General Housekeeping Update

The girls and I just got back from a week long road trip, so I'm in the "recovery" period of that! lol But as I have received a couple comments about various stories, I thought I'd post a quick update on everything!

School Days is very much still active! There are roughly 12 chapters left in Senior Year and then a series of post-graduation chapters.

Project Unity is in the forefront of my mind lately so I hope to focus on it for the next couple weeks. There is no end in sight for Unity as sci-fi is my passion. ;)

Dusty Plains and The Taffity Legacy both have plenty of story to tell! I have both generations currently mapped out and they WILL get done in due time I promise! I'm very excited about the direction they are both going and I hope you'll all enjoy it as well!

City Limits is on hiatus for the time being. It is not over! Just paused.

Niko and Leni is unfortunately at and end I think; the save and backup is corrupted along with the Federal Building (which I did not save to my bin). That being said, expect to see Niko make an appearance in the Taffity Legacy this generation!

Crescent Bay has it's own blog now so you can follow it here!

Truth or Dare: Cami's Sims

All the cool kids are doing it! I've added an ask page to my Tumblr account - partially to give the poor thing a use I imagine.

Truth or Dare

If you have a Tumblr account, you can ask any of my sims - past or present - a question over yonder. But if you DON'T have a tumbler account you can just ask it here and I'll copy it over as needed.

Questions and Answers already processed can be found here.

The questions should be addressed to a particular character and will be answered in character - hopefully with a picture just for fun. :)

Niko and Leni

Chapter 8

I made it to my gate with only a few minutes to spare before boarding. It was just as well, there were far too many people and angles to cover in the open airport. As it was, I paced the waiting area as the groups boarded the plane ahead of me. I was in the second to last group of passengers on board.

When I got to my seat, I scanned the other passengers briefly and then sat down next to the window. I let out a slow breath and tried to relax. An older woman sat in the seat next to me and smiled at me. I smiled back and hoped she wouldn't try to strike up conversation.

"Excuse me ma'am" I turned to see Leni leaning into the row, over the person on the aisle. "I think you have the wrong seat." she said, holding out her own ticket and what looked like a fifty dollar bill.

The woman looked at the money and the ticket. "Oh...of course I do." she said snatching it from Leni's hand. She shuffled past the person on the aisle, then dug her ticket from her purse and shoved it quickly at Leni before hurrying into first class.

Leni looked smug as she settled into the now abandoned seat. "What are you doing here?" I asked, all sense of relaxation fleeing my body suddenly.



"Well going home of course....just like you." she said. I must have looked less than amused because her smile faded quickly. "Seriously...I realize that no matter where I go, this guy - whoever he is - seems to be on a mission to clean up evidence...that or he has some sick obsession with you but either way, he'll find me and kill me just the same, so I'd rather die at home than in like Kansas or something."

"You were going to Kansas?" I asked, sidetracked.

"Well no not really...my point is that 'laying low' isn't really my style and I do have clients to try to satisfy on this whole thing..." Leni said. "And I thought I might be able to recover something from this hunk of junk." she patted her laptop bag that contained her beaten computer with an almost loving touch. "And if you can remember anything at all from your files...maybe we can start again." I didn't say anything, she was such a confusing mess to me. One minute she was annoying me with her lost puppy dog routine and the next she was impressing me with her persistence. "Hey do you think any of your old FBI buddies might help..." she mused as the seatbelt sign chimed on and the plane started to back away from the airport.



------

"Do you really think this will work?" Leni whispered in the darkness. We were outside the state FBI building where I used to work and NOW she was having cold feet.

"This was YOUR idea!" I hissed.

"Yeah well...that wasn't my question!" she retorted. "It's just...it's a federal building..."

"Which I explained..."

"And I'm sure they have a lot of security..."

"Which I told you about..."

"So the chance of this working..."



"Are practically non-existent." I said through gritted teeth. "I told you that already, but we're here now and frankly we don't have anything else to go on right now. So it kind of has to work or we're back to bupkis." I grabbed her hand then and started for the doors.

"Bupkis? Did you seriously just use the word bupkis?" Leni asked, trying to yank her hand from mine.

"Leni, in order for this to have a more than zero percent chance of working you have smile and play nice and pretend to like me...like like me...remember?" I said, gripping her hand a little harder than absolutely necessary.

"Oh...right." she said, looking down at the ground. "Honey..." she added.

I rolled my eyes and continued for the door, this time she followed willingly, with a happy, flirty smile on her face.

"Nick!" Gus was surprised to see me...of course he was surprised to see me, it was almost one in the morning and I hadn't been here in six months. "When did you get back? Are you back?"



"Oh I got back about a week ago..." I lied as Leni laid her hand on my shoulder and leaned into me. "I start back on Monday." I said sparing Leni a small smile. "I was hoping that I might show my girl here my office..." I winked at him.

"Oh well..." he looked uncomfortable. "Have you got your badge...anything... I mean..."

"No, not until Monday..." I looked at Leni apologetically, "I guess we could just come back then right babe?" I said.

Her eyes were smoldering as I called her 'babe' but she gave me an Oscar-winning pout. "But Niii-iiiii-ckky...." she whined. "You promised..." I tried not to visibly cringe when she called me Nicky.



I tried to look embarrassed for Gus and he was silently chuckling. "Okay Nick....thirty minutes...you have thirty minutes or I'm coming in after you, you understand?" he nodded toward the elevator.

"Got it!" I said with a wink. "Thanks Gus!" Leni was still curled against me like a cat so I had to move her hand from my shoulder and guide her toward the elevator.

"Yes, thanks Gus, you're the best." Leni purred in his direction.

We waited for the elevator, trying to act the part while we knew Gus was in earshot. The doors to the elevator chimed and slowly opened, admitting us further into the bureau building. Somewhere in my gut, this all seemed entirely too easy.

I pushed a button on the elevator panel and Leni slid over toward me seductively, placing a hand on my shoulder. I knew...or I assume anyway...that it was all for Gus's sake but she really knew the part well.

"Thirty minutes Nick!" Gus called again, not looking back at us; I'm sure he had the show from the elevator camera's right there on his screen.



We rode the elevator up to my old floor - in case Gus happened to watch what floor it went to - and then took the stairs at a run down to the basement, Leni was only marginally winded by the time we got to the bottom which impressed me.

"Okay what now?" Leni asked. We were just outside one of the main evidence rooms; which was secured with a standard keycode dial pad. "Will your old codes work to get us in?"

"No." I said but stepped forward and punched in a code, praying under my breath. After a minute, the light turned green and we heard the click of locks. I tried the door handle while holding my breath; to my relief...and surprise, the handle turned under my pressure and the door swung open.

"Wha? How did you..." Leni said stepping into the room. Rows and rows of shelves, stacked with rows and rows of carefully placed black boxes greeted us on the other side of the door. "Oy..." she said, staring at all the boxes.



"That's a lot of boxes..." she said, sucking in a breath.

"You heard Gus...thirty minutes." I said. "Start over there." I pointed to a row and then took the one next to it.

"What exactly should I be looking for?" Leni asked even as she started scanning the boxes.

"F. Gianni or P. Wentworth. Of this year....anything before would be a different case...." I had already eliminated almost two full shelves on my row and was further along than Leni was. "Or Victor Luna I guess...worth a shot anyway...but his could be any year."

"Isn't there a log or something?" she asked, still scanning.

I pointed over my shoulder to a small single person desk in the corner where a computer sat. "Sure, but I don't have access."

"Maybe I can hack it..." Leni suggested.

"One, it's federal computer - I wouldn't advise that...and two you wouldn't have time even if you were a hacker..." I said.



"Okay first how do you know I'm not?" she said with a playful smile and a wink. "And two - can I just say how disturbing it is how easy one can sneak into a federal building like this?"

"Yeah..." I said quietly. "A little too easy." I added, with a glance at the clock on the wall. We were already halfway into our thirty minutes - if we even had that much time.

"Here!" we both said, almost at the same time. I'd found Felicia's box which told me that she must have found my aunt's. We met together in the middle and started going through the contents quickly. Things I could recall from the original case, I pushed aside for Leni to look at if she had time.



"Look at this." Leni said holding out a short report dated only two months earlier. "There was an anonymous tip - with just an address and said it pertained to Felicia's disappearance. Came in after a round of television ads I think..."

"Yeah but it says the address proved to be a fake." I pointed out.

"Oh." Leni frowned and jotted the address down anyway.

We only had a few more minutes to look through the files before I heard the locks on the door click and tell-tale squeak of the hinges as it opened. "Looks like time is up." I said, the clock told me Gus was a few minutes early. Leni shoved her scant notes into her pocket and tried to scramble to put everything back in the boxes.

I heard the click of shoes on the tile...harder soles than the boots that Gus would wear with his uniform. I knew without turning around that it wasn't Gus who had come for us.



"What do we do?" Leni asked, barely audible. I merely shook my head and waited as the click, click, click came closer.

"You know, I have two agents on an island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea looking for you....and here you are..." Deputy Director Williams' voice betrayed nothing. I got to my feet slowly and turned to face him.

"Here I am." I said simply, resisting the familiar urge to tack a "sir" onto the end.

"Well come on then." he said, motioning me forward. "Your friend too."

Leni looked to me for guidance, a look of fear on her face but I nodded to her and the fear disappeared, replaced with resolve. Together we walked out of the evidence room, with Williams close behind us.

End Chapter

Niko and Leni

Chapter 7

"This is crazy" Leni muttered several times. "I'm going back to my hotel and will hole up there until my flight on Monday and get off this crazy island."

"There's a fair chance your hotel room will have been tossed, he knows who you are - he's that good." I tried to explain. "We need to get off this island now, not on Monday."

"Who is he?" Leni crossed her arms across her chest and looked at me stubbornly.

"Doesn't matter." I said, trying to pull her along as we were now standing in the middle of an almost deserted street - if he was still looking for me, he wouldn't have to look very hard.

"Yes, it does! If you're going to drag me down with you, I want to know why and for whom!" Leni's voice carried through the night air.

"Leni!" I hissed. "Let's go, I will tell you everything I know if you get the hell out of the street now." I glanced around but didn't see any unusual shadows lurking about.

Leni seemed to finally catch on to my anxiety and looked panicked for a moment before nodding. "Fine. But we're going to my hotel." And just like that she was off, leaving me to follow her for once. I rolled my eyes but I was just glad she was moving again.

As suspected, her hotel room had been trashed. There was no sign of forced entry so I can only assume he got a key from the front desk some how. Her laptop was smashed on the floor, papers and files were scattered everywhere, some of the papers were charred.



"Gah!" Leni shrieked as she first stepped in and surveyed the damage. "How...why...?" she whirled around on me and grumbled. "What are you involved in?!"

I let out a low guttural growl but otherwise said nothing. This woman was possibly the most irritating person I'd met in recent history. "Why don't you get what you came here for?" I said, stepping around the mess to the window.

Leni looked like she was fuming and not quite done but after a moment she stomped to her laptop to survey the damage. I let her take her time picking through the wreckage while I looked out the window, watching for shadows. What exactly was I involved in?



When I looked back at her after a few minutes, she had changed and was attempting to disassemble her laptop with a pocket knife. "I think it's fairly trashed Leni." I said as I watched her work.

"May yet be something salvageable if I can get to another computer." she muttered, not looking up at me.

I shrugged and looked back out the window. I thought I saw someone lurking in the shadows but when I looked closer there was no one there. The tinkering noise from behind me finally stopped and Leni cleared her throat. She had a small backpack stuffed with whatever she could carry and the laptop looked gutted, laying on the bed. "Are we still leaving?"

"Mmhmm." I said, looking back out the window as errant thoughts and questions tumbled around in my mind. I creased my brow at one particular thought and turned to face her. "How did you find me?"

"What?" Leni asked, confused at the sudden change. "I told you, it's what I do."

"I get that...but how, specifically? No one knew I was here. The only person who ever knew about this place was Felicia" I said.



"I talked to your brother - I saw a picture of you and Felicia here and asked her family about it - your brother just confirmed what they already told me..." she was chewing on her lower lip a bit.

"I don't have a brother." I said thinking about her story, she seemed to be telling the truth as far as she knew it though.

"What?" Leni's eyes were wide. "No, he said he was your brother and the Gianni's said they'd talked to the same person...."

"I don't have a brother Leni!" I said loudly. I turned from her and pinched the bridge of my nose. When I looked back, Leni looked confused and uncomfortable. After another moment and a deep sigh, "Let's go..." I said even as I thought about just leaving her behind in the hotel room.

------

We took the darker, silent side streets to the marina docks where rows of sleek boats were nestled. I scanned the row of boats until I found the one I was looking for. I climbed on board but Leni hung back on the dock, looking uncomfortable and confused again. She was actually a little cute when her brow furrowed like that - or she would be if she weren't so damn irritating. "Are you coming?"

"Why a boat?" she asked.

I smirked and leaned on the railing, "Because you may have noticed that there is only one flight a day to and from this little island back to the mainland and I'd rather not have another run in with our would-be killer."

She considered my words and finally, with a begrudging look, she climbed aboard the sailboat. She sat quietly as I prepared the boat and didn't speak until we were underway. "Nice boat." she said softly. "You really don't have a brother?"

I shook my head. "No."

"Damn!" she said. She lapsed into another silence for awhile. Without word, she got up and walked, a little unsteadily, to the front of the boat.



I watched her for several minutes as she leaned against the railing. Was the guy claiming to be my brother Victor Luna? Or was this a copycat of some sort? Maybe Luna really was dead and some nut job had just read about him on Wikipedia and decided he liked the M.O.

When I came up behind Leni, I didn't say anything to distract her from her thoughts and for a few moments she didn't acknowledge me. But when she turned to look at me, her face was crossed with worry. "This is my fault isn't it?" she said softly.

"What?" I asked surprised by the question.

"I led him here...he's after you and I gave him the answer...I didn't know it but this is all my fault." she said.

"No...well him coming here specifically maybe but he probably would have found me eventually." I said.

"Who is he?" Leni asked.



"I don't know, honestly. I have guesses though." Even though we were both tired, we sat back on the deck and talked about everything we knew - which wasn't much at this point. I told her about Victor Luna and described him to her based on the picture I'd seen in the file but she said that didn't sound like the person she'd talked to. She told me about my so-called brother and the beginnings of her investigation into Felicia's disappearance which had led her to me.

We were both yawning when everything had been said and re-said. "There's a bed down in the cabin. I'll show you." I said leading her down the stairs.



"Um..." she looked awkwardly at the one double bed and then at me.

"Don't worry about it. I'll be up on the deck." I said with a small smile.

"No, we can.." she started to protest.

"There's a small bathroom over there, you can get cleaned up." I said with a a nod in the direction of the bathroom. "We'll probably make port by morning."

"And then?" she asked.

"Well, I'm going home - but you...you can wherever you want from there." I turned back to the stairs. "We'll figure it out when we've both slept a bit."

------

I didn't really sleep that night, I laid out on the padded benches on deck and tried to close my eyes but my thoughts were going to fast to sleep. Staring up at the stars above me, everything that had happened in the last couples days played through my mind. I didn't know what would come of going back but the island no longer seemed like home - it never really had been home I suppose, just a place to avoid reality. I glanced over to the stairs leading down to the cabin and wondered if Leni was sleeping.

Before sunrise, I descended the stairs quietly and cleaned up quickly. Leni had tossed the covers aside and was sprawled across the whole bed. I grinned at her for a second before going back up to the deck. I watched the sunrise from the front of the boat and saw a sliver of land ahead of us. If the guy who'd run us off the road thought we were actually dead, he might be on the morning flight to the larger mainland airport, we'd probably be arriving at the same time...on the other hand, he could be waiting a day or two on the island to see if we surfaced.



I didn't hear her approach until she was right behind me. "That where we're headed?" Leni asked.

I nodded. "Yep, there's a larger airport - lots of flights to just about everywhere."

"Good." she said simply. I heard her walking away but didn't turn to face her, still watching as the land before us grew larger on the horizon.

After awhile, I went below decks to get dressed and was thankful for the clothes I had on the boat. With reluctance, I also shaved the stubble I'd grown accustomed to in the last six months. It felt like I was shedding part of my brief life as an islander.

------

I didn't ask Leni where she was going, I hoped she had enough sense to disappear somewhere for awhile but I wasn't going to suggest it and risk pissing her off. We passed through security together without a word but I noticed we were both looking over our shoulders a lot.



"Keep your head down." I told her as we were standing at the arrivals/departures boards. She had become slightly less irritating over the last few hours - while she was asleep - but mostly I didn't want to see anyone else hurt or killed.

"Right." she said, sticking her hand out. We shook hands and then walked in different directions. I paused and looked back at her but she was gone. Just as well.

End Chapter

Niko and Leni

Chapter 6

The car was filling with water faster than I could really begin to process the situation. I've seen it happen before, from the other side of course, and it seems like the car takes forever to sink. But from the inside; forever turns into practically nothing. I turned to look out the back window and saw a dark, human like shadow standing on the lake shore - just waiting for us to surface.

"What the hell?!" Leni shouted as the cold water covered her legs. She started to scramble for the seat belt latch and panic set it. She barely spared me a glance as she started fighting with the door, trying to open it against the pressure of the water outside. "HELP!" she shouted. I'm not sure if she was shouting at me or hoping for someone else to show up in her hour of need.

I reached over and put a firm hand on her shoulder. "Calm down." I said; then pulled a gun from the center console. It was no doubt water logged but it would serve some purpose anyway. The water was about to overtake our heads so I had to get Leni's attention back on me, as she was now scratching at the door. "Leni!" I said loudly. "You need to stop and take a deep breath!" I grabbed her head and turned her to face me. "Do you hear me? Take a deep breath and be ready to follow me!"

She nodded her head vigorously between my hands, thankful that someone seemed to have a plan. I only hoped it would work! I felt the water touch my chin and nodded to Leni; I took my own deep breath at the same time she did and the water enveloped our heads at the moment. I waited just long enough for the rest of the window to be submerged before using the butt of the gun to smash it several times. Without looking at Leni, I pushed my way through the broken window, a few remaining shards tugged at my clothing.

Thankfully Leni was right on my heels and I grabbed her arm to pull her from the car as it continued to sink toward the bottom of the lake.



I didn't have time to survey the area before I saw Leni moving toward the surface. I tried to grasp her arm to stop her and met only water; my second attempt won though as I grabbed her shirt and pulled her back down. I tried to shake my head vigorously in the water, thinking of the man above who seemed to be out to kill us - well me anyway but I'm not sure he'd spare much thought for Leni.

She, thoroughly unaware of the heap of trouble she'd landed in, fought against my hold on her. We were losing precious air as we struggled against each other so I grabbed her firmly around the wrist and started swimming. There was only one area I could think of that we might be able to surface without being seen. Leni continued to struggle against my grip but eventually gave up.

If the sinking of the car seemed fast, the short swim from the car to the waterfall seemed to take an eternity. Every second we were under water without air began to burn inside and every stroke was a feat in and of itself to make. Somehow, through sheer force of will or just dumb luck, I felt the pressure from the waterfall all around me. Once we'd crossed the barrier so I knew we were safely behind it's watery veil, I let go of Leni.



"What the hell!?" she shouted after taking a large gulp of air.

I clamped my hand over her mouth quickly and prayed that the noise of the waterfall would mask her voice. "Would you shut up?" I hissed. I tried looking through the thick wall of water but couldn't get a clear sight on the shore. "A man just tried to kill us, I'd prefer it if he thought he might have succeeded."

Leni's eyes went wide with shock and horror as she caught up to everything that had just happened. "He tried to...." she trailed off. "Who is he? And why?" she asked, this time in a reasonably quiet voice.

I didn't answer her questions; instead I turned my back on her and swam toward the edge of the falls. Pressed tightly against a rock face, I peered out across the lake through a sliver. The man was still standing there and this time I saw him lazily tapping a gun against his thigh. I was about to turn back toward Leni when a series of gunshots rang out. Behind me somewhere I heard Leni shriek and I turned back to see if somehow she'd been hit. Thankfully she was fine, though completely freaked out. Looking back toward the man, he was pointing his gun into the water where the car had submerged. He held his gun out for several moments before he relaxed and resumed his vigil; he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

I looked back at Leni and wondered how long it would take before she would break under the pressure and get herself killed. I erred on the side of caution and assumed not long. Swimming back to her, I considered our options, anywhere we surfaced on the open shore, the man would see. "Leni, I need you to stay here" I said. "I'll be right back. Just. Stay. Here." She nodded but didn't speak. I took another deep breath and dove beneath the surface; Nes had told me there was a cave and tunnel down here that led under the waterfall and to the outer edge of the island. She was always trying to get me to go exploring with her but I'd never taken her up on it - I only wish I had now. I spotted the entrance just before I had no choice but to surface again.

To her credit, Leni was there waiting. "Take a deep breath and follow me." I said. She nodded, this time with less enthusiasm, but did as she was told.



The entrance to the cave system led upwards and soon we were able to break the surface of the water - though the heavy rock formations around us were imposing. Most of the system was at least partially above the water level so there was little risk of drowning. Any time we had to make a dive, I left Leni behind so that I could figure out how far we'd have to go. Luck, for once, seemed to be on my side as we never encountered a completely submerged area that we couldn't navigate. Unluckily, the caves and tunnels were far more complex than Nes had led me to believe. There wasn't just one tunnel or even two; there were several leading to several small caverns which would dead end.

"Don't you know where you're going?" Leni asked as we hit one such dead end. Her freak out had now been replaced by annoyance it seemed. I couldn't really blame her.

"Honestly? No...not really." I said and took another huge gulp of air before ducking back under the water.

A few more wrong turns and several quarrels later, we surfaced and found ourselves in the much smaller lake near my house. "Thank God!" Leni said climbing out of the water and into the cold night air. I was about to start another fight with her, the hours I'd spent with her had been the longest of my life, but I caught sight of my tiny shack. And the plume of smoke rising above it. I ran towards it, leaving a cold, shivering Leni standing by the water.



The door had been kicked in, I could see the fire inside before I even got there. Scattered across the floor were files, books, clothes and broken dishes - all I had on this island was inside that house or sitting at the bottom of a lake.

I shoved my way past some smoldering debris and saw that whoever had started the fire had completely trashed the house. I don't know if he was looking for something or setting a scene for law enforcement but chairs were overturned, the ancient TV had been smashed in and the sofa had been slashed.

I felt myself detaching from those few belongings as the flames licked around me. There were few things here that I was particularly attached to and I was prepared to let it all burn away.



"Oh hell!" Leni shouted from behind me.

Her shout brought my attention back into focus. I started to push her back out of the burning house when my eye caught on a fleck of silver. I didn't even have to look closely to know what it was the flames had claimed as their next victim. I reached toward a kitchen cabinet and pulled back quickly as the fire leapt against my exposed flesh. I growled and thrust my arm forward again and pulled out a fire extinguisher from under the sink.

Leni had disappeared, outside I hoped, and I turned the extinguisher on the flames that now seemed to be surrounding me. I was determined to put them out and salvage at least that one small object.

I heard a pop behind me and turned back to see Leni wielding her own extinguisher, as if she'd magicked it into existence. I couldn't spare the time to think about where it came from and returned to the battle against the flames.



With the two of us working against the fire, it was soon extinguished and I would have collapsed on the couch if a large, uncomfortable looking spring wasn't poking out of it. I knelt down and picked up the object I...we...had fought so hard for. The small silver picture frame was black with soot but the pictures inside appeared to be unharmed. Aunt Pru smiled back at me as I dusted the film of soot from the glass and tucked into the corner was a small picture of Felicia, I had clipped it from a newspaper before leaving the states.

"Thank you." I said, standing up with the frame firmly in my grasp.

Leni didn't say anything, she was leaning heavily on the railing of the stairs and looked like she might collapse or freak out at any moment - although I'm not sure she really had the energy to do a freak out justice.

I looked over the stairs and decided they seemed to be structurally sound, mostly untouched by the fire. "I have some shorts and tanks and tees upstairs...if you want to put on something dry." I said. "At least I hope I do." I said as I toed a pile of charred clothes with my shoe. Leni nodded and slowly ascended the stairs, dragging her tired body upwards. Once she was out of sight, I pulled out my cell phone in an attempt to call John - with the fire, I had completely forgotten that it had spent the better part of the afternoon under water. The screen attempted to flicker to life but I heard an unpleasant fritzing noise from within the device and then the screen went dark again.



Leni returned a few minutes later and handed me a couple things as well. "Thought you might need it." she said quietly.

"Thanks." I said nodding. I climbed over some charred debris and stepped into the small bathroom to change, still holding the frame and the useless phone. After changing, I tucked them both into the pocket. I attempted to dry off my wallet and cards a bit before stowing them in my pocket as well.

Leni was half asleep on the couch with the popped spring when I came out of the bathroom. I walked over to her and gently touched her shoulder, causing her to jump and shriek. Her eyes were wide with terror for as few seconds before they settled on me. "Sorry" she mumbled once her breathing had slowed some.

"It's okay. Come on, we need to get out of here." I said offering my hand.

"What? Why?!" she scrambled to her feet quickly and looked around for the next threat. When she realized that we weren't about to be gunned down or chopped to bits she settled down slightly.

"It's not safe, we need to get off the island." I explained quickly.

"We?! Why we? I didn't do anything to the crazy guy - I just was in the wrong place..." she started to stutter, backing away from me. Being a tiny house, she found herself up against a wall within a few steps.

"Yeah but this guy doesn't know that." I said mostly to myself. I hated to bring her along - partially because she would be a hindrance more than likely but mostly because I didn't want to get her killed. "So looks like we'll be working together after all..."

I can't be sure, but I don't think she was entirely thrilled about that prospect anymore.

End Chapter

Niko and Leni

Chapter 5

"Um...morning." I said as she slowly took in the small room.

"Is it?" Leni asked putting a hand to her head and swaying. She blinked several times to focus her eyes. "Is that my file?" she would probably have been annoyed if her head didn't hurt so much, instead she sounded almost lazy about it.

"Yes it is." I said honestly. "There's coffee..." I pointed to the coffee maker in order to change the subject. "I'm gonna go...I'll be right back." I said. I brushed past her on my way up the stairs. I pulled on a shirt and changed so at least one of us was more than half dressed. When I got back downstairs, she was sitting at the table, nursing a cup of coffee. I poured myself another cup and stood a little awkwardly in my tiny nook of a kitchen.



"Um...last night..." she started awkwardly, not meeting my eyes. "Did we....I mean...what happened exactly?"

I couldn't help but grin. "You passed out, I didn't know where you were staying so I brought you back here."

"And I'm wearing one of your shirts because..." she fiddled with the fabric and tried to pull it down further than it could go.

"Your clothes were wet, soaked really - I think you must have gone for a swim." I explained. I left out the part about trying to get her changed. "Speaking of which, they're out on the line - I'll go get them for you."

I put my coffee cup down and stepped outside to the side of the house where I had hung the clothes out to dry. Leni's clothes from the night before were dry, though my own laundry was still damp.



I stepped inside and handed them to her, as I did my phone started ringing, so I left her to change and stepped back outside. "Geirson" I replied.

"Hey Niko, it's Nessia - we have a DB down at the Bistro. You available for a bit?" a female voice asked.

I glanced over at the house and saw Leni near the window. I could just take her back to her hotel and then head over to the Bistro. There were only a couple hotels on the island so it would likely be on the way.

"Niko? You there?" Nessia asked as I considered what to do with Leni, the sooner I could get her off my island, the happier I would be.



"Yeah yeah. Just have to get rid of a house guest first." I heard her chuckle on the other end, I could imagine what she was thinking. "I'll be there in twenty."

"Oh take your time, he's not going anywhere." she replied, still chuckling as the phone went dead.

Leni came out as I hung up the phone, "So, are you going to help me out with this or not?" she asked holding up the file that I'd been reading that morning when she came down.

"Come on, I have a job to do - I'll drop you back at the hotel on the way." I said in response. I stepped inside to grab my things and locked up to tiny house.

"So what do you do during the day?" she asked while driving, having decided to temporarily drop the topic of Felicia.

"Stuff." I said. "Which hotel are you staying at?" She shook her head and refused to tell me so ten minutes later, I was forced to drop her off in town and then headed for the Bistro, I only hoped she wouldn't follow me.



Nessia waved me across the crime scene tape. "Morning Niko." she said. "Get rid of your guest?" she asked with a smirk.

"More or less." I muttered. I crouched beside the body and looked over him. "Hey I know this guy..." I said after looking over the face a couple times. I thought back to the brief encounter with him as I left The Bum yesterday.

"You do?" Nessia asked in surprise.

"Well not know exactly, I saw him yesterday at The Bum." I said standing up.

"You think the food there killed him?" she joked.



"No, looks like strangulation." I said pointing toward the neck. The bruising had become pronounced in the hours since death.

"Hey who's that?" Nessia asked, looking over my shoulder and pointing. I turned to look and groaned. "Ah, your not so absent house guest then..." she covered her mouth to hide a laugh.

"Would you please just..." I knelt before the body again and was handed a pair of gloves. I pulled them on and tilted the neck ever so slightly to get a better look at the neck. "Looks like a chain..." I said looking up at Nessia. To my surprise, she was waving Leni over as well.

"Hi" she offered Leni her hand.

"Hey Nessia, dead body...crime scene....you don't even know this woman." I said. I looked at Leni and shrugged. "No offense or anything."

"I didn't know you much either when you first arrived and yet here you are..." she grinned. Ugh, everyone around here was far too laid back sometimes.

The coroner arrived and started speaking rapidly with Nessia in French, one of the many languages spoken on the island.



Nessia started giving her the details (I assume anyway, I don't speak French beyond a few phrases) so I returned my attention back to the body of the dead tourist. I had seen what looked like a tattoo on his arm and returned to look at it.

It wasn't a tattoo at all, it turned out to be a stamp from a local night club. A stamp of a crescent moon. "That's not good." I muttered to myself and glanced around quickly as if the killer were lurking nearby.

Only Leni heard me and she knelt beside me to look at the stamp. She was completely confused by it, telling me she didn't know the significance. "What is it?" she asked. I didn't comment but started poking around in the dead guys pockets for a wallet.

I'm not sure if it was smell of death, the hangover or some combination of both; but Leni jumped to her feet and backed away from the scene. After I found the wallet (with nothing taken), I glanced back at her and saw her swaying on her feet.



"His name is Rob Jamison." I said holding up the wallet for Nessia. That caught her attention enough to bring her attention back to me.

She pulled on her own gloved before taking the wallet. "You know you should have waited for the coroner before snooping around..." she teased. When I'd first arrived I'd been a stickler for my sort of protocol and it had taken me time to get used to the way things were dealt with here.

As she looked through the wallet of on Rob Jamison, a resident of Wisconsin, I stood and pulled off my gloves. I nodded to the coroner and walked over to Leni. "Hey, you alright?" I asked, placing a hand on her back.

"That's a dead body..." she stated, hazarding a glance over her shoulder and then looking like she regretted it instantly.



"Yes, it is." I replied. "Aren't you a private detective?" I asked after the latest round of nausea passed.

"Yeah but I've never worked a case involving dead bodies." she said. "I mostly work divorces...nothing like this."

"And you're hung over...that doesn't help." I added. "Come on," I offered her my hand. "They're taking him back to the morgue, I'll drop you at your hotel on my way...assuming you're ready to tell me this time." I added with a laugh.

"Yeah...hotel, hotel sounds good..." she still looked really green as I led her back to the car. She was in the middle of telling me her hotel when my phone alerted me to a text message.

"Leave now" was all it said. I couldn't be sure who it was from since it was a number I didn't recognize but I felt pretty sure it was from John as I though back to the moon stamp and the files.

"What is it?" Leni asked, having watched my face change.

I shook my head. "Nothing," I headed in the direction of her hotel, determined to leave her there so she didn't get dragged into whatever was going on.

The car shuddered violently as it was struck in the rear. I attempted to correct while looking back to see what had struck us, all I saw was a streak of silver before the car shook again and the sound of metal crunching on metal ripped through the car. Tires squealed and I could feel the car get pushed off the road and onto gravel.

"What the hell?!" Leni shrieked. I turned to look at her for a second and I had time to see the deep lake and waterfall in front us. Before I could try to react, the car shook once more from another hit - he was pushing us straight into the water.



And then I felt the cold water creeping in touch my feet. "Oh shit..."

Niko and Leni

Chapter 4

"My name is Leni Zane, I'm a private detective." the woman said, she began digging in her satchel for some sort of ID at that point.

"For whom?" I asked, getting to my feet. She held out her identification to me and I walked over to glance at it but wasn't too concerned with it.



"I was hired by the family of Felicia Gianni." Leni said. "To investigate her disappearance."

Hearing her name stung like always. I had talked to George Ortega obsessively when I first left the Bureau but each passing week, I came closer to accepting the fact that she was gone. I never said dead though, that was something I couldn't accept or acknowledge. "Not sure you'll find much out here." I said before walking in the small house and closing the door behind me. I took my phone and and shot off a quick two word text to a friend on the island before looking through the kitchen window to see what she was doing.

Leni stood in the sand looking dumbfounded. After a moment to collect herself, she came to the door and knocked.

I opened the door and leaned against the frame. "Look Ms. Zane, I'm not sure how you found me, why you found me or what service you think I can be of but I left everything I had on Felicia's disappearance, what little there was, back in the states."

"I'd still like to ask you some questions Agent Geirson." she said. "You were on the team assigned to her disappearance and the only one I have gotten in touch with...."

"I told you I'm not an agent anymore." I said. "How did you find me?"

"That's my job Nick...is Nick alright?" Leni asked.

"No." I replied. My phone jingled on the counter and I snatched it up and turned away from Leni, still standing in the doorway. "Mmhmm...okay, thanks." I said to the person on the other end. "Sorry I can't invite you in, I've got business to attend to." I grabbed the shirt hanging over the nearest chair and pulled it over my head. With her still watching, I shoved my phone in my pocket and pulled a handgun from the drawer in the side table and stowed it. "Nice meeting you Miss Zane, enjoy your stay on Oz." I said pushing past her and closing the door behind me. She was forced to move back as I locked the door and left.

"But! We still need to talk!" she called after me. I didn't turn back to acknowledge her.

-----



"She's from Pennsylvania, been a PI for a couple years now seems. Mostly does the divorce racket - ya know, spying on spouses for something to use against them in court later." Robert reported. "She's got a partner of sorts in the business but they usually work their own stuff."

"She ever work a missing person's case before?" I asked, looking over the quickly scrawled notes Robert had handed me. The fruits of his speedy labors.

"Nope, not even sure how the family found her; no time to really find a connection." Robert shrugged. "She arrived on a flight yesterday, has a return ticket for Monday. Guess she figured you'd be easy work eh?" he smirked.

I shrugged. "Thanks R." I slipped him some money, more than his usual fee. "Let me know if you find anything else."

My phone buzzed as I was walking away from him; I had a text message from John - although I was ninety-nine percent sure that was not his real name. "The Bum @ 1". "Brilliant" I muttered, tucking the phone and R's notes in my pocket.

-----

John had already ordered himself a large plate of food by the time I arrived at the small beach-side diner, of course being an island there wasn't much that wasn't beach-side around here. I sat down across from him and tried not to show interest in the file he had open on the table.

His mouth full of food, he pushed the file at me and kept eating while I flipped through the contents. There was an arrest photograph of a dark haired, dark eyed man and several pages concerning the activities that led to said arrest. "Significance?" I asked when John stopped eating finally.

John tapped the photograph. "Look at his name." he said, wiping his mouth.

I looked down at the file. "Luna, Victor Luna....luna....moon!" I looked up at him, my eyes wide and he was smiling arrogantly.

"How do you know?" I asked eagerly. I started scouring the file; there was no mention of charges of murder or even violent crime.



"He was one of the Family enforcers." John said. He was going on about details of his mob activities when I cut him off.

"John, according to this he was killed in a prison riot five years ago." I said thrusting a particular piece of paper in his face.

"I saw that too, but they assumed it was him due to circumstantial evidence, no medical autopsy was ever filed." John said.

I flipped through the file again and realized he was right. "So he escaped?" John just shrugged. According to the file and John's word; Luna was suspected in multiple murders as an enforcer but no evidence could ever be found. They even had testimony from someone who had turned states' evidence describing the moon statues and Luna's M.O. but not enough to convict him of murder. Eventually he'd been gotten on fraud of some sort. "Thanks John." I said, sliding payment across the table to him. He quickly took it and put it away without even counting it.

He knew I was good for it. And I knew better than to short him.

"Be careful with this one Niko." he said. He left without elaborating further. I paid the bill for his meal and tucked all the contents of the file together to leave. On the way out I nearly collided with a tourist going in for a meal.



"Good luck" I muttered to myself; John was the only local I knew who willingly ate at The Bum. But the tourists flocked there for some reason I could never understand. Then they spent the next day balled up in a fetal position wishing they could never eat anything again.

-----

The sun was starting to set so the Bar was getting busy with college kids looking for a good night with music and alcohol. The legal drink age on Oz was eighteen so college kids flocked to the Bar every night. I spun a bottle in my hand and poured several shots in a row for a giggling batch of girls. As I handed them each their shots, I winked in their direction before moving on.

"So this is what you do now?" Leni asked with a smirked on her face. "Get college girls drunk?"



"A man's gotta live on something." I said with a grin. "And it's not just college girls." I added with a wink. I surveyed her change of attire appreciatively. "I see you abandoned the heeled boots."

Leni nodded. "When in Rome." she said. She glanced around the Bar for a bit while I served a few more customers. "So can we talk now?" she asked over the den of music when I finally got back to her side of the bar.

"You see the people here? Kinda busy doing my job." I said.

"Your job? This isn't your job! You're decorated former military! You're still an agent with the..." she was getting loud so I leaned in close to her, placing a drink before her.

"I'd appreciate it, Ms. Zane, if you wouldn't try telling me...." I glanced around. "Or the rest of the world" I added with a piercing look, "what my job was." I stood back and motioned to the drink. "Now drink up and have a good time." I left her looking dumbfounded again, it was a cute look on her I noted.

Either she had to much to drink or took my advice to heart because after swaying unsteadily in her bar stool to several songs, she got up and walked awkwardly toward the stereo. While I had my attention elsewhere, she started swaying to the music.



Her dance induced several college guys to swarm to her side, all wanting a chance and all bearing more drinks for her. I watched, mildly bemused, from the bar as the night wore on. I tried to keep an eye on her so no one swept her off in her drunken state and at the end of the night I found her passed out on a lounger on the beach. Careful not to disturb her too much, I picked her up and carried her back to my car. I noticed her clothes were soaked and I wondered if she'd gone out for a swim while I wasn't watching; I shuddered to think of the possibilities given her state. Her eyes fluttered open for a fraction of a second and she wound her fingers through my hair with a gentle, albeit drunken, stroke.

After situating her in the car, I pulled out the notes from Robert and tried to decipher his scrawl for a hotel name.



-----

I woke up sore and with a mild headache. I looked at my watch and moaned at the early hour, it was before seven in the morning. Once upon a time, I was always up at that time but I hadn't worked until after three in the morning then - well not usually. Once I felt the morning sun streaming through the windows, I knew I'd have to give up on the prospect of sleep.

I got up and stumbled my way toward the coffee maker and started coffee brewing. It would be one of those coffee-required days, that much I knew for sure.



With a fresh, hot cup of black coffee, I opened the satchel I'd thrown aside so carelessly the night before and pulled out the files inside.

I heard the creaks of the floor boards above me thirty minutes later. She moaned loud enough for it to carry downstairs and I smirked. I stood up and made sure there would coffee ready and then returned to my reading material at the table.

She tripped over the slightly bowed board at the top of the stairs and cursed loudly. A moan followed immediately and I imagined her holding her head. For a second, I wondered if I had any aspirin for her - she would be needing it. Then she came down the stairs and I forgot about the aspirin.



End Chapter

Niko and Leni

Chapter 3

I followed the girl from the river as she was taken to the morgue. I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it was not Felicia but I felt I needed the coroner to confirm that for me. Jake, from the Adelbrook police, came along as well. If I was right, they would have another case - as if they weren't strained enough.

By the time Jake and I got to the morgue, the coroner had started removing particulates from the body - most of it from the river I assumed. Without the dirt and vegetation clinging to her, she looked close to human than she had on the river bank. Her toenails were painted blue, though the paint had been chipped after her time in the water - or maybe it was chipped before she went into the water. An assistant brought in the foot that had been found earlier and placed it on the table along side the body.



The coroner turned on a small recording device. "The victim is approximately twenty-five to thirty-five years old, female. Found on the Adelbrook river bank after a cleanly severed foot was found. Aforementioned foot appears to match the victim on initial examination. No entrance or exit wounds, no apparent bodily trauma, cause of death unknown." he paused the recording. Jake and I hung back as he and the assistant peered over the body, looking for some sort of evidence. I saw Jake turn his head when they opened the mouth in order to look inside and water and muck seeped out of the opening.

They worked for several more minutes before the coroner looked over in our direction. "I estimate this young lady was in the water for at least seven days." he said. "And I'm not sure she's from around here either, may have traveled down the river from someplace else."

"Are you sure?" I asked. "About the timeline I mean?"

"Oh yes, this is not Felicia Gianni." he said with certainty. "As for the specifics, we'll have to see what the lab boys say." he said as he pulled some sort of bug from the victim's ear.

"Thank you." I said with a nod and turned to leave, my head swirling with emotion.

"Nick..." the coroner called my attention back. "The Bureau put in a request to examine your aunt's body; as next of kin we wanted to notify you..."

I nodded, not trusting my voice not to waver right away. "She's still here..." I said finally. He nodded back to the next room. "Can I?"

"Of course Nick." he said. He returned his attention to the victim and I walked slowly through the doors.



I spent several minutes just staring, trying to figure out what had prompted me to come in here in the first place. Finally, leaning against the table; "I'm sorry." I whispered. Another minute and I left the morgue, waving to Jake and the coroner on the way out.

I walked quickly for the stairwell, ready to get out of this place and back to tackling the mounting number of mysteries around me. I was in the hall before I heard the hurried footfalls behind me.

"Wait!" Jake called out. I slowed down so he could catch up to me. "How'd you know?" he asked.



"How'd I know what?" I asked, furrowing my brow.

"That it wasn't Felicia. You knew, at the river bank and we could barely tell the body was female let alone who...how'd you know?" Jake asked again.

"Felicia got a tattoo about three months ago, on her back. The victim doesn't have one." I said, I remembered the first time I'd discovered the tattoo of a water dragon.

"Oh." Jake said as I left.

-----

Felicia's case was cold almost as soon as she'd gone missing. Most people assumed she was dead or had left town for some reason, though no one could formulate a logical reason why she might have left town. After awhile the team had moved on to other cases, myself included. But I kept on Ortega almost as much as I followed Hughes about Aunt Pru's case.

"Nick..." Ortega looked a little uncertain about what he was going to say that morning while we shared coffee.

"George." I said. "What is it you don't want to say?"

"They're shelving the Gianni case for now, unless some new evidence comes in." he said with a frown.



I nodded, almost as a reflex acknowledgment. I think I'd known it was coming but hearing it was official still burned. My next drink of coffee tasted bitter as I tried to accept the fact that they were essentially giving up. George watched me anxiously for several minutes, he knew how frustrated I'd become in the intervening weeks at the lack of progress.

"You know you can be pissed off about this Nick." Ortega finally said. "The fact that you're not is a little....disconcerting actually."

"Why'd you let me on this case?" I asked out of the blue.

George Ortega raised his eyebrows at the change of subject. "Because I suspected you might do something stupid if I didn't; keep your friends close and your enemies closer."

"So I'm the enemy?" I asked with a sad chuckle.

"No, not anymore but at the time - I didn't need some rogue fowling up my investigation so I figured it was better to have you on my side so I could keep a closer eye on you." Ortega said.

"Fair enough. Thanks for the coffee." I said dropping a couple dollars on the table for tip.

I didn't go back to the office that afternoon. Years of training and conditioning had were battling against an overwhelming surge of emotions inside me. First my aunt, now Felicia...all things out of my control. My cell phone rang, pulling me from the tidal pool like a flimsy life raft. "Geirson." I said.

-----

For the first time in weeks, I felt confident as I walked into the building. A case I'd been working on was moving along quickly and we had a suspect in custody. Waiting for me in one of the interrogation rooms even. I was ready to be able to call a case solved after so many mysteries.

"Hello Ms. Vex, I'm Special Agent Geirson." I said as I strode into the room. She didn't look the least bit disturbed by being in federal custody but then they often didn't.

"So I met this guy, I don't know his name, at the Moonlight Bar..." she explained a half hour later.

"Moons? What do you know about moons?" I snapped. She looked at me wide eyed and sputtered several times but I didn't hear her explanations.



I lunged across the table to stop her blithering and would have had her in my clutches if two strong arms hadn't pulled me back and practically shoved me out the door. The last thing I saw of Ms. Vex was a look of terror on her face.

That moment was how I ended up standing outside of Dr. Flacks office. Dr. Flack was one of therapists kept around to help; although I'd never seen him, I was already confident that he wouldn't be of any use to me - because I didn't have a problem.

I knocked on the door and after hearing a muffled "come in" I opened it and stopped in the doorway.



Doctor Flacks smiled up at me over her computer. "Come in; Agent Geirson I presume."

"Um....yeah." I said trying to push my preconceived notion that Flacks would be a man out of my head.

"Have a seat." she said, close her laptop and motioning toward the chairs. I did as I was told and then stared at her. I'd come to her office only because I'd been ordered to, that didn't mean I had anything I needed to discuss.

Dr. Flacks, to my annoyance, was perfectly willing to let me sit in silence. She crossed her hands over he lap and leaned back a bit in her chair and waited.

"Isn't this the part where you say something?" I asked after ten minutes of silence was driving me crazy.

"Do you want me to say something?" she asked with a smile on her face.



"Um, yes?" I said awkwardly.

"Well what would you like me to say?" Flacks asked. My confusion must have shown on my face because her smile grew, probably in amusement. "Agent Geirson, you've had a busy few weeks lately with a lot of personal trauma. I figured you would need to do the talking here."

"But I don't have anything to say." I said frustrated. "As you said, I'm busy. But I'm fine."

"Really?" Flacks asked, eying me.

"Yes really." I said confidently.

"Well then we'll just sit here, until your time is up." she said and leaned back in her chair again.

The silence was aggravating!

-----

I met with Dr. Flacks several times over the following weeks but we rarely said much more than hello and goodbye to each other. She never seemed phased by the silence between us while I was forced to stew in my own thoughts.

One afternoon following one of our less than satisfactory sessions, Williams came into my office and closed the door quietly behind him. "How are you getting on with Dr. Flacks?" he asked.

"Fine." I lied, not really looking up from my computer.

"She's recommended you take some administrative leave." his statement got the reaction he'd been expecting as I got to my feet quickly.

"I'm fine, there's no reason for any leave." I said.



"You're fine." he said; though I wasn't sure if it was a question or a statement, I could tell he didn't believe me.

"Yes - I'm fine." I repeated firmly. "I don't need to take any leave."

"It's not a suggestion Agent Geirson." Williams said. "You're hereby suspended from duty." he held out his hand and I knew he was expecting my badge and gun. "You need to get yourself together."

We stared at each other for several minutes before, fuming, I pulled out both and placed them on the desk. I brushed past him, grazing his shoulder and left the building.

-----

Six Months Later

I heard the her cursing as she crossed the soft sand, her foot sinking deeply with each step making progress awkward. "Are you Agent Nikolas Geirson?" she asked, I could tell she was annoyed by her voice.



"No." I said continuing to pump iron.

"You're not?" she was frazzled and confused. She dug in her satchel until she pulled out a folder and looked at a photograph - I assume of me - and then looked at me again. "Because you look a lot like Nikolas Geirson..."

"I am Nikolas Geirson." I said sitting up and looking at her. Her mouth opened to retort, "But I'm not an Agent anymore." I said. "Who are you?"

End Chapter