbed his hand. "Alone?"

Jackson winked at him. "Trust me. We'll be fine."

There wasn't a hit on Anthony anymore, and the more people around Ellery's mother the better.

Ellery kissed his cheek and let him go, and Jackson kept his eye on his phone and sauntered around to the backyard.

Kaden wasn't kidding about it being a lot of fucking trees, but some trees are more memorable to an agile twelve-year-old than others, and Jackson spotted the appropriate tree immediately, then went to stand near the bottom.

"Anthony," he called, looking up, "would you care to explain?"

He wanted to yell--he really did. The kid had dragged him and Ellery out of bed, had scared his entire family, had caused all sorts of trouble, and dammit, over a report card?

But Jackson looked into the kid's tear ravaged face as he peered down from about twenty-feet, and couldn't even be mad. He'd been that kid before. So surprised that anybody would even give a shit about his grades that he couldn't figure out how to fix them before he let that person down.

"You can't tell them," he said, hiccuping. "You can't."

"Yeah, kid. Sure. Here--I'm coming up."  It wasn't a bad climb, really. Jackson was wearing a sweatshirt in deference to the coolness of the hills near Truckee and his jeans were relatively hole free. With a jump and a pull and some scrambling, he managed to make it as high as the kid was, and he stood, holding on to the trunk of the pine tree, wondering if he was going to have to cut his hair to get all the sap out.

Anthony had curly brown hair that framed his pale face, and a lot of that was matted together with pine tar. Poor kid was probably going to miss that hair when Rhonda had to shave it to his scalp.

"So," Jackson said conversationally when he'd caught his breath, "what class are you flunking?"

Anthony looked at him with red-rimmed eyes and a wobbling lip. "All... all... all of them!" He burst into sobs, leaning up against the trunk of the tree by Jackson's knees, and Jackson reached down and stroked his sap-sticky hair.

"Oh kid," he said softly. "Why wouldn't you tell them? Rhonda's a teacher--"

"She's a teacher," Anthony wailed, "and I'm stupid! And how could they want me if I'm stupid--"

Jackson sighed and scrambled down to a sitting position, on a limb about two feet lower than Anthony's. "You're not stupid," he said softly. "You just had other things on your mind these last few years. Which home you were going to, whether you'd have clothes or food, whether your next set of parents would be dicks--man, you've had a full plate."

"But everything's perfect now," Anthony hiccuped. "And I"m a loser who can't pass math! Or English! Or history! Or science!"

"You passing PE?" Jackson asked, hoping for a win.

"I keep forgetting my shoes," Anthony said glumly, and Jackson held back a smile.

"Well, yeah, some years are like that. Look. Anthony?"

Anthony stared at his tennis shoe as it dangled over the ground. "Yeah?"

"You had a raw deal. And you lost out on a lot of school. It's March, and you didn't start school until December, and your life was so damned up in the air. You missed out on stuff. That's not your fault. But Kaden and Rhonda can't help you if you don't tell them what's wrong. Bet you had progress reports, didn't you?"

Anthony nodded. "They're the old fashioned ones that come in the mail," he muttered.

"And that's why computer grades were invented. Believe me, nobody's going to make that mistake again. And that's fine."

"But I"ll have to repeat eighth grade! River and I will have to graduate at the same time and that's embarrassing!" he said. "I mean, she's my sister and I don't have anything to teach her. She knows everything and I'm so fucking stupid--"

"Okay, we're done with that word," Jackson said firmly. "Not stupid. You needed help. And of course you were afraid to ask for it--nobody's ever stepped up to help you before. But man, I've got to tell you that those people I just met in front of the house weren't worried about your grades, they were worried about you. River told Mrs. Cramer she couldn't call you her foster brother--she had to call you her brother. Because they love you, kid. And loving someone means forgiving them when they screw up. Screwing up is what people do. But if you're afraid to admit it to the people you love, you'll never see how much they love you, you understand?"

Anthony nodded. "You think they love me?" he asked sadly.

"You love them, don't you?" Jackson stroked his head again and wished heartily to get out of the damned tree.

"Yeah." Anthony actually looked at him--and then wiped his nose on the sleeve of his T-shirt. "How did you know?"

"Because, kid--you couldn't even run that far. You just climbed a tree where you could see the house. Did you even have a plan here?"

Anthony's stomach grumbled. "I was going to sneak back in after dinner and come back out to the tree," he confessed.

Jackson started to laugh. "That, son, is the shittiest plan in the world."

After a moment, Anthony snorted, like he hadn't been planning to laugh but it had just snuck out anyway. "It really is. See--I told you I was stu--"

"Shut up, kid. Not stupid. New. I was new once. Kaden's mom taught me how to be loved. I'm not great at it, but she taught Kaden everything he knows. You're smarter than I was at your age. I'm sure you'll catch on faster than I did, okay?"

Anthony nodded. "Okay. Thanks, Jackson."

Jackson's pocket phone buzzed, and off in the distance, up in another tree, he saw the flash of what could have been a rifle scope. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and read the text.

Get out of the fucking tree, Rivers, you are giving my boss the heebie-jeebies just watching over you.

Jackson rolled his eyes. Fucking Burton.

I am talking the kid down here. Are there any hit men nearby?

No. Apparently hit men don't know how to react to a fucking tank. They followed you until Roseville and buggered out. But we're here, and you need to get out of the fucking tree.

Jackson snorted and put the phone back in his pocket. "Anthony?"

"Yeah?"

"Hows about we get out of the fucking tree?"

Anthony took a breath that was mostly snot. "Jackson?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't know how."

Jackson let out a cackle. "Okay. So, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to lower myself down to the next branch, and you are going to follow my lead. Think we can do that?"

"Yeah. What about my backpack?"

"Put it on your back, kid. Let's get down."

It took them twenty minutes of breathless swearing and a bunch of scrapes on their hands and one on Jackson's cheek, but they eventually got down. By the time they landed, they'd alerted the people in the house, and there was a crowd around the base of the tree, ready to help Anthony into the house and get him warmed up--and cleaned up--and to discuss a shitton of summer school. Jackson only guessed at that last part, but he figured Rhonda and Kaden would have a contingency plan for a kid who hadn't taken the time to learn how to be a kid.

Jackson finally dropped to the ground and only Ellery was there, but he had a warm wash cloth for Jackson's scrapes and the promise of coffee in the house.

"What was the problem?" he asked quietly as everybody went inside, the babble ensuring that Anthony would be king for the day.

"Was failing all his classes," Jackson said. "Poor kid. I was him once."

Ellery nodded. Jackson had told him how Jade and Kaden's mother had made him make up a semester's worth of work in a week so Jackson could graduate on to high school. "Did you tell him that story?" he asked curiously.

"No. I needed to listen to his story--I mean, we're grownups. It feels like the same story to us, but to him, it was brand new."

Ellery nodded quietly, and then, before they could get to the porch he stopped and pulled Jackson down for a kiss. It was tender and carnal at once, and it reminded Jackson at all the lessons he still had to learn about accepting love, as well as of the fact that he and Ellery hadn't had time alone in their own house for three days.

But mostly it reminded Jackson that he was loved, and he was grateful for it.

"That was a good kiss, Counselor."

"You're a good man, Detective."

They both felt Jackson's pocket buzz, and Jackson grimaced.

"Who is it?" Ellery asked curiously.

Nice. Now get the fuck inside so I can get my boss out of his damned tree and give him a sedative. You people are driving him batshit.

"Burton says hi," Jackson told him without inflection.

"Really? He followed us up here?"

"He'd really like us to go inside now and stop climbing trees," Jackson added.

Ellery's eyes grew big. "Anything else?"

"We owe Sonny and Ace big money for the tank."

"Fantastic. Are you driving back?"

"Yes," Jackson told him. Ellery didn't even want to touch the tank. "Why?"

"Think Kaden and Rhonda have any alcohol?"

Jackson laughed as they hit the porch. "You don't day drink!" he protested.

"Oh I am about to start."

Jackson kept laughing. Yeah, sure, Ellery threatened a lot, but Jackson was pretty sure he wouldn't have missed that morning for the world.

MoonFish--Surprise Visit! Part 5

Okay-- super short this time-- there will be more next week, I promise. I am almost done with the big edit and ready to start on my next book but first--first--I need to finish this novella.

I also have to say it will all be easier now that Mate has his own car back. My office has been... occupied this week, by someone else besides me.

Oh!

And before I start the MoonFish-- I have to tell you about the hats.

See, Mate took the kids to a Republic game this weekend, and the hats were on sale. Mate has one already--but he's worn it to a sweaty soggy salty mess because it's his favorite, and he likes the little round brim and not the big showy flat brim and he saw them on sale and said to the salesgirl, "Wow! That's awesome! That's my favorite kind of hat!"

The salesgirl grimaced apologetically. "We actually call that one the 'Dad Hat' on the invoice."

Mate didn't care. He bought three. Squish wore one today as she finished her DNA project with beads and pipe cleaners and tears.

Dad hats-- now you know!



And now, some MoonFish--

Surprise Visit--Part 5

Ellery managed to wait until his mother was--hopefully--asleep in the next room.

"You weren't going to tell me?"

"Tell you what?"  Jackson sat on the bed in his boxers, looking ridiculously sexy for a guy who'd spent half the last year in the hospital, and made moon faces at the cat. Billy Bob batted his lips, no claws.

"Tell me there was a hit out on my mother."

Jackson didn't even look up. "Why would there be a hit out on your mother?"

"I don't know-- you tell me!"

"Well, since she hasn't told me I don't know what else I can tell you!"

Ellery had never really considered homicide until he'd fallen in love. "What. Did. She. Say?"

Now Jackson did look at him, his green eyes open and sparkling and as innocent as a lamb's. "She said she was here for a visit."

"I will beat you," Ellery threatened, which was a laugh and a half because they were both getting their wind back enough to run around the neighborhood.

"Would you like equipment for that, or are you doing to use a household item, like a wooden spoon, or a shoe?"

"Augh!"  He didn't control his volume, either, and Jackson showed some emotion then by flailing his arms.

"You will wake the beast and we'll both be fucked!" he hissed.

"No we won't, because we don't have sex while my mother is here, remember?"

Jackson pursed his lips. "Look, this isn't my fault. She showed up on the doorstep. That's all I know."

"That's obviously not all you know because we've been walking around Sacramento with you running point and me running cleanup like an actual police detail all day. Care to explain that?"

Jackson gave a sigh, and Ellery thought, "Oh ho! The jig is up! I shall have some answers!"

Ha!

"All I know-- all I know--is that Burton left Ernie's apple fritters on our doorstep yesterday, and your mother was told to stay in public places."

Ellery blinked. "That... is not reassuring."

"You are telling me."

"Give me one good reason not to put us all into protective custody."

Jackson shrugged. "Because it was donuts and not directions for burying our remains?"

"I"m having mine donated to science," Ellery muttered. "The rest you can burn and scatter."

"I could donate my remains to science too," Jackson said helpfully, but Ellery just rolled his eyes.

"Most of your remains have already been stitched together and replaced. I don't think you have anything left to give. Now scoot over. I need to brood."

"You need to get in bed to brood?" But Jackson was scooting over.

"No, I need to get in bed to touch you so that we can think together. Jackson, there's a hit out on my mother! What are we going to do?"

Jackson shrugged. "We're going to turn on the house alarm--"

"Done."

"And let the hit men watching over us do our job. Also, we're going to take your mother places because they said to stay public."

Ellery narrowed his eyes. "It's like you're on her side."

Jackson glared back. "Ellery, she was threatening to take my coffee away from me--not in so many words but--"

"She did not, you big baby--"

"You pretend not to hear it, but we know what this means. 'Jackson, I think you would enjoy tea so much more than coffee. Has Ellery allowed you to taste some of the more robust blends with almond milk and honey?' What do you think that means?"

Ellery tried to hide his pleased expression and failed.

"See? It means she's trying to take away my coffee! No! Not even the doctor has tried to do that!"

"That's because you lied to the doctor about your intake!" This had been a sore point between them. Their idea of a "moderate" amount varied vastly.

"One pot is not excessive!" Jackson defended, wounded. "And see? Now she's got you on her side! Just leave the professionals to take care of it and don't press her any further!" He flounced over onto his side, beat up his pillow and settled in for the night.

Ellery let out a breath. "Do we even know who it is?"

"No."

"Did you ask?"

"You sacrifice something you love. Watch. You ask her and she'll try to take away your car."

Ellery sat up in bed. "She would not!"

Jackson threw a pout over his shoulder. "Want to risk it?"

"No."  Ellery slid back down into bed again and kissed the back of Jackson's neck. "Damn."

"Yeah."

"We were on a hot streak."

They'd both been recovering, but yes. Somebody had come at least once a night since they'd gotten out of the hospital. Jackson hadn't had this much sex when he'd been banging everything that moved--and Ellery knew because Jackson told him so.

"I know," Jackson said glumly. "We're going to have to think of something else to do before bed."

Ellery laughed. "We could start reading books."

"Dirty ones?"

"How about Jane Austen?"

"I hate you."

"I love you Jackson."

"I love you too, counselor. What are we doing again tomorrow?"

"God, I forget. We'll remember when she wakes us up in the morning."

"Fine."

Jackson rolled over just enough to kiss him.

"Night."

Except whatever it was she had planned,

Jackson's phone rang in the charger that morning, and he snagged it before Ellery could crawl over his body and claw out its eyes.

"K?" Jackson mumbled. "For real?"

Then Jackson sat up in bed, looking panicked. "No, seriously, did you look for him?"

"Who?" Ellery asked, rolling out of bed and looking for the khakis he'd worn the day before, as well as a sweater and some sturdy shoes. "Who's missing?"

"Anthony," Jackson muttered, hopping out of bed to get dressed too. "Yeah, K. Keep us briefed. We're getting in the tank now."

He paused, and looked at Ellery apologetically. "Why the tank? Because it's a long story that we can't talk about and Ellery's mother is coming."

Ellery moaned. "Goddammit."

"Yeah, Ellery-- go tell your mom that she's coming with us up to Foresthill."  Jackson spoke back into his phone. "Don't get too excited--I think we were coming up tomorrow anyway, and tell Rhonda we can't stay so she's off the hook. Keep us briefed. See you soon."

He hung up and started his own search for yesterday's jeans and a fresh pair of undershorts, while Ellery dressed as quickly as he could.

Oh man. Their complicated day had just gotten a whole lot more complicated.

Moon/Fish--Surprise Visit--Part IV

Hey all!

Thanks for being patient--I am back in editing hell, but the good news is that Fish Four, Fish on a Bicycle is done, and Paint it Black is edited, and whohoo!  On to the super hard craft book, Fiction Haiku!

Mate's car is broke and my week is INCREDIBLY boring and yet I've been busy on my computer--ugh!  The upside is, it's a perfect time to escape into some Moon/Fish--enjoy!

*   *  *

Part IV

Jackson saw the shadow outside his window as Ellery got into the shower, and he hurtled past a surprised Lucy Satan and out the front door before Ellery's mother could so much as gasp.

A pink box sat on the stoop, and if Jackson hadn't paused to make sure it wasn't lethal, he might have caught Burton as he left from putting it there.

Don't throw away--I'll know.

He opened the box and took a deep breath. Mm... apple fritters. Ellery's mother's favorite.

And someone who'd know if he threw them away.

And someone who could leave them on the porch without triggering the alarm and get away like a ghost.

"Jackson?" Ellery's mother was not going to let him rocket out of the house without an explanation. "Jackson, what on earth--"

Jackson turned to her grimly, box in hand. "You and me have got to have a talk," he said quietly.

She pursed her lips. "Is that a donut box?"

"Apple fritters. Your favorite."

She looked confused. "Why is that a--"

"Remember Ernie?" he asked pleasantly.

Her eyes got big. "I do."

"He came to visit me and Ellery a couple of times when we were in the hospital. Smuggled me eclairs that would make a saint come. I never told him they were my favorite. He just knew."

"We should go inside," she said pleasantly. "I'll get some milk."

He took one more hasty look around his neighborhood and spotted the flash of something shiny behind the fence three houses down-- the neighbors who had gone to visit their daughter in Florida over spring break, the sadists.

He gave the shiny thing a two fingered salute and followed Ellery's mother inside.

"WE can't tell Ellery," Lucy Satan said softly as they neared the kitchen. The water was still running--Ellery could take an epic shower when he didn't have to be somewhere. Or when his mother was in the house.

"Can't tell him what?"

She grimaced. "When was the last time you swept the house for bugs?"

Jackson blinked. "Two days ago."  After they'd found them in January, he and Ellery did it once a week--vacuum, dust, scrub the toilet, check for bugs. It was the new housecleaning regimen.

"Oh," she said, nodding. "So nice to know you're sensible about things. But your friend--" she nodded toward the donut box, "--simply said I should come here and spend some time in your company." She grimaced. "In public. So I looked up some activities for the next week. How do you feel about craft fairs?"

Jackson's eyebrows went up to his hairline. "I actually don't mind them." He'd furnished his duplex with thrift store finds and the occasional handcraft, but he was the first to admit his taste was eclectic and... well, not suited for Ellery's gracious, masculinely furnished home. "But--"

"Good. Tours of the capitol building?"

"I'm not even sure they'll let me in--"

"They will if I"m there. How about sporting events?"

"I can get us some Kings tickets and some Republic tickets and some Rivercats tickets--"  It was late march. Everything was in season.

"Be sure to put them on my credit card," she said smoothly.

"I can pay for my own goddamned ballgame," he muttered. Ellery did the same thing, and it drove him batshit.

"But this time, I'm paying for it," she said with a pleasant smile.

"Not if I"m getting the tickets," he muttered. "Anything else you're on for? Wine tasting? A bus tour of San Francisco?"

"All of the above," she said, without blinking an eyelash. "You go to work on that while I unpack. I think today should be local, tomorrow should be San Francisco, Wednesday we should visit your brother--"

Jackson's eyes got big. "For fuckin' real?" Because Kaden loved surprise visits as much as Jackson did. Which was to say if Jackson hadn't walked by the hallway when Ellery opened the door, he seriously would have gone out the back door and over the fence and run across town in his boxer shorts so he didn't have to do what he was doing right now.

Which was anything Ellery's mother asked him to do, apparently without getting any answers as to why.

"Of course--I brought gifts for his wife and the children. The day after we should attend some sort of sporting event with your sister and her boyfriend--"

"Jade hates sports," he said blankly.

"But her boyfriend adores them. and of course we should eat out. Except for this morning, when I shall indulge in some lovely donuts."

As she'd been speaking she'd invaded Ellery's kitchen, poured two glasses of milk and put the apple fritters on a plate. Jackson cleared the table of everything except his laptop, which he put at the end, and helped her set breakfast up, and then looked longingly at the coffee pot, which he had been about to turn on when she'd knocked.

She ran a knowing look up and down his body. "How is your heart murmur?" she asked, and he grimaced. He'd acquired scars on  more than the outside in November when his heart had stopped, and since his and Ellery's return to Sacramento in February, he'd been trying to be good about seeing a cardiologist.

"Caffeine isn't forbidden yet!" He crossed his arms over his chest defensively. Not in small doses--that's what Dr. Keller had said. He had yet asked her to quantify "small doses." He assumed a pot a day was a small dose, if you eked it out with lots of cream and sugar with only one or two sodas on the side.

"Fine. I'll start the coffee and unpack, you start our itinerary and wait for Ellery so we can eat. You may commence."

Jackson sat down at the cleared and set table and grabbed his laptop. Yeah, he still had no idea why Burton wanted her there, but honestly, doing all that shit she had him planning was a damned sight easier than arguing with her, that was for sure. She was already talking about his caffeine intake and diet--he needed to comply now before she started making him kale shakes for breakfast and serving him nothing but tofu and fish!

*  *  *

She had arrived on a Wednesday which meant that they had a poetry reading at the local library in the late morning, a tai chi class in the afternoon, and a Kings game that night. As Jackson and Ellery fell into bed that night, exhausted by running around the town, and by just being with Ellery's mother, Ellery moaned, "She's got the entire week mapped out?"

"It's not my fault," Jackson mumbled. He'd liked the tai chi class, hadn't minded the Kings game, and had napped during the poetry reading. What had really knocked him out was Ellery's mother, who seemed determined to smooth out all of Jackson's... Jacksonness while she was there. "Jackson, do stand up straight, You'll ruin your posture." "Jackson, I understand you can use that word as often as you like, but part of being an adult is only using it as often as you need." "Jackson, I do believe if you and my son plan to work full time again, you should either procure a friend for this animal or find someone who doesn't mind feeding him while you are gone. I think he might be lonely if forced to live alone."

"I know it's not your fault," Ellery soothed. "I just don't know why we're doing this, that's all."

Jackson closed his eyes, thinking about the fritters. Ellery had been so discombobulated he hadn't even asked where they'd come from, and Jackson just didn't want to tell him that someone had put a hit out on his mother. That seemed rude somehow.

"Lucy Satan works in mysterious ways," he grumbled.

"Well I need her to work her way home," Ellery retorted. Then he sighed. "But while she's here, maybe we can have her look at some of the properties for the new office."

Jackson perked up. "So we don't have to go to San Francisco tomorrow?" Because driving the tank down there would cost a fortune, the parking would be horrific, and the car was so loud. 

"No, Jackson. I'll talk to her over breakfast. Do you think you can hit that donut place again? Those fritters were amazing."

"No," he muttered. "I'd rather have fruit." Ellery was warm next to him and Jackson kissed his shoulder through a softly laundered T-shirt. "And you," he said, meaning it.

Ellery kissed him chastely on the mouth.

And then not so chastely.

And then they were sliding their hands under each other's T-shirts and Jackson had a handful of Ellery's taut backside and was kneading and spreading and grazing the sensitive bits and then--

"Jackson?" Ellery's mother said as she knocked. "Jackson, your inappropriate cat seems to want to sleep with me. I insist you take him."

Ellery made sobbing sounds and Jackson rolled sideways. "You get the door," he whispered. "You can pull a t-shirt over your boner!" Jackson wasn't wearing one.

Ellery grunted--and pulled his T-shirt low over his boxers and went to let the cat in, because apparently the big loser was still sore about getting fixed and they hadn't known it until now.

*  *  *

The next day they ran all over town looking at office rental properties, which was actually pretty awesome, considering.

The one in the strip mall on Howe was a big no. The location was great--right next to a bail bond place--but it wasn't the sort of vibe they were going for.

The one a block away from the Capitol building was nice--but really pricey, and, in Jackson's words, "Built like a Republican was given a bunch of tan legos."

There was one off the river, in what had once been a residential building but was now separated into office spaces, but Ellery had balked at both the drive down the Garden Highway and the lack of amenities nearby.

The final one they looked at, on the edge of downtown around 9th and F street, had seemed okay--at the top of a flight of stairs, which might have been inconvenient if it hadn't been for an elevator to accommodate disabilities, The space itself was large, with four offices and a conference room, as well as a reception area that had a counter and a recessed kitchenette sort of space that Jade could definitely make her own.

The walls were a sort of muted beige that Jackson said had to go and the carpet was teddy bear brown, and Ellery wasn't going to live with that either. It needed paint and carpeting and a solid redecoration, and all of that might not have phased Jackson except...

"Parking," he said, looking out the window. "There's one parking space next to the building. Ellery..."

"But look at the ceiling in the corner office!" Ellery begged. "Look at it! And it's got moldings--"

"I don't actually give a shit about beveled moldings," Jackson told him. "Hardwood floors, yes. I can see some nice hardwood here. Moldings can kiss my ass. But parking..."

"We have six more offices to look at," Ellery's mother told them crisply. "Two more before lunch?"

Outside they heard the unmistakable sound of a car smacking another one, and then a rather ambiguous sound of what they found out later was a light pole collapsing for no reason at all.

"Maybe lunch now," Jackson muttered. "Somewhere across town."

He and Taylor Cramer met eyes and she nodded imperceptibly. "After you," she said, and he nodded, leading the way while Ellery's mother made peace with the real estate agent who had sat in the back of the room and let them bicker over this one.

"Ellery, take the rear," Jackson said, forgetting that Ellery didn't suspect what he did.

Later it would occur to him that Ellery did exactly what he asked without question, and continued to move like that, Jackson first, Ellery bringing up the rear with his mother and the clueless real estate agent in the middle. All day. He did that all day.

But of course there'd be hell to pay that night.

The Promised Moon/Fish-- The Surprise Visit, Part 3

Busy day! For starters, Geoffie got a hair cut, I got goodies in the mail, and I'm making progress on a shawl!

Also, Squish is amazing.

But other than that--it was a work day, and part of the work is wrapping up Fish in the next week. Which means wrapping up the Moon/Fish as well. Enjoy!

*  *  *

The Surprise Visit--Part 3

"Ellery!" Ellery's mother looked impeccable. Hair pulled back into a shortened bun, makeup done with razor line perfection, cool linen suit and sensible ecru pumps, Taylor Cramer never traveled with anything less than aplomb.

"Mother?"

But what in the fuck was she doing here.

"Ellery, who's at the door at fuck all'y'all in the morning?"

"Jackson, could you get my bags please?"

Ellery turned to find Jackson, mid pit-scratch, in his boxers having a panic attack.

"Oh dear God."

"Jackson, my mother's here."

"For sweet fuck's sake!"

Ellery grimaced. The weird thing was, he was almost certain Jackson liked his mother. Revered her in fact. But that didn't mean she didn't scare the crap out of him. "Jackson, maybe come get her bag like she asked."

"Hello, Lucy Satan," Jackson muttered as he came to the door. "Are you moving in?" His eyes bulged out and Ellery managed to look behind his mother.

"You brought a trunk?" he asked, his voice pitching in dismay.

"Don't get too excited, Ellery. Some of those are gifts for Jackson's family. Thank you so much, Jackson--I'll take the guest room, per usual."

Well yeah, but usually Ellery's mother had stayed with them when there was something wrong.

"Smells like dead grandma's," Jackson mumbled, wrinkling his nose.

Taylor Cramer smirked, and Ellery had to look twice to make sure it was his mother. "That's the perfume you bought me for Hanukah sweetheart. I'm so glad you like it."

"I thought it was Christmas," Jackson mumbled, still pulling the giant wheeled case behind him. "I am so confused."

Ellery took his mother's smaller case and kissed her cheek, ushering her in. "It's lovely to see you," he said diplomatically. "Is there an occasion?"

"Mm..." she said, smiling serenely, which told Ellery that yes, there was, but it wasn't like she was going to tell him. "Let's just say that I've become enchanted by your charming little valley, and I understand there are all sorts of outdoor spring activities that we should partake in. Jackson? Did you hear that?"

"I don't understand a word of it!" Jackson called back. He came plodding back into the living room as Ellery passed him on the way to the bedroom with the smaller case. "You're here so we can go outside?"

"Exactly," she said. "And I understand you have a new vehicle."

Jackson's eyes widened. "The tank?"

"The tank?" Ellery echoed, having settled as much as he could in the guest room.

"Yes. New, isn't it? Weren't your friends going to outfit it to make sure it was the last vehicle you would ever need?"

Sonny and Ace had retrofitted the SUV--an Infinity QX3--and reinforced the panels, removed padding, added bulletproof glass and added custom seatbelt webbing, not to mention several highly illegal things they'd done to the suspension and engine itself. The result was... well, a very sturdy vehicle.

"It might be," Ellery said diplomatically, "but I always thought it would be the last car you'd ever be caught dead in, much less escorted alive."

His mother patted his cheek. Patted his goddamned cheek. "Oh, Ellery. Son. Shows how much you really know about me. Now it's a lovely April day, the sun is shining. The birds are singing. Let's go get some donuts and go to the zoo, shall we?"

Jackson's eyes hadn't gotten any smaller, not since he'd opened them to see Taylor Cramer on the doorstep. "The zoo."

"Donuts?" Ellery squeaked. "You showed up on our porch to... to..."

"To go see the zoo and have donuts," she said happily. "I'll just make some coffee while you two shower and change. Hustle, boys. There's so much I want to see!"

The two of them stumbled into the bedroom, Ellery in the pajamas he'd been wearing when he'd opened the door, Jackson in his boxer shorts, both of them wearing the veil of confusion like a miasma.

"I..." Ellery struggled. Jackson's warm hand on his waist was not reassuring. "Please don't leave me because my mother has done the first spontaneous thing I've ever seen her do in thirty-one years."

Jackson half-laughed and kissed his neck. "I won't leave you. But you know, this doesn't seem spontaneous in the least. I'm pretty sure she's hiding something from us."

Ellery stared at him. "How would you even guess that?"

Jackson shrugged and gave a soft smile. "Hunch."

"But what do we do?"

"What would we do under normal circumstances?"

Ellery sighed and let his shoulders slump. "Anything my mother wanted."

Jackson nodded and kissed his neck again. "And hurry, counselor, or I'm going to do one or two things she might want me to do at all..."

Ellery hustled to the bathroom and heard his mother cooing at the cat in the sudden quiet.

His mother. There indefinitely. Oh dear lord, what had they done to deserve this?

*  *  *

Two days earlier:

Burton blew out a breath and dialed the number.

"Taylor Cramer," said Ellery's mother, her voice crisp and no-bullshit.

"Yes, ma'am. This is--"

"I remember you from the waiting room," she said, with hardly a wobble in her voice. "Is anything wrong with my son?"

God, she was quick. "No, ma'am. We just... I'm on a secure line, but I don't think you are."

"MM.  Understood. Where would you like me to call you from?"

"Sacramento," he said promptly. She would know what that meant.

"Indeed? Anywhere particular in Sacramento?"

"As many public places as possible."  He and Jason had it on good authority that this particular death squad liked to work in quiet and secret, and made things look like an accident. Well, try that if Ellery, Jackson, and Taylor were touring the outdoor delights of the city in the spring.

"For how long should I call you from there?"

Burton had no idea. "An indefinite length of time. I'll contact you when you can go back to using your home phone."

There was a silence. A long, uncomfortable silence, during which time Burton squirmed uncomfortably.

"When you contact me, you'd better have a damned good explanation for that, young man."

Burton blew out a sigh of relief. Well, yeah. She deserved no less. "You will, ma'am. I promise."

"Of course. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must procure some plane tickets and go shopping. I'm not arriving on that doorstep without copious amounts of random gifts, you understand?"

"Understood, ma'am. Happy travels."

"You too young man. And say hello to your young baker, while you're at it. I did enjoy meeting him as well."

Burton thought of Ernie, at home, making donuts. "I'll give him your regards, ma'am."

"Thank you."

Burton hung up and looked in agony at Jason Constance.

"So she's going to be with her son and his friend before the team gets to town."

"Confirmed," Burton told him, and then slumped forward. "Sir, are you ready for tomorrow?"

Constance frowned, obviously surprised. "Certainly, soldier. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because you haven't met these people, and there is no telling what comes next."

Constance didn't seem to believe him, but Burton was actually relieved when he got home and Ernie was making apple fritters. It meant they had Ernie's witchiness on their side.