Chapter 55

"He's here already?" Jessica said after she'd taken off her seatbelt and looked out the front window of the van.

"You expected him?" Theresa asked. "Why's he here and why didn't you tell me about this?"

"Just park, Mom. I'll tell you all about it when we get out," Jessica replied.

"She can be quite something, can't she?" Tim said to Theresa.

"Tell me about it. I've been ... Well, never mind. I don't think this van is going to fit in my parking space."

"Mom, you can park anyplace in this thing, remember? It has one of those special license plates. We get to park in the best spots now."

"Only when we have John," Theresa answered. "Otherwise it would be cheating, and I'm not doing that just so you don't have to walk."

"Ah, Mom!" Jessica said and then started laughing.

Theresa parked. My parents took her space in the carport. They were out and over to the van before I could be extracted.

"I thought I saw Special Agent Downs," my father said.

"You might have," Downs said, startling all of us.

"Jessica tells me that she expected you, but not so soon. She didn't tell any of us why, though," Theresa explained.

"Let's all go inside and get situated," Down said. "Then we can talk. Frankly we're drawing more attention, right now, than I'm comfortable with."

Sure enough, there was evidence that behind the pulled corners of curtains, people in the apartments were watching us.

Jessica wheeled me up the sidewalk and then stopped.

"How did that get here?" she asked.

"What?" her mother wanted to know as she peered around me.

At the entrance to their apartment was a ramp. It hadn't been there before, but it was, now.

"One of those, 'courtesy of Uncle Sam, ' things," Downs said with a smile.

"You brought that," Theresa said, not really as a question, but an explanation of what he was doing here.

Downs smiled just a touch. I noticed my father looking between Jessica and Downs. Something was up.

Jessica started pushing again after the door had been opened, and soon I was inside.

Jeanie stood with her back against her husband and her hands covering her mouth. Before they had been taken to the base, the two had seen this sight, but frankly they where still in shock as to what had happened. Now, in the stark daylight, things looked worse. A lot worse.

There was nothing left but lumps of what had been the stove, frig, dishwasher. The only thing standing that was pretty much untouched, was the fireplace. The only other things that were somewhat recognizable were the burnt out shells of the washer, drier, and furnace.

That was when the tears started.

"My God! Everything's gone! We've lost everything," she wailed.

Her husband wrapped his arms around her. He's seen it as well, that night, with the fire shooting into the darkening sky. He knew, then, what the fire would do. He even vaguely remembered looking at it the next day, but noting specific would come to mind. Seeing the aftermath in person ... seeing that there was nothing, literally nothing left ... He didn't know what to say, and he felt powerless to do anything.

Jeanie turned and buried her face into his chest, quietly sobbing.

"Take me away from here," she said. "I can't look at this."

They turned to get into their car and saw a woman taking pictures of them. Jeanie pulled at her husband, knowing he would chase the woman down and pummel her. Jeanie knew that, because she herself felt violated by the intrusion, and wanted to do the same.

"In the car. Let's just get away. Please?"

He opened the door and helped her in. As soon as he closed her door, he looked at the photographer. Staring at her, he gave her the finger, before getting in on his side.

They drove off in silence.

"I didn't believe them, when they told us it was going to be this hard."

We were seated. My mother, my father and Downs were on the couch. Tim and Theresa were in chairs opposite them. I was in my wheelchair. I was going to be in it for a long time, but I didn't want to think about that, right now. Jessica was standing in the center of us.

The fun and games were over. I could tell by the look Jessica gave me. She was scared and didn't want to look like it.

"Mom, we had a conversation early in the morning. Too early for my brain to function well. One thing I do remember very well from that conversation was that you didn't want to listen."

Theresa started to say something and Jessica held up her hands.

"Hold on, Mom. If you want me to listen to you, you need to do the same for me. When I'm done talking, I'm sure there will be plenty you will want to say.

"Now," Jessica resumed, "I wasn't sure what to do, so I talked to John's father. He told me that in a hostile takeover, sometimes a mediator has to come in who is impartial to the situation."

At this point, everyone was looking at Special Agent Downs. I almost laughed. Almost. I knew Jessica wouldn't take kindly to that. He wore the expression that said he didn't really know what he'd just got himself into.

"Hostile takeover?" Tim asked, not quite understanding the placement for the terminology that his daughter was using.

My father took over, explaining what he did for a living, and how he had related it to Jessica and I.

"Well, that's a new one," Tim said, "but I guess it kinda works. Well, for Theresa, anyway."

"And not for you?" Theresa asked with a little heat in her voice.

"How can you take away something that you abandoned?" Tim asked with sorrow in his voice.

I had a lump in my throat, hearing that. I looked at Jessica, and saw that her eyes were filling with water.

"Maybe, Tim," my mother said, "you don't or haven't realized how much you mean to your daughter."